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V 



HISTORICAL 



ENCYCLOPEDIA 



OF 



ILLINOIS 



i-nii'ii) I'.v 



Nkwton Bateman, LL. D. 

1/ 



Paul Selbv, A. M. 




AND HISTORY OF 



FULTON COUNTY 



EDITED BV 

Jesse HE^LIN 



ILLUSTRATED 



CHICAGO: 

MUNSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

PU BLISHERS, 

1908 



Entered according to Act of Congress, 
in the years 1894, 1899, 1900. and 1905, by 

WILLIAM W. M U N S E L L . 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress 
at 

WASHlNCiTON, 






THe 

ILLINOIS RIVSR 
BASIN. 




TERRITORY DRAINED BY THE ILLINOIS RIVER. 




J^^jT^i^iJr<^o^ZZ^T^-XiXj^^ 



PREFACE. 



Why publish this book? There should be many and strong reasons to warrant such an 
nndertaking. Are there such reasons? What considerations are weighty enough to have 
induced tlie publishers to make this venture? and what special claims has Illiuois to such a 
distinction? These are reasonable and inevitable inquiries, and it is fitting they should 
receive attention. 

In the first place, good State Histories are of great importance and value, and Ihcre is 
abundant and cheering evidence of an increasing j)opular interest in them. This is true of 
all such works, whatever States may be their subjects; and it is conspicuously true of Illi- 
nois, for the following, among many other reasons: Because of its gi-eat prominence in the 
early history of the West as the seat of the first settlements of Europeans northwest of the 
Ohio River — the unique character of its early civilization, duo to or resulting from its early 
French population brought in contact with the aborigines — its political, military, and educa- 
tional prominence— its steadfast loyalty and patriotism — the marvelous development of its 
vast resources — the number of distinguished statesmen, generals, and Jurists whom it has 
furnished to the Government, and its gi'and record in the exciting and perilous conflicts on 
the Slavery question. 

This is the magnificent Commonwealth, the setting forth of whose history, in all of its 
essential departments and features, seemed to warrant the bringing out of another volume 
devoted to that end. Its material has been gathered from every available source, and most 
carefully examined and sifted before acceptance. P]special care has been taken in collecting 
material of a biographical character ; facts and incidents in the personal history of men identi- 
fied with the life of the State in its Territorial and later periods. This material has been 
gathered from a great variety of sources widely scattered, and much of it quite inaccessible 
to the ordinary inquirer. The encyclopedic form of the work favors conciseness and com- 
pactness, and was adopted with a view to condensing the largest amount of information 
within the smallest practicable space. 

And so the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois was conceived and planned in the belief 
that it was needed; that no other book filled the place it was designed to occupy, or fur- 
nished the amount, variety and scope of information touching the infancy and later life of 
Illinois, that would be found in its pages. In that belief, and in furtherance of those ends, 
the book has been constructed and its topics selected and written. Simplicity, perspicuity, 
conciseness and accuracy have been the dominant aims and rules of its editors and writers. 
The supreme mission of the book is to record, fairly and truthfully, historical facts; facts of 
the earlier and later history of the State, and drawn from the almost innumerable sources 
connected with that history; facts of, interest to the gieat bodv of our people, as well as to 
scholars, officials, and other special classes; a book convenient for reference in the school, 
the iflfice, and the home. Hence, no attempt at fine wiiting, no labored, irrelevant and 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

long-drawn iiccounts of matters, persons or things, which really need but a few plain words 
for their adoqiiato elucidation, will be found in its pages. On the otiier luiiid, perspicuity 
and fitting develoi)inent are never intentionally saeriliced to mere conciseness and brevity. 
Whenever a subject, from its nature, demands a more elaborate treatment — and there are 
many of this character — it is handled accordingly. 

As a rule, the method pursued is the separate and topical, rather than the chronological, 
as being more satisfactory and convenient for reference. 'I'hat is, each topic is considered 
Eejwrately and exhaustively, instead of being blended, chronologically, with others. To pass 
from subject to subject, in the mere arbitrary order of time, is to sacrifice simplicity and 
order to coinjilexity and confusion. 

Absolute freedom from error or defect in iiU cases, in handling so many thousands of 
items, is not claimed, and could not reasonably be expected of any finite intelligence; since, 
in complicated cases, some element may possibly elude its sharpest scrutiny, liut every 
statement of fact, made herein without qualification, is believed to be strictly correct, and 
the statistics of the volume, as a wiiole, are submitted to its readers with entire confidence. 

Considerable space is also devoted to biogi-aphical sketches of persons deemed worthy of 
mention, for tlieir close relations to the State in some of its varied interests, political, gov- 
cnmiental, financial, social, religious, educational, industrial, commercial, economical, mili- 
tary, judicial or otherwise; or for their supposed personal deservings in other respects. It 
is believed that the extensive recognition of such individuals, by the publishers, will not be 
disapproved or regretted by the public; that j^ersonal biography has an honored, useful and 
legitiniiito ]ilace in such a history of Illinois as this volume aims to be, and that the omission 
of such a department would seriously detract from the completeness and value of the book. 
Perhaps no more delicate and diflQcult task has confronted the editors and publishers than 
the selection of names for this part of the work. 

While it is believed that no unworthy name has a place in the list, it is freely admitted 
that there may be many others, equally or possibly even more worthy, whose names do not 
appear, partly for lack of definite and adequate information, and partly because it was not 
deemed best to materially increase the space devoted to this class of topics. 

And so, with cordial thanks to the publishers for the risks they have so cheerfully 
assumed in this enterprise, for their business energy, integrity, and determination, and their 
uniform kindness and courtesy; to the many who have so generously and helpfully promoted 
the success of the work, by their contributions of valuable information, interesting reminis- 
cences, and rare incidents; to Mr. Paul Selby, the very able associate editor, to whom 
especial honor and credit are due for his most efiicient, intelligent and scholarly services; to 
lion. Harvey B. llurd, Walter B. Wines, and to all others who have, by word or act, 
encouraged us in this enterprise— with grateful recognition of all these friends and helpers, 
the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, with its thousands of topics and many thousands of 
details, items and incidents, is now respectfully submitted to the good people of the State, 
for whom it has been jiropared, in the earnest hope and confident belief that it will be found 
instructive, convenient and useful for the purposes for which it was designed. 






PREFATORY STATEMENT, 



Since the bulk of the matter contained in this volume was practically completed and 
ready for the press, Dr. Newton Bateman, who occupied the relation to it of editor-in-chief, 
has passed beyond the sphere of mortal existence. In placing the work before the public, it 
therefore devolves upon the undersigned to make this last jirefatory statement. 

As explained by Dr. Bateman in his preface, the object had in view in the preparation 
of a "Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois" has been to present, in compact and concise form, 
the leading facts of Territorial and State history, from the arrival of the earliest French 
explorers in Illinois to the present time. This has included an outline history of the State, 
under the title, "Illinois," supplemented by special articles relating to various crises and eras 
in State history; changes in form of government and administration; the history of Consti- 
tutional Conventions and Legislative Assemblies; the various wars in which Illinoisans have 
taken part, with a summary of the principal events in the history of individual military 
organizations engaged in the Civil War of 1861-05, and the War of 1898 with Spain; lists of 
State ofticevs, United States Senators and Members of Congress, with the terms of each ; the 
organization and development of political divisions; the establishment of charitable and 
educational institutions; the growth of public improvements and other enterprises which 
have marked the progress of the State; natural features and resources; the history of early 
newspapers, and the growth of religious denominations, together with general statistical 
information and unusual or extraordinary occurrences of a local or general State character — 
all arranged under topical heads, and convenient for ready reference by all seeking informa- 
tion on these subjects, whether in the family, in the office of the professional or business 
man, in the teacher's study and the school-room, or in the public librai'y. 

While individual or collected biographies of the public men of Illinois have not been 
wholly lacking or few in number — and those already in existence have a present and con- 
stantly increasing value — they have been limited, for the most part, to special localities and 
particular periods or classes. Rich as the annals of Illinois are in the records and character 
of its distinguished citizens who, by their services in the public councils, upon the judicial 
bench and in the executive chair, in the forum and in the field, have reilected honor upon 
the State and the Nation, there has been hitherto no comprehensive attempt to gather 
together, in one volume, sketches of those who have been conspicuous in the creation and 
upbuilding of the State. The collection of material of this sort has been a task requiring 
patient and laborious research ; and, while all may not have been achieved in this direction 
that was desirable, owing to the insufliciency or total absence of data relating to the lives of 
many men most prominent in public affairs during the period to which they belonged, it is 
still believed that what has been accomplished will be found of permanent value and be 
appreciated by those most deeply interested in this phase of State history. 

The large number of topics treated has made brevity and conciseness an indispensable 
feature of the work ; consequently there has been no attempt to indulge in graces of style or 

5 



P K E F A T R Y S T A T E M E N T . 

e.aboratioii of narrative. The object has been to present, in simple language and concise 
form, facts of history of interest or value to those who may choose to consult its pages. 
Absolute inerrancy is not claimed for every detail of the work, but no pains liiis been 
spared, and every available authority consulted, to arrive at complete accuracy of statement. 

In view of the important bearing which railroad enterprises have had upon the extraor- 
dinary development of the State within the past fifty years, considerable space has been given 
to this department, especially with reference to the older lines of railroad whose history has 
been intimately interwoven with that of the State, and its progress in wealth and population. 

In addition to the acknowledgments made by Dr. 15ateman, it is but proper tliat I 
should express my personal obligations to the late Prof. Samuel M. Inglis, State Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, and his assistant, Prof. J. II. Freeman; to ex Senator John 
M. Palmer, of Springfield ; to the late Hon. Joseph Medill, editor of "The Chicago Tribune" ; 
to the Hon. James B. Bradwell, of "The Chicago Legal News"; to Gen. Green B. Raum, 
Dr. Samuel Willard, and Dr. Garrett Xewkirk, of Cliicago (the latter as author of the prin- 
cipal portions of the article on the "Undergi'ound Railroad") ; to the Librarians of the State 
Historical Library, the Chicago Historical Library, and the Chicago Public Library, for 
special and valuable aid rendered, as well as to a large circle of correspondents in different 
parts of the State who have courteously responded to requests for information on special 
topics, and have thereby materially aided in securing whatever success may have been 
attained in the work. 

In conclusion, I cannot omit to pay this final tribute to the memory of my friend and 
associate, Dr. Bateman, whose death, at his home in Galesburg, elsewhere recorded, was 
deplored, not only by his associates in the Facult)' of Knox College, his former pupils and 
immediate neighbors, but by a large circle of friends in all parts of the State. 

Although his labors as editor of this volume had been substantially finished at the time 
of his death (and they included the reading and revision of every line of copy at that time 
prepared, comprising the larger proportion of the volume as it now goes into the hands of 
the public), the enthusiasm, zeal and kindly appreciation of the labor of others which he 
brought to the discharge of his duties, have been sadly missed in the last stages of prepara- 
tion of the work for the press. In the estimation of many who have held his scholarship 
and his splendid endowments of mind and character in the highest admiration, his con- 
nection with the work will be its strongest commendation and the surest evidence of its 
merit. 

With myself, the most substantial satisfaction I have in dismissing the volume from my 
hands and submitting it to the judgment of the public, exists iu the fact that, in its prepara- 
tion, I have been associated with such a co-laborer — one whoso abilities commanded uni- 
versal respect, and whose genial, scholarly character and noble qualities of mind and heart 
won the love and confidence of all with whom he came in contact, and whom it had been my 
privilege to count as a friend from an early period in his long and useful career. 







LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Abraham Lincoln {Frontispiece) 1 

Annex Central Hospital for Insane, Jacksonville 84 

Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, Lincoln 237 

Bateman, Newton (Portrait) 3 

Board of Trade Building, Chicago 277 

"Chenu Mansion," Kaskaskia (1898), where La Fayette was entertained in 1825 .... 315 

Chicago Academy of Sciences 394 

Chicago Drainage Canal 94 

Chicago Historical Society Building 394 

Chicago Post Office (U. S. Gov. Building) 88 

Chicago Public Buildings 395 

Chicago Thoroughfares 89 

Chicago Thoroughfares 93 

Chief Chicagou (Portrait) 246 

Comparative Size of Great Canals 95 

Day after Chicago Fire 92 

Early Historic Scenes, Chicago 170 

Early Historic Scenes, Chicago (No. 2) 171 

Engineering Hall, University of Illinois 280 

Experiment Farm, University of Illinois 12 

Experiment Farm, University of Illinois — The Vineyard 13 

Experiment Farm, University of Illinois — Orchard Cultivation 13 

First Illinois State House, Kaskaskia (1818) 314 

Fort Dearborn from the West (1808) 246 

Fort Dearborn from Southeast (1808) 247 

Fort Dearborn (1853) 247 

General John Edgar's House, Kaskasia 315 

Henry de Tonty (Portrait) 246 

House of Governor Bond, Old Kaskaskia (1891) 315 

House of Chief Ducoign, the last of the Kaskaskias (1893) 314 

Home for Juvenile Female Offenders, Geneva. 236 

Illinois Eastern Hospital for Insane, Kankakee 85 

Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, Quincy 438 

Illinois State Normal University, Normal 504 

Illinois State Capitol (First), Kaskaskia 240 

Illinois State Capitol (Second), Vandalia 240 

Illinois State Capitol (Third), Springfield '. 240 

Illinois State Capitol (Present), Springfield 241 

Illinois State Building, World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 601 

Illinois State Penitentiary, Joliet 306 

Illinois State Penitentiary— Cell House and Women's Prison 307 

Illinois State Keformatory, Pontiac 493 

7 

/ 



•8 LISTOFILLUSTEATIONS. 

PAGE 

Institution for Deaf and Dumb, Jacksonville 300 

Interior of iloom, Kaskaskia Hotel (189:!) whore La Fayette Hauquet was held in 1825 314 

Institution for the Blind, Jacksonville 301 

Kaskaskia Hotel, where La Fayette was feted in 1825 (as it appeared, IS'J'-l) 314 

La Salle (Portrait) 246 

Library Building, University of Illinois 334 

Library Building — Main Floor — University of lUiuois 335 

Lincoln Park Vistas, Chicago 120 

Map of Burned District, Chicago Fire, 1871 276 

Map of (! rounds. World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 600 

Map of Illinois Following Title Page 

Map of Illinois River Valley " " " 

JlcCormick .Seniinary, Chicago 362 

Monuments in Lincoln Park, Cliicago 90 

Monuments in Lincoln Park, Chicago 206 

Monuments in Lincoln Park, Chicago 207 

Natural History Hall, University of Illinois 151 

Xewberry Library, Chicago 394 

Northern Hospital for the Insane, Elgin 402 

Old Kaskaskia, from Garrison Hill (as it appeared in 1893) 314 

Old State House, Kaskaskia (1900) 315 

Pierre Menard Mansion, Kasksiskia (189:i) 314 

Kemnanl of Old Kaskaskia (as it appeared in 1898) 315 

Scenes in South Park, Chicago 604 

Seiljy, Paul (Protrait) 5 

Nheridan Road and on the Boulevards, Chicago 121 

Soldiers' Widows' Home, Wilmington 439 

Southern Illinois Normal, Carbondale 505 

Southern Illinois Penitentiary and Asylum for Incurable Insane, Chester 492 

University Hall, University of Illinois 150 

University of Chicago 363 

University of Illinois, Urbana. (Group of Buildings) 540 

University of Illinois, Urbana. (Group of Buildings) 541 

View from Engineering Hall, University of Illinois 281 

View on Principal Street, Old Kaskaskia (1891) 315 

Views in Lincoln Park, Chicago 91 

V lews of Drainage Canal 96 

Views of Drainage Canal 97 

War Eagle (Portrait) ^ 246 

Western Hospital for the Insane, Watertown 403 

World's Fair Buildings 605 



PREFACE. 



In keeping with the general aim and purpose of the foregoing "Historical 
Encyclopedia of Illinois." the matter embraced in the following pages, consti- 
tuting a part of the special P'ulton County edition of the work, is intended as 
a bringing together, in as concise fonn as practicable, of matters of historic 
interest without unnecessary elaboration or embellishment. Romance, anec- 
dote and mere speculation have been accorded no consideration. Neither have 
the personal character and achievements of the indi\-idual, no matter how im- 
portant a part lie ma\- have taken, been dilated upon, but only adverted to inci- 
dentally to the proper presentation of the subject matter, which is a brief his- 
tor}- of Fulton County and not a history' of its people — that part of the work 
being abundantly covered in the biographical department, which was exclus- 
ively in other hands. 

Much labor has been devoted to verification of statements, names and 
dates, and to this end old settlers, official records and other authorities have 
been freely consulted as far as opportunity offered. By tlie exercise of such 
precautions many misstatements found in other publications have been avoided 
or corrected. In this connection I wish to express mv indebtedness to Dr. W. 
S. Strode, Fulton County's able naturalist, who prepared the articles on the 
"Natural History" of the county, which will be found to contain much infor- 
mation that will be invaluable to the future historian ; also to H. S. Cutler, of 
the publisher's stafY, for assistance in preparing the matter upon the topics of 
the educational and ecclesiastical histoiy of the county, as well as the history 
of the fraternal and benevolent societies. 

^^'hile errors are unavoidable in a work of this character, treating of 
events of which no one of the present day has personal knowledge, and espe- 
cially where so many names and dates are involved and the sources of informa- 
tion cannot always be relied upon as infallible, it is yet hoped that we have 
succeeded in reducing such shortcomings to the minimum. The gathering and 
verification of facts derived from many different sotuxes and the preparation, 
from the mass of information thus obtained, of a history for the press have 
proved a greater ta.sk and consumed more time than I at fir.st anticipated. The 
publishers, while urging its early completion, have awaited the furnishing of 



my manuscript with courteous consideration, believing, with me, that the 
greater time thus employed would result in a more thoroughly prepared work, 
and would, therefore, prove to the greater benefit of its patrons. 

At the same time, the fact is worthy of recognition that much credit is due 
to the publishers for the financial outlay which they have incurred, and the 
great care evidently taken by them in the preparation of the work as a whole, 
including the insertion of many finely executed portraits and other illustrations, 
thereby adding largely to the intrinsic value and interest of the volume. Hu- 
man effort and intelligence have their limitations and perfection is never attain- 
able in publications of this kind. Nevertheless the work throughout has been 
conscientiously prepared, and I feel assured that it will prove of permanent 
value to present and future generations. 




-^^^<£_/^ ^/V<^y /^-L^^^^s^ 



INDEX 

CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

First White Visitors to Fulton County Soil — Coming of Joliet and 
Marquette — Search for an Outlet to the South Sea — Planting of 
European Colonies in the New \\'orl(l — Joliet and Marquette's 
Trip Down the Mississippi and Up the Illinois in 1673 — Indian 
Tribes Constituting the Illinois Confederacy — Second Visit of 
]\Iarquette in 1675 — His Death — Arrival of La Salle and Tonti — 
Building of Fort Creve-Couer — Period of French Occupation — 
Fur Trading Stations on the Illinois — Region Within the Present 
Limits of Fulton Count}' Known to \Miite Men in the Latter Part 
of the Seventeenth Century 617-621 

CHAPTER II. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 

Geology and Topography of Fulton County — Surface Conditions — 
Varieties of Soil — Geologic Strata Found in the County — Mineral 
Resources — Coal Area and Products — Extent of Different Sys- 
tems — Other Mineral Products — Fire Clay and Iron — Sand and 

Limestone — Copper and Granite Specimens 621-623 

(By \y. S. Strode, M. D.) 

CHAPTER III. 

NATURAL HISTORY— (Continued. ) 

Animal and Bird Life — Animals \Vhich Have Become Extinct — 
Destruction of the Wild Turkey — List of Principal Mammals 
Still in Existence — Fur-Bearing Animals — Birds That Have Dis- 
appeared or Are Decreasing in Numbers — Some Species That 
Are Holding Their Own — Classified List of Birds Still in 

Existence 623-626 

(Bv \\'. S. Strode. M. D.) 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

CHAPTER IV. 

NATURAL HISTORY—) Continued.) 

Fishes. Reptiles ;uk1 Shell-Bearing Animals of Fulton County — 
I'-ishing Industry and Commercial Value of Its I'rcxlucts — Classi- 
lied List of Reptiles and Related Species — Mussel Shell Species 
iMiund in Fulton County Water — Their Value for Manufacturing- 
Purposes — List of Land and \\'ater Shells 626-631 

(By W. S. Strode. M. D.) 

CHAPTER V. 

NATURAL HISTORY— ( Concluded.) 

Flora of I-"ultou Ctnnity — Total of Indigenous I'nxlucts of the Soil 
in Illinois — Restrictive Influence of Agriculture and Stock Feeding 
— Prominent Local Botanists — Lists of Native Trees, Fruit-Bear- 
ing Shrubs, firasses and Other Native Products — Sources From 

Which the Lists Flave Been Compiled 631-636 

(By \\'. S. Strode. M. D.) 

CHAPTER VI. 

A i'ERIOD OF TRANSITION. 

Different Races That Have Occupied Fulton County — Conquest of 
the Illinois Country by Col. George Rogers Clark — It Becomes a 
Part of Virginia and Illinois County Is Cteated — French Lan- 
guage Still Dominant — Northwest Territory Organized by Act 
of 1787 — Subsequent Progress to Statehood — Pioneer Condi- 
tions Described — War of 181 2 — Capt. Craig's Expedition Against 
Peoria — Half of the Town Burned and Many Inhaliitants Car- 
ried Away as Prisoners — Fort Clark Erected in 1813 — A Militia- 
man's Description of the Region About Peoria — No White Man 
■fhere From 1815 to 1818 — American Inu- Company Trading Sta- 
tion at W'esley City — Immigration begins in 1819 — A List of I'irst 
C(jmers 636-640 

CHAPTER \TI. 

L.WD SYSTEM— THE MILTARY TR.ACT. 

System of Governinent Land .Survey.s — Its Adoption in 1785 — De- 
scription — Bounty Lands Set Apart for Soldiers of the W'nr of 
181 2 — Location and Area of the Militarv Tnict — Its Survev in 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

1815-16 — Coming of New Settlers — Land Speculation, Forgeries 
and Consequent Litigation Over Titles — Description of Lands 
and Streams in Fulton County — Early Xavigation — Quotation 
From "Beck's Gazetteer" — Desirable Location for Settlements in 
the Early '20s 640-643 

CHAPTER Vm. 

EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

Beginning of Permanent White Settlements in Fulton County — 
Early Bounty Land Patents in the Military Tract — Some of the 
First Comers — The First Saw Mill — John Eveland and Family 
First Permanent Settlers — Story of the Famous Hermit, Dr. 
Davison — Mrs. Ossian M. Ross' Account of the Eccentric Recluse 
— Coming of the Ross Family — Origin of Lewistown — Harvey 
Lee Ross' Reminiscence — Prominent Part Played by the Ross 
Family in the Development of Fulton County — Other Early Ar- 
rivals — David Barnes, the Sergeants and William Blanchard — 
Early Comers to Peoria — Growth in Population of Fulton County 643-650 

CHAPTER IX. 

COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 

Political Changes Through Which the Illinois Country Passed — 
Illinois County the First Political Organization — Failure as a Gov- 
ernmental System — St. Clair County Organized in 1790 — Subse- 
quent Changes — I-'ulton County Territory Becomes a Part of St. 
Clair County in 1800 — It Successively Passes Lender the Jurisdic- 
tion of Madison and Pike Counties — Fulton County Formally Or- 
ganized in 1823, and Until the Organization of Peoria County 
in 1825, Exercises Jurisdiction Over the Northern Part of the 
.State, Including Cook County — First Officers and Other Items of 
Political History — Seat of Justice Located at Lewistown 650-655 

CHAPTER X. 

PIONEER LIFE. 

Whence the Early Settlers of Fulton County Came — Habits and 
Character of the Pioneer as Described by Governor Reynolds — 
Modes of Living — The Hunting Shirt and 'Coon Skin Cap — - 
Women's Dress and Occupation — Early Homes — The Log Cabin 
and Its Construction — Domestic Furnishings — The Food Problem 
— Wild Fruits and Honey — Education and Early Schools — Re- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

iigious Life — Services in the Pioneer Cabin and Schoolhouse 
— Domestic Hardships and Pleasures — Games and Other Amuse- 
ments — Social Life of the Young — Deaths and Funerals — Early 
IMail Service 656-666 

CHAPTER XI. 

DEVELOPMENT. 

Primitive Conditions — Word Picture by an Early Settler — Prairie 
Landscape and Natural Groves — Indigenous Fruits — Indians and 
Wild Game — Early Traders — Routes by Which First Settlers 
Came — Some Whose Names Have Been Left on the County Map 
— Immigrant Modes of Transportation — Hardships Encoun- 
tered — Pioneer Farming Methods and Implements — Agricultural 
Products and Prices — Stock-Raising Marks a New Period — 
Changes Following the Civil \\'ar — Conditions of the Present 
Day — The Telephone in the Farm House and Mail Delivery 
at the Door 666-670 

CHAPTER XII. 

GOVERNMENTAL— PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

I''irst Meeting of County Commissioners' Court — Changes in Local 
Government — Organization of Townships — First Meeting of 
Board of Supen'isors Under Township Organization — List of 
County Officers From 1823 to 1907 — County Buildings — Court 
Houses and County Jails — Almshouse and Poor Farm 670-675 

CHAPTER XIII. 

COURTS— BENCH AND BAR. 

Fulton County Courts — Judicial Districts of Which the County Has 
I'ormed a Part — First Judges and First Jury Panels — List of 
Judges Who Have Presided Over Fulton Circuit Courts — Pros- 
ecuting Attorneys and Modes of Appointment or Election — First 
Lawyers and Justices of the Peace — Canton City Court — Deceased 
and Present Members of Fulton County Bar 675-678 

CHAPTER XIV. 

POLITICAL. 

First Election in Fulton County — The Ossian M. Ross Home the 
Polling Place for the Most Northerly Precinct in Pike County 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

— Method of Voting Then by Viva Voce — The Pro-Slavery 
Struggle of 1822-24 — Apportionments for Representation in Con- 
gress, and List of Members Who Have Represented Fulton 
Countv — Legislative Apportionments — List of Senators and Rep- 
resentatives Who Have Represented the Fulton District 678-685 

CHAPTER XV. 

TOWNSHIP HISTORY. 

First Subdivision of Fulton County — List of Original Precincts — 
Township Organization — List of Townships and Area — Changes 
in Names — First Settlers — Population of Each According to 
Census of 1900 683-687 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Ml'NICIPAL HISTORY. 

Cities and Villages of Fulton County — Cimditiims L'luler the Con- 
stitution of 1848 — List of Incorporated Municipalities — Location, 
Dates of Incorporation and Population — Villages Which Ha\-e 
Been Platted but Never Incorporated — Some Paper Towns and 
Deserted Villages 687-693 

CHAPTER XVII. 

JMANUFACTURES. 

First Manufacturing Enteiprises — Saw and Grist Mills — Hardships 
of Early Settlers in Obtaining Milling Accommodations — Near- 
est Milling Point on the Sangamon, Near Springfield — Favorite 
Milling Streams — Distilleries and Breweries — Some Extinct In- 
dustries — Brick and Tile Manufacturing — \\'oolen Mills — Cigar 
Making — Tanneries — Ag-ricultural Implement ^lanufacturing a 
Growing Industry — The Parlin & Orendorff Factory at Canton — 
Its Immense Output 693-698 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

COMMERCIAL EXPANSION. 

Opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal — Consequent Trend 
of Business Toward Chicago — Commercial Conditions Previous 
to the Civil ^Var — Early Currency — The Phelpses the First l\Ier- 
chants in Fulton County — Water Transportation to St. Louis — 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

Later Mercantile Concerns — Absence of Banking Institutions — 
William Proctor Establishes the First Tannery — Unique Career as 
a Merchant — Reminiscences Related b\- John W. Proctor — Fond- 
ness of Indians for the Spoon River Country — Bee Hunting — 
Commercial Commodities of an Early Day — Beginning of Pork 
Packing — Early Canton and Lewistown Merchants 699-702 

CHAPTER XIX. 

HIGHWAYS— RAILROADS. 

Importance of Cood Roads — Indian 'i'rails the Only Early Substitute 
— Day of the Piroque — Illinois River Ferries — First Road Over- 
seers in Fulton County — Plank and Toll Roads — Early Stage 
Lines — Primitive Ferries Give \\'ay to Steel Bridges — Coming 
of the Railroad — Failure of the State Internal Improvement Sys- 
tem — Local Railroad Enterprises — Lewistown and Canton Com- 
peting Lines — Toledo, Peoria & Western — The Fulton County 
Railway — Jacksonville & Southeastern — Street and Interurban 
Lines 702-707 

CHAPTER XX. 

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 

First Bank in luilton County a Branch of the Jacksonville State 
Bank — Currency Conditions Previous to i860 — Banks Which 
Have Failed and Gone Out of E.xistence — List of Banking Insti- 
tutions of the Present Day — Number of National, State and Pri- 
vate Banks — Dates of Organization and Principal Founders — 
Present Officers, Capitalization and Financial Condition — Build- 
ing and Loan Associations /O/'/iS 

CHAPTER XXI. 

FULTON COUNTY PRESS. 

Newspaper Flistory — First Pa])er in Military Tract Started in Ful- 
ton Count}- — Three Papers \\'hich Have Had Longest Continuous 
Existence — Present Editors and Proprietors — List of Weekly and 
Dailv Papers of the Present Day, with Names of Editors and Po- 
litical Relation.s — History of Some Early Publications 713-714 

CHAPTER XXII. 

EDUCATION— LIBRARIES. 

Early Schools in hTilton County — Local School History by Town- 
ships — First School at Lewistown — Early Teachers — Present 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUxXTY. 

Conditions of Principal Towns and Cities — Higher Education — 
Attempt to Found a College at Canton — Public Libraries at Can- 
ton, Lewistown and Farmington — Statistics of Schools for 1907 — 
Number of Pupils. Teachers, Schools, etc. — Salaries, Expenditures 
and \'alue of School Property — -Population by Townships, 
1850-1900 714-721 

CHAPTER XXin. 

CHURCH HISTORY. 

Early Religious Movements in l-'ulton Cciunty — Methodists the Pio- 
neers in Church Work — Early WUrkers in Different Townships • 
— Rev. Jesse \\'alker I-'ounds the First Church in Canton in 1824 
— List of Pastors and History of Church Buildings — First Pres- 
byterian Church Established in 1828 — Other Church Organiza- 
tions — Historic Dutch Refonned Church of Fairview — Farming- 
ton and Lewistown Churches — Fulton Sunday School Association 
— List of Officers and Statistics of Schools — Canton Young Men's 
Christian Association 721-730 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

:\IILITARY HISTORY. 

The Black Hawk War — Stillman Defeated — The Leader in this 
Contest a Former Citizen of Fulton — List of Men From Fulton 
County Who Participated in That Struggle — Mormon \\'ar — 
Governor Ford's Unsuccessful Attempt to Preserve the Peace — 
War of the Rebellion and List of Regiments in Which Fulton 
County Citizens Enlisted — Roster of Soldiers and Regimental 
History — Soldiers' Monuments — Mexican War — Spanish-Ameri- 
can \\'ar — Fifth Illinois National Guard and Its l-'ailure to Reach 
the Field of Struggle — Fulton County Members of the Regiment. 730-750 

CHAPTER XXV. 

FAIRS— COAL FIELDS— TELEGRAPH. 

First Agricultural Exhibition Held in Fulton County in 1852 — Later 
Fairs and Where They ^^'ere Held — County Fair Located at Can- 
ton in 1866 — Disastrous Effect of the Chicago Fire — Canton Ex-. 
hibitions Abandoned in 1893 — Avon District Fair — County Fair' 
Revived at Lewistown in 1905 — Poultry Shows — Wealth of Ful- 
ton County Coal Fields — History of Their Development and Va- 
rieties of Coal Produced — Statistics of the Coal Product of 1906 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

— Fulton County Stands Seventli in the List of Counties of the 

State — Telegraplis and Telephones 750"753 

CHAPTER XXVL 

SOCL\L AXD BEXEVOLEXT ORGANIZATIONS. 

Numerous Fraternal Orders in Fulton County — List of Principal 
Organizations — Odd Fellows the First Fraternal Organization at 
Canton — Masonic and Other Orders — Modern W^oodmen and 
Knights of Pythias — Charter Members and Present Officer.'^ — 
Social Orders of Farmington and Lewistown — Grand Army Posts 
and •Woman's Relief Corps — List of Deceased and Surviving 
Members — Benevolent Associations — Altruistic Club and Pro- 
jected Graham Hospital — Trades-l'ninn Organizations 753-/58 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

CRIMINAL RECORD. 

List of Notable Crimes Perpetrated in Fulton Countv — Persons 
\Mio Have Been Prosecuted for Murder in the Historv of the 
County 758-761 

CHAPTER XXVUI. 

ELECTIOX Rl'.TL-RXS. 

Tabulated Statement of Flections in Iniltun I'ountv from iS_:56 

to 1 Q06 76 1 -jC>2\y 

CHAPTER NNIX. 

NOTABLE EVENTS. 

Some Notable Events in Inilton County History — County-Seat Con- 
tests — Burning of the County Court House — .-\ Sensational Trial 
for Arson — .\ Reminiscence of the Civil War Period — Threatened 
Resistance to an Anticipated Draft — Statement of Provost-Mar- 
Local Storm.s — I'irst White Children Born in tiie County yfuw 

BIOGR.VPHICAL DEPARTMENT. 

The Personal Sketches in this Department having been arranged in 
alphal)etical order, no Index by Names of Subjects is deemed nec- 
essary 761-1184 

.\l)^^:^■n^•^[ j jg , 



ILLLTSTRATIO^S 



Baptist Church, Canton j^z 

Boat House. Van Winkle Lake 688 

Carnegie Public Library, Faniiington 720 

Carnegie Public Library, Lewistown 718 

Catholic Church, Canton "jzz 

City Hall and Fire Department, Canton 688 

Congregational Church, Canton 724 

County Jail 676 

Court House (1823 ) 674 

Court House ( 1830) 674 

Court House (1838) 674 

Court House ( 1897) 676 

High School, Canton 716 

High School, Farmington 720 

High School, Lewistown 726 

McCall Family Crest ■ 912 

Map of Fulton County 617 

M. E. Church, Canton 724 

M. E. Church, Lewistown 726 

Parlin and Orendorff Company, Canton 698 

Parlin Public Library, Canton 718 

Presbyterian Church, Canton 722 

Presbyterian Church, Lewistown 726 

Residence of Mrs. W. J. Orendorff. Canton 960 

Residence of C. B. Robinson. Ipava 1024 

Residence of Mrs. Sarah Smith, Canton 1052 

Sarah Smith Building, Canton 1054 

South Park M. P. Church, Canton 724 

St. James Episcopal Church. Lewistown 726 

United Brethren Church. Canton 724 

Water Works, Canton 688 



F»ORTRAlTS 



Abernathy. Addison D 61S 

Abernathy, Mrs. Addison D 620 

Anderson, Andrew M 624 

Anderson, Mrs. R. M 624 

Babbitt, Jonathan .1 626 

Bailey, John 630 

Barber, Edward S 632 

Bartholow, Jasjjer 636 

Bartholow, Mrs. Jasper 636 

Barton, John S 640 

Battin, George W 644 

Battin, Mrs. George W 646 

Baylor, George T 650 

Beam, J. C 654 

Beam, Mrs. J. C 656 

Blain, Albert E 660 

Bordner, Marvin H 664 

Bordner. Mrs. Marvin H 664 

Bordner, Margaret 668 

Bordner, Moses 668 

Boyd. Thomas A 670 

Brock, Benjamin F ^ 682 

Brock, Mrs. S. C 686 

Brokaw, John V 692 

Brokaw, Mrs. John V 696 

Cattron, H 702 

Cattron, H. A 704 

Cattron, Mrs. H. A 704 

Cattron. Israel V 706 

Cattron. John M 708 

Chiperfield. Hurnett M 712 

Colter, Hugh R 730 

Crosthwait, Eli C 734 

Crosthwait, Mrs. Eli C 734 

Crosthwait, Harvey 736 

Crosthwait, Maria 738 

Culver. Solon 742 

Culver, Mrs. Solon 742 

Davidson, William T 744 

Davis, Ernest E 746 

Denney, John J 748 

Easley, John 750 

Easley, Nancy 750 

Emerson, E. Paul ,. . . . 752 

Emerson. William H 754 

Farwell, Annie E 762 

Farwell. William A 758 



Fillingham. John F 766 

Fink. C. L 768 

Foote. Charles F 772 

Foutch. James 774 

Foutch, Mrs. James 776 

Fox, John M 780 

Gorham. R. S 784 

Gorham, Mrs. R. S 786 

Graham, John G 790 

Gray, .John A 794 

Griffith, John T 798 

Hallar, William H 800 

Hamer. Edward 804 

Hanlon, William 808 

Hanson, Grier 812 

Harvey, Lewis P 816 

Havermale, Marion F 822 

Henkle, R. F 826 

Herring, H.N 830 

Herring. Mrs. H. N 834 

Herring, Joseph R 838 

Herring, Margaret A 842 

Heylin, Jesse 617 

Hinkle. Samuel R 846 

Hinkle, Mrs. Samuel R 848 

Hoopes, John A 850 

Hoopes, Josephine M 850 

Howard, Isaac 852 

Howard. Mrs. Isaac 852 

Hudson, Joseph S 854 

Hudson. Mary S 856 

Hughes, Addle L 864 

Hughes, George W 860 

Hughes, Julius E 872 

Hughes. Mary D 874 

Hughes, Susan E 868 

Hugiies, Taylor 874 

Jacobs, Balthazer 876 

Jacobus, Andrew J 878 

Jacobus, James 880 

Jewell, William S 882 

Laswell, Samuel 884 

Laswell. Mrs. Samuel 884 

Leiand. Lucile E 818 

Little, T. P 890 

Little, Mrs. T. P 890 

Marshall, Corella 894 



Marshall, George W S92 

Marshall. James S 896 

Marshall, Mrs. James S 896 

Martin. Howard 898 

Martin. Telitha 900 

Maxwell. Jacob H 890 

Maxwell, Mrs. Jacob H 890 

McCall, James H 904 

McCall, Louisa 90S 

McClelland. John 914 

McClelland, Mrs. John 916 

McClelland, Robert 918 

McClelland. Mrs. Robert 918 

McDowell. William M 922 

Middlekauff , Emma 930 

Middlekauff, .Joseph A 926 

Morgan, Peter W 934 

Morgan. Mrs. Peter W 934 

Mosher. Joseph J 936 

Mummy, Charles W 938 

Mummy, Mrs. Charles W 940 

Neville. J. W.. and Family 942 

Onion, Jasper N 944 

Onion, Mrs. Jasper N 946 

Oren. Samuel A 948 

Orendorff. William .1 952 

Orendorff, Mrs. William J 9.j6 

Parr, Samuel 964 

Parr. Mrs. Samuel 964 

Pigg, Anderson 966 

Pigg, Mrs. Anderson 966 

Plumer. Thomas R 968 

Polhemus, Garrett V 972 

Proctor, J. \V 974 

Randolph. Charles S 986 

Randolph, Mrs. Charles S 990 

Randolph, Isabel 982 

Randolph, John F 994 

Randolph. L. F.. and Family 1002 



Randolph, Louisa F 998 

Randolph, Oliver P 978 

Resor, Josephine H 1004 

Robb, Andrew 1006 

Robb, James C 1010 

Robb. Mrs. James C 1012 

Robb. Susan 1008 

Robinson. Sarah A 1020 

Robinson, Thomas C 1016 

Ross, Mary 1028 

Saville, Robert A 1032 

Seavey , William S 1036 

Shinkel, George W 1040 

Shinkel, Mrs. George W 1040 

Smith, Cyrus 1044 

Smith, James 1056 

Smith, Perry, and Family 1058 

Smith, Sarah 1048 

Snively, Clarence E 1062 

Standard, Hezekiah W 1066 

Standard, Mrs. Hezekiah W 1066 

Stephens, Mary 1070 

Stephens, William 1070 

Stump, D. M.. and Family ; 1074 

Taylor, A. J 1078 

Taylor, Bernard H 1082 

Taylor. Lillian M 1080 

Ten Eyck, James 1084 

Ten Eyck, Peter 1084 

Thornton, Stephen Y 1086 

Trites. Lewis E 1090 

Turner, Charles H 1094 

Turner, Susan A 1098 

Underwood, Kate 1106 

Underwood, Richard B 1102 

White, A. S 1110 

Winchel, Eliza A 1114 

Winchel, John 1112 



Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. 



ABBOTT, (Llent.-Gov.) Edward, a British 
officer, who was coinniandant at Post Vincennes 
(called by the British, Fort Sackville) at the 
time Col. George Rogers Clark captured Kaskas- 
kia in 1778. Abbott's jurisdiction extended, at 
least nominally, over a part of the "Illinois 
Country. " Ten days after the occupation of Kas- 
kaskia, Colonel Clark, having learned that 
Abbott had gone to the British headquarters at 
Detroit, leaving the Post without any guard 
except that furnished by the inhabitants of the 
village, took advantage of his absence to send 
Pierre Gibault. the Catholic Vicar-General of Illi- 
nois, to win over the people to the American 
cause, which he did so successfully that they at 
once took the oath of allegiance, and the Ameri- 
can flag was run up over the fort. Although 
Fort Sackville afterwards fell into the hands of 
the British for a time, the manner of its occupa- 
tion was as much of a surprise to the British as 
that of Kaskaskia itself, and contributed to the 
completeness of Clark's triumph. (See Clark, 
Col. George Rogers, also, Gibault, Pierre.) Gov- 
ernor Abbott seems to have been of a more 
humane character than the mass of British 
officers of his day, as he wrote a letter to General 
Carleton about this time, protesting strongly 
against the employment of Indians in carrying 
on warfare against the colonists on the frontier, 
on the ground of humanity, claiming that it was 
a detriment to the British cause, although he 
was overruled by his superior officer. Colonel 
Hamilton, in the steps soon after taken to recap- 
ture Vincennes. 

ABINGDON, second city in sizeinKnoxCounty, 
at the junction of the Iowa Central and the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads; 10 
miles south of Galesburg, with which it is con- 
nected by electric car line; has city waterworks, 
electric light plant, wagon works, brick and tile 
works, sash, blind and swing factories, two banks. 



three weekly papers, jiublic library, fine high 
school building and two ward schools. Hedding 
College, a flourishing institution, under auspices 
of the M. E. Church, is located here. Population 
(1900), 2,033; (est. 1904), 3,000. 

ACCAULT, Michael (Ak-ko), French explorer 
and companion of La Salle, who came to the 
"Illinois Country" in 1780, and accompanied 
Hennepin when the latter descended the Illinois 
River to its mouth and then ascended the Mis- 
sissippi to the vicinity of the present city of St. 
Paul, where they were captured by Sioux. They 
were rescued by Greysolon Dulhut (for whom 
the city of Duluth was named), and having dis- 
covered the Falls of St. Anthony, returned to 
Green Bay. (See Heirnepin.) 

ACKERMAN, William K., Railway President 
and financier, was born in New York City, Jan. 
29, 1833, of Knickerbocker and Revolutionary 
ancestry, his grandfather, Abraham D. Acker- 
man, having served as Captain of a company of 
the famous "Jersey Blues," participating with 
"Mad" Anthony Wayne in the storming of Stony 
Point during the Revolutionary War, while his 
father served as Lieutenant of Artillery in the 
War of 1813. After receiving a high school edu- 
cation in New York, Mr. Ackerman engaged in 
mercantile business, but in 1853 became a clerk 
in the financial department of tlie Illinois Central 
Railroad. Coming to Chicago in the service of 
the Company in 1860, he successively filled the 
positions of Secretary, Auditor and Treasurer, 
until July, 1876, when he was elected Vice-Presi- 
dent and a year later promoted to the Presidency, 
voluntarily retiring from this position in August, 
1883, though serving some time longer in the 
capacity of Vice-President. During the progress 
of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago 
(1893-93) Mr. Ackerman served as Auditor of the 
Exposition, and was City Comptroller of Chicago 
under the administration of Mayor Hopkins 



10 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



(1893-95). He is an active member of the Chicago 
Historical Societj-, and has rendered Taluable 
service to railroad liistory by tlie issue of two bro- 
chures on the "Earlj- History of Illinois Rail- 
roads, "and a "Historical Sketch of the Illinois 
Central Railroad." 

ADAMS, John, LL.D., educator and pliilan- 
thropist, was born at Canterbury, Conn., Sept. 18, 
1772; graduated at Yale College in 1795; taught 
for several years in his native place, in Plain- 
field, N. J., and at Colchester, Conn. In 1810 he 
became Principal of Phillips Academy at An- 
dover, Mass., remaining there twent3-three 
years. In addition to his educational duties he 
participated in the organization of several great 
charitable a.ssociations whicli attained national 
importance. On retiring from Phillips Academy 
in 1833, he removed to Jacksonville, lU., where, 
foirr years afterward, he became the third Prin- 
cipal of Jacksonville Female Academy, remaining 
six years. He then became Agent of the Ameri- 
can Sunday School Union, in the course of the 
next few years founding several hundred Sunday 
Schools in diflferent parts of the State. He re- 
ceived the degree of LL.D. from Yale College in 
1854. Died in Jacksonville, April 24, 1863. The 
subject of this sketch was father of Dr. William 
Adams, for forty years a prominent Presbyterian 
clergyman of New York and for seven years (1873- 
80) President of Union Theological Seminary. 

ADAMS, John McGregor, manufacturer, was 
born at Londonderry, N. H., March 11, 1834, the 
son of Rev. John R. Adams, who served as Chap- 
lain of the Fifth Maine and One Hundred and 
Twenty-first New York Volunteers during the 
Civil War. Mr. Adams was educated at Gorham, 
Me., and Andover, Mass., after which, going to 
New York City, he engaged as clerk in a dry- 
goods house at §150 a year. He next entered the 
office of Clark & Jessup, hardware manufacturers, 
and in 1858 came to Chicago to represent the 
house of Morris K. Jessup & Co. He thus became 
associated with the late John Crerar, the firm of 
Jessup & Co. being finally merged into that of 
Crerar, Adams & Co., which, with the Adams & 
Westlake Co., have done a large business in the 
manufacture of railway supplies. Since the 
death of Mr. Crerar, Mr. Adams has been princi- 
pal manager of the concern's vast manufacturing 
business. 

ADAMS, (Dr.) Samuel, physician and edu- 
cator, was born at Brunswick, Me.. Dec. 19, 180G, 
and educated at Bowdoin College, where he 
graduated in both the departments of literature 
and of medicine. Then, having practiced as a 



phj-sician several years, in 1838 he assumed the 
chair of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and 
Natural History in Illinois College at Jackson- 
ville, 111. From 1843 to 1845 he was also Pro- 
fessor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the 
Medical Department of the same institution, and, 
during his connection with the College, gave 
instruction at diflferent times in nearly every 
branch embraced in the college curriculum, 
including the French and German languages. 
Of uncompromising firmness and invincible cour- 
age in his adherence to principle, he was a man 
of singular modesty, refinement and amiability 
in private life, winning the confidence and esteem 
of all with whom he came in contact, especially 
the students who came under his instruction. A 
profound and thorough scholar, he possessed a 
refined and exalted literarj' taste, which was 
illustrated in occasional contributions to scien- 
tific and literary periodicals. Among productions 
of his pen on philosophic topics may be enumer- 
ated articles on "The Natural History of Man in 
his Scriptural Relations;" contributions to the 
"Biblical Repository" (1844); "Auguste Comte 
and Positivism" ("New Englander," 1873), and 
"Herbert Spencer's Proposed Reconciliation be- 
tween Religion and Science" ("New Englander," 
1875). His connection with Illinois College con- 
tinued until his death, April, 1877 — a period of 
more than thirty-eight years. A monument to 
his memory has been erected tlirough the grate- 
ful donations of his former pupils. 

ADAMS, George Everett, lawyer and ex-Con- 
gre.s.sman, born at Keene, N. H., June 18, 1840; 
was educated at Harvard College, and at Dane 
Law School, Cambridge, Mass., graduating at the 
former in 1860. Early in life he settled in Chi- 
cago, where, after some time spent as a teacher 
in the Chicago High School, he engaged in the 
practice of his profession. His first post of pub- 
lic responsibility was that of State Senator, to 
which he was elected in 1880. In 1882 he was 
chosen, as a Republican, to represent the Fourth 
Illinois District in Congress, and re-elected in 
1884, '86 and '88. In 1890 he was again a candi- 
date, but was defeated by Walter C. Newberry. 
He is one of the Trustees of the Newberry 
Library. 

ADAMS, James, pioneer lawyer, was born in 
Hartford, Conn., Jan. 26, 1803; taken to Oswego 
County, N. Y., in 1809, and, in 1821, removed to 
Springfield, 111., being the first lawyer to locate 
in the future State capital. He enjojed an ex- 
tensive practice for the time; in 1823 was elected 
a Justice of the Peace, took part in the Winne- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



11 



bago and Black Hawk wars, was elected Probate 
Judge in 1841, and died in office, August 11, 1843. 

ADAMS COUJfTY, an extreme westerly county 
of the State, situated about midway between its 
northern and southern extremities, and bounded 
on the west by the Mississippi River. It was 
organized in 182.5 and named in honor of John 
Quincy Adams, the name of Quincy being given 
to the county seat. The United States Census of 
1890 places its area at 830 sq. m. and its popula- 
tion at 61,888. The soil of the county is fertile 
and well watered, the surface diversified and 
hilly, especially along the Mississippi bluffs, and 
its climate equable. The wealth of the county is 
largely derived from agriculture, although a 
large amount of manufacturing is carried on in 
Quincy. Population (1900), 67,058. 

ADDAMS, John Hiiy, legislator, was born at 
Sinking Springs, Berks County, Pa., July 12, 
1823; educated at Trappeand Upper Dublin, Pa., 
and learned the trade of a miller in his youth, 
which lie followed in later life. In 1844, Mr. 
Addams came to Illinois, settling at Cedarville, 
Stephenson County, purchased a tract of land 
and built a saw and grist mill on Cedar Creek. 
In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate from 
Stephenson County, serving continuously in that 
body by successive re-elections until 1870 — first as 
a Whig and afterwards as a Reiiublican. In 1865 
he established tlie Second National Bank of Free- 
port, of which he continued to be the president 
until his death, August 17, 1881. — Miss Jane 
(Addams), philanthropist, the founderof the "Hull 
House," Chicago, is a daughter of Mr. Addams. 

ADDISON, village, Du Page County; seat of 
Evangelical Lutheran College, Normal School 
and Orphan Asylum ; has State Bank, stores and 
public scliool. Pop. (1900), 591; (1904), 614. 

ADJUTANTS-GENERAL. The office of Adju- 
tant-General for the State of Illinois was first 
created by Act of tlie Legislature, Feb. 2, 1865. 
Previous to the War of the Rebellion the position 
was rather honorary than otherwise, its duties 
(except during tlie Black Hawk War) and its 
emoluments being alike unimportant. Tlie in- 
cumbent was simply tlie Chief of the Governor's 
Staff. In 1861, the post became one of no small 
importance. Those who held the office during 
the Territorial period were: Elias Rector, Robert 
Morrison, Benjamin Stephenson and Wm. Alex- 
ander. After the admission of Illinois as a State 
up to the beginning of the Civil War, the duties 
(which were almost wholly nominal) were dis- 
charged by Wm. Alexander, 1819-21; Elijah C. 
Berry, 1821-38; James W. Berry, 1828-39; Moses 



K. Anderson, 1839-57; Thomas S. Mather, 1858-61. 
In November, 1861, Col. T. S. Mather, who had held 
tlie position for three years previous, resigned to 
enter active service, and Judge Allen C. Fuller 
was appointed, remaining in office until January 
1, 1865. The first appointee, under tlie act of 
1805, was Isham N. Haynie, who held office 
until his death in 1869. The Legislature of 1869, 
taking into consideration that all the Illinois 
volunteers had been mustered out, and that the 
duties of the Adjutant-General had been materi- 
ally lessened, reduced the proportions of the 
department and curtailed the appropriation for 
its support. Since the adoption of the military 
code of 1877, the Adjutant-General's office has 
occupied a more important and conspicuous posi- 
tion among the departments of the State govern- 
ment. The following is a list of those wlio have 
held office since General Haynie, with tlie date 
and duration of their respective terms of office: 
Hubert Dilger, 1869-73; Edwin L. Higgins, 
1873-75; Hiram Hilliard, 1875-81; Isaac H. Elliot, 
1881-84; Joseph W. Vance, 1884-93; Albert Oren- 
dorff, 1893-96; C. C. Hilton, 1896-97; Jasper N. 
Reece, 1897 — . 

AGRICULTURE. Illinois ranks high as an 
agricultural State. A large area in the eastern 
portion of the State, because of the absence of 
timber, was called by the early settlers "the 
Grand Prairie." Upon and along a low ridge 
beginning in Jackson County and running across 
the State is the prolific fruit-growing district of 
Southern Illinois. The bottom lands extending 
from Cairo to the mouth of the Illinois River are 
of a fertility seemingly inexhaustible. The cen- 
tral portion of the State is best adapted to corn, 
and the southern and southwestern to the culti- 
vation of winter wheat. Nearly three-fourths of 
the entire State — some 42,000 square miles — is up- 
land prairie, well suited to the raising of cereals. 
In the value of its oat crop Illinois leads all the 
States, that for 1891 being 831,106,674; with 3,008,- 
930 acres under cultivation. In the production 
of corn it ranks next to Iowa, the last census 
(1890) showing 7,014,336 acres under cultivation, 
and the value of the crop being estimated at 
§86,905,510. In wheat-raising it ranked seventh, 
although the annual average value of the crop 
from 1880 to 1890 was a little less than §29,000,- 
000. As a live-stock State it leads in the value of 
horses (§83,000,000), ranks second in the produc- 
tion of swine (§30,000,000), third in cattle-growing 
(§32,000,000), and fourth in dairy products, the 
value of milch cows being estimated at §24,000,- 
000. (See also Farmers Institute.) 



12 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



A(iRICi:LTlRE, DEPARTMENT OF. A 

department of the State adininistration wliicli 
grew ovit of the organization of the Illinois Agri- 
cultural Society, incorporated by Act of the 
Legislature in 1853. The first appropriation from 
the State treasury for its maintenance was §1,000 
per anniun, "to be expended in the promotion of 
mechanical and agricultural arts." The first 
President was James N. Brown, of Sangamon 
County. Simeon Francis, also of Sangamon, was 
the first Recording Secretary ; John A. Kennicott 
of Cook, first Corresponding Secretaiy ; and John 
"Williams of Sangamon, first Treasurer. Some 
thirty volumes of reports ha%-e been issued, cover- 
ing a variety of topics of vital interest to agri- 
culturists. The department has well e(iuipped 
offices in the State House, and is charged with 
the conduct of State Fairs and the management 
of annual exhibitions of fat stock, besides the 
collection and dissemination of statistical and 
other information relative to the State's agi'i- 
cultural interests. It receives annual reports 
from all County Agricultural Societies. The 
State Board consists of three general officers 
(President, Secretary and Treasurer) and one 
representative from each Congressional district. 
The State appropriates some §20,000 annually for 
the prosecution of its work, besides which there 
Is a considerable income from receipts at State 
Fairs and fat .stock shows. Between §20,000 and 
S2.'J,000 per annum is disbursed in premiums to 
competing exhibitors at the State Fairs, and .some 
§10,000 divided among County Agricultui-al 
Societies holding fairs. 

AKERS, Peter, D. D., Methodist Episcopal 
clergyman, born of Presbyterian parentage, in 
Campbell County, Va., Sept. 1, 1790; was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and, at the age 
of 16, began teaching, later pui-suing a classical 
course in institutions of Virginia and North 
Carolina. Having removed to Kentucky, after a 
brief season spent in teacliing at Mount Sterling 
in that State, he began the study of law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1817. Two years later he 
began the publication of a paper called "The 
Star," which was continued for a short time. In 
1821 lie was converted and joined the Methodist 
church, and a few months later began preaching. 
In 1832 he removed to Illinois, and, after a year 
spent in work as an evangelist, he assumed the 
Presidency of McKendree College at Lebanon, 
remaining during 1833-34; then established a 
"manual labor school" near Jacksonville, which 
he maintained for a few years. From 1837 to 
1853 was spent as stationed minister or Presiding 



Elder at Springfield, Quincy and Jacksonville. In 
the latter year he was again appointed to the 
Presidency of McKendree College, where he 
remained five years. He was then (18.57) trans- 
ferred to the Minnesota Conference, but a j-ear 
later was compelled by declining health to assume 
a superannuated relation. Returning to Illinois 
about 1865, he served as Presiding Elder of the 
Jacksonville and Pleasant Plains Districts, but 
was again compelled to accept a superannuated 
relation, making Jacksonville his home, where 
he died, Feb. 21, 1886. While Prasident of Mc- 
Kendree College, he published his work on "Bib- 
lical Chronolog}'," to which he had devoted many 
previous years of his life, and which gave evi- 
dence of grfat learning and vast research. Dr. 
Akers was a man of profoiuid convictions, exten- 
sive learning and great eloquence. As a pulpit 
orator and logician he probably had no superior 
in the State during the time of his most active 
service in the denomination to which he belonged. 

AKIN, Edward C, lawyer and Attorney-Gen- 
eral, was born in Will County, 111., in 18.52, and 
educated in the public schools of Joliet andat Ann 
Arbor, Mich. For four j-ears he was paying and 
receiving teller in the First National Bank of 
Joliet, but was admitted to the bar in 1878 and 
has continued in active practice since. In 1887 he 
entered upon his political career as the Republi- 
can candidate for City Attorney of Joliet, and was 
elected by a majority of over 700 votes, although 
the city was usually Democratic. Tlie follow- 
ing year he was the candidate of his Jiarty for 
State's Attorney of Will County, and was again 
elected, leading the State and county ticket by 
800 votes — being re-elected to the same office in 
1893. In 1895 he was the Republican nominee 
for Mayor of Joliet, and, although opposed by a 
citizen's ticket headed by a Republican, was 
elected over his Democratic competitor by a deci- 
sive majority. His greatest popular triumph was 
in 189G, when he was elected Attorney-General 
on the Republican State ticket by a plurality 
over his Democratic opponent of 132.248 and a 
majority over all competitors of 111,255. His 
legal abilities are recognized as of a very high 
order, while liis personal popularity is indicated 
bj- his uniform success as a candidate, in the 
face, at times, of strong political majorities. 

ALBANY, a village of AVhiteside County, lo- 
cated on the Mississippi River and the Chicago, 
Jlilwaukee & St. Paul Railway (Rock Island 
branch). Population (1890), 611; (1900), 621. 

ALBION, county-seat of Edwards Covmty, 
on Southern Railway, midway between St. Louis 




Kxi'i';i;i.Mi:-\ I i ai;,m i i hi: \ iXKYAKin i xi\i;i;srrv or Illinois. 




EXPERIMENT FAliM (OUClIAUlJ CULTlVATlONj LMVEUSITY OF ILLINOIS. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



13 



and Louisville; seat of Southern Collegiate In- 
stitute; has plant for manufacture of vitrified 
shale paving brick, two newspapers, creamery, 
flouring mills, and is important shipping point 
fur live stock; is in a rich fruit-growing district; 
li.-is five churches and splendid public schools. 
Population (1900), 1,162; (est. 1904), 1,500. 

ALCORN, James Lusk, was born near Gol- 
conda. 111., Nov. 4, 1816; early went South and 
held various offices in Kentucky and Mississippi, 
including member of the Legislature in each; 
was a member of the Mississippi State Conven- 
tions of 1851 and 1861, and by the latter appointed 
a Brigadier-General in the Confederate service, 
but refused a commission by Jefferson Davis 
because his fidelity to the rebel cause was 
doubted. At the close of the war he was one of 
the first to accept the reconstruction policy ; was 
elected United States Senator from Mississippi in 
1865, but not admitted to his seat. In 1869 he 
was chosen Governor as a Republican, and two 
years later elected United States Senator, serving 
until 1877. Died, Dec. 20, 1894. 

ALDRICH, J. Frank, Congressman, was born 
at Two Rivers, Wis., April 6, 1853, the son of 
William Aldrich, who afterwards became Con- 
gressman from Chicago ; was brought to Chicago 
in 1861. attended the public schools and the Chi- 
cago University, and graduated from the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., in 1877, 
receiving the degree of Civil Engineer. Later he 
engaged in the linseed oil business in Chicago. 
Becoming interested in politics, he was elected a 
member of the Board of County Commissioners 
of Cook County, serving as President of that body 
during the reform period of 1887; was also a 
member of the County Board of Education and 
Chairman of the Chicago Citizens' Committee, 
appointed from the various clubs and commer- 
cial organizations of the city, to promote the for- 
mation of the Chicago Sanitary District. From 
May 1, 1891. to Jan. 1, 1893, he was Commissioner 
of Public Works for Chicago, when he resigned 
his office, having been elected (Nov., 1892) a 
member of tlie Fifty-third Congress, on the 
Republican ticket, from the First Congressional 
District; was re-elected in 1894, retiring at the 
close of the Fifty-fourth Congress. In 1898 he 
was appointed to a position in connection with 
the office of Comptroller of the Currency at 
Washington. 

ALDRICH, William, merchant and Congress- 
man, was born at Greenfield, N. Y. , Jan. 20, 1820. 
His early common school training was supple- 
mented by private tuition in higher branches of 



mathematics and in surveying, and by a term in 
an academy. Until he had reached the age of 26 
years he was engaged in farming and teaching, 
but, in 1846, turned his attention to mercantile 4 
pursuits. In 1851 he removed to Wisconsin, 
where, in addition to merchandising, he engaged 
in the manufacture of furniture and woodenware, 
and where he also held several important offices, 
being Superintendent of Schools for three years, 
Chairman of the Coimty Board of Supervisors 
one year, besides serving one term in the Legisla- 
ture. In 1860 he removed to Chicago, where he 
embarked in the wholesale grocery business. In 
1875 he was elected to the City Council, and, in 
1876, cho.sen to repre.sent his district (the First) in 
Congress, as a Republican, being re-elected in 1878, 
and again in 1880. Died in Fond du Lac, Wis., 
Dec. 3, 1885. 

ALEDO, county-seat of Mercer County ; is in 
the midst of a rich farming and bituminous coal 
region; fruit-growing and stock-raising are also 
extensively carried on, and large quantities of 
these commodities are shipped here; has two 
newspapers and ample school facilities. Popula- 
tion (1890), 1,601; (1900), 2,081. 

ALEXANDER, John T., agriculturist and 
stock-grower, was born in Western Virginia, 
Sept. 15, 1820; removed with his father, at six 
years of age, to Ohio, and to Illinois in 1848. 
Here he bought a tract of several thoasand acres 
of land on the Wabash Railroad, 10 miles east of 
Jacksonville, which finally developed into one of 
the richest stock-farms in the State. After the 
war he became the owner of the celebrated 
"Sullivant farm," compri-sing some 20,000 acres 
on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad in 
Champaign County, to which he transferred his 
stock interests, and although overtaken by re- 
verses, left a large estate. Died, August 22, 1876. 

ALEXANDER, Milton K., pioneer, was born in 
Elbert County, Ga., Jan. 23, 1796; emigrated 
with liis father, in 1804, to Tennessee, and, while 
still a boy, enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, 
serving under the command of General Jackson 
until the capture of Pensacola, when he entered 
upon the campaign against the Seminoles in 
Florida. In 1823 he removed to Edgar County, 
111., and engaged in mercantile and agricultural 
pursuits at Paris; serving also as Postmaster 
there some twenty-five years, and as Clerk of the 
County Commissioners' Court from 1826 to '37. 
In 1826 he was commissioned by Governor Coles, 
Colonel of the Nineteenth Regiment, Illinois 
State Militia; in 1830 was Aide-de-Camp to Gov- 
ernor Reynolds, and, inl832, took part in the Black 



14 



TIISTOiaCAL E^X•YCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Hawk War as Brigadier-General of the Second 
Brigade, Illinois Volunteers. On the inception of 
♦ the internal improvement scheme in 1837 he was 
elected by the Legislature a member of the first 
Board of Commissioners of Public Works, serving 
until the Board was abolished. Died, July 7, 18.56. 
ALEXAXDER, (Dr.) William M., pioneer, 
came to Southern Illinois previous to the organi- 
zation of Union County (1818), and for some time, 
while practicing his profession as a physician, 
acted as agent of the proprietors of the town of 
America, which was located on the Ohio River, 
on the first high ground above its junction with 
the Mississippi. It became the first county-seat 
of Alexander County, which was organized in 

1819, and named in his honor. In 1820 we find 
him a Representative in the Second General 
As.sembly from Pope County, and two years later 
Representative from Alexander County, when he 
became Speaker of the House during the session 
of the Third General Assembly. Later, he 
removed to Kaskaskia, but finally went South, 
where he died, though the date and place of his 
death are unknown. 

ALEXANDER COUlVTY,the extreme southern 
county of the State, being bounded on the west 
by the Mississipppi, and south and east by the 
Ohio and Cache rivers. Its area is about 230 
square miles and its population, in 1890, was 10,- 
563. The first American settlers were Tennessee- 
ans named Bird, who occupied the delta and gave 
it the name of Bird's Point, which, at the date of 
the Civil War (1861-6.'5), had been transferred to 
the Missouri shore opposite the mouth of the Ohio. 
Other early settlers were Clark, Kennedy and 
Philips (at Mounds), Conyer audTerrel (at Amer- 
ica), and Humphreys (near Caledonia). In 1818 
Shadrach Bond (afterwards Governor), John G. 
Comyges and others entered a claim for 1800 acres 
in the central and northern part of the county, 
and incorporated the "City and Bank of Cairo." 
The history of this enterprise is interesting. In 
1818 (on Comyges' death) the land reverted to the 
Government; but in 183.5 Sidney Breese, David J. 
Baker and Miles A. Gilbert re-entered the for- 
feited bank tract and the title thereto became 
vested in the "Cairo City and Canal Company," 
which was chartered in 1837, and, by purchase, 
extended its holdings to 10,000 acres. The 
county was organized in 1819; the first county- 
seat being America, which was incorporated in 

1820. Population (1900), 19.384. 

ALEXIAN BROTHERS' HOSPITAL, located 
at Chicago; established in 1860, and under the 
management of the Alexian Brothers, a monastic 



order of the Roman Catholic Church. It was 
originally opened in a small frame building, but a 
better edifice was erected in 1868, only to be de- 
stroj'ed in the great fire of 1871. The following 
year, through the aid of private benefactions and 
an appropriation of $18,000 from the Chicago Re- 
lief and Aid Society, a larger and better hospital 
was built. In 1888 an addition was made, increiis- 
ing the accommodation to 1.50 beds. Only poor 
male jiatients are admitted, and these are received 
without reference to nationality or religion, and 
absolutely without charge. The present medical 
staff (1896) comprises fourteen physicians and sur- 
geons. In 189.5 the close approach of an intra- 
mural transit line having rendered the building 
untit for hospital purposes, a street railway com- 
pany-purchased the site and buildings for $250,- 
000 and a new location has been selected. 

ALEXIS, a village of Warren County, on the 
Rock Island & St. Louis Division of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railway, 12 miles east of 
north from Monmouth. It has manufactures of 
brick, drain-tile, pottery and agricultural imple- 
ments; is also noted for its Clydesdale horses. 
Population (1880), 398; (1890), 062; (1900), 91.5. 

AL{iON(Jl'IXS, a group of Indian tribes. 
Originally their territory extended from about 
latitude 37' to 53° north, and from longitude 25° 
east to 15° west of the meridian of Washington. 
Branches of the stock were found by Cartier in 
Canada, by Smith in Virginia, by the Puritans in 
New England and by Catholic missionaries in the 
great basin of the Mississippi. One of the prin- 
cipal of their five confederacies embraced the 
Illinois Indians, who w-ere found within the 
State by the French when the latter discovered 
the country in 1673. They were hereditary foes 
of the warlike Iroquois, by whom their territory 
was repeatedly invaded. Besides the Illinois, 
other tribes of the Algonquin family who origi- 
nally dwelt within the present limits of Illinois, 
were the Foxes, Kickapoos, Miamis, Menominees, 
and Sacs. Although nomadic in their mode of 
life, and subsisting largely on the spoils of the 
chase, the Algonquins were to some extent tillers 
of the soil and cultivated large tracts of maize. 
Various dialects of their language have been 
reduced to grammatical rules, and Eliot's Indian 
Bible is published in their tongue. The entire 
Algonquin stock extant is estimated at about 
95,000, of whom some 35,000 are within the United 
States. 

ALLEN, William Joshua, jurist, was born 
June 9, 1829, in Wilson County, Tenn. ; of Vir- 
trinia ancestrv of Scotch-Irish descent. In early 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



15 



infancy he was brouglit by his parents to South- 
ern Illinois, where his father, Willis Allen, be- 
came a Judge and member of Congress. After 
reading law with his father and at the Louisville 
Law School, young Allen was admitted to the 
bar, settling at Metropolis and afterward (1853) 
at his old home, Marion, in Williamson County. 
In 1855 he was appointed United States District 
Attorney for Illinois, but resigned in 1859 and re- 
sumed private practice as partner of John A. 
Logan. The same year he was elected Circuit 
Judge to succeed his father, who had died, but he 
declined a re-election. He was a member of the 
Constitutional Conventions of 1862 and 1869, serv- 
ing in both bodies on the Judicial Committee and 
as Chairman of the Committee on the Bill of 
Rights. From 1864 to 1888 he was a delegate to 
every National Democratic Convention, being 
chairman of the Illinois delegation in 1876. He 
has been four times a candidate for Congress, and 
twice elected, serving from 1862 to 1865. During 
this period he was an ardent opponent of the wai 
policy of the Government. In 1874-75, at the 
solicitation of Governor Beveridge, he undertook 
the prosecution of the leaders of a bloody "ven- 
detta" which had broken out among his former 
neighbors in Williamson County, and, by his fear- 
less and impartial efforts, brought the offenders to 
justice and assisted in restoring order. In 1886, 
Judge Allen removed to Springfield, and in 1887 
was appointed by President Cleveland to succeed 
Judge Samuel H. Treat (deceased) as Judge of the 
United States District Court for the Southern 
District of lUinois. Died Jan. 26, 1901. 

ALLEN, Willis, a native of Tennessee, who 
removed to Williamson County, 111., in 1829 and 
engaged in farming. In 1834 he was chosen 
Sheriff of Franklin County, in 1838 elected Rep- 
resentative in the Eleventh General Assembly, 
and, in 1844, became State Senator. In 1841, 
although not yet a licensed lawyer, he was chosen 
Prosecuting Attorney for the old Third District, 
and was shortly afterward admitted to the bar. 
He was chosen Presidential Elector in 1844, a 
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1847, 
and served two terms in Congress (1851-55). On 
March 2, 1859, he was commissioned Judge of the 
Twenty-sixth Judicial Circuit, but died tliree 
months later. His son, William Joshua, suc- 
ceeded him in the latter office. 

ALLERTON, Samuel Waters, stock-dealer and 
capitalist, was bom of Pilgrim ancestry in 
Dutchess County, N. Y., May 26, 1829. His 
youth was spent with his father on a farm in 
Yates County, N. Y., but about 1852 he engaged 



in the live-stock business in Central and Western 
New York. In 1856 he transferred his operations 
to Illinois, shipping stock from various points to 
New York City, finally locating in Chicago. He 
was one of the earliest projectors of the Chicago 
Stock- Yards, later securing control of the Pitts- 
burg Stock- Yards, also becoming interested in 
yards at Baltimore, Philadelphia, Jersey City and 
Omaha. Mr. Allerton is one of the founders and 
a Director of the First National Bank of Chicago, 
a Director and stockholder of the Chicago City 
Railway (the first cable line in that city), the 
owner of an extensive area of highly improved 
farming lands in Central Illinois, as also of large 
tracts in Nebraska and Wj'oming, and of valuable 
and productive mining properties in the Black 
Hills. A zealous Republican in politics, he is a 
liberal supj)orter of the measures of that party, 
and, in 1893, was the unsuccessful Republican can- 
didate for Mayor of Chicago in opposition to 
Carter H. Harrison. 

ALLOUEZ, Claude Jean, sometimes called 
"The Apostle of the West," a Jesuit priest, was 
born in France in 1620. He reached Quebec in 
1658, and later explored the country around 
Lakes Superior and Michigan, establishing the 
mission of La Pointe, near where Ashland, Wis., 
now stands, in 1665, and St. Xavier, near Green 
Bay, in 1669. He learned from the Indians the 
existence and direction of the upper Mississippi, 
and was the first to communicate the informa- 
tion to the authorities at Montreal, which report 
was the primary cause of Joliet's expedition. He 
succeeded Marquette in charge of the mission at 
Kaskaskia, on the Illinois, in 1677, where he 
preached to eight tribes. From that date to 1690 
he labored among the aborigines of Illinois and 
Wisconsin. Died at Fort St. Joseph, in 1690. 

ALLTN, (Rev.) Robert, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born at Ledyard, New London County, 
Conn., Jan. 25, 1817, being a direct descend- 
ant in the eighth generation of Captain Robert 
Allyn, who was one of the first settlers of New 
London. He grew up on a farm, receiving his 
early education in a country school, supple- 
mented by access to a small public library, from 
which he acquired a good degree of familiarity 
with standard English writers. In 1837 he 
entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, 
Conn., where he distinguished himself as a 
mathematician and took a high rank as a linguist 
and rhetorician, graduating in 1841. He im- 
mediately engaged as a teacher of mathematics 
in the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass., 
and, in 1846, was elected principal of the school, 



16 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLIXOIo. 



meanwhile (1843) becoming a licentiate of the 
Providence Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. From 1848 to 1854 he ser^'ed as Princi- 
pal of the Providence Conference Seminary at 
East Greenwich, R. I., when he was appointed 
Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island 
— also serving the same year as a Visitor to West 
Point Military Academy'. Between 1857 and 18.59 
he filled the chair of Ancient Languages in the 
State University at Athens, Ohio, when he ac- 
cepted the Presidency of the "Wesleyan Female 
College at Cincinnati, four years later (1863) 
becoming President of McKendree College at 
Lebanon, 111., where he remained until 1874. 
That position he resigned to accept the Presi- 
dency of tlie Southern Illinois Normal University 
at Carbondale, whence he retired in 1893. Died 
at Carbondale, Jan. 7, 1894. 

ALTAMONT, Effingliam County, is intersecting 
point of the Vandalia, Cliicago & Eastern Illinois, 
Baltimore & Ohio S. W., and Wabash Railroads, 
being midway and liighest point between St. 
Louis and Terre Haute, Ind. ; was laid out in 
1870. The town is in the center of a grain, fruit- 
growing and stock-raising district ; has a bank, 
two grain elevators, flouring mill, tile works, a 
large creamery, wagon, furniture and other fac- 
tories, besides churches and good schools. Popu- 
lation (1890), 1,044, (1900), 1,335. 

ALTGELD, John Peter, ex-Judge and ex-Gov- 
ernor, was born in Prussia in 1848, and in boy- 
hood accompanied his parents to America, the 
family settling in Ohio. At the age of 16 he 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth 
Ohio Infantry, serving until the close of the war, 
His legal education was acquired at St. Louis and 
Savannah, JIo., and from 1874 to '78 he was 
Prosecuting Attorney for Andrew County in that 
State. In 1878 he removed to Chicago, where he 
devoted himself to professional work. In 1884 he 
led the Democratic forlorn hope as candidate for 
Congress in a strong Republican Congressional 
district, and in 1886 was elected to the bench of 
the Superior Court of Cook County, but resigned 
in August, 1891. The Democratic State conven- 
tion of 1892 nominated him for Governor, and he 
was elected the following November, being the 
first foreign-born citizen to hold that office in the 
history of the State, and the first Democrat 
elected since 1852. In 1896 he was a prominent 
factor in the Democratic National Convention 
wliich nominated William J. Bryan for Presi- 
dent, and was also a candidate for re-election to 
the office of Governor, but was defeated by John 
R. Tanner, the Republican nominee. 



ALTON, principal city in Madison County 
and important commercial and manufacturing 
point on Mississippi River, 35 miles north of 
St. Louis; site was first occupied as a French 
trading-post about 1807. tlie town proper being 
laid out by Col. Rufus Easton in 1817; principal 
business houses are located in the valley along 
the river, while the residence portion occupies 
the bluffs overlooking tlie river, sometimes rising 
to the height of nearly 2.50 feet. Tlie city has 
extensive glass works employing (1903) 4,000 
hands, flouring mills, iron foundries, manufac- 
tories of agricultural implements, coal cars, min- 
ers' tools, shoes, tobacco, lime, etc., besides 
several banks, numerous churches, .schools, and 
four newspapers, three of them daily. A monu- 
ment to the memory of Elijah P Lovejoy, who 
fell wliilo defending his press against a pro-slav- 
ery mob in 1837. was erected in Alton Cemetery, 
1896-7, at a cost of 830,000, contributed by the 
State and citizens of Alton. Population (1890), 
10,394; (1900), 14,210. 

ALTON PEMTEXTIARY. The earliest pun- 
isliments imposed u\xni jiublic offenders in Illi- 
nois were by jiublic flogging or imprisonment for 
a short time in jails rudely constructed of logs, 
from which escape was not difficult for a prisoner 
of nerve, strength and mental resource. The 
inadequacy of such places of confinement was 
soon perceived, but popular antipathy to any 
increase of taxation prevented the adoption of 
any other policy until 1827. A grant of 40,000 
acres of saline lands was made to the State by 
Congress, and a considerable portion of the money 
received from their sale was appropriated to the 
establishment of a State penitentiary at Alton. 
The sum set apart proved insufficient, and, in 1831, 
an additional appropriation of §10,000 was made 
from the State treasury. In 1833 the prison was 
ready to receive its first inmates. It was built of 
stone and had but twenty-four cells. Additions 
were made from time to time, but by 1857 the 
State determined upon building a new peniten- 
tiary, which was located at Joliet (see Xorthern 
Penitentiary), and, in 1800, the last convicts were 
transferred thither from Alton. The Alton prison 
was conducted on what is known as "the Auburn 
plan" — -associated labor in silence by day and 
separate confinement bj' night. The manage- 
ment was in the hands of a "lessee," who fur- 
nished supplies, employed guards and exercLsed 
the general powers of a warden under the sujier- 
vision of a Commissioner appointed by the State, 
and who handled all the products of convict 
labor. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLIXOIS. 



17 



ALTON RIOTS. (See Lovcjoy. Elijah Par- 
riish. ) 

ALTONA, town of Knox County, on C. , B. & Q. 
R. R., 16 miles northeast of Galesburg; lias an 
endowed public library, electric light system, 
cement sidewalks, four churches and good school 
system. Population (1900), 633. 

ALTON & SAN(iAMON RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago & Alton Railroad.) 

AMBOY, city in Lee County on Green River, at 
junction of Illinois Central and C, B. & Q. Rail- 
roads, 95 miles south by west from Chicago; has 
artesian water witli waterworks and fire protec- 
tion, city park, two telephone systems, electric 
lights, railroad repair shops, two banks, two 
newspapers, seven churches, graded and high 
schools; is on line of Northern Illinois Electric 
R}-. from De Kalb to Dixon; exten.sive bridge 
and iron works located here. Pop. (1900), 1,826. 

AMES, Edward Raymond, Methodist Episcopal 
Bishop, born at Amesville, Athens County, Ohio, 
May 30, 1806; was educated at the Ohio State 
University, where he joined the M. E. Church. 
In 1828 he left college and became Principal of 
the Seminary at Lebanon, 111., which afterwards 
became McKendree College. While there he 
received a license to preach, and, after holding 
various charges and positions in the church, in- 
cluding membership in the General Conference 
of 1840, '44 and '52, in the latter j'ear was elected 
Bishop, serving until his death, which occurred 
in Baltimore, April 25, 1879. 

ANDERSON, (jaluslia, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born at Bergen, N. Y., March 7, 1832; 
graduated at Rochester University in 1854 and at 
the Theological Seminary there in 1856; spent 
ten years in Baptist pastoral work at Janesville, 
Wis., and at St. Louis, and seven as Professor in 
Newton Theological Institute, Mass. From 1873 
to '80 he preached in Brooklyn and Chicago; was 
then chosen President of the old Chicago Univer- 
sity, remaining eight years, when he again be- 
came a pastor at Salem, Mass., but soon after 
assumed the Presidency of Denison University, 
Ohio. On the organization of the new Chicago 
University, he accepted the chair of Homiletics 
and Pastoral Theologj', which he now holds 

ANDERSON, (ieorge A., lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born in Botetourt County, Va., March 
11, 1853. When two years old he was brought by 
his parents to Hancock County, 111 He re- 
ceived a collegiate education, and, after studying 
law at Lincoln, Neb., and at Sedalia, Mo., settled 
at Quincy, 111., where he began practice in 1880. 
In 1884 he was elected City Attorney on the 



Democratic ticket, and re-elected in 1885 without 
opposition. The following year he was the suc- 
cessful candidate of his party for Congress, which 
was his last public service. Died at Quinc}% 
Jan. 31, 1896. 

ANDERSON, James C, legislator, was born in 
Henilerson Count}-, 111., August 1, 1845; raised on 
a farm, and after receiving a common -school 
education, entered Monmouth College, but left 
early in the Civil War to enlist in the Twentieth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he attained 
the rank of Second Lieutenant. After the war he 
served ten years as Sheriff of Henderson County, 
was elected Representative in the General 
Assembly in 1888, '90, "92 and '96, and served on 
the Republican "steering committee" during the 
session of 1893. He also served as Sergeant-at- 
Arms of the Senate for the session of 189,5, and 
was a delegate to the Republican National Con- 
vention of 1896. His home is at Decorra. 

ANDERSON, Stinson H., Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor, was born in Sumner Countj-, Tenn., in 1800; 
came to Jefferson County, 111., in his youth, and, 
at an early age, began to devote his attention to 
breeding fine stock; served in the Black- Hawk 
War as a Lieutenant in 1832, and the same year 
was elected to the lower branch of the Eighth 
General Assembly, being re-elected in 1834. In 
1838 he was chosen Lieutenant-Governor on the 
ticket with Gov. Thomas Carlin, and soon after 
the close of his term entered the United States 
Army as Captain of Dragoons, in this capacity 
taking part in the Seminole War in Florida. 
Still later he served under President Polk as 
United States Marshal for Illinois, and also held 
the position of Warden of the State Penitentiary 
at Alton for several years. Died, September, 1857, — 
William B. (Anderson), son of the preceding, 
was born at Mount Vernon, 111., April 30, 1830; 
attended the common schools and later studied 
surveying, being elected Surve3'or of Jefferson 
County, in 1851. He studied law and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1858, but never practiced, pre- 
ferring the more quiet life of a farmer. In 1856 
he was elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly and re-elected in 1858. In 1861 he 
entered the volunteer service as a private, was 
promoted through the grades of Captain and 
Lieutenant-Colonel to a Colonelcy, and, at the 
close of the war, was brevetted Brigadier-Gen- 
eral. In 1868 he was a candidate for Presidential 
Elector on the Democratic ticket, was a member 
of the State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, 
and, in 1871, was elected to the State Senate, to 
fill a vacancy. In 1874 he was elected to the Forty - 



18 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



fourth Congress on the Democratic ticket. In 
1893 General Anderson was appointed by Presi- 
dent Cleveland Pension Agent for Illinois, con- 
tinuing in that position four years, when he 
retired to private life. 

AJi'DRUS, Rev. Reuben, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born at Rutland, Jefferson County, 
N. Y., Jan. 29, 1824; early came to Fulton 
County, III., and spent three j'ears (1844-47) as a 
student at Illinois College, Jacksonville, but 
graduated at McKendree College, Lebanon, in 
1849; taught for a time at Greenfield, entered the 
Methodist ministry, and, in 18.50, foimded the Illi- 
nois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, of 
whicli he became a Professor; later re-entered 
the ministry and held charges at Beardstown, 
Decatur, C^uincy, Springfield and Bloomington, 
meanwliile for a time being President of Illinois 
Conference Female College at Jacksonville, and 
temporary President of Quincy College. In 1867 
he was transferred to the Indiana Conference and 
stationed at Evansville and Indianapolis; from 
1872 to '75 was President of Indiana Asbury Uni- 
versity at Greencastle. Died at Indianapolis, 
Jan. 17, 1887. 

ANNA, a city in Union County, on the Illinois 
Central Railroad, 36 miles from Cairo; is center 
of extensive fruit and vegetable-growing district, 
and largest shipping-point for these commodities 
on the Illinois Central Railroad. It has an ice 
plant, pottery and lime manufactories, two banks 
and two newspapers. The Southern '{111. ) Hos- 
pital for the Insane is located here. Population 
(1890), 2,2!).j; (1900), 2,618; (est. 1904), 3,000. 

ANTHONY, Elliott, jurist, was born of New 
England Quaker ancestry at Spafford, Onondaga 
County, N. Y., June 10, 1827; was related on 
the maternal side to the Chases and Phelps (dis- 
tinguished lawyers) of Vermont. His early years 
were spent in labor on a farm, but after a course 
of preparatory study at Cortland Academy, in 
1847 he entered the sophomore class in Hamilton 
College at Clinton, graduating with honors in 
1850. The next year ho began the study of law, 
at the same time giving instruction in an Acad- 
emy at Clinton, where he had President Cleve- 
land as one of his pupils. After admission to the 
bar at Oswego, in 1851, he removed West, stop- 
ping for a time at Sterling, 111., but the following 
year located in Chicago. Here he compiled "A 
Digest of Illinois Reports"; in 18,58 was elected 
City Attornej', and, in 1863, became solicitor of 
the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (now the 
Chicago & Northwestern). Judge Anthony 
served in two State Constitutional Conventions — 



those of 1862 and 18G9-70— being chairman of the 
Committee on Executive Department and mem- 
ber of the Committee on Judiciary in the latter. 
He was delegate to the National Republican Con- 
vention of 1880, and was the same year elected a 
Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, and was 
re-elected in 1886, retiring in 1892, after which he 
resumed the practice of his profession, being 
chiefly employed as consulting counsel. Judge 
Anthony was one of the founders and incorpo- 
rators of the Chicago Law Institute and a member 
of the fir.st Board of Directors of the Chicago 
Public Library; also served as President of the 
State Bar Association (1894-95), and delivered 
several important historical addresses before that 
body. His other most important productions 
are volumes on "The Constitutional Historj' of 
Illinois," "The Story of the Empire State" and 
"Sanitation and Navigation." Near the close of 
his last term upon the bench, he spent several 
months in an extended tour through the princi- 
pal countries of Europe. His death occurred, 
after a protracted illness, at his home at Evans- 
ton, Feb. 24, 1898. 

ANTI-NEBRASKA EDITORIAL CONVEN- 
TION, a political bodj-, which convened at 
Decatur, Feb. 22, 1856, pursuant to the suggestion 
of "The Morgan Journal," then a weekly paper 
published at Jacksonville, for the purpose of for- 
mulating a policy in opposition to the principles 
of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Twelve editors 
were in attendance, as follows: Charles H. Ray 
of "The Chicago Tribune"; V. Y. Ralston of 
"The Quincy Whig"; O. P. Wharton of "The. 
Rock Island Advertiser"; T. J. Pickett of "The 
Peoria Republican"; George Schneider of "The 
Chicago Staats Zeitung" ; Charles Faxon of "The 
Princeton Post"; A. N. Ford of "The Lacon Ga- 
zette"; B. F. Shaw of "The Dixon Telegraph" ; E. 
C. Daugherty of "The Rockford Register" ; E. W. 
Blaisdell of "The Rockford Gazette"; W. J. 
Usrey of "The Decatur Chronicle"; and Paul 
Selby of "The Jacksonville Journal. " Paul Selby 
was chosen Chairman and W. J. Usrey, Secre- 
tary. The convention adopted a platform and 
recommended the calling of a State convention 
at Bloomington on May 29, following, appointing 
the following State Central Committee to take the 
matter in charge: W. B. Ogden, Chicago; S. M. 
Church, Rockford; G. D. A. Parks, Joliet; T. J. 
Pickett, Peoria; E. A. Dudley, Quincy; William 
H. Herndon, Springfield; R. J. Oglesby, Deca- 
tur; Joseph Gillespie, Edwardsville ; D. L. Phil- 
lips, Jonesboro; and Ira O. Wilkinson and 
Gustavus Koerner for the State-at-large. Abra- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



19 



ham Lincoln was present and participated in the 
consultations of the committees. All of these 
served except Messrs. Ogden, Oglesby and Koer- 
ner, the two former declining on account of ab- 
sence from the State. Ogden was succeeded by 
the late Dr. John Evans, afterwards Territorial 
Governor of Colorado, and Oglesby by Col. Isaac 
C. Pugh of Decatur. (See Bloomington Conven- 
tion of 1S56. ) 

APPLE RIVER, a village of Jo Daviess 
County, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 21 miles 
east-northeast from Galena. Population (1880), 
636; (1890), 572; (1900), 576. 

APPLINGTON, (Maj.) Zenas, soldier, was born 
in Broome County, N. Y., Dec. 34, 1815; in 1837 
emigrated to Ogle County, 111., wliere he fol- 
lowed successively tlie occupations of farmer, 
blacksmith, carpenter and merchant, finally 
becoming the founder of the town of Polo. Here 
he became wealthy, but lost much of his property 
in the financial revulsion of 1857. In 18.58 he 
was elected to the State Senate, and, during the 
session of 1859, was one of the members of that 
body appointed to investigate the "canal scrip 
fraud" (which see), and two years later was one of 
the earnest supporters of the Government in its 
preparation for the War of the Rebellion. Tlie 
latter year he assisted in organizing the Seventh 
Illinois Cavalry, of which he was commissioned 
Major, being some time in command at Bird's 
Point, and later rendering important service to 
General Pope at New Madrid and Island No. 10. 
He was killed at Corinth, Miss., May 8, 1863, 
while obeying an order to charge upon a band of 
rebels concealed in a wood. 

APPORTIONMENT, a mode of distribution of 
the counties of the State into Districts for the 
election of membei's of the General Assembly 
and of Congress, which will be treated under 
separate heads: 

Legislative. — The first legislative apportion- 
ment was provided for by the Constitution of 
1818. That instrument vested the Legislature 
with power to divide the State as follows: To 
create districts for the election of Representatives 
not less than twenty-seven nor more than thirty- 
six in number, until the population of the State 
should amount to 100,000; and to create sena- 
torial districts, in number not less than one-third 
nor more than one-half of the representative dis- 
tricts at the time of organization. 

The schedule appended to the first Constitution 
contained the first legal apportionment of Sena- 
tors and Representatives. The first fifteen 
counties were allowed fourteen Senators and 



twenty-nine Representatives. Each county 
formed a distinct legislative district for repre- 
sentation in the lower house, with the number of 
members for each varying from one to three; 
while Johnson and Franklin were combined in 
one Senatorial district, the otlier counties being 
entitled to one Senator each. Later apportion- 
ments were made in 1831, '36, '31, '36, '41 and '47. 
Before an election was held under the last, how- 
ever, the Constitution of 1848 went into effect, 
and considerable clianges were effected in this 
regard. The number of Senators was fixed at 
twenty-five and of Representatives at seventy- 
five, until the entire population should equal 
1,000,000, when five members of the House were 
added and five additional members for each 500,- 
000 increase in population until the whole num- 
ber of Representatives reached 100. Thereafter 
the number was neitlier increased nor dimin- 
ished, but apportioned among the several coun- 
ties according to the number of white inliabit- 
ants. Should it be found necessary, a single 
district might be formed out of two or more 
counties. 

The Constitution of 1848 established fifty-four 
Representative and twenty-five Senatorial dis- 
tricts. By the apportionment law of 1854, the 
number of the former was increased to fifty-eight, 
and, in 1861, to sixty-one. The number of Sen- 
atorial districts remained unclianged, but their 
geographical limits varied under each act, while 
the number of members from Representative 
districts varied according to poi^ulation. 

The Constitution of 1870 provided for an im- 
mediate reapportionment (subsequent to its 
adoption) by the Governor and Secretary of 
State upon the basis of the United States Census 
of 1870. Under the apportionment thus made, 
as prescribed by tlie schedule, the State was 
divided into twenty-five Senatorial districts (each 
electing two Senators) and ninety-seven Repre- 
sentative districts, with an aggregate of 177 mem- 
bers varying from one to ten for the several 
districts, according to population. This arrange- 
ment continued in force for only one Legislature 
— that chosen in 1870. 

In 1872 this Legislature proceeded to reappor- 
tion the State in accordance with the principle of 
"minority representation, " which had been sub- 
mitted as an independent section of the Constitu- 
tion and adopted on a separate vote. This 
provided for apportioning the State into fifty-one 
districts, each being entitled to one Senator and 
three Representatives. The ratio of representa- 
tion in the lower house was ascertained by divid- 



20 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOrEDIA OF ILLIXOIS. 



ing the entire population by 153 and eacli comity 
to be allowed one Representative, provided its 
population reached three-fifths of the ratio; coun- 
ties having a population equivalent to one and 
three-fifths times the ratio were entitled to two 
Representatives; while each county with a larger 
population was entitled to one additional Repre- 
sentative for each time the full ratio w;is repeated 
in the number of inhabitants. Apportionments 
were made on this principle in 1873, '82 and '93. 
Members of the lower house are elected bienni- 
ally; Senators for four years, those in odd and 
even districts being chosen at each alternate 
legislative election. The election of Senatoi-s for 
the even (numbered) districts takes place at the 
same time with that of Governor and other State 
officers, and that for the odd districts at the inter- 
mediate jieriods. 

Congressional. — For the first fourteen years 
of the State's history, Illinois constituted but one 
Congressional district. The census of 1830 show- 
ing sufficient population, the Legislature of 1831 
(by act, approved Feb. 13) divided the State into 
three districts, the first election under tliis law 
being held on the first Monday in August, 1833. 
At that time Illinois comprised fifty-five coun- 
ties, which were apportioned among the districts 
as follows. First — Gallatin, Poi^e, Johnson, 
Alexander, Union, Jack.sou, Franklin, Perry, 
Randolph, Monroe, Washington, St. Clair, Clin- 
ton, Bond, Madison, Macoupin; Second — White, 
Hamilton, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, 
Clay, Marion, Lawrence, Fayette, Montgomery, 
Shelby, Vermilion, Edgar, Coles, Clark, Craw- 
ford; Third — • Greene, Morgan, Sangamon, 
Macon, Tazewell, McLean, Cook, Henry, La 
Salle, Putnam, Peoria, Knox, Jo Daviess, Mercer, 
McDonough, Warren, Fulton, Hancock, Pike, 
Schuyler, Adams, Calhoun. 

The reapportionment following the census of 
1840 was made by Act of March 1, 1843, and the 
first election of Representatives thereunder 
occurred on the first Monday of the following 
August. Forty-one new counties had been cre- 
ated (making ninety-six in all) and the number 
of districts was increased to seven as follows; 
First — Alexander, Union, Jackson, Monroe, 
Perry, Randolph, St. Clair, Bond, Washington, 
Madison; Second — Johnson, Pope, Hardin, 
Williamson, Gallatin, Fi-ankliu, Wliite, Wayne, 
Hamilton, Wabash, JIassac, Jefferson, Edwards, 
Marion; Third — Lawrence, Richland, Jasper, 
Fayette, Crawford, Effingham, Christian, Mont- 
gomery, Shelby, Moultrie, Coles, Clark, Clay, 
Edgar, Piatt, Macon, De Witt; Fourth — Lake, 



JlcIIenry, Boone, Cook, Kane. De Kalb, Du Page, 
Kendall, W^ill, Grmidj-, La Salle, Iroquois, 
Livingston, Champaign, Vermilion, SIcLean, 
Bureau; Fifth — Greene, Jersey, Calhoun, Pike, 
Adams, Marquette (a part of Adams never fully 
organized). Brown, Schuyler, Fulton Peoria, 
Macoupin; Sixth — Jo Daviess, Stephenson, 
Winnebago, Carroll, Ogle, AVhiteside, Henry, 
Lee, Rock Island, Stark, Mercer, Henderson, 
WaiTen, Knox, McDonough, Hancock; Seventh 
— Putnam, JIarshall, Woodford, Cass, Tazewell, 
Mason, Menard, Scott, Morgan, Logan, Sangamon. 
The next Congressional apportionment (August 
23, 18.52) divided the State into nine districts, as 
follows — the first election under it being held the 
following November: First — Lake, McHenry, 
Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Car- 
roll, Ogle ; Second — Cook, Du Page, Kane, De 
Kalb, Lee, Whiteside, Rock Island; Third — 
Will, Kendall, Grundy, Livingston, La Salle, 
Putnam, Bureau, Vermilion, Iroquois, Cham- 
paign, McLean, De Witt; Fourtli — Fulton, 
Peoria, Knox, Henry, Stark. Warren, Mercer, 
Marshall, Mason, Woodford, Tazewell; Fifth 
— Adams, Calhoun, Brown, Schuyler, Pike, Mc- 
Donough, Hancock, Henderson ; Sixth — Morgan, 
Scott, Sangamon, Greene, Macoupin, Montgom- 
ery, Shelby, Christian, Cass, Menard, Jersey; 
Seventh — Logan, Macon, Piatt, Coles, Edgar, 
Moultrie, Cumberland, Crawford, Clark, Effing- 
ham, Jasper, Clay, Lawrence, Richland, Fayette; 
Eiglith — Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair, Bond, 
Madison, Clinton, Washington, Jefferson, Mar- 
ion; Ninth — Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Union, 
Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Gallatin, Saline, Jack- 
son, Perry, Franklin, Williamson, Hamilton, 
Edwards, Wliite, Wayne, Wabash. 

The census of 1860 sliowed that Illinois was 
entitled to fourteen Representatives, but through 
an error the apportionment law of April 24, 1861, 
ci'eated only thirteen districts. This was com- 
pensated for by providing for the election of one 
Congressman for the State-at- large. The districts 
were as follows: First — Cook, Lake; Second — 
McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, De Kalb, and 
Kane; Third — Jo Daviess, Stephenson, White- 
side, Carroll, Ogle, Lee: Fourth — Adams, Han- 
cock, Warren, Mercer, Henderson, Rock Island; 
Fiftli— Peoria, Knox, Stark, Marshall, Putnam, 
Bureau, Henry; Sixth — La Salle, Grundy, Ken- 
dall, Du Page. Will, Kankakee; Seventh — 
Macon, Piatt, Champaign. Douglas. Sloultrie, 
Cumberland, Vermilion, Coles, Edgar, Irotiuois, 
Ford ; Eighth — Sangamon, Logan, De Witt. Mc- 
Lean, Tazewell, Woodford, Livingston; Ninth — 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



21 



Fulton, Mason, Menard, Cass, Pike, McDonough, 
Schuyler, Brown ; Tenth — Bond, Morgan, Cal- 
houn, Macoupin, Scott, Jersey, Greene, Christian, 
Montgomery, Shelby ; Eleventh — Marion, Fay- 
ette, Richland, Jasper, Clay, Clark, Crawford, 
Franklin, Lawrence, Hamilton, Effingham, 
Waj-ne, Jefferson; Twelfth — St. Clair, Madison, 
Clinton, Monroe, Washington, Randolph: 
Thirteenth — Alexander, Pulaski, Union, Perry, 
Johnson, Williamson, Jackson, Massac, Pope, 
Hardin, Gallatin, Saline, White, Edwards, 
Wabash. 

The next reapportionment was made July 1, 
1872. The Act created nineteen districts, as fol- 
lows: First — The first seven wards in Chicago 
and thirteen towns in Cook County, with the 
county of Du Page; Second — Wards Eighth to 
Fifteenth (inclusive) in Chicago; Third — Wards 
Sixteenth to Twentieth in Chicago, the remainder 
of Cook County, and Lake County; Fourth — 
Kane, De Kalb, McHenry, Boone, and Winne- 
bago; Fifth — Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll, 
Ogle, Whiteside; Sixth — Henry, Rock Island, 
Putnam, Bureau, Lee; Seventh — La Salle, Ken- 
dall, Grund}^ Will ; Eighth — Kankakee, Iroquois, 
Ford, Marshall, Livingston, Woodford; Ninth — 
Stark, Peoria, Knox, Fulton ; Tenth — Slercer, 
Henderson, Warren, McDonough, Hancock, 
Schuyler; Eleventh — Adams, Brown, Calhoun, 
Greene, Pike, Jersey ; Twelfth — Scott, Morgan, 
Menard, Sangamon, Cass, Christian ; Thirteenth — 
Mason, Tazewell, McLean, Logan, De Witt: Four- 
teenth — Macon, Piatt, Champaign, Douglas, Coles, 
Vermilion: Fifteenth — Edgar, Clark, Cumber- 
land, Shelby, Moultrie, Effingham, Lawrence, 
Jasper, Crawford; Sixteenth — Montgomery, 
Fayette, Washington, Bond, Clinton, Marion, 
Clay; Seventeenth — Macoupin, Madison, St. 
Clair, Monroe ; Eighteenth — Randolph, Perry, 
Jackson, Union, Johnson, Williamson, Alex- 
ander, Pope, Massac, Pulaski; Nineteenth — 
Richland, Wayne, Edwards, White, Wabash, 
Saline, Gallatin, Hardin, Jefferson, Franklin, 
Hamilton. 

In 1882 (by Act of April 29) the number of dis- 
tricts was increased to twenty, and the bound- 
aries determined as follows : First — Wards First 
to Fourth (inclusive) in Chicago and thirteen 
towns in Cook County ; Second — Wards 5th to 
7th and part of 8th in Chicago: Third — Wards 
S)tli to 14th and part of 8th in Chicago ; Fourth 
— The remainder of the City of Chicago and of 
the county of Cook ; Fifth — Lake, McHenry, 
Boone, Kane, and De Kalb; Sixth — Winnebago, 
Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Ogle, and Carroll; 



Seventh — Lee, Whiteside, Henry, Bureau, Put- 
nam; Eighth — La Salle, Kendall Grundy, Du 
Page, and Will; Ninth — Kankakee, Iroquois, 
Ford, Livingston, Woodford, Marshall; Tenth — • 
Peoria, Knox, Stark, Fulton ; Eleventh — Rock 
Island, Mercer, Henderson, Warren, Hancock, 
McDonough, Schuyler : Twelfth — Cass, Brown, 
Adams, Pike, Scott, Greene, Calhoun, Jersey ; 
Thirteenth — Tazewell, Mason, Menard, Sanga- 
mon, Morgan, Christian; Fourteenth — McLean, 
De Witt, Piatt, Macon, Logan; Fifteenth — 
Coles, Edgar, Douglas, Vermilion, Champaign; 
Sixteenth — Cumberland, Clark, Jasper, Clay, 
Crawford, Richland, Lawrence, Wayne, Edwards, 
Wabash ; Seventeenth — Macoupin, Montgomery, 
Moultrie, Slielby, Effingham, Fayette; Eight- 
eenth — Bond, Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Wash- 
ington; Nineteenth — Marion, Clinton Jefferson, 
Saline, Franklin, Hamilton, White, Gallatin, Har- 
din ; Twentieth — Perry, Randolph, Jackson, 
Union, Williamson, Johnson, Alexander, Pope, 
Pulaski, Massac. 

The census of 1890 showed the State to be entit- 
led to twenty-two Representatives. No reap- 
portionment, however, was made until June, 
1893, two members from the State-at-large being 
elected in 1892. The existing twenty-two Con- 
gressional districts are as follows: The first 
seven districts comprise the counties of Cook and 
Lake, the latter lying wholly in the Seventh dis- 
trict ; Eighth — McHenry, De Kalb, Kane, Du 
Page, Kendall, Grmidy; Ninth — Boone, Winne- 
bago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Ogle, Lee ; 
Tenth — Whiteside, Rock Island, Mercer, Henry, 
Stark, Knox ; Eleventh — Bureau, La Salle, 
Livingston, Woodford; Twelfth— Will, Kanka- 
kee, Iroquois, Vermilion ; Thirteenth — Ford, Mc- 
Lean, DeWitt, Piatt, Champaign, Douglas; Four- 
teenth — Putnam, Marshall, Peoria, Fulton, 
Tazewell, Mason ; Fifteenth — Henderson, War- 
ren, Hancock, McDonough, Adams, Brown, 
Schuyler; Sixteenth — Cass, Morgan, Scott, 
Pike, Greene, Macoupin, Calhoun, Jersey; 
Seventeenth — Menard, Logan, Sangamon, Macon, 
Christian ; Eighteenth — Madison, Montgomery, 
Bond, Fayette, Shelby, Moultrie; Nineteentli — • 
Coles, Edgar, Clark, Cumberland, Effingham, 
Jasper, Crawford, Richland, Lawrence; Twenti- 
eth — Clay, Jefferson, Wayne, Hamilton, Ed- 
wards, Wabasli, Franklin, White, Gallatin, 
Hardin; Twenty-first — Marion, Clinton, Wash- 
ington, St. Clair. Monroe, Randolph, Perry; 
Twenty-second — Jackson, Union, Alexander, 
Pulaski, Johnson, Williamson, Saline, Pope, 
Massac. (See also Representatives in Congress. ) 



22 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ARCHER, William B., pioneer, was born in 
Warren County, Ohio, in 1793, and taken to Ken- 
tucky at an early day, where he remained until 
1817, when his family removed to Illinois, finally 
settling in what is now Clark County. Altliough 
pursuing the avocation of a farmer, he became 
one of the most prominent and influential men in 
that part of the State. On the organization of 
Clark County in 1819, lie was appointed the first 
County and Circuit Clerk, resigning the former 
office in 1820 and the latter in 1822. In 1824 he 
was elected to the lower branch of the General 
Assembly, and two years later to the State 
Senate, serving continuously in the latter eight 
years. He was thus a Senator on the breaking 
out of the Black Hawk War (1832), in which he 
served as a Captain of militia. In 1834 he was an 
unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant-Governor; 
was appointed by Governor Duncan, in ISS.'j, a 
xnember. of the first Board of Commissioners of 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal; in 1838 was 
returned a second time to the House of Repre- 
sentatives and re-elected in 1840 and '46 to the 
same body. Two years later (1848) he was again 
elected Circuit Clerk, remaining until 18.52, and 
In 1854 was an Anti-Nel)raska Whig candidate 
for Congress in opposition to James C. Allen. 
Although Allen received the certificate of elec- 
tion, Arclier contested his right to the seat, witli 
the result that Congress declared the seat vacant 
and referred the question back to the people. In 
A new election held in August, 1856, Archer was 
defeated and Allen elected. He held no public 
office of importance after this date, but in 1856 
was a delegate to the first Republican National 
convention at Pliiladelphia, and in that body was 
an enthusiastic supporter of Abraham Lincoln, 
whose zealous friend and admirer he was, for the 
office of Vice-President. He was also one of the 
Active promoters of various railroad enterprises 
m that section of the State, especially the old 
<Jhicago & Vincennes Road, the first projected 
southward from the City of Chicago. His con- 
nection with the Illinois & Michigan Canal was 
che means of giving his name to Archer Avenue, 
a somewhat famous thoroughfare in Chicago 
ile was of tall stature and great energy of char- 
acter, with a tendency to enthusiasm that com- 
municated itself to others. A local history has 
said of him that "he did more for Clark County 
than any man in his day or since," although "no 
consideration, pecuniary or otherwise, was ever 
given him for liis services." Colonel Archer was 
one of tlie founders of Marshall, the county -seat 
of Clark County, Governor Duncan being associ- 



ated with liim in the ownership of the land on 
which the town was laid out. His death oc- 
curred in Clark County, August 9, 1870, at the 
age of 78 years. 

ARCOLA,incorporated city in Douglas County, 
158 miles south of Clucago, at junction of Illinois 
Central and Terre Haute branch Vandalia Rail- 
road ; is center of largest bro<im-corn producing 
region in the world; has city waterworks, with 
efficient volunteer fire department, electric lights, 
telephone system, grain elevators and broom- 
corn warehouses, two banks, tliree newspapers, 
nine churches, library building and excellent free 
school system. Pop. (1890), 1,733; (1900), 1,995. 

AREN'Z, Francis A., pioneer, was born at 
Blankenberg, in the Province of the Rhein, 
Prussia, Oct. 31, 1800; obtained a good education 
and, while a young man. engaged in mercantile 
business in his native country. In 1827 lie came 
to the United States and, after spending two 
years in Kentucky, in 1829 went to Galena, wliere 
he was engaged for a short time in the lead 
trade. He took an early opportunity to become 
naturalized, and coming to Beardstown a few 
months later, went into merchandising and real 
estate; also became a contractor for furnishing 
supplies to the State troops during the Black Hawk 
War, Beardstown being at the time a rendezvous 
and .shipping point. In 1834 he began the publi- 
cation of "The Beardstown Chronicle and Illinois 
Bounty Land Register," and was the projector of 
the Beardstown & Sangamon Canal, extending 
from the Illinois River at Beardstown to Miller's 
Ferry on the Sangamon, for whicli he secured a 
special charter from the Legislature in 1836. He 
had a survey of the line made, but the hard times 
prevented the beginning of the work and it was 
finally abandoned. Retiring from the mercantile 
business in 1835, he located on a farm six miles 
southeast of Beardstown, but in 1839 removed to 
a tract of land near the Morgan County line 
wliicli he had bought in 1833. and on wliicli the 
present village of Arenzville now stands. This 
became the center of a thrifty agi-icultural com- 
munity composed largely of Germans, among 
whom he exercised a large influence. Resuming 
the mercantile business here, he continued it 
until about 1853, when he sold out a considerable 
part of his possessions. An ardent Whig, he was 
elected as such to the lower branch of the Four- 
teenth General Assembly (1844) from Morgan 
County, and during the following session suc- 
ceeded in securing the passage of an act by which 
a strip of territory three miles wide in tlie north- 
ern part of Morgan County, including tlie village 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



23 



of Arenzville, and which had been in dispute, 
v.-as transferred by vote of the citizens to Cass 
County. In 1853 Mr. Arenz visited his native 
land, by appointment of President Fillmore, as 
bearer of dispatches to the American legations at 
Berlin and Vienna. He was one of the founders 
of the Illinois State Agricultural Society of 18.53, 
and served as the Vice-President for his district 
until his death, and was also the founder and 
President of the Cass County Agricultural Soci- 
ety. Died. April 2, 1856. 

ARLINGTON, a village of Bureau County, on 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 93 
miles west of Chicago. Population (1880), 447; 
(1890), 436: (1900), 400. 

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS (formerly Dunton), a 
village of Cook County, on the Chicago & North- 
western Railway, 22 miles northwest of Chicago ; 
is in a dairying district and has several cheese 
factories, besides a sewing machine factory, 
hotels and churches, a graded school, a bank and 
one newspaper. Population (1880), 995; (1890), 
1,424; (1900), 1,380. 

ARMOUR, Philip Danforth, packer. Board of 
Trade operator and capitalist, was born at Stock- 
bridge, Madison County, N. Y., May 16, 1832. 
After receiving the benefits of such education as 
the village academy afforded, in 1853 he set out 
across the Plains to California, where he re- 
mained four years, achieving only moderate suc- 
cess as a miner. Returning east in 1856, he soon 
after embarked in the commission business in 
Milwaukee, continuing until 1863, when he 
formed a partnership with Sir. John Plankinton 
in the meat-packing business. Later, in conjunc- 
tion with his brothers — H. O. Armour liaving 
already built up an extensive grain commission 
trade in Chicago — he organized the extensive 
packing and commission firm of Armour & 
Co., with branches in New York, Kansas City 
and Chicago, their headquarters being removed 
to the latter place from Milwaukee in 1875. 
Mr. Armour is a most industrious and me- 
thodical business man, giving as many hours 
to the superintendence of business details as the 
most industrious daj'-laborer, the result being 
seen in the creation of one of the most extensive 
and prosperous firms in the country. Mr. 
Armour's practical benevolence has been demon- 
strated in a munificent manner by his establish- 
ment and endowment of the Armour Institute 
(a manual training school) in Chicago, at a cost 
of over $2,2.50,000, as an offshoot of the Armour 
Mission founded on the bequest of his deceased 
brother, Joseph F. Armour. Died Jan. 6, 1901. 



ARMSTRONG, John Strawn, pioneer, born in 
Somerset County, Pa., May 29, 1810, the oldest of 
a family of nine sons ; was taken by his parents 
in 1811 to Licking County, Ohio, where he spent 
his childhood and early youth. His father was a 
native of Ireland and his mother a sister of Jacob 
Strawn, afterwards a wealthy stock-grower and 
dealer in Morgan County. In 1829, John S. came 
to Tazewell County, 111., but two years later 
joined the rest of his family in Putnam (now 
Marshall) County, all finally removing to La 
Salle County, where they were among the earli- 
est settlers. Here he settled on a farm in 1834, 
where he continued to reside over fifty years, 
when he located in the village of Sheridan, but 
early in 1897 went to reside with a daughter in 
Ottawa. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk 
War, has been a prominent and influential farm- 
er, and, in the later years of his life, has been 
a leader in "Granger" politics, being Master of his 
local "Grange," and also serving as Treasurer of 
the State Grange. — George Wasliingtoii (Ami- 
strong), brother of the preceding, was born upon 
the farm of his parents, Joseph and Elsie (Strawn) 
Armstrong, in Licking County, Ohio, Dec. 9, 
1813; learned the trade of a weaver with his 
father (who was a woolen manufacturer), and at 
the age of 18 was in cliarge of tlie factory. 
Early in 1831 he came with his mother's family 
to Illinois, locating a few montlis later in La 
Salle Covmty. In 1833 he served with his older 
brother as a soldier in the Black Hawk War, was 
identified with the early steps for the construc- 
tion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, finally be- 
coming a contractor upon the section at Utica, 
where he resided .several years. He tlien returned 
to the farm near the present village of Seneca, 
where he had located in 1833, and where (with 
the exception of his residence at Utica) he has 
resided continuously over sixty-five years. In 
1844 Mr. Armstrong was elected to the lower 
branch of tlie Fourteenth General Assembly, 
also served in the Constitutional Convention of 
1847 and, in 1858, was the unsuccessful Democratic 
candidate for Congress in opposition to Owen 
Lovejoy. Re-entering the Legislature in 1860 as 
Representative from La Salle County, he served 
in that body by successive re-elections until 1868, 
proving one of its ablest and most influential 
members, as well as an accomplished parliamen- 
tarian. Mr. Armstrong was one of the original 
promoters of the Kankakee & Seneca Rjiilroad. — 
William E. (Armstrong), tliird brother of this 
family, was born in Licking County, Oliio, Oct. 
25, 1814; came to Illinois with tlie rest of the 



24 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



family in 1831, and resided in La Salle Covmty 
until 1841, meanwhile serving two or three terms 
as Sheriff of the county. The latter year he was 
appointed one of the Commissioners to locate the 
county-seat of the newly-organized countj' of 
Grundy, finally becoming one of the founders and 
the first permanent settler of the town of Grundy 
— later called Morris, in honor of Hon. I. N. Mor- 
ris, of Quinoy, III, at that time one of the Com- 
missioners of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. 
Here Mr. Armstrong was again elected to the 
ofKce of Sheriff, serving several terms. So ex- 
tensive was Ids influence in Grvmdy County, that 
he was popularly known as "The Emperor of 
Grundy." Died, Nov. 1, 18.50.— Joel W. (Arm- 
strong), a fourth brother, was born in Licking 
Count}-, Ohio. Jan. 6, 1817; emigrated in boyhood 
to La Salle County, 111. ; served one term as 
County Recorder, was member of the Board of 
Supervisors for a number of years and the first 
Postmaster of his town. Died, Dec. 3, 1871.— 
Perry A. (Armstrong), the seventh brother of 
this historic family, %vas born near Newark. Lick- 
ing County, Ohio, April 15, 1823, and came to La 
Salle Countj', HI., in 1831. His opportunities for 
acquiring an education in a new country were 
limited, but between work on the farm and serv- 
ice as a clerk of his brother George, aided by a 
short term in an academy and as a teacher in 
Kendall County, lie managed to prepare himself 
for college, entering Illinois College at Jackson- 
ville in 1843. Owing to failure of health, he was 
compelled to abandon his plan of obtaining a col- 
legiate education and returned home at the end 
of his Freshman year, but continued his studies, 
meanwhile teaching district schools in the winter 
and working on his mother's farm during the 
crop season, until 184,'), wlien he located in Mor- 
ris, Grundy County, opened a general store and 
was appointed Postmaster. He has been in pub- 
lic position of some sort ever since he reached his 
majority, including the offices of School Trustee, 
Postmaster, Justice of the Peace, Supervisor, 
County Clerk (two terms). Delegate to the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1863, and two terms as 
Representative in the General Assembly (1802-64 
and 1873-74). During his last session in the Gen- 
eral Assembly he took a conspicuous part in the 
revision of the statutes under the Constitution of 
1870, framing some of the most important laws 
on the statute book, while participating in the 
preparation of others. At an earlier date it fell 
to Ids lot to draw up the original charters of the 
Chicago & Rock Island, the Illioois Central, and 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads. He 



has also been prominent in Odd Fellow and 
Masonic circles, having been Grand Master of the 
first named order in the State and being the old- 
est 32d degree Mason in Illinois ; was admitted to 
the .State bar in 1864 and to that of the Supreme 
Court of the United States in 1868, and has been 
Master in Chancery for over twenty consecutive 
years. Mr. Armstrong has also found time to do 
some literary work, as shown by his history of 
"The Sauks and Black Hawk War," and a num- 
ber of poems. He takes much pleasure in relat- 
ing reminiscences of pioneer life in Illinois, one 
of which is the story of his first trip from 
Ottawa to Chicago, in December, 1831, when he 
accompanied his oldest brother (William E. 
Armstrong) to Chicago -with a sled and ox- 
team for salt to cure their mast- fed pork, the 
trip requiring ten days. His recollection is, that 
there were but three white families in Chicago 
at that time, but a large number of Indians 
mixed with half-breeds of French and Indian 
origin. 

ARNOLD, Isaac If., lawyer and Congressman, 
was born near Cooperstown, N. Y., Nov. 30, 1813, 
being descended from one of the companions of 
Roger Williams. Thrown upon his own resources 
at an early age, he was largely "self-made." 
He read law at Cooperstown, and was admitted 
to the bar in 183.'). The next year he removed to 
Chicago, was elected the first City Clerk in 1837, 
but resigned before the close of the year and was 
admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1841. He soon 
established a reputation as a lawj'er, and served 
for three terms (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and 
Twentieth) in the lower house of the Legisla- 
ture. In 1844 he was a Presidential Elector on 
the Polk ticket, but the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise, with the legislation regarding Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, logically forced him, as a free- 
soiler, into the ranks of the Republican party, by 
which he was sent to Congress from 1861 to 186.'). 
While in Congress he prepared and delivered an 
exhaustive argiuuent in support of the right of 
confiscation by the General Government. After 
the expiration of his last Congressional term, Mr. 
Arnold returned to Chicago, where he resided 
until liis deatli, April 24, 1884. He was of schol- 
arly instincts, fond of literature and an author of 
repute. Among his best known works are liis 
"Life of Abraham Lincoln" and his "Life of 
Benedict Arnold." 

AURIXGTOX, Alfred W., clergyman, lawyer 
and author, was born in Iredell County, N. C, 
September, 1810, being the son of a Whig mem- 
ber of Congress from that State. In 1829 he was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



25 



received on trial as a Methodist preacher and 
became a circuit-rider in Indiana ; during 1832-33 
served as an itinerant in Missouri, gaining much 
celebrity by his eloquence. In 1834 he began the 
study of law, and having been admitted to the 
bar, practiced for several years in Arkansas, 
where he was sent to the Legislature, and, in 18-t4, 
was the Whig candidate for Presidential Elec- 
tor. Later he removed to Texas, where he served 
as Judge for six years. In 1856 he removed to 
Madison, Wis. , but a year later came to Cliicago, 
where he attained distinction as a lawyer, dying 
in that city Dec. 31, 1867. He was an accom- 
plished scholar and gifted writer, having written 
much for "The Democratic Review" and "Tlie 
Southern Literary Messenger, " over the signature 
of "Charles Summerfield," and was author of an 
"Apostrophe to Water," which he put in the 
mouth of an itinerant Slethodist preacher, and 
which John B. Gough was accustomed to quote 
with great effect. A volume of his poems witli a 
memoir was published in Chicago in 1869. 

ARROWSMITH, a village of McLean County, 
on the Lake Erie & Western Railway, 20 miles 
east of Bloomington ; is in an agricultural and 
stock region; has one newspaper. Population 
(1890), 420: (1900), 317. 

ARTHUR, village in Moultrie and Douglas 
Counties, at junction of Cliicago & Eastern Illi- 
nois and Terre Haute & Peoria Division VanJalia 
Line; is center of broom-corn belt: has two 
banks, a weekly newspaper. Population (1900), 
858; (est. 1904), 1,000. 

ASAY, Edward (i., lawyer, was born in Phila- 
delphia, Sept. 17, 1825; was educated in private 
schools and entered the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church ; later spent some time in the 
South, but in 1S53 retired from the ministry and 
began the study of law, meantime devoting a part 
of his time to mercantile business in New York 
City. He was admitted to the bar in 1856, remov- 
ing the same year to Chicago, where he built up 
a lucrative practice. He was a brilliant speaker 
and became eminent, especially as a criminal 
lawyer. Politically he was a zealous Democrat 
and was the chief attorney of Buckner S. Slorris 
and others during their trial for conspiracy in 
connection with the Camp Douglas affair of No- 
vember, 1864. Dming 1871-72 he made an ex- 
tended trip to Europe, occupying some eighteen 
months, making a second visit in 1882. His later 
years were spent chiefly on a farm in Ogle 
County. Died in Chicago, Nov. 24, 1898. 

ASBURY, Henry, lawyer, was born in Harri- 
son (now Robertson) County, Ky., August 10, 



1810 ; came to Illinois in 1834, making the jour- 
ney on horseback and finally locating in Quincj', 
where he soon after began the study of law with 
the Hon. O. H. Browning; was admitted to the 
bar in 1837, being for a time the partner of Col. 
Edward D. Baker, afterwards United States 
Senator from Oregon and finally killed at Ball's 
BluS in 1862. In 1849 Mr. Asbury was appointed 
by President Taylor Register of the Quincy Land 
Office, and, in 1864-65, served by appointment of 
President Lincoln (who was his close personal 
friend) as Provost-Marshal of the Quincy dis- 
trict, thereby obtaining the title of "Captain," 
by which he was widely known among his 
friends. Later he served for several years as 
Registrar in Bankruptcy at Quincy, which was 
his last official position. Originally a Kentucky 
Whig, Captain Asburj' was one of the founders 
of the Republican party in Illinois, acting in co- 
operation with Abram Jonas, Archibald Williams, 
Nehemiah Bushnell, O. H. Browning and others 
of his immediate neighbors, and with Abraham 
Lincoln, with whom he was a frequent corre- 
spondent at that period. Messrs. Nicolay and 
Hay, in their. Life of Lincoln, award him the 
credit of having suggested one of the famous 
questions propounded by Lincoln to Douglas 
which gave the latter so much trouble dm'ing 
the memorable debates of 1858. In 1886 Captain 
Asbury removed to Chicago, where he continued 
to reside until his death, Nov. 19, 1896. 

ASHLAND, a town in Cass County, at the 
intersection of the Chicago & Alton and the 
Baltimore & Ohio South-Western Railroad, 21 
miles west-northwest of Springfield and 200 
miles southwest of Chicago. It is in the midst of 
a rich agricultui-al region, and is an important 
shipping point for grain and stock. It has a 
bank, three churches and a weekly newspaper. 
Coal is mined in the vicinity. Population (1880), 
609; (1890). 1,045; (1900), 1,201. 

ASHLEY', a city of Washington County, at 
intersection of Illinois Central and Louisville & 
Nashville Railways, 62 miles east by southeast of 
St. Louis; is in an agricultural and fiuif- growing 
region; has some manufactures, electric light 
plant and excellent granitoid sidewalks. Popu- 
lation (1890), 1,035, (1900), 9.53. 

ASH3I0RE, a village of Coles County, on the 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- 
way, 9 miles east of Charleston ; has a newspaper 
and considerable local trade. Population (1890), 
446, (1900), 487; (1903), 520. 

ASHTON, a village of Lee County, on the Chi- 
cago & North-Western Railroad, 84 miles west of 



26 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIxV OF ILLINOIS. 



Chicago; has one newspaper. Population (1880), 
646; (ISiin), CSO; (1900), 776. 

ASPIXW.\LL, Homer F., farmer and legisla- 
tor, was born in Stephenson County. 111., Nov. 1.5, 
1846, educated in the Freeport high school, and, 
in early life, spent two years in a whole.sale 
notion store, later resuming the occupation of a 
farmer. After holding various local offices, in- 
cluding that of member of the Board of Supervis- 
ors of Stephenson County, in 1892 5Ir. Aspinwall 
was elected to the State Senate and re-elected in 
1896. Soon after the beginning of the Spanish- 
American War in 1898, he was appointed by 
President McKinley Captain and Assistant 
Quartermaster in the Volunteer Army, but 
before being assigned to duty accepted the Lieu- 
tenant-Colonelcy of the Twelfth Illinois Pro- 
visional Regiment. When it became evident that 
the regiment would not be called into the service, 
he was assigned to the command of the "Mani- 
toba," a large transport steanier, which carried 
some 13,000 soldiers to Cuba and Porto Rico with- 
out a single accident. In view of the approach- 
ing session of the Forty-first General Assembly, 
it being apparent that the war was over, Mr. 
Aspinwall applied for a discharge, which was 
refused, a 20-days' leave of absence being granted 
instead. A discharge was finally granted about 
the middle of February, when he resumed his 
seat in the Senate. Mr. Aspinwall owns and 
operates a large farm near Freeport. 

ASSUMPTION, a town in Christian County, on 
the Illinois Central Railroad, 23 miles south by 
west from Decatur and 9 miles north of Pana. 
It is situated in a rich agricultural and coal min- 
ing district, and has two banks, five churches, a 
public school, two weekly papers and coal mines. 
Population (1880), 706; (1890), 1,076; (1900), 1,702. 

ASTORIA, town in Fulton County, on Rock 
Island & St. Louis Division C, B. & Q. R. R. ; 
has city waterworks, electric light plant, tele- 
phone exchange, three large grain elevators, 
pressed brick works; six churches, two banks, 
two weekly papers, city hall and park, and good 
schools; is in a coal region; business portion is 
built of brick. Pop. (1890), 1,3.57; (1900), 1,684. 

ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAIL- 
WAY COMPANY. This Company operates three 
subsidiary lines in Illinois — the Chicago, Santa 
Fe & California, tlie Atchison, Topeka and Santa 
Fe in Chicago, and the Jlississippi River Rail- 
road & Toll Bridge, which are operated as a 
through line between Chicago and Kansas City, 
with a branch from Ancona to Pekin, 111., hav- 
ing an aggregate operated mileage of 515 miles, of 



whicli 295 are in Illinois. The total earnings and 
income for the jear ending June 80, 1895, were 
§1,298,600, while the operating e.xpenses and fixei' 
charges amounted to .$2,360,706. The accumu- 
lated deficit on the whole line amounted, June 30, 
1894, to more than $4,500,000. Tlie total capitali- 
zation of the whole line in 1895 was S.52,775,251. 
The parent road was chartered in 1859 under the 
name of the Atchison & Topeka Railroad; but in 
1863 was changed to the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railroad. The construction of the main 
line was begun in 1859 and completed in 1873. 
The largest number of miles operated was in 
1893, being 7,481.65. January 1, 1896, the road 
was reorganized under the name of The Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company (its present 
name), which succeeded by purchase under fore- 
closure (Dec. 10, 1895) to the property and fran- 
chises of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railroad Company. Its mileage, in 1895, was 
6,481.65 miles. The executive and general officers 
of the system (1898) are; 

Aldace F. Walker, Chairman of the Board, 
New York; E. P. Ripley, President, Chicago; C. 
M. Higginson, Ass't to the President, Chicago; 
E. D. Kenna, 1st Vice-President and General 
Solicitor, Cliicago; Paul Morton, 2d Vice-Presi- 
dent, Chicago; E. Wilder, Secretary and Treas- 
urer, Topeka ; L. C. Deming, Assistant Secretary, 
New York ; H. W. Gardner, Assistant Treasurer, 
New York; Victor Morawetz, General Counsel, 
New York; Jno. P. Whitehead, Comptroller, 
New Y^ork; H. C. Whitehead, General Auditor, 
Chicago ; W. B. Biddle, Freight Traffic Manager, 
Chicago; J. J. Frey, General Manager, Topeka; 
H. W. Mudge, General Superintendent, Topeka; 
W. A. Bissell, Assistant Freight Traffic Manager, 
Chicago; W. F. White, Passenger Traffic 
Manager, Chicago; Geo. T. Nicholson, Assistant 
Passenger Traffic Manager, Chicago; W. E. 
Hodges, General Purchasing Agent, Chicago; 
James A. Davis, Industrial Commissioner, Chi- 
cago ; James Dun, Chief Engineer, Topeka, Kan. ; 
John Player, Superintendent of Machinery, 
Topeka, Kan. ; C. W. Kouns, Superintendent Car 
Service, Topeka, Kan. ; J. S. Hobson, Signal 
Engineer, Topeka; C. G. Sholes, Superintendent 
of Telegraph, Topeka, Kan. ; C. W. Ryus, General 
Claim Agent, Topeka ; F. C. Gay, General Freiglit 
Agent, Topekii; C. R. Hudson, Assistant General 
Freight Agent, Topeka; W. J. Black, General 
Passenger Agent, Chicago; P. Walsh, General 
Baggage Agent, Chicago. 

ATHENS, an incorporated city and coal-mining 
town in Menard County, on the Cliicago, Peoria 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



37 



& St. Louis R. R., north by northwest of Spring- 
field. It is also the center of a prosperous agri- 
cultural and stock-raising district, and large 
numbers of cattle are shipped there for the Chi- 
cago market. The place has an electric lighting 
plant, brickyards, two machine shops, two grain 
elevators, five churches, one newspaper, and good 
schools. Athens is one of the oldest towns in 
Central Illinois. Pop. (1890), 944; (1900), 1,53.5. 

ATKI>'S, Smith D., soldier and journalist, was 
born near Elmira, N. Y. , June 9, 1836 ; came with 
his father to Illinois in 1846, and lived on a farm 
till 1850 ; was educated at Rock River Seminary, 
Mount Morris, meanwhile learning tlie printer's 
trade, and afterwards established "The Savanna 
Register" in Carroll County. In 1854 he began 
the study of law, and in 1860, while practicing at 
Freeport, was elected Prosecuting Attorney, but 
resigned in 1861, being the first man to enlist as a 
private soldier in Stephenson County. He served 
as a Captain of the Eleventh Illinois Volunteers 
(three-months' men), re-enlisted with the same 
rank for three years and took part in the capture 
of Fort Donelson and the battle of Shiloh, serv- 
ing at the latter on the staff of General Hurlbut. 
Forced to retire temporarily on account of his 
health, he next engaged in raising volunteers in 
Northern Illinois, was finally commissioned Col- 
onel of the Ninety second Illinois, and, in June, 
1863, was assigned to command of a brigade in 
the Army of Kentucky, later serving in the Army 
of the Cumberland. On the organization of Sher- 
man's great "March to the Sea," he eflSciently 
cooperated in it, was brevetted Brigadier-General 
for gallantry at Savannah, and at the close of the 
war, by special order of President Lincoln, was 
brevetted Major General. Since the war, Gen- 
eral Atkins' chief occupation has been that of 
editor of "The Freeport Journal," though, for 
nearly twenty-four years, he served as Post- 
master of that city. He took a prominent part 
in the erection of the Stephenson County Sol- 
diers' Monument at Freeport, has been President 
of the Freeport Public Library since its organiza- 
tion, member of the Board of Education, and since 
1895, by appointment of the Governor of Illinois, 
one of the Illinois Commissioners of the Chicka- 
mauga and Chattanooga Military Park. 

ATKINSON, village of Henry County, on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 39 miles 
east of Rock Island; has an electric light plant, a 
bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 534; (1900), 763. 

ATLANTA, a city of Logan County, on the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad, 20 miles southwest of 
Bloomington. It stands on a high, fertile prairie 



and the surrounding region is rich in coal, as. 
well as a productive agricultural and stock-rais- 
ing district. It has a water-works system, elec- 
tric light plant, five churches, a graded school, a 
weekly paper, two banks, a flouring mill, and is 
the headquarters of the Union Agricultural So- 
ciety established in 1860. Population (1900), 1,270. 

ATLAS, a hamlet in the southwestern part of 
Pike County, 10 miles southwest of Pittsfield and 
three miles from Rockport, the nearest station on 
the Quincy & Louisiana Division of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Atlas has an in- 
teresting history. It was settled by Col. William 
Ross and four brothers, who came here from 
Pittsfield, Mass., in the latter part of 1819, or 
early in 1820, making there the first settlement 
within the present limits of Pike County. The 
town was laid out by the Rosses in 1823, and the 
next year the county-seat was removed thither 
from Coles Grove — now in Calhoun County — but 
which had been the first countj'-seat of Pike 
County, when it comprised all the territory lying 
north and west of the Illinois River to the Mis- 
sissippi River and the Wisconsin State line. 
Atlas remained the county-seat until 1833, when 
the seat of justice was removed to Pittsfield. 
During a part of that time it was one of the 
most important points in the western part of the 
State, and was, for a time, a rival of Quincy. 
It now has only a postoffice and general store. 
The population, according to the census of 1890, 
was 52. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL. The following is a 
list of the Attorneys-General of Illinois under the 
Territorial and State Governments, down to the 
present time (1899), with the date and duration of 
the term of each incumbent : 

Territorial — Benjamin H. Doyle, July to De- 
cember, 1809; John J. Crittenden, Dec. 30 to 
April, 1810; Thomas T. Crittenden, April to 
October, 1810; Benj. M. Piatt, October, 1810-13; 
William Mears, 1813-18. 

State— Daniel Pope Cook, March 5 to Dec. 14, 
1819; William Mears, 1819-21; Samuel D. Lock- 
wood, 1821-23; James Turney, 1823-29; George 
Forquer, 1829-33; James Semple, 1833-34; Ninia« 
W. Edwards, 1834-35; Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., 
1835-36; Walter B. Scates, 1836-37; Usher F. 
Linder, 1837-38; George W. Olney, 1838-39; Wick- 
liffe Kitchell, 1839-40; Josiah Lamborn, 1840-43; 
James Allen McDougal, 1843-46; David B. Camp- 
bell, 1846-48. 

The Constitution of 1848 made no provision for 
the continuance of the office, and for nineteen 
years it remained vacant. It was re-created, 



28 



niSTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



however, by legislative enactment in 1867, and 
on Feb. 28 of that year Governor Oglesby 
appointed Robert G. Ingersoll, of Peoria, to dis- 
charge the duties of the position, which he con- 
tinued to do until 1809. Subsequent incumbents 
of the office have been: "Washington Bushnell. 
1869-73 ; James K. Edsall, 1873-81 ; James McCart- 
ney, 1881-85 ; George Hunt, 1885-93 ; M. T. Moloney, 
1893-97; Edward C. Akin, 1897 — . Under the 
first Constitution (1818) the office of Attorney- 
General was filled by appointment by the Legisla- 
ture; under the Constitution of 1848, as already 
stated, it ceased to exist until created by act of 
the Legislature of 1807, but, in 1870, it was made 
a constitutional office to be filled by popular 
election for a term of four j'ears. 

ATWOOD, a village lying partly in Piatt and 
partly in Douglas County, on the Cincinnati, 
Hamilton & Dayton R. R., 27 miles east of Deca- 
tur. The region is agricultural and fruit-grow- 
ing; the town has two banks, an excellent school 
and a newspaper. Pop (1890), 530; (1900), 698. 

ATWOOD, Charles B., architect, was born at 
Millbury, Mass., May 18, 1849; at 17 began a full 
course in architecture at Harvard Scientific 
School, and, after graduation, received prizes for 
public buildings at San Francisco, Hartford and 
a number of other cities, besides furnishing 
designs for some of the finest private residences 
in the country. He was associated with D. H. 
Burnham in preparing plans for the Columbian 
Exposition buildings, at Chicago, for the World's 
Fair of 1893, and distinguished himself by pro- 
ducing plans for the "Art Building," the "Peri- 
style," the "Terminal Station" and other 
prominent structures. Died, in the midst of his 
highest successes as an architect, at Chicago, 
Dec. 19, 1895. 

AUBURN, a village of Sangamon County, on 
the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 15 miles south of 
Springfield ; has some manufactories of flour and 
farm implements, besides tile and brick works, 
two coal mines, electric light plant, two banks, 
several churches, a graded school and a weekly 
newspaper. Pop. (1890), 874; (1900), 1,281. 

AUDITORS OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. The 
Auditors of Public Accounts under the Terri- 
torial Government were H. H. Maxwell, 1812-10; 
Daniel P. Cook, 1816-17; Robert Blackwell, (April 
to August), 1817; Elijah C. Berry, 1817-18. Under 
the Constitution of 1818 the Auditor of Public 
Accounts was made appointive by the legislature, 
without limitation of term ; but by the Constitu- 
tions of 1848 and 1870 the office was made 
elective by the people for a term of four 3'ears. 



The following is a list of the State Auditors 
from the date of the admission of the State into 
the Union down to the present time (1899), with 
the date and duration of the term of each: 
Elijah C. Berry, 1818-31; James T. B. Stapp, 
1831-35; Levi Davis, 1835-41; James Shields, 
1841-43; WilUamLeeD. Ewing, 1843-40; Thomas 
H. Campbell, 1846-57; Jesse K. Dubois, 1857-04; 
Orlin H. Miner, 1864 69; Charles E. Lippincott, 
1869-77; Thomas B. Needles, 1877-81; Charles P. 
Swigert, 1881-89; C. W. Pavey, 1889-93; David 
Gore, 1893-97; James S. McCulfough, 1897 — . 

AUGUSTA, a village in Augusta township, 
Hancock County, on the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, 30 miles northeast of Quincy. 
Wagons and brick are the principal manufac- 
tures. The town has one newspaper, two banks, 
three churches and a graded school. The sur 
rouuding countrj' is a fertile agricultural region 
and abounds in a good quality of bituminous 
coal. Fine qualities of potter's clay and mineral 
paint are obtained here. Population (1890), 
1,077; (1900), 1,149. 

AUGUST ANA COLLEGE, an educational insti- 
tution controlled by the Evangelical Lutheran 
denomination, located at Rock Island and founded 
in 1803. Besides prepai'atory and collegiate de- 
partments, a theological school is connected with 
the institution. To the two first named, young 
women are admitted on an equality with 
men. Slore than 500 students were reported in 
attendance in 1890, about one-fourth being 
women. A majority of the latter were in the 
preparatory (or academic) department. The col- 
lege is not endowed, but owns property (real 
and personal) to the value of §250,000. It has a 
library of 13,000 volumes. 

AURORA, a city and important railroad cen- 
ter, Kane Count}', on Fox River, 39 miles south- 
west of Chicago; is location of principal shops of 
Chii^ago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., has fine 
water-power and many successful manufactories, 
including extensive boiler works, iron foundries, 
cotton and woolen mills, flour mills, silver-plat- 
ing works, corset, sash and door and carriage 
factories, stove and smelting works, establish- 
ments for turning out road-scrapers, buggy tops, 
and wood-working machinery. Tlie city owns 
water-works and electric light plant; has six 
banks, four daily and several weekly papers, 
some twenty-five churches, excellent schools and 
handsome public library building; is connected 
b}' interurban electric lines with the principal 
towns and villages in the Fox River valley. 
Population (1890), 19,088; (1900), 24,147. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



29 



AUSTIN, a suburb of Chicago, in Cook County. 
It is accessible from that city by either the Chi- 
cago & Northwestern Railway, or by street 
railway lines. A weekly newspaper is issued, a 
graded school is supported (including a high 
school department) and there are numerous 
churches, representing the various religious 
denominations. Population (1880), 1,3.59; (1890), 
4,031. Annexed to City of Chicago, 1899. 

AUSTIN COLLEGE, a mixed school at Effing- 
ham, 111., founded in 1890. It has eleven teachers 
and reports a total of 313 pupils for 1897 98 — 1G2 
males and 1.50 females. It has a library of 2,000 
volumes and rejjorts property valued at 837.000. 

AUSTRALIAN BALLOT," a form of ballot for 
popular elections, thus named because it was 
first brought into use in Australia. It was 
adopted by act of the Legislature of Illinois in 
1891, and is applicable to the election of all public 
officers except Trustees of Schools, School Direct- 
ors, members of Boards of Education and officers 
of road districts in counties not under township 
organization. Under it, all ballots for the elec- 
tion of •; fficers (except those just enumerated) 
are required to be printed and distributed to the 
election officers for use on the day of election, at 
public cost. These ballots contain the names, 
on the same sheet, of all candidates to be voted 
for at such election, such names having been 
formally certified previouslj' to the Secretary of 
State (in the case of candidates for offices to be 
voted for bj' electors of the entire State or any 
district greater than a single county) or to the 
County Clerk (as to all others), b}' the presiding 
officer and secretary of the convention or caucus 
making such nominations, when the party repre- 
sented cast at least two per cent of the aggregate 
vote of the State or district at the preceding gen- 
eral election. Other names may be added to the 
ballot on the petition of a specified number of the 
legal voters under certain prescribed conditions 
named in the act. The duly registered voter, on 
presenting himself at the poll, is given a copy of 
the official ticket by one of the judges of election, 
upon which he proceeds to indicate his prefer- 
ence in a temporary booth or closet set apart for 
his use, by making a cross at the head of the col- 
umn of candidates for whom he wishes to vote, if 
lie desires to vote for all of the candidates of the 
same party, or by a similar mark before the name 
of each individual for whom he wishes to vote, in 
case he desires to distribute his support among 
the candidates of different parties. The object of 
the law is to secure for the voter secrecy of the 
ballot, with independence and freedom from dic- 



tation or interference by others in the exercise of 
his right of suffrage. 

AVA, a town in Jackson County (incorporated 
as a cit3% 1901), on the Mobile & Oliio Railroad 
(Cairo & St. Louis Division), 75 miles south- 
southeast from St. Louis.' It lias two banks and 
two newspapers. Pop. (1890), 807; (1900), 984. 

AVON, village of Fulton County, on C, B & Q. 
R. R. , 20 miles south of Galesburg; has drain- 
pipe works, two factories for manufacture of 
steam- and hot-water heaters, two banks and tn"o 
newspapers; agricultural fair held here annu- 
ally. Population (1900), 809; (1904, est.), 1,000. 

AYER, Benjamin F., lawyer, was born in 
Kingston, N. H.. April 22, 182.5, graduated at 
Dartmouth College in 1846, studied law at Dane 
Law School (Harvard University), was admitted 
to the bar and began practice at Manchester, 
N. H. After serving one term in the New Hamp- 
shire Legislature, and as Prosecuting Attorney 
for Hillsborough County, in 1857 he came to Chica- 
go, soon advancing to the front rank of lawyers 
then in practice there ; became Corporation Counsel 
in 1861, and, two j'ears later, drafted the revised 
citj' charter. After the close of his official career, 
he was a member for eight years of the law firm of 
Beckwith, Aver & Kales, and afterwards of the 
firm of Ayer & Kales, until, retiring from general 
practice, ]Mr. Ayer became Solicitor of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, then a Director of the Company, 
and is at present its General Counsel and a potent 
factor in its management. 

AYERS, Marshall Paul, banker, Jacksonville, 
was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 27, 1833; 
came to Jacksonville, 111., with his parents, in 
1830, and was educated there, graduating from 
Illinois College, in 1843, as the classmate of Dr. 
Newton Bateman, afterwards President of Knox 
College at Galesburg, and Rev. Thomas K. 
Beeclier, now of Elmira, N.Y. After leaving col- 
lege he became the partner of his father (David 
B. Ayers) as agent of Mr. John Grigg, of Philadel- 
pliia, who was the owner of a large body of Illi- 
nois lands. His father dying in 1850, Mr. Ayers 
succeeded to the management of the business, 
about 75,000 acres of Mr. Grigg's unsold lands 
coming under his charge. In December, 1853, 
with the assistance of Messrs. Page & Bacon, bank- 
ers, of St. Louis, he opened the first bank in Jack- 
sonville, for tlie sale of exchange, but which 
finally grew into a bank of deposit and has been 
continued ever since, being recognized as one of 
the most solid institutions in Central Illinois. In 
1870-71, aided by Philadelphia and New York 
capitalists, he built the "Illinois Farmers' Rail- 



30 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



road" between Jacksonville and Waverly, after- 
wards extended to Virden and finally to Centralia 
and Mount Vernon. This was the nucleus of the 
Jacksonville Southeastern Railway, though Mr. 
Ayers has had no connection with it for several 
years. Other business enterprises with which he 
has been connected are the Jacksonville Gas Com- 
pany (now including an electric light and power 
plant), of which he has been President for forty 
years; the "Home Woolen Mills" (early wiped 
out by fire), sugar and paper-barrel manufacture, 
coal-mining, etc. About 1877 he purchased a 
body of 23, 600 acres of land in Champaign County, 
known as "Broadlands,'' from John T. Alexander, 
an extensive cattle-dealer, who had become 
heavily involved during the years of financial 
revulsion. As a result of this transaction, Sir. 
Alexander's debts, which aggregated §1,000,000, 
were discharged within the next two years. Mr. 
Aj'ers has been an earnest Republican since tlie 
organization of that party and, during the war, 
rendered valuable service in assisting to raise 
funds for the support of the operations of the 
Christian Commission in the field. He has also 
been active in Sunday School, benevolent and 
educational work, having been, for twenty years, 
a Trustee of Illinois College, of which he has 
been an ardent friend. In 1846 he was married 
to Miss Laura Allen, daughter of Rev. John 
Allen, D. D, , of Huntsville, Ala. , and is the father 
of fovir sons and four daughters, all living. 

BABCOCK, Amos C, was born at Penn Yan, 
N. Y., Jan. 20, 1828, the son of a member of Con- 
gress from that State; at the age of 18, having 
lost his father by death, came West, and soon 
after engaged in mercantile business in partner- 
ship with a brother at Canton, 111. In 1854 he 
was elected by a majority of one vote, as an Anti- 
Nebraska Whig, to the lower branch of the Nine- 
teenth General Assembly, and, in the following 
session, took part in the election of United States 
Senator which resulted in the choice of Lyman 
Trumbull. Although a personal and political 
friend of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Babcock, as a matter 
of policy, cast his vote for his townsman, William 
Kellogg, afterwards Congressman from that dis- 
trict, until it was apparent that a concentration 
of the Anti-Nebraska vote on Trumbull was 
necessary to defeat the election of a Democrat. 
In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln 
the first Assessor of Internal Revenue for the 
Fourth District, and, in 1863, was commissioned 
by Governor Yates Colonel of the One Hundred 
and Third Illinois Volunteers, but soon resigned. 
Colonel Babcock served as Delegateat-large in 



the Republican National Convention of 1868, 
which nominated General Grant for the Presi- 
denc3', and the same year was made Chairman of 
the Republican State Central Committee, also 
conducting the campaign two years later. He 
identified himself with the Greeley movement in 
1872, but, in 1876, was again in line with his 
party and restored to his old position on the State 
Central Committee, serving until 1878. Among 
business enterprises with which he was con- 
nected was the extension, about 1804, of the Buda 
branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad from Yates City to Canton, and the 
erection of the State Capitol at Austin, Tex., 
which was undertaken, in conjunction with 
Abner Taylor and J. V. and C. B. Farwell, about 
1881 and completed in 1888, for which tlie firm 
received over 3,000,000 acres of State lands in the 
"Pan Handle" portion of Texas. In 1889 Colonel 
Babcock took up his residence in Chicago, which 
continued to be his home until his death from 
apoplexy, Feb. e.'j, 1899. 

BABCOCK, Andrew J., soldier, was born at 
Dorchester, Norfolk County, Mass., July 19, 1830; 
began life as a coppersmith at Lowell; in 1851 
went to Concord, N. H., and, in 18.56, removed to 
Springfield, 111., where, in 18.59, he joined a mili- 
tary company called the Springfield Greys, com- 
manded by Capt. (afterwards Gen. ) John Cook, of 
which he was First Lieutenant. This company 
became the nucleus of Company I, Seventh Illi- 
nois Volunteers, which enlisted on Mr. Lincoln's 
first call for troops in April, 1861. Captain Cook 
having been elected Colonel, Babcock succeeded 
him as Captain, on the re-enlistment of the regi- 
ment in July following becoming Lieutenant- 
Colonel, and, in March, 1862, being promoted to 
the Colonelcy "for gallant and meritorious service 
rendered at Fort Donelson." A year later he was 
compelled to resign on account of impaired 
liealth. His home is at Springfield. 

BACON, George E., lawyer and legislator, born 
at Madison, Ind., Feb. 4, 1851; was brought to 
Illinois by his parents at three years of age, and, 
in 1876, located at Paris, Edgar County; in 1879 
was admitted to the bar and held various minor 
offices, including one term as State's Attorney. 
In 1886 he was elected as a Republican to the 
State Senate and re-elected four years later, but 
finally removed to Aurora, where he died, July 
6, 1896. Mr. Bacon was a man of recognized 
ability, as shown by the fact that, after the death 
of Senator John A. Logan, he was selected by his 
colleagues of the Senate to pronounce the eulogy 
on the deceased statesman. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



31 



BAGBT, John C, jurist and Congressman, was 
born at Glasgow, Ky., Jan. 24, 1819. After pas- 
sing through the common schools of Barren 
County, Ky., he studied civil engineering at 
Bacon College, graduating in 1840. Later he 
read law and was admitted to the bar in 1845. 
In 1840 he commenced practice at Rushville, 111., 
confining himself exclusively to professional work 
imtil nominated and elected to Congress in 1874, 
by the Democrats of the (old) Tenth District. In 
1885 he was elected to the Circuit Bench for the 
Sixth Circuit. Died, April 4, 1896. 

BAILEY, Joseph Mead, legislator and Jurist, 
was bom at Middlebury, Wyoming County, N. Y., 
June 23, 1833, graduated from Rochester (N. Y.) 
University in 1854, and was admitted to the 
bar in that city in 1855. In August, 1856, he 
removed to Freeport, 111., where he soon built up 
a profitable practice. In 1866 he was elected a 
Representative in the Twenty-fifth General 
Assembly, being reelected in 1868. Here he was 
especially prominent in securing restrictive legis- 
lation concerning railroads. In 1876 he was 
chosen a Presidential Elector for his district on 
the Republican ticket. In 1877 he was elected a 
Judge of the Thirteenth judicial district, and 
re-elected in 1879 and in 1885. In January, 
1878, and again in June, 1879, he was assigned to 
the bench of the Appellate Court, being presiding 
Justice from June, 1879. to June, 1880, and from 
June, 1881, to June, 1883. In 1879 he received 
the degree of LL.D. from the Universities of 
Rochester and Chicago. In 1888 he was elected 
to the bench of the Supreme Court. Died in 
office, Oct. 16, 1895. 

BAILHACHE, John, pioneer journalist, was 
born in the Island of Jersey, May 8, 1787; after 
gaining the rudiments of an education in his 
mother tongue (the French), he acquired a knowl- 
edge of English and some proficiency in Greek 
and Latin in an academy near his paternal home, 
when he spent five years as a printer's apprentice. 
In 1810 he came to the United States, first locat- 
ing at Cambridge, Ohio, but, in 1813, purchased a 
half interest in "The Fredonian" at Chillicothe 
(then the State Capital), soon after becoming sole 
owner. In 1815 he purchased "The Scioto Ga- 
zette" and consolidated the two papers under the 
name of "The Scioto Gazette and Fredonian 
Chronicle." Here he remained vmtil 1828, mean- 
time engaging temporarily in the banking busi- 
ness, also serving one term in the Legislature 
(1820), and being elected Associate Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas for Ross County. In 
1828 he removed to Columbus, assuming charge 



of "The Ohio State Journal," served one term as 
Mayor of the city, and for three consecutive 
years was State Printer. Selling out "The Jour-> 
nal" in 1836, he came west, the next year becom- 
ing part owner, and finally sole proprietor, of "The 
Telegraph" at Alton, 111., which he conducted 
alone or in association with various partners until 
1854, when he retired, giving his attention to the 
book and job branch of the business. He served as 
Representative from Madison County in the Thir- 
teenth General Assembly (1842-44). As a man 
and a journalist Judge Bailhache commanded the 
highest respect, and did much to elevate the 
standard of journalism in Illinois, "The Tele- 
graph," during the period of his connection with 
it, being one of the leading papers of the State. 
His death occurred at Alton, Sept. 3, 1857, as the 
result of injuries received the day previous, by 
being thrown from a carriage in which he was 
riding. — Maj. William Henry (Bailhache), son of 
the preceding, was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, 
August 14, 1836, removed with his father to Alton, 
111., in 1836, was educated at Shurtleff College, 
and learned the printing trade in the oflSce of 
"The Telegraph," under the direction of his 
father, afterwards being associated with the 
business department. In 1855, in partnership 
with Edward L. Baker, he became one of the 
proprietors and business manager of "The State 
Journal" at Springfield. During the Civil War 
he received from President Lincoln the appoint- 
ment of Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, 
serving to its close and receiving the brevet rank 
of Major. After the war he returned to journal- 
ism and was associated at different times with 
"The State Journal" and "The Quincy Whig," 
as business manager of each, but retired in 1873; 
in 1881 was appointed by President Arthur, 
Receiver of Public Moneys at Santa Fe., N. M., 
remaining four years. He is now (1899) a resi- 
dent of San Diego, Cal., where he has been 
engaged in newspaper work, and, under the 
administration of President McKinley, has been 
a Special Agent of the Treasury Department. — 
Preston Heath (Bailhache), another son, was 
born in Columbus. Ohio, Feb. 31, 1835, served as 
a Surgeon during the Civil War, later became a 
Surgeon in the regular army and has held posi- 
tions in marine hospitals at Baltimore, Washing- 
ton and New York, and has visited Europe in the 
interest of sanitary and hospital service. At 
present (1899) he occupies a prominent position 
at the headquarters of the United States Marine 
Hospital Service in Washington. — Arthur Lee 
(Bailhache), a third son, bom at Alton, 111., ApriJ 






32 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



12, 1839; at the beginning of the Civil War was 
employed in the State commissary service at 
Camp Yates and Cairo, became Adjutant of tlie 
Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, and died at 
Pilot Knob, Mo., Jan. 9, 1863, as the result of 
disease and exposure in the sers-ice. 

BAKER, David Jewett, lawyer and United 
States Senator, was born at East Haddam. Conn. , 
Sept. 7, 1792. His family removed to New York 
in 1800, where he worked on a farm during boy- 
hood, but graduated from Hamilton College in 
1816, and three years later was admitted to the 
bar. In 1819 he came to Illinois and began prac- 
tice at Kaskaskia, where he attained prominence 
in his profession and was made Probate Judge of 
Randolph County. His opposition to the intro- 
duction of slavery into the State was bo aggres- 
sive that his life was frequently threatened. In 
1830 Governor Edwards appointed him United 
States Senator, to fill the unexpired term of 
Senator McLean, but he served only one month 
when he was succeeded by John M. Robinson, 
who was elected by the Legislature. He was 
United States District Attorney from 1833 
to 1841 (the State then constituting but 
one district), and thereafter resumed private 
practice. Died at Alton, August 6, 1869. 
—Henry Southard (Baker), son of the pre- 
ceding, was born at Kaskaskia, 111., Nov. 10, 
1824, received his prejiaratory education at Shurt- 
leff College, Upper Alton, and, in 1843, entered 
Brown University, R. I., graduating therefrom 
in 1847 ; was admitted to the bar in 1849, begin- 
ning practice at Alton, the home of his father, 
Hon. David J. Baker. In 1854 he was elected as an 
Anti-Nebraska candidate to the lower branch of 
the Nineteenth General Assembly, and, at the 
subsequent session of the General Assembly, was 
one of the five Anti-Nebraska members whose 
uncompromising fidelity to Hon. Lyman Trmii- 
bull resulted in the election of the latter to the 
United States Senate for the first time — the others 
being his colleague, Dr. George T. Allen of the 
House, and Hon. John M. Palmer, afterwards 
United States Senator, Burton C. Cook and Nor- 
man B. Judd in the Senate. He served as one of the 
Secretaries of the Republican State Convention 
held at Bloomiugton in May, 18.56, was a Repub- 
lican Presidential Elector in 1864, and, in 186.5, 
became Judge of the Alton City Court, serving 
until 1881. In 1876 he presided over the Repub- 
lican State Convention, served as delegate to the 
Republican National Convention of the same 
year and was an unsuccessful candidate for 
Congress in opposition to William R. Morrison. 



Judge Baker was the orator selected to deliver 
the adtlress on occasion of the imveiling of the 
statue of Lieut. -Gov. Pierre Menard, on the 
capitol grounds at Springfield, in January, 1888. 
About 1888 he retired from practice, dying at 
Alton, March 5, 1897. — Edward L. (Baker), 
second son of David Jewett Baker, was bom at 
Kaska.skia, 111., June 3, 1829; graduated at Shurt- 
leff College in 1847; read law with his father two 
years, after whicli he entered Har\-ard Law 
School and was admitted to the bar at Spring- 
field in 18.5.5. Previous to this date 3Ir. Baker had 
become associated with William H. Bailhache, in 
the management of "The Alton Daily Telegraph," 
and, in July, 185.5, they purchased "The Illinois 
State Journal," at Springfield, of which Mr. 
Baker assumed the editorship, remaining until 
1874. In 1869 he was appointed United States 
Assessor for the Eighth District, serving until 
the abolition of the office. In 1873 he received 
the appointment from President Grant of Consul 
to Buenos Ayres, South America, and, assuming 
the duties of the office in 1874, remained there 
for twenty-three years, proving himself one of 
the most capable and efficient officers in the con- 
sular service. On the evening of the 20th of 
June, 1897, when Mr. Baker was about to enter a 
railway train already in motion at the station in 
the city of Buenos Ayres, he fell under the cars, 
receiving injuries which necessitated the ampu- 
tation of his right arm, finally resulting in his 
death in the hospital at Buenos Ayres, July 8, 
following. His remains were brought home at 
the Government expense and interred in Oak 
Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, where a monu- 
ment has since been erected in his honor, bearing 
a tablet contributed by citizens of Buenos Ayres 
and foreign representatives in that city express- 
ive of their respect for his memory. — David 
Jewett (Baker), Jr., a third son of David Jewett 
Baker, Sr., was born at Kaskaskia, Nov. 20,1834; 
graduated from Shurtleff College in 1854, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1856. In November of 
that year he removed to Cairo and began prac- 
tice. He was Mayor of that city in 1864-65, and, 
in 1869, was elected to the bench of the Nineteenth 
Judicial Circuit. The Legislature of 1873 (by Act 
of March 28) having divided the State into 
twenty-six circuits, he was elected Judge of the 
Twenty -sixth, on June 2, 1873. In August, 1878, 
he resigned to accept an appointment on the 
Supreme Bench as successor to Judge Breese, 
deceased, but at the close of his term on the 
Supreme Bench (1879), was re-elected Circuit 
Judge, and again in 1885. During this period he 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



33 



served for several years on the Appellate Bench. 
In 1888 he retired from the Circuit Bench by 
resignation and was elected a Justice of the 
Supreme Court for a term of nine years. Again, 
in 1897, he was a candidate for re-election, but 
was defeated by Carroll C. Boggs. Soon after 
retiring from the Supreme Bench he removed to 
Chicago and engaged in general practice, in 
partnership with his son, John W, Baker. He 
fell dead almost instantly in his office. JIarch 13, 
1899. In all. Judge Baker liad spent some tliirty 
years almost continuously on the bench, and had 
attained eminent distinction both as a lawyer and 
a jurist. 

BAKER, Edward Dickinson, soldier and 
United States Senator, was born in London, 
Eng., Feb. 34, 1811; emigrated to Illinois while 
yet in his minority, first locating at Belleville, 
afterwards removing to Carrollton and finally to 
Sangamon County, the last of which he repre- 
sented in the lower house of the Tenth General 
Assembly, and as State Senator in the Twelfth 
and Thirteenth. He was elected to Congress as 
a Whig from the Springfield District, but resigned 
in December, 1846, to accept the colonelcy of the 
Fourth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, in the 
Mexican War, and succeeded General Shields in 
command of the brigade, when the latter was 
wounded at Cerro Gordo. In 1848 he was elected 
to Congress from the Galena District; was also 
identified with the construction of the Panama 
Railroad; went to San Francisco in 1853, but 
'ater removed to Oregon, where he was elected 
to the United States Senate in 1860. In 1861 he 
resigned the Senatorship to enter the Union 
army, commanding a brigade at the battle of 
Ball's Bluff, where he was killed, October 31, 1861. 

BAKER, Jehu, lawyer and Congi-essman, was 
born in Fayette County, Ky., Nov. 4, 1833. At 
an early age he removed to Illinois, making his 
home in Belleville, St. Clair County. He re- 
ceived his early education in the common schools 
and at McKendree College. Although he did 
not graduate from the latter institution, he 
received therefrom the honorary degree of A. M. 
in 18.58, and that of LL. D. in 1883. For a time 
he studied medicine, but abandoned it for the 
study of law. From 1861 to 1865 he was Master 
in Chancery for St. Clair County. From 1865 to 
1869 he represented the Belleville District as a 
Republican in Congress. From 1876 to 1881 and 
from 1883 to 1885 he was Minister Resident in 
Venezuela, during the latter portion of his term 
of service acting also as Consul-General. Return- 
ing home, he was again elected to Congress (1886) 



from the Eighteenth District, but was defeated 
for re-election, in 1SS8, by William S. Forman, 
Democrat. Again, in 1896, having identified 
himself with the Free Silver Democracy and 
People's Party, he was elected to Congress from 
the Twentieth District over Everett J. Murphy, 
the Republican nominee, serving until March 3, 
1899. He is the author of an annotated edition 
of Montesquieu's "Grandeur and Decadence of 
the Romans." 

BALDWI\, Elmer, agriculturist and legisla- 
tor, was born in I^itchfield County, Conn., March 
8, 1806; at 16 years of age began teaching a coun- 
try school, continuing this occupation for several 
years during the winter months, while working 
on his father's farm in the summer. He then 
started a store at New Milford, which he man- 
aged for three years, when he sold out on account 
of his health and began farming. In 1833 he 
came west and purchased a considerable tract of 
Government land in La Salle Count}', where the 
village of Farm Ridge is now situated, removing 
thither with his family the following year. He 
served as Justice of the Peace for fourteen con- 
secutive terms, as Postmaster twenty years and 
as a member of the Board of Supervisors of La 
Salle County six years. In 1850 he was elected 
as a Republican to the House of Representatives, 
was re-elected to the .same office in 1866, and to 
the State Senate in 1873, serving two years. He 
was also appointed, in 1869, a member of the first 
Board of Public Charities, serving as President of 
the Board. Mr. Baldwin is author of a "His- 
tory of La Salle County," which contains much 
local and biographical history. Died, Nov. 18, 
189.5. 

BALDWIN, Theron, clergyman and educa- 
tor, was born in Goshen, Conn., July 21, 1801; 
graduated at Yale College in 1827; after two 
years' study in the theological school there, was 
ordained a home missionary in 1839, becoming 
one of the celebrated "Yale College Band," or 
"Western College Society," of which he was Cor- 
responding Secretary during most of his life. He 
was settled as a Congregationalist minister at 
Vandalia for two years, and was active in pro- 
curing the charter of Illinois College at Jackson- 
ville, of wliich he was a Trustee from its 
organization to liis death. He served for a 
number of years, from 1831, as Agent of the 
Home Missionary Society for Illinois, and, in 
1838, became the first Principal of Monticello 
Female Seminary, near Alton, which he con- 
ducted five years. Died at Orange, N. J., April 
10, 1870. 



34 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



BALLARD, Addison, merchant, was born of 
Quaker parentage in Warren County, Ohio, No- 
vember, 1822. He located at La Porte, Ind., 
about 1841, where he learned and pursued the 
carpenter's trade; in 1849 went to California, 
remaining two years, when he returned to La 
Porte ; in 1853 removed to Chicago and embarked 
in the lumber trade, which he prosecuted until 
1887, retiring with a competency. Mr. Ballard 
served several years as one of the Commissioners 
of Cook County, and, from 1876 to 1882, as Alder- 
man of the City of Chicago, and again in the 
latter office, 1894-90. 

BALTES, Peter Joseph, Roman Catholic Bishop 
of Alton, was born at Ensheim, Rhenisli Ba- 
varia, April 7, 1827 ; was educated at the colleges 
of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, Mass., and of St. 
Ignatius, at Chicago, and at Lavalle University, 
Montreal, and was ordained a priest in 1853, and 
consecrated Bishop in 1870. His diocesan admin- 
istration was successful, but regarded by hi« 
priests as somewhat arbitrary. He wrote numer- 
ous pastoral letters and brochures for the guidance 
of clergy and laity. His most important literary 
work was entitled "Pastoral Instruction," fir.st 
edition, N. Y., 1875; second edition (revised and 
enlargedl, 1880. Died at Alton, Feb. 15, 1886. 

BALTIMORE & OHIO SOUTHWESTERN 
RAILWAY. This road (constituting a part of the 
Baltimore & Ohio system) is made up of two 
principal divisions, the first extending across the 
State from East St. Louis to Belpre, Ohio, and the 
second (known as the Springfield Di%'ision) extend- 
ing from Beardstown to Shawneetown. The total 
mileage of the former (or main line) is 537 
miles, of which 147,'/^ are in Illinois, and of the 
latter (wholly within Illinois) 228 miles. The 
main line (originally known as the Ohio & Mis- 
sissippi Railway) was chartered in Indiana in 
1848, in Ohio in 1849, and in Illinois in 1851. It 
was constructed by two companies, the section 
from Cincinnati to the Indiana and Illinois State 
line being known as the Eastern Division, and 
that in Illinois as the Western Division, the 
gauge, as originally built, being six feet, but 
reduced in 1871 to standard. Tlie banking firm 
of Page & Bacon, of St. Louis and San Francisco, 
were the principal financial backers of the enter- 
prise. The line was completed and opened for 
traffic. May 1, 1857. The following year the road 
became financially embarrassed ; the Eastern Di- 
vision was placed in the hands of a receiver in 
1860. while tlie Western Division was sold under 
foreclosure, in 1862, and reorganized as tlie Oliio 
& Mississippi Railway under act of the Illinois 



Legislature passed in February, 1861. The East- 
ern Division was sold in Januarj-, 1867; and, in 
November of the same year, the two divisions 
were consolidated under the title of the Ohio & 
Mississippi Railway. — The Springfield Division 
was the result of the consolidation, in December, 
1869, of the Pana, Springfield & Northwestern 
and the Illinois & Soutlieastern Railroad — each 
having been chartered in 1867 — the new corpo- 
ration taking the name of the Springfield & Illi- 
nois Southeastern Railroad, under which natne 
the road was built and opened in March, 1871. In 
1873, it was placed in the hands of receivers ; in 
1874 was sold under foreclosure, and, on March 
1, 1875, passed into the hands of the Ohio & Mis- 
sissippi Railway Company. In November, 1876, 
the road was again placed in the hands of a 
receiver, but was restored to the Company in 1884. 
— In November, 1893, the Ohio & Mississippi was 
consolidated with the Baltimore & Ohio South- 
western Railroad, which was the successor of the 
Cincinnati, Washington & Baltimore Railroad, 
the reorganized Company taking the name of the 
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Com- 
pany. The total capitalization of the road, as 
organized in 1898, was §84,770,531. Several 
branches of the main line in Indiana and Ohio go 
to increase the aggregate mileage, but being 
wholly outside of Illinois are not taken into ac- 
count in this statement. 

BALTIMORE & OHIO & CHICAGO RAIL- 
ROAD, part of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 
System, of which only 8.21 out of 265 miles are in 
Illinois. The principal object of the company's 
incorporation was to secure entrance for the 
Baltimore & Ohio into Chicago. The capital 
stock outstanding exceeds .$1,500,000. The total 
capital (including stock, funded and floating debt) 
is $20,329,166 or §76,728 per mile. The gross 
earnings for the year ending June 30, 1898, were 
§3,383,016 and the operating expenses §3,493,452. 
The income and earnings for the -portion of the 
line in Illinois for the same period were $209,208 
and the expen.ses $208,096. 

BAXGS, Mark, lawyer, was born in Franklin 
County, Mass., Jan. 9, 1822; spent his boy- 
hood on a farm in Western New York, and, after 
a year in an institution at Rochester, came to 
Chicago in 1844, later spending two years in farm 
work and teacliing in Central Illinois. Return- 
ing east in 1847, he engaged in teaching for 
two years at Springfield, Mass., then spent 
a year in a dry goods store at Lacon, lU., 
meanwhile prosecuting his legal studies. la 
1851 he began practice, was elected a Judgs 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



35 



of the Circuit Court in 1859 ; served one session 
as State Senator (1870-72); in 1873 was ap- 
pointed Circuit Juiige to fill the unexpired 
term of Judge Richmond, deceased, and, in 1875, 
was appointed by President Grant United States 
District Attorney for the Northern District, 
remaining in office four years. Judge Bangs was 
also a member of the first Anti-Nebraska State 
Convention of Illinois, held at Springfield in 1854 ; 
in 18C2 presided over the Congressional Conven- 
tion which nominated Owen Lovejoy for Congress 
for the first time ; was one of the charter members 
of the "Union League of America," serving as its 
President, and, in 1868, was a delegate to the 
National Convention which nominated General 
Grant for President for the first time. After 
retiring from the office of District Attorney in 
1879, he removed to Chicago, where he is still 
(1898) engaged in the practice of his profession. 

BAXKSOX, Andrew, pioneer and early legis- 
lator, a native of Tennessee, settled on Silver 
Creek, in St. Clair County, 111., four miles south 
of Lebanon, about 1808 or 1810, and subsequently 
removed to Washington County. He was a Col- 
onel of "Rangers" during the War of 1813, and a 
Captain in the Black Hawk War of 1833. In 
1833 he was elected to the State Senate from 
Washington County, serving four years, and at 
the session of 1833-33 was one of those who voted 
against the Convention resolution which had for 
its object to make Illinois a slave State. He sub- 
sequently removed to Iowa Territory, but died, in 
1853, while visiting a son-in-law in Wisconsin. 

BAPTISTS. The first Baptist minister to set- 
tle in Illinois was Elder James Smith, who 
located at New Design, in 1787. He was fol- 
lowed, about 1796-97, by Revs. David Badgley and 
Joseph Chance, who organized the first Baptist 
church within the limits of the State. Five 
churches, having four ministers and 111 mem- 
bers, formed an association in 1807. Several 
causes, among them a difference of views on the 
slavery question, resulted in the division of the 
denomination into factions. Of these perhaps 
the most numerous was the Regular (or Blission- 
ary) Baptists, at the head of which was Rev. John 
M. Peck, a resident of the State from 1833 until 
his death (1858). By 1835 the sect had grown, 
until it had some 350 churches, with about 7,500 
members. These were under the ecclesiastical 
care of twenty-two Associations. Rev. Isaac 
McCoy, a Baptist Indian missionary, preached at 
Fort Dearborn on Oct. 9, 1835, and, eight years 
later. Rev. Allen B. Freeman organized the first 
Baptist society in what was then an infant set- 



tlement. By 1890 the number of Associations 
had grown to forty, with 1010 churches, 891 
ministers and 88,884 members. A Baptist Theo- 
logical Seminary was for some time supported at 
Morgan Park, but, in 1895, was absorbed by the 
University of Chicago, becoming the divinity 
school of that institution. The chief organ of the 
denomination in Illinois is "The Standard," pub- 
lished at Chicago. 

BARBER, Hiram, was born in Wai-ren County, 
N. Y., March 34, 1835. At 11 years of age he 
accompanied his family to Wisconsin, of which 
State he was a resident until 1866. After gradu- 
ating at the State University of Wisconsin, at 
Madison, he studied law at the Albany Law 
School, and was admitted to practice. After 
serving one term as District Attorney of his 
county in Wisconsin (1861-63), and Assistant 
Attorney-General of the State for 1865-66, in 
the latter year he came to Chicago and, in 1878, 
was elected to Congress by the Republicans of 
the old Second Illinois District. His home is in 
Chicago, where he holds the position of Master in 
Chancery of the Superior Court of Cook County. 

BARDOLPH, a village of McDonough County, 
on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 7 
miles northeast of Macomb; has a local paper. 
Population (1880), 409; (1890), 447; (1900), 387. 

BARNSBACK, George Frederick Julius, pio- 
neer, was born in Germany, July 35, 1781 ; came 
to Philadelphia in 1797, and soon after to Ken- 
tucky, where he became an overseer; two or 
three years later visited his native country, suf- 
fering shipwreck en route in the English Channel ; 
returned to Kentucky in 1803, remaining until 
1809, when he removed to what is now Madison 
(then a part of St. Clair) County, 111. ; served in 
the War of 1813, farmed and raised stock until 
1824, when, after a second visit to Germany, he 
bought a plantation in St. Francois County, Mo. 
Subsequently becoming disgusted with slavery, 
he manumitted his slaves and returned to Illinois, 
locating on a farm near Edwardsville, where he 
resided until his death in 1869. Mr. Bamsback 
served as Representative in the Fourteenth Gen- 
eral Assembly (1844-46) and, after returning from 
Springfield, distributed his salary among the poor 
of Madison County. — Julius A. (Barnsback), his 
son, was born in St. Francois County, Mo., May 
14, 1836; in 1846 became a merchant at Troy, 
Madison County ; was elected Sheriff in 1860 ; in 
1864 entered the service as Captain of a Company 
in the One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois Volun- 
teers (100-days' men); also served as a member of 
the Twenty-fourth General Assembly (1865). 



36 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



BARNUM, William H., lawyer and ex -Judge, 
was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., Feb. 13, 
1840. When he was but two j'ears old his family 
removed to St. Clair County, 111. , where he passed 
his boyhood and youth. His preliminarj- educa- 
tion was obtained at Belleville, III., Ypsilanti, 
Midi., and at the Michigan State University at 
Ann Arbor. After leaving the institution last 
named at tlie end of the sophomore year, he 
taught scliool at Belleville, still pursuing his clas- 
sical studies. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar 
at Belleville, and soon afterward opened an office 
at Chester, where, for a time, he held the office 
of Master in Chancery. He removed to Chicago 
in 1867, and, in 1879, -was elevated to the bench 
of the Cook County Circuit Court. At the expi- 
ration of his term lie resumed private practice. 

BARRERE, (iranville, was born in Highland 
County, Ohio. After attending the common 
schools, he acquired a higher education at Au- 
gusta, Ky., and Marietta, Ohio. He was admitted 
to the bar in his native State, but began the prac- 
tice of law in Fulton County, 111., in 185G. In 
1873 he received tlie Republican nomination for 
Congress_ and was elected, representing his dis- 
trict from 1873 to 1875, at the conclusion of his 
term retiring to private life. Died at Canton, 
111., Jan. 13, 1889. 

BARRINGTON, a village located on the north- 
ern border of Cook County, and partly in. Lake, 
at the intersection of the Chicago & Northwestern 
and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, 33 miles 
northwest of Chicago. It has banks, a local paper, 
and several cheese factories, being in a dairying 
district. Population (1890), 848; (19110), 1,163. 

BARROWS, John Henry, D. I)., clergyman 
and educator, was born at Jledina, Mich., July 
11, 1817; graduated at Mount Olivet College in 
1867, and studied theology at Yale, Union and 
Andover Seminaries. In 1869 he went to Kansas, 
where he spent two and a half years in mission- 
ary and educational work. He then (in 1873) 
accepted a call to the First Congregational 
Church at Springfield, 111., where he remained a 
year, after which he gave a year to foreign travel, 
visiting Europe, Egypt and Palestine, during a 
part of the time supplying the American chapel 
in Paris. On his return to the United States he 
spent six years in pastoral work at Lawrence and 
East Boston, Mass., when (in November, 1881) he 
assumed the pastorate of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Chicago. Dr. Barrows achieved a 
world-wide celebrity by his services as Chairman 
of the "Parliament of Religions," a branch of the 
"World's Congress Auxiliary," held during the 



World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 
1893. Later, he was appointed Professorial Lec- 
turer on Comparative Religions, under lectureships 
in connection with the University of Chicago en- 
dowed by Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell. One of these, 
established in Dr. Barrows' name, contemplated 
a series of lectures in India, to be delivered on 
alternate years with a similar course at tlie Uni- 
versity. Courses were delivered at the University 
in 1895-96, and, in order to carry out the purposes 
of the foreign lectureship. Dr. Barrows found it 
necessary to resign his pastorate, which he did in 
the spring of 1896. After spending the summer 
in Germany, the regular itinerary of the round- 
the-world tour began at London in the latter part 
of November, 1896, ending with his return to the 
United States by way of San Francisco in May, 
1897. Dr. Barrows was accompanied by a party 
of personal friends from Chicago and elsewhere, 
the tour embracing visits to the principal cities 
of Southern Europe, Egypt, Palestine, China and 
Japan, with a somewhat protracted staj in India 
during the winter of 1896-97. After his return to 
the United States he lectured at the University 
of Chicago and in many of the principal cities of 
the country, on the moral and religious condition 
of Oriental nations, but, in 1898, was offered 
the Presidency of Oberlin College, Ohio, which 
he accepted, entering upon his duties early in 
1899. 

BARRY, a city in Pike County, founded in 
1836, on the Wabash Railroad, 18 miles east of 
Hannibiil, JIo. , and 30 miles southeast of Quincy. 
The surrounding country is agricultural. The 
city contains flouring mills, porkpacking and 
poultrj' estalilishments, etc. It has two local 
papers, two banks, three churches and a high 
school, besides schools of lower grade. Popula- 
tion (1880), 1,393; (1890), 1,3.54; (1900), 1,643. 

BARTLETT, Adolplius Clay, merchant, was 
born of Revolutionary ancestry at Stratford, 
Fulton County, N. Y. , June 33, 1844 ; was educated 
in the common schools and at Danville Academy 
and Chnton Liberal Institute, N. Y., and, coming 
to Chicago in 1863, entered into the employment 
of the hardware firm of Tuttle, Hibbard & Co., 
now Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., of which, 
a few years later, he became a partner, and later 
Vice-President of the Company. Mr. Bartlett 
has also been a Trustee of Beloit College, Presi- 
dent of the Chicago Home for the Friendless and 
a Director of the Chicago & Alton Railroad and 
the Metropolitan National Bank, besides being 
identified with various other business and benevo- 
lent associations. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



37 



BASCOM, (ReT.) Flavel, D. D., clergyman, 
was born at Lebanon, Conn., June 8, 1804; spent 
liis boyhood on a farm until 17 years of age, mean- 
while attending the common schools; prepared 
for college under a private tutor, and, in 1824, 
entered Yale College, graduating in 1828. After a 
year as Principal of the Academy at New Canaan, 
Conn., he entered upon the study of theology 
at Yale, was licensed to preach in 1831 and, for 
the next two years, served as a tutor in the liter- 
ary department of the college. Then coming to 
Illinois (1833), he cast his lot with the "Yale 
Band," organized at Yale College a few years 
previous ; spent five years in missionary work in 
Tazewell County and two years in Northern Illi- 
nois as Agent of the Home Missionary Society, 
exploring new settlements, founding churches 
and introducing missionaries to new fields of 
labor. In 1839 he became pastor of the First 
Presbyterian Church of Chicago, remaining until 
1849, when he assumed the pastorship of the First 
Presbj'terian Church at Galesburg, this relation 
continuing until 1850. Then, after a year's serv- 
ice as the Agent of the American Missionary 
Association of the Congregational Church, he 
accepted a call to the Congregational Church at 
Princeton, where he remained until 1869, when 
he took charge of the Congregational Church at 
Hinsdale. From 1878 he served for a consider- 
able period as a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Illinois Home Missionarj^ Society; 
was also prominent in educational work, being 
one of the founders and, for over twenty -five 
years, an officer of the Chicago Theological 
Seminary, a Trustee of Knox College and one of 
the founders and a Trustee of Beloit College, 
Wis., from which he received the degree of D. D. 
in 1869. Dr. Bascom died at Princeton, 111 , 
August 8, 1890. 

BATATIA, a city in Kane County, on Fox 
River and branch lines of the Chicago & North- 
western and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroads, 35 miles west of Chicago; lias water 
power and sevei'al prosperous manufacturing 
establishments employing over 1,000 operatives. 
Tlie city has fine water-works supplied from an 
artesian well, electric lighting plant, electric 
street car lines with interurban connections, two 
weekly papers, eight churclies, two public 
schools, and private hospital for insane women. 
Population (1900), 3,871; (1903, est.), 4,400. 

BATEMAN, Newton, A. M., LL.D., educator 
and Editor-in-Chief of the "Historical Encyclo- 
pedia of Illinois," was born at Fairfield, N. J., 
July 37, 1822, of mixed English and Scotch an- 



cestry ; was brought by his parents to Illinois in 
1833; in his youth enjoyed only limited educa- 
tional advantages, but graduated from Illinois 
College at Jacksonville in 1843, supporting him- 
self during his college course wholly by his own 
labor. Having contemplated entering the Chris- 
tian ministry, he spent the following year at Lane 
Theological §0minary, but was compelled to 
withdraw on account of failing health, when he 
gave a j-ear to travel. He then entered upon his 
life-work as a teacher by engaging as Principal 
of an English and Classical School in St. Louis, 
remaining tliere t\vo years, when he accepted the 
Professorship of Mathematics in St. Charles Col- 
lege, at St. Charles, Mo., continuing in that 
position four years (1847-51). Returning to Jack- 
sonville, 111., in the latter year, he assumed the 
principalship of the main public school of that 
city. Hei-e he remained seven years, during four 
of them discharging the duties of County Super- 
intendent of Schools for 5Iorgan County. In the 
fall of 1857 he became Principal of Jacksonville 
Female Academy, but the following year was 
elected State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, having been nominated for the office by the 
Republican State Convention of 1858, which put 
Abraham Lincoln in nomination for the United 
States Senate. By successive re-elections he con- 
tinued in this office fourteen years, serving con- 
tinuously from 1859 to 1875, except two years 
(1863-65), as the result of his defeat for re-election 
in 18G2. He was also endorsed for the same office 
by the State Teachers' Association in 1856, but 
was not formallj' nominated by a State Conven- 
tion. During his incumbency the Illinois com- 
mon school .s}-stem was developed and brought to 
the state of efficiency wliich it has so well main- 
tained. He also prepared some seven volmnes of 
biennial reports, portions of which have been 
republished in five different languages of Europe, 
besides a volume of "Common School Decisions," 
originally published by authority of the General 
Assembly, and of which several editions have 
since been issued. This volume has been recog- 
nized by the courts, and is still regarded as 
authoritative on the subjects to which it relates. 
In addition to his official duties during a part of 
this period, for three years he served as editor of 
"The Illinois Teacher," and was one of a com- 
mittee of three which prepared the bill adopted 
by Congress creating tlie National Bureau of 
Education. Occupying a room in the old State 
Capitol at Springfield adjoining that used as an 
office by Abraham Lincoln during the first candi- 
dacy of the latter for the Presidency, in 1860, a 



9 



38 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



close intimacy sprang up between t)ie two men, 
which enabled the "School master," as Mr. Lin- 
coln playfully called the Doctor, to acquire an 
insight into the character of the future emanci- 
pator of a race, enjoyed by few men of that time, 
and of which he gave evidence by his lectures 
full of interesting reminiscence and eloquent 
appreciation of the high character of the "Martyr 
President." A few months after his retirement 
from the State Superintendency (1875), Dr. Bate- 
man was offered and accepted the Presidency of 
Knox College at Galesburg, remaining luitil 1893, 
when he voluntarilj' tendered his resignation. 
This, after having been repeatedly urged upon 
the Board, was finally accepted ; but that body 
immediately, and by unanimous vote, appointed 
him President Emeritus and Professor of Mental 
and Moral Science, under which he continued to 
discharge his duties as a special lecturer as his 
health enabled him to do so. During his incum- 
bency as President of Knox College, he twice 
received a tender of the Presidency of Iowa State 
University and the Chancellorship of two other 
important State institutions. He also served, by 
appointment of successive Governors between 1877 
and 1891, as a member of the State Board of 
Health, for four years of this period being Presi- 
dent of the Board. In Februarj% 1878, Dr. Bate- 
man, unexpectedly and without solicitation on his 
part, received from President Hayes an appoint- 
ment as "Assay Commissioner" to examine and 
test the fineness and weight of United States 
coins, in accordance with the provisions of the 
act of Congress of June 22, 1874, and discharged 
the duties assigned at the mint in Philadelphia. 
Never of a very strong physique, which was 
rather weakened by his privations while a stu- 
dent and his many years of close confinement to 
mental labor, towards the close of his life Dr. 
Bateman suffered much from a chest trouble 
which finally developed into "angina pectoris," 
or lieart disease, from which, as the result of a 
most painful attack, he died at his home in Gales- 
burg, Oct. 21, 1897. The event produced the 
most profound sorrow, not only among his associ- 
ates in the Faculty and among the students of 
Knox College, but a large number of friends 
throughout the State, who had known him offi- 
cially or personally, and had learned to admire 
his many noble and beautiful traits of character. 
His funeral, which occurred at Galesburg on 
Oct. 25, called out an immense concourse of 
sorrowing friends. Almost the last labors per- 
formed by Dr. Bateman were in the revision of 
matter for this volume, in which he manifested 



the deepest interest from the time of his assump- 
tion of the duties of its Editor-in-Chief. At the 
time of his <leath he had the satisfaction of know- 
ing that his work in this field was practically 
complete. Dr. Bateman had been twice married, 
first in 1850 to Miss Sarah Dayton of Jacksonville, 
who died in 1857, and a second time in October, 
1859, to Miss Annie N. Tyler, of Massachusetts 
(but for some time a teacher in Jacksonville 
Female Academy), who died. May 28, 1878. — 
Clifford Rush (Bateman), a son of Dr. Bateman 
by his first marriage, was born at Jacksonville, 
March 7, 1854, graduated at Amherst College and 
later from the law department of Columbia Col- 
lege, New York, afterwards prosecuting his 
studies at Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris, finally 
becoming Professor of Administrative Law and 
Government in Columbia College — a position 
especially created for him. He had filled this 
position a little over one year when his career — 
which was one of great promise — was cut short by 
death. Feb. G, 1883. Three daughters of Dr. Bate- 
man survive — all the wives of clergj-men. — P. S. 

BATES, Clara Doty, author, was born at Ann 
Arbor, Mich., Dec. 22, 1838; published her first 
book in 1868; the next year married Morgan 
Bates, a Chicago publisher; wrote much for 
juvenile periodicals, besides stories and poems, 
some of the most popular among the latter being 
"Blind Jakey" (1868) and "^sop's Fables" in 
verse (1873). She was the collector of a model 
library for children, for the World's Columbian 
Exposition, 1893. Died in Chicago, Oct. 14, 1895. 

BATES, Erastus Newton, soldier and State 
Treasxirer, was born at Plainfield, Mass., Feb. 29, 
1838, being descended from Pilgrims of the May- 
flower. When 8 years of age he was brought by 
his father to Ohio, where the latter soon after- 
ward died. For several years he lived with an 
uncle, preparing himself for college and earning 
money by teaching and manual labor. He gradu- 
ated from Williams College, Mass., in 1853, and 
commenced the study of law in New York City, 
but later removed to Minnesota, where he ser\'ed 
as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 
1856 and was elected to the State Senate in 1857. 
In 1859 he removed to Centralia, 111., and com- 
menced practice there in August, 1802; was com- 
missioned Major of the Eightieth Illinois 
Volunteers, being suoce.ssively promoted to the 
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, and 
finally brevetted Brigadier-General. For fifteen 
months he was a prisoner of war, escaping from 
Libby Prison only to be recaptured and later 
exposed to the fire of the Union batteries at Mor- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



39 



ris Island, Charleston harbor. In 1866 he was 
elected to the Legislature, and, in 1868, State 
Treasurer, being re-elected to the latter office 
under the new Constitution of 18T0, and serving 
until January, 1873. Died at Minneapolis, 
Minn., May 29, 1898, and was buried at Spring- 
field. 

BATES, Georgre C., lawyer and politician, was 
born in Canandaigua, N. Y., and removed to 
Michigan in 1834; in 1849 was appointed United 
States District Attorney for that State, but re- 
moved to California in 1850, where he became a 
member of the celebrated "Vigilance Committee" 
at San Francisco, and, in 1856, delivered the first 
Republican speech there. From 1861 to 1871, he 
practiced law in Chicago; the latter year was 
appointed District Attorney for Utah, serving 
two years, in 1878 removing to Denver, Colo., 
where he died, Feb. 11, 1886. Mr. Bates was an 
orator of much reputation, and was selected to 
express the thanks of the citizens of Chicago to 
Gen. B. J. Sweet, commandant of Camp Douglas, 
after the detection and defeat of the Camp Doug- 
las conspiracy in November, 1864 — a duty which 
he performed in an address of great eloquence. 
At an early day he married the widow of Dr. 
Alexander Wolcott, for a number of years previ- 
ous to 1830 Indian Agent at Chicago, his wife 
being a daughter of John Kinzie, the first white 
settler of Chicago. 

BATH, a village of Mason Coimty, on the 
Jacksonville branch of the Chicago, Peoria & St. 
Louis Railway, 8 miles south of Havana. Popu- 
lation (1880), 439; (1890), 384; (1900), 330. 

BAYLIS, a corporate village of Pike County, 
on the main line of the Wabash Railway,40 miles 
southeast of Quincy ; has one newspaper. Popu- 
lation (1890), 368; (1900), 340. 

BATLISS, Alfred, Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, was born about 1846, served as a 
private in the First Michigan Cavalry the last 
two years of the Civil War, and graduated from 
Hillsdale College (Mich.), in 1870, supporting 
himself during his college course by work upon a 
farm and teaching. After serving three years as 
County Superintendent of Schools in La Grange 
County, Ind., in 1874 he came to Illinois and 
entered upon the vocation of a teacher in the 
northern part of the State. He served for some 
time as Superintendent of Schools for the city of 
Sterling, afterwards becoming Principal of the 
Township High School at Streator, where he was, 
in 1898, when he received the nomination for the 
office of State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, to which he was elected in November follow- 



ing by a pluralitj' over his Democratic opponent 
of nearly 70,000 votes. 

BEARD, Thomas, pioneer and founder of the 
city of Beardstown, 111., was born in Granville, 
Washington County, N. Y., in 1795, taken to 
Northeastern Ohio in 1800, and, in 1818, removed 
to Illinois, living for a time about Edwardsville 
and Alton. In 1820 he went to the locality of 
the present city of Beardstown, and later estab- 
lished there the first ferry across the Illinois 
River. In 1827, in conjunction with Enoch 
March of Morgan County, he entered the land on 
wliich Beardstown was platted in 1829. Died, at 
Beardstown, in November, 1849. 

BEARDSTOWN, a city in Cass County, on the 
Illinois River, being the intersecting point for 
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern and the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railways, and the 
northwestern terminus of the former. It is 111 
miles north of St. Louis and 90 miles south of 
Peoria. Thomas Beard, for whom the town was 
named, settled here about 1820 and soon after- 
wards established the first ferry across the Illi- 
nois River. In 1827 the land was patented by 
Beard and Enoch March, and the town platted, 
and, during the Black Hawk War of 1832, it 
became a principal base of supplies for the Illi- 
nois volunteers. The city has six churches and 
three schools (including a high school), two banks 
and two daily newspapers. Several branches of 
manufacturing are carried on here — flouring and 
saw mills, cooperage works, an axe-handle fac- 
tory, two button factories, two stave factories, 
one shoe factory, large machine shops, and othera 
of less importance. The river is spanned here by 
a fine railroad bridge, costing some §300,000. 
Population (1890), 4,226; (1900), 4,827. 

BEAUBIEN, Jean Baptiste, the second per- 
manent settler on the site of Chicago, was bom 
at Detroit in 1780, became clerk of a fur-trader on 
Grand River, married an Ottawa woman for his 
first wife, and, in 1800, had a trading-post at Mil- 
waukee, which he maintained until 1818. Ho 
visited Chicago as early as 1804, bought a cabia 
there soon after the Fort Dearborn massacre of 
1813, married the daughter of Francis La Fram- 
boise, a French trader, and, in 1818, becama 
agent of the American Fur Company, having 
charge of trading posts at Mackinaw and else- 
where. After 1823 he occupied the building 
known as "the factory," just outside of Fort Dear« 
born, which had belonged to the Government, 
but removed to a farm on the DesPlaines in 1840. 
Out of the ownership of this building grew his 
claim to the right, in 1835, to enter seventy-five 



40 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



acres of land belonging to the Fort Dearborn 
reservation. The claim was allowed by the Land 
Office officials and sustained by the State courts, 
but disallowed by the Supreme Court of the 
United States after long litigation. An attempt 
was made to revive this claim in Congress in 
1878, but it was reported upon adversel}- bj' a 
Senate Committee of which the late Senator 
Thomas F. Bayard was chairman. Mr. Beaubien 
was evidently a man of no little prominence in 
his day. He led a company of Cliicago citizens 
to the Black Hawk War in 1832, was appointed 
by the Governor the first Colonel of Militia for 
Cook County, and, in 1850, was commissioned 
Brigadier-General. In 1858 he removed to Nash- 
ville, Tenn., and died there, Jan. 5, 1863.— Mark 
(Beaubien), a j-ounger brother of Gen. Beaubien, 
was born in Detroit in 1800, came to Chicago in 
182G, and bought a log house of James Kiuzie, in 
wliich he kept a hotel for some time. Later, he 
erected the first frame building in Chicago, whicli 
was known as the "Sauganash," and in which he 
kept a hotel until 1834. He also engaged in mer- 
chandising, but was not successful, ran the first 
ferry across the South Branch of the Chicago 
River, and served for many years as lighthouse 
keeper at Cliicago. About 1834 the Indians trans- 
ferred to him a reservation of 640 acres of land on 
the Calmnet, for which, some forty years after- 
wards, he received a patent which had been 
signed by Martin Van Buren — he having previ- 
ously been ignorant of its existence. He was 
married twice and had a family of twenty-two 
children. Died, at Kankakee, Ili., April 16, 1881. 
— Madore B. (Beaubien), the second son of 
General Beaubien by his Indian wife, was born 
on Grand River in Michigan, July 15, 1809, joined 
his father in Chicago, was educated in a Baptist 
Mission School where Niles, Mich., now stands; 
was licensed as a merchant in Cliicago in 1831, 
but failed as a business man; served as Second 
Lieutenant of the Naperville Company in the 
Black Hawk War, and later was First Lieutenant 
of a Chicago Company. His first wife was a 
white woman, from whom he separated, after- 
wards marrying an Indian woman. He left Illi- 
nois with the Pottawatomies in 1840, resided at 
Council Bluffs and, later, in Kansas, being for 
many years the official interpreter of the tribe 
and, for some time, one of six Commissioners 
employed by the Indians to look after their 
affairs with the United States Government. — 
Alexander (Beaubien), son of General Beau- 
bien by his wliite wife, was born in one of the 
buildings belonging to Fort Dearborn, Jan. 28, 



1823. In 1840 he accompanied his father to his 
farm on the Des Plaines, but returned to Chicago 
in 181)2, and for years past has been employed on 
the Chit'ago jiolice force. 

BEItlt, William, Governor of Ohio, was born 
in Hamilton County in that State in 1802; taught 
school at North Bend, the home of William Henry 
Harrison, studied law and practiced at Hamilton ; 
served as Governor of Ohio, 1846-48; later led a 
Welsli colony to Tennessee, but left at the out- 
break of the Civil War, removing to Winnebago 
County, III., where he had purchased a large 
body of land. He was a man of uncompromising 
loyalty and high principle ; served as Examiner 
of Pensions by appointment of President Lincoln 
and, in 1868, took a prominent part in the cam- 
paign which resulted in Grant's first election to 
the Presidency. Died at Rockford, Oct. 23, 1873. 
A daughter of Governor Bebb married Hon. 
John P. Reynolds, for many years the Secretary 
of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, and, 
during the World's Columbian Exposition, 
Direetor-in-Chief of the Illinois Board of World's 
Fair Commissioners. 

BECKER, Charles St. N., ex State Treasurer, 
was born in Germany, June 14, 1840, and brouglit 
to this country by his parents at the age of 11 
years, the family settling in St. Clair County, 111. 
Early in the Civil War he enlisted in the Twelfth 
IMissouri regiment, and, at the battle of Pea 
Ridge, was so severely wounded that it was 
found necessary to amputate one of his legs. In 
1866 he was elected Sheriff of St. Clair County, 
and, from 1873 to 1880, he served as clerk of the 
St. Clair Circuit Court. He also served several 
terms as a City Councilman of Belleville. In 1888 
he was elected State Treasurer on the Republican 
ticket, serving from Jan. 14, 1889, to Jan. 12, 1891. 

BECKWITH, Corydon, lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Vermont in 1823, and educated at Provi- 
dence, R. I. , and Wrentham, Mass. He read law 
and was admitted to the bar in St. Albans, Vt., 
where he practiced for two years. In 1853 he 
removed to Chicago, and, in January, 1864, was 
appointed by Governor Yates a Justice of the 
Supreme Court, to fill the five remaining months 
of the unexpired term of Judge Caton, who had 
resigned. On retiring from the bench he re- 
sunieil jirivate practice. Dieil, August 18, 1890. 

BECKWITH, Hiram Williams, lawyer and 
author, was born at Danville, 111., March 5, 1833. 
Mr. Beckvvith's father, Dan W. Beckwith, a pio- 
neer settler of Eastern Illinois and one of the 
founders of the city of Danville, was a native of 
AVyalusing, Pa., where he was born about 1789, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



41 



his mother being, in her girlhood, Hannah York, 
one of the survivors of the famous Wyoming 
massacre of 1778. In 1817, tlie senior Beckwith, 
in company with liis brother George, descended 
the Ohio River, afterwards ascending tlie Wabash 
to where Terre Haute now stands, but finally 
locating in what is now a part of Edgar County, 
111. A year later he removed to the vicinity of 
the present site of the city of Danville. Having 
been employed for a time in a surveyor's 
corps, he finally became a surveyor himself, and, 
on the organization of Vermilion County, served 
for a time as County Surveyor by appointment of 
the Governor, and was also employed by the 
General Government in surveying lands in the 
eastern part of the State, some of the Indian 
reservations in that section of the State being 
set off by him. In connection with Guy W. 
Smith, then Receiver of Public Moneys in the 
Land Office at Palestine, 111., he donated the 
ground on wliich the county-seat of Vermilion 
County was located, and it took the name of Dan- 
ville from his first name — "Dan." In 1830 he 
was elected Representative in the State Legisla- 
ture for the District composed of Clark, Edgar, 
and Vermilion Counties, then including all that 
section of the State between Crawford County 
and the Kankakee River. He died in 1835. 
Hiram, the subject of this sketch, thus left 
fatherless at less than three years of age, received 
only such education as was afforded in the com- 
mon schools of that period. Nevertheless, he 
began the study of law in the Danville office of 
Lincoln & Lamon, and was admitted to practice 
in 1854, about the time of reaching his majority. 
He continued in their office and, on the removal 
of Lamon to Bloomington in 1859, he succeeded 
to the business of the firm at Danville. Mr. 
Lamon — who, on Mr. Lincoln's accession to the 
Presidency in 1861, became Marslial of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia — was distantly related to Mr. 
Beckwith by a second marriage of the mother of 
the latter. While engaged in the practice of his 
profession, Mr. Beckwith has been over thirty 
years a zealous collector of records and other 
material bearing upon the early history of Illinois 
and the Northwest, and is probably now the 
owner of one of tlie most complete and valuable 
collections of Americana in Illinois. He is also 
the autlior of several monographs on historic 
themes, including "The Winnebago War," "The 
Illinois and Indiana Indians," and "Historic 
Notes of the Northwest," published in the "Fer- 
gus Series," besides having edited an edition of 
"Reynolds' History of Illinois" (published by the 



same firm) , which he has enriched by the addition 
of valuable notes. During 1895-96 he contributed 
a series of valuable articles to "The Chicago 
Tribune" on various features of early Ilhnois and 
Northwest history. In 1890 he was appointed by 
Governor Fifer a member of the first Board of 
Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, 
serving until the expiration of his term in 1894, 
and was re-appointed to the same position by 
Governor Tanner in 1897, in each case being 
chosen President of the Board. 

BEECHER, Charles A., attorney and railway 
solicitor, was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., 
August 37, 1829, but, in 1836, removed with his 
family to Licking County, Ohio, where he lived 
upon a farm until he reached the age of 18 years. 
Having taken a course in the Ohio Wesleyan 
University at Delaware, in 1854 he removed to 
Illinois, locating at Fairfield, Wayne County, 
and began the study of law in the office of his 
brother, Edwin Beecher, being admitted to prac- 
tice in 1855. In 1867 he united with others in the 
organization of the Illinois Southeastern Rail- 
road projected from Shawneetown to Edgewood 
on the Illinois Central in Effingham County. 
This enterprise was consolidated, a year or two 
later, with the Pana, Springfield & Northwest- 
ern, taking the name of the Springfield & Illinois 
Southeastern, under which name it was con- 
structed and opened for traffic in 1871. (This 
line — which Mr. Beecher served for some time 
as Vice President — now constitutes the Beards- 
town & Shawneetown Division of the Baltimore 
& Ohio Southwestern.) The Springfield & Illi- 
nois Southeastern Company having fallen into 
financial difficulty in 1873, Mr. Beecher was 
appointed receiver of the road, and, for a time, 
had control of its operation as agent for the bond- 
holders. In 1875 the line was conveyed to the 
Ohio & Mississippi Railroad (now a part of the 
Baltimore & Ohio), when Mr. Beecher became 
General Counsel of the controlling corporation, 
so remaining until 1888. Since that date lie has 
been one of the assistant counsel of the Baltimore 
& Ohio system. His present home is in Cincin- 
nati, although for over a quarter of a century he 
has been prominentlj' identified with one of the 
most important railwav enterprises in Southern 
Illinois. In politics Mr. Beeclier has always been 
a Republican, and was one of the few in Wayne 
County who voted for Fremont in 1856, and for 
Lincoln in 1860. He was also a member of 
tlie Republican State Central Committee of 
Illinois from 1860 for a period of ten or twelve 
years. 



42 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



BEECHER, Edward, D. D., clergyman and 
educator, was born at East Hampton, L. I., 
August 27, 1803 — the son of Rev. Lj'man Beecher 
and the elder brother of Henry Ward ; graduated 
at Yale College in 1822, taught for over a year at 
Hartford, Conn., studied theology, and after a 
year's service as tutor in Yale College, in 
1826 was ordained pastor of the Park Street 
Congregational Church in Boston. In 1830 
he became President of Illinois College at 
Jacksonville, remaining until 1844, when he 
resigned and returned to Boston, serving as 
pastor of the Salem Street Church in that 
city until 1856, also acting as senior editor of 
"The Congregatioualist" for four years. In 1856 
he returned to Illinois as pastor of the First Con- 
gregational Church at Galesburg, continuing 
until 1871, when he removed to Brooklyn, where 
he resided without pastoral charge, except 1885- 
89, when he was pastor of the Parkville Congre- 
gational Church. While President of Illinois 
College, that institution was exposed to much 
hostile criticism on account of his outspoken 
opposition to slavery, as shown by his participa- 
tion in founding the first Illinois State Anti- 
Slavery Society and his eloquent denunciation of 
the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy. Next to his 
brother Henry Ward, he was probably the most 
powerful orator belonging to that gifted family, 
and, in connection with his able associates in the 
faculty of the Illinois College, assisted to give 
that institution a wide reputation as a nursery 
of independent thought. Up to a short time 
before his death, he was a prolific writer, his 
productions (besides editorials, reviews and con- 
tributions on a variety of subjects) including 
nine or ten volumes, of which the most impor- 
tant are: "Statement of Anti Slavery Principles 
and Address to the People of Illinois" (1837); 
"A Plea for Illinois College"; "History of the 
Alton Riots" (1838); "The Concord of Ages" 
(1853); "The Conflict of Ages" (1854); "Papal 
Conspiracy Exposed" (1854), besides a number 
of others invariably on religious or anti-slavery 
topics. Died in Brooklyn, July 28, 1895. 

BEECHER, William H., clergjman — oldest 
son of Rev. Lyman Beecher and brother of 
Edward and Henry Ward — was born at East 
Hampton, N. Y., ediicated at home and at An- 
dover, became a Congregationalist clergyman, 
occupying pulpits at Newport. R. I., Batavia, 
N. Y., and Cleveland, Ohio; came to Chicago in 
his later years, dying at the home of his daugh- 
ters in that city, June 23, 1889. 

BEGfiS, (Rev.) Stephen R., pioneer Methodist 



Episcopal preacher, was born in Buckingham 
County, Va., March 30, 1801. His father, who 
was opposed to slavery, moved to Kentucky in 
1805, but remained there only two years, when he 
removed to Clark County, Ind. The son enjoyed 
but poor educational advantages here, obtaining 
his education cliiefly by his own efforts in what 
he called "Brush College." At the age of 21 he 
entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, during the next ten years traveling 
different circuits in Indiana. In 1831 he was 
appointed to Chicago, but the Black Hawk War 
coming on immediately thereafter, he retired to 
Plainfield. Later he traveled various circuits in 
Illinois, until 1868, when he was superannuated, 
occupying his time thereafter in writing remi- 
niscences of his early history. A volume of this 
character published by him, was entitled "Pages 
from the Early History of the West and North- 
west." He died at Plainfield, 111., Sept. 9, 1895, 
in the 95th year of his age. 

BEIDLER, Henry, early settler, was born of 
German extraction in Bucks County, Pa., Nov. 
27, 1812; came to Illinois in 1843, settling first at 
Springfield, where he carried on the grocery 
business for five years, then removed to Chicago 
and engaged in the lumber trade in connection 
with a brother, afterwards carrying on a large 
lumber manufacturing business at Muskegon, 
Mich., which proved very profitable. In 1871 
Mr. Beidler retired from the lumber trade, in- 
vesting largely in west side real estate in the city 
of Chicago, which appreciated rapidly in value, 
making him one of the most wealthy real estate 
owners in Chicago. Died, March 16, 1893. — Jacob 
(Beidler), brother of the preceding, was born in 
Bucks County, Penn., in 1815; came west in 
1842, first began working as a carpenter, but 
later engaged in the grocery business witli his 
brother at Springfield, 111. ; in 1844 removed to 
Chicago, where he was joined by his brother four 
years later, when they engaged largely in the 
lumber trade. Mr. Beidler retired from business 
in 1891, devoting his attention to large real estate 
investments. He was a liberal contributor to 
religious, educational and benevolent institutions. 
Died in Chicago, March 15. 1898. 

BELFIELD, Henry Holmes, educator, was 
born in Pliiladelphia, Nov. 17, 1837; was educated 
at an Iowa College, and for a time was tutor in 
the same ; during the War of the Rebellion served 
in the army of the Cumberland, first as Lieuten- 
ant and afterwards as Adjutant of the Eiglith 
Iowa Cavalry, still later being upon tlie staff of 
Gen. E. M. McCook, and taking part in the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



43 



Atlanta and Nashville campaigns. While a 
prisoner in the hands of the rebels lie was placed 
under fire of the Union batteries at Charleston. 
Coming to Chicago in 1866, he served as Principal 
in various public schools, including the Nortli 
Division High School. He was one of the earli- 
est advocates of manual training, and, on the 
establisliment of the Chicago Manual Training 
School in 1884, was appointed its Director — a 
position which he has continued to occupy. 
During 1891-92 he made a trip to Europe by 
appointment of the Government, to investigate 
the school systems in European countries. 

BELKN,\P, Hugh Reid, ex-Member of Congress, 
was born in Keokuk, Iowa, Sept. 1, 1860, being 
the son of W. W. Belknap, for some time Secre- 
tary of War under President Grant. After 
attending the public schools of his native city, 
he took a course at Adams Academy, Quincy, 
Mass., and at Phillips Academy, Andover, when 
he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, where he remained twelve years in 
various departments, finally becoming Chief 
Clerk of the General Manager. In 1892 he retired 
from this position to become Superintendent of 
the Soutli Side Elevated Railroad of Chicago. 
He never held any political position until nomi- 
nated (1894) as a Republican for the Fifty-fourth 
Congress, in the strongly Democratic Third Dis- 
trict of Chicago. Although the returns showed 
a plurality of thirty -one votes for his Democratic 
opponent (Lawrence McGann), a recount proved 
him elected, when, Mr. McGann having vohin- 
tarily withdrawn, Mr. Belknap was unanimously 
awarded the seat. In 1896 he was re-elected 
from a District usually strongly Democratic, 
receiving a plurality of 590 votes, but was 
defeated by his Democratic opponent in 1898, retir- 
ing from Congress, March 3, 1899, when he re- 
ceived an appointment as Paymaster in the Army 
from President McKinley, with the rank of Major. 
BELL, Kobert, lawyer, was born in Lawrence 
County, 111., in 1829, educated at Mount Carmel 
and Indiana State University at Bloomington, 
graduating from the law department of tlie 
latter in 1855; while yet in his minority edited 
"The Moimt Carmel Register," during 1851-52 
becoming joint owner and editor of the same 
with his brother, Victor D. Bell. After gradu- 
ation he opened an office at Fairfield, Wayne 
County, but, in 1857, returned to Jlount Carmel 
and from 1864 was the partner of Judge E. B. 
Green, until the appointment of the latter Chief 
Justice of Oklahoma by President Harrison in 
1890. In 1869 Mr. Bell was appointed County 



Judge of Lawrence County, being elected to the 
same office in 1894. He was also President 
of the Illinois Soutliern Railroad Company 
until it was merged into the Cairo & Vincennes 
Road in 1867 ; later became President of the St. 
Louis & Mt. Carmel Railroad, now a part of the 
Loui-sville, Evansville & St. Louis line, and 
secured the construction of the division from 
Princeton, Ind. , to Albion, 111. In 1876 he visited 
California as Special Agent of the Treasury 
Department to investigate alleged frauds in the 
Revenue Districts on the Pacific Coast ; in 1878 
was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress on 
the Republican ticket in the strong Democratic 
Nineteenth District; was appointed, the same 
year, a member of the Republican State Central 
Committee for the State-at-large, and, in 1881, 
oflSciated by appointment of President Garfield, 
as Commissioner to examine a section ,of the 
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad in New Mexico. 
Judge Bell is a gifted stump-speaker and is known 
in the southeastern part of the State as the 
"Silver-tongued Orator of the Wabash." 

BELLEVILLE, the county-seat of St. Clair 
County, a city and railroad center, 14 miles south 
of east from St. Louis. It is one of the oldest 
towns in the State, having been selected as the 
county-seat in 1814 and platted in 1815. It lies 
in the center of a rich agricultural and coal-bear- 
ing district and contains numerous factories of 
various descriptions, including flouring mills, a 
nail mill, glass works and shoe factories. It has 
five newspaper establishments, two being Ger- 
man, which issue daily editions. Its commercial 
and educational facilities are exceptionally good. 
Its population is largely of German descent. 
Population (1890), 15,361 ; (1900), 17,484. 

BELLEVILLE, CENTRALIA & EASTERN 
RAILROAD. (See Louisville, Evansville & St. 
Louis (Consolidated) Railroad.) 

BELLEVILLE & CARONDELET RAILROAD, 
a short line of road extending from Belleville to 
East Carondelet, 111. , 17. 3 miles. It was cliartered 
Feb. 20, 1881, and leased to the St. Louis, Alton 
& Terre Haute Railroad Company, June 1, 1883. 
The annual rental is §30,000, a sum equivalent to 
the interest on the bonded debt. The capital 
stock (1895) is $.500,000 and the bonded debt $485,- 
000. In addition to these sums the floating debt 
swells the entire capitalization to §995,054 or $.57,- 
317 per mile. 

BELLEVILLE & ELDORADO RAILROAD, 
a road 50.4 miles in length running from Belle- 
ville to Duquoin, 111. It was chartered Feb. 22, 
1861, and completed Oct. 31, 1871. On July 1, 



44 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



1880, it was leased to tlie St Louis, Alton & 
Terra Haute Railroad Company for 486 j-ears, aud 
has since been operated by that corporation in 
connection with its Belleville branch, from East 
St. Louis to Belleville. At Eldorado the roail 
intersects the Cairo & Vincennes Railroad and 
the Shawneetown branch of the St. Louis & 
Southeastern Railroad, operated by the Louisville 
& Npshville Railroad Company. Its capital 
stock (1895) is §1,000,000 and its bonded debt 
5.5.50,000. The corporate office is at Belleville. 

BELLEVILLE & ILLIXOISTOWX RAILROAIK 
(See St. Lviiis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad.) 

BELLEVILLE & SOITHERN ILLIXOIS 
RAILROAD, a road (laid with steel rails) run- 
ning from Belleville to Duquoin, 111., 5G.4 miles 
in length. It was chartered Feb. 15, 1857, and 
completed Deo. 15, 1873. At Duquoin it connects 
with tlie Illinois Central and forms a short line 
between St. Louis and Cairo. Oct. 1, 1866, it was 
leased to the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute 
Railroad Company for 999 years. The capital 
stock is §1,693,000 and the bonded debt §1,01)0,- 
000. The corporate office is at Belleville. 

BELLMONT, a village of Wabash County, on 
the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railway, 9 
miles west of Mount Carmel. Population (1880), 
350; (1890), 487; (1900), 624. 

BELT RAILWAY COMPANY OF CHICAGO, 
THE, a corporation chartered, Nov. 32, 1882, and 
the lessee of the Belt Division of the Chicago & 
Western Indiana Railroad (which see). Its total 
trackage (all of standard gauge and laid with 66- 
pound steel rails) is 93.26 miles, distributed as fol- 
lows: Auburn Junction to Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul Jvmction, 15.9 miles; branches from Pull- 
man Junction to Irondale, 111., etc., 5.41 miles; 
second track, 14.1 miles; sidings, 57.85 miles. 
The cost of construction has been .$.534, .549; capi- 
tal stock, §1,200,000. It has no funded debt. 
The earnings for the j-ear ending June 30, 1895, 
were §556,847, the operating expenses §378,013, 
and the taxes §51,009. 

BELVIDERE,an incorporated city, the county- 
seat of Boone County, situated on the Kishwau- 
kee River, and on two divisions of the Chicago & 
Northwestern Railroad, 78 miles west-northwest 
of Chicago and 14 miles east of Rockford; is con- 
nected with the latter city by electric railroad. 
The city has twelve churches, five graded schools, 
and three banks (two national). Two dail}' and 
two semi-weekly papers are published here. Bel- 
videre also has very considerable manufacturing 
interests, including manufactories of sewing ma- 
chines, bicycles, automobiles, besides a large 



milk-condensing factory and two creameries. 
Population (1890), 3,867; (19U0), 6,937. 

BE.llEXT, a village in Piatt County, at inter- 
section of main line and Chicago Division of 
Wabash Railroad, 30 miles east of Decatur and 
166 miles south-southwest of Chicago; in agri- 
cultural and stock-raising district; has three 
grain elevators, broom factory, water- works, elec- 
triclight plant, four churches, two banks and 
weekly paper. Pop. (1890), 1,129; (1900), 1,484. 

BEXJ.iJIIX, Reuben Moore, lawyer, born at 
Chatham Centre, Columbia County, N. Y., June 
39, 1833; was educated at Amherst College, Am- 
herst, Mass. ; spent one year in the law depart- 
ment of Harvard, another as tutor at Amherst 
and, in 1856, came to Bloomington, 111., where, on 
an examination certificate furnished by Abraham 
Lincoln, he was licensed to practice. The first 
public office held by Mr. Benjamin was that of 
Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention 
of 1869-70, in which he took a prominent part in 
shaping the provisions of the new Constitution 
relating to corporations. In 1873 he was chosen 
County Judge of McLean County, by repeated 
re-elections holding the position until 1886, when 
he resumed private practice. For more than 
twenty years he has been connected with the law 
department of Wesleyan University at Blooming- 
ton, a part of the time being Dean of the Faculty ; 
is also the author of several volumes of legal 
text-books. 

BEXXETT MEDICAL COLLEGE, an Eclectic 
Medical School of Chicago, incorporated by 
special charter and opened in the autumn of 
1868. Its first sessions were held in two large 
rooms; its faculty consisted of seven professors, 
and there were thirty matriculates. More com- 
modious quarters were secured the following 
year, and a still better home after the fire of 1871, 
in which all the college property was destroyed. 
Another change of location was made in 1874. 
In 1890 the property then owned was sold and a 
new college building, in connection with a hos- 
pital, erected in a more quiet quarter of the city. 
A free dispensary is conducted by the college. 
The teaching faculty (1896) consists of nineteen 
professors, with four assistants and demonstra- 
tors. Women are admitted as pupils on equal 
terms with men. 

BENT, Charles, journalist, was born in Chi- 
cago, Dec. 8, 1844, but removed witli his family, 
in 1856, to Morrison, Whiteside County, where, 
two years later, he became an apprentice to the 
printing business in the office of "The Whiteside 
Sentinel." In June, 1864, he enlisted as a soldier 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



45 



in the One Hundred and Fortieth lUinois (100- 
days' regiment) and, on the expiration of liis term 
of service, reenUsted in tlie One Hundred and 
Forty -seventh Illinois, being mustered out at 
Savannah, Ga., in January, 1866, with the rank 
of Second Lieutenant. Then resuming his voca- 
tion as a printer, in July, 1867, he purchased the 
office of "The Whiteside Sentinel," in which he 
learned his trade, and has since been the editor of 
that paper, except during 1877-79 while engaged 
in writing a "Histoiy of Whiteside County." 
He is a charter member of the local Grand Army 
Post and served on the staff of the Department 
Commander ; was Assistant Assessor of Internal 
Revenue during 1870-73, and, in 1878, was elected 
as a Republican to the State Senate for White- 
side and Carroll Counties, serving four years. 
Other positions held by him include the office of 
City Alderman, member of the State Board of 
Canal Commissioners (1883-85) and Commissioner 
of the Joliet Penitentiary (1889-93). He lias also 
been a member of the Reijublican State Central 
Comn^ittee and served as its Chairman 1886-88. 

BENTON, county-seat of Franklin County, on 
111. Cent, and Chi. & E. 111. Railroads; has electric- 
light plant, water-works, saddle and harness fac- 
tory, two banks, two flouring mills, shale brick 
and tile works (projected), four churches and 
three weekly papers. Pop. (189U), 939;(190U), 1,341. 

BERDAN, James, lawyer and County Judge, 
was born in New York City, July 4, 1805, and 
educated at Columbia and Yale Colleges, gradu- 
ating from the latter in the class of 1824. His 
father, James Berdan, Sr. , came west in the fall 
of 1819 as one of the agents of a New York 
Emigration Society, and, in January, 1800, visited 
the vicinity of the present site of Jacksonville, 
111., but died soon after his return, in part from 
exposure incurred during his long and arduous 
winter journey. Thirteen years later (1832) his 
son, the subject of this sketch, came to the same 
region, and Jacksonville became his home for the 
remainder of his life. Mr. Berdan was a well- 
read lawyer, as well as a man of high principle 
and sound culture, with pure literary and social 
tastes. Although possessing unusual capabilities, 
his refinement of character and dislike of osten- 
tation made him seek rather the association and 
esteem of friends than public office. In 1849 he 
was elected County Judge of Morgan County, 
serving by a second election until 1857. Later 
he was Secretary for several years of the Tonica 
& Petersburg Railroad (at that time in course of 
construction), serving until it was merged into 
the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad, 



now constituting a part of the Jacksonville di- 
vision of the Chicago & Alton Railroad; also 
served for many years as a Trustee of Illinois 
College. In the latter years of his life he was, for 
a considerable period, the law partner of ex-Gov- 
ernor and ex-Senator Richard Yates. Judge 
Berdan was the ardent political friend and 
admirer of Abraham Lincoln, as well as an inti- 
mate friend and frequent correspondent of the 
poet Longfellow, besides being the correspondent, 
during a long period of his life, of a number of 
other prominent literary men. Pierre Irving, 
the nephew and biographer of Washington Irving, 
was his brother-in-law through the marriage of a 
favorite sister. Judge Berdan died at Jackson- 
ville, August 24, 1884. 

BERCJEN, (Rev.) John Q,, pioneer clergyman, 
was born at Hightstown, N. J., Nov. 27, 1790; 
studied theology, and, after two years' service as 
tutor at Princeton and sixteen years as pastor of 
a Presbyterian church at Madison, N. J., in 1828 
came to Springfield, III., and assisted in the 
erection of the first Protestant church in the 
central part of the State, of which he remained 
pastor until 1848. Died, at Springfield, Jan. 
17, 1872. 

BERGGREN, Augustus W., legislator, born in 
Sweden, August 17, 1840; came to the United 
States at 16 years of age and located at Oneida, 
Knox County, 111. , afterwards removing to Gales- 
burg; held various offices, including that of 
Sheriff oi Knox County (1873-81), State Senator 
(1881-89) — serving as President 2^^o tem. of the 
Senate 1887-89, and was Warden of the State 
penitentiary at Joliet, 1888-91. He was for many 
years the very able and efficient President of the 
Covenant Mutual Life As.sociation of Illinois, and 
is now its Treasurer. 

BEROIER, (Rev.) J, a secular prie.st, born in 
France, and an early missionary in Illinois. He 
labored among the Tamaroas, bei ng in charge of the 
mission at Cahokia from 1700 to his death in 1710. 

BERRY, Orville F., lawyer and legislator, was 
born in McDonough County, 111., Feb. 16, 1852; 
early left an orphan and, after working for some 
time on a farm, removed to Carthage, Hancock 
County, where he read law and was admitted to 
the bar in 1877; in 1883 was elected Maj-or of 
Carthage and twice re-elected ; was elected to the 
State Senate in 1888 and '92, and, in 1891, took a 
prominent part in securing the enactment of the 
compulsory education clause in the common 
school law. Mr. Berry presided over the Repub- 
lican State Convention of 1896, the same year was 
a candidate for re-election to the State Senate, 



46 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



but the certificate was awarded to his Democratic 
competitor, who was declared elected by 1G4 
plurality. On a contest before the Senate at the 
first session of the Fortieth General Assembly, 
the seat was awarded to Mr. Berry on the ground 
of illegality in the rulings of the Secretary of 
State affecting the vote of his opponent. 

BERRY, (Col.) William W., lawyer and sol- 
dier, was born in Kentucky, Feb. 23, 1834, and 
educated at Oxford, Ohio. His home being then 
in Covington, he studied law in Cincinnati, and, 
at the age of 23, began practice at Louisville, Ky., 
being married two years later to Miss Georgie 
Hewitt of Frankfort. Early in 1861 he entered 
the Civil War on the Union side as Major of the 
Louisville Legion, and subsequently served in 
the Army of the Cumberland, marching to the 
sea with Sherman and, during the period of his 
service, receiving four wounds. After the close 
of the war he was offered the position oi Gov- 
ernor of one of the Territories, but, determining 
not to go further west than Illinois, declined. 
For three years he was located and in practice at 
Winchester, 111., but removed to Quincy in 1874, 
where he afterwards resided. He always took a 
warm interest in politics and, in local affairs, 
was a leader of his party. He was an organizer of 
the G. A. R. Post at Quincy and its first Com- 
mander, and, in 1884-8.5, served as Commander of 
the State Department of the G. A. R. He organ- 
ized a Young Men's Republican Club, as lie 
believed that the young minds should take an 
active part in politics. He was one of the com- 
mittee of se%'en appointed by the Governor to 
locate the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home for Illinois, 
and, after spending six months inspecting vari- 
ous sites offered, the institution was finally 
located at Quincy; was also Trustee of Knox 
College, at Galesburg, for several years. He was 
frequently urged by his party friends to run for 
public office, but it was so much against his 
nature to ask for even one vote, that he would 
not consent. He died at his home in Quincy, 
much regretted. May 6, 1895. 

BESTOR, George C, legislator, born in Wash- 
ington City, April 11, 1811; was assistant docu- 
ment clerk in the House of Representatives eight 
years; came to Illinois in 1835 and engaged in 
real estate business at Peoria; was twice ap- 
pointed Postmaster of that city (1842 and 1861) 
and three times elected Maj'or ; served as finan- 
cial agent of the Peoria & Oqua wka ( now Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad), anda Director of 
the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw ; a delegate to the 
Whig National Convention of 1852; a State 



Senator (1858-62), and an ardent friend of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Died, in Washington, May 14, 

1872, while prosecuting a claim against the 
Government for the construction of gunboats 
during the war. 

BETHALTO, a village of Madison County, on 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Ix)uis 
Railway, 25 miles north of St. Louis. Popula- 
tion (1880), 628; (1890), 879; (1900). 477. 

BETHANY, a village of Moultrie County, on 
Peoria Division 111. Cent. Railroad, 18 miles south- 
east of Decatur ; in farming district ; has one news- 
paper and four churches. Pop. , mostly American 
born, (1890), 688; (1900), 873; (1903, est.), 900. 

BETTIE STUART INSTITUTE, an institu- 
tion for young ladies at Springfield, 111:, founded 
in 1868 by Mrs. Mary McKee Homes, who con- 
ducted it for some twenty years, until her death. 
Its report for 1898 shows a faculty of ten instruct- 
ors and 125 pupils. Its property is valued at 
§23,500. Its course of instruction embraces the 
preparatory and classical branches, together with 
music, oratory and fine arts. 

BEVERIDGE, James H., State Treasurer, 
was born in Washington County, N. Y., in 1828; 
served as State Treasurer, 1865-67, later acted as 
Secretary of the Commission which built the 
State Capitol. His later j'ears were spent in 
superintending a large dairy farm near Sandwich, 
De Kalb County, where he died in January, 1896. 

BEVERIDGE, John L., ex-Governor, was born 
in Greenwich. N. Y., July 6, 1824; came to Illi- 
nois, 1842, and, after spending some two years in 
Granville Academy and Rock River Seminary, 
went to Tennessee, where he engaged in teaching 
while studying law. Having been admitted to 
the bar, he returned to Illinois in 1851, first locat- 
ing at Sycamore, but three j'ears later established 
himself in Chicago. During the first year of the 
war he assisted to raise the Eighth Regiment Illi- 
nois Cavalry, and was commissioned first as Cap- 
tain and still later Major; two years later 
became Colonel of the Seventeenth Cavalry, 
which he commanded to the close of the war, 
being mustered out, February, 1866, with the 
rank of brevet Brigadier-General. After the war 
he held the office of Sheriff of Cook County four 
years; in 1870 was elected to the State Senate, 
and, in the following year, Congre.ssman-at-Iarge 
to succeed General Logan, elected to the United 
States Senate; resigned this office in January, 

1873, having been elected Lieutenant-Governor, 
and a few weeks later succeeded to the govern- 
orship by the election of Governor Oglesby to the 
United States Senate. In 1881 lie was appointed. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



47 



by President Arthur, Assistant United States 
Treasurer for Chicago, serving until after Cleve- 
land's first election. His present home (1898), is 
near Los Angeles, Cal. 

BIENVILLE, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur 
de, was born at Montreal, Canada, Feb. 33, 1680, 
and was the French Governor of Louisiana at the 
time the Illinois country was included in that 
province. He had several brothers, a number of 
whom played important parts in the early history 
of the province. Bienville first visited Louisi- 
ana, in company with his brother Iberville, in 
1698, their object being to establish a French 
colony near the movith of the Mississippi. The 
first settlement was made at Biloxi, Dec. 6, 1699, 
and SanvoUe, another brother, was placed in 
charge. The latter was afterward made Governor 
of Louisiana, and, at his death (1701), he was 
succeeded by Bienville, who transferred the seat 
of government to Mobile. In 1704 he was joined 
by his brother Chateaugay, who brought seven- 
teen settlers from Canada. Soon afterwards 
Iberville died, and Bienville was recalled to 
France in 1707, but was reinstated the following 
year. Finding the Indians worthless as tillers of 
the soil, he seriously suggested to the home gov- 
ernment theexpediency of trading off the copper- 
colored aborigines for negroes from the West 
Indies, three Indians to be reckoned as equiva- 
lent to two blacks. In 1713 Cadillac was sent out 
as Governor, Bienville being made Lieutenant- 
Governor. The two quarreled. Cadillac was 
superseded by Epinay in 1717, and, in 1718, Law's 
first expedition arrived (see Company of the 
West), and brought a Governor's commission for 
Bienville. The latter soon after founded New 
Orleans, which became the seat of government 
for the province (which then included Illinois), in 
1723. In January, 1724, he was again summoned 
to France to answer charges; was removed in 
disgrace in 1726, but reinstated in 1738 and given 
the rank of Lieutenant-General. Failing in vari- 
ous expeditions against the Chickasaw Indians, 
he was again superseded in 1743, returning to 
France, where he died in 1768. 

BIUGS, William, pioneer, Judge and legislator, 
was born in Maryland in 1753, enlisted in the 
Revolutionary army, and served as an officer 
under Colonel George Rogers Clark in the expe- 
dition for the capture of Illinois from the British 
in 1778. He settled in Bellefontaine (now Monroe 
County) soon after the close of the war. He was 
Sheriflf of St. Clair County for many years, and 
later Justice of the Peace and Judge of the Court 
of Common Pleas. He also represented his 



county in the Territorial Legislatures of In- 
diana and Illinois. Died, in St. Clair County, 
in 1827. 

BIGGSVILLE, a village of Henderson County, 
on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 
15 miles northeast of Burlington; has a bank and 
two newspapers; considerable grain and live- 
stock are shipped here. Population (1880), 358; 
(1890), 487; (1900), 417. 

BIG MUDDY RIVER, a stream formed by the 
union of two branches which rise in Jefferson 
County. It runs south and southwest through 
Franklin and Jackson Counties, and enters the 
Mississippi about five miles below Grand Tower. 
Its length is estimated at 140 miles. 

BILLINGS, Albert Merritt, capitalist, was 
born in New Hampshire, April 19, 1814, educated 
in the common schools of his native State and 
Vermont, and, at the age of 22, became Sheriff of 
Windsor County, Vt., Later he was proprietor 
for a time of the mail stagecoach line between 
Concord, N. H., and Boston, but, having sold out, 
invested his means in the securities of the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway and became 
identified with the business interests of Chicago. 
In the '50"s he became associated with Cornelius 
K. Garrison in the People's Gas Company of Chi- 
cago, of which he served as President from 1859 
to 1888. In 1890 Mr. Billings became extensively 
interested in the street railway enterprises of Mr. 
C. B. Holmes, resulting in his becoming the pro- 
prietor of the street railway system at Memphis, 
Tenn., valued, in 1897, at §3,000,000. In early 
life he had been associated with Commodore 
Vanderbilt in the operation of the Hudson River 
steamboat lines of the latter. In addition to his 
other business enterprises, he was principal 
owner and, during the last twenty-five years of 
his life. President of the Home National and 
Home Savings Banks of Chicago. Died, Feb. 7, 
1897, leaving an estate valued at several millions 
of dollars. 

BILLINGS, Henry W., was born at Conway, 
Mass., July 11, 1814, graduated at Amherst Col- 
lege at twenty years of age, and began the study 
of law with Judge Foote, of Cleveland, Ohio, was 
admitted to the bar two years later and practiced 
there some two years longer. He then removed 
to St. Louis, Mo., later resided for a time at 
Waterloo and Cairo, 111., but, in 1845, settled at 
Alton; was elected Mayor of that city in 1851, 
and the first Judge of the newly organized City 
Court, in 1859, serving in this position six years. 
In 1869 he was elected a Delegate from Madison 
County to the State Constitutional Convention of 



48 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



18G9-70, but died before the expiration of the ses- 
sion, on April 19, 1870. 

BIREBECK, Morris, early colonist, was born 
in England about 1762 or 176.3, emigrated to 
America in 1817, and settled in Edwards County, 
111. He purchased a large tract of land and in- 
duced a large colony of English artisans, laborers 
and farmers to settle upon the same, founding 
the town of New Albion. He was an active, un- 
compromising opponent of slavery, and was an 
important factor in defeating the scheme to make 
Illinois a slave State. He was appointed Secre- 
tary of State by Governor Coles in October, 1824. 
but resigned at the end of three montlis. a hostile 
Legislature having refused to confirm him. A 
strong writer and a frequent contriliutor to the 
press, his letters and published works attracted 
attention both in this country and in Europe. 
Principal among the latter were: "Notes on a 
Journey Through France" (1815); "Notes on a 
Journey Through America" (1818), and "Letters 
from Illinois" (1818). Died from drowning in 
1825, aged about 63 years. (See Slavery and 
Slave Laws.) 

BISSELL, William H., first Republican Gov- 
ernor of Illinois, was born near Cooperstown, 
N. Y., on April 25, 1811, graduated in medicine at 
Philadelphia in 1835, and, after practicing a short 
time in Steuben County, N. Y., removed to Mon- 
roe Cotinty, 111. In 1840 he was elected a Repre- 
sentative in the General Assembly, where he soon 
attained high rank as a debater. He studied law 
and practiced in Belleville, St. Clair County, be- 
coming Prosecuting Attorney for that county in 
1844. He served as Colonel of the Second Illinois 
Volunteers during the Mexican War, and achieved 
distinction at Buena Vista. He represented Illi- 
nois in Congress from 1849 to 1855, being first 
elected as an Independent Democrat. On the pas- 
sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, he left the Demo- 
cratic party and, in 1856, was elected Governor on 
the Republican ticket. While in Congress he was 
challenged by Jefferson Davis after an inter- 
change of heated words respecting the relative 
courage of Northern and Southern soldiers, 
spoken in debate. Bissell accepted the challenge, 
naming muskets at thirty paces. Mr. Davis's 
friends objected, and the duel never occiu-red. 
Died in oflSce, at Springfield, III., March 18, 1860. 

BLACK, John Charles, lawyer and soldier, 
born at Lexington. Miss., Jan. 29, 1839, at eight 
years of age came with his widowed mother to 
Illinois; while a student at Wabash College, Ind., 
in April, 1861, enlisted in the Union army, serv- 
ing gallantly and with distinction until Aug. 15, 



1865, when, as Colonel of the 37th 111. Vol. Inf., he 
retired with tlie rank of BrevetBrigadier-General; 
was admitted to tlie bar in 1857, and after practic- 
ing at Danville. Champaign and Urbana, in 1885 
was appointed Commissioner of Pensions, serving 
until 1889, when he removed to Chicago; served as 
Congressman-at-large (1898-9.5), and U. S. District 
Attorney (1895-99); Commander of the Loyal 
Legion and of the G. A. R. (Department of 
Illinois), was elected Commander-in-Chief of the 
Grand Army at the Grand Encampment. 1903. 
Gen. Black received the honorary degree of A.M. 
from his Alma Mater and thatof LL.D. from Knox 
College; in Januaiy, 1904, was appointed by 
President Roosevelt member of the U. S. Civil 
Service Commission, and chosen its President. 

BLACKBURN I'MVERSITY, located at Car- 
linville, JIacoupin County. It owes its origin to 
the efforts of Dr. Gideon Blackburn, who, having 
induced friends in the East to unite with him in 
the purchase of Illinois lands at Government 
price, in 1837 conveyed 16,656 acres of these 
lands, situated in ten different counties, in trust 
for the founding of an institution of learning, 
intended particularly "to qualify young men for 
the gospel ministr_v." The citizens of Carlinville 
donated funds wherewith to purchase eighty 
acres of land, near that city, as a site, which was 
included in the deed of trust. The enterprise 
lay dormant for many years, and it was not until 
1857 that the institution was formally incorpo- 
rated, and ten j-ears later it was little more than 
a high school, giving one course of instruction 
considered particularly adapted to -prospective 
students of theology. At present (1898) there 
are about 110 students in attendance, a faculty 
of twelve instructors, and a theological, as well as 
preparatory and collegiate dejjartments. The 
institution owns property valued at §110,000, of 
which $50,000 is represented by real estate and 
$40,000 by endowment funds. 

BLACK HAWK, a Chief of the Sac tribe of 
Indians, reputed to have been born at Kaskaskia 
in 1767. (It is also claimed that he was born on 
Rock River, as well as within the present limits 
of Hancock County.) Conceiving that his people 
had been wrongfully despoiled of lands belonging 
to them, in 1832 he inaugurated what is com- 
monly known as the Black Hawk War. His 
Indian name was JIakabaimishekiakiak, signify- 
ing Black Sparrow Hawk. He was ambitious, but 
susceptible to flattery, and while having many of 
the qualities of leadership, was lacking in moral 
force. He was always attached to British inter- 
ests, and unquestionably received British aid of a 



IIISTORrCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



49 



substantial sort. After his defeat he was made 
the ward of Keokuk, another Chief, which 
humiliation of his pride broke his heart. He died 
on a reservation set apart for him in Iowa, in 
1838, aged 71. His body is said to have been 
exhumed nine months after death, and his articu- 
lated skeleton is alleged to have been preserved 
in the rooms of the Burlington (la.) Historical 
Society until 18.^55, when it was destroyed by fire. 
(See also Black Hawk War: Appendix.) 

BLACKSTONE, Timothy B,, Railway Presi- 
dent, was born at Branford, Conn., March 28, 
1829. After receiving a common school educa- 
tion, supplemented by a course in a neigliboring 
academy, at 18 he began the practical study of 
engineering in a corps employed by the New 
York & New Hampshire Railway Company, and 
the same year became assistant engineer on the 
Stockbridge & Pittsfield Railway. While thus 
employed he applied himself diligently to the 
study of the theoretical science of engineering, 
and, on coming to Illinois in 1851, was qualified 
to accept and fill the position of division engineer 
(from Bloomington to Dixon) on the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railway. On the completion of the main 
line of that road in 1855, he was appointed Chief 
Engineer of the Joliet & Chicago Railroad, later 
becoming financially interested therein, and 
being chosen President of the corporation on the 
completion of the line. In January, 1864, the 
Chicago & Joliet was leased in perpetuity to the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad Company. Mr. Black- 
stone then became a Director in the latter organi- 
zation and, in April following, was chosen its 
President. This office he filled uninterruptedly 
until April 1,1899, when the road passed into the 
hands of a syndicate of other lines. He was also 
one of the original incorporators of the Union 
Stock Yards Company, and was its President from 
1864 to 1868. His career as a railroad man was con- 
spicuous for its long service, the iminterrupted 
success of his management of the enterprises 
entrusted to his hands and his studious regard for 
the interests of stockholders. This was illustrated 
by the fact that, for some thirty years, the Chicago 
& Alton Railroad paid dividends on its preferred 
and common stock, ranging from 6 to 8J^ percent 
per annum, and, on disposing of his stock conse- 
quent on the transfer of the line to a new corpora- 
tion in 1899, Mr. Blackstone rejected offers for his 
stock — aggregating nearly one-third of the whole 
— which would have netted him $1,000,000 in 
excess of the amount received, because he was 
unwilling to use his position to reap an advantage 
over smaller stockholders. Died, May 26, 1900. 



BLACKWELL, Robert S., lawyer, was born 
at Belleville, 111., in 1823. He belonged to a 
prominent family in the early history of the 
State, his father, David Blackwell, who was also 
a lawyer and settled in Belleville about 1819, 
having been a member of the Second General 
Assembly (1820) from St. Clair County, and also 
of the Fourth and Fifth. In April, 1823, he was 
appointed by Governor Coles Secretary of State, 
succeeding Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, after- 
wards a Justice of the Supreme Court, who had 
just received from President Monroe the appoint- 
ment of Receiver of Public Moneys at the 
Edwardsville Land Office. Mr. Blackwell served 
in the Secretary's office to October, 1824, during 
a part of the tfme acting as editor of "The Illinois 
Intelligencer." which had been removed from 
Kaskaskia to Vandalia, and in which he strongly 
opposed the policy of making Illinois a slave 
State. He finally died in Belleville. Robert 
Blackwell, a brother of David and the uncle of 
the subject of this sketch, was joint owner with 
Daniel P. Cook, of "The Illinois Herald" — after- 
wards "The Intelligencer" — at Kaskaskia, in 
1816, and in April, 1817, succeeded Cook in the 
office of Territorial Auditor of Public Accounts, 
being himself succeeded by Elijah C. Berry, who 
had become his partner on "The Intelligencer," 
and served as Auditor until the organization of 
the State Government in 1818. Blackwell & Berry 
were chosen State Printers after the removal of 
the State capital to Vandalia in 1820, serving in 
this capacity for some years. Robert Blackwell 
located at Vandalia and served as a member of 
the House from Fayette County in the Eighth 
and Ninth General Assemblies (1832-36) and in 
the Senate, 1840-42. Robert S. — the son of David, 
and the younger member of this somewhat 
famous and historic family — whose name stands at 
the head of this paragraph, attended the common 
schools at Belleville in his boyhood, but in early 
manhood removed to Galena, where he engaged 
in mercantile pursuits. He later studied law 
with Hon. O. H. Browning at Quincy, beginning 
practice at Rushville. where he was associated 
for a time with Judge Minshall. In 1852 he 
removed to Chicago, having for his first partner 
Corydon Beckwith, afterwards of the Supreme 
Court, still later being associated with a number 
of prominent lawyers of that day. He is de- 
scribed by his biographers as "an able lawyer, an 
eloquent advocate and a brilliant scholar." 
"Blackwell on Tax Titles, "from his pen, has been 
accepted by the profession as a high authority on 
that branch of law. He also published a revision 



50 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of the Statutes in 1858, and began an "Abstract 
of Decisions of the Supreme Court," wliich liad 
reached the third or fourth volume at his deatli. 
May 16, IHG:). 

BLAIR, William, merchant, was born at 
Homer, Cortland County, N. Y., May 20, 1818, 
being descended through five generations of New 
England ancestors. After attending school in 
the town of Cortland, which became his father's 
residence, at the age of 14 he obtained employ- 
ment in a stove and hardware store, four years 
later (1836) coming to Joliet, III., to take charge 
of a branch store which the firm had established 
there. The next year lie purchased the stock and 
continued the business on his own account. In 
August, 1843, he removed to Chicago, where he 
established the earliest and one of the most 
extensive wholesale hardware concerns in that 
city, with which he remained connected nearly 
fifty years. During this period he was associated 
with various partners, including C. B. Nelson, 
E. G. Hall, O. W. Belden, James H. Horton and 
others, besides, at times, conducting the business 
alone. He suffered by the fire of 1871 in common 
with other biLsiness men of Chicago, but promptly 
resumed business and, within the next two or 
three years, had erected business blocks, succes- 
sively, on Lake and Randolph Streets, but retired 
from business in 1888. He was a Director of the 
Merchants' National Bank of Chicago from its 
organization in 1865, as also for a time of the 
Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Company and the 
Chicago Gaslight & Coke Company, a Trustee of 
Lake Forest University, one of the Managers of 
the Presbyterian Hospital and a member of the 
Chicago Historical Society. Died in Chicago, 
May 10, 1899. 

BLAKELT, David, journalist, was born in 
Franklin County, Vt., in 1834; learned the print- 
er's trade and graduated from the University of 
Vermont in 1857. He was a member of a musical 
family which, under the name of "The Blakely 
Family," made several successful tours of the 
West. He engaged in journalism at Rochester, 
Minn., and, in 1863, was elected Secretary of 
State and ex-officio Superintendent of Schools, 
serving until 1865, when he resigned and, in 
partnership with a brother, bought "The Chicago 
Evening Post," with which he was connected at 
the time of the great fire and for some time after- 
ward. Later, he returned to Minnesota and 
became one of the proprietors and a member of 
the editorial staff of ' 'The St. Paul Pioneer-Press. ' ' 
In his later years Mr. Blakely was President of 
the Blakely Printing Company, of Chicago, also 



conducting a large printing business in New 
York, which was his residence. He was manager 
for several years of the celebrated Gilmore Band 
of musicians, and also instrumental in organizing 
the celebrated Sousa's Band, of which he was 
manager up to tlie time of his decease in New 
York, Nov. 7, 1896. 

BLAKEMAJf, Ciirtiss, sea-captain, and pioneer 
settler, came from New England to Madison 
County, 111., in 1819, and settled in what was 
afterwards known as the "Marine Settlement," of 
which he was one of the founders. This settle- 
ment, of which the present town of Marine (first 
called Madison) was the outcome, took its name 
from the fact that several of the earlj- settlers, like 
Captain Blakeman, were sea-faring men. Captain 
Blakeman became a prominent citizen and repre- 
sented Madison County in the lower branch of 
the Third and Fourth General Assemblies (1823 
and 1824), in the former being one of the opponents 
of the pro-slaverj' amendment of the Constitution. 
A son of his, of tlie same name, was a Represent- 
ative in the Thirteentli, Fifteenth and Sixteenth 
General Assemblies from Madison County. 

BLAXCHARD, Jonathan, clergyman and edu 
cator, was born in Rockingliam, Vt., Jan. 19, 
1811; graduated at Middlebury College in 1833; 
then, after teaching some time, spent two years 
in Andover Theological Seminary, finally gradu- 
ating in theology at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, 
in 1838, where he remained nine j'ears as pastor 
of the Sixth Presbyterian Church of that city. 
Before this time he had become interested in 
various reforms, and, in 1843, was sent as a 
delegate to the second World's Anti-Slavery 
Convention in London, serving as the American 
Vice-President of that body. In 1846 he assimied 
the Presidency of Knox College at Galesburg, 
remaining until 1858, during his connection 
with that institution doing much to increase its 
capacity and resources. After two years spent in 
pastoral work, he accepted (1860) the Presidency 
of Wheaton College, which he continued to fill 
until 1883, when he was chosen President Emer- 
itus, remaining in this position until liis death, 
May 14, 1892. 

BLANDINSVILLE, a town in McDonough 
County, on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Rail- 
road, 26 miles southeast of Burlington, Iowa, and 
64 miles west by south from Peoria. It is a ship 
ping point for the grain grown in the surround- 
ing country, and has a grain elevatot and steam 
flour and saw mills. It also has banks, two 
weeklj- newspapers and several churches. Popu- 
lation ()«<>"■» 877; (1900), 995. 



niSTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



51 



BLANET, Jerome Van Zandt, early physician, 
born at Newcastle, Del., May 1, 1820; was edu- 
cated at Princeton and graduated in medicine at 
Philadelphia when too young to receive his 
diploma; in 1843 came west and joined Dr. Daniel 
Brainard in founding Rush Medical College at 
Chicago, for a time filling three chairs in that 
institution ; also, for a time, occupied the chair of 
Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Northwest- 
ern University. In 1861 he was appointed Sur- 
geon, and afterwards Medical Director, in the 
army, and was Surgeon in-Chief on the staff of 
General Sheridan at the time of the battle of 
Winchester ; after the war was delegated by the 
Government to pay off medical officers in the 
Northwest, in this capacity disbui'sing over SOOO,- 
000 ; finally retiring with the rank of Lieutenant- 
Colonel. Died, Dec. 11, 1874. 

BLATCHFORD, Eliphalet Wickes, LL.D., 
son of Dr. John Blatchford, was born at Stillwater, 
N. Y. , May 31, 1836; being a grandson of Samuel 
Blatchford, D.D., who came to New York from 
England, in 1795. He prepared for college at Lan- 
singburg Academy. New York, and at Marion 
College, Mo. , finally graduating at Illinois College, 
Jacksonville, in the class of 1845. After graduat- 
ing, he was employed for several years in the law 
offices of his uncles, R. M. and E. H. Blatchford, 
New York. For considerations of health he re- 
turned to the West, and, in 1850, engaged in busi- 
ness for himself as a lead manufacturer in St. 
Louis, Mo., afterwards associating with him the 
late Morris Collins, under the firm name of Blatch- 
ford & Collins. In 1854 a branch was established 
in Chicago, known as Collins & Blatchford. After 
a few years the firm was dissolved, Mr. Blatch- 
ford taking the Chicago business, which has 
continued as E. W. Blatchford & Co. to the pres- 
ent time. While Mr. Blatchford has invariably 
declined political offices, he has been recognized 
as a staunch Republican, and the services of few 
men have been in more frequent request for 
positions of trust in connection with educational 
and benevolent enterprises. Among the numer- 
ous positions of this character which he has been 
called to fill are those of Treasurer of the North- 
western Branch of the United States Sanitary 
Commission, during the Civil War, to which he 
devoted a large part of his time ; Trustee of Illi- 
nois College (1866-75); President of the Chicago 
Academy of Sciences ; a member, and for seven- 
teen years President, of the Board of Trustees of 
the Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary ; Trustee of 
the Chicago Art Institute ; Executor and Trustee 
of the late Walter L. Newberry, and, since its 



incorporation. President of the Board of Trustees 
of The Newberry Library; Trustee of the John 
Crerar Library; one of the founders and Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago 
Manual Training School; life member of the 
Chicago Historical Society; for nearly forty 
years President of the Board of Directors of the 
Chicago Theological Seminary; during his resi- 
dence in Chicago an officer of the New England 
Congregational Church; a corporate member of 
the American Board of Commissioners for For- 
eign Missions, and for fourteen years its Vice- 
President; a charter member of the City 
Missionary Society, and of the Congregational 
Club of Chicago; a member of the Chicago 
Union League, the University, the Literary and 
the Commercial Clubs, of which latter lie has 
been President. Oct. 7, 1858, Mr. Blatchford was 
married to Miss Mary Emily Williams, daughter 
of John C.Williams, of Chicago. Seven children — 
four sons and three daughters — ^have blessed this 
union, the eldest son, Paul, being to-day one of 
Chicago's valued business men. Mr. Blatchford's 
life has been one of ceaseless and successful 
activity in business, and to him Chicago owes 
much of its prosperity. In the giving of time 
and money for Christian, educational and benevo- 
lent enterprises, he has been conspicuous for his 
generosity, and noted for his valuable counsel and 
executive ability in carrying these enterprises to 
success. 

BLATCHFORD, John, D.D., was born at New- 
field (now Bridgeport), Conn., May 34, 1799; 
removed in childhood to Lansingburg, N. Y., 
and was educated at Cambridge Academy and 
Union College in that State, graduating in 1820. 
He finished his theological course at Princeton, 
N. J., in 1833, after which he ministered succes- 
sively to Presbyterian churches at Pittstown and 
Stillwater, N. Y., in 1830 accepting the pastorate 
of the First Congregational Church of Bridge- 
port, Conn. In 1836 he came to the West, spend- 
ing the following winter at Jacksonville, 111. , and, 
in 1837, was installed the first pastor of the First 
Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where he 
remained until compelled by failing health to 
resign and return to the East. In 1841 he ac- 
cepted the chair of Intellectual and Moral Phi- 
losophy at Marion College, Mo., subsequently 
assuming the Presidency. The institution having 
been purchased by the Free Masons, in 1844, he 
removed ta West Ely, Mo., and thence, in 1847, 
to Quincy, 111., where he resided during the 
remainder of his life. His death occurred in St. 
Louis, April 8, 1855. The churches he served 



52 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



testified strongly to Dr. Blatchford's faithful, 
acceptable and successful performance of his 
ministerial duties. He was married in 1825 to 
Frances Wickes, daughter of Eliphalet Wickes, 
Esq., of Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y. 

BLEDSOE, Albert Taylor, teacher and law- 
yer, was born in Frankfort, Ky., Nov. 9, 1809; 
graduated at West Point Military Academy in 
1830, and, after two years' service at Fort Gib- 
son, Indian Territory, retired from the army in 
1832. During 1833-34 he was Adjunct Professor 
of Mathematics and teacher of French at Kenyon 
College, Ohio, and, in I83.'j-3G, Professor of 
Mathematics at Miami University. Then, hav- 
ing studied theology, he served for several years 
as rector of Episcopal churches in Oliio. In 1838 
he settled at Springfield, 111., and began the prac- 
tice of law, remaining several j-ears, when he 
removed to Washington, D. C. Later he became 
Professor of Mathematics, first (1848-54) in the 
University of Mississippi, and (1854-61) in the 
University of Virginia. He then entered the 
Confederate service with the rank of Colonel, 
but soon became Acting Assistant Secretary of 
War ; in 1863 visited England to collect material 
for a work on the Constitution, which was pub- 
lished in 1866, when he settled at Baltimore, 
where he began the publication of "The Southern 
Review," which became the recognized organ of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Later 
he became a minister of the Methodist Church. 
He gained considerable reputation for eloquence 
during his residence in Illinois, and was the 
author of a number of works on religious and 
political subjects, the latter maintaining the 
right of secession; was a man of recognized 
ability, but lacked stability of character. Died 
at Alexandria, Va., Dec. 8, 1877. 

BLODGETT, Henry Williams, jurist, was born 
at Amherst, Mass., in 1821. At the age of 10 
years he removed with his parents to Illinois, 
where he attended the district .schools, later 
returning to Amherst to spend a year at the 
Academy. Returning home, he spent the years 
1839-42 in teaching and surveying. In 1842 he 
began the study of law at Chicago, being 
admitted to the bar in 1845, and beginning prac- 
tice at Waukegan, 111., where he has continued 
to reside. In 1852 he was elected to the lower 
house of the Legislature from Lake County, as 
an anti-slavery candidate, and, in 18.58, to the 
State Senate, in the latter serving four years. 
He gained distinction as a railroad .solicitor, being 
employed at different times by the Cliicago & 
Northwestern, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 



Paul, the Michigan Southern and the Pittsburg 
& Fort Wayne Companies. Of the second named 
road he was one of the projectors, procuring its 
charter, and being identified with it in the sev- 
eral capacities of Attorney, Director and Presi- 
dent. In 1870 President Grant appointed him 
Judge of the United States District Court for the 
Northern District of Illinois. This position he 
continued to occupy for twenty-two years, resign- 
ing it in 1892 to accept an appointment by Presi- 
dent Cleveland as one of the counsel for the 
United States before the Behring Sea Arbitrators 
at Paris, which was his last oflficial service. 

BLOOMIXfJDALE, a village of Du Page County, 
30 miles west by north from Chicago. Population 
(1880), 220; (18*90), 463; (1900), 235. 

BLOOMIXGTOIV, the county -seat of McLean 
County, a flourishing city and railroad center, 59 
miles northeast of Springfield ; is in a rich agri- 
cultural and coal-mining district. Besides car 
shops and repair works employing some 2,000 
hands, there are manufactories of stoves, fur- 
naces, plows, flour, etc. Nurseries are numerous 
in the vicinity and horse breeding receives much 
attention. The city is the seat of Illinois Wes- 
leyan University, has flne public schools, several 
newspapers (two published daily), besides educa- 
tional and otlier publications. Tlie business sec- 
tion suffered a disastrous fire in 1900. but has been 
rebuilt more substantially than before. The prin- 
cipal streets are paved and electric street cars con- 
nect with Normal (two miles distant), the site of 
the "State Normal University" and "Soldiers' Or- 
phans' Home." Pop. (1890), 20,284; (1900), 23,286. 

BLOOMINfiTON COXVEXTION OF 1S5«J. 
Although not formally called as such, tliis was 
the first Republican State Convention held in 
Illinois, out of which grew a permanent Repub- 
lican organization in the State. A mass conven- 
tion of those opposed to the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise (known as an "Anti-Nebraska 
Convention") was held at Springfield during the 
week of the State Fair of 1854 (on Oct. 4 and 5), 
and, although it adopted a platform in harmonj' 
with the principles which afterwards became the 
foundation of tlie Republican party, and appointed 
a State Central Committee, besides putting in 
nomination a candidate for State Treasurer — the 
only State officer elected that year — the organi- 
zation was not perpetuated, the State Central 
Committee failing to organize. The Bloomington 
Convention of 1856 met in accordance with a call 
issued by a State Central Committee appointed 
by the Convention of Anti-Nebraska editors held 
at Decatur on February 22, 1856. (See Anti-Aeb- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



53 



raska Editorial Convention.) The call did not 
even contain the word "Republican, " but was 
addressed to those opposed to the principles of 
the Nebraska Bill and the policy of the existing 
Democratic administration. The Convention 
met on May 29, 18DG, the date designated by the 
Editorial Convention at Decatur, but was rather 
in the nature of a mass than a delegate conven- 
tion, as party organizations existed in few coun- 
ties of the State at that time. Consequently 
representation was very unequal and followed no 
systematic rule. Out of one hundred coimties 
into which the State was then divided, only 
seventy were represented by delegates, ranging 
from one to twenty-five each, leaving thirty 
counties (embracing nearly the whole of the 
southern part of the State) entirely unrepre- 
sented. Lee County had the largest representa- 
tion (twenty-five), Morgan County (the home of 
Richard Yates) coming next with twenty dele- 
gates, while Cook County had seventeen and 
Sangamon had five. The whole number of 
delegates, as shown by the contemporaneous 
record, was 269. Among the leading spirits in 
the Convention were Abraham Lincoln, Archi- 
bald Williams, O. H. Browning, Richard Yates, 
John M. Palmer, Owen Lovejoy, Norman B. 
Judd, Burton C. Cook and others who afterwards 
became prominent in State politics. The delega- 
tion from Cook County included the names of 
John Wentworth, Grant Goodrich, George 
Schneider, Mark Skinner, Charles H. Ray and 
Charles L. Wilson. The temporary organization 
was effected with Archibald Williams of Adams 
County in the chair, followed by the election of 
John M. Palmer of Macoupin, as Permanent 
President. The other officers were: Vice-Presi- 
dents — John A. Davis of Stephenson; William 
Ross of Pike; James McKee of Cook; John H. 
Bryant of Bureau; A. C. Harding of Warren; 
Richard Yates of Morgan; Dr. H. C. Johns of 
Macon; D. L. Phillips of Union; George Smith 
of Madison ; Thomas A. Marshall of Coles ; J. M. 
Ruggles of Mason ; G. D. A. Parks of Will, and John 
Clark of Schuyler. Secretaries — Henry S. Baker 
of Madison ; Charles L. Wilson of Cook ; John 
Tillson of Adams; Washington Bushnell of La 
Salle, and B. J. F. Hanna of Randolph. A State 
ticket was put in nomination consisting of 
William H. Bissell for Governor (by acclama- 
tion); Francis A. Hoffman of Du Page County, 
for Lieutenant-Governor; Ozias M. Hatch of 
Pike, for Secretary of State ; Jesse K. Dubois of 
Lawrence, for Auditor ; James Miller of McLean, 
for Treasurer, and William H. Powell of Peoria, 



for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Hoff- 
man, having been found ineligible by lack of resi- 
dence after the date of naturalization, withdrew, 
and his place was subsequently filled by the 
nomination of John Wood of Quincy. The plat- 
form adopted was outspoken in its pledges of 
unswerving loyalty to the Union and opposition 
to the extension of slavery into new territory. A 
delegation was appointed to the National Con- 
vention to be held in Philadelphia on June 17, 
following, and a State Central Committee was 
named to conduct the State campaign, consisting 
of James C. Conkling of Sangamon County; 
Asahel Gridley of McLean ; Burton C. Cook of 
La Salle, and Charles H. Ray and Norman B. 
Judd of Cook. The principal speakers of the 
occasion, before the convention or in popular 
meetings held while the members were present in 
Bloomington, included the names of O. H. Brown- 
ing, Owen Lovejoy, Abraham Lincoln, Burton 
C. Cook, Richard Yates, the venerable John 
Dixon, founder of the city bearing his name, and 
Governor Reeder of Pennsylvania, who had been 
Territorial Governor of Kansas by appointment 
of President Pierce, but had refused to carry out 
the policy of the administration for making 
Kansas a slave State. None of the speeches 
were fully reported, but that of Mr. Lincoln has 
been universally regarded by those who heard it 
as the gem of the occasion and the most brilliant 
of his life, foreshadowing his celebrated "house- 
divided-against-itself" speech of June 17, 1858. 
John L. Scripps, editor of "The Chicago Demo- 
cratic Press," writing of it, at the time, to his 
paper, said: "Never has it been our fortune to 
listen to a more eloquent and masterly presenta- 
tion of a subject. . . . For an hour and a half he 
(Mr. Lincoln) lield the assemblage spellbound by 
the power of his argument, the intense irony of 
his invective, and the deep earnestness and fervid 
brilliancy of his eloquence. When he concluded, 
the audience sprang to their feet and cheer after 
cheer told how deeply their hearts had been 
touched and their souls warmed up to a generous 
enthusiasm." At the election, in November 
following, although the Democratic candidate 
for President carried the State by a plurality of 
over 9,000 votes, the entire State ticket put in 
nomination at Bloomington was successful by 
majorities ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 for the 
several candidates. 

BLUE ISLAND, a village of Cook County, on 
the Calumet River and the Chicago, Rock Island 
& Pacific, the Chicago & Grand Trunk and 
the Illinois Central Railways, 15 miles south o£ 



54 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Chicago. It has a high school, churches and two 
newspapers, besides brick, smelting and oil works. 
Population (1890), 2,.T21 ; (1900), 6,114. 

BLUE ISLAND RAILROAD, a .short line3.9G 
miles in length, lying wliolly within Illinois; 
capital stock §35,000; operated by the Illinois 
Central Railroad Conipanj'. Its funded debt 
(1895) was .$100,000 and its floating debt. $3,779. 

BLUE MOUND, a town of Macon County, on 
the Wabash Railway, 14 miles southeast of De- 
catur; in rich grain and live-stock region; has 
three grain elevators, two banks, tile factory and 
one newspaper. Pop. (1890), 690; (1900), 714. 

BLUFFS, a village of Scott County, at the 
junction of the Quincy and Hannibal branches of 
the Wabasli Railway, 52 miles west of Spring- 
field; has a bank and a newspaper. Population 
(1880), 162; (1890), 421; (1900), 539. 

BOAL, Robert, M.D., physician and legis- 
lator, born near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1806; was 
brought by his parents to Ohio when fi^ne years 
old and educated at Cincinnati, graduating from 
the Ohio Medical College in 1828; settled at 
Lacon, III., in 1836, practicing there until 1862, 
when, having been appointed Surgeon of the 
Board of Enrollment for that District, he re- 
moved to Peoria. Other public positions held by 
Dr. Boal have been those of Senator in the 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth General Assemblies 
(1844-48), Representative in the Nineteenth and 
Twentieth (1854-58), and Trustee of the Institu- 
tion for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville, 
remaining in the latter position seventeen years 
under the successive administrations of Gov- 
ernors Bissell, Yates, Oglesby, Palmer and Bever- 
idge — the last five years of his service being 
President of the Board. He was also President 
of the State Medical Board in 1882. Dr. Boal 
continued to practice at Peoria until about 1890, 
when he retired, and, in 1893, returned to Lacon 
to reside with his daughter, the widow of the 
late Colonel Greenbury L. Fort, for eiglit years 
Representative in Congress from the Eighth 
District. 

BOARD OF ARBITRATION, a Bureau of the 
State Government, created by an act of the Legis- 
lature, approved August 2, 1895. It is appointed 
by the Executive and is composed of three mem- 
bers (not more than two of wliom can belong to 
the same political part)'), one of whom must be 
an employer of labor and one a member of some 
labor organization. The term of oflSce for the 
members first named was fixed at two years; 
after March 1, 1897, it is to be three years, one 
member retiring annually. A compensation of 



SI, 500 per annum is allowed to each member of 
the Board, while the Secretary, who must also be 
a stenographer, receives a salary of 81,200 per 
annum. When a controversy arises between an 
individual, firm or corporation employing not less 
than twenty-five persons, and his or its employes, 
application may be made by the aggrieved 
party to the Board for an inquiry into the 
nature of the disagreement, or both parties may 
unite in the submission of a case. The Board is 
required to visit the locality, carefully investi- 
gate the cause of the dispute and render a deci- 
sion as soon as practicable, the same to be at once 
made public. If the application be filed by the 
employer, it must be accompanied by a stipula- 
tion to continue in business, and order no lock-out 
for the space of three weeks after its date. In 
like manner, complaining employes must promise 
to continue peacefully at work, under existing 
conditions, for a like period. The Board is 
granted power to send for persons and papers and 
to administer oaths to witnesses. Its decisions 
are binding upon applicants for six months after 
rendition, or until either party shall have given 
the other sixty days' notice in writing of his or 
their intention not to be bound therebj'. In case 
the Board shall learn that a disagreement exists 
between employes and an employer having less 
than twenty-five persons in his employ, and that 
a strike or lock-out is seriously threatened, it is 
made the duty of the body to put itself into 
communication with both employer and employes 
and endeavor to effect an amicable settlement 
between them by mediation. The absence of any 
provision in the law prescribing penalties for its 
violation leaves tlie observance of the law, in its 
present form, dependent upon the voluntary 
action of the parties interested. 

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, a body organ- 
ized under act of the General Assembly, approved 
March 8, 1867. It first consisted of twenty-five 
members, one from each Senatorial District. 
The first Board was appointed by the Governor, 
holding oflSce two years, afterwards becoming 
elective for a term of four years. In 1872 the 
law was amended, reducing the number of mem- 
bers to one for each Congressional District, the 
whole number at that time becoming nineteen, 
with the Auditor as a member ex-officio, who 
usually presides. From 1884 to 1897 it consisted 
of twenty elective members, but. in 1897, it was 
increased to twenty-two. The Board meets 
annually on the second Tuesday of Aagust. The 
abstracts of the property assessed for taxation in 
the several counties of the State are laid before 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



55 



it for examination and equalization, but it may 
not reduce the aggregate valuation nor increase 
it more than one per cent. Its powers over the 
returns of the assessors do not extend beyond 
equalization of assessments between counties. 
The Board is required to consider the various 
classes of property separately, and determine 
such rates of addition to or deduction from the 
listed, or assessed, valuation of each class as it 
may deem equitable and just. The statutes pre- 
scribe rules for determining the value of all the 
classes of property enumerated — personal, real, 
railroad, telegraph, etc. The valuation of the 
capital stock of railroads, telegraph and other 
corporations (except newspapers) is fixed by the 
Board. Its consideration having been completed, 
the Board is required to summarize the results of 
its labors in a comparative table, which must be 
again examined, compared and perfected. 
Reports of eacli annual meeting, with the results 
reached, are printed at the expense of the State 
and distributed as are other public documents. 
The present Board (1897-1901) consists by dis- 
tricts of (1) George F. McKnight, (2) John J. 
McKenna, (3) Solomon Simon, (4) Andrew Mc- 
Ansh, (5) Albert Oberndorf, (6) Henry Severin, 
(7) Edward S. Taylor, (8) Theodore S. Rogers, 
(9) Charles A. Works, (10) Thomas P. Pierce, (11) 
Samuel M. Barnes, (12) Frank P. Martin, (13) 
Frank K. Robeson, (14) W. O. Cadwallader, (15) 
J. S. Cruttenden, (16) H. D. Hirshheimer, (17) 
Thomas N. Leavitt, (18) Joseph F. Long, (19) 
Richard Cadle, (20) Charles Emerson, (21) John 
W. Larimer, (22) William A. Wall, besides the 
Auditor of Public Accounts as ex-officio member 
— the District members being divided politically 
in the proportion of eighteen Republicans to four 
Democrats. 

BOARD OF PUBLIC CHARITIES, a State 
Bureau, created by act of the Legislature in 
1869, upon the recommendation of Governor 
Oglesby. The act creating the Board gives the 
Commissioners supervisory oversight of the 
financial and administrative conduct of all the 
charitable and correctional institutions of the 
State, with the exception of the penitentiaries, 
and they are especially charged with looking 
after and caring for the condition of the paupers 
and the insane. As originally constituted the 
Board consisted of five male members who em- 
ployed a Secretary. Later provision was made 
for the appointment of a female Commissioner. 
The ofiice is not elective. The Board has always 
carefully scrutinized the accounts of the various 
State charitable institutions, and, under its man- 



agement, no charge of peculation against any 
oflicial connected with the same has ever been 
substantiated; there have been no scandals, and 
only one or two isolated charges of cruelty to 
inmates. Its supervision of the county jails and 
almshouses has been careful and conscientious, 
and has resulted in benefit alike to the tax-payers 
and the inmates. The Board, at the close of the 
year 1898, consisted of the following five mem- 
bers, their terms ending as indicated in paren- 
thesis: J. C. Corbus (1898), R. D. Lawrence 
(1899), Julia C. Lathrop (1900), William J. Cal- 
houn (1901), Epliraim Banning (1902), J. C. Cor- 
bus was President and Frederick H. Wines, 
Secretary. 

BOUARDUS, Charles, legislator, was born 
in Cayuga County, N. Y., March 28, 1841, and 
left an orphan at six years of age; was educated 
in tlie common schools, began working in a store 
at 12, and, in 1862, enlisted in the One Hundred 
and Fifty-fir.st New York Infantry, being elected 
First Lieutenant, and retiring from the service 
as Lieutenant-Colonel "for gallant and meritori- 
ous service" before Petersburg. While in the 
service he participated in some of the most 
important battles in Virginia, and was once 
wounded and once captured. In 1872 he located 
in Ford County, 111., where he has been a success- 
ful operator in real estate. He has been twice 
elected to the House of Representatives (1884 and 
'86) and three times to the State Senate (1888, 
'92 and '96), and has served on the most important 
committees in each house, and has proved him- 
self one of the most useful members. At the 
session of 189.5 he was chosen President pro tern. 
of the Senate. 

BOGGS, Carroll C, Justice of the Supreme 
Court, was born in Fairfield, Wayne County, 
111., Oct. 19, 1844, and still resides in his native 
town; has held the offices of State's Attorney, 
County Judge of Wayne County, and Judge of 
the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit, 
being assigned also to Appellate Court duty. In 
June, 1897, Judge Boggs was elected a Justice of 
the Supreme Court to succeed Judge David J. 
Baker, his term to continue until 1906. 

BOLTWOOD, Henry L., the son of William 
and Electa (Stetson) Boltwood, was born at Am- 
her.st, Mass., Jan. 17, 1831; fitted for college at 
Amherst Academy and graduated from Amherst 
College in 18.53. While in college he taught 
school every winter, commencing on a salary of 
$4 per week and "boarding round" among the 
scholars. After graduating he taught in acad- 
emies at Limerick, Me., and at Pembroke and 



56 



mSTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Derry, N. H., and in the high school at Law- 
rence, Mass. ; also served as School Commissioner 
for Rockingham County, N. H. In 18G4 lie went 
into the service of the Sanitary Commission in 
the Department of the Gulf, remaining until the 
close of the war ; was also ordained Chaplain of a 
colored regiment, but was not regularly mustered 
in. After the close of the war he was employed 
as Superintendent of Schools at Griggsville, 111., 
for two years, and, while there, in 1867, organ- 
ized the first township high school ever organized 
in the State, where he remained eleven years. He 
afterwards organized the township high scliool at 
Ottawa, remaining there five years, after which, 
in 1883, he organized and took charge of the 
township high school at Evanston, where he has 
since been employed in his jirofession as a teacher. 
Professor Bolt wood has been a member of the State 
Board of Education and has served as President 
of the State Teachers' Association. As a teacher 
he )ias given special attention to English language 
and literature, and to history, being the author 
of an English Grammar, a High School Speller 
and "Topical Outlines of General History," 
besides many contributions to educational jour- 
nals. He has done a great deal of institute work, 
both in Illinois and Iowa, and has been known 
somewhat as a tariff reformer. 

BOND, Lester L., lawyer, was born at Raven- 
na, Ohio, Oct. 27, 1829 ; educated in the common 
schools and at an academy, meanwhile laboring 
in local factories; studied law and wa.s admitted 
to the bar in \853, the following year coming to 
Chicago, where he has given his attention chiefly 
to practice in connection with patent laws. Mr. 
Bond served several terms in the Chicago City 
Council, was Republican Presidential Elector in 
1868, and served two terms in the General Assem- 
bly— 1866-70. 

BOXD, Sliadrach, first Territorial Delegate in 
Congress from Illinois and first Governor of the 
State, was born in Maryland, and, after being 
liberally educated, removed to Kaskaskia while 
Illinois was a part of the Northwest Territorj-. 
He served as a member of the first Territorial 
Legislature (of Indiana Territory) and was the 
first Delegate from the Territory of Illinois in 
Congress, serving from 1813 to 1814. In the 
latter year he was appointed Receiver of Public 
Moneys ; he also held a commission as Captain in 
the War of 1812. On the admission of the State, 
in 1818, he was elected Governor, and occupied 
the executive chair until 1822. Died at Kaskas- 
kia, April 13, 1832.— Sliadrach Bond, Sr., an uncle 
of the preceding, came to Illinois in 1781 and was 



elected Delegate from St. Clair County (then 
comprehending all Illinois) to the Territorial 
Legislature of Northwest Territory, in 1799, and, 
in 1804, to the Legislative Council of the newly 
organized Territory of Indiana. 

BOXD COUXTY, a small county lying north- 
east from St. Louis, having an area of 380 square 
miles and a population 1900) of 16,078. The 
first American settlers located here in 1807, com- 
ing from the South, and building Hill's and 
Jones's forts for protection from the Indians. 
Settlement was slow, in 1816 there being scarcely 
twenty-five log cabins in the coimty. The 
county-seat is Greenville, where the first cabin 
was erected in 181.5 by George Davidson. The 
county was organized in 1818, and named in 
honor of Gov. Shadrach Bond. Its original 
limits included the present counties of Clinton, 
Fayette and Montgomery. The first court was 
held at Perryville, and, in May, 1817, Judge 
Jesse B. Thomas presided over the first Circuit 
Court at Hill's Station. The first court house 
was erected at Greenville in 1822. The county 
contains good timber and farming lands, and at 
some points, coal is found near the surface. 

BONNET, Charles Carroll, lawyer and re- 
former, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., Sept. 4, 
1831 ; educated at Hamilton Academy and settled 
in Peoria, 111., in 1850, where he pursued the 
avocation of a teacher while studying law ; was 
admitted to the bar in 1853, but removed to Chi- 
cago in 1860, where he has since been engaged in 
practice; served as President of the National 
Law and Order League in New York in 1885, 
being repeatedly re-elected, and has also been 
President of the Illinois State Bar Association, as 
well as a member of the American Bar Associa- 
tion. Among the reforms which he has advo- 
cated are constitutional prohibition of special 
legislation; an extension of equity practice to 
bankruptcy and other law proceedings ; civil serv- 
ice pensions; State Boards of labor and capital, 
etc. He has also published some treatises in book 
form, chiefly on legal questions, besides editing 
a volume of "Poems by Alfred W. Arrington, 
with a sketch of his Character" (1869.) As Presi- 
dent of the World's Congresses Auxiliary, in 1893, 
Mr. Bonney contributed largely to the success of 
that very interesting and important feature of 
tlie great Columbian Exposition in Chicago. 

BOONE, Levi D., M. D., early physician, was 
born near Lexington, Ky., December, 1808 — a 
descendant of the celebrated Daniel Boone; re- 
ceived the degree of M. D. from Transylvania 
University and came to Edwardsville, 111., at an 



niSTOEICAL E^i^CYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



57 



early day, afterwards locating at Hillsboro and 
taking part in the Black Hawk War as Captain of 
a cavalry company ; came to Chicago in 1836 and 
engaged in the insurance business, later resiuuing 
the practice of his profession; served several 
terms as Alderman and was elected Maj-or in 
1855 by a combination of temperance men and 
Know-Nothings ; acquired a large property by 
operations in real estate. Died, February, 
1883 

BOONE COUiVTY, the smallest of the "north- 
ern tier" of counties, having an area of onh- 290 
square miles, and a population (1000) of 15,791. 
Its surface is chiefly rolling prairie, and the 
principal products are oats and corn. The earli- 
est settlers came from New York and New Eng- 
land, and among them were included Medkiff, 
Dunham, Caswell, Cline, Towner, Doty and 
Whitney. Later (after the Pottawattomies had 
evacuated the country), came the Shattuck 
brothers, Maria Hollenbeck and Mrs. BuUard, 
Oliver Hale, Nathaniel Crosby, Dr. Whiting, H. 
C. Walker, and the Neeley and Mahoney families. 
Boone County was cut off from Winnebago, and 
organized in 1837, being named in honor of Ken- 
tucky's pioneer. The first frame house in the 
county was erected by S. F. Doty and stood for 
fifty years in the village of Belvidere on the north 
side of the Kishwaukee River. The county-seat 
(Belvidere) was platted in 1837, and an academy 
built soon after. The first Protestant church 
was a Baptist society under the pastorate of Rev. 
Dr. King. 

BOURBONN AIS, a village of Kankakee County, 
on the Illinois Central Railroad, 5 miles north of 
Kankakee. Population (1890), 510; (1900), .595. 

BOUTELL, Henry Sherman, lawyer and Con- 
gressman, was born in Boston, Mass., Marcli 14, 
1856, graduated from the Northwestern Univer- 
sity at Evanston, 111., in 1874, and from Harvard 
in 1876; was admitted to the bar in Illinois in 
1879, and to that of the Supreme Court of the 
United States in 1885. In 1884 Mr. Boutell was 
elected to the lower branch of the Thirty-fourth 
General Assembly and was one of the "103" who, 
in the long struggle during the following session, 
participated in the election of Gen. John A. 
Logan to the United States Senate for the last 
time. At a special election held in the Sixth 
Illinois District in November. 1897, he was 
elected Representative in Congress to fill the 
vacancy caused by the sudden death of his pred- 
ecessor, Congressman Edward D. Cooke, and at 
the regular election of 1898 was re-elected to the 
same position, receiving a plurality of 1,116 over 



his Democratic competitor and a majoritj' of 719 
over all. 

BOUTOJf, Nathaniel S., manufacturer, was 
born in Concord, N. H., May 14, 1828; in his 
youth farmed and taught school in Connecticut, 
but in 1853 came to Chicago and was employed 
in a foundry firm, of which he soon afterwards 
became a partner, in the manufacture of car- 
wheels and railway castings. Later he became 
associated with the American Bridge Company's 
works, which was sold to the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company in 1857, when he bought the 
Union Car Works, which he operated until 1863. 
He then became the head of the Union Foundry 
Works, which having been consolidated with 
the Pullman Car Works in 1886, he retired, 
organizing the Bouton Foundry Company. Mr. 
Bouton is a Republican, was Commissioner of 
Public Works for the city of Chicago two ternis 
before the Civil War, and served as Assistant 
Quartermaster in the Eighty-eighth Illinois 
Infantry (.Second Board of Trade Regiment) 
from 1863 until after the battle of Chickamauga. 

BOYD, Thomas A., was born in Adams County, 
Pa., June 25, 1830, and graduated at Marshall 
College, Mercersburg, Pa., at the age of 18; 
studied law at Chambersburg and was admitted 
to the bar at Bedford in his native State, where 
he practiced until 1856, when he removed to Illi- 
nois. In 1861 he abandoned his practice to enlist 
in the Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, in which he 
held the position of Captain. At the close of the 
war he returned to his home at Lewistown, and, 
in 1866, was elected State Senator and re-elected 
at the expiration of his term in 1870, serving in 
the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty- 
seventh General Assemblies. He was also a 
Republican Representative from his District in 
the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses 
(1877-81). Died, at Lewistown, May 38, 1897. 

BRACEVILLE, a town in Grundy County, 61 
miles by rail southwest of Chicago. Coal mining 
is the principal industry. The town has two 
banks, two churches and good public schools. 
Population (1890), 2,150; (1900), 1,669. 

BRADFORD, village of Stark County, on Buda 
and Rushville branch Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railway ; is in excellent farming region 
and has large grain and live-stock trade, excel- 
lent high school building, fine churches, good 
hotels and one newspaper. Pop. (1900), 773. 

BRADSBY, William H., pioneer and Judge, 
was born in Bedford Count}', Va., July 13, 1787. 
He removed to Illinois early in life, and was the 
first postmaster in Washington County (at Cov- 



58 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS/ 



ington), the first school-teacher and the first 
Circuit and County Clerk and Recorder. At the 
time of his death he was Probate and County 
Judge. Besides being Clerk of all the courts, he 
was virtually County Treasurer, as he had cus- 
tody of all the county's money. For several 
years he was also Deputj' United States Surveyor, 
and in that capacity surveyed much of the south 
part of the State, as far east as Wayne and Clay 
Counties. Died at Nashville, 111 , August 21, 
1839. 

BRADWELL, James Bolesworth, lawyer and 
editor, was born at Loughborough, England, April 
16, 1828, and brought to America in infancy, his 
parents locating in 1839 or '30 at Utica, N. Y. In 
1833 they emigrated to Jacksonville, III., but the 
following year removed to Wheeling, Cook 
County, settling on a farm, where the younger 
Bradwell received his first lessons in breaking 
prairie, splitting rails and tilling the soil. His 
first schooling was obtained in a country log- 
school-house, but, later, he attended the Wilson 
Academy in Chicago, where he had Judge Lo- 
renzo Sawyer for an instructor. He also took a 
course in Knox College at Galesburg, then a 
manual-labor school, supporting lumself by work- 
ing in a wagon and plow shop, sawing wood, 
etc. In May, 1852, he was married to Miss Myra 
Colby, a teacher, with whom he went to Mem- 
phis, Tenn., the same year, where they engaged 
in teacliing a select school, tlie subject of this 
sketch meanwhile devoting some attention to 
reading law. He was admitted to the bar there, 
but after a stay of less tlian two years in Mem- 
phis, returned to Chicago and began practice. 
In 18G1 he was elected County Judge of Cook 
County, and re-elected four years later, but 
declined a re-election in 18C9. The first half of 
his term occurring during tlie progress of the 
Civil War, he had the opportunity of rendering 
some vigorous decisions whicli won for liim the 
reputation of a man of courage and inflexible 
independence, as well as an incorruptible cham- 
pion of justice. In 1872 he was elected to tlie 
lower branch of the Twenty-eighth General 
Assembly from Cook County, and re-elected in 
1874. He was again a candidate in 1882, and by 
many believed to have been honestly elected, 
though his opponent received the certificate. He 
made a contest for the seat, and the majority of 
the Committee on Elections reported in his 
favor ; but he was defeated through the treach- 
ery and suspected corruption of a professed polit- 
ical friend. He is the author of the law making 
women eligible to school offices in Illinois and 



allowing them to become Notaries Public, and 
has always been a champion for equal rights for 
women in the professions and as citizens. He 
was a Second Lieutenant of the One Hundred and 
Fifth Regiment, Illinois Militia, in 1848; presided 
over the American Woman's Suffrage Associa- 
tion at its organization in Cleveland; has been 
President of tlie Chicago Press Club, of the Chi- 
cago Bar Association, and, for a number of years, 
the Historian of the latter; one of the founder^ 
and President of the Union League Club, besides 
being associated with many other social and 
business organizations. At present (1899) he is 
editor of "The Cliicago Legal News," founded by 
his wife thirty years ago, and with which he has 
been identified in a business capacity from its 
establishment. — Myra Colby (Bradwell), the wife 
of Judge Bradwell, was born at Manchester, Vt., 
Feb. 12, 1831 — being descended on her mother's 
side from the Chase family to which Bishop 
Philander Chase and Salmon P. Chase, the latter 
Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of 
the Supreme Court by appointment of Abraham 
Lincoln, belonged. In infancy she was brought 
to Portage, N. Y., where she remained until she 
was twelve years of age, when her family re- 
moved west. She attended school in Kenosha, 
Wis., and a seminary at Elgin, afterwards being 
engaged in teaching. On May 18, 1852, she was 
married to Judge Bradwell, almost immediately 
going to Memphis, Tenn., where, with the assist- 
ance of her husband, she conducted a select school 
for some time, also teaching in the public schools, 
when they returned to Chicago. In the early 
part of the Civil War she took a deep interest in 
the welfare of the soldiers in the field and their 
families at home, becoming President of the 
Soldiers' Aid Society, and was a leading spirit in 
the Sanitary Fairs held in Chicago in 1863 and in 
1865. After the war she commenced the study 
of law and, in 1868, began the pubUcation of 
"The Cliicago Legal News," with which slie re- 
mained identified until her death — also publishing 
biennially an edition of the session laws after 
each session of the General Assembly. After 
passing a most creditable examination, applica- 
tion was made for her admission to the bar in 
1871, but denied in an elaborate decision rendered 
by Judge C. B. Lawrence of the Supreme Court 
of the State, on the sole ground of sex, as 
was also done bj' the Supreme Court of the 
United States in 1873, on the latter occasion 
Chief Justice Chase dissenting. She was finally 
admitted to the bar on March 28. 1892, and was 
the first lady member of the State Bar Associ- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



59 



ation. Other organizations Avitli which she was 
identified embraced the lUinois State Press 
Association, the Board of Managers of the Sol- 
diers' Home (in war time), the "Illinois Industrial 
School for Girls" at Evanston, the Washingtonian 
Home, the Board of Lady Managers of the 
World's Columbian Exposition, and Chairman of 
the Woman's Committee on Jurisprudence of the 
World's Congress Auxiliar)- of 1893. Although 
much before the public during the latter years of 
her life, she never lost the refinement and graces 
which belong to a true woman. Died, at her 
home in Chicago, Feb. 14, 1894. 

BRAIDWOOD, a city in Will County, incorpo- 
rated in 1860; is 58 miles from Chicago, on the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad; an important coal- 
mining point, and in the heart of a rich 
agricultural region. It has a bank and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1890), 4,641 ; (1900), 3,279. 

BRANSON, Nathaniel W.. lawyer, was born in 
Jacksonville, 111. , May 29, 1837 ; was educated in 
the private and public schools of that city and at 
Illinois College, graduating from the latter in 
1857 ; studied law with David A. Smith, a promi- 
nent and able lawyer of Jacksonville, and was 
admitted to the bar in January, 1860, soon after 
establishing himself in practice at Petersburg, 
Menard County, where he has ever since resided. 
In 1867 Mr. Branson was appointed Register in 
Bankruptcy for the Springfield District — a po- 
sition which he held thirteen years. He was also 
elected Representative in the General Assembly 
in 1873, by re-election in 1874 serving four years 
in the stormy Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth 
General Assemblies ; was a Delegate from Illinois 
to the National Republican Convention of 1876, 
and served for several years most efficiently as a 
Trustee of the State Institution for the Blind at 
Jacksonville, part of the time as President of the 
Board. Politically a conservative Republican, 
and in no sense an office-seeker, the official po- 
sitions which he has occupied have come to him 
unsought and in recognition of his fitness and 
capacity for the proper discharge of their duties. 

BRAYMAN, Mason, lawyer and soldier, was 
born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 33, 1813; brought up 
as a farmer, became a printer and edited "The 
Buffalo Bulletin," 1834-35; studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1836; removed west in 
1837, was City Attorney of Monroe, Mich., in 1838 
and became editor of "The Louisville Adver- 
tiser" in 1841. In 1843 he opened a law office in 
Springfield, 111., and the following year was 
appointed by Governor Ford a commissioner to 
adjust the Mormon troubles, in which capacity 



he rendered valuable service. In 1844-45 he was 
appointed to revise the statutes of the State. 
Later he devoted much attention to railroad 
enterprises, being attorney of the Illinois Central 
Railroad, 1851-55; then projected the construc- 
tion of a railroad from Bird's Point, opposite 
Cairo, into Arkansas, which was partially com- 
pleted before the war, and almost wholly de- 
stroyed during that period. In 1861 he entered 
the service as Major of the Twenty-ninth IlUnois 
Volunteers, taking part in a number of the early 
battles, including Fort Donelson and Shiloh; 
was promoted to a colonelcy for meritorious con- 
duct at the latter, and for a time served as 
Adjutant-General on the staff of General McCler- 
nand; was promoted Brigadier-General in Sep- 
tember, 1862, at the close of the war receiving 
the brevet rank of Major-General. After the 
close of the war he devoted considerable atten- 
tion to reviving his railroad enterprises in the 
South; edited "The Illinois State Journal," 
1873 73; removed to Wisconsin and was ap- 
pointed Governor of Idaho in 1876, serving four 
years, after whicli he returned to Ripon, Wis. 
Died, in Kansas City, Feb. 27, 1895. 

BREESE, a village in Clinton County, on 
Baltimore & Ohio S. W. Railway, 39 miles east of 
St. Louis; has coal mines, water system, bank and 
weekly newspaper. Pop. (1890), 808, (1900), 1,571. 

BREESE. Sidney, statesman and jurist, was 
born at Whitesboro, N. Y., (according to the 
generally accepted authority) July 15, 1800. 
Owing to a certain sensitiveness about his age in 
his later years, it has been exceedingly difficult 
to secure authentic data on the subject ; but his 
arrival at Kaskaskia in 1818, after graduating at 
Union College, and his admission to the bar in 
1830, have induced manj' to believe that the date 
of his birth should be placed somewhat earlier. 
He was related to some of the most prominent 
families in New York, including the Livingstons 
and the Morses, and, after his arrival at Kaskas- 
kia, began the study of law with his friend Elias 
Kent Kane, afterwards United States Senator. 
Meanwhile, having served as Postmaster at Kas- 
kaskia, he became Assistant Secretary of State, 
and, in December, 1830, superintended the re- 
moval of the archives of that office to Vandalia, 
the new State capital. Later he was appointed 
Prosecuting Attorney, serving in that position 
from 1833 till 1837, wlien he became United 
States District Attorney for Illiift)is. He was 
the first official reporter of the Supreme Court, 
issuing its first volume of decisions; served as 
Lieutenant-Colonel of volunteers during the 



60 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Black Hawk "War (1832) ; in 1833 was elected to 
the circuit bench, and, in 1841, was advanced to 
the Supreme bench, serving less than two years, 
when he resigned to accept a seat in the United 
States Senate, to wliich he was elected in 1843 as 
the successor of Richard M. Young, defeating 
Stephen A. Douglas in the first race of the latter 
for the office. "While in the Senate (1843-49) he 
served as Chairman of the Committee on Public 
Lands, and was one of the first to suggest the 
construction of a transcontinental railway to the 
Pacific. He was also one of the originators and 
active promoters in Congress of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad enterprise. He was Speaker of the 
Illinois House of Representatives in 1851 , again 
became Circuit Judge in 183.'J and returned to 
the Supreme bench in 18.'j7 and served more than 
one term as Chief Justice, the last being in 
1873-74. His home during most of his public life 
in Illinois was at Carlyle. His death occurred 
at Pinckneyville, June 28, 1878. 

BREXTANO, Lorenzo, was born at Mannheim, 
in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, Nov. 
14, 1813; was educated at the Universities of 
Heidelberg and Freiburg, receiving the degree of 
LL.D., and attaining high honors, both profes- 
sional and political. He was successively a 
member of the Baden Chamber of Deputies and 
of the Frankfort Parliament, and always a leader 
of the revolutionist party. In 1849 he became 
President of the Provisional Republican Gov- 
ernment of Baden, but was, before long, forced 
to find an asylum in the United States. He first 
settled in Kalamazoo County, Mich., as a farmer, 
but, in 1859, removed to Chicago, where he was 
admitted to the Illinois bar, but soon entered the 
field of journalism, becoming editor and part 
proprietor of "The Illinois Staats Zeitung." He 
held various public offices, being' elected to the 
Legislature in 1862, serving five years as Presi- 
dent of the Chicago Board of Education, was a 
Republican Presidential Elector in 18G8, and 
United States Consul at Dresden in 1873 (a gen- 
eral amnesty having been granted to the 
participants in the revolution of 1848), and 
Representative in Congress from 1877 to 1879. 
Died, in Chicago, Sept. 17, 1891. 

BRIDGEPORT, a town of Lawrence County, 
on tlie Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 
14 miles west of Vincennes, Ind. It has a bank 
and one weekly paper. Population (1900), 487. 

BRIDGEPfJRT, a former suburb (now a part of 
the city) of Chicago, located at the junction of 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal with the South 
Branch of the Chicago River. It is now the 



center of the large slaughtering and packing 
industry. 

BRIDGEPORT & SOUTH CHICAGO RAIL- 
WAY. (See Cli icaiju <i- Xortlivryi Pacific Railroad.) 

BRIGHTON, a village of Macoupin County, at 
the intersection of the Chicago & Alton and the 
Rock Island and St. Louis branch of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railways; coal is mined 
here; has a newspaper. Population (1880), 691; 
(1890). 697; (1900), 060. 

BRIMFIELD, a town of Peoria County, on the 
Buda and Rushville branch of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railway, 38 miles south of 
Buda; coal-mining and farming are the chief 
industries. It has one weekly paper and a bank. 
Population (1880), 8.32; (1890)' 719; (lUOO), 677. 

BRISTOL, Frank Milton, clergyman, was bom 
in Orleans County, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1851; came 
to Kankakee, 111., in boyhood, and having lost 
his father at 12 years of age, spent the following 
years in various manual occupations until about 
nineteen years of age, when, having been con- 
verted, he determined to devote his life to the 
ministry. Tlirough the aid of a benevolent lady, 
he was enabled to get two years' (1870-72) instruc- 
tion at the Northwestern University, at Evans- 
ton, afterwards supporting himself by preaching 
at various points, meanwhile continuing his 
studies at the University until 1877. After com- 
pleting his course he served as pastor of some of 
the most prominent Methodist churches in Chi- 
cago, his last charge in the State being at Evans- 
ton. In 1897 he was transferred to Washington 
City, becoming pastor of the Metropolitan M. E. 
Church, attended by President McKinley Dr. 
Bristol is an author of some repute and an orator 
of recognized ability. 

BROADWELL, Norman M., lawyer, was born 
in Morgan County, 111., August 1, 1825; was edu- 
cated in the common schools and at McKendreo 
and Illinois Colleges, but compelled by failing 
health to leave college without graduating; spent 
some time in the book business, then began the 
study of medicine with a view to benefiting his 
own health, but finally abandoned this and, about 
1850, commenced the study of law in the office of 
Lincoln & Herndon at Springfield. Having been 
admitted to the bar, he practiced for a time at 
Pekin, but, in 1854, returned to Springfield, 
where he spent the remainder of his life. In 18C0 
he was elected as a Democrat to the House of 
Representatives from Sangamon County, serving 
in the Twenty-second General Assembly. Other 
offices held by him included those of County 
Judge (1863-65) and Mayor of the city of Spring- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



61 



field, to which last position he was twice elected 
(1867 and again in 1869) . Judge Broadwell was 
one of the most genial of men, ijopular, high- 
minded and honorable in all his dealings. Died, 
in Springfield, Feb. 28, 1893. 

BROOKS, John Flavel, educator, was born 
in Oneida County, New York, Dec. 3, 1801; 
graduated at Hamilton College, 1838; studied 
three years in the theological department of Yale 
College ; was ordained to the Presbyterian min- 
istry in 1831, and came to Illinois in the service 
of the American Home Missionarj- Society. 
After preaching at CoUinsville, Belleville and 
other points, Mr. Brooks, who was a member of 
the celebrated "Yale Band," in 1837 assumed the 
principalship of a Teachers' Seminary at Waverly, 
Morgan County, but three years later removed to 
Springfield, where he established an academy for 
both sexes. Although finally compelled to 
abandon this, he continued teaching with some 
interruptions to within a few years of his death, 
which occurred in 1886. He was one of the Trus- 
tees of Illinois College from its foundation up to 
his death. 

BROSS, William, journalist, was born in Sus- 
sex County, N. J., Nov. 14, 1813, and graduated 
with honors from Williams College in 1838, hav- 
ing previously developed his physical strength 
by much hard work upon the Delaware and 
Hudson Canal, and in the lumbering trade. For 
five years after graduating he was a teacher, and 
settled in Chicago in 1848. Thsre he first engaged 
in bookselling, but later embarked in joui'ualism. 
His first publication was "The Prairie Herald," a 
religious paper, which was discontinued after 
two years. In 1852, in connection with John L. 
Scripps, he founded "The Democratic Press," 
which was consolidated with "The Tribune" in 
1858, Mr. Bross retaining his connection with the 
new concern. He was alwaj-s an ardent free- 
soiler, and a firm believer in the great future of 
Chicago and the Northwest. He was an enthusi- 
astic Republican, and, in 1856 and 1860, served as 
an effective campaign orator. In 1864 he was 
the successful nominee of his party for Lieuten- 
ant-Governor. This was his only official position 
outside of a membershiiJ in the Chicago Common 
Council in 1855. As a presiding officer, he was 
dignified yet affable, and his impartiality was 
shown by the fact that no appeals were taken 
from his decisions. After quitting public life he 
devoted much time to literary pursuits, deliver- 
ing lectures in various parts of the country. 
Among his best known works are a brief "His- 
tory of Chicago," "History of Camp Douglas," 



and "Tom Quick." Died, in Chicago, Jan. 27, 
1890. 

BROWJf, Henry, lawyer and historian, was 
born at Hebron, Tolland Counts', Conn., May 13, 
1789 — the son of a commissary in the army of 
General Greene of Revolutionary fame; gradu- 
ated at Yale College, and, when of age, removed 
to New York, later studying law at Albany, 
Canandaigua and Batavia, and being admitted to 
the bar about 1813, when he settled down in 
practice at Cooperstown; in 1816 was appointed 
Judge of Herkimer County, remaining on the 
bench until about 1824. He then resumed prac- 
tice at Cooperstown, continuing until 1836, when 
he removed to Chicago. The following year he 
was elected a Justice of the Peace, serving two 
j'ears, and, in 1842, became Pi'osecuting Attorney 
of Cook County. During this period he was 
engaged in writing a "History of Illinois," which 
was published in New York in 18-14 This was 
regarded at the time as the most voluminous and 
best digested work on Illinois historj' that had as 
yet been published. In 1846, on assuming the 
Presidency of tlie Chicago Lyceum, he delivered 
an inaugural entitled "Chicago, Present and 
Future," which is still preserved as a striking 
prediction of Chicago's future greatness. Origi- 
nally a Democrat, he became a Freesoiler in 1848. 
Died of cholera, in Chicago, May 16, 1849. 

BROWN, James B., journalist, was born in 
Gilmanton, Belknap Coimty, N. H., Sept. 1, 
1833 — his father being a member of the Legisla- 
ture and Selectman for his town. The son was 
educated at Gilmanton Academy, after which he 
studied medicine for a time, but did not gradu- 
ate. In 1857 he removed West, first settling at 
Dunleith, Jo Daviess County, 111., where he 
became Principal of the public schools; in 1861 
was elected County Superintendent of Schools 
for Jo Daviess County, removing to Galena two 
years later and assuming the editorship of "The 
Gazette" of that city. Mr. Brown also served as 
Postmaster of Galena for several years. Died, 
Feb. 13, 1896. 

BROWN, James N., agriculturist and stock- 
man, was born in Fayette County, Ky., Oct. 1, 
1806; came to Sangamon County, 111., in 1833, 
locating at Island Grove, where he engaged 
extensively in farming and stock-raising. He 
served as Representative in the General Assem- 
blies of 1840, '42, '46, and '52, and in the last was 
instrumental in securing the incorporation of the 
Illinois State Agricultural Society, of which he 
was chosen the first President, being re-elected in 
1854. He was one of the most enterprising grow 



62 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ers of blooded cattle in the State and did much to 
introduce them in Central Illinois; was also an 
earnest and influential advocate of scientific 
education for the agricultural classes and an 
efficient colaljorer with Prof. J. B. Turner, of 
Jacksonville, in securing the enactment by Con- 
gress, in 1862, of the law granting lands for the 
endowment of Industrial CfoUeges, out of wliich 
grew the Illinois State University and institu- 
tions of like character in other States. Died, 
Nov. 16, 1868. 

BROWN, William, lawyer and jurist, was born 
June 1, 1819, in Cumberland, England, liis jjar- 
ents emigrating to this country when he was 
eight years old, and settling in Western New 
York. He was admitted to the bar at Rochester, 
in October, 1845, and at once removed to Rock- 
ford, 111., where he commenced practice. In 1853 
he was elected State's Attorney for the Four- 
teenth Judicial Circuit, and, in 1857, was chosen 
Mayor of Rockford. In 1870 he was elected to 
the bench of the Circuit Court as successor to 
Judge Slieldon, later was promoted to the Su- 
preme Court, and was re-elected successively in 
1873, in '79 and '85. Died, at Rockford, Jan. 15, 
1891. 

BROWN, William H., lawyer and financier, 
was born in Connecticut, Dec. 20, 1796; .spent 
his boyhood at Auburn, N. Y., studied law, and, 
in 1818, came to Illinois with Samuel D. Lock- 
wood (afterwards a Justice of the State SuiJreme 
Court), descending the Ohio River to Shawnee- 
town in a flat-boat. Mr. Brown visited Kaskas- 
kia and was soon after appointed Clerk of the 
United States District Court by Judge Nathaniel 
Pope, removing, in 1830, to Vandalia, the new 
State capital, where he remained until 1835. He 
then removed to Chicago to accept the position of 
Cashier of the Cliicago branch of the State Bank 
of Illinois, which lie continued to fill for many 
years. He served the city as School Agent for 
thirteen years (1840-53), managing the city's 
school fund through a critical period with great 
discretion and success. He was one of the group 
of early patriots wlio successfully resisted the 
attempt to plant slavery in Illinois in 1833-24; 
was also one of the projectors of the Chicago & 
Galena Union Railroad, was President of the 
Chicago Historical Society for seven years and 
connected with many other local enterprise;.. 
He was an ardent personal friend of President 
Lincoln and served as Representative in the 
Twenty-second General jVssembly (1860-63). 
While making a tour of Europe he died of paraly- 
sis at Amsterdam, June 17, 1867. 



BROWN COUNTY, situated in the western 
part of the State, with an area of 300 square 
miles, and a population (1890) of 11,951; was cut 
off from Schuyler and made a separate count}- in 
May, 1839, being named in honor of Gen. Jacob 
Brown. Among the pioneer settlers were the 
Vandeventers and Hambaughs, John and David 
Six, William McDaniel, Jeremiah Walker, 
Willis O'Neil, Harry Lester, John Ausmus and 
Robert H. Curry. The county-seat is Mount 
Sterling, a town of no little attractiveness. 
Other prosperous villages are Mound Station and 
Ripley. The chief occupation of the people is 
farming, although there is some manufacturing 
of lumber and a few potteries along the Illinois 
River. Population (1900), 11,557. 

BROWNE, Francis Fislier, editor and author, 
was born in South Halifax, Vt., Dec. 1, 1843, the 
son of William Goldsmith Browne, who was a 
teacher, editor and author of the song "A Hun- 
dred Years to Come." In childiiood he was 
brouglit by his parents to Western Massachusetts, 
where he attended the public schools and learned 
the printing trade in his father's newspaper 
office at Chicopee, Mass. Leaving school in 1863, 
he enlisted in the Forty-sixth Regiment Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers, in which he served one 
j'ear, cliiefly in North Carolina and in the Army 
of the Potomac. On the discharge of his regi- 
ment he engaged in the study of law at Roches- 
ter, N. Y., entering the law department of the 
University of Michigan in 1866, but abandoning 
his intenton of entering the legal profession, 
removed to Chicago in 1867, where he engaged in 
journalistic and literary pursuits. Between 1869 
and '74 he was editor of "The Lakeside Monthly," 
when he became literary editor of "The Alliance," 
but, in 1880, he established and assumed the 
editorship of "The Dial," a purely literary {)ub- 
lication which lias gained a higli reputation, and 
of which lie has remained in control continuously 
ever since, meanwhile serving as the literary 
adviser, for many years, of the well-known pub- 
lishing house of McClurg & Co. Besides his 
journalistic work, Jlr. Browne has contributed 
to the magazines and literary anthologies a num- 
ber of short lyrics, and is the autlior of "The 
Everyday Life of Abraham Lincoln" (1886), and 
a vohinie of poems entitled, "Volunteer Grain" 
(1893). He also compiled and edited "Golden 
Poems by British and American Authors" (1881); 
"The Golden Treasury of Poetry and Prose" 
(1886), and the "Laurel Crowned"series of stand- 
ard poetry (1891-93). Mr. Browne was Chairman 
of the Committee of the Congress of Authors in 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



63 



the World's Congi-ess Auxiliary held in con- 
nection with The Columbian Exposition in 
1893. 

BROWNE, Thomas C., early jurist, was born in 
Kentucky, studied law there and, coming to 
Shawneetown in 1813, served in the lower branch 
of the Second Territorial Legislature (1814-16) 
and in the Council (1816-18), being the first law- 
yer to enter that body. In 1815 he was appointed 
Prosecuting Attorney and, on the admission of 
Illinois as a State, was promoted to the Supreme 
bench, being re-elected by joint ballot of the 
Legislature in 1825, and serving continuously 
imtil the reorganization of the Supreme Court 
under the Constitution of 1848, a period of over 
thirty years. Judge Browne's judicial character 
and abilities have been differently estimated. 
Though lacking in industry as a student, he is 
represented by the late Judge John D. Caton, 
who knew him personally, as a close thinker and 
a good judge of men. While seldom, if ever, 
accustomed to argue questions in the conference 
room or write out his opinions, he had a capacity 
for expressing himself in short, pungent sen- 
tences, which indicated that he was a man of con- 
siderable ability and had clear and distinct views 
of his own. An attempt was made to impeach 
him before the Legislature of 1843 "for want of 
capacity to discharge the duties of his office," 
but it failed by an almost unanimous vote. He 
was a Whig in politics, but had some strong sup- 
porters among Democrats. In 1833 Judge Browne 
was one of the four candidates for Governor — in 
the final returns standing third on the list and, by 
dividing the vote of the advocates of a pro-slavery 
clause in the State Constitution, contributing to 
the election of Governor Coles and the defeat of 
the pro-slavery party. (See Coles, Edward, and 
Slavery and Slave Laivs. ) In the latter part of 
his ofllcial term Judge Browne resided at Ga- 
lena, but, in 1853, removed with his son-in-law, 
ex-Congressman Joseph P. Hoge, to San Fran- 
cisco, Cal., where he died a few years later — 
probably about 1856 or 1858. 

BROWNING, OrvlUe Hickman, lawyer, United 
States Senator and Attorney-General, was born 
in Harrison County, Ky. , in 1810. After receiv- 
ing a classical education at Augusta in his native 
State, he removed to Quincy, 111., and was 
admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1833 he served 
in the Black Hawk War, and from 1836 to 1843, 
was a member of the Legislature, serving m both 
houses. A personal friend and political adherent 
of Abraham Lincoln, he aided in the organization 
of the Republican party at the memorable 



Bloomington Convention of 1856. As a delegate 
to the Chicago Convention in 1860, he aided in 
securing Mr. Lincoln's nomination, and was a 
conspicuous supporter of the Government in the 
Civil War. In 1861 he was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Yates United States Senator to fill Senator 
Douglas' unexpired term, serving until 1863. In 
1866 he became Secretary of the Interior by ap- 
pointment of President Johnson, also for a time 
discharging the duties of Attorney-General. 
Returning to Illinois, he was elected a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, which 
was his last participation in public affairs, his 
time thereafter being devoted to his profession. 
He died at his home in Quincy, 111., August 10, 
1881. 

BRYAN, Silas Lillard, legislator and jurist, 
born in Culpepper County, Va., Nov. 4, 1833; was 
left an orjihan at an early age, and came west in 
1840, living for a time with a brother near Troy, 
Mo. The following year he came to Marion 
County, 111., where he attended school and 
worked on a farm; in 1845 entered McKendree 
College, graduating in 1849, and two years later 
was admitted to the bar, supporting himself 
meanwhile by teaching. He settled at Salem, 
111., and, in 1853, was elected as a Democrat to 
the State Senate, in which body he served for 
eight years, being re-elected in 18.56. In 1861 he 
was elected to the bench of the Second Judicial 
Circuit, and again chosen in 1867, his second 
term expiring in 1873. While serving as Judge, 
he was also elected a Delegate to the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1869-70. He was an unsuc- 
cessful candidate for Congress on the Greeley 
ticket in 1873. Died at Salem, March 80, 1880.— 
William Jennings (Bryan), son of the preceding, 
was born at Salem, 111., March 19, 1860. The early 
life of young Bryan was spent on his father's 
farm, but at the age of ten years he began to 
attend the public school in town ; later spent two 
years in Whipple Academy, |the preparatory 
department of Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
and, in 1881, graduated from the college proper as 
the valedictorian of his class. Then he devoted 
two years to the study of law in the Union Law 
School at Chicago, meanwhile acting as clerk and 
studying in the law office of ex-Senator Lyman 
Trumbull. Having gi-aduated in law in 1883, he 
soon entered upon the practice of his profession 
at Jacksonville as the partner of Judge E. P. 
Kirby, a well-known lawyer and prominent 
Republican of that city. Four years later (18S7) 
found him a citizen of Lincoln, Neb., which has 
since been his home. He took a prominent part 






64 



HISTOKICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in tlie politics of Nebraska, stumping the State 
for the Democratic nominees in 1888 and '89, and 
in 1890 received the Democratic nomination for 
Congress in a district wiiich liad been regarded 
as strongl3' Republican, and was elected by a 
large majority. Again, in 1892, he was elected 
bj' a reduced majority, but two years later 
declined a renomination, though proclaiming 
himself a free-silver candidate for the United 
States Senate, meanwhile officiating as editor of 
"The Omaha World-Herald." In July, 1896, he 
received the nomination for President from the 
Democratic National Convention at Chicago, on 
a platform declaring for the "free and unlimited 
coinage of silver" at the ratio of sixteen of silver 
(in weight) to one of gold, and a few weeks later 
was nominated by the "Populists" at St. Louis 
for the same office — being the youngest man ever 
put in nomination for the Presidency in the his- 
tory of the Government. He conducted an 
active personal campaign, sjieaking in nearly 
every Northern and Jliddle Western State, but 
was defeated bj' his Republican opponent, Maj. 
William McKinley. Mr. Bryan is an easy and 
fluent speaker, possessing a voice of unusual 
compass and power, and is recognized, even by 
his political opponents, as a man of pure personal 
character. 

BRYAN, Thomas Barbour, lawyer and real 
estate operator, was born at Alexandria, Va., 
Dec. 23, 1828, being descended on the maternal 
side from the noted Barbour family of that 
State ; graduated in law at Harvard, and, at the 
age of twenty-one, settled in Cincinnati. In 
1852 he came to Chicago, where he acquired ex- 
tensive real estate interests and built Bryan 
Hall, which became a popular place for en- 
tertainments. Being a gifted speaker, as well 
as a zealous Unionist, Mr. Bryan was chosen 
to deliver the address of welcome to Senator 
Douglas, when that statesman returned to 
Chicago a few weeks before his death in 1861. 
During the progi-ess of the war he devoted his 
time and his means most generously to fitting out 
soldiers for the field and caring for the sick and 
woimded. His services as President of the great 
Sanitary Fair in Chicago (1865), where some 
§300,000 were cleared for disabled soldiers, were 
especially conspicuous. At this time he became 
the purchaser (at §3,000) of the original copy of 
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, 
which had been donated to the cause. He also 
rendered valuable service after tlie fire of 1871, 
though a heavy sufferer from that event, and was 
a leading factor in securing the location of the 



World's Columbian Exjjosition in Cliieago in 1890, 
later becoming Vice-President of the Board of 
Directors and making a visit to Europe in the 
interest of the Fair. After the war Mr. Bryan 
resided in Washington for some time, and, by 
appointment of President Hayes, served as Com- 
missioner of the District of Columbia. Possessing 
refined literary and artistic tastes, he has done 
much for the encouragement of literature and 
art in Chicago. His liome is in the suburban 
village of Elmhurst. — Charles Page (Bryan), son 
of the preceding, lawyer and foreign minister, 
was born in Chicago, Oct. 2, 1855, and educated 
at the University of Virginia and Columbia Law 
School; was admitted to practice in 1878, and 
the following year removed to Colorado, where 
he remained four years, wliile there ser\-ing in 
both Houses of the State Legislature. In 1883 he 
returned to Chicago and became a member of the 
First Regiment of the Illinois National Guard, 
serving upon the staff of both Governor Oglesbj' 
and Governor Fifer; in 1890, was elected to the 
State Legislature from Cook County, being re- 
elected in 1892, and in 1894; was also the first 
Commissioner to visit Europe in the interest of 
the World's Columbian Exposition, on his return 
serving as Secretary of the Exposition Commis- 
sioners in 1891-92. In the latter part of 1897 he 
was appointed by President 5IcKinley Minister 
to China, but before being confirmed, early in 
1898, was assigned to the United States mission to 
the Republic of Brazil, where he now is, Hon. 
E. H. Conger of Iowa, who had previouslj' been 
appointed to the Brazilian mission, being trans- 
ferred to Pekin. 

BRYAXT, John Howard, pioneer, brother of 
William Cullen Bryant, the poet, was born in 
Cummington, Mass., July 22, 1807, educated at 
the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, 
N. Y, ; removed to Illinois in 1831, and held vari- 
ous oflSces in Bureau County, including that of 
Representative in the General Assembly, to which 
he was elected in 1842, and again in 1858. A 
practical and enterprising farmer, he was identi- 
fied with the Illinois State Agricultural Society 
in its early history, as also with tlie movement 
which resulted in the establishment of industrial 
colleges in the various States. He was one of the 
founders of the Republican party and a warm 
personal friend of President Lincoln, being a 
member of the first Republican State Convention 
at Bloomington in 1856, and serving as Collector 
of Internal Revenue by appointment of Mr. Lin- 
coln in 1862-64. In 1873 Mr. Bryant joined in the 
Liberal Republican movement at Cincinnati, two 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



65 



years later was identified with the "Independent 
Reform" party, but has since cooperated with 
the Democratic party. He has produced two 
volumes of poems, published, respectively, in 185.5 
and 1885, besides a nmnber of public addresses. 
His home is at Princeton, Bureau County. 

BUCK, Hiram, clergyman, was born in Steu- 
ben County, N. Y., in 1818; joined the Illinois 
Methodist Episcopal Conference in 1843, and con- 
tinued in its service for nearly fifty years, being 
much of the time a Presiding Elder. At his 
death he bequeathed a considerable sum to the 
endowment funds of the Wesleyan University at 
Bloomington and the Illinois Conference College 
at Jacksonville. Died at Decatur, 111., August 
22, 1893. 

BLiDA,a village in Bureau County, at the junc- 
tion of tlie main line with the Buda and Rush- 
ville branch of the Chicago, Burlington tt Quincy 
Railroad, and the Sterling and Peoria brancli of 
the Chicago & Northwestern, 12 miles southwest 
of Princeton and 117 miles west-southwest of 
Chicago; has excellent water-works, electric- 
light plant, brick and tile factory, fine churclies, 
graded school, a bank and one newspaper 
Dairying is carried on quite extensively and a 
good-sized creamery is located here. Population 
(1890), 990; (1900), 873. 

BUFORD,- Napoleon Bonaparte, banker and 
soldier, was born in Woodford Countj'. Ky., Jan. 
13, 1807 ; graduated at West Point Jlilitary Acad- 
emy, 1827, and served for some time as Lieutenant 
of Artillery; entered Harvard Law School in 
1831, served as Assistant Professor of Natural and 
Experimental Philosophy there (1834-35), then 
resigned his commission, and, after some service 
as an engineer upon public works in Kentucky, 
established himself as an iron-founder and banker 
at Rock Island, 111,, in 1857 becoming President 
of the Rock Island & Peoria Railroad. In 1861 
he entered the volunteer service, as Colonel of 
the Twenty-seventh Illinois, serving at various 
points in Western Kentucky and Tennessee, as 
also in the siege of Vicksburg, and at Helena, 
Ark., where he was in command from Septem- 
ber, 1863, to March, 1865. In the meantime, by 
promotion, he attained to the rank of Major- 
General by brevet, being mustered out in August, 
1865. He subsequentlj' held the post of Special 
United States Commi.ssioner of Indian Affairs 
(1868), and that of Inspector of the Union Pacific 
Railroad (1867-G9). Died, March 28, 1883. 

BULKLET, (Rev.) Justus, educator, was born 
at Leicester, Livingston County, N. Y., July 23, 
1819, taken to Allegany County, N. Y., at 3 



years of age, where he remained until 17, attend- 
ing school in a log school-house in the winter and 
working on a farm in the smnmer. His fanilly 
then removed to Illinois, finally locating at 
Barry, Pike County. In 1842 he entered the 
preparatory department of Shurtleff College r.t 
Upper Alton, graduating there in 1847. He was 
immediately made Principal of the preparatory 
department, remaining two years, wlien lie was 
ordained to the Baptist ministry and became 
pastor of a church at Jerseyville. Four years 
later he was appointed Professor of Mathematics 
in Shurtleff College, but remained only two 
years, when he accepted the pastorship of a 
church at Carrollton, which he continued to fill 
nine years, when, in 18G4, he was called to a 
church at Upper Alton. At the expiration of 
one year he was again called to a professorship 
in Shurtleff College, this time taking the chair of 
Church History and Church Polity, which he 
condnued to fill for a period of thirty-four years; 
also serving for a time as Acting President dur- 
ing a vacancy in that office. During this period 
he was frequently called upon to preside as Mod- 
erator at General Associations of the Baptist 
Cliurch, and he became widelj' known, not only 
in that denomination, but elsewhere. Died at 
Upper Alton, Jan. 16, 1899. 

BULL, Lorenzo, banker, Quincy, 111., was bom 
in Hartford, Conn., March 21, 1819, being the 
eldest son of Lorenzo and Elizabeth Goodwin 
Bull. His ancestors on both sides were of the 
party who, under Thomas Hooker, moved from 
the vicinity of Boston and settled Hartford in 
1034. Leaving Hartford in the spring of 1833, he 
arrived at Quincy, 111., entirely without means, 
but soon after secured a position with Judge 
Henry H. Snow, who then held most of the 
county offices, being Clerk of the County Com- 
missioners' Court, Clerk of the Circuit Court, 
Recorder, Judge of Probate, Notary Public and 
Justice of the Peace. Here the young clerk 
made himself acquainted \rith the people of the 
county (at that time few in number), with the 
land-system of the country and with the legal 
forms and methods of procedure in the courts. 
He remained with Judge Snow over two years, 
receiving for his services, the first year, six dol- 
lars per month, and, for the second, ten dollars 
per month, besides his board in Judge Snow's 
family. He next accepted a situation with 
Messrs. Holmes, Brown & Co., then one of the 
most prominent mercantile houses of the city, 
remaining tlirough various changes of the firm 
until 1844, when he formed a partnership with 



66 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



his brother under the firm name of L. & C. II. 
Bull, and opened a store for the sale of hardware 
and crockery, which was the first attempt made 
in Quincy to separate the mercantile business 
into different departments. Disposing of their 
business in 18G1, the firm of L. & C. H. Bull 
embarked in the private banking business, which 
they continued in one location for about thirty 
years, when they organized the State Savings 
Loan & Trust Company, in which he held the 
position of President until 1898, when he retired. 
Mr. Bull has always been active in promoting the 
improvement and growth of the city ; was one of 
the five persons who built most of the horse rail- 
roads in Quincy, and was, for about twenty years, 
President of the Company. The Quincy water- 
works are now (1898) owned entirely by himself 
and his son. He has never sought or held political 
office, but at one time was the active President of 
five distinct business corporations. He was also 
for some five years one of the Trustees of Illinois 
College at Jacksonville. He was married in 1844 
to Miss Margaret H. Benedict, daughter of Dr. 
Wm. M. Benedict, of Milbury, Mass., and they 
have five children now living. In politics he is a 
Republican, and his religious associations are with 
the Congregational Church. — Charles Heniy 
(Bull), brother of the preceding, was born in 
Hartford, Conn., Dec. 16. 1822, and removed 
to Quincy, 111., in June, 1837. He commenced 
business as a clerk in a general store, where 
he remained for seven years, when he entered 
into partnership with his brother, Lorenzo Bull, 
in the hardware and crockery business, to 
which was subsequently added dealing in 
agricultural implements. This business was 
continued until the year 1861, when it was 
sold out, and the brothers established them- 
selves as private bankers under the same firm 
name. A few years later they organized the 
Merchants" and Farmers' National Bank, which 
was mainly owned and altogether managed by 
them. Five or six years later this bank was 
wound up, when they returned to private bank- 
ing, continuing in this business until 1891, when 
it was merged in the State Savings Loan & 
Trust Company, organized under the laws of 
Illinois with a capital of 8300,000, held equally 
by Lorenzo Bull, Charles H. Bull and Edward J. 
Parker, respectively, as President, Vice-Presi- 
dent and Cashier. Near the close of 1898 the 
First National Bank of Quincy was merged into 
the State Savings Loan & Trust Compan}- with 
J. H. Warfield, the President of the former, as 
President of the consolidated concern. Mr. Bull 



was one of the parties who originally organized 
the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany in 1869 —a road intended to be built from 
Quincy, 111., across the State of Missouri to 
Brownsville, Neb., and of which he is now 
(1898) the President, the name having been 
changed to the Quinc)-, Omaha & Kansas City 
Railway. He was also identified with the con- 
struction of the system of street railways in 
Quincy, and continued active in their manage- 
ment for about twenty years. He has been 
active in various other public and private enter- 
prises, and has done much to advance the growth 
and prosperity of the city. 

BUNKER HILL, a city of Macoupin County, on 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railroad, 37 miles northeast of St. Louis; has 
electric-lighting plant, telephone service, coal 
mine, flouring mill, wagon and various other 
manufactories, two banks, two newspapers, opera 
house, numerous churches, public library, a mili- 
tary academy and fine public scliools, and many 
handsome residences ; is situated on high ground 
in a rich agricultural and dairying region and an 
important shipping-point. Pop. (1900), 1,279. 

BUNN, Jacob, banker and manufacturer, was 
born in Hunterdon County, N. J., in 1814; came 
to Springfield in 1836, and, four years later, began 
business as a grocer, to which he afterwards 
added that of private banking, continuing until 
1878. During a part of this time his bank was 
one of the best known and widely regarded as 
one of the most solid institutions of its kind in 
the State. Though crippled by the financial 
revulsion of 1873-74 and forced investments in 
depreciated real estate, he paid dollar for dollar. 
After retiring from banking in 1878, he assumed 
charge of the Springfield "Watch Factory, in 
which he was a large stockholder, and of which 
he became the President. Mr. Bunn was, be- 
tween 1866 and 1870, a principal stockholder in 
"The Chicago Republican" (the predecessor of 
"The Inter-Ocean"), and was one of the bankers 
who came to the aid of the State Government with 
financial assistance at the beginning of the Civil 
War. Died at Springfield, Oct. 16, 1897.— John W. 
(Bunn), brother of the preceding and successor 
to the grocery business of J. & J. W. Bunn, has 
been a prominent business man of Springfield, 
and served as Treasurer of the State Agricultural 
Board from 1858 to 1898, and of the Illinois Uni- 
versity from its establisliment to 1893. 

BUNSEN, George, German patriot and educa- 
tor, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. Ger- 
many, Feb 18, 1794, and educated in his native 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



6^ 



city and at Berlin University; while still a 
student took part in the Peninsular War which 
resulted in the downfall of Napoleon, but resum- 
ing his studies in 1816, graduated three years 
later. He then founded a boys' school at Frank- 
fort, which he maintained fourteen years, when, 
having been implicated in the republican revolu ■ 
tion of 1833, he was forced to leave the country, 
locating the following year on a farm in St. Clair 
County, III. Here he finally became a teacher in 
the public schools, served in the State Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1847. was elected School 
Commissioner of St. Clair County, and, having 
removed to Belleville in 183.5, there conducted a 
private school for the instruction of teachers 
while discharging the duties of his office; later 
was appointed a member of the first State School 
Board, serving until 18G0, and taking part in the 
establishment of the Illinois State Normal Uni 
versity, of which he was a zealous advocate. He 
was also a contributor to "The Illinois Teacher," 
and, for several years prior to his death, served 
as Superintendent of Schools at Belleville without 
compensation. Died, November, 1873. 

BURCHARD, Horatio C, ex-Congressman, was 
born at Marshall, Oneida County. N. Y.. Sept. 23, 
1835; graduated at Hamilton College, N. Y., in 
1850, and later removed to Stephenson County, 
111., making his home at Freeport. By profes- 
sion he is a lawyer, but he has been also largely 
interested in mercantile pursuits. From 1857 to 
1860 he was School Commissioner of Stephenson 
County ; from 1863 to 1866 a member of the State 
Legislature, and from 1869 to 1879 a Representa- 
tive in Congress, being each time elected as a 
Republican, for the first time as the successor of 
E. B. Washburne. After retiring from Congress, 
he served for six years (1879-85) as Director of the 
United States Mint at Philadelphia, with marked 
ability. During the World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion at Chicago (1893), Mr. Burchard was in 
charge of the Bureau of Awards in connection 
with the Mining Department, afterwards resum- 
ing the practice of his profession at Freeport. 

BURDETTE, Robert Jones, journalist and 
humorist, was bom in Greensborough, Pa., July 
30, 1844, and taken to Peoria, 111. , in early life, 
where he was educated in the public schools. In 
1863 he enlisted as a private in the Forty-seventh 
Illinois 'Volunteers and served to the end of the 
war; adopted journalism in 1869, being employed 
upon "The Peoria Transcript" and other papers 
of that city. Later he became associated with 
"The Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye," upon which 
he gained a wide reputation as a genial humor- 



ist. Several volumes of his sketches have been 
published, but in recent years he has devoted his 
attention chiefly to lecturing, with occasional 
contributions to the literary press. 

BUREAU COUNTY, set off from Putnam 
County in 1837, near the center of the northern 
half of the State, Princeton being made the 
county-seat. Coal had been discovered in 1834, 
there being considerable quantities mined at 
Mineral and Selby. Sheffield also has an impor- 
tant coal trade. Public lands were offered for sale 
as early as 1835, and by 1844 had been nearly all 
sold. Princeton was platted in 1833, and. in 1890, 
contained a population of 3,396. The county has 
an area of 870 square miles, and, according to the 
census of 1900, a population of 41,113. The pio- 
neer settler was Henry Thomas, who erected the 
first cabin, in Bureau township, in 1838. He was 
soon followed by the Anient brothers (Edward, 
Justus and John L. ), and for a time settlers came 
in rapid succession, among the earliest being 
Amos Leonard, Daniel Dimmick, John Hall, 
William Hoskins, Timothy Perkins, Leonard 

Roth, Bulbona and John Dixon. Serious 

Indian disturbances in 1831 caused a hegira of 
the settlers, some of whom never returned. In 
1833 a fort was erected for the protection of the 
whites, and, in 1836, there began a new and large 
influx of immigrants. Among other early set- 
tlers were John H. and Arthur Bryant, brothers 
of the poet, William Cullen Bryant. 

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, estab- 
lished in 1879, being an outgrowth of the agitation 
and discontent among the laboring classes, which 
culminated in 1877-78. The Board consists of 
five Commissioners, who serve for a nominal 
compensation, their term of office being two 
years. They are nominated by the Executive 
and confirmed by the Senate. The law requires 
that three of them shall be manual laborers and 
two employers of manual labor. Tlie Bureau is 
charged with the collection, compilation and 
tabulation of statistics relative to labor in Illi- 
nois, i^articularly in its relation to the commer- 
cial, industrial, social, educational and sanitary 
conditions of the working classes. The Com- 
mission is required to submit biennial reports. 
Those already published contain much informa- 
tion of value concerning coal and lead mines, 
convict labor, manufactures, strikes and lock- 
outs, wages, rent, cost of living, mortgage 
indebtedness, and kindred topics. 

BURGESS, Alexander, Protestant Episcopal 
Bishop of the diocese of Quincy, was born at 
Providence, R. I., Oct. 31, 1819. He graduated 



G8 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



from Brown University in 1838 and from the 
General Theological Seminary (New York^ in 
1841. He was made a Deacon, Nov. 3, 1843, and 
ordained a priest, Nov. 1, 1843. Prior to his ele- 
vation to the episcopate he was rector of various 
parishes in Maine, at Brooklyn, N. Y., and at 
Springfield, Mass. He represented the dioceses 
of Maine, Long Island and Massachusetts in the 
General Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church from 1844 to 1877, and, in the latter year, 
was President of the House of Deputies. Upon 
the death of his brother George, Bishop of Maine, 
he was chosen bj- the clergj' of the diocese to suc- 
ceed him but declined When the diocese of 
Quincy 111. was created, he was elected its first 
Bishop, and consecrated at Christ Church, Spring- 
field, Slass . on May 15, 1878. Besides publishing 
a memoir of his brother. Bishop Burgess is tlie 
author of several Sunday-school question books, 
carols and hymns, and has been a contributor to 
periodical church literature. His residence is at 
Peoria. 

BURLEY. Arthur Giliuan, merchant, was born 
at Exeter, N. H., Oct. 4, 1813, received his edu- 
cation in the local schools, and, in ISS.'J, came 
West, locating in Chicago. For some two years 
he served as clerk in the boot, shoe and clothing 
store of John Holbrook, after which he accepted 
a position with his half-brother, Stephen F. Gale, 
the proprietor of the first book and stationery 
store in Chicago. In 1838 he invested his savings 
in a bankrupt stock of crockery, purchased from 
the old State Bank, and entered upon a business 
career which was continued uninterruptedly for 
nearly sixtj' years. In that time Mr. Burley 
built up a business which, for its extent and 
success, was unsurpassed in its time in tlie West. 
His brother in-law, Mr. John Tyrrell, became a 
member of the firm in 1853, the business there- 
after being conducted imder the name of Burley 
& Tyrrell, with Jlr. Burley as President of the 
Company until his death, which occurred, August 

27, 1897.— Augustus Karris (Biu-ley), brother of 
the preceding, was born at Exeter, N. H., March 

28, 1819 ; was educated in the schools of his native 
State, and, in his youth, was employed for a 
time as a clerk in Boston. In 1837 he came to 
Chicago and took a position as clerk or salesman 
in the book and stationery store of his half- 
brother, Stephen F. Gale, subsequently became a 
partner, and, on the retirement of Jlr. Gale a 
few years later, succeeded to the control of the 
business. In 1857 he disposed of his book and 
stationery business, and about tlie same time 
became one of the founders of the Merchants' 



Loan and Trust Company, with which he has 
been connected as a Director ever since. Mr. 
Burley was a member of the volunteer fire depart- 
ment organized in Chicago in 1841 Among the 
numerous public positions held by him may be 
mentioned, member of the Board of PublioWorks 
(1867-70), the first Superintendent of Lincoln Park 
(1869). Representative from Cook County in the 
Twenty seventh General Assembly (1870-72). City 
Comptroller during the administration of Mayor 
Sledill (1873-73), and again undsr Mayor Roche 
(1887), and member of the City Comici'l (1881-83). 
Politically, Mr. Burley has been a zealous Repub- 
lican and served on the Chicago Union Defense 
Committee in the first year of the Civil War, and 
was a delegate from the State-aHarge to the 
National Republican Convention at Baltimore in 
1864, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the 
Presidency a second time. 

BURNHA3I, Daniel Hudson, architect, was 
born at Henderson, N. Y. , Sept. 4, 1846 ; came to 
Chicago at 9 years of age; attended private 
schools and the Chicago High School, after which 
he spent two years at Waltham, Mass., receiving 
special instruction; returning to Chicago in 1867, 
he was afterwards associated with various firms. 
About 1873 he formed a business connection with 
J. W. Root, architect, which extended to the 
death of the latter in 1891. The firm of Burnham 
& Root furnished the plans of a large number of 
the most conspicuous business buildings in Chi- 
cago, but won their greatest distinction in con- 
nection with the construction of buililings for the 
World's Columbian Exposition, of which Mr. 
Root was Supervising Architect previous to his 
death, while Mr. Burnham was made Chief of 
Construction and, later. Director of Works. In 
this capacitj' his authority was almost absolute, 
but was used with a discretion that contributed 
greatly to the success of the enterpri.se. 

BURR, Albert G., former Congressman, was 
born in Genesee County, N. Y., Nov. 8, 1829; 
came to Illinois about 1832 with his widowed 
mother, who settled in Springfield. In early life 
he became a citizen of Winchester, where he read 
law and was admitted to the bar, also, for a time, 
following the occuimtion of a printer. Here he 
was twice elected to the lower house of the Gen- 
eral Assembly (1860 and 1863), meanwhile serving 
as a member of the State Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1862. Having removed to CarroUton, 
Greene County, he was elected as a Democrat to 
the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (1866 and 
1868), serving until March 4, 1871. In August, 
1877, he was elected Circuit Judge to fiU a 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



69 



vacancy and was re-elected for the regular term 
in June, 1879, but died in office, June 10, 1883. 

BURRELL, Orlando, member of Congress, was 
born in Bradford County, Pa. ; removed with Ids 
parents to White County, III., in 1834, growing 
up on a farm near Carmi ; received a common 
school education; in 1850 went to California, 
driving an ox-team across the plains. Soon after 
the beginning of the Civil War (18G1) he raised a 
company of cavalry, of which he was elected 
Captain, and which became a part of the First 
Regiment Illinois Cavalry; served as County 
Judge from 18T3 to 1881, and was elected Sheriff 
in 1886. In 1894 he was elected Representative 
in Congress as a Republican from the Twentieth 
District, composed of counties whicli formerly 
constituted a large part of the old Nineteenth 
District, and which had uniformly been repre- 
sented by a Democrat. He suffered defeat as a 
candidate for re election in 1896. 

BURROUGHS, John Curtis, clergyman and 
educator, was born in Stamford, N. Y. , Dec. 7, 
1818; graduated at Yale College in 1843, and 
IMadison Theological Seminary in 1846. After 
five years spent as pastor of Baptist churches at 
Waterford and West Troy, N. Y., in 1853 he 
assumed the pastorate of the First Baptist Church 
of Chicago ; about 18.56 was elected to the presi- 
dency of the Chicago University, then just 
established, having previously declined the 
presidency of Shurtleff College at Upper Alton. 
Resigning his position in 1874, he soon after 
became a member of the Cliicago Board of Edu- 
cation, and, in 1SS4, was elected Assistant Super- 
intendent of Public Schools of that city, serving 
until his death, April 31, 1893. 

BUSET, Samuel T., banker and ex-Congress- 
man, was born at Greencastle, Ind., Nov. 16, 
1835; in infancy was brought by his parents to 
Urbana, 111., where he was educated and has 
since resided. From 1857 to 1859 he was engaged 
in mercantile pursuits, but dviring 1860-61 
attended a commercial college and read law. In 
1862 he was chosen Town Collector, but resigned 
to enter the Union Army, being commissioned 
Second Lieutenant by Governor Yates, and 
assigned to recruiting service. Having aided in 
the organization of the Seventy-sixth Illinois 
Volunteers, he was commissioned its Lieutenant- 
Colonel, August 13, 1863 ; was afterward promoted 
to the colonelcy, and mustered out of service at 
Chicago, August 6, 1865, with the rank of Brevet 
Brigadier-General. In 1866 he was an unsuccess- 
ful candidate for the General Assembly on the 
Democratic ticket, and for Trustee of the State 



University in 1888. From 1880 to 1889 he was 
Mayor and President of the Board of Education 
of Urbana. In 1867 lie opened a jirivate bank, 
which he conducted for twenty-one j-ears. In 
1890 he was elected to Congi-ess from the Fif- 
teenth Illinois District, defeating Joseph G. Can- 
non, Republican, by whom he was in turn 
defeated for the same office in 1892. 

BUSHNELL, a flourishing city and manufac- 
turing center in McDonougli County, 11 miles 
noi'theast of Macomb, at the junction or two 
branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
with the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroads; has 
numerous manufactories, including wooden 
pumps, flour, agricultural implements, wagons 
and carriages, tank and fence-work, rural mail- 
boxes, mattresses, brick, besides egg and poultry 
packing houses; also has water-works and elec- 
tric lights, grain elevators, three banks, several 
churches, graded public and high schools, two 
newspapers and a public library. Pop. (1900), 2,490. 

BUSHXELL, Nehemlah, lawyer, was born in 
the town of Westbrook, Conn., Oct. 9, 1813; 
graduated at Yale College in 1835, studied law 
and was admitted to the bar in 1837, coming in 
December of the same year to Quiney, 111., where, 
for a time, he assisted in editing "The Whig" 
of that city, later forming a partnership with 
O. H. Browning, which was never fully broken 
until his death. In his practice he gave much 
attention to land titles in the "Military Tract"; 
in 1851 was President of the portion of the North- 
ern Cross Railroad between Quiney and Gales- 
burg (now a part of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quiney), and later of the Quiney Bridge Company 
and the Quiney & Palmyra (Mo.) Railroad. In 
1873 he was elected by the Republicans the 
"minority" Representative from Adams County 
in the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, but 
died during the succeeding session, Jan. 31, 1873. 
He was able, high-minded and honorable in public 
and private life. 

BUSHNELL, Washington, lawyer and Attor- 
ney-General, was born in Madison County, N. Y., 
Sept. 30, 1835; in 1837 came with his father to 
Lisbon, Kendall County, 111. , where he worked on 
a farm and taught at times ; studied law at Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y. , was admitted to the bar and 
established himself in practice at Ottawa, 111. 
The public positions held by him were those of 
State Senator for La Salle County (1861-69) and 
Attorney-General (1869-73) ; was also a member 
of the Republican National Convention of 1864, 
besides being identified with various business 
enterprises at Ottawa. Died, June 30, 1885. 



70 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Bl'TLEH, William, State Treasurer, was born 
in Adair County, Ky., Dec. 15, 1T97; during the 
war of 1812, at tlie age of 16 years, served as the 
messenger of the Gofernor of Kentuclvy. caiTying 
dispatclies to Gen. William Henry Harrison in 
tlie field; removed to Sangamon County, 111., in 
1828, and, in 1836, was appointed Clerk of the 
Circuit Court by Judge Stephen T. Logan. In 
1859 he served as foreman of the Grand Jury 
which investigated the "canal scrip frauds" 
charged against ex-Governor Matteson, and it 
was largely through his influence that the pro- 
ceedings of that body were subsequently pub- 
lished in an official form. During the same year 
Governor Bissell appointed him State Treasurer 
to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of 
James Miller, and he was elected to the same 
office in 1800. Mr. Butler was an ardent sup- 
porter of Abraham Lincoln, whom he efficiently 
befriended in the early struggles of the latter 
in Springfield. He died in Springfield, Jan. 11, 
1876. 

BUTTERFIELD, Jnstin, early lawyer, was 
born at Keene, N. 11., in 1790. He studied at 
Williams College, and was admitted to the bar 
at Watertown, N. Y., in 1812. After some years 
devoted to practice at Adams and at Sackett's 
Harbor, N. Y., lie removed to New Orleans, where 
he attained a high rank at the bar. In 1835 he 
settled in Chicago and soon became a leader in 
his profession there also. In 1841 he was appointed 
by President Harrison United States District At- 
torney for the District of Illinois, and, in 1849, by 
President Taylor Commissioner of the General 
Land Office, one of his chief competitors for the 
latter place being Abraham Lincoln. This dis- 
tinction he probably owed to the personal influ- 
ence of Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, 
of whom Mr. Butterfield was a personal friend 
and warm admirer. While Commissioner, he 
rendered valuable service to the State in securing 
the canal land grant. As a lawyer he was logical 
and resourceful, as well as witty and quick at 
repartee, yet his chief strength lay before the 
Court rather than the jury. Numerous stories 
are told of his brilliant sallies at the bar and 
elsewhere. One of the former relates to his 
address before Judge Nathaniel Pope, of the 
United States Court at Springfield, in a habeas- 
corpus case to secure the release of Joseph Smith, 
the Mormon prophet, who was under arrest under 
the charge of complicity in an attempt to assassin- 
ate Governor Boggs of Missouri. Rising to begin 
his argument. Mr. Butterfield said: "I am to 
address the Pope" (bowing to the Court), "sur- 



roumled by angels" (bowing still lower to a party 
of ladies in the audience), "in the presence of 
the holy apostles, in behalf of the prophet of 
the Lord." On another occasion, being asked if 
he was opposed to the war with Mexico, he 
replied, "I opposed one war" — meaning his 
opposition as a Federalist to the War of 1813 — 
"but learned the folly of it. Henceforth I am for 
war, pestilence and famine." He died, Oct. 25, 
1^55. 

BYFORD, William H., physician and author, 
was born at Eaton, Ohio. March 20, 1817; in 1830 
came with his widowed mother to Crawford 
County, 111., and began learning the tailor's 
trade at Palestine; later studied medicine at 
Vincennes and practiced at different points in 
Indiana. Meanwhile, having graduated at the 
Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, in 1850, he 
assumed a professorship in a Jledical College at 
Evansville, Ind., also editing a medical journal. 
In 1857 he removed to Chicago, where he ac- 
cepted a chair in Rush Medical College, but two 
years later became one of the founders of the 
Chicago Medical College, where he remained 
twerty years. He then (1879) returned to Rusli, 
assuming the chair of Gynecology. In 1870 he 
assisted in founding the Woman's Medical Col- 
lege of Chicago, remaining President of the 
Faculty and Board of Trustees until his death. 
May 21, 1890. He published a number of medical 
works which are regarded as standard by tlie 
profession, besides acting as as.sociate of Dr. N. S. 
Davis in the editorship of "The Chicago Medical 
Journal" and as editor-in-chief of "The Medical 
Journal and Examiner," the successor of the 
former. Dr. Bj-ford was held in the highest 
esteem as a physician and a man. both bj- the 
general public and his professional associates, 

BYRON, a village of Ogle County, in a pictur- 
esque region on Rock River, at junction of the 
Chicago Great Western and the Chicago, Jlil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railways 83 miles west-north- 
west from Chicago; is in rich farming and dairy- 
ing di.strict; has two banks and two weekly 
papers. Population (1890), 698; (1900), 1,015. 

CABLE, a town in Mercer County, on the Rock 
Island & Peoria Railroad, 26 miles south by east 
from Rock Island. Coal-mining is the principal 
industry, but there are also tile works, a good 
quality of clay for manufacturing purposes being 
found in abundance. Population (18b>0), 573, 
(1890), 1,276; (1900). 697. 

CABLE, Benjamin T., capitalist and jxilitician, 
was born in Georgetown, Scott County, Ky.. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



71 



August 11, 1853. When he was three years old 
his father's family removed to Rock Island, 111., 
where he has since resided. After passing 
through the Rock Island public schools, he matric- 
ulated at the University of Michigan, graduating 
in Jime, 1876. He owns extensive ranch and 
manufacturing property, and is reputed wealthy ; 
is also an active Democratic politician, and influ- 
ential in his party, having been a member of both 
the National and State Central Committees. In 
1890 he was elected to Congress from the Eleventh 
Illinois District, but since 1893 has held no public 
office. 

CABLE, Kansom R., railway manager, was 
bom in Athens County, Ohio, Sept. 23, 1834. 
His early training was m»inly of the practical 
sort, and bj- the time he was 17 years old he was 
actively employed as a lumberman. In 1857 he 
removed to Illinois, first devoting his attention 
to coal mining in the neighborhood of Rock 
Island. Later he became interested in the pro- 
jection and management of railroads, being in 
turn Superintendent, Vice-President and Presi- 
dent of the Rock Island & Peoria Railroad. His 
next position was that of General Manager of the 
Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad. His 
experience in these positions rendered him famil- 
iar with both the scope and the details of railroad 
management, while his success brought him to 
tlie favorable notice of those who controlled rail- 
way interests all over the country. In 1876 he 
was elected a Director of the Chicago, Rock 
Island & Pacific Railway. In connection with 
this company he has lield, successively, the 
offices of Vice-President, Assistant to the Presi- 
dent, General Manager and President, being chief 
executive officer since 1880. (See Chicago, Rock 
Island <fc Pacific Railway.) 

CAHOKIA, the first permanent white settle- 
ment in Illinois, and, in French colonial times, 
one of its principal towns. French Jesuit mis- 
sionaries established the mission of the Tamaroas 
here in 1700, to which they gave the name of 
"Sainte Famille de Caoquias, " antedating the 
settlement at Kaskaskia of the same year by a 
few months. Cahokia and Kaskaskia were 
jointly made the county-seats of St. Clair County, 
when that county was organized by Governor St. 
Clair in 1790. Five years later, when Randolph 
County was set off from St. Clair, Cahokia was 
continued as the county-seat of the parent 
county, so remaining until the removal of the 
seat of justice to Belleville in 1814. Like its 
early rival, Kaskaskia, it has dwindled in impor- 
tance until, in 1890, its population was estimated 



at 100. Descendants of the early French settlers 
make up a considerable portion of the present 
population. The site of the old town is on the 
line of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Rail- 
road, about four miles from East St. Louis. 
Some of the most remarkable Indian mounds in 
the Mississippi Valley, known as "the Cahokia 
Mounds, " are located in the vicinity. (See Mound- 
Builders, M^orks of the.) 

CAIRNES, Abraham, a native of Kentucky, in 
1810 settled in that part of Crawford County, 111., 
which was embraced in Lawrence County on the 
organization of the latter in 1831. Mr. Cairnes 
was a member of the House for Crawford County 
in the Second General Assembly (1820-23), and 
for Lawrence County in tlie Third (1822-24), in 
the latter voting against the pro-slavery Conven- 
tion scheme. He removed from Lawrence 
County to some point on the Mississippi River in 
1836, but further details of his history are un- 
known. 

CAIRO, tlie county-seat of Alexander County, 
and the most important river point between St. 
Louis and Memphis. Its first charter was ob- 
tained from the Territorial Legislature by Shad- 
rach Bond (afterwards Governor of Illinois), John 
G. Comyges and others, who incorporated the 
"Cit3' and Bank of Cairo. " The company entered 
about 1,800 acres, but upon the death of Mr. Comy- 
ges, the land reverted to the Government. The 
forfeited tract was re-entered in 1835 bj' Sidney 
Breese and others, who later transferred it to the 
"Cairo City and Canal Companj'," a corporation 
chartered in 1837, which, by purchase, increased 
its lioldings to 10,000 acres. Peter Stapleton is 
said to have erected the first house, and John 
Hawley the second, within the town limits. In 
consideration of certain privileges, the Illinois 
Central Railroad has erected around the water 
front a substantial levee, eighty feet wide. Dur- 
ing tlie Civil War Cairo was an impcutant base 
for military operations. Its population, according 
to tlie census of 1900, was 12,566. (See also Alex- 
ander County.) 

CAIRO BRIDGE, THE, one of the triumphs of 
modern engineering, erected by the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad Company across the Ohio River, 
opposite the city of Cairo. It is the longest 
metallic bridge across a river in the world, being 
thirty-three feet longer than the Tay Bridge, in 
Scotland. The work of construction was begun, 
July 1, 1887, and uninterruptedly prosecuted for 
twenty-seven months, being completed, Oct. 29, 
1889. The first train to cross it was made up of 
ten locomotives coupled together. The ap- 



72 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



preaches from both the Illinois and Kentucky 
shores consist of iron viaducts and well-braced 
timber trestles. The Illinois viaduct approach 
consists of seventeen spans of 150 feet each, and 
one span of lOGJi feet. All these rest on cylin- 
der piers filled with concrete, and are additionally 
supported by piles driven within the cylinders. 
The viaduct on the Kentucky shore is of similar 
general construction. The total number of spans 
is twenty -two — twenty-one being of 150 feet each, 
and one of 106X feet. The total length of the 
metal work, from end to end, is 10,650 feet, 
including that of the bridge pi'oper, which is 
4.644 feet. The latter consists of nine through 
spans and three deck spans. The through spans 
rest on ten first-class masonry piers on pneumatic 
foundations. The total lengtli of the bridge, 
including the timber trestles, is 20,461 feet — about 
3^ miles. Four-fifths of the Illinois trestle 
work has been filled in with earth, while that on 
the southern shore has been virtually replaced by 
an embankment since tlie completion of the 
bridge. The bridge proper stands 104.43 feet in 
the clear above low water, and from the deepest 
foundation to the top of the higliest iron work is 
348.94 feet. The total cost of the work, including 
the filling and embankment of the trestles, has 
been (1895) between §3.350,000 and .?3..500,000. 

CAIRO, TIXCEXXES & CHICAGO RAIL- 
ROAD, a division of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railway, extending from 
Danville to Cairo (361 miles), with a branch nine 
miles in length from St. Francisville, 111., to Vin- 
cennes, Ind. It was chartered as the C!airo & 
Vincennes Railroad in 1867, completed in 1873, 
placed in the hands of a receiver in 1874, sold 
under foreclosui-e in January, 1880, and for some 
time operated as the Cairo Division of the 
Wabash. St. Louis & Pacific Railway. In 1889, 
having been surrendered by the Wabasli, St. 
Louis & Pacific Railway, it was united with the 
Danville & Southwestern Railroad, reorganized as 
the Cairo, Vincennes & Chicago Railroad, and, 
in 1890, leased to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- 
cago & St. Louis Railway, of which it is known 
as the "Cairo Division. " (See Cleveland, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago & St. Louis Bailiray.) 

CAIRO & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD, (See St. 
Louis <£• Cairo Railroad and Mobile & Ohio Rail- 
way. ) 

CAIRO & VINCEXXES RAILROAD. (See 
Cairo, Vincennes ct Cliicago Railroiul.) 

CALDWEI,L, (Dr.) Ooorge, early pliysician 
and legislator (the name is spelled both Cad well 
and Caldwell in the early records), was born at 



Wethersfield, Conn., Feb. 31, 1773, and received 
his literary education at Hartford, and his pro- 
fessional at Rutland, Vt. He married a daughter 
of Hon. JIatthew Lyon, who was a native of 
Ireland, and who served two terms in Congress 
from Vermont, four from Kentucky (1803-11), 
and was elected the first Delegate in Congi-ess 
from Arkansas Territory, but died before taking 
his seat in August, 1832. Lyon was also a resi- 
dent for a time of St. Louis, and was a candidate 
for Delegate to Congress from Missouri Territory, 
but defeated by Edward Hempstead (see Hemp- 
stead, Edward). Dr. Caldwell descended the 
Ohio River in 1799 in company with Lyon's 
family and his brother-in-law, John Messiuger 
(see J\Icssiuger, John^, who afterwards became a 
prominent citizen of St. Clair County, the party 
locating at Eddyville, Ky. In 1802, Caldweil 
and Messinger removed to Illinois, landing near 
old Fort Chartres, and remained some time in 
tlie American Bottom. The former finally 
located on the banks of the Mississippi a few 
miles above St. Louis, where he practiced his 
profession and held various public offices, includ- 
ing those of Justice of the Peace and County 
Judge for St. Clair County, as also for Madison 
County after the organization of the latter. He 
served as State Senator from Madison County 
in the First and Second General Assemblies 
(1818-23), and, having removed in 1830 within the 
limits of what is now Morgan County (but still 
earlier embraced in Greene), in 1833 was elected 
to the Senate for Greene and Pike Counties — 
the latter at that time embracing all the northern 
and northwestern part of the State, including 
the county of Cook. During the following ses- 
sion of the Legislature he was a sturdy opponent 
of the scheme to make Illinois a slave State. His 
home in Morgan Count j' was in a locality known 
as "Swinerton's Point," a few miles west of 
Jacksonville, where he died, August 1, 1836. 
(See Slavery and Slave Laws.) Dr. Caldu-ell (or 
Cadwell, as he was widely known) commanded 
a high degree of respect among early residents of 
Illinois. Governor Reynolds, in his "Pioneer 
History of Illinois," says of him: "He was 
moral and correct in his public and private life, 
. . . was a respectable pliysician. and always 
maintained an unblemi.sbed character." 

CALHOUN, John, pioneer printer and editor, 
was born at Watertown, N. Y., April 14, 1808; 
learned the printing trade and practiced it in his 
native town, also working in a type-foundry in 
Albany and as a compositor in Troy. In the fall 
of 1833 he came to Chicago, bringing with him 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



73 



an outfit for the publication of a weekly paper, 
and, on Nov. 36, began the issue of "The Chicago 
Democrat" — the first paper ever published in that 
city. Mr. Calhoun retained the management of 
the paper three years, transferring it in Novem- 
ber, 1836, to John Wentworth, who conducted it 
until its absorption by "The Tribune" in July, 
1861. Mr. Calhoun afterwards served as County 
Treasurer, still later as Collector, and, finally, as 
agent of the Illinois Central Railroad in procur- 
ing right of way for the construction of its lines. 
Died in Chicago, Feb. 20, 1859. 

CALHOUN, John, surveyor and politician, was 
born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 14, 1806; removed to 
Springfield, 111., in 1830, served in the Black 
Hawk War and was soon after appointed County 
Surveyor. It was under Mr. Calhoun, and by his 
appointment, that Abraham Lincoln served for 
some time as Deputy Surveyor of Sangamon 
County. In 1838 Calhoun was chosen Represent- 
ative in the General Assembly, but was defeated 
in 1840, thougli elected Clerk of the House at the 
following session. He was a Democratic Presi- 
dential Elector in 1844, was an unsuccessful 
candidate for the nomination for Governor in 
1846, and, for three terms (1849, '50 and '51). 
served as Mayor of the city of Springfield. In 
1853 he was defeated by Richard Yates (after- 
wards Governor and United States Senator) , as a 
candidate for Congress, but two years later was 
appointed by President Pierce Surveyor-General 
of Kansas, where he became discreditably con- 
spicuous by his zeal in attempting to carry out 
the policy of the Buchanan administration for 
making Kansas a slave State — especially in con- 
nection with the Lecompton Constitutional Con- 
vention, with the election of which he had much 
to do, and over which he presided. Died at St. 
Joseph, Mo., Oct 35, 1859. 

CALHOUN, WiUiam J., lawyer, was born in 
Pittsburg, Pa., Oct. 5, 1847. After residing at 
various points in that State, his family removed 
to Ohio, where he worked on a farm until 1864, 
when he enlisted as a private in the Nineteenth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving to the end of 
the war. He participated in a number of severe 
battles while with Sherman on the march against 
Atlanta, returning with General Thomas to Nash- 
ville, Tenn. During the last few months of the 
war he served in Texas, being mustered, out at 
San Antonio in that State, though receiving his 
final discharge at Columbus, Ohio. After the 
war he entered the Poland Union Seminary, 
where he became the intimate personal friend of 
Maj. William McKinley, who was elected to the 



Presidency in 1896. Having graduated at the 
seminary, he came to Areola, Douglas County, 
111., and began the study of law, later taking a 
course in a law school in Chicago, after which he 
was admitted to the bar (1875) and established 
himself in jjractice at Danville as the partner of 
the Hon. Joseph B. Maun. In 1883 Mr. Calhoun 
was elected as a Repulilican to the lower branch 
of the Thirty -third General Assembly and, during 
the following session, proved himself one of the 
ablest menibers of that body. In May, 1897, Mr. 
Calhoun was appointed b}' President McKinley a 
special envoy to investigate the circumstances 
attending the death of Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, a nat- 
uralized citizen of the United States who had 
died while a prisoner in the hands of the Spaniards 
during the rebellion then in progress in Cuba. 
In 1898 he was appointed a member of the Inter- 
State Commerce Commission to succeed William 
R. Morrison, whose term had expired. 

CALHOUN COUNTY, situated between the 
Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, just above their 
junction. It has an area of 200 square miles, 
with a population (1900) of 8,917; was organized 
in 1835 and named for John C. Calhoun. Origi- 
nally, the county was well timbered and the 
early settlers were largely engaged in lumbering, 
which tended to give the population more or less 
of a migratory character. Much of the timber 
has been cleared off, and the principal business 
in later years has been agriculture, although coal 
is found and mined in paying quantities along 
Silver Creek. Tradition has it that the aborig- 
ines found the precious metals in the bed of this 
stream. It was originally included within the 
limits of the Military Tract set apart for the 
veterans of the War of 1813. The physical con- 
formation of the comity's surface exhibits some 
peculiarities. Limestone bluffs, rising some- 
times to the height of 300 feet, skirt the banks of 
both rivers, while through tlie center of the 
county runs a ridge dividing the two watersheds. 
The side valleys and the top of the central ridge 
are alike fertile. The bottom lands are very 
rich, but are liable to inundation. The county- 
seat and principal town is Hardin, with a popula- 
tion (1890) of 311. 

C.VLLAH.iN, Etlien)ert, lawyer and legislator, 
was born near Newark, Ohio, Dec. 17, 1839; 
came to Crawford Coxmty, 111., in 1849, where h'e 
farmed, taught school and edited, at different 
times, "The Wabash Sentinel" and "The Marshall 
Telegraph." He early identified himself with 
the Republican party, and, in 1864, was the 
Republican candidate for Congress in his dis- 



74 



niSTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



trict ; became a member of the first State Board 
of Equalization by appointment of Governor 
Oglesby in 1867; served in the lower house of the 
General Assembly during the sessions of 1875, '91, 
'93 and "95, and, in 1893-95, on a Joint Committee 
to revise the State Revenue Laws. He was also 
Presidential Elector in 1880, and again in 1888. 
Mr. Callahan was admitted to the bar when past 
30 years of age, and was President of the State 
Bar Association in 1889. His home is at RoViinson. 
CALUMET RIVER, a short stream the main 
body of which is formed by the union of two 
branches which come together at the southern 
boundary of the city of Chicago, and which flows 
into Lake Michigan a short distance north of the 
Indiana State line. The eastern branch, known 
as the Grand Calumet, flows in a westerly direc- 
tion from Northwestern Indiana and unites with 
the Little Calumet from the west, 3>2 miles from 
the mouth of the main stream. From the south- 
em limit of Chicago the general course of the 
stream is north between Lake Calumet and Wolf 
Lake, which it serves to drain. At its mouth, 
Calumet Harbor has been constructed, which 
admits of the entrance of vessels of heavy 
draught, and is a shipping and receiving 
point of importance for heavy freiglit for 
the Illinois Steel Works, the Pullman Palace 
Car Works and other manufacturing establish- 
ments in that vicinity. The river is regarded as 
a navigable stream, and has been dredged by the 
General Government to a depth of twenty feet 
and 200 feet wide for a distance of two miles, 
with a deptli of sixteen feet for the remainder of 
the distance to the forks. The Calumet feeder 
for the Illinois and Jlichigan Canal extends from 
the west branch (or Little Calumet) to the canal 
in the vicinity of Willow Springs. The stream 
was known to the early French explorers as "the 
CaUmic," and was sometimes confounded by 
them with the Chicago River. 

CALUMET RIVER RAILROAD, a short line, 
4.43 miles in length, lying wholly within Cook 
County. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
is the lessee, but the line is not operated at present 
(1898). Its outstanding capital stock is §08,700. 
It has no funded debt, but has a floating debt of 
§110,357, making atotal capitalization of §185,087. 
This road extends from One Hundredth Street in 
Chicago to Hegewisch, and was chartered in 1883. 
(See Pennsylvania Railroad.) 

CAMBRIDGE, the county-seat of Henry 
County, about 160 miles southwest of Chicago, 
on the Rock Island & Peoria Railroad. It is situ- 
ated in a fertile region chiefly devoted to 



agriculture and stock-raising. The city is a con- 
siderable grain market and has some manufac- 
tories. Some coal is also mined. It has a public 
library, two newspapers, three banks, good 
schools, and handsome public (county) buildings. 
Population (1880), 1,203; (1890), United States 
census report, 940; (1900), 1,345. 

CAMEROX, James, Cumberland Presbyterian 
minister and pioneer, was born in Kentucky in 
1791, came to Illinois in 1815, and, in 1818, settled 
in Sangamon County. In 1829 he is said to have 
located where the town of New Salem (after- 
wards associated witli the early history of Abra- 
ham Lincoln) was built, and of which he and 
James Rutledge were the foimders. He is also 
said to have officiated at the funeral of Ann 
Rutledge, with whose memory Mr. Lincoln's 
name has been tenderly associated by his biog- 
raphers. Mr. Cameron subsequently removed 
successively to Fulton County, 111., to Iowa and 
to California, dying at a ripe old age, in the latter 
State, about 1878. 

CAMP DOUGLAS, a Federal military camp 
established at Chicago early in the War of the 
Rebellion, located between Thirty-first Street and 
College Place, and Cottage Grove and Forest 
Avenues. It was 'originally designed and solely 
used as a camp of instruction for new recruits. 
Afterwards it was utilized as a place of confine- 
ment for Confederate prisoners of war. (For 
plot to liberate the latter, together with other 
similar prisoners in Illinois, see Camp Douglas 
Conspiracy.) 

CAMP DOUGLAS CONSPIRACY, a plot formed 
in 1864 for the liberation of the Confederate 
prisoners of war at Chicago (in Camp Douglas), 
Rock Island, Alton and Springfield. It was to be 
but a preliminary step in the execution of a 
design long cherished by the Confederate Gov- 
ernment, viz., the seizing of the organized gov- 
ernments of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the 
formation of a Northwestern Confederacy, 
through the cooperation of the "Sons of Lib- 
erty." {See Secret Treasonable Societies.) Three 
peace commissioners (Jacob Thompson, C. C. 
Clay and J. P. Holcomb), who had been sent 
from Richmond to Canada, held frequent 
conferences with leaders of the treasonable 
organizations in the North, including Clement L. 
Vallandigham, Bowles, of Indiana, and one 
Charles Walsh, who was head of the movement 
in Chicago, with a large number of allies in that 
city and scattered throughout the States. The 
general management of the aff'air was entrusted 
to Capt. Thomas H. Hines, who had been second 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



75 



in command to the rebel Gen. John Morgan dur- 
ing his raid north of the Oliio River, while Col. 
Vincent Marmaduke, of Missouri, and G. St. Leger 
Grenfell (an Englishman) were selected to 
carry out the military program. Hines followed 
out his instructions with great zeal and labored 
indefatigably. Thompson's duty was to dis- 
seminate incendiary treasonable literature, and 
strengthen the timorous "Sons of Liberty" by 
the use of argument and money, both he and his 
agents being lavishly supplied with the latter. 
There was to be a draft in July, 1864, and it was 
determined to arm the "Sons of Liberty" for 
resistance, the date of uprising being fixed for 
July 20. This part of the scheme, however, was 
finally abandoned. Captain Hines located him- 
self at Chicago, and personally attended to the 
distribution of funds and the purchase of arms. 
The date finally fixed for the attempt to liberate 
the Southern prisoners was August 29, 1864, when 
the National Democratic Convention was to 
assemble at Chicago. On that date it was 
expected the city would be so crowded that the 
presence of the promised force of "Sons" would 
not excite comment. The program also included 
an attack on the city by water, for which pur- 
pose reliance was placed upon a horde of Cana- 
dian refugees, under Capt. John B. Castleman. 
There were some 26,500 Southern prisoners in the 
State at this time, of whom about 8,000 were at 
Chicago, 6,000 at Rock Island, 7,500 at Spring- 
field, and 5,000 at Alton. It was estimated that 
there were 4,000 "Sons of Liberty" in Chicago, 
who would be largelj' reen forced. With these 
and the Canadian refugees the prisoners at Camp 
Douglas were to be liberated, and the army thus 
formed was to march upon Rock Island, Spring- 
field and Alton. But suspicions were aroused, 
and the Camp was reenforced by a regiment of 
infantry and a battery. The organization of the 
proposed assailing force was very imperfect, and 
the great majority of those who were to compose 
it were lacking in courage. Not enough of the 
latter reported for service to justify an attack, 
and the project was postponed. In the meantime 
a preliminary part of the plot, at least indirectly 
connected with the Camp Douglas conspiracy, 
and which contemplated the release of the rebel 
officers confined on Johnson's Island in Lake 
Erie, had been "nipped in the bud" by the arrest 
of Capt. C. H. Cole, a Confederate officer in dis- 
guise, on the 19th of September, just as he was 
on the point of putting in execution a scheme for 
seizing the United States steamer Michigan at 
Sandusky, and putting on board of it a Confeder- 



ate crew. November 8 was the date next selected 
to carry out the Chicago scheme — the day of Presii 
dent Lincoln's second election. The same pre- 
liminaries were arranged, except that no water 
attack was to be made. But Chicago was to be 
burned and flooded, and its banks pillaged. 
Detachments were designated to apply the torch, 
to open fire plugs, to levy arms, and to attack 
banks. But representatives of the United States 
Secret Service had been initiated into the "Sons 
of Liberty," and the plans of Captain Hines and 
his associates were well known to the authori- 
ties. An efficient body of detectives was put 
upon their track by Gen. B. J. Sweet, the com- 
mandant at Camp Douglas, although some of the 
most valuable service in running down the con- 
spiracy and capturing its agents, was rendered 
by Dr. T. Winslow Ayer of Chicago, a Colonel 
Langhorne (an ex-Confederate who had taken 
the oath of allegiance without the knowledge of 
some of the parties to the plot), and Col. J. T. 
Shanks, a Confederate prisoner who was known 
as "The Texan." Both Langhorne and Shanks 
were appalled at the horrible nature of the plot 
as it was unfolded to them, and entered with 
zeal into the effort to defeat it. Shanks was 
permitted to escape from Camp Douglas, thereby 
getting in communication with the leaders of the 
plot who assisted to conceal him, while he faith- 
fully apprised General Sweet of their plans. On 
the night of Nov. 6 — or rather after midnight on 
the morning of the 7th — General Sweet caused 
simultaneous arrests of the leaders to be made at 
their hiding-places. Cajjtain Hines was not 
captured, but the following conspirators were 
taken into custody: Captains Cantrill and Trav- 
erse; Charles Walsh, the Brigadier-General of 
the "Sons of Liberty," who was sheltering them, 
and in whose barn and house was found a large 
quantity of arms and military stores; Cols. St. 
Leger Grenfell, W. R. Anderson and J. T. 
Shanks; R. T. Semmes, Vincent Marmaduke, 
Charles T. Daniel and Buckner S. Morris, the 
Treasurer of the order. They were tried by 
Militai-y Commission at Cincinnati for conspir- 
acy. Marmaduke and Morris were acquitted; 
Anderson committed suicide during the trial; 
Walsh, Semmes and Daniels were sentenced to 
the penitentiary, and Grenfell was sentenced to 
be hung, although his sentence was afterward 
commuted to life imprisonment at the Dry Tortu- 
gas, where he mysteriously disappeared some 
years aftervrard, but whether he escaped or was 
drowned in the attempt to do so has never been 
known. The British Government had made 



76 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



repeated attempts to secure his release, a brotlier 
• of his being a General in the British Army. 
Daniels managed to escape, and was never recap- 
tured, while Walsh and Semmes, after under- 
going brief terms of imprisonment, were 
pardoned by President Johnson. The subsequent 
liistory of Shanks, who played so prominent a 
part in defeating the scheme of wholesale arson, 
pillage and assassination, is interesting. While 
in prison he had been detailed for service as a 
clerk in one of the offices under the direction of 
General Sweet, and, %vhile thus employed, made 
the acquaintance of a young lady member of a 
loyal family, whom he afterwards married. 
After the exposure of the contemplated uprising, 
the rebel agents in Canada offered a reward of 
81,000 in gold for the taking of his life, and he 
was bitterly persecuted. The attention oi Presi- 
dent Lincoln was called to the service rendered 
by him, and sometime during 180.") he received a 
commission as Captain and engaged in fighting 
the Indians upon the Plains. The efficiency 
shown by Colonel Sweet in ferreting out the con- 
spiracy and defeating its consummation won for 
him the gratitude of the people of Chicago and 
the whole nation, and was recognized by the 
Government in awarding him a commission as 
Brigadier-General. (See Benjamin J. Siceet, 
Camp Douglas and Secret Treasonable Societies. ) 

CAMPBELL, Alexander, legislator and Con- 
gressman, was born at Concord, Pa., Oct. 4, 1814. 
After obtaining a limited education in the com- 
mon schools, at an early age he secured employ- 
ment as a clerk in an iron manufactory. He soon 
rose to the position of superintendent, managing 
iron-works in Pennsylvania, Kentuckj' and Mis- 
souri, until 18.50, when he removed to Illinois, 
settling at La Salle. He was t%vice (1853 and 
1853) elected Mayor of that city, and represented 
his count}' in the Twenty-first General Assembly 
(1859). He was also a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention of 1863, and served 
one term (1875-77) as Representative in Congress, 
being elected as an Independent, but, in 1878, was 
defeated for re-election by Philip C. Hayes, 
Republican. Mr. Campbell was a zealous friend 
of Abraham Lincoln, and, in 1858, contributed 
liberally to the expenses of the latter in making 
the tour of the State during tiie debate with 
Douglas. He broke with the Republican party 
in 1874 on the greenback issue, which won for 
him the title of "Father of the Greenback." His 
death occurred at La Salle, August 9, 1898. 

CAMPBELL, Antrim, early lawyer, was born 
in New Jersey in 1814; came to Springfield, 111., 



in 1S38; was appointed Master in Chancery for 
Sangamon County in 1849, and, in 1861, to a 
similar position by the United States District 
Court for that district. Died, August 11, 1868. 

CAMPBELL, James R., Congressman and sol- 
dier, was born in Hamilton County, 111., May 4, 
18.53, his ancestors being among the first settlers 
in that section of the State; was educated at 
Notre Dame Universitj", Ind., read law and was 
admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1877; 
in 1878 purchased "The McLeansboro Times," 
which he has since conducted ; was elected to the 
lower house of the General Assembly in 1884, and 
again in '8G, advanced to the Senate in 1888, and 
re-elected in '93. During his twelve years' 
experience in the Legislature he participated, as 
a Democrat, in the celebrated Logan-Morrison 
contest for the United States Senate, in 1885, and 
assisted in the election of Gen. John M. Palmer 
to the Senate in 1891. At the close of his last 
term in the Senate (1896) he was elected to Con- 
gress from the Twentieth District, receiving a 
plurality of 3,851 over Orlando Burrell, Repub- 
lican, who had been elected in 1894. On the 
second call for troops issued by the President 
during the Spanish-American War, Mr. Camp- 
bell organized a regiment which was mustered in 
as the Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, of 
which he was commissioned Colonel and assigned 
to the corps of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee at Jackson- 
ville, Fla. Although his regiment saw no active 
service during tho war, it was held in readiness 
for that purpose, and, on the occupation of Cuba 
in December, 1898, it became a part of the army 
of occupation. As Colonel Campbell remained 
with his regiment, he took no part in the pro- 
ceedings of the last term of the Fifty-fifth Con- 
gress, and was not a candidate for re-election in 
1898, 

CAMPBELL, Thompson, Secretary of State 
and Congressman, was born in Chester County, 
Pa., in 1811 ; removed in childhood to the western 
part of the State and was educated at Jefferson 
College, afterwards reading law at Pittsburg. 
Soon after being admitted to the bar he removed 
to Galena, 111., where he had acquired some min- 
ing interests, and, in 1843, was appointed Secre- 
tary of State by Governor Ford, but resigned in 
1846, and became a Delegate to the Constitutional 
Convention of 1847; in 1850 was elected as a 
Democrat to Congress from the Galena District, 
but defeated for re-election in 1853 by E. B. 
Washburne. He was then appointed by President 
Pierce Commissioner to look after certain land 
grants by the Mexican Government in California, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



77 



removing to that State in 1853, but resigned this 
position about 1855 to engage in general practice. 
In 1859 he made an extended visit to Europe 
with liis family, and, on his return, located in 
Chicago, the following year becoming a candidate 
for Presidential Electorat-large on tlie Breckin- 
ridge ticket ; in 1861 returned to California, and, 
on the breaking out of the Ci\:il War, became a 
zealous champion of the Union cause, by his 
speeches exerting a powerful influence upon the 
destiny of tlie State. He also served in the Cali- 
fornia Legislature during the war, and, in 1864, 
was a member of the Baltimore Convention 
which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency 
a second time, assisting most ably in the subse- 
quent campaign to carry the State for the Repub- 
lican ticket. Died in San Francisco, Dec. 6, 1868. 

CAMPBELL, William J., lawyer and politi- 
cian, was born in Pliiladelphia in 1850. When 
he was two years old liis father removed to 
Illinois, settling in Cook County. After passing 
through the Chicago public schools, Mr. Camp- 
bell attended the University of Pennsylvania, for 
two years, after which he studied law, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1875. From tliat date he 
was in active practice and attained prominence 
at the Chicago bar. In 1878 he was elected State 
Senator, and was re-elected in 1883, serving in all 
eight years. At the sessions of 1881, "83 and '85 
he was chosen President pro tempore of the 
Senate, and, on Feb. 6, 1883, he became Lieuten- 
ant-Governor upon the accession of Lieutenant- 
Governor Hamilton to the executive office to 
succeed Shelb}' M. CuUom, who had been elected 
United States Senator. In 1888 he represented 
the First Illinois District in the National Repub- 
lican Convention, and was the same year chosen 
a member of the Republican National Committee 
for Illinois and was re-elected in 1882. Died in 
Chicago, Marcli 4, 1896. For several years 
immediately preceding his death, Mr. Campbell 
was the chief attorney of the Armour Packing 
Company of Cliicago. 

CAMP POINT, a village in Adams County, at 
the intersection of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy and the Wabash Railroads, 22 miles east- 
northeast of Quincy. It is a grain center, has 
one flour mill, two feed mills, one elevator, a 
pressed brick plant, two banks, four churches, a 
high school, and one newspaper. Population 
(1890), 1,150; (1900), 1,260. 

CANAL SCRIP FRAUD. During the session 
of the Illinois General Assembly of 1859, Gen. 
Jacob Fry, who, as Commissioner or Trustee, had 
been associated with the construction of the 



Illinois & Michigan Canal from 1837 to 1845, 
had his attention called to a check purporting to 
have been issued by the Commissioners in 1839, 
which, upon investigation, he became convinced 
was counterfeit, or had been fraudulently issued. 
Having communicated his conclusions to Hon. 
Jesse K. Dubois, the State Auditor, in charge of 
the work of refunding the State indebtedness, an 
inquiry was instituted in the office of the Fund 
Commissioner — a position attached to the Gov- 
ernor's office, but in the charge of a secretary — 
which developed the fact that a large amount of 
these evidences of indebtedness had been taken 
up through that office and bonds issued therefor 
by the State Auditor under the laws for funding 
the State debt. A subsequent investigation by the 
Finance Committee of the State Senate, ordered 
by vote of that body, resulted in the discovery 
that, in May and August, 1839, two series of 
canal "scrip" (or checks) had been issued by the 
Canal Board, to meet temporary demands in the 
work of construction — • the sum aggregating 
§269,059— of which all but §316 had been redeemed 
within a few years at the Chicago branch of the 
Illinois State Bank. The bank officers testified 
that this scrip (or a large part of it) had, after 
redemption, been held by them in the bank vaults 
without cancellation until settlement was had 
with the Canal Board, when it was packed in 
boxes and turned over to the Board. After hav- 
ing lain in the canal office for several years in 
this condition, and a new "Trustee" (as the 
officer in charge was now called) having come 
into the canal office in 1853, this scrip, with other 
papers, was repacked in a shoe-box and a trunk 
and placed in charge of Joel A. Matteson, then 
Governor, to be taken by him to Springfield and 
deposited there. Nothing further was known of 
these papers until October, 18.54, when §300 of the 
scrip was presented to the Secretary of the Fund 
Commissioner by a Springfield banker, and bond 
issued thereon. This was followed in 1856 and 
1857 by larger sums, until, at the time the legis- 
lative investigation was instituted, it was found 
that bonds to the amount of §223,182.66 had been 
issued on account of principal and interest. 
With the exception of the §300 first presented, it 
was shown that all the scrip so funded had been 
presented by Governor Matteson, either while in 
office or subsequent to his retirement, and the 
bonds issued therefor delivered to him — although 
none of the persons in whose names the issue was 
made were known or ever afterward discovered. 
The developments made by the Senate Finance 
Committee led to an offer from Matteson to 



78 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



indemnify the State, in which he stated tliat he 
had "unconsciously and innocently been made 
the instrument through whom a gross fraud upon 
the State had been attempted." He therefore 
gave to the State mortgages and an indemnifying 
bond for the sum shown to have been funded by 
him of this class of indebtedness, upon which the 
State, on foreclosure a few years later, secured 
judgment for $255,000, although the property on 
being sold realized only §238,000. A further 
investigation by the Legislature, in 1861, revealed 
the fact that additional issues of bonds for similar 
scrip had been made amounting to §165,340, for 
which the State never received any compensa- 
tion. A search through the State House for the 
trunk and box placed in the hands of Governor 
Matteson in 1853, while the official investigation 
was in progress, resulted in the discovery of the 
trunk in a condition showing it had been opened, 
but the box was never found. The fraud was 
made tl)e subject of a protracted investigation 
by the Grand Jury of Sangamon County in May, 
1859, and, although the jury twice voted to indict 
Governor Matteson for larceny, it as often voted 
to reconsider, and, on a third ballot, voted to 
"ignore the bill." 

CAXBY, Richard Spring, jurist, was born in 
Green County, Ohio, Sept. 30, 1808 ; was educated 
at Miami University and admitted to the bar, 
afterwards serving as Prosecuting Attorney, 
member of the Legislature and one term (1847-49) 
in Congress. In 1863 he removed to Illinois, 
locating at Olney, was elected Judge of the 
Twenty-fifth Judicial Circuit in 1867, resuming 
practice at the expiration of his term in 1873. 
Died in Richland County, July 27, 1895. Judge 
Canby was a relative of Gen. Edward Richard 
Spriggs Canby, who was treacherously killed by 
the Modocs in California in 1873. 

CANXON, Joseph G., Congressman, was born 
at Guilford, N. C, May 7, 1836, and removed to 
Illinois in early youth, locating at Danville, Ver- 
milion County. By profession he is a lawyer, 
and served as State's Attorney of Vermilion 
County for two terms (1861-68). Incidentally, 
he is conducting a large banking business at 
Danville. In 1872 he was elected as a Republican 
to the Forty-third Congress for the Fifteentli Dis- 
trict, and has been re-elected biennially ever 
since, except in 1890, when he was defeated for 
the Fifty-second Congress by Samuel T. Busey, 
his Democratic opponent. He is now (1898) 
serving his twelfth term as the Representative 
for the Twelfth Congressional District, and has 
been re-elected for a thirteenth term in the Fifty- 



sixth Congress (1899-1901). Mr. Cannon has been 
an influential factor in State and National poli- 
tics, as shown by the fact that he has been Chair- 
man of the House Committee on Appropriations 
during the important sessions of the Fifty-fourth 
and Fift3--fifth Congres.ses. 

CANTON, a flourishing city in Fulton County, 
12 miles from the Illinois River, and 28 miles 
southwest cf Peoria. It is the commercial me- 
tropolis of one of the largest and riche.st counties 
in the "corn belt"; also has abundant supplies 
of timber and clay for manufacturing purposes. 
There are coal mines within the municipal limits, 
and various manufacturing establishments. 
Among the principal outputs are agricultural 
implements, flour, brick and tile, cigars, cigar 
boxes, foundry and machine-shop products, fire- 
arms, brooms, and marble. The city is lighted 
by gas and electricity, has water-works, fire de- 
partment, a public library, six ward schools and 
one high schoo'., and three newspapers. Popula- 
tion (1890), 5,604; (1900), 6,564. 

CAI'P.S, Jabez, pioneer, was born in London, 
England, .Sept. 9, 1796; came to the United States 
in 1817, and to Sangamon County, 111., in 1819. 
For a time he taught school in what is now 
called Round Prairie, in the present County of 
Sangamon, and later in Calhoun (the original 
name of a part of the city of Springfield), having 
among his pupils a number of those who after- 
wards became jirominent citizens of Central 
Illinois. In 1836, in conjunction with two part- 
ners, he laid out the town of Mount Pulaski, the 
original county-seat of Logan County, where he 
continued to live for the remainder of his life, 
and where, during its later period, he served as 
Postmaster some fifteen years. He also served as 
Recorder of Logan County four years. Died, 
April 1, 1896, in the 100th year of his age. 

CARBONDALE, a city in Jackson County, 
founded in 1852. 57 miles north of Cairo, and 91 
miles from St. Louis. Three lines of railway 
center here. The chief industries are coal-min- 
ing, farming, stock-raising, fruit-growing and 
lumbering. It has two preserving plants, eight 
churches, two weekly papers, and four public 
schools, and is the seat of the Southern Illinois 
Normal University. Pop.(1890), 2,382; (1900), 3,318. 

CARBONDALE & SHAWNEETOWN RAIL- 
ROAD, a short line 17'+ miles in length, ex- 
tending from Marion to Carbondale, antl operated 
by the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad 
Company, as lessee. It was incorporated as the 
Murphysboro & Shawneetown Railroad in 1867; 
its name changed in 1869 to The Carbondale & 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



79 



Shawneetown, was opened for business, Dec. 31, 
1871, and leased in 1886 for 980 years to the St. 
Louis Southern, through which it passed into the 
hands of the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Rail- 
road, and by lease from the latter, in 1896, became 
apart of the Illinois Central System (which see). 
CAREY, William, lawyer, was born in the town 
of Turner, Maine, Dec. 29, 1826 ; studied law with 
General Fessenden and at Yale Law School, was 
admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of 
Maine in 18.56, the Supreme Court of Illinois in 
1857, and the Supreme Court of the United 
States, on motion of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, in 
1873. Judge Carey was a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention of 1869-70 from Jo 
Daviess County, and the choice of the Republicans 
in that body for temporary presiding officer; 
was elected to the next General Assembly (the 
Twenty-seventh), serving as Chairman of the 
House Judiciary Committee through its four ses- 
sions; from 1873 to 1876 was United States Dis- 
trict Attorney for Utah, still later occupj-ing 
various offices at Deadwood, Dakota, and in Reno 
County, Kan. The first office held by Judge 
Carey in Illinois (that of Superintendent of 
Schools for the city of Galena) was conferred 
upon him through the influence of John A. Raw- 
lins, afterwards General Grant's chief-of-staff 
during the war, and later Secretary of War — 
although at the time Mr. Rawlins and he were 
politically opposed. Mr. Carey's present resi- 
dence is in Chicago. 

CARLIN, Tiioiiias, former Governor, was born 
of Irish ancestry in Fayette County, Ky,, July 
18, 1789; emigrated to Illinois in 1811, and served 
as a private in the War of 1812, and as a Captain 
in the Black Hawk War. While not highly edu- 
cated, he was a man of strong common sense, 
high moral standard, great firmness of character 
and unfailing courage. In 1818 he settled in 
Greene Coxmty, of which he was the first Sheriff ; 
was twice elected State Senator, and was Regis- 
ter of the Land Office at Quincy, when he was 
elected Governor on the Democratic ticket in 
1838. An uncompromising partisan, he never- 
theless commanded the respect and good- will of 
his political opponents. Died at his home in 
Carrollton, Feb. 14, 1852. 

CARLIN, William Passmore, soldier, nephew of 
Gov. Thomas Carlin, was born at Rich Woods, 
Greene County, 111., Nov. 24, 1829. At the age 
of 21 he graduated from the United States Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point, and, in 1855, was 
attached to the Sixth United States Infantry as 
Lieutenant. After several years spent in Indian 



fighting, he was ordered to California, where he 
was promoted to a captaincy and assigned to 
recruiting duty. On August 15, 1861, he was 
commissioned Colonel of the Thirty-eighth Illi- 
nois Volunteers. His record during the war was 
an exceptionally brilliant one. He defeated Gen. 
Jeff. Thompson at Fredericktown, Mo., Oct. 21, 
1861 ; commanded the District of Southeast Mis- 
souri for eighteen months ; led a brigade under 
Slocum in the Arkansas campaign ; served with 
marked distinction in Kentucky and Mississippi ; 
took a prominent part in the battle of Stone 
River, was engaged in the TuUahoma campaign, 
at Chattanooga, Lookout Jlountain and Mission- 
ary Ridge, and, on Feb. 8, 1864, was commis- 
sioned Major in the Sixteenth Infantry. He also 
took part in the Georgia campaign, aiding in the 
capture of Atlanta, and marching with Sherman 
to the sea. For gallant service in the assault at 
Jonesboro, Tenn., Sept. 1, 1864, he was made 
Colonel in the regular army, and, on March 13, 
1865, was brevetted Brigad ier-General for meritori- 
ous service at Bentonville, N. C, and Major- 
General for services during the war. Colonel 
Carlin was retired with the rank of Brigadier- 
General in 1893. His home is at Carrollton. 

CARLINVILLE, the county-seat of Macoupin 
County; a city and railroad junction, 57 miles 
northeast of St. Louis, and 38 miles southwest of 
Springfield. Blackburn University (which see) 
is located here. Three coal mines are operated, 
and there are brick works, tile works, and one 
newspaper. The city has gas and electric light 
plants and water-works. Population (1880), 
3,117; (1890), 3,293; (1900), 3,502. 

CARLTLE, the county-seat of Clinton County, 
48 miles east of St. Louis, located on the Kaskas- 
kia River and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern 
Railroad. The town has churches, parochial and 
public schools, water-works, lighting plant, and 
manufactures. It has a flourishing seminary for 
young ladies, three weekly papers, and a public 
library connected with the high school. Popula- 
tion (1890), 1,784; (1900), 1,874. 

CARMI, the county-seat of White County, on 
the Little Wabash River, 124 miles east of St. 
Louis and 38 west of Evansville, Ind. The sur- 
rounding country is fertile, yielding both cereals 
and fruit. Flouring mills and lumber manufac- 
turing, including the making of staves, are the 
chief industries, though the city has brick and 
tile works, a plow factory and foundry. Popula- 
tion (1880), 2,512; (1890), 2,785; (1900), 2,939. 

CARPENTER, Milton, legislator and State 
Treasurer ; entered upon public life in Illinois as 



80 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Representative in the Ninth General Assembly 
(1834) from Hamilton Countj', serving by succes- 
sive re-elections in the Tenth, Eleventh and 
Twelfth. While a member of the latter (1841) 
he was elected by tlie Legislature to the office of 
State Treasurer, retaining this position xmtil the 
adoption of the Constitution of 1848, when he was 
chosen his own successor by popular vote, but 
died a few days after the election in August, 
1848. He was buried in what is now known as 
the "Old Hutchinson Cemetery" — a burying 
ground in the west part of the city of Springfield, 
long since abandoned — where his remains still lie 
(1897) in a grave unmarked by a tombstone. 

CARPENTER, Philo, pioneer and early drug- 
gist, was born of Puritan and Revolutionary 
ancestry in the town of Savoy, Mass., Feb. 27, 
1805; engaged as a druggist's clerk at Troy, N. Y., 
in 1828, and came to Cliicago in 1832, where he 
established himself in the drug business, which 
was later extended into other lines. Soon after 
his arrival, he began investing in lands, which 
have since become immensely valuable. Mr. 
Carpenter was associated with the late Rev. 
Jeremiah Porter in the organization of tlie First 
Presbyterian Church of Chicago, but, in 18.51, 
withdrew on account of dissatisfaction witli the 
attitude of some of the representatives of that 
denomination on the subject of slavery, identify- 
ing himself with tlie Congregationalist Church, 
in wliich he had been reared. He was one of the 
original founders and most liberal benefactors of 
the Chicago Tlieological Seminar)', to which he 
gave in contributions, during Ids life-time, or in 
bequests after liis death, sums aggregating not 
far from $100, 000. One of the Seminary build- 
ings was named in his honor, "Carpenter Hall." 
He was identified with various other organiza- 
tions, one of the most important being the Relief 
and Aid Society, which did such useful work 
after the fire of 1871. By a life of probity, liber- 
ality and benevolence, he won the respect of all 
classes, dying, August 7, 1880. 

CARPENTER, (.Mrs.) Sarah L.Warren, pio- 
neer teacher, born in Fredonia, N. Y., Sept. 1, 
1813; at the age of 13 she began teaching at State 
Line, N. Y. ; in 1833 removed with her parents 
(Sir. and Mrs. Daniel Warren) to Chicago, and 
soon after began teaching in what was called the 
"Yankee settlement," now the town of Lockport, 
Will County. She came to Chicago the following 
year (1834) to take the place of assistant of Gran- 
ville T. Sproat in a school for boys, and is said to 
have been the first teaclier paid out of the public 
funds in Chicago, though Miss Eliza Chappell 



(afterwards Mrs. Jeremiah Porter) began teach- 
ing the children about Fort Dearborn in 1833. 
Miss Warren married Abel E. Carpenter, whom 
.she survived, dying at Aurora, Kane County, 
Jan. 10, 1897. 

CARPEXTERSVILLE, a village of Kane 
County and manufacturing center, on Lake Ge- 
neva branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 
road. 6 miles north of East Elgin and about 48 
miles from Chicago. Pop. (1890), 754 ; (1900), 1,003. 

CARR, Clark E., lawyer, politician and diplo- 
mat, was born at Bo.ston, Erie County, N. Y., 
May 20, 183G; at 13 years of age accompanied his 
father's family to Galesburg, 111., where he spent 
several years at Knox College. In 18.57 he gradu- 
ated from the Albany Law Scliool, but on return- 
ing to Illinois, soon embarked in politics, his 
affiliations being uniformly with the Republican 
party. His first office was that of Postmaster at 
Galesburg, to which he was appointed by Presi- 
dent Lincoln in 1861 and which he held for 
twenty-four years. He was a tried and valued 
assistant of Governor Yates during the War of 
the Rebellion, ser%'ing on the staff of the latter 
with tlie rank of Colonel. He was a delegate to 
the National Convention of his party at Baltimore 
in 18G4, which renominated Lincoln, and took an 
active part in the campaigns of that j'ear, as well 
as those of 1868 and 1872. In 1869 he purchased 
"The Galesburg Republican," which he edited 
and published for two years. In 1880 he was an 
unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomi- 
nation for Governor ; in 1884 was a delegate to the 
Republican National Convention, from the State- 
at-large, and, in 1887, a candidate for the caucus 
nomination for United States Senator, which was 
given to Charles B. Farwell. In 1888 he was 
defeated in the Republican State Convention as 
candidate for Governor by Joseph W. Fifer. In 
1889 President HarrLson appointed him Minister 
to Denmark, which post he filled with marked 
ability and credit to the country until his resig- 
nation was accepted by President Cleveland, 
when he returned to his former home at Gales- 
burg. While in Denmark he did much to 
promote American trade with that country, 
especially in the introduction of American corn 
as an article of food, which has led to a large 
increase in the annual exportation of this com- 
modity to Scandinavian markets. 

CARR, Eugene A., .soldier, was born in Erie 
County, N. Y., May 20, 1830, and graduated at 
West Point in 18.50, entering the Jlounted Rifles. 
Until 1861 he was stationed in the Far West, and 
engaged in Indian fighting, earning a First Lieu 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



81 



tenancy througli his gallantry. In 1861 he 
entered upon active service under General Lyon, 
in Southwest Missouri, taking part in the engage- 
ments of Dug Springs and Wilson's Creek, 
winning the brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 
September, 1801, he was commissioned Colonel of 
the Third Illinois Cavalry. He served as acting 
Brigadier-General in Fremont's hundred-day 
expedition, for a time commanding the Fourth 
Division of the Army of the Southwest. On the 
second day at Pea Ridge, although three times 
wounded, he remained on the field seven hours, 
and materially aided in securing a victory, for 
his bravery being made Brigadier-General of 
Volunteers. In the summer of 18G2 lie was 
promoted to the rank of JIajor in the Regular 
Army. During the Vicksburg campaign he com- 
manded a division, leading the attack at Magnolia 
Church, at Port Gibson, and at Big Black River, 
and winning a brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy in 
the United States Army. He also distinguished 
himself for a first and second assault upon taking 
Vicksburg, and, in the autumn of 1863, com- 
manded the left wing of the Sixteenth Corps at 
Corinth. In December of that year he was 
transferred to the Department of Arkansas, 
where he gained new laurels, being brevetted 
Brigadier-General for gallantry at Little Rock, 
and Major-General for services during tlie war. 
After the close of the Civil War, he was stationed 
chiefly in the West, where he rendered good serv- 
ice in the Indian campaigns. In 1894 he was 
retired with the rank of Brigadier-General, and 
has since resided in New York. 

CARRIEL, Henry F., M.D., alienist, was born 
at Charlestown, N. H., and educated at Marlow 
Academy, N. H., and Wesleyan Seminary, Vt. ; 
graduated from the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, New York City, in 1857, and immedi- 
ately accepted the position of Assistant Physician 
in the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, 
remaining until 1870. Meanwhile, however, he 
visited a large number of the leading hospitals 
and asylums of Europe. In 1870, Dr. Carriel 
received the appointment of Superintendent of 
the Illinois Central Hospital for the Insane at 
Jacksonville, a iiosition which he continued to 
fill until 1893, when he voluntarily tendered to 
Governor Altgeld his resignation, to take effect 
July 1 of that year. — Mrs. Mary Turner (Carriel), 
wife of Dr. Carriel, and a daughter of Prof. 
Jonathan B. Turner of Jacksonville, was elected 
a Trustee of the Universit}' of Illinois on the Repub- 
lican ticket in 1896, receiving a plurality of 148,039 
over Julia Holmes Smith, her highest competitor. 



CARROLL COUXTT, originally a part of Jo 
Daviess County, but set apart and organized in 
1839, named for Charles Carroll of CarroUton. The 
first settlements were in and around Savanna, 
Cherry Grove and Arnold's Grove. The first 
County Commissioners were Messrs. L. H. Bor 
den. Garner Moffett and S. 51. Jersey, who held 
their first court at Savanna. April 13, 1839. In 
1843 the county seat was changed from Savanna 
to Mount Carroll, where it yet remains. Town- 
ships were first organized in 1850, and the 
development of the county has steadily pro- 
gressed since that date. The surface of the land 
is rolling, and at certain points decidedly pictur- 
esque. Tlie land is generally good for farming. 
It is well timbered, particularly along the Mis- 
sissippi. Area of the county, 440 square miles; 
population, 18,963. Mount Carroll is a pleasant, 
prosperous, wide-awake town, of about 3,000 
inliabitants, and noted for its excellent public 
and private scliools. 

CARROLLTOX, the county-seat of Greene 
County, situated on the west branch of the Chi- 
cago & Alton and the Quincy, CarroUton & St. 
Louis Railroads, 33 miles north-northwest of 
Alton, and 34 miles south by west from Jackson- 
ville. The town has a foundry, carriage and 
wagon factory, two machine shops, two flour 
mills, two banks, six churches, a high school, and 
two weekly newspapers. Population (1890), 
3,258; (1900), 2,355. 

CARTER, Joseph N., Justice of the Supreme 
Court, was born in Hardin County, Ky., March 
13, 1843; came to Illinois in boyhood, and, after 
attending school at Tuscola four years, engaged 
in teaching until 1863, when he entered Illinois 
College, graduating in 1866; in 1868 graduated 
from the Law Department of the Universitj' of 
Michigan, the next year establishing him.self in 
practice at Quincy, where he has since resided. 
He was a member of the Tliirty first and Thirty- 
second General As.semblies (1878-82), and, in 
June, 1894, was elected to the seat on the Supreme 
Bench, which he now occupies 

CARTER, Thomas Henry, United States Sena- 
tor, born in Scioto County, Ohio, Oct, 30, 1854; 
in his fifth year was brought to Illinois, his 
father locating at Pana, where he was educated 
in the public schools; was employed in farming, 
railroading and teaching several years, then 
studied law and was admitted to the bar. and. in 
1882, removed to Helena, Mont., where he en- 
gaged in practice; was elected, as a Republican 
the last Territorial Delegate to Congress from 
Idaho and the first Representative from the new 



82 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



State; was Commissioner of the General Land 
Office (1891-93), and, in 1895, was elected to the 
United States Senate for the term ending in 1901. 
In 1893 he was chosen Chairman of the Repub- 
lican National Committee, serving until the St. 
Louis Convention of 1896. 

CARTERVILLE, a city in Williamson County, 
10 miles by rail northwest of Marion. Coal min- 
ing is the principal industry. It has a bank, five 
churches, a public school, and a weekly news- 
paper. Population (1880), 093 ; (1890), 969 ; (1900), 
1,749; (1904, est.), 3,000. 

CARTHAGE, a city and the county-seat of 
Hancock County, 13 miles east of Keokuk, Iowa, 
on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincyand the Wa- 
bash Railroads; has water- works, electric lights, 
three banks, four trust companies, four weekly 
and two semi-weekly papers, and is the seat of a 
Lutheran College. Pop. (1890), 1,654; (1900), 2,104. 

CARTHAGE COLLEGE, at Carthage, Hancock 
County, incorporated in 1871 ; has a teaching 
faculty of twelve members, and reports 158 pupils 
— sixty-eight men and ninety women — for 1897-98. 
It has a library of 5,000 volumes and endowment 
of §33,000. Instruction is given in the classical, 
scientific, musical, fine arts and business depart- 
ments, as well as in preparatory studies. In 1898 
this institution reported a property valuation of 
$41,000, of which §35,000 was in real estate. 

CARTHAGE & BURLIXGTOJf RAILROAD. 
(See Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.) 

CARTWRIGHT, James Henry, Justice of the 
Supreme Court, was born at Jlaquoketa, Iowa, 
Dec. 1, 1843 — the son of a frontier Methodist 
clergyman J was educated at Rock River Semi- 
nary and the University of Micliigan, graduating 
from the latter in 1867; began practice in 1870 at 
Oregon, Ogle County, which is still his home ; in 
1888 was elected Circuit Judge to succeed Judge 
Eustace, deceased, and in 1891 assigned to Appel- 
late Court duty ; in December, 1895, was elected 
Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Justice 
John M. Bailey, deceased, and re-elected in 
1897. 

CARTWRIGHT, Peter, pioneer ]\Iethodist 
preacher, was born in Amherst County, Va., 
Sept. 1, 1785, and at the age of five years accom- 
panied his father (a Revolutionary veteran) to 
Logan County, Ky. The country was wild and 
unsettled, there were no schools, the nearest mill 
was 40 miles distant, tlie few residents wore 
homespun garments of flax or cotton ; and coffee, 
tea and sugar in domestic use were almost un- 
known. Methodist circuit riders .soon invaded 
the district, and, at a camp meeting Iield at Cane 



Ridge in 1801, Peter received his first religious 
impressions. A few months later he abandoned 
his reckless life, sold his race- horse and abjured 
gambling. He began preaching imn^ediately 
after liis conversion, and, in 1803, was regularly 
received into the ministry of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, although only 18 years old. In 
1823 lie removed to Illinois, locating in Sangamon 
Couiitj', then but sparsely settled. In 1838, and 
again in 1833, he was elected to the Legislature, 
where his homespun wit and undaunted courage 
stood him in good .stead. For a long series of 
years he attended annual conferences (usually as 
a delegate), and was a conspicuous figure at 
camp-meetings. Although a Democrat all his 
life, he was an uncompromising antagonist of 
slavery, and rejoiced at the division of his 
denomination in 1844. He was also a zealous 
supporter of the Government during the Civil 
War. In 1846 he was a candidate for Congress 
on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by 
Abraham Lincoln. He was a powerful preacher, 
a tireless worker, and for fifty years served as a 
Presiding Elder of his denomination. On the 
lecture platform, his quaintness and eccentricity, 
togetlier with his inexhaustible fund of personal 
anecdotes, insured an interested audience. 
Numerous stories are told of his physical prowess 
in overcoming unruly characters whom he had 
failed to convince by moral suasion. Inside the 
church he was equally fearless and outspoken, 
and his strong common sense did much to pro- 
mote the success of the denomination in the 
West. He died at his home near Pleasant Plains, 
Sangamon County, Sept. 25, 1873. His principal 
published works are "A Controversy with the 
Devil" (1853), "Autobiography of Peter Cart- 
wright" (1856), "The Backwoods Preaclier" 
(London, 1869), and several works on Methodism. 
CARY, Eugene, lawyer and insurance manager, 
was born at Boston, Erie County, N. Y., Feb. 30, 
1835; began teaching at sixteen, meanwhile 
attending a select school or academy at intervals; 
studied law at Sheboygan, Wis., and Buffalo, 
N. Y., 1855-56; served as City Attorney and 
later as County Judge, and, in 1861, enlisted in 
the First Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, serv- 
ing as a Captain in the Army of the Cmnberland, 
and the last two years as Judge- Advocate on the 
staff of General Rousseau. After the war he 
settled at Nashville, Tenn., where he held the 
office of Judge of the First District, but in 1871 
he was elected to the City Council, and, in 1883, 
was the High-License candidate for Mayor in 
opposition to Mayor Harrison, and believed by 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



83 



many to have been honestly elected, but counted 
out by the machine methods then in vogue. 

CASAD, Authony Wayne, clergyman and phy- 
sician, was born in Wantage Township, Sussex 
County, N. J., May 3, 1791; died at Summerfield, 
111., Dec. 16, 1857. His father, Rev, Thomas 
Casad, was a Baptist minister, who, with his 
wife, Abigail Tingley, was among the early 
settlers of Sussex County. He was descended 
from Dutch- Huguenot ancestrj', the family name 
being originally Cossart, the American branch 
having been founded by Jacques Cossart, who 
emigi'ated from Ley den to New York in 1663. 
At the age of 19 Anthony removed to Greene 
County, Ohio, settling at Fairfield, near the site 
of the present city of Dayton, where some of his 
relatives were then I'esiding. On Feb. 6, 1811, lie 
married Anna, eldest daughter of Captain Samuel 
Stites and Martha Martin Stites, her mother's 
father and grandfather having been patriot sol- 
diers in the War of the Revolution. Anthony 
Wayne Casad served as a volunteer from Ohio in 
the War of 1813, being a member of Captain 
Wm. Stephenson's Company. In 1818 he re- 
moved with his wife's father to Union Grove, St. 
Clair County, 111. A few years later he entered 
the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and during 1831-33 was stationed at Kaskaskia 
and Buffalo, removing, in 1833, to Lebanon, 
where he taught school. Later he studied medi- 
cine and attained considerable prominence as a 
practitioner, being commissioned Surgeon of the 
Forty-ninth Illinois Infantry in 1835. He was 
one of the founders of McKendree College and a 
liberal contributor to its support; was also for 
many years Deputy Superintendent of Schools at 
Lebanon, served as County Surveyor of St. 
Clair County, and acted as agent for Harper 
Brothers in the sale of Southern Illinois lands. 
He was a prominent Free Mason and an influ- 
ential citizen. His youngest daughter, Amanda 
Keziah, married Rev. Colin D. James (which see). 

CASEY, a village of Clark County, at the inter- 
section of the Vandalia Line and the Chicago & 
Ohio River Railroad, 35 miles southwest of Terre 
Haute. Population (1890), 844; (1900), 1,500. 

CASEY, Zadoc, pioneer and early Congressman, 
was born in Georgia, March 17, 1796, the young- 
est son of a soldier of the Revolutionary War who 
removed to Tennessee about 1800. The subject 
of this sketch came to Illinois in 1817, bringing 
with him his widowed mother, and settling in 
the vicinity of the present city of Mount Vernon, 
in Jefferson County, where he acquired great 
prominence as a politician and became the head 



of an influential family. He began preaching at 
an early age, and continued to do so occasionally 
through his political career. In 1819, he took a 
prominent part in the organization of Jefferson 
County, serving on the fiirst Board of County 
Commissioners; was an unsuccessful candidate 
for the Legislature in 1830, but was elected 
Representative in 1832 and re-elected two years 
later; in 1836 was advanced to the Senate, serv- 
ing until 1830, when he was elected Lieutenant- 
Governor, and during his incumbency took part 
in the Black Hawk War. On March 1, 1833, he 
resigned the Lieutenant-Governorship to accept 
a seat as one of the three Congi'essmen from 
Illinois, to which he had been elected a few 
months previous, being subsequently re-elected 
for four consecutive terms. In 1843 he was 
again a candidate, but was defeated by John A. 
McClernand. Other public positions held by him 
included those of Delegate to the Constitutional 
Conventions of 1847 and 1863, Representative in 
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth General Assem- 
blies (1848-.53), serving as Speaker in the former. 
He was again elected to the Senate in 1860, but 
died before the expiration of his term, Sept. 4, 
1863. During the latter years of his life he was 
active in securing the right of way for the Ohio 
& Mississippi Railroad, the original of the Mis- 
sissippi division of the Baltimore, Ohio & South- 
western. He commenced life in poverty, but 
acquired a considerable estate, and was the donor 
of the ground upon which the Supreme Court 
building for the Southern Division at Mount 
Vernon was erected. — Dr. Newton R. (Casey), 
son of the preceding, was born in Jefferson 
County, 111., Jan. 27, 1836, received his pri- 
mary education in the local schools and at Hills- 
boro and Mount Vernon Academies; in 1843 
entered the Ohio University at Athens in that 
State, remaining until 1845, when he com- 
menced the study of medicine, taking a course 
of lectures the following year at the Louisville 
Medical Institute; soon after began practice, 
and, in 1847, removed to Benton, 111., returning 
the following year to Mount Vernon. In 
1856-57 he attended a second course of lectures at 
the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, the latter 
year removing to Mound City, where he filled a 
number of positions, including that of Mayor 
from 1859 to 1864, when he declined a re-election. 
In 1860, Dr. Casey served as delegate from Illi- 
nois to the Democratic National Convention at 
Charleston, S. C, and, on the establishment of 
the United States Government Hospital at Mound 
City, in 1861, acted for some time as a volunteer 



84 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



surgeon, later serving as Assistant Surgeon. In 
1866, he was elected Representative in tlie 
Twenty-fifth General Assembly and re-elected in 
1868, when he was an unsuccessful Democratic 
candidate for Speaker in opposition to Hon. S. M. 
Cullom; also again served as Representative in 
the Twenty-eighth General A.ssembly (1872-74). 
Since retiring from public life Dr. Casey has 
given his attention to the practice of his profes- 
sion. — Col. Thomas S. (Casey), another son, was 
born in Jefferson County, 111., April 6, 1833, 
educated in the common schools and at McKend- 
ree College, in due course receiving the degree of 
A.M. from the latter; studied law for three 
years, being admitted to the bar in 1854; in 1860, 
was elected State's Attorney for the Twelfth 
Judicial District; in September, 1863, was com- 
missioned Colonel of the One Hundred and Tenth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was mustered out 
May 16, 1863, having in the meantime taken part 
in the battle of Stone River and other important 
engagements in Western Tennessee. By this 
time his regiment, having been much reduced 
in numbers, was consolidated with the Sixtieth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry. In 1864, he was 
again elected State's Attorney, serving until 
1868; in 1870, was chosen Representative, and, in 
1873, Senator for the Jlount Vernon District for 
a term of four j-ears. In 1879,' he was elected Cir- 
cuit Judge and was immediatelj' assigned to 
Appellate Court duty, soon after the expiration of 
his term, in 1885, removing to Springfield, where 
he died, March 1, 1891. 

CASS COUJfTT, situated a little west of the 
center of tlie State, with an area of 360 square 
miles and a population (1900) of 17,323— named 
for Gen. Lewis Cass. French traders are believed 
to have made the locality of Beardstown their 
headquarters about the time of the discovery of 
the Illinois country. The earliest permanent 
white settlers came about 1820, and among them 
were Thomas Beard, Martin L. Lindsley, John 
Cetrough and Archibald Job. As early as 1831 
there was a horse-mill on Indian Creek, and, in 
1827, M. L. Lindsley conducted a school on the 
bluffs. Peter Cartwright, the noted Methodist 
missionary and evangelist, was one of the earliest 
preachers, and among the pioneers may be named 
Messrs. Robertson, Toplo, McDonald, Downing, 
Davis, Shepherd, Penny, Bergen and Hopkins. 
Beardstown was the original county-seat, and 
during both the Black Hawk and Mormon 
troubles was a depot of supplies and rendezvous 
for troops. Here also Stephen A. Douglas made 
his first political speech. The site of the town, 



as at pre.sent laid out, was at one time sold by- 
Mr. Downing for twenty-five dollars. The 
county was set off from Morgan in 1837. Tlae 
principal towns are Beardstown, Virginia, ChanJ- 
lerville, Ashland and Arenzville. The county- 
seat, formerly at Beardstown, was later removed 
to Virginia, where it now is. Beardstown was 
incorporated in 1837, with about 700 inhabitants. 
Virginia was platted in 1836, but not incorporated 
until 1843. 

CASTLE, Orlando Lane, educator, was born at 
Jericho, Vt., July 26, 1823; graduated at Denison 
University, Ohio, 1846,- spent one year as tutor 
there, and, for several years, had charge of the 
public schools of Zanesville, Ohio. In 1858, he 
accepted the chair of Rhetoric, Oratory and 
Belles-Lettres in Shurtleff College, at Upper 
Alton, 111., remaining until his death, Jan. 31, 
1892. Professor Castle received the degi-ee of 
LL.D. from Denison University in 1877. 

CATHERWOOD, Mary HartweU, author, was 
born (Hartwell) in Luray, Ohio, Dec. 16, 1844; 
educated at the Female College, Granville, Ohio, 
where she graduated, in 1868, and, in 1887, was 
married to James S. Catherwood, with whom she 
resides at Hoopeston, 111. Mrs. Catherwood is the 
author of a number of works of fiction, which 
have been accorded a high rank. Among her 
earlier productions are "Craque-o'-Doom" (1881), 
"Rocky Fork" (1882), "Old Caravan Days" 
(1884), "The Secrets at Roseladies" (1888), "The 
Romance of Dollard" and "The Bells of St. 
Anne" (1889). During the past few years she 
has shown a predilection for subjects connected 
with early Illinois history, and has published 
popular romances under the title of "The Story 
of Tonty," "The White Islander," "The Lady of 
Fort St. John," "Old Kaskaskia" and "The Chase 
of Sant Castin and other Stories of the French 
in the New World." 

CATOX, John Dean, early lawyer and jm-ist, 
was born in Monroe County, N. Y., March 19, 
1813. Left to the care of a widowed mother at 
an early age, his childhood was spent in poverty 
and manual labor. At 15 lie was set to learn a 
trade, but an infirmity of sight compelled him to 
abandon it. After a brief attendance at an 
academy at Utica, where he studied law between 
the ages of 19 and 21, in 1833 he removed to 
Chicago, and shortly afterward, on a visit to 
Pekin, was examined and licensed to practice by 
Judsre Stephen T. Logan. In 1834, he was elected 
Justice of the Peace, served as Alderman in 
1837-38, and sat upon the bench of the Supreme 
Court from 1843 to 1864, when he resigned, hav- 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



85 



ing served nearly twenty-two years. During 
this period he more than once occupied the posi- 
tion of Chief Justice. Being embarrassed b}' the 
financial stringency of 1837-38, in the latter year 
he entered a tract of land near Plainfield, and, 
taking his family with him, began farming. 
Later in life, while a resident of Ottawa, he 
became interested in the construction of telegraph 
lines in the West, wliich for a time bore his name 
and were ultimately incorporated in the "West- 
ern Union," laying the foundation of a large 
fortune. On retiring from the bench, he devoted 
himself for the remainder of his life to his private 
affairs, to travel, and to literary labors. Among 
his published works are "The Antelope and Deer 
of America," "A Summer in Norway," "Miscel- 
lanies," and "Early Bench and Bar of Illinois." 
Died in Chicago, July 30, 1895. 

CATARLT, Alfred W., early lawyer and legis- 
lator; was born in Connecticut, Sept. 15, 1793; 
served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and, in 
1823, came to Illinois, first settling at Edwards- 
ville, and soon afterwards at Carrollton, Greene 
County. Here he was elected Eepresentative in 
the Fifth General Assembly (1820), and again to 
the Twelfth (1840) ; also served as Senator in the 
Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Assemblies 
(18-12-48), acting, in 1845, as one of the Commis- 
sioners to revise the statutes. In 1844, he was 
chosen a Presidential Elector, and, in 1840, was a 
prominent candidate for the Democratic nomi- 
nation for Governor, but was defeated in conven- 
tion by Augustus C. French. Mr. Cavarly was 
prominent both in his profession and in the 
Legislature while a member of that body. In 
1853, he removed to Ottawa, where he resided 
until his death, Oct. 25, 1876. 

CEXTERVILLE (or Central City), a village in 
the coal-mining district of Grundy County, near 
Coal City. Population (1880), 673; (1900), 290. 

CENTRAL HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, 
established under act of the Legislature passed 
March 1, 1847, and located at Jacksonville, Mor- 
gan County. Its founding was largely due to the 
philanthropic efforts of Miss Dorothea L. Dix, 
who addressed the people from the platform and 
appeared before the General Assembly in behalf 
of this class of unfortunates. Construction of 
the building was begun in 1848. By 1851 two 
wards were ready for occupancy, and the first 
patient was received in November of tliat year. 
The first Superintendent was Dr. J. M. Higgins, 
who served less than two years, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Dr. H. K. Jones, who had been Assist- 
ant Superintendent. Dr. Jones remained as 



Acting Superintendent for several months, when 
the place was filled bj- the appointment of Dr. 
Andrew McFarland of New Hampshire, his 
administration continuing until 1870, when he 
resigned on account of ill-health, being succeeded 
by Dr. Henry F. Carriel of New Jersey. Dr. 
Carriel tendered his resignation in 1893, and, 
after one or two further changes, in 1897 Dr. 
F. C. Winslow, who had been Assistant Superin- 
tendent under Dr. Carriel, was placed in charge 
of the institution. The original plan of construc- 
tion px-ovided for a center building, five and a 
half stories high, and two wings with a rear 
extension in which were to be the chapel, kitchen 
and employes' quarters. Subsequently these 
wings were greatly enlarged, permitting an 
increase in the number of wards, and as the 
exigencies of the institution demanded, appropri- 
ations have been made for tlie erection of addi- 
tional buildings. Numerous detached buildings 
have been erected within the past few years, and 
the capacity of the institution greatly increased 
—"The Annex" admitting of the introduction of 
many new and valuable features in the classifica- 
tion and treatment of patients. The number of 
inmates of late years has ranged from 1,200 to 
1,400. The counties from which patients are 
received in this institution embrace: Rock 
Island, Mercer, Henry, Bureau, Putnam, Mar- 
shall, Stark, Knox, Warren, Henderson, Hancock, 
McDonough, Fulton, Peoria, Tazewell, Logan, 
Mason, Menard, Cass, Schuyler, Adams, Pike, 
Calhoun, Brown, Scott, Morgan, Sangamon, 
Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin, Greene and 
Jersey. 

CENTRALIA, a city and railway center of 
Marion County, 250 miles south of Chicago. It 
forms a trade center for the famous "fruit belt" 
of Southern Illinois ; has a number of coal mines, 
a glass plant, an envelope factorj-, iron foundries, 
railroad repair shops, fiour and rolling mills, and 
an ice plant ; also has water- works and sewerage 
system, a fire department, two daily papers, and 
excellent graded scliools. Several parks afford 
splendid pleasure resorts. Population (1890), 
4,763; (1900), 6,721; (1903, est), 8,000. 

CENTRALIA & ALTAMONT RAILROAD. 
(See Centralia <fc Chester Railroatl) 

CENTRALIA & CHESTER RAILROAD, a rail- 
way line wholly within the State, extending 
from Salem, in Marion County, to Chester, on the 
Mississippi River (91.0 miles), with a lateral 
branch from Sparta to Roxborough (5 miles), and 
trackage facilities over the Illinois Central from 
the branch junction to Centralia (2.9 miles) — 



8G 



niSTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



total, 99.5 miles. The original line was oliartered 
as the Centralia & Chester Railroad, in December, 
1887, completed from Sparta to Coulterville in 
1889, and consolidateil the same year witli the 
Sparta & Evansville and the Centralia & Alta- 
mont Railroads (projected); line completed 
from Centralia to Evansville early in 1894. The 
branch from Sparta to Rosborough %vas built in 
1895, the section of the main line from Centralia 
to Salem (14.9 miles) in 1896, and that from 
Evansville to Chester (17.6 miles) in 1897-98. 
The road was placed in the hands of a receiver, 
June 7, 1897, and the expenditures for extension 
and equipment made under authority granted by 
the United States Court for the issue of Receiver's 
certificates. Tlie total capitalization is §2,374,- 
841, of which §978,000 is in stocks and .§948,000 in 
bonds. 

CENTRAL MILIT.\RT TRACT RAILROAD. 
(See Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.) 

CERRO GORDO, a town in Piatt County, 13 
miles by rail east-northeast of Decatur. The crop 
of cereals in the surrounding country is sufficient 
to support two elevators at Cerro Gordo, which 
has also a flouring mill, brick and tile factories, 
etc. There are three churches, graded schools, a 
bank and two newspaper offices. Population 
(1890), 939; (1900), 1,008. 

CHADDOCK COLLEGE, an institution under 
the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at Quincy, 111., incorporated in 1878; is co-educa- 
tional, has a faculty of ten instructors, and 
reports 127 students— 70 male and 57 female— in 
the classes of 1895-96. Besides the usual depart- 
ments in literature, science and the classics, 
instruction is given to classes in theology, music, 
the fine arts, oratory and preparatory studies. It 
has property valued at §110,000, and reports an 
endowment fund of $8,000. 

CHAMBERLIN, Thomas Crowder, geologist 
and educator, was born near Mattoon, 111., Sept. 
25, 1845; graduated at Beloit College, Wisconsin, 
in 1866: took a course in Michigan University 
(1868-69); taught in various Wisconsin institu- 
tions, also discharged the duties of State 
Geologist, later filling the cliair of Geology at 
Columbian University, Washington, D. C. In 
1878, he was sent to Paris, in charge of the edu- 
cational exhibits of Wisconsin, at the Interna- 
tional Exposition of that year — during liis visit 
making a special study of the Alpine glaciers. 
In 1887, he was elected President of the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin, serving until 1892, when he 
became Head Professor of Geology at the Univer- 
sity of Chicago, where he still remains. He is 



also editor of the University "Journal of Geol- 
ogy" and President of the Chicago Academy of 
Sciences. Professor Chamberlin is author of a 
number of volumes on educational and scientific 
subjects, chiefly in the line of geology. He 
received the degree of LL.D. from the Univer- 
sity of Michigan, Beloit College and Columbian 
University, all on the same date ( 1887). 

CHAMPAIGN, a flourishing city in Champaign 
County, 128 miles southwest of Chicago and 83 
miles northeast of Springfield ; is the intersecting 
point of three lines of railway and connected 
with the adjacent city of Urbana. the county- 
seat, by an electric railway. The University of 
Illinois, located in Urbana, is contiguous to the 
city. Champaign has an excellent system of 
water-works, well-paved streets, and is lighted by 
both gas and electricity. The surrounding coun- 
try is agricultural, but the city has manufac- 
tories of carriages and machines. Three papers 
are published here, besides a college weekly con- 
ducted by the students of the University. The 
Burnham Hospital and the Garwood Old Ladies' 
Home are located in Champaign. In the resi- 
dence portion of the city there is a handsome 
park, covering ten acres and containing a notable 
piece of bronze statuary, and several smaller parks 
in other sections. There are several handsome 
churches, and excellent schools, both public and 
private. Population (1890), 5,839; (1900), 9,098. 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, situated in the eastern 
half of the central belt of the State; area, 1,008 
square miles; population (1900), 47,622. The 
county was organized in 1833, and named for a 
county in Ohio. The physical conformation is 
flat, and the soil rich. The county lies in the 
heart of what was once called the "Grand 
Prairie." Workable seams of bituminous coal 
underlie the surface, but overlying quicksands 
interfere with their operation. The Sangamon 
and Kaskaskia Rivers have their sources in this 
region, and several railroads cross the county. 
The soil is a black muck underlaid by a yellow 
clay. Urbana (with a population of 5.708 in 
1900) is tlie county-seat. Other important points 
in the county are Champaign (9,000), Tolono 
(1,000), and Rantoul (1,200). Champaign and 
Urbana adjoin each other, and the grounds of the 
Illinois State University extend into each corpo- 
ration, being largely situated in Champaign. 
Large drifted masses of Niagara limestone are 
found, interspersed with coal measure limestone 
and sandstone. Alternating beds of clay, gravel 
and quicksand of the drift formation are found 
beneath the subsoil to the depth of 150 to 300 feet. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



87 



CHAMPAIGN, HAVANA & WESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Illinois Central Railroad. ) 

CHANDLER, Charles, physician, was born at 
West Woodstock, Conn., July 3, 1806; graduated 
with the degree of M.D. at Castleton, Vt., and, 
in 1839, located in Scituate, R. I. ; in 1833, started 
with the intention of settling at Fort Clark (now 
Peoria), 111., but was stopped at Beardstown by 
the "Black Hawk War," finally locating on the 
Sangamon River, in Cass County, where, in 1848, 
he laid out the town of Chandlerville — Abraham 
Lincoln being one of the sur\'eyors who platted 
the town. Here he gained a large practice, 
which he was compelled, in his later years, par- 
tially to abandon in consequence of injuries 
received while prosecuting his profession, after- 
wards turning his attention to merchandising 
and encouraging the development of the locality 
in which he lived by promoting the construction 
of railroads and the building of schoolhouses and 
churches. Liberal and public-spirited, his influ- 
ence for good extended over a large region. 
Died, April 7, 1879. 

CHANDLER, Henry B., newspaper manager, 
was born at Frelighsburg, Quebec, July 13, 1836 ; 
at 18 he began teaching, and later took charge of 
the business department of "The Detroit Free 
Press"; in 1861, came to Chicago with Wilbur F. 
Storey and became business manager of "The 
Chicago Times"; in 1870, disagreed with Storey 
and retired from newspaper business. Died, at 
Yonkers, N. Y., Jan. 18, 1896. 

CHANDLERVILLE, a village in Cass County, 
on the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad, 7 
miles north by east from Virginia, laid out in 
1848 by Dr. Charles Chandler, and platted by 
Abraham Lincoln. It has a bank, a creamery, 
four churches, a weekly newspaper, a flour and a 
saw-mill. Population (1890), 910; (1900), 940. 

CHAPIN, a village of Morgan County, at the 
intersection of the Wabash and tlie Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroads, 10 miles west of 
Jacksonville. Population (1890), 450; (1900), 514. 

CHAPPELL, Charles H., railway manager, 
was born in Du Page County, 111., March 3, 1841. 
With an ardent passion for the railroad business, 
at the age of 16 he obtained a position as freight 
brakeman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, being steadily promoted through the 
Tanks of conductor, train-master and dispatcher, 
until, in 1865, at the age of 34, he was appointed 
General Agent of the Eastern Division of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Other railroad 
positions which Mr. Chappell has since held are : 
Superintendent of a division of the Union Pacific 



(1869-70) ; Assistant or Division Superintendent 
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, or some of 
its branches (1870-74) ; General Superintendent 
of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas (1874-76) ; 
Superintendent of the Western Division of the 
Wabash (1877-79). In 1880, he accepted the 
position of Assistant General Superintendent of 
the Chicago & Alton Railroad, being advanced in 
the next three years through the grades of 
General Superintendent and Assistant General 
Manager, to that of General Manager of the 
entire system, which he has continued to fill for 
over twelve years. Quietly and witliout show or 
display, 5Ir. Chappell continues in the discharge 
of his duties, assisting to make the system with 
which he is identified one of the most successful 
and perfect in its operation in the whole country. 

CHARLESTON, the county-seat of Coles 
County, an incorporated city and a railway junc- 
tion, 46 miles west of Terre Haute, Ind. It lies 
in the center of a farming region, yet has several 
factories, including woolen and flouring mills, 
broom, plow and carriage factories, a foundry 
and a canning factory. Three newspapers are 
published here, issuing daily editions. Population 
(1890), 4,135; (1900), 5,488. The Eastern State 
Normal School was located here in 1895. 

CHARLESTON, NEOGA & ST. LOUIS RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City 
Railroad.) 

CHARLEVOIX, Pierre Francois Xavier de, 
a celebrated French traveler and an early 
explorer of Illinois, born at St. Quentin, France, 
Oct. 39, 1683. He entered the Jesuit Society, 
and while a student was sent to Quebec 
(1695), where for four years he was instructor in 
the college, and completed his divinity studies. 
In 1709 he returned to France, but came again to 
Quebec a few j-ears later. He ascended the St. 
Lawrence, sailed through Lakes Ontario and Erie, 
and finally reached the Mississippi by way of the 
Illinois River. After visiting Cahokia and the 
surrounding county (1730-81), he continued down 
the Mississippi to New Orleans, and returned to 
France by way of Santo Domingo. Besides some 
works on religious subjects, he was the author of 
histories of Japan, Paraguay and San Domingo. 
His great work, however, was the "History of 
New France," which was not published until 
twenty years after his death. His journal of his 
American explorations appeared about the same 
time. His history has long been cited by 
scholars as authority, but no English translation 
was made until 1865, when it was undertaken bv 
Shea. Died in France, Feb. 1, 1761. 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



CHASE, Philander, Protestant Episcopal 
Bishop, was born in Cornish, Vt., Dec 14, 1775, 
and graduated at Dartmouth in 1795. Although 
reared as a Congregationalist, he adopted the 
Episcopal faith, and was ordained a priest in 
1799, for several years laboring as a missionary 
in Nortliern and Western New York, In 1805, 
he went to New Orleans, but returning North in 
1811, spent six years as a rector at New Haven, 
Conn., then engaged in missionary work in Ohio, 
organizing a number of parishes and founding an 
academy at Worthington; was consecrated a 
Bishop in 1819, and after a visit to England to 
rai.se funds, laid the foundation of Kenyon 
College and Gambier Theological Seminary, 
named in lionor of two English noblemen who 
liad contributed a large portion of tlie funds. 
Differences arising with some of his clergy in 
reference to tlie proper use of the funds, he 
resigned both the Bishopric and the Presidency 
of the college in 1831. and after three years of 
missionary labor in Micliigan, in 1835 was chosen 
Bishop of Illinois. Making a second visit to 
England, he succeeded in raising additional 
funds, and, in 1838, founded Jubilee College at 
Robin's Nest, Peoria County, 111., for which a 
charter was obtained in 1847. He was a man of 
great religious zeal, of indomitable perseverance 
and the most successful pioneer of the Episcopal 
Church in the West. He was Presiding Bishop 
from 1843 until his death, which occurred Sept. 
20, 1852. Several volumes appeared from his pen, 
the most important being "A Plea for the West" 
(1826), and "Reminiscences: an Autobiography, 
Comprising a History of the Principal Events in 
the Author's Life" (1848). 

CHATHAM, a village of Sangamon County, on 
the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 9 miles south of 
Springfield. Population (1890), 482; (1900), 029. 

CHATSWORTH, town in Livingston County, 
on 111. Cent, and Toledo, Peoria & Western Rail- 
ways, 79 miles east of Peoria; in farming and 
stock-raising district; lias two banks, three grain 
elevators, five churches, a graded school, two 
weekly papers, water works, electric lights, paved 
streets, cement sidewalks, brick works, and other 
manufactories. Pop. (1890), 827; (1900), 1,038. 

CHEBANSE, a town in Iroquois and Kankakee 
Counties, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 64 
miles south-southvpest from Chicago; the place 
lias two banks and one newspaper. Population 
(1880), 728; (1S90). 616; (1900), 555. 

CHEXET, Charles Edward, Bishop of the Re- 
formed Protestant Episcopal Church, vras born in 
Canandaigua, N, Y., Feb. 12, 1836; graduated at 



Hobart in 1857, and began study for the ministry 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Soon after 
ordination he became rector of Christ Church, 
Chicago, and was prominent among those who, 
iinder the leadership of Assistant Bishop Cum- 
mins of Kentucky, organized the Reformed Epis- 
copal Church in 1873. He was elected Missionary 
Bishop of the Northwest for the new organiza- 
tion, and was consecrated in Christ Churcli, 
Chicago, Dec. 14, 1873. 

CHENEY, John Vance, author and librarian, 
was born at Groveland, N. Y., Dec. 29, 1848, 
though the family home was at Dorset, Vt., 
where he grew up and received his primary edu- 
cation. He acquired liis academic training at 
Manchester, Yt., and Temple Hill Academy, 
Genesee, N. Y., graduating from the latter in 
1865, later becoming Assistant Principal of the 
same institution. Having studied law, he was 
admitted to the bar successivel}' in Massachusetts 
and New York; but meanwhile having written 
considerably for the old "Scribner's Monthly" 
(now "Century Magazine"), while under the 
editorship of Dr. J. G. Holland, he gradually 
adopted literature as a profession. Removing to 
the Pacific Coast, he took charge, in 1887, of the 
Free Public Library at San Francisco, remaining 
until 1894, when he accepted the position of 
Librarian of the Newberry Library in Chicago, 
as successor to Dr. William F. Poole, deceased. 
Besides two or three volumes of verse, Mr. Cheney 
is the author of numerous essays on literary 
subjects. His published works include "Thistle- 
Drift," poems (1887); "Wood-Blooms," poems 
(1888), "Golden Guess," essays (1892); "That 
Dome in Air," essays (1895); "Queen Helen," 
poem (1895) and "Out of the Silence," poem 
(1897). He is also editor of "Wood Notes Wild, " 
by Simeon Pease Cheney (1892), and Caxton Club"s 
edition of Derbj^'s Phcenixiana. 

CHENOA, an incorporated city of McLean 
County, at the intersecting point of the Toledo, 
Peoria & Western and the Chicago & Alton Rail- 
roads, 48 miles east of Peoria, 23 miles northeast 
of Bloomington, and 102 miles south of Chicago. 
Agriculture, dairy farming, fruit-growing and 
coal-mining are the chief industries of the sur- 
rounding region. The city also has an electric 
light plant, water-works, canning works and tile 
works, besides two banks, seven churches, a 
graded school, two weekly papers, and telephone 
systems connecting with the surrounding coun- 
try. Population (1890), 1,226; (1900), 1,512. 

CHESBROUGH, Ellis Sylvester, civil engineer, 
was born in Baltimore, Md., July 6, 1813; at the 




CHICAGO TIIOROUGIIFAUKS. 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



89 



age of thirteen was cliainnian to an engineering 
party on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, being 
later employed on other roads. In 1837, he was 
appointed senior assistant engineer in the con- 
struction of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Charles- 
ton Railroad, and, in 1846, Chief Engineer of the 
Boston Waterworks, in 1850 becoming sole Com- 
missioner of the Water Department of that city. 
In 18')'), he became engineer of the Chicago Board 
of Sewerage Commissioners, and in that capacity 
designed the sewerage system of the city — also 
planning the river tunnels. He resigned the 
ifBce of Commissioner of Public Works of 
Chicago in 1879. He was regarded as an author- 
ity on water-supply and sewerage, and was con- 
sulted by the officials of New York, Boston, 
Toronto, Milwaukee and other cities. Died, 
August 19, 1886. 

CHESJfUT, John A., lawyer, was bom in Ken- 
tucky, Jan. 19, 1816, his father being a native of 
South Carolina, but of Irish descent. John A. 
was educated principally in his native State, but 
came to Illinois in 1836, read law with P. H. 
Winchester at Carlinville, was admitted to the 
bar in 1837, and practiced at Carlinville until 
1855, when he removed to Springfield and engaged 
in real estate and banking business. Mr. Ches- 
nut was associated with many local business 
enterprises, was for several years one of the 
Trustees of the Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb at Jacksonville, also a Trustee of the 
Illinois Female College (Methodist) at the same 
place, and was Supervisor of the United States 
Census for the Sixth District of Illinois in 1880. 
Died, Jan. 14, 1898. 

CHESTER, the county-seat of Randolph 
County, situated on the Mississippi River, 76 
miles south of St. Louis. It is the seat of the 
Southern Illinois Penitentiary and of the State 
Asylum for Insane Convicts It stands in the 
heart of a region abounding in bituminous coal, 
and is a prominent shipping point for this com- 
modity ; also has quarries of building stone. It 
has a grain elevator, flouring mills, rolling mills 
and foundries. Population (1880), 2,580; (1890), 
2,708. (1900), 2,832. 

CHETLAIN, Augustus Louis, soldier, was born 
in St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 26, 1824, of French Hugue- 
not stock — his parents having emigrated from 
Switzerland in 1823, at first becoming members 
of the Selkirk colony on Red River, in Manitoba. 
Having received a common school education, he 
became a merchant at Galena, and was the first 
to volunteer there in response to the call for 
troops after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, in 



1861, being chosen to the captaincy of a company 
in the Twelfth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, 
which General Grant had declined; participated 
in tlie campaign on the Tennessee River which 
resulted in the capture of Fort Donelson and the 
• battle of Shiloh, meanwhile being commissioned 
Lieutenant-Colonel; also distinguished himself at 
Corintli, where he remained in command until 
May, 1863, and organized the first colored regi- 
ment raised in the West. In December, 1863, he 
was promoted Brigadier-General and placed In 
charge of the organization of colored troops in 
Tennessee, serving later in Kentucky and being 
brevetted Major-General in January, 1864. From 
January to October, 18G5, he commanded the 
post at Memphis, and later the District of Talla- 
dega, Ala., until January, 1866, when he was 
mustered out of the service. General Chetlain 
was Assessor of Internal Revenue for the District 
of Utah (1807-69), then appointed United States 
Consul at Brussels, serving until 1872, on his 
return to the United States establishing himself 
as a banker and broker in Chicago. 

CHICAGO, the coimty-seat of Cook Coimty, 
chief city of Illinois and (1890) second city in 
population in the United States. 

SiTUATio>f. — The city is situated at the south- 
west bend of Lake Michigan, 18 miles north of 
the extreme southern point of the lake, at the 
mouth of the Chicago River; 715 miles west of 
New York, 590 miles north of west from Wash- 
ington, and 260 miles northeast of St. Louis. 
From the Pacific Coast it is distant 2,417 miles. 
Latitude 41° 52' north; longitude 87° 35' west of 
Greenwich. Area (1898), 186 square miles. 

Topography. — Chicago stands on the dividing 
ridge between the Mississippi and St. Lawreice 
basins. It is 502 feet above sea-level, and its 
highest point is some 18 feet above Lake Michi- 
gan. The Chicago River is virtually a bayou, 
dividing into north and south branches about a 
half-mile west of the lake. The surrounding 
country is a low, flat prairie, but engineering 
science and skill have done much for it in the 
way of drainage. The Illinois & Michigan Canal 
terminates at a point on the south branch of 
the Chicago River, within the city limits, and 
unites the waters of Lake Michigan with those 
of the Illinois River. 

Commerce.— The Cliicago River, with its 
branches, afl'ords a water frontage of nearly 60 
miles, the greater part of which is utilized for 
the shipment and unloading of grain, lumber, 
stone, coal, merchandise, etc. Another navigable 
stream (the Calumet River) also lies within the 



90 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



corporate limits. Dredging has made the Clii- 
cago River, with its brandies, navigable for 
vessels of deep draft. The harbor has also been 
widened and deepened. Well constructed break- 
waters protect the vessels lying inside, and the 
port is as safe as any on the great lakes. The 
citj' is a port of entry, and the tonnage of vessels 
arriving there exceeds that of any other port in 
the United States. During 1897, 9,156 vessels 
arrived, with an aggregate tonnage of 7,209,442, 
while 9,201 cleared, representing a tonnage of 
7,185.324. It is the largest grain market in the 
world, its elevators (in 1897) having a capacity 
of 33,550,000 bushels. 

According to the reports of the Board of Trade, 
the total receipts and shipments of grain for 
the year 1898 — counting flour as its grain equiva- 
lent in bushels — amounted to 323.097,453 bushels 
of the former, to 289,920,028 bushels of the latter. 
The receipts and shipments of various products 
for the year (1898) were as follows: 



Flour (bbls.) . 
Wheat (bu.) . . 
Corn "... 
Oats "... 
Rye "... 

Barley " . . . 
Cured Meats (lbs.) 
Dressed Beef " . 
Live-stock — Hogs 
Cattle 
' ' Sheep 



Receipts. 

5,316,195 

35, 741,. 5.55 

127,426,374 

110,293,647 

4,93.5,308 

18,116,594 

339,005,246 

110,386,6.53 

9.360.968 

3,480,633 

3,503,378 



Shipments. 

5,033,236 

38,094.900 

130,397,681 

85,057,636 

4,4.53,384 

6,755,247 

923,627,723 

1,060,859,808 

1,334,768 

864.408 

545,001 



Chicago is also an important lumber market, 
the receipts in 1895, including shingles, being 
1,562,537 M. feet. As a center for beef and pork- 
packing, the city is without a rival in the amount 
of its products, there having been 93,459 cattle 
and 760,514 hogs packed in 1894-95. In bank 
clearings and general mercantile business it 
ranks second only to New York, while it is also 
one of the chief manufacturing centers of the 
country. The census of 1890 shows 9,959 manu- 
facturing establishments, with a capital of $393,- 
477,038; employing 203,108 hands, and turning 
out products valued at 8032,184,140. Of the out- 
put by far the largest was that of the slaughter- 
ing and meat-packing establishments, amounting 
to §303,835,093; men's clothing came next (§32,- 
517,226) ; iron and steel, 831,419,854; foundry and 
machine shop products, $29,928,616; planed 
lumber, §17,604,494. Chicago is also the most 
important live-stock market in the United States. 
The Union Stock Yards (in the southwest part of 
the city) are connected with all railroad lines 
entering the city, and cover many hundreds of 



acres. In 1894, there were received 8,788,049 
animals (of all descriptions), valued at §148,057,- 
620. Chicago is also a primary market for hides 
and leather, the production and sales being both 
of large proportions, and the trade in manufac- 
tured leather (notably in boots and shoes) 
exceeds that of any other market in the country. 
Sliip-building is a leading industry, as are also 
brick-making, distilling and brewing. 

Transport.\tio.\, etc. — Besides being the chief 
port on the great lakes, Chicago ranks second to 
no other American city as a railway center. The 
old "Galena & Chicago Union," its first railroad, 
was operated in 1849, and within three j'ears a 
substantial advance had been scored in the way 
of steam transportation. Since then the multi- 
plication of railroad lines focusing in or passing 
through Chicago has been rapid and steady. In 
1895 not less than thirty -eight distinct lines enter 
the city, although these are operated by only 
twenty-two companies. Some 2,600 miles of 
railroad track are laid within the city limits. 
The number of trains daily arriving and depart- 
ing (suburban and freight included) is about 
3,000. Intramural transportation is afforded by 
electric, steam, cable and horse-car lines. Four 
tunnels under the Chicago River and its branches, 
and numerous bridges connect the various divi- 
sions of the city. 

History. — Point du Sable (a native of .San 
Domingo) was admittedly the first resident of 
Chicago other than the aborigines. The French 
missionaries and ' explorers — Marquette, Joliet, 
La Salle, Hennepin and others — came a century 
earlier, their explorations beginning in 1673. 
After the expulsion of the French at the close of 
the French and Indian War, the territory passed 
under British control, though French traders 
remained in this vicinity after the War of the 
Revolution. One of these named Le Mai followed 
Point du Sable about 1796, and was himself suc- 
ceeded by John Kinzie, the Indian trader, who 
came in 1803. Fort Dearborn was built near the 
mouth of the Chicago River in 1804 on land 
acquired from the Indians by the treaty of 
Greenville, concluded by Gen. Anthony Wayne 
in 1795, but was evacuated in 1813, when most of 
the garrison and the few inhabitants were massa- 
cred by the savages. {See Fort Dearborn.) The 
fort was rebuilt in 1816, and another settlement 
established around it. The first Government 
survey was made, 1829-30. Early residents were 
the Kinzies, the Wolcotts, the Beaubiens and the 
Millers. The Black Hawk War (1832) rather 
aided in developing the resources and increasing 




o 



O 
O 



u 

K 

O 

o 
g 

M 



w ►J 



i§ o 



ca 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



91 



the population of the infant settlement by draw- 
ing to it settlers from the interior for purposes of 
mutual protection. Town organization was 
effected on August 10, 1832, the total number of 
votes polled being 28. The town grew rapidly 
for a time, but received a set-back in the financial 
crisis of 1837. During May of that year, how- 



ever, a charter was obtained and Chicago became 
a city. The total number of votes cast at that 
time was 703. The census of the city for the 1st 
of July of that year showed a population of 4,180. 
The following table shows the names and term 
of office of the chief city officers from 1837 to 
1899: 



1837 
1838 
1839 
1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 
1844 
1845 
1846 
1847 
1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 
1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 

1877-78 
1879 80 
1881-82 
1883-84 
1885-86 
1887-88 
1889-90 
1891-92 
1893-94 

1895-96 

iea7-98 

1899— 



Wm. B. Ogden 

BucknerS. Morris ... 

BenJ. W. Baymond 

Alexander Lloyd 

F. C. Sliermaii 

BenJ. W. Raymond 

Augustus Garrett 

Aug Garrett, Alaon S.Wherman(4) 
Aug.Garrett.Al3onS.Sherman(4) 

John P, Chapin 

James Curtiss 

James H. Woodworth 

James H. Woodworth 

James Curtiss 

Walters. Gurnee 

Walters. Gurnee 

Charles M. Gray 

Ira L Milliken 

Levi D. Boone 

Thomas Dyer 

John Wentworth 

John C. Haines 

John C. Haines. 

John Wentworth 

Julian S. Rumsey 

y. C. Sherman 

F.C.Sherman 

F. C. Sherman 

John B. Rice 

John B. Rice 

John B. Rice 

Joh n B. Kice 

John B. Rice (8) 

R. B. Mason 

R. B. Mason 

Joieph Medill 

Joseph Medill 

Harvey D. Colvin 

Harvey D. Colvin 

Monroe Heath. i9> H. D. Colvin, 

Thomas Hoyne 

Monroe Heath 

Carter H. Harrison 

Carter H, Harrison 

Carter H. Harrison 

Carter H. Harrison 

John A. Roche 

Dewitt C. Cregier 

Hempstead Washburne 

Carter H. Harrison. Geo. B, 

Swift, (111 John P. Hopkiiis.dl f 

Geo. B. Swift 

Carter H. Harrison, Jr 

Carter H. Harrison, Jr 



City Clerk. 



I. N. Arnold, Geo. Davis (1). 

Geo. Davis 

Wm. H. Brackett 

Thomas Hoyne 

Thomas Hoyne 

J. Curtis 

James M, Lowe 

E. A. Rucker 

K. A. Rucker,Wm.S.Brown(5 ) 

Henry B. Clarke 

Henry B. Clarke 

Sidney Abeil 

Sidney A hell 

Sidney A bell 

Henry W. Zimmerman 

Henry W. Zimmerman 

Henry W. Zmimerman 

Henry W. Zimmerman 

Henry W.Zimmerman 

Henry W. Zimmerman 

H. Kreisman 

H. Kreisman 

H. Kreisman 

Abraham Kohn 

A.J. Marble 

A. J. Marble 

H. W. Zimmerman 

H. W. Zimmerman 

Albert H. Bodman 

Albert H. Bodman 

Albert H. Bodman 

Albert H. Bodman. 

Albert H. Bodman 

Charles T. Hotchkias 

Charles T. Hotchkiss 

Charles T. Hotchkiss 

Charles T. Hotchkiss 

Jos. K. C. Forrest 

Jos. K. C. Forrest 

Caspar Butz 

Caspar Butz 

P. J. Howard 

P. J. Howard 

John G. Neumeister 

C. Herman Plautz 

D. W. Nlckerson 

Franz Amberg 

James R. B. Van Cleave 

Chas. D. Qastfield 

James R. B. Van Cleave 

William Loeffler, 

William Loeflier 



C»TY ATTORNKY. 



N. B. Judd 

N. B. Judd 

Samuel L. Smith 

Mark Skinner 

Geo. Manierre 

Henry Brown 

G. Manierre. Henry Brownt3) 

Henry W. Clarke 

Henry W. Clarke 

Charles H. Larrabee 

Patrick Balllngall 

Giles Spring 

O, R. W. Lull 

Henry H. Clark 

Henry H. Clark 

Arno \'oss 

Arno Voss 

Patrick BalllDgall 

J. A. Thompson 

J. L Marsh 

John C. Miller 

Elliott Anthony 

Geo. F. Crocker 

John Lyle King 

Ira W. Buel 

Geo. A. Meech 

Francis Adams 

Francis Adams 

Daniel D. DriscoU 

Daniel D. Driscoll 

Hasbrouck Davis 

Hashrouck Davis 

Hasbrouck Davis 

Israel N. Stiles 

Israel N. Stiles 

Israel N. Stiles 

Israel N. Stiles 

Egbert Jamieson 

Egbert Jamieson 

R.S. Tuthill 

R. S. Tuthill 

Julius S. Grinnell 

Julius S. Grinnell 

Julius S. GriTmell 

Hempstead Washburne 

Hemp.stead Washburne 

Geo. F. Sugg 

Jacob J. Kern, G.A.Trude(lO) 

Geo. A. Trude 

Roy O. West 

MllesJ. Devine 

Andrew J. Ryan 



City TREA.sirRKR. 



Hiram Pearsons. 

Hiram Pearsons. 

Geo. W. Dole. 

W.S. Gurnee. N.H. Bolle3(2) 

N. H. Bolles. 

F. C Sherman. 

Walters. Gurnee. 

Walter S. Gurnee. 

Wm. L. Church. 

Wm. L. Church. 

Andrew Getzler. 

Wm. L. Church. 

Wm. L. Church. 

Edward Manierre. 

Edward Manierre. 

Edward Manierre. 

Edward Manierre. 

Uriah P. Harris. 

Wm. F De Wolf. 

O. J. Rose. 

C. N. Holden. 

Alonzo Harvey. 

Alonzo Harvey. 

Alonzo Harvey, C.W.Hunt(6) 

\V. H. Rice. 

F. H. Cutting. W. H. Rice(7) 

David A. Gage. 

David A. Gage. 

A.G. Throop. 

A. G. Throop. 

Wm. F. Wentworth. 

Wm. F. Wentworth. 

Wm. F. Wentworth. 

David A. Gage. 

David A. Gage. 

David A. Gage. 

David A. Gage. 

Daniel O'Hara. 

Daniel O'Hara. 

Clinton Briggs. 
Chas. B. Larrabee. 
W. C. Seipp. 
Rudolph Brand. 
John M. Dunphy. 
Wm. M. Devine. 
C. Herman Plautz. 
Bernard Roesing. 
Peter Kiolbassa. 

Michael J. Bransfield. 
Adam Wolf. 
Ernst Hummel. 
Adam Ortseifen. 



(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
(4) 
(5) 
(6) 
(7) 
(8) 

(9) 



(10) 
111) 



I. N. Arnold resigned, and Geo. Davis appointed, October, 1837. 

Gurnee resigned. Bolles appointed hia succpsaor, April, 1840. 

Manierre resigned, Brown appointed his successor. July, 1843. 

Election of Gairett declared illegal. a[id Sherman elected at new election, held April, 1844. 

Brown appointed to fill vacancy caused by resignation of Rucker. 

Harvey resigned and Hunt appointed to till vacancy. 

Cutting havini? failed to qualify. Rice, who was already in office, held over. 

Legislature changed date of election from April to November, the persons in office at beginning of 1869 remaining in office 
to December of that year. 

City organized under general Incorporation Act in 1875, and no city election held until April, 1876. The order for a new 
election omitted the office of Mayor, yet a popular vote was taken which gave a majority to Thomas Hoyne. The Council 
then in office refused to canvass this vote, but its successor, at its first meeting, did so, declaring Hoyne duly elected. 
Coivin, the incumbent, refused to surrender the olhce, claiming the right to " liold over;" Hoyne tlien made a contest 
for the office, which resulted In a decision by the Supreme Court denying the claims of both contestants, when a new 
election was ordered by the City Council, July 12, 1876. at which Monroe Heath was elected, serving out the term. 

City Attorney Kern, having resigned November 21, 1892, Geo. A. Trude was appointed to serve out the remainder of the 
terra. 

Mayor Harrison, having been assassinated. October 28, 1893, the City Council at its next meeting (November 6, 1893) 
elected Geo. B Swift (an Alderman from the Eleventh Ward) Mayor ad interim. At a special election held December 19, 
1893. John P. Hopkins was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Mayor Harrison. 



93 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



The Fire of 1871. — The city steadily grew in 
beaut}', population and commercial importance 
until 1871. On Oct. 9 of that year occurred the 
"great fire" the story of which has passed into 
history. Recuperation was speed}-, and the 2.100 
acres burned over were rapidly being rebuilt, 
when, in 1874, occurred a second conflagration, 
althougli by no means so disastrous as tliat of 
1871. The city's recuperative power was again 
demonstrated, and -its subsequent development 
has been phenomenal. The subjoined statement 
shows its growth in population : 



1837 
1840 
1850 
1860 
1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 



4,179 

4,470 

28,269 

112,163 

298.977 

503.18,') 

1.099.8.50 

1,698.575 



Notwithstanding a large foreign population and 
a constant army of unemployed men, Chicago 
has witnessed only three disturbances of the 
peace by mobs — the railroad riots of 1877, the 
Anarchist disturbance of 1886, and a strike of 
railroad employes in 1894. 

Municipal Administration. — Chicago long 
since outgrew its special charter, and is now 
incorporated under the broader provisions of the 
law applicable to "cities of the first class," under 
wliicli the city is virtually autonomous. Tlie 
personnel, drill and equipment of the police and 
fire departments are second to none, if noi supe- 
rior to any, to be found in other American cities. 
Tlie Cliicago River, with its branches, divides tlie 
city into three principal divisions, known respec- 
tively as North, South and West. Each division 
has its statutory geograpliical boundaries, and 
each retains its own distinct township organiza- 
tion. Tliis system is anomalous; it lias, how- 
ever, both assailants and defenders. 

Public Improvements. — Chicago has a fine 
system of parks and boulevards, well developed, 
well improved and well managed. One of the 
parks (Jackson in the Soutli Division) was the 
site of the World's Columbian Exposition. The 
water supply is obtained from Lake Michigan bj' 
means of cribs and tunnels. In this direction 
new and better facilities are being constantly 
introduced, and the existing water sy.stem will 
compare favorably witli that of any other Ameri- 
can city. 

Architecture. — The public and office build- 
ings, as well as tlie business blocks, are in some 
instances classical, but generally severely plain. 



Granite and other varieties of stone are used in 
the City Hall, County Court House, the Board of 
Trade structure, and in a few commercial build- 
ings, as well as in many private residences. In 
the business part of the city, however, steel, 
iron, brick and fire clay are the materials most 
largely employed in construction, the exterior 
walls being of brick. The most approved 
methods of fire-proof building are followed, and 
the "Chicago construction" has been recognized 
and adopted (with modifications) all over the 
United States. Office buildings range from ten 
to sixteen, and even, as in the case of the Masonic 
Temple, twenty stories in height. Most of them 
are sumptuous as to the interior, and many of the 
largest will each accommodate 3,000 to 5,000 
occupants, including tenants and their employes. 
In the residence sections wide diversity may be 
seen ; the cliaste and the ornate styles being about 
equally popular. Among the handsome public, 
or semi-public buildings may be mentioned the 
Public Library, the Newberrj' Library, the Art 
Institute, the Armour Institute, the Academy of 
Sciences, the Auditorium, tlie Board of Trade 
Building, the Masonic Temple, and several of the 
railroad depots. 

Education and Libraries. — Chicago has a 
public school sy.stem unsurpassed for excellence 
in any other city in the country. According to 
the report of the Board of Education for 1898, the 
city had a total of 221 primary and grammar 
schools, besides fourteen high scliools, emploj-ing 
5,268 teachers and giving instruction to over 
236,000 pupils in tlie course of the year. The 
total expenditures dm'ing the year amounted to 
86,785,601, of which nearly $4,-500,000 was on 
account of teachers' salaries. The city has 
nearly §7,500,000 invested in school buildings. 
Besides pupils attending public schools there are 
about 100.000 in attendance on private and 
parocliial schools, not reckoning .students at 
higlier institutions of learning, such as medical, 
law, theological, dental and pharmaceutical 
schools, and the great University of Cliicago. 
Near tlie citj- are also the Northwestern and the 
Lake Forest Universities, the former at Evanston 
and the latter at Lake Forest. Besides an exten- 
sive Free Public Library for circulating and refer- 
ence purposes, maintained by public taxation, 
and embracing (in 1898) a total of over 235.000 
volumes and nearly 50,000 pamphlets, there 
are the Library of the Chicago Historical Society 
and tlie Newberry and Crerar Libraries — the last 
two the outgrowth of posthumous donations by 
public-spirited and liberal citizens — all open to 




DAT AFTER CHICAGO FIRE. 




ClIICAlid ■ilKIKorCIII'AKKS. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



93 



the public for purposes of reference under certain 
conditions. This list does not include the exten- 
sive library of the University of Chicago and those 
connected with the Armour Institute and the 
public schools, intended for the use of the pupils 
of these various institutions 

CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE, one of the 
leading commercial exchanges of the world. It 
was originally organized in the spring of 1843 as 
a voluntary association, with a membership of 
eighty-two. Its primary object was the promo- 
tion of the city's commercial interests by unity 
of action. On Feb. 8, 1849, the Legislature 
enacted a general law authorizing the establish- 
ment of Boards of Trade, and under its provisions 
an incorporation was effected — a second organi- 
zation being effected in April, 18.50. For several 
years the association languished, and at times its 
existence seemed precarious. It was, however, 
largely instrumental in securing the introduction 
of the system of measuring grain by weight, 
which initial step opened the way for subsequent 
great improvements in the methods of handling, 
storing, inspecting and grading cereals and seeds. 
By the close of IS.'iO, the association had overcome 
the difficulties incident to its earlier years, and 
the feasibility of erecting a permanent Exchange 
building began to be agitated, but the project lay 
dormant for several years. In 1856 was adopted 
the first system of classification and grading of 
wheat, whicli, though crude, formed the founda- 
tion of the elaborate modern system, which has 
proved of such benefit to the grain-growing 
States of tlie West, and has done so much to give 
Chicago its commanding influence in the grain 
markets of the world. In 18."i8, the privilege of 
trading on the floor of the Exchange was limited 
to members. The same year the Board began 
to receive and send out daily telegraphic market 
reports at a cost, for the first year, of 8500,000, 
which was defrayed by private subscriptions. 
New York was the only city with which sucli 
communication was tlien maintained. In Febru- 
ary, 1859, a special charter was obtained, confer- 
ring more extensive powers upon the organization, 
and correspondingly increasing its efficiency. An 
important era in the Board's history was the 
Civil War of 1861-65. During this struggle its 
attitude was one of undeviating loyalty and gener- 
ous patriotism. Hundreds of thousands of dollars 
were contributed, by individual members and 
from the treasury of the organization, for the work 
of recruiting and equipping regiments, in caring 
for the wounded on Southern battlefields, and 
"roviding for the families of enlisted men. In 



1864, the Board waged to a successful issue a war 
upon the irredeemable currency with which the 
entire West was then flooded, and secured such 
action by the banks and by the railroad and 
express companies as compelled its replacement 
by United States legal-tender notes and national 
bank notes. In 1805, handsome, large (and, as 
then supposed, peruianent) quarters were occu- 
pied in a new building erected by the Chicago 
Cliamber of Commerce imder an agreement with 
the Board of Trade. This structure was destroyed 
in the fire of October, 1871, but at once re'Duilt, 
and made ready for re-occupancy in precisely 
one year after the destruction of its predecessor. 
Spacious and ample as these quarters were then 
considered, the growing membership and increas- 
ing busine.ss demonstrated their inadequacy 
before the close of 1877. Steps looking to the 
erection of a new building were taken in 1881, 
and, on May 1, 1885, the new edifice — then the 
largest and most ornate of its class in the world 
— was opened for occvipancy. The membership 
of the Board for the year 1898 aggregated con- 
siderably in excess of 1,800. The influence of the 
as.sociation is felt in every quarter of the com- 
mercial world. 

CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & NORTHERN 
RAILROAD. (See Chicago, Burlington & 
Qiiiucy Railroad.) 

CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCT RAIL- 
ROAD (known as the "Burlington Route") is 
the parent organization of an extensive system 
wliich operates railroads in eleven Western and 
Northwestern States, furnishing connections 
from Chicago with Omaha, Denver, St. Paul and 
Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City, Chey- 
enne (Wyo. ), Billings (Mont.), Deadwood (So. 
Dak, ) , and intermediate points, and having con- 
nections by affiliated roads with the Pacific Coast. 
The main line extends from Chicago to Denver 
(Colo.), 1,025.41 miles. The mileage of the 
various branches and leased proprietary lines 
(1898) aggregates 4,037.06 miles. The Company 
uses 207.23 miles in conjunction with other 
roads, besides subsidiary standard-gauge lines 
controlled through the ownership of securities 
amounting to 1,440 miles more. In addition to 
these the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy controls 
179 miles of narrow-gauge road. The whole 
number of miles of standard-gauge road operated 
by the Burlington system, and known as the 
Burlington Route, on June 30, 1899, is estimated 
at 7,419, of which 1,509 is in Illinois, all but 47 
miles being owned by the Company. The system 
in Illinois connects many important commercial 



94 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



points, including Chicago, Aurora, Galesburg, 
Quincy, Peoria. Streator, Sterling, Mendota. Ful- 
ton, Lewistown, Busliville, Geneva, Keithsburg, 
Rock Island. Beardstown, Alton, etc. The entire 
capitalization of the line (including stock, bonds 
and floating debt) amoimted, in 189«, to .5234,884,- 
COO, which was equivalent to alx)ut §33,000 per 
mile. The total earnings of the road in Illinois, 
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, 
amounted to §8,724,997, and the total disburse- 
ments of the Company within the State, during 
the same period, to §7,469,456. Taxes paid in 
1898, §377,968,— (History). The first section of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad was 
constructed under a charter granted, in 1849, to 
the Aurora Branch Railroad Company, the name 
being changed in IS.OS to the Chicago & Aurora 
Railroad Company. The line was completed in 
1853, from the junction with the old Galena & 
Chicago Union Railroad, 30 miles west of Chi- 
cago, to Aurora, later being extended to Mendota. 
In 1855 the name of the Company was changed 
by act of the Legislature to the Chicago. Burling- 
ton & Quincy. The section between Mendota and 
Galesburg (80 miles) was built under a charter 
granted in 1851 to the Central Military Tract 
Railroad Company, and completed in 1854. July 
9, 1856, the two companies were consolidated 
under the name of tlie former. Previous to this 
consolidation the Company had e.xtended aid to 
the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad (from Peoria to 
the Mississippi River, nearly opposite Burlington, 
Iowa), and to the Northern Cross Railroad from 
Quincy to Galesburg, both of which were com- 
pleted in 1855 and operated by the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy. In 1857 the name of the 
Northern Cross was changed to the Quincy & 
Chicago Railroad. In 1860 the latter was sold 
under foreclosure to the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy, and, in 1863, tlie Peoria & Oquawka was 
acquired in the same way — the former constitut- 
ing the Quincy branch of tlie main line and the 
latter giving it its Burlington connection. Up 
to 1863, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy used 
the track of the Galena & Chicago Union Rail- 
road to enter the city of Chicago, but that year 
began the construction of its line from Aurora to 
Chicago, which was completed in 1864. In 1873 
it acquired control, by perpetual lease, of the 
Burlington & Missouri River Road in Iowa, 
and, in 1880, extended this line into Nebraska, 
now reaching Billings, Mont., with a lateral 
branch to Deadwood, So. Dak. Other branches 
in Illinois, built or acquired by this corporation, 
include the Peoria & Hannibal ; Carthage & Bur- 



lington ; Quincy & Warsaw ; Ottawa, Chicago & 
Fox River Valley; Quincy, Alton & St. Louis, 
and the St, Louis, Rock Island & Chicago. The 
Chicago, Burlington & Northern — known as the 
Northern Division of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy — is an important part of the system, 
furnishing a connection between St. Louis on 
the south and St. Paul and Minneapolis on the 
north, of which more than half of the distance of 
583 miles between terminal points, is in Illinois. 
The latter division was originally chartered, Oct. 
21, 1885, and constructed from Oregon. 111., to St. 
Paul, Minn. (319 miles), and from Fulton to 
Savanna, 111. (16.73 miles), and opened, Nov. 1, 
1886. It was formally incorporated into the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy line in 1899. In 
June of the same year the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy also acquired by purchase the Keokuk & 
Western Railroad from Keokuk to Van Wert, 
Iowa (143 miles), and the Des Moines & Kansas 
City Railway, from Des Moines, Iowa, to Caines- 
ville, Mo. (113 miles). 

CHICAGO, DANVILLE & VINCESA'ES RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Chicago & Eastern Illinois Mail- 
road. ) 

CHICAGO DRAINAGE CAIVAL, a channel or 
waterway, in course of construction (1893-99) 
from the Chicago River, within the limits of the 
city of Chicago, to Joliet Lake, in the Des Plaines 
River, about 12 miles above the junction of the 
Des Plaines with the Illinois. The primary object 
of the channel is the removal of the sewage of 
the city of Chicago and the proper drainage of 
the region comprised within what is called the 
"Sanitary District of Chicago." The feasibility 
of connecting the waters of Lake Michigan by 
way of the Des Plaines River with those of the 
Illinois, attracted the attention of the earliest 
French explorers of this region, and was com- 
mented upon, from time to time, by them and 
their successors. As early as 1808 the subject of 
a canal vmiting Lake Michigan with the Illinois 
was discussed in a report on roads and canals by 
Albert Gallatin, then Secretary of the Treasury, 
and the project was touched upon in a bill relat- 
ing to the Erie Canal and other enterprises, intro- 
duced in Congress in 1811. The measure continued 
to receive attention in the press, in Western 
Territorial Legislatures and in official reports, 
one of the latter being a report by John C. Cal- 
houn, as Secretary of War, in 1819, in which it is 
spoken of as "valuable for military purposes," 
In 1833 Congress passed an act granting the 
right of way to the State through the public 
lands for such an enterjirise, which was followed. 



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HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



95 



five J'ears later, by a grant of lands for the pur- 
pose of its construction. The work was begun in 
1836, and so far completed in 1848 as to admit of 
the passage of boats from the Chicago basin to La 
Salle. (See Illinuis & Michigan Canal.) Under 
an act passed by the Legislature in 18C5, the work 
of deepening the canal was undertaken by the 
city of Chicago with a view to furnishing means 
to relieve the city of its sewage, the work being 
completed some time before the fire of 1871. This 
scheme having failed to accomplish the object 
designed, other measures began to be considered. 
Various remedies were proposed, but in all the 
authorities were confronted with the difficulty 
of providing a fund, under the provisions of the 
Constitution of 1870, to meet the necessary cost 
of construction. In the closing months of the 
year 1885, Hon. H. B. Hurd, who had been a 
member of a Board of "Drainage Commission- 
ers," organized in 1855, was induced to give 
attention to the subject. Having satisfied him- 
self and others that the difficulties were not 
insurmountable with proper action by the Legis- 
lature, the City Council, on Jan. 27, 1886, passed 
a resolution authorizing the Mayor to appoint a 
Commission, to consist of "one expert engineer of 
reputation and experience in engineering and 
sanitary matters," and two consulting engineers, 
to constitute a "drainage and water-supply com- 
mission" for the purpose of investigating and 
reporting upon the matter of water-supply and 
disposition of the sewage of the city. As a 
result of this action, Rudolph Hering, of Philadel- 
phia, was appointed expert engineer by Mayor 
Harrison, with Benezette Williams and S. G. 
Artingstall, of Chicago, as consulting engineers. 
At the succeeding session of the General Assem- 
bly (1887), two bills — one known as the "Hurd 
bill" and the other as the "Winston bill," but 
both drawn by Mr. Hurd, the first contemplating 
doing the work by general taxation and the issue 
of bonds, and the other by special assessment — 
were introduced in that body. As it was found 
that neither of these bills could be passed at that 
session, a new and shorter one, whicli became 
known as the "Roche- Winston bill," vras intro- 
duced and passed near the close of the session. 
A resolution was also adopted creating a com- 
mission, consisting of two Senators, two Repre- 
sentatives and Mayor Roche of Chicago, to further 
investigate the subject. The later act, just 
referred to, provided for the construction of a cut- 
off from the Des Plaines River, which would 
divert the flood-waters of that stream and the 
North Branch into Lake Michigan north of the 



city. Nothing was done under this act, however. 
At the next session (1889) the commission made a 
favorable report, and a new law was enacted 
embracing the main features of the Hurd bill, 
though changing the title of the organization to 
be formed from the "Metropolitan Town," as 
proposed by Mr. Hurd, to the "Sanitary Dis- 
trict." The act, as passed, provided for the 
election of a Board of nine Trustees, their powers 
being confined to "providing for the drainage of 
the district," both as to surplus water and sew- 
age. Much opposition to the measure had been 
developed during the pendency of the legislation 
on the subject, especially in the Illinois valley, 
on sanitary grounds, as well as fear of midsum- 
mer flooding of the bottom lands which are 
cultivated to some extent : but this was overcome 
by the argument that the channel would, when 
the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers were improved 
between Joliet and La Salle, furnish a new and 
enlarged waterway for the passage of vessels 
between the lake and the Mississippi River, and 
the enterprise was indorsed by conventions held 
at Peoria, Memphis and elsewhere, during the 
eighteen months preceding the passage of the 
act. The promise ultimately to furnish a flow of 
not less than 600,000 cubic feet per minute also 
excited alarm in cities situated upon the lakes, 
lest the taking of so large a volume of water from 
Lake Michigan should affect the lake-level 
injuriously to navigation; but these apprehen- 
sions were quieted by the assurance of expert 
engineers that the greatest reduction of the lake- 
level below the present minimum would not 
exceed three inches, and more likely would not 
produce a perceptible effect. 

At the general election, held Nov. 5, 1889, 
the "Sanitary District of Chicago" was organ- 
ized by an almost unanimous popular vote 
— the returns showing 70,958 votes for the 
measure to 242 against. The District, as thus 
formed, embraces all of the city of Chicago 
north of Eighty-seventh Street, with forty- 
three square miles outside of the city limits 
but within the area to be benefited by the 
improvement. Though the channel is located 
partly in Will County, the district is wholly in 
Cook and bears the entire expense of construc- 
tion. The first election of Trustees was held at a 
special election, Dec. 12, 1889, the Trustees then 
elected to hold their offices for five years and 
until the following November. The second 
election ocoun-ed, Nov. 5, 1895, when the Board, 
as now constituted (1899), was chosen, viz. : 
William Boldenweck, Joseph C. Braden, Zina R. 



96 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Carter, Bernard A. Eckhart, Alexander J. Jones, 
Thomas Kelly, James P. Mallette, Thomas A. 
Smyth and Frank Wenter. The Trustees have 
power to sell bonds in order to procure funds to 
prosecute the work and to levy taxes upon prop- 
erty -within the district, under certain limitations 
as to length of time the taxes run and the rate 
per cent imposed. Under an amendment of the 
Drainage Act adopted by the Legislature in 1897, 
tlie rate of assessment upon property witliin the 
Drainage District is limited to one and one-half 
per cent, up to and including the year 1899, but 
after tliat date becomes one-half of one per cent. 
The bed of the channel, as now in proce.ss of 
construction, commences at Robey Street and the 
South Branch of the Chicago River, 5.8 miles 
from Lake Micliigan, and extends in a south- 
westerly direction to the vicinity of Summit, 
where it intersects the Des Plaines River. From 
this point it follows the bed of that stream to 
Lockport, in Will County, where, in consequence 
of the sudden depression in the ground, the bed of 
the channel comes to the surface, and where the 
great controlling vi-orks are situated. This has made 
necessary the excavation of about thirteen miles 
of new channel for the river — which runs parallel 
with, and on the west side of, the drainage canal 
^besides the construction of about nineteen 
miles of levee to separate the waters of the 
canal from the river. The following statement 
of the quality of the material excavated and the 
dimensions of the work, is taken from a paper by 
Hon. H. B. Hurd, under the title, "The Chicag(i 
Drainage Channel and Waterway," published in 
the sixtli volume of "Industrial Chicago" (1896): 
"Through that portion of the channel between 
Chicago and Summit, which is being constructed 
to produce a flow of 300,000 cubic feet per minute, 
which is supposed to be sufficient to dilute sew- 
age for about the present population (of Chicago) , 
the width of the channel is 110 feet on the bot- 
tom, with side slopes of two to one. This portion 
of the channel is ultimately to be enlarged to the 
capacity of 600,000 cubic feet per minute. The 
bottom of the channel, at Robey Street, is 24.448 
feet below Chicago datum. The width of the 
channel from Summit down to the neighborhood 
of Willow Springs is 203 feet on the bottom, with 
the same side slope. The cut through the rock, 
which extends from the neighborhood of Willow 
Springs to the point where the channel runs out 
of ground near Lockport, is 160 feet wide at the 
bottom. The entire depth of the channel is 
substantially the same as at Robey Street, with 
the addition of one foot in 40,000 feet. The rock 



portion of the channel is constructed to the full 
capacity of 600, (iOO cubic feet per minute. From 
the point where the channel runs out of ground 
to Joliet Lake, t.here i^ a rapid fall; over this 
slope works are to be constructed to let the water 
down in such a manner as not to damage Joliet. " 
Ground was broken on the rock-cut near 
Lemont, on Sept. 3, 1892, and work has been in 
progress almost constantly ever since. The prog- 
ress of the work was greatly obstructed during 
tlie year 1898, by difficulties encountered in secur- 
ing the right of way for the discharge of the 
waters of the canal through the city of Joliet. 
but these were compromised near the close of the 
year, and it was anticipated that the work would 
be prosecuted to completion during the year 
1899. From Feb. 1, 1890, to Dec. 31, 1898, the 
net receipts of the Board for the prosecution of 
the work aggregated 838,257,707, while the net 
expenditures had amoimted to $28,221 864.57. Of 
the latter, $20,099,284.67 was charged to construc- 
tion account, $3,156,903.12 to "land account" 
(including right of way), and $1,233,092.83 to the 
cost of maintaining the engineering department. 
"When finished, the cost will reach not less than 
835,000,000. These figures indicate the stupen- 
dous character of tlie work, which bids fair to 
stand without a rival of its kind in modern 
engineering and in the results it is expected to 
achieve. 

CHICAGO GREAT WESTERX RAILWAY. 
The total mileage of this line, June 30, 1898. was 
1,008 miles, of which 152..53 miles are operated 
and owned in Illinois. Tlie line in this State 
extends west from Chicago to East Dubuque, the 
e.xtreme terminal points being Chicago and 
Minneapolis in the Northwest, and Kansas City 
in the Southwest. It has several brandies in Illi 
nois, Iowa and Minnesota, and trackage arrange- 
ments with several lines, the most important 
being with the St. Paul & Nortliern Pacific (10.56 
miles), completing the connection between St. 
Paul and Minneapolis ; with the Illinois Central 
from East Dubuque to Portage (13.23 miles), and 
with the Chicago & Northern Pacific from Forest 
Home to the Grand Central Station in Chicago. 
The company's own track is single, of standard 
gauge, laid with sixty and seventy-flve-pound 
steel rails. Grades and curvature are light, and 
the equipment well maintained. The outstand- 
ing capital stock (1898) was $53,019,054; total 
capitalization, including stock, bonds and miscel- 
laneous indebtedness, $57,144,245. (History). The 
road was chartered, Jan. 5, 1893, under the laws 
of Illinois, for the purpose of reorganization of 




VIEWS OF DRAINAGE CANAL. 




VIEWS OF DRAINAGE CANAL. 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



97 



the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railway 
Company on a stock basis. During 1895, the 
De Kalb & Great Western Railroad (5.81 miles) 
was built from De Kalb to Sycamore as a feeder 
of this line. 

CHICAGO, HARLEM & BATAVIA RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Chicago & Korthern Pacific Rail- 
road. ) 

CHICAGO, HAVANA & WESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Illinois Central Railroad. ) 

CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, organized, 
April 24, 1850, for the purposes of (1) establishing 
a library and a cabinet of antiquities, relics, etc. ; 
(2) the collection and preservation of historical 
manuscripts, documents, papers and tracts; (3) 
the encouragement of the discovery and investi- 
gation of aboriginal remains, particularly in Illi- 
nois; (4) the collection of material illustrating 
the growth and settlement of Chicago. By 1871 
the Society had accumulated much valuable 
material, but the entire collection was destroyed 
in the great Chicago fire of that year, among tlie 
manuscripts consumed being the original draft 
of the emancipation proclamation bj- Abraham 
Lincoln. The nucleus of a second collection was 
consumed by fire in 1874. Its loss in this second 
conflagration included many valuable manu- 
scripts. In 1877 a temporary building was 
erected, which was torn down in 1892 to make 
room for the erection, on the same lot, of a 
thorouglily fire-proof structure of granite, 
planned after the most approved modern systems. 
The new building was erected and dedicated 
under the direction of its late President, Ed- 
ward G. Mason, Esq., Dec. 12, 1896. The Society's 
third collection now embraces about twenty-five 
thousand volumes and nearly fifty thousand 
pamphlets; seventy-five portraits in oils, with 
other works of art; a valuable collection of 
manuscript documents, and a large museum of 
local and miscellaneous antiquities. Mr. Charles 
Evans is Secretary and Librarian. 

CHICAGO HOSKEOPATHIC MEDICAL COL- 
LEGE, organized in 1876, with a teaching faculty 
of nineteen and forty-five matriculates. Its first 
term opened October 4, of that year, in a leased 
building. By 1881 the college had outgrown its 
first quarters, and a commodious, well appointed 
structure was erected by the trustees, in a more 
desirable location. The institution was among 
the first to introduce a graded course of instruc- 
tion, extending over a period of eighteen vears. 
In 1897, the matriculatingclassnumbercd over 200. 

CHICAGO HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND 
CHILDREN,located at Chicago, and founded in 



1865 by Dr. Mary Harris Thompson. Its declared 
objects are: "To afford a home for women and 
children among the respectable poor in need of 
medical and surgical aid; to treat the same 
classes at home by an assistant physician; to 
afford a free dispensary for the same, and to 
train competent nurses." At the outset the 
hospital was fairly well sustained through pri- 
vate benefactions, and, in 1870, largely through 
Dr. Thompson's efforts, a college was organized 
for the medical education of women esclu-sively. 
(See Korthuvstern University Woman's 3Iedical 
School.) The hospital building was totally 
destroyed in the great fire of 1871, but temporary 
accommodations were i)rovided in another section 
of the city. The following j-ear, with tlie aid of 
§25,000 appropriated by the Chicago Relief and 
Aid Societ}', a permanent building was pur- 
chased, and, in 1885, a new, commodious and well 
planned building was erected on the same site, at 
a cost of about §75,000. 

CHICAGO, MADISON & NORTHERN RAIL- 
ROAD, a line of railway 231.3 miles in length, 140 
miles of wliich lie within Illinois. It is operated 
by tlie Illinois Central Railroad Company, and is 
known as its "Freeport Division." The par value 
of the capital stock outstanding is §50,000 and of 
bonds §3,500,000, while the floating debt is 
§3,620,698, making a total capitalization of 
§6,170,698, or §20,698 per mile. (See also Illinois 
Central Railroad.) Tliis road was opened from 
Chicago to Freeport in 1888. 

CHICAGO MEDICAL COLLEGE, (See Xorth- 
westcrii University Medical College.) 

CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PALL RAIL- 
WAY, one of the great trunk lines of the North- 
west, having a total mileage (1898) of 0,153.83 
mile.s, of wliich 317.94 are in Illinois. The main 
line extends from Cliicago to Minneapolis, 420 
miles, although it has connections with Kansas 
City, Omaha, Siou.x City and various points in 
Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Tlie Chicago, 
Slilwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company enjoys 
the distinction of being the owner of all the lines 
operated by it, though it operates 245 miles of 
second tracks owned jointly with otlier lines. 
Tlie greater part of its track is laid with 
00, 75 and 85-lb. steel rails. The total capital 
invested (1898; is §220,005,901, distributed as 
follows: capital stock, §77,845,000; bonded debt, 
§135,285,500; other forms of indebtedness, 
§5,572,401. Its total earnings in Illinois for 
1898 were §5,205,244, and the total expendi- 
tures, §3,320,248. The total number of em- 
ployes in Illinois for 1898 was 2,293, receiving 



98 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS- 



$1,746,827.70 in aggregate compensation. Taxes 
paid for the same year amoimted to §151,28.5. — 
(History). The Chicago, Milwaukee &St. Paul 
Railway was organized in 1863 under the name 
of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. The Illi- 
nois portion of the main line was built under a 
charter granted to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul Railway Company, and the 'Wisconsin por- 
tion under charter to the Wisconsin Union Rail- 
road Company; the whole built and opened in 
1872 and purchased by the Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Railway Company. It subsequently acquired by 
purchase several lines in Wisconsin, the whole 
receiving the present name of the line by act of 
the Wisconsin Legislature, passed, Feb. 14, 1874. 
The Chicago & Evanston Railroad was chartered, 
Feb. 16, 1861, built from Chicago to Calvary (10.8 
miles), and opened, May 1, 1885; was consolidated 
with the Chicago & Lake Superior Railroad, 
under the title of the Chicago, Evanston & Lake 
Superior Railroad Company, Dec. 22, 1885, opened 
to Evanston, August 1, 1886, and purchased, in 
June, 1887, by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul Railway Company. The Road, as now 
organized, is made up of twenty-two divisions 
located in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, 
North and South Dakota, Missouri and Jlichigan. 

CHICAGO, PADUCAH & MEMPHIS RAIL- 
ROAD (Projected), a road chartered, Dec. 19, 
1893, to run between Altamont and Metropolis, 
III., 153 miles, with a branch from Johnston City 
to Carbondale, 20 miles — total length, 173 miles. 
The gauge is standard, and the track laid with 
sixty-pound steel rails. By Feb. 1, 1895, the road 
from Altamont to Marion (100 miles) was com- 
pleted, and work on the remainder of the line has 
been in progress. It is intended to connect with 
the Wabash and the St. Louis Southern systems. 
Capital stock authorized and subscribed, S3, 500,- 
000; bonds issued, §1,575,000. Funded debt, 
authorized, $15,000 per mile in five per cent first 
mortgage gold bonds. Cost of road up to Feb. 1, 
1895, §20,000 per mile; estimated cost of the entire 
line, §2,000,000. In December, 1890, this road 
passed into the hands of the Chicago & Eastern 
Illinois Railroad Company, and is now operated to 
Marion, in Williamson County. (See Chicago ct 
Eastern Illinois Railroad.) 

CHICAGO, PEKIN & SOUTHWESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD, a division of the Chicago & Alton R;iil- 
road, chartered as the Chicago & Plainfield 
Railroad, in 1859; opened from Pekin to Streator 
in 1873, and to Mazon Bridge in 1876; sold under 
foreclosure in 1879, and now constitutes a part of 
the Chicago & Alton system. 



CHICAGO, PEORIA & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD 

COMPANY (of Illinois), a corporation operating 
two lines of railroad, one extending from Peoria 
to Jacksonville, and the other from Peoria to 
Springfield, with a connection from the latter 
place (in 1895), over a leased line, with St. Louis. 
The total mileage, as oflicially rejiorted in 1895, 
was 208.66 miles, of which 106 were owned by 
the corporation. (1) The original of the Jackson- 
ville Division of this line was the Illinois River 
Railroad, opened from Pekin to Virginia in 1859. 
In October, 1863, it was sold under foreclosure, 
and, early in 1804, was transferred by the pur- 
chasers to a new corporation called the Peoria, 
Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad Company, by 
whom it was extended the same year to Peoria, 
and, in 1869, to Jacksonville. Another fore- 
closure, in 1879, resulted in its sale to the 
creditors, followed by consolidation, in 1881, 
with the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway. 
(2) The Springfield Division was incorporated in 
1869 as the Springfield & Northwestern Railway ; 
construction was begun in 1872, and road opened 
from Springfield to Havana (45.20 miles) in 
December, 1874, and from Havana to Pekin and 
Peoria over the track of the Peoria, Pekin & 
Jacksonville line. The same year the road was 
leased to the IndianapoUs, Bloomington & West- 
em Railroad Companj', but the lease was for- 
feited, in 1875, and the road placed in the hands 
of a receiver. In 1881, together with the 
Jacksonville Division, it was transferred to the 
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, and by 
that company operated as the Peoria & Spring- 
field Railroad. The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
having defaulted and gone into the hands of a 
receiver, both the Jacksonville and the Spring- 
field Divisions were reorganized in February, 
1887, under the name of the Chicago, Peoria & 
St. Louis Railroad, and placed under control of 
the Jacksonville Southeastern Railroad. A 
reorganization of the latter took place, in 1890, 
under the name of the Jacksonville, Louisville & 
St. Louis Railway, and, in 1893, it passed into the 
hands of receivers, and was severed from its 
allied lines. The Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis 
Railroad remained under the management of a 
separate receiver until January, 1890, when a 
reorganization was effected under its present 
name — "The Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Rail- 
road of Illinois." The lease of the Springfield 
& St. Louis Division having expired in Decem- 
ber, 1895, it has also been reorganized as an 
independent corporation under the name of the 
St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railway (which see)- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



99 



CHICAGO RIVER, a sluggish stream, draining 
a narrow strip of land between Lake Michigan 
and the Des Plaines River, tlie entire waterslied 
drained amounting to some 470 square miles. It 
is formed by tlie union of the "Nortli" and 
the "South Branch," whicli unite less than a mile 
and a half from the mouth of the main stream. 
At an early day the former was known as the 
"Guarie" and the latter as "Portage River." The 
total length of the North Branch is about 20 miles, 
only a small fraction of which is navigable. The 
South Branch is shorter but offers greater facilities 
for navigation, being lined along its lower por- 
tions with grain -elevators, lumber-yards and 
manufactories. The Illinois Indians in early days 
found an easy portage between it and the Des 
Plaines River. The Chicago River, with its 
branches, separates Chicago into three divisions, 
known, re.spectively, as the "North" the "South" 
and the "West Divisions." Drawbridges have 
been erected at the principal street crossings 
over the river and both branches, and four 
tunnels, connecting the various divisions of the 
city, have been constructed under the river bed. 

CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAIL- 
WAT, formed by the consolidation of various 
lines in 1880. The parent corporation (The 
Chicago & Rock Island Railroad) was chartered 
in Illinois in 1851, and the road opened from Chi- 
cago to the Mississippi River at Rock Island (181 
miles), July 10, 1854. In 1852 a company was 
chartered under the name of the Mississippi & 
Missouri Railroad for the extension of the road 
from the Mississippi to the Missouri River. The 
two roads were consolidated in 1866 as the Chi- 
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and the 
extension to the Jlissouri River and a junction 
with the Union Pacific completed in 1869. The 
Peoria & Bureau Valley Railroad (an important 
feeder from Peoria to Bureau Junction — 46.7 
miles) was incorporated in 1853, and completed 
and leased in perpetuity to the Chicfago & Rock 
Island Railroad, in 1854. The St. Joseph & Iowa 
Railroad was purchased in 1889, and the Kansas 
City & Topeka Railway in 1891. The Company 
has financial and tralBc agreements with the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Texas Railway, extending 
from Terral Station, Indian Territory, to Fort 
Worth, Texas. The road also has connections 
from Chicago with Peoria ; St. Paul and Minne- 
apolis; Omaha and Lincoln (Neb.); Denver, Colo- 
rado *iprings and Pueblo (Colo.), besides various 
points in South Dakota, Iowa and Southwestern 
Kansas. The extent of the lines owned and 
operated by the Company ( ' 'Poor's Manual, ' ' 1898) , 



is 3,568.15 miles, of which 236.51 miles are in 
Illinois, 189.52 miles being owned by the corpo- 
ration. All of the Company's owned and 
leased lines are laid with steel rails. The total 
capitalization reported for the same year was 
§116,748,211, of which §50,000,000 was in stock 
and §58,830,000 in bonds. The total earnings and 
income of the hne in Illinois, for the year ending 
June 30, 1898, was §5,851,875, and the total 
expenses §3,401,165, of which §233,129 was in the 
form of taxes. The Company has received under 
Congressional grants 550, 194 acres of land, exclu- 
sive of State grants, of which there had been sold, 
up to March 31, 1894, 548,609 acres. 

CHICAGO, ST. PAUL & FOND DU LAC RAIL- 
ROAD. {See Chicago & Northtcestern Railway.) 

CHICAGO, ST. PAUL & KANSAS CITY RAIL- 
WAY. (See Chicago Great Wefitern Raihcay.) 

CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS & PADUCAH RAIL- 
WAY, a short road, of standard gauge, laid with 
steel rails, extending from Marion to Brooklyn, 
111., 53.64 miles. It was chartered, Feb. 7, 1887, 
and opened for traffic, Jan. 1, 1889. The St. 
Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company is 
the lessee, having guaranteed principal and inter- 
est on its first mortgage bonds. Its capital stock 
is §1,000,000, and its bonded debt §2,000,000, 
making the total capitalization about §56,000 per 
mile. The cost of the road was §2,950,000; total 
incumbrance (1895), §3,016,715. 

CHICAGO TERMINAL TRANSFER RAIL- 
ROAD, the successor to the Chicago & Northern 
Pacific Railroad. The latter was organized in 
November, 1889, to acquire and lease facilities to 
other roads and transact a local business. The 
Road under its new name was chartered, June 4, 
1897, to purchase at foreclosure sale the property 
of the Chicago & Northern Pacific, soon after 
acquiring the property of the Chicago & Calumet 
Terminal Railway also. Tlie combination gives 
it the control of 84.53 miles of road, of which 
70.76 miles are in Illinois. The line is used for 
both passenger and freight terminal purposes, 
and also a belt line just outside the city limits. 
Its principal tenants are the Chicago Great West- 
ern, the Baltimore & Ohio, the Wisconsin Central 
Lines, and the Chicago, Hammond & Western 
Railroad. The Company also has control of the 
ground on which the Grand Central Depot is 
located. Its total capitalization (1898) was §44,- 
553,044, of which §30,000,000 was capital stock 
and §13,394,000 in the form of bonds. 

CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, organ- 
ized, Sept. 26, 1854, by a convention of Congre- 
gational ministers and laymen representing seven 



100 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Western States, among which was lUinois. A 
special and liberal charter was granted, Feb. 15, 
18.J.5. The Seminary has always been under 
Congregational control and supervision, its 
twenty-four trustees being elected at Triennial 
Conventions, at which are represented all the 
churches of that denomination west of the Ohio 
and east of the Rocky Mountains. The institu- 
tion was formally opened to students, Oct. 6, 
1858, with two professors and twenty-nine 
matriculates. Since then it has steadily grown 
in both numbers and influence. Preparatory and 
linguistic schools have been added and the 
faculty (1890) includes eight professors and nine 
minor instructors. The Seminary is liberally 
endowed, its productive assets being nearly 
§1,000,000, and the value of its grounds, build- 
ings, library, etc., amounting to nearly §500,000 
more. No charge is made for tuition or room 
rent, and there are forty-two endowed scholar- 
ships, the income of which is devoted to the aid 
of needy students. The buildings, including the 
library and dormitories, are four in number, and 
are well constructed and arranged. 

CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD, an impor 
tant railway running in a southwesterly direc- 
tion from Chicago to St. Louis, with numerous 
branches, extending into Missouri, Kansas and 
Colorado. The Chicago & Alton Railroad proper 
was constructed under two charters — the first 
granted to the Alton & Sangamon Railroad Com- 
pany, in 1847, and the second to the Chicago & 
Mississippi Railroad Company, in 1853. Con- 
struction of the former was begun in 1853, and 
the line opened from Alton to Springfield in 
1853. Under the second corporation, the line was 
opened from Springfield to Bloomington in 1854, 
and to Joliet in 1856. In 1855 a line was con- 
structed from Chicago to Joliet under the name 
of the Joliet & Chicago Railroad, and leased in 
jjerpetuity to the present Company, which was 
reorganized in 1857 under the name of the St. 
Louis, Alton & Chicago Railroad Companj'. For 
some time connection was had between Alton 
and St. Ijouis by steam-packet boats running in 
connection with the railroad; but later over the 
line of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad— 
the first railway line connecting the two cities— 
and, finally, by the Company's own line, which 
was constructed in 1864, and formally opened 
Jan. 1, 18G5. In 1801, a company with the 
present name (Chicago & Alton Railroad Com- 
pany) was organized, which, in 1863, purchased 
the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago Road at fore- 
closure sale. Several branch lines have since 



been acquired bj' purchase or lease, the most 
important in the State being the line from 
Bloomington to St. Louis by way of Jacksonville. 
This was chartered in 1851 under the name of the 
St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad, was 
opened for business in January, 1868, and having 
been diverted from the route upon wliich it was 
originally projected, was completed to Blooming- 
ton and leased to the Chicago & Alton in 1868. 
In 1884 this branch was absorbed by the main 
line. Other important branches are the Kansas 
City Branch from Roodhouse, crossing the Mis- 
sissippi at Louisiana, Mo. ; the Washington 
Branch from Dwight to Washington and Lacon, 
and the Chicago & Peoria, by which entrance is 
obtained into the city of Peoria over the tracks 
of the Toledo, Peoria & Western. The whole 
number of miles operated (1898; is 843.54, of 
which .580.73 lie in Illinois. Including double 
tracks and sidings, the Company has a total 
trackage of 1,180 miles. The total capitalization, 
in 1898, was $33,793,972, of which §23, 330, 600 was 
in stock, and §0,094,8.50 in bonds. The total 
earnings and income for the year, in Illinois, were 
§5,033,315, and the operating and other expenses, 
§4,272,207. This road, under its management as 
it existed up to 1898, has been one of the most uni- 
formly successful in the country. Dividends 
have been paid semiannually from 1863 to 1884, 
and quarterly from 1884 to 1890. For a number 
of years previous to 1897, the dividends had 
amounted to eight per cent per annum on both 
preferred and common stock, but later had been 
reduced to seven per cent on account of short 
crops along the line. The taxes paid in 1898 
were §341,040. The surplus, June 30, 1895, 
exceeded two and three-quarter million dollars. 
The Chicago & Alton was the first line in the 
world to put into service sleeping and dining cars 
of the Pullman model, which have since been so 
widely adopted, as well as the first to run free 
reclining chair-cars for the convenience and 
comfort of its passengers. At the time the 
matter embraced in this volume is undergoing 
final revision (1899), negotiations are in progress 
for the purchase of this historic line by a syndi- 
cate representing the Baltimore & Ohio, the 
Missoviri Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas systems, in whose 
interest it will hereafter be operated. 

CHICAGO & AURORA RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago, Burlington <£■ Quincy Railroad.) 

CHICAGO & EASTERN ILLINOIS RAIL- 
ROAD. This company operates a line 510.3 miles 
in length, of which 278 miles are within Illinois. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



101 



The main line in this State extends southerly 
from Dolton Junction (17 miles south of Chicago) 
to Danville. Entrance to the Polk Street Depot 
in Chicago is secured over the tracks of the 
Western Indiana Raih-oad. The company owns 
several important branch lines, as follows: From 
Momence Junction to the Indiana State Line; 
from Cissna Junction to Cissna Park ; from Dan- 
ville Junction to Shelbyville, and from Sidell to 
Eossville. The system in Illinois is of standard 
gauge, about 108 miles being double track. The 
right of way is 100 feet wide and well fenced. 
The grades are light, and the construction 
(including rails, ties, ballast and bridges), is 
generally excellent. The capital stock outstand- 
ing (1895) is §13,594, 400; funded debt, 818,018,000; 
floating debt, S916.3S1; total capital invested, 
$32,570,781; total earnings in Illinois, §3,593,073; 
expenditures in the State, §3,595,631. The com- 
pany paid the same year a dividend of six per 
cent on its common stock (§286,914), and reported 
a surplus of §1,484,763. The Chicago & Eastern 
Illinois was originally chartered in 1865 as the 
Chicago, Danville & Vincennes Railroad, its main 
line being completed in 1873. In 1873, it defaulted 
on interest, was sold under foreclosure in 1877, 
and reorganized as the Chicago & Nashville, but 
later in same year took its present name. In 
1894 it was consolidated with the Chicago & 
Indiana Coal Railway. Two spurs (5.27 miles in 
length) were added to the line in 1895. Early in 
1897 this line obtained control of the Chicago, 
Paducah & Memphis Railroad, which is now 
operated to Marion, in Williamson County. (See 
Chicago, Paducah & Memphis Railroad.) 

CHICAGO & GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY. Of 
the 335.27 miles of the Chicago & Grand Trunk 
Railroad, only 30.65 are in Illinois, and of the 
latter 9.7 miles are operated under lease. That 
portion of the line within the State extends from 
Chicago easterly to the Indiana State line. The 
Company is also lessee of the Grand Junction 
Railroad, four miles in length. The Road is 
capitalized at §6,600,000, lias a bonded debt of 
§12,000,000 and a floating debt (1895) of §2,371,42,5, 
making the total capital invested, $20,871,425. 
The total earnings in Illinois for 1895 amounted 
to §660,393; disbursements within the State for 
the same period, §345,233. The Chicago & Grand 
Trunk Railway, as now constituted, is a consoli- 
dation of various lines between Port Huron, 
Mich., and Chicago, operated in the interest of 
the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. The Illi- 
nois section was built under a charter granted in 
1878 to the Chicago & State Line Railway Com.- 



pany, to form a connection with Valparaiso, Ind. 
This corporation acquired the Chicago & South- 
ern Railroad (from Chicago to Dolton), and the 
Chicago & State Line Extension in Indiana, all 
being consolidated under the name of the North- 
western Grand Trunk Railroad. In 1880, a final 
consolidation of these lines with the eastward 
connections took place under the present name — 
the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway. 

CHICAGO & GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY. 
(See Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago <& St. Louis 
Railway.) 

CHICAGO & GREAT SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 
(See Peoria, Decatur & EvansviUe Railway.) 

CHICAGO & ILLINOIS SOUTHERN RAIL- 
WAY. (See Peoria, Decatur & EvansviUe Rail- 
u-ay. ) 

CHICAGO & MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago <fc Alton Railroad.) 

CHICAGO & NASHVILLE RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago <fc Eastern Illinois Railroad.) 

CHICAGO & NORTHERN PACIFIC RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Chicago Terminal Transfer Rail- 
road. ) 

CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY, 
one of the great trunk lines of the country, pene- 
trating the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michi- 
gan, Iowa, Minnesota and North and South 
Dakota. The total length of its main line, 
branches, proprietary and operated lines, on May 
1, 1899, was 5,076.89 miles, of which 594 miles are 
operated in Illinois, all owned by the company. 
Second and side tracks increase the mileage 
to a total of 7,217.91 miles. The Chicago & 
Northwestern Railway (proper) is operated in 
nine separate divisions, as follows: The Wis- 
consin, Galena, Iowa, Northern Iowa, Madison, 
Penin.sula, Winona and St. Peter, Dakota and 
Ashland Divisions The principal or main lines 
of the "Northwestern ,Sy.stem,"' in its entirety, 
are those which have Cliicago, Omaha, St. Paul 
and Minneapolis for their termini, though their 
branches reach numerous important points 
within the States already named, from the shore 
of Lake Michigan on the east to Wyoming on the 
west, and from Kansas on the south to Lake 
Superior on the north. — (History.) The Chi- 
cago & Northwestern Railway Company was 
organized in 1859 under charters granted by the 
Legislatures of Illinois and Wisconsin during 
that year, under which the new company came 
into possession of the rights and franchises of the 
Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad Com- 
pany. The latter road was the outgrowth of 
various railway enterprises which had been pro 



102 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



jected, chartered and partly constructed in AVis- 
consin and Illinois, between 1848 and 1855, 
including the Madison & Beloit Railroad, the 
Rook River Valley Union Railroad, and the Illi- 
nois & Wisconsin Railroad — tlie last named com- 
pany being chartered by the Illinois Legislature 
in 1851, and authorized to build a railroad from 
Chicago to the Wisconsin line. The Wisconsin 
Legislature of 1855 authorized the consolidation 
of the Rock River Valley Union Railroad witli the 
Illinois enterprise, and, in March, 1855, the con- 
solidation of these lines was perfected under the 
name of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac 
Railroad. During the first four years of its exist- 
ence this company built 176 miles of the road, of 
which seventy miles were between Chicago and 
the Wisconsin State line, with the sections con- 
structed in Wisconsin completing the connection 
between Chicago and Fond du Lao. As the result 
of the financial revulsion of 1857, the corporation 
became financially embarrassed, and the sale of its 
property and franchises under the foreclosure of 
1859, already alluded to, followed. This marked 
the beginning of the present corporation, and, in 
the next few years, by the construction of new 
lines and the purchase of others in Wisconsin and 
Northern Illinois, it added largely to the extent 
of its lines, both constructed and projected. The 
most important of these was the union effected 
with the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, 
which was formally consolidated with the Chi- 
cago & Northwestern in 18G4. The history of 
the Galena & Chicago Union is interesting in 
view of the fact that it was one of the earliest 
railroads incorporated in Illinois, having been 
chartered by special act of the Legislature during 
the "internal improvement" excitement of 1836. 
Be.sides, its charter was the only one of that 
period \inder which an organization was effected, 
and although construction was not begun under 
it until 1847 (eleven years afterward), it was the 
second railroad constructed in the State and the 
first leading from the city of Chicago. In the 
forty years of its history the growth of the Chi- 
cago & Northwestern has been steady, and its 
success almost phenomenal. In that time it has 
not only added largely to its mileage by the con- 
struction of new lines, but has absorbed more 
lines than almost any other road in the country, 
until it now reaches almost every important city 
in the Northwest. Among the lines in Northern 
Illinois now constituting a part of it, were several 
which had become a part of the Galena & Chicago 
Union before the consolidation. These included 
a line from Belvidere to Beloit, Wis. ; the Fox 



River Valley Railroad, and the St. Charles & 
Mississippi Air Line Railroad — all Illinois enter- 
prises, and more or less closely connected with 
the development of the State. Tlie total capi- 
talization of the line, on June 30, 1898, was 
§200,968,108, of which $66,408,821 was capi- 
tal stock and §101,603,000 in the form of 
bonds. The earnings in the State of Illinois, 
for the same period, aggregated §4.374,923, 
and the expenditures §8,712,593. At the present 
time (1899) the Chicago & Northwestern is build- 
ing eight or ten branch lines in Wisconsin, Iowa, 
Minnesota and South Dakota. The Northwestern 
System, as such, comprises nearly 3,000 miles of 
road not included in the preceding statements of 
mileage and financial condition. Although owned 
by the Chicago & Northwestern Company, they 
are managed by different officers and under other 
names. The mileage of the whole system covers 
nearly 8,000 miles of main line. 

CHICAGO & SPRINGFIELD RAILROAD. 
{See Illinoin Central Railroad.) 

CHICAGO & TEXAS RAILROAD, a line 
seventy-three miles in length, extending from 
Johnston City by way of Carbondale westerly to 
the Mississippi, thence soutlierly to Cape Girar- 
deau. The line was originally operated by two 
companies, under the names of the Grand Tower 
& Carbondale and the Grand Tower & Cape Girar- 
deau Railroad Companies. The former was 
chartered in 1882, and the road built in 1885; the 
latter, chartered in 1889 and the line opened the 
same year. They were consolidated in 1893, and 
operated under the name of the Chicago & Texas 
Railroad Company. In October, 1897, the last 
named line was transferred, under a twenty-five 
j-ear lease, to the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
panj-, by whom it is operated as its St. Louis & 
Cape Girardeau division. 

CHICAGO & WESTERN INDIANA RAIL- 
RO.ID. The main line of this road extends from 
Chicago to Dolton, 111. (17 miles), and affords ter- 
minal facilities for all lines entering the Polk St. 
Depot at Chicago. It has branches to Hammond, 
Ind. (10.28 miles) ; to Cragin (15.9 miles), and to 
South Chicago (5.41 miles); making the direct 
mileage of its branches 48.59 miles. In addition, 
its second, third and fourth tracks and sidings 
increase the mileage to 204.79 miles. The com- 
pany was organized June 9, 1879 ; the road opened 
in 1880, and, on Jan. 26, 1882, consolidated with 
the South Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad 
Company, and the Chicago & Western Indiana 
Belt Railway. It also owns some 850 acres in fee 
in Chicago, including wharf property on the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



103 



Chicago River, right of way, switch and transfer 
yards, depots, the Indiana grain elevator, etc. 
The elevator and the Belt Division are leased to 
the Belt Railway Company of Chicago, and the 
rest of the property is leased conjointly by the 
Chicago & Eastern IlUnois, the Chicago & Grand 
Trunk, the Chicago & Erie, the Louisville, New 
Albany & Chicago, and the Wabash Railways 
(each of which owns §1,000,000 of the capital 
stock), and by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. 
These companies pay the expense of operation 
and maintenance on a mileage basis. 

CHICAGO & WISCONSIN RAILROAD. (See 
Wisconsin Central Lines.) 

CHILDS, Robert A., was born at Malone, 
Franklin County, N. Y., March 23, 1845, the son 
of an itinerant Methodist preacher, who settled 
near Belvidere, Boone County, 111., in 18,52. His 
home having been broken up by the death of his 
mother, in 1854, he went to live upon a farm. In 
April, 1861, at the age of 16 years, he enlisted in 
the company of Captain (afterwards General) 
Stephen A. Hurlbut, which was later attached to 
the Fifteenth Illinois Volunteers. After being 
mustered out at the close of the war, he entered 
school, and graduated from the Illinois State 
Normal University in 1870. For the following three 
years he was Principal and Superintendent of 
public schools at Amboy, Lee County, meanwhile 
studying law, and being admitted to the bar. In 
1873, he began the practice of his profession at 
Chicago, making his home at Hinsdale. After 
filling various local ofSces, in 1884 he was 
chosen Presidential Elector on the Republican 
ticket, and, in 1892, was elected by the narrow 
naajority of thirty-seven votes to represent the 
Eighth Illinois District in the Fifty-third Con- 
gress, as a Republican. 

CHILLICOTHE, a city in Peoria County, situ- 
ated on the Illinois River, at the head of Peoria 
Lake; is 19 miles northwest of Peoria, on the 
Peoria branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad, and the freight division of the 
Atkinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. It is an 
important shipping-point for grain ; has a can- 
ning factory, a button factory, two banks, five 
churches, a high school, and two weekly news- 
papers. Population (1890), 1,632; (1900), 1,699, 

CHINIQUT, (Rev.) Charles, clergyman and 
reformer, was born in Canada, July 30, 1809, of 
mixed French and Spanish blood, and educated 
for the Romish priesthood at the Seminary of St. 
Nicholet, where he remained ten years, gaining a 
reputation among his fellow students for extraor- 
dinary zeal and piety. Having been ordained 



to the priesthood in 1833, he labored in various 
churches in Canada until 1851, when he accepted 
an invitation to Illinois with a view to building 
up the church in the Mississippi Valley. Locat- 
ing at the junction of the Kankakee and Iroquois 
Rivers, in Kankakee County, he was the means 
of bringing to that vicinity a colony of some 
5,000 French Canadians, followed by colonists 
from France, Belgium and other European 
countries. It has been estimated that, over 
50,000 of this class of emigrants were settled in 
Illinois within a few years. The colony em- 
braced a territory of some 40 square miles, with 
the village of St. Anns as the center. Here 
Father Chiniquy began his labors by erecting 
churches and schools for the colonists. He soon 
became dissatisfied with what he believed to be 
the exercise of arbitrary authority by the ruling 
Bishop, then began to have doubts on the question 
of papal infallibility, the final result being a 
determination to separate himself from the 
Mother Church. In this step he appears to have 
been followed by a large proportion of the colo- 
nists who had accompanied him from Canada, but 
the result was a feeling of intense bitterness 
between the opposing factions, leading to much 
litigation and many criminal prosecutions, of 
which Father Chiniquy was the subject, though 
never convicted. In one of these suits, in which 
the Father was accused of an infamous crime, 
Abraham Lincoln was counsel for the defense, 
the charge being proven to be the outgrowth of 
a conspiracy. Having finally determined to 
espouse the cause of Protestantism, Father 
Chiniquy allied himself with the Canadian Pres- 
bytery, and for many years of his active clerical 
life, divided his time between Canada and the 
United States, having supervision of churches in 
Montreal and Ottawa, as well as in this country. 
He also more than once visited Europe by special 
invitation to address important religious bodies 
in that country. He died at Montreal, Canada, 
Jan. 16, 1899, in the 90th year of his age. 

CHOUART, Medard, (known also as Sieur des 
Groseilliers), an early French explorer, supposed 
to have been born at Touraine, France, about 
1621. Coming to New France in early youth, he 
made a voyage of discovery with his brother-in- 
law, Radisson, westward from Quebec, about 
1654-56, these two being believed to have been 
the first white men to reach Lake Superior. 
After spending the winter of 1658-59 at La 
Pointe, near where Ashland, Wis., now stands, 
they are believed by some to have discovered the 
Upper Mississippi and to have descended that 



104 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



stream a long distance towards its nioutli, as 
they claimed to have reached a much milder 
climate and heard of Spanisli ships on the salt 
water (Gulf of Mexico). Some antiquarians 
credit them, about this time (1059), with having 
visited the present site of the city of Cliicago. 
Tliey were the first explorers of Xorthwestern 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and are also credited 
with having been the first to discover an inland 
route to Hudson's Bay, and with being the 
founders of the original Hudson's Bay Company. 
Groseillier's later history is unknown, but lie 
ranks among the most intrepid explorers of the 
"New World" about the middle of the seventli 
century. 

CHRISMAN, a city of Edgar County, at the 
intersection of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- 
cago & St. Louis and the Cincinnati. Hamilton & 
Dayton Railroads, 24 miles south of Danville; has 
a pipe-wrench factory, grain elevators, and 
storage cribs. Population (1890), 820; (1900), 90.5. 

CHRISTIAN COUNTY, a rich agricultural 
county, lying in the "central belt," and organized 
in 1839 from parts of Macon, Montgomery, 
Sangamon and Shelby Counties. The name first 
given to it was Dane, in honor of Nathan Dane, 
one of the framers of the Ordinance of 1787, but 
a political prejudice led to a cliange. A pre- 
ponderance of early settlers having come from 
Christian County, Ky., this name was finally 
adopted. The surface is level and the soil fertile, 
the northern half of the county being best 
adapted to corn and the southern to wlieat. Its 
area is about 710 square miles, and its population 
(1900), was 32,790. The life of the early settlers 
was exceedingly primitive. Game was abun- 
dant; wild honey was used as a substitute for 
sugar; wolves were troublesome; prairie fires 
were frequent; the first mill (on Bear Creek) 
could not grind more than ten bushels of grain 
per day, by horse-power. The people hauled their 
corn to St. Louis to exchange for groceries. The 
first store was opened at Robertson's Point, but 
the county-seat was established at Taylorville. A 
great change was wrouglit in local conditions by 
the advent of the Illinois Central Railway, wliich 
passes through the eastern part of t)ie county. 
Two other railroads now pass centrally through 
the county— the "Wabash" and the Baltimore & 
Ohio Southwestern. The principal towns are 
Taylorville (a railroad center and thriving town 
of 2,829 inhabitants), Pana, Morrisonville, Edin- 
burg, and Assumption. 

CHURCH, Lawrence S., lawyer and legislator, 
was born at Nunda, N. Y., in 1830; passed his 



youth on a farm, but having a fondness for study, 
at an early age began teacliing in winter with a 
view to earning means to prosecute his studies in 
law. In 1843 he arrived at McHenry, then the 
county-seat of McHenry County, III., having 
walked a jjart of the way from New York, paj"ing 
a portion of his expenses by the delivery of lec- 
tures. He soon after visited Springfield, and 
liaving been examined before Judge S. H. Treat, 
was admitted to the bar. On the removal of the 
count}- -seat from McHenry to Woodstock, he 
removed to the latter place, where he continued 
to reside to the end of his life. A member of the 
Wliig party ujj to 18.56, he was that j-ear elected 
as a Republican Representative in the Twentieth 
General Assembly, serving by re-election in the 
Twenty-first and Twenty-second ; in 1860, was 
supported for tlie nomination for Congress in tlie 
Northwestern District, but was defeated by Hon. 
E. B. Washburne; in 1862, aided in the organiza- 
tion of the Ninety-fifth Illinois Volunteers, and 
was commissioned its Colonel, but was compelled 
to resign before reaching the field on account of 
failing health. In 1866 lie was elected County 
Judge of McHenry County, to fill a vacanc}', and, 
in 1869 to the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. 
Died, July 23, 1870. Judge Churcli was a man of 
liigh principle and a speaker of decided ability. 

CHURCH, Seidell Marvin, capitalist, was born 
at East Had dam. Conn., March 4, 1804; taken by 
liis father to Monroe Count j', N. Y., in boyhood, 
and grew up on a farm there, but at the age of 
21, went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged 
in teacliing, being one of the earliest teacliers in 
the public schools of that city. Then, having 
spent some time in mercantile pursuits in Roches- 
ter, N. Y., in 1835 he removed to Illinois, first 
locating at Geneva, but the following year 
removed to Rockford, where he continued to 
reside for the remainder of liis life. In 1841, he 
was appointed Postmaster of the city of Rock- 
ford by the first President Harrison, remaining 
in office three years. Other offices held by him 
were those of County Clerk (1843-47), Delegate to 
the Second Constitutional Convention (1847), 
Judge of Probate (1849-57), Representative in 
the Twenty -third General Assembly (1863-63), 
and member of the first Board of Public Charities 
by appointment of Governor Palmer, in 1869, 
being re-appointed by Governor Beveridge, in 
1873, and, for a part of the time, serving as Presi- 
dent of the Board. He also served, by appoint- 
ment of the Secretary of War. as one of the 
Commissioners to assess damages for the Govern- 
ment improvements at Rock Island and to locate 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



105 



the Government bridge between Rock Island and 
Davenport. During the latter years of his life he 
was President for some time of the Rockford 
Insurance Company ; was also one of the origina- 
tors, and, for many years. Managing Director of 
the Rockford Water Power Company, which has 
done so much to promote the prosperity of that 
city, and, at the time of his death, was one of the 
Directors of the Winnebago National Bank. Died 
at Rockford, June 23, 1893. 

CHURCHILL, George, early printer and legis- 
lator, was born at Hubbardtown, Rutland 
County, Vt., Oct. 11, 1789; received a good edu- 
cation in his }-outh, thus imbibing a taste for 
literature which led to his learning the printer's 
trade. In 180G he became an apprentice in the 
office of the Albany (N. Y.) "Sentinel," and, 
after serving his time, worked as a journeyman 
printer, thereby accumulating means to purchase 
a half-interest in a small printing office. Selling 
this out at a loss, a year or two later, he went to 
New York, and, after working at the case some 
five months, started for the West, stopping en 
route at Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Louisville. 
In the latter place he worked for a time in the 
office of "The Courier," and still later in that of 
"The Correspondent," then owned by Col. Elijah 
C. Berry, who subseojuently came to Illinois and 
served as Auditor of Public Accounts. In 1817 
he arrived in St. Louis, but, attracted by the fer- 
tile soil of Illinois, determined to engage in agri- 
cultural pursuits, finally purchasing land some 
six miles southeast of Edwardsville, in Madison 
Coimty, where he continued to reside the re- 
mainder of his life. In order to raise means to 
improve his farm, in the spring of 1819 he 
worked as a compositor in the office of "The 
Missouri Gazette" — the predecessor of "The St. 
Louis Republic." While there he wrote a series 
of articles over the signature of "A Farmer of St. 
Charles County," advocating the admission of 
the State of Missouri into the Union without 
slavery, which caused considerable excitement 
among the friends of that institution. During 
the same year he aided Hooper Warren in 
establishing his paper, "The Spectator," at 
Edwardsville, and, still later, became a frequent 
contributor to its columns, especially during the 
campaign of 1822-24, which resulted, in the latter 
year, in the defeat of the attempt to plant slavery 
in Illinois. In 1822 he was elected Represent- 
ative in the Third General Assembly, serving in 
that body by successive re-elections until 1832. 
His re-election for a second term, in 1824, demon- 
strated that his vote at the preceding session, in 



opposition to the scheme for a State Convention 
to revise the State Constitution in the interest of 
slavery, was approved by his constituents. In 
1838, he was elected to the State Senate, serving 
four years, and, in 1844, was again elected to the 
House — in all serving a period in both Houses of 
sixteen years. Mr. Churchill was never married. 
He was an industrious and systematic collector of 
historical records, and, at the time of his death in 
the summer of 1873, left a mass of documents and . 
other historical material of great value. (See 
Slavery and Slave Laws; Warren, Hooper, and 
Coles, Edward.) 

CLARK (Gen.) George Rogers, soldier, was 
born near Monticello, Albemarle County, Va., 
Nov. 19, 1752. In his younger life he was a 
farmer and surveyor on the upper Ohio. His 
first experience in Indian fighting was under 
Governor Dunniore, against the Shawnees (1774). 
In 1775 he went as a surveyor to Kentucky, and 
the British having incited the Indians against 
the Americans in the following year, he was 
commissioned a Major of militia. He soon rose 
to a Colonelcy, and attained marked distinction. 
Later he was commissioned Brigadier-General, 
and planned an expedition against the British 
fort at Detroit, which was not successful. In 
the latter part of 1777, in consultation with Gov. 
Patrick Henry, of Virginia, he planned an expe- 
dition against Illinois, which was carried out 
the following year. On July 4, 1778, he captured 
Kaskaskia without firing a gun, and other 
French villages surrendered at discretion. The 
following February he set out from Kaskaskia to 
cross the "Illinois Country" for the purpose of 
recapturing Vincennes, which had been taken and 
was garrisoned by the British under Hamilton. 
After a forced march characterized by incredible 
suffering, his ragged followers effected the cap- 
ture of the post. His last important military 
service .was against the savages on the Big 
Miami, whose villages and fields he laid waste. 
His last years were passed in sorrow and in com- 
parative penury. He died at Louisville, Ky., 
Feb. 18, 1818, and his remains, after reposing in a 
private cemetery near that city for half a cen- 
tury, were exhumed and removed to Cave Hill 
Cemetery in 1869. The fullest history of General 
Clark's expedition and his life will be found in 
the "Conquest of the Country Northwest of the 
Ohio River, 17741783, and Life of Gen. George 
Rogers Clark" (2 volumes, 1896), by the late 
William H. English, of Indianapolis. 

CLARK, Horace S., lawyer and politician, was 
born at Huntsburg, Ohio, August 12, 1840. At 



106 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the age of 15, coming to Chicago, he found 
employment in a livery stable; later, worked on 
a farm in Kane County, attending scliool in the 
vvinter. After a year spent in Iowa City attend- 
ing the Iowa State University, he returned to 
Kane County and engaged in the dairy business, 
later occupying himself with various occupations 
in Illinois and Missouri, but finally returning to 
his Ohio home, where he began the study of law 
at Circleville. In 1861 he enlisted in an Ohio 
regiment, rising from the ranks to a captaincy, 
but was finally compelled to leave the service in 
consequence of a wound received at Gettysburg. 
In 1865 he settled at JIattoon, 111., where he was 
admitted to tlie bar in 1868. In 18T0 he was an 
unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature on the 
Republican ticket, but was elected State Senator 
in 1880, serving four years and proving himself 
one of the ablest speakers on the floor. In 1888 
he was chosen a delegate-at-large to the National 
Republican Convention, and has long been a con- 
spicuous figui"e in State politics. In 1S06 he was 
a prominent candidate for the Republican nomi- 
nation for Governor. 

CLARK, John M., civil engineer and merchant, 
was born at White Pigeon, Mich., August 1, 1836; 
came to Chicago with his widowed mother in 
1847, and, after five years in the Chicago schools, 
served for a time (18.j2) as a rodman on the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad. After a course in the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., 
where he graduated in 18.56, he returned to the 
service of the Illinois Central. In 18.j9 he went to 
Colorado, where he was one of the original 
founders of the city of Denver, and chief engi- 
nee.v of its first water supply company. In 1863 
he started on a surveying expedition to Arizona, 
but was in Santa Fe when that place was captured 
by a rebel expedition from Texas; was also 
present soon after at the battle of Apache Cafion, 
when the Confederates, being defeated, were 
driven out of the Territory. Returning to Clii- 
cago in 1864, he became a member of the whole- 
sale leather firm of Gray, Clark & Co. The 
official positions held by Mr. Clark include those 
of Alderman (1879-81), Member of the Board of 
Education, Collector of Customs, to which he 
was appointed by President Harrison, in 1889, 
and President of the Chicago Civil Service Board 
by appointment of Mayor Swift, under an act 
passed by the Legislature of 1895, retiring in 1897. 
In 1881 he was the Republican candidate for Ma)'or 
of Chicago, but was defeated by Carter H. Harri- 
son. Mr. Clark is one of the Directors of the Crerar 
Libraiy, named in the wiU of Mr. Crerar. 



CLARE COUXTT, one of the eastern counties 
of the State, south of the middle line and front- 
ing upon the Wabash River; area, 510 square 
miles, and population (1900), 24,033; named for 
Col. George Rogers Clark. Its organization was 
effected in 1819. Among the earliest pioneers 
were John Bartlett, Abraham Wasliburn, James 
AVhitlock, James B. Anderson, Stephen Archer 
and Uri Manly. The county seat is Marshall, the 
site of which was purchased from the Govern- 
ment in 1833 by Gov. Joseph Duncan and Col. 
William B. Archer, the latter becoming solo pro- 
prietor in 1835, in which year the first log cabin 
was built. The original county-seat was Darwin, 
and the change to Marshall (in 1849) was made 
only after a hard struggle. The soil of the 
county is rich, and its agricultural products 
varied, embracing corn (the chief staple), oats, 
potatoes, winter wheat, butter, sorghum, honey, 
maple sugar, wool and pork. Woolen, flouring 
and lumber mills exist, but the manufacturing 
interests are not extensive. Among the promi- 
nent towns, besides Marshall and Darwin, are 
Casey (population 844), Martinsville (779), West- 
field"(510), and York (394). 

CLAY, Porter, clergyman and brother of the 
celebrated Henry Clay, was born in Virginia, 
March, 1779 ; in early life removed to Kentucky, 
studied law, and was, for a time. Auditor of 
Public Accounts in that State; in 1815, was con- 
verted and gave himself to the Baptist ministry, 
locating at Jacksonville, III., where he spent 
most of Ids life. Died, in 18.50. 

CLAY CITY, a village of Clay County, on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 13 
miles west of OIney ; has one newspaper, a bank, 
and is in a grain and fruit-growing region. 
Population (1890), 613; (1900), 907; (1903), 1,020. 

CLAY COUXTY, situated in the southeastern 
quarter of the State ; has an area of 470 square 
miles and a population (,1900) of 19,553. It was 
named for Henry Clay. The first claim in the 
county was entered by a Mr. Elliot, in 1818, and 
soon after settlers began to locate homes in tlie 
county, although it was not organized until 1824. 
During the same year the pioneer settlement of 
JIaysville was made the county -seat, but immi- 
gration continued inactive until 1837, when 
many settlers arrived, headed by Judges Apper- 
son and Hopkins and Messrs. Stanford and Lee, 
who were soon followed by the families of Coch- 
ran, McCullom and Tender. The Little Wabasli 
River and a number of small tributaries drain 
the county. A light-colored sandy loam consti- 
tutes the greater part of the soil, although "black 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



107 



prairie loam" appears liere and tliere. Railroad 
facilities are limited, but sufficient to accommo- 
date the county's requirements. Fruits, 
especially apples, are successfully cultivated. 
Educational advantages are fair, although largely 
confined to district schools and academies in 
larger towns. Louisville was made the county- 
seat in 1842, and, in 1890, had a population of 
637. Xenia and Flora are the most important 
towns. 

CLATTOX, a town in Adams County, on the 
Wabash Railway, 28 miles east-northeast of 
Quincy. A branch of the Wabash Railway ex- 
tends from this point northwest to Carthage, 111., 
and Keokuk, Iowa, and another branch to 
Quincy, 111. The industries incluile flour and feed 
mills, machine and railroad repair shops, grain 
elevator, cigar and harness factories. It lias a 
bank, four churches, a higli scliool, and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1890), 1,038; (1900), 996. 

CLEAVER, William, pioneer, was born in Lon- 
don, England, in 1815; came to Canada with his 
parents in 1S31, and to Chicago in 1834; engaged 
in business as a chandler, later going into the 
grocery trade; in 1840, joined the gold-seekers in 
California, and, six years afterwards, established 
himself in the southern part of the present city 
of Chicago, then called Cleaverville, where he 
served as Postmaster and managed a general 
store. He was the owner of considerable real 
estate at one tiine in what is now a densely 
populated part of the city of Chicago. Died in 
Chicago, Nov. 13, 1896. 

CLEMENTS, Isaac, ex-Congressman and Gov- 
ernor of Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Danville, 
111., was born in Franklin County, Ind., in 1837; 
graduated from Asbury University, at Green- 
castle, in 1859, having supported himself during 
his college course by teacliing. After reading 
law and being admitted to the bar at Greencastle, 
he removed to Carbondale, 111., where he again 
found it necessary to resort to teaching in order 
to purchase law-books. In July, 18G1, he enlisted 
in the Ninth Illinois Infantry, and was commis- 
sioned Second Lieutenant of Company G. He 
was iu the service for three j-ears, was three 
times wounded and twice promoted "for mei'i- 
torious sei-vice." In June, 1867, he was ap- 
pointed Register in Bankruptcy, and from 1873 
to 1875 was a Republican Representative in the 
Forty-third Congress from the (then) Eighteenth 
District. He was also a member of the Repub- 
lican State Convention of 1880. In 1S89, he 
became Pension Agent for the District of Illinois, 
by appointment of President Harrison, serving 



until 1893. In the latter part of 1898, he was 
appointed Superintendent of the Soldiers' 
Orphans' Home, at Normal, but served only a 
few" months, when he accepted the position of 
Governor of the new Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, 
at Danville. 

CLEVELAND, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO & ST. 
LOUIS RAILWAY. The total length of this sys- 
tem (1898) is 1,807.34 miles, of which 478.39 miles 
are operated in Illinois. That portion of the main 
line lying within the State extends from East St. 
Louis, northeast to the Indiana State line, 181 
miles. The Company is also the lessee of the 
Peoria & Eastern Railroad (133 miles), and oper- 
ates, in addition, other lines, as follows: Tiie 
Cairo Division, extending from Tilton, on the 
line of the Wabash, 3 miles southwest of Dan- 
ville, to Cairo (2.59 miles) • the Chicago Divi.sion, 
extending from Kankakee southeast to the 
Indiana State line (34 miles) ; the Alton Branch, 
from Wann Junction, on the main line, to Alton 
(4 miles). Besides these, it enjoys with the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, joint owner- 
ship of the Kankakee & Seneca Railroad, which 
it operates. The sy.stem is uniformly of standard 
gauge, and about 380 miles are of double track. 
It is laid with heavy steel rails (sixty-five, sixty- 
seven and eighty pounds), laid on white oak ties, 
and is amply ballasted with broken stone and 
gravel. Extensive repair shops are located at 
Mattoon. The total capital of the entire system 
on June 30, 1898 — including capital stock and 
bonded and floating debt— was §97,149,361. The 
total earnings in Illinois for the year were 
§3,773, 193, and the total expenditures in the State 
•53,611,437. The taxes paid the same year were 
8134,196. The liistory of this system, so far as 
Illinois is concerned, begins with the consolida- 
tion, in 1889, of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. 
Louis & Chicago, the Cleveland, Columbus, Cin- 
cinnati & Indianapolis, and the Indianajwlis & 
St. Louis Railway Companies. In 1890, certain 
leased lines in Illinois (elsewhere mentioned) 
were merged into the system. (For history of 
the several divisions of this system, see St. Louis, 
Alton & Terre Haute, Peoria & Eastern, Cairo 
& Vincennes, and Kankakee & Seneea Railroads.) 

CLIMATOLOGY. Extending, as it does, through 
six degrees of latitude, Illinois afl'ords a great 
diversity of climate, as regards not only the 
range of temperature, but also the amount of 
rainfall. In both particulars it exhibits several 
points of contrast to States lying between the 
same parallels of latitude, but nearer the Atlan- 
tic. The same statement applies, as well, to all 



108 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the North Central and the Western States. 
Warm winds from the Gulf of Jlexico come up 
the Mississippi Valley, and impart to vegetation 
in the southern portion of the State, a stimulat- 
ing influence which is not felt upon the seaboard. 
On the other hand, there is no great barrier to 
the descent of the Arctic winds, which, in 
winter, sweep down toward the Gulf, depressing 
the temperature to a point lower than is custom- 
ary nearer the seaboard on the same latitude. 
Lake Michigan exerts no little influence upon the 
climate of Chicago and other adjacent districts, 
mitigating both summer heat and winter cold. 
If a comparison be instituted between Ottawa 
and Boston — the latter being one degi-ee farther 
north, but 570 feet nearer the sea-level — the 
springs and summers are found to be about five 
degrees warmer, and the winters tliree degrees 
colder, at the former point. In comparing the 
East and W^est in respect of rainfall, it is seen 
that, in the former section, the same is pretty 
equally distributed over the four seasons, while 
in the latter, spring and summer may be called 
the wet season, and autumn and winter the dry. 
In the extreme W^est nearly three-fourths of the 
yearly precipitation occurs during the growing 
season. This is a climatic condition highly 
favorable to the grovi-th of grasses, etc., but 
detrimental to the growth of trees. Ilence we 
find luxuriant forests near the seaboard, and, in 
the interior, grassy plains. Illinois occupies a 
geographical position where these great climatic 
changes begin to manifest themselves, and where 
the distinctive features of the prairie first become 
fully apparent. The annual precipitation of 
rain is greatest in the southern part of the State, 
but, o%ving to the higher temperature of that 
section, the evaporation is also more rapid. The 
distribution of the rainfall in respect of seasons 
is also more unequal toward the south, a fact 
which may account, in part at least, for the 
increased area of woodlands in that region. 
While Illinois lies within the zone of southwest 
winds, their flow is affected by conditions some- 
what abnormal. The northeast trades, after 
entering the Gulf, are deflected by the mountains 
of Mexico, becoming inward breezes in Texas, 
southerly winds in the Lower Mississippi Vallej', 
and southwesterly as they enter the Upper 
Valley. It is to this aerial current that the hot, 
moist summers are attributable. The north and 
northwest winds, which set in with the change 
of the season, depress the temperature to a point 
below that of the Atlantic slope, and are 
attended with a diminished precipitation. 



CLIXTOX, tlie county-seat of De Witt County, 
situated i'i miles south of Bloomington, at inter- 
section of the Springfield and the Cliampaign- 
Havana Divisions with the main line of the Illinois 
Central Railroad ; lies in a productive agricultural 
region; has macliine sliops, flour and planing 
mills, brick and tile works, water works, electric 
lighting plant, piano-case factory, banks, three 
newspapers, six churches, and two public schools. 
Population (1890), 2,.598; (1900), 4,452. 

CLINTON COUNTY, organized in 1824. from 
portions of Washington, Bond and Fayette Coun- 
ties, and named in honor of De Witt Clinton. It 
is situated directly east of St. Louis, has an area 
of 494 square miles, and a population (1900) of 
19,824. It is drained by the Kaskaskia River and 
by Shoal, Crooked, Sugar and Beaver Creeks. Its 
geological formation is similar to that of other 
counties in the same section. Thick layers of 
limestone lie near the surface, with coal seams 
underlying the same at varying depths. The 
soil is varied, being at some points black and 
loamy and at others (under timber) decidedly 
clayey. The timber has been mainly cut for fuel 
because of the inherent difficulties attending 
coal-mining. Two railroads cross the county 
from east to west, but its trade is not important. 
Agriculture is the chief occupation, corn, wheat 
and oats being the staple products. 

CLOUD, Newton, clergyman and legislator, 
was born in North Carolina, in 1805, and, in 1827, 
settled in the vicinity of Waverly, Morgan 
Count}', III., w-here he pursued the vocation of a 
farmer, as well as a preacher of the Methodist 
Church. He also became prominent as a Demo- 
cratic politician, and served in no less than nine 
sessions of the General Assembly, besides the 
Constitutional Convention of 1847, of which he 
was chosen President. He was first elected 
Representative in the .Seventh Assembly (1830), 
and afterwards served in the House during the 
sessions of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thir- 
teenth, Fifteenth and Twentj'-seventh, and as 
Senator in the .Sixteenth and Seventeenth. He 
was also Clerk of the House in 1844-45, and, 
having been elected Representative two years 
later, was chosen .Speaker at the succeeding ses- 
sion. Although not noted for any specially 
aggressive qualities, his consistency of character 
won for him general respect, while his frequent 
elections to the Legislature prove him to have 
been a man of large influence. 

CLOWRV, Robert C, Telegraph Managsr, was 
born in 1838; entered the service of the Illinois & 
Mississippi Telegraph Company as a messenger 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



109 



boy at Joliet in 1853, became manager of the 
office at Lockport six montlis later, at Springfield 
in 1853. and chief operator at St. Louis in 1854. 
Bet«-een 1859 and "63, he held highly responsible 
positions on various Western lines, but the latter 
year was commissioned by President Lincoln 
Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, and placed 
in charge of United States military lines with 
headquarters at Little Rock, Ark. ; was mustered 
out in May, 1866, and immediately appointed 
District Superintendent of Western Union lines 
in the Southwest. From that time his promotion 
was steady and rapid. In 1875 he became 
Assistant General Superintendent ; in 1878, Assist- 
ant General Superintendent of the Central Divi- 
sion at Chicago; in 1880, succeeded General 
Stager as General Superintendent, and, in 1885, 
was elected Director, member of the Execu- 
tive Conimittee and Vice-President, his terri- 
tory extending from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. 

COAL AND COAL-MIXING. Illinois contains 
much the larger portion of what is known as the 
central coal field, covering an area of about 
37,000 square miles, and underlying sixty coun- 
ties, in but forty-five of which, however, opera- 
tions are conducted on a commercial scale. The 
Illinois field contains fifteen distinct seams. 
Those available for commercial mining generally 
lie at considerable depth and are reached by 
shafts. The coals are all bituminous, and furnish 
an excellent steam-making fuel. Coke is manu- 
factured to a limited extent in La Salle and some 
of the southern counties, but elsewhere in the 
State the coal does not yield a good marketable 
coke. Neither is it in any degree a good gas 
coal, although used in some localities for that 
purpose, rather because of its abimdance than on 
accoimt of its adaptability. It is thought that, 
with the increase of cheap transportation facili- 
ties, Pittsburg coal will be brought into the State 
in such quantities as eventually to exclude local 
coal from the manufacture of gas. In the report 
of the Eleventh United States Census, the total 
product of the Illinois coal mines was given as 
12,104,272 tons, as against 6,115,377 tons reported 
by the Tenth Census. The value of the output 
was estimated at §11,735,203, or $0.97 per ton at 
the mines. The total number of mines was 
stated to be 1,072, and the number of tons mined 
was nearly equal to the combined yield of the 
mines of Ohio and Indiana. The mines are 
divided into two classes, technically known as 
"regular" and "local." Of the former, there 
were 358, and of the latter, 714, These 358 regular 



mines employed 23,934 men and boys, of whom 
21,350 worked below ground, besides an ofiSce 
force of 389, and paid, in wages, §8,694,397. The 
total capital invested in these 358 mines was 
$17,030,351. According to the report of the State 
Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1898, 881 mines 
were operated during the year, employing 35,026 
men and producing 18,599,299 tons of coal, which 
was 1,473,459 tons less than the preceding year — 
the reduction being due to the strike of 1897. 
Five counties of the State produced more than 
1,000,000 tons each, standing in the following 
order: Sangamon, 1,703,863; St. Clair, 1,600,752; 
Vermilion, 1,520,099; Macoupin, 1,364,926; La 
Salle, 1,105,490. 

COAL CITY, a town in Grundy County, on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 39 miles 
by rail south-southwest of Joliet. Large coal 
mines are operated liere, and the town is an im- 
portant shipping point.for their product. It has a 
bank, a weekly newspaper and five churches. 
Pop. (1890), 1,672; (1900), 2,607; (1903), about 3,000. 

COBB, Emery, capitalist, was born at Dryden, 
Tompkins County, N. Y., August 30, 1831; at 16, 
began the study of telegraphy at Ithaca, later 
acted as operator on Western New York lines, 
but, in 1852, became manager of the office at 
Cliicago, continuing until 1865, the various com- 
panies having meanwhile been consolidated into 
the Western Union. He then made an extensive 
tour of the world, and, although lie liad intro- 
duced the .system of transmitting money by 
telegraph, he declined all invitations to return to 
the key-board. Having made large investments 
in lands about Kankakee, where he now resides, 
he has devoted much of his time to agriculture 
and stock-raising; was also, for many years, a 
member of the State Board of Agriculture, Presi- 
dent of the Short-Horn Breeders' Association, 
and, for twenty years (1873-93), a member of the 
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 
He has done much to improve the city of his 
adoption by the erection of buildings, the con- 
struction of electric street-car lines and the 
promotion of manufactures. 

■ COBB, Silas B., pioneer and real-estate opera- 
tor, was born at Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 23, 1813; 
came to Chicago in 1833 on a schooner from Buf- 
falo, the voyage occupying over a month. Being 
without means, he engaged as a carpenter upon a 
building which James Kinzie, the Indian trader, 
was erecting ; later he erected a building of his 
own in which he started a harness-shop, which 
he conducted successfully for a number of years. 
He has since been connected with a number 



110 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of business enterprises of a public character, 
including banks, street and steam railways, but 
his largest successes have been achieved in the line 
of improved real estate, of wliich he is an exten- 
sive owner. He is also one of the liberal bene- 
factors of the University of Chicago, "Cobb 
Lecture Hall," on the campusof that institution, 
being the result of a contribution of his amount- 
ing to §150,000. Died in Chicago, April 5, 1900. 

COBDEX, a village in Union County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 42 miles north of Cairo 
and 15 miles south of Carbondale. Fruits and 
vegetables are extensively cultivated and shipped 
to northern markets. This region is well tim- 
bered, and Cobden has two box factories emj^loy- 
ing a considerable number of men; also has 
.several churches, schools and two weekly papers. 
Population (1890), 994; (1900,) 1,034. 

COCHRAN, William Granville, legislator and 
jurist, was born in Ross County, Ohio, Nov. 13, 
1844; brought to Moultrie County, 111., in 1849, 
and, at the age of 17, enli.sted in the One Hundred 
and Twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, 
serving in the War of the Rebellion three years 
as a private. Returning home from the war, he 
resumed life as a farmer, but early in 1873 began 
merchandising at Lovington, continuing this 
business three years, when he began the study of 
law; in 1879, was admitted to the bar, and has 
since been in active practice. In 1888 he was 
elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly, was an unsuccessful candidate for the 
Senate in 1890, but was re-elected to the House 
in 1894, and again in 1896. At the special session 
of 1890, he was chosen Speaker, and was similarly 
honored in 1895. He is an excellent parliamen- 
tarian, clear-headed and just in his rulings, and 
an able debater. In June, 1897, he was elected 
for a six years' term to the Circuit bench. He is 
also one of the Trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' 
Home at Normal. 

CODDIXtJ, Ichabod, clergyman and anti- 
slavery lecturer, was born at Bristol, N. Y., in 
1811; at the age of 17 he was a popular temper- 
ance lecturer; while a student at Middlebury, 
Vt., began to lecture in opposition to slavery; 
after leaving college served five years as agent 
and lecturer of the Anti-Slavery Society; was 
often exposed to mob violence, but alwaj-s retain- 
ing his self-control, succeeded in escaping 
serious injury. In 1842 he entered the Congrega- 
tional ministry and held pastorates at Princeton, 
Lockport, Joliet and elsewhere ; between 1854 
and '58, lectured extensively through Illinois on 
the Kansas-Nebraska issue, and was a power in 



the organization of the Republican party. Died 
at Baraboo, Wis., June 17, 18ti0. 

CODV, Hiram Hitchcock, lawyer and Judge: 
born in Oneida County, N. Y., June 11, 1824; was 
partially educated at Hamilton College, and, in 
1843. came with his father to Kendall County, 
111. In 1847, he removed to Naperville, where 
for six years he served as Clerk of the County 
Commissioners' Court. In 1851 he was admitted 
to the bar; in 1861, was elected County Judge 
with practical unanimity, served as a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 18G9-70, and. 
in 1874, was elected Judge of the Twelfth Judi- 
cial Circuit. His residence (1896) was at Pasa- 
dena, Cal. 

COLCHESTER, a city of McDonough County, 
on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 
midway between Galesburg and Quincy ; is the 
center of a rich farming and an extensive coal- 
mining region, pi-oducing more than lOO.OOO tons 
of coal annually. A superior quality of potter's 
claj' is also niinea and shipped extensively to 
other points. Tlie city lias brick and drain-tile 
works, a bank, four churches, two public schools 
and two weekly papers. Population (1890), 
1,643; (1900), 1,635. 

COLES, Edward, the second Governor of the 
State of IlUuois, bom in Albemarle Coimty, Va., 
Dec. 15, 1786, the son of a wealthy planter, who 
had been a Colonel in the Revolutionary War; 
was educated at Hampden-Sidney and William 
and Mary Colleges, but compelled to leave before 
graduation by an accident which interrupted his 
studies; in 1809, became the private secretary of 
President Madison, remaining six years, after 
which he made a trip to Russia as a special mes- 
senger by appointment of the President. He 
early manifested an interest in the emancipation 
of the slaves of Virginia. In 1815 he made his 
first tour through the Northwest Territory, going 
as far west as St. Louis, returning three years 
later and visiting Kaskaskia while the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1818 was in session. In 
April of the following year he set out from his 
Virginia home, accompanied by his slaves, for 
Illinois, traveling b}- wagons to Brownsville, Pa., 
where, taking flat-boats, he descended the river 
with his goods and servants to a point below 
Louisville, where they disembarked, journeying 
overland to Edwardsville. While descending 
the Ohio, he informed his slaves that they were 
free, and, after arriving at their destination, 
gave to each head of a family 160 acres of land. 
This generous act was, in after years, made the 
ground for bitter parsecntion by his enemies. At 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Ill 



EJwardsville he entered upon the duties of 
Register of the Land Office, to which he had 
been api^ointed by President Monroe. In 1823 
he became the candidate for Governor of tJiose 
opposed to removing tlie restriction in the State 
Constitution against the introduction of slavery, 
and, although a majority of the voters then 
favored the measure, he was elected by a small 
plurality over his highest competitor in conse- 
quence of a division of the opjjosition vote 
between three candidates. The Legislature 
chosen at the same time submitted to the people 
a proposition for a State Convention to revise the 
Constitution, which was rejected at the election 
of 1824 by a majority of 1,668 in a total vote of 
11,613. While Governor Coles had the eflicient 
aid in opposition to the measure of such men as 
Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, Congressman Daniel 
P. Cook, Morris Birkbeck, George Forquer, 
Hooper AVarren, George ChvirchiU and others, he 
was himself a most influential factor in protecting 
Illinois from the blight of slavery, contributing 
liis salary for his entire term (S4,000) to that end. 
In 1835 it became his duty to welcome La Fay- 
ette to Illinois. Retiring from office in 1826, he 
continued to reside some years on his farm near 
Edwardsville, and, in 1830, was a candidate for 
Congress, but being a known opponent of Gen- 
eral Jackson, was defeated by Josepli Duncan. 
Previous to 1833, he removed to Philadelphia, 
where he married during the following year, and 
continued to reside there until his death, July 7, 
1868, having hved to see the total extinction of 
slavery in the United States. (See Slavery and 
Slave Laws.) 

COLES COUNTY, originally a part of Crawford 
County, but organized in 1831, and named in 
honor of Gov. Edward Coles.— lies central to the 
eastern portion of the State, and embraces 520 
square miles, with a population (1900) of 34,146. 
The Kaskaskia River (sometimes called the 
Okaw) runs through the northwestern part of the 
county, but the principal stream is the Embarras 
(Embraw). The chief resource of the people is 
agriculture, although the county lies within the 
limits of the Illinois coal-belt. To the north and 
west are prairies, while timber abounds in the 
southeast. The largest crop is of corn, although 
wheat, dairy products, potatoes, hay, tobacco, 
sorghum, wool, etc., are also important jiroducts. 
Broom-corn is extensively cultivated. Manufac- 
turing is carried on to a fair extent, the output 
embracing sawed lumber, carriages and wagons, 
agricultural implements, tobacco and snuff, boots 
and shoes, etc. Charleston, the county-seat, is 



centrally located, and has a number of handsome 
public buildings, private residences and business 
blocks. It was laid out in 1831, and incorporated 
in 1865; in 1900, its population was 5,488. 
Mattoon is a railroad center, situated some 130 
miles east of St. Louis. It has a population of 
9,622, and is an important shipping jjoint for 
grain and live-stock. Other principal towns are 
Ashmore, Oakland and Lerna. 

COLFAX, a village of McLean County, on the 
Kankakee and Bloomington branch of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, 23 miles northeast of Blooming- 
ton. Farming and stock-growing are the leading 
industries; has two banks, one newspaper, tluee 
elevators, and a coal mine. Pop. (1900), 1,153. 

COLLEGE OF PHYSICIAXS AND SURGEONS, 
located at Chicago, and organized in 1881. Its 
first term opened in September, 1882, in a build- 
ing erected by the trustees at a cost of 860,000, 
with a faculty embracing twentj'-five professors, 
with a sufficient corjis of demonstrators, assist- 
ants, etc. The number of matriculates was 153. 
The institution ranks among the leading medical 
colleges of the West. Its standard of qualifica- 
tions, for both matriculates and graduates, is 
equal to those of other first-class medical schools 
throughout the country. The teaching faculty, 
of late years, has consisted of some twenty-five 
professors, who are aided by an adequate corps of 
assistants, demonstrators, etc. 

COLLEGES, EARLY. The early Legislatures of 
Illinois manifested no little unfriendliness toward 
colleges. The first charters for institutions of 
this character were granted in 1833, and were for 
the incorporation of the "Union College of Illi- 
nois," in Randolph County, and the "Alton Col- 
lege of Illinois," at Upper Alton. The first 
named was to be under the care of the Scotch 
Covenanters, but was never founded. The 
second was in the interest of the Baptists, but 
the charter was not accepted. Both these acts 
contained jealous and unfriendly restrictions, 
notably one to the effect that no theological 
department should be established and no pro- 
fessor of theology emj^loyed as an instructor, nor 
should any religious test be applied in the selec- 
tion of trustees or the admission of pupils. The 
friends of higher education, however, made com- 
mon cause, and, in 1835, secured the passage of 
an "omnibus bill" incorporating four private 
colleges — the Alton; the Illinois, at Jacksonville; 
the McKendree, at Lebanon, and the Jonesboro. 
Similar restrictive provisions as to tlieological 
teaching were incorporated in these charters, and 
a limitation was placed upon the amount of 



112 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



property to be owned by any institution, but in 
many respects the law was more liberal than its 
predecessors of two years previous Owing to 
the absence of suitable preparatory schools, these 
institutions were compelled to maintain prepara- 
tory departments under the tuition of the college 
professors. The college last named above (Jones- 
boro) was to have been founded by the Christian 
denomination, but was never organized. The 
three remaining ones stand, in the order of their 
formation, McKendree, Illinois, Alton (afterward 
Shurtleff) ; in the order of graduating initial 
classes — Illinois, McKendree, Shurtleff. Pre- 
paratory instruction began to be given in Illinois 
College in 1829, and a class was organized in the 
collegiate department in 1831. The Legislature 
of 1835 also incorporated the Jacksonville Female 
Academy, the first school for girls chartered in 
the State. From this time forward colleges and 
academies were incorporated in rapid succession, 
many of them at places whose names have long 
since disappeared from the map of the State. It 
was at this time that there developed a strong 
party in favor of founding what were termed, 
rather euphemistically, "Manual Labor Col- 
leges." It was believed that the time which a 
student might be able to "redeem" from study, 
could be so jirofitably employed at farm or shop- 
work as to enable him to earn his own livelihood. 
Acting upon this theory, the Legislature of 1835 
granted charters to the "Franklin JIanual Labor 
College," to be located in either Cook or La Salle 
County; to the "Burnt Prairie Manual Labor 
Seminary," in White County, and the "Chatham 
Manual Labor School," at Lick Prairie, Sanga- 
mon County. University powers were conferred 
upon the institution last named, and its charter 
also contained the somewhat extraordinary pro- 
vision that anj- sect might establish a professor- 
ship of theology therein. In 1837 six more 
colleges were incorporated, only one of which 
(Knox) was successfully organized. By 1840, 
better and broader viaws of education had 
developed, and the Legislature of 1841 repealed 
all prohibition of the establishing of theological 
departments, as well as the restrictions previously 
imposed upon the amount and value of property 
to be owned b}- private educational institutions. 
The whole number of colleges and seminaries 
incorporated under the State law (189G) is forty- 
three. (See also Illinois College, Knox College, 
Lake Forest University, McKendree College, lion- 
mouth College, Jacksonville Female Seminary, 
Jdonticcllo Female Seminary, Northwestern Uni- 
versity, Shtirth'ff College. ) 



COLLIER, Robert Laird, clergyman, was bom 
in Salisbury, Md., August 7, 1837; graduated at 
Boston University, 1858; soon after became an 
itinerant Methodist minister, but, in 18G6, united 
with the Unitarian Church and officiated as 
pastor of churches in Chicago, Boston and Kan- 
sas City, besides supplying pulpits in various 
cities in England (1880-85). In 1885, he was 
appointed United States Consul at Leipsic, but 
later served as a special commissioner of the 
Johns Hopkins University in the collection of 
labor statistics in Europe, meanwhile gaining a 
wide reputation as a lecturer and magazine 
writer. His published works include: "Every- 
Day Subjects in Sunday Sermons" (1869) and 
"Meditations on the Essence of Christianity" 
(1876). Died near his birthplace, July 27, 1890. 

COLLINS, Frederick, manufacturer, was bom 
in Connecticut, Feb. 24, 1804. He was the young- 
est of five brothers who came with their parents 
from Litchfield, Conn , to Illinois, in 1823, and 
settled in the town of Unionville — now Collins- 
ville — in the southwestern part of Madison 
County. They were enterprising and public- 
spirited business men, who engaged, quite 
extensively for the time, in various branches of 
manufacture, including flour and whisky. This 
was an era of progress and development, and 
becoming convinced of the injurious character 
of the latter branch of their business, it was 
promptly abandoned. The subject of this sketch 
was later associated with his brother Michael in 
the pork-packing and grain business at Naples, 
the early Illinois River terminus of the Sangamoq 
& Morgan (now Wabash) Railroad, but finally 
located at Quincj' in 1851, where he was engaged 
in manufacturing business for many years. He 
was a man of high business probity and religious 
principle, as well as a determined opponent of the 
institution of slavery, as shown by the fact that 
he was once subjected by his neighbors to the 
intended indignitj' of being hung in efiigy for the 
crime of assisting a fugitive female slave on the 
road to freedom. In a speech made in 1834, in 
commemoration of the act of emancipation in the 
West Indies, he gave utterance to the following 
prediction: "Methinks the time is not far distant 
when our own country will celebrate a day of 
emancipation within her own borders, and con- 
sistent songs of freedom shall indeed ring 
throughout the length and breadth of the land." 
He lived to see this prophecy fulfilled, dying at 
Quincy, in 1878. Mr. Collins was the candidate of 
the Liberty Men of Illinois for Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor in 1842. 



HISTOrjCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



113 



COLLIXS, James H.,. lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Cambridge, Washington County, N. Y., 
but taken in early life to Vernon, Oneida County, 
where he grew to manhood. After spending a 
couple of years in an academy, at the age of 18 
he began the study of law, was admitted to the 
bar in 1834, and as a counsellor and solicitor in 
1837, coming to Chicago in the fall of 1833, mak- 
ing a part of the journey by the first stage-coach 
from Detroit to the present Western metropolis. 
After arriving in Illinois, he spent some time in 
exploration of the surrounding country, but 
returning to Chicago in 1834, he entered into 
partnership with Judge John D. Caton, who had 
been his preceptor in New York, still later being 
a partner of Justin Butterfield under the firm 
name of Butterfield & Collins. He was con- 
sidered an eminent authority in law and gained 
an extensive practice, being regarded as espe- 
cially strong in chancery cases as well as an able 
pleader. Politically, he was an uncompromising 
anti-slavery man, and often aided runaway 
slaves in securing their liberty or defended others 
who did so. He was also one of the original 
promoters of the old Galena & Chicago Union 
Railroad and one of its first Board of Directors. 
Died, suddenl}' of cholera, while attending court 
at Ottawa, in 18.54. 

COLLINS, Loren C, jurist, was born at Wind- 
sor, Conn., August 1, 1848; at the age of 18 
accompanied his family to Illinois, and was 
educated at the Northwestern University. He 
read law, was admitted to the bar, and soon 
built up a remunerative practice. He was 
elected to the Legislature in 1878, and through 
his ability as a debater and a parliamentarian, 
soon became one of the leaders of his party on 
the floor of the lower house. He was re-elected 
in 1880 and 1883, and, in 1883, was chosen Speaker 
of the Thirty-third General Assembly. In 
December, 1884, he was appointed a Judge of the 
Circuit Court of Cook County, to fill the vacancy 
created by the resignation of Judge Barnum, was 
elected to succeed himself in 188.'), and re-elected 
in 1891, but resigned in 1894, since that time 
devoting his attention to regular practice in the 
city of Chicago. 

COLLINS, William H., retired manufacturer, 
born at CoUinsville, 111., March 30, 1831; was 
educated in the common schools and at Illinois 
College, later taking a course in literature, 
philosophy and theology at Yale College ; served 
as pastor of a Congregational church at La Salle 
several years; in 1858, became editor and propri- 
etor of "The Jacksonville Journal," which he 



conducted some four j'ears. The Civil War hav- 
ing begun, he then accepted the chaplaincy of 
the Tenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, but 
resigning in 1863, organized a company of the 
One Hundred and Fourth Volunteers, of which 
he was chosen Captain, participating in the 
battles of Cliickamauga, Lookout Mountain and 
Missionary Ridge. Later he served on the staff 
of Gen. John M. Palmer and at Fourteenth Army 
Corps headquarters, until after the fall of 
Atlanta. Then resigning, in November, 1864, he 
was appointed by Secretary Stanton Provost- 
Marshal for the Twelfth District of Illinois, con- 
tinuing in this service until the close of 1865, 
when he engaged in the manufacturing business 
as head of the Collins Plow Company at Quincy. 
This business he conducted successfully some 
twenty-five years, when he retired. Mr. Collins 
has served as Alderman and Mayor, ad interim, 
of the city of Quincy; Representative in the 
Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth General Assem- 
blies — during the latter being chosen to deliver 
the eulogy on Gen. John A. Logan ; was a promi- 
nent candidate for the nomination for Lieutenant 
Governor in 1888, and the same year Republicau 
candidate for Congress in the Quincy District; 
in 1894, was the Republican nominee for State 
Senator in Adams Count}', and, though a Repub- 
licau, has been twice elected Supervisor in a 
strongly Democratic city. 

COLLINSVILLE, a city on the southern border 
of Madison County, 13 miles (by rail) east-north- 
east of St. Louis, on the "Vandalia Line" (T. H. 
& I. Ry.), about 11 miles south of Edwardsville. 
The place was originally settled in 1817 by four 
brothers named Collins from Litchfield, Conn., 
who established a tan-yard and erected an ox-mill 
for grinding corn and wheat and sawing lumber 
The town was platted by surviving members of 
this family in 1836. Coal-mining is the principal 
industry, and one or two mines are operated 
within the corporate limits. The city has zinc 
works, as well as flour mills and brick and tile 
factories, two building and loan associations, a 
lead smelter, stock bell factory, electric street 
railways, seven churches, two banks, a high 
school, and a newspaper office. Population 
(1890), 3,498; (1900), 4,031; (1903, est.), 7,500. 

COLLTER, Robert, clergyman, was born at 
Keighly, Yorkshire, England, Dec. 8, 1823; left 
school at eight years of age to earn his living in 
a factory ; at fourteen was apprenticed to a black- 
smith and learned the trade of a hammer-maker. 
His only opportunity of acquiring an education 
during this period, apart from private study, was 



114 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in a night-school, wliich he attended two winters. 
In 1849 lie became a local Methodist preacher, 
came to the United States the next year, settling 
in Pennsylvania, where he pursued his trade, 
preaching on Sundays. His views on the atone- 
ment having gradually been changed towards 
Unitarianism, his license to preach was revoked 
by the conference, and, in 18.j9, he united with 
the Unitarian Church, having already won a 
wide reputation as an eloquent public speaker. 
Coming to Chicago, he began work as a mission- 
ary, and, in 18G0, organized the Unity Church, 
beginning with seven members, though it has 
since become one of the strongest and most influ- 
ential churches in the cit}'. In 1879 he accepted 
a call to a church in New York City, where he 
still remains. Of strong anti-slavery views and 
a zealous Unionist, he served during a part of the 
Civil War as a camp inspector for the Sanitary 
Commission. Since the war he has repeatedly 
visited England, and has exerted a wide influence 
as a lecturer and pulpit orator on both sides of 
the Atlantic. He is the author of a number of 
volumes, including "Nature and Life" (1866); 
"A Man in Earnest: Life of A. H. Conant" (1868); 
"A History of the Town and Parish of likely" 
(1880), and "Lectures to Young Men and Women" 
(18SG). 

COLTON, Chauncey Sill, pioneer, was born at 
Springfield, Pa., Sept. 21, 1800; taken to Massachu- 
setts in childhood and educated at Monson in tliat 
State, afterwards residing for many years, dur- 
ing his manhood, at Monson, Maine. He came to 
Illinois in 1836, locating on the site of the present 
city of Galesburg, where he built the first store 
and dwelling house; continued in general mer- 
chandise some seventeen or eighteen years, mean- 
while associating his sons with him in business 
under the firm name of C. S. Colton & Sons. Mr. 
Colton was associated with the construction of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad from 
the beginning, becoming one of the Directors of 
the Company; was also a Director of the Fir.st 
National Bank of Galesburg, the first organizer 
and first President of the Farmers" and Slechan- 
ics' Bank of that city, and one of the Trustees of 
Knox College. Died in Galesburg, July 37, 1885. 
—Francis (Colton), son of the preceding; born 
at Monson, Maine, May 34, 1834, came to Gales- 
burg with his father's family in 1S36, and was 
educated at Knox College, graduating in 1855, 
and receiving the degree of A.M. in 1858. After 
graduation, he was in partnersliip with his father 
.some seven years, also served as Vice-President 
of the First National Bank of Galesburg, antl, in 



1866, was appointed bj' President Johnson United 
States Consul at Venice, remaining tliere until 
1869. The latter j'ear he became the General 
Passenger Agent of the Union Pacific Railroad, 
continuing in that position until 1871, meantime 
visiting China, Japan and India, and e.stablishiug 
agencies for the Union and Central Pacific Rail- 
ways in various countries of Europe. In 1872 he 
succeeded his father as President of the Farmers' 
and Mechanics' Bank of Galesburg, but retired in 
1884, and the same j-ear removed to Washington, 
D. C, where he has since resided. Mr. Colton is 
a large land owner in some of the Western States, 
especially Kansas and Nebraska. 

COLUMBIA, a town of Monroe County, on 
Mobile & Ohio Railroad, 15 miles soutli of St. 
Louis; has a machine shop, large flour mill, 
brewery, five cigar factories, electric light plant, 
telephone system, stone quarry, five churches, 
and public school. Pop. (19UU), 1,197; (1903), 1,205. 

COMPANY OF THE WEST, THE, a company 
formed in France, in August, 1717, to develop 
the resources of "New France," in which the 
"Illinois Country"' was at that time included. 
At the head of the company was the celebrateil 
John Law, and to him and his associates the 
French monarch granted extraordinary po%vers, 
both governmental and commercial. They were 
given the exclusive right to refine the precious 
metals, as well as a monopoly in the trade in 
tobacco and slaves. Later, the company became 
known as the Indies, or East Indies, Company, 
owing to the king having granted them conces- 
sions to trade with the East Indies and China. 
On Sept. 27, 1717, the Royal Council of France 
declared that the Illinois Country should form a 
part of the Province of Louisiana ; and, under the 
shrewd management of Law and his associates, 
immigration soon increased, as many as 800 
settlers arriving in a single year. The directors 
of the company, in the exercise of their govern- 
mental powers, appointed Pierre Duque de Bois- 
briant Governor of the Illinois District. He 
proceeded to Kaskaskia, and, within a few miles 
of that settlement, erected Fort Cliartres. (See 
Foi-t Chartres. ) The policy of the Indies Company 
was energetic, and, in the main, wise. Grants of 
commons were made to various French villages, 
and Cahokia and Kaskaskia steadily grew in size 
and population. Permanent settlers were given 
grants of land and agriculture was encouraged. 
These grants (which were allodial in their char- 
acter) covered nearly all the lands in that part of 
tlie American Bottom, lying between the Missis- 
sippi and the Kaskaskia Rivers. Man}' grantees 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



115 



held their lands in one great common field, each 
proprietor contributing, pro rata, to the mainte- 
nance of a surrounding fence. In 1721 the Indies 
Company divided the Province of Louisiana into 
nine civil and military districts. That of Illinois 
was numerically the Seventh, and included not 
only the southern half of the existing State, but 
also an immense tract west of the Mississippi, 
extending to the Rocky Mountains, and embrac- 
ing the present States of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa 
and Nebraska, besides portions of Arkansas and 
Colorado. Tlie Commandant, with his secretary 
and the Company's Commissary, formed the 
District Council, the civil law being in force. In 
1732, the Indies Company surrendered its charter, 
and thereafter, the Governors of Illinois were 
appointed directly by the French crown. 

CONCORDIA SEMINARY, an in.stitution lo- 
cated at Springfield, founded in 1879 ; the succes- 
8or of an earlier institution under the name of 
Illinois University. Theological, scientific and 
preparatory departments are maintained, al- 
though there is no classical course. Tlie insti- 
tution is under control of the German Lutherans. 
The institution reports §125,000 worth of real 
property. The members of the Faculty (1898) 
are five in number, and there were about 171 
students in attendance. 

CONDEE, Leander D., lawyer, was born in 
Athens County, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1847; brought 
by his parents to Coles County. 111., at the age of 
seven years, and received his education in the 
common scliools and at St. Paul's Academj', Kan- 
kakee, taking a special course in Michigan State 
University and graduating from the law depart- 
ment of the latter in 1868. He then began prac- 
tice at Butler, Bates County, Mo., wliere he 
served three years as City Attorney, but, in 1873, 
returned to Illinois, locating in Hyde Park (now 
a part of Chicago), where he served as City 
Attorney for four consecutive terms before its 
annexation to Chicago. In 1880, he was elected 
as a Republican to the State Senate for the 
Second Senatorial District, serving in the Thirty- 
second and the Thirty-third General Assemblies. 
In 1892, he was the Republican nominee for Judge 
of the Superior Court of Cook County, but was 
defeated with the National and the State tickets 
of that year, since when he has given his atten- 
tion to regular practice, maintaining a high rank 
in his profession. 

CON(iER, Edwin Kurd, lawyer and diploma- 
tist, was bom in Knox County, 111., March 7, 1843; 
graduated at Lombard University, Galesburg, in 
1862, and immediately thereafter enlisted as a 



private in the One Hundred and Second Illinois 
Volunteers, serving througli the war and attain- 
ing the rank of Captain, besides being brevetted 
Major for gallant service. Later, he graduated 
from the Albany Law School and practiced for a 
time in Galesburg, but, in 1868, removed to Iowa, 
where he engaged in farming, stock-raising and 
banking ; was twice elected County Treasurer of 
Dallas County, and, in 1880, State Treasurer, 
being re-elected in 1882; in 1886, was elected to 
Congress from the Des Moines District, and twice 
re-elected (1888 and '90), but before the clo.se of 
his last term was appointed by President Harri- 
son Jlinister to Brazil, serving until 1893. In 
1896, he served as Presidential Elector for the 
State-at-large, and, in 1897, was re-appointed 
Minister to Brazil, but, in 1898, was transferred 
to China, where (1899) he now is. He was suc- 
ceeded at Rio Janeiro by Charles Page Bryan of 
Illinois. 

COXOREGATIONALISTS, THE. Two Congre- 
gational ministers — Rev. S. J. Mills and Rev. 
Daniel Smith — vLsited Illinois in 1814, and spent 
some time at Kaskaskia and Shawneetown, but 
left for New Orleans without organizing any 
churches. The first church was organized at 
Mendon, Adams County, in 1833, followed by 
others during the same year, at Naperville, Jack- 
sonville and Quincy. By 1836, the number had 
increased to ten. Among the pioneer ministers 
were Jabez Porter, who was also a teacher at 
Quincy, in 1828, and Rev. Asa Turner, in 1830, 
who became pastor of the first Quincy church, 
followed later by Revs. Julian M. Sturtevant 
(afterwards President of Illinois College), Tru- 
man M. Post, Edward Beecher and Horatio Foof. 
Other Congregational ministers who came to t'^e 
State at an early day were Rev. Salmon Gridley, 
who finally located at St. Louis; Rev. John M. 
Ellis, who served as a missionary and was instru- 
mental in founding Illinois College and the Jack- 
sonville Female Seminary at Jacksonville; Revs. 
Thomas Lippincott, Cyrus L. Watson, Theron 
Baldwin, Elisha Jenney, William Kirby, the two 
Lovejoys (Owen and Elijah P.), and many more 
of whom, either temporarily or permanently, 
became associated with Presbyterian churches. 
Although Illinois College was under the united 
patronage of Presbyterians and Congregational- 
ists, the leading spirits in its original establish- 
ment were Congregationalists, and the same was 
true of Knox College at Galesburg. In 183.5, at 
Big Grove, in an unoccupied log-cabin, was 
convened the first Congregational Council, known 
in the denominational history of the State as 






IIG 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



that of Fox River. Since then .some twelve to 
fifteen separate Associations have been organized. 
By 1890, the development of the denomination 
had been such that it had 280 churclies, support- 
ing 312 ministers, with 33,126 members. During 
that year the disbursements on account of chari- 
ties and home e.xtension, by tlie Illinois churches, 
were nearly $1,000,000. The Chicago Theological 
Seminary, at Chicago, is a Congregational school 
of divinity, its property holdings being worth 
nearly .$700,000. "The Advance" (published at 
Cliicago) is the chief denominational organ. 
(See also Religious Denomination!:. ) 

CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIOXMENT. (See 
Apportionment, Congressional; also Represent- 
atives in Congress. ) 

CONKLIXti, James Cook, lawyer, was born in 
New York City, Oct. 13, 1816; graduated at Prince- 
ton College in 1835, and, after studying law and 
being admitted to the bar at Morristown, N. J. , in 
1838, removed to Springfield, 111. Here his first 
business partner was Cyrus Walker, an eminent 
and widely known lawyer of his time, while at a 
later period he was associated with Gen. James 
Shields, afterwards a soldier of the Mexican War 
and a United States Senator, at different times, 
from three different States. As an original 
Whig, Mr. Conkling early became associated 
with Abraham Lincoln, whose intimate and 
trusted friend he was through life. It was to 
him that Mr. Lincoln addressed his celebrated 
letter, which, by his special request, Mr. Conk- 
ling read before the great Union mass-meeting at 
Springfield, held, Sept. 3, 1863, now known as the 
"Lincoln-Conkling Letter." Mr. Conkling was 
chosen Mayor of the city of Springfield in 1844, 
and served in the lower branch of tlie Seven- 
teenth and the Twenty-fifth General Assemblies 
(18.51 and 18G7). It was largely due to his tactful 
management in the latter, that the first appropri- 
ation was made for the new State House, which 
established the capital permanently in that city. 
At the Bloomington Convention of 1856, where 
the Republican party in Illinois may be said to 
have been formally organized, with Mr. Lincoln 
and three others, he represented Sangamon 
County, served on the Committee on Resolutions, 
and was appointed a member of the State Central 
Committee which conducted the campaign of 
that year. In 1860, and again in 1804, his name 
was on the Republican State ticket for Presiden- 
tial Elector, and, on both occasions, it became his 
duty to cast the electoral vote of Mr. Lincoln's 
own District for him for President. The intimacy 
of personal friendship existing between him and 



Mr. Lincoln was fittingly illustrated by his posi- 
tion for over tliirty years as an original member 
of the Lincoln Monument Association. Other 
public positions held by him included those of 
State Agent during the Civil War by appointment 
of Governor Yates, Trustee of the State University 
at Champaign, and of Blackburn University at 
Carlinville, as also that of Postmaster of the city 
of Springfield, to which he was appointed in 1890, 
continuing in office four years. High-minded 
and honorable, of pure personal character and 
strong religious convictions, public-spirited and 
liberal, probably no man did more to promote 
the growth and prosperity of the city of Spring- 
field, during the sixty years of his residence there, 
than lie. His death, as a result of old age, 
occurred in that city, March 1, 1899.— Clinton L. 
(Conkling), son of the preceding, was born in 
Springfield, Oct. 16, 1843; graduated at Yale 
College in 1864, studied law with his father, and 
was licensed to practice in the Illinois courts in 
1866, and in the United States courts in 1867. 
After practicing a few years, he turned his atten- 
tion to manufacturing, but, in 1877, resumed 
practice and has proved successful. He has 
devoted much attention of late years to real 
estate business, and has represented large land 
interests in this and other States. For many 
years he was Secretary of the Lincoln Monument 
As.sociation, and has served on the Board of 
County Supervisors, which is the only political 
office he has held. In 1897 he was the Repub- 
lican nominee for Judge of the Springfield Cir- 
cuit, but, although confessedly a man of the 
highest probity and ability, was defeated in a 
district overwhelmingly Democratic. 

CONNOLLT, James Austin, lawyer and Con- 
gressman, was born in Newark, N. J., March 8, 
1843; went with his parents to Ohio in 1850, 
where, in 1858-59, he served as Assistant Clerk of 
the State Senate; studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in that State in 1861, and soon after 
removed to Illinois; the following year (1862) he 
enlisted as a private soldier in the One Hundred 
and Twenty-third Illinois Volunteers, but was 
successively commissioned as Captain and Major, 
retiring with the rank of brevet Lieutenant- 
Colonel. In 1872 he was elected Representative 
in the State Legislature from Coles County and 
re-elected in 1874; was United States District 
Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois 
from 1876 to 1885, and again from 1889 to 1893; 
in 1886 was appointed and confirmed Solicitor of 
the Treasury,' but declined the office; the same 
year ran as the Republican candidate for Con- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



117 



gress in the Springfield (then the Thirteenth) 
District in opjjosition to Win. JI. Springer, and 
was defeated by less than 1,000 votes in a district 
usually Democratic by 3,000 majority. He 
declined a second nomination in 1888, but, in 1894, 
was nominated for a third time (this time for the 
Seventeenth District), and was elected, as he was 
for a second term in 1896. He declined a renomina- 
tion in 1898, returning to the practice of his jiro- 
fession at Springfield at the close of the Fifty-fifth 
Congress. 

CONSTABLE, Charles H., lawyer, was born at 
Chestertown, JId.,July 6, 1817; educated at Belle 
Air Academy and the University of Virginia, 
graduating from the latter in 1838. Then, having 
studied law, he was admitted to the bar, came to 
Illinois early in 1840, locating at Mount Carmel, 
Wabash County, and, in 1844, was elected to the 
State Senate for the district composed of Wabasli, 
Edwards and Wayne Counties, serving until 1848. 
He also served as a Delegate in the Constitutional 
Convention of 1847. Originally a Whig, on the 
dissolution of that party in 1854, he became a 
Democrat; in 1856, served as Presidential 
Elector-at-large on the Buchanan ticket and, 
during the Civil War, was a pronounced oppo- 
nent of the policy of the Government in dealing 
with secession. Having removed to Marshall, 
Clark County, in 1853, he continued the practice 
of his profession there, but was elected Judge of 
the Circuit Court in 1861, serving vintil his death, 
which occurred, Oct. 9, 1865. While holding 
court at Charleston, in March, 1863, Judge Con- 
stable was arrested because of his release of four 
deserters from the armj-, and the holding to bail, 
on the charge of kidnaping, of two Union officers 
who had arrested them. He was subsequently 
released by Judge Treat of the United States 
District Court at Springfield, but the affair cul- 
minated in a riot at Charleston, on March 22, in 
which four soldiers and three citizens were killed 
outright, and eight persons were wounded. 

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. Illinois 
has had four State Conventions called for the 
purpose of formulating State Constitutions. Of 
these, three— those of 1818, 1847 and 1869-70— 
adopted Constitutions which went into effect, 
while the instrument framed by the Convention 
of 1862 was rejected by the peojile. A synoptical 
history of each will be found below: 

Convention of 1818.— In January, 1818, the 
Territorial Legislature adopted a resolution 
instructing the Delegate in Congress (Hon. 
Nathaniel Pope) to present a petition to Congress 
requesting the passage of an act authorizing the 



people of Illinois Territory to organize a State 
Government. A bill to tliis effect was intro- 
duced, April 7, and became a law, April 18, follow- 
ing. It authorized the people to frame a 
Constitution and organize a State Government^ 
apportioning the Delegates to be elected from 
each of the fifteen counties into which the Ter- 
ritory was then divided, naming the first IMonday 
of July, following, as the da}- of election, and the 
first Jlonday of August as the time for the meet- 
ing of the Convention. The act was conditioned 
upon a census of tlie people of the Territory (to 
be ordered by the Legislature), showing a popu- 
lation of not less than 40,000. The census, as 
taken, showed the required population, but, as 
finally corrected, tliis was reduced to 34,620 — 
being the smallest with wliich any State was ever 
admitted into the Union. The election took 
place on July 6, 1818, and the Convention assem- 
bled at Kaskaskia on August 3. It consisted of 
thirty-three members. Of tliese, a majority were 
farmers of limited education, but with a fair 
portion of hard common-.sense. Five of the 
Delegates were lawyers, and these undoubtedly 
wielded a controlling influence. Jesse B. 
Thomas (afterwards one of the first United 
States Senators) presided, and Elias Kent Kane, 
also a later Senator, was among the dominating 
spirits. It has been asserted that to the latter 
should be ascribed whatever new matter was 
incorporated in the instrument, it being copied 
in most of its essential provisions from the Con- 
stitutions of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The 
Convention completed its labors and adjourned, 
August 26, the Constitution was submitted to 
Congress by Delegate John McLean, without the 
formality of ratification by the people, and Illi- 
nois was admitted into the Union as a State by 
resolution of Congress, adopted Dec. 3, 1818. 

Convention of 1847.— An attempt was made in 
1823 to obtain a I'evision of the Constitution of 
1818, the object of the chief promoters of the 
movement being to secure the incorporation of a 
provision authorizing the admission of slavery 
into Illinois. The passage of a resolution, by the 
necessary two-thirds vote of both Houses of the 
General Assembly, submitting the proposition to 
a vote of the people, was secured by the most 
questionable methods, at the session of 1833, but 
after a heated campaign of nearly two years, it 
was rejected at the election of 1824. (See 
Slavery and Slave Laws: also Coles, Edward.) 
At the session of 1840-41, another resolution on 
the subject was submitted to the people, but it 
was rejected by the narrow margin of 1,039 



118 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



votes. Again, in 1845, the question was submit- 
ted, and, at the election of 184G, was approved. 
The election of delegates occurred, April 19, 1847, 
and the Convention met at Springfield, June 19, 
following. It was composed of 1G2 members, 
ninety-two of whom were Democrats. The list 
of Delegates embraced the names of many who 
afterwards attained high distinction in public 
affairs, and the body, as a wliole, was represent- 
ative in cliaracter. The Bill of Rights attached 
to the Constitution of 1818 was but little changed 
in its successor, except by a few additions, 
among which was a section disqualifying any 
person who had been concerned in a duel from 
holding office. The earlier Constitution, how- 
ever, was carefully revised and several important 
changes made. Among these may be mentioned 
the following: Limiting the elective franchise 
for foreign-born citizens to those who had 
become naturalized; making the judiciary elect- 
ive; requiring that all State officers be elected 
by the people ; changing the time of the election 
of the Executive, and making him ineligible for 
immediate re-election ; various curtailments of 
the power of the Legislature; imposing a two- 
mill tax for payment of the State debt, and pro- 
viding for the establishment of a sinking fund. 
The Constitution framed was adopted in conven- 
tion, August 31, 1847; ratified by popular vote, 
March 6, 1848, and went into effect, April 1, 1848. 
CoNVEXTiox OF 18G2. — The proposition for 
holding a tliird Constitutional Convention was 
submitted to vote of the people by the Legislature 
of IS.'JO, endorsed at tlie election of 1860, and the 
election of Delegates held in November. 1861. In 
the excitement attendant upon the earl3' events 
of the war, people paid comparatively little 
attention to the choice of its members. It was 
composed of forty-five Democrats, twenty-one 
Republicans, seven "fusioni.sts" and two classed 
as doubtful. Tlie Convention assembled at 
Springfield on Jan. 7, 18G3. and remained in ses- 
sion until March 24. following. It was in many 
respects a remarkable body. The law providing 
for its existence prescribed that the members, 
before proceeding to business, should take an 
oath to support the State Constitution. This the 
majority refused to do. Their conception of 
their powers was such that they seriously deliber- 
ated upon electing a United States Senator, 
assumed to make appropriations from the State 
treasury, claimed the right to interfere witli 
military affairs, and called upon the Governor 
for information concerning claims of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, which the Executive refused to 



lay before them. The instrument drafted pro- 
posed numerous important changes in the organic 
law, and was generally regarded as objectionable. 
It was rejected at an election held, June 17. 18G2, 
by a majority of over 16,000 votes. 

Co.WENTlON OF 1869-70. — The second attempt 
to revise the Constitution of 1848 resulted in 
submission to the people, by the Legislature of 
1867, of a proposition for a Convention, which was 
approved at the election of 1868 by a bare major- 
ity of 704 votes. The election of Delegates was 
provided for at the next session (1869), the elec- 
tion held in November and the Convention 
assembled at Springfield, Dec. 13. Charles 
Hitchcock was chosen President, John Q. Har- 
mon. Secretary, and Daniel Shepard and A. H. 
Swain, First and Second Assistants. There were 
eight3'-five members, of whom fortj'-four were 
Republicans and forty-one Democrats, although 
fifteen had been elected nominally as "Independ- 
ents." It was an assemblage of some of the 
ablest men of the State, including representatives 
of all the learned professions except the clerical, 
besides merchants, farmers, bankers and journal- 
ists. Its work was completed JMay 13, 1870, and 
in the main good. Some of the principal changes 
made in the fundamental law, as proposed by the 
Convention, were the following: The prohibi- 
tion of special legislation where a general law 
may be made to cover the necessities of the case, 
and the absolute prohibition of such legislation 
in reference to divorces, lotteries and a score of 
other matters; prohibition of the pas.sage of any 
law releasing any civil division (district, count}', 
city, township or town) from the payment of its 
just proportion of any State tax; recommenda- 
tions to the Legislature to enact laws upon 
certain specified subjects, such as liberal home- 
stead and exemption rights, the construction of 
drains, the regulation of charges on railways 
(which were declared to be public highways), 
etc., etc. ; declaring all elevators and storehouses 
public warehouses, and providing for their legis- 
lative inspection and supervision. Tlie mainte- 
nance of an "efficient system of public .schools" 
was made obligatory upon the Legislatui'e, and 
the appropriation of anj* funds — State, municipal, 
town or district — to the support of sectarian 
schools was prohibited. The principle of cum\i- 
lative voting, or "minority representation." in 
the choice of members of the House of Represent- 
atives was provided for, and additional safe 
guards thrown around the passage of bills. The 
ineligibilitj' of the Governor to re-election for a 
second consecutive term was set aside, and a 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



119 



two-thirds vote of the Legislature made necessary 
to override an executive veto. Tlie list of State 
officers was increased by the creation of the 
offices of Attorney-General and Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, these having been previ- 
ously provided for only by statute. The Supreme 
Court bench was increased by the addition of 
four members, making the whole number of 
Supreme Court judges seven; Appellate Courts 
authorized after 1874, and Count}' Courts were 
made courts of record. The compensation of all 
State officers — executive, judicial and legislative 
— was left discretionarj' with the Legislature, 
and no limit was placed upon the length of the 
sessions of the General Assembly. The instru- 
ment drafted by the Convention was ratified at 
an election held. July 6, 1870, and went into force, 
August 8, following. Occasional amendments 
have been submitted and ratified from time to 
time. (See Constitutions. Elections and Repre- 
sentation; also Minority Representation.) 

CONSTITUTIONS. Illinois has had three con- 
stitutions — that of 1870 being now (1898) in force. 
The earliest instrument was that approved by 
Congress in 1818, and the first revision was made 
in 1847 — the Constitution having been ratified at 
an election held, March .5, 1848. and going into 
force, April 1, following. The term of State 
officers lias been uniformly fixed at four years, 
excejit that of Treasurer, which is two years. 
Biennial elections and sessions of the General 
Assembly are provided for, Senators holding their 
seats for four years, and Representatives two 
years. The State is required to be apportioned 
after each decennial census into fift}--one dis- 
tricts, eacli of which elects one Senator and three 
Representatives. The principle of minority rep- 
resentation has been incorporated into the 
organic law, each elector being allowed to cast as 
many votes for one legislative candidate as there 
are Representatives to be chosen in his district; 
or ho may divide his vote equally among all the 
three candidates or between two of them, as he 
may see fit. One of the provisions of the Consti- 
tution of 1870 is the inhibition of the General 
Assembly from passing private laws. Munici- 
palities are classified, and legislation is for all 
cities of a class, not for an individual corpora- 
tion. Individual citizens with a financial griev- 
ance must secure payment of their claims under 
the terms of some general appropriation. The 
sessions of the Legislature are not limited as to 
time, nor is there any restriction upon the power 
of the Executive to summon extra sessions. 
(See also Constitutional Conventions: Elections; 



Governors and other State Officers; Judicial 
System; Suffrage, Etc.) 

COOK, Burton C, lawyer and Congressman, 
was born in Monroe County, N. Y., May 11, 1819; 
completed his academic education at the Collegi- 
ate Institute in Rochester, and after studying 
law, removed to Illinois (183.j), locating fir.st at 
Hennepin and later at Ottawa. Here lie began 
the practice of his profession, and, in 1846, was 
elected by the Legislature State's Attorney for 
the Ninth Judicial District, serving two years, 
when, in 1848, he was re-elected by the people 
under the Constitution of that year, for four 
years. From 18.53 to 1860. he was State Senator, 
taking part in the election which resulted in 
making Lyman Trumbull United States Senator 
in 1855. In 1861 he served as one of the Peace 
Commissioners from Illinois in the Conference 
which met at Washington. He may be called 
one of the founders of the Republican party in 
this State, having been a member of the State 
Central Committee appointed at Bloomington in 
1856, and Cliairman of the State Central Com- 
mittee in 1863. In 1864, he was elected to Con- 
gress, and re-elected in 1866, '68 and '70, but 
resigned in 1871 to accept the solicitorship of the 
Northwestern Railroad, which he resigned in 
1886. He was an intimate friend of Abraham 
Lincoln, serving as a delegate to both the National 
Conventions which nominated him for the Presi- 
dency, and presenting his name at Baltimore in 
1864. His death occurred at Evanston, August 
18, 1894. 

COOK, Daniel Pope, early Congressman, was 
born in Scott Countj% Ky. , in 1795, removed to 
Illinois and began the practice of law at Kaskas- 
kia in 1815. Early in 1816, he became joint owner 
and editor of "The Illinois Intelligencer,'' and at 
the same time served as Auditor of Public 
Accounts by appointment of Governor Edwards ; 
the next 5'ear (1817) was sent by President Mon- 
roe as bearer of dispatches to John Quincy Adams, 
then minister to London, and, on liis return, was 
appointed a Circuit Judge. On the admission of 
the State he was elected the first Attorney- 
General, but almost immediately resigned and, 
in September, 1819, was elected to Congress, serv- 
ing as Representative until 1837. Having married 
a daughter of Governor Edwards, he became a 
resident of Edwardsville. He was a conspicuous 
opponent of the proposition to make Illinois a 
slave State in 1833-34, and did much to prevent 
tlie success of that scheme. He also bore a 
prominent j)art wliile in Congress in securing the 
donation of lands for the construction of tlie 



120 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Illinois & Michigan Canal. He was distinguished 
for his eloquence, and it was during his first 
Congressional canijiaign that stump-speaking was 
introduced into the State. Suffering from 
consumption, he visited Cuba, and, after return- 
ing to his home at Edwardsville and failing to 
improve, he went to Kentucky, where he died, 
Oct. 16, 1837.— John (Cook), soldier, born at 
Edwardsville, 111., June 12, 1825, the son of 
Daniel P. Cook, the second Congressman from 
Illinois, and grandson of Gov. Niiiian Edwards, 
was educated by private tutors and at Illinois 
College; in 1855 was elected Maj-or of Springfield 
and the following year Sheriff of Sangamon 
County, later serving as Quartermaster of the 
State. Raising a company promptly after the 
firing on Fort Sumter in 1801, he was commis- 
sioned Colonel of the Seventh Illinois Volunteers 
— the first regiment organized in Illinois under 
the first call for troops by President Lincoln ; was 
promoted Brigadier-General for gallantry at Fort 
Donelson in March, 18G3; in 1864 commanded the 
District of lUinois, with lieadquarters at Spring- 
field, being mustered out, August, 1865, with the 
brevet rank of Major-General. General Cook was 
elected to the lower house of the General Assem- 
bly from Sangamon County, in 1868. During 
recent years his home has been in Michigan. 

COOK COUNTY, situated in the northeastern 
section of the State, bordering on Lake Michigan, 
and being the most easterly of the second tier of 
counties south of the Wisconsin State line. It 
has an area of 890 square miles ; population (1890), 
1,191,923; (1900), 1,838,735; county-seat, Chicago. 
The county was organized in 1831, having origi- 
nally embraced the counties of Du Page, Will, 
Lake, McHenry and Iroquois, in addition to its 
present territorial limits. It was named in 
honor of Daniel P. Cook, a distinguished Repi'e- 
sentative of Illinois in Congress. (See Cook, 
Daniel P.) The first County Commissioners were 
Samuel Miller, Gholson Kercheval and James 
Walker, who took the oath of office before Justice 
John S. C. Hogan, on March 8, 1831. AVilliam 
Lee was appointed Clerk and Archibald Cly bourne 
Treasurer. Jedediah Wormley was first County 
Surveyor, and three election districts (Chicago, 
Du Page and Hickory Creek) were created. A 
scow ferry was established across the South 
Branch, with Mark Beaubien as ferryman. Only 
non-residents were required to pay toll. Geolo- 
gists are of the opinion that, previous to the 
glacial epoch, a large portion of the county lay 
under the waters of Lake Michigan, which was 
connected with the Blississippi by the Des Plaines 



River. This theory' is borne out by the finding 
of stratified beds of coal and gravel in the eastern 
and southern portions of the county, either under- 
lying the prairies or assuming tlie form of ridges. 
The latter, geologists maintain, indicate the exist- 
ence of an ancient key, and they conclude that, 
at one time, the level of the lake was nearly forty 
feet higher than at present. Glacial action is 
believed to have been very effective in establish- 
ing surface conditions in this vicinity. Lime- 
stone and building stone are quarried in tolerable 
abundance. Athens marble (white when taken 
out, but growing a rich yellow through exposure) 
is found in the southwest. Isolated beds of peat 
have also been found. The general surface is 
level, although undulating in some portions. The 
soil- near the lake is sandy, but in the interior 
becomes a black mold from one to four feet in 
depth. Drainage is afforded by the Des Plaines, 
Chicago and Calumet Rivers, \vhich is now being 
improved by tlie construction of the Drainage 
Canal. Manufactui'es and agriculture are the 
principal industries outside of the city of Chi- 
cago. (See also C'li icago. ) 

COOK COUMY HOSPITAL, located in Chi- 
cago and under control of tlie Commissioners of 
Cook County. It was originally erected by the 
City of Chicago, at a cost of $80,000, and was 
intended to be used as a hospital for patients 
suffering from infectious diseases. For several 
years the building was unoccupied, but, in 1858, 
it was leased bj' an association of physicians, who 
opened a hospital, with the further purpose of 
affording facilities for clinical instruction to the 
students of Rush Medical College. In 1863 the 
building was taken by the General Government 
for military purposes, being used as an eye and 
ear hospital for returning soldiers. In 1865 it 
reverted to the City of Chicago, and, in 1866, was 
purchased by Cook County. In 1874 the County 
Commissioners purchased a new and more spa- 
cious site at acost of 8145,000, and began the erec- 
tion of buildings thereon. The two principal 
pavilions were completed and occupied before the 
close of 1875; the clinical amphitheater and 
connecting corridors were built in 1876-77, and an 
administrative building and two additional 
pavilions were added in 1883-84. Up to that date 
the total cost of the buildings had been .5719,574, 
and later additions and improvements have 
swelled the outlay to more than S1,0()(),000. It 
accommodates about 800 patients and constitutes 
a part of the county machinery for the care of 
the poor. A certain number of beds are placed 
under the care of homeopathic physicians. The 




ALONG SHEIUDAN KOAD AND OX THE BOULEVARDS. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



121 



present (1836) allopathic medical staflf consists of 
fifteen physicians, fifteen surgeons, one oculist 
and aurist and one pathologist ; the homeopatliic 
staff comprises five phj-sicians and five surgeons. 
In addition, there is a large corps of internes, or 
hoase physicians and surgeons, composed of 
recent graduates from the several medical col- 
leges, who gain their positions tlirougli competi- 
tive examination and hold them for eighteen 
months. 

COOKE, Edward Dean, lawyer and Congress- 
man, born in Dubuque County, Iowa, Oct. 17, 
1849; was educated in the common schools and 
the high school of Dubuque ; studied law in that 
city and at Columbian University, Washington, 
D.C., graduating from that institution with tlie 
degree of Bachelor of Laws, and was admitted to 
the bar in Washington in 187.3. Coming to Chi- 
cago tlie same year, he entered upon tlie practice 
of his profession, whicli he pursued for tlie 
remainder of his life. In 1883 he was elected a 
Representative in the State Legislature from 
Cook County, serving one term ; was elected as a 
Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress for the 
Sixth District (Chicago), in 1894, and re-elected in 
1896. His death occurred suddenly while in 
attendance on the extra session of Congress in 
Washington, June 24, 1897. 

COOLBAUGH, William Findlay, financier, was 
born in Pike County, Pa., July 1, 1831; at the 
age of 15 became clerk in a dry-goods store in 
Philadelphia, but, in 1843, opened a branch 
establishment of a New York firm at Burlington, 
Iowa, where he afterwards engaged in the bank- 
ing business, also serving in the Iowa State 
Constitutional Convention, and, as the candidate 
of his party for United States Senator, being 
defeated by Hon. James Harlan by one vote. In 
1863 he came to Chicago and opened the banking 
house of W. P. Coolbaugh & Co. , which, in 1865, 
became the Union National Bank of Chicago. 
Later he became the first President of the Chi- 
cago Clearing House, as also of the Bankers' 
Association of the West and South, a Director of 
the Board of Trade, and an original incorporator 
of the Chamber of Commerce, besides being a 
member of the State Constitutional Convention 
of 1869-70. His death by suicide, at the foot of 
Douglas Monument, Nov. 14, 1877, was a shock to 
the whole city of Chicago. 

COOLEY, Horace S., Secretary of State, was 
born in Hartford, Conn., in 1806, studied medi- 
cine for two years in early life, then went to Ban- 
gor, Maine, where he began the study of law ; in 
1840 he came to Illinois, locating first at Rusliville 



and finally in the city of Quincy; in 1843 took a 
prominent part in the camjjaign which resulted 
in the election of Thomas Ford as Governor— also 
received from Governor Carlin an appointment as 
Quartermaster-General of the State. On the 
accession of Governor French in December, 1840, 
he was appointed Secretary of State and elected 
to the same office under the Constitution of 1848, 
dying before the expiration of his term, April 3, 
1850, 

CORBUS, (Dr.) J. C, physician, was born in 
Holmes County, Ohio, in 1833, received his pri- 
mary education in the public schools, followed 
by an academic course, and began the study of 
medicine at Millersburg, finally graduating from 
tlie Western Reserve Medical College at Cleve- 
land. In 1855 he began practice at Orville, Ohio, 
but the same year located at Mendota, 111., soon 
thereafter removing to Lee County, where he 
remained until 1863. The latter year he was 
appointed Assistant Surgeon of the Seventy-fifth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was soon pro- 
moted to the position of Surgeon, though com- 
pelled to resign the following year on account of 
ill health. Returning from the army, he located 
at Mendota. Dr. Corbus served continuously as a 
member of the State Board of Public Charities 
from 1873 until the accession of Governor Altgeld 
to the Governorship in 1893, when he resigned. 
He was also, for fifteen years, one of the Medical 
Examiners for his District under the Pension 
Bureau, and has served as a member of the 
Republican State Central Committee for the 
Mendota District. In 1897 he was complimented 
by Governor Tanner by reappointment to the 
State Board of Charities, and was made President 
of the Board. Early in 1899 he was appointed 
Superintendent of the Eastern Hospital for the 
Insane at Kankakee, as successor to Dr. William 
G. Stearns. 

CORNELL, Paul, real-estate operator and capi- 
talist, was born of English Quaker ancestry in 
Washington County, N. Y., August 5, 1833; at 9 
years of age removed with his step-father, Dr. 
Bany, to Ohio, and five years later to Adams 
County, 111. Here young Cornell lived the life of 
a farmer, working part of the year to earn money 
to send himself to school the remainder; also 
taught for a time, then entered the office of W. A. 
Richardson, at Rusliville, Schuyler County, as a 
law student. In 1845 he came to Chicago, but 
soon after became a student in the law oflSce of 
Wilson & Henderson at Joliet, and was admitted 
to practice in that city. Removing to Chicago in 
1847, he was associated, successively, with the late 



123 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



L. C. P. Freer, Judge James H. Collins and 
Messrs. Skinner & Hoyne ; finally entered into a 
contract with Judge Skinner to perfect the title to 
320 acres of land held under tax-title within the 
present limits of Hyde Park, which he succeeded 
in doing by visiting the original owners, thereby 
securing one-half of the property in his own 
name. He thus became the founder of the village 
of Hyde Park, meanwhile adding to his posses- 
sions other lands, which increased vastly in value. 
He also established a watch factory at Cornell 
(now a part of Chicago), which did a large busi- 
ness until removed to California. Mr. Cornell 
was a member of the first Park Board, and there- 
fore has the credit of assisting to organize Chi- 
cago's extensive park system. 

CORWIN, Franklin, Congressman, was born at 
Lebanon, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1818, and admitted to the 
bar at the age of 21. While a resident of Ohio he 
served in both Houses of tlie Legislature, and 
settled in Illinois in 1857, making his home at 
Peru. He was a member of the lower house of 
the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth and Twentj'- 
sixth General Assemblies, being Speaker in 1867, 
and again in 1869. In 1872 he was elected to 
Congress as a Republican, but, in 1874, was 
defeated by Alexander Campbell, who made the 
race as an Independent. Died, at Peru, 111., June 
15, 1879. 

COUCH, James, pioneer hotel-keeper, was born 
at Fort Edward, N. Y., August 31, 1800; removed 
to Chautauqua County, in the same State, where 
he remained until his twentieth year, receiving a 
fair English education. After engaging succes- 
sively, but with indiflfererit success, as hotel-clerk, 
stage-house keeper, lumber-dealer, and in the dis- 
tilling business, in 1836, in company with his 
younger brother, Ira, he visited Chicago. Tliey 
both decided to go into business there, first open- 
ing a small store, and later entering upon their 
hotel ventures which proved so eminentl}' suc- 
cessful, and gave the Tremont House of Chicago 
so wide and enviable a reputation. Mr. Couch 
superintended for his brother Ira the erection, at 
various times, of many large business blocks in 
the city. Upon the death of his brother, in 1857, 
he was made one of the trustees of his estate, and, 
with other trustees, rebuilt the Tremont House 
after the Chicago fire of 1871. In April, 1892, 
while boarding a street car in the central part of 
the city of Chicago, he was run over by a truck, 
receiving injuries which resulted in his death 
the same day at the Tremont House, in the 92d 
year of his age. — Ira (Couch), younger brother of 
the preceding, was born in Saratoga County, 



N. Y., Nov. 22, 1806. At the age of sixteen he 
was apprenticed to a tailor, and, in 1826, set up 
in business on his own account. In 1830, while 
visiting Chicago with his brother James, he 
determined to go into business there. With a 
stock of furnishing goods and tailors' supplies, 
newly bought in New York, a small store was 
opened. This business soon disposed of, Sir. 
Couch, with his brother, obtained a lease of the 
old Tremont House, then a low frame building 
kept as a saloon boarding house. Changed and 
refurnished, this was openeil as a hotel. It was 
destroyed by fire in 1839, as was also the larger 
rebuilt structure in 1849. A second time rebuilt, 
and on a much larger and grander scale at a cost 
of S7o,000, surpassing anj'thing the West had ever 
known before, the Tremont House this time stood 
until the Chicago fire in 1871, when it was again 
destroyed. 3Ir. Couch at all times enjoyed an 
immense patronage, and was able to accumulate 
(for that time) a large fortune. He purchased 
and improved a large number of business blocks, 
then within the business center of the city. In 
1853 he retired from active business, and, in con- 
sequence of impaired health, chose for the rest of 
his life to seek recreation in travel. In the 
winter of 1857, while with his family in 
Havana, Cuba, he was taken with a fever which 
soon ended his life. His remains now rest in a 
mausoleum of masonry in Lincoln Park, Chi- 
cago. 

COULTERVILLE,a town of Randolph County, 
at the crossing of the Centralia & Cliester and 
the St. Louis & Paducah branch Illinois Central 
Railways, 49 miles southeast of St. Louis. Farm- 
ing and coal-mining are the leading industries. 
The town has two banks, two creameries, and a 
newspaper. Population (189(l), 598; (1900), 650. 
COUNTIES, UNORGANIZED. (See Unorgan- 
ized Counties.) 

COWDEX, a village of Shelby County, at the 
intersection of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwest- 
ern and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western Rail- 
ways, 60 miles southeast of Springfield. Con- 
siderable coal is mined in the vicinity; has a 
bank and a weekly paper. Population (1880), 
350; (1890), 702; (1900), 751. 

COWLES, Alfred, newsjjaper manager, was 
born in Portage County, Ohio, May 13, 1832, grew 
up on a farm and, after spending some time at 
Michigan University, entered the office of "The 
Cleveland Leader" as a clerk; in 1855 accepted a 
similar position on "The Chicago Tribune," which 
had just been bought by Joseph Medill and 
others, finally becoming a stockholder and busi- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



123 



ness manager of the paper, so remaining until his 
death in Chicago, Dec. 20, 1889. 

COX, Thomas, pioneer, Senator in the First 
General Assembly of Illinois (1818-22) from Union 
County, and a conspicuous figure in early State 
history ; was a zealous advocate of the policy of 
making Illinois a slave State ; became one of the 
original proprietors and founders of the city of 
Springfield, and was appointed the first Register 
of the Land Office there, but was removed under 
charges of misconduct ; after his retirement from 
the Land Office, kept a hotel at Springfield. In 
1836 he removed to Iowa (then a part of Wiscon- 
sin Territory), became a member of the first 
Territorial Legislature there, was twice re-elected 
and once Speaker of the House, being prominent 
in 1840 as commander of the "Regulators" who 
drove out a gang of murderers and desperadoes 
who had got possession at Bellevue, Iowa. Died, 
at Maquoketa, Iowa, 1843. 

COT, Irns, lawyer, was born in Clienango 
County, N. Y., July 25, 1832; educated in the 
common schools and at Central College, Cortland 
County, N. Y., graduating in law at Albany in 
1857. Then, having removed to Illinois, he 
located in Kendall County and began practice ; in 
1868 was elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly and, in 1872, served as Presidential 
Elector on the Republican ticket; removed to 
Chicago in 1871, later serving as attorney of the 
Union Stock Yards and Transit Company. Died, 
in Chicago, Sept. 20, 1897. 

CRAFTS, Clayton E., legislator and politician, 
born at Auburn, Geauga County, Ohio, July 8, 
1848 ; was educated at Hiram College and gradu- 
ated from the Cleveland Law School in 1868, 
coming to Chicago in 1869. Mr. Crafts served in 
seven consecutive sessions of the General Assem- 
bly (1883-95, inclusive) as Representative from 
Cook County, and was elected by the Democratic 
majority as Speaker, in 1891, and again in '93. 

CRAIG, Alfred M., jurist, was born in Edgar 
County, 111., Jan. 15, 1831, graduated from Knox 
College in 1853, and was admitted to the bar in 
the following year, commencing practice at 
Knoxville. He held the offices of State's 
Attorney and County Judge, and represented 
Knox County in the Constitutional Convention 
of 1869-70. In 1873 he was elected to the bench 
of the Supreme Court, as successor to Justice 
C. B. Lawrence, and was re-elected in '82 and 
'91 ; his present term expiring with the century. 
He is a Democrat in politics, but has been 
three times elected in a Republican judicial 
district. 



CRAWFORD, Charles H., lawyer and legisla- 
tor, was born in Bennington, Vt., but reared in 
Bureau and La Salle Counties, 111. ; has practiced 
law for twenty years in Chicago, and been three 
times elected to the State Senate — 1884, '88 and 
'94 — and is author of the Crawford Primary Elec- 
tion Law. enacted in 1885. 

CRAWFORD COUNTY, a southeastern coimty, 
bordering on the Wabash, 190 miles nearly due 
south of Chicago — named for William H. Craw- 
ford, a Secretary of War. It has an area of 452 
square miles; population (1900), 19,240. The 
first settlers were the French, but later came 
emigrants from New England. The soil is rich 
and well adapted to the production of corn and 
wheat, which are the principal crops. The 
county was organized in 1817, Darwin being 
the first county-seat. The present county-seat 
is Robin.son, with a population (1890) of 1,387; 
centrally located and the point of intersection of 
two railroads. Other towns of importance are 
Palestine (population, 734)andHutsonville (popu- 
lation, 582). The latter, as well as Robinson, is 
a grain-shipping point. The Embarras River 
crosses the southwest portion of the county, and 
receives the waters of Big and Honey Creeks and 
Bushy Fork. The county has no mineral 
resources, but contains some valuable woodland 
and many well cultivated farms. Tobacco, 
potatoes, sorghum and wool are among the lead- 
ing products. 

CREAL SPRINGS, a village of Williamson 
County, on the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute 
Railroad ; has a bank and a weekly paper. Popu- 
lation (1890), 539; (1900), 940. 

CREBS, John M., ex-Congressman, was born in 
Middleburg, Loudoun County, Va., April 7, 1830. 
When he was but 7 years old his parents removed 
to Illinois, where he ever after resided. At the 
age of 21 he began the study of law, and, in 1852, 
was admitted to the bar, beginning practice in 
White County. In 1862 he enlisted in the 
Eighty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, receiving a 
commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, participating 
in all the important movements in the Mississippi 
Valley, including the capture of Vicksburg, and 
in the Arkansas campaign, a part of the time 
commanding a brigade. Returning home, he 
resumed the practice of his profession. In 1866 
he was an unsuccessful candidate for State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction on the 
Democratic ticket. He was elected to Congress 
in 1868 and re-elected in 1870, and, in 1880, was a 
delegate to the Democratic State Convention, 
Died, June 26, 1890. 



124 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



CREKJHTON, James A., jurist, was born in 
White Coimty, 111., March 7, 1840; in childhood 
removed with his parents to Wayne County, and 
was educated in the schools at Fairfield and at 
the Southern Illinois College, Salem, graduating 
from the latter in 1868. After teaching for a 
time while studying law, he was admitted to the 
bar in 1870, and opened an office at Fairfield, but, 
in 1877, removed to Springfield. In 188.5 he was 
elected a Circuit Judge for the Springfield Cir- 
cuit, was re-elected in 1891 and again in 1897. 

CRERAR, John, manufacturer and philanthro- 
pist, was born of Scotch ancestry in New York 
City, in 1837; at 18 years of age was an employe 
of an iron-importing firm in that city, subse- 
quently accepting a position with Morris K. 
Jessup & Co., in the same line. Coming to 
Chicago in 1863, in partnership with J. McGregor 
Adams, he succeeded to the business of Jessup & 
Co., in that city, also becoming a partner in the 
Adams & Westlake Company, iron manufactur- 
ers. He also became interested and an official in 
various other business organizations, including 
the Pullman Palace Car Company, the Chicago 
& Alton Railroad, the Illinois Trust and Savings 
Bank, and, for a time, was President of the Chi- 
cago & Joliet Railroad, besides being identified 
with various benevolent institutions and associ- 
ations. After the fire of 1871, he was intrusted 
by the New York Chamber of Commerce with 
the custody of funds sent for the relief of suffer- 
ers by that calamity. His integrity and business 
sagacity were universally recognized. After his 
death, which occurred in Chicago, Oct. 19, 
1889,- it was found that, after making munificent 
bequests to some twenty religious and benevolent 
associations and enterprises, aggregating nearly 
a million dollars, besides liberal legacies to 
relatives, he had left the residue of his estate, 
amounting to some ^3, 000, 000, for the purpose of 
founding a public library in the city of Chicago, 
naming thirteen of his most intimate friends as 
the first Board of Trustees. No more fitting and 
lasting monument of so noble and public-spirited 
a man could have been devised. 

CRETE, a village of Will County, on the Chi- 
cago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 30 miles south 
of Chicago. Population (1890), 643; (1900), 7G0. 

CROOK, George, soldier, was born near Day- 
ton, Ohio, Sept. 8, 1838 ; graduated at the United 
States Military Academy, West Point, in 18.52, and 
was assigned as brevet Second Lieutenant to the 
Fourth Infantry, becoming full Second Lieuten- 
ant in 1853. In 1861 he entered the volunteer 
service as Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infan- 



try ; was promoted Brigadier-General in 1802 and 
Major-General in 1864, being mustered out of the 
service, January, 1866. During the war he 
participated in some of the mo,st important 
battles in West Virginia and Tennessee, fought at 
Chickamauga and Antietam, and commanded 
the cavalry in the advance on Richmond in the 
spring of 1865. On being mustered out of the 
volunteer service he returned to the regular 
army, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
Twenty-third Infantry, and, for several years, was 
engaged in campaigns against the hostile Indians 
in the Northwest and in Arizona. In 1888 he 
was apixiinted Major-General and, from that time 
to his death, was in command of the Military 
Division of the Missouri, with headquarters at 
Chicago, where he died, March 19, 1890. 

CROSIAR, Simon, pioneer, was born near 
Pittsburg, Pa., in the latter part of the last 
century; removed to Ohio in 1815 and to Illinois 
in 1819, .settling first at Cap au Gris, a French 
■\illage on the Jlississippi just above the mouth 
of the Illinois in what is now Calhoun County; 
later lived at Peoria (1834), at Ottawa (1836), at 
Shippingport near the present city of La Salle 
(1829), and at Old Utica (1834); in the mean- 
while built one or two mills on Cedar Creek in 
La Salle County, kept a storage and commission 
house, and, for a time, acted as Captain of a 
steamboat plying on the Illinois. Died, in 1846. 
CRYSTAL LAKE, a village in McHenry 
County, at the inter.section of two divisions of 
the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 43 miles 
northwest of Chicago. Population (1880), 546; 
(1890), 781; (1900), 9.50 

CUBA, a town in Fulton County, distant 38 
miles west-southwest of Peoria, and about 8 miles 
north of Lewistown. The entire region (includ- 
ing the town) is underlaid with a good quality of 
bituminous coal, of which the late State Geologist 
Worthen a.sserted that, in seven townships of 
Fulton County, there are 9,000,000 tons to the 
square mile, within 150 feet of the surface. Brick 
and cigars are made here, and the town has two 
banks, a newspaper, three churches and good 
schools. Population (1890), 1,114; (1900), 1,198; 
(1903, school censu.s), 1,400. 

CULLEJf, William, editor and Congressman, 
born in the north of Ireland, March 4, 1826; while 
yet a child was brought by his parents to Pitts- 
burg, Pa., where he was educated in the public 
schools. At the age of 20 he removed to 
La Salle County, 111, and began life as a farmer. 
Later he took up his residence at Ottawa. He 
has served as Sheriff of La Salle County, and held 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



125 



other local offices, and was for many years a part 
owner and senior editor of "The Ottawa Repub- 
lican." From 1881 to ISS."), as a Republican, he 
represented the Eighth Illinois District in Con- 
gress. 

CULLOM, Kicliard Northcraft, farmer and 
legislator, was born in the State of Maryland, 
October 1, 1795, but early removed to Wayne 
County, Ky., where he was married to Miss 
Elizabeth Coffey, a native of North Carolina. In 
1830 he removed to Illinois, settling near Wash- 
ington, Tazewell County, where he continued to 
reside during the remainder of his life. Although 
a farmer by vocation, Mr. CuUom was a man of 
prominence and a recognized leader in public 
affairs. In 1836 he was elected as a Whig Repre- 
sentative in the Tenth General Assembly, serving 
in the same body with Abraham Lincoln, of 
whom he was an intimate personal and political 
friend. In 1840 he was chosen a member of the 
State Senate, serving in the Twelfth and Thir- 
teenth General Assemblies, and, in 1853, was 
again elected to the House. Mr. Cullom's death 
occurred in Tazewell County, Dec. 4, 1872, his 
wife having died Deo. 5, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. 
CuUom were the parents of Hon. Shelby M. 
CuUom. 

CULLOM, Shelby Moore, United States Sena- 
tor, was born in Wayne County, Ky., Nov. 23, 
1839. His parents removed to Tazewell County, 
111., in 1830, where his father became a member 
of the Legislature and attained prominence as a 
public man. After two years spent in Rock 
River Seminary at Mount Morris, varied by some 
experience as a teacher, in 1853 the subject of 
this sketch went to Springfield to enter upon the 
study of law in the office of Stuart & Edwards. 
Being admitted to the bar two years afterward, 
he was almost immediately elected City Attor- 
ney, and, in 1856, was a candidate on the Fill- 
more ticket for Presidential Elector, at the same 
time being elected to the Twentieth General 
Assembly for Sangamon County, as he was again, 
as a Republican, in 1860, being supported alike by 
the Fillmore men and the Free-Soilers. At the 
session following the latter election, he was 
chosen Speaker of the House, which was his first 
important political recognition. In 1863 he was 
appointed by President Lincoln a member of the 
War Claims Commission at Cairo, serving in this 
capacity with Governor Boutwell of Massachu- 
setts and Charles A. Dana of New York. He was 
also a candidate for the State Senate the same 
year, but then sustained his only defeat. Two 
years later (1864) he was a candidate for Con- 



gress, defeating his former preceptor, Hon. John 
T. Stuart, being re-elected in 1866, and again in 
1868, the latter year over B. S. Edwards. He 
was a delegate to the National Republican Con- 
vention of 1872, and, as Chairman of the Illinois 
delegation, placed General Grant in nomination 
for the Presidency, holding the same position 
again in 1884 and in 1892; was elected to the Illi- 
nois House of Representatives in 1873 and in 1874, 
being chosen Speaker a second time in 1873, as he 
was the unanimous choice of his party for 
Speaker again in 1875; in 1876 was elected Gov- 
ernor, was re-elected in 1880, and, in 1883, elected 
to the United States Senate as successor to Hon. 
David Davis. Having had two re-elections since 
(1889 and '95), he is now serving his third term, 
which will expire in 1901. In 1898, by special 
appointment of President McKinley, Senator 
CuUom served upon a Commission to investigate 
the condition of the Hawaiian Islands and 
report a plan of government for this new division 
of the American Republic. Other important 
measures with which his name has been promi- 
nently identified have been the laws for the sup- 
pression of polygamy in Utah and for the creation 
of the Inter-State Commerce Commission. At 
present he is Chairman of the Senate Committee 
on Inter-State Commerce and a member of those 
on Appropriations and Foreign Affairs. His 
career has been conspicuous for his long public 
service, the large number of important offices 
which he has held, the almost unbroken uniform- 
ity of his success when a candidate, and his com- 
plete exemption from scandals of every sort. No 
man in the history of the State has been more 
frequently elected to the United States Senate, 
and only three — Senators Douglas, Trumbull and 
Logan — for an equal number of term.s; though 
only one of these (Senator Trumbull) lived to 
serve out the full period for which he was 
elected. 

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, situated in the 
southeast quarter of the State, directly south of 
Coles County, from which it was cut off in 1843. 
Its area is 350 square miles, and population (1900), 
16,124. The county -seat was at Greenup until 
1855, when it was transferred to Prairie City, 
which was laid off in 1854 and incorporated as a 
town in 1866. The present county-seat is at 
Toledo (population, 1890, 676). The Embarras 
River crosses the county, as do also three lines of 
railroad. Neoga, a mining town, has a popula- 
tion of 829. The county received its name from 
the Cumberland Road, which, as originally pro- 
jected, passed through it. 



126 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



CUMMINS, (Rev.) David, Bishop of the Re- 
foniied Protestant Episcopal Churcli, was 
born near Smyrna, Del., Dec. 11, 1823; gradu- 
ated at Dickinson College, Pa., in 1841, and 
became a licentiate in the Methodist ministry, 
but, in 1846, took orders in the Episcopal 
Church; afterwards held rectorships in Balti- 
more, Norfolk, Richmond and the Trinity 
Episcopal Church of Chicago, in 1866 being con- 
secrated Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of 
Kentucky. As a recognized leader of the Low- 
Church or Evangelical party, he early took issue 
with the ritualistic tendencies of the High-Church 
party, and, having withdrawn from the Episcopal 
Church in 1873, became the first Bishop of the 
Reformed Episcopal organization. He was zeal- 
ous, eloquent and conscientious, but overtaxed his 
strength in his new field of labor, dying at Luth- 
erville, Md., June 26, 1876. A memoir of Bishop 
Cummins, by his wife, was publishedin 1878. 

CUiML'LATIVE TOTE. (See Minority Repre- 
sentation.) 

CURTIS, Harvey, clergyman and educator, was 
born in Adams, Jefferson County, N. Y., May 30, 
1806; graduated at Middlebury College, Vt., in 
1831, with the highest honors of his class; after 
three years at Princeton Theological Seminary, 
was ordained pastor of the Congregational 
church at Brandon, Vt., in 1836. In 1841 he 
accepted an appointment as agent of the Home 
Missionary Society for Ohio and Indiana, between 
1843 and 18.i8 holding pastorates at Madison, 
Ind., and Chicago. In the latter year he was 
chosen President of Knox College, at Galesburg, 
dying tliere, Sept. 18, 18G3. 

CURTIS, William EIroy, journalist, was born 
at Akron, Ohio, Nov. 5, 1850; graduated at 
Western Reserve College in 1851, meanwhile 
learning the art of typesetting; later served as a 
reporter on "The Cleveland Leader" and, in 1872, 
took a subordinate position on "The Cliicago 
Inter Ocean," finally rising to tliat of managing- 
editor. While on "The Inter Ocean" he accom- 
panied General Custer in his campaign against 
the Sioux, spent several months investigating 
the "Ku-Klux" and "White League" organiza- 
tions in the South, and, for some years, was "The 
Inter Ocean" correspondent in Washington. 
Having retired from "The Inter Ocean," he 
became Secretary of the "Pan-American Con- 
gress" in Washington, and afterwards made the 
tour of the United States with tlie South and 
Central American representatives in that Con- 
gress. During the World's Columbian Exposition 
in Chicago he had general supervision of the 



Latin-American liistorical and archaeological 
exhibits. Mr. Curtis has visited nearly every 
Central and South American country and has 
written elaborately on these subjects for tlie 
magazines and for publication in book form ; lias 
also published a "Life of Zachariah Chandler'' 
and a "Diplomatic History of the United States 
and Foreign Powers." For some time he was 
managing editor of "The Cliicago News" and is 
now (1898) the Washington Correspondent of 
"Tlie Chicago Record." 

CUSHMAN, (Col.) William H. W., financier 
and manufacturer, was born at Freetown, Mass., 
May 13, 1813; educated at the American Literary, 
Scientific and Military Academy, Norwich, Vt. ; 
at 18 began a mercantile career at Jliddlebury, 
and, in 1824, removed to La Salle County, 111., 
where he opened a country store, also built a mill 
at Vermilionville ; later was identified with many 
large financial enterprises which generally 
proved successful, thereby accumulating a for- 
tune at one time estimated at §3,000,000. He was 
elected as a Democrat to the Thirteenth and 
Fourteenth General Assemblies (1843 and '44) 
and, for several years, held a commission as 
Captain of the Ottawa Cavalry (militia). The 
Civil War coming on, he assisted in organizing 
the Fifty-third Illinois Volunteers, and was com- 
missioned its Colonel, but resigned Sept. 3, 1862. 
He organized and was principal owner of the 
Bank of Ottawa, which, in 1865, became the First 
National Bank of that city; was the leading 
spirit in tlie Hydraulic Company and the Gas 
Companj' at Ottawa, built and operated the 
Ottawa Machine Sliops and Foundry, speculated 
largely in lands in La Salle and Cook Counties — 
his operations in the latter being especially large 
about Riverside, as well as in Chicago, was a 
principal stockholder in the bank of Cush- 
man & Hardin in Chicago, had large interests in 
the lumber trade in Michigan, and was one of 
the builders of the Chicago, Paducah & South- 
western Riiilroad. The Chicago fire of 1871, 
however, brought financial disaster upon him, 
which finally dissipated his fortune and de- 
stroyed his mental and physical health. His 
death occurred at Ottawa, Oct. 28, 1878. 

DALE, Michael (i., lawyer, was born in Lan- 
caster, Pa., spent his childhood and youth in the 
public .schools of his native city, except one year 
in West Chester Academy, when he entered 
Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, graduating 
there in 1835. He tlien began the study of law 
and was admitted to the bar in 1837; coming to 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ns 



Illinois the following year, he was retained in a 
suit at Greenville, Bond County, which led to his 
employment in others, and finally to opening an 
office there. In 1839 he was elected Probate 
Judge of Bond County, remaining in office four- 
teen years, meanwhile being commissioned Major 
of the State Militia in 1844, and serving as mem- 
ber of a Military Court at Alton in 1847 ; was also 
tlie Delegate from Bond Covinty to the State Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1847. In 1853 he re- 
signed tlie office of County Judge in Bond County 
to accept that of Register of the Land office at 
Edwardsville, where he continued to reside, fill- 
ing the office of County Judge in Madison County 
five or six terras, besides occupying some subordi- 
nate positions. Judge Dale married a daughter 
of Hon. William L. D. Ewing. Died at Edwards- 
ville, April 1, 1895. 

DALLAS CITY, a town of Hancock County, at 
the intersection of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
roads, 16 miles south of Burlington. It lias man- 
ufactories of lumber, buttons, carriages and 
wagons, and two weekly newspapers. Popula- 
tion (1880), 839; (1890), 747; 1900), 970. 

DANEIVHOWER, John Wilson, Arctic explorer, 
was born in Chicago, Sept. 30, 1849 — the son of 
W. W. Danenhower, a journalist. After passing 
through the schools of Chicago and Washington, 
he graduated from the United States Naval Acad- 
emy at Annapolis in 1870, was successively com- 
missioned as Ensign, Master and Lieutenant, and 
served on expeditions in the North Pacific and in 
tlie Mediterranean. In 1878 he joined the Arctic 
steamer Jeannette at Havre, France, as second in 
command under Lieut. George W. De Long; pro- 
ceeding to San Francisco in July, 1879, the 
steamer entered the Arctic Ocean by way of 
Behring Straits. Here, having been caught in an 
ice-pack, the vessel was held twenty-two months. 
Lieutenant Danenhower meanwhile being dis- 
abled most of the time by ophthalmia. The crew, 
as last compelled to abandon the steamer, dragged 
their boats over the ice for ninety-five days until 
they were able to launch them in open water, 
but were soon separated by a gale. The boat 
commanded by Lieutenant Danenhower reached 
the Lena Delta, on the north coast of Siberia, 
where the crew were rescued by natives, landing 
Sept. 17, 1881. After an inefl'ectual search on 
the delta for the crews of the other two boats, 
Lieutenant Danenhower, with his crew, made 
the journey of 6,000 miles to Orenburg, finally 
arriving in the United States in June, 1883. He 
has told the story of the expedition in "The 



Narrative of the Jeannette," published in 1832. 
Died, at Annapolis, Md., April 30, 1887. 

DAN VERS, a village of McLean County, on the 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railwaj'. The section is agricultural. The town 
has a bank and a newspaper. Population (1880), 
460; (1890), 506; (1900), 607. 

DANVILLE, the county-.seat of Vermilion 
County, on Vermilion River and on five impor- 
tant lines of railroad; in rich coal-mining 
district and near large deposits of shale and 
soapstone, which are utilized in manufacture of 
sewer-pipe, paving and fire-clay brick. The city 
has car-shops and numerous factories, water- 
works, electric liglits, paved streets, several 
banks, twenty -seven churches, five graded schools 
and one high school, and six newspapers, three 
daily. A Soldiers" Home is located three miles 
east of the city. Pop. (1890), 11,491 ; (1900), 16,354. 

DANVILLE, OLNEY, & OHIO RIVER RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Chicago & Ohio River Railroad.) 

DANVILLE, URBANA, BLOOMINGTON & 
PEKIN RAILROAD. (See Peoria & Eastern 
Railroad.) 

D'ARTAItiUIETTE, Pierre, a French com- 
mandant of Illinois from 1734 to 1736, having 
been appointed by Bienville, then Governor of 
Louisiana. He was distinguished for gallantry 
and courage. He defeated the Natchez Indians, 
but, in an unsuccessful expedition against the 
Cliickasaws, was wounded, captured and burned 
at the stake. 

DAVENPORT, George, soldier, pioneer and 
trader, born in Lincohishire, England, in 1783, 
came to this country in 1804, and soon aftei 
enlisted in the United States army, with the rani 
of sergeant. He served gallantly on various 
expeditions in the West, where he obtained a 
knowledge of the Indians which was afterward 
of great value to him. During the War of 1813 
his regiment was sent East, where he partici- 
pated in the defense of Fort Erie and in other 
enterprises. In 1815, his term of enlistment hav- 
ing expired and the war ended, he entered the 
service of the contract commissary. He selected 
the site for Fort Armstrong and aided in planning 
and supervising its construction. He cultivated 
friendly relations with the surrounding tribes, 
and, in 1818, built a double log house, married, 
and engaged in business as a fur-trader, near the 
site of the present city of Rock Island. He had 
the confidence and respect of the savages, was 
successful and his trading posts were soon scat- 
tered througli Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. In 
1833 he piloted the first steamboat through the 



128 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



upper Mississippi, and, in 1825, was appointed the 
first postmaster at Rock Island, being the only 
white civilian resident there. In 1826 he united 
his business with that of the American Fur Com- 
pany, in whose service he remained. Although 
he employed every effort to induce President 
Jackson to make a payment to Black Hawk and 
his followers to induce them to emigrate across 
the Mississippi voluntarily, when that Chief 
commenced liostilities, Mr. Davenport tendered 
his services to Governor Reynolds, by whom he 
was commissioned Quartermaster-General with 
the rank of Colonel. Immigration increased 
rapidly after the close of the Black Hawk War 
In 1835 a company, of which he was a member, 
founded the town of Davenport, opposite Rock 
Island, which was named in his honor. In 1837 
and '43 he was largely instrumental in negoti- 
ating treaties by which the Indians ceded their 
lands in Iowa to the United States. In the 
latter year he gave up the business of fur-trading, 
having accumulated a fortune through hard 
labor and scrupulous integrity, in the face often 
of grave perils. He had large business interests in 
nearly every town in his vicinity, to all of which 
he gave more or less personal attention. On the 
night of July 4, 1843, he was assassinated at his 
home by robbers. For a long time the crime was 
shrouded in m5'stery. but its perpetrators were 
ultimately detected and brought to punishment. 

DAVIS, David, jurist and United States 
Senator, was born in Cecil County, Md., March 
9, 1815; pursued his academic studies at Kenyon 
College, Ohio, and studied law at Yale. He settled 
at Bloomington, 111., in 1836, and, after practicing 
law there until 1844, was elected to the lower house 
of the Fourteenth General Assembly. After 
serving in the Constitutional Convention of 1847, 
he was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial 
Circuit under the new Constitution in 1848, being 
re-elected in 1855 and '61. He was a warm, per- 
sonal friend of Abraham Lincoln, who, in 1863, 
placed him upon the bench of the United States 
Supreme Court. He resigned his high judicial 
honors to become United States Senator in 1877 
as successor to Logan's first term. On Oct. 13, 
1881, he was elected President pro tern, of the 
Senate, serving in this capacity to the end of his 
term in 1885. He died at his home in Blooming- 
ton, June 26, 1886. 

DAVIS, George R., lawyer and Congressman, 
was born at Throe Rivers, Mass., January 3, 1840; 
received a common school education, and a 
classical course at Williston Seminary, Easthamp- 
ton, Mass. From 1862 to 1865 he served in the 



Union army, first as Captain in the Eighth 
Massachusetts Infantry, and later as Major in the 
Third Rhode Island Cavalry. After the war he 
removed to Chicago, where lie still resides. By 
profession he is a lawyer. He took a prominent 
part in the organization of the Chicago militia, 
was elected Colonel of the First Regiment, 
I. N. G., and was for a time the senior Colonel in 
the State service. In 1876 he was an unsuccessful 
Republican candidate for Congress, but was 
elected in 1878, and re-elected in 1880 and 1882. 
From 1886 to 1890 he was Treasurer of Cook 
County. He took an active and influential part 
in securing the location of the Worlds Columbian 
Exposition at Chicago, and was Director-General 
of the Exposition from its inception to its close, 
by his executive ability demonstrating the wis- 
dom of his selection. Died Nov. 25, 1899. 

DAVIS, Hasbi'ouck, soldier and journalist, was 
born at Worcester, Mass., April 23, 1827, being 
the son of John Davis, United States Senator and 
Governor of Massachusetts, known in his lifetime 
as "Honest John Davis." The son came to Chi- 
cago in 1855 and commenced the practice of 
law , in 1861 joined Colonel Voss in the organiza- 
tion of the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry, being elected 
Lieutenant-Colonel and, on the retirement of 
Colonel Voss in 1863, succeeding to the colonelcy. 
In March, 1805, he was brevetted Brigadier-Gen- 
eral, remaining in active service until August, 
1865, when he resigned. After the war he was, 
for a time, editor of "The Chicago Evening Post," 
was City Attorney of the City of Chicago from 
1867 to '69, but later removed to Massachusetts 
Colonel Davis was drowned at sea, Oct. 19, 1870. 
by the loss of the steamship Cambria, while on a 
voyage to Europe. 

DAVIS, James M., early lawyer, was born in 
Barren County, Ky., Oct. 9, 1793, came to Illinois 
in 1817, located in Bond County and is said to 
have taught the first school in that county. He 
became a la^^-yer and a prominent leader of the 
Whig party, was elected to the Thirteenth Gen- 
eral Assembly (1842) from Bond County, and to 
the Twenty-first from Montgomery in 1858, liav- 
ing, in the meantime, become a citizen of 
Hillsboro; was also a member of the State Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1847. Mr. Davis was a 
man of striking personal appearance, being over 
six feet in height, and of strong individuality. 
After the dissolution of the Whig party he identi- 
fied himself with the Democracy and was an 
intensely bitter opponent of the war policy of 
the Government. Died, at Hillsboro, Sept. 17. 
1866. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



129 



DAVIS, John A., soldier, was born in Craw- 
ford County, Pa., Oct. 25, 1823; came to Stephen- 
son County, 111., in boyhood and served as 
Representative in the General Assembly of 1857 
and '59; in September, 1861, enlisted as a private, 
was elected Captain and, on the organization of 
the Forty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, at 
Camp Butler, was commissioned its Colonel. He 
participated in the capture of Fort Donelsou, 
and in the battle of Shiloh was desperately 
wounded by a shot through the lungs, but 
recovered in time to join his regiment before the 
battle of Corinth, where, on Oct. 4, 1863, he fell 
mortally wounded, dying a few days after. On 
receiving a request from some of his fellow-citi- 
zens, a few days before his death, to accept a 
nomination for Congress in the Freeport District, 
Colonel Davis patriotically replied: "I can serve 
my country better in following the torn banner 
of my regiment in the battlefield." 

DAVIS, Levi, lawj-er and State Auditor, was 
born in Cecil County, Md., July 20, 1806; gradu- 
ated at Jefferson College, Pa., in 1838, and was 
admitted to the bar at Baltimore in 1830. The 
following year he removed to Illinois, settling at 
Vandalia, then the capital. In 1835 Governor 
Duncan appointed him Auditor of Public 
Accounts, to which office he was elected by the 
Legislature in 1837, and again in 1838. In 
1846 he took up his residence at Alton. He 
attained prominence at the bar and was, for 
several years, attorney for the Cliicago & Alton 
and St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad 
Companies, in which he was also a Director. 
Died, at Alton, March 4. 1897. 

DAVIS, Nathan Smith, M.D., LL.D., phj-si- 
cian, educator and editor, was born in Chenango 
County, N. Y., Jan. 9, 1817; took a classical and 
scientific course in Cazenovia Seminary ; in 1837 
graduated from the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, winning several prizes during his 
course; the same year began practice at Bing- 
hamton; spent two years (1847-49) in New York 
City, when he removed to Chicago to accept the 
chair of Phj'siology and General Pathology in 
Rush Medical College. In 1859 he accepted a 
similar position in the Chicago Medical College 
(now the medical department of Northwestern 
University), v.- here he still remains. Dr. Davis 
has not only been a busy i)ractitioner, but a volu- 
minous writer on general and special topics con- 
nected with his profession, having been editor at 
different times of several medical periodicals, 
including "The Chicago Medical Journal," "The 
Medical Journal and Examiner," and "The 



Journal of the American Medical Association." 
He has also been prominent in State, National 
and International Medical Congresses, and is one 
of the founders of the Northwestern University, 
the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Chicago 
Historical Societ.v, the Illinois State Microscopi- 
cal Society and the Union College of Law, besides 
other scientific and benevolent associations. 

DAVIS, Oliver L., lawyer, was born in New 
York City, Dec. 30, 1819; after being in the 
employ of the American Fur Company some 
seven years, came to Danville, 111., in 1841 and 
commenced studying law the next year; was 
elected to the lower branch of the Seventeenth 
and Twentieth General Assemblies, first as a 
Democrat and next (1S56) as a Republican; 
served on the Circuit Bench in 1861-06, and again 
in 1873-79, being assigned in 1877 to the Appellate 
bench. Died, Jan. 12, 1892. 

DAWSON, John, early legislator, was born in 
Virginia, in 1791 ; came to Illinois in 1837, set- 
tling in Sangamon County ; served five terms in 
the lower liouse of the General Assembly (1830, 
'34, '36, '38 and '46), during a part of the time 
being the colleague of Abraham Lincoln. He 
was one of the celebrated "Long Nine" who repre- 
sented Sangamon County at the time of the 
removal of the State capital to Springfield ; was 
also a member of the Constitutional Convention 
of 1847. Died, Nov. 13, 1850. 

DEAF AND DUMB, ILLINOIS INSTITU- 
TION FOR EDUCATION OF, located at Jack- 
sonville, established by act of the Legislature, 
Feb. 33, 1839, and the oldest of the State 
charitable institutions. Work was not begun 
imtil 1842, but one building was ready for 
partial occupancy in 1846 and was completed 
in 1849. (In 1871 this building, then known 
as the south wing, was declared unsafe, and 
was razed and rebuilt.) The center building 
was completed in 1852 and the north wing in 
1857. Other additions and new buildings have 
been added from time to time, such as new dining 
halls, workshops, barns, bakery, refrigerator 
house, kitchens, a gymnasium, separate cot- 
tages for the sexes, etc. At present (1895) the 
institution is probably the largest, as it is un- 
questionably one of the best conducted, of its class 
in the world. The number of pupils in 1894 was 
716. Among its employes are men and women of 
ripe culture and experience, who have been con- 
nected with it for more than a quarter of a 
century. 

DEARBORN, Luther, lawyer and legislator, 
was born at Plymouth, N. H., March 34, 1830, 



130 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and educated in Plymouth schools and at New 
Hampton Academy ; in youth removed to Dear- 
born County, Ind., where he taught school and 
served as deputy Circuit Clerk; then came to 
Mason County, 111., and, in 1844, to Elgin. Here 
he was elected Sheriff and, at the expiration of 
his term. Circuit Clerk, later engaging in the 
banking business, which proving disa.strous in 
18.57, he retiu-ned to Mason County and began the 
practice of law. He then spent some years in 
Minnesota, finally returning to Illinois a second 
time, resumed practice at Havana, served one 
term in the State Senate (1876-80); in 1884 
became member of a law firm in Chicago, but 
retired in 1887 to accept the attorneyship of the 
Chicago & Alton Railway, retaining this position 
until his death, which occurred suddenly at 
Springfield, April 5, 1889. For the last two years 
of his life Mr. Dearborn's residence was at 
Aurora. 

DECATUR, the county-seat of Macon County; 
39 miles east of Springfield and one mile north 
of the Sangamon River — also an important rail- 
way center. Three coal shafts are operated out- 
• side the city. It is a center for the grain trade, 
having five elevators. Extensive car and repair 
shops are located there, and several important 
manufacturing industries flourish, among thena 
three flouring mills. Decatur has paved streets, 
water-works, electric street railways, and excel- 
lent public schools, including one of the best and 
most noted high schools in the State. Four 
newspapers are publislied there, each issuing a 
daily edition. Pop., (1890), 10,841; (1900), 20,7.54. 

DECATUR EDITORIAL CONVENTION. (See 
Anti-Nebraska Editurial Coinrntiou.) 

DECATUR & EASTERN RAILWAY. (See 
Indiana, Decatur & Western Railwuij.) 

DECATUR, MATTOON & SOUTHERN RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Peoria, Decatiir & Evansville 
Raiheay.) 

DECATUR, SULLIVAN & MATTOON RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Peoria, Decatur & Evansville 
Railway. ) 

DEEP SNOW, THE, an event occurring in the 
winter of 1830-31 and referred to by old settlers 
of Illinois as constituting an epoch in State his- 
tory. The late Dr. Julian M. Sturtevant, Presi- 
dent of Illinois College, in an address to the "Old 
Settlers" of Morgan County, a few years before 
his death, gave the following account of it: "In 
the interval between Christmas, 1830, and Janu- 
ary, 1831, snow fell all over Central Illinois to a 
depth of fully three feet on a level. Then came 
a rain with weather so cold that it froze as it 



fell, forming a crust of ice over this three feet of 
snow, nearly, if not quite, strong enough to bear 
a man, and finally over this crust there were a 
few inches of snow. The clouds passed away 
and the wind came down upon us from the north 
west with extraordinary ferocity. For weeks — 
certainly not less than two weeks — the mercury 
in the thermometer tube was not, on any one 
morning, higher than twelve degrees below zero. 
This snow-fall produced constant sleighing for 
nine weeks." Other contemporaneous accounts 
say that this storm caused great suffering among 
both men and beasts. The scattered settlers, u,n- 
able to reach the mills or produce stores, weie 
driven, in some cases, to great extremity for 
supplies ; mills were stopped by the freezing up 
of streams, while deer and other game, sinking 
through the crust of snow, were easily captured 
or perished for lack of food. Birds and dome.stic 
fowls often suffered a like fate for want of sus- 
tenance or from the severity of the cold. 

DEERE, John, manufacturer, was born at 
Middlebury, Vt., Feb. 7, 1804; learned the black- 
smith trade, which he followed until 1838, when 
he came west, settling at Grand Detour, in Ogle 
County ; ten j'ears later removed to Moline, and 
there founded the plow-works which bear his 
name and of which he was President from 1868 
until his death in 1886.— Charles H. (Deere), son 
of the preceding, was born in Hancock, Addison 
County Vt., March 28, 1837; educated in the 
common schools and at Iowa and Knox Acad- 
emies, and Beirs Commercial College, Chicago; 
became assistant and head book-keeper, travel- 
ing and purchasing agent of the Deere Plow 
Company, and, on its incorporation, Vice-Presi- 
dent and General Manager, until his father's 
death, when he succeeded to the Presidency. He 
is also the founder of the Deere & Mansur Corn 
Planter Works, President of the Moline Water 
Power Company, besides being a Director in 
various other concerns and in the branch houses 
of Deere & Co., in Kansas City, Des Moines, 
Council Bluffs and San Francisco. Notwith- 
standing his immense business interests, BIr. 
Deere has found time for the discharge of public 
and patriotic duties, as shown by the fact that he 
was for years a member and Chairman of the 
State Bureau of Labor Statistics ; a Commissioner 
from Illinois to the Vienna International Exposi- 
tion of 1873; one of the State Commissioners of 
the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893; a 
Presidential Elector for the State-at-large in 1888, 
and a delegate from his District to the National 
Republican Convention at St. Louis, in 1896. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



131 



DEERING, William, manufacturer, was born 
at Paris, Oxford County, Maine, April 26, 1836, 
completed hi» education at the Readfield high 
school, in 1843, engaged actively in manufactur- 
ing, and during his time has assisted in establish- 
ing several large, successful business enterprises, 
including wholesale and commission dry-goods 
houses in Portland, Maine, Boston and New York. 
His greatest work has been the building up of the 
Deering Manufacturing Company, a main feature 
of whicli, for thirty years, has been the manu- 
facture of Marsh harvesters and other agricultural 
implements and appliances. This concern began 
operation in Cliicago about 1870, at the present 
time (1899) occupying eighty acres in the north 
part of the city and employing some 4,000 hands. 
It is said to turn out a larger amount and greater 
variety of articles for the use of the agriculturist 
than any other establishment in the country, 
receiving its raw material from many foreign 
countries, including the Philippines, and distrib- 
uting its products all over the globe. Mr. Deer- 
ing continues to be President of the Company 
and a principal factor in the management of its 
immense business. He is liberal, public-spirited 
and benevolent, and his business career has been 
notable for the absence of controversies with his 
employes. He has been, for a number of years, 
one of the Trustees of the Northwestern Univer- 
sity at Evanston, and, at the present time, is 
President of the Board. 

DE KALE, a city in De Kalb County, 58 miles 
west of Chicago. Of late years it has grown 
rapidly, largely because of the introduction of 
new industrial enterprises. It contains a large 
wire drawing plant, barbed wire factories, foun- 
dry, agricultural implement works, machine 
shop, shoe factory and several minor manufac- 
turing establishments. It has banks, four news- 
papers, electric street railway, eight miles of 
paved streets, nine churches and three graded 
schools. It is the site of the Northern State Nor- 
mal School, located in 189.5. Population (1880), 
1,598; (1890), 2,579; (1900), 5,904; (1903, est.), 8,000. 

DE KALB COUNTY, originally a portion of 
La Salle County, and later of Kane ; was organized 
in 1837, and named for Baron De Kalb, tlie 
Revolutionary patriot. Its area is 650 square 
miles and population (in 1900), 31,756. The land 
is elevated and well drained, lying between Fox 
and Rock Rivers. Prior to 1835 the land belonged 
to the Pottawatomie Indians, who maintained 
several villages and their own tribal government. 
No sooner had the aborigines been removed than 
white settlers appeared in large numbers, and. 



in September, 1835, a convocation was held on 
the banks of the Kishwaukee, to adopt a tempo- 
rary form of government. The public lands in the 
county were sold at auction in Chicago in 1843. 
Sycamore (originally called Orange) is the 
county-seat, and, in 1890, had a population of 
2,987. Brick buildings were first erected at 
Sycamore by J. S. Waterman and the brothers 
Mayo. In 1854, H. A. Hough estabhshed the 
first newspaper, "The Republican Sentinel." 
Other prosperous towns are De Kalb (population, 
2,579), Cortland, Malta and Somonauk. Tlie sur- 
face is generally rolling, upland prairie, with 
numerous groves and wooded tracts along the 
principal streams. Various lines of railroad trav- 
erse the county, which embraces one of the 
wealthiest rural districts in the State. 

DE KALB & GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD. 
(See Chicago Great Western Railway.) 

DELAVAN, a thriving city in Tazewell County, 
on the line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, at 
the point of its intersection with the Peoria and 
Pekin Division of the Illinois Central Railway, 34 
miles west-southwest of Bloomington and 24 
miles south of Peoria. Grain is extensively 
grown in the adjacent territory, and much 
shipped from Delavan. The place supports two 
banks, tile and brick factory, creamery, and two 
weekly papers. It also has five churches and a 
graded school. Pop. (1890), 1,176, (1900), 1,304. 

DEMENT, Henry Dodge, ex -Secretary of State, 
was born at Galena, 111, in 1840 — the son of 
Colonel John Dement, an early and prominent 
citizen of the State, who held the office of State 
Treasurer and was a member of the Constitu- 
tional Conventions of 1847 and 1870. Colonel 
Dement having removed to Dixon about 1845, the 
subject of this sketch was educated there and at 
Mount Morris. Having enlisted in the Thirteenth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry in 1861, he was elected 
a Second Lieutenant and soon promoted to First 
Lieutenant — also received from Governor Yates a 
complimentary commission as Captain for gal- 
lantry at Arkansas Post and at Chickasaw 
Bayou, where the commander of his regiment. 
Col. J. B. Wyman, was killed. Later he served 
with General Curtis in Mississippi and in the 
Fifteenth Army Corps in the siege of Vicksburg. 
After leaving the army he engaged in the manu- 
facturing business for some years at Dixon. Cap- 
tain Dement entered the State Legislature by 
election as Representative from Lee County in 
1872, was re-elected in 1874 and, in 1876, was pro- 
moted to the Senate, serving in the Thirtieth and 
Thirty-first General Assemblies. In 1880 he was 



132 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



chosen Secretary of State, and re-elected in 1884, 
serving eight years. The last public position held 
by Captain Dement was that of Warden of the 
State Penitentiary at Joliet, to which he was 
appointed in 1891, serving two years. His 
present home is at Oak Park, Cook County. 

DEMENT, John, was born in Sumner County, 
Tenn., in April, 1804. When 13 j^ears old he 
accompanied his parents to Illinois, settling in 
Franklin County, of which he was elected Sheriff 
in 1826, and which he represented in the General 
Assemblies of 1828 and "30. He served with 
distinction during the Black Hawk War, having 
previously had experience in two Indian cam- 
paigns. In 1831 he was elected State Treasurer 
by the Legislature, but, in 183G, resigned this 
office to represent Fayette County in the General 
Assembly and aid in the fight against the removal 
of the capital to Springfield. His efforts failing 
of success, he removed to the northern part of the 
State, finally locating at Dixon, where he became 
extensively engaged in nianufacturing. In 1837 
President Van Buren appointed him Receiver of 
Public Moneys, but he was removed by President 
Harrison in 1841 ; was reappointed by Polk in 
1845, only to be again removed by Taylor in 1849 
and reappointed by Pierce in 1853. He held the 
office from that date until it was abolished. He 
was a Democratic Presidential Elector in 1844; 
served in three Constitutional Conventions (1847, 
'63, and '70), being Temporary President of the 
two bodies last named. He was the father of 
Hon. Denry D. Dement, Secretary of State of Illi- 
nois from 1884 to 1888. He died at his home at 
Dixon, Jan. 16, 1883. 

DENT, Thomas, lawyer, was born in Putnam 
County, 111., Nov. 14, 1831; in his }-outh was 
employed in the Clerk's office of Putnam County, 
meanwhile studying law; was admitted to the 
bar in 1854, and, in 1856, opened an office in Chi- 
cago; is still in practice and has served as 
President, both of the Chicago Law Institute and 
the State Bar Association. 

DES PLAINES, a village of Cook County, at the 
intersection of the Chicago & Northwestern and 
the Wisconsin Central Railroads, 17 miles north- 
west from Chicago ; is a dairying region. Popu- 
lation (1880). 818; (1890), 986; (1900), 1,606. 

DES PLAINES RIVER, a branch of the Illinois 
River, which rises in Racine County, Wis., and, 
after passing through Kenosha County, in that 
State, and Lake County, 111., running nearly 
parallel to the west shore of Lake Michigan 
through Cook County, finally unites with the 
Kankakee, about 13 miles southwest of Joliet, by 



its confluence with the latter forming the Illinois 
River. Its length is about 150 miles. The 
Chicago Drainage Canal is constsucted in the 
valley of the Des Plaines for a considerable por- 
tion of the distance between Chicago and Joliet. 

DEWEY, (Dr.) Richard S., physician, alienist, 
was born at Forestville, N. Y., Dec. 6, 1845; after 
receiving his primary education took a two years' 
course in the literary and a three years' course in 
the medical department of the Michigan Univer- 
sitj' at Ann Arbor, graduating from the latter in 
1869. He then began practice as House Physician 
and Surgeon in the City Hospital at Brooklyn, 
N. Y., remaining for a year, after which he 
visited Europe inspecting hospitals and sanitary 
methods, meanwhile spending si.x months in the 
Prussian military service as Surgeon during the 
Franco-Prussian War. After the close of the 
war he took a brief course in the University of 
Berlin, when, returning to the United States, he 
was employed for seven years as Assistant Physi- 
cian in the Northern Hospital for the Insane at 
Elgin. In 1879 he was appointed Jledical Super- 
intendent of the Eastern Hospital for the Insane 
at Kankakee, remaining until the accession of 
John P. Altgeld to the Governorship in 1893. 
Dr. Dewey's reputation as a specialist in the 
treatment of the insane has stood among the 
highest of his class. 

DE WITT COUNTY, situated in the central 
portion of the State ; has an area of 405 square 
milesand a population (1900) of 18,972. The land 
was originally owned by the Kickapoos and Potta- 
watomies, and not until 1820 did the first perma- 
nent white settlers occupy this region. The first 
to come were Felix Jones, Prettyman Marvel, 
William Cottrell, Samuel Glenn, and the families 
of Scott, Luiidy and Coaps. Previously, how- 
ever, the first cabin had been built on the site of 
the present Farmer City by Nathan Clearwater. 
Zion Shugest erected the earliest grist-mill and 
Burrell Post the first saw-mill in the county. 
Kentuckians and Tennesseeans were the first im- 
migrants, but not until the advent of settlers from 
Ohio did permanent improvements begin to be 
made. In 1835 a school house and Presbyterian 
church were built at Waynesville. The county 
was organized in 1839, and — with its capital 
(Clinton) — was named after one of New York's 
most distinguished Governors. It lies within the 
great "corn belt," and is well watered by Salt 
Creek and its branches. Most of the surface is 
rolling prairie, intenspersed with woodland. 
Several lines of railway (among them the Illinois 
Central) cross the county. Clinton had a popu- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



133 



lation of 3,598 in 1890, and Farmer City, 1,367. 
Both are railroad centers and have con.siderable 
trade. 

DE WOLF, Calvin, pioneer and phiIanthropi.st, 
was born in Luzerne County, Pa., Feb. 18, 181.5 ; 
taken early in life to Vermont, and, at 19 j'ears of 
age, commenced teaoliing at Orwell, in that 
State; spent one year at a manual labor school 
in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and, in 1837, came to 
Chicago, and soon after began teaching in Will 
County, still later engaging in the same vocation 
in Chicago. In 1839 he commenced the study of 
law with Messrs. Spring & Goodrich and, in 1843, 
was admitted to practice. In 1854 he was 
elected a Justice of the Peace, retaining the 
position for a quarter of a century, winning for 
himself the reputation of a sagacious and incor- 
ruptible public officer. Mr. De Wolf was an 
original abolitionist and his home is .said to have 
been one of the stations on the "underground 
railroad" in the days of slavery. Died Nov. 88, '99. 
DEXTER, Wirt, lawyer, born at De.xter, Mich., 
Oct. 25, 1831 ; was educated in the schools of his 
native State and at Cazenovia Seminary, N. Y. 
He was descended from a family of lawyers, his 
grandfather, Samuel Dexter, having been Secre- 
tary of War, and afterwards Secretary of the 
Treasury, in the cabinet of the elder Adams. 
Coming to Chicago at the beginning of his profes- 
sional career, Mr. Dexter gave considerable 
attention at first to his father's extensive lumber 
trade. He was a zealous and eloquent supporter 
of the Government during the Civil War, and 
was an active member of the Relief and Aid 
Society after the fire of 1871. His entire profes- 
sional life was sjient in Chicago, for several years 
before his death being in the service of the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company as 
its general solicitor and member of the executive 
committee of the Board of Directors. Died in 
Chicago, May 20, 1890. 

DICKEY, Hugrh Thompson, jurist, was born in 
New York City, May 30, 1811; graduateil from 
Columbia College, read law and was admitted to 
the bar. He visited Chicago in 1836, and four 
years later settled there, becoming one of its 
most influential citizens. Upon the organization 
of the County Court of Cook County in 1845, 
Mr. Dickey was appointed its Judge. In Septem- 
ber, 1848, he was elected Judge of the Seventh 
Judicial Cirpuit, practically without partisan 
opposition, serving until the expiration of his 
term in 1853. He was prominently identified 
with several important commercial enterprises, 
was one of the founders of the Chicago Library 



Association, and one of the first Trustees of the 
Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes, now Mercy 
Hospital. In 1885 he left Chicago to take up his 
residence in his native city, New York, where he 
died, June 3, 1892. 

DICKEY, Tlieophilus Lyle, lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Bourbon County, Ky., Nov. 13, 1812, 
the grandson of a Revolutionary soldier, gradu- 
ated at the Miami (Ohio) University, and re- 
moved to Illinois in 1834, settling at Macomb, 
McDonough County, where he was admitted to 
the bar in 1835. In 1836 he moved to Rushville, 
where he resided three years, a part of the time 
editing a Whig newspaper. Later he became a 
resident of Ottawa, and, at the opening of the 
Mexican War, organized a company of volun- 
teers, of which he was chosen Captain. In 1861 
he raised a regiment of cavalry which was 
mustered into service as the Fourth Illinois 
Cavalry, and of which he was commissioned 
Colonel, taking an active part in Grant's cam- 
paigns in the West. In 1865 he resigned his 
commission and resumed the practice of his 
profession at Ottavra. In 1866 he was an 
unsuccessful candidate for Congressman for the 
State-at-large in opposition to John A. Logan, 
and, in 1868, was tendered and accepted the posi- 
tion of Assistant Attorney-General of the United 
States, resigning after eighteen months' service. 
In 1873 he removed to Chicago, and, in 1874, was 
made Corporation Counsel. In December, 1875, 
he was elected to the Supreme Court, vice W. K. 
McAllister, deceased ; was re-elected in 1879, and 
died at Atlantic City, July 33, 1885. 

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, THE, known also as 
the Christian Church and as "Campbellites," 
having been founded by Alexander Campbell. 
Many members settled in Illinois in the early 
30's, and, in the central portion of the State, the 
denomination soon began to flourish greatly. 
Any one was admitted to membership who made 
what is termed a scriptural confession of faith 
and was baptized by immersion. Alexander 
Campbell was an eloquent preacher and a man of 
much native ability, as well as a born conver- 
sationalist. The sect has steadily grown in 
numbers and influence in the State. The United 
States Census of 1890 showed 641 churches in the 
State, with 368 ministers and an aggregate mem- 
ber.ship of 61,587, having 550 Sunday schools, with 
50,000 pupils in attendance. The value of the 
real property, which included 553 church edifices 
(with a seating capacity of 155,000) and 30 parson- 
ages, was §1,167,675. The denomination supports 
Eureka College, with an attendance of between 



134 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



400 and 500 students, while its assets are valued 
at §150,000. Total membership in the United 
States, estimated at 750,000. 

DIXOX, an incorporated city, the county-seat 
of Lee County. It lies on both sides of Rock 
River and is the point of intersection of the Illi- 
nois Central and the Cliicago & Northwestern 
Railroads; is 98 miles west of Chicago. Rock 
River furnishes abundant water power and the 
manufacturing interests of the city are very ex- 
tensive, including large plow works, wire-cloth 
factory, wagon factory; also has electric liglit 
and power plant, three shoe factories, planing 
mills, and a condensed milk factory. There are 
two National and one State bank, eleven 
churches, a hospital, and three newspapers. In 
schools the city particularly excels, having sev- 
eral graded (grammar) schools and two colleges. 
The Chautauqua Assembly holds its meeting here 
annually. Population (1890), 5,161; (1900), 7,917. 

1)IX0X, John, pioneer — the first white settler 
in Lee County, 111., was born at Rye, West- 
chester County, N. Y., Oct. 9, 1784; at 21 removed 
to New York City, where he was in business some 
fifteen years. In 1820 he set out with his family 
for the West, traveling by land to Pittsburg, 
and thence by flat-boat to Shawneetown. Having 
disembarked his horses and goods here, he pushed 
out towards the northwest, passing the vicinity 
of Springfield, and finally locating on Fancy 
Creek, some nine miles north of the present site 
of that city. Here he remained some five years, 
in that time serving as foreman of the first Sanga- 
mon County Grand Jury. The new county of 
Peoria having been established in 1825, he was 
offered and accepted the appointment of Circuit 
Clerk, removing to Fort Clark, as Peoria was 
then called. Later he became contractor for 
carrying the mail on the newly established route 
between Peoria and Galena. Compelled to pro- 
vide means of cros.sing Rock River, lie induced a 
French and Indian half-breed, named Ogee, to 
take charce of a ferry at a point afterwards 
known as Ogee's Ferry. The tide of travel to the 
lead-mine region caused both the mail-route and 
the ferry to prove profitable, and, as the half- 
breed ferryman could not endure prosperity, Mr. 
Dixon was forced to buy him out. removing his 
family to this point in April, 1830. Here he 
established friendly relations with the Indians, 
and, during the Black Hawk War ,two years later, 
was enabled to render valuable service to the 
State. His station was for many years one of 
the most important points in Northern Illinois, 
and among the men of national reputation who 



were entertained at different times at his home, 
may be named Gen. Zachary Taylor, Albert Sid' 
ney Johnston, Gen. Winfield Scott, Jefferson 
Davis, Col. Robert Anderson, Abraham Lincoln, 
Col. E. D. Baker and many more. He bouglit the 
land where Dixon now stands in 1835 and laid off 
the town ; in 1838 was elected bj' the Legislature 
a member of the Board of Public Works, and. in 
1840, secured the removal of the land office from 
Galena to Dixon. Colonel Dixon was a delegate 
from Lee County to the Republican State Con- 
vention at Bloomington, in Blaj-, 1856, and, 
altliough then considerably over 70 years of age, 
spoke from the same stand with Abraham Lin- 
coln, his presence producing much enthusiasm. 
His death occurred, July 6, 1876. 

DOASE, John Wesley, merchant and banker, 
was born at Thompson, Windham County, Conn., 
March 23, 1833; was educated in the common 
schools, and, at 22 years of age, came to Chicago 
and ojjened a small grocery store which, by 1870, 
had become one of the most extensive concerns 
of its kind in the Northwest. It was swept out 
of existence by the fire of 1871, but was re-estab- 
lished and, in 1872, transferred to other parties, 
although Mr. Doane continued to conduct an 
importing business in many lines of goods used in 
the grocery trade. Having become interested in 
the Merchants' Loan & Trust Company, he was 
elected its President and has continued to act in 
that capacity. He is also a stockholder and a 
Director of the Pullman Palace Car Company, 
the Allen Paper Car Wheel Company and the 
Illinois Central Railroad, and was a leading 
promoter of the World's Columbian Exposition of 
1893 — being one of those who guaranteed the 
$5,000,000 to be raised by the citizens of Chicago 
to assure the success of the enterprise. 

DOLTOX STATION, a village of Cook County, 
on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Chicago & 
Western Indiana, and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railroads, 10 miles south of 
Chicago; has a carriage factor}', a weekly paper, 
churches and a graded school. Population (1880) 
448; (1890). 1,110; (1900), 1,229. 

DOXGOLA, a village in Union County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 27 miles north of Cairo. 
Population (1880), .599; (1890), 733; (I'JOO), 681. 

DOOLITTLE, James Rood, United States 
Senator, was born in Hampton, Washington 
County, N. Y., Jan 3, 1815; educated at MiJdle- 
burj' and Geneva (now Hobart) Colleges, admitted 
to the bar in 1837 and practiced at Rochester and 
Warsaw, N. Y. ; was elected District Attorney of 
Wyoming County,- N. Y.. in 184.5, and. in 185t 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



135 



removed to Wisconsin ; two years later was 
elected Circuit Judge, but resigned in 1850, and 
the following year was elected as a Democratic- 
Republican to the United States Senate, being 
re-elected as a Republican in 1803. Retiring 
from public life in 1800, he afterwards resided 
chiefly at Racine, Wis., though practicing in the 
courts of Chicago. He was President of the 
National Union Convention at Philadelphia in 
1806, and of the National Democratic Convention 
of 1873 in Baltimore, which endorsed Horace 
Greeley for President. Died, at Edgewood, R. I., 
July 27, 1897. 

DORE, John Clark, first Superintendent of 
Chicago City Schools, was born at Cssipee, N. H., 
March 23, 1823; began teaching at 17 years of age 
and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1847; 
then taught several years and, in 18.54, was 
offered and accepted the position of Superintend- 
ent of City Schools of Chicago, but resigned two 
years later. Afterwards engaging in business, 
he served as Vice-President and President of 
the Board of Trade, President of the Com- 
mercial Insurance Company and of the State 
Savings Institution ; was a member of the State 
Senate, 1868-72, and has been identified with 
various benevolent organizations of the city of 
Chicago. Died in Boston, Mass., Dec, 14, 1900. 

DOUOHERTY, John, lawyer and Lieutenant- 
Governor, was born at Marietta, Ohio, May 6, 
1806; brought by his parents, in 1808, to Cape 
Girardeau, Mo., where they remained imtil after 
the disastrous earthquakes in that region in 
1811-13, when, his father having died, his mother 
removed to Jonesboro, 111. Here he finally read 
law with Col. A. P. Field, afterwards Secretary 
of State, being admitted to the bar in 1831 and 
early attaining prominence as a successful 
criminal lawyer. He soon became a recognized 
political leader, was elected as a member of the 
House to the Eighth General Assemblj' (1832) 
and re-elected in 1834, '36 and '40, and again in 
1856, and to the Senate in 1843, serving in the 
latter body until the adoption of the Constitution 
of 1848. Originally a Democrat, he was, in 1858, 
the Administration (Buchanan) candidate for 
State Treasurer, as opposed to the Douglas wing 
of the party, but, in 1801, became a strong sup- 
porter of Abraham Lincoln. He served as Presi- 
dential Elector on the Republican ticket in 1864 
and in 1872 (the former year for the State- at- 
large), in 1868 was elected Lieutenant-Governor 
and, in 1877, to a seat on the criminal bench, 
serving until June, 1879. Died, at Jonesboro, 
Sept. 7, 1879. . 



DOUGLAS, John M., lawyer and Railway 
President, was born at Plattsburg, Clinton 
County, N. Y., August 23, 1819; read law three 
j'ears in his native city, then came west and 
settled at Galena, 111., where he was admitted to 
the bar in 1841 and began practice. In 1856 he 
removed to Chicago, and, the following year, 
became one of the solicitors of the Illinois Central 
Railroad, with which he had been associated as 
dii attorrtey at Galena. Between 1801 and 1876 
he was a Director of the Comjiany over twelve 
years; from 1865 to 1871 its President, and again 
for eighteen months in 1875-70, when he retired 
permanently. Mr. Douglas' contemporaries speak 
of him as a lawyer of great ability, as well 
as a capable executive officer. Died, in Chicago, 
March 25, 1891. 

DOUGLAS, Stephen Arnold, statesman, was 
born at Brandon, Vt., April 23, 1813. In conse- 
quence of the death of his father in infancy, 
his early educational advantages were limited. 
When fifteen he applied himself to the cabinet- 
maker's trade, and, in 1830, accomiianied his 
mother and step-father to Ontario County, N. Y. 
In 1833 he began the study of law, but started for 
the West in 1833. He taught school at Win- 
chester, 111., reading law at night and practicing 
before a Justice of the Peace on Saturdays. He 
was soon admitted to the bar and took a deep 
interest in politics. In 1835 he was elected Prose- 
cuting Attorney for Morgan County, but a few 
months later resigned this office to enter the 
lower house of the Legislature, to which he was 
elected in 1836. In 1838 he was a candidate for 
Congress, but was defeated by John T. Stuart, his 
Whig opponent; was appointed Secretary of 
State in December, 1840, and, in February, 1841, 
elected Judge of the Supreme Court. He was 
elected to Congress in 1843, '44 and '46, and, in 
the latter year, was chosen United States Sena- 
tor, taking his seat March 4, 1847, and being 
re-elected in 1853 and '59. His last canvass was 
rendered memorable through his joint debate, in 
1858, before the people of the State with Abraham 
Lincoln, whom he defeated before the Legisla- 
ture. He was a candidate for the presidential 
nomination before the Democratic National 
Conventions of 1853 and '56. In 1860, after having 
failed of a nomination for the Presidency at 
Charleston, S. C, through the operation of the 
"two thirds rule," he received the nomination 
from the adjourned convention held at Baltimore 
six weeks later — though not until the delegates 
from nearly all the Southern States had with- 
drawn, the seceding delegates afterwards nomi- 



136 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



nating John C. Breckenridge. Although defeated 
for the Presidency by Lincobi, his oldtime 
antagonist, Douglas yielded a cordial support to 
the incoming administration in its attitude 
toward the seceded States, occupying a place of 
honor beside Mr. Lincoln on the portico of the 
capitol diu-ing the inauguration ceremonies. As 
politician, orator and statesman, Douglas had 
few superiors. Quick in perception, facile in 
expedients, ready in resources, earnest and 
fearless in utterance, he was a born "leader of 
men." His shortness of stature, considered in 
relation to his extraordinarj' mental acvimen, 
gained for liim the sobriquet of the "Little 
Giant." He died in Chicago, June 3, 1861. 

DOUGLAS COUXTY, lying a little east of the 
center of the State, embracing an area of 410 
square miles and having a population (1900) of 
19,097. Tiie earliest laud entry was made by 
Harrison Gill, of Kentucky, whose patent was 
signed by Andrew Jackson. Another early 
settler was John A. Richman, a West Virginian, 
who erected one of the first frame houses in 
the county in 1829. The Embarras and Kas- 
kaskia Rivers flow through the county, which is 
also crossed by the Wabash and Illinois Central 
Railways. Douglas County was organized in 
1857 (being set off from Coles) and named in 
honor of Stephen A. Douglas, then United States 
Senator from Illinois. After a sharp struggle Tus- 
cola was made the county-seat. It has been 
visited by several disastrous conflagrations, but 
is a thriving town, credited, in 1890, with a 
population of 1,897. Other important towns are 
Areola (population, 1,733), and Camargo, which 
was originally known as New Salem. 

DOWNERS (iROVE, village, Du Page County, 
on C, B. & Q. K. R.. 21 miles south-southwest from 
Chicago, incorporated 1873 ; has water- works, elec- 
tric lights, telephone system, good schools, bank 
and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 960; (1900), 2,103. 

DOWXI.Mi, Finis Ewing, ex-Congressman and 
lawyer, was born at Virginia, 111., August 24, 
1840 ; reared on a farm and educated in the public 
and private schools of his native town ; from 1865 
was engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1880, 
when he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court 
of Cass County, serving three successive terms ; 
read Law and was admitted to the bar in Decem- 
ber, 1887. In August, 1891, he became interested 
in "The Virginia Enquirer" (a Democratic 
paper), which he has since conducted; was 
elected Secretary of the State Senate in 1893, 
and, in 1894, was returned as elected to the Fifty- 
fourth Congress from the Sixteenth District by a 



plurality of forty votes over Gen. John I. Rinaker, 
the Republican nominee. A contest and recount 
of the ballots resulted, however, in awarding the 
seat to General Rinaker. In 1896 Mr. Downing 
was the nominee of his party for Secretarj- of 
State, but was defeated with the rest of his ticket. 
DRAKE, Francis Marion, soldier and Governor, 
was born at Rushville, Schuyler County, 111., 
Dec. 30, 1830; early taken to Drakesville, Iowa, 
which his father founded ; entered mercantile 
life at 10 years of age; crossed the plains to Cali- 
fornia in 1852, had experience in Indian warfare 
and, in 1859, estabUshed himself in business at 
Union ville, Iowa; served through the Civil War, 
becoming Lieutenant-Colonel and retiring in 
1805 with the rank of Brigadier-General by 
brevet. He re-entered mercantile life after the 
war, was admitted to the bar in 1806, subsequently 
engaged in railroad building and, in 1881, contrib- 
buted the bulk of tlie funds for founding Drake 
University; was elected Governor of Iowa in 
1895, serving until January, 1898. 

DRAPER, Andrew Sloan, LL.D., lawyer and 
educator, was born in Otsego County, N. Y., 
June 21, 1848 — being a descendant, in the eighth 
generation, from the "Pui-itan," James Draper, 
who settled in Boston in 1647. In 1855 Mr. 
Draper's parents settled in Albany, N. Y., where 
lie attended school, winning a scholarship in the 
Albany Academy in 1863, and graduating from 
that institution in 1866. During tlie next four 
years he was employed in teaching, part of the 
time as an instructor at his alma mater ; but, in 
1871, graduated from the Union College Law 
Department, when he began practice. The rank 
he attained in the profession was indicated by 
his appointment by President Arthur, in 1884, 
one of the Judges of the Alabama Claims Com- 
mission, upon wliich he served until the conclu- 
sion of its labors in 1886. He liad previously 
served in the New York State Senate (1880) and. 
in 1884, was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention, also serving as Chairman of the 
Republican State Central Committee the same 
year. After his return from Europe in 1886, lie 
served as State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion of New York until 1892, and, in 1889, and 
again in 1890, was President of tlie National 
Association -of School Superintendents. Soon 
after retiring from tlie State Superintendency in 
New York, he was chosen Superintendent of 
Public Schools for the city of Cleveland, Ohio, 
remaining in that position until 1894, when he 
was elected President of the University of Illinois 
at Champaign, where he now is. His adminis- 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



137 



tration has been characterized by enterprise and 
sagacity, and has tended to promote the popular- 
ity and prosperity of the institution. 

DRESSER, Charles, clergyman, was bom at 
Pomfret, Conn., Feb. 34, 1800; graduated from 
Brown University in 1823, went to Virginia, 
where he studied theology and was ordained a 
minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 
1838 he removed to Springiield, and became rector 
of St. Paul's Episcopal Church there, retiring in 
1858. On Nov. 4, 1843, Mr. Dresser performed the 
ceremony uniting Abraham Lincoln and Mary 
Todd in marriage. He died, March 3.5, 1865. 

DRUMMOND, Thomas, jurist, was born at 
Bristol Jlills, Lincoln County, Maine, Oct. 16, 
1809. After graduating from Bowdoin College, in 
1830, he studied law at Philadelphia, where he was 
admitted to the bar in 1833. He settled at 
Galena, III., in 1835, and was a member of the 
General Assembly in 1840-41. In 1850 he was 
appointed United States District Judge for the 
District of Illinois as successor to Judge Nathaniel 
Pope, and four years later removed to Chicago. 
Upon the division of the State into two judicial 
districts, in 1855, he was assigned to the North- 
ern. In 1869 he was elevated to the bench of the 
United States Circuit Court, and presided over 
the Seventh Circuit, which at that time included 
the States of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. In 
1884 — at the age of 75 — he resigned, living in 
retirement until his death, wliich occurred at 
"Wheaton, 111., May 15, 1890. 

DUBOIS, Jesse Kilgore, State Auditor, was 
born, Jan. 14, 1811, in Lawrence County, 111., 
near Vincennes, Ind., where his father, Capt. 
Toussaint Dubois, had settled about 1780. The 
latter was a native of Canada, of French descent, 
and, after settling in the Northwest Territory, 
had been a personal friend of General Harrison, 
under whom he served in the Indian wars, 
including the battle of Tippecanoe. The son 
received a partial collegiate education at Bloom- 
ington, Ind., but, at 34 years of age (1834), was 
elected to the General Assembly, serving in the 
same House with Abraham Lincoln, and being 
re-elected in 1836, '38, and '42. In 1841 he was 
appointed by President Harrison Register of the 
Land Office at Palestine, 111. , but soon resigned, 
giving his attention to mercantile pursuits until 
1849, when he was appointed Receiver of Public 
Moneys at Palestine, but was removed by Pierce 
in 1853. He was a Delegate to the first Repub- 
lican State Convention, at Bloomington, in 1856, 
and, on the recommendation of Mr. Lincoln, was 
nominated for Auditor of Public Accounts, 



renominated in 1860, and elected both times. In 
1864 he was a candidate for the nomination of 
his party for Governor, but was defeated by 
General Oglesby, serving, however, on the 
National Executive Committee of that year, and 
as a delegate to the National Convention of 1868. 
Died, at liis home near Springfield, Nov. 23, 1876. 
— Fred T. (Dubois), son of the preceding, was 
born in Crawford County, 111., May 29, 1851; 
received a common-school and classical educa- 
tion, graduating from Yale College in 1873 ; was 
Secretary of the Illinois Railway and Warehouse 
Commission in 1875-76; went to Idaho Territory 
and engaged in business in 1880, was appointed 
United States Marshal there in 1883, serving until 
1886; elected as a Republican Delegate to the 
Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses, and, on the 
admission of Idaho as a State (1890), became 
one of the first United States Senators, his term 
extending to 1897. He was Chairman of the 
Idaho delegation in the National Republican 
Convention at Minneapolis in 1893, and was a 
member of the National Republican Convention 
at St. Louis in 1896, but seceded from that body 
with Senator Teller of Colorado, and has since 
cooperated with the Populists and Free Silver 
Democrats. 

DUCAT, Arthur Charles, soldier and civil 
engineer, was born in Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 24, 
1830, received a liberal education and became a 
civil engineer. He settled in Chicago in 1851, 
and six years later was made Secretary and Chief 
Surveyor of the Board of Underwriters of that 
city. While acting in this capacity, lie virtually 
revised the schedule system of rating fire-risks. 
In 1861 he raised a company of 300 engineers, 
sappers and miners, but neither the State nor 
Federal authorities would accept it. Thereupon 
he enlisted as a private in the Twelfth Illinois 
Volunteers, but his ability earned him rapid 
promotion. He rose through the grades of Cap- 
tain, Major and Lieutenant-Colonel, to that of 
Colonel, and was brevetted Brigadier-General in 
February, 1864. Compelled by sickness to leave the 
army. General Ducat returned to Chicago, 
re-entering the insurance field and finally, after 
holding various responsible positions, engaging 
in general business in that line. In 1875 he was 
entrusted with the task of reorganizing the State 
militia, which he performed with signal success. 
Died, at Downer's Grove, 111., Jan. 29, 1896. 

DUELS AND ANTI.DUELING LAWS. Al- 
though a majority of the population of Illinois, 
in Territorial days, came from Southern States 
where the duel was widely regarded as the proper 



1 



138 



niSTOmCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



mode for settling "difficulties" of a personal 
character, it is a curious fact that so few "affairs 
of honor" (so-called) should have occurred on 
Illinois soil. The first "affair" of tliis sort of 
which either history or tradition has handed 
down any account, is said to have occurred 
between an English and a French officer at the 
time of the surrender of Fort Chartres to the 
British in 1765, and in connection with that 
event. The officers are said to have fought with 
small swords one Sunday morning near the Fort, 
■when one of them was killed, but the name of 
neither the victor nor the vanquished has come 
down to the present time. Gov. John Reynolds, 
who is the authority for the story in his "Pioneer 
History of IlUnois," claimed to have received it 
in his boyhood from an aged Frenchman who 
represented that he had seen the combat. 

An affair of less doubtful authenticity has come 
down to us in tlie history of the Territorial 
period, and, although it was at first bloodless, it 
finally ended in a tragedy. This was the Jones- 
Bond affair, whicli originated at Kaskaskia in 
1808. Rice Jones was the son of John Rice Jones, 
the first English-speaking lawyer in the "Illinois 
Country." The younger Jones is described as an 
exceptionally brilliant young man who, having 
studied hiw, located at Kaskaskia in 1806. Two 
years later he became a candidate for Represent- 
ative from Randolph County in the Legislature 
of Indiana Territory, of which Illinois was a part. 
In the course of the canvass which resulted in 
Jones' election, he became involved in a quarrel 
with Shadrach Bond, who was then a member of 
the Territorial Council from the same county, 
and afterwards became Delegate in Congress 
from lUinois and the first Governor of the State. 
Bond challenged Jones and the meeting took 
place on an island in the Mississippi between 
Kaskaskia and St. Genevieve. Bond's second 
was a Dr. James Dunlap of Kaskaskia, wlio 
appears also to have been a bitter enemy of Jones. 
The discharge of a pistol in the hand of Jones 
after the combatants had taken their places 
preliminary to the order to "fire," raised the 
question whether it was accidental or to be 
regarded as Jones' fire. Dunlap maintained the 
latter, but Bond accepted the explanation of his 
adversary that the discharge was accidental, and 
the generosity which he displayed led to expla- 
nations that averted a final exchange of shots. 
The feud tlms started between Jones and Dunlap 
grew until it involved a large part of the com- 
mvmity. On Dec. 7, 1808, Dunlap shot down 
Jones in cold blood and without warning in 



the streets of Kaskaskia, killing him instantly. 
The murderer fled to Texas and was never heard 
of about Kaskaskia afterwards. This incident 
furnishes the basis of the most graphic chapter 
in Mrs. Catherwood's story of "Old Kaskaskia." 
Prompted by this tragical affair, no doubt, the 
Governor and Territorial Judges, in 1810, framed a. 
stringent law for the suppression of dueling, in 
which, in case of a fatal result, all parties con- 
nected with the affair, as principals or seconds, 
were held to be guilty of murder. 

Governor Reynolds furnishes the record of a 
duel between Thomas Rector, the member of a 
noted family of that name at Kaskaskia, and one 
Joshua Barton, supposed to have occurred some- 
time during the War of 1813, tliough no exact 
dates are given. This affair took place on the 
favorite dueling ground known as "Bloody 
Island," opposite St. Louis, so often resorted to 
at a later day, by devotees of "the code" in Mis- 
souri. Reynolds says that "Barton fell in the 
conflict." 

The next affair of which history makes men- 
tion grew out of a drunken carousel at Belleville, 
in February, 1819, which ended in a duel between 
two men named Alonzo Stuart and William 
Bennett, and the killing of Stuart by Bennett. 
The managers of the affair for the principals are 
said to have agreed that the guns should be loaded 
with blank cartridges, and Stuart was let into the 
secret but Bennett was not. When the order to 
fire came, Bennett's gun proved to have been 
loaded with ball. Stuart fell mortally wounded, 
expiring almost immediately. One report says 
tliat the duel was intended as a sham, and was so 
understood by Bennett, who was liorrified bj' the 
result. He and his two seconds were arrested for 
murder, but Bennett broke jail and fled to 
Arkansas. The seconds were tried, Daniel P. 
Cook conducting the prosecution and Thomas H. 
Benton defending, the trial resulting in their 
acquittal. Two years later, Bennett was appre- 
hended by some sort of artifice, put on his trial, 
convicted and executed — Judge John Reynolds 
(afterwards Governor) presiding and pronouncing 
sentence. 

In a footnote to "The Edwards Papers," 
edited by the late E. B. Washburne, and printed 
under the auspices of tlie Chicago Historical 
Society, a few years ago, Mr. Washburne relates 
an incident occurring in Galena about 1838, while 
"The Northwestern Gazette and Galena Adver- 
tiser" was under the charge of Sylvester M. 
Bartlett, who was afterwards one of tlie founders 
of "The Quincy Whig." The storj', as told by 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



139 



li, Washbume, is as follows: "David G. Bates 
(a Galena business man and captain of a packet 
plying between St. Louis and Galena) wrote a 
short communication for the paper reflecting on 
the character of John Turney, a prominent law- 
yer who had been a member of the House of 
Eepresentatives in 1838-30, from the District 
composed of Pike, Adams, Fulton, Schuyler, 
Peoria and Jo Daviess Counties. Turney de- 
manded the name of the author and Bartlett gave 
up the name of Bates. Turney refused to take 
any notice of Bates and then challenged Bartlett 
to a duel, wliich was promptly accepted by Bart- 
lett. The second of Turney was the Hon. Joseph 
P. Hoge, afterward a member of Congress from 
the Galena District. Bartlett's second was 
William A. Warren, now of Bellevue, Iowa." 
(Warren was. a prominent Union officer during 
the Civil War.) "The parties went out to the 
ground selected for the duel, in what was then 
Wisconsin Territory, seven miles north of Galena, 
and, after one ineffectual flre, the matter was 
compromised. Subsequently, Bartlett removed 
to Quincy, and was for a long time connected 
with the publication of 'The Quincy Whig.'" 

During the session of the Twelfth General 
Assembly (1841), A. R. Dodge, a Democratic 
Representative from Peoria County, feeling liim- 
self aggrieved by some reflections indulged by Gen. 
John J. Hardin (then a Wliig Representative 
from Morgan County) upon the Democratic party 
in connection with the partisan reorganization 
of the Supreme Court, threatened to "call out" 
Hardin. The affair was referred to W. L. D. 
Ewing and W. A. Richardson for Dodge, and 
J. J. Brown and E. B. Webb for Hardin, with 
the result that it was amicably adjusted "honor- 
ably to both parties." 

It was during the same session that John A. 
McClernand, then a young and flery member 
from Gallatin County — who had, two years 
before, been appointed Secretary of State by 
Governor Carlin, but had been debarred from 
taking the office by an adverse decision of the 
Supreme Court — indulged in a violent attack 
upon the Whig members of the Coui-t based upon 
allegations afterwards shown to have been fur- 
nished by Theophilus W. Smith, a Democratic 
member of the same court. Smith having joined 
his associates in a card denying the truth of the 
charges, McClernand responded with the publi- 
cation of the cards of persons tracing the allega- 
tions directly to Smith himself. This brouglit a 
note from Smith which McClernand construed into 
a challenge and answered with a prompt accept- 



ance. Attorney-General Lamborn, having got 
wind of the affair, lodged a complaint with a 
Springfield Justice of the Peace, wliich resulted 
in placing the pugnacious jurist under bonds to 
keep the peace, when he took his departure for 
Chicago, and the "affair'.' ended. 

An incident of greater historical interest than 
all the others yet mentioned, was the affair in 
which James Shields and Abraham Lincoln — the 
former the State Auditor and the latter at that 
time a young attorney at Springfield — were con- 
cerned. A communication in doggerel verse had 
appeared in "The Springfield Journal" ridiculing 
the Auditor. Shields made demand upon the 
editor (Mr. Simeon Francis) for the name of the 
author, and, in accordance with previous under- 
standing, the name of Lincoln was given. (Evi- 
dence, later coming to light, showed that the real 
authors were Miss Mary Todd — -who, a few months 
later, became Mrs. Lincoln — and Miss Julia Jayne, 
afterwards the wife of Senator Trumbull.) 
Shields, through John D. Whiteside, a former 
State Treasurer, demanded a retraction of the 
offensive matter — the demand being presented to 
Lincoln at Tremont, in Tazewell County, where 
Lincoln was attending court. Without attempt- 
ing to follow the affair through all its complicated 
details — Shields having assumed that Lincoln was 
the author without further investigation, and 
Lincoln refusing to make any explanation unless 
the first deniaifd was withdrawn — Lincoln named 
Dr. E. H. Merriman as his second and accepted 
Shield's challenge, naming cavalry broadswords 
as the weapons and the Missouri shore, within 
three miles of the city of Alton, as the place. 
The principals, with their "friends," met at the 
appointed time and place (Sept. 23, 1843, opposite 
the city of Alton) ; but, in the meantime, mutual 
friends, having been apprised of what was going 
on, also appeared on the ground and brought 
about explanations which averted an actual con- 
flict. Those especially instrumental in bringing 
about this result were Gen. John J. Hardin of 
Jacksonville, and Dr. R. W. English of Greene 
County, while John D. Whiteside, W. L. D. 
Ewing and Dr. T. M. Hope acted as represent- 
atives of Shields, and Dr. E. H. Merriman, 
Dr. A. T. Bledsoe and William Butler for Lincoln. 

Out of this affair, within the next few days, 
followed challenges from Shields to Butler and 
Whiteside to Merriman ; but, althougli these were 
accepted, yet owing to some objection on the part 
of the challenging party to the conditions named 
by the party challenged, thereby resulting in de- 
lay, no meeting actually took place. 



140 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Another affair which bore important results 
without ending in a tragedy, occurred during the 
session of tlie Constitutional Convention in 1847. 
The parties to it were O. C. Pratt and Thompson 
Campbell — both Delegates from Jo Daviess 
County, and both Democrats. Some sparring 
between them over the question of suffrage for 
naturalized foreigners resulted in an invitation 
from Pratt to Campbell to meet him at tlie 
Planters' House in St. Louis, with an intimation 
that this was for the purpose of arranging the 
preliminaries of a duel. Both parties were on 
hand before the appointed time, but their arrest 
by the St. Louis authorities and putting them 
under heavy bonds to keep the peace, gave them 
an excuse for returning to tlieir convention 
duties without coming to actual hostilities — if 
they had such intention. This was promptly 
followed by the adoption in Convention of the 
provision of the Constitution of 1848, disqualify- 
ing any person engaged in a dueling affair, either 
as principal or second, from holding any oflBce of 
honor or profit in the State. 

The last and principal affair of this kind of 
historic significance, in which a citizen of Illinois 
was engaged, though not on Illinois soil, was that 
in which Congressman William H. Bissell, after- 
wards Governor of Illinois, and Jefferson Davis 
were .concerned in February, 1850. During the 
debate on the "Compromise Measures" of that 
year. Congressman Seddon of Virginia went out 
of his way to indulge in implied reflections upon 
the courage of Northern soldiers as displayed on 
the battle-field of Buena Vista, and to claim for 
the Mississippi regiment commanded by Davis 
the credit of saving the day. Replying to these 
claims Colonel Bissell took occasion to correct the 
Virginia Congressman's statements, and especi- 
ally to vindicate the good name of the Illinois and 
Kentucky troops. In doing so he declared that, 
at the critical moment alluded to by Seddon, 
when the Indiana regiment gave way, Davis's 
regiment was not within a mile and a half of the 
scene of action. This was construed by Davis as 
a reflection upon liis troops, and led to a challenge 
which was promptly accepted by Bissell, who 
named the soldier's weapon (the common army 
musket), loaded with ball and buckshot, with 
forty paces as the distance, with liberty to 
advance up to ten — otherwise leaving the pre- 
liminaries to be settled by his friends. Tlie evi- 
dence manifested by Bissell that he was not to be 
intimidated, but was prepared to face death 
itself to vindicate his own honor and that of his 
comrades in the field, was a surprise to the South- 



ern leaders, and they soon found a way for Davis 
to withdraw his challenge on condition that 
Bissell should add to his letter of acceptance a 
clause awarding credit to the Mississippi regi- 
ment for what they actually did, but without dis- 
avowing or retracting a single word he had 
uttered in liis speech. In the meantime, it is said 
that President Taylor, who was the father-in-law 
of Davis, having been apprised of what was on 
foot, had taken precautions to prevent a meeting 
by instituting legal proceedings the night before 
it was to take place, though this was rendered 
unnecessary by the act of Davis himself. Thus, 
Colonel Bissell's position was virtually (though 
indirectly) justified by his enemies. It is true, 
lie was violently assailed by liis political opponents 
for alleged violation of the inliibition in the State 
Constitution against dueling, especially when he 
came to take the oath of office as Governor of 
Illinois, seven years later; but his course in "turn- 
ing the tables" against his fire-eating opponents 
aroused the enthusiasm of the North, while his 
friends maintained that the act having been 
performed beyond the jurisdiction of the State, 
he was technically not guilty of any violation of 
the laws. 

While the provision in the Constitution of 1848, 
against dueling, was not re-incorporated in that 
of 1870, the laws on the subject are very strin- 
gent. Besides imposing a penalty of not less than 
one nor more tlian five years' imprisonment, or a 
fine not exceeding §3,000, upon any one who, as 
principal or second, participates in a duel with a 
deadly weapon, whether such duel proves fatal 
or not, or who sends, carries or accepts a chal- 
lenge: the law also provides that any one con- 
victed of such offense shall be disqualified for 
holding "any office of profit, trust or emolument, 
either civil or military, under the Constitution or 
laws of this State." Any person leaving the 
State to send or receive a challenge is subject to 
the same penalties as if the offense had been 
committed within the State ; and any person who 
may inflict upon his antagonist a fatal wound, as 
the result of an engagement made in this State to 
fight a duel beyond its jurisdiction — when the 
person so wounded dies within this State — is held 
to be guilty of murder and subject to punisliment 
for the same. The publishing of any person as a 
coward, or the applying to him of opprobrious or 
abusive language, for refusing to accept a chal- 
lenge, is declared to be a crime punisliable by 
fine or imprisonment. 

DUFF, Andrew D., lavryer and Judge, was 
born of a family of pioneer settlers in Bond 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



141 



County, 111., Jan. 24, 1830; was educated in the 
country schools, and, from 1843 to 1847, spent his 
time La teaching and as a farmer. The latter 
year he removed to Benton, Franklin County, 
where he began reading law, but suspended his 
•studies to enlist in the Mexican War, serving as a 
private; in 1849 was elected County Judge of 
Franklin County, and, in the following year, was 
admitted to the bar. In 1861 he was elected 
Judge for the Twenty-sixth Circuit and re- 
elected in 1867, serving until 1873. He also 
served as a Delegate in the State Constitutional 
Convention of 1863 from the district composed of 
Franklin and Jackson Counties, and, being a 
zealous Democrat, was one of the leaders in 
calling the mass meeting held at Peoria, in 
August, 1864, to protest against the policy of the 
Government in the prosecution of the war. 
About the close of his last term upon the bench 
(1873), he removed to Carbondale, where he con- 
tinued to reside. In his later years he be- 
came an Independent in politics, acting for 
a time in cooperation with the friends of 
temperance. In 1885 he was appointed by joint 
resolution of the Legislature on a commission to 
revise the revenue code of the State. Died, at 
Tucson, Ariz., June 35, 1889. 

DUNCAN, Joseph, Congressman and Gov- 
ernor, was born at Paris, Ky., Feb. 33, 1794; 
emigrated to Illinois in 1818, having previously 
served with distinction in the War of 1813, and 
been presented with a sword, by vote of Congress, 
for gallant conduct in the defense of Fort Stephen- 
son. He was commissioned Major-General of 
Illinois militia in 1833 and elected State Senator 
from Jackson County in 1834. He served in the 
lower house of Congress from 1837 to 1834, when 
he resigned his seat to occupy the gubernatorial 
chair, to which he was elected the latter year. He 
was the author of the first free-school law, 
adopted in 1835. His executive policy was con- 
servative and consistent, and his administration 
successful. He erected the first frame building 
at Jacksonville, in 1834, and was a liberal friend 
of Illinois College at that place. In his personal 
character he was kindly, genial and unassuming, 
although fearless in the expression of his convic- 
tions. He was the Whig candidate for Governor 
in 1843, when he met with his first political 
defeat. Died, at Jacksonville, Jan. 15, 1844, 
mourned by men of all parties. 

DUNCAN, Thomas, soldier, was born in Kas- 
kaskia, 111,, April 14, 1809; served as a private in 
the Illinois mounted volunteers during the Black 
Hawk War of 1832 ; also as First Lieutenant of 



cavalry in the regular army in the Mexican War 
(1846), and as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel 
during the War of the Rebellion, stiU later doing 
duty upon the frontier keeping the Indians in 
check. He was retired from active service in 
1873, and died in Washington, Jan. 7, 1887. 

DUNDEE, a town on Fox River, in Kane 
County, 5 miles (by rail) north of Elgin and 47 
miles west-northwest of Chicago. It has two 
distinct corporation!? — East and West Dundee — 
but is progressive and united in action. Dairy 
farming is the principal industry of the adjacent 
region, and the town has two large milk-con- 
densing plants, a cheese factory, etc. It has good 
water power and there are flour and saw-mills, 
besides brick and tile-works, an.extensive nursery, 
two banks, six churches, a handsome high school 
building, a public library and one weekly paper. 
Population (1890), 2,023; (1900), 2,765. 

DUNHAM, John High, banker and Board of 
Trade operator, was born in Seneca County, 
N. Y., 1817; came to Chicago in 1844, engaged in 
the wholesale grocery trade, and, a few years 
later, took a prominent part in solving the ques- 
tion of a water supply for the city ; was elected to 
the Twentieth General Assembly (1856) and the 
next year assisted in organizing the Merchants' 
Loan & Trust Company, of which he became the 
first President, retiring five years later and re- 
engaging in the mercantile business. While 
Hon. Hugh McCuUough was Secretary of the 
Treasurj', he was appointed National Bank 
Examiner for Illinois, serving until 1866. He 
was a member of the Chicago Historical Society, 
the Academy of Sciences, and an early member 
of the Board of Trade. Died, April 38, 1893, 
leaving a large estate. 

DUNHAM, Bansoni W., merchant and Con- 
gressman, was born at Savoy, Mass., March 21, 
1838; after graduating from the High School at 
Springfield, Mass., in 1855, was connected with 
the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany until August, 1860. In 1857 he removed 
from Springfield to Chicago, and at the termina- 
tion of his connection with the Insurance Com- 
pany, embarked in the grain and provision 
commission business in that city, and, in 1882, 
was President of the Chicago Board of Trade. 
From 1883 to 1889 he represented the First Illinois 
District in Congress, after the expiration of his 
last term devoting his attention to his large 
private business. His death took place suddenly 
at Springfield, Mass., August 19, 1896. 

DUNLAP, George Lincoln, civil engineer and 
Railway Superintendent, was born at Brunswick, 



142 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Maine, in 1828; studied mathematics and engineer- 
ing at Gorham Academy, and, after several 
years" experience on the Boston & Maine and the 
New York & Erie Railways, came west in 1853 
and accepted a position as assistant engineer on 
what is now the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 
road, finally becoming its General Superintend- 
ent, and, in fourteen j-ears of his connection with 
that road, vastly extending its lines. Between 
1873 and '79 he was connected with the Montreal 
& Quebec Railway, but the latter year returned 
to Illinois and was actively connected with the 
extension of tlie Wabash system imtil his retire- 
ment a few years ago. 

DUNLAP, Henry M., horticulturist and legis- 
lator, was born in Cook County, 111., Nov. 14, 
1853 — the son of M. L. Dunlap (the well-known 
"Rural"), who became a prominent horticulturist 
In Champaign County and was one of the found- 
ers of the State Agricultural Society. The family 
having located at Savoy, Champaign County, 
about 1857, the younger Dunlap was educated in 
the University of Illinois, graduating in tlie 
scientific department in 1875. Following in the 
footsteps of his father, he engaged extensively 
in fruit-growing, and has served in the office of 
both President and Secretary of the State Horti 
cultural Society, besides local offices. In 1893 he 
was elected as a Republican to the State Senate 
for the Thirtieth District, vvas re-elected in 1896, 
and has been prominent in State legislation. 

DUNLAP, Mathias Lane, horticulturist, was 
born at Cherry Valley, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1814; 
coming to La Salle County, 111., in 1835, he 
taught school the following winter ; then secured 
a clerkship in Chicago, and later became book- 
keeper for a firm of contractors on the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, remaining two years. Having 
entered a body of Government land in the western 
part of Cook County, he turned his attention to 
farming, giving a portion of his time to survey- 
ing. In 1845 he became interested in horticulture 
and, in a few years, built up one of the most 
extensive nurseries in the West. In 1854 he was 
chosen a Representative in the Nineteenth Gen- 
eral Assembly from Cook County, and, at the 
following session, presided over the caucus which 
resulted in tlie nomination and final election of 
Lyman Trumbull to the United States Senate for 
the first time. Politically an anti-slavery Demo- 
crat, he espoused the cause of freedom in the 
Territories, while his house was one of the depots 
of the "underground railroad." In 1855 he pur- 
chased a half-section of land near Champaign, 
whither he removed, two years later, for the 



prosecution of his nursery business. He was an 
active member, for many years, of the State Agri- 
cultural Society and an earnest supporter of the 
scheme for the establishment of an "Industrial 
University," which finally took form in the Uni- 
versity of Illinois at Champaign. From 1853 to 
his death he was the agricultural correspondent, 
first of "The Chicago Democratic Press," and 
later of "The Tribune," writing over the nom de 
plume of "Rural." Died, Feb. 14, 1875. 

DU PAGE COUJVTT, organized in 1839, named 
for a river which flows through it. It adjoins 
Cook County on the west and contains 340 square 
miles. In 1900 its population was 28,196. The 
county-seat was originally at Naperville, which 
was platted in 1842 and named in honor of Capt. 
Joseph Naper, who settled upon the site in 1831. 
In 1869 the county government was removed to 
Wheaton, the location of Wheaton College, 
where it yet remains. Besides Captain Naper, 
early settlers of prominence were Bailey Hobson 
(the pioneer in the township of Lisle), and Pierce 
Downer (in Downer's Grove). The chief towns 
are Wheaton (population, 1,623), Naperville 
(3,216), Hinsdale (1,584), Downer's Grove (960), 
and Roselle (450). Hinsdale and Roselle are 
largely populated by persons doing business in 
Chicago. 

DC (JUOIN, a city and railway junction in 
Perry County, 76 miles north of Cairo; has a 
foundry, machine shops, planing-mill, flour mills, 
salt works, ice factory, soda-water factory, 
creamery, coal mines, graded school, public 
library and four newspapers. Population (1890), 
4,053; (1900), 4,353; (1903, school census), 5,207. 

DURBOROW, AUan Cathcart, ex-Congress- 
man, was born in Philadelphia, Nov. 20, 1857. 
When five years old he accompanied his parents 
to Williamsport, Ind., where he received his 
early education. He entered the preparatory 
department of Wabash CoUege in 1872, and 
graduated from the University of Indiana, at 
Bloomington, in 1877. After two years' residence 
in Indianapolis, he removed to Chicago, where he 
engaged in business. Always active in local 
politics, he was elected by the Democrats in 1890, 
and again in 1893, Representative in Congress 
from the Second District, retiring witli the close 
of the Fifty-third Congress. Mr. Durborow is 
Treasurer of the Chicago Air-Line Express Com- 
pany. 

DTJSTIN, (Gen.) Daniel, soldier, was born in 
Topsham, Orange Comity, Vt., Oct. 5, 1820; 
received a common-school and academic educa- 
tion, graduating in medicine at Dartmouth Col- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



143 



lege in 1846. After practicing three years at 
Corinth, Vt., he went to California in 1850 and 
engaged in mining, but three years later resumed 
the practice of his profession while conducting a 
mercantile business. He was subsequently chosen 
to the California Legislature from Nevada 
Coimty, but coming to Illinois in 1858, he 
engaged in the drug business at Sycamore, De 
Kalb County, in connection with J. E. Elwood. 
On the breaking out of the war in 1861, he sold 
out his drug business and assisted in raising the 
Eighth Regiment Illinois Cavalry, and was com- 
missioned Captain of Company L. The regiment 
was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and, 
in January, 1862, he was promoted to the position 
of Major, afterwards taking part in the battle of 
Manassas, and the great "seven days' fight" 
before Richmond. In September, 1863, the One 
Hundred and Fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry was mustered in at Dixon, and Major 
Dustin was commissioned its Colonel, soon after 
joining the Army of the Cumberland. After the 
Atlanta campaign he was assigned to the com- 
mand of a brigade in tlie Third Division of the 
Twelfth Army Corps, remaining in this position 
to the close of the war, meanwhile having been 
brevetted Brigadier-General for bravery displayed 
on the battle-field at Averysboro, N. C. He was 
mustered out at Washington, June 7, 1865, and 
took part in the grand review of the armies in 
that city which marked the close of the war. 
Returning to his home in De Kalb County, he 
was elected County Clerk in the following 
November, remaining in office four j-ears. Sub- 
sequently he was chosen Circuit Clerk and ex- 
officio Recorder, and was twice thereafter 
re-elected — in 1884 and 1888. On the organization 
of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, in 
1885, he was appointed by Governor Oglesby one 
of the Trustees, retaining the position until his 
death. In May, 1890, he was appointed by 
President Harrison Assistant United States 
Treasurer at Chicago, but died in office while on 
a visit with his daughter at Carthage, Mo. , March 
30, 1893. General Dustin was a Mason of high 
degree, and, in 1872, was chosen Riglit Eminent 
Commander of the Grand Commandery of the 
State. 

DWIttHT, a prosperous city in Livingston 
County, 74 miles, by rail, south-southwest of Chi- 
cago, 52 miles northeast of Bloomington, and 23 
miles east of Streator; has two banks, two weekly 
papers, six churches, five large warehouses, two 
electric light plants, complete water-works sys- 
tem, and four hotels. The city is the center of a 



rich farming and stock-raising district. Dwight 
has attained celebrity as the location of the first 
of "Keeley Institutes," founded for the cure of 
the drink and morphine habit. Population 
(1890), 1,354; (1900), 2,015. These figures do not 
include the floating population, which is 
augmented by patients who receive treatment 
at the "Keeley Institute." 

DYER, Charles Yolney, M.D., pioneer physi- 
cian, was born at Clarendon, Vt., June 12, 1808; 
graduated in medicine at Middlebury College, in 
1830; began practice at Newark, N. J., in 1831, 
and in Chicago in 1835. He was an uncomprom- 
ising opponent of slavery and an avowed sup- 
porter of the "underground railroad," and, in 
1848, received the support of the Free-Soil party 
of Illinois for Governor. Dr. Dyer was also one 
of the original incorporators of the North Chicago 
Street Railway Company, and liis name was 
prominently identified with many local benevo- 
lent enterprises. Died, in Lake View (then a 
suburb of Chicago), April 34, 1878. 

EARLVILLE, a city and railway junction in 
La Salle County, 52 miles northeast of Princeton, 
at the intersecting point of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy and the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroads. It is in the center of an agricultural 
and stock-raising district, and is an important 
shipping-point. It has seven churches, a graded 
school, one bank, two weekly newspapers and 
manufactories of plows, wagons and carriages. 
Population (1880), 963; (1890), 1,058; (1900), 1,122. 

EARLY, John, legislator and Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, was born of American parentage and Irish 
ancestry in Essex County, Canada West, March 
17, 1828, and accompanied his parents to Cale- 
donia, Boone County, 111., in 1846. His boyhood 
was passed upon his father's farm, and in youth 
he learned the trade (his father's) of carpenter 
and joiner. In 1853 he removed to Rockford, 
Winnebago County, and, in 1865, became State 
Agent of the New England Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Company. Between 1863 and 1866 he held 
sundry local oflSces, and, in 1869, was appointed 
by Governor Palmer a Trustee of the State 
Reform School. In 1870 he was elected State 
Senator and re-elected in 1874, serving in the 
Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth 
and Thirtieth General Assemblies. In 1873 he 
was elected President pro tem. of the Senate, and, 
Lieut-Gov. Beveridge succeeding to the executive 
chair, he became ex-officio Lieutenant-Governor. 
In 1875 he was again the Republican nominee for 
the Presidency of the Senate, but was defeated 



144 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



by a coalition of Democrats and Independents. 
He died while a member of the Senate, Sept. 2^ 
1877. 

EARTHQUAKE OF 1811. A series of the 
most remarkable earthquakes in the history of 
the Mississippi Valley began on the night of 
November 16, 1811, continuing for several months 
and finally ending with the destruction of Carac- 
cas, Venezuela, in March following. While the 
center of the earlier disturbance appears to have 
been in the vicinity of New Madrid, in Southeast- 
ern Missouri, its minor effects were felt through 
a wide extent of country, especially in the 
settled portions of Illinois. Contemporaneous 
history states that, in the American Bottom, then 
the most densely settled portion of Illinois, the 
results were very perceptible. The walls of a 
brick house belonging to Mr. Samuel Judy, a 
pioneer settler in the eastern edge of the bottom, 
near Edwardsville, Madison County, were cracked 
by the convulsion, the effects being seen for more 
than two generations. Gov. John Reynolds, then 
a young man of 23, living with his father's 
family in what was called the "Goshen Settle- 
ment," near Edwardsville, in his history of "My 
Own Times," says of it: "Our family were all 
sleeping in a log-cabin, and my father leaped out 
of bed, crying out, 'The Indians are on the house. 
The battle of Tippecanoe had been recently 
fought, and it was supposed the Indians would 
attack the settlements. Not one in the family 
knew at that time it was an earthquake. The 
next morning another shock made us acquainted 
with it. . . . The cattle came running home 
bellowing with fear, and all animals were terribly 
alarmed. Our house cracked and quivered so we 
were fearful it would fall to the ground. In the 
American Bottom many chimneys were thrown 
down, and the church bell at Cahokia was 
sounded by the agitation of the building. It is 
said a shock of an earthquake was felt in Kaskas- 
kia in 1804, but I did not perceive it." Owing to 
the sparseness of the population in Illinois at that 
time, but little is known of the effect of the con- 
vulsion of 1811 elsewhere, but there are numerous 
"sink-holes" in Union and adjacent countie.s, 
between the forks of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers, which probably owe their origin to this or 
some similar disturbance. "On the Kaskaskia 
River below Athens," says Governor Reynolds in 
his "Pioneer History," "the water and white sand 
were thrown up through a fissure of the earth." 

EAST DUBUQUE, an incorporated city of Jo 
Daviess County, on the east bank of the Missis- 
sippi, 17 miles (by rail) northeast of Galena. It 



is connected with Dubuque, Iowa, by a railroad 
and a wagon bridge two miles in length. It has 
a grain elevator, a box factorj', a planing mill 
and manufactories of cultivators and sand drills. 
It has also a bank, two churches, good public 
schools and a weekly newspaper. Population 
(1880). 1,037; (1890), l",069; (1900), 1,146. 

EASTON, (Col.) Rufus, pioneer, founder of the 
city of Alton; was born at Litchfield, Conn., 
May 4, 1774; studied law and practiced two 
years in Oneida County, N. Y. ; emigrated to St. 
Louis in 1804, and was commissioned by President 
Jefferson Judge of the Territory of Louisiana, 
and also became the first Postmaster of St. Louis, 
in 1808. From 1814 to 1818 he served as Delegate 
in Congress from Missouri Territory, and, on the 
organization of the State of Missouri (1821). was 
appointed Attorney-General for the State, serving 
until 1826. His death occurred at St. Charles, 
Mo., July 5, 1834. Colonel Easton's connection 
with Illinois history is based chiefly upon the 
fact that he was the founder of the present city 
of Alton, which he laid out, in 1817, on a tract of 
land of which he had obtained possession at the 
mouth of the Little Piasa Creek, naming the 
town for his son. Rev. Thomas Lippincott, 
prominently identified with the early history of 
that portion of the State, kept a store for Easton 
at Milton, on Wood River, about two miles from 
Alton, in the early " '20's." 

EAST ST. LOUIS, a flourishing city in St. Clair 
County, on the east bank of the Mississippi di- 
rectly opposite St. Louis; is the terminus of 
twenty-two railroads and several electric lines, 
and the leading commercial and manufacturing 
point in Southern Illinois. Its industries include 
rolling mills, steel, brass, malleable iron and 
glass works, grain elevators and flour mills, 
breweries, stockyards and packing houses. The 
city has eleven public and five parochial schools, 
one high school, and two colleges; is well sup- 
plied with banks and has one daily and four 
weekly papers. Population (1890), 1.5,169; (1900), 
29,65.5; (1903, est), 40,000. 

EASTERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 
The act for the establishment of this institution 
passed the General Assembly in 1877. Many 
cities offered inducements, by way of donations, 
for the location of the new hospital, but the site 
finally selected was a farm of 250 acres near Kan- 
kakee, and this was subsequently enlarged by the 
purchase of 327 additional acres in 1881. Work 
was begun in 1878 and the first patients received 
in December, 1879. The plan of the institution 
is, in many respects, unique. It comprises a 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



145 



general buildinsr. three stories high, capable of 
accommodating 300 to 400 patients, and a number 
of detached buildings, technically termed cot- 
tages, where various classes of insane patients may 
be grouped and receive the particular treatment 
best adapted to ensure their recovery. The plans 
were mainly worked out from suggestions by 
Frederick Howard Wines, LL.D., then Secretary 
of the Board of Public Charities, and have 
attracted generally favorable comment both in 
this country and abroad. The seventy-five build- 
ings occupied for the various purposes of the 
institution, cover a quarter-section of land laid off 
in regular streets, beautified with trees, plants 
and flowers, and presenting all the appearance of 
a flourishing village with numerous small parks 
adorned with walks and drives. The counties 
from which patients are received include Cook, 
Champaign, Coles, Cumberland, De Witt, Doug- 
las, Edgar, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, 
La Salle, Livingston, Macon, McLean, Moultrie 
Piatt, Shelby, Vermilion and Will. The whole 
number of patients in 1898 was 3,300, while the 
employes of all classes numbered 500. 

EASTERN ILLINOIS NORMAL SCHOOL, an 
institution designed to qualify teachers for giving 
instruction in the public schools, located at 
Charleston, Coles County, under an act of the 
Legislature passed at the session of 1895. The 
act appropriated §50,000 for the erection of build- 
ings, to which additional appropriations were 
added in 1897 and 1898, of .?35,000 and 850,000, 
respectively, with $56,216.73 contributed by the 
city of Charleston, making a total of §181,316.73. 
The building was begun in 1896, the corner-stone 
being laid on May 37 of that year. There was 
delay in the progress of the work in consequence 
of the failure of the contractors in December, 
1896, but the work was resumed in 1897 and 
practically completed early in 1899, with the 
expectation that the institution would be opened 
for the reception of students in September fol- 
lowing. 

EASTMAN, Zebina, anti-slavery journalist, 
was born at North Amherst, Mass., Sept. 8, 1815; 
became a printer's apprentice at 14, but later 
spent a short time in an academy at Had ley. 
Then, after a brief experience as an employe in 
the office of "The Hartford Pearl," at the age of 
18 he invested his patrimony of some §3,000 in 
the establishment of "The Free Press" at Fayette- 
ville, Vt. This venture proving unsuccessful, in 
1837 he came west, stopping a year or two at 
Ann Arbor, Mich. In 1839 he visited Peoria by 
way of Chicago, working for a time on "The 



Peoria Regi.ster, " but soon after joined Benjamin 
Lundy, who was preparing to revive his paper, 
"The Genius of Universal Emancipation," at 
Lowell, La Salle County. This scheme was 
partially defeated by Lundy's early death, but, 
after a few months' delay, Eastman, in conjunc- 
tion with Hooper Warren, began the publication 
of "The Genius of Liberty" as the successor of 
Lundy's paper, using the printing press which 
Warren had used in the office of "The Commer- 
cial Advertiser, " in Chicago, a year or so before. In 
1843, at the invitation of prominent Abolitionists, 
the paper was removed to Chicago, where it was 
issued under the name of "The W^estern Citizen," 
in 1853 becoming "The Free West," and finally, 
in 1856, being merged in "The Chicago Tribune." 
After the suspension of "The Free West," Mr. 
Eastman began the publication of "The Chicago 
Magazine," a literary and historical monthly, 
but it reached only its fifth number, when it was 
discontinued for want of financial "upport. In 
1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln 
United States Consul at Bristol, England, where 
he remained eight years. On his return from 
Europe, he took up his residence at Elgin, later 
removing to Maywood, a suburb of Chicago, 
where he died, June 14, 1883. During the latter 
years of his life Mr. Eastman contributed many 
articles of great historical interest to the Chi- 
cago press. (See L^indy, Benjamin, and Warren, 
Hooper. ) 

EBERHART, John Frederick, educator and 
real-estate operator, was born in Mercer County, 
Pa., Jan. 31, 1829; commenced teaching at 16 
years of age, and, in 1853, graduated from Alle- 
gheny College, at Meadville, soon after becoming 
Principal of Albright Seminary at Berlin, in the 
same State ; in 1855 came west by way of Chicago, 
locating at Dixon and engaging in editorial work; 
a year later established "The Northwestern 
Home and School Journal," which he published 
three years, in the meantime establishing and 
conducting teachers' institutes in Illinois, Iowa 
and Wisconsin. In 1859 he was elected School 
Commissioner of Cook County — a position which 
was afterwards changed to .County Superintend- 
ent of Schools, and which he held ten years. Mr. 
Eberhart was largely instrumental in the estab- 
lishment of the Cook County Normal School. 
Since retiring from office he has been engaged in 
the real-estate business in Chicago. 

ECKHART, Bernard A., manufacturer and 
President of the Chicago Drainage Board, was 
born in Alsace, France (now Germany), brought 
to America in infancy and reared on a farm in 



14G 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Vernon County, Wis. ; was educated at Milwau- 
kee, and, in 1868, became clerk in the office of tlie 
Eagle Milling Company of that city, afterwards 
serving as its Eastern agent in various seaboard 
cities. He finally established an extensive mill- 
ing business in Chicago, in which he is now 
engaged. In 1884 he served as a delegate to the 
National Waterway Convention at St. Paul and, 
in 1886, was elected to the State Senate, serving 
four years and taking a prominent part in draft- 
ing the Sanitary Drainage Bill passed by the 
Thirty -sixth General Assembly. He has also been 
prominent in connection with various financial 
institutions, and, in 1891, was elected one of the 
Trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago, was 
re-elected in 1895 and chosen President of the 
Board for the following year, and re-elected Pres- 
ident in December, 1808. 

EDBROOKE, Willoughby J., Supervising 
Architect, was born at Deerfield, Lake County, 
111., Sept. 3, 1843; brought up to the architectural 
profession by his father and under the instruc- 
tion of Chicago architects. During Mayor 
Roche's administration he held the position of 
Commissioner of Public Works, and, in April, 
1891, was appointed Supervising Architect of the 
Treasury Department at Washington, in that 
capacity supervising the construction of Govern- 
ment buildings at the World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion. Died, in Cliicago, Blarch 26, 1896. 

EDDY, Henry, pioneer lawyer and editor, 
was born in Vermont, in 1798, reared in New 
York, learned the printer's trade at Pittsburg, 
served in the War of 1812, and was wounded in 
the battle of Black Rock, near Buffalo ; came to 
Shawneetown, 111., in 1818, where he edited "The 
Illinois Emigrant," the earliest paper in that 
part of the State ; was a Presidential Elector in 
1824, a Representative in the Second and Fif- 
teenth General Assemblies, and elected a Circuit 
Judge in 183.5, but resigned a few weeks later. 
He was a Whig in politics. Usher F. Linder, in 
his "Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar 
of Illinois," says of Mr. Eddy: "When lie 
addressed the court, he elicited the most profound 
attention. He was a sort of walking law library. 
He never forgot anything that he ever knew, 
whether law, poetry or belles lettres. " Died, 
June 29, 1849. 

EDDY, Tliomas Mears, clergyman and author, 
was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, Sept. 7, 
1823; educated at Greensborough, Ind., and, from 
1842 to 1853, was a Methodist circuit preacher 
in that State, becoming Agent of the American 
Bible Society the latter year, and Presiding 



Elder of the Indianapolis district iintil 1856, when 
he was appointed editor of "The Northwestern 
Cliristian Advocate," in Chicago, retiring from 
that position in 1868. Later, he held pastorates 
in Baltimore and Washington, and was chosen 
one of the Corresponding Secretaries of the Mis- 
sionary Society by the General Conference of 
1872. Dr. Eddy was a copious writer for the 
press, and, besides occasional sermons, published 
two volumes of reminiscences and personal 
sketches of prominent Illinoisans in the War of 
the Rebellion under the title of "Patriotism of 
Illinois" (1865). Died, in New York City, Oct. 
7, 1874. 

EDGAR, John, early settler at Kaskaskia, was 
born in Ireland and, during the American Revo- 
lution, served as an officer in the British navy, 
but married an American woman of great force 
of character who sympathized strongly with the 
patriot cause. Having become involved in the 
desertion of three British soldiers whom his wife 
had promised to assist in reaching the American 
camp, he was compelled to flee. After remaining 
for a while in the American army, during which 
he became the friend of General La Fayette, lie 
sought safety by coming west, arriving at Kas- 
kaskia in 1784. His property was confiscated, but 
his wife succeeded in saving some §12,000 from 
the wreck, with which she joined him two years 
later. He engaged in business and became an 
extensive land-owner, being credited, during 
Territorial days, with the ownership of nearly 
50,000 acres situated in Randolph, Monroe, St. 
Clair, Madison, Clinton, Washington, Perry and 
Jackson Counties, and long known as the "Edgar 
lands." He also purchased and rebuilt a mill 
near Kaskaskia which had belonged to a French- 
man named Paget, and became a large shipper of 
flour at an early day to the Southern markets. 
When St. Clair County was organized, in 1790, he 
was appointed one of the Judges of the Common 
Pleas Court, and so appears to have continued 
for more than a quarter of a century. On the 
establishment of a Territorial Legislature for the 
Northwest Territor)', he was chosen, in 1799, one 
of tlie members for St. Clair County — the Legis- 
lature holding its session at Chillicothe, in the 
present State of Ohio, under tlie administration 
of Governor St. Clair. He was also appointed a 
MajorGenei-al of militia, retaining the office for 
many years. General and Mrs. Edgar were 
leaders of society at the old Territorial capital, 
and, on the visit of La Fayette to Kaskaskia in 
1825, a reception was given at their house to the 
distinguished Frenchman, whose acquaintance 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



147 



they had made more than forty years before. He 
died at Kaskaskia, in 1833. Edgar County, in the 
eastern part of the State, was named in honor of 
General Edgar. He was Worshipful Master of 
the first Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons in Illinois, constituted at Kaskaskia in 
1806. 

EDtJAR COUNTY, one of the middle tier of 
counties from north to south, lying on the east- 
ern border of the State; was organized in 1823, 
and named for General Edgar, an early citizen of 
Kaskaskia. It contains 030 square miles, with 
a population (1900) of 28,273. Tlie county is 
nearly square, well watered and wooded. Most 
of the acreage is under cultivation, grain-growing 
and stock-raising being the principal industries. 
Generally, the soil is black to a considerable 
depth, though at some points — especially adjoin- 
ing the timber lands in the east — the soft, brown 
clay of the subsoil comes to the surface. Beds of 
the drift period, one hundred feet deep, are found 
in the northern portion, and some twenty-five 
years ago a nearly perfect skeleton of a mastodon 
was exhumed. A bed of limestone, twenty-five 
feet thick, crops out near Baldwinsville and runs 
along Brouillet's creek to the State line. Paris, the 
coimty-seat, is a railroad center, and has a popu- 
lation of over 6,000. Vermilion and Dudley are 
prominent shipping points, while Chrisman, 
which was an unbroken prairie in 1872, was 
credited witli a population of 900 in 1900. 

EDINBURG, a village of Christian County, on 
the Baltimore & Ohio Soutliwestern Railway, 18 
miles southeast of Springfield; has two banks 
and one newspaper. The region is agricultural, 
though some coal is mined here. Population 
(1880), 5.51; (1890), 806; (1900), 1,071. 

EDS ALL, James Kirtland, former Attorney- 
General, was born at Windham, Greene County, 
N. y.. May 10, 1831. After passing through the 
common-schools, he attended an academy at 
Prattsville, N.Y., supporting himself , meanwhile, 
by working upon a farm. He read law at Pratts- 
ville and Catskill, and was admitted to the bar at 
Albany in 1852. The next two years he spent in 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and, in 18.54, removed 
to Leavenworth, Kan. He was elected to the 
Legislature of that State in 1855, being a member 
of the Topeka (free-soil) body when it was broken 
up by United States troops in 1856. In August, 
1856, he settled at Dixon, 111., and at once 
engaged in practice. In 1863 he was elected 
Mayor of that city, and, in 1870, was chosen State 
Senator, serving on the Committees on Munic- 
ipalities and Judiciary in the Twenty-seventh 



General Assembly. In 1873 he was elected 
Attorney-General on the Republican ticket and 
re-elected in 1876. At the expiration of his 
second term he took up his residence in Chicago, 
where lie afterwards devoted himself to the prac- 
tice of his profession, until his death, which 
occurred, June 20, 1892. 

EDUCATION. 

The first step in the direction of the establish- 
ment of a system of free schools for tlie region 
now comprised within the State of Illinois was 
taken in the enactment by Congress, on May 20, 
1785, of "An Ordinance for Ascertaining the 
mode of disposing of lands in the Western Terri- 
tory." This applied specifically to the region 
northwest of the Ohio River, which had been 
acquired through the conquest of the "Illinois 
Country" by Col. George Rogers Clark, acting 
under the auspices of the State of V^irginia and 
by authority received from its Governor, the 
patriotic Patrick Henry. This act for the first 
time establislied the present system of township 
(or as it was then called, "rectangular") surveys, 
devised by Capt. Thomas Hutchins, who became 
the first Surveyor-General (or "Geographer," as 
the office was styled) of the United States under 
tlie same act. Its important feature, in this con- 
nection, was the provision "that there shall be 
reserved the lot No. 16 of every township, for the 
maintenance of public schools within the town- 
ship. " Tlie same reservation (the term "section" 
being substituted for "lot" in the act of May 18, 
1796) was made in all subsequent acts for the sale 
of public lands — the acts of July 23, 1787, and 
June 20, 1788, declaring that "the lot No. 16 in 
each township, or fractional part of a township," 
shall be "given perpetually for the purpose con- 
tained in said ordinance" (i. e. , the act of 1785). 
The next step was taken in the Ordinance of 1787 
(Art. III.), in the declaration that, "religion, 
morality and knowledge being necessary for the 
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of 
education shall forever be encouraged." The 
reservation referred to in the act of 1785 (and 
subsequent acts) was reiterated in the "enabling 
act" passed by Congress, April 18, 1818, authoriz- 
ing the people of Illinois Territory to organize a 
State Government, and was formally accepted by 
the Convention which formed the first State 
Constitution. The enabling act also set apart one 
entire township (in addition to one previously 
donated for the same purpose by act of Congress 
in 1804) for the use of a seminary of learning, 



148 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



together with three per cent of the net proceeds 
of the sales of public lands within the State, "to 
be appropriated by the Legislature of the State 
for the encouragement of learning, of which one- 
sixth part" (or one-half of one per cent) "shall 
be exclusively bestowed on a college or univer- 
sity." Thus, the plan for the establishment of a 
system of free public education in Illinois had its 
inception in the first steps for the organization of 
the Northwest Territory, was recognized in the 
Ordinance of 1787 which reserved that Territory 
forever to freedom, and was again reiterated in 
tlie preliminary steps for the organization of the 
State Government. These several acts became 
the basis of that permanent provision for the 
encouragement of education known as the "town- 
ship," "seminary" and "college or university" 
funds. 

Early Schools. — Previous to this, however, a 
beginning had been made in the attempt to estab- 
lish schools for the benefit of the children of the 
pioneers. One John Seeley is said to have taught 
the first American school within the territory of 
Illinois, in a log-cabin in Jlonroe County, in 1783, 
followed by others in the next twenty years in 
Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Madison Coun- 
ties. Seeley's earliest successor was Francis 
Clark, who, in turn, was followed by a man 
named Halfpenny, wlio afterwards built a mill 
near the present town of Waterloo in Monroe 
County. Among the teachers of a still later period 
were John Boyle, a soldier in Col. George Rogers 
Clark's army, who taught in Randolph County 
between 1790 and 1800; John Atwater, near 
Edwardsville, in 1807, and John Messinger, a sur- 
veyor, who was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1818 and Speaker of the first House 
of Representatives. The latter taught in the 
vicinity of Shiloh in St. Clair Comity, afterwards 
the site of Rev. John M. Peck's Rock Spring 
Seminary. The schools which existed during 
this period, and for many years after the organi- 
zation of the State Government, were necessarily 
few, widely scattered and of a very primitive 
character, receiving their support entirely by 
subscription from their patrons. 

First Free School Law and Sales op 
School Lands. — It has been stated that the first 
free school in the State was established at Upper 
Alton, in 1821, but there is good reason for believ- 
ing this claim was based upon the power granted 
by the Legislature, in an act passed that year, to 
establish such schools there, which power was 
never carried into effect. The first attempt to 
establish a free-school system for the whole State 



was made in January, 1825, in the passage of a 
bill introduced by Joseph Duncan, afterwards a 
Congressman and Governor of the State. It 
nominally appropriated two dollars out of each one 
hundred dollars received in the State Treasurj', 
to be distributed to those who had paid taxes or 
subscriptions for the support of schools. So 
small was the aggregate revenue of the State at 
that time (only a little over §00,000), that the 
sum realized from this law would have been but 
little more than 51,000 per year. It remained 
practically a dead letter and was repealed in 1829, 
when the State inaugurated the policy of selling 
the seminary lands and borrowing the proceeds 
for the payment of current expenses. In this 
way 43,200 acres (or all but four and a half sec- 
tions) of the seminary lands were disposed of, 
realizing less than §60,000. The first sale of 
township school lands took place in Greene 
County in 1831, and, two years later, the greater 
part of the school section in the heart of the 
present city of Chicago was sold, producing 
about §39,000. The average rate at which these 
sales were made, up to 1882, was §3.78 per acre_ 
and the minimum, 70 cents per acre. That 
these lands have, in very few instances, produced 
the results expected of them, was not so much 
the fault of the system as of those selected to 
administer it — whose bad judgment in premature 
sales, or whose complicity with the schemes of 
speculators, were the means, in many cases, of 
squandering what might otherwise have furnished 
a liberal provision for the support of public 
schools in many sections of the State. Mr. W. L. 
Pillsbury, at present Secretary of the University 
of Illinois, in a paper printed in the report of the 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction for 
1885-86 — to which the writer is indebted for many 
of the facts presented in this article — gives to 
Chicago the credit of establishing the first free 
schools in the State in 183-1, while Alton followed 
in 1837, and Springfield and Jacksonville in 1840. 
Early Higher Institutions. — A movement 
looking to the establishment of a higher institu- 
tion of learning in Indiana Territory (of which 
Illinois then formed a part), was inaugurated by 
the passage, through the Territorial Legislature at 
Vincennes, in November, 1806, of an act incorpo- 
rating the University of Indiana Territory to be 
located at Vincennes. One provision of the act 
authorized the raising of §20,000 for the institu- 
tion by means of a lottery. A Board of Trustees 
was promptly organized, with Gen. William 
Henry Harrison, then the Territorial Governor, 
at its head ; but, beyond the erection of a building. 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



149 



little progress was made. Twenty-one years 
later (1837) the first successful attempt to found 
an advanced school was made by the indomitable 
Rev. John M. Peck, resulting in the establish- 
ment of his Theological Seminary and High 
School at Rock Springs, St. Clair County, wliich, 
in 1831, became the nucleus of Shurtleff College at 
Upper Alton. In like manner, Lebanon Semi- 
nary, established in 1828, two years later 
expanded into McKendree College, while instruc- 
tion began to be given at Illinois College, Jack- 
sonville, in December, 1829, as tlie outcome of a 
movement started by a band of young men at 
Yale College in 1827 — these several institutions 
being formally incorporated by the same act of 
the Legislature, passed in 1835. (See sketches of 
these Institutions. ) 

Educational Conventions.— In 1833 there 
was held at Vandalia (then tlie State capital) the 
first of a series of educational conventions, which 
were continued somewhat irregularly for twenty 
years, and whose history is remarkable for tlie 
number of those participating in them who after- 
wards gained distinction in State and National 
history. At first these conventions were held at 
the State capital during the sessions of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, when the chief actors in them 
were members of that body and State officers, 
with a few other friends of education from the 
ranks of professional or business men. At the 
convention of 1833, we find, among those partici- 
pating, the names of Sidney Breese, afterwards a 
United States Senator and Justice of the Supreme 
Court ; Judge S. D. Lockwood, then of the Supreme 
Court; W. L. D. Ewing, afterwards acting Gov- 
ernor and United States Senator; O. H. Browning, 
afterwards United States Senator and Secretary 
of the Interior; James Hall and John Russell, 
the most notable writers in the State in their day, 
besides Dr. J. M. Peck, Archibald Williams, 
Benjamin Mills, Jesse B. Thomas, Henry Eddy 
and others, all prominent in their several depart- 
ments. In a second convention at the same 
place, nearly two years later, Abraham Lincoln, 
Stephen A. Douglas and Col. John J. Hardin 
were participants. At Springfield, in 1840, pro- 
fessional and literary men began to take a more 
prominent part, although the members of the 
Legislature were present in considerable force. 
A convention held at Peoria, in 1844, was made 
up largely of professional teachers and school 
officers, with a few citizens of local prominence ; 
and the same may be said of those held at Jack- 
sonville in 1845, and later at Chicago and other 
points. Various attempts were made to form 



permanent educational societies, finally result- 
ing, in December, 1854, in the organization of the 
"State Teachers' In.stitute, "' which, three years 
later, took the name of the "State Teachers' 
Association" — though an association of the same 
name was organized in 1836 and continued in 
existence several years. 

State Superintendent and School Jour- 
nals. — The appointment of a State Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction began to be agitated as 
early as 1837, and was urged from time to time in 
memorials and resolutions by educational conven- 
tions, by the educational press, and in the State 
Legislature ; but it was not until February, 1854, 
that an act was passed creating the office, when 
the Hon. Ninian W. Edwards was appointed by 
Gov. Joel A. Matteson, continuing in office until 
his successor was elected in 1856. "The Common 
School Advocate" was published for a year at 
Jacksonville, beginning with January, 1837; in 
1841 "The Illinois Common School Advocate" 
began publication at Springfield, but was discon- 
tinued after the issue of a few numbers. In 1855 
was established "The Illinois Teacher." This 
was merged, in 1873, in "The Illinois Scliool- 
master," which became the organ of the State 
Teachers' A.ssociation, so remaining several years. 
The State Teachers' Association has no official 
organ now, but the "Public School Journal" is 
the chief educational publication of the State. 

Industrial Education. — In 1851 was insti- 
tuted a movement which, although obstructed for 
some time by partisan opposition, has been 
followed by more far-reaching results, for the 
country at large, than any single measure in the 
history of education since the act of 1785 setting 
apart one section in each township for the support 
of public schools. This was the scheme formu- 
lated by the late Prof. Jonathan B. Turner, of 
Jacksonville, for a system of practical scientific 
education for the agricultural, mechanical and 
other industrial classes, at a Farmers' Convention 
held under the auspices of the Buel Institute (an 
Agricultural Society), at Granville, Putnam 
County, Nov. 18, 1851. While proposing a plan 
for a "State University" for Illinois, it also advo- 
cated, from the outset, a "University for the 
industrial classes in each of the States, ' ' by way 
of supplementing the work which a "National 
Institute of Science," such as the Smithsonian 
Institute at Washington, was expected to accom- 
plish. The proposition attracted the attention 
of persons interested in the cause of industrial 
education in other States, especially in New 
York and some of the New England States, and 



150 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



received their hearty endorsement and cooper- 
ation. The Granville meeting was followed by a 
series of similar conventions held at Springfield, 
June 8, 1853; Chicago, Nov. 24, 1852; Springfield, 
Jan. 4, 1853, and Springfield, Jan. 1, 1855, at 
which the scheme was still further elaborated. 
At the Springfield meeting of January, 1853, an 
organization was formed under the title of the 
"Industrial League of the State of Illinois," with 
a view to disseminating information, securing 
more thorough organization on the part of friends 
of the measure, and the employment of lecturers 
to address the people of the State on the subject. 
At the same time, it was resolved that "this Con- 
vention memorialize Congress for the purpose of 
obtaining a grant of public lands to establish and 
endow industrial institutions in each and every 
State in the Union." It is worthy of note that 
this resolution contains the central idea of the 
act passed by Congress nearly ten years after- 
ward, making appropriations of public lands for 
the establishment and support of industrial 
colleges in the several States, which act received 
the approval of President Lincoln, July 2, 1863 — 
a similar measure having been vetoed by Presi- 
dent Buchanan in February, 1859. The State 
was extensively canvassed by Professor Turner, 
Mr. Bronson Murray (now of New York), the late 
Dr. R. C. Rutherford and others, in behalf of the 
objects of the League, and the Legislature, at its 
session of 1853, by unanimous vote in both houses, 
adopted the resolutions commending the measure 
and instructing the United States Senators from 
Illinois, and requesting its Representatives, to 
give it their support. Though not specifically 
contemplated at the outset of the movement, the 
Convention at Springfield, in January, 1855, pro- 
posed, as a part of the scheme, the establishment 
of a "Teachers' Seminary or Normal School 
Department," which took form in the act passed 
at the session of 1857, for the establishment of 
the State Normal School at Normal. Although 
delayed, as already stated, the advocates of indus- 
trial education in Illinois, aided by those of other 
States, finally triumphed in 1862. The lands 
received by the State as the result of this act 
amounted to 480,000 acres, besides subsequent do- 
nations. (See University of Illinois; also Turner, 
Jonathan Baldwin.) On the foundation thus 
furnished was established, by act of the Legisla- 
ture in 1867, the "Illinois Industrial University" 
— now the University of Illinois — at Champaign, 
to say nothing of more than forty similar insti- 
tutions in as many States and Territories, based 
upon the same general act of Congress. 



Free-School System. — "While there may be 
said to have been a sort of free-school system in 
existence in Illinois previous to 1855, it was 
limited to a few fortunate districts possessing 
funds derived from the sale of school-lands situ- 
ated within their respective limits. The system 
of free schools, as it now exists, based upon 
general taxation for the creation of a permanent 
school fund, had its origin in the act of that 
j'ear. As already shown, the office of State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction had been 
created by act of the Legislature in February, 
1854, and the act of 1855 was but a natural corol- 
lary of the previous measure, giving to the people 
a uniform system, as the earlier one had provided 
an official for its administration. Since then 
there have been many amendments of the school 
law, but these have been generally in the direc- 
tion of securing greater efficiency, but with- 
out departure from the principle of securing 
to all the children of the State the equal 
privileges of a common-school education. The 
development of the system began practically 
about 1857, and, in the next quarter of a 
century, the laws on the subject had grown 
into a considerable volume, while the number- 
less decisions, emanating from the office of the 
State Superintendent in construction of these 
laws, made up a volume of still larger proportions. 

The following comparative table of school 
statistics, for 1860 and 1896, compiled from the 
Reports of the State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, will illustrate the growth of the 
system in some of its more important features: 

ISeO. 1896. 

Population 1,711,961 (est.) 4,250,000 

No. of Persons of School Age (be- 
tween 6 and 211 •549,604 1,384.367 

No. or Pupils enrolled •472.347 898,619 

School Districts 8,956 11,615 

Public Schools 9,162 12,1)23 

Graded " 294 1,887 

Public Hleb Schools 27J 

•' School Houses built during 

thevear 657 267 

Whole No. of School Houses 8.221 12,632 

No. of .Mule Teachers 8.'223 7.057 

F.-male Teachers 6,485 18,359 

Whole No. of Teachers In Public 

.Schools 14,708 26,416 

HiKhest Monthly Wages paid Male 

Teachers tieo.OO J300.00 

Highest Monthly Wages paid 

Female Teachers 75.00 280.00 

Lowest Monthly Wages paid Male 

Teachers 8 00 14.00 

Lowest Monthly Wages paid 

Female Teachers... 4.00 10.00 

Average Monthly Wages paid Male 

Teacliers 28.82 67.76 

Average Monthly Wages paid 

Female Teachers 18.80 60.63 

No. of Private Schools 500 2,619 

No. of Piipils in Private Schools.... 29,264 139,969 
Interest on State and County Funds 

received $73,450.38 165,583.63 

Amoinit of Income from Township 

Funds 322,852.00 889,614.20 

•Only white children were Included In these statistics for 
1860. 







-n 

•J 






■X. 



P 

X 






HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



151 



I860. 1896. 

Amount received from State Tax., f 690,000.00 ? 1,000,000.00 
" " ** Special Dis- 

tnctTaies 1,265,137.00 13,133,809.61 

Amount received from Bonds dur- 
ing the year 517,960.93 

Total Amount received during the 

year by School Districts 2,193,455.00 15,607,172.50 

Amount paid Male Teachers 2,772,829..32 

" Female " 7.186.105.67 

Wholeamount paid Teachers .... 1,542,211.00 9,958,934.99 
Amount paid for new School 

Houses 348,728.00 1,873,757.25 

Amount paid for repairs and im- 
provements 1,070,755.09 

Amount paid for School Furniture. 24,837.00 154.836.64 
" " Apparatus 8,563.00 164,298.92 
" " •' Books for Dis- 
trict Libraries 30.124 00 13,664.97 

Total Expenditures 2.269,868.00 14,614,627.31 

Estimated value of School Property 13,304,892,00 42,780.267.00 

" Libraries.. 377,819.00 

" " " Apparatus 607,389.00 

The sums annually disbursed for incidental 
expenses on account of superintendence and the 
cost of maintaining the higher institutions estab- 
lished, and partially or wholly supported by the 
State, increase the total expenditures by some 
§600,000 per annum. These higher institutions 
include the Illinois State Normal University at 
Normal, the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbon- 
dale and the University of Illinois at Urbana; to 
which were added by the Legislature, at its ses- 
sion of 1895, the Eastern Illinois Normal School, 
afterwards established at Charleston, and the 
Northern Illinois Normal at De Kalb. These 
institutions, although under supervision of the 
State, are partly supported by tuition fees. (See 
description of these institutions under their 
several titles.) The normal schools — as their 
names indicate — are primarily designed for the 
training of teachers, although other classes of 
pupils are admitted under certain conditions, 
including the payment of tuition. At the Uni- 
versity of Illinois instruction is given in the clas- 
sics, the sciences, agriculture and the mechanic 
arts. In addition to these the State supports four 
other institutions of an educational rather than a 
custodial character — viz. : the Institution for the 
Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Insti- 
tution for the Blind, at Jacksonville ; the Asylum 
for the Feeble-Minded at Lincoln, and the Sol- 
diers' Orphans' Home at Normal. The estimated 
value of the property connected with these 
several institutions, in addition to the value of 
school property given in the preceding table, will 
Increase the total (exclusive of permanent funds) 
to §47,15.5,374.95, of which $4,375,107.95 repre- 
sents property belonging to the institutions above 
mentioned. 

Powers and Duties op Superintendents 
AND Other School Officers.— Each county 
elects a County Superintendent of Schools, whose 
duty it is to visit schools, conduct teachers' insti- 
tutes, advise with teachers and school officers and 



instruct them in their respective duties, conduct 
examinations of persons desiring to become 
teachers, and exercise general supervision over 
school affairs within his county. The subordi- 
nate officers are Township Trustees, a Township 
Treasurer, and a Board of District Directors or — 
in place of the latter in cities and villages — Boards 
of Education. The two last named Boards have 
power to employ teachers and, generally, to super- 
vise the management of schools in districts. The 
State Superintendent is entrusted with general 
supervision of the common-school system of the 
State, and it is his duty to advise and assist 
County Superintendents, to visit State Charitable 
institutions, to issue official circulars to teachers, 
school officers and others in regard to their rights 
and duties under the general school code; to 
decide controverted questions of school law, com- 
ing to him by appeal from County Superintend- 
ents and others, and to make full and detailed 
reports of the operations of his office to the 
Governor, biennially. He is also made ex-officio 
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois and of the several Normal Schools, 
and is empowered to grant certificates of two 
different grades to teachers — the higher grade to 
be valid during the lifetime of the holder, and 
the lower for two years. Certificates granted by 
County Superintendents are also of two grades 
and have a tenure of one and two years, respec- 
tively, in the county where given. The conditions 
for securing a certificate of the first (or two- 
years') grade, require that the candidate shall be 
of good moral character and qualified to teach 
orthography, reading in English, penmanship, 
arithmetic, modern geography, English grammar, 
the elements of the natural sciences, the history 
of the United States, physiology and the laws of 
health. The second grade (or one-year) certifi- 
cate calls for examination in the branches just 
enumerated, except the natural sciences, physi- 
ology and laws of health ; but teachers employed 
exclusively in giving instruction in music, draw- 
ing, penmanship or other special branches, may 
take examinations in these branches alone, but 
are restricted, in teaching, to those in which they 
have been examined. — County Boards are 
empowered to establish County Normal Schools 
for the education of teachers for the common 
schools, and the management of such normal 
schools is placed in the hands of a County Board 
of Education, to consist of not less than five nor 
more than eight persons, of whom the Chairman 
of the County Board and the County Superin- 
tendent of Schools shall be ex-officio members. 






152 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Boards of Education and Directors may establish 
kindergartens (when authorized to do so by vote 
of a majority of the voters of their districts), for 
children between the ages of four and six years, 
but the cost of supporting the same must be 
defrayed by a special tax. — A compulsory pro- 
vision of the School Law requires that each child, 
between the ages of seven and fourteen years, 
shall be sent to school at least sixteen weeks of 
each j-ear, unless otherwise instructed in the 
elementary branches, or disqualified by physical 
or mental disability. — Under the provisions of an 
act, passed in 1891, women are made eligible to 
any office created by the general or special school 
laws of the State, when twenty-one years of age 
or upwards, and otherwise possessing the same 
qualifications for the office as are prescribed for 
men. (For li.st of incumbents in the office of 
State Superintendent, sea Superintendents of 
Public Instruction. ) 

EDWARDS, Arthur, D.D., clergyman, soldier 
and editor, was born at Norwalk, Ohio, Nov. 23, 
1834; educated at Albion, Mich., and the Wes- 
leyan University of Oliio, graduating from the 
latter in 1858 ; entered the Detroit Conference of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church the same year, 
was ordained in 1860 and, from 1861 until after 
the battle of Gettysburg, served as Chaplain of 
the First Michigan Cavalry, when he resigned to 
accept the colonelcy of a cavalry regiment. In 
1864, he was elected assistant editor of "The 
Northwestern Christian Advocate"' at Chicago, 
and, on the retirement of Dr. Eddy in 1873, 
became Editor-in-chief, being re-elected every 
foiu- years thereafter to the present time. He 
has also been a member of each General Confer- 
ence since 1872, was a member of the Ecumenical 
Conference at London in 1881, and has held other 
positions of prominence within the church. 

EDWARDS, Cyrus, pioneer lawyer, was born 
in Montgomery County, Md., Jan. 17, 1793; at the 
age of seven accompanied his parents to Ken- 
tucky, where he received his primary education, 
and studied law ; was admitted to the bar at Kas- 
kaskia. 111., in 1815, Ninian Edwards (of whom he 
was the youngest brotlier) being then Territorial 
Governor. During the next fourteen years he 
resided alternately in Missouri and Kentuckj', 
and, in 1829, took up his residence at Edwards- 
ville. Owing to impaired health he decided to 
abandon his profession and engage in general 
business, later becoming a resident of Upper 
Alton. In 1832 he was elected to the lower house 
of the Legislature as a Whig, and again, in 1840 
and '60, the last time as a Republican; was State 



Senator from 1835 to "39, and was also the Whig 
candidate for Governor, in 1838, in opposition to 
Thomas Carlin (Democrat), who was elected. He 
served in the Black Hawk War, was a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1847, and espe- 
cially interested in education and in public chari- 
ties, being, for thirty-five years, a Trustee of 
Shurtlefl College, to which he was a most 
munificent benefactor, 'and which conferred on 
him the degree of LL.D. in 1852. Died at Upper 
Alton, September, 1877. 

EDWARDS, Ninian, Territorial Governor and 
United States Senator, was born in Montgomerj' 
County, Md., March 17, 1775; for a time had the 
celebrated William Wirt as a tutor, completing 
his course at Dickinson College. At the age of 19 
he emigrated to Kentucky, where, after squander- 
ing considerable money, he studied law and, step 
by step, rose to be Chief Justice of the Court of 
Appeals. In 1809 President Madison appointed 
him the first Territorial Governor of Illinois. 
This office he held until the admission of Illinois 
as a State in 1818, when he was elected United 
Sates Senator and re-elected on the completion of 
his first (the short) term. In 1826 he was elected 
Governor of the State, his successful administra- 
tion terminating in 1830. In 1832 he became a 
candidate for Congress, but was defeated by 
Cliarles Slade. He was able, magnanimous and 
incorruptible, although charged with aristocratic 
tendencies which were largely hereditary. Died, 
at his home at Belleville, on July 20, 1833, of 
cholera, the disease having been contracted 
through self-sacrificing efforts to assist sufferers 
from the epidemic. His demise cast a gloom 
over the entire State. Two valuable volumes 
bearing upon State history, comprising his cor- 
respondence with many public men of his time, 
have been published ; the first under the title of 
"History of Illinois and Life of Ninian Edwards," 
by his son, the late Ninian Wirt Edwards, and 
the other "The Edwards Papers," edited by the 
late Elihu B. Washburne, and printed under tlie 
auspices of the Chicago Historical Society.^ 
N'inian Wirt (Edwards), son of Gov. Ninian 
Edwards, was born at Frankfort, Ky., April 15, 
1809, the year his father became Territorial 
Governor of Illinois ; spent his boyhood at Kas- 
kaskia, Edwardsville and Belleville, and was 
educated at Transylvania University, graduating 
in 1833. He married Elizabeth P. Todd, a sister 
of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, was appointed Attor- 
ney-General in 1834, but resigned in 1835, when 
he removed to Springfield. In 1836 he was 
elected to the Legislature from Sangamon 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



153 



County, as the colleague of Abraham Lincoln, 
being one of the celebrated "Long Nine," and 
was influential in securing the removal of the 
State capital to Springfield. He was re-elected 
to the House in 1838, to the State Senate in 1844, 
and again to the House in 1848 ; was also a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1847. 
Again, in 1850, he was elected to the House, but 
resigned on aocoimt of his change of politics 
from Whig to Democratic, and, in the election to 
fill the vacancy, was defeated by James C. Conk- 
ling. He served as Superintendent of Public 
Instruction by appointment of Governor Matte- 
son, 1854-57, and, in 1861, was appointed by 
President Lincoln, Captain Commissary of Sub- 
sistence, which position he filled until June, 1865, 
since which time he remained in private life. He 
is the author of the "Life and Times of Ninian 
Edwards" (1870), which was prepared at the 
request of the State Historical Society. Died, at 
Springfield, Sept. 3, 1889. — Benjamin Sterenson 
(Edwajds), lawyer and Jurist, another son of Gov. 
Ninian Edwards, was born at Edwardsville, 111., 
June 3, 1818, graduated from Yale College in 
1838, and was admitted to the bar the following 
year. Originally a Whig, he subsequently 
became a Democrat, was a Delegate to the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1863, and, in 1868, was 
an imsuccessful candidate for Congress in opposi- 
tion to Shelby M. Cullom. In 1869 he was elected 
Circuit Judge of the Springfield Circuit, but 
within eighteen months resigned tlie position, 
preferring the excitement and emoluments of 
private practice to the dignity and scanty salary 
attaching to the bench. As a lawyer and as a 
citizen he was universally respected. Died, at 
his home in Springfield, Feb. 4, 1886, at the time 
of his decease being President of the Illinois 
State Bar Association. 

EDWARDS, Riohard, educator, ex-Superin- 
tendent of PubUo Instruction, was born in Cardi- 
ganshire, Wales, Dec. 33, 1833; emigrated with 
his parents to Portage County, Ohio, and began 
life on a farm; later graduated at the State 
Normal School, Bridgewater, Mass., and from 
the Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y. , receiv- 
ing the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Civil 
Engineer ; served for a time as a civil engineer 
on the Boston water works, then beginning a 
career as a teacher which continued almost unin- 
terruptedly for thirty-five years. During this 
period he was connected with the Normal School 
at Bridgewater; a Boys' High School at Salem, 
and the State Normal at the same place, coming 
west in 1857 to establish the Normal School at St. 



Louis, Mo. , still later becoming Principal of the 
St. Louis High School, and, in 1863, accepting the 
Presidency of the State Normal University, at 
Normal, 111. It was here where Dr. Edwards, 
remaining fourteen years, accomplished his 
greatest work and left his deepest impress upon 
the educational system of the State by personal 
contact with its teachers. The next nine years 
were spent as pastor of the First Congregational 
church at Princeton, when, after eighteen 
months in the service of Knox College as Finan- 
cial Agent, he was again called, in 1886, to a 
closer connection with the educational field by 
his election to the office of State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, serving until 1891, when, 
having failed of a re-election, he soon after 
assumed the Presidency of Blackburn University 
at Carlinville. FaiUng liealth, however, com- 
pelled his retirement a year later, when he 
removed to Bloomington, which is now (1898) 
his place of residence. 

EDWARDS COUNTY, situated in the south- 
eastern part of the State, between Richland and 
White on the north and south, and Wabash and 
Wayne on the east and west, and touching the 
Ohio River on its southeastern border. It was 
separated from Gallatin County in 1814, during 
the Territorial period. Its territory was dimin- 
ished in 1834 by the carving out of Wabash 
County. The surface is diversified by prairie 
and timber, the soil fertile and well adapted to 
the raising of both wheat and corn. The princi- 
pal streams, besides the Ohio, are Bonpas Creek, 
on the east, and the Little Wabash River on the 
west. Palmyra (a place no longer on the map) 
was the seat for holding the first county court, 
in 1815, John Mcintosh, Seth Gard and William 
Barney being the Judges. Albion, the present 
county-seat (population, 937), was laid out by 
Morris Birkbeck and George Flower (emigrants 
from England), in 1819, and settled largely by 
their countrymen, but not incorpoi-ated until 
1860. The area of the county is 330 square 
miles, and population, in 1900, 10,345. Grayville, 
with a population of 3,000 in 1890, is partly in 
this county, though mostly in White. Edwards 
County was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, 
the Territorial Governor of Illinois. 

EDWARDSTILLE, the county-seat of Madison 
County, settled in 1813 and named in honor o£ 
Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards ; is on four 
lines of railway and contiguous to two others, 18 
miles northeast of St. Louis. Edwardsville was 
the home of some of the most prominent men in 
the history of the State, including Governors Ed- 



15-1 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



wards. Coles, and others. It has pressed and 
shale brickj'ards, coal mines, flour mills, machine 
shops, banks, electric street railway, water-works, 
schools, and churches. In a suburb of the city 
(LeClaire) is a cooperative manufactory of sani- 
tary supplies, using large shops and doing a large 
business. Edwardsville has three newspapers, 
one issued semi-weekly. Population (1800), 3,561 ; 
(1900), 4,157; with suburb (estimated), 5,000. 

EFFINGHAM, an incorporated citj', the county- 
seat of EfBngliam County, 9 miles northeast from 
St. Louis and 199 southwest of Chicago; has four 
papers, creamery, milk condensory, and ice fac- 
tory. Population (1890), 3,200; (1900), 3,774. 

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, cut off from Fayette 
(and separately organized) in 1831 — named for 
Gen. Edward Effingham. It is situated in the 
central portion of the State, 62 miles northeast of 
St. Louis ; has an area of 490 .square miles and a 
population (1900) of 20,465. T. M. Short, I. Fanchon 
and William I. Hawkins were the first County 
Commissioners. Effingham, the covmty-seat, was 
platted by Messrs. Alexander and Little in 1854. 
Messrs. Gillenwater, Hawkins and Brown were 
among the earliest settlers. Several lines of rail- 
way cross the county. Agriculture and sheep- 
raising are leading industries, wool being one of 
the principal products. 

EGAN, William Bradshaw, M.D., pioneer phy- 
sican, was born in Ireland, Sept. 28, 1808; spent 
some time during his youth in the study of sur- 
gery in England, later attending lectures at Dub- 
lin. About 1828 he went to Canada, taught for 
a time in the schools of Quebec and Montreal 
and, in 1830, was licensed by the Medical Board 
of New Jersey and began practice at Newark in 
that State, later practicing in New York. In 
1833 he removed to Chicago and was early recog- 
nized as a prominent physician ; on July 4, 1836, 
delivered the address at the breaking of ground 
for the Illinois & Blichigan Canal. During the 
early years of his residence in Chicago, Dr. Egau 
was owner of the block on which the Tremont 
House stands, and erected a number of houses 
there. He was a zealous Democrat and a delegate 
to the first Convention of that party, held at 
Joliet in 1843; was elected County Recorder in 
1844 and Representative in the Eighteenth Gen- 
eral Assembly (18.53-54). Died, Oct. 37, 1860. 

ELBURN, a village of Kane County, on the 
Chicago & Nortliwestern Raihvay, 8 miles west 
of Geneva. It has banks and a weekly news- 
paper Population (1890), 584; (1900), 600. 

ELDORADO, a town in Saline County, on the 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Loui.s, the 



Louisville & Nashville, and the St. Louis, Alton 
& Terre Haute Railroads; has a bank and one 
newspaper; district argicultural. Population, 
(1900), 1,445. 

ELDRIDGE, Hamilton N., lawyer and soldier, 
was born at South Williamstown, Mass., August, 
1837; graduated at Williams College in the cla.ss 
with President Garfield, in 1856, and at Albany 
Law School, in 1857; soon afterward came to 
Chicago and began practice ; in 1862 assisted in 
organizing the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh 
Illinois Volunteers, of which he was elected 
Lieutenant-Colonel, before the end of the year 
being promoted to the position of Colonel; dis- 
tinguished himself at Arkansas Post, Chicka- 
mauga and in the battles before Vicksburg, 
winning the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General, 
but, after two years' service, was compelled to 
retire on account of disability, being carried east 
on a stretcher. Subsequently he recovered suffi- 
ciently to resume his profession, but died in 
Chicago, Dec. 1, 1882, much regretted bjt a large 
circle of friends, with whom he was exceedingly 
popular. 

ELECTIONS. The elections of public officers 
in Illinois are of two general classes: (I) those 
conducted in accordance with United States 
laws, and (II) those conducted exclusively under 
State laws. 

I. To the first class belong; (1) the election of 
United States Senators; (2) Presidential Elect- 
ors, and (3 ) Representatives in Congress. 1. 
(U.NITED ST.A.TES Sen.\tors). The election of 
United States Senators, while an act of the State 
Legislature, is conducted solely under forms pre- 
scribed by the laws of the United States. Tliese 
make it the duty of tlie Legislature, on the second 
Tuesday after convening at the session next pre- 
ceding the expiration of the term for which any 
Senator may have been chosen, to proceed to 
elect his successor in the following manner: 
Each House is required, on the day designated, in 
open session and by the viva voce vote of each 
member present, to name some person for United 
States Senator, the result of the balloting to be 
entered on the journals of the respective Houses. 
At twelve o'clock (M.) on the day following the 
day of election, the members of the two Houses 
meet in joint assembly, when the journals of both 
Houses are read. If it appears that the same 
person has received a majority of all the votes in 
each House, he is declared elected Senator. If, 
however, no one has received such majority, or 
if either House has failed to take proceedings as 
required on the preceding day, then the members 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



155 



of the two Houses, in joint assembly, proceed to 
ballot for Senator by viva voce vote of members 
present. The person receiving a majority of all 
the votes cast— a majority of the members of 
both Houses being present and voting — is declared 
elected; otherwise the joint assembly is renewed 
at noon each legislative day of the session, and at 
least one ballot taken until a Senator is chosen. 
When a vacancy exists in the Senate at the time 
of the assembling of the Legislature, the same 
rule prevails as to the time of holding an election 
to fill it; and, if a vacancy occurs during the 
session, the Legislature is required to proceed to 
an election on the second Tuesday after having 
received official notice of such vacancy. The 
tenure of a United States Senator for a full term 
is six years — the regular term beginning with a 
new Congress — the two Senators from each State 
belonging to different "classes," so that their 
terms expire alternately at periods of two and 
four years from each other.^2. (Presidential 
Electors). Tlie choice of Electors of President 
and Vice-President is made by popular vote 
taken quadrennially on the Tuesday after the 
first Monday in November. The date of such 
election is fixed by act of Congress, being the 
same as that for Congressman, although the State 
Legislature prescribes the manner of conducting 
it and making returns of the same. The number 
of Electors chosen equals the number of Senators 
and Representatives taken together (in 1899 it 
was twenty-four), and they are elected on a gen- 
eral ticket, a plurality of votes being sufficient to 
elect. Electors meet at the State capital on the 
second Monday of January after their election 
(Act of Congress, 1887), to cast the vote of the 
State. — 3. (Members of Congress). The elec- 
tion of Representatives in Congress is also held 
under United States law, occurring biennially 
(on the even years) simultaneously with the gen- 
eral State election in November. Should Congress 
select a different date for such election, it would 
be the duty of the Legislature to recognize it by 
a corresponding change in the State law relating 
to the election of Congressmen. The tenure of a 
Congressman is two years, the election being by 
Districts instead of a genei'al ticket, as in the 
case of Presidential Electors — the term of each 
Reioresentative for a full term beginning with a 
new Congress, on the tth of March of the odd 
years following a general election. (See Con- 
gressional Apportionment. ) 

II. All officers under the State Government — 
except Boards of Trustees of charitable and penal 
institutions or the heads of certain departments, 



which are made appointive by the Governor — are 
elected by popular vote. Apart from county 
officers they consist of three classes: (1) Legisla- 
tive; (2) Executive; (3) Judicial ^ which are 
chosen at different times and for different periods. 
1. (Legislature). Legislative officers consist of 
Senators and Representatives, chosen at elections 
held on the Tuesday after the first Monday of 
November, biennially. The regular term of a 
Senator (of whom there are fifty -one under the 
present Constitution) is four years; twenty -five 
(those in Districts bearing even numbers) being 
chosen on the years in which a President and 
Governor are elected, and the other twenty-six at 
the intermediate period two years later. Thus, 
one-half of each State Senate is composed of what 
are called "hold-over" Senators. Representatives 
are elected biennially at the November election, 
and hold office two years. The qualifications as 
to eligibility for a seat in the State Senate require 
that the incumbent shall be 35 year's of age, 
while 31 years renders one eligible to a seat in 
the House — the Constitution requiring that each 
shall have been a resident of the State for five 
years, and of the District for which he is chosen, 
two years next preceding his election. (See 
Legislative Apportionment and Minority Repyre- 
sentation.) — 3. (Executive Officers). The 
officers constituting the Executive Department 
include the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, 
Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
and Attorney General. Each of these, except the 
State Treasurer, holds office four years and — with 
the exception of the Treasurer and Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction — are elected at the 
general election at which Presidential Electors 
are chosen. The election of State Superintendent 
occurs on the intermediate (even) years, and that 
of State Treasurer every two years coincidently 
with the election of Governor and Superintendent 
of Public In.struction, respectively. (See Execu- 
tive Officers.) In addition to the State officers 
already named, three Trustees of the University 
of Illinois are elected biennially at the general 
election in November, each holding office for 
six years. These trustees (nine in number), 
with the Governor, President of the State Board 
of Agriculture and the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, constitute the Board of Trustees of 
the University of Illinois. — 3. (Judiciary). The 
Judicial Department embraces Judges of the 
Supreme, Circuit and County Courts, and such 
other subordinate officials as may be connected 
with the administration of justice. For the 



156 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



election of members of the Supreme Court the 
State is divided into seven Districts, eacli of 
which elects a Justice of the Supreme Court for 
a term of nine years. The elections in five of 
these — the First, Second, Third, Sixth and 
Seventh — occur on the first Monday in June every 
ninth year from 1879, the last election having 
occurred in June, 1897. The elections in the 
other t vo Districts occur at similar periods of nine 
years from 1876 and 1873, respectively — the last 
election in the Fourth District having occurred 
in June, 1893, and that in the Fifth in 1891.— 
Circuit Judges are chosen on the first Monday in 
June every six years, counting from 1873. Judges 
of the Superior Court of Cook County are elected 
every six years at the November election.— Clerks 
of the Supreme and Appellate Courts are elected 
at the November election for six years, the last 
election having occurred in 1896. Under the act 
of April 2, 1897, consolidating the Supreme 
Court into one Grand Division, the number of 
Supreme Court Clerks is reduced to one, although 
the Clerks elected in 1896 remain in office and have 
charge of the records of their several Divisions 
until the expiration of tlieir terms in 1902. The 
Supreme Court holds five terras annually at Sjiring- 
field, beginning, respectively, on the first Tuesday 
of October, December, February, April and June. 

(Other Officers), (a) Members of the State 
Board of Equalization (one for every Congres- 
sional District) are elective every four years at 
the same time as Congressmen, (b) County 
ofHcers (except County Commissioners not under 
township organization) hold office for four years 
and are chosen at the November election as 
follows: (1) At the general election at which 
the Governor is chosen — Clerk of the Circuit 
Court, State's Attornej-, Recorder of Deeds (in 
counties having a population of 60,000 or over), 
Coroner and County Surveyor. (2) On inter- 
mediate years — Sheriff, County Judge, Probate 
Judge (in counties having a population of 70,000 
and over). County Clerk, Treasurer, Superintend- 
ent of Schools, and Clerk of Criminal Court of 
Cook County, (c) In counties not under town- 
ship organization a Board of County Commission- 
ers is elected, one being chosen in November of 
each year, and each holding office three years, 
(d) Under the general law the polls open at 8 
a. m., and close at 7 p. m. In cities accepting an 
Act of the Legislature passed in 188.5, the hour of 
opening the polls is 6 a. m., and of closing 4 p. m. 
(See also AKufralian Ballot.) 

ELECTORS, QUALIFICATIONS OF. (See 
Suffrage.) 



ELGIN, an imijortant city of Northern Illinois, 
in Kane County, on Fox River and the Cliicago, 
Milwaukee & St. Paul and Chicago & Northwest- 
ern Railroads, besides two rural electric lines, 36 
miles northwest of Chicago; has valuable water- 
power and over fifty manufacturing e.stablish- 
meuts, including the "National Watch Factory and 
the Cook Publishing Company, both among the 
most extensive of their kind in the world; is also 
a great dairy center with extensive creameries 
and milk-condensing works. The quotations of 
its Butter and Cheese Exchange are telegraphed 
to all the great commercial centers and regulate 
the prices of these commodities throughout the 
country. Elgin is the seat of the Northern (Illi- 
nois) Hospital for the Insane, and has a handsome 
Government (postoffice) building, fine public 
library and many handsome residences. It has 
had a rapid growth in the past twenty years. 
Population (1890), 17,823; (1900), 22,433. 

ELGIN, JOLIET & EASTERN RAILWAY. The 
main line of this road extends west from Dyer on 
the Indiana State line to Joliet, thence northeast 
to Waukegan. The total length of the line (1898) 
is 192.72 miles, of which 159.93 miles are in Illi- 
nois. The entire capital of the company, includ- 
ing stock and indebtedne.ss, amounted (1898), to 
.S13, 799,630— more than .$71,000 per mile. Its total 
earnings in Illinois for the same year were $1,212,- 
026, and its entire expenditure in the State, 
§1,1.56,146. The company paid in taxes, the same 
year, .?48,876. Branch lines extend southerly 
from Walker Junction to Coster, where connec- 
tion is made with the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, and northwesterly 
from Norniantowu, on the main line, to Aurora. 
— (History). The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Rail- 
way was chartered in 1887 and absorbed the 
Joliet, Aurora & Northern Railway, from Joliet to 
Aurora (21 miles), which had been commenced in 
1886 and was completed in 1888, with extensions 
from Joliet to Spaulding, 111. , and from Joliet to 
McCool, Ind. In January, 1891, the Company 
jiurchased all the properties and franchises of the 
Gardner, Coal City & Normantown and the 
Waukegan & Southwestern Railway Companies 
(formerly operated under lease). Tlie former of 
these two roads was chartered in 1889 and opened 
in 1890. The system forms a belt line around 
Chicago, intersecting all railroads entering that 
city from every direction. Its traffic is chiefly 
in the transportation of freight. 

ELIZABETHTOWN, the county -seat of Hardin 
County. It stands on the north bank of the Ohio 
River, 44 miles above Paducah, Ky., and about 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



157 



135 miles southeast of Belleville; has a brick and 
tile factory, large tie trade, two churches, two 
flouring mills, a bank, and one newspaper. Pop- 
ulation (1890), C.52; (1900), 608. 

ELKH.iRT, a town of Logan County, on the 
Chicago & Alton Raih-oad, 18 miles northeast of 
Springfield ; is a rich farming section ; has a coal 
shaft. Population (1890), 414; (1900), 553. 

ELKI\, William F., pioneer and early legisla- 
tor, was born in Clark County, Ky., April 13, 
1793; after spending several years in Ohio and 
Indiana, came to Sangamon County, 111. , in 1825 ; 
was elected to the Sixth, Tenth and Eleventh 
General Assemblies, being one of the "Long 
Nine" from Sangamon County and, in 1861, was 
appointed by his former colleague (Abraham 
Lincoln) Register of the Land Office at Spring- 
field, resigning in 1873. Died, in 1878. 

ELLIS, Edward F. W., soldier, was born at 
Wilton, Maine, April 15, 1819; studied law and 
was admitted to the bar in Ohio ; spent three years 
(1849-53) in California, serving in the Legislature 
of that State in 1851, and proving himself an 
earnest opponent of slavery ; returned to Ohio the 
next year, and, in 1854, removed to Rockford, 111., 
where he embarked in the banking business. 
Soon after the firing on Fort Sumter, he organ- 
ized the Ellis Rifles, which having been attached 
to the Fifteenth Illinois, he was elected Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel of the regiment ; was in command at 
the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1863, and was killed 
while bravely leading on his men. 

ELLIS, (Rev.) John Millot, early home mis- 
sionary, was born in Keene, N. H., July 14, 1793; 
came to Illinois as a home missionary of the 
Presbyterian Church at an early day, and served 
for a time as pastor of churches at Kaskaskia and 
Jacksonville, and was one of the influential 
factors in securing the location of Illinois Col- 
lege at the latter place. His wife also conducted, 
for some years, a private school for young ladies 
at Jacksonville, which developed into the Jack- 
sonville Female Academy in 1833, and is still 
maintained after a history of over sixty years. 
Mr. Ellis was later associated with the establish- 
ment of Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., 
finally returning to New Hampshire, where, in 
1840, he was pastor of a church at East Hanover. 
In 1844 he again entered the service of the Soci- 
ety for Promoting Collegiate and Theological 
Education in the West. Died, August 6, 1855. 

ELLSWORTH, Ephraim Elmer, soldier, first 
victim of the Civil War, was born at Mechanics- 
ville, Saratoga County, N. Y., April 33, 1837. He 
came to Chicago at an early age, studied law, 



and became a patent solicitor. In 1860 he raised 
a regiment of Zouaves in Chicago, which became 
famous for the perfection of its discipline and 
drill, and of which he was commissioned Colonel. 
In 1861 he accompanied President Lincoln to 
Washington, going from there to New York, 
where he recruited and organized a Zouave 
regiment composed of firemen. He became its 
Colonel and the regiment was ordered to Alexan- 
dria, Va. While stationed there Colonel Ells- 
worth observed that a Confederate flag was 
flying above a hotel owned by one Jackson. 
Rushing to the roof, he tore it down, but before 
he reached the street was shot and killed by 
Jackson, who was in turn shot by Frank H. 
Brownell, one of Ellsworth's men. He was the 
first Union soldier killed in the war. Died, May 
24, 1861. 

ELMHURST (formerly Cottage Hill), a village 
of Du Page County, on the Chicago Great Western 
and 111. Cent. Railroads, 15 miles west of Chicago ; 
is the seat of the Evangelical Seminary ; has elec- 
tric interurban line, two papers, stone quarry, 
electric light, water and sewerage systems, high 
school, and churches. Pop. (1900). 1,738. 

ELM WOOD, a town of Peoria County, on the 
Galesburg and Peoria and Buda and Rushville 
branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, 36 miles west-northwest of Peoria; the 
principal industries are coal-mining and corn and 
tomato canning ; has a bank and one newspaper. 
Population (1890), 1.548; (1900), 1,583. 

EL PASO, a city in Woodford County, 17 miles 
north of Bloomington, 33 miles east of Peoria, at 
the crossing Illinois Central and Toledo, Peoria & 
Western Railroads; in agricultural district; has 
two national banks, three grain elevators, two 
high schools, two newspapers, nine churches. 
Pop. (1890), 1,353; (1900), 1,441; (1903, est.), 1,600. 

EMBARRAS RIVER, rises in Champaign 
County and runs southward through the counties 
of Douglas, Coles and Cumberland, to Newton, in 
Jasper County, where it turns to the southeast, 
passing through Lawrence County, and entering 
the Wabash River about seven miles below Vin- 
cennes. It is nearly 150 miles long. 

EMMERSON, Charles, jurist, was born at North 
Haverhill, Grafton County, N. H., April 15, 1811; 
came to Illinois in 183^^, first settling at Jackson- 
ville, where he spent one term in Illinois College, 
then studied law at Springfield, and, having been 
admitted to the bar, began practice at Decatur, 
where he spent the remainder of his life except 
three years (1847-50) during which he resided at 
Paris, Edgar County. In 1850 he was elected to 






158 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLUPHDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the Legislature, and, in 1853, to the Circuit bencli, 
serving on the latter by re-election till 186T. The 
latter year he was a candidate for Justice of the 
Supreme Court, but was defeated by the late 
Judge Pinkney H. Walker. In 1869 he was 
elected to the State Constitutional Convention, 
but died in April, 1870, while the Convention was 
still in session. 

ENFIELD, a town of White County, at the 
intersection of the Louisville & Nashville with 
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 10 
miles west of Carmi; is the seat of Southern Illi- 
nois College. The town also has a bank and one 
newspaper. Population (1880), 717; (1890), 870; 
(1900), 971; (1903, est.), 1,000. 

ENGLISH, Joseph G., banker, was born at 
Rising Sun. Ind., Dec. 17, 1820; lived for a time 
at Perrysville and La Fayette in that State, finally 
engaging in merchandising in the former; in 
18r)3 removed to Danville, 111., where he formed 
a partnership with John L. Tincher in mercantile 
business; later conducted a private banking busi- 
ness and, in 18G3, established the First National 
Bank, of which he has been President over twenty 
years. He served two terms as Mayor of Dan- 
ville, in 1873 was elected a member of the State 
Board of Equalization, and, for more than twenty 
years, has been one of tlie Directors of the Chicago 
& Eastern Railroad. At the present time Mr. 
English, liaving practically retired from busi- 
ness, is spending most of his time in the West. 

ENOS, Pascal Paoli, pioneer, was born at 
Windsor, Conn., in 1770; graduated at Dartmouth 
College in 1794, studied law, and, after spending 
some years in Vermont, where he served as High 
Sheriff of Windsor County, in September, 1815, 
removed West, stopping first at Cincinnati. A 
year later he descended the Ohio by flat-boat to 
Shawneetown, 111., crossed the State by land, 
finally locating at St. Charles, Mo., and later at 
St. Louis. Then, having purchased a tract of land 
in Madison County, 111., he remained there about 
two years, wlien, in 1823, having received from 
President Monroe the appointment of Receiver of 
the newly established Land Office at Springfield, 
he removed tliither, making it his permanent 
liome. He was one of the original purchasers of 
the land on which the city of Springfield now 
stands, and joined with Slaj. Elijah lies, John 
Taylor and Thomas Cox, the other patentees, in 
laying out the town, to which they first gave the 
name of Callioun. Mr. Enos remained in office 
through the administration of President John 
Quincy Adams, but was removed by President 
Jackson for political reasons, in 1829. Died, at 



Springfield, April, 1832.— Pascal P. (Enos), Jr., 
eldest son of Mr. Enos, was born in St. Charles, 
Mo., Nov. 28, 1816; was elected Representative in 
the General Assemblj' from Sangamon County in 
1852, and served by appointment of Justice 
McLean of the Supreme Court as Clerk of the 
United States Circuit Court, being reappointed 
by Judge David Davis, dj'ing in office, Feb. 17, 
1867. — Zimri A. (Enos), another son, was born 
Sept. 29, 1821, is a citizen of Springfield — has 
served as County Surveyor and Alderman of the 
city. — Julia R., a daughter, was born in Spring- 
field, Dec. 20, 1832, is the widow of the late O. M. 
Hatch, Secretarj' of State(1857-65). 

EPLER, Cyrus, lawyer and jurist, was born 
at Charleston, Clark County, Ind., Nov. 12, 
1825; graduated at Illinois College, Jackson- 
ville, studied law, and was admitted to the> 
bar in 1853, being elected State's Attorney 
the same year; also served as a member 
of the General Assembly two terms (1857-61; 
and as Master in Chancer}' for Morgan Coimty, 
1867-73. In 1873 he was elected Circuit Judge 
for the Seventh Circuit and was re-elected 
successively in 1879, '85 and "91, serving four 
terms, and retiring in 1897. During his entire 
professional and official career his home lias been 
in Jacksonville. 

ECJUALITY, a village of Gallatin County, on 
the Shawneetown Division of the Louisville & 
Nashville Railroad, 11 miles west-nortliwest of 
Shawneetown. It was for a time, in early days, the 
county-seat of Gallatin County and market for 
the salt manufactured in that vicinitj'. Some 
coal is mined in the neighborhood. One weekly 
paper is published here. Population (1880), ,"500; 
(1890), G22; (1900), 898. 

ERIE, a village of Whiteside County, on the 
Rock Island and Sterling Division of tlie Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 30 miles north- 
east of Rock Island. Population (1880), 537; 
(1890), .535; (1900), 768. 

EUREKA, the county-seat of Woodford County, 
incorporated in 1856, situated 19 miles east of 
Peoria; is in the heart of a rich stock-raising and 
agricultural district. Tlie principal mechanical 
industry is a large canning factory. Besides 
having good grammar and high schools, it is also 
the seat of Eureka College, under the control of 
the Christian denomination, in connection with 
which are a Normal School and a Biblical Insti- 
tute. The town has a handsome courthouse and 
a jail, ^ two weekly and one monthl}' paper. 
Eureka became the county-seat of Woodford 
County in 1896. the change from Metamora being 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



159 



due to the central location and more convenient 
accessibility of the former from all parts of the 
county. Population (1880), 1,185; (1890), 1,481; 
(1900), 1,661. 

EUREKA COLLEGE, located at Eureka, Wood- 
ford County, and chartered in ISS.j, distinctively 
under the care and supervision of the "Christian" 
or "Campbellite" denomination. The primary 
aim of its founders was to prepare young men for 
the ministry, while at the same time affording 
facilities for liberal culture. It was chartered in 
1855, and its gi'owth, while gradual, has been 
steady. Besides a preparatory department and a 
business school, the college maintains a collegiate 
department (with classical and scientific courses) 
and a theological school, the latter being designed 
to lit young men for the ministry of the denomi- 
nation. Both male and female matriculates are 
received. In 1896 there was a faculty of eighteen 
professors and assistants, and an attendance of 
some 335 students, nearly one-third of whom 
were females. The total value of the institution's 
property is §144,000, which includes an endow- 
ment of 845,000 and real estate valued at §85,000. 
EUSTACE, John V., lawyer and judge, was 
born in Pliiladelpliia. Sept. 9, 1821 ; graduated 
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and, 
in 1842, at the age of 21, was admitted to the bar, 
removing the same year to Di.xon, 111., where he 
resided until his death. In 1856 he was elected 
to the General Assembly and, in 1857, became 
Circuit Judge, serving one term; was chosen 
Presidential Elector in 1864, and, in March, 1878, 
was again elevated to the Circuit Bench, vice 
Judge Heaton, deceased. He was elected to the 
same position in 1879, and re-elected in 1885, but 
died in 1888, three years before the expiration of 
his term. 

EVANGELICAL SEMINARY, an institution 
imder the direction of the Lutheran denomina- 
tion, incorporated in 1865 and located at Elm- 
hurst, Du Page County. Instruction is given in 
the classics, theology, oratory and preparatory 
studies, by a faculty of eight teacliers. The 
number of pupils during the scliool year (1895-96) 
wais 133 — all young men. It has propertj' valued 
at S59,305. 

EVANS, Henry H., legislator, was born in 
Toronto, Can., JIarch 9, 1836; brought by his 
father (who was a native of Pennsylvania) to 
Aurora, 111., where the latter finally became fore- 
man of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy ma- 
chine shops at that place. In 1862 young Evans 
enli.sted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth 
Illinois Volunteers, serving until the close of the 



war. Since the war he has become most widely 
known as a member of the General Assembly, hav- 
ing been elected first to the House, in 1876, and 
subsequently to the Senate every four years from 
1880 to the year 1898, giving him over twenty 
years of almost continuous service. He is a large 
owner of real estate and has been prominently 
connected with financial and other business 
enterprises at Aurora, including the Aurora Gas 
and Street Railway Companies ; also served with 
the rank of Colonel on the staffs of Governors 
Cullom, Hamilton, Fifer and Oglesby. 

EVANS, (Rev.) Jervice G., educator and re- 
former, was born in Marshall County, 111., Dec. 
19, 1833; entered the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal Churcli in 1854, and, in 1873, accepted 
the presidency of Hedding College at Abingdon, 
wliich he filled for six years. He then became 
President of Chaddock College at Quincy, but the 
following year returned to pastoral work. In 
1889 he again became President of Hedding Col- 
lege, where ( 1898) he still remains. Dr. Evans is 
a member of the Central Illinois (M. E.) Confer- 
ence and a leader in the prohibition movement ; 
has also produced a number of volumes on reli- 
gious and moral questions. 

EVANS, John, M.D., physician and Governor, 
was born at Waynesville, Ohio, of Quaker ances- 
try, March 9, 1814; graduated in medicine at 
Cincinnati and began practice at Ottawa, 111., 
but soon returned to Ohio, flnall}' locating at 
Attica, Ind. Here he became prominent in the 
e.stablishment of the first insane hospital in In- 
diana, at Indianapolis, about 1841-42, becoming a 
resident of that city in 1845. Three years later, 
having accepted a chair in Rush Medical College, 
in Cliicago, he removed thither, also serving for 
a time as editor of "The Northwestern Medical 
and Surgical Journal." He served as a member 
of the Chicago City Council, became a successful 
operator in real estate and in the promotion of 
various railroad enterprises, and was one of the 
founders of the Northwestern University, at 
Evanston, serving as President of the Board of 
Trustees over forty years. Dr. Evans was one of 
the founders of the Republican party in Illinois, 
and a strong per.sonal friend of President Lincoln, 
from whom, in 1802, he received the appointment 
of Governor of the Territory of Colorado, con- 
tinuing in office until displaced by Andrew John- 
son in 1865. In Colorado he became a leading 
factor in the construction of some of the most 
important railroad lines in tliat section, including 
the Denver. Texas & Gulf Road, of whicli he was 
for many years the President. He was also 



160 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



prominent in connection with educational and 
church enterprises at Denver, which was his home 
after leaving Illinois. Died, in Denver, July 3, 1897. 
EVANSTON, a city of Cook County, situated 13 
miles north of Chicago, on the Chicago, Milwau- 
kee & St. Paul and the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroads. The original town was incorporated 
Dec. 29, 1863, and, in March, 1869, a special act 
was passed by the Legislature incorporating it as 
a city, but rejected by vote of the people. On 
Oct. 19, 1873, the voters of the corporate town 
adopted village organizations under the General 
Village and City Incorporation Act of the same 
year. Since then annexations of adjacent terri- 
tory to the village of Evanston have taken place 
as follows: In January, 1873, two small districts 
by petition ; in April, 1874, the village of North 
Evanston was annexed by a majority vote of the 
electors of both corporations; in April, 1886, 
there was another annexation of a small out-lying 
district by petition; in February, 1803, the ques- 
tion of the annexation of South Evanston was 
submitted to the voters of both corporations and 
adopted. On March 29, 1893, the question of 
organization under a city government was sub- 
mitted to popular vote of the consolidated corpo- 
ration and decided in the affirmative, the first 
city election taking place April 19, following. 
The population of the original corporation of 
Evanston, according to tlie census of 1890, was 
12,072, and of South Evanston, 3,205, making the 
total population of the new city 15,967. Judged 
by the census returns of 1900, the consolidated 
city has had a healthy growth in the past 
ten years, giving it, at the end of the 
century, a population of 19,259. Evanston is 
one of the most attractive residence cities in 
Northern Illinois and famed for its educational 
advantages. Besides having an admirable system 
of graded and high schools, it is the seat of the 
academic and theological departments of the 
Northwestern University, the latter being known 
as the Garrett Biblical Institute. The city has 
well paved streets, is lighted by both gas and 
electricity, and maintains its own system of 
water works. Prohibition is strictly enforced 
within the corporate limits under stringent 
municipal ordinances, and the charter of the 
Northwestern University forbidding the sale of 
intoxicants within four miles of that institution. 
As a consequence, it is certain to attract the 
most desirable class of people, whether consisting 
of those seeking permanent homes or simply 
contemplating temporary residence for the sake 
of educational advantages. 



EWING, TVilllam Lee Davidson, early lawyer 
and politician, was born in Kentucky in 1795, and 
came to Illinois at an early day, fir.st settling at 
Sliawneetown. As early as 1820 he appears from 
a letter of Governor Edwards to President Mon- 
roe, to have been holding some Federal appoint- 
ment, presumably that of Receiver of Public 
Moneys in the Land Office at Vandalia, as con- 
temporary history shows that, in 1833, he lost a 
dejiosit of $1,000 by the robbery of the bank there. 
He was also Brigadier-General of the State militia 
at an early day, Colonel of the "Spy Battalion" 
during the Black Hawk War, and, as Indian 
Agent, superintended the removal of the Sacs 
and Foxes west of the Mississippi. Other posi- 
tions held by him included Clerk of the House of 
Representatives two sessions (1830-27 and 1828-29) ; 
Representative from the counties composing the 
Vandalia District in the Seventh General Assem- 
bly (1830-31), when he also became Speaker of the 
House; Senator from the same District in the 
Eighth and Ninth General Assemblies, of which 
he was chosen President pro tempore. While 
serving in this capacity he became ex-officio 
Lieutenant-Governor in consequence of the resig- 
nation of Lieut. -Gov. Zadoc Casey to accept a 
seat in Congress, in March, 1833, and, in Novem- 
ber, 1834, assumed the Governorship as successor 
to Governor Reynolds, who had been elected to 
Congress to fill a vacancy. He served only fifteen 
days as Governor, when he gave place to Gov. 
Joseph Duncan, who had been elected in due 
course at the previous election. A year later 
(December, 1835) he was chosen United States 
Senator to succeed Elias Kent Kane, who had 
died in office. Failing of a re-election to the 
Senatorship in 1837, he was returned to the House 
of Representatives from his old district in 1838, 
as he was again in 1840, at each session being 
chosen Speaker over Abraham Lincoln, who was 
the Whig candidate. Dropping out of the Legis- 
lature at the close of his term, we find him at the 
beginning of the next session (December, 1842) in 
his old place as Clerk of the House, but, before 
the close of the session (in March, 1843), appointed 
Auditor of Public Accounts as successor to James 
Shields, who had resigned. While occupj'ing the 
office of Auditor, Mr. Ewing died. March 25, 1846. 
His public career was as unique as it was remark- 
able, in the number and character of the official 
positions held by him within a period of twenty- 
five years. 

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS. (See State officers 
under heads of "Governor," "Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor," etc.) 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



161 



EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY, ILLINOIS 
CHARITABLE. This institution is an outgrowth 
of a private charity founded at Chicago, in 1858, 
by Dr. Edward L. Hohnes, a distinguished Chi- 
cago oculist. In 1871 the property of the institu- 
tion was transferred to and accepted by the State, 
the title was changed by the substitution of t}ie 
word "Illinois" for "Chicago," and the Infirmary 
became a State institution. The fire of 1871 
destroyed the building, and, in 1873-74, the State 
erected another of brick, four stories in height, 
at the corner of West Adams and Peoria Streets, 
Chicago. The institution receives patients from 
all the counties of the State, the same receiving 
board, lodging, and medical aid, and (when neces- 
sary) surgical treatment, free of charge. The 
number of patients on Dec. 1, 1897, was 160. In 
1877 a free eye and ear dispensary was opened 
under legislative authority, which is under charge 
of some eminent Chicago specialists. 

FAIRBURY, an incorporated city of Livings- 
ton County, situated ten miles southeast of Pon- 
tiac, in a fertile and thickly -settled region. Coal, 
sandstone, limestone, fire-clay and a micaceous 
quartz are found in the neighborhood. The 
town has banks, grain elevators, flouring mills 
and two weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 
2,140; (1890). 2,324; (1900). 2,187. 

FAIRFIELD, an incorporated city, the county- 
seat of Wayne County and a railway junction, 
108 miles sodtheast of St. Louis. The town has 
an extensive woolen factory and large flouring 
and saw mills. It also has four weekly papers 
and is an important fruit and grain-shipping 
point. Population (1880), 1,391; (1890), 1,881; 
(1900), 2,338. 

FAIRMOUNT, a village of Vermilion County, 
on the Wabash Railway, 13 miles west-southwest 
from Danville ; industrial interests chiefly agri- 
cultural ; has brick and tile factory, a coal mine, 
stone quarry, three rural mail routes and one 
weekly paper. Population (1890), 649; (1900), 928. 

FALLOWS, (Rt. Rev.) Samuel, Bishop of Re- 
formed Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at 
Pendleton, near Manchester, England, Dec. 13, 
1835; removed with his parents to Wisconsin in 
1848, and graduated from the State University 
there in 1859, during a part of his university 
course serving as pastor of a Methodist Episcoiml 
.church at Madison; was next Vice-President of 
Gainesville University till 1861, when he was 
ordained to the Methodist ministry and became 
pastor of a church at Oshkosh. The following 
year he was appointed Chaplain of the Thirty- 



second Wisconsin Volunteers, but later assisted 
in organizing the Fortieth Wisconsin, of which 
he became Colonel, in 1865 being brevetted Briga- 
dier-General. On his return to civil life he 
became a pastor in Milwaukee; was appointed 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction for 
Wisconsin to fill a vacancy, in 1871, and was twice 
re-elected. In 1874 he was elected President of 
the Illinois Wesleyan University at Blooraington, 
111., remaining two years; in 1875 united with the 
Reformed Episcopal Church, soon after became 
Rector of St. Paul's Church in Chicago, and was 
elected a Bishop in 1876, also assuming the 
editorship of "The Appeal," the organ of the 
church. He served as Regent of the University 
of Wisconsin (1864-74), and for several years has 
been one of the Trustees of the Illinois State 
Reform School at Pontiac. He is the author of 
two or three volumes, one of them being a "Sup- 
plementary Dictionary," published in 1884. 
Bishop Fallows has had supervision of Reformed 
Episcopal Church work in the West and North- 
west for several years ; has also served as Chaplain 
of the Grand Army of the Republic for the 
Department of Illinois and of the Loyal Legion, 
and was Chairman of the General Committee of 
the Educational Congress during the World's 
Columbian Exposition of 1893. 

FARINA, a town of Fayette County, on the 
Chicago Division of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
29 miles northeast of Centralia. Agriculture and 
fruit-growing constitute the chief business of the 
section ; the town has one newspaper. Popula- 
tion (1890), 618; (1900), 693; (1903, est.), 800. 

FARMER CITY, a city of De Witt County, 25 
miles southeast of Bloomington, at the junction 
of the Springfield division of the Illinois Central 
and the Peoria division of the Cleveland, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago & St. Louis Railways. It is a 
trading center for a rich agricultural and stock- 
raising district, especially noted for rearing finely 
bred horses. The city has banks, two news- 
papers, churches of four denominations and good 
schools, including a high school. Population 
(1880), 1,289; (1890), 1.367; (1900), 1,664- 

FARMERS' INSTITUTE, an organisation 
created by an act, approved June 24, 1895, de- 
signed to encourage practical education among 
farmers, and to assist in developing the agricul- 
tural resources of the State. Its membership 
consists of three delegates from each county in 
the State, elected annually by the Farmers' 
Institute in such county. Its affairs are managed 
by a Board of Directors constituted as follows: 
The Superintendent of Public Instruction, the 



162 



HISTOPJCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Professor of xigrieulture in the University of Illi- 
nois, and the Presidents of the State Board of 
Agriculture, Dairymen's Association and Horti- 
cultural Sooiet}', exofficio, with one member from 
each Congressional District, chosen by the dele- 
gates from the district at the annual meeting of 
the organization. Annual meetings (between 
Oct. 1 and March 1) are required to be held, 
which shall continue in session for not less than 
three days. The topics for discussion are the 
cultivation of crops, the care and breeding of 
domestic animals, dairy husbandry, horticulture, 
farm drainage, improvement of highways and 
general farm management. The reports of the 
annual meetings are printed by the State to the 
number of 10,000, one-half of the edition being 
placed at the disposal of the Institute. Suitable 
quarters for the officers of the organization are 
provided in the State capitol. 

FARMIIVttTON, a city and railroad center in 
Fulton County. 13 miles north of Canton and 33 
miles west of Peoria. Coal is extensively mined 
here; there are also brick and tile factories, a 
foundry, one steam flour-mill, and two cigar 
manufactories. It is a large shipping-point for 
grain and live-stock. The town has two banks 
and two newspapers, five churches and a graded 
school. Population (1890), 1,375; (1903, est), 2,10:3. 

FARNSWORTH, Elon John, soldier, was born 
at Green Oak, Livingston County, Mich., in 1837. 
After completing a course in the public schools, 
he entered the University of Michigan, but left 
college at the end of his freshman year (1858) to 
serve in the Quartermaster's department of the 
army in the Utah expedition. At the expiration 
of his term of service he became a buffalo hunter 
and a carrier of mails between the haunts of 
civilization and the then newly-discovered mines 
at Pike's Peak. Returning to Illinois, he was 
commissioned (1861) Assistant Quartermaster of 
tlie Eighth Illinois Cavalry, of which his uncle 
was Colonel. (See Farnsirorth, John Franklin.) 
He soon rose to a captaincy, distinguisliing him- 
self in the battles of the Peninsula. In May, 
18G3, lie was appointed aid-de-camp to General 
Plea.santon, and, on June 29, 1863, was made a 
Brigadier-General. Four days later he was killed, 
while gallantly leading a charge at Gettysburg. 

FARNSWORTH, John Franklin, soldier and 
former Congressman, was born at Eaton, Canada 
East, March 27, 1820; removed to Slicliigan in 
1834, and later to Illinois, settling in Kane 
County, where ho practiced law for many years, 
making his home at St. Charles. He was elected 
to Congress in 1856, and re-elected in 1858. In 



September of 1861, he was commissioned Colonel 
of the Eighth Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, and 
was brevetted Brigadier-General in November, 
1863, but resigned, March 4, 1863, to take his seat 
in Congress to which he had been elected the 
November previous, by successive re-elections 
serving from 1863 to 1873. The latter years of 
his life were spent in Washington, where he died, 
July 14, 1897. 

FARWELL, Charles Benjamin, merchant and 
United States Senator, was born at Painted Post, 
N. Y., July 1, 1823; removed to Illinois in 1838, 
and, for six years, was employed in surveying 
and farming. In 1844 he engaged in the real 
estate business and in banking, at Chicago. He 
was elected County Clerk in 1853, and re-elected 
in 1857. Later he entered into commerce, becom- 
ing a partner with his brother, John Villiers, in 
the firm of J. V. Farwell & Co. He was a mem- 
ber of the State Board of Equalization in 1867; 
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Cook 
County in 1868 ; and National Bank Examiner in 
1869. In 1870 he was elected to Congress as a 
Republican, was. re-elected in 1872, but was 
defeated in 1874, after a contest for the seat which 
was carried into the House at Washington. 
Again, in 1880, he was returned to Congress, 
making three full terms in that body. He also 
served for several years as Chairman of the 
Republican State Central Conmaittee. After the 
death of Gen. John A. Logan he was (1887) 
elected United States Senator, his term expiring 
March 3, 1891. Mr. Farwell has since devoted 
his attention to the immense mercantile busi- 
ness of J. V. Farwell & Co. 

FARWELL, John Villiers, merchant, was born 
at Campbelltown, Steuben County, N. Y., July 
29, 1835, the son of a farmer; received a common- 
school education and, in 1838, removed with his 
father's family to Ogle County, 111. Here he 
attended Mount Morris Seminary for a time, but, 
in 1845, came to Chicago without capital and 
secured employment in the City Clerk's office, 
then became a book-keeper in the dry-goods 
establishment of Hamilton & White, and, still 
later, with Hamilton & Day. Having tlms 
received his bent towards a mercantile career, he 
soon after entered the concern of Wadsworth & 
Phelps as a clerk, at a salary of §600 a year, but 
was admitted to a partnership in 1850, the title of 
the firm becoming Cooley, Farwell & Co., in 1860. 
About this time Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter 
became associated with the concern and received 
their mercantile training under the supervision 
of Mr. Farwell. In 1865 the title of the firm 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



163 



became J. V. Farwell & Co., but, in 1891, the firm 
was incorporated under the name of The J. V. 
Farwell Company, his brother, Charles B. Far- 
well, being a member. The subject of this sketcli 
has long been a prominent factor in religious 
circles, a leading spirit of tlie Young Men's 
Christian Association, and served as President of 
the Chicago Branch of the United States 
Christian Commission dm-ing the Civil War. 
Politically he is a Republican and served as Presi- 
dential Elector at the time of President Lincoln's 
second election in 1864 ; also served by appoint- 
ment of President Grant, in 1869, on the Board of 
Indian Commissioners. He was a member of the 
syndicate which erected the Texas State Capitol, 
at Austin, in that State ; has been, for a number 
of years, Vice-President and Treasurer of the 
J. V. Farwell Company, and President of the 
Colorado Consolidated Land and Water Company. 
He was also prominent in the organization of the 
Chicago Public Library, and a member of the 
Union League, the Chicago Historical Society 
and the Art Institute. 

FARWELL, William Washington, jurist, was 
born at Morrisville, Madison County, N. Y., Jan. 
5, 1817, of old Puritan ancestry ; graduated from 
Hamilton College in 1837, and was admitted to 
tlie bar at Rochester, N. Y., in 1841. In 1848 he 
removed to Chicago, but the following year went 
to California, returning to his birthplace in 18.'50. 
In 1854 he again settled at Chicago and soon 
secured a prominent position at the bar. In 1871 
he was elected Circuit Court Judge for Cook 
County, and, in 1873, reelected for a term of six 
years. During this period he sat chiefly upon 
the chancery side of tlie court, and, for a time, 
presided as Chief Justice. At the close of his 
second term he was a candidate for re-election as 
a Republican, but was defeated with the re- 
mainder of the ticket. In 1880 he was chosen 
Professor of Equitj' Jurisprudence in the Union 
College of Law (now the Northwestern Univer- 
sity Law School), serving until June, 1893, when 
he resigned. Died, in Chicago, April 80, 1894. 

FAYETTE COUNTY, situated about 60 miles 
south of the geographical center of the State; 
was organized in 1831, and named for the French 
General La Fayette. It has an area of 720 square 
miles; population (1900), 28.065. The soil is fer- 
tile and a rich vein of bituminous coal underlies 
the county. Agriculture, fruit-growing and 
mining are the chief industries. The old, historic 
"Cumberland Road,'' the trail for all west-bound 
emigrants, crossed the county at an early date. 
Perryville was the first county -seat, but this town 



is now extinct. Vandalia, the present seat of 
county government (population, 2,144), stands 
upon a succession of hills upon the west bank of 
the Kaskaskia. From 1820 to 1839 it was the 
State Capital. Besides Vandalia the chief towns 
are Ramsey, noted for its railroad ties and tim- 
ber, and St. Elmo. 

FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN, ASYLUM 
FOR. This institution, originally established as 
a sort of appendage to the Illinois Institution for 
the Deaf and Dumb, was started at Jack.sonville, 
iu 1865, as an "experimental school, for the 
instruction of idiots and feeble-minded children." 
Its success having been assured, the school was 
placed upon an independent basis in 1871, and, 
in 1875, a site at Lincoln, Logan County, covering 
forty acres, was donated, and the erection of 
buildings begun. The original plan provided for 
a center building, with wings and a rear exten- 
sion, to cost §124,775. Besides a main or adminis- 
tration building, the institution embraces a 
school building and custodial hall, a hospital and 
industrial workshop, and, during the past year, a 
chapel has been added. It has control of 890 
acres, of which 400 are leased for farming pur- 
poses, the rental going to the benefit of the insti- 
tution. The remainder is used for the purposes 
of the institution as farm land, gardens or pas- 
ture, about ninety acres being occupied by the 
institution buildings. The capacity of the insti- 
tution is about 700 inmates, with many applica- 
tions constantly on file for the admission of 
others for whom there is no room. 

FEEHAN, Patrick A., D.D., Archbishop of 
the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Chicago, and 
Metropolitan of Illinois, was born at Tipperary, 
Ireland, in 1829, and educated at Maynooth 
College. He emigrated to the United States in 
1852, settling at St. Louis, and was at once 
appointed President of tlie Seminary of Caronde- 
let. Later he was made pastor of the Church of 
the Immaculate Conception at St. Louis, where 
he achieved marked distinction. In 1865 he was 
consecrated Bishop of Nashville, managing the 
affairs of the diocese with great ability. In 1880 
Chicago was raised to an archiepiscopal see, with 
Suffragan Bishops at Alton and Peoria, and 
Bishop Feehan was consecrated its first Arch- 
bishop. His administration has been conserva- 
tive, yet efficient, and the archdiocese has greatly 
prospered under his rule. 

FELL, Jesse W., lawyer and real-estate opera- 
tor, was born in Chester County, Pa., about 1808; 
started west on foot in 1828, and, after spending 
some years at Steubenville, Ohio, came to Dela- 



^ 



164 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



van, 111., in 1833, and the next year located at 
Bloomiugton, being the first lawyer in that new- 
town. Later he became agent for school lands 
and the State Bank, but failed financially in 
1837, and returned to practice; resided several 
years at Payson, Adams County, but returning 
to Bloomington in 1855, was instrumental in 
securing the location of the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad through that town, and was one of the 
founders of the towns of Clinton, Pontiac, Lex- 
ington and El Paso. He was an intimate personal 
and political friend of Abraham Lincoln, and it 
was to him Mr. Lincoln addressed his celebrated 
personal biography; in the campaign of 1860 he 
served as Secretary of the Republican State Cen- 
tral Committee, and, in 1863, was appointed by 
Mr. Lincoln a Paymaster in tlie regular army, 
serving some two years. Mr. Fell was also a zeal- 
ous friend of the cause of industrial education, 
and bore an important part in securing the 
location of the State Normal University at Nor- 
mal, of which city he was the founder. Died, at 
Bloomington, Jan. 35, 1887. 

FERGUS, Robert, early printer, was born in 
Glasgow, Scotland, August 4, 1815; learned the 
printer's trade in his native city, assisting in his 
youth in putting in type some of Walter Scott's 
productions and other works which now rank 
among Englisli classics. In 1834 he came to 
America, finally locating in Chicago, where, 
with various partners, he pursued the business of 
a job printer continuously some fifty years — 
being the veteran printer of Chicago. He was 
killed by being run over by a railroad train at. 
Evanston, July 33, 1897. The establishment of 
which he was so long the head is continued by 
his sons. 

FERNWOOD, a suburban station on the Chi- 
cago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 13 south of ter- 
minal station; annexed to City of Chicago, 1891. 

FERRY, Elisha Peyre, politician, born in 
Monroe, Mich., August 9, 1835; was educated in 
his native town and admitted to the bar at Fort 
Wayne, Ind., in 1845; removed to Waukegan, 
111., the following year, served as Postmaster and, 
in 1856, was candidate on the Republican ticket 
for Presidential Elector; was elected Mayor of 
Waukegan in 1859, a member of the State Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1863, State Bank Com- 
missioner in 1861-63, Assistant Adjutant-General 
on the staff of Governor Yates during the war, 
and a delegate to the Republican National Con- 
vention of 1864. After the war he served as 
direct-tax Commissioner for Tennessee; in 1869 
was appointed Surveyor-General of Washington 



Territory and, in 1873 and '76, Territorial Got- 
ernor. On the admission of Washington as a 
State, in 1889, he was elected the first Governor. 
Died, at Seattle, Wash., Oct. 14, 1895. 

FEVRE RIVER, a small stream which rises in 
Southern Wisconsin and enters the Mississippi in 
Jo Daviess County, six miles below Galena, which 
stands upon its banks. It is navigable for steam- 
boats between Galena and its mouth. The name 
originallj' given to it by early French explorers 
was "Feve" (the French name for "Bean"), 
which lias since been corrupted into its present 
form. 

FICKLIN, Orlando B., lawyer and politician, 
was born in Kentucky, Dec. 16, 1808, and 
admitted to the bar at Mount Carmel, Wabash 
County, 111., in March, 1830. In 1834 he was 
elected to the lower liouse of the Ninth General 
Assembly. After serving a term as State's 
Attorney for Wabash Countj', in 1837 he removed 
to Charleston, Coles County, where, in 1838, and 
again in '43, he was elected to the Legislature, as 
he was for the last time in 1878. He was four 
times elected to Congress, serving from 1843 to 
'49, and from 1851 to '53; was Presidential Elector 
in 1856, and candidate for the same position on 
tlie Democratic ticket for the State-at- large in 
1884; was also a delegate to the Democratic 
National Conventions of 1856 and '60. He was 
a member of the Constitutional Convention of 
1863. Died, at Cliarleston, May 5, 1886. 

FIELD, Alexander Pope, early legislator and 
Secretary of State, came to Illinois about the 
time of its admission into the Union, locating in 
Union County, which he represented in the Third, 
Fifth and Sixth General Assemblies. In the 
first of these he was a prominent factor in the 
ejection of Representative Hansen of Pike County 
and the seating of Shaw in his place, which 
enabled the advocates of slavery to secure the 
passage of a resolution submitting to the people 
the question of calling a State Constitutional 
Convention. In 1838 he was appointed Secretary 
of State by Governor Edwards, remaining in 
office under Governors Reynolds and Dun- 
can and througli half the term of Governor 
Carlin, though the latter attempted to secure 
his removal in 1838 by the appointment of 
John A. McClernand — the courts, however, 
declaring against the latter. In November, 1840, 
the Governor's act was made effective by tlie 
confirmation, by the Senate, of Stephen A. Doug- 
las as Secretary in place of Field. Douglas 
held the office only to the following February, 
when he resigned to take a place on the Supreme 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



165 



bench and Lyman Trumbull was appointed to 
succeed him. Field (who had become a Whig) 
was appointed by President Harrison, in 1841, 
Secretary of Wisconsin Territory, later removed 
to St. Louis and finalh- to New Orleans, where he 
was at the beginning of the late war. In Decem- 
ber, 1863, he presented himself as a member of 
the Thirty-eighth Congress for Louisiana, but 
was refused his seat, though claiming in an elo- 
quent speech to have been a loyal man. Died, in 
New Orleans, in 1877. Mr. Field was a nephew 
of Judge Nathaniel Pope, for over thirty years on 
the bench of the United States District Court. 

FIELD, Engene, journalist, humorist and poet, 
was born in St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 3, 1850. Left an 
orphan at an early age, he was reared by a rela- 
tive at Amherst, Mass. , and received a portion of 
his literary training at Monson and Williamstown 
in that State, completing his course at the State 
University of Missouri. After an extended tour 
through Europe in 1873-73, he began his journal- 
istic career at St. Louis, Mo., as a reporter on 
"The Evening Journal," later becoming its city 
editor. During the next ten year^he was succes- 
sively connected with newspapers at St. Joseph, 
Mo., St. Louis, Kansas City, and at Denver, Colo., 
at the last named city being managing editor of 
"The Tribune." In 1883 he removed to Chicago, 
becoming a special writer for "The Chicago 
News," his particular department for several 
years being a pungent, witty column with the 
caption, "Sharps and Flats." He wrote con- 
siderable prose fiction and much poetry, among 
the latter being successful translations of several 
of Horace's Odes. As a poet, however, he was 
best known through his short poems relating to 
childhood and home, which strongly appealed to 
the popular heart. Died, in Chicago, deeply 
mourned by a large circle of admirers, Nov. 4, 
1895. 

FIELD, Marshall, merchant and capitalist, was 
born in Conway, Mass., in 1835, and grew up on 
a farm, receiving a common school and academic 
education. At the age of 17 he entered upon a 
mercantile career as clerk in a dry -goods store at 
Pittsfield, Mass., but, in 1856, came to Chicago 
and secured employment with Messrs. Cooley, 
Wadsworth & Co. ; in 1860 was admitted into 
partnership, the firm becoming Cooley, Farwell 
& Co., and still later, Farwell, Field & Co. The 
last named firm was dissolved and that of Field, 
Palmer & Leiter organized in 1865. Mr. Palmer 
having retired in 1867. the firm was continued 
under the name of Field, Leiter & Co., until 1881, 
wnen Mr. Leiter retired, the concern being since 



known as Marshall Field & Co. The growth of 
the business of this great establishment is shown 
by tlie fact that, whereas its sales amounted 
before the fire to some §13,000,000 annually, in 
1895 they aggregated §40.000,000. Mr. Field's 
business career has been remarkable for its suc- 
cess in a city famous for its successful business 
men and the vastness of their commercial oper- 
ations. He has been a generous and discrimi- 
nating patron of important public enterprises, 
some of his more conspicuous donations being the 
gift of a tract of land valued at §300,000 and 
§100,000 in cash, to the Chicago University, and 
§1,000,000 to the endowment of the Field Colum- 
bian Museum, as a sequel to the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition. The latter, chiefly through the 
munificence of Mr. Field, promises to become one 
of the leading institutions of its kind in the 
United States. Besides his mercantile interests, 
Mr. Field lias extensive interests in various finan- 
cial and manufacturing enterprises, including 
the Pullman Palace Car Company and the Rock 
Island & Pacific Railroad, iu each of which he is 
a Director. 

FIFER, Joseph W., born at Stanton, Va., Oct. 
28, 1840; in 1857 he accompanied his father (who 
was a stone-mason) to McLean County, 111., and 
worked at the manufacture and laying of brick. 
At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted as a 
private in the Thirt5'-third Illinois Infantry, and 
was dangerously wounded at the assault on Jack- 
son, Miss., in 1863, On the healing of his wound, 
disregarding the advice of family and friends, he 
rejoined his regiment. At the close of the war, 
when about 35 years of age, he entered the Wes- 
leyan University at Bloomington, where, by dint 
of hard work and frugality, while supporting 
himself in part by manual labor, he secured a 
diploma in 1868. He at once began the study of 
law, and, soon after his admission, entered upon a 
practice which subsequently proved both success- 
ful and lucrative. He was elected Corporation 
Coun.sel of Bloomington in 1871 and State's Attor- 
ney for McLean County in 1873, holding the latter 
office, through re-election, until 1880, when he 
was chosen State Senator, serving in the Thirty- 
second and Thirty -third General Assemblies. In 
1888 he was nominated and elected Governor on 
the Republican ticket, but, in 1893, was defeated 
by John P. Altgeld, the Democratic nominee, 
though running in advance of the national and 
the rest of the State ticket. 

FINERTY, John F., ex-Congressman and 
journalist, was born in Galway, Ireland, Sept. 
10, 1846. His studies were mainly prosecuted 



166 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



under private tutors. At the age of 16 he entered 
the profession of journalism, and, in 1864, coming 
to America, soon after enlisted, serving for 100 
days during the Civil War, in the Ninety-ninth 
New York Volunteers. Subsequently, having 
removed to Chicago, he was connected with "The 
Chicago Times" as a special correspondent from 
1876 to 1881, and, in 1882, established "The Citi- 
zen," a weekly newspaper devoted to the Irish- 
American interest, which he continues to pub- 
lish. In 1882 he was elected, as an Independ- 
ent Democrat, to represent the Second Illinois 
District in the Forty-eighth Congress, but, run- 
ning as an Independent Republican for re-election 
in 1884, was defeated by Frank Lawler, Democrat. 
In 1887 he was appointed Oil Inspector of Chi- 
cago, and, since 1889, has held no public office, 
giving his attention to editorial work on his 
paper. 

FISHER, (Dr.) George, pioneer physician and 
legislator, was probably a native of Virginia, 
from which State he appears to have come to 
Kaskaskia previous to 1800. He became very 
prominent during the Territorial period; was 
appointed by William Henr)' Harrison, then 
Governor of Indiana Territory, the first Sheriff of 
Randolph County after its organization in 1801 ; 
was elected from that county to the Indiana 
Territorial House of Representatives in 1805, and 
afterwards promoted to the Territorial Council; 
was also Representative in the Fir.st and Third 
Legislatures of Illinois Territory (1812 and '16), 
serving as Speaker of each. He was a Dele- 
gate to the Constitutional Convention of 1818, but 
died 'on his farm near Kaskaskia in 1820. Dr. 
Fisher participated in the organization of the 
first Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Illi- 
nois at Kaskaskia, in 1806, and was elected one 
of its officers. 

FISHERIES. The fisheries of Illinois center 
chiefly at Chicago, the catch being taken from 
Lake Michigan, and including salmon trout, 
white fish (the latter species including a lake 
herring), wall-eyed pike, three kinds of bass, 
three varieties of sucker, carp and sturgeon. Tlie 
"fishing fleet" of Lake Michigan, properly so 
called, (according to the census of 1890) con- 
sisted of forty-seven steamers and one schooner, 
of which only one — a steamer of twentj'-six tons 
burthen — was credited to Illinois. The .same 
report showed a capital of §36,105 invested in 
land, buildings, wharves, vessels, boats and 
apparatus. In addition to the "fishing fleet" 
mentioned, nearly 1,100 sail-boats and other vari- 
eties of craft are employed in the industry, 



sailing from ports between Chicago and Macki- 
nac, of which, in 1890, Illinois furnishe<l 94, or 
about nine per cent. All sorts of apparatus are 
used, but the principal are gill, f j-ke and pound 
nets, and seines. Tte total value of these minor 
Illinois craft, with their equipment, for 1890, was 
nearly §18,000, the catch aggregating 722,830 
pounds, valued at between §24,000 and §25,000. 
Of this draught, the entire quantity was either 
sold fresh in Chicago and adjacent markets, or 
.shipped, either in ice or frozen. The Mississijspi 
and its tributaries yield wall eyed pike, pike 
perch, buffalo fish, sturgeon, paddle fish, and 
other species available for food. 

FITHIAX, George W., ex -Congressman, was 
born on a farm near Willow Hill, 111., July 4, 1854. 
His early education was obtained in the common 
schools, and he learned the trade of a printer at 
Mount Carmel. While employed at the case he 
found time to study law, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1875. In 1876 he was elected State's 
Attorney for Jasper County, and re-elected in 
1880. He was prominent in Democratic politics, 
and, in 1888, was elected on the ticket of that 
party to represent the Sixteenth Illinois District 
in Congress. He was re-elected in 1890 and 
again in 1892, but, in 1894, was defeated by liis 
Republican opponent. 

FITHIAN, (Dr.) William, pioneer physician, 
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1800; built the 
first houses in Springfield and Urbana in that 
State; in 1822 began the study of medicine at 
Urbana ; later practiced two j-ears at Mechanics- 
burgh, and four years at Urbana, as partner of 
his preceptor; in 1830 came west, locating at 
Danville, Vermilion County, where he became a 
large land-owner; in 1832 .served with the Ver- 
milion County militia in the Black Hawk War, 
and, in 1834, was elected Representative in the 
Ninth General Assembly, the first of which 
Abraham Lincoln %vas a member; afterwards 
served two terms in the State Senate from the 
Danville District (1838-46). Dr. Fithian * was 
active in promoting the railroad interests of 
Danville, giving the right of way for railroad 
purposes through a large body of land belonging 
to him, in Vermilion County. He was also a 
member of various medical associations, and, 
during his later years, was the oldest practicing 
physician in the State. Died, in Danville, 111., 
April 5, 1890. 

FLAGG, Gershoni, pioneer, was born in Rich- 
mond, Vt., in 1792, came west in 1816, settling in 
Madison County, 111., in 1818, where he was 
known as an enterprising farmer and a prominent 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



icr 



and influential citizen. Originally a Wliig, he 
became a zealous Republican on the organization 
of that party, dying in 1857.— Willard Cutting 
(Flagg), son of the preceding, was born in Madi- 
son County, III., Sept 10, 1829, spent his early life 
on his father's farm and in the common schools; 
from 1844 to '50 was a pupil in the celebrated 
high school of Edward Wj-man in St. Louis, 
finally graduating with honors at Yale College, 
in 1854. During his college course he took a 
number of literary prizes, and, in his senior year, 
served as one of tlie editors of "The Yale Literary 
Magazine." Returning to Illinois after gradu- 
ation, he took charge of his father's farm, engaged 
extensively in fruit-culture and stock-raising, 
being the first to introduce the Devon breed of 
cattle in Madison County in 1859. He was a 
member of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee in 1860 ; in 1863, by appointment of Gov. 
Yates, became Enrolling Officer for Madison 
County ; served as Collector of Internal Revenue 
for the Twelfth District, 1864-69, and, in 1868, 
was elected to the State Senate for a term of four 
years, and, during the last session of his term 
(1872), took a prominent part in the revision of 
the school law ; was appointed a member of tlie 
first Board of Trustees of the Industrial Univer- 
sity (now the University of Illinois) at Cham- 
paign, and reappointed in 1875. Mr. Flagg was 
also prominent in agricultural and horticultural 
organizations, serving as Secretary of the State 
Horticultural Society from 1861 to '69, when he 
became its President. He was one of the origi- 
nators of the "farmers' movement," served for 
some time as President of "The State Farmers' 
Association," wrote voluminously, and delivered 
addresses in various States on agricultural and 
horticultural topics, and, in 1875, was elected 
President of the National Agricultural Congress. 
In his later years he was a recognized leader in 
the Granger movement. Died, at Mora, Madison 
County, 111., April 5, 1878. 

FLEMIXO, Robert K., pioneer printer, was 
born in Erie County, Pa., learned the printers' 
trade in Pittsburg, and, coming west while quite 
young, worked at his trade in St. Louis, finally 
removing to Kaskaskia, where he was placed in 
control of the office of "The Republican Advo- 
cate," which had been established in 1823, by 
Elias Kent Kane. The publication of "The 
Advocate" having been suspended, he revived it 
in May, 1825, under the name of "The Kaskaskia 
Recorder," but soon removed it to Yandalia (then 
the State capital), and, in 1827, began the publi- 
cation of "The Illinois Corrector," at Edwards- 



ville. Two 3-ears later he i-eturned to Kaskaskia 
and resumed the publication of "The Recorder," 
but, in 1833, was induced to remove his office to 
Belleville, where he commenced the publication 
of "The St. Clair Gazette," followed by "The St. 
Clair Mercury," both of which liad a brief exist- 
ence. About 1843 he returned to the newspaper 
business as publisher of "The Belleville Advo- 
cate," whicJi he continued for a number of years. 
He died, at Belleville, in 1874, leaving two sons 
who have been prominently identified with the 
history of journalism in Southern Illinois, at 
Belleville and elsewhere. 

FLETCHER, Job, pioneer and early legislator, 
was born in Yirgiuia, in 1793, removed to Sanga- 
mon County, 111., in 1819; was elected Represent- 
ative in 1826, and, in 1834, to the State Senate, 
serving in the latter body six years. He was one 
of the famous "Long Nine" which represented 
.Sangamon County in the Tenth General Assem- 
bly. Mr. Fletcher was again a member of the 
House in 1844-45. Died, in Sangamon County, 
in 1872. 

FLORA, a city in Harter Township, Clay 
County, on the Baltimore & Oliio .Southwestern 
Railroad, 95 miles east of St. Louis, and 108 miles 
south-.southeast of Springfield; has barrel factory, 
flouring mills, cold storage and ice plant, three 
fruit-working factories, two banks, six churches 
and a weekly newspaper. Population (1890), 
1,695; (1900), 3.311 ; (1903, est.), 3,000. 

FLOWER, George, early English colonist, was 
born in Hertfordshire, England, about 1780 ; 
came to the United States in 1817, and was associ- 
ated with Morris Birkbeck in founding the 
"English Settlement" at Albion, Edwards 
County. 111. Being in affluent circumstances, he 
built an elegant mansion and stocked an exten- 
sive farm witli blooded animals from England 
and other parts of Europe, but met with reverses 
which dissipated his wealth. In common with 
Mr. Birkbeck, he was one of the determined 
opponents of the attempt to establish slavery in 
Illinois in 1824, and did much to defeat that 
measure. He and his wife died on the .same day 
(Jan. 15. 1863), while on a visit to a daughter at 
Grayville, 111. A book written by him — "History 
of the English Settlement in Edwards County, 
111." — and published in 1883, is a valuable contri- 
bution to the early history of that portion of the 
State. — Edward Fordlianis (Flower), son of the 
preceding, was born in England, Jan. 31, 1805, 
but came with his father to Illinois in early life ; 
later he returned to England and spent nearly 
half a century at Stratford-on-Avon, where he 



I 



168 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



was four times chosen Mayor of that borough 
and entertained many visitors from the United 
States to Shakespeare's birthplace. Died, March 
26, 1883. 

FOBES, Pliilena, educator, born in Onondaga 
County, N. Y., Sept. 10, 1811; was educated at 
Albany and at Cortland Seminary, Rochester, 
N. Y. ; in 1838 became a teacher in Monticello 
Female Seminary, then newly established at 
Godfrey, 111., under Rev. Theron Baldwin, Prin- 
cipal. On the retirement of Mr. Baldwin in 1843, 
Miss Fobes succeeded to the principalship, 
remaining until 1866, when she retired. For 
some years she resided at Rochester, N. Y., and 
New Haven, Conn., but, in 1886, she removed to 
Philadelphia, where she afterwards made her 
home, notwithstanding her advanced age, main- 
taining a lively interest in educational and 
benevolent enterprises. Miss Fobes died at Phila- 
delphia, Nov. 8, 1898, and was buried at New 
Haven, Conn. 

FOLEY, Thomas, Roman Catholic Bishop, born 
in Baltimore, Md. , in 1823 ; was ordained a priest 
in 1846, and, two years later, was appointed Chan- 
cellor of the Diocese, being made Vicar-General 
in 1867. He was nominated Coadjutor Bishop of 
the Chicago Di6ce.se in 1869 (Bishop Duggan hav- 
ing become insane), and, in 1870, was consecrated 
Bishop. His administration of diocesan work was 
prudent and eminently successful. As a man 
and citizen he won the respect of all creeds and 
classes alike, the State Legislature adopting 
resolutions of respect and regret upon learning 
of his death, which occurred at Baltimore, in 
1879. 

FORBES, Stephen Van Rensselaer, pioneer 
teacher, was born at Windham, Vt., July 26, 1797; 
in his youth acquired a knowledge of surveying, 
and, having removed to Newburg (now South 
Cleveland), Ohio, began teaching. In 1829 he 
came west to Chicago, and having joined a sur- 
veying party, went to Louisiana, returning in 
the following year to Chicago, which then con- 
tained only three white families outside of Fort 
Dearborn. Having been joined by his wife, he 
took up his abode in what was called the "sut- 
ler's house" connected with Fort Dearborn; was 
appointed one of tlie first Justices of the Peace, 
and opened the first .school ever taught in Chi- 
cago, all but three of his pupils being either 
half-breeds or Indians. In 1832 he was elected, as 
a Whig, the first Sheriff of Cook County; later 
preempted 160 acres of land where Riverside 
now stands, subsequently becoming owner of 
some 1,800 acres, much of which he sold, about 



1853, to Dr. W. B. Egan at §20 per acre. In 
1849, having been seized with the "gold fever," 
Mr. Forbes joined in the overland migration to 
California, but, not being successful, returned 
two years later by way of the Isthmus, and, hav- 
ing sold his possessions in Cook County, took up 
his abode at Newburg, Ohio, and resumed his 
occupation as a surveyor. About 1878 lie again 
returned to Cliicago, but survived only a short 
time, dying Feb. 17, 1879. 

FORD, Thomas, early lawyer, jurist and Gov- 
ernor, was born in Uniontown, Pa. , and, in boy- 
hood, accompanied his mother (then a widow) to 
Slissouri, in 1804. The family soon after located 
in Monroe County, 111. Largely through the 
efforts and aid of his half-brother, George 
Forquer, he obtained a professional education, 
became a successful lawyer, and, early in life, 
entered the field of politics. He served as a 
Judge of the Circuit Court for the northern part 
of the State from 1835 to 1837, and was again 
commissioned a Circuit Judge for the Galena 
circuit in 1839; in 1841 was elevated to the bench 
of the State Supreme Court, but resigned the 
following year to accept the nomination of his 
party (the Democratic) for Governor. He was 
regarded as upriglit in his general policy, but he 
had a number of embarrassing questions to deal 
with during his administration, one of these 
being the Mormon troubles, in which he failed to 
receive the support of his own party. He was 
author of a valuable "History of Illinois," (pub- 
lished posthumously). He died, at Peoria, in 
greatly reduced circumstances, Nov. 3, 1850. The 
State Legislature of 1895 took steps to erect a 
monument over his grave. 

FORD COUNTY, lies northeast of Springfield, 
was organized in 1859, being cut off from Vermil- 
ion. It is shaped like an inverted "T, " and has 
an area of 490 square miles; population (1900), 
18,359. The first County Judge was David Pat- 
ton, and David Davis (afterwards of the United 
States Supreme Court) presided over the first 
Circuit Court. The surface of the county is level 
and the soil fertile, consisting of a loam from one 
to five feet in deptli. There is little timber, nor 
is there any out-cropping of stone. The county 
is named in honor of Governor Ford. The county- 
seat is Paxton, which had a population, in 1890, of 
2, 187. Gibson City is a railroad center, and has a 
population of 1,800. 

FORMAN, (Col.) Ferris, lawyer and soldier, 
was born in Tioga County, N. Y., August 25, 
1811; graduated at Union College in 1832, studied 
law and was admitted to the bar in New York in 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



169 



1835, and in the United States Supreme Court in 
1836; the latter year came west and settled at 
Vandalia, 111., where he began practice; in 1844 
was elected to the State Senate for the district 
composed of Fayette, Effingham, Clay and Rich- 
land Counties, serving two years; before the 
expiration of his term (1846) enlisted for the 
Mexican War, and was commissioned Colonel of 
the Third Regiment Illinois Volunteers, and, 
after participating in a number of the most 
important engagements of the campaign, was 
mustered out at New Orleans, in May, 1847. Re- 
turning from the Mexican War, he brought with 
him and presented to the State of Illinois a 
six-pound cannon, which had been captured by 
Illinois troops on the battlefield of Cerro Gordo, 
and is now in the State Arsenal at Springfield. 
In 1848 Colonel Forman was chosen Presidential 
Elector for the State-at-large on the Democratic 
ticket; in 1849 went to California, where he prac- 
ticed his profession until 1853, meanwhile serving 
as Postmaster of Sacramento City by appointment 
of President Pierce, and later as Secretary of 
State during the administration of Gov. John B. 
Weller (1858-60); in 1861 officiated, by appoint- 
ment of the California Legislature, as Commis- 
sioner on the part of the State in fixing the 
boundary between California and the Territory 
of Utah. After the discharge of this duty, he 
was offered the colonelcy of the Fourth California 
Volunteer Infantry, which he accepted, serving 
about twenty months, when he resigned. In 
1866 he resumed his residence at Vandalia, and 
served as a Delegate for Fayette and Effingham 
Counties in the Constitutional Convention of 
1869-70, also for several years thereafter held the 
office of State's Attorney for Fayette County. 
Later he returned to California, and, at the 
latest date, was a resident of Stockton, in that 
State. 

PORMAN, William S., ex-Congressman, was 
born at Natchez, Miss., Jan. 20, 1847. When he 
was four years old, his father's family removed to 
Illinois, settling in Washington County, where 
he has lived ever since. By profession he is a 
lawyer, and he takes a deep interest in politics, 
local. State and National. He represented his 
Senatorial District in the State Senate in the 
Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth General Assem- 
blies, and, in 1888, was elected, as a Democrat, to 
represent the Eighteenth Illinois District in the 
Fifty-first Congress, being re-elected in 1890, and 
again in '93, but was defeated in 1894 for renomi- 
nation by John J. Higgins, who was defeated at 
the election of the same year by Everett J. Mur- 



phy. In 1896 Mr. Forman was candidate of the 
'"Gold Democracy" for Governor of Illinois, 
receiving 8,100 votes. 

FORQUER, (Jeorge, early State officer, was 
born near Brownsville, Pa., in 1794 — was the son 
of a Revolutionary soldier, and older half-brother 
of Gov. Thomas Ford. He settled, with his 
mother (then a widow), at New Design, 111., in 
1804. After learning, and, for several years, 
following the carpenter's trade at St. Louis, he 
returned to Illinois and purchased the tract 
whereon Waterloo now stands. Subsequently he 
projected the town of Bridgewater, on the Mis- 
sissippi. For a time he was a partner in trade of 
Daniel P. Cook. Being unsuccessful in business, 
he took up the study of law, in which he attained 
marked success. In 1824 he was elected to repre- 
sent Monroe County in the House of Represent- 
atives, but resigned in January of the following 
year to accept the position of Secretary of State, 
to which he was appointed by Governor Coles, 
as successor to Morris Birkbeck, whom the 
Senate had refused to confirm. One ground for 
the friendship between him and Coles, no doubt, 
was the fact that they had been united in their 
opposition to the scheme to make Illinois a slave 
State. In 1828 he was a candidate for Congress, 
but was defeated by Joseph Duncan, afterwards 
Governor. At the close of the year he resigned 
the office of Secretary of State, but, a few weeks 
later (January, 1829), he was elected by the 
Legislature Attorney-General. This position he 
lield until January, 1833, when he resigned, hav- 
ing, as it appears, at the previous election, been 
chosen State Senator from Sangamon County, 
serving in the Eighth and Ninth General Assem- 
blies. Before the close of his term as Senator 
(1835), he received the appointment of Register 
of the Land Office at Springfield, which appears 
to have been the last office held by him, as he 
died, at Cincinnati, in 1837. Mr. Forquer was a 
man of recognized ability and influence, an elo- 
quent orator and capable writer, but, in common 
with some of the ablest lawyers of that time, 
seems to have been much embarrassed by the 
smallness of his income, in spite of his ability 
and the fact that he was almost continually in 
office. 

FORREST, a village in Livingston County, at 
the intersection of the Toledo, Peoria & Western 
and the Wabash Railways, 75 miles east of Peoria 
and 16 miles southeast of Pontiac. Considerable 
grain is shipped from this point to the Chicago 
market. The village has several churches and a 
gradedschool. Population (1880j, 375; (1900), 952. 



170 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



FORREST, Joseph K. C, journalist, was born 
in Cork, Ireland, Nov. 26, 1820 ; came to Chicago 
in 1840, soon after securing employment as a 
writer on "The Evening Journal," and, later on, 
"The Gem of the Prairies," the predecessor of 
"The Tribune," being associated with the latter 
at the date of its establishment, in June, 1847. 
During the early years of his residence in Chi- 
cago, Mr. Forrest spent some time as a teacher. 
On retiring from "The Tribune," he became the 
associate of John Wentworth in the management 
of "The Chicago Democrat," a relation which 
was broken up by the consolidation of the latter 
with "The Tribune," in 1861. He then became 
the Springfield correspondent of "The Tribune," 
also holding a position on the staff of Governor 
Yates, and still later represented "The St. Louis 
Democrat" and "Chicago Times," as Washington 
correspondent; assisted in founding "The Chicago 
Republican" (now "Inter Ocean"), in 1865, and, 
some years later, became a leading writer upon 
the same. He served one term as Clerk of the 
city of Chicago, but, in his later j'ears, and up to 
the period of his death, was a leading contributor 
to the columns of "The Chicago Evening News" 
over the signatures of "An Old Timer" and "Now 
or Never." Died, in Chicago, June 23, 1896. 

FORRESTON, a village in Ogle County, the 
terminus of tlie Chicago and Iowa branch of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and 
point of intersection of the Illinois Central and 
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways; 107 
miles west by north from Chicago, and 13 miles 
south of Freeport ; founded in 1854, incorporated 
by special charter in 1868, and, under the general 
law, in 1888. Farming and stock-raising are the 
principal industries. The village has a bank, 
water-works, electric light plant, creamery, vil- 
lage liall, seven churches, a graded school, and a 
newspaper. Population (1890), 1,118; (1900), 1,047. 

FORSYTHE, Albert P., ex Congressman, was 
born at New Riclimond, Ohio, May 24, 1830; 
received his early education in the common 
schools, and at Asbury University. He was 
reared upon a farm and followed farming as his 
life- work. During the War of the Rebellion he 
served in the Union army as Lieutenant. In 
politics he early became an ardent Nationalist, 
and was chosen President of tlie Illinois State 
Grange of the Patrons of Industry, in December, 
1875, and again in January, 1878. In 1878 he was 
elected to Congress as a Nationalist, but, in 1880, 
though receiving the nominations of the com- 
bined Republican and Greenback parties, was 
defeated by Samuel W. Moulton, Democrat. 



FORT, Greenbury L., soldier and Congress- 
man, was born in Ohio, Oct. 17, 1825, and, in 1834, 
removed with his parents to Illinois. In 1850 lie 
was elected Sheriff of Putnam County; in 1852, 
Clerk of the Circuit Court, and, having mean- 
while been admitted to the bar at Lacon, became 
County Judge in 1857, serving until 1861. In 
April of the latter year he enlisted under the first 
call for troops, by re-enlistments serving till 
March 24, 1866. Beginning as Quartermaster of 
his regiment, he served as Chief Quartermaster of 
the Fifteenth Army Corps on the "March to the 
Sea," and was mustered out witli the rank ot 
Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General. On his 
return from the field, he was elected to tlie State 
Senate, serving in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty- 
sixth General Assemblies, and, from 1873 to 1881, 
as Representative in Congress. He died, at 
Lacon, June 13, 1883. 

FORT CHARTRES, a strong fortification 
erected by the French in 1718, on the American 
Bottom, 16 miles northwest from Kaskaskia. 
The soil on whicli it stood was alluvial, and the 
limestone of which its walls were built was 
quarried from an adjacent bluff. In form it was 
an irregular quadrangle, surrounded on tliree 
sides by a wall two feet two inches thick, and on 
the fourth by a ravine, which, during the spring- 
time, was full of water. During the period of 
French ascendency in Illinois, Fort Chartres was 
the seat of government. About four miles east 
soon sprang up the village of Prairie du Rocher 
(or Rock Prairie). (See Prairie du Rocher.) At 
the outbreak of the French and Indian War 
(1756), the original fortification was repaired and 
virtually rebuilt. Its cost at that time is esti- 
mated to have amounted to 1,000,000 French 
crowns. After the occupation of Illinois by the 
British, Fort Chartres still remained the seat of 
government until 1772, when one side of the 
fortification was washed away by a freshet, and 
headquarters were transferred to Kaskaskia. 
The first common law court ever held in tlie Mis- 
sissippi Valley was established here, in 1768, by 
the order of Colonel Wilkins of the English 
army. The ruins of the old fort, situated in the 
northwest corner of Randolph County, once con- 
stituted an object of no little interest to anti- 
quarians, but the site has disappeared during the 
past generation by the encroachments of the 
Mississippi. 

FORT DEARBORN, the name of a United 
States military post, established at the mouth of 
the Chicago River in 1803 or 1804, on a tract of 
land six miles square conveyed by the Indians in 




EARLY HISTORIC SCENES, CHICAGO. 







EARLY HISTORIC SCENES, CHICAGO. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



171 



the treaty of Greenville, concluded by General 
Wayne in 1795. It originally consisted of two 
block houses located at opposite angles (north- 
west and southeast) of a strong wooden stockade, 
with the Commandant's quarters on the east side 
of the quadrangle, soldiers' barracks on the south, 
officers' barracks on the west, and magazine, 
contractor's (sutler's) store and general store- 
house on the north — all the buildings being con- 
structed of logs, and all, except the block-houses, 
being entirely within the enclosure. Its arma- 
ment consisted of three light pieces of artillery. 
Its builder and first commander was Capt. John 
Whistler, a native of Ireland who had surrendered 
with Burgoyne, at Saratoga,, N. Y., and who 
subsequently became an American citizen, and 
served with distinction throughout the War of 
1813. He was succeeded, in 1810, by Capt. 
Nathan Heald. As early as 1806 the Indians 
around the fort manifested signs of disquietude, 
Tecumseh, a few years later, heading an open 
armed revolt. In 1810 a council of Pottawato- 
mies, Ottawas and Chippewas was held at St. 
Joseph, Mich., at which it was decided not to 
join the confederacy proposed by Chief Tecumseh. 
In 1811 hostilities were precipitated by an attack 
upon the United States troops under Gen. 
William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe. In 
April, 1812, hostile bands of Winnebagos appeared 
in the vicinity of Fort Dearborn, terrifying the 
settlers by their atrocities. Many of the whites 
sought refuge within the stockade. Within two 
months after the declaration of war against 
England, in 1813, orders were issued for the 
evacuation of Fort Dearborn and the transfer of 
the garrison to Detroit. The garrison at that 
time numbered about 70, including officers, a 
large number of the troops being ill. Almost 
simultaneously with the order for evacuation 
appeared bands of Indians clamoring for a dis- 
tribution of the goods, to which they claimed 
they were entitled under treaty stipulations. 
Knowing that he had but about forty men able 
to fight and that his march would be sadly 
hindered by the care of about a dozen women and 
twenty children, the commandant hesitated. 
The Pottawatomies, through whose country he 
would have to pass, had ahvays been friendly, and 
he waited. Within six daj's a force of 500 or 600 
savage warriors had assembled around the fort. 
Among the leaders were the Pottawatomie chiefs, 
Black Partridge, Winnemeg and Topenebe. Of 
these, Winnemeg was friendly. It was he who 
had brought General Hull's orders to evacuate, 
and, as the crisis grew more and more dangerous, 



he offered sound advice. He urged instantaneous 
departure before the Indians had time to agree 
upon a line of action. But Captain Heald 
decided to distribute the stores among the sav- 
ages, and thereby secure from them a friendly 
escort to Fort Wayne. To this the aborigines 
readily assented, believing that thereby all the 
whisky and ammunition which they knew to be 
within the enclosure, would fall into their hands. 
Meanwhile Capt. William Wells, Indian Agent at 
Fort Wayne, had arrived at Fort Dearborn with 
a friendly force of Miamis to act as an escort. 
He convinced Captain Heald that it would be the 
height of folly to give the Indians liquor and gun- 
powder. Accordingly the commandant emptied 
the former into the lake and destroyed the latter. 
This was the signal for war. Black Partridge 
claimed he could no longer restrain his young 
braves, and at a council of the aborigines it was 
resolved to massacre the garrison and settlers. 
On the fifteenth of August the gates of the fort 
were opened and the evacuation began. A band 
of Pottawatomies accompanied the whites under 
the gui.se of a friendly escort. They soon deserted 
and, within a mile and a half from the fort, 
began the sickening scene of carnage known as 
the "Fort Dearborn Massacre." Nearly 500 
Indians participated, their loss being less than 
twenty. The Miami escort fled at the first 
exchange of shots. With but four exceptions 
the wounded white prisoners were dispatched 
with savage ferocity and promptitude. Those 
not wounded were scattered among various tribes. 
The next day the fort with its stockade was 
burned. In 1816 (after the treaty of St. Louis) 
the fort was rebuilt upon a more elaborate scale. 
The second Fort Dearborn contained, besides bar- 
racks and officers' quarters, a magazine and 
provision-store, was enclosed by a square stock- 
ade, and protected by bastions at two of its 
angles. It was again evacuated in 1833 and 
re-garrisoned in 1838. The troops were once 
more withdrawn in 1831, to return the following 
year during the Black Hawk War. The final 
evacuation occurred in 1836. 

FORT GAGE, situated on the eastern bluffs of 
the Kaskaskia River, opposite the village of Kas- 
kaskia. It was erected and occupied by the 
British in 1772. It was built of heavy, square 
timbers and oblong in shape, its dimensions being 
290x351 feet. On the night of July 4, 1778, it was 
captured by a detachment of American troops 
commanded by Col. George Rogers Clark, whc 
held a commission from Virginia. The soldiers, 
with Simon Kenton at their head, were secretly 



172 



niSTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLIXOIS. 



admitted to the fort by a Pennsylvanian who 
happened to be within, and the commandant, 
Rocheblave, was surprised in bed, while sleeping 
with his wife by his side. 

FORT JEFFERSON. I. A fort erected by Col. 
George Rogers Clark, under instructions from 
the Governor of Virginia, at the Iron Banks on 
the east bank of the Mississippi, below the mouth 
of the Ohio River. He promised lands to all 
adult, able-bodied white males who would emi- 
grate thither and settle, either with or without 
their families. Many accepted the offer, and 
a considerable colony was established there. 
Toward the close of the Revolutionary War, Vir- 
ginia being unable longer to sustain the garrison, 
the colony was scattered, many families going to 
Kaskaskia. II. A fort in the Miami valley, 
erected by Governor St. Clair and General Butler, 
in October, 1791. Within thirty miles of the 
post St. Clair's army, which had been badly 
weakened through desertions, was cut to pieces 
by the enemy, and the fortification was aban- 
doned. 

FORT MASSAC, an early French fortification, 
erected about 1711 on the Ohio River, 40 miles 
from its mouth, in what is now Massac County. 
It was the first fortification (except Fort St. 
Louis) in tlie "Illinois Country," antedating 
Fort Chartres by several years. The origin of 
the name is uncertain. The best authorities are 
of the opinion that it was so called in honor of 
the engineer who superintended its construction ; 
by others it has been traced to the name of the 
French Minister of Jlarine ; others assert that it 
is a corruption of the word "Massacre,"'a name 
given to the locality because of the massacre 
there of a large number of French soldiers by the 
Indians. The Virginians sometimes spoke of it 
as the "Cherokee fort." It was garrisoned by 
the French until after the evacuation of the 
country under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. 
It later became a sort of depot for American 
settlers, a few families constantly residing within 
and around the fortification. At a very early 
day a military road was laid out from the fort to 
Kaskaskia, the trees alongside being utilized as 
milestones, the number of miles being cut with 
irons and painted red. After the close of the 
Revolutionary War, the United States Govern- 
ment strengthened and garrisoned the fort by 
way of defense against inroads by the Spaniards. 
With the cession of Louisiana to the United 
States, in 1803, the fort was evacuated and never 
re-garrisoned. According to the "American 
State Papers," during the period of the French 



occupation, it was both a Jesuit missionary 
station and a tra<ling post. 

FORT SACKVILLE, a British fortification, 
erected in 1769, on the Wabash River a short 
distance below Vincennes. It was a stockade, 
with bastions and a few pieces of cannon. In 
1778 it fell into the hands of the Americans, and 
was for a time commanded by Captain Helm, 
with a garrison of a few Americans and Illinois 
French. In December, 1778, Helm and one 
private alone occupied the fort and surrendered 
to Hamilton, British Governor of Detroit, who 
led a force into the country around Vincennes. 

FORT SHERIDAN, United States Military 
Post, in Lake County, on the Milwaukee Division 
of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. 24 mile.s 
north of Chicago. (Highwood village adjacent 
on the south.) Population (1890), 4.51 ; (1900), 1,.575. 

FORT ST. LOUIS, a French fortification on a 
rock (widely known as "Starved Rock"), which 
consists of an isolated cliff on the south side of 
the Illinois River nearly opposite Utica, in La 
Salle County. Its height is between 130 and 140 
feet, and its nearly round summit contains an 
area of about three-fourths of an acre. The side 
facing the river is nearly perpendicular and, in 
natural advantages, it is well-nigh impregnable. 
Here, in the fall of 1682, La Salle and Tonty 
began the erection of a fort, consisting of earth- 
works, palisades, store-houses and a block house, 
which also served as a dwelling and trading post. 
A windlass drew water from the river, and two 
small brass cannon, mounted on a parapet, com- 
prised the armament. It was solemnly dedicated 
by Fatlier Membre, and soon became a gathering 
place for the surrounding tribes, especially the 
Illinois. But Frontenac having been succeeded 
as Governor of New France by De la Barre, who 
was unfriendly to La Salle, the latter was dis- 
placed as Commandant at Fort St. Louis, while 
plots were laid to secure his downfall by cutting 
off his supplies and inciting the Iroquois to attack 
him. La Salle left the fort in 1683, to return to 
France, and, in 1702, it was abandoned as a 
military post, though it continued to be a trad- 
ing post until 1718, when it was raided by the 
Indians and burned. (See La Salle. ) 

FORT WAYJfE & CHICAGO RAILROAD. 
(See Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway.) 

FORT WAYNE & ILLINOIS RAILROAD. (See 
Neiv York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway.) 

FORTIFICATIONS, PREHISTORIC. Closely 
related in interest to the works of the mound- 
builders in Illinois — though, probably, owing their 
origin to another era and an entirely different 



niSTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



173 



race — are those works which bear evidence of 
having been constructed for purposes of defense 
at some period anterior to the arrival of white 
men in the country. Wliile there are no works 
in Illinois so elaborate in construction as those to 
which have been given the names of "Fort 
Ancient" on the Maumee in Ohio, "Fort Azatlan" 
on the Wabash in Indiana, and "Fort Aztalan" 
on Rock River in Southern Wisconsin, there are 
a number whose form of construction shows that 
they must have been intended for warlike pur- 
poses, and that they were formidable of their 
kind and for the period in which they were con- 
structed. It is a somewhat curious fact that, 
while La Salle County is the seat of the first 
fortification constructed by the French in Illinois 
that can be said to have had a sort of permanent 
character ( see Fort St. Louis and Starved Rock), 
it is also the site of a larger number of prehistoric 
fortifications, whose remains are in such a state 
of preservation as to be clearly discernible, than 
any other section of the State of equal area. One 
of the most formidable of these fortifications is 
on the east side of Fox River, opposite the mouth 
of Indian Creek and some six miles northeast of 
Ottawa. This occupies a position of decided 
natural strength, and is surrounded by three lines 
of circumvallation, showing evidence of consider- 
able engineering skill. From the size of the trees 
within this work and other evidences, its age has 
been estimated at not less than 1,200 years. On 
the present site of the town of Marseilles, at the 
rapids of the Illinois, seven miles east of Ottawa, 
another work of considerable strength existed. 
It is also said that the American Fur Company 
had an earthwork here for the protection of its 
trading station, erected about 1816 or '18, and 
consequently belonging to the present century. 
Besides Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock, the out- 
line of another fort, or outwork, whose era has 
not been positively determined, about half a mile 
south of the former, has been traced in recent 
times. De Baugis, sent by Governor La Barre, of 
Canada, to succeed Tonty at Fort St. Louis, is said 
to have erected a fort on Buffalo Rock, on the 
opposite side of the river from Fort St. Louis, 
which belonged practically to the same era as the 
latter. — There are two points in Southern Illinois 
where the aborigines had constructed fortifica- 
tions to which the name "Stone Fort" has been 
given. One of these is a hill overlooking the 
Saline River in the southern part of Saline 
County, where there is a wall or breastwork five 
feet in height enclosing an area of less than an 
acre in extent. The other is on the west side of 



Lusk's Creek, in Pope County, where a breast- 
work has been constructed by loosely piling up 
the stones across a ridge, or tongue of land, with 
vertical sides and surrounded by a bend of the 
creek. Water is easily obtainable from the creek 
below the fortified ridge. — The remains of an old 
Indian fortification were found by early settlers 
of McLean County, at a point called "Old Town 
Timber," about 1833 to 1835. It was believed 
then that it had been occupied by the Indians 
during the War of 1813. The story of the Indians 
was, that it was burned by General Harrison in 
1813 ; though this is improbable in view of the 
absence of any historical mention of the fact. 
Judge H. W. Beckwith, who examined its site in 
1880, is of the opinion that its history goes back 
as far as 1753, and that it was erected by the 
Indians as a defense against the French at Kas- 
kaskia. There was also a tradition that there 
had been a French mission at this point. — One of 
the most interesting stories of early fortifications 
in the State, is that of Dr. V. A. Boyer, an old 
citizen of Chicago, in a paper contributed to the 
Chicago Historical Society. Although the work 
alluded to by him was evidently constructed after 
the arrival of the French in the country, the 
exact period to which it belongs is in doubt. 
According to Dr. Boyer, it was on an elevated 
ridge of timber land in Palos Township, in the 
western part of Cook County. He says: "I first 
saw it in 1833, and since then have visited it in 
company with other persons, some of whom are 
still living. I feel sure that it was not built dur- 
ing the Sac War from its appearance. ... It 
seems probable that it was the work of French 
traders or explorers, as there were trees a century 
old growing in its environs. It was evidently 
the work of an enlightened people, skilled in the 
science of warfare. . . . As a strategic point it 
most completely commanded the surrounding 
country and the crossing of the swamp or 'Sag'." 
Is it improbable that this was the fort occupied 
by Colonel Durantye in 1695? The remains of a 
small fort, supposed to have been a French trad- 
ing post, were found by the pioneer settlers of 
Lake County, where the pre.sent city of Waukegan 
stands, giving to that place its first name of 
"Little Fort." This structure was seen in 1835 
by Col. William S. Hamilton (a son of Alexander 
Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury), who 
had served in the session of the General Assembly 
of that year as a Representative from Sangamon 
County, and was then on his way to Green Bay, 
and the remains of the pickets or palisades were 
visible as late as 1835. While the date of its 



174 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



erection is unknown, it probablj- belonged to the 
latter part of the eighteenth century. There is 
also a tradition that a fort or trading post, erected 
by a Frenchman named Garay (or Guarie) stood 
on the North Branch of tlie Chicago River prior 
to tlie erection of the first Fort Dearborn in 1803. 

FOSS, tJeorpe Edmund, lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born in Franklin County, Vt., July 2, 
1863; graduated from Harvard University, in 
1885; attended the Columbia Law School and 
School of Political Science in New York City, 
finally graduating from the Union College of Law 
in Chicago, in 1889, when he was admitted to the 
bar and began practice. He never held any 
political oflUce until elected as a Republican to 
the Fifty-fourth Congress (1894), from the 
Seventh Illinois District, receiving a majority of 
more than 8,000 votes over his Democratic and 
Populist competitors. In 189G he was again the 
candidate of his party, and was re-elected by a 
majority of over 20,000, as he was a third time, 
in 1898, by more than 12,000 majority. In the 
Fifty-fifth Congress Mr. Foss was a member of the 
Committees on Naval Affairs and Expenditures in 
the Department of Agriculture. 

FOSTER, (Dr.) John Herbert, physician and 
educator, was born of Quaker ancestry at Hills- 
borough, N. H., March 8, 1796. His early years 
were spent on his father's farm, but at the age 
of 16 he entered an academy at Meriden, N. H., 
and, three years later, began teaching with an 
older brother at Schoharie, N. Y. Having spent 
some sixteen years teaching and practicing 
medicine at various places in his native State, in 
1832 he came west, first locating in Morgan 
County, 111. While there he took part in the 
Black Hawk War, serving as a Surgeon. Before 
the close of the year he was compelled to come to 
Chicago to look after the estate of a brother who 
was an officer in the army and had been killed by 
an insubordinate soldier at Green Bay. Having 
thus fallen heir to a considerable amount of real 
estate, which, in subsequent years, largely 
appreciated in value, he became identified with 
early Chicago and ultimately one of the largest 
real-estate owners of his time in the city. He 
was an active promoter of education during this 
period, serving on both City and State Boards. 
His death occurred, May 18, 1874, in consequence 
of injuries sustained by being throv.-n from a 
vehicle in which he was riding nine days previous. 

FOSTER, John Wells, author and scientist, 
was born at Brimfield, Mass., in 1815, and edu- 
cated at Wesleyan University, Conn ; later studied 
law and was admitted to the bar in Ohio, but 



soon turned his attention to scientific pursuits, 
being employed for several years in the geological 
survey of Ohio, during which he investigated the 
coal-beds of the State. Having incidentally 
devoted considerable attention to the study of 
metallurgy, he was employed about 1844 by 
mining capitalists to make the first systematic 
survej' of the Lake Superior copper region, upon 
which, in conjunction with J. D. Whitney, he 
made a report wjiich was published in two vol- 
umes in 1850-51. Returning to Massachusetts, he 
participated in the organization of the "American 
Part)'"" there, though we find him soon after 
breaking with it on the slavery question. In 
1855 he was a candidate for Congress in the 
Springfield (Mass.) District, but was beaten by a 
small majority. In 1858 he removed to Chicago 
and, for some time, was Land Commissioner of 
the Illinois Central Railroad. The latter years of 
his life were devoted chiefly to archasological 
researches and writings, also serving for some 
years as Professor of Natural History in the (old) 
University of Chicago. His works include "The 
Mississippi Valley ; its Physical Geography, Min- 
eral Resources," etc. (Chicago, 1869); "Mineral 
Wealth and Railroad Development," (New York, 
1872); "Prehistoric Races of the United States," 
(Chicago, 1873), besides contributions to numer- 
ous scientific periodicals. He was a member of 
several scientific associations and, in 1869, Presi- 
dent of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science. He died in Hyde Park, 
now a part of Chicago, June 29, 1873. 

FOl'KE, Philip B., lawyer and Congressman, 
was born at Kaskaskia. 111., Jan. 23, 1818; was 
chiefly self-educated and began his career as a 
clerk, afterwards acting as a civil engineer; about 
1841-42 was associated with the publication of 
"The Belleville Advocate," later studied law, 
and, after being admitted to the bar, served as 
Prosecuting Attorney, being re-elected to that 
oflSce in 1856. Previous to this, however, he had 
been elected to the lower branch of the Seven- 
teenth General Assembly (1850), and, in 1858, 
was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-sixth 
Congress and re-elected two years later. While 
still in Congress lie assisted in organizing the 
Thirtieth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, of which 
he was commissioned Colonel, but resigned on 
account of ill -health soon after the battle of Shiloh. 
After leaving the army he removed to New 
Orleans, where he was appointed Public Adminis- 
trator and practiced law for some time. He then 
took up the prosecution of the cotton-claims 
against the Mexican Government, in which he 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



175 



was engaged some seven years, finally removing 
to Washington City and making several trips to 
Europe in the interest of these suits. He won 
his cases, but died soon after a decision in his 
favor, largely in consequence of overtaxing his 
brain in their prosecution. His death occurred 
in Washington, Oct. 3, 1876, when he was buried 
in the Congressional Cemetery, President Grant 
and a number of Senators and Congressmen acting 
as pall-bearers at his funeral. 

FOWLER, Charles Henry, Methodist Episcopal 
Bishop, born in Burford, Conn., August 11, 1837; 
was partially educated at Rock River Seminary, 
Mount Morris, finally graduating at Genesee 
College, N. Y., in 1859. He then began the study 
of law in Chicago, but, changing his purpose, 
entered Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evanston, 
graduating in 1861. Having been admitted to 
the Rock River Methodist Episcopal Conference 
he was appointed successive!}' to Chicago churches 
till 1872; then became President of the North- 
western University, liolding this office four years, 
when he was elected to the editorship of "The 
Christian Advocate" of New York. In 1884 he 
was elected and ordained Bishop. His residence 
is in San Francisco, his labors as Bisliop being 
devoted largely to tlie Pacific States. 

FOX RIVER (of Illinois)— called Pishtaka by 
the Indians — rises in Waukesha County, Wis., 
and, after running southward through Kenoslia 
and Racine Counties in that State, pa.sses into 
Illinois. It intersects McHenry and Kane Coun- 
ties and runs southward to the city of Aurora, 
below which point it flows southwestward, until 
it empties into the Illinois River at Ottawa. Its 
length is estimated at 220 miles. The cliief 
towns on its banks are Elgin, Aurora and Ottawa. 
It affords abundant water power. 

FOXES, an Indian tribe. (See Sacs and 
Foxes. ) 

FRANCIS, Simeon, pioneer journalist, was 
born at Wethersfield, Conn., May 14, 1796, 
learned the printer's trade at New Haven, and. in 
connection with a partner, published a paper at 
Buffalo, N. Y. In consequence of the excitement 
growing out of the abduction of Morgan in 1828, 
(being a Mason) he was compelled to suspend, 
and, coming to Illinois in the fall of 1831, com- 
menced the publication of "The Sangamo" (now 
"The Illinois State") "Journal" at Springfield, 
continuing his connection therewith until 185.5, 
when he sold out to Messrs. Bailhache & Baker. 
Abraham Lincoln was his close friend and often 
wrote editorials for liis paper. Mr. Francis was 
active in the organization of the State Agricul- 



tural Society (1853), serving as its Recording 
Secretary for several years. In 1859 he moved to 
Portland, Ore., where he published "The Oregon 
Farmer," and served as President of the Oregon 
State Agricultural Society; in 1861 was ap- 
pointed by President Lincoln, Paymaster in the 
regular army, serving until 1870, when he retired 
on half -pay. Died, at Portland, Ore., Oct. 25, 
1872.— Allen (Francis), brother of the preceding, 
was born at Wethersfield, Conn., April 14, 1815; 
in 1884, joined his brother at Springfield, 111., and 
became a partner in the publication of "The 
Journal" until its sale, in 1855. In 1861 he was 
appointed United States Consul at Victoria, B. C, 
serving until 1871, when he engaged in the fur 
trade. Later he was United States Consul at 
Port Stanley, Can., dying there, about 1887.— 
Josiah (Francis), cousin of the preceding, born 
at Wethersfield, Conn., Jan. 17, 1804; was early 
connected with "The Springfield Journal"; in 
1836 engaged in merchandising at Atliens, Menard 
County ; returning to Springfield, was elected to 
the Legislature in 1840, and served one term as 
Mayor of Springfield. Died in 1867. 

FRAJfKLIX, a village of Morgan County, on 
the Jacksonville & St. Louis Railroad, 12 miles 
southeast of Jacksonville. The place has a news- 
paper and two banks; the surrounding country 
is agricultural. Population (1880), 316; (1890), 
578; (1900), 687. 

FRANKLIN COUNTY, located in the south- 
central part of the State; was organized in 1818, 
and has an area of 430 square miles. Population 
(1900), 19,675. The county is well timbered and 
is drained by the Big Muddy River. The soil is 
fertile and the products include cereals, potatoes, 
sorghum, wool, pork and fruit. The county-seat 
is Benton, with a population (1890) of 939. The 
county contains no large towns, although large, 
well-cultivated farms are numerous. The earli- 
est white settlers came from Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee, and the hereditary traditions of generous, 
southwestern hospitality are preserved among 
the residents of to-day. 

FRANKLIN GROVE, a town of Lee County, on 
Council Bluffs Division of the Chicago & North- 
western Railway, 88 miles west of Chicago. 
Grain, poultry, and live-stock are shipped from 
here. It lias banks, water-works, high school, 
and a weekly paper, Population (1890), 736; 
(1900). 081. 

FRAZIER, Robert, a native of Kentucky, who 
came to Southern Illinois at an early day and 
served as State Senator from Edwards County, in 
the Second and Third General Assemblies, in the 



176 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



latter being an opponent of the scheme to make 
Illinois a slave State. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation and, at the time he was a member of the 
Legislature, resided in what afterwards became 
Wabash County. Subsequently he removed to 
Edwards County, near Albion, where he died. 
"Frazier's Prairie," in Edwards County, was 
named for him. 

FREEBURG, a village of St. Clair County, on 
the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad, 8 
miles southeast of Belleville. Population (1880), 
1,038; (1890), 848; (1900), 1,214. 

FREEMAN, Jiorman L., lawyer and Supreme 
Court Reporter, was born in Caledonia, Living- 
ston County, N. Y., May 9, 1823; in 1831 accom- 
panied his widowed mother to Ann Arbor, Mich., 
removing six years afterward to Detroit ; was edu- 
cated at Cleveland and Ohio University, taught 
school at Lexington, Ky., while studying law, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1846 ; removed to 
Shawneetown, lU., in 1851, was admitted to the 
Illinois bar and practiced some eight years. He 
then began farming in Marion County, Mo., but, 
in 1862, returned to Shawneetown and, in 1863, 
was appointed Reporter of Decisions by the 
Supreme Court of Illinois, serving until his 
death, which occvined at Springfield near the 
beginning of his sixth term in office, August 23, 
1894. 

FREE MASONS, tlie oldest secret fraternity in 
the State— known as the "Ancient Order of Free 
and Accepted Masons" — the first Lodge being 
instituted at Kaskaskia, June, 3, 1806, with Gen. 
John Edgar, Worshipful Master; Michael Jones, 
Senior Warden ; James Galbraith, Junior W^ar- 
den ; William Arundel, Secretary ; Robert Robin- 
son, Senior Deacon. These are names of persons 
who were, without exception, prominent in the 
early history of Illinois. A Grand Lodge was 
organized at Vandalia in 1822, with Gov. Shad- 
rach Bond as first Grand Master, but the organi- 
zation of the Grand Lodge, as it now exists, took 
place at Jacksonville in 1840. The number of 
Lodges constituting the Grand Lodge of Illinois 
in 1840 was six, with 157 members; the number 
of Lodges within the same jurisdiction in 1895 
was 713, with a membership of 50,727, of which 
47,335 resided in Illinois. The dues for 1895 
were 537,834.50; the contributions to members, 
their widows and orphans, $25,038.41 ; to non- 
members, $6,306.38, and to the Illinois Masonic 
Orphans" Home, §1,315.80. — Apollo Commandery 
No. 1 of Knights Templar — the pioneer organi- 
zation of its kind in this or any neighboring 
State — was organized in Chicago, May 20, 1845, 



and the Grand Commandery of the order in Illi- I 
nois in 1857, with James V. Z. Blaney. Grand 
Commander. In 1895 it was made up of sixty- 
five subordinate ' commanderies, with a total 
membership of 9,355, and dues amounting to 
§7,754.75. The principal officers in 1895-96 were 
Henry Hunter Montgomery, Grand Commander; 
Jolm Henry Witbeck, Grand Treasurer, and Gil- 
bert W. Barnard, Grand Recorder. — The Spring- 
field Chapter of Royal Arch-Masons was organized 
in Springfield, Sept. 17, 1841, and the Royal Arch 
Chapter of the State at Jacksonville, April 9, 
1850, the nine existing Chapters being formally 
chartered Oct. 14, of the same year. The number 
of subordinate Chapters, in 1895, was 186, with a 
total membership of 16,414. — The Grand Council 
of Royal and Select Masters, in 1894, embraced 32 
subordinate Councils, with a membership of 
3,318. 

FREEPORT, a city and railway center, the 
county-seat of Stephenson County, 121 miles west 
of Chicago; has good water-power from the Peca- 
tonica River, with several manufacturing estab- 
lishments, the output including carriages, 
wagon-wheels, wind-mills, coffee-mills, organs, 
piano-stools, leather, mineral paint, foundry pro- 
ducts, chicken incubators and vinegar. The Illi- 
nois Central Railroad has sliops here and the city 
has a Government postoffice building. Popula- 
tion (1890), 10,189; (1900), 13,258. 

FREEPORT COLLEGE, an institution at Free- 
port, 111., incorporated in 1895; is co-educational; 
had a faculty of six instructors in 1896, with 116 
pupils. 

FREER, Lemuel Covell Paine, early lawyer, 
was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., Sept. 18, 
1815; came to Chicago in 1836, studied law and 
was admitted to the bar in 1840; was a zealous 
anti-slavery man and an active supporter of the 
Government during the War of the Rebellion; 
for many years was President of the Board of 
Trustees of Rush Medical College. Died, in 
Chicago, April 14, 1892. 

FRENCH, Augustus C, ninth Governor of 
Illinois (1846-52), was born in New Hampshire, 
August 2, 1808. After coming to Illinois, he 
became a resident of Crawford County, and a 
lawyer by profession. He was a member of the 
Tenth and Eleventh General Assemblies, and 
Receiver, for a time, of the Land Office at Pales- 
tine. He served as Presidential Elector in 1844, 
was elected to the office of Governor as a Demo- 
crat in 1846 by a majority of nearly 17,000 over 
two competitors, and was the unanimous choice of 
his party for a second term in 1848. His adminis- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



177 



tration was free from scandals. He was appointed 
Bank Commissioner by Governor Matteson, and 
later accepted the chair of Law in McKendree 
College at Lebanon. In 18.58 he was the nominee 
of the Douglas wing of the Democratic party for 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
ex-Gov. John Reynolds being the candidate of 
the Buchanan branch of the party. Both were 
defeated. His last public service was as a mem- 
ber from St. Clair County of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1863. Died, at Lebanon, Sept. 4, 
1864. 

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. The first 
premonition of this struggle in the West was 
given in 1698, when two English vessels entered 
the mouth of the Mississippi, to take possession 
of the French Territory of Louisiana, which then 
included what afterward became the State of 
Illinois. This expedition, however, returned 
without result. Great Britain was anxious to 
have a colorable pretext for attempting to evict 
the French, and began negotiation of treaties 
with the Indian tribes as earl}- as 1724, expecting 
thereby to fortify her original claim, which was 
based on the right of prior discovery. The 
numerous shif tings of the political kaleidoscope in 
Europe prevented any further steps in this direc- 
tion on the part of England until 1748-49, when 
the Ohio Land Company received a royal grant 
of 500,000 acres along the Ohio River, with exclu- 
sive trading privileges. The Company proceeded 
to explore and survey and, about 1752, established 
a trading post on Loramie Creek, 47 miles north 
of Dayton. The French foresaw that hostilities 
were probable, and advanced their posts as far 
east as the Allegheny River. Complaints by tlie 
Ohio Company induced an ineffectual remon- 
strance on the part of Virginia. Among the 
ambassadors sent to the French by the Governor 
of Virginia was George Washington, who thus, 
in early manhood, became identified with Illinois 
history. His report was of such a nature as to 
induce the erection of counter fortifications by 
the British, one of which (at the junction of the 
Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers) was seized 
and occupied by the French before its completion. 
Then ensued a series of engagements which, 
while not involving large forces of men, were 
fraught with grave consequences, and in which 
the French were generally successful. In 1755 
occurred "Braddock's defeat" in an expedition to 
recover Fort Duquesne (where Pittsburg now 
stands), which had been captured by the French 
the previous year, and the Government of Great 
Britain determined to redouble its efforts. The 



final result was the termination of French domi- 
nation in the Ohio Valley. Later came the down- 
fall of French ascendency in Canada as the result 
of the battle of Quebec ; but the vanquished j-et 
hoped to be able to retain Louisiana and Illinois. 
But France was forced to indemnify Spain for the 
loss of Florida, which it did bj' the cession of all 
of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi (includ- 
ing the city of New Orleans), and this virtually 
ended French hopes in Illinois. The last military 
post in North America to be garrisoned by French 
troops was Fort Chartres, in Illinois Territory, 
where St. Ange remained in command until its 
evacuation was demanded by the English. 

FRENCH GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. French 
Governors began to be appointed by the Company 
of the Indies (which see) in 1722, the "Illinois 
Country" having previously been treated as a 
dependency of Canada. The first Governor ( or 
"commandant") was Pierre Duque de Boisbriant. 
who was commandant for only three years, when 
he was summoned to New Orleans (1725) to suc- 
ceed de Bienville as Governor of Louisiana. Capt. 
du Tisne was in command for a short time after 
his departure, but was succeeded by another 
Captain in the royal army, whose name is vari- 
ously spelled de Liette, de Lielte, De Siette and 
Delietto. He was followed in turn by St. Ange 
(the father of St. Ange de Bellerive), who died in 
1742. In 1732 tlie Company of the Indies surren- 
dered its charter to the crown, and the Governors 
of the Illinois Country were thereafter appointed 
directly by royal authority. Under the earlier 
Governors justice had been administered under 
the civil law ; with the change in the method of 
appointment the code known as tlie "Common 
Law of Paris" came into effect, although not 
rigidly enforced becau.se found in many particu- 
lars to be ill-suited to the needs of a new country. 
The first of the Royal Governors was Pierre 
d' Artaguiette, who was appointed in 1734, but was 
captured while engaged in an expedition against 
the Chiokasaws, in 1736, and burned at the stake. 
(See D' Artaguiette.) He was followed by 
Alphonse de la Buissoniere, who was succeeded, 
in 1740, by Capt. BenoLst de St. Claire. In 1742 
he gave way to the Chevalier Bertel or Berthet, 
but was reinstated about 1748. The last of the 
French Governors of the "Illinois Country" was 
Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, who retired to St. 
Louis, after turning over the command to Cap- 
tain Stirling, the English oflScer sent to supersede 
him, in 1765. (St. Ange de Bellerive died, Dec. 
27, 1774.) The administration of the French 
commandants, while firm, was usually conserva- 



178 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tive and benevolent. Local self-government was 
encouraged as far as practicable, and, while, the 
Governors" power over commerce was virtually 
unrestricted, they interfered but little with the 
ordinary life of the people. 

FREW, Calvin Hamill, lawyer and State Sena- 
tor, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, educated at 
Finley (Ohio) High School, Beaver (Pa.) Academy 
and Vermilion Institute at Hayesville, Ohio. ; in 
1863 was Principal of the High School at Kalida, 
Ohio, where he began the study of law, which he 
continued the ne.xt two years with Messrs. Strain 
& Kidder, at Monmouth, 111., meanwhile acting 
as Principal of a high school at Young America ; 
in 1865 removed to Paxton, Ford County, which 
has since been his home, and the same year was 
admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Illi- 
nois. Mr. Frew served as Assistant Superintend- 
ent of Schools for Ford County (1865-G8) ; in 1868 
was elected Representative in the Twenty-sixth 
General Assembly, re-elected in 1870, and again 
in '78. While practicing law he has been con- 
nected with some of the most important cases 
before the courts in that section of the State, and 
his fidelity and skill in their management are 
testified by members of the bar, as well as 
Judges upon the bench. Of late years he has 
devoted his attention to breeding trotting horses, 
with a view to the improvement of his health 
but not with the intention of permanently 
abandoning his profession. 

FRY, Jacob, pioneer and soldier, was born in 
Fayette County, Ky., Sept. 30, 1799; learned the 
trade of a carpenter and came to Illinois in 1819, 
working first at Alton, but, in 1820, took up his 
residence near the present town of Carrollton. in 
which he built the first house. Greene County 
was not organized until two years later, and this 
border settlement was, at that time, the extreme 
northern white settlement in Illinois. He served 
as Constable and Deputy Sheriff (simultaneously) 
for six j-ears, and was then elected Sheriff, being 
five times reelected. He served through the 
Black Hawk War (first as Lieutenant-Colonel and 
afterwards as Colonel), having in his regiment 
Abraham Lincoln, O. H. Browning, John Wood 
(afterwards Governor) and Robert Anderson, of 
Fort Sumter fame. In 1837 he was appointed 
Commissioner of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, 
and reappointed in 1839 and '41, later becoming 
Acting Commissioner, with authority to settle up 
the business of the former commission, which 
was that year legislated out of office. He was 
afterwards appointed Canal Trustee by Governor 
Ford, and, in 1847, retired from connection with 



canal management. In 18.50 he went to Cali- 
fornia, where he engaged in mining and trade 
for three years, meanwhile serving one term in 
the State Senate. -In 18.57 he was appointed Col- 
lector of the Port at Chicago by President Buch- 
anan, but was removed in 1859 because of his 
friendship for Senator Douglas. In 1860 he 
returned to Greene County ; in 1861, in spite of his 
advanced age, was commissioned Colonel of the 
Sixty-first Illinois Volunteers, and later partici- 
pated in numerous engagements (among them the 
battle of .Shiloh), was captured by Forrest, and 
ultimately compelled to resign because of im- 
paired health and failing eyesight, finally becom- 
ing totally blind. He died, June 27, 1881, and 
was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Spring- 
field. Two of Colonel Fry's sons achieved dis- 
tinction during the Civil War. — James Barnet 
(Frj-), son of the preceding, was born at Car- 
rollton, 111., Feb. 22. 1827; graduated at West 
Point Military Academy, in 1847, and was 
assigned to artillery service ; after a short experi- 
ence as Assistant Instructor, joined his regiment, 
the Third United States Artillery, in Mexico, 
remaining there through 1847-48. Later, he was 
employed on frontier and garrison duty, and 
again as Instructor in 1853-54, and as Adjutant of 
the Academy during 1854-59; became Assistant 
Adjutant-General, March 16, 1861, then served as 
Chief of Staff to General McDowell and General 
Buell (1861-62), taking part in the battles of Bull 
Run, Shiloh and Corinth, and in the campaign in 
Kentucky; was made Provost-Marslial-General 
of the United States, in March, 1863, and con- 
ducted the drafts of that year, receiving the rank 
of Brigadier-General, April 31. 1864. He con- 
tinued in this oflSce until August 30, 1866, during 
which time he put in the army 1,120,621 men, 
arrested 76,.5G2 deserters, collected $26,366,316.78 
and made an exact enrollment of the National 
forces. After the war he served as Adjutant- 
General with the rank of Colonel, till June 1, 
1881, when he was retired at his own request. 
Besides his various oflficial reports, he published a 
"Sketch of the Adjutant-General's Department, 
United States Army, from 1775 to 1875," and "His- 
tory and Legal Effects of Brevets in the Armies of 
Great Britain and the United States, from their 
origin in 1692 to the Present Time," (1877). Died, 
in Newport, R. I., July 11, 1894.— WiUiam M. 
(Fry), another son, was Provost Marshal of the 
Nortli Illinois District during the Civil War, and 
rendered valuable service to the Government. 

FULLER, Allen Curtis, lawyer, jurist and 
Adjutant-General, was born in Farmington, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



179 



Conn., Sept. 24, 1833; studied law at Warsaw, 
N. Y., was admitted to practice, in 1846 came to 
Belvidere, Boone County, III., and, after practic- 
ing there some years, was elected Circuit Judge 
in 1861. A few months afterward lie was induced 
to accept the office of Adjutant-General by 
appointment of Governor Yates, entering upon 
the duties of the office in November, 1861. At 
first it was understood tliat his acceptance was 
only temporary, so that he did not formally 
resign his place upon the bench until July. 1863. 
He continued to discharge the duties of Adjutant- 
General until January, 1865, when, having been 
elected Representative in the General Assemblj', 
he was succeeded in the Adjutant-Generars office 
by General Ishani N. Haynie. He served as 
Speaker of the House during the following ses- 
sion, and as State Senator from 1867 to 1873 — 
in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty- 
seventh General Assemblies. He was also elected 
a Republican Presidential Elector in 1860, and 
again in 1876. Since retiring from office, General 
Fuller has devoted his attention to the practice of 
his profession and looking after a large private 
business at Belvidere. 

FULLER, Charles E., lawyer and legislator, 
was born at Flora, Boone County, 111., March 31, 
1849; attended the district school until 12 years 
of age, and, between 1861 and "67, served as clerk 
in stores at Belvidere and Cherry Valley. He 
then spent a couple of years in the book business 
in Iowa, when (1869) he began the study of law 
with Hon. Jesse S. Hildrup, at Belvidere, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1870. Since tlien 
Mr. Fuller has practiced his profession at Belvi- 
dere, was Corporation Attorney for that city in 
1875-76, the latter year being elected State's 
Attorney for Boone County. From 1879 to 1891 
he served continuously in the Legislature, first 
as State Senator in the Thirty-first and Thirty- 
second General Assemblies, then as a member of 
the House for three sessions, in 1888 being 
returned to the Senate, where he served the 
next two sessions. Mr. Fuller established a high 
reputation in the Legislature as a debater, and 
was the candidate of his party (the Republican) 
for Speaker of the House in 1885. He was also a 
delegate to the Republican National Convention 
of 1884. Mr. Fuller was elected Judge of the 
Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Circuit at the 
judicial election of June, 1897. 

FULLER, Melville Weston, eighth Chief Jus- 
tice of the United States Supreme Court, was 
born at Augusta, Maine, Feb. 11, 1883, graduated 
from Bowdoin College in 1853, was admitted to 



the bar in 1855, and became City Attorney of his 
native city, but resigned and removed to Chicago 
the following year. Through his mother's 
family he traces his descent back to the Pilgrims 
of tlie Mayflower. His literary and legal attain- 
ments are of a high order. In politics he has 
always been a strong Democrat. He served as a 
Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 
1862 and as a member of the Legislature in 1863, 
after that time devoting his attention to the 
practice of his profession in Chicago. In 1888 
President Cleveland appointed him Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court, since which time he has 
resided at Washington, although still claiming a 
residence in Chicago, where he has considerable 
property interests. 

FULLERTON, Alexander N., pioneer settler 
and lawyer, born in Chester, Vt., in 1804, was 
educated at Middlebury College and Litchfield 
Law School, and, coming to Chicago in 1833, 
finally engaged in real-estate and mercantile 
business, in which he was very successful. His 
name has been given to one of the avenues of 
Chicago, as well as associated with one of the 
prominent business blocks. He was one of the 
original members of the Second Presbyterian 
Church of that city. Died, Sept. 39, 1880. 

FULTON, a city and railway center in White- 
side County, 135 miles west of Chicago, located 
on the Mississippi River and the Chicago & 
Northwestern, the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Railways. It was formerly the terminus of a 
line of steamers which annually brought millions 
of bushels of grain down the Mississippi from 
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, returning 
with merchandi.se, agricultural implements, etc., 
but this river trade gradually died out, ha\-ing 
been usurped by the various railroads. Fulton 
has extensive factories for the making of stoves, 
besides some important lumber industries. The 
Northern Illinois College is located here. Popu- 
lation (1890), 2.099; (1900). 2,68,5. 

FULTON COUNTY, situated west of and bor- 
dering on the Illinois River ; was originally a part 
of Pike County, but separately organized in 1823 
— named for Robert Fulton. It has an area of 870 
square miles with a population (1900) of 46,201. 
The soil is rich, well watered and wooded. Drain- 
age is effected by the Illinois and Spoon Rivers 
(the former constituting its eastern boundary) 
and by Copperas Creek. Lewistown became the 
county-seat immediately after county organi- 
zation, and so remains to the present time (1899). 
The surface of the county at a distance from the 



180 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



river is generally flat, although along the Illinois 
there are bluffs rising to tlie height of 125 feet. 
The soil is rich, and underlying it are rich, work- 
able seams of coal. A thin seam of cannel coal 
has been mined near Avon, with a contiguous 
vein of fire-clay. Some of the earliest settlers were 
Messrs. Craig and Savage, who, in 1818. built a 
saw inill on Otter Creek; Ossian M. Ross and 
Stephen Dewej-, who laid off Lewistown on his 
own land in 1823. The first hotel in the entire 
military tract was opened at Lewistown by Tru- 
man Phelps, in 1827. A flat-boat ferry across the 
Illinois was established at Havana, in 1833. The 
principal towns are Canton{pop.6,.564), Lewistown 
(2,166), Farmington (1,37.'5), and Vermont (1,158). 

FULTON COUNTY NARROW-GAUfciE RAIL- 
WAY, a line extending from the west bank of the 
Illinois River, opposite Havana, to Galesburg, 
61 miles. It is a single-track, narrow-gauge 
(3- foot) road, although the excavations and 
embankments are being widened to accommodate 
a track of standard gauge. The grades are few, 
and. as a rule, are light, although, in one instance, 
the gradient is eighty-four feet to the mile. 
There are more than 19 miles of curves, the maxi- 
mum being sixteen degrees. The rails are of 
iron, thirty-five pounds to the yard, road not 
ballasted. Capital stock outstanding (1895), 
$636,794; bonded debt, $484,000; miscellaneous 
obligations, §462,362; total capitalization, §1,583,- 
156. The line from Havana to Fairvievv (31 miles) 
was chartered in 1 878 and opened in 1880 and the 
extension from Fairview to Galesburg chartered 
in 1881 and opened in 1882. 

FUNK, Isaac, pioneer, was born in Clark 
County, Ky., Nov. 17, 1797; grew up with meager 
educational advantages and, in 1823, came to Illi- 
nois, finally settling at what afterwards became 
known as Funk's Grove in McLean County. 
Here, with no other capital than industry, per- 
severance, and integrity, Mr. Funk began laying 
the foundation of one of the most ample fortunes 
ever acquired in Illinois outside the domain of 
trade or speculation. By agriculture and dealing 
in live-stock, he became the possessor of a large 
area of the finest farming lands in the State, 
which he brought to a high state of cultivation, 
leaving an estate valued at his death at not less 
than $3,000,000. Mr. Funk served three sessions 
in the General Assembly, first as Representative 
in the Twelfth (1840-42), and as Senator in the 
Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth (1862-66), dying 
before the close of his last term, Jan. 29, 1865. 
Originally a Whig in politics, he became a Repub- 
lican on the organization of that party, and gave 



a liberal and patriotic support to the Government 
during the war for the preservation of the Union. 
During the session of the Twenty-third General 
Assembly, in February, 1863, he delivered a 
speech in the Senate in indignant condemnation 
of the policy of the anti-war factionists, which, 
although couched in homely language, aroused 
the enthusiasm of the friends of the Government 
throughout the State and won for its author a 
prominent place in State history. — Benjamin F. 
(Funk), son of the preceding, was born in Funk's 
Grove Township, McLean County, 111., Oct. 17, 
1838. After leaving the district schools, he 
entered the Wesleyan University at Blooming- 
ton, but suspended his studies to enter the army 
in 1863, enlisting as a private in the Sixty-eighth 
Illinois Volunteers. After five months' service 
he was honorably discharged, and re-entered the 
University, completing a three-years' course. 
For three years after graduation he followed 
farming as an avocation, and, in 1869, took up 
his residence at Bloomington. In 1871 he was 
chosen Mayor, and served seven consecutive 
terms. He was a delegate to the National 
Republican Convention of 1888, and was the suc- 
cessful candidate of that part}', in 1892, for Repre- 
sentative in Congress from the Fourteenth Illinois 
District. — Lafayette (Funk), another son of Isaac 
Funk, was a Representative from McLean County 
in the Thirtj- third General Assembly and Sena- 
tor in the Thirt3'-fourth and Thirty-fifth. Other 
sons who have occupied seats in the same body 
include George W., Representative in the Twenty- 
seventh, and Duncan M., Representative in the 
Fortieth and Forty-first Assemblies The Funk 
family have been conspicuous in the affairs of 
McLean County for a generation, and its mem- 
bers have occupied many other positions of im- 
portance and influence, besides those named, under 
the State, County and municipal governments. 

GAGE, Lyman J., Secretary of the Treasury, 
was born in De Ruyter. Madison County, N. Y., 
June 28, 1836 ; received a common school educa- 
tion in his native count}', and, on the removal of 
his parents, in 1848, to Rome, N. Y., enjoyed the 
advantages of instruction in an academy. At 
the age of 17 he entered the employment of the 
Oneida Central Bank as office-boy and general 
utility clerk, but, two years afterwards, came to 
Chicago, first securing employment in a planing 
mill, and, in 1858, obtaining a position as book- 
keeper of the Merchants' Loan and Trust Com- 
pany, at a salary of S500 a year. By 1861 he had 
been advanced to the position of cashier of the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



181 



concern, but, in 1868, he accepted the cashiership 
of the First National Bank of Chicago, of which 
he became the Vice-President in 1881 and, in 
1891, the President. Mr. Gage was also one of the 
prominent factors in securing the location of the 
World's Fair at Chicago, becoming one of the 
guarantors of the 810,000,000 promised to be raised 
by the city of Chicago, and being finally chosen 
the first President of the Exposition Company. 
He also presided over tlie bankers' section of the 
World's Congress Auxiliary in 1893, and, for a 
number of years, was President of the Civic Feder- 
ation of Chicago. On the assumption of the 
Presidency by President McKinley, in Marcli, 
1897, Mr. Gage was selected for the position of 
Secretary of the Treasury, which he has con- 
tinued to occupy up to the present time ( 1899). 

GALATIA, a village of Saline County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 40 miles southeast of 
Duquoin; has a bank; leading industry is coal- 
mining. Population (1890), 519; (1900), 64'3. 

GALE, George Washington, D.D., LL.D., 
clergyman and educator, was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., Dec. 3, 1789. Left an orphan at 
eight years of age, he fell to the care of older 
sisters who inherited the vigorous character of 
their father, which they instilled into the son. 
He graduated at Union College in 1814, and, hav- 
ing taken a course in the Theological Seminary 
at Princeton, in 1816 was licensed by the Hudson 
Presbytery and assumed the charge of building 
up new churches in Jefferson Coimty, N. Y., 
serving also for six years as pastor of the Presby- 
terian church at Adams. Here his labors were 
attended by a revival in which Charles G. Fin- 
ney, the eloquent evangelist, and other eminent 
men were converts. Having resigned his charge 
at Adams on account of illness, he spent the 
winter of 1833-24 in Virginia, where his views 
were enlarged by contact with a new class of 
people. Later, removing to Oneida County, 
N. Y., by his marriage with Harriet Selden he 
acquired a considerable property, insuring an 
income which enabled him to extend the field of 
his labors. The result was the establishment of 
the Oneida Institute, a manual labor school, at 
Whitesboro, with which he remained from 1827 
to 1834, and out of which grew Lane Seminary 
and Oberlin and Knox Colleges. In 1835 he con- 
ceived the idea of establishing a colony and an 
institution of learning in the West, and a com- 
mittee representing a party of proposed colonists 
was appointed to make a selection of a site, which 
resulted, in the following year, in the choice of 
a location in Knox County, 111., including the 



site of the present city of Galesburg, which was 
named in honor of Mr. Gale, as the head of the 
enterprise. Here, in 1837, were taken the first 
practical steps in carrying out plans which had 
been previously matured in New York, for the 
establishment of an institution which first 
received the name of Knox Manual Labor Col- 
lege. The manual labor feature having been 
finally discarded, the institution took the name 
of Knox College in 1857. Mr. Gale was the lead- 
ing promoter of the enterprise, by a liberal dona- 
tion of lands contributing to its first endowment, 
and, for nearly a quarter of a century, being 
intimately identified with its history. From 
1840 to '42 he served in the capacity of acting 
Professor of Ancient Languages, and, for fifteen 
years thereafter, as Professor of Moral Pliilosophy 
and Rhetoric. Died, at Galesburg, Sept. 31, 1861. 
— WllUam Selden (Gale), oldest son of the preced- 
ing, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., Feb. 
15, 1822, came with his father to Galesburg, 111., 
in 1836, and was educated there. Having read 
law with the Hon. James Knox, he was admitted 
to the bar in 1845, but practiced only a few years, 
as he began to turn his attention to measures for 
the development of the country. One of these 
was the Central Military Tract Railroad (now the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy), of which he was 
the most active promoter and a Director. He 
was also a member of the Board of Supervisors of 
Knox County, from the adoption of township 
organization in 1853 to 1895, with the exception 
of four years, and, during the long controversy 
which resulted in the location of the county-seat 
at Galesburg, was the leader of the Galesburg 
party, and subsequently took a prominent part 
in the erection of public buildings there. Other 
positions held by him include the office of Post- 
master of the city of Galesburg, 1849-53; member 
of the State Constitutional Convention of 1862, 
and Representative in the Twenty-sixth General 
Assembly (1870-72); Presidential Elector in 1872; 
Delegate to the National Republican Convention 
of 1880; City Alderman, 1872-82 and 1891-95; 
member of the Commission appointed by Gov- 
ernor Oglesby in 1885 to revise the State Revenue 
Laws; by appointment of President Harrison, 
Superintendent of the Galesburg Government 
Building, and a long term Trustee of the Illinois 
Hospital for the Insane at Rock Island, by 
appointment of Governor Altgeld. He has also 
been a frequent representative of his party 
(the Republican) in State and District Conven- 
tions, and, since 1861. has been an active and 
leading member of the Board of Trustees of 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Knox College. Mr. Gale was married, Oct. 6, 
1845, to Miss Caroline Ferris, granddaughter of 
the financial representative of the Galesburg 
Colony of 18?)6, and has had eight cliildren, of 
whom four are living. Died Sep. 1, 1000. 

GALENA,'the countj'-seat of Jo Daviess County, 
a city and port of entry, 150 miles In a direct line 
west by northwest of Chicago; is located on 
Galena River, about 4^{ miles above its junction 
with the Mississippi, and is an intersecting point 
for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the North- 
western, and the Illinois Central Railroads, with 
connections by stub witli the Chicago Great 
Western. It is built partially in a valley and 
partially on the bluffs which overlook the river, 
the Galena River being made navigable for ves- 
sels of deep draught by a system of lockage. The 
■vicinity abounds in rich mines of sulphide of lead 
(galena), from which the city takes its name. 
Galena is adorned by handsome public and priv- 
ate buildings and a beautiful park, in which 
stands a fine bronze statue of General Grant, and 
a symmetrical monument dedicated to the sol- 
diers and sailors of Jo Daviess County who lost 
their lives during the Civil War. Its industries 
include a furniture factory, a table factory, two 
foundries, a tub factory and a carriage factory. 
Zinc ore is now being produced in and near the 
city in large quantities, and its mining interests 
will become vast at no distant day. It owns an 
electric light plant, and water is furnished from 
an artesian well 1,700 feet deep. Galena was one 
of the earliest towns in Northern Illinois to be 
settled, its mines having been worked in the lat- 
ter part of the seventeenth century. Many men 
of distinction in State and National affairs came 
from Galena, among whom were Gen. U. S. 
Grant, Gen. John A. Rawlins, Gen. John E. 
Smith, Gen. John C. Smith, Gen. A. L. Chetlain, 
Gen. John O. Duer, Gen. W. R. Rowley, Gen. E. 
D. Baker, Hon. E. B. Washburne, Secretary of 
State under Grant, Hon. Thompson Campbell, 
Secretary of State of Illinois, and Judge Drum- 
mond. Population (1890), 5,635; (1900), 5,005. 

GALENA & CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD. 
(See Chicago ct Northwestern Railway.) 

GALESBURG, the county-seat of Knox County 
and an important educational center. The first 
settlers were emigrants from the East, a large pro- 
portion of them being members of a colony organ- 
ized by Rev. George W. Gale, of Whitesboro, 
N. Y., in whose honor the original village was 
named. It is situated in the heart of a rich 
agricultural district 53 miles northwest of Peoria, 
99 miles northeast of Quincy and 163 miles south- 



west of Chicago; is an important railway center, 
being at the junction of the main line with two 
branch lines of the Chicago, Burlington &. Quincy, 
and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroads. 
It was incorporated as a village in 1841, and as a 
city by special charter in 1857. There are beauti- 
ful parks and the residence streets are well 
shaded, while 25 miles of street are paved with 
vitrified brick. Tlie city owns a system of water- 
works receiving its supply from artesian wells 
and artificial lakes, has an efficient and well- 
equipped paid fire-department, an electric street 
car sy.stem with three suburban lines, gas and 
electric lighting systems, steam-heating plant, 
etc. It also has a number of flourishing mechan- 
ical industries, including two iron foundries, agri- 
cultural implement works, flouring mills, carriage 
and wagon works and a broom factory, besides 
other industrial enterprises of minor importance. 
The manufacture of vitrified paving brick is quite 
extensively carried on at plants near the city 
limits, the city itself being the shipping-point 
as well as the point of administrative control. 
Tlie Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad 
Company has shops and stockyards here, while 
considerable coal is mined in the vicinity. The 
public buildings include a courthouse. Govern- 
ment postoffice building, an opera house, nine- 
teen churches, ten public schools with a high 
school and free kindergarten, and a handsome 
public library building erected at a cost of SlOO,- 
000, of which one-half was contributed by Mr. 
Carnegie. Galesburg enjo5's its chief distinction 
as the seat of a large number of high class liter- 
ary institutions, including Knox College (non- 
sectarian). Lombard University (Universalist), 
and Corpus Christi Lyceum and University, and 
St. Joseph's Academy (both Roman Catholic). 
Tliree interurban electric railroad lines connect 
Galesburg with neighboring towns. Pop. (1890), 
15,264; (1900), 18,607. 

GALLATIN COUNTY, one of three counties 
organized in Illinois Territory in 1812 — the others 
being Madison and Johnson. Previous to that 
date the Territory had consisted of only two coun- 
ties, St. Clair and Randolph. The new county 
was named in honor of Albert Gallatin, then 
Secretary of the Treasury. It is situated on the 
Ohio and Wabash Rivers, in the extreme .south- 
eastern part of the State, and lias an area of 349 
square miles; population (1900) ").836. The first 
cabin erected by an American settler was the 
home of Michael Sprinkle, who settled at Shaw- 
neetown in 1800. The place early became an 
important trading post and distributing point. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



183 



A ferry across the Wabash was established in 
1803, by Alexander Wilson, whose descendants 
conducted it for more than seventy-five years. 
Although Stephen Rector made a Government 
survey as early as 1807, the public lands were not 
placed on the market until 1818. Shawneetown, 
the county-seat, is the most important town, 
having a population of some 3,200. Bituminous 
coal is found in large quantities, and mining is 
an important industry. The prosperity of the 
county has been much retarded by floods, particu- 
larly at Shawneetown and Equality. At the 
former point the difference between high and 
low water mark in the Ohio River has been as 
much as fifty-two feet. 

GALLOWAY, Andrew Jackson, civil engineer, 
was born of Scotch ancestry in Butler County, 
Pa., Dec. 21, 1814; came with his father to Cory- 
don, Ind. , in 1820, took a course in Hanover Col- 
lege, graduating as a civil engineer in 1837 ; then 
came to Mount Carmel, White County, 111., with 
a view to employment on projected Illinois rail- 
roads, but engaged in teaching for a year, having 
among his pupils a number who have since been 
prominent in State affairs. Later, he obtained 
employment as an assistant engineer, serving for 
a time under William Gooding, Chief Engineer of 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal; was also Assistant 
Enrolling and Engrossing Clerk of the State 
Senate in 1840-41, and held the same position in 
the House in 1846-47, and again in 1848-49, in the 
meantime having located a farm in La Salle 
County, where the present city of Streator stands. 
In 1849 he was appointed Secretary of the Canal 
Trustees, and, in 1851, became assistant engineer 
on the Illinois Central Railroad, later superin- 
tending its construction, and finally being trans- 
ferred to the land department, but retiring in 
1855 to engage in real-estate business in Chicago, 
dealing largely in railroad lands. Mr. Galloway 
was elected a County Commissioner for Cook 
County, and has since been connected with many 
measures of local importance. 

GALVA, a town in Henry County, 45 miles 
southeast of Rock Island and 48 miles north- 
northwest of Peoi'ia; the point of intersection of 
the Rock I.sland & Peoria and the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railways. It stands at the 
sviramit of tlie dividing ridge between the Missis- 
sippi and the Illinois Rivers, and is a manufac- 
turing and coal-mining town. It has eight 
churclies, three banks, good schools, and two 
weekly newspapers. The surrounding country 
is agricultural and wealthy, and is rich in coal. 
Population (1890), 2,409; (1900), 2,682. 



GARUXER, a village in Garfield Township, 
Grundy County, on the Cliicago & Alton Rail- 
road, 65 miles soutli-southwest of Chicago and 26 
miles north-northeast of Pontiac; on the Kanka- 
kee and Seneca branch of the "Big Four, " and 
the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern R. R. Coal-mining 
is the principal industry. Gardner has two 
banks, four churches, a high school, and a weekly 
paper. Population (1890), 1,094; (1900), 1,036. 

GARDNER, COAL CITY & NORMANTOWN 
RAILWAY. (See Elgin, Joliet <fc Eastern Rail- 
way. ) 

GARY, Joseph Easton, lawyer and jurist, waJ 
born of Puritan ancestry, at Potsdam, St. Law- 
rence County, N. Y., July 9, 1831. His early 
educational advantages were such as were fur- 
nished by district schools and a village academy, 
and, until he was 22 years old, he %vorked at the 
carpenter's bench. In 1843 he removed to St. 
Louis, Mo., where he studied law. After admis- 
sion to the bar, he practiced for five years in 
Southwest Missouri, thence going to Las Vegas, 
N. M., in 1849, and to San Francisco, Cal., in 
1853. In 1856 he settled in Chicago, where he 
has since resided. After seven years of active 
practice he was elected to the bench of the 
Superior Court of Cook County, where he has sat 
for thirty years, being four times nominated by 
both political parties, and his last re-election — for 
a term of six years, occurring in 1893. He pre- 
sided at the trial of the Chicago anarchists in 
1886 — one of the causes celebres of Illinois. Some 
of his rulings therein were sharply criticised, but 
he was upheld by the courts of appellate jurisdic- 
tion, and his connection with the case lias given 
him world-wide fame. In November, 1888, the 
Supreme Court of Illinois transferred him to the 
bench of the Appellate Court, of which tribunal 
he has been three times Chief Justice. 

GASSETTE, Norman Theodore, real estate 
operator, wasbornatTownsend.Vt., April 31, 1839, 
came to Chicago at ten years of age, and, after 
spending a j'ear at Shurtleff College, took a prepar- 
atory collegiate course at the Atwater Institute, 
Rochester, N. Y. In June, 1861, he enlisted as 
a private in the Nineteenth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers, rising in the second year to the rank 
of First Lieutenant, and, at the battle of Chicka- 
mauga, by gallantry displaj'ed while serving as 
an Aid-de-Camp, winning a recommendation 
for a brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy. The war 
over, he served one term as Clerk of the Circuit 
Court and Recorder, but later engaged in the real- 
estate and loan business as the head of the exten- 
sive firm of Norman T. Cassette & Co. He was s^ 



184 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Republican in politics, active in Grand Army 
circles and prominent as a Mason, holding the 
position of Eminent Grand Commander of 
Knights Templar of Illinois on occasion of the 
Triennial Conclave in Washington in 1889. He 
also had charge, as President of the Masonic 
Fraternity Temple Association of Chicago, for 
some time prior to his decease, of the erection of 
the Masonic Temple of Chicago. Died, in Chi- 
cago, March 26, 1891. 

GATEWOOD, William Jefferson, early lawyer, 
was born in Warren County, Ky. , came to 
Franklin County, 111., in boyhood, removed to 
Shawneeto'mi in 1823, where he taught school 
two or three years while studying law; was 
admitted to the bar in 1828, and served in five 
General Assemblies — as Representative in 1830-32, 
and as Senator, 1834-42. He is described as a man 
of fine education and brilliant talents. Died, 
Jan. 8, 1842. 

GAULT, John C, railway manager, was born 
at Hooksett, N. H., May 1, 1829; in 1850 entered 
the local freight ofiice of the Manchester & Law- 
rence Railroad, later becoming General Freight 
Agent of the Vermont Central. Coming to Chi- 
cago in 1859, he successively filled the positions 
of Superintendent of Transportation on the 
Galena & Chicago Union, and (after the consoli- 
dation of the latter with the Chicago & North- 
western), that of Division Superintendent, 
General Freight Agent and Assistant General 
Manager; Assistant General Manager of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; General Mana- 
ger of the Wabash (1879-83) ; Arbitrator for the 
trunk lines (1883-85), and General Manager of 
the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific 
(1885-90), when he retired. Died, in Chicago, 
August 29, 1891. 

GENERAL ASSEMBLIES. The following is a 
list of the General Assemblies which have met 
since the admission of Illinois as a State up to 
1898 — from the First to the Fortieth inclusive — 
with the more important acts passed by each and 
the duration of their respective sessions: 

First General Assembly held two sessions, 
the first convening at Kaskaskia, the State Capi- 
tal, Oct. 5, and adjourning Oct. 13, 1818. The 
second met, Jan. 4, 1819, continuing to March 31. 
Lieut-Gov. Pierre Menard presided over the Sen- 
ate, consisting of thirteen members, while John 
Messinger was chosen Speaker of the House, 
containing twenty-seven members. The most 
important business transacted at the first session 
was the election of two United States Senators — 
Ninian Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas, Sr.— and 



the filling of minor State and judicial ofiBces. At 
the second session a code of laws was enacted, 
copied chiefly from the Virginia and Kentucky 
statutes, including the law concerning "negroes 
and mulattoes," which long remained on the 
statute book. An act was also passed appointing 
Commissioners to select a site for a new State 
Capital, which resulted in its location at Van- 
dalia. The sessions were held in a stone building 
with gambrel-roof pierced by dormer-windows, 
the Senate occupying the lower floor and the 
House the upper. The length of the first session 
was nine days, and of the second eighty-seven — 
total, ninety -six days. 

Second General Assembly convened at Van- 
dalia, Dec. 4, 1830. It consisted of fourteen 
Senators and twenty-nine Representatives. John 
McLean, of Gallatin County, was chosen Speaker 
of the House. A leading topic of discussion was 
the incorporation of a State Bank. Money was 
scarce and there was a strong popular demand 
for an increase of circulating medium. To 
appease this clamor, no less than to relieve traders 
and agriculturists, this General Assembly estab- 
lished a State Bank (see State Bank), despite 
the earnest protest of McLean and the executive 
veto. A stay-law was also enacted at this session 
for the benefit of the debtor class. The number 
of members of the next Legislature was fixed at 
eighteen Senators and thirty-six Representatives 
— this provision remaining in force until 1831. 
The session ended Feb. 15, having lasted seventy- 
four days. 

Third General Assembly convened, Dec. 2, 

1822. Lieutenant-Governor Hubbard presided in 
the Senate, while in the organization of the 
lower house, WilHam M. Alexander was chosen 
Speaker. Governor Coles, in his inaugural, 
called attention to the existence of slavery in 
Illinois despite the Ordinance of 1787, and urged 
the adoption of repressive measures. Both 
branches of the Legislature being pro-slavery in 
sympathy, the Governor's address provoked 
bitter and determined opposition. On Jan. 9, 

1823, Jesse B. Thomas was re-elected United 
States Senator, defeating John Reynolds, Leonard 
White and Samuel D. Lookwood. After electing 
Mr. Thomas and choosing State oflScers, the 
General Assembly proceeded to discuss the major- 
ity and minority reports of the committee to 
which had been referred the Governor's address. 
The minority report recommended the abolition 
of slavery, while that of the majority favored 
the adoption of a resolution calling a convention 
to amend the Constitution, the avowed object 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



185 



being to make Illinois a slave State. The latter 
report was adopted, but the pro-slavery party in 
the House lacked one vote of the number neces- 
sary to carry the resolution by the constitutional 
two-thirds majority. What followed has always 
been regarded as a blot upon the record of the 
Third General Assembly. Nicholas Hansen, who 
had been awarded the seat from Pike County 
at the beginning of the session after a contest 
brought by his opponent, John Shaw, was un- 
seated after the adoption of a resolution to 
reconsider the vote by which he had been several 
weeks before declared elected. Shaw having 
thus been seated, the resolution was carried by 
the necessary twenty-four votes. Mr. Hansen, 
although previously regarded as a pro-slavery 
man, had voted with the minority when the 
resolution was first put upon its passage. Hence 
followed his deprivation of his seat. The triumph 
of the friends of the convention was celebrated 
by what Gov. John Reynolds (himself a conven- 
tionist) characterized as "a wild and indecorous 
procession by torchlight and liquor." (See 
Slavery and Slave Laivs.) The session adjourned 
Feb. 18, having continued seventy-nine days. 

Fourth General Assembly. This body held 
two sessions, the first being convened, Nov. 15, 
1824, by proclamation of the Executive, some 
three weeks before the date for the regular 
session, in order to correct a defect in the law 
relative to counting the returns for Presidential 
Electors. Thomas Mather was elected Speaker 
of the House, while Lieutenant-Governor Hub- 
bard presided in the Senate. Having amended 
the law concerning the election returns for Presi- 
dential Electors, the Assembly proceeded to the 
election of two United States Senators — one to 
fill the unexpired term of ex-Senator Edwards 
(resigned) and the other for the full term begin- 
ning March 4, 1825. John McLean was chosen 
for the first and Elias Kent Kane for the second. 
Five circuit judgeships were created, and it was 
provided that the bench of the Supreme Court 
should consist of four Judges, and that semi- 
annual sessions of that tribunal should be held at 
the State capital. (See Judicial Department.) 
The regular session came to an end, Jan. 18, 1825, 
but at its own request, the Lieutenant-Governor 
and acting Governor Hubbard re-convened the 
body in special session on Jan. 3, 1836, to enact a 
new apportionment law under the census of 1825. 
A sine die adjournment was taken, Jan. 28, 1826. 
One of tlie important acts of the regular session 
of 1835 was the adoption of the first free-school 
law in Ilhnois, the measure having been intro- 



duced by Joseph Duncan, afterwards Governor of 
the State. This Legislature was in session a total 
of ninety-two days, of which sixty-five were 
during the first session and twenty-seven during 
the second. 

Fifth General Assembly convened, Dec. 4, 
1836, Lieutenant-Governor Kinney presiding in 
the Senate and John McLean in the House. At 
the request of the Governor an investigation into 
the management of the bank at Edwardsville was 
had, resulting, however, in the exoneration of its 
officers. The circuit judgeships created by the 
preceding Legislature were abrogated and their 
incumbents legislated out of office. The State 
was divided into four circuits, one Justice of the 
Supreme Court being assigned to each. (See 
Judicial Department.) This General Assembly 
also elected a State Treasurer to succeed Abner 
Field, James Hall being chosen on the ninth 
ballot. The Supreme Court Judges, as directed 
by the preceding Legislature, presented a well 
digested report on the revision of the laws, which 
was adopted without material alteration. One of 
the important measures enacted at this session 
was an act establishing a State penitentiary, the 
funds for its erection being obtained by the 
sale of saline lands in Gallatin County. (See 
Alton Penitentiary; also Salt Manufacture.) 
The session ended Feb. 19 — having continued 
seventy-eight days. 

Sixth General Assembly convened, Deo. 1, 
1828. The Jackson Democrats had a large major- 
ity in both houses. John McLean was, for the 
third time, elected Speaker of the House, and, 
later in the session, was elected United States 
Senator by a unanimous vote. A Secretary of 
State, Treasurer and Attorney-General were also 
appointed or elected. The most important legis- 
lation of the session was as follows : Authorizing 
the sale of school lands and the borrowing of the 
proceeds from the school fund for the ordinary 
governmental expenses; providing for a return 
to the viva voce method of voting; creating a 
fifth judicial circuit and appointing a Judge 
therefor ; providing for the appointment of Com- 
missioners to determine upon the route of the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal, to sell lands and com- 
mence its construction. The Assembly adjourned, 
Jan. 23, 1839, having been in session fifty-four days. 

Seventh General Assembly met, Dec. 6, 1830. 
The newlj'-elected Lieutenant-Governor, Zadoc 
Casey, and William L. D. Ewing presided 
over the two houses, respectively. John Rey- 
nolds was Governor, and, the majority of the 
Senate being nciade up of his political adversaries, 



186 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



experienced no little difficulty in securing the 
confirmation of his nominees. Two United 
States Senators were elected: Elias K. Kane 
being chosen to succeed himself and John M. 
Robinson to serve the unexpired term of John 
McLean, deceased. The United States census of 
1830 gave Illinois three Representatives in Con- 
gress instead of one, and tliis General Assembly 
passed a re-apportionment law accordingly. The 
number of State Senators was increased to 
twenty-six, and of members of the lower house 
to fifty-five. The criminal code was amended by 
the substitution of imprisonment in the peni- 
tentiary as a penalty in lieu of the stocks and 
public flogging. This Legislature also authorized 
the borrowing of §100,000 to redeem the notes of 
the State Bank %vhich were to mature the follow- 
ing year. The Assembly adjourned, Feb. 16, 1831, 
the session having lasted seventy-three days. 

Eighth General Assembly. The session 
began Dec. 3, 1833, and ended March 3, 1833. 
William L. D. Ewing was chosen President pro 
tempore of the Senate, and succeeded Zadoc 
Casey as Lieutenant-Governor, the latter having 
been elected a Representative in Congress. 
Alexander M. Jenkins presided over the House as 
Speaker. This Legislature enacted the first gen- 
eral incorporation laws of Illinois, their provisions 
being applicable to towns and public libraries. 
It also incorporated several railroad companies, 
— one line from Lake Michigan to the lUinoia 
River (projected as a substitute for the canal), 
one from Peru to Cairo, and another to cross the 
State, running through Springfield. Other char- 
ters were granted for shorter lines, but the incor- 
porators generally failed to organize under them. 
A notable iuci dent in connection with this session 
was the attempt to impeach Theophilus W. Smith, 
a Justice of the Supreme Court. This was the first 
and last trial of this character in the State's his- 
tory, between 1818 and 1899. Failing to secure a 
conviction in the Senate (where the vote stood 
twelve for conviction and ten for acquittal, with 
four Senators excused from voting), the House 
attempted to remove him by address, but in this 
the Senate refused to concur. The first mechan- 
ics' lien law was enacted by this Legislature, 
as also a law relating to the "right of way" for 
"public roads, canals, or other public works." 
The length of the session was ninety days. 

Ninth General Assembly. This Legislature 
held two sessions. The first began Dec. 1, 1834, 
and lasted to Feb. 13, 183.5. Lieutenant-Governor 
Jenkins presided in the Senate and James Semple 
was elected Speaker of the House without oppo- 



sition. On Dec. 20, John M. Robinson was re- 
elected United States Senator Abraham Lincoln 
was among the new members, but took no con- 
spicuous part in the discussions of the body. The 
principal public laws passed at this session were: 
Providing for the borrowing of §500,000 to be 
used in the construction of the Illinois & Michi- 
gan Canal and the appointment of a Board of 
Commissioners to supervise its expenditure; 
incorporating the Bank of the State of Illinois; 
and authorizing a loan of §12,000 by Cook County, 
at 10 per cent interest per annum from the 
county school fund, for the erection of a court 
house in that county. The second session of this 
Assembly convened, Dec. 7, 1835, adjourning, Jan. 
18, 1836. A new canal act was passed, enlarging 
the Commissioners' powers and pledging the faith 
of the State for the repayment of money bor- 
rowed to aid in its construction. A new appor- 
tionment law was also passed providing for the 
election of forty-one Senators and ninety-one 
Representatives, and W. L. D. Ewing was elected 
United States Senator, to succeed Elias K. Kane, 
deceased. The length of the first session was 
seventy-five daj's, and of the second forty -three 
days — total, 118. 

Tenth General Assembly, like its predeces- 
sor, held two sessions. The first convened Dec. 5, 
1836, and adjourned March 6, 1837. The Whigs 
controlled the Senate by a large majority, and 
elected William H. Davidson, of White County, 
President, to succeed Alexander M. Jenkins, who 
had resigned the Lieutenant-Governorship. (See 
Jenkins, Alexander M. ) James Semple was 
re-elected Speaker of the House, which was 
fully two-thirds Democratic. Tliis Legislature 
was remarkable for the number of its members 
who afterwards attained National prominence. 
Lincoln and Douglas sat in the lower house, both 
voting for the same candidate for Speaker — New- 
ton Cloud, an independent Democrat. Besides 
these, the rolls of this Assembly included the 
names of a future Governor, six future United 
States Senators, eight Congressmen, three Illinois 
Supreme Court Judges, seven State officers, and 
a Cabinet officer. The two absorbing topics for 
legislative discussion and action were the system 
of internal improvements and the removal of the 
State capital. (.See Internal Improvement Policy 
and State Capitals. ) The friends of Springfield 
finally effected such a combination that that city 
was selected as the seat of the State government, 
wliile the Internal Improvement Act was passed 
over the veto of Governor Duncan. A second 
session of tliis Legislature met on the call of the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



is: 



Governor, July 10, 1837, and adjourned July 23. 
An act legalizing the suspension of State banks 
was adopted, but the recommendation of the Gov- 
ernor for the repeal of the internal improvement 
legislation was ignored. The length of the first 
session was ninetj'-two days and of the second 
thirteen — total 105. 

Eleventh General Assembly. This body 
held both a regular and a special session. The 
former met Dec. 3, 1838, and adjourned March 4, 
1839. The Whigs were in a majority in both 
houses, and controlled the organization of the 
Senate. In the House, however, their candidate 
for Speaker — Abraham Lincoln— failing to secure 
his full party vote, was defeated by W. L. D. 
Ewing. At this session 6800,000 more was appro- 
priated for the "improvement of water-ways and 
the construction of railroads, " all efforts to put an 
end to, or even curtail, further expenditures on 
account of internal improvements meeting with 
defeat. An appropriation (the first) was made 
for a library for the Supreme Court ; the Illinois 
Institution for the Education of the Deaf and 
Dumb was established, and the further issuance 
of bank notes of a smaller denomination than §5 
was prohibited. Bj' this time the State debt had 
increased to over §13,000,000, and both the people 
and the Governor were becoming apprehensive as 
to ultimate results of this prodigal outlay. A 
crisis appeared imminent, and the Governor, on 
Dec. 9, 1839, convened tlie Legislature in special 
session to consider the situation. (This was the 
first session ever held at Springfield ; and, the new 
State House not being completed, the Senate, the 
House and the Supreme Court found accommo- 
dation in three of the principal church edifices.) 
The struggle for a change of State policy at this 
session was long and hard fought, no heed being 
given to party lines. The outcome was the vir- 
tual abrogation of the entire internal improve- 
ment system. Provision was made for the calling 
in and destruction of all unsold bonds and the 
speedy adjustment of all unsettled accounts of 
the old Board of Public Works, wliich was legis- 
lated out of office. The special session adjourned 
Feb. 3, 1840. Length of regular session ninety- 
two days, of the special, fifty-seven — total, 149. 

Twelfth General Assembly. This Legisla- 
ture was strongly Democratic in both branches. 
It first convened, by executive proclamation, 
Nov. 33, 1840, the object being to provide for pay- 
ment of interest on the public debt. In reference 
to this matter the following enactments were 
made: Authorizing the hypothecation of 3300,000 
ititemal improvement bonds, to meet the interest 



due Jan. 1, 1841; directing the issue of bonds to 
be sold in the open market and the proceeds 
applied toward discharging all amounts due on 
interest account for which no other provision was 
made ; levying a special tax of ten cents on the 
§100 to meet the interest on the last mentioned 
class of bonds, as it matured. For the comple- 
tion of the Northern Cross Railroad (from Spring- 
field to Jacksonville) another appropriation of 
§100,000 was made. The called session adjourned, 
sine die, on Dec. 5, and the regular session began 
two days later. The Senate was presided over by 
the Lieutenant-Governor (Stinson H. Anderson), 
and William L. D. Ewing was chosen Speaker of 
the House. The most vital issue was the propri- 
ety of demanding the surrender of the charter of 
the State Bank, with its branches, and here 
party lines were drawn. The Whigs finally 
succeeded in averting the closing of the institu- 
tions which had suspended specie payments, and 
in securing for those institutions the privilege of 
issuing small bills. A law reorganizing the judi- 
ciary was passed by the majority over the execu- 
tive veto, and in face of the defection of some of 
its members. On a partisan issue all the Circuit 
Judges were legislated out of office and five Jus- 
tices added to the bench of the Supreme Court. 
The session was stormy, and the Assembly ad- 
journed March 1, 1841. This Legislature was in 
session ninety-eight days — thirteen during the 
special session and eighty-five during the regular. 
Thirteenth General Assembly consisted of 
forty-one Senators and 121 Representatives ; con- 
vened, Dec. 5, 1843. Tlie Senate and House were 
Democratic by two-thirds majority in each. 
Lieut. -Gov. John Moore was presiding officer of 
the Senate and Samuel Haokelton Speaker of the 
House, with W. L. D. Ewing, who had been 
acting Governor and United States Senator, as 
Clerk of the latter. Richard Yates, Isaac N, 
Arnold, Steplien T. Logan and Gustavus Koerner, 
were among the new members. The existing 
situation seemed fraught with peril. The State 
debt was nearly §14,000,000; immigration had 
been checked ; the State and Shawneetovvn banks 
had gone down and their currency was not worth 
fifty cents on the dollar ; Auditor's warrants were 
worth no more, and Illinois State bonds were 
quoted at fourteen cents. On Dec. 18, Judge 
Sidney Breese was elected United States Senator, 
having defeated Stephen A. Douglas for the 
Democratic caucus nomination, on the nineteenth 
ballot, by a majority of one vote. Tlie State 
Bank (in which the State had been a large share- 
holder) was permitted to go into liquidation upon 



188 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the surrender of State bonds in exchange for a 
like amount of bank stock owned by the State. 
Tlie same conditional release was granted to tlie 
bank at Shawneetown. The net result was a 
reduction of the State debt by about §3,000,000. 
The Governor was authorized to negotiate a 
loan of $1,600,000 on the credit of the State, for 
the purpose of prosecuting the work on the canal 
and meeting the indebtedness already incurred. 
The Executive was also made sole "Fund Com- 
missioner" and, in that capacity, was empowered 
(in connection with the Auditor) to sell the 
railroads, etc., belonging to the State at public 
auction. Provision was also made for the redemp- 
tion of the bonds hypothecated with Macalister 
and Stebbins. (See Macalister and Stebbins 
Bonds.) The Congressional distribution of the 
moneys arising from the sale of public lands was 
acquiesced in, and the revenues and resources of 
the State were pledged to the redemption "of 
every debt contracted by an authorized agent for a 
good and valuable consideration." To establish 
a sinking fund to meet such obligation, a tax of 
twenty cents on every §100, payable in coin, was 
levied. This Legislature also made a re-appor- 
tionment of the State into Seven Congressional 
Districts. The Legislatirre adjourned, March 6, 
1843, after a session of ninety-two days. 

Fourteenth General Assembly convened 
Dec. 3, 1844, and adjourned March 3, 1845, the ses- 
sion lasting ninety-two days. The Senate was 
composed of twenty-six Democrats and fifteen 
Whigs; the House of eighty Democrats and 
thirty-nine Whigs. David Davis was among the 
new members. William A. Richardson defeated 
Stephen T. Logan for the Speakership, and James 
Semple was elected United States Senator to suc- 
ceed Samuel McRoberts, deceased. The canal 
law was amended by the passage of a supple- 
mental act, transferring the property to Trustees 
and empowering the Governor to complete the 
negotiations for the borrowing of §1,600,000 for 
its construction. The State revenue being in- 
sufficient to meet the ordinary expenses of the 
government, to say nothing of the arrears of 
interest on the State debt, a tax of three mills on 
each dollar's worth of property was imposed for 
1845 and of three and one-half mills thereafter. 
Of the revenue thus raised in 1845, one mill was 
set apart to pay the interest on the State debt 
and one and one-half mills for tlie same purpose 
from the taxes collected in 1840 "and forever 
thereafter." 

Fifteenth General Assembly convened Dec. 
7, 1846. The farewell message of Governor Ford 



and the inaugural of Governor French were lead- 
ing incidents. The Democrats had a two-thirds 
majority in each house. Lieut. -Gov. Joseph B. 
Wells presided in the Senate, and Newton Cloud 
was elected Speaker of the House, the compli- 
mentary vote of the Whigs being given to Stephen 
T. Logan. Stephen A. Douglas was elected 
United States Senator, the whigs voting for Cyrus 
Edwards. State officers were elected as follows: 
Auditor, Thomas H. Campbell; State Treasurer, 
Milton Carpenter — both by acclamation; and 
Horace S Cooley was nominated and confirmed 
Secretary of State. A new school law was 
enacted ; the sale of the Gallatin County salines 
was authorized ; the University of Chicago was 
incorporated, and the Hospital for the Insane at 
Jacksonville established; the sale of the North- 
ern Cross Railroad was authorized; District 
Courts were established ; and provision was made 
for refunding the State debt. The Assembly 
adjourned, March 1, 1847, after a session of 
eighty-five days. 

Sixteenth General Assembly. This was the 
first Legislature to convene under the Constitu- 
tion of 1847. There were twenty-five members 
in the Senate and seventy-five in the House. 
The body assembled on Jan. 1, 1849, continu- 
ing in session until Feb. 12 — the session being 
limited by the Constitution to six weeks. Zadoc 
Casey was chosen Speaker, defeating Richard 
Yates by a vote of forty-six to nineteen. After 
endorsing the policy of the administration in 
reference to the Mexican W^ar and thanking the 
soldiers, the Assembly proceeded to the election 
of United States Senator to succeed Sidney 
Breese. The choice fell upon Gen. James Shields, 
the other caucus candidates being Breese and 
McClernand, while Gen. William F. Thornton led 
the forlorn hope for the Whigs. The principle of 
the Wilmot proviso was endorsed. The Governor 
convened the Legislature in special session on 
Oct. 32. A question as to the eligibility of Gen. 
Shields having arisen (growing out of his nativity 
and naturalization), and the legal obstacles hav- 
ing been removed by the lapse of time, he was 
re-elected Senator at the special session. Outside 
of the passage of a general law authorizing the 
incorporation of railroads, little general legisla- 
tion was enacted. The special session adjourned 
Nov. 7. Length of regular session forty-three 
days ; special, seventeen — total sixty. 

Seventeenth General Assembly convened 
Jan. 6, 1851, adjourned Feb. 17 — length of 
session forty-three days. Sidney Breese (ex- 
Senator) was chosen Speaker. The session was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



189 



characterized by a vast amount of legislation, not 
all of which was well considered. By joint reso- 
lution of both houses the endorsement of the 
Wilmot proviso at the previous session was 
rescinded. The first homestead exemption act 
was passed, and a stringent liquor law adopted, 
the sale of liquor in quantities less than one quart 
being prohibited. Township organization was 
authorized and what was virtually free-banking 
was sanctioned. The latter law was ratified by 
popular vote in November, 1851. An act incorpo- 
rating the Illinois Central Railroad was also 
passed at this session, the measure being drafted 
by James L. D. Morrison. A special session of 
this Assembly was held in 1852 under a call by 
the Governor, lasting from June 7 to the 23d — 
seventeen days. The most important general 
legislation of the special session was the reappor- 
tionment of the State into nine Congressional 
Districts. This Legislature was in session a total 
of sixty days. 

Eighteenth General Assembly. The first 
(or regular) session convened Jan. 3, 1853, and 
adjourned Feb. 14. The Senate was composed of 
twenty Democrats and five Whigs; the House, of 
fifty-nine Democrats, sixteen Whigs and one 
"Free-Soiler. " Lieutenant-Governor Koerner 
presided in the upper, and ex-Gov. John Reynolds 
in the lower house. Governor Matteson was 
inaugurated on the 16th ; Stephen A. Douglas was 
re-elected United States Senator, Jan. 5, the 
Whigs casting a complimentary vote for Joseph 
Gillespie. More than 450 laws were enacted, the 
majority being "private acts." The prohibitory 
temperance legislation of the preceding General 
Assembly was repealed and the license system 
re-enacted. This body also passed the famous 
"black laws" designed to prevent the immigration 
of free negroes into the State. The sum of 
$18,000 was appropriated for the erection and 
furnishing of an executive mansion; the State 
Agricultural Society was incorporated; the re- 
mainder of the State lands was ordered sold, and 
any surplus funds in the treasury appropriated 
toward reducing the State debt. A special session 
was convened on Feb. 9, 1854, and adjourned 
March 4. The most important measures adopted 
were : a legislative re-apportionment, an act pro- 
viding for the election of a Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, and a charter for the Missis- 
sippi & Atlantic Railroad. The regular session 
lasted forty-three days, the special twenty-four 
— total, sixty-seven. 

Nineteenth General Assembly met Jan. 1, 
1855, and adjourned Feb. 15 — the session lasting 



forty-six days. Thomas J. Turner was elected 
Speaker of the House. The political complexion 
of the Legislature was much mixed, among the 
members being old-line Whigs, Abolitionists, 
Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, Pro-slavery Demo- 
crats and Anti-Nebraska Democrats. Tlie 
Nebraska question was the leading issue, and in 
reference tliereto the Senate stood fourteen 
Nebraska members and eleven anti-Nebraska ; the 
House, thirty-four straight-out Democrats, while 
the entire strength of the opposition was forty- 
one. A United States Senator was to be chosen 
to succeed Gen. James Shields, and the friends of 
free-soil had a clear majority of four on joint 
ballot. Abraham Lincoln was the caucus nomi- 
nee of the Whigs, and General Shields of the Demo- 
crats. The two houses met in joint session Feb. 8. 
Tlie result of the first ballot was, Lincoln, forty- 
five; Shields, forty-one; scattering, thirteen; 
present, but not voting, one. Mr. Lincoln's 
strength steadily waned, then rallied slightly on 
the sixth and seventh ballots, but again declined. 
Shields' forty-one votes rising on the flftli ballot 
to forty-two, but having dropped on the next 
ballot to forty-one, his name was withdrawn and 
that of Gov. Joel A. Matteson substituted. Mat- 
teson gained until he received forty-seven votes, 
which was the limit of his strength. On the 
ninth ballot, Loncoln's vote having dropped to 
fifteen, his name was withdrawn at his own 
request, his support going, on the next ballot, to 
Lyman Trumbull, an anti-Nebraska Democrat, 
who received fifty-one votes to forty-seven for 
Matteson and one for Archibald Williams — one 
member not voting. Trumbull, having received 
a majority, was elected. Five members had 
voted for him from the start. These were Sena- 
tors John M. Palmer, Norman B. Judd and Burton 
C. Cook, and Representatives Henry S. Baker and 
George T. Allen. It had been hoped that they 
would, in time, come to the support of Mr. Lin- 
coln, but they explained that they had been 
instructed by their constituents to vote only for 
an anti-Nebraska Democrat. They were all sub- 
sequently prominent leaders in the Republican 
party. Having inaugurated its work by accom- 
plishing a political revolution, this Legislature 
proceeded to adopt several measures more or less 
radical in their tendency. One of these was the 
Maine liquor law, with the condition that it be 
submitted to popular vote. It failed of ratifica- 
tion by vote of the people at an election held in 
the following June. A new common school law 
was enacted, and railroads were required to fence 
their tracks. The Assembly also adopted a reso- 



190 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



lution calling for a Convention to amend the Con- 
stitution, but this was defeated at the polls. 

Twentieth General Assembly convened Jan. 
5, 1857, and adjourned, sine die. Feb. 19. A 
Republican State administration, with Governor 
Bissell at its head, had just been elected, but the 
Legislature was Democratic in both branches. 
Lieut. -Gov. John Wood presided over the Senate, 
and Samuel Holmes, of Adams County, defeated 
Isaac N. Arnold, of Cook, for the Speakership of 
the House. Among the prominent members were 
Norman B. Judd, of Cook; A. J. Kuykendall, of 
Johnson ; Shelby M. Cullom, of Sangamon ; John 
A. Logan, of Jackson; William R. Morrison, of 
Monroe ; Isaac N. Arnold, of Cook ; Joseph Gilles- 
pie, of Madison, and S. W. Moulton, of Shelby. 
Among the important measures enacted by this 
General Assembly were the following: Acts 
establishing and maintaining free schools; estab- 
lishing a Normal University at Normal ; amending 
the banking law ; providing for the general incor- 
poration of railroads ; providing for the building 
of a new penitentiary ; and funding the accrued 
arrears of interest on the public debt. Length of 
session, forty-six days. 

Twenty-first General Assembly convened 
Jan. 3, 1859, and was in session for fifty-three 
days, adjourning Feb. 24. The Senate consisted 
of twenty-five, and the House of seventy-five 
members. The presiding officers were: — of the 
Senate, Lieut. -Gov. Wood; of the House, W. R. 
Morrison, of Monroe County, who defeated his 
Republican opponent. Vital Jarrot, of St. Clair, 
on a viva voce vote. Tlie Governor's message 
showed a reduction of 81, 106,877 in the State debt 
during two years preceding, leaving a balance of 
principal and arrears of interest amounting to 
$11,138,4.54. On Jan. 6, 1859, the A.ssembly, in 
joint session, elected Stephen A. Douglas to suc- 
ceed himself as United States Senator, by a vote 
of fifty-four to forty-six for Abraham Lincoln. 
The Legislature was thrown into great disorder 
in consequence of an attempt to prevent the 
receipt from the Governor of a veto of a legisla- 
tive apportionment bill which had been passed by 
the Democratic majority in the face of bitter 
opposition on the part of the Republicans, who 
denounced it as partisan and unjust. 

Twenty-second General Assembly convened 
in regular session on Jan. 7, 1861, consisting of 
twenty-five Senators and seventy-five Represent- 
atives. For the first time in the State's history, 
the Democrats failed to control the organization 
of either house. Lieut. -Gov. Francis A. Hoffman 
presided over the Senate, and S. M. Cullom, of 



Sangamon, was chosen Speaker of the House, the 
Democratic candidate being James W. Singleton. 
Thomas A. Marshall, of Coles County, was elected 
President pro tem. of the Senate over A. J. Kuy- 
kendall, of Johnson. The message of the retiring 
Governor (John Wood) reported a reduction of 
the State debt, during four years of Republican 
administration, of §3,860,403, and showed the 
number of banks to be 110, whose aggregate cir- 
culation was 812,320,964. Lyman Trumbull was 
re-elected L^nited States Senator on January 10. 
receiving fiftj'-four votes, to forty-six cast for 
Samuel S. Marshall. Governor Yates was inau- 
gurated, Jan. 14. The most important legislation 
of this session related to the following subjects : 
the separate property rights of married women ; 
the encouragement of mining and the support of 
public schools ; the paj-ment of certain evidences 
of State indebtedness ; protection of the purity of 
the ballot-box, and a resolution submitting to the 
people the question of the calling of a Convention 
to amend the Constitution. Joint resolutions were 
passed relative to the death of Governor Bissell ; 
to the appointment of Commissioners to attend a 
Peace Conference in Washington, and referring 
to federal relations. The latter deprecated 
amendments to the United States Constitution, but 
expressed a willingness to unite with any States 
which might consider themselves aggrieved, 
in petitioning Congress to call a convention 
for the consideration of such amendments, at the 
same time pledging the entire resources of Illi- 
nois to the National Government for the preser- 
vation of the Union and the enforcement of the 
laws. The regular session ended Feb. 23, having 
lasted forty-seven days. — Immediately following 
President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to 
suppress the rebellion. Governor Yates recon- 
vened the General Assembly in special session to 
consider and adopt methods to aid and support 
the Federal authority in preserving the Union and 
protecting the rights and property of the people. 
The two houses assembled on April 23. On April 
25 Senator Douglas addressed the members on the 
issues of the day, in response to an invitation con- 
veyed in a joint resolution. The special session 
closed May 3, 1861, and not a few of the legislators 
promptly volunteered in the Union army. 
Length of the regular session, forty-seven days; 
of the special, eleven — total fifty -eight. 

Twenty-third General Assembly* was com- 
posed of twenty-five Senators and eighty-eight 
Representatives. It convened Jan. 5, 1863, and 
was Democratic in both branches. The presiding 
officer of the Senate was Lieutenant-Governor 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



191 



Hoffman; Samuel A. Buckmaster was elected 
Speaker of the House by a vote of fifty-three to 
twenty-five. On Jan. 13, William A. Richardson 
was elected United States Senator to succeed 
S. A. Douglas, deceased, the Republican nominee 
being Governor Yates, who received thirty-eight 
votes out of a total of 103 cast. Much of the time 
of the session was devoted to angry discussion of 
the policy of the National Government in the 
prosecution of the war. Tlie views of the oppos- 
ing parties were expressed in majority and minor- 
ity reports from the Committee on Federal 
Relations — the former condemning and the latter 
upholding the Federal administration. The 
majority report was adopted in the House on 
Feb. 13, by a vote of fifty-two to twenty-eight, 
and the resolutions which it embodied were at 
once sent to the Senate for concurrence. Before 
they could be acted upon in that body a Demo- 
cratic Senator — J. M. Rodgers, of Clinton County 
— died. This left the Senate politically tied, a 
Republican presiding ofiicer having the deciding 
vote. Consequently no action was taken at the 
time, and, on Feb. 14, the Legislature adjourned 
till June 3. Immediately upon re-assembling, 
joint resolutions relating to a sine die adjourn- 
ment were introduced in both houses. A disagree- 
ment regarding the date of such adjournment 
ensued, when Governor Yates, exercising the 
power conferred upon him by the Constitution in 
such cases, sent in a message (June 10, 1863) 
proroguing the General A.ssembly until "the 
Saturday next preceding the first Monday in 
January, 1865." The members of the Republican 
minority at once left the hall. The members of 
the majority convened and adjourned from day 
to day until June 34, when, having adopted an 
address to the people setting forth their grievance 
and denouncing the State executive, they took a 
recess until the Tuesday after the first Monday of 
Januarj-, 1864. The action of the Governor, hav- 
ing been submitted to the Supreme Court, was 
sustained, and no further session of this General 
Assembly was held. Owing to the prominence 
of political issues, no important legislation was 
efl'ected at this session, even the ordinary appro- 
priations for the State institutions failing. This 
caused much embarrassment to the State Govern- 
ment in meeting current expenses, but banks and 
capitalists came to its aid, and no important 
interest was permitted to suffer. The total 
length of the session was fifty daj's — forty-one 
days before the recess and nine days after. 

TvfENTY-FOURTH Gener.\l ASSEMBLY convened 
Jan. 3, 1865, and remained in session forty-six 



days. It consisted of twenty-rive Senators and 
eighty-five Representatives. The Republicans 
had a majority in both houses. Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Bross presided over the Senate, and Allen 
C. Fuller, of Boone County, was chosen Speaker 
of the House, over Anibrose M. Miller, Democrat, 
the vote standing 48 to 33, Governor Yates, in 
his valedictory message, reported that, notwith- 
standing the heavy expenditure attendant upon 
the enlistment and maintenance of troops, etc., 
the State debt had been reduced §987,786 in four 
years. On Jan. 4, 1865, Governor Yates was 
elected to the United States Senate, receiving 
sixty-four votes to forty three cast for James C. 
Robinson. Governor Oglesby was inaugurated Jan. 
16. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United 
States Constitution was ratified by this Legisla- 
ture, and sundry special appropriations made. 
Among the latter was one of §3,000 toward the 
State's proportion for the establishment of a 
National Cemetery at Gettysburg; §35,000 for 
the purchase of the land on which is the tomb 
of the deceased Senator Douglas; besides sums 
for establishing a home for Soldiers' Orplians and 
an experimental scliool for the training of idiots 
and feeble-minded children. The first act for 
the registry of legal voters was passed at this 
session. 

Twenty-fifth General Assembly. This 
body held one regular and two special sessions. 
It first convened and organized on Jan. 7, 1867. 
Lieutenant-Governor Bross presided over the 
upper, and Franklin Corwin, of La Salle County, 
over the lower house. The Governor (Oglesby), 
in his message, reported a reduction of §2,607,958 
in the State debt during the two years preceding, 
and recommended various appropriations for pub- 
lic purposes. He also urged the calling of a Con- 
vention to amend the Constitution. On Jan. 15, 
Lyman Trumbull was chosen United States Sena- 
tor, the complimentary Democratic vote being 
given to T. Lyle Dickey, who received thirty- 
three votes out of 109. The regular session lasted 
fifty-three days, adjourning Feb. 28. The Four- 
teenth Amendment to the United States Constitu- 
tion was ratified and important legislation enacted 
relative to State taxation and the regulation of 
public warehouses ; a State Board of Equalization 
of Assessments was established, and the ofiBce of 
Attorney-General created. (Under this law 
Robert G. Ingersoll was the first appointee.) 
Provision was made for the erection of a new 
State House, to establish a Reform School for 
Juvenile Offenders, and for the support of other 
State institutions. The first special session con- 



192 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



vened on June 11, 1867, having been stimmoned 
to consider questions relating to internal revenue. 
The lessee of the penitentiary having surrendered 
his lease without notice, the Governor found it 
necessary to make immediate provision for the 
management of that institution. Not having 
included this matter in his original call, no ne- 
cessity then existing, he at once summoned a 
second special session, before the adjournment 
of the first. This convened on June 14, remained 
in session until June 28, and adopted what is 
substantially the present penitentiary law of the 
State. This General Assembly was in session 
seventy-one days— fifty-three at the regular, 
three at the first special session and fifteen at the 
second. 

Twenty-sixth General Assembly convened 
Jan. 4, 1869. The Republicans had a majority in 
each house. The newly elected Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, John Dougherty, presided in the Senate, 
and Franklin Corvvin. of Peru, was again chosen 
Speaker of the House. Governor Oglesby sub- 
mitted his final message at the opening of the 
session, showing a total reduction in the State 
debt during his term of §4,743,831. Governor 
John M. Palmer was inaugurated Jan. 11. The 
most important acts passed by this Legislature 
were the following: Calling the Constitutional 
Convention of 1869; ratifying the Fifteenth 
Amendment to the United States Constitution ; 
granting well beliaved convicts a reduction in 
their terms of imprisonment ; for the prevention 
of cruelty to animals ; providing for the regula- 
tion of freights and fares on railroads; estab- 
lisliing the Southern Normal University; pro- 
viding for the erection of the Northern Insane 
Hospital; and establishing a Board of Com- 
missioners of Public Charities. The celebrated 
"Lake Front Bill," especially affecting the 
interests of the city of Chicago, occupied a 
great deal of time during this session, and 
though finally passed over the Governor's veto, 
was repealed in 1873. This session was inter- 
rupted by a recess which extended from March 
13 to April 13. The Legislature re-assem- 
bled April 14, and adjourned, sine die, April 20, 
having been in actual session seventy-four days. 

Twenty-seventh General Assembly had 
four sessions, one regular, two special and one 
adjourned. The first convened Jan. 4, 1871, and 
adjourned on April 17, having lasted 104 days, 
when a recess was taken to Nov. 15 following. 
The body was made up of fifty Senators and 177 
Representatives. The Republicans again con- 
trolled both houses, electing William M. Smith, 



Speaker (over William R. Morrison, Democrat), 
while Lieutenant-Governor Dougherty presided in 
the Senate. The latter occupied the Hall of Rep- 
resentatives in the old State Capitol, while the 
House held its sessions in a new church edifice 
erected by the Second Presbyterian Church. 
John A. Logan was elected United States Sena- 
tor, defeating Thomas J. Turner (Democrat) by a 
vote, on joint ballot, of 131 to 89. This was the 
first Illinois Legislature to meet after the adoption 
of the Constitution of 1870, and its time was 
mainly devoted to framing, discussing and pass- 
ing laws required by the changes in the organic 
law of the State. The first special session opened 
on May 34 and closed on June 23, 1871, continu- 
ing thirty days. It was convened by Governor 
Palmer to make additional appropriations for the 
necessary expenses of the State Government and 
for the continuance of work on the new State 
House. Tlie purpose of the Governor in sum- 
moning the second special session was to provide 
financial relief for the city of Chicago after the 
great fire of Oct. 9-11, 1871. Members were sum- 
moned by special telegrams and were in their 
seats Oct. 13, continuing in session to Oct. 24 
— twelve days. Governor Palmer had already 
suggested a plan by which the State might 
aid the stricken city without doing violence 
to either the spirit or letter of the new Con- 
stitution, which expressly prohibited special 
legislation. Chicago had advanced §3, .500,000 
toward the completion of the Illinois & Michigan 
Canal, under the pledge of the State that this 
outlay should be made good. The Legislature 
voted an appropriation sufficient to pay both 
principal and interest of this loan, amounting, in 
round nvimbers, to about .$3,000,000. The ad- 
journed session opened on Nov. 15, 1871, and came 
to an end on April 9, 1873 — having continued 147 
days. It was entirely devoted to considering and 
adopting legislation germane to the new Consti- 
tution. The total length of aU. sessions of this 
General Assembly was 393 days. 

Twenty-eighth General Assembly convened 
Jan. 8, 1873. It was composed of fifty -one Sena- 
tors and 153 Representatives; the upper house 
standing thirty-three Republicans to eighteen 
Democrats, and the lower, eighty-six Republicans 
to sixty-seven Democrats. The Senate chose 
John Earl}', of Winnebago, President pro tempore, 
and Shelby M. CuUom was elected Speaker of the 
House. Governor Oglesby was inaugurated Jan. 
13, but, eight days later, was elected to the United 
States Senate, being succeeded in the Governor- 
ship by Lieut. -Gov. John L. Beveridge. An 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



193 



appropriation of §1,000,000 was made for carrying 
on the work on the new capitol and various other 
acts of a public character passed, the most impor- 
tant being an amendment of the railroad law of 
the previous session. On May 6, tlie Legislature 
adjourned until Jan. 8, 1874. The purpose of the 
recess was to enable a Commission on the Revision 
of the Laws to complete a report. The work was 
duly completed and nearly all the titles reported 
by the Commissioners were adopted at the 
adjourned session. An adjournment, sine die, 
was taken March 31, 1874 — the two sessions 
having lasted, respectively, 119 and 83 days^ 
total 202. 

Twenty-ninth General Assembly convened 
Jan 6, 1875. While the Republicans had a plu- 
rality in both houses, they were defeated in an 
effort to secure their organization througli a 
fusion of Democrats and Independents. A. A. 
Glenn (Democrat) was elected President pro tem- 
pore of the Senate" (becoming acting Lieutenant- 
Governor), and Elijah M. Haines was chosen 
presiding officer of the lower house. The leaders 
on both sides of the Cliamber were aggressive, 
and the session, as a whole, was one of the most 
turbulent and disorderly in the history of the 
State. Little legislation of vital importance 
(outside of regular appropriation bills) was 
enacted. This Legislature adjourned, April 15, 
having been in session 100 days. 

Thietieth General Assembly convened Jan. 
3; 1877, and adjourned, sine die. on May 24. The 
Democrats and Independents in the Senate united 
in securing control of that body, althougli the 
House was Republican. Fawcett Plumb, of La 
Salle County, was chosen President pro tempore 
of the upper, and James Shaw Speaker of the 
lower, house. The inauguration of State officers 
took place Jan. 8, Shelby M. Culloni becoming 
Governor and Andrew Shu man, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor. This was one of the most exciting years 
in American political history Both of the domi- 
nant parties claimed to have elected the President, 
and the respective votes in the Electoral College 
were so close as to excite grave apprehension in 
many minds. It was also the year for the choice 
of a Senator by the Illinois Legislature, and the 
attention of the entire country was directed 
toward this State. Gen. John M. Palmer was 
the nominee of the Democratic caucus and John 
A. Logan of the Republicans. On the twenty- 
fourth ballot the name of General Logan was 
withdrawn, most of the Republican vote going 
to Charles B. Lawrence, and the Democrats going 
over to David Davis, who, although an original 



Republican and friend of Lincoln, and Justice of 
the Supreme Court by appointment of Mr. Lin- 
coln, had become an Independent Democrat. On 
the fortieth ballot (taken Jan. 25), Judge Davis 
received 101 votes, to 94 for Judge Lawrenx 
(Republican) and five scattering, thus securing 
Davis' election. Not many acts of vital impor- 
tance were passed by this Legislature. Appellate 
Courts were established and new judicial districts 
created; the original jurisdiction of county 
courts was enlarged: better safeguards were 
thrown about miners; measures looking at once 
to the supervision and protection of railroads were 
passed, as well as varioiis laws relating chiefly to 
the police administration of the State and of 
municipalities. The length of the session was 
142 days. 

Thirty-first General Assembly convened 
Jan. 8, 1879, with a Republican majority in each 
house. Andrew Shuman, the newly elected Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, presided in the Senate, and 
William A. James of Lake County was chosen 
Speaker of the House. John M. Hamilton of 
McLean County (afterwards Governor), was 
chosen President pro tempore of the Senate. 
John A. Logan was elected United States Senator 
on Jan. 21, the complimentary Democratic vote 
being given to Gen. John C. Black. Various 
laws of public importance were enacted by this 
Legislature, among them being one creating the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics ; the first oleomargar- 
ine law; a drainage and levee act; a law for the 
reorganization of the militia; an act for the 
regulation of pawnbrokers; a law limiting the 
pardoning power, and various laws looking 
toward the supervision and control of railways. 
The session lasted 144 days, and tlie Assembly 
adjourned, sine die. May 31, 1879. 

Thirty second General Assembly convened 
Jan. 5. 1881, the Republicans having a majority 
iu both branches. Lieutenant-Governor Hamil- 
ton presided in the Senate, William J. Campbell 
of Cook County being elected President pro tem- 
pore. Horace H. Thomas, also of Cook, was 
chosen Speaker of the House. Besides the rou- 
tine legislation, the most important measures 
enacted by this Assembly were laws to prevent 
the spread of pleuro-pueumonia among cattle: 
regulating the sale of firearms; providing more 
stringent penalties for the adulteration of food, 
drink or medicine; regulating the practice of 
pharmacy and dentistry ; amending the revenue 
and school laws; and requiring annual statements 
from official custodians of public moneys. The 
Legislature adjourned May 30, after having been 



194 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in session 146 days, but was called together again 
in special session by the Governor on March 23, 
1883, to pass new Legislative and Congressional 
Apportionment Laws, and for the consideration 
of other subjects. The special session lasted 
forty-four days, adjourning May 5 — both sessions 
occupying a total of 190 days. 

Thirty-third General Assembly convened 
Jan. 3, 1883, with the Republicans again in the 
majority in both houses. William J. Campbell 
was re-elected President pro tempore of the 
Senate, but not until the sixty-first ballot, six 
Republicans refusing to be bound by the nomina- 
tion of a caucus held prior to their arrival at 
Springfield. Loren C. Collins, also of Cook, was 
elected Speaker of the House. The compliment- 
ary Democratic vote was given to Thomas M. Shaw 
in the Senate, and to Austin O. Sexton in the 
House. Governor CuUom, the Republican caucus 
nominee, was elected United States Senator, Jan. 
16, receiving a majority in each branch of the 
General Assembly. The celebrated "Harper 
High-License Bill," and the first "Compulsory 
School Law" were passed at this session, the 
other acts being of ordinary character. The 
Legislature adjourned June 18, having been in 
session 108 days. 

Thirty-fourth General Assembly convened 
Jan. 7, 1885. The Senate was Republican by a 
majority of one, there being twenty-six members 
of that party, twenty-four Democrats and one 
greenback Democrat. William J. Campbell, of 
Cook County, was for the third time chosen 
President pro tempore. The House stood seventy- 
six Republicans and seventy-six Democrats, with 
one member — Elijah M. Haines of Lake County — 
calling himself an "Independent." The contest 
for the Speakership continued until Jan. 29, 
when, neither party being able to elect its nomi- 
nee, the Democrats took up Haines as a candidate 
and placed him in the chair, with Haines' assist- 
ance, filling tlie minor offices with their own 
men. After the inauguration of Governor 
Oglesby, Jan. 30, the first business was the elec- 
tion of a United States Senator. The balloting 
proceeded until May 18, when Jolm A. Logan re- 
ceived 103 votes to ninety-six for Lambert Tree and 
five scattering. Three members — one Republican 
and two Democrats — had died since the opening 
of the session ; and it was through the election of 
a Republican in place of one of the deceased 
Democrats, that the Republicans succeeded in 
electing their candidate. Tlie session was a 
stormy one throughout, the Speaker being, much 
of the time, at odds with the House, and an 



unsuccessful effort was made to depose him. 
Charges of bribery against certain members were 
preferred and investigated, but no definite result 
was reached. Among the important measures 
passed by tliis Legislature were the following : A 
joint resolution providing for submission of an 
amendment to the Constitution prohibiting con- 
tract labor in penal institutions; providing by 
resolution for the appointment of a non-partisan 
Commission of twelve to draft a new revenue 
code ; the Crawford primary election law ; an act 
amending the code of criminal procedure ; estab- 
lishing a Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, subse- 
quently located at Quincy ; creating a Live-Stock 
Commission and appropriating §531,713 for the 
completion of the State House. The Assembly 
adjourned, sine die, June 36, 1885, after a session 
of 171 days. 

Thirty-fifth General Assembly convened 
Jan. 5, 1887. The Republicans had a majority of 
twelve in the Senate and three in the House. 
For President pro tempore of the Senate, August 
W. Berggren was chosen ; for Speaker of the 
House, Dr. William F. Calhoun, of De Witt 
County. The death of General Logan, which 
had occurred Dec. 36, 1886, was oflScially an- 
nounced by Governor Oglesby^ and, on Jan. 18, 
Charles B. Farwell was elected to succeed him as 
United States Senator. William R. Morrison and 
Benjamin W. Goodhue were the candidates of 
the Democratic and Labor parties, respectively. 
Some of the most important laws passed by this 
General Assembly were the following: Amend- 
ing the law relating to the spread of contagious 
diseases among cattle, etc. ; the Chase bill to 
prohibit book-making and pool-selling; regulat- 
ing trust companies; making the Trustees of 
the University of Illinois elective ; inhibiting 
aliens from holding real estate, and forbidding 
the marriage of first cousins. An act virtually 
creating a new State banking system was also 
passed, subject to ratification by popular vote. 
Other acts, having more particular reference to 
Chicago and Cook County, were: a law making 
cities and counties responsible for three-fourths 
of the damage resulting from mobs and riots ; the 
Merritt conspiracy law ; the Gibbs Jury Commis- 
sion law, and an act for the suppression of 
bucket-shop gambling. The session ended June 
15, 1887. having continued 163 days. 

Thirty-sixth General Assembly convened 
Jan. 7. 1889, in its first (or regular) session, tlie 
Republicans being largely in the majority. The 
Senate elected Theodore S. Chapman of Jersey 
County, President pro tempore, and the House 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



195 



Asa C Matthews of Pike County, Speaker. Mr. 
Matthews was appointed First Comptroller of the 
Treasury by President Harrison, on Jlay 9 (see 
Matthews, Asa C), and resigned the Speakership 
on the following day. He was succeeded by 
James H. Miller of Stark County. Shelby M. 
CuUom was re-elected to the United States Senate 
on January 22, the Democrats again voting for 
ex-Gov. John M. Palmer. The "Sanitary Drain- 
age District Law, " designed for the benefit of the 
city of Chicago, was enacted at this session ; an 
asylum for insane criminals was establislied at 
Chester ; the annexation of cities, towns, villages, 
etc., under certain conditions, was authorized; 
more stringent legislation was enacted relative to 
the circulation of obscene literature; a new com- 
pulsory education law was passed, and the em- 
ployment on public works of aliens who had not 
declared their intention of becoming citizens was 
prohibited. This session ended, Jlay 28. A 
special session was convened by Governor Fifer 
on July 24, 1890, to frame and adopt legislation 
rendered necessary by the Act of Congress locat- 
ing the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago. 
Mr. Miller having died in tlie interim, William G. 
Cochran, of Moultrie County, was chosen Speaker 
of the House. The special session concluded 
Aug. 1, 1890. having enacted the following meas- 
ures ; An Act granting the use of all State lands, 
(submerged or other) in or adjacent to Chicago, to 
the World's Columbian Exposition for a period to 
extend one year after the closing of the Exposi- 
tion; authorizing the Chicago Boards of Park 
Commissioners to grant the u.se of the public 
parks, or any part thereof, to promote the objects 
of such Exposition ; a joint resolution providing 
for the submission to the people of a Constitu- 
tional Amendment granting to the city of Chicago 
the power (provided a majority of tjie qualified 
voters desired it) to issue bonds to an amount not 
exceeding $5,000,000, the same to bear interest 
and the proceeds of their sale to be turned over 
to the Exposition Managers to be devoted to the 
use and for the benefit of the Exposition. (See 
also World's Columbian Exposition.) The total 
length of the two sessions was 150 days. 

Thirty-seventh General Assembly convened 
Jan. 7, 1891, and adjourned June 12 following. 
Lieut. -Gov. Ray presided in the Senate, Milton 
W. Matthews (Republican), of Urbana, being 
elected President pro tem. The Democrats had 
control in the House and elected Clayton E. 
Crafts, of Cook County, Speaker. The. most 
exciting feature of the session was the election of 
a United States Senator to succeed Charles B. 



Farwell. Neither of the two leading parties had 
a majority on joint ballot, the balance of power 
being held by three "Independent'' members of 
the House, who had been elected as represent- 
atives of the Farmers' Mutual Benevolent Alli- 
ance. Richard J. Oglesby was the caucus 
nominee of the Republicans and John M. Pahner 
of the Democrats. For a time the Independents 
stood as a unit for A. J. Streeter, but later two of 
the three voted for ex-Governor Palmer, finally, 
on March 11, securing his election on the 154th 
ballot in joint .session. Meanwhile, the Repub- 
licans had cast tentative ballots for Alson J. 
Streeter and Cicero J. Lindley, in hope of draw- 
ing the Independents to their support, but without 
effective result. The final ballot stood — Palmer, 
103; Lindley, 101, Streeter 1. Of 1,296 bills intro- 
duced in both Houses at this session, only 151 
became laws, the most important being: The 
Australian ballot law, and acts regulating build- 
ing and loan associations ; prohibiting the employ- 
ment of children under thirteen at manual labor; 
fixing the legal rate of interest at seven per cent ; 
prohibiting the "truck system" of paying em- 
ployes, and granting the right of suffrage to 
women in the election of school officers. An 
amendment of the State Constitution permitting 
the submission of two Constitutional Amend- 
ments to the people at the ssime time, was sub- 
mitted by this Legislature and ratified at the 
election of 1892. The session covered a period of 
157 days. 

Thirty-eighth General Assembly. This 
body convened Jan. 4, 1893. The Democrats were 
in the ascendency in both houses, having a 
majority of seven in the Senate and of three in 
the lower house. Joseph R. Gill, the Lieutenant- 
Governor, was ex-officio President of the Senate, 
and John W. Coppinger. of Alton, was chosen 
President pro tem. Clayton E. Crafts of Cook 
County was again chosen Speaker of the House. 
The inauguration of the new State officers took 
place on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 10. This 
Legislatiu'e was in session 164 days, adjourning 
June 16, 1893. Not very much legislation of a 
general character was enacted. New Congres- 
sional and Legislative apportionments were 
passed, the former dividing the State into twenty- 
two districts; an Insurance Department was 
created ; a naval militia was established ; the 
scope of the juvenile reformatory was enlarged 
and the compulsory education law was amended. 

Thirty-ninth General Assembly. This 
Legislature held two sessions — a regular and a 
special. The former opened Jan. 9, 1895, and 



196 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



closed June 14, following. The political com- 
plexion of the Senate was — Republicans, thirty- 
three; Democrats, eighteen; of the House, 
ninety-two Republicans and sixty-one Democrats. 
John Meyer, of Cook County, was elected Speaker 
of the House, and Charles Bogardus of Piatt 
County, President pro tem. of the Senate. Acts 
were passed making appropriations for improve- 
ment of the State Fair Grounds at Springfield ; 
authorizing the establishment of a Western Hos- 
pital for the Insane (§100,000) ; appropriating 
$100,000 for a Western Hospital for the Insane; 
$65,000 for an Asylum for Incurable Insane; $50,- 
000, each, for two additional Normal Schools — one 
in Northern and the other in Eastern Illinois; 
$25,000 for a Soldiers' Widows' Home— all being 
new institutions — besides $15,000 for a State 
exhibition at the Atlanta Exposition; $65,000 to 
mark, by monuments, the position of Illinois 
troops on the battlefields of Chickamauga, Look- 
out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Other acts 
passed fixed the salaries of members of the Gen- 
eral Assembly at $1,000 each for each regular 
session; accepted the custody of the Lincoln 
monument at Springfield, authorized provision 
for the retirement and pensioning of teachers in 
public schools, and authorized the adoption of 
civil service rules for cities. The special session 
convened, pursuant to a call by the Governor, on 
June 35, 1895, took a recess, June 28 to July 9, 
re-assembled on the latter date, and adjourned, 
sine die, August 2. Outside of routine legisla- 
tion, no laws were passed except one providing 
additional necessary revenue for State purposes 
and one creating a State Board of Arbitration. 
The regular session continued 157 days and the 
special twenty-nine — total 186. 

Fortieth General Assembly met in regular 
session at Springfield, Jan. 6, 1897, and adjourned, 
sine die, June 4. Tlie Republicans had a major- 
ity in both branches, the House standing eighty- 
eight Republicans to sixty-three Democrats and 
two Populists, and the Senate, thirty-nine Repub- 
licans to eleven Democrats and one Populist, 
giving the Republicans a majority on joint ballot 
of fifty votes. Both houses were promptly organ- 
ized by the election of Republican officers, Edward 
C. Curtis of Kankakee County being chosen 
Speaker of the House, and Hendrick V. Fisher, 
of Henry County, President pro tem. of the Sen- 
ate. Governor Tanner and tlie other Republican 
State officers were formally inaugurated on 
Jan. 11, and, on Jan. 20, William E. Mason 
(Republican) was chosen United States Senator 
to succeed John M. Palmer, receiving in joint 



session 125 votes to seventy-seven for John P. 
Altgeld (Democrat). Among the principal laws 
enacted at this session were tlie following: An 
act concerning aliens and to regulate the right to 
hold real estate, and prescribing the terms and 
conditions for the conveyance of the same; 
empowering the Commissioners who were ap- 
pointed at the previous session to ascertain and 
mark the positions occupied by Illinois Volunteers 
in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Moun- 
tain and Missionary Ridge, to expend the remain- 
ing appropriations in their hands for the erection 
of monuments on the battle-grounds ; authorizing 
the appointment of a similar Commission to 
ascertain and mark the positions held by Illinois 
troops in the battle of Shiloh ; to reimburse the 
University of Illinois for the loss of funds result- 
ing from the Spaulding defalcation and affirming 
the liability of the State for "the endowment 
fund of the University, amounting to $456,712.91, 
and for so much in addition as may be received 
in future from the sale of lands"; authorizing 
the adoption of the "Torrens land-title system" in 
the conveyance and registration of land titles by 
vote of the people in any county ; the consolida- 
tion of the three Supreme Court Districts of the 
State into one and locating the Court at Spring- 
field; creating a State Board of Pardons, and 
prescribing the manner of applying for pardons 
and commutations. An act of this session, which 
produced much agitation and led to a great deal 
of discussion in the press and elsewhere, was the 
street railroad law empowering the City Council, 
or other corporate authority of any city, to grant 
franchises to street railway companies extending 
to fifty years. This act was repealed by the 
General Assembly of 1899 before any street rail- 
way corporation had secured a francliise under it. 
A special session was called by Governor Tanner 
to meet Dec. 7, 1897, the proclamation naming 
five topics for legislative action. The session 
continued to Feb. 24, 1898, only two of the meas- 
ures named by the Governor in his call being 
affirmatively acted upon. These included: (1) an 
elaborate act prescribing the manner of conduct- 
ing primary elections of delegates to nominating 
conventions, and (2) a new revenue law regulat- 
ing the manner of assessing and collecting taxes. 
One provision of the latter law limits the valuation 
of property for assessment purposes to one-fifth 
its cash value. The length of the regular session 
was 150 days, and that of the special session 
eighty days — total, 230 days. 

GENESEO, a city in Henry County, about two 
miles south of the Green River. It is on the Chi- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



197 



cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 23 miles 
east of Rock Island and 75 miles west of Ottawa. 
It is in the heart of a grain-growing region, and 
has two large grain elevators. Manufacturing is 
also carried on to a considerable extent here, 
furniture, wagons and farming implements con- 
stituting the chief output. Geneseo has eleven 
churches, a graded and a high school, a col- 
legiate institute, two banks, and two newspapers, 
one issuing a daily edition. Population (1890), 
3,183; (1900), 3,356. 

GENEVA, a city and railway junction on Fox 
River, and the county-seat of Kane County; 35 
miles west of Chicago. It has a fine courthouse, 
completed in 1893 at a cost of 5350,000, and 
numerous handsome churches and school build- 
ings. A State Reformatory for juvenile female 
offenders has been located here. There is an ex- 
cellent water-power, operating six manufac- 
tories, including extensive glucose works. The 
town has a bank, creamery, water-works, gas 
and electric light plant, and two weekl)' news- 
papers. The surrounding country is devoted to 
agriculture and dairy farming. Population 
(1880), 1,239; (1890), 1,693; (1900), 2,446. 

GENOA, a village of De Kalb County, on 
Omaha Division of the Chi., Mil. & St. Paul, the 
111. Cent, and Chi. & N. W. Railroads, 59 miles west 
of Chicago. Dairying is a leading industry; has 
two banks, shoe and telephone factories, and two 
newspapers. Population (1890), 634; (1900), 1,140. 

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. The geological 
structure of Illinois embraces a representation, 
more or less complete, of the whole paleonic 
series of formations, from the calciferous group 
of the Lower Silurian to the top of the coal meas- 
ures. In addition to these older rocks there is a 
limited area in the extreme southern end of the 
State covered with Tertiary deposits. Over- 
spreading these formations are beds of more 
recent age, comprising sands, clays and gravel, 
varying in thickness from ten to more than two 
hundred feet. These superficial deposits may be 
divided into Alluvium, Loess and Drift, and con- 
stitute the Quaternary system of modern geolo- 
gists. 

Lower Siluri.\^n System. — Under this heading 
may be noted three distinct groups: the Calcifer- 
ous, the Trenton and the Cincinnati. The first 
mentioned group comprises the St. Peter's Sand- 
stone and the Lower Magnesiau Limestone. The 
former outcrops only at a single locality, in La 
Salle County, extending about two miles along 
the valley of the Illinois River in the vicinity of 
Utica. The thickness of the strata appearing 



above the surface is about 80 feet, thin bands of 
Magnesian limestone alternating with layers of 
Calciferous sandstone. Many of the layers con- 
tain good hydraulic rock, which is utilized in the 
manufacture of cement. The entire thickness of 
the rock below the surface has not been ascer- 
tained, but is estimated at about 400 feet. The 
St. Peter's Sandstone outcrops in the valley of 
the Illinois, constituting the main portion of the 
bluffs from Utica to a point beyond Ottawa, and 
forms the "bed rock" in most of the northern 
townships of La Salle County. It also outcrops 
on the Rock River in the vicinity of Oregon City, 
and forms a conspicuous bluff on the Mississippi 
in Calhoun County. Its maximum thickness in 
the State may be estimated at about 800 feet. It 
is too incoherent in its texture to be valuable as 
a building stone, though some of the upper strata 
in Lee County have been utilized for caps and 
sills. It affords, however, a fine quality of sand 
for the manufacture of glass. The Trenton 
group, which immediately overlies the St. Peter's 
Sandstone, consists of three divisions. The low- 
est is a brown Magnesian Limestone, or Dolomite, 
usually found in regular beds, or strata, varying 
from four inches to two feet in thickness. The 
aggregate thickness varies from twenty feet, in 
the northern portion of the State, to sixty or 
seventy feet at the bluff in Calhoun County. At 
the quarries in La Salle County, it abounds in 
fossils, including a large Lituites and several 
specimens of Orthoceras, Maclurea, etc. The 
middle division of the Trenton group consists of 
light gray, compact limestones in the southern 
and western parts of the State, and of light blue, 
thin-bedded, shaly limestone in the northern por- 
tions. The upper division is the well-known 
Galena limestone, the lead-bearing rock of the 
Northwest. It is a buff colored, porous Dolomite, 
sometimes arenaceous and unevenly textured, 
giving origin to a ferruginous, sandy clay wheu 
decomposed. The lead ores occur in crevices, 
caverns and horizontal seams. These crevices were 
probably formed by shrinkage of the strata from 
crystallization or by some disturbing force from 
beneath, and have been enlarged by decomposi- 
tion of the exposed surface. Fossils belonging to 
a lower order of marine animal than the coral are 
found in this rock, as are also marine shells, 
corals and crustaceans. Although this limestone 
crops out over a considerable portion of the terri- 
tory between the Mississippi and the Rock River, 
the productive lead mines are chiefly confined to 
Jo Daviess and Stephenson Counties. All the 
divisions of the Trenton group afford good build- 



108 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ing material, some of the rock being susceptible 
of a high polish and making a handsome, durable 
marble. About seventy feet are exposed near 
Thebes, in Alexander County. All through the 
Southwest this stone is known as Cape Girardeau 
marble, from its being extensively quarried at 
Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Cincinnati group 
immediately succeeds the Trenton in the ascend- 
ing scale, and forms the uppermost member of 
the Lower Silurian system. It usually consists of 
argillaceous and sandy shales, although, in the 
northwest portion of the State, Slaguesian lime- 
stone is found with the shales. The prevailing 
colors of the beds are light blue and drab, 
weathering to a light ashen gray. This group is 
found well exposed in the vicinity of Thebes, 
Alexander County, furnishing a durable building 
stone extensively used for foundation walls. 
Fossils are found in profusion in all the beds, 
many fine specimens, in a perfect state of preser- 
vation, having been exhumed. 

Upper Silurian System.— The Niagara group 
in Northern Illinois consists of brown, gray and 
buff magnesian limestones, sometimes evenly 
bedded, as at Joliet and Athens, and sometimes 
concretionary and brecciated, as at Bridgeport and 
Port Byron. Near Chicago the cells and pockets 
of this rock are filled with petrolemn, but it has 
been ascertained that only the thirty upper feet 
of the rock contain bituminous matter. The 
quarries in Will and Jersey Counties furnish fine 
building and flagging stone. The rock is of a 
light gray color, changing to buff on exposure. 
In Pike and Calhoun Counties, also, there are out- 
croppings of this rock and quarries are numerous. 
It is usually evenly bedded, the strata varying in 
thickness from two inches to two feet, and break- 
ing evenly. Its aggregate thickness in Western 
and Northern Illinois ranges from fifty to 150 
feet. In Union and Alexander Counties, in the 
southern part of the State, the Upper Silurian 
Series consists chiefly of thin bedded gray or 
buff-colored limestone, silicious and cherty, flinty 
material largely jjreponderating over the lime- 
stone. Fossils are not abundant in this formation, 
although the quarries at Bridgeport, in Cook 
County, have afforded casts of nearly 100 species 
of marine organisms, the calcareous portion hav- 
ing been washed away. 

Devonian System. — This system is represented 
in Illinois by three well marked divisions, cor- 
responding to the Oriskanj' sandstone, the Onon- 
daga limestone and the Hamilton and Corniferous 
beds of New York. To the.se the late Professor 
Worthen, for many years State Geologist, added, 



although with some hesitancy, the black shale 
formation of Illinois. Although these comprise 
an aggregate thickness of over 500 feet, their 
exposure is limited to a few isolated outcroppings 
along the bluffs of the Illinois, Mississippi and 
Rock Rivers. The lower division, called "Clear 
Creek Limestone," is about 250 feet thick, and is 
only found in the extreme southern end of the 
State. It consists of chert, or impure flint, and 
thin-bedded silico-magnesian limestones, rather 
compact in texture, and of buff or light gray 
to nearly white colors. When decomposed by 
atmospheric influences, it forms a fine white clay, 
resembling common chalk in appearance. Some 
of the cherty beds resemble burr stones in poros- 
ity, and good mill-stones are made therefrom in 
Union County. Some of the stone is bluish-gray, 
or mottled and crystalline, capable of receiving 
a high polish, and making an elegant and durable 
building stone. The Onondaga group comprises 
some sixty feet of quartzose sandstone and 
striped silicious shales. The structure of the 
rock is almost identical with that of St. Peter's 
Sandstone. In the vicinity of its outcrop in 
Union County are found fine beds of potter's clay, 
also variegated in color. The rock strata are 
about twenty feet thick, evenly bedded and of a 
coarse, granular structure, which renders the 
stone valuable for heavy masonry. The group 
has not been found north of Jackson County. 
Large quantities of characteristic fossils abound. 
The rocks composing the Hamilton group are the 
most valuable of all the divisions of the Devonian 
system, and the outcrops can be identified only by 
their fossils. In Union and Jackson Counties it is 
found from eighty to 100 feet in thickness, two 
beds of bluish gray, fetid limestone being sepa- 
rated by about twenty feet of calcareous shales. 
The limestones are highly bituminous. In Jersey 
and Calhoun Counties the group is only six to 
ten feet thick, and consists of a hard, silicious 
limestone, passing at some points into a quartzose 
sandstone, and at others becoming argillaceous, 
as at Grafton. The most northern outcrop is in 
Rock Island County, where the rock is concretion- 
ary in str\icture and is utilized for building pur- 
poses and in the manufacture of quicklime. 
Fossils are numerous, among them being a few 
fragments of fishes, which are the oldest remains 
of vertebrate animals yet found in the State. 
The black shale probably attains its maximum 
development in Union County, where it ranges 
from fifty to seventy-five feet in thickness. Its 
lower portion is a fine, black, laminated slate, 
sometimes closely resembling the bituminous 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



199 



shales associated with the coal seams, which cir- 
cumstance has led to the fruitless expenditure of 
much time and money. The bituminous portion 
of the mass, on distillation, yields an oil closely 
resembling petroleum. Crystals of iron pyrites 
are abundant in the argillaceous portion of the 
group, which does noi, extend north of the coun- 
ties of Calhoun, Jersey and Pike. 

Lower Carboniferous System. — This is di- 
visible into five groups, as follows: The Kinder- 
hook group, the Burlington limestone, and the 
Keokuk, St. Louis and Chester groups. Its 
greatest development is in the southern portion 
of the State, where it has a thickness of 1,400 or 
1,500 feet. It thins out to the northward so rapidly 
that, in the vicinity of the Lower Rapids on the 
Mississippi, it is only 300 feet thick, while it 
wholly disappears below Rock Island. The Kinder- 
hook group is variable in its lithological charac- 
ter, consisting of argillaceous and sandy shales, 
with thin beds of compact and oolitic limestone, 
passing locally into calcareous shales or impure 
limestone. The entire formation is mainly a 
mechanical sediment, with but a very small por- 
tion of organic matter. The Burlington lime- 
stone, on the other hand, is composed almost 
entirely of the fossilized remains of organic 
beings, with barely enough sedimentary material 
to act as a cement. Its maximum thickness 
scarcely exceeds 200 feet, and its principal out- 
crops are in the counties of Jersey, Greene, Scott, 
Calhoun, Pike, Adams, Warren and Henderson. 
The rock is usually a light gray, buff or brown 
limestone, either coarsely granular or crystalline 
in structure. The Keokuk group immediately 
succeeds the Burlington in the ascending order, 
with no well defined line of demarcation, tlie 
chief points of difference between the two being 
in color and in the character of fossils found. At 
the upper part of this group is found a bed of 
calcareo-argillaceous shale, containing a great 
variety of geodes, which furnish beautiful cabinet 
specimens of crj-stallized quartz, chalcedonj', 
dolomite and iron pyrites. In Jersey and Monroe 
Counties a bed of hydraulic limestone, adapted to 
the manufacture of cement, is found at the top of 
this formation. The St. Louis group is partly 
a fine-grained or semi-crystallized bluish-gray 
limestone, and partly concretionary, as around 
Alton. In the extreme southern part of the State 
the rock is highly bituminous and susceptible of 
receiving a high polish, being used as a black 
marble. Beds of magnesian limestone are found 
here and there, which furnish a good stone for 
foundation walls. In Hardin County, the rock 



is traversed by veins of fluor spar, carrying 
galena and zinc blonde. The Chester group is 
only found in the southern part of the State, 
thinning out from a thickness of eight hundred 
feet in Jackson and Randolph Counties, to about 
twenty feet at Alton. It consists of hard, gray, 
crystalline, argillaceous limestones, alternating 
with sandy and argillaceous shales and sandstones, 
which locally replace each other. A few species 
of true carboniferous flora are found in the are- 
naceous shales and sandstones of this group, tlie 
earliest traces of pre-historic land plants found in 
the State. Outcrops extend in a narrow belt 
from the southern part of Hardin County to the 
southern line of St. Clair County, passing around 
the southwest border of the coal field. 

Upper Carboniferous System.— This includes 
the Conglomerate, or "Mill Stone Grit" of Euro- 
pean authors, and the true coal measures. In the 
southern portion of the State its greatest thick- 
ness is about 1,200 feet. It becomes thinner 
toward the north, scarcely exceeding 400 or 500 
feet in the vicinity of La Salle. The word "con- 
glomerate" designates a thick bed of sandstone 
that lies at the base of the coal measures, and 
appears to have resulted from the culmination of 
the arenaceous sedimentary accumulations. It 
consists of massive quartzose sandstone, some- 
times nearly white, but more frequently stained 
red or brown by the ferruginous matter whicli 
it contains, and is frequently composed in 
part of rounded quartz pebbles, from the size 
of a jiea to several inches in diameter. When 
highly ferruginous, the oxide of iron cements 
the sand into a hard crust on the surface 
of the rock, which successfully resists the de- 
nuding influence of the atmosphere, so that the 
rock forms towering clifl:s on the banks of the 
stream along which are its outcrops. Its thickness 
varies from 200 feet in the southern part of the 
State to twenty-five feet in the northern. It has 
afforded a few species of fossil plants, but no 
animal remains. The coal measures of Illinois 
are at least 1,000 feet thick and cover nearly 
three-fourths of its entire area. The strata are 
horizontal, the dip rarely exceeding six to ten 
feet to the mile. The formation is made up of 
sandstone, shales, thin beds of limestone, coal, 
and its associated fire clays. The thickness of 
the workable beds is from six to twenty-four 
inches in the upper measures, and from two to 
five feet in the lower measures. The fire clays, 
on wliich the coal seams usually rest, probably 
represent the ancient soil on which grew the 
trees and plants from which the coal is formed. 



200 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



When pure, these clays are valuable for the 
manufacture of fire brick, tile and common 
pottery. Illinois coal is wholly of the bitumi- 
nous variety, the metamorphic conditions which 
resulted in the production of anthracite coal in 
Pennsylvania not having extended to this State. 
Fossils, both vegetable and animal, abound in 
the coal measures. 

Tertiary System. — This system is represented 
only in the southern end of the State, where cer- 
tain deposits of stratified sands, shales and con- 
glomerate are found, which appear to mark the 
northern boundary of the great Tertiary forma- 
tion of the Gulf States. Potter's clay, lignite and 
silicious woods are found in the formation. 

Quaternary System. — This system embraces 
all the superficial material, including sands, clay, 
gravel and soil which overspreads the older for- 
mations in all portions of the State. It gives 
origin to the soil from which the agricultural 
wealth of Illinois is derived. It may be properly 
separated into four divisions: Post-tertiary 
sands, Drift, Loess and Alluvium. The first- 
named occupies the lowest position in the series, 
and consists of stratified beds of yellow sand and 
blue clay, of variable thickness, overlaid by a 
black or deep brown, loamy soil, in whiph are 
found leaves, branches and trunks of trees in a 
good state of preservation. Next above lie the 
drift deposits, consisting of blue, yellow and 
brown clays, containing gravel and boulders of 
various sizes, the latter the water-worn frag- 
ments of rocks, many of which have been washed 
down from the northern shores of the great 
lakes. This drift formation varies in thickness 
from twenty to 130 feet, and its accumulations 
are probably due to the combined influence of 
water currents and moving ice. The subsoil 
over a large part of the northern and central 
portions of the State is composed of fine brown 
clay. Prof. Desquereux (Illinois Geological Sur- 
vey, Vol. I. ) accounts for the origin of this clay 
and of the black prairie soil above it, by attribut- 
ing it to the growth and decomposition of a 
peculiar vegetation. The Loess is a fine mechan- 
ical sediment that appears to have accumulated in 
some body of fresh water. It consists of marly 
sands and clays, of a thickness varying from five to 
sixty feet. Its greatest development is along the 
bluffs of the principal rivers. The fossils found 
in this formation consist chiefly of the bones and 
teeth of extinct mammalia, such as the mam- 
moth, mastodon, etc. Stone implements of 
primeval man are also discovered. The term 
alluvium is usually restricted to the deposits 



forming the bottom lands of the rivers and 
smaller streams. They consist of irregularly 
stratified sand, clay and loam, which are fre- 
quently found in alternate layers, and contain 
more or less organic matter from decomposed 
animal and vegetable substances. When suffi- 
ciently elevated, they constitute the richest and 
most productive farming lands in the State. 

GEORGETOWIV, a village of Vermilion County, 
on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railway, 10 miles south of Danville. It has a 
bank, telegraph and express oflSce and a news- 
paper. Population (1890), 603; (1900), 988. 

GERMAN EVANGELICAL SCHOOL, located at 
Addison, Du Page County ; incorporated in 1853 ; 
has a faculty of three instructors and reports 187 
pupils for 1897-98, with a property valuation of 
§9,600. 

GERMANTOWN, a village of Vermilion County, 
and suburb of Danville ; is the center of a coal- 
mining district. Population (1880), 540; (1890), 
1,178; (1900), 1,783. 

GEST, William H., lawyer and ex-Congress- 
man, was born at Jacksonville, 111., Jan. 7, 1838. 
When but four years old his parents removed to 
Rock Island, where he has since resided. He 
graduated from Williams College in 1860, was 
admitted to tlie bar in 1863, and has always been 
actively engaged in practice. In 1886 he was 
elected to Congress by the Republicans of the 
Eleventh Illinois District, and was re-elected in 
1888, but in 1890 was defeated by Benjamin T. 
Cable, Democrat. 

GIBAULT, Pierre, a French priest, supposed to 
have been born at New Madrid in what is now 
Southeastern Missouri, early in the eighteenth 
century; was Vicar-General at Kaskaskia, with 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the churches at 
Cahokia, St. Genevieve and adjacent points, at 
the time of the capture of Kaskaskia by Col. 
George Rogers Clark in 1778, and rendered Clark 
important aid in conciliating the French citizens 
of Illinois. He also made a visit to Vincennes and 
induced the people there to take the oath of allegi- 
ance to the new government. He even advanced 
means to aid Clark's destitute troops, but beyond 
a formal vote of thanks by the Virginia Legisla- 
ture, he does not appear to have received any 
recompense. Governor St. Clair, in a report to 
Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, dwelt 
impressively upon the value of Father Gibault's 
services and sacrifices, and Judge Law said of 
him, "Next to Clark and (Francis) Vigo, the 
United States are indebted more to Father 
Gibault for the accession of the States comprised 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



201 



in what was tlie original Northwest Territory 
than to any other man." The date and place of 
his death are unknown. 

GIBSON CITY, a town in Ford County, situ- 
ated on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, 34 
miles east of Bloomington, and at the intersec- 
tion of the Wabash Railroad and the Springfield 
Division of the Illinois Central. The principal 
mechanical industries are iron works, canning 
works, a shoe factory, and a tile factory. It lias 
two banks, two newspapers, nine churches and 
an academy. A college is projected. Popula- 
tion (1890), 1,803; (1900), 2,054; (1903, est.), 3,165. 

GtILL, Joseph B., Lieutenant-Governor (1893- 
97), was born on a farm near Marion, Williamson 
County, 111., Feb. 17, 1863. In 1868 his father 
settled at Murphysboro, where Mr. Gill still 
makes his home. His academic education was 
received at the school of the Christian Brothers, 
in St. Louis, and at the Southern Illinois Normal 
University, Carbondale. In 1886 he graduated 
from the Law Department of the Michigan State 
University, at Ann Arbor. Returning home he 
purchased an interest in "The Murphysboro Inde- 
pendent," which paper he conducted and edited 
up to January, 1893. In 1888 he was elected to 
the lower house of the Legislature and re-elected 
in 1890. As a legislator he was prominent as a 
champion of the labor interest. In 1892 he was 
nominated and elected Lieutenant-Governor on 
the Democratic ticket, serving from January, 
1893, to '97. 

GILLESPIE, a village of Macoupin County, on 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railway, 10 miles southwest of Litchfield. This 
is an agricultural, coal-mining and stock-raising 
region; the town has a bank and a newspaper. 
Population (1890). 948; (1900), 873. 

GILLESPIE, Joseph, lawyer and Judge, was 
born in New York City, August 22, 1809, of Irish 
parents, who removed to Illinois in 1819, settling 
on a farm near Edwardsville. After coming to 
Illinois, at 10 years, he did not attend school over 
two months. In 1827 he went to the lead mines 
at Galena, remaining until 1829. In 1831, at the 
invitation of Cyrus Edwards, he began the study 
of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837, 
having been elected Probate Judge in 1836. He 
also served during two campaigns (1831 and '32) 
in the Black Hawk War. He was a Whig in 
politics and a warm personal friend of Abraham 
Lincoln. In 1840 he was elected to the lower 
house of the Legislature, serving one term, and 
was a member of the State Senate from 1847 to 
1859. In 1853 he received the few votes of the 



Whig members of the Legislature for United States 
Senator, in opposition to Stephen A. Douglas, 
and, in 1860, presided over the second Republican 
State Convention at Decatur, at which elements 
were set in motion which resulted in the nomi- 
nation of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency 
for the first time, a week later. In 1861 he was 
elected Judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial 
Circuit, and re-elected in 1867 for a second terra, 
serving until 1873. Died, at his home at Edwards- 
ville, Jan. 7, 1885. 

GILLETT, John Dean, agriculturist and stock- 
man, was born in Connecticut, April 28, 1819; 
spent several years of his youth in Georgia, but, 
in 1838, came to IlUnois by way of St. Louis, 
finally reaching "Bald Knob," in Logan County, 
where an uncle of the same name resided. Here 
he went to work, and, by frugality and judicious 
investments, finally acquired a large body of 
choice lands, adding to his agricultural operations 
the rearing and feeding of stock for the Chicago 
and foreign markets. In this he was remarkably 
successful. In his later years he was President 
of a National Bank at Lincoln. At the time of 
his death, August 27, 1888, he was the owner of 
16,500 acres of improved lands in the vicinity of 
Elkhart, Logan County, besides large herds of 
fine stock, both cattle and horses. He left a large 
family, one of his daughters being the wife of 
the late Senator Richard J. Oglesby. 

GILLETT, Philip Goode, specialist and edu- 
cator, born in Madison, Ind., March 24, 1833; was 
educated at Asbury University, Greencastle, Ind., 
graduating in 1852, and the same year became an 
instructor in the Institution for the Education of 
the Deaf and Dumb in that State. In 1856 he 
became Principal of the Illinois Institution for 
the Education of the Deaf and Dumb at Jackson- 
ville, remaining there until 1893, when he 
resigned. Thereafter, for some years, he was 
President of the Association for the Promotion of 
Speech by the Deaf, with headquarters in Wash- 
ington, D. C, but later returned to Jacksonville, 
where he has since been living in retirement. 

GILLHAM, Daniel B., agriculturist and legis- 
lator, was born at a place now called Wanda, in 
Madison County, 111., April 29, 1826— his father 
being a farmer and itinerant Methodist preacher, 
who belonged to one of the pioneer families in 
the American Bottom at an early day. The sub- 
ject of this sketch was educated in the common 
schools and at McKendree College, but did not 
graduate from the latter. In his early life he 
followed the vocation of a farmer and stock- 
grower in one of the most prosperous and higlily 



202 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



cultivated portions of the American Bottom, a 
few miles below Alton, but, in 1872, removed to 
Alton, where he spent the remainder of his life. 
He became a member of the State Board of Agri- 
cultxire in 1866, serving eight years as Superin- 
tendent and later as its President; was also a 
Trustee of Shurtleff College some twenty-five 
years, and for a time President of the Board. In 
1870 he was elected to the lower branch of the 
Twenty-seventh General Assembly, and to the 
State Senate in 1882, serving a term of four years 
in the latter. On the night of March 17, 1890, he 
was assaulted by a burglar in his house, receiving 
a wound from a pistol-shot in consequence of 
which he died, April 6, following. Tlie identity 
of his assailant was never discovered, and the 
crime consequently went unpunished. 

GILMAN, a city in Iroquois County, at the 
intersection of the Illinois Central and the To- 
ledo, Peoria & Western Railways, 81 miles south 
by west from Chicago and 208 miles northeast 
of St. Louis. It is in the heart of one of the 
richest corn districts of the State and has large 
stock-raising and fruit-growing intere.sts. It has 
an opera house, a public library, an extensive 
nursery, brick and tile works, a linseed oil mill, 
two banks and two weekly newspapers. Arte- 
sian well water is obtained by boring from 90 to 
200 feet. Population (1890), 1,112; (1900), 1,441. 

GILMAN, Arthur, was born at Alton, 111. , June 
22, 1837, the son of Winthrop S. Oilman, of the 
firm of Oilman & Oodfrey, in whose warehouse 
the printing press of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy was 
stored at the time of its destruction by a mob in 
1837 ; was educated in St. Louis and New York, 
began business as a banker in 1857, but, in 1870, 
removed to Cambridge, Mass., and connected 
himself with "The Riverside Press." Mr. Oilman 
was one of the prime movers in what is known as 
"The Harvard Annex" in the interest of equal 
collegiate advantages for women, and has written 
much for the periodical press, besides publishing 
a number of volumes in the line of history and 
English literature. 

tilLMAN, CLINTON & SPRIXGFIELD RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Illinois Central Railroad.) 

GIRARD, a city in Macoupin County, on the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad, 25 miles south by west 
from Springfield and 13 miles north -northeast of 
Carlinville. Coal-mining is carried on extensively 
here. The city also has a bank, five churches 
and a weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 
1,024; (1890), 1,534; (1900), 1,601. 

GLENCOE, a village of Cook County, on the 
Milwaukee Division of the Chicago & Northwest- 



ern Railway, 19 miles north of Chicago. Popu- 
lation (1880), 387; (1890), 569; (1900), 1,020. 

GLENN, Archibald A., ex-Lieutenant-Governor, 
was born in Nicholas County, Ky., Jan. 30, 1819. 
In 1828 his father's family removed to Illinois, 
settling first in Vermilion, and later in Schuyler 
County. At the age of 18, being forced to 
abandon school, for six years he worked upon the 
farm of his widowed mother, and, at 19, entered 
a printing office at Rushville, where he learned 
the trade of compositor. In 1844 he published a 
Whig campaign paper, which was discontinued 
after the defeat of Henry Clay. For eleven 
years he was Circuit Clerk of Brown County, 
during which period he was admitted to the bar ; 
was a member of the Constitutional Convention 
o*" 1862, and of the State Board of Equalization 
from 1868 to 1872. The latter year he was elected 
to the State Senate for four j'ears, and, in 1875, 
chosen its President, thus becoming ex-ofiicio 
Lieutenant-Governor. He early abandoned legal 
practice to engage in banking and in mercan- 
tile investment. After the expiration of his term 
in the Senate, he removed to Kansas, where, at 
latest advices, he still resided. 

GLENN, John J., lawyer and jurist, was born 
in Ashland County, Ohio, March 2, 1831 ; gradu- 
ated from Miami University in 1856 and, in 1858, 
was admitted to the bar at Terre Haute, Ind. 
Removing to Illinois in 1860, he settled in Mercer 
County, a year later removing to Monmouth in 
Warren County, where he still resides. In 1877 
he was elected Judge of the Tenth Judicial Cir- 
cuit and re-elected in 1879, "85, "91, and '97. 
After his last election he served for some time, 
by appointment of the Supreme Court, as a mem- 
ber of the Appellate Court for the Springfield 
District, but ultimately resigned and returned to 
Circuit Court duty. His reputation as a cool- 
headed, impartial Judge stands very high, and his 
name has been favorably regarded for a place on 
the Supreme Bench. 

GLOVER, Joseph Otis, lawyer, was born in 
Cayuga County, N. Y., April 13, 1810, and edu- 
cated in the Iiigh-school at Aurora in that State. 
In 1835 he came west to attend to a land case at 
Galena for his father, and, although not then a 
lawyer, he managed the case so successfully that 
he was asked to take charge of two otliers. This 
determined the bent of his mind towards the law, 
to the study of which he turned his attention 
under the preceptorship of the late Judge The- 
ophilus L. Dickey, then of Ottawa. Soon after 
being admitted to the bar in 1840, he formed a 
partnership with the late Burton C. Cook, which 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



203 



lasted over thirty years. In 1846 he was elected 
as a Democrat to the lower branch of the Fif- 
teenth General Assembly, but, on the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, he became one of the 
founders of the Republican party and a close 
friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he entertained, 
at the time of his (Lincoln's) debate with Senator 
Douglas, at Ottawa, in 1858. In 1868 he served 
as Presidential Elector at the time of General 
Grant's first election to the Presidency, and the 
following year was appointed United States Dis- 
trict Attorney for the Northern District, serving 
until 1875. In 1877 he was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Cullom a memher of the Board of Railway 
and Canal Commissioners, of which he afterwards 
became President, serving six years. Died, in 
Chicago, Dec. 10, 1893. 

GODFREY, a village of Madison County, on the 
Chicago & Alton Railway, 5 miles north of Alton. 
It is the seat of Monticello Female Seminary, and 
named for Capt. Benjamin Godfrey, an early 
settler who was chiefly instrumental in founding 
that institution. Population (1890), 328. 

GODFREY, (Capt.) Benjamin, sea captain and 
philanthropist, was born at Chatham, Mass., Dec. 
4, 1794 : at nine years of age he ran away from 
home and went to sea, his first voyage being to 
Ireland, where he spent nine years. The War of 
1813 coming on, he returned home, spending a 
part of the next three years in the naval service, 
also gaining a knowledge of the science of navi- 
gation. Later, he became master of a merchant- 
vessel making voyages to Italy, Spain, the West 
Indies and other countries, finally, by shipwreck 
in Cuban waters, losing the bulk of his fortune. 
In 1824 he engaged in mercantile business at 
Matamoras, Mex., where he accumulated a hand- 
some fortune; but, in transferring it (amounting 
to some $200,000 in silver) across the country on 
pack-animals, he was attacked and robbed by 
brigands, with which that country was then 
infested. Resuming business at Now Orleans, he 
was again successful, and, in 1833, came north, 
locating near Alton, 111. , the next year engaging 
in the warehouse and commission business as the 
partner of Winthrop S. Oilman, under the name 
of Godfrey & Oilman. It was in the warehouse 
of this firm at Alton that the printing-press of 
Elijah P. Lovejoy was stored when it was seized 
and destroyed by a mob, and Lovejoy was killed, 
in October, 1837. (See Lovejoy, Elijah P. ) Soon 
after establishing himself at Alton, Captain God- 
frey made a donation of land and money for the 
erection of a young ladies' seminary at the village 
of Godfrey, four miles from Alton. (See Monti- 



cello Female Seminary.) The first cost of the 
erection of buildings, borne by him, was §53,000. 
The institution was opened, April 11, 1838, and 
Captain Godfrey continued to be one of its Trustees 
as long as he lived. He was also one of the lead- 
ing spirits in the construction of the Alton & 
Springfield Railroad (now a part of the Chicago 
& Alton), in which he invested heavily and un- 
profitably. Died, at Godfrey, April 13, 1862. 

GOLCOJfDA, a village and county-seat of Pope 
County, on the Ohio River, 80 miles northeast 
of Cairo; located in agricultural and mining dis- 
trict ; zinc, lead and kaolin mined in the vicinity ; 
has a courthouse, eight churches, schools, one 
bank, a newspaper, a box factory, flour and saw 
mills, and a fluor-spar factory. It is the termi- 
nus of a branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. 
Population (1890). 1.174; (1900), 1,140. 

GOLDZIER, Julius, ex-Congressman, was 
born at Vienna, Austria, Jan. 20, 1854, and 
emigrated to New York in 1866. In 1872 he 
settled in Chicago, where he was admitted 
to the bar in 1877, and where he has practiced 
law ever since. From 1890 to 1893 he was a 
member of the Chicago City Council, and, in 
1893, was the successful Democratic candidate 
in the Fourth District, for Congress, but was 
defeated in 1894 by Edward D. Cooke. At the 
Chicago city election of 1899 he was again re- 
turned to the Council as Alderman for the Thirty- 
second Ward. 

GOODING, James, pioneer, was born about 
1767, and, in 1832, was residing at Bristol, Ontario 
County. N. Y., when he removed to Cook County, 
111., settling in what was later called "Gooding's 
Grove," now a part of Will County. The Grove 
was also called the "Yankee Settlement," from 
the Eastern origin of the principal settlers. Mr. 
Gooding was accompanied, or soon after joined, by 
three sons — James, Jr., William and Jasper — and 
a nephew, Charles Gooding, all of wliom became 
prominent citizens. The senior Gooding died in 
1849, at the age of 83 years.— William (Gooding), 
civil engineer, son of the preceding, was born at 
Bristol, Ontario County, N. Y., April 1, 1803; 
educated in the common schools and by private 
tuition, after which he divided his time chiefly 
between teaching and working on the farm of 
his father, James Gooding. Having devoted 
considerable attention to surveying and civil 
engineering, he obtained employment in 1826 on 
the Welland Canal, where he remained three years. 
He then engaged in mercantile pursuits at Lock- 
port, N. Y., but sold out at the end of the first 
year and went to Ohio to engage in his profession. 



204 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Being unsuccessful in this, he accepted employ- 
ment for a time as a rodman, but later secured a 
position as Assistant Engineer on the Ohio Canal. 
After a brief visit to his father's in 1833, he 
returned to Ohio and engaged in business there 
for a short time, but the following year joined 
his father, who had previously settled in a portion 
of what is now Will County, but then Cook, mak- 
ing the trip by the first mail steamer around the 
lakes. He at first settled at "Gooding's Grove" 
and engaged in farming. In 1836 he was ap- 
pointed Assistant Engineer on the Illinois & 
Micliigan Canal, but, in 1843, became Chief Engi- 
neer, continuing in that position until the com- 
pletion of the canal in 1848, when he became 
Secretary of the Canal Board. Died, at Lockport, 
Will County, in May, 1878. 

GOODRICH, Grant, lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Milton, Saratoga, County, N. Y., August 
7, 1811 ; grew up in Western New York, studied 
law and came to Chicago in 1834, becoming one 
of the most prominent and reputable members of 
his profession, as well as a leader in many of the 
movements for the educational, moral and reli- 
gious advancement of the community. He was 
one of the founders of the First Methodist Epis- 
copal Church of Chicago, an active member of 
the Union Defense Committee during the war, an 
incorporator and life-long Trustee of the North- 
western University, and President of the Board 
of Trustees of Garrett Biblical Institute, besides 
being identified with many organizations of a 
strictly benevolent character. In 1859 Judge 
Goodrich was elected a Judge of the newly organ- 
ized Superior Court, but, at the end of his term, 
resumed the practice of his profession. Died, 
March 15, 1889. 

GORE, David, ex-State Auditor, was born in 
Trigg County, Ky., Aprils. 1827; came with his 
parents to Madison County, 111. , in 1834, and served 
in the Mexican War as a Quartermaster, afterwards 
locating in Macoupin County, where he has been 
extensively engaged in farming. In 1874 he was 
an unsuccessful Greenback-Labor candidate for 
State Treasurer, in 1884 was elected to the State 
Senate from the Macoupin-Morgan District, and, 
in 1893, nominated and elected, as a Democrat, 
Auditor of Public Accounts, serving until 1897. 
For some sixteen years he was a member of the 
State Board of Agriculture, the last two years of 
that period being its President. His home is at 
CarUnville. 

GOXJDY, Calvin, early printer and physician, 
was born in Ohio, June 3, 1814; removed with 
his parents, in childhood, to Indianapolis, and 



in 1833 to Vandalia, 111., where he worked in the 
State printing office and bindery. In the fall of 
1833 the family removed to Jacksonville, and the 
following year he entered Illinois College, being 
for a time a college-mate of Richard Yates, after- 
wards Governor. Here he continued his vocation 
as a printer, working for a time on "Peck's 
Gazetteer of Illinois" and "Goudy's Almanac," 
of which his father was publisher. In association 
with a brother wliile in Jacksonville, he began 
the publication of "The Common School Advo- 
cate," the pioneer publication of its kind in the 
Northwest, which was continued for about a 
year. Later he studied medicine with Drs. Henry 
and Merriman in Springfield, finally graduating 
at the St. Louis Medical College and, in 1844. 
began practice at Taylorville ; in 1847 was elected 
Probate Judge of Christian County for a term of 
four years; in 1851 engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness, which he continued nineteen years. In 1856 
he was elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly and, in the session of the following 
year, was a leading supporter of the act estab- 
lishing the State Normal School at Normal, still 
later serving for some sixteen years on the State 
Board of Education. Died, at Taylorville, in 
1877. Dr. Goudy was an older brother of the late 
William C. Goudy of Chicago. 

GOUDY, William C, lawyer, was born in 
Indiana, May 15, 1834 ; came to Illinois, with his 
father, first to Vandalia and afterwards to Jack- 
sonville, previous to 1833, where the latter began 
the publication of "The Farmer's Almanac" — a 
well-known publication of that time. At Jack- 
sonville young Goudy entered Illinois College, 
graduating in 1845, when he began the study of 
law with Judge Stephen T. Logan, of Springfield; 
was admitted to the bar in 1847, and the next year 
began practice at Lewistown, Fulton County; 
served as State's Attorney (1853-55) and as State 
Senator (1856-60); at the close of his term re- 
moved to Chicago, where he became prominent 
as a corporation and railroad lawyer, in 1886 be- 
coming General Solicitor of the Chicago & North- 
western Railroad. During President Cleveland's 
first term, Mr. Goudy was believed to exert a 
large influence with the administration, and was 
credited with having been largely instrumental 
in securing the appointment of his partner, Mel- 
ville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court. Died, April 27, 1893. 

GRAFF, Joseph V., lawyer and Congressman, 
was born at Terre Haute, Ind., July 1, 1854; after 
graduating from the Terre Haute high-school, 
spent one year in Wabash College at Crawfords- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



205 



ville, but did not graduate ; studied law and was 
admitted to the bar at Delavan, 111., in 1879; in 
1892 was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention at Minneapolis, but, with the excep- 
tion of President of the Board of Education, 
never held any public office until elected to Con- 
gress from the Fourteenth Illinois District, as a 
Republican, in November, 1894. Mr. Graff was a 
successful candidate for re-election in 1896, and 
again in '98. 

GRAFTON, a town in Jersey County, situated 
on the Mississippi one and a half miles below the 
mouth of the Illinois River. The bluffs are high 
and fine river views are obtainable. A fine 
quality of fossiliferous limestone is quarried here 
and exported by the river. The town has a 
bank, three churches and a graded school. Pop- 
ulation (1880), 807, (1890), 937; (1900), 988. 

GRAIN INSPECTION, a mode of regulating 
the grain-trade in accordance with State law, and 
under the general supervision of the Railroad and 
Warehouse Commission. The principal exec- 
utive officer of the department is the Chief 
Inspector of Grain, the expenses of whose adminis- 
tration are borne by fees. The chief business of 
the inspection department is transacted in Chi- 
cago, where the principal offices are located. (See 
Railroad and Warehouse Commission.) 

GRAMMAR, John, pioneer and early legislator, 
came to Southern Illinois at a very early date and 
served as a member of the Third Territorial 
Council for Johnson County (1816-18); was a 
citizen of Union County when it was organized 
in 1818, and served as State Senator from that 
county in the Third and Fourth General Assem- 
blies (1822-26), and again in the Seventh and 
Eighth General Assemblies (1830-34), for the Dis- 
trict composed of Union, Johnson and Alexander 
Counties. He is described as having been very 
illiterate, but a man of much shrewdness and 
considerable influence. 

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, a fra- 
ternal, charitable and patriotic association, 
limited to men who served in the Union army or 
navy during the Civil War, and received hon- 
orable discharge. Its founder was Dr. B. F. 
Stephenson, who served as Surgeon of the Four- 
teenth Illinois Infantry. In this task he had 
the cooperation of Rev. William J. Rutledge, 
Chaplain of the same regiment. Col. John M. 
Snyder, Dr. James Hamilton, Maj. Robert M. 
Woods, Maj. Robert Allen, Col. Martin Flood, 
Col. Daniel Grass, Col. Edward Prince, Capt. 
John S. Phelps, Capt. John A. Lightfoot, Col. 
B. F. Smith, Maj. A. A. North, Capt. Henry E. 



Howe, and Col. B. F. Hawkes, all Illinois veter- 
ans. Numerous conferences were held at Spring- 
field, in this State, a ritual was prepared, and the 
first post was chartered at Decatur, 111., April 6, 
1866. The charter members were Col. I. C. Pugh, 
George R. Steele, J. W. Routh, Joseph Prior, 
J. H. Nale, J. T. Bishop, G. H. Dunning, B. F. 
Sibley, M. F. Kanan, C. Reibsame, I. N. Coltrin, 
and Aquila Toland. All but one of these had 
served in Illinois regiments. At first, the work 
of organization proceeded slowly, the ex-soldiers 
generally being somewhat doubtful of the result 
of the project; but, before July 13, 1866, the date 
fixed for the assembling of a State Convention to 
form the Department of Illinois, thirty-nine posts 
had been chartered, and, by 1869, there were 330 
reported in Illinois. By October, 1866, Depart- 
ments had been formed in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and posts established 
in Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Massa- 
chussetts. New York, Pennsylvania, and the 
District of Columbia, and the first National 
Encampment was held at Indianapolis, November 
20 of that year. In 1894 there were 7,500 posts, 
located in every State and Territory of the Union, 
with a membership of 450,000. The scheme of 
organization provides for precinct, State and 
National bodies. The first are known as posts, 
each having a number, to which the name of 
some battle or locality, or of some deceased soldier 
may be prefixed ; the .second (State organizations) 
are known as Departments; and the supreme 
power of the Order is vested in the National En- 
campment, which meets annually. As has been 
said, the G. A. R. had its inception in Illinois. 
The aim and dream of Dr. Stephenson and his 
associates was to Create a grand organization of 
veterans which, through its cohesion, no less than 
its incisiveness, should constitute a potential fac- 
tor in the inculcation and development of patriot- 
ism as well as mutual support. While he died 
sorrowing that he had not seen the fruition of 
his hopes, the present has witnessed the fullest 
realization of his dream. (See Stephenson, B. F. ) 
The constitution of the order expressly prohibits 
any attempt to use the organization for partisan 
purposes, or even the discussion, at any meeting, 
of partisan questions. Its aims are to foster and 
strengthen fraternal feelings among members; to 
assist comrades needing help or protection and 
aid comrades' widows and orphans, and to incul- 
cate unswerving loyalty. The "Woman's Relief 
Corps" is an auxiliary organization, originating 
at Portland, Maine, in 1869. The following is a list 
of Illinois Department Commanders, chrouolog- 



206 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ically arranged; B. F. Stephenson (Provisional, 
1866), John M. Palmer (1866-68), Thomas O. 
Osborne (1869-70), Charles E. Lippinoott (1871), 
Hubert Dilger (1872), GuyT. Gould (1873), Hiram 
Hilliard (1874 76), Joseph S. Reynolds (1877), 
T. B. Coulter (1878), Edgar D. Swain (1879-80), 
J. W. Burst (1881), Thomas G. Lawler (1882), 
S. A. Harper (1883), L. T. Dickason (1884), 
William W. Berry (1885), Philip Sidney Post 
(1886), A. C. Sweetser (1887), James A. Sexton 
(1888), James S. Martin (1889), William L. Distin 
(1890), Horace S. Clark (1891), Edwin Harlan 
(1892), Edward A. Blodgett (1893), H. H. 
McDowell (1894), W. H. Powell (1895), William 
G. Cochran (1896), A. L. SchimpiT (1897), John 
C. Black (1898), John B, Inman (1899). The fol- 
lowing lUinoisans have held the position of Com- 
mander-in-Chief: S. A. Hurlbut, (two terms) 
1866-67; John A. Logan, (three terms) 1868-70; 
Thomas G. Lawler, 1894; James A. Sexton, 1898. 

GRAND PRAIRIE SEMIKARY, a co-educa- 
tional institution at Onarga, Iroquois County, in- 
corporated iu 1863 ; had a faculty of eleven teach- 
ers in 1897-98, with 285 pupils— 145 male and 140 
female. It reports an endowment of §10,000 and 
property valued at §55,000. Besides the usual 
classical and scientific departments, instruction 
is given in music, oratory, fine arts and prepara- 
tory studies. 

GRAND TOWER, a town in Jackson County, 
situated on the Mississippi River, 27 miles south- 
west of Carbondale ; the western terminus of the 
Grand Tower & Carbondale Railroad. It received 
its name from a high, rocky island, lying in the 
river opposite the village. It has four churches, 
a -weekly newspaper, and two blast furnaces for 
iron. Population (1890), 624; (1900), 881. 

GRAND TOWER & CAPE GIRARDEAU 
RAILROAD. (See Chicago d: Texas Railroad.) 

GRAND TOWER & CARBONDALE RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Chicago & Texas Railroad.) 

GRANGER, Flavel K., lawyer, farmer and 
legislator, was born in Wayne County, N. Y., 
May 16, 1832, educated in public schools at Sodus 
in the same State, and settled at Waukegan, 111., 
in 1853. Here, having studied law, he was 
admitted to the bar in 1855, removing to McHenry 
County the same year, and soon after engaging in 
the live-stock and wool business. In 1872 he was 
elected as a Republican Representative in the 
Twenty-eighth General Assembly, being succes- 
sively re-elected to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth 
and Thirty-first, and being chosen Temporary 
Speaker of the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth. He 
is now a member of the State Senate for the 



Eighth District, having been elected in 1896. His 
home is at West McHenry. 

GRANT, Alexander Fraeser, early lawyer and 
jurist, was born at Inverness, Scotland, in 1804; 
came to Illinois at an early day and located at 
Shawneetown, where he studied law with Henry 
Eddy, the pioneer lawyer and editor of that place. 
Mr. Grant is described as a man of marked ability, 
as were many of the early settlers of that region. 
In February, 1835, he was elected by the General 
Assembly Judge for the Third Circuit, as succes- 
sor to his preceptor, Mr. Eddy, but served only a 
few months, dying at Vandalia the same year. 

GRANT, Ulysses Simpson, (originally Hiram 
Ulysses), Lieutenant - General and President, 
was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, 
Ohio, April 27, 1822 ; graduated from West 
Point Military Academy, in 1843, and served 
through the Mexican War. After a short resi- 
dence at St. Louis, he became a resident of Galena 
in 1860. His war-record is a glorious part of the 
Nation's history. Entering the service of the 
State as a clerk in the office of the Quartermaster- 
General at Springfield, soon after the breaking out 
of the war in 1861, and still later serving as a 
drill-master at Camp Yates, in June following he 
was commissioned by Governor Yates Colonel of 
the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, which he 
immediately led into the field in the State of 
Missouri ; was soon after promoted to a Brigadier- 
Generalship and became a full Major-General of 
Volunteers on the fall of Forts Donelson and 
Henrj', in February following. His successes at 
Fort Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill, and Big 
Black River, ending with the capture of Vicks- 
burg, were the leading victories of the Union 
armies in 1863. His successful defense of Chat- 
tanooga was also one of his victories in the West 
in the same year. Commissioned a Major-General 
of the Regular Army after the fall of Vicksburg, 
he became Lieutenant-General in 1864, and, in 
March of that year, assumed command of all the 
Northern armies. Taking personal command of 
the Army of the Potomac, he directed the cam- 
paign against Richmond, which resulted in the 
final evacuation and downfall of the Confederate 
capital and the surrender of General Lee at 
Appomattox on April 8, 18G5. In July, 1866, he 
was made General — the office being created for 
him. He also served as Secretary of War, ad 
interim, under President Johnson, from Au- 
gust, 1867, to January, 1868. In 1868 he was 
elected President of the United States and re- 
elected in 1873. His administration may not 
have been free from mistakes, but it was charao- 



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HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



307 



terized by patriotism and integrity of purpose. 
During 1877-79 he made a tour of the world, being 
received everywhere with the highest honors. In 
1880 his friends made an unsuccessful effort to 
secure his renomination as a Presidential candi- 
date on the Republican ticket. Died, at Mount 
McGregor, N. Y. , July 23, 1885. His chief literary 
work was his "Memoirs'" (two volumes, 1885-86), 
which was very extensively sold. 

GRAPE CREEK, a surburban mining village in 
Vermilion County, on the Big Vermilion River 
and the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, six 
miles south of Danville. The chief industry is 
coal mining, which is extensively carried on. 
Population (1890), 778; (1000), 610 

GRATIOT, Charles, of Huguenot parentage, 
born at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 17.j3. After 
receiving a mercantile training in the counting 
house of an \mcle in London, lie emigrated to 
Canada, entering the employ of another uncle at 
Montreal. He first came to the "Illinois Coun- 
try" in 1775, as an Indian trader, remaining one 
year. In 1777 he returned ana formed a partner- 
sliip with David McRae and John Kay, two young 
Scotchmen from Montreal. He established depots 
at Cahokia and Kaskaskia. Upon the arrival of 
Col. George Rogers Clark, in 1778, he rendered 
that commander material financial assistance, 
becoming personally responsible for the supplies 
needed by the penniless American army. "When 
the transfer of sovereignty took place at St. 
Louis, on March 10, 1804, and Louisiana Territory 
became a part of the United States, it was from 
the balcony of his house that the first American 
flag was unfurled in Upper Louisiana. In recom- 
pense for his liberal expenditure, he was promised 
30,000 acres of land near the present site of 
Louisville, but this he never received. Died, at 
St. Louis, April 21, 1817. 

GRAVIER, Father Jacques, a Jesuit mission- 
ary, born in France, but at what date cannot be 
stated with certainty. After some j-ears spent in 
Canada he was sent by his ecclesiastical superiors 
to the Illinois Mission (1688), succeeding AUouez 
as Superior two years later, and being made 
Vicar-General in 1691. He labored among the 
Miamis, Peorias and Kaskaskias — his most numer- 
ous conversions being among the latter tribe — as 
also among the Cahokias, Osages, Tamaroas and 
Missouris. It is said to have been largely through 
his influence that the Illinois were induced to 
settle at Kaskaskia instead of going south. In 
1705 he received a severe wound during an attack 
by the Illinois Indians, incited, if not actually 
led, by one of their medicine men. It is said 



that he visited Paris for treatment, but failed 
to find a cure. Accounts of his death vary as 
to time and place, but all agree that it resulted 
from the wound above mentioned. Some of his 
biographers assert that he died at sea; others 
that he returned from France, yet suffering from 
the Indian poison, to Louisiana in February, 
1708, and died near Mobile, Ala., the same year. 

GRAY, Elisha, electrician and inventor, was 
born at Barnesville, Ohio, August 2, 1835; after 
serving as an apprentice at various trades, took a 
course at Oberlin College, devoting especial 
attention to the physical sciences, meanwhile 
supporting liimself by manual labor. In 1865 he 
began his career as an electrician and, in 1867, 
received his first patent; devised a method of 
transmitting teleplione signals, and, in 1875, suc- 
ceeded in transmitting four messages simultane- 
ously on one wire to New York and Boston, a 
year later accomplishing the same with eight 
messages to New York and Philadelphia. Pro- 
fessor Gray has invented a telegraph switch, a 
repeater, enunciator and type-writing telegraph. 
From 1869 to '73 he was employed in the manu- 
facture of telegraph apparatus at Cleveland and 
Chicago, but has since been electrician of the 
Western Electric Company of Chicago. His latest 
invention, the "telautograph" — for reproducing 
by telegraph the handwriting of the sender 
of a telegram — attracted great interest at the 
World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. He is 
author of "Telegraphy and Telephony" and 
"Experimental Researches in Electro-Harmonic 
Telegraphy and Telephony." 

GRAY, William C, Ph.D., editor, was born in 
Butler County, Ohio, in 1830; graduated from 
the Farmers' (now Belmont) College in 1850, 
read law and began secular editorial work in 
1852, being connected, in the next fourteen years, 
with "The Tiffin Tribune." "Cleveland Herald" 
and "Newark American." Then, after several 
years spent in general publishing business in 
Cincinnati, after the great fire of 1871 he came to 
Chicago, to take charge of "The Interior," the 
organ of the Presbyterian Church, which he has 
since conducted. The success of the paper under 
his management affords the best evidence of his 
practical good sense. He holds the degree of 
Ph.D., received from Wooster University in 1881. 

GRAYVILLE, a city .situated on the border of 
White and Edwards Counties, lying chiefly in 
the former, on the Wabash River, 35 miles north- 
west of Evansville, Ind., 16 miles northeast of 
Carmi, and forty miles southwest of Vincennes. 
It is located in the heart of a heavily timbered 



208 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



region and is an important hard-wood market. 
Valuable coal deposits exist. The industries m- 
clude flour, saw and planing mills, stave factories 
and creamery. The city has an electric light 
and water plant, two banks, eight churches, and 
two weekly papers. Population O900), 1,948. 

GRAYTILLE & MATTOON RAILROAD. (See 
Peoria, Decatur & Evcmsville Railway.) 

GREATHOUSE, Lucien, soldier, was born at 
Carhnville, 111., in 1843; graduated at lUinois 
Wesleyan University, Bloomington, and studied 
law ; enlisted as a private at the beginning of the 
War of the Rebellion and rose to the rank of 
Colonel of the Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteers; 
bore a conspicuous part in the movements of the 
Army of the Tennessee; was killed in battle near 
Atlanta, Ga., June 21, 1864. 

GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD (of 1843 and 
'49). (See Illinois Central Railroad.) 

GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD (2). (See 
Wabash Railway. ) 

GREEN RIYER, rises in Lee County, and, 
after draining part of Bureau Coimty, flows west- 
ward through Henry County, and enters Rock 
River about 10 miles east by south from Rock 
Island. It is nearly 120 miles long. 

GREEN, William H., State Senator and Judge, 
was born at Danville, Ky., Deo. 8, 1830. In 1847 
he accompanied his father's family to Illinois, 
and, for three years following, taught school, at 
the same time reading law. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1853 and began practice at Mount 
Vernon, removing to Metropolis the next year, 
and to Cairo in 1863. In 1858 he was elected to 
the lower house of the General Assembly, was 
re-elected in 1860 and, two years later, was 
elected to the State Senate for four years. In 
December, 1865, he was elected Judge of the 
Third Judicial Circuit, to fill the imexpired term 
of Judge Mulkey, retiring with the expiration of 
nis term in 1867. He was a delegate to the 
National Democratic Conventions of 1860, '64, 
'68, '80, '84 and '88, besides being for many years 
a member of the State Central Committee of that 
party, and also, for four terms, a member of the 
State Board of Education, of which he has been 
for several years the President. He is at present 
(1899) engaged in the practice of his profession at 
Cairo. 

GREENE, Henry Sacheveral, attorney, was 
born in the North of Ireland, July, 1833, brought 
to Canada at five years of age, and from nine com- 
pelled to support himself, sometimes as a clerk 
and at others setting type in a printing office. 
After spending some time in Western New York, 



in 1853 he commenced the study of law at Dan- 
ville, Ind.. with Hugh Crea, now of Decatur, 111. ; 
four years later settled at Clinton, DeWitt 
County, where he taught and studied law with 
Lawrence Weldon, now of the Court of Claims, 
Washington. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar 
at Springfield, on the motion of Abraham Lin- 
coln, and was associated in practice, for a time, 
with Hon. Clifton H. Moore of Clinton; later 
served as Prosecuting Attorney and one term 
(1867-69) as Representative in the General Assem- 
bly. At the close of his term in the Legislature 
he removed to Springfield, forming a law partner- 
ship with Milton Hay and David T. Littler, under 
the firm name of Hay, Greene & Littler, still later 
becoming the head of the firm of Greene & 
Humphrey. From the date of his removal to 
Springfield, for some thirty years his chief employ- 
ment was as a corporation lawyer, for the most 
part in the service of the Chicago & Alton and 
the Wabash Railways. His death occurred at his 
home in Springfield, after a protracted iUness, 
Feb. 25, 1899. Of recognized ability, thoroughly 
devoted to his profession, high minded and honor- 
able in all his dealings, he commanded respect 
wherever he was known. 

GREENE, William G., pioneer, was born in 
Tennessee in 1812 ; came to Illinois in 1822 with 
his father (Bowling Greene), who settled in the 
vicinity of New Salem, now in Menard County. 
The younger Greene was an intimate friend and 
fellow-student, at Illinois College, of Richard 
Yates (afterwards Governor), and also an early 
friend and admirer of Abraham Lincoln, under 
whom he held an appointment in Utah for some 
years. He died at Tallula, Menard County, in 
1894. 

GREENFIELD, a city in the eastern part of 
Greene County, on the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy and the Quincy, Carrollton & St. Louis 
Railways. 12 miles east of Carrollton and 55 miles 
north of St. Louis; is an agricultural, coal-mining 
and stock-raising region. The city has several 
churches, public schools, a seminary, electric 
light plant, steam flouring mill, and one weekly 
paper. It is an important shipping point for 
cattle, horses, swine, corn, grain and produce. 
Population (1890). 1,131; (1900), 1,085. 

GREENE COUNTY, cut off from Madison and 
separately organized in 1821 ; has an area of 544 
.square miles; population (1900), 23,403; named 
for Gen. Nathaniel Greene, a Revolutionary sol- 
dier. The soil and climate are varied and adapted 
to a diversity of products, wheat and fruit being 
among the principal. Building stone and clay 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



209 



are abundant. Probably the first English-speak- 
ing settlers were David Stockton and James 
Whiteside, who located south of Macoupin Creek 
in June, 1817. Samuel Thomas and others 
(among them Gen. Jacob Fry) followed soon 
afterward. The Indians were numerous and 
aggressive, and had destroyed not a few of the 
monuments of the Government surveys, erected 
some years before. Immigration of the whites, 
however, was rapid, and it was not long before 
the nucleus of a village was established at Car- 
rollton, where General Fry erected the first house 
and made the first coffin needed in the settle- 
ment. This town, the county-seat and most 
important place in the county, was laid off by 
Thomas Carlin in 1821. Other flourishing towns 
are Whitehall (population, 1,961), and Roodhouse 
(an important railroad center) with a population 
of 2,360. 

GREENUP, village of Cumberland County, at 
intersection of the Vandalia Line and Evansville 
branch 111. Cent. Ry. ; in farming and fruit- 
growing region; has powder mill, bank, broom 
factory, five churches, public library and good 
schools. Population (1890), 858; (1900), 1,085. 

GREENVIEW, a village in Menard County, on 
the Jacksonville branch of the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad, 22 miles north-northwest of Springfield 
and 36 miles northeast of Jacksonville. It has a 
coal mine, bank, two weekly papers, seven 
churches, and a graded and high school. Popu- 
lation (1890), 1.106; (1900), 1,019; (1903), 1,245. 

GREENVILLE, an incorporated city, the 
county-seat of Bond County, on the East Fork of 
Big Shoal Creek and the St. Louis, Vandalia & 
Terre Haute Railroad, 50 miles east-northeast of 
St. Louis ; is in a rich agricultural and coal-min- 
ing region. Corn and wheat are raised exten- 
sively in the surrounding country, and there are 
extensive coal mines adjacent to the city. The 
leading manufacturing product is in the line of 
wagons. It is the seat of Greenville College (a 
coeducational institution) ; has several banks and 
three weekly newspapers. Population (1890), 
1,868; (1900), 3,504. 

GREENVILLE, TREATY OF, a treaty negoti- 
ated by Gen. Anthony Wayne with a number of 
Indian tribes (see Indian Treaties), at Green- 
ville, after his victory over the savages at the 
battle of Maumee Rapids, in August, 1795. This 
was the first treaty relating to Illinois lands in 
which a number of tribes united. The lands con- 
veyed within the present limits of the State 
of Illinois were as follows: A tract six miles 
square at the mouth of the Chicago River; 



another, twelve miles square, near the mouth of 
the Illinois River; another, six miles square, 
around the old fort at Peoria; the post of Fort 
Massac; the 150,000 acres set apart as bounty 
lands for the army of Gen. George Rogers Clark, 
and "the lands at all other places in the posses- 
sion of the French people and other white set- 
tlers among them, the Indian title to which has 
been thus extinguished. " On the other hand, the 
United States relinquished all claim to all other 
Indian lands north of the Ohio, east of tfte Mis- 
sissippi and south of the great lakes. The cash 
consideration paid by the Government was 
$210,000. 

GREGG, David L., lawyer and Secretary of 
State, emigrated from Albany, N. Y., and began 
the practice of law at Joliet, 111., where, in 1839, 
he also edited "The Juliet Courier," the first 
paper established in Will County. From 1842 to 
1846, he represented Will, Du Page and Iroquois 
Counties in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Gen- 
eral Assemblies ; later removed to Chicago, after 
which he served for a time as United States Dis- 
trict Attorney; in 1847 was chosen one of the 
Delegates from Cook County to the State Consti- 
tutional Convention of that year, and served as 
Secretary of State from 1850 to 1853, as successor 
to Horace S. Cooley, who died in office the former 
year. In the Democratic State Convention of 
1852, Mr. Gregg was a leading candidate for the 
nomination for Governor, though finally defeated 
by Joel A. Matteson; served as Presidential 
Elector for that year, and. in 1853, was appointed 
by President Pierce Commissioner to the Sandwich 
Islands, still later for a time acting as the minis- 
ter or adviser of King Kamehamaha IV, who died 
in 1863. Returning to California he was ap- 
pointed by President Lincoln Receiver of Public 
Moneys at Carson City, Nev., where he died, Dec. 
23, 1868. 

GREGORY, John Milton, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born at Sand Lake, Rensselaer Co., 
N. Y., July 6, 1822; graduated from Union Col- 
lege in 1846 and, after devoting two years to the 
study of law, studied theology and entered the 
Baptist ministry. After a brief pastorate in the 
East he came West, becoming Principal of a 
classical school at Detroit. His ability as an 
educator was soon recognized, and, in 1858, he 
was elected State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction in Michigan, but declined a re-elec- 
tion in 1863. In 1854, he assisted in founding 
"The Michigan Journal of Education," of which 
he was editor-in-chief. In 1863 he accepted the 
Presidency of Kalamazoo College, and four years 



210 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



later was called to that of the newly founded 
University of Illinois, at Champaign, where he 
remained until 1880. He was United States 
Commissioner to the Vienna Exposition in 1873, 
Illinois State Commissioner to the Paris Exposi- 
tion of 1878, also serving as one of the judges in 
the educational department of the Philadelphia 
Centennial of 1876. From 1882 to '85 he was a 
member of the United States Civil Service Com- 
mission. The degree of LL.D. was conferred 
upon him by Madison University (Hamilton. 
N. Y.) in 1866. While State Superintendent he 
published a "Compend of School Laws" of Michi- 
gan, besides numerous addresses on educational 
subjects. Other works of his are "Handbook of 
History" and "Map of Time" (Chicago, 1866) ; "A 
New Political Economy" (Cincinnati, 1882); and 
"Seven Laws of Teaching" (Chicago, 1883). 
While holding a chair as Professor Emeritus of 
Political Economy in the Uni%'ersity of Illinois 
during the latter years of his life, he resided in 
Washington, D. C, where he died, Oct. 20, 1898. 
By his special request he was buried on the 
grounds of the University at Champaign. 

GRESHAM, Walter Quiuton, soldier, jurist 
and statesman, was born near Lanesville, Harri- 
son County, Ind., March 17, 1832. Two years at 
a seminary at Corydon, followed by one year at 
Bloomington University, completed his early 
education, which was commenced at the common 
schools. He read law at Corydon, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1853. In 1860 he was 
elected to the Indiana Legislature, but resigned 
to become Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty- 
eighth Indiana Volunteers, and was almost 
immediately commissioned Colonel of the Fifty- 
third Regiment. After the fall of Vicksburg he 
was promoted to a Brigadier-Generalship, and was 
brevetted Major-General on March 13, 1865. At 
Atlanta he was severely wounded, and disabled 
from service for a year. After the war he re- 
sumed practice at New Albany, Ind. His polit- 
ical career began in 1856, when he stumped his 
county for Fremont. From that time until 1892 
he was always prominently identified with the 
Republican party. In 1866 he was an unsuccess- 
ful Republican candidate for Congress, and, in 
1867-68, was the financial agent of his State 
(Indiana) in New York. In 1869 President Grant 
appointed him Judge of the United States Dis- 
trict Court for Indiana. In 1883 he resigned this 
position to accept the portfolio of Postmaster-Gen- 
eral in the Cabinet of President Arthur. In July, 
1884, upon the death of Secretary Folger, he was 
made Secretary of the Treasury. In Oct. 1884, 



he was appointed United States Judge of the 
Seventh Judicial Circuit, and thereafter made 
his home in Chicago. He was an earnest advo- 
cate of the renomination of Grant in that year, 
but subsequently took no active personal part in 
politics. In 1888 he was the substantially unani- 
mous choice of Illinois Republicans for the Presi- 
dency, but was defeated in convention. In 1893 
he was tendered the Populist nomination for 
President, but declined. In 1893 President Cleve- 
land offered him the portfolio of Secretary of 
State, which he accepted, dying in office at 
Washington, D. C, May 28, 1895. 

GREUSEL, Nicholas, soldier, was born in Ger- 
many, July 4, 1817, the .son of a soldier of Murat; 
came to New York in 1833 and to Detroit, Mich., 
in 1835 ; served as a Captain of the First Michigan 
Volunteers in the Mexican War ; in 1857, came to 
Chicago and was employed on the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad, until the firing on 
Fort Sumter, when he promptly enrolled himself 
as a private in a company organized at Aurora, 
of which he was elected Captain and attached to 
the Seventh Illinois (three-months' men), later 
being advanced to the rank of Major. Re-enlisting 
for three years, he vvas commissioned Lieutenant- 
Colonel, but, in August following, was commis- 
sioned Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Illinois; took 
part in the battles of Pea Ridge and Perryville 
and the campaign against Corinth ; compelled to 
resign on account of failing health, in February, 
1863, he removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 
whence he returned to Aurora in 1893. Died at 
Aurora, April 2r,, 1896. 

GRIDLEY, A.sahel, lawyer and banker, was 
born at Cazenovia, N. Y., April 21, 1810; was 
educated at Pompey Academy and, at the age of 
21, came to Illinois, locating at Bloomington and 
engaging in the mercantile business, which he 
carried on quite extensively some eight years. 
He served as First Lieutenant of a cavalry com- 
pany during the Black Hawk War of 1832, and 
soon after was elected a Brigadier-General of 
militia, thereby acquiring the title of "General." 
In 1840 he was elected to the lower branch of the 
Twelfth General Assembly, and soon after began 
to turn his attention to the study of law, subse- 
quently forming a partnership with Col. J. H. 
Wickizer, which continued for a number of years. 
Having been elected to the State Senate in 1850, 
he took a conspicuous part in the two succeeding 
sessions of the General Assembly in securing the 
location of the Chicago & Alton and the Illinois 
Central Railroads by way of Bloomington; was 
also, at a later period, a leading promoter of the 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



211 



Indiana, Bloomington & Western and other lines. 
In 1858 he joined J. Y. Scammon and J. H. Burch 
of Chicago, in the establishment of the McLean 
County Bank at Bloomington, of which he became 
President and ultimately sole proprietor ; also be- 
came proprietor, in 1857, of the Bloomington Gas- 
Light & Coke Company, which he managed some 
twenty-five years. Originally a Whig, he identi- 
fied himself with the Republican cause in 1856, 
serving upon the State Central Committee during 
the campaign of that year, but, in 1872, took 
part in the Liberal Republican movement, serv- 
ing as a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention, 
where he was a zealous supporter of David Davis 
for the Presidency. Died, at Bloomington, Jan. 
20, 1881. 

GRIER) (Col.) David Perkins, soldier and mer- 
chant, was born near Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1837; 
received a common school education and, in 
1852, came to Peoria, 111., where he engaged in 
the grain business, subsequently, in partnership 
with his brother, erecting the first grain-elevator 
in Peoria, with three or four at other points. 
Early in the war he recruited a company of which 
he was elected Captain, but, as the State quota 
was already full, it was not accepted in Illinois, 
but was mustered in, in June, as a part of the 
Eighth Missouri Volunteers. With this organi- 
zation he took part in the capture of Forts Henry 
and Donelson, the battle of Shiloh and the siege 
and capture of Corinth. In August, 1862, he was 
ordered to report to Governor Yates at Spring- 
field, and, on his arrival, was presented with a 
commission as Colonel of the Seventy-seventh 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, of which he retained 
command up to the siege of Vicksburg. During 
that siege he commanded a brigade and, in sub- 
sequent operations in Louisiana, was in command 
of the Second Brigade, Fourth Division of the 
Thirteenth Army Corps. Later he had command 
of all the troops on Dauphin Island, and took a 
conspicuous part in the capture of Fort Morgan 
and Mobile, as well as other operations in Ala- 
bama. He subsequently had command of a 
division until his muster-out, July 10, 1865, with 
the rank of brevet Brigadier-General. After the 
war. General Grier resumed his business as a 
grain merchant at Peoria, but, in 1879, removed to 
East St. Louis, where he had charge of the erection 
and management of the Union Elevator there — 
was also Vice-President and Director of the St. 
Louis Merchants' Exchange. Died, April 22, 
1891. 

GRIERSON, Benjamin H., soldier, was born in 
Pittsburg, Pa., July 8, 1826; removed in boyhood 



to TrumbuU County, Ohio, and, about 1850, to 
Jacksonville, 111., where he was engaged for a 
time in teaching music, later embarking in the 
grain and produce business at Meredosia. He 
enlisted promptly at the beginning of the Civil 
War, becoming Aid-de-camp to General Prentiss 
at Cairo during the three-months' service, later 
being commissioned Major of the Sixth Illinois 
Cavalry. From this time his promotion was 
rapid. He was commissioned Colonel of the same 
regiment in March, 1862, and was commander of a 
brigade in December following. He was promi- 
nent in nearly all the cavalry skirmishes between 
Memphis and the Tennessee river, and, in April 
and May, 1863, led the famous raid from La 
Grange, Tenn., through the States of Mississippi 
and Louisiana to Baton Rouge in the latter— for 
the first time penetrating the heart of the Con- 
federacy and causing consternation among the 
rebel leaders, while materiallj' aiding General 
Grant's movement against Vicksburg. This dem- 
onstration was generally regarded as one of the 
most brilliant events of the war, and attracted 
the attention of the whole country. In recog- 
nition of this service he was, on June 3, 1863, 
made a Brigadier-General, and May 27, 1865, a 
full l\Iajor-General of Volunteers. Soon after the 
close of the war he entered the regular army as 
Colonel of the Tenth United States Cavalry and 
was successively brevetted Brigadier- and Major- 
General for bravery shown in a raid in Arkansas 
during December, 1864. His subsequent service 
was in the West and Southwest conducting cam- 
paigns against the Indians, in the meanwhile 
being in command at Santa Fe, San Antonio and 
elsewhere. On the promotion of General Miles 
to a Major-Generalship following the death of 
Maj.-Gen. George Crook in Chicago, March 19, 
1890, General Grierson, who had been the senior 
Colonel for some years, was promoted Brigadier- 
General and retired with that rank in July fol- 
lowing. His home is at Jacksonville. 

GRIGGS, Samuel Cliapman, publisher, was 
born in Tolland, Conn., July 20, 1819; began 
business as a bookseller at Hamilton, N Y., but 
removed to Chicago, where he established the 
largest bookselling trade in the Northwest. Mr. 
Griggs was a heavy loser by the fire of 1871, and 
the following year, having sold out to his part- 
ners, established himself in the publishing busi- 
ness, which he conducted imtil 1896, when lie 
retired. The class of books published by him 
include many educational and classical, with 
others of a high order of merit. Died in Chi- 
cago, April 5, 1897. 



213 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



GRIGGSVILLE, a city in Pike County, on the 
Wabash Railroad, 4 miles west of the Illinois 
River, and 50 miles east of Quincy. Flour, camp 
stoves, and brooms are manufactured here. The 
city has churches, graded schools, a public 
library, fair grounds, opera house, and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1890), 1,400; (1900), 
1,404. 

GRIMSHAW, Jackson, lawyer and politician, 
was bom in Philadelphia, Nov. 22, 1820, of Anglo- 
Irish and Revolutionary ancestry. He was par- 
tially educated at Bristol College, Pa., and began 
the study of law with his father, who was a lawyer 
and an author of repute. His professional studies 
were interrupted for a few years, during which he 
was employed at surveying and civil engineering, 
but he was admitted to the bar at Harrisburg, in 
1843. The same year he settled at Pittsfield, 111, 
where he formed a partnership with his brother, 
■William A. Grimshaw. In 1857 he removed to 
Quincy, where he resided for the remainder of his 
life. He was a member of the first Republican 
Convention, at Bloomington, in 1856, and was 
twice an unsuccessful candidate for Congress 
(1856 and '58) in a strongly Democratic District. 
He was a warm personal friend and trusted coun- 
sellor of Governor Yates, on whose staff he served 
as Colonel. During 1861 the latter sent Mr. 
Grimshaw to Washington with dispatches an- 
nouncing the capture of Jefferson Barracks, Mo. 
On arriving at Annapolis, learning that the rail- 
roads had been torn up by rebel sympathizers, he 
walked from that city to the capital, and was 
summoned into the presence of the President and 
General Scott with his feet protruding from his 
boots. In 1865 Mr. Lincoln appointed him Col- 
lector of Internal Revenue for the Quincy Dis- 
trict, which office he held imtil 1869. Died, at 
Quincy, Dec. 13, 1875. 

GRIMSHAW, William A., early lawyer, was 
born in Philadelphia and admitted to the bar 
in his native city at the age of 19 ; in 1833 came 
to Pike County, 111., where he continued to prac- 
tice until his death. He served in the State Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1847, and had the credit 
of preparing the article in the second Constitution 
prohibiting dueling. In 1864 he was a delegate 
to the Republican National Convention which 
nominated Mr. Lincoln for President a second 
time; also served as Presidential Elector in 1880. 
He was, for a time, one of the Trustees of the 
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jackson- 
ville, and, from 1877 to 1882, a member of the State 
Board of Public Charities, being for a time Presi- 
dent of the Board. Died, at Pittsfield, Jan. 7, 1895. 



GRINNELL, Julius S., lawyer and ex-Judge, 
was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in 1842, 
of New England parents, who were of French 
descent. He graduated from Middlebury College 
in 1866, and, two years later, was admitted to the 
bar at Ogdensburg, N. Y. In 1870 he removed to 
Chicago, where he soon attained a prominent 
position at the bar ; was elected City Attorney in 
1879, and re-elected in 1881 and 1883. In 1884 he 
was elected State's Attorney for Cook County, in 
which capacity he successfully conducted some 
of the most celebrated criminal prosecutions in 
the history of Illinois. Among these may be 
mentioned the cases against Joseph T. Mackin 
and William J. Gallagher, growing out of an 
election conspiracy in Chicago in 1884; the 
conviction of a number of Cook County Commis- 
sioners for accepting bribes in 1885, and the con- 
viction of seven anarchistic leaders charged with 
complicity in the Haymarket riot and massacre 
in Chicago, in May, 1886 — the latter trial being 
held in 1887. The same year (1887) he was 
elected to the Circuit bench of Cook County, but 
resigned his seat in 1890 to become counsel for 
the Chicago City Railway. Died, in Chicago, 
June 8, 1898. 

GROSS, Jacob, ex-State Treasurer and banker, 
was born in Germany, Feb. 11, 1840; having lost 
his father by death at 13, came to the United 
States two years later, spent a year in Chicago 
schools, learned the trade of a tinsmith and 
clerked in a store until August, 1862, when he 
enlisted in the Eighty-Second Illinois Volunteers 
(the second "Hecker Regiment") ; afterwards par- 
ticipated in some of the most important battles 
of the war, including Chancellorsville, Gettys- 
burg, Lookout Mountain, Resaca and others. At 
Dallas, Ga. , he had his right leg badly shattered 
by a bullet-wound above the knee, four successive 
amputations being found necessary in order to 
save his life. Having been discharged from the 
service in February, 1865, he took a course in a 
commercial college, became deputy clerk of the 
Police Court, served three terms as Collector of 
the West Town of Chicago, and an equal number 
of terms (12 years) as Clerk of the Circuit Court 
of Cook County, and, in 1884, was elected State 
Treasurer. Since retiring from the latter office, 
Mr. Gross has been engaged in the banking busi- 
ness, being President, for several years, of the 
Commercial Bank of Chicago. 

GROSS, William L., lawyer, was born in Her- 
kimer County, N. Y., Feb. 21, 1839, came with 
his father to Illinois in 1844, was admitted to the 
bar at Springfield in 1862, but almost immediately 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



213 



entered the service of the Government, and, a 
year later, was appointed by President Lincoln 
Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, and, under 
command of General Stager, assigned to the 
Department of the Ohio as Military Superintend- 
ent of Telegraphs. At the close of the war he 
was transferred to the Department of the Gulf, 
taking control of military telegraphs in that 
Department with headquarters at New Orleans, 
remaining until August, 1866, meanwhile being 
brevetted Major and Lieutenant-Colonel. For 
the next two years he occupied various positions 
in the civil telegraph service, but, in 1868, resumed 
the practice of law at Springfield, in conjunction 
with his brother (Eugene L. ) issuing the first 
volume of "Gross' Statutes of Illinois," followed 
in subsequent years by two additional volumes, 
besides an Index to all the Laws of the State. In 
1878 he was elected as a Republican to the General 
Assembly from Sangamon County, and, in 1884, 
was appointed by Governor Hamilton Circuit 
Judge to succeed Judge C. S. Zane, who had been 
appointed Chief Justice of Utah. Upon the organi- 
zation of the Illinois State Bar Association, Judge 
Gross became its first Secretary, serving until 
1883, when he was elected President, again serv- 
ing as Secretary and Treasurer in 1893-94. 

GKOSSCUP, Peter Stenger, jurist, born in 
Ashland, Ohio, Feb. 15, 1852; was educated in the 
local schools and Wittenberg College, graduating 
from the latter in 1872 ; read law in Boston, Mass. , 
and settled down to practice in his native town, 
in 1874. He was a candidate for Congress in a 
Democratic District before he was 25 years old, 
but, being a Republican, was defeated. Two 
years later, being thrown by a reapportionment 
into the same district with William McKinley, 
he put that gentleman in nomination for the seat 
in Congress to which he was elected. He re- 
moved to Chicago in 1883, and, for several years, 
was the partner of the late Leonard Swett; in 
December, 1893, was appointed by President 
Harrison Judge of the United States District 
Court for the Northern District of Illinois as suc- 
cessor to Judge Henry W. Blodgett. On the 
death of Judge Showalter, in December, 1898, 
Judge Grosscup was appointed his successor as 
Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the 
Seventh Judicial District. Although one of the 
youngest incumbents upon the bench of the 
United States Court, Judge Grosscup has given 
ample evidence of his ability as a jurist, besides 
proving himself in harmony with the progressive 
spirit of the time on questions of national and 
international interest. 



GRUNDY COUNTY, situated in the northeast- 
ern quarter of the State, having an area of 440 
square miles and a population (1900) of 24,136. 
The surface is mainly rolling prairie, beneath 
which is a continuous coal seam, three feet thick. 
Building stone is abundant (particularly near 
Morris), and there are considerable beds of pot- 
ter's clay. The county is crossed by the Illinois 
River and the Illinois & Michigan Canal, also by the 
Rock Island and the Chicago & Alton Railways. 
The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, 
although there are several manufacturing estab- 
lishments. The first white settler of whom any 
record has been preserved, was William Marquis, 
who arrived at the mouth of the Mazon in a 
"prairie schooner" in 1828. Other pioneers 
were Colonel Sayers, W. A. Holloway, Alex- 
ander K. Owen, John Taylor, James McCartney 
and Joab Chappell. The first public land sale 
was made in 1835, and, in 1841, the county was 
organized out of a part of La Salle, and named 
after Felix Grundy, the eminent Tennesseean. 
The first poUbook showed 148 voters. Morris 
was chosen the county-seat and has so re- 
mained. Its present population is 3,653. Another 
prosperous town is Gardner, with 1,100 inhab- 
itants. 

GULLIVER, John Putnam, D.D., LL.D., 
clergyman and educator, was born in Boston, 
Mass., May 12, 1819; graduated at Yale College, 
in 1840, and at Audover Theological Seminary in 
1845, meanwhile serving two years as Principal 
of Randolph Academy. From 1845 to 1865 he 
was pastor of a church at Norwich, Conn., in 
1865-68, of the New England Church, of Chicago, 
and, 1868-72, President of Knox College at Gales- 
burg, 111. The latter year he became pastor of 
the First Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, 
N. Y., remaining until 1878, when he was elected 
Professor of the "Relations of Christianity and 
Secular Science" at Andover, holding this posi- 
tion actively until 1891, and then, as Professor 
Emeritus, until his death, Jan. 25, 1894. He was 
a member of the Corporation of Yale College 
and had been honored with the degrees of D.D. 
and LL.D. 

GURLEY, WilHam F. E., State Geologist, was 
born at Oswego, N. Y., June 5, 1854; brought by 
his parents to Danville, 111. , in 1864, and educated 
in the public schools of that city and Cornell 
University, N. Y. ; served as city engineer of 
Danville in 1885-87, and again in 1891-93. In 
July of the latter year he was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Altgeld State Geologist as successor to Prof. 
Joshua Lindahl. 



214 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



HACKER, John S., pioneer and soldier of the 
Mexican War, was born at Owensburg, Ky., 
November, 1797; in early life removed to Mis- 
souri, where he was employed in the stock and 
produce trade with New Orleans. Having married 
in 1817, he settled at Jonesboro, Union County, 
111., where he kept a tavern for a number of 
years, and was also engaged some thirty years in 
mercantile business. It is said that he was 
unable to read until taught after marriage by his 
wife, who appears to have been a woman of 
intelligence and many graces. In 1824 he was 
elected Representative in the Fourth General 
Assembly and, in 1834, to the State Senate, serv- 
ing by re-election in 1838 until 1842, and being a 
supporter of the internal improvement scheme. 
In 1837 he voted for the removal of the State 
capital from Vandalia to Springfield, and, though 
differing from Abraham Lincoln politically, was 
one of his warm personal friends. He served in 
the War of 1812 as a private in the Missouri 
militia, and, in the Mexican War, as Captain of a 
company in the Second Regiment, Illinois Volun- 
teers—Col. W. II. Bissell's. By service on the 
staff of Governor Duncan, he had already obtained 
the title of Colonel. He received the nomination 
for Lieutenant-Governor from the first formal 
State Convention of the Democratic party in 
December, 1837, but the head of the ticket (Col. 
J. W. Stephenson) having withdrawn on account 
of charges connected with his administration of 
the Land Office at Dixon, Colonel Hacker also 
declined, and a new ticket was put in the field 
headed by Col. Thomas L. Carlin, which was 
elected in 1838. In 1849 Colonel Hacker made 
the overland journey to California, but returning 
with impaired health in 1853, located in Cairo, 
where he held the position of Surveyor of the 
Port for three years, when he was removed by 
President Buchanan on account of his friendship 
for Senator Douglas. He also served, from 1854 
to '56, as Secretary of the Senate Committee on 
Territories under the Chairmanship of Senator 
Douglas, and, in 1856, as Assistant Doorkeeper of 
tlie House of Representatives in Washington. In 
1857 he returned to Jonesboro and spent the 
remainder of his life in practical retirement, 
dying at the home of his daughter, in Anna, May 
18, 1878. 

HADLET, William F. L., lawyer and Con- 
gressman, was born near Collinsville, 111., June 
15, 1847; grew up on a farm, receiving his educa- 
tion in the common schools and at McKendree 
College, where he graduated in 1867. In 1871 lie 
graduated from the Law Department of the 



University of Michigan, and established him 
self in the practice of his profession at 
Edwardsville. He was elected to the State Sen- 
ate from Madison County in 1886, serving four 
years, and was nominated for a second term, but 
declined; was a delegate-at-large to the Repub- 
lican National Convention of 1888, and, in 1895, 
was nominated and elected, in the Eighteenth 
District, as a Republican, to the Fifty-fourth Con- 
gress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 
Hon. Frederick Remann, who had been elected 
in 1894, but died before taking his seat. Mr. 
Hadley was a candidate for re-election in 1896, 
but was prevented by protracted illness from 
making a canvass, and suffered a defeat. He 
is a son-in-law of the late Edward M. West, 
long a prominent business man of Edwards- 
ville, and since his retirement from Congress, has 
devoted his attention to his profession and the 
banking business. 

HAHNEMANIV HOSPITAL, a homeopathic hos- 
pital located in Chicago. It was first opened with 
twenty beds, in November, 1870, in a block of 
wooden buildings, the use of which was given 
rent free by Mr. J. Young Scammon, and was 
known as the Scammon Hospital. After the fire 
of October, 1871, Mr. Scammon deeded the prop- 
erty to the Trustees of the Hahnemann Medical 
College, and the hospital was placed on the list 
of public charities. It also received a donation 
of 510,000 from the Relief and Aid Society, 
besides numerous private benefactions. In 
April, 1873, at the suggestion of Mr. Scammon, 
the name of the institution was changed to the 
Hahnemann Hospital, by which designation it 
has since been known. In 1893 the cornerstone 
of a new hospital was laid and the building com- 
pleted in 1894. It is seven stories in height, with 
a capacity for 225 beds, and is equipped with all 
the improved appliances and facilities for the 
care and protection of the sick. It has also about 
sixty private rooms for paying patients. 

HAHXEMAIVN MEDICAL COLLEGE, located 
in Chicago, chartered in 1834-35, but not organ- 
ized until 1860, when temporary quarters were 
secured over a drug-store, and the first college 
term opened, with a teaching faculty numbering 
nine professors, besides clinical lecturers, demon- 
strators, etc. In 1806-67 the institution moved 
into larger quarters and, in 1870, the corner-stone 
of a new college building was laid. The six suc- 
ceeding years were marked by internal dis.sen- 
sion, ten of the professors withdrawing to 
establish a rival school. The faculty was cur- 
tailed in numbers and re-organized. In Augtist, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OE ILLINOIS. 



215 



1892, the corner-stone of a second building was 
laid with appropriate Masonic ceremonies, the 
new structure occupying the site of the old, but 
being larger, better arranged and better equipped. 
Women were admitted as students in 1870-71 and 
co-education of the sexes has ever since continued 
an established feature of the institution. For 
more than thirty-five years a free dispensary has 
been in operation in connection with the college. 
HAINES, John Charles, Mayor of Chicago and 
legislator, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., 
May 26, 1818; came to Chicago in 1835, and, for 
the next eleven years, was employed in various 
pursuits; served three terms (1848-54) in the City 
Council ; was twice elected Water Commissioner 
(1853 and '56), and, in 1858, was chosen Mayor, 
serving two terms. lie also served as Delegate 
from Cook County in the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1869-70, and, in 1874, was elected to the 
State Senate from the First District, serving in 
the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth General Assem- 
blies. At the session of 1877 he received sixty- 
nine votes for the seat in the United States 
Senate to which Judge David Davis was after- 
wards elected. Mr. Haines was a member of the 
Chicago Historical Society, was interested in the 
old Chicago West Division Railway and President 
of the Savings Institute. During his later years 
he was a resident of Waukegau, dying there, 
July 4, 1896. —Elijah Middlebrook (Haines), 
brother of the preceding, lawyer, politician 
and legislator, was bcrn in Oneida County, N. Y., 
April 21, 1822; came to Illinois in boyhood, locat- 
ing first at Chicago, but, a year later, went to 
Lake County, where he resided until his death. 
His education, rudimentary, classical and profes- 
sional, was self-acquired. He began to occupy 
and cultivate a farm for himself before attaining 
his majority; studied law, and, in 1851, was 
admitted to the bar, beginning practice at Wau- 
kegan; in 1860 opened an office in Chicago, still, 
however, making his home at Waukegan, In 
1855 he published a compilation of the Illinois 
township laws, followed by a "Treatise on the 
Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace. " He 
made similar compilations of the township laws 
of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. 
By nature Mr. Haines was an agitator, and his 
career as a politician both checkered and unique. 
Originally a Democrat, he abandoned that or- 
ganization upon the formation of the Republican 
party, and was elected by the latter to the Legis- 
lature from Lake County in 1858, '60 and '62. In 
1867 he came into prominence as an anti-monopo- 
list, and on this issue was elected to the Consti- 



tutional Convention of 1869-70. In 1870 he was 
again chosen to the Legislature as an "independ- 
ent," and, as such, re-elected in '74, '82, "84, '86 and 
'88, receiving the support, however, of the Demo- 
crats in a District normally Republican. He 
served as Speaker during the sessions of 1875 and 
'85, the party strength in each of these Assemblies 
being so equally divided that he either held, or 
was able to control, the balance of power. He 
was an adroit parliamentarian, but his decisions 
were the cause of much severe criticism, being 
regarded by both Democrats and Republicans as 
often arbitrary and unjust. The two sessions 
over which he presided were among the stormiest 
in the State's history. Died, at Waukegan, April 
25, 1889. 

HALE, Albert, pioneer clergyman, was born 
at Glastonbury, Conn., Nov. 29, 1799; after some 
years spent as a clerk in a country store at 
Wethersfield, completed a course in the theolog- 
ical department of Yale College, later serving as a 
home missionary, in Georgia; came to Illinois in 
1831, doing home missionary work in Bond 
County, and, in 1833, was sent to Chicago, where 
his open candor, benignit}' and blameless conduct 
enabled him to exert a powerful influence over 
the drunken aborigines who constituted a large 
and menacing class of the population of what 
was then a frontier town. In 1839 he assumed 
the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church 
in Springfield, continuing that connection until 
1865. From that time until his death, his life 
was largely devoted to missionary work among 
the extremely poor and the pariahs of society. 
Among these he wielded a large influence and 
always commanded genuine respect from all 
denominations. His forte was love rather than 
argument, and in this lay the secret of his suc- 
cess. Died, in Springfield, Jan. 30, 1891. 

HALE, (Dr.) Edwiu M., physician, was born 
in Newport, N. H., in 1829, commenced the study 
of medicine in 1848 and, in 1850, entered the 
Cleveland Homeopathic College, at the end of the 
session locating at Jonesville, Mich. From 1855 
he labored in the interest of a representation of 
homeopathy in the University of Michigan. 
When this was finally accomplished, he was 
oifered the chair of Materia Medica and Thera- 
peutics, but was compelled to decline in conse- 
quence of having been elected to the same position 
in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. 
In 1876 he made a visit to Europe, and, on his 
return, severed his connection with the Hahne- 
mann and accepted a similar position in the Chi- 
cago Homeopathic College, where he remained 



216 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



five years when he retired with the rank of Pro- 
fessor Emeritus. Dr. Hale was the author of 
several volumes held in high esteem by members 
of the profession, and maintained a high reputa- 
tion for professional skill and benevolence of 
character. He was a member of the Chicago 
Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of 
various home and foreign associations. Died, in 
Chicago, Jan. 18, 1899. 

HALL, (Col.) Cyrus, soldier, was bom in Fay- 
ette County, 111., Augtist 29, 1823— the son of a 
pioneer who came to Illinois about the time of 
its admission as a State. He served as Second 
Lieutenant in the Third Illinois Volunteers (Col. 
Foreman's regiment), during the Mexican War, 
and, in 1860, removed to Shelbyville to engage in 
hotel-keeping. The Civil War coming on, he 
raised the first company for the war in Shelby 
County, which was attached to the Fourteenth 
Illinois (Col. John M. Palmer's regiment) ; was 
promptly promoted from Captain to Major and 
finally to Lieutenant-Colonel, on the promotion 
of Palmer to Brigadier-General, succeeding to 
command of the regiment. The Fourteenth 
Regiment having been finally consolidated with 
the Fifteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel Hall was 
transferred, with the rank of Colonel, to the 
command of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth 
Illinois, which he resigned in March, 1864, was 
brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant and 
meritorious service in the field, in March, 1865, 
and mustered out Sept. 16, 1865. Returning to 
Shelbyville, he engaged in the furniture trade, 
later was appointed Postmaster, serving some ten 
years and until his death, Sept. 6. 1878. 

HALL, James, legislator, jurist, State Treasurer 
and author, was born in Philadelphia, August 
19, 1793; after serving in the War of 1812 and 
spending some time with Com. Stephen Decatur 
in the Mediterranean, in 1815, he studied law, 
beginning practice at Shawneetown, in 1820. 
He at once assumed prominence as a citizen, was 
appointed State's Attorney in 1821, and elevated 
to the bench of the Circuit Court in 1825. He 
was legislated out of office two j-ears later and 
resumed private practice, making his home at 
Vandalia, where he was associated with Robert 
Blackwell in the publication of "The Illinois 
Intelligencer." The same year (1827) he was 
elected by the Legislature State Treasurer, con- 
tinuing in office four years. Later he removed to 
Cincinnati, where he died, July 5, 1868. He con- 
ducted "The Western Monthly Magazine," the 
first periodical published in Illinois. Among his 
published volumes may be mentioned "Tales of 



the Border," "Notes on the Western States," 
"Sketches of the West," "Romance of Western 
History," and "History of the Indian Tribes." 

HAMEB, Thomas, soldier and legislator, was 
born in Union County, Pa., June 1, 1818; came 
to Illinois in 1846 and began business as a mer- 
chant at Vermont, Fulton County ; in 1862 
assisted in recruiting the Eighty-fourth Illinois 
Volunteers and was elected Lieutenant-Colonel; 
was wounded in the battle of Stone River, re- 
turned to duty after partial recovery, but was 
finally compelled to retire on account of disabil- 
ity. Returning home he resumed business, but 
retired in 1878 ; was elected Representative in the 
General Assembly in 1886 and to the Senate in 
1888, and re-elected to the latter in 1892, making 
ten years of continuous service. 

HAMILTOJf, a city in Hancock County, on the 
Mississippi River opposite Keokuk, Iowa; at junc- 
tion of the Toledo, Peoria & Western and Keokuk 
branch of the Wabash Railway. Its position at 
the foot of the lower rapids insures abundant 
water power for manufacturing purposes. An 
iron railroad and wagon bridge connects the Illi- 
nois city with Keokuk. It has two banks, elec- 
tric lights, one newspaper, six churches, a high 
school, and an apiary. The surrounding country 
is a farming and fruit district. A sanitarium 
is located here. Population (1890), 1,301 ; (1900), 
1,344. 

HAMILTON, John B., M.D, LL.D., surgeon, 
was born of a pioneer family in Jersey County, 
111., Dec. 1, 1847, his grandfather, Thomas M. 
Hamilton, having removed from Ohio in 1818 to 
Monroe County, 111. , where the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch was born. The latter (Elder 
Benjamin B. Hamilton) was for fifty years a 
Baptist preacher, chiefly in Greene County, and, 
from 1862 to '65, Chaplain of the Sixty-first Illi- 
nois Volunteers. Young Hamilton, having re- 
ceived his literary education at home and with a 
classical teacher at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1863 
began the study of medicine, and the following 
year attempted to enlist as a soldier, but was 
rejected on account of being a minor. In 1869 he 
graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago, 
and, for the next five years, was engaged in gen- 
eral practice. Then, having passed an examina- 
tion before an Army Examining Board, he was 
appointed Assistant Surgeon in the regular army 
with the rank of First Lieutenant, serving suc- 
cessively at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis; Fort 
Colville, Washington, and in the Marine Hospital 
at Boston; in 1879 became Supervising Surgeon- 
General as successor to Gen. John M. Woodworth 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



217 



and, during the yellow-fever epidemic in the 
South, a few years later, rendered efficient service 
in checking the spread of the disease by taking 
charge of the camp of refugees from Jacksonville 
and other stricken points. Resigning the position 
of Surgeon-General in 1891, he took charge of the 
Marine Hospital at Chicago and became Pro- 
fessor of Surgery in Rush Medical College, besides 
holding other allied positions ; was also editor of 
"The Journal of the American Medical Associ- 
ation." In 1896 he resigned his position in the 
Medical Department of the United States Army, 
in 1897 was appointed Superintendent for the 
Northern Hospital for the Insane at Elgin, but 
died, Dec. 24, 1898. 

HAMILTON, John L., farmer and legislator, 
was born at Newry, Ireland, Nov. 9, 1829; emi- 
grated to Jersey County, 111., in 1851, where he 
began life working on a farm. Later, he followed 
the occupation of a farmer in Mason and Macou- 
pin Counties, finally locating, in 1864, in Iroquois 
County, which has since been his home. After 
filling various local offices, in 1875 he was elected 
County Treasurer of Iroquois County as a Repub- 
lican, and twice re-elected (1877 and '79), also, in 
1880, being Chairman of the Republican County 
Central Committee. In 1884 he was elected to 
the House of Representatives, being one of the 
"103" who stood by General Logan in the mem- 
orable Senatorial contest of 1885 ; was re-elected 
in 1886, and again returned to the same body in 
1890 and '98. 

HAMILTON, John Marshall, lawyer and ex- 
Governor, was born in Union County, Ohio, May 
28, 1847; when 7 years of age, was brought to 
Illinois by his father, who settled on a farm in 
Marshall County. In 1864 (at the age of 17; he 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first Illi- 
nois Volunteers — a 100-day regiment. After 
being mustered out, he matriculated at the Wes- 
leyan (Ohio) University, from which he gradu- 
ated in 1868. For a year he taught school at 
Henry, and later became Professor of Languages 
at the Wesleyan (HI.) University at Blooming- 
ton. He was admitted to the bar in 1870, and has 
been a successful practitioner at the bar. In 
1876 he was elected State Senator from McLean 
County, and, in 1880, Lieutenant-Governor on the 
ticket with Gov. Shelby M. Cullom. On Feb. 6, 
1883, he was inaugurated Governor, to succeed 
Governor Cullom, who had been chosen United 
States Senator. In 1884 he was a candidate for 
the gubernatorial nomination before the Repub- 
lican State Convention at Peoria, but that body 
selected ex-Gov. and ex-Senator Richard J. 



Oglesby to head the State ticket. Since then 
Governor Hamilton has been a prominent practi- 
tioner at the Chicago bar. 

HAMILTON, Richard Jones, pioneer lawyer, 
was born near Danville, Ky., August 21, 1799; 
studied law and, about 1820, came to Jonesboro, 
Union County, 111., in company with Abner Field, 
afterwards State Treasurer ; in 1821 was appointed 
cashier of the newly established Branch State 
Bank at Brownsville, Jackson County, but, in 
1831, removed to Chicago, Governor Reynolds 
having appointed him the first Probate Judge of 
Cook County. At the same time he also held the 
offices of Circuit and County Clerk, Recorder and 
Commissioner of School lands — the sale of the 
Chicago school section being made under his 
administration. He was a Colonel of State militia 
and, in 1832, took an active part in raising volun- 
ters for defense during the Black Hawk War; 
also was a candidate for the colonelcy of the 
Fifth Regiment for the Mexican War (1847), 
but was defeated by Colonel Newby. In 1856 
he was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieu- 
tenant-Governor on the Democratic ticket. Died, 
Dec. 26, 1860. 

HAMILTON, William Stephen, pioneer — son 
of Alexander Hamilton, first United States Secre- 
tary of tlie Treasury — was born in New York 
City, August 4, 1797; spent three years (181417), 
at West Point ; came west and located at an early 
day at Springfield, 111. ; was a deputy surveyor of 
public lands, elected Representative from Sanga- 
mon County, in the Fourth General Assembly 
(1824-26); in 1827 removed to the Lead Mine 
region and engaged in mining at "Hamilton's 
Diggings" (now Wiota) in southwest Wisconsin, 
and occasionally practiced law at Galena ; was a 
member of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature 
of 1842-43, emigrated to California in 1849, and 
died in Sacramento, Oct. 9, 1850, where, some 
twenty years later, a monument was erected to 
his memory. Colonel Hamilton was an aid-de- 
camp of Governor Coles, who sent him forward 
to meet General La Fayette on his way from New 
Orleans, on occasion of La Fayette's visit to Illi- 
nois in 1825. 

HAMILTON COUNTY, situated in the south- 
eastern part of the State; has an area of 440 
square miles, and population (1900) of 20,197 — 
named for Alexander Hamilton. It was organ- 
ized in 1821, with McLeansboro as the county- 
seat. The surface of the county is rolling and 
the fertile soil well watered and drained by 
numerous creeks, flowing east and south into tha 
Wabash, which constitutes its southeastern 



218 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



boundary. Coal crops out at various points in 
the southwestern portion. Originally Hamilton 
County was a dense forest, and timber is still 
abundant and saw -mills numerous. ^Ymong the 
hard woods found are black and white oak, black 
walnut, ash and hickory. The softer woods are 
in unusual variety. Corn and tobacco are the 
principal crops, although considerable fruit is 
cultivated, besides oats, winter wheat and pota- 
toes. Sorghum is also extensively produced. 
Among tlie pioneer settlers was a Mr. Auxier (for 
whom a water course was named), in 181.5; Adam 
Crouch, the Biggerstaflfs and T. Stelle, in 1818, 
and W. T. Golson and Louis Baxter, in 1821. 
The most important town is McLeansboro, whose 
population in 1890 was 1,35.'). 

HAMMOND, Charles Goodrich, Railway Mana- 
ger, was born at Bolton, Conn., June 4, 1804, 
spent his youth in Chenango County, N. Y., 
where he became Principal of the Whitesboro 
Seminary (in which he was partially educated), 
and entered mercantile life at Canandaigua; 
in 1834 removed to Michigan, where he held 
various offices, including member of the Legisla- 
ture and Auditor; in 1853 completed the con- 
struction of the Michigan Central Railroad (the 
first line from the East) to Chicago, and took up 
his residence in that city. In 1855 he became 
Superintendent of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, but soon resigned to take a 
trip to Europe for the benefit of his health. 
Returning from Europe in 1869, he accepted the 
Superinteudency of the Union Pacific Railroad, 
but was compelled to resign by failing health, later 
becoming Vice-President of the Pullman Palace 
Car Company. He was Treasurer of the Chicago 
Relief & Aid Society after the fire of 1871, and 
one of the founders of the Chicago Theological 
Seminary (Congregational) ; also President, for 
several years, of the Chicago Home for the Friend- 
less, Died, April 15, 1884. 

HAMPSHIRE, a village of Kane County, on 
the Omaha Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul Railway, 51 miles west-northwest from 
Chicago. There are brick and tile works, a large 
canning factory, pickle factory, and machine 
shop ; dairy and stock interests are large. The 
place has a bank, electric liglits and water-works, 
and a weekly paper. Pop. (1890), G96; (1900), 760. 

HANCOCK COUNTY, on the western border of 
the State, bounded on the west by the Mississippi 
River; was organized in 1825 and named for John 
Hancock ; has an area of 769 square miles ; popu- 
lation (1900), 32,215. Its early settlers were 
chiefly from the Middle and Southern States, 



among them being I. J. Waggen, for nearly sixty 
years a resident of Msntebello Township. Black 
Hawk, the famous Indian Chief, is reputed to 
have been born within the limits of Camp Creek 
Township, in this county. Fort Edwards was 
erected on the present site of Warsaw, soon after 
the War of 1812, but was shortly afterwards evac- 
uated. Abraham Lincoln, a cousin of the Presi- 
dent of that name, was one of the early settlers. 
Among the earliest were John Day, Abraham 
Brewer, Jacob Compton, D. F. Parker, tlie Dixons, 
Mendenhalls, Logans, and Luther Whitney. 
James White, George Y. Cutler and Henry Nich- 
ols were the first Commissioners. In 1839 the 
Mormons crossed the Mississippi, after being 
expelled from Missouri, and founded the city of 
Nauvoo in this county. (See Mormons. Nauvoo. ) 
Carthage and Appanoose were surveyed and laid 
out in 1835 and 1836. A ferry across the Missis- 
sippi was established at Montebello (near the 
present site of Hamilton) in 1829, and another, 
two years later, near the site of old Fort Edwards. 
The county is crossed by six lines of railway, has 
a fine public school system, numerous thriving 
towns, and is among the wealthy counties of the 
State. 

HANDY, Moses Pnrnell, journalist, was born 
at Warsaw, Mo., April 14, 1847; before he was 
one year old was taken back to Maryland, his 
parents' native State. He was educated at Ports- 
mouth, Va., and was a student at the Virginia 
Collegiate Institute at the breaking out of the 
Civil War, when he joined the Confederate army 
at the age of seventeen. When the war ended 
Handy found himself penniless. He was school- 
teacher and book-canvasser by turns, meantime 
writing some for a New York paper. Later he 
became a clerk in the office of "The Christian 
Observer" in Richmond. In 1867, by some clever 
reporting for "The Richmond Dispatch," he was 
able to secure a regular position on the local staff 
of that paper, quickly gaining a reputation as a 
successful reporter, and, in 1869, becoming city 
editor. From this time until 1887 his promotion 
was rapid, being employed at different times upon 
many of the most prominent and influential 
papers in the East, including "The New York 
Tribune," "Richmond Enquirer," and, in Phila- 
delphia, upon "The Times," "The Press" and 
"Daily News." In 1893, at the request of Director- 
General Davis of the World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion, Mr. Handy accepted the position of Chief of 
the Department of Publicity and Promotion, pre- 
ferring this to the Consul-Generalship to Egj'pt, 
tendered him about the same time by President 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



319 



Harrison. Later, as a member of the National 
Commission to Europe, he did much to arouse the 
interest of foreign countries in the Exposition. 
For some time after the World's Fair, he was 
associate editor of "Tlie Chicago Times-Herald." 
In 1897, having been appointed by President 
McKinley United States Commissioner to the 
Paris Exposition of 1900, he visited Paris. Upon 
his return to this country he found himself in 
very poor health, and went South in a vain 
attempt to regain his lost strength and vigor, but 
died, at Augusta, Ga. , Jan. 8, 1898. 

HANKS, Dennis, pioneer, born in Hardin 
County, Ky., May 1.5, 1799; was a cousin of the 
mother of Abraham Lincoln and, although ten 
years the senior of the latter, was his intimate 
friend in boyhood. Being of a sportive disposi- 
tion, he often led the future President in boyish 
pranks. About 1818, he joined the Lincoln house- 
hold in Spencer County, Ind., and finally married 
Sarah Johnston, the step-sister of Mr. Lincoln, 
the families removing to Macon County, 111, 
together, in 1830, A year or so later, Mr. Hanks 
removed to Coles County, where he remained 
until some three years before his death, when he 
went to reside with a daughter at Paris, Edgar 
County. It has been claimed that he first taught 
the youthful Abraham to read and write, and 
this has secured for him the title of Mr. Lincoln's 
teacher. He has also been credited with having 
once saved Lincoln from death by drowning while 
crossing a swollen stream. Austin GoUaher, a 
school- and play -mate of Lincoln's, has also made 
the same claim for himself — the two stories pre- 
sumably referring to the same event After the 
riot at Charleston, 111, in March, 1803, in which 
several persons were killed. Hanks made a visit 
to President Lincoln in Washington in the inter- 
est of some of the arrested rioters, and, although 
they were not immediately released, the fact that 
they were ordered returned to Cliarleston for 
trial and finally escaped punislmient, has been 
attributed to Hanks' influence with the President. 
He died at Paris, Edgar County, Oct. 31. 1892, in 
the 94th year of his age, as the result of injuries 
received from being run over by a buggy while 
returning from an Emancipation-Day celebra- 
tion, near that city, on the 23d day of September 
previous. 

HANKS, John, pioneer, a cousin of the mother 
of Abraham Lincoln, was born near Bardstown, 
Ky., Feb. 9, 1802; joined the Lincolns in Spencer 
County, Ind., in 1822, and made his home with 
them two years; engaged in flat-boating, making 
numerous trips to New Orleans, in one of them 



being accompanied by Abraham Lincoln, then 
about 19 years of age, who then had his feeUngs 
aroused against slavery by his first sight of a 
slave-mart. In 1828 Mr. Hanks removed to 
Macon County, 111., locating about four miles 
west of Decatur, and it was partly through his 
influence that the Lincolns were induced to emi- 
grate to the same locality in 1830. Hanks had 
cut enough logs to build the Lincolns a house 
when they arrived, and these were hauled by 
Abraham Lincoln to the site of the house, which 
was erected on the north bank of the Sangamon 
River, near the present site of Harristown. Dur- 
ing the following summer he and Abraham Lin- 
coln worked together splitting rails to fence a 
portion of the land taken up by the elder Lincoln 
— some of these rails being the ones displayed 
during the campaign of 1860. In 1831 Hanks and 
Lincoln worked together in the construction of a 
flat-boat on the Sangamon River, near Spring- 
field, for a man named Offutt, which Lincoln took 
to New Orleans — Hanks only going as far as 
St. Louis, when he returned home. In 1832, 
Hanks served as a soldier of the Mexican War in 
the company commanded by Capt. I. C. Pugh, 
afterwards Colonel of the Forty-first Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He 
followed the occupation of a farmer until 1850, 
wlien he went to California, where he spent three 
years, returning in 1853. In 1861 he enlisted as 
a soldier in the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry (afterwards commanded by General 
Grant), but being already 59 years of age, was 
placed by Grant in charge of the baggage-train, 
in which capacity he remained two years, serving 
in Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, 
Alabama and Mississippi. While Grant was with 
the regiment, Hanks had charge of the staff team. 
Being disabled by rheumatism, he was finally 
discharged at Winchester, Tenn. He made 
three trips to California after the war. Died, 
July 1, 1891. 

HANNIIUL & NAPLES RAILROAD. (See 
Wabash Railroad.) 

HANON, Martin, pioneer, was bom near Nash- 
ville, Tenn., April, 1799; came with his father to 
Gallatin County, Illinois Territory, in 1812, and, 
in 1818, to what is now a portion of Christian 
County, being the first white settler in that 
region. Died, near Sharpsburg, Christian County, 
April 5, 1879. 

HANOVER, a village in Jo Daviess County, on 
Apple River, 14 miles south-southeast of Galena. 
It has a woolen factory, besides five churches and 
a graded school. The Township (also called Han- 



220 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



over) extends to the Mississippi, and has a popu- 
lation of about 1,700. Population of the village 
(1890), 743; (1900), 785. 

HARDIN, the county-seat of Calhoun County, 
situated in Hardin Township, on the west bank 
of the Illinois River, some 30 miles northwest of 
Alton. It has two churches, a graded school and 
two newspaper offices. Population (1880), 500; 
(1890), 311; (1900). 494. 

HARDIN, John J., law^^er. Congressman and 
soldier, was born at Frankfort, Ky., Jan. 6, 1810. 
After graduating from Transylvania University 
and being admitted to the bar, he began practice 
at Jacksonville, 111., in 1830; for several years he 
was Prosecuting Attorney of Morgan County, 
later being elected to the lower house of the 
Legislature, where he served from 1836 to '42. 
The latter year he was elected to Congress, his 
term expiring in 1845. During the later period 
of his professional career at Jacksonville he was 
the partner of David A. Smith, a prominent law- 
yer of that city, and had Richard Yates for a 
pupil. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he 
was commissioned Colonel of the First Illinois 
Volunteers (June 30, 1846) and was killed on the 
second day of the battle of Buena Vista (Feb. 27, 
1847) while leading the final charge. His remains 
were brought to Jacksonville and buried with 
distinguished honors in the cemetery there, his 
former pupil, Richard Yates, delivering the fu- 
neral oration.— Gen, Martin D. (Hardin), soldier, 
son of the preceding, was born in Jacksonville, 111. , 
June 26, 1837 ; graduated at West Point Military 
Academy, in 1859, and entered the service as 
brevet Second Lieutenant of the Third Artillery, 
a few months later becoming full Second Lieu- 
tenant, and, in May, 1861, First Lieutenant. 
Being assigned to the command of volunteer 
troops, he passed through various grades until 
May, 1864, when he was brevetted Colonel of 
Volunteers for meritorious conduct at North 
River, Va., became Brigadier-General of Volun- 
teers, July 2, 1864, was brevetted Brigadier- 
General of the regular army in March, 1865, 
for service during the war, and was finally mus- 
tered out of the volunteer service in January, 
1866. He continued in the regular service, how- 
ever, until December 15, 1870, when he was 
retired with the rank of Brigadier-General. 
General Hardin lost an arm and suffered other 
wounds during the war. His home is in Chicago. 
— Ellen Hardin (Walworth), author, daughter of 
Col. John J. Hardin, was born in Jacksonville, 
111., Oct. 20, 1832, and educated at the Female 
Seminary in that place ; was married about 1854 



to Mansfield Tracy Walworth (son of Chancellor 
R. H. Walworth of New York). Her husband 
became an author of considerable repute, chiefly in 
the line of fiction, but was assassinated in 1873 by 
a son who was acquitted of the charge of murder 
on the ground of insanity. Mrs. Walworth is a 
leader of the Daughters of the Revolution, and 
has given much attention, of late years, to literary 
pursuits. Among her works are accounts of the 
Burgoyne Campaign and of the battle of Buena 
Vista — the latter contributed to "The Magazine 
of American History"; a "Life of Col. John J. 
Hardin and History of the Hardin Family," 
besides a number of patriotic and miscellaneous 
poems and essays. She served for several years 
as a member of the Board of Education, and was 
for six years principal of a young ladies' school 
at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 

HARDIN COUNTY, situated on the southeast 
border of the State, and bounded on the east and 
south by the Oliio River. It has an area of 194 
square miles, and was named for a county in 
Kentucky. The surface is broken by ridges and 
deep gorges, or ravines, and well timbered with 
oak, hickory, elm, maple, locust and cotton- 
wood. Corn, wheat and oats are the staple 
agricultural products. The minerals found are 
iron, coal and lead, besides carboniferous lime- 
stone of the Keokuk group. Elizabethtown is 
the county-seat. Population (1880), 6,024; (1890), 
7,234; (1900), 7,448. 

HARDING, Abner Clark, soldier and Member 
of Congress, born in East Hampton, Middlesex 
County, Conn., Feb. 10, 1807; was educated chiefly 
at Hamilton Academy, N. Y., and, after practic- 
ing law for a time, in Oneida County, removed to 
Illinois, resuming practice and managing several 
farms for twenty-five years. He was also a mem- 
ber of the State Constitutional Convention of 
1847 from Warren County, and of the lower 
branch of the Sixteenth General Assembly 
( 1848-50). Between 1850 and 1860 he was engaged 
in railroad enterprises. In 1862 he enlisted as a 
private in the Eighty-third Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, was commissioned Colonel and, in less 
than a year, was promoted to Brigadier-General. 
In 1864 he was elected to Congress and re-elected 
in 1866. He did much for the development of the 
western part of the State in the construction of 
railroads, the Peoria & Oquawka (now a part of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) being one of 
the lines constructed by him. He left a fortune 
of about §2,000,000, and, before his death, en- 
dowed a professorship in Monmouth College. 
Died, July 19, 1874. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



221 



HARGRAVE, Willis, pioneer, came from Ken- 
tucky to Illinois in 1816, settling near Carmi in 
White County; served in the Third Territorial 
Legislature (1817-18; and in the First General 
Assembly of the State (1818-20). His business- 
life in Illinois was devoted to farming and salt- 
manufacture. 

HARLAN, James, statesman, was born in Clark 
County, 111. , August 25, 1820 ; graduated at Asbury 
University, Ind. ; was State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction in Iowa (1817), President of 
Iowa Wesleyan University (1853), United States 
Senator (1855-65), Secretary of the Interior 
(1865-66), but re-elected to the Senate the latter 
year, and, in 1869, chosen President of Iowa Uni- 
versity. He was also a member of the Peace 
Conference of 1861, and a delegate to the Phila- 
delphia Loyalists' Convention of 1866; in 1873, 
after leaving the Senate, was editor of "The 
Washington Chronicle," and, from 1883 to 1885, 
presiding Judge of the Court of Commissioners of 
the Alabama Claims. A daugliter of ex-Senator 
Harlan married Hon. Robert. T. Lincoln, son of 
President Lincoln, and (1889-93) United States 
Minister to England. Mr. Harlan's home is at 
Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Died, Oct. 5, 1899. 

HARLAN, Justin, jurist, was born in Ohio 
about 1801 and, at the age of 25, settled in Clark 
County, 111. ; served in the Black Hawk War of 
1832 and, in 1835, was appointed a Justice of the 
Circuit Court; was a Delegate to the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1847 and the following year 
was elected to the Circuit bench under the new 
Constitution, being re-elected in 1855. In 1862 
he was appointed by President Lincoln Indian 
Agent, continuing in office until 1865; in 1872 
was elected County Judge of Clark County. 
Died, while on a visit in Kentucky, in March, 
1879. 

HARLOW, George H., ex-Secretary of State, 
born at Sackett's Harbor. N. Y., in 1830, removed 
to Tazewell County, 111, in 1854, and engaged in 
business as a commission merchant ; also served 
a term as Mayor of Pekin. For many years he 
took a prominent part in the history of the State. 
Early in the '60's he was one of seven to organize, 
at Pekin, the "Union League of America," a 
patriotic secret organization sworn to preserve 
the Union, working in harmony with the war 
party and against the "Sons of Liberty." In 
1862 he enlisted, and was about to go to the front, 
when Governor Yates requested him to remain at 
home and continue his effective work in the 
Union League, saying that he could accomplish 
more for the cause in this way than in the field. 



Accordingly Mr. Harlow continued to labor as an 
organizer, and the League became a powerful 
factor in State politics. In 1865 he was made 
First Assistant Secretary of the State Senate, 
but soon after became Governor Oglesby's private 
secretary. For a time he also served as Inspector- 
General on the Governor's staff, and had charge 
of the troops as they were mustered out. During 
a portion of Mr. Rummel's term (1869-73) as Secre- 
tary of State, he served as Assistant Secretary, 
and, in 1872, was elected as successor to Secretary 
Rummel and re-elected in 1876. While in Spring- 
field he acted as correspondent for several news- 
papers, and, for a year, was city editor of "The 
Illinois State Journal." In 1881 he took up his 
residence in Chicago, where he was engaged at 
different periods in the commission and real 
estate business, but has been retired of late years 
on account of ill health. Died May 16, 1900. 

HARPER, William H., legislator and commis- 
sion merchant, born in Tippecanoe County, Ind., 
May 4, 1845 ; was brought by his parents in boy- 
hood to Woodford County, 111, and served in the 
One Hundred and Forty -fifth Illinois Volunteers; 
took a course in a commercial college and engaged 
in the stock and grain-shipping business in Wood- 
ford County until 1868, wlien he entered upon the 
commission business in Chicago. From 1872 to 
'75 he served, by appointment of the Governor, 
as Chief of the Grain Inspection Department of 
the city of Chicago ; in 1882 was elected to the 
Thirty-third General Assembly and re-elected in 
1884. During his first term in the Legislature, 
Mr. Harper introduced and secured the passage 
of the "High License Law," which has received 
his name. Of late years he has been engaged in 
the grain commission business in Chicago. 

HARPER, William Rainey, clergyman and 
educator, was born at New Concord, Ohio, July 
26, 1856 ; graduated at Muskingum College at the 
age of 14, delivering the Hebrew oration, this 
being one of the principal commencement honors 
in that institution. After three years' private 
study he took a post-graduate course in philology 
at Yale, receiving the degree of Ph. D. , at the age 
of 19. For several years he was engaged in 
teaching, at Macon, Tenn., and Denison Uni- 
versity, Ohio, meanwhile continuing his philo- 
logical studies and devoting special attention to 
Hebrew. In 1879 he accepted the chair of 
Hebrew in the Baptist Union Theological Semi- 
nary at Morgan Park, a suburb of Chicago. Here 
he laid the foundation of the "inductive method" 
of Hebraic study, which rapidly grew in favor. 
The school by correspondence was known as the 



222 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



"American Institute of Hebrew," and increased 
so rapidly that, by 1885, it had enrolled 800 stu- 
dents, from all parts of the world, many leading 
professors co-operating. In 1886 he accepted the 
professorship of Semitic Language and Literature 
at Yale University, having in the previous year 
become Principal of the Chautauqua College of 
Liberal Arts, and, in 1891, Principal of the 
entire Chautauqua system. During the wintei's 
of 1889-91, Dr. Harper delivered courses of lec- 
tures on the Bible in various cities and before 
several universities and colleges, having been, 
in 1889, made Woolsey Professor of Biblical 
Literature at Yale, although still filling his 
former chair. In 1891 he accepted an invitation 
to the Presidency of the then incipient new Chi- 
cago University, which has rapidly increased in 
wealth, extent and influence. (See University 
of Chicago.) He is also at present (1899) a mem- 
ber of the Chicago Board of Education. Dr. 
Harper is the author of numerous philological 
text-books, relating chiefly to Hebrew, but ap- 
plying the "inductive method" to the study of 
Latin and Greek, and has also sought to improve 
the study of English along these same lines. In 
addition, he has edited two scientific periodicals, 
and published numerous monographs. 

HARRIS, Thomas L., lawyer, soldier and Mem- 
ber of Congress, was born at Norwich, Conn., 
Oct. 29, i816; graduated at Trinity College, Hart- 
ford, in 1841, studied law with Gov. Isaac Toucey, 
and was admitted to the bar in Virginia in 1842, 
the same year removing to Petersburg, Menard 
County, 111. Here, in 1845, he was elected School 
Commissioner, in 1846 raised a company for the 
Mexican War, joined the Fourth Regiment (Col. 
E. D. Baker's) and was elected Major. He was 
present at the capture of Vera Cruz and the 
battle of Cerro Gordo, after the wounding of 
General Shields at the latter, taking command of 
the regiment in place of Colonel Baker, who had 
assumed command of the brigade. During his 
absence in the army (1846) he was chosen 
to the State Senate; in 1848 was elected to 
the Thirty-first Congress, but was defeated by 
Richard Yates in 1850; was re-elected in 1854, 
'56, and '58, but died Nov. 24, 1858, a few days after 
his fourth election and before completing his 
preceding term. 

HARRIS, William Logan, Methodist Episcopal 
Bishop, born near Mansfield, Ohio, Nov. 14, 1817; 
was educated at Norwalk Seminary, licensed to 
preach in 1836 and soon after admitted to the 
Michigan Conference, being transferred to the 
Ohio Conference in 1840. In 1845-46 he was a 



tutor in the Ohio Wesleyan University; then, 
after two years' pastoral work and some three 
years as Principal of Baldwin Seminary, in 1851 
returned to the Wesleyan, filling the position 
first of Principal of the Academic Department 
and then a professorship; was Secretary of the 
General Conferences (1856-72) and, during 1860-72, 
Secretary of the Church Missionary Society ; in 
1872 was elected Bishop, and visited the Methodist 
Mission stations in China, Japan and Europe; 
joined the Illinois Conference in 1874, remaining 
until his death, which occurred in New York, 
Sept. 2, 1887. Bishop Harris was a recognized au- 
thority on Methodist Church law, and published 
a small work entitled "Powers of the General 
Conference" (1859), and, in connection with 
Judge William J. Henry, of this State, a treatise 
on "Ecclesiastical Law," having special refer- 
ence to the Methodist Church. 

H.IRRISBURG, county -seat of Saline County, 
on tlie Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railway, 70 miles northeast of Cairo The 
region is devoted to agriculture and fruit-grow- 
ing, and valuable deposits of salt, coal and iron 
are found. The town has flour and saw mills, 
coal mines, dairj', brick and tile works, carriage 
and other wood-working establishments, two 
banks and three weekly newspapers. Population 
(1890), 1,723; (1900), 2,202. 

HARRISON, Carter Henry, politician. Con- 
gressman and Mayor of Chicago, was born in 
Fayette County, Ky., Feb. 15, 1825; at the age of 
20 years graduated from Yale College and began 
reading law, but later engaged in farming. After 
spending two years in foreign travel, he entered 
the Law Department of Transylvania University, 
at Lexington, Ky., and, after graduation, settled 
at Chicago, where he soon became an operator in 
real estate. In 1871 he was elected a Commis- 
sioner of Cook County, serving three years. In 
1874 he again visited Europe, and, on his return, 
was elected to Congress as a Democrat, being 
re-elected in 1876. In 1879 he was chosen Mayor 
of Chicago, filling that office for four successive 
biennial terms, but was defeated for re-election 
in 1887 by his Republican competitor, John A. 
Roche. He was the Democratic candidate for 
Governor in 1888, but failed of election. He 
thereafter made a trip around the world, and, on 
his return, published an entertaining account of 
his journey under the title, "A Race with the 
Sun." In 1891 he was an Independent Demo- 
cratic candidate for the Cliicago mayoralty, but 
was defeated by Hempstead Washburne, Repub- 
lican. In 1893 he received the regular nomina- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



223 



tion of his party for the office, and was elected. 
In 1892, in connection with a few associates, he 
purchased the plant of "The Chicago Times, " plac- 
ing his sons in charge. He was a man of strong 
character and intense personality, making warm 
friends and bitter enemies ; genial, generous and 
kindly, and accessible to any one at all times, at 
either his office or his home. Taking advantage 
of this latter trait, one Prendergast, on the night 
of Oct. 28, 1893 — immediately following the clos- 
ing exercises of the World's Columbian Exposition 
— gained admission to his residence, and, without 
the slightest provocation, shot him down in his 
library. He lived but a few hours. The assassin 
was subsequently tried, convicted and hung. 

HARRISON, Carter Henry, Jr., son of the 
preceding, was born in Chicago, April 23, 1860, 
being a lineal descendant of Benjamin Harrison, 
an early Colonial Governor of Virginia, and lat- 
erally related to the signer of the Declaration 
of Independence of that name, and to President 
William Henry Harrison. Mr. Harrison was 
educated in tlie public schools of Chicago, at the 
Gymnasium, Altenburg, Germany, and St. Igna- 
tius College, Chicago, graduating from the latter 
in 1881. Having taken a course in Yale Law 
School, he began practice in Chicago in 1883, 
remaining until 1889, when he turned his atten- 
tion to real estate. His father having purchased 
the "Chicago Times" about 1893. he became 
associated with the editorship of that paper and, 
for a time, had charge of its publication until its 
consolidation with "The Herald" in 1895. In 
1897, he received the Democratic nomination for 
Mayor of Chicago, his popularity being shown by 
receiving a majority of the total vote. Again 
in 1399, he was re-elected to the same office, 
receiving a plurality over his Republican com- 
petitor of over 40,000. Mayor Harrison is one of 
the youngest men who ever held the office. 

HARRISON, William Henry, first Governor of 
Indiana Territory (including the present State of 
Illinois), was born at Berkeley, Va., Feb 9, 1773, 
being the son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence; was educated 
at Hampden Sidney College, and began the study 
of medicine, but never finished it. In 1791 he 
was commissioned an Ensign in the First U. S. 
Infantry at Fort Washington (the present site of 
Cincinnati), was promoted a Lieutenant a year 
later, and, in 1797, assigned to command of the 
Fort with the rank of Captain. He had pre- 
viously served as Aid-deCamp to Gen. Wayne, 
by whom he was complimented for gallantry at 
the battle of Miami. In 1798 he was appointed by 



President Adams Secretary of the Northwest 
Territory, but resigned in 1799 to become Dele- 
gate in Congress ; in 1800 he was appointed Gov- 
ernor of the newly created Territory of Indiana, 
serving by reappointment some 12 years. During 
his incumbency and as Commissioner, a few years 
later, he negotiated many important treaties 
with the Indians. In 1811 he won the decisive 
victory over Chief Tecumseh and his followers 
at Tippecanoe. Having been made a Brigadier- 
General in the War of 1812, he was promoted to 
Major-General in 1813 and, as Commander of the 
Army of the Northwest, he won the important 
battle of the Thames. Resigning his commission 
in 1814, he afterwards served as Representative 
in Congress from Ohio (1816-1819) ; Presidential 
Elector in 1820 and 1824; United States Senator 
(1824-1828), and Minister to the United States of 
Colombia (1828-29). Returning to the United 
States, he was elected Clerk of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of Hamilton County, serving twelve 
years. In 1836 he was an unsuccessful Wliig 
candidate for President, but was elected in 1840, 
dying in Washington City, April 4, 1841, just one 
month after his inauguration. 

HARTZELL, William, Congressman, was born 
in Stark County, Ohio, Feb. 20, 1837. When he 
was three years old his parents removed to Illi- 
nois, and, four years later (1844) to Texas. In 
1853 he returned to Illinois, settling in Randolph 
County, which became his permanent home. He 
was brought up on a farm, but graduated at Mc- 
Kendree College, Lebanon, in June, 1859. Five 
years later he was admitted to the bar, and began 
practice. He was Representative in Congress for 
two terms, being elected as a Democrat, in 1874, 
and again in 1876. 

HARVARD, an incorporated city in McHenry 
County, 63 miles northwest of Chicago on the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railway. It has elec- 
tric light plant, artesian water system, hardware 
and bicycle factories, malt house, cold storage 
and packing plant, a flouring mill, a carriage- 
wheel factory and two weekly papers. The 
region is agricultural. Population (1890), 1,967; 
(1900), 2,602. 

HASKELL, Harriet Newell, educator and third 
Principal of Monticello Female Seminary, was 
born at Waldboro, Lincoln County, Maine, Jan. 14, 
1835; educated at Castleton Seminary, Vt., and 
Mount Holyoke Seminary, Mass., graduating 
from the latter in 1855. Later, she served as 
Principal of high schools in Maine and Boston 
until 1862, when she was called to the principal- 
ship of Castleton Seminary. She resigned this 



224 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



position in 1867 to assume a similar one at Monti- 
cello Female Seminary, at Godfrey, 111., where 
she has since remained. The main building of 
this institution having been burned in Novem- 
ber, 1889, it was rebuilt on an enlarged and 
improved plan, largely through the earnest efforts 
of Miss Haskell. (See Monticello Female Semi- 
nary.) 

HATCH, Ozias Mather, Secretary of the State 
of Illinois (1857-'65), was born at Hillsborough 
Center, N. H., April 11, 1814, and removed to 
Griggsville, 111., in 1836. In 1829 he began life as 
a clerk for a wholesale and retail grocer in Bos- 
ton. From 1836 to 1841 he was engaged in store- 
keeping at Griggsville. In the latter year he was 
appointed Circuit Court Clerk of Pike County, 
holding the office seven years. In 1858 he again 
embarked in business at Meredosia, 111. In 1850 
he was elected to the Legislature, serving one 
term. An earnest anti-slavery man, he was, in 
1856, nominated by the newly organized Repub- 
lican party for Secretary of State and elected, 
being re-elected in 1860, on the same ticket with 
Mr. Lincoln, of whom he was a warm personal 
friend and admirer. During the war he gave a 
zealous and effective support to Governor Yates' 
administration. In 1864 he declined a renomi- 
nation and retired from political life. He was an 
original and active member of the Lincoln Monu- 
ment Association from its organization in 1865 to 
his death, and, in company with Gov. R. J. 
Oglesby, made a canvass of Eastern cities to col- 
lect funds for statuary to be placed on the monu- 
ment. After retiring from office he was interested 
to some extent in the banking business at Griggs- 
ville, and was influential in securing the con- 
struction of the branch of the Wabash Railway 
from Naples to Hannibal, Mo. He was, for over 
thirty -five years, a resident of Springfield, dying 
there, March 12, 1893. 

HATFIELD, (Rev.) Robert Miller, clergy- 
man, was born at Mount Pleasant, Westchester 
County, N. Y., Feb. 19, 1819; in early Ufe enjoyed 
only such educational advantages as could be 
obtained while living on a farm ; later, was em 
ployed as a clerk at White Plains and in New 
York City, but, in 1841, was admitted to the 
Providence Methodist Episcopal Conference, dur- 
ing the next eleven years supplying churches in 
Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In 1852 he 
went to Brooklyn and occupied pulpits in that 
vicinity until 1865, when he assumed the pastor- 
ship of the Wabash Avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church in Chicago, two years later going to the 
Centenary Church in the same city. He subse- 



quently had charge of churches in Cincinnati and 
Philadelphia, but, returning to Illinois in 1877. 
he occupied pulpits for the next nine years m 
Evanston and Chicago. In 1886 he went to Sum- 
merfield Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, 
which was his last regular charge, as, in 1889, he 
became Financial Agent of the Northwestern 
University at Evanston, of which he had been a 
Trustee from 1878. As a temporary supply for 
pulpits or as a speaker in popular assemblies, his 
services were in constant demand during this 
period. Dr. Hatfield served as a Delegate to the 
General Conferences of 1860, '64, '76, '80 and '84, 
and was a leader in some of the most important 
debates in those bodies. Died, at Evanston, 
March 31, 1891. 

HATTOJf, Frank, journalist and Postmaster- 
General, was born at Cambridge, Ohio, April 28, 
1846; entered his father's newspaper office at 
Cadiz, as an apprentice, at 11 years of age, be- 
coming foreman and local editor ; in 1862, at the 
age of 16, he enlisted in the Ninety-eighth Ohio 
Infantry, but, in 1864, was transferred to the One 
Hundred and Eighty-fourth Ohio and commis- 
sioned Second Lieutenant — his service being 
chiefly in the Army of the Cumberland, but par- 
ticipating in Sherman's March to the Sea. After 
the war he went to Iowa, whither his father had 
preceded him, and where he edited "The Mount 
Pleasant Journal" (1869-74) ; then removed to Bur- 
lington, where he secured a controlling interest 
in "The Hawkeye," which he brought to a point 
of great prosperity ; was Postmaster of that city 
under President Grant, and, in 1881, became 
First Assistant Postmaster-General. On the 
retirement of Postmaster-General Gresham in 
1884, he was appointed successor to the latter, 
serving to the end of President Arthur's adminis- 
tration, being the youngest man who ever held 
a cabinet position, except Alexander Hamilton. 
From 1883 to 1884, Mr. Hatton managed "The 
National Republican" in Washington; in 1885 
removed to Chicago, where he became one of the 
proprietors and editor-in-chief of "The Evening 
Mail"; retired from the latter in 1887, and, pur- 
chasing the plant of "The National Republican" 
in Washington, commenced the publication of 
"The Washington Post," with which he was con- 
nected until his death, April 30, 1894. 

HAVANA, the county-seat of Mason County, an 
incorporated city founded in 1827 on the Ilhnois 
River, opposite the mouth of Spoon River, and a 
point of junction for three railways. It is a ship- 
ping-point for corn and osage orange hedge 
plants. A number of manufactories are located 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



225 



hera The city has several churches, three pub- 
lic schools and three newspapers. Population 
(1890). 3,525; (1900), 3,268. 
HAVANA, RANTOUL & EASTERN RAIL- 

ROAD. (See Illinois Central Railroad. ) 

HAVEN, Erastus Otis, Methodist Episcopal 
Bishop, was born in Boston, Mass., Nov. 1, 1820; 
graduated at the Wesleyan University in 1842, 
and taught in various institutions in Massachu- 
setts and New York, meanwhile studying theol- 
ogy. In 1848 he entered the Methodist ministry 
as a member of the New York Conference ; five 
years later accepted a professorship in Michigan 
University, but resigned in 1856 to become editor 
of "Zion's Herald," Boston, for seven years — in 
that time serving two terms in the State Senate 
and a part of the time being an Overseer of Har- 
vard University. In 1863 he accepted the Presi- 
dency of Northwestern University at Evanston, 
111. ; in 1873 became Secretary of the Methodist 
Board of Education, but resigned in 1874 to 
become Chancellor of Syracuse University, N.Y. 
In 1880 he was elected a Bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Died, in Salem, Oregon, in 
August, 1881. Bishop Haven was a man of great 
versatility and power as an orator, wrote much 
for the periodical press and published several 
volumes on religious topics, besides a treatise on 
rhetoric. 

HAVEN, Lather, educator, was born near 
Framingham, Mass., August 6, 1806. With a 
meager country-school education, at the age of 
17 he began teaching, continuing in this occupa- 
tion six or seven years, after which he spent 
three years in a more liberal course of study in a 
private academy at Ellington, Conn. He was 
next employed at Leicester Academy, first as a 
teacher, and, for eleven years, as Principal. He 
then engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1849, 
when he removed to Chicago. After several 
years spent in manufacturing and real-estate 
business, in 1854 he became proprietor of "The 
Prairie Farmer," of which he remained in con- 
trol until 1858. Mr. Haven took an active interest 
in public affairs, and was an untiring worker for 
the promotion of popular education. For ten 
years following 1853, he was officially connected 
with the Chicago Board of Education, being for 
four years its President. The comptrollership of 
the city was offered him in 1860, but declined. 
During the war he was a zealous supporter of tlie 
Union cause. In October, 1861, he was appointed 
by President Lincoln Collector for the Port of 
Chicago, and Sub-Treasurer of the United States 
for the Department of the Northwest, serving in 



this capacity during a part of President Johnson's 
administration. In 1866 he was attacked with 
congestion of the lungs, dying on March 6, of 
that year. 

HAWK, Robert M. A., Congressman, was born 
in Hancock County, Ind., April 23, 1839; came to 
Carroll County, 111., in boy hood, where heattended 
the common schools and later graduated from Eu- 
reka College. In 1862 he enlisted in the Union 
army, was commissioned First Lieutenant, next 
promoted to a Captaincy and, finally, brevetted 
Major for soldierly conduct in the field. In 1865 
he was elected County Clerk of Carroll County, 
and three times re-elected, serving from 1865 to 
1879. The latter year he resigned, having been 
elected to Congress on the Republican ticket in 
1878. In 1880 he was re-elected, but died before 
the expiration of his term, his successor being 
Robert R. Hitt, of Mount Morris, who was chosen 
at a special election to fill the vacancy. 

HAWLEY, John B., Congressman and First 
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, was born in 
Fairfield County, Conn., Feb. 9, 1831; accompa- 
nied his parents to Illinois in childhood, residing 
in his early manhood at Carthage, Hancock 
County. At the age of 23 (1854) he was admitted 
to the bar and began practice at Rock Island. 
From 1856 to 1860 he was State's Attorney of 
Rock Island County. In 1861 he entered the 
Union army as Captain, but was so severely 
wounded at Fort Donelson (1863) that he was 
obliged to quit the service. In 1865 President 
Lincoln appointed him Postmaster at Rock Island, 
but one year afterward he was removed by Presi- 
dent Johnson. In 1868 he was elected to Congress 
as a Republican, being twice re-elected, and, in 
1876, was Presidential Elector on the Hayes- 
Wheeler ticket. In the following year he was 
appointed by President Hayes First Assistant 
Secretary of the Treasury, serving until 1880, 
when he resigned. During the last six years of 
his life he was Solicitor for the Chicago & North • 
western Railroad, with headquarters at Omaha, 
Neb. Died, at Hot Springs, South Dakota, May 
24, 1895. 

HAT, John, author, diplomatist and Secretary 
of State, was born in Salem, Ind., Oct. 8, 1838, of 
Scottish ancestry; graduated at Brown Univer- 
sity, 1858, and studied law at Springfield, 111., his 
father, in the meantime, having become a resi- 
dent of Warsaw, 111. ; was admitted to practice 
in 1861, but immediately went to Washington as 
assistant private secretary of President Lincoln, 
acting part of the time as the President's aid-de- 
camp, also serving for some time under General 



226 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Hunter and Gilmore, with the rank of Major and 
Adjutant-General. After President Lincoln's 
assassination he served as Secretary of Legation 
at Paris and Madrid, and as Charge d' Affaires at 
Vienna; was also editor for a time of "The Illi- 
nois State Journal" at Springfield, and a leading 
editorial writer on "The New York Tribune." 
Colonel Hay's more important literary works 
include "CastiUanDays," "Pike County Ballads. " 
and the ten-volume "History of the Life and 
Times of Abraham Lincoln," written in collabo- 
ration with John G. Nicolay. In 1875 he settled 
at Cleveland, Ohio, but, after retiring from "The 
New York Tribune," made Washington his home. 
In 1897 President McKinley appointed him Am- 
bassador to England, where, by his tact, good 
judgment and sound discretion manifested as a 
diplomatist and speaker on public occasions, he 
won a reputation as one of the most able and ac- 
complished foreign representatives America has 
produced. His promotion to the position of 
Secretary of State on the retirement of Secretary 
William R. Day, at the close of the Spanish - 
American War, in September, 1898, followed 
naturally as a just tribute to the rank which he 
had won as a diplomatist, and was universally 
approved throughout the np-tion. 

HAY, John B., ex-Congressman, was born at 
Belleville, 111., Jan. 8, 1834; attended the com- 
mon scliools and worked on a farm until he was 
16 years of age, when he learned the printer's 
trade. Subsequently he studied law, and won 
considerable local prominence in his profession, 
being for eight years State's Attorney for the 
Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit. He served in 
the Union army during the War of the Rebellion, 
and, in 1868, was elected a Representative in the 
Forty-first Congress, being re-elected in 1870. 

HAY, Hilton, lawyer and legislator, was born 
in Fayette County, Ky., July 3, 1817; removed 
with his father's family to Springfield, 111., in 
1832 ; in 1838 became a student in the law office 
of Stuart & Lincoln; was admitted to the 
bar in 1840, and began practice at Pittsfield, 
Pike County. In 1858 he returned to Springfield 
and formed a partnership with Judge Steplien 
T. Logan (afterwards his father-in-law), which 
ended by the retirement of the latter from prac- 
tice in 1861. Others who were associated with 
him as partners, at a later date, were Hon. Shelby 
M. CuUom, Gen. John M. Palmer, Henry S. 
Greene and D. T. Littler. In 1869 he was elected 
a Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention 
and, as Chairman of the Committee on Revenue 
and member of the Judiciary Committee, was 



prominent in shaping the Constitution of 1870. 
Again, as a member .of the lower branch of the 
Twenty-eighth General Assembly (1873-74), he 
assisted in revising and adapting the laws to the 
new order of things under the new Constitution. 
The estimate in which he was held by his associ- 
ates is shown in the fact that he was a member 
of the Joint Committee of five appointed by the 
Legislature to revise the revenue laws of the 
State, which was especially complimented for 
the manner in wliich it performed its work by 
concurrent resolution of the two houses. A con- 
servative Republican in politics, gentle and unob- 
trusive in manner, and of calm, dispassionate 
judgment and unimpeachable integrity, no man 
was more frequently consulted by State execu- 
tives on questions of great delicacy and public 
importance, during the last thirty years of his 
life, than Mr. Hay. In 1881 he retired from the 
active prosecution of his profession, devoting his 
time to the care of a handsome estate. Died, 
Sept. 15, 1893. 

HAYES, Philip C, ex-Congressman, was born 
at Granby, Conn., Feb. 3, 1833. Before he was a 
year old his parents removed to La Salle County, 
111., where the first twenty years of his life were 
spent upon a farm. In 1860 he graduated from 
Oberlin College, Ohio, and, in April, 1861, en- 
listed in the Union army, being commissioned 
successively, Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel and 
Colonel, and finally brevetted Brigadier-General. 
After the war he engaged in journaUsm, becom- 
ing the publisher and senior editor of "The Morris 
Herald," a weekly periodical issued at Morris, 
Grundy County. In 1872 he was a delegate to the 
National Republican Convention at Philadelphia 
which renominated Grant, and represented his 
district in Congress from 1877 to 1881. Later he 
became editor and part proprietor of "The Repub- 
lican" at Joliet, 111., but retired some years since. 

HAYES, Samuel Siiowden, lawyer and poUti- 
cian, was born at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 25, 1820; 
settled at Shawneetown in 1838, and engaged in 
the drug business for two years; then began the 
study of law and was admitted to practice in 
1843, settling first at Mount Vernon and later at 
Carmi. He early took an interest in politics, 
stumping the southern counties for the Demo- 
cratic party in 1843 and '44. In 1845 he was a 
delegate to the Memphis Commercial Convention 
and, in 1846, was elected to the lower House of 
tlie State Legislature, being re-elected in '48. In 
1847 he raised a company for service in the 
Mexican War, but, owing to its distance from 
the seat of government, its muster rolls were not 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



227 



received until the quota of the State had been 
filled. The same year he was chosen a Delegate 
to the State Constitutional Convention for White 
County, and, in 1848, was a Democratic Presi- 
dential Elector. About 1852 he removed to Chi- 
cago, where he was afterwards City Solicitor and 
(1862-65) City Comptroller. He was a delegate 
to the National Democratic Conventions at 
Charleston and Baltimore in 1860, and an earnest 
worker for Douglas in the campaign which fol- 
lowed. While in favor of the Union, he was 
strongly opposed to the policy of the administra- 
tion, particularly in its attitude on the question 
of slavery. His last public service was as a Dele- 
gate from Cook County to the State Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1869-70. His talents as an 
orator, displayed both at the bar and before popu- 
lar assemblies, were of a. very high order. 

HAYMARKET RIOT, THE, an anarchistic 
outbreak wliicli occurred in Chicago on the 
evening of May 4, 1886. For several days prior, 
meetings of dissatisfied workingmen had been 
addressed by orators who sought to inflame the 
worst passions of their hearers. The excitement 
(previously more or less under restraint) culmi- 
nated on the date mentioned. Haymarket 
Square, in Chicago, is a broad, open space formed 
by the widening of West Randolph Street for an 
open-air produce- market. An immense concourse 
assembled there on the evening named ; inflam- 
matory speeches were made from a cart, which 
was used as a sort of improvised platform. Dur- 
ing the earlier part of the meeting the Mayor 
(Carter H. Harrison) was present, but upon his 
withdrawal, the oratory became more impassioned 
and incendiary. Towards midnight, some one 
whose identity has never been thoroughly proved, 
threw a dj-namite bomb into the ranks of the 
police, who, under command of Inspector John 
Bonfield, had ordered the dispersal of the crowd 
and were endeavoring to enforce the command. 
Simultaneously a score of men lay dead or bleed- 
ing in the street. The majority of the crowd 
fled, pursued by the officers. Numerous arrests 
followed during the night and the succeeding 
morning, and search was made in the office of 
the principal Anarchistic organ, which resulted 
in the discovery of considerable evidence of an 
incriminating character. A Grand Jury of Cook 
County found indictments for murder against 
eight of the suspected leaders, all of whom were 
convicted after a trial extending over several 
months, both the State and the defense being 
represented by some of the ablest counsel at the 
Chicago bar. Seven of the accused were con- 



demned to death, and one (Oscar Neebe) was 
given twenty years' imprisonment. The death 
sentence of two— Samuel Fielden and Justus 
Schwab — was subsequently commuted by Gov- 
ernor Oglesby to life-imprisonment, but executive 
clemency was extended in 1893 by Governor 
Altgeld to all three of those serving terms in the 
penitentiary. Of those condemned to execution, 
one (Louis Linng) committed suicide in the 
county- jail by exploding, between his teeth, a 
small dynamite bomb which he had surrepti- 
tiously obtained; the remaining four (August 
Spies, Albert D. Parsons, Louis Engel and Adolph 
Fischer) were hanged in the county-jail at 
Chicago, on November 14, 1887. The affair 
attracted wide attention, not only throughout the 
United States but in other countries also. 

HAYJilE, Isham Mcolas, soldier and Adju- 
tant-General, was born at Dover, Tenn., Nov. 18, 
1824; came to Illinois in boyhood and received 
but little education at scliool, but worked on a 
farm to obtain means to study law, and was 
licensed to practice in 1846. Throughout the 
Mexican AVar he served as a Lieutenant in the 
Sixth Illinois Volunteers, but, on his return, 
resumed practice in 1849, and, in 1850, was 
elected to the Legislature from Marion County. 
He graduated from the Kentucky Law School in 
1852 and, in 1856, was appointed Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas at Cairo. In 1860 he was a 
candidate for Presidential Elector on the Doug- 
las ticket. In 1861 he entered the army as 
Colonel of the Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry, 
which he had assisted in organizing. He partici- 
pated in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, 
and was severely wounded at the latter. In 1863 " 
he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress as 
a War Democrat, being defeated by W. J. Allen, 
and the same year was commissioned Brigadier- 
General of Volunteers. He resumed practice at 
Cairo in 1864, and, in 1805, was appointed by 
Governor Oglesby Adjutant-General as successor 
to Adjutant-General Fuller, but died in otSce, at 
Springfield, November, 1808. 

HAYWARD COLLEGE AlVD COMMERCIAL 
SCHOOL, at Fairfield, Wayne County ; incorpo- 
rated in 1886 ; is co-educational ; had 160 pupils in 
1898, with a faculty of nine instructors. 

HEACOCK, Russell E., pioneer lawyer, was 
born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1770; having lost his 
father at 7 years of age, learned the carpenter's 
trade and came west early in life; in 1806 was 
studying law in Jlissouri, and, two years later, 
was licensed to practice in Indiana Territory, of 
which Illinois then formed a part, locating first 



228 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



at Kaskaskia and afterwards at Jonesboro, in 
Union County; in 1823 went to Buffalo, N. Y., 
but returned west in 1827, arriving where Chi- 
cago now stands on July 4 ; in 1828 was living 
inside Fort Dearborn, but subsequently located 
several miles up the South Branch of the Chicago 
River, where he opened a small farm at a place 
which went by the name of "Heacock's Point." 
In 1831 he obtained a license to keep a tavern, in 
1833 became a Justice of the Peace, and, in 1835, 
had a law office in the village of Chicago. He 
took a prominent part in the organization of Cook 
County, invested liberally in real estate, but lost 
it in the crash of 1837. He was disabled by par- 
alysis in 1843 and died of cholera, June 38, 1849. 
— Reuben E. (Heacock), a son of Mr. Heacock, 
was member of the State Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1847, from Cook County. 

HEALTH, BOARD OF, a bureau of the State 
Government, created by act of May 25, 1877. It 
consists of seven members, named by the Gov- 
ernor, who hold office for seven years. It is 
charged with "general supervision of the inter- 
ests connected with the health and life of the 
citizens of the State. " All matters pertaining to 
quarantine fall within its purview, and in this 
respect it is invested with a power which, while 
discretionary, is well-nigh autocratic. The same 
standard holds good, although to a far less ex- 
tent, as to its supervisory power over conta- 
gious diseases, of man or beast. The Board also 
has a modified control over medical practitioners, 
under the terms of the statute popularly known 
as the "Medical Practice Act." Through its 
powers thereunder, it has kept out or expelled 
from the State an army of irregular practition- 
ers, and has done much toward raising the stand- 
ard of professional qualification. 

HEALY, George P. A., artist, was born in 
Boston, July 15, 1808, and early manifested a 
predilection for art, in which he was encouraged 
by the painter Scully. He struggled in the face 
of difficulties until 1836, when, having earned 
some money by his art, he went to Europe to 
study, spending two years in Paris and a like 
period in London. In 1855 he came to Chicago, 
contemplating a stay of three weeks, but re- 
mained until 1867. During this time he is said 
to have painted 575 portraits, many of them 
being likenesses of prominent citizens of Chicago 
and of the State. Many of his pictures, deposited 
in the rooms of the Chicago Historical Society 
for safekeeping, were destroyed by the fire of 
1871. From 1869 to '91 his time was spent chiefly 
in Rome. During his several visits to Europe he 



painted the portraits of a large number of royal 
personages, including Louis Phillippe of France, 
as also, in this country, the portraits of Presidents 
and other distinguished persons. One of his his- 
torical pictures was "Webster Replying to 
Hayne," in which 150 figures are introduced. A 
few years before his death, Mr. Healy donated a 
large number of his pictures to the Newberry 
Library of Chicago. He died in Chicago, June 
24, 1894. 

HEATON, William Weed, lawyer and jurist, 
was born at Western, Oneida County, N. Y., 
April 18, 1814. After completing his academic 
studies he engaged, for a short time, in teaching, 
but soon began the study of law, and, in 1838, 
was admitted to the bar at Terre Haute, Ind. In 
1840 he removed to Dixon, 111., where he resided 
until his death. In 1861 he was elected Judge of 
the Circuit Court for the Twenty -second Circuit, 
and occupied a seat upon the bench, through 
repeated re-elections, until his death, which 
occurred Dec. 26, 1877, while serving as a mem- 
ber of the Appellate Court for the First District. 

HECKER, Friedrich Karl Franz, German pa- 
triot and soldier, was born at Baden, Germany, 
Sept. 28, 1811. He attained eminence in his 
native country as a lawyer and politician ; was a 
member of the Baden Assembly of 1842 and a 
leader in the Diet of 1846-47, but, in 1848, was 
forced, with many of his compatriots, to find a 
refuge in the United States. In 1849 he settled 
as a farmer at Summerfield, in St. Clair County, 
111. He took a deep interest in politics and, being 
earnestly opposed to slavery, ultimately joined 
the Republican party, and took an active part in 
the campaigns of 1856 and '60. In 1861 he was 
commissioned Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Illi- 
nois Volunteers, and was later transferred to the 
command of the Eighty-second. He was a brave 
soldier, and actively participated in the battles 
of Missionary Ridge and Chancellorsville. In 
1864 he resigned his commission and returned to 
his farm in St. Clair County. Died, at St. Louis, 
Mo., March 24, 1881. 

REDDING COLLEGE, an institution incorpo- 
rated in 1875 and conducted under the auspices of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Abingdon, 
Knox County, 111. ; has a faculty of seventeen 
instructors, and reports (1895-96), 403 students, 
of whom 212 were male and 181 female. The 
branches taught include the .sciences, the classics, 
music, fine arts, oratory and preparatory courses. 
The institution has funds and endowment 
amounting to $55,000, and property valued «,t 
$158,000. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



229 



HEMPSTEAD, Charles S., pioneer lawyer and 
first Mayor of Galena, was born at Hebron, Tol- 
land County, Conn., Sept. 10, 1794 — the son of 
Stephen Hempstead, a patriot of the Revolution. 
In 1809 he came west in company with a brother, 
descending the Ohio River in a canoe from Mari- 
etta to Shawneetown, and making his way across 
the "Illinois Country" on foot to Kaskaskia and 
finally to St. Louis, where he joined another 
brother (Edward), with whom he soon began the 
study of law. Having been admitted to the bar 
in both Missouri Territory and Illinois, he re- 
moved to St. Genevieve, where he held the office 
of Prosecuting Attorney by appointment of the 
Governor, but returned to St. Louis in 1818-19 
and later became a member of the Missouri Legis- 
lature. In 1829 Mr. Hempstead located at Galena, 
111., which continued to be his home for the re- 
mainder of his life, and where he was one of the 
earliest and best known lawyers. The late Minis- 
ter E. B. Washburne became a clerk in Mr. 
Hempstead's law office in 1840, and, in 1845, a 
partner. Mr. Hempstead was one of the pro- 
moters of the old Chicago & Galena Union Rail- 
road (now a part of the Chicago & Northwestern), 
serving upon the first Board of Directors; was 
elected the first Mayor of Galena in 1841, and, in 
the early days of the Civil War, was appointed 
by President Lincoln a Paymaster in the Army. 
Died, in Galena, Dec. 10, 1874. — Edward (Hemp- 
stead), an older brother of the preceding, already 
mentioned, came west in 1804, and, after holding 
various positions at Vincennes, Indiana Territory, 
under Gov. William Henry Harrison, located at 
St Louis and became the first Territorial 
Delegate in Congress from Missouri Territory 
(1811-14). His death occurred as the result of an 
accident, August 10, 1817. — Stephen (Hemp- 
stead), another member of this liistorio family, 
was Governor of Iowa from 1850 to '54. Died, 
Feb. 16, 1883. 

HENDERSON, Thomas J., ex-Congressman, 
was born at Brownsville, Tenn., Nov. 19, 1824; 
came to Illinois in 1837, and was reared upon a 
farm, but received an academic education. In 
1847 he was elected Clerk of the County Com- 
missioners' Court of Stark County, and, in 1849, 
Clerk of the County Court of the same couut}% 
serving in that capacity for four years. Mean- 
while he had studied law and had been admitted 
to the bar in 1852. In 1855 and '56 he was a 
member of the lower house of the Legislature, 
and State Senator from 1857 to '60. He entered 
the Union army, in 1862, as Colonel of the One 
Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Volunteers, and 



served until the close of the war, being brevetted 
Brigadier-General in January, 1865. He was a 
Republican Presidential Elector for the State- at- 
large in 1868, and, in 1874, was elected to Congress 
from the Seventh Illinois District, serving con- 
tinuously until March, 1895. His home is at 
Princeton. 

HENDERSON, William H., politician and legis- 
lator, was born in Garrard Coumty, Ky., Nov. 16, 
1793. After serving in the War of 1812, he settled 
in Tennessee, where he held many positions of 
public trust, including that of State Senator. In 
1836 he removed to Illinois, and, two years later, 
was elected to the General Assembly as Repre- 
sentative from Bureau and Putnam Counties, 
being re-elected in 1840. In 1843 he was the 
unsuccessful Whig candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor, being defeated by John Moore. In 
1845 he migrated to Iowa, where he died in 1864. 

HENDERSON COUNTY, a county comprising 
380 square miles of territory, located in the west- 
ern section of the State and bordering on the Mis- 
sissippi River. The first settlements were made 
about 1827-28 at Yellow Banks, now Oquawka. 
Immigration was checked by the Black Hawk 
War, but revived after the removal of the Indians 
across the Jlississippi. The county was set off 
from Warren in 1841, with Oquawka as the 
county-seat. Population (1880), 10,722; (1890), 
9,876. The soil is fertile, and underlaid by lime- 
stone. The surface is undulating, and well tim- 
bered. Population (1900), 10,836, 

HENNEPIN, the county-seat of Putnam 
County, situated on the left bank of the Illinois 
River, about 28 miles below Ottawa, 100 miles 
southwest of Chicago, and 3 miles southeast of 
Bureau Junction. It has a courthouse, a bank, 
two grain elevators, three churches, a graded 
school, a newspaper. It is a prominent shipping 
point for produce by the river. The Hennepin 
Canal, now in process of construction from the 
Illinois River to the Mississippi at the mouth of 
Rock River, leaves the Illinois about two miles 
above Hennepin. Population (1880), 633; (1890), 
574; (1900), .523. 

HENNEPIN, Louis, a Franciscan (Recollect) 
friar and explorer, born at Ath, Belgium, about 
1640. After several years of clerical service in 
Belgium and Holland, he was ordered (1675) by 
his ecclesiastical superiors to proceed to Canada. 
In 1679 he accompanied La Salle on his explo- 
rations of tlie great lakes and the upper Missis- 
sippi. Having reached the Illinois by way of 
Lake Michigan, early in the following year (1680;, 
La Salle proceeded to construct a fort on the east 



230 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



side of the Illinois River, a little below the 
present site of Peoria, which afterwards received 
the name of Fort Creve-Coeur. In February, 
1680, Father Hennepin was dispatched by La 
Salle, with two companions, by way of the 
mouth of the Illinois, to explore the upper Mis- 
sissijjpi. Ascending the latter stream, his party 
was captured by the Sioux and carried to tlie 
villages of that tribe among the Minnesota lakes, 
but finally rescued. During his captivity he 
discovered the Falls of St. Anthony, which he 
named. After his rescue Hennepin returned to 
Quebec, and thence sailed to France. There he 
published a work describing La Salle's first 
expedition and his own explorations. Although 
egotistical and necessarily incorrect, this work 
was a valuable contribution to history. Because 
of ecclesiastical insubordination he left France 
for Holland. In 1697 he published an extraordi- 
nary volume, in wliich he set forth claims as a 
discoverer which have been wholly discredited. 
His third and last work, published at Utrecht, in 
1698, was entitled a "New Voyage in a Country 
Larger than Europe." It was a compilation 
describing La Salle's voyage to the mouth of the 
Mississippi. His three works have been trans- 
lated into twenty-four different languages. He 
died, at Utrecht, between 1703 and 1705. 

HENNEPIN CANAL. (See Illinois & Missis- 
sippi Canal.) 

HENRY, a city in Marshall County, situated on 
the west bank of the Illinois River and on the 
Peoria branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railway, 33 miles north-northeast of 
Peoria. There is a combination railroad and 
wagon bridge, lock and dam across the river at 
this point. The city is a thriving commercial 
center, among its industries being grain eleva- 
tors, flour mills, and a windmill factory ; has 
two national banks, eight churches and two 
newspapers. Population (1880), 1,728; (1890) 
1,512; (1900), 1,637. 

HENRY, James D., pioneer and soldier, was born 
in Pennsylvania, came to Illinois in 1822, locating 
at Edwardsville, where, being of limited educa- 
tion, he labored as a mechanic during the day 
and attended school at night; engaged in mer- 
chandising, removed to Springfield in 1826, and 
was soon after elected Sheriff ; served in the Win- 
nebago War (1827) as Adjutant, and, in the 
Black Hawk War (1831-32) as Lieutenant-Colonel 
and Colonel, finally being placed in command of 
a brigade at the battle of Wisconsin and the Bad 
Axe, his success in both winning for him great 
popularity. His exposures brought on disease of 



the lungs, and, going South, he died at New 
Orleans, March 4, 1834. 

HENRY COUNTY, one of the middle tier of 
counties of Northern Illinois, near the western 
border of the State, having an area of 830 square 
miles, — named for Patrick Henry. The Ameri- 
can pioneer of the region was Dr. Baker, who 
located in 1835 on what afterwards became the 
town of Colona. During the two years following 
several colonies from the eastern States settled at 
different points (Geneseo, Wethersfield, etc.;. 
The act creating it was passed in 1825, though 
organization was not completed until 1837. The 
first county court was held at Dayton. Subse- 
quent county-seats have been Richmond (1837) ; 
Geneseo (1840) ; Morristown (1842) ; and Cam- 
bridge (1843). Population (1870), 36,597; (1890), 
33,338; (1900), 40,049. 

HERNDON, Archer G., one of the celebrated 
"Long Nine" members of the General Assembly 
of 1836-37, was born in Culpepper County, Va., 
Feb. 13, 1795 ; spent his youth in Green County, 
Ky., came to Madison County, III, 1830, and to 
Sangamon in 1821, becoming a citizen of Spring- 
field in 1825, wliere he engaged in mercantile 
business; served eight years in the State Senate 
(1834-42), and as Receiver of tlie Land Office 
1842-49. Died, Jan. 3, 1867. Mr. Herndon was 
the father of William H. Herndon, the law part- 
ner of Abraham Lincoln. 

HERNDON, William H., lawyer, was born at 
Greensburg, Ky., Dec. 25, 1818; brought to Illi- 
nois by his father. Archer G. Herndon, in 1820, 
and to Sangamon County in 1821 ; entered Illinois 
College in 1836, but remained only one year on 
account of his father's hostility to the supposed 
abolition influences prevailing at that institution ; 
spent several years as clerk in a store at Spring- 
field, studied law two years with the firm of Lin- 
coln & Lo,gan (1843-44), was admitted to the bar 
and became the partner of Mr. Lincoln, so con- 
tinuing until the election of the latter to the 
Presidency. Mr. Herndon was a radical oppo- 
nent of slavery and labored zealously to promote 
the advancement of his distinguished partner. 
The offices lie held were those of City Attorney, 
Mayor and Bank Commissioner under three Gov- 
ernors. Some years before his death he wrote, 
and, inconjunction with Jesse W.Weik, published 
a Life of Abraham Lincoln in three volumes — 
afterwards revised and issued in a two-volume 
edition by the Messrs. Appleton. New York. 
Died, near Springfield, March 18, 1891. 

HERRINGTON, Ausrustiis M., lawyer and poli- 
tician, was born at or near Meadville, Pa., in 1833; 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



231 



when ten years of age was brought by his father 
to Chicago, the family removing two years later 
(1835) to Geneva, Kane County, where tlie elder 
Herrington opened the first store. Augustus was 
admitted to the bar in 1844 ; obtained great promi- 
nence as a Democratic politician, serving as 
Presidential Elector for the State-at-large in 
1856, and as a delegate to Democratic National 
Conventions in 1860, '64, '68, '76 and '80, and was 
almost invariably a member of the State Conven- 
tions of his party during the same period. He 
also served for many years as Solicitor of the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. Died, at Ge- 
neva, Kane County, August 14, 1883.— James 
(Herrington), brother of the preceding, was born 
in Mercer County, Pa., June 6, 1834; came to 
Chicago in 1833, but, two years later, was taken 
by his parents to Geneva, Kane County. In 1843 
he was apprenticed to the printing business on 
the old "Chicago Democrat" (John Wentworth, 
publisher) , iremaining until 1848, when he returned 
to Geneva, where he engaged in farming, being 
also connected for a year or two with a local 
paper. In 1849 he was elected County Clerk, re- 
maining in office eight years ; also served three 
terms on the Board of Supervisors, later serving 
continuously in the lower branch of the General 
Assembly from 1872 to 1886. He was also a mem- 
ber of the State Board of Agriculture and a fre- 
quent delegate to Democratic State Conventions. 
Died, July 7, 1890.— James Herrington, Sr., 
father of the two preceding, was a Representative 
in the Fifteenth General Assembly (1846-48) for 
the District embracing the counties of Kane, 
McHenry, Boone and De Kalb. 

HERTZ, Henry L., ex-State Treasurer, was 
born at Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1847; gradu- 
ated from the University of Copenhagen in 1866, 
and after pursuing the study of medicine for two 
years, emigrated to this country in 1869. After 
various experiences in selling sewing-machines, 
as bank-clerk, and as a farm-hand, in 1876 Mr. 
Hertz was employed in the Recorder's office of 
Cook County; in 1878 was record-writer in the 
Criminal Court Clerk's office ; in 1884 was elected 
Coroner of Cook County, and re-elected in 1888. 
In 1892, as Republican candidate for State Treas- 
urer, he was defeated, but, in 1896, again a 
candidate for the same office, was elected by a 
majority of 115,000, serving until 1899. He is 
now a resident of Chicago. 

HESINGr, Antone Caspar, journalist and politi- 
cian, was born in Prussia in 1823; left an orphan at 
the age of 15, he soon after emigrated to America, 
landing at Baltimore and going thence to Cin- 



cinnati. From 1840 to 1842 he worked in a gro- 
cery store in Cincinnati, and later opened a small 
hotel. In 1854 he removed to Chicago, where he 
was for a time engaged in the manufacture of 
brick. In 1860 he was elected Sheriff of Cook 
Countj% as a Republican. In 1862 he purchased 
an interest in "The Chicago Staats Zeitung," 
and in 1867 became sole proprietor. In 1871 he 
admitted his son, Washington Hesing, to a part- 
nership, installing him as general manager. 
Died, in Chicago, March 31, 1895. — Washingrton 
(Hesing), son of the preceding, was born in Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, May 14, 1849, educated at Chicago 
and Yale College, graduating from the latter in 
1870. After a year spent in study abroad, he 
returned to Chicago and began work upon "The 
Staats Zeitung, " later becoming managing editor, 
and finally editor-in-chief. While yet a young 
man he was made a member of the Chicago 
Board of Education, but declined to serve a 
second term. In 1872 he entered actively into 
politics, making speeches in both English and 
German in support of General Grantjs Presi- 
dential candidacy. Later ho affiliated with the 
Democratic party, as did his father, and, in 1893, 
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic 
nomination for the Chicago mayoralty, being 
defeated by Carter H. Harrison. In December, 
1893, he was appointed by President Cleveland 
Postmaster of the city of Chicago, serving four 
years. His administration was characterized by 
a high degree of efficiency and many improve- 
ments in the service were adopted, one of the 
most important being the introduction of postal 
cars on tlie street-railroads for the collection of 
mail matter. In April, 1897, he became an Inde- 
pendent candidate for Mayor, but was defeated 
by Carter H. Harrison, the regular Democratic 
nominee. Died, Dec. 18, 1897. 

HETWORTH, a village of McLean County, on 
the Illinois Central Railway, 10 miles .south of 
Bloomington; has a bank, churches, gas wells, 
and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 566; (1900), 683. 

HIBBARD, Homer Nash, lawyer, was born at 
Bethel, Windsor County, Vt., Nov. 7, 1824, his 
early life being spent upon a farm and in attend- 
ance upon the common schools. After a short 
term in an academy at Randolph, Vt. , at the age 
of 18 he began the study of law at Rutland— also 
fitting himself for college with a private tutor. 
Later, having obtained means by teaching, he 
took a course in Castleton Academy and Ver- 
mont University, graduating from the latter in 
18.50. Then, having spent some years in teach- 
ing, he entered the Dane Law School at Harvard, 



232 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



later continuing his studies at Burlington and 
finally, in the fall of 1853, removing to Chicago. 
Here he opened a law office in connection with 
his old classmate, the late Judge John A. Jame- 
son, but early in the following year removed to 
Freeport, where he subsequently served as City 
Attorney, Master in Chancery and President of 
the City School Board. Returning to Chicago in 
1860, he became a member of the law firm of 
Cornell. Jameson & Hibbard, and still later tlie 
head of the firm of Hibbard, Rich & Noble. In 
1870 he was appointed by Judge Drummond 
Register in Bankruptcy for the Chicago District, 
serving during the life of the law. He was also, 
for some time, a Director of the National Bank 
of Illinois, and Vice-President of the American 
Insurance Company. Died, Nov. 14, 1897. 

HICKS, Stephen G., lawyer and soldier of 
three wars, was born in Jackson County, Ga., 
Feb. 23, 1807— the son of John Hicks, one of the 
seven soldiers killed at the battle of New Orleans, 
Jan. 8, 1815. Leaving the roof of a stepfather 
at an early age, he found his way to Illinois, 
working for a time in the lead mines near Galena, 
and later at the carpenter's trade with an uncle ; 
served as a Sergeant in the Black Hawk War, 
finally locating in Jefferson County, where he 
studied law and was admitted to the bar. Here 
he was elected to the lower branch of the Twelfth 
General Assembly (1840) and re-elected succes- 
sively to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth. Early 
in the Mexican War (1846) he recruited a com- 
pany for the Third Regiment, of which he was 
chosen Captain, a year later becoming Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel of the Sixth. At the beginning of 
the Civil War Colonel Hicks was practicing his 
profession at Salem, Marion County. He 
promptly raised a company which became a part 
of the Fortieth Regiment Volunteer Infantry, of 
which he was commissioned Colonel. The regi- 
ment saw active service in the campaign in West- 
ern Tennessee, including the battle of Shiloh, 
where Colonel Hicks was dangerously wounded 
through the lungs, only recovering after some 
months in hospital and at his home. He rejoined 
his regiment in July following, but found him- 
self compelled to accept an honorable discharge, 
a few months later, on account of disability. 
Having finally recovered, he was restored to his 
old command, and served to the close of the war. 
In October, 1863, he w.is placed in command at 
Paducah, Ky., where he remained eighteen 
months, after which he was transferred to Colum- 
bus, Ky. While in command at Paducah, the 
place was desperately assaulted by the rebel 



Colonel Forrest, but successfully defended, the 
rebel assailants sustaining a loss of some 1,200 
killed and wounded. After the war Colonel 
Hicks returned to Salem, where he died, Dec. 14, 
1869, and was buried, in accordance with his 
request, in the folds of the American flag. Born 
on Washington's birthday, it is a somewhat 
curious coincidence that the death of this brave 
soldier should have occurred on the anniversary 
of that of the "Father of His Country." 

HKiBEE, Channcey L., lawyer and Judge, was 
born in Clermont County, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1821, 
and settled in Pike County, lU., in 1844. He 
early took an interest in politics, being elected to 
the lower house of the Legislature in 18.54, and 
two years later to the State Senate. In 1861 he 
was elected Judge of the Fifth Circuit Court, and 
was re-elected in 1867, '73, and '79. In 1877, and 
again in '79, he was assigned to the bench of the 
Appellate Court. Died, at Pittsfield, Dec. 7, 1884. 

HIGGINS, Van UoUis, lawyer, was born in 
Genessee County, N. Y., and received his early 
education at Auburn and Seneca Falls ; came to 
Chicago in 1837 and, after spending some time as 
clerk in his brother's store, taught some months 
in Vermilion County: then went to St. Louis, 
where he spent a year or two as reporter on "The 
Missouri Argus," later engaging in commercial 
pursuits; in 1842 removed to Iroquois County, 
111, , where he read law and was admitted to the 
bar; in 1845, established himself in practice in 
Galena, served two years as City Attorney there, 
but returned to Chicago in 1852, where he contin- 
ued to reside for the remainder of his life. In 1858 
he was elected as a Republican Representative in 
tlie Twenty-first General Assembly; served sev- 
eral years as Judge of the Chicago City Court, 
and was a zealous supporter of the Government 
during the War of the Rebellion. Judge Higgins 
was successful as a lawyer and business man, and 
was connected with a number of important busi- 
ness enterprises, especially in connection with 
real-estate operations ; was also a member of sev- 
eral local societies of a professional, social and 
patriotic character. Died, at Darien, Wis. , April 
17, 1893. 

HIGGINSON, Charles M., civil engineer and 
Assistant Railway President, was born in Chica- 
go, July 11, 1846 — the son of George M.Higginson, 
who located in Chicago about 1843 and engaged 
in the real-estate business; was educated at the 
Lawrence Scientific School, Cambridge, Mass., 
and entered the engineering department of the 
Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in 1867, 
remaining xmtil 1875. He then became the pur- 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



333 



chasing agent of the Toledo, Peoria & Wars^ 
Railroad, but, a year later, returned to Chicago, 
and soon after assumed the same position in con- 
nection with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, 
being transferred to the Auditorship of the 
latter road in 1879. Later, he became assistant 
to President Ripley of the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Line, where he remained until his 
death, which occurred at Riverside, 111., May 6, 
1899. Mr. Higginson was, for several years, 
President of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, 
and a member of the Board of Managers of the 
Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago. 

HIGH, James L., lawyer and author, was born 
at Belleville, Ohio, Oct. 6, 1844; in boyhood came 
to Wisconsin, and graduated at Wisconsin State 
University, at Madison, in 1864, also serving for 
a time as Adjutant of the Forty-ninth Regiment 
Wisconsin Volunteers ; studied law at the Michi- 
gan University Law School and, in 1867, came to 
Chicago, where he began practice. He spent the 
winter of 1871-73 in Salt Lake City and, in the 
absence of the United States District Attorney, 
conducted the trial of certain Mormon leaders for 
connection with the celebrated Mountain Meadow 
Massacre, also acting as correspondent of "The 
New York Times," his letters being widely 
copied. Returning to Chicago he took a high 
rank in his profession. He was the author of 
several volumes, including treatises on "The Law 
of In junctions as administered in the Courts of 
England and America, "and "Extraordinary Legal 
Remedies, Mandamus, Quo Warranto and Prohibi- 
tions," which are accepted as high authority with 
the profession. In 1870 he published a revised 
edition of Lord Erskine's Works, including all 
his legal argumeats, together with a memoir of 
his life. Died, Oct. 3, 1898. 

HIGHLAND, a city in the southeastern part of 
Madi.son County, founded in 1836 and located on 
the Vandalia line, 33 miles east of St. Louis. Its 
manufacturing industries include a milk-con- 
densing plant, creamery, flour and planing miUs, 
breweries, embroidery works, etc. It contains 
several churches and schools, a Roman Catholic 
Seminary, a hospital, and has three newspapers — 
one German. The early settlers were Germans 
of the most thrifty and enterprising classes. 
The surrounding country is agricultural. Popu- 
lation (1880). 1,960; (1890), 1,857; (1900, decennial 
census), 1,970. 

HIGHLAND PARK, an incorporated city of 
Lake County, on the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroad, 23 miles north-nortliwest of Chicago. 
It has a salubrious site on a bluff 100 feet above 



Lake Michigan, and is a favorite residence and 
health resort. It has a large hotel, several 
churches, a military academy, and a weekly 
paper. Two Waukegan papers issue editions 
here. Population (1890), 3,163; (1900), 2,806. 

HILDRUP, Jesse S., lawyer and legislator, 
was bom in Middletown, Conn., March 14, 1833 ; at 
15 removed to the State of New York and after- 
wards to Harrisburg, Pa. ; in 1860 came to Belvi- 
dere. 111., where he began the practice of law, 
also serving as Corporation Trustee and Township 
Supervisor, and, during the latter years of the 
war, as Deputy Provost Marshal. His first im- 
portant elective office was that of Delegate to the 
State Constitutional Convention of 1870, but he 
was elected Representative in the General Assem- 
bly the same year, and again in 1872. While in 
the House he took a prominent part in the legis- 
lation which resulted in the organization of the 
Railroad and Warehouse Board. Mr. Hildrup 
was also a Republican Presidential Elector in 
1868, and United States Marshal for the Northern 
District of Illinois from 1877 to 1881. During 
the last few years much of his time has been 
spent in California for the benefit of the health 
of some members of his family. 

HILL, Charles Aug'ustus, ex-Congressman, 
was born at Truxton, Cortland County, N. Y., 
August 23, 1833. He acquired his early education 
by dint of hard labor, and much privation. In 
1854 he removed to Illinois, settling in Will 
County, where, for several years, he taught 
school, as he had done while in New York. 
Meanwhile he read law, his last instructor being 
Hon. H. C. Newcomb, of Indianapolis, where he 
was admitted to the bar. He returned to Will 
County in 1860, and, in 1862, enlisted in the 
Eighth Illinois Cavalry, participating in the 
battle of Antietam. Later he was commissioned 
First Lieutenant in the First United States Regi- 
ment of Colored Troops, with which he remained 
until the close of the war, rising to the rank of 
Captain. In 1865 he returned to Joliet and to tli© 
practice of his profession. In 1868 he was elected 
State's Attorney for the district comprising Will 
and Grundy Counties, but declined a renomina- 
tion. In 1888 he was the successful Republican 
candidate for Congress from the Eighth Illinois 
District, but was defeated for re-election in 1890 
by Lewis Steward, Democrat. 

HILLSBORO, an incorporated city, the county- 
seat of Montgomery County, on the Cleveland, 
Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, 67 
miles northeast of St. Louis. Its manufactures 
are flour, brick and tile, carriages and harness. 



234 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



lumitiire and woolen gooJs. It has a high 
school, banks and two weekly newspapers. The 
surrounding region is agricultural, though con- 
siderable coal is mined in the vicinity. Popula- 
tion (1880). 2,8.58; (1890), 2,.')00; (1900), 1,937. 

HINCKLEY, a village of De Kalb County, on 
the Rochelle Division of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad, 18 miles we.st of Aurora; in 
rich agricultural and dairying region ; has grain 
elevators, brick and tile works, water system and 
electric light plant. Pop. (1890), 496; (1900), 587. 

HINRICHSEN, William H., ex Secretary of 
State and ex-Congressman, was born at Franklin, 
Morgan County, 111., May 27, 18.50; educated at 
the University of Illinois, spent four years in the 
office of his father, who was stock-agent of the 
Wabash Railroad, and six years (1874-80) as 
Deputy Sheriff of Morgan County; then went 
into the newspaper business, editing the Jackson- 
ville "Evening Courier," until 188G, after which 
he was connected with "The Quincy Herald," to 
1890, when he returned to Jacksonville and re- 
sumed his place on "The Courier. ' ' He was Clerk 
of the House of Representatives in 1891, and 
elected Secretary of State in 1892, serving until 
January, 1897. Mr. Hinrichsen has been a mem- 
ber of the Democratic State Central Committee 
since 1890, and was Chairman of that body dur- 
ing 1894-96. In 1896 Mr. Hinrichsen was the 
nominee of his party for Congress in the Six- 
teenth District and was elected by over 6,000 
majority, but failed to secure a renominatiou in 
1898. 

HINSDALE, a village in Du Page County and 
popular residence suburb, on the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad, 17 miles west-south- 
west of Chicago. It has four churches, a graded 
school, an academy, electric light plant, water- 
works, sewerage system, and two weekly news- 
papers. Population (1890), 1,584; (1900), 2,578. 

HITCHCOCK, Charles, Lawyer, was born at 
Hanson, Plymouth County, Mass., April 4, 1827; 
studied at Dartmouth College and at Harvard 
Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1854, 
soon afterward establishing himself for the prac- 
tice of his profession in Chicago. In 1869 Mr. 
Hitchcock was elected to the State Constitutional 
Convention, which was the only important pub- 
lic ofHce that he held, though his capacity was 
recognized by his election to the Presidency of 
that body. Died, May 6, 1881. 

HITCHCOCK, Luke, clergyman, was born 
April 13, 1813, at Lebanon, N. Y., entered the 
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
1834, and, after supplying various charges in 



that State during the next five years, in 1839 
came to Chicago, becoming one of the most 
influential factors in the Methodist denomination 
in Northern Illinois. Between that date and 
1860 he was identified, as regular pastor or Pre- 
siding Elder, with churches at Dixon, Ottawa, 
Belvidere, Rockford, Slount Morris, St. Charles 
and Chicago (the old Clark Street church), with 
two years' service (1841-43) as agent Of Rock 
River .Seminary at Mount Morris — his itinerant 
labors being interrupted at two or three periods 
by ill-health, compelling him to assume a super- 
annuated relation. From 18.')2 to '80, inclusive, 
he was a delegate every four years to the General 
Conference. In 1860 he was appointed Agent of 
the Western Book Concern, and, as the junior 
representative, was placed in charge of the 
depository at Chicago^in 1868 becoming the 
Senior Agent, and so remaining until 1880. His 
subsequent service included two terms as Presid- 
ing Elder for the Dixon and Chicago Districts; 
the position of Superintendent of the Chicago 
Home Missionary and Church Extension Society ; 
Superintendent of the Wesley Hospital (which he 
assisted to organize), his last position being that 
of Corresponding Secretary of the Superannu- 
ates' Relief Association. He was also infiuential 
in securing the establishment of a church paper 
in Chicago and the founding of the Northwestern 
University and Garrett Biblical Institute. Died, 
while on a visit to a daughter at East Orange, 
N. J., Nov. 12, 1898. 

HITT, Daniel F., civil engineer and soldier, 
was born in Bourbon County, Ky., June 13, 1810 
— the son of a Methodist preacher who freed his 
slaves and removed to Urbana, Ohio, in 1814. In 
1829 the son began the study of engineering and, 
removing to Illinois the following year, was ap- 
pointed Assistant Engineer on the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, later being employed in survey- 
ing some sixteen years. Being stationed at 
Prairie du Chien at the time of the Black Hawk 
War (1832), he was attached to the Stephenson 
Rangers for a year, but at the end of that period 
resumed surveying and, having settled in La 
Salle County, became the first Surveyor of that 
county. In 1801 he joined Colonel Cushman, of 
Ottawa, in the organization of the Fifty-third 
Illinois Volunteers, was mustered into the service 
in March, 1862, and commissioned its Lieutenant- 
Colonel. The regiment took part in various 
battles, including those of Shiloh, Corinth and 
La Grange, Tenn. In the latter Colonel Hitt 
received an injury by being throvm from his 
horse which compelled his resignation and from 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



335 



which he never fully recovered. Retiirning to 
Ottawa, he continued to reside there until his 
death, May 11, 1899. Colonel Hitt was father of 
Andrew J. Hitt, General Superintendent of the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and 
uncle of Congressman Robert R. Hitt of Mount 
Morris. Originally a Democrat, he alUed himself 
with the Republican party on the breaking out 
of the Civil War. He was a thirtj'-second degree 
Mason and prominent in Grand Army circles. 

HITT, Isaac R., real-estate operator, was born 
at Boonsboro, Md., June 3, 1828; in 1845 entered 
the freshman class at Asbury University, Ind., 
graduating in 1849. Then, removing to Ottawa, 
HI., he was engaged for a time in farming, but, 
in 1852, entered into the forwarding and com- 
mission business at La Salle. Having meanwhile 
devoted some attention to real-estate law, in 1853 
he began buying and selling real estate while 
continuing his farming operations, adding thereto 
coal-mining. In May, 1856, lie was a delegate 
from La Salle County to the State Convention at 
Bloomington wliicli resulted in the organization 
of the Republican party in Illinois. Removing 
to Chicago in 1860, lie engaged in the real-estate 
business there ; in 1862 was appointed on a com- 
mittee of citizens to look after the interests of 
wounded Illinois soldiers after the battle of Fort 
Donelson, in that capacity visiting hospitals at 
Cairo, Evansville, Paducah and Nashville. Dur- 
ing the war he engaged to some extent in the 
business of prosecuting .soldiers' claims. Mr. 
Hitt has been a member of both the Chicago and 
the National Academy of Sciences, and, in 1869, 
was appointed by Governor Palmer on the Com- 
mission to lay out the park system of Chicago. 
Since 1871 he has resided at Evanston, where he 
aided in the erection of the Woman's College in 
connection with the Northwestern University. 
In 1876 he was appointed by the Governor agent 
to prosecute the claims of the State for swamp 
lands within its limits, and has given much of 
his attention to that business since. 

HITT, Robert Roberts, Congressman, was born 
at Urbana, Ohio, Jan. 16, 1834. When he was 
three years old his parents removed to Illinois, 
settling in Ogle County. His education was 
acquired at Rock River Seminary (now Mount 
Morris College), and at De Pauw University, Ind. 
In 1858 Mr. Hitt was one of the reporters who 
reported the celebrated debate of that year 
between Lincoln and Douglas. From December, 
1874, until March, '81, he was connected with the 
United States embassy at Paris, serving as First 
Secretary of Legation and Charge d' Affaires ad 



interim. He was Assistant Secretary of State in 
1881, but resigned the post in 1882, having been 
elected to Congress from the Sixth Illinois Dis- 
trict to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death 
of R. M. A. Hawk. By eight successive re-elec- 
tions he has represented the District continuously 
since, his career being conspicuous for long serv- 
ice. In that time he has taken an important 
part in the deliberations of the House, serving as 
Chairman of many important committees, not- 
ably that on Foreign Affairs, of which he has 
been Chairman for several terms, and for which 
his diplomatic experience well qualifies him. In 
1898 he was appointed by President IMcKinley a 
member of the Committee to visit Hawaii and 
report upon a form of government for that por- 
tion of the newly acquired national domain. Mr. 
Hitt was strongly supported as a candidate for 
the United States Senate in 1895, and favorably 
considered for the position of Minister to Eng- 
land after the retirement of Secretary Day in 
1898. 

HOBART, Horace R., was born in Wisconsin 
in 1839 ; graduated at Beloit College and, after a 
brief experience in newspaper work, enlisted, in 
1861, in the First Wisconsin Cavalry and was 
assigned to duty as Battalion Quartermaster. 
Being wounded at Helena, Ark., he was com- 
pelled to resign, but afterwards served as Deputy 
Provost Marshal of the Second Wisconsin Dis- 
trict. In 1866 lie re-entered newspaper work as 
reporter on "The Chicago Tribune," and later 
was associated, as city editor, with "The Chicago 
Evening Post" and "Evening Mail"; later was 
editor of "The Jacksonville Daily Journal" and 
"The Chicago Morning Courier," also being, for 
some years from 18G9, Western Manager of the 
American Press Association. In 1876, Mr. Hobart 
became one of the editors of "The Railway Age" 
(Chicago), with which he remained until the 
close of the year 1898, when he retired to give his 
attention to real-estate matters. 

HOFFMAN, Francis A., Lieutenant-Governor 
(1861-65), was born at Herford, Prussia, in 1823, 
and emigrated to America in 1839, reaching Chica- 
go the same year. There he became a boot-black in 
a leading hotel, but within a month was teaching 
a small German school at Dunkley's Grove (now 
Addison), Du Page County, and later officiating 
as a Lutheran minister. In 1847 he represented 
that county in the River and Harbor Convention 
at Chicago. In 1853 he removed to Chicago, and, 
the following year, entered the City Council. 
Later, he embarked in the real-estate business, 
and, in 1854, opened a banking house, but was 



236 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



forced to assign in 1861. He early became a 
recognized anti-slavery leader and a contributor 
to the German press, and, in 18.^6, was nominated 
for Ldeutenant-Governor on the first Republican 
State ticket with William H. Bissell, but was 
found ineligible by reason of his short residence 
in the United States, and withdrew, giving place 
to John Wood of Quincy. In 1860 he was again 
nominated, and having in the meantime become 
eligible, was elected. In 1864 he was a Repub- 
lican candidate for Presidential Elector, and 
assisted in Mr. Lincoln's second election. He 
was at one time Foreign Land Commissioner for 
the Illinois Central Railroad, and acted as Consul 
at Chicago for several German States. For a 
number of years past Mr. Hoffman has been 
editor of an agricultural paper in Southern 
Wisconsin. 

HOGAN, John, clergyman and early politician, 
was born in the city of Mallow, County of Cork, 
Ireland, Jan. 2, 1803; brought in childhood to 
Baltimore, Md., and having been left an orphan at 
eight years of age, learned the trade of a slioe- 
maker. In 1826 he became an itinerant Metho- 
dist preaclier, and, coming west the same year, 
preaclied at various points in Indiana, Illinois 
and Missouri. In 1830 he was married to Miss 
Mary Mitchell West, of Belleville, 111., and soon 
after, having retired from the itinerancy, engaged 
in mercantile business at Edwardsville and Alton. 
In 1836 he was elected Representative in the 
Tenth General Assembly from Madison County, 
two years later was appointed a Commissioner of 
Public W^orks and, being re-elected in 1840, was 
made President of the Board; in 1841 was ap- 
pointed by President Harrison Register of the 
Land Office at Dixon, where he remained until 
1845. During the anti-slavery excitement which 
attended the assassination of Elijah P. Lovejoy 
in 1837, he was a resident of Alton and was re- 
garded by the friends of Lovejoy as favoring the 
pro-slavery faction. After retiring from the 
Land Office at Dixon, he removed to St. Louis, 
where he engaged in the wholesale grocery busi- 
ness. In his early political life he was a Whig, 
but later co-operated with the Democratic party ; 
in 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan 
Postmaster of the city of St. Louis, serving until 
the accession of Lincoln in 1861 ; in 1864 was 
elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress, serving two years. He was also a delegate 
to the National Union (Democratic) Convention 
at Philadelphia in 1866. After his retirement 
from the Methodist itinerancy he continued to 
officiate as a "local" preacher and was esteemed 



a speaker of unusual eloquence and ability. His 
death occurred, Feb. 5, 1892. He is author of sev- 
eral volumes, including "The Resources of Mis- 
souri," "Commerce and Manufactures of St. 
Louis," and a "History of Methodism." 

HOtJE, Joseph P., Congressman, was born in 
Ohio early in the century and came to Galena, 
111., in 1836, where he attained prominence as a 
lawyer. In 1842 he was elected Representative 
in Congress, as claimed at the time by the aid of 
the Mormon vote at Nauvoo, serving one term. 
In 1853 he went to San Francisco, Cal., and be- 
came a Judge in that State, dying a few years 
since at the age of over 80 years. He is repre- 
sented to have been a man of much ability and a 
graceful and eloquent orator. Mr. Hoge was a 
son-in-law of Thomas C. Browne, one of the Jus- 
tices of the first Supreme Court of Illinois who 
held office until 1848. 

HOLLISTER, (Dr.) John Hamilton, physi- 
cian, was born at Riga, N. Y., in 1824; was 
brought to Romeo, Mich., by his parents in in- 
fancy, but his father having died, at the age of 17 
went to Rochester, N. Y., to be educated, finally 
graduating in medicine at Berkshire College, 
Mass., in 1847, and beginning practice at Otisco, 
Mich. Two years later he removed to Grand 
Rapids and, in 1855, to Chicago, where he held, 
for a time, the position of demonstrator of anat- 
omy in Rush Medical College, and, in 1856, be- 
came one of the founders of the Chicago Medical 
College, in which he has held various chairs. He 
also served as Surgeon of Mercy Hospital and 
was, for twenty years, Clinical Professor in the 
same institution; was President of the State 
Medical Society, and, for twenty years, its Treas- 
lu'er. Other positions held by him have been 
those of Trustee of the American Medical Associ- 
ation and editor of its journal. President of the 
Young Men's Christian Association and of the 
Chicago Congregational Club. He has also been 
prominent in Sunday School and church work in 
connection with the Armour Mission, with which 
he has been associated for many years. 

HOME FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS, (FE- 
MALE). The establishment of this institution 
was authorized by act of June 22, 1893, which 
appropriated §75,000 towards its erection an^ 
maintenance, not more than $15,000 to be ex- 
pended for a site. (See also State Guardians for 
Girls.) It is designed to receive girls between the 
ages of 10 and 16 committed thereto by any court 
of record upon conviction of a misdemeanor, the 
term of commitment not to be less than one 
year, or to exceed minority. Justices of the 




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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



337 



Peace, however, may send girls for a term not 
less than three months. The act of incorporation 
provides for a commutation of sentence to be 
earned by good conduct and a prolongation of 
the sentence by bad behavior. The Trustees are 
empowered, in their discretion, either to appren- 
tice the girls or to adopt them out during tlieir 
minority. Temporary quarters were furnished 
for the Home during the first two years of its 
existence in Chicago, but permanent buildings 
for the institution have been erected on the 
banks of Fox River, near Geneva, in Kane County. 

HOMER, a village in Champaign County, on 
the Wabash Railway, 20 miles west-southwest 
from Danville and about 18 miles east-.southeast 
from Champaign. It supports a carriage factory; 
also has two banks, several churches, a seminary, 
an opera house, and one weekly paper. The 
region is chiefly agricultural. Population (1880), 
934; (1890), 917; (1900), 1,080. 

HOMESTEAD LAWS. In general such laws 
have been defined to be "legislation enacted to 
secure, to some extent, the enjoyment of a home 
and shelter for a family or individual by exempt- 
ing, under certain conditions, the residence occu- 
pied by the family or individual, from liability to 
be sold for the payment of the debts of its owner, 
and by restricting his rights of free alienation." 
In Illinois, this exemption extends to the farm 
and dwelling thereon of every householder hav- 
ing a family, and occupied as a residence, 
whether owned or possessed under a lease, to the 
value of §1,000. The exemption continues after 
death, for the benefit of decedent's wife or hus- 
band occupying the homestead, and also of the 
children, if any, until the youngest attain the 
age of 31 years. Husband and wife must join in 
releasing the exemption, but the property is 
always liable for improvements thereon. — In 1863 
Congress passed an act known as the "Homestead 
Law" for the protection of the rights of settlers 
on public lands under certain restrictions as to 
active occupancy, under which most of that 
class of lands since taken for settlement have 
been purchased. 

HOMEWOOD, a village of Cook County, on the 
Illinois Central Railway, 33 miles south of Chi- 
cago. Population, (1900), 3.52. 

HOOLEY, Richard M., theatrical manager, 
was born in Ireland, April 13, 1833; at the age of 
18 entered the theater as a musician and, four 
years later, came to America, soon after forming 
an association with E. P. Christy, the originator 
of negro minstrelsy entertainments which went 
under his name. In 1848 Mr. Hooley conducted 



a company of minstrels through the principal 
towns of England, Scotland and Ireland, and to 
some of the chief cities on the continent; re- 
turned to America five years later, and subse- 
quently managed houses in San Francisco, 
Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New York, finally 
locating in Chicago in 1869, where he remained 
the rest of his life, — his theater becoming one of 
the most widely known and popular in the city. 
Died, Sept. 8, 1893. 

HOOPESTON, a prosperous city in Vermilion 
Coimty, at the intersection of the Chicago & East- 
ern Illinois and the Lake Erie & Western Rail- 
roads, 99 miles south of Chicago. It has grain 
elevators, a nail factory, brick and tile works, 
carriage and machine shops, and two large can- 
ning factories, besides two banks and one daily 
and three weekly newspapers, several churches, 
a high school and a business college. Population 
(1890), 1,911; (1900), 3,833; (1904), about 4,500. 

HOPKINS, Albert J., Congressman, was born 
in De Kalb County, III, August 15, 1846. After 
graduating from Hillsdale College, Mich., in 1870, 
he studied law and began practice at Auroi^a. 
He rapidly attained prominence at the bar, and, 
in 1873, was elected State's Attorney for Kane 
County, serving in that capacity for four years. 
He is an ardent Republican and high in the 
party's councils, having been Chairman of the 
State Central Committee from 1878 to 1880, and a 
Presidential Elector on the Blaine & Logan 
ticket in 1884. The same year he was elected to 
the Forty-ninth Congress from the Fifth District 
(now the Eighth) and has been continuously re- 
elected ever since, receiving a clear majority in 
1898 of more than 18,000 votes over two competi- 
tors. At present (1898) he is Chairman of the 
Select House Committee on Census and a member 
of the Committees on Ways and Means, and Mer- 
chant Marine and Fisheries. In 1896 he was 
strongly supported for the Republican nomina- 
tion for Governor. 

HOUGHTON, Horace Hocking, pioneer printer 
and journalist, was born at Springfield, Vt., Oct. 
26, 1806, spent his youth on a farm, and at eight- 
een began learning the printer's trade in the office 
of "The Woodstock Overseer" ; on arriving at his 
majority became a journeyman printer and, in 
1838, went to New York, spending some time in 
the employment of tlie Harper Brothers. After 
a brief season spent in Boston, he took charge of 
"The Statesman" at Castleton, Vt. , but, in 1834, 
again went to New York, taking with him a 
device for throwing the printed sheet off the 
press, which was afterwards adopted on the 



238 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Adams and Hoe printing presses. His next 
move was to Marietta, Ohio, in 183-1, thence by 
way of Cincinnati and Louisville to St. Louis, 
working for a time in the office of the old "St. 
Louis Republican." He soon after went to 
Galena and engaged in lead-mining, but later 
became associated with Sylvester M. Bartlett in 
the management of "The Nortliwestern Gazette 
and Galena Advertiser," finally becoming sole 
proprietor. In 1842 he sold out the paper, but 
resumed his connection with it the following 
year, remaining until 1863, when he finally sold 
out. He afterwards spent some time on the 
Pacific slope, was for a time American Consul to 
the Sandwich Islands, but finally returned to 
Galena and, during the later years of his life, 
was Postmaster there, dying April 30, 1879. 

HOVEY, Charles Edward, educator, soldier 
and lawyer, was born in Orange County, Vt., 
April 26, 1827; graduated at Dartmouth College in 
1852, and became successively Principal of higli 
schools at Farmington, Mass., and Peoria, 111. 
Later, he assisted in organizing the Illinois State 
Normal School at Normal, of which he was 
President from 1857 to 1861 — being also President 
of the State Teachers' Association (1856), mem- 
ber of the State Board of Education, and, for some 
years, editor of "The Illinois Teacher." In Au- 
gust, 1861, he assisted in organizing, and was com- 
missioned Colonel of, the Thirty-third Illinois 
Volxmteers, known as the "Normal" or "School- 
Masters' Regiment," from the fact that it was 
composed largely of teachers and young men 
from the State colleges. In 1862 lie was promoted 
to the rank of Brigadier-General and, a few 
months later, to brevet Major-General for gallant 
and meritorious conduct. Leaving the military 
service in May, 1863, he engaged in the practice 
of law in Washington, D. C. Died, in "Washing- 
ton, Nov. 17, 1897. 

HOWLAKD, George, educator and author, was 
born (of Pilgrim ancestrj) at Conway, Mass., 
July 30, 1824. After graduating from Amherst 
College in 1850, he devoted two years to teaching 
in the public schools, and three years to a tutor- 
ship in his Alma Mater, giving instruction in 
Latin, Greek and French. He began the study 
of law, but, after a year's reading, he abandoned 
it, removing to Chicago, where he became Assist- 
ant Principal of the city's one high school, in 
1858. He became its Principal in 1860, and, in 
1880, was elected Superintendent of Chicago City 
Schools. This position he filled until August, 
1891, when he resigned. He also served as Trus- 
tee of Amherst College for several years, and as a 



member of the Illinois State Board of Education, 
being President of that body in 1883. As an 
author he was of some note; his work being 
chiefly on educational lines. He published a 
translation of the ^neid adapted to the use of 
schools, besides translations of some of Horace's 
Odes and portions of the Iliad and Odyssey. He 
was also the author of an English grammar. 
Died, in Chicago, Oct. 21, 1892. 

HOTXE, Philip A., lawyer and LTnited States 
Commissioner, was born in New York City, Nov. 
20, 1824; came to Chicago in 1841, and, after 
spending eleven years alternately in Galena and 
Cliicago, finally located permanently in Chicago, 
in 1852 ; in 1853 was elected Clerk of the Record- 
er's Court of Chicago, retaining the position five 
years; was admitted to the bar in March, 1856, 
and appointed United States Commissioner the 
same year, remaining in office until his death, 
Nov. 3, 1894. Mr. Hoyne was an officer of the 
Chicago Pioneers and one of the founders of the 
Union League Club. 

HUBBARD, Gurdou Saltonstall, pioneer and 
Indian trader, was born at Windsor, Vt., August 
22, 1802. His early youth was passed in Canada, 
chiefly in tlie employ of the American Fur Com- 
pany. In 1818 he first visited Fort Dearborn, and 
for nine years traveled back and forth in the 
interest of his employers. In 1827, having em- 
barked in business on his own account, he estab- 
lished several trading posts in Illinois, becoming 
a resident of Chicago in 1832. From this time 
forward he became identified with the history 
and development of the State. He served with 
distinction during the Black Hawk and Winne- 
bago Wars, was enterprising and public-spirited, 
and did much to promote the early development 
of Chicago. He was elected to the Legislature 
from Vermilion County in 1832, and, in 1835, 
was appointed by Governor Duncan one of the 
Commissioners of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. 
Died, at Chicago, Sept. 14, 1886. From the time 
he became a citizen of Chicago, for fifty years, 
no man was more active or public-spirited 
in promoting its commercial development and 
general prosperity. He was identified with 
almost every branch of business upon wliicli its 
growth as a commercial city depended, from that 
of an early Indian trader to that of a real-estate 
operator, being manager of one of the largest pack- 
ing houses of his time, as well as promoter of 
early railroad enterprises. A zealous Republican, 
he was one of the most earnest supporters of 
Abraham Lincoln in the campaign of 1860, was 
prominently identified with every local measure 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



339 



for the maintenance of the Union cause, and, for 
a year, held a commission as Captain in the 
Eighty-eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, 
known as the "Second Board of Trade Regiment. ' ' 

HUGHITT, Marvin, Railway President, was 
born, August, 1837, and, in 185G, began his rail- 
road experience on the Chicago & Alton Railway 
as Superintendent of Telegraph and Train-de- 
spatcher. In 1862 he entered the service of the 
Illinois Central Company in a similar capacity, 
still later occupying the positions of Assistant 
Superintendent and General Superintendent, re- 
maining in the latter from 1865 to 1870, when he 
resigned to become Assistant General Manager 
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. In 1873 
he became associated with the Chicago & North- 
western Railroad, in connection with which he 
has held the positions of Superintendent, General 
Manager, Second Vice-President and President — 
the last of which (1899) he still occupies. 

HrLETT, Alta M., lawyer, was bom near 
Eockford, 111., June 4, 1854; early learned teleg- 
raphy and became a successful operator, but sub- 
sequently engaged in teaching and the study of 
law. In 1872, having passed the required exami- 
nation, she applied for admission to the bar, but 
■was rejected on account of sex. She then, in 
conjunction with Mrs. Bradwell and others, 
interested herself in securing the passage of an 
act by the Legislature giving women the right 
that had been denied her, which having been 
accomplished, she went to Chicago, was admitted 
to the bar and began practice. Died, in Cali- 
fornia, March 27, 1877. 

HU>'T, Daniel D., legislator, was bom in 
Wyoming County, N. Y., Sept. 19, 1835, came to 
De Kalb County, 111. , in 1857, and has since been 
engaged in hotel, mercantile and farming busi- 
ness. He was elected as a Republican Represent- 
ative in the Thirty-fifth General Assembly in 
1886, and re elected in 1888. Two years later he 
was elected to the State Senate, re-elected in 
1894, and again in 1898 — giving him a continuous 
service in one or the other branch of the General 
Assembly of sixteen years. During the session 
of 1895, Senator Hunt was especially active in 
the legislation which resulted in the location of 
the Northern Illinois Normal Institute at De 
Kalb. 

HUNT, George, lawyer and ex- Attorney -Gen- 
eral, was born in Knox County, Ohio, in 1841 ; 
having lost both parents in childhood, came, 
with an uncle, to Edgar County, 111., in 1855. In 
July, 1861, at the age of 20, he enlisted in the 
Twelfth Illinois Infantry, re-enlisting as a veteran 



in 1864, and rising from the ranks to a captaincy. 
After the close of the war, he studied law, was 
admitted to the bar, and, locating at Paris, Edgar 
County, soon acquired a large practice. He was 
elected State Senator on the Republican ticket in 
1874, and re-elected in 1878 and '82. In 1884 he 
received his first nomination for Attorney-Gen- 
eral, was renominated in 1888, and elected both 
times, serving eight years. Among the im- 
portant questions with which General Hunt had 
to deal during his two terms were the celebrated 
"anarchist cases" of 1887 and of 1890-92. In the 
former the condemned Chicago anarchists applied 
through their counsel to the Supreme Court of 
the United States, for a writ of error to the Su- 
preme Court of Illinois to compel the latter to 
grant them a new trial, which was refused. The 
case, on the part of the State, was conducted by 
General Hunt, while Gen. B. F. Butler of Massa- 
chusetts, John Randolph Tucker of Virginia, 
Roger A. Pryor of New York, and Messrs. W. P. 
Black and Solomon of Chicago appeared for the 
plaintiffs. Again, in 1890, Fielden and'Schwab, 
who had been condemned to life imprisonment, 
attempted to secure their release — the former by 
an application similar to that of 1887, and the 
latter by appeal from a decision of Judge Gresham 
of the United States Circuit Court refusing a 
writ of habeas corpus. The final hearing of 
these cases was had before the Supreme Court of 
the United States in January, 1892, General 
Butler again appearing as leading counsel for the 
plaintiffs — but with the same result as in 1887. 
General Hunt's management of these cases won 
for him much deserved commendation both at 
home and abroad. 

HUNTER, Andrew J., was born in Greencastle, 
Ind., Dec. 17, 1831, and removed in infancy by 
his parents, to Edgar County, this State. His 
early education was received in the common 
schools and at Edgar Academy. He commenced 
his business life as a civil engineer, but, after 
three years spent in that profession, began the 
study of law and was admitted to the bar. He 
has since been actively engaged in practice at 
Paris, Edgar County. From 1864 to 1868 he repre- 
sented that county in the State Senate, and, in 
1870, led the Democratic forlorn hope in the Fif- 
teenth Congressional District against General 
Jesse H. Moore, and rendered a like service to his 
party in 1882, when Joseph G. Cannon was his 
Republican antagonist. In 1886 he was elected 
Judge of the Edgar County Court, and, in 1890, 
was re-elected, but resigned this ofiice in 1892, 
having been elected Congressman for the State- 



240 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



at-large on the Democratic ticket. He was a can- 
didate for Congress from the Nineteenth District 
again in 1896, and was again elected, receiving a 
majority of 1,200 over Hon. Benson Wood, his 
Republican opponent and immediate predecessor. 
HUNTER, (Gen.) David, soldier, was born in 
Washington, D. C, July 21, 1802; graduated at 
the United States Military Academy in 1822, 
and assigned to the Fifth Infantry with the rank 
of Second Lieutenant, becoming First Lieutenant 
in 1828 and Captain of Dragoons in 1833. During 
this period he twice crossed the plains to the 
Rocky Mountains, but, in 1836, resigned his com- 
miission and engaged in business in Chicago, 
Re-entering the service as Paymaster in 1842, he 
was Chief Paymaster of General Wool's command 
in the Mexican War, and was afterwards stationed 
at New Orleans, Washington, Detroit, St. Louis 
and on the frontier. He was a personal friend of 
President Lincoln, whom he accompanied when 
the latter set out for Washington in February, 
1801, but was disabled at Buffalo, having his 
collar-bone dislocated by the crowd. He was 
appointed Colonel of the Sixth United States 
Cavalry, May 14, 1861, three days later commis- 
sioned Brigadier-General and, in August, made 
Major-General. In the Manassas campaign he 
commanded the main column of McDowell's 
army and was severely wounded at Bull Run; 
served under Fremont in Missouri and succeeded 
him in command in November, 1861, remaining 
until March, 1863. Being transferred to the 
Department of the South in May following, he 
issued an order declaring the persons held as 
slaves in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina 
free, which order was revoked by President Lin- 
coln ten days later. On account of the steps 
taken by him for the organization of colored 
troops, Jefferson Davis issued an order declaring 
him, in case of capture, subject to execution as 
a felon. In May, 1864, he was placed in com- 
mand of the Department of the West, and, in 

1865, served on various courts-martial, being 
President of the commission that tried Mr. Lin- 
coln's assassins ; was brevetted Major-General in 
March, 1865, retired from active service July, 

1866, and died in Washington, Feb. 2, 1886. Gen- 
eral Hunter married a daughter of John Kinzie, 
the first permanent citizen of Chicago. 

HURD, Harvey B., lawyer, was born in Fair- 
field County, Conn., Feb. 24, 1827. At the age of 
15 he walked to Bridgeport, where he began life 
as oflSce-boy in "The Bridgeport Standard," a 
journal of pronounced Whig proclivities. In 
1844 he came to Illinois, entering Jubilee College, 



but, after a brief attendance, came to Chicago in 
1846. There he found temporary employment 
as a compositor, later commencing the study of 
law, and being admitted to the bar in 1848. A 
portion of the present city of Evanston is built 
upon a 248-acre tract owned and subdivided by Mr. 
Hurd and his partner. Always in sympathy 
with the old school and most radical type of 
Abolitionists, he took a deep interest in the Kan- 
sas-Missouri troubles of 1856, and became a mem- 
ber of the "National Kansas Committee" 
appointed by the Buffalo (N. Y. ) Convention, of 
which body he was a member. He was chosen 
Secretary of the executive committee, and it is 
not too much to say that, largely through his 
earnest and poorly requited labors, Kansas was 
finally admitted into the Union as a free State. 
It was mainly through his efforts that seed for 
planting was gratuitously distributed among the 
free-soil settlers. In 1869 he was appointed a 
member of the Commission to revise the statutes 
of Illinois, a large part of the work devolving 
upon him in consequence of the withdrawal of 
his colleagues. The revision was completed in 
1874, in conjunction with a Joint Committee of 
Revision of both Houses appointed by the Legis- 
lature of 1873. While no statutory revision has 
been ordered by subsequent Legislatures, Mr. 
Hurd has carried on the same character of work 
on independent lines, issuing new editions of the 
statutes from time to time, which are regarded as 
standard works by the bar. In 1875 he was 
nominated by the Republican party for a seat on 
the Supreme bench, but was defeated by the late 
Judge T. Lyle Dickey. For several years he 
filled a chair in the faculty of the Union College 
of Law. His home is in Evanston. 

HURLBUT, Stephen A., soldier, Congressman 
and Foreign Minister, was born at Charleston, 
S. C, Nov. 29, 1815, received a thorough liberal 
education, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. 
Soon afterwards he removed to Illinois, making 
his home at Belvidere. He was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1847, in 1848 was an 
unsuccessful candidate for Presidential Elector 
on the Whig ticket, but, on the organization of 
the Republican party in 1856, promptly identified 
himself with that party and was elected to the 
lower branch of the General Assembly as a 
Republican in 1858 and again in 1860. During 
the War of the Rebellion he served with distinc- 
tion from May, 1861, to July, 1865. He entered 
the service as Brigadier-General, commanding 
the Fourth Division of Grant's army at Pittsburg 
Landing ; was made a Major-General in Septem- 




o 

H 

o 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



241 



ber, 1862, and later assigned to the command of 
the Sixteenth Army Corps, at Memphis, and sub- 
sequently to the command of the Department of 
the Gulf (1864-65). After the close of the war he 
served another term in the General Assembly 
(1867), was chosen Presidential Elector for the 
State-at-large in 1868, and, in 1869, was appointed 
by President Grant Minister Resident to the 
United States of Colombia, serving until 1872. 
The latter year he was elected Representative to 
Congress, and re-elected two years later. In 
1876 he was a candidate for re-election as an 
independent Republican, but was defeated by 
William Lathrop, the regular nominee. In 1881 
he was appointed Minister Resident to Peru, and 
died at Lima, March 27, 1882. 

HUTCHINS, Thomas, was born in Monmouth. 
N. J., in 1730, died in Pittsburg, Pa., April 28, 
1789. He was the first Government Surveyor, fre- 
quently called the "Geographer"; was also an 



officer of the Sixtieth Royal (British) regiment, 
and assistant engineer under Bouquet. At the 
outbreak of the Revolution, while stationed at 
Fort Chartres, he resigned his commission be- 
cause of his sympathy with the patriots. Three 
years later he was charged with being in treason- 
able correspondence with Franklin, and im- 
prisoned in the Tower of London. He is said to 
have devised the present system of Government 
surveys in this country, and his services in carry- 
ing it into effect were certainly of great value. 
He was the autlior of several valuable works, the 
best known being a "Topographical Description 
of Virginia." 

HUTSONVILLE, a village of Crawford County, 
on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railway, and the Wabash River, 34 miles 
south of Paris. The district is agricultural. The 
town has a bank and a weekly paper. Population 
(1890), 582; (1900), 743. 



illi:n'ois. 

( GENERAL HISTORY.) 



Illinois is the twenty-first State of the Federal 
Union in the order of its admission, the twentieth 
in present area and the third in point of popula- 
tion. A concise history of the region, of which it 
constituted the central portion at an early period, 
will be found in the following pages: 

The greater part of the territory now comprised 
within the State of Illinois was known and at- 
tracted eager attention from the nations of the 
old world— especially in France, Germany and 
England— before the close of the third quarter of 
the seventeenth century. More than one hun- 
dred years before the struggle for American Inde- 
pendence began, or the geographical division 
known as the "Territory of the Northwest" had 
an existence; before the names of Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Vermont or Ohio had been heard of, 
and while the early settlers of New England and 
Virginia were still struggling for a foothold 
among the Indian tribes on the Atlantic coast, 
the "Illinois Country" occupied a place on the 
maps of North America as distinct and definite 
as New York or Pennsylvania. And from that 
time forward, until it assumed its position in the 
Union with the rank of a State, no other section 
has been the theater of more momentous and 
stirring events or has contributed more material, 
affording interest and instruction to the archseol- 
ogist, the etlmologist and the historian, than 



that portion of the American Continent now 
known as the "State of Illinois." 

The "Illinois CouNTKY."—What was known 
to the early French explorers and their followers 
and descendants, for the ninety years which 
intervened between the discoveries of Joliet and 
La Salle, down to the surrender of this region to 
the English, as the "Illinois Country," is de- 
scribed with great clearness and definiteness by 
Capt. Philip Pittman, an English engineer who 
made the first survey of the Mississippi River 
soon after the transfer of the French possessions 
east of the Mississippi to the British, and who 
published the result of his observations in London 
in 1770. In this report, which is evidently a 
work of the highest authenticity, and is the more 
valuable because written at a transition period 
when it was of the first importance to preserve 
and hand down the facts of early French history 
to the new occupants of the soil, the boundaries 
of the "Illinois Country" are defined as follows: 
"The Country of the Illinois is bounded by the 
Mississippi on the west, by the river Illinois on 
the north, by the Ouabache and Miamis on the 
east and the Ohio on the south." 

From this it would appear that the country lying 
between the Illinois and the Mississippi Rivers to 
the west and northwest of the former, was not 
considered a part of the "Illinois Country," and 



242 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



this agrees generally with the records of the 
early French explorers, except that they regarded 
the region which comprehends the site of the 
present city of Chicago — the importance of which 
appears to have been appreciated from the first 
as a connecting link between the Lakes and the 
upper tributaries of the rivers falling into the 
Gulf of Mexico — as belonging thereto 

Okigin of the Name. — The "Country" appears 
to have derived its name from Inini, a word of 
Algonquin origin, signifying "the men," eu- 
phemized by the French into lUini with the 
suffix ois, signifying "tribe." The root of the 
term, applied both to the country and the Indians 
occupying it, has been still further defined as "a 
perfect man" (Haines on "Indian Names"), and 
the derivative has been used by the French 
chroniclers in various forms though always with 
the same signification— a signification of which 
the earliest claimants of the appellation, as well 
as their successors of a different race, have not 
failed to be duly proud. 

Boundaries and Area.— It is this region 
which gave the name to the State of which it 
constituted so large and important a part. Its 
boundaries, so far as the Wabash and the Ohio 
Elvers (as well as the Mississippi from the mouth 
of the Ohio to the mouth of the Illinois) are con- 
cerned, are identical with those given to the 
"Illinois Country" by Pittman. The State is 
bounded on the north by Wisconsin ; on the east 
by Lake Michigan, the State of Indiana and the 
Wabash River; southeast by the Ohio, flowing 
between it and the State of Kentucky ; and west 
and southwest by the Mississippi, which sepa- 
rates it from the States of Iowa and Missouri. A 
peculiarity of the Act of Congress defining the 
boundaries of the State, is the fact that, while 
the jurisdiction of IlUnois extends to the middle 
of Lake Michigan and also of the channels of the 
Wabash and the Mississippi, it stops at the north 
bank of the Ohio River ; this seems to have been 
a sort of concession on the part of the framers of 
the Act to our proud neighbors of the "Dark and 
Bloody Ground." Geographically, the State lies 
between the parallels of 36° 59' and 43' 30' north 
latitude, and the meridian of 10° 30' and 14° of 
longitude west from the city of Washington. 
From its extreme southern limit at the mouth of 
the Ohio to the Wisconsin boundary on the north, 
its estimated length is 385 miles, with an extreme 
breadth, from the Indiana State line to the Mis- 
sissippi River at a point between Quincy and 
Warsaw, of 218 miles. Owing to the tortuous 
course of its river and lake boundaries, which 



comprise about three-fourtlis of the whole, its 
physical outline is extremely irregular. Between 
the limits described, it has an estimated area of 
56,650 square miles, of which 650 square miles is 
water — the latter being chiefly in Lake Michigan. 
This area is more than one and one-half times 
that of all New England (Maine being excepted), 
and is greater than that of any other State east 
of the Mississippi, except Michigan, Georgia and 
Florida — Wisconsin lacking only a few hundred 
square miles of the same. 

When these figures are taken into account 
some idea may be formed of the magnificence of 
the domain comprised within the limits of the 
State of Illinois — a domain larger in extent than 
that of England, more than one-fourth of that of 
all France and nearly half that of the British 
Islands, including Scotland and Ireland. The 
possibilities of such a country, possessing a soil 
unequaled in fertility, in proportion to its area, 
by any other State of the Union and with re- 
sources in agriculture, manufactures and com- 
merce unsurpassed in any country on the face of 
the globe, transcend all human conception. 

Streams and Navigation. — Lying between 
the Mississippi and its chief eastern tributary, the 
Ohio, with the Wabash on the east, and inter- 
sected from northeast to southwest by the Illinois 
and its numerous afiiuents, and with no moun- 
tainous region within its limits, Illinois is at once 
one of the best watered, as well as one of the most 
level States in the Union. Besides the Sanga- 
mon, Kankakee, Fox and Des Plaines Rivers, 
chief tributaries of the Illinois, and the Kaskaskia 
draining the region between the Illinois and the 
Wabash, Rock River, in the northwestern portion 
of the State, is most important on account of its 
valuable water-power. All of these streams were 
regarded as navigable for some sort of craft, dur- 
ing at least a portion of the year, in the early 
history of the country, and with the magnificent 
Mississippi along the whole western border, gave 
to Illinois a larger extent of navigable waters 
than that of any other single State. Although 
practical navigation, apart from the lake and by 
natural water courses, is now limited to the Mis- 
sissippi. Illinois and Ohio — making an aggregate 
of about 1,000 miles — the importance of the 
smaller streams, when the people were dependent 
almost wholly upon some means of water com- 
munication for the transportation of lieavy com- 
modities as well as for travel, could not be 
over-estimated, and it is not without its effect 
upon the productiveness of the soil, now that 
water transportation has given place to railroads. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



243 



The whole number of streams shown upon the 
best maps exceeds 280. 

Topography. — In physical conformation the 
surface of the State presents the aspect of an 
inclined plane with a moderate descent in the 
general direction of the streams toward the soutli 
and southwest. Cairo, at the extreme southern 
end of the State and the point of lowest depres- 
sion, has an elevation above sea-level of about 
300 feet, while the altitude of Lake Michigan at 
Chicago is 583 feet. The greatest elevation is 
reached near Scale's Mound in the northwestern 
part of the State — 1,257 feet— while a spur from 
tlie Ozark Mountains of Mis.souri, projected across 
the southern part of the State, rises in Jackson 
and Union Counties to a height of over 900 feet. 
The eastern end of this spur, in the northeast 
corner of Pope Coxinty, reaches an elevation of 
1,046 feet. South of this ridge, the surface of 
the country between the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers was originally covered with dense forests. 
These included some of the most valuable species 
of timber for lumber manufacture, such as the 
different varieties of oak, walnut, poplar, ash, 
sugar-maple and cypress, besides elm, linden, 
hickory, honey-locust, pecan, hack-berry, cotton- 
wood, sycamore, sassafras, black-gum and beech. 
The native fruits included the persimmon, wild 
plum, grape and paw- paw, with various kinds of 
berries, such as blackberries, raspberries, straw- 
berries (in tiie prairie districts) and some others. 
Most of the native growths of woods common to 
the south were found along the streams farther 
north, except the cypress beech, pecan and a few 
others. 

Prairies. — A peculiar feature of the country, 
in the middle and northern portion of the State, 
which excited the amazement of early explorers, 
was the vast extent of the prairies or natural 
meadows. The origin of these has been attrib- 
uted to various causes, such as some peculiarity of 
the soil, absence or excess of moisture, recent 
upheaval of the surface from lakes or some other 
bodies of water, the action of fires, etc. In many 
sections there appears little to distinguish the 
soil of the prairies from that of the adjacent 
woodlands, that may not be accounted for by the 
character of their vegetation and other causes, 
for the luxuriant growth of native grasses and 
other productions has demonstrated that they do 
not lack in fertility, and the readiness with 
which trees take root when artificially propa- 
gated and protected, has shown that there is 
nothing in the soil itself unfavorable to their 
growth. Whatever may have been the original 



cause of the prairies, however, there is no doubt 
that annually recurring fires have had much to 
do in perpetuating their existence, and even 
extending their limits, as the absence of the same 
agent has tended to favor the encroachments of 
the forests. While originally regarded as an 
obstacle to the occupation of the country by a 
dense population, there is no doubt tliat their 
existence has contributed to its rapid develop- 
ment when it was discovered with what ease 
these apparent wastes could be subdued, and how 
productive they were capable of becoming when 
once brought under cultivation. 

In spite of the uniformity in altitude of the 
State as a wliole, many sections present a variety 
of surface and a mingling of plain and woodland 
of the most pleasing character. This is espe- 
cially the case in some of the prairie districts 
where the undulating landscape covered with 
rich herbage and brilliant flowers must have 
presented to the first explorers a scene of ravish- 
ing beauty, which has been enhanced rather than 
diminislied in recent times by the hand of culti- 
vation. Along some of the streams also, espe- 
cially on the upper Mississippi and Illinois, and 
at some points on the Ohio, is found scenery of 
a most picturesque variety. 

Animals, etc.— From this description of the 
country it will be easy to infer what must have 
been the varieties of the animal kingdom which 
here found a home. These included the buffalo, 
various kinds of deer, the bear, panther, fo.x, 
wolf, and wild-oat, while swans, geese and ducks 
covered the lakes and streams. It was a veritable 
paradise for game, both large and small, as well 
as for their native hunters. "One can scarcely 
travel," wrote one of the earliest priestly explor- 
ers, "without finding a prodigious multitude of 
turkeys, that keep together in flocks often to the 
number of ten hundred." Beaver, otter, and 
mink were found along the streams. Most of 
these, especially the larger species of game, have 
disappeared before the tide of civihzation, but the 
smaller, such as quail, prairie chicken, duck and 
the different varieties of fish in the streams, pro- 
tected by law during certain seasons of the year, 
continue to exist in considerable numbera. 

Soil and Climate— The capabilities of the 
soil in a region thus situated can be readily under- 
stood. In proportion to the extent of its surface, 
Illinois has a larger area of cultivable land than 
any other State in the Union, with a soil of supe- 
rior quality, much of it unsurpassed in natural 
fertility. This is especially true of the " American 
Bottom," a region extending a distance of ninety 



244 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



miles along the east bank of the Mississippi, from 
a few miles below Alton nearly to Chester, and 
of an average width of five to eight miles. This 
was the seat of tlie first permanent white settle- 
ment in the Mississippi Valley, and portions of it 
have been under cultivation from one hundred to 
one hundred and fifty years without exhaustion. 
Other smaller areas of scarcely less fertility are 
found both upon the bottom-lands and in the 
prairies in the central portions of the State. 

Extending through five and one-half degrees of 
latitude, Illinois has a great variety of climate. 
Though subject at times to sudden alternations 
of temperature, these occasions have been rare 
since the country has been thoroughly settled. 
Its mean average for a series of years has been 48° 
in the northern part of the State and 56° in the 
southern, differing little from other States upon 
the same latitude. The mean winter temper- 
ature has ranged from 25° in the north to 34° in 
the south, and the summer mean from 67° in the 
north to 78° in the south. The extreme winter 
temperature has seldom fallen below 20° below 
zero in the northern portion, wliile the highest 
summer temperature ranges from 95° to 102°. 
The average difference in temperature between 
the northern and southern portions of the State 
is about 10°, and the difference in the progress of 
the seasons for the same sections, from four to six 
weeks. Such a wide variety of climate is favor- 
able to the production of nearly all the grains 
and fruits peculiar to the temperate zone. 

Contest for Occupation. — Three powers 
early became contestants for the supremacy on 
the North American Continent. The first of 
these was Spain, claiming possession on the 
ground of the discovery by Columbus ; England, 
basing her claim upon the discoveries of the 
Cabots, and France, maintaining her right to a 
considerable part of the continent by virtue of 
the discovery and exploration by Jacques Cartier 
of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, in 1534-35, 
and the settlement of Quebec by Champlain 
seventy-four years later. The claim of Spain 
was general, extending to both North and South 
America; and, while she early established her 
colonies in Mexico, the West Indies and Peru, 
the country was too vast and her agents too busy 
seeking for gold to interfere materially with her 
competitors. The Dutch, Swedes and Germans 
established small, though flourishing colonies, but 
they were not colonizers nor were they numeric- 
ally as strong as their neighbors, and their settle- 
ments were ultimately absorbed by the latter. 
Both the Spaniards and the French were zealous 



in proselyting the aborigines, but while the 
former did not hesitate to torture their victims 
in order to extort their gold while claiming to 
save their souls, the latter were more gentle and 
beneficent in their policy, and, by their kindness, 
succeeded in winning and retaining the friend- 
ship of tlie Indians in a remarkable degree. They 
were traders as well as missionaries, and this fact 
and the readiness with which they adapted them- 
selves to the habits of those whom they found in 
possession of the soil, enabled them to make the 
most extensive explorations in small numbers 
and at little cost, and even to remain for un- 
limited periods among their aboriginal friends. 
On the other hand, the English were artisans and 
tillers of the soil with a due proportion engaged 
in commerce or upon the sea; and, while they 
were later in planting their colonies in Virginia 
and New England, and less aggressive in the 
work of exploration, they maintained a surer 
foothold on the soil when they had once estab- 
lished themselves. To this fact is due the per- 
manence and steady growth of the English 
colonies in the New World, and the virtual domi- 
nance of the Anglo-Saxon race over more than 
five-sevenths of the North American Continent — 
a result which has been illustrated in the history 
of every people that has made agriculture, manu- 
factures and legitimate commerce the basis of 
their prosperity. 

E.iRLY Explorations. — The Freiich explorers 
were the first Europeans to visit the "Country of 
the Illinois," and, for nearly a century, they and 
their successors and descendants held undisputed 
possession of the country, as well as the greater 
part of the Mississippi Valley. It is true that 
Spain put in a feeble and indefinite claim to this 
whole region, but she was kept too busy else- 
where to make her claim good, and, in 17G3, she 
relinquished it entirely as to the Mississippi 
Valley and west to the Pacific Ocean, in order to 
strengthen herself elsewhere. 

There is a peculiar coincidence in the fact that, 
while the English colonists who settled about 
Massachusetts Bay named that region "New 
England," tlie French gave to their possessions, 
from the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, the name of "New France," and the 
Spaniards called all the region claimed by them, 
extending from Panama to Puget Sound, "New 
Spain. " The boundaries of each were very indefi- 
nite and often conflicting, but were settled by the 
treaty of 1703. 

As early as 1634, Jean Nicolet, coming by way 
of Canada, discovered Lake Michigan — then 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



245 



called by the French, "Lac des Illinois" — entered 
Green Bay and visited some of the tribes of 
Indians in that region. In 1641 zealous mission- 
aries had reached the Falls of St. Mary (called by 
the French "Sault Ste. Marie"), and, in 1658, two 
French fur-traders are alleged to liave penetrated 
as far west as "La Pointe" on Lake Superior, 
where they opened up a trade with tlie Sioux 
Indians and wintered in the neighborhood of the 
Apostle Islands near where the towns of Ashland 
and Bayfield, Wis., now stand. A few years later 
(1665), Fathers Allouez and Dablon, French mis- 
sionaries, visited the Cliippewas on the southern 
shore of Lake Superior, and missions were estab- 
lished at Green Bay, Ste. JIarie and La Pointe. 
About the same time the mission of St. Ignace 
was established on the north shore of the Straits 
of Mackinaw (spelled by the French "Michilli- 
macinac"). It is also claimed that the French 
traveler, Radisson, during the year of 1658-59, 
reached the upper Mississippi, antedating the 
claims of Joliet and Marquette as its discoverers 
by fourteen years. Nicholas Perrot, an intelli- 
gent chronicler who left a manuscript account of 
his travels, is said to have made extensive explor- 
ations about the head of the great lakes as far 
south as the Fox River of Wisconsin, between 
1670 and 1690, and to have held an important 
conference with representatives of numerous 
tribes of Indians at Sault Ste. Marie in June, 
1671. Perrot is also said to have made the first 
discovery of lead mines in the West. 

Up to this time, however, no white man appears 
to have reached the "Illinois Country," though 
much had been heard of its beauty and its wealth 
in game. On May 17, 1673, Louis Joliet, an enter- 
prising explorer who had already visited the Lake 
Superior region in search of copper mines, under 
a commission from the Governor of Canada, in 
company with Father Jacques Marquette and 
five voyageurs, with a meager stock of provisions 
and a few trinkets for trading with the natives, 
set out in two birch-bark canoes from St. Ignace 
on a tour of exploration southward. Coasting 
along the west shore of Lake Michigan and Green 
Bay and through Lake Winnebago, they reached 
the country of the Mascoutins on Fox River, 
ascended that stream to the portage to the Wis- 
consin, then descended the latter to tlie Mis- 
sissippi, which they discovered on June 17. 
Descending the Mississippi, which they named 
"Rio de la Conception." they passed the mouth of 
the Des Moines, where they are supposed to have 
encountered the first Indians of the Illinois 
tribes, by whom they were hospitably enter- 



tained. Later they discovered a rude painting 
upon the rocks on the east side of the river, 
which, from the description, is supposed to have 
been the famous "Piasa Bird," which was still to 
be seen, a short distance above Alton, within the 
present generation. (See Piasa Bird, The 
Legend of.) Passing the mouth of the Missouri 
River and the present site of the city of St. 
Louis, and continuing past the mouth of the 
Ohio, they finally reached what Marquette called 
the village of the Akanseas, which has been 
assumed to be identical with the mouth of the 
Arkansas, though it has been questioned whether 
they proceeded so far south. Convinced that the 
Mississippi "had its mouth in Florida or the Gulf 
of Mexico, " and fearing capture by the Spaniards, 
they started on their return. Reaching the 
mouth of the Illinois, they entered that stream 
and ascended past the village of the Peorias and 
the "Illinois town of the Kaskaskias" — the 
latter being about where the town of Utica, La 
Salle County, now stands — at each of which they 
made a brief stay. Escorted by guides from the 
Kaskaskias, they crossed the portage to Lake 
Michigan wliere Chicago now stands, and re- 
turned to Green Bay, which they reached in the 
latter part of September. (See Joliet and Mar- 
quette. ) 

The next and most important expedition to Illi- 
nois — important because it led to the first per- 
manent settlements — was undertaken by Robert 
Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1679. This eager 
and intelligent, but finally unfortunate, discov- 
erer had spent several years in exploration in 
the lake region and among the streams south of 
the lakes and west of the Alleghenies. It has 
been claimed that, during this tour, he descended 
the Ohio to its junction with the Mississippi; 
also tliat he reached the Illinois by way of the 
head of Lake Michigan and the Chicago portage, 
and even descended the Mississippi to the 36th 
parallel, antedating Marquette's first visit to 
that stream by two years. The chief authority 
for this claim is La Salle's biographer, Pierre 
Margry, who bases his statement on alleged con- 
versations with La Salle and letters of his friends. 
The absence of any allusion to these discoveries 
in La Salle's own papers, of a later date, addressed 
to the King, is regarded as fatal to this claim. 
However this may have been, there is conclusive 
evidence that, during this period, he met with 
Joliet while tlie latter was returning )Tom one of 
liis trips to the Lake Superior country. With an 
imagination fired by what he then leavned, he 
made a visit to his native country, receiving a 



246 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



liberal g^rant from the French Government which 
enabled him to carry out his plans. With the 
aid of Henry de Tonty, an Italian who afterward 
accompanied him in his most important expedi- 
tions, and who proved a most valuable and efB- 
cient co-laborer, under the auspices of Frontenac, 
then Governor of Canada, he constructed a small 
vessel at the foot of Lake Erie, in which, with a 
company of thirty-four persons, he set sail on 
the seventh of August, 1679, for the West. This 
vessel (named the "Griffon") is believed to have 
been the first sailing-vessel that ever navigated 
the lakes. His object was to reach the Illinois, 
and he carried with him material for a boat 
which he intended to put together on that 
stream. Arriving in Green Bay early in Septem- 
ber, by way of Lake Huron and the straits of 
Mackinaw, he disembarked his stores, and, load- 
ing the Griffon with furs, started it on its return 
with instructions, after discharging its cargo at 
the starting point, to join him at the head of 
Lake Michigan. With a force of seventeen men 
and three missionaries in four canoes, he started 
southward, following the western shore of Lake 
Michigan past the mouth of the Chicago River, 
on Nov. 1, 1679, and reached the mouth of 
the St. Joseph River, at the southeast corner of 
the lake, which had been selected as a rendez- 
vous. Here he was joined by Tonty, three weeks 
later, with a force of twenty Frenchmen who 
had come by the eastern shore, but the Griffon 
never was heard from again, and is supposed to 
have been lost on the return voyage. While 
waiting for Tonty he erected a fort, afterward 
called Fort Miami. The two parties here united, 
and, leaving four men in charge of the fort, with 
the remaining thirty-three, he resumed his 
journey on the third of December. Ascending 
the St. Joseph to about where South Bend, Ind., 
now stands, he made a portage with his canoes 
and stores across to the headwaters of the Kan- 
kakee, which he descended to the Illinois. On 
the first of January he arrived at the great Indian 
town of the Kaskaskias, which Marquette had 
left for the last time nearly five years before, but 
found it deserted, the Indians being absent on a 
hunting expedition. Proceeding down the Illi- 
nois, on Jan. 4, 1680, he passed through Peoria 
Lake and the next morning reached the Indian 
village of that name at the foot of the lake, and 
established friendly relations with its people. 
Having determined to set up his vessel here, he 
constructed a rude fort on the eastern bank of 
the river about four miles south of the village. 
With the exception of the cabin built for Mar- 



quette on the South Branch of the Chicago River 
in the winter of 1674-75, this was probably the 
first structure erected by white men in Illinois. 
This received the name "Creve-Coeur — "Broken 
Heart" — which, from its subsequent history, 
proved exceedingly appropriate. Having dis- 
patched Father Louis Hennepin with two com- 
panions to the Upper Mississippi, by way of the 
mouth of the Illinois, on an expedition which 
resulted in the discovery of the Falls of St. 
Anthony, La Salle started on his return to 
Canada for additional assistance and the stores 
which he had failed to receive in consequence of 
the loss of the Griffon. Soon after his depar- 
ture, a majority of the men left with Tonty at 
Fort Creve-Coeur mutinied, and, having plundered 
the fort, partially destroyed it. This compelled 
Tonty and five companions who had remained 
true, to retreat to the Indian village of the Illi- 
nois near "Starved Rock," between where the 
cities of Ottawa and La Salle now stand, where 
he spent the summer awaiting the return of La 
Salle. In September, Tonty's Indian allies hav- 
ing been attacked and defeated by the Iroquois, 
he and his companions were again compelled to 
flee, reaching Green Bay the next spring, after 
having spent the winter among the Pottawato- 
mies in the present State of Wisconsin. 

During the next three years (1681-83) La Salle 
made two other visits to Illinois, encountering 
and partially overcoming formidable obstacles at 
each end of the journey. At the last visit, in 
company with the faithful Tonty, whom he had 
met at Mackinaw in the spring of 1681, after a 
separation of more than a year, he extended his 
exploration to the mouth of the Mississippi, of 
which he took formal possession on April 9, 1682, 
in the name of "Louis the Grand, King of France 
and Navarre." This was the first expedition of 
white men to pass down the river and determine 
the problem of its discharge into the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

Returning to Mackinaw, and again to Illinois, 
in the fall of 1682, Tonty set about carrying into 
effect La Salle's scheme of fortifying "The Rock, " 
to which reference has been made under the 
name of "Starved Rock." The buildings are said 
to have included store-houses (it was intended as 
a trading post), dwellings and a block-house 
erected on the summit of the rock, and to which 
the name of "Fort St. Louis" was given, while a 
village of confederated Indian tribes gathered 
about its base on the south which bore the name 
of La Vantum. According to the historian, 
Parkman, the population of this colony, in the 





LA SALLE. 



IIKXltY PE TOXTY. 




FORT I)EAIUH)r{\ FKO.M THE WEST. ISOS. 





WAR EAGLE. 



CHIEF CHICAGOU. 





FORT DEAItP.ORX 21), I.\ ]Sr,:5. FltOJI 'JIIE SOUTHWEST. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



247 



days of its greatest prosperity, was not less than 
20,000. Tonty retained his headquarters at Fort 
St. Louis for eighteen years, during which he 
made extensive excursions throughout the West. 
The proprietorship of the fort was granted to 
him in 1690, but, in 1703, it was ordered by the 
Governor of Canada to be discontinued on the 
plea that the charter had been violated. It con- 
tinued to be used as a trading post, however, as 
late as 1718, wlien it was raided by the Indians 
and burned. (See La Salle; Tonty; Hennepin, 
and Starved Rock. ) 

Other explorers who were the contemporaries 
or early successors of Marquette, Joliet, La Salle, 
Tonty, Hennepin and their companions in the 
Northwest, and many of whom are known to have 
visited the "Illinois Country," and probably all 
of whom did so, were Daniel Greysolon du Lhut 
(called by La Salle, du Luth), a cousin of Tontj', 
who was the first to reach the Mississippi directly 
from Lake Superior, and from whom the city of 
Duluth has been named ; Henry Joutel, a towns- 
man of La Salle, who was one of the survivors of 
the ill-fated Matagorda Bay colony; Pierre Le 
Sueur, the discoverer of the Minnesota River, 
and Baron la Hontan, who made a tour through 
Illinois in 1688-89, of which he published an 
account in 1703. 

Chicago River early became a prominent point 
in the estimation of the French explorers and 
was a favorite line of travel in reaching the Illi- 
nois by way of the Des Plaines, though probably 
sometimes confounded with other streams about 
the head of the lake. The Calumet and Grand 
Calumet, allowing easy portage to the Des Plaines, 
were also used, while the St. Joseph, from which 
portage was had into the Kankakee, seems to 
have been a part of the route first used by La 
Salle. 

Aborigines and Early Missions.— When the 
early French explorers arrived in the "Illinois 
Country" they found it occupied by a number of 
tribes of Indians, the most numerous being the 
"Illinois," which consisted of several families or 
bands that spread themselves over the country on 
both sides of the Illinois River, extending even 
west of the Mississippi ; the Piankeshaws on the 
east, extending beyond the present western 
boundary of Indiana, and the Miamis in the 
northeast, with whom a weaker tribe called the 
Weas were allied. The Illinois confederation 
included the Kaskaskias, Peorias, Cahokias, 
Tamaroas and Mitchigamies — the last being the 
tribe from which Lake Slichigan took its name. 
(See Illinois Indians. ) There seems to have been 



a general drift of some of the stronger tribes 
toward the south and east about this time, as 
Allouez represents that he found the Miamis and 
their neighbors, the Mascoutins, about Green Bay 
when he arrived there in 1670. At the same 
time, there is evidence that the Pottawatomies 
were located along the southern shore of Lake 
Superior and about the Sault Ste. Marie (now 
known as "The Soo"), though within the next 
fifty years they had advanced southward along 
the western shore of Lake Slichigan until they 
reached where Chicago now stands. Other tribes 
from the north were the Kickapoos, Sacs and 
Foxes, and Winnebagoes, while the Shawnees 
were a branch of a stronger tribe from the south- 
east Charlevoix, who wrote an account of his 
visit to the "Illinois Country" in 1721, says: 
"Fifty years ago the Miamis were settled on the 
southern extremity of Lake Micliigan, in a place 
called Cliicago from the name of a small river 
which runs into the lake, the source of which is 
not far distant from that of the River Illinois." 
It does not follow necessarily that this was the 
Chicago River of to-day, as the name appears to 
have been applied somewhat indefinitely, by the 
early explorers, both to a region of country 
between the head of the lake and the Illinois 
River, and to more than one stream emptying 
into the lake in that vicinity. It has been con- 
jectured that the river meant by Charlevoix 
was the Calumet, as his description would apply 
as well to that as to the Chicago, and there is 
other evidence that the Miamis, who were found 
about the mouth of the St. Joseph River during 
the eighteenth century, occupied a portion of 
Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, ex- 
tending as far east as the Scioto River in Ohio. 

From the first, the Illinois seem to have con- 
ceived a strong liking for the French, and being 
pressed by the Iroquois on the east, the Sacs and 
Foxes, Pottawatomies and Kickapoos on the 
north and the Sioux on the west, by the begin- 
ning of the eighteenth century we find them, 
much reduced in numbers, gathered about the 
French settlements near the mouth of the Kas- 
kaskia (or Okaw) River, in the western part of 
the present counties of Randolph, Monroe and St. 
Clair. In spite of the zealous efforts of the mis- 
sionaries, the contact of these tribes with the 
whites was attended with the usual results — 
demoralization, degradation and gradual extermi- 
nation. The latter result was hastened by the 
frequent attacks to which they were exposed 
from their more warlike enemies, so that by the 
latter part of the eighteenth century, they were 



248 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



reduced to a few hundred dissolute and depraved 
survivors of a once vigorous and warlike race. 

During the early part of the French occupation, 
there arose a chief named Chicagou (from whom 
the city of Chicago received its name) who ap- 
pears, like Red Jacket, Tecumseh and Logan, to 
have been a man of unusual intelligence and 
vigor of character, and to have exercised great 
influence with his people. In 1725 he was sent to 
Paris, where he received the attentions due to a 
foreign potentate, and, on his return, was given a 
command in an expedition against the Chicka- 
saws, who had been making incursions from the 
south. 

Such was the general distribution of the Indians 
in the northern and central portions of the State, 
within the first fifty years after the arrival of the 
French. At a later period the Kickapoos ad- 
vanced farther south and occupied a considerable 
share of the central portion of the State, and even 
extended to the mouth of the Wabash. The 
southern part was roamed over by bands from 
beyond the Ohio and the Mississippi, including 
the Cherokees and Chickasaws, and the Arkansas 
tribes, some of whom were very powerful and 
ranged over a vast extent of country. 

The earliest civilized dwellings in Illinois, after 
the forts erected for piu'poses of defense, were 
undoubtedly the posts of the fur-traders and the 
missionary stations. Fort Miami, the first mili- 
tary post, established by La Salle in the winter 
of 1679-80, was at the mouth of the St. Joseph 
River within the boundaries of what is now the 
State of Michigan. Fort Creve-Coeur, partially 
erected a few months later on the east side of the 
Illinois a few miles below where the city of 
Peoria now stands, was never occupied. Mr. 
Charles Ballance, the historian of Peoria, locates 
this fort at the present village of Wesley, in 
Tazewell County, nearly opposite Lower Peoria. 
Fort St. Louis, built by Tonty on the summit of 
"Starved Rock," in the fall and winter of 1682, 
was the second erected in the "Illinois Country," 
but the first occupied. It has been claimed that 
Marquette established a mission among the Kas- 
kaskias, opposite "The Rock," on occasion of his 
first visit, in September, 1673, and that he re- 
newed it in the spring of 1675, when he visited 
it for the last time. It is doubtful if this mission 
was more than a season of preaching to the 
natives, celebrating mass, administering baptism, 
etc. ; at least the story of an established mission 
has been denied. That this devoted and zealous 
propagandist regarded it as a mission, however, 
is evident from his own journal. He gave to it 



the name of the "Mission of the Immaculate 
Conception," and, although he was compelled by 
failing health to abandon it almost immediately, 
it is claimed that it was renewed in 1677 by 
Father AUouez, who had been active in founding 
missions in the Lake Superior region, and that it 
was maintained until the arrival of La Salle in 
1680. The hostility of La Salle to the Jesuits led 
to Allouez' withdrawal, but he subsequently 
returned and was succeeded in 1688 by Father 
Gravier, whose labors extended from Mackinaw 
to Biloxi on the Gulf of Mexico. 

There is evidence that a mission had been 
established among the Miamis as early as 1698, 
under the name "Chicago," as it is mentioned by 
St. Cosme in the report of his visit in 1699-1700. 
This, for the reasons already given showing the 
indefinite use made of the name Chicago as 
applied to streams about the head of Lake Michi- 
gan, probably referred to some other locality in 
the vicinity, and not to the site of the present 
city of Chicago. Even at an earlier date there 
appears, from a statement in Tonty's Memoirs, to 
have been a fort at Chicago — probably about the 
same locality as the mission. Speaking of his 
return from Canada to the "Illinois Country" in 
1685, he says: "I embarked for the Illinois 
Oct. 30, 1685, but being stopped by the ice, I 
was obliged to leave my canoe and proceed by 
land. After going 120 leagues, I arrived at Fort 
Chicagou, where M. de la Durantaye com- 
manded." 

According to the best authorities it was during 
the year 1700 that a mission and permanent settle- 
ment was established by Father Jacques Pinet 
among the Tamaroas at a village called Cahokia 
(or "Sainte Famille de Caoquias"), a few miles 
south of the present site of the city of East St. 
Louis. This was the first permanent settlement 
by Europeans in Illinois, as that at Kaskaskia on 
the Illinois was broken up the same year. 

A few months after the establisliment of the 
mission at Cahokia (which received the name of 
"St. Sulpice"), but during the same year, the 
Kaskaskias, having abandoned their village on 
the upper Illinois, were induced to settle near the 
mouth of the river which bears their name, and 
the mission and village — the latter afterward 
becoming the first capital of the Territory and 
State of Illinois — came into being. This identity 
of names has led to some confusion in determin- 
ing the date and place of the first permanent 
settlement in Illinois, the date of Marquette's 
first arrival at Kaskaskia on the Illinois being 
given by some authors as that of the settlement 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



249 



at Kaskaskia on the Mississippi, twenty-seven 
years later. 

Period of French Occupation. — As may be 
readily inferred from the methods of French 
colonization, the first permanent settlements 
gathered about the missions at Cahokia and Kas- 
kaskia, or rather were parts of them. At later 
periods, but during the French occupation of the 
country, other villages were established, the 
most important being St. Philip and Prairie du 
Eocher ; all of these being located in the fertile 
valley now known as the "American Bottom," 
between the older towns of Cahokia and Kaskas- 
kia. There were several Indian villages in the 
vicinity of the French settlements, and this 
became, for a time, the most populous locality in 
the Mississippi Valley and the center of an active 
trade carried on with the settlements near the 
mouth of the Mississippi. Large quantities of 
the products of the country, such as flour, bacon, 
pork, tallow, lumber, lead, peltries, and even 
wine, were transported in keel-boats or batteaus 
to New Orleans; rice, manufactured tobacco, 
cotton goods and such other fabrics as the simple 
wants of the people required, being brought back 
in return. These boats went in convoys of seven 
to twelve in number for mutual protection, three 
months being required to make a trip, of which 
two were made annually — one in the spring and 
the other in the autumn. 

The French possessions in North America went 
under the general name of "New France, " but their 
boundaries were never clearly defined, though an 
attempt was made to do so through Commission- 
ers who met at Paris, in 1753. They were under- 
stood by the French to include the valley of the 
St. Lawrence, with Labrador and Nova Scotia, to 
the northern boundaries of the British colonies ; 
the region of the Great Lakes ; and the Valley of 
the Mississippi from the headwaters of the Ohio 
westward to the Pacific Ocean and south to the 
Gulf of Mexico. While these claims were con- 
tested by England on the east and Spain on the 
southwest, they comprehended the very heart of 
the North American continent, a region unsur- 
passed in fertility and natural resources and 
now the home of more than half of the entire 
population of the American Republic. That 
the French should liave reluctantly yielded 
up so magnificent a domain is natural. And 
yet they did this by the treaty of 1763, sur- 
rendering the region east of the Mississippi 
(except a comparatively small district near 
the mouth of that stream) to England, and the 
remainder to Spain — an evidence of the straits to 



which they had been reduced by a long series of 
devastating wars. (See French and Indian 
Wars. ) 

In 1712 Antoine Crozat, under royal letters- 
patent, obtained from Louis XIV. of France a 
monopoly of the commerce, with control of the 
covmtry, "from the edge of the sea (Gulf of 
Mexico) as far as the Illinois." This grant hav- 
ing been surrendered a few years later, was re- 
newed in 1717 to the "Company of the West," of 
which the celebrated John Law was the head, 
and under it jurisdiction was exercised over the 
trade of Illinois. On September 27 of the same 
year (1717), the "Illinois Coimtry," which had 
been a dependency of Canada, was incorporated 
with Louisiana and became part of that province. 
Law's company received enlarged powers under 
the name of the "East Indies Company," and 
although it went out of existence in 1721 with 
the opprobrious title of the "South Sea Bubble," 
leaving in its wake hundreds of ruined private 
fortunes in France and England, it did much to 
stimulate the population and development of the 
Mississippi Valley. During its existence (in 1718) 
New Orleans was founded and Fort Chartres 
erected, being named after the Due de Chartres, 
son of the Regent of France. Pierre Duque Bois- 
briant was the first commandant of Illinois and 
superintended the erection of the fort. (See Fort 
Chartres.) 

One of the privileges granted to Law's com- 
pany was the importation of slaves; and under 
it, in 1721, Philip F. Renault brought to the 
country five hundred slaves, besides two hundred 
artisans, mechanics and laborers. Two years 
later he received a large grant of land, and 
founded the village of St. Philip, a few miles 
north of Fort Chartres. Thus Illinois became 
slave territory before a white settlement of any 
sort existed in what afterward became the slave 
State of Missouri. 

During 1721 the country under control of the 
East Indies Company was divided into nine civil 
and military districts, each presided over by a 
commandant and a judge, with a superior coun- 
cil at New Orleans. Of these, Illinois, the largest 
and, next to New Orleans, the most populous, 
was the seventh. It embraced over one-half the 
present State, with the country west of the Mis- 
ssisippi, between the Arkansas and the 43d degree 
of latitude, to the Rocky Mountains, and included 
the present States of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, 
Kansas and parts of Arkansas and Colorado. In 
1733, the Indies Company surrendered its charter, 
and Louisiana, including the District of Illinois, 



250 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



■was afterwards governed by officers appointed 
directly by the crown. (See French Qovernors.) 

As early as September, 1699, an attempt was 
made by an expedition fitted out by the English 
Government, under command of Captains Barr 
and Clements, to take possession of the country 
about the mouth of the Mississippi on the ground 
of prior discovery; but they found the French 
under Bienville already in possession at Biloxi, 
and they sailed away without making any further 
effort to carry the scheme into effect. Mean- 
while, in the early part of the next century, the 
English were successful in attaching to their 
interests the Iroquois, who were the deadly foes 
of the French, and held possession of Western 
New York and the region around the headwaters 
of the Ohio River, extending their incursions 
against the Indian allies of the French as far west 
as Illinois. The real struggle for territory be- 
tween the English and French began with the 
formation of the Ohio Land Company in 1748-49, 
and the grant to it by the English Government 
of half a million acres of land along the Ohio 
River, with the exclusive right of trading with 
the Indian tribes in that region. Out of this 
grew the establishment, in the next two years, of 
trading posts and forts on the Miami and Maumee 
in Western Ohio, followed by the protracted 
French and Indian War, which was prosecuted 
with varied fortunes xintil the final defeat of the 
French at Quebec, on the thirteenth of Septem- 
ber, 1759, which broke their power on the Ameri- 
can continent. Among those who took part in 
this struggle, was a contingent from the French 
garrison of Fort Chartres. Neyon de Villiers, 
commandant of the fort, was one of these, being 
the only survivor of seven brothers who partici- 
pated in the defense of Canada. Still hopeful of 
saving Louisiana and Illinois, he departed with 
a few followers for New Orleans, but the treaty 
of Paris, Feb. 10, 1763, destroyed all hope, for by 
its terms Canada, and all other territory east of 
the Mississippi as far south as the northern 
boundary of Florida, was surrendered to Great 
Britain, while the remainder, including the vast 
territory between the Mississippi and the Rocky 
Mountains, was given up to Spain. 

Thus the "Illinois Country" fell into the hands 
of the British, although the actual transfer of 
Fort Chartres and the country dependent upon it 
did not take place until Oct. 10, 1765, when its 
veteran commandant, St. Ange — who had come 
from Vincennes to assume command on the 
retirement of Villiers, and who held it faithfully 
for the conqueror — surrendered it to Capt. 



Thomas Stirling as the representative of the Eng- 
lish Government. It is worthy of note that this 
was the last place on the North American con- 
tinent to lower the French flag. 

British Occupation. — The delay of the British 
in taking possession of the "Illinois Country," 
after the defeat of the French at Quebec and the 
surrender of their possessions in America by the 
treaty of 1763, was due to its isolated position 
and the difficulty of reaching it with suificient 
force to establish the British authority. The 
first attempt was made in the spring of 1764, 
when Maj. Arthur Loftus, starting from Pensa- 
cola, attempted to ascend the Mississippi with a 
force of four hundred regulars, but, being met 
by a superior Indian force, was compelled to 
retreat. In August of the same year, Capt. 
Thomas Morris was dispatched from Western 
Pennsylvania with a small force "to take posses- 
sion of the Illinois Country." This expedition 
got as far as Fort Miami on the Maumee, when its 
progress was arrested, and its commander nar- 
rowly escaped death. The next attempt was 
made in 1765, when Maj. George Croghan, a Dep- 
uty Superintendent of Indian affairs whose name 
has been made historical by the celebrated speech 
of the Indian Chief Logan, was detailed from 
Fort Pitt, to visit Illinois. Croghan being detained, 
Lieut. Alexander Frazer, who was to accompany 
him, proceeded alone. Frazer reached Kaskas- 
kia, but met with so rough a reception from 
both the French and Indians, that he thought it 
advi.sable to leave in disguise, and escaped by 
descending the Mississippi to New Orleans. 
Croghan started on his journey on the fifteenth 
of May, proceeding down the Ohio, accompanied 
by a party of friendly Indians, but having been 
captured near the mouth of the Wabash, he 
finally returned to Detroit without reaching his 
destination. The first British official to reach 
Fort Chartres was Capt. Thomas Stirling. De- 
scending the Ohio with a force of one hundred 
men, he reached Fort Chartres, Oct. 10, 1765, and 
received the surrender of the fort from the faith- 
ful and courteous St. Ange. It is estimated that 
at least one-third of the French citizens, includ- 
ing the more wealth}-, left rather than become 
British subjects. Those about Fort Chartres left 
almost in a body. Some joined the French 
colonies on the lower Mississippi, while others, 
crossing the river, settled in St. Genevieve, then 
in Spanish territory. Much the larger number 
followed St. Ange to St. Loiiis, which had been 
established as a trading post by Pierre La Clede, 
during the previous year, and which now received 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



251 



what, in these later days, would be called a great 
"boom." 

Captain Stirling was relieved of his command 
at Fort Chartres, Dec. 4, by Maj. Robert Farmer. 
Other British Commandants at Fort Chartres 
were Col. Edward Cole, Col. John Reed, Colonel 
Wilkins, Capt. Hugh Lord and Francois de Ras- 
tel, Chevalier de Rocheblave. The last had been 
an officer in the French army, and, having resided 
at Kaskaskia, transferred his allegiance on occu- 
pation of the country by the British. He was the 
last official representative of the British Govern- 
ment in Illinois. 

The total population of the French villages in 
Illinois, at the time of their transfer to England, 
has been estimated at about 1,600, of which 700 
were about Kaskaskia and 450 in the vicinity of 
Cahokia. Captain Pittman estimated the popu- 
lation of all the French villages in Illinois and on 
the Wabash, at the time of his visit in 1770, at 
about 2,000. Of St. Louis— or "Paincourt," as it 
was called — Captain Pittman said: "There are 
about forty private houses and as many families. " 
Most of these, if not all, had emigrated from the 
French villages. In fact, although nominally in 
Spanish territory, it was essentially a French 
town, protected, as Pittman said, by "a French 
garrison" consisting of "a Captain-Commandant, 
two Lieutenants, a Fort Major, one Sergeant. 
one Corporal and twenty men." 

Action of Continental Congress. — The first 
official notice taken of the "Illinois Country" by 
the Continental Congress, was the adoption by 
that body, July 13, 1775, of an act creating three 
Indian Departments — a Northern, Middle and 
Southern. Illinois was assigned to the second, 
with Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson, of 
Pennsylvania, and Patrick Henry, of Virginia, 
as Commissioners. In April, 1776, Col. George 
Morgan, who had been a trader at Kaskaskia, was 
appointed agent and successor to these Commis- 
sioners, with headquarters at Fort Pitt. The 
promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, 
on the Fourth of July, 1776, and the events im- 
mediately preceding and following that event, 
directed attention to the colonies on the Atlantic 
coast; yet the frontiersmen of Virginia were 
watching an opportunity to deliver a blow to the 
Government of King George in a quarter where 
it was least expected, and where it was destined 
to have an immense influence upon the future of 
the new nation, as well as that of the American 
continent. 

CoL. George Rogers Clark's Expedition. 
— During the year 1777, Col. George Rogers Clark, 



a native of Virginia, then scarcely twenty-five 
years of age, having conceived a plan of seizing 
the settlements in the Mississippi Valley, sent 
trusty spies to learn the sentiments of the people 
and the condition of affairs at Kaskaskia. The 
report brought to him gave him encouragement, 
and, in December of the same year, he laid before 
Gov. Patrick Henry, of Virginia, his plans for 
the reduction of the posts in Illinois. These were 
approved, and, on Jan. 2, 1778, Clark received 
authority to recruit seven companies of fifty men 
each for three months' service, and Governor 
Henry gave him §6,000 for expenses. Proceeding 
to Fort Pitt, he succeeded in recruiting three 
companies, who were directed to rendezvous at 
Corn Island, opposite the present city of Louis- 
ville. It has been claimed that, in order to 
deceive the British as to his real destination, 
Clark authorized the announcement that the 
object of the e-xpedition was to protect the settle- 
ments in Kentucky from the Indians. At Corn 
Island another company was organized, making 
four in all, under the command of Captains Bow- 
man, Montgomery, Helm and Harrod, and having 
embarked on keel-boats, they passed the Falls of 
the Ohio, June 24. Reaching the island at the 
mouth of the Tennessee on the 28th, he was met 
by a party of eight American hunters, who had 
left Kaskaskia a few daj's before, and who, join- 
ing his command, rendered good service as 
guides. He disembarked his force at the mouth 
of a small creek one mile above Fort Massac, 
June 29, and, directing his course across the 
country, on the evening of the sixth day (July 4, 
1778) arrived within three miles of Kaskaskia. 
The surprise of the vmsuspecting citizens of Kas- 
kaskia and its small garrison was complete. His 
force having, under cover of darkness, been 
ferried across the Kaskaskia River, about a mile 
above the town, one detachment surrounded the 
town, while the other seized the fort, capturing 
Rocheblave and his little command without fir- 
ing a gim. The famous Indian fighter and 
hunter, Simon Kenton, led the way to the fort. 
This is supposed to have been what Captain Pitt- 
man called the "Jesuits' house," which had been 
sold by the French Government after the country 
was ceded to England, the Jesuit order having 
been suppressed. A wooden fort, erected in 1736, 
and known afterward by the British as Fort 
Gage, had stood on the bluff opposite the town, 
but, according to Pittman, this was burnt in 1766, 
and there is no evidence that it was ever rebuilt. 
Clark's expedition was thus far a complete suc- 
cess. Rocheblave, proving recalcitrant, was 



252 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



placed in irons and sent as a prisoner of war to 
Williamsburg, while his slaves were confiscated, 
the proceeds of their sale being divided among 
Clark's troops. The inhabitants were easily 
conciliated, and Cahokia having been captured 
without bloodshed, Clark turned his attention to 
Vincennes. Through the influence of Pierre 
Gibault — the Vicar-General in charge at Kaskas- 
kia — the people of Vincennes were induced to 
swear allegiance to the United States, and, 
although the place was afterward captured by a 
British force from Detroit, it was, on Feb. 
24, 1779, recaptured by Colonel Clark, together 
with a body of prisoners but little smaller than 
the attacking force, and $50,000 worth of prop- 
erty. (See Clark, Col. George Rogers.) 

Under Goveknment of Virginia. — Seldom 
in the history of the world have such important 
results been achieved by such insignificant instru- 
mentalities and with so little sacrifice of life, as 
in this almost bloodless campaign of the youthful 
conqueror of Illinois. Having been won largely 
through Virginia enterprise and valor and by 
material aid furnished through Governor Henry, 
the Virginia House of Delegates, in October, 
1778, proceeded to assert the jurisdiction of that 
commonwealth over the settlements of the North- 
west, by organizing all the country west and 
north of the Ohio River into a count}- to be called 
"Illinois," (see Illinois County), and empowering 
the Governor to appoint a "County-Lieutenant or 
Commandant-in-Chief" to exercise civil author- 
ity during the pleasure of the appointing power. 
Thus "Illinois County" was older than the States 
of Ohio or Indiana, while Patrick Henry, the elo- 
quent orator of the Revolution, became ex-officio 
its first Governor. Col. John Todd, a citizen of 
Kentucky, was appointed "County-Lieutenant," 
Dec. 12, 1778, entering upon his duties in 
May following. The militia was organized, 
Deputy-Commandants for Kaskaskia and Cahokia 
appointed, and the first election of civil officers 
ever had in Illinois, was held under Colonel 
Todd's direction. His record-book, now in posses- 
sion of the Chicago Historical Society, shows 
that he was accustomed to exercise powers 
scarcely inferior to those of a State Executive. 
(See Todd, Col. John.) 

In 1782 one "Thimothe Demunbrunt" sub- 
scribed himself as "Lt. comd'g par interim, etc." 
— but the origin of his authority is not clearly 
understood. He assumed to act as Commandant 
until the arrival of Gov. Arthur St. Clair, first 
Territorial Governor of the Northwest Territory, 
in 1790. After the close of the Revolution, courts 



ceased to be held and civil aSairs fell into great 
disorder. "In effect, there was neither law nor 
order in the 'Illinois Country' for the seven 
years from 1783 to 1790." 

During the progress of the Revolution, there 
were the usual rumors and alarms in the "Illinois 
Country" peculiar to frontier life in time of war. 
The country, however, was singularly exempt 
from any serious calamity such as a general 
massacre. One reason for this was the friendly 
relations which had existed between the French 
and their Indian neighbors previous to the con- 
quest, and which the new masters, after the cap- 
ture of Kaskaskia, took pains to perpetuate. 
Several movements were projected by the British 
and their Indian allies about Detroit and in Can- 
ada, but they were kept so busy elsewhere that 
they had little time to put their plans into execu- 
tion. One of these was a proposed movement 
from Pensacola against the Spanish posts on tlie 
lower Mississippi, to punish Spain for having 
engaged in tlie war of 1779, but the promptness 
with which the Spanish Governor of New Orleans 
proceeded to capture Fort Manchac, Baton Rouge 
and Natchez from their British possessors, con- 
vinced the latter that this was a "game at which 
two could play." In ignorance of these results, 
an expedition, 750 strong, composed largely of 
Indians, fitted out at Mackinaw under command 
of Capt. Patrick St. Clair, started in the early 
part of May, 1780, to co-operate with the expedition 
on the lower Mississippi, but intending to deal a 
destructive blow to the Illinois villages and the 
Spanisli towns of St. Louis and St. Genevieve on 
the way. This expedition reached St. Louis, May 
26, but Col. George Rogers Clark, having arrived 
at Cahokia with a small force twenty-four hours 
earlier, prepared to co-operate with the Spaniards 
on the western shore of the Mississippi, and the 
invading force confined their depredations to kill- 
ing seven or eight villagers, and then beat a 
hasty retreat in the direction they had come. 
These were the last expeditions organized to 
regain the "Country of the Illinois" or capture 
Spanish posts on the Mississippi. 

Expeditions Against Fort St. Joseph. — An 
expedition of a different sort is worthy of mention 
in this connection, as it originated in Illinois. 
This consisted of a company of seventeen men, 
led by one Thomas Brady, a citizen of Cahokia, 
who, marcliing across the country, in the month 
of October, 1780, after the retreat of Sinclair, 
from St. Louis, succeeded in surprising and cap- 
turing Fort St. Joseph about where La Salle had 
erected Fort Miami, near the mouth of the St. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



253 



Joseph River, a hundred years before. Brady 
and his party captured a few British prisoners, 
and a large quantity of goods. On their return, 
while encamped on the Calumet, they were 
attacked by a band of Pottawatomies, and all 
were killed, wounded or taken prisoners except 
Brady and two others, who escaped. Early in 
January, 1781, a party consisting of sixty-five 
whites, organized from St. Louis and Cahokia, 
with some 200 Indians, and headed by Don 
Eugenio Pourre, a Spaniard, started on a second 
expedition against Fort St. Joseph. By silencing 
the Indians, whom they met on their way, with 
promises of plunder, they were able to reach the 
fort without discovery, captured it and, raising 
the Spanish flag, formally took possession in the 
name of the King of Spain. After retaining pos- 
session for a few days, the party retvtrned to St. 
Louis, but in negotiating the treaty of peace at 
Paris, in 1783, this incident was made the basis 
of a claim put forth by Spain to ownership of 
the "Illinois Country" "by right of conquest." 

The Territorial Period.— At the very outset 
of its existence, the new Government of the 
United States was confronted with an embarrass- 
ing question which deeply affected the interests 
of the territory of which Illinois formed a part. 
This was the claim of certain States to lands 
lying between their western boundaries and the 
Mississippi River, then the western boundary of 
the Republic. These claims were based either 
upon the terms of their original charters or upon 
the cession of lands by the Indians, and it was 
under a claim of the former character, as well as 
by right of conquest, that Virginia assumed to ex- 
ercise authority over the "Illinois Country" after 
its capture by the Clark expedition. This con- 
struction was opposed by the States which, from 
their geographical position or other cause, had 
no claim to lands beyond their own boundaries, 
and the controversy was waged with considerable 
bitterness for several years, proving a formidable 
obstacle to the ratification of the Articles of Con- 
federation. As early as 1779 the subject received 
the attention of Congress in the adoption of a 
resolution requesting the States having such 
claims to "forbear settling or issuing warrants 
for unappropriated lands or granting the same 
during the continuance of the present (Revolu- 
tionary) War." In the following year, New York 
authorized her Delegates in Congress to limit its 
boundaries in such manner as they might think 
expedient: and to cede to the Government its 
claim to western lands. The case was further com- 
plicated by the claims of certain land companies 



which had been previously organized. New York 
filed her cession to the General Government of 
lands claimed by her in October, 1782, followed 
by Virginia nearly a year later, and by Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut in 1785 and 1786. Other 
States followed somewhat tardily, Georgia being 
the last, in 1802. The only claims of this charac- 
ter affecting lands in Illinois were those of Vir- 
ginia covering the southern part of the State, and 
Connecticut and Massachusetts applying to the 
northern portion. It was from the splendid 
domain north and west of the Ohio thus acquired 
from Virginia and other States, that the North- 
west Territory was finally organized. 

Ordinance of 1787. — The first step was taken in 
the passage by Congress, in 1784, of a resolution 
providing for the temporary government of the 
Western Territory, and this was followed three 
years later by the enactment of the celebrated 
Ordinance of 1787. While this latter document 
contained numerous provisions which marked a 
new departure in the science of free government 
— as, for instance, that declaring that "religion, 
morality and knowledge being necessary to good 
government and the happiness of mankind, 
schools and the means of education shall forever 
be encouraged" — its crowning feature was the 
sixth article, as follows; "There shall be neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said 
Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of 
crime, whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted." 

Although there has been considerable contro- 
versy as to the authorship of the above and other 
provisions of this immortal document, it is 
worthy of note that substantially the same lan- 
guage was introduced in the resolutions of 1784, 
by a Delegate from a slave State — Thomas Jeffer- 
son, of Virginia— though not, at that time, 
adopted. Jefferson was not a member of the 
Congress of 1787 (being then Minister to France), 
and could have had nothing directly to do with 
the later Ordinance; yet it is evident that the 
principle which he had advocated finally received 
the approval of eight out of the thirteen States, — 
all that were represented in that Congress — includ- 
ing the slave States of Virginia, Delaware, North 
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. (See 
Ordinance of 1787.) 

Northwest Territory Organized. — Under 
the Ordinance of 1787, organizing the Northwest 
Territory, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who had been a 
soldier of the Revolution, was appointed the 
first Governor on Feb. 1, 1788, with Winthrop 
Sargent, Secretary, and Samuel Holden Parsons, 



254 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



James Mitchell Varnum and John Cleves 
Symmes, Judges. All these were reappointed by 
President Washington in 1789. The new Terri- 
torial Government was organized at Marietta, a 
settlement on the Ohio, July 15, 1788, but it was 
nearly two years later before Governor St. Clair 
visited Illinois, arriving at Kaskaskia. March 5, 
1790. The County of St. Clair (named after him) 
was organized at this time, embracing all the 
settlements between the Wabash and the Missis- 
sippi. (See St. Clair County.) He found the 
inhabitants generally in a deplorable condition, 
neglected by the Government, the courts of jus- 
tice practically abolished and many of the citizens 
sadly in need of the obligations due them from 
the Government for supplies furnished to Colonel 
Clark twelve years before. After a stay of three 
months, the Governor returned east. In 179.5, 
Judge Turner held the first court in St. Clair 
County, at Cahokia, as the county-seat, although 
both Cahokia and Kaskaskia had been named as 
county-seats by Governor St. Clair. Out of the 
disposition of the local autliorities to retain the 
official records at Cahokia, and consequent dis- 
agreement over the county-seat question, at least 
in part, grew the order of 1795 organizing tlie 
second county (Randolph), and Kaskaskia became 
its county-seat. In 1796 Governor St. Clair paid 
a second visit to Illinois, accompanied by Judge 
Symmes, who held court at both county-seats. 
On Nov. 4, 1791, occurred the defeat of Gov- 
ernor St. Clair, in the western part of the present 
State of Ohio, by a force of Indians under com- 
mand of Little Turtle, in which tlie whites sus- 
tained a heavy loss of both men and property — 
an event which had an unfavorable effect upon 
conditions throughout the Northwest Territory 
generally. St. Clair, having resigned his com- 
mand of the army, was succeeded by Gen. 
Anthony Wayne, who, in a vigorous campaign, 
overwhelmed the Indians with defeat. This 
resulted in the treaty with the Western tribes at 
Greenville, August 3, 1795, which was the begin- 
ning of a period of comparative peace with tlie 
Indians all over the Western Country. (See 
Wayne, (Gen.) Anthony.) 

First Territorial Legislation.— In 1798, the 
Territory having gained the requisite population, 
an election of members of a Legislative Council 
and House of Representatives was held in accord- 
ance with the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. 
This was the first Territorial Legislature organized 
in the history of the Republic. It met at Cincin- 
nati, Feb. 4, 1799, Shadrach Bond being the 
Delegate from St. Clair County and John Edgar 



from Randolph. Gen. William Henry Harrison, 
who had succeeded Sargent as Secretary of the 
Territory, June 26, 1798, was elected Delegate to 
Congress, receiving a majority of one vote over 
Arthur St. Clair, Jr., son of the Governor. 

Ohio and Indiana Territories.— By act of 
Congress, May 7, 1800, the Northwest Territory 
was divided into Ohio and Indiana Territories ; 
tlie latter embracing the region west of the pres- 
ent State of Ohio, and having its capital at "Saint 
Vincent" (Vincennes). May 13, William Henry 
Harrison, who had been the first Delegate in Con- 
gress from the Northwest Territory, was ap- 
pointed Governor of Indiana Territory, which at 
first consisted of three counties : Knox, St. Clair 
and Randolph— the two latter being within the 
boundaries of the present State of Illinois. Their 
aggregate population at this time was estimated 
at less than 5,000. During his administration 
Governor Harrison concluded thirteen treaties 
with the Indians, of which six related to the ces- 
sion of lands in Illinois. The first treaty relating 
to lands in Illinois was that of Greenville, con- 
cluded by General Wayne in 1795. By this the 
Government acquired six miles square at the 
mouth of the Chicago River; twelve miles square 
at the mouth of the Illinois ; six miles square at 
the old Peoria fort ; the post of Fort Massac ; and 
150,000 acres assigned to General Clark and his 
soldiers, besides all other lands "in possession of 
the French people and all other white settlers 
among them, the Indian title to which had been 
thus extinguished." (See Indian Treaties; also, 
Greenville, Treaty of .) 

During the year 1803, the treaty with France 
for the purchase of Louisiana and West Florida 
was concluded, and on March 26, 1804, an act was 
passed by Congress attaching all that portion of 
Louisiana lying north of the thirty-third parallel 
of latitude and west of the Mississippi to Indiana 
Territory for governmental purposes. This in- 
cluded the present States of Arkansas, Missouri, 
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, the two 
Dakotas and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Mon- 
tana. Tliis arrangement continued only until 
the following March, wlien Louisiana was placed 
under a separate Territorial organization. 

I'or four years Indiana Territory was governed 
under laws framed by tlie Governor and Judges, 
but, tlie population having increased to the re- 
quired number, an election was held, Sept. 
11, 1804, on the proposition to advance the gov- 
ernment to the "second grade" by the election of 
a Territorial Legislature. The smallness of the 
vote indicated the indifference of the people on 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



255 



the subject Out of 400 votes cast, the proposition 
received a majority of 138. The two Illinois 
counties cast a total of 143 votes, of which St. 
Clair furnished 81 and Randolph 61. The former 
gave a majority of 37 against the measure and 
the latter 19 in its favor, showing a net negative 
majority of 18. The adoption of the proposition 
was due, therefore, to the affirmative vote in the 
other counties. There were in the Territory at 
this time six counties; one of these (Wayne) was 
in Micliigan, which was set off, in 1805, as a sep- 
arate Territory. At the election of Delegates to 
a Territorial Legislature, held Jan. 3, 1805, Shad- 
rach Bond, Sr., and William Biggs were elected 
for St. Clair County and George Fisher for Ran- 
dolph. Bond having meanwhile become a mem- 
ber of the Legislative Council, Shadrach Bond, 
Jr., was chosen his successor. The. Legislature 
convened at Vincennes, Feb. 7, 1805, but only 
to recommend a list of persons from whom 
it was the duty of Congress to select a Legislative 
Council. In addition to Bond, Pierre Menard 
was cliosen for Randolph and John Hay for St. 
Clair. 

Illinois Territory Organized. — The Illinois 
counties were represented in two regular and one 
special session of the Territorial Legislature dur- 
ing the time they were a part of Indiana Terri- 
tory. By act of Congress, which became a law 
Feb. 3, 1809, the Territory was divided, the west- 
ern part being named Illinois. 

At this point the history of Illinois, as a sepa- 
rate political division, begins. While its bounda- 
ries in all other directions were as now, on the 
north it extended to the Canada line. From 
what has already been said, it appears that the 
earliest white settlements were established by 
French Canadians, chiefly at Kaskaskia, Cahokia 
and the other villages in the southern part of the 
American Bottom. At the time of Clark's in- 
vasion, there were not known to have been more 
than two Americans among these people, except 
such hunters and trappers as paid them occasional 
visits. One of tlie earliest American settlers in 
Southern Illinois was Capt. Nathan Hull, who 
came from Massachusetts and settled at an early 
day on the Ohio, near where Golconda now 
stands, afterward removing to the vicinity of 
Kaskaskia, where he died in 1806. In 1781, a 
company of immigrants, consisting (with one or 
two exceptions) of members of Clark's command 
in 1778, arrived with their families from Mary- 
land and Virginia and established themselves on 
the American Bottom. The "New Design" set- 
tlement, on the boundary line between St. Clair 



and Monroe Counties, and the first distinctively 
American colony in the "Illinois Country," was 
established by this party. Some of its members 
afterward became prominent in the history of the 
Territory and the State. William Biggs, a mem- 
ber of the first Territorial Legislature, with 
others, settled in or near Kaskaskia about 1783, 
and William Arundel, the first American mer- 
chant at Cahokia, came there from Peoria during 
the same year. Gen. Jolm Edgar, for many years 
a leading citizen and mercliant at the capital, 
arrived at Kaskaskia in 1784, and William Mor- 
rison, Kaskaskia's principal merchant, came from 
Philadelphia as early as 1790, followed some years 
afterward by several brothers. James Lemen 
came before the beginning of the present cen- 
tury, and was the founder of a large and influ- 
ential family in the vicinity of Shiloli, St. Clair 
County, and Rev. David Badgley headed a colony 
of 154 from Virginia, who arrived in 1797. 
Among other prominent arrivals of this period 
were John Rice Jones, Pierre Menard (first 
Lieutenant-Governor of the State), Shadrach 
Bond, Jr. (first Governor), John Hay, John 
Me.ssinger, WiUiam Kinney, Capt. Joseph Ogle; 
and of a later date, Nathaniel Pope (afterward 
Secretary of the Territory, Delegate to Congress, 
Justice of the United States Court and father of 
the late Maj.-Gen. John Pope), Elias Kent Kane 
(first Secretary of State and afterward United 
States Senator), Daniel P. Cook (first Attorney- 
General and second Representative in Congress), 
George Forquer (at one time Secretary of State), 
and Dr. George Fisher — all prominent in Terri- 
torial or State history. (See biographical 
sketches of these early settlers under their re- 
spective names.) 

The government of the new Territory was 
organized by the appointment of Ninian Ed- 
wards, Governor; Nathaniel Pope, Secretary, 
and Alexander Stuart, Obadiah Jones and Jesse 
B. Thomas, Territorial Judges. (See Edwards, 
Ninian.) Stuart having been transferred to 
Missouri, Stanley Griswold was appointed in 
his stead. Governor Edwards arrived at Kas- 
kaskia, the capital, in June, 1809. At that 
time the two counties of St. Clair and Randolph 
comprised the settled portion of the Territory, 
with a white population estimated at about 9,000. 
The Governor and Judges immediately proceeded 
to formulate a code of laws, and the appoint- 
ments made by Secretary Pope, who had preceded 
the Governor in his arrival in the Territory, were 
confirmed. Benjamin H. Doyle was the first 
Attorney-General, but he resigned in a few 



256 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



months, when the place was offered to John J. 
Crittenden — the well-known United States Sen- 
ator from Kentucky at the beginning of the 
Civil War— but by him declined. Thomas T. 
Crittenden was then appointed. 

An incident of the year 1811 was the battle of 
Tippecanoe, resulting in the defeat of Tecumseh, 
the great chief of the Shawnees, by Gen. William 
Henry Harrison. Four companies of mounted 
rangers were raised in Illinois this year under 
direction of Col. William Russell, of Kentucky, 
who built Camp Russell near Edwardsville the 
following year. They were commanded by Cap- 
tains Samuel Whiteside, William B. Whiteside, 
James B. Moore and Jacob Short. The memo- 
rable earthquake which had its center about New 
Madrid, Mo., occurred in December of this 
year, and was quite violent in some portions of 
Southern Illinois. (See Earthquake of ISll. ) 

War op 1812.— During the following year the 
second war with England began, but no serious 
outbreak occurred in Illinois until August, 1812, 
when the massacre at Fort Dearborn, where 
Chicago now stands, took place. This had long 
been a favorite trading post of the Indians, at 
first under French occupation and afterward 
under the Americans. Sometime during 1803-04, 
a fort had been built near the mouth of Chicago 
River on the south side, on land acquired from the 
Indians by the treaty of Greenville in 1795. (See 
Fort Dearborn.) In the spring of 1812 some 
alarm had been caused by outrages committed by 
Indians in the vicinity, and in the early part of 
August, Capt. Nathan Heald, commanding the 
garrison of less than seventy-five men, received 
instructions from General Hull, in command at 
Detroit, to evacuate the fort, disposing of the 
public property as he might 'see fit. Friendly 
Indians advised Heald either to make prepara- 
tions for a vigorous defense, or evacuate at once. 
Instead of this, he notified the Indians of his in- 
tention to retire and divide the stores among 
them, with the conditions subsequently agreed 
upon in council, that his garrison should be 
afl'orded an escort and safe passage to Fort 
Wayne. On the 14th of August he proceeded to 
distribute the bulk of the goods as promised, but 
the ammunition, guns and liquors were de- 
stroyed. This he justified on the ground that a 
bad use would be made of them, while the 
Indians construed it as a violation of the agree- 
ment. The tragedy which followed, is thus de- 
scribed in Moses' "History of Illinois:" 

"Black Partridge, a Pottawatomie Chief, who 
had been on terms of friendship with the whites, 



appeared before Captain Heald and informed 
him plainly that his young men intended to 
imbrue their hands in the blood of the whites; 
that he was no longer able to restrain them, and, 
surrendering a medal he had worn in token of 
amity, closed by saying: 'I will not wear a 
token of peace while I am compelled to act as an 
enemy.' In the meantime the Indians were riot- 
ing upon the provisions, and becoming so aggres- 
sive in their bearing that it was resolved to march 
out the next day. The fatal fifteenth arrived. 
To each soldier was distributed twenty-five 
rounds of reserved ammunition. The baggage 
and ambulance wagons were laden, and the gar- 
rison slowly wended its way outside the protect- 
ing walls of the fort — the Indian escort of 500 
following in the rear. What next occurred in 
this disastrous movement is narrated by Captain 
Heald in his report, as follows: 'The situation of 
tlie country rendered it necessary for us to take 
the beach, with the lake on our left, and a high 
sand bank on our right at about three hundred 
j-ards distance. W^e had proceeded about a mile 
and a half, when it was discovered (bj' Captain 
Wells) that the Indians were prepared to attack 
us from behind the bank. I immediately marched 
up with the company to the top of the bank, 
when the action commenced; after firing one 
round, we charged, and the Indians gave way in 
front and joined those on our fianks. In about fif- 
teen minutes they got possession of all our horses, 
provisions and baggage of every description, and 
finding the Miamis (who had come from Fort 
Wayne with Captain Wells to act as an escort) 
did not assist us, I drew off the few men I had 
left and took possession of a small elevation in 
the open prairie out of shot of the bank, or any 
other cover. The Indians did not follow me but 
assembled in a body on top of the bank, and after 
some consultation among themselves, made signs 
for me to approach them. I advanced toward 
them alone, and was met by one of the Potta- 
watomie chiefs called Black Bird, with an inter- 
preter. After shaking hands, he requested me to 
surrender, promising to spare the lives of all the 
prisoners. On a few moments' consideration I 
concluded it would be most prudent to comply 
with this request, although I did not put entire 
confidence in his promise. The troops had made 
a brave defense, but what could so small a force 
do against such overwhelming numbers? It was 
evident with over half their number dead upon 
the field, or wounded, further resistance would 
be hopeless. Twenty-six regulars and twelve 
militia, with two women and twelve children, 
were killed. Among the slain were Captain 
Wells, Dr. Van Voorhis and Ensign George 
Ronan. (Captain Wells, when young, had been 
captured by Indians and had married among 
them.) He (Wells) was familiar with all the 
wiles, stratagems, as well as the vindictiveness 
of the Indian character, and when the conflict 
began, he said to his niece (Mrs. Heald), by" 
whose side he was standing, 'We have not the 
slightest chance for life; we must part to meet 
no more in this world. God bless you.' With 
these words he dashed forward into the thickest 
of the fight. He refused to be taken prisoner, 
knowing what his fate would be, when a young 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



357 



red-skin cut him down with his tomahawk, 
junii)ed upon his body, cut out his heart and ate 
a portion of it with savage deligiit. 

"The prisoners taken were Captain Heald and 
wife, both wounded, Lievitenant Helm, also 
wounded, and wife, with twenty-five non-com- 
missioned officers and privates, and eleven women 
and children. The loss of the Indians was fifteen 
killed. Mr. Kinzie's family had been entrusted 
to the care of some friendly Indians and were not 
with the retiring garrison. The Indians engaged 
in this outrage were principally Pottawatomies, 
with a few Chippewas, Ottawas, Winnebagoes, 
and Kickapoos. Fort Dearborn was plundered 
and burned on the next morning." (See Fort 
Dearborn; also War of 131:3. ) 

Thus ended the most bloody tragedy that ever 
occurred on the soil of Illinois with Americans as 
victims. The place where this affair occurred, 
as described by Captain Heald, was on the lake 
shore about the foot of Eighteenth Street in 
the present city of Chicago. After the destruction 
of the fort, the site of the present city of Chicago 
remained unoccupied until 1816, when the fort 
was rebuilt. At tliat time the bones of the vic- 
tims of the massacre of 1813 still lay bleaching 
upon the sands near the lake shore, but they 
were gathered up a few years later and buried. 
■ The new fort continued to be occupied somewhat 
irregularly until 1837, when it was finally aban- 
doned, there being no longer any reason for 
maintaining it as a defense against the Indians. 

Other Events of the War. — The part played 
by Illinois in the War of 1813, consisted chiefly 
in looking after the large Indian population 
within and near its borders. Two expeditions 
were undertaken to Peoria Lake in the Fall of 
1812; the first of these, under the direction of 
Governor Edwards, burned two Kickapoo vil- 
lages, one of them being that of "Black Part- 
ridge," who had befriended the whites at Fort 
Dearborn. A few weeks later Capt. Thomas E. 
Craig, at the head of a company of militia, made a 
descent upon the ancient French village of Peoria, 
on the pretext that the inhabitants had har- 
bored hostile Indians and fired on his boats. He 
burned a part of the town and, taking the people 
as prisoners down the river, put them ashore 
below Alton, in the beginning of winter. Both 
these affairs were severely censured. 

There were expeditions against the Indians on 
the Illinois and Upper Mississippi in 1813 and 
1814. In the latter year, Illinois troops took part 
with credit in two engagements at Rock Island — 
the last of these being in co-operation with regu- 
lars, under command of Maj. Zachary Taylor, 
afterwards President, against a force of Indians 
supported by the British. Fort Clark at Peoria 



was erected in 1813, and Fort Edwards at War- 
saw, opposite the mouth of the Des Moines, at 
the close of the campaign of 1814. A council 
with the Indians, conducted by Governors 
Edwards of Illinois and Clarke of Missouri, and 
Auguste Chouteau, a merchant of St. Louis, as 
Government Commissioners, on the Mississippi 
just below Alton, in July, 1815, concluded a 
treaty of peace with the principal Northwestern 
tribes, thus ending the war. 

First Territorial Legislature.— By act of 
Congress, adopted May 21, 1813, the Territory of 
Illinois was raised to the second grade— i. e., em- 
powered to elect a Territorial Legislature. In 
September, three additional counties— Madison, 
Gallatin and Johnson — were organized, making 
five in all, and, in October, an election for the 
choice of five members of the Council and seven 
Representatives was held, resulting as follows: 
Councilmen— Pierre Menard of Randolph County ; 
William Biggs of St. Clair; Samuel Judy of 
Madison; Thomas Ferguson of Johnson, and 
Benjamin Talbot of Gallatin. Representatives- 
George Fisher of Randolph ; Joshua Oglesby and 
Jacob Short of St. Clair; William Jones of Madi- 
son; Philip Trammel and Alexander Wilson of 
Gallatin, and John Grammar of Johnson. The 
Legislature met at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, the Coun- 
cil organizing with Pierre Menard as President 
and John Thomas, Secretary; and the House, 
with George Fisher as Speaker and William C. 
Greenup, Clerk. Shadrach Bond was elected the 
first Delegate to Congress. 

A second Legislature was elected in 1814, con- 
vening at Kaskaskia, Nov. 14. Menard was con- 
tinued President of the Council during the whole 
Territorial period; while George Fisher was 
Speaker of each House, except the Second. The 
county of Edwards was organized in 1814, and 
White in 1815. Other counties organized under 
the Territorial Government were Jackson, Mon- 
roe, Crawford and Pope in 1816; Bond in 1817, 
and Franklin, Union and Washington in 1818, 
making fifteen in all. Of these all but the 
three last-named were organized previous to the 
passage by Congress of the enabling act author- 
izing the Territory of Illinois to organize a State 
government. In 1816 the Bank of Illinois was 
established at Shawneetown, with branches at 
Edwardsville and Kaskaskia. 

Early Towns. — Besides the French villages in 
the American Bottom, there is said to have been 
a French and Indian village on the west bank of 
Peoria Lake, as early as 1711. This site appears 
to have been abandoned about 1775 and a ne* 



258 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



village established on the present site of Peoria 
soon after, which was maintained until 1812, 
when it was broken up by Captain Craig. Other 
early towns were Shawneetown, laid out in 1808 ; 
Belleville, established as the county-seat of St. 
Clair County, in 1814; Edwardsville, founded in 
1815; Upper Alton, in 1816, and Alton, in 1818. 
Carmi, Fairfield, Waterloo, Golconda, Lawrence- 
ville. Mount Carmel and Vienna also belonged to 
this period; while Jack.sonville, Springfield and 
Galena were settled a few years later. Chicago 
is mentioned in "Beck's Gazetteer" of 1823, as "a 
village of Pike County." 

Admission as a State. — The preliminary steps 
for the admission of Illinois as a State, were taken 
in the passage of an Enabling A ct by Congress, 
April 13, 1818. An important incident in this 
connection was tlie amendment of the act, mak- 
ing the parallel of 42' 30' from Lake Michigan to 
the Mississippi River the northern boundary, 
instead of a line extending from tlie southern 
extremity of the Lake. This was obtained 
through the influence of Hon. Nathaniel Pope, 
then Delegate from Illinois, and by it the State 
secured a strip of country fifty-one miles in 
width, from the Lake to the Mississippi, embrac- 
ing what have since become fourteen of the most 
populous counties of the State, including the city 
of Chicago. The political, material and moral 
results which have followed this important act, 
have been the subject of much interesting dis- 
cussion and cannot be easily over-estimated. 
(See Northern Boundary Questiori; also Pope, 
Nathaniel.) 

Another measure of great importance, which Mr. 
Pope secured, was a modification of the provision 
of the Enabling Act requiring the appropriation of 
five per cent of the proceeds from the sale of pub- 
lic lands within the State, to the construction of 
roads and canals. The amendment which he 
secured authorizes the application of two-fifths 
of this fund to tlie making of roads leading to the 
State, but requires "the residue to be appropri- 
ated by the Legislature of the State for the 
encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth 
part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or 
university." This was the beginning of that 
system of liberal encouragement of education by 
the General Government, which has been at- 
tended with such beneficent results in the younger 
States, and has reflected so much honor upon the 
Nation. (See Education; Railroads, and Illinois 
& Michigan Canal.) 

The Enabling Act required as a precedent con- 
dition that a census of the Territory, to be taken 



that year, should show a population of 40,000. 
Such a result was shown, but it is now confessed 
that the number was greatly exaggerated, the 
true population, as afterwards given, being 34,020. 
According to tlie decennial census of 1820, the 
population of the State at that time was 55,162. 
If there was any short-coming in this respect in 
1818, the State has fully compensated for it by 
its unexampled growth in later years. 

An election of Delegates to a Convention to 
frame a State Constitution was held July 6 to 8, 
1818 (extending through three days), thirty-three 
Delegates being chosen from the fifteen counties 
of the State. The Convention met at Kaskaskia, 
August 3, and organized by the election of Jesse 
B. Thomas, President, and William C. Greenup, 
Secretary, closing its labors, August 26. The 
Constitution, which was modeled largely upon 
the Constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, 
was not submitted to a vote of the people. (See 
Constitutional Coni^entions, especially Conven- 
tion of ISIS.) Objection was made to its accept- 
ance by Congress on the ground that the 
population of the Territory was insufficient and 
that the prohibition of slavery was not as ex- 
plicit as required by the Ordinance of 1787; but 
these arguments were overcome and the docu- 
ment accepted by a vote of 117 yeas to 34 nays. 
The only officers wliose election was provided for 
by popular vote, were the Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor, Sheriffs, Coroners and County Commis- 
sioners. The Secretary of State, State Treasurer, 
Auditor of Public Accounts, Public Printer and 
Supreme and Circuit Judges were all appointive 
either by the Governor or General Assembly. 
The elective franchise was granted to all white 
male inhabitants, above the age of 21 years, who 
had resided in the State six months. 

The first State election was held Sept. 17, 
1818, resulting in the choice of Shadrach Bond 
for Governor, and Pierre Menard, Lieutenant- 
Governor. The Legislature, chosen at the same 
time, consisted of thirteen Senators and twenty- 
seven Representatives. It commenced its session 
at Kaskaskia, Oct. 5, 1818, and adjourned after a 
session of ten days, awaiting the formal admis- 
sion of the State, which took place Dec. 3. A 
second session of the same Legislature was held, 
extending from Jan. 4 to March 31, 1819. 
Risdou Moore was Speaker of the first House. 
The other State officers elected at the first ses- 
sion were Elijah C. Berry, Auditor ; John Thomas, 
Treasurer, and Daniel P. Cook, Attorney-General. 
Elias Kent Kane, having been appointed Secre- 
tary of State by the Governor, was confirmed by 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



259 



the Senate. Ex-Governor Edwards and Jesse B. 
Thomas were elected United States Senators, the 
former drawing tlie short term and serving one 
year, wlien he was re-elected. Thomas served 
two terms, retiring in 1829. The first Supreme 
Court consisted of Joseph Phillips, Chief Justice, 
with Thomas C. Browne, William P. Foster and 
John Reynolds, Associate Justices. Foster, who 
was a mere adventurer without anj' legal knowl- 
edge, left the State in a few months and was 
succeeded by William Wilson. (See State Officers. 
United States Senators, and Judiciary.) 

Menard, who served as Lieutenant-Governor 
four years, was a noteworthy man. A native of 
Canada and of French descent, he came to Kas- 
kaskia in 1790, at the age of 24 j-ears, and 
engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was hos- 
pitable, frank, liberal and enterprising. The fol- 
lowing story related of him illustrates a pleas- 
ant feature of his oliaracter ; "At one time there 
was a scarcity of salt in the country, and Jlenard 
held the only supply outside of St. Louis. A 
number of his neighbors called upon him for 
what they wanted ; he declined to let them know 
whether he could supply them or not, but told 
them to come to his store on a certain day, when 
he would inform them. They came at the time 
appointed, and were seated. Menard passed 
around among them and inquired of each, 'You 
got money?' Some said they had and some that 
they had not, but would pay as soon as they 
killed their hogs. Those who had monej' he 
directed to range themselves on one side of the 
room and those who had none, on the other. Of 
course, those who had the means expected to get 
the salt and the others looked very much dis- 
tressed and crestfallen. Menard then spoke up 
in his brusque way, and said, 'You men who got 
de money, can go to St. Louis for your salt. 
Dese poor men wlio got no money shall have my 
salt, by gar.' Such was the man — noble liearted 
and large-minded, if unpolished and uncouth." 
(See Menai-d, Pierre.) 

Removal of the Capital to Vandalia.— 
At the second session of the General Assembly, 
five Commissioners were appointed to select a 
new site for the State Capital. What is now the 
city of Vandalia was selected, and, in December, 
1830, the entire archives of the State were re- 
moved to the new capital, being transported in 
one small wagon, at a cost of S25.00, under the 
supervision of the late Sidney Breese, who after- 
wards became United States Senator and Justice 
of the Supreme Court. (See State Ca2}itals.) 

During the session of the Second General 



Assembly, which met at Vandalia, Dec. 4, 
1820, a bill was passed establishing a State Bank 
at Vandalia, with branches at Shawneetown, 
Edwardsville and Brownsville. John McLean, 
who had been the first Representative in Con- 
gress, was Speaker of the House at this session. 
He was twice elected to the United States Senate, 
tliough he served only about two years, dying in 
1830. (See State Bank.) 

Introduction of the Slavery Question.— 
The second State election, which occurred in 
Augiist, 1822, proved the beginning of a turbu- 
lent period through the introduction of some 
exciting questions into State politics. There 
were four candidates for gubernatorial honors in 
the field; Chief- Justice Phillips, of the Supreme 
Court, supported by the friends of Governor 
Bond; Associate- Justice Browne, of the same 
court, supported by the friends of Governor 
Edwards; Gen. James B. Moore, a noted Indian 
fighter and the candidate of the "Old Rangers," 
and Edward Coles. The latter was a native of 
Virginia, who had served as private secretary of 
President Monroe, and had been employed as a 
special messenger to Russia. He had made two 
visits to Illinois, the first in 1815 and tlie second 
in 1818. The Convention to form a State Constitu- 
tion being in session at the date of the latter 
visit, he took a deep interest in the discussion of 
the slavery question and exerted his influence in 
securing the adoption of the prohibitory article 
in the organic law. On April 1, 1819, he started 
from his home in Virginia to remove to Edwards- 
ville, 111., taking with him his ten slaves. The 
journey from Brownsville, Pa., was made in 
two flat-boats to a point below Louisville, where 
he disembarked, traveling by land to Edwards- 
ville. While descending the Ohio River he sur- 
prised his slaves by announcing that they were 
free. The scene, as described by himself, was 
most dramatic. Having declined to avail them- 
selves of the privilege of leaving him, he took 
them with him to his destination, where he 
eventually gave each head of a family IGO acres 
of land. Arrived at Edwardsville, he assumed 
the position of Register of the Land Office, to 
which he had been appointed by President Mon- 
roe, before leaving Virginia. 

The act of Coles with reference to his slaves 
established his reputation as an opponent of 
slavery, and it was in this attitude that he stood 
as a candidate for Governor — both Phillips and 
Browne being friendly to "the institution," 
which had had a virtual existence in the "Illinois 
Country" from the time Renault brought 500 



260 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



slaves to tlie vicinity of Kaskaskia, one hun- 
dred years before. Although the Constitution 
declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude shall hereafter be introduced into the 
State," this had not been effectual in eliminating 
it. In fact, while this language was construed, 
so long as it remained in the Constitution, as 
prohibiting legislation authorizing the admission 
of slaves from without, it was not regarded as 
inimical to the institution as it already existed ; 
and, as the population came largely from the 
slave States, there had been a rapidly growing 
sentiment in favor of removing the inhibitory 
clause. Although the pro-slavery party was 
divided between two candidates for Governor, 
it had hardly contemplated the possibility of 
defeat, and it was consequently a surprise when 
the returns showed that Coles was elected, receiv- 
ing 2,854 votes to 2,687 for Phillips, 2,443 for 
Browne and 623 for Moore — Coles' plurality 
being 167 in a total of 8,606. Coles thus became 
Governor on less than one-third of the popular 
vote. Daniel P. Cook, who had made the race 
for Congress at the same election against 
McLean, as an avowed opponent of slavery, was 
successful by a majority of 876. (See Coles, 
Edioard; also Cook. Daniel Pope. ) 

The real struggle was now to occur in the Legis- 
lature, which met Dec. 2, 1822. The House 
organized with William M. Alexander as Speaker, 
while the Senate elected Thomas Lippincott 
(afterwards a prominent Presbyterian minister 
and the father of the late Gen. Charles E. Lippin- 
cott), Secretary, and Henry S. Dodge, Enrolling 
and Engrossing Clerk. The other State officers 
appointed by the Governor, or elected by the 
Legislature, were Samuel D. Lockwood, Secretary 
of State; Elijah C. Berry, Auditor; Abner Field, 
Treasurer, and James Turney, Attorney-General. 
Lockwood had served nearly two years previously 
as Attorney-General, but remained in the office 
of Secretary of State only three months, when he 
resigned to accept the position of Receiver for 
the Land Office. (See Lockwood, Sarmiel Drake.) 

The slavery question came up in the Legisla- 
ture on the reference to a special committee of a 
portion of the Governor's message, calling atten- 
tion to the continued existence of slavery in spite 
of the ordinance of 1787, and recommending that 
steps be taken for its extinction. Majority and 
minority reports were submitted, the former 
claiming the right of the State to amend its Con- 
stitution and thereby make such disposition of 
the slaves as it saw proper. Out of this grew a 
resolution submitting to the electors at the next 



election a proposition for a convention to revise 
the Constitution. This passed the Senate by the 
necessary two-thirds vote, and, having come up 
in the Hou.se (Feb. 11, 1823), it failed by a single 
vote — Nicholas Hansen, a Representative from 
Pike County, whose seat had been unsuccessfully 
contested by John Shaw at the beginning of the 
session, being one of those voting in the negative. 
The next day, without further investigation, the 
majority proceeded to reconsider its action in 
seating Hansen two and a half months previ- 
ously, and Shaw was seated in his place ; though, 
in order to do this, some crooked work was nec- 
essary to evade the rules. Shaw being seated, 
the submission resolution was then passed. No 
more exciting campaign was ever had in Illinois. 
Of five papers then published in the State, "The 
Edwardsville Spectator," edited by Hooper 
Warren, opposed the measure, being finally rein- 
forced by "The Illinois Intelligencer," which had 
been removed to Vandalia; "The Illinois Gaz- 
ette," at Shawneetown, published articles on 
both sides of the question, though rather favoring 
the anti-slavery cause, while "The Republican 
Advocate," at Kaskaskia, the organ of Senator 
Elias Kent Kane, and "The Republican," at 
Edwardsville, under direction of Judge Theophi- 
lus W. Smith, Emanuel J. West and Judge 
Samuel McRoberts (afterwards United States 
Senator), favored the Convention. The latter 
paper was established for the especial purpose of 
supporting the Convention scheme and was 
promptly discontinued on the defeat of the meas- 
ure. (See Newspapers, Early.) Among other 
supporters of the Convention proposition were 
Senator Jesse B. Thomas, John McLean, Richard 
M. Young, Judges Phillips, Browne and Reynolds, 
of the Supreme Court, and many more; while 
among the leading champions of the opposition, 
were Judge Lockwood, George Forquer (after- 
ward Secretary of State), Morris Birkbeck, George 
Churchill, Thomas Mather and Rev. Thomas Lip- 
pincott. Daniel P Cook, then Representative in 
Congress, was the leading champion of freedom 
on the stump, while Governor Coles contributed 
the salary of his entire term ($4,000), as well as 
his influence, to the support of the cause. Gov- 
ernor Edwards (then in the Senate) was the owner 
of slaves and occupied a non-committal position. 
The election was held August 2, 1824, resulting in 
4,972 votes for a Convention, to 6,640 against it, 
defeating the proposition by a majority of 1,668. 
Considering the size of the aggregate vote 
(11.612), the result was a decisive one. By it 
Illinois escaped the greatest danger it ever en- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



261 



countered previous to the War of the Rebellion. 
(See Slavery and Slave Latvs. ) 

At the same election Cook was re-elected to 
Congress by 3,016 majority over Shadrach Bond. 
The vote for President vras divided between John 
Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay 
and William H. Crawford — Adams receiving a 
plurality, but much below a majority. The Elect- 
oral College failing to elect a President, the 
decision of the question passed into the hands of 
the Congressional House of Representatives, 
when Adams was elected, receiving the vote of 
Illinois through its only Representative, Mr. Cook. 

During the remainder of his term. Governor 
Coles was made the victim of much vexatious 
litigation at the hands of his enemies, a verdict 
being rendered against him in the sum of §2,000 
for bringing his emancipated negroes into the 
State, in violation of the law of 1819. The Legis- 
lature having passed an act releasing him from 
the penalty, it was declared unconstitutional by 
a malicious Circuit Judge, though his decision 
was promptly reversed by the Supreme Court. 
Having lived a few years on his farm near 
Edwardsville, in 1832 he removed to Philadelphia, 
where he spent the remainder of his days, his 
death occurring there, July 7, 1868. In the face 
of opprobrium and defamation, and sometimes in 
danger of mob violence, Governor Coles per- 
formed a service to the State which has scarcely 
yet been fully recognized. (See Coles, Edward.) 

A ridiculous incident of the closing year of 
Coles' administration was the attempt of Lieut. - 
Gov. Frederick Adolphus Hubbard, after having 
tasted the sweets of executive power during the 
Governor's temporary absence from the State, to 
usurp the position after the Governor's return. 
The ambitious aspirations of the would-be usurper 
were suppressed by the Supreme Court. 

An interesting event of the year 1825, was the 
visit of General La Fayette to Kaskaskia. He 
was welcomed in an address by Governor Coles, 
and the event was made the occasion of much 
festivity by the French citizens of the ancient 
capital. {See La Fayette, Visit of .) 

The first State House at Vandalia having been 
destroyed by fire, Dec. 9, 1823, a new one was 
erected during the following year at a cost of 
$12,381.50, toward which the people of Vandalia 
contributed $5,000. 

Edwards' Administration.— The State elec- 
tion of 1826 resulted in again calling Ninian 
Edwards to the gubernatorial chair, which he 
had filled during nearly the whole of the exist- 
ence of Illinois as a Territory. Elected one of the 



first United States Senators, and re-elected for a 
second term in 1819, he had resigned this office in 
1824 to accept the position of Minister to Mexico, 
by appointment of President Monroe. Having 
become involved in a controversy with William 
H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, he 
resigned the Mexican mission, and, after a period 
of retirement to private life for the first time 
after he came to Illinois, he appealed to the 
people of the State for endorsement, with the 
result stated. His administration was unevent- 
ful except for the "Winnebago War," which 
caused considerable commotion on the frontier, 
without resulting in much bloodshed. Governor 
Edwards was a fine specimen of the "old school 
gentleman" of that period — dignified and polished 
in his manners, courtly and precise in his address, 
proud and ambitious, with a tendency to the 
despotic in his bearing in consequence of having 
been reared in a slave State and his long connec- 
tion with the executive office. His early educa- 
tion had been under the direction of the 
celebrated William Wirt, between whom and 
himself a close friendship existed. He was 
wealthy for the time, being an extensive land- 
owner as well as slave-holder and the proprietor of 
stores and mills, which were managed by agents, 
but he lost heavily by bad debts. He was for 
many years a close friend of Hooper Warren, the 
pioneer printer, furnishing the material with 
which the latter published his papers at Spring- 
field and Galena. At the expiration of his term 
of office near the close of 1830, he retired to his 
home at Belleville, where, after making an un- 
successful campaign for Congress in 1832, in 
which he was defeated by Charles Slade, he 
died of cholera, July 20, 1833. (See Edwards, 
Ninian. ) 

William Kinney, of Belleville, who was a can- 
didate for Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket 
opposed to Edwards, was elected over Samuel M. 
Thompson. In 1830, Kinney became a candidate 
for Governor but was defeated by John Reynolds, 
known as the "Old Ranger." One of the argu- 
ments used against Kinney in this campaign was 
that, in the Legislature of 1823, he was one of 
three members who voted against the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, on the ground that "it (the 
canal) would make an opening for the Yankees 
to come to the country." 

During Edwards' administration the first steps 
were taken towards the erection of a State peni- 
tentiary at Alton, funds therefor being secured 
by the sale of a portion of the saline lands in Gal- 
latin County. (See Alto7i Penitentiary.) The first 



262 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Commissioners having charge of its construction 
were Shadrach Bond, William P. McKee and 
Dr. Gersliom Jayne— tlie last-named the father of 
Dr. William Jayne of Springfield, and father-in- 
law of the late Senator Lyman Trumbull. 

Governor Reynolds— Bl.vck Hawk Wak. — 
The election of 1830 resulted in the choice of John 
Reynolds for Governor over William Kinney, by 
a majority of 3,899, in a total vote of 49,051, 
while Zadoc Casey, the candidate on the Kinney 
ticket, was elected Lieutenant-Governor. (See 
Reynolds, John.) 

The most important event of Reynolds' admin- 
istration was the "Black-Hawk War." Eight 
thousand militia were called out during this war 
to reinforce 1,.500 regular troops, the final result 
being the driving of 400 Indians west of the Mis- 
sissippi. Rock Island, which had been the favor- 
ite rallying point of the Indians for generations, 
was the central point at the beginning of this 
war. It is impossible to give the details of this 
complicated struggle, which was protracted 
through two campaigns (1831 and 1833), though 
there was no fighting wortli speaking of except 
in the last, and no serious loss to the whites in 
that, except the surprise and defeat of Stillman's 
command. Beardstown was the base of opera- 
tions in each of these campaigns, and that city 
has probably never witnessed such scenes of 
bustle and excitement since. Tlie Indian village 
at Rock Island was destroyed, and the fugitives, 
after being pursued through Northern Illinois 
and Southwestern Wisconsin without being 
allowed to surrender, were driven beyond the 
Mississippi in a famishing condition and with 
spirits completely broken. Galena, at that time 
the emporium of the "Lead Mine Region,"" and 
the largest town in the State north of Springfield, 
was the center of great e.xcitement, as the war 
was waged in the region surrounding it. (See 
Black Hawk War.) Although cool judges have 
not regarded this campaign as reflecting honor 
upon either the prowess or the magnanimity of 
the whites, it was remarkable for the number of 
those connected with it whose names afterwards 
became famous in the history of the State and 
the Nation. Among them were two who after- 
wards became Presidents of the United States — 
Col. Zachary Taylor of the regular army, and 
Abraham Lincoln, a Captain in the State militia 
— besides Jefferson Davis, then a Lieutenant in 
the regular army and afterwards head of the 
Southern Confederacy; three subsequent Gov- 
ernors — Duncan, Carlin and Ford — besides Gov- 
ernor Reynolds, who at that time occupied the 



gubernatorial chair; James Semple, afterwards 
United States Senator ; John T. Stuart, Lincoln"s 
law preceptor and partner, and later a Member 
of Congress, to say nothing of many others, who, in 
after years, occupied prominent positions as mem- 
bers of Congress, the Legislature or otherwise. 
Among the latter were Gen. John J. Hardin; 
the late Joseph Gillespie, of Edwardsville ; Col. 
John Dement ; William Thomas of Jackson- 
ville; Lieut. -Col. Jacob Fry; Henry Dodge and 
others. 

Under the census of 1830, Illinois became 
entitled to three Representatives in Congress 
instead of one, by whom it had been represented 
from the date of its admission as a State. Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Casey, having been elected to 
the Twenty-third Congress for the Second Dis- 
trict under the new apportionment, on March 1, 
1833, tendered his resignation of the Lieutenant- 
Governorship, and was succeeded by William L. 
D. Ewing, Temporary President of the Senate. 
(See A2]2]ortionment, Congressional: Casey, Zadoc, 
and Representatives in Congress.) W^ithin two 
weeks of the close of his term (Nov. 17, 1834), 
Governor Reynolds followed the example of his 
associate in office by resigning the Governorship 
to accept the seat in Congress for the First (or 
Southern) District, which had been rendered 
vacant by tlie death of Hon. Charles Slade, the 
incumbent in office, in July previous. This 
opened the way for a new promotion of acting 
Lieutenant-Governor Ewing, who thus had the 
distinction of occupying the gubernatorial office 
for the brief space of two weeks. (See Reynolds, 
John, and Slade. Charles. ) 

Ewing probably held a greater variety of 
offices under the State, than any other man who 
ever lived in it. Repeatedly elected to each 
branch of the General Assembly, he more than 
once filled the chair of Speaker of the House and 
President of the Senate ; served as Acting Lieu- 
tenant-Governor and Governor by virtue of the 
resignation of his superiors; was United States 
Senator from 1835 to 1837; still later became 
Clerk of the House where he had presided as 
Speaker, finally, in 1843, being elected Auditor of 
Public Accounts, and dying in that office three 
years later. In less than twentj' 3'ears, he held 
eight or ten different offices, including the high- 
est in the State. (See Ewing, William Lee David- 
son.) 

Duncan's Administration. — Joseph Duncan, 
who had served the State as its only Represent- 
ative in three Congresses, was elected Governor, 
August, 1834, over four competitors — William 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



263 



Kinney, Robert K. McLaughlin, James Evans 
and W. B. Archer. (See Duncan, Joseph.) 

His administration was made memorable by 
the large number of distinguished men who 
either entered public life at this period or gained 
additional prominence by their connection with 
public affairs. Among these were Abraham Lin- 
coln and Stephen A. Douglas; Col. E. D. Baker, 
who afterward and at different times represented 
Illinois and Oregon in the councils of the Nation, 
and who fell at Ball's Bluff in 1863; Orville H. 
Browning, a prospective United States Senator 
and future cabinet officer; Lieut. -Gov. John 
Dougherty; Gen. James Shields, Col. John J. 
Hardin, Archibald Williams, Cyrus and Ninian 
W. Edwards; Dr. John Logan, father of Gen. 
John A. Logan; Stephen T. Logan, and many 
more. 

During this administration was begun that 
gigantic scheme of "internal improvements," 
which proved so disastrous to the financial inter- 
ests of the State. The estimated cost of the 
various works undertaken, was over §11,000,000, 
and though little of substantial value was real- 
ized, yet, in 1853, the debt (principal and inter- 
est) thereby incurred (including that of the 
canal), aggregated nearly §17,000,000. The col- 
lapse of the scheme was, no doubt, hastened by 
the unexpected suspension of specie payments 
by the banks all over the country, which followed 
soon after its adoption. (See Internal Imx)rove- 
ment Policy ; also State Debt.) 

Capital Removed to Springfield. — At the 
session of the General As.sembly of 1836-37, an act 
was passed removing the State capital to Spring- 
field, and an appropriation of §50,000 was made to 
erect a building ; to this amount the city of Spring- 
field added a like sum, besides donating a site. In 
securing the passage of these acts, the famous 
"Long Nine," consisting of A. G. Herndon and 
Job Fletcher, in the Senate; and Abraham Lin- 
coln, Ninian W. Edwards, John Dawson, Andrew 
McCormick, Dan Stone, William F. Elkin and 
Robert L. Wilson, in the House — all Representa- 
tives from Sangamon County — played a leading 
part. 

The Murder op Love joy. — An event occurred 
near the close of Governor Duncan's term, wliich 
left a stain upon the locality, but for which his 
administration had no direct responsibility; to- 
wit, the murder of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, by a 
pro-slavery mob at Alton. Lovejoy was a native 
of Maine, who, coming to St. Louis in 1837, had 
been employed upon various papers, the last 
being "The St. Louis Observer." The outspoken 



hostility of this paper to slavery aroused a bitter 
local opposition which led to its removal to 
Alton, where the first number of "The Alton 
Observer" was issued, Sept. 8, 1836, though not 
until one press and a considerable portion of the 
material had been destroyed by a mob. On the 
night of August 21, 1837, there was a second , 
destruction of the material, when a third press 
having been procured, it was taken f/om the 
warehouse and thrown into the Mississippi. A 
fourth press was ordered, and, pending its 
arrival, Lovejoy appeared before a public meet- 
ing of his opponents and, in an impassioned 
address, maintained his right to freedom of 
speech, declaring in conclusion: "If the civil 
authorities refuse to protect me, I must look to 
God ; and if I die, I have determined to make my 
grave in Alton." These words proved prophetic. 
The new press was stored in the warehouse of 
Godfrey, Gillman & Co., on the night of Nov. 6, 
1837. A guard of sixty volunteers remained 
about the building the next day, but when night 
came all but nineteen retired to their homes. 
During the night a mob attacked the building, 
when a shot from the inside killed Lyman Bishop. 
An attempt was then made by the rioters to fire 
the warehouse by sending a man to the roof. To 
dislodge the incendiary, Lovejoy, with two 
others, emerged from the bviilding, when two or 
three men in concealment fired upon him, the 
shots taking effect in a vital part of his body, 
causing his death almost instantly. He was 
buried the following day without an inquest. 
Several of the attacking party and the defenders 
of the bviilding were tried for riot and acquitted 
— the former probably on account of popular 
sympathy with the crime, and the latter because 
they were guiltless of any crime except that of 
defending private property and attempting to 
preserve the law. The act of firing the fatal 
shots has been charged upon two men — a Dr. 
Jennings and his comrade, Dr. Beall. The 
former, it is said, was afterwards cut to pieces in 
a bar-room fight in Vicksburg, Miss., while the 
latter, having been captured by Comanche 
Indians in Texas, was burned alive. On the 
other hand, Lovejoy has been honored as a 
martyr and the sentiments for which he died 
have triumphed. (See Lovejoy, Elijah Parish; 
also Alton Riots. ) 

Carlin Succeeds to the Governorship.— 
Duncan was succeeded by Gov. Thomas Carlin, 
who was chosen at the election of 1838 over 
Cyrus Edwards (a younger brother of Gov. 
Ninian Edwards), who was the Whig candidate. 



264 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



The successful candidate for Lieutenant-Governor 
^vas Stinson H. Anderson of Jefferson County. 
(SeeCarlin,{Gov.) Thomas; Anderson, Stinson H.) 

Among the members of the Legislature chosen 
at this time we find the names of Orville H. 
Browning, Robert Blackwell, George Churchill, 
William G. Gatewood, Ebenezer Peck (of Cook 
County), William A. Richardson, Newton Cloud, 
Jfisse K. Dubois, O. B. Ficklin, Vital Jarrot, 
John Logan, William F. Thornton and Archibald 
Williams — all men of prominence in the subse- 
quent history of the State. This was the last 
Legislature that assembled at Vandalia, Spring- 
field becoming the capital, July 4, 1839. The 
corner-stone of the first State capitol at Spring- 
field was laid with imposing ceremonies, July 4, 
1837, Col. E. D. Baker delivering an eloquent 
address. Its estimated cost was $130,000, but 
$240,000 was expended upon it before its com- 
pletion. 

An incident of this campaign was the election 
to Congress, after a bitter struggle, of John T. 
Stuart over Stephen A. Douglas from the Third 
District, by a majority of fourteen votes. Stuart 
was re-elected in 1840, but in 1843 he was suc- 
ceeded, under a new apportionment, by Col. John 
J. Hardin, while Douglas, elected from the 
Quincy District, then entered the National Coun- 
cils for the first time. 

Field-McClernand Contest. — An exciting 
event connected with Carlin's administration was 
the attempt to remove Alexander P. Field from 
the office of Secretary of State, which he had 
held since 1828. Under the Constitution of 1818, 
this ofiice was filled by nomination by the Gov- 
ernor "with tlie advice and consent of the 
Senate." Carlin nominated John A. McCler- 
nand to supersede Field, but the Senate refused to 
confirm the nomination. After adjournment of 
the Legislature, McClernand attempted to obtain 
possession of the office by writ of quo warranto. 
The Judge of a Circuit Court decided the case in 
his favor, but this decision was overruled by the 
Supreme Court. A special session having been 
called, in November, 1840, Stephen A. Douglas, 
then of Morgan County, was nominated and con- 
firmed Secretary of State, but held the position 
only a few months, wlien he resigned to accept a 
place on the Supreme bench, being succeeded as 
Secretary by Lyman Trumbull. 

Supreme Court Revolutionized. — Certain 
decisions of some of the lower courts about this 
time, bearing upon the suffrage of aliens, excited 
the apprehension of the Democrats, who had 
heretofore been in political control of the State, 



and a movement was started in the Legislature 
to reorganize the Supreme Court, a majority of 
whom were Whigs. The Democrats were not 
unanimous in favor of the measure, but, after a 
bitter struggle, it was adopted, receiving a bare 
majority of one in the House. Under this act 
five additional Judges were elected, viz. : Thomas 
Ford, Sidney Breese, Walter B. Scates, Samuel 
H. Treat and Stephen A. Douglas — all Demo- 
crats. Mr. Ford, one of the new Judges, and 
afterwards Governor, has characterized this step 
as "a confessedly violent and somewhat revolu- 
tionary measure, which could never have suc- 
ceeded except in times of great party excite- 
ment." 

The great Whig mass-meeting at Springfield, 
in June, 1840, was an incident of the political 
campaign of that year. No such popular assem- 
blage had ever been seen in the State before. It 
is estimated that 20,000 people — nearly five per 
cent of the entire population of the State — were 
present, including a large delegation from Chi- 
cago who marched overland, under command of 
the late Maj.-Gen. David Hunter, bearing with 
them many devices so popular in that memorable 
campaign. 

Ford Elected Governor. — Judge Thomas 
Ford became the Democratic candidate for Gov- 
ernor in 1842, taking the place on the ticket of 
Col. Adam W. Snyder, who had died after nomi- 
nation. Ford was elected by more tlian 8,000 
majority over ex-Governor Duncan, the Whig 
candidate. John Moore, of McLean County (who 
had been a member of tlie Legislature for several 
terms and was afterwards State Treasurer), 
was elected Lieutenant-Governor. (See Ford, 
Thomas; Snyder, Adam W., and Moore, John.) 

Embarrassing Questions.— The failure of the 
State and the Shawneetown banks, near the close 
of Carlin's administration, had produced a condi- 
tion of business depression that was felt all over 
the State. At the beginning of Ford's adminis- 
tration, the State debt was estimated at $1.5, 6.57,- 
950 — within about one million of the highest 
point it ever reached — while the total population 
was a little over half a million. In addition to 
these drawbacks, the Mormon question became a 
source of embarrassment. This people, after 
having been driven from Missouri, settled at 
Nauvoo, in Hancock County; they increased 
rapidly in numbers, and, by the arrogant course 
of their leaders and their odious doctrines — 
especially with reference to "celestial marriage," 
and their assumptions of authority — arou.sed the 
bitter hostility of neighboring communities not 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



265 



of their faith. The popular indignation became 
greatly intensified by the course of unscrupulous 
politicians and the granting to the Mormons, by 
the Legislature, of certain charters and special 
privileges. Various charges were made against 
the obnoxious sect, including rioting, kidnap- 
ing, robbery, counterfeiting, etc., and the Gov- 
ernor called out the militia of the neighboring 
counties to preserve the peace. Joseph Smith — 
the founder of the sect — with his brother Hj-rum 
and three others, were induced to surrender to 
the authorities at Carthage, on the 23d of June, 
1844, under promise of protection of their per- 
sons. Then the charge was changed to treason 
and they were thrown into jail, a guard of eight 
men being placed about the building. A con- 
siderable portion of the militia had disbanded and 
returned home, while others were openly hostile 
to the prisoners. On June 27 a band of 150 
disguised men attacked the jail, finding little 
opposition among those set to guard it. In 
the assault which followed both of the Smiths 
were killed, while John Taylor, another of 
the prisoners, was wounded. The trial of the 
murderers was a farce and they were acquitted. 
A state of virtual war continued for a year, 
in which Governor Ford's authority was openly 
defied or treated with contempt by those whom 
he had called upon to preserve the peace. In 
the fall of 1845 the Mormons agreed to leave 
the State, and the following spring the pilgrim- 
age to Salt Lake began. Gen. John J. Hardin, 
who afterward fell at Buena Vista, was twice 
called on by Governor Ford to head parties of 
militia to restore order, while Gen. Mason Bray- 
man conducted the negotiations which resulted 
in the promise of removal. The great body of 
the refugees spent the following winter at Coun- 
cil Bluffs, Iowa, arriving at Salt Lake in June 
following. Another considerable body entered 
the service of the Government to obtain safe con- 
duct and sustenance across the plains. While 
the conduct of the Mormons during their stay 
at Nauvoo was, no doubt, very irritating and 
often lawless, it is equally true that the dis- 
ordered condition of affairs was taken advantage 
of by unscrupulous demagogues for dishonest 
purposes, and this episode has left a stigma 
upon the name of more than one over-zealous anti- 
Mormon hero. (See Mormons: Smith, Joseph.) 

Though Governor Ford's integrity and ability 
in certain directions have not been questioned, 
his administration was not a successful one, 
largely on account of the conditions which pre- 
vailed at the time and the embarrassments which 



he met from his own party. (See Ford, Thomas.) 
Mexican War.— A still more tragic chapter 
opened during the last year of Ford's administra- 
tion, in the beginning of the war with Mexico. 
Three regiments of twelve months' volunteers, 
called for by the General Government from the 
State of Illinois, were furnished with alacrity, 
and many more men offered their services than 
could be accepted- The names of their respective 
commanders — Cols. John J. Hardin, William H. 
Bissell and Ferris Forman — have been accorded 
a high place in the annals of the State and the 
Nation. Hardin was of an honorable Kentucky 
family ; he had achieved distinction at the bar 
and served in the State Legislature and in Con- 
gress, and his death on the battlefield of Buena 
Vista was universally deplored. (See Hardin, 
John J.) Bissell afterward served with distinc- 
tion in Congress and was the first Republican 
Governor of Illinois, elected in 1856. Edward D. 
Baker, then a Wliig member of Congress, re- 
ceived authority to raise an additional regiment, 
and laid the foundation of a reputation as broad 
as the Nation. Two other regiments were raised 
in the State "for the war" during the next year, 
led respectively by Col. Edward W. B. Newby and 
James Collins, beside four independent companies 
of mounted volunteers. The whole number of 
volunteers furnished by Illinois in this conflict 
was 6,123, of whom 86 were killed, and 183 
wounded, 12 dying of their wounds. Their loss 
in killed was greater than that of any other 
State, and the number of wounded only exceeded 
by those from South Carolina and Penn.sylvania. 
Among other lUinoisans who participated in this 
struggle, were Thomas L. Harris, William A. 
Richardson, J. L. D. Morrison, Murray F. Tuley 
and Charles C. P. Holden, while still others, 
either in the ranks or in subordinate positions, 
received the "baptism of fire" which prepared 
them to win distinction as commanders of corps, 
divisions, brigades and regiments during the War 
of the Rebellion, including such names as John 
A. Logan, Richard J. Oglesby, Benjamin M. 
Prentiss. James D. Morgan, W. H. L. Wallace 
(who fell at Pittsburg Landing), Stephen G. 
Hicks, Michael K. Lawler, Leonard F. Ross, 
Isham N. Haynie, Theophilus Lyle Dickey, 
Dudley Wickersham, Isaac C. Pugh. Thomas H. 
Flynn, J. P. Post, Nathaniel Niles, W. R. Morri- 
son, and others. (See Mexican War. ) 

French's Administration-Massac Rebellion. 
—Except for the Mexican War, which was still 
in progress, and acts of mob violence in certain 
portionsof the State— especially by a band of self- 



266 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



styled "regulators" in Pope and Massac Counties 
— the administration of Augustus C. French, 
which began with the close of the year 1846, was 
a quiet one. French was elected at the previous 
August election by a vote of 58,700 to 36,775 for 
Thomas M. Kilpatrick, the Whig candidate, and 
5,112 for Richard Eels, the Free-Soil (or Aboli- 
tion) candidate. The Whigs held their first State 
Convention this year for the nomination of a 
State ticket, meeting at Peoria. At the same 
election Abraham Lincoln was elected to Con- 
gress, defeating Peter Cartwright, the famous 
pioneer Methodist preacher, who was the Demo- 
cratic candidate. At the session of the Legisla- 
ture which followed, Stephen A. Douglas was 
elected to the United States Senate as successor 
to James Semple. 

Nev? Convention Movement. — Governor 
French was a native of New Hampshire, born 
August 2, 1808; he had practiced his profession 
as a lawyer in Crawford County, had been a 
member of the Tenth and Eleventli General 
Assemblies and Receiver of the Land Office at 
Palestine. The State had now begun to recover 
from the depression caused by the reverses of 
1837 and subsequent years, and for some time its 
growth in population had been satisfactory. The 
old Constitution, however, liad been felt to be a 
hampering influence, especially in dealing with 
the State debt, and, as early as 1843, the question 
of a State Convention to frame a new Constitu- 
tion had been submitted to popular vote, but was 
defeated by the narrow margin of 1,039 votes. 
The Legislature of 1844-45 adopted a resolution 
for resubmission, and at the election of 1846 it 
was approved by the people by a majority of 
35,326 in a total vote of 81,352. The State then 
contained ninety-nine counties, with an aggregate 
population of 662,150. The assessed valuation of 
property one year later was §92,206,493, while 
the State debt was §16,661,795 — or more than 
eighteen per cent of the entire assessed value of 
the property of the State. 

Constitutional Convention of 1847. —The 
election of members of a State Convention to 
form a second Constitution for the State of Illi- 
nois, was held April 19, 1847. Of one hundred 
and sixty-two members chosen, ninety-two were 
Democrats, leaving seventy members to all 
shades of the opposition. The Convention 
assembled at Springfield, June 7, 1847; it was 
organized b}' the election of Newton Cloud, Per- 
manent President, and concluded its labors after 
a session of nearly three months, adjourning 
August 31. The Constitution was submitted to 



a vote of the people, March 6, 1848, and was rati- 
fied by 59,887 votes in its favor to 15,859 against. 
A special article prohibiting free persons of color 
from settling in the State was adopted by 49,060 
votes for, to 20,883 against it; and another, pro- 
viding for a two-mill tax, by 41,017 for, to 30,586 
against. The Constitution went into effect April 
1, 1848. (See Constitutions; also Constitutional 
Convention of 1S4~-) 

The provision imposing a special two-mill tax, 
to be applied to the payment of the State in- 
debtedness, was the means of restoring the State 
credit, while that prohibiting the immigration 
of free persons of color, though in accordance 
with the spirit of the times, brought upon the 
State much opprobrium and was repudiated 
with emphasis during the War of the Rebellion. 
The demand for retrenchment, caused by the 
financial depression following the wild legislation 
of 1837, led to the adoption of many radical pro- 
visions in the new Constitution, some of which 
were afterward found to be serious errors open- 
ing the way for grave abuses. Among these 
was the practical limitation of the biennial ses- 
sions of the General Assembly to forty-two days, 
while the per diem of members was fixed at two 
dollars. The salaries of State officers were also 
fixed at what would now be recognized as an 
absurdly low figure, that of Governor being 
SI, 500; Supreme Court Judges, 81,200 each; Cir- 
cuit Judges, §1,000; State Auditor, §1,000; Secre- 
tary of State, and State Treasurer, §800 each. 
Among less objectionable provisions were those 
restricting the right of suffrage to white male 
citizens above the age of 21 years, which excluded 
(except as to residents of the State at the time of 
the adoption of the Constitution) a class of 
unnaturalized foreigners who had exercised the 
privilege as "inhabitants" under the Constitu- 
tion of 1818; providing for the election of all 
State, judicial and county officers by popular 
vote; prohibiting the State from incurring in- 
debtedness in excess of §50.000 without a special 
vote of the people, or granting the credit of the 
State in aid of any individual association or cor- 
poration; fixing the date of the State election 
on the Tuesday after the first Monday in Novem- 
ber in every fourth year, instead of the first. 
Monday in August, as had been the rule under 
the old Constitution. The tenure of office of all 
State officers was fixed at four years, except that 
of State Treasurer, which was made two years, 
and the Governor alone was made ineligible to 
immediate re-election. The number of members 
of the General Assembly was fixed at twenty-five 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



267 



in the Senate and seventy-five in the House, 
subject to a certain specified ratio of in- 
crease when the population should exceed 
1,000,000. 

As the Constitution of 1818 had been modeled 
upon the form then most popular in the Southern 
States — especially with reference to the large 
number of officers made appointive by the Gov- 
ernor, or elective by the Legislature — so the new 
Constitution was, in some of its features, more in 
harmony with those of other Northern States, 
and indicated the growing influence of New Eng- 
land sentiment. This was especially the case 
with reference to the section providing for a sys- 
tem of township organization in the several 
counties of the State at the pleasui-e of a majority 
of the voters of each county. 

Elections of 1848. — Besides the election for 
the ratification of the State Constitution, three 
other State elections were held in 1848, viz. : (1) 
for the election of State officers in August ; (3) 
an election of Judges in September, and (3) the 
Presidential election in November. At the first 
of these. Governor French, whose first term had 
been cut short two years by the adoption of the 
new Constitution, was re-elected for a second 
term, practically without opposition, the vote 
against him being divided between Pierre Menard 
and Dr. C. V. Dyer. French thus became his 
own successor, being the first Illinois Governor 
to be re-elected, and, though two years of his 
first term had been cut off by the adoption of the 
Constitution, he served in the gubernatorial 
office six years. The other State oflScers elected, 
were William McMurtry, of Knox, Lieutenant- 
Governor ; Horace S. Cooley, of Adams, Secretary 
of State; Thomas H. Campbell, of Randolph, 
Auditor; and Milton Carpenter, of Hamilton, 
State Treasurer — all Democrats, and all but 
McMurtry being their own successors. At the 
Presidential election in November, the electoral 
vote was given to Lewis Cass, the Democratic 
candidate, who received 56,300 votes, to 53,047 
for Taylor, the Whig candidate, and 15,774 for 
Martin Van Buren, the candidate of the Free 
Democracy or Free-Soil party. Thus, for the first 
time in the history of the State after 1824, the 
Democratic candidate for President failed to 
receive an absolute majority of the popular vote, 
being in a minority of 12,521, while having a 
plurality over the Whig candidate of 3,253, The 
only noteworthy results in the election of Con- 
gressmen this year were the election of Col. E. D. 
Baker (Whig), from the Galena District, and 
that of Maj. Thomas L. Harris (Democrat), from 



the Springfield District. Both Baker and Harris 
had been soldiers in the Mexican War, which 
probably accounted for their election in Districts 
usually opposed to them politically. The other 
five Congressmen elected from the State at the 
same time — including John Wentworth, then 
chosen for a fourth term from the Chicago Dis- 
trict — were Democrats. The Judges elected to 
the Supreme bench were Lyman Trumbull, from 
the Southern Division; Samuel H. Treat, from 
the Central, and John Dean Caton, from the 
Northern — all Democrats. 

A leading event of this session was the election 
of a United States Senator in place of Sidney 
Breese. Gen. James Shields, who had been 
severely wounded on the battle-field of Cerro 
Gordo; Sidney Breese, who had been the United 
States Senator for six years, and John A. Mc- 
Clernand, then a member of Congress, were 
arrayed against each other before the Democratic 
caucus. After a bitter contest. Shields was 
declared the choice of his party and was finally 
elected. He did not immediately obtain his seat, 
however. On presentation of his credentials, 
after a heated controversy in Congress and out of 
it, in which he injudiciously assailed his prede- 
cessor in very intemperate language, he was 
declared ineligible on the ground that, being of 
foreign birth, the nine years of citizenship 
required by the Constitution after naturalization 
had not elapsed previous to his election. In 
October, following, the Legislature was called 
together in special session, and. Shields' disabil- 
ity having now been removed by the expiration 
of the constitutional period, he was re-elected, 
though not without a renewal of the bitter con- 
test of the regular session. Another noteworthy 
event of this special session was the adoption of 
a joint resolution favoring the principles of the 
"Wilmot Proviso. " Although this was rescinded 
at the next regular session, on the ground that the 
points at issue had been settled in the Compro- 
mise measui-es of 1850, it indicated the drift of 
sentiment in Illinois toward opposition to the 
spread of the institution of slavery, and this was 
still more strongly emphasized by the election of 
Abraham Lincoln in 1860. 

Illinois Central Railroad. — Two important 
measures whicli passed the General Assembly at 
the session of 1851, were the Free-Banking Law, 
and the act incorporating the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company. The credit of first suggest- 
ing this great thoroughfare has been claimed for 
William Smith Waite, a citizen of Bond County, 
lU., as early as 1835, although a special charter 



268 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS 



for a road over a part of this line had been passed 
by the Legislatui-e in 1834. W. K. Aokerman, in 
his "Historical Sketch" of the Illinois Central 
Railroad, awards the credit of originating this 
enterprise to Lieut. -Gov. Alexander M. Jenkins, 
in the Legislature of 1832, of which he was a 
member, and Speaker of the House at the time. 
He afterwards became President of the first Illi- 
nois Central Railroad Company, organized under 
an act passed at the session of 1836, vchich pro- 
vided for the construction of a line from Cairo to 
Peru, 111. , but resigned the next year on the sur- 
render by the road of its charter. The first step 
toward legislation in Congress on this subject 
was taken in the introduction, by Senator Breese, 
of a bill in March, 1843; but it was not until 1850 
that the measure took the form of a direct grant 
of lands to the State, finally passing the Senate 
in May, and the House in September, following. 
The act ceded to the State of Illinois, for the pur- 
pose of aiding in the construction of a line of 
railroad from the junction of the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi, with brandies to Chicago and Dubuque, 
Iowa, respectively, alternate sections of land on 
each side of said railroad, aggregating 2,595,000 
acres, the length of the main line and branches 
exceeding seven hundred miles. An act incorpo- 
rating the Illinois Central Railroad Company 
passed the Illinois Legislature in February, 1851. 
The company was thereupon promptly organized 
with a number of New York capitalists at its 
head, including Robert Schuyler, George Gris- 
wold and Gouverneur Morris, and the grant was 
placed in the hands of trustees to be used for the 
purpose designated, under the pledge of the 
Company to build the road by July 4, 1854, and 
to pay seven per cent of its gross earnings into 
the State Treasury perpetually. A large propor- 
tion of the line was constructed through sections 
of country either sparsely settled or wholly 
unpopulated, but which have since become 
among the richest and most populous portions of 
the State. The fund already received by the State 
from the road exceeds the amount of the State 
debt incurred under the internal improvement 
scheme of 1837. {See Illinois Central Railroad.) 
Election of 1853.— Joel A. Matteson (Demo- 
crat) wa.s elected Governor at the November 
election, in 1852, receiving 80,645 votes to 64,405 
for Edwin B. Webb, Whig, and 8,809 for Dexter 
A. Knowlton, Free-Soil. The other State officers 
elected, were Gusta\ us Kcerner, Lieutenant- 
Governor ; Alexander Starne, Secretary of State ; 
Thomas H. Campbell, Auditor ; and John Moore, 
Treasurer. The Whig candidates for these 



offices, respectively, were James L, D. Morrison, 
Buckner S. Morris, Charles A. Betts and Francis 
Arenz. John A. Logan appeared among the new 
members of the House chosen at this election as 
a Representative from Jackson County ; while 
Henry W. Blodgett, since United States District 
Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, and 
late Counsel of the American Arbitrators of the 
Behring Sea Commission, was the only Free-Soil 
member, being the Representative from Lake 
County. John Reynolds, who had been Gov- 
ernor, a Justice of the Supreme Court and Mem- 
ber of Congress, was a member of the House and 
was elected Speaker. (See Webb, Edwin B.; 
Knowlton, Dexter A. ; Koerner, Gustainis: Starne, 
Alexander; Moore, John; Morrison, James L. D.; 
Morris, Buckner S.; Arenz, Francis A.; Blodgett 
Henry W.) 

Reduction of State Debt Begins.— The 
State debt reached its maximum at the beginning 
of Matteson's administration, amounting to 
§16,724,177, of which §7,259,822 was canal debt. 
The State had now entered upon a new and pros- 
perous period, and, in the next four years, the 
debt was reduced by the sum of §4,564,840, 
leaving the amount outstanding, Jan. 1, 1857, 
§13,834,144. The three State institutions at 
Jacksonville — the Asylums for the Deaf and 
Dumb, the Blind and Insane — had been in suc- 
cessful operation several years, but now internal 
dissensions and dissatisfaction with their man- 
agement seriously interfered with their prosperity 
and finally led to revolutions which, for a time, 
impaired their usefulness. 

Kansas-Nebr.^ska Excitement. — During Mat- 
teson's administration a period of political ex- 
citement began, caused by the introduction in 
the United States Senate, in January, 1854, by 
Senator Douglas, of Illinois, of the bill for the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise — otherwise 
known as the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Although 
this belongs rather to National history, the 
prominent part played in it by an Illinois states- 
man who had won applause three or four years 
before, by the service he liad performed in secur- 
ing the passage of the Illinois Central Railroad 
gi-ant, and the effect which his course had in 
revolutionizing the politics of the State, justifies 
reference to it here. After a debate, almost 
unprecedented in bitterness, it became a law, 
May 30, 1854. The agitation in Illinois was 
intense. At Chicago, Douglas was practically 
denied a hearing. Going to Springfield, where 
the State Fair was in progress, during the first 
week of October, 1854, he made a speech in the 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



269 



State Capitol in his defense. This was replied to 
by Abraham Lincoln, then a private citizen, to 
whom Douglas made a rejoinder. Speeches were 
also made in criticism of Douglas' position by 
Judges Breese and Trumbull (both of whom had 
been prominent Democrats), and other Demo- 
cratic leaders were understood to be ready to 
assail the champion of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
though they afterwards reversed their position 
under partisan pressure and became supporters of 
the measure. The first State Convention of the 
opponents of the Nebraska Bill was held at the 
same time, but the attendance was small and the 
attempt to effect a permanent organization was 
not successful. At the session of the Nineteenth 
General Assembly, which met in January, fol- 
lowing, Lyman Trumbull was chosen the first 
Republican United States Senator from Illinois, 
in place of General Shields, whose term was about 
to expire. Trumbull was elected on tne tenth 
ballot, receiving fifty-one votes to forty-seven 
for Governor Matteson, though Lincoln had led 
on the Republican side at every previous ballot, 
and on the first had come within six votes of an 
election. Although he was then the choice of a 
large majority of the opposition to the Demo- 
cratic candidate, when Lincoln saw that the 
original supporters of Trumbull would not cast 
their votes for himself, he generously insisted 
that his friends should support his rival, thus 
determining the result. (See Matteson, Joel A.; 
TrimhuU, Lyman, and Lincoln, Ahraham.) 

Decatur Editorial Convention. — On Feb. 
22, 1856, occurred the convention of Anti-Neb- 
raska (Republican) editors at Decatur, which 
proved the first effective step in consolidating 
the opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill into a 
compact political organization. The main busi- 
ness of this convention consisted in the adoption 
of a series of resolutions defining the position of 
their authors on National questions — especially 
with reference to the institution of slavery — and 
appointing a State Convention to be held at 
Bloomington, May 29, following. A State Cen- 
tral Committee to represent the new party was 
also appointed at this convention. With two or 
three exceptions the Committeemen accepted and 
joined in the call for the State Convention, which 
was held at the time designated, when the first 
Republican State ticket was put in the field. 
Among the distinguished men who participated 
in this Convention were Abraham Lincoln, O. H. 
Browning, Richard Yates, Owen Lovejoy, John 
M. Palmer, Isaac N. Arnold and John Went 
worth. Palmer presided, while Abraham Lin- 



coln, who was one of the chief speakers, was one 
of the delegates appointed to the National Con- 
vention, held at Philadelphia on the 17th of June. 
The candidates put in nomination for State offices 
were; William H. Bissell for Governor; Francis 
A. Hoffman for Lieutenant-Governor (afterward 
replaced by John Wood on account of Hoffman's 
ineligibility) ; Ozias M. Hatch for Secretary of 
State; Jesse K. Dubois for Auditor; James H. 
Miller for State Treasurer, and William H. Powell 
for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The 
Democratic ticket was composed of William A. 
Richardson for Governor; R. J. Hamilton, Lieu- 
tenant-Governor; W. H. Snyder, Secretary of 
State ; S. K. Casey, Auditor ; John Moore, Treas- 
urer, and J. H. St. Matthew, Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. The American organization 
also nominated a ticket headed by Buokner S. 
Morris for Governor. Although the Democrats 
carried the State for Buchanan, their candidate 
for President, by a plurality of 9,159, the entire 
Republican State ticket was elected by pluralities 
ranging from 3,031 to 20,213— the latter being the 
majority for Miller, candidate for State Treas- 
urer, whose name was on both the Republican and 
American tickets. (See Anti-Nebraska Editorial 
Convention, and Bloomington Convention of 
1856. ) 

Administration of Governor Bissell. — 
With the inaugiu-ation of Governor Bissell, the 
Republican party entered upon the control of the 
State Government, which was maintained with- 
out interruption until the close of the administra- 
tion of Governor Fifer, in January, 1898— a period 
of thirty-six years. On account of physical disa- 
bility Bissell's inauguration took place in the 
executive mansion, Jan. 12, 1857. He was 
immediately made the object of virulent personal 
abuse in the House, being charged with perjury 
in taking the oath of office in face of the fact 
that, while a member of Congress, he had accepted 
a challenge to fight a duel with Jefferson Davis. 
To this, the reply was made that the offense 
charged took place outside of the State and be- 
yond the legal jurisdiction of the Constitution of 
Illinois. (See BisseZ/, William H.) 

While the State continued to prosper under 
Bissell's administration, the most important 
events of this period related rather to general 
than to State policy. One of these was the deliv- 
ery by Abraham Lincoln, in the Hall of Repre- 
sentatives, on the evening of June 17, 1858, of the 
celebrated speech in which he announced the 
doctrine that "a house divided against itself can- 
not stand." This was followed during the next 



370 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



few months by the series of memorable debates 
between those two great champions of their 
respective parties — Lincoln and Douglas — which 
attracted the attention of the whole land. The 
result was the re-election of Douglas to the 
United States Senate for a third term, but it 
also made Abraham Lincoln President of the 
United States. (See Lincoln and Douglas 
Debates.) 

About the middle of Bissell's term (February, 
1859), came the discovery of what has since been 
known as the celebrated "Canal Scrip Fraud." 
This consisted in the fraudulent funding in State 
bonds of a large amount of State scrip which had 
been issued for temporary purposes during the 
construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
but which had been subsequently redeemed. A 
legislative investigation proved the amount ille- 
gally funded to have been .?323,183, and that the 
bulk of the bonds issued therefor — so far as they 
could be traced — had been delivered to ex-Gov. 
Joel A. Matteson. For this amount, with ac- 
crued interest, he gave to the State an indemnity 
bond, secured by real-estate mortgages, from 
which the State eventually realized §238,000 out 
of §355,000 then due. Further investigation 
proved additional frauds of like character, aggre- 
gating §165,346, which the State never recovered. 
An attempt was made to prosecute Matteson 
criminally in the Sangamon County Circuit 
Court, but the grand jury failed, by a close vote, 
to find an indictment against him. (See Canal 
Scrip Fraud. ) 

An attempt was made during Bissell's adminis- 
tration to secure the refunding (at par and in 
violation of an existing law) of one hundred and 
fourteen §1,000 bonds hypothecated with Macalis- 
ter & Stebbins of New York in 18-11, and for 
which the State had received an insignificant 
consideration. The error was discovered when 
new bonds for the principal had been issued, but 
the process was immediately stopped and the 
new bonds surrendered — the claimants being 
limited by law to 38.64 cents on the dollar. This 
subject is treated at length elsewhere in this vol- 
ume. (See 3Iacalister <& Stebbins Bonds.) Governor 
Bissell's administration was otherwise unevent- 
ful, altliough the State continued to prosper 
under it as it had not done since the "internal 
improvement craze" of 1837 had resulted in im- 
posing sucli a burden of debt upon it. At the 
time of his election Governor Bissell was an 
invalid in consequence of an injury to his spine, 
from which he never recovered. He died in 
office, March 18, 1860, a little over two months 



after having entered upon the last year of his 
term of office, and was succeeded by Lieut. -Gov. 
John Wood, who served out the unexpired term. 
(See Bissell, William H.; also Wood, John.) 

Political Campaign of 1860. — The political 
campaign of 1860 was one of unparalleled excite- 
ment throughout the nation, but especially in 
Illinois, which became, in a certain sense, the 
chief battle-ground, furnishing the successful 
candidate for the Presidency, as well as being the 
State in which the convention which nominated 
him met. The Republican State Convention, 
held at Decatur, May 9. put in nomination 
Richard Yates of Morgan County, for Governor ; 
Francis A. Hoffman for Lieutenant-Governor, 
O. M. Hatch for Secretary of State, Jesse K. 
Dubois for Auditor, William Butler for Treasurer, 
and Newton Bateman for Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction. If this campaign was memorable 
for its excitement, it was also memorable for the 
large number of National and State tickets in the 
field. The National Republican Convention 
assembled at Chicago, May 16, and, on the third 
ballot, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for 
President amid a whirlwind of enthusiasm unsur- 
passed in the history of National Conventions, of 
which so many have been held in the "conven- 
tion city" of the Northwest. The campaign was 
what might have been expected from such a 
beginning. Lincoln, though receiving consider- 
ably less than one-half the popular vote, had a 
plurality over his highest competitor of nearly 
half a million votes, and a majority in the elect- 
oral colleges of fifty-seven. In Illinois he 
received 173,161 votes to 160,215 for Douglas, his 
leading opponent. The vote for Governor stood : 
Yates (Republican), 172,196; Allen (Douglas- 
Democrat), 159,253; Hope (BreckinridgeDemo- 
crat), 3.049; Stuart (American), 1,626. 

Among the prominent men of different parties 
who appeared for the first time in the General 
Assembly chosen at this time, were William B. 
Ogden, Richard J. Oglesby, Washington Bushnell, 
and Henry E. Dummer, of the Senate, and Wil- 
liam R. Archer, J. Russell Jones, Robert H. 
McClellan, J. Young Scammon, William H. 
Brown, Lawrence Weldon, N. M. Broadwell, and 
John Scholfield, in the House. Slielby M. Cul- 
lom, who had entered the Legislature at the 
previous session, was re-elected to this and was 
chosen Speaker of the House over J. W. Single- 
ton. Lyman Trumbull was re-elected to the 
United States Senate by the votes of the Repub- 
licans over Samuel S. Marshall, the Democratic 
candidate. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



271 



Beginning op the Rebellion. — Almost simul- 
taneously with the accession of the new State 
Government, and before the inauguration of the 
President at Washington, began that series of 
startling events which ultimately culminated in 
the attempted secession of eleven States of the 
Union — the first acts in the great drama of war 
which occupied the attention of the world for the 
next four years. On Jan. 14, 1861, the new 
State administration was inaugurated ; on Feb. 2, 
Commissioners to the futile Peace Conven- 
tion held at Washington, were appointed from 
Illinois, consisting of Stephen T. Logan, John M. 
Palmer, ex-Gov. John Wood, B. C. Cook and T. J. 
Turner; and on Feb. 11, Abraham Lincoln 
took leave of his friends and neighbors at Spring- 
field on his departure for Washington, in that 
simple, touching speech which has taken a place 
beside his inaugural addresses and his Gettysburg 
speech, as an American classic. The events 
which followed ; the firing on Fort Sumter on the 
twelfth of April and its surrender; the call for 
75,000 troops and the excitement which prevailed 
all over the country, are matters of National his- 
tory. Illinoisans responded with promptness and 
enthusiasm to the call for six regiments of State 
militia for three months' service, and one week 
later (April 21), Gen. R. K. Swift, of Chicago, at 
the head of seven companies numbering 593 men, 
was en route for Cairo to execute the order of the 
Secretary of War for the occupation of that 
place. The offer of military organizations pro- 
ceeded rapidly, and by the eighteenth of April, 
fifty companies had been tendered, while the 
public-spirited and patriotic bankers of the prin- 
cipal cities were offering to supply the State with 
money to arm and equip the hastilj' organized 
troops. Following in order the six regiments 
which Illinois had sent to the Mexican War. 
those called out for the three months' service in 
1861 were numbered consecutively from seven to 
twelve, and were commanded by the following 
officers, respectively: Cols. John Cook, Richard 
J. Oglesby, Eleazer A. Paine, James D. Morgan, 
W. H. L. Wallace and John McArthur, with 
Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss as brigade com- 
mander. The rank and file numbered 4,680 men, 
of whom 2,000, at the end of their term of serv- 
ice, re-enlisted for three years. (See War of the 
Rebellion. ) 

Among the many who visited the State Capitol 
in the early months of war to offer their services 
to the Government in suppressing the Rebellion, 
one of the most modest and unassuming was a 
gentleman from Galena who brought a letter of 



introduction to Governor Yates from Congress- 
man E. B. Washburne. Though he had been a 
Captain in the regular army and had seen service 
in the war with Mexico, he set up no pretension 
on that account, but after days of patient wait- 
ing, was given temporary employment as a clerk 
in the office of the Adjutant-General, Col. T. S. 
Mather. Finally, an emergency having arisen 
requiring the services of an officer of military 
experience as commandant at Camp Yates (a 
camp of rendezvous and instruction near Spring- 
field), he was assigned to the place, rather as an 
experiment and from necessity than from convic- 
tion of any peculiar fitness for the position. 
Having acquitted himself creditably here, he was 
assigned, a few weeks later, to the command of a 
regiment (The Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers) 
which, from previous bad management, had 
manifested a mutinous tendency. And thus 
Ulysses S. Grant, the most successful leader of 
the war, the organizer of final victory over the 
Rebellion, the Lieutenant-General of the armies 
of the Union and twice elected President of the 
United States, started upon that career which 
won for him the plaudits of the Nation and the 
title of the grandest soldier of his time. (See 
Grant, Ulysses S.) 

The responses of Illinois, under the leadership 
of its patriotic "War Governor," Richard Yates, 
to the repeated calls for volunteers through the 
four years of war, were cheerful and prompt. Illi- 
nois troops took part in nearly every important 
battle in the Mississippi Valley and in many of 
those in the East, besides accompanying Sher- 
man in his triumphal "March to the Sea." Illi- 
nois blood stained the field at Belmont, at 
Wilson's Creek, Lexington, Forts Donelson and 
Henry ; at Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville, Stone River 
and Chickamauga; at Jackson, during the siege 
of Vicksburg, at AUatoona Pass, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, in 
the South and West; and at Chancellorsville, 
Antietam, Gettysburg, Petersburg and in the 
battles of "the Wilderness" in Virginia. Of all 
the States of the Union, Illinois alone, up to 
Feb. 1, 1864, presented the proud record of hav- 
ing answered every call upon her for troops 
without a draft. The whole number of enlist- 
ments from the State under the various calls from 
1861 to 1865, according to the records of the War 
Department, was 255,037 to meet quotas aggre- 
gating 244, 496. The ratio of troops furnished to 
population was 15.1 per cent, which was only 
exceeded by the District of Columbia (which 
had a large influx from the States), and Kansas 



272 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and Nevada, each of wliich had a much larger 
proportion of adult male population. The whole 
number of regimental organizations, according 
to the return.s in the Adjutant General's office, 
was 151 regiments of infantry (numbered con- 
secutively from the Sixth to the One Hundred 
and Fifty-seventh), 17 regiments of cavalry and 3 
regiments of artillery, besides 9 independent bat- 
teries. The total losses of Illinois troops, officially 
reported by the War Department, were 34,834 
(13.65 per cent), of which 5,874 were killed in 
battle, 4,020 died of wounds, 22,786 died of disease, 
and 2,154 from other causes. Besides the great 
Commander-in-Chief, Abraham Lincoln, and 
Lieut. -Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Illinois furnished 
11 full Major-Generals of volunteers, viz.: 
Generals John Pope, John A. McClernand, S. A. 
Hurlbut, B. M. Prentiss, John M. Palmer, R. J. 
Oglesby, John A. Logan, John M. Schofield, Giles 
A. Smith, Wesley Merritt and Benjamin H. 
Grierson ; 20 Brevet Major-Generals ; 24 Brigadier- 
Generals, and over 120 Brevet Brigadier-Generals. 
(See sketches of these officers under their respec- 
tive names.) Among the long list of regimental 
officers who fell upon the field or died from 
wounds, appear the names of Col. J. R. Scott of 
the Nineteenth ; Col. Thomas D. Williams of the 
Twenty-fifth, and Col. F. A. Harrington of the 
Twenty-seventh— all killed at Stone River; Col. 
John W. S. Alexander of the Twenty-first; Col. 
Daniel Gilmer of the Thirty -eighth ; Lieut. -Col. 
Duncan J. Hall of the Eighty -ninth ; Col. Timothy 
O'Meara of the Ninetieth, and Col. Holden Put- 
nam, at Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge; 
Col. John B. Wyman of the Thirteenth, at 
Chicka.saw Bayou; Lieut. -Col. Thomas W. Ross, 
of the Thirty-second, at Shiloh; Col. John A. 
Davis of the Forty -sixth, at Hatchie; Col. Wil- 
liam A. Dickerman of the One Hundred and 
Third, at Resaoa; Col. Oscar Harmon, at Kene- 
saw; Col. John A. Bross, at Petersburg, besides 
Col. Mihalotzy, Col. Silas Miller, Lieut. -Col. 
Melancthon Smith, Maj. Zenas Applington, Col. 
John J. Mudd, Col. Matthew H. Starr, Maj. Wm. 
H. Medill, Col. Warren Stewart and many more 
on other battle-fields. (Biographical sketches of 
many of these officers will be found under the 
proper heads elsewhere in this volume.) It 
would be a grateful task to record here the names 
of a host of others, who, after acquitting them- 
selves bravely on the field, survived to enjoy the 
plaudits of a grateful people, were this within 
the design and scope of the present work. One 
of the most brilliant exploits of the War was the 
raid from La Grange, Tenn., to Baton Rouge, 



La., in May, 1863, led by Col. B. H. Grierson, of 
the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, in co-operation with 
the Seventh under command of Col. Edward 
Prince. 

Constitutional Conventio.\ op 1862. — An 
incident of a different character was the calling 
of a convention to revise the State Constitu- 
tion, which met at Springfield, Jan. 7, 1862. A 
majority of this body was composed of those 
opposed to the war policy of the Government, 
and a disposition to interfere with the affairs of 
the State administration and the General Gov- 
ernment was soon manifested, which was resented 
by the executive and many of the soldiers in the 
field. The convention adjourned March 24, and 
its work was submitted to vote of the people, 
June 17, 1862, when it was rejected by a majority 
of more than 16,000, not counting the soldiers in 
the field, who were permitted, as a matter of 
policy, to vote upon it, but who were practically 
unanimous in opposition to it. 

Death op Douglas. — A few days before this 
election (June 3, 1862), United States Senator 
Stephen A. Douglas died, at the Tremont House 
in Chicago, depriving the Democratic party of 
the State of its most sagacious and patriotic 
adviser. {See Douglas, Stephen A.) 

Legislature op 1863. — Another political inci- 
dent of this period grew out of the session of the 
General Assemblj' of 1863. This body having 
been elected on the tide of the political revulsion 
which followed the issuance of President Lin- 
coln's preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, 
was Democratic in both branches. One of its 
first acts was the election of William A. Richard- 
son United States Senator, in place of O. H. 
Browning, who had been appointed by Governor 
Yates to the vacancy caused by the death of 
Douglas. This Legislature early showed a tend- 
ency to follow in the footsteps of the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1862, by attempting to 
cripple the State and General Governments in 
the prosecution of the war. Resolutions on the 
subject of the war, which the friends of the 
L^nion regarded as of a most mischievous charac- 
ter, were introduced and passed in the House, but 
owing to the death of a member on the majority 
side, they failed to pass the Senate. These 
denounced the suspension of the writ of habeas 
corpus; condemned "the attempted enforcement 
of compensated emancipation" and "the transpor- 
tation of negroes into the State;" accused the 
General Government of "usurpation," of "sub- 
verting the Constitution" and attempting to 
establish a "consolidated military despotism;" 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



273 



charged that the war had been "diverted from its 
first avowed object to that of sultjugation and 
the abolition of slavery;" declared the belief of 
the authors that its "further prosecution .... 
cannot result in the restoration of the Union 
.... unless the President's Emancipation Proc- 
lamation be withdrawn;" appealed to Congress 
to secure an armistice with the rebel States, and 
closed by appointing six Commissioners (who 
were named) to confer with Congress, with a 
view to the holding of a National Convention to 
adjust the differences between the States. These 
measures occupied the attention of the Legisla- 
ture to the exclusion of subjects of State interest, 
so that little legislation was accomplished — not 
even the ordinary appropriation bills being passed. 

Legislature Prorogued.— At this juncture, 
the two Houses having disagreed as to the date 
of adjournment, Governor Yates exercised the 
constitutional prerogative of proroguing them, 
which he did in a message on June 10, declaring 
them adjourned to the last day of their constitu- 
tional term. The Republicans accepted the result 
and withdrew, but the Democratic majority in 
the House and a minority in the Senate continued 
in session for some days, without being able to 
transact any business except the filing of an 
empty protest, when they adjourned to the first 
Monday of January, 1864. The excitement pro- 
duced by this affair, in tlie Legislature and 
throughout the State, was intense; but the action 
of Governor Yates was sustained by the Supreme 
Court and the adjourned session was never held. 
Tlie failure of the Legislature to make provision 
for the expenses of the State Government and the 
relief of the soldiers in the field, made it neces- 
sary for Governor Yates to accept that aid from 
the public-spirited bankers and capitalists of the 
State which was never wanting when needed 
during this critical period. (See Twenty-Third 
General Assembly. ) 

Peace Conventions.— Largely attended "peace 
conventions" were held during this year, at 
Springfield on June 17, and at Peoria in Septem- 
ber, at which resolutions opposing the "further 
offensive prosecution of the war" were adopted. 
An immense Union mass-meeting was also held 
at Springfield on Sept. 3, which was addressed 
by distinguished .speakers, including both Re- 
publicans and War-Democrats. An important 
incident of this meeting was the reading of the 
letter from President Lincoln to Hon. James C. 
Conkling, in which he defended his war policy, 
and especially his Emancipation Proclamation, 
in a characteristically logical manner. 



Political Camp.uon of 1864.— The year 1864 
was full of exciting political and military events. 
Among the former was the nomination of George 
B. McClellan for President by the Democratic Con- 
vention held at Chicago, August 29, on a platform 
declaring the war a "failure" as an "experiment" 
for restoring the Union, and demanding a "cessa- 
tion of hostilities" with a view to a convention for 
the restoration of peace. Mr. Lincoln had been 
renominated by the Republicans at Philadelphia, 
in June previous, with Andrew Johnson as the 
candidate for Vice-President. The leaders of the 
respective State tickets were Gen. Richard J. 
Oglesby, on the part of the Republicans, for Gov- 
ernor, with William Bross, for Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, and James C. Robinson as the Democratic 
candidate for Governor. 

Camp Douglas Conspiracy. — For months 
rumors hail been rife concerning a conspiracy of 
rebels from the South and their sympathizers in 
the North, to release the rebel prisoners confined 
in Camp Douglas, Chicago, and at Rock Island, 
Springfield and Alton — aggregating over 25,000 
men. It was charged that the scheme was to be 
put into effect simultaneously with the Novem- 
ber election, but the activity of the military 
authorities in arresting the leaders and seizing 
their arms, defeated it. The investigations of a 
military court before whom a number of the 
arrested parties were tried, proved the existence 
of an extensive organization, calling itself 
"American Knights" or "Sons of Liberty," of 
which a number of well-known politicians in 
Illinois were members. (See Camp Douglas 
Conspiracy. ) 

At the November election Illinois gave a major- 
ity for Lincoln of 30.756, and for Oglesby, for 
Governor, of 83,675, with a proportionate major- 
ity for the rest of the ticket. Lincoln's total vote 
in the electoral college was 212, to 21 for McClellan. 

Legisl.ature of 1865. — The Republicans had a 
decided majority in both branches of the Legis- 
lature of 1805, and one of its earliest acts was the 
election of Governor Yates, United States Sena- 
tor, in place of William A. Richardson, who had 
been elected two years before to the seat formerly 
held by Douglas. This was the last public posi- 
tion held by the popular Illinois "War Gov- 
ernor." During his official term no more popular 
public servant ever occupied the executive chair 
—a fact demonstrated by the promptness with 
which, on retiring from it, he was elected to the 
United States Senate. His personal and political 
integrity was never questioned by his most bitter 
political opponents, while those who had known 



274 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



him longest and most intimately, trusted him 
most implicitly. The service which he performed 
in giving direction to the patriotic sentiment of 
the State and in marshaling its heroic soldiers 
for the defense of the Union can never be over- 
estimated. (See Yates, Richard.) 

Oglesby's Administration. — Governor Ogles- 
by and the other State officers were inaugu- 
rated Jan. 17, 1865. Entering upon its duties 
with a Legislature in full sympathy with it, the 
new administration was confronted by no such 
difficulties as those with which its predecessor 
had to contend. Its head, who had been identi- 
fied with the war from its beginning, was one of 
the first lUinoisans promoted to the rank of 
Major-General, was personally popular and 
enjoyed the confidence and respect of the people 
of the State. Allen C. Fuller, who had retired 
from a position on the Circuit bench to accept 
that of Adjutant-General, which he held during 
the last three years of the war, was Speaker of 
the House. This Legislature was the first among 
those of all the States to ratify the Thirteenth 
Amendment of the National Constitution, abolish- 
ing slavery, which it did in both Houses, on the 
evening of Feb. 1, 1865^the same day the resolu- 
tion had been finally acted on by Congress and 
received the sanction of the President. The 
odious "black laws," which had disgraced the 
State for twelve years, were wiped from the 
statute-book at this session. The Legislature 
adjourned after a session of forty-six days, leav- 
ing a record as creditable in the disposal of busi- 
ness as that of its predecessor had been discredit- 
able. (See Oylesby, Richard J.) 

Assassination of Lincoln. — The war was now 
rapidly approaching a successful termination. 
Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, 
April 9, 1865, and the people were celebrating 
this event with joyful festivities through all the 
loyal States, but nowhere wnth more enthusiasm 
than in Illinois, the home of the two great 
leaders — Lincoln and Grant. In the midst of 
these jubilations came the assassination of Presi- 
dent Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, on the 
evening of April 14, 1865, in Ford's Theater, 
Washington. The appalling news was borne on 
the wings of the telegraph to ever}' corner of the 
land, and instantly a nation in rejoicing was 
changed to a nation in mourning. A pall of 
gloom hung over every part of the land. Public 
buildings, business houses and dwellings in every 
city, village and hamlet throughout the Wal 
States were draped with the insignia of a univer- 
sal sorrow. Millions of strong men, and tender, 



patriotic women who had given their husbands, 
sons and brothers for the defense of the Union, 
wept as if overtaken by a great personal calam- 
ity. If the nation mourned, much more did Illi- 
nois, at the taking off of its chief citizen, the 
grandest character of the age, who had served 
both State and Nation with such patriotic fidel- 
ity, and perished in the very zenith of his fame 
and in the hour of his country's triumph. 

The Funeral. — Then came the son-owful 
march of the funeral cortege from Washington 
to Springfield — the most impressive spectacle 
witnessed since the Day of the Crucifixion. In 
all this, Illinois bore a conspicuous part, as on the 
fourth day of May, 1865, amid the most solemn 
ceremonies and in the presence of sorrowing 
thousands, she received to her bosom, near his 
old home at the State Capital, the remains of the 
Great Liberator. 

The part which Illinois played in the great 
struggle has already been dwelt upon as fully as 
the scope of this work will permit. It only 
remains to be said that the patriotic service of 
the men of tlie State was grandlj' supplemented 
by the equally patriotic service of its women in 
"Soldiers' Aid Societies," "Sisters of the Good 
Samaritan," "Needle Pickets," and in sanitary 
organizations for the purpose of contributing to 
the comfort and health of the soldiers in camp 
and in hospital, and in giving them generous 
receptions on their return to their homes. The 
work done by these organizations, and by indi- 
vidual nurses in the field, illustrates one of the 
brightest pages in the history of the war. 

Election of 1866.— The administration of Gov- 
ernor Oglesby was as peaceful as it was prosper- 
ous. The chief political events of 1866 were the 
election of Newton Bateman, State Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction, and Gen. Geo. W. 
Smith, Treasurer, while Gen. John A. Logan, as 
Representative from the State-at-large. re-entered 
Congress, from which he had retired in 1861 to 
enter the Union army. His majority was un- 
precedented, reaching 55,987. The Legislature 
of 1867 reelected Judge Trumbull to the United 
States Senate for a third term, his chief competi- 
tor in the Republican caucus being Gen. John M. 
Palmer. The Fourteenth Amendment to the 
National Constitution, conferring citizenship 
upon persons of color, was ratified by this Legis- 
lature. 

Election of 1868.— The Republican State Con- 
vention of 1868, held at Peoria, May 6, nominated 
the following ticket : For Governor, John M. 
Palmer, Lieutenant-Governor, John Dougherty; 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



275 



Secretary of State, Edward Rummell; Auditor, 
Charles E. Lippincott, State Treasurer, Erastus N. 
Bates; Attorney General, Washington Bushnell. 
John R. Eden, afterward a member of Congress 
for three terms, headed the Democratic ticket as 
candidate for Governor, with William H. Van 
Epps for Lieutenant-Governor. 

The Republican National Convention was held 
at Chicago, May 21, nominating Gen. U. S. Grant 
for President and Schuyler Colfax for Vice- 
President. They were opposed by Horatio 
Seymour for President, and F. P. Blair for Vice- 
President. The result in November was the 
election of Grant and Colfax, who received 214 
electoral votes from 26 States, to 80 electoral 
votes for Seymour and Blair from 8 States — three 
States not voting. Grant's majority in Illinois 
was 51,150, Of course the Republican State 
ticket was elected. The Legislature elected at 
the same time consisted of eighteen Republicans 
to nine Democrats in the Senate and fifty-eight 
Republicans to twenty-seven Democrats in the 
House. 

Palmer's Administration, — Governor Pahn- 
er's administration began auspiciously, at a time 
when the passions aroused by the war were sub- 
siding and the State was recovering its normal 
prosperity. (See Palmer, John M.) Leading 
events of the next four years were the adoption 
of a new State Constitution and the Chicago fire. 
The first steps in legislation looking to the con- 
trol of railroads were taken at the session of 

1869, and although a stringent law on the subject 
passed both Houses, it was vetoed by the Gov- 
ernor. A milder measure was afterward enacted, 
and, although superseded by the Constitution of 

1870, it furnished the key-note for much of the 
legislation since had on the subject. The cele- 
brated "Lake Front Bill," conveying to the city 
of Chicago and the Illinois Central Railroad the 
title of the State to certain lands included in 
what was known as the "Lake Front Park," was 
passed, and although vetoed by the Governor, 
was re-enacted over his veto. This act was 
finally repealed by the Legislature of 1873, and 
after many years of litigation, the rights claimed 
under it by the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany have been recently declared void by the 
Supreme Court of the United States. The Fif- 
teenth Amendment of the National Constitution, 
prohibiting the denial of the right of suffrage to 
"citizens of the United States .... on account 
of race, color or previous condition of servitude," 
was ratified by a strictly party vote in each 
House, on March 5. 



The first step toward the erection of a new 
State Capitol at Springfield had been taken in an 
appropriation of $450,000, at the session of 1867, 
the total cost being limited to $3,000,000. A 
second appropriation of §650,000 was made at the 
session of 1869. The Constitution of 1870 limited 
the cost to $3,500,000, but an act passed by the 
Legislature of 1883, making a final appropriation 
of $531,712 for completing and furnisliing the 
building, was ratified by the people in 1884. The 
original cost of the building and its furniture 
exceeded §4,000,000. (See State Houses. ) 

The State Convention for framing a new Con- 
stitution met at Springfield, Dec. 13, 1869. 
It consisted of eighty-five members — forty-four 
Republicans and forty-one Democrats. A num- 
ber classed as Republicans, however, were elected 
as "Independents" and cooperated with the 
Democrats in the organization. Charles Hitch- 
cock was elected President. The Convention 
terminated its labors, May 18, 1870; the Constitu- 
tion was ratified by vote of the people, July 2, 
and went into effect, August 8, 1870. A special 
provision establishing the principle of "minority 
representation" in the election of Representatives 
in the General Assembly, was adopted by a 
smaller vote tlian the main instrument. A lead- 
ing feature of the latter was the general restric- 
tion upon special legislation and the enumeration 
of a large variety of subjects to be provided for 
under general laws. It laid the basis of our 
present railroad and warehouse laws; declared 
the inviolability of the Illinois Central Railroad 
tax; prohibited the sale or lease of the Illinois 
& Michigan Canal without a vote of the people ; 
prohibited municipalities from becoming sub- 
scribers to the stock of any railroad or private 
corporation; limited the rate of taxation and 
amount of indebtedness to be incurred ; required 
tlie enactment of laws for the protection of 
miners, etc. The restriction in the old Constitu- 
tion against the re-election of a Governor as his 
own immediate successor was removed, but placed 
upon the office of State Treasurer. The Legisla- 
ture consists of 204 members— 51 Senators and 153 
Representatives — one Senator and three Repre- 
sentatives being chosen from each district. (See 
Constitutional Convention of 1S69-70; also Con- 
stitution of 1870.) 

At the election of 1870, General Logan was re- 
elected Congressman-at-large by 24,672 majority; 
Gen. E. N. Bates, Treasurer, and Newton Bate- 
man, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Legislature of 1871. — The Twenty-seventh 
General Assembly (1871), in its various sessions, 



276 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



spent more time in legislation than any other in 
the history of the State — a fact to be accounted 
for, in part, by the Chicago Fire and the exten- 
sive revision of the laws required in consequence 
of the adoption of the new Constitution. Besides 
the regular session, there were two special, or 
called, sessions and an adjourned session, cover- 
ing, in all, a period of 292 days. This Legislature 
adopted the system of "State control" in the 
management of the labor and discipline of the 
convicts of the State penitentiary, which was 
strongly urged by Governor Palmer in a special 
message. General Logan having been elected 
United States Senator at this session. Gen. John 
L. Beveridge was elected to the vacant position 
of Congressman-at-large at a special election held 
Oct. 4. 

Chicaoo Fire of 1871. — The calamitous fire 
at Chicago, Oct. 8-9, 1871, though belonging 
rather to local than to general State history, 
excited the profound sympathy, not only of the 
people of the State and the Nation, but of the 
civilized world. The area burned over, including 
streets, covered 2,124 acres, with 13,500 buildings 
out of 18,000, leaving 92,000 persons homeless. 
The loss of Irfe is estimated at 250, and of prop- 
erty at .?187,927,000. Governor Palmer called the 
Legislature together in special session to act upon 
the emergency, Oct. 13, but as the State was pre- 
cluded from affording direct aid, the plan was 
adopted of reimbursing the city for the amount 
it had expended in the enlargement of the Illinois 
& Michigan Canal, amounting to §2,955,340. 
The unfortunate shooting of a citizen by a cadet 
in a regiment of United States troops organized 
for guard duty, led to some controversy between 
Governor Palmer, on one side, and the Mayor of 
Chicago and the military authorities, including 
President Grant, on the other; but the general 
verdict was, that, while nice distinctions between 
civil and military authority may not have been 
observed, the service rendered by the military, in 
a great emergency, was of the highest value and 
was prompted by the best intentions. (See Fire 
of 1871 under title Chicago. ) 

Political Campaign of 1873.— The political 
campaign of 1872 in Illinois resulted in much con- 
fusion and a partial reorganization of parties. 
Dissatisfied with the administration of President 
Grant, a number of the State officers (including 
Governor Palmer) and other prominent Repub- 
licans of the State, joined in what was called the 
"Liberal Republican" movement, and supported 
Horace Greeley for the Presidency. Ex-Gov- 
ernor Oglesby again became the standard-bearer 



of the Republicans for Governor, with Gen. John 
L. Beveridge for Lieutenant-Governor. At the 
November election, the Grant and Wilson (Repub- 
lican) Electors in Illinois received 241,944 votes, 
to 184,938 for Greeley, and 3,138 for O'Conor. 
The pluraUty for Oglesby, for Governor, was 
40,690. 

Governor Oglesby's second administration was 
of brief duration. Within a week after his in- 
auguration he was nominated by a legislative 
caucus of his party for United States Senator to 
succeed Judge Trumbull, and was elected, receiv- 
ing an aggregate of 117 votes in the two Houses 
against 78 for Trumbull, who was supported by 
the party whose candidates he had defeated at 
three previous elections. (See Oglesby, Richard J. ) 
Lieutenant-Governor Beveridge thus became 
Governor, filling out the unexpired term of his 
chief. His administration was high-minded, 
clean and honorable. (See Beveridge, John L.) 

Republican Reverse of 1874. — The election 
of 1874 resulted in the first serious reverse the 
Republican party had experienced in Illinois 
since 1862. Although Thomas S. Ridgway, the 
Republican candidate for State Treasurer, was 
elected. by a plurality of nearly 35,000, by a com- 
bination of the opposition, S. M. Etter (Fusion) 
was at the same time elected State Superintend- 
ent, while the Fusionists secured a majority in 
each House of the General Assembly. After a 
protracted contest, E. M. Haines — wlio had been 
a Democrat, a Republican, and had been elected 
to this Legislature as an "Independent" — was 
elected Speaker of the House over Shelby M. Cul- 
lom, and A. A. Glenn (Democrat) was chosen 
President of the Senate, thus becoming ex-officio 
Lieutenant-Governor. The session which fol- 
lowed — especially in the House — was one of the 
most turbulent and disorderly in the history of 
the State, coming to a termination, April 15, 
after having enacted very few laws of any im- 
portance. (See Tioenty-ninth General Assembly. ) 
Campaign of 1876. — Shelby M. CuUom was the 
candidate of the Republican party for Governor 
in 1876, with Rutherford B. Hayes heading the 
National ticket. The excitement which attended 
the campaign, the closeness of the vote between 
the two Presidential candidates — Hayes and 
Tilden — and the determination of the result 
through the medium of an Electoral Commission, 
are fresh in the memory of the present gener- 
ation. In Illinois the Republican plurality for 
President was 19,631, but owing to the combina- 
tion of the Democratic and Greenback vote on 
Lewis Steward for Governor, the majority for 




ia># Sr' 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



277 



Cullom was reduced to 6,798. The otlier State 
otMcers elected were: Andrew Sliumau, Lieu- 
tenant-Governor; George H. Harlow, Secretary 
of State; Thomas B. Needles, Auditor; Edward 
Rutz, Treasurer, and James K. Edsall, Attcrnej'- 
Oeneral. Each of these had pluralities exceeding 
20,000, except Needles, who, having a single com- 
jietitor, had a smaller majority than Cullom. 
T!ie new State House was occupied for the first 
time by the State officers and the Legislature 
chosen at this time. Although the Republicans 
had a majority in the House, the Independents 
held the "balance of power" in joint session of 
the General Assembly. After a stubborn and 
protracted struggle in the effort to choose a 
United States Senator to succeed Senator John A. 
Logan, David Davis, of Bloomington, was 
elected on the fortieth ballot. He had been a 
Whig and a warm personal friend of Lincoln, by 
whom he was appointed Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States in 1862. His 
election to the L'nited States Senate by the Demo- 
crats and Independents led to his retirement from 
the Supreme bench, thus preventing his appoint- 
ment on the Electoral Commission of 1877 — a cir- 
cumstance which, in the opinion of many, may 
have had an important bearing upon the decision 
of that tribunal. In the latter part of his term 
he served as President pro tempore of the Senate, 
and more frequently acted with the Republicans 
than with their opponents. He supported Blaine 
and Logan for President and Vice-President, in 
1884. (See Davis, David. ) 

Strike of 1877. — The extensive railroad strike, 
in July, 1877, caused widespread demoralization 
of business, especially in the railroad centers of 
the State and throughout the country generally. 
The newly -organized National Guard was called 
out and rendered efficient service in restoring 
order. Governor Cullom's action in the premises 
was prompt, and has been generally commended 
as eminently wise and discreet. 

Electiom op 1878.— Four sets of candidates 
were in the field for the offices of State Treasurer 
and Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1878 
— Republican, Democratic, Greenback and Pro- 
hibition. The Republicans were successful. Gen. 
John C. Smith being elected Treasurer, and 
James P. Slade, Superintendent, by pluralities 
averaging about 35,000. The same party also 
elected eleven out of nineteen members of Con- 
gress, and, for the first time in six years, secured 
a majorit}' in each branch of the General Assem- 
bl}'. At the session of this Legislature, in Janu- 
ary following, John A. Logan was elected to the 



United States Senate as successor to Gen. R. J. 
Oglesb}^ whose term expired in March following. 
Col. William A. James, of Lake County, served 
as Speaker of the House at this session. (See 
Smith, John Corson; Slade, James P.; aXso Thirfy- 
fir.'it General Assembly. ) 

Campaign of 1880. — The political campaign 
of 1880 is memorable for the determined struggle 
made by the friends of General Grant to secure 
his nomination for the Presidency for a third 
term. The Republican State Convention, begin- 
ning at Springfield, May 19, lasted three days, 
ending in instructions in favor of General Grant 
by a vote of 399 to 285. These were nulli.aed, 
however, by the action of the National Conven- 
tion two weeks later. Governor Cullom wag 
nominated for re-election ; John M. Hamilton for 
Lieutenant-Governor ; Henry D. Dement for Sec- 
retary of State ; Charles P. Swigert for Auditor ; 
Edward Rutz (for a third term) for Treasurer, 
and James McCartney for Attorney-General. 
(See Dement, Henry D.; Swigert, Charles P.; 
Rutz, Edward, ajid McCartney , James.) Ex-Sena- 
tor Trumbull headed the Democratic ticket as its 
candidate for Governor, with General L. B. Par- 
sons for. Lieutenant-Governor. 

The Republican National Convention met in 
Chicago, June 2. After thirtj'-six ballots, in 
which 306 delegates stood unwaveringly by Gen- 
eral Grant, James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was 
nominated, with Chester A. Arthur, of New 
York, for Vice-President. Gen. Winfield Scott 
Hancock wds the Democratic candidate and Gen. 
James B. Weaver, the Greenback nominee. In 
Illinois, 622,156 votes were cast, Garfield receiv- 
ing a plurality of 40,716. The entire Republican 
State ticket was elected by nearly the same plu- 
ralities, and the Republicans again had decisive 
majorities in both branches of the Legislature. 

No startling events occurred during Governor 
Cullom's second term. The State continued to 
increase in wealth, population and prosperity, 
and the heavy debt, by which it had been bur- 
dened thirty years before, was practically "wiped 
out." 

Election of 1882.— At the election of 1882, 
Gen. John C. Smith, who had been elected State 
Treasurer in 1878, was re-elected for a second 
term, over Alfred Orendorff, while Charles T. 
Strattan, the Republican candidate for State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, was de- 
feated by Henry Raab. The Republicans again 
had a majority in each House of the General 
Assembly, amounting to twelve on joint ballot. 
Loren C. Collins was elected Speaker of the 



278 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



House. In the election of United States Senator, 
which occurred at this session, Governor CuUona 
was chosen as tlie successor to David Davis, Gen. 
John M. Palmer receiving tlie Democratic vote. 
Lieut.-Gov. John M. Hamilton thus became Gov- 
ernor, nearly in the middle of his term. (See 
Cullom, Shelby M.; Hamilton, John M.; Collins, 
Loren C, and Raab, Hennj.) 

The "Harper High License Law," enacted by 
the Thirty-third General Assembly (1883), has 
become one of the permanent features of the Illi- 
nois statutes for the control of the liquor traffic, 
and has been more or less closely copied in other 
States. 

Political Campaign of 1884.— In 1884, Gen. 
R. J. Oglesby again became the choice of the 
Republican party for Governor, receiving at 
Peoria the conspicuous compliment of a nomina- 
tion for a third term, by acclamation. Carter H. 
Harrison was the candidate of the Democrats. 
The Republican National Convention was again 
held in Chicago, meeting June 3, 1884 ; Gen. John 
A. Logan was the choice of the Illinois Repub- 
licans for President, and was put in nomination 
in the Convention by Senator Cullom. The 
choice of the Convention, however, fell upon 
James G. Blaine, on the fourth ballot, his leading 
competitor being President Arthur. Logan was 
then nominated for Vice-President by acclama- 
tion. 

At the election in November the Republican 
party met its first reverse on the National battle- 
field since 1856, Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. 
Hendricks, the Democratic candidates, being 
elected President and Vice-President by the nar- 
row margin of less than 1,200 votes in the State 
of New York. The result was in doubt for sev- 
eral days, and the excitement throughout the 
country was scarcely less intense than it had 
been in the close election of 187C. The Green- 
back and Prohibition parties botli had tickets in 
Illinois, polling a total of nearly 33,000 votes. 
The plurality in the State for Blaine was 2.5,118. 
Tlie Republican State officers elected were Richard 
J. Oglesby, Governor; John C. Smith, Lieuten- 
ant-Governor; Henry D. Dement, Secretary of 
State ; Charles P. Swigert, Auditor ; Jacob Gross, 
State Treasurer; and George Hunt, Attorney- 
General— receiving pluralities ranging from 14,- 
000 to 25,000. Both Dement and Swigert were 
elected for a second time, while Gross and Hunt 
were chosen for first terms. (See Gross, Jacob, 
and Hunt, George.) 

Chicago Election Frauds. — An incident of 
this election was the fraudulent attempt to seat 



Rudolph Brand (Democrat) as Senator in place of 
Henry W. Leman, in the Sixth Senatorial Dis- 
trict of Cook Countj'. The fraud was exposed 
and Joseph C. Mackin, one of its alleged perpe- 
trators, was sentenced to the penitentiary for four 
years for perjury growing out of the investiga- 
tion. A motive for this attempted fraud was 
found in the close vote in the Legislature for 
United States Senator — Senator Logan being a 
candidate for re-election, while the Legislature 
stood 102 Republicans to 100 Democrats and two 
Greenbackers on joint ballot. A tedious contest 
on the election of Speaker of the House finally 
resulted in the success of E. M. Haines. Pending 
the struggle over the Senatorship, two seats in 
the House and one in the Senate were rendered 
vacant by death — the deceased Senator and one of 
the Representatives being Democrats, and the 
other Representative a Republican. The special 
election for Senator resulted in filling the vacancy 
with a new member of the same political faith as 
his predecessor ; but both vacancies in the House 
were filled by Republicans. The gain of a Repub- 
lican member in place of a Democrat in the 
House was brought about by the election of 
Captain William H. Weaver Representative from 
the Thirty-fourth District (composed of Mason, 
Menard, Cass and Schuyler Counties) over the 
Democratic candidate, to fill tlie vacancy caused 
by the death of Representative J. Henry Shaw, 
Democrat. This was accomplished by what is 
called a "still hunt" on the part of the Repub- 
licans, in which the Democrats, being taken by 
surprise, suffered a defeat. It furnished the sen- 
sation not only of the session, but of special elec- 
tions generally, especially as every county in the 
District was strongly Democratic. This gave the 
Republicans a majority in each House, and the 
re-election of Logan followed, though not until 
two months had been consumed in the contest. 
(See Logan, John A.) 

Oolesby's Third Term. — The only disturbing 
events during Governor Oglesby 's third term were 
strikes among the quarrymen at Joliet and 
Lemont, in May, 1885; by the railroad switchmen 
at East St. Louis, in April, 1886, and among the 
employes at the Union Stock- Yards, in November 
of the same year. In each case troops were called 
out and order finally restored, but not until sev- 
eral persons had been killed in the two former, 
and both strikers and employers had lost heavily 
in the interruption of business. 

At the election of 1886, John R. Tanner and 
Dr. Richard Edwards (Republicans) were respec- 
tively elected State Treasurer and State Superin- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



279 



tendent of Public Instruction, by 34,816 plurality 
for the former and 29,928 for the latter. (See 
Tanner, John R.; Edwards, Richard.) 

In the Thirty-fifth General Assembly, which 
met January, 1887, the Republicans had a major- 
ity in each House, and Charles B. Farwell was 
elected to the United States Senate in place of 
Gen. John A. Logan, deceased. (See Farirell, 
Charles B.) 

FiFER Elected Governor. — The political 
campaign of 1888 was a spirited one, though less 
bitter than the one of four years previous. Ex- 
Senator Joseph "W. Fifer, of McLean County, and 
Ex-Gov. John M. Palmer were pitted against each 
other as opposing candidates for Governor. (See 
Fifer, Joseph W. ) Prohibition and Labor tickets 
were also in the field The Republican National 
Convention was again held in Chicago, June 
20-25, resulting in the nomination of Benjamin 
Harrison for President, on the eighth ballot. The 
delegates from Illinois, with two or three excep- 
tions, voted steadily for Judge Walter Q. 
Gresham. (See Gresham, Walter Q.) Grover 
Cleveland headed the Democratic ticket as a 
candidate for re-election. At the November elec- 
tion, 747,683 votes were cast in Illinois, giving 
the Republican Electors a plurality of 23,104. 
Fifer's plurality over Palmer was 13,547, and that 
of the remainder of the Republican State ticket, 
still larger. Those elected were Lyman B. Ray, 
Lieutenant-Governor; Isaac N. Pearson, Secre- 
tary of State; Gen. Charles W. Pavey, Auditor; 
Charles Becker, Treasurer, and George Hunt, 
Attorney-General. (See Rat/, Lyman B.; Pear- 
son, Isaac N.; Pavey, Charles IT'; and Becker, 
Charles.) The Republicans secured twenty-six 
majority on joint ballot in the Legislature — the 
largest since 1881. Among the acts of the Legis- 
lature of 1889 were the re-election of Senator 
CuUom to the United States Senate, practically 
w'thout a contest ; the revision of the compulsory 
education law, and the enactment of the Chicago 
drainage law. At a special session held in July, 
1890, the first steps in the preliminary legislation 
looking to the holding of the World's Columbian 
Exposition of 1893 in the city of Chicago, were 
taken. (See World's Columbian Exposition.) 

Republican Defeat of 1890. — The campaign 
of 1890 resulted in a defeat for the Republicans on 
both the State and Legislative tickets. Edward 
S. Wilson was elected Treasurer by a plurality of 
9,847 and Prof. Henry Raab, who had been Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction between 1883 and 
1887, was elected for a second term by 34,043. 
Though lacking two of an absolute majority on 



joint ballot in the Legislature, the Democrats 
were able, with the aid of two members belonging 
to the Farmers" Alliance, after a prolonged and 
exciting contest, to elect Ex-Gov. John M. 
Palmer United States Senator, as successor to 
C. B. Farwell. The election took place on March 
11, resulting, on the 154th ballot, in 103 votes for 
Palmer to 100 for Cicero J. Lindley (Republican) 
and one for A. J. Streeter. (See Palmer, John M. ) 
Elections of 1892.— At the elections of 1892 
the Republicans of Illinois sustained their first 
defeat on both State and National issues since 
1856. The Democratic State Convention was 
held at Springfield, April 27, and that of the 
Republicans on May 4. The Democrats put in 
nomination John P. Altgeld for Governor; 
Joseph B. Gill for Lieutenant-Governor; William 
H. Hinrichsen for Secretary of State; Eufus N. 
Ramsay for State Treasurer; David Gore for 
Auditor ; Maurice T. Moloney for Attorney-Gen- 
eral, with John C. Black and Andrew J. Hunter 
for Congressmen-at-large and three candidates for 
Trustees of the University of Illinois. The can- 
didates on the Republican ticket were : For Gov- 
ernor, Joseph W. Fifer; Lieutenant-Governor, 
Lyman B. Ray ; Secretary of State, Isaac N. Pear- 
son; Auditor, Charles W. Pavey; Attorney-Gen- 
eral, George W. Prince; State Treasurer, Henry 
L. Hertz ; Congressmen-at-large, George S. Willits 
and Richard Yates, with three University Trus- 
tees. The first four were all incumbents nomi- 
nated to succeed themselves. The Republican 
National Convention held its session at Minneapo- 
lis June 7-10, nominating President Harrison for 
re-election, while tliat of the Democrats met 
in Chicago, on June 31, remaining in session 
until June 24, for the third time choosing, as its 
standard-bearer, Grover Cleveland, with Adlai T. 
Stevenson, of Bloomington, 111., as his running- 
mate for Vice-President. The Prohibition and 
People's Party also had complete National and 
State tickets in the field. The State campaign 
was conducted with great vigor on both sides, the 
Democrats, under the leadership of Altgeld, mak- 
ing an especially bitter contest upon some features 
of the compulsory school law, and gaining many 
votes from the ranks of the German-Republicans. 
The result in the State showed a plurality for 
Cleveland of 36,993 votes out of a total 873,646— 
the combined Prohibition and People's Party vote 
amounting to 48,077. The votes for the respec- 
tive heads of the State tickets were: Altgeld 
(Dem.), 435,498; Fifer (Rep.), 402,659; Link 
(Pro.). 25.628 :Barnet (Peo.), 20, 108— plurality for 
Altgeld, 22,808. The vote for Fifer was the high- 



280 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



est given to any Republican candidate on either 
the National or the State ticket, leading that of 
President Harrison by nearly 3,400, while the 
vote for Altgeld, though falling behind that of 
Cleveland, led the votes of all his associates on the 
Democratic State ticket with the single exception 
of Ramsay, the Democratic Candidate for Treas- 
urer. Of the twenty-two Representatives in 
Congress from the State chosen at this time, 
eleven were Republicans and eleven Democrats, 
including among the latter the two Congressmen 
from the State-at-large. The Thirty -eighth Gen- 
eral Assembly stood twenty-nine Democrats to 
twenty-two Republicans in the Senate, and 
seventy-eight Democrats to seventy-five Republic- 
ans in the House. 

The administration of Governor Fifer — the last 
in a long and unbroken line under Republican Gov- 
ernors — closed with the financial and industrial 
interests of the State in a prosperous condition, 
the State out of debt with an ample surplus in its 
treasury. Fifer was the first private soldier of 
the Civil War to be elected to the Governorship, 
though the result of the next two elections have 
shown that he was not to be the last — both of his 
successors belonging to the same class. Governor 
Altgeld was the first foreign-born citizen of the 
State to be elected Governor, though the State 
has had four Lieutenant-Governors of foreign 
birth, viz. : Pierre Menard, a French Canadian ; 
John Moore, an Englishman, and Gustavus 
Koerner and Francis A. Hoffman, both Germans. 

Altgeld's Administration. — The Thirty- 
eighth General Assembly began its session, Jan. 
4, 1893, the Democrats having a majority in each 
House. (See Thirty-eighth General Assemhly.) 
The inauguration of the State officers occurred on 
January 10. The most important events con- 
nected with Governor Altgeld's administration 
were the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, 
and the strike of railway employes in 1894. Both 
of these have been treated in detail under their 
proper heads. (See World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion, and Labor Troubles.) A serious disaster 
befell the State in the destruction by fire, on the 
night of Jan. 3, 1895, of a portion of the buildings 
connected with the Southern Hospital for tlie 
Insane at Anna, involving a loss to the State of 
nearly §200,000, and subjecting the inmates and 
officers of the institution to great risk and no 
small amount of suffering, although no lives were 
lost. The Thirty ninth General Assembly, which 
met a few days after the fire, made an appropri- 
ation of $171,970 for the restoration of the build- 
ings destroyed, and work was begun immediately. 



The defalcation of Charles W. Spalding, Treas- 
urer of the University of Illinois, which came to 
light near the close of Governor Altgeld's term, 
involved the State in heavy loss (the exact 
amount of which is not even yet fully known), 
and operated unfortunately for the credit of the 
retiring administration, in view of the adoption of 
a policy which made the Governor more directly 
responsible for the management of the State in- 
stitutions than that pursued by most of his prede- 
cessors. The Governor's course in connection 
with the strike of 1894 was also severely criticised 
in some quarters, especially as it brought him in 
opposition to the policy of the National adminis- 
tration, and exposed him to the charge of sympa- 
thizing with the strikers at a time when they 
were regarded as acting in open violation of law. 

Election of 1894.— The election of 1894 showed 
as surprising a reaction against the Democratic 
party, as that of 1893 had been in an opposite 
direction. The two State oSices to be vacated 
this year — State Treasurer and State Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction — were filled by the elec- 
tion of Republicans by unprecedented majorities. 
The plurality for Henry Wulff for State Treas- 
urer, was 133,437, and that in favor of Samuel M. 
Inglis for State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, scarcely 10,000 less. Of twenty -two Repre- 
sentatives in Congress, all but two returned as 
elected were Republicans, and these two were 
unseated as the result of contests. The Legisla- 
ture stood thirty-three Republicans to eighteen 
Democrats in the Senate, and eighty -eight Repub- 
licans to sixty-one Democrats in the House. 

One of the most important acts of the Thirty- 
ninth General Assembly, at the following session, 
was the enactment of a law fixing the compensa- 
tion of members of the General Assembly at 61,000 
for each regular session, with five dollars per day 
and mileage for called, or extra, sessions. This 
Legislature also passed acts making appropriations 
for the erection of buildings for the use of the 
State Fair, which had been permanently located 
at Springfield ; for the establishment of two ad- 
ditional hospitals for the insane, one near Rock 
Island and the other (for incurables) near Peoria; 
for the Northern and Eastern Illinois Normal 
Schools, and for a Soldiers' Widows' Home at 
Wilmington. 

Pekm.^nent Location of the State Fair. — 
In consequence of the absorption of public atten- 
tion — especially among the industrial and manu- 
facturing classes — by the World's Columbian 
Exposition, the holding of the Annual Fair of the 
Illinois State Board of Agriculture for 1893 was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



281 



omitted for the first time since the Civil War. 
The initial steps were taken by the Board at its 
annual meeting in Springfield, in January of that 
year, looking to the permanent location of the 
Fair ; and, at a meeting of the Board held in Chi- 
cago, in October following, formal specifications 
were adopted prescribing the conditions to be met 
in securing the prize. These were sent to cities 
intending to compete for the location as the basis 
of proposals to be submitted by them. Responses 
were received from the cities of Bloomington, 
Decatur, Peoria and Springfield, at the annual 
meeting in January, 1894, with the result that, 
on the eighth ballot, the bid of Springfield was 
accepted and the Fair permanently located at 
that place by a vote of eleven for Springfield to 
ten divided between five other points. The 
Springfield proposal provided for conveyance to 
the State Board of Agriculture of 15.5 acres of 
land — embracing the old Sangamon Countj- Fair 
Grounds immediately north of the city — besides 
a cash contribution of §50,000 voted by the San- 
gamon County Board of Supervisors for the 
erection of permanent buildings. Other contri- 
butions inci-eased the estimated value of the 
donations from Sangamon County (including the 
land) to §139,800, not including the pledge of the 
city of Springfield to pave two streets to the gates 
of the Fair Grounds and furnish water free, be- 
sides an agreement on the part of the electric 
light company to furnish light for two years free 
of charge. The construction of buildings was 
begun the same year, and the first Fair held on 
the site in September following. Additional 
buildings have been erected and other improve- 
ments .introduced each year, until the grounds 
are now regarded as among the best equipped for 
exhibition purposes in the United States. In the 
meantime, the increasing success of the Fair 
from year to year has demonstrated the wisdom 
of the action taken by the Board of Agriculture 
in the matter of location. 

Campaign op 1896. — The political campaign 
of 1896 was one of almost unprecedented activity 
in Illinois, as well as remarkable for the variety 
and character of the issues involved and the 
number of party candidates in the field. As 
usual, the Democratic and the Republican parties 
were the chief factors in the contest, although 
there was a wide diversity of sentiment in each, 
which tended to the introduction of new issues 
and the organization of parties on new lines. 
The Republicans took the lead in organizing for 
the canvass, holding their State Convention at 
Springfield on April 29 and 30, while the Demo- 



crats followed, at Peoria, on June 23. The former 
put in nomination John R. Tanner for Governor; 
WilUam A. Northcott for Lieutenant-Governor; 
James A. Rose for Secretary of State; James S. 
McCuUough for Auditor; Henry L. Hertz for 
Treasurer, and Edward C. Akin for Attorney-. 
General, with Mary Turner Carriel, Thomas J. 
Smyth and Francis M. McKay for University 
Trustees. The ticket put in nomination by tlie 
Democracy for State oificers embraced John P. 
Altgeld for re-election to the Governorship ; for 
Lieutenant-Governor, Monroe C. Crawford; Sec- 
retary of State, Finis E. Downing; Auditor, 
Andrew L. Maxwell; Attorney-General, George 
A. Trude, with three candidates for Trustees. 

Tlie National Republican Convention met at St. 
Louis on June 16, and, after a three days' session, 
put in nomination William McKinley, of Ohio, 
for President, and Garret A. Hobart, of New 
Jersey, for Vice-President; while their Demo- 
cratic opponents, following a policy wliich had 
been maintained almost continuously by one or 
tlie other party since 1860, set in motion its party 
machinery in Chicago — holding its National Con- 
vention in that city, July 7-11, when, for the first 
time in the history of the nation, a native of 
Illinois was nominated for the Presidency in the 
person of William J. Bryan of Nebraska, with 
Arthur Sewall, a ship-builder of Maine, for the 
second place on the ticket. The main issues, as 
enunciated in the platforms of the respective 
parties, were industrial and financial, as shown by 
tlie prominence given to the tariff and monetary 
questions in each. This was the natural result of 
the business depression which had prevailed since 
1893. While the Republican platform adhered to 
the traditional position of the party on the tariff 
issue, and declared in favor of maintaining the 
gold standard as the ba.sis of the monetary system 
of the country, that of the Democracy took a new 
departure by det^laring unreservedlj' for tlie "free 
and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold at 
the present legal ratio of 16 to 1;" and this be- 
came the leading issue of the campaign. The 
fact that Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, who 
had been favored by the Populists as a candidate 
for Vice President, and was afterwards formally 
nominated by a convention of that party, with 
Mr. Bryan at its head, was ignored by the Chi- 
cago Convention, led to much friction between 
the Populist and Democratic wings of the party. 
At the same time a very considerable body — in 
influence and political prestige, if not in numbers 
— in the ranks of tlie old- line Democratic party, 
refused to accept the doctrine of the free-silver 



282 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



section on the monetary question, and, adopting 
the name of "Gold Democrats, ' ' put in nomination 
a ticket composed of John M. Pahner, of Illinois, 
for President, and Simon B. Buckner, of Ken- 
tucky, for Vice-President. Besides these, the Pro- 
hibitionists, Nationalists, Socialist-Labor Party 
and "Middle-of-the-Road" (or "straight-out") 
Populists, had more or less complete tickets in the 
field, making a total of seven sets of candidates 
appealing for the votes of the people on issues 
assumed to be of National importance. 

The fact that the two great parties — Democratic 
and Republican — established their principal head- 
quarters for the prosecution of the campaign in 
Chicago, had the eflfect to make that city and 
the State of Illinois the center of political activ- 
ity for the nation. Demonstrations of an impos- 
ing character were held by both parties. At the 
November election the Republicans carried the 
day by a plurality, in Illinois, of 141,517 for their 
national ticket out of a total of 1,090,869 votes, 
while the leading candidates on the State ticket 
received the following pluralities: John R. Tan- 
ner (for Governor), 113,381; Northcott (for Lieu- 
tenant-Governor), 137,354; Rose (for Secretary of 
State), 136,611; McCuUough (for Auditor), 138,- 
013; Hertz (for Treasurer), 116,064; Akin (for 
Attorney-General), 132,650. The Republicans also 
elected seventeen Representatives in Congress to 
three Democrats and two People's Party men. 
The total vote cast, in this campaign, for the "Gold 
Democratic" candidate for Governor was 8,100. 

Gov. Tanner's Administration — The Fortieth 
General Assembly met Jan. 6, 1897, consisting of 
eighty-eight Republicans to sixty-three Demo- 
crats and two Populists in the House, and thirtj'- 
nine Republicans to eleven Democrats and one 
Populist in the Senate. The Republicans finally 
gained one member in each house by contests. 
Edward C. Curtis, of Kankakee County, was 
chosen Speaker of the House and Hendrick V. 
Fisher, of Henry County, President pro tem. of 
the Senate, witli a full set of Republican officers 
in the subordinate positions. The inauguration 
of the newly elected State officers took place on 
the 11th, the inaugural address of Governor 
Tanner taking strong ground in favor of main- 
taining the issues indorsed by the people at the 
late election. On Jan. 20, William E. Mason, 
of Chicago, was elected United States Senator, as 
the successor of Senator Palmer, whose term was 
about to expire. Mr. Mason received the full 
Republican strengtU (125 votes) in the two 
Houses, to the 77 Democratic votes cast for John 
P. Altgeld. (See Fortieth General Assembly. ) 



Among the principal measures enacted by the 
Fortieth General Assembly at its regular session 
were: The "Torrens Land Title System," regu- 
lating the conveyance and registration of land 
titles (which see) ; the consolidation of the three 
Supreme Court Districts into one and locating the 
Supreme Court at Springfield, and the Allen 
Street-Railroad Law, empowering City Councils 
and other corporate authorities of cities to grant 
street railway franchises for a period of fifty 
years. On Dec. 7, 1897, the Legislature met in 
special session under a call of the Governor, nam- 
ing five subjects upon which legislation was sug- 
gested. Of these only two were acted upon 
affirmatively, viz. : a law prescribing the manner 
of conducting the election of delegates to nomi- 
nating political conventions, and a new revenue 
law regulating the assessment and collection of 
taxes. The main feature of the latter act is the 
requirement that property shall be entered upon 
the books of the assessor at its cash value, subject 
to revision by a Board of Review, the basis of 
valuation for purposes of taxation being one-fifth 
of this amount. 

The Spanish-American War.— The most not- 
able event in the history of Illinois during the 
year 1898 was the Spanish-American War, and 
the part Illinois played in it. In this contest 
lUinoisans manifested the same eagerness to 
serve their country as did their fathers and fel- 
low-citizens in the War of the Rebellion, a third 
of a century ago. The first call for volunteers 
was responded to with alacrity by the men com- 
posing the Illinois National Guard, seven regi- 
ments of infantry, from the First to Seventh 
inclusive, besides one regiment of Cavalry and 
one Battery of Artillery — in all about 9,000 men 
— being mustered in between May 7 and May 21. 
Although only one of these — the First, under the 
command of Col. Henry L. Turner of Chicago — • 
saw practical service in Cuba before the surrender 
at Santiago, others in camps of instruction in the 
■South stood ready to respond to the demand for 
their service in the field. Under the second call 
for troops two other regiments — the Eighth and 
the Ninth — were organized and the former (com- 
posed of Afro-Americans officered by men of 
their own race) relieved the First Illinois on guard 
duty at Santiago after the surrender. A body of 
engineers from Company E of the Second United 
States Engineers, recruited in Chicago, were 
among the first to see service in Cuba, while 
many lUinoisans belonging to the Naval Reserve 
were assigned to duty on United States war 
vessels, and rendered most valuable service in the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



283 



naval engagements in Cuban waters. The Third 
Regiment (Col. Fred. Bennitt) also took part in 
the movement for the occupation of Porto Rico. 
The several regiments on their return for muster- 
out, after the conclusion of terms of peace with 
Spain, received most enthusiastic ovations from 
their fellow-citizens at home. Besides the regi- 
ments mentioned, several Provisional Regiments 
were organized and stood ready to respond to the 
call of the Government for their services had the 
emergency required. (See War, The Spanish 
American.) 

Labor Disturbances. — The principal labor 
disturbances in the State, under Governor Tan- 
ner's administration, occurred during the coal- 
miners' strike of 1897, and the lock-out at the 
Pana and Virden mines in 1898. The attempt to 
introduce colored laborers from the South to 
operate the.se mines led to violence between the 
adherents of the "Miners' Union" and the mine- 
owners and operators, and their employes, at 
these points, during whicli it was necessary to 
call out the National Guard, and a number of 
lives were sacrificed on both sides. 

A flood in the Ohio, during the spring of 1898, 
caused the breaking of the levee at Shawneetown, 
111., on the 3d day of April, in consequence of 
wliich a large proportion of the city was flooded, 
many homes and business houses wrecked or 
greatly injured, and much other property de- 
stroyed. The most serious disaster, however, was 
the loss of some twenty-flve lives, for the most 
part of women and children who, being surprised 
in their homes, were unable to escape. Aid was 
promptly furnished by the State Government in 
the form of tents to shelter the survivors and 
rations to feed them ; and contributions of money 
and provisions from the citizens of the State, col- 
lected by relief organizations during the next two 
or three months, were needed to moderate the 
suffering. (See Inundations, Remarkable.) 

Campaign of 1898.— The political campaign of 
1898 was a quiet one, at least nominally conducted 
on the same general issues as that of 1896, al- 
though the gradual return of business prosperity 
had greatly modified the intensity of interest 
with which some of the economic questions of 
the preceding campaign had been regarded. The 
only State ofllcers to be elected were a State- 
Treasurer, a Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
and three State University Trustees — the total 
vote cast for the former being 878,632 against 
1,090,869 for President in 1896. Of the former, 
Floyd K. Whittemore (Republican candidate for 
State Treasurer) received 448,9'10 to 405,490 for 



M. F. Dunlap (Democrat), with 34,192 divided 
between three other candidates; while Alfred 
Bayliss (Republican) received a plurality of 
68,899 over his Democratic competitor, with 23,- 
190 votes cast for three others. The Republican 
candidates for University Trustees were, of course, 
elected. The Republicans lost heavily in their 
representation in Congress, though electing thir- 
teen out of twenty-two members of the Fifty- 
sixth Congress, leaving nine to their Democratic 
opponents, who were practically consolidated in 
this campaign with the Populists. 

Forty-first General Assembly.— The Forty- 
first General Assembly met, Jan. 4, 1899, and 
adjourned, April 14, after a session of 101 days, 
with one exception (that of 1875), the shortest 
regular session in the history of the State Gov- 
ernment since the adoption of the Constitution of 
1870. The House of Representatives consisted of 
eighty-one Republicans to seventy-one Democrats 
and one Prohibitionist ; and the Senate, of thirty- 
four Republicans to sixteen Democrats and one 
Populist — giving a Republican majority on joint 
ballot of twenty-six. Of 176 bills which passed 
both Ilouses, received the approval of the Gov- 
ernor and became laws, some of the more impor- 
tant were the following: Amending the State 
Arbitration Law by extending its scope and the 
general powers of the Board ; creating the office 
of State Architect at a salary of §5,000 per annum, 
to furnish plans and specifications for public 
buildings and supervise the construction and 
care of the same ; authorizing the con.solidation 
of the territory of cities under township organi- 
zation, and consisting of five or more Congres- 
sional townships, into one township ; empowering 
each Justice of the Supreme Court to employ a 
private secretary at a salary of §2,000 per annum, 
to be paid by the State; amending the State 
Revenue Law of 1898; authorizing the establish- 
ment and maintenance of parental or truant 
schools; and empowering the State to establish 
Free Employment Offices, in the proportion of one 
to each city of 50,000 inhabitants, or three in 
cities of 1,000,000 and over. An act was also 
passed requiring the Secretary of State, when an 
amendment of the State Constitution is to be 
voted upon by the electors at any general elec- 
tion, to prepare a statement setting forth the pro- 
visions of the same and furnish copies thereof to 
each County Clerk, whose duty it is to have said 
copies published and posted at the places of voting 
for the information of voters. One of the most 
important acts of this Legislature was the repeal, 
by a practically unanimous vote, of the Street- 



384 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



railway Franchise Law of the previous session, 
the provisions of which, empowering City Coun- 
cils to grant street-railway franchises extending 
over a period of fifty years, had been severely 
criticised by a portion of the press and excited 
intense hostilit}-, especially in some of the larger 
cities of the State. Although in force nearly two 
years, not a single corporation had succeeded in 
obtaining a franchise under it. 

A Retrospect and a Look into The Future. — 
The liLstory of Illinois has been traced concisely 
and in outline from the earliest period to the 
present time. Previous to the visit of Joliet and 
Marquette, in 1673, as unknown as Central Africa, 
for a century it continued the hunting ground of 
savages and the home of wild animals common to 
the plains and forests of the Missis.sippi Valley. 
The region brought under the influence of civili- 
zation, such as then existed, comprised a small 
area, scarcely larger than two ordinarih- sized 
counties of the present day. Thirteen years of 
nominal British control ( 1765-78) saw little change, 
except the exodus of a part of the old French 
population, who preferred Spanish to British rule. 

The period of development began with the 
occupation of Illinois by Clark in 1778. That 
saw the "Illinois County," created for the gov- 
ernment of the settlements nortliwest of the 
Ohio, expanded into five States, witli an area of 
230,000 square miles and a population, in 1890, of 
13,500,000. In 1880 the population of the State 
equaled that of the Thirteen Colonies at the 
close of the Revolution. The eleventh State in 
the Union in this respect in 1850, in 1890 it had 
advanced to third rank. With its unsurpassed 
fertility of soil, its inexhaustible supplies of fuel 
for manufacturing purposes, its system of rail- 
roads, surpassing in extent that of any other State, 
there is little risk in predicting that the next 
forty years will see it advanced to second, if not 
first rank, in both wealth and population. 

But if the development of Illinois on material 
lines has been marvelous, its contributions to the 
Nation in philanthropists and educators, soldiers 
and statesmen, have rendered it conspicuous. A 
long list of these might be mentioned, but two 
names from the ranks of Illinoisans have been, by 
common consent, assigned a higher place than all 
others, and have left a deeper impress upon the 
history of the Nation than any otliers since the 
days of Washington. These are, Ul3'sses S. Grant, 
the Organizer of Victory for the Union arms 
and Conqueror of the Rebellion, and Abraham 
Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, the Preserver of 
the Republic, and its Martyred President. 



1073. 
IG7J- 



I6S0. 
)f.81. 



1700. 
1700. 



1718, 
1713. 
1751. 
1705, 

1778. 



!700, 
17i).5 
ISOO. 

1809, 

1,818. 
18-20. 
1822- 
1825 
18.32. 
lS3a. 

1818. 
1860. 
ISBl. 
1863. 

1861. 
18G.5. 
lS(i5. 
1865. 
1S68. 
1870. 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD. 

Important Events in Illinois History. 

—Joliet anil ]\tiirquetlp reach Illinois from Grepn Bay by 
way dl" tlie Upper Mi.isissippi aint lUinuis Kivers. 

■0. — Marqtif tte makes a secuiit] visit to Illinois and spends 
the winrer uti the present site of Chicago 

— J,a Salle and Tuiity descend thelllinnis to Peoria Lake. 
.— Tonty bt^Kins the erection of Fort St. Louis on " Starved 

Ruck" in La Salle Couiiiy. 

— La Salle and Tonty descend the Illinois and Mississippi 
Rivers tu the mouth of the latier. and take pubsession 
(April 9, I68'2i in the name of the King of France 

— First permanent French settlement in Illinois and Mis- 
sion of St. Siilpice established at Cahokia. 

,— Kaskaskia Indians remove from the Upper Illinois and 
locate near the month of the Kaskaskia Hivcr. French 
settlement established here the same year becomes the 
town of KaskiusUia and future capital of Illinois. 

,— The first Fort Chart res. erected near Kaskaskia. 

— Fort St. Louis, on the Upper Illinois, burned by ludiaiis. 

— Fort t'hartres rebuilt and strengthened. 

,— The Illinois country surrendered by the French to the 
British under the treaty of 1763. 

,— < July 4) Col. George Rogers Clark, at the head of an expe- 
dition organized under authority of Gov. Patrick Henry of 
Virginia, arrives at Kaskaskia. The occupation of Ilhnois 
by the American troops follows. 

— Illinois County created by Act of the Virginia House of 
Delegates, for the government of the settlements norih- 
west of the Ohio River. 

—Congress adopts the Ordinance of 1787, organizing the 
Northwest Territory, embracing the present States of 
Ohio. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. 

—General Arthur St. Clair appointed Governor of North- 
west Territory. 

—St Clair County organized. 

— Randolph Comity organized. 

—Northwest Territory divided into Ohio and Indiana Ter- 
ritories. Illinois being embraced in the latter. 

— Illinois Territory set off from Indiana, and Niniaa 
Edwards appointed Governor. 

—I Dec. -it Illinois admitted as a State. 

State capital removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia. 
•.!4. -Unsuccessful attempt to make Illinois a slave State. 

— I April :J0) General La Fayette visits Kaskaskia. 
—Black Hawk War. 

—(July li Springtield becomes the third capital of the State 
under an Act of the Legislature passed in 1S37. 

—The second Constitution adopted. 

—Abraham Lincoln is elected President. 

—War of the Rebellion begins. 

—(Jan. 1) Lincoln issues his final Proclamation of Eman- 
cipation. 

— Lincoln's second election to the Presidency. 

— ( April 14) Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Washington. 

— ( .Mav 4) President Lincoln's funeral in Springlield. 

— The'Warof the Rebellion ends. 

— Gen. U. 8. Grant elected to the Presidency. 
—The third State Constitution adopted. 



POPULATION OF ILLINOIS 

At Each Decennial Ccnsxis from 1810 to 1900. 



1810 (23) 12.2S2 

182U (24) 55.162 

1830 (20) 157.445 

1840 (14> 476,183 

1850 (11) 851,470 



1860 (4) 1,711.951 

1870 (4) 2.539,891 

1880 (4) 3.077,871 

1890 (3) 382R,.15l 

1900 (3) 4.821.550 



Note.— Figures in parenthesis indicate the rank of the State 
in order of population. 



ILLINOIS CITIES 



Having a Population of io,ooo and Over (1900). 



Name. Population. 

Chicago 1,698,755 

Peoria 6«,I00 

Quincy. 36.252 

Spiiiigtield 34,159 

RocUl'ord 31.051 

Joliet . 



29.353 

Ea.si St Louis 29.655 

24.147 
23.286 
22.433 
20.754 
19,498 
Evaiiston 19,269 



A mora 
Blouinington . 

Elyni 

Herainr 

Rock Island. 



Name. Population. 

Galesburg 18,607 

Belleville 17.481 

Moline 17,248 

Danville 16.354 

Jacksonville 15,078 

Alton 14,210 

Strealor 14.079 

Kankakee 13,595 

Freeport _ 13.258 

Cairo 12,566 

Ottawa 10.5S8 

La SaUe... 10,446 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



286 



INDEX, 



This Index relates exclusively to matter embraced in the article under the title "Illinois." Subjects of general State history 
will be found treated at length, under topical heads, iu the body of the Encyclopedia. 



Admiasion of Illinois as a State, 258. 

Altgeld, John P., administration aa Gov- 
ernor, 27y-80 : defeated for re-election, "i&l . 

Anderson, Stinson H.,264. 

Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention, SSfi. 

Anti-alavery contest of 1822-24; defeat of a 
convention scheme, 200. 

Baker, Col. E. D., 263; orator at laying 
the coruer-stone of State capitol.2iJ4. 

Bateman, Newton, State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, 270.274.275. 

Beveridge, John L., Congre-ssman and 
Lieuteiiant-Giivernnr; becomes Governor 
by resignation of Governor Oglesby, 276. 

Birkbeck, Morris, 260. 

BisaeU, William H., Colonel In Mexican 
War, 265; Governor, 269; death, 270. 

Black Hawk War. 262. 

Blodgett. Henry W., Free Soil member of 
the Legislature. 268. 

Bloomlngton Convention fl856i,269. 

Bolsbriant, first French Commandant, 249. 

Bond, Shadrach. 265; Delegate iu Congress, 
257; tirat Governor, 258. 

Breese, Sidney, 259. 

Browne, Thomas C, 260. 

Browning, Orville H., In Bloomington 
Convention. 269; U. S. Senator. 27;i. 

Cahokia, first French settlement at, 232. 

Camp Douglas conspiracy, 273. 

Canal Scrip Fraud. 270. 

Carlin, Thutnas, elected Governor, 263. 

Casey, Zaduc, elected to Congress ; re- 
signs the Lieutenant-Governorship, 262. 

Charlevoix visits Illinois, 247 

Chicago and Calumet Rivers, importance 
of in estimation of early explorers, 247. 

Chicago election frauds, 278. 

Chicago, flre of 1871, 276. 

Chicagou, Indian Chief for whom Chicago 
was named, 248. 

Clark, Col. George Rogers, expedition to 
Illinois; capture of Kaskaskia. 251. 

Coles, Edward, emancipates hia slaves; 
candidate fur Governor, 259; his election, 
260; persecuted by bis enemiea, 261. 

Constitutional Convention of 1818.258. 

Constitutional Cnnvenlinn of 1847, 2()6. 

Constitutional Convention of 1862. ^2, 

Constitutional Convention of 1870. 2i5. 

Cook, Daniel P., 255; Attorney -General, 
258; elected to Congress, 260-61. 

Craig, Capt. Thomas, expedition against 
Indians at Peoria. 257. 

Cullom, Shelby M., Speaker of General As- 
sembly, 270; elected Governor, 276; ftea- 
turea of his administration: re-elected, 
277; elected to U. S. Senate, 278. 

Davis, David. United States Senator, 277. 

Douglas, Stephen A.. 263; Justice Supreme 
Court. 264. U.S. Senator. 266; debates 
with Lincoln. 268-70: re-elected U.S. Sen- 
ator, 270; death, 272. 

Duncan, Joseph. Governor: character of 
his administration, 262-63. 

Early towns. 258. 

Earthquake of 1811.256. 

Edwards. Ninlan, Governor Illinois Terri- 
tory. 255, elected U. S. Senator, 259; 
elected Governor; administraliuu and 
death, 261. 

Ewing, William L. D.. becomes acting 
Governor; occupant of many ollices, 262. 

Explorers, earlv French, 244-5. 

Farwell, Chitrles B.,279 

Field-McCleruand contest, 264, 

Fifer. Joseph W.. elected Governor, 279. 

Fisher, Dr. George, Speaker of Territorial 
Houseof Representatives, 257. 

Ford, Thomiis, Governor; embarrassing 
questions of his administration. 264, 

Fort Chartres, surrendered to British, 250. 

Fort Dearborn mas.sacre, 256-57. 

Fort Gage burned, 251. 

Fort Massac, starting point on the Ohio of 
Clark's expedition. 251. 

Fort St. Louis. 246; raided and burned by 

« Indians. 247. 

Franklin, Benjamin, Indian Commissioner 
for Illinois in 1775, 251. 

French, Augustus C, Governor. 265-7. 

French and Indian War, 250. 



French occupation ; settlement about Kas- 
ka.«ikia and Cahokia. 249. 

French villages, population of in 1765, 251. 

Gibault. Pierre. 2.32. 

Grant, Ulysses S., arrival at Springfield; 
Colonel of Twenty-first Illinois Volun- 
teers, 271: elected JPresident. 275. 

Gresham, Walter Q,, supported by Illinois 
Republicans for the Presidency, 27y. 

Hamilton, John M., Lieutenant-Governor, 
277; succeeds Gov. Cullom, 278. 

Hansen-Shaw contest, 260. 

Hardin, John J.. 263; elected to Congress, 
264; killed at Buena Vista, 265. 

Harrison. William Henry, first Governor 
of Indiana Territory. 264. 

Henry, Patrick, Indian Commissioner for 
Illinois Country; assists in planning 
Clark's expedition, 251; e.x-offlcio Gov- 
ernor of territory northwest of the Ohio 
Hi ver 

Illinois, its rank in order of admission into 
the Union, area and population, 241; In- 
dian origin of the name; boundaries and 
area; geographical location; navigable 
streams, 242; topography, fauna and 
flora. 243; soil and climate, 243-14; con- 
teat for occupation, 244: part of Louisi- 
ana in 1721. 249; surrendered to the 
British in 1765, 251; under government of 
Virginia, 252: part of Indiana Territory, 
254; Territorial Government organized; 
Nlnian Edwards appointed Governor, 
255, admitted as a State, 258 

Illinois & Mirhi;.':in C;uml.26l. 

Illinois Central Railroad. 267-68. 

■Illinois Country," buundaries defined by 
Captain Pitt man. 241; Patrick Henry, 
first American Governor, 252. 

Illinois County organized by Virginia 
Houseof Delegates, 252. 

Illinois Territory organized; first Territo- 
rial officers, 255. 

Indiana Territory organized. 2.54; first 
Territorial Legislature elected. 255. 

Indian tribes; location in Illinois, 247. 

Internal improvement scheme. 263. 

Joliet. Louis, accompanied by Marquette, 
visits Illinois in 1673, 245. 

Kane. Ellas Kent, 258. 

Kansas-Nebrjiska contest. 263. 

Ka.skaskia Indians remove from Upper 
Illinois to mouth of Kaskaskia, 248. 

Kenton, Simon, guide for Clark's expedi- 
tion against Kaskaskia. 251. 

Labordisturbances. 270.280,283. 

La Fayette, visit of, to Kaskaskia, 261. 

La Salle, expedition to Illinois in 1679-80. 
245; builds Fort Miami, near mouth of 
St. Joseph; disaster of Fort Creve-Cteur; 
erection of Fort St. Louis, 246. 

Lincoln, Abraham, Representative in the 
General Assembly. 263; elected to Con- 
gress, 266; unsuccessful candidate for 
the United States Senate; member of 
Bloomington Convention of 1856; 
" House divided-against-itseU" speech. 
269; elected President. 270: departurefor 
Washington, 271; elected for a second 
term, 273; assassination and funeral, 274. 

Lincoln-Douglas debates, 270. 

Lockwood, Samuel D.. Attorney-General; 
Secretary of State; opponent of pro- 
slavery convention scheme. 260. 

Logan. Gen. John A., prcuninent Union 
soldier, 272; Congress man-at-large.274-75; 
elected United States Senator. 276; Re- 
publican nominee for Vice-Preaident; 
third election as Senator,278- 
'*LongNine,"263. 

Louisiana united with Illinois. 254. 

Lovejoy, Elijah P.. murdered at Alton, 263. 

Macalister and Stebbins bonds. 270. 

Marquette. Father Jacques (see Joliet); 
his mission among the Kaskaskias, 248. 

Mason, William E., U. S. Senator, 282. 

McLean. John, Speaker: first Representa- 
tiveinCongress; U.S Senator; death. 265. 

Menard, Pierre. 255; President of Terri- 
torial Council, 257; elected Lieutenant- 
Governor, 2.58; anecdote of, 269. 

Mexican War, 265. 



Morgan. Col. George, Indian Agent at Kas- 
kaskia in 1776. 2.51. 

Mormon War, 264-65. 

New Design Settlement, 255. 

New France, 244, 249. 

Nicolet. Jean. French explorer, 244-5. 

Northwest Territory organized; Gen. Ar- 
thur St. Clair appointed Governor, 253; 
first Territorial Legislature; separated 
into Territories of Ohio and Indiana. 254. 

Oglesby, Richard J., soldier in Civil War, 
271; elected Governor, 274; second elec- 
tion; chosen U. S. Senator, 276; third 
election to governorship, 278. 

Ordinance of 1787,253. 

" Paincourt " (early name for St. Louis) 
settled by French from Illinois, 251, 

Palmer. John M., member of Peace Con- 
ference of 1861, 271; elected Governor; 
prominent events of his administration. 
■:^75; unsucceBSful Democratic candidate 
for Governor; elected U. S. Senator, 279; 
candidate for President, 282. 

Peace Conference of 1861,271. 

Peace conventions of 1863,273. 

IVrrot. Nicholas, explorer, 245. 

Pittman, Capt. Philip, defines the bounda- 
ries of the "Illinois Country," 241. 

Pope, Nathaniel, Secretary of IllinoisTer- 
ritory. 255; Delegate in Congress; serv- 
ice infixing northern boundary, 258. 

Prairies, origin of, 243. 

Randolph County organized. 254. 

Renault, Philip F., first importer of Afri- 
cun slaves to Illinois. 249. 

Republican State Convention of 1856,269. 

Reynolds, Juhii, elected Governor; resigns 
to take seat in Congress, 262; Speaker of 
Illinois Houseof Representatives. 268. 

Richardson, William A., candidate for 
Governor, 270; U.S. Senator, 272. 

Rocheblave. Chevalier de. last British 
Commandant in Illinois, 251; sent as a 
prisoner of war to Williamsburg, 252. 

Shawneetown Bank. 257. 

Shawneetown flood, 283. 

Shields, Gen. James, 263; elected U. S. Sen- 
ator, 267; defeated for re-election, 269. 

Southern Hospitalfor Insane burned, 280. 

Spanish-American War, 281. 

Springfield, third State capital, 263; erec- 
tion of new State capitol at, authorizeu, 
275; State Bank. 259. 

St. Clair, Arthur, first Governor of North- 
west Territory, 253; visits Illinois. 254. 

St. Clair County organized, 254. 

State debt reaches its maximum, 268. 

State Fair permanently located, 281. 

Streams and navigation. 242. 

Supreme Court revolutionized. 264. 

Tanner, John R.. State Treasurer, 278; 
elected Governor, 281-2. 

Thomas, Jesse B.. 265; President of Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1818. 258; 
elected United States Senator, 259. 

Todd. Col. John, County-Lieutenant of Illi- 
nois County, 252. 

Tonty, Henry deoee La Salle). 

Treaty with Indians near Alton, 257. 

Trumbull, Lyman, Secretary of State. 264; 
elected United States Senator. 269-70; 
Democratic candidate for Governor. 277. 

Vandalia. the second State capital, 259. 

War of 1812, 256; expeditions to Peoria 
Lake, 257. 

War of the Rebellion; some prominent 
Illinois actors; number of troops fur- 
nished by Illinois: important battles par- 
ticipated in. 271 72; some officers who 
fell;, Grierson raid. 272. 

Warren, Hooper, editor Edwardsville 
Spectator, 260. 

Wayne, Gen. Anthony. 254. 

Whig mass-meeting at Springfield, 264. 

VVilmot Proviso, action of Illinoie Legisla- 
ture upon, 267. 

Wood, John. Lieutenant-Governor, fills 
Bissell's unexpired term, 270. 

Yates. Richard, at Bloomington Conven- 
tion of 1856. 269; Governor, 270; prorogues 
Legislature of 1863; elected United States 
Senator, 273. 



286 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ILES, Elijah, pioneer merchant, was born in 
Kentucky, March 28, 1796; received the rudiments 
of an education in two winters' schooling, and 
began his business career by purchasing 100 head 
of yearling cattle upon which, after herding 
them three years in the valleys of Eastern Ken- 
tucky, he realized a profit of nearly §3,000. In 
1818 he went to St. Louis, then a French village 
of 3,500 inhabitants, and, after spending three 
years as clerk in a frontier store at "Old Frank- 
lin," on the Missouri River, nearly opposite the 
present town of Boonville, in 1821 made a horse- 
back tour through Central Illinois, finally locating 
at Springfield, which had just been selected by 
a board of Commissioners as the temporary 
county -seat of Sangamon County. Here he soon 
brought a stock of goods by keel-boat from St. 
Louis and opened the first store in the new town. 
Two years later (1823), in conjunction with 
Pascal P. Enos, Daniel P. Cook and Thomas Cox, 
he entered a section of land comprised within the 
present area of the city of Springfield, which 
later became the permanent county-seat and 
finally the State capital. Mr. lies became the 
first postmaster of Springfield, and, in 1826, was 
elected State Senator, served as Major in the 
Winnebago War (1827), enlisted as a private in 
the Black Hawk War (1831-32), but was soon 
advanced to the rank of Captain. In 1830 he 
sold his store to John Williams, who had been 
his clerk, and, in 1838-39, built the "American 
House," which afterwards became the temporary 
stopping-place of many of Illinois' most famous 
statesmen. He invested largely in valuable 
farming lands, and, at his death, left a large 
estate. Died, Sept. 4, 1883. 

ILLINOIS ASYLUM FOR INCURABLE IN- 
SANE, an institution founded under an act of the 
General Assembly, passed at the session of 1895, 
making an appropriation of $65,000 for the pur- 
chase of a site and the erection of buildings with 
capacity for the accommodation of 200 patients. 
The institution was located by the Trustees at 
Bartonville, a suburb of the city of Peoria, and 
the erection of buildings begun in 1896. Later 
these were found to be located on ground which 
had been undermined in excavating for coal, and 
their removal to a different location was under- 
taken in 1898. The institution is intended to 
relieve the other hospitals for the Insane by the 
reception of patients deemed incurable. 

ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL, a water- 
way connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois 
River, and forming a connecting link in the 
water-route between the St. Lawrence and the 



Gulf of Mexico. Its summit level is about 580 
feet above tide water. Its point of beginning is 
at the South Branch of the Chicago River, about 
five miles from the lake. Thence it flows some 
eight miles to the valley of the Des Plaines, fol- 
lowing the valley to the mouth of the Kankakee 
(forty-two miles), thence to its southwestern 
terminus at La Salle, the head of navigation on 
the Illinois. Between these points the canal has 
four feeders — the Calumet, Des Plaines, Du Page 
and Kankakee. It passes through Lockport, 
Joliet, Morris, and Ottawa, receiving accessions 
from the waters of the Fox River at the latter 
point. The canal proper is 96 miles long, and it 
has five feeders whose aggregate length is 
twenty-five miles, forty feet wide and four feet 
deep, with four aqueducts and seven dams. The 
difference in level between Lake Michigan and 
the Illinois River at La Salle is one hundred and 
forty-five feet. To permit the ascent of vessels, 
there are seventeen locks, ranging from three 
and one half to twelve and one-half feet in lift, 
their dimensions being 110x18 feet, and admitting 
the passage of boats carrying 150 tons. At Lock- 
port, Joliet, Du Page, Ottawa and La Salle are 
large basins, three of which supply power to fac- 
tories. To increase the water supply, rendered 
necessary by the high summit level, pumping 
works were erected at Bridgeport, having two 
thirty-eight foot independent wheels, each capa- 
ble of delivering (through buckets of ten feet 
length or width) 15,000 cubic feet of water per 
minute. These pumping works were erected in 
1848, at a cost of $15,000, and were in almost con- 
tinuous use until 1870. It was soon found that 
these machines might be utilized for the benefit 
of Chicago, by forcing the sewage of the Chicago 
River to the summit level of the canal, and allow- 
ing its place to be filled by pure water from the 
lake. This pmiiping, however, cost a large sum, 
and to obviate this expense $2,955,340 was ex- 
pended by Chicago in deepening the canal be- 
tween 1865 and 1871, so that the sewage of the 
south division of the city might be carried through 
the canal to the Des Plaines. This sum was 
returned to the City by the State after the great 
fire of 1871. (As to further measures for carry- 
ing off Chicago sewage, see Chicago Drainage 
Canal.) 

In connection with the canal three locks and 
dams have been built on the Illinois River, — one 
at Henry, about twenty-eight miles below La 
Salle ; one at the mouth of Copperas Creek, about 
sixty miles below Henry; and another at La 
Grange. The object of these works (the first 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



287 



two being practically an extension of the canal) 
is to furnish slack-water navigation through- 
out the year. The cost of that at Henry (§400,000) 
was defrayed by direct appropriation from the 
State treasury. Copperas Creek dam cost §-410,831, 
of wliich amount the United States Government 
paid §03,360. The General Government also con- 
structed a dam at La Grange and appropriated 
funds for the building of another at Kampsville 
Landing, with a view to making the river thor- 
oughly navigable the year round. The beneficial 
results expected from these works have not been 
realized and their demolition is advocated. 

History. — The early missionaries and fur- 
traders first directed attention to the nearness of 
the waters of Lake Michigan and the Illinois. 
The project of the construction of a canal was 
made the subject of a report by Albert Gallatin, 
Secretary of the Treasury in 1808, and, in 1811, a 
bill on the subject was introduced in Congress in 
connection with the Erie and other canal enter- 
prises. In 1833 Congress granted the right of 
way across the public lands "for the route of a 
canal connecting the Illinois River with the 
south bend of Lake Michigan," which was fol- 
lowed five years later by a grant of 300,000 acres 
of land to aid in its construction, which was to 
be undertaken by the State of Illinois. The 
earliest surveys contemplated a channel 100 miles 
long, and the original estimates of cost varied 
between §639,000 and §716,000. Later surveys 
and estimates (1833) placed the cost of a canal 
forty feet wide and four feet deep at §4,040,000. 
In 1836 another Board of Commissioners was 
created and surveys were made looking to the 
construction of a waterway sixty feet wide at the 
surface, thirty-six feet at bottom, and six feet in 
depth. Work was begun in June of that year; 
was suspended in 1841 ; and renewed in 1840, 
when a canal loan of §1,000,000 was negotiated. 
The channel was opened for navigation in April, 
1848, by which time the total outlay had reached 
$6,170,236. By 1871, Illinois had liquidated its 
entire indebtedness on account of the canal and 
the latter reverted to the State. The total cost 
up to 1879 — including amount refunded to Chi- 
cago — was §9,513,831, while the sum returned to 
the State from earnings, sale of canal lands, etc., 
amounted to §8,819,731. In 1883 an offer was 
made to cede the canal to the United States upon 
condition that it should be enlarged and ex- 
tended to the Mississippi, was repeated in 1887, 
but has been declined. 

ILLINOIS AND MISSISSIPPI CANAL (gener- 
ally known as "Hennepin Canal"), a projected 



navigable water-way in course of construction 
(1899) by the General Government, designed to 
connect the Upper Illinois with the Mississippi 
River. Its object is to furnish a continuous 
navigable water-channel from Lake Michigan, at 
or near Chicago, by way of the Illinois & Michi- 
gan Canal (or the Sanitary Drainage Canal) and 
the Illinois River, to the Mississippi at the mouth 
of Rock River, and finally to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Route. — The canal, at its eastern end, 
leaves the Illinois River one and three-fourths 
miles above the city of Hennepin, where the 
river makes the great bend to the south. Ascend- 
ing the Bureau Creek valley, the route passes 
over the dividing ridge between the Illinois River 
and the Mississippi to Rock River at the mouth 
of Green River; thence by slack- water down 
Rock River, and around the lower rapids in that 
stream at Milan, to the Mississippi. The esti- 
mated length of the main channel between its 
eastern and western termini is seventy-five miles 
— tlie distance having been reduced by changes 
in the route after the first survey. To this is to 
be added a "feeder" extending from the vicinity 
of Sheffield, on the summit-level (twenty-eight 
miles west of the starting point on the Illinois), 
north to Rock Falls on Rock River opposite the 
city of Sterling in Whiteside County, for the 
purpose of obtaining an adequate supply of water 
for the main canal on its highest level. The 
length of this feeder is twenty-nine miles and, as 
its dimensions are the same as those of the main 
channel, it will be navigable for vessels of the 
same class as the latter. A dam to be constructed 
at Sterling, to turn water into the feeder, will 
furnish slack-water navigation on Rock River to 
Dixon, practically lengthening the entire route 
to that extent. 

History. — The subject of such a work began to 
be actively agitated as early as 1871, and, under 
authority of various acts of Congress, preliminary 
surveys began to be made by Government engi- 
neers that year. In 1890 detailed plans and esti- 
mates, based upon these preliminary surveys, 
were submitted to Congress in accordance with 
the river and harbor act of August, 1888. This 
report became tlis basis of an appropriation in 
the river and harbor act of Sept. 19, 1890, for 
carrying the work into practical execution. 
Actual work was begun on the western end of the 
canal in July, 1893, and at the eastern end in the 
spring of 1894. Since then it has been prosecuted 
as continuously as the appropriations made by 
Congress from year to year would permit. Ac- 
cording to the report of Major Marshall, Chief of 



288 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Engineers in charge of the work, for the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1898, tlie construction of the 
canal around the lower rapids of Rock River (four 
and one-half miles), with three locks, three 
swing bridges, two dams, besides various build- 
ings, was completed and that portion of the canal 
opened to navigation on April 17. 1895. In tlie 
early part of 1899, the bulk of the excavation 
and masonry on the eastern section was practi- 
cally completed, tlie feeder line under contract, 
and five out of the eighteen bridges required to 
be constructed in place; and it was estimated 
that the whole line, with locks, bridges, culverts 
and aqueducts, will be completed within two 
years, at the farthest, by 1903. 

Dimensions, Methods of Construction, Cost. 
ETC. — As already stated, the length of the main 
line is seventy-five miles, of which twenty-eight 
miles (the eastern section) is east of the junction 
of the feeder, and forty-seven miles (the western 
section) west of that point — making, with the 
twenty-nine miles of feeder, a total of one hun- 
dred and four miles, or seven miles longer than 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The rise from the 
Illinois River datum to tlie summit-level on the 
eastern section is accomplished by twenty-one 
locks with a lift of six to fourteen feet each, to 
reach an altitude of 196 feet; while the descent 
of ninety-three feet to the low- water level of the 
Mississippi on the western end is accomplished 
through ten locks, varying from six to fourteen 
feet each. The width of the canal, at the water 
surface, is eighty feet, with a depth below the 
surface-line of seven feet. The banks are rip- 
rapped with stone the entire length of the canal. 
The locks are one hundred and seventy feet long, 
between the quoins, by thirty-five feet in width, 
admitting the passage of vessels of one hundred 
and forty feet in length and thirty-two feet beam 
and each capable of carrying six hundred tons of 
freight. 

The bulk of the masonry employed in the con- 
struction of locks, as well as abutments for 
bridges and aqueducts, is solid concrete manufac- 
tured in place, while the lock-gates and aque- 
ducts proper are of steel — the use of these 
materials resulting in a large saving in the first 
cost as to the former, and securing greater solid- 
ity and permanence in all. The concrete work, 
already completed, is found to have withstood 
the effects of ice even more successfully than 
natural stone. The smaller culverts are of iron 
piping and the framework of all the bridges of 
steel. 
The earlier estimates placed the entire cost of 



construction of the canal, locks, bridges, build- 
ings, etc., at $5,008,000 for the main channel and 
§1,858,000 for the Rock River feeder— a total of 
§6,920.000. This has been reduced, however, by 
changes in the route and unexpected saving in 
the material employed for masonry work. The 
total expenditure, as shown by official reports, 
up to June 30, 1898, was §1,748,905.13. The 
amount expended up to March 1, 1899, approxi- 
mated §2,500,000, while the amount necessary to 
complete the work (exclusive of an unexpended 
balance) was estimated, in round numbers, at 
§3,500,000. 

The completion of this work, it is estimated, 
will result in a saving of over 400 miles in water \ 
transportation between Chicago and the western 
terminus of the canal. In order to make the 
canal available to its full capacity between lake 
points and the Mississippi, the enlargement of 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal, both as to width 
and depth of channel, will be an indispensable 
necessity ; and it is anticipated that an effort will 
be made to secure action in this direction by the 
Illinois Legislature at its next session. Another 
expedient likely to receive strong support will be, 
to induce the General Government to accept the 
tender of the Illinois Sc Michigan Canal and, by 
the enlargement of the latter through its whole 
length — or, from Lockport to the Illinois River 
at La Salle, with the utilization of the Chicago 
Drainage Canal — furnish a national water-way 
between the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico of 
sufficient capacity to accommodate steamers and 
other vessels of at least 600 tons burthen. 

ILLINOIS BAND, THE, an association consist- 
ing of seven young men, then students in Yale 
College, who, in the winter of 1828-29, entered 
into a mutual compact to devote their lives to the 
promotion of Christian education in the West, 
especially in Illinois. It was composed of Tlieron 
Baldwin, John F. Brooks, Mason Gi-osvenor, 
Elisha Jenney, William Kirby, Julian M. Sturte- 
vant and Asa Turner. All of these came to Illi- 
nois at an early day, and one of the first results 
of their efforts was the founding of Illinois Col- 
lege at Jacksonville, in 1829, with which all 
became associated as members of the first Board 
of Trustees, several of them so remaining to the 
close of their lives, while most of them were con- 
nected witli the institution for a considerable 
period, either as members of the faculty or finan- 
cial agents — Dr. Sturtevant having been Presi- 
dent for thirty-two years and an instructor or 
professor fifty -six years. (See Baldwin, Theron; 
Brooks, John F.; and Sturtevant, Julian M.) 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



289 



ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD, a corpo 
ration controlling the principal line of railroad 
extending through the entire length of the State 
from north to south, besides numerous side 
branches acquired by lease during the past few 
years. The main lines are made up of three gen- 
eral divisions, extending from Chicago to Cairo, 
111. (364.73 miles); from Centralia to Dubuque, 
Iowa, (340.77 miles), and from Cairo to New 
Orleans, La. (547.79 miles) — making a total of 
1,253.29 miles of main line, of which 705.5 miles 
are in Illinois. Besides tliis the company con- 
trols, through lease and stock ownership, a large 
number of lateral branches which are operated 
by the company, making the total mileage 
officially reported up to June 30, 1898, 3,130.31 
miles. — (History.) The Illinois Central Railroad 
is not only one of the lines earliest projected in 
the history of the State, but has been most inti- 
mately connected with its development. The 
project of a road starting from the mouth of the 
Ohio and extending northward through the State 
is said to have been suggested by Lieut. -Gov. 
Alexander M. Jenkins as early as 1832 ; was 
advocated by the late Judge Sidney Breese and 
others in 1835 under tlie name of the Wabash & 
Mississippi Railroad, and took the form of a 
charter granted by the Legislature in January, 
1836, to the first "Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany," to construct a road from Cairo to a point 
near the southern terminus of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal. Nothing was done under this 
act, although an organization was effected, with 
Governor Jenkins as President of the Company. 
The Company surrendered its charter the next 
year and the work was undertaken by the State, 
under the internal improvement act of 1837, and 
considerable money expended without complet- 
ing any portion of the line. The State having 
abandoned the enterprise, the Legislature, in 
1843, incorporated the "Great Western Railway 
Company" under what came to be known as the 
"Holbrook charter," to be organized under the 
auspices of the Cairo City & Canal Company, 
the line to connect the termini named in the 
charter of 1836, via Vandalia, Shelbyville, 
Decatur and Bloomington. Considerable money 
was expended under this charter, but the scheme 
again failed of completion, and the act was 
repealed in 1845. A charter under the same 
name, with some modification as to organization, 
was renewed in 1849. — In January, 1850, Senator 
Douglas introduced a biU in the United States 
Senate making a grant to the State of Illinois of 
alternate sections of land along the line of a 



proposed road extending from Cairo to Duluth in 
the northwest corner of the State, with a branch 
to Chicago, which bill passed the Senate in May 
of the same year and the House in September, 
and became the basis of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company as it exists to day. Previous to 
the passage of this act. however, the Cairo City 
& Canal Company had been induced to execute a 
full surrender to the State of its rights and privi- 
leges under the "Holbrook charter." This was 
followed in February, 1851, by the act of the 
Legislature incorporating the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company, and assigning thereto (under 
specified conditions) the grant of lands received 
from the General Government. This grant 
covered alternate sections within six miles of the 
line, or the equivalent thereof (when such lands 
were not vacant), to be placed on lands within 
fifteen miles of the line. The number of acres 
thus assigned to the Company was 2,595,000, 
(about 3,840 acres per mile), which were con- 
veyed to Trustees as security for the performance 
of the work. An engineering party, organized 
at Chicago, May 21, 1851, began the pr.elim- 
inary survey of the Chicago branch, and 
before the end of the year the whole line was 
surveyed and staked out The first contract for 
grading was let on March 15, 1852, being for that 
portion between Chicago and Kensington (then 
known as Calumet), 14 miles. This was opened 
for traffic, May 24, 1852, and over it the Michigan 
Central, which had been in course of construction 
from the east, obtained trackage rights to enter 
Chicago. Later, contracts were let for other 
sections, some of them in June, and the last on 
Oct. 14, 1852. In May, 1853, the section from 
La Salle to Bloomington (61 miles) was com- 
pleted and opened for business, a temporary 
bridge being constructed over the Illinois near 
La Salle, and cars hauled to the top of the bluff 
with chains and cable by means of a stationary 
engine. In July, 1854, the Chicago Division was 
put in operation to Urbana, 128 miles ; the main 
Une from Cairo to La Salle (301 miles), completed 
Jan. 8, 1855, and the line from La Salle to Duluth 
(now East Dubuque), 146.73 miles, on June 13, 
1855— the entire road (705.5 miles) being com- 
pleted, Sept. 27, 1856.— (Financial Statement.) 
The share capital of the road was originally 
fixed at §17,000,000, but previous to 1869 it had 
been increased to $25,500,000. and during 1873-74 
to $29,000,000. The present capitalization (1898) 
is $163,352,593, of which §53,500,000 is in stock, 
§53,680,925 in bonds, and $51,367,000 in miscel- 
laneous obligations. The total cost of the road 



290 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



in Illinois, as shown by a report made in 1889, was 
§35,110,609. By the terms of its charter the 
corporation is exempt from taxation, but in lieu 
thereof is required to pay into the State treasury, 
semi-annually, seven per cent upon the gross 
earnings of the line in Illinois. The sum thus 
paid into the State treasury from Oct. 31, 18.55, 
when the first payment of .?29,751.59 was made, 
up to and including Oct. 31, 1898, aggregated 
$17,315,193.24. The last payment (October, 1898), 
amounted to $334,537.01. The largest payment 
in the history of the road was that of October, 
1893, amounting, for the preceding six months, to 
.?450,176.34. The net income of the main line in 
Illinois, for the year ending June 30, 1898, was 
$12,299,021, and the total expenditures within the 
State §12,831,161.— (Leased Lines.) The first 
addition to the Illinois Central System was made 
in 1867 in the acquisition, by lease, of the Dubuque 
& Sioux City Railroad, extending from Dubuque 
to Sioux Falls, Iowa. Since then it has extended 
its Iowa connections, by the construction of new 
lines and the acquisition or extension of others. 
The most important addition to the line outside 
of the State of Illinois was an arrangement 
effected, in 1872, with the New Orleans, Jackson & 
Great Northern, and the Mississippi Central Rail- 
roads — with which it previously had traffic con- 
nections — giving it control of a line from Jackson, 
Tenn. , to New Orleans, La. At first, connection 
was had between the Illinois Central at Cairo and 
the Southern Divisions of the system, by means 
of transfer steamers, but subsequently the gap 
was filled in and the through line opened to traffic 
in December, 1873. In 1874 the New Orleans, 
Jackson & Great Northern and the Mississippi 
Central roads were consolidated under the title 
of the New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago Railroad, 
but the new corporation defaulted on its interest 
in 1876. The Illinois Central, which was tlie 
owner of a majority of the bonds of the constitu- 
ent lines whicli went to make up the New Orleans, 
St. Louis & Chicago Railroad, then acquired 
ownership of the whole line by foreclosure pro- 
ceedings in 1877, and it was reorganized, on Jan. 
1, 1878, under the name of the Chicago, St. Louis 
& New Orleans Railroad, and placed in charge of 
one of the Vice-Presidents of the Illinois Central 
Company. — (Illinois Branches.) The more im- 
portant branches of tlie Illinois Central within the 
State include: (1) The Springfield Division from 
Chicago to Springfield (111.47 miles), chartered 
in 1867, and opened in 1871 as the Oilman, Clinton 
& Springfield Railroad ; passed into tlie hands of 
a receiver in 1873, sold under foreclosure in 1876, 



and leased, in 1878, for fifty years, to the Illinois 
Central Railroad: (2) The Rantoul Division from 
Leroy to the Indiana State line (60.21 miles in 
Illinois), chartered in 1876 as the Havana, Ran- 
toul & Eastern Railroad, built as a narrow-gauge 
line and operated in 1881 ; afterwards changed to 
standard-gauge, and controlled by the Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific until May, 1884, when it passed 
into the hands of a receiver; in December of the 
same year taken in charge by the bondholders ; in 
1885 again placed in the hands of a receiver, and, 
in October, 1886, sold to the Illinois Central: (3) 
The Chicago, Havana & Western Railroad, from 
Havana to Champaign, with a branch from White- 
heath to Decatur (total, 131.62 miles), constructed 
as the western extension of the Indianapolis, 
Bloomington & Western, and opened in 1873; sold 
under foreclosure in 1879 and organized as the 
Champaign, Havana & Western; in 1880 pur- 
chased by the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific; in 
1884 taken possession of by the mortgage trustees 
and, in September, 1886, sold under foreclosure to 
the Illinois Central Railroad: (4) The Freeport 
Division, from Chicago by way of Freeport to 
Madison, Wis. (140 miles in Illinois), constructed 
under a cliarter granted to the Chicago, Madison 
& Northern Railroad (which see), opened for 
traffic in 1888, and transferred to the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company in January, 1889 : (5) 
The Kankakee & Southwestern (131.26 miles), 
constructed from Kankakee to Bloomington 
under the charters of the Kankakee & Western 
and the Kankakee & Southwestern Railroads: 
acquired by the Illinois Central in 1878, begun in 
1880, and extended to Bloomington in 1883; and 
(6) The St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute (wliich 
see under its old name). Other Illinois branch 
lines of less importance embrace the Blue Island ; 
the Chicago & Texas ; the Mound City ; the South 
Chicago; the St. Louis, Belleville & Southern, 
and the St. Charles Air-Line, which furnishes 
an entrance to the City of Chicago over an ele- 
vated track. The total length of these Illinois 
branches in 1898 was 919. 72 miles, with the main 
lines making the total mileage of the company 
within the State 1 , 624. 22 miles. For several years 
up to 1895 the Illinois Central had a connection 
with St. Louis over the line of the Terre Haute & 
Indianapolis from Effingham, but this is now 
secured by way of the Springfield Division and 
the main line to Pana, whence its trains pass over 
the old Indianapolis & St. Louis — now the Cleve- 
land, Cinciunati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway. 
Between June 30, 1897 and April 30, 1898, branch 
lines in the Southern States (chiefly in Kentucky 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



291 



and Tennessee), to the extent of 670 miles, were 
added to the Illinois Central System. The Cairo 
Bridge, constructed across the Ohio River near 
its mouth, at a cost of §3,000,000, for the purpose of 
connecting the Northern and Southern Divisions 
of the Illinois Central System, and one of the 
most stupendous structures of its kind in the 
world, belongs wholly to the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company. (See Cairo Bridge.) 

ILLINOIS COLLEGE, an institution of learn- 
ing at Jacksonville, 111., which was the first to 
graduate a collegiate class in the history of the 
State. It had its origin in a movement inaugu- 
rated about 1827 or 1828 to secure the location, at 
some point in Illinois, of a seminary or college 
which would give the youth of the State the 
opportimity of acquiring a higher education. 
Some of the most influential factors in this move- 
ment were already citizens of Jacksonville, or 
contemplated becoming such. In January, 1828, 
the outline of a plan for such an institution was 
drawn up by Rev. John M. Ellis, a home missionary 
of the Presbyterian Church, and Hon. Samuel D. 
Lockwood, then a Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the State, as a basis for soliciting subscriptions 
for the organization of a stock-company to carry 
the enterprise into execution. The plan, as then 
proposed, contemplated provision for a depart- 
ment of female education, at least until a separate 
institution could be furnished — which, if not a 
forerunner of the co-educational system now so 
much in vogue, at least foreshadowed the estab- 
lishment of the Jacksonville Female Seminary, 
which soon followed the founding of the college. 
A few months after these preliminary steps were 
taken, Mr. Ellis was brought into communication 
with a group of young men at Yale College (see 
"Illinois Band") who had entered into a com- 
pact to devote their lives to the cause of educa- 
tional and missionary work in the West, and out 
of the union of these two forces, soon afterwards 
effected, grew Illinois College. The organization 
of the "Illinois'" or "Yale Band," was formally 
consummated in February, 1829, and before the 
close of the year a fund of §10,000 for the purpose 
of laying the foundation of the proposed institu- 
tion in Illinois had been pledged by friends of 
education in the East, a beginning had been made 
in the erection of buildings on the present site of 
Illinois College at Jacksonville, and, in Decem- 
ber of the same year, the work of instruction of 
a preparatory class had been begun by Rev. Julian 
M. Sturtevant.who had taken the place of "avant- 
courier" of the movement. A year later (1831) 
Eev. Edward Beecher, the oldest son of the inde- 



fatigable Lyman Beecher, and brother of Henry 
Ward — already then well known as a leader in 
the ranks of those opposed to slavery — had be- 
come identified with the new enterprise and 
assumed the position of its first President. Such 
was the prejudice against "Yankees" in Illinois 
at that time, and the jealousy of theological influ- 
ence in education, that it was not until 1835 that 
the friends of the institution were able to secure 
a charter from the Legislature. An ineffectual 
attempt had been made in 1830. and when it was 
flnally granted, it was in the form of an "omni- 
bus bill" including three other institutions, but 
with restrictions as to the amount of real estate 
that might be held, and prohibiting the organiza- 
tion of theological departments, both of which 
were subsequently repealed. (See Early Col- 
leges. ) The same year the college graduated its 
first class, consisting of two members — Richard 
Yates, afterwards War Governor and United 
States Senator, and Rev. Jonatlian Spillman, the 
composer of "Sweet Afton." Limited as was this 
first output of alumni, it was politically and 
morally strong. In 1843 a medical department 
was established, but it was abandoned five years 
later for want of adequate support. Dr. Beecher 
retired from the Presidency in 1844, when he was 
succeeded by Dr. Sturtevant, who continued in 
that capacity until 1876 (thirty-two years), when 
he became Professor Emeritus, remaining until 
1885 — his connection with the institution cover- 
ing a period of flfty-six years. Others who have 
occupied the position of President include Rufus 
C. Crampton (acting), 1876-82; Rev. Edward A. 
Tanner, 1883-92; and Dr. John E. Bradley, the 
incumbent from 1892 to 1899. Among the earli- 
est and influential friends of the institution, 
besides Judge Lockwood already mentioned, may 
be enumerated such names as Gov. Jo.seph Dun- 
can, Thomas Mather, Winthrop S. Gilman, 
Frederick Collins and William H. Brown (of 
Chicago), all of whom were members of the early 
Board of Trustees. It was found necessary to 
maintain a preparatory department for many 
years to fit pupils for the college classes proper, 
and, in 1866, Whipple Academy was established 
and provided with a separate building for this 
purpose. The standard of admission to the col- 
lege course has been gradually advanced, keeping 
abreast, in this respect, of other American col- 
leges. At present the institution has a faculty of 
15 members and an endowment of some $150,000, 
with a library (1898) numbering over 15,000 vol- 
umes and property valued at §360,000. Degrees 
are conferred in both classical and scientific 



292 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



courses in the college proper. The list of alumni 
embraces some 750 names, including many who 
have been prominent in State and National 
affairs. 

ILLINOIS COUNTY, the name given to the 
first civil organization of the territory northwest 
of the Ohio River, after its conquest by Col. George 
Rogers Clark in 1778. This was done by act of 
the Virginia House of Delegates, passed in 
October of the same year, which, among other 
things, provided as follows: "The citizens of the 
commonwealth of Virginia, who are already set- 
tled, or shall hereafter settle, on the western side of 
the Oliio, shall be included in a distinct county 
which shall be called Illinois County; and the 
Governor of this commonwealth, with the advice 
of the Council, may appoint a County-Lieutenant 
or Comniandant-in-chief of the county during 
pleasure, who shall take the oath of fidelity to 
this commonwealth and the oatli of ofl[ice accord- 
ing to the form of their own religion. And all 
civil offices to which the inhabitants have been 
accustomed, necessary for the preservation of the 
peace and the administration of justice, shall be 
chosen by a majority of the citizens of their re- 
spective districts, to be convened for that purpose 
by the County-Lieutenant or Commandant, or his 
deputy, and shall be commissioned by said 
County-Lieutenant." As the Commonwealth of 
Virginia, by virtue of Colonel Clark's conquest, 
then claimed jurisdiction over the entire region 
west of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi, 
Illinois County nominally embraced the territory 
comprised within the limits of the present States 
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wiscon- 
sin, though the settlements were limited to the 
vicinity of Kaskaskia, Vincennes (in the present 
State of Indiana) and Detroit. Col. John Todd, 
of Kentucky, was appointed by Gov. Patrick 
Henry, the first Lieutenant-Commandant under 
this act, holding office two years. Out of Illinois 
County were subsequently organized the follow- 
ing counties by "order" of Gov. Arthur St. Clair, 
after his assumption of the duties of Governor, 
following the passage, by Congress, of the Ordi- 
nance of 1787, creating the Northwest Territory, 



VIZ. : 






Name 


County-Seat Date of Organ-tzation 


"Washington 


Marietta 


July 27. 1788 


Haruiltou 


Cincinnati 
f Cah<)kia 


Jan. 4. l-yi) 


St. Clair 


) Prairie du Rocher 
( Kaskaskia 


April 27, 1790 


Knox 


Post .St. Vincennea 


June 20, 1790 


Randolph 


Kaskaskia 


Oct. 5, 1795 



Washington, originally comprising the State of 
Ohio, was reduced, on the organization of Hamil- 
ton County, to the eastern portion, Hamilton 



County embracing the west, with Cincinnati 
(originally called "Losantiville," near old Fort 
Wasliington) as the county-seat. St. Clair, the 
third county organized out of this territory, at 
first had virtually three county-seats, but divi- 
sions and jealousies among the people and officials 
in reference to the place of deposit for the records, 
resulted in the issue, five years later, of an order 
creating the new county of Randolph, the .second 
in the "Illinois Country" — these (St. Clair and 
Randolph) constituting the two counties into 
which it was divided at the date of organization 
of Illinois Territory. Out of these events grew 
the title of "Motlierof Counties" given to Illinois 
County as the original of all the counties in the 
five States northwest of the Ohio, while St. Clair 
County inherited the title as to the State of 
Illinois. (See Illinois; also St. Clair, Arthur, 
and Todd, (Col.) John.) 

ILLINOIS FARMERS' RAILROAD. (See 
Jac-ksonville & St. Louis Raihray.) 

ILLINOIS FEMALE COLLEGE, a flourishing 
institution for the education of women, located 
at Jacksonville and incorporated in 1847. While 
essentially unsectarian in teaching, it is con- 
trolled by the Methodist Episcopal denomination. 
Its first charter was granted to the "Illinois Con- 
ference Female Academy" in 1847, but four years 
later the charter was amended and the name 
changed to the present cognomen. The cost of 
building and meager support in early years 
brought on bankruptcy. The friends of the insti- 
tution rallied to its support, however, and the 
purchasers at the foreclosure sale (all of whom 
were friends of Methodist education) donated tlie 
property to what was technically a new institu- 
tion. A second charter was obtained from the 
State in 1863, and the restrictions imposed upon 
the grant were such as to prevent alienation of 
title, by either conveyance or mortgage. While 
the college has only a small endowment fund 
($2,000) it owns §60,000 worth of real property, 
besides .§9,000 invested in apparatus and library. 
Preparator)' and collegiate departments are main- 
tained, both classical and scientific courses being 
established in the latter. Instruction is also 
given in fine arts, elocution and music. The 
faculty (1898) numbers 15, and there are about 170 
students. 

ILLINOIS FEMALE REFORM SCHOOL. (See 
Home, for Female Offenders.) 

ILLINOIS INDIANS, a confederation belong- 
ing to the Algonquin family and embracing five 
tribes, viz. : the Cahokias, Kaskaskias, Mitcha- 
gamies, Peorias and Tamaroas. They early occu- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



293 



pied Illinois, with adjacent portions of Iowa, 
Wisconsin and Missouri. Tlie name is derived 
from mini, "man," the Indian plural "ek" being 
changed by the French to "ois. " They were 
intensely warlike, being almost constantly in 
conflict with the Winnebagoes, the Iroquois, 
Sioux and other tribes. They were migratory 
and depended for subsistence largely on the sum- 
mer and winter hunts. They dwelt in rudely 
constructed cabins, each accommodating about 
eight families. They were always faithful allies 
of the French, whom they heartily welcomed in 
1673. French missionaries labored earnestly 
among them — notably Fathers Marquette, Allouez 
and Gravier — who reduced their language to 
grammatical rules. Their most distinguished 
Chief was Chicagou, who was sent to France, 
where he was welcomed with the honors accorded 
to a foreign prince. In their wars with the 
Foxes, from 1712 to 1719, they suffered severely. 
their numbers being reduced to 3,000 souls. The 
assassination of Pontiac by a Kaskaskian in 1765, 
was avenged by the lake tribes in a war of ex- 
termination. After taking part with the Miamis 
in a war against tlie United States, they partici- 
pated in the treaties of Greenville and Vincennes, 
and were gradually removed farther and farther 
toward the West, the small remnant of about 175 
being at present (1896) on the Quapaw reservation 
in Indian Territory. (See also Cahokias; Foxes; 
Iroquois; Kaskaskias; Mitcliagamies; Peorias; 
Tamaroas; and Winnebagoes.) 

ILLINOIS INSTITUTION FOR THE EDU- 
CATION OF THE BLIND, located at Jackson- 
ville. The institution liad its inception in a school 
for the blind, opened in that town in 1847, by 
Samuel Bacon, who was himself blind. The 
State Institution was created by act of the Legis- 
lature, passed Jan. 13, 1849, which was introduced 
by Richard Yates, then a Representative, and 
was first opened in a rented house, early in 1850, 
under the temporary supervision of Mr. Bacon. 
Soon afterward twenty-two acres of ground were 
purchased in the eastern part of the city and the 
erection of permanent buildings commenced. By 
January, 1854, they were ready for use, but fif- 
teen j'ears later were destroyed by Are. Work on 
a new building was begun without unnecessary 
delay and the same was completed by 1874. 
Numerous additions of wings and shops have 
since been made, and the institution, in its build- 
ings and appointments, is now one of the most 
complete in the country. Instruction (as far as 
practicable) is given in rudimentary English 
branches, and in such mechanical trades and 



avocations as may best qualify the inmates to be- 
come self-supporting upon their return to active 
life. 
ILLINOIS MASONIC ORPHANS' HOME, an 

institution established in the city of Chicago 
under the auspices of the Masonic Fraternity of 
Illinois, for the purpose of furnishing a home for 
the destitute children of deceased members of the 
Order. The total receipts of the institution, dur- 
ing the year 1895, were 539,204.98, and the 
expenditures, §27,358.70. The number of bene- 
ficiaries in the Home, Dec. 31, 1895, was 61. The 
Institution owns real estate valued at §75,000. 

ILLINOIS MIDLAND RAILROAD. (See Terre 
Haute & Peoria Railroad.) 

ILLINOIS RIVER, the most important stream 
witliin the State ; has a length of about 500 miles, 
of which about 245 are navigable. It is formed 
by tlie junction of the Kankakee and Des Plaines 
Rivers at a point in Grmidy County, some 45 
miles southwest of Chicago. Its course is west, 
then southwest, and finally south, until it 
empties into the Mississippi about 20 miles north 
of the mouth of the Missouri. The Illinois & 
Blichigan Canal connects its waters with Lake 
Michigan. Marquette and Joliet ascended the 
stream in 1673 and were probably its first white 
visitants. Later ( 1679-82) it was explored by 
La Salle, Tonty, Hennepin and others. 

ILLINOIS RIVER RAILROAD. (See Chicago, 
Peoria <fc St. Louis Railroad of Illinois.) 

ILLINOIS SANITARY COMMISSION, a vol 
untary organization formed pursuant to a sug- 
gestion of Governor Yates, shortly after the 
battle of Fort Donel.son (1863). Its object was 
the relief of soldiers in actual service, whether on 
the march, in camp, or in hospitals. State Agents 
were appointed for the distribution of relief, for 
which purpose large sums were collected and dis- 
tributed. The work of the Commission was later 
formally recognized by the Legislature in the 
enactment of a law authorizing the Governor to 
appoint "Military State Agents," who should 
receive compensation from the State treasury. 
Many of these "agents" were selected from the 
ranks of the workers in the Sanitary Commission, 
and a great impetus was thereby imparted to its 
voluntary work. Auxiliary associations were 
formed all over the State, and funds were readily 
obtained, a considerable proportion of which was 
derived from "Sanitary Fairs." 

ILLINOIS SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND 
MANUAL TRAINING FOR BOYS, an institution 
for the training of dependent boys, organized 
under the act of March 38, 1895, which was in 



294 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



effect a re-enactment of the statute approved in 
1883 and amended in 1885. Its legally defined 
object is to provide a home and proper training 
for such boys as may be committed to its cliarge. 
Commitments are made by the County Courts of 
Cook and contiguous counties. The school is 
located at Glenwood, in the county of Cook, and 
was first opened for the reception of inmates in 
1888. Its revenues are derived, in part, from 
voluntary contributions, and in part from pay- 
ments by the counties sending boys to the institu- 
tion, which payments are fixed by law at ten 
dollars per month for each boy, during the time 
he is actually an inmate. In 1898 nearly one-half 
of the entire income came from the former 
source, but the surplus remaining in the treasury 
at the end of any fiscal year is never large. The 
school is under the inspectional control of the 
State Commissioners of Public Charities, as 
though it were an institution founded and main- 
tained by the State. The educational curriculum 
closely follows that of the ordinary grammar 
schools, pupils being trained in eight grades, sub- 
stantially along the lines established in the public 
schools. In addition, a military drill is taught, 
with a view to developing physical strength, 
command of limbs, and a graceful, manly car- 
riage. Since the Home was organized there have 
been received (down to 1899), 2,333 boys. The 
industrial training given the inmates is both 
agricultural and mechanical, — the institution 
owning a good, fairly-sized farm, and operating 
well equipped industrial shops for the education 
of pupils. A fair proportion of the boys devote 
themselves to learning trades, and not a 
few develop into excellent workmen. One of the 
purposes of tlie school is to secure homes for those 
thought likely to prove creditable members of 
respectable households. During the eleven years 
of its existence nearly 2,200 boys have been placed 
in homes, and usually with the most satisfactory 
results. The legal safeguards thrown around 
the ward are of a comprehensive and binding 
sort, so far as regards the parties who take the 
children for either adoption or apprenticeship^ 
the welfare of the ward always being the object 
primarily aimed at. Adoption is preferred to 
institutional life by the administration, and the 
result usually justifies their judgment. Many of 
the pupils are returned to their families or 
friends, after a mild course of correctional treat- 
ment. The system of government adopted is 
analogous to that of the "cottage plan" employed 
in many reformatory institutions throughout the 
country. An "administration building" stands 



in the center of a group of structures, each of 
which has its own individual name: — Clancy 
Hall, Wallace, Plymouth, Beecher, Pope, Windsor, 
Lincoln, Sunnyside and Sheridan. While never 
a suppliant for benefactions, the Home has always 
attracted the attention of philantliropists who 
are interested in the care of society's waifs. The 
average annual number of inmates is about 275. 

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UMVERSITY, the 
leading educational institution of the Methodist 
Church in Illinois, south of Chicago; incorpo-, 
rated in 1853 and located at Bloomington. It is 
co-educational, has a faculty of 34 instructors, 
and reports 1,106 students in 1896 — 458 male and 
648 female. Besides the usual literary and scien- 
tific departments, instruction is given in theology, 
music and oratory. It also has preparatory and 
business courses. It has a library of 6,000 vol- 
umes and reports funds and endowment aggre- 
gating $187,999, and property to the value of 
$380,999. 

ILLINOIS & INDIANA RAILROAD. (See 
Indiana, Decatur A' }Vestem Railway.) 

ILLINOIS & SOUTHEASTERN RAILROAD. 
(See Baltimore <£• Ohio Soiithive.iter7i Railroad.) 

ILLINOIS & SOUTHERN IOWA RAILROAD. 
(See Wabash Railroad.) 

ILLINOIS & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD & COAL 
COMPANY. (See Louisville, Evansville <& St. 
Lonis (consolidated) Railroad.) 

ILLINOIS & WISCONSIN RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago <& Xorthwesfern Railway.) 

ILLIOPOLIS, a village in Sangamon County, 
on the Wabash Railway, 20 miles east of Spring- 
field. It occupies a position nearly in the geo- 
graphical center of the State and is in the heart 
of what is generally termed the corn belt of Cen- 
tral Illinois. It has banks, several churches, a 
graded school and three newspapers. Population 
(1880), 686; (1890), 689; (1900), 744. 

INDIAN MOUNDS. (See Mound-Builders. 
Works of The.) 

INDIAN TREATIES. The various treaties 
made by the General Government with the 
Indians, which affected Illinois, may be summa- 
rized as follows : Treaty of Greenville, August 3, 
1795— ceded 11,808,409 acres of land for the sum 
of $210,000; negotiated by Gen. Anthony Wayne 
with the Delawares, Ottawas, Miamis, Wyandots, 
Shawnees, Pottawatomies, Chippewas, Kaskas- 
kias, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Eel River 
Indians: First Treaty of Fort Wayne, June 7, 
1803 — ceded 2,038,400 acres in consideration of 
$4,000; negotiated by Governor Harrison with 
the Delawares, Kickapoos, Miamis, Pottawato- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



295 



mies, and Shawnees : First Treaty of Vinoennes, 
August 13, 1803— ceded 8,911,850 acres for |13, 000; 
negotiated by Governor Harrison with the Caho- 
kias, Kaskaskias and Mitchagamies . First Treaty 
of St. Louis, Nov. 3, 1804— ceded 14,803,530 acres 
in consideration of $23,834; negotiated by Gov- 
ernor Harrison with the Sacs and Foxes: Second 
Treaty of Vincennes, Deo. 30, 1805— ceded 2,676,150 
acres for $4, 100 ; negotiated by Governor Harrison 
with the Piankeshaws: Second Treaty of Fort 
Wayne, Sept. 30, 1809 — ceded 2,900,000 acres; 
negotiated by Governor Harrison with the Dela- 
wares. Eel River, Miamis, Pottawatomies and 
Weas: Third Treaty of Vincennes, Dec. 9, 1809 
—ceded 138,240 acres for §27,000; negotiated by 
Governor Harrison with the Kickapoos: Second 
Treaty of St. Louis, Aug. 24, 1816— ceded 1,418,400 
acres in consideration of §12,000; negotiated by 
Governor Edwards, William Clark and A. Chou- 
teau with the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawato- 
mies: Treaty of Edwardsville, Sept. 30, 1818— 
ceded 6,865,280 acres for §6,400; negotiated by 
Governor Edvrards and A. Chouteau with the 
Illinois and Peorias: Treaty of St. Mary's, Oct. 
2, 1818— ceded 11,000,000 acres for §33,000; nego- 
tiated by Gen. Lewis Cass and others with the 
Weas: Treaty of Fort Harrison, Aug. 30, 1819— 
negotiated by Benjamin Parke with the Kicka- 
poos of the Vermilion, ceding 3,173,130 acres for 
§33,000: Treaty of St. Joseph, Sept. 30, 1828— 
ceded 990,720 acres in consideration of §189,795; 
negotiated by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard with 
the Pottawatomies : Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 
Jan. 2, 1830— ceded 4,160,000 acres for §390,601; 
negotiated by Pierre Menard and others with 
the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies: 
First Treaty of Chicago, Oct. 20, 1832— ceded 
1,536,000 acres for §460,348; negotiated with 
the Pottawatomies of the Prairie: Treaty of 
Tippecanoe, Oct. 27, 1833— by it the Pottawato- 
mies of Indiana ceded 737,000 acres, in consider- 
ation of §406, 121 : Second Treaty of Chicago, Sept. 
26, 1833 — by it the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pot- 
tawatomies ceded 5,104,960 acres for §7,624,289; 
Treaties of Fort Armstrong and Prairie du Chien, 
negotiated 1839 and '32— by which the Winne- 
bagoes ceded 10,346,000 acres in exchange for 
§5,195,352: Second Treaty of St. Louis, Oct. 27, 
1833 — the Kaskaskias and Peorias ceding 1,900 
acres in consideration of $155,780, (See also 
Greenville, Treaty of.) 

INDIAN TRIBES. (See Algonquins; Blinois 
Indians; Kaskaskias; Kicka230os; Miamis; Outa- 
gamies; Piankeshaws; Pottawatomies; Sacs and 
Foxes; Weas; Winnebagoes.) 



INDIANA, BLOOMINGTON & WESTERN 

RAILWAY. (See Peoria & Eastern Railroad.) 
INDIANA, DECATUR & WESTERN RAIL- 

WAY. The entire length of line is 153.5 miles, of 
which 75.75 miles (with yard-tracks and sidings 
amounting to 8.86 miles) lie within Illinois. It 
extends from Decatur almost due east to the 
Indiana State line, and has a single track of 
standard gauge, with a right of way of 100 feet 
The rails are of steel, well adapted to the traffic, 
and the ballasting is of gravel, earth and cinders. 
The bridges (chiefly of wood) are of standard 
design and well maintained. The amount of 
capital stock outstanding (1898) is §1,834,000, or 
11,998 per mile; total capitalization (including 
stock and all indebtedness) 3,733,983. The total 
earnings and income in Illinois, $240,850. (His- 
tory.) The first organization of this road em- 
braced two companies — the Indiana & Illinois and 
the Illinois & Indiana — which were consolidated, 
in 1853, under the name of the Indiana & Illinois 
Central Railroad Company. In 1875 the latter 
was sold under foreclosure and organized as the 
Indianapolis, Decatur & Springfield Railway 
Company, at which time the section from Decatur 
to Montezuma, Ind., was opened. It was com- 
pleted to Indianapolis in 1880. In 1882 it was 
leased to the Indiana, Bloomington & Western 
Railroad Company, and operated to 1885, when 
it passed into the hands of a receiver, was sold 
under foreclosure in 1887 and reorganized under 
the name of the Indianapolis, Decatur & West- 
ern. Again, in 1889, default was made and the 
property, after being operated by trustees, was 
sold in 1894 to two companies called the Indiana, 
Decatur & Western Railway Company (in Indi- 
ana) and the Decatur & Eastern Railway Com- 
pany (in Illinois). These were consolidated in 
July, 1895, under the present name (Indiana, 
Decatur & Western Railway Company). In 
December, 1895, the entire capital stock was 
purchased by the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton 
Railway Company, and the line is now operated 
as a part of that system. 

INDIANA, ILLINOIS & IOWA RAILROAD. 
This line extends from Streator Junction 1.8 
miles south of Streator, on the line of the Streator 
Division of the Wabash Railroad, easterly to the 
Indiana State Line. The total length of the line 
is 151.78 miles, of which 69.61 miles are in Illi- 
nois. Between Streator Junction and Streator, 
the line is owned by the Wabash Company, but 
this company pays rental for trackage facilities. 
About 75 per cent of the ties are of white-oak, 
the remainder being of cedar ; the rails are 56-Ib. 



296 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS 



steel, and the ballasting is of broken stone, gravel, 
sand, cinders and earth. A policy of permanent 
improvements has been adopted, and is being 
carried forward. The principal traffic is the 
transportation of freight. The outstanding capi- 
tal stock (June 30, 1898) was *3,597,800; bonded 
debt, SI. 800,000; total capitalization, §5,517,739; 
total earnings and income in Illinois for 1898, 
§413,967; total expenditures in the State, §303,- 
344. — (History.) This road was chartered Dec. 
27, 1881, and organized by the consolidation of 
three roads of the same name (Indiana, Illinois & 
Iowa, respectively), opened to Momence, 111., in 
1883, and through its entire length, Sept. 15, 1883. 

INDIANA & ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Indiana, Decatur <& Western Rail- 
loatj.) 

INDIANA & ILLINOIS RAILROAD. (See 
Indiana. Decatur & Western Raihcay.) 

INDIANA & ILLINOIS SOUTHERN RAIL- 
ROAD. (See St. Louis, Indianapolis & Eastern 
Railroad. ) 

INDIANAPOLIS, BLOOMINGTON & WEST- 
ERN RAILROAD. (See BU^iois Central Rail- 
road; also Peoria & Eastern Railroad.) 

INDIANAPOLIS, DECATUR & SPRING- 
FIELD RAILROAD. (See Indiana, Decatur & 
Western Raihra;/.) 

INDIANAPOLIS, DECATUR & WESTERN 
RAILWAY. (See Indiana, Decatur & Western 
Railway. ) 

INDIANAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. 
(See St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad.) 

INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR THE BLIND, a 
State Institution designed to furnish the means 
of employment to dependent blind persons of 
both sexes, established under authority of an act 
of the TiBgislature passed at the session of 1893. 
The institution is located at Douglas Park Boule- 
vard and West Nineteenth Street, in the city of 
Chicago. It includes a four-story factory with 
steam-plant attached, besides a four-story build- 
ing for residence purposes. It was opened in 
1894, and, in December, 1897, had 63 inmates, of 
whom 13 were females. Tlie Fortieth General 
Assembly appropriated §13,900 for repairs, appli- 
ances, library, etc., and §8,000 per annum for 
ordinary expenses 

INGERSOLL, Ebon C, Congressman, was born 
in Oneida County, N. Y., Dec. 13, 1831. His first 
remove was to Paducah, Ky., where he com- 
pleted his education. He studied law and was 
admitted to the bar ; removing this time to Illi- 
nois and settling in Gallatin County, in 1843. In 
1856 he was elected to represent Gallatin County 



in the lower house of the General Assembly ; in 
1862 was the Republican candidate for Congress 
for the State-at-large, but defeated by J. C. 
Allen ; and, in 1804, was chosen to fill the imex- 
pired term of Owen Lovejoy, deceased, as Repre- 
sentative in the Thirty-eiglith Congress. He was 
re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and 
Forty-first Congresses, his term expiring, March 
4, 1871. He was a brother of Col. Robert G. 
Ingersoll, and was, for some years, associated with 
him in the practice of law at Peoria, his home. 
Died, in Washington, May 31, 1879. 

INGERSOLL, Robert Green, lawyer and sol- 
dier, was born at Dresden, Oneida County, N. Y., 
August 11, 1833. His father, a Congregational 
clergyman of pronounced liberal tendencies, 
removed to the West in 1843, and Robert's boy- 
hood was spent in Wisconsin and Illinois. After 
being admitted to the bar, he opened an office at 
Shawneetown, in partnership with his brother 
Ebon, afterwards a Congressman from Illinois. 
In 1857 they removed to Peoria, and, in 1860, 
Robert G. was an unsuccessful Democratic can- 
didate for Congress. In 1862 he was commis- 
sioned Colonel of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, 
which had been mustered in in December, 1861, 
and, in 1864, identified himself with the Repub- 
lican party. In February, 1867, he was appointed 
by Governor Oglesby the first Attorney-General 
of the State under the new law enacted that year. 
As a lawyer and orator he won great distinction. 
He nominated James G. Blaine for the Presidency 
in the Republican Convention of 1876, at Cincin- 
nati, in a speech that attracted wide attention by 
its eloquence. Other oratorical efforts which 
added greatly to his fame include "The Dream of 
the Union Soldier," delivered at a Soldiers' 
Reunion at Indianapolis, his eulogj' at his brother 
Ebon's grave, and his memorial address on occa- 
sion of the death of Roscoe Conkling. For some 
twenty years he was the most popular stump 
orator in the West, and his services in political 
campaigns were in constant request throughout 
the Union. To the country at large, in his later 
years, he was known as an uncompromising 
assailant of revealed religion, by both voice and 
pen. Among his best-known publications are 
"The Gods" (Washington, 1878); "Ghosts" 
(1879); "Mistakes of Moses" (1879); "Prose 
Poems and Selections" (1884) ; "The Brain and 
the Bible" (Cincinnati, 1883). Colonel IngersoU's 
home for sonie twenty years, in the later part of 
his life, was in the city of New York. Died, 
suddenly, from heart disease, at his summer 
home at Dobb's Ferry, Long Island, July 21, 1899 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



297 



IXGLIS, Samuel M., Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, born at Marietta, Pa., August 15, 
1838; received his early education in Ohio and, 
in 1856, came to IlUnois, graduating with first 
• honors from the Mendota Collegiate Institute in 
1861. The following j'ear he enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Fourth Illinois Infantry, but, hav- 
ing been discharged for disability, his place was 
filled by a brother, who was killed at Knoxville, 
Tenn. In 1865 he took charge of an Academy at 
Ilillsboro, meanwhile studying law with the late 
Judge E. Y. Rice ; in 1868 he assumed the super- 
intendency of the public schools at Greenville, 
Bond County, remaining until 1883, when he 
became Professor of INIathematics in the Southern 
Normal University at Carbondale, being trans- 
ferred, three years later, to the chair of Literature, 
Rhetoric and Elocution. In 1894 he was nomi- 
nated as the Republican candidate for State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, receiving 
a plurality at the November election of 123,593 
votes over his Democratic opponent. Eied, sud- 
denly, at Kenosha, Wis., June 1, 1898. 

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT POLICY, a 
name given to a sclieme or plan of internal im- 
provement adopted by the Tenth General Assem- 
bly (1837), in compliance with a general wish of 
the people voiced at many public gatherings. It 
contemplated the construction of an extensive 
system of public works, chiefly in lines of rail- 
road which were not demanded by the commerce 
or business of the State at the time, but which, it 
was believed, would induce immigration and 
materially aid in the development of the State's 
latent resources. The plan adopted provided for 
tlie construction of such works by the State, and 
contemplated State ownership and management 
of all the lines of traffic thus constructed. The 
bill passed the Legislature in February, 1837, 
but was disapproved by the Executive and the 
Council of Revision, on the ground that such 
enterprises might be more successfully under- 
taken and conducted by individuals or private 
corporations. It was, however, subsequently 
passed over the veto and became a law, the dis- 
astrous effects of whose enactment were felt for 
many years. The total amount appropriated by 
the act was §10,200,000, of which §400,000 was 
devoted to the improvement of waterways; §250,- 
000 to the improvement of the "Great Western 
Mail Route"; §9,350,000 to the construction of 
railroads, and §200,000 was given outright to 
counties not favored by the location of railroads 
or other improvements within their borders. In 
addition, the sale of §1,000,000 worth of canal 



lands and the issuance of §500,000 in canal bonds 
were authorized, the proceeds to be used in the 
construction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, 
§500,000 of this amount to be expended in 1838. 
Work began at once. Routes were surveyed and 
contracts for construction let, and an era of reck- 
less speculation began. Large sums were rapidly 
expended and nearly §6,500,000 quickly added to 
the State debt. The system was soon demon- 
strated to be a failure and was abandoned for 
lack of funds, some of the "improvements" 
already made being sold to private parties at a 
heavy loss. This scheme furnished the basis of 
the State debt under which Illinois labored for 
many years, and which, at its maximum, reached 
nearly §17,000,000. (See Macallister & Stebbins 
Bonds; State Debt; Tenth General Assembly; 
Eleventh General Assembly.) 

INUNDATIONS, REMARKABLE. The most 
remarkable freshets (or floods) in Illinois history 
have been those occurring in the Mississippi 
River ; though, of course, the smaller tributaries 
of that stream have been subject to similar con- 
ditions. Probably the best account of early 
floods has been furnished by Gov. John Reynolds 
in his "Pioneer History of Illinois," — he having 
been a witness of a number of them. The first 
of which any historical record has been pre- 
served, occurred in 1770. At that time the only 
white settlements within the present limits of 
the State were in the American Bottom in the 
vicinity of Kaskaskia, and there the most serious 
results were produced. Governor Reynolds says 
the flood of that year (1770) made considerable 
encroachments on the east bank of the river 
adjacent to Fort Chartres, which had originally 
been erected by the French in 1718 at a distance 
of three-quarters of a mile from the main 
channel. The stream continued to advance in 
this direction until 1772, when the whole bottom 
was again inundated, and the west wall of the 
fort, having been undermined, fell into the river. 
The next extraordinary freshet was in 1784, when 
the American Bottom was again submerged and 
the residents of Kaskaskia and the neighboring 
villages were forced to seek a refuge on the bluffs 
— some of the people of Cahokia being driven to 
St. Louis, then a small French village on Spanish 
soil. The most remarkable flood of the present 
century occurred in May and June, 1844, as the 
result of extraordinary rains preceded by heavy 
winter snows in the Rocky Mountains and rapid 
spring thaws. At this time the American Bot- 
tom, opposite St. Louis, was inundated from bluff 
to bluff, and large steamers passed over the sub- 



298 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



merged lands, gathering up cattle and other kinds 
of property and rescuing the imperiled owners. 
Some of the villages affected by this flood — as 
Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia — have 
never fully recovered from the disaster. Another 
considerable flood occurred in 1826, but it was 
inferior to those of 1784 and 1844. A notable 
flood occurred in 1851, when the Mississippi, 
though not so high opposite St. Louis as in 1844, 
is said to have been several feet higher at Quincy 
than in the previous year — the difference being 
due to the fact that the larger portion of the 
flood of 1844 came from the Missouri River, its 
effects being most noticeable below the mouth of 
that stream. Again, in 1868, a flood did con- 
siderable damage on the Upper Mississippi, reach- 
ing the highest point since 18.51. Floods of a more 
or less serious character also occurred in 1876, 
1880 and again in 1893. Although not so high as 
some of those previously named, the loss was pro- 
portionately greater owing to the larger area of 
improved lands. The flood of 1893 did a great 
deal of damage at East St. Louis to buildings and 
railroads, and in the destruction of other classes 
of property. — Floods in the Ohio River have been 
frequent and very disastrous, especially in the 
upper portions of that stream — usually resulting 
from sudden thaws and ice-gorges in the early 
spring. With one exception, the highest flood in 
the Ohio, during the present century, was that of 
February, 1833, when the water at Cincinnati 
reached an altitude of sixty-four feet three 
inches. The recorded altitudes of others of more 
recent occurrence have been as follows: Dec. 
17, 1847 — sixty -three feet seven inches; 
1862— fifty-seven feet four inches; 1882— fifty- 
eight feet seven inches. The highest point 
reached at New Albany, Ind. , in 1883, was 
seventy-three feet — or four feet higher than the 
flood of 1832. The greatest altitude reached in 
historic times, at Cincinnati, was in 1884 — the re- 
corded height being three-quarters of an inch in 
excess of seventy-one feet. Owing to the smaller 
area of cultivated lands and other improvements 
in the Ohio River bottoms within the State of 
Illinois, the loss has been comparatively smaller 
than on the Mississippi, although Cairo has suf- 
fered from both streams. The most serious dis- 
asters in Illinois territory from overflow of the 
Ohio, occurred in connection with the flood of 
1883, at Shawneetown, when, out of six hundred 
houses, all but twenty-eight were flooded to the 
second story and water ran to a depth of fifteen 
feet in the main street. A levee, which had been 
constructed for the protection of the city at great 



expense, was almost entirely destroyed, and an 
appropriation of $60,000 was made by the Legis- 
lature to indemnify the corporation. On April 
3, 1898, the Ohio River broke through the levee 
at Shawneetown, inundating the whole city and 
causing the loss of twenty-five lives. Much • 
suffering was caused among the people driven 
from their homes and deprived of the means of 
subsistence, and it was found necessary to send 
them tents from Springfield and supplies of food 
by the State Government and by private contri- 
butions from the various cities of the State. The 
inundation continued for some two or three 
weeks. — Some destructive floods have occurred 
in the Chicago River — the most remarkable, since 
the settlement of the city of Chicago, being that 
of March 12, 1849. This was the result of an ice- 
gorge in the Des Plaines River, turning the 
waters of that .stream across "the divide" into 
Mud Lake, and thence, by way of tlie South 
Branch, into the Chicago River. The accumula- 
tion of waters in the latter broke up the ice, 
which, forming into packs and gorges, deluged 
the region between the two rivers. Mlien the 
superabundant mass of waters and ice in the Chi- 
cago River began to flow towards the lake, it bore 
before it not only the accumvilated pack-ice, but 
the vessels which had been tied up at the wharves 
and other points along the banks for the winter. 
A contemporaneous history of the event says that 
there were scattered along the stream at the time, 
four steamers, six propellers, two sloops, twenty- 
four brigs and fifty-seven canal boats. Those in 
the upper part of the stream, being hemmed in 
by surrounding ice, soon became a part of the 
moving mass ; chains and hawsers were snapped 
as if they had been whip-cord, and the whole 
borne lakeward in indescribable confusion. The 
bridges at Madi.son, Randolph and Wells Streets 
gave way in succession before the immense 
mass, adding, as it moved along, to the general 
wreck by falling spars, crushed keels and crashing 
bridge timbers. "Opposite Kinzie wharf," saj's 
the record, "the river was choked with saihng- 
craft of every description, piled together in inex- 
tricable confusion." While those ves.sels near 
the mouth of the river escaped into the lake with 
comparatively little damage, a large number of 
those higher up the stream were caught in the 
gorge and either badly injured or totally wrecked. 
The loss to the city, from the destruction of 
bridges, was estimated at $20,000, and to vessels at 
§88,000 — a large sum for that time. The wreck 
of bridges compelled a return to the primitive 
system of ferries or extemporized bridges made 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



299 



of boats, to furnish means of communication 
between the several divisions of the city — a con- 
dition of affairs which lasted for several months. 
— Floods about the same time did considerable 
damage on the Illinois, Fox and Rock Rivers, 
their waters being higher than in 1838 or 1833, 
which were memorable flood years on these in- 
terior streams. On the former, the village of 
Peru was partially destroyed, while the bridges 
on Rock River were all swept away. A flood in 
the Illinois River, in the spring of 1853. resulted in 
serious damage to bridges and other property in 
the vicinity of Ottawa, and there were extensive 
inundations of the bottom lands along that 
stream in 18.')9 and subsequent years. — In Febru- 
ary, 1857, a second flood in the Chicago River, 
similar to that of 1S49, caused considerable dam- 
age, but was less destructive than that of the 
earlier dale, as the bridges were more substan- 
tially constructed. — One of the most extensive 
floods, in recent times, occurred in the Mississippi 
River during the latter part of the month of 
April and early in May, 1897. The value of prop- 
erty destroyed on the lower Mississippi was 
estimated at many millions of dollars, and many 
lives were lost. At Warsaw, 111., the water 
reached a height of nineteen feet four inches 
above low- water mark on April 24, and, atQuincy, 
nearly nineteen feet on the 38th, while the river, 
at points between these two cities, was from ten 
to fifteen miles wide. Some S.'i.OOO acres of farm- 
ing lands between Quincy and Warsaw were 
flooded and the growing crops destroyed. At 
Alton the height reached by the water was 
twenty-two feet, but in consequence of the 
strength of the levees protecting the American 
Bottom, the farmers in that region suffered less 
than on some previous years. 

IPAVA,a town in Fulton County, on one of the 
branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, 10 miles west-southwest of Lewistown, 
and some 44 miles north of Jacksonville. The 
coimty abounds in coal, and coal-mining, as well 
as agriculture, is a leading industry in the sur- 
rounding country. Other industries are the 
manufacture of flour and woolen goods; two 
banks, four churches, a sanitarium, and a weekly 
newspaper are also located here. Population 
(1880), 675; (1890), 667: (1900), 749. 

IRON MANUFACTURES. The manufacture 
of iron, both pig and castings, direct from the 
furnace, has steadily increased in this State. In 
1880, Illinois ranked seventh in the list of States 
producing manufactured iron, while, in 1890, it 
had risen to fourth place, Pennsylvania (which 



produces nearly fifty per cent of the total product 
of the country) retaining the lead, with Ohio and 
Alabama following. In 1890 Illinois had fifteen 
complete furnace stacks (as against ten in 1880), 
turning out 674,506 tons, or seven per cent of the 
entire output. Since then four additional fur- 
naces have been completed, but no figures are at 
hand to show the increase in production. During 
the decade between 1880 and 1890, the percentage 
of increase in output was 616.53. The fuel used 
is chiefly the native bituminous coal, which is 
abundant and cheap. Of this, 674.506 tons were 
used; of anthracite coal, only 38,618 tons. Of 
the total output of pig-iron in the State, during 
1890, 616,659 tons were of Bessemer. Charcoal 
pig is not made in Illinois. 

IRON MOUNTAIN, CHESTER & EASTERN 
RAILROAD. (See Wabash, Chester & Western 
Bailroad.) 

IROqUOIS COUNTY, a large county on the 
eastern border of the State; area' 1,120 square 
miles; population (1900), 88,014. In 1830 two 
pioneer settlements mere made almost simultane- 
ously, — one at Bunkum (now Concord) and tlie 
other at Jlilford. Among those taking up homes 
at the former were Gurdon S. Hubbard, Benja- 
min Fry, and Messrs. Cartwright, Thomas, New- 
comb, and Miller. At Milford located Robert 
Hill, Samuel Rush, Messrs. Miles, Piokell and 
Parker, besides the Cox, Jloore and Stanley 
families. Iroquois County was set off from Ver- 
milion and organized in 1833, — named from the 
Iroquois Indians, or Iroquois River, which flows 
through it. The Kiokapoos and Pottawatomies 
did not remove west of the Mississippi until 
1836-37, but were alwa}'s friendly. The seat of 
government was first located at Montgomery, 
whence it was removed to Middleport, and finally 
to Watseka. The county is well timbered and 
the soil underlaid by both coal and building 
stone. Clay suitable for brick making and the 
manufacture of crockery is also found. The 
Iroquois River and the Sugar, Spring and Beaver 
Creeks thoroughly drain the county. An abun- 
dance of pure, cold water may be found anywhere 
by boring to the depth of from tliirty to eighty 
feet, a fact which encourages grazing and the 
manufacture of dairy products. The soil is rich, 
and well adapted to fruit growing. The prin- 
cipal towns are Gilman (population 1,112), Wat- 
seka (2,017), and Milford (957). 

IROQUOIS RIVER, (sometimes called Picka- 
mink), rises in Western Indiana and runs 
westward to Watseka, 111. ; thence it flows nortli- 
ward through Iroauois and part of Kankakee 



300 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Counties, entering the Kankakee River some five 
miles southeast of Kankakee. It is nearly 120 
miles long. 

IRVING, a village in Montgomery County, on 
the line of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, 
54 miles east-northeast of Alton, and 17 miles 
east by north of Litchfield; has five churches, 
flouring and saw mills, creamery, and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1890), 630; (1900), 675. 

ISHAM, Edward S., Iaw3'er, was born at 
Bennington, Vt., Jan. 15, 1836; educated at 
Lawrence Academy and Williams College, Mass., 
taking his degree at the latter in 1857; was 
admitted to the bar at Rutland, Vt., in 1858, 
coming to Chicago the same year. Mr. Isham 
■was a Representative in the Twenty-fourth 
General Assembly (1864-66) and, in 1881, his 
name was prominently considei'ed for a position 
on the Supregie bench of the United States. He 
is the senior member of the firm of Isham, Lin- 
coln & Beale, which has had the management of 
some of the most important cases coming before 
the Chicago courts. 

JACKSON, Huntington Wolcott, lawyer, born 
in Newark, N. J., Jan. 28, 1841, being descended 
on the maternal side from Oliver Wolcott, one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence; 
received his education at Phillips Academy, 
Andover, Mass., and at Princeton College, leav- 
ing the latter at the close of his junior year to 
enter the army, and taking part in the battles of 
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 
a part of the time being on the staff of Ma j. -Gen. 
John Newton, and, later, with Sherman from 
Chattanooga to Atlanta, finally receiving the 
rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel for gallant and 
meritorious service. Returning to civil life in 
1865, he entered Harvard Law School for one 
term, then spent a year in Europe, on his return 
resuming his legal studies at Newark, N. J. ; 
came to Chicago in 1867, and the following year 
was admitted to the bar ; has served as Supervisor 
of South Chicago, as President of the Chicago 
Bar Association, and (by appointment of the 
Comptroller of the Currency) as receiver and 
attorney of the Third National Bank of Chicago. 
Under the will of the late John Crerar he became 
an executor of the estate, and a trustee of the 
Crerar Library. Died at Newark, N. J., Jan 3, 1901. 

JACKSON COUNTY, organized in 1816, and 
named in honor of Andrew Jackson; area, 580 
square miles; population (1900), 33,871. It lies 
in the southwest portion of the State, the Mis- 
Bissippi River forming its principal western 



boundary. The bottom lands along the river are 
wonderfully fertile, but liable to overflow. It is 
crossed by a range of hills regarded as a branch 
of the Ozark range. Toward the east the soil is 
warm, and well adapted to fruit-growing. One 
of the richest beds of bituminous coal in the State 
crops out at various points, varying in depth from 
a few inches to four or five hundred feet below the 
surface. Valuable timber and good building 
stone are found and there are numerous saline 
springs. Wlieat, tobacco and fruit are principal 
crops. Early pioneers, with the date of their 
arrival, were as follows: 1814, W. Boon; 1815, 
Joseph Duncan (afterwards Governor) ; 1817, 
Oliver Cross, Mrs. William Kimmel, S. Lewis, E. 
Harrold, George Butcher and W. Eakin; 1818, 
the Bysleys, Mark Bradley, James Hughes and 
John Barron. Brownsville was the first county- 
seat and an important town, but owing to a dis- 
astrous fire in 1843, the government was removed 
to Murphysboro, where Dr. Logan (father of Gen. 
John A. Logan) donated a tract of land for 
county-buildings. John A. Logan was born here. 
The principal towns (with their respective popu- 
lation, as shown by the United States Census of 
1890), were: Murphysboro, 3,880; Carbondale, 
2,382; and Grand Tower, 634. 

JACKSONVILLE, the county-seat of Morgan 
County, and an important railroad center; popu- 
lation (1890) about 13,000. The town was laid 
out in 1835, and named in honor of Gen. Andrew 
Jackson. The first court house was erected in 
1826, and among early lawyers were Josiah Lam- 
born, John J. Hardin, Stephen A. Douglas, and 
later Richard Yates, afterwards the "War Gov- 
ernor" of Illinois. It is the seat of several im- 
portant State institutions, notably the Central 
Hospital for the Insane, and Institutions for the 
Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind- 
besides private educational in.stitutions. including 
Illinois College, Illinois Conference Female Col- 
lege (Methodist), Jacksonville Female Academy, 
a Business College and others. The city haa 
several banks, a large woolen mill, carriage fac- 
tories, brick yards, planing mills, and two news- 
paper establishments, each publishing daily and 
weekly editions. It justly ranks as one of the 
most attractive and interesting cities of the State, 
noted for the hospitality and intelligence of its 
citizens. Although immigrants from Kentucky 
and other Southern States predominated in its 
early settlement, the location there of Illinois 
College and the Jacksonville Female Academy, 
about 1830, brought to it many settlers of New 
England birth, so that it early came to be 



i 




INSTITUTION FOR DEAF AND DUMB. JACKSONVILLE. 





AAAJi:AAAAAAit^ 



4 ji A 



i 



Ra!«a*:^ .V;5 TWWIM^WS'. V 



, Main lUiildiuy and Girls' Collage. 

INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND, JACKSONVILLE. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



301 



regarded as more distinctively New England in 
the character of its population than any other 
town in Southern Illinois. Pop. (1900), 15,078. 

JACKSONVILLE FEMALE ACADEMY, an 
institution for the education of young ladies, at 
Jacksonville, the oldest of its class in the State. 
The initial steps for its organization were taken 
in 1830, the year after the establishment of Illinois 
College. It may be said to have been an offshoot 
of the latter, these two constituting the originals 
of that remarkable group of educational and 
State Institutions which now exist in that city. 
Instruction began to be given in the Academy in 
May, 1833, under the principalship of Miss Sarah 
C. Crocker, and, in 183o, it was formally incorpo- 
rated by act of the Legislature, being the first 
educational institution to receive a charter from 
that body; though Illinois, McKendree and 
Shurtleff Colleges were incorporated at a later 
period of the same session. Among its founders 
appear the names of Gov. Joseph Duncan, Judge 
Samuel D. Lockwood, Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant 
(for fifty j-ears the President or a Professor of Illi- 
nois College), John P. Wilkinson, Rev. John M. 
Ellis, David B. Ayers and Dr. Ero Chandler, all 
of whom, except the last, were prominently 
identified with the early history of Illinois Col- 
lege. The list of the alumnaj embraces over five 
hundred names. The Illinois Conservatory of 
Music (founded in 1871) and a School of Fine Arts 
are attached to the Academy, all being under the 
management of Prof. E. F. BuUard, A.M. 

JACKSONVILLE, LOUISVILLE & ST. LOUIS 
RAILWAY. (See Jacksonville & St. Louis Rail- 
way.) 

JACKSONVILLE, NORTHWESTERN & 
SOUTHEASTERN RAILROAD. (See Jackson- 
ville & St. Loins Raihcatj.) 

JACKSONVILLE & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. 
Originally chartered as the Illinois Farmers' Rail- 
road, and constructed from Jacksonville to 
Waverly in 1870 ; later changed to the Jacksonville, 
Northwestern & Southeastern and track extended 
to Virden (31 miles) ; in 1879 passed into the 
hands of a new company under the title of the 
Jacksonville Southeastern, and was extended as 
follows: to Litchfield (1880), 23 miles; to Smith- 
boro (1882), 29 miles; to Centralia (1883), 29 miles 
—total, 112 miles. In 1887 a section between 
Centralia and Driver's (I6V2 miles) was con- 
structed by the Jacksonville Southeastern, and 
operated under lease by the successor to that 
line, but, in 1893, was separated from it under 
the name of the Louisville & St. Louis Railway. 
By the use of five miles of trackage on the Louis- 



ville & Nashville Railroad, connection was 
obtained between Driver's and Mount Vernon. 
The same year (1887) the Jacksonville Southeast- 
ern obtained control of the Litchfield, Carrollton 
& Western Railroad, from Litchfield to Columbi- 
ana on the Illinois River, and the Chicago, Peoria 
& St. Louis, embracing lines from Peoria to St. 
Louis, via Springfield and Jacksonville. The 
Jacksonville Southeastern was reorganized in 1890 
under the name of the Jacksonville, Louisville 
& St. Louis Railway, and, in 1898, was placed in 
the hands of a receiver. The Chicago, Peoria & 
St. Louis Divisions were subsequently separated 
from the Jacksonville line and placed in charge 
of a separate receiver. Foreclosure proceedings 
began in 1894 and, during 1896, the road was sold 
under foreclosure and reorganized under its pres- 
ent title. (See Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Rail- 
road of Illinois.) The capital stock of the 
Jacksonville & St. Louis Railway (June 30, 1897) 
was 51,500,000; funded debt. §2,300,000— total, 
§3,800,000. 

JAMES, Colin D., clergyman, was born in Ran- 
dolph County, now in West Virginia, Jan. 15, 
1808; died at Bonita, Kan., Jan. 30, 1888. He was 
the son of Rev. Dr. W^illiam B. James, a pioneer 
preacher in the Ohio Valley, who removed to 
Ohio in 1812, settling first in Jefferson County in 
that State, and later (1814) at Mansfield. Subse- 
quently the family took up its residence at Kelt's 
Prairie in Vigo (now Vermilion) County, Ind. 
Before 1830 Colin D. James came to Illinois, and, 
in 1834, became a minister of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Cliurch, remaining in active ministerial 
work until 1871, after which he accepted a super- 
annuated relation. During his connection witli 
the church in Illinois he served as station preacher 
or Presiding Elder at the following points: Rock 
Island (1834); Platteville (1836); Apple River 
(1837) ; Paris (1838, '42 and '43) ; Eugene (1839) ; 
Georgetown (1S40); Shelbyville (1841); Grafton 
(1844 and '45) ; Sparta District (1845-47) ; Lebanon 
District (1848-49) ; Alton District (1850) ; Bloom- 
ington District (1851-52) ; and later at Jackson- 
ville, Winchester, Greenfield, Island Grove, 
Oldtown, Heyworth, Normal, Atlanta, McLean 
and Shirley. During 1861-62 he acted as agent 
for the Illinois Female College at Jacksonville, 
and, in 1871, for the erection of a Metho- 
dist oliurch at Normal. He was twice married. 
His first wife (Eliza A. Plasters of Living- 
ston) died in 1849. The following year he mar- 
ried Amanda K. Casad, daughter of Dr. Anthony 
W. Casad. He removed from Normal to Evans- 
ton in 1876, and from the latter place to 



302 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS, 



Kansas in 1879. Of his surviving children, 
Edmund J. is (1898) Professor in the University 
of Chicago; John N. is in charge of the mag- 
netic laboratory in the National Observatory 
at Washington, D. C. ; Benjamin B. is Professor 
in the State Normal School at St. Cloud, Minn. , 
and George F. is instructor in the Cambridge 
Preparatory School of Chicago. 

JAMES, Edmund Janes, was born, May 21, 
1855, at Jac'ksonville, Morgan County, 111., the 
fourth son of Rev. Colin Dew James of the Illi- 
nois Conference, grandson on his mother's side 
of Rev. Dr. Anthony Wayne Casad and great- 
grandson of Samuel Stites (all of whose sketches 
appear elsewhere in this volume) ; was educatetl 
in the Model Department of the Illinois State 
Normal School at Bloomington (Normal), from 
which he graduated in June, 1873, and entered 
the Northwestern University, at Evanston, III., 
in November of the same year. On May 1, 1874, 
he was appointed Recorder on the United States 
Lake Survey, where he continued during one 
season engaged in work on the lower part of Lake 
Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence. He entered 
Harvard College, Nov. 3, 1874, but went to 
Europe in August, 1875, entering the University 
of Halle, Oct. 16, 1875, where he graduated, 
August 4, 1877, with the degrees of A.M. and 
Ph.D. On his return to the United States he was 
elected Principal of the Public High School in 
Evanston, 111., Jan. 1, 1878, but resigned in June, 
1879, to accept a position in the Illinois State 
Normal School at Bloomington as Professor of 
Latin and Greek, and Principal of the High 
Scliool Department in connection with the Slodel 
School. Resigning this position at Christmas 
time, 1883, he went to Europe for study ; accepted 
a position in the University of Pennsylvania as 
Professor of Public Administration, in Septem- 
ber, 1883, where he remained for over thirteen 
years. While here he was, for a time, Secretary 
of the Graduate Faculty and organized the in- 
struction in this Department. He was also 
Director of the Wharton School of Finance and 
Economy, the first attempt to organize a college 
course in the field of commerce and industry. 
During this time he officiated as editor of "The 
Political Economy and Public Law Series" issued 
by the University of Pennsylvania. Resigning 
his position in tlie University of Pennsylvania on 
Feb. 1, 1896, he accepted that of Professor of Pub- 
lic Administration and Director of the University 
Extension Division in the University of Chicago, 
where he has since continued. Professor James 
has been identified with the progress of economic 



studies in the United States since the early 
eighties. He was one of the organizers and one 
of tlie first Vice-Presidents of the American 
Economic Association. On Dec. 14, 1889, he 
founded the American Academy of Political and 
Social Science with headquarters at Philadelphia, 
became its first President, and has continued such 
to the present time. He was also, for some years, 
editor of its publications. The Academy has 
now become the largest Association in the world 
devoted to the cultivation of economic and social 
subjects. He was one of the originators of, and 
one of the most frequent contributors to, "Lalor's 
Cyclopa?dia of Political Science"; was also the 
pioneer in the movement to introduce into the- 
United States the scheme of public instruction 
known as University Extension; was the first 
President of the American Society for tlie Exten- 
sion of University Teaching, under whose auspices 
the first effective extension work was done in this 
country, and has been Director of the Extension 
Division in the University of Chicago since Febru- 
ary, 1896. He has been especially identified with 
the development of higher commercial education 
in the United States. From his position as 
Director of the Wharton School of Finance and 
Economy he has affected the course of instruc- 
tion in this Department in a most marked way. 
He was invited by the American Bankers' 
Association, in the year 1893, to make a careful 
study of the subject of Commercial Education in 
Europe, and his report to this association on the 
Education of Business Men in Europe, republished 
by the University of Chicago in the year 1898, 
has become a standard authority on this subject. 
Owing largely to his efforts, departments similar 
to the Wharton Scliool of Finance and Economy 
have been established under the title of College 
of Commerce, College of Commerce and Politics, 
and Collegiate Course in Commerce, in the Uni- 
versities of California and Chicago, and Columbia 
University. He has been identified with the 
progress of college education in general, espe- 
ciallj' in its relation to secondary and elementary 
education, and was one of the early advocates of 
the establishment of departments of education in 
our colleges and universities, the policy of which 
is now adopted by nearly all the leading institu- 
tions. He was, for a time. State Examiner of 
High Schools in Illinois, and was founder of "The 
Illinois School Journal," long one of the most 
influential educational periodicals in the State, 
now changed in name to "School and Home." 
He has been especially active in the establish- 
ment of public kindergartens in different cities. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



303 



and has been repeatedly offered the headship of 
important institutions, among them being the 
University of Iowa, the University of Illinois, 
and the University of Cincinnati. He has served 
as Vice-President of tlie National Municipal 
League; of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, and the American 
Economic Association, and of the Board of Trus- 
tees of the Illinois State Historical Library ; is a 
member of the American Philosophical Society, 
of tiie Pennsylvania Historical Society, of the 
National Council of Education, and of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science. He 
■was a member of the Committee of Thirteen of 
the National Teachers' Association on college 
entrance requirements; is a member of various 
patriotic and historical societies, including the 
Sons of the American Revolution, the Society of 
the Colonial Wars, the Holland and the Huguenot 
Society. He is the author of more than one hun- 
dred papers and monographs on various economic, 
educational, legal and administrative subjects. 
Professor James was married, August 22, 1879, to 
Anna Margarethe Lange, of Halle, Prussia, 
daughter of the Rev. Wilhelm Roderich Lange, 
and granddaughter of the famous Professor Ger- 
lach of the University of Halle. 

JAMESON, John Alexander, lawyer and jur- 
ist, was born at Irasburgh, Vt., Jan. 25, 1824; 
graduated from the University of Vermont in 
1846. After several years spent in teaching, he 
began the study of law, and graduated from the 
Dane Law School (of Harvard College) in 1853. 
Coming west the same year he located at Free- 
port, 111., but removed to Chicago in 1856. In 
1865 he was elected to the bench of the Superior 
Court of Chicago, remaining in office until 1883. 
During a portion of this period he acted as lec- 
turer in the Union College of Law at Chicago, 
and as editor of "The American Law Register." 
His literary labors were unceasing, his most 
notable work being entitled "Constitutional Con- 
ventions; their History, Power and Modes of 
Proceeding." He was also a fine classical 
scholar, speaking and reading German, French, 
Spanish and Italian, and was deeply interested 
in charitable and reformatory work. Died, sud- 
denly, in Chicago, June 16, 1890. 

JARROT, Nicholas, early French settler of St. 
Clair County, was born in France, received a 
liberal education and, on account of the disturbed 
condition there in the latter part of the last cen- 
tury, left his native country about 1790. After 
spending some time at Baltimore and New 
Orleans, he arrived at Cahokia, 111., in 1794, and 



became a permanent settler there. He early be- 
came a Major of militia and engaged in trade 
with the Indians, frequently visiting Prairie du 
Chien, St. Anthony's Falls (now Minneapolis) and 
the Illinois River in his trading expeditions, and, 
on one or two occasions, incurring great risk of 
life from hostile savages. He acquired a large 
property, especially in lands, built mills and 
erected one of the earliest and finest brick houses 
in that part of the country. He also served as 
Justice of the Peace and Judge of the County 
Court of St. Clair County. Died, in 1823.— Vital 
(Jarrot), son of the preceding, inherited a large 
landed fortune from his father, and was an 
enterprising and public-spirited citizen of St. 
Clair County during the last generation. He 
served as Representative from St. Clair County 
in the Eleventh, Twentieth, Twenty-first and 
Twenty-second General Assemblies, in the first 
being an associate of Abraham Lincoln and 
always his firm friend and admirer. At the 
organization of the Twenty-second General 
Assembly (1857), he received the support of the 
Republican members for Speaker of the House in 
opposition to Col. W. R. Morrison, who was 
elected. He sacrificed a large share of his prop- 
erty in a public-spirited effort to build up a 
rolling miU at East St. Louis, being reduced 
thereby from afiluence to poverty. President 
Lincoln appointed him an Indian Agent, which 
took him to the Black Hills region, where he 
died, some years after, from toil and exposure, at 
the age of 73 years. 

JASPER COUNTY, in the eastern part of 
Southern Illinois, having an area of 506 square 
miles, and a population (in 1900) of 20, 160. It was 
organized in 1831 and named for Sergeant Jasper 
of Revolutionary fame. The county was placed un- 
der township organization in 1860. The first Board 
of County Commissioners consisted of B. Rey- 
nolds, W. Richards and George Mattingley. The 
Embarras River crosses the county. The general 
surface is level, although gently undulating in 
some portions. Manufacturing is carried on in a 
small way; but the people are principally inter- 
ested in agriculture, the chief products consisting 
of wheat, potatoes, sorghum, fruit and tobacco. 
Wool-growing is an important industry. Newton 
is the county-seat, with a population (in 1890) of 
1,428. 

JATNE, (Dr.) tJershom, early physician, was 
born in Orange County, N. Y., October, 1791 ; served 
as Surgeon in the War of 1813, and came to Illinois 
iu 1819, settling in Springfield in 1821; was one 
of the Commissioners appointed to construct the 



304 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



first State Penitentiary (1837), and one of the first 
Commissioners of tlie Illinois & Michigan Canal. 
His oldest daughter (Julia Maria) became the 
wife of Senator Trumbull. Dr. Jayne died at 
Springfield, in 18G7.— Dr. William (Jayne), son of 
the preceding, was born in Springfield, IlL, Oct. 8, 
182G; educated by private tutors and at Illinois 
College, being a member of the class of 1847, later 
receiving the degree of A.JL He was one of the 
founders of the Phi Alpha Society while in that 
institution ; graduated from the Medical Depart- 
ment of Missouri State University; in 1860 was 
elected State Senator for Sangamon County, and, 
the following year, was appointed by President 
Lincoln Governor of the Territory of Dakota, 
later serving as Delegate in Congress from that 
Territory. In 1869 he was appointed Pension 
Agent for Illinois, also served for four terms as 
Mayor of his native city, and is now "Vice-Presi- 
dent of the First National Bank. Springfield. 

JEFFERSON COUNTY, a south-central county. 
cut off from Edwards and White Counties, in 
1819, when it was separately organized, being 
named in honor of Thomas Jefferson. Its area is 
580 square miles, and its popylation (1900), 28,133. 
The Big Muddy River, with one or two tributa- 
ries, flows through the county in a southerly direc- 
tion. Along the banks of streams a variety of 
hardwood timber is found. The railroad facilities 
are advantageous. The surface is level and the 
soil rich. Cereals and fruit are easily produced. 
A fine bed of limestone (seven to fifteen feet 
thick) crosses the middle of the county. It has 
been quarried and found well adapted to building 
purposes. The county possesses an abundance of 
running water, much of which is slightly im- 
pregnated with salt. The upper coal measure 
underlies the entire county, but the seam is 
scarcely more than two feet thick at any point. 
The chief industry is agriculture, though lumber 
is manufactured to some extent. Mount Vernon, 
the county -seat, was incorporated as a city in 1872. 
Its population in 1890 was 3,233. It has several 
manufactories and is the seat of the Appellate 
Court for the Southern Judicial District of the 
State. 

JEFFERY, Edward Turner, Railway President 
and Manager, born in Liverpool, Eng., April 6, 
1843, his fatlier being an engineer in tlie British 
navy ; about 1850 came with his widowed mother 
to Wheeling, Va , and, in 1856, to Chicago, where 
he secured employment as office-boy in the 
machinery department of the Illinois Central 
Railroad. Here he finally became an apprentice 
and, passing through various grades of the me- 



chanical department, in May, 1877, became General 
Superintendent of the Road, and, in 1885, General 
Manager of the entire line. In 1889 he withdrew 
from the Illinois Central and, for several years 
past, has been President and General Manager of 
the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, with head- 
quarters at Denver, Colo. Mr. Jeffery's career as 
a railway man has been one of the most conspicu- 
ous and successful in the history of American 
railroads 

JENKIJfS, Alexander M., Lieutenant-Governor 
(1834-36), came to Illinois in his youtli and located 
in Jackson County, being for a time a resident of 
Brownsville, the first county-seat of Jackson 
County, where he was engaged in trade. Later 
he studied law and became eminent in his pro- 
fession in Southern Illinois. In 1830 Mr. Jenkins 
was elected Representative in the Seventh General 
Assembly, was re-elected in 1832, serving during 
his second term as Speaker of the House, and took 
part the latter year in the Black Hawk War as 
Captain of a company. In 1834 Mr. Jenkins was 
elected Lieutenant-Governor at the same time 
with Governor Duncan, though on an opposing 
ticket, but resigned, in 1836, to become President 
of the first Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
which was chartered that year. The charter of 
the road was surrendered in 1887, when the State 
had in contemplation the policy of building a 
system of roads at its own cost For a time he 
was Receiver of Public Moneys in the Land Office 
at Edwardsville, and, in 1847, was elected to the 
State Constitutional Convention of that year. 
Other positions held by him included that of Jus- 
tice of the Circuit Court for the Third Judicial 
Circuit, to which he was elected in 1859, and 
re-elected in 1861, but died in office, February 13, 
1864. Mr. Jenkins was an uncle of Gen. John A. 
Logan, who read law with liim after his return 
from the Jlexican War. 

JE>'NEY, William Le Baron, engineer and 
architect, born at Fairhaven, Mass., Sept. 25, 
1832; was educated at Phillips Academy, An- 
dover, graduating in 1849; at 17 took a trip 
around the world, and, after a year spent in the 
Scientific Department of Harvard College, took a 
course in tlie Ecole Centrale des Artes et Manu- 
factures in Paris, graduating in 1856. He then 
served for a year as engineer on the Tehuantepec 
Railroad, and, in 1861, was made an Aid on the 
staff of General Grant, being transferred the next 
year to the staff of General Sherman, with whom 
he remained three years, participating in many 
of the most important battles of the war in the 
West. Later, he was engaged in the preparation 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



305 



of maps of General Sherman's campaigns, which 
were published in the "Memoirs" of the latter. 
In 1868 he located in Chicago, and has since given 
his attention almost solely to architecture, the 
result being seen in some of Chicago's most 
noteworthy buildings. 

JERSEY COUINTY," situated in the western 
portion of the middle division of the State, 
bordering on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. 
Originally a part of Greene County, it was sepa- 
rately organized in 1839, with an area of 360 square 
miles. There were a few settlers in the county 
as early as 1816-17. Jersey ville, the county -seat, 
was platted in 1834, a majority of the early resi- 
dents being natives of, or at least emigrants from. 
New Jersey. The mild climate, added to the 
character of the soil, is especially adapted to 
fruit- growing and stock-raising The census of 
1900 gave the population of the county as 14,612 
and of Jersey ville, 3,517. Grafton, near the 
junction of the Mississippi with tlie Illinois, had 
a population of 937. The last mentioned town is 
noted for its stone quarries, which employ a 
number of men. 

JERSEY VILLE, a city and county -seat of Jer- 
sey County, the point of junction of the Chicago 
& Alton and the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis 
Railways, 19 miles north of Alton and 45 miles 
north of St. Louis, Mo. The city is in an agri 
cultural district, but has manufactories of flour, 
plows, carriages and wagons, shoe factory and 
watch-making machinery. It contains a hand- 
some courthouse, completed in 1894, nine 
churches, a graded public school, besides a sep- 
arate school for colored children, a convent, 
library, telephone system, electric lights, artesian 
wells, and three papers. Population (1890), 3,207; 
(1900), 3,517; (19U3, est.), 4,117. 

JO DAVIESS COUNTY, situated in the north- 
west corner of the State ; has an area of 663 square 
miles; population (1900), 24,.533. It was first 
explored by Le Seuer, who reported the discovery 
of lead in 1700. Another Frenchman (Bouthil- 
lier) was the first permanent white settler, locat- 
ing on the site of the present city of Galena in 
1830. About the same time came several Ameri- 
can families; a trading post was established, and 
the hamlet was known as Fredericks' Point, so 
called after one of the pioneers. In 1833 the 
Government reserved from settlement a tract 10 
miles square along the Mississippi, with a view of 
controlling the mining interest. In 1823 mining 
privileges were granted upon a royalty of one- 
sixth, and the first smelting furnace was erected 
the same year. Immigration increased rapidly 



and, inside of three years, the "Point" had a popu- 
lation of 150, and a post-office was established 
with a fortnightly mail to and from Vandalia, 
then the State capital. In 1837 county organiza- 
tion was eSected, the county being named in 
honor of Gen. Joseph Hamilton Daviess, who was 
killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe. The original 
tract, however, has been subdivided until it now 
constitutes nine counties. The settlers took an 
active part in both the Winnebago and Black 
Hawk Wars. In 1846-47 the mineral lands were 
placed on the market by the Government, and 
quickly taken by corporations and individuals. 
The scenery is varied, and the soil (particularly 
in the east) well suited to the cultivation of 
grain. The county is well wooded and well 
watered, and thoroughly drained by the Fever 
and Apple Rivers. The name Galena was given 
to the county-seat (originally, as has been said, 
Fredericks' Point) by Lieutenant Thomas, Gov- 
ernment Surveyor, in 1827, in which year it was 
platted. Its general appearance is picturesque. 
Its early growth was extraordinary, but later 
(particularly after the growth of Chicago) it 
received a set-back. In 1841 it claimed 2,000 
population and was incorporated ; in 1870 it had 
about 7,000 population, and, in 1900, 5,005. The 
names of Grant, Rawlins and E. B. Washburne 
are associated with its history. Other important 
towns in the county are Warren (population 
1,327), East Dubuque (1,146) and Elizabeth (659). 

JOHNSON, Caleb C, lawyer and legislator, 
was born in Whiteside County, 111., May 23, 1844, 
educated in the common schools and at the 
Military Academy at Fulton, 111. ; served during 
the Civil War in the Sixty-ninth and One Hun- 
dred and Fortieth Regiments Illinois Volunteers; 
in 1877 was admitted to the bar and, two years 
later, began practice. He has served upon the 
Board of Township Supervisors of Whiteside 
County; in 1884 was elected to the House of 
Representatives of the Thirty-fourth General 
Assembly, was re-elected in 1886, and again in 
1896. He also held the j^osition of Deputy Col- 
lector of Internal Revenue for his District during 
the first Cleveland administration, and was a 
delegate to the Democratic National Convention 
of 1888. 

JOHNSON, (Rev.) Herrick, clergyman and 
educator, was born near Fonda, N. Y., Sept. 21, 
1832; graduated at Hamilton College, 1857, and 
at Auburn Theological Seminary, 1860 ; held Pres- 
byterian pastorates in Troy, Pittsburg and Phila- 
delphia; in 1874 became Professor of Homiletics 
and Pastoral Theology in Auburn Theological 



306 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Seminary, and, in 1880, accepted a pastorate in 
Chicago, also becoming Lecturer on Sacred Rliet- 
oric in McCormick Theological Seminary. In 
1883 he resigned his pastorate, devoting his atten- 
tion thereafter to tlie duties of his professorship. 
He was Moderator of the Presbyterian General 
Assembly at Springfield, in 1882, and has served 
as President, for many years, of the Presbyterian 
Church Board of Aid for Colleges, and of the 
Board of Trustees of Lake Forest University. 
Besides many periodical articles, he has published 
several volumes on religious subjects. 

JOHNSON, Hosmer A., M.D., LL.D., physi- 
cian, was born near Buffalo, N Y., Oct. 6, 1822; 
at twelve removed to a farm in Lapeer County, 
Mich. In spite of limited school privileges, at 
eighteen he secured a teachers' certificate, and, 
by teaching in the winter and attending an 
academy in the summer, prepared for college, 
entering the University of Michigan in 1840 and 
graduating in 1849. In 1850 he became a student 
of medicine at Rush Medical College in Chicago, 
graduating in 1852, and the same year becoming 
Secretary of the Cook County Medical Society, 
and, the year following, associate editor of "The 
Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal." For 
three years he was a member of the faculty of 
Rush, but, in 1858, resigned to become one of the 
founders of a new medical school, which has now 
become a part of Northwestern University. 
During the Civil War, Dr. Johnson was Chair- 
man of the State Board of Medical Examiners ; 
later serving upon the Board of Health of Chi- 
cago, and upon the National Board of Health. He 
was also attending physician of Cook County 
Hospital and consulting physician of the Chicago 
Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary. At the time 
of the great fire of 1871, he was one of the Direct- 
ors of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society. His 
connections with local. State and National Soci- 
eties and organizations (medical, scientific, social 
and otherwise) were very numerous. He trav- 
eled extensively, both in this country and in 
Europe, during his visits to the latter devoting 
much time to the study of foreign sanitary con- 
ditions, and making further attainments in medi- 
cine and surgery. In 1883 the degree of LL.D. 
was conferred upon him by Northwestern L^ni- 
versity. During his later years, Dr. Johnson was 
engaged almost wholly in consultations. Died, 
Feb. 26, 1891. 

JOHNSON COUNTY, lies in the southern por- 
tion of the State, and is one of the smallest 
counties, having an area of only 340 square niiles, 
and a population (1900) of 15,667— named for Col. 



Richard M. Johnson. Its organization dates back 
to 1812. A dividing ridge (forming a sort of 
water shed) extends from east to west, the 
waters of the Cache and Bay Rivers running 
south, and those of the Big Muddy and Saline 
toward the north. A minor coal seam of variable 
thickness (perhaps a spur from the regular coal- 
measures) crops out here and there. Sandstone 
and limestone are abundant, and, under cliffs 
along the bluffs, saltpeter has been obtained in 
small quantities. Weak copperas springs are 
numerous. The soil is rich, the principal crops 
being wheat, corn and tobacco. Cotton is raised 
for home consumption and fruit-culture receives 
some attention. Vienna is the county-seat, with 
a population, in 1890, of 828. 

JOHNSTON, Noah, pioneer and banker, was 
born in Hardy County, Va., Dec. 20, 1799, and, 
at the age of 12 years, emigrated with his father 
to Woodford County, Ky. In 1824 he removed 
to Indiana, and, a few years later, to Jefferson 
County, 111., wliere he began farming. He sub- 
sequently engaged in merchandising, but proving 
unfortunate, turned his attention to politics, 
serving first as County Commissioner and then as 
County Clerk. In 1838 he was elected to the 
State Senate for the counties of Hamilton and 
Jefferson, serving four years; was Enrolling and 
Engrossing Clerk of the Senate during the session 
of 1844-45, and, in 1846, elected Representative in 
the Fifteenth General Assembly. The following 
year he was made Paymaster in the United States 
Army, serving through the Mexican War; in 
1852 served with Abraham Lincoln and Judge 
Hugh T. Dickey of Chicago, on a Commission 
appointed to investigate claims against the State 
for the construction of tlie Illinois & Michiean 
Canal, and, in 1854, was appointed Clerk of the 
Supreme Court for the Third Division, being 
elected to the same position in 1861. Other posi- 
tions held by him included those of Deputy United 
States Marshal under the administration of Presi- 
dent Polk, Commissioner to superintend the con- 
struction of the Supreme Court Building at Moimt 
Vernon, and Postmaster of that city. He was 
also elected Representative again in 1860. The 
later years of his life were spent as President of 
the Slount Vernon National Bank. Died, No- 
vember, 1891, in his 92d year. 

JOLIET, the county-seat of Will County, situ- 
ated in the Des Plaines River Valley, 36 miles 
southwest of Chicago, on the Illinois & Michigan 
Canal, and the intersecting point of five lines of 
railway. A good quality of calcareous building 
stone underlies the entire region, and is exten- 




o 



a 

H 



a 



a: 
aj 

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



307 



si vely quarried. Gravel, sand, and clay are also 
easily obtained in considerable quantities. 
Within twenty miles are productive coal mines. 
The Northern Illinois Penitentiary and a female 
penal institute stand just outside the city limits 
on the north. Joliet is an important manufac- 
turing center, the census of 1900 crediting the 
city with 455 establishments, having §15,453,186 
capital, employing 6,52.3 hands, paying §3,957,529 
wages and 817,891,836 for raw material, turning 
out an annual product valued at .537,765,104. The 
leading industries are the manufacture of foundry 
and machine-shop products, engines, agricultural 
implements, pig-iron, Bessemer steel, steel 
bridges, rods, tin cans, wallpaper, matches, beer, 
saddles, paint, furniture, pianos, and stoves, 
besides quarrying and stone cutting. The Chi- 
cago Drainage Canal supplies valuable water 
power. The city has many handsome public 
buildings and private residences, among the 
former being four high schools. Government 
postoffice building, two public libraries, and two 
public hospitals. It also has two public and two 
school parks. Population (1880), 11,657; (1890), 
33.254. (including suburbs), 34,473; (1900), 29,353. 

JOLIET, AURORA & NORTHERN RAIL- 
WAT. (See Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.) 

JOLIET, Louis, a French explorer, born at 
Quebec, Canada, Sept. 21, 1645, educated at the 
Jesuits' College, and early engaged in the fur- 
trade. In 1669 he was sent to investigate the 
copper mines on Lake Superior, but his most 
important servioe began in 1673, when Frontenao 
commissioned him to explore. Starting from the 
missionary station of St. Ignace, with Father 
Marquette, he went up the Fox River within the 
present State of Wisconsin and down the Wis- 
consin to the Mississippi, which he descended as 
far as the mouth of the Arkansas. He was the 
first to discover that the Mississippi flows to the 
Gulf rather than to the Pacific. He returned to 
Green Bay via the Illinois River, and (as believed) 
the sites of the present cities of Joliet and Chicago. 
Although later appointed royal hydrographer 
and given the island of Anticosti, he never 
revisited the Mississippi. Some historians assert 
that this was largely due to the influential jeal- 
ousy of La Salle. Died, in Canada, in May, 1700. 

JOLIET & BLUE ISLAND RAILWAY, con- 
stituting a part of and operated by the Calumet 
& Blue Island— a belt line, 21 miles in length, of 
standard gauge and laid with 00-lb. steel rails. 
The company provides terminal facilities at Joliet, 
although originally projected to merely run from 
that city to a connection with the Calumet & 



Blue Island Railway. The capital stock author- 
ized and paid in is $100,000. The company's 
general oflSces are in Chicago. 

JOLIET & NORTHERN INDIANA RAIL- 
RO.iD, a road running from Lake, Ind., to Joliet, 
111., 45 miles (of which 29 miles are in Illinois), 
and leased in perpetuity, from Sept. 7, 1854 (the 
date of completion), to the Michigan Central Rail- 
road Company, which owns nearly all its stock. 
Its capital stock is §300,000, and its funded debt, 
$80,000. Other forms of indebtedness swell the 
total amount of capital invested (1895) to §1,- 
143,201. Total earnings and income in Illinois in 
1894, §89,017; total expenditures, §62,370. (See 
Michigan Central Railroad.) 

JONES, Alfred M., politician and legislator, 
was born in New Hampshire, Feb. 5, 1837, brought 
to McHenry County, 111., at 10 years of age, and, 
at 16, began life in the pineries and engaged in 
rafting on the Mississippi. Then, after two 
winters in school at Rockford, and a short season 
in teaching, he spent a year in the book and 
jewelry business at Warren, Jo Daviess County. 
The following year (1858) he made a trip to Pike's 
Peak, but meeting disappointment in his expec- 
tations in regard to mining, returned almost 
immediately. The next few years were spent in 
various occupations, including law and real 
estate business, until 1872, when he was elected 
to the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, ?,nd 
re-elected two years later. Other positions 
successively held by him were those of Commis- 
sioner of the Joliet Penitentiary, Collector of 
Internal Revenue for the Sterling District, and 
United States Marshal for the Northern District 
of Illinois. He was, for fourteen years, a member 
of the Republican State Central Committee, dur- 
ing twelve years of that period being its chair- 
man. Since 1885, Mr. Jones has been manager 
of the Bethesda Mineral Springs at Waukesha, 
Wis., but has found time to make his mark in 
Wisconsin politics also. 

JONES, John Rice, first English lawyer in Illi- 
nois, was born in Wales, Feb. 11, 1759; educated 
at Oxford in medicine and law, and, after prac- 
ticing the latter in London for a short time, came 
to America in 1784, spending two years in Phila- 
delphia, where he made the acquaintance of 
Dr. Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin; in 
1786, having reached the Falls of the Ohio, he 
joined Col. George Rogers Clark's expedition 
against the Indians on the Wabash. This having 
partially failed through the discontent and 
desertion of the troops, he remained at Vincennes 
four years, part of the time as Commissary- 



308 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



General of the garrison there. In 1790 he went to 
Kaskaskia, but eleven years later returned to Vin- 
cennes, being commissioned the same year by 
Gov. William Henry Harrison, Attorney-General 
of Indiana Territory, and, in 1805, becoming a 
member of the first Legislative Council. He was 
Secretary of the convention at Vincennes, in 
December, 1802, which memorialized Congress to 
suspend, for ten years, the article in the Ordi- 
nance of 1787 forbidding slavery in the Northwest 
Territory. In 1808 he removed a second time to 
Kaskaskia, remaining two years, when he located 
within the present limits of the State of Missouri 
(then the Territory of Louisiana), residing suc- 
cessively at St. Genevieve, St. Louis and Potosi, 
at the latter place acquiring large interests in 
mineral lands. He became prominent in Mis- 
souri politics, served as a member of the Conven- 
tion which framed the first State Constitution, 
was a prominent candidate for United States 
Senator before the first Legislature, and finally 
elected by the same a Justice of the Supreme 
Court, dying in office at St. Louis, Feb. 1, 1824. 
He appears to have enjoyed an extensive practice 
among the early residents, as shown by the fact 
that, the year of his return to Kaskaskia, he paid 
taxes on more than 16,000 acres of land in Monroe 
County, to say nothing of his possessions about 
Vincennes and his subsequent acquisitions in 
Missouri. He also prepared the first revision of 
laws for Indiana Territory when Illinois com- 
posed a part of it. — Rice (Jones), son of the pre- 
ceding by a first marriage, was born in Wales, 
Sept. 28, 1781 ; came to America with his par- 
ents, and was educated at Transylvania University 
and the University of Pennsylvania, taking a 
medical degree at the latter, but later studying 
law at Litchfield, Conn., and locating at Kaskas- 
kia in 180G. Described as a young man of brilliant 
talents, he took a prominent part in politics and, 
at a special election held in September, 1808, was 
elected to the Indiana Territorial Legislature, by 
the party known as "Divisionists" — i. e., in favor 
of the division of the Territory — which proved 
successful in the organization of Illinois Territory 
the following year. Bitterness engendered in 
this contest led to a challenge from Shadrach 
Bond (afterwards first Governor of the State)^ 
which Jones accepted; but the affair was ami- 
cably adjusted on the field without an exchange of 
shots. One Dr. James Dunlap, who had been 
Bond's second, expressed dissatisfaction with the 
settlement; a bitter factional fight was main- 
tained between the friends of the respective 
parties, ending in the assassination of Jones, who 



was shot by Dunlap on the street in Kaskaskia, 
Dec. 7, 1808 — Jones dying in a few minutes, 
wliile Dunlap fled, ending his days in Texas. — 
Gen. John Rice (Jones), Jr., another son, was 
born at Kaskaskia, Jan. 8, 1792, served under 
Capt. Henry Dodge in the War of 1813, and, in 
1831, went to Texas, where he bore a conspicuous 
part in securing the independence of that State 
from Mexico, dying there in ISirj — the year of its 
annexation to the United States. — George 
Wallace (Jones), fourth son of John Rice Jones 
(1st), was born at Vincennes, Indiana Territory, 
April 12, 180-1; graduated at Transylvania Uni- 
versity, in 1825; served as Clerk of the United 
States District Court in Missouri in 1826, and as 
Aid to Gen. Dodge in the Black Hawk War ; in 
1834 was elected Delegate in Congress from 
Michigan Territory (then including the present 
States of Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa), later 
serving two terms as Delegate from Iowa Terri- 
tory, and, on its admission as a State, being elected 
one of the first United States Senators and re- 
elected in 1852; in 1859, was appointed by Presi- 
dent Buchanan Minister to Bogota, Colombia, 
but recalled in 1861 on account of a letter to 
Jefferson Davis expressing sympathy with the 
cause of the South, and was imprisoned for two 
months in Fort Lafayette. In 1838 he was the sec- 
ond of Senator Cilley in the famous Cillej'-Graves 
duel near Washington, which resulted in the 
death of the former. After his retirement from 
office. General Jones' residence was at Dubuque, 
Iowa, where he died, July 23, 1896, in the 93d 
year of his age. 

JONES, Michae"', early politician, was a Penn- 
sylvanian by birth, who came to Illinois in Terri- 
torial daj's, and, as early as 1809, was Register of 
the Land Office at Kaskaskia; afterwards 
removed to Shawneetown, and represented 
Gallatin County as a Delegate to the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1818 and as Senator in the 
first four General Assemblies, and also as Repre- 
sentative in the Eighth. He vi'as a candidate for 
LTnited States Senator in 1819, but was defeated 
by Governor Edwards, and was a Presidential 
Elector in 1820. He is represented to have been a 
man of considerable ability but of bitter passions, 
a supporter of the scheme for a pro-slavery con- « 
stitution and a bitter opponent of Governor 
Edwards. 

JONES, J. Russell, capitalist, was born at 
Conneaut, Aslitabula County, Ohio, Feb. 17, 1823; 
after spending two years as clerk in a store in his 
native town, came to Chicago in 1838; spent the 
next two years at Rockton, when he accepted a 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



309 



clerkship in a leading mercantile establishment 
at Galena, finally being advanced to a partner- 
ship, which was dissolved in 1856. In 1860 he 
was elected, as a Republican, Representative in 
the Twenty-second General Assembly, and, in 
March following, was appointed by President 
Lincoln United States Marshal for the Northern 
District of Illinois. In 1869, b}- appointment of 
President Grant, he became Minister to Belgium, 
remaining in office until 1875, when he resigned 
and returned to Chicago. Subsequent!)' he 
declined the position of Secretary of the Interior, 
but was appointed Collector of the Port of Chi- 
cago, from which he I'etired in 1888. Mr. Jones 
served as member of the National Republican 
Committee for Illinois in 1868. In 1863 he organ- 
ized the West Division Street Railway, laying 
the foundation of an ample fortune. 

JONESj William, pioneer merchant, was born 
at Charlemont, Mass., Oct. 22, 1789, but spent his 
boyhood and early manhood in New York State, 
ultimately locating at Buffalo, where he engaged 
in business as a grocer, and also held various 
public positions. In 1831 he made a tour of 
observation westward by way of Detroit, finally 
reaching Fort Dearborn, which he again visited 
in 1832 and in "33, making small investments each 
time in real estate, which afterwards appreciated 
immensely in value. In 1834, in partnership 
with Byram King of Buffalo, Mr. Jones engaged 
in the stove and hardware business, founding in 
Chicago the firm of Jones & King, and the next 
year brought his family. While he never held 
any important public office, he was one of the 
most prominent of those early residents of Chicago 
through whose enterprise and public spirit the 
city was made to prosper. He held the office of 
Justice of the Peace, served in the City Council, 
■was one of the founders of the city fire depart- 
ment, served for twelve years (18-10-52) on the 
Board of School Inspectors (for a considerable 
time as its President), and contributed liberally 
to the cause of education, including gifts of 
§50,000 to the old Chicago University, of which 
he was a Trustee and, for some time, President of 
its Executive Committee. Died, Jan. 18, 1SG8. — 
Fernando (Jones), son of the preceding, was born 
at Forestville, Chautauqua County, N. Y., May 
26, 1820, having, for some time in his boyhood, 
Millard Fillmore (afterwards President) as his 
teacher at Buffalo, and, still later, Reuben E. Fen- 
ton (afterwards Governor and a United States 
Senator) as classmate. After coming to Chicago, 
in 1835, he was employed for some time as a clerk 
la Government offices and by the Trustees of the 



Illinois & Michigan Canal; spent a season at 
Canandaigua Academy, N. Y. ; edited a periodical 
at Jackson, Midi., for a year or two, but finally 
coming to Chicago, opened an abstract and title 
office, in which he was engaged at the time of the 
fire of 1871, and which, by consolidation with two 
other firms, became the foundation of the Title 
Guarantee and Trust Company, which still plays 
an important part in the real-estate business of 
Chicago. Mr. Jones has held various public posi- 
tions, including that of Trustee of the Hospital 
for the Insane at Jacksonville, and has for years 
been a Trustee of the University of Chicago. -Kiler 
Kent (Jones), another son, was one of the found- 
ers of "The Gem of the Prairies" newspaper, out 
of which grew "The Chicago Tribune"; was for 
many years a citizen of Quincy, III., and promi- 
nent member of the Republican State Central 
Committee, and, for a time, one of the publishers 
of "The Prairie Farmer." Died, in Quincy, 
Augiist 20, 1886. 

JO>ESBORO, the county-seat of Union County, 
situated about a mile west of the line of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad. It is some 30 n\iles north 
of Cairo, with whicli it is connected by the Mobile 
ik Ohio R. R. It stands in tlie center of a fertile 
territory, largely devoted to fruit-growing, and is 
an important shipping-point for fruit and early 
vegetables; has a silica mill, pickle factory a,nd a 
bank. There are also four churches, and one 
weekly newspaper, as well as a graded school. 
Population (!900). 1.130. 

JOSLTX, Merritt L., lawyer, was born in 
Livingston County, N. Y., in 1827, came to Illi- 
nois in 1839, his father settling in McHenry 
County, where the son, on arriving at manhood, 
engaged in the practice of the law. The latter 
became prominent in political circles and, in 
1856, was a Buchanan Presidential Elector. On 
the breaking out of the war he allied liimself 
with the Republican party ; served as a Captain 
in the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
and. in 1864, was elected to the Twenty-fourth 
General Assembly from McHenry County, later 
serving as Senator during the sessions of the 
Thirtieth and Thirty-first Assemblies (1876-80). 
After the death of President Garfield, he was 
appointed by President Arthur Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Interior, serving to the close of the 
administration. Returning to his home at Wood- 
stock, 111., he resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion, and, since 1889, has discharged the duties of 
Master in Chancery for McHenry County. 

JOUETT, Charles, Chicago's first lawyer, was 
born in Virginia in 1772, studied law at Charlottes- 



310 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ville in that State; in 1803 was appointed by 
President Jefiferson Indian Agent at Detroit and, 
in 1805, acted as Commissioner in conducting a 
treaty witli the Wyandottes, Ottawas and otlier 
Indians of Nortlivvestern Ohio and Michigan at 
Maumee City, Ohio. In the fall of the latter j-ear 
he was appointed Indian Agent at Fort Dearborn, 
serving there until the year before the Fort Dear- 
born Massacre. Removing to Mercer County, 
Ky., in 1811, he was elected to a Judgeship there, 
but, in 1815, was reappointed by President Madi- 
son Indian Agent at Fort Dearborn, remaining 
until 1818, when he again returned to Kentucky. 
In 1819 he was appointed to a United States 
Judgeship in tlie newly organized Territory of 
Arkansas, but remained only a few months, when 
he resumed his residence in Kentucky, dying 
there, May 28, 1834. 

JOURXALISM. {See NetvspaiKrs, Early.) 
JUDD, Norman Buel, lawyer, legislator. For- 
eign Minister, was born at Rome, N. Y., Jan. 10, 
1815, where he read law and was admitted to the 
bar. In 1836 he removed to Chicago and com- 
menced practice in the (then) frontier settle- 
ment. He early rose to a position of prominence 
and influence in public affairs, holding various 
municipal offices and being a member of the 
State Senate from 1844 to 1860 continuously. In 
1860 he was a Delegate-at-large to the Republican 
National Convention, and, in 1861, President Lin- 
coln appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary to 
Prussia, where he represented this countr}- for 
four years. He was a warm personal friend of 
Lincoln, and accompanied him on his memorable 
journey from Springfield to Washington in 1861. 
In 1870 he was elected to the Forty-first Congress. 
Died, at Chicago, Nov. 10, 1878. 

JUDD, S. Corning, lawyer and politician, born 
in Onondaga County, N. Y., July 21, 1827; was 
educated at Aurora Academy, taught for a time in 
Canada and was admitted to the bar in New York 
in 1848 ; edited "The Syracuse Daily Star" in 1849, 
and, in 1850, accepted a position in the Interior 
Department in Washington. Later, he resumed 
his place upon "The Star," but, in 1854, removed 
to Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., and began 
practice with liis brother-in-law, the late W. C. 
Goudy. In 1878 he removed to Chicago, entering 
into partnership with William Fitzhugh White- 
house, son of Bishop Whitehouse, and became 
prominent in connection with some ecclesiastical 
trials which followed. In 1860 he was a Demo- 
cratic candidate for Presidential Elector and, 
during the war, was a determined opponent of 
the war policy of the Government, as such mak- 



ing an unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant- 
Governor in 1864. In 1885 he was appointed 
Postmaster of the city of Chicago, serving until 
1889. Died, in Chicago, Sept. 22, 1895. 

JUDICIAL SYSTEM, THE. The Constitution 
of 1818 vested the judicial power of the State in 
one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as 
the Legislature miglit establish. The former 
consisted of one Chief Justice and three Associ- 
ates, appointed by joint ballot of the Legislature ; 
but, until 1825, when a new act went into effect, 
they were required to perform circuit duties in 
the several counties, while exercising appellate 
jurisdiction in their united capacity. In 1824 the 
Legislature divided the State into five circuits, 
appointing one Circuit Judge for each, but, two 
years later, these were legislated out of office, and 
circuit court duty again devolved upon the 
Supreme Judges, the State being divided into 
four circuits. In 1829 a new act authorized the 
appointment of one Circuit Judge, who was 
assigned to duty in the territory northwest of the 
Illinois River, the Supreme Justices continuing 
to perform circuit duty in the four other circuits. 
This arrangement continued until 1835, when the 
State was divided into six judicial circuits, and, 
five additional Circuit Judges having been 
elected, the Supreme Judges were again relieved 
from circuit court service. After this no mate- 
rial changes occurred except in the increase of the 
number of circuits until 1841, the whole number 
then being nine. At this time political reasons 
led to an entire reorganization of the courts. An 
act passed Feb. 10, 1841, repealed all laws author- 
izing the election of Circuit Judges, and provided 
for the appointment of five additional Associate 
Judges of the Supreme Court, making nine in 
all; and, for a third time, circuit duties devolved 
upon the Supreme Court Judges, the State being 
divided at the same time into nine circuits. 

By the adoption of the Constitution of 1848 the 
judiciary system underwent an entire change, all 
judicial officers being made elective by the 
people. The Constitution provided for a Supreme 
Court, consisting of three judges. Circuit Courts, 
County Courts, and courts to be held by Justices 
of the Peace. In addition to these, the Legisla- 
ture had the power to create inferior civil and 
criminal courts in cities, but only upon a uniform 
plan. For the election of Supreme Judges, the 
State was divided into three Grand Judicial Divi- 
sions. The Legislature might, however, if it saw 
fit, provide for the election of all three Judges on 
a general ticket, to be voted throughout the 
State-at-large ; but tliis power was never exer- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



311 



cised. Appeals lay from the Circuit Courts to the 
Supreme Court for the particular division in 
■which the county might be located, although, by 
unanimous consent of all parties in interest, an 
appeal naight be transferred to another district. 
Nine Circuit Courts were established, but the 
number might be increased at the discretion of 
the General Assembly. Availing itself of its 
constitutional power and providing for the needs 
of a rapidly growing community, the Legislature 
gradually increased the number of circuits to 
thirty. The term of office for Supreme Court 
Judges was nine, and, for Circuit Judges, six 
years. Vacancies were to be filled by popular 
election, unless the unexpired term of the 
deceased or retiring incumbent was less than one 
year, in which case the Governor was authorized 
to appoint. Circuit Courts were vested with 
appellate jurisdiction from inferior tribunals, and 
each was required to hold at least two terms 
annually in each county, as might be fixed by 
statute. 

The Constitution of 1870, without changing the 
mode of election or term of office, made several 
changes adapted to altered conditions. As 
regards the Supreme Court, the three Grand 
Divisions were retained, but the number of 
Judges was increased to seven, chosen from a like 
number of districts, but sitting together to con- 
stitute a full court, of which four members con- 
stitute a quorum. A Chief Justice is chosen by 
the Court, and is usually one of the Judges 
nearing the expiration of his term. The minor 
officers include a Reporter of Decisions, and one 
Clerk in each Division. By an act passed in 1897, 
the three Supreme Court Divisions were consoli- 
dated in one, the Court being required to hold its 
sittings in Springfield, and hereafter only one 
Clerk will be elected instead of three as hereto- 
fore. The salaries of Justices of the Supreme 
Court are fixed by law at S5,000 each. 

The State was divided in 1873 into twenty-seven 
circuits (Cook County being a circuit by itself), 
and one or more terms of the circuit court are 
required to be held each year in each county in 
the State. The jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts 
is both original and appellate, and includes mat- 
ters civil and criminal, in law and in equity. 
The Judges are elected by districts, and hold office 
for six years. In 1877 the State was divided into 
thirteen judicial circuits (exclusive of Cook 
County), but without reducing the number of 
Judges (twenty-six) already in office, and the 
election of one additional Judge (to serve two 
years) was ordered in each district, thus increas- 



ing the number of Judges to thirty -nine. Again 
in 1897 the Legislature passed an act increasing 
the number of judicial circuits, exclusive of Cook 
County, to seventeen, while the number of 
Judges in each circuit remained the same, so 
that the whole number of Judges elected that 
year outside of Cook County was fifty-one. The 
salaries of Circuit Judges are S3, 500 per year, 
except in Cook County, where they are S7,000. 
The Constitution also provided for the organiza- 
tion of Appellate Courts after the year 1874, hav- 
ing uniform jurisdiction in districts created for 
that purpose. These courts are a connecting 
link between the Circuit and the Supreme Courts, 
and greatly relieve the crowded calendar of the 
latter. In 1877 the Legislature established four 
of these tribunals : one for the County of Cook ; 
one to include all the Northern Grand Division 
except Cook County ; the third to embrace the 
Central Grand Division, and the fourth the South- 
ern. Each Appellate Court is held by three Cir- 
cuit Court Judges, named by the Judges of the 
Supreme Court, each assignment covering three 
years, and no Judge either allowed to receive 
extra compensation or sit in review of his own 
rulings or decisions. Two terms are held in each 
District every year, and these courts have no 
original jurisdiction. 

Cook Cocnty. — The judicial system of Cook 
County is different from that of the rest of the 
State. The Constitution of 1870 made the county 
an independent district, and exempted it from 
being subject to any subsequent redistricting. 
The bench of the Circuit Court in Cook County, 
at first fixed at five Judges, has been increased 
under the Constitution to fourteen, who receive 
additional compensation from the county treas- 
ury. The Legislature has the constitutional 
right to increase the number of Judges according 
to population. In 18-19 the Legislature estab- 
lished the Cook County Court of Common Pleas. 
Later, this became the Superior Court of Cook 
County, which now (1898) consists of thirteen 
Judges. For this court there exists the same 
constitutional provision relative to an increase of 
Judges as in the case of the Circuit Court of Cook 
County. 

JUDY, Jacob, pioneer, a native of Switzer- 
land, who, having come to the United States at 
an early day, remained some years m IMaryland, 
when, in 1786, he started west, spending two 
years near Louisville, Ky., finally arriving at 
Kaskaskia, 111., in 1788. In 1793 he removed to 
New Design, in Monroe County, and, in 1800, 
located within the present limits of Madison 



313 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



County, where he died iu 1807. — Samuel (Judy), 
son of the preceding, bom August 19, 1773, was 
brought by his father to Illinois in 1788, and after- 
wards became prominent in political affairs and 
famous as an Indian fighter. On the organization 
of Madison County he became one of the first 
County Commissioners, serving many years. He 
also commanded a body of "Rangers" in the 
Indian campaigns during the War of 1812, gain- 
ing the title of Colonel, and served as a member 
from Madison County in the Second Territorial 
Council (1814-15). Previous to 1811 he built the 
first brick house within the limits of Madison 
County, which still stood, not many years since, 
a few miles from Edwardsville. Colonel Judy 
died in 1838. — Jacob (Judy), eldest son of Samuel, 
was Register of the Land Office at Edwardsville, 
1845-49.— Thomas (Judy), younger son of Samuel, 
was born, Dec. 19, 1804, and represented Madison 
County in the Eighteenth General Assembly 
(1853-54). His death occurred Oct. 4, 1880. 

JUDY, James William, soldier, was born in 
Clark County, Ivy., May 8, 1823 — his ancestors 
on his father's side being from Switzerland, and 
those on his mother's from Scotland ; grew up on 
a farm and, in 1852, removed to Menard County, 
HI., where he has since resided. In August, 1863, 
he enlisted as a private soldier, was elected Cap- 
tain of his company, and, on its incorporation as 
part of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Regi- 
ment Illinois Volunteers at Camp Butler, was 
chosen Colonel by acclamation. The One Hun- 
dred and Fourteenth, as part of the Fifteenth 
Army Corps under command of tliat brilliant 
soldier. Gen. \Vm. T. Sherman, was attached to 
the Army of the Tennessee, and took part in the 
entire siege of Vicksburg, from May, 18G3, to the 
surrender on the 3d of July following. It also 
participated in the siege of Jackson, Miss., and 
numerous other engagements. After one year's 
service. Colonel Judy was compelled to resign by 
domestic affliction, having lost two children by 
death within eight days of each other, while 
others of his family were dangerously ill. On 
his retirement from the army, he became deeply 
interested in thorough-bred cattle, and is now the 
most noted stock auctioneer in the United States 
• — having, in the past thirty years, sold more 
thorough-bred cattle than any other man living 
— his operations extending from Canada to Cali- 
fornia, and from Minnesota to Texas. Colonel 
Judy was elected a member of the State Board of 
Agriculture in 1874, and .so remained continu- 
ously until 189() — except two years — also serving 
as President of the Board from 1894 to 1896. He 



bore a conspicuous part in securing the location 
of the State Fair at Springfield in 1894, and the 
improvements there made under his administra- 
tion have not been paralleled in any other State. 
Originally, and up to 1856, an old-line Whig, 
Colonel Judy has since been an ardent Repub- 
lican ; and though active in political campaigns, 
has never held a political office nor desired one, 
being content with the discharge of his duty as a 
patriotic private citizen. 

KAXAN, Michael F., soldier and legislator, was 
born in Essex County, N. Y., in November, 1837, 
at twenty years of age removed to Macon County, 
111., and engaged in farming. During the Civil 
War he enlisted in the Forty-first Illinois Volun- 
teers (Col. I. C. Pugh's regiment), serving nearly 
four years and retiring with the rank of Captain. 
After the war he served six years as !Mayor of the 
city of Decatur. In 1894 he was elected State 
Senator, serving in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth 
General Assemblies. Captain Kanan was one of 
the founders of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
and a member of the first Post of the order ever 
established — that at Decatur. 

KAJfE, a village of Greene County, on the 
Jacksonville Division of the Chicago & Alton 
Railway, 40 miles south of Jacksonville. It has 
a bank and a weekly paper. Population (1880), 
408; (1890), 551; (1900), 588. 

KAJfE, Elias Kent, early United States Sena- 
tor, issaid by Lanman's "Dictionary of Congress'' 
to have been born in New York, June 7, 1796. 
The late Gen. Geo. W. Smith, of Chicago, a rela- 
tive of Senator Kane's by marriage, in a paper 
read before the Illinois State Bar Associatior 
(1895), rejecting other statements assigning the 
date of the Illinois Senator's birth to various 
years from 1786 to 1796, expresses the opinion, 
based on family letters, that he was really born 
in 1794. He was educated at Yale College, gradu- 
ating in 1813, read law in New York, and emi- 
grated to Tennessee in 1813 or early in 1814, but, 
before the close of the latter year, removed to Illi- 
nois, settling at Kaskaskia. His abilities were 
recognized by his appointment, early in 1818, as 
Judge of the eastern circuit under the Territorial 
Government. Before the close of the same year 
he served as a member of the first State Consti- 
tutional Convention, and was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Bond the first Secretary of State under the 
new State Government, but resigned on the 
accession of Governor Coles in 1823. Two years 
later he was elected to the General Assembly as 
Representative from Randolph County, but 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



313 



resigned before the close of the year to accept a 
seat in tlie United States Senate, to which he was 
elected in 1824, and re-elected in 1830. Before 
the expiration of his second term (Dec. 12, 1835), 
having reached the age of a little more than 40 
years, he died in Washington, deeply mourned 
by his fellow-members of Congress and by his 
constituents. Senator Kane was a cousin of the 
distinguished Chancellor Kent of New York, 
through his mother's family, while, on his 
father's side, he was a relative of the celebrated 
Arctic explorer, Elisha Kent Kane. 

KAXE COUNTY, one of the wealthiest and 
most progressive counties in the State, situated in 
the northeastern quarter. It has an area of 540 
square miles, and population (1900) of 78,792; 
was named for Senator Elias Kent Kane. Tim- 
ber and water are abundant. Fox River flowing 
through tlie county from north to south. Immi- 
gration began in 1833, and received a new impetus 
in 1833, when the Pottawatomies were removed 
west of the Mississippi. A school was established 
in 1834, and a church organized in 1835. County 
organization was effected in June, 1836, and the 
public lands came on the market in 1842. Tlie 
Civil "War record of the county is more than 
creditable, the number of volunteers exceeding 
the assessed iiuota. Farming, grazing, manufac- 
turing and dairy industries chiefly engage the 
attention of the people. The county has many 
flourishing cities and towns. Geneva is the county- 
seat. (See Aurora, Dundee, Eldora, Elgin, Geneva 
and St. Charles.) 

KAN'GLEY, a village of La Salle Count}', on 
the Chicago, Burlington «& Quincy Railway, three 
miles northwest of Streator. There are several 
coal shafts here. Population (1900), 1,004. 

KAXKAKEE, a city and county-seat of Kanka- 
kee County, on Kankakee River and 111. Cent. 
Railroad, at intersection of the "Big Four" with 
the Indiana, 111. & Iowa Railroad, 56 miles south of 
Chicago. It is an agricultural and stock-raising 
region, near extensive coal fields and bog iron 
ore; has water-power, flour and paper mills, agri- 
cultural implement, furniture, and piano fac- 
tories, knitting and novelty works, besides two 
quarries of valuable building stone. The East- 
ern Hospital for the Insane is located here. 
There are four papers, four banks, five schools, 
water-works, gas and electric light, electric car 
lines, and Government postoffice building. Popu- 
lation (1890), 9,025; (1900), 13,595. 

K.4.NKAKEE COUNTY, a wealthy and popu- 
lous county in the northeast section of the State, 
having an area of 680 square miles — receiving its 



name from its principal river. It was set apart 
from Will and Iroquois Counties under the act 
passed in 1851, the owners of the site of the 
present city of Kankakee contributing §5,000 
to%vard the erection of county buildings. Agri- 
culture, manufacturing and coal-mining are the 
principal pursuits. The first white settler was 
one Noah Vasseur, a Frenchman, and the first 
American, Thomas Durham. Population (1880), 
25,047; (1890), 28,732; (1900), 37,154. 

KANKAKEE RIVER, a sluggish stream, rising 
in St. Joseph County, Ind., and flowing west- 
southwest through English Lake and a flat marshy 
region, into Illinois. In Kankakee County it 
unites with the Iroquois from the south and the 
Des Plaines from the north, after the junction 
with the latter, taking the name of the Illinois. 

KANKAKEE & SENECA RAILROAD, a line 
lying wholly in Illinois, 42.08 miles in length. It 
has a capital stock of §10,000, bonded debt of 
§650,000 and other forms of indebtedness (1895) 
reaching §557,629; total capitalization, §1,217,629. 
This road was chartered in 1881, and opened in 
1883. It connects with the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, and the Chicago, 
Rock Island & Pacific, and is owned jointly by 
these two lines, but operated by the former, (See 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- 
road.) 

KANSAS, a village in Edgar County, on the 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis and 
the Chicago & Ohio River Railways, 156 miles 
northeast of St. Louis, 104 miles west of Indian- 
apolis, 13 miles east of Charleston and 11 miles 
west-southwest of Paris. The surrounding region 
is agricultural and stock-raising. Kansas has tile 
works, two grain elevators, a canning factory, 
and railway machine shops, beside four churches, 
a collegiate institute, a National bank and a 
weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 723 ; (1890), 
1,037; (1900), 1,049. 

KASKASKIA, a village of the Illinois Indians, 
and later a French trading post, first occupied in 
1700. It passed into the hands of the British 
after the French-Indian War in 1765, and was 
captured by Col. George Rogers Clark, at the head 
of a force of Virginia troops, in 1778. (See Clark, 
George Rogers.) At that time the white inhab- 
itants were almost entirely of French descent. 
The first exercise of the elective franchise in Illi- 
nois occurred here in the year last named, and, in 
1804, the United States Government opened a 
land office there. For many years the most 
important commercial town in the Territory, it 
remained the Territorial and State capital down 



314 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



to 1819, when the seat of government was re- 
moved to Vandalia. Originally situated on the 
west side of the Kaskaskia River, some six miles 
from the Mississippi, early in 1899 its site liad 
been swept away by the encroachments of tlie 
latter stream, so that all that is left of the princi- 
pal town of Illinois, in Territorial days, is simply 
its name. 

KASKASKIA INDIANS, one of the five tribes 
constituting the Illinois confederation of Algon- 
quin Indians. About the year 1700 they removed 
from what is now La Salle County, to Southern 
Illinois, where tliey established themselves along 
the banks of the river whicli bears their name. 
They were finally removed, with their b-ethren 
of the Illinois, west of the Mississippi, and, as a 
distinct tribe, have become extinct. 

•KASKASKIA RIVER, rises in Champaign 
County, and flows southwest through the coun- 
ties of Douglas, Coles, Moultrie, Shelby, Fayette, 
Clinton and St. Clair, thence southward through 
Randolph, and empties into the Mississippi River 
near Chester. It is nearly 300 miles long, and 
flows through a fertile, undulating country, which 
forms part of the great coal field of the State. 

KEITH, Edson, Sr., merchant and manufac- 
turer, born at Barre, Vt., Jan. 28, 1833, was edu- 
cated at home and in the district schools ; spent 
1850-54 in Montpelier, coming to Chicago the 
latter year and obtaining employment in a retail 
dry-goods store. In 1860 he assisted in establish- 
ing the firm of Keith, Faxon & Co., now Edson 
Keith & Co. ; is also President of the corporation 
of Keith Brothers & Co., a Director of the Metro- 
politan National Bank, and the Edison Electric 
Light Company. — Elbridge G. (Keith), banker, 
brother of the preceding, was born at Barre, Vt., 
July 16, 1840; attended local schools and Barre 
Academy ; came to Chicago in 1857, the next year 
taking a position as clerk in the house of Keith, 
Faxon & Co., in 1865 becoming a partner and, in 
1884, being chosen President of the Metropolitan 
National Bank, where he still remains. Mr. 
Keith was a member of the Republican National 
Convention of 1880, and belongs to several local 
literary, political and social clubs ; was also one 
of the Directors of the World's Columbian Expo- 
sition of 1892-93. 

KEITHSBURG, a town in Mercer County on 
the Mississippi River, at the intersection of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Iowa Cen- 
tral Railways; 100 piiles west-northwest of 
Peoria. Principal industries are fisheries, ship- 
ping, manufacture of pearl buttons and oilers ; lias 
one paper. Pop. (1900), 1,566; (1903, est.), 3,000. 



KELLOGG, Hiram Huntington, clergyman 
and educator, was born at Clinton (then Whites- 
town), N. Y., in February, 1803. graduated at 
Hamilton College and Auburn Seminary, after 
which he served for some years as pastor at 
various places in Central New York. Later, he 
established the Young Ladies' Domestic Seminary 
at Clinton, claimed to be the first ladies' semi- 
nary in the State, and the first experiment in the 
country uniting manual training of girls with 
scholastic instruction, antedating Mount Hol- 
yoke, Oberlin and other institutions which adopted 
this system. Color was no bar to admission to 
the institution, though the daughters of some of 
the wealthiest families of the State were among 
its pupils. Mr. Kellogg was a co-laborer with 
Gerritt Smith, Beriah Green, the Tappans, Garri- 
son and others, in the eff'ort to arouse public senti- 
ment in opposition to slavery. In 1836 he united 
with Prof. George W. Gale and others in the 
movement for the establishment of a colony and 
the building up of a Christian and anti-slavery 
institution in the West, which resulted in the 
location of the town of Galesburg and the found, 
ing there of Knox College. Mr. Kellogg was 
chosen the first President of the institution and, 
in 1841, left his thriving school at Clinton to 
identify himself with the new enterprise, which, 
in its infancy, was a manual-labor school. In the 
West he soon became the ally and co-laborer of 
such men as Owen Lovejoy, Ichabod Codding, 
Dr. C. V. Dyer and others, in the work of extirpat- 
ing slavery. In 1843 he visited England as a 
member of the World's Peace Convention, re- 
maining abroad about a year, during which time 
he made the acquaintance of Jacob Bright and 
others of the most prominent men of that day in 
England and Scotland. Resigning the Presidency 
of Knox College in 1847, he returned to Clinton 
Seminary, and was later engaged in various busi- 
ness enterprises until 1861, when he again re- 
moved to Illinois, and was engaged in preaching 
and teaching at various points during the 
remainder of his life, dying suddenly, at his 
home school at Mount Forest, III., Jan. 1, 1881. 

KELLOGG, William Pitt, was born at Orwell, 
Vt., Dec. 8, 1831, removed to Illinois in 1848, 
studied law at Peoria, was admitted to the bar in 
1854, and began practice in Fulton County. He 
was a candidate for Presidential Elector on the 
Republican ticket in 18,56 and 1860, being elected 
the latter year. Appointed Chief Justice of 
Nebraska in 1861, he resigned to accept the 
colonelcy of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry. Fail- 
ing health caused his retirement from the army 




1.— Old Kasfcaskia from Garrison. Hill (1S93). 2.— Kaskaskia Hotel wliere Lafayette was feted in 
1S25. 3.— First Illinois State House. 1S18. 4.— Interior o£ Room (1S93) where Lafayette bamjuet 
was held. 5.— Pierre Menard Mansion. G. — House of Chief Ducoign, last of the Cascasquais (Kas- 
kaskias). 





1. — Remnant of Old Kaskaskia (1898). 2.— View nn Principal Stret-t (1S91). 3.— Gen. John Ed- 
gar's House (1891). 4. — House of Gov. Boud (1S91). 5. — "Cheiui Mansion" where LaFayette 
was entertained, as it appeared in 1S9S. C>. — Old State House (1900). 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



315 



after the battle of Corinth. In 1865 he was 
appointed Collector of the Port at New Orleans. 
Thereafter he became a conspicuous figure in 
both Louisiana and National politics, serving as 
United States Senator from Louisiana from 1868 
to 1871, and as Governor from 1872 to 1876, during 
the stormiest period of reconstruction, and mak- 
ing hosts of bitter personal and political enemies 
as well as warm friends. An unsuccessful attempt 
was made to impeach him in 1876. In 1877 he was 
elected a second time to the United States Senate 
by one of two rival Legislatures, being awarded 
his seat after a bitter contest. At the close of his 
term (1883) he took his seat in the lower house to 
which he was elected in 1882, serving until 1885. 
While retaining his residence in Louisiana, Mr. 
Kellogg has spent much of his time of late years 
in Washington City. 

KENDALL COUNTY, a northeastern county, 
with an area of 330 square miles and a population 
(1900) of 11,467. The surface is rolling and the 
soil fertile, although generally a light, sandy 
loam. The county was organized in 1841, out of 
parts of Kane and La Salle, and was named in 
honor of President Jackson's Postmaster-General. 
The Fox River (running southwestwardly 
through the county), with its tributaries, affords 
ample drainage and considerable water power; 
the railroad facilities are admirable; timber is 
abundant. Yorkville and Oswego have been 
rivals for the county-seat, the distinction finally 
resting with the former. Among the pioneers 
may be mentioned Messrs. John Wilson, Ed- 
ward Ament, David Carpenter, Samuel Smith, 
the Wormley and Pierce brothers, and E. 
Morgan. 

KENDRICK, Adiu A., educator, was born at 
Ticonderoga, N. Y., Jan. 7, 1836; educated at 
Granville Academy, N. Y., and Middlebury Col- 
lege; removed to Janesville, Wis., in 1857, studied 
law and began practice at Monroe, in that State, 
a year later removing to St. Louis, where he con- 
tinued practice for a short time. Then, having 
abandoned the law, after a course in the Theolog- 
ical Seminary at Rochester, N. Y., in 1861 he 
became pastor of the North Baptist Church in 
Chicago, but, in 1865, removed to St. Louis, 
where he remained in pastoral work until 1872, 
when he assumed the Presidency of Shurtleff 
College at Upper Alton, 111. 

KENNET, a village and railway station in 
Dewitt County, at the intersection of the Spring- 
field Division of the Illinois Central and the 
Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railroads, 36 miles 
northeast of Springfield. The town has two banks 



and two newspapers ; the district is agricultural. 
Population (1880), 418; (1890), 497; (1900), 584. 

KENT, (Rev.) Aratus, pioneer and Congrega- 
tional missionary, was born in Suffield, Conn, in 
1794, educated at Yale and Princeton and, in 1829, 
as a Congregational missionary, came to the 
Galena lead mines— then esteemed "a place so 
hard no one else would take it. " In less than two 
years he had a Sunday-school with ten teachers 
and sixty to ninety scholars, and had also estab- 
lished a day-school, which he conducted himself. 
In 1831 he organized the First Presbyterian 
Church of Galena, of which he remained pastor 
until 1848, when he became Agent of the Home 
Missionary Society. He was prominent in laying 
the foundations of Beloit College and Rockford 
Female Seminary, meanwhile contributing freely 
from his meager salary to charitable purposes. 
Died at Galena, Nov. 8, 1869. 

KEOKUK, (interpretation, "The Watchful 
Fox"), a Chief of the Sacs and Foxes, born on 
Rock River, about 1780. He had the credit of 
shrewdness and bravery, which enabled him 
finally to displace his rival. Black Hawk. He 
always professed ardent friendship for the whites, 
although this was not infrequently attributed to 
a far-seeing policy. He earnestly dissuaded 
Black Hawk from the formation of his confeder- 
acy, and when the latter was forced to surrender 
himself to the United States authorities, he was 
formally delivered to the custody of Keokuk. By 
the Rook Island treaty, of September, 1832, Keo- 
kuk was formally recognized as the principal 
Chief of the Sacs and Foxes, and granted a reser- 
vation on the Iowa River, 40 miles square. Here 
he lived until 1845, when he removed to Kansas, 
where, in June, 1848, he fell a victim to poison, 
supposedly administered by some partisan of 
Black Hawk. (See Black Hawk and Black Hawk 
War.) 

KERFOOT, Samuel H., real-estate operator, 
was born in Lancaster, Pa., Dec. 18, 1823, and 
educated under the tutorship of Rev. Dr. Muh- 
lenburg at St. Paul's College, Flushing, Long 
Island, graduating at the age of 19. He was 
then associated with a brother in founding St. 
James College, in Washington County, Md. , but, 
in 1848, removed to Cliicago and engaged in the 
real-estate business, in vchich he was one of the 
oldest operators at the time of his death, Dec. 28, 
1896. He was one of the founders and a life 
member of the Chicago Historical Society and of 
the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and as.sociated 
with other learned and social organizations. He 
was also a member of the original Real Estate 



316 



niSTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and Stock Board of Cliicago and its first Presi- 
dent. 

SEWANEE, a city in Henry County, on the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 131 
miles southwest of Chicago. Agriculture and 
coal-mining are chief industries of the surround- 
ing country. Tlie city contains eighteen churches, 
six graded schools, a public library of 10,000 
volumes, three national banks, one weekly and 
two daily papers. It has extensive manufactories 
employing four to five thousand hands, the out- 
put including tubing and soil-pipe, boilers, pumps 
and heating apparatus, agricultural implements, 
etc. Population (1890), 4,569; (1900), 8,382; (1903, 
est), 10,000. 

KETES, Willard, pioneer, was born at New- 
fane, Windsor County, Vt., Oct. 28, 1792; spent 
his early life on a farm, enjoying only such edu- 
cational advantages as could be secured by a few 
months' attendance on school in winter; in 1817 
started west by way of Mackinaw and, crossing 
Wisconsin (then an unbroken wilderness), finally 
reached Prairie du Chien, after which he spent a 
year in the "pineries." In 1819 he descended the 
Mississippi with a raft, his attention en route 
being attracted by the present site of the city of 
Quincy, to which, after two years spent in exten- 
sive exploration of the "Military Tract"" in the 
interest of certain owners of bounty lands, he 
again returned, finding it still unoccupied. 
Then, after two years spent in farming in Pike 
County, in 1824 he joined his friend, the late 
Gov. John Wood, wlio had biiilt the first house in 
Quincy two years previous. Mr. Keyes tlms 
became one of the three earliest settlers of 
Quincy, the other two being John Wood and a 
Major Rose. On the organization of Adams 
County, in January, 1825, he was appointed a 
member of the first Board of County Commission- 
ers, which held its first meeting in his house. 
Mr. Keyes acquired considerable landed property 
about Quincy, a portion of which he donated to 
the Chicago Theological Seminary, thereby fur- 
nishing means for the erection of "Willard Hall"' 
in connection with that institution. His death 
occurred in Quincy, Feb. 7, 1872. 

KICKAPOOS, a tribe of Indians whose eth- 
nology is closely related to that of tlie Mascou- 
tlns. The French orthography of the word was 
various, the early explorers designating them as 
"Kic-a-pous," "Kick-a-poux," "Kicka-bou," and 
"Quick-a-pous." The significance of the name is 
uncertain, different authorities construing it to 
mean "the otter"s foot'" and the "rabbit"s ghost," 
according to dialect. From 1602, when the tribe 



was first visited by Samuel Champlain, the Kicka- 
poos were noted as a nation of warriors. They 
fought against Christianization, and were, for 
some time, hostile to the French, although they 
proved efficient allies of the latter during tlie 
French and Indian War. Their first formal 
recognition of the authority of the United States 
was in tlie treaty of Edwardsville (1819), in which 
reference was made to the treaties executed at 
Vincennes (1805 and 1809). Nearly a century 
before, they liad left their seats in AVisconsin and 
established villages along the Rock River and 
near Chicago (1712- 15). At the time of the 
Edwardsville treaty they had settlements in the 
valleys of the Wabash, Embarras, Kaskaskia, 
Sangamon and Illinois Rivers. W^hile they 
fought bravely at the battle of Tippecanoe, their 
chief military skill la)' in predatory warfare. As 
compared with other tribes, they were industri- 
ous, intelligent and cleanly. In 1832-33 they 
were removed to a reservation in Kansas. Thence 
many of them drifted to the southwest, join- 
ing roving, plundering bands. In language, 
manners and customs, the Kickapoos closely 
resembled the Sacs and Foxes, with whom some 
ethnologists believe them to have been more or 
less closely connected. 

KILPATRICK, Thomas M., legislator and 
soldier, was born in Crawford County, Pa., June 
1, 1807. He learned the potter's trade, and, at 
the age of 27, removed to Scott County, 111. He 
was a deep thinker, an apt and reflective student 
of public affairs, and naturally eloquent. He 
was twice elected to the State Senate (1840 and 
'44), and, in 1846, was the Whig candidate for 
Governor, but was defeated by Augustus C. 
French, Democrat. In 1850 he emigrated to 
California, but, after a few years, returned to 
Illinois and took an active part in the campaigns 
of 1858 and 1860. On the outbreak of the Civil 
War he was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty- 
eighth Illinois Volunteers, for which regiment he 
had recruited a company. He was killed at the 
battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, while leading a 
charge. 

KINDERHOOK, a village and railway station 
in Pike County, on tlie Hannibal Division of the 
Wabash Railway, 13 miles east of Hannibal. 
Population (1890), 473; (1900), 370. 

KIXG, John Lyle, lawyer, was born in Madison, 
Ind., in 1825 — the son of a pioneer settler who 
was one of the founders of Hanover College 
and of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary 
there, which afterwards became the "Presby- 
terian Theological Seminary of the Northwest,"' 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



317 



now the McCormick Theological Seminary of 
Chicago. After graduating at Hanover, Mr. King 
began the study of law witli an uncle at JIadison, 
and the following year was admitted to the bar. 
In 1853 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature 
and, while a member of that body, acted as Chair- 
man of the Committee to present Louis Kossuth, 
the Hungarian patriot and exile, to the Legisla- 
ture ; also took a prominent part, during the next 
few 3-ears, in the organization of the Republican 
party. Removing to Cliicago in 1850, he soon 
became prominent in his profession there, and, in 
1860, was elected City Attorney over Col. James A. 
Mulligan, who became eminent a year ortwo later, 
in connection with the war for the Union. Hav- 
ing a fondness for literature, Mr. King wrote much 
for the press and, in 1878, published a volume of 
sporting experiences with a party of professional 
friends in the woods and waters of Northern Wis- 
consin and Michigan, under the title, "Trouting 
on the Brule River, or Summer Wayfaring in the 
Northern Wilderness." Died in Chicago, April 17, 
1892. 

KING, TFilliam H., lawyer, was born at Clifton 
Park, Saratoga County, N.Y., Oct. 23, 1817; gradu- 
ated from Union College in 1840, studied law at 
Waterford and, having been admitted to the bar 
the following year, began practice at the same 
place. In 1853 he removed to Chicago, where he 
held a number of important positions, inchiding 
the Presidency of the Chicago Law Institute, the 
Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Board of 
Education, and the Union College Alumni 
Association of the Northwest. In 1870 he was 
elected to the lower branch of the Twenty- 
seventh General Assembly, and, during the ses- 
sions following the fire of 1871 prepared the act 
for the protection of titles to real estate, made 
necessary by the destruction of the records in the 
Recorder's office. Mr. King received the degree 
of LL. D from his Alma Mater in 1879. Died, in 
Chicago, Feb. 0, 1892. 

KINGMAN, Martin, was born at Deer Creek, 
Tazewell County, 111., April 1, 1844; attended 
school at Washington, 111., then taught two or 
three years, and, in June, 18G2, enlisted in the 
Eighty -sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, serv- 
ing three years witliout the loss of a day — a part 
of the time on detached service in charge of an 
ambulance corps and, later, as Assistant Quarter- 
master. Returning from the war with the rank 
of First Lieutenant, in August, 1865, he went to 
Peoria, where he engaged in business and has re- 
mained ever since. He is now connected with the 
following business concerns: Kingman & Co., 



manufacturers and dealers in farm machinery, 
buggies, wagons, etc. ; The Kingman Plow Com- 
pany, Bank of Illinois, Peoria Cordage Company, 
Peoria General Electric Company, and National 
Hotel Company, besides various outside enter- 
prises — all large concerns in each of which he is a 
large stockholder and a Director. Mr. Kingman 
was Canal Commissioner for six years — this being 
his only connection with politics. During 1898 he 
was also chosen Lieutenant-Colonel of the Peoria 
Provisional Regiment organized for the Spanish- 
American War. His career in connection with 
the industrial development of Peoria has been 
especially conspicuous and successful. 

KINKADE (or Kinkead), William, a native of 
Tennessee, settled in what is now Lawrence 
County, in 1817, and was elected to the State 
Senate in 1822, but appears to liave served only 
one session, as he was succeeded in the Fourth 
General Assembly by James Bird. Although a 
Tennesseean by birth, he was one of the most 
aggressive opponents of the scheme for making 
Illinois a slave State, being the only man who 
made a speech against the pro-slavery convention 
resolution, though this was cut short by the 
determination of the pro-conventionists to permit 
no debate. Mr. Kinkade was appointed Post- 
master at Lawrenceville by President John 
Quincy Adams, and held the position for many 
years. He died in 1840. 

KINMUNDY, a city in Marion County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 229 miles south of 
Chicago and 24 miles northeast of Centralia. 
Agriculture, stock-raising, fruit-growing and 
coal-mining are the principal industries of the 
surrounding country. Kinmundy has flouring 
mills and brick-making plants, with other 
manufacturing establishments of minor impor- 
tance. There are five churches, a bank and a 
weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 1,096; 
(1890), 1.045; (1900), 1,231. 

KINNEY, William, Lieutenant-Governor of 
Illinois from 1820 to 1830 ; was born in Kentucky in 
1781 and came to Illinois early in life, finally 
settling in St. Clair County. Of limited educa- 
tional advantages, he was taught to read by his 
wife after marriage. He became a Baptist 
preacher, was a good stump-orator; served two 
sessions in the State Senate (the First and Third), 
was a candidate for Governor in 1834, but was 
defeated by Joseph Duncan ; in 1838 was elected 
by the Legislature a member of tlie Board of 
Public Works, becoming its President. Died 
in 1843. — William C. (Kinney), son of the preced- 
ing, was born in Illinois, served as a member of 



318 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the Constitutional Convention of 1847 and as 
Representative in tlie Nineteenth General Assem- 
bly (1855), and, in 1857, was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Bissell Adjutant-General of the State, 
dying in oflice the following year. 

KINZIE, John, Indian-trader and earliest citi- 
zen of Chicago, was born in Quebec, Canada, in 
1763. His father was a Scotchman named 
McKenzie, but the son dropped the prefix "Mc," 
and the name soon came to be spelled "Kinzie" 
— an orthography recognized by the family. Dur- 
ing his early childhood his father died, and his 
mother gave him a stepfather by the name of 
William Forsythe. When ten years old he left 
home and, for three years, devoted himself to 
learning the jeweler's trade at Quebec. Fasci- 
nated by stories of adventure in the West, he 
removed thither and became an Indian-trader. 
In 1804 he estabUshed a trading post at what is 
now the site of Chicago, being the first solitary 
white settler. Later he established other posts 
on the Rock, Illinois and Kankakee Rivers. He 
was twice married, and the father of a numerous 
family. His daughter Maria married Gen. 
David Hunter, and his daughter-in-law, Mrs. 
John H. Kinzie, achieved literary distinction as 
the authoress of "Wau Bun," etc. (N. Y. 1850.) 
Died in Chicago, Jan. 6, 1828.— John Harris 
(Kinzie), son of the preceding, was born at Sand- 
wich, Canada, July 7, 1803, brought by his par- 
ents to Chicago, and taken to Detroit after the 
massacre of 1813, but returned to Chicago in 
1816. Two years later his father placed him at 
Mackinac Agency of the American Fur Com- 
pany, and, in 1834, he was transferred to Prairie 
du Chien. The following year he was Sub-Agent 
of Indian affairs at Fort Winnebago, where he 
witnessed several important Indian treaties. In 
1830 he went to Connecticut, where he was 
married, and, in 1833, took up his permanent resi- 
dence in Chicago, forming a partnership with 
Gen. David Hunter, his brother-in-law, in the 
forwarding business. In 1841 he was appointed 
Registrar of Public Lands by President Harrison, 
but was removed by Tyler. In 1848 he was 
appointed Canal Collector, and, in 1849, President 
Taylor commissioned him Receiver of Public 
Moneys. In 1861 he was commissioned Pay- 
master in the army by President Lincoln, which 
office he held until his death, which occurred on 
a railroad train near Pittsburg, Pa., June 31, 1865. 
KIRBY, Edward P., lawyer and legislator, 
was born in Putnam County, 111., Oct. 28, 1834— 
the son of Rev. William Kirby, one of the found- 
ers and early professors of Illinois College at 



Jacksonville; graduated at Illinois College in 
1854, then taught several years at St. Louis and 
Jacksonville; was admitted to the bar in 1864, 
and, in 1873, was elected County Judge of Morgan 
County as a Republican ; was Representative in 
the General Assembly from Morgan County 
(1891-93) ; also served for several years as Trustee 
of the Central Hospital for the Insane and, for a 
long period, as Trustee and Treasurer of Illinois 
College. 

KIRK, (Gen.) Edward N., soldier, was born of 
Quaker parentage in Jefferson County, Ohio, Feb. 
39, 1828; graduated at the Friends' Academy, at 
Mount Pleasant in the same State, and, after 
teaching for a time, began the study of law, 
completing it at Baltimore, Md., where he was 
admitted to the bar in 1853. A year later he 
removed to Sterling, 111., where he continued in 
his profession until after the battle of the first 
Bull Run, when he raised a regiment. The quota 
of the State being already full, this was not im- 
mediately accepted; but, after some delay, was 
mustered in in September, 1861, as the Thirty- 
fourth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, with the 
subject of this sketch as Colonel. In the field he 
soon proved himself a brave and dashing officer; 
at the battle of Shiloh, though wounded through 
the shoulder, he refused to leave the field. After 
remaining with the army several days, inflam- 
matory fever set in, necessitating his removal to 
the hospital at Louisville, where he lay between 
life and death for some time. Having partially 
recovered, in August, 1863, he set out to rejoin 
his regiment, but was stopped en route by an 
order assigning him to command at Louisville. 
In November following he was commissioned 
Brigadier-General for "heroic action, gallantry 
and ability" displayed on the field. In the last 
days of December, 1863, he had sufficiently re- 
covered to take part in the series of engagements 
at Stone River, where he was again wounded, 
this time fatally. He was taken to his home in 
Illinois, and, although he survived several 
months, the career of one of the most brilliant 
and promising soldiers of the war was cut short 
by liis death, July 21, 1863. 

KIRKLAND, Joseph, journalist and author, 
was born at Geneva, N. Y., Jan. 7, 1830 — the son 
of Prof. William ICirkland of Hamilton College; 
was brought by his parents to Michigan in 1835, 
where he remained until 1856, when he came to 
the city of Chicago. In 1861 he enlisted as a 
private in the Twelfth Illinois Infantry (three- 
months' men), was elected Second Lieutenant, 
but later became Aid-de-Camp on tlie staff of 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



319 



General McCIellan, serving there and on the staff 
of General Fitz-John Porter until the retirement 
of the latter, meanwhile taking part in the Pen- 
insular campaign and in the battle of Antietam. 
Returning to Chicago he gave attention to some 
coal-mining property near Danville, but later 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1880. 
A few j-ears later he produced his first novel, 
and, from 1890. devoted his attention solely to 
literary pursuits, for several years being liter- 
ary editor of "The Chicago Tribune." His works 
— several of which first appeared as serials in the 
magazines — include "Zury, the Meanest Man in 
Spring County" (1885); "The McVeys" (1887); 
"The Captain of Co. K." (1889), besides the "His- 
tory of the Chicago Massacre of 1813," and "The 
Story of Chicago" — the latter in two volumes. At 
the time of his death he had just concluded, in 
collaboration with Hon. John Moses, the work of 
editing a two-volume "History of Chicago," pub- 
lished by Messrs. Munsell & Co. (1895). Died, in 
Chicago, April 29, 1894. — Elizabeth Stansbury 
(Kirkland), sister of the preceding — teacher and 
author — was born at Geneva, N. Y. , came to Chicago 
in 1867 and, five years later, established a select 
school for young ladies, out of which grew what 
is known as the "Kirkland Social Settlement," 
which was continued until her death, July 30, 
1896. She was the autlior of a number of vol- 
umes of decided merit, written with the especial 
object of giving entertainment and instruction to 
the young — including "Six Little Cooks," "Dora's 
Housekeeping," "Speech and Manners," a Child's 
"History of France," a "History of England," 
"History of English Literature," etc. At her 
death she left a "History of Italy" ready for the 
hands of the publishers. 

KIRKPATRICK, John, pioneer Methodist 
preacher, was born in Georgia, wlience he emi- 
grated in 1802; located at Springfield, 111., at an 
early day, where he built the first horse-mill in 
that vicinity ; in 1829 removed to Adams County, 
and finally to Ottumwa, Iowa, where he died in 
1845. Mr. Kirkpatrick is believed to have been the 
first local Methodist preacher licensed in Illinois. 
Having inherited three slaves (a woman and two 
boys) while in Adams County, he brought them 
to Illinois and gave them their freedom. The 
boys were bound to a man in Quincy to learn a 
trade, but mysteriously disappeared — presumably 
having been kidnaped with the connivance of 
the man in whose charge they had been placed. 

KIRKWOOD, a city in Warren County, once 
known as "Young America," situated about six 
miles southwest of Monmouth, on the Cliicago, 



Burlington & Quincy Railroad; is a stock-ship- 
ping point and in an agricultural region. The 
town has two banks, five churches, and two 
weekly newspapers. Pop. (1890), 949; (1900), 1,008. 

KISHWAUKEE RIVER, rises in McHenry 
Count}', runs west through Boone, and enters 
Rock River in Winnebago County, eight miles 
below Rockford. It is 75 miles long. An afflu- 
ent called the South Kishwaukee River runs 
north-northeast and northwest through De Kalb 
County, and enters the Kiskwaukee in Winne- 
bago County, about eight miles southeast of 
Rockford. 

KITCHELL, Wickliff, lawyer and Attorney- 
General of Illinois, was born in New Jersey, 
May 21, 1789. Feb. 39, 1812, he was married, 
at Newark, N. J., to Miss Elizabeth Ross, 
and the same year emigrated west, passing 
down the Ohio on a flat-boat from Pittsburg, 
Pa., and settled near Cincinnati In 1814 
he became a resident of Southern Indiana, 
where he was elected sheriff, studied law 
and was admitted to the bar, finally becom- 
ing a successful practitioner. In 1817 he removed 
to Palestine, Crawford County, 111., where, in 
1830, he was elected Representative in the Second 
General Assembly, and was also a member of the 
State Senate from 1838 to 1832. In 1838 he re- 
moved to Hillsboro, Montgomery County, was 
appointed Attorney-General in 1839, serving until 
near the close of the following year, when he 
resigned to take his seat as Representative in 
tlie Twelfth General Assembly. Between 1846 
and 1854 he was a resident of Fort Madison, Iowa, 
but the latter year returned to Hillsboro. During 
liis early political career Mr. Kitchell had been a 
Democrat ; but, on the passage of the Kansas-Neb- 
raska act, became an earnest Republican. Pub- 
lic-spirited and progressive, he was in advance of 
his time on many public questions. Died, Jan. 
2, 1869. — Alfred (Kitchell), son of the preceding, 
lawyer and Judge, born at Palestine, 111., March 
29, 1820 ; was educated at Indiana State Univer- 
sity and Hillsboro Academy, admitted to tlie bar 
in 1841, and, tlie following year, commenced 
practice at Olney ; was elected State's Attorney 
in 1843, through repeated re-elections holding the 
office ten years ; was a member of the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1847 and, in 1849, was 
elected Judge of Richland County ; later assisted 
in establishing the first newspaper published in 
Olney, and in organizing the Republican party 
there in 1856 ; in 1859 was elected Judge of the 
Twenty-fifth Judicial Circuit, serving one terra. 
He was also influential in procuring a charter for 



320 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, and in the con- 
structiou of the line, being an original corporator 
and subsequently a Director of the Company. 
Later he removed to Galesburg, where he died, 
Nov. 11, 1876.— Edward (Kitchell), another son, 
was born at Palestine, III, Dec. 21, 1829; was 
educated at Hillsboro Academy until 1846, when 
he removed with his father's family to Fort 
Madison, Iowa, but later returned to Hillsboro to 
continue his studies ; in 1852 made the trip across 
the plains to California to engage in gold mining, 
but the following year went to Walla Walla, 
Washington Territory, where he opened a law 
office; in 18,54 returned to Illinois, locating at 
Olney, Richland County, forming a partnership 
with Horace Hayward, a relative, in the practice 
of law. Here, having taken position against the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he became, 
in 1856, the editor of the first Republican news- 
paper published in that part of Illinois known as 
"Egypt," with his brother, Judge Alfred Kitchell, 
being one of the original thirty-nine Republicans 
in Richland County. In 1862 he assisted in 
organizing the Ninety-eighth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers at Centralia, which, in the following 
year having been mounted, became a part of the 
famous "Wilder Brigade." At first he was com- 
missioned Lieutenant-Colonel, but succeeded to 
the command of the regiment after the wounding 
of Colonel Funkhouser at Chiokamauga in Sep- 
tember, 1863; was finally promoted to the colo- 
nelcy in July, 1865, and mustered out with the 
rank of Brigadier-General by brevet. Resuming 
the practice of his profession at Olney, he was, 
in 1866, the Republican candidate for Congress in 
a district strongly Democratic; also served as 
Collector of Internal Revenue for a short time 
and, in 1868, was Presidential Elector for the 
same District. Died, at Olney, July 11, 1869.— 
John Wickliff (Kitchell), youngest son of Wick- 
liff Kitchell, was born at Palestine, Crawford 
County, 111. , May 30, 1835, educated at Hillsboro, 
read law at Fort JIadison, Iowa, and admitted to 
the bar in that State. At the age of 19 years he 
served as Assistant Clerk of the House of Repre- 
sentatives at Springfield, and was Reading Clerk 
of the same body at the session of 1861. Previous 
to the latter date he had edited "The Montgomery 
County Herald," and later, "The Charleston 
Courier." Resigning his position as Reading 
Clerk in 1861, he enlisted under the first call of 
President Lincoln in the Ninth Illinois Volun- 
teers, served as Adjutant of the regiment and 
afterwards as Captain of his company. At the 
expiration of his term of enlistment he established 



"The Union Monitor" at Hillsboro, which he con- 
ducted until drafted into the service in 1864, 
serving until the close of the war. In 1866 he 
removed to Pana (his present residence), resum- 
ing practice there ; was a candidate for the State 
Senate the same year, and, in 1870, was the 
Republican nominee for Congress in that District. 

KiMCKERBOCKER, Joshua C, lawyer, was 
born in Gallatin, Columbia County, N. Y., Sept. 
26, 1827 ; brought by his father to Alden, McHenry 
County, 111., in 1844, and educated in the com- 
mon schools of that place; removed to Chicago in 
1860, studied law and was admitted to practice in 
1862 ; served on the Board of Supervisors and in 
the City Council and, in 1868, was elected Repre- 
sentative in the General Assembly, serving one 
term. He was also a member of the State Board 
of Education from 1875 to '77, and the latter 
year was elected Probate Judge for Cook County, 
serving until his death, Jan. 5, 1890. 

KMGHTS OF PYTHIAS, a secret semi mili- 
tary and benevolent association founded in the 
City of Washington, D. C, Feb. 19, 1864, Justus 
H. Rathbone (who died Dec. 9, 1889) being its 
recognized founder. The order was established 
in Illinois, May 4, 1869, by the organization of 
"Welcome Lodge, No. 1," in the city of Chicago. 
On July 1, 1869, this Lodge had nineteen mem- 
bers. At the close of the year four additional 
Lodges had been instituted, having an aggregate 
membership of 245. Early in the following year, 
on petition of these five Lodges, approved by the 
Grand Chancellor, a Grand Lodge of the Order 
for the State of Illinois was instituted in Chicago, 
with a membership of twenty -nine Past Chancel- 
lors as representatives of the five subordinate 
Lodges — the total membership of these Lodges at 
that date being 382. December 31, 1870, the 
total membership in Illinois had increased to 850. 
June 30, 1895, the total number of Lodges in the 
State was 525, and the membership 38,441. The 
assets belonging to the Lodges in Illinois, on 
Jan. 1, 1894, amounted to §418,151.77. 

KNOWLTON, Dexter A., pioneer and banker, 
was born in Fairfield, Herkimer County, N. Y., 
March 3, 1812, taken to Chautauqua County in 
infancy and passed his childhood and youth on a 
farm. Having determined on a mercantile ca- 
reer, he entered an academy at Fredonia, paying 
his own way ; in 1838 started on a peddling tour 
for the West, and, in the following year, settled 
at Freeport, 111., where he opened a general store; 
in 1843 began investments in real estate, finally 
laying off sundry additions to the city of Free- 
port, from which he realized large profits. He 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



321 



was also prominently connected with the Galena 
& Cliioago Union Railroad and, in 1850, became 
a Director of the Company, remaining in oflfice 
some twelve years. In 1853 he was the Free-Soil 
candidate for Governor of Illinois, but a few years 
later became extensively interested in the Con- 
gress & Empire Spring Company at Saratoga, 
N. Y. ; then, after a four years' residence in 
Brooklyn, returned to Freeport in 1870, where he 
engaged in banking business, dying in that city, 
March 10. 1876. 

KJJOX, Joseph, lawyer, was born at Blanford, 
Mass., Jan. 11, 1805; studied law with his 
brother. Gen. Alanson Knox, in his native town, 
was admitted to the bar in 1828, subsequently 
removing to Worcester, in the same State, where 
he began the practice of his profession. In 1837 
he removed west, locating at Stephenson, now 
Rock Island, 111., where he continued in practice 
for twenty-three years. During the greater part 
of that time he was associated with Hon. John 
W. Drury, under the firm name of Knox & Drurj-, 
gaining a wide reputation as a lawyer throughout 
Northern Illinois. Among the irajjortant cases in 
which he took part during his residence in Rock 
Island was the prosecution of the murderers of 
Colonel Davenport in 1845. In 1852 he served as a 
Democratic Presidential Elector, but in the next 
campaign identified himself with the Republican 
party as a supporter of John C. Fremont for the 
Presidency. In 1860 he removed to Chicago and, 
two years later, was appointed State's Attorney 
by Governor Yates, remaining in office until suc- 
ceeded by his partner, Charles H. Reed. After 
coming to Chicago he was identified with a num- 
ber of notable cases. His death occurred, August 
6, 1881. 

KNOX COLLEGE, a non-sectarian institution 
for the higher education of the youth of botli 
sexes, located at Galesburg, Knox County. It 
was founded in 1837, fully organized, in 1841, and 
graduated its first class in 1846. The number of 
graduates from that date until 1894, aggregated 
867. In 1893 it had 663 students in attendance, 
and a faculty of 20 professors. Its library con- 
tains about 6,000 volumes. Its endowment 
amounts to §300,000 and its buildings are valued 
at §150,000. Dr. Newton Bateman was at its 
head for more than twenty years, and. on his res- 
ignation (1893), John H. Finlej', Ph.D., became 
its President, but resigned in 1899. 

KNOX COTJJfTT, a wealthy interior county 
west of the Illinois River, having an area of 720 
square miles and a population (1900) of 43,613. It 
was named in honor of Gen. Henry Knox. Its 



territorial limits were defined by legislative 
enactment in 1825, but the actual organization 
dates fi-om 1830, when Riggs Pennington, Philip 
Hash and Charles Hansford were named the first 
Commissioners. Knoxville was the first county- 
seat selected, and here (in the winter of 1830-31) 
was erected the first court house, constructed 
of logs, two stories in height, at a cost of 
S193. The soil is rich, and agriculture flour- 
ishes. The present county-seat (1899) is Gales- 
burg, well known for its educational institutions, 
the best known of which are Knox College, 
founded in 1837, and Lombard University, 
founded in 1851. A flourishing Episcopal Semi- 
nary is located at Knoxville, and Hedding Col- 
lege at Abingdon. 

KNOXVILLE, a city in Knox County, on the 
Galesburg-Peoria Division of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad, 50 miles west of 
Peoria, and 5 miles east of Galesburg; was 
formerly the county-seat, and still contains the 
fair grounds and almshouse. The municipal gov- 
ernment is composed of a mayor, six aldermen, 
witli seven iieads of departments. It has electric 
lighting and street-car service, good water- works, 
banks, numerous churches, three public schools, 
and is the seat of St. Mary's school for gii'ls, and. 
St. Alban's. for boys. Population (1890), 1,728; 
(1900). 1,857. 

KOERNEK, Gustavus, lawj^er and Lieutenant- 
Governor, was born in Germany in 1809, and 
received a university education. He was a law- 
yer by profession, and emigrated to Illinois in 
1833, settling finally at Belleville. He at once 
affiliated with the Democratic party, and soon 
became prominent in politics. In 1843 he was 
elected to the General Assembly, and three years 
later was appointed to the bench of the State 
Supreme Court. In 1853 he was elected Lieuten- 
ant-Governor on the ticket headed by Joel A. 
Matteson; but, at the close of his term, became 
identified with the Republican party and was a 
staunch Union man during the Civil War, serving 
for a time as Colonel on General Fremont's and 
General Halleck's staffs. In 1802 President Lin- 
coln made him Minister to Spain, a post which he 
resigned in January, 1865. He was a member of 
the Chicago Convention of 1860 that nominated 
Lincoln for the Presidency; was a Republican 
Presidential Elector in 1868, and a delegate to the 
Cincinnati Convention of 1872 that named Horace 
Greeley for the Presidency. In 1867 he served as 
President of the first Board of Trustees of the 
Soldiers' Orphans' Home, and, in 1870, was 
elected to the Legislature a second time. The 



322 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



following year he was appointed a member of the 
first Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 
sioners, and served as its President. He is the 
author of "Collection of the Important General 
Laws of Illinois, with Comments" (in German, 
St. Louis, 1838); "From Spain" (Frankfort on- 
the-Main, 1866); "Das Deutsche Element in den 
Vereiningten Staaten" (Cincinnati, 1880; second 
edition, New York, 1885) ; and a number of mono- 
graphs. Died, at Belleville, April 9, 1896. 

KOHLSAAT, Christian C, Judge of United 
States Court, was born in Edwards County, 111., 
Jan. 8, 1844 — his father being a native of Germany 
who settled in Edvrards County in 1825, while his 
mother was born in England. Tbe family 
removed to Galena in 1854, where young Kohlsaat 
attended the public schools, later taking a course 
in Chicago University, after which he began the 
study of law. In 1867 he became a reporter on 
"The Chicago Evening Journal," was admitted 
to the bar in the same year, and, in 1868, accepted 
a position in the office of the County Clerk, where 
he kept the records of the County Court under 
Judge Bradwell's administration. During the 
sessions of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly 
(1871-73) , he served as First Assistant Enrolling 
and Engrossing Clerk of the House, after which 
he began practice; in 1881 was the Republican 
nominee for County Judge, but was defeated by 
Judge Prendergast; served as member of the 
Board of West Side Park Commissioners, 1884-90 ; 
in 1890 was appointed Probate Judge of Cook 
County (as successor to Judge Knickerbocker, 
who died in January of that year), and was 
elected to the office in November following, and 
re-elected in 1894, as he was again in 1898. Early 
in 1899 he was appointed, by President McKinlej', 
Judge of the United States District Court for the 
Northern District of Illinois, as successor to Judge 
Grossoup, who had been appointed United States 
Circuit Judge in place of Judge Showalter, 
deceased. 

KOHLSAAT, Herman H., editor and news- 
paper publisher, was born in Edwards County, 
111., March 23, 1853, and taken the following year 
to Galena, where he remained until 13 years of 
age, when tlie family removed to Chicago. Here, 
after attending tlie public schools some three 
years, he became a cash-boy in the store of Car- 
son, Pirie & Co., a year later rising to the position 
of cashier, remaining two years. Then, after 
having been connected with various business 
concerns, he became the junior member of the 
firm of Blake, Shaw & Co. , for whom he had been 
a traveling salesman some five years. In 1880 he 



became associated with the Dake Bakery, in con- 
nection with which he laid the foundation of an 
e.xtensive business by establishing a system of 
restaurants and lunch counters in the business 
portions of tlie city. In 1891 , after a somewhat pro- 
tracted visit to Europe, Mr. Kohlsaat bought a con- 
trolling interest in "The Chicago Inter Ocean, " 
but withdrew early in 1894. In April, 1895, he be- 
came principal proprietor of "The Chicago Times- 
Herald," as the successor of the late James W. 
Scott, wlio died suddenly in New York, soon after 
effecting a consolidation of Chicago's two Demo- 
cratic papers, "The Times" and "Herald," in one 
concern. Although changing the political status 
of the paper from Democratic to Independent, 
Mr. Kohlsaat's liberal enterprise has won for it 
an assured success. He is also owner and pub- 
lisher of "The Chicago Evening Post." His 
whole business career has been one of almost 
phenomenal success attained by vigorous enter- 
prise and high-minded, honorable methods. Mr. 
Kohlsaat is one of the original incorporators of 
the University of Chicago, of which he continues 
to be one of the Trustees. 

KROME, William Henry, lawyer, born of Ger- 
man parentage, in Louisville, Ky., July 1, 1842; 
in 1851 was brought by his father to Madison 
County, 111. , where he lived and worked for some 
years on a farm. He acquired his education in 
the common schools and at McKendree College, 
graduating from the latter in 1863. After spend- 
ing his summer months in farm labor and teach- 
ing school during the winter, for a year or two, 
he read law for a time with Judge M. G. Dale of 
Edwardsville, and, in 1866, entered the law 
department of Michigan University, gradu- 
ating in 1869, though admitted the year previous 
to practice by the Supreme Court of Illinois. Mr. 
Krome has been successively the partner of 
Judge John G. Irwin, Hon. W. F. L. Hadley (late 
Congressman from the Eighteenth District) and 
C. W. Terry. He has held the office of Mayor of 
Edwardsville (1873), State Senator (1874-78), and, 
in 1893, was a prominent candidate before the 
Democratic judicial convention for the nomina- 
tion for Justice of the Supreme Court, to succeed 
Justice Scholfield, deceased. He is also President 
of the Madison County State Bank. 

KUEFFNER, William C, lawyer and soldier, 
was born in Germany and came to St. Clair 
County, III, in 1861. Eai-ly in 1865 he was com- 
missioned Colonel of the One Himdred and Forty- 
ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, one of the 
latest regiments organized for the Civil War, and 
was soon after promoted to the rank of Brevet 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



323 



Brigadier-General, serving until January, 1866. 
Later, General Kueffner studied law at St. Louis. 
and having graduated in 1871, established himself 
in practice at Belleville, where he has since 
resided. He was a successful contestant for a 
seat in the Republican National Convention of 
1880 from the Seventeenth District. 

KUYKEXDALL, Andrew J., lawyer and legis- 
lator, was born of pioneer parents in Gallatin 
(now Hardin) County, 111., March 3, 1815; was 
self-educated chiefly, but in his early manhood 
adopted the law as a profession, locating at 
Vienna in Johnson County, where he continued 
to reside to the end of his life. In 1843 he was 
elected a Representative in the Thirteenth Gen- 
eral Assembly, and re-elected two years later; in 
1850 became State Senator, serving continuously 
in the same body for twelve years ; in 1861 en- 
listed, and was commissioned Major, in the 
Thirty-first Illinois Volunteers (Gen. John A. 
Logan's regiment), but was compelled to resign, 
in May following, on acount of impaired health. 
Two years later (1864) he was elected Represent- 
ative in the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving one 
term ; and, after several years in private life, was 
again returned to the State Senate in 1878, serving 
in the Thirty-first and Thirty-second General 
Assemblies. In all, Major Kuykendall saw 
twenty years' service in the State Legislature, of 
which sixteen were spent in the Senate and four 
in the House, besides two years in Congress. A 
zealous Democrat previous to the war, he was an 
ardent supporter of the war policy of the Govern- 
ment, and, in 1864, presided over the "Union" 
(Republican) State Convention of that year. He 
was also a member of the Senate Finance Com- 
mittee in the session of 1859, which had the duty 
of investigating the Matteson "canal scrip fraud. " 
Died, at Vienna, 111., May 11, 1891. 

LABOR TROUBLES. 1. The Railroad 
Strike of 1877. — By this name is generally char- 
acterized the labor disturbances of 1877, which, 
beginning at Pittsburg in July, spread over the 
entire country, interrupting transportation, and, 
for a time, threatening to paralyze trade. Illi- 
nois suffered severely. The primary cause of the 
troubles was the general prostration of business 
resulting from the depression of values, which 
affected manufacturers and merchants alike. A 
reduction of expenses became necessary, and the 
wages of employes were lowered. Dissatisfaction 
and restlessness on the part of the latter ensued, 
which found expression in the ordering of a strike 
among railroad operatives on a larger scale than 



had ever been witnessed in this country. In Illi- 
nois, Peoria, Decatur, Braidwood, East St. Louis, 
Galesburg, La Salle and Chicago were the prin- 
cipal points affected. In all these cities angry, 
excited men formed themselves into mobs, which 
tore up tracks, took possession of machine shops, 
in some cases destroyed roundhouses, applied the 
torch to warehouses, and, for a time, held com- 
merce by the throat, not only defying the law, 
but even contending in arms against the military 
sent to disperse them. The entire force of the 
State militia was called into service, Major- 
General Arthur C. Ducat being in command. 
The State troops were divided into three brigades, 
commanded respectively by Brigadier-Generals 
Torrence, Bates and Pavey. General Ducat 
assumed personal command at Braidwood, where 
were sent the Third Regiment and the Tenth 
Battalion, who suppressed the riots at that point 
with ease. Col. Joseph "W. Stambaugh and 
Lieut. -Col. J. B. Parsons were the respective 
regimental commanders. Generals Bates and 
Pavey were in command at East St. Louis, 
where the excitement was at fever heat, the 
mobs terrorizing peaceable citizens and destroy- 
ing much property. Governor Cullom went to 
this point in person. Chicago, however, was the 
chief railroad center of the State, and only 
prompt and severely repressive measures held in 
check one of the most dangerous mobs which 
ever threatened property and life in that city. 
The local police force was inadequate to control 
the rioters, and Mayor Heath felt himself forced 
to call for aid from the State. Brig. -Gen. Joseph 
T. Torrence then commanded the First Brigade, 
I. N. G., with headquarters at Chicago. Under 
instructions from Governor Cullom, he promptly 
and effectively co-operated with the municipal 
authorities in quelling the uprising. He received 
valuable supisort from volunteer companies, some 
of which were largely composed of Union veter- 
ans. The latter were commanded by such ex- 
perienced commanders as Generals Reynolds, 
Martin Beem, and O. L. Mann, and Colonel Owen 
Stuart. General Lieb also led a company of 
veterans enlisted by himself, and General Shaff- 
ner and Major James H. D. Daly organized a 
cavalry force of 150 old soldiers, who rendered 
efficient service. The disturbance was promptly 
subdued, transportation resumed, and trade once 
more began to move in its accustomed channels. 
3. The Strike op 1894. — This was an uprising 
which originated in Chicago and was incited by a 
comparatively young labor organization called 
the American Railway Union. In its inception it 



324 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



was sympathetic, its ostensible motive, at the 
outset, being tlie righting of wrongs alleged to 
have been suffered by employes of the Pullman 
Palace Car Company. The latter quit work on 
May 11, and, on June 22, the American Railway 
Union ordered a general boycott against all rail- 
road companies hauling Pullman cars after June 
26. The General Managers of the lines entering 
Chicago took prompt action (June 25) looking 
toward mutual protection, protesting against the 
proposed boycott, and affirming their resolution 
to adhere to existing contracts, any action on tlie 
part of the strikers to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. Trouble began on the 2Gtli. The hauling of 
freight was necessarily soon discontinued; sub- 
urban traffic was interrupted; switching had to 
be done by inexperienced hands under police or 
military protection (officials and clerks some- 
times throwing the levers), and in the presence of 
large crowds of law-defying hoodlums gathered 
along the tracks, avowedly through sympathy 
with the strikers, but actually in the hope of 
plunder. Trains were sidetracked, derailed, and, 
in not a few instances, valuable freight was 
burned. Passengers were forced to undergo the 
inconvenience of being cooped up for hours in 
crowded cars, in transit, without food or water, 
sometimes almost within sight of their destina- 
tion, and sometimes threatened with death should 
they attemjit to leave their prison houses. The 
mobs, intoxicated by seeming success, finally ven- 
tured to interfere with the passage of trains 
carrying the United States mails, and, at this 
juncture, the Federal authorities interfered. 
President Cleveland at once ordered the protec- 
tion of all mail trains by armed guards, to be 
appointed by the United States Marshal. An 
additional force of Deputy Sheriffs was also sworn 
in by the Sheriff of Cook County, and the citj' 
police force was augmented. The United States 
District Court also issued a restraining order, 
directed against the officers and members of the 
American Railway Union, as well as against all 
other persons interfering with the business of 
railroads carrying the mails. Service was readily 
accepted by the officers of the Union, but the 
copies distributed among the insurgent mob were 
torn and trampled upon. Thereupon the Presi- 
dent ordered Federal troops to Chicago, both to 
protect Government property (notably the Sub- 
treasur}') and to guard mail trains. The Gov- 
ernor (John P. Altgeld) protested, but without 
avail. A few days later, the Mayor of Chicago 
requested the State Executive to place a force of 
State militia at his control for the protection of 



property and the prevention of bloodshed. Gen- 
eral Wheeler, with the entire second division of 
the I. N. G. , at once received orders to report to 
the municipal authorities. The presence of the 
militia greatly incensed the turbulent crowds, 
yet it proved most salutary. The troops displayed 
exemplary firmness under most trying circum- 
stances, dispersing jeering and threatening 
crowds by physical force or bayonet charges, the 
rioters being fired upon only twice. Gradually 
order was restored. The disreputable element 
subsided, and wiser and more conservative coun- 
sels prevailed among the ranks of the strikers. 
Impediments to traffic were removed and trains 
were soon running as though no interruption had 
occurred. The troops were withdrawn (first the 
Federal and afterwards those of the State), and 
the courts were left to deal with the subject in 
accordance with the statutes. The entire execu- 
tive board of the American Railway Union were 
indicted for conspiracy, but the indictments were 
never pressed. The officers, however, were all 
found guilty of contempt of court in having dis- 
obej-ed the restraining order of the Federal 
court, and .sentenced to terms in the county jail. 
Eugene V. Debs, the President of the Union, was 
convicted on two charges and given a sentence 
of six months on each, but the two sentences were 
afterward made concurrent. The other members 
of the Board received a similar sentence for three 
months each. All but the Vice-President, George 
W. Howard, served their terms at Woodstock, 
McHenry Coimty. Howard was sent to the Will 
County jail at Joliet. 

LACEY, Lyman, lawyer and jurist, was born in 
Tompkins County, N. Y., May 6, 1833. In 1837 
his parents settled in Fulton County, 111. He 
graduated from Illinois College in 1855 and was 
admitted to the bar in 1856, commencing practice 
at Havana, Mason County, the same year. In, 
1862 he was elected, as a Democrat, to represent 
the counties of Mason and Menard in the lower 
house of the Legislature ; was elected to the Cir- 
cuit Court bench in 1873, and re-elected in 1879, 
'85 and '91 ; also served for several years upon 
the bench of the Appellate Court. 

LACON, a city and county-seat of Marshall 
County, situated on the Illinois River, and on the 
Dwight and Lacon branch of the Chicago & 
Alton Railroad, 130 miles southwest of Cliicago. 
A pontoon bridge connects it with Sparland on 
the opposite bank of the Illinois. The surround- 
ing country raises large quantities of grain, for 
which Lacon is a shipping point. The river is 
navigable by steamboats to this point. The city 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



325 



has grain elevators, woolen mills, marble works, 
a carriage factory and a national bank. It also has 
water works, an excellent telephone S3-stem, good 
drainage, and is lighted hy electricity. There 
are seven churches, a graded .school and two 
weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 1,814; 
(1890), 1,049. (1900). 1,601. 

LA FAYETTE (Marquis de), VISIT OF. An 
event of profound interest in the history of Illi- 
nois, during the year 1835, was the visit to the 
State by the Marquis de La Fayette, who had 
been the ally of the American people during 
their struggle for independence. The distin- 
guished Frenchman having arrived in the coun- 
try during the latter part of 1S04, the General 
Assembly in session at Vandalia, in December of 
that year, adopted an address inviting him to 
visit Illinois. This was communicated to La 
Fayette by Gov. Edward Coles, who had met the 
General in Europe seven years before. Governor 
Coles' letter and the address of the General 
Assembly were answered with an acceptance by 
La Fayette from Washington, under date of Jan. 
IG, 1825. The approach of the latter was made by 
way of New Orleans, the steamer Natchez (by 
which General La Faj-ette ascended the 5Iis- 
sissippi) arriving at the old French village of 
Carondelet, below St. Louis, on the 28th of April. 
Col. William S. Hamilton, a son of Alexander 
Hamilton, and at that time a Representative in 
the General Assembly from Sangamon County, 
as well as an Aid-de-Camp on the staff of Gov- 
ernor Coles, was dispatched from the home of the 
latter at Edwardsville, to meet the distinguished 
visitor, which he did at St. Louis. On Saturday, 
April 30, the boat bearing General La Fayette, 
with a large delegation of prominent citizens of 
Missouri, left St. Louis, arriving at Kaskaskia, 
where a recei^tion awaited him at the elegant 
residence of Gen. John Edgar, Governor Coles 
delivering an address of welcome. The presence 
of a number of old soldiers, who liad fought under 
La Fayette at Brandywine and Yorktown, consti- 
tuted an interesting feature of the occasion. This 
was followed by a banquet at the tavern kept by 
Colonel Sweet, and a closing reception at the house 
of William Morrison, Sr., a member of the cele- 
brated family of that name, and one of the lead- 
ing merchants of Kaskaskia. Among those 
participating in the reception ceremonies, who 
were then, or afterwards became, prominent 
factors in State history, appear the names of Gen. 
John Edgar, ex-Governor Bond, Judge Nathaniel 
Pope, Elias Kent Kane, ex-Lieutenant-Governor 
Menard, Col. Thomas Mather and Sidney Breese, 



a future United States Senator and Justice of the 
Supreme Court. The boat left Kaskaskia at 
midnight for Nashville, Tenn., Governor Coles 
accompanying the party and returning with it to 
Sliawneetown, where an imposing reception was 
given and an address of welcome delivered by 
Judge James Hall, on May 14, 1825. A few 
hours later General La Fayette left on his way up 
the Ohio. 

LAFAYETTE, BLOOMINGTON & MISSIS- 
SIPPI RAILBOAI). (See Lake Erie & Western 
Railroad.) 

LAFLIJf, Matthew, manufacturer, was born 
at Southwick, Hampden County, Mass., Dec. 16, 
1803; in his youth was clerk for a time in the 
store of Laflin & Loomis, powder manufacturers, 
at Lee, JIass., later becoming a partner in the 
Canton Powder Mills. About 1832 he engaged in 
the manufacture of axes at Saugerties, N. Y., 
which proving a failure, he again engaged in 
powder manufacture, and, in 1837, came to Chi- 
cago, where he finally established a factory — his 
firm, in 1840, becoming Laflin & Smith, and, 
later, Laflin, Smith & Co. Becoming largely 
interested in real estate, he devoted his atten- 
tion chiefly to that business after 1849, with 
great success, not only in Chicago but else- 
where, having done much for the develop- 
ment of Waukesha, Wis., where he erected one 
of the principal hotels — the "Fountain Spring 
House" — also being one of the original stock- 
holders of the Elgin Watch Company. Mr. 
Laflin was a zealous supporter of the Government 
during the war for the preservation of the Union, 
and, before his death, made a donation of 875,- 
000 for a building for the Chicago Academy of 
Sciences, which was erected in the western part 
of Lincoln Park. Died, in Chicago, May 20, 1897. 

LA GRAJfOE, a village in Cook County, and 
one of the handsomest suburbs of Chicago, from 
which it is distant 15 miles, south-southwest, on 
the Chicago, Burlington & Qulncy Railroad. The 
streets are broad and shaded and there are many 
handsome residences. The village is lighted by 
electricity, and has public water-works, seven 
churches, a high school and a weekly paper. 
Population (1880). 531; (1890), 2,314; (1900), 3,969. 

LA HARPE, a city in Hancock County, on the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway, 70 miles west 
by south from Peoria and 20 miles south-south- 
e.ast of Burhngton, Iowa. Brick, tile and cigars 
constitute the manufactured output. La Harpe 
has two banks, five churches, a graded and a 
high school, a seminary, and two newspapers. 
Population (1880), 9.58; (1890), 1,113; (1900), 1,591. 



326 



niSTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



LAKE COUNTY, in the extreme northeast 
corner of the State, having an area of 490 square 
miles, and a population (1900) of 34,504. It was 
cut" off from McHenry County and separately 
organized in 1839. Pioneer settlers began to 
arrive in 1839, locating chiefly along the Des 
Plaines River. The Indians vacated the region 
the following year. The first County Commission- 
ers (E. E. Hunter, William Brown and E. C. 
Berrey) located the county-seat at Libertyville, 
but, in 1841, it was removed to Little Fort, now 
Waukegan. The county derives its name from 
the fact that some forty small lakes are found 
within its limits. The surface is undulating and 
about equally divided between sand, prairie and 
second-growth timber. At Waukegan there are 
several maufacturing establishments, and the 
Glen Flora medicinal spring attracts many in- 
valids. Highland Park and Lake Forest are resi- 
dence towns of great beauty situated on the lake 
bluff, populated largely by the families of Chicago 
business men. 

LAKE ERIE & MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD. 
(See Lake Erie & Western Railroad.) 

LAKE ERIE & WESTERN RAILROAD. Of 
the 710.61 miles which constitute the entire 
length of this line, only 118.6 are within Illinois. 
This portion extends from the junction of the 
Peoria & Pekin Union Railway, on the east side 
of the Illinois River opposite Peoria, to the Indi- 
ana State line. It is a single-track road of 
standard gauge. About one-sixth of the line in 
Illinois is level, the grade nowhere exceeding 40 
feet to the mile. The track is of 56 and 60-pound 
steel rails, and lightly ballasted. The total 
capital of the road (1898)— including §23,680,000 
capital stock, §10,875,000 bonded debt and a float- 
ing debt of §1,479.809— was §36,034,809, or §50,- 
708 per mile. The total earnings and income in 
Illinois for 1898 were §559,743, and the total 
expenditures for the same period, §457,713. — 
(History.) The main line of the Illinois Division 
of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad was acquired 
by consolidation, in 1880, of the Lafayette, Bloom- 
ington & Mississippi Railroad (81 miles in length), 
which had been opened in 1871, with certain Ohio 
and Indiana lines. In May, 1885, the line thus 
formed was consolidated, without change of name, 
with the Lake Erie & Mississippi Railroad, organ- 
ized to build an extension of the Lake Erie & 
Western from Bloomington to Peoria (43 miles). 
The road was sold under foreclosure in 1886, and 
the present company organized, Feb. 9, 1887. 

LAKE FOREST, a city in Lake County, on 
Lake Michigan and Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 



way, 28 miles north by west from Chicago. It is 
the seat of Lake Forest University; has four 
schools, five churches, one bank, gas and electric 
light system, electric car line, water system, fire 
department and hospital. Population (1890), 
1,203; (1900), 2,215; (1904, est.), 2.800. 

LAKE FOREST UMVERSITY, an institution 
of learning comprising six distinct schools, viz. : 
Lake Forest Academy, Ferry Hall Seminary, 
Lake Forest College, Rush Medical College, Chi- 
cago College of Dental Surgery, and the Chicago 
College of Law. The three first named are 
located at Lake Forest, while the three profes- 
sional schools are in the city of Chicago. The 
college charter was granted in 1857, but the 
institution was not opened until nineteen years 
later, and tlie professional schools, which were 
originallj' independent, were not associated until 
1887. In 1894 there were 316 undergraduates at 
Lake Forest, in charge of forty instructors. Dur- 
ing the same year there were in attendance at the 
professional schools, 1,557 students, making a 
total enrollment in the University of 1,873. 
While the institution is affiliated with the Pres- 
byterian denomination, the Board of Trustees is 
self-perpetuating. The Academy and Seminary 
are preparatory schools for the two sexes, re- 
spectively. Lake Forest College is co-educational 
and organized upon the elective plan, having 
seventeen departments, a certain number of 
studies being required for graduation, and work 
upon a major subject being required for three 
years. The schools at Lake Forest occupy fifteen 
buildings, standing within a campus of sixty-five 
acres. 

LAKE MICHIGAN, one of the chain of five 
great northern lakes, and the largest lake l}'ing 
wholly within the United States. It lies between 
the parallels of 41° 35' and 46° North latitude, its 
length being about 335 miles. Its width varies 
from 50 to 88 miles, its greatest breadth being 
opposite Milwaukee. Its surface is nearly 600 
feet above the sea-level and its maximum depth 
is estimated at 840 feet. It has an area of about 
20,000 square miles. It forms the eastern bound- 
ary of Wisconsin, the western boundary of the 
lower peninsula of Michigan and a part of the 
northern boundary of Illinois and Indiana. Its 
waters find their outlet into Lake Huron through 
the straits of Mackinaw, at its northeast extrera- 
it}', and are connected with Lake Superior by the 
Sault Ste. Marie River. It contains few islands, 
and these mainly in its northern part, the largest 
being some fifteen miles long. The principal 
rivers which empty into this lake are the Fox, 



HISTORICAL E^'CYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



327 



Menominee, Manistee, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, 
Grand and .St. Joseph. Chicago, Milwaukee, 
Racine and Manitowoc are the chief cities on its 
banks. 

LAKE SHORE & MICHIGAX SOUTHERN 
RAILWAY. The main line extends from Buffalo, 
N. Y., to Chicago, 111., a distance of 539 miles, 
with various branches of leased and proprietary 
lines located in tlie States of Michigan, New 
York and Ohio, making the mileage of lines 
operated 1,415.63 miles, of which 862. 15 are owned 
by the company — oul}- 14 miles being in Illinois. 
The total earnings and income in Illinois, in 1898, 
were $453,946, and the expenditures for the same 
period, $360,971.— (History.) The company was 
formed in 1869, from the consolidation of the 
Michigan Southern & Nortliern Indiana, the 
Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula, and the 
Buffalo & Erie Railroad Companies. The propri- 
etary roads have been acquired since the consoli- 
dation. 

LAMB, James L., pioneer merchant, was born 
in Connellsville, Pa., Nov. 7, 1800; at 12 years of 
age went to Cincinnati to serve as clerk in the 
store of a distant relative, came to Kaskaskia, 111., 
in 1820, and soon after engaged in mercantile 
business with Thomas Mather, who had come to 
Illinois two years earlier. Later, the firm estab- 
lished a store at Chester and shipped the first 
barrels of pork from Illinois to the New Orleans 
market. In 1831 Mr. Lamb located in Springfield, 
afterwards carrj'ing on merchandising and pork- 
packing extensively ; also established an iron 
foundry, which continued in operation until a few 
years ago. Died, Dec. 3, 1873. 

LAMB, Martha J. R. N., magazine editor and 
historian, was born (Martha Joan Reade Nash) at 
Plainfield, Mass., Augast 13, 1829, received a 
thorough education and, after her marriage in 
1852 to Charles A. Lamb, resided for eight years 
in Chicago, 111., where she was one of the prin- 
cipal founders of the Home for the Friendless and 
Half Orphan Asylum, and Secretary of the 
Sanitary Fair of 1863. In 1866 she removed to 
New York and gave her after life to literary work, 
from 1883 until her death being editor of "The 
Magazine of American Historj-," besides furnish- 
ing numerous papers on historical and other sub- 
jects ; also publishing some sixteen volumes, one 
of her most important works being a "History o' 
New York City," in two volumes. She was a 
member of nearly thirty historical and other 
learned societies. Died, Jan. 2, 1898. 

LAMBOR\, Josiah, early lawyer and Attor- 
ney-Gteneral; born in Washington County, Ky., 



and educated at Transylvania University; was 
Attorney -General of the State by appointment of 
Governor Carlin, 1840-43, at that time being a 
resident of Jacksonville. He is described by his 
contemporaries as an able and brilliant man, but 
of convivial habits and unscrupulous to such a 
degree that his name was mixed up with a num- 
ber of official scandals. Separated from his 
family, he died of delirium tremens, at White- 
hall, Greene County. 

LAMOILLE, a village of Bureau County, on the 
Mendota-Fulton branch of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railway, 9 miles northwest of Men- 
dota; in rich farming and stock-raising region; 
has a bank, three churches, fine school-building, 
and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 516; (1900), 576. 

LAMON, Ward Hill, lawyer, was born at 
Mill Creek, Frederick County, W. Va., Jan. 6, 
1828; received a common school education and 
was engaged in teaching for a time ; also began 
the study of medicine, but relinquished it for the 
law. About 1847-48 he located at Danville, 111., 
subsequently read law with the late Judge Oliver 
L. Davis, attending lectures at the Louisville 
Law School, wliere he had Gen. John A. Logan 
for a class-mate. On admission to the bar, he 
became the Danville partner of Abraham Lincoln 
— the partnership being in existence as early as 
1852. In 1859 he removed to Bloomington, and, 
in the Presidential campaign of 18G0, was a zeal- 
ous supporter of Mr. Lincoln. In February, 1861, 
he was chosen by Mr. Lincoln to accompany him 
to Washington, making the perilous night jour- 
ney througli Baltimore in Mr. Lincoln's company. 
Being a man of undoubted courage, as well as 
almost giant stature, he soon received the ap- 
pointment of Marshal of the District of Columbia, 
and, in the first weeks of the new administration, 
made a confidential visit to Colonel Anderson, 
then in command at Fort Sumter, to secure 
accurate information as to the situation there. 
In May, 1861, he obtained autliority to raise a 
regiment, of which he was commissioned Colonel, 
remaining in the field to December, when he 
returned to the discharge of his duties as Marshal 
at Washington, but was absent from Washington 
on the night of the assassination — April 14, 1865. 
Resigning his ofiice after this event, he entered 
into partnership for the practice of law with the 
late Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania. Some 
years later he publislied the first volume of a pro- 
posed Life of Lincoln, using material which he 
obtained from Mr. Lincoln's Springfield partner. 
William H. Herndon, but the second volume was 
never issued. His death occurred at Martins- 



328 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



burg, W. Va., not far from his birthplace, May 
7, 1893. Colonel Lamon married a daughter of 
Judge Stephen T. Logan, of Springfield. 

LANARK, a city in Carroll County, 19 miles by 
rail southwest of Freeiwrt, and 7 miles east of 
Mount Carroll Tlie surrounding country is 
largely devoted to grain-growing, and Lanark 
has two elevators and is an important shipping- 
point. Manufacturing of various descriptions is 
carried on. The city has two banks (one Na- 
tional and one State), eight churches, a graded 
and high school, and a weekly newspaper. Popu- 
lation (1880), 1,198; (1890), 1,'395; (1900), 1,306. 

LANDES, Silas Z., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Augusta County, Va., May 15, 1843. In early 
youth he removed to Illinois, and was admitted 
to the bar of this State in August, 1863, and has 
been in active practice at Mount Carmel since 
1864. In 1873 he was elected State's Attorney 
for Wabash County, was re-elected in 1876, and 
again in 1880. He represented the Sixteenth Illi- 
nois District in Congress from 1885 to 1889, being 
elected on the Democratic ticket. 

LANDRIGAN, John, farmer and legislator, was 
born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1833, and 
brought to America at one year of age, his 
parents stopping for a time in New Jersey. His 
early life was spent at Lafa3'ette, Ind. After 
completing his education in the seminary there, 
he engaged in railroad and canal contracting. 
Coming to Illinois in 1858, he purcliased a farm 
near Albion, Edwards County, where he has 
since resided. He has been twice elected as a 
Democrat to the House of Representatives (1868 
and '74) and twice to the State Senate (1870 
and '96), and has been, for over twenty years, 
a member of the State Agricultural Society — 
for four years of that time being President 
of the Board, and some sixteen years Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

LANE, Albert Orannis, educator, was born in 
Cook County, 111., March 15, 1841, and educated 
in tlie public schools, graduating with the first 
class from the Chicago High School in 1858. He 
immediately entered upon the business of teach- 
ing as Princiijal, but, in 1869, was elected Super- 
intendent of Schools for Cook County. After 
three years' service as cashier of a bank, he was 
elected County Superintendent, a second time, in 
1877, and regularly every four years thereafter 
imtil 1890. In 1891 he was chosen Superintend- 
ent of Schools for the city of Chicago, to fill tlie 
vacancy caused by the resignation of Superin- 
tendent Howland — a position which he continued 
to fill until the appointment of E. B. Andrews, 



Superintendent, when he became First Assistant 
Superintendent. 

LANE, Edward, ex-Congressman, was born in 
Cleveland, Ohio, March 37, 1843, and became a 
resident of Illinois at the age of 16. After receiv- 
ing an academic education he studied law and 
was admitted to the Illinois bar in February, 
1865. Since then he has been a successful prac- 
titioner at Hillsboro. From 1869 to 1873 he served 
as County Judge. In 1886 he was the successful 
Democratic candidate for Congress from the 
Seventeenth Illinois District and re-elected for 
three successive terms, but was defeated by 
Frederick Reniann (Republican) in 1894, and 
again by W. F. L. Hadley, at a special election, in 
1895, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 
Mr. Remann. 

LANPHIER, Charles H., journalist, was born 
at Alexandria, Va. , April 14, 1830; from 4 years 
of age lived in Washington Citj" ; in 18o6 entered 
the oflSce as an apprentice of "The State Regis- 
ter" at Vandalia, 111., (then owned by his brother- 
in-law, William Walters). Later, the paper was 
removed to Springfield, and Walters, having 
enlisted for the Mexican war in 1846, died at St. 
Louis, en route to the field. Lanphier, having 
thus succeeded to the management, and, finally, 
to the proprietorship of the paper, was elected 
public printer at the next session of the Legisla- 
ture, and, in 1847, took into partnership George 
Walker, who acted as editor until 1858. Mr. Lan- 
phier continued the publication of the paper until 
1863, and then sold out. During the war he 
was one of the State Board of Army Auditors 
appointed by Governor Yates; was elected 
Circuit Clerk in 1864 and re-elected in 1868, 
and, in 1873, was Democratic candidate for 
County Treasurer but defeated with the rest of 
his party. 

LARCOM, Lucy, author and teacher, born at 
Beverly, Mass., in 1826; attended a grammar 
school and worked in a cotton mill at Lowell, 
becoming one of the most popular contributors to 
"The Lowell Offering," a magazine conducted by 
the factory girls, thereby winning the acquaint- 
ance and friendship of the poet Whittier. In 
1846 she came to Illinois and, for three years, was 
a student at Monticello Female Seminary, near 
Alton, meanwhile teaching at intervals in the 
V 'cinity. Returning to Mas.sachusetts she taught 
for six years; in 1865 established "Our Young 
Folks, " of which she was editor until 1874. Her 
books, both poetical and prose, have taken a 
high rank for their elevated literary and moral 
tone. Died, in Boston, April 17, 1893. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



329 



LARfTED, Edward Channin^, lawyer, was born 
in Providence, R. I., July 14, 1820; graduated at 
Brown University in 1840 ; was Professor of Mathe- 
matics one year in Kemper College, Wis., then 
studied law and, in 1847, came to Chicago. He 
was an earnest opponent of slavery and gained 
considerable deserved celebrity by a speech 
which he delivered in 1851, in opposition to the 
fugitive slave law. He was a warm friend of 
Abraham Lincoln and, in 1860, made .speeches in 
his support; was an active member of the Union 
Defense Committee of Chicago during the war, 
and, in 1801, was appointed by Mr. Lincoln 
United States District Attorney of the Northern 
District of Illinois, but compelled to resign by 
failing health. Being absent in Europe at the 
time of the fire of 1871, he returned immediately 
and devoted his attention to the work of the 
Relief and Aid Society. Making a second visit to 
Europe in 1872-73, he wrote many letters for the 
press, also doing much other literary work in 
spite of declining health. Died at Lake Forest, 
III., September, 1884. 

L.V. SALLE, a city in La Salle County, 99 miles 
southwest of Chicago, situated on the Illinois 
River at southern terminus of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, and at intersection of three 
trunk lines of railroads. Bituminous coal 
abounds and is extensively mined; zinc smelting 
and the manufacture of glass and hydraulic and 
Portland cement are leading industries; also has 
a large ice trade with the South annually. It is 
connected with adjacent towns by electric rail- 
ways, and with Peoria by daily river packets. 
Population (1890), 9,855; (1900), 10,446. 

LA SALLE, Reni Robert Cavelier, Sieur de, 
a famous explorer, born at Rouen, France, in 
1643; entered the Jesuit order, but conceiving 
that he had mistaken his vocation, came to 
America in 1066. He obtained a grant of land 
about the Lachine Rapids of the St. Lawrence, 
above Montreal. It was probably his intention 
to settle there as a grand seigneur; but, becoming 
interested in stories told him by some Sen'eca 
Indians, he started two j'ears later in quest of a 
great waterway, which he believed led to the 
South Sea (Pacific Ocean) and afforded a short 
route to China. He passed through Lake Ontario, 
and is believed to have discovered the Ohio. The 
claim that he reached the Illinois River at this 
time has been questioned. Having re-visited 
France in 1077 he was given a jjatent of nobility 
and extensive land-grants in Canada. In 1679 he 
visited the Northwest and explored the great 
lakes, finally reaching the head of Lake Michi- 



gan and erecting a fort near the mouth of the St. 
Joseph River. From there he made a portage to 
the Illinois, which he descended early in 1680 to 
Lake Peoria, where he began the erection of a 
fort to which, in consequence of the misfortunes 
attending the expedition, was given the name of 
Creve-Coeur. Returning from here to Canada for 
supplies, in the following fall he again appeared 
in Illinois, but found his fort at Lake Peoria a 
ruin and his followers, whom he had left there, 
gone. Compelled again to return to Canada, in 
the latter part of 1081 he set out on his third 
expedition to Illinois, and making the portage by 
way of the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers, 
reached "Starved Rock," near the present city of 
Ottawa, where his lieutenant, Tonty, had already 
begun the erection of a fort. In 1682, accom- 
panied by Tonty, he descended the Illinois and 
Mississippi Rivers, reaching the Gulf of Mexico on 
April 9. He gave the region the name of Louisi- 
ana. In 1683 he again returned to France and 
was commissioned to found a colony at the mouth 
of the Mississippi, which he unsuccessfully 
attempted to do in 1684, the expedition finally 
landing about Matagorda Bay in Texas. After 
other fruitless attempts (death and desertions 
having seriously reduced the number of his colo- 
nists), while attempting to reach Canada, he was 
murdered by his companions near Trinity River 
in the present State of Texas, March 19, 1687. 
Another theory regarding La Salle's ill-starred 
Texas expedition is, that he intended to establish 
a colony west of the Mississippi, with a view to 
contesting with the Spaniards for the possession 
of that region, but that the French government 
failed to give him the support which had been 
promised, leaving him to his fate. 

LA SALLE COUNTY, one of the wealthiest 
counties in the northeastern section, being second 
m size and in population in the State It was 
organized in 1831, and has an area of 1,153 square 
miles; population (1900), 87,776. The history of 
this region dates back to 1675, when Marquette 
established a mission at an Indian village on the 
Illinois River about where Utica now stands, 
eight miles west of Ottawa. La Salle (for whom 
the county is named) erected a fort here in 1682, 
which was, for many years, the headquarters for 
French missionaries and traders. Later, the 
Illinois Indians were well-nigh exterminated 
by starvation, at the same point, which has be- 
come famous in Western history as "Starved 
Rock." The surface of the county is undulat- 
ing and slopes toward the Illinois River. The 
soil is rich, and timber abounds on the bluffs and 



330 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



along the streams. Water is easily procured. 
Four beds of coal underlie the entire county, and 
good building stone is quarried at a depth of 150 
to 300 feet. Excellent hydraulic cement is made 
from the caloiferous deposit, Utica being espe- 
cially noted for this industry. The First Ameri- 
can settlers came about the time of Captain Long's 
survey of a canal route (1816). The Illinois & 
Michigan Canal was located by a joint corps of 
State and National engineers in 1830. (See Illi- 
nois & Michigan Canal.) During the Black 
Hawk War, La Salle County was a prominent 
base of military operations. 

LATHROP, William, lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born in Genesee County, N. Y., April 
17, 1825. His early education was acquired in 
the common schools. Later he read law and was 
admitted to the bar, commencing practice in 
1851, making his home in Central New York until 
his removal to Illinois. In 1856 he represented 
the Rockford District in the lower house of the 
General Assembly, and, in 1876, was elected, as a 
Republican, to represent the (then) Fourth Illi- 
nois District in Congress. 

LA VANTUM, the name given, in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century, to the principal 
village of the Illinois Indians, situated on the 
Illinois River, near the present town of Utica, in 
La Salle County. (See Starved Rock.) 

LAWLER, Frank, was born at Rochester, 
N. Y., June 25, 1842. His first active occupation 
was as a news-agent on railroads, which business 
he followed for three years. He learned the 
trade of a shipcalker, and was elected to the 
Presidency of the Ship-Carpenters' and .Ship- 
Calkers' Association. While yet a young man he 
settled in Chicago and, in 1869, was appointed to 
a clerical position in the postofRce in that city ; 
later, served as a letter-carrier, and as a member 
of the City Council (1876-84). In 1884 he was 
elected to Congress from the Second District, 
which he represented in that body for three suc- 
cessive terms. While serving his last year in 
Congress (1890) he was an unsuccessful candidate 
on the Democratic ticket for Sheriff of Cook 
County; in 1893 was an unsuccessful applicant 
for the Chicago postmastership, was defeated as 
an Independent-Democrat for Congress in 1894, 
but, in 1895, was elected Alderman for the Nine- 
teenth Ward of the city of Chicago. Died, Jan. 
17, 1896. 

LAWLER, (Gen.) Michael K., soldier, was 
born m County Kildare, Ireland, Nov. 16, 1814, 
brought to the United States in 1816, and, in 1819, 
to Gallatin County, 111., where his father began 



farming. The younger Lawler early evinced a 
military taste by organizing a military company 
in 1842, of which he served as Captain three or 
four years. In 1846 he organized a company for the 
Mexican War, which was attached to the Tliird 
Regiment Illinois Volunteers (Colonel Forman's), 
and, at the end of its term of enlistment, raised 
a company of cavalry, with which he served 
to the end of the war — in all, seeing two and 
a half years' service. He then resumed the 
peaceful life of a farmer; but, on the breaking 
out of the rebellion, again gave proof of his patri- 
otism by recruiting the Eighteenth Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry — the first regiment organized in 
the Eigliteenth Congressional District — of which 
he was commissioned Colonel, entering into the 
three years' service in May, 1861. His regiment 
took part in most of the early engagements in 
Western Kentucky and Tennessee, including the 
capture of Fort Donelson, where it lost heavily, 
Colonel Lawler himself being severely wounded. 
Later, he was in command, for some time, at 
Jackson, Tenn., and, in November, 1862, was com- 
missioned Brigadier-General "for gallant and 
meritorious service.'' He was also an active 
participant in the operations against Vicksburg, 
and was thanked on the field bj- General Grant 
for his service at the battle of Big Black, pro- 
nounced by Charles A. Dana (then Assistant 
Secretary of War) "one of the most splendid 
exploits of the war. " After the fall of Vicksburg 
he took part in the siege of Jackson, Miss., and 
in the campaigns on the Teche and Red River, and 
in Texas, also being in command, for six months, 
at Baton Rouge, La. In March, 1865, he was 
brevetted Major-General, and mustered out, 
January, 1866, after a service of four years and 
seven months. He then returned to his Gallatin 
County farm, where he died, July 26, 1882. 

LAWLER, Thomas (J., soldier and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, was born in Liverpool, Eng,, April 
7, 1844; was brought to Illinois by his parents 
in childhood, and, at 17 years of age, enlisted 
in the Nineteenth Illinois Volunteers, serv- 
ing first as a private, then as Sergeant, later 
being elected First Lieutenant, and (althougli 
not mustered in, for two months) during the 
Atlanta campaign being in command of liis com- 
pany, and placed on the roll of honor by order of 
General Rosecrans. He participated in every 
battle in which his regiment was engaged, and, 
at the battle of Missionary Ridge, was the first 
man of his command over the enemy's works. 
After the war he became prominent as an officer 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



331 



of the Illinois National Guard, organizing the 
Rockford Rifles, in 1876, and serving as Colonel of 
the Third Regiment for seven years; was ap- 
pointed Postmaster at Rockford by President 
Hayes, but removed by Cleveland in 188.5; re- 
appointed by Harrison and again displaced on the 
accession of Cleveland. He was one of the 
organizers of G. L. Nevius Post, G. A. R., of 
which he served as Commander twenty-six years ; 
in 1883 was elected Department Commander for 
the State of Illinois and, in 1894, Commander-in- 
Chief, serving one year. 

LAWRENCE, Charles B., jurist, was born at 
Vergennes, Vt. , Dec. 17, 1820. After two years 
spent at Middlebury College, he entered the 
junior class at Union College, graduating from 
the latter in 18J1. He devoted two years to 
teaching in Alabama, and began reading law at 
Cincinnati in 1843, completing his studies at St. 
Louis, where he was admitted to the bar and 
began practice in 1S44. The following year he 
removed to Quincy, 111., where he was a promi- 
nent practitioner for ten years. The years 
1806-58 he spent in foreign travel, with the pri- 
mary object of restoring his impaired health. On 
his return home he began farming in Warren 
County, witli the same end in view. In 1861 he 
accepted a nomination to the Circuit Court bench 
and was elected without ojiposition. Before the 
expiration of his term, in 1864, he was elected a 
Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court for the 
Northern Grand Division, and, in 1870, became 
Chief Justice. At this time his home was at 
Galesburg. Failing of a re-election in 1873, he 
removed to Chicago, and at once became one of 
the leaders of the Cook County bar. Although 
persistently urged by personal and political 
friends, to permit his name to be used in connec- 
tion with a vacancy on the bench of the United 
States Supreme Court, he steadfastly declined. 
In 1877 he received the votes of the Republicans 
in the State Legislature for United States Senator 
against David Davis, who was elected. Died, at 
Decatur, Ala. . April 9, 1883. 

LAWRENCE COUNTY, one of the eastern 
counties in the "southern tier," originally a part 
of Edwards, but separated from the latter in 
1831, and named for Commodore Lawrence. In 
1900 its area was 360 square miles, and its popu- 
lation, 16,533. The first English speaking settlers 
seem to have emigrated from the colony at Vin- 
cennes, InJ. St. Francisville, in the southeast- 
ern portion, and Allison prairie, in the nortlieast, 
were favored by the American pioneers. Settle- 
ment was more or less desultory until after the 



War of 1812. Game was abundant and the soil 
productive. About a dozen negro families found 
homes, in 1819, near Lawrenceville, and a Shaker 
colony was established about Charlottesville the 
same year. Among the best remembered pio- 
neers are the families of Lautermann. Chubb, 
Kincaid, Buchanan and Laus — the latter having 
come from South Carolina. Toussaint Dubois, 
a Frenchman and father of Jesse K. Dubois, Stale 
Auditor (1857-64), was a large land proprietor at 
an early day, and his hou.se was first utilized as a 
court house. The county is richer in historic 
associations than in populous towns. Lawrence- 
ville, the county-seat, was credited with 860 
inhabitants by the census of 1890. St. Francis- 
ville and Sumner are flourishing towns. 

LAWRENCEVILLE, the county-seat of Law- 
rence County, is situated on the Embarras River, 
at the intersection of the Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railways, 9 miles west of 
Vincennes, Ind., and 139 miles east of St. Louis. 
It has a courthouse, four churches, a graded 
school and two weekly newspapers. Population 
(1890), 865; (1900), 1,300; (1903, est.), 1,600. 

L.\WSON, Victor F., journalist and newspaper 
proprietor, was born in Chicago, of Scandinavian 
parentage, Sept. 9, 1850. After graduating at the 
Chicago High School, he prosecuted his studies 
at Phillips Academy, Andover. Mass., and at 
Harvard University. In August, 1876, he pur- 
chased an interest in "The Chicago Daily News," 
being for some time a partner of Melville E. 
Stone, but became sole proprietor in 1888, pub- 
lishing morning and evening editions. He 
reduced the price of the morning edition to one 
cent, and changed its name to "The Chicago 
Record." He has always taken a deep interest 
in the cause of popular education, and, in 1888, 
established a fund to provide for the distribution 
of medals among public school children of Chi- 
cago, the award to be made vipou the basis of 
comparative excellence in the preparation of 
essays upon topics connected with American 
history. 

LEBANON, a city in St. Clair County, situated 
on Silver Creek, and on the Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern Railroad, 11 miles nortlieast of 
Belleville and 24 miles east of St. Louis; is lo- 
cated in an agricultural and coal-mining region. 
Its manufacturing interests are limited, a flour- 
ing miU being the chief industry of this charac- 
ter. The city has electric lights and electric 
trolley line connecting witli Belleville and St. 
Louis; also has a bank, eight churches, two 



333 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



newspapers and is an important educational cen- 
ter, being the seat of McKendree College, founded 
in 1828. "Population (1890), l.fiHIi: (1900), 1,813. 

LEE COUNTY, one of the third tier of counties 
south of the Wisconsin State line; named for 
Richard Henry Lee of Revoliitionarj' fame : area, 
740 square wiles; population (1900), 29,894. It 
was cut off from Ogle County, and separately 
organized in 1839. In 1840 the population was 
but little over 3,000. Charles F. Ingals, Nathan 
R. Whitney and James P. Dixon were the first 
County-Commissioners. Agriculture is the prin- 
cipal pursuit, although stone quarries are found 
here and there, notably at Ashton. The county- 
seat is Dixon, where, in 1828, one Ogee, a half- 
breed, built a cabin and established a ferry across 
the Rock River. In 1830, John Dixon, of New- 
York, purchased Ogee's interest for $1,800. Set- 
tlement and progress were greatly retarded by 
the Black Hawk War, but immigration fairly set 
in in 1838. The first court house was built in 
1840, and the same year the United States Land 
Office was removed from Galena to Dixon, Colo., 
John Dement, an early pioneer, being appointed 
Receiver. Dixon was incorporated as a city in 
1859, and, in 1900, had a population of 7,917. 

LEGISLATIVE APPORTIONMENT. (See 
Apportionment, Legislative. ) 

LEGISLATURE. (See General Assemblies.) 

LELAND, a village of La Salle County, on the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, 39 miles 
southwest of Aurora. Population (1900), 634. 

LELAND, Edwin S., lawyer and Judge, was 
born at Dennysville, Me., August 38, 1812, and 
admitted to the bar at Dedham, Mass., in 1834. 
In 1835 he removed to Ottawa, 111., and, in 1839, 
to Oregon, Ogle County, where he practiced for 
four years. Returning to Ottawa in 1843, he 
rapidly rose in his profession, until, in 1852, he 
was elected to the Circuit Court bench to fill the 
unexpired term of Judge T. Lyle Dickey, who 
had resigned. In 1866 Governor Oglesby ap- 
pointed him Circuit Judge to fill the unexpired 
term of Judge HoUister. He was elected by 
popular vote in 1867, and re-elected in 1873, being 
assigned to the Appellate Court of the Second 
District in 1877. He was prominently identified 
with the genesis of the Republican party, whose 
tenets he zealously cliampioned. He was also 
prominent in local affairs, having been elected 
the first Republican Mayor of Ottawa (1856), 
President of the Board of Education and County 
Treasurer. Died, June, 24, 1889. 

LEMEN, James, Sr., pioneer, was born in Berk- 
eley County, Va. , Nov. 30, 1760 ; served as a soldier 



in tlie War of the Revolution, being present at 
the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781 ; 
in 1786 came to Illinois, settling at the village of 
New Design, near the present site of Waterloo, in 
Monroe County. He was a man of enterprise 
and sterling integrity, and ultimately became the 
head of one of the most prominent and influential 
families in Southern Illinois. He is said to have 
been the first person admitted to the Baptist 
Church by immersion in Illinois, finally becoming 
a minister of that denomination. Of a family of 
eight children, four of his sons became ministers. 
Mr. Lemen's prominence was indicated by the 
fact that he was approached by Aaron Burr, with 
offers of large rewards for his influence in found- 
ing that ambitious schemer's projected South- 
western Empire, but the proposals were 
indignantly rejected and the scheme denounced. 
Died, at Waterloo, Jan. &, 1822.— Robert (Lemen), 
oldest son of the preceding, was born in Berkeley 
County, Va., Sept. 25, 1783; came with his father 
to Illinois, and, after his marriage, settled in St. 
Clair County. He held a commission as magis- 
trate and, for a time, was United States iMarshal 
for Illinois under the administration of John 
Quincy Adams. Died in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair 
County, August 24, 1860. — Rev. Joseph (Lemen), 
the second son, was born in Berkeley County, 
Va., Sept. 8, 1785, brought to Illinois in 1786, and, 
on reaching manhood, married Mary Kinney, a 
daughter of Rev. William Kinney, who after- 
wards became Lieutenant-Governor of the State. 
Joseph Lemen settled in Ridge Prairie, in the 
northern part of St. Clair County, and for many 
years supplied the pulpit of the Bethel Baptist 
church, which had been founded in 1809 on the 
principle of opposition to human slavery. His 
death occurred at his home, June 39, 1861. — Rev. 
James (Lemen), Jr., the third son, was born in 
Monroe County, 111., Oct. 8, 1787; early united 
with the Baptist Church and became a minister 
— assisting in the ordination of his father, whose 
sketch stands at the head of this article. He 
served as a Delegate from St. Clair County in the 
first State Constitutional Convention (1818). and as 
Senator in the Second, Fourth and Fifth General 
Assemblies. He also preached extensively in 
Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, and assisted in 
the organization of many churches, although his 
labors were chiefly witliin his own. Jlr. Lemen 
was the second child of American parents born in 
Illinois — Enoch Moore being the first. Died, 
Feb. 8, 1870. — William (Lemen), the fourth son, 
born in Monroe County, 111., in 1791; served as a 
soldier in the Black Hawk War. Died in Monroe 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



333 



County, in 1857.— Rev. Josiah (Lemen), the 
fifth son, born in Monroe County, III., August 15, 
1794; was a Baptist preacher. Died near Du- 
quoin, July 11, 1867.— Rev. Moses (Lemen), the 
sixth son, born in Monroe County, 111., in 1797; 
became a Baptist minister early in life, served as 
Representative in the Sixth General Assembly 
(1838-30) for Monroe County. Died, in Montgom- 
ery County, 111., March 5, 1859. 

LEMONT, a city in Cook County, 25 miles 
southwest of Chicago, on the Des Plaines River 
anil the Chicago & Alton Railroad. A thick 
vein of Silurian limestone (Athens marble) is 
extensively quarried here, constituting tlie cliief 
industry. Owing to the number of industrial 
enterprises, Lemont is at times the temporary 
home of a large number of workmen. The city 
has a bank, electric lights, six churches, two 
pa|)ers, five public and four private schools, one 
business college, aluminum and concrete works. 
Population of the township (1890), 5,539; (1900), 
4,441. 

LE MOYNE, John V., ex-Congressman, was 
born in Wasliington County, Pa., in 1828, and 
graduated from Washington College. Pa., in 
1847. He studied law at Pittsburg, where he was 
admitted to the bar in 1852. He at once removed 
to Chicago, where he continued a permanent 
resident and active practitioner. In 1872 he was 
a candidate for Congress on the liiberal Repub- 
lican ticket, but was defeated by Charles B. Far- 
well, Republican. In 1874 he was again a 
candidate against Mr. Farwell. Both claimed 
the election, and a contest ensued which was 
decided by tlie House in favor of Mr. Le Moyne. 

LENA, a village in Stephenson County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 13 miles northwest of 
Freeport and 38 miles east of Galena. It is in a 
farming and dairying district, but has some 
manufactures, the making of caskets being the 
principal industry in this line. There are six 
churches, two oanks, and two newspapers. Pop- 
ulation (1890), 1.270; (1900), 1.253. 

LEONARD, Edward F., Railway President, 
was born in Connecticut in 1836; graduated from 
Union College, N. Y., was admitted to the bar 
and came to Springfield, 111., in 1858; served for 
several years as clerk in the office of the State 
Auditor, was afterwards connected with the con- 
struction of the "St. Louis Short Line" (now a 
part of the Illinois Central Railway), and was 
private secretary of Governor Cullom during his 
first term. For several years he has been Presi- 
dent of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad, 
with headquarters at Peoria. 



LEROT, a city in McLean County, 15 miles 
southwest of Bloomington; has two banks, sev- 
eral churches, a graded school and a plow factory. 
Two weekly papers are published there. Popu- 
lation (1880), 1,068; (1890), 1,2.58; (1900), 1,639. 

LEVER ETT, AVashingtoii and Warren, edu- 
cators and twin-brothers, whose careers were 
strikingly similar; born at Brookline, Mass., Dec. 
19. 1805, and passed their boyhood on a farm; in 
1837 began a preparatory course of study under 
an elder brother at Roxbury. Mass., entered 
Brown University as freshmen, the next year, and 
graduated in 1833. AVarren, being in bad health, 
spent the following winter in South Carolina, 
afterwards engaging in teaching, for a time, and 
in study in Newton Theological Seminary, while 
Washington served as tutor two years in his 
Alma Mater and in Columbian College in Wash- 
ington, D. C, then took a course at Newton, 
graduating there in 1836. The same year he 
accepted the chair of Mathematics in ShurtleS 
College at Upper Alton, remaining, with slight 
interruption, until 1868. Warren, after suffering 
from hemorrhage of the lungs, eame west in the 
fall of 1837, and, after teaching for a few months 
at Greenville, Bond County, in 1839 joined his 
brother at Shurtleff College as Principal of the 
preparatory department, subsequently being 
advanced to the chair of Ancient Languages, 
which he continued to occupy until June, 1868, 
when he retired in the same year with his brother. 
After resigning he established himself in the book 
business, which was continued until his death, 
Nov. 8, 1873. Washington, the surviving brother, 
continued to be a member of the Board of Trus- 
tees of Shurtleff College, and to discharge the 
duties of Librarian and Treasurer of the institu- 
tion. Died, Dec. 13, 1889. 

LEWIS INSTITUTE, an educational institu- 
tion based upon a bequest of Allen C. Lewis, in 
the city of Chicago, established in 1895. It main- 
tains departments in law, the classics, prepara- 
tory studies and manual training, and owns 
property valued at §1,600,000, with funds and 
endowment amounting to §1,100,000. No report 
is made of the number of pupils. 

LEWIS, John H., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Tompkins County, N. Y., July 21, 1830. 
When six years old he accompanied his parents 
to Knox County, 111., where he attended the 
public schools, read law, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1860. The same year he was elected Clerk 
of the Circuit Court of Knox County. In 1874 he 
was elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly, and, in 1880, was the successful Repub- 



334 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



lican candidate for Congress from the old Ninth 
District. In 1882, he was a candidate for re- 
election from the same district (then the Tenth), 
but was defeated by Nicholas E. Worthington, 
his Democratic opponent. 

LEWISTOWN, the county-seat of Fulton 
County, located on two lines of railway, fifty 
miles southwest of Peoria and sixty miles north- 
west of Springfield. It contains flour and saw- 
mills, carriage and wagon, can-making, 
duplex-scales and evener factories, six churches 
and four newspapers, one issuing a daily edition ; 
also excellent public schools. Population (1880), 
1.771; (1890), 2,166; (1900), 3,504, 

LEXINGTO>',a city in McLean County, on the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad, 110 miles south of 
Chicago and 16 miles northeast of Bloomington. 
The surrounding region is agricultural and stock- 
raising, and the town has a flourishing trade in 
horses and other live-stock. Tile is manufac- 
tured here, and the town has two banks, five 
churches, a high school and two weekly news- 
papers. Population (1890), 1,187; (1900), 1,415. 

LIBERTYYILLE, a village of Lake County, on 
the main line of the Chicago & Madison Division 
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 
35 miles north-northwest of Chicago. The region 
is agricultural. The town has some manufac- 
tures, two banks and a weekly paper. Popula- 
tion (1890), .550; (1900), 864. 

LIBRARIES. (Statistical. )— A report of the 
Commissioner of Education for 1895-96, on the 
subject of "Public, Society and School Libraries 
in the United States," presents some approximate 
statistics of libraries in the several States, based 
upon the reports of librarians, so far as they 
could be obtained in reply to inquiries sent out 
from the Bureau of Education in Washington. 
As shown by the statistical tables embodied in 
this report, there were 348 libraries in Illinois 
reporting 300 volumes and over, of which 134 
belonged to the smallest class noted, or those con- 
taining less than 1,000 volumes. The remaining 
314 were divided into the following classes: 

Containing 300.000 and less than 500,000 volumes 1 

100,000 " " 300,000 " 2 

50,000 " " 100,000 " 1 

" 25,000 " " 50,000 " 5 

" 10,000 " " 25,000 " 27 

" 5,000 " " 10,000 " 34 

" 1.000 " " 5,000 " 144 

A general classification of libraries of 1,000 
volumes and over, as to character, divides them 
into, General, 91; School, 36; College, 43; College 
Society, 7 ; Law, 3 ; Theological, 7 ; State, 2 ; Asy- 



lum and Reformatory, 4 ; Yoimg Men's Christian 
Association, 2; Scientific, 6; Historical, 3; Soci- 
ety, 8; Medical, Odd Fellows and Social, 1 each. 
The total number of volumes belonging to the 
class of 1,000 volumes and over was 1,833,580 with 
447,108 pamphlets; and, of the class between 300 
and 1,000 volumes, 66,993 — makinga grand total of 
1,889.573 volumes. The library belonging to the 
largest (or 300,000) class, is that of the University 
of Chicago, reporting 305,000 volumes, with 
180,000 pamphlets, while the Chicago Public 
Library and the Newberry Library belong to the 
second class, reporting, respectively, 317,065 vol- 
umes witli 42,000 pamphlets, and 135,244 volumes 
and 35,654 pamphlets. (The report of the Chi- 
cago Public Library for 1898 shows a total, for 
tliat year, of 235,385 volumes and 44,069 pam- 
phlets. ) 

As to sources of support or method of adminis- 
tration, 42 of the class reporting 1,000 volumes 
and over, are supported by taxation ; 27, by appro- 
priations by State, Count}' or City; 30, from 
endowment funds ; 54, from membership fees and 
dues; 16, from book-rents; 36, from donations, 
leaving 53 to be supported from sources not 
stated. The total income of 131 reporting on this 
subject is .§787,363; the aggregate endowment 
of 17 of this class is §3,383,197, and the value of 
buildings belonging to 36 is estimated at $3,981,- 
575. Of the 214 libraries reporting 1,000 volumes 
and over, 88 are free, 28 are reference, and 158 
are both circulating and reference. 

The free public libraries in the State containing 
3,000 volumes and over, in 1896, amounted to 39. 
The following list includes those of this class con- 
taining 10,000 volumes and over: 

Chicago, Public Library . . (1896) 217,065 

Peoria, " " 57,604 

Springfield, " " 28.639 

Rockford, " " 38,000 

Quincy, " " and Reading Room 19,400 

Galesburg " " 18,4h9 

Elgin, Gail Borden Public Library . . 17,000 

Bloomington, Withers " " ... 16.068 

Evanston, Free " " ... 15,515 

Decatur, " " " . . . 14,766 

Belleville, " " ... 14,511 

Aurora, " " ... 14,3.50 

Rock Island, " " ... 12,634 

Joliet, " " ... 32,325 

The John Crerar Library (a scientific reference 
library) — established in the City of Chicago in 
1894, on the basis of a bequest of tlie late John 
Crerar, estimated as amounting to fully §3,000,- 
000 — is rapidly adding to its resources, having, 
in the four years of its history, acquired over 
40,000 volumes. With its princely endowment, 





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f 


a 

X 

p 






2i 

•/. 

y. 





HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



335 



it is destined, in the course of a few years, to be 
reckoned one of the leading libraries of its class 
in the United States, as it is one of the most 
modern and carefully selected. 

The Newberry and Chicago Historical Society 
Libraries fill an important place for reference pur- 
poses, especially on historical subjects. A tardy 
beginning has been made in building up a State 
Historical Library in Springfield; but, owing to 
the indifference of the Legislature and the meager 
support it has received, the State which was, for 
nearly a hundred years, the theater of the most 
important events in the development of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, has, as yet, scarcely accomplished 
anything worthy of its name in collecting and 
preserving the records of its own history. 

In point of historical origin, next to the Illinois 
State Library, which dates from the admission 
of the State into the Union in 1818, the oldest 
library in the State is that of the McCormick 
Theological Seminary, which is set down as hav- 
ing had its origin in 1825, though this occurred 
in another State. The early State College Li- 
braries follow next in chronological order: Shurt- 
leff College, at Upper Alton, 1827; Illinois College, 
at Jacksonville, 1829; McKendree College, at 
Lebanon, 1834 ; Rockford College, 1849 ; Lombard 
University, at Galesburg, 1852. In most cases, 
however, these are simply the dates of the estab- 
lishment of the institution, or the period at which 
instruction began to be given in the school which 
finally developed into tlie college. 

The school library is constantly becoming a 
more important factor in the liberal education of 
the youth of the State. Adding to this the "Illi- 
nois Pupils' Reading Circle," organized by the 
State Teachers' Association some ten years ago, 
but still in the experimental stage, and the sys- 
tem of "traveling libraries," set on foot at a later 
period, there is a constant tendency to enlarge 
the range of popular reading and bring the public 
library, in some of its various forms, within the 
reach of a larger class. 

The Free Public Library Law of Illinois. 
— The following history and analysis of tlie Free 
Public Library Law of Illinois is contributed, for 
the "Historical Encyclopedia," by E. S. Willcox, 
Librarian of the Peoria Public Library : 

The Library Law passed by the Legislature 
of Illinois in 1872 was the first broadly planned, 
comprehensive and complete Free Public Li- 
brary Law placed on the statute book of any 
State in the Union. It is true. New Hamp- 
shire, in 1849, and Massachusetts, in 1851, 
had taken steps in this direction, with three or 
four brief sections of laws, permissive in their 



character rather than directive, but lacking the 
vitalizing qualities of our Illinois law, in that 
they provided no sufficiently specific working 
method — no sailing directions — for starting and 
administering such free public libraries. They 
seem to have had no influence on subsequent 
library legislation, while, to quote the language 
of Mr. Fletcher in his "Public Libraries in 
America," "the wisdom of the Illinois law, in this 
regard, is probably the reason why it has been so 
widely copied in other States. ' ' 

By this law of 1873 Illinois placed herself at the 
head of her sister States in encouraging the 
spread of general intelligence among the people; 
but it is also a record to be equally proud of, that, 
within less than five years after her admission to 
the Union, Dec. 3, 1818 — that is, at the first ses- 
sion of her Third General Assembly — a general 
Act was passed and approved, Jan. 31, 1823, 
entitled: "An act to incorporate such persons as 
may associate for the purpose of procuring and 
erecting public libraries in this State," with the 
following preamble ■ 

"Whereas, a disposition for improvement in useful 
luiowlediie lias manifested itself in various i)arts of this 
state, by associating for ]>rocuring and erecting jtublic 
libraries; and, wliereas, it is of tlie utmost importance to 
the pulHic that the sources of information should be multi- 
plied, and institutions for that jnirpose encouraged and pro- 
moted: Seel. Be it enacted," etc. 

Then follow ten sections, covering five and a 
half pages of the published laws of that session, 
giving explicit directions as to the organizing 
and maintaining of such Associations, with pro- 
visions as enlightened and liberal as we could ask 
for to-day. The libraries contemplated in this act 
are, of course, subscription libraries, the only 
kind known at tliat time, free public libraries 
supported by taxation not having come into 
vogue in that early day. 

It is the one vivifying quality of the Illinois 
law of 1872, that it showed how to start a free 
public library, how to manage it when started 
and how to provide it with the necessary funds. 
It furnished a full and minute set of sailing 
directions for the ship it launched, and, moreover, 
was not loaded down with useless limitations. 

With a few exceptions — notably the Boston 
Public Library, working under a special charter, 
and an occasional endowed library, like tlie Astor 
Library — all public libraries in those days were 
subscription libraries, like the great Mercantile 
Libraries of New York, St. Louis and Cincinnati, 
with dues of from S3 to SIO from each member 
per year. With dues at S4 a year, our Peoria 
Mercantile Library, at its best, never had over 
286 members in any one year. Compare this with 
our present public membership of 6, .TOO, and it 
will be seen that some kind of a free pubUc 
librarj' law was needed. That was tlie conclu- 
sion I, as one of the Directors of the Peoria Mer- 
cantile Library, came to in 1869. We had tried 
every expedient for years, in the way of lecture 
courses, concerts, spelling matches, "Drummer 
Boy of Shiloh," and begging, to increase our 
membership and revenue. So far, and no farther, 
seemed to be the rule with all subscription 
libraries. They did not reach the masses who 
needed them most. And, for this manifest rea- 



33t) 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



son : the necessary cost of annual dues stood in 
the way; the women and young people who 
wanted something to read, who thirsted for 
knowledge, and who are the principal patrons of 
the free public library to-day, did not hold the 
family purse-strings; while the men, who did 
hold the purse-strings, did not particularly care 
for books. 

It was my experience, derived as a Director in 
the Peoria Mercantile Library when it was still a 
small, struggling subscription library, tliat sug- 
gested the need of a State law authorizing cities 
and towns to tax themselves for the support of 
public libraries, as tliey already did for the sup- 
port of public schools. When, in 1870, I 
submitted the plan to some of my friends, they 
pronounced it Quixotic — the people would never 
consent to pay taxes for libraries. To which I 
replied, that, until sometime in the '50's, we 
had no free public schools in this State. 

I then drew up the form of a law, substantially 
as it now stands; and, after submitting it to 
Justin Winsor, then of the Boston Public Li- 
brary ; William F. Poole, then in Cincinnati, and 
William T. Harris, then in St. Louis, I placed it 
in the hands of my friend, Mr. Samuel Caldwell, 
in December, 1870, who took it with him to 
Springfield, promising to do wliat lie could to get 
it through the Legislature, of which he was a 
member from Peoria. Tlie bill was introduced 
by Mr. Caldwell, March 23, 1871, as House bill 
No. 563, and as House bill No. 563 it finally 
received the Governor's signature and became a 
law, March 7, 1873. 

The essential features of our Illinois law are: 

I. Tlie power of initiative in starting a free 
public library lies in the City Council, and not in 
an appeal to tlie voters of the city at a general 
election. 

It is a weak point in the English public libra- 
ries act that this initiative is left to the electors or 
voters of a city, and, in several London and pro- 
vincial districts, the proposed law has been 
repeatedly voted down by the very people it was 
most calculated to benefit, from fear of a little 
extra taxation. 

II. The amoun t of tax to be levied is permissive, 
not mandatory. 

We can trust to the public spirit of our city 
authorities, supported by an intelligent public 
sentiment, to provide for the library needs. A 
mandatory law. requiring tlie levying of a certain 
fixed percentage of the city's total assessment, 
might invite extravagance, as it has in several 
instances where a mandatory law is in force. 

///. ITie Library Board has exclusive control of 
library appropriations. 

This is to be interpreted that Public Library 
Boards are separate and distinct departments of 
the city administration; and experience has 
shown that they are as capable and honest in 
handling money as School Boards or City 
Councils. 

IV. Library Boards consist of nine members to 
serve for three years. 

V. The members of the Board are appointed by 
the Mayor, subject to the approval of the City 
Council, from the citizens at large with reference 
to their jitness for such office. 



VI. An annual report is to be made by the 
Board to the City Council, stating the condition 
of their trust on the first day of June of each 
year. 

This, with slight modifications adapting it to 
villages, towns and townships, is, in substance, 
the Free Public Library Law of Illinois. Under 
its beneficent operation flourishing free public 
libraries have been established in the principal 
cities and towns of our State — slowly, at first, 
but, of late years, more rapidly as their usefulness 
has become apparent. 

No argument is now needed to show the im- 
portance — the imperative necessity — of the widest 
possible diffusion of intelligence among the people 
of a free State. Knowledge and ignorance — the 
one means civilization, the other, barbarism. 
Give a man the taste for good books and the 
means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of 
making him a better, happier man and a wiser 
citizen. You place him in contact with the best 
society in every period of history ; you set before 
him nobler examples to imitate and safer paths 
to follow. 

We liave no way of foretelling how many and 
how great benefits will accrue to society and the 
State, in the future, from the comparatively 
modern introduction of the free public library 
into our educational system; but when some 
youthful Abraham Lincoln, poring over ^sop's 
Fables, Weenis' Life of Washington and a United 
States History, by the flickering light of a pine- 
knot in a log-cabin, rises at length to be tlie hope 
and bulwark of a nation, then we learn what the 
world may owe to a taste for books. In the gen- 
eral spread of intelligence through our free 
schools, our free press and our free libraries, lies 
our only hope that our free American institutions 
shall not decay and perish from the earth. 

" Knowledge is the only Rood, ignorance the only evil." 
" Let knowledge grow from more to more." 

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 

The office of Lieutenant-Governor, created by the 
Constitution of 1818, has been retained in each of 
the subsequent Constitutions, being elective by 
the people at the same time with that of Gov- 
ernor. The following is a list of the Lieutenant- 
Governors of the State, from the date of its 
admission into the Union to the present time 
(1899), with the date and length of each incum- 
bent's term: Pierre Menard, 1818-22; Adolphus 
Frederick Hubbard, 1822-26; William Kinney, 
1826-30; Zadoc Casey, 1830-33; William Lee D. 
Ewing (succeeded to the office as President of the 
Senate), 1833-34; Alexander M. Jenkins, 1834-36 
William H. Davidson (as President of the 
Senate), 1836-38; Stinson H. Anderson, 1838-42 
John Moore, 1842-46; Joseph B. Wells, 1846-49 
William McMurtry, 1849-53; Gustavus Koerner 
1853-57; John Wood, 1857-60; Thomas A. Mar- 
shall (as President of the Senate), Jan. 7-14, 1861 
Francis A. Hofl'man, 1861-65; William Bross, 
1865-69; John Dougherty, 1869-73; John L. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



337 



Beveridgq, Jan. 13-23, 1873; John Early (as 
President of the Senate), 1873-75; Archibald A. 
Glenn (as President of the Senate), 1875-77; 
Andrew Shuman, 1877-81 ; John M. Hamilton, 
1881-83; William J. Campbell (as President of 
the Senate), 1883-85; John C. Smith, 1885-89; 
Lyman B. Ray, 1889-93; Joseph B. Gill, 1893-97; 
William A. Northcott, 1897 — . 

LIMESTONE. Illinois ranks next to Pennsyl- 
vania in its output of limestone, the United 
States Census Rejiort for 1890 giving the number 
of quarries as 104, and the total value of the 
product as $2,190,604. In the value of stone used 
for building purposes Illinois far exceeds any 
other State, the greater proportion of the output 
in Pennsylvania being suitable only for flux. 
Next to its employment as building stone, Illinois 
limestone is chiefly used for street-vpork, a small 
percentage being used for flux, and still less for 
bridge-work, and but little for burning into lime. 
The quarries in this State employ 3,383 hands, and 
represent a capital of $3,316,616, in the latter par- 
ticular also ranking next to Pennsylvania. The 
quarries are found in various parts of the State, 
but the most productive and most valiiabie are in 
the northern section. 

LlUCOLJf, an incorporated city, and county- 
seat of Logan County, at the intersection of the 
Chicago & Alton, the Champaign and Havana 
and the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Divi- 
sions of the Illinois Central Railroad; is 28 miles 
northeast of Springfield, and 157 miles southwest 
of Chicago. The surrounding country is devoted 
to agriculture, stock-raising and coal-mining. 
Considerable manufacturing is carried on, among 
the products being flour, brick and drain tile. 
The city has water-works, fire department, gas 
and electric lighting plant, telephone system, 
machine shops, eighteen churches, good schools, 
three national banks, a public library, electric 
street railways, and several newspapers. Besides 
possessing good schools, it is the seat of Lincoln 
University (a Cumberland Presbyterian institu- 
tion, founded in 1865) The Odd Fellows' 
Orphans' Home and the Illinois (State) Asylum 
for Feeble-Minded Children are also located here. 
Population (1890), 6,725; (1900), 8,962; (1903, est.), 
12,000. 

LINCOLN, Abraham, sixteenth President of the 
United States, was born in Hardin County, Ky., 
Feb. 12, 1809, of Quaker-English descent, his 
grandfather having emigrated from Virginia to 
Kentucky about 1780, where he was killed by the 
Indians in 1784. Thomas Lincoln, the father of 
Abraham, settled in Indiana in 1816, and removed 



to Macon County in 1830. Abraham was the 
issue of his father's first marriage, his mother's 
maiden name being Nancy Hanks. The early 
occupations of the future President were varied. 
He served at diS'erent times as farm-laborer, flat- 
boatman, country salesman, merchant, surveyor, 
lawyer, State legislator, Congressman and Presi- 
dent. In 1832 he enlisted for the Black Hawk 
War, and was chosen Captain of his company 
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature 
the same year, but elected two years later 
About this time he turned his attention to the 
study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1836, 
and, one year later, began practice at Springfield. 
By successive re-elections he served in the House 
until 1842, when he declined a re-election. In 
1838, and again in 1840, he was the Whig candi- 
date for Speaker of the House, on both occasions 
being defeated by William L. D. Ewing. In 1841 
he was an applicant to President William Henry 
Harrison for the position of Commissioner of the 
General Land Office, the appointment going to 
Justin Butterfield. His next official position was 
that of Representative in the Thirtieth Congress 
(1847-49). From that time he gave his attention 
to his profession until 1855, when he was a lead- 
ing candidate for the United States Senate in 
opposition to the principles of the Nebraska Bill, 
but failed of election, Lyman Trumbull being 
chosen. In 1856, he took a leading part in the 
organization of the Republican party at Bloom- 
ington, and, in 1858, was formally nominated by 
the Republican State Convention for the United 
States Senate, later engaging in a joint debate 
with Senator Douglas on party issues, during 
which they delivered speeches at seven diff'erent 
cities of the State. Although he again failed to 
secure the prize of an election, owing to the char- 
acter of the legislative apportionment then in 
force, which gave a majority of the Senators and 
Representatives to a Democratic minority of the 
voters, his burning, incisive utterances on the 
subject of slavery attracted the attention of the 
whole country, and prepared the way for the 
future triumph of the Republican party. Previ- 
ous to this he had been four times (1840, '44, '52. 
and '56) on the ticket of his party as candidate 
for Presidential Elector. In 1860, he was the 
nominee of the Republican party for the Presi- 
dency and was chosen by a decisive majority in 
the Electoral College, though receiving a minor- 
ity of the aggregate popular vote. Unquestion- 
ably his candidacy was aided by internal 
dissensions in the Democratic party. His election 
and his inauguration (on March 4, 1861) were 



338 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



made a pretext for secession, and he met the 
issue with promptitude and firmness, tempered 
with kindness and moderation towards tlie se- 
cessionists. He was re-elected to the Presidency 
in 1864, the vote in the Electoral College standing 
312 for Lincoln to 21 for his opponent, Gen. 
George B. McClellan. The history of Mr. Lin- 
coln's life in the Presidential chair is the history 
of the whole country during its most dramatic 
period. Next to his success in restoring the 
authority of the Government over the whole 
Union, history will, no doubt, record his issuance 
of the Emancipation Proclamation of January, 
1863, as the most important and far-reaching act 
of his administration. And yet to this act, whicli 
has embalmed his memory in the hearts of the 
lovers of freedom and human justice in all ages 
and in all lands, the world over, is due his death 
at the hands of the assassin, J. Wilkes Booth, in 
Washington City, April 15, 1865, as the result of 
an assault made upon him in Ford's Theater the 
evening previous — his death occurring one week 
after the fall of Richmond and the surrender of 
Lee's army — just as peace, with the restoration of 
the Union, was assured. A period of National 
mourning ensued, and he was accorded the honor 
of a National funeral, his remains being finally 
laid to rest in a mausoleum in Springfield. His 
profound sympathy with every class of sufferers 
during the War of the Rebellion ; his forbearance 
in the treatment of enemies; his sagacity in 
giving direction to public sentiment at home and 
in dealing with international questions abroad ; 
his courage in preparing the way for the removal 
of slavery — the bone of contention between the 
warring sections — have given him a place in the 
affections of the people beside that of Washington 
himself, and won for liim the respect and admi- 
ration of all civilized nations. 

LIXCOLN, Robert Todd, lawyer, member of 
the Cabinet and Foreign Minister, the son of 
Abraham Lincoln, was born in Springfield, 111., 
August 1, 1843, and educated in the home schools 
and at Harvard University, graduating from the 
latter in 1864. During the last few months of 
the Civil W^ar, he served on the staff of General 
Grant with the rank of Captain. After the war 
he studied law and, on his admission to the bar, 
.settled in Chicago, finally becoming a member of 
the firm of Lincoln & Isham. In 1880, he was 
chosen a Presidential Elector on the Republican 
ticket, and, in March following, appointed Secre- 
tary of War by President Garfield, serving to the 
close of the term. In 1889 he became Minister to 
England by appointment of President Harrison, 



gaining high distinction as a diplomatist. This 
was the last public office held by him. After the 
death of George M. Pullman he became Acting 
President of the Pullman Palace Car Company, 
later being formally elected to tliat office, which 
(1899) he still holds. Mr. Lincoln's name has 
been frequently mentioned in connection with 
the Republican nomination for the Presidency, 
but its use has not been encouraged by him. 

LINCOLN AXD DOUGLAS DEBATE, a name 
popularly given to a series of joint discussions 
between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Doug- 
las, held at different points in the State during tlie 
summer and autumn of 1858, while both were 
candidates for the position of United States Sena- 
tor. The places and dates of holding these 
discussions were as follows: At Ottawa, August 
31; at Freeport, August 27; at Jonesboro. Sept. 
15; at Charleston, Sept. 18; at Galesburg, Oct. 7; 
at Quincy, Oct. 13; at Alton, Oct. 15. Immense 
audiences gathered to hear these debates, which 
have become famous in the political history of 
the Nation, and the campaign was the most noted 
in ths history of any State. It resulted in the 
securing by Douglas of a re-election to the Senate ; 
but his answers to the shrewdly-couched interrog- 
atories of Lincoln lod to the alienation of his 
Southern following, the disruption of the Demo- 
cratic party in 1860, and the defeat of his Presi- 
dential aspirations, with the placing of Mr. 
Lincoln prominently before the Nation as a 
sagacious political leader, and his final election 
to the Presidency. 

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, an institution located 
at Lincoln, Logan County, 111., incorporated in 
1865. It is co-educational, has a faculty of eleven 
instructors and, for 1896-8, reports 309 pupils — 
ninety-one male and 118 female. Instruction 
is given in the classics, the sciences, music, fine 
arts and preparatory studies. The institution 
has a library of 3,000 volumes, and reports funds 
and endowment amounting to §60,000, with 
property valued at §55,000. 

LINDER, Usher F., lawyer and politician, was 
born in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Ky. (ten 
miles from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln), 
March 30, 1809; came to Illinois in 1835, finally 
locating at Charleston, Coles County ; after travel- 
ing tlie circuit a few months was elected Repre- 
sentative in the Tenth General Assembly (1836), 
but resigned before tlie close of the session to 
accept the office of Attorney -General, which he 
held less than a year and a half, when he resigned 
that also. Again, in 1846, he was elected to the 
Fifteenth General Assembly and re-elected to the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



339 



Sixteenth and Seventeenth, afterwards giving his 
attention to the practice of his profession. Mr. 
Linder, in liis best days, was a fluent speaker witli 
some elements of eloquence which gave him a 
■wide popularity as a campaign orator. Originally 
a Whig, on the dissolution of that party he 
became a Democrat, and, in 1860, was a delegate 
to the Democratic National Convention at 
Charleston, S C, and at Baltimore. During the 
last four years of his life he wrote a series of 
articles under the title of "Reminiscences of the 
Early Bench and Bar of Illinois," which was pub- 
lished in book form in 1876. Died in Chicago, 
June 5, 1876. 

LINEGAR, David T., legislator, was born in 
Ohio, Feb. 13, 1830; came to Spencer County, 
Ind., in 1840, and to Wayne County, 111., in 1858, 
afterward locating at Cairo, where he served as 
Postmaster during the Civil War; was a Repub- 
lican Presidential Elector in 1872, but afterwards 
became a Democrat, and served as such in the 
lower branch of the General Assembly (1880-86). 
Died at Cairo, Feb. 2, 1886. 

LIPPINCOTT, Charles E., State Auditor, was 
born at Edwardsville, 111., Jan. 26, 182.0; attended 
Illinois College at Jacksonville, but did not 
graduate; in 1849 graduated from the St. Louis 
Medical College, and began the practice of medi- 
cine at Chandlerville, Ca.ss County. In \S~>2 he 
went to California, remaining there five years, 
taking an active part in the anti-slavery contest, 
and serving as State Senator (1853-05). In 1857, 
having returned to Illinois, he resumed practice 
at Chandlerville, and, in 1861, under authority of 
Governor Yates, recruited a company which was 
attached to the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry as 
Company K, and of which he was commissioned 
Captain, having declined the lieutenant-colo- 
nelcy. Within twelve months he became Colonel, 
and, on Sept. 16, 1865, was mustered out as brevet 
Brigadier-General. In 1866 he reluctantly con- 
sented to lead the Republican forlorn hope as a 
candidate for Congress in the (then) Ninth Con- 
gressional District, largely reducing the Demo- 
cratic majority. In 1867 he was elected Secretary 
of the State Senate, and the same year chosen 
Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives at 
Washington. In 1868 he was elected State Audi- 
tor, and re-elected in 1872 ; also served as Perma- 
nent President of the Republican State Conven- 
tion of 1878. On the establishment of the Illinois 
Soldiers" and Sailors' Home at Quincy, he became 
its first Superintendent, assuming his duties in 
March, 1887, but died Sept. 13, following, as a 
result of injuries received from a runaway team 



while driving through the grounds of the institu- 
tion a few days previous. — Emily Webster 
Cliandler (Lippincott), wife of the preceding, 
was born March 13, 1833, at Chandlerville, Cass 
County, 111., the daughter of Dr. Charles Chand- 
ler, a prominent physician widely known in that 
section of the State ; was educated at Jacksonville 
Female Academy, and married, Dec. 25, 1851, to 
Dr. (afterwards General) Charles E. Lippincott. 
Soon after the death of her husband, in Septem- 
ber, 1887, Mrs. Lippincott, who had already 
endeared herself by her acts of kindness to the 
veterans in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, was 
appointed Matron of the institution, serving until 
her death. May 21, 1895. The respect in which 
she was held by the old soldiers, to whose com- 
fort and necessities she had ministered in hos- 
pital and elsewhere, was shown in a most touching 
manner at the time of her death, and on the 
removal of her remains to be laid by the side of 
her husband, in Oak Ridge Cemetery at Spring- 
field. 

LIPPINCOTT, (Rev.) Tliomas, early clergy- 
man, was born in Salem, N. J., in 1791; in 1817 
started west, arriving in St. Louis in February, 
1818 ; the same j-ear established himself in mer- 
cantile business at Milton, then a place of some 
importance near Alton. This place proving 
unhealthy, ho subsequently removed to Edwards- 
ville, where he was for a time employed as clerk 
in the Land OflSce. He afterwards served as 
Secretary of the Senate (1822-23). That he was a 
man of education and high intelligence, as well 
as a strong opponent of slavery, is shown by his 
writings, in conjunction with Judge Samuel D. 
Lockwood, George Churchill and others, in oi)po- 
sition to the scheme for securing the adoption of 
a pro-slavery Constitiition in Illinois in 1824. In 
1825 he purchased from Hooper Warren "The 
Edwardsville Spectator," which he edited for a 
year or more, but soon after entered the ministry 
of the Presbj'terian Church and became an influ- 
ential factor in building up that denomination in 
Illinois. He was also partly instrumental in 
.securing the location of Illinois College at Jack- 
sonville. He died at Pana, 111., April 13, 1869. 
Gen. Charles E. Lippincott, State Auditor 
(1869-77), was a son of the subject of this sketch. 

LiqUOR LAWS. In the early history of the 
State, the question of the regulation of the sale of 
intoxicants was virtually relegated to the control 
of the local authorities, who granted license, col- 
lected fees, and fixed the tariff of charges. As 
early as 1851, however, the General Assembly, 
with a view to mitigating what it was felt had 



340 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



become a growing evil, enacted a law popularly 
known as the "quart law," which, it was hoped, 
would do away with the indiscriminate sale of 
liquor by the glass. The law failed to meet the 
expectation of its framers and supporters, and, in 
1855, a jirohibitory law was submitted to the elect- 
ors, which was rejected at the polls. Since that 
date a general license system has prevailed, except 
in certain towns and cities where prohibitory 
ordinances were adopted. The regulations gov- 
erning the traffic, therefore, have been widely 
variant in different localities. The Legislature, 
however, has always possessed the same constitu- 
tional power to regulate the sale of intoxicants, 
as aconite, henbane, strychnine, or other poisons. 
In 1879 the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union began the agitation of the license question 
from a new standpoint. In March of that year, a 
delegation of Illinois women, headed by Miss 
Frances E. Willard, presented to the Legislature 
a monster petition, signed by 80,000 voters and 
100,000 women, praying for the amendment of 
the State Constitution, so as to give females above 
the age of 21 the right to vote upon the granting 
of licenses in the localities of their residences. 
Miss Willard and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Iowa, 
addressed the House in its favor, and Miss 
Willard spoke to the Senate on the same lines. 
The measure was defeated in the House bj' a vote 
of fifty-five to fifty -three, and the Senate took no 
action. In 1881 the same bill was introduced 
anew, but again failed of passage. Nevertheless, 
persistent agitation was not without its results. 
In 1883 the Legislature enacted what is generall3' 
termed the "High License Law," by the provi- 
sions of which a minimum license of §500 per 
annum was imposed for the sale of alcoholic 
drinks, and §150 for malt liquors, with the 
authority on the part of municipalities to impose 
a still higher rate by ordinance. This measure 
was made largely a partisan issue, the Repub- 
licans voting almost solidly for it, and the Demo- 
crats almost solidly opposing it. The bill was 
promptly signed by Governor Hamilton. The 
liquor laws of Illinois, therefore, at the present 
time are based upon local option, high license and 
local supervision. The criminal code of the State 
contains the customary provisions respecting the 
sale of stimulants to minors and other prohibited 
parties, or at forbidden times, but, in the larger 
cities, many of the provisions of the State law 
are rendered practically inoperative by the 
municipal ordinances, or absolutely nullified by 
the indifference or studied neglect of the local 
officials. 



LITCHFIELD, the principal city of Montgom- 
ery County, at the intersection of Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis, the Wabash and the Illinois 
Central, with three other short-liae railways, 43 
miles south of Springfield and 47 miles northeast 
of St. Louis. The surrounding country is fer- 
tile, undulating prairie, in which are found coal, 
oil and natural gas. A coal mine is operated 
within the corporate limits. Grain is extensively 
raised, and Litchfield has several elevators, flour- 
ing mills, a can factory, briquette works, etc. 
The output of the manufacturing establishments 
also includes foundry and machine shop prod- 
ucts, brick and tile, brooms, ginger ale and cider. 
The city is lighted by both gas and electricity, 
and has a Holly water-works system, a public 
library and public parks, two banks, twelve 
churches, high and graded schools, and an Ursu- 
line convent, a Catholic hospital, and two 
monthly, two weekly, and two daily periodicals. 
Population (1890), 5,811; (1900), 5,918; (1903, 
est ). 7,000. 

LITCHFIELD, CARROLLTOX & WESTERN 
RAILROAD, a line which extends from Colum- 
biana, on the Illinois River, to Barnett, 111., 51.5 
miles; is of standard gauge, the track being laid 
with fifty-six pound steel rails. It was opened 
for business, in three different sections, from 1883 
to 1887, and for three years was operated in con- 
nection with the Jacksonville Southeastern 
Railway. In May, 1890, the latter was sold under 
foreclosure, and, in November, 1893, the Litch- 
field, Carrolltou & Western reverted to the 
former owners. Six months later it passed into 
the hands of a receiver, by whom (up to 1898) it 
has since been operated. The general offices 
are at Carlinville. 

LITTLE, George, merchant and banker, was 
born in Columbia, Pa., in 1808; came to Rush- 
ville. 111., in 1836, embarking in the mercantile 
business, which he prosecuted sixty years. In 
18G5 he established the Bank of Rushville, of 
which he was President, in these two branches of 
business amassing a large fortune. Died, March 
5, 1890. 

LITTLE VERMILIOX RIVER rises in Ver- 
milion County, 111., and fiows eastwardly into 
Indiana, emptying into the Wabash in Vermilion 
County, Ind. 

LITTLE WABASH RIVER, rises in Effingham 
and Cumberland Counties, flows east and south 
through Clay, Wayne and White, and enters the 
Wabash River about 8 miles above the mouth of 
the latter. Its estimated length is about 180 
miles. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



341 



LITTLER, David T., lawyer and State Senator, 
was born at Clifton, Greene County, Ohio, Feb. 
7, 1836; was educated in the common .schools in 
his native State and, at twenty-one, removed to 
Lincoln, 111., where he worked at the carpenter's 
trade for two years, meanwhile stud3'ing law. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1S60. soon after was 
elected a Justice of the Peace, and later appointed 
Master in Chancery. In 1866 he was appointed 
by President Johnson Collector of Internal 
Eevenue for the Eighth District, but resigned in 
1868, removing to Springfield the same year, 
where he entered into partnership with the late 
Henry S. Greene, Milton Hay being admitted to 
the firm soon after, the partnership continuing 
until 1881. In 1882 Mr. Littler was elected 
Representative in the Thirty-fourth General 
Assembly from Sangamon County, was re-elected 
in 1886, and returned to the Senate in 1894, serv- 
ing in the latter body four years. In both Houses 
Mr. Littler took a specially prominent part in 
legislation on the revenue question. 

LIYERMORE, Mary Asliton, reformer and plii- 
lanthropist, was born (JIary Ashton Rice) in 
Boston, Mass., Dec. 19, 1821; taught for a time in 
a female seminary in Charlestown, and spent two 
years as a governess in Southern Virginia; later 
married Rev. Daniel P. Livermore, a Universalist 
minister, who held pastorates at various places in 
Massachusetts and at Quincy, 111., becoming 
editor of "The New Covenant" at Chicago, in 
1857. During this time Jlrs. Livermore wrote 
much for denominational papers and in assisting 
her husband; in 1862 was appointed an agent, 
and traveled extensively in the interest of the 
United States Sanitary Commission, visiting 
hospitals and camps in the Mississippi Valley; 
also took a prominent part in the great North- 
western Sanitary Fair at Chicago in 1863. Of 
late years she has labored and lectured exten- 
sively in the interest of woman suffrage and tem- 
perance, besides being the author of several 
volumes, one of these being "Pen Pictures of 
Chicago" (186.j). Her home is in Boston. 

LIVINGSTOIV COUNTY, situated about mid- 
way between Chicago and Springfield. The sur- 
face is rolling toward the east, but is level in the 
west; area, 1,026 square miles; population (1900), 
43,035, named for Edward Livingston. It was 
organized in 1837, the first Commissioners being 
Robert Breckenridge, Jonathan Moon and Daniel 
Rockwood. Pontiac was selected as the county- 
seat, the proprietors donating ample lands and 
$3,000 in cash for the erection of public buildings. 
Vermilion River and Indian Creek are the prin- 



cipal streams. Coal underlies the entire county, 
and shafts are in successful operation at various 
points. It is one of the chief agricultural coun- 
ties of the State, tlie yield of oats and corn being 
large. Stock-raising is also extensively carried 
on. The development of the county really dates 
from the opening of the Chicago & Alton Rail- 
road in 1854, since which date it has been crossed 
by numerous other lines. Pontiac, the county- 
seat, is situated on the Vermilion, is a railroad 
center and the site of the State Reform School. 
Its population in 1890 was 2,784. Dwight has 
attained a wide reputation as the seat of the 
parent "Keeley" Institute for the cure of the 
liquor haV)it. 

LOCKPORT, a village in Will County, laid out 
in 1837 and incorporated in 18.~>3: situated 33 
miles .southwest of Chicago, on the Des Plaines 
River, the Illinois & Michigan Canal, the Atchi- 
son, Topeka tt Santa Fe and the Cliicago & Alton 
Railroads. Tlie surrounding region is agricul- 
tural ; limestone is extensively quarried. Manu- 
factures are flour, oatmeal, brass goods, paper 
and strawboard. It has ten churches, a public 
and lii.gh .school, parochial schools, a bank, gas 
plant, electric car lines, and one weekly paper. 
The controlling works of the Chicago Drainage 
Canal and offices of the Illinois & Michigan Canal 
are located here. Population (1890), 2,449; 
(1900), 2,6.59. 

LOCKWOOD, Samuel Drake, jurist, was born 
at Poundridge, Westchester County, N. Y., 
August 2, 1789 , left fatherless at the age of ten, 
after a few months at a private school in New 
Jersey, he went to live with an uncle (Francis 
Drake) at Waterford, N. Y., with whom he 
studied law, being admitted to the bar at Batavia, 
N. \., in 1811. In 1813 he removed to Auburn, 
and later became Master in Chancery. In 1818 
he descended the Ohio River upon a flat-boat in 
company with William H. Brown, afterwards of 
Chicago, and walking across the country from 
Shawneetown, arrived at Kaskaskia in Decem- 
ber, but finally settled at Carmi, where he 
remained a year. In 1821 he was elected Attor- 
ney-General of the State, but resigned the fol- 
lowing year to accept the position of Secretary of 
State, to which he was appointed by Governor 
Coles, and which he filled only three months, 
when President Monroe made him Receiver of 
Public Moneys at Edwardsville. About the same 
time be was also appointed agent of the First 
Board of Canal Commissioners. The Legislature 
of 1824-25 elected him Judge of the Supreme 
Court, his service extending until the adoption 



342 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of the Constitution of 1848, which }ie assisted in 
framing as a Delegate from Morgan County. In 
1851 he was made State Trustee of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, which office he held until his 
death. He was always an uncompromising 
antagonist of slavery and a leading supporter of 
Governor Coles in opposition to the plan to secure 
a pro-slavery Constitution in 1824. His personal 
and political integrity was recognized by all 
parties. From 1828 to 1853 Judge Lockwood was 
a citizen of Jacksonville, wliere he proved him- 
self an efficient friend and patron of Illinois Col- 
lege, serving for over a quarter of a century as 
one of its Trustees, and was also influential in 
securing several of the State charitable institu- 
tions there. His later years were spent at 
Batavia, where he died, April 23, 1874, in the 85th 
year of his age. 

LODA, a village of Iroquois County, on the 
Chicago Division of the Illinois Central Railway, 
4 miles north of Paxton. The region is agricul- 
tural, and tlie town has considerable local trade. 
It also has a bank and one weekly paper. 
Population (1880), 635; (1890), 598; (1900), 668. 

LOGAN, Cornelius Ambrose, physician and 
diplomatist, born at Deerfield, Mass., August 6, 
1836, the son of a dramatist of the same name; 
was educated at Auburn Academy and served as 
Medical Superintendent of St. John's Hospital, 
Cincinnati, and, later, as Professor in the Hos- 
pital at Leavenwortli, Kan. In 1873 he was 
appointed United States Minister to Chili, after- 
wards served as Minister to Guatemala, and again 
(1881) as Minister to Chili, remaining until 1883. 
He was for twelve j'ears editor of "The Medical 
Herald," Leavenworth, Kan., and edited the 
works of his relative. Gen. John A. Logan (1886), 
besides contributing to foreign medical publi- 
cations and publishing two or three volumes on 
medical and sanitary questions. Resides in 
Chicago. 

LO(iAN, John, physician and soldier, was born 
in Hamilton County, Ohio, Dec. 30, 1809; at six 
years of age was taken to Missouri, his family 
settling near the Grand Tower among the Shaw- 
nee and Delaware Indians. He began business 
» as clerk in a New Orleans commission house, but 
returning to Illinois in 1830, engaged in the 
blacksmith trade for two years ; in 1831 enlisted 
in the Ninth Regiment Illinois Militia and took 
part in the Indian troubles of that year and the 
Black Hawk War of 1832, later being Colonel of 
the Forty-fourth Regiment State Militia. At the 
close of the Black Hawk War he settled in 
Carlinville, and having graduated in medicine. 



engaged in practice in that place until 1861. At 
the beginning of the war he raised a company 
for the Seventh Illinois Volunteers, but the quota 
being already full, it was not accepted. He was 
finally commissioned Colonel of the Thirty- 
second Illinois Volunteers, and reported to Gen- 
eral Grant at Cairo, in January, 1862, a few weeks 
later taking part in the battles of Forts Henry 
and Donelson. Subsequently he had command 
of the Fourth Division of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee under General Hurlbut. His regiment 
lost heavil}- at the battle of Shiloh, he himself 
being severely wounded and compelled to leave 
the field. In December, 1864, he was discharged 
with the brevet rank of Brigadier-General. In 
1866 Colonel Logan was appointed by President 
Johnson United States Marshal for the Southern 
District of Illinois, serving until 1870, when he 
resumed the practice of his profession at Carlin- 
ville. Originallj- a Democrat, he became a 
Republican on the organization of that party, 
serving as a delegate to the first Republican State 
Convention at Bloomington in 1856. He was a 
man of strong personal characteristics and an 
earnest patriot. Died at his home at Carlinville, 
August 24, 1885. 

LOdiAN, John Alexander, soldier and states- 
man, was born at old Brownsville, the original 
county-seat of Jackson County, 111., Feb. 9, 1826, 
the son of Dr. John Logan, a native of Ireland 
and an early immigrant into Illinois, where he 
attained prominence as a public man. Young 
Logan volunteered as a private in the Mexican 
War, but was soon promoted to a lieutenancy, 
and afterwards became Quartermaster of his 
regiment. He was elected Clerk of Jackson 
County in 1849, but resigned the office to prose- 
cute his law studies. Having graduated from 
Louisville University in 1851, he entered into 
partnersliip with his uncle, Alexander M. Jenk- 
ins ; was elected to the Legislature as a Democrat 
in 1852, and again in 1856, having been Prosecut- 
ing Attorney in the interim. He was chosen a 
Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket in 
1856, was elected to Congress in 1858, and again 
in 1860, as a Douglas Democrat. During the 
special session of Congress in 1861, he left his 
seat, and fought in the ranks at Bull Run. In 
September, 1861, he organized the Thirty-first 
Regiment Illinois Infantry, and was commis- 
sioned by Governor Yates its Colonel. His mili- 
tary career was brilliant, and he rapidly rose to 
be Major-General. President Johnson tendered 
him the mission to Mexico, which he declined. 
In 1866 he was elected as a Republican to Con- 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



343 



gress for the State-at-large, and acted as one of 
the managers in the impeachment trial of the 
President; was twice re-elected and, in 1871, was 
chosen United States Senator, as he was again in 
1879. In 1884 he was an unsuccessful candidate 
for the Presidential nomination at the Republican 
Convention in Chicago, but was finally placed on 
the ticket for the Vice-Presidency with James G. 
Blaine, the ticket being defeated in November 
following. In 1885 he was again elected Senator, 
but died during his term at Washington, Dec. 26, 
1886. General Logan was the author of "The 
Great Conspiracy" and of "The Volunteer Soldier 
of America." In 1897 an equestrian statue was 
erected to his memory on the Lake Front Park in 
Chicago. 

LOGAN, Stephen Trigg, eminent Illinois jurist, 
was born in Franklin County, Ky., Feb. ~4, 1800; 
studied law at Glasgow, Ky., and was admitted 
to the bar before attaining his majoritj-. After 
practicing in his native State some ten years, in 
1832 he emigrated to Illinois, settling in Sanga- 
mon County, one jear later opening an office at 
Springfield. In 1835 he was elevated to the 
bench of the First Judicial Circuit ; resigned two 
years later, was re-commissioned in 1839, but 
again resigned. In 1842, and again in 1844 
and 1846, he was elected to the General Assem- 
bly; also served as a member of the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1847. Between 1841 
and 1844 he was a partner of Abraham Lin- 
coln. In 1854 he was again chosen a member 
of the lower house of the Legislature, was 
a delegate to the Republican National Conven- 
tion in 1860, and, in 1861, was commiissioned 
by Governor Yates to represent Illinois in the 
Peace Conference, which assembled in Wash- 
ington. Soon afterward he retired to private 
life. As an advocate his ability was widely 
recognized. Died at Springfield, July 17, 1880. 

LOGAN COUNTY, situated in the central part 
of the State, and having an area of about 630 
square miles. Its surface is chiefly a level or 
moderately undulating prairie, with some high 
ridges, as at Elkhart. Its soil is extremely fertile 
and well drained by numerous creeks. Coal- 
mining is successfully carried on. The other 
staple products are corn, wheat, oats, hay, cattle 
and pork. Settlers began to locate in 1819-22, 
and the county was organized in 1839, being 
originally cut off from Sangamon. In 1840 a 
portion of Tazewell was added and, in 1845, a 
part of De Witt County. It was named in honor 
of Dr. John Logan, father of Senator John A. 
Logan. Postville was the first county-seat, but. 



in 1847, a change was made to Mount Pulaski, 
and, later, to Lincoln, which is the present capi- 
tal. Population (1890), 25,489; (1900), 28,680. 

LOMBARD, a village of Dupage County, on the 
Chicago & Great Western and the Chicago & 
Northwestern Railways. Population (1880), 378; 
(1890), 515; (1900), 590. 

LOMBARD UNIVERSITY, an institution at 
Galesburg under control of the Universalist 
denomination, founded in 1851. It has prepara- 
tory, collegiate and theological departments. 
The collegiate department includes both classical 
and scientific courses, with a specially arranged 
course of three years for young women, who con- 
stitute nearly half the number of students. Tlie 
University has an endowment of §200,000, and 
owns additional property, real and personal, of 
the value of $100,000. In 1898 it reported a fac- 
ulty of thirteen professors, with an attendance of 
191 students. 

LONDON MILLS, a village and railway station 
of Fulton County, on the Fulton Narrow Gauge 
and Iowa Central Railroads, 19 miles southeast 
of Galesburg. The district is agricultural; the 
town has two banks and a weekly newspaper; 
fine brick clay is mined. Pop. (1900), .538. 

LONG, Stephen Harriman, civil engineer, was 
born in Hopkinton, N. H., Dec. 30, 1784; gradu- 
ated at Dartmouth College in 1809, and, after 
teaching some years, entered the United States 
Army in December, 1814, as a Lieutenant in the 
Corps of Engineers, acting as Assistant Professor 
of Mathematics at West Point; in 1816 was trans- 
ferred to the Topographical Engineers with the 
brevet rank of Major. From 1818 to 1833 he had 
charge of explorations between the Mississippi 
River and tlie Rocky Mountains, and, in 1823-24, 
to the sources of the Mississippi. One of the 
highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains was named 
in his honor. Between 1827 and 1830 he was 
employed as a civil engineer on the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad, and from 1837 to 1840, as Engineer- 
in-Chief of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, in 
Georgia, where he introduced a system of curves 
and a new kind of truss bridge afterwards gener- 
ally adopted. On the organization of the Topo- 
graphical Engineers as a separate corps in 1838, 
he became Major of that body, and, in 1861, chief, 
with the rank of Colonel. An account of his 
first expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-20) 
by Dr. Edwin James, was published in 1823, and 
the following year appeared "Long's Expedition 
to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake of the 
Woods, Etc." He was a member of the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society and the autlior of the 



344 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



first original treatise on railroad building ever 
published in this country, under the title of 
"Railroad Manual" (1)^29). During the latter 
days of his life his home was at Alton, 111. , where 
he died, Sept. 4, 1864. Though retired from 
active service in June, 1863, he continued in the 
discharge of important duties up to his death. 

LONGENECKER, Joel M., lawyer, was born in 
Crawford County, III, June 13, 1847; before 
reaching his eighteenth year he enlisted in the 
Fifth Illinois Cavalry, serving until the close of the 
war. After attending the high school at Robinson 
and teaching for some time, he began the study 
of law and was admitted to the bar at Olnej' in 
1870; served two years as City Attorney and four 
(1877-81) as Prosecuting Attorney, in the latter 
year removing to Chicago. Here, in 1884, he be- 
came the assistant of Luther Laflin Mills in the 
office of Prosecuting Attorney of Cook County, 
retaining that position with Jlr. Mills' successor. 
Judge Grinnell. On the jiromotion of tlie latter 
to the bench, in 1886, Mr. Longenecker succeeded 
to the office of Prosecuting Attorney, continuing 
in that position vmtil 1892. While in this office 
he conducted a large number of important crimi- 
nal cases, the most important, perhaps, being the 
trial of the murderers of Dr. Cronin, in which he 
gained a wide reputation for skill and ability as 
a [jrosecutor in criminal cases. 

LOOMIS, (Rev.) Hubbell, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born in Colchester, Conn., I\Iay 31, 
1775; prepared for college in the common schools 
and at Plainfield Academy, in his native State, 
finally graduating at Union College, N. Y., in 
1799 — having supported himself during a con- 
siderable part of his educational course by 
manual labor and teaching. He subsequently 
studied theology, and, for twenty-four years, 
served as pastor of a Congregational church at 
Willington, Conn., meanwhile fitting a number 
of young men for college, including among them 
Dr. Jared Sparks, afterwards President of Har- 
vard College and author of numerous historical 
works. About 1829 his views on the subject of 
baptism underwent a change, resulting in his 
uniting liimself with the Baptist Church. Com- 
ing to Illinois soon after, he siient some time at 
Kaskaskia and Edwardsville, and, in 1832, located 
at Upper Alton, where he became a prominent 
factor in laying the fomdation of Shurtleff Col- 
lege, first by the establishment of the Baptist 
Seminary, of wliich he was the Principal for 
several years, and later by assisting, in 1835, to 
secure the charter of the college in which the 
seminary was merged. His name stood first on 



the list of Trustees of the new institution, and, 
in proportion to his means, he was a liberal con- 
tributor to its support in the period of its infancy. 
The latter years of his life were spent among his 
books in literary and scientific pursuits. Died at 
Upper Alton, Dec. 15, 1872, at the advanced age 
of nearly 98 years. — A son of his — Prof. Ellas 
Loomis — an eminent mathematician and natural- 
ist, was the author of "Loomis" Algebra" and 
other scientific text-books, in extensive use in the 
colleges of the country. He held professorships 
in various institutions at different times, the last 
being that of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy 
in Yale College, from 1860 up to his death in 1889. 

LORIMER, William, Member of Congress, was 
born in Manchester, England, of Scotch parent- 
age, April 37, 1861 ; came with his parents to 
America at five years of age, and, after spending 
some years in Michigan and Ohio, came to Chi- 
cago in 1870, where he entered a private school. 
Having lost his father b}- death at twelve years 
of age, he became an apprentice in the sign-paint- 
ing business; was afterwards an employe on a 
street-railroad, finally engaging in the real-estate 
business and serving as an appointee of Mayor 
Roche and Mayor Washburne in the city water 
department. In 1893 he was the Republican 
nominee for Clerk of the Superior Court, but was 
defeated. Two years later he was elected to the 
Fifty-fourth Congress from tlie Second Illinois 
District, and re-elected in 1896, as he was again 
in 1898. His plurality in 1896 amounted to 26,736 
votes. 

LOUISVILLE, the county -seat of Clay County; 
situated on the Little Wabash River and on the 
Springfield Division of the Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern Railroad. It is 100 miles south- 
southeast of Springfield and 7 miles north of 
Flora; has a courthouse, three churches, a high 
school, a savings bank and two weekly news- 
papers. Population (1890), 637; (1900), 646. 

LOUISVILLE, EVAXSVILLE ic NEW AL- 
BANY RAILROAD. (See Louisville. EvansviUe 
& St. Louis (Consolidated) Railroad.) 

LOUISVILLE, EVANSVILLE & ST. LOUIS 
(Consolidated) RAILROAD. The length of this 
entire line is 3.'j8.55 miles, of which nearly 150 
miles are operated in Illinois. It crosses the State 
from East St. Louis to Mount Carmel, on the 
Wabash River. Within Illinois the system uses 
a single track of standard gauge, laid with steel 
rails on white-oak ties. The grades are usually 
light, although, as the line leaves the Mississippi 
bottom, the gradient is about two per cent or 
105.6 feet per mile. The total capitalization 



IIISTOltlCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



345 



(1898) was 818,236,346, of which §4,247,909 was in 
stock and §10,568,350 in bonds. — (History.) The 
original corporation was organized in both Indi- 
ana and Illinois in 1869, and the Illinois section of 
i,he line opened from Mount Carmel to Albion (18 
miles) in January, 1873. The Indiana division 
was sold under foreclosure in 1876 to the Louis- 
ville, New Albany & St. Louis Railway Com- 
pany, while the Illinois division was reorganized 
in 1878 under the name of tlie St. Louis, Mount 
Carmel & New Albany Railroad. A few months 
later the two divisions were consolidated under 
the name of the former. In 1881 this line was 
again consolidated with tlie Evausville, Rockport 
& Eastern Railroad (of Indiana), taking the name 
of the Louisville, Evan.sville & St. Louis Railroad. 
In 1889, by a still further consolidation, it 
absorbed several short lines in Indiana and Illi- 
nois — those in tlie latter State being the Illinois 
& St. Louis Railroad and Coal Company, tlie 
Belleville, Centralia & Ea.stern (projected from 
Belleville to Jlount Vernon) and the Venice & 
Carondelet — the new organization assuming the 
present name — Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis 
(Consolidated) Railroad. 

LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE RAILROAD, a 
corporation operating an extensive system of 
railroads, chiefly south of the Ohio River and 
extending througli Kentucky and Tennessee 
into Indiana. The portion of the line in Illinois 
(known as the St. Louis, Evansville & Nashville 
line) extends from East St. Louis to the Wabash 
River, in White County (133.64 miles), witli 
branches from Belleville to O'Fallon (6.07 miles), 
and from McLeansboro to Shawneetown (40.7 
miles) — total, 180.41 miles. The Illinois Divi- 
sion, though virtually owned b}' the operating 
line, is formally leased from tlie Southeast & St. 
Louis Railwa}' Company, whose corporate exist- 
ence is merely nominal. The latter company 
acquired title to the property after foreclosure 
in November, 1880, and leased it in perpetuity to 
the Louisville & Nashville Company. The total 
earnings and income of the leased line in Illinois, 
for 1898, were $1,052,789, and the total expendi- 
tures (including 847,198 taxes) were 8657,135. 

LOUISVILLE & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. (See 
Jacksnnville & Si. Louis Railway.) 

LOVEJOY, Elijah Parish, minister and anti- 
slavery journalist, was born at Albion, Jlaine, 
Nov. 9, 1803 — the sou of a Congregational minis- 
ter. He graduated at Waterville College in 1826, 
came west and taught school in St. Louis in 
1827, and became editor of a Whig paper there in 
1829. Later, he studied theology at Princeton 



and was licensed as a Presbyterian minister in 
1883. Returning to St. Louis, he started 'The 
Observer"— a religious weekly, which condemned 
slave-holding. Threats of violence from the 
pro-slavery party induced him to remove his 
paper, presses, etc., to Alton, in July, 1836. Three 
times within twelve months his plant was de- 
stroyed by a mob. A fourth press having been 
procured, a number of his friends agreed to pro- 
tect it from destruction in the warehouse where 
it was stored. On the evening of Nov. 7, 1837, a 
mob, having assembled about the building, sent 
one of their number to the roof to set it on fire. 
Lovejoy, with two of his friends, stepped outside 
to reconnoiter, when he was shot down by parties 
in ambush, breathing his last a few minutes 
later. His death did much to strengthen the 
anti-slavery sentiment north of Mason and 
Dixon's line. Plis party regarded him as a 
martyr, and his death was made the text for 
many .impassioned and effective appeals in oppo- 
sition to an institution which employed moboc- 
racy and murder in its elTorts to suppress free 
<liscussion. (.See Alton Riots.) 

LOVEJOY, Owen, clergyman and Congressman, 
was born at Albion, Maine, Jan. 6, 1811. Being 
the son of a clergyman of small means, he was 
thrown upon his own resources, but secured a 
collegiate education, graduating at Bowdoin 
College. In 1836 he removed to Alton, 111., join- 
ing his brother, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who was 
conducting an anti-slavery and religious journal 
there, and whose assassination by a pro-slavery 
mob he witnessed the following year. (See Alton 
Riots and Elijah P. Lovejoy.) This tragedy 
induced him to devote his life to a crusade 
against slavery. Having previously begun the 
study of theologj', he was ordained . to the minis- 
try and officiated for several years as pastor of a 
Congregational church at Princeton. In 1847 he 
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Constitu- 
tional Convention on the "Liberty" ticket, but, in 
1854, was elected to the Legislature upon that 
issue, and earnestly supported Abraham Lincoln 
for United States Senator. Upon his election to 
the Legislature he resigned his pastorate at 
Princeton, his congregation presenting him with 
a solid silver service in token of their esteem. In 
1856 he was elected a Representative in Congress 
by a majority of 7,000, and was re-elected for 
three successive terms. As an orator he had few 
equals in the State, while his courage in the 
support of his principles was indomitable. In 
the campaigns of 1856, '58 and "60 he rendered 
valuable service to the Republican party, as he 



346 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



did later in upholding the cause of the Union in 
Congress. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., JIarch 25, 
1864. 

LOVINGTON, a village of Moultrie County, on 
the Terre Haute-Peoria branoli of the Vandalia 
Line and the Benient& Altamont Division of tlie 
Wabash Railway, 33 miles southeast of Decatur. 
Tlie town has two banks, a newspaper, water- 
works, electric lights, telephones and volunteer 
fire department. Pop. US'JO), 767; (1900), 815. 

LUDLAM, (Dr.) Reuben, physician and author, 
was born at Cauuleu, N. J., Oct. 11, 1831, the son 
of Dr. Jacob Watson Ludlam, an eminent phy- 
sician who, in his later years, became a resident 
of Evanston, 111. The j'ounger Ludlam, having 
taken a course in an academj' at Bridgeton, 
N. J., at sixteen years of age entered upon the 
study of medicine with his father, followed by a 
course of lectures at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, where he graduated, in 1852. Having 
removed to Chicago the following year, he soon 
after began an investigation of the homoeopathic 
system of medicine, which resulted in its adop- 
tion, and, a few years later, had acquired such 
prominence that, in 1859, he was appointed Pro- 
fessor of Physiology and Pathology in the newl3' 
established Hahnemann Medical College in the 
city of Chicago, with which he continued to be 
connected for nearly forty years. Besides serving 
as Secretary of the institution at its inception, he 
had, as early as 1854, taken a position as one of the 
editors of "The Chicago Homoeopath," later 
being editorially associated with "The North 
American Journal of Homoeopathy," published in 
New York City, and "The United States Medical 
and Surgical Journal' of Chicago. He also 
served as President of numerous medical associ- 
ations, and, in 1877, was appointed by Governor 
Cullom a member of the State Board of Healtli, 
serving, by two subsequent reappointments, for a 
period of fifteen years. In addition to his labors 
as a lecturer and practitioner, Dr. Ludlam was 
one of the most prolific authors on professional 
lines in the city of Chicago, besides numerous 
monographs on special topics, having produced a 
"Course of Clinical Lectures on Diphtheria" 
(1803); "Clinical and Didactic Lectures on the 
Diseases of Women" (1871), and a translation 
from the French of "Lectures on Clinical Medi- 
cine" (1880). The second work mentioned is 
recognized as a valuable text-book, and has 
passed through seven or eight editions. A few 
years after his first connection with the Hahne- 
mann Medical College, Dr. Ludlam became Pro- 
fessor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and, on the 



death of President C. S. Smith, was chosen 
President of the institution. Died suddenly from 
heart disease, while preparing to perform a surgi- 
cal operation on a patient in the Hahnemann 
Medical College, April 29, 1899. 

LUXDY, Benjamin, early anti-slavery journal- 
ist, was born in New Jersey of Quaker par- 
entage; at 19 worked as a saddler at Wheeling, 
Va., where he first gained a practical knowledge 
I if the institution of slavery; later carried on 
business at Mount Pleasant and St. Clairsville, O., 
where, in 1815, he organized an anti-slavery 
association under the name of the "Union 
Humane Societj'," also contributing anti-slaverj' 
articles to "The Philanthropist," a paper pub- 
lished at Mount Pleasant. Removing to St. 
Louis, in 1819, he took a deep interest in the con- 
test over tlie admission of Missouri as a slave State. 
Again at 5Iount Pleasant, in 1831, he began the 
issue of "The Genius of Universal Emancipation, " 
a monthly, which he soon removed to Jonesbor- 
ough, Tenn., and finally to Baltimore in 1824, 
when it became a weekly. Mr. Lundy's trend 
towards colonization is shown in the fact that he 
made two visits (1825 and 1829) to Hayti, with a 
view to promoting the colonization of emanci- 
pated slaves in that island. Visiting the East in 
1828, he made the acquaintance of William Lloyd 
Garrison, who became a convert to his views and 
a firm allj'. The following winter he was as- 
saulted by a slave-dealer in Baltimore and nearly 
killed ; soon after removed liis ijaper to Washing- 
ton and, later, to Philadelphia, where it took the 
name of "The National EiKjuirer," being finally 
merged into "The Pennsylvania Freeman." In 
1838 his property was burned by the pro-slavery 
mob which fired Pennsylvania Hall, and, in the 
following winter, he removed to Lowell, La SaUe 
Co., 111., with a view to reviving his paper there, 
but the design was frustrated bj' his early death, 
which occurred August 22, 1839. The paper, 
however, was revived by Zebina Eastman under 
the name of "The Genius of Libert}'," but was re- 
moved to Chicago, in 1842, and issued under the 
name of "The Western Citizen." (See Eastman, 
Zebina.) 

LUNT, Orrington, capitalist and philanthro- 
pist, was born in Bowdoinham, Maine, Dec. 34, 
1815; came to Chicago in 1842, and engaged in 
the grain commission business, becoming a mem- 
ber of the Board of Trade at its organization. 
Later, he became interested in real estate oper- 
ations, fire and life insurance and in railway 
enterprises, being one of the early promoters of 
the Chicago & Galena Union, now a part of the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



347 



Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. He also took 
an active part in municipal affairs, and, during 
the War, was an efficient member of the "War 
Finance Committee." A liberal patron of all 
moral and benevolent enterprises, as shown by 
his cooperation with the "Relief and Aid Soci- 
ety" after the lire of 1871, and his generous bene- 
factions to the Young Men's Christian Association 
and feeble churches, his most efficient service 
was rendered to the cause of education as repre- 
sented in the Northwestern University, of which 
he was a Trustee from its organization, and much 
of the time an executive officer. To his noble 
benefaction the institution owes its splendid 
library building, erected some years ago at a 
cost of §100,000. In the future history of Clii- 
cago, Mr. Lunt's name will stand beside that of 
J. Young Scammon, Walter L. Newberry, John 
Crerar, and others of its most liberal benefactors. 
Died, at his home in Evanston, April 5, 1897. 

LUSK, John T., pioneer, was born in South 
Carolina, Nov. 7, 1784; brought to Kentucky in 
1791 by his father (James Lusk), who established 
a ferry across the Ohio, opposite the present town 
of Golconda, in Pope County, 111. Lusk's Creek, 
which empties into the Ohio in that vicinity*, 
took its name from this family. In 180.5 the sub- 
ject of this sketch came to Madison County, 111., 
and settled near Edwardsville. During the War 
of 1812-14 he was engaged in the service as a 
"Ranger." When Edwardsville began its 
growth, he moved into the town and erected a 
house of hewn logs, a story and a half high and 
containing three rooms, which became the first 
hotel in the town and a place of considerable 
historical note. Mr. Lusk held, at different 
periods, the positions of Deputy Circuit Clerk, 
County Clerk, Recorder and Postmaster, dying, 
Dec. 23, 1857. 

LUTHERANS, ThP. While this sect in Illi- 
nois, as elsewhere, is divided into many branches, 
it is a unit in accepting the Bible as the onlj' in- 
fallible rule of faith, in the use of Luther's small 
Catechism in instruction of the young, in the 
practice of infant baptism and confirmation at 
an early age, and in acceptance of the Augsburg 
Confession. Services are conducted, in various 
sections of the country, in not less than twelve 
different languages. The number of Lutheran 
ministers in Illinois exceeds 400, who jjreach 
in the English, German, Danisli, Swedish, Fin- 
nish and Hungarian tongues. The churches 
over which they preside recognize allegiance 
to eight distinct ecclesiastical bodies, denomi- 
nated synods, as follows: The Northern, South- 



ern, Central and Wartburg Synods of the 
General Synod; the Illinois-Missouri District of 
the Synodical Conference; the Synod for the 
Norwegian Evangelical Church; the Swedish- 
Augustana, and the Indiana Synod of the General 
Council. To illustrate the large proportion of the 
foreign element in this denomination, reference 
may be made to the fact that, of sixty-three 
Lutheran churches in Chicago, only four use the 
English language. Of the remainder, thirty- 
seven make use of the German, ten Swedish, nine 
Norwegian and three Danish. The whole num- 
ber of communicants in the State, in 1892, was 
estimated at 90,000. The General Synod sustains 
a German Theological Seminary in Chicago. 
(See al.so Religious Denominations. 

LYONS, a village of Cook County, 12 miles 
southwest of Chicago. Population (1880), 486; 
(1890), 732; (1900), 951 

MACALISTER & STEBBIINS BONDS, the 

name given to a class of State indebtedness 
incurred in the year 1841, through the hypothe- 
cation, by John D.Whiteside (then Fund Com- 
missioner of the State of Illinois), with Messrs. 
Macalister & Stebbins, brokers of New York 
City, of 804 interest-bearing bonds of §1,000 each, 
payable in 1865, upon which the said Macalister 
& Stebbins advanced to the State §201, .560.83. 
This was done with the understanding that the 
firm would make further advances sufficient to 
increase the aggregate to forty per cent of the 
face value of the bonds, but upon which no 
furtlier advances were actually made. In addi- 
tion to these, there were deposited with the same 
firm, within the next few months, with a like 
understanding, internal improvement bonds and 
State scrip amounting to §109,215.44 — making the 
aggregate of State securities in their hands §913,- 
215.44, upon which the State had received only 
the amount already named — being 28.64 per cent 
of the face value of such indebtedness. Attempts 
having been made by the holders of these bonds 
(with whom they had been hypothecated by 
Macalister & Stebbins), to secure settlement on 
their par face value, the matter became the sub 
ject of repeated legislative acts, the most impor- 
tant of which were passed in 1847 and 1849 — both 
reciting, in tlieir respective preambles, the history 
of the transaction. The last of these provided 
for the issue to Macalister & Stebbins of new 
bonds, payable in 1865, for the amount of princi- 
pal and interest of the sum actually advanced 
and found to be due, conditioned upon the sur- 
render, by them, of the original bonds and other 



348 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



evidences of indebtedness received by them in 
1841. This the actual holders refused to accept, 
and brought the case before the Supreme Court 
in an effort to compel the Governor (who was 
then ex-officio Fund Commissioner) to recognize 
the full face of their claim. This the Supreme 
Court refused to do, on the ground that, the 
executive being a co-ordinate branch of the Gov- 
ernment, they had no authority over his official 
acts. In 18.59 a partial refunding of these bonds, 
to the amount of §114,000, was obtained from 
Governor Bissell, who, being an invalid, was 
probably but imperfectly acquainted with their 
history and previous legislation on the" subject. 
Representations made to him led to a suspension 
of the proceeding, and, as the bonds were not 
transferable e.xcept on the books of the Funding 
Agency in the office of the State Auditor, they 
were treated as illegal and void, and were ulti- 
mately surrendered by the holders on the basis 
originally fixed, without loss to the State. In 
1865 an additional act was passed requiring the 
presentation, for payment, of the portion of the 
original bonds still outstanding, on pain of for- 
feiture, and this was finally done. 

MACK, Alonzo W., legislator, was born at More- 
town, Vt., in 1832; at 16 years of age settled at 
Kalamazoo, Mich., later began the study of medi- 
cine and graduated at Laporte, Ind., in 1844. 
Then, having removed to Kankakee, 111., he 
adopted the practice of law ; in 18.'58 was elected 
Representative, and, in 1860 and "64, to the 
Senate, serving through five continuous sessions 
(1858-68). In 1862 he assisted in organizing the 
Seventy-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, of 
which he was commissioned Colonel, but resigned, 
in January following, to take his seat in the 
Senate. Colonel Mack, who was a zealous friend 
of Governor Yates, was one of the leading spirits 
in the establishment of "The Chicago Repub- 
lican, " in May, 1805, and was its business mana- 
ger the first year of its publication, but disagreeing 
with the editor, Charles A. Dana, both finally 
retired. Colonel Mack then resumed the practice 
of law in Chicago, d3'ing there, Jan. 4, ISTl. 

M.ICKIXAW, the first county-seat of Tazewell 
County, at intersection of two railroad lines, 18 
miles southeast of Peoria. The district is agri- 
cultural and stock-raising. There are manufacto- 
ries of farm implements, pressed brick, liarness, 
wagons and carriages, also a State bank and a 
weekly paper. Populatiorr(IS90). 545: (1900), 859. 

MAC MILLAX, Thomas C, Clerk of United 
States District Court, was born at Stranraer, 
Scotland, Oct. 4, 1850; came with his parents, in 



1857, to Chicago, where he graduated from the 
High School and spent some time in the Chicago 
University; in 1873 became a reporter on "The 
Chicago Inter Ocean;" two years later accom- 
panied an exploring expedition to the Black Hills 
and, in 1875-76, represented that paper with 
General Crook in the campaign against the Sioux 
After an extended tour in Europe, he assumed 
charge of the "Curiosity Shop" department of 
"The Inter Ocean," served on the Cook County 
Board of Education and as a Director of the Chi 
cago Public Library, besides eight years in the 
General Assembly — 1885-89 in the House and 1889- 
93 in the Senate. In January, 1896, Mr. MacMillan 
was appointed Clerk of the United States District 
Court at Chicago. He has been a Trustee of Illi- 
nois College since 1886, and, in 188.5, received the 
honorary degree of A.M. from that institution. 

MACOMB, the county-seat of McDonough 
County, situated on the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, 59 miles northeast of Quincy. 
39 miles southwest of Galesburg. Tlie principal 
manufactures are sewer-pipes, drain-tile, pot- 
tery, and school-desk castings. The city has 
interurban electric car line, banks, nine churches, 
high school and four newspapers ; is the seat of 
Western Illinois State Normal School, and West- 
ern Preparatory School and Business College. 
Population (1890), 4,052: (1900), 5,375. 

MACO\, a village in Macon County, on the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, 10 miles south by west of 
Decatur. Macon County is one of the most fer- 
tile in the corn belt, and the city is an important 
shipping-point for corn. It has wagon and cigar 
factories, four churches, a graded school, ami a 
weekly paper. Population (1890). 819; (1900), 705. 

MACON COUJf TY, situated near the geograph- 
ical center of the State. The censiis of 1900 gave 
its area as 580 square 'miles, and its population, 
44,003. It was organized in 1829, and named for 
Nathaniel Macon, a revolutionary soldier and 
statesman. The surface is chiefly level prairie, 
although in parts there is a fair growth of timber. 
The county is well drained by the Sangamon 
River and its tributaries. The soil is that high 
grade of fertility which one might expect in the 
corn belt of the central portion of the State. 
Besides corn, oats, rye and barley are extensively 
cultivated, while potatoes, sorghum and wool are 
among the products. Decatur is the county-seat 
and principal city in the heart of a rich agricul- 
tural region. Maroa. in the northern part of the 
county, enjoys considerable local trade. 

MACOUPIN COUNTY, a south-central county, 
with an area of 864 square miles and a population 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



349 



of 42,356 in 1900. The word Macoupin is of 
Indian derivation, signifying ''white potato." 
The county, originally a part of Madison, and 
later of Greene, was separately organized in 1829, 
under the supervision of Seth Hodges, William 
Wilcox and Theodorus Davis. The first court 
house (of logs) was erected in 1830. It contained 
but two rooms, and in pleasant weather juries 
were wont to retire to a convenient grove to 
deliberate upon their findings. The surface of 
the county is level, with narrow belts of timber 
following the course of the streams. The soil is 
fertile, and both corn and wheat are extensively 
raised. While agriculture is the chief industry 
in the south, stock-raising is successfully carried 
on in the north, Carlinville is the county-seat 
and Bunker Hill, Stanton, Virden and Girard the 
other principal towns 

MAC YEAGH, Franklin, merchant, lawyer 
and politician, was born on a farm in Chester 
County, Pa., graduated from Yale University in 
1862, and, two years later, from Columbia Law 
School, New York. He was soon compelled to 
abandon practice on account of ill-health, and 
removed to Cliicago, in September, 1865, where he 
embarked in business as a wholesale grocer. In 
1874 lie was cliosen President of the Volunteer 
Citizens' Association, which inaugurated many 
important municipal reforms. He was thereafter 
repeatedly urged to accept other offices, among 
them the mayorality, but persistently refused 
until 1894, when he accepted a nomination for 
United States Senator by a State Convention of 
the Democratic Party. He made a thorough can- 
vass of the State, but the Republicans having 
gained control of the Legislature, he was 
defeated. He is the head of one of the most 
extensive wholesale grocery establishments in 
the city of Chicago. 

MADISON COUNTY, situated in the southwest 
division of the State, and bordering on the Mis- 
sissippi River. Its area is about 740 square miles. 
Tlie surface of the county is hilly along the Mis- 
sissippi bluffs, but generally eitlier level or only 
slightly undulating in the interior. The "Ameri- 
can Bottom" occupies a strip of country along 
the western border, four to six miles wide, as far 
north as Alton, and is exceptionally fertile. The 
county was organized in 1812, being the first 
county set off from St. Clair County after tlie 
organization of Illinois Territory, in 1809, and the 
third within the Territoiy. It was named in 
honor of James Madison, then President of the 
United States. At that time it embraced sub- 
stantially the whole of the northern part of the 



State, but its limits were steadily reduced by 
excisions until 1843. The soil is fertile, corn, 
wheat, oats, hay, and potatoes being raised and 
exported in large quantities. Coal seams under- 
lie the soil, and carboniferovis limestone crops out 
in tlie neighborhood of Alton. American settlers 
began first to arrive about 1800, the Judys, Gill- 
hams and Whitesides being among the first, gen- 
erally locating in the American Bottom, and 
laying the foundation for the present county. 
In tlie early history of the State, Madison County 
was the home of a large number of prominent 
men wlio exerted a large influence in sliaping its 
destiny. Among these were Governor Edwards, 
Governor Coles, Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, and 
many more whose names are intimately inter- 
woven with State liistory. The county-seat is at 
Edwardsville, and Alton is the principal city. 
Population (1890), 51, ,535; (1900), 64,694. 

MAGRUDER, Benjamin D., Justice of the 
Supreme Court, was born near Natcliez, Mi.ss., 
Sept. 37, 1838; graduated from Yale College in 
1856, and, for three years thereafter, engaged in 
teaching in liis father's private academy at 
Baton Rouge, La., and in reading law. In 18.59 
he graduated from the law department of the 
University of Louisiana, and the same year 
opened an office at Memphis, Tenn. At tlie out- 
break of the Civil War, his sympathies being 
strongly in favor of the Union, he came North, 
and, after visiting relatives at New Haven, 
Conn., settled at Chicago, in June, 1861. While 
ever radically loyal, he refrained from enlisting 
or taking part in political discussions during the 
war, many members of his immediate family 
being in the Confederate service. He soon 
achieved and easily maintained a high standing 
at the Chicago bar; in 1868 was appointed Master 
in Chancery of the Superior Court of Cook 
County, and, in 1885, was elected to succeed 
Judge T. Lyle Dickey on the bench of the 
Supreme Court, being re-elected for a full term 
of nine years in 1888, and again in 1897. He was 
Chief Justice in 1891-93. 

MAKANDA, a village of Jackson County, on 
the Illinois Central Railway, 49 miles north of 
Cairo, in South Pass, in spur of Ozark Mountains. 
It is in the midst of a rich fruit-growing region, 
large amounts of this product being shipped there 
and at Cobden. The place has a bank and a 
weekly paper. Population (1900), 528. 

MALTBY, Jasper A., soldier, was born in Ash- 
tabula County, Ohio, Nov. 3, 1826, served as a 
private in the Mexican War and was severely 
wounded at Chapultepec. After his discharge he 



350 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



established himself in the mercantile business at 
Galena, 111.; in 1861 entered the volunteer service 
as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-fifth Illinois 
Infantry, was wounded at Fort Donelson, pro- 
moted Colonel in November, 1863, and wounded 
a second time at Vicksburg; commissioned 
Brigadier-General in August, 1863; served 
through the subsequent campaigns of the Army 
of the Tennessee, and was mustered out, January, 
1866. Later, he was appointed by the commander 
of the district Mayor of Vicksburg, dying in that 
office, Dec. 13, 1867. 

MANCHESTER, a town of Scott County, on 
the Jacksonville Division of the Chicago & Alton 
Railway, 16 miles south of Jacksonville; has 
some manufactures of pottery. Population 
(1890), 408; (1900), 430. 

MANIERE, (Jeorge, early Chicago lawyer and 
jurist, born of Huguenot descent, at New Lon- 
don, Conn., in 1817. Bereft of his father in 1831, 
his mother removed to New York City, where he 
began the study of law, occasionally contributing 
to "The New York Mirror," then one of the 
leading literary periodicals of the country. In 
183.5 he removed to Chicago, where he completed 
his professional studies and was admitted to the 
bar in 1839. His first office was a deputyship in 
the Circuit Clerk's office ; later, he was appointed 
Master in Chancery, and served one term as 
Alderman and two terms as City Attorney. 
While filling the latter office he codified the 
municipal ordinances. In 1855 he was elected 
Judge of the Circuit Court and re-elected in 1861 
without opposition. Before the expiration of his 
second term lie died. May 31, 1803. He held the 
office of School Commissioner from 1844 to 1853, 
during which time, largely through his efforts, 
the school system was remodeled and the im- 
paired school fund placed in a satisfactory con- 
dition. He was one of the organizers of the 
Union Defense Committee in 1861, a member of 
the first Board of Regents of the (old) Chicago 
University, and prominently connected with 
several societies of a semi-public character. He 
was a polished writer and was, for a time, in edi- 
torial control of "The Chicago Democrat." 

MANN, James R., lawyer and Congressman, was 
born on a farm near Bloomington, 111., Oct. 20, 
1856, whence his father moved to Iroquois County 
in 1867 ; graduated at the University of Illinois 
in 1876 and at the Union College of Law in Chi- 
cago, in 1881, after which he established himself 
in practice in Chicago, finally becoming tiie head 
of the law firm of Mann. Hayes & Miller; in 1888 
was elected Attorney of the village of Hyde Park 



and, after the annexation of that municipality to 
the city of Chicago, in 1893 was elected Alderman 
of the Thirty-second Ward, and reelected in 
1894, while in the City Council becoming one of 
its most prominent members; in 1894, served as 
Temporary Chairman of the Republican State 
Convention at Peoria, and, in 1895, as Chairman 
of the Cook County Republican Convention. In 
1896 he was elected, as a Republican, to the Fifty- 
fifth Congress, receiving a plurality of 38,459 
over the Free Silver Democratic candidate, and 
36,907 majority over all. In 1898 he was a can- 
didate for re-election, and was again successful, by 
over 17,000 plurality, on a largely reduced vote. 
Other positions held by Mr. Mann, previous to his 
election to Congress, include those of Master in 
Chancery of the Superior Court of Cook County 
and General Attorney of the South Park Com- 
missioners of the cit}' of Chicago. 

MANN, Orrin L., lawyer and soldier, was born 
in Geauga County, Ohio., and, in his youth, 
removed to the vicinity of Ann Arbor, Mich., 
where he learned the blacksmith trade, but, 
being compelled to abandon it on account of an 
injmy, in 1851 began study with the late Dr. 
Hinman, then in charge of the Wesleyan Female 
College, at Albion, Mich. Dr. Hinman having, 
two years later, become President of the North- 
western University, at Evanston, Mr. Mann 
accompanied his preceptor to Chicago, continuing 
his studies for a time, but later engaging in 
teaching; in 1856 entered the University of 
Michigan, but left in his junior year. In 1800 he 
took part in the campaign which resulted in the 
election of Lincoln ; earh- in tlie following spring 
had made arrangements to engage in the lumber- 
trade in Chicago, but abandoned this purpose at 
tlie firing on Fort Sumter; then assisted in 
organizing the Thirty-ninth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers (the "Yates Phalanx"), which having 
been accepted after considerable delay, ho 
was chosen Major. The regiment was first 
assigned to duty in guarding the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad, but afterwards took part in the 
first battle of Winchester and in operations in 
North and South Carolina. Having previously 
been commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, Major 
JIann was now assigned to court-martial duty at 
Newbern and Hilton Head. Later, he partici- 
pated in the siege of Forts Wagner and Gregg, 
winning a brevet Brigadier-Generalship for 
meritorious service. The Thirty-ninth, having 
"veteranized" in 1864, was again sent east, and 
being assigned to the command of Gen B. F. 
Butler, took part in the battle of Bermuda 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



351 



I 



Hundreds, where Colonel Mann was seriously 
wounded, necessitating a stay of several months 
in hospital. Returning to duty, he was assigned 
to the staflf of General Ord, and later served as 
Provost Marshal of the District of Virginia, with 
headquarters at Norfolk, being finally mustered 
out in December, 1865. After the war he 
engaged in the real estate and loan business, 
but, in 1806, was appointed Collector of Internal 
Revenue for the Chicago District, serving until 
1868, when he was succeeded by General Corse. 
Other positions held by him have been : Represent- 
ative in the Twenty-ninth General Assembly 
(187-1-76), Coroner of Cook County (1878-80), and 
Sheriff (1880-83). General Mann was injured by 
a fall, some years since, inducing partial paraly- 
sis. 

MANNING, Joel, first Secretary of the Illinois 
& Michigan Canal Commissioners, was born in 
1793, graduated at Union College, N. Y., in 1818, 
and came to So'jthern Illinois at an early day, 
residing for a time at Brownsville, Jackson 
County, where he held the office of County- 
Clerk. In 1836 he was practicing law, when he 
was appointed Secretary of the first Board of 
Commissioners of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, 
remaining in office until 1845. He continued to 
reside at Lockport, Will County, until near the 
close of his life, when he removed to Joliet. dying 
there, Jan. 8, 18(i9. 

MANNlNdr, Julius, lawyer, was born in Can- 
ada, near Chateaugay, N. Y., but passed his 
earlier years chiefly in the State of New York, 
completing his education at Middlebury College, 
Vt. ; in 1839 came to Knoxville, 111., where he 
served one term as County Judge and two terms 
(1843-46) as Representative in the General Assem- 
bly. He was also a Democratic Presidential 
Elector in 1848. In 18.j3 he removed to Peoria, 
where he was elected, in 1S61, a Delegate to the 
State Constitutional Convention of the following 
year. Died, at Knoxville, July 4, 1803. 

MANSFIELD, a village of Piatt County, at 
the intersection of the Peoria Division of the 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis and 
the Chicago Division of the Wabash Railways, 
33 miles southeast of Bloomington. It is in the 
heart of a rich agricultural region ; has one news- 
paper. Population (1890), .533; (1900), 708. 

MANTENO, a village of Kankakee County, 
on the Illinois Central Railroad, 47 miles south 
of Chicago; a shipping point for grain, live- 
stock, small fruits and dairy products; has 
one newspaper. Population (1880), 633; (1890), 
627; (1900), 932. 



MA(JUON, a village of Knox County, on the 
Peoria Division of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railway, 16 miles southeast of Gales- 
burg. The 1-egion is agricultural. The town has 
banks and a weekly paper. Population (1880), 
548; (1890), 501. (1900), 475. 

MARCY, (Dr.) Oliver, educator, was born in 
Coleraine, Mass., Feb. 13, 1830; received his early 
education in the grammar schools of his native 
town, graduating, in 1843, from the Wesleyan 
University at Middletown, Conn. He earlj' mani- 
fested a deep interest in the natural sciences and 
became a teacher in an academy at Wilbraham, 
Mass., where he remained until 1863, meanwhile 
making numerous trips for geologic investigation 
One of these was made in 1849, overland, to 
Puget Sound, for the purpose of securing data 
for maps of the Pacific Coast, and settling dis- 
puted questions as to the geologic formation of 
the Rocky Mountains. During this trip he visited 
San Francisco, making maps of the mountain 
regions for the use of the Government. In 1862 
he was called to the professorship of Natural 
History in the Northwestern University, at 
Evanston, remaining tliere until his death. The 
institution was then in its infancy, and he taught 
mathematics in connection with liis other duties. 
From 1890 he was Dean of the faculty. He 
received the degee of LL.D. from the University 
of Chicago in 1876. Died, at Evanston, March 
19, 1899. 

MAREDOSIA (MARAIS de OGEE), a peculiar 
depression (or slough) in the southwestern part of 
Whiteside County, connecting the Mississippi 
and Rock Rivers, through which, in times of 
freshets, the former sometimes discharges a part 
of its waters into the latter. On the other hand, 
when Rock River is relatively higher, it some- 
times discharges through the same channel into 
the Mississippi. Its general course is north and 
south. — Cat-Tail Sloug-h, a similar depression, 
runs nearly parallel with the Maredosia, at a dis- 
tance of five or six miles from the latter. The 
highest point in the Maredosia above low water 
in the Mississippi is thirteen feet, and that in the 
Cat-Tail Slough is twenty-six feet. Each is 
believed, at some time, to have served as a 
channel for the Mississippi. 

MARENGO, a city of McHenry County, settled 
in 1835, incorporated as a town in 1857 and, as a 
city, in 1893; lies 68 miles northwest of Chicago, 
on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. It is 
in the heart of a dairying and fruit-growing dis- 
trict; has a foundry, stove works, condensed 
milk plant, canning factory, water-works, eleo- 



352 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



trie lights, has six churches, good schools and 
two weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 1,264 ; 
(1890), 1, 445; (1900), 2,005. 

MARINE, a village of Madison County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 27 miles northeast of 
St. Louis. Several of its ear.liest settlers were 
sea captains from the East, from whom the 
"Marine Settlement" obtained its name. Popu- 
lation (1880) 774; (1890.), 637; (1900), 666. 

MARION, the countj'-seat of Williamson 
County, 172 miles .southeast of Springfield, on the 
Illinois Central and Cln'cago & Eastern Illinois 
Railroads; in agricultural and coal region; has 
cotton and woolen mills, electric cars, water- 
works, ice and cold-storage plant, dry pressed 
brick factory, six churches, a graded school, and 
three newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,338; (1900), 2,510. 

MARION COUNTY, located near the center of 
the southern half of the State, with an area of 
580 square miles ; was organized in 1823, and, by 
the census of 1900, had a population of 30,446. 
About half the county is prairie, the chief prod- 
ucts being tobacco, wool and fruit. The 
remainder is timbered land. It is watered by the 
tributaries of the Kaskaskia and Little Wabash 
Rivers. The bottom lands have a heavy growth 
of choice timber, and a deep, rich soil. A large 
portion of the county is underlaid with a thin 
vein of coal, and the rocks all belong to the upper 
coal measures. Sandstone and building sand are 
also abundant. Ample shipping facilities are 
afforded by the Illinois Central and theBaltimore & 
Ohio (S.W.) Railroads. Salem is the county -seat, 
but Centralia is the largest and most important 
town, being a railroad junction and center of an 
extensive fruit-trade. Sandoval is a thriving 
town at the junction of the Illinois Central and 
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroads. 

MARISSA, a village of St. Clair County, on the 
St. Louis & Cairo Short Line Railroad, 39 miles 
southeast of St. Louis. It is in a farming and 
mining district: has two banks, a newspaper and 
a magazine. Population (1890), 876; (1900), 1,086. 

MAROA, a city in Macon County, on the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, 13 miles north of Decatur 
and 31 miles south of Bloomington. The city has 
three elevators, an agricultural implement fac- 
tory, water-works system, electric light plant, 
telephone service, two banks, one newspaper, 
three churches and a graded school. Population 
(1880), 870; (1890), 1,164; (1900), 1,213. 

MARQUETTE, (Father) Jacques, a French 
missionary and explorer, born at Laon, France, 
in 1637. He became a Jesuit at the age of 17, and, 
twelve years later (1666), was ordained a priest. 



The same year he sailed for Canada, landing at 
Quebec. For eighteen months he devoted him- 
self chiefly to the study of Indian dialects, and, 
in 1668, accompanied a party of Nez-Perces to 
Lake Superior, where he founded the mission of 
Sault Ste. Marie. Later, after various vicissi- 
tudes, he went to Mackinac, and, in that vicinity, 
founded the Mission of St. Ignace and built a 
rude church. In 1673 he accompanied Joliet on 
his voyage of discovery down the Mississippi, the 
two setting out from Green Bay on May 17, and 
reaching the Mississippi, by way of the Fox and 
Wisconsin Rivers, June 17. (For an interesting 
translation of Marquette's quaint narrative of the 
expedition, see Shea's "Discovery and Explo- 
ration of the Mississippi,'' N. Y., 1852.) In Sep- 
tember, 1673, after leaving the Illinois and stop- 
ping for some time among the Indians near 
"Starved Rock," he returned to Green Bay much 
broken in health. In October, 1674, under orders 
from his superior, he set out to establish a mis- 
sion at Kaskaskia on the Upper Illinois. In 
December he reached the present site of Chicago, 
where he was compelled to halt because of 
exhaustion. On March 29, 1675, he resumed his 
journey, and reached Kaskaskia, after much 
suffering, on April 8. After laboring indefati- 
gably and making many converts, failing health 
compelled him to start on his return to Macki- 
nac. Before the voyage was completed he died. 
May 18, 1675, at the mouth of a stream which 
long bore his name — but is not the present Mar- 
quette River — on the eastern shore of Lake Michi- 
gan. His remains were subsequently removed to 
Point St. Ignace. He was the first to attempt to 
explain the lake tides, and modern science has 
not improved his theory. 

MARSEILLES, a city on the Illinois River, in 
La Salle County, 8 miles east of Ottawa, and 77 
miles southwest of Chicago, on the line of the 
Cliicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. Ex- 
cellent water power is furnished by a dam across 
the river. The city has several factories, among 
the leading products being flour, paper and 
agricultural implements. Coal is mined in the 
vicinit}'. The grain trade is large, sufficient to 
support three elevators. There are three papers 
(one daily). Population (1890), 2,210; (1900), 
3,559; (1903, est ), 3,100. 

MARSH, Benjamin F., Congressman, born in 
Wythe Township, Hancock County, 111., was edu- 
cated at private schools and at Jubilee College, 
leaving the latter institution one year before 
graduation. He read law under the tutelage of his 
brother. Judge J. W. Marsh, of Warsaw, and was 



HISTOmCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



353 



admitted to the bar in 1860. The same year he was 
an unsuccessful candidate for State's Attorney. 
Immediately upon the first call for troops in 1861, 
he raised a company of cavalry, and, going to 
Springfield, tendered it to Governor Yates. No 
cavalry liaving been called for, the Governor felt 
constrained to decline it. On his way home Mr. 
Marsh stopped at Quincy and enlisted as a private 
in the Sixteenth Illinois Infantry, in which regi- 
ment he served until July 4, 1861, when Gov- 
ernor Yates advised him by telegraph of his 
readiness to accept his cavalry company. 
Returning to Warsaw he recruited another com- 
pany within a few days, of which he was com- 
missioned Captain, and which was attached to 
the Second Illinois Cavalry. He served in the 
army until Januar}-, 1866, being four times 
wounded, and rising to the rank of Colonel. On 
liis return home he interested himself in politics. 
In 1869 he was a Republican candidate for the 
State Constitutional Convention, and. in 1876, 
was elected to represent the Tenth Illinois Dis- 
trict in Congress, and re-elected in 1878 and 1880. 
In 188.J he was appointed a member of the Rail- 
road and Warehouse Commission, serving until 
1889. In 1894 he was again elected to Congress 
from his old district, which, under the new 
apportionment, had become the Fifteenth, was 
reelected in 1896, and again in 1898. In the 
Fifty-fifth Congress he was a member of the 
House Committee on Military Affairs and Chair- 
man of the Committee on Militia. 

BIARSH, William, jurist, was born at Moravia, 
N. Y., May 11, 1822; was educated at Groton 
Academy and Union College, graduating from 
the latter in 1843. He studied law, in part, in 
tlie office of Millard Fillmore, at Buffalo, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1845, practicing at Ithaca 
until 1854, when he removed to Quincy, 111. Here 
he continued in practice, in partnership, at diffei'- 
ent periods, with prominent lawj^ers of that city, 
until elected to the Circuit bench in 1885, serv- 
ing until 1891. Died, April 14 1894. 

MARSHALL, the county -seat of Clark County, 
and an incorporated city, 16 K miles southwest of 
Terre Haute, Ind., and a point of intersection of 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
and the Vandalia Railroads. The surrounding 
country is devoted to farming and stock-raising. 
The city has woolen, flour, saw and planing mills, 
and milk condensing plant. It has two banks, 
eight churches and a good public school system, 
which includes city and township high schools, 
and three newspapers: Population (1890), 1,900; 
(1900), 3,077. 



MARSHALL, Samuel S., lawyer and Con- 
gressman, was born in Gallatin County, 111., in 
1824; studied law and soon after located at 
McLeansboro. In 1846 he was chosen a member 
of the lower house of the Fifteenth General 
Assembl}', but resigned, early in the following 
year, to become State'.s Attorney, serving until 
1848; was Judge of the Circuit Court from 1851 
to 18.54, and again from 1861 to 1865; was delegate 
from the State-at-large to the Charleston and 
Baltimore Conventions of 1860, and to the 
National Union Convention at Philadelphia in 
1866. In 1861 he received the complimentary 
vote of his party in the Legislature for United 
States Senator, and was similarly honored in the 
Fortieth Congress (1867) by receiving the Demo- 
cratic support for Speaker of the House. He 
was first elected to Congress in 1854, re-elected in 
1856, and, later, served continuously from 1865 to 
1875, when he returned to the practice of his 
profession. Died, July 26, 1890. 

MARSHALL COUNTY, situated in the north- 
central part of the State, with an area of 400 
square miles — named for Chief Justice John Mar- 
shall. Settlers began to arrive in 1827, and 
county organization was effected in 1839, The 
Illinois River bisects the county, which is also 
drained by Sugar Creek. The surface is gener- 
ally level prairie, except along the river, although 
occasionally undulating. The soil is fertile, 
corn, wheat, hay and oats forming the staple 
agricultural products. Hogs are raised in great 
number, and coal is extensively mined. Lacon 
is the county-seat. Population (1880), 15,053; 
(1890), 13,653; (1900), 16,370. 

MARTIN, (Gen.) James S., ex Congressman 
and soldier, was born in Scott County, Va., 
August 19, 1836, educated in the common 
schools, and, at the age of 20, accompanied his 
parents to Southern Illinois, settling in Marion 
Comity. He served as a non-commissioned 
officer in the war with Mexico.. In 1849, he was 
elected Clerk of the Marion County Court, which 
office he filled for twelve years. By profession he 
is a lawjer, and has been in active practice when 
not in public or military life. For a number of 
years he was a member of the Republican State 
Central Committee. In 1863 he was commis- 
sioned Colonel of the One Hundred and Eleventh 
Illinois Volunteers, and, at the close of the war, 
brevetted Brigadier-General. On his return home 
he was. elected County Judge of Marion County, 
and, in 1868, appointed United States Pension 
Agent. The latter post he resigned in 1873, hav- 
ing been elected, as a Republican, to represent 



354 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the Sixteenth District in the Forty-third Con- 
gress. He was Commander of the Grand Army 
for the Department of IHinois in 1889-90. 

M.IRTINSVILLE, a village of Clark County, 
on the Terre Haute & Indianapolis (Vandalia) 
Railroad. 11 miles southwest of Marshall; has 
t wo hanks and one newspaper. Population ( 1880). 
663; (1890). 779; (1900), 1,000. 

MASCOUTAH, a city iu St. Clair County, 25 
miles from St. Louis and 11 miles east of Belle- 
ville, on the line of the Louisville & Nashville 
Railroad. Coal-mining and agriculture are the 
principal industries of the surrounding country. 
The city has flour mills, a brickyard, dairy, 
school, churches, and electric line. Population 
(1880), 2,558; (1890), 2,032; (1900), 3,171. 

MASON, Rosnell B., civil engineer, was born 
in Oneida County, N. Y., Sept. 19, 1805; in his 
boyhood was employed as a teamster on the Erie 
Canal, a year later ( i822) accepting a position as 
rodman under Edward F. Gay, assistant-engineer 
in charge of construction. Subsequently he was 
employed on the Schuylkill and Morris Canals, 
on the latter becoming assistant engineer and, 
finally, chief and superintendent. Other works 
with which Mr. Mason was connected in a similar 
capacity were the Pennsylvania Canal and the 
Housatonic, New York & New Haven and the 
Vermont Valley Railroads. In 1851 he came 
west and took charge of the construction of the 
Illinois Central Raihoad, a work which required 
five years for its completion. The next four 
years were spent as contractor in the construction 
of roads in Iowa and Wisconsin, until 1860, when 
he became Superintendent of the Ciiicago & 
Alton Railroad, but remained only one year, in 
1861 accepting the position of Controller of the 
lanil department of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
which he retained until 1867. The next two 
years were occupied in the service of the State in 
lowering the summit of the Illinois & IMichigan 
Canal. In 1869 he was elected Mayor of the city 
of Chicago, and it was in the closing days of 
his term that the great fire of 1871 occurred, 
testing his executive ability to the utmost. From 
1873 to 1883 he served as one of the Trustees of 
the Illinois Industrial University, and was one of 
the incorporators, and a lifelong Director, of the 
Presbyterian Theological Seminar}' of the North- 
west Died, Jan. 1, 1892.— Edward Gay (Mason), 
son of the preceding, was born at Bridgeport, 
Conn., August 23, 1839; came with his father's 
family, in 1852, to Chicago, where he attended 
school for several years, after which he entered 
Yale College, graduating there in 1860. He then 



studied law, and, later, became a member of the 
law firm of Mattocks & Mason, but subsequently, 
in conjunction with two brothers, organized the 
firm of Jlason Brothers, for the prosecution of a 
real-estate and law business. In 1881 Mr. Mason 
was one of the organizers of the Chicago Musical 
Festival, which was instrumental in bringing 
Theodore Thomas to Chicago. In 1887 he became 
President of the Chicago Historical Society, as the 
successor of Elihu B. Washburne, retaining the 
position until his death, Dec. 18, 1898. During 
his incumbency, the commodious building, now 
occupied by the Historical Society Library, was 
erected, and he added largely to the resources of 
the Society by the collection of rare manuscripts 
and other historical records. He was the author 
of several historical works, including "Illinois in 
the Eighteenth Century," "Kaskaskia and Its 
Parish Records," besides papers on La Salle and 
the first settlers of Illinois, and "The Story of 
James Willing — An Episode of the American 
Revolution." He also edited a volume entitled 
"Early Chicago and Illinois," which was pub- 
lished under the auspices of the Chicago Histor- 
ical Society. Mr. Mason was, for several years, a 
Trustee of Yale University and, about the time of 
his death, %vas prominently talked of for President 
of that institution, as successor to President 
Timothy Dwight. 

MASON, William E., United States Senator, 
was born at Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, 
N. Y., July 7, 1850, and accompanied his parents 
to Bentonsport, Iowa, in 1858. He was educated 
at the Bentonsport Academy and at Birmingham 
College. From 186G to 1870 he taught school, the 
last two years at Des Moines. In that city he 
studied law with Hon. Thomas F. Withrow, who 
afterward admitted him to partnership. In 1873 
he removed to Chicago, where he has since prac- 
ticed his profession. He soon embarked in poli- 
tics, and, in 1878, was elected to the lower house 
of the General Assembly, and, in 1882, to the 
State Senate. In 1884 he was the regular Repub- 
lican candidate for Congress in the Third Illinois 
District (then strongly Republican), but, owing 
to part}' dissensions, was defeated by James H. 
Ward, a Democrat. In 1886, and again in 1888, 
he was elected to Congress, but, in 1890, was 
defeated for re-election by Allan C. Durborow. 
He is a vigorous and effective campaign speaker. 
In 1897 he was elected United States Senator, 
receiving in the Legislature 125 votes to 77 for 
John P. Altgeld, the Democratic candidate. 

M.iSON CITY, a prosperous city in Mason 
County, at the intersection of the Chicago & 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



355 



Alton and the Havana branch of the Illinois 
Central Railroads, 18 miles west by north of 
Lincoln, and about 30 miles north of Springfield. 
Being in the heart of a rich corn-growing district, 
it is an important shipping point for that com- 
modity. It has four churches, two banks, two 
newspapers, brick works, flour-mills, grain-ele- 
vators and a carriage factor}-. Population (1880), 
1,714; (1S90), 1,809; (1900), 1.890. 

MASON COUNTY, organized in 1841, with a 
population of about 2,000; population (1900), 
17,491, and area of 560 square miles, — named for a 
county in Kentucky. It lies a little northwest 
of the center of the State, the Illinois and Sanga- 
mon Rivers forming its west and its south boimd- 
arie.s. The soil, while sandy, is fertile. The 
chief staple is corn, and the county offers excel- 
lent opportunities for viticulture. Tha American 
pioneer of JIason County was probably Maj. 
Ossian B. Ross, who settled at Havana in 1833. 
Not until 1837, however, can immigration be said 
to have set in rapidly. Havana was first chosen 
as the county seat, but Bath enjoyed the honor 
for a few years, the county offices being per- 
manently removed to the former point in 18.51. 
Mason City is an important shipping point on the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad 

MASONS, ANCIENT ORDER OF FREE AND 
ACCEPTED. (See Free-Masons ) 

MASSAC COUNTY, an extreme southern 
county of the State and one of the smallest, its 
area, being but little more than 240 square miles, 
with a population (1900) of 13,110 — named for 
Fort JIfissac, within its borders. The surface is 
liilly toward the north, but the bottom lands 
along the Ohio River are swampy and liable to 
frequent overflows. A considerable portion of the 
natural resources consists of timber — oak, wal- 
nut, poplar, hickory, cypress and Cottonwood 
abounding. Saw mills are found in nearly every 
town, and considerable grain and tobacco are 
raised. The original settlers were largely from 
Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina, and hospi- 
tality is traditional. Metropolis, on the Ohio 
River, is the county-seat. It was laid off in 1839, 
although Massac County was not separately 
organized until 1848. At Massac City may be 
seen the ruins of the early French fort of that 
name. 

MASSAC COUNTY REBELLION, the name 
commonly given to an outbreak of mob violence 
which occurred in Massac County, in 1845-46. An 
arrested criminal having asserted that an organ- 
ized band of thieves and robbers existed, and 
having given the names of a large number of the 



alleged members, popular excitement rose to 
fever heat. A company of self-appointed "regu- 
lators" was formed, whose acts were so arbitrary 
that, at the August election of 1846, a Sheriff and 
County Clerk were elected on the avowed issue 
of opposition to these irregular tactics. This 
served to stimulate the "regulators" to renewed 
activity. Many persons were forced to leave the 
count}- on suspicion, and others tortured into 
making confession. In consequence, some leading 
"regulators" were thrown into jail, only to be soon 
released by their friends, who ordered the Sheriff 
and County Clerk to leave the coimty. The feud 
rapidly grew, both in proportions and in inten- 
sity. Governor French made two futile efforts to 
restore order through mediation, and the ordinary 
processes of law were also found unavailing. 
Judge Scates was threatened with lynching 
Only GO men dared to serve in the Sheriff's posse, 
and these surrendered upon promise of personal 
immunity from violence. This pledge was not 
regarded, several members of the posse being led 
away as prisoners, some of whom, it was believed, 
were drowned in the Ohio River. All the incarcer- 
ated "regulators" were again released, the Sheriff 
and his supporters were once more ordered to 
leave, and fresh seizures and outrages followed 
each other in quick succession. To remedy this 
condition of affairs, the Legislature of 1847 enacted 
a law creating district courts, under the provi- 
sions of which a Judge might hold court in any 
county in his circuit. This virtually conferred 
upon the Judge the right to change the venue at 
his own discretion, and thus .secure juries unbiased 
by local or partisan feeling. The effect of this 
legislation was highly beneficial in restoring 
quiet, although the embers of the feud still 
smoldered and intermittently leaped into flame 
for several years thereafter. 

MATHENY, Charles R., pioneer, was born in 
Loudoun County, Va., 3Iarch 6, 1786, licensed as a 
Methodist preacher, in Kentucky, and, in 180.5, 
came to St. Clair County (then in Indiana Terri- 
tory), as a missionary. Later, he studied law and 
was admitted to the bar; served in the Third 
Territorial (1817) and the Second State Legisla- 
tures a820-22); removed, in 1821, to the newly 
organized county of Sangamon, where he was 
appointed the first County Clerk, remaining in 
office eighteen years, also for some years holding, 
at the same time, the offices of Circuit Clerk, 
Recorder and Probate Judge. Died, while 
County Clerk, in 1839.— Noah W. (Matheny), son 
of the preceding, was born in St. Clair County, 111., 
Julv 31 1815; was assistant of his father in the 



35G 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



County Clerk's office in Sangamon County, and, 
on the death of tlie latter, (November, 1839), was 
elected his successor, and re-elected for eight con- 
secutive terms, serving until 18T3. Died, April 
30, 1877. — James H. (Matheny), another son, 
born Oct. 30, 1818, in St. Clair County ; served in 
his youth as Clerk in various local offices; was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1847, 
elected Circuit Clerk in IS.'iS, at the close of his 
term beginning the, practice of law; was com- 
missioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred 
and Fourteenth Illinois Volunteers, in October, 
1863, and, after the siege of Vicksburg, served as 
Judge Advocate until July, 1864, when he 
resigned. He then returned to his profession, 
but, in 1873, was elected County Judge of Sanga- 
mon County, holding the office by repeated re- 
elections until his death, Sept. 7, 1890,— having 
resided in Springfield 68 years. 

MATHER, Thomas, pioneer merchant, was 
born, April 24, 1795, at Simsbury, Hartford 
County, Conn. ; in early manhood was engaged 
for a time in business in New York City, but, in 
the spring of 1818, came to Kaskaskia, 111., where 
he soon after became associated in business with 
James L. Lamb and others. This firm was 
afterwards quite extensively engaged in trade 
with New Orleans. Later he became one of the 
founders of the town of Chester. In 1830 Mr. 
Mather was elected to the lower branch of the 
Second General Assembly from Randolph 
County, was re-elected to the Third (serving for 
a part of the session as Speaker), and again to the 
Fourth, but, before the expiration of his last term, 
resigned to accept an appointment from Presi- 
dent John Quincy Adams as Commissioner to 
locate the military road from Independence to 
Santa Fe, and to conclude treaties witli the 
Indians along the line. In the Legislature of 
1823 he was one of the most determined oppo- 
nents of the scheme for securing a pro-slavery 
Constitution. In 1838 he was again elected to 
the House and, in 1832, to the Senate for a term 
or four years. He also served as Colonel on the 
staff of Governor Coles, and was supported for the 
United States Senate, to fill the vacancy caused 
by the death of John McLean, in 1830. Having 
removed to Springfield in 1835, he became promi- 
nent in business affairs there in connection with 
his former partner, Mr. James L. Lamb; in 1837 
was appointed a member of the first Board of 
Fund Commissioners for the State under the 
internal improvement system ; also served seven 
years as President of the Springfield branch of 
the State Bank; was connected, as a stock- 



holder, with the construction of the Sangamon & 
Morgan (now Wabash) Railroad, extending from 
Springfield to the Illinois river at Naples, and 
was also identified, financially, with the old Chi- 
cago & Galena Union Railroad. From 1835 until 
his death, Colonel Mather served as one of the 
Trustees of Illinois College at Jacksonville, and 
was a liberal contributor to the endowment of 
that institution. His death occurred during a 
visit to Philadelphia, March 28, 1853. 

MATTESON, Joel Aldrich, ninth regularly 
elected Governor of Illinois (1853-.57), was born 
in Watertown, N. Y. , August 8, 1808 ; after some 
experience in business and as a teacher, in 1831 
he went to South Carolina, where he was foreman 
in the construction of the first railroad in that 
State. In 1834 he removed to Illinois, where he 
became a contractor on the Illinois & Michigan 
Canal, and also engaged in manufacturing at 
Joliet. After serving three terms in the State 
Senate, he was elected Governor in 1853, and, in 
1855, was defeated by Lyman Trumbull for the 
United States Senatorship. At the close of his 
gubernatorial term he was complimented by the 
Legislature, and retired to private life a popular 
man. Later, there were developed grave scandals 
in connection with the refunding of certain 
canal scrip, with which his name — unfortunately 
— was connected. He turned over property to 
the State of the value of nearly 6250,000, for its 
indemnification. He finally took up his resi- 
dence in Chicago, and later spent considerable 
time in travel in Europe. He was for many 
years the lessee and President of the Chicago & 
Alton Railroad. Died in Chicago, Jan. 31, 1873. 

MATTHEWS, Asa C, ex-Comptroller of the 
United States Treasury, was born in Pike County, 
111., March 22, 1833; graduated from Illinois Col- 
lege in 1855, and was admitted to the bar three 
years later. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, 
he abandoned a remunerative practice at Pitts- 
field to enlist in the army, and was elected and 
commissioned a Captain in the Ninety-ninth Illi- 
nois Volunteers. He rose to the rank of Colonel, 
being mustered out of the service in August. 
1865. He was appointed Collector of Internal 
Revenue in 1809, and Supervisor for the District 
composed of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, in 
1875. Being elected to the Thirtieth General 
Assembly in 1876, he resigned his office, and was 
re-elected to the Legislature in 1878. On the 
death of Judge Higbee, Governor Hamilton 
appointed Mr. Matthews to fill the vacancy thus 
created on the bench of the Sixth Circuit, his 
term expiring its 1885. In 1888 he was elected to 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



357 



the Thirty-sixth General Assembly and was 
chosen Speaker of the House. In May, 1889, 
President Harrison named him First Comp- 
troller of the United States Treasury, and the 
House, bj- a unanimous vote, expressed its grati- 
fication at his selection. Since retiring from 
office, Colonel Matthews has devoted his attention 
to the practice of his profession at Pittsfield. 

MATTHEWS, Milton W., lawyer and journal- 
ist, was born in Clark County, 111., March 1, 1846, 
educated in the common schools, and, near the 
close of the war, served in a 100-days' regiment ; 
began teaching in Champaign County in 1865, 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867 ; 
in 1873 was appointed Master in Chancery, served 
two terms as Prosecuting Attorney, and, in 1888, 
was elected to the State Senate, meanwhile, from 
1879, discharging the duties of editor of "The 
Champaign County Herald," of which he was 
also proprietor. During his last session in the 
State Senate (1891-93) he served as President pro 
tem. of that body; was also President of the 
State Press Association and served on the staff of 
Governor Fifer. with the rank of Colonel of the 
Illinois National Guard. Died, at Urbana, May 
10, 1892. 

MATTOON. an important city in Coles County, 
172 miles west of south from Chicago and .56 miles 
west of Terre Haute, Ind. ; a point of junction for 
three lines of railway, and an important shipping 
point for corn and broom corn, which are both 
extensively grown in the surrounding region. It 
has several banks, foundries, machine shops. 
brick and tile-works, flour-mills, grain-elevators, 
with two daily and four weekly newspapers; also 
has good graded schools and a high school. The 
repair shops of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- 
cago & St. Louis Railroad are located here. 
Population (1890), 6,833; (1900), 9,633. 

MAXWELL, Philip, M.D., pioneer physician, 
was born at Guilford, Vt., April 3, 1799, graduated 
in medicine and practiced for a time at Sackett's 
Harbor, also serving in the New York Legisla- 
ture; was appointed Assistant Surgeon at Fort 
Dearborn, in 1833, remaining intil the abandon- 
ment of the fort at the end of 1836. In 1838 he 
was promoted Surgeon, and served with Gen. 
Zachary Taylor in the campaign against the Semi- 
noles in Florida, but resumed private practice in 
Chicago in 1844; served two terms as Represent- 
ative in the General Assembly (1848-53) and, in 
1855, settled on the shores of Lake Geneva, Wis. , 
where he died, Nov. 5, 1859. 

MAT, William L., early lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born in Kentucky, came at an early day 



to Edwardsville, 111., and afterwards to Jackson- 
ville; was elected from Morgan County to the 
Sixth General Assembly (1828), and the next year 
removed to Springfield, having been appointed by 
President Jackson Receiver of Public Moneys for 
the Land Office there. He was twice elected to 
Congress (1834 and '86), the first year defeating 
Benjamin Mills, a brilliant lawyer of Galena. 
Later, May became a resident of Peoria, but 
finally removed to California, where he died. 

MAYO, Walter L., legislator, was born in Albe- 
marle County Va., March 7, 1810; came to 
Edwards County, 111., in 1828, and began teach- 
ing. He took part in the Black Hawk War 
(1831-33), being appointed by Governor Reynolds 
Quartermaster of a battalion organized in that 
section of the State. He had previously been 
appointed County Clerk of Edwards County to fill 
a vacancy, and continued, by successive re-elec- 
tions, to occupy the position for thirty-seven 
years — also acting, for a portion of the time, as 
Circuit Clerk, Judge of Probate and County Treas- 
urer. In 1870 he was elected Representative in 
the T%venty-seventh General Assembly for the 
Edwards County District. On the evening of Jan. 
18. 1878, he mysteriously disappeared, having 
been last seen at the Union Depot at East St. 
Louis, when about to take the train for his home 
at Albion, and is supposed to have been secretly 
murdered. No trace of his body or of the crime 
was ever discovered, and the affair has remained 
one of the mysteries of the criminal history of 
Illinois. 

MAYWOOD, a village of Cook Coimty, and 
suburb of Chicago, 10 miles west of that city, on 
the Chicago & Northwestern and the Chicago 
Great Western Railways; has churches, two 
weekly newspapers, public schools and some 
manufactures. Population (1900), 4,533. 

McAllister, Willlam K., jurist, was born in 
Washington County. N. Y., in 1818. After 
admission to the bar he commenced practice at 
Albion, N. Y., and, in 1854, removed to Chicago. 
In 1866 he was a candidate for the bench of the 
Superior Court of that city, but was defeated by 
Judge Jameson. Two years later he was chosen 
Judge of the Recorder's Com-t, and, in 1870, was 
elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, which 
position he resigned in 1875, having been elected 
a Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County to 
fill a vacancy. He was re-elected for a full term 
and assigned to Appellate Court duty in 1879. 
He was elected for a third time in 1885, but, 
before the expiration of his term, he died, Oct, 
29, 1888. 



358 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



McARTHUR, John, soldier, was born in Ers- 
kine, Scotland, Nov. 17, 1836; worked at his 
father's trade of blacksmith until 23 years old, 
when, coming to the United States, he settled in 
Chicago. Here he became foreman of a boiler- 
making establishment, later acquiring an estab- 
lishment of his own. Having joined the Twelftli 
Illinois Volunteers at the beginning of the war, 
with a company of wliich he was Captain, he 
was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel, still later Colonel, 
and, in March, 1862, promoted to Brigadier-Gen- 
eral for gallantry in the assault on Fort Donelson, 
where lie commanded a brigade. At Shiloh he 
was wounded, but after having his wound dressed, 
returned to the fight and succeeded to the com- 
mand of the Second Division when Gen. W. H. L. 
Wallace fell mortally wounded. He commanded 
a division of McPherson"s corps in the operations 
against Vicksburg, and bore a conspicuous part in 
the battle of Nashville, where he commanded a 
division under Gen. A. J. Smith, winning a brevet 
Major-Generalship by his gallantry. General 
McArthur was Postmaster of Chicago from 1873 
to 1877. 

McCAGdi, Ezra Butler, lawyer, was born at 
Kinderhook, N Y., Nov. 23, 1825; studied law at 
Hudson, and, coming to Chicago in 1847, entered 
the law office of J. Young Scammon, soon after- 
wards becoming a member of the firm of Scam- 
mon & McCagg. During the war Mr. McCagg 
was an active member of the United States Sani- 
tary Commission, and (for some years after the 
fire of 1871) of the Relief and Aid Society; is also 
a life-member and oflScer of the Cliicago Histori- 
cal Society, besides being identified with several 
State and municipal boards. His standing in his 
profession is shown by the fact that he lias been 
more than once offered a non-partisan nomina- 
tion for Justice of the Supreme Court, but has de- 
clined. He occupies a high rank in literary circles, 
as well as a connoisseur in art, and is the owner of a 
large jirivate library collected since the destruction 
of one of tlie best in the We.st by the fire of 1871. 

McCartney, James, lawyer and ex-Attorney 
General, was born of Scotcli parentage in the 
north of Ireland, Feb. 14, 1835; at two years of 
age was brought to the United States and, until 
1845, resided in Pennsylvania, when his parents 
removed to Trumbull County, Ohio. Here he 
spent his youth in general farm work, meanwhile 
attending a high school and finally engaging in 
teaching. In 1856 he began the study of law at 
Warren, Ohio, which he continued a year later in 
the office of Harding & Reed, at Monmouth, 111. ; 
was admitted to the bar in January, 1858, and 



began practice at Monmouth, I'emoving the fol- 
lowing j'ear to Galva. In April, 1861, he enlisted 
in what afterwards became the Seventeenth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteers, was commissioned 
a First Lieutenant, but, a year later, was com- 
pelled to resign on account of ill-liealth. A few 
months later he re-enlisted in the One Hundred 
and Twelfth Illinois, being soon promoted to a 
captaincy, although serving much of the time as 
Judge Advocate on courts-martial, and, for one 
year, as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General in the 
Army of the Ohio. At the conclusion of his term 
of service in the army, he resumed the practice 
of his profession at Fairfield, 111. ; in 1880 was 
nominated and elected, as a Republican, Attornej'- 
General of the State, and, during his last j'ear in 
office, began the celebrated "Lake Front suits" 
which finally terminated successfully for the 
city of Chicago. Since retiring from oflUce, Gen- 
eral McCartney has been engaged in the practice 
of his profession, chiefly in Springfield and Chi- 
cago, having been a resident of the latter city 
since 1890. 

McCARTXEY, Robert Wilson, lawyer and 
jurist, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, 
March 19, 1843, spent a portion of his boyhood in 
Pennsylvania, afterwards returning to Youngs- 
town, Ohio, where he enlisted as a private in the 
Sixth Ohio Cavalry. He was severely wounded 
at the battle of Gettysburg, lying two days and 
nights on the field and enduring untold suffering. 
As soon as able to take the field he was commis- 
sioned, by Governor Curtin, a Captain in the 
Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, serving in 
the army of the Potomac to the close of the war, 
and taking jiart in the grand review at Washing- 
ton in May, 1865. After the war he took a course 
in a business college at Pittsburg, removed to 
Cleveland and began the study of law, but soon 
came to Illinois, and, having completed his law 
studies with his brother, J. T. McCartney, at 
Metropolis, was admitted to the bar in 1868; also 
edited a Republican paper there, became inter- 
e.sted in lumber manufacture and was one of the 
founders of the First National Bank of that city. 
In 1873 he was elected County Judge of Massac 
County, serving nine years, when (1882) he was 
elected Representative in the Thirty-third Gen- 
eral Assembly. At the close of his term in tlie 
Legislature he was elected Judge of the Circuit 
Court for the first Circuit, serving from 1885 to 
1891. Died, Oct. 37, 1893. Judge McCartney 
was able, public-spirited and patriotic. The city 
of Metropolis owes to him the Free Public Library- 
bearing his name. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



359 



McCLAUGHRY, Robert Wilson, penologist, 
was born at Fountain Green, Hancocli County, 
111., July 23, 1839, being descended from Scotch- 
Irish ancestry — his grandfather, who was a native 
of the North of Ireland, having come to America 
in his youth and served in the War of the Revolu- 
tion. The subject of this sketch grew up on a 
farm, attending school in the winter until 1854, 
then spent the next two winters at an academy, 
and, in 18.'56, began a course in Monmouth Col- 
lege, where he graduated in 1860. The following 
year he spent as instructor in Latin in the same 
institution, but, in 1861, became editor of "The 
Carthage Republican," a Democratic paper, 
which he made a strong a<lvocate of the cause of 
the Union, meanwhile, both by his pen and on 
the stump, encouraging enlistments in the army. 
About the first of July, 1863, having disposed of 
his interest in the paper, he enlisted in a company 
of which he was unanimously chosen Captain, 
and which, with four other companies organized 
in the same section, became the nucleus of the 
One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Volunteers. 
The regiment having been completed at Camp 
Butler, he was elected Major, and going to the 
field in the following fall, took part in General 
Sherman's first movement against Vicksburg by 
way of Chickasaw Bayou, in December, 1862. 
Later, as a member of Osterhaus' Division of Gen- 
eral McClernand's corps, he participated with his 
regiment in the capture of Arkansas Post, and in 
the operations against Vicksburg which resulted 
in the capture of that stronghold, in July, 1863. 
He then joined the Department of the Gulf under 
command of General Banks, but was compelled 
by sickness to return north. Having sufficiently 
recovered, he spent a few months in the recruit- 
ing service (1864), but, in May of that year, was 
transferred, by order of President Lincoln, to the 
Pay Department, as Additional-Paymaster, with 
the rank of Major, being finally assigned to duty 
at Springfield, where he remained, paying off Illi- 
nois regiments as mustered out of the service, 
until Oct. 13, 1865, when he was honorably dis- 
charged. A few weeks later he was elected 
County Clerk of Hancock County, serving four 
years. In the meantime he engaged in the stone 
business, as head of the firm of R. W. McClaughry 
& Co. , furnishing stone for the basement of the 
State Capitol at Springfield and for bridges across 
the Mississippi at Quincy and Keokuk — later 
being engaged in the same business at St. Gene- 
vieve, Mo., with headquarters at St. Louis. Com- 
pelled to retire by failing health, he took up his 
residence at Monmouth in 1873, but, in 1874, was 



called to the wardenship of the State Peniten- 
tiary at Joliet. Here he remained until December, 
1888, when he resigned to accept the superin- 
tendency of the Industrial Reformatory at 
Huntingdon, Pa., but, in May, 1891, accepted 
from Mayor Washburne the position of Chief of 
Police in Chicago, continuing in service, under 
Mayor Harrison, until August, 1893, when he 
became Superintendent of the Illinois State 
Reformatory at Pontiac. Early in 1897 he was 
again offered and accepted the position of Warden 
of the State Penitentiary at Joliet. Here he re- 
mained until 1899, when he received from Presi- 
dent McKinley the appointment of Warden of the 
Military Pri.son at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., 
which position he now (1899) occupies. Major Mc- 
Claughry's administration of penal and reforma- 
tory institutions has been eminently satisfactoiy, 
and he has taken rank as one of the most success- 
ful penologists in the countrj-, 

McCLELLAX, Robert H., lawyer and banker, 
was born in Washington Count}', N. Y., Jan. 3. 
1823; graduated at LTnion College, Schenectady, 
in 1847, and then studied law with Hon. Martin I. 
Townsend, of Troj-, being admitted to the bar in 
1850. The same year he removed to Galena, 111. ; 
during his first winter there, edited "The Galena 
Gazette," and the following spring formed a 
partnership with John M. Douglas, afterwards 
General Solicitor and President of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, whicli ended with the removal 
of the latter to Chicago, when Mr McClellan 
succeeded him as local attorney of the road at 
Galena. In 1804 Mr. McClellan became President 
of the Bank of Galena — later the "National Bank 
of Galena" — remaining for over twenty years. 
He is also largely interested in local manufac- 
tories and financial institutions elewhere. He 
served as a Republican Representative in the 
Twenty-second General Assembly (1861-63), and 
as Senator (1876-80), and maintained a high rank 
as a sagacious and judicious legislator. Liberal, 
public-.spirited and patriotic, his name has been 
prominently connected with all movements for 
the improvement of his locality and the advance- 
ment of the interests of the State. 

McCLERNAKD, John Alexander, a volunteer 
officer in the Civil War and prominent Demo- 
cratic politician, was born in Breckenridge 
County, Ky., May 30, 1813, brought to Shawnee- 
town in 1816, was admitted to the bar in 1833. 
and engaged in journalism for a time. He served 
in the Black Hawk War, and was elected to the 
Legislature in 1836, and again in 1840 and '42. 
The latter year he was elected to Congress, serv- 



360 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ing four consecutive terras, but declining a 
renomination, being about to remove to Jackson- 
ville, where he resided from 1831 to 1836. Twice 
(1840 and '53) he was a Presidential Elector on 
the Democratic ticket. In 1856 he removed to 
Springfield, and, in 1859, re-entered Congress as 
Representative of the Springfield District; was 
re-elected in 1860, but resigned in 1861 to accept 
a commission as Brigadier-General of Volunteers 
from President Lincoln, being promoted Major- 
General early in 1863. He participated in the 
battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh and 
before Vicksburg, and was in command at the 
capture of Arkansas Post, but was severely criti- 
cised for some of his acts during the Vicksburg 
campaign and relieved of his command by Gen- 
eral Grant. Having finally been restored by 
order of President Lincoln, lie participated in the 
campaign in Louisiana and Texas, but resigned 
his commission in 1864. General McClernand 
presided over the Democratic National Conven- 
tion of 1876, and, in 1886, was appointed by Presi- 
dent Cleveland one of the members of the Utah 
Commission, serving through President Harri- 
son's administration. He was also elected 
Circuit Judge in 1870, as succ essor to Hon. B. S. 
Edwards, who had resigned. Died Sept. 30, 1900. 
McCLrRdr, Alexander C, soldier and pub- 
lisher, was born in Philadelphia but grew up in 
Pittsburg, where his father was an iron manu- 
facturer. He graduated at Miami University. 
Oxford, Ohio. , and, after studying law for a time 
with Chief Justice Lowrie of Pennsylvania, came 
to Chicago in 1859, and entered the bookstore of 
S. C. Griggs & Co., as a junior clerk. Early in 
1861 he enlisted as a private in the War of the 
Rebellion, but the quota of three-months' men 
being already full, his services were not accepted. 
In August. 1863, he became a member of the 
"Crosby Guards," afterwards incorporated in the 
Eiglity -eighth Illinois Infantry (Second Board of 
Trade Regiment), and was unanimously elected 
Captain of Company H. After the battle of 
Perryville, he was detailed as Judge Advocate at 
Nashville, and, in the following year, offered the 
position of Assistant Adjutant-General on the 
staff of General McCook, afterwards serving in a 
similar capacity on the staffs of Generals Thomas, 
Sheridan and Baird. He took part in the defense 
of Chattanooga and, at tlie battle of Missionary 
Ridge, had two horses shot under him ; was also 
with the Fourteenth Army Corps in the Atlanta 
campaign, and, at the request of Gen. Jeff. C. 
Davis, was ])roiiioted to the rank of Colonel and 
brevetted Brigadier-General — later, being pre- 



sented with a sword bearing the names of the 
principal battles in which he was engaged, 
besides being especially complimented in letters 
by Generals Sherman, Thomas, Baird, Mitchell, 
Davis and others. He was invited to enter the 
regular army at the close of the war, but pre- 
ferred to return to private life, and resumed his 
former position with S. C. Griggs & Co., soon 
after becoming a junior partner in the concern, 
of which lie has since become the chief. In the 
various mutations through wliich this extensive 
firm has gone, General McClurg has been a lead- 
ing factor until now (and since 1887) he stands 
at the head of the most extensive publishing firm 
west of New York. 

McCO'NEL, Murray, pioneer and lawyer, was 
born in Orange County, N. Y., Sept. 5, 1798, and 
educated in the common scliools; left home at 
14 years of age and, after a year at Louisville, 
spent several years flat-boating, trading and 
hunting in the West, during this period visiting 
Arkansas, Texas and Kansas, finally settling on a 
farm near Herculaneum, Mo. In 1823 he located 
in Scott (then a part of Morgan) County, 111., but 
wlien the town of Jacksonville was laid out, 
became a citizen of that place. During the Black 
Hawk War (July and August, 1833), he served on 
the staff of Gen. J. D. Henry with the rank of 
Major; in 1837 was appointed by Governor Dun- 
can a member of the Board of Public Works for 
the First Judicial District, in this capacity having 
charge of the construction of the railroad between 
Meredosia and Springfield (then known as the 
Northern Cross Railroad) — the first public rail- 
road built in the State, and the only one con- 
structed during the "internal improvement" era 
following 1837. He also held a commission from 
Governor French as Major-General of State Mi- 
litia, in 1855 was appointed by President Pierce 
Fifth Auditor of the Treasury Department, but 
retired in 1859. In 1833, on his return from 
the Black Hawk W^ar, he was elected a Repre- 
sentative in the State Legislature from Morgan 
County, and, in 1864, was elected to the State 
Senate for the District composed of Morgan, 
Menard, Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, 
serving until 1868. Though previously a Demo- 
crat and a delegate to the Democratic National 
Convention of 1860, he was an earnest supporter 
of the war policy of the Government, and was 
one of four Democratic Senators, in the General 
Assembly of 1865, who voted for the ratification 
of the Thirteenth Amendment of the National 
Constitution, proliibiting slavery in the United 
States. His death occurred by assassination, by 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



361 



some unknown person, in his office at Jackson- 
ville, Feb. 9, 1869.— John Liidlum (McConnel), 
son of the preceding, was born in Jacksonville, 
111., Nov. 11, 1826, studied law and graduated at 
Transylvania Law School; in 1846 enlisted a.s a 
private in the Mexican War, became First Lieu- 
tenant and was promoted Captain after the battle 
of Buena Vista, where he was twice wounded. 
After the war he returned to Jacksonville and 
wrote several books illustrative of Western life 
and character, which were published between 
1850 and 1853. At the time of his death — Jan. 
17, 1862 — he was engaged in the preparation of a 
"History of Early Explorations in America, " hav- 
ing special reference to the labors of the early 
Roman Catholic missionaries. 

McCONNELL, (Gen"). John, soldier, was born 
in Madison County, N. Y. , Dec. 5, 1824, and came 
with his parents to Illinois when about sixteen 
years of age. His father (James McConnell) was 
a native of Ireland, who came to the United 
States shortly before the War of 1813, and, after 
remaining in New York until 1840, came to San- 
gamon County, 111., locating a few miles south of 
Springfield, where he engaged extensively in 
sheep-raising. He was an enterprising and pro- 
gressive agriculturist, and was one of the founders 
of the State Agricultural Society, being President 
of the Convention of 1853 which resulted in its 
organization. His death took place, Jan. 7, 1867. 
The subject of this sketch was engaged with his 
father and brothers in the farming and stock 
business until 1861, when he raised a company 
for the Third Illinois Cavalry, of which he was 
elected Captain, was later promoted Major, serv- 
ing until March, 1863, during that time taking 
part in some of the important battles of the war 
in Southwest Missouri, including Pea Ridge, and 
was highly complimented by his commander. 
Gen. G. M. Dodge, for bravery. Some three 
months after leaving the Third Cavalry, he was 
commissioned by Governor Yates Colonel of the 
Fifth Illinois Cavalry, and, in March, 1865, was 
commissioned Brevet Brigadier-General, his com- 
mission being signed by President Lincoln on 
April 14, 1865, the morning preceding the night 
of his assassination. During the latter part of 
his service. General McConnell was on duty in 
Texas, being finally mustered out in October, 
1865. After the death of his father, and until 
1879, he continued in the business of sheep-raising 
and farming, being for a time the owner of 
several extensive farms in Sangamon County, 
but, in 1879, engaged in the insurance business 
in Springfield, where he died, March 14, 1898. 



McConnell, Samuel P., son of the preceding, 
was born at Springfield, 111., on July 5, 1849. 
After completing his literary studies he read law 
at Springfield in the office of Stuart, Edwards & 
Brown, and was admitted to the bar in 1873, soon 
after establishing himself in practice in Chicago. 
After various partnerships, in which he was asso- 
ciated with leading lawyers of Chicago, he was 
elected Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, 
in 18S9, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 
Judge W. K. McAllister, serving until 1894, when 
he resigned to give his attention to private prac- 
tice. Although one of the youngest Judges upon 
the bench. Judge McConnell was called upon, 
soon after his election, to preside at the trial of 
the conspirators in the celeorated Cronin murder 
case, in which he displayed great ability. He has 
also had charge, as presiding Judge, of a number 
of civil suits of great importance affecting cor- 
porations. 

McCORMICK, Cyrus Hall, inventor and manu- 
facturer, born in Rockbridge County, Va., Feb. 15. 
1809. In youth he manifested unusual mechani- 
cal ingenuity, and early began attempts at the 
manufacture of some device for cutting grain, his 
first finished machine being produced in 1831. 
Though he had been manufacturing for years 
in a small way, it was not until 1844 that his 
first machine was shipped to the West, and, 
in 1847, he came to Chicago with a view to 
establishing its manufacture in the heart of the 
region where its use would be most in demand. 
One of his early partners in the business was 
William B. Ogden, afterwards so widely known 
in connection with Chicago's railroad history. 
The business grew on his hands until it became 
one of the largest manufacturing interests in the 
United States. Mr. McCormick was a Democrat, 
and, in 1860, he bought "The Chicago Times." 
and having united it with "The Herald," which 
he already owned, a few months later sold the 
consolidated concern to Wilbur F. Storey. "The 
Interior," the Northwestern mouthpiece of the 
Presbyterian faith, had been founded by a joint 
stock-company in 1870, but was burned out in 
1871 and removed to Cincinnati. In January, 
1873, it was returned to Chicago, and, at the 
beginning of the following year, it became the 
property of Mr. McCormick in conjunction with 
Dr. Gray, who has been its editor and manager 
ever since. Mr. McCormick's most liberal work 
was undoubtedly the endowment of the Presby- 
terian Theological Seminary in Chicago, which 
goes by his name. His death occurred. May 13, 
1884, after a business life of almost unprece- 



362 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



dented success, and after conferring upon tlie 
agricultiirists of the country a Vjoon of inestimable 
value. 

Mccormick theological seminary, a 

Presbyterian school of theology in Chicago, be- 
ing the outgrowth of an institution originally con- 
nected with Hanover College, Ind., in 1830. In 
1859 the late Cyrus H. McCormick donated $100,- 
000 to the school, and it was removed to Chicago, 
where it was opened in September, with a class 
of fifteen students. Since then nearly .$300,000 
have been contributed toward a building fund by 
Mr. McCormick and hia heirs, besides numerous 
donations to the same end made by others. The 
number of buildings is nine, four being for the 
general purposes of the institution (including 
dormitories), and five being houses for the pro- 
fessors. The course of instruction covers three 
annual terms of seven months each, and includes 
didactic and polemic theolog}-, biblical and 
ecclesiastical historj-, sacred rhetoric and pastoral 
theology, church government and the sacra- 
ments. New Testament literature and exegesis, 
apologetics and missions, and homiletics. The 
faculty consists of eight professors, one adjunct 
professor, and one instructor in elocution and 
vocal culture. Between 200 and 300 students are 
enrolled, including post-graduates. 

McCULLOCH, David, lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Cumberland County, Pa., Jan. 2!>, 1832; 
received his academic education at ^Marshall Col- 
lege, Mercersburg, Pa. , graduating in the class of 
1852. Then, after spending some six months as 
a teacher in his native village, he came west, 
arriving at Peoria early in 1858. Here he con- 
ducted a private school for two years, when, in 
1855, he began the study of law in the office of 
Manning & Merriman, being admitted to the bar 
in 1857. Soon after entering upon his law studies 
he was elected School Commissioner for Peoria 
County, serving, by successive re-elections, three 
terms (1855-61). At the close of this period he 
was taken into partnership with his old precep- 
tor, Julius Manning, who died, July 4, 1862. In 
1877 he was elected Circuit Judge for the Eighth 
Circuit, under the law authorizing the increase of 
Judges in each circuit to three, and was re- 
elected in 1879, serving until 1885. Six years of 
this period were spent as a Justice of the Appellate 
Court for the Third Appellate District. On 
retiring from the bench, Judge McCulloch entered 
into partnership with his son, E. D. McCulloch, 
which is still maintained. Politically, Judge 
McCulloch was reared as a Democrat, but during 
the Civil War became a Republican. Since 1886 



he has been identified with the Prohibition Party, 
although, as the result of questions arising during 
the Spanish- American War, giving a cordial 
support to the policy of President JIcKinley. In 
religious views he is a Presbyterian, and is a mem- 
ber of the Board of Directors of the McCormick 
Theological Seminary at Chicago. 

McCULLOl'GH, James Skiles, Auditor of 
Public Accounts, was born in Mercersburg, 
Franklin County, Pa. , May 4, 1843 ; in 1854 came 
with his father to Urbana, 111. , and grew up on a 
farm in that vicinity, receiving such education as 
could be obtained in the public schools. In 1862, 
at 'the age of 19 years, he enlisted as a private in 
Company G, Seventy-sixth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, and served during the next three years 
in the Departments of the Mississippi and the Gulf, 
meanwhile participating in the campaign against 
Vicksburg, and, near the close of the war, in the 
operations about Mobile. On the 9th of April, 
1865, while' taking jiart in the assault on Fort 
Blakely, near Mobile, his left arm was torn to 
pieces by a grape-shot, compelling its amputation 
near the shoulder. His final discharge occurred 
in Jul}-, 1865. Returning home he spent a j-ear in 
school at Urbana, after which he n-as a student in 
the Soldiers" College at Fulton, 111., for two years. 
He then (1868) entered the office of the County 
Clerk of Champaign County as a deput}', remain- 
ing until 1873, when he was chosen County Clerk, 
serving by successive re-elections until 1896. The 
latter year he received the nomination of the 
Republican Party for Auditor of Public Accounts, 
and, at the November election, was elected by a 
plurality of 138,000 votes over his Democratic 
opponent. He was serving his sixth term as 
County Clerk when chosen Auditor, having 
received the nomination of his party on each 
occasion without opposition. 

McDAXNOLI), John J., lawyer and ex-Con- 
gressman, was born in Brown County, 111., August 
29, 1851, acquired his early education in the com- 
mon schools of his native county and in a private 
school; graduated from the Law Department of 
the Iowa State University in 1874, and was 
admitted to the bar in Illinois the satne year, 
commencing practice at Mount Sterling. In 1885 
he was made Master in Chancerj-, in 1886, elected 
County Judge, and re-elected in 1890, resigning 
his seat in October, 1892, to accept an election by 
the Democrats of the Twelfth Illinois District as 
Representative in the Fifty-third Congress. 
After retiring from Congress (March 4, 1895), Mr. 
McDannold removed to Chicago, where he 
engaged in the practice of his profession. 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



363 



Mcdonough county, organized under an 
act passed, Jan. 35, 1826, and attached, for judicial 
purposes, to Schuyler County until 1830. Its 
present area is 580 square miles — named in honor 
of Commodore MoDonough. The first settlement 
in the county was at Industry, on the site of 
whicli William Carter (the pioneer of the 
county) built a cabin in 1826. James and John 
Vance and William Job settled in the vicinity in 
the following year. Out of this settlement grew 
Blandinsville. William Pennington located on 
Spring Creek in 1828, and, in 1831, James M. 
Campbell erected the first frame house on the 
site of the present city of Macomb. Tlie first 
sermon, preached by a Protestant minister in the 
county, was delivered in the Job settlement by 
Rev. John Logan, a Baptist. Among the early 
officers were John Huston, County Treasurer; 
William Southward, Sheriff; Peter Hale, Coro- 
ner, and Jesse Bartlett, Survej'or. The first 
term of the Circuit Court was held in 1830, and 
presided over by Hon. Richard M. Young. The 
first railwa)' to cross the count}' was the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy (1857). Since then other 
lines have jaenetrated it, and there are numerous 
railroad centers and shipping points of consider- 
able importance. Population (1880), 25,037; 
(1890), 27,407; (1900), 38,413. 

McDOUUALL, James Alexander, lawyer and 
United States Senator, was born in Bethlehem, 
Albany County, N. Y., Nov. 19, 1817; educated 
at the Albanj' grammar school, studied law and 
settled in Pike County, 111., in 1837; was Attor- 
ney-General of Illinois four 3'ears (1843-47) ; then 
engaged in engineering and, in 1849, organized 
and led an exploring expedition to the Rio del 
Norte, Gila and Colorado Rivers, finally settling 
at San Francisco and engaging in the practice of 
law. In 1850 he was elected Attorney-General of 
California, served several terms in the State 
Legislature, and, in 1852, was chosen, as a Demo- 
crat, to Congress, but declined a re-election ; in 
1860 was elected United States Senator from Cali- 
fornia, serving as a War Democrat until 1867. 
At the expiration of his senatorial term he retired 
to Albany, N. Y., where he died, Sept. 3, 1867. 
Though somewhat irregular in habits, he was, at 
times, a brilliant and effective speaker, and, dur- 
ing the War of the Rebellion, rendered valuable 
aid to the Union cause. 

McFARLAND, Andrew, M.D., alienist, was 
born in Concord, N. H., July 14, 1817, graduated 
at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 
1841, and, after being engaged in general practice 
for a few years, was invited to assume the man- 



agement of the New Hampshire Asylum for the 
Insane at Concord. Here he remained some 
eight years, during which he acquired consider- 
able reputation in the treatment of nervous and 
mental disorders. In 1854 he was offered and 
accepted the position of Medical Superintendent 
of the Illinois State (now Central) Hospital for 
the Insane at Jacksonville, entering upon his 
duties in June of that year, and continuing his 
connection with that institution for a period of 
more tlian sixteen jears. Having resigned his 
position in tlie State Hospital in June, 1870, he 
soon after establislied the Oaklawn Retreat, at 
Jacksonville, a private institution for the treat- 
ment of insane patients, which he conducted 
with a great degree of success, and witli which 
he was associated during the remainder of his 
life, dying, Nov. 22, 1891. Dr. McFarland's serv- 
ices were in frequent request as a medical expert 
in cases before the courts, invariably, liowever, 
on the side of the defense. The last case in which 
he appeared as a witness was at the trial of Charles 
F. Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, 
whom he believed to be insane. 

McGAHEY, David, settled in Crawford County. 
111., in 1817, and served as Representative from 
that County in the Third and Fourth General 
Assemblies (1822-26), and as Senator in the 
Eighth and Ninth (1832-36). Although a native 
of Tennessee, Mr. McGahey was a strong ojjponent 
of slavery, and, at the session of 1822, was one of 
those who voted against the pro-slavery Constitu- 
tion resolution. He continued to reside in Law- 
rence County until his death in 1851. — James D. 
(McGahey), a son of the preceding, was elected 
to the Ninth General Assembly from Crawford 
County, in 1834, but died during his term of 
service. 

McGANX, Lawrence Edward, ex-Congressman, 
was born in Ireland, Feb. 2, 1853. His father 
having died in 1884, the following year his 
mother emigrated to the L^nited States, settling 
at Milford, Mass., where he attended the public 
schools. In 1865 he came to Chicago, and, for 
fourteen years, found employment as a shoe- 
maker. In 1879 he entered the municipal service 
as a clerk, and, on Jan. 1. 1885, was appointed 
City Superintendent of Streets, resigning in Jlay, 
1891. He was elected in 1892, as a Democrat, to 
represent the Second Illinois District in the 
Fifty-second Congress, and re-elected to the Fifty- 
third. In 1894 he was a candidate for re-election 
and received a certificate of election by a small 
majority over Hugh R. Belknap (Republican). 
An investigation having shown his defeat, he 



364 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



magiianiiuonsly surrendered his seat to his com- 
petitor without a contest. He has large business 
interests in Chicago, especially in street railroad 
property, being President of an important elec- 
tric Une. 

McHENRY, a village in McHenry County, situ- 
ated on the Fox River and the Chicago & Noitli- 
western Railway. The river is here navigable for 
steamboats of light draft, which ply between the 
town and Fox Lake, a favorite resort for sports- 
men. Tlie town lias bottling works, a creamery, 
marble and granite works, cigar factory, flour 
mills, brewery, bank, four churches, and one 
weekly paper. Pop. (1890), 979, (1900), 1,013. 

McHEXRY, William, legislator and soldier of 
the Black Hawk War, came from Kentucky to 
Illinois in 1809, locating in "White County, and 
afterwards became prominent as a legislator and 
soldier in the War of 1812, and in the Black Hawk 
War of 1833, serving in the latter as Major of 
the "Spy Battalion" and participating in the 
battle of Bad Axe. He also served as Represent- 
ative in tlie First, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Gen- 
eral Assemblies, and as Senator in the Sixth and 
Seventh. While serving his last term in the 
House (183.5), he died and was buried at Vandalia, 
then the State capital. McHenry County— organ- 
ized by act of the Legislature, passed at a second 
session during the winter of 1835-36— was named 
in his honor 

McHEXRY COUNTY, lies in the northern por- 
tion of the State, bounded on the north by Wis- 
consin—named for Gen. William McHenry. Its 
area is 624 stjuare miles. With wliat is now the 
County of Lake, it was erected into a county in 
1836, the county-seat being at McHenry. Three 
years later the eastern part was set off as the 
County of Lake, and the county-seat of McHenry 
County removed to Woodstock, the geograph- 
ical center. The soil is well watered by living 
springs . and is highly productive. Hardwood 
groves are numerous. Fruits and berries are 
extensively cultivated, but tlie herbage is espe- 
cially adapted to dairying, Kentucky blue grass 
being indigenous. Large quantities of milk are 
daily shipped to Chicago, and the annual pro- 
duction of butter and cheese reaches into the 
millions of pounds. The geological formations 
comprise the drift and the Cincinnati and Niagara 
groups of rocks. Near Fox River are found 
gravel ridges. Vegetable remains and logs of 
wood have been found at various deptlis in the 
drift deposits ; in one instance a cedar log, seven 
inches in diameter, having been discovered forty- 
two feet below the surface. Peat is found every- 



where, although the most extensive deposits are 
in the northern half of the county, where they 
exist in sloughs covering several thousands of 
acres. Several lines of railroad cross the county, 
and every important village is a railway station. 
Woodstock, Marengo, and Harvard are the prin- 
cipal towns. Population (1880), 2-1,908; (1890), 
26.114; (1900), 29,759. 

McINTOSH. (Capt.) Alexander, was born in 
Fulton County, N. Y , in 1822; at 19 years of 
age entered an academy at Galway Center, 
remaining three years : in 1845 removed to Joliet, 
111., and, two years later, started "The Joliet 
True Democrat," but sold out the next year, and, 
in 1849, went to California. Returning in 1852. he 
bought back "The True Democrat," which he 
edited until 1857, meanwhile (1856) having been 
elected Clerk of the Circuit Court and Recorder 
of Will County. In 1863 he was appointed by 
Pi'esident Lincoln Captain and Assistant Quarter- 
master, serving under General Sherman in 1864 
and in the "March to the Sea," and, after the 
war, being for a time Post Quartermaster at 
Mobile. Having resigned in 1866, he engaged in 
mercantile business at Wilmington, Will County; 
but, in 1869, bought "The Wilmington Independ- 
ent," whicli lie published until 1873. The next 
year he returned to Joliet, and, a few months 
after, became political editor of "The Joliet 
Republican," and was subsequently connected, in 
a similar capacity, with other papers, including 
"The Phoenix" and "The Sun" of the same city. 
Died, in Joliet, Feb. 3, 1899. 

McKENDREE, William, Methodist Episcopal 
Bishop, was born in Virginia, in 1757, enlisted as 
a private in tlie War of the Revolution, but later 
served as Adjutant and in the commissary depart- 
ment. He was converted at 30 years of age, and 
the next year began preaching in his native 
State, being advanced to the position of Presiding 
Elder; in 1800 was transferred to the West, Illi- 
nois falling within his District. Here he remained 
until his elevation to the episcopacy in 1808. 
McKendree College, at Lebanon, received its 
name from him, together with a donation of 480 
acres of land. Died, near Nashville, Tenn. , March 
5, 1835. 

McKENDREE COLLEGE, one of the earliest of 
Illinois colleges, located at Lebanon and incorpo- 
rated in 1835. Its founding was suggested by 
Rev. Peter Cartwriglit, and it may be said to 
liave had its inception at the Methodist Episcopal 
Conference held at Mount Carmel. in September, 
1827. The first funds for its establishment were 
subscribed by citizens of Lebanon, who contrib- 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



365 



iited from their scanty means, §1,385. Instruc- 
tion began, Nov. 24, 1828, under Rev. Edward 
Ames, afterwards a Bishop of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. In 1830 Bishop McKendree made 
a donation of land to the infant institution, and 
the school was named in his honor. It cannot be 
said to liave become really a college until 1836, 
and its first class graduated in 1841. University 
powers were granted it by an amendment to its 
charter in 1839. At present the departments are 
as follows: Preparatory, business, classical, 
scientific, law, music and oratory. The institu- 
tion owns property to the value of 890,000. includ- 
ing an endowment of $25,000, and has about 200 
students, of both sexes, and a faculty of ten 
instructors. (See Colleges, Early.) 

McLaren, William Edward, Episcopal Bishop, 
was born at Geneva, N. Y., Dec. 13, 1831; gradu- 
ated at Washington and Jefferson College (Wash- 
ington, Pa.) in 1851, and, after six years spent in 
teaching and in journalistic work, entered Alle- 
gheny Theological Seminary, graduating and 
entering the Presbyterian ministry in 1860. For 
three years he was a missionary at Bogota, South 
America, and later in charge of churclies at 
Peoria, 111., and Detroit, Mich. Having entered 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, he was made a 
deacon in July. 1872, and ordained priest the fol- 
lowing October, immediately thereafter assuming 
the pastorate of Trinity Church, Cleveland, Ohio. 
In July, 1875, he was elected Bishop of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Diocese of Illinois, which then 
included the whole State. Subsequently, the 
dioceses of Quincy and Springfield were erected 
therefrom, Bishop McLaren remaining at the 
head of the Chicago See. During his episcopate, 
church work has been active and effective, and 
the Western Theological Seminary in Chicago 
has been founded. His published works include 
numerous sermons, addre.sses and poems, besides 
a volume entitled "Catholic Dogma the Antidote 
to Doubt" (New York, 1884). 

McLaughlin, Robert K., early lawyer and 
State Treasurer, was born in Virginia, Oct. 25, 
1779; before attaining his majority went to Ken- 
tucky, and, about 1815, removed to Illinois, set- 
tling finally at Belleville, where he entered upon 
the practice of law. The first public position 
held by him seems to have been that of Enrolling 
and Engrossing Clerk of both Houses of the Third 
(or last) Territorial Legislature (1816-18). In 
August, 1819, he entered upon the duties of State 
Treasurer, as successor to John Thomas, who had 
been Treasurer during the whole Territorial 
period, serving until January, 1823. Becoming a 



citizen of Vandalia, by the removal thither of the 
State capital a few months later, he continued to 
reside there the remainder of his life. He subse- 
quently represented the Fayette District as 
Representative in the Fifth General Assembly, 
and as Senator in the Sixth, Seventli and Tenth, 
and, in 1837, became Regi-ster of the Land Office 
at Vandalia, serving until 1845. Although an 
uncle of Gen. Joseph Duncan, he became a can- 
didate for Governor against tlie latter, in 1834, 
standing third on the list. He married a Miss 
Bond, a niece of Gov. Shadrach Bond, under 
whose administration he served as State Treasurer. 
Died, at Vandalia, May 29, 1862. 

McLEAN, a village of McLean C'ounty, on the 
Chicago it Alton Railway, 14 miles southwest of 
Bloomington, in a farming, dairying and stock- 
growing district; has one weekly paper. Popu- 
lation (1890), 500; (1900), 532. 

McLEAN, John, early United States Senator, 
was born in North Carolina in 1791, brought by 
his father to Kentucky when four years old, and. 
at 23, was admitted to the bar and removed to 
Illinois, settling at Shawneetown in 1815. Pos. 
sessing oratorical gifts of a high order and an 
almost magnetic power over men, coupled with 
strong common sense, a keen sense of humor and, 
great command of language, he soon attained 
prominence at the bar and as a popular speaker. 
In 1818 he was elected the first Representative in 
Congress from the new State, defeating Daniel P. 
Cook, but served only a few months, being de- 
feated bj' Cook at tlie next election. He was 
three times elected to the Legislature, serving 
once as Speaker. In 1824 he was chosen United 
States Senator to succeed Governor Edwards (wlio 
had resigned), serving one year. In 1828 he was 
elected for a second time by a unanimous vote, 
but lived to serve only one session, dying at 
Sliawneetown, Oct. 4, 1830. In testimony of the 
public appreciation of the loss whicli the State 
liad sustained by his death, McLean Countj' was 
named in his honor, 

McLEAN COUNTY, the largest county of the 
State, having an area of 1166 square miles, is 
central as to the region north of the latitude of 
St. Louis and about midway between that city 
and Chicago — was named for John McLean, an 
early United States Senator. The early immi- 
grants were largely from Ohio, although Ken- 
tucky and New York were well represented. The 
county was organized in 1830, the population at 
that time being about 1,200. The greater portion 
of the surface is high, undulating prairie, with 
occasional groves and belts of timber. On the 



366 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



creek bottoms are found black walnut, sycamore, 
buckeye, black ash and elm, while the sandy 
ridges are covered with scrub oak and black-jack. 
The soil is extremely fertile (generally a rich, 
brown loam), and the entire county is underlaid 
with coal. The chief occupations are stock-rais- 
ing, coal-mining, agriculture and manufactures. 
Sugar and Mackinaw Creeks, with their tribu- 
taries, afford thorough drainage. Sand and 
gravel beds are numerous, but vary greatly in 
depth. At Chenoa one has been found, in boring 
for coal, thirty feet thick, overlaid by forty-five 
feet of the clay common to this formation. The 
upper seam of coal in the Bloomingtou shafts is 
No. 6 of the general section, and the lower. No. 4 ; 
the latter averaging four feet in thickness. The 
principal towns are Bloomingtou (the county- 
seat), Normal, Lexington, LeRoy and Chenoa. 
Population (1890), 63,036; (1900). 67,843. 

MeLE.iMSBORO, a city and the county-seat of 
Hamilton Count)', upon a branch of the Louis- 
ville & Nashville Railroad, 103 miles east .south- 
east of St. Louis and about 48 miles southeast of 
Centralia. The people are enterprising and pro- 
gressive, the city is up-to-date and prosperous, 
supporting three banks and six churches. Two 
weekly newspapers are published here. Popula- 
tion (1880). 1,341; (1890), 1,35.5; (1900), 1,758. 

McMULLIN, James C, Railway Manager, was 
born at Watertown, X. Y., Feb. 13, 1836; began 
work as Freight and Ticket Agent of the Great 
Western Railroad (now Wabash), at Decatur, 111., 
May, 1857, remaining until 1860, when he 
accepted the position of Freight Agent of the 
Chicago & Alton at Springfield. Here he re- 
mained until Jan. 1, 1863, when he was trans- 
ferred in a similar capacity to Chicago; in 
September, 1864, became Superintendent of the 
Northern Division of the Chicago & Alton, after- 
wards successively filling the positions of Assist- 
ant General Superintendent (1867), General 
Superintendent (1868-78) and General Manager 
(1878-83). The latter year he was elected Vice- 
President, remaining in office some ten years, 
when ill-health compelled his retirement. Died, 
in Chicago. Dec. 30, 1890. 

McMURTRY, William, Lieutenant-Governor, 
was born in Mercer County, Ky., Feb 20, 1801 ; 
removed from Kentuckj' to Crawford County, 
Ind. , and, in 1829, came to Knox County, 111., 
settling in Henderson Township. He was elected 
Representative in the Tenth General Assembly 
(1836), and to the Senate in 1842. serving in the 
Thirteenth and Fourteenth General Assemblies. 
In 1848 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor on 



the same ticket with Gov. A. C. French, being 
the first to hold the office under the Constitution 
adopted that year. In 1863 he assisted in raising 
tlie One Hundred and Second Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers, and, although advanced in years, 
■ was elected Colonel, but a few weeks later was 
compelled to accept a discharge on account of 
failing health. Died, April 10, 1870. 

McNEELEY, Thompson W., lawyer and ex-Con- 
gressman, was born in Jacksonville, 111., Oct. 5, 
1835, and graduated at Lombard University, 
Galesburg, at the age of 21. The following year 
he was licensed to practice, but continued to pur- 
sue his professional studies, attending the Law 
University at Louisville, Ky., from which insti- 
tution he graduated in 1859. He was a member 
of the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and 
chairman of the Democratic State Central Com- 
mittee in 1878. From 1869 to 1873 he represented 
his District in Congress, resuming his practice 
at Petersburg, Menard County, after his retire- 
ment. 

McNULTA, John, soldier and ex-Congressman, 
was born in New York City, Nov. 9, 1837, received 
an academic education, was admitted to the bar, 
and settled at Bloomington, in this State, while 
yet a young man. On May 3, 1861, he enlisted as 
a private in the Union army, and served until 
August 9, 1865, rising, successively, to the rank 
of Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel and 
Brevet Brigadier-General. From 1869 to 1873 he 
was a member of the lower house of the General 
Assembly from McLean County, and, in 1873, was 
elected to the Forty-third Congress, as a Repub- 
lican. General McNulta has been prominent in 
the councils of the Republican party, standing 
second on the ballot for a candidate for Governor, 
in the State Convention of 1888, and serving as 
Permanent President of the State Convention of 
1890. In 1896 he was one of the most earnest 
advocates of the nomination of Mr. McKinley for 
President. Some of his most important work, 
within the past few years, has been performed in 
connection with receiverships of certain railway 
and other corporations, especially that of the 
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, from 1884 
to 1890. He is now (1898) Receiver of the National 
Bank of Illinois, Chicago. Died Feb. 22, 1900. 

McPHERSON, Simeon J., clergyman, de- 
scended from the Clan McPherson of Scotland, 
was born at ilumford, Monroe County, N. Y., Jan. 
19, 1850 ; prepared for college at Leroy and Fulton, 
and graduated at Princeton, N. J. , in 1874. Then, 
after a year's service as teacher of mathematics 
at his Alma Mater, he entered the Theological 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



367 



Seminary there, and graduated from that depart- 
ment in 1879, having in the meantime traveled 
tlirough Europe, Egypt and Palestine. He was 
licensed to preach by the Rochester Presbytery 
in 1877, and spent three years (1879-82) in pas- 
toral labor at East Orange, N. J. ; when he ac- 
cepted a call to the Second Presbyterian Church 
of Chicago, remaining until the early part of 1899, 
when he tendered his resignation to accept the 
position of Director of the Lawrenceville Prepar- 
atory Academy of Princeton College, N. J. 

McROBERTS, Josiah, jurist, was born in 
Monroe County, 111., June 12, 1820; graduated 
from St. Mary's College (Mo.) in 1839; studied 
law at Danville, 111., with his brother Samuel, 
and, in 1842, entered the law department of 
Transylvania University, graduating in 1844, 
after which he at once began practice. In 1846 
he was elected to the State Senate for the Cham- 
paign and Vermilion District, at the expiration of 
his term removing to Joliet. In 1852 he was 
appointed by Governor Matteson Trustee of the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal, which ofHce he held 
for four j'ears. In 18G6 he was appointed Circuit 
Court Judge by Governor Oglesby, to fill a va- 
cancy, and was re-elected in 1867, '73, '79, and '85, 
but died a few months after his last election. 

McKOBERTS, Samuel, United States Sena- 
tor, was born in Monroe County, 111., Feb. 20, 
1799; graduated from Transylvania University in 
1819; in 1821, was elected the first Circuit Clerk 
of his native county, and, in 1825, appointed 
Circuit Judge, which office he held for three 
years. In 1828 he was elected State Senator, 
representing the district comprising Monroe, 
Clinton and Washington Counties. Later he was 
appointed United States District Attorney by 
President Jackson, but soon resigned to become 
Receiver of Public Moneys at Danville, by 
appointment of President Van Buren, and, in 
1839, Solicitor of the General Land Office at 
Washington. Resigning the latter office in the 
fall of 1841, at the next session of the Illinois 
Legislature he was elected United States Senator 
to succeed John M. Robinson, deceased. Died, at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, March 22, 1843, being suc- 
ceeded by James Semple. 

McVICKER, James Hubert, actor and theat- 
rical manager, was born in New York City, Feb. 
14, 1822; thrown upon his own resources by the 
death of his father in infancy and the necessity 
of assisting to support his widowed mother, he 
early engaged in various occupations, until, at 
the age of 15, he became an apprentice in the 
office of "The St. Louis Republican," three years 



later becoming a journeyman printer. He first 
appeared on the stage in the St. Charles Theater, 
New Orleans, in 1843; two years later was prin- 
cipal comedian in Rice's Theater, Chicago, re- 
maining until 1852, when he made a tour of the 
country, appearing in Yankee characters. About 
1855 he made a tour of England and, on his 
return, commenced building his first Chicago 
theater, which was opened, Nov. 3, 1857, and was 
conducted with varied fortune until burned down 
in the great fire of 1871. Rebuilt and remodeled 
from time to time, it burned down a second time 
in August, 1890, the losses from these several fires 
having imposed upon Mr. McVicker a heavy 
burden. Although an excellent comedian, Mr. 
McVicker did not appear on the stage after 1882, 
from that date giving his attention entirely to 
management. He enjoyed in an eminent degree 
the respect and confidence, not only of the 
profession, but of the general public. Died in 
Chicago, March 7, 1896. 

Mc WILLIAMS, David, banker, Dwight, III, 
was born in Belmont County, Ohio, Jan. 14, 1834; 
was brought to Illinois in infancy and grew up on 
a farm until 14 years of age, when he entered the 
office of the Pittsfield (Pike County) "Free Press" 
as an apprentice. In 1849 he engaged in the 
lumber trade with his father, the management of 
which devolved upon him a few years later. In 
the early 50's he was, for a time, a student in 
Illinois College at Jacksonville, but did not 
graduate ; in 1855 removed to Dwight, Livingston 
County, then a new town on the line of the Chi- 
cago & Alton Railroad, which had been completed 
to that point a few months previous. Here he 
erected the first store building in the town, and 
put in a $2,000 stock of goods on borrowed capi- 
tal, remaining in the mercantile business for 
eighteen years, and retaining an interest in the 
establishment seven years longer. In the mean- 
time, while engaged in merchandising, he began 
a banking business, which was enlarged on his 
retirement from the former, receiving his entire 
attention. The profits derived from his banking 
business were invested in farm lands until he 
became one of the largest land-owners in Living- 
ston County. Mr. McWilliams is one of the 
original members of the first Methodist Episcopal 
Church organized at Dwight, and has served as a 
lay delegate to several General Conferences of 
that denomination, as well as a delegate to the 
Ecumenical Council in London in 1881 ; has also 
been a liberal contributor to the support of vari- 
ous literary and theological institutions of the 
church, and has served for many years as a Trus- 



368 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tee of the Northwestern University at Evanston. 
In politics he is a zealous Republican, and has 
repeatedly served as a delegate to the State Con- 
ventions of that party, including the Bloomington 
Convention of 1850, and was a candidate for 
Presidential Elector for the Ninth District on the 
Blaine ticket in 1884. He has made several ex- 
tended tours to Europe and other foreign coun- 
tries, the last including a trip to Egypt and the 
Holy Land, during 1898-99. 

MECHANICSBURG, a village of Sangamon 
County, near the Wabash Railway, 13 miles east 
of Springfield. Population (1880), 396; (1890), 
426; (1900), 476. 

MEDILL, Joseph, editor and newspaper pub- 
lisher, was born, April 6, 1823, in the vicinity (now 
a part of the city) of St. John, N. B., of Scotch- 
Irisli parentage, but remotely of Huguenot 
descent. At nine years of age he accompanied 
his parents to Stark County, Ohio, where he 
enjoyed such educational advantages as belonged 
to that region and period. He entered an acad- 
emy with a view to preparing for college, but his 
family having suffered from a fire, he was com- 
pelled to turn his attention to business; studied 
law, was admitted to the bar in 1846, and began 
practice at New Philadelphia, in Tuscarawas 
County. Here he cauglit the spirit of journalism 
by frequent visits to the office of a local paper, 
learned to set type and to work a hand-press. In 
1849 he bought a paper at Coshocton, of which he 
assumed editorial charge, employing his brothers 
as assistants in varit)us capacities. Tlie name of 
this paper was "The Coshocton Whig," which 
he soon changed to "The Republican," in which 
he dealt vigorous blows at political and other 
abuses, which several times brought upon him 
assaults from Iiis political opponents — that being 
the style of political argument in those days. 
Two years later, having sold out "Tlie Repub- 
lican," he established "The Daily Forest City" at 
Cleveland — a Whig paper with free-soil proclivi- 
ties. The following year "The Forest City" was 
consolidated with "The Free-Democrat," a Free- 
Soil paper under the editorship of John C. 
Vaughan, a South Carolina Abolitionist, the new 
paper taking the name of "The Cleveland 
Leader." Mr. Medill, with the co-operation of 
Mr. Vaughan, then went to work to secure the 
consolidation of the elements opposed to slavery 
in one compact organization. In this he was 
aided by the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill in Congress, in December, 1853, and, before 
its passage in May following, Mr. Medill had 
begun to agitate the question of a union of all 



opposed to that measure in a new party under the 
name "Republican." During the winter of 
1854-55 he received a call from Gen. J. D. Web- 
ster, at that time part owner of "The Chicago 
Tribune," which resulted in his visiting Chicago 
a few months later, and his purchase of an inter- 
est in the paper, his connection with the concern 
dating from June 18, 1855. He was almost 
immediately joined by Dr. Charles H. Ray, who 
had been editor of "The Galena Jeffersonian," 
and, still later, by J. C. Vaughan and Alfred 
Cowles. who had been associated with him on 
"The Cleveland Leader." Mr. Medill assumed 
the position of managing editor, and, on the 
retirement of Dr. Ray, in 1863, became editor-in- 
cliief until 1866, when he gave place to Horace 
White, now of "The New York Evening Post." 
During the Civil War period he was a zealous 
supporter of President Lincoln's emancipation 
policy, and served, for a time, as President of the 
"Loyal League," which proved such an influ- 
ential factor in upholding the hands of the Gov- 
ernment during the darkest period of the 
rebellion. In 1869 Mr. Medill was elected to the 
State Constitutional Convention, and, in that 
body, was the leading advocate of the principle 
of "minority representation" in the election of 
Representatives, as it was finally incorporated 
in the Constitution. In 1871 lie was appointed 
by President Grant a member of tlie first Civil 
Service Commission, representing a principle to 
which he ever remained thoroughly committed. 
A few weeks after the great fire of the same 
year, he was elected Mayor of the city of Chicago. 
The financial condition of the city at the time, 
and other questions in issue, involved great difR- 
culties and responsibilities, which he met in a 
way to command general approval. During his 
administration the Chicago Public Library was 
established, Mr. Medill delivering the address at 
its opening, Jan. 1, 1873. Near the close of his 
term as Mayor, he resigned the office and spent 
the following year in Europe. Almost simultane- 
ously with his return from his European trip, he 
secured a controlling interest in "The Tribune." 
resuming control of the paper, Nov. 9, 1874, 
which, as editor-in-chief, he retained for the 
remainder of his life of nearly twenty-five years. 
The growth of the paper in business and influence, 
from the beginning of his connection with it, was 
one of the marvels of journalism, making it easily 
one of the most successful newspaper ventures 
in the United States, if not in the world. Early 
in December, 1898, Mr. Medill went to San 
Antonio, Texas, hoping to receive relief in that 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



5G0 



mild climate from a chronic disease which had 
been troubling him for years, but died in that 
city, March 16, 18fl9, witliin three weeks of hav- 
ing reached liis 76tli birthday. The conspicuous 
features of his character were a strong individu- 
ality and indomitable perseverance, vyhich led 
him never to accept defeat. A few weeks previ- 
ous to his death, facts were developed going to 
show that, in 1881, he was offered, by President 
Garfield, the position of Postmaster-General, 
which was declined, when he was tendered the 
choice of any position in the Cabinet except two 
which had been previously promised; also, that 
he was offered a position in President Harrison's 
Cabinet, in 1889. 

MEDILL, (Maj.) William H., soldier, was 
born at Massillon, Ohio, Nov. .5, 1835; in 185.5, 
came to Chicago and was associated with "The 
Prairie Farmer." Subsequently he was editor of 
"The Stark County (Ohio) Republican," but 
again returning to Chicago, at the beginning of 
the war, was employed on "The Tribune," of 
which his brother (Hon. Joseph Medill) was 
editor. After a few months' se'-vice in Barker's 
Dragoons (a short-time organization), in Septem- 
ber, 1861, he joined the Eighth Illinois Cavalry 
(Colonel Farnsworth's), and, declining an election 
as Major, was chosen Senior Captain. The regi- 
ment soon joined the Army of the Potomac. By 
the promotion of his superior officers Captain 
Medill was finally advanced to the command, 
and, during the Peninsular campaign of 1862, led 
his troops on areconnoissance within twelve miles 
of Richmond. At the battle of Gettysburg he 
had command of a portion of his regiment, acquit- 
ting himself with great credit. A few days after, 
while attacking a party of rebels who were 
attempting to build a bridge across the Potomac 
at Williamsburg, he received a fatal wound 
through the limgs, dying at Frederick City, July 
16, 1863. 

MEEKER, Moses, pioneer, was born in New- 
ark, N. J., June 17, 1790; removed to Cincinnati, 
Ohio, in 1817, engaging in the manufacture of 
white lead until 1823, when he headed a pioneer 
expedition to the frontier settlement at Galena, 
111., to enter upon the business of smelting lead- 
ore. He served as Captain of a company in the 
Black Hawk War, later removing to Iowa 
County, Wis., where he built the first smelting 
works in that Territory, served in the Territorial 
Legislature (1840-43) and in the first Constitu- 
tional Convention (1846). A "History of the 
Early Lead Regions," by him, appears in the 
sixth volume of "The Wisconsin Historical Soci- 



ety Collections." Died, at ShuUsburg, Wis., 
July 7, 1865. 

MELROSE, a suburb of Chicago, 11 miles west 
of the initial station of the Chicago & North- 
western Railroad, upon which it is located. It 
has two or three churches, some manufacturing 
establishments and one weekly paper. Popula- 
tion (1890), 1,050; (1900), 2,.593. 

MEMBRE, Zenobius, French missionary, was 
born in France in 1645; accompanied La Salle on 
his expedition to Illinois in 1679, and remained at 
Fort Creve-Coeur with Henry de Tonty ; descended 
the Mississippi with La Salle in 1682 ; returned to 
France and wrote a history of the expedition, 
and, in 1684, accompanied La Salle on his final 
expedition; is supposed to have landed with La 
Salle in Texas, and there to have been massacred 
by the natives in 1687. (See La Salle and Tonty. ) 

MENARD, Pierre, French pioneer and first 
Lieutenant-Governor, was born at St. Antoine, 
Can., Oct. 7, 1760; settled at Kaskaskia, in 1790, 
and engaged in trade. Becoming interested in 
politics, he was elected to the Territorial Council 
of Indiana, and later to the Legislative Council of 
Illinois Territory, being presiding officer of the 
latter until the admission of Illinois as a State. 
He was, for several years. Government Agent. 
and in this capacity negotiated several important 
treaties with the Indians, of whose characteris- 
tics he seemed to have an intuitive perception. He 
was of a nervous temperament, impulsive and 
generous. In 1818 he was elected the first Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of the new State. His term of 
office having expired, he retired to private life 
and the care of his extensive business. He died 
at Kaskaskia, in June, 1844, leaving what was 
then considered a large estate. Among his assets, 
however, were found a large number of pi'omis- 
sory notes, which he had endorsed for personal 
friends, besides many uncollectable accounts 
from poor people, to whom he had sold goods 
through pure generosity. Menard County was 
named for him, and a statue in his honor stands 
in the capitol grounds at Springfield, erected by 
the son of his old partner — Charles Pierre Cliou- 
teau, of St. Louis. 

MENARD COUNTY, near the geographical 
center of the State, and originally a part of 
Sangamon, but separately organized in 1839, the 
Provisional Commissioners being Joseph Wat- 
kins. William Engle and George W. Simpson. 
Thp county was named in honor of Pierre Menard, 
who settled at Kaskaskia prior to the Territorial 
organization of Illinois. (See Menard. Pierre.) 
Cotton was an important crop imtil 1830, when 



370 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



agriculture underwent a change. Stock-raising 
is now extensively carried on. Three fine veins 
of bituminous coal underlie the county. Among 
early American settlers may be mentioned the 
Clarys, Matthew Rogers, Amor Batterton, Solo- 
mon Pruitt and William Gideon. The names of 
Meadows, Montgomery, Green. Boyer and Grant 
are also familiar to early settlers. The county 
furnished a company of eighty-six volunteers for 
the Mexican War. The county-seat is at Peters- 
burg. The area of the county is 320 square miles, 
and its population, under the last census, 14,336. 
In 1839 was laid out the town of Salem, now 
extinct, but for some years the home of Abraham 
Lincoln, who was once its Postmaster, and who 
marched thence to the Black Hawk War as 
Captain of a company. 

MENDON, a town of Adams County, on the 
Burlington & Quincy Division of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railway, 1.5 miles northeast 
of Quincy; has a bank and a newspaper; is sur- 
rounded bj- a farming and stock-raising district. 
Population (1880), 6.53; (1890). 640; (1900), G3T. 

MEXDOTA, a city in La Salle County founded 
in l.s.j:?, at the junction of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy with its Rochelle and Fulton branches 
and the Illinois Central Railway, 80 miles south- 
west of Chicago. It has eight churches, three 
graded and two high schools, and a public li 
brary Wartburg Seminary (Lutheran, opened 
in 18.53) is located here. The chief industrial 
plants are two iron foundries, machine shops, 
plow works and a brewery. The city has three 
banks and four weekly newspapers. The sur- 
rounding country is agricultural and the city has 
considerable local trade. Population (1890), 
3,542; (1900), 3,736. 

MERCER COrXTT, a western county, with an 
area of .5.5o square miles and a population (1900) 
of 20,945— named for Gen. Hugh Mercer. The 
Mississippi forms the western boundary, and 
along this river the earliest American settlements 
were made. William Dennison, a Pennsylvanian, 
settled in New Bo.ston Township in 1828, and, 
befote the expiration of a lialf dozen years, the 
Vannattas, Keith, Jackson, Wilson, Farlow, 
Bridges, Perry and Fleharty had arrived. Mer- 
cer County was separated from Warren, and 
specially organized in 1835. The soil is a rich, 
black loam, admirably adapted to the cultivation 
of cereals. A good quality of building stone is 
found at various points. Aledo is the county- 
seat. The county lies on the outskirts of the 
Illinois coal fields and mining was commenced 
in 1845. 



MERCY HOSPITAL, located in Chicago, and 
the first permanent hospital in the State — char- 
tered in 1847 or 1848 as the "Illinois General 
Hospital of the Lakes." No steps were taken 
toward organization until 1850, when, with a 
scanty fund scarcely exceeding §150, twelve beds 
were secured and placed on one floor of a board 
ing house, wliose proprietress was engaged as 
nurse and stewardess. Drs. N. S. Davis and 
Daniel Brainard were, respectively, the first 
physician and surgeon in charge. In 1851 the 
hospital was given in charge of the Sisters or 
Mercy, who at once enlarged and improved the 
accommodations, and, in 1853, changed its name 
to Mercy Hospital. Three or four years later, a 
removal was made to a building previously occu- 
pied as an orphan asylum. Being the only pub- 
lic hospital in the city, its wards were constantly 
overcrowded, and, in 1869, a more capacious and 
better arranged building was erected. This 
edifice it has continued to occupy, although many 
additions and improvements have been, and are 
still being, made. The Sisters of Mercy own the 
grounds and buildings, and manage the nursing 
and all the domestic and financial affairs of the 
institution. The present medical staff (1896) 
consists of thirteen physicians and surgeons, 
besides three internes, or resident practitioners. 

MEREDOSIA,a town in Morgan County, on 
the east bank of the Illinois River and on the 
Wabash Railway, some 58 miles west of Spring- 
field ; is a grain shipping point and fishing and 
hunting resort It was the first Illinois River 
point to be connected with the State capital by 
railroad in 1838. Population (1890), 631 ; (1900), 700. 

MERRIAM, (Col.) Jonathan, soldier, legisla- 
tor and farmer, was born in Vermont, Nov. 1, 
1834; was brought to Springfield, 111., when two 
years old, living afterwards at Alton, his parents 
finallj' locating, in 1841, in Tazewell County, 
where he now resides — when not officially em- 
ployed — pursuing the occupation of a farmer. He 
was educated at Wesleyan University, Blooming- 
ton, and at McKendree College; entered the 
Union army in 1863, being commissioned Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Seven- 
teenth Illinois Infantry, and serving to the close 
of the war. During the Civil War period he was 
one of the founders of the "Union League of 
America," which proved so influential a factot 
in sustaining the war policy of the Government. 
He was also a member of the State Constitutional 
Convention of 1869-70; an unsuccessful Repub- 
lican nominee for Congress in 1870; served as 
Collector of Internal Revenue for the Springfield 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



371 



District from 1873 to '83, was a Representative in 
the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth General Assem- 
blies, and, in 1897, was appointed, bj' President 
McKinley, Pension Agent lor the State of Illinois, 
with headquarters in Chicago. Thoroughly pa- 
triotic and of incorruptible integrity, he has won 
the respect and confidence of all in every public 
position he has been called to fiU. 

MERRILL, Stephen Mason, Methodist Episco- 
pal Bishop, was born in Jefferson County, Ohio. 
Sept. 16. 1825, entered the Ohio Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1864, as a travel- 
ing preacher, and, four years later, became editor 
of "The Western Christian Advocate," at Cin- 
cinnati. He was ordained Bishop at Brooklyn in 
1872, and, after two years spent in Minnesota, 
removed to Chicago, where he still resides. The 
degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Ohio 
Weslej'an University, in 1808, and that of LL.D. 
by the Northwestern University, in 1886. He has 
published "Christian Baptism" (Cincinnati, 
1876); "New Testament Idea of Hell" (1878); 
"Second Coming of Christ" (1879); "Aspects of 
Christian Experience" (1882); "Digest of Metho- 
dist Law" (1885); and "Outlines of Thought on 
Probation" (1886). 

MERRITT, John W., journalist, was born in 
New York City, July 4, 1806; studied law and 
practiced, for a time, with the celebrated James 
T. Brady as a partner. In 1841 he removed to 
St. Clair County, 111., purchased and, from 1848 
to '51, conducted "The Belleville Advocate"; 
later, removed to Salem, 111., where he established 
"The Salem Advocate"; served as Assistant Sec- 
retary of the State Constitutional Convention of 
1862, and as Representative in the Twenty-third 
General Assembly. In 1864 he purchased "The 
State Register" at Springfield, and was its editor 
for several years. Died, Nov. 16, 1878. — Thomas 
E. (Merritt), son of tlie preceding, lawyer and 
politician, was born in New York City, April 29, 
1834; at six j-ears of age was brought by his 
father to Illinois, where he attended the common 
schools and later learned the trade of carriage- 
painting. Subsequently he read law, and was 
admitted to the bar, at Springfield, in 1862. In 
1868 he was elected, as a Democrat, to the lower 
house of the General Assembly from the Salem 
District, and was re-elected to the same body in 
1870, '74, '76, '86 and '88. He also served two 
terms in the Senate (1878-'86), making an almost 
continuous service in the General Assembly of 
eighteen years. He has repeatedly been a mem- 
ber of State conventions of his party, and stands 
as one of its trusted representatives. — Maj.-Gien. 



AVesIey (Merritt), another son, was born in New 
York, June 16, 1836, came with his father to Illi- 
nois in childhood, and was appointed a cadet at 
West Point Military Academy from this State, 
graduating in 1860 ; became a Second Lieutenant 
in the regular army, the same year, and was pro- 
moted to the rank of First Lieutenant, a j'ear 
later. After the beginning of the Civil War, he 
was rapidly promoted, reaching the rank of 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers in 1862, and 
being mustered out, in 1866, with the brevet rank 
of Major-General. He re-entered the regular 
army as Lieutenant-Colonel, was promoted to a 
colonelcy in 1876, and, in 1887, received a com- 
niission as Brigadier-General, in 1897 becoming 
Major-General. He was in command, for a time, 
of the Department of the Missouri, but, on his 
last promotion, was transferred to the Depart- 
ment of the East, with headquarters at Gov- 
ernor's Island, N. Y. Soon after the beginning 
of the %var with Spain, he was assigned to the 
command of the land forces destined for the 
Philippines, and appointed Military Governor of 
the Islands. Towards the close of the year he 
returned to the United States and resumed his old 
command at New York. 

MESSINtJER, John, pioneer surveyor and car- 
tographer, was born at West Stockbridge, Mass., 
in 1771, grew up on a farm, but secured a good 
education, especially in mathematics. Going to 
Vermont in 1783, he learned the trade of a car- 
penter and mill- Wright ; removed to Kentucky in 
1799, and, in 1802, to Illinois (then a part of Indi- 
ana Territory), locating first in the American 
Bottom and, later, at New Design within the 
present limits of Monroe County. Two years 
later he became the proprietor of a mill, and, 
between 1804 and 1806, taught one of the earliest 
schools in St. Clair County. The latter year he 
took up the vocation of a surveyor, which he fol- 
lowed for many years as a sub-contractor under 
William Rector, surveying much of the land in 
St. Clair and Randolph Counties, and, still later, 
assisting in determining the northern boundary 
of the State. He also served for a time as a 
teacher of mathematics in Rock Spring Seminary ; 
in 1821 published "A Manual, or Hand-Book, 
intended for Convenience in Practical Survey- 
ing," and prepared some of the earlier State and 
county maps. In 1808 he was elected to the 
Indiana Territorial Legislature, to fill a vacancy, 
and took part in the steps which resulted in set- 
ting up a separate Territorial Government for 
Illinois, the following year. He also received an 
appointment as the first Surveyor of St. Clair 



372 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



County under the new Territorial Government; 
was chosen a Delegate from St. Clair County to 
the Convention of 1818, which framed the first 
State Constitution, and, the same year, was 
elected a Representative in the First General 
Assembly, serving as Speaker of that body. 
After leaving New Design, the later years of his 
life were spent on a farm two and a half miles 
north of Belleville, where he died in 184G. 

MET.AMORA, a town of Woodford Coimty, on 
a branch of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 19 
miles east-northeast of Peoria and some thirty 
miles northwest of Bloomington; is center of a 
fine farming district. The town has a creamery, 
soda factory, one bank, three churches, two 
newspapers, schools and a park. Population 
(1.S80) 838; (1900), 758. Metamora was the 
county-seat of Woodford County until 1899, when 
the seat of justice was removed to Eureka. 

METCALF, Andrew W., lawyer, was born in 
Guernsey County, Ohio, August 6, 1838; educated 
at Madison College in his native State, graduating 
in 1846, and, after studying law at Cambridge, 
Ohio, three years, was admitted to the bar in 
1850. The following year he went to Appleton, 
Wis., but remained only a year, when he removed 
to St. Louis, then to Edwardsville, and shortly 
after to Alton, to take charge of the legal busi- 
ness of George T. Brown, then publisher of "The 
Alton Courier." In 1853 he returned to Edwards- 
ville to reside permanently, and, in 1859, was 
appointed by Governor Bissell State's Attorney 
for Madison County, serving one year. In 1864 
he was elected State Senator for a term of four 
years; was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention of 1872, and, in 187G, a lay delegate 
from the Southern Illinois Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church to the General Con- 
ference at Baltimore ; has also been a Trustee of 
McKendree College, at Lebanon, 111., for more 
than twenty-five years. 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, one of 
the most numerous Protestant church organiza- 
tions in the United States and in Illinois. Rev. 
Joseph Lillard was the first preacher of this sect 
to settle in the Northwest Territory, and Capt. 
Joseph Ogle was the first class-leader (1795). It 
is stated that the first American preacher in the 
American Bottom was Rev. Hosea Riggs (1796). 
Rev. Benjamin Young took charge of the first 
Methodist mission in 1803, and, in 1804, this mis- 
sion was attached to the Cumberland (Tenn.) 
circuit. Revs. Joseph Oglesby and Charles R. 
Mathenj' were among the early circuit riders. In 
1820 there were seven circuits in Illinois, and, in 



1830, twenty-eight, the actual membership 
exceeding 10,000. The first Methodist service in 
Chicago was lield by Rev. Jesse Walker, in 1826. 
The first Methodist society in that city was 
organized by Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, in June, 

1831. By 1835 the number of circuits had in- 
creased to 61, with 370 ministers and 15,000 mem- 
bers. Rev. Peter Cartwright was among the 
early revivalists. The growth of this denomi- 
nation in the State has been extraordinary. By 
1890, it had nearly 2,000 churches, 937 ministers, 
and 151,000 members — the total number of Metho- 
dists in the United States, by the same census, 
being 4,980,340. The church property owned in 
1890 (including parsonages) approached §111,000,- 
000, and the total contributions were estimated 
at §3,073,933. The denomination in Illinois sup- 
ports two theolo.gical seminaries and the Garrett 
Biblical Institute at Evanston. " The North- 
western Christian Advocate," with a circulation 
of .some 30,000, is its official organ in Illinois. 
(See also Religious Denominat iona.) 

METROPOtlS CI TY, the county-seat of Massac 
County, 156 miles southeast of St. Louis, situated 
on the Ohio River and on the St. Louis and 
Paducah Division of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road. The city was founded in 1839, on the site 
of old Fort Ma.ssac, which was erected by the 
French, aided by the Indians, about 1711. Its 
industries consist largely of various forms of 
wood-working. Saw and planing mills are a 
commercial factor; other establishments turn 
out wheel, buggy and wagon material, barrel 
staves and heads, boxes and baskets, and veneers. 
There are also flouring mills and potteries. The 
city has a public library, two banks, water- 
works, electric lights, numerous churches, high 
school and graded schools, and three papers. 
Population (1880), 2,668; (1890), 3,573; (1900), 4,069. 

MEXICAN WAR. Briefly stated, this war 
originated in the annexation of Texas to the 
United States, early in 1846. There was a dis- 
agreement as to the western boundary of Texas. 
Mexico complained of encroachment upon her 
territory, and hostilities began with the battle of 
Palo Alto, May 8, and ended with the treaty of 
peace, concluded at Guadalupe Hidalgo, near the 
City of Mexico, Feb. 2, 1848. Among the most 
prominent figures were President Polk, under 
whose administration annexation was effected, 
and Gen. Zachary Taylor, who was chief in com- 
mand in the field at the beginning of the war, and 
was elected Polk's successor. Illinois furnished 
more than her full quota of troops for the strug- 
gle. May 13, 1846, war was declared. On May 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



0( o 



25, Governor Ford issued his proclamation calling 
for the enlistment of three regiments of infantry, 
the assessed quota of the State. The response 
was prompt and general. Alton was named as 
the rendezvous, and Col. (afterwards General) 
Sylvester Churchill was the mustering officer. 
The regiments mustered in were commanded, 
respectively, by Col. John J. Hardin, Col. Wm. H. 
Bissell (afterwards Governor) aud Col. Ferris 
Forman. An additional twelve months' regiment 
(the Fourth) was accepted, under command of 
Col. E. D. Baker, who later became United State.s 
Senator from Oregon, and fell at the battle of 
Ball's Bluff, in October, 1861. A second call was 
made in April, 1847, under which Illinois sent 
two more regiments, for the war, towards the 
Mexican frontier. These were commanded by 
Col. Edward W. B. Newby and Col. James 
Collins. Independent companies were also 
tendered and accepted. Besides, there were 
some 150 volunteers who joined the regiments 
already in the field. Commanders of the inde- 
pendent companies were Capts. Adam Dunlap, 
of Schuyler County; Wyatt B. Stapp, of War- 
ren; Michael K. Lawler, of Shawneetown, and 
Josiah Little. Col. John J. Hardin, of the First, 
was killed at Buena Vista, and the official mor- 
tuary list includes many names of Illinois' best 
and bravest sons. After participating in the 
battle of Buena Vista, the Illinois troops shared 
in the triumphal entry into the City of Mexico, 
on Sept. 16, 1847, and (in connection with those 
from Kentucky) were especially complimented in 
Greneral Taylor's official report. The Third and 
Fourth regiments won distinction at Vera Cruz, 
Cerro Gordo and the City of Mexico. At the 
second of these battles. General Shields fell 
.severely (and, as supposed for a time, mortally) 
wounded. Colonel Baker succeeded Shields, led 
a gallant charge, and really tiirned the day at 
Cerro Gordo. Among the officers honorably 
named by General Scott, in his official rejiort, were 
Colonel Forman, Major Harris, Adjutant Fondey, 
Capt. J. S. Post, and Lieutenants Hammond and 
Davis. All the Illinois troops were mustered out 
between May 25, 1847 and Nov. 7, 1848, the inde- 
pendent companies being the last to quit the 
service. The total number of volunteers was 
6,123, of whom 86 were killed, and 160 wounded, 
12 of the latter dying of their wounds. Gallant 
service in the Mexican War soon became a pass- 
port to political preferment, and some of the 
brave soldiers of 1846-47 subsequently achieved 
merited distinction in civil life. Many also be- 
came distinguished soldiers in the War of tlie 



Rebellion, including such names as John A. 
Logan. Richard J. Oglesby, M. K. Lawler, James 
D. Morgan, W. H. L. Wallace, B. M. Prentiss, 
W. R. Morrison, L. F. Ross, and others. The 
cost of the war, with §15,000,000 paid for territory 
annexed, is estimated at $160,500,000 and the 
extent of territory acquired, nearly 1,000,000 
square miles — considerably more than the 
whole of the present territory of the Republic of 
Mexico. 

MEYER, John, lawyer and legislator, was born 
in Holland. Feb. 27, 1852; came to Chicago at the 
age of 12 years ; entered the Northwestern Uni- 
versity, supporting himself by labor during vaca- 
tions and by teaching in a night school, until his 
third year in the university, when he became a 
student in the Union College of Law, being 
admitted to the bar in 1879; was elected from 
Cook County to the Thirty-fifth General Assembly 
(1884), and re-elected to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty- 
eighth and Thirty-ninth, being chosen Speaker of 
the latter (Jan. 18, 1895). Died in office, at Free- 
port, 111., July 3, 1895, during a special se.ssion of 
the General Assembly. 

MIAMIS, The. The preponderance of author- 
ity favors the belief that this tribe of Indians was 
originally a pai't of the Ill-i-ni or Illinois, but the 
date of their separation from the parent stock 
cannot be told. It is likel}', however, that it 
occurred before the French jjashed their explo- 
rations from Canada westward and southward, 
into and along the Mississippi Valley. Father 
Dablon alludes to the presence of Miamis (whom 
he calls Ou-mi-a-mi) in a mixed Indian village, 
near the mouth of Fox River of Wisconsin, in 
1670. The orthography of their name is varied. 
The Iroquois and the British generally knew 
them as the "T wight wees," and so they were 
commonly called by the American colonists. 
The Weas and Piankeshaws were of the same 
tribe When La Salle founded his colony at 
Starved Rock, the Miamis had villages which 
could muster some 1,950 warriors, of which the 
Weas had 500 and the Piankeshaws 150, the re- 
maining 1,300 being Miamis proper. In 1671 
(according to a written statement by Charlevoix 
in 1721), the Miamis occupied three villages- 
— one on the St. Joseph River, one on the Mau- 
mee and one on the "Ouabache" (Wabash). 
They were friendly toward the French until 
1694, when a large number of them were 
massacred by a party of Sioux, who carried 
firearms which had been furnished them by 
the Frenchmen. The breach thus caused was 
never closed. Having become possessed of guns 



374 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



themselves, the Jliamis were able, not only to 
hold their own, but also to extend their liunting 
grounds as far eastward as the Scioto, alternately 
warring with the French, British and Americans. 
General Harrison says of thetu that, ten years 
before the treaty of Greenville, they could have 
brought upon the field a body of 3,000 "of the 
finest light troops in the world," but lacking in 
discipline and enterprise. Border warfare and 
smallpox, however, had, by that date (1795), 
greatly reduced their numerical strength. The 
main seat of the Miamis was at Fort Wayne, 
whose residents, because of their superior num- 
bers and intelligence, dominated all other bands 
except the Piankeshaws. The physical and 
moral deterioration of the tribe began immedi- 
ately after the treaty of Greenville. Little by 
little, they ceded their lands to the United States, 
the money received therefor being chiefly squan- 
dered in debauchery. Decimated by vice and 
disease, the remnants of this once powerful abo- 
riginal nation gradually drifted westward across 
the Mississippi, whence their valorous sires had 
emigrated two centuries before. The small rem- 
nant of the band finally settled in Indian Terri- 
tory, but they have made comparatively little 
progress toward civilization. (See also Pianke- 
shaws; Weas.) 

MICHAEL REESE HOSPITAL, located in 
Chicago, under care of the association known as 
the United Hebrew Charities. Previous to 1871 
this association maintained a small hospital for 
the care of some of its beneficiaries, biit it was 
destroyed in the conflagration of that year, and no 
immediate effort to rebuild was made. In 1880, 
however, Michael Reese, a Jewish gentleman 
who had accumulated a large fortune in Cali- 
fornia, bequeathed 897,000 to the organization. 
With this sum, considerablj' increased by addi- 
tions from other sources, an imposing building 
was erected, well arranged and thoroughly 
equipped for hospital purposes. The institution 
thus founded was named after its principal bene- 
factor. Patients are received without discrimi- 
nation as to race or religion, and more than lialf 
those admitted are charity patients. The present 
medical staff consists of thirteen surgeons and 
physicians, several of whom are eminent 
specialists 

MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD. Tlie 
main line of this road extends from Chicago 
to Detroit, 270 miles, with trackage facilities 
from Kensington, 14 miles, over the line of the 
Illinois Central, to its terminus in Chicago. 
Branch lines (leased, proprietary and operated) in 



Canada, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois swell the 
total mileage to 1,643.56 miles.— (History.) The 
company was chartered in 1846, and purchased 
from the State of Michigan the line from Detroit 
to Kalamazoo, 144 miles, of which construction had 
been begun in 1836. The road was completed to 
Michigan City in 1850, and, in May, 1852, reached 
Kensington, 111. As at present constituted, the 
road (with its auxiliaries) forms an integral part 
of what is popularlj' known as the "Vanderbilt 
System." Only 35 miles of the entire line are 
operated in Illinois, of which 29 belong to the 
Joliet & Northern Indiana branch (which see). 
The outstanding capital stock (1898) was S18,- 
738,000 and the funded debt, $19,101,000. Earn- 
ings in Illinois the same year, §484,002; total 
operating expenses, 8540,905; taxes, 824,250. 

MICHIGAN, LAKE. (See Lake Michigan.) 

MIHALOTZY, Geza, soldier, a native of Hun- 
gary and compatriot of Kossuth in the Magyar 
struggle; came to Cliicago in 1848, in 1861 enlisted 
in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois 
Volunteers (first "Hecker regiment"), and, on 
the resignation of Colonel Hecker, a few weeks 
later, was promoted to the Colonelcy. A trained 
soldier, he served with gallantry and distinction, 
but was fatally wounded at Buzzard's Roost, Feb. 
24, 1864, dying at Chattanooga, March 11, 1864. 

MILAN, a town of Rock Island County, on the 
Rock Island & Peoria Raihvaj', six miles south of 
Rock Island. It is located on Rock River, has 
several mills, a bank and a newspaper. Popula- 
tion (1880). 845; (1890), 692; (1900), 719. 

MILBURN, (Rev.) William Henry, clergy- 
man, was born in Pliiladelphia. Sept. 26, 1826. 
At the age of five years he almost totally lost 
sight in both eyes, as the result of an accident, 
and subsequent malpractice in their treatment. 
For a time lie was able to decipher letters with 
difficulty, and thus learned to read. In the face 
of such obstacles he carried on his studies until 
12 years of age, when he accompanied his father's 
family to Jacksonville, 111., and, five years later, 
became an itinerant Methodist preacher. For a 
time he rode a circuit covering 200 miles, preacli 
ing, on an average, ten times a week, for 8100 per 
year. In 1845, while on a Mississippi steamboat, 
lie publicly rebuked a number of Congressmen, 
who were his fellow passengers, for intemperance 
and gaming. Tliis resulted in his being made 
Chaplain of the House of Representatives. From 
1848 to 1850 he was pastor of a church at Mont- 
gonierj', Ala., during which time he was tried 
for heresy, and later became pastor of a "Free 
Church." Again, in 1853, he was chosen Chap- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



375 



lain of Congress. While in Europe, in 1859, he 
took orders in the Episcopal Churcli, but returned 
to Methodism in 1S71. He has since been twice 
Chaplain of the House (1885 and "87) and three 
times (1893. "95 and "97) elected to the same posi- 
tion in the Senate He is generally known as 
"the blind preacher" and achieved considerable 
prominence by his eloquence as a lecturer on 
"What a Blind Man Saw in Europe. " Among 
his published writings are. "Rifle, Axe and Sad- 
dlebags" (1856), "Ten Years of Preacher Life" 
(1858) and "Pioneers, Preachers and People of the 
Mississippi Valley" (1800). 

MILCHRIST, Thomas E., lawyer, was born in 
the Isle of Man in 1839, and, at the age of eight 
years, came to America with his parents, who 
settled in Peoria, 111. Here he attended scliool 
and worked on a farm until the beginning of the 
Civil War, when he enlisted in the One Hundred 
and Twelfth Illinois Volunteers, serving until 
1865, and being discharged with the rank of Cap- 
tain. After the war he read law with John I. 
Bennett — then of Galena, but later Master in 
Chancery of the United States Coui't at Chicago 
— was admitted to the bar in 1867, and, for a 
number of years, served as State's Attorney in 
Henry County. In 1888 he was a delegate from 
Illinois to the Republican National Convention, 
and the following year was appointed by Presi- 
dent Harrison United States District Attorney 
for the Northern District of Illinois. Since 
retiring from office in 1893, Mr. Milchrist has been 
engaged in private practice in Chicago. In 1898 
he was elected a State Senator for the Fifth Dis- 
trict (city of Chicago) in the Forty-first General 
Assembly. 

MILES, Nelson A., Major-General, was born 
at Westminster, Mass., August 8, 1839, and, at 
the breaking out of the Civil War, was engaged 
in mercantile pursuits in the city of Boston. In 
October, 1861, he entered the service as a Second 
Lieutenant in a Massachusetts regiment, dis- 
tinguished himself at the battles of Fair Oaks, 
Charles City Cross Roads and Malvern Hill, 
in one of which he was wounded. In Sep- 
tember, 1862, he was Colonel of the Sixty- 
first New York, which he led at Fredericksburg 
and at Chancellorsville, where he was again 
severely wounded. He commanded the First 
Brigade of the First Division of the Second Army 
Corps in the Richmond campaign, and was made 
Brigadier-General, May 12, 1864, and Major- 
General, by brevet, for gallantry shown at Ream's 
Station, in December of the same year. At the 
close of the war he was commissioned Colonel of 



the Fortieth United States Infantry, and distin- 
guished himself in campaigns against the Indians ; 
became a Brigadier-General in 1880, and Major- 
General in 1890, in the interim being in command 
of the Department of the Columbia, and, after 
1890, of the Missouri, with headquarters at Chi- 
cago. Here he did much to give efficiency and 
importance to the post at Fort Sheridan, and, in 
1894, rendered valuable service in checking the 
strike riots about Chicago. Near the close of the 
year he was transferred to the Department of the 
East, and. on the retirement of General Schofield 
in 1895, was placed in command of the army, 
with headquarters in Washington. Dvu-ing the 
Spanish-American war (1898) General Miles gave 
attention to the fitting out of troops for the Cuban 
and Porto Rican campaigns, and visited Santiago 
during the siege conducted by General Sliafter. 
but took no active command in the field until the 
occupation of Porto Rico, which was conducted 
with rare discrimination and good judgment, and 
with comparatively little loss of life or suffering 
to the troops. 

MILFORD, a prosperous village of Iroquois 
County, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Rail- 
road, 88 miles south of Chicago; is in a rich farm- 
ing region; has water and sewerage systems, 
electric lights, two brick and tile works, three 
large grain elevators, flour mill, three churches, 
good schools, a public library and a weekly news- 
paper. It is an important shipping point for 
grain and live-stock. Population (1890), 957; 
(1900), 1,077. 

MILITARY BOUNTY LANDS. (See Military 
Tract.) 

MILITARY TRACT, a popular name given to 
a section of the State, set apart under an act of 
Congre.ss, passed. May 6, 1812, as bounty-lands for 
soldiers in the war with Great Britain commenc- 
ing the same year. Similar reservations in the 
Territories of Michigan and Louisiana (now 
Arkansas) were provided for in the same act. 
The lands in Illinois embraced in this act were 
situated between the Illinois and Mississippi 
Rivers, and extended from the junction of these 
streams due north, by the Fourth Principal Merid- 
ian, to the northern boundary of Township 15 
north of the "Base Line." This "base line" 
started about opposite the present site of Beards- 
town, and extended to a point on the Mississippi 
about seven miles north of Quincy. The north- 
ern border of the "Tract" was identical with 
the northern boundary of Mercer County, which, 
extended eastward, reached the Illinois about 
the present village of De Pue, in the southeastern 



376 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



part of Bureau County, where the Illinois makes 
a great bend towards the south, a few miles west 
of the city of Peru. The distance between the 
Illinois and the Mississippi, by this line, was about 
90 miles, and the entire length of the "Tract," 
from its northern boundary to the junction of 
the two rivers, was computed at 169 miles, — con- 
sisting of 90 miles north of the "base line" and 79 
miles south of it, to the junction of the rivers. 
The "Tract" was surveyed in 18!a-16. It com- 
prised 307 entire townships of six miles square, 
each, and 61 fractional townships, containing an 
area of 5,360,000 acres, of which 3,500,000 acres— 
a little less than two-thirds— were appropriated to 
military bounties. The residue consisted partly 
of fractional sections bordering on rivers, partly of 
fractional quarter-sections bordering on township 
lines, and containing more or less than 160 acres, 
and partly of lands that were returned by the sur- 
veyors as unfit for cultivation. In addition to 
this, there were large reservations not coming 
within the above exceptions, being the overplus 
of lands after satisfying the military claims, and 
subject to entry and purchase on the same con- 
ditions as other Government lands. The "Tract" 
thus embraced the present counties of Calhoun, 
Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler, Hancock, Mc- 
Donough, Fulton, Peoria, Stark, Knox, Warren, 
Henderson and Mercer, with parts of Henry, 
Bureau, Putnam and Marshall — or so much of 
them as was necessary to meet the demand for 
bounties. Immigration to this region set in quite 
actively about 1823, and the development of some 
portions, for a time, was very rapid ; but later, its 
growth was retarded by the conflict of "tax- 
titles" and bounty-titles derived by purchase 
from the original holders. This led to a great 
deal of litigation, and called for considerable 
legislation; but since the adjustment of these 
questions, this region has kept pace with the most 
favored sections of the State, and it now includes 
some of the most important and prosperous towns 
and cities and many of the finest farms in 
Illinois. 

MILITI.\. Illinois, taught by the experiences 
of the War of 1812 and tlie necessity of providing 
for protection of its citizens against the incur- 
sions of Indians on its borders, began the adop- 
tion, at an early date, of such measures as were 
then common in the several States for the main- 
tenance of a State militia. The Constitution of 
1818 made the Governor "Commander-in-Chief 
of the army and navy of this State, " and declared 
that the militia of the State should "consist of 
all free male able-bodied persons (negroes, mu- 



lattoes and Indians excepted) resident in the 
State, oetween the ages of 18 and 45 years," and 
this classification was continued in the later con- 
stitutions, except that of 1870, which omits all 
reference to the subject of color. In each there 
is the same general provision exempting persons 
entertaining "conscientious scruples against 
bearing arms," although subject to payment of 
an equivalent for such exemption. The first law 
on the subject, enacted by the first General 
Assembly (1819), provided for the establishment 
of a general militia system for the State ; and the 
fact that this was modified, amended or wholly 
changed by acts passed at the sessions of 1821, 
'23, '25, '26, '27, '29, '33, '87 and '39, shows the 
estimation in which the subject was held. While 
many of these acts were of a special character, 
providing for a particular class of organization, 
the general law did little except to require per- 
sons subject to military duty, at stated periods, to 
attend county musters, which were often con- 
ducted in a very informal manner, or made the 
occasion of a sort of periodical frolic. The act of 
July, 1833 (following the Black Hawk War), 
required an enrollment of "all free, white, male 
inhabitants of military age (except such as might 
be exempt under the Constitution or laws)"; 
divided the State into five divisions by coiinties, 
each division to be organized into a certain speci- 
fied number of brigades. This act was quite 
elaborate, covering some twenty-four pages, and 
provided for regimental, battalion and company 
musters, defined the duties of officers, manner of 
election, etc. The act of 1837 encouraged the 
organization of volunteer companies. The Mexi- 
can War (1845-47) gave a new impetus to this 
class of legislation, as also did the War of the 
Rebellion (1861-65). While the office of Adju- 
tant-General had existed from the first, its duties 
— except during the Black Hawk and Mexican 
Wars — were rather nominal, and were discharged 
without stated compensation, the incumbent 
being merely Chief-of-stafE to the Governor as 
Commander-in-Chief. The War of the Rebellion 
at once brought it into prominence, as an impor- 
tant part of the State Government, which it has 
since maintained. The various measures passed, 
during this period, belong rather to the history of 
the late war than to the subject of this chapter. 
In 1865, however, the office was put on a different 
footing, and the important part it had played, 
during the preceding four years, was recognized 
by the passage of "an act to provide for the ap- 
pointment, and designate the work, fix tlie pay 
and prescribe the duties, of the Adjutant-General 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



377 



of Illinois." During the next four years, its 
most important work was the publication of 
eight volumes of war records, containing a com- 
plete roster of the officers and men of the various 
regiments and other military organizations from 
Illinois, witli an outline of their movements and 
a list of the battles in which they were engaged. 
To tlie Adjutant-General's office, as now adminis- 
tered, is entrusted the custody of the war- 
records, battle-flags and trophies of the late war. 
A further step was taken, in 1877, in the passage 
of an act formulating a military code and provid- 
ing for more thorough organization. Modifying 
amendments to this act were adopted in 1879 and 
1885. While, under these laws, "all able-bodied 
male citizens of this State, between the ages of 18 
and 45" (with certain specified exceptions), are 
declared "subject to military duty, and desig- 
nated as the Illinois State Militia," provision is 
made for the organization of a body of "active 
militia," designated as the "Illinois National 
Guard," to consist of "not more than oighty-four 
companies of infantry, two batteries of artillery 
and two troops of cavalry," recruited by volun- 
tary enlistments for a period of three years, with 
riglit to re-enlist for one or more years. The 
National Guard, as at present constituted, con- 
sists of three brigades, with a total force of about 
9,000 men, organized into nine regiments, besides 
the batteries and cavalry already mentioned. 
Gatling guns are used by the artillery and breech- 
loading rifles by the infantry. Camps of instruc- 
tion are held for the regiments, respectively — one 
or more regiments participating — each year, 
usually at "Camp Lincoln" near Springfield, 
when regimental and brigade drills, competitive 
rifle practice and mock battles are had. An act 
establishing the "Naval Militia of Illinois," to 
consist of "not more than eight divisions or com- 
panies," divided into two battalions of four divi- 
sions each, was passed by the General Assembly 
of 1893 — the whole to be under the command of 
an officer with the rank of Commander. The 
commanding officer of each battalion is styled a 
"Lieutenant-Commander," and both the Com- 
mander and Lieutenant-Commanders liave their 
respective staffs — their organization, in other 
respects, being conformable to the laws of the 
United States. A set of "Regulations," based 
upon these several laws, has been prepared by the 
Adjutant-General for the government of the 
various organizations. The Governor is author- 
ized, by law, to call out the militia to resist inva- 
sion, or to suppress violence and enforce execution 
of the laws, when called upon by the civil author- 



ities of any city, town or county. This authority, 
however, is exercised with great discretion, and 
only when the local authorities are deemed tmable 
to cope with threatened resistance to law The 
officers of the National Guard, when called into 
actual service for the suppression of riot or the 
enforcement of the laws, receive the same com- 
pensation paid to officers of tixe LTnited States 
army of like grade, while the enlisted men receive 
S2 per day. During the time the)- are at any 
encampment, the officers and men alike receive 
$1 per day, with necessary subsistence and cost 
of transportation to and from the encampment. 
(For list of incumbents in Adjutant-General's 
office, see Adjutants-Oeneral; see, also, Spanish- 
American War ) 

MILLER, James H., Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, was born in Oliio, May 29, 1843; 
in earlj' life came to Toulon, Stark County, 111., 
where he finally engaged in the practice of law. 
At the beginning of the Rebellion he enlisted in 
the Union army, but before being mustered into 
the service, received an injury which rendered 
him a cripple for life. Though of feeble physical 
organization and a sufferer from ill-health, he 
was a man of decided ability and much influence 
He served as State's Attorney of Stark County 
(1873-76) and, in 1884, was elected Representative 
in the Thirty-fourth General Assembly, at the 
following session being one of the most zealous 
supporters of Gen. John A. Logan, in the cele- 
brated contest which resulted in the election of 
the latter, for the third time, to the United States 
Senate. By successive re-elections he also served 
in the Thirty-fifth and Thirtj'-sixth General 
Assemblies, during the session of the latter being 
chosen Speaker of the House, as successor to 
A.' C. Mattliews, who had been appointed, during 
the session. First Comptroller of the Treasury at 
Washington. In the early part of the summer 
of 1890, Mr. Miller visited Colorado for the bene- 
fit of his health, but, a week after his arrival at 
Manitou Springs, died suddenly, June 27, 1890. 

MILLS, Benjamin, lawyer and early poli- 
tician, was a native of Western Massachusetts, 
and described by his contemporaries as a highly 
educated and accomplished lawyer, as well as a 
brilliant orator. The exact date of his arrival in 
Illinois cannot be determined with certainty, but 
he appears to have been in the "Lead Mine 
Region" about Galena, as early as 1826 or '37, and 
was notable as one of the first "Yankees" to 
locate in that section of the State. He was 
elected a Representative in the Eighth General 
Assembly (1832), his district embracing the 



378 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



counties of Peoria, Jo Daviess, Putnam, La Salle 
and Cook, Including all the State north of Sanga- 
mon (as it then stood), and extending from the 
Mississippi River to the Indiana State line. At 
this session occurred the impeachment trial of 
Theophilus W. Smith, of the Supreme Court, Mr. 
Mills acting as Chairman of the Impeachment 
Committee, and delivering a speech of great 
power and brilliancy, which lasted two or three 
days. In 18.34 he was a candidate for Congress 
from the Northern District, but was defeated by 
William L. May (Democrat), as claimed by Mr. 
Mill's friends, unfairly. He earlj' fell a victim 
to consumption and, returning to Massachusetts, 
(lied in Berkshire County, in that State, in 1841. 
Hon. R. H. McClellan, of Galena, says of him; 
"He was a man of remarkable ability, learning 
and eloquence," while Governor Ford, in his 
"History of Illinois," testifies that, "by common 
consent of all his contemporaries, Mr. Mills was 
regarded as the most popular and brilliant lawyer 
of his day at the Galena bar." 

MILLS, Henry A., State Senator, was born at 
New Hartford, Oneida County, N. Y., in 1827; 
located at Mount Carroll, Carroll County, 111., in 
1856. finally engaging in the banking business at 
that place. Having served in various local 
offices, he was, in 1874, chosen State Senator for 
the Eleventh District, but died at Galesburg 
before the expiration of his term, July 7, 1877. 

MILLS, Luther Lafliii, lawyer, was born at 
North Adams, Mass., Sept. 3, 1848; brought to 
Chicago in infanc}', and educated in the public 
schools of that city and at Michigan State Uni- 
versity. In 1868 he began the study of law, was 
admitted to practice three years later, and, in 
1876, was elected State's Attorney, being re- 
elected in 1880. While in this office he was con- 
nected with some of the most important cases 
ever brought before the Chicago courts. 
Although he has held no official position except 
that already mentioned, his abilities at the bar 
and on the rostrum are widely recognized, and 
his services, as an attorney and an orator, have 
been in frequent demand. 

MILLSTADT, a town in St. Clair County, on 
branch of Mobile it Ohio Railroad. 14 miles south- 
southeast of St. Louis; has electric lights, 
churches, schools, bank, newspaper, coal mines, 
and manufactures flour, beer and butter. Popu- 
lation (1890), 1,186; (1900), 1,173. 

MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL RAILWAY. (See 
Chicago, Milwaukee <fc St. Paul Railway.) 

MINER, Orlin H., State Auditor, was born in 
"Vermont, May 13, 1825; from 1834 to '51 he lived 



in Ohio, the latter year coming to Chicago, where 
he worked at his trade of watch-maker. In 1855 
he went to Central America and was with Gen- 
eral William Walker at Greytown. Returning to 
Illinois, he resumed his trade at Springfield; in 
1857 he was appointed, by Auditor Dubois, chief 
clerk in the Auditor's office, serving until 1864, 
when he was elected State Auditor as successor 
to his chief. Retiring from office in 1869, he 
gave attention to his private business. He was 
one of the founders and a Director of the Spring- 
field Iron Company. Died in 1879. 

MINIER, a village of Tazewell County, at the 
intersection of the Jacksonville Division of the 
Chicago & Alton and the Terre Haute & Peoria 
Railroads, 26 miles southeast of Peoria; is in fine 
farming district and has several grain elevators, 
some manufactures, two banks ami a newspaper. 
Population (1890), 664; (1900), 746. 

MINONK, a city in Woodford County, 29 miles 
north of Bloomington and 53 miles northeast of 
Peoria, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and 
the Illinois Central Railwa3's. The surrounding 
region is agricultural, though mucli coal is 
mined in the vicinity. The city has brick j'ards, 
tile factories, steam flouring-mills, several grain 
elevators, two private banks and two weekly 
newspapers. Population (1880), 1,913; (1890), 
2,316; (1900). 2,. 546. 

MINORITY REPRESENTATION, a method of 
choosing members of the General Assembly and 
other deliberative bodies, designed to secure rep- 
resentation, in such bodies, to minority parties. 
In Illinois, this method is limited to the election 
of members of the lower branch of the General 
Assembly — except as to private corporations, 
which may. at their option, apjjly it in the election 
of Trustees or Directors. In the apportionment 
of members of the General Assembly (see Legis- 
lative Apportionment), the State Constitution 
requires that the Senatorial and Representative 
Districts shall be identical in territory, each of 
such Districts being entitled to choose one Sena- 
tor and three Representatives. The provisions of 
the Constitution, making specific application of 
the principle of "minority representation" (or 
"cumulative voting, " as it is sometimes called), 
declares that, in the election of Representatives, 
"each qualified voter may cast as many votes for 
one candidate as there are Representatives, or 
(lie) may distribute the same, or equal parts 
thereof, among the candidates as he shall see 
fit." (State Constitution, Art. IV, sections 7 and 
8. ) In practice, this provision gives the voter 
power to cast three votes for one candidate, two 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



379 



votes for one candidate and one for another, or 
one and a half votes to each of two candidates, 
or he may distribute his vote equally among 
three candidates (giving one to each) ; but no 
other division is admissible without invalidating 
his ballot as to this office. Other forms of minor- 
ity representation have been proposed by various 
writers, among whom Mr. Thomas Hare. John 
Stuart Mill, and Mr. Craig, of England, are most 
prominent ; but tliat adopted in Illinois seems to 
be the simplest and most easy of application. 

MINSHALL, William A., legislator and jurist, 
a native of Ohio who came to Rushville, 111., at 
an early day, and entered upon the practice of 
law ; served as Representative in the Eightli, 
Tenth and Twelfth General Assemblies, and as 
Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention 
of 1847. He was elected Judge of the Circuit 
Court for the Fifth Circuit, under the new Con- 
stitution, in 1848, and died in office, early in 1853, 
being succeeded by the late Judge Pinkney 11. 
Walker. 

MISSIONARIES, EARLY. Tlie earliest Chris- 
tian missionaries in Illinois were of the Roman 
Catholic faith. As a rule, these accompanied the 
French explorers and did not a little toward the 
extension of French dominion. Tliey were usually 
members of one of two orders — the "Recollects," 
founded by St. Francis, or the "Jesuits," founded 
by Loyola. Between these two bodies of ecclesi- 
astics existed, at times, a strong rivalry ; the 
former having been earlier in the field, but hav- 
ing been virtually subordinated to the latter by 
Cardinal Richelieu. The controversy between 
the two orders gradually involved the civil 
authorities, and continued until the suppression 
of the Jesuits, in France, in 1764. The most noted 
of the Jesuit missionaries were Fathers Allouez, 
Gravier, Marquette, Dablon, Pinet, Rasle, Lamo- 
ges, Binneteau and Marest. Of the Recollects, 
the most conspicuous were Fathers Membre, 
Douay, Le Clerq, Hennepin and Ribourde. 
Besides these, there were also Father Bergier and 
Montigny, who, belonging to no religious order, 
were called secular priests. The first Catholic 
mission, founded in Illinois, was probably tliat at 
the original Kaskaskia, on the Illinois, in the 
present county of La Salle, where Father Mar- 
quette did missionary work in 1673, followed by 
Allouez in 1677. (See Allouez, Claude Jean.) 
The latter was succeeded, in 1688, by Father Grav- 
ier, who was followed, in 1692, by Father Sebas- 
tian Rasle, but who, returning in 1694, remained 
until 1695, when he was succeeded by Pinet 
and Binneteau. In 1700 Father Marest was 



in charge of the mission, and the number of 
Indians among whom he labored was, that year, 
considerably diminished by the emigration of the 
Kaskaskias to the south. Father Gravier, about 
this time, labored among the Peorias, but was 
incapacitated by a wound received from the 
medicine man of the tribe, which finally resulted 
in his death, at Mobile, in 1706. The Peoria station 
remained vacant for a time, but was finally filled 
by Father Deville. Another early Catholic mis- 
sion in Illinois was that at Cahokia. While the 
precise date of its establishment cannot be fixed 
with certainty, there is evidence that it was in 
existence in 1700, being the earliest in that region. 
Among the early Fathers, who ministered to the 
savages there, were Pinet, St. Cosme, Bergier and 
Lamoges. This mission was at first called the 
Tamaroa, and, later, the mission of St. Sulpice. 
It was probably the first permanent mission in the 
Illinois Country. Among those in charge, down 
to 1718, were Fathers de Montigny, Damon (prob- 
ably), Varlet, de la Source, and le Mercier. In 
1707, Father Mermet assisted Father Marest at 
Kaskaskia, and, in 1720, that mission became a 
regularly constituted parish, the incumbent being 
Father de Beaubois. Rev. Philip Boucher 
preached and administered the sacraments at 
Fort St. Louis, %vhere he died in 1719, having 
been preceded by Fathers Membre and Ribourde 
in 1680, and by Fathers Douay and Le Clerq in 
1687-88. The persecution and banishment of the 
early Jesuit missionaries, by the Superior Council 
of Louisiana (of wliich Illinois had formerly been 
a part), in 1763, is a curious chapter in State his- 
tory. That body, following the example of some 
provincial legislative bodies in France, officially 
declared the order a dangerous nuisance, and 
decreed the confiscation of all its property, in- 
cluding plate and vestments, and the razing of 
its churches, as well as the banisliment of its 
members. This decree tlie Louisiana Council 
undertook to enforce in Illinois, disregarding the 
fact that that territory had passed under the 
jurisdiction of Great Britain. The Jesuits seem 
to have offered no resistance, either physical or 
legal, and all members of the order in Illinois 
were ruthlessly, and without a shadow of author- 
ity, carried to New Orleans and thence deported 
to France. Only one— Father Sebastian Louis 
Meurin— was allowed to return to Illinois ; and he, 
only after promising to recognize the ecclesiastical 
authority of the Superior Council as supreme, 
and to hold no communication with Quebec or 
Rome. The labors of the missionaries, apart 
from spiritual results, were of great value. They 



380 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



perpetuated the records of early discoveries, 
reduced the language, and even dialects, of the 
aborigines, to grammatical rules, and preserved 
the original traditions and described the customs 
of the savages. (Authorities: Shea and Kip's 
"Catholic Missions," "Magazine of Western His- 
tory,"" Wiusor"s •'America,"" and Shea"s "Catholic 
Church in Colonial Days."') 

MISSISSIPPI RIVEK. (Indian name. "Missi 
Sipi,"' the "Great Water") Its head waters are 
in the northern part of Minnesota, 1.680 feet 
above tide-water. Its chief source is Itasca 
Lake, which is 1,575 feet higher than the sea, 
and which is fed by a stream having its source 
within one mile of the head waters of the Red 
River of the North. From tliis sheet of water to 
the mouth of the river, the distance is variously 
e.stimated at from 3,000 to 3,160 miles. Lake 
Itasca is in lat. 47' 10' north and Ion. 95' 20' west 
from Greenwich. The river at first runs north- 
ward, but soon turns toward the east and expands 
into a series of small lakes. Its course, as far as 
Crow Wing, is extremely sinuous, below which 
point it runs southward to St. Cloud, thence south- 
eastward to Minneapolis, where occur the Falls of 
St. Anthony, establishing a complete barrier to 
navigation for the lower Mississippi. In less than 
a mile the river descends 66 feet, including a per- 
pendicular fall of 17 feet, furnishing an immense 
water-power, which is utilized in operating flour- 
ing-mills and other manufacturing establish- 
ments. A few miles below St. Paul it reaches 
the western boundary of Wisconsin, where it 
expands into the long and beautiful Lake Pepin, 
bordered by picturesque limestone bluffs, some 
400 feet high. Below Dubuque its general direc- 
tion is southward, and it forms the lioundary 
between the States of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas 
and the northern part of Louisiana, on the 
west, and Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mis- 
sissippi, on tlie east. After many sinuous turn 
ings in its southern course, it enters the Gulf of 
Mexico by three principal passes, or mouths, at 
the southeastern extremity of Plaquemines 
Parish, La., in lat. 39" north and Ion. 89 12' 
west. Its principal affluents on the right are the 
Minnesota, Iowa, Des Moines, Missouri, Arkansas 
and Red Rivers, and, on the left, the Wisconsin, 
Illinois and Ohio. The Missouri River is longer 
than that part of the INIississippi above the point 
of junction, the distance from its source to the 
delta of the latter being about 4,300 miles, whicli 
exceeds that of any other river in the world. 
The width of the stream at St. Louis is about 
3,500 feet, at the mouth of the Ohio nearly 4,500 



feet, and at New Orleans about 2,500 feet. The 
mean velocity of the current between St. Louis 
and the Gulf of Mexico is about five to five and 
one-half miles per hour. The average depth 
below Red River is said to be 121 feet, though, in 
the vicinity of New Orleans, the maximum is said 
to reach 150 feet. The principal rajiids below the 
Falls of St. Anthony are at Rock Island and the 
Des Moines Rapids above Keokuk, the former 
having twentj'-two feet fall and the latter 
twenty-four feet. A canal around the Des 
Moines Rapids, along the west bank of the river, 
aids navigation. The alluvial banks which pre- 
vail on one or both shores of the lower Mississippi, 
often spread out into extensive "bottoms" which 
are of inexhaustible fertility. The mo.st impor- 
tant of these above the moutli of the Ohio, is the 
"American Bottom,"' extending along the east 
bank from Alton to Chester. Immense sums 
have been sj^ent in the construction of levees for 
the protection of the lands along the lower river 
from overflow, as also in the construction of a 
system of jetties at the mouth, to improve navi- 
gation by deepening the channel. 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER BRIDGE, THE, one of 
tlie best constructed railroad bridges in the West, 
spanning the Mississippi from Pike, 111. , to Loui- 
siana, Mo. The construction company was char- 
tered, April 25, 1872, and the bridge was ready for 
the passage of trains on Dec. 24, 1873. On Dec. 
3, 1877, it was leased in perpetuity by the Chicago 
& Alton Railway Company, which holds all its 
stock and §1.50,000 of its bonds as an investment, 
paying a rental of §60, 000 per annum , to be applied 
in the payment of 7 per cent interest on stock and 
6 per cent on bonds. In 1894, §71,000 was paid for 
rental, .§16,000 going toward a sinking fund. 

MOBILE & OHIO RAILROAD. This company 
operates 100.6 miles of road in Illinois, of which 
151.6 are leased from the St. Louis & Cairo Rail- 
road. (See St. Louis & Cairo Railroad.) 

MOLINE, a flourishing manufacturing city in 
Rock Island County, incorporated in 1872, on the 
Mississippi above Rock Island and opposite 
Davenport, Iowa; is 108 miles south of west from 
Chicago, and tlie intersecting point of three 
trunk lines of railway. Moline, Rock Island and 
Davenport are connected by steam and street 
railways, bridges and ferries. All three obtain 
water-power from the Mississippi. The region 
around Moline is rich in coal, and several pro- 
ductive mines are operated in the vicinity. It is 
an important manufacturing point, its chief out- 
puts being agricultural implements, filters, malle- 
able iron, steam engines, vehicles, lumber, organs 



* 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



381 



(pipe and reed), paper, lead-roofing, wind-mills, 
milling machinery, and furniture. The city has 
admirable water-works, several churches, good 
sichools, gas and electric light plants, a puljlio 
library, five banks, three daily ami weekly 
papers. It also has an extensive electric power 
plant, electric street cars and interurban line. 
Population (1890), 12.000; (1900), 17,248. 

MOLONEY, Maurice T., ex-Attorney-General, 
was born in Ireland, in 1S4'J; came to .Vmerica in 
1867, and, after a course in the Seminary of "Our 
Lady of the Angels" at Niagara Falls, studied 
theology ; then taught for a time in Virginia and 
studied law at the University of that State, 
graduating in 1871, finalh- locating at Ottawa, 
111., where he served three years as State's Attor- 
ney of La Salle County, and, in 1892, was nomi- 
nated and elected Attorney-Genei'al on the 
Democratic State ticket, serving until January, 
1897. 

MOMENCE, a town in Kankakee County, situ- 
ated on the Kankakee River and at the intersec- 
tion of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the 
Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroads, .54 miles south 
of Chicago; has water power, a flouring mill, 
enameled brick factory, railway repair shops, two 
banks, two newspapers, five churches and two 
schools. Population (1890), 1,63.5; (1900), 3,026. 

MONMOUTH, the county-seat of Warren 
County, 26 miles east of the Mississippi River; at 
point of intersection of two lines of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy and the Iowa Central Rail- 
ways. The Santa Fe enters Slonmouth on the 
Iowa Central lines. The surrounding t'ouutry is 
agricultural and coal yielding. The city has 
manufactories of agricultural implements, sewer- 
pipe, pottery, paving brick, and cigars. Mon- 
mouth College (United Presbyterian) was 
chartered in 1857. and the library of this institu- 
tion, with that of Warren County (also located 
at Monmouth) aggregates 30,000 volumes. There 
are three national banks, two daily, three weekly 
and two other periodical publications. An ap- 
I)ropriation was made by the Fifty-fifth Congress 
for the erection of a Government building at 
Monmouth. Population (1890), 5.936; (1900). 7,460. 

MONMOUTH COLLEtJE, an educational insti- 
tution, controlled by the United Presbyterian 
denomination, but non-sectarian ; located at Mon- 
mouth. It was founded in 1856, its first class 
graduating in 1858. Its Presidents have been 
Drs. D. A. Wallace (18,56-78) and J. B. McMichael, 
the latter occupying the position from 1878 until 
1897. In 1896 the faculty consisted of fifteen 
instructors and the number of students was 289. 



The college campus covers ten acres, tastefully 
laid out. The institution confers four degrees — 
A.B., B.S., M.B., and B.L. For the conferring 
of the first three, four years' study is required; 
for the degree of B.L., three j'ears. 

MONROE, Gieorge D., State Senator, was born 
in JeiTerson County, N. Y. , Sept. 24, 1844, and 
came with his parents to Illinois in 1849. His 
father having been elected Sheriff of Will County 
in 1864, he became a resident of Joliet, serving 
as a deputy in his father's office. In 1805 he 
engaged in merchandising as the partner of his 
father, which was exchanged, some fifteen jears 
later, for the wholesale grocery trade, and, finally, 
for the real-estate and mortgage-loan business, in 
which he is still employed. He has also been 
extensively engaged in the stone business some 
twenty- years, being a large stockholder in the 
Western Stone Company and Vice-President of 
the concern. In 1894 Mr. Monroe was elected, as 
a Republican, to the State Senate from the 
Twenty-fifth District, serving in the Thirty-ninth 
and Fortieth General Assemblies, and proving 
himself one of the most influential members of 
tliat body. 

MONROE COUNTY, situated in the southwest 
l)art of the State, bordering on the Mississippi — 
named for President Jlonroe. Its area is about 
380 .square miles. It was organized in 1816 and 
included within its boundaries several of the 
French villages which constituted, for many 
years, a center of civilization in the West. 
American settlers, however, began to locate in 
the district as early as 1781. The county has a 
diversified surface and is heavily timbered. The 
soil is fertile, embracing both upland and river 
bottom. Agriculture and the manufacture and 
shijiping of lumber constitute leading occupations 
of the citizens. Waterloo is the county-seat. 
Population (1890). 12 948; (1900), 13,847. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, an interior county, 
situated northeast of St. Louis and south of 
Springfield; area 703 square miles, population 
(1900), 30.836— derives its name from Gen. Richard 
Montgomery. The earliest settlements by Ameri- 
cans were toward the close of 1816, county organi- 
zation being effected five years later. The entire 
population, at that time, scarcely exceeded 100 
families. The surface is undulating, well watered 
and timbered. The seat of county government is 
located at Hillsboro. Litchfield is an important 
town. Here are situated car-shops and some 
manufacturing establishments. Conspicuous in 
the county's history as pioneers were Harris 
Reavis. Henry Pyatt. John Levi, Aaron Casey 



382 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



John Tillson, Hiram Rountree, the Wrights 
(Joseph and Charles), the Hills (John and 
Henry), William MoDavid and John Russell. 

MONTICELLO, a city and the county-seat of 
Piatt County, on the Sangamon River, midway 
between Chicago and St. Louis, on the Kankakee 
and Bloomington Division of the Illinois Central, 
and the Chicago and St. Louis Division of the 
Wabash Railways. It lies within the "corn belt, " 
and stock-raising Is extensivelj' carried on in the 
surrounding countrj'. Among the city industries 
are a foundry and machine shops, ateam flour and 
planing mills, broom, cigar and harness-making, 
and patent fence and tile works. The city is 
lighted b}- electricity, has several elevators, an 
excellent water system, numerous churches and 
good schools, with banks and three weekly 
papers. Population (1890), 1,643; (1900), 1,983. 

MOXTICELLO FEMALE SEMINARY, the 
second institution estal)lished in Illinois for the 
higher education of women — Jacksonville Female 
Seminary being the first. It was founded 
throvigh the munificence of Capt. Benjamin 
Godfrey, who donated fifteen acres for a site, at 
Godfrey, Madison County, and gave S53,0l)() 
toward erecting and equipping the buildings. 
The institution was opened on April 11, 1838, 
with sixteen young lady pupils. Rev. Therou 
Baldwin, one of the celebrated "Yale Band," 
being the first Principal. In 184.5 he was suc- 
ceeded by Miss Philena Fobes, and she, in turn, 
by Miss Harriet N. Haskell, in 1806, who still 
remains in charge. In November, 1883, the 
seminary building, with its contents, was burned ; 
but the institution continued its sessions in tem- 
porary quarters until the erection of a new biiild- 
ing, which was soon accomplished through the 
generosity of alumnaj and friends of female edu- 
cation throughout the country. The new struc- 
ture is of stone, three stories in height, and 
thoroughly modern. The average number of 
pupils is 150, with fourteen instructors, and the 
standard of the institution is of a high character. 

MOORE, Clifton H., lawyer and financier, was 
born at Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio, Oct. 26, 
1817; after a brief season spent in two academies 
and one term in the Western Reserve Teachers' 
Seminary, at Kirtland, in 1839 he came west 
and engaged in teaching at Pekin, III, while 
giving his leisure to the study of law. He spent 
the next year at Tremont as Deputy County and 
Circuit Clerk, was admitted to the bar at Spring- 
field in 1841, and located soon after at Clinton, 
DeWitt County, which has since been his home. 
In partnership with the late Judge David Davis, 



of Bloomington, Mr, Moore, a few years later, 
began operating extensively in Illinois lands, and 
is now one of the largest land proprietors in 
the State, besides being interested in a number 
of manufacturing ventures and a local bank. 
The only official position of importance he has 
held is that of Delegate to the State Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1869-70. He is an enthusi- 
astic collector of State historical and art treasures, 
of which he possesses one of the most valuable 
private collections in Illinois. 

MOORE, Henry, pioneer lawyer, came to Chi- 
cago from Concord, Mass., in 1834, and was 
almost immediately admitted to the bar, also 
acting for a time as a clerk in the office of Col. 
Richard J. Hamilton, who held pretty much all 
the count}' offices on the organization of Cook 
County. Mr. Moore was one of the original 
Trustees of Rush Medical College, and obtained 
from the Legislature the first charter for a gas 
company in Chicago. In 1838 he went to Ha- 
vana, Cuba, for the benefit of his failing health, 
but subsequently returned to Concord, Mass., 
where he died some years afterward. 

M()ORE, James, pioneer, was born in the State 
of Maryland in 1750 ; was married in his native 
State, about 1773, to Miss Catherine Biggs, later 
removing to Virginia. In 1777 he came to the 
Illinois Country as a spj% preliminarj- to the con- 
templated expedition of Col. George Rogers 
Clark, which captured Kaskaskia in July, 1778. 
After the Clark expedition (in which he served 
as Captain, by appointment of Gov. Patrick 
Henry), he returned to Virginia, where he 
reinained until 1781, when he organized a party 
of emigrants, which he accompanied to Illinois, 
spending the winter at Kaskaskia. The following 
year they located at a jjoint in the northern part 
of Monroe Count}', winch afterwards received 
the name of Bellefontaine. After his arrival in 
Illinois, he organized a company of "Minute 
Men," of which he was chosen Captain. He was 
a man of prominence and influence among the 
early settlers, but died in 1788. A nmnerous and 
influential family of his descendants have grown 
up in Southern Illinois. — John (Moore), son of 
the preceding, was born in Maryland in 1773, and 
brought by his father to Illinois eight years later. 
He married a sister of Gen. John D. Whiteside, 
who afterwards became State Treasurer, and also 
served as Fund Commissioner of the State of Illi- 
nois under the internal improvement system. 
Moore was an officer of the State Militia, and 
served in a company of rangers during the War 
of 1812; was also the first County Treasurer of 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



383 



Monroe County. Died, July 4, 1833. — James B. 
(Moore), the third son of Capt. James Moore, was 
born in 1780, and brought to Illinois by his par- 
ents; in his early manhood he followed the 
business of keel-boating on the Mississippi and 
Ohio Rivers, visiting New Orleans, Pittsburg and 
other points ; became a prominent Indian fighter 
during the War of 1812, and was commissioned 
Captain by Governor Edwards and authorized to 
raise a company of mounted rangers; also 
served as Sheriff of Monroe County, by appoint- 
ment of Governor Edwards, in Territorial daj's ; 
was Presidential Elector in 1820, and State Sena- 
tor for Madison County in 1836-40, dying in the 
latter year. — Enoch (Moore), fourth son of Capt. 
James Moore, the pioneer, was born in the old 
block-house at Bellefontaine in 1782, being the 
first child born of American parents in Illinois; 
served as a "ranger" in the company of his 
brother, James B. ; occupied the office of Clerk of 
the Circuit Court, and afterwards that of Judge 
of Probate of Monroe County during the Terri- 
torial period ; was Delegate to the Constitutional 
Convention of 1818, and served as Rejjresentative 
from Monroe County in the Second General 
Assembly, later filling various county offices for 
some twenty years. He died in 1848. 

MOORE, Jesse H., clergyman, soldier and Con- 
gressman, born near Lebanon, St. Clair County, 
111., April 32, 1817, and graduated from McKen- 
dree College in 1843. For thirteen years he was 
a teacher, during portions of this period being 
successively at the head of three literary insti- 
tutions in the West. In 1849 he was ordained a 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but 
resigned pastorate duties in 1803, to take part in 
the War for the Union, organizing the One Hun- 
dred and Fifteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, 
of which he was commissioned Colonel, also serving 
as brigade commander during the last year of the 
war, and being brevetted Brigadier-General at its 
close. After the war he re-entered the ministry, 
but, in 1868, while Presiding Elder of the Decatur 
District, he was elected to the Forty-first Con- 
gress as a Republican, being re-elected in 1870; 
afterwards served as Pension Agent at Spring- 
field, and, in 1881, was appointed United States 
Consul at Callao, Peru, dying in office, in that 
city, July 11, 1883. 

MOORE, John, Lieutenant-Governor (1842-46) ; 
was born in Lincolnshire, Eng. , Sept. 8, 1793; 
came to America and settled in Illinois in 1830, 
spending most of his life as a resident of Bloom- 
ington. In 1838 he was elected to the lower 
branch of the Eleventh General Assembly from 



the McLean District, and, in 1840, to the Senate, 
but before the close of his term, in 1843, was 
elected Lieutenant-Governor with Gov. Thomas 
Ford. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he 
took a conspicuous part in recruiting the Fourth 
Regiment Illinois Vohmteers (Col. E. D. Baker's), 
of which he was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel, 
serving gallantly throughout the struggle. In 
1848 he was appointed State Treasurer, as succes- 
sor of Milton Carpenter, who died in office. In 
1800 he was elected to the same office, and con- 
tinued to discharge its duties until 1857, when he 
was succeeded by James Miller. Died, Sept. 23, 
1863. 

MOORE, Risdon, pioneer, was born in Dela- 
ware in 1760; removed to North Carolina in 1789, 
and, a few years later, to Hancock Count}', Ga., 
where he served two terms in the Legislature. 
He emigrated from Georgia in 1813, and settled 
in St. Clair County, 111. — besides a family of fif- 
teen white persons, bringing with him eighteen 
colored people — the object of his removal being 
to get rid of slavery. He purchased a farm in 
wliat was known as the "Turkey Hill Settle- 
ment," about four miles east of Belleville, where 
he resided until his death in 1828. Mr. Moore 
became a prominent citizen, was elected to the 
Second Territorial House of Representatives, and 
was chosen Speaker, serving as such for two ses- 
sions (1814-15). He was also Representative from 
St. Clair County in the First, Second and Third 
General Assemblies after the admission of Illinois 
into the Union. In the last of these he was one 
of the most zealous opponents of the pro-slavery 
Convention scheme of 1832-24. He left a numer- 
ous and highly respected family of descendants, 
who were afterwards jjrominent in public affairs. — 
William (Moore), his son, served as a Captain in 
the War of 1812, and also commanded a company 
in the Black Hawk War. He represented St. 
Clair County in the lower branch of the Ninth 
and Tenth General Assemblies; was a local 
preacher of the Methodist Church, and was Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees of McKendree Col- 
lege at the time of his death in 1849. — Risdun 
(Moore), Jr., a cou.sin of the first named Risdon 
Moore, was a Representative from St. Clair County 
in the Fourth General Assembly and Senator in 
the Sixth, but died before the expiration of his 
term, being succeeded at the next session by 
Adam W, Snyder. 

MOORE, Steplien Richey, lawyer, was born of 
Scotch ancestry, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 22. 
1832; in 1851, entered Farmers' College near Cin- 
cinnati, graduating in 1856, and, having qualified 



384 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS 



himself for the practice of law, located the fol- 
lowing year at Kankakee, 111., which has since 
been his home. In 1858 he was employed in 
defense of the late Father Cliiniquj-, who recently 
died in Montreal, in one of the celebrated suits 
begun against him by dignitaries of the Roman 
Catholic Church. Mr. Moore is a man of strik- 
ing appearance and great independence of char- 
acter, a Methodist in religious belief and has 
generally acted politically in co-operation with 
the Democratic party, though strongly anti- 
slavery in his views. In 1873 he was a delegate 
to the Liberal Republican Convention at Cin- 
cinnati which nominated Mr. Greeley for the 
Presidency, and, in 1890, participated in the same 
way in the Indianapolis Convention which nomi- 
nated Gen. John M. Palmer for the same office, in 
the following campaign giving the "Gold Democ- 
racy*' a vigorous support. 

MORAJf, Thomas A., lawyer and jurist, was 
born at Bridgeport, Conn. . Oct. 7, 1839 ; received 
his preliminary education in the district schools 
of Wisconsin (to which State his father's family 
had removed in 1846), and at an academy at 
Salem, Wis. ; began reading law at Kenosha in 
1859, meanwhile supporting himself by teaching. 
In May, 1865, he graduated from the Albany 
(N. Y.) Law School, and the same year com- 
menced practice in Chicago, rapidly rising to the 
front rank of his profession. In 1879 he was 
elected a Judge of the Cook Coimty Circuit Court, 
and re-elected in 1885. At the expiration of his 
second term he resumed private practice. While 
on the bench he at first heard onlj' common law 
cases, but later divided the business of the equity 
side of the court witli Judge Tuley. In June, 
1886, he was assigned to the bench of the Appel- 
late Court, of which tribunal he was, for a year. 
Chief Justice. 

MORGAN, James Dady, soldier, was born in 
Boston, Mass., August 1, 1810, and. at IC years of 
age, went for a three years' trading voj^age on 
the ship "Beverly." When thirty days out a 
mutiny arose, and shortly afterward the vessel 
was burned. Morgan escaped to South America, 
and, after many hardships, returned to Boston. 
In 1834 he removed to Quincy, 111. , and engaged 
in mercantile pursuits; aided in raising the 
"Quincy Grays" during the Mormon difficulties 
(1844-45) ; during the Mexican War commanded a 
company in the First Regiment Illinois Volun- 
teers; in 1861 became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
Tenth Regiment in the three months' service, 
and Colonel on reorganization of the regiment 
for three years; was promoted Brigadier-General 



in July, 1862, for meritorious service ; commanded 
a brigade at Nashville, and, in March, 1865, was 
brevetted Major-General for gallantry at Benton- 
ville, N. C, being mustered out, August 24, 1865. 
After the war he resumed business at Quincj-, 
111., being President of the Quincj' Gas Company 
and Vice-President of a bank; was also Presi- 
dent, for some time, of the Society of the Army 
of the Cumberland. Died, at Quincy, Sept. 12, 1896. 

MORGAN COUNTY, a central county of the 
State, lying west of Sangamon, ami bordering on 
the Illinois River — named for Gen. Daniel Mor- 
gan; ai-ea, 580 square miles; population (1900), 
35,006. The earliest American settlers wer* 
probably Elisha and Seymour Kellogg, who 
located on Mauvaisterre Cieek in 1818. Dr. George 
Caldwell came in 1820, and was the first phy- 
sician, and Dr. Ero Chandler settled on the pres- 
ent site of the city of Jacksonville in 1821. 
Immigrants began to arrive in large numbers 
about 1822, and, Jan. 31, 1823, the county was 
organized, the first election being held at the 
house of James G. Swinerton, six miles south- 
west of the present city of Jacksonville. 01m- 
stead's Mound was the first county-seat, but this 
choice was only temporary. Two years later, 
Jacksonville was selected, and has ever since so 
continued. (See Jacksonville.) Cass County 
was cut off from Morgan in 1837, and Scott 
County in 1839. About 1837 Jlorgan was the 
most populous county in the State. The county 
is nearly equallj" divided between woodland and 
prairie, and is well watered. Besides the Illinois 
River on its western border, there are several 
smaller streams, among them Indian, Apple, 
Sandy and Mauvaisterre Creeks. Bituminous 
coal luiderlies the eastern part of the county, and 
thin veins crop out alQng the Illinois River 
bluffs. Sandstone has also been quarried. 

MORGAN PARK, a suburban village of Cook 
Countj-, 13 miles south of ('hicago, on the Chi- 
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway ; is the seat 
of the Academ}- (a preparatory branch) of the 
University of Chicago and the Scandinavian De- 
Ijartment of the Divinity School connected with 
tlie same institution. Population (1880), 187; 
(1890), 1.027; (1900), 2,329. 

MORMONS, a religious sect, founded by Joseph 
Smith, Jr., at Fayette, Seneca Count}-. N. Y., 
August 6, 1830, styling themselves the "Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." Membership 
in 1892 was estimated at 230,000, of whom some 
20,000 were outside of the United States. Their 
religious teacliings are jieculiar. They avow faitli 
in the Trinity and in the Bible (as by them 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



385 



interpreted). They believe, however, that the 
"Book of Mormon" — assumed to be of divine 
origin and a direct revelation to Smith^is of 
equal authority with the Scriptures, if not supe- 
rior to them. Among their ordinances are 
baptism and the laying-ou of hands, and, in their 
church organization, they recognize various orders 
— apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangel- 
ists, etc. They also believe in the restoration of 
the Ten Tribes and the literal re assembling of 
Israel, the return and rule of Christ in person, 
and the rebuilding of Zion in America. Polyg- 
amy is encouraged and made an article of faith, 
though professedly not practiced under existing 
laws in the United States. The supreme power 
is vested in a President, who has authority in 
temporal and spiritual affairs alike; although 
there is less effort now than formerly, on the part 
of the priesthood, to interfere in temporalities. 
Driven from New York in 1831, Smith and liis 
followers first settled at Kirtland, Ohio. There, 
for a time, the sect flourished and built a temple; 
bvit, within seven years, their doctrines and prac- 
tices excited so much liostility that they were 
forced to make another removal. Their next 
settlement was at Far West, Mo, ; but here the 
hatred toward theiji became so intense as to 
result in open war. From Missouri they 
recrossed the Mississippi and founded the city 
of Nauvoo, near Commerce, in Hancock County, 
111. The charter granted by the Legislature was 
an extraordinary instrument, and well-nigh made 
the city independent of the State. Nauvoo soon 
obtained commercial importance, in two years 
becoming a city of some 16,000 inhabitants. The 
Mormons rapidly became a powerful factor in 
State politics, when there broke out a more 
bitter public enmity than the sect had yet en- 
countered. Internal dissensions also sprang up, 
and, in 1844, a discontented Mormon founded a 
newspaper at Nauvoo, in which he violently 
assailed the prophet and threatened him with 
exposure. Smith's answer to this was the de- 
struction of the printing office, and the editor 
promptly secured a warrant for his arrest, return- 
able at Carthage. Smith went before a friendly 
justice at Nauvoo, who promptly discharged him, 
but he positively refused to appear before the 
Carthage magistrate. Thereupon the latter 
issued a second warrant, cliarging Smith with 
treason. This also was treated with contempt. 
The militia was called out to make the arrest, and 
the Mormons, who had formed a strong military 
organization, armed to defend their leader. 
After a few trifling clashes between the soldiers 



and the "Saints," Smith was persuaded to sur- 
render and go""to Carthage, the county-seat, where 
he was incarcerated in the county jail. Within 
twentj'-four hours (on Sunday, June 37, 1844), a 
mob attacked the prison. Joseph Smith and his 
brother Hyrum were killed, and some of their 
adherents, who had accompanied them to jail 
were wounded. Brigham Young (then an 
apostle) at once assumed the leadership and, 
after several months of intense popular excite- 
ment, in the following year led his followers 
across the Mississippi, finally locating (1847) in 
Utah. (See also Nauvoo.) There their history 
has not been free from charges of crime; but, 
whatever may be the character of the leaders, 
tliey have succeeded in building up a prosperous 
community in a region wliich they found a vir- 
tual desert, a little more than forty years ago. 
The polity of the Church has been greatly modi- 
fied in consequence of restrictions placed upon it 
by Congressional legislation, esjiecially in refer- 
ence to polygamy, and by contact with other 
communities. (See Smith, Joseph.) 

MORRIS, a city and the county-seat of Grundy 
County, on the Illinois River, the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, and the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad, 61 miles southwest of Chicago. 
It is an extensive grain market, and the center of 
a region rich in bituminous coal. There is valu- 
able water-power here, and mucli manufacturing 
is done, including builders' hardware, plows, iron 
specialties, paper car-wheels, brick and tile, flour 
and planing-miils, oatmeal and tanned leather 
There are also a normal and scientific school, two 
national banks and three daily aud weekly news- 
papers. Population (1880), 3,480; (1890), 3.6.53; 
(1900), 4,273. 

MORRIS, Buckner Smith, early lawyer born 
at Augusta, Ky., August 19. 1800; was admitted 
to the bar in 1837, and, for seven years thereafter 
continued to reside in Kentucky, serving two 
terms in the Legislature of that State. In 1834 
he removed to Chicago, took an active part in 
the incorporation of the city, and was elected its 
second Mayor in 1838. In 1840 he was a Whig 
candidate for Presidential 'Elector, Abraham 
Lincoln running on the same ticket, and. iu 
18.52, was defeated as the Whig candidate for 
Secretary of State. He was elected a Judge of 
the Seventh Circuit in 1851, but declined a re- 
nomination in 185,5. In 1856 he accepted the 
American (or Know-Nothing) nomination for 
Governor, and, in 1860, that of the Bell-Everett 
party for the same office. He was vehemently 
opposed to the election of either Lincoln or 



38(1 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Breckenridge to the Presidency, believing that 
civil war would result in either event. A shadow 
was thrown across liis life, in 1864, bj' his arrest 
and trial for alleged complicity in a rebel plot to 
burn and pillage Chicago and liberate the 
prisoners of war held at Camp Douglas. The 
trial, however, which was held at Cincinnati, 
resulted in his acquittal. Died, in Kentucky, 
Dec. 18, 1879. Those who knew Judge Morris, in 
his early life in the city of Chicago, describe him 
as a man of genial and kindly disposition, in spite 
of his opposition to the abolition of slavery — a 
fact which, no doubt, had much to do with his 
acquittal of the charge of complicity with the 
Camp Douglas conspiracy, as the evidence of his 
being in communication with the leading con- 
spirators appears to have been conclusive. (See 
Camp Douglas Conspirac!/.) 

MORRIS, Freeman P., lawyer and politician, 
was born in Cook County, 111., JIarch 19, 1854, 
labored on a farm and attended the district 
school in his youth, but completed his education 
in Chicago, graduating from the Union College 
of Law, and was admitted to practice in 1874, 
when he located at Watseka, Iroqviois County. 
In 1884 he was elected, as a Democrat, to the 
House of Representatives from the Iroquois Dis- 
trict, and has since been re-elected in 1888, '94. 
'96, being one of the most influential members of 
his party in that body. In 1893 he was appointed 
by Governor Altgeld Aid-de-Cainp, with the rank 
of Colonel, on his personal staff, but resigned in 
1896. 

MORRIS, Isaac Newton, lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born at Bethel, Clermont County, 
Ohio, Jan. 23, 1813; educated at Miami Univer- 
sity, admitted to the bar in 183."), and the next 
year removed to Quincy, 111. ; was a member and 
President of the Board of Canal Commissioners 
(1843-43), served in the Fifteenth General Assem- 
bly (1846-48) ; was elected to Congress as a Demo- 
crat in 1856, and again in 1858, but opposed the 
admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Con- 
stitution; in 1868 supported General Grant — who 
had been his friend in boyliood — for President, 
and, in 1870, was appointed a member of the 
Union Pacific Railroad Commission. Died, Oct. 
29, 1879. 

MORRISON, a city, the county-seat of White- 
side County, founded in 18.')5; is a station on the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, 134 miles 
west of Chicago. Agriculture, dairying and 
stock-raising are the principal pursuits in the 
surrounding region. The city has good water- 
works, sewerage, electric lighting and several 



manufactoiies, including carriage and refriger 
ator works; also has numerous cliurches, a large 
graded school, a public library and adequate 
banking facilities, and two weekly papers. 
Greenhouses for cultivation of vegetables for 
winter market are carried on. Pop. (1900), 3,308. 

MORRISON, Isaac L., lawj'er and legislator, 
born in Barren County, Ky. . in 1836; was edu- 
cated in the common schools and the Masonic 
Seminary of his native State; admitted to the 
bar, and came to Illinois in 1851, locating at 
Jacksonville, where he has become a leader of 
the bar and of the Republican party, which he 
assisted to organize as a member of its first State 
Convention at Bloomington, in 1856. He was also 
a delegate to the Republican National Convention 
of 1864, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for 
the Presidency a second time. Mr. Morrison was 
three times elected to the lower house of the 
General A.ssembly (1870, '78 and '83), and, by his 
clear judgment and incisive powers as a public 
speaker, took a high rank as a leader in that 
body. Of late years, he has given his attention 
solely to the practice of his profession in 
Jacksonville. 

MORRISON, James Lowery Donaldson, poli- 
tician, lawyer and Congressnian, was born at Kas- 
kaskia. 111., April 13, 1810; at the age of 16 was 
appointed a midshipman in the United States 
Navy, l)ut leaving the service in 1836, read law 
witli Judge Nathaniel Pope, and was admitted to 
the bar, practicing at Belleville. He was elected 
to the lower house of the General Assembly from 
St. Clair County, in 1844, and to the State Senate 
in 1848, and again in '54. In 1852 he was an. 
unsuccessful candidate for the Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernorship on the Whig ticket, but, on the disso- 
lution of that party, allied himself with the 
Democracy, and was, for many years, its leader in 
Southern Illinois. In 1855 he was elected to Con- 
gress to fill the vacancy caused by the resigna- 
tion of Lyman Trumbull, who had been elected to 
the United States Senate. In 1860 he was a can- 
didate before the Democratic State Convention 
for the nomination for Governor, but was defeated 
by James C. Allen. After that year he took no 
prominent part in public affairs. At the outbreak 
of the Mexican War he was among the first to 
raise a company of %'olunteers, and was commis- 
sioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment 
(Colonel Bissell's). For gallant services at Buena 
Vista, the Legislature presented him with a 
sword. He took a prominent part in the incor- 
poration of railroads, and, it is claimed, drafted 
and introduced in the Legislature the charter of 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



387 



the Illinois Central Railroad in 1851. Died, at 
St. Louis, Mo., August 14, 1888. 

MORRISON, William, pioneer merchant, came 
from Philadelphia, Pa., toKaskaskia, 111., in 1790, 
as representative of the mercantile house of 
Bryant & Morrison, of Philadelphia, and finally 
established an extensive trade througliout the 
Mississippi Valley, suppl}'ing merchants at St. 
Louis, St. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New 
Madrid. He is also said to liave sent an agent 
with a stock of goods across the plains, with a 
view to opening up trade with the Mexicans at 
Santa Fe, about 1804, but was defrauded by the 
agent, who appropriated the goods to his own 
benefit without accounting to his employer. 
He became the principal merchant in the Terri- 
tory, doing a thriving business in early days, 
when Kaskaskia was the principal supply point 
for merchants throughout the valley. He is de- 
scribed as a public-spirited, enterprising man, to 
whom was due the chief part of the credit for . 
securing construction of a bridge across the Kas- 
kaskia River at the town of that name. He died 
at Kaskaskia in 1837, and was buried in the ceme- 
tery there. — Robert (Morrison), a brother of the 
preceding, came to Kaskaskia in 1793, was 
appointed Clerk of the Common Pleas Court in 
1801, retaining the position for many years, 
besides holding other local offices. He was the 
father of Col. James L. D. Morrison, politician 
and soldier of the Mexican War, whose sketch is 
given elsewhere. — Joseph (Morrison), the oldest 
son of William Morrison, went to Ohio, residing 
there several years, but finally returned to Prairie 
du Rocher, where he died in 1S4.'>. — James, 
another son, went to Wisconsin ; William located 
at Belleville, dying there in 1843; while Lewis? 
another son, settled at Covington, Washington 
County, 111., where he practiced medicine up to 
18.51 ; then engaged in mercantile business at 
Chester, dying there in 18.")6. 

MORRISON, William Ralls, ex-Congressman, 
Inter-State Commerce C'ommissioner, was born, 
Sept. 14, 182.5, in Monroe County, 111., and edu- 
cated at McKendree College ; served as a private 
in the Mexican War, at its close studied law, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1855; in 1852 was 
elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of Monroe 
County, but resigned before the close of his term, 
accepting the office of Representative in the State 
Legislature, to wliich he was elected in 1854; was 
re-elected in 185G, and again in 18.58, serving as 
Speaker of the House during the session of 1859. 
In 1861 he assisted in organizing the Forty-ninth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteers and was commis- 



sioned Colonel. The regiment was mustered in, 
Dec. 31, 1861, and took part in the battle of Fort 
Donelson in February following, where he was 
severely wounded. Wliile yet in the service, in 
1862, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat, 
when he resigned his commission, but was de- 
feated for re-election, in 1864, by Jehu Baker, as 
he was again in 1806. In 1870 he was again 
elected to the General Assembly, and, two years 
later (1872), returned to Congress from the Belle- 
ville District, after which he served in that body, 
by successive re-elections, nine terms and until 
1887, being for several terms Chairman of the 
House Ways and Means Committee and promi- 
nent in the tariff legislation of that period. In 
March, 1887, President Cleveland appointed him 
a member of the first Inter-State Commerce Com- 
mission for a period of five years; at the close of 
his term he was reappointed, liy President Harri- 
son, for a full term of six j-ears, serving a part of 
the time as President of the Board, and retiring 
from office in 1898. 

MORRISONVILLE, a town in Clu-istian 
County, situated on the Wabash Raihvay, 40 
miles .southwest of Decatur and 20 miles north- 
northeF.st of Litchfield Grain is extensively 
raised in the surrounding region, and Morrison- 
ville, with its elevators and mill, is an important 
shipping-point. It lias brick and tile works, 
electric lights, two banks, five churches, graded 
and high schools, and a weekly paper. Popula- 
tion (1890), 844; ,1900), 934; (1903, est.), 1,200. 

MORTOX, a village of Tazewell County, at the 
intersection of the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe 
and the Teire Haute & Peoria Railroads, 10 miles 
southeast of Peoria; lias factories, a bank and a 
newspaper. Population (1890), 657; (1900), 894. 

MORTON, Joseph, pioneer farmer and legisla- 
tor, was born in Virginia, August 1, 1801 ; came 
to Madison County, 111., in 1819, and the follow- 
ing year to Morgan County, when he engaged in 
farming in the vicinity of Jacksonville. He 
served as a member of the House in the Tenth 
and Fifteenth General Assemblies, and as Senator 
in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth. He was a 
Democrat in politics, but, on questions of State 
and local policy, was non-partisan, faithfully 
representing the interests of his constituents. 
Died, at his home near Jacksonville, March 2, 1881. 

MOSES, Adolph, lawyer, was born in Speyer, 
Germany, Feb. 27, 1837, and, until fifteen years 
of age, was educated in the pviblic and Latin 
schools of his native country ; in the latter part 
of 1852, came to America, locating in New 
Orleans, and, for some years, being a law student 



388 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in Louisiana University, under the preceptorship 
of Randall Hunt and other eminent lawyers of 
that State. In the early days of the Civil War 
he espoused the cause of the Confederacy, serving 
some two years as an officer of tlie Twenty first 
Louisiana Regiment. Coming north at the expi- 
ration of tliis period, he resided for a time in 
Quincy, 111., but, in 1869, removed to Chicago, 
where he took a place in the front rank at the 
bar, and where he has resided ever since. 
Although in sympathy with the general princi- 
l)les of the Democratic party. Judge Moses is an 
independent voter, as shown by the fact that he 
voted for General Grant for President in 1868, 
and supported the leading measures of the Repub- 
lican ])arty in 1896. He is the editor and pub 
lisher of ''The National Corporation Reporter," 
established in 1890, and which is devoted to the 
interests of business corporations. 

MOSE^S, John, lawyer and author, was born at 
Niagara Falls, Canada, Sept. 18, 1825; came to 
Illinois in 1837, liis family locating first at Naples, 
Scott County. He pursued the vocation of a 
teacher for a time, studied law, was elected Clerk 
of the Circuit Court for Scott County in 1856, and 
served as County Judge from 1857 to 1861. The 
latter year he became the private secretary of 
Governor Yates, serving until 1863, during that 
period assisting in the organization of seventy- 
seven regiments of Illinois Volunteers. While 
serving in this capacity, in company with Gov- 
ernor Yates, he attended the famous conference 
of loyal Governors, held at Altoona, Pa. , in Sep- 
tember, 1862, and afterwards accompanied tlie 
Governors in their call iijjon President Lincoln, a 
few days after the issue of the preliminary proc- 
lamation of emancipation. Having received the 
appointment, from President Lincoln, of Assessor 
of Internal Revenue for the Tenth Illinois Dis- 
trict, he resigned the position of private secretary 
to Governor Yates. In 1874 he was chosen 
Representative in the Twenty-ninth General 
Assembly for the District composed of Scott, 
Pike and Callioun Counties; served as a delegate 
to the National Republican Convention at Phila- 
delphia, in 1872, and as Secretary of the Board of 
Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners for 
three years (1880-83). He was then appointed 
Special Agent of the Treasury Department, and 
assigned to duty in connection with tlie customs 
revenue at Chicago. In 1887 he was chosen Sec- 
retary of the Chicago Historical Society, serving 
until 1893. While connected with the Chicago 
Historical Library he brought out the most com- 
plete History of Illinois yet published, in two 



volumes, and also, in connection with the late 
Major Kirkland, edited a History of Chicago in 
two large volumes. Other literary work done by 
Judge Moses, includes "Personal Recollections of 
Abraham Lincoln"' and "Richard Yates, the 
War Governor of Illinois, " in the form of lectures 
or addresses. Died in Chicago, July 3, 1898. 

MOULTON, Samuel W., lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born at Wenham, Mass., Jan. 20, 1822, 
where he was educated in the public schools. 
After spending some years in the South, he 
removed to Illinois (1845), where he studied law, 
and was admitted to the bar, commencing prac- 
tice at Shelbyville. From 1852 to 1859 he was a 
member of the lower house of the General Assem- 
bly; in 1857, was a Presidential Elector on the 
Buchanan ticket, and was President of the State 
Board of Education from 18,59 to 1876. In 1864 
he was elected, as a Republican, Representative in 
Congress for the State-at-large, being elected 
again, as a Democrat, from the Shelbyville Dis- 
trict, in 1880 and '82. During the past few years 
(including the campaign of 1896) Mr. Moulton 
has acted in cooperation witli the Republican 
party. 

MOULTRIE COUJfTY, a comparatively small 
county in tlie eastern section of the middle tier of 
the State — named for a revolutionary hero. Area, 
340 square miles, and population (by the census 
of 1900), 15,224. Moultrie was one of the early 
"stamping grounds" of the Kickapoos, who were 
always friendly to English-speaking settlers. The 
earliest immigrants were from the Southwest, 
but arrivals from Northern States soon followed. 
County organization was effected in 1843, both 
Shelby and Macon Counties surrendering a portion 
of territory. A vein of good bituminous coal 
underlies the county, but agriculture is the more 
important industry. Sullivan is the county -seat, 
selected in 1845. In 1890 its population was about 
1,700. Hon. Richard J. Oglesby (former Gover- 
nor, Senator and a Major-General in the Civil 
War) began the practice of law here. 

MOUND-BUILDERS, WORKS OF THE. One 
of the most conclusive evidences that the Jlis- 
sissippi Valley was once occupied by a people 
dififerent in customs, character and civilization 
from the Indians found occupying the soil when 
the first white explorers visited it, is the exist- 
ence of certain artificial mounds and earthworks, 
of the origin and purposes of whicli the Indians 
seemed to have no knowledge or tradition. These 
works extend throughout the valley from the 
Allegheny to the Rocky Mountains, being much 
more numerous, however, in some portions than 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



389 



in others, and also varying greatly in form. This 
fact, with the remains fouuil in some of them, has 
been regarded as evidence that the purposes of 
their construction were widely variant. They 
have consequently been classified by archaeolo- 
gists as sepulchral, religious, or defensive, wliile 
some seem to have had a purpose of which 
writers on the subject are unable to form any 
satisfactory conception, and which are, therefore, 
still regarded as an unsolved mystery. Some of 
the most elaborate of these works are found along 
the eastern border of the Mississippi Valley, 
especially in Ohio ; and the fact that they appear 
to belong to the defensive class, has led to the 
conclusion that this region was occupied by a race 
practically homogeneous, and that these works 
were designed to prevent the encroachment of 
hostile races from beyond the Alleghenies. Illi- 
nois being in the center of the valley, compara- 
tively few of these defensive works are found 
here, those of this character which do exist being 
referred to a different era and race. (See Forti- 
fications, Prcliistoric.) While these works are 
numerous in some portions of Illinois, their form 
and structure give evidence that they were 
erected by a laeaceful people, however bloody 
may have been some of the rites performed on 
those designed for a religious purpose. Their 
numbers also imply a dense population. This is 
especially true of that portion of the American 
Bottom opposite the city of St. Louis, which is 
the seat of the most remarkable group of earth 
works of this character on the continent. The 
central, or principal structure of this group, is 
known, locally, as the great "Cahokia Mound,'' 
being situated near the creek of that name which 
empties into the Mississippi just below the city 
of East St. Louis. It is also called "Monks' 
Mound,"' from the fact that it was occupied early 
in the present century by a community of Monks 
of La Trappe, a portion of whom succumbed to 
the malarial influences of the climate, while the 
survivors returned to the original seat of their 
order. This mound, from its form and com- 
manding size, has been supposed to belong to the 
class called "temple mounds," and has been de- 
scribed as "the monarch of all similar structures" 
and the "best representative of its class in North 
America." The late William Mc Adams, of 
Alton, who surveyed this group some years since, 
in his "Records of Ancient Races," gives the fol- 
lowing description of this principal structure : 

"In the center of a great mass of mounds and 
earth-works there stands a mighty pyramid 
whose base covers nearly sixteen acres of ground. 



It is not exactly square, being a parallelogram a 
little longer north and south than east and west. 
Some thirty feet above the base, on the south side, 
is an apron or terrace, on which now grows an 
orchard of considerable size. This terrace is 
approached from the plain by a graded roadway. 
Thirty feet above this terrace, and on the west 
side, is another much smaller, on wliich are now 
growing some forest trees. The top, which con- 
tains an acre and a half, is divided into two 
nearly equal parts, tlie northern part being four 
or five feet the higher, ... On the north, 
east and south, the structure still retains its 
straight side, that probably has changed but little 
since the settlement of the country by white 
men, but remains in appearance to-daj' the same 
as centuries ago. The west side of the pyramid, 
however, has its base somewhat serrated and 
seamed by ravines, evidently made by rainstorms 
and the elements. From the second terrace a 
well, eighty feet in depth, penetrates the base of 
the .structure, which is plainly seen to be almost 
wholly composed of the black, sticky soil of the 
surrounding plain. It is not an oval or conical 
mound or hill, but a pyramid with straight 
sides." The approximate height of this mound 
is ninety feet. When first seen by white men, 
this was surmounted by a small conical mound 
some ten feet in height, from which human 
remains and various relics were taken while 
being leveled for the site of a house. Messrs. 
Squier and Davis, in their report on "Ancient 
Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," published 
by the Smithsonian Institute (1848), estimate the 
contents of the structure at 20,000,000 cubic feet. 
A Mr. Breckenridge, who visited these mounds 
in 1811 and published a description of them, esti- 
mates that the construction of this principal 
mound must have required the work of thousands 
of laborers and years of time. The upper terrace, 
at the time of his visit, was occupied by the 
Trappists as a kitchen garden, and the top of the 
structure was sown in wheat. He also found 
numerous fragments of flint and earthern ves- 
sels, and concludes that "a populous city once 
existed here, similar to those of Mexico described 
by the first conquerors. The mounds were sites 
of temples or monuments to great men. " Accord- 
ing to Mr. McAdams, there are seventy-two 
mounds of considerable size within two miles of 
the main structure, the group extending to the 
mouth of the Cahokia and embracing over one 
hundred in all. Most of these are square, rang- 
ing from twenty to fifty feet in height, a few are 
oval and one or two conical. Scattered among 



390 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the mounds are also a number of small lakes, 
evidently of artificial origin. From the fact 
that there were a number of conspicuous 
mounds on the Missouri side of the river, 
on the present site of the city of St. Louis 
and its environs, it is believed that they all 
belonged to the same system and had a common 
purpose; the Cahokia Mound, from its superior 
size, being the center of the group— and probably 
used for sacrificial purposes. The whole number 
of these .structures in the American Bottom, 
whose outlines were still visible a few years ago, 
was estimated by Dr. J. W. Foster at nearly two 
hundred, and the presence of so large a number 
in close proximity, has been accepted as evidence 
of a large population in the immediate vicinity. 
Mr. McAdams reports the finding of numerous 
specimens of pottery and artificial ornaments and 
implements in the Cahokia mounds and in caves 
and mounds between Alton and the mouth of the 
Illinois River, as well as on the latter some 
twenty-five miles from its mouth. Among the 
relics found in the Illinois River mounds was a 
burial vase, and Mr. McAdams says that, in 
thirty years, he has unearthed more than a 
thousand of these, many of which closely 
resemble those found in the mounds of Europe. 
Dr. Foster also makes mention of an ancient 
cemetery near Chester, in which "each grave, 
when explored, is found to contain a cist enclos- 
ing a skeleton, for the most part far gone in 
decaj'. These cists are built up and covered witli 
slabs of limestone, which liere abound. " — Another 
noteworthy group of mounds — though far inferior 
to the Cahokia group — exists near Hutsonville in 
Crawford County. As described in the State 
Geological Survey, this group consists of fifty- 
five elevations, irregularly dispersed over an area 
of 1,000 by 1,400 to 1.500 feet, and varying from 
fourteen to fifty feet in diameter, the larger ones 
having a lieight of five to eight feet. From their 
form and arrangement these are believed to have 
been mounds of habitation. In the southern por- 
tion of this group are four mounds of peculiar 
construction and larger size, each surrounded 
by a low ridge or earthwork, with openings facing 
towards each other, indicating that they were 
defense- works. The location of this group — a 
few miles from a prehistoric fortification at 
Merom, on the Indiana side of the Wabash, to 
which the name of "Fort Azatlan" has been 
given— induces the belief that the two groups, 
like those in the American Bottom and at St. 
Louis, were parts of the same system. — Professor 
Engelman, in the part of the State Geological 



Survey devoted to Massac County, alludes to a 
remarkable group of earthworks in the Black 
Bend of the Oliio, as an "extensive"' system of 
"fortifications and moimds which probably 
belong to the same class as those in the Missis- 
sippi Bottom opposite St. Louis and at other 
points farther up the Ohio." In the report of 
Government survey by Dan W. Beckwith, in 183-1, 
mention is made of a very large mound on the 
Kankakee River, near the mouth of Rock Creek, 
now a part of Kankakee County. This had a 
base diameter of about 100 feet, with a height of 
twenty feet, and contained the remains of a 
large number of Indians killed in a celebrated 
battle, in which the Illinois and Chippewas, and 
the Delawares and Shawnees took part. Near 
by were two other mounds, said to contain the 
remains of the chiefs of the two parties. In this 
case, mounds of prehistoric origin had probably 
been utilized as burial places by the aborigines at 
a comparatively recent period. Related to the 
Kankakee mounds, in location if not in period of 
construction, is a group of nineteen in nmnber on 
the site of the present city of Morris, in Grundy 
County. Within a circuit of three miles of 
Ottawa it has been estimated that there were 
3,000 mounds^though many of these are believed 
to have been of Indian origin. Indeed, the whole 
Illinois Valley is full of these silent monuments 
of a prehistoric age, but they are not generally of 
the conspicuous character of those found in the 
vicinity of St. Louis and attributed to the Mound 
Builders. — A very large and numerous group of 
these monuments exists along the bluffs of the 
Mississippi River, in the western part of Rock 
Island and Mercer Counties, chieriy between 
Drury's Landing and New Boston. Mr. J. E. 
Stevenson, in "The American Antiquarian." a 
few years ago, estimated that there were 2, .500 of 
these within a circuit of fifty miles, located in 
groups of two or three to 100, varying in diameter 
from fifteen to 150 feet, with an elevation of two 
to fifteen feet. There are also numerous burial 
and sacrificial mounds in the vicinity of Chilli- 
oothe, on the Illinois River, in the northeastern 
part of Peoria County. — There are but few speci- 
mens of the animal or eflSgy mounds, of which so 
many exist in Wisconsin, to be found in Illinois; 
and the fact that these are found chiefly on Rock 
River, leaves no doubt of a common origin with 
the Wisconsin groups. The most remarkable of 
these is the celebrated "Turtle Mound," within 
the present limits of the city of Rockford — though 
some regard it as having more resemblance to an 
alligator. ' This figure, which is maintained in a 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



391 



good state of preservation by the citizens, has an 
extreme length of about 150 feet, by fifty in 
width at the front legs and thirty-nine at the 
hind legs, and an elevation equal to the height 
of a man. There are some smaller mounds in 
the vicinity, and some bird efSgies on Rock River 
some six miles below Rockford. There is also an 
animal effigy near the village of Hanover, in Jo 
Daviess County, with a considerable group of 
round mounds and embankments in the immedi- 
ate vicinity, besides a smaller effigy of a similar 
character on the north side of the Pecatonica in 
Stephenson County, some ten miles east of Free- 
port. The Rock River region seems to have been 
a favorite field for the operations of the mound- 
builders, as shown by the number and variety of 
these structures, extending from - Sterling, in 
Whiteside County, to the Wisconsin State line. A 
large number of these were to be found in the 
vicinity of the Kishwaukee River in the south- 
eastern part of Winnebago County. Tlie famous 
prehistoric fortification on Rock River, just 
beyond the Wisconsin boundary — which seems to 
have been a sort of counterpart of the ancient 
Fort Azatlan on the Indiana side of the Wabash 
— appears to have had a close relation to the 
works of the mound-builders on the same stream 
in Illinois. 

MOUND CITY, the county-seat of Pulaski 
County, on the Ohio River, seven miles north of 
Cairo; is on a branch line of the Illinois Central 
and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railroad. The chief industries are lumber- 
ing and ship-building; also has furniture, canning 
and other factories. One of the United States 
National Cemeteries is located here. The town 
has a bank and two weekly papers. Population 
(1890), 2,.'5.50; (1900), 2,70.5; (1903, est), 3,500. 

MOUNT C.\B3IEL, acity and the county-seat 
of Wabash Count}'; is the point of junction of 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
and the Southern Railroads, 133 miles northeast 
of Cairo, and 24 miles southwest of Vincennes, 
Ind. ; situated on the Wabash River, which sup- 
plies good water-power for saw mills, flouring 
mills, and some other manufactures. The town 
has railroad shops and two daily newspapers. 
Agriculture and lumbering are the principal 
pursuits of the people of the surrounding district. 
Population (1890), 3,376; (1900), 4,311. 

MOUNT CARROLL, the county-seat of Carroll 
County, an incorporated city, founded in 1843; 
is 138 miles southwest of Cliicago, on the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. Farming, 
stock-raising and mining are tlie principal indus- 



tries. It has five churches, excellent schools, 
good libraries, two daily and two semi-weekly 
newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,836; (1900), 1,965. 

MOUNT CARROLL SEMINARY, a young 
ladies" seminary, located at Mount Carroll, Carroll 
County ; incorporated in 1852 ; had a faculty of 
thirteen members in 1896, with 126 pupils, prop- 
erty valued at S100,000, and a library of 5,000 
volumes. 

MOUNT MORRIS, a town in Ogle County, situ- 
ated on the Chicago & Iowa Division of the Chi- 
cago, Burlington it Quincy Railroad, 108 miles 
west by nortli from Chicago, and 24 miles south- 
west of Rockford; is the seat of Mount Morris 
College and flourishing public school; lias hand- 
some stone and brick buildings, three cluirches 
and two newspapers. Population (1900), 1,048. 

MOUNT OLIVE, a village of Macoupin County, 
on the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis and the 
Wabash Railways, 68 miles southwest of Decatur; 
in a rich agricultural and coal-mining region. 
Population (1880), 709; (1890), 1,986 :(1900),2,'.«5. 

MOUNT PULASKI, a village and railroad junc- 
tion in Logan County, 21 miles northwest of 
Decatur and 24 miles northeast of Springfield. 
Agriculture, coal-mining and stock-raising are 
leading industries. It is also an important ship- 
ping point for grain, and contains several 
elevators and flouring mills. Population (1880), 
1,125; (1890), 1,357; (IHOO), 1,643. 

MOUNT STERLIN<4, a city, tlie county -.seat of 
Brown County, midway between Quincy and 
Jack.sonvilIe, on tlie Waba.sh Railway. It is sur- 
rounded by a rich farming countrj', and has ex- 
tensive deposits of claj' and coal. It contains six 
churches and four schools (two large public, and 
two parochial). The town is lighted by elec- 
tricity and has public water- works. Wagons, 
brick, tile and earthenware are manufactured 
here, and three weekly newspapers are pub- 
lished. Population (1880), 1,445; (1890), 1,655; 
(1900), 1,960. 

MOUNT VERNON, a city and county-seat of 
Jeflfer.son County, on three trunk lines of railroad, 
77 miles east-southeast of St. Louis; is tlie center 
of a rich agricultural and coal region; has mnny 
flourishing manufactories, including car-works, a 
plow factory, flouring mills, pressed brick fac- 
tory, canning factory, and is an important ship- 
ping-point for grain, vegetables and fruits. The 
Appellate Court for the Southern Grand Division 
is held here, and the city has nine churches, fine 
school buildings, a Carnegie library, two banks, 
heating plant, two daily ami three weekly papers. 
Population (1890), 3,233; (1900), 5 216. 



392 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



MOU JiT VERNON ic GRAYVILLE RAILROAD. 

(See Pcona. Decatur cfc Eninsrille Kailiraij.) 

MOWEAqUA, a village of Shelby County, on 
the Illinois Ceutnil Kailroad, IB miles south of 
Decatur; is in rich agricultural and stock-raising 
section; has coal mine, three banks and two 
newspapers. Population (1800), 84!S; (1900), 1,478. 
MUDD, (Col.) John J., soldier, was born in 
St. Charles County, Mo., Jan. 9, 1820; his father 
having died in 1833, his mother removed to Pike 
County, 111. . to free her children from the influ- 
ence of slavery. In 1849, and again in 18.50, he 
made the overland journey to California, each 
time returning by the Isthmus, his last visit ex- 
tending into 1851. In 1854 he engaged in the 
commission business in St. Louis, as head of the 
firm of Mudd & Hughes, but failed in the crash 
of 1857; then removed to Chicago, and, in 1861, 
was again in prosperous business. While on a 
bu.siness visit in New Orleans, in December, 18G0, 
he had an opportunity of learning the growing 
spirit of secession, being ad\isetl by friends to 
leave the St. Charles Hotel iu order to escape a 
mob. In September, 1861, he entered the army 
as Major of the Second Illinois Cavalry (Col. 
Silas Noble), and, in the next few months, was 
stationed successively at Cairo, Bird's Point and 
Paducah, Ky., and, in February, 1862, led the 
advance of General McClernand's division in the 
attack on Fort Donelson. Here he was severely 
wounded : but, after a few weeks in hospital at St. 
Louis, was sufficiently recovered to rejoin his 
regiment soon after the battle of Shiloh. Unable 
to perform cavalry duty, he was attached to the 
stalf of General McClernand during the advance 
on Corinth, but, in October following, at the head 
of 400 men of his regiment, was transferred to 
the command of General McPherson. Early in 
1863 he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and 
soon after to a colonelcj-, taking part in the 
movement against Vicksburg. June 13, he was 
again severelj' wounded, but, a few weeks later, 
was on duty at New Orleans, and subsequently 
participated in the operations in Southwestern 
Louisiana and Texas. On May 1, 1864, he left 
Baton Rouge for Alexandria, as Chief of Staff to 
General McClernand, but two days later, while 
approaching Alexandria on board the steamer, 
was shot through the head and instantly killed. 
He was a gallant soldier and greatly beloved by 
his troops. 

MULBERRY tiROVE, a village of Bond County, 
on the Terra Haute & Indianapolis (Vandalia) 
Railroad, 8 miles northeast of Greenville; has a 
local newspaper. Pop. (1890), 7.50; (1900). 632. 



MULLIGAN, James A., soldier, was born of 
Irish parentage at Utica, N. Y., June 25, 1830; in 
1836 accompanied his parents to Chicago, and. 
after graduating from the University of St. 
Mary's of the Lake, in 1850, began the study of 
law. In 1851 he accompanied John Lloyd Ste- 
phens on his expedition to Panama, and on his 
return resumed his professional studies, at the 
same time editing "The Western Tablet." a 
weekly Catholic paper. At the outbreak of the 
Rebellion he recruited, and was made Colonel of 
the Twenty-third Illinois Regiment, known as 
the Irish Brigade. He served with great gallan- 
try, first in the West and later ifl the East, being 
severely wounded and twice captured. He 
declined a Brigadier-Generalship, preferring to 
remain with his regiment. He was fatally 
wounded during a charge at the battle of Win- 
chester. While being carried off the field he 
noticed that the colors of his brigade were en- 
dangered. "Lay me down and save the flag," he 
ordered. His men hesitated, but he repeated the 
command until it was obeyed. Before they 
returned he had been borne away by the enemy, 
and died a prisoner, at Winchester, Va. , July 26, 
1864. 

MUNN, Daniel W., lawyer and soldier, was 
born in Orange County, Vt., in 1834; graduated 
at Thetford Academy in 1852, when he taught 
two years, meanwhile beginning the study of 
law. Removing to Coles County, 111., in 1855, he 
resumed his law studies, was admitted to the bar 
in 1858, and began practice at Hillsboro, Mont- 
gomery County. In 1862 he joined the One 
Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers, with the rank of Adjutant, but the 
following year was appointed Colonel of the First 
Alabama Cavalry. Compelled to retire from the 
service on account of declining health, he re- 
turned to Cairo, 111. , where he became editor of 
"The Daily News"; in 1866 was elected to the 
State Senate, serving four years ; served as Presi- 
dential Elector in 1868; was the Republican nomi- 
nee for Congress in 1870, and the following year 
was appointed by President Grant Supervisor of 
Internal Revenue for the District including the 
States of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. 
Removing to Chicago, he began practice there in 
1875, in which he has since been engaged. He 
has been prominently connected with a number 
of important cases before the Chicago courts. 

MUNN, Sylvester W., lawyer, soldier and legis- 
lator, was born about 1818, and came from Ohio 
at thirty years of age, settling at Wilmington. 
Will County, afterwards removing to Joliet, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



393 



where he practiced law. During the War he 
served as Major of the Yates Phalanx (Thirty- 
ninth Illinois Volunteers) ; later, was State's 
Attorney for Will County and State Senator in 
the Thirty-first and Thirty-second General 
Assemblies. Died, at Joliet, Sept. 11, 1888. He 
was a member of the Illinois State Bar Associ- 
ation from its organization. 

MURPHY, Everett J., ex-Member of Con- 
gress, was born in Nashville, 111., July 24, 1852; 
in earl)' youth removed to Sparta, where he was 
educated in the high schools of that place ; at the 
age of fourteen he became clerk in a store; in 
1877 was elected City Clerk of Sparta, but the 
next year resigned to become Deputy Circuit 
Clerk at Chester, remaining until 1882, when he 
was elected Sheriff of Randolph County. In 
1886 he was chosen a Representative in the Gen- 
eral Assembly, and, in 1889, was appointed, by 
Governor Fifer, Warden of the Southern Illinois 
Penitentiary at Chester, but retired from this 
position in 1893, and removed to East St. Louis. 
Two years later he was elected as a Republican 
to the Fifty-fourth Congress for the Twenty-first 
District, but was defeated for re-election by a 
small majority in 1896, by Jehu Baker, Democrat 
and Populist. In 1899 Mr. Murphy was appointed 
Warden of the State Penitentiary at Joliet, to 
succeed Col. R. W. McClaughry. 

MURPHYSBORO, the county-seat of Jackson 
County, situated on tlie Big Muddy River and on 
main line of the Mobile & Ohio, the St. Louis 
Division of the Illinois Central, and a branch of 
the St. Louis Valley Railroaas, 52 miles north of 
Cairo and 90 miles south-southeast of St. Louis. 
Coal of a superior quality is extensively mined in 
the vicinity. The city has a foundry, machine 
shops, skewer factory, furniture factory, flour 
and saw mills, thirteen churches, four schools, 
three banks, two daily and three weekly news- 
papers, city and rural free mail delivery. Popu- 
lation (1890), 3,380; (1900), 6,463; (1903, est.), 7,500. 

MURPHYSBORO & SHAWNEETOWN RAIL. 
ROAD. (See Carbondale & Shawnectomi, St. 
Louis Southern and St. Louis, Alton <fc Terre 
Haute Raili-oads.) 

NAPERVILLE, a city of Du Page County, on 
the west branch of the Du Page River and on the 
Chicago, Burlington it Quincy Railroad, 30 miles 
west-southwest of Chicago, and 9 miles east of 
Aurora. It has three banks, a weekly newspaper, 
stone quarries, couch factory, and nine churches; 
is also the seat of the Northwestern College, an 
institution founded in 1861 b)' the Evangelical 



Association; the college now has a normal school 
department. Population (1890), 2,316; (1900), 2,629 

NAPLES, a town of Scott County, on the Illi- 
nois River and tlie Hannibal and Naples branch 
of the Wabash Railway, 21 miles west of Jackson- 
ville. Population (1890), 432; (1900), 398. 

NASHVILLE, an incorijorated city, the county- 
seat of Washington County, on the Centralia & 
Chester and the Louisville & Nashville Raihvay.s; 
is 120 miles south of Springfield and 50 miles east 
by south from St. Louis. It stands in a coal- 
producing and rich agricultural region There 
are tvi'o coal mines within the corporate limits, 
and two large flouring mills do a considerable 
business. There are numerous churches, public 
schools, including a high school, a State bank, 
and four weekly papers. Population (1880), 
2,223; (1890), 3,084; (1900), 2,184. 

NAUVOO, a city in Hancock County, at the 
head of the Lower Rapids on the Mississippi, 
between Fort Madison and Keokuk, Iowa. It 
was founded by the Mormons in 1840, and its 
early growth was rapid. After the expulsion of 
the "Saints" in 1846, it was settled by a colony of 
French Icarians, who introduced the culture of 
grapes on a large scale. They were a sort of 
communistic order, but their experiment did not 
prove a success, and in a few years they gave 
place to another class, the majority of the popu- 
lation now being of German extraction. The 
chief industries are agriculture and horticulture. 
Large quantities of grapes and strawberries are 
raised and shipped, and considerable native wine 
is produced. Population (1880), 1,403; (1890), 
1,208; (per census 1900), 1,321. (See also Mor- 
mons.) 

NAVIGABLE STREAMS (by Statute). Fol- 
lowing the example of the French explorers, who 
chiefly followed the water-ways in their early 
explorations, the early permanent settlers of Illi- 
nois, not only settled, to a great extent, on the 
principal streams, but later took especial pains to 
maintain their navigable character by statute. 
This was, of course, partly due to the absence of 
improved highways, but also to the belief that, 
as the country developed, the streams would 
become extremely valuable, if not indispensable, 
especially in the transportation of heavy commod- 
ities. Accordingly, for the first quarter century 
after the organization of the State Government, 
one of the questions receiving the attention of 
the Legislature, at almost every session, was the 
enactment of laws affirming the navigability of 
certain streams now regarded as of little impor- 
tance, or utterly insignificant, as channels of 



394 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS, 



transportation. Legislation of this character 
began with the first General Assembly (1819), 
and continued, at intervals, with reference to 
one or two of the more important interior rivers 
of the State, as late as 1867. Besides the Illinois 
and Wabash, still recognized as navigable 
streams, the following were made the subject of 
legislation of this character : Beaucoup Creek, a 
branch of the Big ]\Iuddy, in Perry and Jackson 
Counties (law of 1819)-, Big Bay, a tributary of 
the Ohio in Pope County (Acts of 1833); Big 
Muddy, to the junction of the East and West 
Forks in Jefferson County (1835), with various 
subsequent amendments; Big Vermilion, declared 
navigable (1831); Bon Pas, a branch of the 
Wabash, between Wabash and Edwards Coun- 
ties (1831) ; Cache River, to main fork in Johnson 
County (1819) ; Des Plaines, declared navigable 
(1839); Embarras (1831), with various subsequent 
acts in reference to improvement; Fox River, 
declared navigable to the Wisconsin line (1840), 
and Fox River Navigation Company, incorpo- 
rated (185.5); Kankakee and Iroquois Navigation 
& Manufacturing Company, incorporated (1847), 
with various changes and amendments (1851-65) ; 
Kaskaskia (or Okaw), declared navigable to a 
point in Fayette County north of Vandalia (1819), 
with various modifying acts (1823-67) ; Macoupin 
Creek, to Carrollton and Alton road (1837); 
Piasa, declared navigable in Jersey and Madison 
Counties (1861); Rock River Navigation Com- 
pany, incorporated (1841), with subsequent acts 
(1845-67) ; Sangamon River, declared navigable 
to Third Principal Meridian — east line of Sanga- 
mon County — (1823), and the North Fork of same 
to Champaign County (1845); Sny-Carty (a bayou 
of the Mississippi), declared navigable in Pike 
and Adams Counties (1859) ; Spoon River, navi- 
gable to Cameron's mill in Fulton County (1835), 
with various modifying acts (1845-53); Little 
Wabash Navigation Company, incorporated 
and river declared navigable to McCawley's 
bridge — probably in Clay County — (1826), with 
various subsequent acts making appropriations 
for its improvement; Skillet Fork (a branch 
of the Little Wabash), declared navigable 
to Slocum's Mill in Marion County (1837), and 
to Ridgway Mills (1846). Other acts passed at 
various times declared a number of unim- 
portant streams navigable, including Big Creek 
in Fulton County, Crooked Creek in Schuyler 
County, Lusk's Creek in Pope County, McKee's 
Creek in Pike County, Seven Mile Creek in Ogle 
County, besides a number of others' of similar 
character. 



NEALE, THOMAS M., pioneer lawyer, was 
born in Fauquier County, Va., 1796; while yet a 
child removed with his parents to Bowling Green, 
Ky., and became a common soldier in the War of 
1812; came to Springfield, 111., in 1824, and began 
the practice of law ; served as Colonel of a regi- 
ment raised in Sangamon and Morgan Counties 
for the Winnebago War (1827), and afterwards as 
Surveyor of Sangamon County, appointing 
Abraham Lincoln as his deputy. He also served 
as a Justice of the Peace, for a number of years, 
at Springfield. Died, August 7, 1840. 

KEECE, William H., ex-Congressman, was 
born, Feb. 26, 1831, in what is now a part of 
Logan County, 111., but which was then within the 
limits of Sangamon ; was reared on a farm and 
attended the public schools in McDonough 
County ; studied laAv and was admitted to the 
bar in 1858, and has been ever since engaged in 
practice. His political career began in 1861, 
when he was chosen a member of tlie City Coun. 
cil of Macomb. In 1864 he was elected to the 
Legislature, and, in 1869, a member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention. In 1871 he was again 
elected to the lower house of the General Assem- 
bly, and, in 1878, to the State Senate. From 1883 
to 1887 he represented the Eleventh Illinois Dis- 
trict in Congress, as a Democrat, but was defeated 
for re-election in 1890 by William H. Gest, 
Republican. 

NEGROES. (See Slavery and Slave Laivs.) 

NEOGA, a village of Cumberland County, at the 
intersection of the Illinois Central and the Toledo, 
St. Louis & Western Railways, 20 miles sovithwest 
of Charleston ; has a bank, two newspapers, some 
manufactories, and ships grain, hay, fruit and 
live-stock. Pop. (1890), 829; (1900). 1,126 

NEPONSET, a village and station on the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, in Bureau 
County, 4 miles southwest of Mendota. Popula- 
tion (1880), 052; (1890), 542; (1900), 516. 

NEW ALBANY & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. 
(See Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis (Consoli- 
dated) Railroad.) 

NEW ATHENS, a village of St. Clair County, 
on the St. Louis & Cairo "Short Line" (now Illi- 
nois Central) Railroad, at the crossing of the Kas- 
kaskia River, 31 miles southeast of St. Louis; has 
one newspaper and considerable grain trade. 
Population (1880), 603; (1890), 624; (1900), 856. 

NEW BERLIN, a village of Sangamon County, 
on the Wabash Railway, 17 miles west of Spring- 
field. Population (1880), 403; (1900), 533. 

NEWBERRY LIBRARY, a large reference li- 
brary, located in Chicago, endowed by Walter L. 



I 



o 



a 

tr 
o 





Art Institute. 



Public Ijil)i-ary. 

Armour Institute. 
PUBLIC BUII.DIXGS. 



Court-House. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



395 



Newberry, an early business man of Chicago, who 
left half of his estate (aggregating over §3,000,000) 
for the purpose. The property bequeathed was 
largely in real estate, which has since greatly in- 
creased in value. The library was established in 
temporary quarters in 1887, and the first section 
of a permanent building was opened in the 
autumn of 1893. By that time there had been 
accumulated about 160,000 books and pamphlets. 
A collection of nearly fifty portraits — chiefly of 
eminent Americans, including many citizens of 
Chicago — was presented to the library by G. P. A. 
Healy, a distinguished artist, since deceased. 
The site of the building occupies an entire block, 
and the original design contemplates a handsome 
front on each of the four streets, with a large 
rectangular court in the center. The section 
already completed is massive and imposing, and 
its interior is admirably adapted to the purposes 
of a library, and at the same time rich and 
beautiful. When completed, the building will 
have a capacity for four to six million volumes. 

NEWBERRr, Walter C, ex-Congressman, was 
born at Sangerfield, Oneida County, N. Y. , Dec. 
23, 1835. Early in the Civil War he enlisted as a 
private, and rose, step by step, to a colonelcy, and 
was mustered out as Brevet Brigadier-General. 
In 1890 lie was elected, as a Democrat, to represent 
the Fourth Illinois District in the Fifty-second 
Congress (1891-93). His home is in Chicago. 

NEWBERKY, Walter L,, merchant, banker and 
philanthropist, was born at East Windsor, Conn., 
Sept. 18, 1804, descended from English ancestry. 
He was President Jackson's personal appointee 
to the United States Military Academy at We.st 
Point, but was prevented from taking the exami- 
nation by sickness. Subsequently he embarked in 
business at Buffalo, N. Y., going to Detroit in 
1828, and settling at Chicago in 1883. After 
engaging in general merchandising for several 
years, he turned his attention to banking, in 
which he accumulated a large fortime. He was 
a prominent and influential citizen, serving 
several terms as President of the Board of Edu- 
cation, and being, for six years, the President of 
the Chicago Historical Society. He died at sea, 
Nov. 6, 1868, leaving a large estate, one-half of 
which he devoted, by will, to the founding of a 
free reference library in Chicago. (See Newberry 
Library.) 

NEW BOSTON, a city of Mercer County, on 
the Mississippi River, at the western terminus of 
the Galva and New Boston Division of the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railway. Population 
(1890), 445; (1900). 703. 



NEW BRIGHTON, a village of St. Clair County 
and suburb of East St. Louis. Population (1890), 
868. 

NEW BURNSIDE, a village of Johnson County, 
on the Cairo Division of the Cleveland, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, 53 miles 
northeast of Cairo. Population (1880), 650; 
(1890), 596; (1900), 468. 

NEW DOUGLAS, a village in Madison County, 
on the Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad ; in 
farming and fruit-growing region ; has coal mine, 
flour mill and newspaper. Population (1900), 469. 

NEWELL, John, Railway President, was born 
at West Newbury, Mass., March 31, 1830, being 
directly ^descended from "Pilgrim" stock. At 
the age of 16 he entered the emploj-ment of the 
Cheshire Railroad in New Hampshire. Eighteen 
months later he was appointed an assistant engi- 
neer on the Vermont Central Railroad, and placed 
in charge of the construction of a 10-mile section 
of the line. His promotion was rapid, and, in 
1850, he accepted a responsible position on the 
Champlain & St. Lawrence Railroad. From 1850 
to 1850 he was engaged in making surveys for 
roads in Kentuckj' and New York, and, during 
the latter year, held the position of engineer of 
the Cairo City Company, of Cairo, 111. In 1857 he 
entered the service of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company, as Division Engineer, where his 
remarkable success attracted the attention of the 
owners of the old Winona & St. Peter Railroad 
(now a part of the Chicago & Northwestern 
system), who tendered him the presidency. This 
lie accepted, but, in 1864, was made President of 
the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad. Four years 
later, he accepted the position of General Superin- 
tendent and Chief Engineer of the New York 
Central Railroad, but resigned, in 1869, to become 
Vice-President of the Illinois Central Railroad. 
In 1871 he was elevated to the presidency, but 
retired in September, 1874, to accept the position 
of General Manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern Railroad, of which he was elected 
President, in May, 1883, and continued in office 
until the time of his death, which occurred at 
Youngstown, Ohio, August 25, 1894. 

NEWHALL, (Dr.) Horatio, early physician 
and newspaper publisher, came from St. Louis, 
Mo., to Galena, 111., in 1827, and engaged in min- 
ing and smelting, but abandoned this business, 
the following year, for the practice of his profes- 
sion; soon afterward became interested in the 
publication of "The Miners' Journal," and still 
later in "The Galena Advertiser," with which 
Hooper Warren and Dr. Philleo were associated. 



396 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



In 1830 he became a Surgeon in the United States 
Army, and was stationed at Fort Winnebago, 
but retired from the service, in 18;i2, and returned 
to Galena. When tlie Black Hawk War broke 
out he volunteered his services, and, by order of 
General Scott, was placed in charge of a military 
hospital at Galena, of which he had control until 
the close of the war. The difficulties of the posi- 
tion were increased by the appearance of the 
Asiatic cholera among the troops, but he seems 
to have discharged his duties with satisfaction 
to the military authorities. He enjoyed a wide 
reputation for jirofessional ability, and had an 
extensive practice. Died. Sept. 19. 1870. 

JIEVVMAN, a village of Douglas County, on the 
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway, 52 miles 
east of Decatur; has a bank, a newspaper, can- 
ning factory, broom factory, electric lights, and 
large trade in agricultural products and live- 
stock. Population (1800), 990; (1000), 1,166. 

NEWSPAPERS, EARLY. The first newspaper 
published in the Northwest Territory, of which 
the present State of Illinois, at the time, com- 
posed a part, was "The Centinel of the Northwest 
Territory," established at Cincinnati by William 
Maxwell, the first issue appearing in November, 
1793. This was also the first newspaper published 
west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1796 it was 
sold to Edmund Freeman and assumed the name 
of "Freeman's Journal." Nathaniel Willis 
(grandfather of N. P. Willis, the poet) estab- 
lished "The Scioto Gazette," at Chillicothe, in 
1796. "The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette" 
was the third paper in Northwest Territory (also 
within the limits of Ohio), founded in 1799. 
Willis's paper became the organ of the Terri- 
torial Government on the removal of the capital 
to Chillicothe, in 1800. 

The first newspaper in Indiana Territory (tlien 
including Illinois) was established by Elihu Stout 
at Vincennes, beginning publication, July 4, 1804. 
It took the name of "The Western Sun and Gen- 
eral Advertiser," but is now known as "The 
Western Sun." having had a continuous exist- 
ence for ninety-five years. 

The first newspaper published in Illinois Terri- 
tory was "The Illinois Herald," but, owing to the 
absence of early files and other specific records, 
the date of its establishment has been involved 
in some doubt. Its founder was Jlatthew Dun- 
can (a brother of Joseph Duncan, who was after- 
wards a member of Congress and Governor of the 
State from 1834 to 1838), and its place of pub- 
lication Kaskaskia, at that time the Territorial 
capital. Duncan, who was a native of Kentucky, 



brought a press and a primitive printer's outfit 
with him from that State. Gov. John Reynolds, 
who came as a boy to the "Illinois Country" in 
1800, while it was still a part of the "Northwest 
Territorj'," in his "Pioneer History of Illinois," 
has fixed the date of the first issue of this 
paper in 1809, the same year in which Illinois 
was severed from Indiana Territory and placed 
under a separate Territorial Government. There 
is good reason, however, for believing that the 
Governor was mistaken in this statement. If 
Duncan brought his press to Illinois in 1809 — 
which is probable — it does not seem to have been 
employed at once in the publication of a news- 
paper, as Hooper Warren (the founder of the 
third paper established in Illinois) says it "was 
for years only used for the public printing." 
The earliest issue of "The Illinois Herald" known 
to be in existence, is No. 32 of Vol. II, and bears 
date, April 18, 1816. Calculating from the.se 
data, if the paper was issued continuously from 
its establishment, the date of the first issue would 
have been Sept. 6, 1814. Corroborative evidence 
of this is found in the fact that "The Missouri 
Gazette," the original of the old "Missouri Repub- 
lican" (now "The St. Louis Republic"), which 
was established in 1808, makes no mention of the 
Kaskaskia paper before 1814, although communi- 
cation between Kaskaskia and St. Louis was 
most intimate, and. these two were, for several 
5'ears, the only papers published west of Vin- 
cennes, Ind. 

In August. 1817, "The Herald" was sold to 
Daniel P. Cook and Robert Blackwell, and the 
name of the paper was changed to "The Illinois 
Intelligencer." Cook — who had previously been 
Auditor of Public Accounts for the Territory, and 
afterwards became a Territorial Circuit Judge, 
the fir.st Attorney-General under the new State 
Government, and, for eight years, served as the 
only Representative in Congress from Illinois — 
for a time officiated as editor of "The Intelli- 
gencer," while Blackwell (who had succeeded 
to the Auditorship) had charge of the publication. 
The size of the paper, which had been four pages 
of three wide columns to the page, was increased, 
by the new publishers, to four columns to the 
page. On the removal of the State capital to 
Vandalia, in 1820, "The Intelligencer" was 
removed thither also, and continued under its 
later name, afterwards becoming, after a change 
of management, an opponent of the scheme for 
the calling of a State Convention to revise the 
State Constitution with a view to making Illinois 
a slave State. (See Slavery and Slave Latrs.) 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



397 



The second paper established on Illinois soil 
was "The Shawnee Chief," which began publica- 
tion at Shawneetown, Sept. 5, 1818, with Henry- 
Eddy — who afterwards became a prominent law- 
yer of Southern Illinois — as its editor. The name 
of "The Chief" was soon afterwards changed to 
"The Illinois Emigrant," and some years later, 
became "The Shawneetown Gazette." Among 
others who were associated with the Shawnee- 
town paper, in early days, was James Hall, after- 
wards a Circuit Judge and State Treasurer, and, 
without doubt, the most prolific and popular 
writer of his day in Illinois. Later, he estab- 
lished "The IlUnois Magazine" at Vandalia, sub- 
sequently removed to Cincinnati, and issued under 
the name of "The Western Monthly Magazine." 
He was also a frequent contributor to other maga- 
zines of that period, and author of several vol- 
umes, including "Legends of the West" and 
"Border Tales." During the contest over the 
slavery question, in 1823-24, "The Gazette" 
rendered valuable service to the anti-slavery 
party by the publication of articles in opposition 
to the Convention scheme, from the pen of Morris 
Birkbeck and others. 

The third Illinois paper— and, in 1833-24, the 
strongest and most influential opponent of the 
scheme for establishing slavery in Illinois — was 
"Tlie Edwardsville Spectator, " which began pub- 
lication at Edwardsville, Madison County, May 
23, 1819. Hooper Warren was the publisher and 
responsible editor, though he received valuable 
aid from the pens of Governor Coles, George 
Churchill, Rev. Thomas Lippincott, Judge 
Samuel D. Lockwood, Morris Birkbeck and 
others. (See Warren, Hooper.) Warren sold 
"The Spectator" to Rev. Thomas Lippincott in 
1825, and was afterwards associated with papers 
at Springfield, Galena, Chicago and elsewhere. 

The agitation of the slavery question (in part, 
at least) led to the establishment of two new 
papers in 1823. The first of these was "The 
Republican Advocate." which began publication 
at Kaskaskia, in April of that year, under the 
management of Elias Kent Kane, then an aspir- 
ant to the United States Senatorship. After his 
election to that office in 1824, "The Advocate" 
passed into the hands of Robert K. Fleming, who, 
after a period of suspension, established "The 
Kaskaskia Recorder," but, a year or two later, 
removed to Vandalia. "The Star of the West" 
was established at Edwardsville, as an opponent 
of Warren's "Spectator," the first issue making 
its appearance, Sept. 14, 1822. with Theophilus W. 
Smith, afterwards a Justice of the Supreme 



Court, as its reputed editor. A few months later 
it passed into new hands, and, in August, 1823, 
assumed the name of "The lUinois Republican." 
Both "The Republican Advocate" and "The 
Illinois Republican" were zealous organs of the 
pro-slavery party. 

With the settlement of the slavery question in 
Illinois, by the election of 1824, Illinois journal- 
ism may be said to have entered upon a new era. 
At the close of this first period there were only 
five papers published in the State — ^all established 
within a period of ten years; and one of these 
("The Illinois Republican," at Edwardsville) 
promptly ceased publication on the settlement of 
the slavery question in opposition to the views 
which it had advocated. The next period o^ fif- 
teen years (1825-40) was prolific in the establish- 
ment of new newspaper ventures, as might be 
expected from the rapid increase of the State in 
population, and the development in the art of 
printing during the same period. "The Western 
Sun," established at Belleville (according to one 
report, in December, 1825, and according to 
another, in the winter of 1827-28) by Dr. Joseph 
Green, appears to have been the first paper pub- 
lished in St. Clair County. This was followed 
by "The Pioneer," begun, April 25, 1829, at Rock 
Spring, St. Clair County, with the indomitable 
Dr. John M. Peck, author of "Peck's Gazetteer," 
as its editor. It was removed in 1836 to Upper 
Alton, when it took the name of "The Western 
Pioneer and Baptist Banner." Previous to this, 
however. Hooper Warren, having come into pos- 
session of the material upon which he had printed 
"The Edwardsville Spectator," removed it to 
Springfield, and, in the winter of 1826-27, began 
the publication of the first paper at the present 
State capita,l, which he named "The Sangamo 
Gazette." It had but a brief existence. During 
1830, George Forquer, then Attorney-General of 
the State, in conjunction with his half-brother, 
Thomas Ford (afterwards Governor) , was engaged 
in the publication of a paper called "The Cour- 
ier," at Springfield, which was continued only a 
short time. The earliest paper north of Spring- 
field appears to have been "The Hennepin Jour- 
nal," which began publication, Sept. 15, 1827. 
"The Sangamo Journal" — now "The Illinois 
State Journal," and the oldest paper of continu- 
ous existence in the State — was established at 
Springfield by Simeon and Josiah Francis (cous- 
ins from Connecticut), the first issue bearing 
date, Nov. 10, 1831. Before the close of the same 
year James G. Edwards, afterwards the founder 
of "The Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye," began the 



398 



niSTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



publication of "The Illinois Patriot" at Jackson- 
ville. Another paper, establislied tlie same year, 
was "The Gazette" at Yandalia, then the State 
capital. (See Forquer, George; Ford, TJiomas; 
Francis. Simeon.) 

At this early date the development of the lead 
mines about Galena had made tliat place a center 
of great business activity. On July 8, 1828, 
James Jones commenced the issue of "The 
Miners" Journal, " the first paper at Galena. Jones 
died of cholera in 1833, and liis paper passed into 
other hands. July 20, 1829, "The Galena Adver- 
tiser and Upper Mississippi Herald" began pub- 
lication, with Drs. Horatio Newhall and Addison 
Pliilleo as editors, and Hooper Warren as pub- 
lisher, but appears to have been discontinued 
before the expiration of its first year. "The 
Galenian" was established as a Democratic paper 
by Philleo, in May, 1832, but ceased publication in 
September, 1836. "The Northwestern Gazette 
and Galena Advertiser," founded in November, 
1834, by Loring and Bartlett (the last named 
afterwards one of the founders of "The Quincy 
Whig"), has had a continuous existence, being 
nowknownas "The Galena Advertiser. " Benja- 
min Mills, one of the most brilliant lawyers of 
his time, was editor of this paper during a part 
of the first year of its publication. 

Robert K. Fleming, who lias already been 
mentioned as the successor of Elias Kent Kane 
in the publication of "The Rejaibliean Advocate, " 
at Kaskaskia, later published a paper for a short 
time at Vandalia, but, in 1827, removed his 
establishment to Edwardsville, where he began 
the publication of "The Corrector." The latter 
was continued a little over a 3'ear, when it was 
suspended. He then resumed the publication of 
"The Recorder" at Kaskaskia. In December, 
1833, he removed to Belleville and began the pub- 
lication of "The St. Clair Gazette," which after- 
wards passed, through various changes of owners, 
under the names of "The St. Clair Mercury" and 
"Representative and Gazette." This was suc- 
ceeded, in 1839. by "The Belleville Advocate," 
which has been published continuously to the 
present time. 

Samuel S. Brooks (the fatlier of Austin Brooks, 
afterwards of "The Quincy Herald") at differ- 
ent times published papers at various points 
in the State. His first enterprise was "The 
Crisis" at Edwardsville, wliich he changed 
to "The Illinois Advocate," and, at the clo.se 
of his first year, sold out to Judge John 
York Sawyer, who united it with "The Western 
Plowboy," which he had established a few 



months previous. "The Advocate" was removed 
to Vandalia, and, on the death of the owner (wlio 
had been appointed State Printer), was consoli- 
dated with "The Illinois Register," which had 
been established in 1836. The new paper took the 
name of "The Illinois Register and People's 
Advocate," in 1839 was removed to Springfield, 
and is now known as "The Illinois State Regis- 
ter." 

Other papers established between 1830 and 1840 
include: "The Vandalia Whig" (1831); "The 
Alton Spectator," the first paper published in 
Alton (January, 1834); "The Chicago Demo- 
crat," by John Calhoun (Nov. 26, 1833); "The 
Beardstown Chronicle and Illinois Bounty Land 
Advertiser," by Francis A. Arenz (July 29, 1833); 
"The Alton American" (1833); "The White 
County News," at Carmi (1833); "The Danville 
Enquirer" (1833); "The Illinois Champion," at 
Peoria (1834); "The Mount Carmel Sentinel and 
Wabash Advocate" (1834); "The Illinois State 
Gazette and Jacksonville News," at Jacksonville 
(1835); "The Illinois Argus and Bounty Land 
Register," at Quincy (1835); "The Rushville 
Journal and Military Tract Advertiser" (1835); 
"The Alton Telegraph" (1836); "The Alton 
Observer" (1836); "The Carthaginian," at Car- 
tilage (1836) ; "The Bloomington Observer" (1837) ; 
"The Backwoodsman," founded by Prof. John 
Russell, at Grafton, and the first paper published 
in Greene County (1837); "The Quincy Whig" 
(1838) ; "The Illinois Statesman," at Paris, Edgar 
County (1838); "The Peoria Register" (1838). 
The second paper to be established in Chicago 
was "The Chicago American," whose initial 
number was issued, June 8, 1835, with Thomas O. 
Davis as proprietor and editor. In July, 1837, it 
passed into the hands of William Stuart & Co., 
and, on April 9, 1839, its publishers began the 
issue of the first daily ever published in Chicago. 
"The Chicago Express" succeeded "The Ameri- 
can" in 1843, and, in 1844, became the forerunner 
of "The Chicago Journal." The third Chicago 
paper was "The Commercial Advertiser," 
founded by Hooper Warren, in 1836. It lived 
onlj- about a year. Zebina Eastman, who was 
afterwards associated with Warren, and became 
one of the most influential journalistic opponents 
of slavery, arrived in the State in 1839, and, in 
the latter part of that year, was associated with 
the celebrated Abolitionist, Benjamin Lundy, in 
the preliminary steps for the issue of "The 
Genius of Universal Emancipation," projected 
by Lundy at Lowell, in La Salle County. Lundy's 
untimely death, in August, 1839, however, pre- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



399 



vented him from seeing the consummation of his 
plan, although Eastman lived to carry it out in 
part. A paper whose career, although extending 
only a little over one j'ear, marked an era in Illi- 
nois journalism, was "The Alton Observer," its 
history closing with the assassination of its 
editor, Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, on the night of 
Nov. 8, 1837, while unsuccessfully attempting to 
protect his press from destruction, for the fourth 
time, by a pro-slavery mob. Humiliating as was 
this crime to every law-abiding Illinoisan, it 
undoubtedly strengthened the cause of free 
speech and as.sisted in hastening the downfall of 
the institution in whose behalf it was committed. 
That the development in the field of journal- 
ism, within the past sixty years, has more than 
kept pace with the growth in population, is 
shown by the fact that there is not a county in 
the State without its newspaper, while every 
town of a few hundred population has either one 
or more. According to statistics for 1898, there 
were 60.5 cities and towns in the State having 
periodical publications of some sort, making a 
total of 1.709, of which 174 were issued dailj-. Si 
semi-weekly, 1,205 weekly, 28 semi-monthly, 238 
monthly, and the remainder at various periods 
ranging from tri-weekly to eight times a year. 

NEWTOX, the county-seat of Jasper County, 
situated on the Embarras River, at the intersec- 
tion of subsidiary lines of the Illinois Central 
Railroad from Peoria and Effingham; is an in- 
corporated city, was settled in 1828, and made the 
county-seat in 1836. Agriculture, coal-mining 
and dairy farming are the principal pursuits in 
the surrounding region. The city has water- 
power, which is utilized to some extent in manu- 
facturing, but most of its factories are operated 
by steam. Among these establishments are flour 
and saw mills, and grain elevators. There are a 
half-dozen churches, a good public school system, 
including parochial school and high school, 
besifles two banks and tliree weekly papers. 
Population (1890), 1,428; (1900), 1,630. 

NEW YORK, CHICAGO & ST. LOUIS RAIL- 
WAY (Nickel Plate), a line .522.47 miles in length, 
of which (1898) only 9.96 miles are operated in 
Illinois. It owns no track in Illinois, but uses 
the track of the Chicago & State Line Railroad 
(9.96 miles in length), of which it has financial 
control, to enter the city of Chicago. The total 
capitalization of the New York, Chicago & St. 
Louis, in 1898, is $50,222,568, of which §19,425,000 
is in bonds. — (History.) The New York, Chi- 
cago & St. Louis Railroad was incorporated under 
the laws of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 



Indiana and Illinois in 1881, construction begun 
immediately, and the road put in operation in 
1883. In 1885 it passed into the hands of a 
receiver, was sold under foreclosure in 1887, and 
reorganized by the consolidation of various east- 
ern lines with the Fort Wayne & Illinois Railroad, 
forming the line under its present name. The 
road between Buffalo, N. Y. , and the west line of 
Indiana is owned by the Company, but, for its 
line in Illinois, it uses the track of the Chicago & 
State Line Railroad, of which it is the lessee, as 
well as the owner of its capital stock. The main 
line of the "Nickel Plate" is controlled by the 
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, which 
owns more than half of both the preferred and 
common stock. 

NIANTIC, a town in Macon County, on the 
Wabash Railway, 27 miles east of Springfield. 
Agriculture is the leading industry. The town 
has three elevators, three churches, school, coal 
mine, a newspaper and a bank. Pop. (1900), 654. 
NICOLAY, John George, author, was born in 
Essingen, Bavaria, Feb. 26, 1832 ; at 6 years of age 
was brought to the United States, lived for a 
time in Cincinnati, attending the public schools 
there, and then came to Illinois; at 16 entered the 
office of "The Pike County Free Press" at Pitts- 
field, and, while still in his minority, became 
editor and proprietor of the paper. In 1857 he 
became Assistant Secretary of State under O. M. 
Hatch, the first Republican Secretary, but during 
Mr. Lincoln's candidacy for President, in 1860, 
aided him as private secretary, also acting as a 
correspondent of "The St. Louis Democrat." 
After the election he was formally selected by 
Mr. Lincoln as his private secretar}', accompany- 
ing him to Washington and remaining until Mr. 
Lincoln's assassination. In 1865 he was appointed 
United States Consul at Paris, remaining until 
1869; on his return for some time edited "The 
Chicago Republican"; was also Marshal of the 
United States Supreme Court in Washington 
from 1872 to 1887. Mr. Nicolay is author, in col- 
laboration with John Hay, of "Abraham Lincoln: 
A History," first published serially in "The Cen- 
tury Magazine," and later issued in ten volumes; 
of "The Outbreak of the Rebellion" in "Cam- 
paigns of the Civil War," besides numerous maga- 
zine articles. He lives in Washington, D. C. 

NICOLET, Jean, early French explorer, came 
from Cherbourg, France, in 1618, and, for several 
years, lived among the Algonquins, whose lan- 
guage he learned and for whom he acted as 
interpreter. On July 4, 1634, he discovered Lake 
Michigan, then called the "Lake of the Illinois," 



400 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and visited the Chippewas, Menominees and 
Winnebagoes, in the region about Green Bay, 
among whom he was receiveil kindly. From the 
Mascoutins, on the Fox River (of Wisconsin), he 
learned of the Illinois Indians, some of whose 
northern villages he also visited. He subse- 
quently returned to Quebec, where he was 
drowned, in October, 1643. He was probably the 
first Caucasian to visit Wisconsin and Illinois. 

NILES, Nathaniel, lawyer, editor and soldier, 
born at Plainfield, Otsego County, N. Y., Feb. 4, 
1817; attended an academy at Albany, from 1830 
to '34, was licensed to practice law and removed 
west in 1837, residing successively at Delphi and 
Frankfort, Ind., and at Owensburg, Ky., until 
1842, when he settled in Belleville, 111. In 1840 
he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the 
Second Regiment Illinois Volunteers (Colonel 
Bissell's) for the Mexican War, but, after the 
battle of Buena Vista, was promoted by General 
Wool to the captainc}' of an independent com- 
pany of Texas foot. He was elected Chief Clerk 
of the House of Representatives at the session of 
1849, and the same year was chosen County 
Judge of St. Clair County, serving until 1861. 
With the exception of brief periods from 1851 to 
'59, he was editor and part owner of "The Belle- 
ville Advocate." a jiaper originally Democratic, 
but which became Republican on the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party. In 1861 he was 
appointed Colonel of the Fifty-fourth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, but the completion of its 
organization having been delayed, he resigned, 
and, the following year, was commissioned Colo- 
nel of the One Hundred and Thirtieth, serving 
until Maj', 1864, when he resigned — in March, 
1865, receiving the compliment of a brevet Briga- 
dier-Generalship. During the winter of 1862 63 
he was in command at Slemphis, but later took 
part in the Vicksburg campaign, and in the cam- 
paigns on Red River and Bayou Teche. After 
the war he served as Representative in the 
General Assembly from St. Clair County (1865-66) ; 
as Trustee of the Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb at Jacksonville; on the Commission for 
building the State Penitentiary at Joliet, and as 
Commissioner (by appointment of Governor 
Oglesby) for locating the Soldiers' Orphans' 
Home. His later years have been spent chiefly 
in the practice of his profession, with occasional 
excursions into journalism. Originally an anti- 
slavery Democrat, he became one of the founders 
of the Republican party in Southern Illinois. 

NIXON, William Penn, journalist, Collector of 
'Customs, was born in Wayne County, Ind., of 



North Carolina and Quaker ancestry, early in 
1832. In 18.53 he graduated from Farmers' (now 
Belmont) College, near Cincinnati, Ohio. After 
devoting two years to teaching, he entered the 
law department of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania (1855), graduating in 1859. For nine years 
thereafter he practiced law at Cincinnati, during 
which period he was thrice elected to the Ohio 
Legislature. In 1868 he embarked in journalism, 
he and his older brother. Dr. O. W. Nixon, with 
a few friends, founding "The Cincinnati Chron- 
icle." A few years later "The Times" was pur- 
chased, and the two papers were consolidated 
under the name of "The Times-Chronicle." In 
May, 1872, having disposed of his interests in 
Cincinnati, he assumed the business manage- 
ment of "The Chicago Inter Ocean,"' then a new 
venture and struggling for a foothold. In 1875 
he and his brother. Dr. O. W. Nixon, secured a 
controlling interest in the paper, when the 
former assumed the position of editor-in-chief, 
which he continued to occupy until 1897, when 
he was appointed Collector of Customs for the 
City of Chicago — a position which he now holds. 

NOKOMIS, a city of Montgomery County, on 
the "Big Four" main line and " 'Frisco" Rail- 
roads, 81 miles east by north from St. Louis and 
52 miles west of Mattoon; in important grain- 
growing and hay-producing section; has water- 
works, electric lights, three flour mills, two 
machine shops, wagon factory, creamery, seven 
churches, high school, two banks and three 
papers; is noted for shipments of poultry, butter 
and eggs. Population (1890), 1,305; (1900), 1,371. 

NORMAL, a city in McLean County, 3 miles 
north of Bloomington and 124 southweist of Chi- 
cago; at intersecting point of the Chicago & 
Alton and the Illinois Central Railroads. It lies 
in a rich coal and agricultural region, and has 
extensive fruit-tree nurseries, two canning fac- 
tories, one bank, hospital, and four periodicals. 
It is the seat of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 
founded in 1869, and the Illinois State Normal 
University, founded in 1857; has city and rural 
mail delivery. Pop. (1890), 3,4.59; (1900). 3,79.5. 

NORMAL " UNIVERSITIES. (See Southern 
Illinois Kormal University; State Normal Uni- 
versity. ) 

NORTH ALTON, a village of Madison County 
and suburb of the city of Alton. Population 
(1880), 838; (1890), 762; (1900), 904. 

NORTHCOTT, William A., Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Jan. 28, 
1854 — the son of Gen. R. S. Northcott, whose 
loyalty to the Union, at the beginning of the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



401 



Rebellion, compelled him to leave his Southern 
home and seek safety for himself and family in 
the North. He went to West Virginia, was com- 
missioned Colonel of a regiment and served 
through the war, being for some nine months a 
prisoner in Libby Prison. After acquiring his 
literary education in the public schools, the 
younger Northcott spent some time in the Naval 
Academy at Annapolis, Md., after which he was 
engaged in teaching. Meanwhile, he was prepar- 
ing for the practice of law and was admitted to 
the bar in 1877, two years later coming to Green- 
ville, Bond County, 111., which has since been his 
home. In 1880, by appointment of President 
Hayes, he served as Supervisor of the Census for 
the Seventh District; in 1882 was elected State's 
Attorney for Bond County and re-elected suc- 
cessively in '84 and '88 ; in 1890 was appointed on 
the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval 
Academy, and, by selection of the Board, 
delivered the annual address to the graduating 
class of that year. In 1892 he was the Repub- 
lican nominee for Congress for the Eighteenth Dis- 
trict, but was defeated in the general landslide of 
that year. In 1896 he was more fortunate, being 
elected Lieutenant-Governor by the vote of the 
State, receiving a plurality of over 137,000 over 
his Democratic opponent. 

KORTH PEORIA, formerly a suburban village 
in Peoria County. 2 miles north of the city of 
Peoria; annexed to the city of Peoria in 1900. 

NORTHERN BOUNDARY QUESTION, THE. 
The Ordinance of 1787, making the first specific 
provision, by Congress, for the government of the 
country lying northwest of the Ohio River and 
east of the Mississippi (known as the Northwest 
Territory), provided, among other things (Art. 
v.. Ordinance 1787), that "there shall be formed 
in the said Territory not less than three nor more 
than five States." It then proceeds to fix the 
boundaries of the proposed States, on the assump- 
tion that there shall be three in number, adding 
thereto the following proviso: "Provided, how- 
ever, and it is further understood and declared, 
that the boundaries of these three States shall be 
subject so far to be altered that, if Congress shall 
hereafter find it expedient, they shall have 
authority to form one or two States in that part 
of the said Territory which lies north of an east 
and west line drawn through the southerly bend 
or extreme of Lake Michigan." On the basis of 
this provision it has been claimed that the north- 
ern boundaries of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio 
should have been on the exact latitude of the 
southern limit of Lake Michigan, and that the 



failure to establish this boundary was a violation 
of the Ordinance, inasmuch as the fourteenth sec- 
tion of the preamble thereto declares that "the 
following articles shall be considered as articles 
of compact between the original States and the 
people and States in the said Territory, and for- 
ever remain unalterable, unless by common con- 
sent. "—In the limited state of geographical 
knowledge, existing at the time of the adoption of 
the Ordinance, there seems to have been con- 
siderable difference of opinion as to the latitude 
of the southern limit of Lake Michigan. The 
map of Mitchell (17.55) had placed it on the paral- 
lel of 42° 20', while that of Thomas Ilutchins 
(1778) fixed it at 41' 37'. It was officially estab- 
lished by Government survey, in 1835, at 41 37' 
07.9". As a matter of fact, the northern bound- 
ary of neither of the three States named was finally 
fixed on the line mentioned in the proviso above 
quoted from the Ordinance — that of Ohio, where 
it meets the shore of Lake Erie, being a little 
north of 41° 44'; that of Indiana at 41° 46' (some 
10 miles north of the southern bend of the lake), 
and that of Illinois at 42' 30'— about 61 miles 
north of the same line. The boundary line 
between Ohio and Michigan was settled after a 
bitter controversy, on the admission of the latter 
State into the Union, in 1837, in the acceptance 
by her of certain conditions proposed by Congress. 
These included the annexation to Michigan of 
what is known as the "Upper Peninsula," 
lying between Lakes Michigan and Superior, 
in lieu of a strip averaging six miles on her 
southern border, which she demanded from 
Ohio. — The establishment of the northern bound- 
ary of Illinois, in 1818, upon the line which now 
exists, is universallj' conceded to have been due 
to the action of Judge Nathaniel Pope, then the 
Delegate in Congress from Illinois Territory. 
While it was then acquiesced in without ques- 
tion, it has since been the subject of considerable 
controversy and has been followed by almost 
incalculable results. The "enabling act," as 
originally introduced early in 1818, empowering 
the people of Illinois Territory to form a State 
Government, fixed the northern boundary of the 
proposed State at 41° 39', then the supposed lati- 
tude of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. 
While the act was under consideration in Com- 
mittee of the Whole, Mr. Pope offered an amend- 
ment advancing the northern boundary to 42° 
30'. The object of his amendment (as he ex- 
plained) was to gain for the new State a coast 
line on Lake Michigan, bringing it into political 
and commercial relations with the States east of 



402 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS, 



it — Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York — 
thus "affording additional security to the per- 
petuity of the Union." He argued that tlie 
location of the State between the Mississippi, 
Wabash and Ohio Rivers — all flowing to the 
south — would bring it in intimate communica- 
tion with the Southern States, and that, in the 
event of an attempted disruption of the Union, it 
was important that it should be identified with 
the commerce of the Lakes, instead of being left 
entirely to the waters of the south-flowing 
rivers. "Thus," said he, "a rival interest would be 
created to clieck the wish for a Western or South- 
ern Confederacy. Her interests would thus be 
balanced and her inclinations turned to the 
North." He recognized Illinois as already "the 
key to the West," and he evidently foresaw that 
the time might come when it would be the Key- 
stone of the Union. While this evinced wonder- 
ful foresight, scarcely less convincing was his 
argument that, in time, a commercial emporium 
would grow up upon Lake Michigan, which would 
demand an outlet by means of a canal to the Illi- 
nois River — a work whicli was realized in tlie 
completion of the Illinois & Micliigan Canal 
thirty years later, but which would scarcely liave 
been accomplished had the State been practically 
cut off from tlie Lake and its chief emporium 
left to grow up iu another commonwealth, or not 
at all. Judge Pope's amendment was accepted 
without division, and, in this form, a few days 
later, the bill became a law. — The almost super- 
human sagacity exhibited in Judge Pope's argu- 
ment, has been repeatedly illustrated in the 
commercial and political history of the State 
since, but never more significantly than in the 
commanding position wliich Illinois occupied 
during the late Civil War, with one of its citi- 
zens in the Presidential chair and another leading 
its 2.'50,000 citizen soldiery and the armies of the 
Union in battling for the perpetuity of the 
Republic — a position whicli more than fulfilled 
every prediction made for it. — The territory 
affected by this settlement of the northern 
boundary, includes all that part of the State 
north of the northern line of La Salle County, 
and embraces tlie greater portion of the fourteen 
counties of Cook, Dupage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, 
Boone, DeKalb, Lee, Ogle, Winnebago, Stephen- 
son, Jo Daviess, Carroll and Whiteside, witli por- 
tions of Kendall, Will and Rock Island— estimated 
at 8,500 square miles, or more than one-seventh 
of the present area of the State. It has been 
argued that this territory belonged to the State 
of Wisconsin under the provisions of the Ordi- 



nance of 1787, and there were repeated attempts 
made, on the part of the Wisconsin Legislature 
and its Territorial Governor (Doty), between 1839 
and 1843, to induce the people of these counties to 
recognize this claim. These were, in a few 
instances, partially successful, although no official 
notice was taken of them by the authorities of Illi- 
nois. The reply made to the Wisconsin claim by 
Governor Ford — who wrote his "History of Illi- 
nois" when the subject was fresh in the public 
mind — was that, while the Ordinance of 1787 
gave Congress power to organize a State north of 
the parallel running through the southern bend 
of Lake Michigan, "there is nothing in the Ordi- 
nance requiring such additional State to be 
organized o/ the territory north of tliat line." In 
other words, that, when Congress, in 1818, 
authorized the organization of an additional 
State north of and in (i. e., within) tlie line 
named, it did not violate the Ordinance of 1787, 
but acted in accordance with it — in practicallj' 
assuming that the new State "need not neces- 
sarily include the whole of the region north of 
that line. " The question was set at rest by Wis- 
consin herself in the action of her Constitutional 
Convention of 1847-48, in framing her first con- 
stitution, in form recognizing the northern 
boundary of Illinois as fixed by the enabling act 
of 1818. 

NORTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, 
an institution for the treatment of the insane, 
created by Act of the Legislature, approved, April 
16, 1869. The Commissioners appointed by Gov- 
ernor Palmer to fix its location consisted of 
August Adams, B. F. Shaw, W. R. Brown, M. L. 
Joslyn, D. S. Hammond and William Adams. 
After considering many offers and examining 
numerous sites, the Commissioners finally selected 
the Chisliolm farm, consisting of about 155 acres, 
liA miles from Elgin, on the west side of Fox 
River, and overlooking that stream, as a site — 
this having been tendered as a donation by the 
citizens of Elgin. Plans were adopted in the 
latter part of 1869, the system of construction 
chosen conforming, in the main, to that of the 
United States Hospital for the Insane at Wash- 
ington, D. C. By January, 1873, the north wing 
and rear building were so far advanced as to per- 
mit tlie reception of sixty patients. The center 
building was ready for occupancy in April, 1873, 
and the south wing before the end of the follow- 
ing year. The total expenditures previous to 
1876 had exceeded $637,000, and since that date 
liberal appropriations have been made for addi- 
tions, repairs and improvements, including the 




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HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



403 



addition of between 300 and 400 acres to the lands 
connected with the institution The first Board 
of Trustees consisted of Charles N. Holden, 
Oliver Everett and Henry W. Sherman, with Dr. 
E. A. Kilbourne as the first Superintendent, and 
Dr. Richard A. Dewey (afterwards Superintend- 
ent of the Eastern Hospital at Kankakee) as his 
Assistant. Dr. Kilbourne remained at the head 
of the institution until his death, Feb. 27, 1890, 
covering a period of nineteen years. Dr. Kil- 
bourne was succeeded by Dr. Henry J. Brooks, 
and he, by Dr. Loewy, in June, 1893, and the 
latter by Dr. John B. Hamilton (former Super- 
vising Surgeon of the United States Slarine Hos- 
pital Service) in 1897. Dr. Hamilton died in 
December, 1898. (See Hamilton, John D.) The 
total value of State property, Juno 30, 1S94, was 
$883,745.66, of which §701,330 was in land and 
buildings. Under the terms of the law estab- 
lishing the hospital, provision is made for the 
care therein of the incurably insane, so that it is 
both a hospital and an asylum. The whole num- 
ber of patients under treatment, for the two years 
preceding June 30, 1894, was 1,797, the number 
of inmates, on Dec. 1, 1897, 1,054, and the average 
daily attendance for treatment, for the year 1896, 
1,296. The following counties comprise the dis- 
trict dependent upon the Elgin Hospital : Boone, 
Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Kane, Ken- 
dall, Lake, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winne- 
bago. 

NORTHERN ILLINOIS NORMAL SCHOOL, 
an institution, incorporated in 1884, at Dixon, Lee 
County' 111., for the purpose of giving instruction 
in branches related to the art of teaching. Its 
last report claims a total of 1,639 pupils, of whom 
885 were men and 744 women, receiving instruc- 
tion from thirty-six teachers. The total value of 
property was estimated at more than §200,000, of 
which 5160,000 was in real estate and §45,000 in 
apparatus. Attendance on the institution has 
been affected by the establishment, under act of 
the Legislature of 1895, of the Northern State 
Normal School at DeKalb (which see). 

NORTHERN PENITENTIARY, THE, an insti- 
tution for the confinement of criminals of the 
State, located at Joliet, Will County. The site 
was purchased by the State in 1857, and com- 
prises some seventy-two acres. Its erection was 
found necessary because of the inadequacy of the 
first penitentiary, at Alton. (See Alton Peni- 
tentiary.) The original plan contemplated a 
cell-house containing 1,000 cells, which, it was 
thought, would meet the public necessities for 
many years to come. Its estimated cost was 



§550,000; but, within ten years, there had been 
expended upon the institution the sum of §934,- 
000, and its capacity was taxed to the utmost. 
Subsequent enlargements have increased the 
cost to over §1,600,000, but by 1877. the institution 
had become so overcrowded that the erection of 
another State penal institution became positively 
necessary. (See Southern Penitentiary.) The 
prison has always been conducted on "the 
Auburn system," which contemplates associate 
labor in silence, silent meals in a common refec- 
tory, and (as nearly as practicable) isolation at 
night. The system of labor has varied at differ- 
ent times, the "lessee system," the "contract 
system" and the "State account plan" being 
successively in force. {See Coiivict Labor.) The 
whole number of convicts in the institution, at 
the date of the official report of 1895, was 1,566. 
The total assets of the institution, Sept. 30, 1894, 
were reported at §2,121,308.86, of which §1,644,- 
601.11 was in real estate. 

NORTH & SOUTH RAILROAD. (See St. 
Louis, Peoria & Noi-i'iern Railivay.) 

NORTHERN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, an 
institution for the education of teachers of the 
common schools, authorized to be established by 
act of the Legislature passed at the session of 
1895. The act made an appropriation of §50,000 
for the erection of buildings and other improve- 
ments. The institution was located at DeKalb, 
DeKalb County, in the spring of 1896, and the 
erection of buildings commenced soon after — 
Isaac F. Ellwood, of DeKalb, contributing §20,- 
000 in cash, and J. F. Glidden, a site of sixty- 
seven acres of land. Up to Dec. 1, 1897, the 
appropriations and contributions, in land and 
money, aggregated §175,000. The school was 
expected to be ready for the reception of pupils 
in the latter part of 1899, and, it is estimated, will 
accommodate 1.000 students. 

NORTHWEST TERRITORY. The name 
formerly applied to that portion of the United 
States north and west of the Ohio River and east 
of the Mississippi, comprising the present States 
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wiscon- 
sin. The claim of the Government to the land 
had been acquired partly through conquest, by 
the expedition of Col. George Rogers Clark 
(which see) , under the auspices of the State of 
Virginia in 1778 ; partly through treaties with the 
Indians, and partly through cessions from those 
of the original States laying claim thereto. The 
first plan for the government of this vast region 
was devised and formulated by Thomas Jefferson, 
in his proposed Ordinance of 1784, which failed 



404 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLIXOIS. 



of ultimate passage. But three j-ears later a 
broader scheme was evolved, and the famous 
Ordinance of 1787, with its clause prohibiting the 
extension of slavery bej'ond the Ohio River, 
passed the Continental Congress. This act has 
been sometimes termed "The American Magna 
Charta," because of its engrafting upon the 
organic law the principles of human freedom and 
equal rights. The plan for the establishment of 
u, distinctive territorial civil government in a 
new Territory — the first of its kind in the new 
republic — was felt to be a tentative step, and too 
much power was not granted to the residents. 
All the officers were appointive, and each official 
was required to be a land-owner. The elective 
franchise (but only for members of the General 
Assembly) could first be exercised only after the 
population had reached 5,000. Even then, every 
elector must own fifty acres of land, and every 
Representative, 200 acres. More liberal provisions, 
however, were subsequently incorporated by 
amendment, in 1809. The first civil government 
in the Northwest Territory was established by act 
of the Virginia Legislature, in the organization 
of all the country west of the Ohio under the 
name "Illinois County," of which the Governor 
was authorized to appoint a "County Lieuten- 
ant" or "Commandant-in-Cliief." The first 
"Commandant" appointed was Col. John Todd, 
of Kentucky, though he continued to discharge 
the duties for only a short period, being killed in 
the battle of Blue Licks, in 1782. After that the 
Illinois Country was almost without the semblance 
of an organized civil government, until 1788, 
when Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed the 
first Governor of Northwest Territory, under the 
Ordinance of 1787, serving until the separation of 
this region into the Territories of Ohio and Indi- 
ana in 1800, when William Henry Harrison 
became the Governor of the latter, embracing all 
that portion of the original Northwest Territory 
except the State of Ohio. During St. Clair's 
administration (1790) that part of the present State 
of Illinois between the Mississippi and Illinois 
Rivers on the west, and a line extending north 
from about the site of old Fort JIassac, on the 
Ohio, to the mouth of the Mackinaw River, in the 
present county of Tazewell, on the east, was 
erected into a county under the name of St. 
Clair, with three county -seats, viz. : Cahokia, 
Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher. (See St. Clair 
County. ) Between 1830 and 1834 the name North- 
west Territory was applied to an unorganized 
region, embracing the present State of Wisconsin, 
attached to Michigan Territory for governmental 



purposes. (See Illinois County; St Clair, Arthur; 
and Todd, John.) 

NORTHWESTERIV COLLEGE, located at 
Naperville, Du Page Count}', and founded in 
1865, under the auspices of the Evangelical Asso- 
ciation. It maintains business, preparatory and 
collegiate departments, besides a theological 
school. In 1898 it had a faculty of nineteen profes- 
sors and assistants, with some 360 students, less 
than one-third of the latter being females, though 
both sexes are admitted to the college on an equal 
footing. The institution owns property to the 
value of §207,000, including an endowment of 
§85,000. 

\ORTHWESTERN GRAND TRUNK RAIL- 
WAY. (See Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway.) 

NORTHWESTERIV NORMAL, located at Gene- 
seo, Henry County, 111., incorporated in 1884; in 
1894 had a faculty of twelve teachers with 171 
pupils, of whom ninety were male and eighty-one 
female. 

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, an impor- 
tant educational institution, established at 
Evauston, in Cook Coimty, in 1851. In 1898 it 
reported 2,599 students (1,980 male and 619 
female), and a faculty of 234 instructors. 
It embraces the following departments, all of 
which confer degrees: A College of Liberal 
Arts; two Medical Schools (one for women 
exclusively) ; a Law School ; a School of Phar- 
macy and a Dental College. The Garrett Bibli- 
cal Institute, at which no degrees are con- 
ferred, constitutes the theological department of 
the University. The charter of the institution 
requires a majority of the Trustees to be mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Churcli, and the 
University is the largest and wealthiest of the 
schools controlled by that denomination. The 
College of Liberal Arts and the Garrett Biblical 
Institute are at Evanston ; the other departments 
(all professional) are located in Chicago. In the 
academic department (Liberal Arts School), pro- 
vision is made for both graduate and post-gradu- 
ate courses. The Medical School was formerly 
known as the Chicago Medical College, and its 
Law Department was originally the Union Col- 
lege of Law, both of which have been absorbed 
by the University, as have also its schools of 
dentistry and pharmacy, which were formerly 
independent institutions. The property owned by 
the University is valued at §4,870,000, of which 
§1,100,000 is real estate, and §2,250,000 in endow- 
ment funds. Its income from fees paid by students 
in 1898 was §215,288, and total receipts from all 
sources, §482,389. Co-education of the sexes pre- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



405 



vails in the College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Henry 
Wade Rogers is President. 
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL 

SCHOOL, located in Chicago; was organized in 
1859 as Medical School of the Lind (now Lake 
Forest) University. Three annual terms, of five 
months each, at first constituted a course, 
altliough attendance at two only was compul- 
sory. The institution first opened in temporary 
quarters, Oct. 9, 18.59, with thirteen professors 
and thirty-three students. By 1863 more ample 
accommodations were needed, and the Trustees 
of the Lind University being imable to provide a 
building, one was erected by the faculty. In 
1864 the University relinquished all claim to the 
institution, which was thereupon incorporated as 
the Chicago Medical College. In 1868 the length 
of the annual terms was increased to six months, 
and additional requirements were imposed on 
candidates for both matriculation and gradu- 
ation. The same j'ear, the college building was 
sold, and the erection of a new and more commo- 
dious edifice, on the grounds of the Mercy Hos- 
pital, was commenced. This was completed in 
1870, and the college became the medical depart- 
ment of the Northwestern University. The 
number of professorships had been increased to 
eighteen, and that of undergraduates to 107. 
Since that date new laboratory and clinical build- 
ings have been erected, and the growth of the 
institution has been steady and substantial. 
Mercy and St. Luke's Hospital, and the South 
Side Free Dispensary afford resources for clinical 
instruction. The teaching faculty, as constituted 
in 1898, consists of about fifty instructors, in- 
cluding professors, lecturers, demonstrators, and 
assistants. 

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY WOMAN'S 
MEDICAL SCHOOL, an institution for the pro- 
fessional education of women, located in 
Chicago. Its first corporate name was the 
"Woman's Hospital Medical College of Chicago," 
and it was in close connection with the Chicago 
Hospital for Women and Children. Later, it 
severed its connection with the hospital and took 
the name of the "Woman's Medical College of 
Chicago." Co-education of the sexes, in medicine 
and surgery, was experimentallj' tried from 1868 
to 1870, but the experiment proved repugnant to 
tho male students, who unanimously signed a 
protest against the continuance of the system. 
The result was the establishment of a separate 
school for women in 1870, with a faculty of six- 
teen professors. The requirements for graduation 
were fixed aft four years of medical study, includ- 



ing three annual graded college terms of six 
months each. The first term opened in the 
autumn of 1870, with an attendance of twenty 
students. Tlie original location of the school 
was in the "North Division" of Chicago, in tem- 
porary quarters. After the fire of 1871 a removal 
was effected to the "West Division," where (in 
1878-79) a modest, but well arranged building was 
erected. A larger striicture was built in 1884, 
and, in 1891, the institution became a part of the 
Northwestern University. The college, in all its 
departments, is organized along tlie lines of the 
best medical schools of the country. In 1896 
thei-e were twenty-four professorships, all capal)ly 
filled, and among the faculty are some of the 
best knon-n specialists in the country. 

NORTON, Jesse 0., lawyer, Congressman and 
Judge, was born at Bennington, Vt., April 25, 
1813, and graduated from Williams College in 
1835. He settled at Joliet in 1839, and soon 
became prominent in the affairs of Will County. 
His first public office was that of City Attorney, 
after which he served as County Judge (1646-50). 
Meanwliile, he was chosen a Delegate to the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1847. In 1850 he was 
elected to the Legislature, and, in 1853, to Con- 
gress, as a Whig. His vigorous opposition to tlie 
repeal of the Missouri Compi-omise resulted in 
his re-election as a Representative in 1854. At 
the expiration of his second term (1857) he was 
chosen Judge of the eleventh circuit, to fill the 
unexpired term of Judge Randall, resigned. He 
was once more elected to Congress in 1863, but 
disagreed with his party as to the legal status of 
the States lately in rebellion. President Johnson 
appointed him United States Attorney for the 
Northern District of Illinois, which office he filled 
until 1869. Immediately upon his retirement he 
began private practice at Chicago, where he died, 
August 3, 1875. 

NORWOOD PARK, a village of Cook County, 
on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad (Wis- 
consin Division), 11 miles northwest of Chicago. 
Incorporated in City of Chicago, 1893. 

NO YES, George Clement, clergyman, was born 
at Landaff, N. H., August 4, 1833, brouglit by 
his parents to Pike County, 111., in 1844, and, at 
the age of 16, determined to devote his life to the 
ministry ; in 1851, entered Illinois College at Jack- 
sonville, graduating with first honors in the class 
of 1855. In the following autumn he entered 
Union Theological Seminary in New York, and, 
having graduated in 1858, was ordained the same 
year, and installed pastor of the First Presby- 
terian Church at Laporte, Ind. Here he remained 



406 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ten years, when he accepted a call to the First 
Presbyterian Church of Evanston, 111., then a 
small organization which developed, during the 
twenty years of his pastorate, into one of the 
strongest and most influential churches in Evans- 
ton. For a number of years Dr. Noyes was an 
editorial writer and weekly correspondent of 
"The New York Evangelist," over the signature 
of "Clement." He was also, for several years, an 
active and very efficient member of the Board of 
Trustees of Knox College. The liberal bent of 
his mind was illustrated in the fact that he acted 
as counsel for Prof. David Swing, during the cele- 
brated trial of the latter for heresy before the 
Chicago Presbytery — his argument on that 
occasion winning encomiums from all classes of 
people. His death took place at Evanston, Jan. 
14, 1889, as the result of an attack of pneumonia, 
and was deeply deplored, not only by his own 
church and denomination, but by the whole com- 
munity. Some two weeks after it occurred a 
union meeting was held in one of the churches at 
Evanston, at which addresses in commemoration 
of his services were delivered by some dozen 
ministers of that village and of Chicago, while 
various social and literary organizations and the 
press bore testimony to his high character. He 
was a member of the Literary Society of Chicago, 
and, during the last year of his life, served as its 
President. Dr. Noyes was married, in 18.')8, to a 
daughter of David A. Smith, Esq., an honored 
citizen and able lawyer of Jacksonville. 

OAKLAND, a city of Coles County on the Van- 
dalia Line and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western 
Railroad, 15 miles northeast of Charleston; is in 
grain center and broom-corn belt; the town has 
two banks and one daily and two weekly papers. 
Pop. (1890), 995;(1900), 1,198. 

OAK PARK, a village of Cook County, and 
popular residence suburb of Chicago, 9 miles 
west of the initial station of the Chicago & 
Northwestern Railroad, on which it is located ; is 
also upon the line of the AVisconsin Central Rail- 
road. The place has numerous churches, pros- 
perous schools, a public library, telegraph and 
express offices, banks and two local papers. 
Population (1880), 1,888; (1890), 4,771. 

OBERLY, John H., journalist and Civil Serv- 
ice Commissioner, was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, Dec. 6, 1837 ; spent part of his boyhood in 
Allegheny County, Pa., but, in IS.'iS, began learn- 
ing the printer's trade in the office of "The Woos- 
ter (Ohio) Republican," completing it at Memphis, 
Term , and becoming a journeyman printer in 



1857. He worked in various offices, including 
the Wooster paper, where he also began the study 
of law, but, in 18G0, became part proprietor of 
"The Bulletin" job office at Memphis, in which 
he had been employed as an apprentice, and, 
later, as foreman. Having been notified to leave 
Memphis on account of his Union principles 
after the beginning of the Civil War, he returned 
to Wooster, Ohio, and conducted various jiapers 
there during the next four years, but, in 1865, 
came to Cairo, 111., where he served for a time as 
foreman of "The Cairo Democrat," three years 
later establishing "The Cairo Bulletin. " Although 
the latter paper was burned out a few months later, 
it was immediately re-established. In 1872 he 
was elected Representative in the Twenty-eighth 
General Assembly, and, in 1877, was appointed 
by Governor Cullom the Democratic member of 
the Railroad and Warehouse Commission, serving 
four years, meanwhile (in 1880) being the Demo- 
cratic candidate for Secretary of State. Other 
positions held by him included Mayor of the city 
of Cairo (18G9) ; President of the National Typo- 
graphical Union at Chicago (1865), and at Mem- 
phis (1866); delegate to the Democratic National 
Convention at Baltimore (1872), and Chairman of 
the Democratic State Central Committee 
(1882-84). After retiring from the Railroad and 
Warehouse Commission, he united in founding 
"The Bloomington (111.) Bulletin," of which he 
was editor some three years. During President 
Cleveland's administration he was appointed a 
member of the Civil Service Commission, being 
later transferred to the Commissionership of 
Indian Affairs. He was subsequently connected 
in an editorial capacity with "The Washington 
Post," "The Richmond (Va.) State," "The Con- 
cord (N. II.) People and Patriot" and "The Wash- 
ington Times." While engaged in an attempt to 
reorganize "The People and Patriot," he died at 
Concord, N. H., April 15, 1899. 

ODD FELLOWS. "Western Star" Lodge, No. 
1, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Alton, June 11, 
1836. In 1838 the Grand Lodge of Illinois was 
instituted at the same place, and reorganized, at 
Springfield, in 1842. S. C. Pierce was the first 
Grand Master, and Samuel L. Miller, Grand Sec- 
retary. Wildey Encampment, No. 1, was organ- 
ized at Alton in 1838, and the Grand Encampment, 
at Peoria, in 1850, with Charles H. Constable 
Grand Patriarch. In 1850 the subordinate branches 
of the Order numbered seventy-six, with 3,291 
members, and §25,393.87 revenue. In 1895 the 
Lodges numbered 838, the membership .50,,544, 
with §475,252.18 revenue, of which $135,018.40 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



407 



was expended for relief. The Encampment 
branch, in 189.5. embraced 179 organizations witli 
a membership of 6,812 and §23,865.2.5 revenue, of 
which §6,781.40 was paid out for relief. The 
Rebekah branch, for the same year, comprised 422 
Lodges, with 22,000 members and $43,21.5.65 
revenue, of which .$3,122.79 was for relief. The 
total sum distributed for relief by the several 
organizations (1895) was $144,972..59. The Order 
was especially liberal in its benefactions to the 
sufferers by the Chicago fire of 1871, an appeal to 
its members calling forth a generous response 
throughout the United States. (See Odd Fellows' 
Orplians' Home.) 

ODD FELLOWS' ORPHANS' HOME, a benevo 
lent institution, incorporated in 1889, erected at 
Lincoln, 111., under the auspices of the Daughters 
of Rebekah (see Odd Fellowa), and dedicated 
August 19, 1892. The building is four stories in 
height, has a capacity for the accommodation of 
fifty children, and cost .536,524.76, exclusive of 
forty acres of land valued at §8,000. 

ODELL, a village of Livingston County, and 
station on the Chicago & Alton Raihva}', 82 
miles south-southwest of Chicago. It is in a 
grain and stock-raising region. Population (1880), 
908; (1890), 800; (1900), 1,000. 

ODIN, a village of Marion County, at the cross- 
ing of the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central 
and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Rail- 
ways, 244 miles south by west from Chicago; in 
fruit belt; has coalmine, two fruit evaporators, 
bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,180. 

O'FALLON, a village of St. Clair County, on 
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 18 
miles east of St. Louis ; lias interurbau railway, 
electric lights, waterworks, factories, coal-mine, 
bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,267. 

OGDEN, William Bntler, capitalist and Rail- 
way President, born at Walton, N. Y. , June 15, 
1805. He was a member of the New York Legis- 
lature in 1834, and, the following year, removed 
to Chicago, where he established a land and trust 
agency. He took an active part in the various 
enterprises centering around Chicago, and, on 
the incorporation of the city, was elected its first 
Mayor. He was prominently identified with the 
construction of the Galena & Chicago Union 
Railroad, and, in 1847, became its President. 
While visiting Europe in 1853, he made a careful 
study of the canals of Holland, wliich convinced 
him of the desirability of widening and deepen- 
ing the Illinois & Michigan Canal and of con- 
structing a ship canal across the southern 
peninsula of Michigan. In 1855 he became Presi- 



dent of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac 
Railroad, and effected its consolidation with the 
Galena & Chicago Union. Out of this consoli- 
dation sjirang the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 
way Company, of which he was elected President. 
In 1850 he presided over the National Pacific 
Railroad Convention, and, upon the formation of 
the Union Pacific Railroad Company, he became 
its President. He was largely connected with 
the inception of the Northern Pacific line, in the 
success of which he was a firm believer. He 
also controlled various other interests of public 
importance, among them the great lumbering 
establishments at Peshtigo, Wis., and, at the time 
of his death, was the owner of what was probably 
the largest plant of that description in the world. 
His benefactions were numerous, among the 
recipients being the Rush Medical College, of 
which he was President; the Theological Semi- 
nary of the Northwest, the Chicago Historical 
Society, the Academy of Sciences, the University 
of Chicago, the Astronomical Society, and many 
other educational and benevolent institutions 
and organizations in the Northwest. Died, in 
New York City, August 3, 1877. (See Chicago & 
Xortliirrstern Railfoad.) 

OGLE, Joseph, pioneer, was born in Virginia 
in 1741, came to Illinois in 1785, settling in the 
American Bottom within the present County of 
Monroe, but afterwards removed to St. Clair 
County, about the site of the present town of 
O'Fallon, 8 miles north of Belleville; was selected 
by his neighbors to serve as Captain in their 
skirmishes with the Indians. Died, at his home 
in St. Clair County, in February, 1831. Captain 
Ogle had the reputation of being the earliest con- 
vert to Methodism in Illinois. Ogle County, in 
Northern Illinois, was named in his honor. — 
Jacob (Ogle), son of the preceding, also a native 
of Virginia, was born about 1772, came to Illinois 
with his father in 1785, and was a "Ranger" in 
the War of 1812. He .served as a Representative 
from St. Clair County in the Third General 
Assembly (1822), and again in the Seventh 
(1830), in the former being an opponent of the 
pro-slavery convention scheme. Beyond two 
terms in the Legislature he seems to have held 
no public office except that of Justice of the 
Peace. Like his father, he was a zealous Metho- 
dist and highly respected. Died, in 1844, aged 72 
j'ears. 

OGLE COUNTY, next to the "northern tier" of 
counties of the State and originally a part of Jo 
Daviess. It was separately organized in 1837, 
and Lee County was carved from its territory in 



408 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



1839. In 1900 its area was 780 square miles, and 
its population 29,129. Before the Black Hawk 
War immigration was slow, and life primitive. 
Peoria was the nearest food market. New grain 
was "ground" on a grater, and old pounded 
with an extemporized pestle in a wooden mortar. 
Rock River flows across the county from north- 
east to southwest. A little oak timber grows 
along its banks, but, generally speaking, the sur- 
face is undulating prairie, with soil of a rich 
loam. Sandstone is in ample supply, and all the 
limestones abound. An extensive peat-bed has 
been discovered on the Killbuck Creek. Oregon, 
the county-seat, has fine water-power. Tlie other 
principal towns are Rochelle, Polo, Forreston and 
Mount Morris. 

OGLESBY, Richard James, Governor and 
United States Senator, was born in Oldham 
County, Ky., July 25, 1824; left an orphan at the 
age of 8 years; in 1836 accompanied an uncle to 
Decatur, 111., where, until 1844, he worked at 
farming, carpentering and rope-making, devoting 
his leisure hours to the study of law. In 1845 he 
was admitted to the bar and began practice at 
Sullivan, in Moultrie County. In 1846 he was 
commissioned a Lieutenant in the Fourth Regi- 
ment, Illinois Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's regi- 
ment), and served through the Me.xican War, 
taking part in t!ie siege of Vera Cruz and the 
battle of Cerro Gordo. In 1847 he pursued a 
course of study at the Louisville Law School, 
graduating in 1848. He was a "forty-niner" in 
California, but returned to Decatur in 1851. In 
1858 he made an unsuccessful campaign for Con- 
gress in the Decatur District. In 1860 he was 
elected to the State Senate, but early in 1861 
resigned his seat to accept the colonelcy of the 
Eighth Illinois Volunteers. Through gallantry 
(notably at Forts Henry and Donelson and at 
Corinth) he rose to be Major-General, being se- 
verely wounded in the last-named battle. He 
resigned his commission on account of disability, 
in May, 1864, and the following November was 
elected Governor, as a Republican. In 1872 he 
was re-elected Governor, but, two weeks after 
his inauguration, resigned to accept a seat in the 
United States Senate, to which he was elected 
by the Legislature of 1873. In 1884 he was 
elected Governor for the third time— being the 
only man in the history of the State who (up to 
the present time — 1899) has been thus honored. 
After the expiration of his last term as Governor, 
he devoted his attention to his private affairs at 
his home at Elkhart, in Logan County, where he 
died, April 24, 1899, deeply mourned by personal 



and political friends in all parts of the Union, 
who admired his strict integrity and sterling 
patriotism. 
OHIO, INDIANA & WESTERN RAILWAY. 

(See Peoria & Eastern Railroad.) 

OHIO RIVER, an affluent of the Mississippi, 
formed bj- the union of the Monongahela and 
Allegheny Rivers, at Pittsburg, Pa. At this point 
it becomes a navigable stream about 400 yards 
wide, with an elevation of about 700 feet above 
sea-level. The beauty of the scenery along its 
banks secured for it, from the earlj' French 
e.xplorers (of whom La Salle was one), the name 
of "La Belle Riviere." Its general course is to 
the southwest, but with many sinuosities, form- 
ing the southern boundary of the States of Ohio, 
Indiana and Illinois, and the western and north- 
ern boundary of West Virginia and Kentucky, 
until it enters the Mississippi at Cairo, in latitude 
37° N., and about 1,200 miles above the mouth of 
the latter stream. The area wliich it drains is 
computed to be 214,000 square miles. Its mouth 
is 268 feet above the level of the sea. The current 
is remarkably gentle and uniform, except near 
Louisville, where there is a descent of twenty- 
two feet within two miles, which is evaded by 
means of a canal around the falls. Large steam- 
boats can navigate its whole length, except in low 
stages of water and wlien closed by ice in winter. 
Its largest affluents are the Tennessee, the Cum- 
berland, the Kentucky, the Great Kanawha and 
the Green Rivers, from the south, and the Wa- 
bash, the Miami, Scioto and Muskingum from the 
north. The principal cities on its banks are Pitts- 
burg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, Evans- 
ville, New Albany, Madison and Cairo. It is 
crossed by bridges at Wheeling, Cincinnati and 
Cairo. The surface of the Ohio is subject to a 
variation of forty-two to fifty-one feet between 
high and low water. Its length is 975 miles, and 
its width varies from 400 to 1,000 j'ards. (See 
In tindations, Remark-able. ) 

OHIO & MISSISSIPPI RAILWAY. (See Bal- 
timore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad.) 

OLNEY, an incorporated city and the county- 
seat of Richland County, 31 miles west of Vin- 
cennes, Ind., and 117 miles ea.st of St. Louis, Mo., 
at the junction of the Baltimore it Ohio South- 
western and the Peoria Division of the Illinois 
Central and the Ohio River Division of the Cin- 
cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad; is in tlie 
center of tlie fruit belt and an important shipping 
point for farm produce and livestock ; has flour 
mills, a furniture factory and railroad repair 
shops, banks, a public library, churches and Jive 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



409 



newspapers, one issuing daily and another semi- 
weekly editions. Population (1890), 3,831 ; (1900), 
4,360. 

OMELVENY, John, pioneer and head of a 
numerous family which became prominent in 
Southern Illinois; was a native of Ireland who 
came to America about 1798 or 1799. After resid- 
ing in Kentucky a few years, he removed to Illi- 
nois, locating in what afterwards became Pope 
County, whither his oldest son, Samuel, had 
preceded him about 1797 or 1798. The latter for 
a time followed the occupation of flat-boating, 
carrying produce to New Orleans. He was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818 
from Pope County, being the colleague of Hamlet 
Ferguson. A year later he removed to Randolph 
County, where he served as a member of the 
County Court, but, in 1820-23, we find him a 
member of the Second General Assembly from 
Union County, having successfully contested the 
seat of Samuel Alexander, who had received the 
certificate of election. He died in 1828. — Edward 
(Omelvenj'), another member of this family, and 
grandson of the elder John Omelvenj-, represented 
Monroe County in the Fifteenth General Assem- 
bly (1846-48), and was Presidential Elector in 
1852, but died sometime during the Civil War. — 
Harvey K. S. (Omelveny), the fifth son of Wil- 
liam Omelveny and grandson of John, was born 
in Todd County, Ky., in 1823, came to Southern 
Illinois, in 1852, and engaged in the practice of 
law, being for a time the partner of Senator 
Thomas E. Merritt, at Salem. Early in 1858 he 
was elected a Justice of the Circuit Court to 
succeed Judge Breese, who had been promoted to 
the Supreme Court, but resigned in 1861. He 
gained considerable notoriety by his intense 
hostility to the policy of the Government during 
the Civil War, was a Delegate to the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1862, and was named as a 
member of the Peace Commission proposed to be 
appointed by the General Assembly, in 1863, to 
secure terms of peace with the Southern Con- 
federacy. He was also a leading spirit in the 
peace meeting held at Peoria, in August, 1863. 
In 1869 Mr. Omelveny removed to Los Angeles, 
Cal. , which has since been his home, and where 
he has carried on a lucrative law practice. 

OXARGA, a town in Iroquois County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 85 miles south by west 
from Chicago, and 43 miles north by east from 
Champaign. It is a manufacturing town, flour, 
wagons, wire-fencing, stoves and tile being 
among the products. It has a bank, eight 
churches, a graded school, a commercial college. 



and a weekly newspaper. Population (1880), 
1,061; (1890), 994; (1900), 1.270. 

ONEIDA, a city in Knox County, on the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 12 miles 
northeast of Galesburg; has wagon, pump and 
furniture factories, two banks, electric lights, 
several churches, a graded school, and a weekly 
paper. The surrounding country is rich prairie, 
where coal is mined about twenty feet below the 
surface. Pop. (1890), 699; (1900), 785. 

0(^UAWKA, the county -seat of Henderson 
County, situated on the Mississippi River, about 
15 miles above Burlington, Iowa, and 32 miles 
west of Galesburg. It is in a farming region, 
but has some manufactories. The town has 
flve churches, a graded school, a bank and three 
newspaper?. Population (1900), 1,010. 

ORDIIVANCE OF 1787. This is the name 
given to the first organic act, passed by Congress, 
for the government of the territory northwest of 
the Ohio River, comprising the present States of 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. 
The first step in this direction was taken in the 
appointment, by Congress, on March 1, 1784, of a 
committee, of which Thomas Jefferson was Chair- 
man, to prepare a plan for the temporary govern- 
ment of the region which had been acquired, by 
tlie capture of Kaskaskia, by Col. George Rogers 
Clark, nearly six years previous. The necessity 
for some step of this sort had grown all the more 
urgent, in consequence of the recognition of the 
right of the United States to this region by the 
Treaty of Paris of 1783, and the surrender, by Vir- 
ginia, of the title she had maintained thereto on 
account of Clark's conquest under her auspices — • 
a right which she had exercised by furnishing 
whatever semblance of government so far existed 
northwest of the Ohio. The report submitted 
from Jefferson's conimittee proposed the division 
of the Territory into seven States, to which was 
added the proviso that, after the year 1800, "there 
shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 
in any of said States, otherwise than in punish- 
ment of crime whereof the party shall have been 
duly convicted." This report failed of adoption, 
however. Congress contenting itself with the 
passage of a resolution providing for future 
organization of this territory into States by the 
people — the measures necessary for temporary 
government being left to future Congressional 
action. Wliile the postponement, in the reso- 
lution as introduced by Jefferson, of the inhi- 
bition of slavery to the year 1800, has been 
criticised, its introduction was significant, as 
coming from a representative from a slave State, 



410 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and being the first proposition iii Congress look- 
ing to restriction, of anj- character, on tlie subject 
of slavery. Congress having taken no further 
step under the resolution adopted in 1784, the 
condition of the country (thus left practically 
without a responsible government, while increas- 
ing in population) became constantly more 
deplorable. An appeal from the people about 
Kaskaskia for some better form of government, 
in 1786, aided by the influence of the newly 
organized "Ohio Companj-," who desired to en- 
courage emigration to the lands which they were 
planning to secure from the General Government, 
at last brought about the desired result, in the 
passage of the famous "Ordinance," on the 13th 
day of July, 1787. While making provision for a 
mode of temporary self-government by the 
people, its most striking features are to be found 
in the six "articles" — a sort of "Bill of Rights" — 
with which the document closes. These assert: 
(1) the right of freedom of worship and religious 
opinion; (2) the right to the benefit of habeas 
corpus and trial by jury ; to proportionate repre- 
sentation, and to protection in liberty and prop- 
erty; (3) that "religion, morality and knowledge, 
being necessary to good government and the 
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of 
education shall forever be encouraged"; (4) that 
the States, formed within tlie territory referred 
to, "shall forever remain a part of this confeder- 
acy of the United States of America, subject to 
the Articles of Confederation and to such alter- 
ations therein as shall be constitutionally made" ; 
(5) prescribe the boundaries of the States to be 
formed therein and the conditions of their admis- 
sion into the Union; and (G — and most significant 
of all) repeat the prohibition regarding the 
introduction of slavery into the Northwest Terri- 
tory, as proposed by Jeffer.son, but without any 
qualification as to time. There has been consider- 
able controversy regarding the authorship of this 
portion of the Ordinance, into which it is not 
necessary to enter here. While it has been char- 
acterized as a second and advanced Declaration 
of Independence — and probably no single act of 
Congress was ever fraught with more important 
and far-reaching results — it seems remarkable 
that a majority of the States supporting it and 
securing its adoption, were then, and long con- 
tinued to be, slave States. 

ORE(xOX, the county-seat of Ogle County, 
situated on Rock River and the Minneapolis 
Branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road. 100 miles west from Chicago. The sur- 
rounding region is agricultural; the town has 



water power and manufactures flour, pianos, steel 
tanks, street sprinklers, and iron castings. It has 
two banks, water-works supplied by flowing 
artesian wells, cereal mill, and two weekly news- 
papers ; has also obtained some repute as a summer 
resort. Pop.(1880), 1,088; (1890), 1,566; (1900), 1,577. 

ORION, a village of Henry County, at the inter- 
section of the Rock Island Divi.sion of the Chicago 
Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock 
Island & Pacific Railways, 19 miles southeast of 
Book Island. Pop. (1890), 624; (1900), 584. 

OSBORiV, William Henry, Railway President, 
was born at Salem, Slass. , Dec. 21, 1820. After 
receiving a high school education in his native 
town, he entered the counting room of the East 
India house of Peele, Hubbell & Co. ; was subse- 
quently sent to represent the firm at Manila, 
finally engaging in business on lus own account, 
during which he traveled extensively in Europe. 
Returning to the United States in 1853, he took 
up his residence in New York, and, having mar- 
ried tlie daughter of Jonathan Sturges, one of the 
original incorporators and promoters of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, he soon after became asso- 
ciated with that enterprise. In August, 1854, he 
was chosen a Director of the Company, and, on 
Dec. 1, 1855, became its third President, serving 
in the latter position nearly ten years (until July 
11, 1865), and, as a Director, until 1877 — in all, 
twenty-two years. After retiring from his con- 
nection with the Illinois Central Raih-oad, Mr. 
Osborn gave his attention largely to enterprises 
of an educational and benevolent character in aid 
of the unfortunate classes in the State of New 
York. 

OSBORN, Thomas 0., soldier and diplomatist, 
was born in Licking County, Ohio, August 11, 
1832; graduated from the Ohio University at 
Athens, in 18.54; studied law at Crawfordsville. 
Ind., with Gen. Lew Wallace, was admitted to 
the bar and began practice in Chicago. Early in 
the war for the Union he joined the "Yates 
Phalanx," which, after some delay on account of 
the quota being full, was mustered into the serv- 
ice, in August, 1861, as the Thirt3'-ninth Illinois 
Volunteers, the subject of this sketch being com- 
missioned its Lieutenant-Colonel. His promotion 
to the colonelcy soon followed, the regiment 
being sent east to guard the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, where it met the celebrated Stonewall 
Jackson, and took part in many important en- 
gagements, including the battles of Winchester, 
Bermuda Hundreds, and Drury's Bluff, besides 
the sieges of Charleston and Petersburg. At 
Bermuda Hundreds Colonel Osborn was severely 



IIISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



411 



wounded, losing the use of his right arm. He 
bore a conspicuous part in the operations about 
Richmond which resulted in the capture of the 
rebel capital, his services being recognized bj' 
promotion to the brevet rank of Major-General. 
At the close of the war be returned to the prac- 
tice of law in Chicago, but, in 1874. was appointed 
Consul-General and Minister-Resident to the 
Argentine Republic, remaining in that position 
until June, 1885, when lie resigned, resuming his 
residence in Chicago. 

OSWEGO, a village in Kendall County, on the 
Aurora and Streator branch of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railway, 6 miles south of 
Aurora. Population (1890), 641; (1900), 618. 

OTTAWA, the county-seat and principal city 
of La Salle County, being incorporated as a vil- 
lage in 1838, and, as a city, in 1853. It is located 
at the confluence of the Illinois and Fox Rivers 
and on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. It is the 
intersecting point of the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railway and the Streator branch of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, 98 miles east of 
Rock Island and 83 miles west-southwest of Chi- 
cago. The surrounding region abounds in coal. 
Sand of a superior quality for the manufacture of 
glass is found in the vicinity and the place has 
extensive glass works. Other manufactured 
products are brick, drain-tile, sewer-pipe, tile- 
roofing, pottery, pianos, organs, cigars, wagons 
and carriages, agricultural implements, hay 
carriers, hay presses, sash, doors, blinds, cabinet 
work, saddlery and harness and pumps. The city 
has some handsome public buildings including 
the Appellate (formerly Supreme) Court House 
for the Northern Division. It also has several 
public parks, one of which (Soutli Park) contains 
a medicinal spring. Tliere are a dozen chvirclies 
and numerovis iJublic school buildings, including 
a high school. The city is lighted by gas and 
electricity, lias electric street railways, good 
sewerage, and water-works supplied from over 
150 artesian wells and numerous natural springs. 
It has one private and two national banks, five 
libraries, and eight weekly newspapers (three 
German), of whicli four issue daily editions. Pop. 
(1890), 9,985; (1900), 10,588. 

OTTAWA, CHICAGO & FOX RIVER VALLEY 
RAILROAD. (,See Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad.) 

OUTAGAMIES, a name given, by the French, 
to the Indian tribe known as the Foxes. (See 
Sacs and Foxes. ) 

OWEN, Thomas J. V., early legislator and 
Indian Agent, was born in Kentucky, April 5, 



1801 ; came to Illinois at an early day, and, in 
1830, was elected to the Seventh General Assem- 
bly from Randolph County; the following year 
was appointed Indian Agent at Chicago, as suc- 
cessor to Dr. Alexander Wolcott, who had died in 
the latter part of 1830. Mr. Owen served as 
Indian Agent until 1833; was a member of the 
first Board of Town Trustees of the village of Chi- 
cago, Commissioner of School Lands, and one of 
the Government Commissioners who conducted 
the treaty with the Pottawatomie and other 
tribes of Indians at Chicago, in September, 1838. 
Died, in Chicago, Oct. 15, 1835. 

PADDOCK, Gaius, pioneer, a native of Massa- 
chusetts, was born in 1758; at the age of 17 he 
entered the Colonial Army, serving until the 
close of the Revolutionary War, and being in 
Washington's command at the crossing of the 
Delaware. After the war he removed to Ver- 
mont; but, in 1815, went to Cincinnati, and, a 
year later, to St. Charles, Mo. Then, after hav- 
ing spent about a year at St. Louis, in 1818 he 
located in Madison County, 111., at a point after- 
wards known as "Paddock's Grove, " and which 
became one of the most prosperous agricultural 
sections of Southern Illinois. Died, in 1881. 

PAIXE, (Gen.) Eleazer A., soldier, was born in 
Parkman, Geauga County, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1815; 
graduated at West Point Military Academy, in 
1839, and was assigned to the First Infantry, 
serving in the Florida War (1839-40), but resigned, 
Oct. 11, 1840. He then studied law and practiced 
at Painesville, Ohio, (1843-48), and at Monmouth, 
111., (1848-61), meanwhile serving in the lower 
branch of the Eigliteenth General Assembly 
(1852-53). Before leaving Ohio, he had been 
Deputy United States Marshal and Lieutenant- 
Colonel of the State Militia, and, in Illinois, 
became Brigadier-General of Militia (1845-48). 
He was appointed Colonel of the Ninth Illinois in 
April, 1861, and served through the war, being 
promoted Brigadier-General in September, 1861. 
Tlie first duty performed by his regiment, after 
tliis date, was the occupation of Paducah, Ky., 
where he was in command. Later, it took part 
in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, 
tlie battles of Shiloh, New Madrid and Corinth, 
and also in the various engagements in Northern 
Georgia and in the "march to the sea." From 
November, 1862, to May, 1864, General Paine was 
guarding railroad lines in Central Tennessee, 
and, during a part of 1864, in command of the 
Western District of Kentucky. He resigned, 
April 5, 1865, and died in Jersey City, Deo. 16, 



412 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



1883. A sturdy Union man, he performed his 
duty as a soldier with great zeal and efficiency. 

PALATINE, a village of Cook County, on the 
Wisconsin Division of the Chicago & Northwest- 
ern Railroad, 26 miles northwest from Chicago. 
There are flour and planing mills here ; dairying 
and farming are leading industries of the sur- 
rounding country. Population (1880), 731; (1890), 
891; (1900). 1,020. 

PALESTINE, a town in Crawford County, about 
3 miles from the Wabash River, 7 miles east of 
Robinson, and 3.5 miles southwest of Terre Haute, 
on the Illinois Central Railway ; has five churches, 
a graded school, a bank, weekly newspaper, flour 
mill, cold storage plant, canning factory, garment 
factory, and municipal light and power plant. 
Pop. (1890), 732; (1900), 979. 

PALMER, Frank Vf., journalist, ex-Congress- 
man and Public Printer, was born at Manchester, 
Dearborn County, Ind., Oct. 11, 1827; learned the 
printer's trade at Jamestown, N. Y., afterwards 
edited "The Jamestown Journal," and served 
two terms in the New York Legi.slature ; in 18.58 
removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and edited "The 
Dubuque Times," was elected to Congress in 1860, 
and again in 1868 and 1873, meanwhile having 
purchased "The Des Moines Register," which he 
edited for several years. In 1873 he removed to 
Chicago and became editor of "The Inter Ocean," 
remaining two years ; in 1877 was appointed Post- 
master of the city of Chicago, serving eight years. 
Shortly after the accession of President Harrison, 
in 1889, he was appointed Public Printer, continu- 
ing in office until the accession of President Cleve- 
land in 1893, when he returned to newspaper work, 
but resumed his old place at the head of the 
Government Printing Bureau after the inaugura- 
tion of President McKinley in 1897. 

PALMER, John McAuley, lawyer, soldier and 
United States Senator, was born in Scott County, 
Ky., Sept. 13, 1817; removed with his father to 
Madison County, 111., in 1831, and, four years 
later, entered Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, 
as a student ; later taught and .studied law, being 
admitted to the bar in 1839. In 1843 he was 
elected Probate Judge of Macoupin County, also 
served in the State Constitutional Convention of 
1847 ; after discharging the duties of Probate and 
County Judge, was elected to the State Senate, to 
fill a vacancy, in 1852, and re-elected in 1854, as 
an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, casting his vote for 
Lyman Trumbull for United States Senator in 
1855, but resigned his seat in 1856 ; was President 
of the first Republican State Convention, held at 
Bloomington in the latter year, and appointed a 



delegate to the National Convention at Philadel- 
phia ; was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress 
in 1859, and chosen a Presidential Elector on Vaq 
Republican ticket in 1860 ; served as a member of 
the National Peace Conference of 1861 ; entered 
the army as Colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry ; was promoted Briga- 
dier General, in November, 1861, taking part in 
the campaign in Tennessee up to Chickamauga, 
assuming the command of the Fourteenth Army 
Corps with the rank of Major-General, but was 
relieved at his own request before Atlanta. In 
1865 he was assigned, by President Lincoln, to 
command of the Military Department of Ken- 
tucky, but, in September, 1866, retired from the 
service, and, in 18C7, became a citizen of Spring- 
field. The following year he was elected Gov- 
ernor, as a Republican, but, in 1872, supported 
Horace Greeley for President, and has since co- 
operated with the Democratic party. He was 
three times the unsuccessful candidate of his 
party for United States Senator, and was their 
nominee for Governor in 1888, but defeated. In 
1890 he was nominated for United States Senator 
by the Democratic State Convention and elected 
in joint session of the Legislature, March 11, 1891, 
receiving on the 154th ballot 101 Democratic and 
two Farmers" Mutual Alliance votes. He became 
an important factor in the campaign of 1896 as 
candidate of the "Sound Money" Democracy for 
President, although receiving no electoral votes, 
proving his devotion to principle. His last years 
were occupied in preparation of a volume of 
personal recollections, which was completed, 
under the title of "The Story of an Earnest Life,'' 
a few weeks before his death, which occurred at 
his home in Springfield, September 25, 1900. 

PALMER, Potter, merchant and capitalist, 
was born in Albany County, N. Y. , in 1825; 
received an English education and became a 
junior clerk in a country store at Durham, 
Greene County, in that State, three years later 
being placed in charge of the business, and finally 
engaging in business on his own account. Com- 
ing to Cliicago in 1852, he embarked in the dry- 
goods business on Lake Street, establishing the 
house which afterwards became Field, Leiter & 
Co. (now Marshall Field & Co. ) , from which here- 
tired, in 1865, with the basis of an ample fortune, 
which has since been immensely increased by 
fortunate operations in real estate. Mr. Palmer 
was Second Vice-President of the first Board of 
Local Directors of the World's Columbian Expo- 
sition in 1891.— Mrs, Bertha M. Honore (Palmer). 
wife of the preceding, is the daughter of H. ,H. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



413 



Honore, formerly a prominent real-estate owner 
and operator of Chicago. Slie is a native of 
Louisville, Ky., where her girlhood was chiefly 
spent, though she was educated at a convent near 
Baltimore, Md. Later she came with her family 
to Chicago, and, in 1870, was married to Potter 
Palmer. Mrs. Palmer has been a recognized 
leader in many social and benevolent movements, 
but won the highest praise by her ability and 
administrative skill, exhibited as President of the 
Board of Lady Managers of the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition of 1893. 

PALMYRA, a village of Macoupin County, on 
the Springfield Division of the St. Louis, Chicago 
& St. Paul Railway, 33 miles southwest from 
Springfield ; has some local manufactories, a bank 
and a newspaper. Population (1900), 813. 

PANA, an important railway center and prin- 
cipal city of Christian County, situated in the 
southeastern part of the County, and at the inter- 
secting point of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwest- 
ern, the Illinois Central and the Cleveland, 
Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroads, 35 
miles south by west from Decatur, and 43 miles 
southeast of Springfield. It is an important ship- 
ping-point for grain and has two elevators. Its 
mechanical establishments include two flouring 
mills, a foundry, two machine shops and two 
planing mills. The surrounding region is rich in 
coal, which is extensively mined. Pana has 
banks, several churches, graded schools, and 
three papers issuing daily and weekl}' editions. 
Population (1890), 5,077; (1900), 5,530. 

PANA, SPRINGFIELD & NORTHWESTERN 
RAILROAD. (See Baltimore & Ohio South- 
western Railroad.) 

PARIS, a handsome and flourishing city, the 
county-seat of Edgar County. It is an important 
railway center, situated on the "Big Four" and 
the Vandalia Line, 160 miles south of Chicago, 
and 170 miles east-novtlieast of St. Louis; is in 
the heart of a wealthy and populous agricultural 
region, and has a prosperous trade. Its industries 
include foundries, three elevators, flour, saw and 
planing mills, glass, broom, and corn product 
factories. The city has three banks, three daily 
and four weekly newspapers, a court house, ten 
churches, and graded schools. Pop. (1890), 4,996; 
(1900), 6,105. 

PARIS & DECATUR RAILROAD. (See Terre 
Haute & Peoria Railroad.) 

PARIS & TERRE HAUTE RAILROAD. (See 
Terre Haute & Peoria Railroad. ) 

PARKS, Gavion D. A., lawyer, was born at 
Bristol, Ontario County, N. Y., Sept. 17, 1817; 



went to New York City in 1838, where he com- 
pleted his legal studies and was admitted to the 
bar, removing to Lockport, 111., in 1842. Here 
he successively edited a paper, served as Master 
in Chancery and in an engineering corps on the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal; was elected Comity 
Judge in 1849, removed to Joliet, and, for a time, 
acted as an attorney of the Chicago & Rock 
Island, the Michigan Central and the Chicago 
& Alton Railroads; was also a Trustee of the 
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jackson- 
ville ; was elected Representative in 1853, became 
a Republican and served on the first Republican 
State Central Committee (1856) ; the same year 
was elected to the State Senate, and was a 
Commissioner of the State Penitentiary in 1864. 
In 1873 Mr. Parks joined in the Liberal-Repub- 
lican movement, was defeated for Congress, and 
afterwards acted with the Democratic party. 
Died, Dec. 28, 1895. 

PARKS, Lawson A., journalist, was born at 
Mecklenburg, N. C, April 15, 1813; learned the 
printing trade at Charlotte, in that State ; came 
to St. Louis in 1833, and, in 1836, assisted in estab- 
lishing "The Alton Telegraph," but sold his 
interest a few years later. Then, having offi- 
ciated as pastor of Presbyterian churches for some 
years, in 1854 he again became associated with 
"The Telegraph," acting as its editor. Died at 
Alton, March 31, 1875. 

PARK RIDGE, a suburban village on the Wis- 
consin Division of the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroad, 13 miles northwest of Chicago. Popu- 
lation (1880), 457; (1890), 987; (1900), 1,340. 

PARTRIDGE, Charles Addison, journalist and 
Assistant Adjutant-General of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, was born in Westford, Chittenden 
Count}-, Vt., Dec. 8, 1843; came with his parents 
to Lake County, 111., in 1844, and spent his boy- 
hood on a farm, receiving his education in the 
district school, with four terms in a high school 
at Burlington, Wis. At 16 he taught a winter 
district school near his boyhood home, and at 18 
enlisted in what became Company C of the 
Ninety-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, being 
mustered into the service as Eighth Corporal at 
Rockford. His regiment becoming attached to 
the Army of the Cumberland, he participated 
with it in the battles of Chickamauga and the 
Atlanta campaign, as well as those of Franklin 
and Nashville, and has taken a just pride in the 
fact that he never fell out on the march, took 
medicine from a doctor or was absent from his 
regiment during its term of service, except for 
four months while recovering from a gun-shot 



414 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



wound received ai Chickamauga. He was pro- 
moted successively to Sergeant, Sergeant-Major, 
and commissioned Second Lieutenant of his old 
company, of which his father was First Lieuten- 
ant for six months and until forced to resign on 
account of impaired health. Receiving his final 
discharge, June 28, 186."), he returned to the farm, 
where he remained until 1869, in the meantime 
being married to Hiss Jennie E. Earle, in 186G, 
and teaching school one winter. In 1869 he was 
elected County Treasurer of Lake County on the 
Republican ticket, and re-elected in 1871 ; in 
January of the latter year, purchased an interest 
in "The Waukegan Gazette," with which he 
remained associated some fifteen years, at first as 
the partner of Rev. A. K. Fox, and later of his 
younger brother, H. E. Partridge. In 1877 he 
was appointed, by President Hayes, Postmaster 
at Waukegan, serving four years; in 1886 was 
elected to the Legislature, serving (by successive 
elections) as Representative in the Tlijrty-fifth, 
Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh General Assem- 
blies, being frequently called upon to occupy the 
Speaker's chair, and, especially during the long 
Senatorial contest of 1891, being recognized as a 
leader of the Republican minority. In 1888 he 
was called to the service of the Republican State 
Central Committee (of whicli he had previously 
been a member), as assistant to the veteran Secre- 
tary, the late Daniel Shepard, remaining until 
the death of his chief, when he succeeded to the 
secretaryship. During the Presidential campaign 
of 1893 he was associated with the late William 
J. Campbell, then the Illinois member of the 
Republican National Committee, and was en- 
trusted by him with many important and confi- 
dential missions. Without solicitation on his 
part, in 189-4 he was again called to assume the 
secretaryship of the Republican State Central 
Committee, and bore a conspicuous and influ- 
ential part in winning the brilliant success 
achieved by the party in the campaign of that 
year. From 1893 to 189.5 he served as Mayor of 
Waukegan; in 1896 became Assistant Adjutant- 
General of the Grand Army of the Republic for 
the Department of Illinois— a position whicli he 
held in 1889 under Commander James S. Martin, 
and to which he has been re-appointed by succes- 
sive Department Commanders up to the present 
time. Mr. Partridge's service in the various 
public positions held by him, has given him an 
acquaintance extending to every county in the 
State. 

PATOKA, a village of Marion County, on the 
Western branch of the Illinois Central Railway, 



15 miles south of Vandalia. There are flour and 
saw mills here ; the surrounding country is agri- 
cultural. Population (1890), 502; (1900). 640. 

PATTERSON, Robert Wilson, D.D., LL.D., 
clergyman, was born in Blount County, Tenn., 
Jan. 21, 1814; came to Bond County, 111., with 
his parents in 1822, his father dying two years 
later; at 18 had had only nine months' schooling, 
but graduated at Illinois College in 1837 ; spent a 
year at Lane Theological Seminary, another as 
tutor in Illinois College, and then, after two years 
more at Lane Seminary and preaching in Chicago 
and at Monroe, Mich., in 1842 established the 
Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, of which 
he remained the pastor over thirty years. In 
1850 he received a call to the chair of Didactic 
Theology at Lane Seminary, as successor to Dr. 
Lyman Beecher, but it was declined, as was a 
similar call ten years later. Resigning his pastor- 
shiji in 1873, he was, for several years. Professor of 
Christian Evidences and Ethics in the Theological 
Seminary of the Northwest ; in 1876-78 served as 
President of Lake Forest University (of which he 
was one of the founders), and, in 1880-83, as 
lecturer in Lane Theological Seminary. He 
received the degree of D.D. from Hamilton Col- 
lege, N. Y., in 1854, that of LL.D. from Lake 
Forest University, and was Moderator of the 
Presbyterian General Assembly (N. S.) at Wil- 
mington, Del., in 1859. Died, at Evanston, 111., 
Feb. 24, 1894. 

PAVEY, Charles W., soldier and ex-State 
Auditor, was born in Highland County, Ohio, 
Nov. 8, 1835 ; removed to IlUnois in 1859, settling 
in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, and, for a time, 
followed the occupation of a farmer and stock- 
raiser. In August, 1862, he enlisted in tlie Eighti- 
eth Illinois Volunteers for the Civil War, and 
became First Lieutenant of Company E. He was 
severely wounded at the battle of Sand ^Mountain 
and, having been captured, was confined in Libby 
Prison, at Salisbury, N. C, and at Danville, 
Va., for a period of nearly two years, enduring 
great hardship and suffering. Having been 
exchanged, he served to the close of the war as 
Assistant Inspector-General on the Staff of Gen- 
eral Rousseau, in Tennessee. He was a delegate 
to the Republican National Convention of 1880, 
which nominated General Garfield for the Presi- 
dency, and was one of the famous "306" wlio 
stood by General Grant in tliat struggle. In 1882 
he was appointed by President Arthur Collector 
of Internal Revenue for the Southern District, 
and, in 1888, was nominated and elected State 
Auditor on the Republican ticket, but was de- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



415 



feated for re-election in the "land-slide" of 1892. 
General Pavey has been prominent in "G. A. R." 
councils, and held the position of Junior Vice- 
Commander for the Department of Illinois in 

1878, and that of Senior Vice-Commander in 

1879. He also served as Brigadier-General of the 
National Guard, for Southern Illinois, during the 
railroad strike of 1877, In 1897 he received from 
President ilcKinley the appointment of Special 
Agent of the Treasury Department. His home 
is at Mount Vernon, Jefferson County. 

PAWNEE, a village of Sangamon County, at 
the eastern terminus of the Auburn & Pawnee 
Railroad, 19 miles south of Springfield. The town 
has a bank and a weekly paper. Population (1900), 
695; (1903, est.), 1,000. 

PAWNEE RAILROAD, a short line in Sanga- 
mon County, extending from Pawnee to Auburn 
(9 miles), where it forms a junction with the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad. The company was 
organized and procured a charter in December, 
1888, and the road completed the following year. 
The cost was ?101,774. Capital stock authorized, 
§100,000; funded debt (1895), §50,000. 

PAW PAW, a village of Lee County, at the 
junction of two branches of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railway, 8 miles northwest of 
Earlville. The town is in a farming region, but 
has a bank and one weekly paper. Population 
(1890), 035; (1900), 765. 

PAXTON, the county-seat of Ford County, is 
situated at the intersection of the Chicago Divi- 
sion of the Illinois Central and the Lake Erie & 
Western Railroads, 103 miles south by west from 
Chicago, and 49 miles east of Bloomington. It 
contains a court house, two schools, water-works, 
electric light and water-heating system, two 
banks, nine churches, and one daily newspaper. 
It is an important shipping-point for the farm 
products of the surrounding territory, which is a 
rich agricultural region. Besides brick and tile 
works and flour mills, factories for the manu- 
facture of carriages, buggies, hardware, cigars, 
brooms, and plows are located here. Pop. (1890), 
2,187; (1900), 3,03G. 

PAYSON, a village' in Adams County, 15 miles 
southeast of Quincy ; the nearest railroad station 
being Fall Creek, on the Quincy and Louisiana 
Division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railway; has one newspaper. Population (1900), 
465. 

PATSON, Lewis E., lawyer and ex-Congress- 
man, was born at Providence, R. I., Sept. 17, 
1840; came to Illinois at the age of 12, and, after 
passing through the common schools, attended 



Lombard University, at Galesburg, for two years. 
He was admitted to the bar at Ottawa in 1863, 
and, in 1865, took up his residence at Pontiac. 
From 1869 to 1873 he was Judge of the Livingston 
County Court, and, from 1881 to 1891, represented 
his District in Congress, being elected as a 
Republican, but, in 1890, was defeated by his 
Democratic opponent, Herman W. Snow. Since 
retiring from Congress he has practiced his pro- 
fession in Washington, D. C. 

PEABODT, Selim Hobart, educator, was born 
in Rockingham County, Vt., August 20, 1839; 
after reaching 13 years of age, spent a year in a 
Boston Latin School, then engaged in various 
occupations, including teaching, until 1848, when 
he entered the University of Vermont, graduat- 
ing third in his class in 1852; was appointed Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics and Engineering in the 
Polytechnic College at Philadelphia, in 1854, 
remaining three years, when he spent five years 
in Wisconsin, the last three as Superintendent of 
Schools at Racine. From 1865 to 1871 he was 
teacher of physical science in Chicago High 
School, also conducting night schools for work- 
ing men ; in 1871 became Professor of Physics and 
Engineering in Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 
lege, but returned to the Chicago High School in 
1874; in 1876 took charge of the Chicago Acad- 
emy of Sciences, and, in 1878, entered the Illinois 
Industrial University (now University of Illinois), 
at Champaign, first as Professor of Mechanical 
Engineering, in 1880 becoming President, but 
resigning in 1891. During the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition at Chicago, Professor Peabody 
was Chief of the Department of Liberal Arts, 
and, on the expiration of his service there, 
assumed the position of Curator of the newly 
organized Chicago Academy of Sciences, from 
which he retired some two years later. 

PEARL, a village of Pike County, on the Kan- 
sas City branch of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 
14 miles west of Roodhouse. Population (1890), 
928; (1900), 723. 

PEARSON, Isaac N., ex-Secretary of State, was 
born at Centreville, Pa., July 27, 1843; removed 
to Macomb, McDonough Cormty, 111., in 1858, and 
has ever since resided there. In 1872 he was 
elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, and re-elected 
in 1876. Later he engaged in real-estate and 
banking business. He was a member of the lower 
house in the Thirty-third, and of the Senate in 
the Thirty -fifth. General Assembly, but before the 
expiration of his term in the latter, was elected 
Secretary of State, on the Republican ticket, in 
1888. In 1893 he was a candidate for re-election. 



416 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



but was defeated, although, next to Governor 
Fifer, he received the largest vote cast for any 
candidate for a political office on the Republican 
State ticket. 

PEARSON, John M., ex-Railway and Ware- 
house Commissioner, born at Newburyport, 
Mass., in 1832— the son of a ship-carpenter; was 
educated in his native State and came to Illinois 
in 1849, locating at the city of Alton, where he 
was afterwards engaged in the manufacture of 
agricultural implements. In 1873 he was ap- 
pointed a member of the first Railway and Ware- 
house Commission, serving four years; in 1878 
was elected Representative in the Thirty-first 
General Assembly from Madison County, and 
was re-elected, successively, in 1880 and '83. He 
was appointed a member of the first Board of 
Live-stock Commissioners in 1885, serving until 
1893, for a considerable portion of the time as 
President of the Board. Sir. Pearson is a life- 
long Republican and prominent member of the 
Masonic fraternity. His present home is at 
Godfrey. 

PEARSONS, Daniel K., M.D., real-estate oper- 
ator and capitalist, was born at Bradfordton, Vt., 
April 14, 1830 ; began teaching at 16 years of age, 
and, at 31, entered Dartmouth College, taking a 
two years' course. He then stxxdied medicine, 
and, after practicing a short time in his native 
State, removed to Chicopee, Mass., where he 
remained from 1843 to 1857. The latter year he 
came to Ogle County, 111., and began operating 
in real estate, finally adding to this a loan busi- 
ness for Eastern parties, but discontinued this 
line in 1877. He owns extensive tracts of timber 
lands in Michigan, is a Director in the Chicago 
City Railway Company and American Exchange 
Bank, besides being interested in other financial 
institutions. He has been one of the most liberal 
supporters of the Chicago Historical Society, and 
a princely contributor to various benevolent and 
educational institutions, his gifts to colleges, in 
different parts of the country, aggregating over a 
million dollars. 

PECATOMCA, a town in Pecatonioa Township, 
Winnebago County, on the Pecatonica River. It 
is on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, mid- 
way beween Freeport and Rockford, being 14 
miles from each. It contains a carriage factory, 
machine shop, condensed milk factory, a bank, 
six churches, a graded school, and a weekly news- 
paper. Pop. (1890), 1,059; (1900), 1,045. 

PECATONICA RIVER, a stream formed by the 
confluence of two branches, both of which rise 
in Iowa County, Wis. They unite a little north 



of the Illinois State line, whence the river runs 
.southeast to Freeport, then east and northeast, 
until it enters Rock River at Rockton. From the 
lieadwaters of either branch to the mouth of tlie 
river is about 50 miles. 

PECK, Ebenezer, early lawyer, was born in 
Portland, Maine, May 33, 1805; received an aca- 
demical education, studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in Canada in 1827. He was twice 
elected to the Provincial Parliament and made 
King's Counsel in 1833 ; came to Illinois in 1835, 
settling in Chicago; served in the State Senate 
(1838-40), and in the House (1840-43 and 1858-GO); 
was also Clerk of the Supreme Court (1841-45), 
Reporter of Supreme Court decisions (1849-63), 
and member of the Constitutional Convention of 
1869-70. Mr. Peck was an intimate personal 
friend of Abraham Lincoln, by whom he was 
appointed a member of the Court of Claims, at 
Washington, serving until 1875. Died, May 25, 
1881. 

PECK, Ferdinand Wythe, lawyer and finan- 
cier, was born in Chicago, July 15, 1848 — the son 
of Philip F. W. Peck, a pioneer and early mer- 
chant of the metropolis of Illinois ; was educated 
in the public schools, the Chicago University 
and Union College of Law, graduating from 
both of the last named institutions, and being 
admitted to the bar in 1869. For a time he 
engaged in practice, but his father having died in 
1871, the responsibility of caring for a large 
estate devolved upon him and has since occupied 
his time, though he has given much attention to 
the amelioration of the condition of the poor of 
his native city, and works of practical benevo- 
lence and public interest. He is one of the 
founders of the Illinois Humane Society, has been 
President and a member of the Board of Control 
of the Chicago Athenaeum, member of the Board 
of Education, President of the Chicago Union 
League, and was an influential factor in securing 
the success of the World's Columbian Exposition 
at Chicago, in 1893, serving as First Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Chicago Board of Directors, Chair- 
man of the Finance Committee, and member of 
the Board of Reference and Control. Of late 
years, Mr. Peck has been connected with several 
important building enterprises of a semi-public 
character, whicli have added to the reputation of 
Chicago, including the Auditorium, Stock Ex- 
change Building and others in which he is a 
leading stockholder, and in the erection of which 
he has been a chief promoter. In 1898 he was 
appointed, by President McKinley, the United 
States Commissioner to the International Expo- 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



417 



sition at Paris of 1900, as successor to the late 
Maj. M. P. Handy, and the success which has 
followed his discharge of the duties of that 
positiop, has demonstrated the fitness of his 
selection. 

PECK, George R., railway attorney, born in 
Steuben County, N. Y., in 1843; was early taken 
to Wisconsin, where he assisted in clearing his 
father's farm; at 16 became a country school- 
teacher to aid in freeing the same farm from 
debt; enlisted at 19 in the First Wisconsin Heavy 
Artillery, later becoming a Captain in the Thirty- 
first Wisconsin Infantry, with which he joined in 
"Sherman's March to the Sea." Returning home 
at the close of the war, he began the study of 
law at Janesville, spending six years there as a 
student, Clerk of the Circuit Court and in prac- 
tice. From there he went to Kansas and, between 
1871 and '74, practiced his ijrofession at Independ- 
ence, when he was appointed by President Grant 
United States District Attorney for the Kansas 
District, but resigned this position, in 1879, to 
return to general practice. In 1881 he became 
General Solicitor of the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railroad, removing to Chicago in 
1893. In 1895 he resigned his position with the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to accept 
a similar position with the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul Railway Company, which (1898) he 
still holds. Mr. Peck is recognized as one of the 
most gifted orators in the West, and, in 1897, was 
chosen to deliver the principal address at the un- 
veiling of the Logan equestrian statue in Lake 
Front Park, Chicago ; has also officiated as orator 
on a number of other important public occasions, 
always acquitting himself with distinction. 

PECK, John Mason, D.D., clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born in Litchfield, Conn., Oct. 31, 1789; 
removed to Greene County, N. Y., in 1811, where 
he united with the Baptist Church, the same 
year entering on pastoral work, while prosecuting 
his studies and supporting himself by teaching. 
In 1814 he became pastor of a church at Amenia, 
N. Y., and, in 1817, was sent west as a mission- 
ary, arriving in St. Louis in the latter part of the 
same year. During the next nine years he trav- 
eled extensively through Missouri and Illinois, as 
an itinerant preacher and teacher, finall.v locating 
at Rock Spring, St. Clair County, where, in 1826, 
he established the Rock Spring Seminary for the 
education of teachers and ministers. Out of this 
grew Shurtleff College, founded at Upper Alton 
in 1835, in securing the endowment of which Dr. 
Peck traveled many thousands of miles and col- 
lected $20,000, and of which he served as Trustee 



for many years. Up to 1843 he devoted much 
time to aiding in the establishment of a theolog- 
ical institution at Covington, Ky., and, for two 
years following, was Corresponding Secretary and 
Financial Agent of the American Baptist Publi- 
cation Society, with headquarters in Philadelphia. 
Returning to the West, he served as pastor of sev- 
eral important churches in Missouri, Illinois and 
Kentucky. A man of indomitable will, unflag- 
ging industry and thoroughly upright in conduct, 
for a period of a quarter of a century, in the early 
history of the State, probably no man exerted a 
larger influence for good and the advancement 
of the cause of education, among the pioneer citi- 
zens of all classes, than Dr. Peck. Tliough giving 
his attention so constantly to preaching and 
teaching, he found time to write much, not only 
for the various publications with which he was, 
from time to time, connected, but also for other 
periodicals, besides publishing "A Guide for Emi- 
grants" (1831), of which a new edition appeared 
in 1836, and a "Gazetteer of Illinois" (Jackson- 
ville, 1834, and Boston, 1837), which continue to 
be valued for the information they contain of the 
condition of the country at that time. He was 
an industrious collector of historical records in 
the form of newspapers and pamphlets, which 
were unfortunately destroyed by fire a few years 
before his death. In 1853 he received the degree 
of D.D. from Harvard University. Died, at Rock 
Spring, St. Clair County, March 15, 1858. 

PECK, Philip F. W., pioneer merchant, was 
born in Providence, R. I., in 1809, the son of a 
wholesale merchant who had lost his fortune by 
indorsing for a friend. After some years spent 
in a mercantile house in New York, he came to 
Chicago on a prospecting tour, in 1830; the fol- 
lowing j'ear brought a stock of goods to the 
embryo emporium of the Northwest — then a small 
backwoods hamlet — and, bj' trade and fortunate 
investments in real estate, laid the foundation of 
what afterwards became a large fortune. He 
died, Oct. 23, 1871, as the result of an accident 
occurring about the time of the great fire of two 
weeks previous, from which he was a heavy 
sufferer pecuniarily. Three of his sous, Walter L. , 
Clarence I. and Ferdinand W. Peck, are among 
Chicago's most substantial citizens. 

PEKIN, a flourishing city, the county-seat of 
Tazewell County, and an important railway cen- 
ter, located on the Illinois River, 10 miles south 
of Peoria and 56 miles north of Springfield. 
Agriculture and coal-mining are the chief occu- 
pations in the surrounding country, but the city 
itself is an important grain market with large 



418 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



general shipping interests. It has several dis- 
tilleries, besides grain elevators, malt-liouses, 
brick and tile works, lumber yards, planing mills, 
marble works, plow and wagon works, and a 
factory for corn products. Its banking facilities 
are adequate, and its religious and educational 
advantages are excellent. The city has a public 
library, park, steam-heating plant, three daily 
and four weekly papers. Pop. (1890), 6,347; (190U), 
8,420. 

PEKIN, LINCOLX & DECATUR RAILROAD. 
(See Peoria. Decatur d- EvansriUe Railicai/.) 

PELL, Gilbert T., Representative in the Third 
Illinois General Assembly (1822) from Edwards 
County, and an opponent of the resolution for a 
State Convention adopted by the Legislature at 
that session, designed to open the door for the 
admission of slavery. Mr. Pell was a son-in-law 
of Morris Birkbeck, who was one of the leaders 
in opposition to the Convention scheme, and very 
naturally sympathized with his father-in-law. 
He was elected to the Legislature, for a second 
term, in 1828, but subsequently left the State, 
dj'ing elsewhere, when his widow removed to 
Australia. 

PENXSYLVAMA RAILROAD. As to oper- 
ations of this corporation in Illinois, see Calumet 
River; Pittsburg. Fort Wayne & Cliicago; South 
Chicago & Southern, and Pittsburg, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railways. The whole num- 
ber of miles owned, leased and operated by the 
Pennsylvania .Sj-stem, in 1898, was 1,987.21, of 
which only 61.34 miles were in Illinois. It owns, 
however, a controlling interest in the stock of 
the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway (which 
see). 

PEORIA, the second large.st city of tlie State 
and the county-seat of Peoria County, is 160 miles 
southwest of Chicago, and at the foot of an expan- 
sion of the Illinois River known as Peoria Lake. 
The site of the town occupies an elevated plateau, 
having a water frontage of four miles and extend- 
ing back to a bluff, which rises 230 feet above the 
river level and about 120 feet above the highest 
point of the main site. It was settled in 1778 or 
'79, although, as generally believed, the French 
missionaries had a station there in 1711. There 
was certainly a settlement there as early as 172.), 
when Renault received a grant of lands at Pimi- 
teoui, facing the lake then bearing the same 
name as the village. From that date until 1813, 
the place was continuously occupied as a French 
village, and is said to have been the most impor- 
tant point for trading in the Mississippi Valley. 
The original village was situated about a mile and 



a lialf above the foot of the lake ; but later, the pres- 
ent site was occupied, at first receiving the name 
of "La Ville de Maillet, '' from a French Canadian 
who resided in Peoria, from 1765 to 1801 (the time 
of his death), and who commanded a company of 
volunteers in the Revolutionary War. The popu- 
lation of the old town removed to the new site, 
and the present name was given to the place by 
American settlers, from the Peoria Indians, who 
were the occupants of the country when it was 
first discovered, but who had followed their cog- 
nate tribes of the Illinois family to Cahokia and 
Ivaskaskia, about a century before American 
occupation of this region. In 1812 the town is 
estimated to have contained about seventy dwell- 
ings, with a population of between 200 and 
300, made up largely of French traders, 
hunters and voyageurs, with a considerable 
admixture of half-breeds and Indians, and a few- 
Americans. Among the latter were Thomas 
Forsyth, Indian Agent and confidential adviser 
of Governor Edwards ; Michael La Croix, son-in- 
law of Julian Dubuque, founder of the city of 
Dubuque ; Antoine Le Claire, founder of Daven- 
port, and for whom Le Claire, Iowa, is named; 
William Arundel, afterwards Recorder of St. 
Clair County, and Isaac Darnielle, the second law- 
yer in Illinois. — In November, 1812, about half 
the town was burned, by order of Capt. Thomas 
E. Craig, who had been directed, by Governor 
Edwards, to proceed up the river in boats with 
materials to build a fort at Peoria. At the same 
time, the Governor himself was at the head of a 
force marching against Black Partridge's vil- 
lage, which he destroyed. Edwards had no com- 
munication with Craig, who appears to have 
acted solely on his own responsibility. That the 
latter's action was utterlj- unjustifiable, there can 
now be little doubt. He alleged, by way of 
excuse, that his boats had been fired upon from 
the shore, at night, by Indians or others, who 
were harbored by the citizens. The testimony 
of the French, however, is to the effect that it 
was an unprovoked and cowardly assault, insti- 
gated by wine which the soldiers had stolen from 
the cellars of the inhabitants. The bulk of tliose 
who remained after the fire were taken by Craig 
to a point below Alton and put ashore. This 
occurred in the beginning of winter, and the 
people, being left in a destitute condition, were 
subjected to great suffering. A Congressional 
investigation followed, and the French, having 
satisfactorily established the fact that they were 
not hostile, were restored to their possessions. — In 
1813 a fort, designed for permanent occupancy. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



419 



was erected and named Fort Clark, in honor of 
Col. George Rogers Clark. It bad one (if not 
two) block-houses, with magazines and quarters 
for officers and men. It was finally evacuated in 
1818, and was soon afterwards burned by the 
Indians. Although a trading-post had been 
maintained here, at intervals, after the affair of 
1813, there was no attempt made to rebuild the 
town until 1819, when Americans began to 
arrive. — In 182-1 a post of the American Fur Com- 
pany was established here by John Hamlin, the 
company having already had, for five years, a 
station at Wesley City, three miles farther down 
the river. Hamlin also traded in pork and other 
products, and was the first to introduce keel- 
boats on the Illinois River. By transferring his 
cargo to lighter draft boats, when necessarj-, he 
made the trip from Peoria to Chicago entirely by 
water, going from the Des Plaines to Mud Lake, 
and thence to the South Branch of the Chicago 
River, without unloading. In 1834 the town had 
but seven frame houses and twenty-one log 
cabins. It was incorporated as a town in 1835 
(Rudolphus Rouse being the first President), and, 
as the City of Peoria, ten years later (Wm. Hale 
being the first Mayor). — Peoria is an important 
railway and business center, eleven railroad lines 
concentrating here. It presents many attractive 
features, such as handsome residences, fine views 
of river, bluff and valley scenery, with an elab- 
orate system of parks and drives. An excellent 
school system is liberally supported, and its public 
buildings (national, county and city) are fine and 
costly. Its churches are elegant and well 
attended, the leading denominations being 
Methodist Episcopal, Congregational, Presby- 
terian, Baptist, Protestant and Reformed Episco- 
pal, Lutheran, Evangelical and Roman Catholic. 
It is the seat of Bradley Polytechnic Institute, a 
young and flourishing scientific school affiliated 
with the University of Chicago, and richly en- 
dowed through the munificence of Mrs. Lydia 
Bradley, who devotes her whole estate, of at 
least a million dollars, to this object. Right Rev. 
John L. Spaulding, Bishop of the Roman Catho- 
lic diocese of Peoria, is erecting a handsome and 
costly building for the Spaulding In.stitute, a 
school for the higher education of young men. — 
At Bartonville, a suburb of Peoria, on an eleva- 
tion commanding a magnificent view of the Illi- 
nois River valley for many miles, the State has 
located an asylum for the incurable insane. It is 
now in process of erection, and is intended to be 
one of the most complete of its kind in the world. 
Peoria lies in a corn and coal region, is noted for 



the number and extent of its distilleries, and, in 
1890, ranked eighth among the grain markets of 
the country. It also has an extensive commerce 
with Chicago, St. Louis and other important 
cities ; was credited, by the census of 1890, with 
554 manufacturing establishments, representing 
90 different branches of industry, with a capital 
of §15.072,567 and an estimated annual product of 
So5,.504,523. Its leading industries are the manu- 
facture of distilled and malt liquors, agricultural 
implements, glucose and machine-shop products. 
Its contributions to the internal revenue of the 
country are second only to those of the New York 
district. Population (1870), 22,849; (1880), 29,259; 
(1890), 41, 024; (1900), 56,100. 

PEORIA COUNTY, originally a part of Fulton 
County, but cut off in 1825. It took its name 
from the Peoria Indians, who occupied that region 
when it was first discovered. As first organized, 
it included the present counties of Jo Daviess and 
Cook, with many others in the northern part of 
the State. At that time there were less than 
1,500 inhabitants in the entire region; and John 
Hamlin, a Justice of the Peace, on his return 
from Green Bay (whither he had accompanied 
William S. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamil- 
ton, with a drove of cattle for the fort there), 
solemnized, at Chicago, the marriage of Alex- 
ander Wolcott, then Indian Agent, with a 
daughter of John Kinzie. The original Peoria 
County has been subdivided into thirty counties, 
among them being some of the largest and rich- 
est in the State. The first county officer was 
Norman Hyde, who was elected Judge of the 
Probate Court by the Legislature in January, 
1835. His commission from Governor Coles was 
dated on the eighteenth of that month, but he 
did not qualify until June 4, following, when he 
took the oath of office before John Dixon, Circuit 
Clerk, who founded the city that bears his name. 
Meanwhile, Sir. Hyde had been appointed the 
first Clerk of the County Commissioners" Court, 
and served in that capacity until entering upon 
his duties as Probate Judge. The first election 
of county officers was held, March 7, 1825, at the 
house of William Eads. Nathan Dillon, Joseph 
Smith, and William Holland were chosen Com- 
missioners; Samuel Fulton Sheriff, and William 
Phillips Coroner. The first County Treasurer 
was Aaron Hawley, and the first general election 
of officers took place in 1836. The first court 
house was a log cabin, and the first term of 
the Circuit Court began Nov. 14, 1825, John 
York Sawyer sitting on the bench, with John 
Dixon, Clerk; Samuel Fulton, Sheriff; and John 



420 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Twiney, the Attorney-General, present. Peoria 
County is, at present, one of the wealtliiest and 
most populous counties in tlie State. Its soil is 
fertile and its manufactures numerous, especially 
at Peoria, the county-seat and principal city 
(which see) . The area of the county is 615 square 
miles, and its population (1880), 55,353; (1890), 
70,378; (1900), 88.008. 

PEORIA LAKE, an expansion of the Illinois 
River, forming the eastern boundary of Peoria 
Count}', wliich it separates from tlie counties of 
Woodford and Tazewell. It is about 20 miles 
long and 2j4 miles broad at the widest part. 

PEORIA, ATLANTA & DECATUR RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Tcrre Haute & Peoria Railroad.) 

PEORIA, DECATUR & EVAKSVILLE RAIL- 
WAY. The total length of this line, extending 
from Peoria, 111., to Evansville, Ind., is 330.87 
miles, all owned by the company, of which 273 
miles are in Illinois. It extends from Pekin, 
southeast to Grayville, on the Wabash River — is 
single track, unballasted, and of standard gauge. 
Between Pekin and Peoria the company uses the 
tracks of the Peoria & Pekin Union Railway, of 
which it is one-fourth owner. Between Hervey 
City and Midland Junction it has trackage privi 
leges over the line owned jointly by the Peoria, 
Decatur & Evansville and the Terre Haute & 
Peoria Companies (7.5 miles). Between Midland 
Junction and Decatur (2.4 miles) the tracks of 
the Illinois Central are used, the two lines having 
terminal facilities at Decatur in common. The 
rails are of fifty-two and sixty-pound steel. — 
(History.) The main line of the Peoria, Decatur 
& Evansville Railway is the result of the consoli- 
dation of several lines built under separate char- 
ters. (1) The Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur Railroad, 
chartered in 1867, built in 1869-71, and operated 
tlie latter year, was leased to the Toledo, Wabash 
& Western Railway, but sold to representatives 
of the bond-holders, on account of default on 
interest, in 1870, and reorganized as the Pekin, 
Lincoln & Decatur Railway. (3) The Decatur, 
Sullivan & Mattoon Railroad, (projected from 
Decatur to Mattoon), was incorporated in 1871, 
completed from Mattoon to Hervey City, in 1873, 
and, the same year, consolidated with the Chi- 
cago & Great Southern; in January, 1874, the 
Decatur line passed into the hands of a receiver, 
and, in 1877, having been sold under foreclosure, 
was reorganized as the Decatur, Mattoon & South- 
ern Railroad. In 1879 it was placed in the hands 
of trustees, but the Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur 
Railway having acquired a controlling interest 
during the same year, the two lines were con- 



solidated under the name of the Peoria, Decatur 
& Evansville Railway Company. (3) The Gray- 
ville & Mattoon Railroad, chartered in 1857, was 
consolidated in 1873 with the Mount Vernon & 
Graj'ville Railroad (projected), the new corpo- 
ration taking the name of the Chicago & Illinois 
Southern (already mentioned). In 1872 the latter 
corporation was consolidated with the Decatur, 
Sullivan & Mattoon Railroa<l, under the name of 
the Chicago & Illinois Southern Railway. Both 
consolidations, however, were set aside by decree 
of the United States District Court, in 1876, and 
the partially graded road and franchises of the 
Grayville & Mattoon lines sold, under foreclosure, 
to the contractors for the construction ; 20 miles 
of the line from Olney to Newton, were completed 
during the month of September of that year, and 
the entire line, from Grayville to Mattoon, in 
1878. In 1880 this line was sold, under decree of 
foreclosure, to the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville 
Railway Company, which had already acquired 
the Decatur & Mattoon Division —thus placing 
the entire line, from Peoria to Grayville, in the 
hands of one corporation. A line under the name 
of the Evansville & Peoria Railroad, chartered in 
Indiana in 1880, was consolidated, the same year, 
with the Illinois corporation under the name of 
the latter, and completed from Grayville to 
Evansville in 1883, (4) The Chicago & Ohio 
River Railroad — chartered, in 1869, as the Dan- 
ville, Olney & Ohio River Railroad — was con- 
structed, as a narrow-gauge line, from Kansas to 
West Liberty, in 1878-81 ; in the latter year was 
changed to standard gauge and completed, in 
1883, from Sidell to Olney (86 miles). The same 
year it went into the hands of a receiver, was sold 
under foreclosure, in February, 1886, and reorgan- 
ized, in May following, as the Chicago & Ohio 
River Railroad ; was consolidated with the Peoria, 
Decatur & Evansville Railway, in 1893, and used 
as the Chicago Division of that line. The property 
and franchises of the entire line passed into the 
hands of receivers in 1894, and are still (1898) 
under their management. 

PEORIA, PEKIN & JACKSONVILLE RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Rail- 
road of Illinois.) 

PEORIA & BUREAU VALLEY RAILROAD, a 
short line, 46.7 miles in length, operated by the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Com- 
pany, extending from Peoria to Bureau Junction, 
111. It was incorporated, Feb. 13, 1853, com- 
pleted the following year, and leased to the Rock 
Island in perpetuity. April 14, 1854, the annual 
rental being $135,000. The par value of the 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



421 



capital stock is $1,500,000. Annual dividends of 
8 per cent are guaranteed, payable semi-annu- 
ally. (See Chicago, Mock Island & Pacific 
Railway. ) 

PEORIA & EASTERN RAILROAD. Of this 
line the Cleveland. Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railroad Company is the lessee. Its total 
length is 350>4 miles, 133 of which lie in Illinois 
— 123 being owned by the Company. That por- 
tion within this State extends east from Pekin to 
the Indiana State line, in addition to which tlie 
Company has trackage facilities over the line of 
the Peoria & Pekin Union Railway (9 miles) to 
Peoria. The gauge is standard. The track is 
single, laid witli sixty and sixty-sevenpound 
steel rails and ballasted almost wholly with 
gravel. The capital stock is 510,000,000. In 189.5 
it had a bonded debt of §13,603,000 and a floating 
debt of §1,261,130, making a total capitalization 
of §24,864,130.— (History.) The original of this 
corporation was the Danville, Urbana, Blooming- 
ton & Pekin Railroad, which was consolidated, 
in July, 1809, witli the Indianapolis, Crawfords- 
ville & Danville Railroad — the new corporation 
taking the name of the Indianapolis, Blooming- 
ton & Western — and was opened to Pekin the 
same year. In 1874 it passed into the hands of a 
receiver, was sold under foreclosure in 1879, and 
reorganized as the Indiana, Bloomington & 
Western Railway Company. Tlie next change 
occurred in 1881, when it was consolidated with 
an Ohio corporation (the Oliio, Indiana & Pacific 
Railroad), again undergoing a slight change of 
name in its reorganization as the Indiana, Bloom- 
ington & Western Railroad Company. In 1886 
it again got into financial straits, was placed in 
charge of a receiver and sold to a reorganization 
committee, and, in January, 1887, took the name 
of the Ohio, Indiana & Western Railway Com- 
pany. The final reorganization, under its present 
name, took place in February, 1890, when it was 
leased to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & 
St. Louis Railway, by which it is operated. 
(See Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railway. ) 

PEORIA & HANNIBAL RAILROAD. (,See 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.) 

PEORIA & OQUAWKA RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.) 

PEORIA & PEKIN UNION RAILWAY. A line 
connecting the cities of Peoria and Pekin, vvliich 
are onl}' 8 miles apart. It was chartered in 1880, 
and acquired, by purchase, the tracks of the Peoria, 
Pekin & Jacksonville and the Peoria & Spring- 
field Railroads, between the two cities named in 



its title, giving it control of two lines, which are 
used by nearly all the railroads entering both 
cities from the east side of the Illinois River. Tlie 
mileage, including both divisions, is 18. 14 miles, 
second tracks and sidings increasing the total to 
nearly 60 miles. The track is of standard gauge, 
about two-thirds being laid with steel rails. The 
total cost of construction was §4,350,987. Its 
total capitalization (1898) was §4,177,763, includ- 
ing §1,000,000 in stock, and a funded debt of 
§2,904,000. The capital stock is held in equal 
amounts (each 2,500 sliares) by the Wabash, the 
Peoria, Decatur & Evansville, the Chicago, 
Peoria & St. Louis and the Peoria & Eastern com- 
panies, with 1,000 sliares by the Lake Erie & 
Western. Terminal charges and annual rentals 
are also paid by the Terre Haute & Peoria and 
the Iowa Central Railwaj's. 

PEORIA & SPRINGFIELD RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad of Illinois.) 

PEOTONE, a village of Will County, on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, 41 miles south -southwest 
from Chicago; has some manufactures, a bank 
and a newspaper. The surrounding country is 
agricultural. Population (1890), 717; (1900), 1,003. 

PERCY, a village of Randolph County, at the 
intersection of the Wabash, Chesapeake & West- 
ern and the Mobile & Ohio Railways. Population 
(1890), 360; (1900), 660. 

PERROT, Nicholas, a French explorer, wno 
visited the valley of the Fox River (of Wisconsin) 
and the country around the great lakes, at various 
times between 1670 and 1690. He was present, 
as a guide and interpreter, at the celebrated con- 
ference held at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1671, which 
was attended by fifteen Frenchmen and repre- 
sentatives from seventeen Indian tribes, and at 
wliich tlie Sieur de Lusson took formal possession 
of Lakes Huron and Superior, with the surround- 
ing I'egion and "all the country southward to the 
sea," in the name of Louis XIV. of France. 
Perrot was the first to discover lead in the West, 
and, for several j-ears, was Commandant in the 
Green Bay district. As a chronicler he was 
intelligent, interesting and accurate. His writ- 
ings were not published until 1864, but have 
always been highly prized as authority. 

PERRY, a town of Pike County , has a bank 
and a newspaper. Population (1880), 770; (1890), 
705; (1900), 043. 

PERRY COUNTY, lies in the southwest quarter 
of the State, with an area of 440 square miles and 
a population (1900) of 19,830. It was organized 
as a county in 1827, and named for Com. Oliver 
H. Perry. The general surface is rolling. 



422 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



although flat prairies occupy a considerable por- 
tion, interspersed with "post-oak flats. '" Limestone 
is found in the southern, and sandstone in the 
northern, sections, but the chief minei-al wealth 
of the county is coal, which is abundant, and, at 
several points, easilj- mined, some of it being of 
a superior quality. Salt is manufactured, to some 
extent, and the chief agricultural output is 
wheat. Pinckneyville, the county-seat, has a 
central position and a population of about 1,300. 
Duquoir is the largest city. Beaucoup Creek is 
the principal stream, and the county is crossed 
by several lines of railroad. 

PERU, a city in La Salle County, at the head 
of navigation on the Illinois River, which is here 
spanned by a handsome bridge. It is distant 100 
miles southwest from Chicago, and the same dis- 
tance north-northeast from Springfield. It is 
connected by street cars with La Salle, one mile 
distant, which is tlie terminus of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal. It is situated in a rich coal- 
mining region, is an important trade center, and 
has several manufacturing establishments, includ- 
ing zinc 'smelting works, rolling mills, uickeloid 
factory, metal novelty works, gas engine factory, 
tile works, plow, scale and patent-pump factories, 
foundries and machine sliops, flour and saw mills, 
clock factory, etc. Two national banks, with a 
combined capital of 6!iOO,000, are located at Peru, 
and one daily and one weekly jiaper. Population 
(1870), 3,650; (1880), 4,682; (1890), 5,550; (1900), 
6,863. 

PESOTTJM, a village in Champaign County, on 
the Illinois Central Railroad, 5 miles south of 
Tolono. Population (1890), 575. 

PETERSBURG, a city of Menard County, and 
the county-seat, on the Sangamon River, at the 
intersection Chicago & Alton with tlie Chicago, 
Peoria & St. Louis Railway ; 23 miles northwest 
of Springfield and 28 miles northeast of Jackson- 
ville. The town was surveyed and platted by 
Abraham Lincoln in 1837, and is the seat of tlie 
"Old Salem" Chautauqua. It has machine shops, 
two banlvs, two weekly papers and nine churclies. 
The manufactures include woolen goods, brick 
and drain-tile, bed-springs, mattresses, and 
canned good.s. Pop. (1890), 2,343, (1900), 3,807. 

PETERS, Onslow, lawyer and jurist, was born 
in Massachusetts, graduated at Brown Univer- 
sity, and was admitted to the bar and practiced 
law in his native State until 1837, when he set- 
tled at Peoria, 111. He served in the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1847, was elected to the 
bench of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit in 1853, 
and re-elected in 1855. Died, Feb. 28, 1856. 



PHILLIPS, David L , journalist and politician, 
was born where the town of Marion, Williamson 
County, 111., now stands, Oct. 28, 1823; came to 
St. Clair County in childhood, his father settling 
near Belleville; began teaching at an early age, 
and, when about 18, joined the Baptist Church, 
and, after a brief course with the distinguished 
Dr. Peck, at his Rock Spring Seminary, two years 
later entered the ministry, serving churches in 
Washington and other Southern Illinois counties, 
finally taking charge of a church at Jonesboro. 
Though originally a Democrat, his advanced 
views on slavery led to a disagreement with his 
church, and he withdrew; then accepted a posi- 
tion as paymaster in the construction department 
of the Illinois Central Railroad, finally being 
transferred to that of Land Agent for tlie South- 
ern section, in this capacity visiting different 
parts of the State from one end of the main line 
to the other. About 1854 he became associated 
with the management of "The Jonesboro Ga- 
zette." a Democratic paper, whicli, during his con- 
nection with it (some two j-ears), he made an 
earnest opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 
At the Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention 
(which see), held at Decatur, Feb. 22, 1856, he 
was appointed a member of their State Central 
Committee, and, as such, joined in the call for tlie 
first Republican State Convention, held at Bloom- 
ington in May following, where he served as 
Vice-President for his District, and was nomi- 
nated for Presidential Elector on the Fremont 
ticket. Two years later (18.58) be was the 
unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress 
in the Southern District, being defeated by John 
A. Logan ; was again in the State Convention of 
1860, and a delegate to the National Convention 
which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President 
the first time ; was apjiointed by Jlr. Lincoln 
United States Marshal for the Southern District 
in 18C1, and re-appointed in 180."i, but resigned 
after Andrew Johnson's defection in 1860. Dur- 
ing 1802 Mr. Phillips became jiart proprietor of 
"The State Journal" at Springfield, retaining 
this relation until 1878, at intervals performing 
editorial service; also took a prominent part in 
organizing and equipping the One Hundred and 
Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteers (sometimes 
called the "Phillips Regiment"), and, in 1865, 
was one of the committee of citizens sent to 
escort tho remains of President Lincoln to 
Springfield. He joined in the Liberal Republican 
movement at Cincinnati in 1872, but, in 1876, 
was in line with his former jjarty associates, and 
served in that year as an unsuccessful candidate 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



423 



for CongresiS, in the Springfield District, in opi)0- 
sition to William M. Springer, earlj- the following 
year receiving the appointment of Postmaster 
for the city of Springfield from President Hayes. 
Died, at Springfield, June 19, 1880. 

PHILLIPS, George S., author, was born at 
Peterborough, England, in January, 1816; gradu- 
ated at Cambridge, and came to the United 
States, engaging in journalism. In 184.5 he 
returned to England, and, for a time, was editor 
of "The Leeds Times," still later being Principal 
of the People's College at Huddersfield. Return- 
ing to the United States, he came to Cook County, 
and, about 1866-68, was a writer of sketches over 
the nom de plume of "January Searle" for "The 
Chicago Republican" — later was literary editor 
of "The New York Sun" for several years. His 
mind becoming impaired, he was placed in an 
asylum at Trenton, N. J., finally dying at Morris- 
town, N. J., Jan. 14, 1889. Mr. Phillips was the 
author of several volumes, chiefly sketches of 
travel and biography. 

PHILLIPS, Jesse J., lawyer, soldier and 
jurist, was born in Montgomery County, 111., 
May 33, 1837. Shortly after graduating from the 
Hillsboro Academy, he read law, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1860. In 1861 he organized 
a comi^any of volunteers, of which he was 
chosen Captain, and which was attached to the 
Ninth Illinois Infantry. Captain Phillips was 
successively advanced to the rank of Major, 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel; resigned on 
account of disability, in August, 1864, but was 
brevetted Brigadier-General at the close of the 
war. His military record was exceptionally 
brilliant. He was wounded three times at 
Shiloh, and was personally thanked and compli- 
mented by Generals Grant and Oglesby for gal- 
lantry and efficient service. At the termination 
of the struggle he returned to Hillsboro and 
engaged in practice. In 1866, and again in 1868, 
he was the Democratic candidate for State Treas- 
urer, but was both times defeated. In 1879 he 
was elected to the bench of the Fifth Judicial 
Circuit, and re-elected in 1885. In 1890 he was 
assigned to the bench of the Appellate Court of 
the Fourth District, and, in 1893, was elected a 
Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy 
created by the death of Justice John M. Scholfield, 
his term expiring in 1897, when he was re-elected 
to succeed himself. Judge Phillips' present term 
will expire in 1906. 

PHILLIPS, Joseph, early jurist, was born in 
Tennessee, received a classical and legal edu- 
cation, and served as a Captain in the War of 



1813; in 1816 was appointed Secretary of Illinois 
Territory, serving until the admission of Illinois 
as a State, when he became the first Chief Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court, serving until July, 
1822, when he resigned, being succeeded on the 
bench by John Reynolds, afterwards Governor. 
In 1833 he was a candidate for Governor in the 
interest of the advocates of a pro-slavery amend- 
ment of the State Constitution, but was defeated 
by Edward Coles, the leader of the anti-slavery 
party. (See Coles, Edward, and Slavery aud Slave 
Laws.) He appears from the "Edwards Papers" 
to have been in Illinois as late as 1833, but is 
said eventually to have returned to Tennessee. 
The date of his death is unknown. 

PIANKKSHAWS, THE, a branch of the Miami 
tribe of Indians. Their name, like those of their 
brethren, underwent many mutations of orthog- 
raphy, the tribe being referred to, variously, as 
the "Pou-an-ke-kiahs," the "Pi-an-gie-shaws," 
the "Pi-an-qui-shaws," and the "Py-an-ke- 
shaws. " They were less numerous than the 
Weas, their numerical strength ranking lowest 
among the bands of the Miamis. At the time La 
Salle planted his colony around Starved Rock, 
their warriors numbered 150. Subsequent to the 
dispersion of this colonj- they (alone of the Miamis) 
occupied portions of the present territory of Illi- 
nois, having villages on the Vermilion and 
Wabash Rivers. Their earliest inclinations 
toward the whites were friendly, the French 
traders having intermarried with women of the 
tribe soon after the advent of the first explor- 
ers. Col. George Rogers Clark experienced little 
difficulty in securing their allegiance to the new 
government which he proclaimed. In the san- 
guinary raids (usually followed by reprisals), 
which marked Western history during the years 
immediately succeeding the Revolution, the 
Piankeshaws took no part ; yet the outrages, per- 
petrated upon peaceable colonists, had so stirred 
the settlers' blood, that all Indians were included 
in the general thirst for vengeance, and each was 
unceremoniously dispatched as soon as seen. The 
Piankeshaws appealed to Washington for protec- 
tion, and the President issued a special procla- 
mation in their behalf. After the cession of the 
last remnant of the Miami territory to the United 
States, the tribe was removed to a Kansas reser- 
vation, and its last remnant finally found a home 
in Indian Territory. (See also 3/Ja??((S,' Weas.) 

"PI AS A BIRD," LEGEND OF THE. When 
the French explorers first descended the Upper 
Mississippi River, they found some remarkable 
figures depicted upon the face of the bluff, just 



424 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



above the site of the present city of Alton, which 
excited their wonder and continued to attract 
interest long after the country was occupied by 
the whites. Tlie account given of the discov- 
ery by Marquette, who descended the river from 
the inoutli of the AVisconsin, in June, 16T3, is as 
follows: "As we coasted along" (after passing 
tlie mouth of the Illinois) "rocks frightful for 
their height and lengtli, we saw two monsters 
painted on one of the rocks, which startled us at 
first, and upon which the boldest Indian dare not 
gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns 
on the head like a deer, a frightful look, red 
eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat 
like a man"s, the body covered with scales, and 
the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of 
the body, passing over the head and down be- 
tween the legs, ending at last in a fish's tail. 
Green, red and black are the colors emploj-ed. 
On the whole, these two monsters are so well 
painted that we could not believe any Indian to 
have been the designer, as good painters in 
France would find it hard to do as well. Besides 
this, they are painted so high upon the rock that 
it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint 
them." As the Indians could give no account of 
the origin of these figures, but had their terror 
even more excited at the sight of them than Mar- 
quette himself, they are supposed to have been 
the work of some prehistoric race occupying the 
country long before the arrival of the aborigines 
whom Marquette and his companions found in 
Illinois. There was a tradition that the figures 
were intended to represent a creature, part beast 
and part bird, which destroyed immense numbers 
of the inhabitants by swooping down upon them 
from its abode upon the rocks. At last a chief is 
said to have offered himself a victim for his 
people, and when the monster made its ajipear- 
ance, twenty of his warriors, concealed near by, 
discharged their arrows at it, killing it just 
before it reached its prey. In this manner the 
life of the chief was saved and his people were 
preserved from further depredations; and it was 
to commemorate this event that the figure of the 
bird was painted on the face of the cliff on whose 
summit the chief stood. This story, told in a 
paper by Mr. John Russell, a pioneer author of 
Illinois, obtained wide circulation in this country 
and in Europe, about the close of the first 
quarter of the present century, as the genuine 
"Legend of the Piasa Bird. " It is said, however, 
that Mr. Russell, who was a popular writer of 
fiction, acknowledged that it was drawn largely 
from his imagination. Many prehistoric relics 



and human remains are said, by the late William 
McAdams, the antiquarian of Alton, to have 
been found in caves in the vicinity, and it seems 
a well authenticated fact that the Indians, when 
passing the .spot, were accustomed to discharge 
tlieir arrows — and, later, their firearms — at the 
figure on the face of the cliff. Traces of tliis 
celebrated pictograph were visible as late as 1840 
to 1845, but have since been entirely quarried 
away. 

PIATT COUNTY, organized in 1841, consist- 
ing of parts of Macon and Dewitt Counties. Its 
area is 440 square miles; population (1900), 17,706. 
The first Commissioners were John Hughes, W. 
Bailey and E. Peck. John Piatt, after whose 
family the county was named, was the first 
Sheriff. The Xorth Fork of the. Sangamon River 
fiows centrally through the county from north- 
east to southwest, and several lines of railroad 
afford transportation for its products. Its re- 
sources and the occupation of the people are 
almost wholly agricultural, the surface being 
level prairie and the soil fertile. Monticello, the 
county-seat, has a population of about 1,700. 
Other leading towns are Cerro Gordo (939) and 
Bement (1,129). 

PICKETT, Thomas Johnson, journalist, was 
born in Louisville, Ky., March 17, 1821; spent 
six years (1830-36) in St. Louis, when his family 
removed to Peoria ; learned the printer's trade in 
the latter city, and, in 1840, began the publica- 
tion of "The Peoria News," then sold out and 
established "The Republican" (afterwards "The 
Transcript") ; was a member of the Anti-Nebraska 
Editorial Convention held at Decatur, Feb. 22, 
1856, serving on the Committee on Resolutions, 
and being appointed on the State Central Com- 
mittee, which called the first Republican State 
Convention, held at Bloomington, in May follow- 
ing, and was there appointed a delegate to the 
National Convention at Philadelphia, which 
nominated General Fremont for President. 
Later, he published papers at Pekin and Rock 
Island, at the latter place being one of the first to 
name Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency ; was 
elected State Senator in 1860, and, in 1863, com- 
missioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-ninth 
Illinois Volunteers, being transferred, as Colonel, 
to the One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois 
(lOO-da^-s' men), and serving at Camp Douglas 
during the "Conspiracy" excitement. After the 
war. Colonel Pickett removed to Paducah, Ky., 
published a paper there called "The Federal 
Union." was appointed Postmaster, and, later, 
Clerk of the United States District Court, and 



I! 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



425 



was the Republican nominee for Congress, in that 
District, in 1874. Removing to Nebraska in 1879, 
lie at different times conducted several papers in 
that State, residing for the most part at Lincoln. 
Died, at Ashland, Neb., Dec. 24, 1891. 

PIERSON, David, pioneer banker, was born at 
Cazenovia, N. Y.. .July 9, 180(1: at the age of 13 
removed west with his parents, arriving at St. 
Louis, June 3, 1820. The family soon after set- 
tled nearCollinsville. Madison County, 111., where 
tlie father having died, they removed to the vi- 
cinity of Carrollton, Greene County, in 1821. Here 
they opened a farm, but. in 1827, Mr. Pierson 
went to the lead mines at Galena, where he re- 
mained a year, then returning to Carrollton. In 
1834, having sold his farm, he began merchandis- 
ing, still later being engaged in the pork and 
grain trade at Alton. In 1854 he added the bank- 
ing business to his dry-goods trade at Carrollton, 
also engaged in milling, and, in 1862-63, erected 
a woolen factor}', which was destroyed by an 
incendiary fire in 1872. Originally an anti-slavery 
Clay Whig, Mr. Pierson became a Republican on 
the organization of that party in 1856, served for 
a time as Collector of Internal Revenue, was a 
delegate to the National Republican Convention 
at Philadelphia in 1872, and a prominent candi- 
date for the Republican nomination for Lieuten- 
ant-Governor in 1876. ' Of high integrity and 
unswerving patriotism, Mr. Pierson was generous 
in his benefactions, being one of the most liberal 
contributors to the establishment of the Langston 
School for the Education of Freed men at Holly 
Springs, Miss., soon after the war. He died at 
Carrollton, May 8, 1891.— Oman (Pierson), a son 
of the subject of this sketch, was a member of 
the Thirty-second General Assembly (1881) from 
Greene County, and is present cashier of the 
Greene County National Bank at Carrollton. 

PIGGOTT, Isaac N., early politician, was born 
about 1792; served as an itinerant Methodist 
preacher in Missouri and Illinois, between 1819 
and 1824, but finally located southwest of Jersey- 
ville and obtained a license to run a ferry be- 
tween Grafton and Alton ; in 1828 ran as a 
candidate for the State Senate against Thomas 
Cariin (afterwards Governor) ; removed to St. 
Louis in 1858, and died there in 1874. 

PIKE COUNTY, situated in the western por- 
tion of the State, lying between the Illinois and 
Mississippi Rivers, having an area of 795 square 
miles — named in honor of the explorer, Capt. 
Zebulon Pike The first American settlers came 
about 1820, and, in 1821, the county was organ- 
ized, at first embracing all the country north and 



west of the Illinois River, including the present 
county of Cook. Out of this territory were irnally 
organized about one fourth of the counties of the 
State. Coles' Grove (now Gilead, in Calhoun 
County) was the first county -seat, but the seat of 
justice was removed, in 1824, to Atlas, and to 
Pittsfield in 1833. The surface is undulating, in 
some portions is hilly, and diversified with prai- 
ries and hardwood timber. Live-stock, cereals 
and hay are the staple products, while coal and 
Niagara limestone are found in abundance. 
Population (1890), 31,000; (lilOO), 31,595. 

PILLSBURY, Nathaniel Joy, lawyer and 
judge, was born in Y'ork County, Maine, Oct. 31, 
1834; in 1855 removed to Illinois, and, in 1858, 
began farming in Livingston County. He began 
the study of law in 1863. and, after admission to 
the bar, commenced practice at Pontiac. He 
represented La Salle and Livingston Counties in 
the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, and, in 
1873, was elected to the bench of the Thirteenth 
Judicial Circuit. He was re-elected in 1879 and 
again in 1885. He was assigned to the bench of 
the Appellate Court in 1877, and again in 1879 
and "85. He was severely woimded by a shot 
received from strikers on the line of the Chicago 
& Alton Railroad, near Chicago, in 1886, resulting 
in his being permanently disabled physically, in 
consequence of which he declined a re-election to 
the bench in 1S91 

PINCKNEYVILLE, a city and the county-seat 
of Perry County, situated at the intersection of 
the Paducah Division Illinois Central and the 
Wabash, Cliester & Western Railways, 10 miles 
west northwest of Duquoin. Coal-rainmg is 
carried on in the immediate vicinity, and flour, 
carriages, plows and dressed lumber are among 
the manufactured products. Pinckneyville has 
two banks — one of which is national — two weekly 
newspapers, seven churches, a graded and a high 
school. Population (1880), 964; (1890), 1,298; 
(1900), 2,3.57. 

PITTSBURG, CINCUVNATI, CHICAGO A: 
ST. LOUIS RAILROAD, one of the Penn.syl- 
vania Company's lines, operating 1,403 miles of 
road, of which 1,090 miles are owned and the 
remainder leased — length of line in Illinois, 28 
miles. The Company is the outgrowth of a con- 
solidation, in 1890, of the Pittsburg. Cincinnati & 
St. Louis Railway with the Chicago, St. Louis & 
Pittsburg, the Cincinnati & Richmond and the 
Jeffersonville, Madison & IndianapoUs Railroads. 
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company controls 
the entire line through ownership of stock. 
Capital stock outstanding, in 1898, $47,791,601; 



*26 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



funded debt, §48,433.000; floating debt, $2,214,703 
—total capital $98,500,584. — (History.) The 
Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburg Railroad, em- 
bracing the Illinois division of this line, was made 
up of various corporations organized under the 
laws of Illinois and Indiana. One of its compo- 
nent parts was tlie Cliicago & Great Eastern 
Railway, organized, in 1865. by con.solidation of 
the Galena & Illinois River Railroad (chartered 
in 1857), the Chicago & Great Eastern Railway 
of Indiana, the Cincinnati & Chicago Air-Line 
(organized 1860), and the Cincinnati, Logans- 
port & Chicago Railway. In 1869, the consoli- 
dated line was leased to the Pittsburg. Cincinnati 
& St. Louis Railway Company, and operated 
under the name of the Columbus. Chicago & 
Indiana Central between Bradford. Oliio, and 
Chicago, from 1869 until its consolidation, under 
the present name, in 1890. (See Pennsylvania 
Railroad ) 

PITTSBURG, FORT WAYNE & CHICAGO 
RAILROAD. (See Pittsburg, Fort Waijue <& Chi- 
cago Raihray.) 

PITTSBURG, FORT WAYNE & CHICAGO 
RAILWAY. The total length of this line is 
nearly 470 miles, but only a little over 16 miles 
are within Illinois. It was operated by the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company as lessee. The entire 
capitalization in 1898 was $52,549,990; and the 
earnings in Illinois, $472.228. — (History.) The 
Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway is the 
result of the consolidation. August 1. 1856, of the 
Ohio & Pennsylvania, the Ohio & Indiana and 
the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Companies, 
under the name of the Pittsburg. Fort Wayne & 
Chicago Railroad. The road was opened through 
its entire length, Jan. 1, 1859; was sold under 
foreclosure in 1861 ; reorganized under its present 
title, in 1862, and leased to the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company, for 999 years, from July 1, 
1869. (See Pennftylvania Railroad.) 

PITTSFIELD, the county-seat of Pike County, 
situated on the Hannibal & Naples branch of the 
Wabash Railway, about 40 miles southeast of 
Qiiinoy, and about the same distance soutli of 
west from Jacksonville. Its public buildings 
include a handsome court house and graded and 
high school buildings. The city has an electric 
light plant, city water-works, a flour mill, a 
National and a State bank, nine churches, and 
four weekly newspapers. Pop. (1890), 2,295; 
(1900), 2,293. 

PLAINFIELD, a village of Will County, on the 
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad and an interur- 
ban electric line, 8 miles northwest of Joliet; is 



in a dairying section; has a bank and one news- 
paper. Pop. (1890). 852; (1900), 920. 

PL.iNO, a city in Kendall County, situated 
near the Fox River, and on the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railroad, 14 miles west-southwest 
of Aurora. Tliere are manufactories of agri- 
cultural implements and bedsteads. The citj- has 
banks, several churches, graded and high schools, 
and a weekly newspaper. Pop. (1890), 1,825; 
(1900), 1,634; "(1903, e.st.). 2,250. 

PLEASANT PLAINS, a village of Sangamon 
County, on Springfield Division Baltimore & Ohio 
S. W. Railroad. 16 miles northwest of Spring- 
field; in rich farming region; has coal-shaft, 
bank, five churches, college and two newspapers. 
Population (1890), 518; (1900). 575. 

PLEASANTS, George Washiiigtou, jurist, was 
born in Ilarrodsburg. Ky.. Nov. 24. 1823; received 
a classical education at Williams College. Mass. 
graduating in 1842; studied law in New York 
City, and was admitted to the bar at Rochester, 
N. Y., in 1845, establishing himself in practice at 
Williamstown, Mass., where he remained until 
1849. In 1851 he removed to Washington, D. C, 
and. after residing there two years, came to Illi- 
nois, locating at Rock Island, which has since 
been his home. In 1861 he was elected, as a 
Republican, to the State Constitutional Conven- 
tion which met at Springfield in January follow- 
ing, and, in 1867, was chosen Judge for the Sixth 
(now Tenth) Judicial Circuit, having served by 
successive re-elections until June, 1897, retiring 
at the close of his fifth term— a record for length 
of service seldom paralleled in the judicial his- 
tory of the State. The last twenty years of this 
period were spent on the Appellate bench. For 
several years past Judge Pleasants has been a 
sufferer from failing eyesight, but has been faith- 
ful in attendance on his judicial duties. As a 
judicial officer and a man, liis reputation stands 
among the highest. 

PLUMB, Ralph, soldier and ex-Congressman, 
was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., March 29, 
1816. After leaving school he became a mer- 
chant's clerk, and was himself a merchant for 
eighteen years. From New York he removed to 
Ohio, where he was elected a member of the 
Legislature in 1855. later coming to Illinois. 
During the Civil War he served four years in the 
Union army as Captain and Quartermaster, being 
brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel at its close. He 
made his home at Streator, where he was elected 
Mayor (1881-1883). There he engaged in coal- 
mining and has been connected with several 
important enterprises. From 1885 to 1889 he 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



427 



represented the Eighth Illinois District in Con- 
gress, after which he retired to private life. 

PLYMOUTH, a village of Hancock County, on 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, 41 
miles northeast of Quincy; is trade center of rich 
farming district; has two banks, electric lights, 
water-works, and one paper. Pop. (1900), 854. 

POIME DE SAIBLE, Jean Baptiste, a negro 
and Indian-trader, reputed to have been the first 
settler on the present site of the city of Chicago. 
He is said to have been a native of San Domingo, 
but is described by his contemporaries as "well 
educated and handsome," though dissipated. He 
appears to have been at the present site of Chi- 
cago as early as 1794, his house being located on 
the north side near the junction of the North and 
South branches of the Chicago River, where he 
carried on a considerable trade with the Indians. 
About 1796 he is said to have sold out to a French 
trader named Le JIai. and joined a countryman 
of his, named Glamorgan, at Peoria, where he died 
soon after. Glamorgan, who was the reputed 
owner of a large Spanish land-grant in the vicin- 
ity of St. Louis, is said to have been associated 
with Point de Saible in trade among the Peorias, 
before the latter came to Chicago. 

POLO, a city in Ogle County, at intersection 
of the Illinois Central and the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Northern Railways, 23 miles south of Free- 
port and 13 miles north of Dixon. The 
suiTounding region is devoted to agriculture and 
stock-raising, and Polo is a shipping point for 
large quantities of cattle and hogs. Agricultural 
implements (including harvesters) and buggies 
are manufactured here. The city has banks, one 
weekly and one semi weeklj' paper, seven 
churches, a graded public and high school, and a 
public library. Pop. (1890), 1,728; (1900), 1,869. 

PONTIAC, an Ottawa chief, born on the 
Ottawa River, in Canada, about 1720. While yet 
a young man he became the principal Chief of 
the allied Ottawas, Ojibways and Pottawatomies. 
He was always a firm ally of the French, to 
whose interests he was devotedly attached, 
defending them at Detroit against an attack of 
the Northern tribes, and (it is generally believed) 
leading the Ottawas in the defeat of Braddock. 
He reluctantly acquiesced in tlie issue of the 
French and Indian War, although at first strongly 
disposed to dispute the progress of Major Rogers, 
the British officer sent to take possession of the 
western forts. In 1762 he dispatched emissaries 
to a large number of tribes, whom he desired to 
unite in a league for the extermination of the 
English. His proposals were favorably received. 



and thus was organized what is commonly 
spoken of as the "Conspiracy of Pontiac." He 
himself undertook to lead an a.ssault upon Detroit. 
The garrison, however, was apprised of his inten- 
tion, and made preparations accordingly. Pontiac 
thereupon laid siege to the fort, but was unable 
to prevent the ingress of provisions, the Canadian 
settlers furnishing supplies to both besieged and 
besiegers with absolute impartiality. Finally a 
boat-load of ammunition and supplies was landed 
at Detroit from Lake Erie, and the English made 
an unsuccessful sortie on July 81, 1763. After a 
desultory warfare, lasting for nearly three 
months, the Indians withdrew into Indiana, 
where Pontiac tried in vain to organize another 
movement. Although Detroit had not been 
taken, the Indians captured Forts Sandusky, St. 
Joseph, Miami, Ouiatanon. LeBoeuf and Venango, 
besides the posts of Mackinaw and Presque Isle. 
The garrisons at all these points were massacred 
and innumerable outrages perpetrated elsewhere. 
Additional British troops were sent west, and 
the Indians finally brought under control. 
Pontiac was present at Oswego when a treaty was 
signed with Sir William Johnson, but remained 
implacable. His end was tragic. Broken in 
heart, but still proud in spirit and relentless in 
purpose, he aj^plied to the former (and last) 
French Governor of Illinois, the younger St. 
Ange, who was then at St. Louis, for co-operation 
and support in another raid against the British. 
Being refused aid or countenance, according to a 
story long popularly received, he returned to the 
vicinity of Cahokia, where, in 1769, he was mur- 
dered by a Kaskaskia Indian in consideration of 
a barrel of liquor. N. Matson, author of several 
volumes bearing on early history in Illinois, cit- 
ing Col. Joseph N. Bouras.sa, an educated half- 
breed of Kansas, as authority for his statement, 
asserts that the Indian killed at Cahokia was an 
impostor, and that the true Pontiac was as.sassi- 
nated by Kineboo, the Head Chief of the Illinois, 
in a council held on the Des Plaines River, near 
the present site of Joliet. So well convinced, it 
is said, was Pierre Chouteau, the St. Louis Indian 
trader, of the truth of this last story, that he 
caused a monument, which he had erected over 
the grave of the false Pontiac, to be removed. 
Out of the murder of Pontiac, whether occurring 
at Cahokia or Joliet, it is generally agreed, 
resulted the extermination of the Illinois and the 
tragedy of ' 'Starved Rock. " (See Starved Rock. ) 
POJfTIAC, an incorporated city, the county- 
seat of Livingston County. It stands on the 
bank of the Vemillion River, and is also a point 



428 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of interseotion of the Chicago & Alton, the 
Wabash and the Illinois Central Railroads. It is 
33 miles iiorth-nqrtlieast from Bloomington and 
93 miles soutli-southwest of Chicago. Tlie sur- 
rounding region is devoted to agriculture, stock- 
raising and coal-miniug. Pontiac has four banks 
and four weekly newspapers (two issuing daily 
editions), numerous churches and good schools. 
Various kinds of manufacturing are conducted, 
among the principal estalili.shnients being flour- 
ing mills, three shoe factories, straw paper and 
candy factories and a foundry. The State Re- 
formatory for Juvenile Otfenders is located here. 
Pop. (1890), 2,784; (1900), 4,266. 

POOL, Orval, merchant and banker, was born 
in Union County. Ky., near Shawneetcwn, 111., 
Feb. 17, 1809, but lived in Shawneetowu from seven 
years of age; in boyhood learned the saddler's 
trade, but, in 1843, engaged in the dry-goods 
business, J. McKee Peeples and Thomas S. Ridg- 
way becoming his partners in 1846. In 1850 he 
retired from the dry-goods trade and became an 
extensive dealer in produce, pork and tobacco. 
In 1871 he established the Gallatin County 
National Bank, of which he %vas the first Presi- 
dent. Died, June 30, 1871. 

POOLE, William Frederick, bibliographer, 
librarian and historical writer, was born at 
Salem, Mass., Dec. 24, 1821, graduated from Yale 
College in 1849, and, at the close of his sophomore 
year, was appointed assistant librarian of his col- 
lege society, which owned a library of 10,000 vol- 
umes. Here he prepared and published the first 
edition of his now famous "Index to Periodical 
Literature." A second and enlarged addition 
was published in 1853, and secured for its author 
wide fame, in both America and Europe. In 1852 
he was made Librarian of the Boston Mercantile 
Library, and, from 1856 to 1869, had charge of the 
Boston Athenaaum, then one of the largest li- 
braries in the United States, which he relinquished 
to engage in expert library work. He organized 
libraries in several New England cities and 
towns, at the United States Naval Academy, and 
the Cincinnati Public Library, finally becoming 
Librarian of the latter institution. In October, 
1873, he assumed charge of the Chicago Public 
Library, then being organized, and, in 1887, 
became Librarian of the Newberry Library, 
organizing this institution and remaining at its 
head until his death, which occurred, March 1, 
1894. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him 
by the Northwestern University in 1883. Dr. 
Poole took a prominent part in the organization 
of library associations, and was one of the Vice- 



Presidents of the International Conference of 
Librarians, held in London in 1871. His advice 
was much sought in relation to library architec- 
ture and management. He wrote much on topics 
connected with his profession and on historical 
subjects, frequently contributing to "The North 
American Review." In 1874-75 he edited a liter- 
ary paper at Chicago, called '"The Owl," and was 
later a constant contributor to "The Dial." He 
was President of the American Historical Society 
and member of State Historical Societies and of 
other kindred associations. 

POPE, Aathauiel, first Territorial Secretarj- of 
Illinois, Delegate in Congi'ess and jurist, was born 
at Louisville, Ky., in 1774; graduated with high 
honor from Transylvania University, at Lexing- 
ton, Ky., read law with his brother, Senator John 
Pope, and, in 1804, emigrated to New Orleans, 
later living, for a time, at Ste. Genevieve, Mo. In 
1808 he became a resident of Kaskaskia and, the 
next year, was appointed the first Territorial 
Secretary of Illinois. His native judgment was 
strong and profound and his intellect quick and 
far-reaching, while both were thoroughly trained 
and disciplined by study. In 1816 he was elected 
a Territorial Delegate to Congress, and proved 
himself, not only devoted to the interests of his 
constituents, but also a shrewd tactician. He was 
largely instrumental in securing the passage of 
the act authorizing the formation of a State 
government, and it was mainly through his 
efforts that the northern boundary of Illinois was 
fixed at lat. 42° 30' north, instead of the southern 
bend of Lake Michigan. LTpon the admission of 
Illinois into the Union, he was made United 
States Judge of the District, which then embraced 
the entire State. This office he filled with dig- 
nity, impartiality and acceptability until his 
deatli, at the honie of his daughter, Mrs. Lu- 
cretia Yeatnian, in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 33, 1850. 
Pope Countj- was named in his honor. — Gen. John 
(Pope), son of the preceding, was born in Louis- 
ville, Ky . , March 16, 1823 ; graduated at the United 
States Military Academy, 1843, and appointed 
brevet Second Lieutenant of Topographical 
Engineers; served in Florida (1842-44), on the 
northeast boundary survey, and in the Mexican 
War (1846-47), being promoted First Lieutenant 
for bravery at Monterey and Captain at Buena 
Vista. In 1849 he conducted an exploring expe- 
dition in Minnesota, was in charge of topograph- 
ical engineering service in New Mexico (1851.53), 
and of the survey of a route for the Union Pacific 
Railway (18.53-59), meanwhile experimenting on 
the feasibilitv of artesian wells on the "Staked 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



429 



Plains'' in Nortliwestern Texas. He was a zeal- 
ous friend of Abraham Lincoln in the political 
campaign of 1860, and was court-martialed for 
criticising the policy of President Buchanan, in a 
paper read before a literary societj^ in Cincinnati, 
the proceedings being finally dropped on the 
recommendation of the (then) Secretary of War, 
Joseph Holt. In 1S61 he was one of the officers 
detailed by the War Department to conduct Mr. 
Lincoln to the capital, and, in May following, 
was made Brigadier-General of Volunteers and 
assigned to command in Missouri, where he per- 
formed valuable service in protecting railroad 
communications and driving out guerrillas, gain- 
ing an important victory over Sterling Price at 
Blackwater, in December of that year; in 18G3 
had command of the land forces co-operating 
with Admiral Foote, in the expedition against 
New Madrid and Island No. 10, resulting in the 
capture of that stronghold with 6,500 prisoners, 
125 cannon and 7,000 small arms, thereby win- 
ning a Major-General's commission. Later, hav- 
ing participated in the operations against Corinth, 
he was transferred to command of the Array of 
Virginia, and soon after commissioned Briga- 
dier-General in the regular array. Here, being 
forced to meet a greatly superior force under 
General Lee, he was subjected to reverses which 
led to his falling back on Washington and a 
request to be relieved of his command. For fail- 
ure to give him proper support, Gen. Fitzjohu 
Porter was tried by court-martial, and, having 
been convicted, was cashiered and declared for- 
ever disqualified from holding any office of trust 
or profit under the United States Government — 
although this verdict was finally set aside and 
Porter restored to the army as Colonel, by act of 
Congress, in August, 1886. General Pope's sub- 
sequent service was performed chiefly against 
the Indians in the Northwest, until 1865, when he 
took command of the military division of Mis- 
souri, and, in June following, of the Department 
of the Missouri, including all the Northwestern 
States and Territories, from which he was 
relieved early in 1866. Later, he held command, 
under the Reconstruction Acts, in Georgia, Ala- 
bama and Florida ( 1867-68) ; the Department of the 
Lakes (1868-70) ; Department of the Missouri (1870- 
84) ; and Department of the Pacific, from 1884 to 
his retirement, March 16, 1886. General Pope 
published "Explorations from the Red River to 
the Rio Grande" and "Campaigns in Virginia " 
(1863). Died, at Sandusky, Ohio, Sept 23, 1892. 

POPE COUNTY, lies on the soutliern border of 
the State, and contains an area of about o(iO 



square miles — named in honor of Judge Nathaniel 
Pope. It was erected in 1816 (two years before 
the admission of Illinois as a State) from parts of 
Gallatin and Johnson Counties. The county-seat 
was first located at Sandsville, but later changed 
to Golconda. Robert Lacy, Benoni Lee and 
Thomas Ferguson were the first Commissioners ; 
Hamlet Ferguson was chosen Sheriff; John Scott, 
Recorder ; Thomas C. Browne, Prosecuting- Attor- 
ney, and Samuel Omelveney, Treasurer. The 
highest land in Southern Illinois is in the north- 
eastern part of this county, reaching an elevation 
of 1,046 feet. The bluffs along the Ohio River are 
bold in outUne, and the ridges are surmounted by 
a thick growth of timber, notably oak and hick- 
ory. Portions of the bottom lands are submerged, 
at times, during a part of the year and are 
covered with cypress timber. The remains of 
Indian mounds and fortifications are found, and 
some interesting relics have been exhumed. Sand- 
stone is quarried in abundance, and coal is found 
here and there. Mineral springs (with copperas 
as the chief ingredient) are numerous. Iron is 
found in limited quantities, among the rocks 
toward the south, while spar and kaolin clay are 
found in the north. The chief agricultural 
products are potatoes, corn and tobacco. Popu- 
lation (1890), 14,016; (1900), 13,585. 

PORT BYRON, a village of Rock Island County. 
on the Mississippi River and the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee it St. Paul Railway, 16 miles above Rock 
Island; has lime kilns, grain elevator, two banks, 
academy, public schools, and a newspaper. Pop. 
(1900), 732. The (Illinois) Western Hospital for 
tlie Insane is located at Watertown, twelve miles 
below Port Byron. 

PORTER, (Rev.) Jeremiah, pioneer clergy- 
man, was born at Hadley, Mass., in 1804; gradu- 
ated from Williams College in 1825, and studied 
theology at both Andover and Princeton semi- 
naries, graduating from the latter in 1831. The 
same year he made the (then) long and perilous 
journey to Fort Brady, a military post at the 
Sault Ste. Marie, where he began his work as a 
missionary. In 1833 he came to Chicago, where 
he remained for two years, organizing the First 
Presbyterian Church of Chicago, with a member- 
ship of twenty-six persons. Afterwards he had 
pastoral charge of churches at Peoria and Farm- 
iugton. While in Chicago he was married to 
Miss Eliza Chappell, one of the earliest teachers 
in Chicago. From 1840 to '58 he was located at 
Green Bay, Wis., accepting a call from a Chicago 
Church in the year last named. In 1861 he was 
commissioned Chaplain in the -volunteer service 



430 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



by Governor Yates, and mustered out in 1865. 
The next five years were divided between labors 
at Brownsville, Tex., in the service of the Sani- 
tary Commission, and a pastorate at Prairie du 
Chien. In 1870 he was commissioned Chaplain 
in the regular army, remaining in the service 
(with occasional leaves of absence) until 1882, 
when he was retired from active service on 
account of advanced age. His closing years were 
spent at the homes of liis children in Detroit and 
Beloit; died at the latter city, July 25, 1893, at 
the age of 89 years. 

POSEY, ((ien.) Thomas, Continental and 
Revolutionary soldier, was born in Virginia, July 
9, 1750; in 1774 took part in Lord Dunmore's expe- 
dition against the Indians, and, later, in various 
engagements of the Revolutionary War, being 
part of the time imder the immediate command 
of Washington ; was with General Wayne in the 
assault on Stony Point and present at Cornwallis' 
surrender at Yorktown ; also served, after the war, 
with Wayne as a Brigadier-General in the North- 
west Territory. Removing to Kentucky, he 
served in the State Senate, for a time being 
presiding officer and acting Lieutenant-Governor ; 
later (1812), was elected United States Senator 
from Louisiana, and, from 1813 to '16, served as 
Territorial Governor of Indiana Died, at the 
home of his son-in-law, Joseph M. Street, at 
Shawneetown, 111., March 18, 1818, where he lies 
buried. At the time of his death General Posey 
was serving as Indian Agent. 

POST, Joel S., lawyer and soldier of the Mexi- 
can War; was born in Ontario (now Wayne) 
County, N. Y., April 27, 1816; in 1828 removed 
with his father to Washtenaw County, Mich., 
remaining there until 1839, when he came to 
Macon County, 111. The following year, he com- 
menced the study of law with Judge Charles 
Emmerson, of Decatur, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1841. In 1846 he enlisted in the Mexican 
War, and served as Quartermaster of the Fourth 
Regiment (Col. E. D. Baker's) ; in 1856 was elected 
to the State Senate, and, at the following session, 
was a leading sujjporter of the measures whicli 
resulted in the establishment of the State Nor- 
mal School at Bloomington. Capt. Post's later 
years were spent at Decatur, where he died, 
June 7, 1886. 

POST, Philip Sidney, soldier and Congress- 
man, was born at Florida, Orange County, N. Y., 
March 19, 1833 ; at tlie age of 22 graduated from 
Union College, studied law at Poughkeepsie Law 
School, and, removing to Illinois, was admitted 
to the bar in 1856 At the outbreak of the Civil 



War he enlisted, and was commissioned Second 
Lieutenant in the Fifty-ninth Illinois Volunteers. 
He was a gallant, fearless soldier, and was re- 
peatedly promoted for bravery and meritorious 
service, until he attained the rank of brevet 
Brigadier-General. He participated in many 
important battles and was severely wounded at 
Pea Ridge and Nashville. In 1865 he was in com- 
mand in Western Texas. After the close of the 
war he entered the diplomatic service, being 
appointed Consul-General to Austria-Hungary 
in 1874, but resigned in 1879, and returned to his 
home in Galesburg. From 1882 to 1886 he was a 
member of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee, and, during 1886, was Commander of the 
Department of Illinois, G. A. R. He was elected 
to Congress from the Tenth District on the Repub- 
lican ticket in 1886, serving continuously by re- 
election until his death, which occurred in 
Washington, Jan. 6, 1895. 

POST, Truman Marcellus, D.D,, clergyman, 
was born at Middlebury, Vt., June 3, 1810; gradu- 
ated at Middlebury College in 1829, was Principal 
of Castleton Academy for a j'ear, and a tutor at 
Middlebury two years, meanwhile studying law. 
After a winter spent in Wasliington, listening to 
the orators of the time in Congress and before the 
Supreme Court, including Clay, Webster, Wirt 
and their contemporaries, he went west in 1833, 
first visiting St. Louis, but finally settling at 
Jacksonville, 111., where he was admitted to the 
bar, but soon after accepted the Professorship of 
Classical Languages in Illinois College, and 
later that of History; then began the study of 
theology, was ordained in 1840, and assiimed the 
pastorship of the Congregational Church in Jack- 
sonville. In 1847 he was called to the pastorate 
of the Third Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, 
and, in 1851, to the First Congregational Church, 
of which the former furnished the nucleus. For 
a year or two after removing to St. Louis, he 
continued his lectures on history at Illinois Col- 
lege for a short period each year ; also held the 
professorship of Ari;^ient and Modern History in 
Washington University, in St. Louis; in 1873-75 
was Southworth lecturer on Congregationalism 
in Andover Theological Seminary and, for sev- 
eral j'ears. Professor of Ecclesiastical History in 
Chicago Theological Seminary. His splendid 
diction and his noble stj-le of oratory caused 
him to be much sought after as a public lecturer 
or platform speaker at college commencements, 
while his purity of life and refinement of charac- 
ter attracted to him all with whom he came in 
personal contact. He received the degree of 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



431 



D.D. from Middlebury College in 1855; was a fre- 
quent contributor to "The Biblical Repository" 
and other religious publications, and, besides 
numerous addresses, sermons and pamphlets, he 
was the author of a volume entitled "The Skep- 
tical Era in Modern History" (New York, 1856). 
He resigned his pastorate in January, 1882, but 
continued to be a frequent speaker, either in the 
pulpit or on the lecture platform, nearly to the 
period of his deatli, which occurred in St. Louis, 
Dec. 31, 1880. For a quarter of a century he was 
one of the Trustees of Monticello Female Semi- 
nary, at Godfrey, 111., being, for a considerable 
portion of the time, President of the Board. 

POTTAWATOMIES, THE, an Indian tribe, 
one of the three subdivisions of tlie Ojibwas (or 
Ojibbeways), who, in turn, constituted a numer- 
ous family of the Algonquins. The other 
branches were the Ottawa and the Chippewas. 
The latter, however, retained the family name, 
and hence some writers have regarded the "Ojib- 
beways'' and the "Chippewas" as essentially 
identical. This interchanging of names has been 
a prolific source of error. Inherently, the dis- 
tinction was analogous to that existing between 
genus and species, although a confusion of 
nomenclature has naturally resulted in errors 
more or less serious. Tiiese three tribes early 
separated, the Pottawatomies going south from 
Green Bay along the western shore of Lake 
Michigan. The meaning of the name is, "we are 
making a fire," and the word is a translation into 
the Pottawatomie language of the name first 
given to the tribe by the Jliamis. These Indians 
were tall, fierce and haughty, and the tribe was 
divided into four branches, or clans, called by 
names which signify, respectively, the golden 
carp, the tortoise, the crab and the frog. Accord- 
ing to the "Jesuit Relations," the Pottawatomies 
were first met by the French, on the north of 
Lake Huron, in 1039-40. More than a quarter of 
a century later (1066) Father AUouez speaks of 
them as dwellers on the shores of Lake Michigan. 
The same Father described them as idolatrous 
and polygamous, yet as possessing a rude civility 
and as being kindly disposed toward the French. 
This friendship continued unbroken until the 
expulsion of the latter from the Xorthwest. 
About 1078 they spread southward from Green 
Bay to the head of Lake Michigan, a portion of 
the tribe settling in Illinois as far south as the 
Kankakee and Illinois Rivers, crowding the 
Winnebagoes and the Sacs and Foxes on the west, 
and advancing, on the east, into the country of 
the Miamis as far as the Wabash and the 



Maumee. They fought on the side of the 
French in the French and Indian War, and 
later took part in the conspiracy of Pontiac 
to capture and reduce the British posts, and 
were so influenced by Tecumseh and the Prophet 
that a considerable number of their warri- 
ors fought against General Harrison at Tippe- 
canoe. During the War of 1812 they actively 
supported the British. They were also prominent 
at the Chicago massacre. Schoolcraft says of 
them, "They were foremost at all treaties where 
lands were to be ceded, clamoring for the lion's 
share of all presents and annuities, particularly 
where these last were the price paid for the sale 
of other lands than their own." The Pottawato- 
mies were parties to the treaties at Chicago in 
1833 and 1833, and were among the last of the 
tribes to remove beyond the Mississippi, their 
final emigration not taking place until 1838. In 
1846 the scattered fragments of this tribe coalesced 
with those of the Chippewas and Ottau'as, and 
formed the Pottawatomie nation. They ceded all 
their lands, wherever located, to the United States, 
for §850,000, agreeing to accept 576,000 acres in 
Kansas in lieu of $87,000 of this amount. Through 
the rapacity and trespasses of white settlers, this 
reservation was soon dismembered, and the lands 
passed into other hands. In 1867, under an ena- 
bling act of Congress, 1,400 of the nation (then 
estimated at 2,500) became citizens. Their pres- 
ent location is in the southeastern part of Okla- 
homa. 

POWELL, John Wesley, Ph.D., LL.D., geolo- 
gist and anthropologist, was born at Mount Jlorris 
N. Y., JIarch 24, 1834, the son of a Methodist 
itinerant preacher, passing his early life at vari- 
ous places in Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois ; studied 
for a time in Illinois College (Jacksonville), and 
subsequently in Wheaton College, but, in 1854, 
began a special course at Oberlin, Ohio, teaching 
at intervals in public schools. Having a predi- 
lection for the natural sciences, he spent much 
time in making collections, which he placed in 
various Illinois institutions. Entering the army 
in 1801 as a private of the Twentieth Illinois 
Volunteers, he later became a Captain of the 
Second Illinois Artillery, being finally promoted 
Major. He lost his right arm at the battle of 
Shiloh, but returned to his regiment as soon as 
sufficiently recovered, and continued in active 
service to the close of the war. In 1865 he became 
Professor of Geology and Curator of the Museum 
in Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, 
but resigned to accept a similar position in the 
State Normal University. In 1867 he began his 



432 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



greatest work in connection with science by 
leading a class of pupils to the mountains of 
Colorado for the study of geology, which lie fol- 
lowed, a year later, by a more thorough survey of 
the canon of the Colorado Eiver than had ever 
before been attempted. This led to provision by 
Congress, in 1870, for a topographical and geo- 
logical survey of the Colorado and its tributaries, 
which was appropriately placed under his direc- 
tion. Later, he was placed in charge of the 
Bureau of Ethnology in connection with the 
Smithsonian Institute, and, again in 1881, was 
assigned to the directorship of the United States 
Geological Survey, later becoming Director of the 
Bureau of Ethnology, in connection with the 
Smithsonian Institute in Washington City, 
where (1899) he still remains. In 188G Major 
Powell received the degree of Ph.D. from Heidel- 
berg University, and that of LL.D. from Har- 
vard the same year. He is also a member of the 
leading scientific associations of the country, 
while his reports and addresses fill numerous 
volumes issued by the Government. 

POWELL, William Henry, soldier and manu- 
facturer, was born in South Wales, May 10, 1825; 
came to America in 1830, was educated in the 
common schools of Tennessee, and (185G-61) was 
manager of a manufacturing company at Iron- 
ton, Ohio; in 1861, became Captain of a West 
Virginia cavalry company, and was advanced 
through the grades of Major, Lieutenant-Colonel 
and Colonel ; was wounded while leading a charge 
at Wytheville, Va., left on the field, captured and 
confined in Libby Prison six months. After ex- 
change he led a cavalry division in the Ami}- of 
the Slienandoah ; was made Brigadier-General in 
October, 1864; after the war settled in West Vir- 
ginia, and was a Republican Presidential Elector 
in 1868. He is now at the head of a nail mill and 
foundry in Belleville, and was Commander of the 
Grand Army of the Republic for tlie Department 
of Illinois during 1895-96. 

PRAIRIE CITY, a village in McDonough 
County, on the Chicago. Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, 23 miles southwest from Galesburg and 
17 miles northeast of Macomb; has a carriage 
factory, flour mill, elevators, lumber and stock 
yards, a nursery, a bank, four churclies and two 
weekly papers. Pop (1890), 812; (1900). 818. 

PRAIRIE DU POXT, (in English, Bridge 
Prairie), an early French settlement, one mile 
soutli of Cahokia. It was commenced about 1760, 
located on the banks of a creek, on which was 
the first mill, operated by water-power, in that 
section, having been erected bj' missionaries 



from St. Sulpice, in 1754. In 1765 the village 
contained fourteen families. In 1844 it was 
iiuindated and nearly destroyed. 

PRAIRIE dn ROCHER, (in English, Prairie of 
the Rock), an early French village in what i.s 
now Monroe County, which began to spring up 
near Fort Chartres (see Fort Chartre.s), and by 
1723 had grown to be a considerable settlement. 
It stood at the foot of the Mississippi bluffs, about 
four miles northeast of the fort. Like other 
French villages in Illinois, it had its church and 
priest, its common field and commons. Many of 
the houses were picturesque cottages built of 
limestone. The ancient village is now extinct; 
yet, near the outlet of a creek which runs through 
the blulT, may be seen tlie vestiges of a water mill, 
said to have been erected by the Jesuits during 
the days of French occupation. 

PRENTICE, William S., Methodist Episcopal 
clergj'man, was born in St Clair County, 111., in 
1819; licensed as a Methodist preacher in 1849, 
and filled pastorates at Paris, Danville, Carlin- 
ville, Springfield, Jacksonville and other places — 
the latter part of his life, serving as Presiding 
Elder ; was a delegate to the General Conference 
of 1860, and regularly re-elected from 1873 to the 
end of his life. During the latter part of his life 
his home was in Springfield. Died, June 28, 1887. 

PREXTiSS, Benjamin Mayberry, soldier, was 
born at Belleville. Wood County, Va., Nov. 23, 
1819; in 1835 accompanied his parents to Mis- 
souri, and, in 1841, removed to Quincy, 111., where 
he learned a trade, afterwards embarking in the 
commission business. In 1844-45 he was Lieuten- 
ant of a company sent against the Mormons at 
Nauvoo, later serving as Captain of Volunteers in 
the Mexican War. In 1860 he was an unsuccess- 
ful Republican candidate for Congress; at the 
outbreak of the Civil War tendered his services 
to Governor Yates, and was commissioned Colonel 
of tlie Tenth Illinois Volunteers, was almost 
immediately promoted to Brigadier-General and 
placed in command at Cairo, so continuing until 
relieved by General Gi'ant, in September, 1861. 
At the battle of Shiloh, in April following, he 
was captured with most of his command, after a 
most vigorous fight with a superior rebel force, 
but, in 1863. was exchanged and brevetted Majtir- 
General of Volunteers. He was a member of the 
court-martial that tried Gen. Fitzjohn Porter, 
and, as commander at Helena, Ark., defeated tlie 
Confederate Generals Holmes and Price on July 
3, 1863. He resigned his commission, Oct. 28. 
1863. In 1869 he was appointed by President 
Grant Pension Agent at Quincy, serving four 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



433 



years. At present (1898) General Prentiss' resi- 
dence is at Bethany, Mo., where he served as 
Postmaster, during tlie administration of Presi- 
dent Benjamin Harrison, and was reappointed by 
President McKinley. Died Feb. 8, 1901. 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS. (See Elections.) 
PRLSBYTERIAX HOSPITAL, located at Chi- 
cago, was organized in 1883 by a number of 
wealthy and liberal Presbyterians, "for the pur- 
pose of affording medical and surgical aid to sicli 
and disabled persons, and to provide tliem, wliile 
inmates of the hospital, with the ministrations 
of the gospel, agreeablj- to the doctrines and 
forms of the Presbyterian Church "' Rush Med- 
ical College offered a portion of its ground as a site 
(see Rusli Medical College), and through generous 
subscriptions, a well-planned building was 
erected, capable of accommodating about 250 
patients. A corridor connects the college and 
hospital buildings. Tlie medical staff comprises 
eigliteen of Chicago's best known ph3'sicians and 
surgeons. 

PRESBYTERUNS, THE. The first Presby- 
terian society in Illinois was organized by Rev. 
James McGready, of Kentucky, in 181G, at 
Sharon, White County. Revs. Samuel J. Mills 
and Daniel Smith, also Presbyterians, had visited 
the State in 1814, as representatives of the Massa- 
chusetts Missionary Societ}', but had formed no 
society. The members of the Sharon church 
were almost all immigrants from the South, and 
were largely of Scotch-Irish extraction. Two 
other churches were established in 1819 — one at 
Shoal Creek, Bond County, and" the other at 
Edwardsville. In 182.') there were but three 
Presbyterian ministers in Illinois — Revs. Stephen 
Bliss, John Brich and B. F. Spilman. Ten years 
later there were 80 churches, with a membersliip 
of 2,500 and 60 ministers. In 1880 the number of 
churches had increased to 487; but, in 1800, (as 
shown by the United States census) there were 
less. In the latter year there were 405 ministers 
and 52,945 members. The Synod of Illinois is the 
highest ecclesiastical court of the denomination 
in the State, and, under its jurisdiction, the 
church maintains two seminaries: one (the Mc- 
Cormick) at Chicago, and the other (the Black- 
burn University) at Carlinville. The organ of 
the denomination is "The Interior," founded by 
Cyrus H. McCormick, and published weekly at 
Chicago, with William C. Gray as editor. The 
Illinois Synod embraced within its jurisdiction 
(1895) eleven Presbyteries, to which were attached 
483 churches, 464 ministers and a membership of 
63,247. (See also Religious Denominations.) 



PRICKETT, Abraham, pioneer merchant, was 
born near Lexington, Ky., came to Madison 
County, 111. , in 1808 ; was employed for a time in 
the drug business in St. Louis, then opened a 
store at Edwardsville, where, in 1813, he received 
from the first County Court of Bladison County, 
a license to retail merchandise. In 1818, he served 
as one of the three Delegates from Madison 
County to the Convention which framed the first 
State Constitution, and, the same year, was 
elected a Representative in the First General 
Assembly; was also Postmaster of the town of 
Edwardsville for a number of years. In 1825 he 
removed to Adams County and laid out an addi- 
tion to the city of Quincy; was also engaged 
there in trade with the Indians. In 1836, while 
engaged on a Government contract for the re- 
moval of snags and other obstructions to the navi- 
gation of Red River, he died at Natchitoches, La. 
— (ieorge W. (Prickett) a son of the preceding, 
and afterwards a citizen of Cliicago, is said to 
have been the first white child born in Edwards- 
ville.— Isaac (Prickett), a brother of Abraham, 
came to St. Louis in 1815, and to Edwardsville in 
1818, where he was engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness with his brother and, later, on his own 
account. He held the offices of Postmaster, Pub- 
lic Administrator, Quartermaster-General of 
State Militia, Inspector of the State Penitentiary, 
and, from 1838 to '42, was Receiver of Public 
Moneys at Edwardsville, dying in 1844. 

PRICKETT, David, pioneer lawyer, was born 
in Franklin County, Ga., Sept. 21, 1800; in early 
childhood was taken by his parents to Kentucky 
and from there to Edwardsville, 111. lie gradu- 
ated from Transylvania University, and, in 1821, 
began the practice of law ; was the first Supreme 
Court Reporter of Illinois, Judge of the Madison 
County Probate Court, Representative in the 
General Assembly (1826-28), Aid-de-Camp to 
General Whiteside in the Black Hawk War, 
State's Attorney for Springfield Judicial Circuit 
(1837), Treasurer of the Board of Canal Commis- 
sioners (1840), Director of the State Bank of Illi- 
nois (1842), Clerk of the House of Representatives 
for ten sessions and Assistant Clerk of the same 
at the time of his death, JIarch 1, 1847. 

PEIJfCE, David, physician and surgeon, was 
born in Brooklyne, Windham County, Conn., 
June 21, 1816; removed with his parents to 
Canandaigua, N. Y., and was educated in the 
academy there ; began the study of medicine in 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New 
York, finishing at the Ohio Jledical College, Cin- 
cinnati, where he was associated, for a year and a 



434 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



half, with the celebrated surgeon, Dr. Muzzy. In 
1843 he came to Jacksonville, 111., and, for two 
years, was Professor of Anatomy in the Medical 
Department of Illinois College; later, spent five 
years practicing in St. Louis, and lecturing on 
surgery in the St. Louis Medical College, when, 
returning to Jacksonville in IS.^S, he established 
himself in practice there, devoting special atten- 
tion to surgery, in which he had already won a 
wide reputation. During the latter part of the 
Civil War he served, for fourteen months, as 
Brigade Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac, 
and, on the capture of a portion of his brigade, 
voluntarily surrendered himself that he miglit 
attend the captives of his command in Libby 
Prison. After the close of the war he was 
employed for some months, by the Sanitary Com- 
mission, in writing a medical history of the war. 
He visited Europe twice, first in 1881 as a dele- 
gate to the International Medical Congress in 
London, and again as a member of the Copen- 
hagen Congress of 1884 — at each visit making 
careful inspection of the hospitals in London, 
Paris, and Berlin. About 1867 he established a 
Sanitarium in Jacksonville for the treatment of 
surgical cases and chronic diseases, to which he 
gave the closing years of his life. Thoroughly 
devoted to his profession, liberal, public-spirited 
and sagacious in the adoption of new methods, he 
stood in the front rank of his profession, and his 
deatli was mourned by large numbers who had 
received the benefit of his ministrations without 
money and without price. He was member of 
a number of leading professional associations, 
besides local literary and social organizations. 
Died, at Jacksonville, Deo. 19, 1889. 

PRINCE, Edward, lawyer, was born at West 
Bloomfield, Ontario County, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1832; 
attended school at Payson, 111., and Illinois Col- 
lege, Jacksonville, graduating from the latter in 
1852; studied law at Vuincj', and after admission 
to the bar in 1853, began dealing in real estate. 
In 18G1 he offered his services to Governor Yates, 
was made Captain and Drill-master of cavalry 
and, a few months later, commissioned Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, tak- 
ing part, as second in command, in the celebrated 
"Grierson raid" through Mississippi, in 1863, 
serving until discharged with the rank of Colonel 
of his regiment, in 1864. After the war he gave 
considerable attention to engineering and tlie 
construction of a system of water-works for the 
city of Quincy, where he now resides. 

PRINCE, George W., lawyer and Congressman, 
born in Tazewell County, 111., March 4, 1854; was 



educated in the public schools and at Knox Col- 
lege, graduating from the latter in 1878. He 
then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 
1880; was elected City Attorney of Galesburg the 
following year; served as chairman of the Knox 
County Republican Central Committee in 1884, 
and, in 1888, was elected Representative in the 
General Assembly and re-elected two years later. 
In 1892 he was the RepubUcan nominee for 
Attornej^-General of the State of Illinois, but was 
defeated with the rest of the State ticket ; at 
a special election, held in April, 1895, he was 
chosen Representative in Congress from the 
Tenth District to fill the vacancy caused by the 
death of Col. Philip Sidney Post, which had 
occurred in January preceding. In common with 
a majority of his colleagues, Mr. Prince was 
re-elected in 1896, receiving a plurality of nearly 
16,000 votes, and was elected for a third term in 
November. 1898. 

PRINCETON, a city and the county-seat of 
Bureau County, on the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, 22 miles west -south west of 
Mendota, and 104 miles west-southwest of Chi- 
cago; has a court house, gas-works, electric 
lights, graded and high schools, numerous 
churches, three newspapers and several banks. 
Coal is mined five miles east, and the manufac- 
tures include flour, carriages and farm imple- 
ments. Pop. (1890), 3,396; (1900), 4,023. Prince- 
ton is populated with one of the most intelligent 
and progressive communities in the State. It 
was the home of Owen Love joy during the greater 
part of his life in Illinois. 

PRINCETON & WESTERN RAILWAY. (See 
Chicago <£■ Xorttiwesfeni Raihvay.) 

PRINCETILLE, a village of Peoria County, oc 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Rock 
Island & Peoria Railways, 22 miles north%vest of 
Peoria ; is a trade center for a prosperous agricul- 
tural region. Population (1890), 641; (1900), 735 

PROPHETSTOWN, a town in Whiteside 
County, on Rock River and the Fulton Branch 
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 45 
miles northwest of Mendota; has some manu- 
factures, three banks and two newspapers. Pop. 
(1890), 694; (1900), 1,143. 

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION. (See 
Minority Representation. ) 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The 
pioneer Episcopal clergyman in this State was the 
Rt. Rev. Philander Chase, who was made Bishop 
of Illinois in 1885, and was the founder of Jubi- 
lee College. (See Chase, Rev. Philander.) The 
State at present is organized under the provincial 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



435 



system, the province comprising the dioceses of 
Chicago. Quincy and Springfield. At its head 
(1898) is the Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, Bishop 
of Chicago. Rev. George F. Seymour of Spring- 
field is Bishop of the Springfield Diocese, with 
C. R. Hale, Coadjutor at Cairo, and Rev. Alex- 
ander Burgess, Bishop of the Quincy Diocese, with 
residence at Peoria. Tlie numerical strength of 
the cliurch in Illinois is not great, although 
between 1880 and 1890 its membership was almost 
doubled. In 1840 there were but eighteen 
parishes, with thirteen clergymen and a member- 
ship of 267. By 1880 the number of parishes had 
increased to 89, there being 127 ministers and 
9,842 communicants. The United States Census 
of 1890 showed the following figures : Parishes, 
197; clergymen, 1.50. membership, 18,609. Total 
contributions (1890) for general church and mis- 
sion work, §373,798. The chief educational insti- 
tution of the denomination in tlie West is the 
Western Theological Seminary at Chicago. (See 
also Religions Denominations.) 

PRYOR, Joseph Everett, pioneer and early 
steamboat captain, was born in Virginia, August 
10. 1787 — the son of a noncommissioned officer of 
the Revolution, who emigrated to Kentucky about 
1790 and settled near Louisville, which was then 
a fort with some twenty log cabins. In 1813 the 
son located where Golconda, Pope County, now 
stands, and early in life adopted the calling of a 
boatman, which lie pursued some forty j'ears. 
At this time he held a conmiission as a "Falls 
Pilot," and piloted the first steamer that ascended 
the Ohio River from New Orleans. During his 
long .service no accident happened to any steamer 
for which he was responsible, although the Mis- 
sissippi then bristled with snags. He owned and 
commanded the .steamer Telegraph, which was 
sunk, in 1835, by collision with the Duke of 
Orleans on the Mississippi, but, owing to his pres- 
ence of mind and the good discipline of liis crew, 
no lives were lost. The salient features of his 
character were a boundless benevolence mani- 
fested to others, and his dauntless courage, dis- 
played not only in the face of dangers met in his 
career as a boatman, but in his encounters with 
robbers who then infested portions of Southern 
Illinois. He had a reputation as a skillful pilot 
and popular commander not excelled by any of 
his contemporaries. He died, at his home in Pope 
County, Oct. 5, 1851. leaving one daughter, now 
Mrs. Cornelia P. Bozman, of Cairo, 111. 

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, SUPERINTEND- 
ENTS OF. (See Svperintendents of Public 
Instruction.) 



PUGH, I^aac C, .soldier, was bom in Christian 
County, Ky., Nov. 23, 1805; came to Illinois, in 
1821, with his father, who first settled in Shelby 
County, but, in 1829, removed to Macon County, 
where the subject of this sketch resided until his 
death, at Decatur, Nov. 14, 1874. General Pugh 
served in three wars — first in the Black Hawk 
War of 1832 ; then, with the rank of Captain and 
Field Officer in the Fourth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's) in the war with 
Mexico, and, during the Civil War, entering upon 
the latter as Colonel of the Forty-first Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, in September, 1861, and 
being mustered out with the rank of full Briga- 
dier-General in August, 1864, when his regiment 
was consolidated with the Fifty-third. He took 
part with his regiment in the battles of Fort 
Donelson and Shiloh, and in the operations 
around Vicksburg, being wounded at the latter. 
In the year of his retirement from the army 
(1864) he was elected a Representative in the 
Twenty-fourth General Assembly, and. the fol- 
lowing year, was chosen County-Clerk of Macon 
County, serving four years. 

PUGH, Jonathan H., pioneer lawyer, was born 
in Bath County, Ky. , came to Bond County, 111., 
final'ly locating at Sjiringfield in 1823, and being 
the second lawyer to establish liimself in jjractice 
in that city. He served in the Third, Fifth, 
Sixth and Seventh General Assemblies, and was 
defeated for Congress by Josei^h Duncan (after- 
wards Governor), in 1831. Died, in 1833. Mr. 
Pugh is described by his contemporaries as a man 
of brilliant parts, an able lawyer and a great wit. 

PULASKI COUNTY, an extreme southern 
county and one of the smallest in the State, 
bordering on the Ohio River and having an area 
of 190 .square miles and a population (1900), of 
14,554. It was cut off from Alexander County in 
1843, and named in honor of a Polish patriot who 
had aided the Americans during the Revolution. 
The soil is generally rich, and the surface varied 
with much low land along the Cache and the Ohio 
Rivers. Wheat, corn and fruit are the principal 
crops, while considerable timber is cut upon the 
bottom lands. Mound City is the county-seat 
and was conceded a population, by the census of 
1890, of 2.550. Only the lowest, barren portion of 
the carboniferous formation extends under the 
soil, the coal measures being absent. Traces of 
iron have been found and sulphur and copperas 
springs abound. 

PULLMAN, a former suburb (now a part of 
the South Division) of the city of Chicago, 13.8 
miles south of the initial station of the Illinois 



4:ju 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Central Railroad. The Pullman Palace Car Com- 
])auy began the erection of buildings here in 1880, 
and, on the 1st of January, 1881, the first family 
settled in the future manufacturing city. Within 
tlie next few years, it became the center of the 
largest manufacturing establishments in the 
country, including the Pullman Car Works, the 
Allen Paper Car Wheel Works and extensive 
steel forging works, employing thousands of 
mechanics. Large numbers of sleeping and din- 
ing cars, besides ordinary passenger coaches and 
freight cars, were manufactured here every year, 
not only for use on the railroads of the United 
States, but for foreign countries as well. The 
town was named for the late George M. Pullman, 
the founder of the car-works, and was regarded 
as a model city, made up of comfortable homes 
erected by the Palace Car Company for the use of 
its employes. It was well supplied with school- 
liouses, and churches, and a public library was 
established there and opened to the public in 
1883. The town was annexed to the city of Chi- 
cago in 1890. 

PULLMAN, George Mortimer, founder of tlie 
Pullman Palace Car Company, was born at Broc- 
ton, N. Y., March 3, 1831, enjoyed ordinary edu- 
cational advantages in his boyhood and, at 
fourteen years of age, obtained employment as a 
clerk, but a year later joined his brother in the 
cabinet making business at Albion. His father, 
who was a house-builder and house-mover, hav- 
ing died in 1853, young Pullman assumed the 
responsibility of caring for the family and, hav- 
ing secured a contract for raising a number of 
buildings along the Erie Canal, made necessary 
by the enlargement of that tlioroughfare, in tliis 
way acquired some capital and experience which 
was most valuable to him in after years. Com- 
ing to Chicago in 1859, when the work of raising 
the grade of the streets in the business portion of 
the city had been in progress for a year or two, 
he found a new field for the exercise of his 
inventive skill, achieving some marvelous trans- 
formations in a number of the principal business 
blocks in that part of the city. As early as 1858, 
Mr. Pullman had had his attention turned to 
devising some means for increasing the comforts 
of night-travel upon railways, and, in 1859, he 
remodeled two old day-coaches into a species of 
sleeping-cars, which were u.sed upon the Alton 
Road. From 1860 to 1863 lie spent in Colorado 
devoting his engineering skill to mining; but 
returning to Chicago the latter year, entered 
upon his great work of developing the idea of tlie 
sleeping-car into practical reality. The first 



car was completed and received the name of the 
••Pioneer." This car constituted a part of the 
funeral train which took the remains of Abraham 
Lincoln to Springfield, 111., after his assassination 
in April, 1865. The development of the "Pull- 
man palace sleeping-car," the invention of tin- 
dining-car, and of vestibule trains, and the build- 
ing up of the great industrial town which bears 
his name, and is now a part of the city of Chi- 
cago, constituted a work of gradual development 
which resulted in some of the most remarkable 
achievements in the history of the nineteenth 
century, both in a business sense and in promot- 
ing the comfort and safety of the traveling pub- 
lic, as well as in bettering the conditions of 
workingmen. He lived to see the results of his 
inventive genius and manufacturing skill in use 
upon the principal railroads of the United States 
' and introduced upon a number of important lines 
in Europe also. Mr. Pullman was identified with 
a number of other enterprises more or less closely 
related to the transportation business, but the 
Pullman Palace Car Company was the one with 
which he was most closely connected, and by 
which he will l>e longest remembered. He was 
also associated with some of the leading educa- 
tional and benevolent enterprises about the citj' 
of Cliicago, to which he contributed in a liberal 
manner during liis life and in his will._ His 
death occurred suddenly, from heart disease, at 
his home in Chicago, Oct. 19, 1897. 

PIUIPLE, N'ormaii H., lawj-er and jurist, was 
born in Litchfield County, Conn., read law and 
was admitted to the bar in Tioga County, Pa.. 
settled at Peoria, 111., in 1836, and the following 
year was appointed Pro.secuting Attorney for the 
Ninth Judicial District, which then embraced 
the greater portion of the State east of Peoria. 
In 1844 he was a Presidential Elector, and, in 
18-15, Governor Ford appointed him a Justice of 
the Supreme Court, vice Jesse B. Thomas. Jr., 
who had resigned. As required by law, he at the 
same time served as Circuit Judge, his district 
embracing all the counties west of Peoria, and 
his home being at Quincy. After the adoption of 
the Constitution of 1848 he returned to Peoria and 
resumed practice. He compiled the Illinois 
Statutes relating to real property, and, in 1857. 
made a compilation of the general laws, gener- 
ally known to the legal profession as the ""Purple 
Statutes." He subsequently undertook to com- 
pile and arrange the laws passed from 1857 to '63. 
and was engaged on tliis work when overtaken 
by death, at Chicago, Aug 9, 1863. He was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1863, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



437 



and, during the last ten years of his life, promi- 
nent at the Chicago bar. 

PUTERBAUtlH, Sabin D., judge and author, 
was boru iu Miami Count}-, Ohio, Sept. 28, 1834; 
at 8 years of age removed %vith his parents to Taze- 
well County, 111 ; settled in Pekin in 1853, where 
he read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. 
At the outbreak of the rebellion he was commis- 
sioned, by Governor Yates, Major of the Eleventh 
Illinois Cavalr}-, and took part in numerous 
engagements in Western Tennessee and Missis- 
sippi, including the battles of Shiloh and Corinth. 
Resigning liis commission in 18G2, he took up his 
residence at Peoria, where he resumed practice 
and began the preparation of his first legal work 
— "Common Law Pleading and Practice." In 
1864 he formed a partnership with Col. Robert G. 
IngersoU, which continued until 1867, when Mr. 
Puterbaugh was elected Circuit Court Judge. 
He retired from the bench in 18T3 to resume pri- 
vate practice and pursue his work as an author. 
His first work, having already run through three 
editions, was followed by "Puterbaugh's Chan- 
cery Pleading and Practice," the first edition of 
which appeared in 1874, and "Michigan Chancery 
Practice," which appeared in 1881. In 1880 he 
was chosen Presidential Elector on the Republi- 
can ticket. Died, Sept. 35, 1893. Leslie D. 
(Puterbaugh). a son of Judge Puterbaugh, is 
Judge of the Circuit Court of the Peoria Circuit. 

PUTNAM COUNTY, the smallest county in the 
State, both as to area and population, containing 
only 170 square miles; population (1900j, 4,746. 
It lies near the center of the north half of the 
State, and was named in honor of Gen. Israel 
Putnam. The first American to erect a cabin 
within its limits was Gurdon S. Hubbard, who 
was in business there, as a fur-trader, as early as 
1835, but afterwards became a prominent citizen 
of Chicago. The county was created by act of 
the Legislature in 1835, although a local govern- 
ment was not organized until some years later. 
Since that date, Bureau, Marshall and Stark 
Counties have beeu erected therefrom. It is 
crossed and drained by the Illinois River. The 
surface is moderately undulating and the soil 
fertile. Corn is the chief staple, although wheat 
and oats are extensively cultivated. Coal is 
mined and exported. Hennepin is the county- 
seat. 

QUINCY, the principal city of Western Illinois, 
and the county-seat of Adams County. It was 
founded in 1823 — the late Gov. John Wood erect- 
ing the first log-cabin there — and was incorporated 



in 1839. The site is naturally one of the most beauti- 
ful in the State, the principal part of the city being 
built on a limestone bluff having an elevation 
of 125 to 150 feet, and overlooking the Mississippi 
for a long distance. Its location is 113 miles west 
of Springfield and 364 miles southwest of Chi- 
cago. Besides being a principal shipping point 
for the river trade north of St. Louis, it is the 
converging point of several important railway 
lines, including the Wabash, four branches of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Quiucy, 
Omaha & Kansas City, giving east and west, as 
well as north and south, connections. At the 
present time (1904) several important lines, or 
extensions of railroads already constructed, are in 
contemplation, which, when completed, will add 
largely to the commercial importance of the city. 
The city is regularly laid out, the streets inter- 
secting each other at right angles, and being 
lighted with gas and electricity. Water is 
obtained from the Mississippi. There are several 
electric railway lines, four public parks, a fine 
railway bridge across the Mississippi, to which a 
wagon bridge has been added within the past two 
years ; two fine railway depots, and several elegant 
public buildings, including a handsome county 
court-house, a Government building for the use 
of the Post-office and the United States District 
Court. The Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home 
is located here, embracing a large group of cot- 
tages occupied by veterans of the Civil War, 
besides hospital and administration buildings for 
the use of the officers. The city has more than 
thirty churches, three libraries (one free-public 
and two college), with excellent schools and 
other educational advantages. Among the 
higher institutions of learning are the Chaddock 
College (Methodist Episcopal) and the St. Francis 
Solanus College (Roman Catholic). There are 
two or three national banks, a State bank with a 
capital of §300.000, beside two private banks, four 
or five daily papers, with several weekly and one 
or two monthly publications. Its advantages as a 
shipping point by river and railroad have made it 
one of the most important manufacturing cen- 
ters west of Chicago. The census of 1890 showed 
a total of 374 manufacturing establishments, 
having an aggregate capital of S6, 187, 845, employ- 
ing 5,058 persons, and turning out an annual 
product valued at §10,160,493. The cost of 
material used was §5,597,990, and the wages paid 
§3,383,571. Tlie number of different industries 
reported aggregated seventy-six, the more impor- 
tant being foundries, carriage and wagon fac- 
tories, agricultural implement works, cigar and 



438 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tobacco factories, flour-mills, breweries, brick- 
yards, lime works, saddle and harness shops, 
paper mills, furniture factories, organ works, and 
artificial-ice factories. Population (1880), 27,268; 
(1890), 31,494; (1900), 36,2.')2. 

QUINCY, ALTON & ST, LOUIS RAILROAD. 
(See Cliicago. BiirliiDiftiu (£■ Q>uincy Railroiid.) 

({UIXCY & CHI('A(JO RAILROAD. fSee Chi- 
ctKju. Burlingtiiii A- (.^inhii-y Railrdtid.) 

(JUIIVCY & TOLEDO RAILROAD. (See 
Wahosih RaHroad.) 

QUINCY & WARSAW RAILROAD. (See 
Chicago, Burlington <V- Qiiincy Rttilroad.) 

RAAB, Henry, ex-State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, was born in Wetzlar, Rhen- 
ish Prussia, June 20, 1837 ; learned the trade of a 
currier with his father and came to the United 
States in 18.53, finally locating at Belleville, 111. , 
where, in 1857, he became a teacher in the pub- 
lic schools ; in 1873 was made Superintendent of 
schools for that city, and, in 1882, was elected 
State Sujierintendent of Public Instruction on 
the Democratic ticket, declined a renomination 
in 1886; was nominated a second time in 1890, 
and re-elected, but defeated by S. M. Inglis in 
1894. In the administration of his office, Pro- 
fessor Raab showed a commendable freedom from 
jjartisanship. After retiring from the office of 
State Superintendent, he resumed a position in 
connection with the jniblic schools of Belleville. 

RADISSOX, Pierre Esprit, an early Frencli 
traveler and trader, who is said to have reached 
the Upper Mississippi on his third voyage to the 
West in 16.'58-59. The period of his explorations 
extended from 16.52 to 1684, of which he prepared 
a narrative which was published by the Prince 
Society of Boston in 1885, under the title of 
"Radisson"s Voyages." He and his brother-in- 
law, Medard Chouart, first conceived the idea of 
planting a settlement at Hudson's Bay. (See 
Chouart. Medard.) 

RAILROAD AND WAREHOUSE COMMIS- 
SION, a Board of three Commissioners, appointed 
by the executive (by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the Senate), under authority of an act ap- 
proved, April 13, 1871, for the enforcement of the 
provisions of the Constitution and laws in relation 
to railroads and warehouses. The Commission's 
powers are partly judicial, partly executive. The 
following is a summary of its powers and duties: 
To establish a schedule of maximum rates, equi- 
table to shipper and carrier alike; to require 
yearly reports from railroads and warehouses; 
to hear and pass upon complaints of extortion and 



unjust discrimination, and (if necessary) enforce 
prosecutions therefor; to secure the safe condi- 
tion of railway road-beds, bridges and trestles; to 
liear and decide all manner of complaints relative 
to intersections and to protect grade-crossings; 
to insure the adoption of a safe interlocking sys- 
tem, to be approved by the Commission ; to 
enforce proper rules for the inspection and regis- 
tration of grain throughout the State. The prin- 
cipal offices of the Commission are at the State 
capital, where monthly sessions are held. For 
the purpose of properly conducting the grain 
inspection department, monthly meetings are 
also held at Chicago, where the offices of a Grain 
Inspector, appointed by the Board, are located. 
Here all business relating to this department is 
discussed and necessary special meetings are 
lield. The inspection department has no revenue 
outside of fees, but the latter ai'e ample for its 
maintenance. Fees for inspection on arrival 
("inspection in") are twenty-five cents per car- 
load, ten cents per wagon-load, and forty cents 
))er 1,000 busliels from canal-boat or vessels. For 
inspection from store ("inspected out") the fees 
are fifty cents per 1,000 bushels to vessels; 
thirty-five cents per car-load, and ten cents per 
wagon-load to teams. While there are never 
wanting some cases of friction between the trans- 
portation companies and warehousemen on the 
one hand, and the Commission on the other, 
there can be no question that the formation of 
the latter has been of great value to tlie receiv- 
ers, shippers, forwarders and tax-payers of the 
State generally. Similar regulations in regard to 
the inspection of grain in warehouses, at East St. 
Louis and Peoria, are also in force. The first 
Board, created under the act of 1871, consisted of 
Gustavus Koerner, Richard P. Morgan and David 
S. Hammond, holding office until 1873. Other 
Boards have been as follows: 1873-77 — Henry D. 
Cook (deceased 1873, and succeeded bj' James 
Steele), David A. Brown and John M. Pearson; 
1877-83— William M. Smith, George JI. Bogue and 
John H. Oberly (retired 1881 and succeeded b_v 
William H. Robinson) ; 1883-8.5— Wm. N. Brain- 
ard, E. C. Lewis and Charles T. Stratton ;■ 1885-89 
— John I. Rinaker, Benjamin F. Marsh and Wm. T. 
Johnson (retired in 1887 and succeeded by Jason 
Rogers); 1889-93— John R. Wheeler, Isaac N. 
Phillips and W. S. Crim (succeeded, 1891, by John 
R. Tanner) ; 1893-97— W. S. Cantrell, Thomas F. 
Gahan and Charles F. Lape (succeeded, 1895, by 
George W. Fithian); 1897-99— Cicero J. Lindley, 
Charles S. Rannells and James E. Bidwell. (See 
also Grain Inspection. ) 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



439 



RAILROADS (IN GENERAL). The existing 
railroad system of Illinois had its inception in the 
mania for internal improvement which swept 
over the country in 1836-37, the basis of the plan 
adopted in Illinois (as in the Eastern States) being 
that the State should construct, maintain, own 
and operate an elaborate s}'stem. Lines were to 
be constructed from Cairo to Galena, from Alton 
to Mount Carmel, from Peoria to Warsaw, from 
Alton to the Central Railroad, from Belleville 
to Mount Carmel, from Bloomington to Jlack- 
inaw Town, and from Meredosia to Springfield. 
The experiment proved extremely unfortunate 
to the financial interests of the State, and laid the 
foundation of an immense debt under which it 
staggered for many years. The Northern Cross 
Railroad, extending from Meredosia to Spring- 
field, was the only one so far completed as to be in 
operation. It was sold, in 1847, to Nicholas II. 
Ridgely, of Springfield for §31,100, he being the 
highest bidder. This line formed a nucleus of 
the existing Wabash system. The first road to 
be operated by private parties (outside of a prim- 
itive tramway in St. Clair County, designed for 
the transportation of coal to St. Louis) was the 
Galena & Chicago Union, chartered in 1836. This 
was the second line completed in tlie State, anl:! 
the first to run from Chicago. The subsequent 
development of the railway system of Illinois 
was at first gradual, then steady and finally 
rapid. A succinct description of the various 
lines now in operation in the State may be found 
under appropriate headings. At present Illinois 
leads all the States of the Union in the extent of 
railways in operation, the total mileage (1897) of 
main track being 10,785.43 — or 19 miles for each 
100 scjuare miles of territory and S.") miles for each 
10,000 inhabitants — estimating the population 
(1898) at four and a quarter millions. Every one 
of the 103 counties of the State is traversed by at 
least one railroad except three — Calhoun, Hardin 
and Pope. The entire capitalization of the 111 
companies doing business in the State in 1896, 
(including capital stock, funded debt and current 
liabilities), was $2.669,164,143— equal to 1567,556 
per mile. In 1894, fifteen owned and ten leased 
lines paid dividends of from four to eight per 
cent on common, and from four to ten per cent 
on preferred, stock — the total amount thus paid 
aggregating §25,331,753. The total earnings and 
income, in Illinois, of all lines operated in the 
State, aggregated $77,508,537, while the total 
expenditure within the State was $71,463,367. 
Of the 58,263,860 tons of freight carried, 11,611,- 
798 were of agricultural products and 17,179,366 



mineral products. The number of passengers 
(earning revenue) carried during the year, was 
83,281,655. The total number of railroad em- 
ployes (of all classes) was 61,200. Tlie entire 
amount of taxes paid by railroad companies for 
the year was $3,846,379". From 1836, when the 
first special charter was granted for the con- 
struction of a railroad in Illinois, until 1869 — 
after which all corporations of this character 
came under the general incorporation laws of the 
State in accordance with the Constitution of 1870 
— 393 special charters for the construction of 
railroads were granted by the Legislature, besides 
numerous amendments of charters already in 
existence. (For the history of important indi- 
vidual lines see eacli road under its corporate 
name. ) 

RALSTON, Virgil Young, editor and soldier, 
was born, July 16, 1838, at Vanceburg, Ky. ; was 
a student in Illinois College one year (1846-47), 
after which lie studied law in Quincy and prac- 
ticed for a time ; also resided some time in Cali- 
fornia; 1855-57 was one of the editors of "The 
Quincy Whig," and represented that paper in the 
Editorial Convention at Decatur, Feb. 33, 1856. 
(See Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention.) In 
1861, he was commissioned a Captain in the Six- 
teenth Illinois Volunteers, but soon resigned on 
account of ill-health; later, enlisted in an Iowa 
regiment, but died in liospital at St. Louis, from 
wounds and exposure, April 19, 1864. 

RAMSAY, Rufns N., State Treasurer, was born 
on a farm in Clinton County, 111., May 20, 1838; 
received a collegiate education at Illinois and 
McKendree Colleges, and at Indiana State Uni- 
versity; studied law with ex -Gov. A. C. French, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1865, but soon 
abandoned tlie law for banking, in which he was 
engaged both at Lebanon and Carlyle, limiting 
his business to the latter place about 1890. He 
served one term (from 1865) as County Clerk, and 
two terms (1889 and "91) as Representative in the 
General Assembly, and, in 1893, was nominated 
as a Democrat and elected State Treasurer. Died 
in oftice. at Carlyle, Nov. 11, 1894. 

RAMSEY, a village of Fayette County, at the 
intersection of the Illinois Central and the Toledo, 
St. Louis & Western Railroads, 13 miles north of 
Vandalia; the district is agricultural; lias one 
newspaper. Pop. (1890), 598; (1900), 747. 

RANDOLPH COUNTY, Ues in the southwest 
section of the State, and borders on the Missis- 
sippi River; area 560 square miles; named for 
Beverly Randolph. It was set off from St. Clair 
County in 1795, being the second county organ- 



440 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ized in the territory which now constitutes the 
State of Illinois. From the earliest period of Illi- 
nois history, Randolph County has been a pivotal 
point. In the autumn of 17U0 a French and 
Indian settlement was established at Kaskaskia, 
which subsequently* became the center of French 
influence in the Mississippi Valley. In 1723 
Prairie du Rocher was founded by the French. 
It was in Randolph County that Fort Chartres 
was built, in 1720, and it was here that Col. 
George Rogers Clark's expedition for the seizure 
of the "Illinois Country" met with success in the 
capture of Kaskaskia. American immigration 
began with the close of the Revolutionary War. 
Among the early .settlers were the Cranes (Icha- 
bod and Georgej, Gen. John Edgar, the Dodge 
family, the Morrisons, and John Rice Jones. 
Toward the close of the century came Shadrach 
Bond (afterwards the first Governor of the State) 
with his uncle of the same name, and the 
Menards (Pierre and Hippolyte), the first of 
whom subsequently became Lieutenant - Gov- 
ernor. (See Bond, Shadrach: Menard, Pierre.) 
In outline, Randolph County is triangular, while 
its surface is diversified. Timber and building 
stone are abundant, and coal underlies a consid- 
erable area. Chester, the county-seat, a city of 
3,000 inhabitants, is a place of considerable trade 
and the seat of tlie Southern Illinois Penitentiary. 
The county is crossed by several railroad lines, 
and transportation facilities are excellent. Pop- 
ulation (1890), 25,049; (1900), 28,001. 

KA]VSOM,(Gen.) Thomas Edward Greenfield, 
soldier, was born at Norwich, Vt., Nov. 29, 1834; 
educated at Norwich Universitj', an institution 
under charge of Jiis father, who was later an 
officer of the Mexican War and killed at Chapul- 
tepec. Having learned civil engineering, he 
entered on his profession at Peru, 111., in 1851; 
in 18.55 became a member of the real-estate firm 
of A. J. Galloway & Co., Chicago, soon after 
removing to Fayette County, where he acted as 
agent of the llUnois Central Railroad. Under 
the first call for volunteers, in April, 1861, he 
organized a company, which liaving been incor- 
poratetl in the Eleventh Illinois, he was elected 
Major, and, on the reorganization of tlie regiment 
for the three-years' service, was commissioned 
Lieutenant-Colonel, in this capacity having com- 
mand of his regiment at Fort Donelson, where he 
was severely wounded and won deserved pro- 
motion to a colonelcy, as successor to Gen. W. H. 
L. Wallace, afterwards killed at Shiloh. Here 
Colonel Ransom again distinguished himself by 
his bravery, and though again wounded while 



leading his regiment, remained in command 
through the day. His service was recognized by 
promotion as Brigadier - General. He bore a 
prominent part in the siege of Vicksburg and in 
the Red River campaign, and, later, commanded 
the Seventh Army Corps in the operations about 
Atlanta, but finally fell a victim to disease and 
his numerous wounds, dying in Chicago, Oct. 29, 
1804, having previously received the brevet rank 
of Major-General. General Ransom was con- 
fessedly one of the most brilliant officers contrib- 
uted by Illinois to the War for the Union, and 
was pronounced, by both Grant and Sherman, one 
of the ablest volunteer generals in their com- 
mands. 

RAJiTOUL, a city in Champaign County, at 
the junction of the main line of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad, with its West Lebanon and Leroy 
brancli, 14 miles north-northeast of Cliampaign 
and 114 miles soutli by west of Chicago. It iias 
a national bank, seven chun.'lies. opera house, 
gr.aded school, two weekly papers, macliine shops, 
flouring and fla.x mills, tile factories, and many 
handsome residences. Pop. (1900), 1,207. 

R.iSLE, (Sebastian, a Jesuit missionary, born 
in France, in 1658; at his own request was 
attached to the French missions in Canada in 
1689, and, about 1691 or '92, was sent to the Illi- 
nois Country, where he labored for two years, 
traveling much and making a careful study of 
the Indian dialects. He left many manuscripts 
descriptive of his journeyings and of the mode of 
life and character of the aborigines. From Illi- 
nois he was transferred to Norridgewock, Maine, 
where he prepared a dictionary of the Abenaki 
language in three volumes, which is now pre- 
served in the library of Harvard College. His 
influence over his Indian parishioners was great, 
and his use of it. during the Frenuli and Indian 
War, so incensed the English colonists in Massa- 
chusetts that the Governor set a price upon his 
head. 'On August 12, 1724, he was slain, with 
seven Indian chiefs who were seeking to aid his 
escape, during a night attack upon Norridge- 
wock by a force of English soldiers from Fort 
Richmond, his mutilated body being interred the 
next day by tlie Indians. In 1833, the citizens of 
Norridgewock erected a monument to his mem- 
ory on the spot where he fell. 

RASTER, Herman, journalist, was born in Ger- 
many in 1828; entered journalism and came to 
America in 1851, being employed on German 
papers in Buffalo and New York City; in 1867 
accepted the position of editor-in-chief of "The 
Chicago Staats Zeitung, "' which he continued to 



HISTORICAL ENCYULOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Ml 



lill until .Tune, 1890, when he went to Europe for 
the benefit of his health, dying at Dresden, July 
34, 1891. While employed on papers in this 
country during the Civil War, he acted as the 
American correspondent of papers at Berlin, 
Bremen, Vienna, and other cities of Central 
Europe. He served as delegate to both State and 
National Conventions of the Republican party, 
and, in 1809, received from President Grant the 
appointment of Collector of Internal Revenue for 
the Chicago District, but, during the later years 
of his life, cooperated with the Democratic 
party. 

RAUCH, John Henry, physician and .sanitary 
expert, born in Lebanon, Pa., Sept. 4, 1828, and 
graduated in medicine at the University of Penn- 
sylvania, in 1849. The following year he removed 
to Iowa, settling at Burlington. He was an 
active member of the Iowa State Jledical Society, 
and, in 1851, prepared and published a "Report 
on the Medical and Economic Botany of Iowa," 
and, later, made a collection of ichthyologic 
remains of the Upper Mississippi and Missouri for 
Professor Agassiz. From 1857 to 1800 he filled 
the chair of Materia Medica and Medical Botany 
at Rush Medical College, Chicago, occupying the 
same position in 1859 in the Chicago College of 
Pharmacy, of which he was one of the organ- 
izers. During the Civil War he served, until 
1864, as Assistant Medical Director, first in the 
Army of the Potomac, and later in Louisiana, 
being brevetted Lieutenant-Colunel at the close of 
the struggle. Returning to Chicago, lie aided in 
reorganizing the city's health service, and, in 
1807, was appointed a member of the new Board 
of Health and Sanitary Inspector, serving until 
1876. The latter year he was chosen President of 
the American Public Health Association, and, 
in 1877, a member of the newly created State 
Board of Health of Illinois, and elected its first 
President. Later, he became Secretary, and con- 
tinued in that office during his connection with 
the Board. In 1878-79 lie devoted much attention 
to the yellow-fever epidemic, and was instru- 
mental in the formation of the Sanitary Council 
of the Mississippi, and in securing the adoption 
of a sj'stem of river inspection by the National 
Board of Health. He was a member of many 
scientific bodies, and the author of numerous 
monographs and printed addresses, chiefly in the 
domain of sanitarj' science and preventive med- 
icine. Among them may be noticed "Intra- 
mural Interments and Their Influence on Health 
and Epidemics," "Sanitary Problems of Chi- 
cago," "Prevention of Asiatic Cholera in North 



America, " and a series of reports as Secretary of 
the State Board of Health. Died, at Lebanon. 
Pa., March 24, 1894. 

RAUM, (Gen.) Oreen Berry, soldier and author, 
was born at Golconda, Pope County, 111. . Dec. i3, 
1829, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 
1853, but, three years later, removed with his 
family to Kansas. His Free-State proclivities 
rendering him obnoxious to the pro-slavery party 
there, he returned to Illinois in 1857, settling at 
Harrisburg, Saline County. Early in the Civil 
War he was commissioned a Major in the Fifty 
sixth Illinois Volunteers, was subsequently pro- 
moted to a Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and. later, 
advanced to a Brigadier-Generalship, resigning 
his commission at the close of the war (May 6, 
1865). He was with Rosecrans in the Mississippi 
campaign of 1862, took a conspicuous part in the 
battle of Corinth, participated in the siege of 
Vicksburg and was wounded at Missionary Ridge. 
He also rendered valuable service during the 
Atlanta campaign, keeping lines of communi- 
cation open, re-enforcing Resaca and repulsing an 
attack by General Hood. He was with Sherman 
in the "March to the Sea," and with Hancock, in 
the Shenandoah Valley, when the war closed. In 
1866 General Raum became President of the pro- 
jected Cairo & Vincennes Railroad, an enterprise 
of which he had been an active promoter. He 
was elected to Congress in 1866 fronj the South- 
ern Illinois District (then the Thirteenth), serv- 
ing one term, and the same year presided over the 
Republican State Convention, as he did again in 
1876 and in 1880 — was also a delegate to the 
National Conventions at Cincinnati and Chicago 
the last two years just mentioned. From August 
2, 1870, to May 31, 1883, General Raum served as 
Commissioner of Internal Revenue at AVashing- 
ton, in that time having superintended the col- 
lection of §800.000,000 of revenue, and the 
disbursement of §30,000,000. After retiring from 
the Commissionership, he resumed the practice 
of law in Washington. In 1889 he was appointed 
Commissioner of Pensions, remaining to the 
close of President Harrison's administration, 
when he removed to Chicago and again engaged 
in practice. During the various political cam- 
paigns of the past thirty years, his services have 
been in frequent request as a campaign speaker, 
and he has canvassed a number of States in the 
interest of the Republican party. Besides his 
official reports, he is author of "The Existing 
Conflict Between Republican Government and 
Southern Oligarchy" (Washington, 1884), and a 
number of magazine articles. 



442 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



RAUM, John, pioneer and early legislator, was 
born in Hummelstown, Pa., July 14, 1793, and 
died at Golconda, 111., March 14, 1869. Having 
received a liberal education in his native State, 
the subject of this sketch settled at Shawneetown, 
111., in 1823, but removed to Golconda, Pope 
County, in 1826. He had previously served three 
years in the War of 1812, as First Lieutenant of 
the Sixteenth Infantry, and, while a resident of 
Illinois, served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 as 
Brigade Major. He was also elected Senator 
from the District composed of Pope and Johnson 
Counties in the Eighth General Assembly (1833). 
as successor to Samuel Alexander, who had 
resigned. The following year he was appointed 
Clerk of the Circuit Court of Pope County, and 
was also elected Clerk of the County Court the 
same year, holding both offices for many years, 
and retaining the County Clerkship up to his 
death, a period of thirty-five years. He was 
married March 22, 1827, to Juliet C. Field, and 
was father of Brig. -Gen. Green B. Raum, and 
Maj. John M. Raum. both of whom served in the 
volunteer army from Illinois during the Civil 
War. 

RAWLINS, John Aarun, soldier. Secretary of 
War, was born at East Galena, Feb. 13, 1831, the 
son of a small farmer, who was also a charcoal- 
burner. The son, after irregular attendance on 
the district schools and a year passed at Mount 
Morris Academy, began the study of law. He 
was admitted to the bar at Galena in 18.54, and at 
once began practice. In 1857 he was elected City 
Attorney of Galena, and nominated on the Doug- 
las electoral ticket in 1860. At the outbreak of 
the Civil War he favored, and publicly advocated, 
coercive measures, and it is said that it was 
partly through his influence that General Grant 
early tendered his services to the Government. 
He served on the staff of the latter from the time 
General Grant was given command of a brigade 
until the close of tlie war, most of the time being 
its chief, and rising in rank, step by step, until, 
in 1863, he became a Brigadier-General, and, in 
1865, a Major-General. His long service on the 
staff of General Grant indicates the estimation 
in which he was held by his chief. Promptly on 
the assumption of the Presidency by General 
Grant, in March, 1869, he was appointed Secre- 
tary of War, but consumption had already 
obtained a hold upon his constitution, and he sur- 
vived only six months, dying in office, Sept. 6, 
1809. 

RAY, Charles H., journalist, was born at Nor- 
wich, Chenango County, N. Y., March 12, 1821; 



came west in 1843, studied medicine and began 
practice at Muscatine, Iowa, afterwards locating 
in Tazewell County, 111., also being associated, 
for a time, with the publication of a temperance 
paper at Springfield. In 1847 he removed to 
Galena, soon after becoming editor of "The 
Galena Jeffersonian, " a Democratic paper, with 
which he remained until 1854. He took strong 
ground against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and, at 
the session of the Legislature of 1855, served as 
Secretary of the Senate, also acting as corre- 
spondent of "The New York Tribune"'; a few 
months later became associated with Joseph 
Medill and John C. Vaughan in the purchase and 
management of "The Chicago Tribune,"" Dr. Ray 
assuming the position of editor-in-chief. Dr. 
Ray was one of the most trenchant and powerful 
writers ever connected with the Illinois press, 
and his articles exerted a wide influence during 
the period of the organization of the Republican 
party, in which he was an influential factor. He 
was a member of the Convention of Anti-Neb- 
raska editors held at Decatur, Feb. 23, 1856, and 
served as Chairman of the Committee on Reso- 
lutions. (See Ant i- Nebraska Editorial Conven- 
tion.) At the State Republican Convention held 
at Bloomington, in May following, he was 
appointed a member of the State Central Com- 
mittee for that year ; was also Canal Trustee by 
appointment of Governor Bissell, serving from 
1857 to 1861. In November, 1863, he severed his 
connection with "The Tribune'" and engaged in 
oil .speculations in Canada which proved finan- 
cially disastrous. In 1865 he returned to the paper 
as an editorial writer, remaining only for a short 
time. In 1868 he assumed the management of 
"The Chicago Evening Post," with which he 
remained identified until his death, Sept. 23, 
1870. 

RAY, Lyinan Beecher, ex-Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, was born in Crittenden County, Vt., 
August 17, 1831; removed to Illinois in 18.")2, and 
has since been enga.ged in mercantile business in 
this State. After filling several local offices he 
was elected to represent Grundj- County in the 
lower house of the Twenty-eighth General 
Assembly (1872), and, ten years later, was chosen 
State Senator, serving from 1883 to 1887, and 
being one of the recognized party leaders on the 
floor. In 1888, he was elected Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor on the Republican ticket, his term expiring 
in 1893. His home is at Morris, Grundj- County. 

RAY, William H., Congressman, was born in 
Dutchess County, N. Y., Dec. 14, 1812; grew to 
manhood in his native State, receiving a limited 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



443 



education: in 1834 removed to Rushville, 111., 
engaging in business as a merchant and, later, as 
a banker ; was a member of the first State Board 
of Equalization (18(57-69), and, in 1872, was 
elected to Congress as a Republican, representing 
his District from 1873 to 1875. Died, Jan. 35, 
1881. 

RAYMOND, a village of Montgomery County, 
on tlie St. Louis Division of the Wabash Railway, 
50 miles southwest of Decatur ; has electric lights, 
some manufactures and a weekly paper. Con- 
siderable coal is mined liere and grain and fruit 
grown in the surrounding country. Population 
(1880), 543; (1800), 841; (1900), 906. 

RAYMOND, (Rev.) Miner, D.D., clergyman 
and educator, was born in New York City. 
August 29, 1811. being de.scended from a family 
of Huguenots (known bj' the name of "Rai- 
monde"), who were expelled from France on 
account of their religion. In liis youth he 
learned the trade of a shoemaker with his father, 
at Rensselaerville, N. Y. He united with the 
Methodi.st Episcopal Church at the age of 17, 
later taking a course in the Wesleyan Academy 
at Wilbraham, Mass., where he afterwards 
became a teacher. In 1838 he joined the New 
England Conference and, three years later, began 
pastoral work at Worcester, subsequently occu- 
pying pulpits in Boston and Westfield. In 1848, 
on the resignation of Dr. Robert Allyn (after- 
wards President of MoKendree College and of the 
.Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbon- 
dale), Dr. Raymond succeeded to the principalship 
of the Academy at Wilbraham, remaining there 
until 1864, when he was elected to the chair of 
systematic theology in the Garrett Biblical Insti- 
tute at Evanstou, 111., his connection with the 
latter institution continuing until 1895, when he 
resigned. For some three years of this period he 
served as pastor of the First Metliodist Church 
at Evanston. His death occurred, Nov. 35, 1897. 

REAVIS, Logan Uriah, journalist, was born 
in the Sangamon Bottom, Mason County, 111.. 
March 26, 1831 ; in 1855 entered tiie office of "The 
Beardstown Gazette," later purchased an interest 
in the paper and continued its publication under 
the name of "The Central Illinoian." until 1857, 
when he sold out and went to Nebraska. Return- 
ing, in 1860, he repurchased his old paper and 
conducted it until 1866, when he sold out for the 
last time. The remainder of his life was devoted 
chiefly to advocating the removal of the National 
Capital to St. Louis, wliich lie did by lectures and 
the publication of pamphlets and books on the 
subject; also published a "Life of Horace 



Greeley," another of General Harney, and two 
or three other volumes. Died in St. Louis, 
April 25, 1889. 

RECTOR, the name of a prominent and influ- 
ential family who lived at Kaskaskia in Terri- 
torial days. According to Governor Reynolds, 
who has left the most detailed account of them in 
his "Pioneer History of Illinois," they consisted 
of nine brothers and four daughters, all of whom 
were born in Fauquier County, Va., some of 
tliem emigrating to Ohio, while others came to 
Illinois, arriving at Kaskaskia in 1806. Reynolds 
describes them as passionate and impulsive, but 
possessed of a high standard of integrity and a 
chivalrous and patriotic spirit. — William, the 
oldest brother, and regarded as tlie head of the 
family, became a Deputy Surveyor soon after 
coming to Illinois, and took part in the Indian 
campaigns between 1812 and 1814. In 1816 he 
was appointed Surveyor-General of Illinois, Mis- 
souri and Arkansas, and afterwards removed to 
St. Louis. — Stephen, another of the brothers, 
was a Lieutenant in Captain Moore's Company 
of Rangers in the War of 1813, while Charles 
commanded one of the two regiments organized 
by Governor Edwards, in 1812, for the expedition 
against the Indians at tlie head of Peoria Lake. 
— Jfelson, still another brother, served in the 
same expedition on the staflf of Governor 
Edwards. Stephen, already mentioned, was a 
member of the expedition sent to strengthen 
Prairie du Cliien in 1814, and showed great cour- 
age in a fight with the Indians at Rock Island. 
During the same year Nelson Rector and Captain 
Samuel Whiteside joined Col. Zachary Taylor 
(afterwards President) in an expedition on tiie 
Upper Mississijipi, in which they came in conflict 
with the British and Indians at Rock Island, in 
which Captain Rector again displayed the cour- 
age so characteristic of his familj*. On the 1st of 
March, 1814, while in charge of a surveying party 
on Saline Creek, in Gallatin County, according to 
Reynolds, Nelson was ambushed by the Indians 
and, though severely wounded, was carried away 
by his horse, and recovered. — Ellas, another mem- 
ber of the family, was Governor Edwards' first 
Adjutant-General, serving a few months in 1809, 
when he gave place to Robert Morrison, but was 
reappointed in 1810, serving for more than three 
years. — Thomas, one of the younger members, 
had a duel with Joshua Barton on "Bloody 
Island," sometime between 1812 and 1814, in 
which he killed his antagonist. (See Duels.) A 
portion of this historic family drifted into Arkan- 
sas, where they became prominent, one of their 



444 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



descendants serving as Governor of that State 
(luring the Civil War period. 

RED Bl'D, a city in Randolph County, on the 
Mobile & Ohio Railroad, some 37 miles south- 
southeast of St. Louis, and 21 miles south of Belle- 
ville; has a carriage factory and two flouring 
mills, electric lights, a liospital, two banks, five 
churches, a graded school and a weekly news- 
paper. Pop. (1890). 1.176; (1900), 1,169. 

REEVES, Owen T., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Ross County, Ohio, Dec. 18, 1839; gradu- 
ated at the Ohio Weslej'an University, at Dela- 
ware, in 1850, afterwards serving as a tutor in 
that institution and as Principal of a High 
School at Chillicothe. In 18.14 he came to Bloom- 
ington. 111., and, as a member of the School 
Board, assisted in reorganizing the school system 
of that city; also has serveil continuously, for 
over 40 years, as one of the Trustees of the I!li- 
nois Wesleyan University, being a part of the 
time President of the Board. In the meantime, he 
had begun the practice of law, served as City 
Attorney and member of tlie Board of Supervis- 
ors. July 1, 18C2, he enlisted in the Seventieth 
Illinois Volunteers (a 100-days' emergeucj' regi- 
ment), was elected Colonel and nuistered out, 
with his command, in October, 1862. Colonel 
Reeves was subsequently connected with the 
construction of the Lafayette, Bloomington & 
Mississippi Railroad (now a part of the Illinois 
Central) , and was also one of the founders of the 
Law Department of the Wesleyan University. 
In 1877 he was elected to the Circuit bench, serv- 
ing continuously, by repeated re-elections, until 
1891 — during the latter part of his incumbency 
being upon the Appellate bench. 

REEVES, Walter, Member of Congress and 
lawyer, was born near Brownsville, Pa., Sept. 25, 
1848 ; removed to Illinois at 8 years of age and 
was reared on a farm; later became a teacher 
and lawyer, following his profession at Streator; 
in 1894 he was nominated by the Republicans of 
the Eleventh District for Congress, as successor to 
the Hon. Thomas J. Henderson, and was elected, 
receiving a majority over three competitors. 
Mr. Reeves was re-elected in 1896, and again in 
1898. 

REFORMATORY, ILLINOIS STATE, a prison 
for the incarceration of male offenders under 21 
years of age, who are believed to be susceptible of 
reformation. It is the successor of the "State 
Reform School," which was created by act of 
the Legislature of 18G7, but not opened for the 
admission of inmates until 1871. It is located at 
Pontiac. The number of inmates, in 1872, was 165, 



which was increased to 334 in 1890. The results, 
while moderately successful, were not altogether 
satisfactory. The appropriations made for con- 
struction, maintenance, etc., were not upon a 
scale adequate to accomplish what was desired, 
and, in 1891, a radical change was effected. 
Previous to that date the Umit, as to age, was 16 
years. The law establishing the present reforma- 
torj- provides for a system of indeterminate sen- 
tences, and a release upon parole, of inmates 
who, in the opinion of the Board of JIanagers, 
maj' be safely granted conditional liberation. 
The inmates are divided into two classes. (1) 
those between the ages of 10 and 16, and (2) those 
between 16 and 21. The Board of Managers is 
composed of five members, not more than three of 
whom shall be of the same party, their term of 
office to be for ten years. The course of treat- 
ment is educational (intellectually, morally and 
industrially), schools being conducted, trades 
taught, and the inmates constantly impre.ssed 
with the conviction that, only through genuine 
and unmistakable evidence of improvement, can 
they regain their freedom. The reformatory 
influence of tlie institution may be best inferred 
from the results of one year's operation. Of 146 
inmates paroled, 15 violated their parole and 
became fugitives, 6 were returned to the 
Reformatory, 1 died, and 124 remained in 
employment and regularly reporting. Among 
the industries carried on are painting and glaz- 
ing, masonry and plastering, gardening, knit- 
ting, chair-caning, broom-making, cai'pentering. 
tailoring and blacksmithing. The grounds of the 
Reformatory contain a vein of excellent coal, 
which it is proposed to mine, utilizing the clay, 
thus obtained, in the manufacture of brick, 
which can be employed in the construction of 
additional needed buildings. The average nimi- 
ber of inmates is about 800, and the crimes for 
which they are sentenced range, in gravity, from 
simple assault, or petit larcenj-, to the most seri- 
ous offenses known to the criminal code, with 
the exception of homicide. The number of 
inmates, at the beginning of the year 1895, was 
812. An institution of a similar character, for 
the confinement of juvenile female offenders, was 
established under an act of the Legislature 
passed at the session of 1893, and located at Gen- 
eva, Kane County. (See Home for Juvenilr 
Female Offenders.) 

RELIGIOUS DEXOMIJVATIOIVS. The State 
constitution contains the familiar guaranty of 
absolute freedom of conscience. The chief 
denominations have grown in like ratio with the 



HISTOIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



145 



population, as may be seen from figures given 
below. The earliest Christian services held were 
conducted by Catliolic missionaries, wlio attested 
tlie sincerity of their convictions (in many 
instances) by the sacrifice of their lives, either 
through violence or exposure. The aborigines, 
however, were not easily Christianized; and, 
sliortly after the cession of Illinois by France to 
Great Britain, the Catholic missions, being gener- 
ally withdrawn, ceased to exert much influence 
upon the red men. although the French, who 
remained in the ceded territory, continued to 
adhere to their ancient faith. (See Early Mis- 
sionai-ies. ) One of the first Protestant sects to 
hold service in Illinois, was the Methodist Epis- 
copal ; Rev. Joseph Lillard coming to Illinois in 
1793, and Rev. Hosea Riggs settling in the 
American Bottom in 179(j. (For history of 
Methodism in Illinois, see Metliodist Episcopal 
Church.) The pioneer Protestant prea3her, 
however, was a Baptist — Elder James Smith — 
who came to New Design in 1787. Revs. David 
Badgley and Joseph Chance followed him in 
1796, and the first denominational association 
was formed in 1807. (As to inception and growth 
of this denomination in Illinois, see also Bap- 
tists.) In 1814 the Massachusetts Missionary 
Society sent two missionaries to Illinois — Revs. 
Samuel J. Mills and Daniel Smith. Two years 
later (1816), the First Presbyterian Church was 
organized at Sharon, by Rev. James McGready, 
of Kentucky. (See also Presbyterians. ) The 
Congregationalists began to arrive with the tide 
of immigration that set in from the Eastern 
States, early in the "SO's. Four churches were 
organized in 1833, and the subsequent growth of 
the denomination in the State, if gradual, has 
been steady. (See Congregationalists.) About 
the same time came the Disciples of Christ (some- 
times called, from their founder, "Campbellites"). 
Tliey encouraged free discussion, were liberal and 
warm hearted, and did not require belief in any 
particular creed as a condition of membership. 
Tlie sect grew rapidly in numerical strength. 
(See Disciples of Christ.) The Protestant Episco- 
palians obtained their first foothold in Illinois, in 
1835, when Rev. Philander Chase (afterward con- 
secrated Bishop) immigrated to the State from 
the East. (See Protestant Episcopal Church.) 
The Lutherans in Illinois are chiefly of German 
or Scandinavian birth or descent, as may be 
inferred from the fact that, out of sixty-four 
churches in Chicago under care of the Missouri 
Synod, only four use the English language. They 
are the only Protestant sect maintaining (when- 



ever possible) a system of parochial schools. (See 
Luthcra7is. ) There are twent_y-six other religious 
bodies in the State, exclusive of the Jews, who 
have twelve synagogues and nine rabbis. Ac- 
cording to the census statistics of 1890, these 
twenty-six sects, with their numerical strength, 
number of buildings, ministers, etc., are as fol- 
lows; Anti-Mission Baptists, 2,800 members, 78 
churches and 63 ministers; Church of God, 1,200 
members, 39 churches, 34 ministers; Dunkards, 
121,000 members, 155 churches. 83 ministers; 
Friends ("Quakers") 2,655 members, 25 churches; 
Free Methodists, 1,805 members, 38 churches, 84 
ministers; Free-Will Baptists, 4.694 members. 107 
churches, 72 ministers; Evangelical Association, 
15.904 members, 143 churches, 152 ministers; 
Cumberland Presbyterians, 11,804 members, 198 
churches, 149 ministers; Jlethodist Episcopal 
(South) 3,927 members, 34 churches, 33 minis- 
ters; Moravians, 720 members. 3 churches, 3 
ministers ; New Jerusalem Church (Swedeuborgi- 
ans), 662 members, 14 churches, 8 ministers; 
Primitive Methodist, 230 members. 2 churches, 2 
ministers; Protestant Methodist, 5,000 members, 
91 churches, 106 ministers; Reformed Church in 
United States, 4,100 members, 34 churches, 19 
ministers; Reformed Church of America, 2,200 
members, 24 churches, 23 ministers; Reformed 
Episcopalians, 2,150 members, 13 churches, 11 
ministers; Reformed Presbyterians, 1,400 mem- 
bers. 7 churches, 6 ministers; Salvation Army, 
1,980 members; Second Adventists, 4,500 mem- 
bers, 64 churches, 35 ministers; Seventh Day 
Baptists, 320 members, 7 churclies, 11 ministers; 
Universalists, 3,160 members, 45 churches, 37 
ministers; Unitarians, 1,225 members. 19 
churches, 14 ministers; United Evangelical, 
30,000 members, 129 churches, 108 ministers; 
United Brethren, 16,500 members, 275 churches, 
260 ministers ; United Presbyterians, 11,250 mem- 
bers, 203 churches, 199 ministers; Wesleyan 
Methodists, 1,100 members, 16 churches. 33 min- 
isters. (See various Churches under their proper 
names; also Roman Catholic Church.) 

REND, William Patrick, soldier, capitalist, 
and coal-operator, was born in County Leitrim, 
Ireland, Feb. 10, 1840, brought to Lowell, Mass., 
in boyhood, and graduated from the high school 
there at 17; taught for a time near New York 
City and later in Maryland, where he began a 
course of classical study. The Civil War coming 
on, he enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment New 
York Volunteers, serving most of the time as a 
non-commissioned officer, and participating in the 
battles of the second Bull Run, Malvern Hill, 



1 



446 



UISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. 
After the war lie came to Chicago and secured 
employment in a railway surve3'or's office, later 
acting as foreman of the Northwestern freight 
depot, and finallj- embarking in the coal business, 
which was conducted with such success that he 
became the owner of some of the most valuable 
mining properties in the country. Meanwhile 
he has taken a deep interest in the welfare of 
miners and other classes of laborers, and has 



sought to promote arbitration and conciliation 
between employers and employed, as a means of 
averting disastrous strikes. He was especially 
active during the long strike of 1897, in efforts to 
bring about an understanding between the 
miners and the operators. For several years 
he held a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of 
the Illinois National Guard until compelled, by 
the demands of his private business, to tender 
his resignation. 



REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS. 

Tlie following table presents the names, residence. Districts reiiresented, jiolltics (except as to earlier ones), and length of 
term or terms of service of Illinois Representatives in the lower House of Congress, from the organization of Illinois 
as a Territory down to the present time; (D, Democrat; W, Whig; E, Republican; U-B, Greenback; P, Populist). 



Name. 


Rksidicnck. 


DrsT. 


Term. 


Remarks. 




Kaskaskia 


Territory 

Territory 

Territory 

State 

Stale 


I,sr2-u 


Made Rec'r of Pub. Moneys. 
Made Rec'r of Pub. Moneys. 


Benjamin Stephenson 


18I4-1G 

1816-18 








1818-19 

1819-27 






Kaskftskia 

JacksonA Morgan Cos 




Joseph Duncan 

Joseph Duncan 

William L. May D 


1827-33 




Third 


1833-34 . .. 


Elected Governor; resigned. 
To succeed Duncan. 




Third 

First 

First 


1834-39 




Belleville 


1833-34 

1834-37 






Belleville 






Belleville 












Second 

First 

Third 

Eighth 

First 

Second 

Sixtn 

Third 


1833-43 






Belleville 










1839-43 















Alton ... . 


184:i-4!) .. . 




John A . McClernand, D . . . 


Shawneetown 

Springheld 


1843-51 




1859-62 


Resigned, Dec, '61 ; succeeded by A. L. Knapp. 












Third 

Fourth 


1851-53 




John W'entwurth, D 










1853-55 






Chicago 


First 


1865-G7 




Stephen A. Douglas, D 


Fifth 


1S43-47 

1847-56 


Bl'd U.S. Sen..Apr..'47 ;suc.by W.A.Richardson 
Res'd,Aug.,*56; term tilled by Jacob C. Davis. 


Rushville andQuincy 




Sixth 


Joseph P. Hoge, D 




Sixth 


1S43-45 






Seventh 

Seventh 

Sixth 


1843-45 




Edward D Baker, W 




1845-46 

1849-51 ... 


Resigned, Dec, '46; succeeded by John Henry. 


Edward D Baker, W .... 


Galena 

Jacksonville 




Seventh 

Sixth 


Feb. to Mar., 1847. 


Served Baker's unexpired term. 








Seventh 














William H Bissell D 


Belleville 


Eighth. 

Third 

Seventh 

Sixth 


1S53-55 




Timothy K. Young, D 


Marshall 


1849-51 












Petersburg 


1855-58 


Died. Nov.24»'58; sue by Chas. D. Hodges. 


Willis AllPU D 


1851-53 




Marion 

Belvidere 

Galena 


Ninth 


1853-55 

1851-53 

1851-53 




Richard S. IMaloiiey, D 

Thompson Cnmpbell, I) 


Fourth 

Sixth 






Seventh 

Sixth 


1851-53 




Kichard Yates W 




1853-55 


















Third 


18fi3-fi9... 

1853-57 


J Resigud, March 9. '69 to accept French mis- 
\ sion; term filled by H. C. Burchard. 




Joliet 


Third 




Joliet 








Knoxville 


Fourth 

Seventh 

State-at-lurge . 


1853-57. . 








1853-57 






Palestine 


1863-65 












Quincy 


Fifth 


185G-57 


To (ill unexpired term of Richardson. 
Chosen U. S. Senator; resigned. 
Filled Trumbull's unexpired term. 


Lyman TrumbuHj B 

J Jj. D Morrison, D 


Belleville 

Belleville 

Mc Leaiisboro 

Mc Leansbni'o 

McLeansboro.... 

Chicago 


Eighth 

Eighth 

Ninth 


1855 


1855-57 








Eleventh 

Nineteentli.... 
Second 








1873-75 


















Princeton 


Third 


1857-63 




Owen Lovpjoy, R 

William Kellogg, R 


Fifth 


1863-65 


Died, Mar., '64; term filled by E.C.Ingersoll. 








Quincy 

CarroIUon 

Lawrenceville 


Fifth 

Sixth 


1857-61. 




Charles D. Hudgea. D .... 


Jan. to Mar.. 1859.. 
1857-59 


Filled unexpired term of Thoa. L. Harris. 


Seventh 









i 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



447 



Aaron Shaw, D 

James C. Rubinsun, D., 
James C. Kobinson. li., 
James C. Kubinson, 1). , 
James C. Kobinson, D. . 
PtiillpB. Fouke. I> .. 
John A. JjOgan, R 

John A. Logan, D 



Isaac N. Arnold, B 

Isaac N. Arnold. K 

William J. Allen. D 

William J. Allen, 1> 

A. l>. Kiiapp, I) 

A. L. Kuupp, D 

Charles M. Harris, R 

Ebon C. Iiigersoll, R 

John R. Eden, D 

John R. p:(len, D 

John R. Eden. D 

Lewis W. Rosa. I> 

William R. Morrison, 1>.... 
William K. Morrison, 1) ... 

William R. Morrison. D 

S. W. Moulton, R 

S. W. Moulton, 1) 

S. W. Monlton, D 

Abner C. Harding. R 

B irton (J. Cook, R 

H. P. H. Bromwell.R 

Shelby M. Cnllom, R 

Anthony Thornton, I) 

Jehu Baker. R . 

Jehu Baker. R 

Jehu Baker. P 

A. J. Kuyketidall, R 

Norman B. Judd, R 

Albert G. Burr, D 

Green B. Riiuiii, R 

Horatio (J. Burchard, R — 
Horalio O. Burchard, P.... 

John B. Hawley, R 

John B. Hawley.R 

Je-tse H. Moore, R 

Thomas W. McNeeley, D.. 

John B. Hay, R 

John M. Crebs, D 

John L. Beveridge. R 

Charles B. Farwell. R 

Charles B. Farwell, R 

Charles B. Farwell, R 

Brad. N. Stevens, R 

Henry Snapp, R 

Edward Y. Rice, X> 

John B. Rice, R 

E.G. Caulficld. D 

Jasper D. Ward, R 

Stephen A. Hurlbut, R 

Franklin Corwin, R 

Greenbury L. Fort, R 

Granville Barriere, R 

William H. Ray, R 

Robert M. K napp, D 

Robert M. Knapp, D 

John McNulta, R 

Joseph G. Cannon, R 

Joseph G. Cannon, R 

Joseph G. Cannon, R 

Joseph G. Cannon, R 

James S. Martin, R 

Isaac Clements, R 

Carter H. Harrison, D 

John V. Le Movoe. D 

T.J. Henderson, R 

T.J. Henderson. R 

Alexander Campbell, G.B.. 

Richard H. Whiting. R 

John C. Bagby, D 

Scott Wike'. D 

Scott Wike, D 

William M. Springer, D. .. 
William M. Springer, D 



Kksidenck. 



Lawrenceville . 

Marshall 

Marshall 

Springfield ... . 

Springfield 

Belleville 

Benton 

Carbondale 



Chicago 

Chicago 

Marion 

Marion 

Jersey villa 

Jersey ville 

Oquawka 

Peoria 

Sullivan 

Sullivan 

Sullivan 

Lewistown , 

Waterloo 

Waterloo 

Waterloo , 

Shelby ville , 

Shelbyville 

Shelby ville 

Monmouth 

Ottawa 

Charleston 

Springfield 

Shelbyville , 

Belleville 

Belleville 

Belleville 

Vienna 

Chicago 

CarroUton 

Metropolis 

Freeport 

Freeport 

Rock Island 

Rock Island 

Decatur 

Petersburg 

Belleville 

Carmi 

Evanston 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Princeton 

Joiiet 

Hillsboro 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Belvidere 

Peru 

Lacon 

Canton 

Rushville 

Jerseyville 

Jersey ville 

Blooniington 

Tnscolaand Danville, 

Danville 

Danville 

Danville 

Salem 

Carbondale 

Chicago 

Chicago , 

Princeton & Geneseo. 

Princeton 

LaSalle 

Peoria 

Rushville 

Pittsfield , 

Pittsfield 

Springfield 

Springfield. 



Adlai E. Stevenson, D iBloomington 

Adlai E. Stevenson, D^ iBloomington 

Carlyle 

Chester 

Mt. Vernon.. 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Rockford 

Morris 

Lewiston 

Warsaw 



William A. J. Sparks. D. 
William Hartzell,D .. 
William E. Anderson, D 

William Aldrich. R 

Carter H Harrison, D .. 

Lorenz Brentano. R 

William Lathrop. R. . .. 

Philip C. Haves. R 

Thomas A. Boyd. R 

Benjamin F Marsh, R. ., 



Sixteenth.. 
Seventh ... 
Eleventh.. 
Eighth . . . . 
Twelfth... 
Eighth .... 
Ninth 



State-at-Iarge. 

Second 

First 

Ninth 

Thirteenth 

Fil'th 

Tenth 

Fourth 

Firth 

Seventh 

Fifteenth 

Seventeenth... 

Ninth 

Twelfth 

Seventeenth... 
Eighteenth — 
State-at-large. 

Fifteenth 

Seventeenth ... 

Fourth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Tenth 

Twelfth 

Eightcenlh..,. 
Twenty-lirst .. 

Thirteemii 

First 

Tenth 

Thirteenth 

Third 

Fifth 

Fourth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Ninth 

Twelfth 

Thirteenth 

State-al-large. 

First 

Third 

Third 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Tenth 

First 

First 

Second 

Fourth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Ninth 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Eleventh 

Thirteenth.... 
Fourteenth .... 

Fifteenth 

Fifieenth 

Twelfth 

Sixteenth 

Eighteenth .... 

Second 

Third 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Seventh 

Ninth 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Twelfth 

Twelfth 

Thirteenth. ... 

Thirteenth 

Thirteenth.... 

Sixteenth 

Eighteenth.... 
Nineteenth.. .. 

First 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Seventh 

Ninth 

Tenth 



1883-85 




1859-63 




1863-65 




1871-73 




1873-75 1 


1859-63 ___ 


1859-62 


Res'd, Apr. '62; term filled by W. J. Allen. 
J Chosen U. S. Senator, 1871; resigned; term 
( filled by John L. Beveridge. 


1869-71 

1861-63 


1863-65 




1862-63 


Served Logan's unexpired term. 


1863-65 


1861-63 


Served McClemand's unexpired term. 


1863-65 


1863-65 




1864-71 


1864-*65 filled Lovejoy's unexpired term . 


1863-65 


1873-79 




1885-87 




18G3-69 




1863-65 




1873-83 




1883-87 




1365-67 




1881-83 




1883-85 




1866-69 




1865-71 


Re-elected, '70 but res'd before beg'ng of term. 


1865-69 


1865-71 




1865-67 








1887-89 




1897-99 




1865-G7 








1867-71 




1867-69 






Filled unexpired term of Washburne. 


1873-79 


1869-73 




1873-75.. 




1869-73 




1869-73 




1869-73 , 




1869-73 




1871-73 


Served unexpired term of Logan. 


1871-73 


1873-76 

1881-83 


May, 76, seat awarded to J. V. Le Moyne. 


1871-73 




Filled unexpired term of B. C. Cook. 


1S71 73 


187^-74 

1874-77 


Died Dec, '74; succeeded by B. G. Caulfield. 


1873-75 




1873-77 




1873-75 












1873-75 




1873-75 




1877-79 




1873-75 








1883-91 




1893-95.. 




1895 








1873-75 




1875 79 




1876 77 








1883-95 




1875 77 




1875-77 








1875-77 








1875 83 








1875-77- 




1879-81 




1875-83 




1875-79 




1875 77 




1877-83. 




1877-79 




1877-79 




1877-79 




1877 81 








1877-83 





448 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Name. 



Benjamin F. Marsh , It 

Benjamin P. Marsh. R 

Thomas V. Tipton, K 

R. W. Townshend, D 

Goorge R. IJavis. R 

George R. Davis, R 

Hiram Barber, R 

John C. Slierwin, R 

R. M. A. Hawl<,R 

James W. Singleton. I> 

A. P. Forsvthe, G. B 

JohnR. Thomas, R 

John R. Thomas, R 

William Cullen.R 

William Cnllen.R 

Lewis E. Payson, R 

Lewis E. Payson. R 

John II. Lewis, R 

Dietrich C, Smith. R 

B. W. Dunham, R 

John F. Finerty, R 

George E. Adams, R 

Reuben EUwood. R 

Robert R. Hitt.R 

Robert K. Hitt.R 

N. E. Worthington, 1> 

William H- Neece. D 

James M. Riggs, D 

Jonathan H.Rowell.R — 

Prank Lawler, D 

James H. Ward. D 

Albert J. Hopkins. R 

Albert J. Hopkins. R 

Ralph Plumb. R 

SilasG. Landes, D 

William E. Mason, R. 

Philip Sidney Post. R 

William H. Gest, R 

George A. Anderson, D — 

Edward Lane, D 

Abner Taylor, R 

Charles A. Hill. R 

Geo. W. Fithian, D 

William .S. Forman. D 

James R. Williams. D 

James R.Williams. D 

George W.Smith, R 

George W. Smith. R 

LawrenL'oE. McGann, 1). . 
Allan C Durborow. Jr.. IJ 
Walter C. Newberry, D... 

Lewis Steward, Ind 

Herman W. Snow, R 

Benjamin T. Cable. D 

Owen Scott. I) 

Samuel T. Busey, D 

JoliiiC. Black.D 

Andrew J. Hunter. D 

Andrew J. Hunter. D 

J. Frank Aldrich. R 

Julius Goldzier. D 

Robert .-V. Childs. R 

Hamilton K. Wheeler. R., 
John J. McDannold, I) — 

Benjamin F. Funk. R 

William Lorimer, R 

Hugh R. Bel knap, R 

Charles W. Woodman. R 

Geo. E. White. R 

Edward D. Cooke. R 

George B. Foss, R 

George W. Prince, R 

Walter Reeves. R 

Vespasian Warner, R — 

J. V.GralT.R 

Finis K. Downing. D 

James A. Connolly, R 

Frederick Remann, R 

Wm. F. L. Iladley, R 

Benson Wood, R 

Orlando Burrell, R 

Everett J. Murphy, R — 

James R. Mann, R 

Daniel W. Mills, B 

Thomas M. Jett, D 

James R. Campbell. D... 

George P. Foster. R 

Thomas Cusack, D 

Edgar T. Noonan. D 

Henry s. Boutell. R 

W. E. Willi:ims. D 

B. F. Caldwell, D 

Joseph B. Crowley. D — 

W. A. Rodenberg. R 



Rksibence. 



Warsaw 

Warsaw 

Bloomington 

Shawneetown 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Geneva and Elgin.. 

Mt. Carroll 

Quincy 

Isabel 

Metropolis 

Metropolis 

Ottawa 

Ottawa 

Pontiac 

Pontiac 

Knoxville 

Pekin 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Sycamore 

Mt. Morris 

Mt. Morris 

Peoria 

Macomb 

Winchester 

Bloomington 

Chicago 

Chicago 

.\urora 

Aurora 

.Streator 

Mt. Carmel 

Chicago 

(lalesbnrg 

Rock Island 

Uuiiicy ... 

Hillsboro 

Chicago 

Joliet 

Newton 

Nashville 

Carmi 

Carmi 

Murphyshoro 

Murphysboro 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

. I Piano 

. Sheldon 

. Rock Island 

. Bloomington 

. lUrbana 

. Chicago 

-jParis 

.'Paris 

. .Chicago 

.Chicago 

. iHinsdale 

. I Kankakee 

.Mt. Sterling 

. I Bloomington 

. ichicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Galesburg 

Streator 

Clinton 

Pekin 

Virginia 

Springfield 

Vaudalia 

Edwardsville 

Eflingham 

Carmi 

East St. Louis... 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Hillsboro 

McLeans boro — 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Pittsfield 

. t'hatham 

, Robinson 

. East St. Louis . . 



Eleventh 

Fifteenth 

Thirteenth.... 
Nineteenth — 

Second 

Third 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Eleventh 

Fifteenth 

Eighteenth.... 

Twentieth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Eighth 

Ninth 

Ninth 

Thirteenth.... 

First 

Second 

Fourth — — 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Ninth 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Twelfth 

Fourteenth — 

Second 

Third 

Fifth 

Eighth 

Eighth 

Sixteenth 

Third 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Twelfth 

Seventeenth... 

First 

Eighth 

Sixteenth 

Eighteenth.... 
Eighteenth.... 
Nineteenth — 

Twentieth 

Twenty-sec' in] 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Eighth 

Ninth 

Eleventh 

Fourteenth .... 

Fifteenth 

State-at-large, 

State-at-large 

Nineteenth.... 

First 

Fourth 

Eighth 

Ninth 

Twelfth 

Fourteenth... 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Thirteenth ... 

Fourteenth ... 

sixteenth 

Iseventeenlh. . 

Eighteenth... 

Eighteenth.... 

Nineteenth. .. 

Twentieth .... 

Twenty-first . 

First 

Second 

Eighteenth.. 

Twentieth... 

iThird 

Fourth 

iFlfth 

Sixth 

sixteenth — 
Seventeenth. 

'Nineteenth .. 
Twenty first. 



1893-95.... 

1893— 

79 

1877-S9 

1879-83.... 

18»3-S5 

1879-81 

1879-83 

1879-8'2 

1879 83.... 
1879-81.... 
1879 8.1.... 

iss-i-sg.... 

ISSl «3..., 
1883-8.1... 
1881-83... 
1883 91..., 
1881-83.... 
1881-83.... 
1883-89.... 
1SS3 85... 
1883-91.... 
1882-83.... 
1882-93.... 
1895—.... 
1883-87.... 
1883-87 ... 
1883-87.. . 
1883-91.. . 
1885-91.... 
1885-87.... 
1885-95.... 
1895—.... 
1885-89.... 
1885-S9.... 
1887-91.... 
1887-93.... 
1887-91.... 
I8S7-SU... 
1887-95.... 
18i9-93... 
1889-91... 
1889-95.... 
1889-95.. . . 
1889-95.... 
1899—.... 
1889-95.... 
1895-.... 
1891-95.... 
1891-9.5... 
1891-93.... 
1891-93..., 
U91-93.... 

'.91-93..., 
1891-93... 
1891-93... 
1693-95... 
1893-95... 
1897-99... 

189.3-97... 

1893-95... 

189.3-93... 

1893-95.. . 

1893-93... 

1893-93.. 

1895—. . . 

1895-99.. 

1895-97... 

1895-99... 

1803-98... 

1895—... 

1895—... 

1893—... 

1893—... 

1893—... 

1893-97... 

1895-99... 

1895—... 

lo95— ... 

1895-97... 

1895-97... 

1895-97.. 
1897—... 

1897—. . 
1897—. . 
1897-99.. 



1899-.. 
1898-.. 
1899—.. 



Diedl '82; succeeded by R. R. Hltt. 



Succeeded B. M. A. Hawk, deceased. 



Died, Jan. 6, 1895. 



Awarded seat after con. with L. K. McQann. 
biedi JiineV, '98; suc'dVby Heiiry S. Boutell. 



Died! .iiii.v ii. "bsV suc'd. by W. F. L. Hadley. 
Elected to till vacancy. 



JsucceededE. b. Cooite, deceased. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



449 



REYNOLDS, John, Justice of Supreme Court 
and fourth Governor of Illinois, was born of Irish 
anoestrj', in Montgomery County, Pa., Feb. 26, 
1789, and brought by his parents to Kaskaskia, 
111., in 1800, spending the first nine years of his 
life in Illinois on a farm. After receiving a com- 
mon school education, and a two years' course of 
study in a college at Knoxville, Tenn., he studied 
law and began practice. In 1813-13die served as 
a scout in the campaigns against the Indians, 
winning for himself the title, in after life, of "The 
Old Ranger." Afterwards he removed to 
Cahokia, where he began the practice of 
law, and, in 1818, became Associate Justice of the 
first Supreme Court of the new State. Retiring 
from the bench in 1825, he served two terms in 
the Legislature, and was elected Governor in 
1830, in 1832 personally commanding the State 
volunteers called for service in the Black Ilawk 
War. Two weeks before the expiration of his 
term (1834), he resigned to accept a seat in Con- 
gress, to which he had been elected as the suc- 
cessor of Charles Slade, who had died in office, 
and was again elected in 1838, always as a Demo- 
crat. He also served as Representative in the 
Fifteenth General Assembly, and again in the 
Eighteenth (1852-54), being chosen Speaker of the 
latter. In 1858 he was the administration (or 
Buchanan) Democratic candidate for State Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction, as opposed to 
the Republican and regular (or Douglas) Demo- 
cratic candidates. For some years he edited a 
daily paper called "The Eagle," which was pub- 
lished at Belleville. While Governor Reynolds 
acquired some reputation as a "classical scholar," 
from the time spent in a Tennessee College at 
that early da}-, this was not sustained by either 
his colloquial or written style. He was an 
ardent champion of slavery, and, in the early 
days of the Rebellion, gained unfavorable notori- 
ety in consequence of a letter written to Jefferson 
Davis expressing sympathy with the cause of 
"secession." Nevertheless, in spite of intense 
prejudice and bitter partisanship on some ques- 
tions, he possessed many amiable qualities, as 
shown by his devotion to temperance, and his 
popularity among persons of opposite political 
opinions. Although at times crude in style, and 
not alwaj's reliable in his statement of historical 
facts and events. Governor Reynolds has rendered 
a valuable service to posterity by his writings 
relating to the early history of the State, espe- 
cially those connected with his own times. His 
best known works are: "Pioneer History of Illi- 
nois" (Belleville, 1848); "A Glance at the Crystal 



Palace, and Sketches of Travel" (1854); and "My 
Life and Times" (18."wj. His death occurred at 
Belleville, May 8, 1865. 

REYNOLDS, John Parker, Secretary and 
President of State Board of Agriculture, was born 
at Lebanon, Ohio, IMarch 1, 1820, and graduated 
from the Jliami University at the age of 18. In 
1840 he graduated from the Cincinnati Law 
School, and soon afterward began practice. He 
removed to Illinois in 1854, settling first in Win- 
nebago County, later, successively' in Marion 
County, in Springfield and in Chicago. From 
1860 to 1870 he was Secretary of the State Agri- 
cultural Society, and, upon the creation of the 
State Board of Agriculture in 1871, was elected 
its President, filling that position until 1888, 
when he resigned. He has also occupied numer- 
ous other posts of honor and of trust of a public 
or semi public character, having been President 
of the Illinois State Sanitary Commission during 
the War of the Rebellion, a Commissioner to the 
Paris Exposition of 1867, Chief Grain Inspector 
from 1878 to 1883, and Secretary of the Inter- 
State Industrial Exposition Company of Chicago, 
from the date of its organization (1873) until its 
final dis.solution. His most important public 
service, in recent years, was rendered as Director- 
in-Chief of the Illinois exhibit in the World's 
Columbian Exposition of 1893. 

REYNOLDS, Joseph Smith, .soldier and legis- 
lator, was born at New Lenox, 111., Dec. 3, 1839; 
at 17 years of age went to Chicago, was educated 
in the high school there, within a month after 
graduation enlisting as a private in the Sixty- 
fourth Illinois Volunteers. From the ranks he . 
rose to a colonelcy through the gradations of 
Second-Lieutenant and Captain, and, in July, 
1865, was brevetted Brigadier-General. He was 
a gallant soldier, and was thrice wounded. On 
his return home after nearly four years' service, 
he entered the law department of the Chicago 
University, graduating therefrom and beginning 
practice in 1866. General Reynolds has been 
prominent in public life, having served as a 
member of both branches of the General Assem- 
bly, and having been a State Commissioner to tlie 
Vienna Exposition of 1873. He is a member of 
the G. A. R., and, in 1875, was elected Senior 
Vice-Commander of the order for the United 
States. 

REYNOLDS, William Morton, clergyman, was 
born in Fayette County, Pa. , March 4, 1812 ; after 
graduating at Jefferson College, Pa., in 1832, was 
connected with various institutions in that State, 
as well as President of Capital University at 



450 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Columbus, Ohio, ; then, coming to Illinois, was 
President of the Illinois State University at 
Springfield, 1807-60, after which he became Prin- 
cipal of a female seminary in Chicago. Previ- 
ously a Lutheran, he took orders in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in 1864, and served several 
parishes until his death. In his early life he 
founded, and, for a time, conducted several reli- 
gious publications at Gettysburg, Pa., besides 
issuing a number of printed addresses and other 
publislied works. Died at Oak Park, near Chi- 
cago, Sept. 5, 1876. 

KHOADS, (Col.) Franklin Lawrence, soldier 
and steamboat captain, was born in Harrisburg, 
Pa., Oct. 11, 1824; brought to Pekin, Tazewell 
County, 111., in 1836, where he learned the print- 
er's trade, and, on the breaking out of the 
Mexican War, enlisted, serving to the close. 
Returning home he engaged in the river trade, 
and, for fifteen years, commanded steamboats on 
the Illinois, Jlississippi and Ohio Rivers. In 
April, 1861, he was commissioned Captain of a 
company of three :nonths' men attached to the 
Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and, on the 
reorganization of the regiment for the three- 
years' service, was commissioned Lieutenant- 
Colonel, soon after being promoted to the colo- 
nelcy, as successor to Col. Richard J. Oglesby, who 
had been promoted Brigadier-General. After 
serving through the spring campaign of 1863 in 
Western Kentucky and Tennessee, he was com- 
pelled by rapidly declining health to resign, when 
he located in Shawneetown, retiring in 1874 to 
his farm near that city. During the latter years 
of his life he was a confirmed invalid, dying at 
Shawneetown. Jan. 6, 1879. 

RHOADS, Joshua, M.D., A.H., physician and 
educator, was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 14, 
1806; studied medicine and graduated at the 
University of Pennsylvania with the degree of 
M.D., also receiving the degree of A.M., from 
Princeton ; after several years spent in practice 
as a physician, and as Principal in some of the 
public schools of Philadelphia, in 1839 he was 
elected Principal of the Pennsylvania Institution 
for the Blind, and, in 18.')0, took charge of the 
State Institution for the Blind at Jacksonville, 
111., then in its infancy. Here he remained until 
1874, when he retired. Died, February 1, 1876. 
RICE, Edward Y., lawyer and jurist, born in 
Logan County, Ky., Feb. 8, 1820, was educated in 
the common schools and at Shurtleff College, 
after which he read law with John M. Palmer at 
Carlinville, and was aamitted to practice, in 1845, 
at Hillsboro; in 1847 was elected County Recorder 



of Montgomery County, and, in 1848, to the Six- 
teenth General Assembly, serving one term. 
Later he was elected County Judge of Montgom- 
ery County, was blaster in Chancery from 1853 to 
1857, and the latter year was elected Judge of the 
Eighteenth Circuit, being re-elected in 1861 and 
again in 1867. He was also a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, and, at the 
election of the latter year, was chosen Repre- 
sentative in the Forty-second Congress as a 
Democrat. Died, April 16, 1883. 

RICE, John B., theatrical manager, Mayor of 
Chicago, and Congressman, was born at Easton, 
Md., in 1809. By profession he was an actor, 
and, coming to Chicago in 1847, built and opened 
there the first theater. In 1857 he retired from 
the stage, and, in 1865, was elected Mayor of 
Chicago, the city of his adoption, and re-elected 
in 1867. He was also prominent in the early 
stages of the Civil War in the measures taken to 
raise troops in Chicago. In 1873 he was elected 
to the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, but, 
before the expiration of his term, died, at Nor- 
folk, Va., on Dec. 6, 1874. At a special election 
to fill the vacancy, Bernard G. Caulfleld was 
chosen to succeed him. 

RICHARDSON, William A., lawyer and poli- 
tician, born in Fayette County, Ky., Oct. 11, 
1811, was educated at Transylvania University, 
came to the bar at 19, and settled in Schuyler 
County, 111., becoming State's Attorney in 1835; 
was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature 
in 1836. to the Senate in 1838, and to the House 
again in 1844, from Adams County — the latter 
year being also chosen Presidential Elector on 
the Polk and Dallas ticket, and, at the succeeding 
session of the General Assembly, serving as 
Speaker of the House. He entered tlie Mexican 
War as Captain, and won a Majority tlirough 
gallantry at Buena Vista. From 1847 to 1856 
(when he resigned to become a candidate for 
Governor), he was a Democratic Representative 
in Congress from the Quincy District; re-entered 
Congress in 1861, and, in 1863, was chosen 
United States Senator to fill the unexpired term 
of Stephen A. Douglas. He was a delegate to the 
National Democratic Convention of 1868, but 
after that retired to private life, acting, for a 
short time, as editor of "The Quincy Herald.'" 
Died, at Quincy, Dec. 27, 1875. 

RICHLAND "county, situated in the south- 
east quarter of the State, and has an area of 361 
square miles. It was organized from Edwards 
County in 1841. Among the early pioneers may 
be mentioned the Evans brothers, Thaddeus 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



451 



Morehouse, Hugh Calhoun and son, Thomas 
Oardner, James Parker, Cornelius De Long, 
James Gilmore and Elijah Nelson. In 1820 
there were but thirty families in the district. 
The first frame houses — the Nelson and More- 
house homesteads — were built in 1821, and, some 
years later, James Laws erected the first brick 
house. The pioneers traded at Vincennes, but, 
in 1823, a store was opened at Stringtown by 
Jacob May ; and the same year the first school was 
opened at Watertown, taught by Isaac Chaun- 
cey. The first church was erected by tlie Bap- 
tists in 1822, and services were conducted by 
William Martin, a Kentuckian. For a long time 
the mails were carried on horseback by Louis 
and James Beard, but, in 1824, Mills and Whet- 
sell established a line of four-horse stages. The 
principal road, known as the "trace road," lead- 
ing from Louisville to Cahokia, followed a 
buffalo and Indian trail about where the main 
street of Olney now is. Olney was selected as 
the county -seat upon the organization of the 
county, and a Mr. Lilly built the first house 
there. The chief branches of industry followed 
by the inhabitants are agriculture and fruit- 
growing. Population (1880), 15,54.5; (18901, 
15,019; (1900), 16,391. 

RIDGE FARM,a village of Vermillion County, 
at junction of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago 
& St. Louis and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western 
Railroa<ls, 174 miles northeast of St. Louis: has 
electric light plant, planing mill, elevators, bank 
and two papers. Pop. (1900), 933; (1904). 1,300. 

RIDGELY, a manufacturing and mining sub- 
urb of the city of Springfield. An extensive 
rolling mill is located there, and there are several 
coal-shafts in the vicinity. Population(1900), 1,169. 

RIDGELY, Charles, manufacturer and capi- 
talist, born in Springfield, 111., Jan. 17, 1836; was 
educated in private schools and at Illinois Col- 
lege ; after leaving college spent some time as a 
clerk in his father's bank at Springfield, finally 
becoming a member of the firm and successively 
Cashier and Vice-President. In 1870 he was 
Democratic candidate for State Treasurer, but 
later has affiliated with the Republican party. 
About 1872 he became identified with the Spring- 
field Iron Compan}', of which he has been Presi- 
dent for many years ; has also been President of 
the Consolidated Coal Company of St. Louis and, 
for some time, was a Director of the Wabash Rail- 
road. Mr. Ridgely is also one of the Trustees of 
Illinois College. 

RIDGELY, Nicholas H., early banker, was 
born in Baltimore, Md., April 27, 1800; after 



leaving school was engaged, for a time, in the 
dry-goods trade, but, in 1829, came to St. Louis 
to assume a clerkship in the branch of the 
United States Bank ju.st organized there. In 
1835 a branch of the State Bank of Illinois was 
established at Springfield, and Mr. Ridgely 
became its cashier, and. when it went into liqui- 
dation, was appointed one of the trustees to wind 
up its afi^airs. He subsequently became Presi- 
dent of the Clark's Exchange Bank in that city, 
but this having gone into liquidation a few years 
later, he went into the private banking business 
as head of the "Ridgely Bank," which, in 1866, 
became the "Ridgely National Bank," one of the 
strongest financial institutions in the State out- 
side of Chicago. After the collapse of the inter- 
nal improvement scheme, Mr. Ridgely became 
one of the purchasers of the "Northern Cross 
Railroad" (now that part of the Wabash system 
extending from the Illinois river to .Springfield), 
when it was sold by the State in 1847, paying 
therefor §21,100. He was also one of the Spring- 
field bankers to tender a loan to the State at the 
beginning of the war in 1861. He was one of tlie 
builders and principal owner of the Sjiringfield 
gas-light system. His business career was an 
eminently successful one, leaving an estate at 
his death, Jan. 31, 1SS8, valued at over .?2,000,000. 

RIDGWAY', a village of Gallatin County, on the 
Shawneetown Division of the Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern Railway, 12 miles northwest of 
Shawneetown ; has a bank and one newspaper. 
Pop. (1890), .523; (1900), 839; (1903, est), 1,000. 

RIDdrWAY', Thomas S., merchant, banker and 
politician, was born at Carmi, 111., August 30, 
1826. His father having died when he was but 4 
years old and his mother when he was 14, his 
education was largely acquired through contact 
with the world, apart from such as he received 
from his mother and during a year's attendance 
at a private school. When he was 6 years of age 
the family removed to Shawneetown, where he 
ever afterwards made his home. In 1845 he em- 
barked in business as a merchant, and the firm 
of Peeples & Ridgway soon became one of the 
most prominent in Southern Illinois. In 1865 the 
partners closed out their business and organized 
the first National Bank of Shawneetown, of 
which, after the death of Jlr. Peeples in 1875, 
Mr. Ridgway was President. He was one of 
the projectors of the Springfield & Illinois South- 
eastern Railway, now a part of the Baltimore & 
Ohio Southwestern system, and, from 1867 to 
1874, served as its President. He was an ardent 
and active Republican, and served as a delegate 



452 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPElJlA OF ii^LINOIS. 



to every State and National Convention of his 
party from 1868 to 1896. In 1874 he was elected 
State Treasurer, the candidate for Superintendent 
of Public Instruction on the same ticket being 
defeated. In 1876 and 1S80 he was an unsuccess- 
ful candidate for his party's nomination for Gov- 
ernor. Three times he consented to lead the 
forlorn hope of the Republicans as a candidate 
for Congress from an impregnably Democratic 
stronghold. For several years he was a Director 
of the McCormick Theological Seminary, at Chi- 
cago, and, for nineteen years, was a Trustee of the 
Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbon- 
dale, resigning in 1893. Died, at Shawneetown, 
Nov. 17, 1897. 

RlGCiS, James M., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Scott County, 111., April 17, 1839, where he 
received a common school education, supple- 
mented by a partial collegiate course. He is a 
practicing lawyer of Winchester. In 1864 lie was 
elected Slieriff, .serving two years. In 1871-72 he 
represented Scott County in the lower house of 
the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, and was 
State's Attorney from 1872 to 1876. In 1883, and 
again in 1884, he was the successful Democratic 
candidate for Congress in the Twelfth Illinois 
District. 

RIGGS, Scott, pioneer, \vas born in North 
Carolina about 1790; removed to Crawford 
County, 111, early in 1815, and represented that 
county in the First General Assembly (1818 ;30). 
In 1835 he removed to Scott County, where he 
continued to reside until his death, Feb. 24, 1873. 

RIKAKER, John I., lawyer and Congressman, 
born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 18, 1830. Left an 
orphan at an early age, he came to Illinois in 
1836, and, for several years, lived on farms in 
Sangamon and Morgan Counties: was educated 
at Illinois and McKendree Colleges, graduating 
from the latter in 18,51; in 1852 began reading 
law with John 51. Palmer at Carlinville, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1854. In August, 1862, lie 
recruited the One Hundred and Twenty-seconci 
Illinois Volunteers, of which he was commis- 
sioned Colonel. Four months later he was 
wounded in battle, but served with his regiment 
through the war, and was brevetted Brigadier- 
General at its close. Returning from the war he 
resumed the practice of his profession at Carlin- 
ville. Since 1858 he has been an active Rejiub- 
lican; has twice (1872 and '76) served his party 
as a Presidential Elector — the latter year for the 
State-at-large — and, in 1874, accepted a nomina- 
tion for Congress against William R. Morrison, 
largely reducing the normal Democratic major- 



it}'. At the State Republican Convention of 1880 
he was a prominent, but unsuccessful, candidat» 
for the Republican nomination for Governor. I; 
1894 he made the race as the Republican candi- 
date for Congress in the Sixteenth District aiid, 
although his opponent was awarded the certifi- 
cate of election, on a bare majority of 60 vote? on 
the face of the returns, a re-count, ordered by the 
Fifty-fourth Congress, showed a majority for 
General Rinaker, and he was seated near the 
close of the first session. He was a candidate 
for re-election in 1896, but defeated in a strongly 
Democratic District. 

RIPLEY, Edward Payson, Railway President, 
was born in Dorchester (now a part of Boston), 
Mass., Oct. 30, 1845, being related, on his mother's 
side, to the distinguished author. Dr. Edward 
Payson. After receiving his education in the 
Iiigh school of his native place, at the age of 17 
he entered upon a commercial life, as clerk in a 
wholesale dry-goods establishment in Boston. 
About the time he became of age, lie entered into 
the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad as a 
clerk in the freight department in the Boston 
office, but, a few years later,assumed a responsible 
position in connection with the Chicago. Burling- 
ton & Quincy line, finally becoming General 
Agent for the business of that road east of 
Buffalo, though retaining his headquarters at 
Boston. In 1878 he removed to Chicago to accept 
the position of General Freight Agent of the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy System, with which 
he remained twelve years, serving successive!}- as 
General Traffic Manager and (Jeneral Manager, 
until June 1, 1890, when he resigned to become 
Third Vice-President of the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul line. This relation was continued 
until Jan. 1, 1896, when Mr. Ripley accepted 
the Piesi<lency of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe Railroad, which (1899) he now holds. Mr. 
Ripley was a prominent factor in securing the 
location of the World's Columbian Exposition at 
Chicago, and, in April, 1891, was chosen one of 
the Directors of the Exposition, serving on the 
Executive Committee and the Committee of 
Ways and Means and Transportation, being Chair- 
man of the latter. 

RIVERSIDE, a suburban town on the Des 
Plaines River and the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railway, 11 miles west of Chicago ; has 
handsome parks, several churches, a bank, 
two local papers and numerous fine residences. 
Population (18y0), 1,U0U; (1900), 1,551. 

RIVERTON, a village in Clear Creek Town- 
ship, Sangamon County, at the crossing of thfi 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



453 



Wabash Railroad over the Sangamon River, 6>< 
miles east-northeast of Springfield. It has four 
churches, a nursery, and two coal mines Popu- 
lation (1880), 70.5; (1890), 1,127, (1900). 1 511; (1903, 
est), about 1,000. 

RIVES, John Cook, early banker and journal- 
ist, was born in Franklin County, Va., May 24, 
179.5; in 1806 removed to Kentucky, where he 
grew up under care of an uncle, Samuel Casey. 
He received a good education and was a man of 
high character and attractive manners. In his 
early manhood he came to Illinois, and was con- 
nected, for a time, with the Branch State Bank 
at Edwardsville, but, about 1824, removed to 
Shawneetown and held a position in the bank 
there; also studied law and was admitted to 
practice. Finally, having accepted a clerkship 
in the Fourth Auditors Office in Washington, 
he removed to that city, and, in 1830, became 
associated with Francis P. Blair, Sr., in the 
establishment of "The Congressional Globe" (the 
predecessor of "The Congressional Record"), of 
which he finally became sole proprietor, so 
remaining until 1864. Like his partner, Blair, 
although a native of Virginia and a life-long 
Democrat, he was intensely loyal, and contrib- 
uted liberally of his means for the eiiuipment of 
soldiers from the District of Columbia, and for 
the support of tlieir families, during the Civil 
War. His expenditures for these objects have 
been estimated at some §30,000. Died, in Prince 
George's County, Md., April 10, 1864. 

RO\>'OKE, a village of Woodford County, on 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. 26 
miles northeast of Peoria; is in a coal district; 
has two banks, a coal mine, and one newspaper 
Population (1880), 355; (1890), 831; (1900). 966. 

ROBB, Thomas Patten, Sanitary Agent, was 
born in Bath, 5Iaine, in 1819; came to Cook 
County, 111., in 1838, and, after arriving at man- 
hood, established the first exclusive wholesale 
grocery house in Chicago, remaining in the busi- 
ness until 1850, He then went to California, 
establishing himself in mercantile business at 
Sacramento, where he remained seven years, 
meanwhile being elected Mayor of that city. 
Returning to Chicago on the breaking out of the 
war, he was appointed on the staff of Governor 
Yates with the rank of Major, and, while serv- 
ing in this capacity, was instrumental in giving 
General Grant the first duty he performed in the 
office of the Adjutant-General after his arrival 
from Galena. Later, he was assigned to duty as 
Inspector-General of Illinois troops with the rank 
of Colonel, having general charge of sanitary 



affairs until the close of the war, when he was 
appointed Cotton Agent for the State of Georgia, 
and, still later. President of the Board of Tax 
Commissioners for that State. Other positions 
held by him were those of Postmaster and Col- 
lector of Customs at Savannah, Ga. ; he was also 
one of the publishers of "The New Era," a 
Republican paper at Atlanta, and a prominent 
actor in reconstruction affairs. Resigning the 
Collectorship, he was appointed by the President 
United States Commissioner to investigate Mexi- 
can outrages on the Rio Grande border; was sub- 
sequently identified with Texas railroad interests 
as the President of the Corpus Christi & Rio 
Grande Railroad, and one of the projectors of the 
Chicago, Texas & Mexican Central Railway, being 
thus engaged until 1872. Later he returned to 
California, dying near (jlenwood, in that State, 
April 10, 1895, aged 75 years and 10 months. 

ROBERTS, William Charles, clergyman and 
educator, was born in a small village of Wales, 
England., Sept. 23, 1832; received his primary 
education in that country, but, removing to 
America during his minority, graduated from 
Princeton College in 1855, and from Princeton 
Theological Seminary in 1858. After filling vari- 
ous pastorates in Delaware, New Jersey and Ohio, 
in 1881 he was elected Corresponding Secretary 
of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 
the next year being ofl'ered the Presidency of 
Rutgers College, which he declined. In 1887 he 
accepted the presidency of Lake Forest Univer- 
sity, which he still retains. From 1859 to 1803 
lie was a Trustee of Lafayette College, and, in 
1806, was elected to a trusteeship of his Alma 
Mater. He has traveled extensively in the 
Orient, and was a member of the first and third 
councils of the Reformed Churches, held at Edin- 
burgh and Belfast. Besides occasional sermons 
and frequent contributions to English, Ameri- 
can, German and Welsh periodicals. Dr. Roberts 
has published a Welsh translation of the West- 
minster shorter catechism and a collection of 
letters on the great preachers of Wales, which 
appeared in Utica, 1808. He received the degree 
of D.D., from Union College in 1872, and that of 
LL.D. , from Princeton, in 1887. 

ROBINSON, an incorporated city and the 
county -seat of Crawford County, 25 miles north- 
west of Vincennes, Ind. , and 44 miles south of 
Paris, 111. ; is on two lines of railroad and in the 
heart of a fruit and agricultural region The 
city has water-works, electric lights, two banks 
and three weekly newspapers Population (1890) 
1,887; (1900), 1,683; (1904), about 2,000. 



454 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ROBINSON, James C, lawyer and former 
Congressman, was born in Edgar County, 111., in 
1822, read law and was admitted to the bar in 
1850. He served as a private during the Mexican 
War, and, in 18.58, was elected to Congress as a 
Democrat, as he was again in 1860, '63, "70 and 
'72. In 1864 he was the Democratic nominee for 
Governor. He was a fluent speaker, and attained 
considerable distinction as an advocate in crimi- 
nal practice. Died, at Springfield, Nov. 3, 1886. 

ROBINSON, John M., United States Senator, 
born in Kentucky in 1798, was liberally educated 
and became a lawj-er by profession. In early life 
he settled at Carmi, III., where he married. He 
was of fine physique, of engaging manners, and 
personal!}' popular. Through his association 
with the State militia he earned the title of 
"General." In 1830 he was elected to tlie United 
States Senate, to fill the unexpired term of John 
McLean. His immec;liate predecessor was David 
Jewett Baker, appointed by Governor Edwards, 
who served one month but failed of election by 
the Legislature. In 1834 Mr. Robinson was re- 
elected for a full term, which expired in 1841. 
In 1843 he was elected to a seat upon the Illinois 
Supreme bench, but died at Ottawa, April 27, of 
the same year, within three months after liis 
elevation. 

ROCHELLE, a city of Ogle County and an 
intersecting point of the Chicago & Northwestern 
and the Chicago, Burlington \- Quincy Railways. 
It is 75 miles west of Chicago, 27 miles soutli of 
Rockford, and 23 miles east by north of Dixon. 
It is in a rich agricultural and stock-raising 
region, rendering Rochelle an important ship- 
ping point. Among its industrial establish- 
ments are water- works, electric lights, a flouring 
mill and silk-underwear factory The city has 
three banks, five churches and three newspapers. 
Pop. (1890), 1,789; (1900), 2,073; (1903), 2,500. 

ROCHESTER, a village and early settlement 
in Sangamon County, laid out in 1819; in rich 
agricultural district, on the Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern Railroad, 1% miles southeast of 
Springfield; has a bank, two churches, one school, 
and a newspaper. Population (1900) 365 

ROCK FALLS, a city in Whiteside County, on 
Rock River and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad; has excellent water-power, a good 
public scliool system with a high school, banks 
and a weekly newspaper. Agricultural imple- 
ments, barbed wire, furniture, flour and paper are 
its chief manufactures. Water for the navigable 
feeder of the Hennepin Canal is taken from Rock 
River at this point. Pop. (1900), 2,176. 



ROCKFORD, a flourishing manufacturing 
city, the county-seat of Winnebago County ; lies 
on both sides of the Rock River, 92 miles west of 
Chicago. Four trunk lines of railroad — the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago & North- 
western, the Illinois Central and the Chicago. 
Milwaukee & St. Paul — intersect here. Excellent 
water-power is secured by a dam across the river, 
and communication between the two divisions of 
the city is facilitated by three railway and three 
highway bridges. Water is provided from five 
artesian wells, a reserve main leading to the 
river. The city is wealthy, prosperous and pro- 
gressive. The assessed valuation of property, in 
1893, was §6,531,235. Churches are numerous and 
schools, both public and private, are abundant 
and well conducted. The census of 1890 showed 
87.715,069 capital invested in 246 manufacturing 
establishments, whicli employed 5,223 persons and 
turned out an annual product valued at §8,888,- 
904. The principal industries are the manufac- 
ture of agricultural implements and furniture, 
though watches, silver-plated ware, paper, flour 
and grape sugar are among the other products. 
Pop. (1880), 13,129; (1890), 23,584; (1900). 31,051. 

ROCKFORD COLLEGE, located at Rockford, 
111., incorporated in 1847; in 1898 had a faculty 
of 21 instructors with 161 pupils. The branches 
taught include the classics, music and fine arts. 
It has a library of 6, l.jO volumes, funds and en- 
dowment aggregating $50,880 and property 
valued at §240,880, of whicli §1.50,000 is real 
estate. 

ROCK ISLAND, the principal city and county- 
seat of Rock Island County, on the Mississippi 
River, 182 miles west by south from Chicago; is 
tlie converging point of five lines of railroad, and 
the western terminus of the Hennepin Canal. 
The name is derived from an island in the Missis- 
sippi River, opposite the city, 3 miles long, which 
belongs to the United States Government and 
contains an arsenal and armory. The river 
channel north of the island is navigable, the 
southern channel having been dammed by the 
Government, thereby giving great water power 
to Rock Island and Moline. A combined railway 
and highway bridge spans the river from Rock 
Island to Davenport, Iowa, crossing the island, 
while a railway bridge connects the cities a mile 
below. The island was the site of Fort Arm- 
strong during the Black Hawk War, and was also 
a place for the confinement of Confederate prison- 
ers during the Civil War. Rock Island is in a re- 
gion of much picturesque scenery and has exten- 
sive manufactures of lumber, agricultural imple- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



455 



merits, iron, carriages and wagons and oilcloth ; 
also five banks and three newspapers, two issuing 
daily editions. Pop. (1890), 13,634; (1900), 19,493. 

ROCK ISLAND COUiVTY, in the northwestern 
section of the State bordering upon the Missis- 
sippi River (which constitutes its northwestern 
boundary for more than 60 miles), and having an 
area of 440 square miles. In 1816 the Govern- 
ment erected a fort on Rock Island (an island in 
the Mississippi, 3 miles long and one-half to 
three-quarters of a mile wide), naming it Fort 
Armstrong. It has always remained a military 
post, and is now the seat of an extensive arsenal 
and work-shops. In the spring of 1828, settle- 
ments were made near Port Bj'ron by John and 
Thomas Kinney, Archibald Allen and George 
Harlan. Other early settlers, near Rock Island 
and Rapids City, were J. W. Spencer, J. W. Bar- 
riels, Benjamin F. Pike and Conrad Leak; and 
among the pioneers were Wells and Michael Bart- 
lett, Joel Thompson, the Simms brothers and 
George Davenport. The country was full of 
Indians, this being the headquarters of Black 
Hawk and the initial point of the Black Hawk 
War. {See Black Hawk, and Bhick Hawk War. ) 
By 1829 settlers were increased in number and 
county organization was effected in 1835, Rock 
Island (then called Stephenson) being made the 
county-seat. Joseph Conway was tlie first 
County Clerk, and Joel Wells, Sr., tlie first Treas- 
urer. The first court was held at the residence 
of John W. Barriels, in Farnhamsburg. The 
county is irregular in shape, and the soil and 
scenery greatly varied. Coal is abundant, the 
water-power inexhaustible, and the county's 
mining and manufacturing interests are very 
extensive. Several lines of railway cross the 
county, affording admirable transportation facili- 
ties to both eastern and western markets. Rock 
Island and Moline (which see) are the two prin- 
cipal cities in the county, though there are 
several other important points. Coal Valley is 
the center of large mining interests, and Milan is 
also a manufacturing center. Port Byron is one 
of the oldest towns in the county, and has con- 
siderable lime and lumber interests, while Water- 
town is the seat of the Western Hospital for the 
Insane. Population of the county (1880), 38,303; 
(1890), 41,917; (1900), 55,249. 

ROCK ISLAND & PEORIA RAILWAY, a 
standard-guage road, laid with steel rails, extend- 
ing from Rock Island to Peoria, 91 miles. It is 
lessee of the Rock Island & Mercer County Rail- 
road, running from Milan to Cable, 111. , giving it 
a total length of 118 miles — with Peoria Terminal, 



121.10 miles.— (History.) The company is a 
reorganization (Oct. 9, 1877) of the Peoria & 
Rock Island Railroad Company, whose road was 
sold under foreclosure, April 4, 1877. The latter 
Road was the result of the consolidation, in 1869, 
of two corporations — the Rock Island & Peoria 
and the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad Compa- 
nies — the new organization taking the latter 
name. The road was opened through its entire 
length, Jan. 1, 1872, its sale under foreclosure and 
reorganization under its present name taking 
place, as already stated, in 1877. The Cable 
Branch was organized in 1876, as the Rock Island 
& Mercer County Railroad, and opened in De- 
cember of the same j'ear, sold under foreclosure in 
1877, and leased to the Rock Island & Peoria Rail- 
road, July 1, 1885, for 999 years, the rental for 
the entire period being commuted at §450,000. — 
(Financial.) The cost of the entire road and 
e(iuipment was §2.654,487. The capital sto(;k 
(1898) is $1,500,000; funded debt, SOOO.OOO; other 
forms of indebtedness increasing the total capital 
invested to .?3,181,066. 

ROCK RIVER, a stream which rises in Wash- 
ington County, Wis., and flows generally in a 
southerly direction, a part of its course being very 
sinuous. After crossing the northern boundary 
of Illinois, it runs southwestward, intersecting 
the counties of Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, Wliiteside 
and Rock Island, and entering the Mississippi 
three miles below the city of Rock Island. 
It is about 375 miles long, but its navigation is 
partly obstructed by rapids, which, however, 
furnish abundant water-power. The principal 
towns on its banks are Rockford, Dixon and 
Sterling. Its valley is wide, and noted for its 
beauty and fertility. 

ROCKTOX, a village in Winnebago County, at 
the junction of two branches of the Chicago, 
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, on Rock River, 
13 miles north of Rockford ; has manufactures of 
paper and agricultural implements, a feed mill, 
and local paper. Pop. (1890), 892; (1900), 936. 

ROE, Edward Reynolds, A.B., M.D., physician, 
soldier and author, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, 
June 23, 1813; removed with his father, in 1819, 
to Cincinnati, and graduated at Louisville Med- 
ical Institute in 1842 ; began practice at Anderson, 
Ind., but soon removed to Shawneetown, 111., 
where he gave much attention to geological 
research and made some extensive natural his- 
tory collections. From 1848 to '52 he resided at 
Jacksonville, lectured extensively on his favorite 
science, wrote for the press and, for two years 
(1850-53), edited "The Jacksonville Journal," still 



456 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



later editing the newly established "Constitu- 
tionalist"' for a few months. During a part of 
this period he was lecturer on natural science at 
Shurtleff College; also delivered a lecture before 
the State Legislature on the geology of Illinois, 
which was immediately followed by the passage 
of the act establishing the State Geological 
Department. A majority of both houses joined 
in a request for his appointment as State Geolo- 
gist, but it was rejected on partisan grounds — 
he, then, being a Whig. Removing to Blooming- 
ton in 18.53, Dr. Roe became prominent in educa- 
tional matters, being the first Professor of Natural 
Science in the State Normal University, and also 
a Trustee of the Illinois Wesleyan University. 
Having identified himself with the Democratic 
party at this time, he became its nominee for 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 
t8(i0, but, on the inception of the war in 18G1. he 
promptly espoused the cause of the Union, raised 
three companies (mostly Normal students) wliich 
were attached to the Tlurty-third Illinois (Nor- 
mal) Regiment ; was elected Captain and succes- 
sively promoted to Major and Lieutenant-Colonel. 
Having been dangerously wounded in the as.sault 
at Vicksburg, on May 32, 1863, and compelled to 
return home, he was elected Circuit Clerk by the 
comliined vote of both parties, was re-elected 
four years later, became editor of "The Blooin- 
ington Pantagraph" and, in 1870, was elected to 
tlie Twenty-seventh General Assembly, where 
he won distinction by a somewhat notable 
humorous speech in opposition to removing the 
State Capital to Peoria. In 1871 he was ap- 
pointed Marshal for the Southern District of Illi- 
nois, serving nine years. Dr. Roe was a somewhat 
prolific author, having produced more than a 
dozen works which have appeared in book form. 
One of tliese, "Virginia Rose; a Tale of Illinois 
in Earl_V Dajs, "' first appeared as a prize serial in 
"The Alton Courier" in 1853. Others of his more 
noteworthy productions are : "The Gray and the 
Blue"; "Brought to Bay": "From the Beaten 
Path"; "G. A. R. ; or How Slie Married His 
Double"; "Dr. Caldwell; or the Trail of the 
Serpent"; and "Prairie-Land and Other Poems." 
He died in Chicago, Nov. 6, 1893. 

ROGERS, (ieorge Clarke, soldier, was born in 
Grafton County, N H., Nov. 32, 1838; but was 
educated in Vermont and Illinois, having re- 
moved to the latter State early in life. While 
teaching he studied law and was admitted to the 
bar in 18G0; was the first, in 1861, to raise a com- 
|)any in Lake County for the war, which was 
mustered into the Fifteenth Illinois Volunteers; 



■was chosen Second-Lieutenant and later Captain ; 
was wounded four times at Shiloh, but refused to 
leave the field, and led his regiment in the final 
charge; was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and 
soon after commissioned Colonel for gallantry' at 
Hatchie. At Champion Hills he received three 
wounds, fi'om one of which he never fully re- 
covered ; took a prominent part in the operations 
at Allatoona and commanded a brigade nearly 
two years, including the Atlanta campaign, 
retiring with the rank of brevet Brigadier-Gen- 
eral. Since the war has practiced law in Illinois 
and in Kansas. 

ROGERS, Henry Wade, educator, lawyer and 
author, was born in Central New York in 1853 ; 
entered Hamilton College, but the following 
year became a student in Michigan University, 
graduating there in 1874, also receiving the 
degree of A.M., from the same institution, in 
1877. In 1883 he was elected to a professorship 
in the Ann Arbor Law School, and, in 1885, was 
made Dean of the Faculty, succeeding Judge 
Cooley, at the age of 33. Five years later he was 
tendered, and accepted, the Presidency of the 
Northwestern University, at Evanston, being the 
first layman chosen to the position, and succeed- 
ing a long line of Bishops and divines. The same 
j-ear (1890), Wesleyan University conferred upon 
him the honorary degree of LL. D. He is a mem- 
ber of the American Bar Association, has served 
for a number of j'eai's on its Committee on Legal 
Education and Admission to the Bar, and was 
the first Chairman of the Section on Legal Edu- 
cation. President Rogers was the General Chair- 
man of the Conference on the Future Foreign 
Policy of the United States, held at Saratoga 
Springs, N. Y., in August, 1898. At the Con- 
gress held in 1893, as auxiliary to the Columbian 
Exposition, he was chosen Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Law Reform and Jurisprudence, and 
was for a time associate editor of "The American 
Law Register," of Philadelphia. He is also the 
author of a treatise on "Expert Testimony," 
which has passed through two editions, and lias 
edited a work entitled "Illinois Citations," 
besides doing much other valuable literarj- work 
of a similar character. 

ROGERS, John Gorin, jurist, was born at 
Glasgow, Ky., Dec. 28, 1818, of English and early 
Virginian ancestry ; was educated at Center Col- 
lege, Danville, Ky., and at Transylvania Univer- 
sity, graduating from the latter institution in 
1841, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. For 
sixteen years he practiced in his native town, 
and, in 1857, removed to Chicago, where he soon 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



457 



attained professional prominence. In 1870 he 
was elected a Judge of the Cook County Circuit 
Court, continuing on the bench, through repeated 
re-elections, until his deatli, which occurred 
suddenly, Jan. 10, 1887, four years before the 
expiration of the term for which he had been 
elected. 

ROGERS PARK, a village and suburb 9 miles 
north of Chicago, on Lake Michigan and the 
Chicago & Northwestern and the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railways ; has a bank and two 
weeklj' newspapers ; is reached bj- electric street- 
car line from Chicago, and is a popular residence 
suburb. Annexed to City of Cliicago, 1893. 

ROLL, Jolin E., pioneer, was born in Green 
Village, N. J., June 4, 1814; came to Illinois in 
1830, and settled in Sangamon County. He 
assisted Abraham Lincoln in the construction of 
the flat-boat with which the latter descended the 
Mississippi River to New Orleans, in 1831. Mr. 
Roll, who was a mechanic and contractor, built 
a number of houses in Springfield, where he has 
since continued to reside. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The earliest 
Christians to establish places of worship in Illi- 
nois were priests of the Catholic faith. Early 
Catholic missionaries were explorers and histori- 
ans as well as preachers. (See AUouez; Bergier; 
Early Missionaries; Oravier; Marquette.) The 
church went hand in hand with the represent- 
atives of the French Government, carrying in 
one hand the cross and in the other the flag of 
France, simultaneously disseminating the doc- 
trines of Christianity and inculcating loyalty to 
the House of Bourbon. For nearly a hundred 
years, the self-sacrificing and devoted Catholic 
clergy of tlie seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies ministered to the spiritual wants of the 
early French settlers and the natives. They were 
not without factional jealousies, however, and a 
severe blow was dealt to a branch of them in the 
order for the banishment of the Jesuits and the 
confiscation of their property. (See Early Mis- 
sionaries.) The subsequent occupation' of the 
country by the English, with the contemporane- 
ous emigration of a considerable portion of the 
French west of the Mississippi, dissipated many 
congregations. Up to 1830 Illinois was included 
in the diocese of Missouri ; but at that time it was 
constituted a separate diocese, under the episco- 
pal control of Rt. Rev. Joseph Rosatti. At that 
date there were few, if any, priests in Illinois. 
But Bishop Rosatti was a man of earnest purpose 
and rare administrative ability. New parishes 
were organized as rapidly as circumstances 



would permit, and the growth of the church has 
been steady. By 1840 there were thirty-one 
parishes and twenty priests. In 1896 there are 
reported 698 parishes, 704 clergymen and a 
Catholic population exceeding 850,000. (See also 
Religious Denominations. ) 

ROODHOUSE, a city in Greene County, 31 
miles south of Jacksonville, and at .iunction of 
three divisions of the Chicago ct Alton Railroad; 
is in fertile agricultural and coal-mining region; 
city contains a flouring mill, grain-elevator, stock- 
yards, railway shops, water-works, electric light 
plant, two private banks, fine opera house, good 
school buildings, one daily and two weekly 
papers. Pop. (1890), 3,360; (1900), 2,351. 

ROODHOUSE, John, farmer and founder of 
the town of Roodhouse, in Greene County, 111., 
was born in Yorkshire, England, brought to 
America in childhood, his father settling in 
Greene County, 111., in 1831. In his early man- 
hood lie opened a farm in Tazewell County, but 
finall}' returned to tlie paternal home in Greene 
County, where, on the location of the Jackson- 
ville Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 
he laid out the town of Roodhouse, at the junc- 
tion of the Louisiana and Kansas City branch 
with the main line. 

ROOT, (Jeorsre Frederick, musical composer 
and author, was born at Sheffield, Mass., August 
30, 1830. He was a natural musician, and. while 
employed on his father's farm, learned to play on 
various instruments. In 1838 he removed to Bos- 
ton, where he began his life-work. Besides 
teaching music in the public schools, he was 
employed to direct the musical service in two 
churches. From Boston lie removed to New 
York, and, in 1850, went to Paris for purposes of 
musical study. In 1853 he made liis first public 
essay as a composer in the song, "Hazel Dell," 
which became popular at once. From this time 
forward his success as a song-writer was assured. 
His music, while not of a high artistic character, 
captivated the popular ear and appealed strongly 
to the heart. In 1860 he took up his residence in 
Chicago, where he conducted a musical journal 
and wrote those "war songs" which created and 
perpetuated his fame. Among the best known 
are "Rally Round the Flag"; "Just Before the 
Battle, Mother"; and "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp." 
Other popular songs by him are "Rosalie, the 
Prairie Flower"; "A Hundred Years Ago"; and 
"The Old Folks are Gone." Besides songs he 
composed several cantatas and much sacred 
music, also publishing many books of instruction 
and numerous collections of vocal and instru- 



458 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



mental music. In 1872 the University of Chicago 
conferred on liim the degree of Mus. Doc. Died, 
near Portland, Maine, August 6, 189.5. 

ROOTS, Benajah Guernsey, civil engineer, 
and educator, was born in Onondaga County 
N. Y., April 20, 1811. and educated in the schools 
and academies of Central New York; began 
teaching in 1827, and, after spending a year at 
sea for the benefit of his liealth, took a course in 
law and civil engineering. He was employed as 
a civil engineer on the Western Railroad of 
Massachusetts until 1838, when he came to Illi- 
nois and obtained employment on the railroad 
projected from Alton to Shawneetown, under 
the "internal improvement system" of 1837. 
When that was suspended in 1839, he settled on 
a farm near the present site of Tamaroa, Perry 
County, and soon after opened a boarding school, 
continuing its management until 1846, when he 
became Principal of a seminary at Sparta. In 
18.51 he went into the service of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad, first as resident engineer in 
charge of surveys and construction, later as land 
agent and attorney. He was prominent in the 
introduction of the graded school system in Illi- 
nois and in the establishment of the State Nor- 
mal School at Bloomington and the University of 
Illinois at Champaign ; was a member of the 
State Board of Education from its oi-ganization, 
and served as delegate to the National Repub- 
lican Convention of 1868. Died, at his lionie in 
Perry County, 111., May 9, 1888.— Philander Keep 
(Roots), son of the preceding, born in Tolland 
County, Conn., June 4, 1838, brought to Illinois 
the same year and educated in his father's school, 
and in an academy at CarroUton and the Wes- 
leyan University at Bloomington ; at tlie age of 
17 belonged to a corps of engineers emploj'ed on 
a Southern railroad, and, during the war, served 
as a civil engineer in the construction and repair 
of military roads. Later, he was Deputj- Sur- 
veyor-General of Nebra.ska; in 1871 became Chief 
Engineer on the Cairo & Fulton (now a part of 
the Iron Mountain) Railway ; then engaged in 
the banking business in Arkansas, first as cashier 
of a bank at Fort Smith and afterwards of the 
Merchants' National Bank at Little Rock, of 
which his brother, Logan H., was President. — 
Logan H. (Roots), another son, born near Tama- 
roa, Perry County, III., March 23, 1841, was edu- 
cated at home and at the State Normal at 
Bloomington, meanwhile serving as principal 
of a high school at Duquoin ; in 1862 enlisted in 
the Eighty-first Illinois Volunteers, serving 
through the war and acting as Chief Commissary 



for General Sherman on the "March to the Sea," 
and participating in the great review in Wash- 
ington, in May, 186.5. After the conclusion of 
the war he was appointed Collector of Internal 
Revenue for the First Arkansas District, was 
elected from that State to the Fortieth and 
Forty-first Congresses (1868 and 1870) — being, at 
the time, the youngest member in that body — and 
was appointed United States Marshal by Presi- 
dent Grant. lie finally became President of the 
Merchants' National Bank at Little Rock, with 
wliich he remained nearly twenty years. Died, 
suddenly, of congestion of the brain. May 30. 
1893, leaving an estate valued at nearly one and 
a half millions, of which he gave a large sliare to 
charitable purposes and to the city of Little 
Rock, for the benefit of its hospitals and the im- 
provement of its parks. 

ROSE, James A., Secretary of State, was born 
at Golconda, Pope County, 111., Oct. 13, 18.50. 
The foundation of his education was secured in 
the public schools of his native place, and, after 
a term in the Normal University at Normal, 111., 
at the age of 18 he took charge of a country 
school. Soon he was chosen Principal of the 
Golconda graded schools, was later made County 
Superintendent of Schools, and re-elected for a 
second term. During his second term he was 
admitted to the bar, and, resigning the office of 
Sujierintendent, was elected State's Attorney 
without opposition, being re-elected for anotlier 
term. In 1889, by ajipointment of Governor 
Fifer, lie became one of the Trustees of the 
Pontiac Reformatory, serving until the next 
year, when he was transferred to the Board of 
Commissioners of the Southern Illinois Peniten- 
tiary at Chester, which position he continued to 
occupj' until 1893. In 1896 he was elected Secre- 
tary of State on tlie Republican ticket, his term 
extending to January, 1901. 

ROSEVILLE, a village in Warren County, on 
the Rock Island Division of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railroad, 17 miles nortliwest of 
Bushuell ; has water and electric-light plants, two 
banks, public library and one newspaper Region 
agricultural and coalmining. Pop. (1900), 1,014. 

ROSS, Leonard Fulton, soldier, born in Fulton 
County, 111., July 18, 1823; was educated in the 
common schools and at Illinois College, Jackson- 
ville, studied law and admitted to the bar in 184.5 ; 
the following year enlisted in the Fourth Illinois 
Volunteers for the Mexican War, became First 
Lieutenant and was commended for services at 
Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; also performed im- 
portant service as bearer of dispatches for Gen- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



•459 



eral Taylor. After the war he served six years 
as Probate Judge. In May, 1861, he enlisted in 
the war for the Union, and was chosen Colonel 
of the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, serving 
with it in Missouri and Kentucky; was commis- 
sioned Brigadier-General a few weeks after the 
capture of Fort Donelson, and, after the evacu- 
ation of Corinth, was assigned to the command 
of a division with headquarters at Bolivar, Tenn. 
He resigned in July, 1863, and, in 1867, was 
appointed by President Johnson Collector of 
Internal Revenue for the Ninth District; has 
been three times a delegate to National Repub- 
lican Conventions and twice defeated as a candi- 
date for Congress in a Democratic District. 
Since the war he has devoted his attention 
largely to stock-raising, having a large stock- 
faun in Iowa. In his later years was President 
of a bank at Lewistown, 111. Died Jan. 17, 1901. 
ROSS, (Col.) William, pioneer, was born at 
Monson, Hampden County, Mass., April 24, 1792; 
removed with his father's family, in 1805, to 
Pittsfield, Mass., where he remained until his 
twentieth year, when he was commissioned an 
Ensign in the Twenty-first Regiment United 
States Infantry, serving through the War of 
1813 14, and participating in the battle of Sack- 
ett's Harbor. During the latter part of his serv- 
ice he acted as drill-master at various points. 
Then, returning to Pittsfield, he carried on the 
business of blacksmithing as an employer, mean- 
while filling some local offices. In 1820, a com- 
pany consisting of himself and four brothers, 
with tlieir families and a few others, started for 
the West, intending to settle in Illinois. Reach- 
ing the head-waters of the Allegheny overland, 
they transferred their wagons, teams and other 
property to flat-boats, descending that stream 
and the Ohio to Shawneetown, III. Here they 
disembarked and, crossing the State, reached 
Upper Alton, where they found only one house, 
thatof Maj. Charles W. Hunter. Leaving their 
families at Upper Alton, the brothers proceeded 
north, crossing the Illinois River near its mouth, 
until they reached a point in the western part of 
the present county of Pike, where the town of 
Atlas was afterwards located. Here they 
erected four rougli log-cabins, on a beautiful 
prairie not far from the Mississippi, removing 
their families thither a few weeks later. They 
suffered the usual privations incident to life in a 
new country, not excepting sickness and death 
of some of their number. At the next session of 
the Legislature (1820-21) Pike County was estab- 
lislied, embracing all that part of the State west 



and north of the Illinois, and including the 
present cities of Galena and Chicago. The Ross 
settlement became the nucleus of the town of 
Atlas, laid out by Colonel Ross and his associates 
in 1823, at an early day the rival of Quincy, and 
becoming the second county -seat of Pike County, 
so remaining from 1824 to 1833, when the seat of 
justice was removed to Pittsfield. During this 
period Colonel Ross was one of the most promi- 
nent citizens of the county, holding, simultane- 
ously or successively, the offices of Probate 
Judge, Circuit and County Clerk, Justice of the 
Peace, and others of a subordinate character. 
As Colonel of Militia, in 1832, he was ordered bj- 
Governor Reynolds to raise a company for the 
Black Hawk War, and, in four days, reported at 
Beardstown with twice the nvunber of men 
called for. In 1834 he was elected to the lower 
branch of the General Assemljly, also serving in 
the Senate during the three following sessions, a 
part of the time as President pro tern, of the last- 
named body. While in the General Assembly he 
was instrumental in securing legislation of great 
importance relating to Military Tract lands. 
The year following the establishment of the 
county-.seat at Pittsfield (1834) he became a citi- 
zen of that place, which he had the privilege of 
naming for liis early home. He was a member 
of the Republican State Convention of 18.56, and a 
delegate to the National Republican Convention 
of 1860, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for Presi- 
dent the first time. Beginning life poor he 
acquired considerable property; was liberal, pul)- 
lic-spirited and patriotic, making a handsome 
donation to the first company organized in Pike 
County, for the suppression of the Rebellion. 
Died, at Pittsfield, May 31, 1873. 

ROSSVILLE, a village of Vermillion County, 
on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 10 
miles north of Danville; has electrio-liglit plant, 
water-works, tile and brick-works, two banks and 
two newspapers. Pop. (1890), 879; (1900), 1,435. 

ROUNDS, Sterling Parker, public printer, 
was born in Berkshire, Vt., June 27, 1828; about 
1840 began learning the printer's trade at Ken- 
osha, Wis., and, in 1845, was foreman of the State 
printing office at Madison, afterward working in 
offices in Milwaukee, Racine and Buffalo, going 
to Chicago in 1851. Here he finally establislied 
a printer's warehouse, to which he later added an 
electrotype foundry and the manufacture of 
presses, also commencing the issue of "Round's 
Printers' Cabinet," a trade-paper, which was 
continued during his life. In 1881 he was ap- 
pointed by President Garfield Public Printer at 



400 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Washington, serving until 1885, when he removed 
to Omaha, Neb., and was identified with "The 
Republican," of that city, until liis death, Dec. 
17, 1887. 

ROUNTREE, Hiram, County Judge, born in 
Rutherford Coimty, N. C, Dec. 23, 1794: was 
Itrought to Kentucky in infancy, where he grew 
to manhood and served as an Ensign in the War 
of 1813 under General Shelby. In 1817 he re- 
moved to Illinois Territory, first locating in 
Madison County, where he taught school for two 
years near Edwardsville, but removed to Fayette 
County about the time of the removal of the 
State capital to Vandalia. On the organization 
of Montgomery County, in 1821, he was appointed 
to office there and ever afterwards resided at 
HUlsboro. For a number of years in the early 
history of the county, he held (at the same time) 
the offices of Clerk of the County Commissioners 
Court, Clerk of the Circuit Court, County 
Recorder, Justice of the Peace, Notary Public. 
Master in Chancery and Judge of Probate, besides 
that of Postma.ster for the town of Hillsboro. In 
1836 he was elected Enrolling and Engrossing 
Clerk of the Senate and re-elected in 1830 ; served 
as Delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 
1847, and the next year was elected to the State 
Senate, serving in the Sixteenth and Seven- 
teenth General Assemblies. On retiring from 
the Senate (1853), he was elected County Judge 
without opposition, was re-elected to the same 
office in 1861, and again, in 1865, as the nominee 
of the Republicans. Judge Rountree was noted 
for his sound judgment and sterling integrity. 
Died, at Hillsboro. March 4, 1873. 

ROUTT, John L., soldier and Governor, was 
born at Eddyville, Ky., April 35, 1826, brouglit 
to Illinois in infancy and educated in the com- 
mon schools. Soon after coming of age he was 
elected and served one term as Sheriff of McLean 
County ; in 1863 enlisted and became Captain of 
Company E, Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers. 
After the war he engaged in business in Bloom- 
ington, and was appointed by President Grant, 
successively. United States Marshal for the 
Southern District of Illinois, Second Assistant 
Postmaster-General and Territorial Governor of 
Colorado. On the admission of Colorado as a 
State, he was elected the first Governor under the 
State Government, and re-elected in 1890 — serv- 
ing, in all, three years. His home is in Denver. 
He has been extensively and successfully identi- 
fied with mining enterprises in Colorado. 

ROWELL, Jonathan H., ex-Congressman, was 
born at Haverhill, N. H., Feb. 10, 1833. He is a 



graduate of Eureka College and of the Law 
Department of the Chicago University. During 
the War of the Rebellion he served three years as 
company officer in the Seventeenth Illinois 
Infantry. In 1868 he was elected State's Attor- 
ney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, and, in 1880. 
was a Presidential Elector on the Republican 
ticket. In 1883 he was elected to Congress from 
the Fourteenth Illinois District and three times 
re-elected, serving until March, 1891. His home 
is at Bloomington. 

ROWETT, Richard, soldier, was born in Corn- 
wall, England, in 1830, came to the United 
States in 1851, finally settling on a farm near 
Carlinville. 111., and becoming a breeder of 
thorough-bred horses. In 1861 he entered the 
service as a Captain in the Seventh Illinois 
Volunteers and was successively promoted 
Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel; was 
wounded in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth and 
Allatoona, especially distinguishing himself at the 
latter and being brevetted Brigadier-General for 
gallantry. After the war he returned to his 
stock-farm, but later held the jjositious of Canal 
Commissioner, Penitentiary Commissioner, Rep- 
resentative in the Thirtieth General Assem- 
bly and Collector of Internal Revenue for the 
Fourth (Quincy) District, until its consolidation 
with the Eighth District by President Cleveland. 
Died, in Chicago, July 13, 1887. 

RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE, located in Clii- 
cago ; incorporated by act of March 2, 1837, the 
charter having been prepared the previous year 
by Drs. Daniel Brainard and Josiah C. Goodliue. 
The extreme financial depression of the following 
year prevented the organization of a faculty 
until 1843. The institution was named in honor 
of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the eminent practitioner, 
medical author and teacher of Philadelphia in the 
latter half of the eighteenth century. The first 
faculty consisted of four professors, and the first 
term opened on Dec. 4, 1843, with a class of 
twenty-two students. Three years' study was 
required for graduation, but only two annual 
terms of sixteen weeks each need be attended at 
the college itself. Instruction was given in a 
few rooms temporarily opened for that purpose. 
The next year a small building, costing between 
$3,000 and §4,000, was erected. This was re-ar- 
ranged and enlarged in 1855 at a cost of $15,000. 
The constant and rapid growth of tlie college 
necessitated the erection of a new building in 
1867, the cost of which was $70,000. This was 
destroyed in the fire of 1871, and another, costing 
$54,000, was erected in 1876 and a free dispensary 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



461 



added. In 1844 the Presbyterian Hospital was 
located on a portion of the college lot. and the 
two institutions connected, thus insui-ing abun- 
dant and stable facilities for clinical instruction. 
Shortly afterwards, Rush College became the 
medical department of Lake Forest University. 
The present faculty (1898) consists of 95 profes- 
sors, adjunct professors, lecturers and instructors 
of all grades, and over 600 students in attend- 
ance. The length of the annual terms is six 
months, and four years of study are required for 
graduation, attendance upon at least three col- 
lege terms being compulsory. 

RUSHVILLE, the county-seat of Schuyler 
County, 50 miles northeast of Quincy and 11 
miles northwest of Beardstown ; is the southern 
terminus of the Buda and Rushville branch of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The 
town was selected as the county-seat in 1826, 
the seat of justice being removed from a place 
called Beardstown, about five miles eastward 
(not the present Beard.stown in Cass County), 
where it had been located at the time of the 
organization of Schuyler County, a year previous. 
At first the new seat of justice was called Rush- 
ton, in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, but after- 
wards took its present name. It is a coal-mining, 
grain and fruit-growing region, and contains 
several manufactories, including flour-mills, brick 
and tile works; al.so has two banks (State and 
private) and a public library. Four periodicals 
(one daily) are published here. Population 
(1880), 1,663; (1890), 2,031; (1900), 2,293. ' 

RUSSELL, John, pioneer teacher and author, 
was born at Cavendish, Vt., July 31, 1793, and 
educated in the common schools of his native 
State and at Middlebury College, where he gradu- 
ated in 1818 — having obtained means to support 
himself, during his college course, by teaching 
and by the publication, before he had reached his 
30th year, of a volume entitled "The Authentic 
History of Vermont State Prison. " After gradu- 
ation he taught for a short time in Georgia ; but, 
early in the following year, joined his father on 
the way to Missouri. The next five years he 
spent in teaching in the "Bonhommie Bottom" 
on the Missouri River. During this period he 
published, anonymously, in "The St. Charles Mis- 
sourian," a temperance allegorj' entitled "The 
Venomous Worm" (or "The Worm of the Still"), 
which gained a wide popularit}' and was early 
recognized by the compilers of school-readers as 
a sort of classic. Leaving this locality he taught 
a year in St. Louis, when he removed to Vandalia 
(then the capital of Illinois), after which he spent 



two years teaching in the Seminary at Upper 
Alton, which afterwards became Shurtleff College. 
In 1838 he removed to Greene County, locating 
at a point near the Illinois River to which he 
gave the name of Bluflfdale. Here he was li- 
censed as a Baptist preacher, officiating in this ca- 
pacity only occasionally, while pursuing his 
calling as a teacher or writer for the press, to 
which he was an almost constant contributor 
during the last twenty-five years of his life. 
About 1837 or 1838 he was editor of a paper called 
"The Backwoodsman" at Grafton— then a part 
of Greene County, but now in Jersey County — to 
which he afterwards continued to be a contribu- 
tor some time longer, and, in 1841-43, was editor 
of "The Advertiser, ' at Louisville, Ky. He was 
also, for several years. Principal of the Spring 
Hill Academy in East Feliciana Parish, La., 
meanwhile serving for a portion of the time as 
Superintendent of Public Schools. He was the 
author of a number of stories and sketches, some 
of which went through several editions, and, at 
the time of his death, liad in preparation a his- 
tory of "The Black Hawk War," "Evidences of 
Christianity" and a "History of Illinois." He 
was an accomplished linguist, being able to read 
with fluency Greek, Latin, French, Spanish and 
Italian, besides having considerable familiarity 
with several other modern languages. In 1863 
he received from the University of Chicago the 
degree of LL.D. Died, Jan. 2. 1863, and was 
buried on the old homestead at Blulfdale. 

RUSSELL, Martin J., politician and journal- 
ist, born in Chicago, Dec. 30, 1845. He was a 
nephew of Col. James A. Mulligan (see 3Iulligan, 
James A.) and served with credit as Adjutant- 
General on the staff of the latter in the Civil 
War. In 1870 he became a reporter on "The 
Chicago Evening Post," and was advanced to 
the position of city editor. Subsequently he was 
connected with "The Times," and "The Tele- 
gram" ; was also a member of the Board of Edu- 
cation of Hyde Park before the annexation of 
that village to Chicago, and has been one of the 
South Park Commissioners of the city last named. 
After the purchase of "The Chicago Times" by 
Carter H. Harrison he remained for a time on 
the editorial staff. In 1894 President Cleveland 
appointed him Collector of the Port of Chicago. 
At the expiration of his term of office he resumed 
editorial work as editor-in-chief of "The Chron- 
icle," the organ of the Democratic party in 
Chicago. Died June 35, 1900. 

RUTHERFORD, Friend S., lawyer and sol- 
dier, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., Sept. 25, 



462 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



1820; studied law in Troy and removed to Illi- 
nois, settling at Edwardsville, and finally at 
Alton; was a Republican candidate for Presi- 
dential Elector in 1856, and, in 1860, a member of 
the National Republican Convention at Chicago, 
wliich nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency. 
In September, 1863, he was commissioned Colonel 
of the Ninety-seventh Illinois Volunteers, and 
participated in the capture of Port Gibson and in 
the operations about Vicksburg — also leading in 
the attack on Arkansas Post, and subsequently 
serving in Louisiana, but died as the result of 
fatigue and exposure in the service, June 20, 
1864, one week before his promotion to the rank 
of Brigadier-General. — Reuben C. (Rutherford), 
brother of the preceding, was born at Troy, N. Y., 
Sept. 29, 1823, but grew up in Vermont and New 
Hampshire ; received a degree in law when quite 
young, but afterwards fitted himself as a lec- 
turer on physiology and hygiene, upon which he 
lectured extensively in Michigan, Illinois and 
other States after coming west in 1849. During 
1854-55, in co-operation with Prof. J. B. Turner 
and others, he canvassed and lectured extensively 
throughout Illinois in support of the movement 
which resulted in the donation of public lands, 
by Congress, for the establishment of "Industrial 
Colleges" in the several States. The establish- 
ment of the University of Illinois, at Champaign, 
was the outgrowth of this movement. In 1856 he 
located at Quincy. where he resided some thirty 
years; in 1861, served for several months as the 
first Commissary of Subsistence at Cairo; was 
later associated with the State Quartermaster's 
Department, finally entering the secret service of 
the War Department, in which he remained until 
1867. retiring with the rank of brevet Brigadier- 
General. In 1886. General Rutherford removed 
to New York City, where he died, June 34. 1895. — 
fcieorge V. (Rutherford), another brother, was 
born at Rutland, Vt. , 1830; was first admitted to 
the bar, but afterwards took charge of the con- 
struction of telegraph lines in some of the South- 
ern States; at the beginning of the Civil War 
became Assistant Quartermaster-General of the 
State of Illinois, at Springfield, under ex-Gov. 
John Wood, but subsequently entered the 
Quartermaster's service of the General Govern- 
ment in Washington, retiring after the war with 
the rank of Brigadier-General. He then returned 
to Quincy, 111., where he resided until 1872, when 
he engaged in manufacturitig business at North 
ampton, Mass., but finally removed to California 
for the benefit of his failing health. Died, at St. 
Helena. Cal. . August 38, 1872. 



RUTLAND, a village of La Salle County, on 
the Illinois Central Railroad, 35 miles south of La 
Salle; has a bank, five churches, school, and a 
newspaper, with coal mines in the vicinity. Pop. 
(1890), .509; (1900). 893; (1903), 1,093. 

RUTLEDGE, (Rev.) William J., clergyman, 
Army Chaplain, born in Augusta County, Va. , 
June 34, 1830; was converted at the age of 13 
j-ears and, at 21, became a member of the Illinois 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
serving various churches in the central and west- 
ern parts of the State — also acting, for a time, as 
Agent of the Illinois Conference Female College 
at Jacksonville. From 1861 to 1863 he was Chap- 
lain of the Fourteenth Regiment Illinois Volun- 
teers. Returning from the war, he served as 
pastor of churches at Jacksonville, Bloomington, 
Quincy, Rushville, Springfield, Griggsville and 
other points; from 1881 to '84 was Chaplain of 
the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet. Mr. 
Rutledge was one of the founders of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and served for many years 
as Chaplain of the order for the Department of 
Illinois. In connection with the ministry, he 
has occupied a supernumerary relation since 
1885. Died in Jacksonville, April 14, 1900. 

RUTZ, Edward, State Treasurer, was born in 
a village in the Duchy of Baden, Germany, May 
5, 1839 ; came to America in 1848, locating on a 
farm in St. Clair County, 111. ; went to California 
in 1857, and, early in 1861, enlisted in the Third 
United States Artillery at San Francisco, serving 
with the Army of the Potomac until his discharge 
in 1864, and taking part in every battle in which 
his command was engaged. After his return in 
1865, he located in St. Clair County, and was 
elected County Surveyor, served three consecu- 
tive terms as County Treasurer, and was elected 
State Treasurer three times — 1873, "76 and '80. 
About 1892 he removed to California, where he 
now resides. 

RYA\, Edward (i., early editor and jurist, 
born at Newcastle House, County Meath, Ireland, 
Nov. 13, 1810; was educated for the priesthood, 
but turned his attention to law, a'hd, in 1830, 
came to New York and engaged in teaching 
while prosecuting his legal studies; in 1836 re- 
moved to Chicago, where he was admitted to the 
bar and was. for a time, associated in practice 
with Hugh T. Dickey. In April, 1840, Mr. Ryan 
assumed the editorship of a weekly paper in Chi- 
cago called "The Illinois Tribune," which lie 
conducted for over a year, and which is remem- 
bered chiefly on account of its bitter assaults on 
Judge John Pearson of Danville, who had 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



463 



aroiised the hostility of some members of the 
Chicago bar bj' his rulings upon tlie bench. 
About 1843 Ryan removed to Slilwaukee, Wis., 
where he was, for a time, a partner of Matthew 
H. Carpenter (afterwards United States Senator), 
and was connected with a number of celebrated 
trials before the courts of that State, including 
the Barstow-Bashford case, which ended with 
Bashford becoming the first Republican Governor 
of Wisconsin. In 1874 he was appointed Chief 
Justice of Wisconsin, serving until his death, 
which occurred at Madison, Oct. 19, 1880. He 
was a strong partisan, and, during the Civil War, 
was an intense opponent of the war policy of the 
Government. In spite of infirmities of temper, 
he appears to have been a man of much learning 
and recognized legal ability. 

RYAN, James, Roman Catholic Bishop, born 
in Ireland in 1848 and emigrated to America in 
childhood ; was educated for the priesthood in 
Kentucky, and, after ordination, was made a pro- 
fessor in St. Joseph's Seminary, at Bardstown, 
Ky. In 1878 he removed to Illinois, attaching 
himself to the diocese of Peoria, and having 
charge of parishes at Wataga and Danville. In 
1881 he became rector of the Ottawa parish, 
within the episcopal jurisdiction of the Arch- 
bishop of Chicago. lu 1888 he was made Bishop 
of the see of Alton, the prior incumbent (Bishop 
Baltes) having died in 1886. 

SACS AND FOXES, two confederated Indian 
tribes, who were among the most warlike and 
powerful of the aborigines of the Illinois Country. 
The Foxes called themselves the Musk-wah-ha- 
kee, a name compounded of two words, signify- 
ing "those of red earth." The French called 
them Ou-taga-mies, that being their spelling of 
the name given them by other tribes, the mean- 
ing of which was "Foxes," and which was 
bestowed upon them because their totem (or 
armorial device, as it may be called) was a fox. 
They seem to have been driven westward from 
-the northern shore of Lake Ontario, by way of 
Niagara and Mackinac, to the region around 
Green Bay, Wis. — Concerning their allied breth- 
ren, the Sacs, less is known. The name is vari- 
ously spelled in the Indian dialects — Ou-sa-kies, 
Sauks, etc. — and the term Sacs is unquestionably 
an abbreviated corruption. Black Hawk be- 
longed to this tribe. The Foxes and Sacs formed 
a confederation according to aboriginal tradition, 
on what is now known as the Sac River, near 
Green Bay, but the date of the alliance cannot 
be determined. The origin of the Sacs is equally 



uncertain. Black Hawk claimed that his tribe 
originally dwelt around Quebec, but, as to the 
authenticity of this claim, historical authorities 
differ widely. Subsequent to 1670 the history of 
the allied tribes is tolerably well defined. Their 
characteristics, location and habits are described 
at some length by Father AUouez, who visited 
them in 1666-67. He says that they were numer- 
ous and warlike, but depicts them as "penurious, 
avaricious, thievish and quarrelsome." That 
they were cordially detested by their neighbors 
is certain, and Judge James Hall calls them "the 
Ishmaelites of the lakes. " They were unfriendly 
to the French, who attached to themselves other 
tribes, and, through the aid of the latter, had 
well-nigh exterminated them, when the Sacs and 
Foxes sued for peace, which was granted on 
terms most humiliating to the vanquished. By 
1718, however, they were virtually in possession 
of the region around Rock River in Illinois, and, 
four years later, through the aid of the Mascou- 
tins and Kickapoos, they had expelled the Illinois, 
driving the last of that ill-fated tribe across the 
Illinois River. They abstained from taking part 
in the border wars that marked the close of , the 
Revolutionary War, and therefore did not par- 
ticipate in the treaty of Greenville in 1795. At 
that date, according to Judge Hall, they claimed 
the country as far west as Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
and as far north as Prairie du Chien. They 
offered to co-operate with the United States 
Government in the War of 1812, but this offer 
was declined, and a portion of the tribe, under 
the leadership of Black Hawk, enlisted on the 
side of the British. The Black Hawk War proved 
their political ruin. By the treaty of Rock Island 
they ceded vast tracts of land, including a large 
part of the eastern half of Iowa and a large body 
of land east of the Mississippi. (See Black Hawk 
War; Indian Treaties.) In 1842 the Government 
divided the nation into two bands, removing both 
to reservations in the farther West. One was 
located on the'Osage River and the other on the 
soutli side of the Nee-ma-ha River, near the 
northwest corner of Kansas. From these reser- 
vations, there is little doubt, many of them have 
silently emigrated toward the Rocky Mountains, 
where the hoe might be laid aside for the rifle, 
the net and the spear of the hunter. A few 
years ago a part of these confederated tribes 
were located in the eastern part of Oklahoma. 

SAILOR SPRINGS, a village and health resort 
in Clay County, .5 miles north of Clay City, has 
an academy and a local paper. Population (1900), 
419; (1903, est.), 550. 



464 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



SALEM, an incorporated city, the county-seat 
of Marion County, on the Baltimore et Ohio South- 
western, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the 
Illinois Southern Railroads, 71 miles east of St. 
Louis, and 16 miles northeast of Centralia; in 
agricultural and coal district. A leading indus- 
try is the culture, evaporation and shipment of 
fruit. Tlie city has flour-mills, two banks and 
three weekly newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,493; 
(1900), 1,643. 

SALINE COUNTY, a southeastern county, 
organized in 1847, having an area of 380 square 
miles. It derives its name from the salt springs 
which are found In every part of the county. 
The northern portion is rolling and yields an 
abundance of coal of a quality suitable for smith- 
ing. The bottoms are swampy, but heavily 
timbered, and saw-mills abound. Oak, hickory, 
sweet gum, mulberry, locust and sassafras are 
the prevailing varieties. Fruit and tobacco are 
extensively cultivated. The climate is mild and 
humid, and the vegetation varied. The soil of 
the low lands is rich, and, when drained, makes 
excellent farming lands. In some localities a 
good gray sandstone, soft enough to be worked, 
is quarried, and millstone grit is frequently found. 
In the southern half of the county are the Eagle 
Mountains, a line of hills having an altitude of 
some 4.50 to 500 feet above the level of the Mis- 
sissippi at Cairo, and believed by geologists to 
have been a part of the upheaval that gave birth 
to the Ozark Mountains in Missouri and Arkan- 
sas. The highest laud in the county is 864 feet 
above sea-level. Tradition says that these hills 
are rich in silver ore, but it has not been found 
in paying quantities. Springs strongl}- impreg- 
nated with sulphur are found on the slopes. The 
county-seat was originally located at Raleigh, 
which was platted in 1848, but it was subse- 
quently removed to Harrisburg, which was laid 
out in 18.59. Population of the county (1880), 
1.5,940; (1890). 19,342; (1900), 31,685. 

SALINE RIYER, a stream formed by the con- 
fluence of two branches, both of whicli flow 
through portions of Saline County, uniting in 
Gallatin County. The North Fork rises in Hamil- 
ton County and runs nearly south, while the 
South Fork drains part of Williamson County, 
and runs east through Saline. The river (which 
is little more than a (Teek), thus formed, runs 
southeast, entering the Ohio ten miles below 
Shawneetown. 

SALT MANUFACTURE. There is evidence 
going to show that the saline springs, in Gallatin 
County, vrere utilized by the aboriginal inhabit- 



ants in the making of salt; long before the advent 
of white settlers. There have been discovered, at 
various points, what appear to be the remains of 
evaporating kettles, composed of hardened clay 
and pounded shells, varying in diameter from 
three to four feet. In 1813, with a view to en- 
couraging the manufacture of salt from these 
springs. Congress granted to Illinois the use of 
36 square miles, the fee still remaining in the 
United States. These lands were leased by the 
State to private parties, but the income derived 
from them was comparatively small and fre- 
quently difficult of collection. The workmen 
were mostly slaves from Kentucky and Tennes- 
see, who are especially referred to in Article VI., 
Section 3, of the Constitution of 1818. The salt 
made brought S5 per 100 pounds, and was shipped 
in keel- boats to various points on the Ohio, Mis- 
sissippi, Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, wliile 
many purchasers came hundreds of miles on 
horseback and carried it away on pack animals. 
In 1837, the State treasury being empty and the 
General Assembly having decided to erect a peni- 
tentiary at Alton, Congress was petitioned to 
donate these lands to the State in fee, and per- 
mission was granted "to sell 30.000 acres of the 
Ohio Salines in Gallatin County, and apply tlie 
proceeds to such purposes as the Legislature 
might by law direct." The sale was made, one- 
half of the proceeds set apart for the building of 
the penitentiary, and one-lialf to the improve- 
ment of roads and rivers in the eastern part of 
the State. The manufacture of salt was carried 
on, however — for a time by lessees and subse- 
quently by owners — until 1873, about whicli time 
it was abandoned, chiefly because it had cea.sed 
to be profltable on account of competition with 
other districts possessing superior facilities. 
Some salt was manufactured in Vermilion County 
about 1824. The manufacture has been success- 
fully carried on in recent years, from the product 
of artesian wells, at St. John, in Perry County. 

SANDOVAL, a village of Marion County, at 
the crossing of the western branch of tlie Illinois 
Central Railroad, and the Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern, 6 miles north of Centralia. The 
town has coal mines and some manufactures, 
with banks and one newspaper. Population 
(1880), .564; (1890), 8.34; (1900), 1,2.58. 

SANDSTONE. The quantity of sandstone quar- 
ried in Illinois is comparatively insignificant, its 
value being less than one fifth of one per cent of 
the value of the output of the entire country. 
In 1890 the State ranked twenty-fifth in the list 
of States producing this mineral, the total value 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



465 



of the stone quarried being but 517,896, repre- 
senting 141,605 cubic feet, taken fiom ten quar- 
ries, which employed forty-six hands, and had an 
aggregate capital invested of $49,400. 

SAIVDWICH, a city in De Kalb County, incor- 
porated in 1873, on the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, 58 miles southwest of Chicago. 
The principal industries are the manufacture of 
agricultural implements, hay-presses, corn-shell- 
ers, pumps and wind-mills. Sandwich has two 
private banks, two weekly and one semi-weekly 
papers. Pop. (1890), 3,516; (1900), 3,530; (1903), 
2,865. 

SANGAMON COUNTY, a central county, 
organized under act of June 30, 1821, from parts 
of Bond and Madison Counties, and embracing 
the present counties of Sangamon, Cass, Menard, 
Mason, Tazewell, Logan, and parts of Morgan, 
McLean, Woodford, Marshall and Putnam. It 
was named for the river flowing through it. 
Though reduced in area somewhat, four years 
later, it extended to the Illinois River, but was 
reduced to its present limits by the setting apart 
of Menard, Logan and Dane (now Christian) 
Counties, in 1839. Henry Funderburk is believed 
to have been the first white settler, arriving 
there in 1817 and locating in what is now Cotton 
Hill Township, being followed, the next year, by 
William Drennan, Joseph Dodds, James McCoy, 
Robert PuUiam and others. John Kelly located 
on the present site of the city of Springfield in 
1818, and was there at the time of the selection 
of that place as the temporary seat of justice in 
1821. Other settlements were made at Auburn, 
Island Grove, and elsewhere, and population 
began to flow in rapidly. Remnants of the Potta- 
watomie and Kickapoo Indians were still there, 
but soon moved north or west. County organi- 
zation was effected in 1831, the first Board of 
County Commissioners being composed of Wil- 
liam Drennan, Zachariah Peter and Samuel Lee. 
John Reynolds (afterwards Governor) held the 
first term of Circuit Court, with John Taylor, 
Sheriff; Henry Starr, Prosecuting Attorney, and 
Charles R. Matheny, Circuit Clerk. A United 
States Land Office was established at Springfield 
in 1833, with Pascal P. Enos as Receiver, the 
first sale of lands taking place the same year. 
The soil of Sangamon County is exuberantly fer- 
tile, with rich underlying deposits of bituminous 
coal, which is mined in large quantities. The 
chief towns are Springfield, Auburn, Riverton, 
lUiopolis and Pleasant Plains. The area of the 
county is 800 square miles. Population (1880), 
53,894; (1890), 61,195; (1900), 71,593. 



SANGAMON RIVER, formed by the union of 
the North and South Forks, of which the former 
is the longer, or main branch. The North Fork 
rises in the northern part of Champaign County, 
whence it runs southwest to the city of Decatur, 
thence westward through Sangamon County, 
forming the north boundary of Christian County, 
and emptying into the Illinois River about 9 miles 
above Beardstown. The Sangamon is nearly 240 
miles long, including the North Fork. The 
South Fork flows through Christian County, and 
joins the North Fork about 6 miles east of 
Springfield. In the early history of the State the 
Sangamon was regarded as a navigable stream, 
and its improvement was one of the measures 
advocated by Abraham Lincoln in 1833, when he 
was for the first time a candidate (though unsuc- 
cessfully) for the Legislature. In the spring of 
1883 a small steamer from Cincinnati, called the 
"Talisman," ascended the river to a point near 
Springfield. The event was celebrated with 
great rejoicing by the people, but the vessel 
encountered so much difficulty in getting out of 
the river that the experiment was never 
repeated. 

SANGAMON & MORGAN RAILROAD. (See 
Wabasli Riiilroad.) 

SANGER, Lorenzo P., railway and canal con- 
tractor, was born at Littleton, N. H. , March 2, 
1809 ; brought in childhood to Livingston County, 
N. Y. , where his father became a contractor on 
the Erie Canal, the son also being employed upon 
the same work. The latter subsequently became 
a contractor on the Pennsylvania Canal on his 
own account, being known as "the boy contract- 
or." Then, after a brief experience in mercantile 
business, and a year spent in the construction of a 
canal in Indiana, in 1836 he came to Illinois, and 
soon after became an extensive contractor on the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal, having charge of rock 
excavation at Lockport. He was also connected 
with the Rock River improvement scheme, and 
interested in a line of stages between Chicago 
and Galena, which, having been consolidated 
with the line managed by the firm of Fink & 
Walker, finally became the Northwestern Stage 
Company, extending its operations throughout 
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa 
and Missouri — Mr. Sanger having charge of the 
Western Division, for a time, with headquarters 
at St. Louis. In 1851 he became the head of the 
firm of Sanger, Camp & Co., contractors for the 
construction of the Western (or Illinois) Division 
of the Ohio & Mississippi (now the Baltimore & 
Ohio Southwestern) Railway, upon which he 



466 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



was employed for several years. Other works 
with which he was connected were tlie North 
Missouri Railroad and the construction of the 
State Penitentiary at Joliet, as member of the 
firm of Sanger & Casey, for a time, also lessees of 
convict labor. In 1863 Mr. Sanger received from 
Governor Yates, by request of President Lincoln, 
a commission as Colonel, and was assigned to 
staff duty in Kentucky and Tennessee. After 
the war he became largely interested in stone 
quarries adjacent to Joliet ; also had an extensive 
contract, from the City of Chicago, for deepening 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Died, at Oakland, 
Cal. , March 23, 187.5, whither he had gone for the 
benefit of his health. — James Toun^ (Sanger), 
brother of the preceding, was born at Sutton, 
Vt., March 14, 1814; in boyhood spent some time 
in a large mercantile establishment at Pittsburg, 
Pa., later being associated witli his father and 
elder brother in contracts on the Erie Canal and 
similar works in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indi- 
ana. At the age of 32 he came witli his father's 
family to St. Joseph, Mich., where they estab- 
lished a large supply store, and engaged in 
bridge-building and similar enterprises. At a 
later period, in connection with his father and 
his brother, L. P. Sanger, he was prominently 
connected with the construction of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal — the aqueduct at Ottawa and 
the locks at Peru being constructed by them. 
About 1850 the Construction Company, of which 
he and his brother, L. P. Sanger, were leading 
members, undertook the construction of the Ohio 
& Mississippi (now Baltimore & Ohio Southwest- 
ern) Railroad, from St. Louis to Vincennes, Ind., 
and were prominently identified with other rail- 
road enterprises in Southern Illinois, Missouri and 
California. Died, July 3, 18C7, when consum- 
mating arrangements for the performance of a 
large contract on the Union Pacific Railroad. 

SAJTITARY COMMISSION. (See Illinois San- 
itary Commission.) 

SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO. (See 
Chicago Drainage Canal.) 

SAUGANASH, the Indian name of a half-breed 
known as Capt. Billy Caldwell, the son of a 
British officer and a Pottawatomie woman, born 
in Canada about 1780; received an education 
from the Jesuits at Detroit, and was able to 
speak and write English and French, besides 
several Indian dialects ; was a friend of Tecum- 
seh's and, during the latter part of his life, a 
devoted friend of the whites. He took up his 
residence in Chicago about 1820, and, in 1836, 
was a Justice of the Peace, while nominally a 



subject of Great Britain and a Chief of the Otta- 
was and Pottawatomies. In 1828 the Govern- 
ment, in consideration of his services, built for 
him the first frame house ever erected in Chicago, 
wliicli he occupied until his departure with his 
tribe for Coimcil Bluff's in 1836. By a treaty, 
made Jan. 2, 1830, reservations were granted by 
the Government to Sauganash, Shabona and 
other friendly Indians (see Shabona). and 1,240 
acres on the North Branch of Chicago River set 
apart for Caldwell, which he sold before leaving 
the country. Died, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
Sept. 28, 1841. 

SAVAGE, George S. F., D.I)., clergyman, was 
born at Cromwell, Conn., Jan. 29, 1817; gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1844; studied theology at 
Andover and New Haven, graduating in 1847; 
was ordained a home missionary the same year 
and spent twelve years as pastor at St. Charles. 
111., for four years being corresponding editor of 
"The Prairie Herald" and "The Congregational 
Herald." For ten years he was in the service of 
the American Tract Society, and. <Iuring tlie Civil 
War, was engaged in sanitary and religious work 
in the army. In 1870 he was appointed Western 
Secretary of the Congregational Publishing 
Society, remaining two years, after which he be- 
came Financial Secretary of the Chicago Theo- 
logical Seminary. He has also been a Director 
of the in.stitution since 18.54, a Trustee of Beloit 
College since 18.50, and, for several years, editor 
and publisher of "The Congregational Review." 

SAVANNA, a city in Carroll County, situated 
on the Mississippi River and the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul Railways ; is 10 miles west of Jlount 
Carroll and about 20 miles north of Clinton, 
Iowa. It is an important shipping-point and con- 
tains several manufactories of machinery, lumber, 
flour, etc. It has two State bauks, a public 
library, churches, two graded schools, township 
high school, and two daily and weekly news- 
papers. Pop. (1890), 3,097; (1900), 3,325. 

SAYBROOK, a village of McLean County, on 
the Lake Erie & Western Railroad. 26 miles east 
of Bloomington; district agricultural; ccunty 
fairs held here; the town has two banks and two 
newspapers. Pop. (1890), 851; (1900), 879. 

SCATES, Walter Bennett, jurist and soldier, 
was born at South Boston, Halifax Countj'. Va. , 
Jan. 18, 1808; was taken in infancy to Hopkins- 
ville, Ky., where he resided until 1831, having 
meanwhile learned the printer's trade at Na.sh- 
ville and studied law at Louisville. In 1831 he 
removed to Frankfort. Franklin County, lU., 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



467 



where, for a time, he was County Surveyor. In 
1836, having been appointed Attorney-General, 
he removed to Vandalia, then the seat of govern- 
ment, but resigned at the close of the same year 
to accept the judgeship of the Third Judicial 
Circuit, and took up his residence at Shawnee- 
town. In 1841 he was one of five new Judges 
added to the Supreme Court bench, the others 
being Sidney Breese, Stephen A. Douglas, 
Thomas Ford and Samuel H. Treat. In that 
year he removed to Mount Vernon, Jefferson 
County, and, in January, 1847, resigned his seat 
upon the bench to resume practice. The same 
year he was a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention and Chairman of the Committee on 
Judiciary. In June, 18.54, he again took a seat 
upon tlie Supreme Court bench, being chosen to 
succeed Lyman Trumbull, but resigned in May, 
18.57, and resumed practice in Chicago. In 
1863 he volunteered in defense of the Union, 
received a Major's commission and was assigned 
to duty on the staff of General McClernand ; was 
made. Assistant Adjutant-General and mustered 
out in January, 1866. In July, 1866, President 
Johnson appointed him Collector of Customs at 
Chicago, wliich position he filled until July 1, 
1869, when he was removed by President Grant, 
during the same period, being ex-officio custodian 
of United States funds, the office of Assistant 
Treasurer not having been then created. Died, 
at Evanston, Oct. 26, 1886. 

SCAMMO>', Jonathan Young, lawyer and 
banker, was born at Whitefield, Maine, July 27, 
1812; after graduating at Waterville (now Colby) 
University in 1831, he studied law and was 
admitted to the bar at Hallowell, in 1835 remov- 
ing to Chicago, where he spent the remainder of 
his life. After a year spent as deputy in the 
office of the Circuit Clerk of Cook County, during 
which he prepared a revision of the Illinois stat- 
utes, he was appointed attorney for the State 
Bank of Illinois in 1837, and, in 1839, became 
reporter of the Supreme Court, which office he 
held until 1845. In the meantime, he was associ- 
ated with several prominent lawj'ers, his first 
legal firm being that of Scammon, McCagg & 
Fuller, which was continued up to the fire of 
1871. A large operator in real estate and identi- 
fied with many enterprises of a public or benevo- 
lent character, his most important financial 
venture was in connection with the Chicago 
Marine & Fire Insurance Company, whicli con- 
ducted an extensive banking business for many 
years, and of which he was the President and 
leading spirit. As a citizen he was progressive. 



public-spirited and liberal. He was one of the 
main promoters and organizers of the old Galena 
& Cliicago Union Railway, the first railroad ti.- 
run west from Lake Michigan ; was also promi- 
nently identified with the founding of the Chi- 
cago public school system, a Trustee of the (old) 
Chicago University, and one of the founders of 
the Chicago Historical Society, of the Cliicago 
Academj' of Sciences and the Chicago Astro- 
nomical Society — being the first President 
of the latter body. He erected, at a cost of 
$30,000, the Fort Dearborn Observatory, in 
which he caused to be placed the most power- 
ful telescope which had at that time been brought 
to the West. He also maintained the observatory 
at his own expense. He was the pioneer of 
Swedenborgianism in Chicago, and, in politics, a 
staunch Whig, and, later, an ardent Republican. 
In 1844 he was one of the founders of "The Chi- 
cago American," a paper designed to advance 
the candidacy of Henry Clay for the Presidency ; 
and, in 1873, when "The Chicago Tribune" 
espoused the Liberal Republican cause, he started 
"The Inter-Ocean" as a Republican organ, being, 
for some time, its sole proprietor and editor-in- 
chief. He was one of the first to encourage the 
adoption of the homeopathic sj'stem of medicine 
in Chicago, and was prominently connected with 
the founding of the Hahnemann Medical College 
and the Hahnemann Hospital, being a Trustee in 
both for many years. As a member of the Gen- 
eral vVssembly he secured the passage of many 
important measures, among them being legisla- 
tion looking toward the bettering of the currency 
and the banking system. He accumulated a 
large fortune, but lost most of it by the fire of 
1871 and the panic of 1873. Died, in Chicago, 
March 17, 1890. 

SCARRITT, Nathan, pioneer, was born in Con- 
necticut, came to Edwardsville, 111., in 1820, and, 
in 1821, located in Scarritt's Prairie, Madison 
County. His sons afterward became influential 
in business and Methodist church circles. Died, 
Dec. 12, 1847. 

SCENERY, NATURAL. Notwithstanding the 
uniformity of surface which characterizes a 
country containing no mountain ranges, but 
wliich is made up largely of natural prairies, 
there are a number of localities in Illinois where 
scenery of a picturesque, and even bold and 
rugged character, may be found. One of the 
most striking of these features is produced by a 
spur or low range of hills from the Ozark Moun- 
tains of Missouri, projected across the southern 
part of the State from the vicinity of Grand 



468 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Tower in Jackson County, through the northern 
part of Union, and through portions of William- 
son, Johnson, Saline, Pope and Hardin Counties. 
Grand Tower, the initial point in the western 
part of the State, is an isolated cliff of limestone, 
standing out in the channel of the Mississippi, 
and forming an island nearly 100 feet above low- 
water level. It has been a conspicuous landmark 
for navigators ever since the discovery of the 
Mississippi. "Fountain Bluff." a few miles 
above Grand Tower, is another conspicuous point 
immediately on the river bank, formed by some 
isolated hills about three miles long by a mile 
and a half wide, which have withstood the forces 
that excavated the valley now occupied by the 
Mississippi. About half a mile from the lower 
end of this hill, with a low valley between them, 
is a smaller eminence known as the "Devil's 
Bake Oven." The main chain of bluffs, known 
as the "Back Bone," is about five miles from the 
river, and rises to a height of nearly 700 feet 
above low-tide in the Gulf of Mexico, or more 
than 400 feet above the level of the river at 
Cairo. "Bald Knob" is a very prominent inland 
bluff promontory near Alta Pass on the line of 
the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, in the northern part 
of Union County, with an elevation above tide- 
water of 983 feet. The highest point in this 
range of hills is reached in the nortlieastern part 
of Pope County — the elevation at that point (as 
ascertained by Prof. Rolfe of the State University 
at Cliampaign) being 1,0-16 feet. — There is some 
striking scenery in the neighborhood of Grafton 
between Alton and the mouth of the Illinois, as 
well as some distance up the latter stream — 
though the landscape along the middle section of 
the Illinois is generally monotonous or only 
gently undulating, except at Peoria and a few 
other points, where bluffs rise to a considerable 
height. On the Upper Illinois, beginning at 
Peru, the scenery again becomes picturesque, 
including the celebrated "Starved Rock," the 
site of La Salle's Fort St. Louis (which see). 
This rock rises to a perpendicular height of 
about 125 feet from the surface of the river at the 
ordinary stage. On the opposite side of the river, 
about four miles below Ottawa, is "Buffalo 
Rock," an isolated ridge of rock about two miles 
long by forty to sixty rods wide, evidently once 
an island at a period when the Illinois River 
occupied the whole valley. Additional interest 
is given to both these localities by their associ- 
ation with early history. Deer Park, on the Ver- 
milion River — some two miles from where it 
empties into the Illinois, just below "Starved 



Rock" — is a peculiar grotto-like formation, caused 
by a ravine which enters the Vermilion at this 
I)oint. Ascending this ravine from its mouth, 
for a quarter of a mile, between almost perpen 
dicular walls, the road terminates abruptly at a 
dome-like overhanging rock which widens at this 
point to about 150 feet in diameter at the base, 
with a height of about 75 feet. A clear spring 
of water gushes from the base of the cliff, and, at 
certain seasons of the year, a beautiul water-fall 
pours from the cliffs into a little lake at tlie bot- 
tom of the chasm. There is much other striking 
scenery higher up, on both the Illinois and Fox 
Rivers. — A point which arrested the attention of 
the earliest explorers in this region was Mount 
Joliet. near the city of that name. It is first 
mentioned by St. Cosme in 1698, and has been 
variously known as Mon jolly, Mont Jolie. Mount 
Juliet, and !Mount Joliet. It had an elevation, in 
early times, of about 30 feet with a level top 
1,300 by 225 feet. Prof. O. H. Marshall, in "The 
American Antiquarian." expresses the opinion 
that, originally, it was an island in the river, 
which, at a remote period, swept down the valley 
of the Des Plaines. Mount Joliet was a favorite 
rallying point of Illinois Indians, who were 
accustomed to hold their councils at its base.- — 
The scenery along Rock River is not striking 
from its boldness, but it attracted the attention 
of early explorers by the picturesque beauty of 
its groves, undulating plains and sheets of water. 
The highest and most abrupt elevations are met 
with in Jo Daviess County, near the Wisconsin 
State line. Pilot Knob, a natural mound about 
three miles south of Galena and two rniles from 
the Mississippi, has been a landmark well known 
to tourists and river men ever since the Upper 
Mississippi began to be navigated. Towering 
above the surrounding bluffs, it reaches an alti- 
tude of some 430 feet above the ordinary level of 
Fever River. A chain of some half dozen of these 
mounds extends some four or five miles in a north- 
easterly direction from Pilot Knob, Waddel's and 
Jackson's Mounds being conspicuous among 
them. There are also some castellated rocks 
around the city of Galena which are very .strik- 
ing. Charles Mound, belonging to the system 
already referred to, is believed to be the highest 
elevation in the State. It stands near the Wis- 
consin State line, and, according to Prof. Rolfe, 
has an altitude of 314 feet above the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad at Scales' Mound Station, and, 1,257 
feet above the Gulf of Mexico'. 

SCHAUMBERG, a village in Schaumberg 
Township, Cook County. Population, 573. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



469 



SCHNEIDER, George, joirrnalist and banker, 
was born at Pirmasens, Bavaria, Dec. 13, 1833. 
Being sentenced to death for his participation in 
the attempted rebellion of 1848, lie escaped to 
America in 1849, going from New York to Cleve- 
land, and afterwards to St. Louis. There, in con- 
nection with his brother, he established a German 
daily — "The New Era" — which was intensely 
anti-slavery and exerted a decided political influ- 
ence, especially among persons of German birth. 
In 18.51 he removed to Chicago, where he became 
editor of "The Staats Zeitimg," in which he 
vigorously opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill on 
its introduction by Senator Douglas. His attitude 
and articles gave such offense to the partisan 
friends of this measure, that "The Zeitung" was 
threatened with destruction by a mob in 1855. 
He early took advanced ground in opposition to 
slavery, and was a member of the convention of 
Anti-Nebraska editors, held at Decatur in 1856, 
and of the first Republican State Convention, held 
at Bloomiugton the same year, as well as of the 
National Republican Conventions of 1856 and 
1860, participating in the nomination of both 
John C. Fremont and Abraham Lincoln for the 
Presidency. In 1861 he was a member of the 
Chicago Union Defense Committee, and was 
appointed, by Mr. Lincoln, Consul-General at 
Elsinore, Denmark. Returning to America in 
1863, he disposed of his interest in "The Staats 
Zeitung" and was appointed the first Collector of 
Internal Revenue for the Chicago District. On 
retiring from this ofl^ce he engaged in banking, 
subsequently becoming President of the National 
Bank of Illinois, with which he was associated 
for a quarter of a century. In 1877 President 
Hayes tendered him the ministry to Switzerland, 
which lie declined. In 1880 he was chosen Presi- 
dential Elector for the State-at-large, also serving 
for a number of years as a member of the Repub- 
lican State Central Committee. 

SCHOFIELD, John JIcAllister, Major-General, 
was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., Sept 29, 
1831 ; brought to Bristol, Kendall County, 111. , in 
1843, and, two years later, removed to Freeport; 
graduated from the United States Military Acad- 
emy, in 1853, as classmate of Generals McPherson 
and Sheridan ; was assigned to the artillery ser- 
vice and served two j'ears in Florida, after which 
he spent five years (1855-60) as an instructor at 
West Ppint. At the beginning of the Civil War 
he was on leave of absence, acting as Professor 
of Physics in Washington University at St. 
Louis, but, waiving his leave, he at once returned 
■to duty and was appointed mustering officer; 



then, by permission of the War Department, 
entered the First Missom-i Volimteers as Major, 
serving as Chief of Staff to General Lyon in the 
early battles in Missoiu:i, including Wilson's 
Creek. His subsequent career included the 
organization of the Missouri State Militia (1863), 
command of the Army of the Frontier in South- 
west Missouri, command of the Department of 
the Missouri and Ohio, participation in the 
Atlanta campaign and co-operation with Sher- 
man in the capture of the rebel Gen. Joseph E. 
Johnston in North Carolina — his army having 
been transferred for this purpose, from Tennessee 
by way of Washington. After the close of the 
war he went on a special mission to Mexico 
to investigate the French occupation of that 
country; was commander of the Department of 
the Potomac, and served as Secretary of War, by 
appointment of President Johnson, from June, 
1868, to March, 1869. On retiring from the Cabi- 
net he was commissioned a full Major-General 
and held various Division and Department com- 
mands until 1886, when, on the death of General 
Sherman, he succeeded to the command of the 
Army, with headquarters at Washington. 
He was retired under the age limit, Sept. 39, 
1895. His present home is in Washington. 

SCHOLFIELD, John, jurist, was born in Clark 
County, III., in 1834; acquired the rudiments of 
an education in the common schools during boy- 
hood, meanwhile gaining some knowledge of the 
higher branches through toilsome application to 
text-books without a preceptor. At the age of 
20 he entered the law school at Louisville, Ky., 
graduating two years later, and beginning prac- 
tice at Marshall, 111. He defrayed his expenses 
at the law school from the proceeds of the sale of 
a small piece of land to which he had fallen heir. 
In 1856 he was elected State's Attorney, and, in 
1860, was chosen to represent his county in the 
Legislature. After serving one term he returned 
to his professional career and succeeded in build- 
ing up a profitable practice. In 1869-70 he repre- 
sented Clark and Cumberland Counties in the 
Constitutional Convention, and, in 1870, became 
Solicitor for the Vandalia Railroad. In 1873 he 
was elected to fill the vacancy on the bench of the 
Supreme Court of the State for the Middle Grand 
Division, caused by the resignation of Judge 
Anthony Thornton, and re-elected without oppo- 
sition in 1879 and 1888. Died, in office, Feb. 18, 
1893. It has been claimed that President Cleve- 
land would have tendered him the Chief Justice- 
ship of the United States Supreme Court, had he 
not insistently declined to accept the honor. 



470 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



SCHOOL-HOUSES, EARLY. The primitive 
school-houses of Illinois were built of logs, and 
were extremely rude, as regards both structure 
and furnishing. Indeed, the earliest pioneers 
rarely erected a special building to be used as a 
school-house. An old smoke-house, an abandoned 
dwelling, an old block-house, or the loft or one 
end of a settler's cabin not unf requently answered 
the purpose, and the church and the court-house 
were often made to accommodate the school. 
When a school-house, as such, was to be built, the 
men of the district gathered at the site selected, 
bringing their axes and a few other tools, with 
their ox-teams, and devoted four or five days to 
constructing a house into which, perhaps, not a 
nail was driven. Trees were cut from the public 
lands, and, without hewing, fashioned into a 
cabin. Sixteen feet square was usually con- 
sidered the proper dimensions. In the walls 
were cut two holes, one for a door to admit light 
and air, and the other for the open fireplace, from 
which rose a chimney, usually built of sticks and 
mud, on the outside. Danger of fire was averted 
by thickly lining the inside of the chimney with 
clay mortar. Sometimes, but only with great 
labor, stone was substituted for mortar made 
from the clay soil. The chimneys were always 
wide, seldom less than six feet, and sometimes 
extending across one entire end of tlie building. 
The fuel used was wood cut directly from the 
forest, frequently in its green state, dragged to 
the spot in the form of logs or entire trees to be 
cut by the older pupils in lengths suited to the 
width of the chimney. Occasionally there was 
no chimney, the fire, in some of the most primi- 
tive structures, being built on the earth and the 
smoke escaping through a hole in the roof. In 
such houses a long board was set up on the wind- 
ward side, and shifted from side to side as the 
wind varied. Stones or logs answered for 
andirons, clapboards served as shovels, and no 
one complained of the lack of tongs. Roofs were 
made of roughly split clapboards, held in place 
by "weight poles" laid on the boards, and by sup- 
ports starting from "eaves poles.'" The space 
between the logs, which constituted the walls of 
the building, was filled in with blocks of wood 
or "chinking," and the crevices, both exterior 
and interior, daubed over with clay mortar, in 
which straw was sometimes mixed to increase its 
adhesiveness. On one side of the structure one 
or two logs were sometimes cut out to allow the 
admission of light ; and, as glass could not always 
be procured, rain and snow were excluded and 
light admitted by the use of greased pajier. Over 



this space a board, attached to the outer wall by 
leather hinges, was sometimes suspended to keep 
out the storms. The placing of a glass window 
in a country school-house at Edwardsville, in 
1824, was considered an important event. Ordi- 
narily the floor was of the natural earth, although 
this was sometimes covered with a layer of clay, 
firmly packed down. Only the more pretentious 
school-houses had "puncheon floors'"; i. e., floors 
made of split logs roughly hewn. Few had 
"ceilings"' (so-called), the latter being usually 
made of clapboards, sometimes of bark, on which 
was spread earth, to keep out the cold. The 
seats were also of punclieons (without backs) 
supported on four legs made of pieces of poles 
inserted through augur holes. No one had a desk, 
except the advanced jjupils who were learning to 
write. For their convenience a broader and 
smoother puncheon was fastened into the wall 
by wooden i)ins, in such a way that it would 
slope downward toward the pupil, the front being 
supported by a brace extending from the wall. 
When a pupil was writing he faced the wall. 
When he had finished this task, he "reversed him- 
self"" and faced the teacher and his schoolmates. 
These adjimcts completed tlie furnishings, with 
the exception of a split-bottomed chair for the 
teacher (who seldom had a desk) and a jiail, or 
"piggin,"" of water, with a gourd for a drinking 
cup. Rough and uncouth as these structures 
were, they were evidences of public spirit and of 
appreciation of the advantages of education. 
They were built and maintained by mutual aid 
and sacrifice, and, in them, some of the great men 
of the State and Nation obtained that primary 
training which formed the foundation of their 
.subsequent careers. (See Education.) 

SCHUYLER COUIVTY, located in the western 
portion of the State, has an area of -130 square 
miles, and was named for Gen. Philip Schuyler. 
The first American settlers arrived in 1823, and. 
among the earliest pioneers, were Calvin Hobart, 
William H. Taylor and Orris McCartney. The 
county was organized from a portion of Pike 
County, in 182.J, the first Commissioners being 
Thomas Blair, Thomas JIcKee and Samuel Hor- 
ney. The Commissioners appointed to locate the 
county-scat, selected a site in the eastern part of 
the county about one mile west of the present 
village of Pleasant View, to which the name of 
Beardstown was given, and where the earliest 
court was held, Judge John Y'ork Sawyer presid- 
ing, with Hart Fellows as Clerk, and Orris Mc- 
Cartney. Sheriff. This location, however, proving 
unsatisfactory, new Commissioners were ap- 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



471 



pointed, who, in the early part of 1836, selected 
the present site of the city of Rushville, some 
five miles west of the point originally chosen. 
The new seat of justice was first called Rushton, 
in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, but the name 
was afterwards changed to Rushville. Ephraim 
Eggleston was the pioneer of Rushville. The 
surface of the county is rolling, and the region 
contains excellent farming land, which is well 
watered by the Illinois River and numerous 
creeks. Population (1890), 16,013; (1900), 16,129. 

SCHWATKA, Frederick, Arctic explorer, was 
born at Galena, 111., Sept. 29, 1849; graduated 
from the United States Military Academy in 1871, 
and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 
Third Cavalry, serving on the frontier until 1877, 
meantime studying law and medicine, being 
admitted to the bar in 1875, and graduating in 
medicine in 1876. Having his interest excited by 
reports of traces of Sir John Franklin's expedi- 
tion, found by the Esquimaux, he obtained leave 
of absence in 1878, and, with Wm. H. Gilder as 
second in command, sailed from New York in the 
"Eothen," June 19, for King William's Land. 
The party returned, Sept. 32, 1880, having found 
and buried the skeletons of many of Franklin's 
party, besides discovering relics which tended to 
clear up the mystery of their fate. During this 
period lie made a sledge journey of 3,3.')1 miles. 
Again, in 1883, he headed an exploring expedition 
up the Yukon River. After a brief return to 
army duty he tendered his resignation in 1880, 
and the next year led a special expedition to 
Alaska, under the auspices of "The New York 
Times," later making a voyage of discovery 
among the Aleutian Islands. In 1889 he con- 
ducted an expedition to Northern Mexico, where 
he found many interesting relics of Aztec civili- 
zation and of the cliff and cave-dwellers. He 
received the Roquette Arctic Medal from the 
Geographical Society of Paris, and a medal from 
the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia; also 
published several volumes relating to his re- 
searches, under the titles, "Along Alaska's 
Great River"; "The Franklin Search Under 
Lieutenant Schwatka" ; "Nimrod of the North" ; 
and "Children of the Cold." Died, at Portland, 
Ore., Nov. 3, 1893. 

SCOTT, James W., journalist, was born in 
Walworth County, Wis., June 36, 1849, the son 
of a printer, editor and publisher. While a boy 
he accompanied his father to Galena, where the 
latter established a newspaper, and where he 
learned the printer's trade. After graduating 
from the Galena high school, he entered Beloit 



College, but left at the end of his sophomore year. 
Going to New York, he became interested in flori- 
culture, at the same time contributing short 
articles to horticultural periodicals. Later he 
was a compositor in Washington. His first news- 
paper venture was the publication of a weekly 
newspaper in Maryland in 1873. Returning to 
Illinois, conjointly with his father he started 
"The Industrial Press" at Galena, but, in 1875, 
removed to Chicago. There he purchased "The 
Daily National Hotel Reporter," from which he 
withdrew a few years later. In May, 1881, in 
conjunction with others, he organized The Chi- 
cago Herald Company, in which he ultimately 
secured a controlling interest. His journalistic 
and executive capability soon brought additional 
responsibilities. He was chosen President of the 
American Newspaper Publishers' Association, of 
the Chicago Press Club, and of the United Press 
— the latter being an organization for the collec- 
tion and dissemination of telegrapliic news to 
journals throughout the United States and Can- 
ada. He was also conspicuously connected with 
the preliminary organization of the World's 
Columbian Exposition, and Chairman of the 
Press Committee. In 1893 he started an evening 
paper at Chicago, which he named "The Post." 
Early in 1895 he purchased "The Chicago Times," 
intending to consolidate it with "The Herald." 
but before the final consummation of his plans, 
he died suddenly, while on a business visit in 
New York, April 14, 1895. 

SCOTT, John M., lawyer and jurist, was born 
in St. Clair County, 111., August 1, 1824; his 
father being of Scotch-Irish descent and his 
mother a Virginian. His attendance upon dis- 
trict schools was supplemented by private tuition, 
and his early education was the best that the 
comparatively new country afforded. He read 
law at Belleville, was admitted to the bar in 
1848, removed to McLean County, which con- 
tinued to be his home for nearly fifty years. He 
served as County School Commissioner from 1849 
to 1853, and, in the latter j-ear, waselected County 
Judge. In 1856 he was an unsuccessful Repub- 
lican candidate for the State Senate, frequently 
speaking from the same platform with Abraliam 
Lincoln. In 1863 he was elected Judge of the 
Circuit Court of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, to 
succeed David Davis on the elevation of the 
latter to the bench of the United States Supreme 
Court, and was re-elected in 1867. In 1870, a 
new judicial election being rendered necessary 
by the adoption of the new Constitution, Judge 
Scott was chosen Justice of the Supreme Court 



472 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



for a term of nine years ; was re-elected in 1879, 
but declined a renomination in 1888. The latter 
years of his life were devoted to his private 
affairs. Died, at Bloomington, Jan. 21, 1898. 
Shortly before his death Judge Scott published a 
volume containing a History of the Illinois 
Supreme Court, including brief sketches of the 
early occupants of the Supreme Court bench and 
early lawyers of the State. 

SCOTT, Matthew Thompson, agriculturist 
and real-estate operator, was born at Lexington, 
Ky., Feb. 34, 1828; graduated at Centre College 
in 18-16, then spent several years looking after his 
father's landed interests in Ohio, when he came 
to Illinois and invested largely in lands for him- 
self and others. He laid out the town of Chenoa 
in 1856; lived in Springfield in 1870-72, when he 
removed to Bloomington, where he organized the 
McLean County Coal Company, remaining as its 
head until his death; was also the founder of 
"The Bloomington Bulletin," in 1878. Died, at 
Bloomington, May 21, 1891. 

SCOTT, Owen, journalist and ex-Congressman, 
was born in Jackson Township, Effingliam 
County, 111., July 6, 1848, reared on a farm, and, 
after receiving a thorough common-school edu- 
cation, became a teacher, and was, for eight 
years. Superintendent of Schools for his native 
county. In January, 1874, he was admitted to 
the bar, but abandoned practice, ten years later, 
to engage in newspaper work. His first publi- 
cation was "The Effingham Democrat," wliicli he 
left to become proprietor and manager of "The 
Bloomington Bulletin." He was also publisher 
of "The Illinois Freemason," a monthly periodi- 
cal. Before removing to Bloomington he filled 
the offices of City Attorney and Mayor of Effing- 
ham, and also served as Deputy Collector of 
Internal Revenue. In 1890 he was elected as a 
Democrat from the Fourteenth Illinois District 
to the Fifty-second Congress. In 1892 he was a 
candidate for re-election, but was defeated by his 
Republican opponent, Benjamin F. Funk. Dur- 
ing the past few years, Mr. Scott has been editor 
of "The Bloomington Leader." 

SCOTT COUNTY, lies in the western part of 
the State adjoining the Illinois River, and has an 
area of 248 square miles. The region was origi- 
nally owned by the Kickapoo Indians, who 
ceded it to the Government by the treaty of 
Edwardsville, July 30, 1819. Six months later 
(in January, 1820) a party of Kentuckians settled 
near Lynnville (now in Morgan County), their 
names being Thomas Stevens, James Scott, 
Alfred Miller, Thomas Allen, John Scott and 



Adam Miller. Allen erected the first house in the 
county. John Scott the second and Adam Miller 
the third. About the same time came Stephen 
M. Umpstead, whose wife was the first wliite 
woman in the county. Other pioneers were 
Jedediah "Webster, Stephen Pierce, Joseph Dens- 
more, Jesse Roberts, and Samuel Bogard. The 
country was rough and the conveniences of civi- 
lization few and remote. Settlers took their corn 
to Edwardsville to be ground, and went to Alton 
for their mail. Turbulence early showed itself, 
and, in 1822, a band of "Regulators" was organized 
from the best citizens, who meted out a rough 
and ready sort of justice, until 1830, occasionally 
sliooting a desperado at his cabin door. Scott 
County was cut off from Morgan and organized 
in 1839. It contains good farming land, much of 
it being originally timbered, and it is well 
watered by the Illinois River and numerous 
small streams. Winchester is the county-seat. 
Population of the county (1880). 10,741; (1890), 
10.304; (1900), 10.455. 

SCRIPPS, John L., journalist, was born near 
Cape (iirardeau. Mo., Feb. 18, 1818; was taken to 
Rushville. 111., in childhood, and educated at 
McKendree College; studied law and came to 
Chicago in 1847, with the intention of practicing, 
but, a year or so later, bought a third interest in 
"The Chicago Tribune," which had been estab- 
lished during the previous year. In 1852 iie 
withdrew from "The Tribune," and, in conjunc- 
tion with William Bross (afterwards Lieuten- 
ant-Governor), established "Tlie Daily Demo- 
cratic Press," which was consolidated with "The 
Tribune" in July, 1858, under the name of "The 
Press and Tribune," Mr. Scripps remaining one 
of the editors of the new concern. In 1861 he 
was appointed, by Mr. Lincoln, Postmaster of the 
city of Chicago, serving until 1865, when, having 
sold his interest in "The Tribune," he engaged in 
the banking business as a member of the firm of 
Scripps, Preston & Kean. His health, however, 
soon showed signs of failure, and he died. Sept. 
21, 1866, at Minneapolis, Minn., whither he had 
gone in hopes of restoration. Mr. Scripps was a 
finished and able writer who did much to elevate 
the standard of Chicago journalism. 

SCKOdiGS, George, journalist, was born at 
Wilmington, Clinton, County, Ohio, Oct. 7, 1842 
— the son of Dr. John W. Scroggs, who came to 
Champaign County, 111., in 1851, and, in 1858, 
took charge of "The Central Illinois Gazette. " In 
186li-67 Dr. Scroggs was active in securing the 
location of the State University at Champaign, 
afterwards serving as a member of the first Board 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



47; 



of Trustees of that institution. The son, at the 
age of 15, became an apprentice in his father's 
printing office, continuing until 1863, when he 
enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and 
Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being 
promoted through the positions of Sergeant-Major 
and Second Lieutenant, and finally serving on 
the staffs of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis and Gen. James 
D. Morgan, but declining a commission as Adju- 
tant of the Sixtieth lUinois. He participated in 
the battles of Perryville, Cliickamauga, Mission 
Ridge and the march with Sherman to the sea, in 
the latter being severely wounded at Bentonville, 
N. C. He remained in the service until July, 
1865, when he resigned; then entered the Uni- 
versity at Champaign, later studied law, mean- 
%vhile writing for "The Champaign Gazette and 
Union," of which he finally became sole propri- 
etor. In 1877 he was appointed an Aid-de-Camp 
on the stall of Governor Cullom, and, the follow- 
ing year, was elected to the Thirty -first General 
Assembly, but, before the close of the session 
(18T9), received the appointment of United States 
Consul to Hamburg, Germany. He was com- 
pelled to surrender this position, a j-ear later, on 
account of ill-health, and, returning home, died, 
Oct. 15, 1880. 

SEATONVILLE, a village in Hall Township, 
Bureau County. Population (1900), 909. 

SECRETARIES OF STATE, The following is 
a list of the Secretaries of State of Illinois from 
its admission into the Union down to the present 
time (1899), with tlie date and duration of the 
term of each incumbent: Elias Kent Kane, 
1818-32; Samuel D. Lockwood, 1832-23; David 
Black well. 1833-34; Morris Birkbeck, October, 
1824 to January, 1835 (failed of confirmation by 
the Senate) , George Forquer, 1835-38; Alexander 
Pope Field, 1838-40; Stephen A. Douglas, 1840-41 
(served three months — resigned to take a seat on 
the Supreme bench); Lyman Trumbull, 1841-43; 
Thompson Campbell, 1843-46; Horace S. Cooley, 
1846-.50; David L. Gregg, 1850-53; Alexander 
Starne, 1853-57; Ozias M. Hatch, 1857-65; Sharon 
Tyndale, 1865-69; Edward Rummel, 1869-78; 
George H. Harlow, 1873-81 ; Henry D. Dement, 
1881-89; Isaac N. Pearson, 1889-93; William H. 

Hinrichsen, 1893-97; James A. Rose, 1897 . 

Nathaniel Pope and Joseph Phillips were the only 
Secretaries of Illinois during the Territorial 
period, the former serving from 1809 to 1816, and 
the latter from 1816 to 1818. Under the first Con- 
stitution (1818) the office of the Secretary of 
State was filled by appointment by the Governor, 
by and with the advice and consent of the 



Senate, but without limitation as to term of 
office. By the Constitution of 1848, and again by 
that of 1870, that officer was made elective by 
the people at the same time as the Governor, for 
a term of four years. 

SECRET TREASONABLE SOCIETIES. Early 
in the War of the Rebellion there sprang up, at 
various points in the Northwest, organizations of 
persons disaffected toward the National Govern- 
ment. They were most numerous in Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri. At first 
they were known by such titles as "Circles of 
Honor,'' "Mutual Protective Associations." etc. 
But they had kindred aims and their members 
were soon united in one organization, styled 
"Knights of the Golden Circle." Its secrets 
having been partially disclosed, this body ceased 
to exist — or, it would be more correct to say, 
changed its name — being soon succeeded (1863) 
by an organization of similar character, called 
the "American Knights." These societies, as 
first formed, were rather political than military. 
The "American Knights" had more forcible 
aims, but this, in turn, was also exposed, and the 
order was re-organized under the name of "Sons 
of Libei'ty." The last named order started in 
Indiana, and, owing to its more perfect organi- 
zation, rapidly spread over the Northwest, 
acquiring much more strength and influence tlian 
its predecessors had done. The ultimate author- 
ity of the organization was vested in a Supi'eme 
Council, whose officers were a "supreme com- 
mander," "secretary of state, "and "treasurer." 
Each State represented formed a division, under a 
' 'deputy grand commander. ' ' States were divided 
into military districts, under "major-generals." 
County lodges were termed "temples." The 
order was virtually an officered army, and its 
aims were aggressive. It had its commander-in- 
chief, its brigades and its regiments. Three 
degrees were recognized, and the oaths of secrecy 
taken at each initiation surpassed, in binding 
force, either the oath of allegiance or an oath 
taken in a court of justice. The maintenance of 
slavery, and forcible opposition to a coercive 
policy by the Government in dealing with seces- 
sion, were the pivotal doctrines of the order. Its 
methods and purposes were to discourage enlist- 
ments and resist a draft ; to aid and px-otect 
deserters; to disseminate treasonable literature; 
to aid the Confederates in destroying Government 
property. Clement L. Vallandigham, the expat- 
riated traitor, was at its head, and, in 1864, 
claimed that it had a numerical strength of 400,- 
000, of whom 65,000 were in Illinois. Manj' overt 



474: 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



acts were committed, but the organization, hav- 
ing been exposed and defeated in its objects, dis- 
banded in I860. (See Camp Douglas Conspiracy. ) 
SELBY, Paul, editor, was born in Pickaway 
County, Ohio, July 20, 1835; removed with his 
parents, in 1837, to Van Buren County, Iowa, but, 
at the age of 19, went to Southern Illinois, where 
he spent four years teaching, chiefly in Madison 
County. In 1848 he entered the preparatory 
department of Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
but left the institution during his junior j'ear to 
assume the editorship of ''The Morgan Journal," 
at Jacksonville, with which he remained until 
the fall of 1858, covering the period of the 
organization of the Republican party, in which 
"The Journal" took an active part. He was a 
member of the Anti-Nebraska (afterwards known 
as Republican) State Convention, which met at 
Springfield, in October, 1854 (the first ever held in 
the State), and, on Feb. 23, 1856, attended and 
presided over a conference of Anti-Nebraska 
editors of the State at Decatur, called to devise a 
line of policy for the newly organizing Repub- 
lican party. (See Anti-Nehraska Editorial 
Convention.) This body appointed the first 
Republican State Central Committee and desig- 
nated the date of the Bloomington Convention 
of May 39, following, which put in nomination 
the first Republican State ticket ever named in 
Illinois, which ticket was elected in the following 
November (See Bloomington Convention.) In 
1859 he prepared a pamphlet giving a history of 
the celebrated Canal scrip fraud, which was 
widely circulated. (See Canal Scri^j Fraud.) 
Going South in the fall of 1859, he was engaged 
in teaching in the State of Louisiana vmtil the 
last of June, 1861. Just two weeks before the 
fall of Fort Sumter he was denounced to his 
Southern neighbors as an "abolitionist" and 
falsely charged with having been connected with 
the "underground railroad," in letters from 
secession sympathizers in the North, whose per- 
sonal and political enmity he had incurred while 
conducting a Republican paper in Illinois, some 
of whom referred to Jefferson Davis, Senator 
Slidell, of Louisiana, and other Southern leaders 
as vouchers for their characters. He at once 
invited an investigation bj- the Board of Trus- 
tees of the institution, of which he was the 
Principal, when that body — although composed, 
for the most part, of Southern men — on the basis 
of testimonials from prominent citizens of Jack- 
sonville, and other evidence, adopted resolutions 
declaring the charges prompted by personal hos- 
tility, and delivered the letters of his accusers into 



his hands. Returning North with his family in 
July, 1861, he spent some nine months in the com- 
missary and transportation branches of the ser- 
vice at Cairo and at Paducah, Ky. In Julj', 1862, 
he became associate editor of "The Illinois State 
Journal" at Springfield, remaining until Novem- 
ber, 1865. The next six months were spent as 
Assistant Deputy Collector in the Custom House 
at New Orleans, but, returning North in June, 
1866, he soon after became identified with the 
Chicago press, serving, first upon the staff of "The 
Evening Journal" and, later, on "The Repub- 
lican." In May, 1868, he assumed the editorship 
of "The Quincy Whig," ultimately becoming 
part proprietor of that paper, but, in January, 
1874, resumed his old place on "The State Jour- 
nal," four years later becoming one of its propri- 
etors. In 1880 he was appointed by President 
Hayes Postmaster of Springfield, was reappointed 
by Arthur in 1884, but resigned in 1886. Mean- 
while he had .sold his interest in "The Journal," 
but the following year organized a new company 
for its purchase, when he resumed his former 
position as editor. In 1889 he disposed of his 
holding in "The Journal," finally removing to 
Chicago, where he has been employed in literary 
work. In all he has been engaged in editorial 
work over thirty-five years, of which eighteen 
were spent upon "The State Journal." In 1860 
Mr. Selby was complimented by his Alma Mater 
with the honorary degree of A. M. He has been 
twice married, first to Miss Erra Post, of Spring- 
field, who died in November, 1865, leaving two 
daughters, and, in 1870, to Mrs. Mary J. Hitch- 
cock, of Quincy, by whom he had two children, 
both of whom died in infancy. 

SEMPLE, James, United States Senator, was 
born in Green Count)', Ky., Jan. 5, 1798, of Scotch 
descent ; after learning the tanner's trade, studied 
law and emigrated to Illinois in 1818, removing 
to Missouri four years later, where he was ad- 
mitted to the bar. Returning to Illinois in 1828, 
he began practice at Edwardsville, but later 
became a citizen of Alton. During the Black 
Hawk War he served as Brigadier-General. He 
was thrice elected to the lower house of the 
Legislature (1833, '34 and '36), and was Speaker 
during the last two terms. In 1833 he was 
elected Attorney-General by the Legislature, but 
served only until the following year, and, in 
1837, was appointed Minister to Granada, South 
America. In 1843 he was appointed, and after- 
wards elected. United States Senator to fill the 
unexpired term of Samuel McRoberts, at the 
expiration of his term (1847) retiring to private 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



475 



life. He laid out the town of Elsah, in Jersey 
County, just south of which he owned a large 
estate on the Mississippi bluffs, where he died. 
Dec. 20, 1866. 

SENECA (formerly Crotty), a village of La 
Salle County, situated on the Illinois River, the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal and the Chicago, Rock 
Island & Pacific and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railways, 13 miles east of 
Ottawa. It has a graded school, several 
churches, a bank, some manufactures, grain 
warehouses, coal mines, telephone system and 
one newspaper. Pop. (1890), 1,190; (1900), 1,036. 

SENN, (Dr.) Nicholas, physican and surgeon, 
was born in the Canton of St. Gaul, Switzerland, 
Oct. 31, 1844; was brought to America at 8 years 
of age, his parents settling at Washington, Wis. 
He received a grammar school education at Fond 
du Lac, and, in 1804, began the study of medi- 
cine, graduating at the Chicago Medical College 
in 1868. After some eighteen months spent as 
resident physician in the Cook County Hospital, 
he began practice at Ashford, Wis., but removed 
to Milwaukee in 1874, where lie became attending 
physician of the Milwaukee Hospital. In 1877 he 
visited Europe, graduated the following year from 
the University of Munich, and, on his return, 
became Professor of the Principles of Surgery 
and Surgical Pathology in Rush Medical College 
in Chicago — also has held the chair of the Prac- 
tice of Surgery in the same institution. Dr. 
Senn has achieved great success and won an 
international reputation in the treatment of 
difficult cases of abdominal surgery. He is the 
author of a number of volumes on different 
branches of surgery which are recognized as 
standard authorities. A few j'ears ago he pur- 
chased the extensive library of the late Dr. Will- 
iam Baura, Professor of Surgery in the University 
of Gottingen, which he presented to the New- 
berry Library of Chicago. In 1893, Dr. Senn was 
appointed Surgeon-General of the Illinois 
National Guard, and has also been President of 
the Association of Military Surgeons of the 
National Guard of the United States, besides 
being identified with various other medical 
bodies. Soon after the beginning of the Spanish- 
American War, he was appointed, by President 
McKinley, a Surgeon of Volunteers with tlie rank 
of Colonel, and rendered most efficient aid in the 
military branch of the service at Camp Chicka- 
mauga and in the Santiago campaign. 

SEXTON, (Col.) James A., Commander-in- 
Chief of Grand Army of the Republic, was born 
in the city of Chicago, Jan. 5, 1844 ; in April, 



1861, being then only a little over 17, enlisted as a 
private soldier under the first call for troops 
issued by President Lincoln ; at the close of his 
term was appointed a Sergeant, with authority to 
recruit a company which afterwards was attached 
to the Fifty-first Volunteer Infantry. Later, he 
was transferred to the Sixty-seventh with the 
rank of Lieutenant, and, a few months after, to 
the Seventy-second with a commission as Captain 
of Company D, which he had recruited. As com- 
mander of his regiment, then constituting a part 
of the Seventeenth Army Corps, he participated 
in the battles of Columbia, Duck Creek, Spring 
Hill, Franklin and Nashville, and in the Nash- 
ville campaign. Both at Nashville and Franklin 
he was wounded, and again, at Spanish Fort, by a 
piece of shell which broke his leg. His regiment 
took part in seven battles and eleven skirmishes, 
and, while it went out 967 strong in officers and 
men, it returned with only 332, all told, although 
it had been recruited by 234 men. He was known 
as ''The boy Captain," being only 18 years old 
when he received his first commission, and 21 
when, after participating in the Mobile cam- 
paign, he was mustered out with the rank of 
Lieutenant-Colonel. After the close of the war 
he engaged in planting in the Soutli, purchasing 
a plantation in Lowndes County, Ala., but, in 
1867, returned to Chicago, where he became a 
member of tlie firm of Cribben, Sexton & Co., 
stove manufacturers, from which he retired in 
1898. In 18.84 he served as Presidential Elector 
on the Republican ticket for the Fourth District, 
and, in 1889, was appointed, by President Harrison, 
Postmaster of the city of Chicago, serving over 
five years. In 1888 he was chosen Department 
Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic 
for the State of Illinois, and, ten years later, to 
the position of Commander-in-Chief of the order, 
which he held at the time of his death. He had 
also been, for a number of years, one of the Trus- 
tees of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, 
and, during most of the time. President of the 
Board. Towards the close of the year 1898, he 
was appointed by President McKinley a member 
of the Commission to investigate the conduct of 
the Spanish-American War, but, before the Com- 
mission had concluded its labors, was taken with 
"the grip," which developed into pneumonia, 
from which he died in Washington, Feb. 5, 1899. 
SEYMOUR, tieorge Franklin, Protestant Epis- 
copal Bishop, was born in New York City, Jan. .5, 
1829; graduated from Columbia College in 1850, 
and from the General Theological Seminary 
(New York) in 1854. He received both minor 



476 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and major orders at the hands of Bishop Potter, 
being made deacon in 1854 and ordained priest in 
1855. For several years he was engaged in mis- 
sionary work. During this period he was promi- 
nently identified with the founding of St. 
Stephen's College. After serving as rector in 
various parishes, in 1865 he was made Professor 
of Ecclesiastical History in the New York Semi- 
nary, and, ten years later, was chosen Dean of 
the institution, still retaining liis professorship. 
Racine College conferred upon him tlie degree of 
S.T.D., in 1867, and Columbia that of LL.D. in 
1878. In 1874 he was elected Bishop of Illinois, 
but failed of confirmation in the House of Depu- 
ties. Upon the erection of the new diocese of 
Springfield (1877) he accepted and was conse- 
crated Bishop at Trinity Church, N. Y., June 11, 
1878. He was a prominent member of the Third 
Pan-Anglican Council (London, 1885), and has 
done much to foster the growth and extend tlie 
influence of his cliurch in his diocese. 

SHABBONA, a village of De Kalb County, on 
the Iowa Division of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, 25 miles west of Aurora. 
Population (1890), 503; (1900), 587. 

SHABONA (or Shabbona), an Ottawa Chief, 
was born near the Maumee River, in Ohio, about 
1775, and served under Tecumseh from 1807 to 
the battle of the Thames in 1813. In 1810 he 
accompanied Tecumseh and Capt. Billy Caldwell 
(see Sauganash) to the homes of the Pottawato- 
niies and other tribes within the present limits of 
Illinois and Wisconsin, to secure their co-oper- 
ation in driving the white settlers out of the 
country. At the battle of the Tliames, he was by 
the side of Tecumseh wlien he fell, and botli he 
and Caldwell, losing faitli in their British allies, 
soon after submitted to the United States through 
General Cass at Detroit. Shabona was opposed 
to Black Ilawk in 1833, and did much to thwart 
the plans of the latter and aid the whites. Hav- 
ing married a daughter of a Pottawatomie chief, 
who had a village on the Illinois River east of 
the present city of Ottawa, he lived there for 
some time, but finally removed 35 miles north to 
Shabona's Grove in De Kalb County. Here lie 
remained till 1837, when he removed to Western 
Missouri. Black Hawk's followers liaving a 
reservation near by, hostilities began between 
them, in which a son and nephew of Shabona 
were killed. He finally returned to his old liome 
in Illinois, but found it occupied by whites, wlio 
drove him from the grove that bore his name. 
Some friends then bought for him twenty acres 
of land on Mazon Creek, near Morris, where he 



died, July 27, 1859. He is described as a noble 
specimen of his race. A life of him has been 
published by N. Matson (Chicago, 1878). 

SHANNON, a village of Carroll County, on the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 18 miles 
southwest of Freeport. It is an important trade 
center, has a bank and one newspaper. Popu- 
lation (1890), 591; (1900), 678. 

SHAW, Aaron, former Congressman, born in 
Orange County, N. Y., in 1811; was educated at 
the Montgomery Academy, studied law and was 
admitted to the bar at Goshen in tliat State. In 
1838 he removed to Lawrence County, 111. He 
has held various important public offices. He 
was a member of the first Internal Improvement 
Convention of the State; was chosen State's 
Attorney by the Legislature, in which body he 
served two terms ; served four years as Judge of 
the Twenty-fifth Judicial Circuit; was elected to 
the Thirty-fifth Congress in 1856, and to the 
Forty -eighth in 1883, as a Democrat. 

SHAW, James, lawyer, jurist, was born in Ire- 
land, May 3, 1833, brought to this country in in- 
fancy and grew up on a farm in Cass County, 111. ; 
graduated from Illinois College in 1857, and, after 
admission to the bar, began practice at Mount 
Carroll. In 1870 he was elected to the lower 
house of the General Assembly, being re-elected 
in 1873, '76 and '78. He was Speaker of the 
House during the session of 1877, and one of the 
Republican leaders on the floor during the suc- 
ceeding session. In 1872 he was chosen a Presi- 
dential Elector, and, in 1891, to a seat on the 
Circuit bench from the Thirteenth Circuit, 
and, in 1897 was re-elected for the Fifteenth 
Circuit. 

SHAWNEETOWN, a city and the county-seat 
of Gallatin County, on the Oliio River 120 miles 
from its mouth and at the terminus of the Shaw- 
neetovvn Divisions of the Baltimore & Ohio South- 
western and the Louisville & Nashville Railroads; 
is one of the oldest towns in the State, having 
been laid out in 1808, and noted for the number 
of prominent men who resided there at an early 
daj'. Coal is extensively mined in that section, 
and Shawneetoivn is one of the largest shipping 
points for lumber, coal and farm products 
between Cairo and LouisviUe, navigation being 
open the year round. Some manufacturing is 
done here; the city has several mills, a foftndry 
and machine sliop, two or three banks, several 
churches, good schools and two weekly papers. 
Since the disastrous floods of 1884 and 1898, Shaw- 
neetown has reconstructed its levee system on a 
substantial scale, which is now believed to f\irnish 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



477 



ample protection against the recurrence of similar 
disaster. Pop. (1900), 1,698; (1903, est.), 3,200. 

SHEAHAN, James W., journalist, was born in 
Baltimore. Md., spent his early life, after reaching 
manhood, in Washington City as a Congressional 
Reporter, and, in 18-17, reported the proceedings 
of tlie Illinois State Constitutional Convention at 
Springfield. Through the influence of Senator 
Douglas he was induced, in 18.54, to accept the 
editorship of "The Young America" new.spaper 
at Chicago, which was soon after changed to 
"The Chicago Times." Here he remained until 
the fall of 1860, when, "The Times" having been 
sold and consolidated with "The Herald," a 
Buchanan-Breckenridge organ, he established a 
new paper called "The Morning Post." This he 
made representative of the views of the "War 
Democrats" as against "The Times," which was 
opposed to the war. In May, 1865, he sold the 
plant of "The Post" and it became "The Chicago 
Republican" — now "Inter Ocean." A few 
months later. Mr. Sheahan accepted a position as 
chief writer on the editorial staff of "The Chicago 
Tribune," which he retained until his death, 
June 17, 1883. 

SHEFFIELD, a prosperous village of Bureau 
Count}', on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railroad, 44 miles east of Rock Island; has valu- 
able coal mines, a bank and one newspaper. 
Population (1890), 993; (1900), 1,265. 

SHELBY COUNTY, lies south of the center of 
the State, and contains an area of 776 square 
miles. The tide of immigration to this county 
was at first from Kentucky, Tennessee and North 
Carolina, although later it began to set in from 
the Northern States. The first cabin in the 
county %vas built by Simeon Wakefield on what is 
now the site of Williamsburg, first called Cold 
Spring. Joseph Daniel was the earliest settler in 
what is now Shelbyville, pre-empting ten acres, 
which he soon afterward sold to Joseph Oliver, 
the pioneer merchant of the county, and father 
of the first white child born within its limits. 
Other pioneers were Shimei Wakefield, Levi 
Casey and Samuel Hall. In lieu of hats the early 
settlers wore caps made of squirrel or coon skin, 
with the tails dangling at the backs, and he was 
regarded as well dressed who boa.sted a fringed 
buckskin shirt and trousers, with moccasins. 
The county was formed in 1827, and Shelbyville 
made the county-seat. Both count}- and town 
are named in honor of Governor Shelby, of Ken- 
tucky. County Judge Joseph Oliver held the 
first court in the cabin of Barnett Bone, and 
Judge Theophilus W. Smith presided over the 



first Circuit Court in 1828. Coal is abundant, 
and limestone and sandstone are also found. The 
surface is somewhat rolling and well wooded. 
The Little Wabash and Kaskaskia Rivers flow 
through the central and southeastern portions. 
The county lies in the very heart of the great 
corn belt of the State, and has excellent transpor- 
tation facilities, being penetrated by four lines of 
railway. Population (1880), 30,370; (1890), 31,- 
191; (1900), 32,126. 

SHELBYVILLE, the county-seat and an incor- 
porated city of Shelby County, on the Kaskaskia 
River and two lines of railway, 33 miles southeast 
of Decatur. Agriculture is carried on exten- 
sively, and there is considerable coal mining in 
the immediate vicinity. The city has two floui- 
ing mills, a handle factory, a creamery, one 
National and one State bank, one daily and four 
weekly papers and one monthly periodical, an 
Orphans' Home, ten churches, two graded 
schools, and a public library. Population (1890), 
3,162; (1900), 3,.546. 

SHELDON, a village of Iroquois County, at the 
intersection of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago 
& St. Louis and the Toledo, Peoria & Western 
Railways, 9 miles ea.st of Watseka; has two banks 
and a newspaper. The region is agricultural. 
Pop. (1890), 910; (1900), 1,103. 

SHELDON, Benjiimin R., jurist, was born in 
Massachusetts in 1813, graduated from Williams 
College in 1831, studied law at the Yale Law 
School, and was admitted to practice in 1836. 
Emigrating to Illinois, he located temporarily at 
Hennepin, Putnam County, but soon removed to 
Galena, and finally to Rockford. In 1848 he was 
elected Circuit Judge of the Sixth Circuit, which 
afterwards being divided, he was assigned to the 
Fourteenth Circuit, remaining until 1870, when 
he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, 
presiding as Chief Justice in 1877. He was re- 
elected in 1879, but retired in 1888, being suc- 
ceeded by the late Justice Bailey. Died, April 
13, 1897. 

SHEPPARD, Nathan, author and lecturer, was 
born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 9, 1834; graduated 
at Rochester Theological Seminary in 1859; dur- 
ing the Civil War was special correspondent of 
"The New York World" and "The Chicago Jour- 
nal" and "Tribune," and, during the Franco- 
German War, of "The Cincinnati Gazette;" also 
served as special American correspondent of 
"The London Times," and was a contributor to 
"Frazer's Magazine" and "Temple Bar." In 1873 
he became a lecturer on Modern English Liter- 
ature and Rhetoric in Chicago University and, 



47b 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



four years later, accepted a similar position in 
Allegheny College; also spent four years in 
Europe, lecturing in the principal towns of Great 
Britain and Ireland. In ISHi he founded the 
"Athenaeum" at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., of 
which he was President until his death, early in 
1888. "'The Dickens Reader. " "Character Read- 
ings from George Eliot" and "Essays of George 
Eliot" were among the volumes issued bj- him 
between 1881 and 1887. Died in New York City, 
Jan. 24, 1888. 

SHERMAN, Alson Smith, early Chicago Mayor, 
was born at Barre, Vt., April 21, 1811, remaining 
there until 1836, when he came to Chicago and 
began business as a contractor and builder. Sev- 
eral years later he opened the first stone (£uarries 
at Lemont. 111. Mr. Sherman spent many years 
in the service of Chicago as a ])ublic official. 
From 1840 to 1843 he was Captain of a company 
of militia ; for two years served as Chief of the 
Fire Department, and was elected Alderman in 
1842, serving again in 1846. In 1844, he was 
chosen Mayor, his administration being marked 
by the first extensive public improvements maile 
in Chicago. After his term as Mayor he did 
much to secure a better water supply for the 
city. He was especially interested in promoting 
common school education, being for several years 
a member of the City School Board. He was 
Vice-President of the fii^st Board of Trustees of 
Northwestern University. Retired from active 
pursuits, Mr. Sherman is now (1899) spending a 
serene old age at Waukegan, 111. — Oren (Sherman) 
brother of the ])receding and early Cliicago mer- 
chant, was born at Barre, Vt., March 5, 1810. 
After spending several years in a mercantile 
house in Montpelier, Vt., at the age of twenty he 
came west, first to New Buffalo, Mich., and, in 
1836, to Chicago, opening a dry-goods store there 
the next spring. With various i>artners Mr. 
Sherman continued in a general mercantile busi- 
ness until 1853, at the same time being extensively 
engaged in the provision trade, one half the entire 
transactions in pork in the city passing through 
Lis hands. Next he engaged in developing stone 
quarries at Lemont, 111. ; also became extensively 
interested in the marble business, continuing in 
this until a few years after the panic of 1873, 
when he retired in consequence of a sliock of 
paralysis. Died, in Chicago, Dec. 15, 1898. 

SHERMAN, Elijah B., lawyer, was born at 
Fairfield, Vt., June 18, 1832— his family being 
distantly related to Roger Sherman, a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, and the late 
Gan. W. T. Sherman; gained his education in the 



common schools and at Middlebury College, 
where he graduated in 1860; began teaching, but 
, soon after enlisted as a private in the war for tho 
Union; received a Lieutenant's commission, and 
served until captured on the eve of the battle at 
Antietam, when he was paroled and sent to Camp 
Douglas. Chicago, awaiting exchange. During 
this period he commenced reading law and, hav 
ing resigned his commission, graduated from the 
law department of Chicago University in 1864 
In 1876 he was elected Representative in the 
General Assembly from Cook County, and re- 
elected in 1878, and the following year appointed 
Master in Chancery of the United States District 
Court, a position which he still occupies He has 
repeatedly been called upon to deliver addres.ses 
on political, literary and patriotic occasions, one 
of these being before the alumni of his alma 
mater, in 1884, when he was complimented with 
the degree of LL.D. 

SHIELDS, James, soldier and United States 
Senator, was born in Ireland in 1810, emigrated 
to the United States at the age of sixteen and 
began the practice of law at Kaskaskia in 1833. 
He was elected to the Legislature in 1836, and 
State Auditor in 1839. In 1843 he became a 
Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and, in 
184.5, was made Commissioner of the General 
Land Office. In July, 1846, he was commissioned 
Brigadier-General in the Mexican War gaining 
the brevet of Major-General at Cerro-Gordo, 
where he was severely wounded. He was again 
wounded at Chapultepec, and mustered out in 
1848. The same year he was appointed {Jovernor 
of Oregon Territory. In 1849 the Democrats in 
the Illinois Legislature elected him Senatoi', and 
he resigned his office in Oregon. In 1856 he 
removed to Minnesota, and, in 1858, was chosen 
United States Senator from that State, his term 
expiring in 1859, when he established a residence 
in California. At the outbreak of the Civil War 
(1861) he was superintending a mine in Jlexico, 
but at once hastened to Washington to tender his 
services to the Governmnet. He was commis- 
sioned Brigadier-General, and .served with dis- 
tinction until March, 1863, when the effect of 
numerous wounds caused him to resign. He sub- 
seiiuently removed to Missouri, practicing law at 
Carrollton and serving in the Legislature of that 
State in 1874 and 1879. In the latter year he was 
elected United States Senator to fill out the unex- 
{)ired term of Senator Bogy, who had died in 
office — serving only six weeks, but being the only 
man in the history ot the country who filled the 
office of United States Senator from three differ- 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



479 



ent States. Died, at Ottumwa, Iowa, June 1, 
1879. 

SHIPMANj a town of Macoupin County, on the 
Chicago & Alton Railway, 19 miles north-north- 
east of Alton and 14 miles southwest of Carlin- 
ville. Population (1890), 410: (1900), 396. 

SHIPMAN, George E., 3I.D., physician and 
philanthropist, born in New York City, March 4, 
1820 ; graduated at the University of New York 
in 1839, and took a course in the College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons; practiced for a time at 
Peoria, 111., but, in 1846, located in Chicago, where 
he assisted in organizing the first Homeopathic 
Hospital in that city, and, in 1855, was one of the 
first Trustees of Hahnemann College. In 1871 he 
established, in Chicago, the Foundlings' Home at 
his own expense, giving to it the latter years of 
his life. Died, Jan. 20, 1893. 

SHOREY, Daniel Lewis, lawyer and philan- 
thropist, was born at Jonesborough, Washington 
County, Maine, Jan. 31, 1824; educated at Phil- 
lips Academy, Andover, Mass. , and at Dartmouth 
College, graduating from the latter in 1851 ; 
taught two years in Washington City, meanwhile 
reading law, afterwards taking a course at Dane 
Law School, Cambridge ; was admitted to the bar 
in Boston in 1854, the next year locating at 
Davenport, Iowa, where he remained ten years. 
In 1865 he removed to Chicago, where he prose- 
cuted his profession until 1890, when he retired. 
Mr. Shorey was prominent in the establishment 
of the Chicago Public Library, and a member of 
the first Library Board ; was also a prominent 
member of the Chicago Literary Club, and was a 
Director in the new University of Chicago and 
deeply interested in its prosperity. Died, in Chi- 
cago, March 4, 1899. 

SHORT, (Rev.) William P., clergyman and 
educator, was born in Ohio in 1829, brought to 
Morgan County, 111. , in childhood, and lived upon 
a farm until 20 years of age, when he entered 
McKendree College, spending his senior year, 
however, at Wesleyan University, Bloomington, 
where he graduated in 1854. He had meanwhile 
accepted a call to the Missouri Conference Semi- 
nary at Jackson, Mo. ; where he remained three 
years, when he returned to Illinois, serving 
churches at Jacksonville and elsewhere, for a 
part of the time being Presiding Elder of the 
.Jacksonville District. In 1875 he was elected 
President of Illinois Female College at Jackson- 
ville, continuing in that position until 1893, when 
lie was appointed Superintendent of the Illinois 
State Institution for the Blind at the same place, 
but resigned early in 1897. Dr. Short received 



the degree of D.D. , conferred upon him by Ohio 
Wesleyan University. 

SHOUP, George L., United States Senator, 
was born at Kittanning, Pa., June 15, 1836; came 
to Illinois in 1852. his father locating on a stock- 
farm near Galesburg; in 1859 removed to Colo- 
rado, where he engaged in mining and mercantile 
business until 1861, when he enlisted in a com- 
pany of scouts, being advanced from the rank of 
First Lieutenant to the Colonelcy of the Third 
Colorado Cavalry, meanwhile serving as Delegate 
to the State Constitutional Convention of 1864. 
Retiring to private Ufe, he again engaged in mer- 
cantile and mining business, first in Nevada and 
then in Idaho ; served two terms in the Terri- 
torial Legislature of the latter, was appointed 
Territorial Governor in 1889 and, in 1890, was 
chosen the first Governor of the State, in October 
of the same year being elected to the United 
States Senate, and re-elected in 1895 for a second 
term, which ends in 1901. Senator Shoup is one 
of the few Western Senators who remained faith- 
ful to the regular Republican organization, during 
the political campaign of 1896. 

SHOWALTEK, John W., jurist, was born in 
Mason County, Ky., Feb. 8, 1844; resided some 
years in Scott County in that State, and was 
educated in the local schools, at Maysville and 
Ohio University, finally graduating at Yale Col- 
lege in 1867; came to Chicago in 1869, studied 
law and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He 
returned to Kentucky after the fire of 1871, but, 
in 1872, again came to Chicago and entered the 
employment of the firm of Moore & Caulfield, 
with whom he had been before the fire. In 1879 
he became a member of the firm of Abbott, 
Oliver & Showalter (later, Oliver & Showalter), 
where he remained until his appointment as 
United States Circuit Judge, in March, 1895. 
Died, in Chicago, Deo. 12, 1898. 

SHUMAN, Andrew, journalist and Lieutenant- 
Governor, was born at Manor, Lancaster County, 
Pa., Nov. 8, 1830. His father dying in 1837, he 
was reared by an uncle. At the age of 15 he 
became an apprentice in the office of "The Lan- 
caster Union and Sentinel." A year later he ac- 
companied his employer to Auburn, N. Y. .working 
for two years on ""The Daily Advertiser" of that 
city, then known as Governor Seward's "home 
organ." At the age of 18 he edited, published 
and distributed — during his leisure hours — a 
small weekly paper called "The Auburnian." At 
the conclusion of his apprenticeship he was em- 
ployed, for a year or two, in editing and publish- 
ing "The Cayuga Chief," a temperance journal. 



480 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



In 1851 he entered Hamilton CoUege, but, before 
the completion of his junior year, consented, at 
tlie solicitation of friends of William H. Seward, 
to assume editorial control of "Tlie Syracuse 
Daily Journal. '" In July, 1856, he came to Clii- 
cago, to accept an editorial position on "Tlie 
Evening Journal" of that city, later becoming 
editor-in-chief and President of the Journal Com- 
pany. From 1865 to 1870 (fir.st by executive 
appointment and afterward by popular election) 
he was a Commissioner of the Illinois State Peni- 
tentiary at Joliet, resigning the office four years 
before the expiration of his term. In 18T6 he 
was elected Lieutenant-Governor on the Repub- 
lican ticket. Owing to declining health, he 
abandoned active journalistic work in 1888, 
dying in Cliicago, May 5, 1890. His home during 
the latter years of his life was at Evanston. 
Governor Shuman was author of a romance 
entitled "Loves of a Lawyer," besides numerous 
addresses before literary, commercial and scien- 
tific associations. 

SHUMWAY, Dorice Dwight, merchant, was 
born at WiUiarasburg, Worcester County, Mass., 
Sept. 38, 1813, descended from French Huguenot 
ancestry; came to Zanosville, Ohio, in 1837, and 
to Montgomery Count}', 111., in 1841; married a 
daughter of Hiram Rountree, an early resident 
of Hillsboro, and, in 18-13, located in Christian 
County ; was engaged for a time in merchandis- 
ing at Taylorville, but retired in 1858, thereafter 
giving his attention to a large landed estate. In 
1846 he was chosen Representative in the General 
Assembly, serveil in the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1847, and four years as County Judge of 
Christian County. Died, May 9, 1870. — Hiram 
P. (Shumway), eldest son of the preceding, was 
born in Montgomery County, 111.. June, 1842; 
spent his boyhood on a farm in Christian County 
and in his father's store at Taylorville ; took an 
academy course and, in 1864, engaged in mercan- 
tile business; was Representative in the Twenty- 
eighth General Assembly and Senator in the 
Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh, afterwards 
removing to Springfield, where he engaged in 
the stone business. 

SHURTLEFF COLLEGE, an institution 
located at Upper Alton, and the third estab- 
lished in Illinois. It was originally incorporated 
as the "Alton College" in 1831, under a special 
charter which was not accepted, but re-incorpo- 
rated in 1835, in an "omnibus bill" with Illi- 
nois and McKendree Colleges. (See Early Col- 
leges.) Its primal origin was a school at Rock 
Spring in St. Clair County, founded about 1824, 



by Rev. John M. Peck. This became the "Rock 
Spring Seminary" in 1827, and, about 1831, was 
united with an academy at Upper Alton. This 
was the nucleus of "Alton" (afterward "Shurt- 
leff") College. As far as its denominational 
control is conQerned, it has always been domi- 
nated by Baptist influence. Dr. Peck's original 
idea was to found a school for teaching tlieology 
and Biblical literature, but this project was at 
first inhibited by the State. Hubbard Loomis 
and John Russell were among the first instruc- 
tors. Later, Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff donated the 
college §10,000. and the institution was named in 
his honor. College classes were not organized 
until 1840, and several years elapsed before a class 
graduated. Its endowment in 1898 was over 
§126,000, in addition to $125,000 worth of real and 
personal property. About 255 students were in 
attendance. Besides preparatory and collegiate 
departments, the college also maintains a theo- 
logical school. It has a faculty of twenty 
instructors and is co-educational. 

SIBLEY, a village of Ford County, on the Chi- 
cago Division of the Wabash Railway, 105 miles 
south-southwest of Chicago; has banks and a 
weekly newspaper. The district is agricultural. 
Population (1890). 404; (1900), 444. 

SIBLEY, Joseph, lawyer and jxirist, was bom 
at Westfield, Mass., in 1818; learned the trade of 
a whip maker and afterwards engaged in mer- 
chandising. In 1843 he began the study of law 
at Syracuse, N. Y., and, upon admission to the 
bar, came west, finally settling at Nauvoo. Han- 
cock County. He maintained a neutral attitude 
during the Mormon troubles, thus giving offense 
to a section of the community. In 1847 he was 
an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature, 
but was elected in 1850. and re-elected in 1853. 
In 1853 he removed to Warsaw, and, in 1855, was 
elected Judge of the Circuit Court, and re-elected 
in 1861, '67 and '73, being assigned to the bench 
of the Appellate Court of the Second District, in 
1877. His residence, after 1865, was at Quincy, 
where he died. June 18, 1897. 

SIDELL, a village of Vermillion County, on the 
Chicago it Eastern Illinois and Cincinnati. Hamil- 
ton & Dayton Railroads; has a bank, electric 
light plant and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 776. 

SIDNEY, a village of Champaign County, on 
the main line of the Wabash Railway, at the junc- 
tion of a branch to Champaign, 48 miles east-north- 
east of Decatur. It is in a farming district; has a 
bank and a newspaper. Population, (1900), 564. 

SIM, (Dr.) TYilliam, pioneer phy.sician, was 
born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1795, came to 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



481 



America in early manhood, and was the first phy- 
sician to settle at Golconda, in Pope County, 
which he represented in the Fourth and Fifth 
General Assemblies (1834 and "28). He married 
a Miss Elizabeth Jack of Philadelphia, making 
the jom-ney from Golconda to Philadelphia for 
that purpose on horseback. He had a family of 
five children, one son, Dr. Francis L. Sim, rising 
to distinction as a phj'sician, and, for a time, 
being President of a Medical College at Mempliis, 
Tenn. The elder Dr. Sim died at Golconda, in 
1868. 

SIMS, James, early legislator and Methodist 
preacher, was a native of South Carolina, but 
removed to Kentucky in early manhood, thence 
to St. Clair County, 111., and, in 1820, to Sanga- 
mon County, wliere he was elected, in 1822, as the 
fir.st Representative from that county in the 
Third General Assembly. At the succeeding ses- 
sion of the Legislature, he was one of those who 
voted against the Convention resolution designed 
to prepare the way for making Illinois a slave 
State. Mr. Sims resided for a time in Menard 
County, but finally removed to Morgan. 

SINdiER, Horace M., capitalist, was born in 
Schnectady, N. Y., Oct. 1, 1823; came to Chicago 
in 1836 and foimd employment on tlie Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, serving as superintendent of 
repairs upon the Canal until 18.53. While thus 
employed he became one of the proprietors of 
the stone-quarries at Lemont, managed by the 
firm of Singer & Talcott until about 1890, when 
they became the property of the Western Stone 
Company. Originally a Democrat, he became a 
Republican during the Civil War, and served as a 
member of the Twenty-fifth General Assembly 
(1867) for Cook County, was elected County Com- 
missioner in 1870, and was Chairman of the 
Republican Count}' Central Committee in 1880. 
He was also associated with several financial 
institutions, being a director of the First National 
Bank and of the Auditorium Company of Clii- 
cago, and a member of the Union League and 
Calumet Clubs. Died, at Pasadena, Cal., Dec. 
28, 1896. 

SINGLETON, James W., Congressman, born 
at Paxton, Va., Nov. 23, 1811; was educated at 
the Winchester (Va.) Academy, and removed to 
Illinois in 1833, settling first at Mount Sterling, 
Brown County, and, some twenty years later, 
near Quincy. By profession he was a lawyer, 
and was prominent in political and commercial 
affairs. In his later years he devoted consider- 
able attention to stock-raising. He was elected 
Brigadier-General of the Illinois militia in 1844, 



being identified to some extent with the "Mor- 
mon War"; was a member of the Constitutional 
Conventions of 1847 and 1862, served six terms in 
the Legislature, and was elected, on the Demo- 
cratic ticket, to Congress in 1878, and again in 
1880. In 1882 he ran as an independent Demo- 
crat, but was defeated by the regular nominee of 
his party, James M. Riggs. During tlie War of 
the Rebellion he was one of the most conspicuous 
leaders of the "peace party." He constructed 
the Quincy & Toledo (now part of the Wabash) 
and the Quincy, Alton & St. Louis (now part of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) Railways, 
being President of both companies. His death 
occurred at Baltimore, Md., April 4, 1892. 

SINNET, John S., pioneer, was born at Lex- 
ington, Ky., March 10, 1796; at three j'ears of age, 
taken b)' his parents to 5Iis.souri ; enlisted in the 
War of 1812, but, soon after the war. came to 
Illinois, and, about 1818, settled in what is now 
Christian County, locating on land constituting 
a part of the present city of Taylorville. In 1840 
he removed to Tazewell County, dying there, Jan. 
13, 1872. 

SKINNER, Mark, jurist, was born at Jlanches- 
ter, Vt., Sept. 13, 1813; graduated from Middle- 
bury College in 1833, studied law, and, in 1836, 
came to Chicago; was admitted to tlie bar in 
1839, became City Attorney in 1840, later Master 
in Chancery for Cook County, and finally United 
States District Attorney under President Tyler. 
As member of the House Finance Committee in 
the Fifteenth General Assembly (1846-48), he 
aided influentially in securing the adoption of 
measures for refunding and paying the State 
debt. In 1851 he was elected Judge of the Court 
of Common Pleas (now Superior Court) of Cook 
County, but declined a re-election in 1853. Origi- 
nally a Democrat, Judge .Skinner was an ardent 
opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and a 
liberal supporter of the Government policy dur- 
ing the rebellion. He liberally aided the United 
States Sanitary Commission and was identified 
with all the leading charities of the city. 
Among the great business enterprises with which 
he was officially associated were the Galena & Chi- 
cago Union and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railways (in each of which he was a Director), 
the Chicago Marine & Fire Insurance Company, 
the Gas-Light and Coke Company and others. 
Died, Sept. 16, 1887. Judge Skinner's only sur- 
viving son was killed in the trenches before 
Petersburg, the last year of the Civil War. 

SKINNER, Otis Ainsworth, clergyman and 
author, was born at Royalton, Vt.. July 3, 1807; 



482 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



taught for some time, became a Universalist 
minister, serving churches in Baltimore, Boston 
and New York between 1831 and 18.57; then 
came to Elgin, 111., was elected President of Lom- 
bard University at Galesburg, but the following 
year took charge of a church at Joliet. Died, at 
Naperville, Sept. 18, 1861. He wrote several vol- 
imies on religious topics, and, at different times, 
edited religious periodicals at Baltimore, Haver- 
hill, Ma.ss., and Boston. 

SKINNEK, Ozias C, lawyer and jurist, was 
born at Floyd, Oneida County, N. Y., in 1817; in 
1836, removed to Illinois, settling in Peoria 
County, where he engaged in farming. In 1838 
he began the study of law at Greenville, Ohio, 
and was admitted to the bar of tliat State in 1840. 
Eighteen montlis later he returned to IlUnois, 
and began practice at Carthage, Hancock County, 
removing to Quincy in 1844. During the "Mor- 
mon War" he served as Aid-de-camp to Governor 
Ford. In 1848 he was elected to the lower house 
of tlie Sixteentli General Assembly, and, for a 
short time, served as Prosecuting Attorney for 
the district including Adams and Brown Coun- 
ties. In 1851 he was elected Judge of tlie (then) 
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and, in 1855, suc- 
ceeded Judge S. H. Treat on the Supreme bench, 
resigning this position in April, 1858, two months 
before the expiration of liis term. He was a 
large land owner and had extensive agricultural 
interests. He built, and was the first President 
of the Carthage & Quincy Railroad, now a part 
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system. He 
was a prominent member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1869, serving as Chairman of the 
Committee on Judiciary. Died in 1877. 

SLADE, Charles, early Congressman: his early 
history, including date and place of birth, are 
unknown. In 1820 he was elected Representative 
from Washington County in the Second General 
Assembly, and, in 1826, was re-elected to the 
same body for Clinton and Washington. In 1833 
he was elected one of the three Congressmen 
from Illinois, representing the First District. 
After attending the Hrst session of the Twenty- 
third Congress, while on his way home, he was 
attacked with cholera, dying near Vincennes, 
hid., July 11. lK;i4. 

SLADE, James P., ex-State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, was born at Westerlo, Albany 
County, N. Y., Feb. 9, 1837, and spent his boy- 
hood with his parents on a farm, except wliile 
absent at school; in 1856 removed to Belleville, 
111., where he soon became connected with the 
public schools, .serving for a number of years as 



Principal of the Belleville High School. While 
connected with the Belleville schools, he was 
elected County Superintendent, remaining in 
office some ten years ; later had charge of Alniira 
College at Greenville, Bond County, served six 
years as Sui)erintendent of Schools at East St. 
Louis and, in 1878, was elected State Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction as the nominee of the 
Republican party. On retirement from the 
oflice of State Superintendent, he resumed liis 
plac-e at the head of Almira College, but, for the 
past few years, has been Superintendent of 
Schools at East St. Louis. 

SLAVERY AGITATION OF 1823-24. (See 
Slavery and Slave Laws.) 

SLAVERY AND SLAVE LAWS. African slaves 
were first brought into the Illinois country by a 
Frenchman named Pierre F. Renault, about 
1723. At that time the pre.sent State formed a 
part of Louisiana, and the traffic in slaves was 
regulated by French royal edicts. When Great 
Britain acquired the territory, at the close of the 
French and Indian War, the former subjects of 
France were guaranteed security for their per- 
sons "and effects," and no interference with 
slavery was attempted. Upon the conquest of 
Illinois by Virginia (see Clark, George Rogers), 
the French very generally professed allegiance to 
that commonwealth, and. in her deed of cassion 
to the United States, Virginia expressly stipulated 
for the protection of the "rights and liberties" 
of the French citizens. This was construed as 
recognizing the right of property in negro 
slaves. Even the Ordinance of 1787, while pro- 
hibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory, pre- 
served to the settlers (reference being especially 
made to the French and Canadians) "of the Kas- 
kaskias, St. Vincents and neighboring villages, 
their laws and customs, now (then) in force, 
relative to the descent and conveyance of prop- 
erty." A conservative construction of tliis clause 
was, that while it proliibited the extension of 
slavery and the importation of slaves, the status 
of those who were at that time in involuntary 
servitude, and of their descendants, was left un- 
changed. There were those, however, who denied 
tlie constitutionality of the Ordinance in toto. 
on the ground that Congress had exceeded its 
powers in its passage. There was also a party 
which claimed tliat all children of slaves, born 
after 1787, were free from birth. In 1794 a con- 
vention was held at Vincennes, pursuant to a call 
from Governor Harrison, and a memorial to Con- 
gress was adopted, praying for the repeal — or, at 
least a modification — of the sixth clause of the 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



483 



Ordinance of 1787. The first Congressional Com- 
mittee, to which this petition was referred, 
reported adversely upon it ; but a second commit- 
tee recommended the suspension of the operation 
of the clause in question for ten years. But no 
action was taken by the National Legislature, 
and, in 1807, a counter petition, extensively 
signed, was forwarded to that body, and Congress 
left the matter in statu quo. It is worthy of note 
that some of the most earnest opponents of the 
measure were Representatives from Southern 
Slave States, John Randolph, of Virginia, being 
one of them. The pro-slavery party in the State 
then prepared what is popularly known as the 
"Indenture Law," which was one of the first acts 
adopted by Governor Edwards and his Council, 
and was re-enacted by the first Territorial Legis- 
lature in 1813. It was entitled, "An Act relating 
to the Introduction of Negroes and Mulattoes into 
this Territory," and gave permission to bring 
slaves above 15 years of age into the State, when 
they might be registered and kept in servitude 
within certain limitations. Slaves under that 
age might also be brought in, registered, and held 
in bondage until they reached the age of 3,5, if 
males, and 30, if females. The issue of registered 
slaves were to serve their mother's master until 
the age of 30 or 28, according to sex. The effect 
of this legislation was rapidly to increase the 
number of slaves. The Constitution of 1818 pro- 
hibited the introduction of slavery thereafter — 
that is to sa}', after its adoption. In 1832 the 
slave-holding party, with their supporters, began 
to agitate the question of so amending the 
organic law as to make Illinois a slave State. To 
effect such a change the calling of a convention 
was necessary, and, for eighteen months, the 
struggle between "conventionists" and their 
opponents was bitter and fierce. The question 
was submitted to a popular vote on August 2, 
1824, the result of the count showing 4,973 votes 
for such convention and 6,640 against. This 
decisive result settled the question of slave-hold- 
ing in Illinois for all future time, though the 
existence of slavery in the State continued to be 
recognized by the National Census until 1840. 
The number, according to the census of 1810, was 
168; in 1820 they had increased to 917. Then 
the number began to diminish, being reduced in 
1830 to 747, and, in 1840 (the last census which 
shows any portion of the population held in 
bondage), it was 331. 

Hooper Warren — who has been mentioned else- 
where as editor of "The Edwardsville Spectator, " 
and a leading factor in securing the defeat of the 



scheme to make Illinois a slave State in 1833 — in 
an article in the first number of "The Genius of 
Liberty" (January, 1841), speaking of that con- 
test, says there were, at its beginning, only three 
papers in the State — "The Intelligencer" at Van- 
daUa, "The Gazette" at Shawneetown, and "The 
Spectator" at Edwardsville. The first two of 
these, at the outset, favored the Convention 
scheme, while "The Spectator" opposed it. The 
management of the campaign on the part of the 
pro-slaver}- party was assigned to Emanuel J. 
West, Theophilus W. Smith and Oliver L. Kelly, 
and a paper was established by the name of "The 
Illinois Republican," with Smith as editor. 
Among the active opponents of the measure were 
George Churchill, Thomas Lippincott, Samuel D. 
Lockwood, Henry Starr (afterwards of Cincin- 
nati), Rev. John M. Peck and Rev. James 
Lemen, of St. Clair County. Others who con- 
tributed to the cause were Daniel P. Cook, Jlorris 

Birkbeck, Dr. Hugh Steel and Burton of 

Jackson County, Dr. Henry Perrine of Bond; 
William Leggett of Edwardsville (afterwards 
editor of "The New York Evening Post"), Ben- 
jamin Lundy (then of Missouri), David Black well 
and Rev. John Dew, of St. Clair County. Still 
others were Nathaniel Pope (Judge of the United 
States District Court), William B, Archer, Wil- 
liam H. Brown and Benjamin Mills (of Vandalia), 
John Tillson, Dr. Horatio Newhall, George For- 
quer, Col. Thomas Mather. Thomas Ford. Judge 
David J. Baker, Charles W. Hunter and Henry H. 
Snow (of Alton). This testimony is of interest 
as coming from one who probably had more to do 
with defeating the scheme, with the exception of 
Gov. Edward Coles. Outside of the more elabor- 
ate Histories of Illinois, the most accurate and 
detailed accounts of this particular period are to 
be found in "Sketch of Edward Coles" by the late 
E. B. Washburne, and "Early Movement in Illi- 
nois for the Legalization of Slavery," an ad- 
dress before the Chicago Historical Society 
(1864), by Hon. WilUam H. Brown, of Chicago. 
(See also. Coles, Edward; Warren, Hooper ; Broim, 
William H.; Churchill, George; Lippincott, 
Tliomas:a.ud Newspapers, Early, elsewhere in this 
volume. ) 

SLOAN, Wesley, legislator and jurist, was 
born in Dorchester Coimty, Md., Feb. 30,, 1806. 
At the age of 17, having received a fair academic 
education, he accompanied his parents to Phila- 
delphia, where, for a year, he was employed in a 
wholesale grocery. His father dying, he returned 
to Maryland and engaged in teaching, at the 
same time studying law, and being admitted to 



484 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the bar in 1831. He came to Illinois in 1838, 
going first to Chicago, and afterward to Kaskas- 
kia, finally settling at Golconda in 1839, which 
continued to be his home the remainder of his 
life. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature, 
and re-elected in 1850, '52, and '56, serving tliree 
times as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. 
He was one of the members of the first State 
Board of Education, created by Act of Feb. 18, 
18.57, and took a prominent part in tlie founding 
and organization of the State educational insti- 
tutions. In 18.57 lie was elected to the bench of 
the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, and re-elected in 
1861, but declined a re-election for a third term. 
Died, Jan. 1.5, 1887. 

SMITH, Abner, jurist, was born at Orange, 
Franklin Count}', Mass., August 4, 1843, of an 
old New England family, whose ancestors came 
to Massachusetts Colony about 1630: was edu- 
cated in the public schools and at Middlebury 
College, Vt. , graduating from the latter in 1866. 
After graduation he spent a year as a teacher in 
Newton Academy, at Shoreham, Vt.. coming to 
Chicago in 1867, and entering upon the study of 
law, being admitted to the bar in 1868. The next 
twenty-five years were spent in the practice of 
his profession in Chicago, within that time serv- 
ing as the attorney of several important corpo- 
rations. In 1893 he was elected a Judge of the 
Circuit Court of Cook County, and re-elected 
in 1897, his term of service continuing until 
1903. 

SMITH, (Dr.) Charles Oilman, physician, was 
born at Exeter, N. H., Jan. 4, 1828, received his 
early education at Phillips Academy, in his native 
place, finally graduating from Harvard Univer- 
sity in 1847. He soon after commenced the study 
of medicine in the Harvard Medical School, but 
completed his course at the University of Penn- 
sylvania in 18.51. After two years spent as 
attending physician of the Alms House in South 
Boston, Mass., in 1853 he came to Chicago, where 
he soon acquired an extensive practice. During 
the Civil War he was one of six physicians 
employed by the Government for the treatment 
of prisoners of war in hospital at Camp Douglas. 
In 1868 he visited Europe for the purpose of 
observing the management of hospitals in Ger- 
many, France and England, on his return being 
invited to lecture in the Woman's Jledical College 
in Chicago, and also becoming consulting phy- 
sician in the Women's and Children's Hospital, 
as well as in the Presbyterian Hospital — a position 
which he continued to occupy for the remainder 
of his life, gaining a wide reputation in the treat- 



ment of women's and children's diseases. Died, 
Jan. 10, 1894. 

SMITH, David Allen, lawyer, was born near 
Richmond, Va., June 18, 1809; removed with his 
father, at an early day, to Pulaski, Tenn. ; at 17 
went to Courtland, Lawrence County, Ala., 
where he studied law with Judge Bramlette and 
began practice. His father, dying about 1831, left 
Iiim the owner of a number of slaves whom, in 
1837, he brought to Carlinville, 111., and emanci- 
pated, giving bond that they should not become 
a charge to the State. In 1839 he removed to 
Jacksonville, where he practiced law imtil his 
death. Col. John J. Hardin was his partner at 
the time of his death on the battle-field of Buena 
Vista. Mr. Smith was a Trustee and generous 
patron of Illinois College, for a quarter of a cen- 
tury, but never held any political office. As a 
lawyer he was conscientious and faitliful to the 
interests of his clients; as a citizen, liberal, pub- 
lic-spirited and patriotic. He contributed liber- 
ally to the support of the Government dur- 
ing the war for the Union. Died, at Anoka, 
Minn., July 13, 1865, where he had gone to 
accompany an invalid son. — Thomas ^Yilliam 
(Smith), eldest son of the preceding, born at 
Courtland, Ala., Sept. 27. 1832; died at Clear- 
water, Minn., Oct. 29, 1865. He graduated at 
Illinois College in 1852, studied law and served 
as Captain in the Tenth Illinois Volunteers, 
until, broken in healtli, he returned home to 
die. 

SMITH, Dietrich C, ex-Congressman, was 
born at Ostfriesland, Hanover, April 4, 1840, in 
boyhood came to the United States, and, since 
1849, has been a resident of Pekin, Tazewell 
County. In 1861 he enlisted in the Eighth lUi- 
nois Volunteers, was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 
and. while so serving, was severelj- wounded at 
Shiloh. Later, he was attached to the One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-ninth Illinois Infantry, and was 
mustered out of service as Captain of Company C 
of that regiment. His business is that of banker 
and manufacturer, besides which he has had con- 
siderable experience in the construction and 
management of railroads. He was a member of 
the Thirtieth General Assembly, and, in 1880. was 
elected Representative in Congress from what 
was then the Thirteenth District, on the Repub- 
lican ticket, defeating Adlai E. Stevenson, after- 
wards Vice-President. In 1882, his county (Taze- 
well) having been attached to the district for 
many years represented by Wra. M. S]>ringer, he 
was defeated by the latter as a candidate for re- 
election. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



485 



SMITH, George, one of Chicago's pioneers and 
early bankers, was borr. in Aberdeenshire, Scot- 
land, March 8, 1808. It was his early intention 
to study medicine, and he entered Aberdeen Col- 
lege with tliis end in view, but was forced to quit 
the institution at the end of two years, because 
of impaired vision. In 1833 he came to America, 
and, in 1834, settled in Chicago, where he resided 
until 1861, meanwhile spending one year in Scot- 
land. He invested largely in real estate in Chi- 
cago and Wisconsin, at one time owning a 
considerable portion of the present site of Mil- 
waukee. In 1837 he secured the charter for the 
Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company, 
whose headquarters were at Milwaukee. He was 
really the owner of the company, although Alex- 
ander Mitchell, of Milwaukee, was its Secretary. 
Under this charter Mr. Smith was able to issue 
$1,500,000 in certificates, which circulated freely 
as currency. In 1839 he founded Chicago's first 
private banking house. About 1843 he was inter- 
ested in a storage and commission business in 
Chicago, with a Mr. Webster as partner. He 
was a Director in the old Galena & Chicago 
Union Railroad (now a part of the Chicago & 
Northwestern), and aided it, while in course of 
construction, by loans of money ; was also a 
charter member of the Chicago Board of Trade, 
organized in 1848. In 1854, the State of Wiscon- 
sin having prohibited the circulation of the Wis- 
consin Marine and Fire Insui'ance certificates 
above mentioned, Mr. Smith sold out the com- 
pany to his partner, Mitchell, and bought two 
Georgia bank charters, which, together, em- 
powered him to issue §3,000,000 in currency. The 
notes wei'e dulj' issued in Georgia, and put into 
circulation in Illinois, over the counter of George 
Smith & Co.'s Chicago bank. About 1856 Mr. 
Smith began winding up his affairs in Chicago, 
meanwhile spending most of his time in Scotland, 
but, returning in 1860, made extensive invest- 
ments in railroad and other American securities, 
which netted him large profits. The amount of 
capital which he is reputed to have taken with 
him to his native land has been estimated at 
$10,000,000, though he retained considerable 
tracts of valuable lands in Wisconsin and about 
Chicago. Among those who were associated 
with him in business, either as employes or 
otherwise, and who have since been prominently 
identified with Chicago business affairs, were 
Hon. Charles B. Farwell, E. I. Tinkham (after- 
wards a prominent banker of Chicago), E. W. 
Willard, now of Newport, R. I. , and others. Mr. 
Smith made several visits, during the last forty 



years, to the United States, but divided his time 
chiefly between Scotland (where he was the 
owner of a castle) and London. Died Oct. 7, 1899. 

SMITH, George W., soldier, lawyer and State 
Treasurer, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 
8, 1837. It was his intention to acquire a col- 
legiate education, but his father's business 
embarrassments having compelled the abandon- 
ment of his studies, at 17 of years age he went 
to Arkansas and taught school for two years. In 
1856 he returned to Albany and began the study 
of law, graduating from the law school in 1858. 
In October of that year he removed to Chicago, 
where he remained continuously in practice, with 
the exception of the years 1862-65, when he was 
serving in the Union army, and 1867-68, when he 
filled the office of State Treasurer. He was mus- 
tered into service, August 27, 1862, as a Captain in 
the Eighty-eighth Illinois Infantry — the second 
Board of Trade regiment. At Stone River, he 
was seriously wounded and captured. After 
four days' confinement, he was aided by a negro 
to escape. He made his way to the Union lines, 
but was granted leave of absence, being incapaci- 
tated for service. On his return to duty he 
joined his regiment in the Chattanooga cam- 
paign, and was officially complimented for his 
bravery at Gordon's Mills. At Mission Ridge he 
was again severely wounded, and was once more 
personally complimented in the official report. 
At Kenesaw Mountain (June 27, 1864), Capt. 
Smith commanded the regiment after the killing 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Chandler, and was pro- 
moted to a Lieutenant-Colonelcy for bravery on 
the field. He led tlie cliarge at Franklin, and 
was brevetted Colonel, and thanked by the com- 
mander for his gallant service. In the spring of 
1865 he was brevetted Brigadier-General, and, in 
June following, was mustered out. Returning 
to Chicago, he resumed the practice of his pi'o- 
fession, and gained a prominent position at the 
bar. In 1866 he was elected State Treasurer, and, 
after the expiration of his term, in January, 
1869, held no public office. General Smith was, 
for many years, a Trustee of the Chicago Histor- 
ical Society, and Vice-President of the Board. 
Died, in Chicago, Sept. 16, 1898. 

SMITH, George W., lawyer and Congressman, 
was born in Putnam County, Ohio, August 18, 
1846. When he was four years old, his father 
removed to Wayne County. 111., settling on a 
farm. He attended the common schools and 
graduated from the literary department of Mc- 
Kendree College, at Lebanon, in 1868. In his 
youth he learned the trade of a blacksmith, but 



486 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



later determined to study law. After reading for 
a time at Fairfield, 111., he entered tlie Law 
Department of tlie Bloomington (Ind.) Univer- 
sity, graduating there in 1870. The same year he 
was admitted to the bar in Illinois, and has since 
practiced at Murphysboro. In 1880 he was a 
Republican Presidential Elector, and, in 1888, was 
elected a Republican Representative to Congress 
from the Twentieth Illinois District, and has 
been continuously re-elected, now (1899) serving 
his sixth consecutive term as Representative 
from the Twenty -second District. 

SMITH, Giles Alexander, soldier, and Assist- 
ant Postmaster-General, was born in Jefferson 
County, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1829; engaged in dry- 
goods business in Cincinnati and Bloomington, 
111., in 1861 being proprietor of a hotel in the 
latter place; became a Captain in the Eighth 
Missouri Volunteers, was engaged at Foi-ts Henry 
and Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth, and promoted 
Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel in 1862; led liis 
regiment on the first attack on Vioksburg. and 
was severely wounded at Arkansas Post ; was pro- 
moted Brigadier General in August. 1863, for 
gallant and meritorious conduct; led a brigade 
of the Fifteenth Army Corps at Chattanooga and 
Missionary Ridge, as also in the Atlanta cam- 
paign, and a division of the Seventeenth Corps in 
the "March to the Sea." After the surrender of 
Lee he was transferred to the Twenty fifth Army 
Corps, became Major-General in 1865, and 
resigned in 1866, having declined a commission 
as Colonel in the regular army ; about 1869 was 
appointed, by President Grant, Second Assistant 
Pcstmaster-Ueneral, but resigned on account of 
failing health in 1873. Died, at Bloomington, 
Nov. 8, 1876. General Smith was one of the 
founders of the Society of the Army of the 
Tennessee. 

SMITH, GiistaTUS Adolphns, soldier, was born 
in Philadelphia, Dec. 26, 1820; at 16 joined two 
brothers who had located at Springfield, Ohio, 
where he learned the trade of a carriage-maker. 
In December, 1837, he arrived at Decatur, 111., 
but soon after located at Springfield, where he 
resided some six years. Then, returning to 
Decatur, he devoted his attention to carriage 
manufacture, doing a large business with the 
South, but losing heavily as the result of the 
war. An original Whig, he became a Democrat 
on the dissolution of the Whig party, but early 
took ground in favor of the Union after the firing 
on Fort Sumter; was offered and accepted the 
colonelcy of the Thirty-fifth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers, at the same time assisting Governor 



Yates in the selection of Camp Butler as a camp 
of recruiting and instruction. Having teen 
assigned to duty in Missouri, in the summer of 
1861, he proceeded to Jefferson City, joined Fre- 
mont at Carthage in that State, and made a 
forced march to Springfield, afterwards taking 
part in the campaign in Arkansas and in the 
battle of Pea Ridge, where he had a horse shot 
under him and was severely (and, it was supposed, 
fatally) wounded, not recovering until 1868. 
Being compelled to return home, he received 
authority to raise an independent brigade, but 
was unable to accompany it to the field. In Sep- 
tember, 1862, he was commissioned a Brigadier- 
General by President Lincoln, "for meritorious 
conduct," but was unable to enter into active 
service on account of his wound. Later, he was 
assigned to the command of a convalescent camp 
at Murfreesboro, Tenn., under Gen. George H. 
Thomas. In 1864 lie took part in securing the 
second election of President Lincoln, and. in the 
early part of 186.5, was commissioned by Gov- 
ernor Oglesby Colonel of a new regiment (the 
One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois), but, on 
account of his wounds, was assigned to court- 
martial duty, remaining in tlie service until 
.January, 1866, wlien lie was mustered out with 
the brevet rank of Brigadier-General. Durinj; 
the second j'ear of his service he was presented 
with a magnificent sword by the rank and file of 
his regiment (the Thirty-fifth), for brave and gal- 
lant conduct at Pea Ridge. After retiring from 
the army, he engaged in cotton planting in Ala- 
bama, but was not successful; in 1868, canvas.sed 
Alabama for General Grant for President, but 
declined a nomination in his own favor for Con- 
gress. In 1870 he was appointed, by General 
Grant. United States Collection and Disbursing 
Agent for the District of New Mexico, where he 
continued to reside. 

SMITH, John Corson, soldier, ex-Lieutenant- 
Governor and ex-State Treasurer, was born in 
Philadelphia, Feb. 13, 1832. At the age of 16 he 
was apprenticed to a carpenter and builder. In 
1854 he came to Chicago, and worketl at his trade, 
for a time, but soon removed to Galena, wliere he 
finally engaged in business as a contractor. In 
1863 he enlisted as a private in the Seventy-fourth 
Illinois Volunteers, but. having received author- 
ity from Governor Yates, raised a company, of 
which he was chosen Captain, and which svas 
incorporated in the Ninety-sixth Illinois Infan- 
try. Of this regiment he was soon elected Major. 
After a short service about Cincinnati, Ohio, 
and Covington and Newport, Ky., the Ninety- 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



487 



sixth was sent to the front, and took part (among 
other battles) in tlie second engagement at Fort 
Donelson and in the bloody fight at Franklin, 
Tenn. Later, Major Smith was assigned to staff 
duty under Generals Baird and Steedman, serv- 
ing through the Tullahoma campaign, and par- 
ticipating in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout 
Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Being promoted 
to a Lieutenant-Colonelcy, he rejoined his regi- 
ment, and was given command of a brigade. In 
the Atlanta campaign he served gallantly, tak- 
ing a conspicuous part in its long series of bloody 
engagements, and being severely wounded at 
Kenesaw Mountain. In February, 1865, he was 
brevetted Colonel, and, in June, 1865, Brigadier- 
General. Soon after his return to Galena he was 
appointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, 
but was legislated out of office in 1873. In 1873 
he removed to Chicago and embarked in business. 
In 1874-76 he was a member (and Secretary) of 
the Illinois Board of Commissionej-s to the Cen- 
tennial Exposition at Philadelphia. In 1875 he 
was appointed Chief Grain-Inspector at Chicago, 
and lield the office for several years. In 1872 and 
'76 he was a delegate to the National Republican 
Conventions of those years, and, in 1878, was 
elected State Treasurer, as he was again in 1883. 
In 1884 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, serv- 
ing until 1889. He is a prominent Ma.son, Knight 
Templar and Odd Fellow, as well as a distin- 
guished member of the Order of Nobles of the 
Mystic Shrine, and was prominently connected 
with the erection of the "Masonic Temple Build- 
ing" in Chicago. 

SMITH, John Eugene, soldier, was born in 
Switzerland, August 3, 1816, the son of an officer 
who had served under Napoleon, and after the 
downfall of the latter, emigrated to Pliiladelphia. 
The subject of this sketch received an academic 
education and became a jeweler ; in 1861 entered 
the volunteer service as Colonel of the Forty-fifth 
Illinois Infantry; took part in the capture of 
Forts Henry and Donelson, in the battle of Shiloh 
and siege of Corinth ; was promoted a Brigadier- 
General in November, 1863, and placed in com- 
mand of a division in the Sixteenth Army Corps ; 
led the Third Division of the Seventeenth Army 
Corps in the Vicksburg campaign, later being 
transferred to the Fifteenth, and taking part in 
the battle of Missionarj' Ridge and the Atlanta 
and Carolina campaigns of 1864-65. He received 
the brevet rank of Major-General of Volunteers 
in January, 1865, and, on his muster-out from the 
volunteer service, became Colonel of the Twenty- 
seventh United States Infantry, beingtransferred. 



in 1870, to the Fourteenth. In 1867 his services 
at Vicksburg and Savannah were further recog- 
nized by conferring upon him the brevets of Brig- 
adier and Major-General in the regular army. 
In May, 1881, he was retired, afterwards residing 
in Chicago, where he died, Jan. 39, 1897. 

SMITH, Joseph, the foxmder of the Mormon 
sect, was born at Sharon, Vt. , Dec. 23, 1805. In 
1815 his parents removed to Palmyra, N. Y., and 
still later to Manchester. He early showed a 
dreamy mental cast, and claimed to be able to 
locate stolen articles by means of a magic stone. 
In 1830 he claimed to have seen a vision, but his 
pretensions were ridiculed by his acquaintances. 
His story of the revelation of the golden plates 
by the angel Moroni, and of the latter's instruc- 
tions to him, is well known. With the aid of 
Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery he prepared 
the "Book of Mormon," alleging that he had 
deciphered it from heavensent characters, 
through the aid of miraculous spectacles. This 
was published in 1830. In later years Smith 
claimed to have received supplementary reve- 
lations, which so taxed the credulity of his fol- 
lowers that some of them apostatized. He also 
claimed supernatural power, such as exorcism, 
etc. He soon gained followers in considerable 
numbers, whom, in 1832, he led west, a part 
settling at Kirtland, Ohio, and the remainder in 
Jackson County, Mo. Driven out of Ohio five 
years later, the bulk of the sect found the way to 
their friends in Missouri, whence they were 
finally expelled after many conflicts with the 
authorities. Smith, with the other refugees, fled 
to Hancock County, 111., founding the city of 
Nauvoo, which was incorporated in 1840. Here 
was begun, in the following year, the erection of a 
great temple, but again he aroused the hostility 
of the authorities, although soon wielding con- 
siderable political power. After various unsuc- 
cessful attempts to arrest him in 1844, Smith and 
a number of his followers were induced to sur- 
render themselves under the promise of protection 
from violence and a fair trial. Having been 
taken to Carthage, the county-seat, all were dis- 
charged under recognizance to appear at court 
except Smith and his brother Hyrum, who were 
held under the new charge of "treason," and were 
placed in jail. So intense had been the feeling 
against the Mormons, that Governor Ford called 
out the militia to preserve the peace; but it is 
evident that the feeling among the latter was in 
sympathy with that of the populace. Most of 
the militia were disbanded after Smith's arrest, 
one company being left on duty at Carthage, 



488 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



fi-om whcin only eight men were detailed to 
guard the jail. In this condition of affairs a mob 
of 150 disguised men, alleged to be from Warsaw, 
appeared before the jail on the evening of June 
37, and, forcing the guards — who made only a 
feeble resistance, — Joseph Smith and his brother 
Hyrum were both shot down, while a friend, who 
had remained with them, was wounded. The fate 
of Smith undoubtedly went far to win for him 
the reputation of martyr, anil give a new impulse 
to the Jlormon faith. (See Monnonn; Aauvoo.) 

SMITH. Justin Aliuerin, D.D., clergyman 
and eilitor, was born at Ticonderoga, N. Y., Dec. 
29, 1819, educated at New Hampton Literary and 
Theological Institute and Union College, gradu- 
ating from the latter in 1843 ; served a year as 
Principal of the Union Academy at Bennington, 
Vt., followed by four years of pastoral work, 
when he assumed the pastorate of the First Bap- 
tist church at Rochester, N. Y., where he 
remained five years. Then (185;i) he removed to 
Chicago to assume the editorship of "The Chris- 
tian Times"' (now "The Standard'"), with which 
he was associated for the remainder of his life. 
Jlean while he assisted in organizing three Baptist 
churches in Chicago, serving two of them as 
pastor for a considerable period; made an ex- 
tended tour of Europe in 1869, attending the 
Vatican Council at Rome; was a Trustee and 
one of the founders of the old Chicago Univer- 
sity, and Trustee and Lecturer of the Baptist 
Theological Seminary; was also the author of 
several religious works. Died, at Morgan Park, 
near Chicago, Feb. 4, 1890. 

SMITH, Perry H., lawyer and politician, was 
born in Augusta, Oneida County, N. Y., March 
18, 1828 ; entered Hamilton College at the age of 
14 and graduated, second in his class, at 18; began 
reading law and was admitted to the bar on com- 
ing of age in 1849. Then, removing to Appleton, 
Wis., when 23 years of age he was elected a 
Judge, served later in both branches of the 
Legislature, and, in 1857, became Vice-President 
of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du L*c Railway, 
retaining the same position in the reorganized 
corporation when it became the Chicago & 
Northwestern. In 1856 Mr. Smith cami! to Chi- 
cago and resided there till his death, on Palm 
Sunday of 1885. He was prominent in railway 
circles and in the councils of the Democratic 
party, being the recognized representative of Mr. 
Tilden's interests in the Northwest in the cam- 
I)aign of 1876. 

SMITH, Robert, Congressman and lawyer, 
was born at Pefersborough, N. H., June 12, 1802; 



was educated and admitted to the bar in his 
native town, settled at Alton, 111., in 1832, and 
engaged in practice. In 1836 he was elected to 
the General Assembly from MadLson County, 
and re-elected in 1838. In 1842 he was elected to 
the Twenty-eighth Congress, and twice re-elected, 
serving three successive terms. During the Civil 
War he was commissioned Paymaster, with the 
rank of Major, and was stationed at St. Louis. 
He was largel}' interested in the construction of 
water povver at Minneapolis, Minn., and also in 
railroad enterprises in IlUnois. He was a promi- 
nent Mason and a public-spirited citizen. Died, 
at Alton, Dec. 20. 1867. 

SMITH, Samuel Lisle, lawyer, was born in 
Philadelphia, Pa., in 1817, and, belonging to a 
wealthy family, enjoyed superior eilucational 
advantages, taking a course in the Yale Law 
School at an age too early to admit of his receiv- 
ing a degree. In 1830 he came to Illinois, to look 
after some lauded interests of his father"s in the 
vicinity of Peru. Returning east within the next 
two years, he obtained his diploma, and, again 
coming west, located in Chicago in 1838, and, 
for a time, occupied an office with the well-known 
law firm of ButterfieUl & Collins. In 1839 he was 
elected City Attorney and, at the great Whig 
meeting at Springfield, in June, 1840, was one of 
the principal speakers, establishing a reputation 
as one of the most brilliant campaign orators in 
the West. As an admirer of Henry Clay, he w:is 
active in the Presidential campaign of 1844, and 
was also a prominent speaker at the River and 
Harbor Convention at Chicago, in 1847. With a 
keen sense of humor, brilliant, witty and a mas- 
ter of repartee and invective, he achieved popu- 
larity, both at the bar and on the lecture 
platform, and had the promise of future success, 
which was unfortunately marreil by his convivial 
habits. Died of cholera, in Chicago, July 30, 18,">4. 
Mr. Smith married the daughter of Dr. Potts, of 
Philadelphia, an eminent clergyman of the 
Episcopal Church. 

SMITH, Sidney, jurist, was born in Washing- 
ton County, N. Y., May 12, 1829; studied law and 
was admitted to the bar at Albion, in that State, 
in 1851; came to Chicago in 18.50 and entered 
into partnership with Grant Goodrich and Will- 
iam W. Farwell, both of whom were afterwards 
elected to places on the bench — the first in the 
Superior, and the latter in the Circuit Court. In 
1879 Judge Smith was elected to the Superior 
Court of Cook County, serving until 1885, when 
he became the attorney of the Chicago Board of 
Trade. He was the Republican candidate for 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



489 



Mayor, in opposition to Carter H. Harrison, in 
1885, and is believed by many to have been 
honestly elected, though defeated on the face of 
the returns. A recount was ordered by the court, 
but so much delay was incurred and so many 
obstacles placed in the way of carrying the order 
into effect, that Judge Smith abandoned the con- 
test in disgust, although making material gains 
as far as it had gone. During his professional 
career he was connected, as counsel, with some of 
the most important trials before the Chicago 
courts ; was also one of the Directors of the Chi- 
cago Public Library, on its organization in 1871. 
Died suddenly, in Chicago, Oct. 6, 1898. 

SMITH, Theophilns Washington, Judge and 
politician, was born in 'New York City, Sept. 28, 
1784, served for a time in the United States navy, 
was a law student in the office of Aaron Burr, 
was admitted to the bar in his native State in 
1805, and, in 1816, came west, finally locating at 
Edwardsville, where he soon became a prominent 
figure in early State history. In 1820 he was an 
unsuccessful candidate before the Legislature for 
the office of Attorney-General, being defeated by 
Samuel D. Lockwood, but was elected to the 
State Senate in 1822, serving four years. In 1823 
he was one of the leaders of the "Conventionist" 
party, whose aim was to adopt a new Constitution 
which would legalize slavery in Illinois, during 
this period being the editor of the leading organ 
of the pro-slavery party. In 1825 he was elected 
one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme 
Court, but resigned, Dec. 2G, 1842. He was im- 
peached in 1832 on charges alleging oppressive 
conduct, corruption, and other high misdemean- 
ors in oflfice, but secured a negative acquittal, a 
two-thirds vote being necessary to conviction. 
The vote in the Senate stood twelve for convic- 
tion (on a part of the charges) to ten for acquittal, 
four being excused from voting. During the 
Black Hawk War he served as Quartermaster- 
General on the Governor's staff. As a jurist, he 
was charged by his political opponents with 
being unable to divest himself of his partisan 
bias, and even with privately advising counsel, in 
political causes, of defects in the record, which 
they (the counsel) had not discovered. He was 
also a member of the first Board of Commission- 
ers of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, appointed in 
1823. Died, in Chicago, May 6, 1846. 

SMITH, WilHam Henry, journalist. Associ- 
ated Press Manager, was born in Columbia 
County, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1833; at three years of age 
was taken by his parents to Ohio, where he 
enjoyed the best educational advantages that 



State at the time afforded. After completing his 
school course he began teaching, and, for a time, 
served as tutor in a Western college, but soon 
turned his attention to journalism, at first as 
assistant editor of a weekly publication at Cincin- 
nati, still later becoming its editor, and, in 1855, 
city editor of "The Cincinnati Gazette," with 
which he was connected in a more responsible 
position at the beginning of the war, incidentally 
doing work upon "The Literary Review." His 
connection with a leading paper enabled him to 
exert a strong influence in support of the Govern- 
ment. This he used most faithfully in assisting 
to raise troops in the first years of the war, and, 
in 1863, in bringing forward and securing the 
election of John Brough as a Union candidate for 
Governor in opposition to Clement L. Vallandi- 
gham, the Democratic candidate. In 1864 he was 
nominated and elected Secretary of State, being 
re-elected two years later. After retiring from 
office he returned to journalism at Cincinnati, as 
editor of "The Evening Chronicle," from which 
he retired in 1870 to become Agent of the West- 
ern Associated Press, with headquarters, at first 
at Cleveland, but later at Chicago. His success 
in this line was demonstrated by the final union 
of the New York and Western Associated Press 
organizations under his management, continuing 
until 1893, when he retired. Mr. Smith was a 
strong personal friend of President Hayes, by 
whom he was appointed Collector of the Port of 
Chicago in 1877. While engaged in official duties 
lie found time to do considerable literary work, 
having published, several years ago, "The St. Clair 
Papers," in two volumes, and a life of Charles 
Hammond, besides contributions to periodicals. 
After retiring from the management of the 
Associated Press, he was engaged upon a "His- 
tory of American Politics" and a "Life of Ruther- 
ford B. Hayes," which are said to have been well 
advanced at the time of his death, which took 
place at his home, at Lake Forest, 111., July 27, 
1896. 

SMITH, William M., merchant, stock-breeder 
and politician, was born near Frankfort, Ky., 
May 23, 1827; in 1846 accompanied his father's 
family to Lexington, McLean County, 111., where 
they settled. A few years later he bought forty 
acres of government land, finally increasing his 
holdings to 800 acres, and becoming a breeder of 
fine stock. Still later he added to his agricultural 
pursuits the business of a merchant. Having 
early identified himself with the Republican 
party, he remained a firm adherent of its prin- 
ciples during the Civil War, and, while declining 



490 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



a commission tendered him by Governor Yates, 
devoted his time and means liberally to the re- 
cruiting and organization of regiments for serv- 
ice in the field, and piocuring supplies for the 
sick and wounded. In 1800 he was elected to the 
lower house of the Legislature, and was reelected 
in 1868 and 'TO, serving, during his last term, as 
Speaker. In 1877 he was appointed by Governor 
Cullom a member of the Railroad and Wareliouse 
Commission, of which body he served as President 
until 1883. He was a man of remarkably genial 
temperament, liberal impulses, and wide popu- 
larity. Died, March 25, 1886. 

SMITH, William Sooy, .soldier and civil engi- 
neer, was born at Tarlton, Pickaway Count}', 
Ohio, July 22, 1830; graduated at Ohio University 
in 1849, and, at the United States Military Acad- 
emy, in 1853, having among his classmates, at the 
latter, Generals McPherson, Schofield and Sheri- 
dan. Coming to Chicago the following y^ar, he 
first found emplo3'ment as an engineer on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, but later became assist- 
ant of Lieutenant-Colonel Graham in engineer 
service on the lakes ; a year later took charge of 
a select school in Buffalo; in 1857 made the first 
survej's for the International Bridge at Niagara 
Falls, then went into the service of extensive 
locomotive and bridge- works at Trenton, N. J., 
in their interest making a visit to Cuba, and also 
superintending the construction of a bridge 
across the Savannah River. The war intervening, 
he returned North and was appointed Lieutenant- 
Colonel and assigned to duty as Assistant Adju- 
tant-General at Camp Denison, Ohio, but, in 
June, 1862, was commissioned Colonel of the 
Thirteenth Oliio Volunteers, participating in tlie 
West Virginia campaigns, and later, at Shilohand 
Perryville. In April, 1862, he was promoted 
Brigadier-General of volunteers, commanding 
divisions in the Armj- of the Ohio until the fall 
of 1862, when he .joined Grant and took part in 
the Vicksburg campaign, as commander of the 
First Division of the Si.xteenth Army Corps. 
Subsequently he was made Chief of the Cavalry 
Department, serving on the staffs of Grant and 
Sherman, until compelled to resign, in 1861, on 
account of impaired health. During the war 
General Smith rendered valuable service to the 
Union cause in great emergencies, by liis knowl- 
edge of engineering. On retiring to private life 
he resumed his i)rofession at Chicago, and since 
has been employe<l by the Government on some 
of its most stupendous works on the lakes, and 
lias also planned several of the most important 
railroad bridges across the Missouri and other 



streams. He has been much consulted in refer- 
ence to municipal engineering, and liis name is 
connected witli a number of the gigantic edifices 
in Chicago. 

SMITHBORO, a village and railroad junction 
in Bond County, 3 miles east of Greenville. 
Population. 393; (1900), 314. 

SN'APP, Henry, Congressman, born in Livings- 
ton County, N. Y., June 30, 1822, came to Illinois 
with his father when 11 years old, and, having 
read law at Joliet, was admitted to the bar in 
1847. He practiced in Will County for twenty 
years before entering public life. In 1868 lie was 
elected to the State Senate and occupied a seat in 
that body until his election, in 1871, to the Forty- 
second Congress, by the Repulilicans of the (then) 
Sixth Illinois District, as successor to B. C. Cook, 
who had resigned. Died, at Joliet, Nov. 23, 1895. 

SNOW, Heniiaii W., ex-Congressman, was born 
in La Porte County, Ind., July 3, 1836, but was 
reared in Kentucky, working upon a farm for 
live years, while yet in his minority becoming a 
resident of Illinois. For several years he was a 
scliool teacher, meanwhile studying law and 
being admitted to the bar. Early in the war lie 
enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and 
Thirty-ninth Illinois Volunteers, rising to the 
rank of Captain. His term of service having 
expired, he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Fifty-first Illinois, and was mustered out with 
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. After the close 
of the war he resumed teaching at the Chicago 
High School, and later served in the General 
Assembly (1873-74) as Representative from Wood- 
ford County. In 1890 he was elected, as a Demo- 
crat, to represent the Ninth Illinois District in 
Congress, but was defeated by his Republican 
opponent in 1892. 

SXOWHOOK, William B., first Collector of 
Customs at Chicago, was born in Ireland in 1804; 
at the age of eight years was brought to New 
York, wliere he learned the printer'.', trade, 
and workeil for some time in the same office 
with Horace Greeley. At 10 he went back to 
Ireland, remaining two years, but. returning to 
the United States, began the study of law ; was 
also emploj-ed on the Passaic Canal; in 1836. 
came to Chicago, and was soon after associated 
with William B. Ogden in a contract on the Illi- 
nois & Michigan Canal, which lasted until 1841. 
As early as 1840 he became iirominent as a leader 
in the Democratic party, and, in 1846, received 
from Presiilent Polk an appointment as first Col- 
lector of Customs for Chicago (having previously 
served as Special Surveyor of the Port, while 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. OF ILLINOIS. 



491 



attached to the District of Detroit) ; in 1853, was 
re-appointed to the CoUectorship by President 
Pierce, serving tn'o yeais. During the "Mormon 
War" (1844) he organized and equipped, at liis 
own expense, the Jlontgomery Guards, and was 
commissioned Colonel, but the disturbances were 
brought to an end before the order to march. 
From 18.")6 he devoted his attention chiefly to his 
practice, but, in 1862, was one of tlie Democrats 
of Chicago who took part in a movement to sus- 
tain the Government by stimulating enlistments ; 
was also a member of the Convention which 
nominated Mr. Greeley for President in 1872. 
Died, in Chicago, May 5, 1883. 

SNYDER, Adam Wilson, pioneer lawyer, and 
early Congressman, was born at Connellsville, 
Pa., Oct. 6, 1799. In early life he followed the 
occupation of svool-curling for a livelihood, 
attending school in the winter. In 1815, he emi- 
grated to Columbus, Ohio, and afterwards settled 
in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair Coimty, 111. Being 
offered a situation in a wool-curling and fulling 
mill at Cahokia, he removed thither in 1817. He 
formed the friendship of Judge Jesse B. Thomas, 
and, through the latter"s encouragement and aid. 
studied law and gained a solid professional, poli- 
tical, social and financial position. In 1830 he 
was elected State Senator from St. Clair County, 
and re-elected for two successive terms. He 
served through the Black Hawk War as private. 
Adjutant and Captain. In 1833 he removed to 
Belleville, and, in 1834, was defeated for Congres.s 
by Governor Re.ynolds, whom he, in turn, defeated 
in 1836. Two years later Rej'nolds again defeated 
him for the .same position, and, in 1840, he was 
elected State Senator. In 1841 he was the Demo- 
cratic nominee for Governor. The election was 
held in August, 1842, but, in May preceding, he 
died at his home in Belleville. His place on the 
ticket was filled by Thomas Ford, who was 
elected.— William H. (Snyder), son of the pre- 
ceding, was born in St. Clair County, 111., July 
12, 182."); educated at McKendree College, studied 
law with Lieutenant-Governor Koerner, and was 
admitted to practice in 1845; also served for a 
time as Postmaster of the city of Belleville, and, 
during the Mexican War, as First-Lieutenant and 
Adjutant of the Fifth Illinois Volunteers. From 
1850 to '54 he represented his county in the Legis- 
lature; in 1855 was appointed, by Governor Mat- 
teson. State's Attorney, which position he filled 
for two years. He was an unsuccessful candidate 
for the office of Secretary of State in 185G, and, 
in 1857, was elected a Judge of the Twenty- 
fourth Circuit, was re-elected for the Third Cir- 



cuit in 73, '79 and "85. He was also a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. Died, 
at Belleville, Dec. 24, 1892. 

SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' HOME, a State 
charitable institution, founded by act of the 
Legislature in 1885, and located at Quincy, 
Adams County. The object of its establish- 
ment was to provide a comfortable home for 
such disabled or dependent veterans of the 
United States land or naval forces as had 
honorabl}' served during the Civil War. It 
was opened for the reception of veterans on 
March 3, 1887, the first cost of site and build- 
ings having been about §350,000. The total num- 
ber of inmates admitted up to June 30, 1894, was 
3,813; the number in attendance during the two 
previous years 988, and the whole number present 
on Nov. 10, 1894, 1,088. The value of property at 
that time was .$393,636.08. Considerable appro- 
priations have been made for additions to the 
buildings at subsequent sessions of the Legisla- 
ture. The General Government paj's to the State 
SlOO per year for each veteran supported at the 
Home. 

SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME, ILLINOIS, an 
institution, created by act of 1865, for the main- 
tenance and education of children of deceased 
soldiers of the Civil War. An eighty -acre tract, 
one mile north of Normal, was selected as the 
site, and the first principal building was com- 
pleted and opened for the admission of benefici- 
aries on June 1, 1869. Its first cost was 8135,000. 
the site having been donated. Repairs and the 
construction of new buildings, from time to 
time, have considerablj- increased this sum. In 
1875 the benefits of the institution were extended, 
by legislative enactment, to the children of sol- 
diers who had died after the close of the war. 
The aggregate number of inmates, in 1894, was 
573. of whom 323 were males and 249 females. 

SOLDIERS' WIDOWS' HOME. Provision was 
made for the establishment of this institution by 
the Thirty-ninth General A.ssembly, in an act, 
approved, June 13, 1895, appropriating §30,000 for 
the purchase of a site, the erection of buildings 
and furnishing the same. It is designed for the 
reception and care of the mothers, wives, widows 
and daughters of such honorably discharged 
soldiers or sailors, in the United States service, as 
may have died, or may be physically or men- 
tally unable to provide for the families natu- 
rally dependent on them, provided that such 
persons have been residents of the State for 
at least one year previous to admission, and 
are without means or ability for self-support. 



492 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



The affairs of the Home are managed by a 
board of five trustees, of whom two are men and 
three women, the former to be members of the 
Grand Army of the Republic and of different 
political parties, and the latter members of the 
Women's Relief Corps of this State. The institu- 
tion was located at Wilmington, occupying a 
site of seventeen acres, where it was formally 
opened in a house of eighteen rooms, March 11, 
1896, with twenty-six applications for admit- 
tance. The plan contemplates an early enlarge- 
ment by tlie erection of additional cottages. 

SOREMO, a village of Bond County, at the 
intersection of the Jacksonville & .St. Louis and 
the Toledo, St. Louis it Western Railways, 14 
miles southeast (>f Lilclifield; lias a bank and a 
newspaper. Its intero.sts are agricultural and 
mining. Pop. (1800), ,^.38; (1900), 1,000. 

SOULARD, James Gaston, pioneer, born of 
French ancestry in St. Louis, Mo., July 1.5, 1798; 
resided there until 1831, when, having married 
the daughter of a soldier of the Revolution, he 
received an appointment at Fort Snelling, near 
the present city of St. Paul, then under command 
of Col. Snelling, who was his %vife's brother-in- 
law. Tlie Fort was reached after a tedious jour- 
ney by flat-boat and overland, late in tlie fall of 
1831, his wife accompanying him. Three years 
later they returned to St. Louis, where, being an 
engineer, he was engaged for several years in 
surveying. In 1837 he removed with his family 
to Galena, for the next six years liad charge of a 
store of the Gratiot Brothers, early business men 
of that locality. Towards the close of tliis period 
he received the appointment of County Recorder, 
also holding the position of County Surveyor and 
Postmaster of Galena at the same time. His 
later ye;irs were devoted to farming and horti- 
culture, his death taking place, Sept. 17, 1878. 
Mr. Soulard was probably the first man to engage 
in freighting between Galena and Chicago. 
"The Galena Advertiser" of Sept. 14, 1839, makes 
mention of a wagon-load of lead sent by him to 
Chicago, his team taking back a load of salt, the 
paper remarking: "This is the first wagon that 
lias ever passed from tlie Mississippi River to 
Cliicago." Great results were predicted from 
the exchange of commodities between tlie lake 
and the lead mine district. — Mrs. Eliza M. 
Hunt (Soulard), wife of the preceding, was born 
at Detroit, Dec. 18, 1804, her fatlier being Col. 
Thomas A. Hunt, who had taken part in the 
Battle of Bunker Hill and remained in the army 
until his death, at St. Louis, in 1807. His descend- 
ants ha^e maintained their connection with the 



army ever since, a son being a prominent artillery 
officer at the Battle of Gettysburg. Mrs. Soular 
was married at St. Louis, in 1830, and survive 
lier husband some sixteen years, dying at Galena 
August 11, 1894. She liad resided in Galen? 
nearly seventy years, and at the date of her 
death, in the 90th year of her age, she was that 
city's oldest resident. 

SOUTH CHICAGO & WESTERN INDIANA 
RAILROAD. (See Chicago & Western Indiana 
Railroad.) 

SOUTH DANVILLE, a suburb of the city of 
Danville, Vermilion County. Population (1890) 
799; (1900), 898. 

SOUTHEAST & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. (.See 
LniiisriUe d- NashviHe Kailroad.) 

SOUTH ELGIN, a village of Kane County, 
near the city of Elgin. Population (1900) mo 

SOUTHERN COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE, 
located at Albion, Edwards County, incorporated 
in 1891; had a faculty of ten teachers with 319 
pupils (1897-98)— about equally male and female. 
Besides clas.sical, scientific, normal, music and 
fine arts departments, instruction is given in pre- 
paratory studies and business education. Its 
property is valued at S16,.500. 

SOUTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, 
located at Anna, Union County, founded by act 
of tlie Legislature in 1869. The original site com- 
prised 390 acres and cost a little more than 
$33,000, of which one-fourtli was donated by citi- 
zens of the county. The construction of build- 
ings was begun in 1869, but it was not until 
March, 187,j, that the north wing (the first com- 
pleted) was ready for occupancy. Other portions 
were completed a year later. The Trustees pur- 
chased 160 additional acres in 1883. The first 
cost (up to September, 1876) was nearly .S63.j,000. 
In 1881 one wing of the main building was de- 
stroyed by fire, and was subsequently rebuilt ; tlie 
patients being, meanwhile, cared for in temporary 
wooden barracks. The total value of lands and 
buildings belonging to the State, June 30, 1894, 
was estimated at §738,580, and, of property of all 
sorts, at ?833,700. The wooden barracks were 
later converted into a permanent ward, additions 
made to the main buildings, a detached building 
for the accommodation of 300 patients erected, 
numerous outbuildings put up and general im- 
jirovenients made. A second fire on the night of 
Jail. 3, 189.i, destroyed a large part of the main 
building, infiicting a loss upon the State of 
817.J.0OO. Provision was made for rebuilding by 
the Legislature of that year. The institution has 
capacity for about 7.50 patients. 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



493 



SOUTHERN ILLINOIS NORMAL UNIVER- 
SITY, established in 1869, and located, after 
competitive bidding, at Carbondale, which offered 
lands and bonds at first estimated to be of the 
value of $329,000, but which later depreciated, 
through shrinkage, to ?75,000. Construction was 
commenced in May, 1870, and the first or main 
building was completed and appropriately dedi- 
cated in July, 1874. Its cost was §265,000, but it 
was destroyed by fire, Nov. 26, 1883. In Febru- 
ary, 1887, a new structure was completed at a cost 
of $150,000. Two normal courses of instruction 
are given — classical and scientific — each extend- 
ing over a period of four years. The conditions 
of admission require that the pupil shall be 16 
years of age, and shall possess the qualifications 
enabling him to pass examination for a second- 
grade teacher's certificate. Those unable to do so 
may enter a preparatory department for six 
months. Pupils who pledge themselves to teach 
in the public schools, not less than half the time 
of their attendance at the University, receive 
free tuition with a small charge for incidentals, 
while others pay a tuition fee. The number of 
students in attendance for the year 1897-98 was 
720, coming from forty-seven counties, chiefly in 
the louthern half of the State, with represent- 
atives from eight other States. The teaching 
facvuty for the same year consisted, besides the 
President, of sixteen instructors in the various 
departments, of whom five were ladies and 
eleven gentlemen. 

SOUTHERN PENITENTIARY, THE, located 
near Chester, on the Mississijipi River. Its erec- 
tion was rendered necessary by the overcrowding 
of the Northern Penitentiarj'. (See Northern 
Penitentiary.) The law providing for its estab- 
lishment required the Commissioners to select a 
site convenient of access, adjacent to Stone and 
timber, and having a high elevation, with a never 
failing supply of water. In 1877, 122 acres were 
purchased at Chester, and the erection of build- 
ings commenced. The first appropriation was of 
$200,000, and $300,000 was added in 1879. By 
March, 1878, 200 convicts were received, and 
their labor was utilized in the completion of the 
buildings, which are constructed upon approved 
modern principles. The prison receives convicts 
sent from the southern portion of the State, and 
has accommodation for some 1,200 prisoners. In 
connection with tliis penitentiary is an asylum 
for insane convicts, the erection of which was 
provided for by the Legislature in 1889. 

SOUTH GROVE, a village of De Kalb County. 
Population (1890), 730. 



SPALDING, Jesse, manufacturer. Collector of 
Customs and Street Railway President, was born 
at Athens, Bradford County, Pa., April 15, 1833; 
early commenced lumbering on the Susquehanna, 
and, at 23, began dealing on his own account. In 
1857 he removed to Chicago, and soon after bought 
the property of the New York Lumber Company 
at the mouth of the Menominee River in Wiscon- 
sin, where, with different partners, and finally 
practically alone, he has carried on the business 
of lumber manufacture on a large scale ever 
since. In 1881 he was appointed, by President 
Arthur, Collector of the Port of Chicago, and, in 
1889, received from President Harrison an 
appointment as one of the Government Directors 
of the Union Pacific Railway. Mr. Spalding was 
a zealous supporter of the Government during 
the War of the Rebellion and rendered valuable 
aid in the construction and equipment of Camp 
Douglas and the barracks at Chicago for the 
returning soldiers, receiving Auditor's warrants 
in paj'ment, when no funds in the State treasury 
were available for the purpose. He was associ- 
ated with William B. Ogden and others in the 
project for connecting Green Baj' and Sturgeon 
Bay by a ship canal, which was completed in 
1882, and, on the death of Mr. Ogden, succeeded 
to the Presidency of the Canal Company, serving 
until 1893, when the canal was turned over to the 
General Government. He has also been identified 
with many other public enterprises intimately 
connected with the development and prosperity 
of Chicago, and, in July, 1899, became President 
of the Chicago Union Traction Company, having 
control of the North and West Chicago Street 
Railway Systems. 

SPALDING, John Lancaster, Catholic Bishop, 
was born in Lebanon, Ky., June 2, 1840; educated 
in the United States and in Europe, ordained a 
priest in the Catholic Church in 1863, and there- 
upon attached to the cathedral at Louisville, as 
assistant. In 1809 he organized a congregation 
of colored people, and built for their use the 
Church of St. Augustine, having been assigned 
to that parish as pastor. Soon afterwards he was 
appointed Secretary to the Bishop and made 
Chancellor of the Diocese. In 1873 he was trans- 
ferred from Louisville to New York, where he 
was attached to the missionary parish of St. 
Michael's. He had, by this time, achieved no little 
fame as a pulpit orator and lecturer. When 
the diocese of Peoria, 111., was created, in 1877, the 
choice of the Pope fell upon him for the new see, 
and he was consecrated Bishop, on May 1 of that 
year, by Cardinal McCloskey at New York. His 



494 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



administration lias been characterized by both 
energy anil success. He has devoted much atten- 
tion to the subject of emigration, and has brought 
about the founding of manj' new settlements in 
the far West. He was also largely instrumental 
in bringing about the founding of the Catholic 
University at Washington. He is a frequent 
contributor to the reviews, and the author of a 
number of religious works. 

SPANISH INVASION OF ILLINOIS. In the 
month of Jime, ITTi), soon after the declaration 
of war between Spain and Great Britain, an expe- 
dition was organized in Canada, to attack the 
Spanish posts along the Mississippi. Simultane- 
ously, a force was to be dispatched from Pensa- 
cola against New Orleans, then commanded by 
a young Spanish Colonel, Don Bernardo de 
Galvez. Secret instructions had been sent to 
British Commandants, all through the Western 
country, to co operate with both expeditions. De 
Galvez, having learned of the scheme through 
intercepted letters, resolved to forestall the attack 
b}' becoming the assailant. At the head of a 
force of 670 men, he set out and captured Baton 
Rouge, Fort Manchac and Natchez, almost with- 
out opposition. Tlie British in Canada, being 
ignorant of what had been going on in the South, 
in February following dispatched a force from 
Mackinac to support the expedition from Peusa- 
cola, and, incitlentaliy, to subdue the American 
rebels while en route. Cahokia and Kaskaskia 
were contemplated points of attack, as well as 
the Spanish forts at St. Louis and St. Genevieve. 
This movement was planned by Capt. Patrick 
Sinclair, commandant at Mackinac, but Captain 
Hesse was placed in charge of the expedition, 
which numbered some 7.50 men, including a force 
of Indians led by a chief named Wabasha. The 
British arrived before St. Louis, early on the 
morning of May 2G, 1780, taking the Spaniards 
by surprise. Meanwliile Col. George Rogers 
Clark, having been apprised of the project, 
arrived at Cahokia from the falls of the Ohio, 
twenty-four hours in advance of the attack, his 
presence and readiness to co-operate with the 
Spanish, no doubt, contributing to the defeat of 
the expedition. The accounts of what followed 
are conflicting, the number of killed on the St. 
Louis shore being variously estimated from seven 
or eight to sixty -eight — the last being the esti- 
mate of Capt. Sinclair in his official report. All 
agree, however, that the invading party was 
forced to retreat in great haste. Colonel Mont- 
gomery, wlio had been in command at Cahokia, 
with a force of o50 and a party of Spanish allies. 



pursued the retreating invaders as far as the 
Rock River, destroying many Indian villages on 
the waj'. This movement on the part of the 
British served as a pretext for an attempted re- 
prisal, undertaken by the Spaniards, with the aid 
of a number of Cahokians, early in ITSl. Starting 
early in January, this latter expedition crossed 
Illinois, with the design of attacking Fort St. 
Joseph, at the head of Lake Michigan, wliich had 
been captured from the English by Thomas Brady 
and afterwards retaken. The Spaniards were com- 
manded by Don Eugenic Pourre, and supported 
by a force of Cahokians and Indians. The fort 
was easily taken and the British flag replaced by 
the ensign of Spain. The aflfair was regarded as 
of but little moment, at the time, the post being 
evacuated in a few days, and the Spaniards 
returning to St. Louis. Yet it led to serious 
international complications, and the "conquest" 
was seriously urged by the Spanish ministry as 
giving tliat country a right to the territory trav- 
ersed. This claim was supported by France 
before the signing of the Treaty of Paris, but 
was defeated, through the combined efforts of 
Messrs. Jay, Franklin and Adams, the American 
Commissioners in charge, of the peace negoti- 
ations with England. 

SPARKS, (Capt.) David R., manufacturer and 
legislator, was born near Lanesville, Ind., in 
1823; in 1836, removed with his parents to Ma- 
coupin County, 111. ; in 1847, enlisted for the 
Mexican War, crossing the plains to Santa Fe, 
New Mexico. In 1850 he made the overland trip 
to California, returning the next year by the 
Isthmus of Panama. In 1855 he engaged in tlie 
milling business at Staunton, IMacoupin County, 
but, in 1800, made a third trip across the plains 
in search of gold, taking a quartz-mill which was 
erected near where Central City, Colo., now is, 
and which was tlie second steam-engine in that 
region. He returned home in time to vote for 
Stephen A. Douglas for President, the same year, 
but became a stalwart Republican, two weeks 
later, when the advocates of secession began to 
develop their policy after the election of Lincoln. 
In 1861 he enlisted, under the call for 500,000 vol- 
unteers following tlie first battle of Bull Run, and 
was commissioned a Captain in the Third Illinois 
Cavalry (Col. Eugene A. Carr), serving two and a 
half years, during which time he took part in 
several hard-fought battles, and being present at 
the fall of Vicksburg. At the end of his service 
he became associated with his former partner in 
the erection of a large flouring mill at Litchfield, 
but, in 1869, the firm bought an extensive flour- 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



495 



ing mill at Alton, of which he became the princi- 
pal owner in 1881, and which has since been 
greatly enlarged and improved, until it is now one 
of the most extensive establishments of its kind 
in the State. Capt. Sparks was elected to the 
House of Representatives in 1888, and to the State 
Senate in 1894, serving in the sessions of 189.5 and 
'97; was also strongly supported as a candidate 
for the Republican nomination for Congress in 
1896. 

SPARKS, William A. J., ex-Congre.ssman, was 
born near New Albany, Ind., Nov. 19, 1828, at 8 
years of age was brought by his parents to Illi- 
nois, and shortly afterwards left an orphan. 
Thrown on his own resources, he found work 
upon a farm, his attendance at the district 
schools being limited to the winter months. 
Later, he passed through McKendree College, 
supporting himself, meanwliile, bj- teaching, 
graduating in IS.W. He read law with Judge 
Sidney Breese, and was admitted to the bar in 
18.51. His first public office was that of Receiver 
of the Land Office at Edwardsville, to which he 
was appointed by President Pierce in 1853, re- 
maining until 1856, when he was chosen Presi- 
dential Elector on the Democratic ticket. The 
same year he was elected to the lower house of 
the General Assembly, and, in 1863-64, served in 
the State Senate for the unexpired term of James 
M. Rodgers, deceased. He was a delegate to the 
National Democratic Convention in 1868, and a 
Democratic Representative in Congress from 1875 
to 1883. In 1885 he was appointed, by President 
Cleveland, Commissioner of the General Land 
Office in Washington, retiring, by resignation, in 
1887. His home is at Carlvle. 

SPARTA & ST. GENETIEYE RAILROAD. 
(See Centralia & Chester Railroad.) 

SPEED, Joshua Fry, merchant, and intimate 
friend of Abraham Lincoln ; was educated in the 
local schools and at St. Joseph's College, Bards- 
town, Ky., after which he spent some time in a 
wholesale mercantile establishment in Louisville. 
About 1835 he came to Springfield, 111. , where he 
engaged in the mercantile business, later becom- 
ing the intimate friend and associate of Abraham 
Lincoln, to whom he offered the privilege of 
sharing a room over his store, when ilr. Lincoln 
removed from New Salem to Springfield, in 1836. 
Mr. Speed returned to Kentucky in 1842, but the 
friendship with Mr. Lincoln, which was of a 
most devoted character, continued until the 
death of the latter. Having located in Jefferson 
County, Ky., Mr. Speed was elected to the Legis- 
lature in 1848, but was never again willing to 



accept office, though often solicited to do so. In 
1851 he removed to Louisville, where he acquired 
a handsome fortune in the real-estate business. 
On tlie breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, he 
heartily embraced the cause of the Union, and. 
during the war, was entrusted with many deli- 
cate and important duties in the interest of the 
Government, by Mr. Lincoln, whom he frequently 
visited in Washington. His death occurred at 
Louisville, May 29, 1882.— James (Speed), an 
older brother of the preceding, was a prominent 
Unionist of Kentucky, and, after the war, a 
leading Republican of that State, serving as dele- 
gate to the National Republican Conventions of 
1872 and 1876. In 1864 he was appointed Attor- 
ney-General by Mr. Lincoln and served until 1866, 
when he resigned on account of disagreement 
with President Johnson. He died in 1887, at the 
age of 75 years. 

SPOOX RIVER, rises in Bureau County, flows 
southward through Stark County into Peoria, 
thence southwest through Knox, and to the south 
and southeast, througli Fulton County, entering 
the Illinois River opposite Havana. It is about 
150 miles long. 

SPRINGER, (Rev.) Francis, D.D., educator 
and Army Chaplain, born in Franklin County, 
Pa., March 19, 1810; was left an orphan at an 
early age, and educated at Pennsylvania College, 
Gettysburg; entered the Lutheran ministry in 
1836, and, in 1839, removed to Springfield, 111., 
where he preached and taught school ; in 1847 
became President of Hillsboro College, which, in 
1853, was removed to Springfield and became Illi- 
nois State University, now known as Concordia 
Seminary. Later, he served for a time as Super- 
intendent of Schools for the city of Springfield, 
but, in September, 1861, resigned to accept the 
Chaplaincy of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry ; by suc- 
cessive resignations and appointments, held the 
positions of Chaplain of the First Arkansas Infan- 
try (1863-64) and Post Chaplain at Fort Smith, 
Ark., serving in the latter position until April, 
1867, when he was commissioned Chaplain of the 
United States Army. This position he resigned 
while stationed at Fort Harker, Kan., August 23, 
1867. During a considerable part of his incum- 
bency as Chaplain at Fort Smith, he acted as 
Agent of the Bureau of Refugees and Freedmen, 
performing important service in caring for non- 
combatants rendered homeless by the vicissitudes 
of war. After the war he served, for a time, as 
Superintendent of Schools for Montgomery 
County, 111. ; was instrumental in the founding 
of Carthage (111.) College, and was a member of 



496 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



its Board of Control at the time of his death. He 
was elected Chaplain of tlie Illinois House of 
Representatives at the session of the Thirty-fifth 
General Assembly (1887), and Chaplain of the 
Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of 
Illinois for two consecutive terms (1890-'92). 
He was also member of tlie Stephenson Post, 
No. 30, G. A. R., at Springfield, and served as its 
Chaplain from January, 1884, to his death, which 
occurred at Springfield, Oct. 31, 1893. 

SPRINGER, William McKendree, ex-Congress- 
man, Justice of United States Court, was born in 
Sullivan County, Ind., May 30, 1836. In 1848 he 
removed with his parents to Jacksonville, 111., 
was fitted for college in the public high school at 
Jacksonville, under the tuition of the late Dr. 
Bateman, entered Illinois College, remaining 
three years, when he removed to the Indiana 
State University, graduating there in 1858. The 
following year he was admitted to the bar and 
commenced practice in Logan County, but soon 
after removed to Springfield. He entered public 
life as Secretary of the Constitutional Convention 
of 1863. In 1871-73 he represented Sangamon 
County in the Legislature, and, in 1874, was 
elected to Congress from the Thirteenth Illinois 
District as a Democrat. From that time until 
the close of the Fifty-third Congress (1895), he 
served in Congress continuously, and was recog- 
nized as one of the leaders of his party on the 
floor, being at the head of many important com- 
mittees when that j^arty was in the ascendanc}', 
and a candidate for the Democratic caucus nomi- 
nation for Speaker, in 1893. In 1894 he was the 
candidate of his party for Congress for the 
eleventh time, but was defeated by his Repub- 
lican opponent, James A. Connolly. In 1895 
President Cleveland appointed him United 
States District Judge for Indian Territory. 

SPRINOFIELl), the State capital, and the 
county-seat of Sangamon County, situated five 
miles south of tlie Sangamon River and 185 miles 
southwest of Chicago; is an important railway 
center. The first settlement on the site of the 
present city was made by John Kelly in 1819. 
On April 10, 1831, it was selected, by the first 
Board of County Commissioners, as the temporary 
county-seat of Sangamon County, the organi- 
zation of which had been authorized by act of 
the Legislature in January previous, and the 
name Springfield was given to it. In 1823 the 
selection was made permanent. The latter year 
the first sale of lands took place, the original site 
being entered by Pascal P. Enos, Elijah lies and 
Thomas Cox. The town was platted about the 



same time, and the name "Calhoun" was given to 
a section in the northwest quarter of the present 
city — this being the "hey-day" of the South 
Carolina statesman's greatest popularity — but 
the change was not popularly accepted, and the 
new name was soon dropped. It was incorpo- 
rated as a town, April 8, 1833, and as a city, April 
6, 1840; and re-incorporated, under the general, 
law in 1883. It was made the State capital by 
act of the Legislature, passed at the session of 
1837, which went into effect, July 4, 1839, and the 
Legislature first convened there in December of 
the latter year. The general surface is flat, 
though there is rolling ground to the west. The 
city has excellent water-works, a paid fire-depart- 
ment, six banks, electric street railways, gas and 
electric lighting, commodious hotels, fine 
churches, numerous handsome residences, beauti- 
ful parks, thorough sewerage, and is one of the 
best paved and handsomest cities in the State. 
The cit J' proper, in 1890, contained an area of four 
square miles, but has since been enlarged by the 
annexation of the following suburbs: North 
Springfield, April 7, 1891 ; West Springfield, Jan. 
4, 1898; and South Springfield and the village of 
Laurel, April 5, 1898. These additions give to 
the present city an area of 5.84 square miles. 
The population of the original city, according to 
the census of 1880, was 19.743, and, in 1890, 34,963, 
while tliat of the annexed suburbs, at the last 
census, was 3,109 — making a total of 29,073. The 
latest school census (1898) showed a total popu- 
lation of 33,375 — population by census (1900), 
34,159. Besides the State House, the city has a 
handsome United States Government Building 
for United States Court and post-office purposes, 
a county courthouse (the former State capitol), 
a city hall and (State) Executive Mansion. 
Springfield was the home of Abraham Lincoln. 
His former residence has been donated to the 
State, and his tomb and monument are in the 
beautiful Oak Ridge cemetery, adjoining the 
city. Springfield is an important coal-mining 
center, and has many important industries, 
notably a watch factory, rolling mills, and exten- 
sive manufactories of agricultural implements 
and furniture. It is also the permanent location 
of the State Fairs, for which extensive buildings 
have been erected on tlie Fair Grounds north of 
the city. There are three daily papers — two morn- 
ing and one evening — published here, besides 
various other publications. Pop. (1900), 34,159. 

SPRINGFIELD, EFFINGHAM & SOUTH- 
E.\8TERN RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Indian- 
apolis & Eastern Railroad. ) 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



497 



SPRINGFIELD & ILLINOIS SOUTHEAST- 
ERN RAILROAD. (See Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern Railroad.) 

SPRINGFIELD & NORTHWESTERN RAIL- 

ROAD. (See Chicago, Peoria & St Louis 
Railroad of Illinois.) 

SPRING VALLEY, an incorporated city in 
Bureau County, at intersection of the Chicago & 
Northwestern, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney, and the 
Toluca, Marquette & Nortliern Railways, 100 
miles soutliwest of Chicago. It lies in a coal- 
mining region and has important manufacturing 
interests as well. It has two banks, electric 
street and interurban railways, and two news- 
papers. Population (1890), 3.837; (1900), 6,214. 

ST. AGATHA'S SCHOOL, an institution for 
young ladies, at Springfield, under the patronage 
of the Bishop of the Episcopal Church, incorpo- 
rated in 1889. It has a faculty of eight teachers 
giving instruction in the preparatory and higher 
branches, including music and fine arts. It 
reported fiftj'-five pupils in 1894, and real estate 
valued at $15,000. 

ST. ALBAN'S ACADEMY, a boys' and young 
men's school at Knoxville, 111., incorporated in 
1896 under the auspices of the Episcopal Church ; 
in 1898 had a faculty of seven teachers, with 
forty-five pupils, and property valued at SGI, 100, 
of which $54,000 was real estate. Instruction is 
given in the classical and scientific branches, 
besides music and preparatorj' studies. 

ST. ANNE, a village of Kankakee County, 
at the crossing of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railways, 60 miles south of Cliicago. Tlie 
town has two banks, tile and brick factory, and a 
weekly newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,000. 

ST. CHARLES, a city in Kane County, on both 
sides of Fox River, at intersection of the Chicago 
& Northwestern and the Chicago Great Western 
Railways; 38 miles west of Chicago and 10 miles 
south of Elgin. The river furnishes excellent 
water-power, which is being utilized by a number 
of important manufacturing enterprises. The 
city is connected with Chicago and many towns 
in the Fox River valley by interurbt,n electric 
trolley lines; is also the seat of the State Home 
for Boys. Pop. (1890), 1,690; (1900), 3,675. 

ST. CLAIR, Atthur, first Governor of the 
Northwest Territory, was born of titled ancestry 
at Thurso, Scotland, in 1734; came to America in 
1757 as an ensign, having purchased his commis- 
sion, participated in the capture of Louisburg, 
Canada, in 1758, and fought under Wolfe at 



Quebec. In 1764 he settled in Pennsylvania, 
where he amassed a moderate fortune, and be- 
came prominent in public affairs. He served with 
distinction during the Revolutionary War, rising 
to the rank of Major-General, and succeeding 
General Gates in command at Ticonderoga, but, 
later, was censured by Washington for liis hasty 
evacuation of the post, though finally vindicated 
by a military court. His Revolutionary record, 
however, was generally good, and even distin- 
guished. He represented Pennsylvania in the 
Continental Congress, and presided over that 
body in 1787. He served as Governor of the 
Northwest Territory (including the present State 
of Illinois) from 1789 to 1803. As an executive 
he was not successful, being unpopul&r because 
of his arbitrariness. In November, 1791, he 
suffered a serious defeat by the Indians in the 
valley between the Miami and the Wabash. In 
this campaign he was badly crippled \)y the gout, 
and had to be carried on a litter ; he \yas again 
vindicated by a Congressional investigation. His 
first visit to the Illinois Country was made in 
1790, when he organized St. Clair County, which 
was named in his honor. In 1803 President Jef- 
ferson removed him from the governorship of 
Ohio Territory, of which he had continued to be 
the Governor after its separation from Indiana 
and Illinois. The remainder of his life was 
spent in comparative penury. Shortly before his 
decease, he was granted an annuity by the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature and by Congress. Died, at 
Greensburg, Pa., August 31, 1818. 

ST. CLAIR COUNTY, the first county organ- 
ized within the territory comprised in the pres- 
ent State of Illinois — the whole region west 
of the Ohio River having been first placed under 
civil jurisdiction, under the name of "Illinois 
County," by an act of the Virginia House of 
Delegates, passed in October, 1778, a few months 
after the capture of Kaskaskia by Col. George 
Rogers Clark. (See Illinois; also Clark, George 
Rogers.) St. Clair County was finally set oft 
by an order of Gov. Arthur St Clair, on occa- 
sion of his first visit to the "Illinois Country," 
in April, 1790 — more than two years after his 
assumption of the duties of Governor of the 
Northwest Territory, which then comprehended 
the "Illinois Country" as well as the whole 
region within the present States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Michigan and Wisconsin. Governor St. Clair's 
order, which bears date, April 37, 1790, defines 
the boundaries of the new county — which took 
his own name — as follows: "Beginning at the 
mouth of the Little Michillimackanack River, 



498 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



running tlience southerly in a direct line to the 
moutli of the little river above Fort Massac upon 
the Ohio River; thence with the said river to its 
junction with the Mississippi; thence up the 
Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois, and so up 
the Illinois River to the place of beginning, with 
all the adjacent islands of said rivers, Illinois and 
Mi.ssi.ssippi." The "Little Michillimackanack," 
the initial point mentioned in this de.scription — 
also variously spelled "Makina"" and •■Macki- 
naw," the latter being the name by which the 
stream is now known — empties into the Illinois 
River -on the south side a few miles below 
Pekin, in Tazewell County. The boundaries 
of St. Clair County, as given by Gov. St. Clair, 
indicate the imperfect knowledge of the topog- 
raphy of the "Illinois Country" existing in 
that day, as a line drawn south from the mouth 
of the Mackinaw River, instead of reaching the 
Ohio "above Fort Massac," would have followed 
the longitude of the present city of Springfield, 
striking the Jlississippi about the northwestern 
corner of Jackson County, twenty-five miles west 
of the mouth of the Ohio. The object of Gov- 
ernor St. Clair's order was, of cour.se, to include 
the settled portions of the Illinois Country in the 
new county ; and, if it had had the effect intended, 
the eastern border of the county would have fol- 
lowed a line some fifty miles farther eastward, 
along the eastern border of Marion, Jefferson, 
Franklin, Williamson and Johnson Counties, 
reaching tlie Ohio River about the present site of 
iletropolis City in Massac County, and embracing 
about one-half of the area of tlie present State of 
Illinois. For all practical purposes it embraced 
all the Illinois Country, as it included that por- 
tion in which the white settlements were located. 
(See St. Clair, Arthur; also Illinois Country.) 
The early records of St. Clair County are in the 
French language; its first settlers and its early 
civilization were French, and tlie first churcli to 
inculcate the doctrine of Christianity was the 
Roman Catholic. The first proceedings in court 
under tlie common law were had in 1T9G. The 
first Justices of the Peace were appointed in 1807, 
and, as there was no penitentiary, the whipping- 
post and pillory played an important part in the 
code of penalties, these punishments being im- 
partially meted out as late as the time of Judge 
(afterwards Governor) Reynolds, to "the lame, the 
halt and the blind," for such offenses as the lar- 
ceny of a silk handkerchief. At first three 
places— Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskas- 
kia— were named as county -seats by Governor St. 
Clair; but Randolph County having been set off 



in 1895, Cahokia became the county-seat of the 
older county, so remaining until 1818, when 
Belleville was selected as the seat of justice. At 
that time it was a mere cornfield owned by 
George Blair, although settlements had previously 
been established in Ridge Prairie and at Badgley. 
Judge Jesse B. Thomas held his first court in a 
log-cabin, but a rude court house was erected in 
1814, and, the same year, George E. Blair estab- 
lished a hostelry, Joseph Kerr opened a store, 
and, in 1817, additional improvements were 
inaugurated by Daniel Murray and others, from 
Baltimore. John H. Dennis and the Mitchells 
and Wests (from Virginia) settled soon after- 
ward, becoming farmers and mechanics. Belle- 
ville was incorporated in 1819. In 182,j Governor 
Edwards bought the large landed interests of 
Etienne Personeau, a large French land-owner, 
ordered a new survey of the town and infused fresh 
life into its development. Settlers began to arrive 
in large numbers, mainly Virginians, who brought 
with them their slaves, the right to hold which 
was, for many years, a fruitful and perennial 
source of strife. Emigrants from Germany 
began to arrive at an early day, and now a large 
proportion of the population of Belleville and St. 
Clair County is made up of that nationality. The 
county, as at present organized, lies on the west- 
ern border of the south half of the State, immedi- 
ately opposite St. Louis, and comprises some 680 
square miles. Three-fourths of it are underlaid 
by a vein of coal, six to eight feet thick, and 
about one hundred feet below the surface. Con- 
siderable wheat is raised. The principal towns 
are Belleville, East St. Louis, Lebanon and Mas- 
coutali. Population of the county (ISSO), 61 806; 
(1890), G6.571; (1900), 80,685. 

ST. JOHN, an incorporated village of Perry 
County, on the Illinois Central Railway, one mile 
north of Duquoin. Coal is mined and salt manu- 
factured here. Population about 500. 

ST. JOSEPH, a village of Champaign County, 
on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railway, 10 miles east of Champaign; has inter- 
urban railroad connection. Pop. (1900), 637. 

ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL, (Chicago), founded 
in 1860. by the Sisters of e'harity. Having been de- 
stroyed in the fire of 1871, it was rebuilt in the 
following year. In 189'3 it was reconstructed, en- 
larged and made thoroughly modern in its appoint- 
ments. It can accommodate about 250 patients. 
The Si.sters attend to the nursing, and conduct the 
domestic and financial affairs. The medical staff 
comprises ten physicans and surgeons, among 
whom are some of the most eminent in Chicaga 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



49S 



ST. LOUIS, ALTON & CHICAGO RAILROAD. 

(See Chicago & Alton Railiioad. ) 

ST. LOUIS, ALTON & SPRINGFIELD RAIL- 
ROAD. (See St. Louis, Chicago & St. Paul 
Railroad.) 

ST. LOUIS, ALTON A. TERRE HAUTE 
RAILOAD, a corporation formerly operating an 
extensive system of railroads in Illinois. The Terre 
Haute & Alton Raih'oad Company (the original 
corporation) was chartered in January, 1851, 
work begun in 1853, and the main line from 
Terre Haute to Alton (172.5 miles) completed, 
March 1, 1856. The Belleville & lUinoistown 
branch (from Belleville to East St. Louis) was 
chartered in 1853, and completed between the 
points named in the title, in the fall of 1854. 
This corporation secured authority to construct 
an extension from lUinoistown (now East St. 
Louis) to Alton, wliich was completed in October, 
1850, giving the first railroad connection between 
Alton & St. Louis. Simultaneously with this, 
these two roads (tlie Terre Haute & Alton and 
the Belleville & lUinoistown) were consolidated 
under a single charter by special act of the Legis- 
lature in February, 1S54, the consolidated line 
taking the name of the Terre Haute, Alton iS: St. 
Louis Railroad. Subsequently the road became 
financially embarassed, was sold under foreclosure 
and reorganized, in 1863, imder the name of the 
St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad. June 
1, 1867, the main line (from Terre Haute to St. 
Louis) was leased for niety-nine years to the 
Indianapolis & St. Louis Railway Company (an 
Indiana corporation) guaranteed by certain other 
lines, but the lease was subsequently broken by 
the insolvency of the lessee and some of the 
guarantors. The Indianapolis & St. Louis went 
into the hands of a receiver in 1883, and was sold 
under foreclosure, in July of the same year, its 
interest being absorbed by the Cleveland, Cin- 
cinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, by which 
the main line is now operated. The properties 
officially reported as remaining in the hands of 
the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad, 
June 30, 1895, beside the Belleville Branch (14.40 
miles), included the following leased and subsidi- 
ary lines: Belleville & Southern Illinois — "Cairo 
Short Line" (.56.40 miles) ; Belleville & Eldorado, 
(.50.30 miles); Belleville & Carondelet (17.30 
miles); St. Louis Southern and branches (47.27 
miles), and Chicago. St. Louis & Paducah Rail- 
way (53. ,50 miles). All the.se have been leased, 
since the close of the fiscal year 1895, to the Illi- 
nois Central. (For sketches of these several 
roads see headings of each. ) 



ST. LOUIS, CHICAGO & ST. PAUL RAIL. 
ROAD, (Bluff Line), a line running from Spring- 
field to Granite City, 111., (opposite St. Louis), 
103.1 miles, with a branch from Lock Haven to 
Grafton, 111., 8.4 miles — total length of line in 
Illinois, 110.5 miles. The track is of standard 
gauge, laid with 56 to 70-pound steel rails. — (His- 
tory. ) The road was originallj- incorporated 
under the name of the St. Louis, Jerseyville & 
Springfield Railroad, built from Bates to Grafton 
in 1883, and absorbed by the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific Railway Company ; was surrendered by the 
receivers of the latter in 1886, and passed under 
the control of the bond-holders, by whom it was 
transferred to a corporation known as the St. 
Louis & Central Illinois Railroad Companj-. In 
June, 1887, the St. Louis, Alton & Springfield 
Railroad Company was organized, with power to 
build extensions from Newbern to Alton, and 
from Bates to Springfield, which was done. In 
October, 1890, a receiver was appointed, followed 
by a reorganization under the present name (St. 
Louis. Chicago & St. Paul). Default was made 
on the interest and, in June following, it was 
again placed in the hands of receivers, by whom 
it was operated until 1898. The total earnings 
and income for the fiscal year 1897-98 were 
§318,815, operating expenses, §373,370; total 
capitalization, §4,853,536, of which, §1.500,000 
was in the form of stock and §1,335 000 in income 
bonds. 

ST. LOUIS, INDIANAPOLIS & EASTERN 
RAILROAD, a railroad line 90 miles in length, 
extending from Switz City, Ind., to Effingham, 
111. — 56 miles being within the State of Illinois. 
It is of standard gauge and the track laid chiefly • 
with iron rails. — (History.) The orginal corpo- 
ration was chartered in 1869 as the Springfield, 
Effingham & Quincy Railway Company. It wa.") 
built as a narrow-gauge line by the Cincinnati, 
Effingham & Quincy Construction Company, 
which went into the hands of a receiver in 1878. 
The road was completed by the receiver in 1880, 
and, in 1885, restored to the Construction Com- 
pany by the discharge of the receiver. For a 
short time it was operated in connection with 
the Bloomfield Railroad of Indiana, but was 
reorganized in 1886 as the Indiana & Illinois 
Southern Railroad, and the gauge changed to 
standard in 1887. Having made default in the 
payment of interest, it was sold under foreclosure 
in 1890 and purchased in the interest of the bond- 
holdei'S, by whom it was conveyed to the St. 
Louis, Indianapolis & Eastern Railroad Company, 
in whose name the line is operated. Its business 



500 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



is limited, and chiefly local. The total earnings 
in 1898 were §65,583 and the e.xpenditui-es §69,112. 
Its capital stock was $740,900; bonded debt, 
§978,000, other indebtedness increasing the total 
capital investment to §1,816,736. 

ST. LOUIS, JACKSONVILLE & CHICAGO 
RAILROAD. (See Chiaigo d- Alton Railroad.) 

ST. LOUIS, JERSEYVILLE & SPRINGFIELD 
RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Chicago d- St. Paul 
Railroad.) 

ST. LOUIS, MOUNT CARMEL & NEW AL- 
BANY RAILROAD. (See Louisville, Evansville 
& St. Louis (Consolidated) Railroad.) 

ST. LOUIS, PEORIA & NORTHERN RAIL- 
WAY, known as "Peoria Short Line," a corpo- 
ration organized, Feb. 29, 1896, to take over and 
unite the properties of the St. Louis & Eastern, 
the St. Louis & Peoria and the North and South 
Railways, and to extend the same due north 
from Springfield to Peoria (60 miles), and thence 
to Fulton or East Clinton, 111., on the Upper Slis- 
sissippi. The line extends from Springfield to 
Olen Carbon (84.46 miles), with trackage facilities 
over the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad 
and the Merchants' Terminal Bridge (18 miles) 
to St. Louis. — (History.) This road has been 
made up of three sections or divisions. (1) The 
initial section of the line was constructed under 
the name of the St. Louis & Chicago Railroad of 
Illinois, incorporated in 1885, and opened from 
Mount Olive to Alhambra in 1887. It passed 
into the hands of a receiver, was sold under fore- 
closure in 1889, and reorganized, in 1890, as the St. 
Louis & Peoria Railroad. The St. Louis & East- 
ern, chartered in 1889, built the line from Glen 
Carbon to Marine, which was opened in 1893 ; the 
following year, bought the St. Louis & Peoria 
line, and, in 1895, constructed the link (8 miles) 
between Alhambra and Marine. (3) The North 
& South Railroad Company of Illinois, organized 
in 1890, as successor to the St. Louis & Chicago 
Railway Company, proceeded in the construction 
of the line (50.46 miles) from Mt. Olive to Spring- 
field, which was subsequently leased to the Chi- 
cago, Peoria & St. Louis, then under the 
management of the Jacksonville, Louisville & St. 
Louis Railway. The latter corporation having 
defaulted, the property passed into the hands of 
a receiver. By expiration of the lease in Decem- 
ber, 1896, the propertj' reverted to the proprietary 
Company, which took possession, Jan. 1, 1896. 
The St. Louis & Southeastern then bought the 
line outright, and it was incorporated as apart of 
the new organization under the name of the St. 
Louis, Peoria & Northern Uailway, the North 



& South Railroad going out of existence. In 
May, 1899, the St. Loviis, Peoria & Northern was 
sold to the reorganized Chicago & Alton Railroad 
Company, to be operated as a short line between 
Peoria & St. Louis. 

ST. LOUIS, ROCK ISLAND & CHICAGO 
RAILROAD. (See Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad.) 

ST. LOUIS SOUTHERN RAILROAD, a line 
running from Pinckneyville, 111., via Murphys- 
boro, to Carbondale. The company is also the 
lessee of the Carbondale & Shawneetown Rail- 
road, extending from Carbondale to Marion, 17.5 
miles — total, 50.5 miles. The track is of standard 
gauge and laid with 56 and 60-pound steel rails. 
The company was organized in August, 1886, to 
succeed to the property of the St. Louis Coal Rail- 
road (organized in 1879) and the St. Louis Central 
Railway ; and was leased for 980 years from Dec. 
1, 1886, to the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute 
Railroad Company, at an annual rental equal to 
thirty per cent of the gross earnings, with a mini- 
mum guarantee of §33,000, which is sufficient 
to pay the interest on the first mortgage bonds. 
During the year 1896 this line passed under lease 
from the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Rail- 
road Company, into the hands of the Illinois 
Central Railroad Companj-. 

ST. LOUIS, SPRINGFIELD & VINCENNES 
RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation organized 
in July, 1899, to take over the property of the 
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway in the 
State of Illinois, known as the Ohio & Mississippi 
and the Springfield & Illinois Southeastern 
Railways — the former extending from Vin- 
cennes, Ind., to East St. Louis, and tlie latter 
from Beardstown to Shawneetown. The prop- 
erty was sold under foreclosure, at Cincinnati, 
July 10, 1899, and transfen-ed, for purposes of 
reorganization, into the hands of the new cor- 
poration, July 38, 1899. (For history of the 
several lines see Baltimore d: Ohio Southwestern 
Railway.) 

ST. LOUIS, VANDALIA & TERRE HAUTE 
RAILROAD. This line extends from East St. 
Louis eastward across the State, to the Indiana 
State line, a distance of 158.3 miles. The Terre 
Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Company is the 
lessee. The track is single, of standard gauge, 
and laid with steel rails. The outstanding capi- 
tal stock, in 1898, was 83,934,058, the bonded debt, 
§4,496,000, and the floating debt, §218.480.— (His- 
tory ) The St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute 
Railroad was chartered in 1865, opened in 1870 
and leased to the Terre Haute & Indianapolis 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



501 



Railroad, for itself and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. 

ST. LOUIS & CAIRO RAILROAD, extends 
from East St. Louis to Cairo, 111., 151.6 miles, with 
a branch from Millstadt Junction to High Prairie, 
9 miles. The track is of standard gauge and laid 
mainly with steel rails. — (History.) The origi- 
nal charter was granted to the Cairo & St. Louis 
Railroad Company, Feb. 16, 1865, and the road 
opened, March 1, 1875. Subsequently it passed 
into the hands of a receiver, was sold under fore- 
closure, July 14, 1881, and was taken charge of 
by a new company under its present name, Feb. 
1, 1882. On Feb. 1, 1886, it was leased to the 
Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company for forty-five 
years, and now constitutes the Illinois Division 
of that line, giving it a connection with St. 
Louis. (See Mobile & Ohio Railway. ) 

ST. LOUIS & CENTRAL ILLINOIS RAIL- 
ROAD. (See St. Louis, Chicago & St. Paul 
Railroad. ) 

ST. LOUIS & CHICAGO RAILROAD (of 
Illinois). (See -S^ Louis, Peoria <& Northern 
Railway. ) 

ST. LOUIS & EASTERN RAILROAD. (See 
St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railway.) 

ST. LOUIS & PEORIA RAILWAY. (See 
St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railway. ) 

ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL, located in Chicago. 
It was chartered in 1865, its incorporators, in 
their initial statement, substantially declaring 
their object to be the establishment of a free hos- 
pital under the control of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, which should be open to the 
afflicted poor, without distinction of race or 
creed. The hospital was opened on a small scale, 
but steadily increased until 1879, when re-incor- 
poration was effected under the general law. In 
1885 a new building was erected on land donated 
for that purpose, at a cost exceeding $150,000, 
exclusive of $20,000 for furnishing. While its 
primary object has been to afford accommoda- 
tion, with medical and surgical care, gratuitously, 
to the needy poor, the institution also provides a 
considerable number of comfortable, well-fur- 
nished private rooms for patients who are able 
and willing to pay for the same. It contains an 
amphitheater for surgical operations and clinics, 
and has a free dispensary for out-patients. Dur- 
ing the past few years important additions 
have been made, the number of beds increased, 
and provision made for a training school for 
nurses. The medical staff (1896) consists of 
thirteen physicians and surgeons and two 
pathologists. 



ST. MARY'S SCHOOL, a young ladies' semi- 
nary, under the patronage of the Episcopal 
Church, at Knoxville, Knox County, 111. ; was 
incorporated in 1858, in 1898 had a faculty of four- 
teen teachers, giving instruction to 113 pupils. 
The branches taught include the classics, the 
sciences, fine arts, music and preparatory studies. 
The institution has a library of 2,200 volumes, 
and owns property valued at $130,500, of wliich 
$100,000 is real estate. 

STAGER, Anson, soldier and Telegraph Super- 
intendent, was born in Ontario County, N. Y., 
April 20, 1825 ; at 16 years of age entered the serv- 
ice of Henry O'Reilly, a printer who afterwards 
became a pioneer in building telegraph lines, and 
with whom he became associated in various enter- 
prises of this character. Having introduced 
several improvements in the construction of bat- 
teries and the arrangement of wires, he was, in 
1852, made General Superintendent of the princi- 
pal lines in the West, and, on the organization of 
the Western Union Company, was retained in 
this position. Early in the Civil War he was 
entrusted witli the management of telegraph 
lines in Southern Ohio and along the Virginia 
border, and, in October following, was appointed 
General Superintendent of Government tele- 
graphs, remaining in this position until Septem- 
ber, 1868, his services- being recognized in his 
promotion to a brevet Brigadier-Generalship of 
Volunteers. In 1869 General Stager returned to 
Chicago and, in addition to his duties as General 
Superintejident, engaged in the promotion of a 
number of enterprises connected with the manu- 
facture of electrical appliances and other 
branches of the business. One of these was the 
consolidation of the telephone companies, of 
which he became President, as also of the West- 
ern Edison Electric Light Company, besides being 
a Director in several other corporations. Died, 
in Chicago, March 26, 1885. 

STANDISH, John Van Ness, a lineal descendant 
of Capt. Miles Standish, the Pilgrim leader, was 
born at Woodstock, Vt., Feb. 26, 1825. His early 
years were spent on a farm, but a love of knowl- 
edge and books became his ruling passion, and he 
devoted several years to study, in the "Liberal 
Institute" at Lebanon, N. H., finally graduating, 
with tlie degree of A. B., at Norwich University 
in the class of 1847. Later, he received the 
degree of A.M., in due course, from his Alma 
Mater in 1855; that of Ph.D. from Knox College, 
in 1883, of LL.D from St. Lawrence University 
in 1893, and from Norwich, in 1898. Dr. Standish 
chose the profession of a teacher, and has spent 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



over fifty years in its pursuit in connection with 
private and public schools and the College, of 
which more than forty years were as Professor and 
President of I^ombard University at Galesburg. 
He has also lectured and conducted Teachers' 
Institutes all over the State, and, in 1859, was 
elected President of the State Teachers" Associ- 
ation. He made three visits to the Old World — 
in 1879, '82-83, and '91-92 — and, during his second 
trip, traveled over 40,000 miles, visiting nearly 
every country of Europe, including the "Land of 
the Midnight Sun," besides Northern Africa 
from the Mediterranean to the Desert of Sahara, 
Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor. A lover 
of art, he has visited nearly all the principal 
museums and picture galleries of the world. In 
politics he is a Republican, and, in opposition to 
many college men, a firm believer in the doctrine 
of protection. In religion, he is a Universalist. 
STAPP, James T. B., State Auditor, v.-as born 
in Woodford County, Ky., April 13, 1804; at the 
age of 13 accompanied his widowed mother to 
Kaskaskia, 111., where she settled; before he was 
20 years old, was employed as a clerk in the office 
of the State Auditor, and, upon the resignation of 
that offic(;r, was appointed his successor, being 
twice thereafter elected by the Legislature, ser\- 
ing nearly five years. He resigned the auditor- 
ship to accept the Presidency of the State Bank 
at Vandalia, which post he filled for thirteen 
years; acted as Aid-de-camp on Governor Rey- 
nolds staff in the Black Hawk War, and served 
as Adjutant of the Third Illinois Volunteers dur- 
ing the war with Mexico. President Taylor 
appointed Mr. Stapp Receiver of the United 
States Land Ofhce at Vandalia, which office he 
held during the Fillmore administration, resign- 
ing in 1S.")5. Two years later he removed to 
Decatur, where he continued to reside until his 
death in 1876. A handsome Methodist chapel, 
erected by liim in that city, bears his name. 

STARK COUNTY, an interior county in the 
northern half of the State, lying west of the Illi- 
nois River ; has an area of 290 square miles. It 
has a rich, alluvial soil, well watered by numer- 
ous small streams. The principal industries are 
agriculture and stock-raising, and the chief 
towns are Toulon and Wyoming. The county 
was erected from Putnam and Knox in 1839, and 
named in honor of General Stark, of Revolution- 
ary fame. The earliest settler was Isaac B. 
Essex, who built a cabin on Spoon River, in 1828, 
and gave his name to a township. Of other pio- 
neer families, the Buswells, .Smiths, Spencers and 



Eastmans came from New Englaml ; the Thom- 
ases, Sloores, Holgates, Fullers and Whittakers 
from Pennsylvania; the Coxes from Ohio; the 
Perrys and Parkers from Virginia ; the McClana- 
hans from Kentucky; the Hendersons from Ten- 
nessee ; the Lees and Hazens from New Jersey ; 
the Halls from England, and the Turnbulls and 
Olivers from Scotland. The pioneer church was 
the Congregational at Toulon. Population (1880), 
11,207; (1890), 9,982; (1900), 10,186. 

STARVED ROCK, a celebrated rock or cliff on 
the south side of Illinois River, in La Salle 
County, upon which the French explorer, La 
Salle, and his lieutenant, Tonty, erected a fort in 
1682, which they named Fort St. Louis. It was 
one mile north of the supposed location of the 
Indian village of La Vantum, the metropolis, so 
to speak, of the Illinois Indians about the time of 
the arrival of the first French explorers. The 
population of this village, in 1680, according to 
Fatiier Membre, was some seven or eight thou- 
sand. Both La Vantum and Fort St. Louis were 
repeatedly attacked by the Iroquois. The Illinois 
were temporarily driven from La Vantum, but 
the French, for the time being, successfully 
tlefended their fortification. In 1702 the fort was 
abandoned as a military post, but continued to 
be used as a Fi-ench ti'ading-post until 1718, 
when it was burned by Indians. The Illinois 
were not again molested until 1722, when the 
Foxes made an unsuccessful attack upon them. 
The larger portion of the tribe, however, resolved 
to cast in their fortunes with other tribes on the 
Mississippi River. Those who remained fell an 
easy prey to the foes by whom they were sur- 
rounded. In 1769 they were attacked from the 
north by tribes who desired to avenge the murder 
of Pontiac. Finding themselves hard pressed, 
they betook themselves to the bluff where Fort 
St. liOuis had formerly stood. Here they were 
besieged for twelve days, when, destitute of food 
or water, they made a gallant but hopeless sortie. 
According to a tradition handed down among the 
Indians, all were massacred l>y the besiegers in 
an attempt to escape by night, except one half- 
breed, who succeeded in evading his pursuers. 
This sanguinary catastrophe has given the rock 
its popular name. Elmer Baldwin, in his History 
of La Salle Coimtj' (1877), says: "The bones of 
the victims lay scattered about the cliff in pro- 
fusion after the settlement by the whites, and 
are still found mingled plentifully with the soil." 
(See La Salle, Robert Cavelier; Tonty; Fort St. 
Louis.) 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



503 



STARXE, Alexander, Secretaiy of State and 
State Treasurer, was born in Philadelphia. Pa., 
Nov. 21, 1813; in the spring of 1836 removed to 
Illinois, settling at Griggsville, Pike County, 
where he opened a general store. From 1839 to 
"42 he served as Commissioner of Pike County, 
and, in the latter year, was elected to the lower 
house of the General Assembly, and re-elected in 
1844. Having, in the meanwhile, disposed of his 
store at Griggsville and removed to Pittsfield, he 
was appointed, by Judge Purple, Clerk of the 
Circuit Court, and elected to the same office for 
four years, when it was made elective. In 1853 
he was elected Secretary of State, when he 
removed to Springfield, returning to Griggsville 
at the expiration of his term in 18.57, to assume 
the Presidency of the old Hannibal and Naples 
Railroad (now a part of the Wabash sj-stem). 
He represented Pike and Brown Counties in the 
Constitutional Convention of 1863, and the same 
year was elected State Treasurer. He thereupon 
again removed to Springfield, where he resided 
until his death, being, with his sons, extensively 
engaged in coal mining. In 1870, and again in 
1872, he was elected State Senator from San- 
gamon County. He died at Sjiringfield, March 
31, 1886. 

STATE B.INK OF ILLINOIS. The first legis- 
lation, having for its object the establishment of 
a bank within tlie territory which now consti- 
tutes the State of Illinois, was the passage, by 
tlie Territorial Legislature of 1816, of an act 
incorporating the "Bank of Illinois at Shawnee- 
town, with branches at Edwardsville and Kas- 
ka.skia. "' In the Second General Assembly of 
the State (1830) an act was pas.sed, over the 
Governor's veto and in defiance of the adver.se 
judgment of the Council of Revision, establish- 
ing a State Bank at Vandalia with branches at 
Sliawneetown, Edwardsville, and Brownsville in 
Jackson County. This was, in efiect, a recharter- 
ing of the banks at Sliawneetown and Edwards- 
ville. So far as tlie former is concerned, it seems 
to have been well managed; but the official 
conduct of the officers of the latter, on the basis 
of charges made by Governor Edwards in 1826, 
was made the subject of a legislative investiga- 
tion, whicli (although it resulted in nothing) 
seems to have had some basis of fact, in view of 
the losses finally sustained in winding up its 
afi'airs — that of the General Government amount- 
ing to i?54 000. Grave charges were made in this 
connection against men who were then, or 
afterwards became, prominent in State affairs, 
including one Justice of the Supreme Court and 
one (still later) a United States Senator. The 



experiment was disastrous, as, ten years later 
(1831), it was found necessary for the State to 
incur a debt of §100,000 to redeem the outstand- 
ing circulation. Influenced, however, by the 
popular demand for an increase in the "circu- 
lating medium,"" the State continued its experi- 
ment of becoming a stockholder in banks 
managed by its citizens, and accordingly we find 
it, in 183.5, legislating in the same direction for 
the establishing of a central "Bank of Illinois"' 
at Springfield, with branches at other points as 
might be required, not to exceed six in number. 
One of these branches was established at "Van- 
dalia and another at Chicago, furnishing the first 
banking institution of the latter city. Two 
years later, when the State was entering upon 
its scheme of internal improvement, laws were 
enacted increasing the capital stock of these 
banks to 84,000,000 in the aggregate. Following 
the example of similar institutions elsewhere, 
they suspended specie payments a few months 
later, but were protected by "stay laws" and 
other devices until 1843, when the internal 
improvement .scheme having been finally aban- 
doned, they fell in general collapse. Tlie State 
ceased to be a stock-holder in 1843, and the banks 
were put in course of liquidation, though it 
retjuired several years to complete the work. 

STATE CAPITALS. The first State capital of 
Illinois was Kaskaskia, where the first Territorial 
Legislature convened, Nov. 3.5, 1813. At that 
time there were but five counties in the State — 
St. Clair and Randolph being the most important, 
and Kaskaskia being tlie county-seat of the 
latter. Illinois was admitted into the Union as a 
State in 1818, and the first Constitution provided 
that the seat of government should remain at 
Kaskaskia until removed by legislative enact- 
ment. That instrument, however, made it obli- 
gatory upon the Legislature, at its first session, 
to petition Congress for a grant of not more than 
four sections of land, on which sliould be erected 
a town, which should remain the seat of govern- 
ment for twenty years. Tlie petition was duly 
presented and granted; and, in accordance with 
the power granted by the Constitution, a Board 
of five Commissioners selected the site of the 
present city of Vandalia, then a point in the 
wilderne.ss twenty miles north of any .settle- 
ment. But so great was the faith of speculators 
in the future of the proposed city, that town lots 
were soon selling at SlOO to S780 each. The Com- 
missioners, in obedience to law, erected a plain 
two-story frame building — scarcely more than a 
commodious shanty — to which the State offices 
were removed in December, 1830. This building 



504 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



was bumed, Dec. 9, 1833, and a brick structure 
erected in its place. Later, when the question of 
a second removal of the capital began to be agi- 
tated, the citizens of Vandalia assumed the risk 
of erecting a new, brick State House, costing 
•iilG.OOO. Of this amount §6,000 was reimbursed 
by the Governor from the contingent fund, and 
tlie balance (§10,000) was appropriated in 1837, 
when the seat of government was removed to 
Springfield, by vote of the Tenth General Assem- 
bly on the fourth ballot. The other places receiv- 
ing the principal vote at the time of the removal 
to Springfield, were Jacksonville, Vandalia, 
Peoria. Alton and lUiopolis — Springfield receiv- 
ing the largest vote at each ballot. Tlie law 
removing the capital appropriated $.50,000 from 
the State Treasury, provided that a like amount 
should be raised by private subscription and 
guaranteed by bond, and that at least two acres 
of land should be donated as a site. Two State 
Houses have been erected at Springfield, the first 
cost of the pre.sent one (including furnishing) 
having been a little in excess of §4,000,000. 
Abraham Lincoln, who was a member of the 
Legislature from Sangamon County at the time, 
was an influential factor in securing the removal 
of the capital to Springfield, 

STATE DEBT. The State debt, which proved 
so formidable a burden upon the State of Illinois 
for a generation, and, for a part of that period, 
seriously checked its prosperity, was the direct 
outgrowth of the internal improvement scheme 
entered upon in 1837. (.See Internal Improvement 
Policy. ) At the time this enterprise was under- 
taken the aggregate debt of the State was less 
than §400,000 — accumulated within the preceding 
six years. Two years later (1838) it had increased 
to over §6,500.000, while the total valuation of 
real and personal property, for the purposes of 
taxation, was less than §60,000,000, and the aggre- 
gate receipts of the State treasury, for the same 
year, amounted to less than §150,000. At the 
same time, the disbursements, for the support of 
tlie State Government alone, had grown to more 
tlian twice the receipts. This disparity continued 
until the declining credit of the State forced upon 
the managers of public affairs an involuntary 
economy, when the means could no longer be 
secured for more lavish expenditures. The first 
bonds issued at the inception of the internal 
improvement scheme sold at a premium of o per 
cent, but rapidly declined until they v.-ere hawked 
in the markets of New York and London at a dis- 
count, in some cases falling into the hands of 
brokers who failed before completing their con- 



tracts, thus causing a direct loss to the State. If 
the internal improvement scheme was ill-advised, 
the time chosen to carry it into effect was most 
unfortunate, as it came simultaneously with the 
panic of 1837. rendering the disaster all the more 
complete. Of the various works undertaken by 
the State, only the Illinois & Michigan Canal 
brought a return, all the others resulting in more 
or less complete loss. The internal improvement 
scheme was abandoned in 1839-40, but not until 
State bonds exceeding §13,000,000 had been 
issued. For two years longer the State struggled 
with its embarrassments, increased by the failure 
of the State Bank in February, 1842, and, by that 
of the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown, a few 
months later, with the proceeds of more than two 
and a half millions of the State's bonds in their 
possession. Thus left without credit, or means 
even of paying the accruing interest, there were 
those who regarded the State as hopelessly bank- 
rupt, and advocated repudiation as the only 
means of escape. Better counsels prevailed, Iiow- 
ever ; the Constitution of 1848 put the State on a 
basis of strict economy in the matter of salaries 
and general expenditures, with restrictions upon 
the Legislature in reference to incurring in- 
debtedness, while the beneficent "two-mill tax"' 
gave assurance to its creditors that its debts 
would be paid. While the growth of the State, 
in wealth and population, had previously been 
checked by the fear of excessive taxation, it now 
entered upon a new career of prosperity, in spite 
of its burdens— its increase in population, be- 
tween 1850 and 1860, amounting to over 100 per 
cent. The movement of the State debt after 1840 
— when the internal improvement scheme was 
abandoned — chiefly by accretions of unpaid inter- 
est, has been estimated as follows: 1843, §15,- 
637,9,50; 1844, §14,633,969; 1846, §16,389,817; 1848, 
§16,661.795. It reached its maximum in 1853 — • 
the first year of Governor Matteson"s administra- 
tion — when it was officially reported at §16.724,- 
177. At this time the work of extinguishment 
began, and was prosecuted under successive 
administrations, except during the war, when 
the vast expense incurred in sending troops to 
the field caused an increase. During Governor 
Bissell's administration, the reduction amounted 
to over .§3,000,000; during Oglesby's, to over five 
and a quarter million, besides two and a quarter 
million paid on interest. In 1880 the debt had 
been reduced to §281,059.11, and, before the close 
of 1882, it had been entirely extinguished, except 
a balance of §18,.500 in bonds, which, having been 
called in years previously and never presented for 




O 
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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



505 



payment, are supposed to have been lost. (See 
Macalistcr and Stebbins Bonds.) 

STATE GUARDIANS FOR GIRLS, a bureau 
organized for the care of female juvenile delin- 
quents, by act of June 2, 1893. The Board consists 
of seven members, nominated by the Executive 
and confirmed by the Senate, and who consti- 
tute a body politic and corporate. Not more than 
two of the members may reside in the same Con- 
gressional District and, of the seven members, 
four must be women. (See also Home for Female 
Juvenile Offenders.) The term of office is six 
years. 

STATE HOUSE, located at Springfield. Its 
construction was begun under an act passed by 
the Legislature in February, 1867, and completed 
in 1887. It stands in a park of about eight acres, 
donated to the State by the citizens of Spring- 
field. A provision of the State Constitution of 
1870 prohibited the expenditure of any sum in 
excess of .53,. 500,000 in the erection and furnishing 
of the building, without previous appro%-al of such 
additional expenditure by the people. This 
amount proving insufficient, the Legislature, at 
its session of 188r), passed an act making an addi- 
tional appropriation of .$.'331,712, which having 
been approved by popular vote at the general 
election of 1886, the expenditure was made and 
the capitol completed during the following year, 
thus raising the total cost of construction and fur- 
nishing to a little in excess of $4,000,000. The 
building is cruciform as to its ground plan, and 
classic in its style of architecture ; its extreme 
dimensions (including porticoes), from north [to 
south, being 379 feet, and, from east to west, 286 
feet. The walls are of dressed Joliet limestone, 
while the porticoes, which are spacious and 
lofty, are of sandstone, supported by polished 
columns of gray granite. The three stories of 
the building are surmounted by a Mansard roof, 
with two turrets and a central dome of stately 
dimensions. Its extreme height, to the top of 
the iron flag-staff, which rises from a lantern 
springing from the dome, is 364 feet. 

STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY, an institu- 
tion for the education of teachers, organized 
under an act of the General Assembly, passed 
Feb. 18, 18.57. This act placed the work of 
organization in the hands of a board of fifteen 
persons, which was styled "The Board of Educa- 
tion of the State of Illinois," and was constituted 
as follows: C. B. Denio of Jo Daviess County; 
Simeon Wright of Lee; Daniel Wilkins of Mc- 
Lean ; Charles E. Hovey of Peoria ; George P. Rex 
of Pike; Samuel W. Moulton of Shelby; John 



Gillespie of Jasper ; George Bunsen of St. Clair; 
Wesley Sloan of Pope; Ninian W. Edwards of 
Sangamon; John R. Eden of Moultrie; Flavel 
Moseley and William Wells of Cook ; Albert R. 
Shannon of White; and the Superintendent o\. 
Public Instruction, ex-officio. The object of the 
University, as defined in the organizing law, is 
to qualify teachers for the public schools of the 
State, and the course of instruction to be given 
embraces "the art of teaching, and all branches 
which pertain to a common-school education : in 
the elements of the natural sciences, including 
agricultural chemistry, animal and vegetable 
physiologj'; in the fundamental laws of the 
United States and of the State of Illinois in 
regard to the rights and duties of citizens, and 
such other studies as the Board of Education may, 
from time to time, prescribe." Various cities 
competed for the location of the institution, 
Bloomington being finally selected, its bid, in- 
cluding 160 acres of land, being estimated as 
equivalent to §141,725. The corner-stone was 
laid on September 29, 1857, and the first building 
was ready for permanent occupancy in Septem- 
ber, 1860. PrevioiLsly, however, it had been 
suflSciently advanced to permit of its being used, 
and the first commencement exercises were held 
on June 29 of the latter year. Three years 
earlier, the academic department had been organ- 
ized under the charge of Charles E. Hovey. The 
first cost, includin.g furniture, etc., was not far 
from 1200,000. Gratuitous instruction is given to 
two pupils from each county, and to three from 
each Senatorial District. The departments are : 
Grammar school, high school, normal department 
and model school, all of which are overcrowded. 
The whole number of students in attendance on 
the institution during the school year, 1897-98, 
was 1,197, of whom 891 were in the normal 
department and 306 in the practice school depart- 
ment, including representatives from 86 coun- 
ties of the State, with a few pupils from other 
States on the payment of tuition. The teaching 
faculty (including the President and Librarian) 
for the same year, was made up of twenty-six 
members — tvi'elve ladies and fourteen gentlemen. 
The expenditures for the year 1897-98 aggregated 
.$47,626.93, against §66,528.69 for 1896-97. Nearly 
§22,000 of the amount expended during the latter 
year was on account of the construction of a 
gymnasium building. 

STATE PROPERTY. The United States Cen- 
sus of 1890 gave the value of real and personal 
property belonging to the State as follows : Pub- 
lic lands, §328,000; buildings, §23,164,000; mis- 



50G 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



cellaneous property, §2,650,000— total, $25,143,000. 
The land may be subdivided thus : Camp-grounds 
of the Illinois National Guard near Springfield 
(donated), .$40,000; Illinois and Michigan Canal, 
§108,000; Illinois University lands, in Illinois 
(donated by the General Government), 841,000, in 
Minnesota (similarly donated), §79,000. The 
buildings comprise those connected with the 
(•haritable, penal and educational institutions of 
the State, Ijesides the State Arsenal, two build- 
ings for the use of the Appellate Courts (at 
Ottawa and Mount Vernon), the State House, 
the Executive Mansion, and locks and dams 
erected at Henry and Copperas Creek. Of the 
miscellaneoas property, §120,000 represents the 
equipment of the Illinois National Guard ; §1,959,- 
000 tlie value of the movable propertj- of public 
buildings; $550,000 the endowment fund of the 
University of Illinois; and §21,000 the movable 
property of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The 
figures given relative to the value of the public 
buildings include only the first appropriations 
for their erection. Considerable sums have 
since been expended upon some of them in repairs, 
enlargements and improvements. 

STATE TREASURERS. The only Treasurer 
of Illinois during the Territorial period was John 
Thomas, who served from 1813 to 1818, and 
became the first incumbent under the State 
Government. Under the Constitution of 1818 
the Treasurer was elected, biennially, by joint vote 
of the two Houses of the General Assembly ; by 
the Constitution of 1848, this officer was made 
elective by the people for the same period, witli- 
out limitations as to number of terms ; under tlie 
Constitution of 1870, the manner of election and 
duration of term are unchanged, but the incum- 
bent is ineligible to re-election, for two years 
from expiration of the term for which be may 
have been chosen. The following is a list of the 
State Treasurers, from the date of the admission 
of the State into the Union down to the present 
time (1899), with the date and duration of the 
term of each: John Thomas, 1818-19; Robert K. 
McLaughlin, 1819-38; Abner Field, 1823-27; 
James Hall, 1827:31; John Dement, 1831-36; 
Charles Gregory, 1836-37; John D. Whiteside, 
1837-41; Milton Carpenter, 1841-48; John Moore, 
1848-57; James Miller, 1857-59; William Butler, 
1859-63; Alexander Starne, 1863-65; James H. 
Beveridge, 186,5-67; George W. Smith, 1867-69; 
Erastus N. Bates, 1869-73; Edward Rutz, 1873-75; 
Thomas S. Ridgway, 1875-77; Edward Rutz, 
1877-79; John C. Smith. 1879-81; Edward Rutz, 
1881-83; John C. Smith, 1883-85; Jacob Gross, 



1885-87; John R. Tanner, 1887-89; Charles 
Becker, 1889-91; Edward S. Wilson, 1891-93; 
Rufu-sN. Ramsay, 1893-95; Henry Wulff, 1895-97; 
Henry L. Hertz, 1897-99; Floyd K. Whittemore, 
1899- . 

STAl'XTOX, a village in the southeast corner 
of Macoupin County, on the Chicago, Peoria & 
St. Louis and the Wabash Railways; is 36 miles 
northeast of St. Louis, and 14 miles southwest of 
Litchfield. Agriculture and coal-mining are the 
industries of the surrounding region. Staunton 
has two banks, eight churches and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1880), 1,358; (1890), 2,209; 
(1900), 3,786. 

STEEL PRODUCTIOX. In the manufacture 
of steel, Illinois has long ranked as the second 
State in the Union in the amount of its output, 
and, during the period between 1880 and 1890, 
the increase in production was 341 per cent. In 
1880 there were but six steel works in the State; 
in 1890 these had increased to fourteen ; and the 
production of steel of all kinds (in tons of 2,000 
pounds) had risen from 254,569 tons to 868,250. 
Of the 3,837,039 tons of Bessemer steel ingots, or 
direct castings, produced in the L^nited States in 
1890, 23 per cent were turned out in Illinois, 
nearly all the steel produced in the State being 
made by that process. From the tonnage of 
ingots, as given above, Illinois produced 622,260 
pounds of steel rails, — more than 30 per cent of 
the aggregate for the entire country. This fact 
is noteworthy, inasmuch as the competition in 
the manufacture of Bessemer steel rails, since 
1880, has been so great that manj^ rail mills have 
converted their steel into forms other than rails, 
experience having proved their production to 
any considerable extent, during the past few 
years, unprofitable except in works favorably 
located for obtaining cheap raw material, or 
operated under the latest and most approved 
methods of manufacture. Open-hearth steel is 
no longer made in Illinois, but the manufacture 
of crucible steel is slightly increasing, the out- 
put in 1890 being 445 tons, as against 130 in 1880. 
For purposes reguiring special grades of steel the 
product of the crucible process will be always 
in demand, but the high cost of manufacture 
prevents it, in a majority of instances, from 
successfully competing in price with the other 
processes mentioned. 

STEPHEN SOX, Benjamin, pioneer and early 
politician, came to Illinois from Kentucky in 
1809, and was appointed the first Slieriif of 
Randolph County by Governor Edwards under 
the Territorial Government; afterwards served 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



507 



as a Colonel of Illinois militia during the War of 
1812; represented Illinois Territory as Delegate 
in Congress, 1814-16, and, on his retirement from 
Congress, became Register of the Land Office at 
Edwardsville, finally dying at Edwardsville — Col. 
James W. (Stephenson), a son of the preceding, 
was a soldier during the Black Hawk War, after- 
wards became a prominent politician in the nortli- 
western part of the State, served as Register of 
the Land Office at Galena and, in 1838, received 
the Democratic nomination for Governor, but 
withdrew before the election. 

STEPHEXSOX, (Dr.) Benjamin FrankUn, 
physician and soldier, was born in Wayne 
County, 111., Oct. 30, 1823, and accompanied his 
parents, in 1825, to Sangamon County, where the 
family settled. His early educational advantages 
were meager, and he did not study his profession 
(medicine) until after reacliing his majority, 
graduating from Rush Medical College, Chicago, 
in 1850. He began practice at Petersburg, but, 
in April, 1862, was mustered into the volunteer 
army as Surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois 
Infantry. After a little over two years service he 
was mustered out in June, 1864, when he took up 
his residence in Springfield, and, for a year, was 
engaged in the drug business there. In 1865 he 
resumed professional practice. He lacked tenac- 
ity of purpose, however, was indifferent to money, 
and always willing to give his own services and 
orders for medicine to the poor. Hence, his prac- 
tice was not lucrative. He was one of the leaders 
in the organization of the Grand Army of the 
Republic (which see), in connection with which 
he is most widely known ; but his services in its 
cause failed to receive, during his lifetime, the 
recognition which they deserved, nor did the 
organization promptly flourish, as he had hoped. 
He finally returned with his family to Peters- 
burg. Died, at Rock Creek, Menard, County, 111., 
August 30, 1871. 

STEPHENSON COUXTY, a northwestern 
county, with an area of 560 square miles. The 
soil is rich, productive and well timbered. Fruit- 
culture and stock-raising are among the chief 
industries. Not until 1827 did the aborigines quit 
the localitj', and the county was organized, ten 
years later, and named for Gen. Benjamin 
Stephenson. A man named Kirker, who had 
been in the employment of Colonel Gratiot as a 
lead-miner, near Galena, is said to have built the 
first cabin within the present limits of what was 
called Burr Oak Grove, and set himself up as an 
Indian-trader in 1826, but only remained a short 
time. He was followed, the next year, by Oliver 



W. Kellogg, who took Kirker"s place, built a 
more pretentious dwelling and became the first 
permanent settler. Later came William Wad- 
dams, the Montagues, Baker, Kilpatrick, Preston, 
the Goddards, and others whose names are linked 
with the county's early history. The first house 
in Freeport was built by William Baker. Organi- 
zation was effected in 1837, the total poll being 
eighty-four votes. The earliest teacher was Nel- 
son Martin, who is said to have taught a school 
of some twelve pupils, in a house which stood on 
the site of the present city of Freeport. Popula- 
tion (1880), 31,963; (1890), 31,338; (1900), 34,933. 

STERLIXG, a flourishing city on the north 
bank of Rock River, in Whiteside County, 109 
miles west of Chicago, 29 miles east of Clinton, 
Iowa, and 52 miles east-northeast of Rock Island. 
It has ample railway facilities, furnished by the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Sterling <fe 
Peoria, and the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 
roads. It contains fourteen churches, an opera 
house, high and grade .schools, Carnegie library. 
Government postoftice building, three banks, 
electric street and interurban car lines, electric 
and gas lighting, water-works, paved streets and 
sidewalks, fire department and four newspaper 
offices, two issuing daily editions. It has fine 
water-power, and is an important manufacturing 
center, its works turning out agricultural imple- 
ments, carriages, paper, barbed-wire, school furni- 
ture, burial caskets, pumps, sash, doors, etc. It 
also has tlie Sterling Iron Works, besides foundries 
and machine shops. The river here flows through 
charming scenery. Pop. (1890), 5,824; (1900), 6,309. 

STEVEXS, Bradford K.., ex-Congressman, was 
born at Boscawen (afterwards Webster), N. H.. 
Jan. 3, 1813. After attending schools in New 
Hampshire and at Montreal, he entered Dart- 
mouth College, graduating therefrom in 1835. 
During the six years following, lie devoted him- 
self to teaching, at Hopkinsville, Ky., and New 
York City. In 1843 he removed to Bureau 
County, 111., where he became a merchant and 
farmer. In 1868 he was chairman of the Board 
of Supervisors, and, in 1870, was elected to Con- 
gress, as an Independent Democrat, for the Fifth 
District. 

STEVEXSOX, Adlai E., ex- Vice-President of 
the United States, was born in Christian County, 
Ky., Oct. 23, 1835. In 1852 he removed with his 
parents to Bloomington, McLean County, 111., 
where the family settled; was educated at the 
Illinois Wesleyan University and at Centre Col- 
lege, K}'., was admitted to the bar in 1858 and 
began practice at Metamora, Woodford County, 



508 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



where he was Master in Chancery, 1861-65, and 
State's Attorney, 1865-6'J. In 1864 he was candi- 
date for Presidential Elector on the Democratic 
ticket. In 1869 he returned to Bloomington, 
where he has since resided. In 1874, and again 
in 1876, }ie was an unsuccessful candidate of his 
party for Congress, but was elected as a Green- 
back Democrat in 1878, though defeated in 1880 
and 1882. In 1877 he was appointed by President 
Hayes a member of the Board of Visitors to 
West Point. During the first administration of 
President Cleveland (188.5-89) he was First Assist- 
ant Postmaster General; was a member of the 
National Democratic Conventions of 1884 and 
1893, being Chairman of the Illinois delegation 
the latter year. In 1892 he received his party's 
nomination for the Vice-Presidency, and was 
elected to that office, serving until 1897. Since 
retiring from office he has resumed his residence 
at Bloomington. 

STEWARD, Lewis, manufacturer and former 
Congressman, was born in Wayne Count3-, Pa., 
Nov. 20, 1824, and received a common school 
education. At the age of 14 he accompanied his 
parents to Kendall County, 111., where he after- 
wards resided, being engaged in farming and the 
manufacture of agricultural implements at 
Piano. He studied law but never practiced. In 
1876 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Gov- 
ernor on the Democratic ticket, being defeated 
by Shelby M. Cullom. In 1890 the Democrats of 
the Eighth Illinois District elected him to Con- 
gress. In 1892 he was again a candidate, but was 
defeated by his Republican opponent, Robert A. 
Childs, by the narrow margin of 27 votes, and. 
In 1894, was again defeated, this time being pitted 
against Albert J. Hopkins. Mr. Steward died at 
his home at Piano, August 26, 1896. 

STEWARDSON, a town of Shelby County, at 
the intersection of the Toledo, St. Louis & Kan- 
sas City Railway with the Altamont brancli of 
the Wabash, 13 miles southeast of Shelby ville; 
is in a grain and lumber region ; has a bank and 
a weekly jiaper. Population, (1900), 677. 

fSTIck'NEY, William H., pioneer lawyer, was 
born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 9, 1809, stuilie<l law 
and was admitted to the bar at Cincinnati in 
1831, and, in Illinois in 1834, being at that time a 
resident of Shawneetown; was elected State's 
Attorney by the Legislature, in 1839, for the cir- 
cuit embracing some fourteen counties in the 
southern and southeastern part of the State; for 
a time also, about lS3.')-36, officiated as editor of 
"The Gallatin Democrat," and "The Illinois 
Advertiser," published at Shawneetown. In 1S46 



Mr. Stickney was elected to the lower branch of 
the General Assembly from Gallatin County, and, 
twenty-eight years later — having come to Chi- 
cago in 1848 — to the same body from Cook 
County, serving in the somewhat famous Twenty- 
ninth Assembly. He also held the office of 
Police Justice for some thirteen years, from 1860 
onward. He lived to an advanced age, dying in 
Chicago, Feb. 14, 1898, being at the time the 
oldest surviving member of the Chicago bar. 

STILES, Isaac Newton, lawj-er and soldier, 
born at Suffield, Conn., July 16, 1833; was ad- 
mitted to the bar at Lafayette, Ind., in 1855, 
became Prosecuting Attorney, a member of the 
Legislature and an effective speaker in the Fre- 
mont campaign of 1856 ; enlisted as a private .sol- 
dier at the beginning of the war, went to the 
field as Adjutant, was captured at Malvern Hill, 
and, after six weeks' confinement in Libby 
prison, exchanged and returned to duty; was 
promoted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, 
and brevetted Brigadier-General for meritorious 
service. After the war he practiced his profes- 
sion in Chicago, though almost totallj' blind. 
Died, Jan. 18, 1895. 

STILLMAJi', Steplien, first State Senator from 
Sangamon County. 111., was a native of Massachu- 
setts who came, with his widowed mother, to 
Sangamon County in 1820, and settled near 
Williamsville, where he became the first Post- 
master in the first postoffice in the State north of 
the Sangamon River. In 1822, Mr. Stillman was 
elected as the first State Senator from Sangamon 
County, serving four years, and, at his first session, 
being one of the opponents of the pro-slavery 
Convention resolution. He died, in Peoria, some- 
where between 1835 and 1840. 

STILLMAN VALLEY, village in Ogle County, 
on Chicago Great We.stern and the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railways; site of first battle 
Black Hawk War; has graded schools, four 
churches, a bank and a newspaper. Pop. , 475. 

STITES, Samuel, pioneer, was born near 
Mount Bethel, Somerset County, N. J., Oct. 31, 
1776; died, August 16, 1839, on his farm, which 
subsequently became the site of the city of Tren- 
ton, in Clinton County, 111. He vvas descended 
from John Stites, M.D., who was born in Eng- 
land in 1595, emigrated to America, and died at 
Hempstead, L. I., in 1717, at the age of 122 years. 
The familj' removed to New Jersey in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century. Samuel was a 
cousin of Benjamin Stites, the first white man to 
settle within the present limits of Cincinnati, and 
various members of the family were prominent in 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



509 



the settlement of the upper Ohio Valley as early 
as 1788. Samuel Stites married, Sept. 14, 1794, 
Martha Martiu, daughter of Ephraim Martin, 
and grand- daughter of Col. Ephraim Martin, both 
soldiers of the New Jersey line during the Revo- 
lutionary War — with the last named of whom 
lie had (in connection with John Cleves Symmes) 
been intimately associated in the purchase and 
settlement of the Miami VaUey. In 1800 he 
removed to Hamilton Count}', Ohio, in 1803 to 
Greene County, and, in 1818. in company with his 
son-in-law. Antlumy Wayne Casad. to St. ('lair 
County. 111., settling near Union Grove. Later, he 
removed to O'Fallon, and, still later, to Clinton 
County. He left a large family, several members 
of which became prominent pioneers in the 
movements toward Minnesota and Kansas. 

STOLBRAND, Carlos John Mueller, soldier, 
was born in Sweden, May 11, 1821 ; at the age of 
18, enlisted in the Royal Artillery of his native 
land, serving through the campaign of Schleswig- 
Holstein (1848) ; came to the United States soon 
after, and, in 18G1, enlisted in the first battalion 
of Illinois Light Artillery, finally becoming Chief 
of Artillery under Gen. John A. Logan. When 
the latter became commander of the Fifteenth 
Army Corps, Col. Stolbrand was placed at the 
head of the artillery brigade; in February, 186.5, 
was made Brig.-idier-General, and mustered out 
in January, 18G0. After the war he went South, 
and was Secretary of the South Carolina Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1868. The same year he 
was a delegate to the Republican National Con- 
vention at Chicago, and a Presidential Elector. 
He was an inventor and patented various im- 
provements in steam engines and boilers; was 
also Superintendent of Public Buildings at 
Charleston, S. C, under President Harrison. 
Died, at Charleston, Feb. 3, 1894. 

STONE, Daniel, early lawyer and legislator, 
was a native of Vermont and graduate of Middle- 
bury College; became a member of the Spring- 
field (111.) bar in 1833, and, in 1836, was elected 
to the General Assemblj' — being one of the cele- 
brated "Long Nine" from Sangamon County, and 
joining Abraham Lincoln in his protest against 
a series of pro-slavery resolutions which had been 
adopted by the House. In 1837 he was a Circuit 
Court Judge and, being assigned to the north- 
western part of the State, removed to Galena, 
but vras legislated out of office, when he left the 
State, dying a few years later, in Essex County, 
N. J. 

STONE, Horatio 0., pioneer, was born in 
Ontario (now Monroe) County, N. Y., Jan. 2, 



1811 ; in boyhood learned the trade of shoemaker, 
and later acted as overseer of laborers on the 
Lackawanna Canal. In 1831, having located in 
Wayne Countj', Mich., he was drafted for the 
Black Hawk War, serving twenty-two days under 
Gen. Jacob Brown. In January, 1835, he came 
to Chicago and, having made a fortunate specu- 
lation in real estate in that early day, a few 
months later entered upon the grocery and pro- 
vision trade, which he afterwards extended to 
grain; finally giving his chief attention to real 
estate, in which he was remarkably successful, 
leaving a large fortune at his death, which 
occurred in Chicago, June 20, 1877. 

STONE, (Rev.) Luther, Baptist clergyman, 
was born in the town of Oxford, Worcester 
County, Mass., Sept. 26, 1815, and spent his boy- 
hood on a farm. After acijuiring a common 
school education, he prepared for college at Lei- 
cester Academy, and, in 1835, entered Brown 
University, graduating in the class of 1839. He 
then spent three years at the Theological Insti- 
tute at Newton, Mass. ; was ordained to the 
ministry at Oxford, in 1843, but, coming west the 
next year, entered upon evangelical work in 
Rock Island, Davenport, Burlington and neigh- 
boring towns. Later, he was pastor of the First 
Baptist Church at Rockford, 111. In 1847 Mr. 
Stone cauie to Chicago and established "The 
Watchman of the Prairies," which survives to- 
day under the name of "Tlie Standard," and has 
become the leading Baptist organ in the West. 
After six years of editorial work, he took up 
evangelistic work in Chicago, among the poor 
and criminal classes. During the Civil War he 
conducted religious services at Camp Douglas, 
Soldiers' Rest and the Marine Hospital. He was 
associated in the conduct and promotion of many 
educational and charitable institutions. He did 
mucli for the First Baptist Church of Chicago, 
and, during the latter years of his life, was 
attached to the Immanuel Baptist Church, 
which he labored to establish. Died, in July, 
1890. 

STONE, Melville E., journalist, banker. Man- 
ager ot Associated Press, born at Hudson, 111., 
August 18, 1848. Coming to Chicago in 1860, he 
graduated from the local high school in 1867, 
and, in 1870, acquired the sole proprietorship of 
a foundry and machine shop. Finding himself 
without resources after the great fire of 1871, he 
embarked in journalism, rising, through the suc- 
cessive grades of reporter, city editor, assistant 
editor and Washington correspondent, to the 
position of editor-in-chief of his own journal. 



510 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



He was connected with various Chicago dailies 
between 1871 and 1875, and, on Christmas Day 
of tlie latter year, issued the first number of •'The 
Chicago Daily News." He giadually disposed of 
his interest in this journal, entirely severing 
his connection therewith in 1S88. Since that 
date he has been engagetl in banking in the city 
of Chicago, and is also General Manager of the 
As.sociated Press. 

STONE, Samuel, philanthropist, was born at 
Chesterfield, Mass., Dec. 0, 1798; left an orphan 
at seven years of age, after a short term in Lei- 
cester Academy, and several years in a wholesale 
store in Boston, at the age of 19 removed to 
Rochester, N. Y., to take charge of interests in 
the "Holland Purchase," belonging to his father's 
estate ; in 1843-49, was a resident of |Detroit and 
interested in some of the early railroad enter- 
prises centering there, but the latter year re- 
moved to Milwaukee, being there associated with 
Ezra Cornell in telegraph construction. In 1859 
he became a citizen of Cliicago, where he was 
one of the founders of the Chicago Historical 
Society, and a liberal patron of many enterprises 
of a public and benevolent character. Died, May 
4, 1876. 

STOXE FOUT, a village in tlie counties of 
Saline and Williamson. It is situated on the Cairo 
Division of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Cliicago & 
St. Louis Railway, 157 miles northeast of Cairo. 
Population (1900), 479. 

STOREY, Wilbur F.. journalist and news- 
paper publisher, was born at Salisbury, Vt., Dee. 
19, 1819. He began to learn tlie printer's trade 
at 12, and. before lie was 19, was part owner of a 
Democratic pajier called "The Herald," published 
at La Porte, Ind. Later, he either edited or con- 
trolled journals published at Mishawaka, Ind., 
and Jackson and Detroit, Mich. In Januarj-, 
1861, he became the principal owner of "The 
Chicago Times," then the leading Democratic 
organ of Chicago. His pajier soon came to be 
regarded as the organ of the anti-war party 
throughout the Northwest, and, in June, 1863, 
was suppressed by a military order issued by 
General Burnside, wliioh was subsequently 
revoked by President Lincoln. The net result 
was an increase in "The Times" " notoriety and 
circulation. Other charges, of an equally grave 
nature, relating to its sources of income, its char- 
acter as a family newspaper, etc., were repeatedly 
made, but to all these Mr. Storey turned a deaf 
ear. He lost heavily in the fire of 1871, but, in 
1872, appeared as tlie editor of "The Times," 
then destitute of political ties. About 1876 his 



I 



health began to decline. Medical aid failed to 
afford relief, and, in August, 1884, he was ad- i 
judged to be of unsound mind, and his estate was i| 
placed in the hands of a conservator. On the 
37th of the following October (1884), he died at 
his home in Cliicago. 

STORES, Emery Alexander, lawyer, was born 
at Hinsdale, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., August 
12, 183.5; began the study of law with his father, 
later pursued a legal course at Buffalo, and, in 
1853, was admitted to the bar ; spent two years 
(1857-59) in New York City, the latter year re- 
moving to Chicago, where he attained great 
prominence as an advocate at the bar, as well as 
an orator on other occasions. Politically a 
Republican, he took an active part in Presidential 
campaigns, being a delegate-at-large from Illinois 
to the National Republican Conventions of 1868, 
'78, and "80, and serving as one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents in 1872. Erratic in habits and a master of 
epigram and repartee, many of his speeches are 
quoted with relish and appreciation by those who 
were his contemporaries at tlie Chicago bar. 
Died suddenly, while in attendance on the Su- 
preme Court at Ottawa, Sept. 12, 1885. 

STRAWN, Jacob, agriculturist and stock- 
dealer, born in Somerset County, Pa., May 30, 
1800; removed to Licking County, Ohio, in 1817, 
and to Illinois, in 1831, settling four miles south- 
west of Jacksonville. He was one of the first to i i 
demonstrate the possibilities of Illinois as a live- 
stock state. Unpretentious and despising mere 
show, he illustrated the virtues of industry, fru- 
gality and honesty. At his death — which occurred 
August 23, 1865 — he left an estate estimated in 
value at about 81,000,000, acquired by industry 
and business enterprise. He was a zealous 
Unionist during the war, at one time contributing 
810,000 to the Christian Commission. 

STREATOR, a city (laid out in 1868 and incor- 
porated in 1882) in the southern part of La Salle 
County, 93 miles southwest of Chicago ; situated 
on the Vermilion River and a central point for 
five railroads. It is surrounded by a rich agri- 
cultural country, and is underlaid by coal seams 
(two of which are worked) and by shale and 
various clay products of value, adapted to the 
manufacture of fire and building-brick, drain- 
pipe, etc. The city is thoroughly modern, having 
gas, electric lighting, street railways, water- 
works, a good fire-department, and a large, im- 
proved public park. Churches and schools are 
numerous, as are also fine public and private 
buildings. One of the chief industries is the 
manufacture of glass, including rolled-plate. 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



511 



window-glass, flint and Bohemian ware and glass 
bottles. Other successful industries are foundries 
and machine shops, flour mills, and clay working 
establishments. There are several banks, and 
tliree daily and weekly papers are i)ublished here. 
The estimated property valuation, in 1S84, was 
$13,000,000. Streator boasts some handsome 
public buildings, especially the tjovernment post- 
oflSce and the Carnegie public library building, 
both of which have been erected within the past 
few years. Pop. (1.S90), 11,414; (1900), 14,079. 

STREET, Jospph M., pioneer and early politi- 
cian, settled at Sliawneetown about 1812, coming 
from Kentucky, though believed to have been a 
native of Eastern Virginia. In 1827 he was a 
Brigadier-General of militia, and appears to have 
been prominent in the affairs of that section of 
the State. His correspondence with Governor 
Edwards, about this time, shows him to have been 
a man of far more than ordinary education, with 
a good opinion of his merits and capabilities. He 
was a most persistent applicant for ofiice, making 
urgent appeals to Governor Edwards, Henry Clay 
and other politicians in Kentucky, Virginia and 
Washington, on the ground of his poverty and 
large family. In 1827 he received the offer of 
the clerkship of the new county of Peoria, but, 
on visiting that region, was disgusted with the 
prospect; returning to Sliawneetown, bought a 
farm in Sangamon Coimty, but, before the close 
of the year, was appointed Indian Agent at 
Prairie du Chien. •This was during the difficul- 
ties with the Winnebago Indians, upon which he 
made voluminous reports to the Secretary of 
War. Mr. Street was a son-in-law of Gen. 
Thomas Posey, a Revolutionary soldier, who was 
prominent in the early history of Indiana and its 
last Territorial Governor. (See Posey. (Oen.) 
Thomas.) 

STREETER, Alson J., farmer and politician, 
was born in Ren.sselaer Coimty, N. Y., in 1823; 
at the age of two years accompanied his father to 
Illinois, the family settling at Dixon, Lee County, 
He attended Knox College for three years, and, 
in 1849, went to California, where he spent two 
years in gold mining. Returning to Illinois, he 
purchased a farm of 240 acres near New Windsor, 
Mercer County, to which he has since added sev- 
eral thousand acres. In 1872 he was elected to 
the lower house of the Twenty-eighth General 
Assembly as a Democrat, but, in 1873, allied him- 
self with the Greenback party, whose candidate 
for Congress he was in 1878, and for Governor in 
1880, when he received nearly 3,000 votes more 
than his party's Presidential nominee, in Illinois. 



In 1884 he was elected State Senator by a coali- 
tion of Greenbackers and Democrats in the 
Twenty-fourth Senatorial District, but acted as 
an independent throughout liis entire term. 

STRONG, William Emerson, soldier, was born 
at Granville, N. Y.. in 1840; from 13 years of age. 
spent his early life in Wisconsin, studied law and 
was admitted to the bar at Racine in 1861. The 
same year he enlisted under the first call for 
troops, took part, as Captain of a Wisconsin Com- 
pany, in the first battle of Bull Run; was 
afterwards promoted and assigned to duty as 
Inspector-General in the West, participated in 
the Vicksburg and Atlanta campaigns, being 
finally advanced to the rank of Brigadier-Gen- 
eral. After some fifteen months spent in the 
position of Inspector-General of the Freedmen's 
Bureau (186,5-66), he located in Chicago, and 
became connected with several important busi- 
ness enterprises, besides assisting, as an officer on 
the staff of Governor CuUom, in the organization 
of the Illinois National Guard. He was elected 
on the first Board of Directors uf the World's 
Columbian Exposition, and, while making a tour 
of Europe in the interest of that enterprise, died, 
at Florence, Italy, April 10, 1891. 

STUART, JoUn Todd, lawyer and Congress- 
man, born near Lexington, Ky. , Nov. 10, 1807— 
the son of Robert Stuart, a Presbyterian minister 
and Professor of Languages in Transylvania 
University, and related, on the maternal side, to 
the Todd family, of whom Mrs. Abraham Lincoln 
was a member. He graduated at Centre College, 
Danville, in 1826, and, after studying law, re- 
moved to Springfield, 111, in 1828, and began 
practice. In 1832 he was elected Representative 
in the General xVssembly, reelected in 1834, and, 
in 1836, defeated, as the Whig candidate for Con- 
gress, by Wm. L. May, though elected, two years 
later, over Stephen A. Douglas, and again in 1840. 
In 1837, Abraham Lincoln, who had been 
studying law under Mr. Stuart's advice and 
instruction, became his partner, the relation- 
ship continuing until 1841. He served in the 
State Senate, 1849-53, was the Bell-Everett 
candidate for Governor in 1860, and was 
elected to Congress, as a Democrat, for a third 
time, in 1862, but, in 1864, was defeated by 
Shelby M. CuUom, his former pupil. During the 
latter years of his life, Mr. Stuart was head of the 
law firm of Stuart, Edwards & Brown. Died, at 
Springfield, Nov. 38, 188,5. 

STURGES, Solomon, merchant and banker, 
was born at Fairfield, Conn., April 21, 1796, early 
manifested a passion for the sea and, in 1810, 



512 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



made a voyage, on a vessel of which his brother 
was captain, from New York to Georgetown, 
D. C, intending to continue it to Lisbon. At 
Georgetown he was induced to accept a position 
as clerk with a Mr. Williams, where he was 
associated with two other j-ouths, as fellow-em- 
ployes, who became eminent bankers and 
capitalists— W. "W. Corcoran, afterwards the 
well-known banker of Washington, and George 
W. Peabody, who had a successful banking career 
in England, and won a name as one of the most 
liberal and public-spirited of philanthropists. 
During the War of 1813 young Sturges joined a 
volunteer infantry company, where he had, for 
comrades, George W. Peabody and Francis S.Key, 
the latter author of the popular national song, 
"The Star Spangled Banner." In 1814 Mr. 
Sturges accepted a clerkship in the store of his 
brother-in-law, Ebenezer Buckingham, at Put- 
nam, Muskingum County, Ohio, two years later 
becoming a partner in the concern, where he 
developed that business capacity which laid the 
foundation for his future wealth. Before steam- 
ers navigated the waters of the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi Rivers, he piloted flat-boats, loaded with 
produce and merchandise, to New Orleans, return- 
ing overland. During one of his visits to that 
city, he witnessed the arrival of the "Washing- 
ton," the first steamer to descend the Mississippi, 
as, in 1817, he saw the arrival of the "Walk-in- 
the- Water" at Detroit, the first steamer to arrive 
from Buffalo — the occasion of his visit to Detroit 
being to carry funds to General Cass to pay off 
the United States troops. About 1849 he was 
a.ssociated with the construction of the Wabash 
& Erie Canal, from the Ohio River to Terre Haute, 
Ind., advancing money for the prosecution of tlie 
work, for which was reimbursed by the State. In 
1854 he came to Cliicago, and, in partnership 
with his brothers-in-law, C. P. and Alvah Buck- 
ingham, erected the first large grain-elevator in 
that city, on land leased from the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company, following it, two years later, 
by another of equal capacity. For a time, sub- 
stantially all the grain coming into Chicago, by 
railroad, passed into these elevators. In 18,57 he 
established the private banking house of Solomon 
Sturges & Sons, which, shortly after his death, 
iinder the management of his son, George Stur- 
ges, became the Nortliwe.stern National Bank of 
Chicago. He was intensely patriotic and, on the 
breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, used 
of his means freely in support of the Govern- 
ment, efjuipping the Sturges Rifles, an independ- 
ent company, at a cost of §20,000. He was also a 



subscriber to the first loan made by the Govern- 
ment, during this period, taking §100,000 in 
Governjnent bonds. While devoted to liis busi- 
ness, he was a hater of shams and corruption, and 
contributed freely to Christian and benevolent 
enterprises. Died, at the home of a daughter, at 
Zanesville, Ohio, Oct. 14, 1864, leaving a large 
fortune acquired by legitimate trade. 

STURTEV ANT, Julian Munson, D.D., LL.D., 
clergj-man and educator, was born at Warren, 
Litchfield County, Conn., July 26, 1805; spent his 
youth in Summit County, Ohio, meanwhile pre- 
paring for college; in 1822, entered Yale College 
as the classmate of the celebrated Elizur Wright, 
graduating in 1826. After two j-ears as Princi- 
pal of an academy at Canaan, Conn., he entered 
Yale Divinity School, graduating there in 1829; 
then came west, and, after spending a year in 
superintending the erection of buildings, in De- 
cember, 1830, as sole tutor, began instruction to <» 
class of nine pupils in what is now Illinois Col- 
lege, at Jacksonville. Having been joined, the 
following year, by Dr. Edward Beecher as Presi- 
dent, Mr. Sturtevant assumed the chair of Mathe- 
matics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, 
which he retained imtil 1844, when, by the 
retirement of Dr. Beecher, he succeeded to the 
offices of President and Professor of Intellectual 
and Moral Philosophy. Here he labored, inces- 
santly and unselfishly, as a teacher during term 
time, and, as financial agent during vacations, 
in the interest of the institiftion of which lie had 
been one of the chief founders, ser^nng until 1876, 
when he resigned the Presidency, giving his 
attention, for the next ten years, to the duties of 
Professor of Mental Science and Science of Gov- 
ernment, which he had discharged from 1870. 
In 1886 he retired from the institution entirelj', 
having given to its service fifty-six years of his 
life. In 1803, Dr. Sturtevant visited Europe in 
the interest of the Union cause, delivering effec- 
tive addresses at a niunber of points in England. 
He was a frequent contributor to the weekly 
religious and periodical press, and was the author 
of "Economics, or the Science of Wealth" (187G) 
— a text-book on political economy, and "Keys 
of Sect, or the Churcli of the New Testament" 
(1879), besides frequently occupying the pulpits 
of local and distant churches — liaving been early 
ordained a Congregational minister. He received 
the degree of D.D. from the University of Mis- 
souri and that of LL.D. from Iowa University. 
Died, in Jacksonville, Feb. 11, 1886.— Julian M. 
(Sturtevant), Jr., son of the preceding, was born 
at Jacksonville, III. Feb. 2, 1834; fitted for col- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



513 



lege in the preparatory department of Illinois 
College and graduated from the college (proper) 
in 1854. After leaving college he served as 
teacher in the Jacksonville public schools one 
year, then spent a year as tutor in Illinois Col- 
lege, when he began the study of theology at 
Andover Theological Seminary, graduating there 
in 1859, meanwhile having discharged the duties 
of Chaplain of the Connecticut State's prison in 
1858. He was ordained a minister of the Con- 
gregational Chui'ch at Hannibal, Mo., in 18G0, 
remaining as pastor in that city nine years. He 
has since been engaged in pastoral work in New 
York City (1869-70), Ottawa, III, (1870-73); Den- 
ver, Colo. , (1873-77) ; Grinnell, Iowa, (1877-84) ; 
Cleveland, Ohio, (1884-90); Galesburg, 111., 
(1890-93), and Aurora, (1893-97). Since leaving 
the Congregational church at Aurora, Dr. Sturte- 
vant has been engaged in pastoral work in Chi- 
cago. He was also editor of "The Congrega- 
tionalist" of Iowa (1881-84), and, at different 
periods, has served as Trustee of Colorado, 
Marietta and Knox Colleges; being still an 
honored member of the Knox College Board. 
He received the degree of D.D from Illinois 
College, in 1879. 

SUBLETTE, a .station and village on the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, in Lee County, 8 miles 
northwest of Mendota. Population, (1900), 306. 

SUFFRAGE, in general, the right or privilege 
of voting. The qualilications of electors (or 
voters), in the choice of public officers in Illinois, 
are fixed by the State Constitution (Art. VII.), 
except as to school officers, which are prescribed 
by law. Under the State Constitution the exer- 
cise of the right to vote is limited to persona who 
Were electors at the time of the adoption of the 
Constitution of 1848, or who are native or natu- 
ralized male citizens of the United States, of the 
age of 21 years or over, who have been residents 
of the State one year, of the county ninety days, 
and of the district (or precinct) in which they 
offer to vote, 30 days. Under an act passed in 
1891, women, of 21 years of age and upwards, are 
entitled to vote for school officers, and are also 
eligible to such offices under the same conditions, 
as to age and residence, as male citizens. (See 
Elections; Australian Ballot.) 

SULLIVAN, a city and county -seat of Moultrie 
County, 25 miles southeast of Decatur and 14 
miles northwest of Mattoon ; is on three lines of 
railway. It is in an agricultural and stock-rais- 
ing region; contains two State banks and four 
weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 1,305; 
(1890), 1,468; (19U0), 2,399; (1900, est.), 3,100. 



SULLITAX, William K., journalist, was born 
at AVaterford, Ireland, Nov. 10, 1843; educated at 
the Waterford Model School and in Dublin , came 
to the United States in 1863, and, after teaching 
for a time in Kane County, in 1864 enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers. Then, after a brief .season spent in 
teaching and on a visit to his native land, he 
began work as a reporter on New York papers, 
later being emploj-ed on "The Chicago Tribune"' 
and "The Evening Journal," on the latter, at 
different times, holding the position of city edi- 
tor, managing editor and correspondent. He 
was also a Representative from Cook County in 
the Twenty -seventh General Assembly, for three 
years a member of the Chicago Board of Edu- 
cation, and appointed United States Consul to the 
Bermudas by President Harrison, resigning in 
1892. Died, in Chicago, January 17, 1899. 

SULLIVAXT, Michael Lucas, agriculturist, 
was born at Franklinton (a suburb of Columbus, 
Ohio), August 6, 1807; was educated at Ohio 
University and Centre College, Ky., and — after 
being engaged in the improvement of an immense 
tract of land inherited from his father near his 
birth-place, devoting much attention, meanwhile, 
to the raising of improved stock — in 1854 sold his 
Ohio lands and bought 80,000 acres, chiefly in 
Cliampaign and Piatt Counties, 111., where he 
began farming on a larger scale tlian before. The 
enterprise proved a financial failure, and he was 
finally compelled to sell a considerable portion of 
his estate in Champaign Coimty, known as Broad 
Lands, to John T. Alexander (see Alexander, 
John T.), retiring to a farm of 40,000 acres at 
Burr Oaks, 111. He died, at Henderson, Ky., Jan. 
29, 1879. 

SUMMERFIELD, a village of St. Clair County, 
on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 
27 miles east of St. Louis ; was the home of Gen. 
Fred. Hecker. Population (1900), 360. 

SUMNER, a city of Lawrence County, on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 19 miles 
west of Vincennes, Ind. ; has a fine school house, 
four churches, two banks, two flour mills, tele- 
phones, and one weekly newspaper. Pop. (1890), 
1,037; (1900), 1,268. 

SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUC- 
TION. The oflSce of State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction was created by act of the 
Legislature, at a special session held in 1854, its 
duties previous to that time, from 1845, having 
been discharged by the Secretary of State as 
Superintendent, ex-officio. The following is a list 
of the incumbents from the date of the formal 



514 



UISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIxV OF ILLINOIS. 



creation of the office down to the present time 
(1899), with the date and duration of the term of 
each Ninian W. Edwards (by appointment of 
the Governor), 1854-57; William H. Powell (by 
election), 1857-59; Newton Bateman, 1859-63; 
John P. Brooks, 1863-65; Newton Bateman, 
1865-75; Samuel W. Etter, 1875-79; James P. 
Slade, 1879-83; Henry Raab, 1883-87; Richard 
Edwards, 1887-91; Henry Raab, 1891-95; Samuel 
M. Inglis, 1895-98: James H. Freeman, June, 
1898, to January, 1899 (by appointment of the 
Governor, to fill the imexpired term of Prof. 
Inglis, who died in office, June 1, 1898) ; Alfred 
Baylis, 1899—. 

Previous to 1870 the tenure of the office was 
two years, but, by the Constitution adopted that 
year, it was extended to four years, the elections 
occurring on the even years between those for 
Governor and other State officers except State 
Treasurer. 

SUPREME COURT, JUD(JES OF THE. The 
follo\ving is a list of Justices of the Supreme 
Court of Illinois who have held office since the 
organization of the State Government, with the 
period of tlieir resjjective incumbencies : Joseph 
Phillips. 1818-23 (resigned); Thomas C. Browne, 
1818 48 (term expired on adoption of new Con- 
stitution); William P. Foster, Oct. 9, 1818, to 
July 7, 1819 (resigned), John Reynolds, 1818-25; 
Thomas Reynolds (vice Phillips"), 1823-25; Wil- 
liam Wilson (vice Foster) 1819-48 (term expired 
on adoption of new Constitution) ; Samuel D 
Lockwood, 1835-48 (term expired on adoption of 
new Constitution) ; Theophilus W. Smith, 1825-43 
(resigned); Thomas Ford, Feb. 15, 1841, to Au- 
gust 1, 1843 (resigned) ; Sidnej' Breese, Feb. 15, 
1841, to Dec. 19, 18.13 (resigned)— also (by re-elec- 
tions), 1857-78 (died in office) ; Walter B. Scates, 
1841-47 (resigned) — also (vice Trumbull), 185-1-57 
(resigned) ; Samuel H. Treat, 1841-55 (resigned) ; 
Stephen A. Douglas, 1841-43 (resigned); John D. 
Caton (vice Ford) August, 1843, to March, 1843— 
also (vice Robinson and by successive re-elec- 
tions). May, 1843 to January, 1864 (resigned) ; 
James Semple (vice Breese), Jan. 14, 1843, to 
April 10, 1843 (resigned) ; Richard M. Young (vice 
Smith), 1843-47 (resigned) ; John M. Robinson 
(vice Ford), Jan. 14, 1843, to April 37, 1843 (died 
in office); Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., (vice Douglas), 
1843-45 (resigned)— also (vice Young), 1847-48; 
James Shields (vice Semple), 1843-45 (resigned) ; 
Norman II. Purple (vice Thoraa.s), 1843-48 (retired 
under Constitution of 1848) ; Gustavus Koerner 
(vice Shields), 1845-48 (retired by Constitution); 
William A. Denning (vice Scates), 1847-48 (re- 



tired by Constitution) ; Lyman Trumbull, 1848-53 
(resigned); Ozias C. Skinner (vice Treat), 1855-58 
(resigned); Pinkney H. Walker (vice Skinner), 
1858-85 (decea.sed); Corydon Beckwith (by ap- 
pointment, vice Caton), Jan. 7, 1864, to June 6, 
1864; Charles B. Lawrence (one term), 1864-73; 
Anthony Thornton, 1870-73 (resigned); John M. 
Scott (two terms), 1870-88; Benjamin R. Sheldon 
(two terms), 1870-88; William K. McAllister, 
1870-75 (resigned) ; John Scholfield (vice Thorn- 
ton), 1873 93 (died); T. Lyle Dickey (vice 
McAlUster), 1875-85 (died); David J. Baker (ap- 
pointed, vice Breese), July 9, 1878, to Jime 2, 
1879— also, 1888-97: John H. Mulkey, 1879-88; 
Damon G. Tunnicliffe (appointed, vice Walker), 
Feb. 15, 1885, to Jvme 1, 1885; Simeon P. Shope, 
1885-94, Joseph M. Bailey, 1888-95 (died in office). 
The Supreme Court, as at present constituted 
(1899), is as follows: Carroll C. Boggs, elected, 
1897, Jesse J. Phillips (vice Scholfield, deceased) 
elected, 1893, and re-elected, 1897; Jacob W. Wil- 
kin, elected, 1888, and re-elected, 1897; Joseph 
N. Carter, elected, 1894; Alfred M. Craig, elec- 
ted, 1873, and re-elected, 1883 and '91 ; James H. 
Cartwright (vice Bailey), elected, 1895, and re- 
elected, 1897 ; Benjamin D. Magruder (vice 
Dickey), elected, 1885, "88 and '97. The terms of 
Justices Boggs, Phillips, Wilkin, Cartwright and 
Magruder expire in 1906; that of Justice Carter 
on 1903 ; and Justice Craig's, in 1900. Under the 
Constitution of 1818, the JiLstices of the Supreme 
Court were chosen by joint ballot of the Legisla- 
ture, but, under the Constitutions of 1848 and 
1870, by popular vote for terms of nine years 
each. (See Judicial Stjstein; also sketches of 
individual members of the Supreme Court under 
their proper names.) 

SURVEYS, EARLY (lOVERXMEXT. The first 
United States law passed on the subject of Gov- 
ernment surveys was dated. May 30, 1785. After 
reserving certain lands to be allotted by way of 
pensions and to be donated for school purposes, 
it provided for the division of the remaining pub- 
lic lands among the original thirteen States. 
This, however, was, in effect, repealed by the Ordi- 
nance of 1788. The latter provided for a rectan- 
gular system of surveys which, with but little 
modification, has remained in force ever since. 
Briefly outlined, the system is as follows: Town- 
ships, six miles square, are laid out from principal 
bases, each township containing thirty-six sec- 
tions of one square mile, numbered consecutively, 
the numeration to commence at the upper right 
hand corner of the township. The first principal 
meridian (84° 51' west of Greenwich), coincided 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



515 



with the line dividing Indiana and Ohio. The 
second (1° 37' farther west) had direct relation 
to surveys in Eastern lUinois. The third (89' 10' 
30" west of Greenwich) and the fourth (90° 29' 
56" west) governed the remainder of Illinois sur- 
veys. The first Public Surveyor was Thomas 
Hutchins, who was called "the geographer." 
(See Hutchins, Thomas.) 

SWEJ'T, (Gen.) Benjamin J., soldier, was 
born at Kirkland, Oneida County, N. Y., April 
24, 1832 ; came with his father, in 1.S48, to Sheboy- 
gan, Wis., studied law, was elected to the State 
Senate in 1859, and, in 1861, enlisted in the Sixth 
Wisconsin Volunteers, being commissioned Major 
in 1862. Later, he resigned and, returning home, 
assisted in the organization of the Twenty-first 
and Twenty-second regiments, being elected 
Colonel of the former; and with it taking part in 
the campaign in Western Kentucky and Tennes- 
see. In 1863 he was assigned to command at 
Camp Douglas, and was there on tlie exposure, 
in November, 1864, of the conspiracy to release 
the rebel prisoners. (See Camp Douglas Conspir- 
acy.) Tlie service which he rendered in the 
defeat of this bold and. dangerous conspiracy 
evinced his courage and sagacity, and was of 
inestimable value to the country. After the 
war, General Sweet located at Lombard, near 
Chicago, was appointed Pension Agent at Chi- 
cago, afterwards served as Supervisor of Internal 
Revenue, and, in 1873, became Deputy Commis- 
sioner of Internal Revenue at Washington. Died, 
in Washington, Jan. 1, 1874. — Miss Ada C. 
(Sweet), for eight years (1874-82) the efficient 
Pension Agent at Chicago, is General Sweet's 
daughter. 

SWEETSER, A. C, soldier and Department 
Commander G. A. P., was born in Oxford County, 
Maine, in 1839; came to Bloomington, 111., in 
1857; enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War 
in the Eighth Illinois "Volunteers and, later, in the 
Thirty-ninth; at the battle of Wierbottom 
Church, Va., in June, 1864, was shot through 
both legs, necessitating the amputation of one of 
them. After the war he held several offices of 
trust, including those of City Collector of Bloom- 
ington and Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue 
for the Springfield District ; in 1887 was elected 
Department Commander of the Grand Army of 
the Republic for Illinois. Died, at Bloomington. 
March 23, 1896. 

SWETT, Leonard, lawyer, was born near 
Turner, Maine, August 11, 1825, was educated at 
Waterville College (now Colby University), but 
left before graduation ; read law in Portland, and, 



while seeking a location in the West, enlisted in 
an Indiana regiment for the Mexican War, being 
attacked by climatic fever, was discharged before 
completmg his term of enlistment. He soon 
after came to Bloomington, 111., wliere he became 
the intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln and 
David Davis, traveling the circuit with them for 
a number- of years. He early became active in 
State politics, was a member of the Republican 
State Convention of 1856, was elected to the 
lower house of the General Assembly in 1858, 
and, in 18C0, was a zealous supporter of Mr. Lin- 
coln as a Presidential Elector for the State-at- 
large. In 1863 he received the Republican 
nomination for Congress in his District, but was 
defeated. Removing to Chicago in 1865, he 
gained increased distinction as a lawyer, espe- 
cially in the management of criminal cases. In 
1873 lie was a supporter of Horace Greeley for 
President, but later returned to the Republican 
party, and, in the National Republican Conven- 
tion of 1888, presented the name of Judge 
Gresham for nomination for the Presidency. 
Died, June 8, 1889. 

SWItfERT, Charles Philip, ex-Auditor of Pub- 
lic Accounts, was born in the Province of Baden, 
Germany, Nov. 27, 1843, brought by his parents 
to Chicago, 111., in cliildhood, and, in his boy- 
hood, attended the Scammon School in that city. 
In 1854 his family removed to a farm in Kanka- 
kee County, where, between the ages of 12 and 
18, he assisted his father in "breaking" between 
400 and 500 acres of prairie land. On tlie break- 
ing out of the war, in 1861, although scarcely 18 
years of age, he enlisted as a private in the Forty- 
second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and, in April, 
1862, was one of twenty heroic volunteers who 
ran the blockade, on the gunboat Carondelet, at 
Island No. 10, assisting materially in the reduc- 
tion of that rebel stronghold, which resulted in 
the capture of 7,000 prisoners. At the battle of 
Farmington, Miss., during the siege of Corinth, 
in May, 1863, he had his right arm torn from its 
socket by a six-pound cannon-ball, compelling his 
retirement from the army. Returning home, 
after many weeks spent in hospital at Jeff'erson 
Barracks and Quincy, III, he received his final 
discharge, Dec. 21, 1863, spent a year in school, 
also took a course in Bryant & Stratton's Com- 
mercial College in Chicago, and having learned 
to write with his left hand, taught for a time in 
Kankakee County ; .served as letter-carrier in Chi- 
cago, and for a year as Deputy Coimty Clerk of 
Kankakee County, followed by two terms (1867- 
69) as a student in the Soldiers' College at Fulton., 



51G 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



111. Tlie latter year he entered upon the duties 
of Treasurer of Kankakee County, serving, by 
successive re-elections, until 1880, when he re- 
signed to take the position of State Auditor, to 
which he was elected a second time in 1884. In 
all these positions Mr. Swigert has proved him- 
self an upright, capable and high-minded public 
oflScial. Of late years liis residence has been in 
Chicago. 

SWING, (Rev.) David, clergj-man and pulpit 
orator, was born of German ancestry, at Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, August 23, 1830. After 1837 (his 
father dying about this time), the family resided 
for a time at Reedsburgh, and, later, on a farm 
near Williamsburgh, In Clermont County, in the 
same State. In 1853, having graduated from the 
Miami (Ohio) University, he commenced the 
study of theology, but, in 1854, accepted the 
position of Profes.sor of Languages in his Alma 
Mater, which he continued to fill for thirteen 
years. Ilis first pastorate was in connection with 
the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Chi- 
cago, which he assumed in 18G6. His chxu'ch 
edifice was destroyed in the great Chicago fire, 
but was later rebuilt. As a preacher he was 
popular ; but, in April, 1874, he was placed on trial, 
before an ecclesiastical court of his own denomi- 
nation, on charges of heresy. lie was acquitted 
by the trial court, but, before the appeal taken by 
the prosecution could be heard, he personally 
withdrew from affiliation with the denomination. 
Shortly afterward he became pastor of an inde- 
pendent religious organization known as the 
"Central Church," preaching, fir.st at McVicker's 
Theatre and. afterward, at Central Music Hall, 
Chicago. He was a fluent and popular sjjeaker 
on all themes, a frequent and valued contributor 
to numerous magiizines, as well as the author of 
several volmiies. Among his best known books 
are "Motives of Life," "Truths for To-day," and 
"Club Essiiys." Died, in Chicago, Oct. 3, 1894. 

SYCAMORE, the county-seat of De Kalb 
Coimty (founded in 183G), 5G miles west of Chi- 
cago, at the intersection of the Chicago & North- 
western and the Chicago Great Western Rail- 
roads; lies in a region devoted to agriculture, 
dairying and stock-raising. The city itself con- 
tains several factories, the principal products 
being agricultural implements, flour, insulated 
wire, brick, tile, varnish, furniture, soap and 
carriages and wagons. There are also works for 
canning vegetables and fruit,besides two creamer- 
ies. The town is lighted by electricity, and has 
high-pressure water-works. There are eleven 
churches, three graded public schools and a 



young ladies" seminary. Population (1880), 
3,028; (1890), 2,987; (1900), 3,653. 

TAFT, Lorado, sculptor, was born at Elmwood, 
Peoria Coimty, 111., April 29, 1860; at an early 
age evinced a predilection for sculpture and 
began modeling; graduated at the University of 
Illinois in 1880, tlien went to Paris and studied 
sculpture in the famous Ecole des Beaux Arts 
until 1885. The following year he settled in Chi 
cago, finally becoming associated with the Chi- 
cago Art Institute. He has been a lecturer on 
art in the Chicago University. Mr. Taft fur- 
nished the decorations of the Horticultural Build- 
ing on the World's Fair Grounds, in 1893. 

TALCOTT, Mancel, business man, was born 
in Rome, N. Y., Oct. 12, 1817; attended the com- 
mon schools until 17 years of age, when he set 
out for the West, traveling on foot from Detroit 
to Chicago, and thence to Park Ridge, where he 
worked at farming until 1850. Then, having 
followed the occupation of a miner for some time, 
in CaUfornia, with some success, he united with 
Horace M. Singer in establishing the firm of 
Singer & Talcott, stone-dealers, which lasted dur- 
ing most of his life. He served as a member of 
the Chicago City Council, on the Board of County 
Commissioners, as a member of the Police Board, 
and was one of the founders of the First National 
Bank, and President, for several years, of the 
Stock Yards National Bank. Liberal and public- 
spirited, he contributed freely to works of 
charit}'. Died, June 5, 1878. 

TALCOTT, (Capt.) William, soldier of the 
War of 1812 and pioneer, was born in Gilead, 
Conn., March 6, 1774; emigrated to Rome, Oneida 
County, N. Y., in 1810, and engaged in farming; 
served as a Lieutenant in the Oneida County 
militia during the War of 1812-14, being stationed 
at Sackett's Harbor under the command of Gen. 
Winfield Scott. In 1835, in company with his 
eldest son, Thomas B. Talcott, he made an ex- 
tended tour through the West, finally selecting a 
location in Illinois at the junction of Rock River 
and the Pecatonica, where the town of Rockton 
now stands — there being only two white families, 
at that time, within the present limits of Winne- 
bago County. Two years later (1837), he brouglit 
his family to this point, with his sons took up a 
considerable body of Government land and 
erected two mills, to which customers came 
from a long distance. In 1838 Captain Talcott 
took part in the organization of the first Congre- 
gational Chiu-ch in that section of the State. A 
zealou!5 anti-slavery man, he supported James G- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



517 



Blrney (the Liberty candidate for President) in 
1844, continuing to act with that party until the 
organization of tlie Republican party in 1856; 
was deeply interested in the War for the Union, 
but died before its conclusion, Sept. 3, 1864. — 
Maj. Thomas B. (Talcott), oldest son of the pre- 
ceding, was born at Hebron, Conn , April 17, 
.806 ; was taken to Rome, N. Y. , by his father in 
nfancy, and, after reaching maturity', engaged 
in mercantile business with his brother in Che- 
mung County ; in 1835 accompanied his father in 
a tour tlirough the West, finally locating at 
Rockton, where he engaged in agriculture. On 
the organization of Winnebago County, in 1836, 
he was elected one of the first County Commis- 
sioners, and, in 1850, to the State Senate, serving 
four years. He also held various local offices. 
Died, Sept. 30, 1894.— Hon. Wait (Talcott), second 
son of Capt. William Talcott, was born at He- 
bron, Conn., Oct. IT, 1807, and taken to Rome, 
N. Y., where lie remained until his 19th year, 
when he engaged in business at Booneville and, 
still later, in Utica; in 1838, removed to Illinois 
and joined his father at Rockton, finally 
becoming a citizen of Rockford, where, in his 
later years, he was extensively engaged in manu- 
facturing, having become, in 1854, with liis 
brother Sylvester, a partner of the firm of J. H. 
Manny & Co., in the manufacture of the Manny 
reaper and mower. He was an original anti- 
slavery man and, at one time.a Free-Soil candidate 
for Congre.ss, but became a zealous Republican 
and ardent friend of Abraham Lincoln, whom he 
employed as an attornej' in the famous suit of 
McCormick vs. the Manny Reaper Company for 
infringement of patent. In 1854 he was elected 
to the State Senate, succeeding his brother, 
Thomas B., and was the first Collector of Internal 
Revenue in tlie Second District, appointed by Mr. 
Lincoln in 1862, and continuing in office some 
five years. Though too old for active service in 
the field, during the Civil War, he voluntarily 
hired a substitute to take his place. Mr. Talcott 
was one of the original incorporators and Trus- 
tees of Beloit College, and a founder of Rockford 
Female Seminary, remaining a trustee of each 
for many years. Died, June 7, 1890.— SylTester 
(Talcott), tliird son of William Talcott, born at 
Rome, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1810; when of age, engaged 
in mercantile business in Chemung County; in 
1837 removed, with other members of tlie family, 
to Winnebago County, 111., where he joined his 
father in the entry of Government lands and the 
erection of mills, as already detailed. He became 
one of the first Justices of the Peace in Winne- 



bago County, also served as Supervisor for a 
number of jears and, although a farmer, became 
interested, in 1854, with his brother Wait, 
in the Manny Reaper Company at Rockford. 
He also followed the example of his brother, 
just named, in furnishing a substitute for the 
War of the Rebellion, though too old for service 
himself Died, June 19, 1885.— Henry Walter 
(Talcott), fourth son of William Talcott, was 
born at Rome, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1814; came with 
his father to Winnebago County, 111., in 1835, and 
was connected with his father and brothers in busi- 
ness. Died, Dec. 9, 1870.— Dwight Lewis (Tal- 
cott), oldest son of Henry Walter Talcott, born 
in Winnebago County; at the age of 17 years 
enlisted at Belvidere, in January, 1864, as a soldier 
in the Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry ; served 
as provost guard some two months at Fort Picker- 
ing, near Memphis, and later took part in many 
of the important battles of that year in Missis- 
sippi and Tennessee. Having been captured at 
Campbellsville, Tenn., he was taken to Anderson- 
ville, Ga., where he suffered all the horrors of 
that famous prison-pen, until March, 1865, when 
he was released, arriving at home a helpless 
skeleton, the day after Abraham Lincoln's assas- 
sination. Jlr. Talcott subsequently settled in 
Muscatine County, Iowa. 

TALLUL.V, a prosperous village of Menard 
County, on the Jack.sonville branch of the Clii- 
cago & Alton Railway, 24 miles northeast of 
Jacksonville; is in the midst of a grain, coal- 
mining, and stock-growing region; has a local 
bank and newspaper. Pop. (1890), 445 ; (1900), 639. 

T.\MAROA,a village in Perry County, situated 
at the junction of the Illinois Central with tlie 
Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad, 8 miles 
north of Duquoin, and 57 miles east-southeast of 
Belleville. It has a bank, a newspaper office, a 
large public school, five churches and two flour- 
ing mills. Coal is mined here and exported in 
large quantities. Pop. (1900), 8.53. 

TAMARO.V Si MOUNT VERNON RAILROAD. 
(See Wabash, Chester d- Western Railroad.) 

TANNER, Edward Allen, clergyman and edu- 
cator, was born of New England ancestrj', at 
Waverly, 111., Nov. 29, 1837— being the first child 
who could claim nativity there; was educated 
in the local schools and at Illinois College, 
graduating from the latter in 1857; spent four 
years teaching in his native place and at Jack- 
sonville; then accepted the Professorship of 
Latin in Pacific University at Portland, Oregon, 
remaining four years, when he returned to his 
Alma Mater (1865), assuming there the chair of 



518 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Latin and Rhetoric. In 1881 lie was appointed 
financial agent of the latter in.stitutiou, and, in 
1882, its President. Wliile in Oregon lie had 
been ordained a minister of the Congregational 
Church, and, for a C'Oiisiderable period during 
his connection with Illinois College, officiated as 
Chaplain of the Central Hospital for the Insane 
at Jacksonville, besides supplj'ing local and 
other pulpits. He labored earnestly for the 
benefit of the institution under his charge, and, 
during his incumbency, added materially to its 
endowment and resources. Died, at Jackson- 
ville, Feb. 8, 1892. 

TANXER, John R., Governor, was born in 
Warrick County, Ind., April 4, 1844, and brought 
to Southern Illinois in boyhood, where he grew 
up on a farm in the vicinity of Carbondale, 
enjoying only such educational advantages as 
were afforded by the common school ; in 1863, at 
the age of 19, enlisted in the Ninety-eighth Illi- 
nois Volunteers, serving until June, 1865, when 
he was transferred to the Sixty-first, and finally 
mustered out in Seiitember following. All the 
male members of Governor Tanner's family were 
soldiers of the late war, his father dying in a 
rebel prison at Columbus, Miss. , one of his bro- 
thers suffering the same fate from wounds at Nash- 
ville, Tenn., and another brother dying in hospital 
at Pine Bluff, Ark. Only one of this patriotic 
fantily, besides Governor Tanner, still survives — 
Mr. J. M. Tanner of Clay County, who left the 
service with the rank of Lieutenant of the Thir- 
teenth Illinois Cavalry. Returning from the 
war, Mr. Tanner established himself in business 
as a farmer in Clay County, later engaging suc- 
cessfully in the milling and lumber business as 
the partner of his brother. The public positions 
held by him, since the war, include those of 
Sheriff of Clay County (1870-72), Clerk of the Cir- 
cuit Court (1872-76), and State Senator (1880-83). 
During the latter year he received the appoint- 
ment of United States Marshal for the Southern 
District of Illinois, serving until after the acces- 
sion of President Cleveland in 188.5. In 1886, he 
was the Republican nominee for State Treasurer 
and was elected by an unusually large majority ; 
in 1891 was ajiiKiinted, by Governor Fifer, a 
member of the Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 
sion, but, in 1892, receiveil tlie appointment of 
Assistant United States Treasurer at Chicago, 
continuing in the latter office until December, 
1893. For ten years (1874-84) he was a member 
of the Republican State Central Committee, re- 
turning to that body in 1894, when he was chosen 
Chairman and conducted the campaign which 



resulted in the unprecedented Republican suc- 
cesses of that year. In 1896 he received the 
nomination of his party for Governor, and was 
elected over Gov. John P. Altgeld, his Demo- 
cratic opponent, by a plurality of over 113,000, 
and a majoritj-, over all, of nearly 90,000 votes. 

TANNER, Tazewell B., jurist, was born in 
Henry County, Va., and came to Jefferson 
County, 111., about 1846 or '47, at first taking a 
position as teacher and Superintendent of Public 
Schools. Later, he was connected with "The 
Jeffersonian,"' a Democratic paper at Mount Ver- 
non, and, in 1849, went to the gold regions of 
California, meeting with reasonable success as a 
miner. Returning in a year or two, he was 
elected Clerk of the Circuit Court, and, while in 
the discharge of his duties, prosecuted the study 
of law, finally, on admission to the bar, entering 
into partnership with the late Col. Thomas S. 
Casey. In 1854 he was elected Representative in 
the Nineteenth General Assembly, and was in- 
strumental in securing the appropriation for the 
erection of a Supreme Court building at Mount 
Vernon. In 1862 he served as a Delegate to the 
State Constitutional Convention of that year ; was 
elected Circuit Judge in 1873, and, in 1877, was 
assigned to duty on the Appellate bench, but, at 
the expiration of his term, declined a re-election 
and resumed the practice of his profession at 
Mount Vernon. Died, March 25, 1880. 

TAXATION, in its legal sense, the mode of 
raising revenue. In its general sense its purposes 
are the support of the State and local govern- 
ments, the promotion of the public good by 
fostering education and works of public improve- 
ment, the protection of society by the preser- 
vation of order and the punishment of crime, and 
the support of the helpless and destitute. In 
practice, and as prescribed by the Constitution, 
the raising of revenue is required to be done "by 
levying a tax by valuation, so that every jjerson 
and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to 
the value of his, her or its property — such value 
to be ascertained by some person or persons, to be 
elected or appointed in such manner as the Gen- 
eral Assembly shall direct, and not otherwise." 
(State Constitution, 1870 — Art. Revenue, Sec. 1.) 
The person selected under the law to make this 
valuation is the Assessor of the county or the 
township (in counties under township organiza- 
tion), and he is required to make a return to the 
County Board at its July meeting each year — the 
latter having authority to hear complaints of tax- 
payers and adjust inequalities when found to 
exist. It is made the duty of the Assessor to 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



519 



include In liis return, as real-estate, all lands and 
the buildings or other improvements erected 
thereon; and, under the head of personal prop- 
erty, all tangible effects, besides moneys, credits, 
bonds or stocks, shares of stock of companies or 
corporations, investments, annuities, franchises, 
royalties, etc. Property used for school, church 
or cemetery purposes, as well as public buildings 
and other property belonging to the State and 
General Government, municipalities, public 
charities, public libraries, agricultural and scien- 
tific societies, are declared exempt. Nominally, 
all property subject to taxation is required to be 
assessed at its cash valuation ; but, in reality, the 
valuation, of late years, lias been on a basis of 
twenty-five to thirty-three per cent of its esti- 
mated cash value. In the larger cities, however, 
the valuation is often much lower tlian this, 
while very large amounts escape assessment 
altogether. The Revenue Act, passed at the 
special session of the Fortietli General Assembly 
(1898), requires the Assessor to m.ake a return of 
all property subject to taxation in his district, at 
its cash valuation, upon which a Board of Review 
fixes a tax on the basis of twenty per cent of 
such cash valuation. An abstract of the property 
assessment of each count}- goes before the State 
Board of Equalization, at its annual meeting in 
August, for the purpose of comparison and equal- 
izing valuations between counties, but the Board 
has no power to modify the assessments of indi- 
vidual tax-payers. (See State Board of Equali- 
zation.) This Board has exclusive power to fix 
the valuation for purposes of taxation of the 
capital stock or franchises of companies (except 
certain specified manufacturing corporations) , in- 
corporated under the State laws, together with the 
"railroad track" and "rolling stock" of railroads, 
and the capital stock of railroads and telegraph 
lines, and to fix the distribution of the latter 
between counties in which they lie. — The Consti- 
tution of 1848 empowered the Legislature to 
impose a capitation tax, of not less than fifty 
cents nor more than one dollar, upon each free 
white male citizen entitled to the right of suf- 
frage, between the ages of 21 and 60 years, but the 
Constitution of 1870 grants no such power, 
though it authorizes the extension of the "objects 
and subjects of taxation" in accordance with the 
principle contained in the first section of the 
Revenue Article. — Special assessments in cities, 
for the construction of sewers, pavements, etc., 
being local and in the form of benefits, cannot 
be said to come under the head of general tax- 
ation. The same is to be said of revenue derivod 



from fines and penalties, which are forms of 
punishment for specific offenses, and go to the 
benefit of certain specified funds. 

TAYLOR, Abner, ex-Congressman, is a native 
of Maine, and a resident of Chicago. He has been 
in active business all his life as contractor, builder 
and merchant, and, for some time, a member of 
the wholesale dry-goods firm of J. V. Farwell & 
Co., of Chicago. He was a member of the Thirty- 
fourth General Assembly, a delegate to the 
National Republican Convention of 1884, and 
represented the First Illinois District in the Fifty- 
first and Fifty-second Congresses, 1889 to 1893. 
Mr. Taylor was one of the contractors for the 
erection of the new State Capitol of Texas. 

TAYLOR, Benjamin Fninklin, journalist, poet 
and lecturer, was born at Lowville, N. Y , July 
19, 1819; graduated at Madison University in 
1839, the next year becoming literary and dra- 
matic critic of "The Chicago Evening Journal" 
Here, in a few years, he acquired a wide reputa- 
tion as a journalist and poet, and was much in 
demand as a lecturer on literary topics. His 
letters from the field during the Rebellion, as 
war correspondent of "The Evening Journal," 
won for him even a greater popularity, and were 
complimented by translation into more than one 
European language. After the war, he gave his 
attention more unreserved!}' to literature, his 
principal works appearing after that date. His 
publications in book form, including both prose 
and poetry, comprise the following; "Attractions 
of Language" (184.5); "January and June" 
(18.53); "Pictures in Camp and Field" (1871), 
"The World on Wheels" (1873); "Old Time Pic- 
tures and Sheaves of Rhyme" (1874); "Songs of 
Yesterday" (1877); "Summer Savory Gleaned 
from Rural Nooks" (1879); "Between the Gates" 
— pictures of California life — (1881); "Dulce 
Domum, the Burden of Song" (1884), and "Theo- 
philus Trent, or Old Times in the Oak Openings. ' 
a novel (1887). The last was in the hands of the 
publishers at his death, Feb. 27, 1887. Among 
his most popular poems are "The Isle of the Long 
Ago," "The Old Village Choir," and "Rhymes of 
the River. " ' ' 'The London Times' ' complimented 
Mr. Taylor with the title of "The Oliver Gold- 
smith of America." 

TAYLOR, Edmund Dick, early Indian-trader 
and legislator, was born at Fairfield C. H. , Va., 
Oct. 18, 1803 — the son of a commissary in the 
army of the Revolution, under General Greene, 
and a cousin of General (later, President) Zachary 
Taylor; left his native State in his youth and, at 
an early day, came to Springfield, 111., where he 



520 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



opened an Indian-trading post and general store ; 
was elected from Sangamon Count)- to the lower 
branch of tlie Seventh General Assembly (1830) 
and re-elected in 1832— the latter year being a 
competitor of Abraham Lincoln, whom he 
defeated. In 1834 he was elected to the State 
Senate and, at the next session of the Legislature, 
was one of the celebrated "Long Nine'" who 
secured the removal of the State Capital to 
Springfield. He resigned before the close of his 
term to accept, from President Jackson, the ap- 
pointment of Receiver of Public Moneys at Chi- 
cago. Here he became one of the promoters of 
the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (1837), 
serving as one of the Commissioners to secure 
subscriptions of stock, and was also active in 
advocating the construction of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal. The title of "Colonel," by 
which he was known during most of his life, was 
acquired by service, with tliat rank, on the staff 
of Gov. John Reynolds, during the Black Hawk 
War of 1832. After coming to Chicago, Colonel 
Taylor became one of the Trustees of the Chicago 
branch of the State Bank, and was later identified 
with various banking enterprises, as also a some- 
what extensive operator in real estate. An active 
Democrat in the early part of his career in Illi- 
nois, Colonel Taylor was one of the members of 
his party to take ground against the Kansas- Neb 
raska bill in 18.54, and advocated the election of 
General Bissell to the governorship in 18.')6. In 
1860 he was again in line with his party in sup- 
port of Senator Douglas for the Presidency, and 
was an opponent of the war policy of the Govern- 
ment still later, as shown by his participation in 
the celebrated "Peace Convention" at Spring- 
field, of June 17, 1863. In the latter years of his 
life he became extensively interested in coal 
lands in La Salle and adjoining counties, and, 
for a considerable time, served as President of the 
Northern Illinois Coal & Mining Company, his 
home, during a part of tliis period, being at 
Mendota. Died, in Chicago, Dec. 4, 1891. 

TAYLOKVILLE, a city and county-seat of 
Christian County, on the South Fork of the Sanga- 
mon River and on the Wabash Railway at its 
point of intersection with the Springfield Division 
of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern. It is 
about 27 miles southeast of Springfield, and 
28 miles southwest of Decatur. It has several 
banks, flour mills, paper mill, electric light and 
gas plants, water-works, two coal mines, carriage 
and wagon shops, a manufactory of farming 
implements, two daily and weekly papers, nine 
churches and five graded and township high 



schools. Much coal is mined in this vicinity. 
Pop. (1890), 3,839: (1900), 4,248. 

TAZEWELL COUNTY, a central county on 
the Illinois River; was first settled in 1823 and 
organized in 1827; has an area of 0.50 square miles 
— was named for Governor Tazewell of Virginia. 
It is drained by the Illinois and Mackinaw Rivers 
and traversed by several lines of railway. The 
surface is generally level, the soil alluvial and 
rich, but, requiring drainage, especially on the 
river bottoms. Gravel, coal and sandstone are 
found, but. generally speaking, Tazewell is an 
agricultural county. The cereals are extensively 
cultivated; wool is also clipped, and there are 
dairy interests of some importance. Distilling is 
extensively conducted at Pekin, the county-seat, 
which is also the seat of other mechanical indus- 
tries. (See also Pekin.) Population of the 
county (1880), 29,666; (1890), 29,5.56; (1900), 33,22L 

TEMPLE, John Taylor, M.D., early Chicago 
physician, born in Virginia in 1804, graduated in 
medicine at Middlebury College, Vt., in 1830, and, 
in 1833, arrived in Chicago. At this time he had 
a contract for carrying the United States mail 
from Chicago to Fort Howard, near Green Bay, 
and the following year undertook a similar con- 
tract between Chicago and Ottawa. Having sold 
these out three years later, he devoted his atten- 
tion to the practice of his profession, though 
interested, for a time, in contracts for the con- 
struction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Dr. 
Temple was instrumental in erecting the first 
house (after Rev. Jesse Walker's mi.ssionary 
station at Wolf Point), for public religious 
worship in Chicago, and, although himself a 
Baptist, it was used in common by Protestant 
denominations. He was a member of the first 
Board of Trustees of Rush Medical College, 
though he later became a convert to homeopathy, 
and finally, removing to St. Louis, assisted in 
founding the St. Louis School of Homeopathy, 
dying there. Feb. 24, 1877. 

TENURE OF OFFICE. (See Elections.) 

TERUE HAUTE, ALTON & ST. LOUIS 
RAILROAD. (See St. Louis. Alton & Teri-e 
Haute Railvoail.) 

TERRE HACTE & ALTON RAILROAD (See 
St. Louis. Alton & Terre Haute Railroad.) 

TERRE HAUTE & INDIANAPOLIS RAIL- 
ROAD, a corporation operating no line of its own 
within the State, but the lessee and operator of 
the fallowing lines (which see): St. Louis, 
Vandalia & Terre Haute, 158.8 miles; Terre 
Haute & Peoria, 145.12 miles; East St. Louis 
& Carondelet, 13.74 miles— total length of leased 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



521 



lines in Illinois, 316.16 miles. The Terre Haute 
& Indianapolis Railroad was incorporated in 
Indiana in 1847, as the Terre Haute & Rich- 
mond, completed a line between the points 
named in the title, in 18.52, and took its present 
name in 1866. The Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany purchased a controlling interest in its stock 
in 1893. 

TERRE HAUTE & PEORIA RAILROAD, 
(Vandalia Line), a line of road extending from 
Terre Haute, Ind., to Peoria, 111., 145.12 miles, 
with 28.78 miles of trackage, making in all 173.9 
miles in operation, all being in Illinois— operated 
by the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Com- 
pany. The gauge is standard, and the rails are 
steel. (History. ) It was organized Feb. 7, 1887, 
successor to the Illinois Midland Railroad. The 
latter was made up by the consolidation (Nov. 4, 
1874) of three lines: (1) The Peoria, Atlanta & 
Decatur Railroad, chartered in 1869 and opened in 
1874 ; (2) the Paris & Decatur Railroad, chartered 
in 1861 and opened in December, 1872 ; and (3) the 
Paris & Terre Haute Railroad, chartered in 1873 
and opened in 1874 — the consolidated lines 
assuming the name of the Illinois Midland Rail- 
road. In 1886 the Illinois Midland was sold under 
foreclosure and, in February, 1887, reorganized 
as the Terre Haute & Peoria Railroad. In 1892 
it was leased for ninety-nine years to the Terre 
Haute & Indianapolis Railroad Company, and is 
operated as a part of the "Vandalia System." 
The capital stock (1898) was $3,764,200; funded 
debt, $3,230,000,— total capital invested, §6,227,- 
481. 

TEUTOPOLIS, a village of Effingham Coimty, 
on the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, 4 
miles east of Effinghaiu ; was originally settled 
by a colony of Germans from Cincinnati. Popu- 
lation (1900), 498. 

THOMAS, Horace H., lawyer and legislator, 
was born in Vermont, Dec. 18, 1831, graduated at 
Middlebury College, and, after admission to the 
bar, removed to Chicago, where he commenced 
practice. At the outbreak of the rebellion he 
enlisted and was commissioned Assistant Adju- 
tant-General of the Army of the Ohio. At the 
close of the war he took up his residence in Ten- 
nessee, serving as Quartermaster upon the staff 
of Governor Brownlow. In 1867 he returned to 
Chicago and resumed practice. He was elected 
a Representative in the Legislature in 1878 and 
re-elected in 1880, being chosen Speaker of the 
House during his latter term. In 1888 he was 
elected State Senator from the Sixth District, 
serving during the sessions of the Thirty-sixth 



and Thirty-seventh General Assemblies. In 
1897, General Thomas was appointed United 
States Appraiser in connection with the Custom 
House in Chicago. 

THOMAS, Jesse Burgess, jurist and United 
States Senator, was born at Hagerstown, Md. , 
claiming direct descent from Lord Baltimore. 
Taken west in childhood, he grew to manhood 
and settled at Lawrenceburg, Indiana Territory, 
in 1803; in 1805 was Speaker of the Territorial 
Legislature and, later, represented the Territory 
as Delegate in Congress. On the organization of 
Illinois Territory (which he had favored), he 
removed to Kaskaskia, was appointed one of the 
first Judges for the new Territory, and, in 1818, 
as Delegate from St. Clair County, presided over 
the first State Constitutional Convention, and, on 
tlie aiimission of the State, became one of the 
first United States Senators — Governor Edwards 
being his colleague. Though an avowed advo- 
cate of slavery, he gained no little prominence 
as the author of the celebrated "Missouri Com- 
promise," adopted in 1820. He was re-elected to 
the Senate in 1823, serving until 1829. He sub- 
seijuently removed to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where 
he died by suicide. May 4, 1853. — Jesse Burgess 
(Thomas), Jr., nephew of the United States Sena- 
tor of the same name, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, 
July 31, 1806, was educated at Transylvania 
University, and, being admitted to the bar, 
located at Edwardsville, 111. He first appeared 
in connection with public affairs as Secretary of 
the State Senate in 1830, being re-elected in 1832 ; 
in 1834 was elected Representative in the General 
As.sembly from Madison County, but, in Febru- 
ary following, was appointed Attorney-General, 
serving only one year. He afterwards held the 
position of Circuit Judge (1837-39), his home being 
then in Springfield; in 1843 he became Associ- 
ate Justice of the Supreme Court, by appointment 
of the Governor, as successor to Stephen A. Doug- 
las, and was afterwards elected to the same 
office by the Legislature, remaining until 1848. 
During a part of his professional career he was 
the partner of David Prickett and William L. 
May, at Springfield, and after%vards a member of 
the Galena bar, finally removing to Chicago, 
where he died, Feb. 21, 1850.— Jesse B. (Thomas) 
third, clergyman and son of the last named ; born 
at Edwardsville, 111., July 29, 1832; educated at 
Kenyon College, Ohio, and Rochester (N. Y.) 
Theological Seminary ; practiced law for a time 
in Chicago, but finally entered the Baptist minis- 
try, serving churches at Waukegan, 111., Brook- 
lyn, N. Y., and San Francisco (1863-69). He 



622 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



then became pastor of the Michigan Avenue Bap- 
tist Church, in Chicago, remaining until 1874, 
when he returned to Brooklyn. In 1887 he 
became Professor of Biblical History in tlie 
Theological Seminary at Newton, Mass., where he 
has since resided. He is the author of several 
■■volumes, and. in 1866, received the degree of D.D. 
from the old University of Chicago. 

THOMAS, John, pioneer and soldier of the 
Black Hawk War, was born in Wythe County, 
Va., Jan. 11, 1800. At the age of 18 he accom- 
panied his parents to St. Clair County, 111., where 
the family located in what was then called the 
Alexander settlement, near the present site of 
Shiloh. Wlien he was 22 he rented a farm 
(although he had not enough money to buy a 
horse) and married. Six years later he bought 
and stocked a farm, and, from that time forward, 
rajiidly accumulated real property, until he 
became one of the most e.xtensive owners of farm- 
ing land in St. Clair County. In early life he 
was fond of military exercise, holding various 
offices in local organizations and serving as a 
Colonel in the Black Hawk War. In 1824 he was 
one of the leaders of the party opposed to the 
amendment of the State Constitution to sanction 
slavery, was a zealous opponent of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill in 18,14, and a firm supporter of the 
Republican party from the date of its formation. 
He was elected to the lower house of the General 
Assembly in 1838, '02, '64, "73 and "74; and to the 
State Senate in 1878, serving four years in the 
latter body. Died, at Belleville, Deo. 16, 1894, in 
the 95th year of his age. 

THOMAS, John R., ex-Congressman, was born 
at Mount Vernon, 111., Oct. 11, 1846. He served 
in the Union Army during the War of the Rebel- 
lion, rising from the ranks to a captaincy. After 
his return home he studied law, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1869. From 1872 to 1876 he was 
State's Attorney, and, from 1879 to 1889, repre- 
sented his District in Congress. In 1897, Mr. 
Thomas was appointed by President McKinley 
an additional United States District Judge for 
Indian Territory. His home is now at Vanita, 
in that Territory. 

THOMAS, Willium, pioneer lawyer and legis- 
lator, was born in what is now Allen County, 
Ky., Nov. 32, 1802; received a rudimentary edu- 
cation, and served as deputy of his father (who 
was Sheriff), and afterwards of the County Clerk ; 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1833; 
in 1826 removed to Jacksonville, 111., where he 
taught school, served as a private in the Winne- 
bago War (1827), and at the session of 1828-29, 



reported tlie proceedings of the General A.ssem- 
bly for "'The Yandalia Intelligencer" ; was State's 
Attorney and School Commissioner of Morgan 
County; served as Quartermaster and Commis- 
sary in the Black Hawk War (1831-32), first under 
Gen. Joseph Duncan and, a year later, under 
General Whiteside; in 1839 was appointed Circuit 
Judge, but legislated out of office two years later. 
It was as a member of the Legislature, however, 
that he gained the greatest prominence, first as 
State Senator in 1834-40, and Representative in 
1846-48 and 1850-52, when he was especially influ- 
ential in the legislation which resulted in estab- 
lishing the institutions for the Deaf and Dumb 
and the Blind, and the Hospital for the Insane 
(the first in the State) at Jacksonville— serving, 
for a time, as a member of the Board of Trustees 
of the latter. He was also prominent in connec- 
tion with many enterprises of a local character, 
including the establishment of the Illinois Female 
College, to which, although without children of 
his own, he was a liberal contributor. During 
the first year of the war he was a member of the 
Board of Army Auditors by appointment of Gov- 
ernor Yates. Died, at Jacksonville, August 22, 
1889. 

THORATOIV, Anthony, jurist, was born in 
Bourbon County, Ky., Nov. 9, 1814— being 
descended from a "Virginia family. After the 
usual primary instruction in the common schools, 
he spent two years in a high school at Gallatin, 
Tenn. , when he entered Centre College at Dan- 
ville, Ky., afterwards continuing his studies at 
Miami University, Ohio, where he graduated in 
1834. Having studied law with an uncle at 
Paris, Ky., he was licensed to practice in 1836, 
when he left his native State with a view to set- 
tling in Missouri, but, visiting his uncle. Gen. 
William F. Thornton, at Shelby ville. III., was 
induced to establish himself in practice tliere. 
He served as a member of the State Constitutional 
Conventions of 1847 and 1862, and as Represent- 
ative in the Seventeenth General Assembly 
(1850-52) for Shelby County. In 1864 he was 
elected to the Thirtj'-ninth Congress, and, in 
1870, to the Illinois Supreiue Court, but served 
only vmtil 1873, when he resigned. In 1879 
Judge Thornton removed to Decatur. III., but 
.subsequently returned to Shelbyville, where 
(1898) he now resides, 

THORNTON, WilHam Fitzhugh, Commissioner 
of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, was born in 
Hanover County, Va., Oct. 4, 1789; in 1806, went 
to Alexandria, Va., where he conducted a drug 
business for a time, also acting as associate 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



523 



editor of "The Alexandria Gazette." Subse- 
quently removing to Washington City, he con- 
ducted a paper there in the interest of John 
Quincy Adams for the Presidency. During the 
War of 1812-14 he served as a Captain of cavalry, 
and, for a time, as staff-officer of General Winder. 
On occasion of the visit of Marquis La Fayette to 
America (1824-25) he accompanied the distin- 
guished Frenchman from Baltimore to Rich- 
mond. In 1829 he removed to Kentucky, and, 
in 1833, to Shelby ville. 111., where he soon after 
engaged in mercantile business, to which he 
added a banking and brokerage business in 18.59, 
with which he was actively associated until his 
death. In 1886, he was appointed, by Governor 
Duncan, one of the Commissioners of the Illinois 
& Michigan Canal, serving as President of the 
Board until 1842. In 1840, he made a visit to 
London, as financial agent of the State, in the 
interest of the Canal, and succeeded in making a 
sale of bonds to the amount of .51,000,000 on what 
were then considered favorable terms. General 
Thornton was an ardent Whig until the organi- 
zation of the Republican part}', when he became 
a Democrat. Died, at Shelbyville, Oct. 21, 
1873. 

TILLSON, John, pioneer, was born at Halifax, 
Mass., March 13, 1796; came to Illinois in 1819, 
locating at Hillsboro, Montgomery Count}', where 
he became a prominent and enterprising operator 
in real estate, doing a large business for eastern 
parties; was one of the founders of Hillsboro 
Academy and an influential and liberal friend of 
Illinois College, being a Trustee of the latter 
from its establishment until his death ; was sup- 
ported in the Legislature of 1827 for State Treas- 
urer, but. defeated by James Hall. Died, at 
Peoria, May 11, 1853.— Christiana Holmes (Till- 
son), wife of the preceding, was born at Kingston, 
Mass., Oct. 10, 1798; married to John Tillson in 
1822, and immediately came to Illinois to reside ; 
was a woman of rare culture and refinement, and 
deeply interested in benevolent enterprises. 
Died, in New York City, May 29, 1872.— Charles 
Holmes (Tillson), son of John and Christiana 
Holmes Tillson, was born at Hillsboro, 111., Sept. 
15, 1823; educated at Hillsboro Academy and 
Illinois College, graduating fi-om the latter in 
1844; studied law in St. Louis and at Transyl- 
vania University, was admitted to the bar in St. 
Louis and practiced there some years — also served 
several terms in the City Council, and was a 
member of the National Guard of Missouri in the 
War of the Rebellion. Died, Nov. 2,5, 1865.— 
John (Tillson), Jr., another son, was born at 



Hillsboro, 111., Oct. 12, 1825; educated at Hills- 
boro Academy and Illinois College, but did not 
graduate from the latter ; graduated from Tran- 
sylvania Law School, Ky., in 1847, and was 
admitted to the bar at Quincy, 111., the same 
year; practiced two years at Galena, when he 
returned to Quincy. In 1861 he enlisted in the 
Tenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, became its 
Lieutenant-Colonel, on the promotion of Col. J. D. 
Morgan to Brigadier-General, was advanced to 
the colonelcy, and, in July, 1865, was mustered 
out with the rank of brevet Brigadier-General ; 
for two years later held a commission as Captain 
in the regular army. During a portion of 1869-70 
he was editor of "The Quincy Whig"; in 1873 
was elected Representative in the Twenty-eighth 
General Assembly to succeed Nehemiah Bushnell, 
who had died in office, and, during the same year, 
was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for 
the Quincy District, serving until 1881. Died, 
August 6, 1892. 

TILLSON, Robert, pioneer, was born in Hali- 
fax County, Ma.ss., August 12, 1800; came to Illi- 
nois in 1822, and was employed, for several years, 
as a clerk in the land agency of his brother, John 
Tillson, at Hillsboro. In 1836 he engaged in the 
mercantile business with Charles Holmes, Jr., in 
St. Louis, but, in 1828, removed to Quincy, 111., 
where he opened the first general store in tliat 
city; also served as Postmaster for some ten 
years. During this period he built the first two- 
story frame building erected in Quincy, up to 
that date. Retiring from the mercantile business 
in 1840 he engaged in real estate, ultimately 
becoming the proprietor of considerable property 
of this character ; was also a contractor for fur- 
nishing cavalry accouterments to the Goverimient 
during the war. Soon after the war he erected 
one of the liandsome.st business blocks existing 
in the city at that time. Died, in Quincy, Dec. 
27, 1892. 

TINCHER* John L., banker, was born in Ken- 
tucky in 1831 ; brought by his parents to Vermil- 
ion County, Ind., in 1829, and left an orphan at 
17; attended school in Coles County, 111 , and 
was employed as clerk in a store at Danville, 
1843-53. He then became a member of the firm 
of Tincher & English, merchants, later establish- 
ing a bank, which became the First National 
Bank of Danville. In 1864 Mr. Tincher was 
elected Representative in the Twenty-fourth 
General Assembly and, two years later, to the 
Senate, being re-elected in 1870. He was also a 
member of the State Constitutional Convention 
of 1869-70. Died, in Springfield, Dec. 17, 1871, 



524 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



while in attendance on the adjourned session of 
that year. 

Tli'TON, Thomas F., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Franklin County, Ohio, August 29, 1833 ; 
has been a resident of McLean County, 111., from 
the age of 10 years, his present home being at 
Bloomington. He was admitted to the bar in 
1857, and, from January. 1807, to December, 1808, 
was State's Attorney for the Eighth Judicial 
Circuit. In 1870 he was elected Judge of the 
same circuit, and under the new Constitution, 
■was chosen Judge of the new Fourteenth Circuit. 
From 1877 to 1879 lie represented the (then) 
Thirteenth Illinois District in Congress, but, in 
1878, was defeated by Adlai E. Stevenson, tlie 
Democratic nominee. In 1891 he was re-elected 
to a seat on tlie Circuit bench for the Bloomington 
Circuit, but resumeil practice at the expiration 
of his term in 1897. 

TISKILWA, a village of Bureau County, on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 7 miles 
southwest of Princeton; has creameries and 
cheese factories, churches, school, library, water- 
works, bank and a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 96.5. 

TODD, (Col.) John, .soldier, was born in Mont- 
gomery County, Pa., in 1750; took part in the 
battle of Point Pleasant, Va., in 1774, as Adju- 
tant-General of General Lewis; settled as a 
lawyer at Fincastle, Va., and, in 1775, removed 
to Fayette County, Ky., the next year locating 
near Lexington. He was one of the first two 
Delegates from Kentucky County to the Virginia 
House of Burgesses, and, in 1778, accompanied 
Col. George Rogers Clark on his expedition 
against Kaskaskia and Vincennes. In Decem- 
ber, 1778, he was appointed by Gov. Patrick 
Henrj-, Lieutenant Commandant of Illinois 
County, embracing the region northwest of the 
Ohio River, serving two years; in 1780, was again 
a member of the Virginia Legislature, where he 
procured grants of land for public schools and 
introduced a bill for negro-emancipation. He 
was killed by Indians, at the battle of Blue 
Licks, Ky., August 19, 1782. 

TODD, (Dr.) John, physician, born near Lex- 
ington, Ky., April 27, 1787, was one of the earli- 
est graduates of Transylvania University, also 
graduating at the Medical University of Phila- 
delphia ; was appointed Surgeon-General of Ken- 
tucky troops in the War of 1812, and captured at 
tne battle of River Raisin. Returning to Lex- 
ington after his release, he practiced there and 
at Bardstown, removed to Edwardsville, 111., in 
1817, and, in 1827, to Springfield, where he had 
been appointed Register of tlie Land Office by 



President John Quincy Adams, but was removed 
by Jackson in 1829. Dr. Todd continued to reside 
at Springfield until his death, which occurred, 
Jan. 9, 1865. He was a grandson of John Todd, 
who was ajjpointed Commandant of Illinois 
County by Gov. Patrick Henry in 1778, and an 
uncle of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. — John Jilair 
Sniltli (Todd), son of the preceding, was born at 
Lexington, K}'., April 4, 1814; came with his 
father to Illinois in 1817 ; graduated at the United 
States Military Academy in 1837, serving after- 
wards in the Florida and Mexican wars and on 
the frontier; resigned, and was an Indian-trader 
in Dakota, 1850-61 ; the latter year, took his 
seat as a Delegate in Congress from Dakota, 
then served as Brigadier-General of Volun- 
teers, 1861-62; was again Delegate in Congress 
in 1863-65, Speaker of the Dakota Legislature 
in 1867, and Governor of the Territory, 1869-71. 
Died, at Yankton City, Jan. 5, 1872. 

TOLEDO, a village and the county-seat of 
Cumberland County, on the Illinois Central Rail- 
road; founded in 1854; has five churches, a graded 
school, two banks, creamery, flour mill, elevator, 
and two weekly newspapers. There are no manu- 
factories, tlie leading industry in the surrounding 
country being agriculture. Pop. (1890), 676; 
(1900), 818. 

TOLEDO, CINCINNATI & ST. LOUIS RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas Cits 
Railroad.) 

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WARSAW RAILROAD. 
(See Toledo, Peoria A' Western Raihray.) 

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WESTERN RAILROAD. 
(See 7\)ledo. Peoria ct '[Vesfent Railway.) 

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WESTERN RAILWAY, 
a line of railroad wholly within the State of Illi- 
nois, extending from Effner, at the Indiana State 
line, west to tlie Mississippi River at Warsaw. 
The length of the whole line is 230.7 miles, owned 
eutirelj' by the companj-. It is made up of a 
division from Effner to Peoria (110.9 miles) — 
which is practically an air-line throughout nearly 
its entire length — and the Peoria and Warsaw 
Division (108.8 miles) with branches from La 
Harpe to Iowa Junction (10.4 miles) and 0.6 of a 
mile connecting with the Keokuk bridge at 
Hamilton. — (History.) The original charter for 
this line was granted, in 1803, under the name of 
the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad; the main 
line was completed in 1808, and the La Harpe & 
Iowa Junction branch in 1873. Default was 
made in 1873, the road sold under foreclosure, in 
1880, and reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria & 
Western Railroad, and the line leased for 49^ 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



525 



years to the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway 
Company. Tlie latter defaulted in July, 1884. 
and, a year later, the Toledo, Peoria & Western 
was transferred to trustees for the first mortgage 
bond-holders, was sold under foreclosure in 
October, 1886, and, in March, 1887, the present 
company, under the name of the Toledo, Peoria 
& Western Railway Company, was organized for 
the purpose of taking over the property. In 1893 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company obtained a 
controlling interest in the stock, and, in 1894, an 
agreement, for joint ownership and management, 
was entered into between that corporation and 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- 
pany. The total capitalization, in 1898, was 
$9,712,433, of which $4,076,900 was in stock and 
$4,895,000 in bonds. 

TOLEDO, ST. LOUIS & KANSAS CITY RAIL- 
ROAD. This line crosses the State in a northeast 
direction from East St. Louis to Humrick, near 
the Indiana State line, with Toledo as its eastern 
terminus. The length of the entire line is 450.73 
miles, of which 1791/4 miles are operated in Illi- 
nois. — (History.) The Illinois portion of the 
line grew out of the union of charters granted to 
the Tuscola, Charleston & Vincennes and the 
Charleston, Neoga & St. Louis Railroad Com- 
panies, which were consolidated in 1881 with 
certain Indiana lines under the name of the 
Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad. During 
1882 a narrow-gauge road was constructed from 
Ridge Farm, in Vermilion County, to East St. 
Louis (173 miles). In 1885 this was sold under 
foreclosure and, in June, 1886, consolidated with 
the main line under the name of the Toledo, St. 
Louis & Kansas City Railroad. The whole line 
was changed to standard gauge in 1887-89, and 
otherwise materially improved, but, in 1893, 
went into the hands of receivers. Plans of re- 
organization have been under consideration, but 
the receivers were still in control in 1898. 

TOLEDO, WABASH & WESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Wabash Railroad.) 

TOLONO, a city in Champaign County, situ- 
ated at the intersection of the Wabash and the 
Illinois Central Railroads, 9 miles .south of Cham- 
paign and 37 miles east-northeast of Decatur. It 
is the business center of a prosperous agricultural 
region. The town has five churches, a graded 
school, a bank, a button factory, and a weekly 
newspaper. Population (1880), 905; (1890), 903; 
(1900), 845. 

TONICA, a village of La Salle County, on the 
Illinois Central Railway, 9 miles south of La Salle ; 
the district is agricultural, but the place has some 



manufactures and a newspaper. Population 
(1890), 473; (1900), 497, 

TONTY, Chevalier Henry de, explorer and sol- 
dier, born at Gaeta. Italy, about 16.50 What is 
now known as the Tontine sj'stem of insurance 
undoubtedly originated with his father. The 
younger Tonty was adventurous, and, even as a 
youth, took part in numerous land and naval 
encounters. In the course of his experience he 
lost a hand, which was replaced by an iron or 
copper substitute. He embarked with La Salle 
in 1678, and aided in the construction of a fort at 
Niagara. He advanced into the country of the 
Illinois and established friendly relations with 
them, only to witness the defeat of his putative 
savage allies by the Iroquois. After various 
encounters (chiefly under the direction of La 
Salle) with the Indians in Illinois, he returned 
to Green Bay in 1681. The same year— under La 
Salle's orders — he began the erection of Fort St. 
Louis, on what is now called "Starved Rock" in 
La Salle County. In 1682 he descended the Mis- 
sissippi to its mouth, with La Salle, but was 
ordered back to Mackinaw for assistance. In 
1684 he returned to Illinois and successfully 
repulsed the Iroquois from Fort St. Louis. In 
1686 he again descended the Mississippi in search 
of La Salle. Disheartened by the death of his 
commander and the loss of his early comrades, 
he took up his residence with the Illinois Indians. 
Among them he was found by Iberville in 1700, 
as a hunter and fur-trader. He died, in Mobile, 
in September, 1704. He was La Salle's most effi- 
cient coadjutor, and next to his ill-fated leader, 
did more than any other of the early French 
explorers to make Illinois known to the civilized 
world. 

TOPOGRAPHY. Illinois is, generally speak- 
ing, an elevated table-land. If lovi^ water at 
Cairo be adopted as the maximum depression, and 
the summits of the two ridges hereinafter men- 
tioned as the highest points of elevation, the alti- 
tude of this table land above the sea-level varies 
from 300 to 850 feet, the mean elevation being 
about 600 feet. The State has no mountain 
chains, and its few hills are probably the result 
of unequal denudation during the drift epoch. 
In some localities, particularly in the valley of 
the upper Mississippi, the streams have cut 
channels from 200 to 300 feet deep through the 
nearly horizontal strata, and here are found pre- 
cipitous scarps, but, for the most part, the 
fundamental rocks are covered by a thick layer 
of detrital material. In the northwest there is a 
broken tract of uneven ground; the central por- 



526 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tion of the State is almost wholly flat prairie, 
and, in the alluvial lands in the State, there are 
many deep valleys, eroded by the action of 
streams. The surface generally slopes toward 
tlie south and southwest, but the uniformity is 
liroken by two ridges, whicli cross the State, one 
in either extremity. The northern ridge crosses 
the Rock River at Grand Detour and the Illinois 
at Split Rock, with an extreme altitude of 800 to 
830 feet above sea-level, though the altitude of 
Mount Morris, in Ogle County, e.\ceeds 900 feet. 
That in the south consists of a range of hills in 
the latitude of Jonesboro, and extending from 
Shawneetown to Grand Tower. These hills are 
also about 800 feet above the level of the ocean. 
The highest point in the State is in Jo Daviess 
County, just south of the Wisconsin State line 
(near Scale's Mound) reaching an elevation of 
1,2.57 feet above sea-level, while the highest in 
the south is in the northeast ■ corner of Pope 
County — 1,046 feet — a spur of the Ozark moun- 
tains. The following statistics regarding eleva- 
tions are taken from a report of Prof. C. W. 
Rolfe, of the University of Illinois, based on 
observations made under the auspices of the Illi- 
nois Board of World's Fair Commissioners: The 
lowest gauge of tlie Ohio river, at its mouth 
(above sea-level), is 268.58 feet, and the mean 
level of Lake Michigan at Chicago 581.28 feet. 
The altitudes of a few prominent points are as 
follows: Highest point in Jackson County, 695 
feet; "Bald Knob" in Union County, 985; high- 
est point in Cook County (Barrington), 818; in La 
Salle County (Mendota), 747; in Livingston 
(Strawn), 770; in Will (Monee), 804; in Pike 
(Arden), 790; in Lake (Lake Zurich), 880; in 
Bureau, 910; in Boone, 1,010; in Lee (Carnahan), 
1,017; in Stephenson (Waddam's Grove), 1,018; 
in Kane (Briar Hill), 974; in Winnebago, 985, 
The elevations of important towns are : Peoria, 
405; Jacksonville, 602; Springfield, .596; Gales- 
burg. 7.55; Joliet, .5.37; Rockford, 728; Blooming- 
ton, 821. Outside of tlie immediate vallejs of 
the streams, and a few isolated groves or copses, 
little timber is found in the northern and central 
portions of the State, and such growth as there 
is, lacks the thriftiness characteristic of the for- 
ests in the Ohio valley. Tliese forests cover a 
belt extending some sixtj- miles north of Cairo, 
and, while they generally include few coniferous 
trees, they aliound in various species of oak, 
black and white walnut, white and yellow pop- 
lar, ash, elm, sugar maple, linden, honey locust, 
Cottonwood, mulberry, .wcamore, pecan, persim- 
mon, and (in the immediate valley of the Ohio) 



the cypress. From a commercial point of view, 
Illinois loses nothing through the lack of timber 
over three-fourths of the State's area. Chicago 
is an accessible market for the product of the 
forests of the upper lakes, so that the supply of 
lumber is ample, while extensive coal-fields sup- 
ply abundant fuel. The rich soil of the prairies, 
with its abundance of organic matter (see Oeo- 
logical Formations), more than compensates for 
the want of pine forests, whose soil is ill adapted 
to agriculture. About two-thirds of the entire 
boundary of the State consists of navigable 
waters. These, with their tributary streams, 
ensure sufficient drainage. 

TORRE>S LAND TITLE SYSTEM. A system 
for the registration of titles to, and incumbrances 
upon, land, as well as transfers thereof, intended 
to remove all unnecessary obstructions to the 
cheap, simple and safe sale, acquisition and 
transfer of realty. The system has been in suc- 
cessful operation in Canada, Australia, New Zea- 
land and British Columbia for many years, and 
it is also in force in some States in the American 
Union. An act providing for its introduction 
into Illinois was first passed by tlie Twenty- 
nintli General Assembly, and approved, June 13, 
1895. The final legislation in reference thereto 
was enacted bj' the succeeding Legislature, and 
was approved. May 1, 1897. It is far more elabo- 
rate in its consideration of details, and is believed 
to be, in many respects, much better adapted to 
accomplish the ends in view, tlian was the origi- 
nal act of 1895. The law is applicable only to 
counties of the first and second class, and can be 
adopted in no county except by a vote of a 
majority of the qualified voters of the same — the 
vote "for" or "against"' to be taken at either the 
November or April elections, or at an election 
for the choice of Judges. Thus far the only 
county to adopt the system has been Cook, and 
there it encountered strong opposition on the 
part of certain parties of influence and wealth. 
After its adoption, a test case was brought, rais- 
ing the question of the constitutionality of the 
act. Tlie issue was taken to the Supreme Court, 
which tribunal finally upheld the law. — The 
Torrens system substitutes a certificate of regis- 
tration and of transfer for the more elaborate 
deeds and mortgages in use for centuries. Under 
it there can be no actual transfer of a title until 
the same is entered upon the public land regis- 
ter, kept in the office of the Registrar, in which 
case the deed or mortgage becomes a mere power 
of attorney to authorize the transfer to be made, 
upon the principle of an ordinary stock transfer. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



527 



or of the registration of a United States bond, 
the actual transfer and public notice thereof 
being simultaneous. A brief synopsis of the pro- 
visions of the Illinois statute is given below; 
Recorders of deeds are made Registrars, and 
required to give bonds of either §50,000 or §200,- 
000, according to the population of the county. 
Any person or corporation, having an interest in 
land, may make application to any court having 
chancery jurisdiction, to have his title thereto 
registered. Such ajiplication must be in writ- 
ing, signed and verified by oath, and must con- 
form, in matters of specification and detail, with 
the requirements of the act. The court maj' refer 
the application to one of the standing examiners 
appointed by the Registrar, who are required to 
be competent attorneys and to give bond to ex- 
amine into tlie title, as well as the truth of the 
applicant's statements. Immediately upon the 
filing of the application, notice thereof is given 
by the clerk, through publication and the issuance 
of a summons to be served, as in other proceed- 
ings in chancery, against all persons mentioned 
in the petition as having or claiming any inter- 
est in the property described. Any person inter- 
ested, wliether named as a defendant or not, may 
enter an appearance witliin the time allowed. A 
failure to enter an appearance is regarded as a 
confession by default. The court, in passing 
upon the application, is in no case bound by the 
examiner's report, but may require other and 
further proof ; and, in its final adjudication, passes 
upon all questions of title and incumbrance, 
directing the Registrar to register the title in the 
party in whom it is to be vested, and making 
provision as to the manner and order in which 
incumbrances thereon shall appear upon the 
certificate to be issued. An appeal may be 
allowed to the Supreme Court, if prayed at the 
time of entering the decree, upon like terms as 
in other cases in chancery; and a writ of error 
may be sued out from that tribunal within two 
years after the entry of the order or decree. 
The period last mentioned may be said to be the 
statutory period of limitation, after which the 
decree of tlie court must be regarded as final, 
although safeguards are provided for those who 
may have been defrauded, and for a few other 
classes of persons. Upon the filing of the order 
or decree of the court, it becomes the duty of the 
Registrar to issue a certificate of title, the form 
of which is prescribed by the act, making such 
notations at the end as shall show and preserve 
tlie priorities of all estates, mortgages, incum- 
brances and changes to which the owner's title is 



subject. For the purpose of preserving evidence 
of the owner's handwriting, a receipt for the 
certificate, duly witnessed or acknowledged, is 
required of him, which is preserved in the Regis- 
trar's ofBce. In case any registered owner 
should desire to transfer the whole or any part of 
his estate, or any interest therein, he is required 
to execute a conveyance to the transferee, which, 
together with the certificate of title last issued, 
must be surrendered to the Registrar. That 
official thereupon issues a new certificate, stamp- 
ing the word "cancelled" across the surrendered 
certificate, as well as upon the corresponding 
entry in his books of record. When land is first 
brought within the operation of the act, the 
receiver of the certificate of title is required to 
pay to the Registrar one-tenth of one per cent of 
the value of the land, the aggregate so received 
to be dejiosited with and invested by the County 
Treasurer, and reserved as an indemnity fund 
for the reimbursement of persons sustaining any 
loss through any omission, mistake or malfea- 
sance of the Registrar or his subordinates. The 
advantage claimed for the Torrens system is, 
chiefly, that titles registered thereunder can be 
dealt with more safely, quickly and inexpensively 
than under the old system ; it being possible to 
close the entire transaction within an hour or 
two, without the need of an abstract of title, 
while (as the law is administered in Cook County) 
the cost of transfer is only 83. It is asserted that 
a title, once registered, can be dealt with almost 
as quickly and cheaplj", and quite as safely, as 
shares of stock or registered bonds. 

TOULON^ the county -seat of Stark County, on 
the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad, 37 miles north- 
northwest of Peoria, and 11 miles southeast of 
Galva. Besides the county court- house, tlie town 
has five churches and a high school, an academy, 
steam granite works, two banks, and two weekly 
papers. Population (1880), 967; (1890), 945; (1900), 
1,057. 

TOWER HILL, a village of Shelby County, on 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, ChicSigo & St. Louis 
and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Rail- 
roads, 7 miles east of Pana; has bank, grain ele- 
vators, and coal mine. Pop. (1900), 615. 

TOWNSHEND, Eicliard W., lawyer and Con- 
gressman, was born in Prince George's County, 
Md., April 30, 1840. Between the ages of 10 
and 18 he attended public and private schools 
at Washington, D. C. In 1858 he came to 
Illinois, where he began teaching, at the same 
time reading law with S. S. Marshall, at Mc- 
Leansboro, where he was admitted to the bar 



528 



UISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in 1863, and where he began practice. From 1863 
to 1868 he was Circuit Clerk of Hamilton County, 
and, from 1868 to 1872, Pi-osecuting Attorney for 
the Twelfth Judicial Circuit. In 1873 he removed 
to Shawneetown, where he became an officer of 
the Gallatin National Bank. From 1C64 to 1875 
lie was a member of the Democratic State Cen- 
tral Committee, and a delegate to the National 
Democratic Convention at Baltimore, in 1872. 
For twelve years (1877 to 1889) he represented 
his District in Congress; was re-elected in 1888, 
but died, Marcli 9, 1889, a few days after the 
beginning of liis seventh term. 

TRACY, John SI., artist, was born in Illinois 
about 1842 ; served in an Illinois regiment during 
the Civil War; studied painting in Paris in 
1866-76; established himself as a portrait painter 
in St. Louis and, later, won a high reputation as 
a painter of animals, being regarded as an author- 
ity on the anatomy of the horse and the dog. 
Died, at Ocean Springs, Miss., March 20, 1893. 

TREASURERS. (See State Treasurers.) 

TREAT, Samuel Hubbel, lawyer and jurist, 
was born at Plainfield, Otsego County, N. Y. , 
June 21, 1811, worked on his father's farm and 
studied law at Richfield, where he was admitted 
to practice. In 1834 he came to Springfield, III., 
traveling most of the way on foot. Here he 
formed a partnership with George Forquer, who 
had held the offices of Secretary of State and 
Attorney-General. In 1839 lie was appointed a 
Circuit Judge, and, on the reorganization of tlie 
Supreme Court in 1841, was elevated to the 
Supreme bench, being acting Chief Justice at the 
time of the adoption of the Constitution of 1848. 
Having been elected to the Supreme bench under 
the new Constitution, he remained in office until 
March, 18.55, when he resigned to take the posi- 
tion of Judge of the United States District Court 
for the Southern District of Illinois, to which he 
had been appointed by President Pierce. This 
position he continued to occupy until his death, 
which occurred at Springfield, March 27, 1887. 
Judge Treat's judicial career was one of the long- 
est in the liistorj- of the State, covering a period 
of forty-eiglit years, of which fourteen were 
spent upon the Supreme bench, and thirty-two 
in the position of Judge of the United States Dis- 
trict Court. 

TREATIES. (See Greenville, Treaty of; Indian 
Treaties.) 

TREE, Lambert, jurist, diplomat and ex-Con- 
gressman, was born in Washington, D. C, Nov. 
29, 1832, of an ancestry distinguished in the War 
of the Revolution. He received a superior clas- 



sical and professional education, and was admit- 
ted to tlie bar, at Washington, in October, 1855. 
Removing to Chicago soon afterward, his profes- 
sional career has been chiefly connected with 
that city. In 1864 he was chosen President of 
the Law Institute, and served as Judge of the 
Circuit Court of Cook County, from 1870 to 1875, 
when he resigned. The three following years he 
spent in foreign travel, returning to Cliicago in 
1878. In that j'ear, and again in 1880, he was 
the Democratic candidate for Congress from the 
Fourth Illinois District, but was defeated by his 
Republican opponent. In 1885 he was the candi- 
date of his party for United States Senator, but 
was defeated bj' John A. Logan, by one vote. In 
1884 lie was a member of the National Democratic 
Convention which first nominated Grover Cleve- 
land, and, in July, 1885, President Cleveland 
appointed him Minister to Belgium, conferring 
the Russian mission upon him in September, 1888. 
On March 3, 1889, he resigned tliis post and 
returned home. In 1890 he was appointed by 
President Harrison a Commissioner to the Inter- 
national Monetary Conference at Washington. 
The J'ear before he had attended (altliough not as 
a delegate) the International Conference, at Brus- 
sels, looking to the suppression of tlie slave-trade, 
where lie exerted all bis influence on the side of 
humanity. In 1893 Belgimu conferred upon him 
the distinction of "Councillor of Honor" upon its 
commission to the World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion. In 1896 Judge Tree was one of the most 
earnest opponents of the free-silver policy, and, 
after the Spanish-American War, a zealous advo- 
cate of the policy of retaining the territory 
acquired from Spain, 

TREMONT, a town of Tazewell County, on the 
Peoria Division of tlie Cleveland, Cincinnati, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railway, 9 miles southeast 
of Pekin; has two banks, two telephone 
exchanges, and one newspaper. Pop. (1900), 768. 

TRENTON, a town of Clinton County, on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 31 miles 
east of St. Louis: in agricultural district; has 
creamery, milk condensery, two coal mines, six 
churches, a public school and one newspaper. 
Pop. (1890), 1,384; (1900), 1,706; (1904), about 2,000. 

TROY, a village of Madison County, on the 
Terre Haute & Indianapolis railroad, 21 miles 
northeast of St. Louis; has churches, a bank and 
a newspaper. Pop. (1900), 1,080. 

TRUITT, James Madison, lawyer and soldier, 
a native of Trimble County, Ky. , was born Feb. 
12, 1842, but lived in Illinois since 1843, his father 
having settled near Carrollton that year; was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



529 



educated at Hillsboro and at McKendree College ; 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventeenth 
Illinois Volunteers in 1863, and was promoted 
from the ranks to Lieutenant. After the war he 
studied law with Jesse J. Phillips, now of the 
Supreme Court, and, in 1872, was elected to the 
Twenty -eighth General Assembly, and, in 1888, a 
Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket. 
Mr. Truitt has been twice a prominent but unsuc- 
cessful candidate for the Republican nomination 
for Attorney-General. His home is at Hillsboro, 
where he is engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion. Died July 26, 1900. 

TRUMBULL, Lyman, statesman, was born at 
Colchester, Conn., Oct. 12, 1813, descended from 
a historical family, being a grand-nephew of 
Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, of Connecticut, from 
whom the name "Brother Jonathan" was derived 
as an appellation for Americans. Having received 
an academic education in his native town, at the 
age of 16 he began teaching a district school near 
his home, went South four years later, and en- 
gaged in teaching at Greenville, Ga. Here he 
studied law with Judge Hiram Warner, after- 
wards of the Supreme Court, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1837. Leaving Georgia the same year, he 
came to Illinois on horseback, visiting Vandalia, 
Belleville, Jacksonville, Springfield, Tremont and 
La Salle, and finally reaching Chicago, then a 
village of four or five thousand inhabitants. At 
Jacksonville he obtained a license to practice 
from Judge Lockwood, and, after visiting Michi- 
gan and his native State, he settled at Belleville, 
which continued to be his home for twenty years. 
His entrance into public life began with his elec- 
tion as Representative in the General Assembly 
in 1840. This was followed, in February, 1841, 
by his appointment by Governor Carlin, Secre- 
tary of State, as the successor of Stei^hen A. 
Douglas, who, after holding the position only two 
months, had resigned to accept a seat on the 
Supreme bench. Here he remained two years, 
when he was removed by Governor Ford, March 
4, 1843, but, five years later (1848), was elected a 
Justice of the Supreme Court, was re-elected in 
1852, but resigned in 18.'53 on account of impaired 
Iiealth. A year later (18.54) he was elected to 
Congress from the Belleville District as an anti- 
Nebraska Democrat, but, before taking his seat, 
was promoted to the United States Senate, as the 
successor of General Shields in the memorable con- 
test of 1855, which resulted in the defeat of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Senator Trumbull's career of 
eighteen years in the United States Senate (being 
re-elected In 1861 and 1867) is one of the most 



memorable in the history of that body, covering, 
as it does, the whole history of the war for the 
Union, and the period of reconstruction which 
followed it. During this period, as Chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Judiciary, he liad more 
to do in shaping legislation on war and recon- 
struction measures than any other single member 
of that body. While he disagreed with a large 
majority of his Republican associates on the ques- 
tion of Andrew Johnson's impeachment, he was 
always found in sympathy with them on the vital 
questions affecting the war and restoration of the 
Union. The Civil Rights Bill and Freedmen's 
Bureau Bills were shaped by his hand. In 1872 
he joined in the "'Liberal Republican" movement 
and afterwards co-operated with the Democratic 
party, being their candidate for Governor in 
1880. From 1863 his home was in Chicago, 
where, after retiring from the Senate, he con- 
tinued in the practice of his profession until his 
death, which occurred in that city, June 25, 1896. 

TUG MILLS. These were a sort of primitive 
machine used in grinding corn in Territorial and 
early State days. The mechanism consisted of an 
upright shaft, into the upper end of which were 
fastened bars, resembling those in the capstan of 
a ship. Into the outer end of each of these bars 
was driven a pin. A belt, made of a broad strip 
of ox-hide, twisted into a sort of rope, was 
stretched around these pins and wrapped twice 
around a circular piece of wood called a trundle 
head, through which passed a perpendicular flat 
bar of iron, which turned the millstone, usually 
about eighteen inches in diameter. From the 
upright shaft projected a beam, to which were 
hitched one or two horses, which furnished the 
motive power. Oxen were sometimes employed 
as motive power in lieu of liorses. These rudi- 
mentary contrivances were capable of grinding 
about twelve bushels of corn, each, per day. 

TULEY, Murray Floyd, lawyer and jurist, was 
born at Louisville, Ky., March 4, 1827, of English 
extraction and descended from the early settlers 
of Virginia. His father died in 1833, and, eleven 
years later, his mother, having married Col. 
Richard J. Hamilton, for many years a prominent 
lawyer of Chicago, removed with her family to 
that city. Young Tuley began reading law with 
his step-father and completed his studies at the 
Louisville Law Institute in 1847, the same year 
being admitted to the bar in Chicago. About the 
same time he enlisted in the Fifth Illinois Volun- 
teers for service in the Mexican War, and was 
commissioned First Lieutenant. The war having 
ended, he settled at Santa Fe, N. M., where he 



530 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



practiced law, also served as Attorney-General 
and in the Territorial Legislature. Returning to 
Chicago in 1854, he was associated in practice, 
successively, with Andrew Harvie, Judge Gary 
and J. N. Barker, and finally as head of the firm 
of Tuley, Stiles & Lewis. From 1869 to 1873 he 
was Corporation Counsel, and during this time 
framed the General Incorporation Act for Cities, 
under which the City of Chicago was reincor- 
porated. In 1879 he was elevated to the bench 
of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and re- 
elected every six years thereafter, his last election 
being in 1897. He is now serving his fourth 
terra, some ten years of his incumbency having 
been spent in the capacity of Chief Justice. 

TUNNICLIFFE, Damon (i., lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., August 30, 
1829 ; at the age of 30, emigrated to Illinois, set- 
tling in Vermont, Fulton County, where, for a 
time, he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. He 
subsequently studied law, and was admitted to 
the bar in 18.53. In 1854 he established himself 
at Macomb, McDonough County, where he built 
up a large and lucrative practice. In 1868 he 
was chosen Presidential Elector on the Repub- 
lican ticket, and, from February to June, 1885, 
by appointment of Governor Oglesby, occupied a 
seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, vice 
Pinkney H. "Walker, deceased, who had been one 
of his first professional preceptors. 

TURCHIN, John Basil (Ivan Vasilevitch Tur- 
chinoff), soldier, engineer and author, was born 
in Russia, Jan. 30, 1823. He graduated from the 
artillery school at St. Petersburg, in 1841, and 
was commissioned ensign ; participated in the 
Hungarian campaign of 1849, and, in 1852, was 
assigned to the staff of the Imperial Guards; 
served through the Crimean War, rising to the 
rank of Colonel, and being made senior staff 
officer of the active corps. In 1856 he came to 
this country, settling in Chicago, and, for five 
years, was in tlie service of the Illinois Central 
Railway Company as topographical engineer. In 
1861 he was commissioned Colonel of the Nine- 
teenth Illinois Volunteers, and, after leading his 
regiment in Missouri, Kentucky and Alabama, 
was, on July 7, 1862, promoted to a Brigadier- 
Generalship, being attached to the Army of the 
Cumberland until 1864, when he resigned. After 
the war he was, for six years, solicitor of patents 
at Chicago, but, in 1873, returned to engineering. 
In 1879 he established a Polish colony at Radom, 
in Washington County, in this State, and settled 
as a farmer. He is an occasional contributor to 
the press, writing usually on military or scientific 



subjects, and is the author of the "Campaign and 
Battle of Chickamauga" (Chicago, 1888). 

TURNER (now WEST CHIC.\GO), a town and 
manufacturing center in Winfield Township, Du 
Page County, 30 miles west of Cliicago, at the 
junction of two divisions of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroads. The town 
has a rolling mill, manufactories of wagons and 
pumps, and railroad repair shops. It also has five 
churches, a graded school, and two newspapers. 
Pop. (1900), 1,877; with suburb, 2,270. 

TURNER, (Col.) Henry L., soldier and real- 
estate operator, was born at Oberlin, Ohio, 
August 26, 1845, and received a part of his edu- 
cation in the college there. During the Civil 
War he served as First Lieutenant in the One 
Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio Volunteers, and 
later, with the same rank in a colored regiment, 
taking part in the operations about Richmond, 
the capture of Fort Fisher, of Wilmington and of 
Gen. Joe Johnston's army. Coming to Chi- 
cago after the close of the war, he became con- 
nected with the business office of "The Advance," 
but later was employed in the banking house of 
Jay Cooke & Co., in Philadelphia. On the failure 
of that concern, in 1872, he returned to Chicago 
and bought "The Advance," which h^ conducted 
some two years, when he sold out and engaged in 
the real estate business, with which he has since 
been identified — being President of the Chicago 
Real Estate Board in 1888. He has also been 
President of the Western Publishing Company 
and a Trustee of Oberlin College. Colonel Turner 
is an enthusiastic member of the Illinois National 
Guard and, on the declaration of war between the 
United States and Spain, in April, 1898, promptly 
resumed his connection with the First Regiment 
of the Guard, and finally led it to Santiago de 
Cuba during the fighting there — his regiment 
being the only one from Illinois to see actual serv- 
ice in the field during the progress of the war. 
Colonel Turner won the admiration of his com- 
mand and the entire nation by the manner in 
which he discharged his duty. The regiment 
was mustered out at Chicago, Nov. 17, 1898, when 
he retired to private life. 

TURNER, John Bice, Railway President, was 
born at Colchester, Delaware County, N. Y., Jan. 
14, 1799; after a brief bu.siness career in his 
native State, he became identified with the con- 
struction and operation of railroads. Among the 
works with which he was thus connected, were 
the Delaware Division of the New York & Erie 
and the Troy & Schenectady Roads. In 1843 he 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



531 



came to Chicago, having previously purcliased a 
large body of land at Blue Island. In 1847 he 
joined with W. B. Ogden and others, in resusci- 
tating the Galena & Chicago Union Railway, 
which had been incorporated in 1836. He became 
President of the Company in 1850, and assisted in 
constructing various sections of road in Northern 
Illinois and Wisconsin, which have since become 
portions of the Chicago & Northwestern system. 
He was also one of the original Directors of the 
North Side Street Railway Company, organized 
in 1859. Died, Feb. 26, 1871. 

TURNER, Jonathan Baldwin, educator and 
agriculturist, was born in Templeton, Mass., Dec. 
7, 1805 ; grew up on a farm and, before reaching 
his majority, began teaching in a country school. 
After spending a short time in an academy at 
Salem, in 1837 he entered the preparatory depart- 
ment of Yale College, supporting himself, in part, 
by manual labor and teaching in a gynuiasium. 
In 1829 he matriculated in the classical depart- 
ment at Yale, graduated in 1883. and the same 
year accepted a position as tutor in Illinois Col- 
lege at Jacksonville, 111., which had been opened, 
three years previous, by the late Dr. J. M. Sturte- 
vant. In the next fourteen years he gave in- 
struction in nearly every branch embraced in the 
college curriculum, though holding, during most 
of this period, the chair of Rhetoric and English 
Literature. In 1847 he retired from college 
duties to give attention to scientiiic agriculture, 
in which he had always manifested a dee"p inter- 
est. The cultivation and sale of the Osage orange 
as a hedge plant now occupied his attention for 
many years, and its successful introduction in 
Illinois and other Western States — where the 
absence of timber rendered some substitute a 
necessity for fencing purposes — was largely due 
to his efforts. At the same time he took a deep 
interest in the cause of practical scientific edu- 
cation for the industrial classes, and, about 1850, 
began formulating that system of industrial edu- 
cation which, after twelve years of labor and 
agitation, he had the satisfaction of seeing 
recognized in the act adopted by Congress, and 
approved by President Lincoln, in July, 1862, 
making liberal donations of public lands for the 
establishment of "Industrial Colleges" in the 
several States, out of which grew the University 
of Illinois at Champaign. While Professor Tur- 
ner had zealous colaborers in this field, in Illinois 
and elsewhere, to him, more than to any other 
single man in the Nation, belongs the credit for 
this magnificent achievement. (See Education, 
and University of Illinois.) He was also one of 



the chief factors in founding and building up 
the Illinois State Teachers' Association, and the 
State Agricultural and Horticultui'al Societies. 
His address on "The Millennium of Labor," 
delivered at the first State Agricultural Fair at 
Springfield, in 1853, is still remembered as mark- 
ing an era in industrial progress in IlUnois. A 
zealous champion of free thought, in both political 
and religious affairs, he long bore the reproach 
which attached to the radical Abolitionist, only 
to enjoy, in later years, the respect universally 
accorded to those who had the courage and 
independence to avow their honest convictions. 
Piof. Turner was twice an unsuccessful candidate 
for Congress — once as a Republican and once as 
an "Independent" — and wrote much on political, 
religious and educational topics. The evening of 
an honored and useful life was spent among 
friends in Jacksonville, which was his home for 
more than sixty years, his death taking place in 
that city, Jan. 10, 1899. at the advanced age of 
93 years.— Mrs. Mary Turner Carriel, at the pres- 
ent time (1899) one of the Trustees of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois, is Prof. Turner's only daughter. 

TURNER, Thomas J., lawyer and Congress- 
man, born in Trumbull County, Ohio, April 5, 
1815. Leaving home at the age of 18, he spent 
three years in Indiana and in the mining dis- 
tricts about Galena and in Southern Wisconsin, 
locating in Stephenson County, in 1836, where he 
was admitted to the bar in 1840, and elected 
Probate Judge in 1841. Soon afterwards Gov- 
ernor Ford appointed him Prosecuting Attorney, 
in which capacity he secured the conviction and 
punishment of the mui'derers of Colonel Daven- 
port. In 1846 he was elected to Congress as a 
Democrat, and, the following year, founded "The 
Prairie Democrat" (afterward "The Freeport 
Bulletin"), the first newspaper published in the 
county. Elected to the Legislature in 1854, he 
was chosen Speaker of the House, the next year 
becoming the first Mayor of Freeport. He was a 
member of the Peace Conference of 1861, and, in 
May of that year, was commissioned, by Governor 
Yates, Colonel of the Fifteenth Illinois Volun- 
teers, but resigned in 1862. lie served as a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, 
and, in 1871, was again elected to the Legisla- 
ture, where he received the Democratic caucus 
nomination for United States Senator against 
General Logan. In 1871 he removed to Chicago, 
and was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the 
office of State's Attorney. In February, 1874, he 
went to Hot Springs, Ark., for medical treatment, 
and died there, April 3 following. 



532 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



TUSCOLA, a city and the county-seat of 
Douglas County, located at the intersection of the 
Illinois Central and two other trunk lines of rail- 
■nay, 22 miles south of Champaign, and 36 miles 
east of Decatur. Besides a brick court-house it 
has five churches, a graded school, a national 
bank, two weekly newspapers and two establish- 
ments for the manufacture of carriages and 
wagons. Population (1880), 1,457; (1890), 1,897; 
(1900). 2.r)69. 

TUSCOLA, CHARLESTON & VINCENNES 
RAILROAD. (See Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas 
Cift/ Railroad.) 

TUTHILL, Richard Stanley, jurist, was born 
at Vergennes, Jackson County, 111., Nov. 10, 1841. 
After passing through the common schools of his 
native county, he took a preparatory course in a 
high school at St. Louis and in IlUnois CoUege, 
Jacksonville, when he entered Middlebury Col- 
lege, Vt., graduating there in 1863. Immediately 
thereafter he joined the Federal army at Vicks- 
burg, and, after serving for some time in a com- 
pany of scouts attached to General Logan's 
command, was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 
First Michigan Light Artillery, with which he 
served until the close of the war, meanwhile 
being twice promoted. During this time he was 
with General Sherman in the march to Meridian, 
and in the Atlanta campaign, also took part with 
General Thomas in the operations against the 
rebel General Hood in Tennessee, and in the 
battle of Nashville. Having resigned his com- 
mission in May, 1865, he took up the study of 
law, which he had prosecuted as he had opportu- 
nity while in the army, and was admitted to the 
bar at Nashville in 1866, afterwards serving for 
a time as Prosecuting Attorney on the Nashville 
circuit. In 1873 he removed to Chicago, two 
years later was elected City Attorney and re- 
elected in 1877 ; was a delegate to the Republican 
National Convention of 1880 and, in 1884, was 
appointed LTniteil States District Attorney for 
the Northern District, serving until 1886. In 
1887 he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court of 
Cook County to fill the vacancy caused by the 
death of Jvidge Rogers, was re-elected for a full 
term in 1891, and again in 1897. 

TYJTDALE, Sharon, Secretary of State, born in 
Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 19, 181G; at the age of 17 
came to Belleville, 111., and was engaged for a 
time in mercantile business, later being employed 
in a surveyor's corps under the internal improve- 
ment system of 1837. Having married in 1839, 
he returned soon after to Philadelpliia, where he 
engaged in mercantile business with his father ; 



then came to Illinois, a second time, in 1845, spend- 
ing a year or two in business at Peoria. About 
1847 he returned to Belleville and entered upon a 
course of mathematical study, with a view to 
fitting himself more tlioroughly for the profession 
of a civil engineer. In 1851 he graduated in 
engineering at Cambridge, Mass., after which he 
was employed for a time on the Sunbury & Erie 
Railroad, and later on certain Illinois railroads. 
In 1857 he was elected County Surveyor of St. 
Clair County, and, in 1861, by appointment of 
President Lincoln, became Postmaster of the city 
of Belleville. He held this position until 1864, 
when he received the Republican nomination for 
Secretary of State and was elected, remaining in 
office four years. He was an earnest advocate, 
and virtually author, of the first act for the regis- 
tration of voters in Illinois, passed at the session 
of 1865. After retiring from office in 1869, he 
continued to reside in Springfield, and was em- 
ployed for a time in the survey of the Gilman, 
Clinton & Springfield Railway — now the Spring- 
field Division of the Illinois Central. At an early 
hour on the morning of April 29, 1871, while 
going from his home to the railroad station at 
Springfield, to take the train for St. Louis, he was 
assassinated upon the street by shooting, as sup- 
posed for the purpose of robbery — his dead body 
being found a few hours later at the scene of the 
tragedy. Mr. Tyndale was a brother of Gen. 
Hector Tyndale of Pennsylvania, who won a 
high reputation by liis services during the war. 
His second wife, who survived him, was a 
daughter of Shadrach Penn, an editor of con- 
siderable reputation who was the contemporary 
and rival of George D. Prentice at Louisville, for 
some years. 

"UNDERGROUND RAILROAD," THE. A 
liistory of Illinois would be incomplete without 
reference to the unique system which existed 
there, as in other Northern States, from forty to 
seventy years ago, known bj* the somewhat mys- 
terious title of "The Underground Railroad." 
The origin of the term has been traced (probably 
in a spirit of facetiousness) to the exijression of 
a Kentucky planter who, having pursued a fugi- 
tive slave across tlie Ohio River, was so surprised 
by his sudden disappearance, as soon as he had 
reached the opposite shore, that he was led to 
remark, "The nigger must have gone ofl" on an 
underground road." From "underground road" 
to "underground railroad," the transition would 
appear to have been easy, especially in view of 
the increased facility with which the work was 
performed when railroads came into use. For 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



533 



readers of the present generation, it may be well 
to explain what "The Underground Railroad"' 
really was. It may be defined as the figurative 
appellation for a spontaneous movement in the 
free States — extending, sometimes, into the 
slave States themselves — to assist slaves in their 
.efforts to escape from bondage to freedom. The 
movement dates back to a period close to the 
Revolutionary War, long before it received a 
definite name. Assistance given to fugitives 
from one State by citizens of another, became a 
cause of complaint almost as soon as the Govern- 
ment was organized. In fact, the first President 
himself lost a slave who took refuge at Ports- 
mouth, N. H., where the public sentiment was 
so strong against his return, that the patriotic 
and philosophic "Father of his Country" chose 
to let him remain unmolested, rather than "excite 
a mob or riot, or even uneasy sensations, in the 
minds of well-disposed citizens." That the mat- 
ter was already one of concern in the minds of 
slaveholders, is shown by the fact that a provision 
was inserted in the Constitution for their concili- 
ation, guaranteeing the return of fugitives from 
labor, as well as from justice, from one State to 
another. 

In 1793 Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave 
Law, which was signed by President Washing- 
ton. This law provided that the owner, his 
agent or attorney, might follow the slave into 
any State or Territory, and, upon oath or affi- 
davit before a court or magistrate, be entitled 
to a warrant for his return. Any person who 
should hinder the arrest of the fugitive, or who 
should harbor, aid or assist him, knowing hina 
to be such, was subject to a fine of §.500 for each 
offense. — In 18.50, fifty-seven years later, the first 
act having proved inefficacious, or conditions 
having changed, a second and more stringent 
law was enacted. This is the one usually referred 
to in discussions of the subject. It provided for 
an increased fine, not to exceed §1,000, and im- 
prisonment not exceeding six months, with 
liability for civil damages to the party injured. 
No proof of ownership was required beyond the 
statement of a claimant, and the accused was not 
permitted to testify for himself. The fee of the 
United States Commissioner, before whom the 
case was tried, was ten dollars if he found for 
the claimant; if not, five dollars. This seemed 
to many an indirect form of bribery ; clearly, it 
made it to the Judge's pecuniary advantage to 
decide in favor of the claimant. The law made 
it possible and easy for a white man to arrest, 
and carry into slavery, any free negi'O who could 



not immediately prove, by other witnesses, that 
he was born free, or had purchased his freedom. 

Instead of discouraging the disposition, on 
the part of the opponents of slavery, to aid fugi- 
tives in their efforts to reach a region where 
they would be secure in their freedom, the effect 
of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 (as that of 1793 
had been in a smaller degree) was the very oppo- 
site of that intended by its authors — unless, 
indeed, they meant to make matters worse. The 
provisions of the act seemed, to many people, so 
unfair, so one-sided, that they rebelled in spirit 
and refused to be made parties to its enforce 
meut. The law aroused the anti-slavery senti- 
ment of the North, and stimulated the active 
friends of the fugitives to take greater risks in 
their behalf. New efforts on the part of the 
slaveholders were met by a determination to 
evade, hinder and nullify the law. 

And here a strange anomaly is presented. The 
slaveholder, in attempting to recover his slave, 
was acting within his constitutional and legal 
rights. The slave was his projjerty in law. He 
had purchased or inherited his bondman on the 
same plane with his horse or his land, and, apart 
from the right to hold a human being in bond- 
age, regarded his legal rights to the one as good 
as the other. From a legal standpoint his posi- 
tion was impregnable. The slave was his, repre- 
senting so much of money value, and whoever 
was instrumental in the loss of that slave was, 
both theoretically and technically, a partner in 
robbery. Therefore he looked on "The Under- 
ground Railway' as the work of thieves, and en- 
tertained bitter hatred toward all concerned in its 
operation. On the other hand, men wlio were, 
in all other respects, good citizens — often relig- 
iously devout and pillars of the church — became 
bold and flagrant violators of the law in relation 
to this sort of property. They set at nought a 
plain provision of the Constitution and the act of 
Congress for its enforcement. Without hope of 
personal gain or reward, at the risk of fine and 
imprisonment, with the certainty of social ostra- 
cism and bitter opposition, they harbored the 
fugitive and helped him forward on every 
occasion. And why? Because they saw in him 
a man, with the same inherent right to "life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that they 
themselves possessed. To them this was a higher 
law than any Legislature, State or National, could 
enact. They denied that there could be truly 
such a thing as property in man. Believing that 
the law violated human rights, they justified 
themselves in rendering it null and void. 



534 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



For the most ijait, the "Underground Rail- 
road" operators and promoters were plain, 
obscure men, without hope of fame or desire for 
notoriety. Yet there were some whose names 
are conspicuous in history, such as Wendell 
Phillips, Thomas Wentworth Higginson and 
Theodore Parker of Massachusetts; Gerrit Smith 
and Thurlow Weed of Xew York; Joshua E. 
Giddings of Ohio, and Owen Lovejoy of Illinois. 
These had their followers and sympathizers in 
all the Northern States, and even in some por- 
tions of the South. It is a curious fact, that 
some of the most active spirits connected with 
the "Underground Railroad" were natives of the 
South, or had resided there long enough to 
become thoroughly acquainted with the "insti- 
tution." Levi Coffin, who had the reputation of 
being the "President of the Underground Rail- 
road" — at least so far as the region west of the 
Ohio was concerned — was an active operator on 
the line in North Carolina before his removal 
from that State to Indiana in 1826. Indeed, as a 
system, it is claimed to have had its origin at 
Guilford College, in the "Old North State" in 
1819, though the evidence of this may not be 
conclusive. 

Owing to the peculiar nature of their business, 
no official rejjorts were made, no lists of officers, 
conductors, station agents or operators preserved, 
and few records kept which are now accessible. 
Consequently, we are dependent chiefly upon the 
personal recollection of individual operators for 
a history of their transactions. Each station on 
the road was the house of a "friend" and it is 
significant, in this connection, that in every 
settlement of Friends, or Quakers, there was 
sure to be a house of refuge for the slave. For 
this rea.son it was, perhaps, that one of the most 
frequently traveled lines extended from Vir- 
ginia and Maryland through Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, and then on towards New York or directly 
to Canada. From the proximity of Ohio to 
Virginia and Kentucky, and the fact that it 
offered the shortest route through free soil to 
Canada, it was traversed by more lines than any 
otlier State, although Indiana was pretty 
thoroughly "grid ironed" by roads to freedom. 
In all, however, the routes were irregular, often 
zigzag, for purposes of security, and the "con- 
ductor" was any one who conveyed fugitives from 
one station to another The "train" was some- 
times a farm-wagon, loaded with produce for 
market at some town (or depot) on the line, fre- 
quently a closed carriage, and it is related that 
once, in Ohio, a number of carriages conveying 



a large party, were made to represent a funeral 
procession. Occasionally the train ran on foot, 
for convenience of sidetracking into the woods 
or a cornfield, in case of pursuit by a wild loco- 
motive. 

Then, again, there were not wanting lawyers 
who, in case the operator, conductor or station 
agent got into trouble, were ready, without fee or 
reward, to defend either him or his human 
freight in the courts. These included such 
names of national repute as Salmon P. Chase, 
Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, William IL 
Seward, Rutherford B. Haj'es, Richard H. Dana, 
and Isaac N. Arnold, while, taking the whole 
country over, their "name was legion " And 
there were a few men of wealth, like Thomas 
Garrett of Delaware, willing to contribute money 
by thousands to their assistance. Although 
technically acting in violation of law — or, as 
claimed by themselves, in obedience to a "higher 
law" — the time has already come when there is a 
disposition to look upon the actors as, in a certain 
sense, heroes, and their deeds as fitly belonging 
to the field of romance. 

The most comprehensive collection of material 
relating to the history of this movement has 
been furnished in a recent volume entitled, "The 
Underground Railroad from Slavery to Free- 
dom," by Prof. Wilbur H. Siebert, of Ohio State 
University ; and, while it is not wholly free from 
errors, both as to individual names and facts, it 
will probably remain as the best compilation of 
history bearing on this subject — especially as the 
])rincipal actors are fast passing away. One of 
the interesting features of Prof. Siebert's book is 
a map purporting to give the principal routes 
and stations in the States northwest of the Ohio, 
yet the accuracy of this, as well as the correct- 
ness of personal names given, has been questioned 
by some best informed on the subject. As 
might be expected from its geographical position 
between two slave States — Kentucky and Mis- 
souri — on the one hand, and the lakes offering a 
highway to Canada on the other, it is naturally 
to be assumed that Illinois would be an attract- 
ive field, both for the fugitive and his sympa- 
thizer. 

The period of greatest activitj' of the system in 
this State was between 1840 and 1861 — the latter 
being the year when the pro-slavery party in the 
South, by their attempt forciblj- to dissolve the 
Union, took the business out of the hands of the 
secret agents of the "Underground Railroad," 
and — in a certain sense — placed it in the hands 
of the Union armies. It was in 1841 that Abra- 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLIXOIS. 



535 



ham Lincoln — then a conservative opponent of 
the extension of slavery — on an appeal from a 
judgment, rendered by the Circuit Court in Taze- 
well County, in favor of the holder of a note 
given for the service of the indentured slave- 
girl "Nance," obtained a decision from the 
Supreme Court of Illinois upholding the doctrine 
that the girl was free imder the Ordinance of 
1787 and the State Constitution, and that the 
note, given to the person who claimed to be her 
owner, was void. And it is a somewhat curious 
coincidence that the same Abraham Lincoln, as 
President of the United States, in the second 
year of the War of the Rebellion, issued the 
Proclamation of Emancipation which finally 
resulted in striking the shackles from the limbs 
of every slave in the Union. 

In the practical operation of aiding fugitives 
in Illinois, it was natural that the towns along 
tlie border upon the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 
should have served as a sort of entrepots, or 
initial stations, for the reception of this class of 
freight — especially if adjacent to some anti- 
slavery community. Tliis was the case at Ches- 
ter, from which access was easy to Sparta, where 
a colony of Covenanters, or Seceders, was 
located, and whence a route extended, by way of 
Oakdale, Nashville and CentraUa, in the direction 
of Chicago. Alton offered convenient access to 
Bond County, where there was a community of 
anti-slavery people at an early day, or the fugi- 
tives could be forwarded northward by way of 
Jerseyville, Waverly and Jacksonville, about 
each of which there was a strong anti-slavery 
sentiment. Quincv, in spite of an intense hos- 
tility among the mass of the community to any- 
thing savoring of abolitionism, became the 
theater of great activity on the part of the 
opponents of the institution, especially after the 
advent there of Dr. David Nelson and Dr. Rich- 
ard Eells, both of whom had rendered themselves 
obnoxious to the people of Missouri by extending 
aid to fugitives. The former was a practical 
abolitionist who, having freed his slaves in his 
native State of Virginia, removed to Missouri and 
attempted to establish Marion College, a few miles 
from Palmyra, but was soon driven to Illinois. 
Locating near Quincy, he founded the "Mission 
Institute" there, at which he continued to dis- 
seminate his anti-slavery views, while educating 
young men for missionary work. The "Insti- 
tute" was finally burned by emissaries from Mis- 
souri, whOe three young men who had been 
connected with it, having been caught in Mis- 
souri, were condemned to twelve years' confine- 



ment in the penitentiary of that State — partly on 
the testimony of a negro, although a negro was 
not then a legal witness in the courts against a 
white man. Dr. Eells was pro.secuted before 
Stephen A. Douglas (then a Judge of the Circuit 
Court), and fined for aiding a fugitive to escape, 
and the judgment against him was finally con- 
firmed by the Supreme Court after his death, in 
1853, ten years after the original indictment. 

A map in Professor Siebert's book, showing the 
routes and principal stations of the "Undergound 
Railroad," makes mention of the following places 
in Illinois, in addition to those already referred 
to: Carlinville, in Macoupin County; Payson 
and Mendon, in Adams; Washington, in Taze- 
well ; Metamora, in Woodford ; Magnolia, in Put- 
nam; Galesburg, in Knox; Princeton (the home 
of Owen Lovejoy and the Bryants), in Bureau; 
and many more. Ottawa appears to have been 
the meeting point of a number of lines, as well 
as the home of a strong colony of practical abo- 
litionists. Cairo also became an important 
transfer station for fugitives arriving by river, 
after the completion of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road, especially as it offered the speediest way of 
reaching Chicago, towards which nearly all the 
lines converged. It was here that the fugitives 
could be most safely disposed of by placing them 
upon vessels, which, without stopjiing at inter- 
mediate ports, could soon land them on Canadian 
soil. 

As to methods, these differed according to cir- 
cumstances, the emergencies of the occasion, or 
the taste, convenience or resources of the oper- 
ator. Deacon Levi Morse, of Woodford County, 
near Metamora, had a route towards JIagnolia, 
Putnam County; and his favorite "car" was a 
farm wagon in which there was a double bottom. 
The passengers were snugly placed below, and 
grain sacks, filled with bran or other light material, 
were laid over, so that the whole presented the 
appearance of an ordinary load of grain on its 
way to market. The same was true as to stations 
and routes. One, who was an operator,- sajs: 
"Wherever an abolitionist happened on a fugi- 
tive, or the converse, there was a station, for the 
time, and the route was to the next anti-slavery 
man to the east or the north. As a general rule, 
the agent preferred not to know anything beyond 
the operation of his own immediate section of the 
road. If he knew nothing about the operations 
of another, and the other knew nothing of his, 
they could not be witnesses in court. 

We have it on the authority of Judge Harvey B. 
Hurd, of Chicago, that runaways were usually 



536 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



forwarded from that city to Canada by way of the 
Lakes, there being several steamers available for 
that purpose. On one occasion thirteen were 
put aboard a vessel under the eyes of a United 
States Marshal and his deputies. The fugitives, 
secreted in a woodshed, one by one took the 
places of colored stevedores carrying wood 
aboard the ship. Possibly the term, "There's a 
nigger in the woodpile," may have originated in 
this incident. Thirteen was an "unlucky num- 
ber" in this instance — for tlie masters. 

Among the notable trials for assisting runaways 
in violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, in addi- 
tion to the case of Dr. Eells, already mentioned, 
were those of Owen Lovejoy of Princeton, and 
Deacon Gushing of Will County, both of whom 
were defended by Judge James Collins of Chi- 
cago. John Hossack and Dr. Joseph Stout of 
Ottawa, with some half-dozen of their neighbors 
and friends, were tried at Ottawa, in 18.59, for 
assisting a fugitive and acquitted on a techni- 
cality. A strong array of attorneys, afterwards 
widely known through tlie northern jjart of the 
State, appeared for the defense, including Isaac 
N. Arnold, Joseph Knox, B. C. Cook, J. V. Eus- 
tace, Edward S. Leland and E. C. Earned. Joseph 
T. Morse, of Woodford County, was also arrested, 
taken to Peoria and committed to jail, but 
acquitted on trial. 

Another noteworthy case was that of Dr. 
Samuel Willard (now of Chicago) and his father, 
Julius A. Willard, charged with assisting in the 
escape of a fugitive at Jacksonville, in 1843, when 
tlie Doctor was a student in Illinois College. 
"The National Corporation Reporter," a few 
years ago. gave an account of this affair, together 
with a letter from Dr. Willard, in wliich he states 
that, after protracted litigation, during which 
the case was carried to the Supreme Court, it was 
ended by his pleading guilty before Judge Samuel 
D. Lockwood, when he was fined one dollar and 
costs —the latter amounting to twenty dollars. 
The Doctor frankly adds: "My father, as well 
as myself, helped many fugitives afterwards." 
It did not always hapjien, however, that offenders 
escaped so easily. 

Judge Harvey B. Hurd, already referred to, 
and an active anti-slavery man in the daj-s of the 
Fugitive Slave Law. relates the following; Once, 
when the trial of a fugitive was going on before 
Justice Kercheval, in a room on the second floor 
of a twostory frame building on Clark Street in 
the city of Chicago, the crowd in attendance 
filled the room, the stairway and the adjoining 
sidewalk. In some way the prisoner got mixed 



in with the audience, and passed down over the 
heads of those on the stairs, where the officers 
were unable to follow. 

In another case, tried before United States 
Commissioner Geo. W. Meeker, the result was 
made to hinge upon a point in the indictment to 
the effect that the fugitive was "copper-colored." 
The Commissioner, as the story goes, being in- 
clined to favor public sentiment, called for a large 
copper cent, that he might make comparison. 
The decision was, that the prisoner was "off 
color," so to speak, and he was hustled out of the 
room before the officers could re-arrest him, as 
they had been instructed to do. 

Dr. Samuel Willard, in a review of Professor 
Sieberfs book, published in "The Dial" of Chi 
cago, makes mention of Henry Irving and Will- 
iam Chauncey Carter as among his active aUies 
at Jacksonville, with Rev. Bilious Pond and 
Deacon Lyman of Farmington (near the present 
village of Farmingdale in Sangamon Count}'), 
Luther Ransom of Springfield, Andrew Borders 
of Randolph County, Joseph Gerrish of Jersey 
and William T. Allan of Henry, as their coadju- 
tors in other parts of the State. Other active 
agents or promoters, in the same field, included 
such names as Dr. Charles V. Dyer, Philo Carpen- 
ter, Calvin De Wolf, L, C. P. Freer, Zebina East- 
man, James H. Collins, Harvey B. Hurd, J. Young 
Scammon, Col. J. F. Farnsworth and others of 
Chicago, whose names have already been men- 
tioned; Rev. Asa Turner, Deacon Ballard, J. K. 
Van Dorn and Erastus Benton, of Quincy and 
Adams County ; President Rufus Blanchard of 
Knox College, Galesburg ; John Leeper of Bond ; 
the late Prof. J. B. Turner and Elihu Wolcott of 
Jacksonville; Capt. Parker Morse and his four 
sons — Joseph T., Levi P., Parker, Jr., and Mark 
— of Woodford County; Rev. William Sloane of 
Randolph ; William Strawn of La Salle, besides a 
host who were willing to aid their fellow men in 
their aspirations to freedom, without advertising 
their own exploits. 

Among the incidents of "Underground Rail- 
road" in Illinois is one which had some importance 
politically, having for its climax a dramatic scene 
in Congress, but of which, so far as known, no 
full account has ever been written. About 1855, 
Ephraim Lombard, a Mississippi planter, but a 
New Englander by birth, purchased a large body 
of prairie land in the northeastern part of Stark 
County, and, taking up his residence temporarily 
in the village of Bradford, began its improve- 
ment. He had brought with him from Mississippi 
a negro, gray-haired and bent with age, a slave 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



537 



of probably no great value. "Old Mose, " as he 
was called, soon came to be well known and a 
favorite in the neighborhood. Lombard boldly 
stated that he had brought him there as a slave ; 
that, by virtue of the Dred Scott decision (then 
of recent date), he had a constitutional right to 
take his slaves wherever he pleased, and that 
"Old Mose" was just as much his property in 
Illinois as in Mississippi. It soon became evident 
to some, that his bringing of the negro to Illinois 
was an experiment to test the law and the feel- 
ings of the Northern people. This being the case, 
a shrewd play would have been to let him have 
his way till other slaves should have been 
brought to stock the new plantation But this 
was too slow a process for the abolitionists, to 
whom the holding of a slave in the free State of 
Illinois appeared an unbearable outrage. It was 
feared that he might take the old negro back to 
Mississippi and fail to bring any others. It was 
reported, also, that "Old Mose" was ill-treated; 
that he was given only the coarsest food in a 
back shed, as if he wex-e a horse or a dog, instead 
of being permitted to eat at table with the family. 
The prairie citizen of that time was very par- 
ticular upon this point of etiquette. The hired 
man or woman, debarred from the table of his or 
her employer, would not have remained a day. 
A quiet consultation with "Old Mose" revealed 
the fact tliat he would hail the gift of freedom 
joyously. Accordingly, one Peter Risedorf, and 
another equally daring, met him by the light of 
the stars and, before morning, he was placed in 
the care of Owen Lovejoy, at Princeton, twenty 
miles away. From there he was speedily 
"franked" by the member of Congress to friends 
in Canada. 

There was a great commotion in Bradford over 
the "stealing" of "Old Mose. " Lombard and his 
friends denounced the act in terms bitter and 
profane, and threatened vengeance upon the per- 
petrators. The conductors were known only to a 
few, and they kept their secret well. Lovejoy's 
part in the affair, however, soon leaked out. 
Lombard returned to Mississippi, where he 
related his experiences to Mr. Singleton, the 
Representative in Congress from his district. 
During the next session of Congress, Singleton 
took occasion, in a speech, to sneer at Lovejoy as a 
"nigger-stealer," citing the case of "Old Mose." 
Mr. Lovejoy replied in his usual fervid and 
dramatic style, making a speech which ensured 
his election to Congress for life — "Is it desired to 
call attention to this fact of my assisting fugitive 
slaves?" he said. "Owen Lovejoy lives at Prince- 



ton, 111., three-quarters of a mile east of the 
village, and he aids eveiy slave that comes to his 
door and asks it. Thou invisible Demon of 
Slavery, dost thou think to cross my humble 
threshold and forbid me to give bread to the 
hungry and shelter to the homeless'.' I bid you 
defiance, in the name of my God!" 

With another incident of an amusing charac- 
ter this article may be closed: Hon. J. Young 
Scammon, of Chicago, beingaccused of conniving 
at the escape of a slave from officers of the law, 
was asked by the court what he would do if sum- 
moned as one of a posse to pursue and capture a 
fugitive. "I would certainly obey the summons," 
he replied, "but — I should probably stub taj toe 
and fall down before I reached him." 

Note.— Those who wish to pursue the subject of the 
" Underground Railroad " in Illinois further, are referred 
to the work of Dr. Siebert, already mentioned, and to the 
various County Histories which have been issued and may 
be found in the public libraries; also for interesting inci- 
dents, to "Reminiscences of Levi Collin," Johnson's 
" From Dixie to Canada," Petit's Sketches, " Still, Under- 
ground Railroad." and a pamphlet of the same title by 
James H. Fairehild, e.x-Presideut of Oberhu College. 

USDERWOOD, WllUam H., lawyer, legislator 
and jurist, was born at Schoharie Court House, 
N. Y., Feb. 31, 1818, and, after admission to the 
bar, removed to Belleville, 111., where he began 
practice in 1840. The following year he was 
elected State's Attorney, and re-elected in 1843. 
In 1846 he was chosen a member of the lower 
house of the General Assembly, and, in 1848-54, 
sat as Judge of the Second Circuit. During this 
period he declined a nomination to Congress, 
although equivalent to an election. In 1856 he 
was elected State Senator, and re-elected in 1860. 
He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1809-70, and, in 1870, was again elected to 
the Senate, retiring to private life in 1872. Died, 
Sept. 23, 1875. 

UNION COUNTY, one of the fifteen counties 
into which Illinois was divided at the time of its 
admission as a State — having been organized, 
under the Territorial Government, in January, 
1818. It is situated in the southern division of 
the State, bounded on the west by the Mississippi 
River, and has an area of 400 square miles. The 
eastern and interior portions are drained by the 
Cache River and Clear Creek. The western part 
of the county comprises the broad, rich bottom 
lands lying along the Mississippi, but is subject 
to frequent overflow, while the eastern portion is 
hilly, and most of its area originally heavily tim- 
bered. The county is especially rich in minerals. 
Iron-ore, lead, bituminous coal, chalk, alum and 



638 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OP ILLINOIS. 



potter's clay are found in considerable abun- 
dance. Several lines of railway (the most impor- 
tant being the Illinois Central) either cross or 
tap the county. The chief occupation is agri- 
culture, although manufacturing is carried on to 
a limited extent. Fruit is extensively cultivated. 
Jonesboro is the county-seat, and Cobden and 
Anna important shipping stations. The latter is 
the location of the Southern Hospital for the 
Insane. The population of the county, in 1890, 
was 31,529. Being next to St. Clair, Randolph 
and Gallatin, one of the earliest settled counties 
in the State, many prominent men found their 
first home, on coming into the State, at Jones- 
boro, and this region, for a time, exerted a strong 
influence in public affairs. Pop. (1900), 22,610. 

UNIOX LEAGUE OF AMERICA, a secret polit- 
ical and patriotic order which had its origin 
early in the late Civil War, for the avowed pur- 
pose of sustaining the cause of the Union and 
counteracting the machinations of the secret 
organizations designed to promote the success of 
the Rebellion. The first regular Council of the 
order was organized at Pekin, Tazewell County, 
June 25, 1802, consisting of eleven members, as 
follows: John W, Glasgow, Dr. D. A. Cheever, 
Hart Montgomery, Maj. Richard N. Culloni 
(father of Senator CuUom), Alexander Small, 
Rev. J. W. M. Vernon, George II. Harlow (after- 
ward Secretary of State), Charles Turner, Col. 
Jonathan Merriam, Henry Pratt and L. F. Gar- 
rett. One of the number was a Union refugee 
from Tennessee, who dictated the first oath from 
memorj', as administered to members of a some- 
what similar order which had been organized 
among the Unionists of his own State. It sol- 
emnh' pledged the taker, (1) to preserve invio- 
late tlve secrets and business of tlie order; (2) to 
"support, maintain, protect and defend the civil 
liberties of the Union of these United States 
against all enemies, either domestic or foreign, 
at all times and under all circumstances," even 
"if necessary, to the sacrifice of life''; (3) to aid 
in electing only true Union men to offices of 
trust in the town, county. State and General 
Government; (4) to assist, protect and defend 
any member of the order who might be in peril 
from his connection with the order, and (5) to 
obey all laws, rules or regulations of any Comicil 
to wliich the taker of the oath might be attached. 
The oath was taken upon the Bible, the Decla- 
ration of Independence and Constitution of the 
United States, the taker pledging his sacred 
honor to its fulfillment. A special reason for the 
organization existed in the activity, about this 



time, of the "Knights of the Golden Circle," a 
disloyal organization which had been introduced 
from the South, and which afterwards took the 
name, in the North, of "American Knights" and 
"Sons of Liberty. ' ' (See Secret Treasonable Soci- 
eties.) Three months later, the organization had 
extended to a number of other counties of the 
State and, on the 25th of September following, 
the first State Council met at Bloomington — 
twelve counties being represented — and a State 
organization was eflEected. At this meeting the 
following general officers were chosen: Grand 
President — Judge Mark Bangs, of Marshall 
County (now of Chicago); Grand Vice-President 
— Prof. Daniel Wilkin, of McLean ; Grand Secre- 
tary — George H. Harlow, of Tazewell; Grand 
Treasurer — H. S. Austin, of Peoria, Grand Blar- 
shal— J. R. Gorin, of Macon; Grand Herald — 
A. Gould, of Henry; Grand Sentinel — John E. 
Rosette, of Sangamon. An Executive Committee 
was also appointed, consisting of Joseph Medill 
of "The Chicago Tribune"; Dr. A. J. McFai- 
land, of Morgan County; J. K. Warren, of Macon; 
Rev, J. C. Rybolt, of La Salle; the President, 
Judge Bangs; Enoch Emery, of Peoria; and 
John E. Rosette. Under the direction of this 
Committee, with Mr. Medill as its Chairman, 
the constitution and by-laws were thoroughly 
revised and a new ritual adopted, which materi- 
ally changed the phraseologj' and removed some 
of the crudities of the original obligation, as well 
as increased the beauty and impressiveness of 
the initiatory ceremonies. New signs, grips and 
pass-words were also adopted, which were finallj' 
accepted by the various organizations of the 
order throughout the Union, which, by this time, 
included many soldiers in the arm}-, as well as 
civilians. The second Grand (or State) Council 
was held at Springfield, January 14, 1863, with 
only seven counties represented. The limited 
representation was discouraging, but the mem- 
bers took heart from the inspiring words of Gov- 
ernor Yates, addressed to a committee of the 
order who waited upon him. At a special ses- 
sion of the Executive Committee, held at Peoria, 
six days later, a vigorous campaign was 
mapped out, under which agents were sent 
into nearly every county in the State. In Oc- 
tober, 1802, the strength of the order in Illi- 
nois was estimated at three to five thousand; 
a few months later, the number of enrolled 
members had increased to 50,000 — so rapid 
had been the growth of the order. On March 
23, 1863, a Grand Council met in Chicago — 
404 Councils in Illinois being represented, with 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



539 



a number from Oliio, Indiana, Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa and Minnesota. At this meeting a 
Committee was appointed to prepare a plan of 
organization for a National Grand Council, which 
was carried out at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 20th 
of May following — the constitution, ritual and 
signs of the Illinois organization being adopted 
with sUght modifications. The icvised obligation 
— taken upon the Bible, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and the Constitution of the United 
States — bound members of the League to "sup- 
port, protect and defend the Government of the 
United States and the flag thereof, against all 
enemies, foreign and domestic," and to" bear true 
faith and allegiance to the same"; to "defend 
the State against invasion or insurrection"; to 
support only "true and reliable men" for ofBces 
of trust and profit; to protect and defend 
worthy members, and to preserve inviolate the 
secrets of the order. The address to new mem- 
bers was a model of impressiveness and a powerful 
appeal to their patriotism. The organization 
extended rapidly, not only throughout the North- 
west, but in the South also, especiall}' in the 
army. In 1864 the number of Councils in Illinois 
was estimated at 1,300, with a membership of 
175,000; and it is estimated that the total mem- 
bership, throughout the Union, was 3,000,000. 
The influence of the silent, but zealous and effect- 
ive, operations of the organization, was shown, 
not only in the stimulus given to enlistments and 
support of the war policy of the Government, 
but in the raising of supplies for the sick and 
wounded soldiers in the field. Within a few 
weeks before the fall of Vicksburg, over $2,5,000 in 
cash, besides large quantities of stores, were sent 
to Col. John Williams (then in charge of the 
Sanitary Bureau at Springfield), as the direct 
result of appeals made through circulars sent out 
by the oflScers of the "League." Large contri- 
butions of money and supplies also reached the 
sick and %vounded in hospital through the medium 
of the Sanitary Commission in Chicago. Zealovis 
efforts were made by the opposition to get at the 
secrets of the order, and, in one case, a complete 
copy of the ritual was published by one of their 
organs; but the effect was so far the reverse of 
what was anticipated, that this line of attack was 
not continued. During the stormy session of the 
Legislature in 1863, the League is said to have 
rendered effective service in protecting Gov- 
ernor Yates from threatened assassination. It 
continued its silent but effective operations imtil 
the complete overthrow of the rebellion, when it 
ceased to exist as a political organization. 



UNITED STATES SENATORS. The follow- 
ing is a list of United States senators from Illinois, 
from the date of the admission of the State into 
the Union until 1899, with the date and duration 
of the term of each; Ninian Edwards, 1818-24 
Jesse B. Thomas, Sr., 1818-29; John McLean 
1824-25 and 1829-30; Elias Kent Kane, 1825-35 
David Jewett Baker, Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, 1830 
John M. Robinson, 1830-41 ; William L. D. Ewing, 
1835-37; Richard M. Young, 1837-43; Samuel Mc 
Roberts, 1841-43; Sidney Breese, 1843-49; James 
Semple, 1843-47; Stephen A. Douglas, 1847-61 
James Shields, 1849-55 ; Lyman Trumbull, 1855-73 
Orville 11. Browning, 1861-63; William A. Rich 
ardson, 1863-65 ; Richard Yates, 1865-71 ; John A 
Logan, 1871-77 and 1879-86; Richard J. Oglesby 
1873-79; David Davis, 1877-83; Shelby M. CuUom 
first elected in 1883, and re-elected in '89 and "95, 
his third term expiring in 1901 ; Charles B. Far 
well, 1887-91; John McAuley Palmer, 1891-97 
William E. Mason, elected in 1897, for the term 
expiring, March 4, 1903. 

UM VERSITY OF CHICAGO (The New). One 
of the leading educational institutions of the 
country, located at Chicago. It is the outgrowth 
of an attempt, put forth by the American Educa- 
tional Society (organized at Washington in 1888). 
to supply the place which the original institution 
of the same name had been designed to fill. (See 
University of Chicago— Tlie Old.) The following 
year, Mr. John D. Rockefeller of New York ten- 
dered a contribution of SOOO, 000 toward the endow- 
ment of the enterprise, conditioned upon securing 
additional pledges to the amount of §400,000 by 
June 1, 1890. The offer was accepted, and the 
sum promptly raised. In addition, a site, covering 
four blocks of land in the city of Chicago, was 
secirred — two and one-half blocks being acquired 
by purchase for 5282,500, and one and one-half 
(valued at §125,000) donated by Mr. Marshall 
Field. A charter was secured and an organiza- 
tion effected, Sept. 10, 1890. The Presidency of 
the institution was tendered to, and accepted by, 
Dr. William R. Harper. Since that time the 
University has been the recipient of other gener- 
ous benefactions by Mr. Rockefeller and others, 
until the aggregate donations (1898) exceed §10,- 
000,000. Of this amount over one-half has been 
contributed by Mr. Rockefeller, while he has 
pledged himself to make additional contributions 
of §2,000,000, conditioned upon the raising of a 
like sum, from other donors, by Jan. 1, 1900. The 
buildings erected on the campus, prior to 1896, 
include a chemical laboratory costing §182,000; a 
lecture hall, §150,000; a physical laboratory 



540 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



§150,000; a museum, §100,000; an academy dor- 
mitory, §30,000; three dormitories for women, 
§150,000; two dormitories for men, §100,000, to 
which several important additions were made 
during 1896 and 97. The faculty embraces over 
150 instructors, selected with reference to their 
fitness for their respective departments from 
among the most eminent scholars in America and 
Europe. Women are admitted as students and 
graduated upon an equality with men. The work 
of practical instruction began in October, 1892, 
with 589 registered students, coming from nearly 
every Northern State, and including 250 gradu- 
ates from other institutions, to which accessions 
were made, during the year, raising the aggregate 
to over 900. The second year the number ex- 
ceeded 1,100; the third, it rose to 1,750, and the 
fourth (1895-9G), to some 2,000, including repre- 
sentatives from every State of the Union, besides 
many from foreign countries. Special features 
of tlie institution include the admission of gradu- 
ates from other institutions to a post-graduate 
course, and tlie University Extension Division, 
which is conducted largely by means of lecture 
courses, in other cities, or through lecture centers 
in the vicinity of the University, non-resident 
students having the privilege of written exami- 
nations. The various libraries embrace over 
300,000 voUimes, of which nearly 60,000 belong 
to what are called the "Departmental Libraries," 
besides a large and valuable collection of maps 
and pamphlets. 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (The Old), an 
educational institution at Chicago, under the 
care of the Baptist denomination, for some years 
known as the Douglas University. Senator 
Stephen A. Douglas offered, in 1854, to donate ten 
acres of land, in what was then near the southern 
border of tlie city of Chicago, as a site for an 
institution of learning, provided buildings co.st- 
ing §100,000, be erected thereon within a stipu- 
lated time. The corner-stone of the main building 
was laid, July 4, 1857, but the financial panic of 
that year prevented its completion, and Mr. Doug- 
las extended the time, and finally deeded the 
land to the trustees without reserve. For eighteen 
years the institution led a precarious existence, 
struggling under a heavy debt. By 1885, mort- 
gages to the amount of §320,000 having accumu- 
lated, the trustees abandoned further effort, and 
acquiesced in the .sale of the property under fore- 
closure proceedings. The original plan of tlie 
institution contemplated preparatory and col- 
legiate departments, together with a college of 
law and a theological school. 



UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, the leading edu- 
cational institution under control of the State, 
located at Uibana and adjoining the city of 
Champaign. The Legislature at the session of 1863 
accepteii a grant of 480,000 acres of land under 
Act of Congre.ss, approved July 2, 18G2, making an 
appropriation of public lands to States — 30,000 
acres for each Senator and each Representative in 
Congress — establishing colleges for teaching agri- 
culture and the mechanic arts, though not to the 
exclusion of classical and scientific studies. Land- 
scrip under this grant was issued and i^Iaced in 
the hands of Governor Yates, and a Board of 
Trustees appointed under the State law was organ- 
ized in March, 1867, the institution being located 
tlie same year. Departments and courses of study 
were established, and Dr. John M. Gregory, of 
Michigan, was chosen Regent (President). — The 
landscrip issued to Illinois was sold at an early 
day for what it wonld bring in open market, 
except 25,000 acres, which was located in Ne- 
braska and Minnesota. This has recently been 
sold, realizing a larger sum than was received 
for all the sciip otherwise disposed of. The entire 
sum thus secured for permanent endowment ag- 
gregates §613,026. The University revenues were 
further increased by donations from Congress to 
each institution organized under the Act of 1863, 
of §15,000 per annum for the maintenance of an 
Agricultural Experiment Station, and, in 1890, of 
a similar amount for instruction — the latter to be 
increased §1,000 annually until it should reach 
§25,000.— A mechanical building was erected in 
1871, and this is claimed to have been the first of 
its kind in America intended for strictly educa- 
tional purposes. What was called "the main 
building" was formally opened in December, 
1873. Other buildings embrace a "Science Hall," 
opened in 1892; a new "Engineering Hall," 1894; 
a fine Library Building, 1897. Eleven other prin- 
cipal structures and a number of smaller ones 
have been erected as conditions required. The 
value of property aggregates nearly §2,500,000, and 
appropriations from the State, for all purposes, 
previous to 1904, foot up §5,123,517.90.— Since 
1871 the institution has been open to women. 
The courses of study embrace agriculture, chem- 
istry, polytechnics, military tactics, natural and 
general sciences, languages and literature, eco- 
nomics, household science, trade and commerce. 
The Graduate School dates from 1891. In 1896 
the Chicago College of Pharmacy was connected 
with the University: a College of Law and a 
Library School were opened in 1897, and the same 
year the Chicago College of Physicians and .Sur- 



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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



541 



geons vras affiliated as the College of Medicine — a 
School of Dentistry heing added to tlie latter in 
1901. In 1885 the State Laboratory of Natural 
History was transferred from Normal, 111., and an 
Agricultural Experiment Station entablished in 
1888, from which bulletins are sent to farmers 
throughout the State who may desire them. — The 
fir.st name of the Institution was "Illinois Indus- 
trial University," but, in 1885, this was changed 
to "University of Illinois." In 1887 the Trustees 
(of whom there are nine) were made elective by 
popular vote — three being elected every tvro 
years, each holding office six years. Dr. Gregory, 
having resigned the office of Regent in 1880, was 
succeeded by Dr. Selim H. Peabody, who had 
been Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineer- 
ing. Dr. Peabod}' resigned in 1891. The duties 
of Regent were then discharged by Prof. Thomas 
J. Burrill until August, 1894, when Dr. Andrew 
Sloan Draper, former State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction of the State of New "York, was 
installed as President, serving until 1904. — The 
corps of instruction (1904) includes over 100 Pro- 
fessors, 60 Associate and Assistant Professors and 
200 Instructors and Assistants, besides special 
lecturers, demonstrators and clerks. The num- 
ber of students has increased rapidly in recent 
years, as shown by the following totals for suc- 
cessive years from 1890-91 to 1903-04, inclusive: 
519; 583; 714; 743; 810; 852; 1,075; 1,582; 1,824; 
2,284; 2,505; 2,932; 3,289; 3,.589. Of the last num- 
ber, 2,271 were men and 718 women. During 
1903-04 there were in all departments at Urbana, 
2,547 students (2.j6 being in the Preparatory Aca- 
demy) ; and in tlie three Professional Departments 
in Chicago, 1,043, of whom 694 were in the Col- 
lege of Medicine, 185 in the School of Pharmacy, 
and 163 in the School of Dentistry. The Univer- 
sity Library contains 63,700 volumes and 14,500 
pamphlets, not including 5,350 volumes and 
15,850 pamphlets in the State Laboratory of Nat- 
ural History. — The University occupies a con- 
spicuous and attractive site, embracing 220 acres 
adjacent to the line between Uibana and Cham- 
paign, and near the residence portion of the two 
cities. The athletic field of 11 acres, on which 
stand the gymnasium and armory, is enclosed 
with an ornamental iron fence. The campus, 
otherwise, is an open and beautiful park with 
fine landscape effects. 

UNOKtiAlVIZED COUNTIES. In addition to 
the 102 counties into which Illinois is divided, 
acts were passed by tlie General Assembly, 
at different times, providing for the organiza- 
tion of a number of others, a few of which 



were subsequently organized under different 
names, but the majority of which were never 
organized at all — the proposition for such or- 
ganization being rejected by vote of the people 
within the proposed boundaries, or allowed to 
lapse by non-action. These unorganized coun- 
ties, with the date of the several acts authorizing 
them, und the territory which they were in- 
tended to include, were as follows: Allen 
County (1841) — comprising portions of Sanga- 
mon, Morgan and Macoupin Counties ; Audobon 
(Audubon) County (1843) — from portions of Mont- 
gomery, Fayette and Shelby; Benton County 
(1843)— from Morgan, Greene and Macoupin; 
Coffee County (1837) — with substantially the 
same territory now comprised within the bound- 
aries of Stark County, authorized two years 
later; Dane County (1839) — name changed to 
Christian in 1840; Harrison County (1855) — 
from SIcLean, Champaign and Vermilion, com- 
prising territory since partially incorporated 
in Ford County; Holmes County (1857) — from 
Champaign and VermiUon; Marquette County 
(1843), changed (1847) to Highland— compris- 
ing the northern portion of Adams, (this act 
was accepted, with Columbus as the county- 
seat, but organization finally vacated); Michi- 
gan County (1837)— from a part of Cook; Milton 
County (1843) — from the south jjart of Vermil- 
ion; Okaw County (1841) — comprising .substan- 
tially the same territory as Moultrie, organized 
under act of 1843; Oregon County (1851) — from 
parts of Sangamon, Morgan and Macoupin Coun- 
ties, and covering substantially the same terri- 
tory as proposed to be incorporated in Allen 
County ten years earlier. The last act of this 
character was passed in 1867, when an attempt 
was made to organize Lincoln County out O- 
parts of Champaign and Vermilion, but whicn 
failed for want of an affirmative vote. 

UPPER ALTON, a city of Madison County, 
situated on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, about 
ij miles northeast of Alton— laid out in 1816. It 
lias several churches, and is the seat of Shurtleff 
College and the Western Jlilitary Academy, the 
former founded about 1831, and controlled by the 
Baptist denomination. Beds of excellent clay are 
found in the vicinity and utilized in pottery 
manufacture. Pop. (1890), 1,803; (1900), 2,373. 

UPTOJf, George Putnam, journalist, was born 
at Roxbury, Mass., Oct. 25, 1834; graduated from 
Brown University in 1854, removed to Chicago 
in 1855, and began newspaper work on "The 
Native American," the following year taking 
the place of city editor of "The Evening Jour- 



542 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



nal." In 1862, Mr. Upton became musical critic 
on "The Chicago Tribune," serving for a time 
also as its war correspondent in the field, later 
(about 1881) taking a place on the general edi- 
torial stalT, which he still retains. He is regarded 
as an authority on musical and dramatic topics. 
Mr. Upton is also a stockholder in, and, for sev- 
eral years, has been V'ice-President of the "Trib- 
une" Company. Besides numerous contributions 
to magazines, his works include: "Letters of 
Peregrine Pickle" (18G!)) ; "Memories, a Story of 
German Love," translated from the German of 
Max Muller (1879) ; "Woman in Music" (1880) ; 
"Lives of German Compo.sers" (3 vols. — 1883-84); 
besides four volumes of standard operas, oratorios, 
cantatas, and symphonies (188.5-88). 

URB.\NA, a flourishing city, the county-seat 
of Champaign County, on the "Big Four," the 
Illinois Central and the Wabash Railways : 130 
miles south of Chicago and 31 miles west of Dan- 
ville; in agricultural and coal-mining region. 
The mechanical industries include extensive rail- 
road shops, manufacture of brick, suspenders and 
lawn-mowers. The Cunningham Deaconesses' 
Home and Orphanage is located here. The city 
has water-works, gas and electric light plants, 
electric car-lines (local and interurban), superior 
schools, nine churches, three banks and three 
newspnpers. Urbana is the seat of the University 
of Illinois. Pop. (1890), 3,511; (1900), 5,738. 

USRET, William J., editor and soldier, was 
born at Wa.shington (near Natchez), Miss., May 
16, 1827; was educated at Natchez, and, before 
reaching manhood, came to Macon County, 111., 
where he engaged in teaching until 1846, when 
he enlisted as a private in Company C, Fourth 
Illinois Volunteers, for the Mexican War. In 
1855, he joined with a Mr. Wingate in the estab- 
lishment, at Decatur, of "The Illinois State Chron- 
icle," of which he soon after took sole charge, 
conducting the paper until 1861, when he enlisted 
in the Thu'ty-fifth Illinois Volunteers and was 
appointed Adjutant. Although born and edu- 
cated in a slave State, Mr. Usrey was an earnest 
opponent of slavery, as proved by the attitude of 
liis paper in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill. He was one of the most zealous endorsers 
of the proposition for a conference of the Anti- 
Nebraska editors of the State of Illinois, to agree 
upon a line of policy in opposition to the fm-ther 
extension of slavery, and, when that body met at 
Decatur, on Feb. 23, 1856, he served as its Secre- 
tarj', thus taking a prominent part in the initial 
steps which resulted in the organization of the 
Republican party in Illinois. (See Anti-Xebraska 



Editorial Convention.) After returning from 
the war he resumed his place as editor of "The 
Chronicle," but finally retired from newspaper 
work in 1871. He was twice Postmaster of the 
city of Decatur, first previous to 1850, and again 
under the administration of President Grant; 
served also as a member of the City Council and 
was a member of the local Post of the G. A. R., 
and Secretary of the Macon County Association 
of Mexican War Veterans. Died, at Decatur, 
Jan. 20, 1894. 

UTICA, (also called North Utica), a village of 
La Salle County, on the IlUnois & Michigan 
Canal and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railway, 10 miles west of Ottawa, situated on tlie 
Illinois River opposite "Starved Rock," also 
believed to stand on the site of the Kaskaskia 
village found by the French Explorer, La Salle, 
when he first visited Illinois. "Utica cement" is 
produced here; it also has several factories or 
mills, besides banks and a weekly paper. Popu- 
lation (1880), 767; (1890), 1,094; (1900), 1,150. 

VAN ARNAM, John, lawyer and soldier, was 
born at Plattsburg, N. Y., March 3, 1820. Hav- 
ing lost his father at five years of age, he went to 
live with a farmer, but ran away in his boyhood ; 
later, began teaching, studied law, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in New York City, beginning 
practice at Marshall, Mich. In 1858 he removed 
to Chicago, and, as a member of the firm of 
Walker, Van Arnam & Dexter, became promi- 
nent as a criminal lawyer and railroad attorney, 
being for a time Solicitor of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railroad. In 1863 he assisted in 
organizing the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh 
Illinois Volunteer Infantrj- and was commissioned 
its Colonel, but was compelled to resign on 
account of illness. After spending some time in 
California, he resumed practice in Chicago in 
1865. His later years were spent in California, 
dying at San Diego, in that State, April 6, 1890. 

VAXDALIA, the principal city and county-seat 
of Fayette County. It is situated on the Kas- 
kaskia River, 30 miles north of Centralia, 63 
miles south by '^vest of Decatur, and 68 miles 
east-northeast of St. Louis. It is an intersecting 
point for the Illinois Central and the St. Louis, 
Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroads. It was the 
capital of the State from 1830 to 1839, the seat of 
government being removed to Springfield, the 
latter year, in accordance with act of the General 
Assembly passed at the session of 1837. It con- 
tains a court house (old State Capitol building), 
six churches, two banks, three weekly papers, a 



HISTOEICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



543 



graded school, flour, saw and paper mills, foundry, 
stave and heading mill, carriage and wagon 
and brick works. Pop. (1890), 3,144; (1900), 2.665. 

VANDEVEEIJ, Horatio 31., pioneer lawyer, 
was born in VVashington County, Ind., March 1, 
1816; came with his family to Illinois at an early 
age, settling on Clear Creek, now in Chi-istian 
County; taught school and studied law, using 
books borrowed from the late Hon. John T. Stuart 
of Springfield ; was elected first County Recorder 
of Christian County and, soon after, appointed 
Circuit Clerk, filling both ofiSces three years. 
He also held the office of County Judge from 1848 
to 1857 ; was twice chosen Representative in the 
General Assembly (1842 and 1850) and once to the 
State Senate (1862); in 1846, enlisted and was 
chosen Captain of a company for the Mexican 
War, but, having been rejected on account of the 
quota being full, was appointed Assistant-Quarter- 
master, in this capacity serving on the staff of 
General Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista. 
Among other ofiices held by Mr. Vandeveer, were 
those of Postmaster of Taylorville, Master in 
Chancery, Presidential Elector (1848), Delegate 
to the Constitutional Convention of 1862, and 
Judge of the Circuit Court (1870-79). In 1868 
Judge Vandeveer established the private banking 
firm of H. M. Vandeveer & Co., at Taylorville, 
which, in conjunction with his sons, he continued 
successfully during the remainder of his life. 
Died, March 12, 1894. 

VAN HORNE, William C, Railway Manager 
and President, was born in Will County, 111., 
February, 1843; began his career as a telegraph 
operator on the Illinois Central Railroad in 1856, 
was attached to the Michigan Central and Chi- 
cago & Alton Railroads (1858-72), later being 
General Manager or General Superintendent of 
various other lines (1872-79). He next served as 
General Superintendent of the Chicago, Milwau- 
kee & St. Paul, but soon after became General 
Manager of the Canadian Pacific, which he 
assisted to construct to the Pacific Coast; was 
elected Vice-President of the line in 1884, and its 
President in 1888. His services have been recog- 
nized by conferring upon him the order of 
knighthood by the British Government. 

VASSEUR, Noel C, pioneer Indian-trader, was 
born of French parentage in Canada, Dec. 25, 
1799; at the age of 17 made a trip with a trading 
party to the West, crossing W^isconsin by way of 
the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the route pursued 
by Joliet and Marquette in 1673 ; later, was associ- 
ated with Gurdon S. Hubbard in the service of 
the American Fur Company, in 1820 visiting the 



region now embraced in Iroquois County, where 
he and Hubbard subsequently established a trad- 
ing post among the Pottawatomie Indians, 
believed to have been the site of the present town 
of Iroquois. The way of reaching their station 
from Chicago was by the Chicago and Des 
Plaines Rivers to the Kankakee, and ascending 
the latter and the Iroquois. Here Vasseur re- 
mained in trade until the removal of the Indians 
west of the Mississipiii, in which he served as 
agent of the Government. W^hile in the Iroquois 
region he married Watseka, a somewhat famous 
Pottawatomie woman, for whom the town of 
Watseka was named, and who had previously 
been the Indian wife of a fellow-trader. His 
later years were spent at Bourbonnais Grove, in 
Kankakee County, where he died, Dec. 12, 1879. 

VENICE, a city of Madison County, on the 
Mississippi River opposite St. Louis and 2 miles 
north of East St. Louis ; is touched by six trunk 
lines of railroad, and at the eastern approach to 
the new "'Merchants' Bridge," with its round- 
house, has two ferries to St. Louis, street car line, 
electric lights, water-works, some manufactures 
and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 932; (1900), 2,450. 

VENICE & CARO>DELET RAILROAD. (See 
Luuisvilk', EvrnsrilU' & St. Louis (Consolidated) 
Railroad.) 

VERMILION COUNTY, an eastern county, 
bordering on the Indiana State line, and drained 
by the Vermilion and Little Vermilion Rivers, 
from which it takes its name. It was originally 
organized in 1826, when it extended north to 
Lake Michigan. Its present area is 926 square 
miles. The discovery of salt springs, in 1819, 
aided in attracting immigration to this region, 
but the manufacture of salt was abandoned 
many years ago. Early settlers were Seymour 
Treat, James Butler, Henry Johnston, Harvey 
Lidington, Gurdon S. Hubbard and Daniel W. 
Beckwith. James Butler and Achilles Morgan 
were the first County Commissioners. Many 
interesting fossil remains have been found, 
among them the skeleton of a mastodon (1868). 
Fire clay is found in large quantities, and two 
coal seams cross the county. The surface is level 
and the soil fertile. Corn is the chief agricultural 
product, although oats, wheat, rye, and potatoes 
are extensively cultivated. Stock-raising and 
wool-growing are important industries. There 
are also several manufactories, chiefly at Dan- 
ville, which is the county-seat. Coal mining 
is carried on extensively, especially in the vicin- 
ity of Danville. Population (1880), 41,588; (1890), 
49,905; (1900), 65,635. 



544 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



VERMILION RIVER, a tributary of the Illi- 
nois; rises in Ford and the northern part of 
McLean County, and, running northwestward 
through Livingston and the southern part of 
La Salle Counties, enters tlie Illinois River 
nearlj' opposite the city of La Salle ; has a length 
of about 80 miles. 

VERMILION RIVER, an affluent of the AVa- 
bash, formed by the union of the North, Middle 
and South Forks, which rise in Illinois, and 
come together near Danvflle in this State. It 
flows southeastward, and enters the Wabash in 
Vermilion Coimty, Ind. The main stream is 
about 38 miles long. The South Fork, however, 
which rises in Champaign County and runs east- 
ward, has a length of nearly 75 miles. The 
Little Vermilion River enters the Wabash about 
7 or 8 miles below the Vermilion, which is some- 
times called the Big Vermilion, by way of 
distinction. 

VERMONT, a village in Fulton County, at 
junction of Galesburg and St. Louis Division of 
the Chicago, Burlington «fe Quincy Railroad, 24 
miles nortli of Beardstown ; lias a carriage manu- 
factorj-. flour and saw-mills, brick and tile works, 
electric light plant, besides two banks, four 
churches, two graded schools, and one weekly 
newspaper. An artesian well has been sunk here 
to the depth of 3 600 feet. Pop. (1900), 1,195. 

VERSAILLES, a town of Brown County, on 
the Wabash Railway, 48 miles east of Quincy; is 
in a timber and agricultural district ; has a bank 
and weekl}- newspaper. Population (1900), 524. 
VIENNA, the county-seat of Johnson County, 
situated on the Cairo and Vincennes branch of 
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Railroad, 36 :iiiles north-northwest of Cairo. It 
has a court house, several churches, a graded 
school, banks and two weekly newspapers. 
Population (1880), 494; (1890), 838; (1900), 1,317. 
VKiiO, Francois, pioneer and early Indian- 
trader, was born at Mondovi, .Sardinia (Western 
Italy), in 1747, served as a private soldier, first at 
Havana and afterwards at New Orleans. When 
he left the Spanish army he came to St. Louis, 
then the military lieadquarters of Spain for Upper 
Louisiana, where he became a partner of Com- 
mandant de Leba, and was extensively engaged 
in the fur-trade among the Indians on the Ohio 
and Mississippi River.s. On the occupation of 
Kaskaskia by Col. George Rogers Clark in 1778, 
he rendered valuable aid to the Americans, turn- 
ing out supplies to feed Clark's destitute soldiers, 
and accepting Virginia Continental money, at 
par, in payment, incurring liabilities in excess of 



$30,000. This, followed by the confiscation policy 
of the British Colonel Hamilton, at Vincennes, 
where Vigo had considerable property, reduced 
him to extreme penury. H. W. Beckwith says 
that, towards the close of his Ufe, he lived on his 
little homestead near Vincennes, in great poverty 
but cheerful to the last He was never recom- 
pensed during his Ufe for his sacrifices in behalf 
of the American cause, though a tardy restitution 
was attempted, after his death, by the United 
States Government, for the benefit of his heirs. 
He died, at a ripe old age, at Vincennes, Ind., 
March 23, 1835. 

VILLA RIDGE, a village of Pulaski County, 
on the Illinois Central Railway, 10 miles north of 
Cairo. Population, 500. 

VINCENNES, Jean Baptiste Bissot, a Canadian 
explorer, born at Quebec, January, 1688, of aris- 
tocratic and wealthy ancestry. He was closely 
connected with Louis Joliet — probably his 
brother-in-law, although some historians say that 
he was the latter's nephew. He entered the 
Canadian army as ensign in 1701, and had a long 
and varied experience as an Indian fighter. 
About 1735 he took up his residence on what is 
now the site of the present city of Vincennes, 
Ind., which is named in his honor. Here he 
erected an earth fort and established a trading- 
post. In 1736, under orders, he co-operated with 
D'Artaguiette (then the French Governor of Illi- 
nois) in an expedition against the Chickasaws. 
The expedition resulted disastrously. Vincennes 
and D'Artaguiette were captured and burned 
at the stake, together with Father Senat (a 
Jesuit priest) and others of the command. 
(See also D'Artaguiette/ French Governors of 
lUhioi.i.) 

VIRDEN, a city of Macoupin County, on the 
Chicago & Alton and the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroads, 31 miles south by west from 
Springfield, and 31 miles east-southeast of Jack- 
sonville. It has five churches, two banks, two 
newspapers, telephone service, electric lights, 
grain elevators, machine shop, and extensive coal 
mines. Pop.(I900), 2,280; (school censusl90.3),3.651. 

VIRGINIA, an incorporated city, the county- 
seat of Cass County, situated at the intersection of 
the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis, with the Spring- 
field Division of the Baltimore & Ohio South- 
western Railroad, 15 miles north of Jacksonville, 
and 33 miles west-northwest of Springfield. It 
lies in the heart of a rich agricultural region. 
There is a flouring mill here, besides manu- 
factories of wagons and cigars. The city has two 
National and one State bank, five churches, a 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



545 



hfgli school, and two weekly papers. Pop (1890), 
1.602: (1900). 1,600. 

VOCKE, William, lawyer, was born at Min- 
den, Westphalia (Germany), in 1839, the son of a 
Government Secretary in the Prussian service. 
Having lost his father at an early age, he emi- 
grated to America in 1856, and, after a short 
stay in New York, came to Chicago, where he 
found employment as a paper-carrier for "The 
Staats-Zeitung, " meanwhile giving his attention 
to the study of law. Later, he became associated 
with a real-estate firm; on the commencement 
of the Civil War, enlisted as a private in a 
three months' regiment, and, finally, in the 
Twenty-fourth Illinois (the first Hecker regi- 
ment), in which he rose to the rank of Captain. 
Returning from the army, he was employed as 
city editor of "The Staats-Zeitung," but, in 
1865, became Clerk of the Chicago Police Court, 
serving until 1869. Meanwhile he had been 
admitted to the bar, and, on retirement from 
office, began practice, but, in 1870, was elected 
Representative in the Twenty-seventh General 
Assembly, in which he bore a leading part in 
framing "the burnt record act" made necessary 
by the fire of 1871. He has since been engaged 
in the practice of his profession, having been, 
for a number of years, attorney for the German 
Consulate at Chicago, also serving, for several 
years, on the Chicago Board of Education. Mr. 
Vocke is a man of high literary tastes, as shown 
by his publication, in 1809, of a volume of poems 
translated from the German, which has been 
highly commended, besides a legal work on 
"The Administration of Justice in the United 
States, and a Synopsis of the Mode of Procedure 
in our Federal and State Courts and All Federal 
and State Laws relating to Subjects of Interest 
to Aliens," which has been published in the Ger- 
man Language, and is highly valued by German 
lawyers and business men. Mr. Vocke was a 
member of the Republican National Convention 
of 1872 at Philadelphia, which nominated General 
Grant for the Presidency a second time. 

VOLK, Leonard Wells, a distinguished Illinois 
sculptor, born at Wellstown (afterwards Wells), 
N. Y., Nov. 7, 1828. Later, his father, who was 
a marble cutter , removed to Pittsfleld, Mass. , 
and, at the age of 16, Leonard began work in his 
shop. In 1848 he came west and began model- 
ing in clay and dravring at St. Louis, being only 
self-taught. He married a cousin of Stephen A. 
Douglas, and the latter, in 1855, aided him in 
the prosecution of his art studies in Italy. Two 
years afterward he settled in Chicago, where he 



modeled the first portrait bust ever made in the 
city, having for his subject his first patron — the 
"Little Giant." The next year (1858) he made a 
life-size marble statue of Douglas. In 1860 he 
made a portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln, which 
passed into the possession of the Chicago His- 
torical Society and was destroyed in the great fire 
of 1871. In 1808-69, and again in 1871-72, he 
revisited Italy for purposes of study. In 1867 he 
was elected academician of the Chicago Academy, 
and was its President for eight years. He was 
genial, companionable and charitable, and always 
ready to assist his younger and less fortunate pro- 
fessional brethren. His best known works are the 
Douglas Monument, in Chicago, several soldiers' 
monuments in different parts of the country, 
the statuary for the Henry Keep mausoleum at 
Watertown, N. Y., life-size statues of Lincoln 
and Douglas, in the State House at Springfield, 
and numerous portrait busts of men eminent 
in political, ecclesiastical and commercial life. 
Died, at Osceola, Wis., August 18, 1895.. 

VOSS, Arno, journalist, lawyer and soldier, 
born in Prussia, April 16, 1821 ; emigrated to the 
United States and was admitted to the bar in 
Chicago, in 1848, the same j'ear becoming editor 
of "The Staats-Zeitung"; was elected City 
Attorney in 18.52, and again in 1853; in 1861 
became Major of the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, but 
afterwards assisted in organizing the Twelfth 
Cavalry, of which he was commissioned Colonel, 
still later serving with his command in Vir- 
ginia. He was at Harper's Ferry at the time of 
the capture of that place in September, 1862, but 
succeeded in cutting his wa3% with his command, 
through the rebel lines, escaping into Pennsjl- 
vania. Compelled by ill-health to leave the .serv- 
ice in 1863, he retired to a farm in Will County, 
but, in 1869, returned to Chicago, where he served 
as Master in Chancery and was elected to the 
lower branch of the General Assembly in 1876, 
but declined a re-election in 1878. Died, in Chi- 
cago, March 23, 1888. 

WABASH, CHESTER & WESTERN RAIL- 
ROAD, a railway running from Chester to Mount 
Vernon, 111., 63.33 miles, with a branch extend- 
ing from Chester to Menard, 1.5 miles; total 
mileage, 64.83. It is of standard gauge, and 
almost entirely laid with 60-pound steel rails. — 
(History.) It was organized, Feb. 20, 1878, as 
successor to the Iron Mountain, Chester & East- 
ern Railroad. During the fiscal year 1893-94 the 
Company purchased the Tamaroa & Mount Ver- 
non Railroad, extending from Mount Vernon to 



546 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Tamaroa, 23.5 miles. Capital stock (1898), Sl,- 
250,000; bonded indebtedness, §690,000; total 
capitalization, §3,028,573. 

WABASH COUNTY, situated in the southeast 
corner of the State; area 330 square miles. The 
county was carved out from Edwards in 1834, 
and the first court house built at CenterviUe, in 
May, 183G. Later, Mount Carmel was made the 
county -seat. (See Mount Carmel.) The "VYabash 
River drains the county on the east; other 
streams are the Bon Pas, Coffee and Crawflsh 
Creeks. The surface is undulating with a fair 
growth of timber. The chief industries are the 
raising of live-stock and the cultivation of cere- 
als. The wool-crop is likewise valuable. The 
county is crossed by the Louisville, Evansville & 
St. Louis and the Cairo and Vincennes Division 
of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railroads. Population (1880), 4,945; (1890), 
11.8GG; (1900), 12,583. 

WABASH RAILROAD, an extensive raikoad 
system connecting the cities of Detroit and 
Toledo, on the east, with Kansas City and Council 
Bluffs, on the west, with branches to Chicago, St. 
Louis, Quincy and Altamont, 111., and to Keokuk 
and Des Moines, Iowa. The total mileage (1898) 
is 1,874.96 miles, of which 677.4 miles are in Illi- 
nois — all of the latter being the property of the 
company, besides 176.7 miles of yard-tracks, sid- 
ings and spurs. Tlie company has trackage 
privileges over the Toledo, Peoria & Western (6.5 
miles) between Elvaston and Keokuk bridge, and 
over tlie Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (21.8 
miles) between Camp Point and Quincy. — (His- 
tory.) A considerable portion of this road in 
Illinois is constructed on the line upon which the 
Northern Cross Railroad was projected, in the 
"internal improvement" scheme adopted in 1837, 
and embraces the only section of road completed 
under that scheme — tliat between the Illinois 
River and Springfield. (1) The construction of 
this section was begun by the State, May 11, 
1837, the first rail laid. May 9, 1838, the road 
completed to Jacksonville, Jan. 1, 1840, and to 
Springfield, May 13, 1843. It was operated for a 
time by "mule power," but the income was in- 
sufficient to keep the line in repair and it was 
finally abandoned. In 1847 the line was sold for 
521,100 to N. H. Ridgely and Thomas Mather of 
Springfield, and by them transferred to New 
York capitalists, who organized tlie Sangamon & 
Morgan Railroad Company, reconstructed the 
road from Sjjringfield to Naples and opened it for 
business in 1849. (3) In 1853 two corporations 
were organized in Ohio and Indiana, respectively, 



under the name of tlie Toledo & Illinois Railroad 
and the Lake Erie, Wabash & St. Louis Railroad, 
which were consolidated as the Toledo, Wabash 
& Western Railroad, June 35, 1856. In 1858 
these Unes were sold separately under foreclo- 
sure, and finally reorganized, under a special char- 
ter granted by the Illinois Legislature, under the 
name of the Great Western Railroad Company. 
(3) The Quincy & Toledo Railroad, extending 
from Camp Point to the Illinois River opposite 
Meredosia, was constructed in 1858-59, and that, 
with the Illinois & Southern Iowa (from Clay- 
ton to Keokuk), was united, July 1, 1865, with 
the eastern divisions extending to Toledo, the 
new organization taking the name of the main 
line, (Toledo, Wabash & Western). (4) The 
Hannibal & Naples Division (49.6 miles), from 
Bluffs to Hannibal, Mo., was chartered in 1863, 
opened for business in 1870 and leased to the 
Toledo, Wabash & Western. The latter defaulted 
on its interest in 1875, was placed in the hands 
of a receiver and, in 1877, was turned over to a 
new company under the name of the Wabash 
Railwa}' Company. (5) In 1868 the company, 
as it then existed, promoted and secured the con- 
struction, and afterwards acquired the owner- 
ship, of a line extending from Decatur to East St. 
Louis (110.5 miles) under the name of the Deca- 
tur & East St. Louis Railroad. (6) The Eel River 
Railroad, from Butler to Logansport, Ind., was 
acquired in 1877, and afterwards extended to 
Detroit under the name of the Detroit, Butler & 
St. Louis Railroad, completing the connection 
from Logansport to Detroit. — In November, 1879, 
the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Com- 
pany was organized, took the propertj' and con- 
solidated it with certain lines west of the 
Mississippi, of which the chief was the St. Louis, 
Kansas City & Northern. A line had been pro- 
jected from Decatur to Chicago as early as 1870, 
but, not having been constructed in 1881, the 
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific purchased what was 
known as the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, 
uniting with the main line at Bement, and (by 
way of the Decatur and St. Louis Division) giv- 
ing a direct line between Chicago and St. Louis. 
At this time the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific wal 
operating the following additional leased lines: 
Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur (67.3 miles) ; Hannibal 
& Central Mi.ssoim (70.2 miles); Lafayette. Mun- 
cie & Bloomington (36.7 miles), and the Lafayette 
Bloomington & Muncie (80 miles). A connection 
between Chicago on the west and Toledo and 
Detroit on the east was established over the 
Grand Trunk road in 1882, but, in 1890, the com- 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



547 



pany constructed a line from Montpelier, Ohio, to 
Clark, lud. (149.7 miles), thence by track lease 
to Chicago (17.5 miles), giving an independent 
line between Cliicago and Detroit by what is 
known to investors as the Detroit & Chicago 
Division. 

The total mileage of the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific system, in 1884, amounted to over 3,600 
miles; but, in May of that year, default having 
been made in the payment of interest, the work 
of disintegration began. The main line east of 
the Mississippi and that on the west were sepa- 
rated, the latter taking the name of the "Wabash 
Western." The Eastern Division was placed in 
the hands of a receiver, so remaining until May, 
1889, when the two divisions, having been 
bought in by a purchasing committee, were 
consolidated under the present name. The total 
earnings and income of the road in Illinois, for 
the fiscal year 1898, were §4,403,621, and the 
expenses $4,836,110. The total capital invested 
(1898) was $139,889,643, including capital stock 
of $,52,000,000 and bonds to the amount of $81,- 
534,000. 

WABASn RIVER, rises in northwestern Ohio, 
passes into Indiana, and runs northwest to Hun- 
tington. It then flows nearly due west to Logans- 
port, thence southwest to Covington, finally 
turning soutliward to Terre Haute, a few miles 
below which it strikes the western boundary of 
Indiana. It forms the boundary between Illinois 
and Indiana (taking into account its numerous 
windings) for some 200 miles. Below Vincennes 
it runs in a south-southwesterly direction, and 
enters the Ohio at the south-west extremity of 
Indiana, near latitude 37' 49' north. Its length 
is estimated at 557 miles. 

WABASH & MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD. 
(See Illinois Central Railroad.) 

WABASH, ST. LOUIS & PACIFIC RAIL- 
ROAD. (See Wabash PMilroad.) 

WABASH & WESTERN RAILROAD. (See 
Wabash Railroad.) 

WAIT, William Smith, pioneer, and original 
suggestor of the Illinois Central Railroad, was 
born in Portland, Maine, Jlarch 5, 1789, and edu- 
cated in the public schools of his native place. 
In his youth he entered a book-publishing house 
in which his father was a partner, and was for a 
time associated with the publication of a weekly 
paper. Later the business was conducted at 
Boston, and extended over the Eastern, Jliddle, 
and Southern States, the subject of this sketch 
making extensive tours in the interest of the 
firm. In 1817 he made a tour to the West, 



reaching St. Louis, and, early in the following 
year, visited Bond County, 111., where he made 
his first entry of land from the Government. 
Keturning to Boston a few months later, he con- 
tinued in the service of the publishing firm until 

1820, when he again came to Illinois, and, in 

1821, began farming in Ripley Township, Bond 
County. Returning East in 1824, he spent the 
next ten years in the employment of the publish- 
ing firm, with occasional visits to Illinois. In 
1835 he located permanently near Greenville, 
Bond County, and engaged extensively in farm- 
ing and fruit-raising, planting one of the largest 
apple orchards in the State at that early day. In 
1845 he presided as chairman over the National 
Industrial Convention in New York, and, in 
1848, was nominated as the candidate of the 
National Reform Association for Vice-President 
on the ticket with Gerrit Smith of New York, 
but declined. He was also prominent in County 
and State Agricultural Societies. Mr Wait has 
been credited with being one of the first (if not 
the very first) to suggest the construction of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, which he did as early 
as 1835 ; was also one of the prime movers in the 
construction of the Mississippi & Atlantic Rail- 
road — now the "Vandalia Line" — giving much 
time to the latter enterprise from 1846 for many 
years, and was one of the original incorporators 
of the St. Louis & Illinois Bridge Company. 
Died, July 17, 1865. 

WALKER, Cyrus, pioneer, lawyer, born in 
Rockbridge County, Va., May 14, 1791 ; was taken 
while an infant to Adair County, Ky., and came 
to Macomb, 111., in 1833, being the second lawyer 
to locate in McDonough County. He had a wide 
reputation as a successful advocate, especially in 
criminal cases, and practiced extensively in the 
courts of Western Illinois and also in Iowa. Died, 
Dec. 1, 1875. 3Ir. Walker was uncle of the late 
Pinkney H. Walker of the Supreme Court, who 
studied law with him. He was Whig candidate 
for Presidential Elector for the State-at-large in 
1840. 

WALKER, James Barr, clergyman, was born 
in Philadelphia, July 29, 1805; in his youth 
served as errand-boy in a country store near 
Pittsburg and spent four years in a printing 
office ; then became clerk in the office of Mordecai 
M. Noah, in New York, studied law and gradu- 
ated from Western Reserve College, Ohio; edited 
various religious papers, including "The Watch- 
man of the Prairies" (now "The Advance") of 
Chicago, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery 
of Chicago, and for some time was lecturer on 



548 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



"Harmony between Science and Revealed Reli- 
gion" at Oberlin College and Chicago Theological 
Seminary. He was author of several volumes, 
one of which — "The Philosophy of the Plan of 
Salvation," published anonymously under the 
editorship of Prof. Calvin E. Stowe (1855)— ran 
through several editions and was translated into 
five different languages, including Hindustanee. 
Died, at Wheaton, 111., March 6, 1887. 

WALKER, James Monroe, corporation lawyer 
and Railway President, was born at Claremont, 
N. H., Feb. 14, 1820. At fifteen he removed with 
his parents to a farm in Michigan ; was educated 
at Oberlin, Ohio, and at the University of Michi- 
gan, Ann Arbor, graduating from the latter in 
1849. He then entered a law office as clerk and 
student, was admitted to the bar the next year, 
and soon after elected Prosecuting Attorney of 
"Washtenaw County ; was also local attorney for 
the Michigan Central Railway, for which, after 
his removal to Chicago in 1853, he became Gen- 
eral Solicitor. Two years later the firm of Sedg- 
wick & Walker, which had been organized in 
Slichigan, became attorne3's for the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and, until his 
death, Mr. Walker was as.sociated with this com- 
pany, either as General Solicitor, General Counsel 
or President, filling the latter position from 1870 
to 1875. Mr. Walker organized both the Chicago 
and Kansas City stock-yards, and was President 
of these corporations, as also of the Wilmington 
Coal Company, down to the time of his death, 
which occurred on Jan. 33, 1881, as a result of 
heart disease. 

WALKER, (Rev.) Jesse, Methodist Episcopal 
missionary, was born in Rockingham County, 
Va., June 9, 17CG; in 1800 removed to Tennessee, 
became a traveling preacher in 1802, and, in 
1806, came to Illinois under the presiding-elder- 
ship of Rev. William McKendree (afterwards 
Bishop), locating first at Turkey Hill, St. Clair 
County. In 1807 he held a camp meeting near 
Edwardsville — the first on Illinois soil. Later, 
he transferred his labors to Northern Illinois; 
was at Peoria in 1834; at Ottawa in 1825, and 
devoted much time to missionary work among 
the Pottawatouiies, maintaining a school among 
them for a time. He visited Chicago in 1826, and 
there is evidence that he was a prominent resident 
there for several years, occupying a log house, 
which he used as a church and living-room, on 
"Wolf Point" at the junction of the North and 
South Branches of the Chicago River. While 
acting as superintendent of tlie Fox River mis- 
sion, his residence appears to have been at Plain- 



field, in tlie northern part of Will County. Died, 
Oct. 5, 1835. 

WALKER, Pinkney H., lawyer and jurist, 
was born in Adair County, Ky., June 18, 1815. 
His boyhood was chiefly passed in farm work and 
as clerk in a general store ; in 1834 he came to Illi- 
nois, settling at Rushville, where he worked in a 
store for four years. In 1838 he removed to 
Macomb, where he began attendance at an acad- 
emj' and the study of law with his uncle, Cyrus 
Walker, a leading lawyer of his time. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1839, practicing at Macomb 
until 1848, when he returned to Rushville. In 
1853 he was elected Judge of the Fifth Judicial 
Circuit, to fill a vacancy, and re-elected in 1855. 
This position he resigned in 1858, having been 
appointed, by Governor Bissell, to fill the vacancy 
on the bench of the Supreme Couil; occasioned by 
the resignation of Judge Skinner. Two months 
later he was elected to the same position, and 
re-elected in 1867 and '76. He presided as Chief 
Justice from January, 1864, to June, '67, and 
again from June, 1874, to June, '75. Before the 
expiration of his last term he died, Feb. 7, 1885. 

WALL, George Willard, lawyer, politician and 
Judge, was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, April 23, 
1839; brought to Perry County, 111., in infancy, 
and received his preparatory education at McKen. 
dree College, finally graduating from the Uni- 
versity of Michigan in 1858, and from the 
Cincinnati Law School in 1859, when he began 
practice at Duquoin, 111. He was a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1802, and, from 
1864 to '68, served as State's Attorney for the 
Third Judicial District ; was also a Delegate to the 
State Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. In 
1873 he was an unsuccessful Democratic candi- 
date for Congress, although running ahead of his 
ticket. In 1877 he was elected to the bench of 
the Third Circuit, and re-elected in '79, '85 and 
'91, much of the time since 1877 being on duty 
upon the Appellate bench. His home is at 
Duquoin. 

WALLACE, (Rev.) Peter, D.D., clergyman 
and soldier; .was born in Mason Count}', Ky., 
April 11, 1813; taken in infancy to Brown 
County, Ohio, where he grew up on a farm until 
15 years of age, when he was apprenticed to a 
carpenter; at the age of 30 came to Illinois, 
where he became a contractor and builder, fol- 
lowing this occupation for a number of years. He 
was converted in 1835 at Springfield, 111., and, 
some years later, having decided to enter the 
ministry, was admitted to the Illinois Conference 
as a deacon by Bishop E. S. Janes in 1855, and 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



549 



placed in charge of the Danville Circuit. Two 
years later he was ordained by Bishop Scott, and, 
in the next few years, held pastorates at various 
places in the central and eastern parts of the 
State. From 1867 to 1874 he was Presiding Elder 
of the Mattoon and Quincy Districts, and, for six 
years, held the position of President of the Board 
of Trustees of Chaddock College at Quincy, from 
which he received the degree of D.D. in 1881. 
In the second year of the Civil War he raised a 
company in Sangamon County, was chosen 
its Captain and assigned to the Seventy-third 
Illinois Volunteers, known as the "preachers' 
regiment" — all of its ofiicers being ministers. In 
1864 he was compelled by ill-health to resign his 
commission. While pastor of the cliurch at Say- 
brook, 111. , he was offered the position of Post- 
master of that place, which he decided to accept, 
and was allowed to retire from the active minis- 
try. On retirement from office, in 1884, he 
removed to Chicago. In 1889 he was appointed 
by Governor Fifer the first Chaplain of the Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, but retired 
some four years afterward, when he returned to 
Chicago. Dr. Wallace was an eloquent and 
effective preacher and continued to preach, at 
intervals, until within a short time of his decease, 
which occurred in Chicago, Feb. 21, 1897, in his 
84th year. A zealous patriot, he frequently 
spoke very effectively upon the political rostrum. 
Originally a Whig, he became a Republican on 
the organization of that party, and took pride in 
the fact that the first vote he ever oast was for 
Abraham Lincoln, for Representative in the Legis- 
lature, in 1834. He was a Kniglit Templar, Vice- 
President of the Tippecanoe Club of Chicago, 
and, at his death. Chaplain of America Post, No. 
708, G. A. R. 

WALLACE, William Henry Lamb, lawyer and 
soldier, was born at Urbana, Ohio, July 8, 1821 ; 
brought to Illinois in 1833, his father settling 
near La Salle and, afterwards, at Mount Morris, 
Ogle County, where young Wallace attended the 
Rock River Seminary ; was admitted to the bar in 
1845; in 1846 enlisted as a private in the First Illi- 
nois Volunteers (Col. John J. Hardin's regiment), 
for the Mexican War, rising to the rank of Adju- 
tant and participting in the battle of Buena Vista 
(where his commander was killed), and in other 
engagements. Returning to his profession at 
Ottawa, he served as District Attorney (1852-.56), 
then became partner of his father-in-law. Col. 
T. Lyle Dickey, afterwards of the Supreme Court. 
In April, 1861, he was one of the first to answer 
the call for troops by enlisting, and became Colo- 



nel of the Eleventh Illinois (three-months' 
men), afterwards re-enlisting for three years. 
As commander of a brigade he participated in 
the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, in Feb- 
ruary, 1862, receiving promotion as Brigadier- 
General for gallantry. At Pittsburg Landing 
(Shiloh), as commander of Gen. C. F. Smith's 
Division, devolving on him on account of the 
illness of his superior officer, he showed great 
courage, but fell mortally wounded, dying at 
Charleston, Tenn., April 10, 1862. His career 
promised great brilliancy and his loss was greatly 
deplored. —Martin R. M. ( Wallace), brother of 
the preceding, was born at Urbana, Ohio, Sept. 
29, 1829, came to La SaUe County, 111., with his 
father's family and was educated in the local 
schools and at Rock River Seminary ; studied law 
at Ottawa, and was admitted to the bar in 1856, 
soon after locating in Chicago. In 1861 he 
assisted in organizing the Fourth Regiment Illi- 
nois Cavalry, of which he became Lieutenant- 
Colonel, and was complimented, in 1865, with the 
rank of brevet Brigadier-General. After the 
war he served as Assessor of Internal Revenue 
(1866-69); County Judge (1869-77) ; Prosecuting 
Attorney (1884); and, for many years past, has 
been one of the Justices of the Peace of the city 
of Chicago. 

WALNUT, a town of Bureau County, on the 
Mendota and Fulton branch of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad, 26 miles west of 
Mendota; is in a farming and stock-raising dis- 
trict ; has two banks and two newspapers. Popu- 
lation (1890), 605; (1900), 791. 

WAR OF 1812. Upon the declaration of war 
by Congress, in June, 1812, the Pottawatomies, 
and most of the other tribes of Indians in the 
Territory of Illinois, strongly sympathized with 
the British. The savages had been hostile and 
restless for some time previous, and blockhouses 
and familj' forts had been erected at a number 
of points, especially in the settlements most 
exposed to the incursions of the savages. Gov- 
ernor Edwards, becoming apprehensive of an 
outbreak, constructed Fort Russell, a few miles 
from Edwardsville. Taking the field in person, 
he made this his headquarters, and collected a 
force of 250 mounted volunteers, who were later 
reinforced by two companies of rangers, under 
Col. William Russell, numbering about 100 men. 
An independent company of twenty -one spies, of 
which John Reynolds — afterwards Governor — 
was a member, was also formed and led by Capt. 
Samuel Judy. The Governor organized his little 
army into two regiments under Colonels Rector 



550 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and Stephenson, Colonel Russell serving as 
second to the commauder-in-chief, other mem- 
bers of his staff being Secretary Nathaniel Pope 
and Robert K. McLaughlin. On Oct. 18, 1813, 
Governor Edwards, with his men, set out for 
Peoria, where it was expected that their force 
would meet that of General Hopkins, who had 
been sent from Kentucky with a force of 3.000 
men. En route, two Kickapoo villages were 
burned, and a number of Indians unnecessarily 
slain by Edwards" party. Hopkins had ordei-s to 
disperse the Indians on the Illinois and Wabash 
Rivers, and destroy their villages. He deter- 
mined, however, on reaching the headwaters of 
the Vermilion to proceed no farther. Governor 
Edwards reached the liead of Peoria Lake, but, 
failing to meet Hopkins, returned to Fort Russell. 
About the same time Capt. Thomas E. Craig led 
a party, in two boats, up the Illinois River to 
Peoria. His boats, as he alleged, having been 
fired upon in the night bj- Indians, who were har- 
bored and protected by the French citizens of 
Peoria, he burned the greater part of the village, 
and capturing the population, carried them down 
the river, putting tliem on shore, in the early part 
of the winter, just below Alton. Other desultory 
expeditions marked the campaigns of 1813 and 
1814. The Indians meanwhile gaining courage, 
remote settlements were continually harassed 
by marauding bands. Later in 1814, an expedi- 
tion, led by Major (afterwards President) Zachary 
Taylor, ascended the Mississippi as far as Rock 
Island, where he found a large force of Indians, 
supported b}- British regulars with artillery. 
Finding himself unable to cope with so formida- 
ble a foe. Major Taylor retreated down the river. 
On the site of tlie present town of Warsaw he 
threw up fortifications, which he named Fort 
Edwards, from which point he was subsequently 
compelled to retreat. The same year the British, 
with their Indian allies, descended from Macki- 
nac, captured Prairie du Chien, and burned Forts 
Madison and Johnston, after which they retired 
to Cap au Gris. The treaty of Ghent, signed 
Dec. 34, 1814, closed the war, altliough no formal 
treaties were made with the tribes until the year 
following. 

WAR OF THE REBELLION. At the outbreak 
of the Civil War, the executive chair, in Illinois, 
was occupied by Gov. Richard Yates. Immedi- 
ately upon the issuance of President Lincoln's 
first call for troops (April 15, 1801), the Governor 
issued his proclamation summoning the Legisla- 
ture together in special session and, the same 
day, issued a call for "six regiments of militia," 



the quota assigned to the State under call of the 
President. Public excitement was at fever heat, 
and dormant patriotism in both sexes was 
aroused as never before. Party lines were 
broken down and, with comparatively few excep- 
tions, the mass of the people were actuated by a 
common sentiment of patriotism. On April 19, 
Governor Yates was instructed, by the Secretary 
of War, to take possession of Cairo as an important 
strategic point. At that time, the State militia 
organizations were few in number and poorly 
equipped, consisting chiefly of independent com- 
panies in the larger cities. The Governor acted 
with great promptitude, and, on April 31, seven 
companies, numliering 59.5 men, commanded by 
Gen. Richard K. Swift of Chicago, were en route 
to Cairo. The first volunteer comp'iny to tender 
its services, in response to Governor Yates" proc- 
lamation, on April 16, was the Zouave Grays of 
Springfield. Eleven other companies were ten- 
dered the same day, and, by the evening of the 
18th, the number had been increased to fifty. 
Simultaneously with these proceedings, Chicago 
bankers tendered to the Governor a war loan of 
8500,000, and those of Springfield, §100,000. The 
Legislature, at its special session, passed acts in- 
creasing the efficiency of the militia law, and 
provided for the creation of a war fund of S3,- 
000,000. Besides the six regiments already called 
for, the raising of ten additional volunteer regi- 
ments and one battery of light artillery was 
authorized. The last of the six regiments, 
apportioned to Illinois under the fir.st presidential 
call, was dispatched to Cairo early in May. The 
six regiments were numbered the Seventh to 
Twelfth, inclusive — the earlier numbers. First to 
Sixth, being conceded to the six regiments which 
had served in the war with Mexico. The regi- 
ments were commanded, respectively, by Colonels 
John Cook, Richard J. Oglesby, Eleazer A. Paine, 
James D. Morgan, William H. L. Wallace, and 
John Mc Arthur, constituting the "First Brigade 
of Illinois Volunteers." Benjamin M. Prentiss, 
having been chosen Brigadier-General on arrival 
at Cairo, assumed command, relieving General 
Swift. The quota under the second call, consist- 
ing of ten regiments, was mustered into service 
within sixty days, 300 companies being tendered 
immediately. Many more volunteered than could 
be accepted, and large numbers crossed to Mis- 
souri and enlisted in regiments forming in that 
State. During June and July the Secretary of 
War authorized Governor Yates to recruit twenty- 
two additional regiments (seventeen infantry and 
five cavalry), which were promptly raised. On 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



551 



July 23, the day following the defeat of the Union 
army at Bull Run, President Lincoln called for 
500,000 more volunteers. Governor Yates im- 
mediately responded with an offer to the War 
Department of sixteen more regiments (thirteen 
of infantry and three of cavalrj-), and a battalion 
of artillery, adding, that the State claimed it as 
her right, to do her full share toward the preser- 
vation of the Union. Under supplemental author- 
ity, received from the Secretary of War in 
August, 1861, twelve additional regiments of in- 
fantry and five of cavalry were raised, and, by De- 
cember, 1861, the State had 43,000 volunteers in 
the field and 17,000 in camps of instruction. 
Other calls were made in July and August, 1862, 
each for 300,000 men. Illinois" quota, under both 
calls, was over 53,000 men, no regard being paid 
to the fact that the State had already furnished 
16,000 troops in excess of its quotas under previ- 
ous calls. Unless this number of volunteers was 
raised by September 1, a draft would be ordered. 
The tax was a severe one, inasmuch as it would 
fall chiefly upon the prosperous citizens, the float- 
ing population, the idle and the extremely poor 
having already followed the army's march, either 
as soldiers or as camp-followers. But recruiting 
was actively carried on, and, aided by liberal 
bounties in many of the counties, in less than a 
fortnight the 52,000 new troops were secured, the 
volunteers coming largely from the substantial 
classes — agricultural, mercantile, artisan an<l 
professional. By the end of December, fifty-nine 
regiments and four batteries had been dispatched 
to the front, besides a considerable number to fill 
up regiments already in the field, which had suf- 
fered severely from battle, exposure and disease. 
At this time, Illinois had an aggregate of over 
135,000 enlisted men in the field. The issue of 
President Lincoln's preliminary proclamation of 
emancipation, in September, 1862, was met by a 
storm of hostile criticism from his political 
opponents, who — aided by the absence of so 
large a proportion of the loyal population of the 
State in the field — were able to carry the elec- 
tions of that year. Consequently, when the 
Twenty-third General Assembly convened in 
regular session at Springfield, on Jan. 5, 1863, a 
large majority of that body was not only opposed 
to both the National and State administrations, 
but avowedly opposed to the further prosecution 
of the war under the existing policy. The Leg- 
islature reconvened in Jvine, but was prorogued 
by Governor Yates Between Oct. 1, 1863, and 
July 1, 1864, 16,000 veterans re-enlisted and 
87,000 new volunteers were enrolled; and, by the 



date last mentioned, Illinois had furnished to the 
Union army 244,496 men, being 14,596 in ex- 
cess of the allotted quotas, constituting fifteen 
per cent of the entire population. These were 
comprised in 151 regiments of infantry, 17 of 
cavalry and two complete regiments of artillery, 
besides twelve independent batteries. The total 
losses of Illinois organizations, during the war, 
has been reported at 34,834, of which 5,874 were 
killed in battle, 4,020 died from wounds, 22,786 
from disease and 2, 154 from other causes — being 
a total of thirteen per cent of the entire force of 
the State in the service. The part which Illinois 
played in the contest was conspicuous for patriot- 
ism, promptness in response to every call, and 
the bravery and efficiency of its troops in the 
field — reflecting honor upon the State and its his- 
tory. Nor were its loj-al citizens — who, while 
staying at home, furnished moral and material 
support to the men at the front — less worthy of 
praise than those who volunteered. By uphold- 
ing the Government — National and State — and 
by their zeal and energy in collecting and sending 
forward immense quantities of supplies — surgical, 
medical and other — often at no little sacrifice, 
they contributed much to the success of the 
Union arms. (See also Camp Douglas; Camp 
Douglas Conspiracy; Secret Treasonable Soci- 
eties.) 

WAR OF THE REBELLION (History of Illi- 
nois Regiments). The following is a list of the 
various military organizations mustered into the 
service during the Civil War (1861-65), with the 
terms of service and a summary of the more 
important events in the history of each, while 
in the field: 

Seventh Infantry. Illinois having sent six 
regiments to the Mexican War, by courtesy the 
numbering of the regiments which took part in 
the war for the Union began with number 
Seven. A number of regiments which responded 
to the first call of the President, claimed the right 
to be recognized as the first regiment in the 
field, but the honor was finally accorded to that 
organized at Springfield by Col. John Cook, and 
hence his regiment was numbered Seventh. It 
was mustered into the service, April 25, 1861. and 
remained at Jlound City during tlie three months' 
service, the period of its first enlistment. It was 
subsequently reorganized and mustered for the 
three years' service, July 35, 1861, and was 
engaged in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
Corinth, Cherokee, Allatoona Pass, Salkahatchie 
Swamp, Bentonville and Columbia. The regi- 
ment re-enlisted as veterans at Pulaski, Tenn., 



552 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Dec. 23, 1863; was mustered out at Louisville, 
July 9, I860, and paid off and discharged at 
Springfield, July 11. 

Eighth Infantry. Organized at Springfield, 
and mustered in for three months' service, April 
26, 18G1, Richard J. Oglesby of Decatur, being 
apiwinted Colonel. It remained at Cairo during 
its term of service, when it was miLstered out. 
July 25, 1861, it was reorganized and mustered in 
for three years' service. It participated in the 
b.ittles of Fort Donelson, Shiloli. Port Gibson, 
Thompson Hill, Raymond, Champion Hill, Vicks- 
burg, Brownsville, and Spanish Fort ; re-enlisted 
as veterans, March 24, 1864; was mustered out at 
Baton Rouge, May 4, 1866, paid off and dis- 
charged. May 13, having served five years. 

Ninth Infantry. Mustered into the service 
at Springfield, April 26, 1861, for the term of 
three months, under Col. Eleazer A. Paine. It 
was reorganized at Cairo, in August, for three 
years, being composed of companies from St. 
Clair, Madison, Montgomery, Pulaski, Alexander 
and Mercer Counties ; was engaged at Fort Donel- 
son, Shiloh, Jackson (Tenn.), Meed Creek 
Swamps, Salem, Wyatt, Florence, Montezuma, 
Athens and Grenada. Tlie regiment was mounted, 
March 15, 1863, and so continued during the 
remainder of its service. Mustered out at Louis- 
ville, July 9, 1865. 

Tenth Infantry'. Organized and mu.stered 
into the service for three months, on April 29, 
1861, at Cairo, and on July 29, 1861, was mustered 
into the service for three years, with Col. James 
D. Morgan in command. It was engaged at 
Sykeston, New Madrid, Corinth, Missionary 
Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, Kenesaw, 
Cliattahoochie, Savannah and Bentonville. Re- 
enlisted as veterans, Jan. 1, 1864, and mu.stered 
out of service, July 4, 1865, at Louisville, and 
received final discharge and paj', July 11, 1805, 
at Chicago. 

Eleventh Infantry. Organized at Spring- 
field and mustered into service, April 30, 1861, 
for three months. July 30, the regiment was 
mustered out, and re-enlisted for three years' 
service. It was engaged at Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, Corinth, Tallahatchie, Vicksburg, Liver- 
pool Heights, Yazoo City, Spanish Fort and 
Fort Blakely. W. H. L. Wallace, afterwards 
Brigadier-General and killed at Shiloh, was its 
first Colonel. Mustered out of service, at Baton 
Rouge, July 14, 1865 ; paid off and discharged at 
Springfield. 

Twelfth Infantry. Mustered into service 
for three years, August 1, 1801 ; was engaged at 



Columbus, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Lay's 
Ferry, Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, Kenesaw, 
Nickajack Creek, Bald Knob, Decatur, Ezra 
Church, Atlanta, Allatoona and Goldsboro. On 
Jan. 16, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veter- 
ans. John McArthur was its first Colonel, suc- 
ceeded by Augustus L. Chetlain, both being 
promoted to Brigadier-Generalships. Mustered 
out of service at Louisville, Ky., July 10, 1865, 
and received final pay and discharge, at Spring- 
field, July 18. 

Thirteenth Infantry. One of the regiments 
organized under the act known as the "Ten Regi- 
ment Bill"; was mustered into service on May 24, 
1861, for three years, at Dixon, with John B. 
Wyman as Colonel; was engaged at Chickasaw 
Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Jackson, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Rossville and Ringgold Gap. 
Mustered out at Springfield, June 18, 1804, hav- 
ing served three years and two months. 

Fourteenth Infantry'. One of the regiments 
raised under the "Ten Regiment Bill," which 
anticipated the requirements of the General 
Government by organizing, equipping and dril- 
ling a regiment in each Congressional District in 
the State for thirty days, unless sooner required 
for service by the United States. It was mustered 
in at Jacksonville for three years. May 25, 1861, 
under command of John M. Palmer as its first 
Colonel; was engaged at Shiloh, Corinth, Meta- 
mora, Vicksburg, Jackson, Fort Beauregard and 
Meridian ; consolidated with the Fifteenth Infan- 
try, as a veteran battalion (both regiments hav- 
ing enlisted as veterans), on July 1, 1864. In 
October, 1864, the major part of the battalion 
was captured by General Hood and sent to 
Andersonville. The remainder participated in 
the "March to the Sea," and through the cam- 
paign in the Carolinas. In the spring of 1865 the 
battalion organization was discontinued, both 
regiments having been filled up by recruits. The 
regiment was mustered out at Fort Leaven- 
worth, Kan., Sept. 16, 1865; and arrived at 
Springfield, 111., Sept. 22, 2865, where it received 
final payment and discharge. The aggregate 
number of men who belonged to this organization 
was 1,980, and the aggregate mustered out at 
Fort Leavenworth, 480. During its four years 
and four months of service, the regiment 
marched 4,490 miles, traveled by rail, 2,330 miles, 
and, by river, 4,490 miles — making an aggregate 
of 11,670 miles. 

Fifteenth Infantry. Raised under the "Ten 
Regiment Act," in the (then) First Congressional 
District; was organized at Freeport, and mus- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



553 



tered into service, May 24, 1861. It was engaged 
at Sedalia, Shiloh, Corinth, Metamora Hill, 
Vicksburg, Fort Beauregard, Champion Hill, 
Allatoona and BentonTille. In March. 1804, the 
regiment re-enlisted as veterans, and, in July, 

1864, was consolidated with the Fourteenth Infan- 
try as a Veteran Battalion. At Big Shanty and 
Ackworth a large portion of the battalion was 
captured by General Hood. At Raleigh the 
Veteran Battalion was discontinued and the 
Fifteenth reorganized. From July 1, to Sept. 1, 

1865, the regiment was stationed at Forts Leaven- 
worth and Kearney. Having been mustered out 
at Fort Leavenworth, it was sent to Springfield 
for final payment and discharge — having served 
four years and four months. Miles marched, 
4,299; miles by rail, 2,403, miles by steamer, 
4,310; men enlisted from date of organization, 
1,963; strength at date of muster-out, 640. 

Sixteenth Infantry. Organized and mus- 
tered into service at Quincy under the "Ten- Regi- 
ment Act," May 24, 1S61. The regiment was 
engaged at New Madrid, Tiptonville, Corinth, 
Buzzards' Roost, Resaea, Rome, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Chattahoocliie River, Peach Tree Creek. 
Atlanta, Savannah, Columbia, Fayetteville, 
Averysboro and Bentonville. In December, 
1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veterans; was 
mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 8, 18G5, 
after a term of service of four years and three 
months, and, a week later, arrived at Spring- 
field, where it received its final pay and discharge 
papers. 

Seventeenth Infantry. Mustered into the 
service at Peoria, 111., on May 24, 1861; was 
engaged at Fredericktown (Mo.), Greenfield 
(Ark.), Shiloh, Corinth, Hatchie and Vicksburg. 
In May, 1864, the term of enlistment having 
expired, the regiment was ordered to Sjjringfield 
for pay and discharge. Those men and officers 
who re-enlisted, and those whose term had not 
expired, were consolidated with the Eighth Infan- 
try, which was mustered out in the spring of 1866. 

Eighteenth Infantry. Organized under the 
provisions of the "Ten Regiment Bill," at Anna, 
and mustered into the service on May 28, 1861, 
the term of enlistment being for three years. 
The regiment participated in the capture of Fort 
McHenry, and was actively engaged at Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth. It was mustered 
out at Little Rock, Dec. 16, 1865, and Dec. 31, 
thereafter, arrived at Springfield, 111., for pay- 
ment and discharge. The aggregate enlistments 
in the regiment, from its organization to date of 
discharge (rank and file), numbered 2.043. 



Nineteenth Infantry. Mustered into the 
United States service for three years, June 17, 
1861, at Chicago, embracing four companies 
which had been accepted under the call for three 
months' men; participated in the battle of 
Stone River and in the Tullahoma and Chatta- 
nooga campaigns; was also engaged at Davis" 
Cross Roads, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and 
Resaea. It was mustered out of service on July 
9, 1864, at Chicago. Originally consisting of 
nearly 1,000 men, besides a large number of 
recruits received during the war, its strength at 
the final muster-out was less than 350. 

Twentieth Infantry. Organized, May 14, 
1861, at Joliet, and June 13, 1861, and mustered 
into the service for a term of three years. It 
participated in the following engagements, bat- 
tles, sieges, etc. : Fredericktown (Mo. ), Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Thompson's Planta- 
tion, Champion Hills, Big Black River, Vicks- 
burg, Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta. After 
marching through the Carolinas, the regiment 
was finally ordered to Louisville, where it was 
mustered out, July 16, 1865, receiving its final 
discharge at Chicago, on July 24. 

Twenty-first Infantry. Organized under 
the "Ten Regiment Bill," from the (then) Sev- 
enth Congressional District, at Mattoon, and 
mustered into service for three years, June 28, 
1861. Its first Colonel was U. S. Grant, who was 
in command until August 7, when he was com- 
missioned Brigadier-General. It was engaged 
at Fredericktown (Mo.), Corinth, Perry ville, Mur- 
freesboro, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Jonesboro, 
Franklin and Nashville. The regiment re-enlisted 
as veterans, at Chattanooga, in February, 1864. 
From June, 1864, to December, 1865, it was on 
duty in Texas. Mustered out at San Antonio, 
Dec. 16, 1865, and paid off and discharged at 
Springfield, Jan. 18, 1866. 

Twenty-second Infantry. Organized at 
Belleville, and mustered into service, for three 
years, at Caseyville, 111., June 25, 1861; was 
engaged at Belmont, Charleston (IMo.), Sikestown, 
Tiptonville, Farmington, Corinth, Stone River, 
Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Resaea, New 
Hoj)e Church, and all the battles of the Atlanta 
campaign, except Rocky Face Ridge. It was 
mustered out at Springfield, July 7, 1864, the vet- 
erans and recruits, whose term of service had not 
expired, being consolidated with the Forty -second 
Regiment Illinois Infantry Volunteers. 

Twenty-third Infantry. The organization 
of the Twenty-third Infantry Volunteers com- 
menced, at Chicago, under the popular name of 



554 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



the "Irish Brigade," immediately upon the 
opening of hostilities at Sumter. The formal 
muster of the regiment, under the command of 
Col. James A. Mulligan, was made, June 15, 1861, 
at Chicago, when it was occupying barracks 
known as Kane's brewery near the river on 
West Polk Street. It was early ordered to North- 
ern Missouri, and was doing garrison duty at 
Lexington, when, in September, 1861, it surren- 
dered with the rest of the garrison, to the forces 
under the rebel General Price, and was paroled. 
From Oct. 8, 1861, to June 14, 1862, it was detailed 
to guard prisoners at Camp Douglas. Thereafter 
it participated in engagements in the Virginias, 
as follows: at South Fork, Greenland Gap, Phi- 
lippi, Hedgeville, Leetown, Maryland Heights, 
Snicker's Gap, Kernstown, Cedar Creek, Win- 
chester, Charlestown. Berrj'ville, Opequan Creek, 
Fisher's Hill. Harrisonburg, Hatcher's Run and 
Petersburg. It also took part in the siege of 
Richmond and the pursuit of- Le^,' being present 
at the surrender at AppomifeBk'!'' In January 
and February, 1864, the regiftilSnt re-enlisted as 
veterans, at Greenland Gap, W'^''a. In August, 
1864, the ten companies of iBfi8'5legiment, then 
numbering 440, were consoliflat'ii9"!Sto five com- 
panies and designated, "Battft^fynr^wenty-third 
Regiment, Illinois Veteran \^61lii¥rt:^i- Infantry." 
The regiment was thanked' "bJP^C^f^ress for its 
part at Lexington, and was ^WtfierfeSd to inscribe 
Lexington upon its colors. |^Sfee also Mulligan, 
James A.) '"•'■ 

Twenty-fourth Infantry, (known as the 
First Hecker Regiment). Organized at Chicago, 
with two companies — to-wit: the Union Cadets 
and the Lincoln Rifles — from the three months' 
service, in June, 1861, and mustered in, July 8, 
1861. It participated in tlie battles of Perryville, 
Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Resaca, Kenesaw 
Mountain and other engagements in the Atlanta 
campaign. It was mustered out of service at 
Chicago, August 6, 1864. A fraction of the regi- 
ment, which had been recruited in the field, and 
whose term of service had not expired at the date 
of muster out, was organized into one company 
and attached to tlie Third Brigade, First Divi- 
sion, Fourteenth Army Corps, and mustered out 
at Camp Butler, August 1, 18G5. 

Twenty'fifth Infantry. Organized from 
the counties of Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Vermil- 
ion, Douglas, Coles, Champaign and Edgar, and 
mustered into service at St. Louis, August 4, 1861. 
It participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Stone 
River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, in tlie 
siege of Corinth, the battle of Kenesaw Moun- 



tain, the siege of Atlanta, and innumerable skir- 
mishes; was niustered out at Springfield, Sept. 5, 
1864. During its three years" .service the regi- 
ment traveled 4,962 miles, of which 3,252 were on 
foot, the remainder by steamboat and railroad. 

Twenty-sixth Infantry. Mustered into serv- 
ice, consisting of seven companies, at Springfield, 
August 31, 1861. On Jan. 1, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans. It was authorized by the 
commanding General to inscribe upon its ban- 
ners "New Madrid" ; "Island No. 10;" "Farming- 
ton;" "Siege of Corinth;" "luka;" "Corinth — 
3d and 4th, 1862;" "Resaca;" "Kenesaw;" "Ezra 
Church;" "Atlanta;" "Jonesboro;" "Griswold- 
ville;" "McAllister;" "Savannah;" "Columbia," 
and "Bentonville. " It was mustered out at 
Louisville, July 20, 1865, and paid off and 
discharged, at Springfield, July 28 — the regiment 
having marched, during its four years of service, 
6,931 miles, and fought twentj'-eight hard battles, 
besides innumerable skirmishes. 

Twenty-seventh Infantry. First organized, 
with only seven companies, at Springfield, 
August 10, 1861, and organization completed by 
the addition of three more companies, at Cairo, 
on September 1. It took part in the battle of Bel- 
mont, the siege of Island No. 10, and the battles 
of Farmington, Nashville Murfreesboro, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Resaca, Calhoun, Adairsville, Dallas, Pine Top 
Mountain and Kenesaw Mountain, as well as in 
the investment of Atlanta; was relieved from 
duty, August 25, 1864, while at the front, and 
mustered out at Springfield, September 20. Its 
veterans, with the recruits whose term of serv- 
ice had not expired, were consolidated with the 
Ninth Infantry. 

Twenty-eighth Infantry. Composed of 
companies from Pike, Fulton, Schuyler. Mason, 
Scott and Menard Counties; was organized at 
Springfield, August 15, 1861, and mustered into 
service for three years. It participated in the 
battles of Shiloh and Metamora, the siege of 
Vicksburg and the battles of Jackson, Mississippi, 
and Fort Beauregard, and in the capture of 
Sjjanish Fort, Fort Blakely and Mobile. From 
June, 1864, to March. 1866, it was stationed in 
Texas, and was mustered out at Brownsville, in 
that State, IMarch 15, 1866, having served four 
years and seven montlis. It was discharged, at 
Springfield, May 13, 1866. 

Twenty-ninth Infantry. Mustered into serv- 
ice at Springfield. August 19, 1861. and was 
engaged at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and in the 
sieges of Corinth, Vicksburg and Mobile. Eight 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



555 



companies were detailed for duty at Holly Springs, 
and were there captured by General Van Dorn, 
in December, 1803, but were exclianged, six 
months later. In January, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans, and, from June, 1864, to 
November, 1865, was on duty in Texas. It was 
mustered out of service in that State, Nov. 6, 
186.5, and received final discharge on November 38. 

Thirtieth Infantry. Organized at Spring- 
field, August 28, 1861 ; was engaged at Belmont, 
Fort Donelson, the siege of Corinth, Medan 
Station, Raymond, Champion Hills, the sieges of 
Vicksburg -and Jackson, Big Shanty, Atlanta, 
Savannah, Pocotaligo, Orangeburg, Columbia, 
Cheraw, and Fayetteville; mustered out, July 
17, 1865, and received final payment and discharge 
at Springfield, July 37, 1865. 

Thirty-first Infantry. Organized at Cairo, 
and there mustered into service on Sept. 18, 
1861; was engaged at Belmont, Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, in the two expeditions against Vicks- 
burg, at Thompson's Hill, Ingram Heights, Ray- 
mond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Shanty, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station and 
Jonesboro; also participated in the "March to 
the Sea" and took part in the battles and skir- 
mishes at Columbia, Cheraw, Fayetteville and 
Benton ville. A majority of the regiment re- 
enlisted as veterans in March, 1864. It was 
mustered out at Louisville, July 19, 1865, and 
finally discharged at Springfield, July 33. 

Thirty-second Infantry. Organized at 
Springfield and mustered into service, Dec. 31, 
1861. By special authority from the War Depart- 
ment, it originally consisted of ten companies of 
infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery. It was 
engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, in tlie sieges 
of Corinth and Vicksburg, and in the battles of 
La Grange, Grand Junction, Metamora, Harrison- 
burg, Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek, 
Allatoona, Savannah, Columbia, Cheraw and 
Bentonville. In January, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans, and, in June, 1865, was 
ordered to Fort Leavenworth. Mustered oiit 
there, Sept. 16, 1865, and finally discharged at 
Springfield. 

Thirty-third Infantry. Organized and mus- 
tered into service at Springfield in .September, 
1861; was engaged at Fredericktown (Mo.), Port 
Gibson, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, the 
assault and siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, 
Fort Esperanza, and in the expedition against 
Mobile. The regiment veteranized at Vicksburg, 
Jan. 1, 1864 ; was mustered out, at tlie same point, 
Nov. 24, 1865, and finally discharged at Spring- 



field, Dec. 6 and 7, 1865. The aggregate enroll- 
ment of the regiment was between 1,900 and 
2,000. 

Thirty-fourth Infantry. Organized at 
Springfield. Sept. 7, 1861 ; was engaged at Shiloh, 
Corinth, Murfreesboro, Rocky Face Ridge, Re- 
saca. Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, and, after participating in the "March 
to the Sea" and through the Carolinas, took part 
in the battle of Bentonville. After the surrender 
of Johnston, the regiment went with Sherman's 
Army to Washington, D. C, and took part in the 
grand review, May 34, 1865; left Washington, 
June 13, and arrived at Louisville, Ky., June 18, 
where it was mustered out, on July 13 ; was dis- 
charged and paid at Chicago, July 17. 1865. 

Thirty-fifth Infantry. Organized at De- 
catur on July 3, 1861, and its services tendered to 
the President, being accepted by the Secretary of 
War as "Col. G. A. Smith's Independent Regi- 
ment of Illinois Volunteers," on July 23, and 
mustered into service at St. Louis, August 13. It 
was engaged at Pea Ridge and in the siege of 
Corinth, also participated in the battles of Perry- 
ville. Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas and 
Kenesaw. Its final muster-out took place at 
Springfield, Sept. 37, 1864, the regiment having 
marched (exclusive of railroad and steamboat 
transportation) 3,056 miles. 

Thirty-sixth Infantry. Organized at Camp 
Hammond, near Aurora, 111., and mustered into 
service, Sept. 33, 1861, for a term of three years. 
The regiment, at its organization, numbered 965 
officers and enlLsted men, and had two companies 
of Cavalry ("A" and "B"), 186 officers and 
men. It was engaged at Leetovvn, Pea Ridge, 
Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, the siege 
of Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face 
Ridge. Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope Church, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jones- 
boro, Franklin and Nashville. Mustered out, 
Oct. 8, 1865, and disbanded, at Springfield, Oct. 
37, having marched and been transported, during 
its ferm of service, more than 10,000 miles. 

Thirty-seventh Infantry. Familiarly known 
as "Fremont Rifles"; organized in August, 1861, 
and mustered into service, Sept. 18. The regi- 
ment was presented with battle-flags by the Chi- 
cago Board of Trade. It participated in the 
battles of Pea Ridge, Neosho, Prairie Grove and 
Chalk Bluffs, the siege of Vicksburg, and in the 
battles of Yazoo City and Morgan's Bend. In 
October, 1863, it was ordered to the defense of the 
frontier along the Rio Grande; re-enlisted as 



550 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



veterans in February, 1864; took part in the 
siege and storming of Fort Blakely and the cap- 
ture of Mobile; from July, 1865, to May, 1866, 
was again on dut}' in Texas ; was mustered out 
at Houston, May 15, 1866, and finally discharged 
at Springfield, May 31, having traveled some 
17,000 miles, of which nearly 3,300 were by 
inarching. 

Thirty-eiohth Infantry. Organized at 
Springfield, in September, 1861. The regiment 
was engaged in the battles of Fredericktown, 
Perryville, Knob Gap, Stone River, Liberty Gap, 
Chickamauga, Pine Top, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Atlanta, Jouesboro, Franklin and Nashville; 
re-enlisted as veterans in February, 1864; from 
June to December, 1865, was on duty in Louisi- 
ana and Texas; was mustered out at Victoria, 
Texas, Dec. 31, 1865, and received final discharge 
at Springfield. 

Thirty-ninth Infantry. The organization of 
this Regiment was commenced as soon as the 
news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Chi- 
cago. General Thomas O. Osborne was one of its 
contemplated field officers, and labored zealously 
to get it accepted under the first call for troops, 
but did not accomplish his object. The regiment 
had already assumed the name of the "Yates 
Phalanx" in honor of Governor Yates. It was 
accepted by the War Department on the day 
succeeding the first Bull Run disaster (July 23, 
1861), and Austin Light.of Chicago, was appointed 
Colonel. Under his direction the organization was 
completed, and the regiment left Camp Mather, 
Chicago, on the morning of Oct. 13, 1861. It par- 
ticipated in the battles of Winchester, Malvern 
Hill (the second), Morris Island, Fort Wagner, 
Drury's Bluff, and in numerous engagements 
before Petersburg and Richmond, including the 
capture of Fort Gregg, and was present at Lee's 
surrender at Appomattox. In the meantime the 
regiment re-enlisted as veterans, at Hilton Head, 
S. C. , in September, 1803. It was mustered out 
at Norfolk, Dec. C, 1865, and received final dis- 
charge at Chicago, December 16. 

Fortieth Infantry. Enlisted from the coun- 
ties of Franklin, Hamilton, Wayne, White, 
Wabash, Marion, Clay and Fayette, and mustered 
into service for tlireo years at Springfield, 
August 10, 1861. It was engaged at Sliiloli, in 
the siege of Corinth, at Jackson (Miss.), in tho 
siege of Vicksburg, at Missionar}- Ridge, New 
Hope Church, Black Jack Knob, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Ezra Chapel, Gris- 
woldville, siege of Savannah, Columbia (S. C), 
and Bentonville. It re-enlisted, as veterans, at 



Scottsboro, Ala., Jan. 1, 1804, and was mustered 
out at Louisville, Julj^ 24, 1865, receiving final 
discharge at Springfield. 

Forty-first Infantry. Organized at Decatur 
during July and August, 1861, and was mustered 
into service. August 5. It was engaged at Fort 
Douelson, Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the second 
battle of Coriuth, the siege of Vicksburg and 
Jackson, in the Red River campaign, at Guntown, 
Kenesaw Mountain and Allatoona, and partici- 
pated in the "March to the Sea." It re-enlisted, 
as veterans, March 17, 1864, at Vicksburg, and 
was consolidated with the Fifty-third Infantry, 
Jan. 4, 1865, forming Companies G and H. 

Forty-second Infantry. Organized at Chi- 
cago, July 22, 1861 ; was engaged at Island No. 10, 
the siege of Corinth, battles of Farmington, 
Columbia (Tenn.), was besieged at Nashville, 
engaged at Stone River, in the TuUalioma cam- 
paign, at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky 
Face Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope 
Church, Pine and Kenesaw Mountains, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoj- Station, 
Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville. It re- 
enlisted, as veterans, Jan. 1, 1804; was stationed 
in Texas from July to December, 1865 ; was mus- 
tered out at Indianola, in that State, Dec. 16, 
18G5, and finally discharged, at Springfield, Jan. 
12, 1866. 

Forty-third Infantry. Organized at Spring- 
field in September, 1861, and mustered into 
service on Oct. 12. The regiment took part in 
the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and in the 
campaigns in West Tennessee, Mississippi and 
Arkansas; was mustered out at Little Rock, 
Nov. 80, 1865, and returned to Springfield for 
final pay and discharge, Dec. 14, 1865. 

Forty'-fourth Infantry. Organized in Au- 
gust, 1861, at Chicago, and mustered into service, 
Sept. 13, 1861; was engaged at Pea Ridge, 
Perryville, Stone River, Hoover's Gap, Shelby- 
ville, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Adairsville, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Gulp's Farm, Chattahoochie 
River, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, 
Franklin and Nashville. The regiment re-enlisted 
as veterans in Tennessee, in January, 1864. 
From June to September, 1865, it was stationed 
in Louisiana and Texas, was mustered out at 
Port Lavaca, Sept. 25, 1865, and received final 
discharge, at Springfield, three weeks later. 

Forty-fifth Infantry. Originally called 
the "Washburne Lead Mine Regiment"; was 
organized at Galena, July 23, 1861, and mustered 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



557 



into service at Chicago, Dec. 25, 1861. It was 
engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the siege of 
Corinth, battle of Medan, the campaign against 
Vick.sburg, the Meridian raid, the Atlanta cam- 
paign, the "March to the Sea," and the advance 
through the Carolinas. The regiment veteran- 
ized in January, 1864 ; was mustered out of serv- 
ice at Louisville, Ky., July 12, 1865, and arrived 
in Chicago, July 15, 1865, for final pay and dis- 
charge. Distance marched in four years, 1,750 
miles. 

Forty-sixth Infantry. Organized at Spring- 
field, Dec. 28, 1861 ; was engaged at Fort Donel- 
son, Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, battle of 
Metamora, siege of Vicksburg (where five com- 
panies of the regiment were captured), in the 
reduction of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley, 
and the capture of Mobile. It was mustered in 
as a veteran regiment, Jan. 4, 1864. From May, 

1865, to January, 1866, it was on duty in Louisi- 
ana ; was mustered out at Baton Rouge, Jan. 20, 

1866, and, on Feb. 1, 1866, finally paid and dis- 
charged at Springfield. 

Forty-seventh Infantry. Organized and 
mustered into service at Peoria, 111., on August 
10, 1861. The regiment took part in the expe- 
dition against New Madrid and Island No. 10; 
also participated in the battles of Farmington, 
luka, the second battle of Corinth, the capture 
of Jackson, the siege of Vicksburg, the Red 
River expedition and the battle of Pleasant Hill, 
and in the struggle at Lake Chicot. It was 
ordered to Chicago to assist in quelling an antici- 
pated riot, in 1864, but, returning to the front, 
took part in the reduction of Spanish Fort and 
the capture of Mobile; was mustered out, Jan. 
21, 1866, at Selma, Ala., and ordered to Spring- 
field, where it received final pay and discharge. 
Those members of the regiment who did not re-en- 
list as veterans were mustered out, Oct. 11. 1864. 

FORTY'-EIGHTH INFANTRY'. Organized at Spring- 
field, September, 1861, and participated in battles 
and sieges as follows: Fort Henry and Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth (siege of), Vicksburg 
(first expedition against), Missionary Ridge, as 
well as in the Atlanta campaign and the "March 
to the Sea." The regiment re-enlisted as veter- 
ans, at Scottsboro, Ala., Jan. 1, 1864; was mus- 
tered out, August 15, 1865, at Little Rock, Ark., 
and ordered to Springfield for final discharge, 
arriving, August 21, 1865. The distance marched 
was 3,000 miles; moved by water, 5,000; by rail- 
road, 3,450~total, 11,450. 

Forty-ninth Infantry. Organized at Spring- 
field, 111., Dec. 31, 1861; was engaged at Fort 



Donelson, Shiloh and Little Rock; took part in 
the campaign against Meridian and in the Red 
River expedition, being in the battle of Pleasant 
Hill, Jan. 15, 1864 ; three- fourths of the regiment 
re-enlisted and were mustered in as veterans, 
returning to Illinois on furlough. The non- 
veterans took part in the battle of Tupelo. The 
regiment participated in the battle of Nashville, 
and was mustered out, Sept. 9, 1865, at Paducah, 
Ky., and arrived at Springfield, Sept, 15, 1865, 
for final payment and discharge. 

Fiftieth Infantry'. Organized at Quincy, in 
August, 1861, and mustered into service, Sept. 13, 
1861 ; was engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the 
siege of Corinth, the second battle of Corinth, 
Allatoona and Bentonville, besides many minor 
engagements. The regiment was mounted, Nov. 
17, 1863; re-enlisted as veterans, Jan. 1, 1864, was 
mustered out at Louisville, July 13, 1865, and 
reached Springfield, the following day, for final 
pay and discharge. 

Fifty-first Infantry-. Organized at Chi- 
cago, Dec. 24, 1861 ; was engaged at New Madrid, 
Island No. 10, Farmington, the siege of Corinth, 
Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, 
Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jones- 
boro. Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville. The 
regiment was mustered in as veterans, Feb. 16, 
1864 ; from July to September, 1865, was on duty 
in Texas, and mustered out, Sept. 25, 1865, at 
Camp Irwin, Texas, arriving at Springfield, 111., 
Oct. 15, 1865, for final payment and discharge. 

Fifty-second Infantry*. Organized at Ge- 
neva in November, 1861. and mustered into serv- 
ice, Nov. 19. The regiment participated in the 
following battles, sieges and expeditions : Shiloh, 
Corinth (siege and second battle of), luka. Town 
Creek, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Lay's Ferry, 
Rome Cress Roads, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Nickajack Creek, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro 
and Bentonville. It veteranized, Jan. 9, 1864; 
was mustered out at Louisville, July 4, 1865, 
and received final payment and discharge at 
Springfield, July 12. 

Fifty-third Infantry. Organized at Ottawa 
in the winter of 1861-62, and ordered to Chicago, 
Feb, 27, 1863, to complete its organization. It 
took part in the siege of Corinth, and was engaged 
at Davis' Bridge, the siege of Vicksburg, in the 
Meridian campaign, at Jackson, the siege of 
Atlanta, the "March to the Sea," the capture of 
Savannah and the campaign in the Carolinas, 
including the battle of Bentonville. The regi- 
ment was mustered out of service at Louisville, 



558 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Julj' 22, 18G5, and received final discharge, at 
Chicago, July 28. It marched 2,855 miles, and 
was transported by boat and cars, 4,108 miles. 
Over 1,800 officers and men belonged to the regi- 
ment during its term of service. 

FiFTY-FOUKTH INFANTRY. Organized at Anna, 
in November, 1861, as a part of the "Kentucky 
Brigade," and was mustered into service, Feb. 
18, 1862. No complete history of the regiment 
can be given, owing to tlie loss of its official 
records. It served mainly in Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, Mississippi and Arkansas, and always effect- 
ivelj'. Three-fourths of the men re-enlisted as 
veterans, in January, 1864. Six companies were 
captured by the rebel General Slielby, in August, 
1864, and were exchanged, the following De- 
cember. The regiment was mustered out at 
Little Rock, Oct. 15, 1863 ; arrived at Springfield, 
Oct. 26, and was discharged. During its organi- 
zation, the regiment liad 1,342 enlisted men and 
71 commissioned officers. 

Fifty-fifth Infantry. Organized at Chi- 
cago, and mustered into service, Oct. 31, 1861. 
The regiment originally formed a part of tlie 
"Douglas Brigade," being chiefly recruited from 
the young farmers of Fulton, McDonough, 
Grundy, La Salle. De Kalb, Kane and Winnebago 
Counties. It participated in tlie battles of Sliiloh 
and Coriutli, and in the Tallahatcliie campaign; 
in tlie battles of Cliickasaw Bayou, Arkansas 
Post, around Vicksburg, and at Missionary Ridge ; 
was in the Atlanta t'anipaign, notably in the 
battles of Kenesaw Mountain and Jonesboro. In 
all, it was engaged in thirtj'-one battles, and was 
128 days under fire. The total mileage traveled 
amounted to 11,965, of which 3,240 miles were 
actually marched. Re-enlisted as veterans, while 
at Larkinsville, Tenn.,was mustered out at Little 
Rock, August 14, 1865, receiving final discharge 
at Chicago, the same month. 

Fifty-sixth Infantry. Organized with com- 
panies principally enlisted from tlie counties of 
Massac, Pope, Gallatin, Saline, White, Hamilton, 
Franklin and Wayne, and mustered in at Camp 
Mather, near Sliawneetown. The regiment par- 
ticipated in the siege, and second battle, of 
Corinth, the Yazoo expedition, the siege of 
Vicksburg — being engaged at Champion Hills, 
and in numerous assaults; also took part in the 
Ijattles of Missionary Ridge and Resaca, and in 
tlio campaign in tlie Carolinas, including the 
battle of Bentonville. Some 200 members of the 
regiment perished in a wreck off Cape Hatteras, 
March 31, 1865. It was mustered out in Arkan- 
sa.s, August 12, 1865. 



FiFTY'-SEVENTH IxFANTEY'. Mustered into serv- 
ice, Dec. 26, 1861, at Chicago; took part in the 
battles of Fort Donelson and Sliiloh, the siege of 
Corinth, and the second battle at that point ; was 
also engaged at Resaca, Rome Cross Roads and 
AUatoona; participated in the investment and 
capture of Savannali, and tlie campaign through 
the Carolinas, including the battle of Benton- 
ville. It was mustered out at Louisville, July T, 
1865, and received final discharge at Chicago, 
July 14. 

FlFTY'-EiOHTH INFANTRY'. Recruited at Chi- 
cago, Feb. 11, 1862; participated in the battles of 
Fort Donelson and Sliiloh, a large number of the 
regiment being captured during tlie latter engage- 
ment, but subsequently exchanged. It took part 
in the siege of Corinth and tlie battle of luka, 
after which detachments were sent to Springfield 
for recruiting and for guarding prisoners. 
Returning to the front, the regiment was engaged 
in the capture of Meridian, tlie Red River cam- 
paign, the taking of Fort de Russey, and in many 
minor battles in Louisiana. It was mustered out 
at Montgomery, Ala., April 1, 1866, and ordered 
to Springfield for final payment and discliarge. 
FiFTY'-NiNTH INFANTRY'. Originally known as 
the Ninth Missouri Infantry, although wholly 
recruited in Illinois. It was organized at St. 
Louis. Sept. 18, 1861, the name being changed to 
the Fifty-ninth Illinois, Feb. 12, 1862, by order of 
tlie War Department. It was engaged at Pea 
Ridge, formed part of the reserve at Farmington, 
took part at Perryville, Nolansville, Knob Gap 
and Murfreesboro, in tlie Tullahoma campaign 
and the siege of Chattanooga, in tlie battles of 
Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, Kingston, 
Dallas, Ackworth, Pine Top, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Smyrna, Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin and 
Nashville. Having re-enlisted as veterans, the 
regiment was ordered to Texas, in June, 1865, 
where it was mustered out, December, 18G5, 
receiving its final discharge at Springfield. 

Sixtieth Infantry'. Organized at Anna, 111., 
Feb. 17, 1862; took part in the siege of Corinth 
and was besieged at NashviUe. The regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans while at the front, in 
January, 1864; participated in the battles of 
Buzzard's Roost, Ringgold, Dalton, Resaca, 
Rome. Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Nickajack, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, Averysboro and Bentonville; was 
mustered out at Louisville, July 31, 1805, and 
received final discharge at Springfield. 

Sixty'-first Infantry. Organized at Carroll- 
ton, 111., three full companies being mustered 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



550 



in, Feb. 5, 1863. On February 21, the regiment, 
being still incomplete, moved to Benton Bar- 
racks, Mo. , where a sufficient number of recruits 
joined to make nine full companies. The regiment 
was engaged at Shiloh and Bolivar, took part 
in the Yazoo expedition, and re-enlisted as veter- 
ans early in 1864. Later, it took part in the battle 
of Wilkinson's Pike (near Murfreesboro), and 
other engagements near that point ; was mustered 
out at Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 8, 186.5, and paid 
off and discharged at Springfield, Septem- 
ber 27. 

Sixty-second Infantry. Organized at Anna, 
111., April 10, 1862; after being engaged in several 
skirmishes, the regiment sustained a loss of 170 
men, who were captured and paroled at Holly 
Springs, Miss., by the rebel General Van Dorn, 
where the regimental I'ecords were destroyed. 
The regiment took part in forcing the evacuation 
of Little Rock; re-enlisted, as veterans, Jan, 9, 
1864 ; was mustered out at Little Rock, March 6, 
1866, and ordered to Springfield for final payment 
and discharge. 

Sixty-third Infantry. Organized at Anna, 
in December, 1861, and mustered into service, 
April 10, 1862. It participated in the first invest- 
ment of Vicksburg, the capture of Richmond 
Hill, La., and in the battle of Missionary Ridge. 
On Jan. 1. 1864, 372 men re-enlisted as veterans. 
It took part in the capture of Savannah and in 
Sherman's march through the Carolinas, partici- 
pating in its important battles and skirmishes; 
was mustered out at Louisville, July 13, 1865, 
reaching Springfield, July 16. The total distance 
traveled was 6,403 miles, of which 2,250 was on 
the march. 

Sixty- FOURTH Infantry. Organized at Spring- 
field, December. 1861, as the "First Battalion of 
Yates Sharp Shooters." The last company was 
mustered in, Dec. 31, 1861. The regiment was 
engaged at New Madrid, the siege of Corinth, 
Chambers' Creek, the second battle of Corinth, 
Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Decatur, the 
siege of Atlanta, the investment of Savannah and 
the battle of Bentonville ; re-enlisted as veterans, 
in Januarj-, 1864 ; was mustered out at Louisville, 
July 11, 1865, and finally discharged, at Chicago, 
July 18. 

Sixty-fifth Infantry. Originally known as 
the "Scotch Regiment"; was organized at Chi- 
cago, and mustered in. May 1, 1862. It was cap- 
tured and paroled at Harper's Ferry, and ordered 
to Chicago; was exchanged in April, 1863; took 
part in Burnside's defense of Knoxville; re-en- 
Usted as veterans in March, 1864, and participated 



in the Atlanta campaign and the "March to the 
Sea." It was engaged in battles at Columbia 
(Tenn.), Franklin and Nashville, and later near 
Federal Point and Smithtown, N. C, being mus- 
tered out. July 13, 186.J, and receiving final pay- 
ment and discharge at Chicago, July 26, 1865, 

Sixty-sixth Infantry. Organized at Benton 
Barracks, near St. Louis, Mo. , during September 
and October, 1861 — being designed as a regiment 
of "Western Sharp Shooters" from Illinois, Mis- 
souri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana and 
Ohio. It was mustered in, Nov. 23, 1861, was 
engaged at Mount Zion (Mo.), Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, luka, the second 
battle of Corinth, in the Atlanta campaign, the 
"March to the Sea" and the campaign through 
the Carolinas. The regiment was variously 
known as the Fourteenth Missouri Volunteers, 
Birge's Western Sharpshooters, and the Sixty- 
sixth I'linois Infantry. The latter (and final) 
name was conferred by the Secretary of War, 
Nov. 20, 1862. It re-enlisted (for the veteran 
service), in December, 1863, was mustered out at 
Camp Logan, Ky., July 7, 1865, and paid off and 
discharged at Springfield. July 15. 

Sixty-seventh Inf.\ntry. Organized at Chi- 
cago, June 13, 1862, for three months' service, in 
response to an urgent call for the defense of 
Washington. The Sixty-seventh, by doing guard 
duty at the camjis at Chicago and Springfield, 
relieved the veterans, who were sent to the front. 

Sixty-eighth Infantry. Enlisted in response 
to a call made by the Governor, early in the sum- 
mer of 1862, for State troops to serve for three 
months as State Militia, and was mustered iu 
early in June, 1863. It was afterwards mustered 
into the United States service as Illinois Volun- 
teers, by petition of the men, and received 
marching orders, July 5, 18G2 ; mustered out, at 
Springfield, Sept. 26. 1862 — many of the men re- 
enlisting in other regiments. 

Sixty-ninth Infantry. Organized at Camp 
Douglas, Chicago, and mustered into service for 
three months, June 14, 1862. It remained on 
duty at Camp Douglas, guarding the camp and 
rebel prisoners. 

Seventieth Inf.wjtry. Organized at Camp 
Butler, near Springfield, and mustered in, July 4, 
1862. It remained at Camp Butler doing guard 
duty. Its term of service was three months. 

Seventy-first Infantry. Mustered into serv- 
ice, July 26, 1862, at Chicago, for tiiree months. 
Its service was confined to garrison duty in Illi- 
nois and Kentucky, being mustered out at Chi- 
cago, Oct. 29, 1862. 



560 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Seventy-second Infajctrt. Organized at Chi- 
cago, as tlie First Regiment of the Chicago Board 
of Trade, and mustered into service for three 
years, Augvist 23, 1862. It was engaged at Cham- 
pion Hill, Vicksburg, Natchez, Franklin, Nash- 
ville, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely; mustered 
out of service, at Vicksburg, August 6, 1865, and 
discharged at Chicago. 

Seventy-third Infantry. Recruited from 
the counties of Adams, Champaign, Christian, 
Hancock, Jackson, Logan, Piatt, Pike, Sanga- 
mon, Tazewell and Vermilion, and mustered into 
service at Springfield, August 21, 1862. 900 strong. 
It participated in the battles of Stone River, 
Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, 
Resaca, Adairsville, Burnt Hickory, Pine and 
Lost Mountains, New Hope Church, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Spring Hill, Frank- 
lin and Nashville; was mustered out at Nashville, 
June 12, 1865, and, a few days later, -A-ent to 
Springfield to receive pay and final discharge. 

Seventy-fourth Infantry. Organized at 
Rockford, in August, 1862, and mustered into 
service September 4. It was recruited from Win- 
nebago, Ogle and Stephenson Counties. This regi- 
ment was engaged at Perryville, Murfreesboro 
and Nolansville, took part in the TuUahoma 
campaign, and the battles of Missionary Ridge, 
Resaca, Adairsville, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Tunnel Hill, and Rocky Face Ridge, the siege of 
.\tlanta, and the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin 
and Nashville. It was mustered out at Nashville, 
June 10. 1865. with 343 officers and men, the 
aggregate number enrolled having been 1,001. 

Seventy-fifth Infantry. Organized at 
DixoH; and mustered into service, Sept. 2, 1862. 
The regiment participated in the battles of Perry- 
ville, Nolansville, Stone River, Lookout Mountain, 
Dalton, Resaca, Marietta, Kenesaw, Franklin and 
Nashville; was mustered out at Nashville, June 
12, 1865, and finally discharged at Chicago, July 
1, following. 

Seventy'-sixth Infantry. Organized at Kan- 
kakee, 111., in August, 1862, and mustered into the 
service, August 22, 1862; took part in the siege of 
Vicksburg, the engagement at Jackson, the cam- 
paign against Meridian, the expedition to Yazoo 
City, and the capture of Mobile, was ordered to 
Texas in June, 1865, and mustered out at Galves- 
ton, July 32, 1865, being paid off and disbanded 
at Chicago, August 4, 1865— having traveled 
10,000 miles. 

Seventy-skvfntr Infantry. Organized and 
mustered into service, Sept. 3, 1862, at Peoria; 
was engaged in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, 



Arkansas Post, the siege of Vicksburg (including 
the battle of Champion Hills), the capture of ' 
Jackson, the Red River expedition, and the bat- ' 
ties of Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill ; the 
reduction of Forts Gaines and Morgan, and the I 
capture of Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely and Mobile. 
It was mustered out of service at Slobile, July 
10, 1865, and ordered to Springfield for final pay- 
mentand discharge, whereitarrived, July 22, 1865, 
having participated in sixteen battles and sieges. 

Seventy-eighth Infantry. Organized at 
Quincy, and mustered into service, Sept. 1, 1862; 
participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, 
New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Averysboro and 
Bentonville ; was mustered out, June 7, 1865, and 
sent to Chicago, where it was paid off and dis- 
charged, June 12, 1865. 

Seventy-ninth Infantry. Organized at Mat- 
toon, in August, 1862, and mustered into service, 
August 28, 1862; participated in the battles of 
Stone River. Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Rock}' Face Ridge, Resaca, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Dallas, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, Lovejoy, Franklin and Nashville ; was 
mustered out, June 12, 1865; arrived at Camp 
Butler, June 15, and, on June 23, received final 
pay and discharge. 

Eightieth Infantry. Organized at Centralia, 
111., in August, 1862, and mustered into service, 
August 25, 1862. It was engaged at Perryville, 
Dug's Gap, Sand Mountain and Blunt's Farm, 
surrendering to Forrest at the latter point. After 
being exchanged, it participated in the battles of 
Wauhatchie, Missionary Ridge, Dalton, Resaca, 
Adairsville, Cassville, Dallas, Pine Mountain, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station and Nash- 
ville. The regiment traveled 6.000 miles and 
participated in more than twenty engagements. 
It was mustered out of service, June 10, 1865, and 
proceeded to Camp Butler for final pay and 
discharge. 

Eighty-first Infantry. Recruited from the 
counties of Perry, Franklin, Williamson, Jack- 
son, LTnion, Pulaski and Alexander, and mustered 
into service at Anna, August 26. 1862. It partici- 
pated in the battles of Port Gibson. Raymond, 
Jackson, Champion Hill, Black River Bridge, and 
in the siege and capture of Vicksburg. Later, 
the regiment was engaged at Fort de Russey, 
Alexandria, Guntown and Nashville, besides 
assisting in the investment of Mobile. It was 
mustered out at Chicago, August 5, 1864. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



561 



Eighty-second Infantry. Sometimes called 
the "Second Hecker Regiment," in honor of Col- 
onel Frederick Hecker, its first Colonel, and for 
merly Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Illinois 
Infantry— being chiefly composed of German 
members of Chicago. It was organized at Spring- 
field, Sept. 26, 1862, and mustered into service, 
Oct. 33, 1862; participated in the battles of 
Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wauhatchie, Or- 
chard Knob, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New 
Hope Church, Dallas, Marietta, Pine Mountain, 
Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta and Bentonville ; was 
mustered out of service, June 9, 1865, and 
returned to Chicago, June 16 — having marched, 
during its time of service, 2,. 503 miles. 

Eighty-third Infantry. Organized at Mon- 
mouth in August, 1862, and mustered into serv- 
ice, August 21. It participated in repelling the 
rebel attack on Fori Donelson, and in numerous 
hard- fought skirmishes in Tennessee, but was 
chiefly engaged in the performance of heavy 
giiard duty and in protecting lines of communi- 
cation. The regiment was mustered out at Nash- 
ville, June 26, 1865, and finallj' paid off and 
discharged at Chicago, July 4, following. 

Eighty-fourth Infantry. Organized at 
Quincy, in August, 1862, and mustered into serv- 
ice, Sept. 1, 1863, with 939 men and officers. The 
regiment was authorized to inscribe upon its 
battle-flag the names of Perryville, Stone River, 
Woodbury, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, 
Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Dalton, Buzzard's 
Roost, Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Smyrna, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoj' Sta- 
tion, Franklin, and Nashville. It was mustered 
out, June 8, 18G5. 

Eighty-fifth Infantry. Organized at Peoria, 
about Sept. 1, 1862, and ordered to Louisville. It 
took part in the battles of Perryville, Stone River, 
Chickamauga, Knoxville, Dalton, Rocky-Face 
Ridge, Resaca, Rome, Dallas, Kenesaw, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Savannah, Ben- 
tonville, Goldsboro and Raleigh; was mustered 
out at Washington, D. C, June 5, 1865, and 
sent to Springfield, where the regiment was 
paid off and discharged on the 20th of the same 
month. 

Eighty-sixth Infantry. Mustered into serv- 
ice, August 37, 1863, at Peoria, at which time it 
numbered 933 men, rank and file. It took part 
in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, 
Dallas, Kenesaw, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro, 
Averygboro and Bentonville; was mustered out 
on June 6, 1865, at Washington, D. C, arriving 



on June 11, at Chicago, where, ten days later, the 
men received their pay and final discharge. 

Eighty-seventh Infantry. Enlisted in Au- 
gust, 1862; was composed of companies from 
Hamilton, Edwards, Wayne and White Counties; 
was organized in the latter part of August, 1862, 
at Shawneetown; mustered in, Oct. 3, 1862, the 
muster to take effect from August 3. It took 
part in the siege and captui-e of Warrenton and 
-Jackson, and in the entire campaign tlirough 
Louisiana and Southern Mississippi, participating 
in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads and in numer- 
ous skirmishes among the bayous, being mustered 
out, June 16, 1865, and ordered to Springfield, 
where it arrived, June 24, 1865, and was paid off 
and disbanded at Camp Butler, on July 2. 

Eighty-eighth Infantry. Organized at Chi- 
cago, in September, 1862, and known as the 
"Second Board of Trade Regiment." It was 
mustered in, Sept. 4, 1862 ; was engaged at Perry- 
ville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary 
Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, AdairsviUe, 
New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Mud Creek, 
Kenesaw Jlountain, Smyrna Camp Ground, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Franklin 
and Nashville; was mustered out, June 9, 1865, 
at Nashville, Tenn., and arrived at Chicago, 
June 13, 1865, where it received final pay and 
discharge, June 33, 1865. 

Eighty-ninth Infantry. Called the "Rail- 
road Regiment" ; was organized by the railroad 
companies of Illinois, at Chicago, in August, 
1863, and mustered into service on the 37th of 
that month. It fought at Stone River, Cliicka- 
mauga. Missionary Ridge, Knoxville, Resaca, 
Rock}' Face Ridge, Pickett's Mills, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, 
Lovejoy 's Station, Spring Hill, Columbia. Frank- 
lin and Nashville; was mustered out, June 10, 
18G5, in the field near Nashville, Tenn. ; arrived 
at Chicago two days later, and was finally dis- 
charged, June 34, after a service of two years, 
nine months and twenty seven days. 

Ninetieth Infantry. Mustered into service 
at Chicago, Sept. 7, 1863 ; participated in the siege 
of Vicksburg and^the campaign against Jackson, 
and was engaged at Missionary Ridge, Resaca, 
Dallas, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Marietta, Nickajack Creek, Rosswell, 
Atlanta. Jonesboro and Fort McAllister. After 
the review at Washington, the regiment was 
mustered out, June 6, and returned to Chicago, 
June 9, 1865, where it was finally discharged. 

r^lNETY-FiRST INFANTRY. Organized at Camp 
Butler, near Springfield, in August, 1863, and 



562 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



mustered in on Sept. 8, 1862 ; participated in the 
campaigns against Vicksburg and New Orleans, 
and all along the southwestern frontier in 
Louisiana and Texas, as well as in the investiture 
and capture of Mobile. It was mustered out at 
Mobile, July 13, 1805, starting for home the same 
day, and being finally paid off and discharged on 
July 28, following. 

Ninety-second Infantry (Mounted). Organ- 
ized and mustered into service, Sept. 4, 1862, 
being recruited from Ogle, Stephenson and Car- 
roll Counties. During its term of service, the 
Ninety-second was in more than sixty battles and 
skirmishes, including Ringgold, Chickamauga, 
and the numerous engagements on the "Jlarch 
to the Sea," and during the pursuit of Johnston 
through the Carolinas. It was mustered out at 
Concord, N. C, and paid and discharged from the 
service at Chicago, July 10, 186.5. 

Ninety-third Infantry. Organized at Chi- 
cago, in September, 1862, and mustered in, Oct. 
13, 998 strong. It participated in the movements 
against Jackson and Vicksburg, and was engaged 
at Champion Hills and at Fort Fisher; also was 
engaged in the battles of Missionary Ridge, 
Dallas, Resaca, and many minor engagements, 
following Sherman in his campaign though the 
Carolinas. Mustered out of service, June 23, 
186,'), and, on the 25th, arrived at Chicago, receiv- 
ing final payment and discharge. July 7, 1865, the 
regiment having marched 2,55-t miles, traveled 
by water, 2,296 miles, and, by railroad, 1,237 
miles — total, 0,087 miles. 

Ninety-fourth Infantry. Organized at 
Bloomington in August, 1862, and enlisted wholly 
in McLean County. After some warm experi 
ence in Southwest Missouri, the regiment took 
part in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and 
was, later, actively engaged in the campaigns in 
Louisiana and Texas. It particiijated in the cap- 
ture of Mobile, leading the final assault. After 
several months of garri.son duty, the regiment was 
mustered out <at (Jalveston, Texas, on July 17, 
1865, reaching Bloomington on August 9, follow- 
ing, having served just three years, marched 1,200 
miles, traveled by r,ailroad CIO miles, and, by 
steamer, 6,000 miles, and taken fart in nine bat- 
tles, sieges and skirmishes. 

Ninety-fifth Infantry. Organized at Rock- 
ford and mustered into service, Sept. 4, 1862. It 
was recruited from the counties of McIIenry and 
Boone — three companies from the latter and 
seven from the former. It took part in the cam- 
paigns in Northern Mississippi and against Vicks- 
burg, in the Red River expedition, the campaigns 



against Price in Missouri and Arkansas, against 
Mobile and around Atlanta. Among the battles 
in which the regiment was engaged were those 
of the Tallahatchie River, Grand Gulf, Raymond, 
Champion Hills, Fort de Russey, Old River, 
Cloutierville, Mansura, Yellow Bayou, Guntown, 
Nashville, Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Chattahoochie River, Atlanta. Ezra 
Church, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station and Nash- 
ville. The distance traveled by the regiment, 
while in the service, was 9,960 miles. It was 
transferred to the Forty-seventh Illinois Infan- 
try, August 25, 1865. 

Ninety-sixth Infantry. Recruited during 
the months of Juh' and August, 1802, and mus- 
tered into service, as a regiment, Sept. 6, 1802. 
The battles engaged in included Fort DoneLson, 
Spring Hill, Franklin, Triune, Liberty Gap, 
.Shelbyville, Chickamauga, AVauhatchie, Lookout 
Mountain, Buzzard's Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, 
Resaca, Kingston, New Hope Church, Dallas, 
Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Smyrna 
Camp Ground, PeacH Tree Creek, Atlanta, Rough 
and Ready, Jonesboro, Lovejoy "s Station, Frank- 
lin and Nashville. Its date of final pay and dis- 
charge was June 30, 1805. 

Ninety-seventh Infantry'. Organized in 
August and September, 1862, and mustered in on 
Sept. 16; participated in the battles of Chickasaw 
Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Cliampion 
Hills, Black River, Vicksburg, Jackson and 
Mobile. On July 29, 1865, it was mustered out 
and proceeded homeward, reaching Springfield, 
August 10, after an absence of three years, less a 
few daj's. 

Ninety-eighth Infantry. Organized at Cen- 
tralia, September, 1862, and mustered in, Sept. 3 ; 
took part in engagements at Chickamauga, Mc- 
Minnville, Farmington and Selma, besides many 
others of less note. It was mustered out. June 
27, 1865, the recruits being transferred to the 
Sixtj'-first Illinois Volunteers. The regiment 
arrived at Sjiringfield, June 30, and received final 
payment and discharge, July 7, 1865. 

Ninety-ninth Inf.vntry. Organized in Pike 
County and mustered in at Florence, August 23, 
1862; participated in the following battles and 
skirmishes; Beaver Creek, Hartsville, Magnolia 
Hills, Raymond. Champion Hills, Black River, 
Vicksburg, Jackson, Fort Esjjeranza, Grand 
Coteau, Fish River, Spanish Fort and Blakeiy: 
days under fire, 62; miles ti'aveled, 5,900; men 
killed in battle, 38; men died of wounds and 
disease, 149; men discharged for disability, 127; 
men deserted, 35; officers killed in battle, 3; 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



563 



oflScers died, 3; officers resigned, 26. The regi- 
ment was mustered out at Baton Rouge, July 31, 
1865, and paid off and discharged, August 9, 
following. 

One Hundredth Infantry. Organized at 
Joliet, in August, 1863, and mustered in, August 
30. The entire regiment was recruited in Will 
County. It was engaged at Bardstown, Stone 
River, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and 
Nashville; was mustered out of service, June 13, 
1865, at Nashville, Tenn., and arrived at Chicago, 
June 15, where it received final payment and 
discharge. 

One Hundred and First Infantry. Organ- 
ized at Jacksonville (hiring the latter part of the 
month of August, 1863, and, on Sept. 3, 1863, 
was mustered in. It participated in the battles 
of Wauhatchie, Chattanooga, Resaca, New Hope 
Church, Kenesaw and Pine Mountains, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Averysboro and Bentonville. 
On Deo. 20, 1862, five companies were captured 
at Holly Springs, Miss., paroled and sent to 
Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and formally exchanged 
in June, 1863. On the 7th of June, 1865, it was 
mustered out, and started for Springfield, where, 
on the 21st of June, it was paid off and disbanded. 

One Hundred and Second Infantry. Organ- 
ized at Knoxville, in August, 1863, and mustered 
in, September 1 and 3. It was engaged at Resaca, 
Camp Creek, Burnt Hickory, Big Shanty, Peach 
Tree Creek and Averysboro; mustered out of 
service June 6, 1865, and started home, arriving 
at Chicago on the 9th, and, June 14, received 
final payment and discharge. 

One Hundred and Third Infantry. Re- 
cruited wholly in Fulton County, and mustered 
into the service, Oct, 3, 1863. It took jjart in 
the Grierson raid, tlie sieges of Vicksburg, Jack- 
son, Atlanta and Savannah, and the battles of 
Missionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dal- 
las, Kenesaw Mountain and Griswoldsville; was 
also in the campaign through the Carolinas. 
The regiment was mustered out at Louisville, 
June 31, and received final discharge at Chi- 
cago, July 9, 1865. The original strength of 
the regiment was 808, and 84 recruits were 
enlisted. 

One Hundred and Fourth Infantry. Organ- 
ized at Ottawa, in August. 1863, and composed 
almost entirely of La Salle County men. The 
regiment was engaged in the battles of Harts- 
ville, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission- 
ary Ridge, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Utoy 
Creek, Jonesboro and Bentonville, besides many 
severe skirmishes; was mustered out at Washing- 



ton, D. C, June 6, 1865, and, a few days later, 
received final discharge at Chicago. 

One Hundred and Fifth Infantry. Mus- 
tered into service, Sept. 3, 1863, at Dixon, and 
participated in the Atlanta campaign, being 
engaged at Resaca, Peach Tree Creek and 
Atlanta, and almost constantly skirmishing; 
also took part in the "March to the .Sea" and the 
campaign in the Carolinas, including the siege of 
Savannah and the battles of Averysboro and 
Bentonville. It was mustered out at Washing- 
ton, D. C, June 7, 1865, and paid off and dis- 
charged at Chicago, June 17. 

One Hundred and Sixth Infantry. Mus- 
tered into service at Lincoln, Sept. 18, 1863, 
eight of the ten companies having been recruited 
in Logan County, the other two being from San- 
gamon and Menard Counties. It aided in the 
defense of Jackson, Tenn., where Company "C" 
was captured and paroled, being exchanged in 
the summer of 1863; took part in the siege of 
Vicksburg, the Yazoo expedition, the capture of 
Little Rock, the battle of Clarendon, and per- 
formed service at various points in Arkansas. It 
was mustered out, July 13, 1.8G5, at Pine Bluff, 
Ark,, and arrived at Sjiringtield, July 34, 1865, 
where it received final payment and discharge 

One Hundred and Seventh Infantry. Mus- 
tered into service at Springfield, Sept. 4, 1863; 
was composed of six companies from DeWitt and 
four companies from Piatt County. It was 
engaged at Campbeirs Station, Dandridge, 
Rocky-Face Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin, Nashville and 
Fort Anderson, and mustered out, June 21, 1865, 
at Salisbury, N. C, , reaching Springfield, for 
final payment and discharge, July 3, 1865. 

One Hundred and Eighth Infantry. Organ- 
ized at Peoria, and mustered into service, August 
28, 1863 ; took part in the first exijedition against 
Vicksburg and in the battles of Arkansas Post 
(Fort Hindman), Poi't Gibson and Champion 
Hills; in the capture of Vicksburg, the battle of 
Guutown, the reduction of Spanish Fort, and the 
capture of Mobile. It was mustered out at Vicks- 
burg, August 5, 1865, and received final discharge 
at Chicago, August 1 1. 

One Hundred and Ninth Infantry. Re- 
cruited from Union and Pulaski Counties and 
mustered into the service, Sejjt. 11, 1863. Owing 
to its number being greatly reduced, it was con- 
solidated with the Eleventh Infantry in April, 
1863. (See Eleventh Infantry.) 

One Hundred and Tenth Infantry. Organ- 
ized at Anna and mustered in, Sept. 11, 1862; was 



564 



mSTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



engaged at Stone River, Woodbury, and in 
numerous skirmishes in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
In Maj', 18G3, the regiment was consolidated, its 
numbers having been greatly reduced. Subse- 
quently it participated in the battles of Chicka- 
mauga and Missionarj- Ridge, the battles around 
Atlanta and the campaign through the Carolinas, 
being present at Johnston's surrender. The regi- 
ment was mustered out at Washington, D. C, 
June 5, 186.5, and received final discharge at 
Chicago, June 15. The enlisted men whose term 
of service had not expired at date of muster-out, 
were consolidated into four companies and trans- 
ferred to the Sixtieth Illinois Veteran Volunteer 
Infantry. 

One Hdndked and Eleventh Infantry. Re- 
cruited from Marion, Clay, Washington, Clinton 
and Wayne Counties, and mustered into the serv- 
ice at Salem, Sept. 18, 1862. The regiment aided 
in the capture of Decatur, Ala. ; took part in the 
Atlanta campaign, being engaged at Resaca, 
Dallas, Kenesaw, Atlanta and Jonesboro ; partici- 
pated in the "March to the Sea" and the cam- 
paign in the Carolinas, taking part in the battles 
of Fort McAllister and Bentonville. It was mus- 
tered out at Washington, D. C, June 7, 1865, 
receiving final discharge at Springfield, June 27, 
having traveled 3,736 miles, of which 1,836 was 
on the march. 

One Hundred and Twelfth Infantry. Mus- 
tered into service at Peoria, Sept. 20 and 22, 
1862; participated in the campaign in East Ten- 
nessee, under Burnside, and in that against 
Atlanta, under Sherman; was also engaged in 
the battles of Columbia, Franklin and Nashville, 
and the capture of Fort Anderson and Wilming- 
ton. It was mustered out at Goldsboro, N. C, 
June 30, 1865, and finally discharged at Chicago, 
July 7, 186.5. 

One Hundred and Thirteenth Infantry. 
Left Camp Hancock (near Chicago) for the front, 
Nov. 6, 1862; was engaged in the Tallahatchie 
expedition, participated in the battle of Chicka- 
saw Bayou, and was sent North to guard prison- 
ers and recruit. The regiment also took part in 
the siege and captiu-e of Vicksburg, was mustered 
out, June 20, 1865, and finally discharged at Chi- 
cago, five days later. 

One Hundred and Fourteenth Infantry. 
Organized in July and August, 1862, and mustered 
in at Springfield, Sept. 18, being recruited from 
Cass, Menard and Sangamon Counties. The regi- 
ment participated in the battle of Jackson (Miss. ), 
the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and in the 
battles of Guntown and Harrisville, the pursuit 



of Price through Missouri, the battle of Nash- 
ville, and the capture of Mobile. It v.as mustered 
out at Vicksburg. August 3, 1865, receiving final 
payment and discharge at Springfield. August 15, 
1805. 

One Hundred and Fifteenth Infantry. 
Ordered to the front from Springfield, Oct. 4, 
1862 ; was engaged at Chickamauga, Chattanooga, 
Missionary Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Resaca and in all 
the principal battles of the Atlanta campaign, 
and in the defense of Nashville and pursuit of 
Hood; was mustered out of service, June 11, 
1865, and received final pay and discharge, June 
23, 1865, at Springfield. 

One Hundred and Sixteenth Infantry. 
Recruited almost wholly from Macon County, 
numbering 980 officers and men when it started 
from Decatur for the front on Nov. 8, 1862. It 
participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, 
Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, Black River 
Bridge, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Big 
Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Stone Mountain, 
Atlanta, Fort McAllister and Bentonville, and 
was mustered out, June 7, 1865, near W^ashington, 
D. C. 

One Hundred and Seventeenth Infantry. 
Organized at Springfield, and mustered in, Sept. 
19, 1862; participated in the Meridian campaign, 
the Red River expedition (assisting in the cap- 
ture of Fort de Russey), and in the battles of 
Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou, Tupelo, Franklin, 
Nashville, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. It 
was mustered out at Springfield, August 5, 1865, 
having traveled 9,276 miles, 2,307 of which were 
marched. 

One Hundred and Eighteenth Infantry. 
Organized and mustered into the service at 
Springfield, Nov. 7, 1862; was engaged at Chicka- 
saw Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Cham- 
pion Hills, Black River Bridge, Jackson (Miss.), 
Grand Coteau, Jackson (La. ), and Amite River. 
The regiment was mounted, Oct. 11, 1863, and 
dismounted, May 22, 1865. Oct. 1, 1865, it was 
mustered out, and finally discharged, Oct. 13. 
At the date Of the muster-in, the regiment num- 
bered 820 men and officers, received 283 recruits, 
making a total of 1,103; at muster-out it num- 
bered 533. Distance marched, 2,000 miles; total 
distance traveled, 5,700 miles. 

One Hundred and Nineteenth Infantry. 
Organized at Quincy, in September, 1862, and 
was mustered into the United States service, 
October 10 ; was engaged in the Red River cam- 
paign and in the battles of Shreveport, Yellow 
Bayou, Tupelo, Nashville, Spanish Fort and Fort 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



565 



Blakely. Its final muster-out took place at 
Mobile, August 26, 1865, and its discharge at 
Springfield. 

One Hundred and Twentiety Infantry. 
Mustered into the service, Oct. 28, 1862, at Spring- 
field ; was mustered out, Sept. 7, 1865, and received 
final payment and discharge, September 10, at 
Springfield. 

One Hundred and Twenty-first Infan- 
try. (The organization of this regiment was not 
completed.) 

One Hundred and Twenty-second Infan- 
try. Organized at Carlinville, in August, 1862, 
and mustered into the service, Sept. 4, with 960 
enli.sted men. It participated in the battles of 
Tupelo and Nashville, and in the capture of 
Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, and was mustered 
out, July 15, 1865, at Mobile, and finally dis- 
charged at Springfield, August 4. 

One Hundred and Twenty-third Infan- 
try. Mustered into service at Mattoon, Sept. 6, 
1862; participated in the battles of Perry ville, 
Milton, Hoover's Gap, and Farmington ; also took 
part in the entire Atlanta campaign, maroliing 
as cavalry and fighting as infantry. Later, it 
served as mounted infantry in Kentucky, Tennes- 
see and Alabama, taking a prominent part in the 
capture of Selma. The regiment was discharged 
at Springfield, July 11, 1865 — the recruits, whose 
terms had not expired, being transferred to the 
Sixty-first Volunteer Infantry. 

One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Infan- 
try. Mustered into the service, Sept. 10, 1862, at 
Springfield ; took part in the Vicksburg campaign 
and in the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond and 
Champion Hills, the siege of Vicksburg, the 
Meridian raid, the Yazoo expedition, and the 
capture of Mobile. On the 16th of August, 1865, 
eleven days less than three years after the first 
company went into camp at Springfield, tlie regi- 
ment was mustered out at Cliicago. Colonel 
Howe's history of the battle-flag of tlie regiment, 
stated that it had been borne 4, 100 miles, in four- 
teen skirimishes, ten battles and two sieges of 
forty-seven days and nights, ^nd thirteen days 
and nights, respectively. 

One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Infan- 
try. Mustered into service, Sept. 3, 1862; par- 
ticipated in the battles of Perryville, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta and Jonesboro, and in 
the "Ma'-cli to the Sea" and the Carolina cam- 
paign, being engaged at Averysboro and Benton- 
ville. It was mustered out at Washington, D. C, 
June 9, 1865, and finally discharged at Chicago. 



One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Infan- 
try. Organized at Alton and mustered in, Sept. 4, 
1862, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg. 
Six companies were engaged in skirmish line, near 
Humboldt, Tenn., and the regiment took part in 
the capture of Little Rock and in the fight at 
Clarendon, Ark. It was mustered out July 12, 1865. 

One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Infan- 
try. Mustered into service at Chicago, Sept. 6, 
1862; took part in the first campaign against 
Vicksburg, and in the battle of Arkansas Post, 
the siege of Vicksbui-g under Grant, the capture 
of Jackson (Miss.), the battles of Missionary 
Ridge and Lookout Mountain, the Meridian raid, 
and in the fighting at Resaca, Dallas, Kene.saw 
Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesboro; also accom- 
panied Sherman in his march through Georgia 
and the Carolinas, taking part in tlie battle of 
Bentonville ; was mustered out at Chicago. June 
17, 1865. 

One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Infan- 
try. Mustered in, Dec. 18, 1862, but remained 
in service less than five months, wlien, its num- 
ber of officers and men having been reduced from 
860 to 161 (largely by desertions), a number of 
officers were dismissed, and the few remaining 
officers and men were formed into a detachment, 
and transferred to another Illinois regiment. 

One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Infan- 
try. Organized at Pontiac, in August, 1862, and 
mustered into the service Sept. 8. Prior to May, 
1864, the regiment was chiefly engaged in garri- 
son duty. It marched with Sherman in the 
Atlanta campaign and tlirough Georgia and the 
Carolinas, and took part in the battles of Resaca, 
Buzzard's Roost, Lost Mountain, Dallas, Peach 
Tree Creek, Atlanta, Averysboro and Benton- 
ville. It received final pay and discharge at Chi- 
ca'-o, June 10, 1865. 

One Hundred and Thirtieth Infantry. 
Organized at Springfield and mustered into 
service, Oct. 25, 1862 ; was engaged at Port Gib- 
son, Cliampion Hills, Black River Bridge, Vicks- 
burg, Jackson (Miss.), and in the Red River 
expedition. While on this exjjedition almost the 
entire regiment was captured at the battle of 
Mansfield, and not paroled until near the close of 
the war. The remaining officers and men were 
consolidated with the Seventy-seventh Infantry 
in January, 1865, and participated in the capture 
of Mobile. Six months later its regimental re- 
organization, as the One Hundred and Thirtieth, 
was ordered. It was mustered out at New 
Orleans, August 15, 1865, and discharged at 
Springfield, August 31. 



566 



HISTORICAL EXCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



One Hundred and Thirty-fikst Infa>'- 
TKY. Organized iu September, 1862, and mus- 
tered into the service, Nov. 13, with 815 men, 
exclusive of officers. In October, 1803, it was 
consolidated with the Twentj- -ninth Infantry, 
and ceased to exist as a separate organization. 
Up to that time the regiment had been in but a 
few conflicts and in no pitched battle. 

One Hundred and Thirty-second Infan- 
try*. Organized at Chicago and mustered in for 
100 daj'S from June 1, 18G4. The regiment re- 
mained on duty at Paducah until the expiration 
of its service, when it moved to Chicago, and 
was mustered out, Oct. IT, 18G4. 

One Hundred and Thirty-third Infan- 
try. Organized at Springfield, and mustered in 
for one hundred days. May 31, 1864; was engaged 
during its term of service in guarding prisoners 
of war at Rock Island ; was mustered out, Sept. 
4, 1804, at Camp Butler. 

One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Inf.\n- 
TKY. Organized at Chicago and nmstered in, 
May 31, 1864, for 100 daj-s; was assigned to 
garrison duty at Columbus, Ky., and mustered 
out of service, Oct. 25, 1864, at Chicago. 

One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Infan- 
try-. Mustered in for 100-days' service at Mat- 
toon, June 6, 1864, having a strength of 852 men. 
It was chiefly engaged, during its term of service, 
in doing garrison duty and guarding railroads. 
It was mustered out at Springfield, Sept. 28, 1804. 

One Hundred and Thirty'-sixth Ixf.\n- 
TRY. Enlisted about the first of May, 1864, for 
100 days, and went into camp at Centralia, 111., 
but was not mustered into service until June 1, 
following. Its principal service was garrison 
duty, with occasional scouts and raids amongst 
guerrillas. At the end of its term of service the 
regiment re-enlisted for fifteen days; was mus- 
tered out at Springfield, Oct. 22, 1864, and dis- 
charged eight days later 

One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Inf.^n- 
try. Organized at Quincy, with ex-Gov. John 
Wood as its Colonel, and mustered in, June 5, 
1864, for 100 days. Was on duty at Jlemphis, 
Tenn , and mustered out of service at Spring- 
field. 111.. Sept. 4, 1804. 

One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Infan- 
try' Organized at Quincy, and mustered in, 
June 21, 1864, for 100 days; was assigned to garri- 
son duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and in 
Western Missouri. It was mustered out of serv- 
ice at Springfield, 111., Oct. 14, 1864. 

One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Infan- 
try. Mustered into service as a 100-day's regi- 



ment, at Peoria, June 1, 1864; was engaged in 
garrison duty at Columbus and Cairo, in making 
reprisals for guerrilla raids, and in the pursuit of 
the Confederate General Price in Missouri. The 
latter service was rendered, at the President's 
request, after the term of enlistment had expired. 
It was mustered out at Peoria, Oct. 25, 1864, hav- 
ing been in the service nearly five months. 

One Hundred and Fourtietii Inf.\ntry. 
Organized as a 100-days' regiment, at Springfield, 
June 18, 1864, and mustered into service on that 
date. The regiment was engaged in guarding 
railroads between Memphis and Holly Springs,and 
in garrison duty at Memphis. After the term of 
enlistment had expired and the i-egiment had 
been mustered out, it aided in the pursuit of 
General Price through Missouri; was finally dis- 
charged at Chicago, after serving about five 
months 

One Hundred and Forty-first Infan- 
try'. Mustered into service as a 100- days' regi- 
ment, at Elgin, June 16, 1864— strength, 842 men; 
departed for the field, June 2T, 1804; was mus- 
tered out at Chicago, Oct. 10, 1864. 

One Hundred and Forty'-second Infan- 
try'. Organized at Freeport as a battalion of 
eight companies, and sent to Camp Butler, where 
two companies were added and the regiment 
mustered into service for 100 days, June 18, 1864. 
It was ordered to Memphis, Tenn., five days later, 
and assigned to duty at White's Station, eleven 
miles from that city, where it was employed in 
guarding the Memphis & Charleston railroad. 
It was mustered out at Chicago, on Oct, 27, 1864, 
the men having voluntarily served one month 
beyond their term of enlistment. 

One Hundred and Forty'-third Infan- 
try'. Organized at Slattoon, and mustered in, 
June 11, 1864, for 100 days. It was assigned to 
garrison duty, and mustered out at Mattoon, 
Sept. 26, 1864. 

One Hundred and Forty-fourth Infan- 
try. Organized at Alton, in 1864, as a one-year 
regiment ; was mustered into the service, Oct. 21, 
its strength being 1,159 men. It was mustered 
out, July 14, 1865. 

One Hundred and Forty'-fifth Infan- 
try'. Mustered into service at Springfield, June 
9, 1864; strength, 880 men. It departed for the 
field, June 12, 1864; was mustered out, Sept. 23, 
1864. 

One Hundred and Forty-sixth Infan- 
try'. Organized at Springfield, Sept. 18, 1864, for 
one year. Was assigned to the duty of guarding 
drafted men at Brighton, Quincy, Jacksonville 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



567 



and Springfield, and mustered out at Springfield, 
July 5, 1805. 

One Hundred and Forty-seventh Infan- 
try. Organized at Chicago, and mustered into 
service for one year, Feb. 18 and 19, 1865; was 
engaged chiefly on guard or garrison duty, in 
scouting and in skirmishing with guerrillas. 
Mustered out at Nashville, Jan. 23, 1866, and 
received final discharge at Springfield, Feb. 4. 

One Hundred and Forty-eighth Infan- 
try. Organized at Springfield, Feb. 21, 1865, for 
the term of one year; was assigned to garrison 
and guard duty and mustered out, Sept. 5, 1865, 
at Nashville, Tenn ; arrived at Springfield, Sept. 
9, 1865, where it was paid off and discharged. 

One Hundred and Forty-ninth Infan- 
try. Organized at Springfield, Feb. 11, 1865, 
and mustered in for one year; was engaged in 
garrison and guard duty ; mustered out, Jan. 27, 
1866, at Dalton, Ga., and ordered to Springfield, 
where it received final payment and discharge. 

One Hundred and Fiftieth Infantry. 
Organized at Springfield, and mustered in, Feb. 14, 
1865, for one year ; was on duty in Tennessee and 
Georgia, guarding railroads and garrisoning 
towns. It was mustered out, Jan. 16, 1866, at 
Atlanta, Ga., and ordered to Sjiringfield, where it 
received final payment and discharge. 

One Hundred and Fifty-first Infantry'. 
This regiment was organized at Quincy, 111., 
and mustered into the United States service, 
Feb. 33, 1865, and was composed of companies 
from various parts of tlie State, recruited, under 
the call of Dec. 19, 1S64. It was engaged in 
guard dut3', with a few guerrilla skirmishes, and 
was present at the surrender of General War- 
ford's army, at Kingston, Ga. ; was mustered out 
at Columbus, Ga., Jan. 24, 1866, and ordered to 
Springfield, where it received final payment and 
discharge, Feb. 8, 1866. 

One Hundred and Fifty-second Infan- 
try. Organized at Springfield and mustered in, 
Feb. 18, 1865, for one year; was mustered out of 
service, to date Sept. 11, at Memphis, Tenn., and 
arrived at Camp Butler, Sept. 9, 1865, where it 
received final payment and discharge. 

One Hundred and Fifty-third Infan- 
try. Organized at Chicago, and mustered in, 
Feb. 27, 1865, for one year; was not engaged in 
any battles. It was mustered out, Sept. 15, 1865, 
and moved to Springfield, 111., and. Sept. 34, 
received final pay and discharge. 

One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Infan- 
try. Organized at Springfield, Feb. 21. 1865, 
for one year. Sept. 18, 1865, the regiment was 



mustered out at Nashville, Tenn. , and ordered to 
Springfield for final payment and discharge, 
where it arrived, Sept. 22; was paid oft and dis- 
charged at Camp Butler, Sept. 29. 

One Hundred ajstd Fifty-fifth Infan- 
try. Organized at Springfield and mustered in 
Feb. 28, 1865, for one year, 904 strong. On Sept. 
4, 1865, it was mustered out of service, and moved 
to Canrp Butler, where it received final pay and 
discharge. 

One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Infan- 
try. Organized and mustered in during the 
months of February and March, 1865, from the 
northern counties of the State, for the term of 
one year. Tiie officers of the regiment have left 
no written record of its history, but its service 
seems to liave been rendered chiefly in Tennessee 
in the neighborhood of Mempliis, Nashville and 
Chattanooga. Judging by tlie muster-rolls of 
the Adjutant-General, the regiment would appear 
to have been greatly depleted by desertions and 
otherwise, the remnant being finally mustered 
out, Sept. 30, 1865. 

First Cavalry. Organized — consisting of 
seven companies. A, B, C, D, E, F and G — at 
Alton, in 1861, and mustered into the United 
States service, Julj' 3. After some service in 
Missouri, the regiment participated in the battle 
of Lexington, in that State, and was surrendered, 
with the remainder of the garrison, Sept. 20, 1861. 
The officers were paroled, and the men sworn not 
to take up arms again until discharged. No ex- 
change having been effected in November, the 
non-commissioned officers and privates were 
ordered to Springfield and discharged. In June, 
1862, the regiment was reorganized at Benton 
Barracks, Mo., being afterwards employed in 
guarding supply trains and supply depots at 
various points. Mustered out, at Benton Bar- 
racks, July 14, 1862. 

Second Cavalry. Organized at Springfield 
and mustered into service, August 12, 1861, with 
Company M (which joined the regiment some 
months later), numbering 47 commissioned offi- 
cers and 1,040 enlisted men. This number was in- 
creased by recruits and re-enlistments, during its 
four and a half year's term of service, to 2,336 
enlisted men and 145 commissioned officers. It 
was engaged at Belmont ; a portion of the regi- 
ment took part in the battles at Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson and Shiloh, another portion at 
Merriweather's Ferry, Bolivar and Holly Springs, 
and participated in the investment of Vicksburg. 
In January, 1864, the major part of the regiment 
re-enUsted as veterans, later, participating in the 



568 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Red River expedition and the investment of Fort 
Blakely. It was mustered out at San Antonio, 
Tex., Nov. 23, 186.''), and finally paid and dis- 
charged at Springfield, Jan. 3, 1806. 

Third Cavalry. Composed of twelve com- 
panies, from various localities in the State, the 
grand total of company officers and enlisted men, 
under the first organization, being 1,433. It was 
organized at Springfield, in August, 18G1 ; partici- 
pated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Haines' Bluff, 
Arkansas Post, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, 
Black River Bridge, and the siege of Vicksburg. 
In July, 1804, a large portion of the regiment re- 
enli.sted as veterans. The remainder were mus- 
tered out, Sept. 5, 1864. The veterans participated 
in the reimlse of Forrest, at Memphis, and in the 
battles of Lawrenceburg, Spring Hill, Campbells- 
ville and Franklin. From May to October, 1803, 
engaged in service against the Indians in the 
Northwest The regiment was mustered out at 
Springfield, Oct. 18, 186.5. 

ForRTH Cavalry. Mustered into service, 
Sept. 26, 1861, and participated in the battles of 
Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh; in the 
siege of Corinth, and in many engagements of 
less historic note; was mustered out at Springfield 
in November, 1864. By order of the War Depart- 
ment, of June 18, 186.'), the members of the 
regiment whose terms had not expired, were con- 
solidated with the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry. 

Fifth C.vvalry. Organized at Camp Butler, 
in November, 1801 ; took part in the Meridian 
raid and the expedition against Jackson, Miss., 
and in numerous minor expeditions, doing effect- 
ive work at Canton, Grenada, Woodville, and 
other points. On Jan. 1, 1804, a large portion of 
the regiment re-enlisted as veterans. Its final 
muster-out took place, Oct. 27, 1865, and it re- 
ceived final payment and discharge, October 30. 

Sixth Cavalry. Organized at Springfield, 
Nov. 19, 1861 ; participated in Sherman's advance 
upon Grenada; in the Grierson raid through Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana, the siege of Port Hudson, 
the battles of Moscow (Tenn), West Point (Miss.), 
Franklin and Nashville; re-enlisted as veterans, 
March 30, 1864; was mustered out at Selma, Ala., 
Nov. 5, 186.'), and received discharge, November 
20, at Springfield. 

Seventh Cavalry. Organized at Springfield, 
and was mustered into service, Oct. 13, 1861. It 
participated in the battles of Farmington, luka, 
Corinth (second battle) ; in Grierson's raid 
through Mississippi and Louisiana; in the en- 
gagement at Plain's Store (La.), and the invest- 
ment of Port Hudson. In March, 1864, 288 



officers and men re-enlisted as veterans. The 
non- veterans were engaged at Guntowu, and the 
entire regiment took part in the battle of Frank- 
lin. After the close of hostilities, it was stationed 
in Alabama and Mississippi, until the latter part 
of October, 186.5 ; was mustered out at Nashville, 
and finally discharged at Springfield, Nov. 17, 
1803. 

Eighth Cavalry. Organized at St. Charles, 
111., and mustered in, Sept. 18, 1861. The regi- 
ment was ordered to Virginia, and participated 
in the general advance on Manassas in March, 
1803; was engaged at Mechanicsville, Gaines' 
Hill, Malvern Hill, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Middle- 
town, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks- 
burg, Suljihur Springs, Warrenton, Rapidan 
Station, Northern Neck, Gettysburg, Williams- 
burg, Funkstown, Falling Water, Chester Gap 
Sandy Hook, Culpepper, Brandy Station, and in 
many raids and skirmishes. It was mustered 
out of service at Benton Barracks, Mo., July 17, 
1803, and ordered to Cliicago, where it received 
final payment and discharge. 

Ninth C.^v.vlry Organized at Chicago, in 
the autumn of 1861, and mustered in, November 
30 ; was engaged at Cold water, Grenada, Wyatt, 
Saulsbury, Moscow, Guntown, Pontotoc, Tupelo, 
Old Town Creek, Hurricane Creek, Lawrence- 
burg, Campellsville, Franklin and Nashville. 
The regiment re-enlisted as veterans, March 16, 
1804; was mustered out of service at Selma, Ala., 
Oct. 31, 1803, and ordered to Springfield, where 
the men received final payment and discharge. 

Tenth C.walry. Organized at Springfield in 
the latter part of September, 1861, and mustered 
into service, Nov. 25, 1861 ; was engaged at Prairie 
Grove, Cotton Plant, Arkansas Post, in the 
Yazoo Pass expedition, at Richmond (La), 
Brownsville, Ba3'ou Metoe, Bayou La Fourche 
and Little Rock. In February, 1864, a large 
portion of the regiment re enlisted as veter- 
ans, the non-veterans accompanying General 
Banks in his Red River expedition. On Jan. 37, 
1865, the veterans, and recruits were consolidated 
with the Fifteenth Cavalry, and all reorganized 
under the name of the Tenth Illinois Veteran 
Volunteer Cavalry. Mustered out of service at 
San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 23, 1865, and received 
final discharge at Springfield, Jan. 0, 1800. 

Eleventh Cavalry. Robert G. Ingersoll of 
Peoria, and Basil D. Meeks, of Woodford County, 
obtained permission to raise a regiment of 
cavalrj-, and recruiting commenced in October, 
1801. The regiment was recruited from the 
counties of Peoria, Fulton, Tazewell, Woodford, 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



569 



Marshall, Stark, Knox, Henderson and Warren; 
was mustered into the service at Peoria, Dec. 20, 
1861, and was first under fire at Shiloh. It also 
took part in the raid in the rear of Corinth, and 
in the battles of Bolivar, Corinth (second battle), 
luka, Lexington and Jackson (Tenn. ) ; in Mc- 
pherson's expedition to Canton and Sherman's 
Meridian raid, in the relief of Yazoo Citj-, and in 
numerous less important raids and skirmishes. 
Most of the regiment re-enlisted as veterans in 
December, 1863; the non-veterans being mus- 
tered out at Memphis, in the autumn of 1864. The 
veterans were mustered out at the same place, 
Sept. 30, 1865, and discharged at Springfield, 
October 20. 

Twelfth Cavalry. Organized at Spi-ingfield, 
in February, 1862, and remained there guarding 
rebel prisoners until June 25, when it was 
mounted and sent to Martinsburg, 'Va. It was 
engaged at Fredericksburg, Williamsport, Falling 
Waters, the Rapidan and Stevensburg. On Nov. 
26, 1863, the regiment was relieved from service 
and ordered home to reorganize as veterans. 
Subsequently it joined Banks in the Red River 
expedition and in Davidson's expedition against 
Mobile. While at Memphis the Twelftli Cavalry 
was consolidated into an eight-company organi- 
zation, and the Fourth Cavalry, having previously 
been consolidated into a battalion of five com- 
panies, was consolidated with the Twelfth. The 
consolidated regiment was mustered out at 
Houston, Texas, May 29, 1866, and, on June 18, 
received final pay and discharge at Springfield. 

Thirteenth Cavalry. Organized at Chicago, 
in December, 1861; moved to the front from 
Benton Barracks, Mo., in February, 1862, and 
was engaged in the following battles and skir- 
mishes (all in Missouri and Arkansas) ; Putnam's 
Ferry, Cotton Plant, Union City (twice), Camp 
Pillow, Bloomfield (first and second battles). Van 
Buren, Allen, Eleven Point River, Jackson, 
White River, Chalk Bluff, Bushy Creek, near 
Helena, Grand Prairie, White River, Deadman's 
Lake, Brownsville, Bayou Metoe, Austin, Little 
Rock, Benton, Batesville, Pine Bluff, Arkadel- 
phia, Okolona, Little Missouri River, Prairie du 
Anne, Camden, Jenkins' Ferry, Cross Roads, 
Mount Elba, Douglas Landing and Monticello. 
The regiment was mustered out, August 31, 1865, 
and received final pay and discharge at Spring- 
field, Sept. 13, 1865. 

Fourteenth Cavalry. Mustered into service 
at Peoria, in January and February, 1863; par- 
ticipated in the battle of Cumberland Gap, in the 
defense of Knoxville and the pursuit of Long- 



street, in the engagements at Bean Station and 
Dandridge, in the Macon raid, and in the cavalry 
battle at Sunshine Church. In the latter Gen- 
eral Stoneman surrendered, but the Fourteenth 
cut its way out. On their retreat the men were 
betrayed by a guide and the regiment badly cut 
up and scattered, those escaping being hunted by 
soldiers with bloodhounds. Later, it was engaged 
at Waynesboro and in the battles of Franklin and 
Nashville, and was mustered out at Nashville, 
July 31, 1865, having marched over 10,000 miles, 
exclusive of duty done by detachments. 

Fifteenth Cavalry. Composed of companies 
originally independent, attached to infantry regi- 
ments and acting as such; participated in the 
battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and in the 
siege and capture of Corinth. Regimental or- 
ganization was effected in the spring of 1863, and 
thereafter it was engaged chiefly in scouting and 
post duty. It was mustered out at Springfield, 
August 25, 1864, the recruits (whose term ot 
service had not expired) being consolidated with 
the Tenth Cavalry. 

Sixteenth Cavalry. Composed principally 
of Chicago men — Thieleman's and Schambeck's 
Cavalry Companies, raised at the outset of the 
war, forming the nucleus of the regiment. The 
former served as General Sherman's body-guard 
for some time. Captain Thieleman was made a 
Major and authorized to raise a battalion, the 
two companies named thenceforth being know:; 
as Thieleman's Battalion. In September, 1863, 
the War Department authorized the extension of 
the battalion to a regiment, and, on the 11th of 
June, 1863, the regimental organization was com- 
pleted. It took part in the East Tennessee cam- 
paign, a portion of the regiment aiding in the 
defense ot Knoxville, a part garrisoning Cumber- 
and Gap, and one battalion being captured by 
Longstreet. The regiment also participated in 
the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Buzzard's 
Roost, Resaca, Kingston, Cassville, Carterville, 
Allatoona, Kenesaw, Lost Movintain, Mines 
Ridge, Powder Springs, Chattahoochie, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro, Franklin and Nashville. It arrived 
in Chicago, August 23, 1865, for final payment 
and discharge, having marched about 5,000 miles 
and engaged in thirty-one battles, besides numer- 
ous skirmishes. 

Seventeenth Cavalry. Mustered into serv- 
ice in January and February, 1864 ; aided in the 
repulse of Price at Jefferson City, Mo., and was 
engaged at Booneville, Independence, Mine 
Creek, and Fort Scott, besides doing garrison 
duty, scouting and raiding. It was mustered 



570 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



out in November and December, 1865, at Leaven- 
worth, Kan. Gov. John L. Beveridge, who had 
previously been a Captain and Major of the 
Eighth Cavah-y, was tlie Colonel of this regi- 
ment. 

First Light Artillery. Consisted of ten 
batteries. Battery A was organized under the 
first call for State troops, April 21, 1861. but not 
mustered into the three years' service until July 
16; was engaged at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
Chickasaw Baj'ou, Arkansas Post, the sieges of 
Vicksburg and Jackson, and in the Atlanta cam- 
paign ; was in reserve at Champion Hills and 
Nashville, and mustered out July 3, 1865, at 
Chicago. 

Battery B was organized in April, 1861, en- 
gaged at Belmont, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, in the 
siege of Corinth and at La Grange, Holly Springs, 
Memphis, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, the 
siege of Vicksburg, Mechanicsburg, Richmond 
(La.), the Atlanta campaign and the battle of 
Nashville. The Battery was reorganized by con- 
solidation with Battery A, and mustered out at 
Chicago, July 3, 1865. 

Battery D was organized at Cairo, Sept. 3, 1861 ; 
was engaged at Fort Donelson and at Shiloh, 
and mustered out, July 28, 1865, at Chicago. 

Battery E was organized at Camp Douglas and 
mustered into service, Dec. 19, 1861 ; was engaged 
at Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, Vicksburg, Gun- 
town, Pontotoc, Tupelo and Nashville, and mus- 
tered out at Louisville, Dec. 24, 1864. 

Battery F was recruited at Dixon and mus- 
tered in at Springfield, Feb. 25, 1863. It took 
part in the siege of Corinth and the Yocona 
expedition, and was consolidated with the other 
batteries in the regiment, March 7, 1865. 

Battery G was organized at Cairo and mus- 
tered in Sept. 28, 1861; was engaged in the siege 
and the second battle of Corinth, and mustered 
out at Springfield, July 24, 1865. 

Battery H was recruited in and about Chicago, 
during January and February, 1863 ; participated 
in the battle of Shiloh, siege of Vicksburg, and 
in the Atlanta campaign, the "March to the 
Sea," and through the Carolinas with Sherman. 

Battery I was organized at Camp Douglas and 
mustered in, Feb. 10, 1863; was engaged at 
Shiloli, in the Tallahatchie raid, the sieges of 
Vicksburg and Jackson, and in the battles of 
Chattanooga and Vicksburg It veteranized, 
March 17, 1864, and was mustered out, July 26, 
1865. 

Battery K was organized at Shawneetown and 
mustered in, Jan. 9, 1863, participated in Burn- 



side's campaign in Tennes.see, and in the capture 
of Knoxville. Part of the men were mustered 
out at Springfield in June, 1865, and the re- 
manider at Chicago in July. 

Battery M was organized at Camp Douglas and 
mustered into the service, August 13, 1863, for 
three years. It served through the Chickamauga 
campaign, being engaged at Chickamauga; also 
was engaged at Missionary Ridge, was besieged 
at Chattanooga, and took part in all the impor- 
tant battles of the Atlanta campaign. It was 
mustered out at Chicago, July 34, 1864, having 
traveled 3,103 miles and been under fire 178 days. 

Second Light Artillery. Consisted of nine 
batteries. Battery A was organized at Peoria, 
and mustered into service, May 33, 1861 ; served 
in Missouri and Arkansas, doing brilliant work 
at Pea Ridge. It was mustered out of service at 
Springfield, July 37, 1865. 

Battery D was organized at Cairo, and mustered 
into service in December, 1861 ; was engaged at 
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Jackson, 
Meridian and Decatur, and mustered out at 
Louisville, Nov. 31, 1864. 

Battery E was organized at St. Louis, Mo., in 
August, 1861, and mustered into service, August 
30, at that point. It was engaged at Fort Donel- 
son and Shiloh, and in the siege of Corinth and 
the Yocona expedition — was consolidated with 
Battery A. 

Battery F was organized at Cape Girardeau, 
Mo., and mustered in, Dec. 11, 1861; was engaged 
at Shiloh, in the siege and second battle of 
Corinth, and the Meridian campaign; also 
at Kenesaw, Atlanta and Jonesboro. It was 
mustered out, July 27, 1865, at Springfield. 

Battery H was organized at Springfield, De- 
cember, 1861, and mustered in, Dec. 31, 1861; was 
engaged at Fort Donelson and in the siege of 
Fort Pillow; veteranized, Jan. 1, 1864, was 
mounted as cavalry the following summer, and 
mustered out at Springfield, Julj' 39, 1805. 

Battery I was recruited in Will County, and 
mustered into service at Camp Butler, Dec. 31, 
1861. It participated in the siege of Island No. 
10, in the advance upon Cornith, and in the 
liattles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Lookout 
Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga. 
It veteranized, Jan. 1, 1864, marched with Sher- 
man to Atlanta, and thence to Savannah and 
through the Carolinas, and was mustered out at 
Springfield. 

Battery K was organized at Springfield and 
mustered in Dec. 31, 1863; was engaged at Fort 
Pillow, the capture of Clarkston, Mo., and the 



HISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLIXOIS. 



571 



siege of Vicksburg. It was mustered out, July 
14, 186.5, at Chicago. 

Battery L was organized at Chicago and mus- 
tered in, Feb. 28, 1862; jjarticipated in tlie ad- 
vance on Corinth, the battle of Hatchie and the 
advance on the Tallahatchie, and was mustered 
out at Chicago, August 9, 1865. 

Battery M was organized at Chicago, and mus- 
tered in at Springfield, June, 1862 ; was engaged 
at Jonesboro, Blue Spring, Blountsville and 
Rogersville, being finally consolidated with 
other batteries of the regiment. 

Chicago Board of Trade Battery. Organ- 
ized through the efforts of the Chicago Board of 
Trade, which raised §1.5,000 for its equipment, 
within forty-eight hours. It was mustered into 
service, August 1, 1862, was engaged at Law- 
renceburg, Murfreesboro, Stone River, Chicka- 
mauga, Farmington, Decatur (Ga. ), Atlanta, 
Lovejoy Station, Nashville, Selma and Columbus 
(Ga. ) It was mustered out at Chicago, June 30, 
1865, and paid in full, July 3, having marched 
5,268 miles and traveled by rail 1,231 miles. The 
battery was in eleven of the hardest battles 
fought in the West, and in twenty-six minor 
battles, being in action forty-two times while on 
scouts, reconnoissances or outpost dut}'. 

Chicago Mercantile Battery. Recruited 
and organized under the auspices of the Mercan- 
tile Association, an association of prominent and 
patriotic merchants of the City of Chicago. It 
was mustered into service, August 29, 1863, at 
Camp Douglas, participated in the Tallahatchie 
and Yazoo expeditions, the first attack upon 
Vicksburg, the battle of Arkansas Post, the siege 
of Vicksburg, the battles of Magnolia Hills, 
Champion Hills, Black River Bridge and Jackson 
(Miss.); also took part in Banks' Red River ex- 
pedition; was mustered out at Chicago, and 
received final payment, July 10, 1865, having 
traveled, by river, sea and land, over 11,000 
miles. 

Springfield Light Artillery. Recruited 
principally from the cities of Springfield, Belle- 
ville and Wenona, and mustered into service at 
Springfield, for the term of three years, August 
21, 1862. numbering 199 men and officers. It 
participated in the capture of Little Rock and in 
the Red River expedition, and was mustered out 
at Springfield, 114 strong, June 30, 1865. 

Cogswell's Battery, Light Artillery. 
Organized at Ottawa, 111., and mustered in, Nov. 
11, 1.S61, as Company A (Artillery) Fifty-third 
Illinois Volunteers, Colonel Cushman command- 
ing the regiment. It participated in the 



advance on Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, the 
battle of Missionary Ridge, and the capture of 
Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, near Mobile. The 
regiment was mustered out at Springfield, August 
14, 1865, having served three years and nine 
months, marched over 7,500 miles, and partici- 
pated in seven sieges and battles. 

Sturges Rifles. An independent company, 
organized at Chicago, armed, equipped and sub- 
sisted for nearly two months, by the patriotic 
generosity of Mr. Solomon Sturges ; was mustered 
into service. May 6, 1861 ; in June following, was 
ordered to West Virginia, serving as body- 
guard of General McClellan; was engaged at 
Rich Mountain, in the siege of Yorktown, and in 
the seven days' battle of the Chickahominy. A 
portion of the company was at Antietam, the 
remainder having been detached as foragers, 
scouts, etc. It was mustered out at Washington, 
Nov. 25, 1862. 

WAR, THE SPA>'ISH - AMERICAN. The 
oppressions and misrule which had character- 
ized the administration of affairs by the Spanish 
Government and its agents for generations, in the 
Island of Cuba, culminated, in April, 1898, in 
mutual declarations of war between Spain and 
the United States. The causes leading up to this 
result were the injurious effects upon American 
commerce and the interests of American citizens 
owning property in Cuba, as well as the constant 
expense imposed upon the Government of the 
United States in the maintenance of a large navy 
along the South Atlantic coast to suppress fili- 
bustering, superadded to the friction and unrest 
produced among the people of this country by the 
long continuance of disorders and abuses so near 
to our own shores, which aroused the sympathy 
and indignation of the entire civilized world. 
For three years a large proportion of tlie Cuban 
population had been in open rebellion against the 
Spanish Government, and, while the latter had 
imported a large army to the island and sub- 
jected the insurgents and their families and 
sympathizers to the grossest cruelties, not even 
excepting torture and starvation itself, their 
policy had failed to bring the insurgents into 
subjection or to restore order. In this condition 
of affairs the United States Government had 
endeavored, through negotiation, to secure a miti- 
gation of the evils complained of, by a modifica- 
tion of the Sijanish policy of government in the 
island ; but all suggestions in this direction had 
either been resented by Spain as unwarrantable 
interference in her affairs, or promises of reform, 
when made, had been as invariably broken. 



572 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



In the meantime an increasing sentiment had 
been growing up in the United States in favor of 
conceding belligerent rights to the Cuban insur- 
gents, or the recognition of their independence, 
which found expression in measures proposed in 
Congress— all olfers of friendly intervention by 
the United States having been rejected by Spain 
with evidences of indignation. Compelled, at 
last, to recognize its inability to subdue the insur- 
rection, the Spanish Government, in Kovember, 
1897, made a pretense of tendering autonomy to 
the Cuban people, with the privilege of amnesty 
to the insurgents on laying down their arms. 
The long duration of the war and the outrages 
perpetrated upon the helpless "reconcentrados," 
coupled with the increased coniidence of the 
insurgents in the final triumph of their cause, 
rendered this movement — even if intended to be 
carried out to the letter — of no avail. The 
proffer came too late, and was promptly rejected. 

In this condition of affairs and with a view to 
greater security for American interests, the 
American battleship Maine was ordered to 
Havana, on Jan. 24, 1898. It arrived in Havana 
Harbor the following day, and was anchored at a 
point designated by the Spanish commander. On 
the night of February 15, following, it was blown 
up and de.stroyed by some force, as shown by after 
investigation, applied from without. Of a crew 
of 3.54 men belonging to the vessel at the time, 
266 were either killed outright by the explosion, 
or died from their wounds. Not only the Ameri- 
can people, but the entire civilized world, was 
shocked by the catastrophe. An act of horrible 
treachery had been perpetrated against an 
American vessel and its crew on a peaceful mis- 
sion in the harbor of a professedly friendly na- 
tion. 

The successive steps leading to actual hostili- 
ties were rapid and eventful. One of the earliest 
and most significant of these was the passage, by 
a unanimous vote of both houses of Congress, on 
March 9, of an appropriation placing §50,000,000 
in the hands of the President as an emergency 
fund for purposes of national defense. This was 
followed, two days later, by an order for the 
mobilization of the army. The more important 
events following tliis step were: An order, under 
date of April 5, withdrawing American consuls 
from Spanish stations; the departure, on April 9, 
of Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee from Havana; 
April 19, the adoption by Congress of concurrent 
resolutions declaring Cuba Independent and 
directing the President to use the land and naval 
forces of the United States to put an end to 



Spanish authority in the island; April 20, the 
sending to the Spanish Government, by the Presi- 
dent, of an ultimatum in accordance with chis 
act; April 21, tlie delivery to Minister Woodford, 
at Madrid, of his passports without waiting for 
the presentation of the ultimatum, with the 
deiKirture of the Spanish Minister from Washing- 
ton ; April 23, the issue of a call by the President 
for 125,000 volunters; April 24, the final declara- 
tion of war by Spain ; April 25, the adoption by 
Congress of a resolution declaring that war had 
existed from April 21; on the same date an order 
to Admiral Dewey, in command of the Asiatic 
S(iuadron at Hongkong, to sail for Manila witli a 
view to investing that city and blockading 
Philippine ports. 

The chief events subsequent to the declaration 
of war embraced the following: May 1, the 
destruction by Admiral Dewey's squadron of the 
Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila; May 19, 
the arrival of the Spanish Admiral Cervera's fleet 
at Santiago de Cuba; May 25, a second call by 
the President for 75,000 volunteers; July 3, the 
attempt of Cervera's fleet to escape, and its 
destruction off Santiago; July 17, the surrender 
of Santiago to the forces under General Shatter; 
July 30, the statement by the President, through 
the French Ambassador at Washington, of the 
terms on which the United States would consent 
to make peace ; August 9, acceptance of the peace 
terms by Spain, followed, three days later, by the 
signing of the peace protocol; Sejjtember 9, the 
appointment by the President of Peace Commis- 
sioners on the part of the United States ; Sept. 18, 
the announcement of the Peace Commissioners 
selected by Spain; October 1, the beginning of the 
Peace Conference by the representatives of the 
two powers, at Paris, and the formal signing, on 
December 10, of the jieace treaty, including the 
recognition by Spain of the freedom of Cuba, 
with the transfer to the United States of Porto 
Rico and her other West India islands, together 
with the surrender of the Philippines for a con- 
• .sideration of §20,000,000. 

Seldom, if ever, in the liistory of nations have 
such vast and far-reaching results been accom- 
plished within so short a period. The war, 
which practically began with the destruction of 
the Spanish fleet in Manila Harbor — an event 
which aroused the enthusiasm of the whole 
American people, and won the respect and 
admiration of other nations — was practically 
ended by the surrender of Santiago and the 
declaration by the President of the conditions of 
peace just three months later. Succeeding 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



573 



events, up to the formal signing of the peace 
treaty, were merely the recognition of results 
previously determined. 

History of Illinois Regiments. — The part 
played by Illinois in connection with these events 
may be briefly summarized in the history of Illi- 
nois regiments and other organizations. Under 
the first call of the President for 135,000 volun- 
teers, eight regiments — seven of infantry and one 
of cavalry — were assigned to Illinois, to which 
was subsequently added, on application through 
Governor Tanner, one battery of light artil- 
lery. Tlie infantry regiments were made up 
of the Illinois National Guard, numbered 
consecutively from one to seven, and were 
practically mobilized at their home stations 
within forty-eight hours from the receipt of the 
call, and began to arrive at Camp Tanner, near 
Springfield, the place of rendezvous, on April 36, 
the day after the issue of the Governor's call. 
The record of Illinois troops is conspicuous for 
the promptness of their response and the com- 
pleteness of their organization — in this respect 
being unsurpassed by those of any other State. 
Under the call of May 25 for an additional force 
of 75,000 men, the quota assigned to Illinois was 
two regiments, which were promptly furnished, 
taking the names of the Eighth and Ninth. The 
first of these belonged to the Illinois National 
Guard, as the regiments mustered in under the 
first call had done, while the Ninth was one of a 
number of "Provisional Regiments" which had 
tendered their services to the Government. Some 
twenty-five other regiments of this class, more or 
less complete, stood ready to perfect their organi- 
zations should there be occasion for their serv- 
ices. The aggregate strength of Illinois organi- 
zations at date of muster out from the United 
States service was 13,280 — 11,789 men and 491 
officers. 

First Regiment Illinois Volunteers (orig- 
inally Illinois National Guard) was organized at 
Chicago, and mustered into the United States 
service at Camp Tanner (Springfield), under the 
command of Col. Henry L. Turner, May 13, 1898; 
left Springfield for Camp Thomas (Chickamauga) 
May 17; assigned to First Brigade, Third 
Division, of the First Army Corps; started for 
Tampa, Fla., June 3, but soon after arrival there 
was transferred to Picnic Island, and assigned to 
provost duty in place of the First United States 
Infantry. On June 30 the bulk of the regiment 
embarked for Cuba, but was detained in the har- 
bor at Key West until July 5, when the vessel 
sailed for Santiago, arriving In Guantanamo Bay 



on the evening of the 8th. Disembarking on 
the 10th, the whole regiment arrived on the 
firing line on the 11th, spent several days and 
nights in the trenches before Santiago, and 
were present at the surrender of that city 
on the ITth. Two companies had previously 
been detached for the scarcely less perilous duty 
of service in the fever hospitals and in caring 
for their wounded comrades. The next month 
was spent on guard duty In the captured city, 
until August 35, when, depleted in numbers and 
weakened by fever, the bulk of the regiment was 
transferred by hospital boats to Camp Wikoff, on 
Montauk Point, L. I. The members of tlie regi- 
ment able to travel left Camp Wikoff, September 
8, for Chicago, arriving two days later, where they 
met an enthusiastic reception and were mustered 
out, November 17, 1,235 strong (rank and file) — a 
considerable number of recruits having joined the 
regiment just before leaving Tampa. The record 
of the First was conspicuous by the fact that it 
was the only Illinois regiment to see service in 
Cuba during the progress of actual hostilities. 
Before leaving Tampa some eighty members of the 
regiment were detailed for engineering duty in 
Porto Rico, sailed for that island on July 12, and 
were among the first to perform service there. 
The First suffered severely from yellow fever 
while in Cuba, but, as a regiment, while In the 
service, made a brilliant record, which was highly 
complimented in the official reports of its com- 
manding officers. 

Second Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry (originally Second I. N. G.). This regi- 
ment, also from Chicago, began to arrive at 
Springfield, April 27, 1898 — at that time number- 
ing 1,202 men and 47 officers, under command of 
Col. George M. Moulton; was mustered in 
between May 4 and May 15; on May 17 started 
for Tampa, Fla. , but en route its destination was 
changed to Jacksonville, where, as a part of the 
Seventh Army Corps, under command of Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee, it assisted in the dedication of 
Camp Cuba Libre. October 25 it was transferred 
to Savannah, Ga., remainingat "Camp Lee" until 
December 8, when two battalions embarked for 
Havana, landing on the 15tli, being followed, a 
few days later, by the Third Battalion, and sta- 
tioned at Camp Columbia. From Dec. 17 to Jan. 
11, 1899, Colonel Moulton served as Chief of 
Police for the city of Havana. On March 28 to 30 
the regiment left Camp Columbia in detach- 
ments for Augusta, Ga., where it arrived April 
5, and was mustered out, April 26, 1,051 strong 
(rank and file), and returned to Chicago. Dur- 



574 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ing its stay in Cuba tlie regiment did not lose a 
man. A history of tliis regiment has been 
written by Rev. H. \V. Bolton, its late Chaplain. 
Third Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, composed of companies of the Illinois 
National Guard from the counties of La Salle. 
Livingston, Kane, Kankakee, McHenry, Ogle, 
Will, and Winnebago, under command of Col. 
Fred Bennitt, reported at Siiringfleld, with 1,170 
men and 50 officers, on April 27 ; was mustered 
in May 7, 1898; transferred from Springfield to 
Camp Thomas (Chickamauga), May 14; on July 
23 left Chickamauga for Porto Rico ; on the 2Sth 
sailed from Newport News, on the liner St. Louis, 
arriving at Ponce, Porto Rico, on July 31 ; soon 
after disembarking captured Arroyo, and assisted 
in the capture of Guayama, which was the 
beginning of General Brooke's advance across 
the island to San Juan, when intelligence was 
received of the signing of the peace protocol by 
Spain. From August 13 to October 1 the Third 
continued in the jierformance of guard duty in 
Porto Rico ; on October 23, 986 men and 39 offi- 
cers took transport for home by way of New York, 
arriving in Chicago, November 11, the several 
companies being mustered out at their respective 
home stations. Its strength at final muster-out 
was 1,273 men and officers. This regiment had 
the distinction of being one of the first to see 
service in Porto Rico, but suffered severeh' from 
fever and other diseases during the three months 
of its stay in the island. 

Fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, com- 
posed of companies from Champaign, Coles, 
Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Jackson, 
Jefferson, Montgomery, Richland, and St. Clair 
counties; mustered into the service at Spring- 
field, 'May 20, under command of Col. Casimer 
Andel; started immediately for Tampa, Fla., but 
en route its destination was changed to Jackson- 
ville, where it was stationed at Camp Cuba Libre 
as a part of the Seventh Corps under command of 
Gen. Fitzhugh Lee; in October was transferred 
to Savannah, Ga., remaining at Camp Onward 
until about the first of January, when the regi- 
ment took ship for Havana. Here the regiment 
was stationed at Camp Columbia until April 4, 
1899, wlien it returned to Augusta, Ga., and was 
mustered out at Camp Mackenzie (Augusta), May 
2, the companies returning to their respective 
home stations. During a part of its stay at 
Jacksonville, and again at Savannah, the regi- 
ment was employed on guard duty. While at 
Jacksonville Colonel Andel was suspended by 
court-martial, and finally tendered his resigna- 



tion, his place being supplied by Lieut. -Col. Eben 
Swift, of the Ninth. 

Fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
F.vNTRY was the first regiment to report, and was 
mustered in at Springfield, May 7, 1898, under 
command of Col. James S. Culver, being finally 
composed of twelve companies from Pike, Chris- 
tian, Sangamon, McLean, Montgomery, Adams, 
Tazewell, Macon, Morgan, Peoria, and Fulton 
counties; on May 14 left Springfield for Camp 
Thomas (Chickamauga, Ga. ), being assigned to 
the command of General Brooke; August 3 left 
Chickamauga for Newport News, Va., with the 
expectation of embarking for Porto Rico — a 
previous order of July 26 to the same purport 
having been countermanded; at Newport News 
embarked on the transport Obdam, but again the 
order was rescinded, and, after remaining on 
board thirty-six hours, the regiment was disem- 
barked. The next move was made to Lexington. 
Ky., where the regiment — having lost hope of 
reaching "the front" — remained until Sept 5, 
when it returned to Springfield for final muster- 
out. This regiment was composed of some of the 
best material in the State, and anxious for active 
service, but after a succession of disappoint- 
ments, was compelled to return to its home sta- 
tion without meeting the enemy. After its arrival 
at Springfield the regiment was furloughed for 
thirty days and finally mustered out, October 16, 
numbering 1,213 men and 47 officers. 

Sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
f.^ntey, consisting of twelve companies from the 
counties of Rock Island, Knox, Whiteside, Lee, 
Carroll, Stephenson, Henry, Warren, Bureau, and 
Jo Daviess, was mustered in May 11, 1898, under 
command of Col. D. Jack Foster; on May 17 left 
Springfield for Camp Alger, Va. ; July 5 the 
regiment moved to Charleston, S. C, where a 
part embarked for Siboney, Cuba, but the whole 
regiment was soon after united in General 
Miles" expedition for the invasion of Porto Rico, 
landing at Guanico on July 25, and advancing 
into the interior as far as Adjunta and Utuado. 
After several weeks' service in the interior, the 
regiment returned to Ponce, and on September 7 
took transport for the return home, arrived at 
Springfield a week later, and was mustered out 
November 25, the regiment at that time consist- 
ing of 1,239 men and 49 officers. 

Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry 
(known as the "Hibernian Rifles"'). Two 
battalions of this regiment reported at Spring, 
field, April 27, with 33 officers and 765 enlisted 
men, being afterwards increased to the maxi- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



575 



mum ; was mustered into the United States serv- 
ice, under command of Col. Marcus Kavanagh, 
May 18, 1898; on May 38 started for Camp Alger, 
Va. ; was afterwards encamped at Thoroughfare 
Gap and Camp Meade ; on September 9 returned 
to Springfield, was furloughed for thirty days, 
and mustered out, October 20, numbering 1,260 
men and 49 officers. Like the Fifth, the Seventh 
saw no actual service in the field. 

Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry (col- 
ored regiment), mustered into the service at 
Springfield under the second call of the Presi- 
dent, July 23, 1898, being composed wholl)' of 
Afro- Americans under officers of their own race, 
with Col. John R. Slarsliall in command, the 
muster-roll showing 1,195 men and 76 oflScers. 
The six companies, from A to F, were from Chi- 
cago, the other five being, respectively, from 
Bloomington, Springfield, Quincy, Litchfield, 
Moimd City and Metropolis, and Cairo. The 
regiment having tendered their services to 
relieve the First Illinois on duty at Santiago de 
Cuba, it started for Cuba, August 8, by way of 
New York ; immediately on arrival at Santiago, 
a week later, was assigned to duty, but subse- 
quently transferred to San Luis, where Colone, 
Marshall was made military governor. The 
major part of the regiment remained here until 
ordered home early in March, 1899, arrived at 
Chicago, March 15, and was mustered out, April 
3, 1,226 strong, rank and file, having been in 
service nine months and six days. 

Ninth Illinois Volunteer Inf.\ntry was 
organized from the counties of Southern Illinois, 
and mustered in at Springfield under the second 
call of the President, July 4-11, 1898, \inder com- 
mand of Col. James R. Campbell; arrived at 
Camp Cuba Libre (Jacksonville, Fla.), August 9; 
two months later was transferred to Savannah, 
Ga. ; was moved to Havana in December, where 
it remained until May, 1899, when it returned to 
Augusta, Ga., and was mustered out there. May 
20, 1899, at that time consisting of 1,095 men and 
46 officers. From Augusta the several companies 
returned to their respective home stations. The 
Ninth was the only "Provisional Regiment" from 
Illinois mustered into the service during the 
war, the other regiments all belonging to tlie 
National Guard. 

First Illinois Cavalry was organized at Chi- 
cago immediately after the President's first call, 
seven companies being recruited from Cliicago, 
two from Bloomington, and one each from 
Springfield, Elkhart, and Lacon ; was mustered in 
at Springfield, May 21, 1898, under command of 



Col. Edward C. Young; left Springfield for Camp 
Thomas, Ga., May 30, remaining there until 
August 24, when it returned to Fort Slieridan, 
near Chicago, where it was stationed until October 
11, when it was mustered out, at that time con- 
sisting of 1,158 men and 50 officers. Although 
the regiment saw no active service in the field, it 
established an excellent record for itself in respect 
to discipline. 

First Engineering Corps, consisting of 80 
men detailed from the First Illinois Volunteers, 
were among the first Illinois soldiers to see serv- 
ice in Porto Rico, accompanying General Miles' 
expedition in the latter part of July, and being 
engaged for a time in the construction of bridges 
in aid of the intended advance across the island. 
On September 8 they embarked for the return 
home, arrived at Chicago, September 17, and 
were mustered out November 20. 

Battery A (I. N. G.), from Danville, 111., was 
mustered in under a special order of the War 
Department, May 12, 1898, under command of 
Capt. Oscar P. Yaeger, consisting of 118 men; 
left Springfield for Camp Thomas, Ga., May 19, 
and, two months later, joined in General Miles' 
Porto Rico expedition, landing at Guanico on 
August 3, and taking part in the affair at Gua- 
yama on the 12th. News of peace having been 
received, the Battery returned to Ponce, where 
it remained until September 7, when it started 
on the return home by way of New York, arrived 
at Danville, September 17, was furloughed for 
sixty days, and mustered out November 25. Tlie 
Battery was equipped with modern breech-load- 
ing rapid-firing guns, operated by practical artil- 
lerists and prepared for effective service. 

Naval Reserves. — One of the earliest steps 
taken by the Government after it became ap- 
parent that hostilities could not be averted, was 
to begin preparation for strengthening the naval 
arm of the service. The existence of the "Naval 
Militia," first organized in 1893, placed Illinois in 
an exceptionally favorable position for making a 
prompt response to the call of the Government, as 
well as furnishing a superior class of men for 
service — a fact evidenced during the operations 
in the "West Indies. Gen. John McNulta, as head 
of the local committee, was active in calling the 
attention of the Navy Department to the value of 
the service to be rendered by this organization, 
which resulted in its being enlisted practically as 
a body, taking the name of "Naval Reserves" — 
all but eighty-eight of the nimiber passing the 
physical examination, the places of these beirg 
promptly filled by new recruits. The first de- 



576 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



tachment of over 200 left Chicago May 3, under 
the command of Lieut. -Com. John M. Hawley, 
followe<l soon after by the remainder of the First 
Battalion, making the whole number from Chi- 
cago 400, with 367, constituting the Second Bat- 
talion, from other towns of the State. The latter 
was made up of 147 men from Moline, 58 from 
Quincy, and 03 from Alton — making a total from 
the State of 667. This does not include others, 
not belonging to this organization, who enlisted 
for service in the navy during the war, which 
raised the whole number for the State over 1,000. 
The Reserves enlisted from Illinois occupied a 
different relation to the Government from that 
of the "naval militia" of other States, which 
retained their State organizations, while those 
from Illinois were regularly mustered into the 
United States service. The recruits from Illinois 
were embarked at Key West, Norfolk and New 
York, and distributed among fifty-two different 
vessels, including nearly every vessel belonging 
to tlie North Atlantic Squadron. They saw serv- 
ice in nearly every department from the position 
of stokers in the hold to that of gunners in the 
turrets of the big battleships, the largest number 
(60) being assigned to the famous battleship Ore- 
gon, while the cruiser Yale followed with 47 ; the 
Harvard with 35; Cincinnati, 37; Yankton, 19; 
Franklin, 18; Montgomery and Indiana, each, 17; 
Hector, 14; Marietta, 11; Wilmington and Lan- 
caster, 10 each, and others down to one each. 
Illinois sailors thus liad the privilege of partici- 
pating in the brilliant affair of July 3, which 
resulted in the destruction of Cervera's fleet off 
Santiago, as also in nearly every other event in 
the West Indies of less importance, without the 
loss of a man while in tlie service, although 
among the most exposed. They were mustered 
out at different times, as they could be spared 
from the service, or the vessels to which they 
were attached went out of commission, a portion 
serving out their full term of one year. The 
Reserves from Chicago retain their organization 
under the name of "Naval Reserve Veterans," 
with headquarters in the Masonic Temple Build- 
■ ing, Chicago. 

W.iRD, James H., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Chicago, Nov. 30, 1853, and educated in the 
Chicago public schools and at the Universitj' of 
Notre Dame, graduating from the latter in 1873. 
Three years later he graduated from the Union 
College of Law, Chicago, and was admitted to 
the bar. Since then he has continued to practice 
his profession in his native city. In 1879 he was 
elected Supervisor of the town of West Chicago, 



and, in 1884, was a candidate for Presidential 
Elector on the Democratic ticket, and the same 
j-ear, was the successful candidate of his parly 
for Congress in the Third Illinois District, serv- 
ing one terra. 

WINNEBAGO INDIANS, a tribe of the Da 
cota, or Sioux, stock, which at one time occupied 
a part of Northern Illinois. The word Winne- 
bago is a corruption of the French Ouinebe- 
goutz, Ouimbegouc, etc., the diphthong "ou" 
taking the place of the consonant "w," which is 
wanting in the French alphabet. These were, 
in turn, French inissj^ellings of an Algonquin 
term meaning "fetid," which the latter tribe 
applied to the Winnebagoes because tliey had 
come from the western ocean — the salt (or 
"fetid") water. In tlieir advance towards the 
East the Winnebagoes early invaded the country 
of the Illinois, but were finally driven north- 
ward by the latter, who surpassed them in num- 
bers rather than in bravery. Tlie invaders 
settled in Wisconsin, near the Fox River, and 
here they were first visited by the Jesuit Fathers 
in the seventeenth century. (See Jesuit Rela- 
tions.) The Winnebagoes are commonly re- 
garded as a Wisconsin tribe; yet, that they 
claimed territorial rights in Illinois is shown by 
the fact that the treaty of Prairie du Chien 
(August 1, 1839), alludes to a Winnebago village 
located in what is now Jo Daviess County, near 
the mouth of the Pecatonica River. While, as a 
rule, the tribe, if left to itself, was disposed to 
live in amity with the whites, it was carried 
away by the eloquence and diplomacy of 
Tecumseh and the cajoleries of "The Prophet." 
General Harrison especially alludes to the brav- 
ery of the Winnebago warriors at Tippecanoe' 
which he attributees in part, however, to a super- 
stitious faith in "The Prophet." In June or 
July, 1827, an unprovoked and brutal outrage by 
the whites upon an unoffending and practically 
defenseless party of Winnebagoes, near Prairie 
du Chien brought on what is known as the 
'Winnebago War." (See Winnebago Tl'ar.) 
The tribe took no part in the Black Hawk War, 
largely because of the great influence and shrewd 
tactic of their chief, Naw-caw. By treaties 
executed in 1833 and 1837 the Winnebagoes ceded 
to the United States all their lands lying east of 
the Mississippi. They were finally removed west 
of that river, and, after many shiftings of loca- 
tion, were placed upon the Omaha Reservation in 
Eastern Nebraska, where their industry, thrift 
and peaceable disposition elicited high praise 
from Government officials. 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



57? 



WARNER, Vespasian, lawyer and Member of 
Congress, was born in De Witt County, 111., April 
23, 1842, and has lived all bis life in his native 
county — his present residence being Clinton. 
After a short course in Lombard University, 
while studying law in the office of Hon. Law- 
rence Weldon, at Clinton, he enlisted as a private 
soldier of the Twentieth Illinois Volunteers, in 
June, 1861, serving until July, 1866, when he was 
mustered out witli the rank of Captain and 
brevet Major. He received a gunshot wound at 
Shiloh, but continued to serve in the Army of 
the Tennessee until the evacuation of Atlanta, 
when he was ordered North on account of dis- 
abiUty. His last service was in fighting Indians 
on the plains. After the war he completed his 
law studies at Harvard University, graduating in 
1868, when he entered into a law partnership 
with Clifton H. Moore of Clinton. He served as 
Judge- Advocate General of the Illinois National 
Guard for several years, with the rank of Colonel, 
under the administrations of Governors Hamil- 
ton, Oglesby and Fifer, and, in 1894, was nomi- 
nated and elected, as a Republican, to the 
Fifty-fourth Congress for the Thirteenth District, 
being re-elected in 1896, and again in 1898. In 
the Fifty-fifth Congress, Mr. Warner was a mem- 
ber of the Committees on Agriculture and Invalid 
Pensions, and Chairman of the Committee on 
Revision of the Laws. 

WARREN, a village in Jo Daviess County, at 
intersection of the Illinois Central and the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways, 26 miles 
west-northwest of Freeport and 27 miles east by 
north of Galena. The surrounding region is 
agricultural and stock-raising ; there are also lead 
mines in tlie vicinity. Tobacco is grown to some 
extent. Warren has a flouring mill, tin factory, 
creamery and stone quarries, a State bank, water 
supply from artesian wells, fire department, gas 
plant, two weekly newspapers, five cliurches, a 
high school, an academy and a public library. 
Pop. (1890), 1,172; (1900), 1,327. 

WARREN, Calvin A., lawyer, was born in 
Essex County, N. Y., June 3, 1807; in his youth, 
worked for a time, as a typographer, in the office 
of "The Northern Spectator," at Poultney, Vt., 
side by side with Horace Greeley, afterwards the 
founder of "The New York Tribune." Later, he 
became one of the publishers of "The Palladium" 
at Ballston, N. Y., but, in 1832, removed to 
Hamilton County, Ohio, where he began the 
study of law, completing his course at Transyl- 
vania University, Ky., in 1834, and beginning 
practice at, Batavia, Ohio, as the partner of 



Thomas Morris, then a United States Senator 
from Ohio, whose daughter he married, therebj' 
becoming the brother-in-law of the late Isaac N. 
Morris, of Quincy, 111. In 1836, Mr. Warren 
came to Quincy, Adams County, 111., but soon 
after removed to Warsaw in Hancock County, 
where he resided until 1839, when he returned to 
Quincy. Here he continued in practice, either 
alone or as a partner, at dilferent times, of sev- 
eral of the leading attorneys of that city. 
Although he held no office except that of Master 
in Chancery, which he occupied for some sixteen 
years, the possession of an inexhaustible fund of 
humor, with strong practical sense and decided 
ability as a speaker, gave him great popularity 
at the bar and upon the stump, and made him a 
recognized leader in the ranks of the Democratic 
party, of which he was a life-long member. He 
served as Presidential Elector on the Pierce 
ticket in 1852, and was the nominee of his party 
for the same position on one or two other occa- 
sions. Died, at Quincy, Feb. 23, 1881. 

WARREN, Hooper, pioneer journalist, was 
born at Walpole, N. H., in 1790; learned the print- 
er's trade on the Rutland (Vt.) "Herald"; in 
1814 went to Delaware, whence, three years later, 
he emigrated to Kentucky, working for a time 
on a paper at Frankfort. In 1818 he came to St. 
Louis and worked in the office of the old "Mis- 
souri Gazette" (the predecessor of "The Repub- 
lican"), and also acted as the agent of a lumber 
company at Cairo, 111. , when the whole popula- 
tion of that place consisted of one family domi- 
ciled on a grounded flat-boat. In March, 1819, 
he established, at Edwardsville, the third paper 
in Illinois, its predecessors being "The Illinois 
Intelligencer," at Kaskaskia, and "The Illinois 
Emigrant," at Shawneetown. The name given 
to the new paper was "The Spectator," and the 
contest over the effort to introduce a pro-slavery 
clause in the State Constitution soon brought it 
into prominence. Backed by Governor Coles, 
Congressman Daniel P. Cook, Judge S. D. Lock- 
wood, Rev. Thomas Lippincott, Judge Wm. H. 
Brown (afterwards of Chicago), George Churchill 
and other opponents of slavery, "The Spectator" 
made a sturdy fight in opposition to the scheme, 
which ended in defeat of the measure by the 
rejection at the polls, in 1824, of the proposition 
for a Constitutional Convention. Warren left 
the Edwardsville paper in 182.5, and was, for a 
time, associated with "Tlie National Crisis," an 
anti-slavery paper at Cincinnati, but soon re- 
turned to Illinois and established "The Sangamon 
Spectator" — the first paper ever published at the 



578 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



present State capital. This he sold out in 1829, 
and, for the next three years, was connected 
with "The Advertiser and Upper Mississippi Her- 
ald," at Galena. Abandoning this field in 1832, 
he removed to Hennepin, where, within the next 
five years, he held the offices of Clerk of the Cir- 
cuit and County Commissioners' Courts and ex 
officio Recorder of Deeds. In 1836 he began tlie 
publication of the third paper in Chicago — "The 
Commercial Advertiser" (a weekly) — whicli was 
continued a little more than a year, when it was 
abandoned, and he settled on a farm at Henry, 
Marshall Covmty. His further newspaper ven- 
tures were, as the associate of Zebina Eastman, in 
the publication of "The Genius of Liberty," at 
Lowell, La Salle County, and "The Western 
Citizen" — afterwards "The Free "West" — in Chi- 
cago. (See Eastman, Zebina, and Luncly. Ben- 
jamin.) On the discontinuance of "The Free 
West" in 1856, he again retired to his farm at 
Henry, where he spent tlie remainder of his days. 
While returning home from a visit to Chicago, 
in August, 1864, he was taken ill at Mendota, 
dying there on the 22d of the month. 

WARREN, John Esaias, diplomatist and real- 
estate operator, was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1826, 
graduated at Union College and was connected 
with the American Legation to Spain during tlie 
administration of President Pierce; in 1859-60 
was a member of the Minnesota Legislature and, 
in 1861-62, Mayor of St. Paul; in 1867, came to 
Chicago, wliere, wliile engaged in real-estate 
business, he became known to the press as the 
author of a series of articles entitled "Topics of 
the Time." In 1886 he took up liis residence in 
Brussels, Belgium, wheie he died, July 6, 1896. 
Mr. Warren was author of several volumes of 
travel, of which "An Attache in Spain" and 
"Para" are most important. 

WARREX COUNTY, A western county, 
created by act of the Legislature, in 1825, but 
not fully organized until 1830, having at that time 
about 350 inliabitants; has an area of 540 square 
miles, and was named for Gen. Joseph Warren. 
It is drained by the Henderson River and its 
affluents, and is traversed by the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy (two divisions), the Iowa 
Central and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railroads. Bituminous coal is mined and lime- 
stone is quarried in large quantities. The county's 
early development was retarded in consequence 
of having become the "seat of war," during the 
Black Hawk War. The principal products are 
grain and live-stock, although manufacturing is 
carried on to some extent. The county-seat and 



chief city is Monmouth (which see). Roseville 
is a shipping point. Population (1880), 22,933. 
(1890), 21,281; (1900), 23,163. 

WARREN'SBURG, a town of Macon County, 
on Peoria Division 111. Cent. Railway, 9 miles 
northwest of Decatur; has elevators, canning 
factory, a bank and newspaper. Pop. (1900), 503. 

WARS.VW, the largest town in Hancock 
County, and admirably situated for trade. It 
stands on a bluff on the Mississippi River, some 
three miles below Keokuk, and about 40 miles 
above Quincy. It is the western terminus of the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway, and lies 116 
miles west-southwest of Peoria. Old Fort 
Edwards, established by Gen. Zachary Taylor, 
during the War of 1812, was located within the 
limits of the present city of War.saw, opposite the 
mouth of the Des Moines River. An iron 
foundry, a large woolen mill, a plow factory 
and cooperage works are its principal manufac- 
turing establishments. The channel of the Missis- 
sippi admits of the passage of the largest steamers 
up to this point. Warsaw lias eight churches, a 
system of common schools comprising one high 
and three grammar schools, a National bank and 
two weekly newspapers. Population (1880), 3,105; 
(1890), 2,721; (1900), 2,335. 

WASHBURXj a village of Woodford County, on 
a branch of the Chicago & Alton Railway 25 
miles northeast of Peoria; has banks and a 
weekly paper ; the district is agricultural. Popu- 
lation (1890), 598; (1900), 703. 

WASHBURJfE, Elihu Benjamin, Congressman 
and diplomatist, was born at Livermore, Maine, 
Sept. 23, 1816; in early life learned the trade of a 
printer, but graduated from Harvard Law School 
and was admitted to the bar in 1840. Coming 
west, he settled at Galena, forming a partnership 
with Charles S. Hempstead, for the practice of 
law, in 1841. He was a stalwart Whig, and, as 
such, was elected to Congress in 1852. He con- 
tinued to represent his District until 1869, taking 
a prominent position, as a Republican, on tlie 
organization of that party. On account of his 
long service he was known as the "Fatlier of tlie 
House," administering the Speaker's oath three 
times to Schuyler Colfax and once to James G. 
Blaine. He was appointed Secretary of State by 
General Grant in 1869, but surrendered his port- 
folio to become Envoy to France, in which ca- 
pacity he achieved great distinction. He was the 
only official representative of a foreign govern- 
ment who remained in Paris, during the siege of 
that city by the Germans (1870-71) and the reign 
of the "Commune." For his conduct he was 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



579 



honored by the Governments of France and Ger- 
many alike. On his return to the United States, 
he made his home in Chicago, where he devoted 
his latter years chiefly to literary labor, and 
where he died, Oct. 32, 1887. He was strongly 
favored as a candidate for the Presidency in 1880. 
W.'VSHINGTOX, a city in Tazewell County, 
situated at the intersection of the Chicago & 
Alton, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroads. It is 21 
miles west of El Paso, and 12 miles east of Peoria. 
Carriages, plows and farming implements con- 
ptitute the manufactured output. It is also an 
important shipping point for farm products. It 
has electric light and water-works plants, eight 
churches, a graded school, two banks and two 
newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,301; (1900), 1,451. 

WASHINGTON COUNTY, an interior county of 
Soutliern Illinoi.s, east of St Louis ; is drained by 
the Kaskaskia River and the Elkhorn, Beaucoup 
and Muddy Creeks; was organized in 1818, and 
has an area of 540 square miles. The surface is 
diversified, well watered and timbered. The 
soil is of variable fertility. Corn, wheat and 
oats are the chief agricultural products. Manu- 
facturing is can-ied on to some extent, among 
the products being agricultural implements, 
flour, carriages and wagons. The most impor- 
tant town is Nashville, which is also the county- 
seat. Population (1890), 19,202; (1900), 19,526. 
Washington was one of the fifteen counties into 
which IlUnois was divided at the organization of 
the State Government, being one of the last 
three created during the Territorial period — the 
other two being Franklin and Union. 

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, a village of Cook 
Count}', on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railways, 12 miles southwest of Chicago; 
has a graded school, female seminary, military 
school, a car factory, several churches and a 
newspaper. Annexed to City of Chicago, 1890. 

WATAGA, a village of Knox County, on the 
Chicago, Burlington & Qiiincy Railroad, 8 miles 
northeast of Galesburg. Population (1900), 545. 
WATERLOO, the county-seat and chief town 
of Monroe County, on the Illinois Division of the 
' Mobile & Ohio Railroad, 24 miles east of south 
from St. Louis. The region is chiefly agricultural, 
but underlaid with coal. Its industries embrace 
two flour mills, a plow factory, distillery, cream- 
ery, two ice plants, and some minor concerns. 
The city has municipal water and electric light 
plants, four churches, a graded school and two 
newspapers. Pop. (1890), 1,860; (1900). 2,114. 



WATERMAN, Arba Nelson, lawyer and jurist, 
was born at Greensboro, Orleans County, Vt., 
Feb. 3, 1836. After receiving an academic edu- 
cation and teaching for a time, he read law at 
Montpelier and, later, passed through the Albany 
Law School. In 1861 he was admitted to the 
bar, removed to Joliet, 111., and opened an office. 
In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the One Hun- 
dredth Illinois Volunteers, serving with the 
Army of the Cumberland for two years, and 
being mustered out in August, 1864, with the 
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. On leaving the 
army. Colonel Waterman commenced practice in 
Chicago. In 1873-74 he represented the Eleventh 
Ward in the City Council. In 1887 he was elected 
to the bench of the Cook County Circuit Court, 
and was re-elected in 1891 and, again, in 1897. In 
1890 he was assigned as one of the Judges of the 
Appellate Court. 

W'ATSEKA, the county-seat of Iroquois County, 
situated on the Iroquois River, at the mouth of 
Sugar Creek, and at the intersection of the Chi- 
cago & Eastern Illinois and the Toledo, Peoria & 
Western Railroads. 77 miles south of Chicago, 46 
miles north of Danville and 14 miles east of 
Oilman. It has flour-mills, brick and tile works 
and foundries, be.sides several churches, banks, a 
graded school and thiee weekly newspapers. 
Artesian well water is obtained by boring to the 
depth of 100 to 160 feet, and some forty flowing 
streams from these shafts are in the place. Popu- 
lation (1890), 2,017; (1900), 3,505. 

WATTS, Amos, jurist, was born in St. Clair 
County, 111., Oct. 25. 1821, but removed to Wash- 
ington County in boyhood, and was elected County 
Clerk in 1847, "49 and "53, and State's Attorney 
for the Second .Judicial District in 1856 and '60; 
then became editor and proprietor of a news- 
paper, later resuming the practice of law, and, in 
1873, was elected Circuit Judge, remaining in 
office until his death, at Nashville, 111 Dec. 6, 
1888. 

WAUKEGAN, the county-seat and principal 
city of Lake County, situated en the shore of 
Lake Michigan and on the Chicago & North- 
western Railroad, about 36 miles nortli by west 
from Chicago, and .50 miles south of Milwaukee: 
is also the northern terminus of the Elgin, Joliet 
& Eastern Railroad and connected by electric 
lines with Chicago and Fox Lake. Lake Michigan 
is about 80 miles wide oppo.site this point. 
Waukegan was first known as "Little Fort," 
from the remains of an old fort that stood on its 
site. The principal part of the city is built on a 
bluff, which rises abruptly to the height of about 



680 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



fifty feet. Between the blult and tlie shore is a 
flat tract about 400 yards wide which is occupied 
by gardens, dwellings, warehouses and manu- 
factories. Tlie manufactures include steel-wire, 
refined sugar, scales, agricultural implements, 
brass and iron products, sash, doors and blinds, 
leather, beer, etc. ; the city has paved streets, gas 
and electric light plants, three banks, eight or 
ten churches, graded and high schools and two 
newspapers, A large trade in grain, lumber, coal 
and dairy products is carried on. Pop. (1890), 
4,'Jl.'); (IHOO), 9,426. 

WAUKE<JAN ii SOUTHWESTERN RAIL- 
WAY. (See EUjin, Juliet & Eastern Railway.) 

WAVER LY, a city in Morgan County, 18 miles 
southeast of Jacksonville, on the Jacksonville & 
St. Louis and the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis 
Railroads. It was originally settled by enter- 
prising emigrants from New England, whose 
descendants constitute a large proportion of the 
population. It is the center of a rich agricultural 
region, has a fine graded school, six or seven 
churches, two banks, two newspapers and tile 
works. Population (1880), 1,134; (1890), 1,337; 
(1900), 1,573. 

WAYNE, (Gen.) Anthony, soldier, was born in 
Chester County, Pa., Jan. 1, 1745, of Anglo- Irish 
descent, graduated as a Surveyor, and first prac- 
ticed his profession in Nova Scotia. During the 
years immediately antecedent to the Revolution 
he was prominent in the colonial councils of his 
native State, to which he had returned in 17G7, 
where he became a member of the "Committee of 
Safety." On June 3, 1776, he was commissioned 
Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania 
troops in the Continental army, and, during the 
War of the Revolution, was conspicuous for his 
courage and ability as a leader. One of his most 
daring and successful achievements was the cap- 
ture of Stony Point, in 1779, when — the works 
having been carried and Wayne having received, 
what was supposed to be, his death- wound— he 
entered the fort, supported by his aids. For this 
service he was awarded a gold medal by Con- 
gress. He also took a conspicuous part in the 
investiture and capture of Yorktown. In October, 
1783, he was brevetted Major-General. In 1784 
he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature. 
A few years later he settled in Georgia, which 
State he represented in Congress for seven 
months, when his seat was declared vacant after 
contest. In April, 1793, he was confirmed as 
General-in-Cliief of the United States Army, on 
nomination of President Washington. His con- 
nection with Illinois history began shortly after 



St. Clair's defeat, when he led a force into Ohio I 
(1783) and erected a stockade at Greenville, 
which he named Fort Recovery; his object being 
to subdue the hostile savage tribes. In this he 
was eminently successful and, on August 3, 
1793, after a victorious campaign, negotiated the 
Treaty of Greenville, as broad in its provisions as 
it was far-reaching in its influence. He was a 
daring fighter, and although Washington called 
him "prudent," his dauntlessness earned for him 
the sobriquet of "Mad Anthony." In matters of 
dress he was punctilious, and, on this account, 
he was sometimes dubbed "Dandy Wayne.'' He 
was one of the few white officers whom all the 
Western Indian tribes at once feared and re- 
spected. They named him "Black Snake" and 
"Tornado." He died at Presque Isle near Erie, 
Dec. 15, 1796. Thirteen years afterward his 
remains were removed by one of his sons, and 
interred in Badnor churchyard, in his native 
county. The Pennsylvania Historical Society 
erected a marble monument over his grave, and 
appropriately dedicated it on July 4 of the same 
year. 

WAYNE COUNTY, in the southeast quarter of 
the State ; has an area of 720 square miles ; was 
organized in 1819, and named for Gen. Anthony 
Wayne. The county is watered and drained by 
the Little Wabash and its branches, notably the 
Skillet Fork. At the first election held in the 
county, only fifteen votes were cast. Early life 
was exceedingly primitive, the first settlers 
pounding corn into meal with a wooden pestle, 
a hollowed stump being used as a mortar. The 
first mill erected (of the antique South Carolina 
pattern) charged 25 cents per bushel for grinding. 
Prairie and woodland make up the surface, and 
the soil is fertile. Railroad facilities are furnished 
by the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis and the 
Baltimore & Ohio (Southwestern) Railroads. 
Corn, oats, tobacco, wheat, hay and wool are the 
chief agricultural products. Saw mills are numer- 
ous and there are also carriage and wagon facto- 
ries. Fairfield is the county-seat. Population 
(1880), 21,291; (1890), 23,806; (1900), 27,026. 

WEAS, THE, a branch of the Miami tribe of 
Indians. They called themselves "We-wee- 
hahs, " and were spoken of by the French as "Oui- 
at-a-nons" and "Oui-as." Other corruptions of 
the name were common among the British and 
American colonists. In 1718 they had a village 
at Chicago, but abandoned it through fear of 
their hostile neighbors, the Chippewas and Potta- 
watoniies. The Weas were, at one time, brave 
and warlike ; but their numbers were reduced by 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



581 



constant warfare and disease, and, in the end, 
debauchery enervated and demoralized them. 
They were removed west of the Mississippi and 
given a reservation in Miami Countj', Kan. Tliis 
they ultimately sold, and, under the leadership 
of Baptiste Peoria, united with their few remain- 
ing brethren of the Miamis and with the remnant 
of the Illi-ni under the title of the "confederated 
tribes," and settled in Indian Territory. (See also 
Miamis; Piankcshaws.) 

TV EBB, Edwin B., early lawyer and politician, 
was born about 1802, came to the vicinity of 
Carmi, White County, III, about 1828 to 1830, 
and, still later, studied law at Transylvania Uni- 
versity. He held the office of Prosecuting 
Attorney of White County, and, in 1834, was 
elected to the lower branch of the General 
Assembly, serving, by successive re-elections, 
until 1842, and, in the Senate, from 1842 to '46. 
During his service in the House he was a col- 
league and political and personal friend of 
Abraham Lincoln. He opposed the internal 
improvement scheme of 1837, predicting many 
of the disasters which were actually realized a 
few years later. He was a candidate for Presi- 
dential Elector on the Whig ticket, in 1844 and 
'48, and, in 1852, received the nomination for 
Governor as the opponent of Joel A. Matteson, 
two years later, being an unsuccessful candidate 
for Justice of the Supreme Court in opposition to 
Jurlge W. B. Scates. While practicing law at 
tjurnii, he was also a partner of his brother in 
the mercantile business. Died, Oct. 14, 1858, in 
the 56th year of his age. 

WEBB, Henry Livingston, soldier and pioneer 
(an elder brother of James Watson Webb, a noted 
New York journalist), was born at Claverack, 
N. Y., Feb. 6, 1795; served as a soldier in the 
War of 1812, came to Southern Illinois in 1817, 
and became one of the founders of the town of 
America near the mouth of the Ohio; was Repre- 
sentative in the Fourth and Eleventh General 
Assemblies, a Major in the Black Hawk War and 
Captain of volunteers and, afterwards, Colonel of 
regulars, in the Mexican War. In 1860 be went 
to Texas and served, for a time, in a semi-mili- 
tary capacity under the Confederate Govern- 
ment; returned to Illinois in 1869, and died, at 
Makanda, Oct. 5, 1876. 

WEBSTER, Fletcher, lawyer and soldier, was 
born at Portsmouth, N. H., July 23, 1813; gradu- 
ated at Harvard in 1833, and studied law with 
his father (Daniel Webster) ; in 1837, located at 
Peru, 111., where he practiced three years. His 
father having been appointed Secretary of State 



in 1841, the son became his private secretary, 
was also Secretary of Legation to Caleb Gushing 
(Minister to China) in 1843, a member of the 
Massachusetts Legislature in 1847, and Surveyor 
of the Port of Boston, 1850-61; the latter year 
became Colonel of the Twelfth Siassachusetts 
Volunteers, and was killed in the second battle 
of Bull Run, August 30, 1862. 

WEBSTER, Joseph Dana, civil engineer and 
soldier, was born at Old Hampton, N. H., 
August 25, 1811. He graduated from Dart- 
mouth College in 1832, and afterwards read 
law at N6wburyport, Mass. His natural incli- 
nation was for engineering, and, after serv- 
ing for a time in the Engineer and War offices, 
at Washington, was made a United States civil 
engineer (1835) and, on July 7, 1838, entered the 
army as Second Lieutenant of Topographical 
Engineers. He served through the Mexican 
War, was made First Lieutenant in 1849, and 
pr6moted to a captaincy, in March, 1853. Thir- 
teen months later he re.signed, removing to Chi- 
cago, where he made his permanent home, and 
soon after was identified, for a time, with the 
proprietorship of "The Chicago Tribune." He 
was President of the commission that perfected 
the Chicago sewerage system, and designed and 
executed the raising of the grade of a large por- 
tion of the city from two to eight feet, whole 
blocks of buildings being raioed by jack screws, 
while new foundations were inserted. At the 
outbreak of the Civil War he tendered his serv- 
ices to the Government and superintended the 
erection of the fortifications at Cairo, 111., and 
Paducah, Ky. On April 7, 1861, he was com- 
missioned Paymaster of Volunteers, with the 
rank of Major, and, in February, 1862, Colonel of 
the First Illinois Artillery. For several months 
he was chief of General Grant's staff, participat- 
ing in the capture of Forts Donelson and Henry, 
and in the battle of Shiloh, in the latter as Chief 
of Artillery. In October, 1862, the War Depart- 
ment detailed him to make a survey of the lUi ■ 
nois & Michigan Canal, and, the following month, 
he was commissioned Brigadier-General of 
Volunteers, serving as Military Governor of Mem- 
phis and Superintendent of military railroads. 
He was again chief of staff to General Grant 
during the Vicksburg campaign, and, from 1864 
until the close of the war, occupied the same 
relation to General Sherman. He was brevetted 
Major-General of Volunteers, March 13, 1865, but, 
resigning Nov. 6, following, returned to Chicago, 
where he spent the remainder of his life. From 
1869 to 1872 he was Assessor of Internal Revenue 



682 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



there, and, later, Assistant United States Treas- 
urer, and, in July, 1873, was appointed Collector 
of Internal Revenue. Died, at Chicago, March 
13, 1876. 

WELCH, William R., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in Jessamine County, Ky., Jan. 33, 1838, 
educated at Transylvania University, Lexington, 
graduating from the academic department in 
1847, and, from the law school, in 1851. In 1864 he 
removed to Carlinville, Macoupin County, III., 
which place he made his permanent home. In 
1877 he was elected to the bench of the Fifth 
Circuit, and re-elected in 1879 and '8.5. In 1884 
he was assigned to the bench of the Appellate 
Court for the Second District. Died, Sept. 1, 
1888. 

WELDON, Lawrence, one of the Judges of the 
United States Court of Claims, Washington, 
D. C, was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, in 
1839 ; while a child, removed with his parents to 
Madison County, and was educated in the com- 
mon schools, the local academy and at Wittenberg 
College, Springfield, in the same State ; read law 
with Hon. R. A. Harrison, a prominent member 
of the Ohio bar, and was admitted to practice in 
1854, meanwhile, in 1853-53, having served as a 
clerk in the office of the Secretary of State at 
Columbus. In 1854 he removed to Illinois, locat- 
ing at Clinton, DeWitt County, where he engaged 
in practice ; in 1860 was elected a Representative 
in the Twenty-second General Assembly, was 
also chosen a Presidential Elector the same 3-ear, 
and assisted in the first election of Abraham 
Lincoln to the Presidency. Early in 1861 he 
resigned his seat in the Legislature to accept tlie 
position of United States District Attorney for 
the Southern District of Illinois, tendered him by 
President Lincoln, but resigned the latter office 
in 1866 and, the following year, removed to 
Bloomington, where he continued the practice of 
his profession until 1883, when he was appointed, 
by President Arthur, an Associate Justice of the 
United States Court of Claims at Wasliington — 
a position which he still (1899) continues to fill. 
Judge Weldon is among the remaining few who 
rode the circuit and practiced law with Mr. Lin- 
coln. From the time of coming to the State in 
1854 to 1860, he was one of Mr. Lincoln's most 
intimate traveling companions in the old 
Eighth Circuit, wliicli extended from Sangamon 
County on tlie west to Vermilion on the east, and 
of which Judge David Davis, afterwards of the 
Supreme Court of the United States and United 
States Senator, was the presiding Justice. The 
Judge holds in his memory many pleasant remi- 



niscences of tliat day, especially of the eastern 
portion of the District, where he was accustomed 
to meet the late Senator Voorhees, Senator Mc- 
Donald and other leading lawyers of Indiana, as 
well as the historic men whom he met at the 
State capital. 

WELLS, Albert W., lawyer and legislator, was 
born at Woodstock, Conn., May 9, 1839, and 
enjoj'ed only such educational and other advan- 
tages as belonged to the average New England 
boy of that period. During his boyhood his 
family removed to New Jersey, where he attended 
an academy, later, graduating from Columbia 
College and Law School in New York City, and 
began practice with State Senator Robert Allen 
at Red Bank. N. J. During the Civil War he 
enlisted in a New Jersey regiment and took part 
in the battle of Gettysburg, resuming his profes- 
sion at the close of the war. Coming west in 
1870, he settled in Quincy, 111., where he con- 
tinued practice. In 1886 he was elected to the 
House of Representatives from Adams County, 
as a Democrat, and re-elected two years later. 
In 1890 he was advanced to the Senate, where, 
by re-election in 1894, he served continuously 
until his death in office, March 5, 1897. His 
abilities and long service — covering the sessions 
of tlie Thirty-fifth to the Fortietli General Assem- 
blies — placed him at the head of the Democratic 
side of the Senate during the latter part of his 
legislative career. 

WELLS, William, soldier and victim of the 
Fort Dearborn massacre, was born in Kentuckj', 
about 1770. Wlien a boy of 13, he was capt\ired 
by the Miami Indians, whose chief, Little Turtle, 
adopted him, giving him his daughter in mar- 
riage when he grew to manhood. He was higlily 
esteemed by the tribe as a warrior, and, in 1790, 
was jjresent at the battle where Gen. Artluir St. 
Clair was defeated. He then realized that lie 
was fighting against his own race, and informed 
his father-in-law that he intended to ally Iiimself 
with the whites. Leaving the Miamis, he made 
his way to General Wayne, who made him Cap- 
tain of a company of scouts. After the treaty of 
Greenville (1795) he settled on a farm near Fort 
Wayne, where he was joined by his Indian wife. 
Here lie acted as Indian Agent and Justice of tlie 
Peace. In 1813 he learned of the contemplated 
evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and, at the head of 
thirty Miamis, he set out for the post, his inten- 
tion being to furnisli a bodj'-guard to the non- 
combatants on their proposed march to Fort 
Wayne. On August 13, he marched out of the 
fort with fifteen of his dusky warriors behind 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



5S3 



him, the remainder bringing up the rear. Before 
a mile and a half had been traveled, the party fell 
into an Indian ambuscade, and an indiscrimi- 
nate massacre followed. (See Fort Dearborn.) 
The Miamis fled, and Captain Wells' body was 
riddled -with bullets, his head cut off and his 
heart taken out. He was an uncle of Mrs. Heald, 
wife of the commander of Fort Dearborn. 

WELLS, William Harvey, educator, was born 
in Tolland, Conn., Feb. 27, 1812; lived on a farm 
until 17 years old, attending school irregularly, 
but made such progress that he became succes- 
sively a teacher in the Teachers' Seminary at 
Andover and Newburyport, and, finally. Principal 
of the State Normal School at Westfield, Mass. 
In 1856 he accepted the position of Superintend- 
ent of Public Schools for the city of Chicago, 
serving till 1864, when he resigned. He was an 
organizer of the Massachusetts State Teachers' 
Association, one of the first editors of "The 
Massachusetts Teacher" and prominently con- 
nected with various benevolent, educational and 
learned societies ; was also author of several text- 
books, and assisted in the revision of "Webster's 
Unabridged Dictionary." Died, Jan. 21, 1885. 

WENONA, city on the eastern border of Mar- 
shall County, 30 miles south of La Salle, has 
zinc works, public and parochial schools, a 
weekly paper, two banks, and five churches. A 
good quality of soft coal is mined here. Popu- 
lation (1880), 911; (1890), 1,053; (1900), 1,486. 

WENTWORTH, John, early journalist and 
Congressman, was born at Sandwich, N. H., 
March 5, 1815, graduated from Dartmouth Col- 
lege in 1836, and came to Chicago the same year, 
where he became editor of "The Chicago Demo- 
crat," which had been established by John Cal- 
houn three years previous. He soon after became 
proprietor of "The Democrat," of which he con- 
tinued to be the publisher until it was merged 
into "The Chicago Tribune," July 34, 1864. He 
also studied law, and was admitted to the Illinois 
bar in 1841. He served in Congress as a Demo- 
crat from 1843 to 1851, and again from 18.53 to 
1855, but left the Democratic party on the repeal 
of the Mis.souri Compromise. He was elected 
Mayor of Chicago in 1857, and again in 1860, 
during his incumbency introducing a number of 
important municipal reforms; was a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1863, and twice 
served on the Board of Education. He again 
represented Illinois in Congress as a Republican 
from 1865 to 1867— making fourteen years of 
service in that body. In 1872 he joined in the 
Txreeley movement, but later renewed his alle- 



giance to the Republican party. Inl87i vlr. Went- 
worth published an elaborate genealogical work 
in three volumes, entitled "History of the Went- 
worth Family." A volume of "Congressional 
Reminiscences" and two by him on "Early Chi- 
cago," published in connection with the Fergus 
Historical Series, contain some valuable informa- 
tion on early local and national history. On 
account of his extraordinary height he received 
the sobriquet of "Long John," by which he was 
familiarly known throughout the State. Died, 
in Chicago, Oct. 16, 1888. 

WEST, Edward M., merchant and banker, was 
born in Vii-ginia, May 2, 1814; came with his 
father to Illinois in 1818 ; in 1829 became a clerk 
in the Recorder's office at Edwardsville. also 
served as deputy postmaster, and, in 1833, took a 
position in the United States Land Office there. 
Two years later he engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness, which he prosecuted over thirty years — 
meanwhile filling the office of County Treasurer, 
ex-officio Superintendent of Schools, and Delegate 
to the Constitutional Convention of 1847. In 1867, 
in conjunction with W. R. Prickett, he established 
a bank at Edwardsville, with which he was con- 
nected until his death, Oct. 31, 1887. Mr. West 
officiated frequently as a "local preacher" of the 
Methodist Church, in which capacity he showed 
much ability as a public speaker. 

WEST, Mary Allen, educator and philanthro- 
pist, was born at Galesburg, 111., July 31, 1837; 
graduated at Knox Seminary in 1854 and taught 
until 1873, when she was elected County Super- 
intendent of Schools, serving nine years. She 
took an active and influential interest in educa- 
tional and reformatory movements, was for two 
years editor of "Our Home Monthly," in Phila- 
delphia, and also a contributor to other journals, 
besides being editor-in-cliief of "The Union Sig- 
nal," Chicago, the organ of the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union — in which slie held the 
position of President ; was also President, in the 
latter days of her life, of the Illinois Woman's 
Press Association of Chicago, that city having 
become her home in 1885. In 1892, Miss West 
started on a tour of the world for the benefit of 
her health, but died at Tokio, Japan, Dec. 1, 1892. 
WESTERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, 
an institution for the treatment of the insane, 
located at Watertown, Rock Island County, in 
accordance with an act of the General Assembly, 
approved. May 22, 1895. The Thirty-ninth Gen- 
eral Assembly made an appropriation of SIOO.OOO 
for the erection of fire-proof buildings, while 
Rock Island County donated a tract of 400 acres 



684 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of land Tallied at §40, 000. The site selected by the 
Commissioners, is a commanding one overlooking 
the Mississippi River, eight miles above Rock 
Island, and five and a half miles from Moline, and 
the buildings are of the most modern style of con- 
struction. Watertown is reached by two lines of 
railroad — the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy — besides the 
Mississippi River. The erection of buildings was 
begun in 1896, and they were opened for the 
reception of patients in 1898. They have a ca- 
pacity for 800 patients. 

WESTERN MILITARY ACADEMY, an insti 
tution located at Upper Alton, Madison County, 
incorporated in 1893; has a faculty of eight mem- 
bers and reports eighty pupils for 1897-98, with 
property valued at SiO.OOO. The institution gives 
instruction in literary and scientific branches, 
besides preparatory and business courses. 

WESTERN NORMAL COLLEGE, located at 
Bushnell, McDonough County; incorporated in 
1888. It is co-educational, has a corps of twelve 
instructors and reported 500 pupils for 1897-98, 
300 males and 300 females. 

WESTERN SPRINGS, a village of Cook 
County, and residence suburb of the city of Chi- 
cago, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road, 15 miles west of the initial station. 
Population (1890), 451; (lliOO), 6C2. 

WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 
located in Chicago and controlled by the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Cliurch. It was founded in 1883 
through the munificence of Dr. Tolman Wheeler, 
and was opened for students two years later. It 
lias two buildings, of a superior order of archi- 
tecture — one including the school and lecture 
rooms and the other a dormitory. A hosi)ital 
and gymnasium are attached to the latter, and a 
school for boys is conducted on the first floor of 
the main building, which is known as Wheeler 
Hall. The institution is under the general super- 
vision of Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren. Protes- 
tant Episcopal Bishop of tlie Diocese of Illinois. 

WEST FIELD, village of Clark County. onCin., 
Ham. * Dayton R. R., 10 m. s-e. of Charleston; 
seat of Westfield College; has a bank, five 
churches and two newspapers. Pop. (1900), 830. 

WEST SALEM, a town of Edwards County, on 
the Peoria-Evansville Div. 111. Cent. R. R.. 13 
miles northeast of Albion; has a bank and a 
weekly paper. Pop. (1890), 476; (1900), 700. 

WETHERELL, Emma Abbott, vocalist, was 
born in Chicago, Dec. 9, 1849; in her childhood 
attracted attention while singing with her father 
(a poor musician) in hotels and on the streets in 



Chicago, Peoria and elsewhere; at 18 years of 
age, went to New York to study, earning her way 
by giving concerts en route, and receiving aid 
and encouragement from Clara Louisa Kellogg; 
in New York was patronized by Henry Ward 
Beecher and others, and aided in securing the 
training of European masters. Compelled to sur- 
mount many obstacles from poverty and other 
causes, her after success in her profession was 
phenomenal. Died, during a professional tour, 
at Salt Lake City, Jan. 5, 1891. Jliss Abbott 
married her manager, Eugene Wetherell, who 
died before her. 

WHEATON, a city and the county-seat of Du 
Page County, situated on the Chicago & North- 
western Railway, 35 miles west of Chicago. Agri- 
culture and stock-raising are the chief industries 
in the surrounding region. Tlie city owns a new 
water-v.'crks plant (costing 560,000) and has a 
public library valued at §75,000, the gift of a 
resident, Mr. John Quincy Adams; has a court 
house, electiic light plant, sewerage and drainage 
system, seven churches, three graded schools, 
four weekly newspapers and a State bank. 
Wheaton is the seat of Wheaton College (which 
see) Population (1880), 1,160; (1890), 1,633; 
(1900), 3,345, 

WHEATON COLLEGE, an educational insti- 
tution located at Wheaton, Du Page County, and 
under Congregational control. It was founded 
in 1853, as the Illinois Institute, and was char- 
tered under its present name in 1860. Its early 
existence was one of struggle, but of late years it 
has been establislied on a better foundation, in 
1898 having 854,000 invested in productive funds, 
and property aggregating §136 000. The faculty 
comprises fifteen professors, and, in 1898, there 
were 331 students in attendance. It is co-edu- 
cational and instruction is given in business and 
preparatory studies, as well as the fine arts, 
nmsic and classical literature. 

WHEELER, David Hilton, D.D., LL.D., clergy- 
man, was born at Ithaca, N. Y., Nov. 19, 1839; 
graduated at Rook River Seminary, Mount 
Morris, in 1851; edited "The Carroll County 
Republican" and held a professorship in Cornell 
College, Iowa, (1857-61) ; was United States Con- 
sul at Geneva, Switzerland, (1861-66) ; Professor of 
English Literature in Northwestern University 
(1867-75); edited "Tlie Methodist" in New York, 
seven years, and was President of Allegheny 
College (1883-87) ; received the degree of D.D. 
from Cornell College in 1867, and that of LL.D. 
from the Northwestern University in 1881. He 
is the autlior of "Brigandage in South Italy" 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



585 



(two volumes, 1864) and "By-Ways of Literature'' 
(1883), besides some translations. 

WHEELER, Hamilton K,, ex-Congressman, 
was born at Ballston, N. Y., August 5, 1848, but 
emigrated with his parents to Illinois in 1852; 
remained on a farm until 19 years of age, his 
educational advantages being limited to three 
months' attendance upon a district school each 
year. In 1871, he was admitted to the bar at 
Kankakee, where he has since continued to prac- 
tice. In 1884 he was elected to represent the Six- 
teenth District in the State Senate, where he 
served on many important committees, being 
Chairman of that on the Judicial Department. 
In 1893 he was elected Representative in Con- 
gress from the Ninth Illinois District, on the 
Eepublican ticket. 

WHEELING, a town on the northern border of 
Cook County, on the Wisconsin Central Railway. 
Population (1890), 811; (1900), 331. 

WHISTLER, (Maj.) John, soldier and builder 
of the first Fort Dearborn, was born in Ulster, Ire- 
land, about 1756 ; served under Burgoyne in the 
Revolution, and was with the force surrendered 
by that officer at Saratoga, in 1777. After the 
peace he returned to the United States, settled at 
Hagerstown, Md., and entered the United States 
Army, serving at first in the ranks and being 
severely wounded in the disastrous Indian cam- 
paigns of 1791. Later, he was promoted to a 
captaincy and, in the summer of 1803, sent with 
his company, to the head of Lake Michigan, 
where he constructed the first Fort Dearborn 
within the limits of the present city of Chicago, 
remaining in command until 1811, when he was 
succeeded by Captain Heald. He received the 
brevet rank of JIajor, in 1815 was appointed 
military store-keeper at Newport, Ky., and after- 
wards at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, 
where he died, Sept. 3, 1829. Lieut. William 
Whistler, his son, who was with his father, for a 
time, in old Fort Dearborn — but transferred, in 
1809, to Fort Wayne — was of the force included 
in Hull's surrender at Detroit in 1812. After 
his exchange he was promoted to a captaincy, to 
the rank of Major iu 1820 and to a Lieutenant-Colo- 
nelcy in 1845, dying at Newport, Ky., in 1863. 
James Abbott McNiel Whistler, the celebrated, 
but eccentric artist of that name, is a grandson 
of the first Major Whistler. 

WHITE, George E., ex-Congressman, was born 
in Massachusetts in 1848; after graduating, at the 
age of 16, he enlisted as a private* in the Fifty- 
seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers, serv- 
ing under General Grant in the campaign 



against Richmond from the battle of the Wilder- 
ness until the surrender of Lee. Having taken a 
course in a commercial college at Worcester, 
Mass., in 1867 he came to Chicago, securing em- 
ployment in a lumber yard, but a year later 
began business on his own account, which he has 
successfully conducted. In 1878 he was elected 
to the .State Senate, as a Republican, from one of 
the Chicago Districts, and re-elected four years 
later, serving in that body eight years. He 
declined a nomination for Congress in 1884, but 
accepted in 1894, and was elected for the Fifth 
District, as he was again in 1896, but was 
defeated, in 1898, by Edward T. Noonan, Demo- 
crat. 

WHITE, Horace, journalist, was born at Cole- 
brook, N. H. , August 10, 1834 ; in 1853 graduated 
at Beloit College, Wis., whither his father had 
removed in 1837; engaged in journalism as city 
editor of "The Chicago Evening Journal," later 
becoming agent of the Associated Press, and, in 
1857, an editorial writer on "The Chicago Trib- 
\me," during a part of the war acting as its 
Washington correspondent. He also served, in 
1856, as Assistant Secretary of the Kansas 
National Committee, and, later, as Secretary of 
the Republican State Central Committee. In 
1864 he purchased an interest in "The Tribune," 
a year or so later becoming editor-in-chief, but 
retired in October, 1874. After a protracted 
European tour, he united with Carl Schurz and 
E. L. Godkin of "The Nation," in the purchase 
and reorganization of "The New York Evening 
Post," of which he is now editor-in-chief. 

WHITE, JiiUus, soldier, was born in Cazen- 
ovia, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1816; removed to Illinois 
in 1836, residing there and in Wisconsin, where 
he was a member of the Legislature of 1849 ; in 
1861 was made Collector of Customs at Chicago, 
but resigned to assume the colonelcy of the 
Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, which he 
commanded on the Fremont expedition to South- 
west Missouri. He afterwards served with Gen- 
eral Curtiss in Arkansas, participated in the 
battle of Pea Ridge and was promoted to the 
rank of Brigadier-General. He was subsequently 
assigned to the Department of the Shenandoah, 
but finding his position at Martinsburg, W. Va., 
untenable, retired to Harper's Ferry, voluntarily 
serving under Colonel Miles, his inferior in com- 
mand. When this post was surrendered (Sept. 
15, 1862), he was made a prisoner, but released 
under parole ; was tried by a court of inquiry at 
his own request, and acquitted, the court finding 
that he had acted with courage and capability. 



686 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



He resigned in 1864, and, in March, 1865, was 
brevetted Major-General of Volunteers. Died, 
at Evanston, May 13, 1890. 

WHITE COUNTY, situated in the southeastern 
quarter of the State, and bounded on the east by 
the Wabash River; was organized in 1816, being 
the tenth county organized during tlie Territorial 
period: area, 500 square miles. The county is 
crossed by three raih-oads and drained by the 
Wabash and Little Wabash Rivers. Tlie surface 
consists of prairie and woodland, and the soil is, 
for the most part, highly productive. The princi- 
pal agricultural products are corn, wheat, oats, 
potatoes, tobacco, fruit, butter, sorghum and 
wool. The principal industrial establishments 
are carriage factories, saw mills and flour, mills. 
Carmi is the county-seat. Other towns are En- 
field. Grayville and Norris City. Population 
(1880), 23,087; (1890), 25.005; (1900), 25,380. 

WHITEHALL, a city in Greene County, at the 
intersection of the Chicago & Alton and the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads, 65 miles 
north of St. Louis and 24 miles south-southwest 
of Jacksonville; in rich farming region; has 
stoneware and sewer-pipe factories, foundry and 
machine shop, flour mill, elevators, wagon shops, 
creamery, water system, sanitarium, heating, 
electric light and power system, nurseries and 
fruit-supply houses, and two poultry packing 
houses; also has five churches, a graded school, 
two banks and three newspapers — one daily. Pop- 
•ulation (1890), 1,961; (1900), 2,030. 

WHITEHOUSE, Henry John, Protestant Epis- 
copal Bishop, was born in New York City, August 
19, 1803; graduated from Columbia College in 
1821, and from the (New York) General Theolog- 
ical Seminary in 1824. After ordination he was 
rector of various parishes in Pennsylvania and 
New York until 1851, when he was chosen Assist- 
ant Bishop of Illinois, succeeding Bishop Chase 
in 1852. In 1867, by invitation of the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, he delivered the opening sermon 
before the Pan-Anglican Conference held in 
England. During this visit he received the 
degree of D.D. from Oxford University, and that 
of LL.D. from Cambridge. His rigid views as a 
churchman and a disciplinarian, were illustrated 
in his prosecution of Rev. Charles Edward 
Cheney, which resulted in the formation of the 
Reformed Episcopal Church. He was a brilliant 
orator and a trenchant and unyielding controver- 
sialist. Died, in Chicago, August 10, 1874. 

WHITESIDE COUNTY, in the northwestern 
portion of the State bordering on the Mississippi 
River; created by act of the Legislature passed in 



1836, and named for Capt. Samuel Whiteside, a 
noted Indian fighter ; area, 700 square miles. The 
surface is level, diversified by prairies and wood- 
land, and the soil is extremely fertile. The 
county-seat was first fixed at Lyndon, then at 
Sterling, and finally at Morrison, its present 
location. The Rock River crosses the county 
and furnishes abundant water power for numer- 
ous factories, turning out agricultural imple- 
ments, carriages and wagons, furniture, woolen 
goods, flour and wrapping paper. There are also 
distilling and brewing interests, besides saw and 
planing mills. Corn is the staple agricultural 
product, although all the leading cereals are 
extensively grown. The principal towns are 
Morrison, Sterling, Fulton and Rock Falls. Popu- 
lation (1880), 30,885; (1890), 30,854; (1900), 34.710. 

WHITESIDE, William, pioneer and soldier of 
the Revolution, emigrated from the frontier of 
North Carolina to Kentucky, and thence, in 1793, 
to the present limits of Monroe County, 111., 
erecting a fort between Cahokia and Kaskaskia, 
which became widely known as "Whiteside 
Station." He served as a Justice of the Peace, 
and was active in organizing the militia during 
the War of 1812-14, dying at the old Station in 
1815. — John (Whiteside), a brother of the preced- 
ing, and also a Revolutionarj' soldier, came to 
Illinois at the same time, as also did WiUiani B. 
and Samuel, sons of the two brothers, respec- 
tively. All of them became famous as Indian 
fighters. The two latter served as Captains of 
companies of "Rangers"' in the War of 1812, 
Samuel taking part in the battle of Rock Island 
in 1814, and contributing greatly to the success 
of the day. During the Black Hawk War (1832) 
he attained the rank of Brigadier- General. 
Whiteside County was named in his honor. He 
made one of the earliest improvements in Ridge 
Prairie, a rich section of Madison County, and 
represented that county in the First General 
Assembly. William B. served as Sheriff of Madi- 
son County for a number of years. — John D. 
(Whiteside), another member of this historic 
famil}-, became very prominent, serving in the 
lower House of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and 
Fourteenth General Assemblies, and in the Sen- 
ate of the Tenth, from Monroe County; was a 
Presidential Elector in 1836, State Treasurei 
(1837-41) and a member of the State Constitu 
tional Convention of 1847. General Whiteside, as 
he was known, was the second of James Shields 
in the famous Shields and Lincoln duel (so-called] 
in 1842, and, as such, carried the challenge of tlw 
former to Mr. Lincoln. (See DtieJs. ) 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



587 



WHITINGj Lorenzo D., legislator, was born 
in Wayne County, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1819; came to 
Illinois in 1838, but did not settle there perma- 
nently until 1849, when he located in Bureau 
County. He was a Representative from that 
county in the Twentj'-sixth General Assembly 
(1869J, and a member of the Senate continuously 
from 1871 to 1887, serving in the latter through 
eight General Assemblies. Died at his home 
near Tiskilwa, Bureau County, 111., Oct. 10, 
1889. 

WHITING, Richard H., Congressman, was 
born at West Hartford, Conn, , June 17, 1826, and 
received a common school education. In 1862 he 
was commissioned Paymaster in the Volunteer 
Army of the Union, and resigned in 1866. Hav- 
ing removed to Illinois, he was appointed Assist- 
ant Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Fifth 
Illinois District, in February, 1870, and so contin- 
ued until the abolition of the office in 1873. On 
retiring from the Assessorship he was appointed 
Collector of Internal Revenue, and served until 
March 4, 1875, when he resigned to take his seat 
as Republican Representative in Congress from 
the Peoria District, to whicli he had been elected 
in November, 1874. After the expiration of his 
term he held no public office, but was a member 
of the Republican National Convention of 1884. 
Died, at the Continental Hotel, in New York 
City, May 24, 1888. 

WHITNEY, James W., pioneer lawyer and 
early teacher, known by the nickname of "Lord 
Coke" ; came to Illinois in Territorial days (be- 
lieved to have been about 1800) ; resided for some 
time at or near Edwardsville, then became a 
teacher at Atlas, Pike County, and, still later, the 
first Circuit and County Clerk of tliat county. 
Though nominally a lawyer, he had little if any 
practice. He acquired the title, by which he was 
popularly known for a quarter of a century, by 
his custom of visiting the State Capital, diu-ing 
the sessions of the General Assembly, when 
he would organize the lobbyists and visit- 
ors about the capital — of which there were an 
unusual number in those days — into what was 
called the "Third House." Having been regu- 
larly chosen to preside under the name of 
"Speaker of the Lobby," he would deliver a mes- 
sage full of practical hits and jokes, aimed at 
members of the two houses and others, which 
would be received . with cheers and laughter. 
The meetings of the "Third House," being held 
in the evening, were attended by many members 
and visitors in lieu of other forms of entertain- 
ment. Mr. Whitney's home, in his latter years. 



was at Fittsfield. He resided for a time at 
Quincy. Died, Dec. 13, 1860, aged over 80 years. 

WHITTEMORE, Floyd K., State Treasurer, is 
a native of New York, came at an early age, with 
his parents, to Sycamore. 111., where he was edu- 
cated in the high school there. He purposed 
becoming a lawj'er, but. on the election of the 
late James H. Beveridge State Treasurer, in 1864, 
accepted the position of clerk in the office. 
Later, he was employed as a clerk in the banking 
house of Jacob Bunn in Springfield, and, on the 
organization of the State National Bank, was 
chosen cashier of that Institution, retaining the 
position some twenty years. After the appoint- 
ment of Hon. John R. Tanner to the position of 
Assistant Treasurer of the United States, at Chi- 
cago, in 1892, Mr. Whittemore became cashier in 
that office, and, in 1865, Assistant State Treas- 
rure under the administration of State Treasurer 
Henry Wulfl. In 1898 he was elected State 
Treasurer, receiving a plurality of 43,450 over 
his Democratic opponent. 

WICKERSHAM, (Col.) Dudley, soldier and 
merchant, was born in Woodford County, Ky., 
Nov. 32, 1819; came to Springfield, 111., in 1843, 
and served as a member of the Fourth Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers (Col. E. D. Baker's) through 
the Mexican War. On the return of peace he 
engaged in the dry-goods trade in Springfield, 
until 1861, when he enlisted in the Tenth Regi- 
ment Illinois Cavalry, serving, first as Lieutenant- 
Colonel and then as Colonel, until May, 1864, 
when, his regiment having been consolidated 
with the Fifteenth Cavalry, he resigned. After 
the war, he held the office of Assessor of Internal 
Revenue for several years, after which he en- 
gaged in the grocery trade. Died, in Springfield, 
August 8, 1898. 

WIDEN, Raphael, pioneer and early legislator, 
was a native of Sweden, who, having been taken 
to France at eight years of age, was educated for 
a Catholic priest. Coming to the United States 
in 1815, he was at Cahokia, 111., in 1818, where, 
during the same j'ear, he married into a French 
family of that place. He served in the House of 
Representatives from Randolph County, in the 
Second and Third General Assemblies (1820-24), 
and as Senator in the Fourth and Fifth (1834-38). 
During his last term in the House, he was one of 
those who voted against the pro-slavery Con- 
vention resolution. He died of cholera, at Kas- 
kaskia, in 1833. 

WIKE, Scott, lawyer and ex-Congressman, was 
born at Meadville, Pa., April 6, 1834; at 4 years 
of age removed with his parents to Quincy, 111., 



688 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



and, in 1844, to Pike County. Having graduated 
from Lombard University, Galesbiirg, in 1857, he 
began reading law with Judge O. C. Skinner of 
Quincy. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, 
but, before commencing practice, spent a year at 
Harvard Law School, graduating there in 1859. 
Immediately thereafter he opened an office at 
Pittsfield, 111., and has resided there ever since. 
In politics he has always been a strong Democi'at. 
He served two terms in the Legislature (18G3-0~) 
and, in 1874, was chosen Representative from his 
District in Congress, being re-elected in 1888 and, 
again, in 1890. In 1893 he was appointed by 
President Cleveland Third Assistant Secretary 
of the Treasury, which position he continued 
to fill until March, 1897, when he resumed the 
practice of law at Pittsfield. Died Jan. 15, 1901 
WILEY, (Col.) Benjamin Ladd, .soldier, was 
born in Smithfield, Jeffer.son County, Ohio, 
March 25, 1821, came to Illinois in 1845 and began 
life at Vienna, Johnson Countj', as a teacher. 
In 1846 he enlisted for the Mexican "War, as a 
member of the Fifth (Colonel Newby's) Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers, serving chiefly in New 
Mexico until mustered out in 1848. A year later 
he removed to Jonesboro, where lie spent some 
time at the carpenter's trade, after which he 
became clerk in a store, meanwhile assisting to 
edit "Tlie Jonesboro Gazette" until 1853; then 
became traveling salesman for a St. Louis firm, 
but later engaged in the hardware trade at 
Jonesboro, in which he continued for several 
years. In 1856 he was the Republican candidate 
for Congress for the Ninth District, receiving 
4,000 votes, while Fremont, the Republican can- 
didate for President, received only 825 in the 
same district. In 1857 he opened a real estate 
office in Jonesboro in conjunction with David L. 
Phillips and Col. J. W. Ashley, with which he 
was connected until 1860, when he removed to 
Makanda, Jackson County. In September, 1861, 
he was mustered in as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
Fifth Illinois Cavalry, later serving in Missouri 
and Arkansas under Generals Steele and Curtiss, 
being, a part of the time, in command of the Fir.st 
Brigade of Cavalry, and. in the advance on Vicks- 
burg, having command of the right wing of 
General Grant's cavalry. Being disabled by 
rheumatism at the end of the siege, he tendered 
his resignation, and was immediately appointed 
Enrolling Officer at Cairo, serving in this cajjae- 
ity until May, 1865, when he was mustered out. 
In 1869 he was appointed by Governor Palmer 
one of the Commissioners to locate the Southern 
Illinois Hospital for the Insane, and served as 



Secretary of the Board until the institution was 
opened at Anna, in May, 1871. In 1869 he was 
defeated as a candidate for County Judge of 
Jackson County, and, in 1872, for the State Sen- 
ate, by a small majority in a strongly Democratic 
District; in 1876 was the Republican candidate 
for Congress, in the Eighteenth District, against 
William Hartzell, but was defeated by only 
twenty votes, while carrying six out of the ten 
counties comprising tlie District. In the latter 
years of his life. Colonel Wiley was engaged quite 
extensively in fruit-growing at Makanda, Jack- 
son County, where he died, March 23, 1890. 

WILKIE, Franc Bangs, journalist, was born 
in Saratoga County, N. Y., July 2, 1830; took a 
partial course at Union College, after which he 
edited papers at Schenectady, N. Y., Elgin, 111., 
and Davenport and Dubuque. Iowa ; also serving, 
during a part of the Civil War, as the western 
war correspondent of "The New York Times." 
In 1863 he became an editorial writer on "The 
Chicago Times," remaining with that paper, 
with the exception of a brief interval, until 1888 
— a part of the time as its European correspond- 
ent. He was the author of a series of sketches 
over the nom de plume of "Poliuto," and of a 
volume of reminiscences under the title, 
"Thirty-five Years of Journalism," published 
shortly before his death, which took place, April 
12, 1892. 

TVILKIX, Jacob W., Justice of the Supreme 
Court, was born in Licking County, Ohio, June 
7, 1837 ; removed with his parents to Illinois, at 
12 years of age, and was educated at McKendree 
College ; served three years in the War for the 
Union ; studied law with Judge Scholfield and 
was admitted to the bar in 1866. In 1872, he was 
chosen Presidential Elector on the Republican 
ticket, and, in 1879, elected Judge of the Circuit 
Court and reelected in 1885 — the latter year 
being assigned to the Ajspellate bench for the 
Fourth District, where he remained until his 
election to the Supreme bench in 1888, being 
re-elected to the latter office in 1897. His home 
is at Danville. 

WILKINSON, Ira 0., lawyer and Judge, was 
born in Virginia in 1822, and accompanied his 
father to Jacksonville (1835), where he was edu- 
cated. During a short service as Deputy Clerk of 
Morgan County, he conceived a fondness for the 
inofession of the law, and, after a course of study 
under Judge William Thomas, was admitted to 
practice in 1847. Richard Yates (afterwards Gov- 
ernor and Senator) was his first partner. In 1845 
he removed to Rock Island, and, six years later. 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



589 



was elected a Circuit Judge, being again closen 
to the same position in 1861. At the expiration 
of his second term he removed to Chicago. 
Died, at Jacksonville, August 24, 1894. 

WILKINSON, John P., early merchant, was 
born, Dec. 14, 1790, in New Kent County, Va., 
emigrated first to Kentucky, and, in 1828, settled 
in Jacksonville, 111., where he engaged in mer- 
cantile business. Mr. Wilkinson was a liberal 
friend of Illinois College and Jacksonville Female 
Academy, of each of which he was a Trustee 
from their origin until his death, which occurred, 
during a business visit to St. Louis, in December, 
1841. 

WILL, Conrad, pioneer physician and early 
legislator, was born in Philadelphia, June 4, 1778; 
about 1804 removed to Somerset County Pa., and, 
in 1813, to Kaskaskia, 111. He was a physician 
by profession, but having leased the saline lands 
on the Big Muddy, in the vicinity of what after- 
wards became the town of Brownsville, he 
engaged in the manufacture of salt, removing 
thitlier in 1815. and becoming one of the founders 
of Brownsville, afterwards the first countj'-seat 
of Jackson County. On the organization of 
Jackson County, in 1816, he became a member of 
the first Board of County Commissioners, and, in 
1818, served as Delegate from that county in the 
Convention which framed the first State Consti- 
tution. Thereafter he served continuously as a 
member of the Legislature from 1818 to "34 — first 
as Senator in the First General Assembly, then 
as Representative in the Second, Third, Fourth 
and Fifth, and again as Senator in the Sixth, 
Seventh, Eighth and Ninth — his career being 
conspicuous for long service. He died in office, 
June 11, 1834. Dr. "Will was short of stature, 
fleshy, of jovial disposition and fond of playing 
practical jokes upon his associates, but very 
popular, as shown by his successive elections to 
the Legislature. He has been called "The Father 
of Jackson County." Will County, organized by 
act of the Legislature two years after his death, 
was named in his honor. 

WILL COUNTY, a northeastern coimty, em- 
bracing 850 square miles, named in honor of Dr. 
Conrad Will, an early politician and legislator. 
Early explorations of the territory were made 
in 1829, when white settlers were few. The bluff 
west of Joliet is said to have been first occupied 
by David and Benjamin Maggard. Joseph 
Smith, the Mormon "apostle," expounded his 
peculiar doctrines at "the Point" in 1831. Sev- 
eral of the early settlers fled from the country 
during (or after) a raid by the Sac Indians. 



There is a legend, seemingly well supported, to 
the effect that the first lumber, sawed to build 
the first frame house in Chicago (that of P. F. W. 
Peck), was sawed at Plainfield. Will County, 
originally a part of Cook, was separately erected 
in 1S36, Joliet being made the county-seat. 
Agriculture, quarrying and manufacturing are 
the chief industries. Joliet, Lockport and Wil- 
mington are the principal towns. Population 
(1880), 5.3.423; (1890), 62,007; (1900), 74,764. 

WILLARD, Frances Elizabeth, teacher and 
reformer, was born at Churchville, N. Y., Sept. 
28, 1839, graduated from the Northwestern 
Female College at Evanston, 111., in 1859, and, in 
1863, accepted the Professorship of Natural 
Sciences in that institution. During 1866-67 she 
was the Principal of the Genessee Wesleyan 
Seminary. The next two years she devoted to 
travel and study abroad, meanwhile contribut- 
ing to various periodicals. From 1871 to 1874 slie 
was Professor of ^-Esthetics in the Northwestern 
University and dean of the Woman's College. 
She was alwaj's an enthusiastic champion of 
temperance, and, in 1874, abandoned her profes- 
sion to identify herself with the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union. For five years she was 
Corresponding Secretary of the national body, 
and, from 1879, its President. While Secretary 
she organized the Home Protective Association, 
and prepared a petition to the Illinois Legislature, 
to which nearly 200,000 names were attached, 
asking for the granting to women of the right to 
vote on the license question. In 1878 she suc- 
ceeded her brother, Oliver A. Willard (who liad 
died), as editor of "The Chicago Evening Post," 
but, a few months later, withdrew, and, in 1882, 
was elected as a member of tlie executive com- 
mittee of the National Prohibition party. In 
1886 she became leader of tlie Wliite Cross Move- 
ment for the protection of women, and succeeded 
in securing favorable legislation, in this direc- 
tion, in twelve States. In 1883 she founded the 
World's Christian Temperance Union, and, in 
1888, was chosen its President, as also President 
of the International Council of Women. The 
latter years of her life were spent chiefly abroad, 
much of the time as the guest and co-worker of 
Lady Henry Somerset, of England, during which 
she devoted mucli attention to investigating the 
condition of women in the Orient. Miss Willard 
was a prolific and highly valued contributor to 
the magazines, and (besides numerous pamphlets) 
published several volumes, including "Nineteen 
Beautiful Years" (a tribute to her sister); 
"Woman in Temperance''; "How to Win," and 



500 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



"Woman in the Pulpit.'" Died, in New York, 
Feb. 18, 1898. 

WILLARD, Samuel, A.M., M.D., LL.D., phy- 
sician and educator, was born in Lunenberg, 
Vt., Dec. 30, 1821— the lineal descendant of Maj. 
Simon Willard, one of the founders of Concord, 
Mass., and prominent in "King Philip's "War," 
and of his son. Rev. Dr. Samuel Willard, of the 
Old Soutli Church, Boston, and seventh President 
of Harvard College. The subject of this sketch 
was taken in his infancy to Boston, and, in 1831, 
to Carrollton, 111., where his father pursued the 
avocation of a druggist. After a preparatory 
course at ShurtleS College, Upper Alton, in 1836 
he entered the freshman class in Illinois College 
at Jacksonville, but withdrew the following year, 
re-entering college in 1840 and graduating in the 
class of 1843, as a classmate of Dr. Newton Bate- 
man, afterwards State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction and President of Knox College, and 
Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, now of Elmira, N. Y. 
The next year he spent as Tutor in Illinois Col- 
lege, when he began the study of medicine at 
Quinc}', graduating from the Medical Department 
of Illinois College in 1848. During a part of the 
latter year he edited a Free-Soil campaign paper 
("The Tribune") at Quincy, and, later, "The 
Western Temperance Magazine" at the same 
place. In 1849 lie began the practice of his pro- 
fession at St. Louis, but the next year removed 
toCollinsville, III, remaining until 18.5T, when he 
took charge of the Department of Languages in 
tlie newly organized State Normal University at 
Normal. The second year of the Civil War (1862) 
he enlisted as a private in the Ninety-seventh 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was soon after 
commissioned as Surgeon with the rank of Major, 
participating in the campaigns in Tennessee and 
in the first attack upon Vicksburg. Being dis- 
abled by an attack of paralysis, in February, 1863, 
he was compelled to resign, wlien he had suffici- 
ently recovered accepting a position in the office 
of Provost Marshal General Cakes, at Spring- 
field, where he remained until the close of the 
war. He then became Grand Secretary of the 
Independent Order of Odd-Fellows for the State 
of Illinois — a position which he had held from 
18.'56 to 1863 — remaining under his second appoint- 
ment from 1865 to '69. The next year he served 
as Superintendent of Schools at Springfield, 
meanwhile assisting in founding the Springfield 
public library, and serving as its first librarian. 
In 1870 he accepted the professorship of History 
in the West Side High School of Chicago, 
which, with the exception of two years (1884-86), 



he continued to occupy for more than twenty- | 
five years, retiring in 1898. In the meantime, i 
Dr. Willard has been a laborious literary worker, 
having been, for a considerable period, editor, or | 
assistant-editor, of "Tlie Illinois Teacher," a con- 
tributor to "The Century Magazine" and "The 
Dial" of Chicago, besides having published a 
"Digest of the Laws of Odd Fellowship" in six- 
teen volumes, begun while he was Grand Secre- 
tary of the Order in 1864, and continued in 1872 
and '83; a "Synopsis of History and Historical 
Chart," covering the period from B. C. 800 
to A. D. 1876 — of which he has had a second 
edition in course of preparation. Of late years 
he has been engaged upon a "Historical Diction- 
ary of Names and Places," which will include 
some 13,000 topics, and which promises to be the 
most important work of his life. Previous to the 
war he was an avowed Abolitionist and operator 
on the "Underground Railroad," who made no 
concealment of his opinions, and, on one or two 
occasions, was called to answer for them in 
prosecutions under the "Fugitive Slave Act." 
(See "Underground Railroad.") His friend 
and classmate, the late Dr. Batemau, says of 
him: "Dr. Willard is a sound thinker; a clear 
and forcible writer; of broad and accurate 
scholarship; conscientious, genial and kindly, 
and a most estimable gentleman." 

WILLIAMS, Arfhibahl, lawyer and jnrist, 
was born in Montgomery Countj', Ky., June 10, 
1801 ; with moderate advantages but natural 
fondness for study, he chose tlie profession of 
law, and was admitted to the bar in Tennessee 
in 1838, coming to Quincy, III, the following 
year. He was elected to the General Assembly 
three times — serving in the Senate in 1833-36, and 
in the House, 1836-40; was United States District 
Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, by 
appointment of President Taylor, 1849 53; was 
twice the candidate of his party (the Whig) for 
United States Senator, and appointed by Presi- 
dent Lincoln, in 1861, United States District 
Judge for the State of Kansas. His abilities and 
high character were widely recognized. Died, 
in Quincy, Sept. 31, 1863— His son, John H., an 
attorney at Quincy, served as Judge of tlie Cir- 
cuit Court 1879-85.— Another son, Abraham Lin- 
coln, was twice elected Attorney-General of 
Kansas. 

WILLIAMS, Erastiis Smith, lawyer and ju- 
rist, was born at Salem, N. Y., May 22, 1831. In 
1842 he removed to Chicago, where, after reading 
law, he was admitted to the bar in 1844. In 1854 
he was appointed Master in Chancery, which 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



591 



office he filled until 1863, when he was elected a 
Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. 
After re-election in 1870 he became Chief Justice, 
and, at the same time, heard most of the cases on 
the equity side of the court. In 1879 he was a 
candidate for re-election as a Republican, but 
was defeated with the party ticket. After his 
retirement from the bench he resumed private 
practice. Died, Feb. 34, 1884. 

WILLIAMS, James R., Congressman, was 
born in White County, 111., Dec. 37, 1850, at the 
age of 33 graduated from the Indiana State Uni- 
versity, at Bloomington, and, in 1876, from the 
Union College of Law, Chicago, since then being 
an active and successful practitioner at Carmi. 
In 1880 he was appointed Master in Chancery and 
served two years. From 1883 to 1886 he was 
County Judge. In 1893 he was a nominee on 
the Democratic ticket for Presidential Elector. 
He was elected to represent the Nineteenth Illi- 
nois District in the Fifty-first Congress at a 
special election held to fill the vacancy occasioned 
by the death of R. W. Townshend, was re-elected 
in 1890 and 1892, but defeated by Orlando Burrell 
(Republican) for re-election in the newly organ- 
ized Twentieth District in 1894. In 1898 he was 
again a candidate and elected to the Fifty-sixth 
Congress. 

WILLIAMS, John, pioneer merchant, was 
born in Bath County, Ky., Sept. 11, 1808; be- 
tween 14 and 16 years of age was clerk in a store 
in his native State; then, joining his parents, 
who had settled on a tract of land in a part of 
Sangamon (now Menard) County, 111., he found 
employment as clerk in the store of Major Elijah 
lies, at Springfield, whom he succeeded in busi- 
ness at the age of 23, continuing it without inter- 
ruption until 1880. In 18.56 Mr. Williams was 
the Republican candidate for Congress in the 
Springfield District, and, in 1861, was appointed 
Commissary-General for the State, rendering 
valuable service in furnishing supplies for State 
troops, in camps of instruction and while proceed- 
ing to the field, in the first years of the war ; was 
also chief officer of the Illinois Sanitary Commis- 
sion for two years, and, as one of the intimate 
personal friends of Mr. Lincoln, was chosen to 
accompany the remains of the martyred President, 
from Washington to Springfield, for burial. 
Liberal, enterprising and public-spirited, his name 
■was associated with nearly every public enter- 
prise of importance in Springfield during his 
business career — being one of the founders, and, 
for eleven years President, of the First National 
Bank; a chief promoter in the construction of 



what is now the Springfield Division of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, and the Springfield and 
Peoria line; a Director of the Springfield Iron 
Company ; one of the Commissioners who con- 
structed the Springfield water-works, and an 
officer of the Lincoln Monument Association, 
from 1865 to his death. May 29, 1890. 

WILLIAMS, Norman, lawyer, was born at 
Woodstock, Vt., Feb. 1, 1833, being related, on 
both the paternal and maternal sides, to some of 
the most prominent families of New England. 
He fitted for college at Union Academy, Meriden, 
and graduated from the University of Vermont 
in the class of 1855. After taking a course in 
the Albany Law School and with a law firm in 
his native town, he was admitted to practice in 
both New York and Vermont, removed to Chi- 
cago in 1858, and, in 1860, became a member of 
the firm of King, Kales & Williams, still later 
forming a partnership with Gen. John L. Thomp- 
son, which ended with the death of the latter in 
1888. In a professional capacity he assisted in 
the organization of the Pullman Palace Car Com- 
pany, and was a member of its Board of Directors ; 
also assisted in organizing the Western Electric 
Company, and was prominently identified with 
the Chicago Telephone Company and the Western 
Union Telegraph Company. In 1881 he served as 
the United States Commissioner to the Electrical 
Exposition at Paris. In conjunction with his 
brother (Edward H. Williams) he assisted in 
founding the public library at Woodstock, Vt., 
which, in honor of his father, received the name 
of "The Norman Williams Public Library.", 
With Col. Huntington W. Jackson and J. Mc- 
Gregor Adams, Mr. Williams was named, in tlie 
will of the late John Crerar, as an executor of the 
Crerar estate and one of the Trustees of the 
Crerar Public Library, and became its first Presi- 
dent ; was also a Director of the Chicago Pub- 
lic Library, and trustee of a number of large 
estates. Mr. Williams was a, son-in-law of the 
late Judge John D. Caton, and his oldest daughter 
became the wife of Major-General Wesley Mer- 
ritt, a few months before his death, which oc- 
curred at Hampton Beach, N. H., June 19, 1899 
— his remains being interred in his native town 
of Woodstock, Vt. 

WILLIAMS, Robert Ebenezer, lawyer, born 
Dec. 3, 1825, at Clarksville, Pa., his grandfathers 
on both sides being soldiers of the Revolutionary 
War. In 1830 his parents removed to Washing- 
ton in the same State, where in boyhood ha 
worked as a mechanic in his father's shop, 
attending a common school in the winter until 



692 



niSTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



he reached the age of 17 years, when he entered 
Washington College, remaining for more than a 
year. He then began teaching, and, in 1845 
went to Kentucky, where he pursued the business 
of a teacher for four years. Then he entered 
Bethany College in West Virginia, at the same 
time prosecuting his law studies, but left at the 
close of his junior year, when, having been 
licensed to practice, he removed to Clinton, 
Texas. Here he accepted, from a retired lawj^er, 
the loan of a law library, which he afterwards 
purchased; served for two years as State's Attor- 
ney, and, in 1856, came to Bloomington, 111., 
where he spent the remainder of his life in the 
practice of his profession. Much of his time was 
devoted to practice as a railroad attorney, espe- 
cially in connection with the Chicago & Alton and 
the Illinois Central Railroads, in which he 
acquired prominence and wealth. He was a hfe- 
long Democrat and, in 1868, was the unsuccessful 
candidate of his part}' for Attorney-General of 
the State. The last three years of his life he had 
been in bad health, dying at Bloomington, Feb. 
15, 1899. 

WILLIAMS, Samuel, Bank President, was born 
in Adams County, Ohio, July 11, 1830; came to 
Winnebago County, 111., in 1835, and, in 1842, 
removed to Iroquois County, where he held vari- 
ous local offices, including that of Countj' Judge, 
to which he was elected in 1861. During his 
later years he had been President of the Watseka 
Citizens' Bank. Died, June 16, 1896. 

WILLIAMSON, Rollin Samuel, legislator and 
jurist, was born at Cornwall, Vt. , May 23, 1839. 
At the age of 14 he went to Boston, where he 
began life as a telegraph messenger boy. In 
two years he had become a skillful operator, and, 
as such, was employed in various offices in New 
England and New York. In 1857 he came to 
Chicago seeking employment and, through the 
fortunate correction of an error on the part of 
the receiver of a message, secvu-ed the position of 
operator and station agent at Palatine, Cook 
County. Here he read law during his leisure 
time without a preceptor, and, in 1870, was 
admitted to the bar. The same year he was 
elected to the lower House of the General 
Assemblj' and, in 1872, to the Senate. In 1880 he 
was elected to the bench of the Superior Court of 
Cook County, and, in 1887, was chosen a Judge 
of the Cook County Circuit Court. Died, Au- 
gust 10, 1889. 

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, in the southern part 
of the State, originally set off from Franklin and 
organized in 1839. The county is well watered. 



the principal streams being the Big Muddy and 
the South Fork of the Saline. The surface is 
undulating and the soil fertile. The region was 
originally well covered with forests. AU the 
cereals (as well as potatoes) are cultivated, and 
rich meadows encourage stock-raising. Coal and 
sandstone underlie the entire county. Area, 440 
square miles; population (1880), 19,324: (1890) 
22,226; (1900), 27,796. 

WILLIAMSTILLE, village of Sangamon Coun- 
ty, on Chicago & Alton Railroad, 12 miles north 
of Springfield : has a bank, elevator, 3 churches, 
a newspaper and coal-mines. Pop. (1900), 573. 

WILLIS, Jonathan Clay, soldier and former 
Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner, was born 
in Sumner County, Tenn., June 27, 1826; brought 
to Gallatin County, 111., in 1834, and settled at 
Golconda in 1843; was elected Sheriff of Pope 
County in 1856, removed to Metropolis in 1859, 
and engaged in the wharf-boat and commission 
business. He entered the service as Quarter- 
master of the Forty -eighth Illinois Volunteers in 
1861, but was compelled to resign on account of 
injuries, in 1863 ; was elected Representative in 
the Twenty-sixth General Assembly (1868), 
appointed Collector of Internal Revenue in 1869, 
and Railway and Warehouse Commissioner in 
1892, as the successor of John R. Tanner, serving 
until 1893. 

WILMETTE, a village in Cook County, 14 miles 
north of Chicago, on the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroad, a handsome suburb of Chicago on the 
shore of L'ake Michigan; principal streets paved 
and shaded with fine forest trees; has public 
librarv and good schools. Pop. (1900), 2,300. 

WILMINGTON, a city of Will County, on the 
Kankakee River and the Chicago & Alton Rail- 
road, 53 miles from Chicago and 15 south-south- 
west of Joliet; has considerable manufactures, 
two National banks, a graded school, churches 
and one newspaper. Wilmington is the location 
of the Illinois Soldiers' Widows' Home. Popu- 
lation (1890), 1,576; (1900), 1,420. 

WILSON, Charles Lush, journalist, was bom 
in Fairfield County, Conn., Oct. 10, 1818, edu- 
cated in the common schools and at an academy 
in his native State, and, in 1835, removed to Chi- 
cago, entering the employment of his older 
brothers, who were connected with the construc- 
tion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal at Joliet. 
His brother, Richard L., having assumed charge 
of "The Chicago Daily Journal" (the successor 
of "The Chicago American"), in;i844, Charles L. 
took a position in the office, ultimately securing 
a partnership, which continued until the death 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



593 



of his brother in 1856, when he succeeded to the 
ownership of the paper. Mr. Wilson was an 
ardent friend and supporter of Abraham Lincoln 
for the United States Senate in 1858, but, in 1860, 
favored the nomination of Mr. Seward for the 
Presidency, though earnestl}' supporting Mr. Lin- 
coln after his nomination. In 1861 he was 
appointed Secretary of the American Legation at 
London, serving with the late Minister Charles 
Francis Adams, imtil 1864, when he resigned and 
resumed his connection with "The Journal."' In 
1875 his health began to fail, and three years 
later, having gone to San Antonio, Tex., in the 
hope of receiving benefit from a change of cli- 
mate, he died in that city, March 9, 1878. — 
Kichard Lush (Wilson), an older brother of the 
preceding, the first editor and publisher of "The 
Chicago Evening Journal," the oldest paper of 
consecutive publication in Chicago, was a native 
of New York. Coming to Chicago with his 
brother John L., in 1834, they soon after estab- 
lished themselves in business on the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, then in course of construction. 
In 1844 he took charge of "The Chicago Daily 
Journal" for a publishing committee which had 
purchased the material of "The Chicago Ameri- 
can," but soon after became principal proprietor. 
In April, 1847, while firing a salute in honor of 
the victory of Buena Vista, he lost an arm and 
was otherwise injured by the explosion of the can- 
non. Early in 1849, he was appointed, by Presi- 
dent Taylor, Postmaster of the city of Chicago, 
but, having failed of confirmation, was compelled 
to retire in favor of a successor appointed by 
Millard Fillmore, eleven months later. Mr. 
Wilson published a little volume in 1843 entitled 
"A Trip to Santa Fe, " and, a few years later, 
a story of travel under the title, "Short Ravel- 
lings from a Long Yarn." Died, December, 18.56. 
—John Lush (Wilson), another brother, also a 
native of New York, came to Illinois in 1834, was 
afterwards associated with his brothers in busi- 
ness, being for a time bvisiness manager of "The 
Chicago Journal;" also served one term as Sher- 
iff of Cook County. Died, in Chicago, April 13, 
1888. 

WILSON, Isaac Grant, jurist, was born at 
Middlebury, N. Y., April 26, 1817, graduated 
from Brown University in 1838, and the same 
year came to Chicago, whither his father's 
family had preceded him in 1835. After reading 
law for two years, he entered the senior class at 
Cambridge (Mass.) Law School, graduating in 
1841. In August of that year he opened an 
ofiioe at Elgin, and, for ten years "rode the cir- 



cuit." In 1851 he was elected to the bench of 
the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit to fill a vacancy, 
and re-elected for a full term in 1855, and again 
in '61. In November of the latter year he was 
commissioned the first Colonel of the Fifty- 
second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but resigned, 
a few weeks later, and resumed his place upon 
the bench. From 1867 to 1879 he devoted him- 
self to private practice, which was largely iu 
the Federal Courts. In 1879 he resmned his seat 
upon the bench (this time for the Twelfth Cir- 
cuit), and was at once designated as one of the 
Judges of the Appellate Court at Chicago, of 
which tribunal he became Chief Justice in 1881. 
In 1885 he was re-elected Circuit Judge, but died, 
about the close of his term, at Geneva, June 8, 
1891. 

WILSON, James Grant, soldier and author, 
was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, April 28, 1832, 
and, when only a year old, was brought by his 
father, William Wilson, to America. The family 
settled at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. , where James 
Grant was educated at College Hill and under 
private teachers. After finishing his studies he 
became his father's partner in business, but, in 
1855, went abroad, and, shortly after his return, 
removed to Chicago, where he founded the first 
literary paper established in the Northwest. At 
the outbreak of the Civil War, he disposed of his 
journal to enlist in the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, 
of which he was commissioned Major and after- 
wards promoted to the colonelcy. In August, 
1863, while at New Orleans, by advice of General 
Grant, he accepted a commission as Colonel of 
the Fourth Regiment United States Colored 
Cavalry, and was assigned, as Aid-de-camp, to 
the staff of the Commander of the Department of 
the Gulf, filling this post until April, 1865. 
When General Banks was relieved. Colonel Wil- 
son was brevetted Brigadier-General and placed 
in command at Port Hudson, resigning in July, 
1865, since which time his home has been in New 
York. He is best known as an author, having 
published numerous addresses, and being a fre- 
quent contributor to American and European 
magazines. Among larger works which he has 
written or edited are "Biographical Sketches of 
Illinois Officers"; "Love in Letters"; "Life of 
General U. S. Grant"; "Life and Letters of 
Fitz Greene Halleck"; "Poets and Poetry of 
Scotland"; "Bryant and His Friends", and 
"Appleton"s Cyclopedia of American Biography. " 

WILSON, James Harrison, soldier and mili- 
tary engineer, was born near Shawneetown, 111., 
Sept. 2, 1837. His grandfather, Alexander Wil- 



594 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



son, was one of the pioneers of Illinois, and 
his father (Harrison Wilson) was an ensign dur- 
ing the War of 1812 and a Captain in the Black 
Hawk War. His brother (Bluford Wilson) 
served as Assistant Adjutant-General of Volun- 
teers during tlie Civil War, and as Solicitor of the 
United States Treasury during the ''whisky ring" 
prosecutions. James H. was educated in the 
common schools, at McKendree College, and 
the United States Military Academy at West 
Point, graduating from the latter in 1860, and 
being assigned to the Topographical Engineer 
Corps. In September, 1861, he was promoted to 
a First Lieutenancy, then served as Chief Topo- 
graphical Engineer of the Port Royal expedition 
until March, 1863; was afterwards attached to 
the Department of the South, being present at 
the bombardment of Fort Pulaski; was Aid-de- 
camp to McClellan, and participated in the bat- 
tles of South Mountain and Antietam ; was made 
Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers in November, 
18G2; was Chief Topographical Engineer and 
Inspector;General of the Army of the Tennessee 
imtil October, 1863, being actively engaged in 
the operations around Vicksburg; was made 
Captain of Engineers in May, 1863, and Brigadier- 
General of Volunteers, Oct. 31, following. He 
also conducted operations preliminary to the 
battle of Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge, and 
for the relief of Knoxville. Later, he was placed 
in command of the Third Division of the cavalry 
corps of the Army of the Potomac, serving from 
May to August, 1864, imder General Sheridan. 
Subsequently he was transferred to the Depart- 
ment of tlie IMississippi, where he so distinguished 
himself that, on April 20, 1865, he was made 
Major-General of Volunteers. In twenty-eight 
days he captured five fortified cities, twenty- 
three stands of colors, 288 guns and 6,820 prison- 
ers — among the latter being Jefferson Davis. He 
was mustered out of the volunteer service in 
January, 1866, and, on Jul}' 28, following, was 
commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty- 
fifth United States Infantry, being also brevetted 
Major-General in the regular army. On Dec. 31, 
1870, he returned to civil life, and was afterwards 
largely engaged in railroad and engineering oper- 
ations, especially in West Virginia. Promptly 
after the declaration of war with Spain (1898) 
General Wilson was appointed, by the President, 
Major-General of Volunteers, serving until its 
close. He is the author of "China: Travels and 
Investigations in the Middle Kingdom" ; "Life of 
Andrew J. Alexander"; and the "Life of Gen. 
U. S. Grant," in conjunction with Charles A. 



Dana. His home, in recent years, has been in 
New York. 

WILSOX, John M., lawyer and jurist, was 
born in New Hampshire in 1802, graduated at 
Bowdoin College in 1824 — the classmate of Frank- 
lin Pierce and Nathaniel Ha%vthorne ; studied law 
in New Hampshire and came to Illinois in 183.5, 
locating at Joliet; removed to Chicago in 1841, 
■where he was the partner of Norman B. Judd, 
serving, at different periods, as attorney of the 
Chicago & Rock Island, the Lake Shore & Michi- 
gan Southern and the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railways; was Judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas of Cook County, 1853-59, when he became 
Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of Chicago, 
serving until 1868. Died, Dec. 7, 1883. 

WILSON, Jolin P., lawyer, was born in White- 
side County, 111., July 3, 1844; educated in the 
common schools and at Knox College, Galesburg, 
graduating from the latter in 1865; two years 
later was admitted to the bar in Chicago, and 
speedily attained prominence in his profession. 
During the World's Fair period he was retained 
as counsel by the Committee on Grounds and 
Buildings, and was prominently connected, as 
counsel for the city, with the Lake Front litiga- 
tion. 

WILSON, Robert L., early legislator, was born 
in Washington County, Pa., Sept. 11. 1805, taken 
to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1810, graduated at Frank- 
lin College in 1831, studied law and, in 1833, 
removed to Atliens (now in Menard County), 111. ; 
was elected Representative in 1836, and was one 
of the members from Sangamon County, known 
as the "Long Nine," who assisted in securing the 
removal of the State Capital to Springfield. Mr. 
Wilson removed to Sterling, Whiteside County, 
in 1840, was elected five times Circuit Clerk and 
served eight years as Probate Judge. Immedi- 
ately after the fall of Fort Sumter, he enlisted as 
private in a battalion in Washington City under 
command of Cassius M. Clay, for guard duty 
until the arrival of the Seventh New York Regi- 
ment. He subsequently assisted in raising 
troops in Illinois, was appointed Paymaster by 
Lincoln, serving at Washington, St. Louis, and, 
after the fall of Vicksburg, at Springfield — being 
mustered out in November, 1865. Died, in White- 
side County, 1880. 

WILSON, Robert S., lawyer and jurist, was 
born at Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pa. , Nov. 
6, 1812; learned the printer's art, then studied 
law and was admitted to the bar in Allegheny 
County, about 1833; in 1836 removed to Ann 
Arbor, Mich., where he served as Probate Judge 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



595 



and State Senator; in 1850 came to Chicago, was 
elected Judge of the Recorder's Court in 1853, 
and re-elected in 1858, serving ten years, and 
proving "a terror to evildoers." Died, at Law- 
rence, Mich., Dec. 23, 1883. 

WILSOX, William, early jurist, was born in 
Loudoun Coimty, Va., April 27, 1794; studied law 
with Hon. John Cook, a distinguished lawyer, 
and minister to France in the early part of the 
century; in 1817 removed to Kentucky, soon after 
came to Illinois, two years later locating in White 
County, near Carmi, which continued to be his 
home dming the remainder of his life. In 1819 
he was appointed Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court as successor to William P. 
Foster, who is described by Governor Ford as 
"a great rascal and no lawyer," and who held 
office onlj' about nine months. Judge Wilson 
was re-elected to the Supreme bench, as Chief- 
Justice, in 1825, being then only a little over 30 
years old, and held office until the reorganization 
of the Supreme Court under the Constitution of 
1848 — a period of over twenty-nine years, and, 
with the exception of Judge Browne's, the long- 
est term of service in the history of the court. 
He died at his home in White County, April 29, 
1857. A Whig in early life, he allied himself 
with the Democratic party on the dissolution of 
the former. Hon. James C. Conkling, of Spring- 
field, says of him, "as a writer, his .style was clear 
and distinct; as a lawyer, his judgment was 
sound and discriminating." 

WINCHESTER, a city and county-seat of Scott 
County, founded in 1839, situated on Big Sandy 
Creek and on tlie line of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad, 29 miles south of Beardstov>n 
and 84 miles north by west of St. Louis. While 
the surrounding region is agricultural and largely 
devoted to wheat growing, there is some coal 
mining. Winchester is an important shipping- 
point, having three grain elevators, two flouring 
mills, and a coal mine employing fifty miners. 
There are four Protestant and one Catholic 
church, a court house, a high school, a graded 
school building, two banks and two weekly news- 
papers. Population (1880), 1,636; (1890), 1,542; 
(1900), 1,711. 

WINDSOR, a city of Shelby County at the cross- 
ing of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis and the Wabash Railways, 11 miles north- 
east of Shelbyville. Population (1880), 768; 
(1890), 888; (1900), 866. 

WINES, Frederick Howard, clergyman and 
sociologist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 
9, 1838, graduated at Washington (Pa. ) College 



in 1857, and, after serving as tutor there for a 
short time, entered Princeton Theological Semi- 
nary, but was compelled temporarily to discon- 
tinue his studies on account of a weakness of 
the eyes. The Presbytery of St. Louis licensed 
him to preach in 1860, and, in 1862, he was com- 
missioned Hospital Chaplain in the Union army. 
During 1862-64 he was stationed at Springfield, 
Mo., participating in the battle of Springfield on 
Jan. 8, 1863, and being personally mentioned for 
bravery on the field in the oflicial report. Re- 
entering the seminary at Princeton in 1864, he 
graduated in 1865, and at once accepted a call to 
the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Springfield, 111., which he filled for four years. 
In 1869 he was appointed Secretary of the newly 
created Board of Commissioners of Public Chari- 
ties of Illinois, in which capacity he continued 
until 1893, when he resigned. For the ne.\t four 
years he was chiefly engaged in literary work, in 
lecturing before universities on topics connected 
with social science, in aiding in the organization 
of charitable work, and in the conduct of a 
thorough investigation into the relations between 
liquor legislation and crime. At an early period 
he took a prominent part in organizing the 
various Boards of Public Charities of the United 
States into an organization known as the National 
Conference of Charities and Corrections, and, at 
the Louisville meeting (1883), was elected its 
President. At the International Penitentiary 
Congress at Stockholm (1878) he was the official 
delegate from Illinois. On his return, as a result 
of his observations while abroad, he submitted 
to the Legislature a report strongly advocating 
the construction of the Kankakee Hospital for 
the Inisane, then about to be built, upon tlie 
"detached ward" or "village" plan, a departure 
from then existing methods, which marks an era 
in the treatment of insane in the United States. 
Mr. Wines conducted the investigation into the 
condition and number of the defective, depend- 
ent and delinquent classes throughout the coun- 
try, his report constituting a separate volume 
under the "Tenth Census," and rendered a simi- 
lar service in connection with the eleventh 
census (1890). In 1887 he was elected Secretary 
of the National Prison Association, succeeding to 
the post formerly held by his father, Enoch Cobb 
Wines, D.D., LL.D. After the inauguration of 
Governor Tanner in 1897, he resumed his former 
position of Secretary of the Board of Public 
Charities, remaining until 1899, when he again 
tendered his resignation, having received the 
appointment to the position of Assistant Director 



696 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



of the Twelfth Census, which he now holds. He 
is the author of "Crime and Reformation" (1895) ; 
of a voliuninous series of reports ; also of numer- 
our. pamphlets and brochures, among which may 
be mentioned "The County Jail System; An 
Argument for its Abolition" (1878) ; "The Kanka- 
kee Hospital" (1882); "Provision for the Insane 
in the United States" (188.5); "Conditional 
Liberation, or the Paroling of Prisoners" (1886), 
and "American Prisons in the Tenth Census" 
(1888). 

WINES, Walter B., lawyer (brother of Freder- 
ick H. Wines), was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 
10, 1848, received his jDrimary education at Willis- 
ton Academy, East HaniD^on, Mass., after which 
lie entered Middlebury College, Vt., taking a 
classical course and graduating there. He after- 
wards became a student in the law department 
of Columbia College, N. Y., graduating in 1871, 
being admitted to the bar the same year and 
commencing practice in New York City. In 1879 
he came to Springfield, 111. , and was, for a time, 
identified with the bar of that city. Later, he 
removed to Chicago, where he has been engaged 
in literary and journalistic work. 

WIXNEBAGO COUNTY, situated in the 
"northern tier," bordering on the Wisconsin 
State line ; was organized, under an act passed in 
1836, from La Salle and Jo Daviess Counties, and 
has an area of 552 square miles. The county is 
drained by the Rock and Pecatonica Rivers. 
The surface is rolling prairie and the soil fertile. 
Tlie geology is simple, the quaternary deposits 
being underlaid by the Galena blue and buff 
limestone, adapted for building purposes. All 
the cereals are raised in abundance, the chief 
product being corn. The Winnebago Indians 
(wlio gave name to the county) formerly lived 
on the west side of the Rock River, and the Potta- 
watomies on the east, but both tribes removed 
westward in 18:^5. (As to manufacturing inter- 
ests, see Rockford.) Population (1880), 30,505; 
(1890), 39,938; (1000), 47,845 

WINNEBAGO WAR. The name given to an 
Indian disturbance which had its origin in 1827, 
during the administration of Gov. Ninian 
Edwards. The Indians had been quiet since the 
conclusion of the War of 1812, but a few isolated 
outrages were sufficient to start terrified "run- 
ners" in all directions. In the northern portion 
of the State, from Galena to Chicago (then Fort 
Dearborn) the alarm was intense. The meagre 
militia force of the State was summoned and 
volunteers were called for. Meanwhile, 600 
United States Regular Infantry, under command 



of Gen. Henry Atkinson, put in an appearance. 
Besides the infantry, Atkinson had at his disposal 
some 130 mounted sharpshooters. The origin of 
the disturbance was as follows: The Winne- 
bagoes attacked a band of Chippewas, who were 
(by treaty) under Government potection, several 
of the latter being killed. For participation in 
this offense, four Winnebago Indians were sum- 
marilj- apprehended, surrendered to the Chippe- 
was and shot. Meanwhile, some dispute had 
arisen as to the title of the lands, claimed by the 
Winnebagoes in the vicinity of Galeiua, which 
had been occupied by wliite miners. Repeated 
acts of hostility and of reprisal, along the Upper 
Mississippi, intensified mutual distrust. A gather- 
ing of the Indians around two keel-boats, laden 
with supplies for Fort Snelling, which had 
anchored near Prairie du Chien and opposite a 
Winnebago camp, was regarded by the whites as 
a hostile act. Liquor was freely distributed, and 
there is historical evidence that a half-dozen 
drunken squaws were carried off and shamefully 
maltreated. Several hundred warriors assembled 
to avenge the deception which had been practiced 
upon them. They laid in ambush for the boats 
on their return trip. The first passed too rapidly 
to be successfully assailed, but the second 
grounded and was savagely, yet unsuccessfully, 
attacked. The presence of General Atkinson's 
forces prevented an actual outbreak, and, on his 
demand, the great Winnebago Cliief, Red Bird, 
with six other leading men of the tribe, sur- 
rendered themselves as hostages to save their 
nation from extermination. A majority of these 
were, after trial, acquitted. Red Bird, however, 
unable to endure confinement, literally pined to 
death in pri.son, dying on Feb. 16, 1828. He is 
described as having been a savage of supei'ior 
intelligence and noble character. A treaty of 
peace was concluded with the Winnebagoes in a 
council held at Prairie du Chien, a few months 
later, but the alTair seems to have produced as 
much alarm among the Indians as it did among 
tlie whites. (For Winnebago Indians see page 576. ) 

WINNETKA, a village of Cook County, on the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 16Vi miles 
north of Chicago. It stands eiglity feet above 
the level of Lake Michigan, has good schools 
(being the seat of the Winnetka Institute), sev- 
eral churches, and is a popular residence town. 
Population (1880). .584; (1890), 1,079; (1000), 1,S.S3. 

WINSTON, Frederick Hampton, lawyer, was 
born in Liberty County, Ga., Nov. 20, 1830, was 
brought to Woodford County, Ky., in 1835, left 
an orphan at 12, and attended the common 



IIISTOKICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



507 



schools until 18, when, returning to Georgia, he 
engaged in cotton manufacture. He finally 
began the study of law with United States Sena- 
tor W. C. Dawson, and graduated from Harvard 
Law School in 1853; spent some time in the office 
of W. M. Evarts in New York, was admitted to 
the bar and came to Chicago in 1853, where he 
formed a partnership with Norman B. Judd, 
afterwards being associated with Judge Henry 
W. Blodgett; served as general solicitor of the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the Chicago, 
Rock Island & Pacific and the Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago Railways — remaining with the 
latter twenty years. In 1885 he was appointed, 
by President Cleveland, Minister to Persia, but 
resigned the following year, and traveled exten- 
sively in Russia, Scandinavia and other foreign 
countries. Mr. Winston was a delegate to the 
Democratic National Conventions of 1868. "76 and 
■84; first President of the Stock Yards at Jersey 
City, for twelve years President of the Lincoln 
Park Commission, and a Director of the Lincoln 
National Bank. 

WISCONSIIV CENTRAL LINES. The Wiscon- 
sin Central Company was organized, June 17, 
1887, and subsequently acquired the Minnesota, 
St. Croix & Wisconsin, the Wisconsin & Minne- 
sota, the Chippewa Falls & Western, tlie St. 
Paul cS: St. Croix Falls, the Wisconsin Central, the 
Penokee, and the Packwaukee & Montebello Rail- 
roads, and assumed the leases of the Milwaukee 
& Lake Winnebago and the Wisconsin & Minne- 
sota Roads. On July 1, 1888, the company began 
to operate the entire Wisconsin Central system, 
with the exception of the Wisconsin Central 
Railroad and the leased Milwaukee & Lake Win- 
nebago, which remained in charge of the Wis- 
consin Central Railroad mortgage trustees until 
Nov. 1, 1889, when these, too, passed under the 
control of the Wisconsin Central Company. The 
Wisconsin Central Railroad Company is a re- 
organization (Oct. 1, 1879) of a company formed 
Jan. 1, 1871. The Wisconsin Central and the 
Wisconsin Central Railroad Companies, though 
differing in name, are a financial unit; the 
former holding most of the first mortgage bonds 
of the latter, and substantially all its notes, stocks 
and income bonds, but, for legal reasons (such as 
the protection of land titles), it is necessary that 
separate corporations be maintained. On April 
1, 1890, the Wisconsin Central Company executed 
a lease to the Northern Pacific Railroad, but this 
was set aside by the courts, on Sept. 27, 1893, for 
non-payment of rent, and was finally canceled. 
On the same day receivers were appointed to 



insure the protection of all interests. The total 
mileage is 415.40 miles, of which the Company 
owns 258.90— only .10 of a mile in Illinois. A 
line. 58.10 miles in length, with 8.44 miles of 
side-track (total, 66.54 miles), lying wholly within 
the State of Illinois, is operated by the Chicago & 
Wisconsin and furnishes the allied line an en- 
trance into Chicago. 

WITHROW, Thomas F., lawyer, was born in 
Virginia in March, 1833, removed with his parents 
to Ohio in childhood, attended the Western 
Reserve College, and, after the death of his 
father, taught school and worked as a printer, 
later, editing a paper at Mount Vernon. In 1855 
he removed to Janesville, Wis., where he again 
engaged in journalistic work, studied law, was 
admitted to the bar in Iowa in 1857, settled at 
Des Moines and served as private secretary of 
Governors Lowe and Kirkwood. In 1860 he 
became Supreme Court Reporter; served as 
Chairman of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee in 1863 and, in 1866, became associated 
with the Rock Island Railroad in the capacity of 
local attorney, was made chief law officer of the 
Company in 1873, and removed to Chicago, and, 
in 1890. was promoted to the position of General 
C(musel. Died, in Chicago, Feb. 3, 1893. 

WOLCOTT, (Dr.) Alexander, early Indian 
Agent, was born at East Windsor, Conn., Feb. 
14, 1790; graduated from Y'ale College in 1809, 
and, after a course in medicine, was commis- 
sioned, in 1812, Surgeon's Mate in the United 
States Army. In 1820 he was appointed Indian 
Agent at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), as suc- 
cessor to Charles Jouett — tlie first Agent — who 
had been appointed a United States Judge in 
Arkansas. The same j-ear he accompanied Gen- 
eral Lewis Cass and Henry Schoolcraft on their 
tour among the Indians of the Northwest; was 
married in 1823 to Ellen Marion Kinzie, a 
daughter of Col. John Kinzie, the first perma- 
nent settler of Chicago ; in 1825 was appointed a 
Justice of the Peace for Peoria County, which 
then included Cook County; was a Judge of 
Election in 1830, and one of the purchasers of a 
block of ground in the heart of the present city 
of Cliicago, at the fir.st sale of lots, held Sept. 27, 
1830. but died before the close of the year. Dr. 
Wolcott appears to have been a high-minded and 
honorable man, as well as far in advance of the 
mass of pioneers in point of education and intel- 
ligence. 

WOMAN'S MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CHI- 
CAGO. (See Northwestern University Woman's 
Medical School.) 



698 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE. (See Suffrage.) 

WOOD, Benson, lawyer and Congressman, was 
born in Susquehanna County, Pa., in 1839; re- 
ceived a common school and academic education ; 
at tlie age of 20 came to Illinois, and, for two 
years, taught school in Lee County. He then 
enlisted as a soldier in an Illinois regiment, 
attaining the rank of Captain of Infantry ; after 
the war, graduated from the Law Department of 
the old Chicago University, and has since been 
engaged in the practice of his profession. He 
was elected a member of the Twenty-eighth Gen- 
eral Assembly (1872) and was a delegate to the 
Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 
1888 ; also served as Mayor of the city of Effing- 
ham, where he now resides. In 1894 he was 
elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress by the 
Republicans of the Nineteenth District, which has 
uniformly returned a Democrat, and, in office, 
proved himself a most industrious and efficient 
member. Mr. Wood was defeated as a candidate 
for re-election in 189G. 

wool), John, pioneer, Lieutenant-Governor 
and Governor, was born at Moravia, N. Y. , Dec. 
20, 1798 — his father being a Revolutionary soldier 
who had served as Surgeon and Captain in the 
army. At the age of 21 j^ears yoimg Wood re- 
moved to Illinois, settling in what is now Adams 
County, and building the first log-cabin on the site 
of the present city of Quincy. He was a member 
of the upper house of the Seventeenth and Eight- 
eenth General Assemblies, and was elected Lieu- 
tenant-Governor in 1859 on the same ticket with 
Governor Bissell, and served out the unexpired 
term of the latter, who died in office. (See Bis- 
sell, William H.) He was succeeded by Richard 
Yates in 1861. In February of that year he was 
appointed one of the five Commissioners from 
Illinois to the "Peace Conference" at Wash- 
ington, to consider methods for averting 
civil war. The following May he was appointed 
Quartermaster-General for the State by Governor 
Yates, and assisted most efficiently in fitting out 
the troops for the field. In June, 1864, he was 
commissioned Colonel of the One Hundred and 
Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers (100-days' men) 
and mustered out of service the following Sep- 
tember. Died, at Quincy, June 11, 1880. He 
was liberal, patriotic and public-spirited. His 
fellow-citizens of Quincy erected a monument to 
his memory, which was appropriately dedicated, 
July 4, 1883. 

WOODFORD COUNTY, situated a little north 
of the center of the State, bounded on the west 
by the Illinois River; organized in 1841; area, 



540 square miles. The surface is generally level, 
except along the Illinois River, the soil fertile 
and well watered. The county lies in the north- 
ern section of the great coal field of the State. 
Eureka is the county-seat. Other thriving cities 
and towns are Metamora, Minonk, El Paso and 
Roanoke. Corn, oats, wheat, potatoes and barley 
are the principal crops. The chief mechanical 
industries are flour manufacture, carriage and 
wagon-making, and saddlery and harness work. 
Population (1890), 21,429; (1900), 21,822. 

WOODHULL, a village of Henry County, on 
Keithsburg branch Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad. 15 miles west of Galva; has a bank, 
electric lights, waterworks, brick and tile works, 
six churches and weekly paper. Pop. (1900), 774. 

WOODMAN, Charles W., lawyer and Congress- 
man, was born in Aalborg, Denmark. March 11, 
1844; received his early education in the schools 
of his native country, but took to the sea in 1860, 
following the life of a sailor until 1863, when, 
coming to Philadelphia, he enlisted in the Gulf 
Squadron of the United States. After the war, 
he came to Chicago, and, after reading law for 
some time in the office of James L. High, gradu- 
ated from the 'Law Department of the Chicago 
University in 1871. Some years later he was 
appointed Prosecuting Attorney for some of the 
lower courts, and, in 1881, was nominated by the 
Judges of Cook County as one of the Justices of 
the Peace for the city of Chicago. In 1894 he 
became the Republican candidate for Congress 
from the Fourth District and was elected, but 
failed to secure a renomination in 1896. Died, in 
Elgin Asylum for the Insane, March 18. 1898. 

WOODS, Robert Mann, was born at Greenville, 
Pa., April 17, 1840; came with his parents to Illi- 
nois in 1843, the family settling at Barry, Pike 
County, but subsequently residing at Pittsfield, 
Canton and Galesburg. He was educated at 
Knox College in the latter place, which was his 
home from 1849 to "58; later, taught school in 
Iowa and Missouri until 1861, when he went to 
Sin-ingfleld and began the study of law with 
Milton Hay and Shelby M. CuUom. His law 
studies having been interrupted by the Civil 
War, after spending some time in the mustering 
and disbursing office, he was promoted by Gov- 
ernor Yates to a place in the executive office, 
from which he went to the field as Adjutant of 
the Sixty-fourth Illinois Infantry, known as the 
"Yates Sharp-Shooters."' After participating, 
with the Army of the Tennessee, in the Atlanta 
campaign, he took part in the "March to the 
Sea," and the campaign in the Carolinas, includ- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



59£ 



ing the siege of Savannah and the forcing of the 
Salkahatchie, where he distinguished himself, as 
also in the taking of Columbia, Fajetteville, 
Cheraw, Raleigh and Bentonville. At the latter 
place he had a horse shot under him and won the 
brevet rank of Major for gallantry in the field, 
having previously been commissioned Captain of 
Company A of his regiment. He also served on 
the staffs of Gens. Giles A. Smitli, Benjamin F. 
Potts, and William W. Belknap, and was the last 
mustering officer in General Sherman's army. 
In 1867 Major Woods removed to Chicago, where 
he was in business for a number of years, serving 
as chief clerk of Custom House construction 
from 1873 to 1877. In 1879 he purchased "The 
Daily Republican" at Joliet, which he conducted 
successfully for fifteen years. While connected 
with "The Republican," he served as Secretary of 
the Illinois Republican Press Association and in 
various other positions. 

Major Woods was one of the founders of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, whose birth-place 
was in Illinois. (See Grand Army of the Re2juh- 
lic; also Stephenson, Dr. B. F.) When Dr. 
Stephenson (who had been Surgeon of the Four- 
teenth Illinois Infantry), conceived the idea of 
founding such an order, he called to his assist- 
ance Major Woods, who was then engaged in 
writing the histories of Illinois regiments for the 
Adjutant-General's Report. The Major wrote 
the Constitution and By-laws of the Order, the 
charter blanks for all the reports, etc. The first 
ofiioial order bears his name as the first Adjutant- 
General of the Order, as follows : 

heatkiuarters department of illinois 
Grand Akmy ob* the Republic. 

spkinofxeld, ill., april 1, 1866. 
General Orders '. 

No. 1. f The followiug named officers are hereby 

appointed and aasigned to duty at these headquarters. They 
will be obeyed and respected accordiiigjiy: 
Colonel Jules C. Webber. A.D.C. and Chief of Staff. 
Colonel John M. Snyder, Quartermaster-General. 
Major Robert M. Woods. Adjutant-General. 
Captain John A. Lightfoot, Assistant Adjutant-General. 
Captain John S. Phelps, Aid-de-Camp. 
By order of B. F. Stephenson, Department Commander. 

Robert M. Woods, 

Adjutant-General. 

Major Woods afterwards organized the various 
Departments in the West, and it has been con- 
ceded that he furnished the money necessary to 
carry on the work during the first six months of 
the existence of the Order. He has never 
accepted a nomination or run for any political 
office, but is now engaged in financial business in 
Joliet and Chicago, with his residence in the 
former place. 



WOODSON, David Meade, lawj^er and jurist, 
was born in Jessamine County, Ky., May 18, 
1800; was educated in private schools and at 
Transylvania University, and read law with his 
father. He served a term in the Kentucky Legis- 
lature in 1832, and, in 1834, removed to Illinois, 
settling at CarroUton, Greene County. In 1839 
he was elected State's Attorney and, in 1840, a 
member of the lower house of the Legislature, 
being elected a second time in 1868. In 1843 he 
was the W^hig candidate for Congress in the 
Fifth District, but was defeated by Stephen A. 
Douglas. He was a member of the Constitutional 
Conventions of 1847 and 1869-70. In 1848 he was 
elected a Judge of the First Judicial Circuit, 
remaining in office until 1807. Died, in 1877. 

WOODSTOCK, the county-seat of McHenry 
County, situated on the Chicago & Northwe.stern 
Railway, about 51 miles northwest of Chicago 
and 32 miles east of Rockford. It contains a 
court house, eight churches, four banks, three 
newspaper offices, foundry and machine shops, 
planing mills, canning works, pickle, cheese and 
butter factories. The Oliver Typewriter Factory 
is located here ; the town is also the seat of the 
Todd Seminary for boys. Population (1890), 
1,688; (1900), 3,503. 

WORCESTER, Linus E., State Senator, was 
born in Windsor, Vt., Dec. 5, 1811, was educated 
in the common schools of his native State and at 
Chester Academy, came to Illinois in 1836, and, 
after teaching three years, entered a dry-goods 
store at Whitehall as clerk, later becoming a 
partner. He was also engaged in various other 
branches of business at different times, including 
the drug, hardware, grocery, agricultui-al imple- 
ment and lumber business. In 1843 he was 
appointed Postmaster at Whitehall, serving 
twelve years ; was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1847, served as County Judge for 
six years from 1858, and as Trustee of the Insti- 
tution for the Deaf and Dumb, at Jacksonville, 
from 1859, by successive reappointments, for 
twelve years. In 1856 he was elected, as a Demo- 
crat, to the State Senate, to succeed John M. 
Palmer, resigned ; was re-elected in 1860, and, at 
the session of 1805, was one of the five Demo- 
cratic members of that body who voted for the 
ratification of the Emancipation Amendment of 
the National Constitution. He was elected 
County Judge a second time, in 1863, and re- 
elected in 1867, served as delegate to the Demo- 
cratic National Convention of 1870, and, for more 
than thirty years, was one of the Directors of the 
Jacksonville branch of the Chicago & Alton 



600 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



Railroad, serving from the organization of the 
corporation until his death, which occurred Oct. 
19, 1891. 

WORDEX, a Tillage of Madison County, on the 
Wabash and the Jacksonville, Louisville & St. 
Louis Railways, 33 miles northeast of St. Louis. 
Population (1S90), ."522; (lyOO), .5-44 

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. An 
exhibition of the scientific, liberal and mechan- 
ical arts of all nations, held at Chicago, between 
May 1 and Oct. 31, 1893. The project had its 
inception in November, 1885, in a resolution 
adopted by the directorate of the Chicago Inter- 
State Exposition Company. On July 6, 1888, the 
first well defined action was taken, the Iroquois 
Club, of Chicago, inviting the co-operation of six 
other leading clubs of that city in "securing the 
location of an international celebration at Chi- 
cago of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of 
America by Columbus." In July, 1889, a decisive 
step was taken in the appointment by Mayor 
Cregier, under resolution of the City Council, of 
a committee of 100 (afterwards increased to 256) 
citizens, who were charged with the duty of 
promoting the selection of Chicago as the site for 
the Exposition. New York, Washington and St. 
Louis were competing points, but the choice of 
Congress fell upon Chicago, and the act establish- 
ing the World's Fair at that city was signed by 
President Harrison on April 25, 1890. Under the 
requirements of the law, the President appointed 
eight Commissioners-at-large, with two Commis- 
sioners and two alternates from each State and 
Territory and the District of Columbia. Col. 
George R. Davis, of Chicago, was elected Direc- 
tor-General by the body thus constituted. Ex- 
Senator Thomas M. Palmer, of Michigan, was 
chosen President of the Commission and John T. 
Dickinson, of Texas, Secretary. This Commis- 
sion delegated much of its power to a Board of 
Reference and Control, who were instructed to 
act with a similar number appointed by the 
World's Columbian Exposition. The latter 
organization was an incorporation, with a direc- 
torate of forty-five members, elected annually by 
the stockholders. Lyman J. Gage, of Chicago, 
was the first President of the corporation, and 
was succeeded by W. T. Baker and Harlow N. 
Higinbotham. 

In addition to these bodies, certain powers were 
vested in a Board of Lady Managers, composed 
of two members; with alternates, from each 
State and Territory, besides nine from the city 
of Chicago. Mrs. Potter Palmer was chosen 
President of the latter. This Board was particu- 



larly charged with supervision of women's par- 
ticipation in the Exposition, and of the exhibits 
of women's work. 

The supreme executive power was vested in 
the Joint Board of Control. The site selected 
was Jackson Park, in the South Division of Chi- 
cago, with a strip connecting Jackson and 
Washington Parks, known as the "Midway 
Plaisance, " which was siu:rendered to "conces- 
sionaires" who purchased the privilege of giving 
exhibitions, or conducting restaurants or selUng- 
booths thereon. The total area of the site was 
633 acres, and that of the buildings — not reckon- 
ing those erected by States other than IlHnois, 
and by foreign governments — was about 200 
acres. When to this is added the acreage of the 
foreign and State buildings, the total space 
under roof approximated 250 acres. These fig- 
ures do not include the buildings erected by 
private exhibitors, caterers and venders, which 
would add a small percentage to the grand total 
Forty-seven foreign Governments made apj)ropri- 
ations for the erection of their own buildings and 
other expenses connected with official represen- 
tation, and there were exhibitors from eighty -six • 
nations. The United States Government erected 
its own building, and appropriated $500,000 to 
defray the expenses of a national exhibit, besides 
.S2, 500,000 toward the general cost of the Exposi- 
tion. The appropriations bj' foreign Governments 
aggregated about §6,500,000. and those by the 
States and Territories, §6,120,000— that of IlUnois 
being §800,000. The entire outlay of the World's 
Columbian Exposition Company, up to March 31, 
1894, including the cost of preHminary organiza- 
tion, construction, operating and post-Exposition 
expenses, was §27,151,800. This is, of course, 
exclusive of foreign and State erpenditures, 
which would swell the aggregate cost to nearly 
§45,000,000. Citizens of Chicago subscribed 
§5,608,206 toward the capital stock of the Exposi- 
tion Company, and the municipality, §5,000,000, 
which was raised by the sale of bonds. (See 
Thirty-sixth General Assembly.) 

The site, while admirably adapted to the pur- 
pose, was, when chosen, a marshy flat, crossed 
by low sand ridges, ujion which stood occasional 
clumps of stunted scrub oaks. Before the gates 
of the great fair were opened to the public, the 
entire area had been transformed into a dream of 
beauty. Marshes had been drained, filled in and 
sodded ; driveways and broad walks constructed ; 
artificial ponds and lagoons dug and embanked, 
and all the highest skill of the landscape garden- 
er's art had been called into play to produce 



MAP OP 

THE GROUNDS OF THE 

JATOJlLp'S pOj^UM^IAj^ EXjpOpiJION 

AT 

Jackson Park 

showing the General Arrangement 



Buildings and Grounds 
1893. 




^ 1 Q = fHL ^ SUiret a s j 



Baz.-iarof | J 
Nations Yf 



^ 



Bazaar of , 

Nations IN n 



-CovtredzWatki. 



^MIUW^Y 



][ <;»rppt ! I . r~7i I Dutch ! I J*P. luBBEv' 

^mCro: : German VMIage |sett"ement; U.i °^tA6S 



PLAISANCE^ 



D iMoorish- [Turkish 
1 -T iPalace ! . Village 



-Depot- 



OEtTiEWENT 




rjTCM ! '. R.R.Station 




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w 
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z 



HISTOrvICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



601 



varied and striking effects. But the task had 
been a Herculean one. There were seventeen 
principal (or, as they may be called, depart- 
mental) buildings, all of beautiful and ornate 
design, and all of vast size. They were known 
as the Manufacturers' and Liberal Arts, the 
Machinery, Electrical, Transportation, Woman's, 
Horticultural, Mines and Mining, Anthropolog- 
ical, Administration, x\.rt Galleries, Agricultural, 
Art Institute, Fisheries, Live Stock, Dairy and 
Forestry buildings, and the Music Hall and Ca- 
sino. Several of these had large annexes. The 
Manufacturers' Building was the largest. It was 
rectangular (lG87x 787 feet), having a ground 
area of 31 acres and a floor and gallery area of 
44 acres. Its central chamber was 1280x380 
feet, with a nave 107 feet wide, both hall and 
nave being surrounded by a gallery 50 feet wide. 
It was four times as large as the Roman Coliseum 
and three times as large as St. Peter's at Rome ; 
17,000,000 feet of lumber, 13,000,000 pounds of 
steel, and 2,000,000 pounds of iron had been used 
in its construction, involving a cost of §1,800,000. 

It was originally intended to open the Exposi- 
tion, formally, on Oct. 21, 1892, the quadri-centen- 
nial of Columbus" discovery of land on the 
Western Hemisphere, but the magnitude of the 
undertaking rendered this impracticable. Con- 
sequently, while dedicatory ceremonies were held 
on that day, preceded by a monster procession and 
followed by elaborate pyrotechnic displays at 
night, May 1, 1893, was fixed as the opening day 
— the machinery and fountains being put in oper- 
ation, at the touch of an electric button by Presi- 
dent Cleveland, at the close of a short address. 
The total number of admissions from that date 
to Oct. 31, was 27, .530, 460— the largest for any 
single day being on Oct. 9 (Chicago Day) amount- 
ing to 761,944. The total receipts from all sources 
(including National and State appropriations, 
subscriptions, etc.), amounted to §28,151,168.75, 
of which §10,626,330.76 was from the sale of tick- 
ets, and §3,699,581.43 from concessions. The 
aggregate attendance fell short of that at the 
Paris Exposition of 1889 by about 500,000, while 
the receipts from the sale of tickets and con- 
cessions exceeded the latter by nearly §5,800,000. 
Subscribers to the Exposition stock received a 
return of ten per cent on the same. 

The IlUnois building was the first of the State 
buildings to be completed. It was also the 
largest and most costly, but was severely criti- 
cised from an architectural standpoint. The 
exhibits showed the internal resources of the 
State, as well as the development of its govern- 



mental system, and its progress in civilization 
from the days of the first pioneers. The entire 
Illinois exhibit in the State building was under 
charge of the State Board of Agriculture, who 
devoted one-tenth of the appropriation, and a like 
projiortion of floor space, to the e.\;hibition of the 
work of Illinois women as scientists, author's, 
artists, decorators, etc. Among special features 
of the Illinois exhibit were : State trophies and 
relics, kept in a fire-proof memorial hall ; the dis- 
play of grains and minerals, and an immense 
topographical map (prepared at a cost of §15,000), 
drafted on a scale of two miles to the inch, show- 
ing the character and resources of the State, and 
correcting many serious cartographical errors 
previously undiscovered. 

WORTHEN, Amos Henry, scientist and State 
Geologist, was born at Bradford, Vt., Oct. 31, 
1813, emigrated to Kentucky in 1834, and, in 1836, 
removed to Illinois, locating at Warsaw. Teach- 
ing, surveying and mercantile business were his 
pursuits until 1842, when he returned to the 
East, spending two years in Boston, but return- 
ing to Warsaw in 1844. His natural predilections 
were toward the natural sciences, and, after 
coming west, he devoted most of his leisure time 
to the collection and study of specimens of 
mineralogy, geology and conchology. On the 
organization of the geological survey of Illinois 
in 1851, he was appointed assistant to Dr. J. G. 
Norwood, then State Geologist, and, in 1858, suc- 
ceeded to the oflHce, having meanwhile spent 
three years as Assistant Geologist in the first Iowa 
survey. As State Geologist he published seven 
volumes of reports, and was engaged upon the 
eiglith when overtaken by death, May 6, 1888. 
Tliese reports, which are as comprehensive as 
they are voluminous, have been reviewed and 
warmly commended by the leading scientific 
periodicals of this country and Europe. In 1877 
field work was discontinued, and the State His- 
torical Library and Natural History Museum were 
established, Professor Wortheu being placed in 
charge as curator. He was the author of various 
valuable scientific papers and member of numer- 
ous scientific societies in this country and in 
Europe. 

WORTHINGTON, Nicholas EUsworth, ex-Con- 
gressman, was born in Brooke County, W. Va., 
March 30, 1836, and completed his education at 
Allegheny College, Pa. , studied Law at Morgan- 
town, Va., and was admitted to the bar in 1860. 
He is a resident of Peoria, and, by profession, a 
lawyer; was County Superintendent of Schools 
of Peoria County from 1868 to 1872, and a mem- 



602 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



ber of the State Board of Education from 1869 to 
1872. In 1883 he was elected to Congress, as a 
Democrat, from the Tenth Congressional District, 
and re-elected in 1884. In 1886 he was again a 
candidate, but was defeated by his Republican 
opponent, Philip Sidney Post. He was elected 
Circuit Judge of the Tenth Judicial District in 
1891, and re-elected in 1897. In 1894 he served 
upon a commission appointed by President Cleve- 
land, to investigate the labor strikes of that year 
at Chicago. 

WRIGHT, John Stephen, manufacturer, was 
born at Sheffield, Mass., July 16, 1815; came to 
Chicago in 1832, with his father, who opened a 
store in that city ; in 1837, at his own expense, 
built the first school building in Chicago ; in 1840 
established "The Prairie Farmer," which he con- 
ducted for many years in the interest of popular 
education and progressive agriculture. In 1852 
he engaged in tlie manufacture of Atkins' self- 
raking reaper and mower, was one of the pro- 
moters of the Galena & Chicago Union and the 
Illinois Central Railways, and wrote a volume 
entitled, "Chicago: Past, Present and Future," 
published in 1870. Died, in Chicago, Sept. 26, 1874. 

WULFF, Henry, ex-State Treasurer, was born 
in Meldorf, Germany, August 24, 1854; came to 
Chicago in 1863, and began his political career as 
a Trustee of the town of Jefferson. In 1866 he 
was elected County Clerk of Cook County, and 
re-elected in 1890; in 1894 became the Republican 
nominee for State Treasurer, receiving, at the 
November election of that year, the unprece- 
dented pluraUty of 133,427 votes over his Demo- 
cratic opponent. 

WYAJfET, a town of Bureau County, at the 
intersection of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railways, 
7 miles southwest of Princeton. Population 
(1890), 670; (1900), 902. 

TVYLIE, (Rev.) Samuel, domestic missionary, 
born in Ireland and came to America in boyhood ; 
was educated at the University of Pennsylvania 
and the Theological Seminary of the Reformed 
Presbyterian Church, and ordained in 1818. 
Soon after this he came west as a domestic mis- 
sionary and, in 1820, became pastor of a church 
at Sjjarta, 111., where he remained until his death, 
March 20, 1872, after a pastorate of 52 years. 
During his pastorate the church sent out a dozen 
colonies to form new church organizations else- 
where. He is described as able, eloquent and 
scholarly. 

WTMAN, (Col.) John B., soldier, was born in 
Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, and educated in the 



schools of that State until 14 years of age, when 
he became a clerk in a clothing store in his native 
town of Shrewsbury, later being associated with 
mercantile establishments in Cincinnati, and 
again in his native State. From 1846 to 1850 he 
was employed successively as a clerk in the car 
and machine shops at Springfield, Mass., then as 
Superintendent of Construction, and, later, as con- 
ductor on the New York & New Haven Railroad, 
finally, in 1850, becoming Superintendent of the 
Connecticut River Railroad. In 1852 he entered 
tlie service of the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany, assisting in the survey and construction of 
the line under Col. R. B. Mason, the Chief Engi- 
neer, and finally becoming Assistant Superin- 
tendent of the Northern Division. He was one 
of the original proprietors of the town of Amboy, 
in Lee County, and its first Mayor, also serving 
a second term. Having a fondness for military 
affairs, he was usually connected with some mili- 
tary organization — while in Cincinnati being 
attached to a company, of which Prof. O. M. 
Mitchell, the celebrated astronomer (afterwards 
Major-General Mitchell), was Captain. After 
coming to Illinois he became Captain of the Chi- 
cago Light Guards. Having lef- the employ of 
the Railroad in 1858, he was in private business 
at Amboy at the beginning of the Civil War in 
1861. As Assistant- Adjutant General, by appoint- 
ment of Governor Yates, he rendered valuable 
service in the early weeks of the war in securing 
arms from Jefferson Barracks and in the organi- 
zation of the three-months" regiments. Then, 
having organized the Thirteenth IlHnois Volun- 
teer Infantry- — the first organized in the State 
for the three years" service — lie was commis- 
sioned its Colonel, and, in July following, entered 
upon the duty of guarding the railroad lines in 
Southwest Missouri and Arkansas. The follow- 
ing year his regiment was attached to General 
Sherman's command in the first campaign 
against Vicksburg. On the second day of tlie 
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, he fell mortally 
wounded, dying on the field, Dec. 28, 1862. Colo- 
nel Wyman was one of the most acooniiilisl:eJ 
and promising of the volunteer soldiers sent to 
the field from Illinois, of whom so many were 
former employes of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road. 

"WYOMING, a town of Stark County, 31 miles 
north-northwest from Peoria, at the junction of 
the Peoria branch Rock Island & Pacific and the 
Rusliville branch of the Cliicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railway; has two high schools, churches, 
two banks, flour mills, water-works, machine 



HISTOmCAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



G03 



shop, and two weekly newspapers. Coal is mined 
here. Pop. (1890), 1,116; (1900), 1,277. 

XENIA, a village of Clay County, on the Balti- 
more & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 87 miles 
east of St. Louis. Population (1000), 800. 

YATES CITY, a village of Knox County, at the 
junction of the Peoria Division of the Chicago, 
Burlington it Quincy Railroad, with the Rushville 
branch, 23 miles southeast of Galesburg. The 
town has banks, a coal mine, telephone exchange, 
school, churches and a newspaper. Pop. (1890), 
687; (1900), 6.50. 

YATES, Henry, pioneer, was born in Caroline 
County, Va., Oct. 29, 1786 — being a grand-nephew 
of Chief Justice John Marshall ; removed to Fa- 
yette County, Ky., where he located and laid out 
the town of Warsaw, which afterwards became 
the county-seat of Gallatin County. In 1831 he 
removed to Sangamon County, 111., and, in 1832, 
settled at the site of the present town of Berlin, 
which he laid out the following j'ear, also laying 
out the town of New Berlin, a few years later, on 
the line of the Wabash Railway. He was father 
of Gov. Richard Yates. Died, Sept. 13, 1865.— 
Henry (Yates), Jr., son of the preceding, was born 
at Berlin, 111., March 7, 1835; engaged in merchan- 
dising at New Berlin; in 1863, raised a company 
of volunteers for the One Hundred and Sixth 
Regiment Illinois Infantry, was appointed Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel and brevetted Colonel and Briga- 
dier-General. He was accidentally shot in 1863, 
and suffered sun-stroke at Little Rock, from 
which he never fully recovered. Died, August 
3, 1871. 

YATES, Richard, former Governor and United 
States Senator, was born at Warsaw, Ky., Jan. 
18, 1815, of English descent. In 1831 he accom- 
panied his father to Illinois, the family settling 
first at Springfield and later at Berlin, Sangamon 
County. lie soon after entered Illinois College, 
from which he graduated in 1835, and subse- 
quently read law with Col. John J. Hardin, at 
Jacksonville, which thereafter became his home. 
In 1843 he was elected Representative in the Gen- 
eral Assembly from Morgan County, and was 
re-elected in 1844, and again in 1848. In 1850 he 
was a candidate for Congress from the Seventh 
District and elected over Maj. Thomas L. Harris, 
the previous incumbent, being the only Whig 
Representative in the Thirty-second Congress 
from Illinois. Two years later he was re-elected 
over John Calhoun, but was defeated, in 1854, 
by his old opponent, Harris. He was one of the 



most vigorous opponents of the Kansas- Nebraska 
Bill in the Thirty -third Congress, and an early 
participant in the movement for the organization 
of tlie Republican party to resist the further 
extension of slavery, being a prominent speaker, 
on the same platform with Lincoln, before the 
first Republican State Convention held at Bloom- 
ington, in May, 1856, and serving as one of the 
Vice-Presidents of that body. In 1860 he was 
elected to the executive chair on the ticket 
headed by Abraham Lincoln for the Presidencj-, 
and, by his energetic support of the National 
administration in its measures for the suppression 
of the Rebellion, won the sobriquet of "the Illi- 
nois War-Governor." In 1865 he was elected 
United States Senator, serving until 1871. He 
died suddenly, at St. Louis, Nov. 27, 1873, while 
returning from Arkansas, whither he had gone, 
as a United States Commissioner, by appointment 
of President Grant, to inspect a land-subsidy 
railroad. He was a man of rare ability, earnest- 
ness of purpose and extraordinary personal mag- 
netism, as well as of a lofty order of patriotism. 
His faults were those of a nature generous, 
impulsive and warm-hearted. 

YORKVILLE, the county-seat of Kendall 
County, on Fox River and Streator Division of 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 13 miles 
southwest of Aurora; on interurban electric line; 
has water-power, electric lights, a bank, churches 
and weekly newspaper. Pop.(1890) 375; (1900), 413. 

YOUNG, Bri^liam, Mormon leader, was born 
at Whittingham, Vt., June 1, 1801, joined the 
Mormons in 1831 and, the next year, became asso- 
ciated with Joseph Smith, at Kirtland, Ohio, and, 
in 1835, an "apostle." He accompanied a con- 
siderable body of that sect to Independence, Mo. , 
but was driven out with them in 1837, settling 
for a short time at Quincy, 111., but later remov- 
ing to Nauvoo, of which he was one of the foun- 
ders. On the assassination of Smith, in 1844, he 
became the successor of the latter, as head of the 
Mormon Church, and, the following year, headed 
the exodus from Illinois, which finally resulted in 
the Mormon settlement in Utah. His subsequent 
career there, where he was appointed Governor 
by President Fillmore, and, for a time, success- 
fully defied national authority, is a matter of 
national rather than State history. He remained 
at the head of the Mormon Churcli until his 
death at Salt Lake City, August 39, 1877. 

YOUNG, Eichard Montgomery, United States 
Senator, was born in Kentucky in 1796, studied 
law and removed to Jonesboro, 111. , where he was 
admitted to the bar in 1817; served in the Second 



604 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



General Assembly (1820-22) as Representative 
from Union County ; was a Circuit Judge, 1825-27 ; 
Presidential Elector in 1828 ; Circuit Judge again, 
1829-37 ; elected United States Senator in 1837 as 
successor to W. L. D. Ewing, serving until 1843, 
wlien lie was commissioned Justice of the Su- 
preme Court, but resigned in 1847 to become 
Commissioner of the General Land Office at 
Washington. During the session of 1850-51, he 
served as Cleric of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives. Died, in an insane asyhim, in Wash- 
ington, in 1853. 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 
first permanently organized at Chicago, in 1858, 
although desultory movements of a kindred char- 
acter had previously been started at Peoria, 
Quincy, Chicago and Springfield, some as early 
as 1854. From 1858 to 1872, various associations 
were formed at different points throughout the 
State, which were entirely independent of each 
other. The fir.st effort looking to union and 
mutual aid, was made in 1872, when Robert 
Weidensall, on behalf of the International Com- 
mittee, called a convention, to meet at Blooming- 
ton, November 6-9. State conventions have been 
held annually since 1872. In that of 1875, steps 
were taken looking to the appointment of a 
State Secretary, and, in 1876, Charles M. Morton 
assumed the office. Much evangelistic work was 
done, and new associations formed, tlie total 
number reported at the Champaign Convention, 
in 1877, being sixty-two. After one year's work 
Mr. Morton resigned the secretaryship, the office 
remaining vacant for three years. The question 
of the appointment of a successor was discussed 
at the Decatur Convention in 1879, and, in April, 
1880, I. B. Brown was made State Secretary, and 
has occupied the position to the present time 
(1899). At the date of his appointment the 
official figures showed sixteen associations in Illi- 
nois, with a total membership of 2,443, and prop- 
erty valued at $126,500, including building funds, 
the associations at Chicago and Aurora owning 
buildings. Thirteen officers were employed, 
none of them being in Chicago. Since 1880 the 
work has steadily grown, so that five Assistant 
State Secretaries are now employed. In 1880, a 
plan for arranging the State work under depart- 
mental administration was devised, but not i)ut 
in operation until 1890. The present six depart- 
ments of supervision are : General Supervision, 
in charge of the State Secretary and his Assist- 
ants; railroad and city work; counties and 
towns; work among students; corresponding 
membershiij department, and office work. The 



two last named are under one executive head, 
but each of the others in charge of an Assistant 
Secretary, who is responsible for its development 
The entire work is under the supervision of a 
State Executive Committee of twenty-seven 
members, one-third of whom are elected annually. 
Willis H. Herrick of Chicago has been its chair- 
man for several years. This body is appointed 
by a State convention composed of delegates 
from the local Associations. Of these there were, 
in October, 1898, 116, with a membership of 
15,888. The value of the property owned was 
f2, 500, 000. Twenty-two occupy their own build- 
ings, of which five are for railroad men and one 
for students. Weekly gatherings for young men 
numbered 248, and there are now representatives 
or correspondents in 665 communities where no 
organization has been effected. Scientific phys- 
ical culture is made a feature by 40 associations, 
and educational work has been largely developed. 
The enrollment in evening classes, during 1898-99, 
was 978. The building of the Chicago branch 
(erected in 1893) is the finest of its class in the 
world. Recently a successful association has 
been formed among coal miners, and another 
among the first grade boys of the Illinois State 
Reformatory, while an extensive work has been 
conducted at the camps of the Illinois National 
Guard. 

ZANE, Charles S., lawyer and jurist, was born 
in Cumberland County, N. J., March 2, 1831, of 
English and New England stock. At the age of 
19 he emigrated to Sangamon County, 111., for a 
time working on a farm and at brick-making. 
From 1852 to '55 he attended McKendree College, 
but did not graduate, and, on leaving college, 
engaged in teaching, at the same time reading 
law. In 1857 he was admitted to the bar and 
commenced practice at Springfield. The follow- 
ing year he was elected City Attorney. He had 
for partners, at different times, William H. 
Herndon (once a partner of Abraham Lincoln) 
and Senator Shelby M. CuUom. In 1873 he was 
elected a Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth 
Judicial Circuit, and was re-elected in 1879. In 
1883 President Arthur appointed him Chief Jus- 
tice of Utah, where he has since resided, though 
superseded by the appointment of a successor by 
President Cleveland. At the first State elec- 
tion in Utah, held in November, 1895, he was 
chosen one of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
of the new Commonvv'ealth, but was defeated 
for re-election, by his Democratic opponent, in 
1898. 




SCENES IN SOUTH PARK. 




WORLD'S FAIR }!U1LDINGS. 
The Peristyle. German BuiUllng, 

AiliiiiuistratioD Kiiilding. The Fisheries. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



The following matter, received too late for insertion in the body of this work. Is added in the fonn of a supplement. 



COGHLAN, (Capt.) Joseph Bullock, naval 
officer, was born in Kentucky, and, at the age of 
15 years, came to Illinois, living on a farm for a 
time near Carlyle, in Clinton County. In 18G0 lie 
was appointed by bis uncle, Hon. Philip B. 
Fouke — then a Representative in Congress from 
the Belleville District — to the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis, graduating in 1863, and being pro- 
moted through the successive grades of Ensign, 
Master, Lieutenant, Lieutenant-Commander, and 
Commander, and serving upon various vessels 
until Nov. 18, 1893, when he was commissioned 
Captain and, in 1897, assigned to the command 
of the battlesliip Raleigh, on the Asiatic Station. 
He was thus connected with Admiral Dewey's 
squadron at the beginning of the Sjjanish-Ameri- 
can War, and took a conspicuous and brilliant part 
in the affair in Manila Bay, on May 1, 1898, which 
resulted in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. 
Captain Coghlan's connection with subsequent 
events in the Philippines was in the highest 
degree creditable to himself and the country. 
His vessel (the Raleigh) was the first of Admiral 
Dewey's squadron to return home, coming by 
way of the Suez Canal, in the summer of 1899, he 
and liis crew receiving an immense ovation on 
their arrival in New York harbor. 

CRANE, (Rev.) James Lyons, clergyman, 
army chaplain, was born at Mt. Eaton, Wayne 
County, Ohio, August 30, 1833, united with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Cincinnati in 

1841, and, coming to Edgar County, Illinois, in 

1842, attended a seminary at Paris some three 
years. He joined the Illinois Conference in 1846, 
and was assigned to the Danville circuit, after- 
wards presiding over charges at Grandview, Hills- 
boro, Alton, Jacksonville, and Springfield— at the 
last two points being stationed two or more 
times, besides serving as Presiding Elder of the 
Paris, Danville, and Springfield Districts. The 
importance of the stations which he filled during 
his itinerant career served as evidence of his 
recognized ability and popularity as a preacher. 



In July, 1861, he was appointed Chaplain of the 
Twenty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteers, at 
that time commanded by Ulysses S. Grant as 
Colonel, and, although he remained with the 
regiment only a few months, the friendship then 
established between him and the future com- 
mander of the armies of the Union lasted through 
their lives. This was shown by his appointment 
by President Grant, in 1809, to the position of 
Postmaster of the city of Springfield, which came 
to him as a personal compliment, being re- 
appointed four years afterwards and continuing 
in office eight years. After retiring from tho 
Springfield postoffice, he occupied charges at 
Island Grove and Shelby ville, his death occurring 
at the latter place, July 29, 1879, as the result of 
an attack of paralysis some two weeks previous. 
Mr. Crane was married in 1847 to Miss Elizabeth 
Mayo, daughter of CoL J. Mayo — a prominent 
citizen of Edgar County, at an early day— his 
wife surviving him some twenty years. Rev. 
Charles A. Crane and Rev. Frank Crane, pastors 
of prominent Methodist churches in Boston and 
Chicago, are sons of the subject of this sketch. 

DAWES, Charles Gates, Comptroller of the 
Treasury, was born at Marietta, Ohio, August 27, 
1865; graduated from Marietta College in 1884, 
and from the Cincinnati Law School in 1886; 
worked at civil engineering during his vacations, 
finally becoming Chief Engineer of the Toledo & 
Ohio Railroad. Between 1887 and 1894 he waa 
engaged in the practice of law at Lincoln, Neb., 
but afterwards became interested in the gas busi- 
ness in various cities, including Evanston, IlL, 
which became his home. In 1896 he took a lead- 
ing part in securing instructions by the Republi- 
can State Convention at Springfield in favor of 
the nomination of Mr. McKinley for the Presi- 
dency, and during the succeeding campaign 
served as a member of the National Republican 
Committee for the State of Illinois. Soon after 
the accession of President McKinley, he waa 
appointed Comptroller of the Treasury, a position 



605 



606 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



which he now holds. Mr. Dawes is the son of 
R. B. Dawes, a former Congressman from Ohio, 
and the great-grandson of Manasseh Cutler, who 
was an inlluential factor in the earl)^ history of 
the Northwest Territory, and lias been credited 
with exerting a strong influence in shaping; and 
securing the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787. 

DISTIN, (Col.) William 1., former Depart- 
ment Commander of Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic for the State of Illinois, was born at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 9, 1843, his father being of 
English descent, while his maternal grandfather 
was a Colonel of the Polish Lancers in the army 
of the first Napoleon, who, after the exile of his 
leader, came to America, settling in Indiana. 
The father of the subject of this sketch settled at 
Keokuk, Iowa, where the son grew to manhood 
and in February, 1863, enlisted as a private in the 
Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, having been twice 
rejected previously on account of physical ail- 
ment. Soon after enlistment he was detailed for 
provost-marslial duty, but later took part with 
bis regiment in the camimign in Alabama. He 
served for a time in the Fifteenth Army Corps, 
under Gen. John A. Logan, was subsequently 
detailed for duty on the Staff of General Raum, 
and participated in the battles of Resaca and 
Tilton, Ga. Having been captured in the latter, 
he was imprisoned successively at Jacksonville 
(^Ga.), Montgomery, Savannah, and finally at 
Andersonville. From the latter he succeeded in 
effecting his escape, but was recaptured and 
returned to that famous prison-pen. Having 
escaped a second time by assuming the name of 
a dead man and bribing the guard, he was again 
captured and imprisoned at various points in Mis- 
sissippi until exchanged about the time of the 
assassination of President Lincoln. He was then 
so weakened by his long confinement and scanty 
fare that he had to be carried on board the 
steamer on a stretcher. At this time he narrowly 
escaped being on board the steamer Sultana, 
which wfis blown up below Cairo, with 2,100 
soldiers on board, a large proportion of whom lost 
their lives. After being mustered out at Daven- 
port, Iowa, June 28, 186.'), he was emploj'ed for a 
time on the Des Moines Valley Railroad, and as a 
messenger and route agent of the United States 
Express Company. In 1872 he established him- 
self in business in Quincj', 111., in which he 
proved very successful. Here he became prom- 
inent in local Grand Army circles, and, in 1890, 
was unanimously elected Commander of the 
Department of Illinois. Previous to this lie had 
been an officer of the Illinois National Guard, and 



served as Aid-de-Camp, with the rank of 
Colonel, on the staff of Governors Hamilton, 
Oglesby and Fifer. In 1897 Colonel Distin was 
appointed by President McKinley Sui-veyor-Gen- 
eral for the Territory of Alaska, a position which 
(1899) he still holds. 

DUMMEK, Henry E., lawyer, was born at 
Hallowell, Maine, April 9, 1808, was educated in 
Bowdoin College, graduating there in the class of 
1827, after which he took a course in law at Cam- 
bridge Law School, and was soon after admitted 
to the bar. Then, having spent some two 3'ears 
in his native State, in 1833 he removed to IlUnois, 
settling first in Springfield, where he remained six 
years, being for a part of the time a partner of 
John T. Stuart, who afterwards became the first 
partner in law of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Dum- 
mer had a brother, Richard William Dumnier, 
who had preceded him to Illinois, living for a 
time in Jacksonville. In 1838 he removed to 
Beardstown, Cass County, which continued to be 
his home for more than a quarter of a century. 
During his residence there he served as Alder- 
man, City Attorney and Judge of Probate for 
Cass County ; also represented Cass County in the 
Constitutional Convention of 1847, and, in 1860, 
was elected State Senator in the Twenty-second 
General Assembly, serving four years. Mr. 
Dummer was an earnest Republican, and served 
that party as a delegate for the State-at-large to 
the Convention of 1864, at Baltimore, which 
nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency a 
second time. In 1864 he removed to Jackson- 
ville, and for the next year was the law partner 
of David A. Smith, until the death of the latter 
in 1865. In the summer of 1878 Mr. Dummer 
went to Mackinac, Mich., in search of liealth, but 
died there August 12 of that year. 

ECKELS, James H., ex-Comptroller of the 
Currency, was born of Scotch-Irish parentage at 
Princeton, 111., Nov. 22, 18.58, was educated in 
the common schools and the high school of his 
native town, graduated from the Law School at 
Albany, N. Y., in 1881, and the following year 
began practice at Ottawa, 111. Here he con- 
tinued in active practice until 1893, when he was 
appointed by President Cleveland Comptroller of 
the Currency, serving until May 1, 1898, when he 
resigned to accept tlie presidency of the Com- 
mercial National Bank of Chicago. Mr. Eckels 
manifested such distinguished ability in the dis- 
charge of his duties as Comptroller that he 
received the notable compliment of being 
retained in office by a Republican administration 

more than a year after the retirement of Presi- 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



607 



dent Cleveland, wliile his selection for a place at 
the head of one of the leading banking institu- 
tions of Chicago was a no less marked recognition 
of his abilities as a financier. He was a Delegate 
from the Eleventh District to the National 
Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1892, and 
repiesented the same district in the Gold Demo- 
cratic Convention at Indianapolis in 1896, and 
assisted in framing the platform there adopted — 
which indicated his views on the financial ques- 
tions involved in the campaign of that year. 

FIELD, Daniel, early merchant, was born in 
Jefferson Coimty, Kentucky, Nov. 30, 1790, and 
settled at Golconda, 111., in 1818, dying there in 
1855. He was a man of great enterprise, engaged 
in merchandising, and became a large land- 
holder, farmer and stock-grower, and an extensive 
shipper of stock and produce to lower Mississippi 
markets. He married Elizabeth Dailey of 
Charleston, Ind., and raised a large family of 
children, one of whom, Philip D., became Sheriffi 
while another, John, was County Judge of Pope 
County. His daughter, Maria, married Gen. 
Green B. Raum, who became prominent as a 
soldier during the Civil War and, later, as a mem- 
ber of Congress and Commissioner of Internal 
Revenue and Pension Commissioner in Wash- 
ington. 

FIELD, Green B., member of a pioneer family, 
was born within the present limits of the State of 
Indiana in 1787, served as a Lieutenant in the 
War of 1812, was married in Bourbon County, 
Kentucky, to Miss Mary E. Cogswell, the 
daughter of Dr. Joseph Cogswell, a soldier of the 
Revolutionary War, and, in 1817, removed to 
Pope County, Illinois, where he laid off the town 
of Golconda, which became the county -seat. He 
served as a Representative from Pope County in 
the First General Assembly (1818-20), and was 
the father of Juliet C. Field, who became the 
wife of John Raum; of Edna Field, the wife of 
Dr. Tarlton Dunn, and of Green B. Field, who 
was a Lieutenant in Third Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers during the Mexican War. Mr. Field 
was the grandfather of Gen. Green B. Raum, 
mentioned in the preceding paragraph. He died 
of yellow fever in Louisiana in 1823. 

GALE, Stephen Francis, first Chicago book- 
Beller and a railway promoter, was born at 
Exeter, N. H., March 8, 1812; at 15 years of age 
became clerk in a leading book-store in Boston ; 
came to Chicago in 1835, and soon afterwards 
opened the first book and stationery establish- 
ment in that city, which, in after years, gained 
an extensive trade. In 1843 the firm of S. F. 



Gale & Co. was organized, but Mr. Gale, having 
become head of the Chicago Fire Department, 
retired from business in 1845. As early as 1846 
he was associated with W m. B. Ogden and John 
B. Turner in the steps then being taken to revive 
the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad (now a 
part of the Chicago & Northwestern), and, in 
conjunction with these gentlemen, became 
responsible for the means to purchase the charter 
and assets of the road from the Eastern bond- 
holders. Later, he engaged in the construction 
of the branch road from Turner Junction to 
Aurora, became President of the line and ex- 
tended it to Mendota to connect with the Illinois 
Central at that Point. These roads afterwards 
became a part of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy line. A number of years ago Mr. Gale 
returned to his old home in New Hampshire, 
where he has since resided. 

HAT, John, early settler, came to the region of 
Kaskaskia between 1790 and 1800, and became a 
prominent citizen of St. Clair County. He was 
selected as a member of the First Legislative 
Council of Indiana Territory for St. Clair County 
in 1805. In 1809 he was appointed Clerk of the 
Common Pleas Court of St. Clair County, and 
was continued in office after the organization of 
the State Government, serving until his death at 
Belleville in 1845. 

HAYS, John, pioneer settler of Northwest Ter- 
ritory, was a native of New York, who came to 
Cahokia, in the "Illinois Country," in 1793, and 
lived there the remainder of his life. His early 
life had been spent in the fur-trade about Macki- 
nac, in the Lake of the Woods region and about 
the sources of the Mississippi. During the War 
of 1812 he was able to furnish Governor Edwards 
valuable information in reference to the Indians 
in the Northwest. He filled the office of Post- 
master at Cahokia for a number of years, and was 
Sheriff of St. Clair County from 1798 to 1818. 

MOULTOJf, (Col.) George M., soldier and 
building contractor, was born at Readsburg, Vt., 
March 15, 1851, came early in life to Chicago, and 
was educated in the schools of that city. By pro- 
fession he is a contractor and builder, the firm of 
which he is a member having been connected 
with the construction of a number of large build- 
ings, including some extensive grain elevators. 
Colonel Moulton became a member of the Second 
Regiment Illinois National Guard in June, 1884, 
being elected to the office of Major, which he 
retained until January, 1893, when he was 
appointed Inspector of Rifle Practice on the staff 
of General Wheeler. A year later he was com 



608 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



missioned Colonel of the regiment, a position 
which he occupied at the time of the call by the 
President for troops to serve in the Spanish- 
American War in April, 1898. He promptly 
answered the call, and was sworn into the United 
States service at the head of his regiment early 
in May. The regiment was almost immediately 
ordered to Jacksonville, Fla., remaining there 
and at Savannah, Ga., until early in December, 
when it was transferred to Havana, Cuba. Here 
he was soon after appointed Chief of Police for 
the city of Havana, remainmg in office until the 
middle of January, 1899, when he returned to his 
regiment, then stationed at Camp Columbia, near 
the city of Havana. In tlie latter part of March 
he returned with his regiment to Augusta, Ga., 
where it was mustered out, April 26, 1899, one 
year from the date of its arrival at Springfield. 
After leaving the service Colonel Moultou 
resumed his business as a contractor. 

SHERMAJf, Lawrence Y., legislator and 
Speaker of the Forty-first General Assembly, was 
born in Miami County, Ohio, Nov. 6, 1858; at 3 
years of age came to Illinois, his parents settling 
at Industry, McDonough County. When he had 
reached the age of 10 years he went to Jasper 
County, where he grew to manhood, received his 
education in the common schools and in the law 



department of McKendree College, graduating 
from the latter, and, in 1881, located at Macomb, 
McDonough County. Here he began his career 
by driving a team upon the street in order to 
accumulate means enabling him to devote his 
entire attention to his chosen profession of law. 
He soon took an active interest in politics, was 
elected County Judge in 1886, and, at the expira- 
tion of his term, formed a partnership with 
George D. Tunnicliffe and D. G. Tunnicliffe, 
ex-Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1894 he was 
a candidate for the Republican nomination for 
Representative in the General Assembly, but 
withdrew to prevent a split in the party; was 
nominated and elected in 1896, and re-elected in 
1898, and, at the succeeding session of the 
Forty-first General Assembly, was nominated 
by the Republican caucus and elected Speaker, 
as he was again of the Forty -second in 1901. 

A'INYARD, Philip, early legislator, was born 
in Pennsylvania in 1800, came to Illinois at an 
early day, and settled in Pope County, which he 
represented in the lower branch of the Thirteenth 
and Fourteenth General Assemblies. He married 
Miss Matilda McCoy, the daughter of a prominent 
Illinois pioneer, and served as Sheriff of Pope 
County for a nimiber of years. Died, at Gol- 
conda, in 1863. 



SUPPLEMENT NO. II. 



BLACK HAWK WAK, THE. The episode 
known in history under the name of "The Black 
Hawk War," was the most formidable conflict 
between the whites and Indians, as well as the 
most far-reaching in its results, that ever oc- 
curred upon the soil of Illinois. It takes its 
name from the Indian Chief, of the Sac tribe. 
Black Hawk (Indian name, Makatai Meshekia- 
kiak, meaning "Black Sparrow Hawk"), who 
was the leader of the hostile Indian band and a 
principal factor in the struggle. Black Hawk 
had been an ally of the British during the War 
of 1812-15, served with Tecmnseh when the lat- 
ter fell at the battle of the Thames in 1813, and, 
after the war, continued to maintain friendly re- 
latione with his "British father." The outbreak 



in Illinois had its origin in the construction 
put upon the treaty negotiated by Gen. William 
Henry Harrison with the Sac and Fox Indians 
on behalf of the United States Government, No- 
vember 3, 1804, under which the Indians trans- 
ferred to the Government nearly 15,000,000 acres 
of land comprising the region lying between the 
Wisconsin River on the nortli. Fox River of Illi- 
nois on the east and southeast, and the Mississippi 
on the west, for which the Government agreed to 
pay to the confederated tribes less than §2,500 in 
goods and the insignificant sum of §1,000 per an- 
num in perpetuity. While the vahdity of the 
treaty was denied on the part of the Indians on the 
ground that it had originally been entered into by 
their chiefs under duress, while held as prisoners 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



609 



under a charge of murder at Jefferson Barracks, 
during which they had been kept in a state of con- 
stant intoxication, it had been repeatedly reaf- 
firmed by parts or all of the tribe, especially iu 
1815, in 1816, in 1823 and in 1823, and finally recog- 
nized by Black Hawk himself in i831. The part of 
the treaty of 1804 which was the immediate cause 
of the disagreement was that which stipulated 
that, so long as the lands ceded under it remained 
the property of the United States (that is, should 
not be transferred to private owners), ' 'the Indians 
belonging to the said tribes shall enjoy the priv- 
ilege of living or hunting upon them." Al- 
though these lands had not been put upon the 
market, or even surveyed, as "squatters" multi- 
plied in this region little respect was paid to the 
treaty rights of the Indians, particularly with 
reference to those localities where, by reason of 
fertility of the soil or some other natural advan- 
tage, the Indians had established something like 
permanent homes and introduced a sort of crude 
cultivation. This was especially the case with 
reference to the Sac village of "Saukenuk" on 
the north bank of Rock River near its mouth, 
where the Indians, when not absent on the chase, 
had lived for over a century, had cultivated 
fields of corn and vegetables and had buried their 
dead. In the early part of the last century, it is 
estimated that some five hundred families had 
been accustomed to congregate here, making it 
the largest Indian village in the West. As early 
as 1823 the encroachments of squatters on the 
rights claimed by the Indians under the treaty 
of 1804 began ; their fields were taken possession 
of by the intruders, their lodges uurned and their 
women and children whipped and driven away 
during the absence of the men on their annual 
hunts. The dangers resulting from these con- 
flicts led Governor Edwards, as early as 1828, to 
demand of the General Government the expul- 
sion of the Indians from Illinois, which resulted 
in an order from President Jackson in 1829 for 
their removal west of the Mississippi. On appli- 
cation of Col. George Davenport, a trader of 
much influence with the Indians, the time was 
extended to April 1, 1830. During the preceding 
year Colonel Davenport and the firm of Davenport 
and Farnham bought from the United States Gov- 
ernment most of the lands on Rock River occupied 
by Black Hawk's band, with the intention, as has 
been claimed, of permitting the Indians to remain. 
This was not so understood by Black Hawk, who 
was greatly incensed, although Davenport offered 
to take other lands from the Government in ex- 
change or cancel the sale — an arrangement to 



which President Jackson would not consent. On 
their return in the spring of 1830, the Indians 
found whites in possession of their village. Pre- 
vented from cultivating their fields, and their 
annual hunt proving unsuccessful, the following 
winter proved for them one of great hardship. 
Black Hawk, having made a visit to his " British 
father" (the British Agent) at Maiden, Canada, 
claimed to have received words of sympathy and 
encouragement, which induced him to determine 
to regain possession of their fields. In this he 
was encouraged by Neapope, his second in com- 
mand, and by assurance of support from White 
Cloud, a half Sac and half Winnebago — known 
also as "The Prophet " — whose village (Prophet's 
Town) was some forty miles from the mouth 
of Rock River, and through whom Black Hawk 
claimed to have leceived promises of aid in guns, 
ammunition and provisions from the British. 
The reappearance of Black Hawk's band in the 
vicinity of his old haimts, in the spring of 1831, 
produced a wild panic among the frontier settlers. 
Messages were hurried to Governor Reynolds, 
who had succeeded Governor Edwards in De- 
cember previous., appealing for protection against 
the savages. The Governor issued a call for 700 
volunteers " to remove the band of Sac Indians" 
at Rock Island beyond the Mississippi. Al- 
though Gen. E. P. Gaines of the regular army, 
commanding the military district, thought the 
regulars sufficiently strong to cope with the situa- 
tion, the Governor's proclamation was responded 
to by more than twice the number called for. 
The volunteers assembled early in June, 1831, at 
Beardstown, the place of rendezvous named in 
the call, and having been organized into two regi- 
ments under command of Col. James D. Henrj and 
Col. Daniel Lieb, with a spy battalion under Gen. 
Joseph Duncan, marched across the country and, 
after effecting a junction with General Gaines' 
regulars, appeared before Black Hawk's village on 
the 2uth of June. In the meantime General 
Gaines, having learned that the Pottawatomies, 
Winnebagos and Kickapoos had promised to join 
the Sacs in their uprising, asked the assistance of 
the battalion of mounted men previously offered 
by Governor Reynolds. The combined armies 
amounted to 2, .500 men, while the fighting force 
of the Indians was 300. Finding himself over- 
whelmingly outnumbered. Black Hawk withdrew 
under cover of night to the west side of the Missis- 
sippi. After burning the village. General Gaines 
notified Black Hawk of his intention to pursue 
and attack his band, which had the effect to 
bring the fugitive chief to the General's head- 



610 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



quarters, where, on June 30, a new treaty was 
entered into by which he bound himself and his 
people to remain west of the Mississippi unless 
permitted to return by the United States. This 
ended the campaign, and the volunteers returned 
to their homes, although the affair had produced 
an intensQ excitement along the whole frontier, 
and involved a heavy expense. 

The next winter was spent by Black Hawk and 
his band on the site of old Fort Madison, in the 
present State of Iowa. Dissatisfied and humil- 
iated by his repulse of the previous year, in disre- 
gard of his pledge to General Gaines, on April 6, 
1832, at the head of 500 warriors and their fam- 
ilies, he again crossed the Mississippi at Yel- 
low Banks about the site of the present city of 
Oquawka, fifty miles below Rock Island, with the 
intention, as claimed, if not permitted to stop at 
his old village, to proceed to the Prophet's Town 
and raise a crop with the Winnebagoes. Here he 
was met by The Prophet with renewed assurances 
of aid from the Winnebagoes, which was still 
further strengthened by promises from the Brit- 
ish Agent received through a visit by Neapope to 
Maiden the previous autumn. An incident of this 
invasion was the effective warning given to the 
white settlers by Shabona, a friendly Ottawa 
chief, which probably had the effect to prevent 
a widespread massacre. Besides the towns of 
Galena and Chicago, the settlements in Illinois 
north of Fort Clark (Peoria) were limited to some 
thirty families on Bureau Creek with a few 
cabins at Hennepin, Peru, LaSalle, Ottawa, In- 
dian Creek, Dixon, Kellogg's Grove, Apple Creek, 
and a few other points. Gen. Henry Atkinson, 
commanding the regulars at Fort Armstrong 
(Rock Island), having learned of the arrival of 
Black Hawk a week after he crossed the Missis- 
sippi, at once took steps to notify Governor Rey- 
nolds of the situation with a requisition for an 
adequate force of militia to cooperate with the 
regulars. Under date of April 16, 1833, the Gov- 
ernor issued his call for "a strong detachment of 
militia," to meet by April 22, Beardstown again 
being named as a place of rendezvous. The call 
resulted in the assembling of a force which was 
organized into four regiments under command of 
Cols. John DeWitt, Jacob Fry, John Thomas and 
Samuel M. Thompson, together with a spy bat- 
talion under Maj. James D. Henry, an odd bat- 
talion under Maj. Thomas James and a foot 
battalion under IMaj. Thomas Long. To these were 
subsequently added two independent battalions 
of mounted men, under command of Majors 
Isaiah Stillman and David Bailey, which were 



finally consolidated as the Fifth Regiment under 
command of Col. James Johnson. The organiza- 
tion of the first four regiments at Beardstown 
was completed by April 27, and the force under 
command of Brigadier-General Whiteside (but 
accompanied by Governor Reynolds, who was 
allowed pay as Major General by the General 
Government) began its march to Fort Armstrong, 
arriving there May 7 and being mustered into the 
United States service. Among others accompany- 
ing the expedition who were then, or afterwards 
became, noted citizens of the State, were Vital 
Jarrot, Adjutant-General; Cyrus Edwards, Ord- 
nance Officer; Murray McConnel, Staff Officer, 
and Abraham Lincoln, Captain of a company of 
volunteers from Sangamon County in the Fourth 
Regiment. Col. Zachary Taylor, then commander 
of a regiment of regulars, arrived at Fort Arm- 
strong about the same time with reinforcements 
from Fort Leavenworth and Fort Crawford. The 
total force of militia amounted to 1,935 men, and 
of regulars about 1,000. An interesting story is 
told concerning a speech delivered to the volun- 
teers by Colonel Taylor about this time. After 
reminding them of their duty to obey an order 
promptly, the future hero of the Mexican War 
added: " The safety of all depends upon the obe- 
dience and courage of all. You are citizen sol- 
diers; some of you may fill high offices, or even be 
Presidents some day — but not if you refuse to do 
your duty. • Forward, inarch!" A curious com- 
mentary upon this speech is furnished in the fact 
that, while Taylor himself afterwards became 
President, at least one of his hearers — a volunteer 
who probably then had no aspiration to that dis- 
tinction (Abraham Lincoln) — reached the same 
position during the most dramatic period in the 
nation's history. 

Two days after the arrival at Fort Armstrong, 
the advance up Rock River began, the main force 
of the volunteers proceeding by land under Gen- 
eral Whiteside, while General Atkin.son, with 
400 regular and 300 volunteer foot soldiers, pro- 
ceeded by boat, carrying with him the artillery, 
provisions and bulk of the baggage. Whiteside, 
advancing by the east bank of the river, was the 
first to arrive at the Prophet's Town, which, 
finding deserted, he pushed on to Dixon's Ferry 
(now Dixon), where he arrived May 12. Here he 
found the independent battalions of Stillman and 
Bailey with ammunition and supplies of which 
Whiteside stood in need. The mounted battalions 
under command of Major Stillman, having been 
sent forward by Whiteside as a scouting party, 
left Dixon on the 13th and, on the afternoon of 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



611 



the next day, went into camp in a strong position 
near the mouth of Sycamore Creek. As soon dis- 
covered, Black Hawk was in camp at the same 
time, as he afterwards claimed, with about forty 
of his braves, on Sycamore Creek, three miles 
distant, while the greater part of his band were en- 
camped with the more war-like faction of the Pot- 
tawatomies some seven miles farther north on the 
Kishwaukee River. As claimed by Black Hawk 
in his autobiography, having been disappointed in 
his expectation of forming an alliance with the 
Winnebagoes and the Pottawatomies, he had at 
this juncture determined to return to the west 
side of the Mississippi. Hearing of the arrival of 
Stillman's command in the vicinity, and taking 
it for granted that this was the whole of Atkin- 
son's command, he sent out three of his young 
men with a white flag, to arrange a parley and 
convey to Atkinson his offer to meet tlie latter in 
council. These were captured by some of Still- 
man's band regardless of their flag of truce, while 
a party of five other braves who followed to ob- 
serve the treatment received by the flagbearers, 
were attacked and two of their number killed, the 
the other three escaping to their camp. Black 
Hawk learning the fate of his truce party was 
aroused to the fiercest indignation. Tearing the 
flag to pieces with which he had intended to go 
into council with the whites, and appealing to his 
followers to avenge the murder of their comrades, 
he prepared for the attack. The rangers num- 
bered 375 men, while Black Hawk's band has been 
estimated at less than forty. As the rangers 
caught sight of the Indians, they rushed forward 
in pell-mell fashion. Retiring behind a fringe 
of bushes, the Indians awaited the attack. As 
the rangers approached. Black Hawk and his 
party rose up with a war whoop, at the same time 
opening fire on their assailants. The further 
history of the affair was as much of a disgrace to 
Stillman's command as had been their desecra- 
tion of the flag of truce. Thrown into panic by 
their reception by Black Hawk's little band, the 
rangers turned and, without firing a shot, began 
the retreat, dashing through their own camp and 
abandoning everything, which fell into the hands 
of the Indians. An attempt was made by one or 
two officers and a few of their men to check the 
retreat, but without success, the bulk of the fu- 
gitives continuing their :nad rush for safety 
through the night until they reached Dixon, 
twenty-five miles distant, while many never 
stopped until they reached their homes, forty 
or fifty miles distant. The casualties to the 
rangers amounted to eleven killed and two 



wounded, while the Indian loss consisted of two 
spies and one of the flag-bearers, treacherously 
killed near Stillman's camp, 'ihis ill-starred af- 
fair, which has passed into history as "Stillman's 
defeat," produced a general panic alons; the fron- 
tier by inducing an exaggerated estimate of the 
strength of the Indian force, while it led Elack 
Hawk to form a poor opinion of the courage cf 
the white troops at the same time that it led to 
an exalted estimate of the prowess of his own 
little baud — thus becoming an important factor 
in prolonging the war and in the bloody massacres 
which followed. 'Whiteside, with his force of 
1.400 men, advanced to the scene of the defeat 
the next day and buried the dead, while on the 
19th, Atkinson, with his force of regulars, pro- 
ceeded up Rock River, leaving the remnant of 
Stillman's force to guard the wounded and sup- 
plies at Dixon. No sooner had he left than the 
demoralized fugitives of a few days before de- 
serted their post for their homes, compelling At- 
kinson to return for the protection of his base of 
supplies, while Whiteside was ordered to follow 
the trail of Black Hawk who had started up the 
Kishwaukee for the swamps about Lake Kosh- 
konong, nearly west of Milwaukee within the 
present State of Wisconsin. 

At this point the really active stage of the 
campaign began. Black Hawk, leaving the 
women and children of his band in the fastnesses 
of the swamps, divided his followers into two 
bands, retaining about 300 under his own com- 
mand, while the notorious half-breed, MikeGirty, 
ledaband of one hundred renegadePottawatomies. 
Returning to the vicinity of Rock Island, he 
gathered some recruits from the Pottawatomies 
and Winnebagoes, and the work of rapine and 
massacre among the frontier settlers began. One 
of the most notable of these was the Indian 
Creek Massacre in LaSalle County, about twelve 
miles north of Ottawa, on May 81, when sixteen 
persons were killed at the Home of William 
Davis, and two young girls — Sylvia and Rachel 
Hall, aged, respectively, 17 and 15 yeari — were 
carried away captives. The girls were subse- 
quently released, having been ransomed for $2,000 
in horses and trinkets through a Winnebago 
Chief and surrendered to sub-agent Henry 
Gratiot. Great as was the emergency at this 
juncture, the volunteers began to manifest evi- 
dence of dissatisfaction and, claiming that they 
had served out their term of enlistment, refused 
to follow the Indians into the swamps of Wis- 
consin. As the result of a council of war, the 
volunteers were ordered to Ottawa, where they 



C12 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



were mustered out on May 28, by Lieut. Robt. 
Anderson, afterwards General Anderson of Fort 
Sumter fame. Bleanwhile Governor Reynolds had 
issued his call (with that of 1831 the third,) for 
2,000 men to serve during the war. Gen. 
AVinfield Scott was also ordered from the East 
with 1,000 regulars although, owing to cholera 
breaking out among the troops, they did not 
arrive in time to take part in the campaign. The 
rank and file of volunteers responding imder the 
new call was 3,148, with recruits and regulars 
then in Illinois making an army of 4,000. Pend- 
ing the arrival of the troops vinder the new call, 
and to meet an immediate emergency, 300 men 
were enlisted from the disbanded rangers for a 
period of twenty days, and organized into a 
regiment under command of Col. Jacob Fry, 
with James D. Henry as Lieutenant Colonel and 
Jolm Thomas as l\Iajor. Among those who en- 
listed as privates in this regiment were Brig.- 
Gen. Whiteside and Capt. Abraham Lincoln. A 
regiment of five companies, numbering 19.5 men, 
from Putnam County under command of Col. 
John Strawn, and another of eight companies 
from Vermilion County under Col. Isaac R. 
Moore, were organized and assigned to guard 
duty for a period of twenty days. 

The new volunteers were rendezvoused at Fort 
Wilbourn, nearly opposite Peru, June 1.5, and 
organized into three brigades, each consisting of 
three regiments and a spy battalion. The First 
Brigade (915 strong) was placed under command 
of Brig-Gen. Alexander Posey, the Second 
under Gen. Milton K. Alexander, and the third 
under Gen. James D. Henry. Others who served 
as officers in some of tliese several organizations, 
and afterwards became prominent in State his- 
tory, were Lieut. -Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard of the 
Vermilion County regiment ; John A. McClern- 
and, on the staff of General Posey; Maj. John 
Dement ; then State Treasurer ; Stinson H. Ander- 
son, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor; Lieut.- 
Gov. Zadoc Casey; Maj., William MoHenry; 
Sidney Breese (afterwards Judge of the State 
Supreme Court and United States Senator) ; W. 
L. D. Ewing (as Major of a spj' battalion, after- 
wards United States Senator and State Auditor) ; 
Alexander W. Jenkins (afterwards Lieutenant- 
Governor) ; James W. Semple (afterwards United 
States Senator) ; and William Weatlierford (after- 
wards a Colonel in the Mexican War), and many 
more. Of the Illinois troops, Posej-'s brigade 
was assigned to the duty of dispersing the Indians 
between Galena and Rock River, Alexander's sent 
to intercept Black Hawk up the Rock River, 



while Henry's remained with Gen. Atkinson at 
Dixon. During the next two weeks engage- 
ments of a more or less serious charactei vsere 
had on the Pecatonica on the southern border of 
the present State of Wisconsin ; at Apple River 
Fort fourteen miles east of Galena, which was 
successfully defended against a force under Black 
Hawk himself, and at Kellogg's Grove the next 
day (June 25), when the same band ambushed 
Maj. Demenfs spy battalion, and cam') near in- 
flicting a defeat, which was prevented by 
Dement's coolness and the timely arrival of re- 
inforcements. In the latter engagement the 
whites lost five killed besides 47 horses which had 
been tethered outside their lines, the loss of the 
Indians being sixteen killed. Skirmishes also 
occurred with varying results, at Plum River 
Fort, Burr Oak Grove, Sinsiniwa and Blue 
Mounds — the last two within the present State of 
Wisconsin. 

Believing the bulk of the Indians to be camped 
in the vicinity of Lake Koshkonong, General 
Atkinson left Dixon June 27 with a combined 
force of regulars and volunteers numbering 2,600 
men — the volunteers being under the command 
of General Henry. They reached the outlet of the 
Lake July 3, but found no Indians, being joined 
two days later by General Alexander'sbrigade,and 
on the 6th by Gen. Posey's. From here the com- 
mands of Generals Henry and Alexander were 
sent for supplies to Fort Winnebago, at the Port- 
age of the Wisconsin ; Colonel Ewing, with the 
Second Regiment of Posey's brigade descending 
Rock River to Dixon, Posey with the remainder, 
going to Fort Hamilton for the protection of 
settlers in the lead-mining region, while Atkin- 
son, advancing with the regulars up Lake Koshko- 
nong, began the erection of temporary fortifica- 
tions on Bark River near the site of the present 
village of Fort Atkinson. At Fort Winnebago 
Alexander and Henry obtained evidence of the 
actual location of Black Hawk's camp through 
Pierre Poquette, a half-breed scout and trader 
in the employ of the American Fur Company, 
whom they employed with a number of Winne 
bagos to act as guides. From this point Alex- 
ander's command returned to General Atkinson's 
headquarters, carrying with them twelve day's 
provisions for the main army, while General 
Henry's (600 strong) , with Major Dodge's battalion 
numbering 150, with an equal quantity of supplies 
for themselves, started under the guidance of 
Poquette and his Winnebago aids to find Black 
Hawk's camp. Arriving on the 18th at the 
Winnebago village on Rock River where Black 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



613 



Hawk and his band had been located, their camp 
was found deserted, the Winnebagos insisting 
that they liad gone to Cranberry ( now Horicon) 
Lake, a Iialf-day's mareli up the river. Messen- 
gers were immediately dispatched to Atkinson's 
headquarters, thirty-five miles distant, to ap- 
prise him of this fact. When they had proceeded 
about half tlie distance, they struck a broad, 
fresh trail, which proved to be that of Black 
Hawk's band headed westward toward the Mis- 
sissippi. The guide having deserted them in 
order to warn his tribesmen that further dis- 
sembling to deceive the whites as to 
the whereabouts of the Sacs was use- 
less, the messengers were compelled to follow 
him to General Henry's camp. The discovery pro- 
duced the wildest enthusiasm among the volun- 
teers, and from this time-events followed in rapid 
succession. Leaving as far as possible all incum- 
brances behind, the pursuit of the fuoiiives was 
begun without delay, the troops wading through 
swamps sometimes in water to their armpits. 
Soon evidence of the character of the flight the 
Indians were making, in the shape of exhausted 
horses, blankets, and camp equipage cast aside 
along the trail, began to appear, and straggling 
bands of Winnebagos, who had now begun to 
desert Black Hawk, gave information that the 
Indians were only a few miles in advance. On 
the evening of the 20th of July Henry's forces 
encamped at "The Four Lakes," the present 
site of the city of Madison, Wis. , Black Hawk's 
force lying in ambush the same night seven or 
eight miles distant. During the next afternoon 
the rear-guard of the Indians under Neapope was 
overtaken and skirmishing continued until the 
bluffs of the Wisconsin were reached. Black 
Hawk's avowed object was to protect the passage 
of the main body of his people across the stream. 
The loss of the Indians in these skirmishes has 
been estimated at 40 to 68, while Black Hawk 
claimed that it was only six killed, the loss of 
the whites being one killed and eight wounded. 
During the night Black Hawk succeeded in 
placing a considerable number of the women and 
children and old men on a raft and in canoes 
obtained from the Winnebagos, and sent them 
down the river, believing that, as non-combat- 
ants, they would be permitted by the regulars 
to pass Fort Crawford, at the mouth of the Wis- 
consin, undisturbed. In this he was mistaken. 
A force sent from the fort under Colonel Ritner to 
intercept them, fired mercilessly upon the help- 
less fugitives, killing fifteen of their number, 
while about fifty were drowned and thirty-two 



women and children made prisoners. The re- 
mainder, escaping into the woods, with few ex- 
ceptions died from starvation and exposure, or 
were massacred by their enemies, the Menomi- 
nees, acting under white officers. During the 
night after the battle of Wisconsin Heights, a 
loud, shrill voice of some one speaking in an un- 
known tongue was heard in the direction where 
Black Hawk's band was supposed to be. This 
caused something of a panic in Henry's camp, as 
it was supposed to come from some one giving 
orders for an attack. It was afterwards learned 
that the speaker was Neapope speaking in the 
Winnebago language in the hope that he might 
be heard by Poquette and the Winnebago guides. 
He was describing the helpless condition of his 
people, claiming that the war had been forced 
upon them, that their women and children were 
starving, and that, if permitted peacefully to re- 
cross the Mississippi, they would give no further 
trouble. Unfortunately Poquette and the other 
guides had left for Fort Winnebago, so that no 
one was there to translate Neapope's appeal and 
it failed of its object. 

General Henry 's force having discovered that the 
Indians had escaped — Black Hawk heading with 
the bulk of his warriors towards the Mississippi — 
spent the next and day night on the field, but on 
the following day (July 23) started to meet General 
Atkinson, who had, in the meantime, been noti- 
fied of the pursuit. The head of their columns 
met at Blue Mounds, the same evening, a com- 
plete junction between the regulars and the 
volunteers being eifected at Helena, a deserted 
village on the Wisconsin. Here by using the 
logs of the deserted cabins for rafts, the army 
crossed the river on the 37th and the 28th and the 
pursuit of black Hawk's fugitive band was re- 
newed. Evidence of their famishing condition 
.was found in the trees stripped of bark for food, 
the carcasses of dead ponies, with here and there 
the dead body of an Indian. 

On August 1, Black Hawk's depleted and famish- 
ing band reached the Mississippi two miles below 
the mouth of the Bad Ax, an insignificant 
stream, and immediately began trying to cross 
the river; but having only two or three canoes, 
the work was slow. About the middle of the 
afternoon the steam transport, "Warrior," ap- 
peared on the scene, having on board a score of 
regulars and volunteers, returning from a visit 
to the village of the Sioux Chief, Wabasha, to 
notify him that his old enemies, the Sacs, were 
headed in that direction. Black Hawk raised the 
white flag in token of surrender but the officer 



614 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



in command claiming that he feared treachery or 
an ambush, demanded that Black Hawk should 
come on board. Tliis he was unable to do, as he 
had no canoe. After waiting a few minutes a 
murderous fire of canister and musketrj' was 
opened from the steamer on the few Indians on 
shore, who made such feeble resistance as they 
were able. The result was the killing of one 
white man and twenty -three Indians. After this 
exploit the "Warrior" proceeded to Prairie du 
Chien, twelve or fifteen miles distant, for fuel. 
Diu-ing the night a few more of the Indians 
crossed the river, but Black Hawk, seeing the 
hopelessness of further resistance, accompanied 
by the Prophet, and taking with him a party of 
ten warriors and thirty-five squaws and children, 
fled in the direction of "the dells" of the Wis- 
consin. On the morningof the 2d General Atkinson 
arrived within four or five miles of the Sac 
position. Disposing his forces with the regulars 
and Colonel Dodge's rangers in the center, the brig- 
ades of Posej' and Alexander on the right and 
Henry's on the left, he began the pursuit, but 
was drawn by the Indian decoy.s up the river 
from the place where the main body of the 
Indians were trying to cross the stream. This 
had the effect of leaving General Henry in the rear 
practically without orders, but it became the 
means of making his command the prime factors 
in the climax which followed. Some of the spies 
attached to Henry's command having accidental- 
ly discovered the trail of the main body of the fu- 
gitives, he began the pursuit without waiting for 
orders and soon found himself engaged with some 
300 savages, a force nearly equal to his own. It 
was here that the only thing like a regular battle 
occurred. Tlie savages fought witli the fury of 
despair, while Henry's force was no doubt nerved 
to greater deeds of courage by the insult which 
they conceived had been put upon them by Gen- 
eral Atkinson. Atkinson, hearing the battle in 
progress and discovering that he was being led 
off on a false scent, soon joined Henry's force 
with his main army, and the steamer " Warrior," 
arriving from Prairie du Chien, opened a fire of 
canister upon the pent-up Indians. The battle 
soon degenerated into a massacre. In the course 
of the three hours through which it lasted, it is es- 
timated that l.'JO Indians were killed by fire from 
the troops, an equal number of both sexes and 
all ages drowned while attempting to cross the 
river or by being driven into it, while about 50 
(chiefly women and children) were made prison- 
ers. The loss of the wliites was 20 killed and 13 
wotinded. When the "battle" was nearing its 



close it is said that Black Hawk, having repented 
the abandonment of his people, returned within 
sight of the battle-ground, but seeing the slaugh- 
ter in progress which he was powerless to avert, he 
turned and, with a howl of rage and horror, fled 
into the forest. About 300 Indians (mo.stly non- 
combatants) succeeded in crossing the river in a 
condition of exhaustion from hunger and fatigue, 
but these were set upon by the Sioux under Chief 
W^abasha, through the suggestion and agency of 
General Atkinson, and nearly one-half their num- 
ber exterminated. Of the remainder many died 
from wounds and exhaustion, while still others 
perished while attempting to reach Keokuk's band 
who had refused to join in Black Hawk's desper- 
ate venture. Of one thousand who crossed to the 
east side of the river with Black Hawk in April, 
it is estimated that not more than 150 survived 
the tragic events of the next four months. 

General Scott, having arrived at Prairie du Chien 
early in August, assumed command and, on 
August 15, mustered out the volunteers at Dixon, 
111. After witnessing the bloody climax at the 
Bad Axe of his ill-starred invasion, Black Hawk 
fled to the dells of the Wisconsin, where he and 
the Prophet surrendered themselves to the Win. 
nebagos, by whom they were delivered to the 
Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien. Having been 
taken to Fort Armstrong on September 21, he 
there signed a treaty of peace. Later he was 
taken to Jefferson Barracks (near St. Louis) in 
the custody of Jefferson Davis, then a Lieutenant 
in the regular army, where he was held a captive 
during the following winter. The connection of 
Davis with the Black Hawk War, mentioned by 
many historians, seems to have been confined to 
this act. In April, 1833, with the Prophet and 
Neapope, he was taken to Washington and then 
to Fortress Monroe, where they were detained as 
prisoners of war until June 4, when they were 
released. Black Hawk, after being taken to many 
principal cities in order to impress him with the 
strength of the American nation, was brought to 
Fort Armstrong, and there committed to the 
guardianship of his rival, Keokuk, but survived 
this humiliation only a few years, dying on a 
small reservation set apart for him in Davis 
County, Iowa, October 3, 1838. 

Such is the story of the Black Hawk War, the 
most notable struggle with the aborigines in Illi- 
nois history. At its beginning both the State 
and national authorities were grossly misled by 
an exaggerated estimate of the strength of Black 
Hawk's force as to nimibers and his plans for 
recovering the site of his old village, while 



HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



615 



Black Hawk had conceived a low estimate of the 
numbers and courage of liis white enemies, es- 
pecially after the Stillman defeat. The cost of 
the war to the State and nation in money has been 
estimated at 62,000,000, and in sacrifice of life 
on both sides at not less than 1,200. The loss of 
life by the troops in irregular skirmishes, and'in 
massacres of settlers by the Indians, aggregated 
about 250, while an equal number of regulars 
perished from a visitation of cholera at the 
various stations within the district affected by 
the war, especially at Detroit, Chicago, Fort 
Armstrong and Galena. Yet it is the judgment 
of later historians that nearlj' all this sacrifice of 
life and treasure might have been avoided, but 
for a series of blunders due to the blind or un- 
scrupulous policy of officials or interloping squat- 
ters upon lands which the Indians had occupied 
under the treaty of 1804. A conspicious blunder — 
to call it by no harsher name — was 
the violation by Stillman 's command of t|ie 
rules of civilized warfare in the attack made 
upon Black Hawk's messengers, sent under 
flag of truce to request a conference to settle 
terms under which he might return to the west 
side of the Mississippi — an act which resulted in 
a humiliating and disgraceful defeat for its 
authors and proved the first step in actual war. 
Another misfortune was the failure to understand 
Neapope's appeal for peace and permission for his 
people to pass beyond the Mississippi the night 
after the battle of Wisconsin Heights; and the 
third and most inexcusable blunder of all, was 
the refusal of the officer in command of the 
"Warrior " to resjiect Black Hawk"s flag of truce 
and request for a conference just before the 
bloody massacre which has gone into history 
under the name of the " battle of the Bad Axe." 
Either of these events, i)roperly availed of, would 
have prevented much of the butchery of that 
bloody episode which has left a stain upon the 
page of history, although this statement implies 
no disposition to detract from the patriotism and 
courage of some of the leading actors upon whom 
the responsibility was placed of protecting the 
frontier settler from outrage and massacre. One 
of the features of the war was the bitter jealousy 
engendered by the unwise policy pursued by 
General Atkinson towards some of the volun- 
teers — especially the treatment of General James 
D. Henry, who, although subjected to repeated 
slights and insults, is regarded by Governor Ford 
and others as the real hero of the war. Too 
brave a soldier to shirk any responsibility and 
too modest to exploit his own deeds, he felt 



deeply the studied purpose of his superior to 
ignore him in the conduct of the campaign — a 
purpose which, as in the affair at the Bad Axe, 
was defeated by accident or by General Henry's 
soldierly sagacity and attention to duty, although 
he gave out to the public no utterance of com- 
plaint. Broken in health by the hardships and 
exposures of the campaign, he went South soon 
after the war and died of consumption, unknown 
and almost alone, in the city of New Orleans, less 
two years later. 

Aside froru contemporaneous newspaper ac- 
counts, monographs, and manuscripts on file 
in public libraries relating to this epoch in State 
history, the most comprehensive records of the 
Black Hawk War are to be found in the " Life of 
Black Hawk," dictated by himself (1834) ; Wake- 
field's "History of the War between the United 
States and the Sac and Fox Nations" (1834); 
Drake's" Life of Black Hawk" (1854); Ford's 
"History of Illinois" (1854); Reynolds' "Pio- 
neer History of Illinois; and ''My Own Times"; 
Davidson & Stuve's and Moses' Histories of Illi- 
nois; Blanchard's " The Northwest and Chicago" ; 
Armstrong's " The Sauks and the Black Hawk 
War," and Reuben G. Thwaite's "Story of the 
Black Hawk War" (1893.) 

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, a village in the southern 
part of Cook County, twenty-eight miles south of 
the central part of Chicago, on the Chicago & 
Eastern Illinois, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and 
the Michigan Central Railroads; is located in an 
agricultural region, but has some manufactures 
as well as good schools — also has one newspaper. 
Population (1900), 5,100. 

GRANITE, a city of Madison County, located 
five miles north of St. Louis on the lines of the 
Burlington; the Chicago & Alton; Cleveland, 
Cincinaati, Chicago & St. Louis; Chicago, Peoria 
& St. Louis (Illinois), and the Wabash Railways. 
It is adjacent to the Merchants' Terminal Bridge 
across the Mississippi and has considerable manu- 
facturing and grain-storage business; has two 
newspapers. Population (1900), 3,123. 

HARLEM, a village of Proviso Township, Cook 
County, and suburb of Chicago, on the line of the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, nine miles 
west of the terminal station at Chicago. Harlem 
originally embraced the village of Oak Park, now 
a part of the city of Chicago, but, in 1884, was set 
off and incorporated as a village. Considerable 
manufacturing is done here. Population (1900), 
4,085. 

HARVEY, a city of Cook County, and an im- 
portant manufacturing suburb of the city of Chi- 



616 



HISTOEICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. 



cago, three miles southwest of the southern city 
limits. It is on the line of the Illinois Central 
and the Cliioago & Grand Trunk Railways, and 
has extensive manufactures of harvesting, street 
and steam railway machinery, gasoline stoves, 
enameled ware, etc. ; also has one newspaper and 
ample school facilities. Population (1900), 5,395. 

IOWA CENTRAL RAILWAY, a railway line 
having its principal termini at Peoria, 111., and 
Manly Junction, nine miles north of Mason City, 
Iowa, with several lateral branches making con- 
nections with Centerville, Newton, State Center, 
Story City, Algona and Northwood in the latter 
State. The total length of line owned, leased 
and operated by the Company, officiallj' reported 
in 1899, was 508.98 miles, of which 89.76 miles- 
including 3.5 miles trackage facilities on the 
Peoria & Pekin Union between Iowa Junction 
and Peoria — were in Illinois. The Illinois divi- 
sion extends from Keithsburg — where it enters 
the State at the crossing of the Mississippi — to 
Peoria.— (History.) The Iowa Central Railway 
Company was originally chartered as the Central 
Railroad Company of Iowa and the road com- 
pleted in October, 1871. In 1873 it passed into 
the hands of a receiver and, on June 4, 1879, was 
reorganized under the name of the Central Iowa 
Railway Company. In Maj', 1883, this company 
purchased the Peoria & Farmington Railroad, 
which was incorporated into the main line, but 
defaulted and passed into the hands of a receiver 
December 1, 1886; the line was sold under fore- 
closure in 1887 and 1888, to the Iowa Central 
Railway Company, which had effected a new 
organization on the basis of §11,000,000 common 
stock, §6,000,000 preferred stock and $1,379,625 
temporary debt certificates convertible into pre- 
ferred stock, and §7,500,000 first mortgage bonds. 
The transaction was completed, the receiver dis- 
charged and the road turned over to the new 
company. May 15, 1889.— (Financi.4.l). The total 
capitalization of the road in 1899 was §21,337,558, 
of which §14,159,180 was in stock, §6,650,095 in 
bonds and §.528,283 in other forms of indebtedness. 
The total earnings and income of the line in Illi- 
nois for the same year were §532,568, and the ex- 
penditures §566,333. 

SPARTA, a city of Randolph County, situated 
on the Centralia & Chester and the Mobile & 
Ohio Railroads, twenty miles northwest of Ches- 
ter and fifty miles southeast of St. Louis. It has 



a number of manufacturing establishments, in- 
cluding plow factories, a woolen mill, a cannery 
and creameries; also has natural gas. The first 
settler was James McClurken, from South Caro- 
lina, who settled here in 1818. He was joined by 
James Armour a few years later, who bought 
land of McClurken, and together they laid out 
a village, which first received tlie name of Co- 
lumbus. About the same time Robert G. Shan- 
non, who had been conducting a mercantile busi- 
ness in the vicinity, located in the town and 
became the first Postmaster. In 1839 the name 
of the town was changed to Sparta. Mr. McClur- 
ken, its earliest settler, appears to have been a 
man of considerable enterprise, as he is credited 
with having built the first cotton gin in this vi- 
cinity, besides still later, erecting saw and flour 
mills and a woolen mill. Sparta was incorporated 
as a village in 1837 and in 1859 as a city. A col- 
ony of members of the Reformed Presbyterian 
Qhurch (Covenanters or "Seceders") established 
at Eden, a beautiful site about a mile from 
Sparta, about 1822, cut an important figure in 
the history of the latter place, as it became the 
means of attracting here an industrious and 
thriving population. At a later period it became 
one of the most important stations of the "Under- 
ground Railroad" (so called) in Illinois (which 
see). The population of Sparta (1890) was 1,979; 
(1900), 2,041. 

TOLUCA, a city of Marshall County situated 
on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
Railroad, 18 miles southwest of Streator. It is in 
the center of a rich agricultural district ; has the 
usual church and educational facilities of cities 
of its rank, and two newspapers. Population 
(1900), 2,629. 

WEST HAMMOND, a village situated in the 
northeast corner of Thornton Township, Cook 
County, adjacent to Hammond, Ind., from which 
it is separated by the Indiana State line. It is on 
the Michigan Central Railroad, one mile south of 
the Chicago City limits, and has convenient ac- 
cess to several other lines, including the Chicago 
& Erie; New York, Chicago & St. Louis, and 
Western Indiana Railroads. Like its Indiana 
neighbor, it is a manufacturing center of much 
importance, was incorporated as a village in 
1892, and has grown rapidly within the last few 
years, having a population, according to the cen- 
sus of 1900, of 2,935. 



FULTON COUNTY 





j{A<^ -^-l.-^>v^ 



HISTORICAL 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



FIRST WHITE VISITORS TO FULTON COUNTY SOIL — 
COMING OF JOLIET AND MARQUETTE — SEARCH FOR 

AN OUTLET TO THE SOUTH SEA PLANTING OF 

EUROPEAN COLONIES IN THE "NEW WORLD" — 
JOLIET AND MARQUETTE'S TRIP DOWN THE MISSIS- 
SIPPI AND UP THE ILLINOIS IN 1673 — INDIAN 
TRIBES CONSTITUTING THE ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY 

SECOND VISIT OF MARQUETTE IN 1675 — HIS 

DEATH — ARRIVAL OF LA SALLE AND TONTI — BUILD- 
ING OF FOET CREVE-COUER — PERIOD OF FRENCH OC- 
CUPATION — FUR TRADING STATIONS ON THE ILLI- 
NOIS — REGION WITHIN THE PRESENT LIMITS OF 
FULTON COUNTY KNOWN TO WHITE MEN IN THE 
LATTER PART OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

In the latter days of the month of July, in 
the year of 1673, two birch-bark canoes passed 
up the slow-flowing Illinois River along the 
east and south-by-east boundary of that portion 
of the earth's surface which geographically con- 
stitutes, at the present time, the political divi- 
sion, known as Fulton County, State of Illinois, 
United States of America. These canoes con- 
tained, between them, seven Frenchmen. Aside 
from the personal effects and equipment of the 
several individual voyageurs, the cargo in the 
canoes consisted of some bags of corn meal, 
some dried beef, seven blankets and a quantity 
of beads, crosses and other articles of a re- 
ligious character, and possibly some bright 
trinkets for Indian trading purposes. The 
names of five of the men with this little expe- 
dition are buried in oblivion — being mere assist- 
ants their names are nowhere recorded — but 
the other two, Louis Joliet and Jacques Mar- 
quette, have their names written among the im- 



mortals. Louis XIV., the grand Monarch, was on 
the throne of France and it was to advance his 
temporal glory that the expedition was initiated. 
Carrying the gospel to the benighted Indians, 
whose habitat was the Mississippi Valley, was 
a secondary matter. 

It was the ambition of King Louis and the 
Government of France to find a new and short- 
er passage to China, Japan and the Indies by 
way of the Pacific Ocean, then known as the 
South Sea. While Spain had been planting 
settlements in Florida and on the west coast of 
the Gulf of Mexico, and the English were do- 
ing likewise along the shores of the Atlantic, 
France established colonies along the St. Law- 
rence and around the Great Lakes, and French 
fur traders and missionaries had established 
stations or trading posts at many points in the 
far Northwest. The remotest western outpost 
in 1673 was Portage on the Fox River in what 
is now the State of Wisconsin. France was re- 
joicing in the splendor of the prosperous reign 
of the Grand Monarch. Colbert was her Min- 
ister of Marine and Frontenac was Governor of 
the French possessions in the New World. Ter- 
ritorial and commercial aggrandizement was 
the theme of the King and his Ministers, and 
the dream and hope of the people of France. 
The missionaries who had visited tribes of In- 
dians, as they wandered to and fro up and down 
the valley of the Mississippi and its numerous 
tributaries, carried home with them to France 
marvelous stories of the vast country in the 
valley to the South, which for richness and 
fertility is unsurpassed. It was thought that 
by following the Mississippi to its outlet it ' 
would be found that it emptied into what was 
then known as the South Sea, but now known 
as the Pacific Ocean. It was decided by the 
Government of France, on the suggestion of the 
resident officials of the New France, to send out 
an exploring party with the two-fold purpose 
of discovering the new and shorter passage to 
the Orient, and to explore and attach the terri- 



6i8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tory of the lower Mississippi Valley to the do- 
minion of France and people it with French oc- 
cupants. 

The local French Government selected as 
the leader of this expedition Louis Joliet, son 
of an artisan, educated for the priesthood but 
turned merchant and adventurer. Joliet was 
not a mere novice as an explorer of a new 
country. He had just returned from an explor- 
ing expedition in the Superior Lake country in 
search of copper mines, when he was com- 
missioned to explore the lower Mississippi. As 
with all such expeditions, there was attached 
to the expedition to "discover the South Sea by 
the Mascoutins' country and the great river 
Mississippi," a missionary whose purpose was to 
carry the gospel to the heathen in every land. 
This missionary was Jacques Marquette and he 
was one of the brothers of the Jesuit Order. 
Joliet was only twenty-eight years of age. Mar- 
quette was thirty-six; was highly educated, of 
course, in the languages, history and philoso- 
phy, and was also skilled in mathematics and 
was able to determine by use of instruments 
the latitude with reasonable accuracy. From 
contact with the Indians in serving them in a 
religious way, he was able to converse to a 
limited degree, at least, with the members of 
the various Indian tribes who inhabited the 
territory which was to be the objective point 
of the exploring party. On the 13th day of May, 
1673, these seven men started on the memorable 
journey which was to become a great historical 
event. Starting from St. Ignace on the Straits 
of Mackinack, they skirted the foot of Lake 
Michigan and entered Green Bay, then known 
as Fetid Bay. Thence they proceeded south- 
ward to the mouth of the Fox River (Wiscon- 
sin). With them from this point they took two 
Indians as guides. The party slowly advanced 
up the Fox River until Portage was reached on 
the 7th day of June. Crossing from this point 
to the Wisconsin River, carrying canoes, pro- 
visions, etc., the exploring party proceeded 
down that river to the Mississippi. After as- 
sisting in getting the party afloat on the Wis- 
consin River, the two Indians who acted as 
guides returned to their tribal village at the 
mouth of Fox River. Therefore, only French- 
men made up the personnel of the expedition. 
Within ten days, after leaving Portage, that 
is to say on the 17th day of June, the wonder- 
ful river, of which such marvelous tales had 



been told them by the Indians, lay spread out 
in all its magnificence before them. In honor 
of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, 
Marquette's spiritual guide and mentor, as con- 
ceived by him, the river was named, or rather 
attempted to be re-named, "The River Concep- 
tion." But the Indian name, Mississippi, "The 
Father of Waters," was never to be replaced 
by another. Journeying down the Mississippi, 
the party first stopped and made the acquaint- 
tance of a tribe of Indians, which was one of 
the branches of the Illini confederacy and who 
had a village on the Iowa side near the mouth 
of the Des Moines River. Marquette had often 
heard of the Illini Indians and they had also 
heard of the Frenchmen and reckoned them as 
friends. Much information was elicited from 
these Indians by Marquette and Joliet relating 
to the country to the south. Passing down 
the great river, the party passed the mouth of 
the Illinois, the Missouri and the Ohio, and 
reached a point below the last named. Deter- 
mining that the River Conception (Mississippi) 
did not flow into the South Sea (Pacific Ocean), 
but into the Gulf of Mexico, and having had a 
slight altercation with some Indians who had 
evidently been on friendly terms with the nat- 
ural enemies of the French — namely: the Span- 
iards, who had established settlements in Flori- 
da and had made explorations across the Miss- 
issippi River, for they were supplied with weap- 
ons of steel and iron of European manufacture 
— the little party decided to retrace their steps 
to St. Ignace. But when the explorers arrived 
at the mouth of the Illinois River, they were 
informed by friendly Indians that a much short- 
er way to reach the starting point was by way 
of this slow-flowing river. They ascended it. 
It was on the 17th day of July, one month after 
the party first reached the Mississippi River, 
that the journey up the Illinois River began. 
Just what the day that the east-by-south 
shores of Fulton County dawned upon the 
vision of those seven Frenchmen, the reader 
will have to determine by the use of his mathe- 
matics and imagination as best he may. These 
were undoubtedly the first white men whose 
eyes rested upon a Fulton County landscape. 
Imagination might depict these voyageurs tying 
up at the mouth of Spoon River, and eating 
their frugal meal on this county's hospitable 
shores: but it must remain pure speculation, 
as to whether the white man's footprints were 




(^4, 0, cAltM^^' 



/ 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



619 



made on Old Fulton domain In July, 1673, or 
at a much later day. Nothing authentic can 
be determined on this point. The first landing 
place of the party definitely fixed was at an 
Indian village near the present city of Peoria. 
The party remained with the Indians at this 
village for three days, and it is recorded that 
Father Marquette busied himself with the 
spiritual welfare of the members of the tribe, 
and so great was the effect of his teaching and 
preaching that, after a sojourn of only three 
or four days, when he and the party came to 
depart, an Indian babe with life slowly ebbing 
away was brought to him to be baptized. From 
this Indian village the party proceeded up the 
Illinois and next stopping place recorded was 
near the present village of Utica in La Salle 
County, on the upper Illinois. Here was the 
principal village of the lUini Indian confederacy 
and the seat of Government, so to speak, of 
this Indian confederacy made up of the various 
branches of the Illini Indians. It was called, 
in the Indian language, Cascasshia or Kaskas- 
kia. 

The Illini Indians, which comprised the Il- 
linois confederacy, was composed of five prin- 
cipal tribes, namely; The Mitchlgamis, Kaskas- 
kias. The Peorias, The Kahokias and Tamarois. 

The Mitchlgamis originally belonged west of 
the Mississippi River, and were really a part of 
the Illini by adoption. However, their name 
has impressed itself upon the Great Lake and 
the State of Michigan. The Kaskaskias inhab- 
ited that part of Illinois north of Lake Peoria 
and south of the southern end of Lake Michi- 
gan. But after the year 1700, owing to on- 
slaughts made on them by more powerful east- 
em Indian tribes, led by Father Marest, the 
Recollect missionary, they emigrated to south- 
ern Illinois, and settled near the junction of the 
Kaskaskia and Mississippi Rivers. This ac- 
counts for the Indian settlement on the Illinois 
River near the present village of Utica, La Salle 
County, being called Kaskaskia, and afterwards 
the city of old Kaskaskia being located farther 
down the State at the junction of the Kaskaskia 
and Mississippi Rivers. The Peorias inhabited 
the region around Lake Peoria, and this includ- 
ed Fulton County in their hunting domain. The 
Kahokias were in the region of the Great Amer- 
ican Bottom extending from Alton to Chester. 
The Tamarois inhabited Eastern Illinois. 
Favorite hunting and fishing locations for In- 



dians existed in many parts of Fulton County, 
and especially was this true along either shore 
of Spoon River. This river abounded in food 
fish, and was adapted to the crude methods of 
catching them prevailing among the Indians. 
Also, the adjoining territory was the rendezvous 
of all sorts of native game. Mute evidences of 
Indian villages are yet discernible, and there 
is scarcely a "timber quarter" in the county 
from the surface of which some collection of 
Indian relies has not a spear or arrow head or 
a stone axe. Some of the most perfect speci- 
mens of this character in existence are from 
Fulton County, and it is said that no single 
county in the United States, certainly not in 
the State of Illinois, has been so prolific a pro- 
ducer of Indian spear and arrow heads and 
stone axes. Joliet and Marquette and their par- 
ty remained in the Indian village of Kaskaskia 
for a short time, and were then escorted by one 
of the principal chiefs and some of the young 
men of the tribe to Lake Michigan, and thence 
they proceeded to Green Bay, arriving there in 
September, whence they had set out at the be- 
ginning of June. It will thus be seen that it re- 
quired a little over three months to make the 
journey. 

It may be of interest to know what 
became of these two Important individuals. 
Joliet returned to Quebec, but unfortunately for 
future history he met with an accident on the 
St. Lawrence, and lost his journal of the jour- 
ney and explorations, together with his instru- 
ments and all his papers. Therefore, history 
must rely upon a narrative of the journey fur- 
nished by Marquette written two or three years 
afterward, largely from memory. Joliet never 
returned to the Illinois country. His report 
of his explorations excited wonderful interest 
among the French of the new world, and in 
France itself. ■ It is said that jealousy and in- 
fluence exerted by La Salle and other influential 
personages deprived Joliet of a second intend- 
ed journey to the Illinois Country. Joliet died 
in Canada in 1700. When departing on the 
homeward journey, Marquette promised the In- 
dians at Kaskaskia that he would return to 
them and instruct them spiritually. In October 
of the next year, 1674, true to his promise, he 
set out for the Illinois Country, and proceeded 
to a point some distance from the present city 
of Chicago where there was a portage, and was 
compelled to remain at this point owing to 111 



620 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



health until the following March. Resuming 
his journey in March he reached Kaskaskla the 
8th of April, 1675, and proceeded at once to es- 
tablish a mission. His health became much 
worse. He remained only a short time, and 
then started to return to St. Ignace, where at 
his old mission, he desired to end his career. 
But unfortunately his strength was not suffi- 
cient to permit him reaching his desired goal. 
Before the voyage was completed he died May 
18, 1675, at the mouth of a stream which is 
on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. But 
his remains are buried at his beloved mission at 
St. Ignace. It is to this man we owe the greater 
part of the information that we have about 
the first yisit of a white man to this section of 
the world; and it might be well, in passing, 
to call attention to the fact that he also was 
the first to explain the phenomena of lake tides. 
The next visit of the white man to the vicinity 
of Fulton County was in 16S0. The party was 
led by Robert Cavalier Sieur De La Salle; with 
him were Henry De Tonti, an Italian soldier 
with one arm, who acted as his Lieutenant and 
historian; thirty mechanics and marines; also, 
three Recollect Monks, namely: Father Gabriel 
Ribourdi, Father Zenobius Membre and Father 
Louis Hennepin. The glowing accounts as re- 
ported by Joliet and Marquette had excited La 
Salle's cupidity and desire for adventure. Like 
Joliet, he had been educated as a Jesuit priest, 
but feeling that he had mistaken his calling 
he came to the New World in 1666. In 1679 he 
visited the Northwest and explored the Great 
Lakes, finally reaching the head of Lake Michi- 
gan, and erecting a fort at the mouth of the 
St. Joseph River. From there he made a por- 
tage to the Illinois River, which he descended 
early in 1680 to Lake Peoria, at which place he 
arrived January 3d. At this place he built a 
fort called Creve-Couer. He did not at this time 
go farther south, but he dispatched Father Hen- 
nepin, with two companions by the way of the 
mouth of the Illinois, to explore the upper Miss- 
issippi. It will thus be seen that these three 
men were the next to view the soil of Fulton 
County, as they proceeded down the river, start- 
ing from Fort Creve-Couer Febuary 29, 1680, a 
little less than seven years after Joliet and 
Marquette passed up. It seems that accord- 
ing to the journal kept by Father Hennepin, 
from which he prepared a history of the jour- 
ney and explorations, that there had been a 



great thaw on the 15th day of January and this 
might account for the possibility of these men 
passing down the Illinois River in canoes in the 
month of February or 1st of March. The two 
men with Father Hennepin were Michael Ac- 
cault and Anthony Anguel. Fort Creve-Couer 
was left in command of Tonti by La Salle, and 
he was instructed to build a fort further up 
the river at Kaskaskia, the Indian village. In 
the absence of Tonti at Kaskaskia the men left 
at Creve-Couer deserted the fort and took 
everything with them that they could carry 
away. History does not record whither these 
deserters went, but it is quite probable that 
they went up the river as the shortest way to 
Canada, rather than down the river. When La 
Salle returned in the fall he learned of the de- 
sertion of his men, and found that Tonti had 
remaining with him only three Frenchmen, 
aside from the two monks, Membre and Ribour- 
di. La Salle again returned to Canada and or- 
ganized an expedition and this time he descend- 
ed the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, accom- 
panied by Tonti, and reached the Gulf of Mexi- 
co April 9, 1682. Therefore, the third view of 
the soil of Fulton County by white men was 
made by La Salle and Tonti and their party. 
From this time on at infrequent intervals 
French missionaries and Frenchmen, fired by 
zeal for glory of God or the desire for adven- 
ture, passed up and down the Illinois River, 
thus making the acquaintance of the eastern 
shore of Fulton County. With slight interrup- 
tions there was always a settlement of white 
men, at or near the present location of the city 
of Peoria, from the time Fort Creve-Couer was 
built by La Salle in 1680. more than 200 years 
ago. It is possible, and quite probable, that 
occasional excursions in pursuit of game or 
otherwise, were made by Frenchmen from Fort 
Creve-Couer to the land within the confines of 
Fulton County, and certainly some of the mis- 
sionaries from the fort visited the Indian set- 
tlements in the county. The business of trap- 
ping was conducted along the Illinois River 
and its tributaries. And there were fur-trading 
stations at Wesley City, in the present Taze- 
well County, and elsewhere along the Illinois 
River in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Spoon River was used as a location for 
traps by men connected with the furtrading sta- 
tions, and in all probability many of the minor 
streams flowing across the bosom of Fulton 




KITTY ANN! ABERNATHY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



621 



County and emptying into the Illinois River, 
were used likewise. Certain it is, that the In- 
dians from whom pelts were obtained, made 
large captures of animals along Spoon River in 
Fulton County; and undoubtedly the dealers 
visited various sections of the county to barter 
for these pelts. Therefore, that which is now 
Fulton County was not entirely unknown to 
white man as far back as the latter part of the 
seventeenth century. 



CHAPTER n. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



geology and topography of fuxtox county — 
subface conditions varieties of soil geo- 
logic strata found in the county — mineral 

resources coal area and products — extent 

of different systems other mineral prod- 
ucts — fire clay and iron — sand and lime- 
stone — copper and granite specimens. 

(By W. S. Strode, M. D.) 

The diversified natural features of Fulton 
County, embracing a number of rich prairies, 
much level timber land, beautiful hills and val- 
leys, rivers and lakes with many tributaries, 
and a rich and varied soil, make it capable of 
producing all the natural history features 
found elsewhere in the State. There is a 
wealth of trees and plants, animals, birds, 
fishes, land and water shells, all of economic 
and scientific interest. The surface soil is rich 
and fertile and will produce almost everything 
from lichens to great trees. Beneath the sur- 
face there are vast deposits of coal, many kinds 
of clays, shales, stone, gravel, mineral waters, 
etc. 

In many sections of the State there is no out- 
cropping of rock, or any surface indication of 
mineral richness. Not so with Fulton County. 
With the Illinois River bordering it on the one 
side and the classic Spoon River meandering 
through the central part, there are shown many 
outcroppings of coal, rock, shales and clays. 
The bluffs of the Illinois range from one hun- 



dred and twenty-five to one hundred and 
fifty feet in height, while those of 
Spoon River are from one hundred to one hun- 
dred and fifty feet. The valley of the Illinois 
is from four to five miles wide. It is one of 
the slowest running streams in the world. 
Scientists believe that, at one time in the misty 
past, it was one of the outlets of the Great 
Lakes, and that it carried a volume of water 
greater than the Mississippi at the present 
time. The valley of Spoon River rarely exceeds 
one mile in width. The surface soil of the coun- 
ty is black or clay loam, rich in vegetable de- 
cay, in which there is more or less of the ani- 
mal. The underlying strata consist of disin- 
tegrated shales, sandstone and limestone. The 
river bottoms are of drift or alluvial sediment, 
composed largely of sand and siliceous deposits. 
This deposit is still going on. The river ter- 
races, thirty to fifty feet higher, mark the form- 
er river level. Many towns and residences are 
built on these terraces. The city of Havana, 
in Mason County, is built on a river terrace. 
The upper bluffs, when composed of sand, 
gravel and clay, also include deposits formed 
by the sifting action of waves. This is called 
the loess, and is often forty to fifty feet in 
thickness. It sometimes extends back from ihe 
river bluffs four or five miles. There are «ome 
good examples of it around Lewistown. Th*? 
usual formation, as found in the first seven t.v- 
five to one hundred feet, will be about ss fol- 
lows: 

Black Soil or Clay Loam 2 feet 

Yellow Clay 10 to 12 feet 

Blue Clay 2 to 30 feet 

Gravel and Sand 3 to 6 feet 

Black soil, containing sticks and wood. 2 to 10 feet 

Sometimes this black, mucky soil extends 
down a hundred feet, and in other localities 
not more than twenty feet, and it always con- 
tains woods, often in a good state of preserva- 
tion. Just below, both land and river shells 
are found. Scientists estimate that a vast 
period of time, probably covering many mil- 
lions of years, was consumed in the Mesozoic 
formation, and the accumulation of deposits 
of sand and gravel over such portions of the 
earth as were yet under the waters of the 
ocean. The Post-pleiocene period, the one in 
which we are now living, covers the latest form- 
ation of the drifts. It was at this time, or 
about at the close of the carboniferous age. 



622 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



that there was a great wearing down of the 
Paleozoic roclis, and the talking place ot a num- 
ber of submergences and elevations ot the land 
above and below the ocean level. Great val- 
leys were scooped out, and they were then 
partly filled in with deposits of clay, gravel and 
sand, and a soil was formed. The succeeding 
elevations and submergences of the land were 
followed by the deposits of boulder clay, mar- 
shy soil, locustrine deposits of loess, etc. It 
was at this time that the huge extinct mam- 
mals were in existence and, soon after that, 
the earth emerged from the waters and re- 
mained as we find it at the present time. 

The boring of an artesian well at Canton, 
some years ago, furnishes an illustration of the 
various geological strata, as found in the coun- 
ty: 

Drift, Clay, etc 92 feet 

Coal Measures. Shales, etc 208 feet 

Lower Carboniferous Limestone 299 feet 

Kinlterhooli Shales 171 feet 

Limestone (Devonian) 64 feet 

Limestone (Upper Silurian) 150 feet 

Shales (Cincinnati Group) 150 feet 

Trenton Limestone 280 feet 

St. Peter's Sandstone 273 feet 

Calcif erous Limestone 100 feet 

Potsdam Sandstone 545 feet 

Total 2,332 feet 

Several other borings have been made in the 
county in search of oil, gas, and artesian wa- 
ter. Traces of oil and a little gas have been 
found, but not enough to be of economical val- 
ue. A flow of water at Vermont and at Canton 
was obtained, but the wells were abandoned 
after a time. The Depler Mineral well, near 
Lewistown, was sunk in the hope of finding 
oil or gas. None was found, though the boring 
was continued to a depth of about twenty-five 
hundred feet. At ten hundred and fifty feet a 
wonderful flow of water was struck of which 
an analysis showed it to be of much medicinal 
value. The flow is said to be fifteen hundred 
gallons a minute, and it has not abated in the 
least in a year's time. 

Of all the mineral resources of Illinois, coal 
stands at the head. It has been estimated that 
the State contains nearly one-fifth of all the 
coal of the country. Pulton County is probably 
the leader in the State in the amount of coal 
that can be mined. The geographical area of 
the coal fields in the State is, in round numbers, 
about thirty-five thousand square miles. The 
late John Wolf, of Canton, estimated that 



seams Nos. 4 and 6 alone, in seven townships, 
contained not less than 2,268,000 tons of coal. 
Sixteen coal seams are found in the State, of 
which seven are in this county. The rest are 
up in the air. Coal vein No. 1 (which is the 
lowest) is usually from two to three feet in 
thickness. It is of fine quality and a favorite 
with workers in iron and steel. It is not much 
mined, but more so at Seaville than elsewhere 
in the county. At a very low stage of water it 
may be seen in the bed of the river at Berna- 
dotte, and it is mined to some extent at the foot 
of the bluffs at Duncan Mills, ten miles below. 
At Seaville it is a half-block coal, while at Avon 
it develops into a fine cannel coal. 

Coal Measure No. 2 is a persistent vein of 
good quality, ranging from two to three feet in 
thickness, though elsewhere in the State it is 
found attaining a thickness of four to five feet. 
It is found and mined all about Lewistown, and 
everywhere in the bluffs of Spoon River and the 
little streams that flow into that stream. It is 
also in the Otter Creek hills west of Vermont. 
It lies forty to eighty feet above coal bed No 1. 
This vein, as well as No. 1, is sometimes divid- 
ed by a seam of clay or shale. 

Coal No. 3. — This is a coal of good quality 
but very erratic, in many places where it should 
be, not being found at all, or its place filled 
by bituminous shale. It is usually about three 
feet in thickness and its horizon is forty or 
more feet above No. 2. 

Coal No. 4. — This seam is from four and one- 
half to five feet in thickness, and is worked at 
Astoria, Breeds, Canton, St. David, Kairview and 
at the Pickering bank in Farmers Township. 

No. 5 is worked near Cuba and on Big 
Creek north of Lewistown, where the lower 
two feet of the seam is extremely hard, and is a 
fine steam coal. 

No. 6. — This seam is irregular in its horizon, 
but it is an excellent coal. It ranges 
from four feet to five feet in thick- 
ness, and is mined near Canton, north 
of Farmington, near Norris, and also 
north of Fairview. Possibly one of the seams 
worked near Cuba may belong to this vein. It 
contains many slips, or horsebacks, which are 
the bane of the miner. 

No. 7 is mostly of a soft shale variety in this 
county and often divided by a foot or two of 
clay and shale. 

Fire Clay. — A fine seam of fire clay, rang- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



623 



ing from two to three feet in thickness, can 
be found outcropping on Spoon River and 
nearly all the little streams that flow 
into it throughout its entire course in 
the county. Much of this clay has been 
shipped from near Bernadotte for use in the 
Macomb pottery works. 

Iron Ore. — There Is more or less iron ore 
throughout the county, mainly of the carbonate 
variety. At Seaville there is a seam containing 
much llmonlte above the limestone roof of Coal 
Seam No. 1. These ores may. In time, be con- 
sidered of suflacient importance to be smelted, 
especially as the coal Is nearby to do it with. 

Sand And Limestone. — There are some good 
veins of sandstone in the county, and in some 
quarries along Spoon River it attains a thick- 
ness of from four to eight feet. 
The limestone that is found in connection 
with No. 7 coal is of the purest 
carbonate, and is destined to become of much 
economic value where the ledge is of sufficient 
thickness as it is in the vicinity of Farming- 
ton. The St. Louis limestone outcrops in the 
bed of Spoon River from Seaville to Bernadotte, 
and was formerly much burned for lime. It 
is the same as the Alton limestone, so extensive- 
ly used for lime. 

Brick Clay. — There is an inexhaustible sup- 
ply of the finest brick clay to be found through- 
out the county. 

In addition to the foregoing various other 
minerals are found in small quantities. Boul- 
ders of pure copper are occasionally found in 
the shales. These are merely adventitious, 
or brought down from the north by means 
glazier or drift action. 

Boulders of pure granite are often met with, 
and occasionally specimens containing much 
zinc are found. On Sister Creek, in Liverpool 
Township, there is a six-incU vein of almost 
pure silica, while not far away on the Redding 
Wileoxen farm, there is a deposit of Gibsite. 
This is in diamond shaped cubes. In the north 
end of Thompson's Lake there is to be found 
not a little red Jasper. 



CHAPTER III. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 
(Continued.) 



ANIMAL AND BIBD LITE ANIMALS WHICH HAVE BE- 
COME EXTINCT DESTRUCTION OF THE WILD TUR- 
KEY LIST OF PRINCIPAL MAMMALS STILL IN EX- 
ISTENCE ^FUK-BEARING ANIMALS — BIRDS THAT 

HAVE DISAPPEARED OR ARE DECREASING IN NUM- 
BERS — SOME SPECIES THAT ABE HOLDING THEIR 
OWN CLASSIFIED LIST OF BIRDS STILL IN EX- 
ISTENCE. 

(By W. S. Strode, M. D.) 

Some of the animals formerly found in Ful- 
ton County and in the State are now extinct. 
These include the buffalo, elk, black bear, pan- 
ther, lynx, catamount, badger, beaver, otter, 
and the prairie and timber wolf. The latter 
may doubtfully, occasionally visit us, but makes 
his stay short. The deer disappeared in the 
early 'seventies and no amount of protection 
will ever bring them back. The turkey, Ameri- 
ca's noblest game bird, disappeared about ten 
years later. The writer reflects with regret 
that he did his part to destroy this majestic 
bird. Between 1861 and 1883 no less than three 
hundred of these magnificent feathered crea- 
tures fell victims to his gun. The last otter 
found in the county that we have personal 
knowledge of was shot on Island No. 1, in 
Spoon River, four miles above Bernadotte, in 
1860. Others may have existed later on the 
Illinois. The following list will include about 
all the animals now found in the county: 

Opossum. — Formerly very common, now be- 
coming scarce — the only marsupial found on 
the American continent. It should be in Austra- 
lia, where the rest of its kind are. One species 
only is found in North America; but many in 
South America, from the size of a rat up. 

Muskrat or Musquash. — The largest of the 
mouse family, still numerous along our rivers 
and lakes; considered by many in the north as 
a delicate article of food. 

Meadow or Short-Tailed Mouse. — Fur species; 
destructive to meadows. 



1 



624 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Harvest Mouse. — A very dainty and delicate 
little animal, often building its oval nest in the 
reeds above the ground. 

Red Mouse. 

Deer or White-Footed Mouse. — Another hand- 
some and retiring little animal; keeps to the 
woods. 

Jumping or Kangaroo Mouse. — Rare. 

Brown or Norway Rat. — Introduced into 
America in 1775; very destructive and a great 
nuisance. 

Gray or Common Rabbit. — Common every- 
where in the county. 

Pouched Gopher. — Common; of no good use. 

"Woodchuck or Ground Hog. — Common; does 
but little harm. 

Gray Gopher or Prarie Gray Squirrel. 

Chipmunk or Ground Squirrel. — A gay, saucy 
little fellow; does but little harm. 

Gray Squirrel. — A beautiful animal; farther 
south it is often black. The writer once se- 
cured a black one in the big timber below the 
Elrod Bridge on Spoon River; not nearly so 
common as the following, and with which it 
does not like to associate. 

Fox or Red Squirrel. — The largest and most 
common species, where protected increasing in 
numbers. 

Common Shrew. — Rather common in suitable 
localities, but so retiring that it is not often 
seen. 

Common Mole. — Plentiful and destructive to 
vegetation. 

Red Bat. — Not common. 

Hoary Bat. — The largest species. 

Little Brown Bat. — The most common. 

Red or Virginia Deer. — Formerly common; 
none in the county now, unless an escape. 

Common Raccoon. — The only plantigrade; 
common. 

Common Skunk or Polecat. — Belongs to the 
weasel family; still plentiful. 

Common Mink. — The finest fur-bearing ani- 
mal. 

Common Weasel or Ermine. — Often snow- 
white in the winter. 

Gray Fox. — Varies in color in the far north to 
silver or black. 

Red Fox. — Not so common as the preceding. 

Wolf. — The gray and the black are one spe- 
cies; color varying as to locality. In Florida 
they are reddish, in Texas black, while farther 
north gray predominates. 



Coyote or Prairie Wolf. — Probably not now 
found in the county; formerly not uncommon. 

The number of species of animals, as com- 
pared with the birds, is small; but their eco- 
nomical value is of no little importance. Many 
thousands of dollars' worth of furs are secured 
by trappers every winter within the county, 
and put on the market. These are derived 
mainly from the raccoon, mink, skunk or 
muskrat, with a few of the fox. 

The mole is seldom trapped for its fur in 
this country. In the old world it is trapped 
extensively. 

BiBDS.^It is not claimed that the following 
list of birds includes all that may have visited 
the county at some time. Only those observed 
by the writer have been included. Some have 
become extinct. The wild turkey, the passen- 
ger pigeon and paroquet are seen no more. The 
swans and cranes may be gone forever. Peli- 
cans are becoming very rare. The trumpet- 
like notes of the pileated woodpecker are rarely 
heard in the big woods. The prairie hen and the 
pheasant are on the verge of extinction. It 
has been many years since the writer has seen 
a swallow-tailed kite. The osprey, the two 
eagles, the Arctic owls, the hawk-owl and the 
pigeon hawk visit us in greatly diminished num- 
bers. All the ducks, geese, coots, mudhens. 
gallinules, rails, snipe and bob-whites are grad- 
ually decreasing. The black birds, swallows, 
robins, thrushes, larks, swifts, woodpeckers, 
grosbeaks, wrens, chickadees, cuckoos, king- 
fishers, hummers, kinglets and many of the 
warblers are holding their own or increasing 
in numbers. The big owls are having a strenu- 
ous time of it, and we will wake up some morn- 
ing to hear their hoots and weird calls for the 
last time. The beautiful and useful little spar- 
rowhawk holds his own, while his big cousin, 
the redtail, will soon be a memory. The big 
blue heron formerly nested in colonies in the 
giant sycamores; now it is a rare occurrence to 
find a nest in the more secluded timber tracts 
yet remaining on the Illinois. 

The prothonotary warbler, the gem of the 
desolate swamp regions, is increasing in num- 
bers and his green moss nest can be found in 
almost every cavity over the water around the 
lakes. The floating nests among the lily pods 
and rushes of the coots and dabchicks are be- 
coming scarcer each season. 

The whippoorwill and his relative, the night- 




M^'S^, C/h* ^' LOv^cUy^y^?.^^-!.^^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



625 



hawk, are still seen, but they are few in num- 
ber. The former no longer visits our back 
yard in the gloaming to utter his weird com- 
plaint and pat his foot as formerly. 

Following will be found a classified list of 
the bird species: 

Divers. — Pied-billed grebe, common, nests 
here; American eared grebe, not common; loon, 
occasionally seen or heard. 

LoNQ-wiNGED SWIMMERS. — Kittiwake gull, seen 
in water; American herring gull, common; 
ring-billed gull, throughout all North America; 
Bonaparte's gull; Caspian tern; Forster's tern, 
common; common tern; black tern; double- 
crested cormorant ; American white pelic&n, be- 
coming scarce. 

Swimmers. — American merganser; red- 
breasted merganser; hooded merganser. 

River Ducks. — Mallard, common; black mal- 
lard, not common; gadwall, cosmopolitan; wid- 
geon, occasional; baldpate, green-winged teal, 
and blue-winged teal, common; cinnamon teal, 
casual; shoveler, pintail, wood duck, redhead 
and canvasback, common; American scaup 
duck, lesser scaup duck, American golden eye, 
Barrow's golden eye, occasional; bufflehead, old 
squaw, American scoter, white-winged scoter, 
surf scoter, ruddy duck, occasional. 

Geese. — Lesser snow goose, greater snow 
goose, American white-fronted goose, casual; 
Canada goose, common; brant, whistling swan, 
rare; trumpeter swan, casual. 

Waders. — American bittern, least bittern and 
great blue heron, common; American egret and 
little blue heron, casual; green heron, common; 
black-crowned night heron. 

Crakes. — Whooping crane, sandhill crane, 
rarely seen. 

Rails, Coots, Etc. — King rail, Virginia rail, 
occasional; yellow rail, Florida gallinule and 
American coot, common. 

Shore Birds. — Wilson's phalarope; American 
woodcock; Wilson's snipe; stilt sandpiper; 
knot; purple sandpiper; pectoral sandpiper; 
Baird's sandpiper; least sandpiper; sander- 
ling; godwit; greater yellow-legs; spotted sand- 
piper; Hudsonian curlew; killdeer; Wilson's 
plover; turnstone. 

The least sandpiper, killdeer, yellow-legs, 
Wilson's snipe, and woodcock may be seen in 
considerable numbers every year, while the oth- 
ers are somewhat rare visitors. 



Game Birds. — Bobwhite, common, but becom- 
ing more scarce each year; ruffed grouse, 
scarce; prairie hen, formerly common, but now 
rare; wild turkey, formerly common, now prob- 
ably extinct in the county. (The writer killed 
the last one he ever saw on Christmas Day, 
1883.) 

Pigeons. — Passenger pigeons, formerly com- 
mon, now practically extinct; mourning dove, 
common, but becoming scarce since made a 
game bird. 

Birds of Prey. — The following comprises a 
list of the principal birds of prey: 

Turkey-buzzard (or vulture), common, nests 
in hollow trees and stumps; swallow-tailed 
kite, occasionally seen; Mississippi kite, a 
rare straggler; marsh hawk, common; sharp- 
shinned hawk, occasional; Cooper's hawk, com- 
mon: American goshawk, rare; red-tailed 
hawk, common, nests; red-shouldered hawk, 
rare; broad-winged hawk, not common; Ameri- 
can rough-legged hawk, common in winter; 
golden eagle and bald eagle — both these birds 
are occasionally seen in the county, the golden 
the more common; duck hawk, seen in the 
fall; pigeon hawk, seen occasionally; American 
sparrow hawk, common, nesting in woodpecker 
holes; American osprey, comes up our rivers 
occasionally. 

Owls. — American barn owl or monkey-face, 
casual; American long-eared owl, common; 
short-eared owl, rare; barred owl, common; 
great gray owl, or snowy owl, a wanderer from 
the north in the winter season; saw-whet owl 
(the writer has the only one ever reported in 
the county, found on Big Creek); screech owl, 
common, gray and red varieties, but same spe- 
cies; great horned owl, common; snowy owl and 
American hawk owl, occasional visitors; Caro- 
lina paroquet, formerly found on the river bot- 
toms, now extinct; yellow-billed and black- 
billed cuckoo, both species common; belted 
kingfisher, common, builds nests in banks of 
streams of bones, fish-scales, etc. 

Woodpeckers. — (A red-headed family) — Hairy 
woodpecker, common; downy woodpecker, com- 
mon; yellow-bellied sapsucker, not plentiful; 
pileated woodpecker, rare; red-headed wood- 
pecker, common; red-bellied woodpecker, com- 
mon; flicker, common. All these species are 
somewhat common except the pileated or log- 
cock and the yellow-bellied. 



626 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Night Birds. — Whippoorwill, night hawk, 
chimney swift, common. 

Ruby-throated Hu.mming Bird. — Our only 
species, common. 

SoNGLESs Perchi.ng Birds. — Kingbird, crested 
flycatcher, Phoebe and wood pence, common; 
Traill's flycatcher, somewhat scarce. 

SoxG Birds. — Horned lark, blue jay, Ameri- 
can crow, common; bobolink, rare, sometimes 
nests here; cowblrd, common; yellow-headed 
blackbird, rare; red-winged blackbird, meadow 
lark, orchard oriole, Baltimore oriole, purple 
grackle, bronzed grackle, all these several spe- 
cies are common; evening grosbeak, rare; pur- 
ple finch, common in winter; redpoll, casual vis- 
itor in winter; American goldfinch, common; 
snowflake, winter visitor; Smith's longspur, 
vesper sparrow, grasshopper sparrow and lark 
sparrow, rare; white-crowned sparrow, the most 
beautiful of its species; white-throated sparrow, 
seen occasionally; tree sparrow, common in 
winter; chipping sparrow, common; slate-col- 
ored junco, common in winter; song sparrow, 
common; swamp sparrow, fox sparrow, mi- 
grant; towhee, cardinal, rose-breasted cardinal, 
indigo bunting, dickcissel, lark bunting, scarlet 
tanager, purple martin, cliff swallow, tree swal- 
low and bank swallow, common; rough-winged 
swallow, rare; cedar waxwing, common; north- 
ern shrike, common in winter; white-rumped 
shrike, common in summer; red-eyed virio, not 
common; warbling virio, white-eyed virio, 
common; black and white warbler, prothonotary 
warbler, common; Nashville warbler; orange- 
crowned warbler; parula warbler; Cape May 
warbler; yellow warbler, common; black- 
throated blue warbler; magnolia warbler; ceru- 
lean warbler; chestnut-sided warbler; black- 
poll warbler; blackburnian warbler; black- 
throated green warbler; prairie warbler; water 
thrush; Kentucky warbler; mourning warbler; 
Mayland yellow-throat, common; pine warbler; 
Kirtland's warbler; yellow-breasted chat, com- 
mon; American redstart; mocking bird, rare, 
have seen but two in three years; catbird, 
brown thrasher, house wren, short-billed marsh 
wren, common; brown creeper; white-breasted 
nuthatch, tutted titmouse, chickadee, common; 
golden-crowned and ruby-crowned kinglets 
(next to the humming bird these two are the 
smallest species of birds); blue-gray gnat- 
catcher; wood thrush and Wilson's thrush, 
common; olive-backed thrush; American robin 
and bluebird, common. 



CHAPTER IV. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 
(Continued.) 



fishes, reptiles and shell-bearing animals 

fishing industry and commercial value of 

its products classified list of reptiles 

and related species mussel-shell species 

found in fulton county waters their 

values for manufacturing purposes — list of 
land and water shells. 

(By W. S. Strode, M. D.) 

As the lowest order of vertebrates, fishes are 
Of great economic value. More than ten thou- 
sand species are known, many of them very 
beautiful, and some very active, swift and grace- 
ful, while others are slow, sluggish and un- 
attractive. Some of these are an important and 
wholesome article of food and the catching of 
them furnishes employment for a vast army 
of men. They are thus of great interest to 
the sportsman, the naturalist and to a still 
larger class, as a means of livelihood. The 
Illinois River, bordering the county on the 
southeast furnishes employment for hundreds 
of men engaged in its fisheries, and with its 
lakes is the greatest fish-producing stream in 
the world. 

Darters. — These are fish of small size; thirty 
or more kinds being closely related to the 
perches. Some are very beautiful and the 
rainbow darters are the most brilliantly colored 
of all fresh water fishes. They are plentiful 
in Spoon River, Big Creek and other small 
streams of the county and of much scientific 
interest, but of little economic value. The 
largest one of the family is but six inches long. 
Space will permit of only the mere mention 
of names of the many kinds of fishes found in 
the waters of the county. These include the 
Wall-Eyed Pike, Gray Pike, Striped Lake Bass, 
Short Striped Bass, Black Bass, Small-Mouthed 
Blaclv Bass, Crappies, Goggle Eyes, Black Sun 
Fish, Big-Mouthed Sun Fish, Punkin Seed, 
Grunter or Drum Fish, Stickleback, River Silver 
Side, one or two Killifish, Top Minnows and 
Mud Minnows, Pike or Pickerel, one or two 




JONATHAN J. BABBITT 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



627 



varieties of Lake Trout, Moon Eye, one or two 
Shads, Yellow Perch, Ringed Perch, Chub 
Sucker, Striped Sucker, Red Horse, Quillback, 
Buffalo Carp, Buffalo, Black Horse, Channel Cat, 
Horned Pout, Brown Cat Fish, Great Yellow 
Cat Fish, Mud Cats, one or two Stone Cats, Long 
Nosed Gar, Short Nosed Gar, Great Gar, Duck 
or Spoon-Billed Cat, Shovel-Nosed Sturgeon, 
Small Black Lamprey, and Common River Eel. 

The Minnows, Dace, Shiners and other 
similar varieties will be passed over, as, al- 
though numerous and ot many kinds, they are 
of little economic value except as bait or food 
for other fishes. 

This is perhaps not a complete list of the 
fishes found in the waters of the county, as 
introductions of new varieties are being made 
by the Fish Commission, and the opening of the 
Drainage Canal lets the lake fish down into the 
Illinois. The German Carp is one of these 
Introductions. 

Reptiles. — The Copperhead and the Black 
Snake and the Yellow Rattlers are the only 
venomous reptiles found in the county or the 
State. In common with all the other species 
of reptiles they are fast disappearing and, in 
many regions ai-e already extinct. However, in 
a few restricted localities they are yet found 
in numbers too numerous for safety or comfort. 
On the old Nate farm, three miles west of 
Lewistown, many Copperheads are killed every 
season. Three years ago two persons were 
bitten by them and thirty-five of the pests were 
killed in one summer. The old Millison farm, 
just south of Bernadotte, is also badly infested 
with them. Big Creek and Sister Creek Hills 
are still the home of many rattlesnakes. 

Black Snakes, Water Snakes, Adders, Milk 
Snakes are not uncommon in certain localities. 
The true Water-Moccasin is not found in the 
county. It is the Water Copperhead, and is 
rarely seen North of the Ohio River. The 
Hoop-Snake is a myth and the so-called Joint- 
Snake is a Lizard. 

The writer has collected statistics of fifty 
cases of bites by venomous reptiles in the 
county with two deaths resulting. One case 
was that of a young lady bitten severely just 
above the ankle by a huge Yellow Rattler. The 
fangs penetrated a blood vessel, and probably 
a half spoonful or more of venom was injected 
into the wound. This being carried to the 
heart, paralyzed that organ and death followed 



in a few moments. Another instance was that 
of a ten-year-old lad, also bitten by a rattler. 
He was made to swallow nearly a quart of 
whisky and death resulted in a few hours, 
possibly from acute alcoholism. The author 
was once deeply bitten in the hand by a forty- 
inch Copperhead. The venom was at once 
sucked out, and the wound cauterized with a 
burning match. There was something doing 
in a doctor's internal and external economy for 
an hour or two, but with the exception of a 
feeling of lassitude and weakness, lasting about 
two days, no bad results followed. 

The following is a list of batrachia (or frog- 
like animals). Reptiles, etc., compiled by Dr. 
Strode: 

Turtles. — Painted or Mud Turtle; Map 
Turtle; Le Sueur's Map Turtle; Yellow-bellied 
Terrapin; Elegant Terrapin; Common Snapping 
Turtle; Soft-Shelled Turtle. 

Lizards. — Glass or Joint Snake; Six-Lined 
Lizard; Blue Tails; Ground Lizard. 

Snakes. — Blowing Viper; Hog-Nosed Snake; 
Holbrook's Water Snake; Kirtland's Snake; 
Red-Bellied Snake; Common Garter Snake; 
Black Snake or Blue Racer; Pine or Bull 
Snake; Pilot Snake; Summer Green Snake; 
Ring-Necked Snake (now quite rare); King 
Snake; Milk or House Snake; Red-Bellied Horn 
Snake; Ground Snake; Bander Yellow or North- 
ern Rattlesnake; Massaugua or Prairie Rattle- 
snake; Copperhead. 

Frogs and Toads. — Common or Leopard Frog; 
Green Prog; Bull Frog; Common Tree Frogs; 
American Toad. 

Salamanders and Mud Puppies. — Four-toed 
Salamander; Large-Spotted Salamander; Jeffer- 
son Salamander; Mud Puppy or Water Dog. 

Land and Water Shells. — The following is a 
systematic catalogue of the land and water 
shells as found in Fulton County and compiled 
by Dr. Strode: 

The Unionidie, or Pearly Fresh Water Mus- 
sels, are the most important of shell-bearing 
species of the county or State. Our rivers and 
lakes are densely occupied by them and they are 
destined, at no distant day, to become of some 
commercial importance as well as of scientific 
interest. Factories for the manufacturing of 
pearl buttons and ornaments have been estab- 
lished on the Mississippi River for a number of 
years, and there is one or more on the Illinois. 
More will follow, as the Illinois River and its 



628 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tributaries, especially Spoon River, are very 
rich in these pearly mussels. In many localities 
on the greater river the supply has been nearly 
exhausted, and as it takes about four years for 
a new crop to be produced, new fields will have 
to be sought where the shells are more plentiful. 
In addition to the economic use to which the 
shells are put, there are occasionally found in 
some of the species valuable pearls. All our 
fresh-water shells are harmless. They are the 
scavengers of our water-courses, and do much 
good in purifying the streams. They furnish 
much of the food of many fishes and waterfowl, 
and should not be wantonly destroyed. 

Some of the mussels are very clannish in 
their habits, associating only with their kind 
and remaining in certain localities or beds dur- 
ing their lifetime. Others are great travelers 
and wander far and near in search of food and 
their kind, plowing little furrows in the sand 
or mud as they go. The different species vary 
greatly in size, as well as in configuration or 
architecture of shell. Some are so small, as 
the donaciformis, that scores of them could be 
put into a pint measure, while the heras, the 
giant of the family, attains a weight of two or 
three pounds and a length of shell from eight 
to ten inches. As an article of food they do 
not appeal to the tastes of an epicurean, but in 
a case of emergency they would keep off starva- 
tion. Some of the peasants from the old world 
do not distain them as an article of food. 

About twelve hundred species of mussels are 
found in the world. Of these six hundred are 
found in North America and about one hundred 
in Illinois and, up to date, over sixty of these 
are accredited to Fulton County. In time, with 
a more thorough research of the waters of the 
Illinois and Spoon River, the full hundred or 
more will be found in the County. The finest 
specimens in the world are to be found in the 
Spoon. This is owing to the purity and the 
abundance of lime in the water. From the 
ancient bridge at Bernadotte down the river for 
a mile, nearly all the species are found and of 
a size and beauty that are wonderful. 

A half mile above Liverpool on the Mason 
County side of the Illinois the bed of the stream 
is almost paved with them for a long distance. 
From the mouth of Spoon River down the 
Illinois, for a mile or two, there are simply tons 
of them, while at the sand-bar five miles below 
Havana, they are so plentiful that one sweep of 



the dredge net will bring up fifteen or twenty 

kinds. 

* 

Some years ago the writer sent a consignment 
of Spoon River shells to a naturalist in France. 
In due course of time an acknowledgment was 
received, in which much surprise was expressed 
at their great size as compared with 
the depauperate species which are found in 
Europe, and the writer added that his na- 
tive city of Bonn was but a small walled 
town and he feared he would not be able to get 
them into it. 

In the following catalogue of the shells found 
in Fulton County, I have consulted the lists 
here named: The Illinois State Laboratory of 
Natural History; the late John Wolf, of Canton; 
Charles A. Hart, of Urbana; J. H. Ferris, of 
Joliet; Frank C. Baker, of Chicago Academy of 
Science; Mason, of Algonquin; Professor Kelly, 
of Iowa, and my own Cabinet. 



K.VMILY UNI0XID.4.E, OR PE.\RLY FRESH WATEB 
MUSSELS. 

Truncilla triquetra, Rafinesque. 
Lampsilis ventricasa, Barnes. 
Lampsilis Copax, Green. 
Lampsilis lutcola, Lamarck. 
Lampsilis ligamentina, Lamarck. 
Lampsilis orbiculata, Hildreth. 
Lampsilis Higginsii, Lea. 
Lampsilis anadontoides. Lea. 
Lampsilis fallaciasa, Simpson. 
Lampsilis recta, Lamarck. 
Lampsilis iris. Lea. 
Lampsilis ellipsiformis, Conrad. 
Lampsilis parva, Barnes. 
Lampsilis alata. Say. 
Lampsilis gracilis, Barnes. 
Lampsilis laevissima. Lea. 
Lampsilis leptodon, Rafinesque. 
Obovaria retusa, Lamarck. 
Obovaria ellipsis. Lea. 
Plagiola securis. Lea. 
Plagiola elegans. Lea. 
Plagiola donaciformis. Lea. 
Tritozonia tuberculata, Barnes. 
Obliquaria reflexa, Rafinesque. 
Strophitus edentulus. Say. . 

Anodonta imbecilis. Say. 
Anodonta suborbiculata. Say. 
Anodonta grandis. Say. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



629 



Anodonta grandis gigantia, Lea. 
Anodonta corpulenta, Cooper. 
Anodonta marglnata, Say. 
Anodontoides ferussacianus, Lea. 
Anodontoides ferussacianus subcylindrsecus 
Lea. 
Arcideus confragosa, Say. 
Symphynota costata, Rafinesque. 
Symphynota complanata, Barnes. 
AJasmidonta calceola, Lea. 
Alasmidonta marginata, Say. 
Hemllastena ambigua. Say. 
Margaritana margaritifera, Linne. 
Margaritana monodonta. Say. 
Unio gibbosus, Barnes. 
Unio crassidews, Lea. 
Unio tetralasmus, Say. 
Pleurobema aesopus, Green. 
Quadrula plicata. Say. 
Quadrula undulata, Barnes. 
Quadrula heras, Say. 
Quadrula metauevra, Rafinesque. 
Quadrula metanevra wardii, Lea. 
Quadrula lachrymasa, Lea. 
Quadrula fragosa, Conrad. 
Quadrula pustulasa, Lea. 
Quadrula pustulata. Lea. 
Quadrula rubiginosa. Lea. 
Quadrula trigona, Lea. 
Quadrula obliqua, Lamarck. 
Quadrula coccinea, Conrad. 
Quadrula sollda, Lea. 
Quadrula pyramidata. Lea. 
Quadrula subratunda, Lea. 
Quadrula ebena. Lea. 
Quadrula tuberculata, Rafinesque. 
Quadrula granifua, Lea. 

FAMILY SPHAERIIDAE. 

Sphserium vermontanum, Prime. 
Sphasrium solidulum. Prime. 
Sphierium stamineum, Conrad. 
Sphserium stamineum forbesi. Baker. 
Sphserium striaterium, Lamarck. 
Sphserium occidentale, Prime. 
Musculium transversum, Say. 
Musculium truncatum, Linsley. 
Musculium partumeium. Say. 
Musculium jayanum, Prime. 
Corneocyclas abdita, Haldeman. ' 

Corneocyclas sequilateralis, Prime. 
Corneocyclas compressa, Prime. 
Corneocyclas peralata, Sterki. \ 



Corneocyclas polita, Sterki. 
Corneocyclas variabilis, Prime. 

FAMILY HELICINIDAE. 

Vivipara contextoides, Binney. 
Vivipara subpurpurea, Say. 
Vivipara intertexta, Say. 
Lioplax subcarinata, Say. 
Campeloma decisum, Say. 
Compeloma integrum, DeKay. 
Campeloma integrum Obesum, Lewis. 
Campeloma ruteum, Haldeman. 
Campeloma subsoledum, Anthony. 

FAMILY VALV.\TIDAE. 

Valvata tricarinata. Say. 

Valvata tricarinata Contusa, Walker. 

Valvata bicarinata, Lea. 

Valvata bicarinata normalis. Walker. 

FAMILY AMNICOLIUAE. 

Amnicola limosa. Say. 
Amnicola limosa porata, Say. 
Amnicola limosa parva. Lea. 
Amnicola lustrica, Pilsbry. 
Amnicola cincinnatiensls. Lea. 
Amnicola emarginata, Kiister. 
Somatogyrus subglobasus, Say. 
Tomatiopsis lapidarla. Say. 

FAMILY PLEUROCERIDAE. 

Pleurocera elevatum, Say. 
Pleurocera elevatum, Jewisil. 
Pleurocera ponderosum, Anthony. 
Pleurocera subulare. Lea. 
Goniobasis livesceus, Menke. 
Goniobasis pulchella, Anthony. 

FAMILY PHYSIDAE. 

Physa heterastropha, Say. 
Physa gyrina, Say. 
Physa gyrina oleacea, Tryon. 
Physa gyrina heldrethiana, Lea. 
Physa Integra, Haldeman. 
Aplexa hypnorum, Linne. 

FAMILY ANCYLIDAE. 

Ancylus deaphanus, Haldeman. 
Ancylus fuscus euglyptus, Pilsbry. 
Ancylus Kirklandi, Walker. 
Ancylus tardus, Say. 
Ancylus haldemani, Bourguignat. 



630 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



FAMILY LYMNAEIDAE. 

Lymnsea obrussa, Say. 

Lymnae obrussa modicella, Say. 

Lymnse sterkli, Baker. 

Lymnae humilis, Say. 

Lymnae parva. Lea. 

Lymnae caperata. Say. 

Lymnae palustris, Muller. 

Lymnae palustris michiganensis. Walker. 

Lymnae reflexa, Say. 

Planorbis bicarinatus, Say. 

Planorbis trivolvis, Say. 

Planorbis campanulatus, Say. 

Planorbis exacuous, Say. 

Planorbis deflectus, Say. 

Planorbis parvus, Say. 

Segmentina armigera, Say. 

Carychium exiguum. Say. 

FAMILY VALLONIIDAE. 

Vallonia pulchella, Muller. 

FAMILY PUPIDAE. 

Strobilops labyrinthica. Say. 
Pupoides marginata, Say. 
Bifidaria corticaria, Say. 
Bifldaria procera, Gould. 
Bifidaria armifera, Say. 
Bifldaria contracta, Say. 
Bifldaria tappaniana, Adams. 
Vertigo melium, Gould. 
Vertigo ovata. Say. 
Vertigo tridentata. Wolf. 

FAMILY SUCCINEIDAE. 

Succinea ovalis, Say. 
Succinea retusa, Lea. 
Succinea avara, Say. 
Succinea nuttalliana, Lea. 
Succinea Grosvenorii, Lea. 
Succinea Illinoiensis, Wolf. 

FAMILLY HELICIDAE. 

Polygyra profunda, Say. 
Polygyra albolabris. Say. 
Polygyra multilineata. Say. 
Polygyra multilineata rubra, Witter. 
Polygyra multilineata, alba. Witter. 
Polygyra appressa. Say. 
Polygyra elevata, Say. 
Polygyra pennsylvanica. Green. 
Polygyra thyroides, Say. 



Polygyra clausa, Say. 
Polygyra mitchelliana. Say. 
Polygyra hirsuta. Say. 
Polygyra monodon, Rackett. 
Polygyra monodon fraterna. Say. 

FAMILY CIBCINAKIIDAE. 

Clrcinarla concava, Say. 

FAMILY ZONITIDAE. 

Vitrea hammonis, Strom. 
Vitrea indentata. Say. 
Euconulus chersinus. Say. 
Zonitoides arboreus. Say. 
Zonitoides minusculus, Binney. 

FAMILY LIMACIDAE. 

Agrlolimax campestris, Binney. 

FAMILY PHILOMYCIDAE. 

Philomycus casolinensis, Bosc. 

FAMILY ENDODONTIDAE. 

Pyramidula alternata, Say. 
Pyramidula solitaria. Say. 
Pyramidula striatella, Anthony. 
Pyramidula perspectiva. Say. 
Helicodiscus lineatus. Say. 
Sphyradium edentulum, Draparmand. 

The preceding list includes 180 species of land 
and water shells. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

Wolf, John — - 

Description of Three New Species of Shells. — 
Am. Jour. Conchology. 

Catalogue of the Shell-bearing Mollusca of 
Fulton County, Illinois. — Am. Jour. Conchology. 

Strode, W. S.— 

Molluslvs of Thompson's Lake. — Nautilus, 
Vol. V. 

Mollusks of Spoon River, Illinois. — Nautilus, 
Vol. V. 

Destruction of Anodonta corpulenta. — Cooper 
at Thompson's Lake, Illinois. — Nautilus, Vol. V. 

The Unionidae of Spoon River, Fulton County, 
Illinois. — American Naturalist, Vol. XXVI. 

A Day on Spoon River, Illinois. — Nautilus, 
Vol. IX. 

Helices in Illinois. — Nautilus, Vol. IX. 

The Size of Mussels. — Nautilus, Vol. IX. 




JOHN BAILEY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



631 



The Unionidae, or Fresh-Water Mussels. — The 
Museum, Vol. II. 

Unios. — Nautilus, Vol. X. 

Unio Collecting on Spoon River. — Nautilus, 
Vol. XII. 



CHAPTER V. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 
(Concluded.) 



flora, of FULTON COUNTY TOTAL, OF INDIGENOUS 

PBODUCTS OF THE SOIL IN ILLINOIS — RESTRICTIVE 
INFLUENCE OF AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-FEEDING. 

PROMINENT LOCAL BOTANISTS — LISTS OF NATIVE 

TREES, FRUIT-BEARING SHRUBS, GRASSES AND 

OTHER NATU'E PRODUCTS SOURCES FROM VTHICH 

THE LISTS HAVE BEEN COMPILED. 

(By W. S. Strode, M. D.) 

The botany of Fulton County -will be found 
to contain nearly all the species existing in the 
middle and northern parts of the State. A cata- 
logue of the flora of Cook County and vicinity, 
issued in 1891, gave the number of native spe- 
cies as 1,033 and of introduced species as 177 — 
Total, 1,210. Fulton County, with its varied 
topography, should have nearly as many. 

The following list is not claimed to be com- 
plete, and there may be some errors in the 
way of identification. It Is possible that some 
plants found in the earlier days may now be 
extinct, or very rare. Agriculture and pastur- 
age (stock-raising) have greatly restricted and, 
in many localities, probably destroyed, species 
that were once common. However, having once 
existed here, it is more than possible that they 
are yet to be found in some locality. By means 
of the railroads and other agencies many new 
species have been introduced. 

I have freely consulted the lists of the late 
John Wolf, of Canton, who spent his lifetime in 
scientific research, and who probably knew 
more of the flora of the county than any other 
individual, living or dead. 

William Jones, of Lewistown, the best living 
botanist of the county, has also given me some 



valued assistance. I have adhered to the 
nomenclature of Britton and Brown in their 
"Flora of the Northern States and Canada," 
published in 1896. As in the other departments 
of natural history in this work, I have adhered, 
as far as possible, to the common names of all 
species, and the arrangement is from the lower 
to the higher species, or from the simple to the 
more complex. 

Horsetail Family. — Smooth scouring rush. 

Club Moss Family. — Rock selaginella; creep- 
ing selaginella. 

Ferns. — Clayton's fern; sensitive fern; os- 
trich fern; oak fern; lady fern; maiden hair 
fern; brake; common polypody; narrow-leaved 
spleenwort; broad beach fern; brittle fern; 
Christmas fern; male fern; beech fern; silvery 
spleenwort. 

Grass Family. — Brachyletrum erectum; tim- 
othy; rough rush grass; sheathed rush grass; 
northern dropseed; sand dropseed; wood reed 
grass; herd's grass, or redtop; white bent grass; 
rough hair grass; blue joint grass; long-leaved 
reed grass; velvet grass; tufted hair grass; 
marsh false oat; common wild oat grass; 
shedonnardus paniculatus; mesquite grass; 
hairy mesquite grass; crab grass, or wire grass; 
tall redtop grass; sand grass; capillary eragros- 
tis; tufted eragrostis; Frank's eragrostis; pur- 
ple eragrostis; hairlike eragrostis; creeping era- 
grostis; blunt-scaled Eatonia; Pennsylvania 
Eatonia; koleria cristata; tall melic grass; 
American korycarpus; broad-leaved spike 
grass; dog's tail grass; gama grass; beard 
grass; spiral-awed grass; brown beard grass; 
Virginia beard grass; Indian grass; slender 
paspalum; crab grass paspalum; finger grass; 
small crab grass; cockspur grass; beaked pani- 
cum; Scribner's panicum; forked panicum; 
starved panicum; millet (introduced); tumble 
weed; diffuse panicum; wood panicum; foxtail 
grass; Hungarian grass (introduced); bur 
grass; wild rice; white grass; rice cut grass; 
catch-fly grass; reed canary grass; few-flowered 
aristida; purple aristida; sea-beach aristida; 
porcupine grass; black-fruited mountain rice; 
drop-seed grass; meadow muhlenbergia; rock 
muhlenbergia; marsh muhlenbergia; wood 
muhlenbergia; slender muhlenbergia; annual 
meadow grass; wire grass (introduced); Ken- 
tucky blue grass; false redtop; sylvan spear 
grass; grove meadow grass; Wolf's spear grass; 
slender fescue grass; nodding fescue grass; 



632 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



fringed brome grass, or chess or cheat; rye 
grass; couch grass; meadow barley; Virginia 
wild rye; nodding wild rye; smooth wild rye; 
bottle-brush grass. 

Tape Grass Fajiily. — Water weed, or ditch 
moss; tape grass, or eel grass; wild celery; 
frog's bit. 

Seuge Family. — Low cyperus; cyperus in- 
fexus; cyperus Schweinitzii; yellow nut grass; 
red-rooted cyperus; Michaux's cyperus; Engle- 
man's cyperus; straw-colored cyperus; globose 
cyperus; slender cyperus; dulichium arundina- 
cum; Engleman's spike rush; creeping spike 
rush: needle spike rush; Wolfs spike rush; 
matted spike rush; marsh fimbristylis; slender 
flmbristylis; three-square rush; great bulrush; 
reddish bulrush; white-beaked rush; Gray's 
sedge; hop sedge; hop-like sedge; button sedge; 
sallow sedge; Schweinetz's sedge; porcupine 
sedge; squarrose sedge; hairy-fruited sedge; 
river-bank sedge; Short's sedge; woolly sedge; 
brown sedge; tussock sedge; Hayden's sedge; 
mud sedge; downy green sedge; hirsute sedge; 
Davis sedge; long-beaked sedge; gray sedge; 
meadow sedge; few-fruited sedge; Hitchcock's 
sedge; Wood's sedge; Mead's sedge; loose-flow- 
ered sedge; slender wood sedge; white bear 
sedge; livid sedge; Richardson's sedge; Penn- 
sylvania sedge; pubescent sedge; bristle-stalked 
sedge; soft fox sedge; awl-fruited sedge; lesser 
panicled sedge; fox-tailed sedge; fox sedge; stel- 
late sedge; bur-reed sedge; oval-headed sedge; 
Muhlenberg's sedge; little prickly sedge; dry- 
spiked sedge; Muskingum sedge; blunt broom 
sedge; pointed broom sedge; straw sedge. 

Cat Tail Family. — Broad-leaved cat tail; 
broad-fruited bur-reed; pond weed; common 
floating pond weed; Illinois pond weed; small 
pond weed; fennel-leaved pond weed; Zanneche- 
lia pond weed; nais flexilis pond weed; spotted 
pond weed; Nuttall's pond weed; spatulated- 
leaved pond weed; eel grass pond weed. 

Water Plantain Fa.mily. — Water plantain; 
upright bur-head; creeping bur-head; lophoto- 
carpus calycinus; broad-leaved arrowhead; 
arum-leaved arrowhead; sessile-fruiting arrow- 
head; grass-leaved sagittaria. 

Arum Family. — Jack-in-the-pulpit; green 
dragon; green arrow arum; skunk cabbage; 
sweet flag. 

Duckweed Family. — Greater duckweed; ivy- 
leaved duckweed; lesser duckweed; Columbia 
wolfla. 



Yellow-Eyed Grass Family. — Slender yel- 
low-eyed grass. 

Spiderwort Family. — Virginia day flower; 
spiderwort; zigzag spiderwort. 

Pickerel , Weed Family. — Pickerel weed; 
water star grass. 

Rush Family. — Common rush, or bog rush; 
Torrey's rush; short-fruited rush; stout rush; 
sharp-fruited rush; common wood rush. 

Bunch Flower Family. — Bunch flower; 
American white hellebore; large-flowered bell- 
wort; perfoliate bellwort. 

Lily Family. — Yellow day lily, an escape; 
wild leek; chives; wild onion; red lily; Turk's- 
cap lily; wild yellow lily; tiger lily, an escape; 
wild hyacinth; star grass. 

Lily-of-the-Valley Fasiily. — Asparagus 
wild spikenard; greater Solomon's seal; lesser 
Solomon's seal; lily-of-the- valley; wake-robin; 
prairie wake-robin. 

Smilax Family. — Smilax flower; carrion 
flower; greenbrier; hispid greenbrier. 

Bloodwort Family'. — Colic root. 

Amaryllis Family'.^ — Star grass. 

Yam Family. — Wild yam root. 

Iris Family. — Larger blue flag; blackberry 
lily; pointed blue-eyed grass. 

Orchid Family. — Showy lady's slipper; small 
white lady's slipper; large yellow lady's slipper; 
small yellow lady's slipper; showy orchis; tu- 
bercled orchis; adder's mouth; coral root; 
large tway blade; fen orchis; Adam and Eve, 
or puttyroot; grass pink. 

Lizard's Tail Family. — Lizard's tail. 

Walnut Family. — Black walnut; butternut; 
pecan; shagbark; big shagbark; mocker nut; 
pignut hickory; small-fruited hickory. 

Willow Fajiily. — Silver-leaf poplar; cotton- 
wood; American aspen; black willow; shining 
willow; weeping willow, sometimes escapes; 
prairie willow; glaucous willow; silky willow; 
hoary willow; osier willow, an escape; heart- 
leaved willow; slender willow; peach-leaved 
willow; bog willow; sandbar willow. 

Birch Family. — American hornbeam; hop 
hornbeam; hazelnut; paper, or canoe, birch; 
river birch; smooth aldeV. 

Beech Family. — Red oak; swamp oak; scar- 
let oak; black oak; shingle oak; white oak; 
post oak; mossy cup, or burr oak; swamp white 
oak; chestnut oak; yellow chestnut oak; water 
oak. 




EDWARD STEWART BARBER 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



633 



Elm Family. — White, or water elm; slippery 
or red elm; winged elm; wahoo; hackberry. 

MrLBERRY Family. — Red mulberry; white 
mulberry, an escape; osage orange, an escape; 
hop; hemp. 

Nettle Family. — Stinging nettle; false net- 
tle; clearweed; Pennsylvania pellitory. 

Sandalwood Family. — Bastard toad-flax. 

BiRTHwoRT Family. — Wild ginger; Virginia 
snakeroot. 

Buckwheat Family. — Sheep sorrel; swamp 
dock; great water dock; curled, or yellow, 
dock; broad-leaved dock; buckwheat; slender 
pink persicaria; Pennsylvania persicaria; lady's 
thumb; water pepper, or smart weed; water 
persicaria; prince's feather, an escape; Virginia 
knotweed; knot grass; shore knot weed; bushy 
knot weed; slender knot weed; black bind 
weed; climbing false buckwheat; , arrow-leaved 
tear-thumb. 

Goo.sEFooT Family. — Lamb's quarters; maple- 
leaved goosetoot; feather geranium, or Jerusa- 
lem oak; Mexican tea; wormseed; strawberry 
blite; spreading orache; upright, or city goose- 
foot. 

Amaranth Family. — Rough pigweed; slender 
pigweed; tumbleweed; western water hemp; 
spiny amaranth; Florida froelichia. 

PoKEWEED Family. — Poke or pigeonberry. 

Four-0'Clock Family. — Heart-leaved umbrel- 
lawort. 

Carpet Weed Family. — Carpet weed. 

Purslane Family. — Spring beauty; purslane; 
garden portulacco, an escape. 

Pink Family. — Corn cockle; bladder cam- 
pion; sleepy catchfly; bouncing bet; starry 
campion; western white campion; Sweet Wil- 
liam, an escape; cow herb; common chickweed; 
long-leaved stitchwort; larger mouse-ear chick- 
weed; blunt-leaved moehringia, or sandwort. 

Water Lily Family. — Water shield, or water 
target; large yellow pond lily; white water lily, 
or water nymph. 

HoRNWORT Family. — Hornwort. 

Custard Apple Family-. — North American 
pawpaw. 

Crowfoot Family. — Golden seal; marsh mari- 
gold; rue anemone; false rue anemone; red 
baneberry; white baneberry; black snakeroot; 
wild columbine; Carolina larkspur; dwarf lark- 
spur; wood anemone; tall anemone; Carolina 
anemone; roundlobed liver-leaf; Vir- 

ginia virgin's bower; leather flow- 
2 



er; Sim's clematis; mouse tail; false 
bugbane; yellow water crowfoot; water 
plantain spearwort; hooked crowfoot; early 
meadow rue; purplish meadow rue; meadow 
rue; wild columbine; pheasant's eye (escapes 
from gardens). 

Barberry Family. — Blue cohosh; twin leaf; 
May apple. 

Moonseed Family. — Cupseed; Canada moon- 
seed. 

Laurel Family. — Sassafras; spice bush. 

Poppy Family. — Garden poppy (escapes); 
bloodroot; Dutchman's breeches; climbing fu- 
mitory; golden corydalis; squirrel corn. 

Mu.stard Family. — Wild peppergrass; hedge 
mustard; black mustard; yellow rocket, or 
cress; horseradish (an escape); small bitter 
cress; shepherd's purse; marsh cress; lake 
cress; spring cress; Carolina whitlow grass; 
tansy mustard; toothed rock cress; sickle pod; 
hairy rock cress; smooth rock cress; pejjper 
root; worm seed; mustard; sweet alyssum (es- 
capes from gardens ) ; lyre-leaved rock cress. 

Caper Family. — Spider flower; clammy weed. 

Orpine Family. — Virginia stonecrop; live 
forever (introduced). 

Saxifrage Family. — Pennsylvania, or swamp 
saxifrage; alum root; Carolina grass-of-Parnas- 
sus; mitrewort, or bishop's cap; wild hydran- 
gea; mock orange (from gardens). 

Goosi:nERRY' Family. — Wild gooseberry, or 
dogberry; eastern wild gooseberry (intro- 
duced); wild black currant; red currant. 

Witch Hazel Family. — Witch hazel. 

Plane Tree Family. — Buttonwood, or syca- 
more. 

Rose Family. — Ninebark; American meadow 
sweet; goat's beard; Indian physic; American 
ipecac; black raspberry; high bush blackberry; 
dewberry; scarlet strawberry; five-finger 
(cinquefoil) ; rough einquefoil; tall cinque- 
foil; yellow avens; white avens; queen-of-the- 
prairie; meadow sweet; agrimony; small- 
fruited agrimony; prairie rose; meadow rose; 
swamp rose; western crab apple; apple (intro- 
duced); black choke cherry; June berry; red 
haw; red-fruited thorn; Canadian burnut. 

Plum Family. — Wild yellow, or red plum; 
blackthorn; peach (escaped from cultivation). 

Senna Family. — Redbud; sensitive pea; 
honey locust; Kentucky coffee tree. 

Pea Family. — Wild indigo; large-bracted 
wild indigo; rattle-box; alfalfa (introduced); 



634 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



white sweet clover (adventive); yellow sweet 
clover (adventive); stone clover; red clover 
(naturalized); buffalo clover; running buffalo 
clover; many-flowered psoralea; sainfoin psora- 
lea; prairie white clover; goat's rue; black lo- 
cust (adventive); milk vetch; pointed-leaved 
tick trefoil; naked-flowered tick trefoil; hairy 
tick trefoil; sessile-leaved' tick trefoil; few- 
flowered tick trefoil; Dillon's tick trefoil; 
hairy small-leaved tick trefoil; smooth small- 
leaved tick trefoil; Illinois tick trefoil; bush 
clover; round-headed bush clover; wild pea- 
vine; marsh vetchling; wild or hog peanut; 
groundnut, or wild bean; trailing wild bean; 
small wild bean. 

Gebanium Family. — Spotted crane's bill; Car- 
olina crane's bill. 

Wood Sorrel Family. — ^Violet wood sorrel. 

Flax Family. — Wild or slender yellow flax; 
grooved yellow flax. 

Rue Family. — Prickly ash, or toothache tree; 
three-leaved hop tree. 

Milkwort Family. — Whorled milkwort; pur- 
ple milkwort; pink milkwort; loose-spiked milk- 
wort; racemer milkwort; Seneca snakeroot. 

Spurge Family. — Glandular croton; horn- 
beam; three-seeded mercury; castor-oil plant 
(escaped from gardens); milk purslane; hairy 
spreading spurge; large or upright spotted 
spurge; blooming spurge; various-leaved 
spurge; blunt-leaved spurge; sun spurge, or 
wartweed; cypress spurge (an escape). 

Water Stabwobt Family. — Vernal water 
starwort, or water fennel; autumnal or north- 
ern water starwort. 

False Mermaid Family. — False mermaid. 

Sumac Family. — Staghorn sumac; dwarf su- 
mac; poison oak. 

Holly Family. — Black alder. 

Staff Tree Family. — Burnish bush, or wa- 
hoo; shrubby, or climbing bittersweet. 

Bladdernut Family. — American bladdernut. 

Maple Family. — Silver, soft or white maple; 
sugar, or rock maple; box elder. 

Buckeye Family. — Ohio, or fetid buckeye. 

Jewelweed Family. — Spotted touch-me-not. 

Buckthorn Family. — Lance-leaved buck- 
thorn; alder-leaved buckthorn; New Jersey tea. 

Grape Family. — Fox grape; summer grape; 
blue, or winter grape; Virginia creeper. 

Linden Family. — bass wood. 

Mallow Family. — Dwarf or running mallow, 
or cheeses; common mallow; high mallow; 



glade mallow; prickly sida; bladder ketmia; 
halberd-leaved rose mallow. 

St. John's Wort Family. — Giant St. John's 
wort; shrubby St. John's wort; common St. 
John's wort (naturalized); spotted or corymbed 
St. John's wort; dwarf or small-flowered St. 
John's wort; Canadian St. John's wort; orange 
grass; marsh St. John's wort. 

Watebwort Family. — Waterwort, or mud 
purslane. 

Rock Rose Family. — Hoary frostweed; 
thyme-leaved pinweed; narrow-leaved pinweed; 
oblong-fruited pinweed. 

Violet Family. — Early blue violet; prairie 
violet; bird's foot violet, also var bicolor; 
American dog violet; pansy, or heart's-ease; 
green violet; arrow-leaved violet; downy yel- 
low violet. 

Loasa Family. — Few-seeded mentzelia. 

Loosestrife Family. — Rotala; Koehne's am- 
mannia; wing-angled loosestrife; clammy 
cuphea; swamp loosestrife. 

Meadow Beauty Family. — -Meadow beauty, or 
deer grass. 

Evening Pbimrose. — Many-fruited ludwigia; 
seed-box, or rattle-box; linear-leaved willow 
herb; downy willow herb; purple-leaved willow 
herb; common evening primrose; common sun- 
drops; biennial gama. 

Water Milfoil Family.— Battle brush, or 
mare's tail; mermaid weed; whorled water mil- 
foil; various-leaved water milfoil; pinnate 
water milfoil. 

Ginseng Family. — American spikenan; wild 
sarsaparilla; ginseng. 

Carrot Family. — Wild carrot; cow bane, or 
hemlock; wild parsnip; polytsenia; cow par- 
snip; hairy-jointed meadow parsnip; purple 
meadow parsnip; rattlesnake master; black- 
snake root; fennel (an escape); eastern euloph- 
us; chevril (adventitious); woolly sweet cicely; 
bulb-bearing water hemlock; poison hemlock; 
hemlock water parsnip; caraway (adventive); 
water hemlock, of musquash root; honeywort; 
water parsnip; heart-leaved alerandus; har- 
binger of spring; smother sweet cicely. 

Dogwood Family. — Flowering dogwood; kin- 
nikinnick; rough-leaved cornel; red-osier cor- 
nel; panicled cornel; alternate-leaved cornel. 

Indian Pipe Family. — Indian pipe. 

Heath Family. — Wild honeysuckle; red 
bearberry. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



635 



HuCKLEBEKRT FAMILY. — Low bush blueberry. 

Primrose Family. — Androsace; water pim- 
perel; tutted loosestrife; shooting star; chaff- 
weed. 

Ebony Family. — Persimmon. 

Olive Family. — White ash; green ash; red 
ash; water ash; blue ash. 

Gentian Family. — Bitter bloom, or rose 
pink; fringed gentian; downy gentian; closed 
gentian; American Columbo. 

BucKBEAN Family. — Buckbean. 

Dogbane Family. — Amsonia; spreading dog- 
bane; Indian hemp. 

Milkweed Family. — Butterfly weed, or pleuri- 
sy root; purple milkweed; swamp milkweed; 
Sullivant's milkweed; blunt-leaved milkweed; 
Mead's milkweed; sand vine; poke, or tall 
milkweed; whorled milkweed; common milk- 
weed, or silkweed; thin-leaved milkweed; green 
milkweed; Florida milkweed. 

MoBNiNO Glory Family. — Wild potato vine; 
small-flowered white morning glory; morning 
glory (an escape); hedge or great bindweed; 
small bindweed; field dodder; pretty dodder; 
hazel dodder; buttonbush dodder; compact dod- 
der; glomerate dodder. 

Phlox Family. — Smooth phlox; downy 
phlox; wild blue phlox; cleft phlox; Greek va- 
lerian. 

Water Leaf Family. — Virginia water leaf; 
appendaged water leaf; broad-leaved water leaf; 
nyctelea. 

Borage Familt. — Stickseed; Virginia cow- 
slip; spring scorpion grass; hoary puccoon; 
hairy puccoon; narrow-leaved puccoon; shaggy 
false Cromwell; soft-hairy false Cromwell; 
hound's tongue. 

Vervain Family. — White or nettle-leaved 
vervain; blue vervain; narrow-leaved vervain; 
hoary or mullein-leaved vervain; large-bracted 
vervain; fog-fruit. 

Mint Family. — Wood sage; false pennyroyal; 
mad-dog skullcap; downy skullcap; heart-leaved 
skullcap; small skullcap; marsh skullcap; 
veined skullcap; white hoarhound; catnip giant 
hyssop; figwort giant hyssop; catmint or cat- 
nip; ground ivy; self heal; false dragon-head; 
mother wort; light-green hedge nettle; smooth 
hedge nettle; wild bergamot; horse-mint; 
downy blephilia; hairy blephilla; Bradbury's 
monarda; American pennyroyal; rough pen- 
nyroyal; garden mint; wild basil; narrow- 
leaved mountain mint; Virginia mountain 



mint; bugle-weed; hoarhound; peppermint; 
spearmint. 

Potato Family.— Prairie ground cherry; Phil- 
adelphia ground cherry; clammy ground cher- 
ry; black or garden nightshade; horse nettle; 
blue bindweed or bittersweet (naturalized) ; 
stramonium or jimson weed; purple thorn ap- 
ple (naturalized); wild tobacco (cultivated by 
Indians); petunias (some have escaped from 
gardens). 

Figwort Family. — Great mullein; moth mul- 
lein; butter-and-eggs ; wild toadflax; snakehead; 
hairy beard-tongue; foxglove beard-tongue; 
Blue-eyed Mary or innocence; sharp-winged 
monkey flower; conobea; clammy hedge hyssop; 
round-fruited hedge hyssop; long-stalked false 
pimpernel; Houghton's wulfernia; water speed- 
well; American brookline; marsh speedwell; 
Thyme-leaved speedwell; corn speedwell; Cul- 
ver's root; mullein foxglove; fern-leaved fox- 
glove; downy false foxglove; smooth false fox- 
glove; rough purple gerardia; auricled gerar- 
dia; Indian paint brush; swamp lousewort; 
wood betony. 

Bladderwoet Family. — Greater bladderwort; 
flat-leaved bladderwort. 

Broom Rape Family. — One-flowered broom 
rape or cancer root. 

Trumpet Creeper Family. — Trumpet creeper. 

Unicorn Plant Family. — Unicorn plant, or 
elephant's trunk (an escape). 

Acanthus Family. — Hairy ruellia; smooth 
ruellia; dense-flowered water willow. 

Lopseed Family. — Lopseed. 

Plantain Family. — Common plantain; heart- 
leaved or water plantain; dwarf plaintain; slen- 
der plantain; southern plantain. 

Madder Family. — Button bush; rough button 
weed; wild liquorice; sweet-scented bedstraw; 
small bedstraw; shining bedstraw; cleaver's 
hairy bedstraw; partridge berry. 

Honeysuckle Family. — American elder; ar- 
row wood; nanny berry; black haw; yellow 
honeysuckle; fever-wort or horse gentian. 

Valerian Family. — Beaked corn salad or 
lamb's lettuce. 

Gourd Family. — Wild balsam apple or cucum- 
ber; star cucumber. 

Bellflower Family. — Harebell; marsh bell- 
flower; tall bellflower; Venus' looking glass; 
cardinal flower; great lobelia; pale-spiked lo- 
belia; spiked lobelia; Indian tobacco; brook 
lobelia. 



636 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Chickory Family. — Virginia goat's beard; 
dwarf dandelion; dandelion or blow-ball (Eu- 
rope) ; hawkweed pieris; corn sow thistle; an- 
nual sow thistle or hare's lettuce; false lettuce; 
western lettuce; rough hawkweed; hairy hawk- 
weed; rattlesnake root; corymbed rattlesnake 
root. 

Ragweed Family. — Bitter weed; ragweed or 
Roman wormwood (wild tansy). 

Thistle Family. — New York iron weed ; west- 
ern iron weed; late-flowering thoroughwort; 
tall thoroughwort; upland or bastard boneset; 
Joe Pye reed; white snake root; mist flower; 
blazing star; false boneset; prairie false bone- 
set; cylindric blazing star; broad-leaved gum 
plant; prairie or hairy button snake root; hairy 
golden aster; broad-leaved golden rod: showy 
or noble golden rod; rough-leaved 

golden rod; elm-leaved golden rod; 
swamp golden rod; cut-leaved golden rod; Mis- 
souri golden rod; Canada golden rod; gray or 
field golden rod; western rough golden rod; stiff 
or hard-leaved golden rod; Ohio golden rod; 
Riddell's golden rod; slender fragrant golden 
rod; blue-stemmed or wreath golden rod; wrin- 
kled-leaved or tall hairy golden rod; late golden 
rod; bushy or fragrant golden rod; astor-like 
boltonia; many-rayed aster; Short's aster; ar- 
row-leaved aster; wavy-leaved aster; New 
England aster; aromatic aster; ame- 
thyst aster; red-stalk aster; crooked- 
stem aster; smooth aster; western silk aster; 
prairie aster; bushy aster; willow aster; Trade- 
scant's aster; starved aster; sky-blue aster; 
daisy fleabane; common fleabane, or horse weed; 
low or purple horseweed; inland marsh flea- 
bane; elacampane; cup plant or Indian cup; 
entire-leaved rosin-weed; compass plant; prairie 
burdock; American fever-few; ox eye; thin- 
leaved cone-flower; sweet cone-flower; Black- 
eyed Susan: green-headed cone-flower; showy 
cone-flower; purple cone-flower; pale purple 
cone-flower; common sunflower; giant sunflow- 
er; woodland sunflower; wild or thin-leaved 
sunflower; actinomeris; stiff tickseed; lance- 
leaved tickseed; swamp beggar ticks; tall tick- 
seed sunflower; western tickseed sunflower: 
sneezeweed; dog fennel; white tansy; mayweed 
or dill weed; white weed or ox-eye daisy: fever- 
few (an escape); yellow tansy; wormwood; 
western or cud-weed mugwort; great Indian 
plantain; tuberous Indian plantain; golden rag- 
wort; burdock or clot burr; horse weed or but- 



ter weed; common burdock (naturalized from 
Europe); pasture thistle; swamp thistle; Can- 
ada thistle; common or burr thistle. 



CHAPTER Vl. 



A PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 



DIFFERENT RACES THAT HAVE OCCUPIED Ftn.TON 

COUNTY CONQUESl OF THE rLLINOIS COUNTRY 

BY COL. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK — IT BECOMES A 
PART OF VIRGINL\ AND ILLINOIS COUNTY IS CRE- 
ATED FRENCH LANGUAGE STILL DOMINANT — 

NORTHWEST TERRITORY ORGANIZED BY' ACT OF 

17S7 SUBSEQUENT PROGRESS TO STATEHOOD 

PIONEER CONDITIONS DESCRIBED WAR OF 1812 

CAPT. CRAIG'S EXPEDITION AGAINST PEORIA 

HALF OF THE TOWN BUR.NED AND MANY INHAB- 
ITANTS CARRIFD AWAY- AS PRISONERS FORT CLARK 

ERECTED IN 1813 — A MILITIAMAN'S DESCRIPTION 

OF THE RP:GI0.V ABOUT PEORIA NO WHITE MAfT 

THERE FROM 1815 TO 1818 AMERICAN FUR COM- 
PANY' TRADING STATION AT WESLEY CITY IMMI- 
GRATION BEGINS IN 1819 — A LIST OF FIRST 
COMERS. 

Since pre-historic days, the soil of Fulton 
County has had as its nominal owners, occu- 
pants and claimants two races of men and 
three nationalities, aside from what might be 
called distinctively American. The first occu- 
pants of the soil were the Peoria sub-tribe of 
the mini Indians. Just how long the Illini had 
occupied the soil before the encroachment of 
the white man is a matter of conjecture, which 
is referred to biologists for determination. At 
best it is mere guess-work based upon science, 
a trifle, and legends and folklore, largely. 
SuflBce it to say, that the Illini were here when 
the French adventurer and monk rowed up the 
Illinois River in 1673, and the red men remained 
until driven across the Mississippi as late as 
1832. Just how they were deprived of the lands 
which they had so long enjoyed, is one of the 
chapters of the development of this country 
that is not read with a great deal of pride by 
our people. 




MR. and MRS. JASPER BARTHOLOW 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



637 



Spain, by reason of the discovery of the 
Western Hemisphere, was the first nation to 
dispute the Indian title. Next, England by vir- 
tue of Cabot's discovery of the continent of 
America in 149S, six years later, established its 
claim. By the inland explorations of De Leon, 
De Soto, Melendez and others, Spain strength- 
ened its claim as owner of the soil of the en- 
tire American Continent. By reason of explo- 
rations of Verrazani, Cartier and others, the 
Government of France named the northwestern 
country "New France" and, as early as 1603, 
made a grant of territory to De Chastes which 
included all the northern part of what is now 
the State of Illinois. Fulton County territory 
was included in the grant. Likewise England, 
in 1606 and in 1609 gave patents to the bene- 
ficiaries of the Virginia and other grants, 
which would have covered this territory, but, 
as has been heretofore stated, the first actual 
explorations of the country were made by the 
French in 1673, and, as this was the superior 
claim, it may be said the title passed from the 
Indians to the French, inasmuch as the French 
had not only made actual explorations of the 
region and established settlements therein, 
but had also made a treaty with the Indians 
themselves for the country in 1671. But in 
1763, by the Treaty of Paris, France ceded to 
England all her rights to this territory, and 
it remained so until 177S, during the American 
Revolution. With a commission from the then 
Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, the after- 
wards famed explorer, General George Rogers 
Clark, exploited this western country and cap- 
tured Kaskaskia and the whole Northwest, and 
proclaimed dominion over it for Virginia. This 
dominion was by the treaty of Paris, which 
ended the war of the Revolution, recognized, 
and Illinois was part of Virginia until after the 
formation of the United States of America and 
the cession of the Northwest to the General 
Government in 17S4. 

In 177S, after the taking over of the west- 
ern country by General Clark, the Legislature 
of Virginia formed the entire Northwest, 
north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi 
and south of the Great Lakes, into a county of 
Virginia, and named that county "Illinois.' 
This is the first recognition of the name "Illi- 
nois" as designating a fixed political division 
of territory. 

After the cession of the Northwest to the 



United States by Virginia, the Northwest Ter- 
ritory was formed in 1787, which was after- 
wards subdivided into the State of Ohio and 
Indiana Terrrtory in ISOO, the latter being 
again subdivided in 1809 by the creation of the 
State of Indiana and the Territory of Illinois, 
which included the present States of Illinois 
and Wisconsin and a small area on the east- 
ern border of Minnesota. This territory was 
raised to the second class in 1812 and admitted 
as a State in 1818 with its present area and 
boundaries. (For further detailed history, see 
"Illinois," "Northeni Boundary Question" and 
"Northwest Territory" in "Historical Encyclo- 
pedia" part of this work.) 

Notwithstanding the passing of the sovereign- 
ty of this territory from the French to the Brit- 
ish, by the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, the in- 
habitants remained distinctively French. Even 
in 1778, when the entire Illinois Country was 
taken possession of in the name of Virginia 
by General Clark, the language spoken was 
French in all of the settlements along the Illi- 
nois River. 

Of course, of all these settlements only those 
in the vicinity of what is now Peoria are im- 
portant to this history. That the reader may 
understand just the surroundings and condi- 
tions of the country during the time preced- 
ing the actual settlement of Fulton County, 
the following excerpt is taken from "Pioneers 
of Illinois," the author of which, N. Matson, 
was himself an early settler, and claims to have 
received much of his information direct from 
the early French settlers of Illinois: 

"According to the statement of Antoine Des 
Champs. Thomas Forsyth, and others, who had 
long been residents of Peoria previous to Its 
destruction in 1812, we infer that the town con- 
tained a large population. It formed a connect- 
ing link between the settlements on the 
Mississippi and Canada, and being situated 
in the midst of an Indian counti-y caused it to 
be a fine place for the fur trade. The town 
was built along the beach of the lake, and to 
each house was attached an outlet for a 
garden, which extended back on the prairie. 
The houses were all constructed of wood, one 
story high, with porches on two sides, and lo- 
cated in a garden surrounded with fruit and 
flowers. Some of the dwellings were built of 
hewed timbers set upright, and the space be- 
tween the posts filled in with stones and mor- 



638 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tar, while others were built of hewed logs 
notched together after the style of a pioneer's 
cabin. The floors were laid with puncheons, 
and the chimney built with sticks and mud. 

•'When Colonel Clark took possession of Il- 
linois in 1778 he sent three soldiers, accom- 
panied by two Frenchmen, in a canoe to 
Peoria to notify the people that they were no 
longer under British rule, but citizens of the 
United States. Among these soldiers was a 
man named Nicholas Smith, a resident of Bour- 
bon County, Kentucky, and whose son, Joseph 
Smith, was among the first American settlers 
of Peoria. Through this channel we have an 
account of Peoria as it appeared a century ago, 
and it agrees well with other traditional ac- 
counts. 

"Mr. Smith said Peoria, at the time of his 
visit, was a large town, built along the beach 
of the lake, with narrow, unpaved streets, and 
houses constructed of wood. Back of the town 
were gardens, stockyards, barns, etc., and 
among these was a wine-press, with a large 
cellar or underground vault for storing wine. 
There was a church with a large wooden cross 
raised above the roof, and with gilt lettering 
over the door. There was an unoccupied fort 
on the bank of the lake, and close by it a wind- 
mill for grinding grain. The town contained 
six stores, or places of trade, all of which were 
well filled with goods for the Indian market. 
The inhabitants consisted of French, halt- 
breeds and Indians, not one of whom could 
understand or speak English. 

"Among the inhabitants of Peoria were mer- 
chants or traders who made annual trips to 
Canada in canoes, carrying thither pelts and 
furs and loaded back with goods tor the Indian 
market. They were blacksmiths, wagonmakers, 
carpenters, shoemakers, etc., and most of the 
implements used in farming were of home 
manufacture. Although isolated from the 
civilized world, and surrounded by savages, 
their standard of morality was high; theft, rob- 
bery or murder were seldom heard of. They 
were a gay happy people, having many social 
parties, wine suppers, balls and public festi- 
vals. They lived in harmony with the Indians, 
who were their neighbors and friends, adopt- 
ing in part their customs, and in trade with 
them accumulated most of their wealth. 

"The dress of both men and women was very 
plain, made of coarse material, and the style of 



their wardrobe was partly European and partly 
Indian. The men seldom wore a hat, cap or 
coat, their heads being covered with a cotton 
handkerchief, folded on the crown like a night- 
cap or an Arabian turban. Instead of a coat 
they wore a loose blanket garment called capote, 
with a cap of the same material hanging down 
at the back of the neck, which could be drawn 
over the head as a protection from rain or 
cold. The women wore loose dresses, made 
mostly of coarse material, their heads covered 
with a hood or blanket, and their long hair 
hanging down their back like an Indian squaw. 
But these women were noted for sprightliness 
In conversation, with grace and elegance of 
manners, and notwithstanding the plainness of 
their dress, many of them were not lacking in 
personal charm." 

With the beginning of the War of 1812, and 
even months before, when war seemed inevita- 
ble between the United States and Great 
Britain, the Indians in the Illinois country, in- 
cited to the deeds by British agents and trad- 
ers, committed so many depredations that the 
people in the scattered white settlements were 
in a state of terror. An appeal to the general 
Government was made. It was decided by the 
Territorial and Federal authorities that a con- 
certed movement be made against the hostile 
Indians. One of the expeditions sent out was 
that of Captain Thomas E. Craig against the 
Indians in the vicinity of Peoria. He was in 
command of a company of Territorial troops, 
and came up the Illinois in two large boats. 
He w-as provided with tools and appliances to 
construct a fort at Peoria. After reachins; 
Peoria he found no hostile Indians, but his 
command found good wine in the cellars of the 
French inhabitants of La Ville De Maillet, as 
the settlement at Peoria was then called, and 
proceeded to imbibe rather freely. Without any 
apparent justification. Captain Craig burned 
about one-half of the seventy dwellings that 
constituted the village and carried off as prison- 
ers of war many of the inhabitants. Craig's ex- 
planation of his extraordinary conduct was 
that, during one night his boats had been fired 
upon, and that the inhabitants were sympa- 
thizers with the cause of England. His actions 
were promptly repudiated by the authorities 
and the inhabitants who had been taken down 
the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to Savage 
Ferry at the mouth of the Missouri, were liber- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



639 



ated. In passing down the Illinois River, so 
declares Captain Craig In his report to his 
superior officer, these prisoners of war always 
desired to be landed on the "Indian side" of 
the river to prepare their meals. The Indian 
side was the upper or northern shore, and it 
is highly probable that one of these landing 
places was at that point where Otter Creek 
empties into the Illinois, and likewise the 
point where the first white settlement, though 
only transitory in character, was made on Ful- 
ton County soil. 

There being no abatement in the hostile at- 
titude of the Indians in the northern part of 
the Illinois Territory, the next year (1813) 
it was decided to proceed to Peoria and erect 
a fort, as this point seemed to be the chief 
rendezvous of the turbulent Red Skins. An ex- 
pedition was planned by which a company of 
troops from the regular army was sent up the 
Illinois River in boats, and a force of Illinois 
and Missouri militia, who were mounted, was 
sent across the country. The regular troops 
reached the village three days before the 
mounted militiamen. 

John Reynolds, who was afterwards Governor 
of Illinois, was a Sergeant in one of the Illinois 
militia companies. In his book entitled the 
"Pioneer History of Illinois," Governor Rey- 
nolds says of the overland journey of this 
mounted force: 

"The whole force amounted to not more than 
eight hundred men. The army marched up the 
Mississippi bottom to a point above Quincy, 
thence across the country and struck the Illi- 
nois River forty odd miles below Peoria. The 
army reached Peoria on a calm, pleasant even- 
ing, and the beauty of the situation was ad- 
mired by the whole army. The lake, and the 
scenery around, made a pleasing impression 
of its grandeur and beauty even on the stern, 
rugged soldiers of the army." 

From this it will be observed that the point 
first touched on the Illinois River by these 
militiamen was about the southern extrem- 
ity of Fulton County. This troop of horse of 
eight hundred men then marched across the 
entire length of the county. This was before 
there was a white settler within the county, 
so far as authentic history relates. It is ex- 
tremely doubtful if Dr. Davidson, the mysteri- 
ous hermit of historical and legendary fame, _ 
was in his habitat in the Isabel Township coun- 



try at this time. There may have been some 
trappers temporarily residing along Spoon 
River and some of its tributaries, but as this 
march was in September, it is scarcely possible 
that any of the fur-hunters were away from 
the trading stations so early in the season. 

There is a letter extant which splendidly 
pictures the country over which this mounted 
militia marched. It was written by John S. 
Bricksley, Esq., a resident in his later life of 
Potosi, Mo. He was a member of one of the 
Missouri militia companies making up this 
command. In this letter he says: 

"As the army approached Peoria from the 
northwest and got a first view of its situation 
from the high-land prairies, two or three miles 
from the lake, looking easterly and southerly, 
beheld the smooth prairie gradually descend- 
ing to the town, the lake stretching miles far 
to the northeast, the gunboats lying quietly at 
anchor upon the water, the towering forests 
across the water, and the lovely prairies bound- 
ed only by the horizon, there was an involun- 
tary halt; the men all gazed in silence for a 
moment, and then of a sudden, as if moved by 
one impulse, expressed universal admiration of 
the beauty and grandeur of the prospect spread 
out before them. At this time there was no 
road to Peoria except the Indian trail; not a 
forest tree amiss, not a house within one hun- 
dred miles (except the town before described), 
no plough had ever broken the turf that covered 
the rich soil beneath. The lake was covered 
with wild geese, ducks and other water fowls; 
game such as deer, bear, elk and turkeys every- 
where in the thick woods and adjacent prai- 
ries. Bees and honey were found in almost 
every hollow tree, and, notwithstanding express 
orders to the contrary, the men would and did, 
on the march, frequently stop and cut down the 
trees and get large quantities of the most de- 
licious honey. While employed in building 
the fort, many of the men were well supplied 
with venison, fowls, honey and sometimes with 
fish caught in the lake." 

In this letter Mr. Bricksley further says of 
the erection of the fort at Peoria: 

"For want of suitable timber and materials 
within several miles of the place, on the west 
side of the lake, on account of the country 
back from the river being prairie, it became 
necessary to obtain all timber from a fine 
forest on the east side of the Illinois River at 



640 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the lower end of the lake and raft it over. The 
men commenced felling the trees, the most of 
which were white oak, and for the palisades 
cut them about eighteen feet long and each 
log not less than fifteen or eighteen inches in 
diameter, the timbers for the block-houses at 
the corners of the enclosure were much longer; 
the area inclosed for the fort contained, accord- 
ing to my recollection, two or three acres. 
While a portion of the men were cutting, others 
were employed in hauling and rafting the logs 
over to the opposite side of the lake, and from 
there to the site for the building; having no 
carriages of any description, all the materials 
were drawn by men on trucks, by means of 
large ropes, a distance of from one to two miles. 
Thus was Fort Clark erected where Peoria now 
stands, in less than two months, by the 
Missouri and Illinois volunteers of mounted 
riflemen, in September and October in the year 
1813, at a distance of more than one hundred 
miles from any white settlement, and with no 
other means than above described." 

After the sacking of the village by Captain 
Craig, some of the French and half-breeds in- 
habitants of La Ville De Maillet returned in 
due course of time, but none were there at 
the time of the erection of Fort Clark. After 
the close of the War with England the troops 
were withdrawn from Fort Clark, and it was 
at least partially destroyed by the Indians. 
From 1815 to 181S no white men seem to have 
abided at Peoria, at least more than tempor- 
arily. The American Fur Company, however, 
maintained a trading station called Opa, at 
what is now Wesley City, Tazewell County. 
In the latter year and the opening of 1819, the 
real settlers of this part of Illinois began to 
arrive. 

Early in 1819, three Virginians, Abner Eads, 
Seth and Josiah Fulton; three Kentuckians, S. 
Daugherty, J. Davis and T. Russell; and J. 
Hersey, a native of New York, who were 
tem|K)rarily located at Shoal Creek in what is 
now Clinton County, decided to locate in the 
vicinity of Naples on the Illinois River. Not 
finding the location to their tastes, Eads and 
Hersey mounted the two horses belonging to 
the party after they were ferried across to the 
west side, and proceeded for Port Clark. The 
other members of the party were to come up 
the river in a boat. None of this party located 
on Fulton County soil, though Eads and Her- 



sey traversed its entire length north and south. 
But during the period when Fulton County em- 
braced Peoria County, four of these pioneers, 
as will be subsequently disclosed, figured in 
a way in Fulton County affairs. These were 
the first strictly American settlers of Peoria 
County. As a French settlement and as a 
fortification, the vicinity of Fort Clark has 
been known for two centuries, but when these 
seven men located there, no other white men 
were there, nor had there been a permanent 
settlement for several years. At Wesley City, 
across on the east side of the river, was a trad- 
ing station of the American Fur Company in 
immediate charge of Louis Beeson, and he had 
only been left in charge a short time before 
by the agents of the company as they passed 
down the river to St. Louis .gathering up pelts. 



CH.^PTER VII. 



LAND SYSTEM— THE MILITARY TRACT. 



SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT L.\ND SURVEYS ITS ADOP- 
TION IN 1785 — DESCRIPTION — BOUNTY LANDS SET 
APART FOB SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF 1812 LO- 
CATION AND ARE.\ OF THE MILITABT TRACT 

ITS SURVEY IN 1815-16 — COMING OF NEW SET- 
TLERS LAND SPECULATIONS. FORGERIES AND CON- 
SEQUENT LITIGATION OVER TITLES — DESCRIPTION 

OF LANDS AND STREAMS IN FULTON COUNTY 

EARLY NAVIGATION — QUOTATION FROM "BECK'S 
gazetteer" — DESIRABLE LOCATION FOR SETTLE- 
MENTS IN THE EARLY' "TWENTIES. 

On May 20, 1785, Congress adopted 
what is know;j as the rectangular system of 
government land surveys, and it is by this sys- 
tem that lands are measured, located, divided 
and described in the several counties of this 
State. By this system the distances and bear- 
ings are measured from two fixed lines, which 
are at right angles with one another. The 
lines running north and south are called "Prin- 
cipal Meridians", and those running east and 
west are denominated "Base Lines." Each 
Principal Meridian has its base line, and these 




'^^^r^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



641 



two form the basis for sunveyors' measurements 
and divisions of all the lands within a pre- 
scribed territory, arbitrarily limited and con- 
trolled by such principal meridian and base 
line. These lines are fixed with great accuracy 
by astronomical calculation. What is known 
as the Fourth Principal Meridian runs along 
the west side of Fulton County, and has, as a 
starting point, the juncture with the controll- 
ing base line twelve miles south of the south 
line of Fulton County. The juncture point is 
on the Illinois River just a short distance above 
Beardstown. Each congressional township is 
six miles square. There are, therefore, two 
congressional townships between the southern 
border of Fulton County and the base line. The 
method of designating the locality is to count 
north and south from the base line, and east 
or west from the principal meridian. There- 
fore, beginning from the base line, the first 
township within the southern and western 
border of Fulton County is township 3 North 
of the Base Line and Range 1 East of the 
Fourth Principal Meridian; and the north- 
western township is No. 8 north of the Base 
Line, and Range 1 East of the Fourth Prin- 
cipal Meridian. Each congressional township 
is divided into 36 sections of land each 
containing 640 acres. Fractional townships 
are divided as near as possible in the same 
manner so far as their territory extends. 
Political township lines, as fixed by the county, 
do not always conform to the congressional 
township lines. County Surveyors have es- 
tablished lines somewhat varying from those 
established by the Federal Government in its 
original survey of 1815-16; but the basis of all 
calculation of distance and the fixing of all 
lines Is the original Government survey. 

The Military Tract. — On May 6, 1812, Con- 
gress passed an act providing for bounty lands 
for the soldiers engaging in war with Great 
Britain which had commenced early in the 
same year. This act provided for certain reser- 
vations in the Territories of Michigan, Louisi- 
and (now within the State of Arkansas) and 
Illinois, to be given to the soldiers and sailors 
who volunteered in the service of their coun- 
try. The lands in Illinois Territory embraced 
In this act are known locally as the Military 
Tract. They extend from the conjunction of 
the Illinois and Missippi Rivers to fifteen town- 
ships north of the established base line by the 



Fourth Principal Meridian. This base line ex- 
tends from a point on the west side of the Illi- 
nois River, a. little north of the 
present site of the city of Beardstown, 
west to a point on the Mississippi about 
seven miles north of Quincy. This tract of land 
is about 169 miles in length, north and south, 
and extends east and west from the Illinois to 
the Mississippi River. It extends seventy-nine 
miles south of the base line to the junction of 
the Illinois with the Mississippi and ninety 
miles north. The northern boundary is identic- 
al with the northern boundary of Mercer Coun- 
ty, and, running east, takes in the two southern 
tiers cf townships in Henry County and the 
southern tier of townships in Bureau County. 
The distance between the Illinois and Mississip- 
pi at the northern boundary is about ninety 
miles. The Military Tract comprises the pres- 
ent counties of Calhoun, Pike, Adams, Brown, 
Schuyler, Hancock, McDonough, Fulton, Peoria, 
Stark, Knox, Warren, Henderson and Mercer, 
and nine townships in Henry County, part of 
Bureau, and those parts of Marshall and Put- 
nam lying on the west side of the Illinois River. 
It comprises 207 entire congressional townships 
of six miles square, and sixty-one fractional 
townships, containing an area of 5,360,000 acres. 
A little less than two-thirds of this area — to- 
wit: 3,500,000 acres — were appropriated for 
military bounties. The remaining portion of 
this territory consisted of fractional sections 
bordering on rivers, fractional one-quarter sec- 
tions bordering on township lines, lands that 
were returned by the surveyors as unfit for 
cultivation, and, in addition thereto, reserva- 
tions consisting of the overplus of lands after 
satisfying the military bounties, which were 
subject to entry and purchase as other Gov- 
ernment lands. 

This tract was surveyed in 1815 and 1816 un- 
der the personal direction of Major S. H. Long, 
of the Topographical Engineering Corps, and 
was opened to settlement. Immediately after 
the surveys were completed the issuing of the 
land warrants to the soldiers by the United 
States Government began. By this time the 
people of the more densely settled portions of 
the country in the East and South were more 
or less familiar with the wonderful country bor- 
dering on the Mississippi and lying between 
the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio to 
the south, called the Territory of Illinois, and 



642 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



likewise with that fertile portion of the Terri- 
tory set apart as bounties for the soldiers just 
leaving the service of the country at the con- 
clusion of a victorious war. Reports to Con- 
gress from the Territorial Governors and other 
officials, both civil and military, together with 
private correspondence and publicity given 
them in various journals and publications, ex- 
cited much interest in the future development 
of this region. Many of the early settlers of 
the Military Tract came from farther down 
the State where earlier settlements had been 
made. The influx of the determined men seek- 
ing new homes in this land of great promise, 
and who became the pioneers of the Military 
Tract, never abated until every acre within that 
circumscribed territory passed to private own- 
ership and had been made to "blossom as the 
rose" in response to the touch of those worthy 
"developers of the country." 

Si'ECUL.\TioNS— Land Frauds.— Speculators in 
the East and elsewhere purchased from many 
of the soldiers, for a mere trifle, their original 
land warrants. Other soldiers took actual titles 
and permitted their land afterward to be sold 
for taxes. Many outright forgeries of land war- 
rants, assignments and fraudulent conveyances 
were executed and recorded. As a consequence 
land titles were a fruitful source of litigation 
extending over a period of many years. 

The importance of the Military Tract as an 
inviting place for settlement was early recog- 
nized. In fact, it commanded so much atten- 
tion from those in position to know the terri- 
tory personally, that one Nicholas Blddle Van 
Zant, connected, at the time the surveys were 
being made by Major Long, with the General 
Land Office at Washington, compiled and pub- 
lished a book for the information and guidance 
of those contemplating becoming settlers of 
this region. The book is entitled, "A Full De- 
scription of the Soil, Water, Timber and Prai- 
rie of Each Lot and Quarter Section of the 
Military Tract Lands Between the Mississippi 
and Illinois Rivers." The data for the book, as 
the author states, was derived from notes made 
from personal observation on occasion of two 
trips to the Territory, from verbal conversa- 
tions of those residing therein and the volumi- 
nous report and original field notes of Major 
Long, under whose direction the surveys of 
the Military Tract were made. This book was 



of great value to the early settler seeking a 
location in this region. The information con- 
tained in it is just what its title purports it 
to be, and an examination of its contents dis- 
closes that the compilation was done with mar- 
velous accuracy as to the lands embraced in 
Pulton County, at least. A succinct and re- 
markably accurate description of every quarter 
section and fractional lot of land in the Mili- 
tary Tract is given. These descriptions state 
the character and quality of the soil, whether 
it is timber, prairie or swamp land, fit or unfit 
for cultivation, describes the topography and 
any special feature peculiar to the iiarticular 
parcel. Pulton County is reached in the book 
at township 3 north, range 1 east (now As- 
toria Township), and the meridian line is then 
followed up. As illustrations of the character 
and reliability of the information contained in 
the compilation, a few instances will be cited: 

At township 5 north, range 1 east (now Farm- 
ers Township) the first reference is made to 
Spoon River. The author says that this river 
passes through the northeast corner of the 
township, and that it is a beautiful stream, 
navigable for craft of considerable burden. 
When it is considered that this was before the 
days of steam navigation and that Spoon River 
was subsequently actually used for navigation, 
this opinion of Van Zant is amply verified. 

In township 6 north, range 1 east (now Har- 
ris Township) the author says that on a 
branch emptying into Spoon River near where 
Sections 22, 23, 26 and 27 corner is a fine 
quarry of grit stone. A glance at a map of the 
county will disclose that this branch is Barker's 
Creek, and that the quarry of grit stone is 
where the Leaman quarries flourished in after 
years. 

In township 7 north, range 1 east (now Lee 
Township) the author says that that part of 
Spoon River passing through Sections 11, 12, 
13 anfl 14 contains great quantities of stone 
coal on its banks. This is around the vicinity 
of Babylon. Also, that "Spoon River will not 
admit of navigation by crafts of much size 
farther up the river than Section 14. Above 
that point it is full of rapids and falls." Fur- 
thermore, that "it appears to be a very fine 
river for fish, and its banks are lined with 
huge rocks of superior quality for grindstones." 
All of which is quite true. 

Aside from Spoon River the other streams 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



643 



in the county mentioned by name by Van Zant 
are Otter Creek and Copperas Creek. 

In 1823 Lewis C. Beck published a "Gazetteer," 
in which he says that "the situations most fa- 
vorable for settlement in Pike County (which 
included Fulton at that time) are on Otter 
Creek, Crooked Creek, Spoon River and in the 
vicinity of Fort Clark and Fort Edwards" 
(the former being on the present site of the 
city of Peoria, and the latter on the site of 
Warsaw.) This "Gazetteer" also says of Otter 
Creek that "it is navigable for a short dis- 
tance and there are several advantageous sit- 
uations for settlement on it. There is a mill- 
seat about ten miles from its mouth." 



CHAPTER Vni. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 



BEGINNING OK PERMANENT WHITE SETTLEMENTS 
IN FULTON COUNTY EARLY BOUNTY LAND PAT- 
ENTS IN THE MILITARY TRACT SOME OF THE 

FIRST COMERS THE FIRST SAW-MILL ^JOHN 

EVELAND AND FAMILY FIRST PERMANENT SET- 
TLERS — STORY OF THE FAMOUS HERMIT, DR. DA- 
VIDSON — MRS. OSSIAN M. ROSS'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
ECCENTRIC RECLUSE COMING OF THE ROSS FAM- 
ILY ORIGIN OF LEWISTOWN — HARVEY LEE 

ROSS'S REMINISCENCE PROMINENT PART PLAYED 

BY THE ROSS FAMILY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
FULTON COUNTY OTHER EARLY ARRIVALS DA- 
VID B;VRNES, THE SARGEANTS AND WILLIAM 

BLANCHARD EARLY COMERS TO PEORIA GROWTH 

IN POPULATION OF FULTON COUNTY. 

As has been observed, for more than a full 
century before the establishment of the Mili- 
tary Tract reserve, of which Fulton County is 
a part, the soil of this county was not unfa- 
miliar to the white man. It was not, how- 
ever, until after the setting apart by the Na- 
tional Government of the military bounty 
lands in Illinois by the act of Congress and the 
issuing of patents for the same to the soldiers 
of the War of 1812, that the trend of western 
emigration was directed to Fulton County. Dili- 



gent search fails to reveal, with definite cer- 
tainty, the date of the first patent issued by the 
Government of the United States for lands lo- 
cated within the present boundaries of Fulton 
County, or of the lands so conveyed, but the 
first conveyance, chronologically speaking, so 
far as the records disclose, was dated May 6, 

1817, which was very soon after the surveys of 
the Military Tract were completed. 

First Permanent Settlement. — On June 16, 

1818, the United States, by letters patent, con- 
veyed to one Benjamin Brown, a "late private 
in Foster's company of the Sixth Regiment of 
Infantry, of the late army of the United States, 
the southeast quarter of Section 10, in Town- 
ship 4 North, and Range 3 East, of the Fourth 
Principal Meridian, in the Territory of Illinois, 
in that tract appropriated for military bounties 
by act of Congress, passed May 6, 1812." On 
August Sth of the same year, "late Private Ben- 
jamin Brown" sold this land to one Henry 
Thomas, of Plattsburg, N. Y., who. a few days 
later— to-wit, on August 16th— disposed of 
same to one Samuel Wiggins, of the city of 
New York. The consideration for conveyance 
of the land to Wiggins was $65. Wiggins 
shortly afterwards came West and took up a 
residence at St. Louis in the Territory of Mis- 
souri, where he was engaged in merchandis- 
ing and other mercantile pursuits. Some of his 
descendants still reside in St. Louis, being of 
the family which established the now cele- 
brated "Wiggins Ferry." On March 28, 1820, 
Wiggins conveyed this land to John Eveland. 
of Madison County, State of Illinois, for the 
sura of $1.50. John Eveland was a Kentuckian 
by birth, but for some years prior to purchas- 
ing this quarter-section of land, had been a 
resident of Madison County, where a brother 
and other relatives were living. Shortly after 
purchasing the land Eveland, with his wife, 
Betty, and his large family of children, came 
in from Madison County to settle on it and 
carve out a home of his own. The advent of 
the family of John Eveland, consisting of him- 
self, Betty, his wife, several sons (among them 
John, Henry, Mace, William and Amos) and 
several daughters, making a dozen or more 
persons all told, marked the beginning of the 
first permanent settlement by white men of 
what was, three years thereafter, organized as 
Fulton County. At this time Pike County em- 



644 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



braced what is now Fulton County and all that 
part of Illinois lying north of the Illinois River. 

FiR.sT Saw Mill. — Prior to the coming of the 
Evelands, however, a firm by the name of 
Craig & Savage, with headquarters variously 
stated as being at St. Louis and other points on 
the lower Mississippi River, built a saw mill 
on Otter Creek a short distance from where it 
empties into the Illinois River, and at a point 
near what was afterwards known as West 
Point, one of the "deserted villages" of the 
county. The motive power was the turbulent 
waters of Otter Creek. This was in 1818, two 
years before the coming of the Eveland family. 
Operations had scarcely begun when a sudden 
rise of the waters of Otter Creek swept this 
first business enterprise in the Military Tract 
down the Illinois River and to oblivion. The 
Craig of this firm of Craig & Savage is reputed 
to be none other than the Captain Thomas E. 
Craig, who, during the War of 1812, so ruth- 
lessly destroyed the French village at Peoria 
(La Ville De Maillet), and that the Savage of 
the firm was the owner of Savage's Ferry, ply- 
mg across the Mississippi near the mouth of the 
Missouri River, where Captain Craig took the 
innocent prisoners, and where they were after- 
wards liberated by orders from the Territorial 
Governor. But this cannot be authenticated, 
and what casts a measure of doubt as to its 
verity is the fact that Captain Craig was a 
resident of Shawneetown, over on the Ohio 
River, in Gallatin County. It is quite possible, 
however — and might be said to be even prob- 
able — that he and Savage, whom he had met 
six years prior thereto, afterwards entered into 
a partnership arrangement to engage in the 
business of running a saw mill in the valuable 
timber lands of the vicinity of Otter Creek. 
Market was accessible by way of the Illinois 
and Mississippi Rivers, and there were none 
to dispute the right to freely take of the 
timber. 

The Stort or Dr. Davidso.n. — When the Eve- 
lands arrived in Fulton County in the spring 
of 1S20, they found two white men residing 
therein. One was a peculiar individual by the 
name of Dr. Davidson (or Davison), who was 
living alone in a cabin on the south bank of 
Spoon River in what is now Isabel Township, 
and almost directly opposite the land on which 



the Evelands settled. The other was a man by 
the name of Statler, who resided in a cabin 
boat on Spoon River, and was likely a trapper 
from some one of the various trading posts on 
the Illinois River. Statler soon departed, never 
more to appear again in history; but Dr. Da- 
vidson remained a few years until the influx 
of settlers made his mysterious hermit life im- 
possible. A most singular individual, desiring 
absolute divorcement from all contact with his 
fellowmen, he has been the enigma of local 
history, the subject of legends and the hero of 
romances. Even his correct name is unknown. 
At the urgent solicitation of the supporters of 
Ossian M. Ross for the office of Sheriff, he par- 
ticipated in the first election after its organi- 
zation held in Fulton County, on April 14, 
1823, and the Judge of the Probate Court, Hugh 
R. Coulter, records the receipt of the returns 
of that election, but the names of those par- 
ticipating nowhere appear. The original poll- 
books were in the possession of Harvey Lee 
Ross, late of Oakland, Cal. As this is the only 
occasion when Dr. Davidson is reported to have 
taken part in public affairs, his full name can 
not be authentically given, though the county 
records state that one William T, Davidson was 
selected as one of the first panel of Grand 
Jurors of the county, and this has been taken 
as evidence that his name was Dr. William T. 
Davidson. The fact that there were only thirty 
voters at the first election held and that there- 
fore eligible jurors were not abundant, lends 
substantiation to the claim. The likelihood of 
there being another Davidson in the county at 
this time, October, 1823, is extremely doubtful. 

To the "Fulton Democrat," published at 
Lewistown, Mrs. Ossian M. Ross, during her 
lifetime, related that: 

"At the time of the birth of Abner E. Barnes, 
Mrs. Barnes being very sick, they sent for Dr. 
Davison, he being the only physician within 
hundreds of miles. He sent back word that he 
would not go for the whole 'Military Tract.' 
Then Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Eveland were sent for 
him, and by hard persuading they induced him 
to make the visit, which they thought saved the 
life of Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. Ross says he lived 
in a very small cabin, but all withm was neat, « 
and from the appearance of things, such as 
fine bed-clothing, his own clothing having been 
the best and fashionably made, and himself an 
educated man, he had once seen the bright side 



^^^^^o^ 


' v# 


] 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'^"^^l^^^^V^fr 


%M 


^^gstt^^F^ ' ^^^^B^l^^^^l 



GEORGE W. BATTIN 



H-I STORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



645 



of life; but from what they could gather from 
the few remarks he had dropped, he has been 
disappointed by the lady he had expected to 
make his partner for life, which so depressed 
him and made him lose all confidence in the 
human family, that he resolved to push west- 
ward so far that he would have no more asso- 
ciations with civilized man. Mrs. Ross also 
says that, from the clearing of his garden, the 
advancement of his bushes and shrubbery he 
had set out, his flowers, etc., all convinced her 
that he had been living there for years, which 
undouljtedly makes Dr. Davison the first settler 
of Fulton County. In 1823, when Ossian M. 
Ross ran against Abner Eads for Sheriff, the 
excitement was high, as it was a selection 
either from Lewistown or Peoria; and as there 
were less than thirty voters, every vote told 
perceptibly in the result. In this excitement 
Dr. Davison was persuaded to go to Lewistown 
and deposit his first and only vote. He at that 
day took dinner with Mr. Ross and remarked 
at the table how strange it was to eat a meal 
of victuals with his fellowmen, which was 
something he had not done for many years. 
He purchased the walnut boards which were 
sawed in the short-lived saw mill on Otter 
Creek, in 1818, for his own coffin. He was very 
much annoyed by the encroachment of civiliza- 
tion, and about the year 1824 he quietly gath- 
ered his few effects, with the material for his 
coffin, and paddled his canoe up the Illinois 
River, since which time his old neighbors have 
not heard from him." ("Chapman's History 
of Fulton County," p. 194.) 
Chapman's History, on page 195, adds: 
"The late Dr. Reuben R. McDowell thought 
Dr. Davison to be an uncle of his wife's (of 
which there is no doubt) and made extended in- 
quiries into the history of his life; but as the 
Doctor has left no record of his research, we 
can only obtain such information on this point 
as a few of the old settlers obtained from him. 
He came from Pennsylvania to this far west- 
ern country, hoping, like the red men around 
him, never to be disturbed by the encroach- 
ment of the whites or civilization. It is told 
by some that, through the disappointment he 
met with by the young lady whom he loved, he 
lost confidence in the human family and de- 
sired to have no more intercourse with any 
one. Another tradition is left to us as a reason 
for his adopting the life of a hermit, which is 



this: He joined the regular army and was 
sent into the Southern States. Being insulted 
while an officer of rank he challenged the offi- 
cer who offended him to fight a duel. The 
affair of honor was fought and the Doctor 
killed his opponent. Through remorse, as much 
as the fear of the law, he sought the wilderness 
of the banks of Spoon River. We are also told 
that, instead of having purchased lumber for 
his coffin, he made one by digging it out of a 
log. Hon. L. W. Ross, of Lewistown, and 
Henry Andrews, of Canton, remember seeing 
Davison, and say he was a fine-looking man. 
He left in 1824 and went to Starved Rock, on 
the Illinois River, near Peru, where he died. 
He kept a journal, which was sent back to two 
sisters he had in Pennsylvania. This is all, 
after a careful research, that we are able to 
learn of Dr. "W. T. Davison." 

In his "Early Pioneers and Events" Harvey 
Lee Ross, son of Ossian M. Ross, who came as 
a lad of four years with his father to Fulton 
County in 1824, and who knew Dr. Davidson 
personally, says: 

"Dr. Davison, who had settled on the south 
side of Spoon River a little west of the Eve- 
land place, lived alone and was called 'the her- 
mit.' I could never learn where he came from 
nor when he settled in Fulton County. He had 
a good, comfortable cabin and a bearing peach 
orchard, which showed he had lived there for 
several years. He was doubtless the first set- 
tler in this part of Illinois." 

CojiiNG OF THE EvEL.vxDS. — Johu Evclaud was 
a typical Kentuckian. tall, angular, well built 
and muscular — the ideal pioneer because of his 
physical strength and endurance. He was un- 
educated, and, like his wife Betty, could neither 
read nor write, but signed his name with a 
mark. He had the proverbial pioneer's hospi- 
tality, and while he did not accomplish as much 
as others in the organization and development 
of the county, John Bveland played no unim- 
portant part in its affairs. He was a member 
of the first Grand Jury selected for the county, 
and was named by the County Commissioners 
as the first Treasurer of the county, but failed 
to qualify and permitted that honor to pass to 
another. Likely his inability to write and keep 
books had something to do with his failure to 
qualify. 'When Ossian M. Ross and family 
arrived in the spring of 1821, Mr. Eveland had 



646 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



some twenty acres of this land in cultivation 
and was engaged in raising stock. Of the Eve- 
lands Harvey Lee Ross says: "They came into 
this country from Calhoun County, making the 
trip up the Illinois and Spoon Rivers, partly by 
land and partly by water. Before leaving Cal- 
houn County they constructed a large pirogue 
(a large canoe). It was hewed out of a large 
Cottonwood tree. The length of the boat was 
forty feet, and it was about four feet wide. It 
was run by sail and also by oars. On this 
craft they shipped their hogs and part of their 
goods. These were the first hogs that were 
ever brought to Fulton County and were all of 
a red color." 

December 6, 1821, Mr. Eveland sold a portion 
of this quarter to his son Amos. The instru- 
ment making this conveyance from Eveland to 
his son was acknowledged before John Shaw, 
a Justice of the Peace of Pike County. This 
was before Fulton County was created, and at 
this time no official capable of taking an ac- 
knowledgment to deeds and other papers re- 
sided in what are now the limits of this 
county. Shaw was one of the principals In the 
notorious Shaw-Hansen legislative contest, in 
the infamous Third General Assembly of this 
State. 

In 1824 Mr. Eveland bought of Ossian M. 
Ross and David Gallatine the southwest quarter 
of Section 5, in Township 6 north, Range 4 
east, which is in Buckheart Township, and 
there died within a tew years thereafter. Many 
of his descendants are still citizens of Fulton 
County. 

Shortly after the arrival of the Eveland fam- 
ily in Fulton County two brothers, Roswell B. 
and Reuben Fenner, became dwellers for a 
short time in the Eveland household. They 
were unmarried and soon erected a cabin near 
the present site of the Duncan mills and moved 
into it. Reuben afterwards married. Harvey 
Lee Ross says they came after the Ossian M. 
Ross family located in the county. From whence 
they came — except that they had temporarily 
resided farther down the State — history does 
not record. Roswell B. was a member of the 
first Grand Jury and Reuben of the first Petit 
Jury of the county, and their names recur 
again and again in the early county records. 
The Fenners distinguished themselves in other 
ways than in participating in public affairs. 
They were the first persons incarcerated in the 



public jail of Fulton County and were charged 
with no less a crime than murdering the newly 
wedded wife of Reuben. They broke jail and 
made good their escape, never more to be heard 
from. 

Aebival of the Ross Family. — During the 
summer or fall of 1820 Ossian M. Ross, with 
three companions, visited Fulton County. Mr. 
Ross, with his family, consisting of his wife, 
two sons — Lewis M. and Harvey Lee — and 
daughter Harriet, was residing at that time 
near Alton. The next spring, in April, 1821, 
they came to Fulton County. The editor of 
Chapman's "History of Fulton County" (1879) 
had the opportunity and did gather original 
data from the members then living of Mr. 
Ross's family and therefore the following ac- 
count, incomplete in many important particu- 
lars as it is, is probably quite accurate in de- 
tail of the advent of this important family to 
Fulton County: 

"John Eveland had scarcely got snugly set- 
tled in his new home on the banks of Spoon 
River ere Ossian M. Ross and family came in 
to be his neighbors and to wield a greater in- 
fluence in molding and forming the history of 
the county, perhaps, than any other family 
that ever resided in it. Ossian M. Ross was 
born in New York State, August 16, 1790, and 
was united in marriage with Miss Mary Winans 
in Waterloo, N. Y., July 7, 1811. Mrs. Ross 
was born April 1, 1792, in Morris County, N. J. 
Mr. Rpss was a soldier in the War of 1812 and 
came to this section to secure the land given 
him by the Government for services rendered 
as a soldier. In 1820 Mr. Ross, with his fam- 
ily, came to Alton, 111., and in the spring of the 
following year (1821), with his family and a 
few men employed by him to make improve- 
ments, sailed up the Illinois River to Otter 
Creek in a keelboat. It was his intention to 
locate upon the southeast quarter of Section 29, 
Isabel Township. He, with three companions, 
came up from Alton the year previous (1820), 
explored this country and selected this place 
because there was a good mill-seat there. It 
was his intention to erect a water mill on this 
stream at that point, but after traveling up 
Otter Creek for some distance in their cumber- 
some keelboat, they came to a large tree fallen 
across the stream, which made a barrier that 
could not be passed over or around. These 




MRS. GEORGE W. BATTIN 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



647 



sturdy pioneers, however, were not easily 
turned from ttieir course. They made prepara- 
tions to saw the log into pieces and remove it. 
This scheme was frustrated, however, and the 
whole course of Mr. Ross's plans changed. A 
heavy rain fell during the night and in the 
morning the log they intended sawing was six 
to eight inches under water and therefore out 
of reach of workmen. He ran his boat stern 
foremost back down Otter Creek to the Illinois 
and up that stream to Spoon River. He en- 
tered this stream and started up its swift, 
swollen waters for Mr. Eveland's, intending to 
go on to where he owned three quarter-sec- 
tions of land. They experienced the greatest 
difficulty In ascending this turbulent stream, 
made so by recent heavy rains. It consumed 
several days of constant hard labor to reach 
Eveland's. At places men were put upon the 
bank and with ropes dragged the boat along. 
This was slow motive power and known as 
cordelling. Then they would get hold of the 
overhanging limbs of trees and pull the boat in 
that way. 

"They finally reached Eveland's, in whose 
cabin the party was welcomed. There they re- 
mained until his teams and stock arrived. 
These were brought across the country. Mr. 
Ross with his teams then started ahead to cut 
down trees and clear a road. On arriving at 
the end of the journey Mr. Ross Jubilantly ex- 
claimed to his family, 'We are now on our 
lands.' His daughter, Mrs. Steel, of Canton, 
who was then a little girl, quickly spoke up, 
'Why, Pa, have we come all this distance just 
for this?' Nothing but a vast wilderness was 
spread out before them and the little girl ex- 
pected to find something wonderfully fine, else 
they would not have endured all the hardships 
that had befallen them on their long journey. 
There have been many hearts made sad by the 
disappointment received on their arrival into 
this county during its first settlement, when, 
after traveling for weeks through an almost 
unbroken country the husband and father would 
stop his jaded team under the boughs of a large 
tree many miles from the nearest white in- 
habitant and say, 'Our journey's end is reached. 
This is our home; alight.' Surely, as it did to 
little Miss Ross, it must have seemed to the 
wife and little ones that they had come a long 
way to make their home in the wilderness 
among the wild beasts. 

"In twenty-four hours after arrival Mr. Ross 



had a shelter made for his family. It con- 
sisted of poles set in the ground, tent fashion, 
and other poles laid across these and covered 
with bark. Harvey L. Ross, his son, says he 
distinctly remembers helping carry bark to 
cover this shanty. Mr. Ross immediately set 
about building a log cabin, which was located 
where Major Newton Walker's residence now 
stands. He was so well pleased with the loca- 
tion of his land that he determined to lay off 
a town, which he did, and secured for it the 
county-seat for the county of Fulton when it 
was organized." — Chapman's "History of Ful- 
ton County," page 196. 

Harvey Lee Ross, who came to Fulton Coun- 
ty as a lad of four with his father's family, has 
described the advent to this county of the Ross 
family thus: 

"But in going into the early history of the 
county I will be compelled to allude, very often, 
to some of my relatives who were prominent 
as early settlers. So I will commence with my 
father, Ossian M. Ross, who, with my mother, 
my brother Lewis, my sister Harriet and my- 
self, moved from Seneca County, N. Y., and 
settled on the quarter-section of land just north 
of the present city of Lewistown in April, 1821. 

"My fatner was an officer in the War of 1812 
and drew a half-section of land; he settled upon 
one of the quarters and on the other quarter 
he laid out the present city of Lewistown. The 
family left New York in the fall of 1819 and 
went to Pittsburg, Pa., where he bought a small 
keelboat, on which he loaded his household 
goods and other properties and went down the 
Ohio River to its junction with the Mississippi 
River, where Cairo now stands. Here the boat 
was frozen up in the ice and we remained pris- 
oners there until the next spring. Then we 
went up the Mississippi River to where the city 
of Alton now stands. There we left the boat 
and went back into the country about ten 
miles near the town of Edwardsville, where my 
father rented a farm. He bought some horses, 
cows and other stock and during the summer 
of 1821 (18:^0) raised a good crop. After the 
crops had been secured we went back to Alton, 
where the keelboat had been left In charge of 
the ferryman, and loaded upon the boat all our 
household goods and family and started up the 
river to our future home. 

"Our hired men drove the wagon and stock 
across the country. Before we started into the 
wilderness of Fulton County my father went to 



1 



648 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



St. Louis and laid in a supply of flour and salt, 
guns and ammunition. He also bought a sur- 
veyor's compass and chain. He went to the 
Surveyor General's office in St. Louis and got a 
sectional map of the Military Tract, which em- 
braced all the land lying between the Missis- 
sippi and Illinois Rivers, and extended as far 
north as to include Bureau and Henry Coun- 
ties. He also got from the Surveyor's Office a 
copy of the field notes of the survey of the 
Military Tract that was made about three years 
before. These field notes were of very great im- 
portance to him and to many other early set- 
tlers in the county, as they enabled them to 
locate their lands by means of well-established 
townships and section corners, all clearly de- 
scribed in these field notes. "Without them it 
would have been impossible for the people to 
have accurately located their land. 

"The little keelboat that we came up the 
river in was propelled by a sail, when the wind 
was fair, and at other times by oars and poles. 
We were two weeks coming J'rom Alton to the 
mouth of Spoon River at Havana, and the team 
and stock that were driven across the country 
arrived a few days later. We ran the boat up 
Spoou River to where John Eveland was liv- 
ing. He had settled there a year before. 

"My father, on examining his map, found 
that his land was about six miles north of 
Mr. Eveland's place. He took some of his men. 
and with his compass, chain and field notes, 
he had no trouble in locating his land. The 
family stayed in the boat until the team and 
stock arrived, and then we all moved onto our 
land. Father selected the quarter-section north 
of Lewistown for our home, and built a log 
house on the east side of a little creek that 
ran through the land and near to a fine, large 
spring of water. The location was some sixty 
rods northeast of Major Walker's present resi- 
dence. We lived there four years, and then 
built another log house where Major Walker 
now lives. We stayed there until the fall of 
1828, and then moved to Havana. Three years 
after my father sold the farm to Mahlon Wi- 
nans, my mother's brother, for $1,000. 

"The only white inhabitants in that part 
of the country at that time was John Eveland, 
who lived on the north side of Spoon River 
about a mile above where Waterford now 
stands, and Dr. W. T. Davison, who lived on 
the south side of the river a little higher up. ' 



The Ross family is closely identified with the 
development of the county, as will be revealed 
as events are recorded. Therefore, it is meet 
that a statement of the achievements of its 
several distinguished members should be given 
in this volume. The highest encomiums that 
can be paid to them are to be found in the 
unblemished records of Fulton County's history. 

With the Ross family, consisting at that time 
of Mr. and Mrs. Ross, two sons and one daugh- 
ter, came four other persons, Jacob Ninian, 
a blacksmith, and his wife; a carpenter named 
Enos, and a shoemaker named Zweltin. His- 
tory doth not record what became of the car- 
penter and the shoemaker, but Niman, the 
blacksmith, opened a shop, the first in the 
county, in Lewistown, and there died about 
1825. His good wife made her home with the 
Ross family until they removed to Havana. 
She was a capable tailoress and was the pro- 
fessional midwife of the settlement. She like- 
wise died at Lewistown. 

Other E.\rlt Co.mers. — In the same year 
(1821) that Ossian M. Ross became a permanent 
settler in Fulton County, but a few months 
later, David W. Barnes, a married man, with 
his wife, two brothers (Theodore and 
Charles Sergeant), and William Blanchard lo- 
cated in the vicinity of the mouth of Spoon 
River, but remained there only a short time 
until Barnes and the Sergeants joined the Ross 
settlement at Lewistown, and shortly thereafter 
removed to the vicinity of Canton and became 
the first settlers of that township. Blanchard 
returned to Ft. Clark (Peoria), from whence 
they all came, and was there married to one 
Betsey Donohue, this marriage being the first 
celebrated in the then newly formed county of 
Peoria in 1S2,5. Blanchard subsequently moved 
to Woodford County, and there died. The Ser- 
geants, Barnes and Blanchard were all soldiers 
of the War of 1812, and were possessed of land 
warrants under the act establishing the Mili- 
tary Tract. The Sergeants were from New 
Hampshire and were discharged from service 
at the close of the War of 1812 at Detroit, Mich. 
Here they fell in with Barnes and Blanchard. 
These four men determined to seek the lands 
to which the Government had given them title. 
They walked from Detroit to Ft. Wayne, in In- 
diana Territory, thence came down the Wabash 
River in a row-boat to Vincennes, and from that 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



649 



point walked across the Territory of Illinois 
to St. Louis, in the Territory of Missouri. At 
St. Louis they joined a keel-boat crew under 
Captain Jude Warner. This boat was loaded 
with provisions, salt and a seine, and its desti- 
nation was Ft. Clark (Peoria), where the seine 
was to be used in Peoria Lake, and the salt to 
preserve and prepare the flsh thus caught for 
market. This boat reached Ft. Clark on June 
10, 1819. After reaching Ft. Clark they crossed 
the river and erected a habitation on a clearing 
which had been made by the early French set- 
tlers, and proceeded to farm in the limited 
manner that the circumstances- necessitated. 
Investigation as to the location of the lands 
conveyed to them by the Government patents 
which they held, revealed that these land 
were located on what is now known as Big 
Creek, in Buckheart Township, and were not 
Xery promising from a pioneer standpoint. 
These lands are now very valuable as coal 
lands, and the Big Creek Coal Company mines 
are partly located upon them. Therefore, in- 
stead of locating on these lands, they settled 
elsewhere, as indicated. 

When the Sergeants, Barnes and Blanchard 
reached Ft. Clark, in June, 1819, they found 
there the first strictly American settlement at 
that point. The settlement consisted of seven 
persons, some of whom were destined to par- 
ticipate in the organization and development 
of Fulton County. It has been heretofore men- 
tioned that Abner Eads and John Hersey had 
traversed Fulton County on horseback early in 
1819, en route from a point on the lower Illi- 
nois near Naples to Ft. Clark, to join their 
companions who went up the river in a boat. 
Of these seven persons, Abner Eads became 
the first Sheriff of Fulton County; Seth Fulton 
and Josiah Fulton and S. Daugherty were 
members of the first petit jury, which was re- 
turned for the October Term of the Circuit 
Court in 1823. Daugherty has the additional 
distinction of having been fined $10 in the 
County Court for selling whisky to the Indians 
at Peoria — this being the first fine for the illicit 
dispensation of intoxicating liquors in the coun- 
ty of Fulton. He was a wild and reckless fellow 
and did not long remain in this section of the 
country. Of the other three, Hersey, the "New 
York Dutchman," left the country shortly, and 
J. Davis and T. Russell seem never to have en- 
grafted their personality on the history of the 
3 



county. Mr. Eads during the summer returned 
down the river and brought Mrs. Eads and three 
children back with him to the Ft. Clark set- 
tlement. 

The Ft. Clark settlement, after the arrival of 
Captain Warner's passengers, consisted of four- 
teen persons, all told, and of them Seth Fulton 
has said: 

"We were about as happy a little circle as has 
ever lived in Peoria. We were isolated, com- 
pletely shut out from the rest of mankind, it is 
true. We heard but little from the outside 
(inside?) world, and the outside world heard 
but little from us. But little was known at that 
time about the Ft. Clark country. There were 
no roads, nor steamboats, nor mail routes, nor 
communications of any kind, so that in point of 
fact we were as much a community by ourselves 
as if our cabins had been built on an island in 
the middle of the sea. Our postofiice was St. 
LouiSj and we never got our mail; those of us 
who got any doing so only when we went 
there for supplies — and, then, our letters cost us 
twenty-five cents, and we couldn't muster that 
much money every day. 

"Mrs. Eads was duly installed as housekeeper, 
and the rest of the company, except Hersey, who 
didn't remain long, boarded with her. It was 
a pretty hard winter on us, but we managed 
to get through. Bread-stuff gave out and we 
had to fall back on hominy-blocks and hominy. 
It was a coarse kind of food we got this way, 
but it was a good deal better than none, and 
served to keep hunger away. Hominy-blocks 
went out of use long ago, and there are thou- 
sands of people in Peoria County that never saw 
one; but they were a blessing to hundreds of 
the pioneers of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, 
Iowa, and, in fact, to the first settlers of the 
entire country, and were the means of keeping 
many of the pioneers aud their little ones from 
starving to death." 

With the opening of the season in 1822, immi- 
gration to what is now embraced in Fulton 
County, began in earnest, and it would be im- 
possible to follow the incoming of these 
pioneers from that time forward by name. 

Harvey Lee Ross rather sarcastically says: 
"In 1822, a great many people began to move 
into Fulton County, but most of them came 
from Sangamon County. They had come from 
Eastern and Southern States with the inten- 
tion of settling in the Military Tract, but the 



1 



650 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



country was full of Indians — indeed, they could 
be counted by the thousands. The Sangamon 
River was about the dividing line between the 
white settlers and the Indians; so these men 
were afraid to venture over. But after Mr. 
Eveland and my father and a few other families 
had lived among the Indians a year or two, 
and none of them had been butchered or 
scalped, the people began to come to the coun- 
try in great droves." 

Suffice it to say, that each played his part 
— be it little or much — in the development of 
the country. 

Pulton County Census. — Under the Constitu- 
tion of 1818, providing for a census of the white 
inhabitants of the State every fifth year (Sec- 
tion 31, Article II, Constitution 1818), a census 
of the various counties of the State was taken 
every ten years, midway between the decennial 
censuses by the Federal Government. In 1825 
Hugh C. Coulter was appointed by the County 
Commissioners to take the census of Fulton 
County, which was created by act of the Legis- 
lature in 1823, but he seems never to have made 
a return. If he did neither the Fulton County 
records nor the State records disclose the fact. 
The first record of the population in Fulton 
County is furnished by the Federal census of 
1830, showing the population at that time to 
be 1,841. The State census of 1835 showed a 
population of 5,917, a rapid increase (more than 
300 per cent.) within five years. In 1840 the 
population was 13,142 and in 1845, 17,155. 



CHAPTER IX. 



COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 



POLITICAL CHANGES THROUGH WHICH THE ILLI- 
NOIS COUNTRY PASSED ILLINOIS COUNTY THE 

FIRST POLITICAL ORGANIZATION FAILURE AS A 

GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM ST. CLAIR COUNTY OR- 
GANIZED IN 1790 SUBSEQUENT CHANGES FUL- 
TON COUNTY TERRITORY BECOMES A PART OF ST. 

CLAIR COUNTY IN 1800 IT SUCCESSIVELY PASSES 

UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF MADISON AND PIKE 



COUNTIES — FULTON COUNTY FORMALLY ORGAN- 
IZED IN 1823, AND UNTIL THE ORGANIZATION OP 
PEOEIA COUNTY IN 1825, EXERCISED JURISDICTION 
OVER THE NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE, IN- 
CLUDING COOK COUNTY — FIKST OFFICERS AND 

OTHER ITEMS OF POLITICAL HISTORY LOCATION 

OF THE SEAT OF JUSTICE AT LEWISTOWN. 

What was known as the "Illinois Country" 
in the early history of the Middle West is so 
vaguely defined that it is difficult to say that 
Fulton County was really embraced within the 
popular conception of that term. It is proba- 
ble that the Illinois Country extended no far- 
ther north than the Illinois River. Fulton 
County was embraced, however, in the Middle 
Indian Department as defined by act of the 
Continental Congress, July 13, 1775, and of this 
Department Benjamin Franklin and James Wil- 
son, of Pennsylvania, and Patrick Henry, of Vir- 
ginia, were appointed Commissioners. After the 
conquest of the western territory by General 
George Rogers Clark during the Revolution- 
ary War, the territory from which Fulton 
County was formed became a part of the Col- 
ony of Virginia, which colony General Clark 
represented in his western expedition. The 
Legislature of Virginia created out of the ter- 
ritory conquered by Clark, the County of Illi- 
nois, embracing besides the present State of 
Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin 
and the portion of Minnesota lying east of the 
■ Mississippi River. 

The act creating the new county declared: 
"That all the citizens of this commonwealth 
who are already settled, or shall hereafter set- 
tle, on the western side of the Ohio River, shall 
be included in a distinct county, which shall 
be called Illinois County" — implying that all 
this region was regarded as part of the com- 
monwealth of Virginia, and more distinctly 
applied to "citizens" than to territory. Colonel 
Todd organized the local government with a 
seat of government at Kaskaskia under the ju- 
risdiction of Virginia. The people of Illinois 
County were permitted to elect Judges for their 
primitive courts to be held at Cahokia, Kas- 
kaskia and Prairie du Rocher, but the Illinois 
County government was never effectually es- 
tablished, and soon ceased to exist, save in 
name. For several years there was a sharp 
controversy between a number of the States 
— especially Virginia, New York, Massachu- 




^. 



J^ /Pa^ 4>- 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



651 



setts and Connecticut — on the question of 
Jurisdiction over tliis territory, tlie first claim- 
ing such jurisdiction by right ot conquest, the 
second by virtue of Indian treaties, and the 
others by right of their charters as colonies 
from the British crown, extending their juris- 
diction indefinitely westward from the Atlan- 
tic coast. Finally, after extended negotiations 
and the adoption of several resolutions on the 
subject by Congress, in 1784. the portion of the 
region northwest of the Ohio River and south 
of the forty-first parallel of latitude, was ceded 
by Virginia to the General Government, and 
similar cessions were made by Massachusetts 
and Connecticut in 178.5 an'' 1786, respectively, 
of the territory north of that claimed by Vir- 
ginia. After the acceptance by Congress of 
the deed of cession by Virginia, on March 1, 
1784, a committee was appointed, of which 
Thomas Jefferson was Chairman, to prepare a 
plan of government for the western territory, 
but beyond the adoption by Congress of a res- 
olution on April 23d of that year, authorizing 
the organization of this region into States by 
the people, in the meantime, empowering Con- 
gress to exercise authority over the same tor 
local government by such means as "might 
from time to time be taken," nothing was ac- 
complished. By the failure of Congress to act 
on this line the new territory was left practi- 
cally without a governmental system until 
three years later, when the far-reaching Ordi- 
nance of 1787 was adopted, organizing the 
"Territory of the United States Northwest of 
the River Ohio," and under it, on February 1, 
1788, General Arthur St. Clair was appointed 
Territorial Governor, and Marietta, in the 
present State of Ohio, became the first Terri- 
torial capital. 

On March 1, 1790, Governor Arthur St. 
Clair visited the Illinois Country, and under 
date of April 27th, folowing, issued an order 
organizing the county of St. Clair, embracing 
the region south of the Illinois River to the 
Ohio, and from the Mississippi on the west to 
a line on the east, extending from the mouth 
of the Little Mackinaw (in what is now Taze- 
well County) to Fort Massac on the Ohio, the 
county being divided into three districts, with 
Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher as 
the seats of justice. As, under this organiza- 
tion St. Clair County extended no farther north 
than the Illinois River, the territory now em- 



braced in Fulton County did not come within 
its limits. The eastern part ot Illinois then 
constituted a part of Knox County of the North- 
west Territory. In 1795, by proclamation of 
Governor St. Clair, Randolph County was or- 
ganized from the southern part of St. Clair 
County, the northern, eastern and western 
boundaries remaining unchanged. By act of 
Congress, passed in 1800, Indiana Territory was 
organized with Post Vincennes as the capital 
and embracing the portion of the Northwest 
Territory west of the present State of Ohio, the 
Illinois Country thus becoming a part of the 
new Territory, and by order of Territorial 
Governor William Henry Harrison, the region 
embraced in the present State of Ilinois was 
divided into two counties, Randolph and St. 
Clair, the northern boundary of the latter be- 
ing extended to the Canada line, and includ- 
ing the region within the present State of Wis- 
consin and part of Michigan. This arrange- 
ment brought the territory now embraced in 
Fulton County within the limits of St. Clair 
County, which was continued until 1809, when 
by act of Congress, passed February 3d of that 
year, the Territory of Illinois was created out 
of the western part of Indiana Territory, its 
northern limit extending to the British pos- 
sessions. Ninian Edwards, of Kentucky, be- 
came Governor of the new Territory, but the 
county organization remained unchanged un- 
til September 14, 1812, when, by order of Gov- 
ernor Edwards, Madison County was created 
from the northern part of St. Clair County, Its 
area extending from the northern boundary 
of St. Clair to the British possessions. 

Under this arrangement Fulton County be- 
came a part of the new county, and was a part 
of Madison County when John Eveland, the 
first settler to make it his permanent home, 
arrived In the county in 1820. The seat of 
government of Madison County was at this 
time Edwardsville, named tor Governor Ed- 
wards, and has so continued ever since. In 
1821 the County of Pike was organized and In- 
cluded all the territory north of the middle of 
the Illinois River and north of the middle of 
the South Fork, which is now known as the 
Kankakee River. The county seat of this ter- 
ritory was Cole's Grove, now in Calhoun County, 
but was subsequently moved to Atlas. Ossian 
M. Ross, of Fulton County, acted as one of the 
Commissioners to fix the seat of justice for 






652 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Pike County by act of the Legislature Decem- 
ber 20, 1822. Mr. Ross was also one of the 
three members of the first County Commission- 
ers' Court of Pike County. 

Fulton County v/as organized by act of the 
Legislature January 2S, 1823. It originally 
embraced that triangular part of Schuyler 
County lying between the Fourth Principal 
Meridian and the Illinois River and south of 
the line between Towns 2 and 3 North, also 
four in the southern tier of Knox County (Nine 
North), and Trivoli and Elmwood Townships, 
Peoria County. The legal description said: 
"From the intersection of the Fourth Principal 
Meridian with the Illinois River, thence up 
the middle of said river till intersected by the 
range line between Ranges Five and Six East; 
thence north with said range line to the line 
between Townships Nine and Ten North; 
thence west with said town line to the Fourth 
Principal Meridian; thence south to the be- 
ginning." The county was named in honor of 
the inventor of the steamboat, Robert Ful- 
ton. Who is responsible for the suggestion of 
the name is nowhere disclosed. 

The unorganized territory to the north and 
east of the Fourth Principal Meridian was 
temporarily attached to Fulton County for pur- 
poses of government. It was in this manner 
that Chicago, Peoria and all the north part 
of the State became subject to the county 
government of Fulton County. A part of the 
territory embraced in the present counties of 
Schuyler, Peoria and Knox was actually in- 
cluded in Fulton County territory, as above 
stated, but the rest of the territory was at- 
tached for governmental purposes only. The 
act creating the county appointed John Tot- 
ten, H. R. Coulter and Stephen Chase as Com- 
missioners to meet at the residence of David 
W. Barnes on April 1, 1823, to locate a seat 
of justice for the county, "taking into 'consid- 
eration the convenience and accommodation 
of the people, the health and eligibility of the 
place and the future population of said county." 
An election was called to take place the second 
Monday in April, 1823, at the house of Os- 
sian M. Ross for the election of one Sheriff, 
one Coroner and three County Commissioners. 
The act likewise provided that "it shall be 
the duty of the Circuit Clerk of said county to 
give fifteen days' notice of the time and place 
of said election, and, in case there shall be no 



Clerk in said county, it shall be the duty of the 
Recorder to give said notice." The act creating 
Fulton County combined it with Pike County 
as a senatorial district, and with Pike and 
Greene for the choice of Representatives. It 
was made a part of the first judicial district 
of the State. At this time the Circuit Clerks 
were appointed by the Circuit Court, and Hugh 
R. Coulter was named for this ofilce by Judge 
John Reynolds. On February 13, 1823, the Leg- 
islature likewise named Mr. Coulter as the 
Probate Judge of the county, and on the 18th 
of the same month he was named as Notary 
Public by the Legislature. He was likewise 
named as a Justice of the Peace. 

It was the duty of the Governor to name a 
County Recorder under the Constitution of 1818, 
and Governor Coles, on February 13, 1823, sent 
to the State Senate the name of John G. Lof- 
ton, of Greene County, to be Recorder of Ful- 
ton County. It must be remembered that the 
records of Fulton County had yet to be made, 
as the county was unorganized. Legal papers 
and instruments concerning lands in the county 
up to this time had been filed at the county-seat 
of Madison County, and subsequently at the 
county seat of Pike County. Governor Coles 
was not in very good favor with the General 
Assembly owing to his position on the slavery 
question, which was being agitated at that 
time. The Senate promptly turned down the 
nomination of Mr. Lofton as Recorder for Ful- 
ton County and passed a resolution demanding 
the names of the persons who had been recom- 
mended to the Governor for that office. The Gov- 
ernor evidently considered this an invasion of 
his rights, and, instead of gratifying the hostile 
Senate, he responded by sending in the name 
of Paschal P. Enos for the place on February 
18th. This nomination of the Governor was 
likewise promptly turned down. Senator Still- 
man, of Sangamon County, a supporter of 
Coles' administration, on behalf of himself and 
others, presented a protest against the act of 
the Senate in demanding the names of persons 
recommended to the Governor for the office 
of Recorder of Fulton County, and the haughty 
and imperious Senate immediately disciplined 
Senator Stillman and his co-protestors, Sena- 
tors Kinkade, of Wayne County, and Caldwell, 
of Greene and Pike (of the last of which Fulton 
at that time was a part), by appointing a com- 
mittee of three to see if these Senators had not 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



653 



committed a breach of privilege in the protest. 
After due deliberation and consideration the 
committee reported that the language of the 
Stillman-Kinkade-Caldwell protest had been so 
modified by the protestants as not to offend the 
dignity of the Senate. Even this report, to- 
gether with the revised protest, did not soothe 
the injured feelings of the grave and reverend 
Senators, but a more comprehensive revision 
was required by them in order to make the 
protest sufficiently meek and lowly in its lan- 
guage to pacify the imperious law-makers. 
Fulton County was, therefore, without a Re- 
corder for the time being. Hugh R. Coulter, 
the general utility man, acted in that capacity, 
however, until the convening of the Legislature 
in 1S24, when John G. Lofton, the original 
nominee of Governor Coles, was again named by 
him, and the Senate, having changed some- 
what in personnel and become mollified in 
spirit, permitted the name to stand, and he was 
therefore confirmed. 

The cause of this change of heart on the part 
of the Senate was, no doubt, the election held 
in the August previous, at which a proposi- 
tion to call a convention for the revision of the 
State Constitution with the avowed purpose of 
establishing slavery in the State of Illinois, 
had been voted on and decided adversely to the 
majority controlling the General Assembly of 
1822-23, which was decidedly pro-slavery. A 
full account of the question Involved is given 
elsewhere. It may be of interest, however, to 
say that the Representative from Pike (which 
included Fulton County), was Nicholas Han- 
sen. He was first seated in a contest for the 
seat made by John Shaw, but was afterward 
ousted by the Legislature one day later be- 
cause he did not vote with the majority on the 
slavery question, and his vote was needed In 
the pro-slavery cause. This act is one of the 
darkest pages of the legislative history of the 
State, and is fully treated In the "Encyclo- 
pedia" part of this work. Hansen was re- 
turned to the Legislature at the election fol- 
lowing, and his seat was again contested by 
Shaw, and Hansen was again seated. In this 
contest Ossian M. Ross and Hugh R. Coulter, 
of Lewistown, were witnesses before the Legis- 
lature. In this same Legislature (1824-25) 
Thomas Carlin, who represented Fulton, Greene, 
Morgan and Pike Counties in the Senate, had 
his seat contested and the result was that It 



was declared vacant. At a special election aft- 
erward held Carlin was re-elected to the Senate 
and was afterward elected Governor of the 
State. At this session Peter Wood was named 
for Public Administrator for Fulton County 
on January 12, 1825, and on the same day Hugh 
R. Coulter was re-elected Judge of the Probate 
Court. On January 11, 1825, the names of Jacob 
Ellis, Jeremiah Smith, Reuben Fenner and 
Peter Wood were recommended by the House 
of Representatives as Justices of the Peace of 
Fulton County and confirmed by the Senate. 

At this same session the boundaries of Ful- 
ton County were reduced to the present limits 
by the creation of Schuyler, Peoria and Knox 
Counties. To Schuyler was given the triangu- 
lar tract formed by the fractional three town- 
ships lying south of the line between Towns 
Two and Three North. To Peoria was given 
the two townships lying east of the line be- 
tween Four and Five East and Seven and Eight 
North, and to Knox was given the four town- 
ships lying north of the line between Towns 
Eight and Nine. The question as to whether 
Peoria should have or Fulton County should re- 
tain the two townships ranging Five East and 
Seven and Eight North was compromised by 
giving to each county one, and thus making 
the "jog" in the northeast corner of the county 
— Peoria getting what is now Trivoll Township 
and Fulton retaining what is now Orion. The 
Legislature in 1845 more specifically defined the 
boundary line between Fulton and Peoria 
Counties, the "Gore" on the east side of Orion 
Township being made a part of Fulton. 

The first election in Fulton County territory 
was held at the house of Ossian M. Ross in 
Lewistown, August 5, 1822. This was nearly 
six months prior to the creation of Fulton 
County, and the polling place was simply one 
of the polling places for Pike County. The 
Judges of the election were Abner Eads, of 
Fort Clark (Peoria), Stephen Chase and Reu- 
ben Fenner. John Totten, after whom Tot- 
ten's Prairie was named, was clerk. In this 
elections Edward Coles received nineteen votes 
for Governor. John Phillips received seven 
and Thomas C. Brown six. The second election 
held in Fulton County territory, and the first 
election to be held in the newly organized 
county, was held by virtue of the act creating 
the county on the second Monday in April, to- 
wit, April 14, 1823. The boundaries of Fulton 



! 



654 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



County, including the attaclied portions at 
that time, were very extended, as heretofore 
noted. This election was also held at the 
house of Ossian M. Ross. The Judges of that 
election were George Brown, Amos Eveland 
and Hazel Putman, and the clerks were Thomas 
Lee Ross, a brother of Ossian M. Ross, and 
John Totten. This was purely a local election 
for the selection of county officers for the 
newly created county. The election was called 
by Hugh R. Coulter, Circuit Clerk, in accord- 
ance with the act of the General Assembly. 
The candidates at this election were as follows: 
Abner Eads, of Fort Clark (Peoria), and Os- 
sian M. Ross, of Lewistown, tor Sheriff; while 
William Clark, tor Coroner, and David W. 
Barnes, Thomas R. Covill and Joseph Moffatt, 
for County Commissioners, had no opposition. 
The contest, therefore, was confined to the office 
of Sheriff. Of this election Harvey Lee Ross 
says: "The voters from the northern part of 
the county, all northern Illinois, came down 
the Illinois River in canoes, then up Spoon 
River to Waterford, and then walked seven 
miles to my father's house, where the election 
was held. It was then the only voting pre- 
cinct in all that majestic portion of Illinois, 
now containing fifty counties, many hundreds 
of cities and towns, and peopled by millions. 
It was a big battle like some of the later county 
seat fights in Fulton County. Eads and Ross 
had marshaled their forces from Rushville on ' 
the south to Fort Clark and Chicago on the 
north. The North Fultonites had brought 
whisky with them. In those days men could 
travel and hold elections without carrying 
much food, for they could live on game, but 
they could not get on without plenty of 
whisky. When the election was over it was 
found that thirty-five votes had been cast and 
that Eads had beaten Ross by a majority of 
four (one?) votes, but as it was afterward 
shown that, as Eads came down the river with 
his sixteen voters, he stoped at Town Site 
(now Pekin), in Sangamon County, and brought 
with him two bachelors (fraudulent voters), 
and by this means won the election." 

Judge McCulloch, referring to this election 
in his "History of Peoria County," says: "Ross 
contested the election on the ground that some 
of those who voted for Eads were not residents 
of the county; that they lived on the east side 



of the river and, consequently, were not en- 
titled to vote in Fulton County; and, on the 
further ground, that Eads could not write and 
was therefore incompetent to discharge the 
duties of the office. To obviate this difficulty, 
it is said, Eads took lessons in penmanship 
from Jesse Wood (Peter Wood?), who was a 
preacher and also a teacher, and in about four 
weeks advanced far enough to write his name. 
But this charge must be a slander, for it has 
just been seen that before that time he had 
been appointed and commissioned by the Gov- 
ernor as one of the Justices of the Peace of 
Pike County. Judge Reynolds, a brother (?) 
of John Reynolds, afterward Governor of the 
State, was Presiding Judge and ordered depo- 
sitions to be taken as evidence in the case, 
and the log cabin office of John Hamlin, Jus- 
tice of the Peace of Fort Clark, was selected 
as the place where they should be taken. His 
associate, H. R. Coulter, sat with him. Great 
excitement prevailed. The contest was not sus- 
tained and Eads was declared elected Sheriff 
and served his term." 

Following the election of April 14, 1823, the 
County Commissioners' Court met at the office 
of H. R. Coulter in Lewistown on the third day 
of June, 1823. Mr. Coulter had been acting as 
Notary Public, Justice of Peace, Deputy Re- 
corder, Probate Judge and Circuit Clerk, all 
these positions being appointive. Upon the meet- 
ing of the County Commissioners' Court he 
was selected as Clerk of that body. The local 
officers of Fulton County at this time were: 

Sheriff — Abner Eads. 

Clerk of Circuit Court— Hugh R. Coulter. 

Probate Judge — Hugh R. Coulter. 

Recorder — Office unfilled, Hugh R. Coulter 
acting. 

Coroner — William Clark. 

County Commissioners — David W. Barnes, 
Joseph Moffatt and Thomas R. Covill. 

Upon the organization of the County Com- 
missioners' Court a full complement of offi- 
cers was appointed, as follows: 

Clerk of County Commissioners' Court — 
Hugh R. Coulter. 

County Treasurer — John Eveland (Mr. Eve- 
land failed to qualify and Thomas L. Ross was 
afterward appoinlcd'. 

Assessor — Thomas L. Ross. 

Surveyor — John N. Ross. 




4^. 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



655 



Road Commissioners — William Eads, District 
No. 1; Stephen Chase, District No. 2, and 
Amos Eveland, District No. 3. 

Ossian M. Ross was named as the elisor of 
the Commissioners' Court to attend on the 
court in the absence of Sheriff Eads. 

A division of the territory under the juris- 
diction of the Commissioners' Court into road 
precincts was made. District No. 1 embraced 
the territory north from Ft. Clark (Peoria); 
District No. 2 from Ft. Clark to Spoon River, 
and District No. 3 from Spoon River south to 
the base line, which was the southern limit 
of the court's jurisdiction. 

Thus, on June 3, 1823, the machinery of 
government of Fulton County was set in mo- 
tion. Nothing remained unfinished on this 
first day of the court's session excepting to act 
upon the report of the three Commissioners 
who were appointed by the legislative act creat- 
ing the county to locate the seat of justice. 
This was left until the following day, June 
4th. Upon the convening of the court on that 
day the following report was submitted by 
the locating Commissioners: 

"A Return of the Commissioners who Lo- 
cated the Seat of Justice for Fulton County, 
Illinois: 

"Know all men by these presents that we, 
the undersigned Commissioners, having been 
appointed agreeably to an act of the Legisla- 
ture, approved January 28, 1823, an act form- 
ing a new county out of the attached part of 
the County of Pike, to be called Fulton, now 
know ye that, whereas, we, John Totten, 
Stephen Chase and Hugh R. Coulter, were ap- 
pointed by said act Commissioners to locate the 
permanent seat of justice for said county, met 
at the house of David W. Barnes, in said county, 
on the 11th day of February, 1823, and being 
duly sworn before Ossian M. Ross, Esq., a Jus- 
tice of the Peace, we then proceeded to make 
inquiries and to hear proposals from inhabitants 
of said county; and after some time spent 
therein, we adjourned till the 14th inst., at the 
house of O. M. Ross, in said county. On the 
14th we met, and, after taking into considera- 
tion the duties of our office, we agreed to, and 
do hereby permanently locate the seat of jus- 
tice of said Fulton County on lot No. 214, In 
the town of Lewistown, being on the southwest 



quarter of Section 22, Township 5 North and 
Range 3 East; said town of Lewistown having 
been platted and surveyed by Stephen Dewey, 
Esq., and on the lands belonging to Ossian M. 
Ross, Esq., in said town aforesaid; and as a 
donation to said county the said Ross has this 
day made to the County of Fulton a good 
warranty deed in fee simple for the following 
town lots for public buildings, etc., to-wit: Lot 
No. 16 for burying yard, and lots Nos. 213, 214 
and 215 for Court House and jail, and lots 
Nos. 147, 148, 149, 180, 181 and 182 for a 
public square, or at the disposal of the County 
Commissioners for public or county purposes. 
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set 
our hands and seals, this 14th day of Febru- 
ary, 1823. 

"John Totten, 
"Hugh R. Coulter, 
"Stephen Chase,'" 

Accompanying this return of the Commis- 
sioners was the deed to the premises described 
therein, by which Mr. Ross conveyed same to 
Fulton County. Lot 16, conveyed "for burying 
yard," is where the Christian Church is located, 
the church building being erected upon the 
south side of Lot 15 and the north side of 
Lot 16 — the north side of Lot 15 being used 
now as a street. The present Court House 
grounds occupy all of Lots 213, 214 and 215, 
and practically all of 180, 181 and 182. 

With a "seat of justice" firmly established 
and a full complement of officers, the Commis- 
sioners' Court was now ready for the business 
of legislating for the people of the county. 
Having a fixed seat of government It was 
seemly that a suitable place for meeting for the 
transaction of public business and also a safe 
place to incarcerate malefactors should be pro- 
vided. Therefore, an order was entered "that 
a Court House be built, with a jail under the 
same roof, said building to be built of brick, 
26x34 feet, two stories high and well finished; 
or a log building 24x30 feet, one and a halt 
stories high, with a separate building for a 
jail 12x15 feet, built of hewed timber one foot 
square and well finished off, and secure In every 
part." The court provided for a meeting to be 
held July 3d, the next month, to let the con- 
struction work. 



6;6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



CHAPTER X. 



PIONEER LIFE. 



WHE.VCE THE EARLY SETTLERS OF FITLTOX COUNTY 

CAME HABITS AND CHARACTER OF THE PIONEER 

AS DESCRIBED BY GOV. REYNOLDS MODES OF LIV- 

IXG THE HUNTING SHIRT AND'COON SKIN CAP 

WOMEN'S DRESS AND OCCUPATION — ^EARLY HOMES 
^THE LOG CABIN AND ITS CONSTRUCTION DOMES- 
TIC FURNISHINGS — THE FOOD PROBLEM WILD 

FRUITS AND HONEY EDUCATION AND EARLY 

SCHOOLS — RELIGIOUS LIFE — SERVICES IN THE PIO- 
NEER CABIN AND SCHOOL HOUSE DOMESTIC 

HARDSHIPS AND PLEASURES — GAMES AND OTHER 

AMUSEMENTS SOCIAL LIFE OF THE YOUNG 

DEATHS AND FUNERALS — EARLY MAIL SERVICE. 

It is essential to the proper understanding of 
the growth and development of a new country 
that the habits and character of the first settlers 
be studied. The manner of men settling a new 
country has much to do with its future. To 
Fulton County came inhabitants from Virginia, 
the Carolinas, Kentucky and from Tennessee 
of the South. From the very nature of the to- 
pography of Fulton County, they sought streams 
and timber lands for settlements as most re- 
sembling those of their native States. From 
some of the New England States, from New 
York and from farther west in Ohio, came other 
settlers, but, generally speaking, at a little later 
period. These settlers either sought the villages 
for merchandising or the most appropriate farm- 
ing lands. Many of the early settlers did not 
have Fulton County as the objective point when 
the journey west began. Many of them had 
stopped en route at other points in the State 
where earlier settlements had been made. Com- 
ing as they did from every section of the coun- 
try, the pioneers of Fulton County, like the Illi- 
nois pioneers generally, partook of the motley 
customs and manners of the respective parts of 
the country from whence they came. As a nat- 
ural result a sort of composite effect of manner 
and characteristics developed. 

Habits and Character of the Pioneer. — The 
portrayal of the habits and character of the pio- 
neer is best left to those whose knowledge is 



personal and intimate, and none are more 
abundantly qualified to speak than Governor 
John Reynolds. In his "History of My Own 
Times" Governor Reynolds says: 

"They were rough in personal appearance and 
unrefined, yet kind, social and generous. They 
were hunters and stock growers, and confined 
to their agricultural operations — chiefly to corn 
and a small amount of wheat. They werfe brave, 
prompt and decided in war, yet liberal and mag- 
nanimous to a subdued foe. They showed great 
energy and a just spirit of enterprise in remov- 
ing from 500 to 1,500 miles into a wilderness 
country and pioneering out the way for the fu- 
ture prosperity of their descendants. They were 
hospitable, generous and ready to share with 
their neighbors, or newly arrived strangers, 
their last loaf. They were guided by Provi- 
dence, preserved amidst dangers, sickness and 
savage assaults; and thus became the pioneers 
of civilization, the founders of a free govern- 
ment and the extension of pure Christianity. 
They turned the wilderness into a fruitful field 
and prepared the country to sustain a more 
dense population, and to increase in wealth and 
prosperity. 

"Their habits and manners were plain, sim- 
ple and unostentatious. Their dwellings were 
log cabins of the rudest and most simple struct- 
ture. Their furniture and utensils and dress 
were the most simple and economical possible, 
for such only could be obtained. 

"For clothing, dressed deer skins were ex- 
tensively used for hunting shirts, pants, leggins 
and moccasins, and the red skin of the prairie 
wolf, or fox, was a substitute for the hat or cap. 
Strips of buffalo hide were used for ropes and 
traces, and the dressed skins of the buffalo, bear 
and elk furnished the principal covering of their 
beds at night. Wooden vessels, either dug out 
or coopered, and called 'noggins,' were in com- 
mon use for bowls, out of which each member of 
the family ate mush and milk for supper. A 
gourd formed the drinking cup. 

"Every hunter (and all men were hunters) 
carried his knife in his girdle, while not infre- 
quently the rest of the family had but one or 
two between them. If a family chanced to have 
a few pewter dishes and spoons, knives and 
forks, tin-cups and platters, it was in advance 
of the neighbors. 

"Corn was beaten for bread in the mortar, 
ground on a grater or in a hand-mill." 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



6S7 



Of a little later period another, equally well 
qualified as Governor Reynolds by personal 
knowledge of the people and times, says: 

"All were common in dress, some rude in man- 
ner, few boisterous, mostly quiet in speech and 
slow in movement, very little refinement as 
now gauged, no learning from books outside of 
the Bible, hymn, song, music and school books. 
Intercourse between intimates and close rela- 
tives, frank, laconic, abrupt, good natured; with 
acquaintances only, and strangers, inquisitive, 
genial, tolerant and leading to more intimacy. 
These characteristics I recall of men mostly. 
Women conformed in milder degree to each 
phase of speech, manner and action. 

"Necessarily labor was fairly well performed, 
but little love tor it was displayed except by the 
women, whose greatest and constant toil was 
feeding the hungry — cooking, housekeeping, 
nursing the children and sick — where, as ever 
from first history, they were always present, 
active, patient, successful and pleasing. Wom- 
an's highest office, next after holy motherhood 
and its cares, is nursing the sick and comfort- 
ing the afflicted." 

MoDE.s OF Living — Dress. — Relative to the rai- 
ment worn by the early settler. Governor Rey- 
nolds says: 

"The working and voyaging dress of the 
French masses," says Reynolds, "was simple 
and primitive. The French were like the lilies 
of the valley — they neither spun nor wove any 
of their clothing, but purchased it from the mer- 
chants. The white blanket coat, known as the 
capote, was the universal and eternal coat for 
the winter with the masses. A cape was made 
of it that could be raised over the head in cold 
weather. 

"In the house and in good weather it hung 
behind, a cape to the blanket coat. The rea- 
son that I know these coats so well is that I 
have worn many in my youth, and a working 
man never wore a better garment. Dressed 
deer skins and blue cloth were worn commonly 
in the winter for pantaloons. The blue hand- 
kerchief and the deer skin moccasins covered 
the head and feet generally of the French Cre- 
oles. In ISOO scarcely a man thought himself 
clothed unless h9 had a belt tied around his 
blanket coat, and on one side was hung the 
dressed skin of a pole-cat, filled with tobacco, 
pipe, flint and steel. On the other side was 



fastened, under the belt, the butcher knife. A 
Creole, in this dress, felt like Tarn O'Shanter 
filled with usquebaugh — he could face the devil. 
Checked calico shirts were then common, but in 
winter flannel was frequently worn. In the 
summer the laboring men and the voyagers of 
ten took their shirts off in hard work and hot 
weather, and turned out the naked back to the 
air and sun. 

"Among the Americans," he adds, "home- 
made wool hats v/ere the common wear. Fur 
hats were not common and scarcely a boot was 
seen. The covering of the ieet in winter was 
chiefly moccasins made of deer skins and shoe 
packs of tanned leather. Some wore shoes, 
but not common in very early times. In the 
summer the greater portion of the young peo- 
ple, male and female, and many of the old, went 
barefoot. The substantial and universal out- 
side wear was the blue linsey hunting shirt. 
This is an excell.^nt garment, and I have never 
felt so happy and healthy since I laid it off.. 
It is made of wide sleeves, open before, with 
ample size so as to envelop the body almost 
twice around. Sometimes it had a large cape, 
which answered well to protect the 
shoulders from the rain. A belt is 
mostly used to keep the garment 
close around the person, and, nevertheless, there 
is nothing tight about it to hamper the body. 
It is often fringed, and at times the fringe is 
composed of red iind other gay colors. The belt, 
frequently, is sewed to the hunting shirt. The 
vest was mostly made of striped linsey. The col- 
ors were made often with alum, copperas and 
madder, boiled with the bark of trees, in such a 
manner and proportions as the old ladies pre- 
scribed. The pantaloons of the masses were 
generally made of deer skin and linsey. Course, 
blue cloth was sometimes made into pantaloons. 

"Linsey, neat and fine, manufactured at home, 
composed generally the outside garments of the 
females as well as the males. The ladies had 
linsey colored and woven to suit their fancy. 
A bonnet, composed of calico or some gay goods, 
was worn on the head when they were in the 
open air. Jewelry on the pioneer ladies was 
uncommon: a gold ring was an ornament not 
often seen." 

The description of the dress as given by Rey- 
nolds is really of an earlier period than per- 
tains to the earliest permanent settlement of 
Fulton County. By 1S20 the primitive dress 



658 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



as described by him had given way largely to a 
more modern costume, though it was a common 
costume and not unusual many years later. The 
immigration from the East had produced its ef- 
fect upon the wearing apparel of the pioneer. 
Governor Thomas Ford, in his "History of Illi- 
nois," says that, by 1830, "the blue linsey hunt- 
ing shirt, with red or white fringe, had given 
place to the cloth coat (jeans). The raccoon 
cap, with the tail of the animal dangling down 
behind, had been thrown aside for hats of wool 
or fur. Boots and shoes had supplied the deer- 
skin moccasins, and the leather breeches, 
strapped tight around the ankle, had disap- 
peared before unmentionables of a more modern 
material. The female sex had made still greater 
progress in dress. The old sort of cotton or 
woolen frocks, spun, woven and made with their 
own fair hands and striped and cross-barred 
with blue dye and turkey red, had given place 
to gowns of silk and calico. The feet, before in 
a state of nudity, now charmed in shoes of calf- 
skin or slippers of kid, and the head, formerly 
unbonneted but covered with a cotton handker- 
chief, now displayed the charms of the female 
face under many forms of bonnets of straw, 
silk and leghorn. Th3 ytung ladies, instead of 
walking a mile or two to church on Sunday, 
carrying their shoes ana stockings in their 
hands until within a hundred yards of the place 
of worship, as formerly, now came forth arrayed 
complete in all the pride of dress, mounted on 
fine horses and attended by their .male ad- 
mirers." 

WojiE.N-'s Dress and Occupations. — A more 
minute description of the style and construction 
of the raiment which adorned the fair sex at 
about this period (or a trifle later) is given 
thus by another writer: 

"First to the frock itself: It was composed of 
wool, flax, cotton, or a combination of two or 
more of these materials, plain or plaid, relieved 
with all the colors of the rainbow, in part or 
whole, as fancy or taste dictated. I'or vegetable 
productions of prairie and forest bark had well 
supplied all these colors to these embryo chem- 
ists seeking color, tint and shade. And these 
were fast colors, too, not fading when the gar- 
ments were cleansed by frequent washings. 

"Their construction was usually much sim- 
pler than their ornamentation by color and 
stripe. A common garment for all women of 
working age, while working in the cabin home 



during the summer and mild weather, was a 
common, plainly-made skirt of 'rainy-day' 
length, with sleeves attached, made of wool, 
flax or cotton, put on by slipping it down over 
the head, fastening to its place by tying a draw- 
string of cord or tape fairly tight at the 
throat under the chin. A collar of same or kin- 
dred stuff, with plain, scalloped or stitched edge, 
might be added around the neck, and a like 
drawstring inserted all around the skirt at a 
point desirable to establish the waist, and tied 
there like the drawstring around the neck. A 
few buttons, when obtainable, placed below the 
chin down the opening in front, would complete 
the garment and, when properly donned, would 
present a fully dressed female equipped for 
work in her home. This was the workaday 
dress, or 'frock slip,' it was usually called. Oth- 
er and better dresses — frocks— all women of 
that time usually had." 

The mothers, wives and daughters of those 
times had plenty to keep them busy. Aside 
from the general housework, with scarcely any- 
thing in the way of household or cooking uten- 
sils or conveniences for them to do with, they 
had largely to prepare the cloth and make the 
garments for all the members of the family, 
male and female. About the only part of the 
wearing apparel used by the family not made 
by the "women folks" was the foot covering. 

The common working boy or man during the 
summer and mild weather, in field, prairie or 
forest, wore no more than three articles of dress 
at one time. A hat of plaited rye, oats or wheat 
straw; shirt and pants of cotton, flax or tow- 
linen cloth, and all made in the simplest, plain- 
est manner. Indeed, so uniform in style was it 
as to claim the title of fashion. Comfort and 
utility absolutely controlled material, make and 
fit of all male garments, whether for summer or 
winter, hot or cold weather, home wear or wear 
abroad. 

Traveling or local cobblers were utilized to 
supply boots and shoes for males and females 
of all ages. Almost the sole thought control- 
ling change of apparel for male wearers was 
to suit the weather and work engaged in. At- 
tending meetings of church or other interests 
had little influence as to dress. Only greater 
cleanliness of apparel was desired when going 
away from home among strangers. 

Dwellings. — Necessarily the first homes of 
the early settlers were of a very primitive char- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



659 



acter. Very naturally the first buildings erect- 
ed in the county were of logs. Man utilizes 
for his immediate wants those things which are 
the nearest at hand to supply those wants. With 
an axe the Fulton County pioneer could construct 
his cabin home from the surrounding timber 
with which the country abounded, just as the 
pioneer with a spade made the sod-house in the 
short grass country of Kansas and Nebraska in 
later years. Each used the means present and 
available to the ends sought. Until after the 
establishment of sawmills, which was very 
shortly after the first settlers arrived, the axe 
and drawing knife dressed the flooring, as well 
as the walls, of the rude cabin. The log cabin 
as a residence lived long after sawmills were 
plentiful, and long after the general use of pine 
lumber and brick, as building material had be- 
come general. In fact, to this day in the tim- 
ber sections of the county, an occasional log 
cabin is erected for a residence. Those con- 
structed in later years were much superior to 
the first rude structures made by the first set- 
tlers. The life of the log cabin as a residence 
was prolonged by reason of its cheapness and 
utility. Properly constructed with evenly hewn 
edges, carefully jointed, and with lime and sand 
used as mortar, a house that was con- 
structed with logs represented strength and 
warmth with a minimum outlay. But those 
that were constructed by the first settlers 
were not of this careful construction. The 
first settler went into the timber adjacent to the 
location fixed upon for the cabin home, cut logs 
of uniform size and length for sides and ends, 
notched them about eight inches from the end 
of each log on one side and "saddled" them on 
the opposite, and with these builded up the four 
walls to the height of about eight or nine feet. 
The gables were made by gradually building it 
up with succeeding shorter logs, the logs run- 
ning lengthwise being used in place of rafters 
for the roof. The roof was constructed of clap- 
boards, sometimes as much as four feet in 
length, and showing two feet to the weather. 
Each course of clapboards was weighted down 
with small poles, reaching from end to end or 
gable to gable. These weight poles were either 
fastened with wooden pins or timbers called 
"runs" or "knees," were laid up and down the 
roof between them to keep them in place. At 
one end of the building an opening, four to six 
feet in width, was made for the fireplace, and a 



chimney was built on the outside. This chim- 
ney was built either of sandstone, quarried in 
the vicinity, or — more generally with the earlier 
cabins — it was constructed by building up a 
pen of split timbers, the proper length and width 
and about an inch in thickness, so that they 
would lie compact. The interstices were filled 
with mud or clay mortar, and the inside cased 
with the same material. It was then permitted 
to gradually dry and finally was baked hard by 
the heat from the fire. If the mud or clay was 
of the proper constituency, the chimney was a 
fair success and served its purpose fairly well. 
The fireplace was cased with the same material, 
with a floor made out of flat stones or well 
pounded clay mortar. The walls of the building 
were first "chinked" with split timbers fitting 
the open spaces as neatly as possible, and then 
the mud or clay mortar was used to fill up the 
crevices. This had to be renewed quite often, 
as it was not of such a character as to withstand 
the elements. Where lime and sand mortar 
were used the construction was more enduring. 
The doors were sometimes nothing more than 
home-tanned skins of native animals, but more 
generally were made of spilt and hand-dressed 
boards swung on wooden hinges. The window 
— there was rarely more than one room or more 
than one window — was a bare opening, or it 
was covered with greased paper for light when 
glass was not available. Many of the early cab- 
in homes of Pulton County were constructed 
without the use of a single piece of hardware. 
The floors were many times bare except for 
skins thrown down hair side up. Generally, 
when not of "mother earth,' they were construct- 
ed of what was called puncheons — logs split in 
two and dressed on the flat side with an axe or 
drawing knife. The furniture of the cabin was 
likewise largely of this rude construction. A 
writer has described the interior of a cabin 
thus: 

"Upon one side was the huge fireplace, large 
enough to contain a back-log as big as the 
strongest man could carry and holding enough 
wood to supply an ordinary stove a week; on 
either side were poles and kettles, and over all 
a mantle on which was placed the tallow-dip. 
In one corner stood the larger bed for the old 
folks; under this the trundle-bed for the chil- 
dren; in another corner stood the old-fashioned 
large spinning wheel, with a smaller one by its 
side; in another the pine table, around which 



66o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the family gathered to partake of their plain 
food; over the door hung the ever trustful rifle 
and powder-horn; while around the room were 
scattered a few splint-bottomed chairs and 
three-legged stools; In one corner was a rude 
cupboard holding the table ware, which con- 
sisted of a few cups and saucers and blue-edged 
plates, standing singly on their edges against 
the back to make the display of table furniture 
more conspicuous." 

The Food Problejj. — The early settler very 
wisely attempted to reach the new country iu 
the early spring, so that he could put out a crop 
to supply himself and family with the vegetable 
portion of his foodstuffs for the ensuing winter 
season. This explains why history, on the ad- 
vent of a newcomer, always begins, "In the 
spring of — , Mr. So and So located," etc. Other- 
wise the pioneer would have taken a more pleas- 
ant season of the year for changing his habita- 
tion. The native game animals supplied in a 
measure the need for meat, but bread and pota- 
toes were a pressing necessity for a proper bal- 
ancing of the daily diet. After the corn — which 
was the chief bread-producing grain of the first 
settlers — was grown and garnered, the reducing 
of it to meal was no small task without mills 
to grind it. Hand mills some had, and others 
had to rely upon improvised graters, constructed 
out of half-circle strips of tin, perforated in 
such a way as to leave rough edges, or resort to 
an equally primitive device in the way of a 
wooden mortar and pestle — mortar being a rude 
receptacle scooped or burned in one end of a 
block off the butt end of a tree, or in the tree 
stump itself. This receptacle held about a peck 
of corn. It was not long until mills of various 
kinds were erected, but they were of a very 
meager capacity, and going to mill was a long 
and tedious task, not only on account of the 
distance necessary to be trav^ed to reach the 
mills but the slowness and uncertainty of their 
working capacities. 

Before the final departure of the Indians from 
this locality, at times game was rather scarce 
and the early settlers actually suffered for want 
of meat food. The return of the chief game ani- 
mals (deer) followed the exodus of the red men. 
The deer was the mainstay of the pioneer, and 
the smaller game animals, like the squirrel and 
rabbit and the feathered flock, consisting of wild 
turkey, quail and prairie chicken, etc., did not 



suffice. With the settling up of the country the 
game again became scarce; but in the mean- 
time a new game animal, indigenous to the new 
countries, had been produced. This was the 
wild hog. When settlers became dissatisfied 
with the country and departed for other loca- 
tions, they sometimes left whole droves of hogs 
they had raised, mostly on mast, in the woods. 
Hogs from droves belonging to the settlers 
themselves sometimes wandered away and be- 
came wild. Hogs, like all other domestic ani- 
mals, were allowed to run "at large" in the 
woods during the summer months, where they 
subsisted on acorns and nuts and other vege- 
tation, and in the round-up in the fall they 
would be fat and ready for slaughter. Hogs 
from these droves would sometimes mingle with 
the wild hogs and, failing to return, would wan- 
der away and become a pan of the wild drove. 
They were the common prey of any hunter who 
needed meat. These wild hogs became so nu- 
merous and so vicious as to become a positive 
menace to life and property. While they re- 
mained largely in the dense timber along the 
Illinois River, occasional droves would make 
incursions into the inland country, and destruc- 
tion to growing crops would mark their path- 
way. "Chapman's History of Fulton County" 
tells of the effort made to rid the county of what 
was at one time a useful animal, but afterward 
a dangerous pest. "In 1S38 or 1839," it says, "in 
Banner Township, a meeting was called of citi- 
zens of the township to take steps to get rid of 
wild hogs. At this meeting, which was held iu 
the spring, the people of the township were no- 
tified to turn out en masse on a certain day 
and engage in the work of catching, trimming 
and branding wild hogs, which were to be turned 
loose, and the next winter were to be hunted 
and killed by the people of the township, the 
meat to be divided, pro rata, among the citizens 
of the township. This plan was fully carried 
into effect, two or three days being spent in the 
exciting work in the spring. In the early part 
of the ensuing winter the settlers again turned 
out, supplied at convenient points in the bottom 
with large kettles and barrels for scalding, and 
while the hunters were engaged in killing, oth- 
ers with horses dragged the carcasses to the 
scalding platforms, where they were dressed, 
and when all that could be were killed and 
dressed, a division was made, every farmer get- 
ting more meat than enough for his winter's 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



66 1 



supply. Like energetic measures were resorted 
to in other townships, so that in two or three 
years the breed of wild hogs became extinct." — 
Chapman's "History of Fulton County," page 
223. 

For fruit the early settler had to depend upon 
the wild berries, wild grapes, wild plums and 
wild crab apples. The greaz drawback to most 
of the wild fruit, so far as an edible was con- 
cerned, was the scarcity and expensiveness of 
sugar for sweetening. Maple sugar and 
sorghum syrup furnished a seasonable, if not 
satisfactory, substitute. 

Another article of diet, and one of much com- 
mercial value as well, was wild honey. Bee- 
hunting was the regular occupation of not a 
few settlers, and the occasional occupation of 
nearly all the rest. As indicated by Mr. John W. 
Proctor, quoted elsewhere, bees-wax was one 
of the early commodities, along with pelts and 
tallow, that was taken to the markets and ex- 
changed for merchandise for the country pio- 
neer merchant's stock of goods. Mr. Proctor 
remarks upon the wonderfully unerring accura- 
cy with which a skilled bee-hunter would follow 
a wild bee to its lair, even through the densest 
forests. Being familiar witii the habits of the 
bee from careful study and knowing that the lit- 
tle winged, tireless worker flew home in straight 
lines, on a "bee line," as it is called, ever avoid- 
ing the loss of time or pleasure a more circuit- 
ous route might entail or give it, the bee-hunter 
was enabled to locate a "bee tree" with little ap- 
parent difficulty. Making a reprisal of the honey 
was not unattended with difficulty. In felling 
the tree not only a loss of much of the prize 
might ensue in consequence of the bursting of 
the hollow tree, but the bees manfully defended 
their home and substance. 

The preparation of the food for consumption 
at the frugal and simple family board Is a story 
so often told and so generally applicable to all 
parts of the world that it has no place In a local 
historical work. 

Education and Schools. — Until after 1S40 
there were no free schools, generally speaking, 
in Illinois. In Chicago, Alton, Springfield and 
Jacksonville, and perhaps one or two other 
cities, free schools had been established, but 
none in Fulton County. At just what date the 
first free school was opened in this county and 



where it was located would be an important 
fact for this history, but diligent search fails to 
disclose it. The early schools of the county 
were quasi-public in character, inasmuch as the 
school building was a public one and built, not 
by taxation, but by the freely proffered labor of 
the early settlers. The open woods supplied the 
materials. A complete description of an early 
schoolhouse is to be found under the title 
"Schoolhouses, Early," on page 470 in the "Ency- 
clopedia" portion of this work. The first school- 
house erected in Fulton County was in Lewis- 
town in 1823 or 1824. It was fourteen by six- 
teen feet in size and was located just west of 
the public square, about where the present road 
runs north and south past the west side of the 
court house grounds. Its two windows were 
covered with oiled paper in lieu of glass. Hugh 
C. Coulter was the teacher. School was in ses- 
sion from 8 in the morning until at least 5 in 
the afternoon, and the rough, rude and uncom- 
fortable seats were anything but restful for the 
pupils. The average tuition was from $1.50 to 
$2.00 for each pupil for three months. Harvey 
Lee Ross, who attended this first school, thus 
describes the school day: 

"In opening the school in the morning the 
first class was required to read a chapter in the 
New Testament, and if the chapter was a short 
one, they would read two chapters, each scholar 
reading one verse. The teacher would usually 
consume about half an hour each forenoon in 
making and repairing pens and setting copies 
for those that were learning to write. At that 
time there was no such thing in that part of 
the country as gold or steel pens, and all the 
pens used for writing were made from quills 
plucked from the wings of a turkey or a goose. 
The first steel pens introduced was about the 
year 1831. I remember that. In 1831, my father 
went to St. Louis and laid in a stock of goods, 
and among his purchases were a half dozen 
cards of steel pens. They came fastened on 
cards, a dozen on a card. That was as many 
as any merchant thought it prudent to buy at 
one time. The use of them was strongly dis- 
approved of by the teachers. They would tell 
the scholars that they would never become good 
writers if they learned to write with a steel pen. 
The price they sold at when they first came in 
use was twelve and a half cents a pen. The 
steel pens as first used were much coarser and 



1 



662 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



heavier than the pens now used, and a very 
great improvement has been made in them since 
they first came in use. 

"It was the custom in those times when a 
teacher took a school to make a statement 
to his scholars of the rules and regulations 
by which the school was to be governed; and 
if any of the scholars disobeyed those orders 
and regulations, they were to be punished, 
whether male or female, and it made no differ- 
ence how old or how young, or how large or how 
small, they would all come under the same rule; 
and their rules, like the laws of the Medes and 
Persians, were unalterable. They had two 
modes of punishment. One was to bi whipped 
and the other to stand upon a bench to be gazed 
at by the whole school until the teacher ordered 
them to come down." 

The second school building in Fulton County 
was located on about the present site of the 
First Methodist Church in the city of Canton. 
The first teacher in this school was John C. 
Owens, and a description of the building, which 
did not differ materially from the early school- 
houses everywhere, is given in detail in "Swan's 
History of Canton," page 13. 

Religious Life and Teaching. — The spiritual 
side of life was in nowise neglected by these 
early settlers. Lack of accommodations in the 
way of places for worship in no way deterred 
those religiously inclined — and the vast majori- 
ty were so inclined. If nothing else offered it- 
self as a more convenient place, the rude cabin 
homes sufficed for a house of worship. The 
schoolhouses were constantly used for religious 
purposes. In the summer time campmeetings 
were held in different parts of the county. At 
first no regular services were held anywhere, 
Whenever a minister of the gospel arrived in 
a settlement, services were held. If the ap- 
pointment had not been previously made, word 
was disseminated from n,eighbor to neighbor 
of the time and place when and where the 
preaching would take place. The religion was 
of a severe, sincere and earnest character. The 
preacher did not mince matters, but drew the 
line of demarkation between the sheep and 
the goats very plain, and those on the wrong 
side were consigned to the very hottest and 
most terrible torments that a limited, but elo- 
quent, vocabulary found words to depict. 
Many of the early preachers, like Peter Cart- 



wright, were well educated, but a vast majori- 
ty of them were limited in the knowledge 
of all books save the Holy Writ. This book 
they generally knew almost "by heart," and 
they gave a literal interpretation of its lan- 
guage. After the establishment of church or- 
ganizations and the employment of ministers 
regularly, many able and eminent men held 
pulpits in Fulton County, even in a very early 
day. The remoter settlements, however, had 
for many years to be supplied with the travel- 
ing preacher or circuitrider, and he was gener- 
ally a man of more earnestness than education. 
A. M. Swan, evidently fully of the opinion that 
"old times were the best," writing nearly forty 
years ago, thus pictures and compares the early 
religious meeting with the more modern church 
worship: 

"The pioneer preachers were no carpet 
knights, but men who preached from a stem 
sense of religious duty. They were not de- 
terred from filling their appointments by wind 
or weather, but swam rivers, faced northers, 
and passed through the perils of the wilder- 
ness, to carry the glad tidings of the gospel to 
the frontiersmen. Peter Cartwright, Father 
Somers, Woolescroft, John M. Ellis, John G. 
Bergen, Jesse Williams, Ozias Hale, John 
Clark, and their colaborers, were some of them, 
— perhaps not eloquent, but all devoted, true, 
worthy men — men who preached a pure reli- 
gion; for there was a religion in the olden 
time, a religion, plain, unostentatious and 
simple, but earnest, pure and undefiled. Plain 
men and plain women met together, not for dis- 
play, not for frivolous discourse, but for the 
worship of the one Living God, whose handi- 
work they recognized in the forests and prai- 
ies, and whose watchful care they felt 
around them every day, in preservins; them 
from the savage and from the innumerable 
dangers to which their pioneer life was sub- 
ject. They met, not in turreted church, with 
stained-glass windows, to seat themselves on 
cushioned seats, and listen to hired musicians, 
who torture elegant organs by singing the 
words of religion to the music of the opera 
and ball-room. They met in the settler's cab- 
in, coming on foot, on horseback or in rude 
ox-carts to the place of worship. They came, 
not dressed in velvets, not loaded with pan- 
niers and false hair; but plain women in moc- 
casins, or cowhide brogans, wearing modest 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



663 



three-cornered handkerchiefs over plain linsey 
or homespun checked cotton gowns; their 
hair, as God caused it to grow, unadorned, 
combed out smooth and glossy, and hidden 
from view by the primitive Methodist bonnet, 
or the modest sun-bonnet, as our mothers wore 
it. The men came, not kid-gloved bewhisk- 
ered dandies, in tights and boots that were a 
size too small for their feet, and walking with 
a gait as ungraceful as disgusting; but clad 
in linsey-woolsey hunting-shirt, with home- 
braided straw hat or coon-skin cap, with 
their plain white home-made cotton shirt, 
whose wide collar was turned down over the 
"wamus" or hunting-shirt. They came with a 
firm, free step, in their moccasins or brogans; 
a long, graceful step that told of strength and 
activity. 

"They met in some log schoolhouse, or 
in the one room of some pioneer log-cabin. 
Outside the door were seats for the men — logs 
laid lengthwise and boards or puncheons 
stretching across them. The yard fence was 
also used for seats, and no one complained at 
the length of the exercise either, even if com- 
pelled for two hours to perch upon the 
sharp edge of an oak rail during the service. 

"The people have assembled. The women 
occupy the inside of the cabin; the men are 
scattered around without, awaiting the coming 
of the man of God. The set time has come — ■ 
has been passed an hour — and the minister 
has not appeared. There is no impatience, 
however, no murmuring. They know that the 
good man has a long and weary ride this morn- 
ing. He preached yesterday at Ross's Ferry, 
perhaps, or Fort Clark, and the streams are 
high and the roads bad. He will come — no 
fear of disappointment — and what is an hour 
or two? Presently there is a movement 
among the young men who have strayed to 
some little distance from the cabin; they begin 
to move up toward the door, and select their 
seats. Old men rise up from the fence-corners, 
where they have been squatting in groups, 
talking over the latest Indian news, and look 
down the road where the minister is expected 
to appear. Yes, there he comes, the primitive 
man of God; clad in sheep's-gray pants, and 
round-breasted blue or brown jeans coat, with 
its stiff, straight collar, over which appears 
his white shirt-collar, guiltless of starch or 
gloss; and all surmounted by the white fur, 
low-crowned hat, with its wide brim. 



"And now all is still. The hum of voices, 
which had been incessant before, is hushed. 
The old men meet the preacher, and in low 
tones ask after his health; if he had much 
trouble in crossing the creek, and how he 
found the roads. He answers their questions 
with few words and passes in, shaking hands 
with some of the older mothers in Israel, as he 
hangs his hat on a projecting pin, and takes 
out from his capacious coat-tail pockets his 
well-worn Bible and hymn-book. Taking his 
stand in the open doorway, he graveiy reads, 
or rather recites, that old hymn — 

" 'Come, let us anew our journey pursue.' 
It is sung by every man and women present, 
sung with voices clear and loud. No operatic 
quavers, no voluntary, no pretension. The 
voices are all blending in a harmony born of 
devotion and which goes up a pure offering of 
praise to the throne of the Most High. It is 
a music that comes from hearts all attuned to 
praise, and finds its way through the open 
gates of heaven wooed, and heaven won. 

"As the last notes die away, the good man 
folds his hands and prays. The prayer is sim- 
ple, plain, and as of one who approaches the 
vestibule of Omnipotence in its solemnity; and 
as unfaltering in its trust as the pleading of a 
child with the father who, it knows, will stoop 
to listen. It bears up the burdens of the 
people; it lays before the throne the wants of 
every stricken soul. It must be heard if the 
heavens be not of brass. The prayer is 
closed, and again the voice of song is heard. 
This time it is that grand old hymn — 

"Oh, when shall I see Jesus, 
And dwell with him above? 
"The good minister selects a chapter, as the 
last verse of this hymn is sung, and now he 
reads it; reads, not with the actor's thrilling rs 
and guttural tones, but in plain, earnpst and 
solemn voice — he reads a chapter wonderfully 
appropriate to the condition of his congrega- 
tion. 

"The sermon is not an elegant production 
of finished oratory. It may be disconnected; 
it may be ungrammatical and lacking 
whitened polish; but it is plain, simple, direct. 
It came from the heart, it will reach the heart, 
and it is listened to with an attention never 
given to the polished oratory that delights in 
ornate chancels as its birth-place, and silk 
and broadcloth listeners. 



H 



664 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



"The sermon ends; the doxology and bene- 
diction have been spoken; all gather around the 
good minister, eager to press his hand, atten- 
tive to listen, willing to treasure up the words 
of exnortation, of reproof or of warning, 
which fall from his lips. 

"This was the pioneer worship — a pure and 
godly worship; a worship more pure, more 
likely to find favor in the sight of God than the 
religion that displays itself in tun-eted and 
cushioned edifices born of pride, but labeled 
for the worship of God, that have succeeded the 
old log schoolhousps of fifty years ago." 

H.\BDSHip.s AND Pleasukes. — These early 
pioneers had their pleasures as well as their 
hardships. The hunt, the chase, the horse race, 
the foot race, the jovial raillery at elections, 
school meetings, muster days, bam and cabin 
raisings, pitching horse-shoes and the like, af- 
forded divertisement to the men exclusively. 
On the other hand, the women had quite as ex- 
clusively the quilting-bee and the carpet-rag 
sewing. At the gatherings of both sexes 
there was much freedom of a frank, harmless 
and open sort. A large share of the social en- 
tertainment of the yonng people consisted of 
"going to church" perhaps eight or ten miles 
distant, and playing forfeits and singing 
marching and forfeit songs at neighborhood 
gatherings in the winter evenings. These 
marching and forfeit songs have been handed 
down to the present generation, and there are 
few but know such ones as start out like this: 

"We are marching down toward old Quebec, 
Where the drums are loudly beating. 

The A-meri-cans have gained the day 
And the British are retreating," 

etc. 

or 

"I won't have any of your weavelly wheat, 

I won't have any of your barley. 

I won't have any of your weavelly wheat 
» 
To make a cake for Charley." 

etc. 

or 

"There is a happy miller 

Grinding in the mill; 
As the wheel turns round 

He is gaining what he will. 
One hand in the hopper, 

And the other in the bag; 
When the wheel turns round 



He cries out, 'Grab.' 



etc. 



"The needle's eye, it doth supply 

The thread that runs so true; 
How many a lass I have let pass, 

Because I wanted You." 

There are dozens of these forfeit and march- 
ing songs. 

It was around the family fireside in the 
presence of the entire family and assembled 
guests that these games were played. All the 
social gatherings were entered into with great 
zest. It was not unusual to go ten or even 
twenty miles to a ball. These gatherings, as 
a rule, were decorous, orderly and genteel. 
The dress worn was often pretentious, immi- 
grants having brought with them from their 
old homes in the East or South the very best 
they had in the way of personal adornment, 
and these they wore at all such gatherings. 
At the balls the gentlemen sat on one side of 
the hall or room and the ladies on the other. 
Before the introduction of the cotillion, quad- 
rille and round dances, the figures danced were 
"French fours," the Virginia reel," "Twin sis- 
ter," "Cast off," "Money-musk." "Cheat the 
Lady," etc. In neighborhood gatherings, no 
formal invitation was required. All friends 
were desired and expected to be present. 

Another source of amusement and cultiva- 
tion, as well, that came to the young a little 
later was the singing school; likewise the 
writing school. A singing master or a writing 
master would get permission to use the neigh- 
borhood schoolhouse for the purpose of teach- 
ing his classes. This was always the winter 
season when the young people had leisure time, 
and, of course, at night time. The day school 
was thus in nowise interferred with but rather 
supplemented with the instruction given. 

The debating society was another endless 
source of amusement and profit for a winter's 
evening. This was held at the country school- 
house and was a beginning of the develop- 
ment of many able and eloquent speakers and 
logicians. 

It was usual at all meetings at the country 
schoolhouse for the gentlemen to occupy the 
boys' side and the ladies the girls' side of the 
room. An unmarried gentleman, accompany- 
ing an unmarried lady to a meeting, was 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



665 



graciously allowed the privilege of occupying 
a seat alongside her on the girls' side. The 
young Lotharios, while very earnest, were 
sometimes ratlier rude in manner and speech 
to the young ladies whose favors they sought 
or contemplated seeking. After adjournment 
of an evening gathering at the country school 
house, he it of a religious nature or otherwise, 
the prevailing custom was for the young men 
to form a line just inside and outside the door 
and as the hapless young lady would pass 
along, or rather run the gauntlet, the young 
fellow seeking her company would catch her 
arm and ask to see her home. Generally the 
answer of the lady could not be heard above 
the shouts of laughter and derision of the other 
young men forming the line as spectators of 
the fun, or likewise on the lookout for com- 
pany. Therefore it would only be known 
whether the young man "got the mitten" or not 
when the journey home was started. If the 
couple were seen going toward the young 
lady's home together, it would be known that 
"all was well"; if not, that his rude but 
really sincere attentions were not reciprocated. 

A Pulton County pioneer thus describes the 
courtship of the young gallants and damsels 
of those days: 

"It was fun to see those long lines of boys 
reaching from either side of the church door, 
extending sometimes to the middle of the 
street; and then see the girls come out and run 
the 'gauntlet'. First one boy and then another 
would sidle up to a girl, his arm bent like a V, 
and he would punch her in the ribs, signifying, 
'Can I see you home?' Dreadful mistakes 
would sometimes occur in the darkness and 
bustle, such as mistaking a married lady for 
the girl desired. If the girl saucily jerked away 
from the boy, the whole platoon of fellows 
would yell, 'You've got the mitten!' and guy the 
poor devil till he wanted to jump into the 
creek. But if she grabbed his arm, he was a 
hero. 

"In those days if you were lucky and got to 
go home with a girl from church, and wished 
to sit up with her awhile, it was the correct 
thing, as we reached the door, to ask that priv- 
ilege, and she always said 'Yes.' You were 
then invited in and would find a nice fire burn- 
ing, if the weather was cold, and two chairs set 
beside it for your use. Well, the other exer- 
cises were about the same, possibly, as now. 
4 



But be it known that you were elected for all 
night, for if you went home before morning, 
and the boys found it out, they would say, 'The 
old man run you out!' Well, after you had 
talked your store of knowledge and imagin- 
ings to an end, the young lady would show you 
to your bed, and then step out of doors until 
you could disrobe and get in — for the family 
all slept in the same room. Pretty soon the 
girl would come back into the house and slip 
into her own bed, usually with two or more 
smaller children. Usually a sheet hung up 
was the only partition between you and your 
beloved. This is one of the hardships endured 
by the pioneer youngsters, but it didn't seem 
to undermine anybody's health." 

Deaths asd Funerals — The habits of the 
pioneers were not conducive to lingering ill- 
ness. The invalid either got well quickly or 
died. Physicians were not to be had for the 
first three or four years after the settlers be- 
gan to arrive. The nearest regular practicing 
physician was at Springfield. Dr. Davidson, 
"The Hermit," refused to attend the sick. 
Medical attention was supplied by the old lad- 
ies of the settlement with suggestions as might 
be offered or permitted by the very wise of the 
men. There was an Indian doctor in the vicinity 
of Lewistown who was occasionally called upon 
to treat the sick. In case of death the stricken 
family had all the aid and assistance of kindly 
neighbors and sometimes the spiritual advice 
of one of the pioneer nomadic ministers, if he 
chanced to be in the particular settlement at 
the time. Many times the funeral sermon was 
preached long after the burial had taken place, 
and when it met the convenience of the minis- 
ter. The casket was a rude box made from the 
lumber which was sawed from the timber near 
at hand by the settlement carpenter, and the in- 
terment took place generally on private ground, 
as public cemeteries were few. The first public 
cemetery was that at Lewistown, which is now 
the site of the East Primary school of that 
city. The second was in Canton, and was two 
blocks out on West Chestnut Street. Both 
these locations were soon abandoned as burial 
places. In riding over Fulton County at the 
present time many little spots containing the 
dead of the pioneer days may be seen, and on 
many a farm in the county is the neglected 
grave of a pioneer or his little child. The lo- 
cation of many of these graves is lost in ob- 



666 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



scurity and crops are grown thereon without 
the least knowledge of the husbandman that 
he is thus using a primitive cemetery. It was 
not from lack of respect for the dead that these 
graves were abandoned, but from the necessi- 
ties of the times. 

Mail Seevice. — The first settlers of Fulton 
County received very little mail. There were 
many reasons for this. One was that it cost 
twenty-five cents to get a letter out of a post- 
office if the postage was not paid at the mail- 
ing point, and money was scarce and hard to 
get; and another was that the most accessible 
postoffice at the time the first settler arrived 
was St. Louis. Mail addressed to St. Louis 
intended for a Fulton County citizen lay there 
until some one went down the river in a boat for 
supplies for the settlement. This sort of mail 
service did not tend to encourage the letter 
writing habit, hence the correspondence was 
limited largely to a few business letters. News 
of friends was conveyed by word of mouth, 
and the new-comer to the county was a source 
of great pleasure, owing to his knowledge of 
folks and things at the old home. 



CHAPTER XL 



DEVELOPMENT. 



PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS WORD PICTURE BY AN 

EARLY SETTLER — PRAIRIE LANDSCAPE AND NAT- 
URAL GROVES INDIGENOUS FRUITS INDIANS AND 

WILD GAME — EARLY TRADERS — ROUTES BY WHICH 

FIRST SETTLERS CAME SOME WHOSE NAMES 

HAVE BEEN LEFT ON THE COUNTY M.\P IMMI- 
GRANT MODES OF TRANSPORTATION — HARDSHIPS 
ENCOUNTERED — PIONEER FARMING METHODS AND 

IMPLEMENTS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND 

PRICES — STOCK-RAISING MARKS A NEW PERIOD — • 
CHANGES FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR CONDI- 
TIONS OF THE PRESENT DAY THE TELEPHONE IN 

THE FARM HOUSE AND MAIL DELIVERY AT THE 
DOOR. 

The topography of Fulton County has been 
treated elsewhere from a scientific standpoint 



by Dr. W. S. Strode. This word picture of its 
general appearance, when the first settlers ar- 
rived, is left by Hai-vey Lee Ross: 

Primitive Conditions. — "The face of the 
country has undergone a wonderful change in 
appearance, aside from the great improvements 
that have been made. The beautiful groves 
of timber then standing unmarred by the wood- 
man's ax have been cleared away, and the 
handsome prairies, that were then covered with 
high grass and beautiful flowers, have been 
broken up, so it is hard to tell which was 
timber and which prairie land. There is one 
thing that has altered the looks of the country 
very much since it was first settled, and that 
is the extensive growth of young timber and 
brush, unknown in pioneer times. Before the 
county was settled by white people, prairie 
fires were permitted to sweep through the coun- 
try every year, and they destroyed what are 
now called barrens and underbrush. The smooth 
prairies came square up to the distinct groves 
of large timber. In those days a man travel- 
ing through Table Grove, and many of the other 
groves in the county, could see a deer 500 or 
600 yards away in the prairie; but twenty-five 
or thirty years later a deer could not be seen 
a distance of fifty yards because of the growth 
of the brush and young timber. There was no 
such land in the county as that now called 
'barrens.' The groves were very beautiful be- 
fore any of the timber had been cut, and before 
there was any undergrowth. Table Grove was 
one of the great landmarks of the country. It 
could be seen from the bluffs of the Illinois 
River on the east, and from Macomb on the 
west, and from the north for twenty-five or 
thirty miles. Travelers across the unbroken 
and almost pathless prairie were guided in 
their course by Table Grove and other perspic- 
uous groves. 

"Many of the streams of water, such as 
Big Creek, Sugar, Otter, Copperas, Cedar and 
Buckheart Creek, would run grist and lumber 
mills about two-thirds of the year. These 
streams and their valleys, covered by a thick 
growth of timber and full of wild game, were 
beautiful beyond words. 

"The prairies were generally named after 
the men that first settled upon them. The prai- 
rie where Canton stands was called 'Barnes' 
Prairie' for David W. Barnes, who was the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



667 



first settler there. The prairie west of Cuba 
was called 'Totten's Prairie,' in honor of Wil- 
liam Totten, who was the first settler. The 
prairie in Pleasant Township was named 'Row- 
land's Prairie,' for William and Riley Row- 
land, the first settlers. The prairie on the Illi- 
nois bottom, south of Spoon River, was called 
'Gardiner's Prairie.' Gardiner's Prairie extend- 
ed south from Spoon River about three miles, 
and from the bluSs to a fringe of timber within 
half a mile of the Illinois River, also three 
miles. The land was very rich, but part of it 
was too wet for cultivation. The prairie that 
joined Thompson's Lake, north of Spoon River, 
was about two miles square, and, with the 
lake, was named for Nathan Thompson. He 
and his son-in-law, Stephen Meeker, were the 
first settlers in that prairie. The prairie two 
miles east of Lewistown was about three miles 
long and from one to two miles wide, and it 
was called 'Smith's Prairie,' after Jeremiah 
Smith, who first settled there on a place that 
was afterward owned by Colonel Reuben 
Slmms. It was one of the most beautiful prai- 
ries mortal eyes ever beheld. It was covered 
with what was called blue-stemmed grass, a 
most excellent grass for hay. It grew from 
three to four feet high, and afforded hay 
enough for all the people of Lewistown and 
the settlers for many miles in all directions. 
All the people had to do was to cut the hay 
and haul it home. At that time hay was cut 
with a scythe and raked together with a 
wooden hand-rake and pitchfork. Smith's Prai- 
rie was celebrated for the numerous plum and 
crab apple orchards that grew around its bor- 
ders. The large red and yellow plums grew 
there in such abundance that people would 
come from long distances and haul them away 
by the wagonloads, and would preserve them 
with honey or maple sugar, which were the 
only sweetening we had in pioneer times. This 
fruit made a good substitute for domestic fruit. 
Fulton County was blessed above other sec- 
tions of the State in Its great abundance of su- 
gar tree groves, which enabled people to make 
their own sugar." 

Day of the Indians. — Indians were plentiful. 
Their villages, consisting sometimes of not 
more than half a dozen families, would be 
found along the streams in nearly every part 
of the country. The women, or "squaws," as 



they were called, cultivated a little piece of 
ground, planting it with very early, but very 
inferior, varieties of corn and beans. These 
little patches of cultivated ground would gen- 
erally be fenced in by driven posts with hick- 
ory bark or deer skin strips running from post 
to post, to keep out the ponies which were 
turned loose to graze. The Indian men de- 
voted most of their time to hunting. The skins 
of the animals captured were sold to the trad- 
ers — first to the American Pur Trading Com- 
pany, which had stations along the Illinois 
River, and later to local traders at Lewistown, 
Havana and other places. The Phelpses were 
the earliest local Indian traders. Many of the 
earlier white settlers carried on the business 
of trapping as a livelihood, and all of them 
had more or less skins for sale or exchange 
for merchandise. 

Routes of the Early Settlers. — The almost 
Invariable route to Pulton County, as traversed 
by the very early settler, was by way of the 
Illinois River. If they came from the east or 
the south, they came down the Ohio, up the 
Mississippi and Illinois. If they came from 
down the State towards St. Louis, as the ma-' 
jority of them did, they likewise used the river 
as a means of transportation. If, however, they 
came from the Sangamon Country, they came 
overland, crossing the Illinois River at Ft. 
Clark (Peoria), or at Ross's ferry at Havana. 
Later, however, the emigrants used the over- 
land method of reaching the country very gen- 
erally. In this way they were enabled to bring 
their supply of live stock with them to better 
advantage. The wagons used by these over- 
land emigrants were very strong and roughly 
built. They were sunnounted by the old Penn- 
sylvania-fashioned beds, and were generally 
covered by heavy tow-linen cloth, manufactured 
by hand from home-grown flax. These wagons 
were drawn by horses or oxen and sometimes 
by both. Often two or three teams were re- 
quired to draw the heavy loads over the unim- 
proved roads. Of course, traveled roads and 
bridges were unknown at this time, and In- 
dian trails or wagon-tracks, made by an earlier 
"mover," were the only guides to the fords or 
streams and passages over sloughs and through 
swamps. Often impassable sloughs and swamps 
compelled long detours from a direct route to 
the objective point. Swollen, ferryless and 



668 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



bridgeless streams compelled a wait of many 
days frequently, before the waters receded 
within their banks and reached a formidable 
condition. 

First Settlements on Timbee Lands.— In 
making a choice for a home the first settlers 
invariably selected timber lands. There were 
many reasons for this. Prairie lands were at 
this time an unknown quantity to these men. 
The eastern and southern farms, from whence 
they came, consisted of timber lands, upland 
and valley alike. Fires swept each year over 
the prairie, endangering life and property. 
Many of the prairies were low and almost 
marshy, and were covered with prairie grass, 
which grew to the height of six to ten feet and 
made the process of preparing the land for 
cultivation a very difficult problem with the 
crude and limited implements possessed by the 
first settler. A few years later, however, regular 
breaking plows, especially constructed for plow- 
ing this prairie land, were introduced. The neces- 
sary fencing of these prairies entailed another 
item of great expense. Likewise, the inacces- 
sibility to timber for building purposes and 
for fuel was almost an insurmountable diffi- 
culty. On the other hand, timber locations 
provided ample water from running streams 
and springs: building material and fuel were 
close at hand and the woods and valleys pro- 
vided shelter for such stock as was not other- 
Vise protected from the storms of winter. 
Likewise the groves of trees protected the 
cabin home, to some extent, f-rom the wintry 
blasts and summer suns. 

Crop Growing the First Occupation. — "Very 
naturally the chief occupation of the first set- 
tlers of Fulton County was that of agriculture 
— the raising of grain and its related occupa- 
tion of stock-growing. The preparation of tim- 
ber land for cultivation was a hard task. The 
timber had to be cut and hauled off or burned, 
leaving the stumps standing to plow around 
or to be grubbed up. The underbrush had to 
be cut and grubbed. Fortunately most of the 
"quarters" had patches of ground on them 
which were free from timber. The transfor- 
mation of the prairie lands from a field of high 
grass to a state of cultivation was no small 
task. The first plowing usually killed the grass 
and other native vegetation, but the mass of 



tough roots decayed slowly, and required a year 
or two to disintegrate. 

Fakil Implements — Crops. — The farm imple- 
ments used were of very crude construction 
as compared .to those of modern make. The 
breaking plow, which, by the way, was with 
most farmers the sole farm implement aside 
from an improvised single-shovel plow for cul- 
tivating the crop, consisted of a bar of iron 
about twenty-four inches long, with a broad 
share of iron or steel welded to it. The mold 
board was of wood, curved or carved in a 
rounding shape so as to roll the soil over, top- 
side down. In sod the corn was planted by 
making a hole in the sod with a stroke of an 
axe carried in one hand. From the other hand 
the grains of corn were dropped into the open- 
ing thus made, and a shuffle and pressure of 
the foot covered it over. A spade or a hoe was 
used later in planting the corn. The single-shovel 
plow and the hoe were the main implements 
for cultivating corn. Small grain, principally 
wheat, oats and rye, was sown broadcast and 
harrowed in with a brushy tree-top. The sickle 
and the cradle reaped the small grains, and 
the threshing was done with a flail or was piled 
upon a barn floor or a smoothed ground sur- 
face and trodden out with horses and oxen. 
By the latter process the grain was laid in 
courses on the smooth surface with the heads 
of the grain exposed. Riding one horse and 
leading another the treading process consisted 
in passing over the piled grain first from the 
butt end toward the head until thoroughly 
tramped and then reversing the process. After 
the threshing process was finished, the straw 
was removed and grain and chaff placed on a 
cloth, usually a bed sheet, and tossed in the 
wind to separate the grain from the chaff. 
The granaries used for storing the threshed 
grain was usually a rail pen surfaced inside 
with straw. 

The development of the rich grain-producing 
lands of the Mississippi Valley soon made nec- 
essary the substitution of some more rapid 
and satisfactory process for cultivating the soil, 
reaping the harvest and preparing the product 
for use and market. The volume of farm prod- 
uce increased to such an extent that the crude 
methods described no longer were capable of 
caring for it. With this necessity came the 
improved farm machinery, and likewise the im- 




MR. AND MRS. MOSES BORDNER 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



669 



proved condition surrounding farm life, until, 
today, it is almost ideal. 

Cotton was grown to some extent by the 
early settlers in Fulton County, and Jacob El- 
lis established a gin south of Independence, in 
Putman Township. The climate, however, was 
not adapted to the successful raising of cot- 
ton, and the production of cotton yarn, without 
machinery of any kind, was a tedious and la- 
borious task. As soon as stocks of merchan- 
dise were brought into the country, cotton 
yarn — or chain, as it was called — was placed 
on sale and its local production ceased. The 
use of cotton yam was limited, anyway, to the 
woof or filling of the cloth manu.factured by 
the industrious housewife. 

Flax was generally grown in the county in 
an early day. After the flax matured it was 
laid in water to rot, then was broken, shut- 
tled and hackled, and prepared for the spin- 
ning wheel. The wheel used was a small one, 
whereas the one used for the making of woolen 
yarn was large. Out of this linen yarn made 
of flax, materials were made for various cloth- 
ing and household necessities, and in combina- 
tion with wool, or wool and cotton, linsey-wool- 
sey cloth was manufactured. The growing of 
flax has long since been abandoned in Fulton 
County. 

Apple and peach orchards were planted im- 
mediately after the settlement of the county. 
Dr. Davidson, Fulton County's earliest settler, 
had a peach bearing orchard as early as 1821. 
Among the varieties of apples grown in the 
early orchards were the Pippin, Ronianite, Rus- 
sets, Sheepnoses, Bellflowers and Newton, a 
• variety of the Pippin. Grapes were very gen- 
erally grown at an early day in Fulton County, 
and, along in the closing days of the war, huge 
wine-cellars were filled with thousands of gal- 
lons of choice wine. There are several small, 
but up-to-date nurseries in the county, confining 
their business to the local demand. 

Stock Raisixg. — Fulton County was, from its 
earliest history, always regarded as a hog- 
raising locality. The first hogs introduced into 
the county were brought by John Eveland, in 
1820, and were sandy in color. In after years 
fine hog-raising became a great industry in the 
county. A. C. Moore, in 1855, came to Canton 
Township from Butler County, Ohio. Previous 
to coming to Canton he had been engaged for 



a number of years in breeding hogs. He 
brought with him from Ohio his choicest stock, 
and immediately established himself as a 
breeder of Poland China hogs. The advent of 
Mr. Moore was the beginning of fine hog-raising 
in Fulton County, and, in fact, in Central Illi- 
nois. The success attending Mr. Moore's ef- 
forts produced a desire on the part of others 
to engage in the same business, until now the 
farmer of Fulton County is not content unless 
his hogs are of the choicest selection. Mr. 
Moore's arrival in Fulton County did more to 
improve the breed of hogs in Central Illinois 
than any other single factor. 

The raising of cattle and feeding the same 
for the general market did not develop in Ful- 
ton County until a much later period than the 
raising of hogs. The reason of this was very 
natural, for the dealers did not buy the farmers' 
dressed beef as they did the dressed pork. It 
was not until after the large packing-houses in 
Chicago and elsewhere were established and 
transportation facilities improved, that any 
concerted effort was made on the part of the 
farmers to breed, raise and feed cattle for mar- 
ket. With the establishment of these large 
packing-houses for the handling of beef cat- 
tle, came the development of the business of 
breeding cattle in Fulton County. It has now 
reached a point of great perfection, and there 
are a number of very fine herds in the county. 
The cattle-breeding business has not reached 
that volume, however, which the natural ad- 
vantages of the county seem to justify. There 
have been one or two attempts to establish 
creameries and cheese-making factories in the 
county, but these efforts have not been crowned 
with success; and, today, Fulton County is very 
low on the list of dairy productions of the State. 
One of the causes of this is that it is too 
remote from any large central market. In re- 
cent years, however, the farmers are devoting 
more attention to the production of milk-pro- 
ducing animals, and are supplying themselves 
with outfits that aid in the making of butter, 
but the sale is confined largely to local de- 
mands. There are no regular dairy farms at 
this time in Fulton County outside of those 
belonging to the milk dealers that limit their 
business to supplying the local demands of ad- 
jacent cities. 

The breeding of horses has likewise been 
confined almost wholly to the farmers. There 



6/0 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



are no well equipped stock-breeding farms that 
make a specialty of breeding fine horses at this 
time. The few attempts that have been made 
to establish such farms have proved inglorious 
failures. The farmers themselves, however, 
have undertaken and have succeeded in build- 
ing up a profitable business of raising horses 
for the general market. The classes of horses 
produced are largely confined to heavy draft 
and road horses for carriage purposes. Thirty- 
five or forty years ago the Higbies (George 
and Morrell), of Canton, and others were pro- 
ducing fast horses that commanded attention 
all over the United States. "Governor Sprague," 
"Little Fred" and other Fulton County horses 
are more than traditions in all the principal 
racing centers. These racing horses were con- 
fined to trotters and pacers. The breeding 
of running horses was never a Fulton County 
industry. In later years, however, the breeding 
of fast horses has not brought fame to any 
of Fulton County's breeders, though there are 
still maintained limited stables for the breed- 
ing of racing and fast driving animals. 

Ch.\nges Resulting from the Civil War. — 
The lot of the Fulton County farmer, up to the 
commencement of the Civil War, was not alto- 
gether a prosperous and inviting one. As 
with all new countries, the settlers were gener- 
ally poor, and it is said that, at the outbreak 
of the war In 1861, if the farm lands in Fulton 
County had been sold at public vendue, the 
sum realized therefrom would not have paid 
the incumbrances upon them. This was not 
a very encouraging result for nearly forty years 
of industrious application to the development 
of the county; but it was the ordinary history 
of all new countries and had been repeated be- 
fore that time farther east, has been repeated 
since that time farther west, and is yet being 
repeated in many sections of the South and 
West today. Before 1862, owing to inadequate 
means of transportation and consequent low 
price of produce, the farmers of Fulton County 
had very hard times. About 1862 the effects 
of the Civil War began to be felt, and prices 
for farm produce began to increase. The build- 
ing of railroad lines into the county and the 
inauguration of better water transportation 
facilities were also of great material benefit, 
and farmers began to make money. The Civil 
War improved the knowledge and intellectual 



condition of the farmers wonderfully. By this 
time mail facilities had greatly increased and, 
owing to the desire for news of the affairs of 
the nation, for the first time the Fulton County 
farmers generally began to take newspapers 
and have continued to do so, until now there 
is scarcely a farmer who is not a regular sub- 
scriber to one or more weeklies, and the ma- 
jority of them to a daily newspaper. From a 
material standpoint the Civil War was a great 
boon to the Fulton County farmer. It not only 
contributed to increase the value of his prod- 
uce and lands, but also was a direct incentive 
to the desire for knowledge of public affairs 
and events, which desire has never slackened, 
until, today, the farmers, as a class, are the 
best Informed of the county's citizens. The 
general introduction of telephones to the farm- 
houses and the rural mail delivery, within the 
past ten years, have put the farmer in touch 
with the world on an equality with the resi- 
dents of the larger cities. 



CHAPTER XII. 



GOVERNMENTAL— PUBLIC BUILDI.NGS. 



FIRST MEETING OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS* COURT 
— ^CH.IlNGES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZA- 
TION OF TOWNSHIPS FIRST MEETING OF BOARD 

OF SUPERVISORS UNDER TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION 
— LIST OF COUNTY OFFICERS FROM 1823 TO 1907 
— -COUNTY BUILDINGS COURT HOUSES AND COUN- 
TY ,7AIL.S ALMSHOUSE AND POOR FARM. 

As heretofore stated the three Commission- 
ers, David W. Barnes, Thomas R. Covill and 
Joseph Moffatt, chosen at the election of April 
14, 1823, met on the third day of June follow- 
ing and organized themselves as a County Com- 
missioners' Court for the transaction of official 
business for Fulton County. Hugh R. Coulter 
was selected as Clerk of the court and O. M. 
Ross acted as elisor in the absence of Sheriff 
Eads. The business of the county was trans- 
acted by the Commissioners' Court until the 
organization of the county into townships in 




THOMAS A. BOYD 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



671 



1850, except for a short period between the 
election ot November 6, 1849, and the April 
election next following. During this short time 
the county affairs were managed by a County 
Court. The three Commissioners were elected 
at the same time until 1838, when the law 
changed the term ot office to three years, one 
being elected each year. By law the Commis- 
sioners' Court had other functions aside from 
the transaction ot the business of the county. 
October 11, 1849, was the last time this court 
met. It adjourned in "due course." (Else- 
where will be found a list of the various Com- 
missioners serving the county.) 

Under the Constitution of 1848 the Legis- 
lature created what was known as the County 
Court, with a County Judge and two Asso- 
ciate Justices. This court succeeded the Com- 
missioners' Court, but did not transact the 
business of the county very long. The first 
Judge of this court — -and, in fact, the only 
Judge under that plan — was Erasmus D. Rice. 
The Associate Justices, or what was known as 
Probate Justices, were Parley C. Stearns, of 
Canton, and Jesse Benson, of Isabel. 

At the same election, in which the officers 
of the County Court were elected, the ques- 
tion of township organization was submitted 
to the people, and was carried by a vote of 
2,258 for to 93 against. This same question 
was submitted again in 1852, and the township 
organization plan of county government was 
sustained by a majority of 1,630. 

Township Organization. — Shortly after the 
adoption of the State Constitution of 1848 the 
adoption of township organization in Fulton 
County was agitated, and at the December 
term of the County Court in 1849, Hugh Le- 
Masters, Henry Walker and John Bloomfleld 
were appointed as Commissioners to formulate 
a division of the various townships of the 
county. This committee reported on February 
5, 1850, as follows: 

"We, the undersigned Commissioners, apr' 
pointed by the County Court of Fulton County 
at the December term thereof, A. D. 1849, to 
divide said county into towns in conformity 
to an act of the Legislature of the State of Illi- 
nois, providing for township organization, ap- 
proved February 12, A. D. 1849, having per- 
formed the duties assigned us by said act, now 
submit the following report: 



■'Commencing at the southwest corner of 
said county by making Township Three North, 
Range One East a town by the name of As- 
toria. 

"Township Three North and Two East by 
the name of Lafayette. 

"Fractional Township Three North, Range 
Three East, by the name of Kerton. 

"Township Four North, Range One East, by 
the name of Vermont. 

"Township Four North, Range Two East, by 
the name of Pleasant. 

"All of Townships Four North, of Three 
East and Three and Four North, of Four East, 
that lie west and south of the center ot Spoon 
River, by the name ot Isabel. 

"All of Townships Four North, Three and 
Four East, that lie north and east of the center 
of Spoon River, by the name of Waterford. 

"All of Township Five North, One East, that 
lies west and south of the center of Spoon 
River, by the name of Farmers. 

"All of Township Five North, Two Bast, and 
that part of Five North, One East, lying east 
of the center of Spoon River, by the name of 
Bernadotte. 

"Township Five North, Three East, by the 
name ot Lewistown. 

"All of fractional Township Five North, 
Four and Five East, by the name of Liverpool. 

"AH of Townships Six North, Ranges One 
and Two East, that lie west of the center ot 
Spoon River, by the name ot Harris. 

"All of Townships Six North, Ranges One 
and Two East, that lie east of the center of 
Spoon River, by the name of Cass. 

"Township Six North, Range Three East, by 
the name of Center. 

"Township Six North, Range Four East, by 
the name of Buckheart. 

"All of fractional Township Six North, Range 
Five East, and all that portion of territory east 
of said township to the Peoria line, by the name 
of Utica. 

"All of Townships Seven North, Ranges One 
and Two East that lie west of the center of 
Spoon River, with the exception of Sections 5, 
6 and 7 in Township Seven North, Range Two 
East, by the name of Lee. 

"All of Townships Seven North, Ranges One 
and Two East that lie east of the center of 
Spoon River, by the name of Deerfleld. 



672 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



"All of Township Seven North, Range Three 
East, by the name of Joshua. 

"AH of Township Seven North, Range Four 
East, b.v the name of Canton. 

"All of Township Seven North, Range Five 
East, by the name of Orion. 

"All of Township Eight North, Range One 
East, by the name of Union. 

"All of that part of Township Eight North 
and Sections 5, 6 and 7 in Seven North, Range 
Two East, that lies west of the center of Spoon 
River, by the name of Ellisville. 

"All of Township Eight North, Two East, 
that lies east of the center of Spoon River, by 
the name of Hickory. 

"All of Township Eight North, Range Three 
East, by the name of Fairview. 

"All of Township Eight North, Range Four 
East, by the name of Farmington. 

"All of which is respectfully submitted by us 
this 5th day of February, A. D. 1850. 

"Hugh Lamasteh, 
"Henry Walker, 
"John Bloomfield, 

"Commissioners." 

Under date of April 15, 1850, the State Audi- 
tor notified the then County Clerk, Leonard F. 
Ross, that the township names of Center, La- 
fayette, Hickory and Utica must be changed, 
as there were then existing political divisions 
in the State under those names. In November, 
at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, act- 
ing upon this notice from the State Auditor, 
the name of Utica was changed to Monterey, 
Center to Putman, Lafayette to Woodland and 
Hickory to Young Hickory. The name Monte- 
rey did not meet the approval of the citizens of 
that township, so thirty-six of them joined in 
a very neatly hand-made pamphlet contain- 
ing their signatures and petition, requesting 
that the name of Monterey be changed to that of 
Banner. The request was complied with, but 
the records show that the motion made was 
that the name be changed to, "Banna," clearly 
a clerical error. 

The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors 
after township organization was June 10, 1850, 
pursuant to the legal notice convening the 
board. Only twenty members were present and 
they were as follows: George Bamford, Harris; 
Jesse Smith, Bernadotte; George Anderson, 
Kerton; N. Walker, Lewistown; Jacob Maus, 
Liverpool; Joseph H. Piersol, Lee; Levi H.Brad- 



bury, Union; Nathan Veatch, Lafayette (now 
Woodland); John S. Jenkins, Waterford; A. G. 
Downing, Buckheart; H. S. Hyatt, Center (now 
Putman); J. Farris, Isabel; C. Jones, Joshua; 
George S. Curtis, Ellisville; Ira Johnson, Can- 
ton; J. H. Martin, Deerfield; Jacob Hand, Farm- 
ington. 

The townships not represented at the first 
meeting of the board were Vermont, Farmers, 
Astoria, Cass, Fairview and Banner. The Su- 
I)ervisors elected from these townships, and who 
took part in subsequent proceedings of the 
board, were Thomas Hamer, Vermont; J. H. 
Kinnie, Farmers; Robert McClellan, Astoria; 
A. K. Montgomery, Cass; T. M. Morse, Fair- 
view, and David Markley, Banner. 

H. F. Hyatt, of Center (now Putman), was 
elected Chairman pro tern. By virtue of his 
office County Clerk Leonard F. Ross was ex 
officio Clerk of the board. 

At this meeting of the board there was some 
question as to who should have the custody 
and control of the tax rolls of the county. The 
law was not, apparently, clear to the board. 
County Assessor Paul, who held that office by 
virtue of being County Treasurer, appeared be- 
fore the board and asked that some disposi- 
tion be made of the matter. A resolution was 
passed directing Mr. Paul to turn the rolls 
over to the various Assessors elected in the re- 
spective townships, and further resolving to 
hold Mr. Paul blameless for acting upon the 
order of the board. Thus was the machinery 
of the County Board under township organi- 
zation started and the process of township or- 
ganization completed. The number of town- 
ships, twenty-six, has not been changed to the 
present time. 

COUNTY OFFICERS. 
The following is a list of county officers from 
the organization of Fulton County, with the 
period of incumbency, to the present time: 

Cou.NTY CoiiMissio.N'EBS. — (1823) David W. 
Barnes, Thomas R. Covill, Joseph Moffatt; 
(1824) James Gardiner, James Barnes, David 
W. Barnes; (1825) Stephen Phelps, David W. 
Barnes. James Gardiner; (1826-30) Daniel Mc- 
Niel, Eli H. Bearce, Elias Foster; (1830-32) 
Thomas W. Taylor, William Johnson, Elijah 
Putman; (1832-34) Elijah Wilcoxen, Ware 
Long, John McNeil; (1834-36) John McNeil, 
Jonah Marchant, Joseph Brown; (1836-38) 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



673 



Charles Newcomb, Jared Lyon, William John- 
son; (1838-40) William Johnson (duration of 
office changed by law to three years, one elected 
each year); (1838-41) John Johnston; (1838- 
39) Hiram Wentworth; (1839-42) Isaac 
Lindley; (1840-43) Samuel Dyer; (1841-44) 
John F. Randolph; (1842-45) Evan Bally; 
(1844-48) David S. Johnson; (1846-49) Parley 
C. Sterns; (1846) Jacob Sharp; (1847) David 
S. Johnson; (1848) William K. Johnson. 

Clebks of Circuit Court. — (1823) Hugh R. 
Coulter; (1823-41) Stephen Dewey; (1841-48) 
Washington J. Taylor; (1841) Joel Solomon; 

(1848-52) William McComb; (1852-60) Ed- 
ward Sayre; (1860-68) Alex Hull; (1S6S-76) 
Henry W. Baughman; (1876-84) Theophilua L. 
Frazier; (1884-88) M. D. Cummings; (1888-92) 
W. F. Fike: (1892-96) J. D. Breckenridge; 

(1896-1900) R. B. Griffith; (1900-04) J. C. 
Severns; (1904-) James M. Laws. 

County Judge.s. — (1849-53) Erasmus D. Rice; 
(1853-61) Henry L. Bryant; (1861-69) John M. 
Lewis; (1869-76) John H. Peirsol; (1876-77) 
Henry L. Bryant: (1877-82) Samuel P. Cum- 
mings; (1882-88) Thomas A. Boyd (resigned); 
(1888-90) W. Scott Edwards (elected to fill 
vacancy for two years); (1890-94) A. M. Bar- 
nett; (1894-98) S. H. Armstrong (died in 
office); (1898) G. L. Miller (appointed by 
Governor to fill vacancy); 1898-02) Meridith 
Walker; (1902-06) W. Scott Edwards; (1906-) 
J. D. Breckenridge. 

County Clerks. — (1823) Hugh R. Coulter; 
(1824-39) Stephen Dewey; (1839-47) Henry B. 
Evans; (1847-49) Fitch J. Porter; (1849-53) 
Leonard F. Ross; (1853-01) John H. Peirsol; 
(1861-69) Joseph Dyckes; (1S69-73) .James H. 
Stipp; (1873-82) Isaiah C. Worley; (1882-86) 
W. R. McLaren; (1886-90) P. H. Snively; (1890- 
94) Joseph H. Harmison; (1894-98) W. H. 
Boyer; (1898-02) H. J. Etnor; (1902-06) J. E. 
Schafer; (1906-) Oscar Horton. 

Sheriffs.— (1823-25) Abner Eads; (1825-27) 
O. M. Ross; (1827-28) Myron Phelps; (1828-32) 
Charles Newcomb; (1832-40) Hugh Lemaster; 
(1843-46) Cannah Jones; (1846-50) Joseph 
Dyckes; (1850-52) David J. Waggoner; (1852- 
54) Joseph Dyckes; (1854-56) David J. Wag- 
goner; (1856-58) William M. Standard; (1858- 
60) David J. Waggoner; (1860-62) Asaph 
Perry; (1862-64) J. F. Wilcoxen; (1864-66) 



Robert Johnson; (1866-68) David J. Waggoner; 
(1868-70) Silas Babbitt; (1870-74) Robert 
Prichard; (1874-78) David J. Waggoner; (1878- 
82) Oliver P. Randolph; (1882-86) James M. 
Stewart; (1886-90) A. B. Smith; (1890-94) L. 
M. Donnelly; (1894-98) James M. Laws; (1898- 
1902) L. C. Fonts; (1902-06) J. H. De Wolf; 
(1906-) W. H. Basel. 

SiTRVEYORS.— (1823) John N. Ross; (1831-34) 
Jonas Rewalt; (1834-36) Hugh Lemaster; 

(1836) Stephen H. Pitkins; ■ Gilbert; 

Voorhees; (1847-49) Isaiah Stillman; (1849-51) 
Stephen H. Pitkins; (1851-53) David F. Emry; 
(1853-56) Tera Jones; (1856-57) William J. 
Edie; (1857-59) Harrison Rigdon; (1859-69) 
Davis Shreeves; (1869-74) Francis P. Paull; 
(1874-79) Charles Killsa; (1879-1880) William 
T. R. Fennessy; (1880-90) Charles Kelso; (1890- 
94) Adrian Roberts; (1894-) R. H. Bond. 

School Commissioner.s. — (1833) Joel Wright; 
(1833-37) Jonas Rawalt; (1837-44) Erasmus D. 
Rice; (1843-47) Fitch J. Porter; (1847-49) 
Martin Eichelberger; (1849-51) William N. 
Cline; (1851-53) John W. Shinn; (1853-54) Ed- 
ward Sayer; (1854-58) William H. Haskell; 
(1858-63) S. Y. Thornton; (1863-65) W. T. 
Davidson (name of office changed). 

Sri'ERi.\TENDENT.s OF SCHOOLS. — (1865), Samuel 
S. Tipton; (1869) James K. Harmison; (1869- 
72) Horatio J. Benton; (1872-76) Vincent M. 
Grewell; (1876-82) Horatio J. Benton; (1882- 
86) E. R. Boyer; (1886-94) M. P. Rice; (1894-) 
M. M. Cook. 

County Treasurers.— (1823) Thomas L. 
Ross; (1823-24) Robert Grant; (1824) O. M. 
Ross; (1824-27) Robert Grant; (1827) Moses 
Hallett; (1828) Sheldon Lockwood; (1829-31) 
John McNeil; (1831) Isaiah Stillman; (1832-33) 
Jesse Benson; (1833-37) Erasmus D. Rice; (1837- 
39) Hirah Sanders; (1839-41) John Miller; (1841- 
43) Franklin Foster; (1843-48) William McComb; 
(1848-53) Robert Paull; (1853-57) George 
Humphrey; (1857-61) Jacob Derry; (1861-65) 
William C. Worley; (1865-69) Charles Howard; 
(1869-73) Evan Baily; (1873-77) Job Walker; 
(1877-82) Philemon Markley; (1882-86) J. P. 
Wolf; (1886-90) J. M. Stewart; (1890-94) Rob- 
ert Zimmerman; (1894-98) J. W. Dodds; (1898- 
1902) H. F. Townsend; (1902-06, M. H. Cone; 
(1906-) George Wilson. 

CoRONEKS.— (1823) William Clark; (1836-38) 



674 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Daniel Wells; (1838) Emsley Wiley; (1848-52) 
Henry Snively; (1852-54) Harrison P. Fel- 
lows; (1854-56) Samuel Sivley; (1856-58) 
James Robb; (1858-60) Zalmon A. Green; (1860- 
62) Isaac Cunningliam; (1860-64) H. Mc- 
Caughey; (1864-66) F. M. Snively; (1866-68) 
John Scrivner; (1868-70) Joseph Barker; (1870- 
72) Daniel Walters; (1872-76) Hiram Hunt; 
(1876-84) S. B. Bennett; (1884-92) Dr. D. M. 
Waggoner; (1892-1900) Dr. I. L. Beatty; (1900- 
04) Dr. H. C. Gluts; (1904-) Dr. W. F. Ziegler. 

State's Attorneys.— (1872-84) Daniel Ab- 
bott; (1884-88) Wilton Vandeventer; (1888-92) 
Kinsey Thomas; (1892-96) P. W. Gallagher; 
(1896-1900) B. M. Chipperfield; (1900-04) Ber- 
nard H. Taylor; (1904-) William S. Jewell. 

COUNTY PROPERTY. 

Coukt House History.— Fulton County Is the 
owner at the present time of lots 213, 214, 215, 
180, 181 and 182 in the city of Lewistown. 
These premises are occupied by the County 
Court House building and grounds. The county 
is also the owner of lots 277 and 278 in the 
city of Lewistown and on these premises is 
located the County Jail. 

The first Court House was a log structure 
built by Ossian M. Ross for the sum of $500. 
The official description contained In the rec- 
ords of the contract, as recorded in the offi- 
cial proceedings of the County Commissioners' 
Court, is as follows: 

••The size of the Court House, 26x30 feet, one 
and a half stories high, and built of hewn logs; 
a shingle roof, the shingles three feet long and 
well nailed on; the upper floor of puncheons 
to be hewed on both sides; three windows be- 
low and two above, with twelve lights of glass 
in each window; window shutters on each win- 
dow; a briclv chimney with two fire places, one 
below and one above; one pair of stairs to go 
up on the inside of said building to accommo- 
date the upper room. The above building to 
be raised and the roof 'on so that court can be 
held in said house at the next term of the Cir- 
cuit Court, which will be on the second Mon- 
day of October next; and to be completed by 
the first day of January next. One-half of the 
money to be paid to the contractors when the 
house is raised and covered, and the balance 
when the house is completed." 

This contract was let by the County Com- 
missioners at their July meeting, 1823. The 



building served the purposes of a Court House 
for near seven years. At the March session 
of the County Commissioners" Court, in 1830, 
it was decided that either the old Court House 
must be repaired or a new one erected. John 
llcXeil was finally given a contract to erect 
the county's second Court House, a picture of 
which is given elsewhere in this work. It was 
a frame structure and cost the county $649 and 
the material in the old Court House, which was 
given to the contractor as a part of his com- 
pensation. Seven years was the duration of 
this second Court House. At the County Com- 
missioners' Court at its March session in 1837 
the following resolution was passed: 

••The court being satisfied that the public 
interest demands, and the respectability and 
prosperity of the people require, the erection 
of a good, substantial Court House, suitable to 
accommodate the present and future popula- 
tion of the county, and the sum of $2,000 hav- 
ing been subscribed by the citizens of Fulton 
County toward defraying the expense of such 
a building, it is therefore ordered that a Court 
House be built on lots Nos. 181 and 214 in the 
town of Lewistown, and that said Court House 
be built of bricks, upon a suitable foundation 
of stone, and to be 40x53 feet on the ground 
with a projection of the roof of twelve feet, 
supported by four pillars of suitable material. 
It is further ordered that Newton Walker, John 
McNeil, Erasmus D. Rice, Myron Phelps and 
John P. Boice be appointed a committee to 
make a draft of the building and an estimate 
of the probable expense of such a building, and 
that they be requested to report the same to 
the court tomorrow morning at ten o'clock." 

This committee reported the estimated cost 
of the structure to be $7,517. The construction 
of the building was delegated to Newton 
Walker, under whose direction the structure 
was erected at a cost of about $9,800. A pic- 
ture of this building is given elsewhere in this 
work. 

The building was destroyed by fire December 
13, 1895, reference to which is made elsewhere. 
The present Court House, a picture of which 
appears elsewhere, was erected by the citizens 
of Lewistown at a cost of $40,200 and presented 
to the county in 1897. The county expended in 
equii)ping the building with heating plant, in- 
terior decorations, plumbing and furnishings, 
an additional sum of $30,000. 

County Jails. — The first county jail in the 





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FIRST COURT HOUSE 
Built in 1823 




SECOND COURT HOUSE 

Built in 1830 




COURT HOUSE 
Built in 1838 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



675 



county is officially described by the records of 
the County Commissioners' Court as follows: 

"All of hewn logs or timber, one foot square, 
floors and sides; one window with good iron 
grates; the roof to be the same as that of the 
Court House; a good jail door and everything 
else to make it a strong, substantial jail." 

This building was erected by contract by Os- 
sian M. Ross for the sum of $276. It did service 
as a jail for about ten years. It was located 
upon a part of what is now the Court House 
square. In June, 1833, a new jail was con- 
structed of logs at a cost of $674. Samuel Co- 
zard was the contractor. In April, 1845, this 
structure was burned by one James Knott, a 
prisoner confined therein. Knott was the sole 
occupant of the jail and after liberating him- 
self he set fire to the structure and fled to the 
tall timber. When it was ascertained that the 
jail was on fire the inhabitants of the county 
seat became greatly excited for fear Knott 
would be incinerated and were greatly sur- 
prised after breaking into the jail to find that 
Knott had fled the realm. He was afterward 
captured and told the story of his escape. 

The Commissioners' Court, before deciding 
to erect another jail, submitted the question 
to the people at the August election in 1846. It 
was proposed to build a structure of masonry, 
together with a jailer's residence. The voters 
of the county overwhelmingly defeated the 
proposition, and the order directing the build- 
ing of the structure was vacated by the Com- 
missioners' Court. Fulton County was without 
a jail until 1850, when one was ordered by the 
Board of Sjupervisors, notwithstanding a re- 
monstrance containing 537 names was presented 
requesting that the question be again sub- 
mitted to the voters of the county. The ma- 
jority of the members of the board considered 
the law mandatory that a suitable place for 
the detention of prisoners be supplied. This 
was the report submitted by a committee of 
three supervisors, N. Walker, of Lewistown; 
Jonas Rawalt, of Orion, and L. H. Bradbury, of 
Union. The result, after a heated contest on 
the board, was that a jail twenty-four feet 
square, at a cost of $4,214.22, was ordered 
erected on lot 218, in the city of Lewistown, 
which was purchased for that purpose. In 
1867 lot 277 was purchased and added to t'ne 
jail premises, and the building which is 
now used for a jail was constructed foi- 
the sum of $28,300. With few altera- 



tions this structure remains the same 
as when first erected. A complete steel in- 
terior has been provided, replacing the old cell 
rooms, thus making it more safe for the pro- 
tection of life and the detention of prisoners. 

Poor Farm.— The first Poor Farm owned by 
the county was the northwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 25 and the east half of the northwest 
quarter of Section 36 in Township Six North 
and Range Two East, that is to say, in Cass 
Township. On this was established the Poor 
House, a very incommodious structure com- 
pleted in 1848. Within three years the County 
Farm was abandoned as an extravagant method 
of caring for the poor of the county, and was 
sold to L. F. Ross for the sum of $1,425, the 
original cost of the farm. This was in 1851. 
In 1852 it was resolved by the Board of Su- 
pervisors to again purchase a farm and resume 
caring for the county poor directly, instead of 
letting the same to the lowest bidder. In 
1S54 the present farm of eighty acres was 
purchased. It is located about two miles south- 
east of Canton. The original building erected 
thereon has been added to and altered until 
it is now a very serviceable structure for the 
uses and purposes for which it is designed. 

The County Poor Farm, on which the County 
Poor House is located, is the north half of the 
northwest quarter of Section 1 in Township 
Six North, of Range Pour East, that is to 
say, on Section 1 in the Township of Buck- 
heart. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



COURTS— BENCH AND BAR. 



FULTON COUNTY COURTS — JUDICIAI- DISTRICTS OF 

WHICH THE COUNTY HAS FORMED A PART FIRST 

JUDGES AND JURY PANELS — LIST OF JUDGES WHO 

HAVE PRESIDED OVER FULTON CIRCUIT COURTS 

PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS AND JIODES OF APPOINT- 
MENT OR ELECTION FIRST LAWYERS AND JUS- 
TICES OF THE PEACE — CANTON CITY COURT DE- 
CEASED AND PRESENT MEMBERS OP FULTON 
COUNTY BAR. 

When Fulton County was organized it be- 
came a part of the First Judicial District of 
the State, and its Circuit Court was presided 



676 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



over by Judge John Reynolds, afterward Gov- 
ernor of the State. Judge Reynolds was one 
of the Supreme Court Judges who, under the 
Constitution of 1S18, did nisi prius work in the 
Circuit Courts of the First District. He pre- 
sided at the first session of the Fulton County 
Court, which, according to the records, met on 
April 26, 1824, a year after the county was or- 
ganized. Grand and Petit Jurors had been se- 
lected tor the October term of 1823 by the 
County Commissioners' Court, but, for some 
reason not disclosed, no court was held until 
April of the next year. The first Grand Jurors 
selected for the term of the Circuit Court, 
which was to be holden in October, 1823, were 
the following citizens: A. C. Ransom, Joseph 
Ogee, Elijah Wentworth, Elijah Putman, Ben- 
jamin Seaville, Stephen Chase, John Totten, 
George Brown, John Bveland, Roswell B. Fen- 
ner, Thomas L. Ross, William T. Davidson, 
Hazel Putman, Amos Eveland, George Mat- 
thews, John Wolcott, Norman Seaville, Theo- 
dore Sergeant, David Gallatine, William Hig- 
gins, Isaac Swan, Peter Wood, Charles Gard- 
ner and James Eveland. The Petit Jurors se- 
lected tor the same term were the following 
named citizens: Joseph Moffatt, Samuel Daugh- 
erty, John Griffin, William Eads, Aquila Mof- 
fatt, James Fulton, Seth Fulton, William Clark, 
David D. Harkness, James P. Harkness, Peter 
White, M. G. Fitch, Thomas Covill, D. W. 
Barnes, William Smith, John Pixley, Charles 
Sergeant, Reuben Eveland, A. W. Williams, 
Reuben Fenner, Ossian M. Ross, John L. Bo- 
gardus, Edward Carney and Isaac Eveland. 
Many of these jurors were from Ft. Clark, now 
Peoria. 

The Grand Jury which was finally empaneled 
at the session of the first Circuit Court of 
Fulton County April 26, 1825, consisted of the 
following citizens: Ossian M. Ross, foreman; 
John Wolcott, David Gallatine, Jeremiah 
Smith, Elijah Putman, Urban Ryalds, Hazel 
Putman, Reuben Fenner, William Clark, 
Stephen Chase, James Johnson, Roswell Tyr- 
rell, Thomas Eveland, Lyman Tracy, Theo- 
dore Sergeant, Roswell B. Fenner, Joseph Ogee 
and Robert Brumb. The term was presided 
over by Judge John Reynolds. 

Hugh R. Coulter had been appointed clerk 
of the Circuit Court, this office not being elective 
but appointive. 

The first case on the docket was entitled 



"Ellas P. Avery vs. John Totten, appeal from 
Justice's court." Avery resided at Ft. Clark; 
Totten on Totten's Prairie, now in Cass Town- 
ship. The entry shows, "suit dismissed, each 
party paying his own costs. " This entry was 
made on April 27, 1824, the second day of the 
term. The next term of the Circuit Court held 
in Fulton County was November 10, 1825, 
more than a year later. It was presided over 
by Judge John Y. Sawyer, who had recently 
been appointed Judge of the newly created 
Fifth Circuit. Judge Sawyer was soon legis- 
lated out of office and Judge Reynolds resumed 
the duties of presiding in the circuit. In 1829 
a redistricting was had and Fulton County 
was placed in the Fifth Judicial Circuit. The 
Judges performing duty in that circuit were 
Richard M. Young, John, H. Ralston and Peter 
Lott, successively. Another change in the law 
placed Judges Stephen A. Douglas, Jesse B. 
Thomas and Norman H. Purple in the district. 
Under the Constitution of 1848 Fulton County 
was again placed in the Fifth Judicial Circuit, 
and its courts were presided over by William 
A. Minshall, Pinkey H. Walker, John S. 
Bailey and Chauncey L. Higbee, successively. 
Under the Constitution of 1870 Fulton County 
was placed in the Eleventh Judicial District, 
presided over by Chauncey L. Higbee until, 
under the law of 1877, it was placed in the 
Sixth Judicial District with three Judges pre- 
siding. Under this apportionment the follow- 
ing were the Judges for the district — three 
for each district until the reapportionment in 
1897: Chauncey L. Higbee, John Sibley, S. P. 
Shope, John H. Williams, William Marsh, 
Charles J. Scofield, John C. Bagby, Oscar P. 
Bonney and Jefferson Orr. In the reapportion- 
ment of 1897 Fulton County was placed in the 
Ninth Judicial Circuit. The following is a 
list of the names of the Judges who have pre- 
sided in this circuit since the reapportionment 
of 1897, viz.: John J. Glenn, John A. Gray, 
George W. Thompson and Robert J. Grier. The 
last three are the Presiding Judges of the Cir- 
cuit Court at the present time. 

Prosecutixg Attorneys. — Until 1829 the At- 
torney-General of the State, or an assistant 
from his office, represented the people of the 
State of Illinois in all prosecutions. At the 
first term of the Fulton County Circuit Court 
the Attorney-General, James Turney, was pres- 
ent in person. The following term John Twing 




COUNTY JAIL, LEWISTOWN 




COURT HOUSE, LEWISTOWN 
Built in 1897 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



677 



was appointed pro tern, to represent the Attor- 
ney-General's office. Turney was succeeded by 
John Forquer. Forquer was succeeded by 
Ninian W. Edwards, but Edwards was never 
called to appear as Prosecutor in Fulton County, 
as the law creating the office of District Attor- 
ney to represent the people In criminal cases 
was enacted shortly after he assumed the duties 
of office. The District Attorney was the prose- 
cuting attorney for all the Circuit Courts in 
the judicial circuit or district. The District 
Attorneys for the various successive judicial 
districts of which Fulton County was a part 
were as follows: Thomas Ford, William A. 
Richardson, Henry L. Bryant, William Elliott, 
Robert S. Blackwell, Calvin A. Warren, Har- 
mon G. Reynolds, William C. Goudy, A. M. 
Craig, John S. Bailey, L. H. Waters, Thomas 
E. Morgan and L. W. James. 

Under the Constitution of 1870 each county 
has elected its own Prosecuting Attorney. The 
first incumbent under this provision for Ful- 
ton County was Daniel Abbott, who was suc- 
ceeded by P. W. Gallagher, W. M. Vandeventer, 
Kinsey Thomas, P. W. Gallagher again, B. M. 
Chiperfield, B. H. Taylor and W. S. Jewell 
(present incumbent), successively. 

The business before the Circuit Court of 
Fulton County was very light for many years 
after the organization of the county, and the 
court did not convene with any great degree 
of regularity. It was many years before im- 
portant matters were brought to the attention 
of the court for adjustment. Petty criminal 
cases and appeals from the Justices' and County 
Commissioners' Courts and adjustments of es- 
tates took up what little attention was given 
the people's business by the court. It was not 
until the contests over land titles began that 
the sessions of the Fulton County Circuit Court 
became really important and interesting from 
a professional standpoint, at least. 

Hugh R. Coulter holds the distinction of be- 
ing Fulton County's first lawyer, though he 
did not follow the profession as an avocation to 
any great extent. He was admitted to practice 
law in Illinois by Judge John Y. Sawyer upon 
the occasion of the holding of the second term 
of Fulton County Circuit Court, over which 
Judge Sawyer presided. Among the first law- 
yers appearing in Fulton County Courts may 
be mentioned Alfred W. Caverly, of Greene 
County; Nicholas Hansen and John Shaw, of 



Pike County; Jonathan H. Pugh, of Sanga- 
mon County, and John L. Bogardus, of Peoria 
County. Aside from Hugh R. Coulter, W. C. 
Osborn, William Elliott and E. T. Warren 
were the very early members of the Fulton 
County Bar. 

Ossian M. Ross and Hugh R. Coulter were 
both acting Justices of the Peace for Pike 
County before Fulton County was organized, 
and later were appointed for Fulton County. 
Among the other very early Justices of Fulton 
County were John Hamlin, Seth Fulton, Am- 
herst C. Ransom and William Eads, all re- 
siding at Fort Clark; John Kinsey, residing at 
Chicago, and Jacob Ellis, Jeremiah Smith, 
George Smith, George Matthews, Reuben Fen- 
ner and Peter Wood, residing in what is now 
the confines of Fulton County. These Justices 
were appointed by the State General Assem- 
bly in 1825 or earlier. 

The Constables were appointed by the County 
Commissioners' Court. The first persons ap- 
pointed Constables were Aquila Moffatt and 
John Griffin, of Fort Clark, and George Mat- 
thews, John Totten and Horace Enos from pres- 
ent Fulton County territory, their appoint- 
ments being made in 1823. 

Cantox City Court. — The City Court of the 
city of Canton was established in 1889. The 
Judges of this court have been R. B. Stevenson, 
William H. Hemenover and P. W. Gallagher, 
successively. The Clerks of this court have 
been D. W. Maple, T. L. Frazier, A. T. At- 
water, Harry E. Moran and W. B. Gleason. 

Deceased Attorneys. — Below is given a 
fairly representative list of the names of the 
various attorneys who, at some time in their 
professional career, were members of the Ful- 
ton County Bar, but who are now deceased. 
Some of these men spent their entire profes- 
sional lives in Fulton County, while others re- 
mained but a few years at most. No attempt 
at classification has been made, the names be- 
ing given in alphabetical order. Some of these 
names call attention to illustrious citizens of 
the State and Nation; others suggest merely 
the passing of an ordinary individual. Where 
the life of the individual has left its impress 
upon Fulton County history, its record has 
been exemplified in its proper place; therefore, 
it suffices to merely give the names, as follows: 
H. S. Austin, Jacob Abbott, John P. Boice, 



678 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Floyd Brown, Thomas H. Bruner, Granville 
Barrere, Thomas A. Boyd, Henry L. Bryant, 
John S. Clendennin, Lewis Corbin, Stephen E. 
Carlin, John W. David, Asa Lee Davison, Caleb 
J. Dilworth, Henry B. Evans, Robert Farwell, 
William C. Goudy, Samuel A. Ghee, Frank B. 
Gregory, W. H. H. Haskell, George S. Hill, M. 
F. Hufford, James Johnson, S. Corning Judd, 
William Kellogg, Myron Kimball, A. G. Kirk- 
patrick, Thomas J. Little, Sidney V. McClung, 
C. J. Main, Joseph L. Murphy, Samuel B. Ober- 
lander, George Phelps, Stephen H. Pitkins, 
John W. Ross, Leonard F. Ross, Lewis W. 
Ross, John Sharp, Henry B. Stillman, George 
W. Stipp, R. B. Stevenson, Washington J. Tay- 
lor, S. S. Tipton, John A. Thompson, Henry 
Walker, Cash Whitney, John S. Winter, H. M. 
Weed, Ira O. Wilkinson, A. C. Woolfolk and 
Frank L. Winegar. 

Present Members of the Bar. — ^Within the 
past year Hardin W. Masters, one of the most 
prominent members of the Fulton County Bar 
for many years, accompanied by his son, 
Thomas D. Masters, who was also his partner, 
removed to Springfield, 111.; M. W. O'Hern, of 
Astoria, and his brother, P. T., of Lewistown, re- 
moved to Kansas City, and W. A. Babcock, of 
Lewistown, to Oklahoma during the last year. 
The following is a list of the present members 
of the Fulton County Bar, with place of resi- 
dence : 

Farmington — A. A. Luckey. 

Canton — Daniel Abbott, O. J. Boyer, Warden 
Barrere, B. M. Chiperfield, C. E. Chiperfield, 
Frederick M. Grant, Jesse Heylin, Gilbert L. 
Miller, Frederic A. Perkins, Floyd F. Putman, 
Fred H. Snyder, A. E. Taff and B. H. Taylor. 
Judge John A. Gray, one of the Circuit Judges 
for the Ninth Judicial District, and Judge P. 
W: Gallagher, of the City Court of Canton, re- 
side in Canton. 

Lewistown — H. H. Atherton, Hobart S. Boyd, 
John D. Breckenridge, A. M. Barnett, Frank 
Comstock, C. M. Dowd, W. S. Edwards, Lucian 
Gray, W. S. Jewell, L. W. James, E. W. Keefer, 
M. P. Rice, M. T. Robison, Harry M. Waggoner 
and W. C. Worley. 

Vermont — John D. O'Hern and W. C. Karr. 

Astoria — U. G. Butcher. 

Cuba — J. C. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



POLITICAL. 



FIRST ELECTION IN FtTLTON COUNTY THE OSSIAN 

M. ROSS HOUSE THE POLLING PLACE FOB THE 

MOST NORTHERLY PRECINCT IN PIKE COUNTY 

METHODS OF VOTING THEN BY VIVA VOCE — THE 
PRO-SL.AVERY STRUGGLE OF 1822-24 — APPORTION- 
MENTS FOR REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS, AND 
LIST OF MEMBERS WHO HAVE REPRESENTED FUL- 
TON COUNTY LEGISLATIVE APPOETIONMENTS 

LIST OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES WHO 
HAVE REPRESENTED THE FULTON DISTRICT. 

The first election ever held in Fulton County 
after its organization was the one called for 
April 14, 1823, by act of the Legislature which 
created the county. This election was held at 
the home of Ossian M. Ross, at Lewistown, and 
was for the election of local officers only, who 
held oflSce from the date of their election and 
qualification until August, 1824, the date of the 
next general election. Reference to this elec- 
tion is made in the chapter treating of the 
organization of the county. At the general 
election held the preceding August, that is to 
say, August 5, 1822, the most northerly vot- 
ing precinct of Pike County, of which Fulton 
was a part at that time, was located at the 
home of Ossian M. Ross. At this election Ab- 
ner Eads, Stephen Chase and Reuben Fenner 
were judges, and John Totten was clerk. Ed- 
ward Coles received nineteen votes for Governor 
at this precinct, Joseph Phillips seven and 
Thomas C. Brown six. At the election held on 
April 14, 1823, the judges were George Brown, 
Amos Eveland and Hazel Putman, and the 
clerks were Thomas Lee Ross and John Totten. 
Harvey Lee Ross says in his book, "Early 
Pioneers and Events," written in 1898, that the 
original poll books of these two elections were 
in his possession at the time. 

Under the Constitution of 1818, elections were 
held on the first Monday in August of the even 
years; therefore, the first general election held 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



679 



after the organization of Fulton County was 
on August 2, 1S24 — tlie manner of voting tlien 
being by viva voce. Unfortunately the abstracts 
of the election returns from the organization of 
the county down to 1836 are not obtainable 
from the county records. There are no abstracts 
of the election returns obtainable from the 
County Clerk's office from the organization of 
the county until 1S36, and of some elections 
even later. Reliance for the returns from 1836 
to 1878 has been had on Chapman's History. 
The returns subsequent to that date are to be 
found in the County Clerk's office, except for the 
years 1886 and 1896, which seem to be missing 
from the files and had to be obtained from pri- 
vate sources. 

The Pro-Slavery Contest of 1822-24. — In the 
election of August 2, 1824, one of the most mo- 
mentous questions ever presented to the peo- 
ple of Illinois for decision was then submitted. 
It was the question practically of whether Illi- 
nois should be a free or a slave State. Those 
favoring making it a slave State secured from 
the Legislature an act submitting to the peo- 
ple at this election the question of calling a 
convention for the purpose of amending the 
Constitution. On this question there were sixty- 
five votes cast in Fulton County. This was 
nearly double the vote cast at the election the 
year previous, and be it said to the credit of 
Fulton County, that only five of the sixty-five 
votes were in favor of calling the convention. 
Only one other county In the State cast fewer 
pro-slavery votes, and that was Edgar, which 
gave the pro-slavery cause but three votes. 
When it is considered that the majority against 
the convention was only 1,872 in the State, it 
will be seen that Fulton County did its part 
well. Ossian M. Ross played an important 
part in sustaining the anti-slavery cause in 
Fulton and adjoining counties. He especially 
was active among the voters of Fulton and 
Pike Counties. 

There have been a few contests of the elec- 
tion of particular candidates filed, but in each 
instance the returns as made by the returning 
board have been sustained. There was a con- 
test for the office of Sheriff after tlie first elec- 
tion held in the county, as detailed elsewhere. 

POLITICAL REPRESENTATION. 

In Congress. — At the time of the formation 
of Fulton County in 1823 the entire State of 



Illinois constituted one Congressional District, 
Daniel P. Cook representing the State in Con- 
gress from 1819 to 1827. He was succeeded by 
Joseph Duncan, who represented the State in 
Congress until 1833. The State was divided 
into three Congressional Districts by the ap- 
portionment of 1831, when Fulton County be- 
came a part of the Third Congressional Dis- 
trict, the first election under this apportion- 
ment being held in 1832. The district then con- 
sisted of Greene, Morgan, Sangamon. Tazewell, 
Macon, McLean, LaSalle, Cook, Putnam, Peoria, 
Henry, Knox, Jo Daviess, Mercer, Warren, 
Hancock, McDonough, Fulton, Schuyler, 
Adams, Pike and Calhoun. 

The list of members who represented Fulton 
County under this apportionment, with politics 
and place of residence, was as follows: 

1833-35 — Joseph Duncan' (Dem.), Jackson- 
ville; William L. May (Dem.), Springfield. 

1835-39— William L. May (Dem.), Springfield. 

1839-43— John T. Stuart (Whig), Springfield. 

By the apportionment of 1843 Fulton County 
was placed in the Fifth Congressional District, 
the counties composing this district being 
Greene, Jersey, Calhoun, Pike, Adams, Mar- 
quette (afterward Highland and now part of 
Adams), Brown, Schuyler, Fulton, Peoria and 
Macoupin. 

Under this apportionment Fulton County was 
represented in Congress as follows: 

1843-46— Stephen A. Douglas (Dem.), Quincy. 

1846-47 — William A. Richardson (Dem.), 
Rushville. 

1847-53 — William A. Richardson (Dem.), 
Rushville. 

The apportionment of 1852 placed Fulton 
County in the Fourth Congressional District, 
the counties composing this district being Ful- 
ton, Peoria, Knox, Henry, Stark, Warren, Mer- 
cer, Marshall, Woodford, Mason and Tazewell. 

The Representatives under this apportion- 
ment were: 

1853-57 — James Knox (Whig and Rep.), 
Knoxville. 

1857-63— William Kellogg (Rep.), Canton. 

By the apportionment of 1861 Fulton County 
was placed in the Ninth Congressional District, 
the counties composing this district being Ful- 
ton, Mason, Menard, Cass, McDonough, Schuy- 
ler, Brown and Pike. Under this apportionment 



"Elected Governor and resigned. 



1 



68o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Fulton County was represented in Congress as 
follows: 

1863-69 — Lewis W. Ross (Dem.), Lewistown. 
1869-73 — T. W. McNeeley (Dem.), Petersburg. 
In 1872 Fulton County became a part of the 
Ninth District, the counties composing this dis- 
trict being Stark, Peoria, Knox and Fulton. 
Fulton County was represented in Congress 
under this opportionment as follows: 

1873-75 — Granville Barrere (Rep.), Canton. 
1875-77 — Richard Whiting (Rep.), Peoria. 
1877-81 — Thomas A. Boyd (Rep.), Lewistown. 
1881-83— John H. Lewis (Rep.), Knoxville. 
The apportionment of 1882 placed Fulton 
County in the Tenth District. The counties 
composing this district were Peoria, Knox, 
Starlv and Fulton, and under this apportion- 
ment Fulton County was represented in Con- 
gress as follows: 

1883-87— N. E. Worthington (Dem.), Peoria. 
1887-93— Philip S. Post (Rep.), Galesburg. 
By the apportionment of 1893 Fulton County 
was placed in the Fourteenth District, the 
counties composing the district being Putnam, 
Marshall, Peoria, Fulton, Tazewell and Mason. 
The Representative in Congress from this dis- 
trict under this apportionment was: 

1895-1903— Joseph V. Graff (Rep.), Peoria. 
By the apportionment of 1901 Fulton County 
was placed in the Fifteenth District. The 
counties composing this district are Adams, 
Fulton, Henry, Knox and Schuyler. Under 
this apportionment Fulton County has been 
represented in Congress continuously since 1903 
by George W. Prince (Rep.), Galesburg. 

General Assembly. — At the time of the or- 
ganization of Fulton County out of a part of 
the territory then included in Pike County. 
Pike County, in conjunction with Greene, was 
represented in the Senate by George Caldwell, 
and Pike County was represented in the House 
of Representatives by Nicholas Hansen, whose 
seat had been contested by John Shaw. Hansen 
was first seated, but a day later was ousted by 
political intrigue and Shaw seated in his place. 
Reference is made to this matter in another 
part of this work. 

Previous to the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion of 1870 senatorial and representative dis- 
tricts were not identical, as they are now; that 
is to say, a county might belong to one sena- 
torial district and to a different representative 
district. For instance, during the period of 



the Fourth General Assembly (1824-26), the 
senatorial district consisted of Greene, Mor- 
gan, Fulton and Pike Counties, and the repre- 
sentative district of Fulton and Pike. As the 
State grew in population the representation was 
changed by legislative act and representation 
increased and the areas represented diminished 
accordingly. After the adoption of the Con- 
stitution of 1848 Fulton and McDonough Coun- 
ties were placed in the same Senatorial Dis- 
trict, while Fulton became a Representative 
District with two members. This apportion- 
ment was made in 1854 and so remained until 
in 1861, when Mason, Fulton and Knox were 
placed in the Senatorial District together, Ful- 
ton remaining a separate representative district 
with two members. This condition remained 
unchanged until the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion of 1870, when, under a special provision 
of that Constitution, an apportionment was 
made by the Governor and Secretary of State 
for the choice of members of the first General 
Assembly, tnereafter to be elected. Under this 
apportionment Mason, Fulton and Knox Coun- 
ties remained as a separate senatorial district, 
while Fulton remained a representative district, 
with three Representatives. Under the act of 
March 1, 1872, which put in force the principle 
of "minority representation," senatorial and 
representative districts became identical, each 
district being entitled to one Senator and three 
Representatives. 

Beginning with the Fourth General Assem- 
bly (1824-26), Fulton County has been rep- 
resented in the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives as follows ("G. A." standing for General 
Assembly) : 

Fourth G. A. (1824-26)— Senator, Thomas 
Carlin, Greene County; Representatives, Nich- 
olas Hansen and Levi Roberts, Pike County. 

Fifth G. A. (1826-28)— Senator, Thomas Car- 
lin, Greene County; Representative, Henry J. 
Ross, Pike County. 

Sixth G. A. (1828-30)— Senator, Henry J. 
Ross, Pike County; Representative, John Tur- 
ney, Pike County. 

Seventh G. A. (1830-32)— Senator, Henry J. 
Ross, Pike County; Representative, Joel Wright, 
Fulton County. 

Eighth G. A. (1832-34)— Senator, William 
McCreary, Schuyler County; Representative, 
Samuel Hackelton, Fulton County. 

Ninth G. A. (1834-36)— Senator, George W. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



68 1 



T. Maxwell, Schuyler County; Representative, 
Samuel Hackelton, Fulton County. 

Tenth G. A. (1S36-3S)— Senator, Samuel 
Hackelton, Fulton County; Representatives, 
Asel F. Ball, Fulton County; Jonas Rawalt, Ful- 
ton County. 

Eleventh G. A. (1838-40)— Senator, Samuel 
Hackelton, Fulton County; resigned and was 
succeeded by David Markley; Representatives, 
Jonas Rawalt and Newton Walker, Fulton 
County. 

Twelfth G. A. (1840-42)— Senator, David 
Markley, Fulton County; Representatives, 
Lewis W. Ross and Oliver Shepley, Fulton 
County. 

Thirteenth G. A. (1842-44)— Senator, David 
Markley, Fulton County; Representatives, 
Samuel Hackelton, Harry L. Miller, Joseph L. 
Sharp and Horace Turner. Fulton County. 

Fourteenth G. A. (1844-46)— Senator, David 
Markley, Fulton County, Representatives, 
Harry L. Miller, Lewis W. Ross and Joseph L. 
Sharp, Fulton County. 

Fifteenth G. A. (1846-48) — Senator, David 
Jlarkley, Fulton County; Representatives, Wil- 
Henry S. Austin, Evan Baily, Thomas J. Little 
and Reuben R. McDowell, Fulton County. 

Sixteenth G. A. (1848-50)— Senator, David 
Markley, Fulton County; Representatives, Wil- 
liam Kellogg, Edward Sayre, Fulton County. 
(The election was held under an apportionment 
made by the Constitutional Convention of 1847 
and on the issue of writs by the Governor to 
the Sheriffs of the respective counties based 
upon the acceptance of the Constitution by the 
people ) . 

Seventeenth G. A. (1850-52) — Senator, Peter 
Sweat, Peoria County; Representatives, Thomas 
J. Little and Isaac Lindley. 

Eighteenth G. A. (1852-54 )— Senator, Peter 
Sweat. Peoria County (resigned and succeeded 
by Washington Cockle, of Peoria County); 
Representatives, W. K. Johnson and L. H. 
Bradbury. 

Under the apportionment of 1S54 Fulton was 
placed in the senatorial district with McDon- 
ough County. Fulton County still remained a 
distinct representative district with two Rep- 
resentatives. Under this apportionment Ful- 
ton was represented as follows: 

Nineteenth G. A. (1854-56) — Senator, James 
M. Campbell, McDonough County; Representa- 
tives, William M. Cline and Amos C. Babcock. 



Twentieth G. A. (1856-58)— Senator, William 
C. Goudy, Fulton County; Representatives, 
Joseph Dyckes and James H. Stipp. 

Twenty-first G. A. (1858-60)- Senator, Wil- 
liam C. Goudy, Fulton County; Representatives, 
John G. Graham and Samuel P. Cummings. 

Twenty-second G. A. (1860-62)— Senator, Wil- 
liam Berry, McDonough County; Representa- 
tives, John G. Graham and Samuel P. Cum- 
mings. 

Under the apportionment of 1861 Mason, Ful- 
ton and Knox constituted a senatorial district, 
while Fulton remained a distinctive repre- 
sentative district with two Representatives. 
Under this apportionment Fulton County was 
represented in the General Assembly as fol- 
lows: 

Twenty-third G. A. (1862-64)— Senator. Al- 
bert C. Mason, Knox County; Representatives, 
John G. Graham and Simeon P. Shope. 

Twenty-fourth G. A. (1864-66)— Senator, Al- 
bert C. Mason, Knox County; Representatives, 
Lawrence W. James and Timothy M. Morse. 

Twenty-fifth G. A. (1866-68 )— Senator, 
Thomas A. Boyd, Fulton County; Representa- 
tives, Caleb B. Cox and George W. Fox. 

Twenty-sixth G. A. (1868-70)— Senator, 
Thomas A. Boyd, Fulton County; Representa- 
tives, Timothy M. Morse and John W. Ross. 

Under the apportionment of 1870 Mason, Ful- 
ton and Knox remained as the Fifteenth Sena- 
torial District and Fulton remained as a dis- 
tinct representative district, but her repre- 
sentation was increased to three in the Lower 
House. Under this apportionment Fulton 
County was represented in the General As- 
sembly as follows: 

Twenty-seventh G. A. (1870-72) — Senator, 
Thomas A. Boyd, Fulton County: Representa- 
tives, John W. Ross, S. P. Cummings and Timo- 
thy M. Morse. 

By an act of the Legislature, approved 
March 1, 1872, the first apportionment under 
the Constitution of 1870 went into effect, di- 
viding the State into fifty-one districts, each 
being entitled to one Senator and three Rep- 
resentatives, and under this apportionment Ful- 
ton County was united with Schuyler in the 
formation of the Twenty-fifth District. Under 
this apportionment Fulton County was repre- 
sented as follows: 

Twenty-eighth G. A. (1872-74)— Senator, S. 
P. Cummings, Fulton County; Representatives, 



682 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Stephen Y. Thornton and John A. Gray, Ful- 
ton County, and John M. Darnell, Schuyler 
County. 

Twenty-ninth G. A. (1874-76)— Senator, Rob- 
ert Brown, Schuyler County; Representatives, 
James De Witt, Schuyler County, and S. P. 
Cumniings and S. Y. Thornton, Fulton County. 

Thirtieth G. A. (1876-78)— Senator, Robert 
Brown, Schuyler County; Representatives, John 
A. Leeper and Charles F. Robison, Fulton 
County, and William T. McCreary, Schuyler 
County. 

Thirty-first G. A. (1878-80)- Senator, Meri- 
dith Walker, Fulton County; Representatives, 
Charles F. Robison, Fulton County, and Hosea 
Davis and William T. McCreary, Schuyler 
County. 

Thirty-second G. A. (1880-82)— Senator, Meri- 
dith Walker, Fulton County; Representatives, 
Joseph L. McCune and Inman Blackaby, Ful- 
ton County, and William C. Reno, Schuyler 
County. 

Under the apportionment of 1882 Knox and 
Fulton constituted a senatorial district and 
under it Fulton County was represented in the 
General Assembly as follows: 

Thirty-third G. A. (1882-84)— Senator, August 
W. Berggren, Knox County; Representatives, 
William H. Emerson, Fulton County, and A. S. 
Curtis and F. A. Willoughby, Knox County. 

Thirty-fourth G. A. (1884-86)— Senator, Au- 
gust W. Berggren, Knox County; Representa- 
tives, Orrin P. Cooley, Knox County, and Wil- 
liam J. Orendorff and Samuel P. Marshall, Ful- 
ton County. 

Thirty-fifth G. A. (1886-88)— Senator, August 
W. Berggren, Knox County; Representatives, 
Orrin P. Cooley, Knox County, and Thomas 
Hamer and Samuel P. Marshall, Fulton County. 

Thirty-sixth G. A. (1888-90)— Senator, 
Thomas Hamer, Fulton County; Representa- 
tives, Orrin P. Cooley, George W. Prince and 
James W. Hunter, Knox County. 

Thirty-seventh G. A. (1890-92)— Senator, 
Thomas Hamer, Fulton County; Representa- 
tives, John W. Hunter and George W. Prince, 
Knox County, and Oscar J. Boyer, Fulton 
County. 

Thirty-eighth G. A. (1892-94)— Senator, 
Thomas Hamer, Fulton County; Representa- 
tives, Stephen E. Carlin, Fulton County, and J. 
L. Hastings and Frank Murdoch, Knox County. 

Under the apportionment of 1893 Fulton and 



Tazewell constituted a Senatorial District. Un- 
der this apportionment Pulton County was rep- 
resented in the General Assembly as follows: 

Thirty-ninth G. A. (1894-96)— Senator, 
Thomas Hamer, Fulton County; Representa- 
tives, Lute C. Breeden and John W. Jr'^ason, 
Fulton County, and Jonathan Merriam, Taze- 
well County. 

Fortieth G. A. (1896-98)— Senator, W. Scott 
Edwards, Fulton County; Representatives, Jon- 
athan Merriam, Tazewell County, and John W. 
Johnson and Simon B. Beer, Fulton County. 

Forty-first G. A. (1898-1900)— Senator, W. 
Scott Edwards, Fulton County; Representatives, 
John W. Johnson and Ubbo J. Albertsen and 
Jesse Black, Jr., Tazewell County. 

Forty-second G. A. (1900-02)— Senator, U. J. 
Albertsen, Tazewell County; Representatives, 
John W. Johnson, J. N. Onion and John 
Hughes, Fulton County. 

Under the apportionment of 1901 Knox and 
Fulton comprise a Senatorial District, and un- 
der this apportionment Fulton County has been 
represented in the General Assembly as fol- 
lows: 

Forty-third G. A. (1902-04)— Senator, Leon 
A. Townsend, Knox County; Representatives, 
Wilfred Arnold, Knox, and B. M. Chiperfield 
and John Hughes, Fulton County. 

Forty-fourth G. A. (1904-06)— Senator, Leon 
A. Townsend, Knox County; Representatives, 
Wilfred Arnold and Michael J. Daugherty, 
Knox County, and William H. Emerson, Fulton 
County. 

Forty-fifth G. A. (1906-08)— Senator, C. F 
Hurburgh, Knox County; representatives, B. M. 
Chiperfield, Fulton County, and M. J. Dough- 
erty and Edward J. King, Knox County. 

Constitutional Conventions. — In the Con- 
situtional Convention of 1818 Madison County, 
of which Fulton was then a part, was repre- 
sented by Benjamin Stephenson, Joseph Bor- 
ough and Abraham Prickett, none of whom re- 
sided in the territory out of which Fulton 
County was formed. 

In the Constitutional Convention of 1847 Ful- 
ton County was represented by David Markley, 
Hezekiah M. Wead, Isaac Lindley and George 
Kreider; also jointly with Peoria County, by 
Onslow Peters, of Peoria. 

In the Consitutional Convention of 1862 Ful- 
ton County was represented by Lewis W. Ross 






/ 





^--Crt^/K^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



683 



and John G. Graham. This Constitution was, 
on submission to the people, rejected. 

In the Consitutional Convention of 1870 Ful- 
ton County was represented by Lewis W. Ross 
and Samuel P. Cummings. 



CHAPTER XV. 



TOWNSHIP HISTORY. 



FIRST SUBDIVISIONS OF FULTON COUNTY LIST OP 

ORIGINAL PRECINCTS — TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION 
- — LIST OF TOWNSHIPS AND AREA — CHANGES IN 
NAMES — FIRST SETTLERS — POPULATION OF EACH 
ACCORDING TO CENSUS OF 1900. 

Prior to township organization the county 
was divided into voting precincts and justices' 
districts. The names of the districts or pre- 
cincts at the time of township organization 
were as follows: Astoria, Vermont, Farmers, 
Marietta, St. Augustine, Otter Creek, Howards, 
Bernadotte, Spoon River, Wiley, Ellisville, 
Boyd, West Point, Point Isabel, Waterford, 
Lewistown, Centerville, Mill Creek, Fairview, 
Liverpool, Buckheart, Canton, Farmington, 
Utica, Copperas Creek and Independence. Some 
of these were organized under special charter 
as incorporated townships. Canton and Lewis- 
town were so organized. 

As has been stated Hugh LeMaster, Henry 
Walker and John Bloomfield were the Commis- 
sioners appointed by the County Court at the 
December term, 1849, for the purpose of di- 
viding the county into townships. 

On these Commissioners devolved the duty 
of fixing the boundaries and assigning proper 
names to the townships. As will readily be 
seen the majority of the townships retained 
the name of the voting precinct which had 
theretofore been located within the boundary 
of the newly formed township. The history of 
each individual township is so closely allied 
with the history of the county, and has been 
treated in the general history of the county to 
such an extent, that it will be only practical 
here to give such data as will not be a repeti- 
tion of what has heretofore been gone over. 



Each individual township has its own peculiar 
and individual history, which would require 
quite an extensive volume of itself to give in 
detail. (For further details of townships see 
Chapter XII, "Governmental — Public Build- 
ings"). Following will be found a history of 
individual townships: 

Astoria. — The township of Astoria com- 
prises a full congressional township, legally de- 
scribed as Three North, Range One East of the 
Fourth Principal Meridian. Its name, As- 
toria, was derived from the town of that name 
located in the township. The voting precinct 
was also known by the same name. The popu- 
lation of the township, according to the Fed- 
eral census of 1900, was 2,834, of which number 
1,684 resided in the town of Astoria. The town- 
ship was settled about 1830, Parker McNeil be- 
ing reputed the first settler. Among other early 
settlers were David McNeil, Sr., and David Mc- 
Neil, Jr., William Carter, Abraham Brown, 
William Tate, Robert McClellan, Thomas Gar- 
vin, Robert McLaren, Peter McLaren, John 
Williams and James Carter. The only organ- 
ized municipality in the township is the town 
of Astoria. 

Vermont. — The township of Vermont com- 
prises the full congressional township legally 
described as Four North, Range One East of 
the Fourth Principal Meridian. Its name, Ver- 
mont, was derived from the village of Vermont, 
which is located on parts of Sections 29, 30, 31 
and 32 of the township. It was also the name 
of the voting precinct. The population of the 
township, according to the Federal census of 
1900, was 2,149, of which number 1,195 resided 
in the village of Vermont. The first settler In 
Vermont was Moses Davis in 1832. In 1833 
James and Joseph Crail settled in the township. 
Among the earliest settlers were Joab Mershon, 
in 1838; James Dilworth and Ezra Dilworth, in 
1837; Henry Nelson, in 1836; E. Kirkbride, in 
1839. Other early settlers were Isaac Cadwalla- 
der, John Evans, Stephen Lindsey, Josiah Zoll, 
Thomas Holmes and William Marshall. The 
only organized municipalities in the township 
are the village of Vermont and a part of the 
village of Table Grove. 

Farmers. — The township of Farmers com- 
prises that part of the congressional town- 
ship legally described as Five North, Range 
One East of the Fourth Principal Meridian, 



684 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



lying west of the center of Spoon River. The 
name, Farmers, was derived from the election 
precinct of that name. The population of the 
township, according to the Federal census of 
1900, was 1,425, of which 376 are accredited to 
the village of Table Grove. The first settler in 
the township was John Barker, who located in 
the township in 1829, and after whom Barker's 
Grove, Barker's Creek and Barker's Cemetery 
were named. Mr. Barker was one of the early 
settlers of the county, having located in Fort 
Clark, now Peoria, in 1819. He removed to 
Fulton County in 1827, residing in Cass Town- 
ship for two years prior to moving into Farm- 
ers. The only organized municipality in the 
township is Table Grove, located on part of 
Section 32. 

Harris. — The township of Harris comprises 
all those parts of congressional townships de- 
scribed as Six North, Ranges One and Two East 
of the Fourth Principal Meridian, lying west 
of the center of Spoon River. The population 
of the township, according to the Federal cen- 
sus of 1900, was 1.283. The township derived 
its name from John Harris, who settled in the 
township in 1827. There are no incorporated 
cities or villages in the township. 

Lee. — Lee Township comprises all the por- 
tions of those congressional townships legally 
described as Seven North, Ranges One and Two 
East of the Fourth Principal Meridian, lying 
west of Spoon River, except Sections 5, 6 and 
7 in Range Two East. In this township are 
located no incorporated villages. The town- 
ship, according to the Federal census of 1900, 
was 948. The name Lee was given the town- 
ship at the suggestion of Hugh LeMasters, one 
of the Commissioners to divide the county into 
townships. The first settler in the township 
was Stephen Rigdon, who located there in 
May, 1834. 

Union. — Union Township comprises all of the 
full congressional township legally described 
as Eight North, Range One East of the Fourth 
Principal Meridian. The population of the 
township, according to the Federal census of 
1900, was 1,569, of which number 809 resided 
in the village of Avon. The township was set- 
tled in 1829 by Robert Grant and Isaac Hullick. 
The only incorporated village in the township 
is Avon, located on Section 19. 



Ellisville. — The township of Ellisville com- 
prises that part of Township Eight North and 
Sections 5, 6 and 7 in Seven North, Range Two 
East of the Fourth Principal Meridian that lies 
west of Spoon River. The name Ellisville was 
derived from the village of Ellisville, which 
was founded by Levi D. Ellis in 1836. The vot- 
ing precinct was also known by the same name. 
Levi D. Ellis moved into the township in 1828 
and was its first settler. The population, ac- 
cording to the Federal census of 1900, was 
539, 219 of whom resided in the village of Ellis- 
ville. Ellisville is the only organized village in 
the township. 

Yorx(i Hickory. — The township of Young 
Hickory comprises that part of Township Eight 
North. Two East of the Fourth Principal Me- 
ridian that lies east of the center of Spoon 
River. It was given the name of Hickory 
Township by the Commissioners organizing 
the county into townships, but was afterward 
changed by the Board of Supervisors to Young 
Hickory, as the name Hickory had previously 
been appropriated by a like political division 
in the State. The population of the township, 
according to the Federal census of 1900, was 
1,161, of whom 528 resided in the village of 
London Mills. London Mills is the only or- 
ganized village in the township. 

Deerfield. — The township of Deerfield com- 
prises all of Township Seven North, Ranges 
One and Two East of the Fourth Principal Me- 
ridian that lie east of the center of Spoon 
River. The township was settled by Robert 
Reeves in 1824. The name Deerfield was given 
the township by the Commissioners appointed 
to organize the county into townships. The 
population of the township, according to the 
census of 1900, was 835. There are no villages 
within the township. 

C.v.ss. — The township of Cass comprises all 
of those portions of Townships Six North and 
Ranges One and Two East of the Fourth Prin- 
cipal Meridian lying east of the center of Spoon 
River. The name was given it by the Com- 
missioners dividing the county into townships 
in honor of General Lewis Cass at the sug- 
gestion, it is said, of Henry Waughtel. The 
first conveyance of Fulton County land, so far 
as the records show, was Section 30 of this 
township in 1818, conveying among other lands 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



68: 



Section 30 from Aaron T. Crane to Edmond 
Dana. In this townsliip was also located Ful- 
ton County's first Poor Farm. tSee ■'County 
Property," Chapter XII.) The ixjpulation of 
the township, according to the census of 1900, 
was 1,593, 420 of whom resided in the village 
of Smithfield. The county was settled in 1823 
by Willinam Totten, after whom the locality 
known as Totten's Prairie took its name. Smith- 
field is the only organized village in the town- 
ship. 

Beknadotte. — The township of Bernadotte 
comprises all of those portions of Township 
Five North and Two East and of Five North 
and One East, lying east of the center of Spoon 
River. The name of the township was given 
it in honor of the unincorporated village of 
that name, which was also the name of the 
voting precinct in the township. The popu- 
lation of the township, according to the census 
of 1900, was 1,112. The township was settled 
in 1826 by William Walters. The unincor- 
porated village of Bernadotte is located upon 
Section 19. 

Pleasant. — The township of Pleasant com- 
prises the full congressional township, legally 
described as Four North, Range Two East of 
the Fourth Principal Meridian. The name of 
the township was given it by the Commissioners 
who organized the county into townships. The 
population of- the township, according to the 
Federal census of 1900, was 1.7.53, of whom 749 
resided in the village of Ipava. The township 
was settled in 1828 by William Rolantf. James 
Roland and Riley Roland came the next year. 
The only organized village within the township 
is Ipava. 

Woodland. — The township of Woodland com- 
prises the full congressional township legally 
described as Three North, Range Two East of 
the Fourth Principal Meridian. The Commis- 
sioners who organized the county into town- 
ships gave this township the name of Lafay- 
ette. As that name had already been appro- 
priated by a like political division in another 
county in the State, the Board of Supervisors 
changed the name to Woodland at their Novem- 
ber session, 1850. Nathan Veatch was the Su- 
pervisor representing the township at the time 
and is probably responsible for the name. The 
population of the township, according to the 
Federal census of 1900, was 1,566. Summum, 



an unincorporated town, is located on Sections 
3 and 4. 

Kerton. — The township of Kefton comprises 
the fractional Township Three North, Range 
Three East of the Fourth Principal Meridian. 
The name Kerton was assigned to this township 
by the Commissioners dividing the county into 
townships, and was probably suggested by the 
name of one of its early citizens, John Kerton. 
Reuben and Roswell Fenner settled in the town- 
ship in 1823, and were among the earliest set- 
tlers in the county. The population, accord- 
ing to the last Federal census, was 538. 

Isabel. — The township of Isabel comprises 
those parts of Townships Four North and 
Three and Four East of the Fourth Principal 
Meridian that lie west and south of the cen- 
ter of Spoon River. Isabel derived its name 
from one of the election precincts. Point Isa- 
bel, which in turn derived its name from a 
shipping point on the Illinois River at the 
mouth of Spoon River, known as Point Isabel. 
Isabel Township was the home of the first in- 
habitant of the county. Dr. William T. David- 
son, allusion to whom is made elsewhere. 

The population of the township, according 
to the census of 1900, was 780. It has no in- 
corporated villages or towns. 

Watehford. — The township of Waterford con- 
sists of those portions of Townships Four North 
and of Ranges Three and Four East of the 
Fourth Principal Meridian that lie north and 
east of the center of Spoon River. It was in 
this township that John Bveland, Fulton 
County's first actual settler, located in 1820. 
The population of the township at the last 
Federal census in 1900 was 484. Waterford was 
the name of an election precinct prior to town- 
ship organization; also the name given a town 
platted in the township in 1825. 

Lewistowx. — The township of Lewistown 
comprises a full congressional township, legally 
described as Five North and Three East of the 
Fourth Principal Meridian. Lewistown was 
the name of an election precinct prior to town- 
ship organization; and also an incorporated 
township. The township was settled in 1821 
by Ossian M. Ross, who founded the city of 
Lewistown in 1822. The population of the 
township, according to the Federal census of 
1900. was 3,515. of whom 2,504 resided in the 



686 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



city of Lewistown. Lewistown, the county seat 
of Fulton County, is located in this township, 
and is the only incorporated city in the town- 
ship. 

PuTMAN. — The township of Putman coniiirises 
the full congressional township legally described 
as Six North and Three East of the Fourth Prin- 
cipal Meridian. The township was settled in 
1823 by Reading Putman, and the township de- 
rived its name from this early settler. Upon 
the organization of the township, the Commis- 
sioners dividing the county into townships, as- 
signed it the name of Center, the township be- 
ing the center township in the county. This 
name not being available the Supervisors 
changed it to Putman in honor of its first set- 
tler. H. S. Hyatt was the representative on 
the Board of Supervisors when the township 
was renamed Putman. The population of the 
township, according to the census of 1900, was 
2,131, 1,569 of whom resided in the city of Cuba, 
which is the only incorporated village in the 
township. 

Joshua. — The township of Joshua comprises 
a full congressional township legally described 
as Seven North and Three East of the Fourth 
Principal Meridian. It was settled in 1824 by 
Joshua Moore and derived its name of Joshua 
from this early settler. The population of the 
township, according to the census of 1900, was 
976. There are no incorporated villages in the 
township. 

Fairview. — The township of Fairview com- 
prises the full congressional township legally 
described as Eight North and Three East of 
the Fourth Principal Meridian. The township 
was settled in 1829 by Mathias Swegle. The 
township derived its name from the election 
precinct of that name and from the village of 
Fairview located on Section 33. The popula- 
tion at the last Federal census in 1900 was 
1,257, of whom 501 resided in the village of 
Fairview. 

Farmington. — The township of Farmington 
comprises a full congressional township legally 
described as Eight North, Range Four East of 
the Fourth Principal Meridian. The township 
was settled by Jonah Marchant in 1827, but 
Seth Littler had settled in the township the 
year previous, but had changed his residence. 
The population of the township, according to 
the Federal census of 1900, was 3,171, of whom 



1,729 resided in the city of Farmington, which 
is the only organized municipality in the town- 
ship. 

Caxto.n. — The township of Canton comprises 
a full congressional township, legally described 
as Seven North and Four East of the Fourth 
Principal Meridian. The name Canton was 
derived from the election precinct of that name, 
in which the city of Canton was located. The 
township was settled by David W. Barnes, Theo- 
dore Sargeant and Charles Sargeant in 1822. 
'Ihe population of the township, according to the 
Federal census of 1900, was 8,780, of whom G,.';64 
resided in the city of Canton. 

BucKHEABT. — The township of Buckheart 
comprises a full congressional township legally 
described as Six North and Four East of the 
Fourth Principal Meridian. The township was 
named from the election precinct of Buckheart 
by the Commissioners who divided the county 
into townships. The township was settled 
in 1824 by Seth Hilton and Ha- 
zel Putman. The population, according 
to the Federal census of 1900, was 2,329, 355 
of whom resided in the village of Bryant and 
481 in the village of St. David. 

Liverpool. — The township of Liverpool com- 
prises all of the fractional parts of Townships 
Five North of Range Four and Five East of the 
Fourth Principal Meridian. The name Liver- 
pool was given the township by the Commis- 
sioners, who took the name from the election 
precinct of Liverpool. The township was set- 
tled in 1826 by Charles Depress, Joseph Allen. 
John Parris and Frances Smith. The popula- 
tion of the township, according to the Federal 
census of 1900, was 1,206. 

Banner. — The township of Banner comprises 
all of the fractional Township Six North, Range 
Five East of the Fourth Principal Meridian, 
and all that part of the territory east of said 
township to the Peoria County line. The town- 
ship was given the name of Utica by the Com- 
missioners who divided the county into town- 
ships. This name having already been appro- 
priated the Board of Supervisors changed the 
name to Monterey. A vehement protest was 
filed with the board, asking that the name be 
changed to Banner, which was complied with. 
The township was settled in 1822 by Joseph 
Anderson. The population, according to the 
Federal census of 1900, was 1,002. 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



687 



Orion. — The township of Orion comprises the 
congressional township described as Seven 
North and Five East of the Fourth Principal 
Meridian; also the "gore" lying east of Sections 
24, 25 and 36 to the Peoria County line. The 
township was settled in 1828 by John Wolf, 
John Orendorff and William Ulmer. The name 
Orion was assigned to the township by the 
Commissioners who were appointed to organ- 
ize the county in townships. The population 
of the township, according to the Federal cen- 
sus of 1900. was 1,268. 

(For population of county by townships from 
1850 to 1900, see table at the end of Chapter 
XXII on "Education and Libraries.") 



CHAPTER XVI. 



MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 



CITIES AND VILLAGES OF FULTON COUNTY CONDI- 
TIONS UNDEK THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848 LIST 

OF INCORPORATED MUNICIPALITIES — LOCATION, 
DATES OF INCORPORATION AND POPULATION — VIL- 
LAGES WHICH HAVE BEEN PLATTED BUT NEVER 
INCORPORATED SOME PAPER TOWNS AND DE- 
SERTED VILLAGES. 

The history of the individual cities and vil- 
ages of Fulton County would be in a large 
measure the history of the county itself. There- 
fore, no attempt will be made to give a de- 
tailed and consecutive history of the individual 
municipalities, other than such concise state- 
ment of facts as may pertain exclusively to 
each. The physical development of the county, 
as heretofore presented, must necessarily be 
the industrial development of the cities and 
villages within the county, and it would be 
merely a repetition of the same story to give 
detailed accounts of these municipalities in 
another form in this connection. 

Many efforts have been made since the set- 
tlement of the county began to establish towns 
and villages within its domain which have 
proven more or less failures. Some promising 
locations, with elaborate town sites platted, 
with the fond hope that they were the begin- 
ning of magnificent cities, have either not 



reached the stage of an incorporated village or 
city, or else have disappeared altogether. In 
submitting a history of the cities and villages 
of Fulton County they will be presented in 
three classes: First, the incorporated cities 
and villages; second, the unorganized cities and 
villages; and third, the deserted cities and vil- 
lages of the county. 

There are fifteen incorporated municipalities 
in Fulton County. Three of these. Canton, 
Lewistown and Farmington, rise to the dignity 
of "cities." Though they have not done so, 
the villages of Cuba, Vermont and St. David 
could doubtless qualify as cities, each having 
1,000 population or more. Astoria remains a 
"town," as it still retains its special charter 
granted before the enactment of the general 
law of 1872 relating to the incorporation of 
towns and cities. Before the adoption of the 
Constitution of 1848 some of the towns of the 
county, notably Canton and Lewistown, were 
organized under the then existing law relating 
to townships. After the adoption of the Con- 
stitution of 1848 they organized as "towns," 
and after the adoption of the Constitution of 
1870 all of them but Astoria reorganized as 
cities or villages, according to the then popu- 
lation — it requiring a population of not less 
than 1,000 to become a "city." 

INCORPORATED CITIES AND VILLAGES. 

Following the congressional townships and 
beginning with Astoria Township the following 
are the incorporated municipalities of the 
county with their location, date of founding 
and incorporation: 

Astoria was platted as Vienna on the north- 
east quarter of Section 23, Astoria Township, 
on June 9, 1837, for Zachariah Gilbert and Ben- 
jamin Clark, the owners. The plat of the town 
site consisted of seventeen blocks of ten lots 
each, and twelve fractional blocks of five lots 
each; also a public square. It was organized 
as a town by special charter January 24, 1839, 
but the name had to be changed for the reason 
that there was already an incorporated town 
of the name of Vienna elsewhere in the State. 
Astoria is one of nine municipalities in the 
State of Illinois which retain their original 
special charter granted prior to 1872, and it 
is known as the "town of Astoria." The name 
is derived, it is said, from that of the Pacific 
station of John Jacob Astor, the famous fur 
trader, whose company bought pelts along the 



688 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Illinois River at an early day. The population 
of Astoria, according to the census of 190O. 
was 1,684. 

Vermont was platted on the southwest quar- 
ter of Section 29, Vermont Township, May 5, 
1836, by James Crail, the original plat contain- 
ing sixty-four lots. The name Vermont was 
given to the town by \>T. Hrail in honor of his 
native State. The place was incorporated first 
on February 13, 1857, but reincorporated under 
the general law as a village September 23, 
1879. The population in 1900 was 1,195. 

Table Grove was platted as Laurel Hill, on 
the southwest quarter of Section 32, Farmers 
Township, May 22, 1837, by Thomas H. Spicer. 
The town plat showed thirty-five blocks con- 
taining twelve lots each, excepting that from 
four blocks two lots each were taken for a 
public square. The official name of the village 
was fixed when it was organized May 17, 1881. 

Prior to that time the locality had long been 
known as Table Grove by the pioneer settlers. 
The population by the census of 1900 was 376. 

Avon was platted on the southeast quarter 
and the southwest quarter of Section 19, in 
Union Township, March 23, 1854, by Reverius 
Woods, Orlando H. Woods and Daniel X. 
Wright. The original plat consisted of twelve 
lots and some fractional lots along the railroad 
right of way. Avon was the name of a post- 
office established there before the town was 
laid out. and the town was incorporated by 
special act of the Legislature on March 8, 1867, 
and was reincorporated under the general law 
of 1872 October 6, 1873. The population, ac- 
cording to the census of 1900, was 809. 

Ellisville was platted on the northwest 
quarter of Section 5 ana the southwest quar- 
ter ot, Section 32, Ellisville Township, May 17, 
1836, by Levi D. Ellis, who gave the village its 
name. The plat consisted of 120 lots. It was 
organized as a village November IS, 1872. The 
population at the date of the census of 1900 
was 219. 

London Mills. — The town of London, now 
London Mills, was platted on the north side 
of the northwest quarter of Section 3, Young 
Hickory Townshi]). September 16, 1851, by 
.Tames Eggers. The plat contained fifty-two lots. 
The town was organized as a village under the 
general law, November 27, 1883, the name being 



taken from the "London" flouring mills located 
there on the banks of Spoon River. The popu- 
lation in 1900 was 528. 

S-MiTHFiKLD was platted on the northeast 
quarter of Section 29, Cass Township, May 29, 
1868, by J. N. Smith. The derivation of the 
name is oblivious, though it may be presumed 
to have been named for its founder. It was 
incorporated as a village under the general 
law March 1, 1889. The population by the 
census of 1900 w-as 420. 

Ipava was platted as Pleasantville on the 
east half of the southwest quarter of Section 
6, Pleasant Township, September 19, 1846. by 
John Easley. The plat consisted of eighteen 
lots. The town was first incorporated January 
26, 1853, under a special charter, and was re- 
organized under the general law July 17, 1872, 
just sixteen days after the general law went 
into effect. The population according to the 
census of 1900 was 743. 

Lewistown was platted on the southwest 
quarter of Section 22, Lewistown Township, in 
April, 1S22, by Ossian M. Ross, and the plat was 
recorded July 22, 1822, in Pike County, of 
which Fulton was at that time a part. The 
name was given the place by its founder in 
honor of his eldest son, Lewis W., who subse- 
quently was a member of Congress and one of 
the foremost citizens of the county. Lewistown 
was organized by special charter February 16, 
1857, and was reorganized under the general 
law April, 1892. The railroad station is known 
as Lewistown. The population at the Federal 
census of 1900 was 2,504. 

Cuba was platted as Centerville on the north- 
west quarter of Section 20, November 18, 1836, 
by Daniel W. Vittum, Joel Solomon, Samuel 
Brooks and W. B. Cogswell. The plat consisted 
of thirty-one blocks of six lots each, and seven 
fractional blocks of three lots each. This vil- 
lage is located near the center of the county, 
hence the name. The village was incorporated 
January 26, 1853, by s))ecial charter and reor- 
ganized under the general law of 1872 on March 
4, 1895. The population, according to the cen- 
sus of 1900, was 1,198. 

Fairview was platted on the southeast quar- 
ter of Section 23, Fairview Townshiii. August 
16. 1837, by Benjamin Foster. The original plat 
consisted of eighty-four lots. Fairview was 




I 




i5T'!!>U.rjli( 



WATERWORKS, CANTON 



CITY HALL AND FIRE DEPARTMENT, CANTON 




VAN WINKLE LAKE, CANTON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



689 



incorporated under a special cliarter February 
24, 1859, was reorganized July 2, 1900, and tiie 
charter issued by tlie Secretary of State April 
29, 1902. The population, according to the 
Federal census of 1900, was 501. 

Fahmingtox was platted , on the southwest 
quarter of Section 1, Farmington Township, by 
Joseph Cone, Hiram Palmer and George W. 
Little October 9, 1835. The original plat con- 
sisted of six blocks of ten lots each, and si.K 
fractional blocks of five lots each. Farmington 
was incorporated by special charter February 
18, 1857, and was reorganized as a city under 
the general law of 1872, March 14, 1875. The 
name is derived from the character of the 
topography of the surrounding country. The 
population in 1900 was 1,729. 

Cantox. — The city of Canton was platted on 
the southeast quarter of Section 27, Canton 
Township, December 10, 1825, by Isaac Swan. 
The original plat consisted of fifty-three lots. 
Canton was organized under a special charter 
February S, 1849. There had previously been 
a township organization. The charter was 
amended, incorporating the town as a city, 
February 12, 1853, and reincorporated under 
the general law of 1872 as a city April 4, 1892. 
The name Canton was given it by its founder. 
Isaac Swan. The city of Pelvin had recently 
been laid out, and that celestial name is said 
to have suggested the one given to Canton. 
The population at the Federal census of 1900 
was 6,564. 

St. David was platted on the northeast quar- 
ter of the northeast quarter of Section 21, 
Buckheart Township, April 17, 1884, by Ed- 
ward J. Williams. Caleb Johnson, J. E. Wil- 
liams, William Thomas and Milton Shry- 
ock. The name was suggested in honor of 
David Williams, whose coal industry first 
made the town possible. The original plat 
contained twenty-seven lots. It was organized 
as a village under the general law of 1872, 
July 25, 1885, and under the census of 1900 had 
a populaton of 481. 

Brya.xt. — The village of Bryant was platted 
on the southeast quarter of Section 30, Buck- 
heart Township, April 13, 1863, by. William 
Hummel. The original plat consisted of seven- 
teen lots. It was organized under the general 
law of 1872, August 10, 1874. The population 
according to the census of 1900 was 355. 



UNORGANIZED VILLAGES. 

Below is given a list of the unorganized vil- 
lages of Fulton County which have been duly 
platted and still retain a distinctive existence, 
but in many instances only nominal. 

MARiiiTTA was platted May 6, 1837, by Lo- 
renzo Bevans and Benjamin Hoyt. The original 
town site consisted of sixty-three blocks and 
was located on the east halt of Section 16 in 
Harris Township. On April 5, 1869, twenty- 
two of the original blocks were vacated. The 
name was suggested by the city of Marietta, 
Ohio. 

Babylon was platted March 11, 1837, by 
Philip Aylsworth, FranKlin Oflield and John 
Whittier. The original town site consisted of 
829 lots and was located on the southwest 
quarter of the southeast quarter and the east 
half of the southeast quarter, and part of the 
northeast quarter of Section 14 in Lee Town- 
ship. 

Berxadotte was platted as F'ulton November 
27, 1835, by Charles Coleman. The original 
town site consisted of sixteen blocks of four 
lots each, located on the west half of the north- 
east quarter of Section 19 in Bernadotte Town- 
ship. The name was given in honor of Na- 
poleon's General, afterward King of Sweden. 

Sf.MMu.M was platted by James M. Onion as 
Oberlin on November 6, 1837. The original 
town site consisted of twenty-seven lots, which 
were located on the northeast quarter of the 
southeast quarter of Section 4, in Woodland 
Township. It is said to have derived its name 
from Peter Summy. 

U.xiox was platted April 4, 1856, by Benjamin 
Bechelhymer. The original town site consisted 
of forty-one lots and was located on the north- 
west quarter of Section 4, Kerton Township. 

Otto was platted by Hiram Wentworth Feb- 
ruary 18, 1844. The original town site was 
located on the west half of the northeast quar- 
ter of Section 30, in Isabel Township. 

Duxcax City, .commonly known as Duncan 
Mills, was platted May 17. 1867, by Thomas P. 
Duncan. It was located on the northwest quar- 
ter of the southwest quarter of Section 8, Isa- 
bel Township. 

Manning. — The town of Manning was platted 
by Edward Mann in January, 1898, and con- 
sisted of six blocks of forty-five lots each. It 
was located on the northwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 12. Waterford Township. 



690 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Watekford was platted March 21, 1825, by 
James Johnson and John Johnson. The origi- 
nal town site consisted of ninety-seven lots 
and was located on the southeast quarter of 
Section 11, Waterford Township. 

NoKRis is located on the southeast quarter of 
Section 34, in Canton Township. No plat 
is shown for the old part of the village. Wil- 
liams' and Vittum's additions were platted in 
April, 1888. 

BijEiiETOx was platted October 16, 1901, by the 
Monmouth Coal Company and consisted of 
forty-one lots, located on the southwest quarter 
of Section 11, Canton Township. 

Du.XFEiuiLiNE was platted September 19, 1890, 
by Glen W. Traer. The original town site con- 
sisted of six blocks of 100 lots each, located on 
the east half of the northeast quarter of Sec- 
tion 22, Buckheart Township. 

Middle Grove. — What is now known as Middle 
Grove was platted as Claire, October 16, 1888, 
by S. E. Dikeman. The original town site 
consisted of four blocks of fifty lots each, and 
is located on the southwest quarter of Section 
6, Farmington Township. 

Utica. — The town of Utica (Banner Post- 
office) was platted December 19, 1832, by Ware 
Long. The original town site contained forty- 
eight lots and is located on the northwest 
quarter of Section 11, Banner Township. The 
name Utica was abandoned on account of the 
existence of another town of that name in 
LaSalle County. 

Breed's Station was platted August 19, 1868, 
by William Smith. The original town site con- 
sisted of thirty-two lots and is located on the 
west half of the southeast quarter of Section 27, 
Orion Township. 

Liverpool was platted August 13, 1S36, by 
Robert E. Little, William Elliott, Jr., Joseph 
Sharp, Theodore Tarleton, Erasmus D. Rice 
and Roger Veits. The original town site con- 
sisted of sixty-five blocks containing fourteen 
lots each, except fractional blocks adjoining 
the river. The site was located on fractional 
Section 2.5, Liverpool Township, on the banks 
of the Illinois River. Parts of the town site 
have been vacated in later years. 

Monterey was platted May 21, 1850, by Jacob 
Weaver, Philemon Markley and David Farr, 
and was located on the southwest quarter of 
Section 4, Banner Township. 

Aside from the town sites above mentioned, 
consisting of incorporated and unincorporated 



villages, and, in some instances, merely post- 
offices, there are a number of country stores 
and postoffices in the county that are designated 
by a distinctive name, but have never been 
platted or made any pretence of being a village. 
Among these may be mentioned Seville Station, 
on Section 24, Harris Township; Leaman Sta- 
tion, on Section 22, Harris Township; Check- 
row, on Section 27, Lee Township; Manly, 
on Section 18, Lee Township; Virgil, on Sec- 
tion 5, Lee Township; Troy, a deserted village 
on Section 12, Union Township; Mayton, on 
Section 28, Young Hickory Township; BIyton, 
on Section 28, Deerfield Township; Leesburg, 
on Section 8, Woodland lownship; Marbletown, 
on Section 17, Kerton Township; Sepo, on 
Section 12, Waterford Township; Maples Mills, 
on Sectiou 11. L.\eipool Township; Rawalts, 
on Section 30, Orion Township; Fiatt, on Sec- 
tiou 29, Joshua Township, and Bybee Station, 
on Section 17, Joshua Township. 

Paper Towns and Deserted Villages. — The 
enactment of the State Internal Improvement 
System of Illinois in the middle 'thirties devel- 
oped an intense desire on the part of many of 
the owners of Fulton County soil to establish 
town sites. At least a dozen town sites were 
platted following the enactment of the Internal 
Improvement System by the State Legislature 
in 1837. Every man, it seemed, who fancied 
his farm lay along the line of possible improve- 
ment, immediately sought to found a city and 
thus become immortal. Like the Internal Im- 
provement System itself, these cities failed to 
materialize into anything of value or of last- 
ing character. Of these vanished paper towns 
established in Fulton County the younger gen- 
eration know little or nothing. 

A certain James W. Willis, in 1837, platted 
the town of Delavan on his farm in Banner 
lownship. Section 4, lying southwest of what is 
now or was Monterey. He made ample provi- 
sions in Delavan for a railroad depot, for a 
public square, a center square and a market 
square. The elaborate details in which all the 
necessary public accommodations for a mag- 
nificent city were supplied in great detail. A 
city founded on the broad scope of the Dela- 
van plat would have been a thing of beauty 
and a municipal wonder. Not a vestige remains 
to indicate the contemplated city on the line 
of railroad that the founder supposed was 
going to pass that way — but which did not. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



691 



Another town, that of Bloomfield, was platted 
on Section S in Pleasant Township, about a 
mile southeast of Ipava. Ephraim Roberts was 
the founder of this town and it was sometimes 
called Byron. So far as the records show it 
is still a town, but the visitor would find It 
only a cornfield. 

Few people in Fulton County are aware that 
the county is blessed with two Smithfields. 
The first and oldest was established by Joseph 
C. Smith, in 1S36, on the northeast quarter of 
Section 11 in Union Township. The town site 
contained a public square and 120 lots. So far 
as recorded, Mr. Smith found no sale for the 
lots. Notwithstanding this Union Township 
Smithfield faded away, the name is still service- 
able, as a Fulton County village of that name is 
located in Cass Township and was founded in 
1858 by J. N. Smith. The Union Township 
Smithfield had a very lively rival, which was 
established a few days following the platting 
of Smithfield. That is to say, Smithfield was 
platted on April 25, 18.36, and Troy was platted 
on April 29, 1836. While Smithfield was 
located on the northeast of Secton 11, Troy 
was located on the southeast of Section 12, in 
Union Township, less than one mile away. 
Whether it was a case of the survival of the 
fittest or not, Troy lived and had a being for 
many years, while Smithfield vanished like a 
mist. Troy became a city of considerable im- 
portance, having a mill and a very profitable 
and productive distillery. Troy is still on the 
map; Smithfield, Union Township, is not. 

When the Everlys came here from the East 
and settled in Deerfield Township. David Ev- 
erly, Jr., established a town with the very sug- 
gestively religious name of Westminster. No 
cathedral spires pointed upward, however. It 
was located on the northeast quarter of the 
southeast quarter of Section 16. Three lots 
were sold, but now It is a part of the Utsinger 
farm. 

West Point is still marked on the map. It 
is on the south side of the mouth of Otter 
Creek, where it empties into the Illinois River. 
West Point was established by Joel Onion in 
1844. It never advanced further than being 
a landing and shipping point on the river. Near 
it, however, was the site of the first industry 
in Pulton County or the Military Tract, estab- 
lished in 1818, known in local history as the 
Craig & Savage sawmill. 

Nearly every one who has traveled from 



Canton to Cuba or from Canton to Lewistown 
on the old stage road, knows of Fulton Center, 
or, as originally known. Independence. This 
spot is supposed to be the geographical center 
of Fulton County. It was established on Sec- 
tion 14 in Putman Township in 1848 by Wil- 
liam H. Nichols, Hugh Lemaster, Hiram San- 
ders, David Haacke and Henry L. Bryant. 
Three of these men are more than well known 
in Fulton County history. Henry L. Bryant 
was for many years Probate Judge of Fulton 
County, and also established the town of Bry- 
ant. Hugh Lemaster was an old-time county 
official, having been Sheriff for eight years 
from 1832 to 1840, and was also tor four years 
the County Surveyor. He also held other im- 
portant positions of trust. Captain David 
Haacke was a noted Fulton County pioneer. 
He was an Indian fighter and the bravest of the 
brave. The town site of Independence was 
annulled and vacated in 1860, except as to the 
public square. 

Patriotism and love of country doubtless 
accounted for the town of Columbia, which 
Thomas D. Lord established in Farmington 
Township in 1837. This gem of North Fulton 
"died abornin'." Not a vestige remains to mark 
the spot. To the south one mile, however, lies 
the village of Norris. There was, a few years 
ago, a brick and tile factory near the old site 
and the Burlington Railroad runs conveniently 
near. 

Around the mouth of Copperas Creek, where 
it empties into the Illinois River on Section 
24, two towns have been platted. One was 
Mills' Point, platted by John D. Mills in 1842, 
situated on the Illinois River south of Cop- 
peras Creek, and the other was the town of 
Commerce, near by, platted in 1843 by Lyman 
B. Suydam. At one time there were a num- 
ber of warehouses at Copperas Creek Landing, 
as it was called, and it was an Illinois River 
landing of considerable importance and to a 
large extent was responsible for the decay of 
Liverpool as the important river landing in 
Fulton County, and, incidentally, after the es- 
tablishment of the dike leading to the landing 
it was largely responsible for the bankruptcy 
of the Canton and Liverpool plank road. Cop- 
peras Creek Landing diverted too much of the 
business from North Fulton to make the plank 
road a success from a financial standpoint, and 
Liverpool was materially injured thereby. 

No more beautiful and picturesque spot in 



692 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



all the broad land could have been selected 
than the one selected by \V. H. Van Eps. a 
pioneer of Fulton County, for the establish- 
ment of Vanopolis. If the reader will take 
down the map of Fulton County and look at 
the point of Spoon River projecting south 
from where Seville Station is located in Har- 
ris Township, he will observe what comes the 
nearest to being a peninsula of any spot in 
Fulton County. It was here that in 1840 the 
town of Vanopolis was platted. It was sup- 
posed to be on the road from Peoria and Can- 
ton to Quincy. and it was thought that a line 
of railroad would pass that way within a few 
short months; but alas, this fond hope vanished 
and with it the town site. In after years the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad ran, not 
from" Peoria to Quincy, but from Peoria to Keo- 
kuk, very near the deserted Vanopolis. The 
town site was afterward vacated. The nearest 
approach to a town there came being at Van- 
opolis was the nearby Fuller's Mill, one of the 
famous Spoon River flour mills. 

Another town that is lost to sight and, per- 
haps, is not even to memory dear, is Milton, 
which was located on the southwest quarter of 
Section 8 in Lewistown Township. It was 
laid out in 1837 by Jonathan M. Cozad. There 
were seventy-three lots laid out surrounding a 
grist mill, which stood on the banks of Big 
Creek. This grist mill was one of the early 
mills of the county, and the site is now on 
the farm owned by John Loveland and along 
the highway leading from Lewistown northwest 
to Smithfield and up that way. 

Probably the most pretentious town on paper 
of all these deserted villages of Fulton County 
was Tuscumbia, over in Bernadotte Township. 
It was even more elaborately designed than 
Delavan or Vanopolis. The site is about one 
mile east of Bernadotte on, the southeast quar- 
ter of Section 17. It was platted by Wade 
Hampton Davis in 1837. By looking on the 
map of Fulton County it will be seen that 
Spoon River makes a bend at the village of 
Bernadotte and runs for four or five miles al- 
most due east. The plat of Tuscumbia was a 
thing of beauty. It had streets with such high- 
sounding names as "Bowery," "Merchant," 
"Broadway," "Washington," "Madison," "Jef- 
ferson," and bid fair to become a great city. 
The plat says "This town is delightfully situ- 
ated at the head of navigation of Spoon River 



with high banks on each side, which are six 
feet above high water mark." For a while the 
lots sold rapidly, as the conveyances indicate. 
Davis ol)tained the land from Edward Coles, 
who was former Governor of Illinois, but who 
had reurned to his old home in Philadelphia 
in 1833, where he died in 1868. Among lot own- 
ers were Joseph Sharpe, Theodore Tarleton, 
Thomas J. Little, Charles Clark, Lewis W. 
Ross, William Gustine, Anderson Beadles, E. 
D. Rice, William Elliott, Jr., pioneers of Ful- 
ton County, and many others in neighboring 
counties. William Gustine and William Elliott, 
Jr., finally became the owners of the land and 
the lots, and in 18.55 the plat was vacated, and 
the land subsequently became well known as 
the Wes Hicks farm, and is now owned by R. 
Comstock. 

Waterford was the second town platted in 
the county. It was laid out March 21, 1S25, by 
James and John Johnson. It was located on the 
north bank of Spoon River on the southeast 
quarter of Section 11, Waterford Township. 
It contained ninety-seven lots, and while it is 
still marked on the maps of the county, it is 
not and never did become even a village. It 
was located on a ford crossing Spoon River 
on the road from Lewistown southeast toward 
Havana. Near this town site on Section 10 
John Bveland, Fulton County's first actual 
settler, settled in 1820. 

On May 6, 1S35, August Mathingly laid out 
the town of St. Augustine in Union Town- 
ship on the east half of Section 5. It con- 
tained sixty lots and thrived for a time, but 
when the railroad line missed the town, the 
town moved over in Knox County and a new 
St. Augustine was built. 

One of the additions of the city of Astoria 
was once a town of and in itself. It was called 
Washington and contained only forty-eight lots. 
It was platted May 15, 1834, by Thomas T. 
Garvin and Stephen Merrill. Three years later 
the town of Vienna was platted on Section 23, 
just west of the town site of Washington. 
Washington as a distinct entity was soon aban- 
doned and was afterward absorbed by Vienna, 
which was the original name of Astoria, and 
under which name Astoria was originally in- 
corporated. 

There may be other places where attempts 
were made to found cities in Fulton County, 
but failed to reach the point where the sur- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



693 



veyor was called in to measure off the ground. 
There have been Innumerable cross-roads post- 
offices established, but it was never hoped for 
them that they would comprise more than a 
country grocery and a blacksmith and repair 
shop, with an occasional sorghum molasses 
mill or a cider press as a sort of side industry 
in the fall of the year. But of these, those not 
abandoned before, faded from sight very gen- 
erally with the installation of the rural free 
mail delivery. 

Perhaps there are yet a few old settlers of 
Fulton County who can recall some of these 
"Deserted Villages" of Fulton County and could 
give much local history concerning them, but 
the present generation will be surprised to 
learn that Fulton County soil has been check- 
er-boarded with so many town lots. 



CHAPTER XVn. 



MANUFACTURES. 



FIBST MANUFACTURING ENTEKPRISES SAW AND 

GRIST-MILLS — HARDSHIPS OF EARLY SETTLERS IN 
OBTAINING MILLING ACCOMMODATIONS — NEAREST 
MILLING POINT ON THE SANGAMON NE.\R SPRING- 
FIELD — FAVORITE MILLING STREAMS — DISTILLER- 
IES AND BREWERIES — SOME EXTINCT INDUSTRIES 

BRICK AND TILE MANUFACTURING — WOOLEN 

MILLS — CIGAR-MAKING TANNERIES — AGRICUL- 
TURAL IMPLEMENT MANUFACTURING A GROWING 

INDUSTRY THE PARLIN AND ORENDORFF FACTORY 

AT CANTON — ITS IMMENSE OUTPUT. 

The first manufacturing enterprise established 
on Fulton County soil was the Craig & Savage 
saw-mill, which was located in 1818 near the 
mouth of Otter Creek. This has been referred 
to earlier in this volume (see Chapter VII., page 
644). The next manufacturing institution was 
a horse grist-mill established by John Eveland 
in 1822 or 1823. Saw mills were soon establish- 
ed at various points in the county. Otter Creek, 
Big Creek and Copperas Creek were favorite 
locations, as were other places wherever there 
was water-power attainable and big timber of 



the proper variety, with accessibility to market. 
Lumber had to be floated down the streams to 
the Illinois River, and thence either loaded on 
a flat-boat or rafted, according to its character. 
At first, chiefly walnut lumber was sent out of 
the county. Oak lumber was supplied only to 
the local trade. It was later that the oak 
lumber from local mills became a product of 
commerce to any extent. 

Milling Entkrprises. — The reducing of the 
early settler's corn and wheat to meal and flour 
was one of the most troublesome of the many 
hardships entailed upon the pioneers, until the 
establishment of local mills. The corn had 
either to be reduced to meal by hand, as de- 
scribed in the history of "Early Settlements" or 
loaded on a boat and taken down the river to 
some point where there was a mill. The near- 
est milling point for wheat-flour for the early 
settlers was on the Sangamon River, north of 
Springfield, and the early settlers went there 
in boats, with their wheat to have it ground. 
The horse-mills, like those established by John 
Eveland and others, were of a very crude and 
unsatisfactory character, and would not supply 
wheat-flour. They ground corn-meal solely, and 
very slowly, so that many patrons could not be 
supplied from one mill. It was not until the 
introduction of water-propelled mills that the 
early settlers could be supplied with flour made 
out of wheat they grew. The first water-mill 
was established by Jacob Ellis, on Put Creek, in 
Putman Township, near Independence, about 
1827. It was a very limited affair. Afterwards 
Mr. Ellis established a larger mill on Big Creek. 
Subsequently there were many mills located on 
Big Creelc, Copperas Creek and Otter Creek. It 
was not until about 1830 that any one was enter- 
prising enough to undertake the building of a 
mill on the more pretentious Spoon River. This 
first Spoon River mill was built by Alexander 
Freeman, who came to Fulton County in 1829, 
and settled at Hackelton Bridge, which was just 
North of where the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad now crosses the river and near 
the junction of Lewistown, Bernadotte, Pleasant 
and Isabel Townships. This mill was 34 x 46 
feet in size, and ground wheat and corn, and 
a saw-mill was also run in connection with 
it. The mill ran only a short time until it 
was swept away by the floods. This was the 
first of the many splendid mills which were 



694 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



afterwards built upon Spoon River iu the 
county. From the time of the erection of this 
mill by Mr. Freeman, no grist-mills were built 
upon the smaller streams of the county, but the 
great milling industry that extended from 
Duncan's Mills, on the south, to London Mills, 
on the north, gradually developed and, in the 
zenith of the glory of these enterprises, no 
county in Illinois produced a greater quantity 
of flour than Fulton. The product of the old 
water-mills along Spoon River was known, the 
world over, as late as the 'seventies; but with 
the introduction of steam-mills and railroad 
facilities tor transportation to the markets, the 
glory of these industrial institutions which 
were, in their day, the greatest industry in the 
county, began to wane and, today, there is but 
a mere vestige of these mills left. There is but 
one dam at this date across Spoon River, and 
that is at Bernadotte, and it is disintegrating 
from lack of attention and care. The old mill 
at that place is silent and involved in litigation, 
and it is probable that, ere long, it will meet 
the fate of its competitors of ancient days at 
Duncan's, at Seville, at Babylon and at London 
Mills. Almost as late as 1880 there were two 
mills in operation at Duncan Mills south of 
Lewistown, and a little steamer was plying 
between that point and Havana, carrying the 
output of those mills to that point to be loaded 
on larger vessels for market. Today, there is 
not an exclusive water-mill in Fulton County — 
the one at Bernadotte being equipped for both 
water and steam — and, while it has not been 
dismantled, it is not in operation. In the 
years following the war, nearly every village 
and hamlet in Fulton County supported a flour- 
ing mill, and immense mills were operated in 
Astoria and Lewistown. The mill at Astoria 
manufactured almost exclusively for the Liver- 
pool market; yet today there is scarcely a mill 
operated in Fulton County, for the purpose of 
manufacturing flour out of wheat, and those 
being operated confine their business solely to 
local trade. The opening up of the vast wheat 
fields in the Northwest, and the centralization 
of much of the flour manufacturing business in 
that region put the Fulton County mills out of 
business. There is probably as much wheat 
raised in Fulton County now as formerly, but 
it is not supplied to the local market but is 
shipped out of the county. 



PoBK Packing. — Prior to 1830 there was little 
of what might be termed pork-packing done in 
Fulton County. Theretofore the farmers would 
dress their own hogs and bring the hams in to 
the local merchant and exchange them for 
goods; but this exchange was largely limited to 
hams, the merchants rarely taking any other 
part of the animal. The difficulty in getting 
pork to market was the great drawback. The 
winter months in which pork could be safely 
handled by the pioneer merchants was a time 
when it was inconvenient to reach the market. 
The establishment of a regular packet line of 
steamboats between the Mississippi River and 
Peoria made it possible for the merchants to 
become pork-packers, and this industry develop- 
ed to considerable proportion in the county. 
Nearly every merchant became also a pork- 
packer, and many firms carried on the business 
of pork-packing independently. The introduc- 
tion of modern methods, requiring immense 
amounts of water and unlimited transportation 
facilities, made it impossible for local packers 
to compete with the large packing houses, which 
were centralized, first, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
afterwards, in greater proportion, at Chicago, 
until now there is no pork-packing done in 
Fulton County for the general market. 

Distilleries. — At an early date Fulton 
County was the seat of many distilleries. Its 
output of spirits exceeded that of all other 
counties in the Military Tract combined. It 
was not until after the war that her prestige 
in this field was taken over by Peoria. The 
first distillery in the county was operated as 
early as 1833, on Duck Creek by R. Dixon, 
Ensley Fouts and George Smith. It made dis- 
tilled spirits only from corn which had first 
to be ground at some neighboring pioneer grist- 
mill. The business of distilling spirits grew to 
be quite an industry in the county and, even 
after the war, large distilleries were still 
operated at Canton and at Utica. The importa- 
tion of Texas cattle to Illinois, to be fed from 
the offal of distilleries, was first made in 1872 
by McCall and Babcock, who conducted a dis- 
tillery near the "gas-house bridge" over Big 
Creek, on West Locust Street, just without the 
city limits of Canton. This was the last dis- 
tillery to be operated in Fulton County. It 
passed into the control of the "Whisky Trust". 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



69s 



in the 'eighties, and mysteriously burned up a 
few years thereafter. A firm by the name of 
Sammis, Warner & Co., conducted a large dis- 
tillery as late as 1872 at Utica. It was charged 
that highwines were removed from bond with- 
out the special government tax having been 
paid. The members of the firm alleged that em- 
ployes removed the whisky without the knowl- 
edge or consent of the firm, but the property 
was confiscated by the Government through the 
action of Colonel A. C. Matthews, now of Pitts- 
field, Pike County, as an officer of the Internal 
Revenue Department. A portion of the property 
was sold, but some of the lots were retained by 
the United States Government for more than 
thirty years, and were finally sold in 1905 by 
the revenue officers of the Government. Noth- 
ing now remains to indicate that the distillation 
of spirits was a prosperous and important in- 
dustry, at one time, in Fulton County. 

Breweries for the brewing of lager-beer were 
operated in Fulton County, intermittently, to 
about 1890. The last one was operated by J. E. 
A. Johnson, at the corner of South Avenue 
A and West Maple Street, in the city of Canton 
— not, however, under the shadow of the Public 
High School, for the reason that it was located 
diagonally across the street to the southwest, 
and the shadow of the High School building 
was cast in the opposite direction. Operations 
were suspended about 1890 and the brewery 
has been dismantled and, today, there is manu- 
factured within the confines of Fulton County 
nothing more intoxicating than apple-cider and 
grape-juice. 

Coopering Business. — Another of the early 
ndustrles of Fulton County that has totally 
disappeared is that of coopering. At one time 
it was quite an industry, as most of the general 
utility vessels used by the house-wife were of 
home manufacture, as well as the barrels con- 
taining the local output of the distilleries, 
breweries, sugar camps, etc. The last cooper- 
shop was conducted on North Main Street at the 
corner of Spruce, in the city of Canton, by 
Joseph Thompson, as late as 1880. There is not 
a cooper following his avocation in the county 
today. 

Hatters. — When the pioneers discarded the 
general use of the 'coon-skin cap as a head cov- 
ering, local hat-making industries were es- 



tablished. Thomas L. Ross, the first Treas- 
urer of Fulton County, was also its first hatter. 
This was in 1824, and he carried on the busi- 
ness for a number of years at Lewistown, finally 
moving to the lead mines at Galena. He was a 
brother of Ossian M. Ross. The next hat factory 
was, probably, that of Henry Clark, established 
in Canton in 1832 — though it is said that hats 
were manufactured, on a small scale, by others 
before that time. The making of hats in the 
county ceased about 1840. At best, it was only a 
limited business. 

Brick and Tile Manutacturinq. — Much of 
the clay soil of Fulton County is peculiarly 
well adapted to the making of building brick 
and, from a very early period in the history of 
the county, brick for building purposes has 
been manufactured. The first bricks were 
largely composed of sand and clay; but latterly 
a superior quality of shale has ueen utilized 
to the almost entire exclusion of clay and sand. 
This shale not only makes a superior quality 
of building brick, but an excellent quality of 
vitrified paving brick. There are four large 
brick manufacturing plants located in Canton 
alone, that use this shale exclusively; and the 
aggregate output of these plants is about eight 
million brick annually. The demand, of course, 
is not confined to local consumption, but Canton 
paving brick is used in the construction of 
many buildings and on many paved streets 
m neighboring cities. Manufacturing brick for 
local use is carried on in nearly every city and 
village in the county. 

The necessity for draining the lowlands in 
the county stimulated another industry which, 
for a time, flourished rather extensively in the 
county. When clay tile superseded the open 
and blind ditches as a means of draining farm 
lands, tile factories, with more or less capacity, 
were established in many parts of the country 
where there were suitable clay-beds. As the 
farms of the county were gradually tiled out, 
the local demand for drain-tile ceased to such 
an extent that very few of these tile factories 
are now operated, and very little clay tile 
is produced. The shale used in the manufacture 
of paving brick is said to be very suitable for 
the manufacture of vitrified sewer-pipe, but as 
yet no one has undertaken to launch such an 
enterprise in the county. 



696 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Cut Sto.ne. — As showu in his book giving a 
description of the various lots and quarter- 
sections of the Military Tract, elsewhere quoted, 
Van Zant early called attention to the superior 
quality of grit-stone to be found in Fulton 
County. This stone was utilized by pioneers to 
some extent in the building of houses. The 
pillars of the old Court House, built at Lewis- 
town by Major Walker, in 1838, were made of 
line sandstone, quarried in the vicinity of the 
county-seat. In many parts of the county small 
quarries have been operated from a very early 
date, but not until about 1870 was any con- 
certed effort made to quarry stone for the 
general market, or to manufacture cut-stone of 
any kind. About that time the quarries at 
Leaman were established and, in 1872, the 
Marietta Stone and Coal Company was incor- 
porated, with a capital stock of $200,000, with 
John W. IngersoU as President and A. B. 
Leaman as Secretary. This business was con- 
ducted until about 1880. Building stone, whet- 
stones and grindstones were made. The stone- 
piers for one of the railroad bridges crossing 
the Illinois at Peoria, were constructed of stone 
from this quarry. The chief stockholder in the 
company was a Mr. Leaman, who resided in Ohio 
and, at his death, the business gradually de- 
creased until the entire works were dismantled. 
Other attempts to quarry stone in that locality 
have been made and, at this time, small quani- 
ties are quarried and dressed for building pur- 
poses and shipped to various points on the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad, but the out- 
put is very limited. 

Woolen Mills. — At one time Fulton County 
was a producer of considerable quantities of 
woolen goods and woolen yarn, but, today, the 
only mill remaining in operation is that of the 
Ipava Woolen Mills, located at Ipava, and 
owned and operated by Charles F. Foote. This 
mill confines its output largely to woolen cloths 
for serviceable skirts for women's wear and 
woolen blankets. It was not long after the 
first settlers arrived when carding mills were 
established at various points in the county, 
and there the wool was taken to be carded 
instead of the work being done by the house- 
wife by hand. Following the carding mills 
came those making the woolen yarn and, in 
natural sequence, followed the woolen mills 
for the manufacture of cloth. Very early in 



the history of Lewistown, a woolen mill was 
established by a Mr. Power. Afterward Messrs. 
Worley and Proctor established a mill of con- 
sideraljle importance and magnitude there. 
This business was afterwards discontinued, 
owing to financial embarrassment, but not until 
it had been successfully conducted for many 
years. The most important industry in Canton 
for many years was the woolen mill of John 
G. Piper at the corner of Main and Spruce 
Streets. In its early days It was a more im- 
portant industry measured by its magnitude 
than was the implement factory of William 
Parlin, who started in the business of manufac- 
turing plows about the same period. These 
woolen mills burned in 1885. 

Cigar Industry. — In 1855 there was estab- 
lished at Canton a cigar factory by E. H. Curtis. 
Mr. Curtis and his brother, J. J. Curtis, consti- 
tuted the full complement of workmen in the 
shop. This was the beginning of an industry 
which has added great individual wealth to Ful- 
ton County. Probably no industry has added so 
much to the individual wealth of the county as 
the manufacture of cigars in Canton. Growing 
from the little shop of E. H. Curtis, the cigar 
industry in Canton had reached, in 1892, the 
enormous output of twenty million cigars from 
its fourteen or fifteen shops, only five or six of 
which previously had been regarded as of any 
considerable importance from the standpoint of 
liroduction. For many years Canton was the 
chief cigar-making center of the Middle West, 
and it has been by men who learned the trade 
of cigar-making in Canton, that many of the 
prosperous factories all through the Mississippi 
Valley, and even west of the Rocky Mountains, 
have been established. Other small cigar fac- 
tories have been established in nearly all the 
Kulton County towns and villages, and prosper- 
ous "buckeyes," as the small factories are called, 
are now flourishing in Cuba, Lewistown and 
other places. Canton, however, maintains its 
prestige as the cigar-making center, not only in 
Fulton County, but in Central Illinois. Not- 
withstanding the fierce competition of Eastern 
made goods, there are at present being operated 
in Canton many factories, and the output last 
year was about fifteen million cigars, with about 
'MO i)eople engaged in the business. Furtive 
attempts have been made to operate factories 
for the manufacture of other forms of tobacco 




.^J^jt ^ /L,^, 



C'V-vV 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



697 



products, but aside from a limited quantity of 
smoking tobacco made out of cigar clippings, 
the manufacture is confined to cigars. 

Tanneries. — Among the earliest manufactur- 
ing institutions established in Fulton County 
were the tanneries. These institutions were a 
necessity, owing to the fact that pelts from 
various wild animals slain by the frontiersmen, 
were among the principal productions of the 
country. As elsewhere noted, that pioneer 
merchant, William Proctor, was first a tanner 
with a tanyard on what is now colloquially 
known as Spudaway Creek adjacent to Lewis- 
town. Tanneries were conducted in all the 
principal towns of the county, and in some of 
the unimportant ones. The Proctor tannery, 
at Lewistown, employed a number of men when 
in operation, and the several tanneries in 
Canton were operated long after the use of the 
pelts from wild animals was abandoned, and 
it constituted quite an industry in its day. 

In a small way, several people in Canton were 
engaged in the boot and shoe-manufacturing 
business, and the shoes and boots were com- 
pletely home-made, as the manufacturers were 
also tanners and tanned the leather that went 
into the boots and shoes manufactured. The 
tanning industry has long since disappeared, 
and there has not been a tannery operated in 
Fulton County for more than thirty-five years. 
This industry, like so many other small in- 
dustries that thrived in the early days, was 
driven out by the centralization of the indus- 
tries near the source of supply of raw material 
— in this case, the great packing-houses. 

Agricultur.\i. Implements. — The most im- 
portant manufacturing Industry in the county 
is the agricultural implement factory of the 
Parliu & Orendorff Company at Canton. The 
line of implements manufactured by this com- 
pany includes over 1,400 different sizes and styles, 
and is the most complete line of implements 
made by any single factory in existence. The 
implements manufactured consist almost wholly 
of those required to prepare the ground and 
plant the grain. No harvesting implements are 
manufactured. The highest type of implements 
made in the world are produced by it. This 
factory was the originator of the corn-stalk 
cutter, the disc harrow made with concave 
discs, the lister and many other implements. 
6 



The first implements made were breaking-plows 
with wooden mold-board and iron shares, but 
these were soon superseded by the diamond 
plow which consisted of a piece of metal cut 
diamond shape and curved and having the lower 
edge sharpened. This plow was superseded in 
1848 by plows having a divided share and mold 
similar to those manufactured at the present 
day, but, of course, not such a finished imple- 
ment as that now in use. These plows were 
originally made from German steel. This 
character of plows was gradually improved 
and, with the improved method of hardening, 
grinding and polishing, the present high grade 
steel-plow was evolved. At first the output was 
limited to the breaking-plow; but, in 1856. was 
begun the manufacture of the walking cultiva- 
tors and shovel-plows, and gradually other 
lines were added. The first riding cultivators 
were made in 1865. The magnitude of this 
factory can best be comprehended by compari- 
son. As before stated, it manufactures 1,400 
different sizes and styles of implements. It 
would require 2,600 horses to pull a single 
specimen of each of these instruments, if they 
were placed in line, which line would be seven 
miles in length; and it would require $42,000 
to purchase one each of these implements. The 
output of the factory for one year, if placed in 
line with team attached ready for operation, 
would reach 1,800 miles. The plant covers 
nineteen acres of ground and the capacity is 
two complete implements per minute. The 
company has fifty branch and distributing 
houses located in important implement centers 
in the United States and many foreign coun- 
tries. The company owns in Kansas City. 
Mo., Omaha, Neb., and Dallas, Texas, magnifi- 
cent buildings for use in these distributing 
centers. 

This business was established in 1842 by 
William Parlin, who came from New England 
by way of Copperas Creek Landing. Mr. Parlin 
was a mechanic and saw the advantages of 
establishing a plow-factory in the growing 
prairie section in this part of Illinois. He first 
established himself in a building at the north- 
west corner of Main and Walnut Streets, direct- 
ly north of the present High School building, 
and just East of the present Presbyterian 
Church. This building was destroyed by fire in 
1847. Mr. Parlin then established his shop at 



698 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the southeast comer of East Elm and Second 
Avenue, which was the beginning of the factory 
building on the present site. This building was 
destroyed by fire in 1S49, after which a briclc 
building was erected. This old building, after 
being in use nearly sixty years, was torn down 
in March, 1902, to make room for the modern 
structure which is now located on that corner. 
As the business grew, extensions of the original 
shop were erected both to the south and the 
east. Until the old buildings were destroyed 
in 1902, the divers extensions, both south and 
east, could readily be discriminated, the ages 
of the respective walls being a graphic index 
to the growth of the factory. This growth was 
small until 1875, when a three-story building 
was erected on East Elm Street, just east of 
the original shop. The growth since that time 
has been rapid. It was not many years until 
the entire block bounded by Elm Street, Second 
Avenue, Pine Street and Third Avenue, was 
covered with buildings. In 1896 the block on 
the east, known as College Square, and adjoin- 
ing the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad 
right-of-way, was purchased and covered with 
an immense foundry and its necessary adjuncts. 
The next year the block south of College Square 
was purchased and twenty or more residences 
removed to make room for more buildings. The 
city authorities vacated, at this time, that part 
of East Pine Street between Third and Fourth 
Avenues; also Third Avenue from Elm Street 
south of Pine Street. Afterwards the block 
south of the main factory building was pur- 
chased, and Pine Street from Second to Third 
Avenue was vacated by the city. Thus, almost 
four entire blocks are covered by buildings, 
aside from the lumber-sheds which cover two 
blocks further soutn, extending to the Toledo, 
Peoria & Western Railroad from South Third 
Avenue, east to the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad property. About six blocks and 
an area equal to about nineteen acres are thus 
under roof. 

The first implements were made entirely by 
hand at a blacksmith forge. Later, horse-power 
was used and, in 1849, the first steam engine 
was Installed. In early days it was im- 
possible to purchase any of the small parts to 
assemble an implement, but every nut and bolt 



was made by hand from the raw material, as 
well as every other piece of the implement. 
This factory was the pioneer in the introduc- 
tion of labor-saving machinery. The factory is 
most complete and up-to-date from the point 
of sanitation and economical production of its 
output. The first plows were "made to order" 
and the market was limited to the territory 
within driving distance of Canton. The farmer 
came to town, gave an order for a plow and 
called for it after it was manufactured. When 
Mr. Parlin realized the success that his hand- 
made plows had attained, he employed enough 
workmen to make a few extra implements dur- 
ing the dull selling season, in order to meet 
the increased demand during the active selling 
season. This method was pursued until William 
J. Orendorff, in 1852, entered Into partnership 
with Mr. Parlin, under the firm name of 
William Parlin & Co., which, in 1860, was 
changed to Parlin & Orendorff. Mr. Orendorff 
was the sales manager and in charge of the 
office work, while Mr. Parlin conducted the 
mechanical departments. When Mr. Orendorff 
became the salesman for the firm, he Introduced 
the method of starting out from Canton with 
several wagon-loads of plows, selling them to 
farmers along the road, sending back the empty 
wagons, one at a time as the goods were sold. 
Afterwards the implements were placed with 
dealers. It was not long after Mr. Orendorff 
entered the business until it extended west of 
the Mississippi; and, as early as 1868, a branch 
nouse was established in Kansas City. In 1880 
the Parlin & Orendorff Company was incor- 
porated with the following officers: William 
Parlin, President; William J. Orendorff, Vice 
President; \V. H. Parlin, Secretary; A. L. Oren- 
doroff. Treasurer. William Parlin, the founder 
of the business, died in 1901, and William J. 
Orendorff died in 1897, as the result of an 
accident with a runaway team. They both 
lived, however, to see the plant which they had 
established become the largest of its kind in 
the world. The sons of the founders assumed 
full control of the management after the death 
of their respective parents. The present officers 
are W. H. Parlin, President and General 
Manager; U. G. Orendorff, Secretary and 
Treasurer; L. H. Glllett, Assistant Treasurer. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



699 



CHAPTER XVni. 



COMMERCIAL EXPANSION. 



OPENING OF THE ILLINOIS & MICHIGAN CANAL 

CONSEQUENT TBEND OF BUSINESS TOWARD CHI- 
CAGO COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS PREVIOUS TO THE 

CIVIL WAR — EARLY CURRENCY THE PHELPSES 

■ THE FITST MERCHANTS IN FULTON COUNTY 

WATER TRANSPORTATION TO ST. LOUIS LATER 

MERCANTILE CONCERNS ABSENCE OF BANKING 

INSTITUTIONS WILLIAM PROCTOR ESTABLISHES 

THE FIRST TANNERY UNIQUE CAREER AS A MER- 
CHANT REMINISCENCES RELATED OF JOHN W. 

PROCTOR — FONDNESS OF INDIANS FOR THE SPOON 

RIVER COUNTRY BEE HUNTING COMMERCIAL 

COMMODITIES OF AN EARLY DAY BEGINNING OF 

PORK PACKING EARLY CANTON AND LEWISTOWN 

MERCHANTS. 

Illinois & Michigan Canal. — The opening of 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal in 1848 diverted 
some of the mercantile business of Pulton 
County from St. Louis to Chicago, and especial- 
ly did this pertain to the shipments of grain 
and other products out of the county. Even 
prior to that time the Chicago market was so 
much superior to that of St. Louis for 
wheat, that the farmers of the county frequent- 
ly transported it overland in wagons. With 
the introduction of steamboats on the Illinois 
River, in the early 'thirties, communication 
with St. Louis and points below on the 
south, and La Salle on the north, were had by 
regular packet lines. The opening of the canal 
gave water ingress to Chicago and its lake port. 

Mercantille Business. — Until near the 
commencement of the Civil War, business of 
all kinds was largely done on the credit basis. 
The merchant would exchange his goods for 
whatever the farmer had for sale. The medium 
for cash transactions was the Spanish (or 
Mexican) silver dollar, half-dollar, quarter and 
twelve-and-a-half-cent piece (called a "bit"), 
and a six-and-a-quarter-cent piece, known as a 
"picayune". These came from New Orleans 
and other Lower Mississippi points, where the 
surplus produce was ultimately loaded for va- 



rious seaports. There was also a French five- 
franc piece, which passed for ninety-five 
cents, and was about as large as a silver dol- 
lar. These were obtained at St. Louis. There 
was other gold and silver coin brought in by 
the new settlers, including among the former 
the English "sovereign" (|4.85) and the Span- 
ish or South American "doubloon" (about 
$15.60). The use of this money was largely 
confined to the payment of taxes, postage and 
to transactions covering the sale or purchase 
of land from the Government, and sometimes 
between individuals. The first merchants of 
the county were Judge Stephen Phelps and 
Myron Phelps, respectively, father and son. 
They located in Lewistown in 1825; but pre- 
vious to that time, while living in Sangamon 
County, they had visited Lewistown buying 
pelts from the Indians either personally or 
through Judge Phelps' son-in-law, William 
Proctor. The firm was known as "Stephen 
Phelps & Son," and their first stock of goods 
was purchased at St. Louis, and they used 
John Eveland's cottonwood plroque to bring 
the stock from St. Louis to Lewistown, mak- 
ing the landing near what is now the old 
town-site of Waterford. The Phelpses traded 
largely with the Indians, as the white settlers 
were mighty few. Judge Phelps had the en- 
tire confidence of the Indians, and they pre- 
ferred trading with him to the trading posts 
at Wesley City and other points along the Il- 
linois River belonging to the American Fur 
Company. Consquently the Indians, for many 
miles around, would make two or three jour- 
neys a year to Lewistown, to exchange their 
pelts for supplies. Some of the white settlers 
were not altogether in harmony with the man- 
ner in which Judge Phelps treated the Indians, 
as it encouraged them to remain in the vicini- 
ty and, consequently, made game and fur-bear- 
ing animals rather scarce for the settlers. On 
one occasion, it is told by an old settler who 
came to the county in 1825, that it was decid- 
ed to drive the Indians from their locations In 
Fulton County; and in order to show their re- 
sentment on account of Judge Phelps' kind- 
ly relations with the red men, and thus dis- 
courage this friendliness, they decided to cap- 
ture some of these Indians, take them to Lewis- 
town and publicly flog them in the presence of 
Judge Phelps. This was done and, according 
to the old settler's story, it had the desired 



700 



HISTORY OF FULTOX COUXTY. 



effect on the Indians, if not on Judge Phelps. 
The Phelpses had a keel-boat built for their 
own trade, and they would load it either at 
Waterford or in Thompson's Lake. The mar- 
ket was St. Louis, and the cargo generally con- 
sisted of venison, porkhams, bees-wax, tallow, 
sacks of pecans and hickory-nuts, ginseng, 
feathers and dry pelts of all kinds. It 
took about four days to run the boat to St. 
Louis, and about twenty or twenty-five days 
to make the return trip. The motive power 
consisted of poles or oars in the hands of the 
boatmen, with occasional use of sails, when 
the winds were favorable, and, on the down- 
ward trip, of course, the river current. 
Judge Phelps was a very large man physical- 
ly, and was strictly honorable in all his deal- 
ings with the whites as well as the Indians. 
He died about 1840, and his son and partner. 
Myron, succeeded to the firm's business With 
a change of name and ownership, brought 
about by the mutations of time, this original 
and historic merchandising establishment 
still continues in existence in Lewistown, un- 
der the firm name of Charles Proctor & Son. 
Until the opening of the Phelps store and 
and other stores, the supplies of the settlers 
were purchased either at St. Louis or Ewards- 
ville, and were brought into the country under 
a co-operative plan by which the pelts, bees- 
wax and other supplies were loaded into a boat 
and were taken by some of the settlers selected 
for that purpose to the market place, and there 
exchanged for salt, powder, lead and mer- 
chandise of such character as was needed. 

Later .Mercantile .Establishment.s. — The 
next mercantile establishment in Fulton Coun- 
ty was also established in Lewistown by 
Patrick Hart, an Irishman, and Edward Plude, 
a Frenchman, but they soon disposed of their 
stock to Ossian M. Ross. 

In 1827 John Coleman came to Fulton County 
from New Jersey. He made the journey over- 
land in wagons and brought a stock of goods 
with him. He had manufactured axes back 
in New Jersey, and among his stock was a 
goodly supply of axes of his own manufacture. 
Mr. Coleman held title to land lying just 
north of the townsite of Canton as laid out by 
. Isaac Swan. On this land he settled and dis- 
posed of his axes and his stock of goods to good 
advantage to the settlers and Indians. Mr. 
Coleman did not long pursue the business of 



merchandising, his operations being confined 
largely to the sale of his original stock. 

Up to 1830 the entire white population of 
Fulton County was less than two thousand. 
Therefore, the demand for mercantile houses 
was not very great. Between 1830 and 1835 
the emigration to the county was very rapid 
and immediately stores were opened at many 
points in the county, particularly at Lewistown 
and Canton, Warehouses belonging to these 
merchants were established at the Illinois 
River landings especially at Liverpool and 
Copperas Creek Landing. These warehouses 
were used to store the outgoing produce taken 
from the farmers and trappers in exchange 
for merchandise, and to receive the incoming 
merchandise brought back from the markets of 
St. Louis and other points down the Mississip- 
pi River as far as New Orleans. By this time 
postoffices had been established in the county. 
so that its citizens did not have to rely upon 
the periodical trips to St. Louis to receive their 
mail. 

Banking institutions, as they are known at 
the present time, were nowhere to be found 
in Fulton County until just before the War of 
the Rebellion. The merchants acted to a limited 
extent as the county's bankers, but, as every- 
thing was done on a credit basis, there was not 
much use for a bank as a depository for safe- 
keeping. 

One of the earliest merchants that came to 
Fulton County was William Proctor, the son-in- 
law of Judge Phelps. He came to Lewistown 
and established himself in business in 1828. 
There he erected the first tannery In Fulton 
County and carried on that business for several 
years, afterward engaging in a mercantile busi- 
ness. He was a man of scrupulous honesty and 
built up a large business. His retiring from the 
business of selling goods has been one of the 
most singular instances that have ever occured 
in the history of merchandising in Fulton Coun- 
ty. Without any apparent reason, he failed to 
open the doors of his store for business one 
morning. He didn't offer to sell his goods at auc- 
tion or in any other way. The store contained a 
full and complete stock: but from that morning 
until his death, the store remained just the 
same and the mystery surrounding the un- 
heralded suspension of business, is as deep to- 
day as it was on that morning. Occasionally, 
Mr. Proctor would transact such business as he 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



701 



might have with some one at the desk in the 
store room, but no goods were sold or in any 
way disturbed. For thirty years this stock 
of goods remained on the shelves to mold and 
gather dust, and it was only after his death 
that they were disposed of. The stock com- 
prised dry goods, notions, boots and shoes, hats 
and caps, harness, hardware, leather, and hun- 
dreds of other articles of commerce. Styles 
had greatly changed in the thirty years preced- 
ing his death. in 1S79. Some of the articles 
of wearing apparel had a very incongruous 
look in comparison with the prevailing styles 
at the time the store was opened. Mr. Proctor 
did not retire from active business merely be- 
cause he did not continue that of selling mer- 
chandise, but looked after his outside interests 
with scrupulous care and exacting honesty and 
uprightness. 

A Reminiscence of Early Mercantile En- 
terprises. — At the request of the editor, John 
W. Proctor, the son of William Proctor, and 
who is today the oldest living resident of Ful- 
ton County — having resided here since June 
1828, a period of nearly eighty years — has sub- 
mitted for use in this volume a little personal 
reminiscence of the merchants and the mer- 
cantile methods of the pioneer days. No one 
now living in Fulton County is so well quali- 
fied to discuss this subject as he is. He says: 

"By tar the greater number of the first emi- 
grants to Fulton County came from the South- 
ern and Middle States. Some, however, came 
from New England. Among the latter was 
my father, the late William Proctor. So 
much was said in the papers about the great 
West, and especially Missouri, that my father 
and a certain Captain Hathaway, a retired Sea 
Captain, decided to move to Missouri. Early 
in September, 1818, they sailed out of Boston, 
Mass., on their way to Missouri. They were 
three weeks sailing to Philadelphia. There 
they purchased horses and wagon and headed 
for Pittsburg. Thence by cabin-boat they passed 
down the Ohio River. Arriving at Shawnee- 
town. 111., they exchanged the boat tor a team 
and started across Southern Illinois for St. 
Louis. At Bellevile, 111., they learned Missouri 
was likely to be a slave State, so they lo- 
cated in St. Clair County, 111. Two years af- 
ter, the Winnebago Indians ceded to the Govern- 
ment what was known as the Sangamon Coun- 



try. This country extended from the Illinois 
to the Wabash River east, and between a line 
east and west from south line of Tazewell, 
County south to, and including, Cass County. 
Illinois was a Territory yet, but Southern Il- 
linois had quite a population composed of 
people who had come largely from the North- 
ern States. Cahokia was the capital. (At this 
time Kaskaskia was the capital of the Terri- 
tory, and Cahokia the county seat of St. Clair 
County.— Editor). My father's location was 
ten miles north of where Springfield is now 
located. 

"In 1828 my father removed to Lewistown 
in Fulton County. My maternal grandfather, 
Judge Stephen Phelps, had an Indian trading- 
post at Lewistown with the Sacs and Pox 
Indians. There were but few white people in 
the county at the time. But the Indians felt 
they were being crowded back and away from 
their favorite hunting grounds. They were 
greatly attached to the Spoon River country, 
both on account of the game and fish that could 
be found here, also because of the numbers of 
the fur family, including otter, mink, coon ana 
muskrat. With sale of deer skins and fur they 
were able to supply themselves with ammuni- 
tion, guns and blankets. Twice a year they 
came to Lewistown in large numbers to trade. 
My grandmother Phelps, in her very large log 
kitchen, with loft above, gave lodging and food 
at such times to the Indian women and child- 
ren. I remember that she often tried to get 
me to play with the little Indians, but we did 
not fraternize very well. They were there as a 
tribe for their last trading trip in the spring 
of 1832. The following summer occurred the 
Black Hawk War, and at its close the Indians 
moved west of the Mississippi River. For a 
few years some would return to the beautiful 
valley of the Spoon, and remain until late in 
the fall. They were welcome to the homes 
of the settlers, and I never heard of the 
slightest treachery on their part. 

"There was commercial demand for but few 
articles that we had for sale. There was a root 
found on the creek bottoms, or near to them, 
called ginseng. It had a commercial value of 
twenty-five cents per pound when dry, and was 
used as a drug, and in combination with other 
drugs was valued as a remedy for some diseas- 
es. Another article of export was be'es-wax. 
There were then quite generally, groves of dif- 



ro2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ferent kinds of trees. Many of these had cavi- 
ties made by loss of limbs, where the wild bees 
located. There were men who were very ex- 
pert bee-hunters. One of them, with proper 
bait, would expose it near a grove (either 
honey or other bait) to attract the bees, and 
they would trace them to their homes, thus 
getting sometimes one hundred or more 
pounds of honey. Bees-wax was worth, in 
trade, about twenty-five cents per pound. 
Large quantities were shipped to St. Louis, 
our commercial center. Deer became quite 
plenty after the Indians left and before many 
emigrants came, and deer skins were shipped 
in large numbers, also furs. 

"Not until about 1S36 did the merchants be- 
gin to buy dressed hogs and pack pork for 
shipment. The mast, as acorns and other 
nuts were called, furnished excellent food for 
hogs and. If the farmer finished fattening 
with six weeks of good corn, they had good 
pork. About the same time the farmers who 
had been offered only twenty-five cents per 
bushel for winter wheat, began to be offered 
311/4 cents and SlVz cents, according to quali- 
ty. Merchants became the middle men between 
producer and consumer, thus collecting debts 
due themselves and paying the surplus in 
cash. Settlements with the merchants were 
made annually, and the merchants expected 
to settle with their creditors annually. For 
many years, however, the money brought by 
newcomers was the main dependence for the 
exchange. By far the greater part of business 
of all kinds was done on credit. Twelve per 
cent, interest was paid without protest by both 
merchant and consumer. The medium for cash 
transactions was Spanish silver dollars, halves, 
quarters, bits (12% cents) and picayunes, 
(6%) cents. There was also the French five- 
franc piece, in large part for silver, it passing 
for ninety-five cents. Then, for gold, we had 
occasionally our American Eagle and half- 
eagle, but foreign gold, especially, the English 
sovereign, passing for $4.85, furnished the 
larger part. 

"There was a time, however, when times 
were so close that a very large proportion of 
business was conducted by barter and ex- 
change. At that time I remember to have seen 
a pretty fair cow sell at contable's sale for 
$5.00. There were no banks and no money lend- 
ers, but by way of compensation our wants 



were simple. Danger from robbery there was 
none. We had no locks on our doors — almost 
no counterfeit money. There were no rich 
men. no poor men. If a man, because of sick- 
ness, could not plant or gather his crop, his 
neighbors saw to it that it was done. The 
neighbors cared for the sick ones and, when 
there was destitution, always provided for 
the wants of such. The very dependence each 
felt upon the other, drew them together. There 
were no poor houses and not much use for jails. 
With all our deprivations we were very happy. 
The selfishness begotten of prosperity makes 
us long for those dear early days. 

"I enclose names of some of the prominent 
business men of Canton and Lewistown. 
Please understand that these were men who 
were in business in the 'thirties and somewhat 
earlier. 

"Canton — Joel Wright, Job Shinn, Thomp- 
son Maple, John G. Graham, James H. Stipp, 
D. W. Vittum, H. F. & J. W. Ingersoll, John 
G. Piper, John Shinn, I. S. Piper. 

"Lewistown — Myron Phelps. William Proc- 
tor, Nathan Beadles, William B. Kelley, 
Henry B. Evans. 

"I give only the names of the prominent mer- 
chants of the early days. There were many 
others doing a limited business scattered 
about over the county; but wherever they were 
located and whatever their prominence in the 
business world, I can say they were, as a rule, 
men who commanded the confidence of all." 



CHAPTER XIX. 



HIGH WAYS— R A I LROADS . 



I:mportaxce of good roads — Indian trails the 
only eably sibstitute — dat of the piroque 
— illixors river ferries — first boad over- 

.seers — plank and toll roads early stage 

lines — primitrv'e ferries give wat to steel 

iiridges coming of the railroad failfre of 

the state internal improvement system 

local r.mlroad enterpri.ses — lewistown and 
canton competing lines toledo, peoria & 




HEZEKIAH CATTRON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



703 



WESTERN THE FULTON COUNTY BAILWAY — 

JACKSONVILLE & SOUTHEASTEKN STREET AND 

INTERURBAN LINES. 

The importance of good roads to the proper 
development of a new country Is better evi- 
denced in the policy of the Government of Great 
Britain than that of any other country. Great 
Britain is the great colonizer and developer of 
new countries, and the first step toward this 
end, taken by that Government, is the making 
of good roads. While the people of this country 
may realize the importance of good roads, our 
system of divided responsibilities for their 
construction militates against speedy accom- 
plishment. When John Eveland, in 1820, landed 
in Waterford Township, there were, of course, 
no established roads within the limits of the 
present county of Fulton. The only substitute 
therefor were the rather well-defined Indian 
trails. For more than three years he lived un- 
der these conditions, as did Osslan M.Ross and 
other settlers who came before the organization 
of Fulton County in 1823. Settlers coming into 
the county overland had to cross the Illinois 
River at Ft. Clark (Peoria) or at Beardstown, 
at which places ferries were maintained. John 
Eveland's cottonwood piroque, that brought the 
first settler into the country; that carried the 
settler's first Fulton County wheat up the San- 
gamon River to be ground into the first wheat- 
flour of local production; that brought into the 
county the first hogs, and that transported to 
the county the first stock of goods for the first 
merchant, likewise was used as the first ferry 
boat to carry the early immigrants across the 
Illinois at the mouth of Spoon River. It was 
nearly a hundred miles (by river) from Peoria 
to Beardstown, and Ossian M. Ross quickly saw 
the financial advantage of a ferry at Havana, 
which was about midway between those two 
places. One of the first acts of the first Board 
of County Commissioners, at its first meeting, 
was the granting to Ossian M. Ross of a license 
to conduct a ferry across the Illinois River 
near the mouth of Spoon River. The landing on 
the Mason (then Sangamon) County side after- 
wards became the town-site of Havana. There 
were certain established days on which the 
ferry would run and the immigrant who arrived 
beforehand simply pitched his tent and waited 
for the ferry to begin business. In 1828 the 
ferry business became so financially productive 



that Mr. Ross removed from Lewistown to 
Havana, and conducted it personally until he 
died in 1837. The records of this first Pulton 
County ferry are in possession of the family of 
Harvey Lee Ross, now of Los Angeles, Cal., 
and from these can be traced the date of the 
arrival of many of the early pioneers in Ful- 
ton County and the counties to the north and 
west. 

Establishing First Highways. — Another of 
the first acts of this first Board of County 
Commissioners at Its first meeting, was the 
appointment of three Road Superintendents or 
Overseers. The county was divided into three 
districts. No. 1 being all that part of the county 
lying northwest of Ft. Clark — that is, from a 
line west from Peoria to the Mississippi, and 
north to the State line. William Eads, of Ft. 
Clark (Peoria), a brother of Abner Eads, the 
newly elected first Sheriff of the county, was 
appointed to look after the roads in this dis- 
trict. Stephen Chase, of Lewistown, was ap- 
pointed to the overseership of District No. 2, 
which was not nearly so extensive as No. 1, yet 
covered a considerable expanse of territory. It 
extended from Ft. Clark south to Spoon River. 
The territory south of Spoon River was Dis- 
trict No. 3, and Amos Eveland, who lived on 
the south bank of that river, was named as 
Overseer of District No. 3. 

Thus was begun the work of developing the 
highways of the county. The expanse of terri- 
tory to be covered prevented any concentration 
of eltort, and the same trouble has worked to 
the disadvantage of the highways in Fulton 
County, even unto the present day. The work 
has been scattered over too much surface and 
has, therefore, been temporary and imperfect 
In character. The roads in Fulton County have 
been vastly improved within the past few years, 
but are yet far from ideal. Literally hundreds 
of steel bridges have been built all over the 
county within the last twenty years, so that no 
longer are streams forded on main highways. 
In the county there are not far from 2,500 
miles of country highways. It is a little re- 
markable that only one additional means of 
crossing the Illinois River from Fulton County 
soil has been added since the establishment of 
the Ross Ferry at Havana (which was long ago 
superseded by a bridge), and that is the ferry 
at the Copperas Creek dam. This Is the only 



704 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



licensed terry in the county. Other ferries are 
run in the county, but they cross Spoon River 
and are maintained at county expense. The 
first bridge across Spoon River was built at 
Bernadotte in 1844. It Is a wooden structure, 
set upon immense sandstone piers quarried from 
nearby deposits. It is in a wonderfully well 
preserved condition and promises to last 
throughout the next century. Seven steel struc- 
tures have been built across Spoon River, viz: 
at London Mills, Ellisville, Babylon, Babylon 
Bend, Seville, Elrod and Duncan's Mills. 

Ax Era of Toll Ro.\d.s. — Fulton County was 
not on the line of the Great Western Mail 
Route; so it was not provided with a State 
road under the lavishly generous provisions of 
the elaborate Internal Improvement System, 
established by act of the General Assembly in 
1837. This county was taken care of, however, 
by two provisions of that act. One of these 
provisions provided tor the improvement of the 
navigation of the Illinois River west of the 
Third Principal Meridian, and the other for 
the building of a railroad from Peoria to War- 
saw, via Canton, Macomb and Carthage. Need- 
less to say, these provisions were never carried 
out. Toll roads were not, however, unknown 
to Fulton County. In 1850 one was built by 
private enterprise from Canton to Liverpool, a 
distance of about thirteen miles. The road 
ran south from Canton, between Sections 
34 and 35, to the center line between Sections 
10 and 11 in Liverpool Township, and then 
veered off south and east to the village of 
Liverpool. About one and thtee-quarter miles 
of the southeast end of this road consisted of 
a dike across the Illinois River bottom, and 
this dike is still known as the Liverpool dike. 
The road-bed for this thirteen miles of road 
was thrown up to about sixteen feet in width 
and, in the center of this, was placed a plank- 
road consisting of oak-planks, two by six inches, 
laid crosswise on sawed oak stringers. The 
cost of this road averaged about $3,000 per 
mile. It was built by the Canton and Liver- 
pool Plank Road Company, an Illinois corpora- 
tion, and the funds were provided for by the 
sale of stock and individual contributions from 
Canton merchants and business men. At this 
time Liverpool was, with the exception possibly 
of Havana, the most important Illinois River 
landing between Beardstown and Peoria. The 



territory tributary to it extended farther north 
than Canton and farther south than Lewis- 
town, and west beyond the western limits of 
Fulton County. Unfortunately for the plank- 
road enterprise much of the traffic to and from 
Liverpool could not conveniently pass over the 
road, as it was not in line with a considerable 
portion of the traffic. Another thing that mili- 
tated against the financial success of this enter- 
prise was that Copperas Creek Landing, three 
miles nearer Canton, divided the patronage of 
the Canton territory with Liverpool. All 
merchandise received, and all produce shipped, 
was by way of the river at this time, as there 
were no railroads. Lewistown and- Canton 
merchants owned warehouses at Liverpool, and 
Canton merchants owned warehouses at 
Copperas Creek Landing. About the time of the 
building of the plank-road a dike, two miles in 
length, was thrown up across the Illinois River 
bottom road, leading to Copperas Creek Land- 
ing. As there were no toll-gates along this 
road to Copperas Creek, that landing was fa- 
vored to the exclusion of Liverpool wherever 
possible. There were three toll-gates on the 
Liverpool plank-road, one about a mile and a 
half south of Canton, one at Maple's Mills, and 
one near Liverpool. The promoters of this 
toll-road thought that it would develop into a 
dividend producing enterprise. In this, how- 
ever, they were mistaken. In six years the road 
was so hopelessly in debt that the material 
used in constructing the road was sold under 
the hammer to partially satisfy creditors, and 
the road, as a semi-private way was abandoned. 
It has since been used as a public highway. 

Staoe Lixes. — The earliest stage line across 
the county started at Springfield and came 
through the county from Havana, where it 
crossed the river going North to Knoxville, and 
extending then beyond that point. Another 
stage line was established running from Peoria 
and later from Elmwood, going southwest 
through the county by way of Canton. Independ- 
ence, Lewistown, Hackelton's Mill on Spoon 
River, and on to Rushville and Quincy. The 
routes of both these lines were changed 
occasionally between unimportant points, but 
they constituted the main stage lines. Other 
shorter lines were conducted between various 
points in the county. The introduction of the 
railroads soon put an end to regular stage- 




MR. AND MRS. H. A. CATTRON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



705 



coach lines, though there are still maintained 
in the county several star routes for carrying 
mall. 

RAILROADS. 

As elsewhere stated, nothing came of that 
provision of the State Internal Improvement 
System inaugurated by the act of the Tenth 
General Assembly, so far as supplying the 
needs of Fulton County with a steam railroad 
was concerned. The contemplated line from 
Peoria to Warsaw, via Canton, Macomb and 
Carthage, to the aid of which the act establish- 
ing the State Internal Improvement System 
appropriated $100,(100, never materialized far- 
ther than that some of the grading was done 
between Peoria and Canton. Joel Wright, of 
Canton, was one of the three (afterward in- 
creased to five) commissioners who were ap- 
pointed to have charge of the vast improve- 
ments, as outlined by that act. For reasons 
fully given in another part of this work, this 
internal improvement scheme failed utterly. 
A portion of the Peoria & Warsaw grade be- 
tween Canton and Farmington, which was built 
under this act, was, nearly twenty years after- 
ward, utilized by the Jacksonville & Savanna 
Railroad Company for a portion of its road- 
bed. The road-bed was turned over by this 
company to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, and that company has since been 
using it. A stone culvert, near the pumping 
station north of Canton, still remains as a 
memory of the State Internal Improvement 
System of 1837. 

First Railro.vh. — The first railroad to cross 
Fulton County soil was known as the Northern 
Cross Railroad, and extended from Quincy to 
Galesburg. This was completed in 1855. The 
same year the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad was 
completed from Peoria to Galesburg. Both of 
these roads had received the financial aid of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad 
Company, and they ultimately passed into the 
control of that company and so remain to this 
day. With the establishment of these two rail- 
roads, Fulton County's railroad connection with 
the outside world was obtained by traveling 
overland to the nearest point on one of these 
lines. For instance, the stage-line, carrying 
mail for Canton and Lewistown, headed out of 
Elmwood in Peoria County. 



Other R.\ilroad E.nterprises.— Previous to 
the completion of the Northern Cross Rail- 
road, several efforts had been made to promote 
railroad construction in Fulton County. The 
Chicago & Rock Island Railroad had reached 
Peoria in 1854. Myron Phelps, the pioneer 
merchant of Lewistown, conceived the idea of 
having that railroad company extend its lines 
through Fulton County to Hannibal, Mo., 
and as a result of Mr. Phelps's efforts, the 
Peoria & Hannibal Railroad Company was 
organized with Mr. Phelps as President. Aside 
from private subscriptions and township bonds, 
Fulton County issued bonds to the amount of 
$200,000 to aid the project. One-half of these 
bonds were issued in 1858 and the other half 
in 1859. This road was to run from Peoria to 
Hannibal, Mo., by way of Utica, and was ex- 
pected to pass near what is now St. David, 
and on to Lewistown, thus missing Canton to 
the south several miles. A part of the old 
grade for this line can yet be seen in the 
vicinity of Utica. Mr. Phelps resigned the 
presidency after a few years, and Judge Henry 
L. Bryant succeeded him as President and 
General Manager. As a sort of a checkmate 
for the Peoria & Hannibal Railroad, the Jack- 
sonville & Savanna Railroad was incorporated 
in 1S55, with James H. Stipp, of Canton, as 
President and General Manager. To this road 
the county issued $100,000 of eight per cent, 
bonds in 1857. The road was to be run from 
Jacksonville, in Morgan County, to Savanna, in 
Carroll County, passing through Liverpool, 
Canton, Farmington and crossing the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Yates City. 
Much of the grading between Canton and Liver- 
pool was uone upon this route. A portion of 
the old Peoria & Warsaw grade between Canton 
and Farmington was shaped up, and new work 
done. 

Competing Enterprises. — It will be observed 
that the Peoria & Hannibal project was a dis- 
tinctly Lewistown enterprise, while the pro- 
posed Jacksonville & Savanna line was quite as 
distinctly a Canton affair. Neither was meet- 
ing with any marked degree of success, as 
eastern capital was loth to take hold of them. 
The promoters of the two companies finally 
made a deal with the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad Company, by which that com- 
pany took over parts of the two enterprises. 



yo6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



which resulted in the construction of a line 
from Yates City to Lewistown in 1S6L'. In ex- 
tending its line from Yates City under this 
plan, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy used 
the .Jacksonville & Savanna line until it inter- 
sected the Peoria & Hannibal line south of 
Canton, and then used that line into Lewistown. 
Concerning this deal James H. Stipp, the Presi- 
dent and General Manager of the Jacksonville 
& Savanna Railroad Company, in a communica- 
tion to the Fulton Democrat, under date of 
February 6, 1906, says: 

"I bought the Iron for the roads from Yates 
City to Canton with the proceeds of the county 
bonds. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy folks 
said it was too short a branch (about sixteen 
miles) to pay. and said if we could add fifteen 
miles to make the branch line thirty miles long, 
they would advise the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy chief officers to help us out. I saw 
Judge H. L. Bryant at once, and the matter was 
fixed up and the line extended to Lewistown. I 
then ordered a canal-boat load of iron to be 
shipped from Chicago to Liverpool, via the canal 
and Illinois River. The iron was hauled by 
teams from Liverpool along the line from Lewis- 
town to Canton. This was done just before 
the meeting of the County Board in September, 
many citizens believing it would encourage the 
Supervisors to provide for the interest on the 
bonds we had sold, for repudiation of 
these bonds was feared. I knew all the Super- 
visors as honest men and did not fear repudia- 
tion. The balance of my iron purchasea was 
delivered to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
at Chicago." 

The fact that this line was to extend no far- 
ther than Lewistown greatly enraged the peo- 
ple in the south part of the county, who had 
voted to be taxed to the extent of providing 
their portion of the total sum of $300,000 in 
bonds to promote the two railroad lines, on the 
theory that the Peoria & Hannibal would ex- 
tend through the south part of the county. 
Under the direction of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad Company, this line from 
Yates City was completed to Canton May 2, 
1862, and to Lewistown the next month. Lew- 
istown remained the terminal of this line for 
seven years, when it was extended south and 
west to Rushville. 

In 1870 a road known as the Rockford, Rock 
Island & St. Louis line was constructed through 



the townships of Astoria, Vermont and Farm- 
ers. This road received no county aid, but did 
receive township aid in the way of bonds. In 
1876 this line also passed to the control of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- 
pany and has so remained. 

Toledo, Peoria tf Westekx. — The Toledo, 
Peoria & Western, as it is now called, was put 
into operation in 1868 and is a consolidation 
of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad and 
the Mississippi & Wabash Railroad. To the 
latter company had been voted $75,000 in bonds 
by Fulton County in 1853, but, owing to a 
technicality, these bonds were never issued. 
For years the Toledo, Peoria & Western was 
under the control of Jay Gould and was part of 
the Wabash System, but it is supposed now to 
be operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quin- 
cy Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company jointly. 

Fulton County R.\ilw.\y. — The Fulton Coun- 
ty Narrow Guage Railroad was a narrow-guage 
line built from Fairview to Havana. It was 
constructed wholly by Lewistown capital and 
was contributed as Lewistown's most fetching 
argument in the famous county-seat removal 
contest between that place and Canton in 1878. 
The cost of the line was about $85,000. The 
line soon passed into the control of S. H. Mal- 
lory, a railroad capitalist of Chariton, Iowa, 
and his associates. This line was completed 
October 28, 1880, and was later extended from 
Fairview to Galesburg as the Fulton County 
Narrow-Guage Extension Railroad Company, 
which was also a Mallory corporation. The line 
was o|)erated as a narrow-guage railroad until 
the summer of 1906. It then passed to the con- 
trol of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road Company and was changed at once into a 
broad guage, and is now known as the Fulton 
County Railway. 

Jacksonville Southeastern. — In 1892 the 
Jacksonville Southeastern Railroad Company 
started the construction of a line of road from 
Jacksonville north. Through Fulton County 
south from Canton, the projected line to be fol- 
lowed was much the same as that of the de- 
funct Jacksonville & Savanna line. A grade 
was constructed from Canton to the Illinois 
River opposite Havana, and all the bridging 




<J^ y^ CcU^l-uryO 



was completed. The piers of a new bridge 
across the Illinois River were built to carry the 
line into Havana. The financial depression of 
1893 put a stop to the work and nothing has 
since been done with it. The grade still re- 
mains partially intact, but all the bridges have 
fallen into decay. 

Street and Interurdan Lines. — In 1892 a 
franchise for the operation of a street car line 
was granted by the city of Canton. About one- 
halt a block of track was laid on Maple Street, 
west from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad depot, but nothing farther was done in 
the matter, excepting that, after several months, 
the track was removed by the city authorities 
as a nuisance. 

The agitation for an interurban line of rail- 
way to connect the different cities of Fulton 
County began in 1902. W. S. McGinnis, of Can- 
ton, representing one James A. Lawrence, of 
Chicago, organized a local company and se- 
cured a franchise for the Fulton County Elec- 
tric Railroad Company from the city of Can- 
ton. The line as projected was to have the 
city of Canton as its central point and to run 
north toward Farmington, with a branch to 
Fairview, and south to Lewistown. The agita- 
tion resulted in the ultimate formation of the 
Illinois Electric Railway Company, which suc- 
ceeded to the rights of the Fulton County Elec- 
tric Railroad Company, and obtained a new 
franchise from the city of Canton, also a fran- 
chise from the village of St. David and one 
from the city of Lewistown. A track has been 
laid from Spruce Street on North Main Street, 
in the city of Canton, to the village of St. 
David, a distance of about six miles. The in- 
tention is to extend the line both north and 
south. If the plans of the promoters of this 
line materialize, Canton will be the central 
point for a system of interurban lines radiating 
from that city. The present officers of the Illi- 
nois Central Electric Railroad Company are: 
R. F. Henkle, President; L. W. Morton, First 
Vice-President; M. W. Rafferty, Second Vice- 
President; W. D. Plattenburg, Secretary; E. A. 
Heald, Treasurer. These five men, with Wil- 
liam Hanlon, constitute the six men who 
' financed and built the road. 

Another interurban line is projected by what 
is known as the McKinley Syndicate, to run 
from Peoria to Canton. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 

CHAPTER XX. 



707 



FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



first bank in FULTON COUNTY A BRANCH OF THE 
JACKSONVILLE STATE BANK CURRENCY CONDI- 
TIONS PREVIOUS TO 1860 — BANKS WHICH HAVE 

FAILED LIST OF BANKING INSTITUTIONS OP THE 

PRESENT DAY — DATES OFORGANIZATION AND NAMES 
OF PRINCIPAL FOUNDERS — PRESENT OFFICERS — 
NUMBER OF NATIONAL, STATE AND PRIVATE 
BANKS CAPITALIZATION AND FINANCIAL CONDI- 
TION — BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS. 

The first strictly financial or banking insti- 
tution in Fulton County was known as the Ful- 
ton Bank, and was located in the village of 
Vermont. It was established in 18.59 and was a 
branch of the Jacksonville State Bank. Har- 
vey Lee Ross was the agent and had super- 
vision and control of it, and, although it was 
in the days of "wildcat currency," be it said to 
the bank's credit, that no one lost a single 
dollar by being a patron of it. Up to about 
1860 there was no reliable cash market for the 
products from the farm except wheat. Coin 
was alone a legal tender, and there was not 
enough of it in circulation to do one-tenth 
the necessary business. The few coins obtain- 
able were nearly all of foreign mintage, and 
many of them so worn that dealers put varying 
value upon them. United States coins rarely 
got into circulation. "Red dog," "wildcat," 
"stumptail" and "shinplasters" were the collo- 
quial names given to the paper money that cir- 
culated as currency. The bills of different 
banks had many different values, and these 
values fluctuated from day to day. Every mer- 
chant tooK a weekly periodical called the "Bank 
Note Reporter," and this was consulted and the 
percentage of each bill computed. The currency 
in general use, passing as medium of exchange, 
was, therefore, a bewildering and maddening 
nightmare. These conditions obviously caused 
the barter to be the common method of ex- 
change, and it was not until after the war that 
the banking business of Fulton County really 
gained a foothold. The first bank organized 
in the county under the National Banking Act 



7o8 



/ 



HISTORY OF FULTOX COUNTY. 



was the First Xational Bank of Canton. The 
first bank organized under the State law was 
the Farmers' State Bank of Lewistown. There 
are now twenty-four banking institutions in the 
county, comprised of three National, five State 
and sixteen private banks, with a total invest- 
ment of capital and surplus of $1,000,000, in 
round numbers, and deposits aggregating ver.v 
nearly $5,000,000. In the history of the bank- 
ing business in the county there have been 
five failures, all private banks. They vi'ere 
as follows: C. D. Hoblitt. Canton, November 
13, 1884, liabilities $98,400; Orlando J. Beam, 
Avon, December 5, 1884, liabilities $81,-552 ; J. 
Mershon & Co., Vermont, .June 16, 1892, liabili- 
ties $171,504; Turner. Phelps & Co., Lewistown, 
January 6, 1894, liabilities $243,187.49, and 
Jackson Mason (Bank of Farmington), Farm- 
ington, December 24. 1895, liabilities $16,580. 

Following is a list of banking institutions 
now doing business In Fulton County: 

First Natio.val Ba.nk. Ca:<to.\. — The First 
National Bank of Canton was organized March 
23, 1864, with the following Board of Directors: 
James H. McCall (President), Jacob H. Bass, 
Amos C. Babcock, John W. IngersoU, George 
Barrere, William Hulit, Daniel W. Vittum. The 
present Board of Directors and officers are: 
William O. Dean (President), L. B. Farns- 
worth (Vice-President I, Benjamin E. Negly, B. 
F. Swearingen, Joseph Sklarek. Leslie W. Mor- 
ton and W. D. Plattenburg (Cashier). The 
capital stock is $100,000, and the capital and 
surplus (1907) aggregate $175,000. 

Canton Nationai^ Bank. — The Canton Na- 
tional Bank, on the basis of the private bank- 
ing institution of C. T. Heald & Co., was es- 
tablished in February, 1882, its first President 
being Charles C. Dewey, with C. T. Heald as 
first Cashier, who was succeded by E. A. Heald. 
In January, 1887, it was chartered as a Na- 
tional Bank, its first President under the new 
organization being David Beeson, who served 
from 1887 to 1892, when he was succeeded by 
B. F. Eyerly, the present incumbent. E. A. 
Heald, the first Cashier, has held that office 
since 1890 to the present time, while S. Y. 
Thornton, the present Vice-President, has been 
one of the directors ever since the organization 
of the institution as a National Bank. E. A. 
Heald is Assistant Cashier. The present Board 
of Directors (1907), with terms of office, is as 
follows: B. F. Eyerly (President), S. Y. Thorn- 



ton and G. M. Armstrong (1892-1907); David 
Beeson (Vice-President), James N. Divilbiss 
and F. A. Morton (1887-1892); and E. A. Heald, 
Cashier (1890-1907). The capital stock is $100,- 
000 and the surplus and undivided profits 
$60,000. The institution carries on a savings 
deposit department, allowing the depositors 
3 per cent, interest, and maintains a system 
of safety deposit lock boxes for rent. 

Banking House of Steenburg & Co. — The old- 
est banking institution that has had a contin- 
uous existence in Fulton County, as well as one 
of the oldest in Central Illinois, was organized 
at Farmington. Fulton County, January 27,- 
1868, by George Stetson and Lewis Caldwell, 
under the name of Stetson & Caldwell, and is 
now conducted by the firm of Alfred C. Steen- 
burg & Co., under the name of the "Banking 
House of Alfred C. Steenburg & Co." Mr. 
Caldwell retired from the original institution 
on March 1, 1871, being succeeded by George 
H. Littlewood. and two years later A. W. Rich- 
ards was added to the firm, which, for five 
years thereafter, was known as Stetson. Little- 
wood & Richards. On March 1, 1878, Mr. Stet- 
son, having removed to Iowa, retired from the 
business, which was conducted under the name 
of Richards & Littlewood until March 1. 1883, 
when Alfred C. Steenburg became the third 
member of the firm, and for nearly six years it 
was known as Richards, Littlewood & Co. Mr. 
Richards, having then removed to California, 
sold his interest to the other partners, the 
firm name becoming Littlewood and Steenburg. 
Mr. Littlewood died in 1903, when Mr. Steen- 
burg, the remaining member of the firm, as- 
sociated with himself his wife, Mrs. Alice W. 
Steenburg; his real estate partner, Mr. Samuel 
Jack, and two of his employes, Messrs. L. J. 
March and Clyde Steenburg, since which time 
there has been no change in the firm, but a 
constant and substantial increase in business, 
giving evidence of the confidence of the busi- 
ness community and the general public in the 
solvency and stability of the institution. Of 
the present members of the firm, Alfred C. 
Steenburg, the present head of the concern, 
has been connected with the bank since 1875, 
L. J. March since 1888 and Clyde Steenburg 
since 1893. The institution has always been 
conducted as a private Ijank, the managers be- 
lieving they can better subserve the interests 
of their customers in an agricultural community 





Jh ^S^ c^M^l.^ — ' 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



709 



when unhampered by the restrictions imposed 
by State and National banking laws. 

B.\NK OF IPAVA. — "The Bank of Ipava" had its 
inception in 1875, when it began business under 
the ownership of Messrs. Ayres & Scheitlein. 
The former member of the firm, Henry P. 
Ayres, had previously been with the Mechanics' 
National Bank of Peoria, and when he had 
been with the concern at Ipava six months, the 
Ipava bank having been bought by J. L. Mc- 
Cune & Co., he accepted an invitation in the 
fall of IsTo to resume his connection with the 
bank at Peoria. Mr. McCuue died in 1893, 
and in November. 1902, Mr. Quillin bought the 
interest of the McCune estate in the Bank of 
Ipava, which has been under his ownership 
and control up to the present time. Mrs. H. 
S. Hermick has been bookkeeper and Assistant 
Cashier since 1900, and the bank is doing a 
satisfactory and constantly increasing business. 
The concern does a private banking business. 

ToMPKi.xs Bank. — The Tompkins Bank of 
Avon, 111., was In operation in 1884, when S. 
Tompkins & Son opened up a set of bank books 
and commenced a regular exchange banking 
business. This was continued under the man- 
agement of the original firm until the death, in 
1898, of Stephen Tompkins, the head of the 
concern, when the bank was reorganized under 
the original title of the Tompkins Bank, by 
A. B. and F. W. Tompkins and W. H. Clay- 
burg, under the firm name of A. B. Tompkins & 
Co. This concern does a general banking and 
exchange business. 

Bank of Fairview. — The Bank of Fairview, 
Pulton County, 111., was established on 
July 1, 188.5, by Messrs. T. H. Travers, L. W. 
Davis, P. B. Voorhees and John W. Gaddis, 
doing business under the firm name of the 
Fairview Banking Company, but is not capi- 
talized. The first officers were T. H. Travers, 
President; L. W. Davis, Vice-President; John W. 
Gaddis, Cashier, and this organization has con- 
tinued unchanged to the present time, after 
the completion of twenty-two years of business. 

The People's Bank of Vermont was estab- 
lished in 1885, and R. Dilworth is the present 
President. No other facts have been furnished 
by the officers of the institution in reference to 
its history, capitalization, change of organi- 
zation or growth of business. 



People's State Bank, Astoria, III. — Under 
date of September 24. 1889, a permit was is- 
sued by the Auditor of Public Accounts of the 
State of Illinois, on the petition of H. C. 
Mooney, W. H. Emen, S. P. Cummings, Julius 
Driesen, J. C. Sparks and John H. Lutz, for the 
organization of a bank to be known as the Peo- 
ple's State Bank of Astoria, and a charter to 
this effect was granted February 24, 1890. The 
bank was opened for business on the morning 
of February 27th, following, with a capital stock 
of $50,000. The first Board of Directors con- 
sisted of W. H. Emen, S. P. Cummings, William 
Bader, H. C. Mooney, Julius Driesen. Cyrus 
Bucher, James Morningstar, John H. Lutz and 
W. B. Jones, and the first officers were W. H. 
Emen, President; William Bader, First Vice- 
President; H. C. Mooney, Second Vice-Presi- 
dent, and J. W. Green, Cashier. On March 6, 
1900, the capital stock was reduced to $30,000, 
and on June 1, 1907, it was increased to $40,000. 
The present officers are W. H. Emen, President; 
H. C. Mooney, First Vice-President; John H. 
Lutz, Second Vice-President; J. W. Green, 
Cashier; George C. Green, Assistant Cashier; 
J. H. Gruber, bookkeeper. The following is a 
condensed statement of the condition of the 
bank, as reported to the State Auditor May 
31, 1907: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts $167.239 90 

Overdrafts 2,S22 8S $170,062 78 

U. S. and other Bonds and Se- 
curities, including Premiums.. 10.400 00 

Banking House 3,000 00 

Due from Nat. and State Banks 

and Bankers 76,136 76 

Checks and other Cash Items 390 98 

Cash on Hand 5,495 54 

Total $265,486 06 

LI.\BILITIES. 

Capital Stock paid in $30,000 00 

Surplus Fund 10,000 00 

Undivided Profits, less expenses 

and taxes paid Ib2 49 $ 40,162 49 

Demand Deposits. Individual 208.424 47 

Demand Deposits, Certificates... 16,899 10 225,323 57 

Total $265,486 06 

State Banic of Cuba. — The Bank of Cuba, 
111., was organized as a private banking con- 
cern April 1, 1889, by Homer W. McCoy, under 
the firm name of Homer W. McCoy & Co., with 
a capital of $6,500. In October, 1891, Mr. Mc- 
Coy sold a half interest to Henry Shiery, the 
firm being then known as McCoy & Shiery. In 
January, 1895, Mr. McCoy sold his remaining 



710 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



half interest to Oscar H. Parks, the firm then 
becoming Shiery, Park & Co. In March, 1897, 
Mr. Parks sold his interest to Mr. Shiery, when 
the concern became known as H. Shiery & Co. 
On July 1, 1902, the Bank of Cuba was or- 
ganized as a State Bank under the firm name 
of the State Bank of Cuba, Henry Shiery and 
W. H. Rhodes being the principal stockholders. 
It started on its new career with a capital 
stock of $25,000 and a surplus of $5,000, the 
latter having since been increased to $10,000. 
The first Board of Officers (which remains un- 
changed) is as follows: President, G. T. Bay- 
lor; Vice-President, G. E. Snlvely; Cashier, 
Henry Shiery; Assistant Cashier, F. H. Cole. 
The last report to the State Auditor was is- 
sued May 20, 1907. 

F.\RMERs' B.\NK, Table Grove. — The Farmers' 
Bank of Table Grove, Fulton County, 111., 
was organized December 2, 1889, by T. J. Kin- 
ney and Robert Dilworth, owners of the Peo- 
ple's Bank at Vermont, 111., and was conducted 
from the date of its organization to May 1, 1901, 
under the joint ownership. At the latter date 
the joint partnership was dissolved by mutual 
consent, Mr. Dilworth then taking control of 
the Vermont Bank and Mr. Kinney of the 
Table Grove Bank. The first officers of the 
Farmers' Bank were: Robert Dilworth, Presi- 
dent; T. J. Kinney, Cashier, and E. H. Kinney, 
Assistant Cashier. On January 1, 1903, Mr. 
Kinney associated with himself in the banking 
business his son, E. H. Kinney, and the firm 
name was then changed to T. J. & E. H. Kinney, 
Mr. T. J. Kinney being the President and E. H. 
Kinney, Cashier. In 1904 Mr. G. B. Miller was 
employed as Assistant Cashier, and is still oc- 
cupying that position. The business of the 
bank has had a steady growth, and its volume 
of business today is larger than ever before. The 
institution has a reputation for honesty and 
fair dealing, and with a board of courteous 
officers, is steadily gaining ground and grow- 
ing stronger every day. 

Bank of Smithfield. — The Bank of Smith- 
field, at Smithfield, 111., was established during 
the year 1893 by G. L. and W. N. Reynolds, 
their firm name being Reynolds Bros., and their 
individual responsibility $75,000. The business 
was continued by this firm until January 18, 
1902, when John W. Howard and A. W. Voor- 
hees were admitted to partnership, the firm then 



being known as Reynolds, Howard & Voorhees. 
The institution, however, retained its original 
name as "The Bank of Smithfield." The capi- 
tal stoclv at that time was $10,000, and the indi- 
vidual responsibility of the stockholders $150,- 
000. The present officers are: W. N. Reynolds, 
President; C. L. Reynolds, Vice-President; A. 
W. Voorhees, Cashier; J. W. Howard Assistant 
Cashier. The bank has always been a private 
institution and has paid regular dividends. 

The Farmers' State Bank of Lewistown was 
organized by the citizens of Lewistown, As- 
toria, Cuba and Summum February 6, 1894, 
and commenced business on March 16th fol- 
lowing, its capital stock being $25,000. Its prin- 
cipal stockholders were John Prickett, W. C. 
Worley, W. M. Pike, Moses Bordner, Lucien 
Gray, H. W. Masters, T. B. Harben, T. W. Potts, 
T. H. Barnes, T. A. Young, S. E. Rucker, O. 
C. Hanna and K. Thomas, of Lewistown; J. 
Driesen, H. Mooney, J. H. Lutz, Mrs. P. W. 
Chaddock. B. C. Toler, Mrs. John Skinner and 
John Skinner, of Astoria; P. H. Snively, of 
Cuba; and W. M. Barnes and R. G. Zimmer- 
man, of Summum. The first Board of Directors 
were John Prickett, Moses Bordner, T. H. 
Barnes, P. H. Snively, John Skinner, J. H. 
Lutz, H. C. Mooney; and the first officers, John 
Prickett, President; John Skinner, Vice-Presi- 
dent; W. M. Fike, Cashier, and W. T. Rucker, 
Assistant Cashier. The present officers are: 
John Skinner, President; W. C. Worley, Vice- 
President; W. T. Rucker, Cashier, and Susie 
L. Campbell, Assistant Cashier. The following 
is the last statement of the condition of the 
bank made to the Auditor of Public Accounts: 

RESOURCKS. 

Loans and Discounts $161,74147 

Overdrafts 3.142 44 

Bonds 4,104 00 

Banking House 6,253 03 

Furniture and Fixtures 1.291 20 

Due from Banks 74.655 29 

Casii and Cash Items 7.457 23 

Total $258,644 66 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital Stock $25,000 00 

Surplus and Profits 15,749 52 

Deposits 217.059 54 

Due to Other Banks 835 60 

Total $258,644 66 

Bank of Ellisville. — A private banking in- 
stitution was established at Ellisville, Fulton 
County, Illinois, by W. N. Hoggsett in 1894, al- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



711 



though what had been known as the Hoggsett 
Bank had been doing business from about 1880. 
In 1896 the Hoggsett Bank was purchased by 
E. W. Butler and took its present name. The 
present officers are E. W. Butler, President, 
and G. Q. Fort, Cashier. 

At the time these facts were reported Messrs. 
Butler and Fort had in contemplation the es- 
tablishment of a private bank at St. David, 
to be known as the Fulton County Bank, with 
a capital of $10,000, and with Mr. Butler as 
President and Mr. Fort as Vice-President. 

Lewistown Nationai, Bank. — This bank was 
organized January 29, 1894, with a capitaliza- 
tion of $50,000. The original stockholders were: 
Former Congressman Lewis W. Ross, General 
Leonard F. Ross, W. T. Davidson, G. K. Lin- 
ton, J. W. Rhodes, N. C. King, P. J. Standard, 
D. A. Burgett, H. M. Waggoner, J. J., Johnson, 
Martin Weirauch and John Gray. The first 
Board of Officers were: L. W. Ross, President; 
L. F. Ross, Vice-President; George K. Linton, 
Cashier; W. H. Rhodes, Assistant Cashier. The 
present officers are: John W. Rhodes, Presi- 
dent; J. J. Johnson, Vice-President; J. J. Mc- 
Nally, Cashier. 

Following is a report of the conaition of the 
bank on May 20, 1907: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts $180,723 51 

Overdrafts, Secured and Unsecured 544 21 

U. S. Bonds to Secure Circulation 30,000 00 

Premiums on U. S. Bonds 1,000 00 

Bonds, Securities, etc 125 00 

Banking House, Furniture and Fixtures.. 12,000 00 
Due from National Banks (not reserve 

agents) 2,273 23 

Due from State Banks and Bankers 131 79 

Due from Approved Reserve Agents 11,967 20 

Checks and Other Cash Items 1,305 47 

Notes of other than National Banks 500 00 

Fractional Paper Currency, Nickels and 

Cents 39120 

Lawful Money Reserve in Bank, viz.: 

Specie $6,228 85 

Legal Tender Notes 8,819 00 15,047 85 

Redemption Fund with U. b. Treasurer 

(5 per cent, of circulation) 1,500 00 

Total $257,509 46 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital Stock paid in $50,000 00 

Surplus Fund 10,000 00 

Undivided Profits, less Expenses and 

Taxes paid 9,284 81 

National Bank Notes outstanding 30,000 00 

Due to State Banks and Bankers 7,627 89 

Dividends Unpaid 50 00 

Individual Deposits subject to Check 107,059 64 

Demand Certificates of Deposit 5,71182 

Time Certificates of Deposit 37,775 30 

Total $257,509 46 



The Bank of Vermont, at Vermont, 111., 
was organized January 1, 1901, with a capital 
stock of $10,000 and the following Board of 
Officers: J. W. Wyne, President; Walter Wyne, 
Cashier; and E. E. Wyne, Assistant Cashier. 
No changes have been made in the capitaliza- 
tion or officers up to the present date. 

London Banking Company. — The firm of 
Voorhees & Co. began the banking business in 
the town of London Mills, Fulton County, 111., 
in 1901, the proprietors being W. T. V. D. 
Voorhees and L. W. Davis. On December 1, 
1905, James L. Harden was admitted to part- 
nership in the concern, and on May 1, 1907, W. 
B. Polhemus became the fourth member of the 
company, the firm name being then changed to 
the London Banking Company. About the 
same time the firm bought of Frank Shelly the 
banking business conducted under the name of 
The Bank of London Mills, which had been es- 
tablished by I. P. Pillsbury in 1890, and which 
was then merged inta the new enterprise. The 
London Banking Company has a paid-up capi- 
tal of $10,000, with deposits amounting, at the 
present time to $135,000 and loans to $100,000. 
The present officers are: W. T. V. D. Voor- 
hees, President; L. W. Davis, First Vice-Presi- 
dent; W. B. Polhemus, Second Vice-President, 
and J. L. Harden, Cashier. 

Farmers' State Bank, Cuba. — The Farmers' 
State Bank, of Cuba, 111., was organized August 
10, 1902, with a capital stock of $25,000. The 
names of the original stockholders or founders 
were: John Irwin, P. H. Snively, Joseph Beam, 
M. M. Waughtel, John Shryock, John Prickett, 
George K. Linton, M. E. Scott and George L. 
Scott; the first officers being John irwin. Presi- 
dent; M. M. Waughtel, Vice-President; P. H. 
Snively, Cashier, and M. E. Scott, Assistant 
Cashier. The bank at the present time has a 
surplus of $2,500, with undivided profits amount- 
ing to $3,161.61. The present Directors are: 
John Irwin, M. M. Waughtel, P. H. Snively, 
Joseph Beam, H. H. Rogers, J. C. Shryock, John 
Prickett; and the present officers: John Irwin, 
President; M. M. Waughtel, Vice-President; M. 
E. Scott, Cashier; E. E. Geeseman, Assistant 
Cashier. 

A condensed statement of the condition of the 
bank, made to the Auditor of Public Accounts, 
May 21, 1907, was as follows: 



712 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts t 82,865 29 

Overdrafts 351 68 

Banking House 3,08127 

Fixtures and Furniture 1,634 16 

Cash Resources— 

Checlis and other Cash Items.? 893 60 
Due from National Banks — 10,361 74 
Cash 5,128 23 16,383 57 

Total $104,315 97 

L LABILITIES. 

Capital Stock paid in $25,000 00 

Surplus and Profits 3,16161 

Deposits — 

Time Certificates $28,450 86 

Demand, Individual 45,655 55 

Demand, Certificate 2,047 95 76,154 3b 

Total $104,315 97 

Ip.\v.\ St.\tk B.\.nk. — The Ipava State Bank, 
Ipava, 111., was organized May 17, 1902, and 
opened its doors for business September 11th 
of the same year, with a capital stock of 
$25,000 and a surplus of $5,000. Its original 
stockholders were Carl Marshall, S. P. Mar- 
shall estate, G. W. Marshall, Joseph Fleming, 
C. B. Robinson, Calvin Branson, D. C. Wedge, 
B, E. Fleming. Mrs. C. H. Doss, Mrs. Edith 

A. Marshall, Mrs. J. E. Trickey, Thomas Hall, 
H. M. Waggoner, J. W. Rhodes, W. H. Rhodes 
and W. A. Babcock. The first Board of Di- 
rectors were Carl Marshall, G. W. Marshall, C. 

B. Robinson, Calvin Branson, Joseph I-^leming, 
W. H. Rhodes and J. W. Rhodes; and the first 
officers, Carl Marshall, President; J. W. Rhodes, 
Vice-President; S. L. Marshall, Cashier. The 
present Directors are Carl Marshall, C. B. Rob- 
inson, T. C. Robinson, Calvin Branson, Joseph 
Fleming, W. H. Rhodes and S. L. Marshall; 
and the present officers, Carl Marshall, Presi- 
dent; W. H. Rhodes, Vice-President; S. L. Mar- 
shall, Cashier, and C. S. Barrows, Assistant 
Cashier. The bank has uniformly paid a divi- 
dend of 5 to 6 per cent., and few changes have 
been made in the stockholders, and none in 
capitalization or methods of management since 
it was chartered. 

The following is a statement of resources and 
liabilities made to the State Auditor July 9, 
1907: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts $61,416 12 

Stocks and Bonds 5,000 DO 

Due from National Banks 27,767 02 

Banking House 4,140 00 

Furniture and Fixtures 1,977 69 

Cash on Hand 5,527 76 

Total $105,828 59 



LIABILITIES. 

Capital Stock paid in $25,000 00 

Surplus Fund 5,000 00 

I'ndivided Profits 1.895 29 

Individual Deposits 58,336 44 

Time Deposits 15,596 86 

Total $105,828 59 

Ba.nk ov Farminoton, a private banking in- 
stitution was established at Farmington, Ful- 
ton County, 111., January 1, 1903, by J. W. and 
E. L. Parks, of which J. W. Parks has been 
President and E. L. Parks Cashier from date of 
organization to the present time. 

Fulton Couxty Bank, Table Gro\"e. — The 
Fulton County Bank of Table Grove, 111., a 
private banking concern conducted under the 
firm name of Messrs. Lance, Cornell & Co., 
was organized November 1, 1905, with a capi- 
tal stock of $10,000, the original founders be- 
ing J. W. Lance, A. A. Cornell, Loren Morley, 
William E. Lance and M. A. Lance. The first 
officers were: A. A. Cornell, President; Loren 
Morley, Vice-President; J. W. Lance, Cashier, 
and W. E. Lance, Assistant Cashier. No 
change has been made in the Board of Officers 
since its organization. 

The State Bank, Canton. — The First State 
Bank of Canton, 111., one of the latest banking 
institutions established in Fulton County, was 
organized Juue 10, 1907, under the State bank- 
ing law, with a capital stocli of $50,000 and a 
surplus of $12,500, the original founders being 
W. H. Boyer and George Wilson. There are at 
present about eighty-five stockholders. The first 
officers elected on the organization of the bank 
were: W. H. Boyer, President; George Wil- 
coxen, Vice-President, and George Wilson, 
Cashier; the Directors being AV. H. Boyer, 
George Wilcoxen, Edward McBroom, W. D. Nel- 
son, A. L. Owings and M. W. Rafferty, with O. 
J. Boyer, attorfiey. The banlv was opened for 
business on the first of September, 1907, in a 
new building with ample vault accommodations 
and other equipment for banking purposes, and 
has promise of a successful future. 

BiiLDiNti AND Loan Associations. — There are 
in the county at the present time six building 
and loan associations, with loans amounting, 
in the aggregate, in 1906, to $400,459.75. In 
point of age and amount of money loaned the 
association at Canton leads. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7^2> 



Two Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
panies, one with principal offices at Fairview 
and the other at Lewistown, are now, and for 
many years have been, in successful operation. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



FULTON COUNTY PRESS. 



NEWSPAPER HISTORY — FIRST PAPER IN MILITARY 
TRACT STARTED IN FULTON COUNTY THREE PA- 
PERS WHICH HAVE HAD LONGEST CONTINUOUS 
EXISTENCE — PRESENT EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS — 
LIST OF WEEKLY- AND DAILY PAPERS OF THE 
PRESENT DAY, WITH NAMES OF EDITORS AND PO- 
LITICAL RELATIONS — HISTORY OF SOME EARLY 
PUBLICATIONS. 

The pioneer newspaper of the Military Tract 
was launched in Fulton County in 1837. Dur- 
ing the seventy years following scores of 
newspapers have been established in the 
county, the vast majority of them, of course, 
having but an ephemeral existence. Three of 
the newspapers of the county, the "Canton 
Weekly Register" and the "Fulton County Led- 
ger," of Canton, and the "Fulton Democrat," of 
Lewistown, have been regularly issued for more 
than half a century. The present editor and 
proprietor of the "Fulton County Ledger," 
Stephen Y. Thornton, has owned and edited 
that newspaper since 1857. William T. David- 
son has been the owner and editor of the "Ful- 
ton Democrat" since 1858. The next longest 
In the list of Fulton County papers in continu- 
ous publication is the "Canton Weekly Regis- 
ter," which Clarence E. Snively has owned and 
edited since 1878. 

At the present time there are regularly issued 
in Fulton County sixteen weekly and three 
daily newspapers, as follows, with location, 
names of editors and proprietors, politics, etc.: 

WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS. 

"Astoria Argus," Astoria; A. W. Price, editor 
and publisher; Democratic in politics. 

"Astoria Search Light," Astoria; A. E. Scott, 
editor and publisher; Republican. 

7 



"Vermont Union," Vermont; Clarence Mer- 
cer, editor and publisher; non-partisan. 

"Table Grove Herald," Table Grove; F. M. 
Bonham, editor and publisher; non-partisan. 

"Avon Sentinel," Avon; W. E. Stevens, editor 
and publisher; Republican. 

"London Times," London Mills; W. W. Vose, 
editor and publisher; Prohibition. 

"Ipava Independent," Ipava; H. W. Jones, ed- 
itor and publisher; Republican. 

"Fulton Democrat," Lewistown; William T. 
Davidson, editor and publisher; Independent 
Democratic. 

"Lewistown News," Lewistown; W. D. Meek, 
editor and publisher; Democratic. 

"Lewistown Republican-Record," Lewistown; 
W. J. Duvall, editor and publisher; Repub- 
lican. 

"Cuba Journal," Cuba; Thomas & Nelson, 
publishers; J. W. Nelson, editor; Democratic. 

"Fairview Bee," Fairview; E. E. Whitehead, 
editor! and publisher; non-partisan. 

"F'arniington Home Visitor." Farmington; A. 
W. Brown, editor and publisher; Republican. 

"Farmington Bugle," Farmington; S. P. 
Wood, editor and publisher; Republican. 

"Canton Weekly Register," Canton; C. E. 
Snively, editor and publisher; A. J. Slater, 
managing editor; Republican. 

"Fulton County Ledger," Canton; S. Y. 
Thornton, editor and publisher; Democratic. 

DAILY NEWSPAPERS. 

"Lewistown Evening Record," Lewistown; 
W. J. Duvall, editor and publisher; issued every 
secular evening; Republican. 

"Canton Daily Register," Canton; C. E. Snive- 
ly, editor and publisher; A. J. Slater, managing 
editor; every secular evening; -Republican. 

"Canton Daily Herald," Canton; The Canton 
Herald Company, publishers; George P. Zieg- 
ler, editor; Ross F. Walker, business manager; 
issued every secular evening except Saturday, 
and Sunday morning; independent. 

The first newspaper established in Pulton 
County was the "Canton Herald," a weekly, 
published at Canton by Ptolemy Stone and ed- 
ited by the Rev. Gideon B. Perry, a Baptist 
minister, and the president of the then existing 
Canton College. This was in 1837. The name 
of the paper was changed to the "Fultonian" 
in 1838 and in 1840 to the "Western Tele- 



714 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



graph," and later to the "Fulton Tele- 
graph." Mr. Stone was identified with the en- 
terprise from its inception. At intervals there 
was a suspension for a short time of the issu- 
ance of a newspaper, but Mr. Stone maintained 
a job-printing establishment all the time. The 
publication of a newspaper which could by any 
theory of reasoning be said to be the successor 
of this early "Canton Herald" ceased in the 
early 'forties. 

The second newspaper established in Fulton 
County was the "Fulton Democrat," a weekly, 
established in Lewistown in 1S39 by William 
McDowell, a brother of Dr. R. R. McDowell, one 
of the country's early pioneers and prominent 
citizens. The paper suspended in about one 
year. It is a coincidence worthy of mention 
that at the present time there are published 
in the county newspapers bearing the same 
names as those of two pioneers mentioned, 
neither of them, however, having any connec- 
tion whatever with the earlier publications. 
Among other early newspapers of the county 
were: 

"The People's Advocate," established at Lew- 
istown in 1841 by George \V. Smith. It sus- 
pended within a few months. 

"The Fulton Banner," established at Lewis- 
town in 1842 by Michael C. Billmore. It was 
sold by Billmore to A. R. Sparks and suspended 
publication in 1844. 

"The Fulton Gazette," established in Lewis- 
town in 1845 by James M. Davidson and 
Charles McDowell. It suspended in 1846. 

"The Fulton Republican," established at Lew- 
istown in 1846 by Hugh LeMasters. It sus- 
pended in 1854. 

"The Illinois Public Ledger," established at 
Lewistown in 1849 by S. S. Brooks and Joseph 
Dyckes. Charles E. Griffith took over the con- 
trolling interest in 1851 and in 1854 the paper 
was moved to Canton where, in 1S57, after 
being owned by several partnership combina- 
tions, it passed to the sole control of S. Y. 
Thornton, who has since that time continuously 
owned and edited it. the name being changed to 
the "Fulton County Ledger." 

"The Canton Register" was established in 
January. 1849, and has been continuouslyy pub- 
lished since that date excepting for a few 
months in 1850 and for two months in 1862. J. 
Sellon established the paper and it had many 
successive proprietors until 1878, when it 



passed to the control of Clarence E. Snively, 
its present proi)rietor. The afternoon daily 
edition was started in 1S90. 

"The Fulton Democrat " was established at 
Lewistown in 1855 by James M. Davidson. In 
1858 it passed to the control of its present pro- 
prietor, William T. Davidson, brother of the 
paper's founder. Since that time the paper has 
been edited as well as owned bv Mr. Davidson. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



EDUCATION— LIBRARIES. 



EARLY SCHOOLS IX FULTON COUNTY — LOC.\L SCHOOL 
HISTOBY BY TOWNSHIPS FIRST SCHOOL AT LEW- 
ISTOWN — EARLY TEACHERS PRESENT CO.NDITIONS 

OF PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND CITIES HIGHER EDU- 
CATION — ATTEMPT TO FOUND A COLLEGE AT CAN- 
TON — PUBLIC LIBRARIES .\T CANTON, LEWISTOW.V 

AND FARMINGTON STATISTICS OF SCHOOLS FOR 

1907 — NUMBER OF PUPILS, TEACHERS, SCHOOLS, 
ETC. — SALARIES, EXPENDITURES AND VALUE OF 
SCHOOL PROPERTY — POPI'LATIOX BY TOWNSHIPS, 
1850-1900. 

Generally speaking, the earliest schools of 
Fulton County were established along the 
lower courses of Spoon River and its branches, 
where many of the pioneer settlements were 
made. Lewistown is the oldest town in the 
county and probably the earliest schools taught 
were those in the old log courthouse, built at 
that place in 1823. Later the Masons erected a 
building on the present site of the Presbyterian 
Church, which was used especially for educa- 
tional puriMjses. 

Several of the pioneer schools of the county 
were established in Buckheart Township near 
the present village of Bryant, one of them being 
built in 1825 or 1826. 

About the time that the first schools were 
appearing in Buckheart the young town of Can- 
ton was being founded by Isaac Swan, who saw 
to it that one of the first buildings erected in 
1825 was a schoolhouse. In his history he 
says: "It was situated on the west side of 
Wood Street, between Union and Illinois 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7^5 



streets. John C. Owens was the first school 
teacher. This house merits a description. It 
was of logs, unhewn and by no means straight. 
The roof was low and covered with clapboards, 
kept in place by weight poles. The house logs 
were very small, of willow and cottonwood tim- 
ber principally. Several holes were cut through 
the logs to let the dark out, but admitted a 
very scanty supply ofi light. The floor for the 
first year was of the very best variety of prairie 
soil, trampled hard by the feet of the young 
ideas who were there taught to shoot. The seats 
were logs split in two parts and supported on 
pins driven into holes bored for the purpose. 
The one writing desk was a wide puncheon, 
with its upper surface planed and supported on 
slanting pins driven into one of the logs. The 
door, of unshaved clapboards, swung upon 
wooden hinges. One side of the room was oc- 
cupied by an enormous old-fashioned fire-place. 
There was no ceiling save the clapboard roof, 
although one or two joists held a wide punch- 
eon,' whereon, at overcrowded meetings — for the 
schoolhouse also did duty as a place of wor- 
ship — the more adventurous of the boys would 
climb and sit out the service, with their bare 
legs swinging over the heads of the worshipers 
below. Here Owens assembled a few of the 
children in the winter of 1825-2G — Joe and Jim 
Anderson, Henry Andrews, Ed Thurman, Har- 
riet, Elmira and Williston Jones, the Owens 
children, the Peyton, Hughland and Praker chil- 
dren and a few others." The meteoric career of 
higher education in Canton, with its final fall 
through the ravages of a tornado belong to a 
later date, as does the gradual development of 
the public system of education. (See History 
of Canton College in a later section of this 
chapter.) 

Bernadotte, Cass and Putman Townships, ad- 
joining those already mentioned on the west 
and southwest, were the next in order of time 
to develop educationally, and these six com- 
prised a goodly portion of the central sections 
of the county which have since shown in all 
respects the most substantial growth. The 
first schoolhouse in Bernadotte Township was 
built in 1828, and John Clayburg was the pio- 
neer teacher. In the following year the good 
people of Cass provided educational facilities 
through D. S. Baughman and Putman Township 
came into the field about the same time by giv- 
ing William Putman, a brother of Reading Put- 



man (its first settler), a chance to teach a 
dozen boys and girls in a small log cabin on 
Section 11. 

Pleasant Township, south of Bernadotte, was 
also among the pioneers, for its settlers built a 
schoolhouse as early as 1830, where Samuel 
Clayburg, a relative of John Clayburg, before 
mentioned, was the first teacher. 

In 1S32 Farmington Township, in the extreme 
northeast, and Astoria, in the southwest, en- 
tered the educational lists. This was about two 
years before the town of Farmington was laid 
out. and the pioneer school of the township was 
built in the center of what afterward became 
the village and city. It was taught by Isaac 
Cutter. 

Early in the 'thirties the McNeil brothers 
(David and John) settled in Astoria Township 
and commenced to teach a few children soon 
after, although the first regular teacher is said 
to have been Martin Fast. The first school in 
the town of Astoria was taught by John Fast 
of the same family. 

The year 1833 was a red-letter year for both 
Farmers and Orion Townships. In that year a 
small log cabin was erected in Farmers Town- 
ship, with split-log benches and puncheon floor, 
and here Miss Eleanor Rutledge opened its 
first school. She afterward married John 
Barker, the township's first settler. About 1835 
the Baptists erected a building which was 
used for both educational and religious pur- 
poses. The first schoolhouse in Orion Town- 
ship was opened to scholars by S. N. Breed, 
who afterward taught in Canton. Patsey Brown 
taught prior to 1S33 in a private house on Sec- 
tion 18. 

One of the oldest institutions of the county 
was Salem school, founded in the northern 
part of Section S, Liverpool Township in the 
early 'thirties. J. N. Hasson came to Wood- 
land Township in 1S35 and taught its first 
school in the following winter, during which 
he also managed to kill sixteen deer in the 
course of his three-mile tramp to meet his 
scholars, which goes to show that, although 
there might have been difficulties in the way 
of teaching, fresh venison came easy. 

The first school in Young Hickory Township 
was taught on Section 36 by a Mr. Barnes in 
1835, and in the following year a house was 
erected for educational purposes in the public 
square of the town of Vermont, which was the 



7i6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



pioneer schooL of the township. James Spicer 
was the teacher. 

John Parlierson taught the first school in 
Union Township in 1S36, opening it in old St. 
Augustine, now a town of the past, the name 
having been transferred to a town site across 
the line in Warren County. In 1840 Charles 
Davis taught the first Avon school, its first 
house for educational purposes being built soon 
afterward. 

The village of Fairview, in the township of 
that name, became quite an educational center 
in the pioneer times of the late 'thirties. In the 
summer of 1838, before the town had been fairly 
surveyed, Simon S. Wyckoff was employed by 
the villagers to teach school in an old log cabin 
set aside for that purpose. In July the Fair- 
view Academy was opened by S. S. Cornwell, 
and in the following year a special building 
was erected for it near the noted Dutch Reformed 
Church. This building was occupied as a pub- 
lic school until 1863. Matthias Swegle was the 
first settler of the township, locating at the 
head of Swegle Creek in 1829. He proved to be 
one of the most generous and public-spirited 
men of that region. He was very fleshy — 
weighing 340 pounds — but showed his absolute 
common sense by completing his neglected edu- 
cation in the new country with the small boys 
and girls who attended its first schools. Sub- 
sequently one of the best known district schools 
of the township' was named after him. 

Elizabeth Moon was the first school teacher 
in Lee Township, taking charge of her handful 
of pupils in 1839. During the same year a 
schoolhouse was built on the east half of Sec- 
tion 16, In the town of Marietta, which had 
been founded two years before. Schools were 
first opened in Deerfield and Ellisville Town- 
ships in 1840, and a schoolhouse was built on 
Section 30, Kerton Township, in 1S45, two years 
before West Point was located. 

In the above an attempt has been made to 
indicate the first efforts to instruct the pioneer 
children of Fulton County. Some of the schools 
were private, conducted on the subscription 
plan, and others were crude district establish- 
ments. At the present time all the districts are 
well provided with educational facilities and 
the succeeding pages which are devoted to this 
topic chiefly set forth the development of the 
public school systems at the main centers of 
population. 



MODERN SCHOOLS. 

Ca.nto.n' School Systeji. — Prior to 1S45, with 
the exception of Canton College and the old log 
schoolhouse of 1825, no building was erected 
at Canton expressly for school purposes, so 
that, prior to that year, the educational history 
of Canton was confined to the founding and 
conduct of private schools. For fifteen years 
succeeding 1845 three public schoolhouses 
were utilized — the East schoolhouse, on East 
Elm Street; Little White, afterward known as 
South Primary, on South Main Street, and the 
old brick school on the corner of West Ash 
Street and Avenue A. From 1845 to 1854, how- 
ever, the educational system of Canton was but 
loosely organized, but in the latter year, 
through Directors Rev. Edwards Marsh, Elder 
S. G. Miner and Dr. James Melrose, was inau- 
gurated a system of graded schools. The next 
noticeable feature introduced into the schools 
of Canton embraced music and drawing, which 
were Incorporated in 1889. Typewriting and 
bookkeeping were introduced in 1892, stenog- 
raphy in 1904 and manual training in 1907. 

As to the erection of the seven buildings 
through which the public school system of 
Canton is now conducted, the Shepley School, 
west of Canton, is one of the oldest and the 
smallest in attendance. The old South Primary 
is the pioneer of the public school buildings and 
has been moved to East Walnut Street, where 
it is now used as a store. On June 15, 1860, 
the corner-stone of the old high school building 
at the corner of South Main and East Walnut 
Streets was laid. It contained five rooms and 
was designed by W. H. Haskell. In 1869 the 
Maple building, corner of East Elm Street and 
North Fourth Avenue, and the Wright building, 
corner East Spruce Street and North First Ave- 
nue, were erected, each containing four rooms. 
Then followed, in 1SS8, the Hulit School, corner 
of West Chestnut Street and North Avenue C, 
and in 1890 the Kellogg building, comer of 
South Third Avenue and East Oak Street, the 
ground for the latter having been donated by 
William Pitt Kellogg, now of Washington, D. 
C. Four years later an addition to the Kellogg 
building was erected and in 1895 the McCall 
School, corner of East Locust Street and North 
Eighth Avenue, was constructed. Bonds were 
issued for the erection of the present high 
school building in December, 1902, and in the 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



717 



following spring woik was commenced on the 
new structure. Tlie corner-stone was laid un- 
der the auspices of the Alumni Association of 
the High School on May 21, 1903, and the build- 
ing was occupied in the following April. The 
present enrollment of the high school is 359 
and the value of the property about $74,000. In 
its architecture and interior arrangement the 
building is counted one of the finest in the 
State. On the first floor the building contains 
eight large recitation rooms, a Board of Edu- 
cation room and the Superintendent's office. On 
the second floor are an assembly room, or study 
hall, with a seating capacity of nearly 400; 
twelve rooms used for recitation work, a library 
and teachers' rest room and the Principal's of- 
fice. The laboratory, with an equipment cost- 
ing $1,000, is in the basement of the south wing 
and a manual training department sufficient to 
accommodate flfty pupils, is in the basement of 
the north wing. On the third floor is a large 
room used for the choruses and gymnasium. 
There is a perfect system of heating and ven- 
tilating, the fan system being used. 

Since the employment of a regular manual 
training instructor, in 1907, this feature of the 
public school system of Canton, as in other pro- 
gressive cities, has become very prominent, its 
salient advantages being thus described in the 
last annual report of Superintendent G. W. L. 
Meeker: 

"Manual training adds an interesting feature 
to the school work. The interest which it 
brings secures better results, with increased 
concentration on the studies of the school. The 
training of the hand and the mental faculties 
together increases both physical and mental 
powers, and enables them to supplement each 
other. In connection with this branch a sys- 
tem of mechanical drawing is taken and each 
model is drawn and executed accurately to the 
proper and uniform scale." 

The latest figures submitted by the City Su- 
perintendent of Schools furnish the following 
information: The total enrollment of pupils is 
1,983 — the highest in the educational history 
of the city. The valuation of public school 
property, including grounds, furniture, appa- 
ratus, etc., is about $200,000. The total receipts 
amount to $44,258.24 and the expenditures for 
the support of the public system to $39,602.62. 
The bonded indebtedness is $56,000, although it 



is expected that this latter item will soon be en- 
tirely eliminated. 

The present officers of the Canton Board of 
Education are as follows: W. P. Reichert, 
President; "W. F. Gilroy, Vice-President; George 
W. Powell, Secretary; W. D. Plattenburg, 
Treasurer. The other members are Dr. J. G. 
Whiting and H. F. Suydam. 

The teaching staff of the high school is as 
follows: C. E. Lawyer, Principal; E. H. Dewey, 
Drawing; Emma C. Caron, Music; Margaret R. 
Maynard, Latin; Emma Spencer, Reading; 
Helen F. Walker, Geometry and Algebra; Lida 
H. Leaman, English Grammar; Ruth A. David, 
History; Emily J. Shafer, German and English; 
Edith Drake, United States History; Kate El- 
liott, English and Elocution; DeForest Stull, 
Science; L. B. King, English and Literature; 
Mabel Maginnis, Stenography and Typewriting; 
T. C. Fleming, Bookkeeping and Penmanship; 
Mary E. O'Donnell, Arithmetic; Charles White, 
Manual Training. Besides the high school there 
are six graded schools in Canton, the principals 
of which are as follows: Orville A. Teamey, 
McCall School; John Moore, Kellogg School; 
R. F. Overton, Maple School; Mayme Snyder, 
Wright School; Flora Trites, Hulit School; Em- 
ma Wysong, Shepley School. 

F.\KMi.\0Tox Schools. — The public educational 
system of Farmington originated in the little 
log schoolhouse about twenty feet square 
which was erected in the early 'fifties on what 
is now the west side of Main Street, a block 
south of Fort Street. C. C. Butler and other 
old residents attended it, and, if necessary, 
would have fought for the privilege of being 
trained there in the three great primary 
branches — reading, writing and arithmetic. 
They hold with some justice that in these fun- 
damentals of education the masters of these 
little log-house schools turned out better trained 
scholars than their later-day brothers of the 
profession. This pioneer of the public school 
system at Farmington was a district school and 
the town was afterward divided into two dis- 
tricts. No. 1 was provided with a little brick 
building occupying the present site of the Pres- 
byterian Church and No. 2 had a frame struct- 
ure near the present site of DeCapp's Hotel. 

At this time, and for years before, were such 
noted private schools as Hill's Academy on 
North Main Street and the Institute conducted 



7i8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



in the basement of the Congregational Church 
by Prot. Churchill, later of Knox College. In 
1S66 a substantial brick building three stories 
in height, with basement, was erected on the 
present site of the high school and was de- 
signed to accommodate not only the advanced 
pupils, but those who were passing through the 
lower grades. The old high school was de- 
stroyed by fire December 9, 1S90, and the pres- 
ent fine building was erected in the following 
year and dedicated March 7, 1S92. Its cost was 
$25,000. The present enrollment in the high 
school and the twelve grammar grades, all 
taught under one roof, is about 500. The at- 
tendance is increasing so rapidly that $15,000 in 
bonds has been voted for the erection of a new- 
building to accommodate a portion of the gram- 
mar classes, its location being on Fort Street, 
west side. A. P. RoUo is President of the 
Board of Education, N. S. Moore, Secretary, A. 
J. Beatty, Superintendent, and Miss Florence 
Grady, Principal of the high school. 

Lewistown Schools. — The children of the 
Lewistown pioneers secured their first educa- 
tional privileges in the old log courthouse, 
erected in 1S23, and Hugh R. Colter, who was 
everything official in those days, also taught 
the first school. There were many private 
schools of early days, and the Lewistown Col- 
lege became qyite well known, but the present 
public school system of education may be said 
to have commenced with the erection of the 
three-story high school building in 1S66, but 
still occupied. W. H. Haskell was the designer 
of this edifice. Nearly 100 pupils are now en- 
rolled in the high school proper, and in the four 
upper grades, which are also accommodated in 
the same building, are about 160 scholars. The 
Baldwin School, erected in 1895, accommodates 
nearly 190 pupils of the grades from the first 
to the fourth Inclusive, and the so-called East 
Primary School, held in the "Little White 
Church," numbers about forty scholars of the 
first and second grades. M. H. Beeman Is the 
present City Superintendent of Schools. 

Higher Education. — The first available rec- 
ords of public schools of Fulton County begin 
with the year 1837, but these are not the rec- 
ords of the first public schools of the county. 
The early schools have heretofore been ad- 
verted to. Probably the earliest educational 
institution in the county of a higher order than 



the common school w-as Canton College, which 
proved a failure. In 1838, and even later, there 
was a private academy maintained in Berna- 
dotte. Private academies w-ere also supported 
at times at Farmington and elsewhere in the 
county. Ineffectual attempts were made on 
three or more occasions to establish perma- 
nently a college at Lewistown. The college 
building at present stands In East Lewistown 
and is used for residential purposes. Aside 
from a small business college conducted in the 
city of Canton by J. G. Harmison, there are no 
private schools or academies within the limits 
of Fulton County. 

C.\.\Tu.\ College. — The educational history of 
Canton virtually commences with the settle- 
ment and the founding of its various private in- 
stitutions, many of them most worthy and some 
of them quite noteworthy, have already been de- 
scribed. Canton College really marks the be- 
ginning of the public school system, as it was 
entirely undenominational and generally sup- 
ported by the educated men and women of the 
town. It was founded chiefly by pioneers from 
New England and New York, who broached the 
subject of an institution for higher education 
soon after the town was recovering from the 
effects of the tornado of 1835. Steps for the 
founding of such an institution were finally 
taken by the donation of ground by Rev. Romu- 
lus Barnes and Nathan Jones, which was called 
College Square, the funds to carry on the work 
being raised by the sale of lots in the Barnes 
& Jones addition to Canton, Mr. Barnes donat- 
ing his interest in the same for this purpose. 
There is some disagreement as to the exact 
construction of .the college building, some in- 
sisting that it was a three-story brick structure 
throughout the others claiming that the third 
story was of boards, painted to resemble bricks. 
Whatever the facts of the case may be, the 
building was completed in the fall of 1836. The 
institution was chartered by act of the Legis- 
lature December 6, 1836; forms of diplomas 
were printed and all arrangements were made 
to place a complete establishment of higher 
learning on a firm basis. Canton College finally 
opened for the reception of pupils in the sum- 
mer of 1837 and although Rev. Romulus Barnes 
was faithfully on hand to receive and instruct 
them, the attendance was very disappointing. 
Succeeding him as professor was Wright Dew- 



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Kh^ ^^M^^^^^^l— -.* ^^^^^ff^^^^^^^^ '"^tfc! 



CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY, LEWISTOWN 




PARLIN PUBLIC LIBRARY. CANTON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



719 



ey, brother ol; George W. Dewey, while Rev. 
Gideon B. Perry, M. D., LL. D., was its first 
regular President and served in this capacity 
until October, 1S41. Dr. Perry's duties seem to 
have been purely nominal, the active principal 
of the college being Ralph Perry, but not re- 
lated to the Doctor. The last teacher who oc- 
cupied Canton College was Austin J. Barker. 
One Saturday afternoon in July, 1S43, two whirl- 
winds came up and meeting before the college 
building, joined to form a small tornado, which 
carried away the upper story of the structure 
completely. As Illinois College at Jacksonville 
and Knox College at Galesburg had already 
been established, times seemed unpropitious 
for continuing the enterprise in view of this 
severe blow to its prospects, and in conse- 
quence the building was never reconstructed. 
Afterward the College Square passed into pos- 
session of Joel Wright, Thomas Maple, James 
H. Stipp and finally William Babcock. Thomp- 
son Maple erected a large residence on the site, 
which was used for many years as the family 
dwelling of William Babcock. The land was 
finally absorbed by the Parlin & Orendorff Com- 
pany and is now underlying one of its new 
shops. 

L1BR.4RIES. — Public libraries are maintained at 
Lewistown, Canton and Farmington, those at 
Lewistown and Farmington being Carnegie li- 
braries. The latter place has the distinction 
of making the first attempt in Fulton County to 
institute a public library. As early as 1S39 a 
notice under the then existing State law was 
filed with the County Commissioners' Court an- 
nouncing that a library corporation to be known 
as the "Farmington Circulating Library" had 
been formed, with Jesse Collins as chairman 
and George W. Little, Harry Porter, Jeremiah 
Porter, S. M. Mace and I. R. Caldwell as trus- 
tees. The institution was not perpetuated, but 
went the way of all good things. 

Parlin Library, Canton. — Although not di- 
rectly connected with the public school system of 
Canton, there are several agencies which should 
be mentioned as having an elevating and edu- 
cational effect on the community at large. 
Placed foremost of these is the Parlin Library, 
founded by William Parlin in the fall of 1S92, 
and its indirect connection with the public 
school system is thus noted by City Superin- 
tendent Meeker: "We appreciate the Parlin 



Public Library in the great assistance it is to 
our schools. By the generosity of this institu- 
tion we are supplied with supplementary read- 
ing for each grade between the first and the 
high school. With the kindly co-operation of 
the librarian lists of books of suitable charac- 
ter are placed in the possession of the pupils 
through the teachers, and no pains are spared 
to find references to topics which pupils de- 
sire to read in the books of the library. Thus 
the pupils are encouraged to acquire the habit 
of using the library and to spend their spare 
moments with great minds, instead of loitering 
upon the streets looking for amusements." 

In September, 1892, the late William Parlin 
left $8,000 for the establishment and support 
of a public library, provided the city should 
raise an additional $5,000 within three years. 
The founder had repeatedly been solicited to 
give of his means and influence to establishing 
a fine public park, but his New England in- 
stincts induced him to found an institution 
which should have for its object the education 
of the community of which he had so long been 
an honored and influential factor. The pifoperty 
was therefore placed in the hands of three trus- 
tees, who selected a beautiful site on East 
Chestnut Street opposite the Parlin home, and, 
as the public promptly fulfilled its part of the 
contract, an artistic building was there erected 
in 1893. Up to date about $25,000 has been ex- 
pended upon the library, of which the Parlin 
family have contributed fully two-thirds. The 
widow of the founder is especially enthusiastic 
and steadfast in its support. The rooms on the 
first floor are devoted to the library proper and 
two tastefully furnished reading rooms, while 
the upper floor is given over to club-rooms for 
the meeting of several flourishing societies sup- 
ported by the women of Canton. The walls are 
tastefully decorated with works of art, which 
add a striking feature to the educational influ- 
ence of the institution. The library has in- 
creased from 2,500 to 8,000 volumes. Mrs. J. 
W. Resor is the Librarian of the Parlin Library 
and Miss M. L. Hicks Assistant. 

The Women's Club, which meets at the Par- 
lin Library building, was organized as a Chau- 
tauqua Club, but in 1904 it was reorganized and 
its aims were made to conform to the well 
known object of similar clubs throughout the 
country, thus becoming a study club and a re- 
formatory organization. Its membership has 



720 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



increased from about ten to sixty-five. Mrs. 
Luzetta R. Sanders was its first President, 
while its present officers are: Miss Addie 
Dewey, President, and Mrs. J. E. Bradley, Sec- 
retai-y. 

The Illinois History Club was organized in 
1903, primarily for the study of history, as its 
name implies. At each meeting some standard 
poem is taken up for discussion and the his- 
tory feature has been extended so as to include 
world topics of current interest. For instance, 
topics relating to Japan and Russia contributed 
a portion of the program during the period of 
the Russo-Japanese War. A unique feature 
adopted by this club is to mark the progress of 
its foreign history study by additions to a col- 
lection of national flags which now forms a 
decorative feature of its assembly room in the 
Parlin Library building. 

F.\RMi.^iiTo.N's Public Library. — The Carnegie 
Library at Farmington was founded upon 
the public library established by the ladies of 
that place in 1S99. Its benefactor donated 
|5,600 for the beautiful building now occupied, 
and through the efforts of Alfred C. Steenburg, 
the banker, an additional $1,000 was raised from 
the citizens. The building was opened to the 
public in 1906 and houses a well selected 
library of over 2,000 books, with a wide range 
of standard periodical literature. Mrs. Alfred 
C. Steenburg is President of the Board; Mrs. 
C. M. Routson, Secretary; Mrs. Emerson Clark, 
Treasurer, and Miss Nellie McDonald, Li- 
brarian. 

Canton city schools are under direction of 
a Board of Education appointed under special 
charter, the other schools of the county being 
under control of Boards of Directors under gen- 
eral law. 



GENERAL SCHOOL STATISTICS. 

The following table of statistics connected 
with the Fulton County school system for the 
year 1906-07, is compiled from a report fur- 
nished by M. M. Cook, Superintendent of County 
Schools: 



Number of males between 6 and 21 years.. 7,018 

Number of females between 6 and 21 years 6,776 

Total number of children of school age 13,794 

Number of districts having no scnools 1 

Number of districts having school less 

than six months 2 

Number of districts having school six 

months or more 196 

Total number of districts in county 199 

Number of graded schools 31 

Number of ungraded schools ISl 

Total number of schools 212 

Number of enrolled male ptipils in graded 

schools 3,021 

Number of enrolled female pupils in 

graded schools 3,135 

Numb erof enrolled male pupils in un- 
graded schools 2,4-16 

Number of enrolled female pupils in un- 
graded schools 2,3S7 

Total number of enrolled pupils in all 

schools 10,989 

Number of male teachers in graded schools 30 
Number of female teachers in graded 

schools 120 

Number of male teachers in ungraded 

schools 50 

Number of female teachers in ungraded 

schools 156 

Total number of teachers in all schools 35H 

Number of brick school houses 40 

Number of frame school houses 170 

Total number of school houses 212 

Number of districts having libraries 113 

Number of volumes bought during year.. 591 

Total No. of volumes in aistriot libraries, 9,7.55 

Highest monthly wages paid male teacher.? 200.00 
Highest monthly wages paid female teacher 77.50 
Ijowest monthly wages paid male tacher.. 27.50 
Lowest monthly wages paid female teacher 22.50 
Average monthly wages paid male taechers 59.75 
Average monthly wages paid female teach- 
ers 41.59 

Total salaries paid male teachers 32,815.19 

Total salaries paid female teachers 88,004.70 

Total district tax levy for support of 

schools 160.380.17 

Total expenditures during year 166,593.22 

Total receipts during year 231.960.79 

Total sum paid teachers during year 122,174.30 

Value of school property 461,525.00 

Value of school libraries 6.696.10 

Value of school apparatus 16,891.00 



POPULATION BY TOWNSHIPS. 

The following table presents the population of Fulton County by townships as shown by 

each decennial census beginning with the census of 18.50 (including the State census of 1S55), 
and coming down to the Federal census of 1900 — covering a period of fifty years: 

TowNSHH-.s. 1850 1855 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 

Astoria 1213 1403 167S 2120 2652 2560 2834 

Banner 700 803 1226 1110 1276 953 1002 

Bernadote 778 870 1557 1254 1440 1216 1112 

Buckheart 924 1061 1274 1590 1757 2076 2329 

Canton 2579 2950 3590 4492 4738 6807 8780 

Cass 643 810 908 1294 1457 1377 1593 

Deerfield 544 61S 775 90S 1004 930 835 

Ellisville 410 476 605 659 645 591 539 

Fairvlew 1047 1349 1373 1319 1296 1355 1257 




CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY, FARMINGTON 




HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, FARMINGTON 
Built in 1891 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



721 



Farmers 830 95G 

Farmington 1420 1813 

Harris 442 G6S 

Isabel 539 024 

Joshua 879 1000 

Kerton 308 30G 

Lee 333 SS8 

Lewistown 1515 1787 

Liverpool C74 919 

Orion 527 530 

Pleasant 964 1128 

Putman 1025 1162 

Union 91G 1544 

Vermont 15G4 2088 

Waterford 265 338 

Woodland 9G5 1289 

Young Hickory 404 538 

Totals 20408 27978 



957 


1219 


1255 


1288 


1425 


2157 


2107 


2104 


2G54 


3171 


908 


1029 


1220 


1260 


1283 


738 


728 


823 


785 


780 


1170 


1194 


1138 


1088 


976 


592 


520 


GS8 


534 


535 


1141 


1298 


1092 


918 


948 


2308 


2953 


3136 


3246 


3515 


1310 


1350 


1302 


1176 


1206 


823 


1085 


1308 


1289 


1268 


140G 


1690 


1937 


1843 


1753 


1335 


167G 


1917 


2136 


2131 


1GG2 


1923 


1733 


1486 


1569 


19G4 


2289 


2093 


2111 


2149 


453 


457 


565 


531 


4i4 


1448 


1602 


1798 


1609 


1566 


G43 


793 


8G6 


1291 


1161 



34001 



38659 



41240 



43110 



46201 



CHAPTER XXni. 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



EARLY RELKilOUS MOVEMENTS IN FULTON COUNTY — 
METHODISTS THE PIONEERS IN CHURCH WORK — 
EARLY WORKERS IN DIFI'ERENT TOWNSHIPS — REV. 
JESSE WALKER FOUNDS THE FIRST CHURCH IN 
CANTON IN 1824 — LIST OF PASTORS AND HISTORY 
OF CHURCH HUJLDINGS — FIRST PRESBYTERIAN ES- 
TABLISHED IN 1828 — OTHER CHURCH ORGANIZA- 
TIONS — HISTORIC DUTCH REFORil CHURCH OF FAIR- 
VIEW FARMINGTON AND LEWISTOWN CHURCHES 

FULTON SUND.\Y SCHOOL ASSOCIATION LIST 

OF OFFICERS AND STATISTICS OF SCHOOLS CAN- 
TON YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

In the early 'twenties religious and educa- 
tional organizations commenced to spring up, 
almost simultaneously, in Fulton County. Of- 
ten the same building was used for church 
and school, or a few persons would gather to- 
gether for religious services in the rude cabin 
of some devout pioneer, and the Gospel would 
be expounded by a traveling missionary or a 
local exhorter. Probably the Methodists of 
Lewistown were the first sect in the county to 
effect a regular organization, commencing wor- 
ship soon after the completion of the first log 



courthouse in 1823. There they held their 
meetings under the leadership of Rev. Jacob 
Ellis and others. The first church in the town, 
however, was built by the Presbyterians, un- 
der the lead of William Proctor, the details of 
which, with the history of the organization of 
tlie regular religious bodies of that pioneer 
town, will be found in other pages. 

In 1824 Rev. Jesse Walker, that tireless 
Methodist missionary, organized a society at 
what afterward became the town of Canton, 
and a full history of the churches of the city 
is given elsewhere. 

Joshua Moore located in Joshua Township in 
1824 as its first settler, and some of the first 
religious meetings of the county were held in 
his house by the Methodists, who listened to 
such noted exhorters as Peter Cartwright, Fa- 
ther Praker, John Owens and Smith L. Rob- 
inson, the one-eyed preacher. Class meetings, 
love feasts and merry makings, all had a part 
at Brother Moore's hospital home. 

The first church in Buckheart Township was 
organized by the regular Baptists in 1825. The 
Methodists did not formally organize until 
1846, when they formed a society in the school- 
house at the northeast corner of Section 32. 

There is a dispute between the Methodists 
and Christians as to who preached the first 
sermon in Cass Township. The Antioch, or 
New Light Christians, were among the first to 
organize in this region, but the pioneer church 
building was erected by the Methodists on the 
farm of Jesse Tate, near Smithfleld, in 1849. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



There was preaching by traveling missionaries 
of these two sects as early as 1.S25, and ihc 
Pleasant Valley congregation of Christians was 
organized at the home of John Laswell by Dr. 
John Scott, July 21, 1838. 

As early as 1827 the Methodists organized 
in Bernadotte Township. Rev. Asa D. West, of 
that denomination, the first permanent settler 
in Farmington Township, preached its pioneer 
sermon in Jonah Marchant's cabin during the 
winter of 1827-28. The Congregational Church 
was the first to be organized in the town of 
Farmington, as will be seen in later pages of 
this narrative. 

Not long afterward Ozias Hale, the first set- 
tler of Orion Township, and an earnest Baptist, 
preached the first sermon within its limits at 
John Wolf's house on Section IS. At this time 
he was in charge of the Duck Creek Baptist 
Church, which subsequently became the First 
Baptist Church of Canton. 

Rev. Mr. Betson. one of the first to locate in 
Union Township in 1829, settling on Section 
12, preached the first sermon there. Melinda 
Babbitt was the first to be baptized (in 1832). 
The first church at Avon was organized by the 
Methodists in 1849 by Rev. Uri J. Giddings. 

The Salem Baptist Church, the first regular 
religious organization of Liverpool Township, 
was organized August 10, 1830, at the house of 
Jeremiah Farris on the northwest quarter of 
Section 10. In 1834 a church was built on the 
land of John Farris, just over the line in 
Buckheart Township, but in 1857 another edi- 
fice was erected on Section 8, Liverpool Town- 
ship, on the property of Captain Elijah Will- 
coxen. 

In the early '30s Peter Cartwright and other 
Methodist missionaries came to the old town 
of Washington, and afterward to Astoria, hold- 
ing services in the schoolhouse and in the 
cabins of the settlers. Henry Summers was 
one of the earliest local preachers in that sec- 
tion of the county. In 1835 Elder John Rigdon, 
a Christian minister, preached the first ser- 
mon in Lee Township at the home of his 
brother, Stephen Rigdon. The First Baptist 
Church was organized there in 1849. -The Bap- 
tists organized a church in Farmers Township 
in June, 1835, and afterward erected a log 
house, which was used for both church and 
school for many years. At Table Grove the 
Christians founded a church in 1857. The 



early settlers of Vermont Township assembled 
tor worship in the town schoolhouse, built on 
the public square in 1836, and the Protestant 
Methodists organized a church and erected a 
separate edifice in 1843. About the same time 
Deacon Abraham F. Brown was preaching the 
first sermon at the funeral of Mrs. John Ker- 
ton, wife of the pioneer settler, who gave his 
name to Kertou Township. In 1837 the Fair- 
view Dutch Reformed Church was founded, be- 
ing the first in the township, and, as it was the 
pioneer of that sect west of the Alleghany 
Mountains, further details of its establishment 
and growth are to be found elsewhere. 

Deerfield Township was among the first in 
the county to form religious organizations, E. 
Wiley donating land for both school and church 
purposes in 1839. In 1879 the Methodists and 
Lutherans built the Wiley Union Church. 

The first church erected in Marietta, Harris 
Township, was by the Methodists In 1841, but it 
is said that Rev. James Haney preached a ser- 
mon to an audience of four persons in 1834 at 
the log cabin of Isaac Sennett. Elder J. Logan 
had the honor of delivering the first sermon to 
perhaps a little larger congregation in the 
cabin of J. France, Pleasant Township, but the 
pioneer church was organized by A. M. Smith 
in 1842 on Section 14. 

In 1853 a German Baptist (or Dunkard) 
Church was founded at Summum, Woodland 
Township, services being conducted by John 
Fitz. The first religious building was erected 
in 1867. 

In Young Hickory Township the Christians 
(New Lights) had an early organization, which 
finally disbanded, and in 1836 the Mount Pleas- 
ant Methodist Episcopal Church of Midway was 
founded with twelve members. A building was 
erected in 1851 which was sold (after a split in 
the church) in 1864, and a new edifice erected 
in 1869. In 1864 the seceding Methodists 
founded a congregation under the name of 
Christian Union, two years later styling them- 
selves Episcopal Methodists. They erected a 
house of worship in 1868 and their organization 
became known as the Midway Episcopal Meth- 
odist Church. 

The above paragraphs by no means present a 
complete history of the early efforts of re- 
ligious men and women to plant the seeds of 
the gospel in Fulton County; they do. however, 
indicate some of the most important works in 





BAPTIST CHURCH, CANTON 



CATHOLIC CHURCH, CANTON 




PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. CANTON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COL'XTV. 



723 



the establishment of religion in this section of 
the State, outside of the larger centers of popu- 
lation. This latter phase of the subject is de- 
veloped more in detail in pages which follow. 
As has already been shown, the pioneers of 
Pulton County lost no time in providing re- 
ligious advantages for themselves and chil- 
dren, and their descendants to the present gen- 
eration have continued the good work, estab- 
lishing throughout the county churches of 
every denomination, many of them flourishin.sr 
and all of them creditable; so that now there is 
scarcely a section in any township for which 
ample religious provision has not been made by 
thoughtful and earnest Christians, but in the 
necessarily limited space devoted to any one 
topic it is manifestly impossible to mention all 
the churches in detail, and attention must be 
confined chiefly to the large centers of popu- 
lation, such as Canton, Lewistown and Farm- 
ington, and the early church organizations of 
the county. 

Churches of Caxtox. — The Methodists claim 
to be the first denomination to establish 
a church organization in Canton, the Rev. 
Jesse Walker, a famous missionary, whose 
labors covered the country between the 
Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, being the 
first regularly to preach to the pioneers of 
this section. This was in 1S24, when Mr. 
Walker effected the first church organization. 
It is said, however, that one Jesse Williams, 
another Methodist, delivered several sermons 
to the good people of Canton prior to 1824, and 
it is known that he afterward located near Can- 
ton and conducted sei"vices in various houses 
until 1832. Canton was regularly supplied by 
traveling ministers also from 1824 to 1832. Rev. 
Peter R. Baring was the first regular pastor of 
the Canton circuit, and during the administra- 
tion of Rev. H. Summers the Methodists built 
their first church. For this purpose a small 
building, afterward occupied as a residence by 
Mr. Babcock, was reconstructed on the corner 
of the block diagonally from the present mag- 
nificent structure of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, on the northwest corner of Avenue A 
and West Chestnut Street. The list of the pas- 
tors of the First Methodist Church from the 
date of its founding in 1824 to the present time 
is as follows: Jesse Walker, William See, B. L. 
Robinson, H. Tarkington, Asa D. West, James 



Bankston, David B. Carter, Peter Baring, H. 
Summers, O. F. Curtis, Wilson Pitner, Austin 
F. Rogers, Xewton G. Benjamin, Rufus L, Lim- 
mery, William Clark, Richard Henry, S. R. 
Beggs, John Morey, William Justice, Joseph 
Kelly, J. F. Devore, J. McDowell, M. L. Haney, 
Isaac Pool, John Luccock, B. C. Swartz, R. C. 
Rowley, Caleb Foster, Joseph O. Gilbert, A. Ma- 
gee, L. P. Grouch, C. Springer, J. S. Cummings, 
J. C. Evans, J. H. Rhea, E. Wasmuth, A. Bower, 
M. P. Armstrong, H. I. Brown, Peter Warner, 
Peter A. Cool. Eli McClish, Samuel VanPelt, 
James W. Haney, B. S. V'ilson, Alexander 
Smith, Thomas Douey, A. R. Morgan and Rob- 
ert A. Brown. 

The corner-stone of the present beautiful edi- 
fice occupied by the First Methodist Church of 
Canton was laid in 1895 and the building was 
completed at a cost of about $40,000. The edi- 
fice is of white stone and forms an attractive 
architectural feature of the city. The present 
membership of the society embraces 611 full 
members and forty-eight probationers. 

The first Presbyterian Church of the county 
was organized at Lewistown September 13, 
1828, but on November 11th of the same year 
Rev. Solomon Hardy preached at Canton. For 
several years thereafter meetings were held 
alternately at Canton and Lewistown, but in 
1833, under Rev. Romulus Barnes, a church was 
erected at Canton. Rev. Robert Stewart, who 
followed him, occupied the local pulpit from 
1834 until the fall of 1S3S. or the division into 
Presbyterians and Congregationalists. Since 
then the society has constantly increased and 
now numbers 400 members. Of the pastors who 
have occupied the pulpit of this organization 
mention should also be made of Rev. A. R. 
Mathes, now of Knoxville, 111., who held the 
pulpit consecutively for twenty-three years 
prior to 1903. The present pastor. Rev. Alfred 
O. Elliott, who succeeded him, is a graduate of 
the McCormick Theological Seminary, of Chi- 
cago, and this is his first charge. The edifice 
now occupied on West Walnut near Main Street 
was completed in 1905 at a cost of $20,000 and 
took the place of the former church on East 
Pine Street, between Third and Fourth Ave- 
nues. 

The Congregational Church of Canton was 
formed in September, 1838, as the result of a 
division of the old Presbyterian organization, 
the Rev. Robert Stewart, of Canton, being in 



724 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



sympathy with the so-called New Church. The 
document which marked the division and the 
founding of the society in Canton was issued 
at the date mentioned and is as follows: 

"Whereas, Our church has become large and 
infected with some of the prevailing heresies 
and disorders of the times, which are main- 
tained and practiced in our midst; and, 

"Whereas, Errors are taught and received 
which are at variance with the Bible and our 
Confession of Faith, and persons are received 
to membership from other denominations with 
all their prejudices alive against our doctrines 
and order, and without being required to re- 
nounce them; and, 

"Where.\s, These disorders are becoming 
every day more glaring and barefaced, and our 
church as a body has virtually rejected its own 
system of doctrines and orders; therefore 

'•Resolved. That we, the undersigned, elders 
and members of this church, will continue to 
revere and maintain the doctrines and order of 
our church in this place as the Presbyterian 
Church." 

On May 22, 1S41, Rev. L. Spencer began his 
labors with the church, which was organized as 
the New School Presbyterian Church of Can- 
ton. A .building was erected in 1842 and was 
replaced in 1S5S by the structure now occupied 
on the corner of Second Avenue and Liberty 
Place. Within the past two years the building 
has been reconstructed and increased in size so 
that it is commodious and comfortable in every 
way. Since its organization in 1841 the pastors 
of the church have been as follows: Rev. L. 
Spencer, 1841-44; Rev. D. Chapman, 1844-46; 
Rev. Williston Jones, 1S46-48: Rev. George Hub- 
bard, 1849-50; Rev. Edward Marsh. 1850-65; 
Rev. Henry Mills, 1865-66; Rev. Henry Bates, 
1867-72; Rev. Henry Mills (recalled), 1S72-S1; 
Rev. W. E. Smith, 1882-83; Rev. H. K. Painter, 
1883-89; Rev. William Burgess, 1890-91; Rev. T. 
J. Collier, 1891-94; Rev. Edwin Hobbs, 1895- 
1904; Rev. H. D. French, 1904 (present pastor). . 
The First Baptist Church of Canton is the 
pioneer of the old Illinois River Baptist Asso- 
ciation, being organized June 14, 1833, at the 
house of William Spencer, three miles east of 
the present city. In September, 1834, Rev. 
Nathan West was ordained as its first minis- 
ter. The meetings of the church were held in 
private houses until July, 1837. when the so- 
ciety assumed the name of the Canton Church 



(its original name being the United Baptist 
Church of Duck Creek). It then (1837) num- 
bered thirty-seven members. In November, 1838, 
Dr. Gideon B. Perry became its first regular 
pastor and continued in that relation for three 
years. During the first two years the members 
met at the Methodist Church, in private houses 
and at the Canton College, the first house of 
worship being dedicated on the fourth Sunday 
of October, 1839. At that time it was the finest 
house of worship in the Military Tract. This 
building was outgrown in a few years and in 
February, 1853, a large brick structure was 
erected on the present site, corner of East Elm 
Street and Third Avenue. In 1902 and 1903 the 
church was rebuilt and furnished with a large 
organ, costing some $14,000. This building now 
accommodates the large and growing member- 
ship of the church, which is at present 625. 
The rebuilt structure was dedicated February 
22, 1903, and a remarkable feature of the exer- 
cises was the preaching of the sermon by Dr. 
Henry G. Weston, who had performed the same 
service at the time the first church was dedi- 
cated, February 19, 1853. An additional fact of 
interest was that of those who attended this 
fiftieth anniversary twenty-six had been present 
at the dedicatory services in 1853. 

The pastors of the First Baptist Church have 
been as follows: Rev. G. B. Perry, 1837-40; 
Rev. Isaac Newell, 1840-44; Rev. Alba Gross, 
1844-46; Rev. Erastus Miner. 1847-48; Rev. 
Simon G. Miner, 1848-60 (with the exception of 
one year); Rev. A. B. Bolton, 1861-64; Rev. W. 
R. Webb, 1865-70; Dr. D. H. Cooley, 1871-78; 
Dr. Charles Whiting, 1879 until his death, April 
26, 1893; Dr. Fred Chatworthy, 1893-96; Dr. J. 
W. Stewart, 1897-1901; Rev. Joseph H. Sower- 
by, 1901 to date. 

Catholic worship was established in Canton 
about 1862. The members of the church wor- 
shiped in private houses until the first small 
edifice of St. Mary's Catholic Church was built 
on the corner of South Fifth Avenue and Ander- 
son Place. The grounds for this purpose were 
dedicated by the faithful Anderson family. This 
church building was moved away and a new 
one erected about 1880 on the site of the frame 
building mentioned. The second edifice was 
struck by lightning and burned, and the new 
church building now occupied by the society 
was completed in 1905. It is of red brick, with 
stone trimmings, is located on the northwest 





3; 
■ 





M. E. CHURCH. CANTON 





CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CANTON 



UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH, CANTON 




SOUTH PARK M. P. CHURCH, CANTON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



725 



corner of East Chestnut Street and Second 
Avenue and is valued at about $20,000, the en- 
tire property being placed at $30,000. The 
church comprises a membership of ninetj'-five 
families and its pastor is Rev. J. G. Libert. 

In addition to the above religious organiza- 
tions may be mentioned the Christian Church, 
corner of White Court and East Walnut Street, 
established in 1S79. and whose present pastor 
is Rev. J. G. Waggoner; the United Brethren 
Church on East Locust Street, near First Ave- 
nue, established in 1S69, of which the Rev. W. 
T. Kessinger is pastor; the German Baptist 
Brethren Church, on South Second Avenue; 
the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, on 
South Fifth Avenue; St. Peter's Episcopal, on 
North First Avenue; South Park Methodist 
Protestant, corner Hickory Street and First 
Avenue; the Xazarene Church, on North First 
Avenue; Swedenborgian, at the corner of East 
Chestnut and Third Avenue; the Christian Sci- 
ence Society have a strong organization, and 
the Latter-Day Saints hold regular services. 

Churches of Fabmington. — The early history 
of the Presbyterian and Congregational 
Churches of Fulton County is especially asso- 
ciated with Lewistown and Canton, the circuit 
preachers holding services altei-nately at these 
places. In 1S38 occurred the division between the 
"Old" (Presbyterian) and the "New" (Congrega- 
tional ) Churches, and about a decade afterward 
local societies were firmly established at Farm- 
ington, although the Presbj^terians of Farming- 
ton claim a separate organization since the year 
1836, when the Canton and Lewistown members 
formed societies of their own. The present 
church has a membership of over 200 and its 
pastor is Rev. W. H. Kendall. 

In December, 1849, the Congregational Church 
of Farmington was founded by the appointment 
of a committee consisting of George W. Little, 
Richmond Bristol and Amos B. Thomas, who 
were to report on Rules of Church Action and 
Articles of Faith. This they did, and both 
rules and articles were subscribed to by the 
following, who therefore constitute the charter 
members of the society: Seth B. Bristol, 
George W. Little, Richard Bristol, Lucius Par- 
rish, Luther Birge, Asa D. Reed, Phineas Chap- 
man, Joseph Cone, Amos B. Thomas, Henry 
Cone, Spencer Cone, Horatio N. Field, William 
Field, Nancy Birge, Julia A. Cone, E. Clarinda 



Reed, Elizabeth Cone, Louisa L. Little, E. L. 
Parrish, Maria A. Bristol, Fanny Bristol, 
Eunice Chapman, Rebecca Bristol, Margaret A. 
Hart and Emily S. Hatch. On the first Sab- 
bath of January, 1850, Rev. William E. Holyoke, 
a licentiate of the New York and Brooklyn Con- 
gregational Association, preached the first ser- 
mon to the society, was ordained to the minis- 
try in 1851 and continued to serve the church 
for several years thereafter. In October, 1855, 
he was followed by Rev. John W. Williams, who 
was succeeded through the intervening years 
by Revs. L. Taylor, John B. Fairbank, J. P. Bart- 
lett, Charles HoUinger, Mr. Drew, John Hender- 
son and Rev. O. D. M^oon. The latter, who is 
the present incumbent, has occupied the pulpit 
for about three years. The church member- 
ship is 134 and, with various improvements and 
additions, the present edifice is the original 
structure erected soon after the organization of 
the church in 1849. 

The Baptist Church of Farmington was or- 
ganized August 5, 1857, and J. C. Baker, James 
Harper, John S. Stetson and Hosea Woodruff 
sei-ved as the first Board of Trustees. The so- 
ciety rented quarters in the old opera house and 
the Wesleyan Church up to 1872, when the 
latter structure was bought by the Baptists and 
torn down, the material being used in the con- 
struction of the building which is still occu- 
pied by that denomination. The successive 
pastors have been as follows: Rev. Mr. eas- 
ier, Rev. A. R. Newton (nine years). Revs. Al- 
lison, Evans, Carr. Hunt, Newton, Hutchinson, 
Donnellson, Douglas, B. H. Cox (five years), 
and E. K. Reynolds. The society numbers ' 
about 100 members. 

Although the famous Methodist missionary. 
Rev. Jesse Walker, included Farmington in his 
circuit as early as 1833, the society here was 
not established as a station until the fall of 
1866, when Rev. C. Springer became its settled 
pastor. Within the succeeding fifteen years 
Revs. W. I. Black, I. B. Craig, S. Harshbarger, 
D. Pershing, B. C. Kaufman, B. Applebee, Jo- 
seph Hart and J. T. Wood served the church, 
and from 1881 to date the pastors have been as 
follows: James Ferguson, 1881-82; R. E. Buck- 
ey, 1883-85; James Ferguson (recalled), 1886; 
David Tasker. 1887; W. J. Minium, 1888-89; V. 
C. Randolph, 1890-91; J. B. Diller, 1892-95; G. 
W. Kling, 1896-97; B. P. Eckley, 1898-1906, and 
L. F. Cullom. from the latter year to date. The 



726 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



church has now 175 full members. The original 
building, erected in 1865, was torn down and 
the present very handsome church erected in 
1903. Much of the material of the old church 
was utilized, notwithstanding which the cost of 
the present edifice was about $9,500. In 1905 
the church was cleared of debt and is now per- 
haps the most flourishing religious body in 
Farmington. 

The above are the leading churches of Farm- 
ington, although the Catholics, Free Metho- 
dists, Episcopalians and Seventh-Day Advent- 
ists have earnest and growing congregations. 

HisTOKic Fairview Church. — The Dutch Re- 
formed Church of Fairview is the Western 
father of that denomination in the United 
States, the present organization being the old- 
est in the country west of the Alleghany Moun- 
tains. It was founded August 19. 1S37, a few- 
months after the laying out of the town. Upon 
that date a meeting was held at the house of 
Daniel Groenendyke, of which Peter Pumyea 
was president and John S. Wyckoff secretary, 
and its result was the application to the synod 
of the Reformed Church for a preacher. Lots 
had already been set apart for religious pur- 
poses and as Rev. A. D. Wilson, of New Bruns- 
wick, N. J., was sent as a missionary of the 
church in October of that year, the adherents 
to the Dutch Reformed Church were able to se- 
cure their choice of locations. On the 16th of 
October, 1837, they organized a society of eight 
members, with John S. Wyckoff and Clarkson 
Van Nostrand as Elders and Aaron D. Addis 
as Deacon. Rev. Wilson and Peter Pumyea 
were selected to return East and solicit dona- 
tions for the support of this pioneer church. It 
appeared that Mr. Pumyea collected about 
$450, mostly in small amounts, and through his 
efforts, supplemented by those of Mr. Wilson, 
Cornelius Wyckoff, Sr., John G. Voorhees, Rich- 
ard Davis and others, sufficient funds were 
raised to fairly place the church on its feet. 
For nearly a year the little band of earnest re- 
ligionists assembled for prayer and praise, 
sometimes in the houses of the members and 
later in a rude log cabin, formerly a black- 
smith shop, and at this time not only used for 
church purposes, but as a schoolhouse and for 
all public meetings. In the summer of 183S 
Rev. Wilson, who had organized the church, 
left his flourishing charge at North Branch, N. 



J., and with noble self-sacrifices, started for this 
little congregation planted in the western wil- 
derness. He arrived at Fairview in July and 
immediately entered into his long, faithful and 
beneficent service here. In the fall of that year 
(1S3S) the old academy building was begun. 
It was a two-story structure, with a belfry, and 
took the place of the log shanty, the upper 
room of the new building being designed for 
religious services. Here the church continued 
to hold its religious services while its house of 
worship was slowly and laboriously being con- 
structed. In the fall of 1S38 the foundation of 
the church was begun and on November 26th the 
corner-stone was laid. At length the frame- 
work of the building was ready to be raised. 
This required the assistance of all the men in 
the village and surrounding country, together 
with aid from Ellisville and Farmington. For 
three years the people struggled on in the 
erection of this building before it was ready 
for dedication, and aid was required from the 
East to Anally complete it. On October 3, 1841, 
these faithful labors came to an end, for upon 
that date the completed building was turned 
over to the congregation by its contractor, Cor- 
nelius Wyckoff. Sr. On the 11th of April, 1856, 
Rev. A. D. Wilson, whose fine personality and 
successful pastorate went so far to found the 
church, resigned his charge. During his serv- 
ices no parsonage was furnished, and he not 
only provided his own home, but received what 
salary the congregation were able or disposed 
to pay. Rev. William Anderson served three 
years thereafter, and during this period the 
church purchased five acres and built thereon 
a large and beautiful parsonage — the largest 
dwelling in the village. Besides the parson- 
age and church, a commodious and pleasant lec- 
ture hall was erected on the site of the old 
academy. 

The Dutch Reformed Church of Fairview is 
naturally one of the historic institutions of the 
county. Although its communicants now num- 
ber over 250, those who love the church and its 
memories are loath to reconstruct their old 
house of worship. Modern pews have been 
substituted for the less comfortable ones of the 
old times, but the building as a whole stands 
as it did sixty-six years ago, when it was pro- 
nounced complete by Cornelius Wyckoff. The 
present pastor of the church is Rev. Jacob 
Vander Muellen. 




HIGH SCHOOL, LEWISTOWN 





M. E. CHURCH, LEWISTOWN 



ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
LEWISTOWN 




PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LEWISTOWN 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



727 



Lewistown Churches. — The religious liistory 
of Lewistown has its opening chapter in the 
organization of seven Presbyterians of the 
county into a church by Rev. John M. Ellis, 
these charter members, who came together for 
this purpose September 13, 1828, being: Na- 
than Jones, William Proctor, Samuel Mallory, 
Robert Grant, Jane Grant, Matilda Jones and 
Elizabeth Jacobs. The three first named were 
appointed elders and appear to have been the 
most prominent members of the early society, 
Mr. Proctor building a house of worship for the 
Lewistown branch about 1833 and Nathan Jones 
taking charge of the erection of a church for 
the Canton people. The membership of both 
churches increased in a creditable ratio, meet- 
ings being held alternately in Lewistown and 
Canton. At a meeting held in the former place 
August 6, 1831, it was, "after some deliberation, 
thought desirable and expedient that Rev. 
Messrs. Barnes and Farnum labor the current 
year in this county," and provision was made 
for their support in money and produce. Up to 
January, 1S36, Lewistown and Canton were each 
included in the boundaries of the Fulton County 
Presbyterian Church, but on the 10th of that 
month the session granted the request of the 
following persons for letters of dismissal in 
order to form a church at Lewistown: William 
Proctor, Benjamin A. Miles, James Gilson, 
Christopher B. Miles. Thalia N. Rice, Juliet E. 
Warren. Eugenia E. Madison, Rhoda Osborne. 
Isabel T. Miles, Laura Proctor, Erasmus D. 
Rice, Asaph Rice, Abigail Rice and Jane Rice. 
At the next session William Elliott, Jr.; Julia 
Phelps and Adelia Rice were added to the mem- 
bership. In 1838, as stated elsewhere, occurred 
the division into "Old" and "New School" or- 
ganizations, and nearly all of the early mem- 
bers of the body in Canton joined the ranks of 
Congregationalism, led by their old pastor, Rev. 
Robert Stewart. The Lewistown people stood 
solidly by the Old Church and continued to 
so grow in strength and influence that in 1855- 
56 they erected what was then considered a 
very metropolitan house of worship. Ossian M. 
Ross deeded the ground opposite the court- 
house which formed its site. The church had 
a nucleus for the building fund in a donation 
bequeathed from the estate of William B. 
Kelley, who had died in 1851. E. J. Brown was 
general overseer of the carpenter work, Samuel 
Evans constructed the stone foundation and 



John Tompkins did the brick work. Everything 
was done by hand — even the windows, door- 
casings and seats — and, according to Mr. Proc- 
tor, it was the best work ever done on a public 
building in the county. The church was first 
occupied for worship August 10, 1856, and the 
dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. Wil- 
liam Fleming, of Farmington (afterward pastor 
of the church ) on Saturday afternoon, October 
25, 1856. Rev. Mr. Templeton was the first pas- 
tor of the new church, and in a few years was 
followed by Rev. J. F. Magill, who served about 
twenty years. After being occupied for more 
than fifty years, the church building having 
naturally become somewhat dilapidated, it was 
thoroughly reconstructed in 1907. As the Pres- 
bjlerian Church is the oldest organized reli- 
gious body in Lewistown, it is still the strong- 
est, numbering, as it does, some 300 members, 
under the pastorate of Rev. T. D. Atcheson. 

In 1838 Rev. N. G. Berryman first appeared in 
Lewistown as the pioneer circuit rider of the 
Methodist Church, his religious field also em- 
bracing Centerville (now Cuba), Bernadotte 
and the Clark settlement, five miles east of 
Lewistown. He and his wife first moved into a 
log house located just west of the present jail, 
but the new pastor soon bought several acres 
west of Simms' Addition, where he built a hand- 
some cottage for the family residence. On Mr. 
Berryman's arrival the society worshiped in a 
log house which stood on what afterward be- 
came Dr. Talbott's grounds, the original twenty- 
five members of his society being as follows: 
John McNeil, wife and parents; John Tompkins 
and wife; Isham G. Davidson and wife; Dr. 
Roger Veits and wife; John Smith, wife and 
daughter Nancy; Rev. Barrett and wife; Mrs. 
John P. Boice; Stephen Dewey and wife; S. H. 
Pitkin and wife, and Mesdames James Green, 
William McComb and Triphena Shepardson. 

In the spring of 1839 the new courthouse was 
finished and the Methodists bought the frame 
building which had served the county after the 
disappearance of the little log courthouse of 
1823. The church people moved the frame 
structure near the present site of the Methodist 
Church, a little west of the 1888 edifice. This 
building, 24x36 feet, was used for just ten years, 
when It was moved away, and In 1849, under 
Rev. N. P. Heath's pastorate, a brick structure 
was erected. In the summer of 1887 this. In 
turn, was razed to make room for the fine 



728 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



church which is still an ornament to the city, 
and which was dedicated January S, 188S. Rev. 
Peter Akers, who afterward died in Jackson- 
ville, preached the dedicatory sermon. Thus it 
was that this elegant house of worship com- 
memorated the fiftieth year of the founding of 
the church. The new edifice, of attractive 
Gothic style, 40.x60 feet in dimensions, cost 
about $10,000. The pastors from 1S38 to the 
present time have been as follows: Revs. N. 
G. Berryman, Norris Hobart, George Rutledge, 
Freeborn Haney, Zadok Hall, William J. Rut- 
ledge, Absalom Shinn, N. P. Heath, R. C. Row- 
ley, Milton Haney, J. F. Chaffey, William Mc- 
Gronigle, R. C. Rowley (recalled), Mr. Head, 
H. Ritchie, John P. Brooks, Milton Haney (re- 
called), William Peterson, Amos McCool, T. R. 
Boggess, George R. Palmer, E. N. Bentley, 
George R. Palmer (recalled), W. H. D. Young, 
George M. Morey, R. X. Morse, William Watson, 
P. A. Cool, C. W. Ayling, E. P. Hall, William 
Woolley, G. W. Arnold, W. R. Wiley (five 
years), Richard Crews, Robert A. Brown, Rob- 
ert Seaman. Mr. Douglas, John Rogers, T. A. 
Beall and W. S. Welch. 

Although the Episcopalians have no settled 
pastor in Lewistown, they have a beautiful 
little church, and their organization goes back 
to July 19, 1S59. Under the name of St. James 
Church they then organized a society and 
erected a building in 1869. S. C. Judd was the 
first Senior Warden, Dr. G. D. McManus, Junior 
Warden and James M. Davidson, William H. 
Graham, T. A. Boyd, Henry A. Long, Dewitt C. 
Bryant and Isaiah C. Worley, Vestrymen. 

The Christian Church of Lewistown was or- 
ganized in 1S75, when the society erected the 
building now occupied. Rev. Walter Kline is 
the present pastor and the church has a mem- 
bership of about 150. 

Fulton County Sunday-School Association. 
— Probably from the inspiration of the great 
Sunday-school movement in London during 
1856, John G. Piper, of Canton, with a few other 
great-souled men interested in this line of re- 
ligious work, originated the Fulton County Sun- 
day-school Association. In the fall of that year 
several workers met in Lewistown or Canton 
and planned a more formal gathering, dignified 
by the name of a convention, for the succeed- 
ing year. It was a small gathering which then 
met at the Lewistown Presbj'terian Church, but 



the movement progressed, and in 1858 a con- 
stitution and plan of work were adopted. The 
county was divided into townships and a Vice- 
President for each was chosen. Through these 
officials an effort was made to reach the indi- 
vidual schools and, by securing statistical re- 
ports from them, find the needs of the schools. 
Thus the schools in existence were strength- 
ened and new ones organized in destitute dis- 
tricts. In ISGl the first year book of informa- 
tion was printed, which indicated fifty Sunday- 
schools in the county. Thus the association 
worked until 1865, when Stephen Paxton, a 
gifted missionary of the American Sunday- 
School Union, visited this field. His inspiring 
labors led the Fulton County Association to de- 
velop its work during 1865-79 along three sim- 
ple and effective lines — efforts to reach every 
home in the county; to organize a Sunday- 
school within reach of every child therein, and 
to make the school "evergreen," i. e., open all 
winter. In 1863 the association employed an 
American Sunday-school missionary, P. B. Cam- 
den, whose labors of a few months resulted in 
the organization of twenty-three new schools 
(seven of them still living), five of which de- 
veloped into churches. In 1867 Rev. W. W. Far- 
ris, formerly of Vermont' village, was em- 
ployed in the same work, and, besides organiz- 
ing twenty new schools, held institutes in the 
various townships. The latter innovation was 
the beginning of the township conventions. 
Within the following four years, from 1867 to 
1871, the fifty schools in fourteen townships in- 
creased to 148 schools in twenty-six townships. 
From 1871 to 1S80 there was a substantial 
growth in both the individual schools and the 
township organizations. Regular quarterly or 
yearly township conventions were held and the 
uniform International Sunday-School Lessons, 
adopted by the International Convention held 
in Indianapolis in 1872, were introduced to all 
the schools of Fulton County during the period 
mentioned. The period from 1880 to 1892 has 
been denominated the Period of Education, and 
the development of Sunday-school work was 
along four lines — teacher training, or normal 
work; temperance work; primary work, and 
the work in the homes through the Home De- 
partment and Cradle Roll. This distinct epoch 
of splendid progress originated in the earnest 
work and personal inspiration of Miss Lucy J. 
Rider, of Chicago, in 1880, sent by the State 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



729 



Association to the county. For five years she 
continued the good work of instructing teachers 
and was followed by Dr. H. M. Hamill, of 
Jacksonville, pronounced a "marvelous teacher 
of teachers." In 1S90 special work was pre- 
pared to assist the primary teachers, and since 
1S97 a special worker has attended each con- 
vention to present primary methods. In the 
latter year Miss Jennie Kelley, of Buckheart 
Township, was elected County Primary Super- 
intendent, organizing the work on its present 
basis. The first normal class in the county held 
its graduating exercises during the Astoria con- 
vention, Dr. Hamill delivering the address. 

In 1S72 thirty-seven Sunday-schools were giv- 
ing special attention to temperance, but it was 
not until 1882 that the subject was deemed of 
enough importance for a place on the program. 
Only gradually has been developed the effective 
temperance department of the association. 
Since 1896, when W. B. Jacobs, the General Sec- 
retary of the State Association, met with the 
workers of the Fulton County Association, the 
Home Department, with its Infant auxiliary, the 
Cradle Roll, has become a notable feature of 
the Sunday-school work. In 1902 the work hav- 
ing outgrown the resources of the Executive 
Committee, Miss Lulu M. Davidson, of Lewis- 
town, was employed as a field worker, and her 
earnest and efficient labors resulted in the 
stimulation of interest and the entrance upon a 
more prosperous career. After two years of 
efficient sei-vice in this capacity Miss Davidson 
was succeeded by Miss E. L. Spear, of Chicago. 

The following table presents a list of places 
where conventions have been held on different 
years since the organization of the association 
in 1857, covering a period of fifty years, with 
the principal officers (Presidents and Secre- 
taries) for the same period: 



Date Place 

1857 Lewistown 

1858 Lewistown 

1859 Farmington 

1860 Canton 

1861 Lewistown 

1862 Vermont 
1S63 Canton 
lSt)4 Fairview 

1865 Lewistown 

1866 Farmington 

1867 Canton 

1868 Ipava 
1S69 Cuba 

1870 Vermont 

1871 Lewistown 

1872 Canton 

1873 Farmington 

1874 Ipava 

1875 Lewistown 



President 
Luther Parrish 
J. G. Piper 
J. G. Piper 
Rev. Taylor 
J. G. Piper 
J. G. Piper 
J. G. Piper 
Luther Parrish 
Rev. Magill 
Rev. L. Taylor 
H. Phelps 
H. Phelps 
Rev. Morev 
Rev. Webb 
Rev. Williamsor 
H. Phelps 
Rev. L. Taylor 
J. W. Proctor 
J. W. Ingersoll 



Secretary 
J. W. Proctor 
J. W. Proctor 
J. D. Wyckoff 
Henry Phelps 
Henry Phelps 
Henry Phelps 
Henry Phelps 
Henry Phelps 
Henry Phelps 
J. L. McCune 
J. L. McCune 
J. Prickett 
H. Phelps 
H. Phelps 
E. H. Phelps 
C. W. Curtis 
H. Phelps 
H. Phelps 
H. Phelps 



J G Piper 


R. 


B. 


Stevensor 


S. A. Gee 


H. 


Phelps 


Rev. Mathes 


H. 


H. 


Hoffman 


Rev. Fairbanks 


H. 


Phelps 


Rev. Wilkins 


A. 


Bonnell 


J. AV. Proctor 


A. 


Bonnell 


J. M. Sherwood 


A. 


Bonnell 


Rev. Jarolman 


A. 


Bonnell 


Rev. Johnson 


A. 


Bonnell 


Rev. Painter 


A. 


Bonnell 


H. Phelps 


A. 


Bonnell 


J. Prickett 


H. 


Ph 


elps 


T. C. Fleming 


H. 


Phelps 


J. Walker 


H. 


Phelps 


Noah Hall 


H. 


Phelps 


J. B. C. Lutz 


H. 


Phelps 


G. W. Beer 


H. 


Phelps 


Donat Miller 


J. 


B. 


C. Lutz 


Donat Miller 


J. 


B. 


C. Lutz 


Donat Miller 


J. 


B. 


C. Lutz 


J. A, Jameson 


J. 


W. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


W. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 


J. A. Jameson 


J. 


w. 


Qulilin 



1876 Canton 

1877 Astoria 

1878 Cuba 

1879 Lewistown 
18S0 Farmington 
ISSl Vermont 

1882 Fairview 

1883 Avon 

1884 Astoria 

1885 Canton 
18^ Ipava 

1887 Lewistown 

1888 Farmington 

1889 Vermont 

1890 Fairview 

1891 Table Grove 

1892 Cuba 

1893 Astoria 

1894 Canton 

1895 Ipava 

1S96 Farmington 

1897 Lewistown 

1898 Vermont 

1899 Smithfield 

1900 London Mills 

1901 Astoria 

1902 Cuba 

1903 Ipava 

1904 Farmington 

1905 Canton 

1906 Lewistown 



The total membership of the association is 
now 11,968, of which 10,323 are scholars and 
1,645 officers and teachers. In the twenty-six 
townships of the county are 141 schools, with a 
regular membership in the different depart- 
ments as follows: Temperance. 2,712; Cradle 
Roll, 1,G63; Home, 1,455; Training classes, 120 
(students). 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

The Young Men's Christian Association of 
Canton was organized February 17, 1890, and its 
rooms were opened to the public on July 1st 
of that year. It is the only organization of its 
kind in the county. Its first officers were: 
President, Donat Miller; Vice-President, T. C. 
Fleming; Secretary, C. M. Stein; Treasurer, E. 
F. Swearingen; General Secretary, N. W. Wood- 
ford. Mr. Miller was succeeded as President 
by T. C. Fleming, who served from 1891 to 
1892, and who was followed by H. P. Suydam, 
who served continuously from 1893 to 1905. Mr. 
Suydam then resigned and W. E. Lynch was 
elected to succeed him. The other officers of 
the association are as follows: Vice-President, 
L. H. Gillet; General Secretary, Luther Strom- 
quist; Secretary, O. P. Ague; Treasurer, W. P. 
Moore. The association is divided into various 
departments, which embrace a membership of 
about 240. Its free reading room is open daily 
and gymnasium and bath privileges are ac- 
corded to members. Especial attention is iiiven 
to the boys' department, games and other 



730 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



amusements being freely furnished for the 
wholesome recreation of the juveniles. Re- 
ligious services are also held in the rooms 
every Sunday at 3 p. m., and altogether the as- 
sociation is doing successful and beneficial 
work. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



MILITARY HISTORY. 



THE BLACK HAVi^K W.\R — THE STILLMAT* DEFEAT — • 
THE LEADEB IN THIS CONTEST A FOEMER CITIZE.V 

OF FULTON 5I0RM0N V,-A.R — LIST OF HEX FROM 

FULTON WHO PARTICIPATED IN THAT STRUGGLE — 
GOVERNOR ford's UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO 
• PRESERVE THE PEACE — WAR OF THE REBELLION 
AND LIST OF REGIMENTS IN WHICH FUT-TON COUN- 
TY CITIZENS ENLISTED — ROSTER OF SOLDIERS AND 
REGIMENTAL HISTORY — SOLDIERS' MONUMENTS — 
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR FIFTH ILLINOIS NA- 
TIONAL GUARD AND ITS FAILURE TO REACH THE 

FIELD OF STRUGGLE FULTON COUNTY MEMBERS 

OF THE REGIMENT. 

The history of the Black Hawk War is fully 
treated in the earlier portions of this work, but 
it is in keeping to call attention to the fact that 
General Isai.ih Stillman organized three com- 
panies of troops in Fulton County to join the 
Fifth Regiment under command of Colonel 
James Johnson. General Stillman had two 
companies, one under command of David W. 
Barnes and the other under command of Asel 
F. Ball, and he was Major of the battalion, be- 
ing afterv/ard brevetted a Brigadier General. 

The disastrous defeat and retreat at Stillman 
Valley, known in history as "Stillman's De- 
feat," reflects either honor or contumely upon 
Major Stil'.man's military ability according to 
whether you accept the opinions of his friends 
or of his enemies. Shortly after this defeat 
Major Stillman removed to Peoria County and 
died at Kingston, in that county, April IB, 1S61. 
While a resident of Fulton County he con- 
ducted a mercantile business at Canton and 
Copperas Creek Landing. 

Mormon War. — Referring the reader to an- 



other part of this general work for the causes 
that led up to and the situation presenting it- 
self at the time, attention will be directed only 
to the particular part which Fulton County 
played in the Mormon War. Suffice to say, at 
the time of the clash between the Mormon 
civil authorities and anti-Mormon civil authori- 
ties of Hancock County, Governor Ford came to 
Pulton County for a man to pour oil upon the 
troubled waters. The Mormons were supposed 
to have supported the political party to which 
Governor Ford belonged and, therefore, in cast- 
ing about for his representative he selected 
Major James R. Parker, of Canton, who be- 
longed to the party supposed to be anti-Mor- 
mon. In his history of the State Governor 
Ford says that he selected Major Parker, of 
Fulton County, for this special reason, but that 
the Whig newspapers misconceived his mo- 
tive, which was to place an anti-Mormon in 
charge of the affair so as to ameliorate and 
hold in check, to some extent, the anti-Mor- 
mon sentiment. Ford admits that, so far as 
this end was concerned, he utterly failed. Gov- 
ernor Ford instructed Major Parker to enlist 
ten men and proceed to Nauvoo. where the 
Mormons then resided, and attempt to effect a 
reconciliation between the contending factions. 
Lewis Bidemon, who afterward married the 
widow of the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith. 
had resided in Canton and was doubtless the 
suggester of the name of Major Parker to the 
Governor as the proper man to undertake the 
delicate commission. The ten men selected by 
Major Parker to accompany him to the scene 
of trouble were: Isaac C. Johnson, Philip 
Grimm, Jr.; Benjamin Perry, Jacob Fox, John 
Thorp, William Bell, G. W. Thompson, Joseph 
Long, Abel H. White and Harrison P. Fellows. 
Upon arriving at Nauvoo Parker issued 
proclamation after proclamation, demanding 
peace in the name of the Governor of the State 
of Illinois. The anti-Mormon sympathizers, 
who were having the Mormons arrested by 
wholesale on all sorts of charges, and who were 
likewise being arrested by Mormons on all 
sorts of charges, assumed that Major Parker, 
like the Governor, was more in sympathy with 
the contention of the Mormons than with them- 
selves. In speaking of the matter in his "His- 
tory of Illinois," Governor Ford says: 

"In looking around over the State for this 
purpose (i. e., the selection of a peace com- 




HUGH R. COLTER 
First Teacher, County Clerk, Circuit Clerit and Probate Judge 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



731 



missioner) the choice fell upon Major Parker, 
of Pulton County. Major Parker was a Whig 
and was selected partly from that reason, he- 
lieving that a Whig now, as had been the case 
before with General Hardin and Major War- 
ren, would have more influence in restraining 
the anti-Mormons than a Democrat. But Major 
Parker's character was unknown out of his 
own county. Everywhere else it was taken for 
granted that he was a Democrat and had been 
sent over to intrigue with the Mormons. The 
Whig newspapers immediately let loose floods 
of abuse upon him, both in this State and Mis- 
souri, which completely paralyzed his power 
to render any effectual service. The consta- 
ble's posse refused to give place to him and 
the Constable openly declared that he cared 
but little for the arrests, by which it was ap- 
parent that they intended, from the first, to use 
the process of the law only as a cover to their 
design of expelling the Mormons." 

Finding that the anti-Mormons refused to be 
conciliated by Major Parker and his ten aids, 
Governor Ford sent reinforcements from 
Adams County under the command of Major 
Clifford. Major Clifford immediately assumed 
command of affairs and directed the mustering 
in of a mounted militia from Fulton County. 
The three militia companies then existing in 
Fulton County manifested some Interest in the 
order, but the upshot of it all was that, so far 
as Fulton County militiamen were concerned, 
the suppression of the conflict between the 
anti-Mormon constables and the pro-Mormon 
constables of Hancock County was over. Soon 
after, however, Joseph Smith, the head of the 
Mormons, and his brother, Hyrum, were killed 
in the Hancock jail. As stated, the widow of 
Joseph Smith was afterwards married by a 
citizen of Canton and one of Smith's sons, Jo- 
seph Smith, Jr., afterward at the head of one 
division of the church, now known as the Lat- 
ter-Day Saints, was for many years a resident 
of Canton, and his followers still maintain an 
organization in Canton. This branch of the 
church differs from the Utah branch in many 
particulars, especially in opposition to 
polygamy. 

Mexican War. — (See pages 759-750.) 

War of the Rebellion. — Upon the call to 
arms in 1S61 meetings were held at various 
points in Fulton County. One was held at Can- 



ton April 20th in the old Congregational Church 
building. It was presided over by Ira Johnson. 
The meeting was addressed by Congressman 
William Kellogg, W. H. Haskell, James H. 
Stipp and others. John W. IngersoU, W. H. 
Haskell, William Babcock, G. W. Fast and 
Tracy Stroud, a committee appointed for that 
purpose, reported resolutions of a patriotic 
character, calling upon the people to take a 
stand for the preservation of the Union. A 
like meeting was held April 23d at the court- 
house in Lewistown with George Humphrey In 
the chair. Similar resolutions to those adopted 
at Canton were reported at this meeting by a 
committee consisting of H. B. Evans, R. B. 
Stevenson, M. Eichelberger, S. P. Shope, L. W. 
James, James Hassen and Robert Campbell, 
and the meeting was addressed by Leonard F. 
Ross, R. R. McDowell, M. S. Kimball, L. W. Ross, 
S. C. Judd and others. A. K. Montgomery pre- 
sided at a meeting held in Farmington about 
the same time. At all these meetings enlist- 
ments were encouraged and many men offered 
their services. Companies were formed at Can- 
ton, Lewistown, Vermont and Fairview. As a 
result of these meetings there were enlistments 
from Fulton County in some of the earliest 
regiments organized in the State, especially in 
the Eighth, which was organized under the 
first call issued by President Lincoln immedi- 
ately after the fall of Fort Sumter, and later in 
the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and other regi- 
ments. 

Societies for the aid of soldiers' widows and 
families were organized at different points in 
the county, that did much to ameliorate condi- 
tions that beset the soldiers' life. The story of 
the endurance and hardships sustained by the 
families of the soldiers of Fulton County is but 
a repetition of what prevailed over all our 
great country at that time, and need not be re- 
peated here. 

Fulton County contributed its full quota of 
volunteers to the support of the Government 
during this great struggle. Regiments in which 
Fulton County citizens enlisted during the war 
included the following: Eighth, Sixteenth, Sev- 
enteenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-first, Twenty- 
sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-sixth. Thirty-sev- 
enth, Thirty-ninth, Forty-second, Forty-seventh, 
Fiftieth, Fifty-first, Fifty-third, Fifty-fifth, Fifty- 
seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth, Six- 
ty-first, Sixty-seventh, Seventy-first, Seventy- 
second, Eighty-third, Eighty-fourth, Eighty- 



72>2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



fifth, Eighty-ninth, Ninety-sixth, One Hundred 
and Third. One Hundred and Thirteenth, One 
Hundred and Twenty-third, One Hundred and 
Thirty-second, One Hundred and Thirty-sev- 
enth, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth, One 
Hundred and Forty-eighth, One Hundred and 
Fifty-first, One Hundred and Fifty-third and 
One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry. The One Hundred and Third was 
made up entirely, and the Seventeenth mostly, 
of citizens of Fulton County. Fulton County 
also contributed to the Second, Third, Seventh, 
Eleventh, Twelfth and Fifteenth Cavalry. 

A short history of each regiment, with the 
roster of the Fulton County men in each, is 
given below: 

EIGHTH INFANTRY. 
Company C. 



Bradshaw, John W. 

Company E. 
Captain— Samuel Caldwell. 



Privates— 
Caldwell. William I^, 
Cooper, C. S., 
Downing, H. H., 
Farewell, Milo E.. 
Jamison. S. H., 
Keefer, John M., 
Norcott, F. A., 
Nutt, Samuel, 
Pettit. C. E.. 
Rockhold, B. F.. 



Stockdale, S. A., 
Thornton. T. W., 
Thompson. J., 
Wallace, J. B., 
Cole, Henry, 
Ellis. John, 
Gonder, F., 
Cramp. F. H.. 
Better. Charles, 
Hughes, J. W. 



SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Company A. 



Mackey, P. F., 



Privates — ' 
Anderson. W. B., 
Hunter. W, A., 
Husted, M. A., 
Matthews, E. D., 



Magee, James. 

Company G. 

Newell. Thomas. 
Westlake. J.. 
Westlake. M. M., 
Perkins, M.. 
Saxbury, B. F. 



SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY. 
The Seventeenth Regiment Illinois Infantry 
Volunteers was mustered into the United 
States service at Peoria, 111., on the 24th day 
of May, 1861. Left for Alton, 111., late in July, 
proceeded to St. Charles, thence to Warrenton, 
Mo., where it remained about two weeks. The 
rgiment left Warrenton for St. Louis and em- 
barked on transports for Bird's Point, Mo.; 
thence to Sulphur Springs Landing; debarking, 
went to Pilot Knob, Mo., in pursuit of Gen. 
Jeff Thompson, and joined Prentice's command 
at Jackson, Mo., thence to Kentucky and aided 
in the construction of Fort Holt. Was then 



ordered to Cape Girardeau and was again sent 
in pursuit of Jeff Thompson; participated in the 
engagement near Greenfield; returned to Cape 
Girardeau and performed provost duty until 
February, 1862. Was then ordered to Fort 
Henry; participated In that engagement and 
Fort Donelson, losing several men killed, 
wounded and taken prisoners. Soon after went 
to Pittsburg Landing and was assigned to the 
Army of West Tennessee; engaged in the battle 
of the 6th and 7th of April, suffering great loss 
in killed and wounded; was in the advance to 
Corinth; after the evacuation of Corinth, 
marched to Jackson, Tenn.; remained until 
July, when it was ordered to Bolivar, where it 
remained until November, 1862, participating 
during the time in the expedition to luka to re- 
inforce General Rosecrans, where it was en- 
gaged in the battle of the Hatchie; marched 
to Lagrange, Tenn., the middle of November, 
reporting to Gen. John A. Logan, and was as- 
signed to duty as provost guard. Early in De- 
cember marched to Holly Springs via Abbe- 
ville and Oxford. At the battle of Holly Springs 
was assigned to Gen. McPherson's command, 
then proceeded to Moscow, CoUierville and 
Memphis, and was assigned to duty at the navy 
yard, remaining until June 16, then embarking 
for Vicksburg, re-embarking for Lake Provi- 
dence, La., where it remained until the invest- 
ment of Vicksburg began. Went to Millikin's 
Bend May 1, commenced the march across the 
Delta to Pekin's Landing, advanced with Mc- 
Pherson's command to the final Investment of 
Vicksburg. After the surrender of that city 
remained there, making frequent incursions 
into the enemy's country until May. 1864, the 
term of service expiring on the 24th of May of 
that year. 

The regiment was ordered to Springfield, III., 
to be mustered out, when those who had not 
re-enlisted as veterans received their final dis- 
charge. A sufficient number not having en- 
listed to entitle them to retain their regimental 
organization, were consolidated with the Eighth 
Illinois Infantr.y, and were finally mustered out 
with that regiment in the spring of 1866. 

Colonel— Leonard F. Ross; promoted Brigadier- 
General. April 25. 1862. 

Surgeons— L. D. Kellogg, Charles B. Tompkins. 

Company C. 

Captains— Allen D. Rose. George W. Wright, 
Milton S. Kimball, Chauncey Black. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



733 



First-Lieutenants— William Walsh, William T. 
Dodds, James B. Rowley. 

Second-Lieutenant— David A. Parks. 

Sergeants- G. A. Schaper, J. V. D. Davis. 

Corporals— L. B. Martin, D. M. Boynton, James 
M. Moor. 



Privates- 
Allen, Siras, 
Blont, Allen. Jr., 
Bower. William, 
Boynton, Jonah, 
Barker, Charles, 
Bumnaugh. C. W., 
Blackall. Thomas, 
Babbett, Joel, 
Colville, William, 
Driggs, William H., 
Edmonson, "\V. H., 
Edmonson. William H., 
Ellis, William, 
Giles, D. E., 
Hunts, George W.. 
Head, William E., 
Haggard, Joseph, 
Hurlbut, D. A., 
Hall. C, 
Johnson, H. D., 
Lake. William D.. 
Lambert, C. C, 
Leevv, J. T., 
Lamb, W. H., 
Mann, Isaac, 
McConnell, W. J., 
Mott, John M., 
Murrey, William, 
Morris, Edward, 
Norris, M. D., 
Parks, C. E., 
Penny, W., 
Pardun, J. J., 
Russell, John, 
Rodenbaugh, J. H., 



Shaw, Amos, 
Steel, George W.. 
Small, L. H., 
Saunders, General L., 
Smith, F. M., 
Smith, J. C, 
Schank, Jacob, 
Singleton, A. A., 
Tavlor, H. N.. 
Venable, C, 
Weaver, Eldridge, 
Weaver, Jonathan. 
Welsh. Barclay, 
Wilmarth, C. S., 
Wagner, A. H., 
Westfall, A. P., 
Wilklns, Philander, 
Culver, D. S., 
Corzette. Peter, 
Davis, Joseph, 
Henderson, William C, 
Jacobs, H. F., 
Neagley, Martin. 
Prinze, Christ, 
Powell, Al., 
Post, Harrison, 
Perine, J. L.. 
Palmer, H. C 
Rust, John, 
Shepherd, William, 
White. Milton, 
White, F. M.. 
Walling, J. M., 
Fogg. David W., 
Newton, Walter. 



Company H. 

Captams — Leonard F. Ross, Thomas A. Boyd. 
AVilliam W. Hull. 

First-Lieutenants— Asias Willison, M. S. Kim- 
ball. William C. Stockdale, 

Second-Lieutenant — William E. Tarnell. 

Sergeants — James J. Hall. Chauncey Black. 

Corporals — Christian D. Bliss, C. B. Tompkins, 
L. W. Potts, D. G. Campbell. 



Privates — 
Baker, Greenbury. 
Barger, J. S., 
Basor, John, 
Beeson, J. A., 
Bennett, John, 
Berrys, J. B., 
Bowen, Evan, 
Brooks, N. C, 
Buck, J. H., 
Birch, A. W., 
Boadownie. S. M.. 
Cappee, Tobias, 
Carey, Patrick, 
Childs, J. R., 
Cunningham, T. H., 
Donnelly, John, 
Day, C. M., 
Dickenson, E. J., 
Glacken, E. F., 
Goodman, Thomas, 
Gray, J. A.. 
Huffner, William J., 
Ham, R. W., 
Harris. James. 
Hasson, H. C, 
Jones, S. M., 
Kent, J. F., 
Kent, David, 
Kent, E. Y., 
Kindall, J. K., 
Layton, Thomas, 
Lewis, A. H., 



Slack, J. T., Jr., 
Snell, Samuel. 
Stenson. Alfred, 
Smith, James T., 
Trite, W. H.. 
Waddell, O. B., 
Walling, Eli. 
Weaver, T. M., 
Wheeler, Samuel. 
Walker, F. M,. 
White, C. W., 
Wilson, J. W.. 
Westfall, O. C, 
Woolfolk, A. C. 
Wilson, J. N., 
Zepperer, W. H., 
Barney, H. C, 
Black, J. H., 
Brick. J. E.. 
Barber, George, 
Bush, Sampson, 
Cline, H. L. D.. 
Edwards, J. W., 
Edwards, W. O., 
Foote, G. M., 
Griffith, Edward, 
Hill. J. B., 
Hill, Henry B., 
Humphrey, ^^'. H., 
Herrill, D. H., 
Krider, John, 
Locke, W. E., 
McCammy, D, W., 



Love, Archibald, 
Maxwell, J. T., 
Maxwell, J. L., 
McClay, Samuel, 
McDowell, J. R., 
Messplay, G. S., 
Millison, John. 
Moranville, Eli. 
Nelson, Thomas, 
Pixley, Thaddeus. 
Pricket, Nicholas, 
Roatson, J. V., 
Sevier, Noah. 
Shiner, G. W., 



McConnell, J. L.. 
Morgan, R. A., 
McCrasky. Sabron, 
Norman, S. H., 
Resor, J. W., 
Seiver, Levi, 
Smith, J. W., 
Shaw, S., 
Slack, W. H., 
Smith, A., 
Seiver, Jacob, 
Weaver, R. G.. 
Willis, B. F., 
Yarnell, J. H. 



EIGHTEENTH INFANTRY. 
Company I. 



Thomas, William, 
Belloss, Amos, 
Thomas, Robert, 



Wilcox, George. 
Belloss, Peter, 
Mahoney, John. 



Gilson, Charles B., 
Greer, D. B., 



TWENTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 
Company F. 

Knock, Samuel. 



Company G. 



Bryant, M. A., 
Dady. Owen, 
Douglas, C. W.. 
Gove. Joel. 
Lindsley, W. J., 
Lovejoy, Ami, 



Mitchell, J. F., 
Stone, W. E.. 
Whitney, A. B., 
Washburn, Volney, 
Hall, H. W. 



TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 
Gregory, B. F., Bates, G. D. 

Company K, 
Captain— John B. Bruner. 



Shook. J. M., 
Cox, John, 
Musselman, G., 
Perkins, R. J. 



Privates — 
Beers, W. R., 
Onion, M. F., 
Rockhold, L. C, 
Robinson, W. G.. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY 
Was organized at Camp Butler, August, ISGi. 
It proceeded August 28, to Thebes; September 
9. to Bird's Point, Mo.; October 2, to Fort Holt. 
Ky. ; January 31, 1862, moved to Paducah, Ky. ; 
February 5, moved up Tennessee River; Febru- 
ary 6, took part in the capture of Forts Henry 
and Heiman; February 13, a«detacliment of 
forty-eight men and twelve officers met the ene- 
my (500 strong) at Little Bethel Church and 
immediately attacked and routed them. Ar- 
rived at Pittsburg Landing March 17. It was 
assigned to a position in the Peach Orchard. 
April 6 they repulsed the attacks of the enemy, 
holding its position from S a. m. to 3 p. m. On 
the morning of the 7th it held a position on the 
right of the line, and was hotly engaged until 
the battle closed and the victory was won. Dur- 
ing these two long, trying, bloody days this 
regiment behaved nobly and its lines were 
never broken nor was it driven back by the 



734 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



enemy, though often most heavily pressed. The 
regiment sustained the fearful loss of 239 men 
killed and wounded: was engaged in the siege 
of Corinth during the month of May, 1S62; 
marched to Memphis, arriving July 21, 1S62; 
marched September 6, reaching Bolivar the 
14th; October 5, engaged in battle of Mata- 
mora, losing ninety-seven men, killed, wounded 
and missing; returned to Bolivar October 7; 
December 30, was assigned to duty of guard- 
ing railroad from Holly Springs to Waterford, 
Miss.; was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg 
from June 11 to July 4, 1863. On the 12th of 
July, 1S63, near Jackson, Miss., the Twenty- 
eighth, Forty-first and Fifty-third Illinois and 
Third Iowa Infantry, not exceeding 800 men, 
were ordered to charge across a level, open 
cornfield, some 600 yards, and carry a strong 
line of the enemy's works, mounting twelve 
guns and manned by at least 2,000 men. The 
brigade swept gallantly forward under a de- 
structive fire of grape, canister and minnie bul- 
lets. The enemy appearing upon both flanks 
as it reached the ditch, it was compelled to fall 
back, with a loss of more than half of the rank 
and file killed and pounded; out of the 12S men 
of this regiment engaged seventy-three were 
killed and wounded and sixteen taken prison- 
ers. The regiment remained at Natchez during 
the latter part of 1863, doing provost guard 
duty. The regiment re-enlisted January 4, 
1864. May 18, proceeded to Illinois for veteran 
furlough; returning, arrived at Natchez July 8; 
was engaged in several expeditions; October 
10, was consolidated into four companies; was 
engaged in the siege of Spanish Fort, losing 
fourteen killed and wounded, including two 
captains; was reviewed by Chief Justice Chase 
June 3, 1865. 



Number of men at organization. 
Recruits 



761 
959 



1,720 

Commissioned officers killed 9 

" wounded 19 

discharged 49 

dismissed 4 

'* died of disease 2 

transferred 3 

Enlisted men killed 52 

" " died of wounds 34 

" " wounded 265 

" " missing in action 17 

" " killed accidentally 5 

" died of disease 139 

" " discharged 445 

" " transferred IS 

975 



Colonel— Hinman Rhodes. 

Lieutenant-Colonel— Edwin P. Durell. 

Adjutant — Thomas A. Ralston. 

Quartermaster — James C. Dunlap. 

Sergeant-Majors — David Branson, William D. 
Cox. 

Commissary-Sergeants— Robert Blair. John R. 
Patrick. 

Hospital Steward— Oliver Wood. 

Company A. 

Second-Lieutenant— John R. Easley. 
Sergeants— J. A. Blair, J. P. Smith, J. M. Smith. 



Privates- 
Allen, G. W., 
Brewer. J. S., 
Crosby. D. M., 
Cary. F. M., 
Dutro, J. B.. 
France. W. L. , 
Fisher. John. 
Hanks, J. A., 
Hedge. Richard. 



Newton, D. W.. 
Stropes. William, 
Smith. W. P., 
Wilcox. B. F.. 
Walling. E. P.. 
Williamson. J. A., 
Davis. Lukins, 
Schoolcraft. Benjamin, 
Davis, J. G., 
Moore. J. G. 



Company H. 



First-Lieutenant— Isaiah Denness. 
Second-Lieutenant— J. B. Carithers. 
Corporals— J. Q. Ludlum, C. R. Watkins. Wil- 
liam H. Barrow, Thomas Barrow, William H. Wler. 



Privates- 
Arnold. J. M., 
Aten. Henry. 
Atherton. James, 
Barrow. Jinken, 
Burton. Lemuel, 
Carter, John. 
Dollar, William, 
Easley, D. M.. 
Etnire. Samuel. 
Farrand. James, 
Hill, George, 
Howard. S. M., 
House. B. F., 
Hall. F. A., 
Jacob. J. A.. 
Kelso. John, 
Ludlum, Alma, 
Mercer. Charles, 
Moore. J. W., 
Musgrove, S. R., 
Musgrrove, B. F., 
Morrison. G. V., 
Moses, Samuel. 
Powell. J. C. 
Pettinger. William. 
Stevens. Robert. 
Sapp, John, 
Thompson. John, 
Thomas. G. W., 
Wilson, Charles. 
Wilkins. Ralph, 
Wood, Eli. 
Bedwell, Benjamin. 
Brown. Peter. 



Brick, G. W. 
Cooper. M. T. 
Cooney. George, 
Cameron, J. H. 
Denness, Charles. 
Dickinson. George. 
Dobbins. Franklin. 
Galbreath. William, 
Halllday, J. C. 
Hermon. Calvin, 
Hermon, J. P., 
Ingram. Simpson, 
Knowles. Noah. 
Moore. William, 
Miller. Michael, 
Morrison. C. B.. 
McMullen. Horace, 
Price, W. M.. 
Reese. G. W.. 
Sturgeon. Simpson. 
Thompson, Charles. 
Thompson, J. M.. 
Thomas. Samuel. 
Thomas. Erastus, 
Thomas. R. T.. 
Wood. Aaron, 
Warner. Alfred, 
Watt, Henrv. 
Wiley, J. W.. 
Youst. Elijah. 
Bateson, George, 
Hays, James. 
Nelson, Edward. 
Rutledge. Simon, 
Wiley, J. 



Company I. 

Sergeant— Andrew J. Petty. 

Corporals— John Smith, James H. Rogers. 



Privates- 
Clift. E. M.. 
Murphy. W. H.. 
Massle, M. W., 
Phrimmer. S.. 
Rogers. Jackson, 
Rogers. J. L.. 
Stevens. Joseph, 
Stambaugh. J.. 
Voorhees. T. J., 
Voorhees. J. M.. 
Craig. William, 



Allen, George, 
Courtney, R.. 
Soaper, S., 
Williams. J. J., 
Wages, Isaac, 
Murphy, J. E.. 
Anderson. Henry, 
Maioon. William, 
\vncoxen. D.. 
Mann. J.. 
Mallon. William, 
Moore, David, 




MR. AND MRS. E. C. CROSTHWAIT 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



735 



Hubbard, W. H., 
Turpin, Martin, 
Miller, AV. F., 
Eickelberger, J., 



Lines, W. H., 
DaCogan, B., 
Forrest, Daniel. 



THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 



Ammerman, A. A., 
Bier. S. B., 
Chamberlain. William, 
Figard, David, 
L,pigh, I., 
Shreves, L., 



Dunblazer, H., 
Fisher, I. B., 
Rav. William W. 
Buckner, W. E., 
McBride. W. P., 
Sayers, F. M. 



THIRTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 



Company C. 



Brigg. Henry, 
Cleaveland, Charles, 
Cleaveland, James, 
Chadwick, W., 
Carman, T. H.. 
Hender, Vernon. 
Hawkins. J. S., 
Jacobs, P. J., 



Morrell. W. C, 
McCormick, J., 
Manner, G. B., 
Potter, A. J.. 
Rowling. C. J., 
Rich, Peter, 
Squires, C. S., 
Ward, J. S. 



Galliger, W. 
Hall, C. P., 



H., 



Company F. 

Maltby, C. 



THIRTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 



Company F. 



Drake. J. C. 
Harvey, Henry, 
Letwiler, C, 
Lusk, P., 



Mittimore, A., 
Smith. A.. 
Butterfleld, P. L., 
Gillmore. William, 



FORTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 



Day, George, 
Barnett, James, 
Chamberlain, William, 
Courtney, H. H., 
Corbin. William, 
Duryea, J. W., 
Gibson, J. A., 
Green, W. R.. 



Hoag, J., 
Johnson, W.- H., 
Morse. W. C, 
Oldham. J., 
Roberts, J. J., 
Thompson, John, 
Vogland, F. E. D. 



FORTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY 
Was organized at Peoria August 16, 1861. It 
proceeded to Benton Barracks September 23; 
May 9, 1862, was engaged at Farmlngton, Miss. ; 
was engaged May 28 near Corinth, and at that 
city October 3 and 4, where they lost their 
brave colonel, W. A. Thrush, while leading a 
charge. The regiment lost in this engagement 
thirty killed and over 100 wounded. May 14, 
1863, was engaged at Jackson, Miss.; took part 
in the charge of the enemy's works at Vicks- 
burg May 22, losing twelve killed and a large 
number wounded; was at the battle of Pleas- 
ant Hill, La., April 9, 1864. Returned to Vicks- 
burg May 22 with Gen. Smith's command after 
a campaign of nearly three months, in which 
they suffered almost unheard-of fatigue and 
privations, many men dying from hardships. 
The Forty-seventh met and defeated Gen. Mar- 
maduke near Lake Chicot, in which they lost 
eleven killed and a number wounded. It was 
mustered out January, 1866, at Selma, Ala. 



Company A. 

First-Lieutenant— John W. Dodds. 
Sergeant— John Watts. 

Corporals— James Parr, Irving C. Fox, J. A. H. 
Speer, Reuben Edmonson. 



Privates- 
Baxter. John, 
Cunningham, Alexander, 
Combs. A. J., 
Cain, .iohn, 
Cozad, B. F.. 
Cook, C. C. 
Dyer. Martin, 
Edmonson, C. B., 
Fredrick, P., 
Gray. D. H., 
Giberson, D., 
Griffith. T., 
Gladman, Amos, 
Hirn, D. A., 
Haptenstall, A, C, 
Hart, James, 
Harlan, Plato, 
Harlan. N. B., 
Jackson. J. A., 
Kirkendall, William, 



Logan. George. 
McParland, John, 
Patton, William, 
Romine. S., 
Stewart, S. G., 
Toland. G. W., 
Sullivan, S. D., 
Sullivan. Elijah, 
Thurman, S. H., 
Warriner, J. C, 
Wendall, J. R., 
Hollister, H. P., 
Stewart, William, 
McKenzie, J. S., 
Sampson, J. T., 
Sampson, C. J.. 
Sampson, W. B., 
Fountain, Samuel, 
Snyder, H. H., 
Wilmot, L. D. 



Company I. 



Chadwick, George, 
Davis. J. H., 
Daft. W. H., 
Galer, R.. 
Deeper, G. T., 



Deeper, W. C, 
Saunders, Henry, 
Stoddard, Israel, 
Tullis, Daniel. 



Company F. 
(Forty-seventh Consolidated.) 



Sergeants— John J. Bell, J. 
Maxwell. 



O. Thorn, William 



Privates — 
Culley. John. 
Dawson. Robert, 
Davis, Joseph, 
Pahee, William, 
Gamble, J,, 



Hendricks, James, 
Hendricks, William, 
Johnson. Levi, 
McKinney. J. O., 
Ohern, M., 
Turl, P. 



FIFTIETH INFANTRY 
Was organized in the month of August, 1861, by 
Col. Moses M. Bane. The Fiftieth was engaged 
at Shiloh April 6 and 7; engaged in the siege 
of Corinth, May, 1862. June 4 it pursued the 
enemy as far as Booneville, Miss,, returning 
to Corinth June 10. The regiment was engaged 
in a number of battles and skirmishes during 
its service. About three-fourths of the regi- 
ment re-enlisted as veterans and were mus- 
tered January 16, 1864, when they left for Illi- 
nois for veteran furlough. The Fiftieth was 
one of the best drilled regiments in the service. 
In the prize drill July 3, 1865, with the Sixty- 
third Illinois, Seventh Iowa and Fiftieth Illinois 
competing, the latter won the prize banner. 
They were mustered out of service July 13, 
1865. 



Lieutenant-Colonel — Mervin B. Converse. 
Adjutant— Walter S. Wood. 
Quartermaster-Sergeant— A. J. Ransom. 



Miller, William, 
Randall, Stephen, 



Scott, Joseph. 



736 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Company G. 



?fr''s\^S7ute'n'k''„S-R'"#: Barrett, Lewis Zolman. 

•'^slcon°--l5euten"nt.-J. B. Strode, A. S. Wright. 
Sergeant— J. W. DeVaney. ^ . „ .. r. « 

Corporals— Wiiiiam M. Gustin, J. A. Gustin. O. b. 

Munger. 



Privates- 
Burgett. W. C. 
Bybee. C. H.. 
Blain. J. H.. 
Baughman. \X. H., 
Compton, J. J-, 
Chiclcen. N. D., 
Culver. Solon. 
Pridley. A. T., 
Fate. Martin. 
Fate. G. R.. 
Graliam. J. S., 
Holt. Ira, 
Jennings. G. W., 
Knoclc. W. R.. 
Knock. Bruce. 
Leslie, T. H., 
Moon. D. R., 
McQueen, T.. 
McGee, Terry. 
Nolan. Augustus, 
Nolan. John. 
Overton, C. E.. 
Quigley. E. J.. 
Reese, H. B., 
Reese, J. W., 
Wheeler, A. O., 
Wvant, I. F.. 
Zolman, A. P.. 



Anderson, R. R.. 
Anderson, J. S.. 
Anthony, William. 
Bogue. William, 
Bean. Joseph, 
Berrv, Thomas. 
Bradley, Samuel, 
Chiclten, John, 
Conn. G. W.. 
Dorsey, N. H., 
Graham, J. S., 
Gustine, William, 
Graham, J. T.. 
Gregory, D. B., 
Hoopes, John, 
Knock, J. N., 
Lamb, E. H., 
Mathews, J. T., 
McMullen, Rufus. 
Pickering, A. L.. 
Parks, James. 
Pickering, J., 
Strode, A. H., 
Strode, W. S., 
Allder, I. F., 
Cory, J. W., 
Klemp, A.. 
Marshall. J. M.. 
Poe. Anthony G. 



FIFTY-FIRST INFANTRY 
Was organized December 24, 1S61, and on Feb- 
ruary 14, 1S62, was ordered to Cairo, 111., Col 
Cummings commanding. April 7 the regiment 
moved against Island No. 10; on the Sth pur- 
sued the enemy, compelling the surrender of 
Gen. Mackall. On the 11th embarked and 
moved down the Mississippi to Osceola, Ark.. 
and disembarked on the 22d. The Fifty-first 
participated in the battles of Farmington, siege 
of Corinth, Nashville, Stone River, Chicka- 
mauga. Rocky Face Ridge. Kenesaw Mountain 
and many others. They were in the thickest of 
the fight at Chickamauga, sustaining heavy 
loss, nearly one-half of the number engaged be- 
ing killed or wounded. They also sustained a 
severe loss at Kenesaw Mountain. The regi- 
ment was heavily engaged in the battle of 
Nashville, December 1, where they lost 150 men 
in killed, wounded and missing. The Fifty-first 
was mustered out at Camp Irwin, Tex., Septem- 
ber 25, 1865, and arrived at Camp Butler Octo- 
ber 15, 1865, where they received final pay and 
discharge. 

Company I. 

Captain— Henry Augustine. 
First-Lieutenant— George A. Turner. 
Second-Lieutenant— Samuel Nutt. 
First-Sergeant— W. D. Johnson. 
Sergeants— J. P. Fox, W. H. Brown. George 
Black, James H. Burk. 



Cori:)orals — Jesse Beason. John Newton, J. M. 
Putnam, Malen Blanvett, George Sebree, Philander 
Wilkins. Peter Walling. 

Musicians— Theodore Wilson. W. E. Wolgamott. 

Wagoner— Isaac V. Deal. 



Privates- 
Bailey. U. L., 
Birkshire, J. C. 
Baylor. J. R., 
Birkshire, Hamilton, 
Bringar, W. H., 
Barber. Robert, 
Black. W. H.. 
Bryant. Daniel, 
Barber, George W.. 
Bennett. E., 
Bragg. J. F., 
Burkinshaw, George, 
Blaine. James, 
Ball, Harrison, 
Connelly. S. L., 
Cisco, M. S., 
Cox. John B.. 
Conlin. Thomas. 
Cooper, H. A., 
Davis, D. T.. 
Davidson, William, 
Dewey, Frederick, 
Dunkin, Joseph, 
Edgar, Thomas, 
Fox, J. P., 
Ford, Thomas, 
Grovendyke, Garrett, 
Garrison, J. W.. 
Greenslit, Hubert, 
Harris, Isaac, 
Johnson, Erick. 
Jones, W. W., 
Knapp, J. D.. 



Luther, John, 
McKinney, E., 
Moore, Ezekiel, 
McCreary, W. H.. 
ivicCreary, J. L., 
McKinley, M. G., 
Mille, G. W.. 
Mills. Andrew, 
Oatman, Jacob, 
Provard. Robert. 
Provard, C. W., 
Pickett, W. W., 
Pretman. J. W., 
Payton, Elijah, 
Rooks, William, 
Rawalt, John. 
Schooley, Benjamin. 
Sebree, Preston. 
Singleton. Milton. 
IScott, Robert, 
Scrivner, Lcander, 
See, David, 
Svlva, T. W., 
Wilke. J. H., 
Wilcoxen. W. H.. 
Ward, E. L., 
Wages. John. 
Wise. Jacob. 
Eldridge. J. B., 
McCormick, Thomas. 
Jones, Warren, 
Kelly, F. M.. 
Wisner, W. E., 
Williams, E. C. 



FIFTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 



Mann, C. W., 



Sommers, A. J. 



Company E. 
Corporal— Edwin Vandervere. 



Privates- 
Cameron. A. A., 
mlliott. I. v.. 
Elliott, Jasper. 
McCabe. John. 
Shields, J. B.. 
Warner. S. D., 
Carr. William, 
Ivirk. William, 
Keys. T. J.. 
Kirk, George, 



Lovell, George, 
Lovell, Samuel, 
Marble, H. A., 
Richardson, Otis. 
Ellison, Silas. 
McCune, H. S., 
Sanderson, J. C., 
Niblack, J. M., 
Tunderberk. D 
Saffer, John F. 



H.. 



FIFTY-FIFTH INFANTRY 
Was organized at Camp Douglas arid mustered 
into service October 31, 1861. November 9, left 
Camp Douglas. Remained at Camp Benton un- 
til January 12, 1862, whn it was ordered to Pa- 
ducah, Ky. On the morning of March 15 
marched out with expedition from a point some 
fourteen miles above Pittsburg Landing for the 
surprise and overthrow of Corinth. 

The opening of the battle Sunday morning 
found the regiment in position with an effective 
force of 873 men. Col. Stewart was wounded 
and nine of the line ofiBcers, three of whom 
died of wounds; 102 enlisted men were killed 
and mortally wounded, and 161 wounded and 




HARVEY CROSTHWAIT 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



737 



taken prisoners. The regiment was with the 
army in advance on Corinth, and at Russell's 
house, May 17, lost. In skirmish, eight men — ■ 
two killed and six wounded. Entered Corinth 
May 30; thence, with Gen. Sherman, westward 
along Memphis and Charleston Railroad. The 
regiment re-embarked with army and was pres- 
ent and under fire at battle of Arkansas Post, 
January 10 and 11, 1S63, losing three men 
wounded. Was at Vicksburg in 1863, partici- 
pating in the fight. Participated in the siege 
of Jackson, Miss. On October 30, 1863, 
marched from East Point, on Tennessee River, 
for Chattanooga. During night of 2d, with rest 
of brigade, manned a fleet of pontoon boats in 
North Chickamauga Creek, and in the midst of 
rain and intense darkness, with muffled oars, 
descended and crossed the Tennessee River 
and captured the enemy's picket line. Novem- 
ber 25, marched with Sherman to the relief 
of Knoxville, East Tennessee. June 27, 1S64, 
participated in assault upon Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Ga. July 22 the regiment was again en- 
gaged, with an effective force of 239 men, and 
came out of the engagement with 180 men. 
Was in the siege of Atlanta; in battle of Jones- 
boro. In a short campaign of a little over two 
months the regiment lost half Its number. 
March with army via Richmond to Washing- 
ton; participated in the Grand Review at Wash- 
ington. During its term of service the regi- 
ment marched 3,374 miles. 

Lieutenant-Colonel— Theodore C. Chandler. 

Surgeon — Charles B. Tompkins. 

First Assistant Surgeon— John B. Tompkins. 

Company A. 

Captains — William N. Presson. Jacob M. Augus- 
tine, Henry Augustine, Harrison H. Prickett. 

First-Lieutenants — Casper Schleich, William P. 
Cootes. William McCumber. 

Second-Lieutenants — Levi Hill, John P. Phillips. 

Corporals — George Luckey, John C. Glass. Peter 
Schleich, S. J. Simpson, G. A. Buffum. 



Privates — 
Apple, N., 
Banks, J. M.. 
Babbitt, C. 
Bolander. Harvey. 
Bull. William, 
Boyle, Jason. 
Burnside, G. M., 
Barclay, J. M., 
Brown, E. C. 
Burns, John, 
Brader. Samuel, 
Barclay. J. C, 
Coykendall, M., 
Cox, M. T.. 
Coleman, W. H., 
Chambers. Charles, 
Cadwallader, John, 
Clark. James, 
Deford, Milton, 



Lowder. A. J., 
Lenhart, Henry. 
Lingenfelter. Aaron, 
Lenhart, Isaiah, 
Moran. Charles. 
Mitchell, Mathews, 
Maxwell, A. B., 
Maxwell. D. R., 
McCumber. Orvill, 
Mills. J. H.. 
Morgan, Newton. 
McCullough. J. R., 
Negley, Daniei. 
Norman, James, 
Prickett. J. P., 
Porter, Edgar. 
Pritchard, Benjamin. 
Pollock, Harrison, 
Porter, F. J., 
Peters, W. T., 



Deems. Joseph, 
Duryea, B. F., 
Deford,' Thomas. 
Eveland. Lorenzo, 
Elrodd, T. J., 
Frye, David J., 
Filer. Lorenzo, 
Garritt, S. S., 
Glass. W. M., 
Gay, J. H., 
Huftard. P. M., 
Hart. H. L., 
Hamilton, C. P., 
Holden, Bartley. 
Hfbb. Joseph, 
Hastey, Willis. 
Jones, Abner, 
Lowe, W. H.. 
Lowden, James. 



Robbins, J. F.. 
Redtarm. Mark. 
Rockhold. Charles, 
Reeves. D. M., 
Ross, S. M., 
Roseboom. A.. 
Scanlan, Thomas, 
Shaw, Harvey, 
Sebree, James. 
Tobin, Patrick, 
Vaughn, J. A., 
White. J. M., 
Wheeler, J. P., 
Williamson. X.. 
Wilson, Beniamin, 
White, J. H.. 
Wellington. H., 
Cox, A. J., 
i'ingle, C. P. 



Company D. 

First-Lieutenants— J. R. Roberts, Jacob Prink, 
William S. Johnson, Charles G. Burnap, J, K. Niles. 

Sergeants— Job Vaughn, James M. Green. 

Corporals— M. C. Athearn, James Havell, T. Wil- 
helm. James Knapp, J. A. Knott, Asa Morris. 



Privates — 
Abbott, Joseph, 
Athearn, J. P., 
Bayless, William, 
Bonnev, W. W., 
Bonney, S. P., 
Burlingame, Samuel, 
Bulger, John, 
Burk, D. S.. 
Bragg. J. P., 
Carder, Benjamin, 
Curry, J. W.. 
Conger. John, 
Cameron, J. H., 
Curfman, G. W.. 
Campbell, W. H., 
Chenhall, Philip, 
Criss, W. H., 
Dewey, A. S., 
Davis, Benjamin, 
Erwin, Jesse, 
Fields. G. H., 
Fisher. Jacob, 
Greathouse, Daniel, 
Hughes, T. H., 
Huitord, James. 
Hill, Solomon, 



Hartson. James, 
Hallibaugh. William, 
Johnson, Thomas, 
Jordan. Charles, 
Knight. Samuel, 
Laswell, James, 
Michaels, P. A., 
Paden, E. P., 
Pallett, George, 
Parker. G. T.. 
Ross. W. A., 
Rodenbaugh, L. N., 
Sheaneman. John, 
Saville, Edward, 
Shaw, Hiram, 
Shaw, James, 
Sebree, Preston, 
Shoup, A. D.. 
Smith. Harrison, 
Shellenberger. William, 
Twitchell, S. B., 
Thompson, S. L., 
Vice. G. B., 
White, T. J., 
Wilkie, J. W., 
Young, James, 
Yates, T. J. 



Company P. 

Captain— Vincent Brink. 
Sergeant— H. M. Haney. 
Corporals— Mason McCane. 
Richard Haney, J, H. Beadles. 



Ferguson, 



Privates — 
Bond, B. P., 
Collier, William, 
Fugate. J. N., 
Lyliarger, L., 
Lutz, A. B., 



McCaughey, J. W., 
McElroy, W., 
Sanders, P. S., 
Paass, Samuel, 
Bevens, Corvdon, 
Swarts, B. C. 



Company H. 

Captain— Peter Roberts. 

Privates— 
Loucks, Delos, Gay, J. W. 

FIFTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY. 



Prior, M. P., 
Wages, C. H.. 
Wages, Alfred, 



Bowley, David, 
Thomas, J. N.. 
Thorn. Michael. 



FIFTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY". 



Shreve, J. A.. 
Skinner, J. L., 
Castle, Daniel, 



Parris, William, 
Gardner, John, 
Morris, William. 



738 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



FIFTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 



Nichols, W. C. 
Fielding. E., 
Herr, G. W., 



Melvin, T. J., 
Nelson. B. F., 
Stier, G. R. 



SIXTIETH INFANTRY. 



Harrington (musician). 
Pierce, Jaclison, 
Hess, W. R., 



Maxwell, J. M.. 
McConnaday, I. 



SIXTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 



Ball. Joseph J., 
Jaggers, Nathan, 
Hibbard. C. M., 
Miller, Lacy. 



Walters. J.. 
Whealdon. N.. 
Walters. James, 
Winner, W. J. 

Company I. 



Captain— Henry S. Goodspeed. 



Childers. C. W., 
Hendricks, J. M., 
Minge, Wesley, 
Hendricks, John. 
Wheeler, T. F., 
Mills, S. W. 



Privates— 
Kimball, Henry, 
Cunningham, A., 
Easley, Reese, 
France, John, 
Harris, Isaac, 
Steeber, V.. 

SIXTY-SEVENTH (Three Months) INFANTRY. 

Sergeant-Major— H. G. Coykendall. 

Company F. 

Sergeants— William H. Black. L. E. Trites. H. H. 
Downing. A. E. Plattenburg. A. J. Rounk. 

Corporals— J. H. Rodenbaugh. L. F. Randolph, 
G. B. Vittum, Amos Naylor, Goerge Turner, Wil- 
liam Maxwell. 

Musician— A. F. Small. 



Harwick. James, 
Jarnagan. John, 
Knapp, J. D., 
Lockwood, John, 
Martin. James, 
Mills. Joseph, 
McAdams. S. D., 
Newhall, Samuel, 
Oatman, Jacob, 
Phelps, S. S., 
Proctor, Joseph, 
Painter, J. C, 
Penny, John, 
Reeves, J. W.. 
Roberts, Stephen, 
Shraden, G. W., 
Saville, Daniel, ■ 
Sweetser, Duke, 
Tanquery, W. P., 
Turner. Albert, 
Thomas, A. O., 
Varner. S. C. 
Vulgamore, William, 
Wansel, William, 
Whitmore. Jacob, 
Wilcoxen, William. 
Williams. William. 
Weaver. William. 
Warden, G. W., 
Youngman, James, 
Smith, J. A. 



Privates- 
Andrews, Harvey, 
Arnold, J. A., 
Black, George, 
Berry. John. 
Barnes, Thomas, 
Barker, Deriorn, 
Brlster, W. H., 
Birch, Charles, 
Bryant, William, 
Boman, J. H., 
Bell, J. M.. 
Bates, Edgar, 
Cather, Harvey, 
Caplinger. Chauncey, 
Carr, Joseph, 
Coles, H. C. 
Devaughn. Emanuel. 
Donley, Franklin, 
Dennison, Isaac, 
Eby, J. M.. 
Eads. Joseph. 
Eskridge, J. T., 
Emory, .1. H.. 
Ellis. Newton. 
Filch, Asa. 
Fox. James. 
Gibbons. Patrick. 
(3rim. William, 
Huff. Burton. 
Hughes, W. T.. 
Heckard, Martin, 

SEVENTY-FIRST (Three Months) INFANTRY. 

Company D. 

Sergeant— George Mahaffey. 
Corporal— William Hunter. 



Privates- 
Brunt. James. 
Bush. Sampson, 
Doran. John. 



Davis. John, 
Hemphill, James, 
Wilson. G. B. 



SEVENTY-SECOND INFANTRY. 

This regiment was organized at Chicago as 
the First Regiment of the Chicago Board of 
Trade. Its first bills were put out for one 
company, calling itself the "Hancock Guards," 
on July 23, 1862, and exactly one month after- 
wards the entire regiment was complete and 
mustered into service for three years. The 
very day of their muster they started for Cairo, 
arriving on the 24th. Their strength at that 
time was thirty-seven officers and 930 men. 

The Seventy-second participated in many en- 
gagements during their three years' service in 
the field. At the battle of Franklin, Tenn., they 
fought with commendable bravery, being in the 
hottest of the fight from 4 in the afternoon till 
midnight, during all which time the battle 
raged with terrific fury. In this fight the Sev- 
enty-second lost nine officers and 152 men, who 
were either killed or severely wounded. 

Company I. 

Captain — .\bner E. Barnes. 
First-Lieutenant — Jacob Schank. 
Second-Lieutenant— E. S. Gorham. 
Sergeants— J. D. Mantania. S. S. Hawken. 
Corporals— Asa Eagle. W. W. Thompson. John 
Freeborn, William Sparks. 



Privates- 
Barber. J. S., 
Barnes. H. C, 
Bags. L. B., 
Brimstall. D.. 
Chew. Edward, 
Craimblett, J., 
Flake. H. B.. 
Fuller. I. O.. 
Gorham. B. S., 
Herr. J. D.. 
Hovt. Abraham. 
Harland. J. M., 
Knott. J. M.. 
Lucals. W'. H.. 



Deeper, G. W., 
McBride, A. J.. 
McKeever. J. D.. 
Morris. W. H.. 
Melvin. Eli. 
Painter, H. H., 
Peterson, Robert, 
Pool, Thomas. 
Sullivan. J. H.. 
Throckmorton. V 
Thorp. L. R., 
Trulock. S. M.. 
Thomas. L. F., 
White, James, 
Vertrice, N. J. 



EIGHTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 



Keller. J. H., 
Cook. John, 
Harshberger, W. H.. 
Jones. E. R.. 
Phillips. F., 
Rice, Jesse, 
Schockley, John, 
Thurman. J. M.. 



Moore. William. 
Hendricks. J. J.. 
Palmer. P. R., 
Shaffer, R., 
Singleton, A. P.. 
Singleton. J. R., 
Sturgeon, John. 



EIGHTY-FOURTH INFANTRY 

Was organized at Quincy in August, 1862, and 
left for Louisville, Ky., September 23, 951 
strong. The Eighty-fourth was a fighting regi- 
ment from the first, and was engaged in the 
following battles: Stone River, December 13, 
1S62: January 12 and 13, 1863, loss, 228 men; 
Woodbury, January 17, 1863; Chickamauga, 
September 19 and 20, 1863, loss 172 men; Look- 
out Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Ringold, 




MARIA CROSTHWAIT 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY 



739 



November 24, 25 and 26, 1863; loss, nine men; 
Dalton, February 22, 1864; loss, four men; in 
the Atlanta campaign at Buzzard's Roost, IVIay 
10, 1864; Dalton, May 13, 1S64; Resaca, May 
14, 1,S64: Burnt Hickory, Mayy 26-31. and June 
2-3, 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, Smyrna, Atlanta, 
Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station; loss in cam- 
paign. 125 men; Franklin and Nashville; loss, 
20 men. Total casualties in battle, 558 men. 
From the Eighty-fourth but one man was 
taken prisoner, but ten men deserted, only one 
man ever sent to military prison, and but four 
tried by court-martial. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Thomas Hamer. 

Major— Caleb B. Cox. 

Quartermaster— James A. Russell. 

First Assistant Surgeon — Frank W. Hunter. 

Sergeant-Major— J. B. Green. 

Company A. 

First-Lieutenant— Thomas G. Wisdom. 

Carnahan. Fielder. 

Company B, 

Captain— L. M. Scott. 

First-Lieutenant — William M. Provine. 

Second-Lieutenants — Emmor Dilworth, W. A. 
Highland. 

Corporals- Edwin Knock, Robert A. Burns. A. 
S. Stanton, W. J. Moore, Amos Knock. 



Privates — 
Atherton. David, 
Bartholomew, L., 
Boyd. J. E., 
Beans, Amos, 
Bishop. Daniel, 
Bartholomew. A., 
Battin. G. W., 
Cramlet, Jesse, 
Cadwalader, Jesse, 
Cope. W. v.. 
Dilworthy, H. W., 
Dobbins, W^ A., 
Easlev. Mark, 
Easley. D. L., 
Faucher. L., 
Branklin. Benjamin, 
Farquhar. I. W., 
Greenell, I. W., 
Hughes, David, 
Hughes, I. M., 
Hasty, William, 
Hall. Francis, 
Harland, W. V., 



Hoops, William, 
Hickle. G. W., 
Harland, Monroe, 
Hillger. Thomas, 
Johnson, H. A., 
Knock, Daniel, 
Kinsey, W. A., 
Koons, A. J., 
Miner. J. W., 
Miller. J, H., 
Miller. G., 
Pratt, H. C, 
Parks. Joseph, 
Russell, Dilworth. 
Swinkins. Francis, 
Shaddock, Robert. 
Walters. W. A., 
Wildman, A. G.. 
Webster. Monroe, 
Yost, Samuel, 
Zoll, Carothers, 
Zinc, J. F., 
Nance, H. H. 



Company F. 

Captains— Joseph Nelson. R. D. Dilworth. 
First-Lieutenant — F. W. Ross. 
Sergeants — J. M. Moore. Stephen Bogue. 
Corporals— D. W. Litchfield. R. M. Miller, 
liam Nelson. William Walker. 



Wil- 



Privates — 
Adams, J. F., 
Beers, Jabez, 
Brown. William, 
Boyer, J. B., 
Brown, Thomas, 
Crater, P. M., 
Clark. John, 
Doebler. T. H., 
Durell. F. W., 



Morgan, J. H., 
Moore. John, 
Menteer. J. V., 
McHenry. John, 
Morrison. J. A., 
Mnore, Edward, 
Martin. A. G.. 
Nunamaker. J. W., 
Nebergall. B. P., 
Porter, A. K., 



Dewitt. Solomon, 
France. B. H., 
Foster. N. T.. 
Forquer. William, 
Glympse. Eli, 
Griffin. Lewis. 
Kirkbride, John. 
Kinnie. E. E.. 
Kinse.v. J. R., 
Koonts, .Tames, 
Knock. W. A., 
Kirkbride. Wesley, 
Lowe. B. F., 
Litchfield, Durant, 



Porter, E. P., 
Purnell, Joseph. 
Pollock, H. C. 
Parish, Asbury. 
Reese, Jacob. 
Benner, Ephraim, 
Rowland, T. R., 
Sexton. James. 
Shaffer, L. J.. 
Shaw. William. 
Thomas, W. A.. 
Walker. Amos, 
Hoopis, Ellis. 



EIGHTY-FIFTH INFANTRY. 

The Eighty-fifth was organized at Peoria in 
August, 1862, by Col. Robert S. Moore, and mus-- 
tered into service August 27, 1S62. Ordered to 
Louisville, Ky., September 6, 1862. Assigned to 
Thirty-sixth Brigade, Eleventh Division, Third 
Army Corps, Col. D. McCook commanding bri- 
gade. Gen. Sheridan commanding division and 
Gen. Gilbert commanding corps. The Eighty- 
fifth marched in pursuit of the enemy under 
Gen. Bragg, October 1, 1862; was engaged in 
the battle of Champion Hill, at Perryville, Ky., 
October 8, and moved with the army to Nash- 
ville, Tenn.. arriving November 1, 1862. 

Regiment mustered out June 5, 1865, at 
Washington, D. C, and arrived at Camp Butler, 
111., June 11, 1865, where they received their 
final discharge. 



Major— S. P. Cummings. 
Quartermaster— W. H. Evans. 

company G. 

Captain— William McClelland. 

First-Lieutenants— Lafayette Curless. J. M. Rob- 
ertson. 

Sergeants— Lewis Post, Irving Shannon. McDon- 
ald Cox, L. D. Gould. 

Corporals— William Roe. Henrv Aten. W. F. 
Bryant. J. F. Kennedy, Elias Wheeler, Thomas 
Harlon. Perry Adkinson. Jackson Smith. 

Musician— Samuel Simmers. 

Wagoner— George Cooper. 

Atwater. M. L.. 
Atwater, William, 
Aten, John. 
Brown. Perry. 
Brown. Thomas, 
Bushnell, A. P.. 
Brewer. Aaron. 
Boyd. William. 
Castor. S. L.. 
Curless. John. 
Curless, L. D., 
Clupper. P. W.. 
Dodge. John. 
Douglass. J. W., 
Edmonds, B. F., 
Pawsett, Michael, 
Fawsett, Levi. 
Holt. Solomon, 
Hays. Daniel. 
Hagan, J. B.. 
Hensley. J. W., 
Jones. J. M.. 
Kelly, William, 
Kelly, Josiah. 

r — 



Meek. G. W.. 
McKee, F. M., 
Monroe, Biram, 
O'Dannel. Thomas, 
Prentice, William, 
Prentice, Berrv, 
Parr, J. N.. 
Plunk. Marion, 
Parker. N. B.. 
Powell, George, 
Reeves, Peter, 
Reed, G. W.. 
Smith, L. C. 
Snodgrass. J. H.. 
Shargo, G. W., 
Stephenson. J. N., 
Severns. Marion. 
Still. Solomon, 
Still, Samuel, 
Still, Robert. 
Shields, James. 
Snodgrass. J. W., 
Seymour, Lewis, 
Shores, John, 



740 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



King, D. M., 
Line, D. T., 
Longfellow, D. G., 
Lamperell. Cnarles, 
Lafarie, Henry, 
Latourett, H. A., 
Levingston, John, 
Levingston, T. A., 
McComb, A.. 
McCay, John, 



Smith. William. 
Thomas, Aaron. 
Thomas. David. 
Tavlor. David. 
Tate. T. J.. 
Thompson. John. 
Workman. George. 
Wheeler, Thomas. 
Wright. L. P., 
Woodruff, J. H. 



Lovell. William. 
Minnes, \^'illtam. 
Markel. Solomon. 



Moore. J. H.. 
Moore, Ellis. 
Dewey, I. B.. 



Company H. 

Captains— Nathaniel McClelland. David Maxwell, 
J. T. McNeil, I, A. Mardis. 

First Lieutenants— Luke Elliott, A. J. Horton. 

Second Lieutenants— William Copren, W. M. 
Shields. 

Sergeants— S. B. Palmer. Eli Shields. Amos 
Kinza. 

Corporals— J. T. Zimmerman. G. H. Wetzel. An- 
derson Jennings. H. Shields. Franklin Shelley, D. 
S. Shank. J. W. Swann. E. J. Elliott. 

Musicians— H. H. Wilson. M. K. Dobson. 

Wagoner— Benjamin Bolen. 



Privates- 
Barnes, G. W., 
F.arnes, J. A.. 
Brajison. C. R., 
Bloomfleld. H.. 
Cunnnigham. John. 
Crable, Joseph, 
Cunningham, William, 
Cooper, Abraham, 
Collins, William, 
Duncan, Charles, 
Davis. Joseph, 
Dutton, Daniel, 
Dial. Lewis. 
Elgin. W. F., 
Engle, T. B., 
Fenton. J. D.. 
Freitley. W. H.. 
Hudnall. William. 
Henderson, S. D., 
Horton. J. B.. 
Horton, Marion, 
Hughes, C. A.. 
Hughey. J. T.. 
Heaton. Simon. 
Horn. Jacob. 
Hudnall. Wesley. 
Jameson, James, 
Johnson, H. J., 
Jellison. Benjamin, 
Kingery. J. P., 
Lane, Richard, 



Lovell. Henry, 
Myers, Solomon, 
McClaren, W. H., 
McClaren. J. W.. 
Newberry. George. 
Osborn. William, 
Palmer, Joel, 
Powell, J. R.. 
Parker, M. V., 
Plank, M. V.. 
Rodgers. Michael. 
Sears. L. J., 
Sears. Lemuel, 
Swisher, H. C. 
Shields. J. B.. 
Shields, William, 
Shrier. F. M.. 
Severns. William. 
Severns. Eli. 
Snodgrass. Robert. 
Salsbury. James. 
Shaw. George W., 
Shields, B. F., 
Shanon. Nathan, 
Thompson, J. A., 
Thompson. Samuel, 
Turner, C. C, 
Thosio, John, 
Toler, J. T.. 
\^'^.eeler. Arden. 
Av'orley, Daniel. 
Zellers. F. 



Company I. 

Captain— W. H. Marble. 

Second-Lieutenant— Hugh McHugh. 

Sergeants— A. A. Cameron. L. V. Tarter, John 
Rennan, Robert MuUican. 

Corporals— Jeremiah Cockley, J. W. Belless, Wil- 
liam Landon, L. Collins. James Moslander. Eza- 
riah Thomas. Charles Mathews. Milo Butler. 

Musician— William McCaustland. 

Wagoner— Edmimd Curless. 



Privates- 
Amsden, Lincoln. 
Belless, William, 
Cakley, John, 
Frazer. Thomas. 
Fatchcraft, Henry, 
Gilson, Sanford, 
Gray, Vison, 
Graham, W. A.. 
Horton, Isaac, 
Hughes, N. P., 
Hughes, William, 
Hall, Josiah, 
Holmes, J. R.. 
Keller. Sylvester. 
Lapole, John, 



Moore, J. E.. 
McCroskev. E.. 
Phillips, W. H., 
Richardson. Isaac. 
Roves. T. J., 
Statts, T. A.. 
Sanders. George. 
Smith. W. H., 
Tyra, George, 
Trayes, John, 
Trapp, Oliver. 
Walker, Austin, 
Wilkes, Lemuel, 
Winchel, Albert. 
Markley, William, 
Menner, John, 



EIGHTY-NINTH INFANTRY. 
Company A. 
Corporal— S. Aklen. 



Pri\'ates — 
Buck. Jacob. 
Baughman, David, 
Coleman, A.. 
Hebb. Samuel. 



Kunkle. I. H.. 
Rowley, Reuben, 
Sterling, Henry, 
Thomas. D. M.. 
Taylor, Thomas. 



NINETY-SIXTH INFANTRY 

Was organized at Rockford in August, 1862, by 
Col. T. E. Champion and mustered in Septem- 
ber 6. October 8 it moved to Newport, Ky.; on 
the 29th moved to Lexington and Harrodsburg, 
where it remained four weelis, and thence 
removed to Danville, where it arrived Novem- 
ber 28. The regiment was mustered out June 
10, 1S65, at Camp Harker, Tenn., and arrived 
at Chicago June 14. 1865. where it received 
final pay and discharge. 

Company B. 

Captains — David Salisbury. A. B. Whitnev, E. J. 
Gilmore. G. H. Burnett. 

First-Lieutenant— A. A. Bangs. 

Sergeant — O. Ferrand. 

Corporals— J. D. Fulsom, S. H. Lindsev. Arthur 
Cook, Willard Whitney. 

Privates — 
Burnett, Jerome, 
Butler, Isaac. 
Bangs. G. A.. 
Barron. Orvill, 
Brown, James, 
Beck, J. A.. 
Brogar. Henrv. 
Carl. William. 
Collins, Alfred, 
Cleveland, M. H.. 
Cleveland. E. T.. 
Collins. LaFayette. 
Cooper, G. J.. 
Dombiski, Henry. 
De Voe, I. W., 



Edw,ards. Alfred. 
Fisher. Whitman. 
Fuller. AA'illiari. 
Gillmore, M.. 
Hendee. G. E.. 
Hoagstraat. H.. 
Litwiler. James. 
O'Connell. James. 
Potter. Edwin. 
Rich. Esau, 
Washburn. John. 
Young, James, 
Fidler, John, 
McCreadie, William, 
Savage, Jerry. 



Company D. 



Carpenter, G. W., 
Hankins, C. S., 
Peppard. Charles. 
Ricks. Edw.. 
Sells. A\'. D.. 



Thayer. Eli. 
Drury. W. E.. 
Gay, Henry, 
Hill. James. 
Olson. Peter. 



ONE-HUNDRED-AND-THIRD INFANTRY 

Was organized in August, 1862, and mustered 
in October 2. 

The OneHundred-and-Third was exclusively 
a Pulton County regiment, having been raised 
entirely in this county. The regiment received 
orders October 30 to move to Cairo and thence 
to Columbus, Jackson and Bolivar, where it was 
assigned, November 2, to the First Brigade, 
Fourth Division, Thirteenth Army Corps. The 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



741 



regiment was engaged in sundry marches and 
reconnoisances from Jackson and Bolivar dur- 
ing November and December, 1S62. On the 9th 
of November it engaged the enemy near Cold- 
water, Miss., driving him, killing fifteen and 
capturing seventy prisoners. On the 2Sth of 
November went on a campaign to Tallahatchie 
River, where they met a strong force of the 
enemy and drove them from their position. On 
the 30th of December went into winter quar- 
ters at Jackson. 

The One-Hundred-and-Third took part in the 
battle of Resaca, Ga., where they sustained quite 
a heavy loss, and among the brave men who 
fell there was the gallant Col. Willard A. Dick- 
erman. who gave up his life May 2S, 1864. 

The regiment was mustered out June 21, 1865, 
at Louisville, Ky., and proceeded to Chicago, 
where, June 24, 1865, it received ilnal payment 
and discharge. 



Colonels— Amos C. Babcock. W. A. Dickerman, 
G. W. Wrig-ht. 

Lieutenant-Colonels— Asias Willison, Charles 
Willis. 

Adjutants— S. S. Tipton, A. E. Waystaff, F. B. 
Lermoncl. 

Quartermaster — William Miller, H. S. Ingersoll. 

Surgeon — Richard Morris. 

First Assistant Surgeon— S. S. Buck. 

Second Assistant Surgeon— J. W. VanBrunt. 

Chaplain— W. S. Peterson. 

Sergeant-Major— S. R. Quigley. 

Quartermaster-Sergeant— Wilson Fisher. 

Commissary-Sergeant — George Stipp. 

Hospital Stewards — H. J. Mifflin. John Hughes. 

Principal Musicians— C. E. Payne, H. E. Schae- 
fer, E. A. Parvin. 

Company A. 

Captain— W. W. Bishop. 

First-Lieutenant— I. W. Worley. 

Second-Lieutenant— Howard Willison. 

First-Sergeant — William M. Standard. 

Sergaents— John Milburn, Alonzo R. Quigley, 
Henry C. Black. 

Corporals— John Thompson, Robert B. Evans, 
John A. Chambers, W. C. Staten, C. W. Fluke, 
Perry Moranville, Andrew Barrett, Alexander Mo- 
rauville. 

Musicians— C. R. Jordan, T. J. Piersol. 

Wagoner — William Weaver. 



Privates— 
Arnett. J. N.. 
Anderson. John A., 
Alsburv, Levi, 
Barnhill, William B., 
Beezley, Paul, 
Beezley. John M., 
Bechelshvmer. Hezekiah, 
Bird. William, 
Bramble. George F., 
Berry, John. 
Berry. Elliott, 
Bishop, Thomas S., 
Cockrell. Nathan, 
Clifford, Nelson, 
Covert, Robert, 
Cozan. Joseph, 
Chambers, J. B., 
Chamber, George W., 
Clark, Isaac B., 



Horn, Erasmus, 
Hunter, William, 
Hedge, Bder, 
Hedge, Stephen B.. 
Jenning, Nathan L., 
Kruzan. Findley, 
Livingston, John, 
Livingston, J., 
Livingston. William, 
Lenhart. Isaiah, 
McCumber, Anson, 
McGhee, David, 
Messplay. James. 
Osborn, George F., 
Reeves, David H., 
Smith, Abram, 
Smith, William C, 
Summers, John W., 
Tooley, Josiah, 
Tooley, Joshua, 



Calhoun, Andrew, 
Childers, James A., 
Douglass. John, 
Day. Nathan L., 
Davis, George J., 
Davis, Thornton, 
Evans, Edward F., 
Ellis, James A., 
Ellis, Isaac, 
Fitzgerald, William, 
Guthrie, William, 
Gustine. Samuel H., 
Hill. William. 
Houston, O. P., 
Harrison, John, 
Horn, Isaac. 
Horn, William, Jr.. 
Horn, Jonathan, 



Voris, Abraham, 
Wells, Greenlaerry D., 
Wells, James H., 
Wright, William M., 
Wilson, Howard, 
Walker, John, 
Stone, Archibald, 
Call, George B., 
Coakley, George W., 
Hill. Robert W., 
Henry, Levi E., 
Jones, Thomas S., 
Livingston, Isaac, 
Moranville, Charles L., 
Shaw, Amaziah, 
Tipton, Samuel S.. 
Warheld, William. 



Company B. 

Captains— O. D. Carpenter, William Walsh, An- 
drew Smith. 

First-Lieutenants- J. S. Gardner, J. M. Swartz. 

Second-Lieutenant — S. B. Beer. 

First-Sergeant— Simon B. Beer. 

Sergeants— James E. G. Hibbard, Andrew Smith, 
Elijah Lanman. Allen W. Smith. 

Corporals— Joseph Prosser, William Hummell, 
Jacob W. Rist, Christ B. Fisher, Edward Hancock, 
James A. Dailey, Johnson Brunner. 

Musicians — Henry E. Schaefer. Elim A. Parvin. 

Wagoner— Alfred P. Potter. 



Privates — 
Arringdle, Francis, 
Alms, Henry, 
Alms. Andrew, 
Anno, Henry, 
Baker. James D., 
Burrow, James, 
Bowers, Joseph, 
Bowers, Daniel, 
Carpenter, John H.. 
Cunningham, Abram H., 
Cline, Louis, 
Clark, Henry. 
Darland. Benjamin M., 
Daily, John R., 
Davis, Ebenezer, 
Elliott, Cyrus, 
Fisher, John W., 
Fisher, Joshua J.. 
Flower, William B., 
Fry. Isaac. 
Gladman, Thomas, 
Glass, Uriah J., 
Hall. Joshua, 
Hummell, Samuel, 
Haney, Henry. 
Heartley, William L., 
Henry, John, 
Heartley, John, 
Hites, Thomas, 
Jackson, Ira, 
Kingsworth, John, 
Kuhn, Conrad, 
Kepler, Samuel, 
Marklev, J. F., 
McClerg, John E., 



McClerg. William. 
Montgomery, George, 
Montgomery, Adam, 
Montgomery, Richard, 
Montonga, Amos, 
Montonga, Sylvester, 
Martin, Lewis, 
Norville. Elisha. 
Overman, Oscar, 
Parker, Allen S.. 
Palmer. Archibald D., 
Pratt. Thomas, 
Pepitt, William, 
Roberts, Joseph T., 
Reed, William M., 
Swartz, Christopher M., 
Swartz, Henry, 
Stobaugh, James. 
Shoemaker. Abraham, 
Seward. Jaspen J., 
Smith, Joseph J., 
Speer. John G., 
See. Daniel. 
Terry, William L., 
Volmar, Daniel, 
Whiting, John A., 
Whiting, Salathiel, 
Wheeler, Joseph H., 
Zebry, William, 
Anno, James W., 
Donney, Frank E., 
Jamieson. Ezra, 
Morris. P. W., 
Reed. William, 
Swartz, John W., 



Company C. 

Captain— F. M. Taylor. 

First-Lieutenants — H. L. Nicolet, William Wil- 
kinson. G. S. Chapin. 

Second-Lieutenant— J. S. Smith. 

t«Mrst-Sergeant — John H. Harris. 

Sergeants— William Wilkinson, Joshua M. Gibbs, 
Alexander E. Wagstaff, Enos Kelsey. 

Corporals— Joseph Parnham, Henry S. Ingersoll, 
George Stipp, Francis M. Hunt. Gorham S. Chapm, 
Russell J. Tanner, Samuel Spillman. 

Musicians — Washington F. Randolph, Robert E. 
Snyder. 



Privates — 
Abbott, Joel, 



Lee, Joseph, 
Louis, Elijah, 



742 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Andrews, Josiah, 
Armstrong:. Gardner M. 
Ball. Edwin N.. 
Bailey. George L., 
Bass, George M.. 
Baylor. Theodore, 
Benson, William, 
Benson. George, 
Bevans, Robert E., 
Blake, Samuel F.. 
Brown. Een.iamin, 
Beeson. Turner. 
Cannon. Thomas. 
Chapin. Ivory. 
Cone. Joseph C. 
Carrico. Harrison, 
Cook. James. 
Couch, John S., 
Dean, Stephen E., 
Evans, John, 
Evans, George W,. 
Evans, David W., 
Evans, Philip P., 
Ellis, Isaac N.. 
Griffen, David S.. 
Godley. William. 
Gardiner. Benjamin C. 
Greinwill. Robert, 
George. Samuel. 
Garner. Ferdinand, 
Giddings. William F.. 
Greenslit. N. A.. 
Hackett, George M., 
Hackett, Clayton S., 
Horton, George W,, 
Hart. George, 
Huckaby. John H., 
Herr. Sheaft L., 
Lee, Joseph F.. 
Lee, William R., 
Lewis. Henry N., 



Little. Robert F., 
Lawrence, Amos B.. 
Moore. William W., 
Marshall. Robert R., 
McKissick. John, 
McGraw, John, 
Marvel, Robert, 
Riley, Henry, 
Roatson, Joseph, 
Stockdale. Albert. 
Stewart, Richard S,, 
Slv. William H., 
Smith, William A., 
Stone. Jesse, 
Sebree. St. Clair S., 
Sandford. Charles W,, 
Taylor. Francis M., 
Thorpe, Burton H., 
Vandersloot, Albert L., 
Veeman. Charles A., 
Werden. Jacob. 
Welch. Hosea W., 
Wilkinson. George J., 
Westerfleld, Cary A,, 
Zuck. Daniel, 
Zuck, William, 
Adams, William J., 
Chapin. Ord. 
Cordner. Thomas J.. 
Dean. William F.. 
Ellis. Newton. 
Hetherington. Jacob, 
Mendenhall, i-narlea C, 
McLain, John, 
Ralston, William D,, 
Ralston, James C, 
Sanders, General Lee. 
Thomas. James B., 
Whitaker, John C. 
Walling, Eli. 



Hagaman, Abram W., 
Hagaman, Garrett V,, 
Hagaman, John T., 
Hall. Edward E.. 



Wyckoff, John G., 
Roberts. Paxon. 
Blakeslee. Charles H., 
Moorehead. William. 



Company D. 

Captains— J. S. Wyckol¥. M. V. D. Voorhees. 

First-Lieutenants— B. F. Wvckoff. Isaac Mc- 
Bean. L. P. Blair. R. L. Neefus. 

First-Sergeant — Matthew V. D. Voorhees. 

Sergeants— Archibald McCrea. John Hughes, 
Lawrence P. Blair. Allen D. Rose. 

Corporals— Charles B. Edmonson. Cornelius W. 
Pratt. Ralph L. Neefus, Robert D. Gigh. Peter D. 
Ditto. Henry A. Snyder. John W. Bower. 

Musicians— George M. Woodley, William W. 
Warner. 

\Vagoner— Joseph L. Cyphers. 



Privates — 
Alpaugh. Charles. 
Alwood. George W.. 
Anderson. Lewis. 
Ashearn, Robert C. 
Beam. George. 
Beaver. Martin L., 
Blakeslee. G. M., 
Botkin, Marcellus, 
Botkin, Elnathan, 
Botkin, Asa J.. 
Buck, Sidney S., 
Burson, George, 
Brown, Simon V., 
Bye, George J., 
Corey, Stephen A,, 
Cyphers. J. W.. 
Cammon. Theodore. 
Dilts. Herman H.. 
Dilts. Charles J.. 
Dilts. James. 
Ditmars. Richard L.. 
Dyckman. Charles. 
Dailey. George. 
Diltz. Jacob. 
Foster. Richard. 
Foster. Humphrey, 
Gick, Henry, 
Goodell. Hiram, 
Gronendyke, William, 



Hall, Peter. 
Hall. William. 
Hillpot. Hugh F., 
Huff, Christopher, 
Huff. Lewis D.. 
Johnston, Jacob, 
Johnston, William C, 
Kellogg, S. H., 
Little, James, 
Merriam. Syms A., 
Moore, Simon, 
Montgomery. William, 
Moor, George J., 
Moor. Caleb. 
Polhemus. John. 
R.azee. James R.. 
Reihm, Philip. 
Roch. Philip. 
Snodgrass. Robert. 
Stine. William R.. 
Stine. Jacob P.. 
Swiney. Gersham. 
Swegle. John W.. 
Taylor. George W.. 
Vail. Jasper. 
Vanarsdale. Peter V. D.. 
Voorhees. Peter. 
Voorhees. Richard D., 
Walsh. Daniel. 
Winters. James. 



Company E. 

Captain— F. C. Post. 

First-Lieutenant— C. H. Suydam. 

First-Sergeant — Benjamin F. Wood. 
Sergeants— Christopher C. Bowman. Douglass M. 
McCann. Wesley S. Low, Abraham DeClerk. 

Corporals— Charles W. Thompson. W. H. Jack- 
son. William Shaw. Jones B. Fletcher. Joseph T. 
Crawford, J. A. Van Meddleworth, Lemuel Shocks, 
Henry F. Castle. 

Musician— Angelo Thompson. 



Privates — 
Addis. Simon P., 
Anton, Joseph R., 
Abby. James D.. 
Brown. Lyman P.. 
Baylor. Washington. 
Breese, ^^'atson. 
Breese, Noah, 
Breese, Orin. 
Beasley, Thomas, Sr.. 
Beasley, Thomas, Jr., 
Brandon, Parker, 
Broadrick. William, 
Carver. Ira C 
Cockrell. Roswell. 
Corwin. James. 
DeWitt. David S.. 
Downs. William. 
Edwards. David. 
Frederick. Jacob Y., 
Fitzgerald. Haman, 
Fast, Omri, 
Glothen. Charles. 
Gosham. Summers, 
Gibson. ^\'illiam. 
Hill. John W., 
Hiller. F.. 
Huston. J., 
Johngan. A.. 
Johnson. W. H.. 
Krims. Sol.. 
Maulsby, Law., 
Maloon. William. 
Maloon. Samuel. 
McKinley. J.. 
Mills. Benjamin F.. 
Oviatt. Daniel. 



Purcell, Ed., 
Patterson, An., 
Rogers. J. W.. 
Ruey, H. C, 
Rube. Andrew. 
Reamy. Daniel. 
Reamy. John. 
Rasmine. Thon>as. 
Richardson. H., 
Robinson, I.. 
Roberts. Joseph N., 
Smith, T. K., 
Swan. Joseph F., 
Stephenson, Samuel. 
Spencer, Samuel, 
Strickland. John, 
Spencer, William. 
Thompkins. A. C, 
Tar. Joseph. 
Wages, Jacob, 
Wages, Isaac, 
Wages, James. 
Williams. Henry, 
Wilson. Simeon. 
Wilson. Charles. 
Weaver. George H., 
Webb. Isaac. 
Weed. Ivory P.. 
Webster. Alphons. 
Watts. Converse Y., 
Baigley, Henry. 
Blair, Andrew J., 
Fonts. David. 
Fitzpatrick. John, 
Hurff. Augustus, 
McCann. Thomas, 
Weaver, James W. 



Company F. 

Captains— William Vandeverner, Bernard Kelly, 
Jeremiah Voorhees. 

First-Lieutenants— J. H. Bailey. H, H. Orendorff. 

First-Sergeant — David A. Snyder. 

Sergeants — Jared Voorhees, William Griggsby, 
Joshua Ellis, David Maxwell. 

Corporals— William Walters. Hazael Putnam, 
Daniel Walters. George W. Moss. John Swearin- 
gen. Barnett Whitfield, Andrew J. Justice. David 
Cramblet. 

Musicians — William A. Smith. AVilliam E. 
Cooper. 

Wagoner— Erastus McQueen. 



Privates — 
Andrew. D. D.. 
Augustine, Michael, 
Brice. Thomas A., 
Buck, C, 
Barker, C. E., 
Bayless, F. J., 
Buck, Joseph H,, 
Buck. Joseph, 
Brinton, E. D.. 
Bailey. Major. 
Banghman. Samuel. 
Barker, W.. 
Bailey. James M.. 
Campbell. Joseph. 



I^owland. AVilliam. 
Lowe. Moses. 
Lewis. George H.. 
Moss. Joseph H., 
Mayo. David. 
Miller. Joel J.. 
Manning. J. A.. 
McDonnell. William H.. 
Orendorff. H. H.. 
Orendorff. John W., 
Points. Daniel. 
Prichard. Gilford. 
Prichard. S.. 
Post. William. 
Ramsey, J. P., 




MR. AND MRS. SOLON CULVER 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



743 



Coleman, M., 
Deary, Ed.. 
Dowler, William. 
Degroff. H., 
Douglas. Samuel, 
Ellsworth. J. "W.. 
Eyerly, William J.. 
Ellis. Henry C, 
Fordyce. J. P., 
Frizzel, Joshua, 
Fisher. Wilson. 
Gosnell, Wes. L,., 
Guthrie, F. M., 
Grove. John. 
Gibson. William. 
Glimpse, S. S., 
Haskin. C. V., 
Hale. James M.. 
Hoar. William B.. 
Harper. Mat.. 
Holler. William. 
Johnson, B.. 
Lermond. F., 
Lawrence, William D., 



Rockhold, Samuel W., 
Rea. Samuel G., 
Spry. John. 
Stuart. Jacob, 
Stephens, M., 
Taylor, George W., 
White. Elijah, 
Wise. John, 
Ware, John H.. 
Walters. Joseph S., 
Wheeler, S., 
Walters, Marion. 
Brown, F., 
Caves. S. B., 
Degroff. George. 
Eskeringe. J. T., 
Harwick, Oscar, 
Miller, George B., 
Parvin. Charles, 
Rich. Pierce. 
Snyder. Peter, 
Stafford, William, 
Tary, Alfred. 



Kelly, William J. Ashton, J. A. Riddle, J. A. West- 
fall. 

Musicians— William T. Scott, Samuel T. Wells. 



Company G. 

First-Sergeant— Charles T\'. Griffith. 

Sergeants — Thomas A. Hill. William Penny, J. S. 
Brown. Robert C. Thomas. 

Corporals — William Gustine. William W. Mont- 
gomery, James Colton. K. Whittaker, J. J. Wil- 
liamson. N. Breed. J. E. Reynolds. V. Hanchet. 

Musician&J. H. Rodenbaugh. 



Amos. Americus. 
Bishop, Columbus. H.. 
Brown. Jeremiah. 
Beidenback. William. 
Breed, Frank R., 
Byers. Isaac. 
Cery. Francis M.. 
Conyers, J., 
Counterman, William, 
Craig, Jamess H., 
Craig, James H., 
Carroll, Samuel, 
Crook, Josiah, 
Dumblazier, William G. 
Davidson. Alphons. 
Foot. William. 
Griggs. Franklin. 
Gray. Wilson. 
Hunt. Lemuel. 
Hudson, Stephen. 
Hufford, Abraham, 
Jacobus. John. 
Jacobus. Thomas J.. 
Johnson. Abraham. 
Lingenfelter. Josiah. 
Lazwell. Josiah. 
Myers. Artemus. 
McEntyre. Samuel. 
McEntyre. Waterman. 
Maxwell, Jacob E., 
Moran. Oliver C, 
Mifflin. Henry J.. 
Miksell. Isaac, 
Nicholson, Jacob J., 
Nicholson. William. 
Parks. Henry C, 
Purnell. Lewis. 
Prichard, John, 



Richardson, James A.. 
Richardson, Robert, 
Roadcape, J., 
Roadcape, Allen. 
Robert. William. 
Record, C, 
Ryan, M. B.. 
Reynolds, L. J., 
Reynolds. A.. 
Reynolds, J. W.. 
Reynolds. Jesse, 
Rowley. E.. 
Shoemaker. I.. 
Shields, H. B., 
Slater. Ed. D.. 
Schenck. Oscar C, 
Stone. David, 
Smith, J. M,, 
Stearns, P.. 
Stearns. Horace. 
Sco\'ille. George, 
Suydam, Ed., 
Switzer. John, 
Slack, Irwin, 
Trader, George W., 
Tilling. Robert, 
West, James. 
Williamson. James L., 
Williams. S.. 
Yocum. I. W.. 
Griggsby, Ellis, 
Harrison, James, 
Hill, Eph. A.. 
Hall. John D., 
Myers, D. M., 
Myers, I. N., 
Payne, John. 
Richardson. William, 
Smith, James, 



Company H. 

Captains— J. J. Hale. William Boyd, F. M. Put- 
nam. 

First-Lieutenants — ^W. W. Fox. J. L. Thomas. 

Second-Lieutenants — S. D. Woodson, Asahel 
Randel. 

First-Sergeant— William F. Fox. 

Sergeants — Thomas Deens. Francis M. Putnam, 
Samuel Campbell. Jesse Hinderleiter. 

Corporals— Arthur Miles. William S. Kimball, 
William C. Lisenby, Asahel Bandle, Thomas D. 



Privates— 
Agnew, G. W., 
Austin, J., 
Baker, John, 
Belless, W., 
Bennett, Amos, 
Bird, Henry, 
Bolen, W, J., 
Bolen, W. B.. 
Bordner. H. P., 
Clark, Robert, 
Cornell, R. A., 
Campbell. M. K., 
Davis, W., 
Deford, F. M., 
Demott, C, 
Evans, J., 
Ford, W. A., 
Gibbeny. T. F.. 
Glasscock. J. G., 
Hair, Elijah C, 
Harris, Perry, 
Harris, W., 
Hyde, John H., 
Jellison, E., 
Jenkins, D. M., 
Kimball. E. T., 
Lancaster. M., 
Lathbury, J., 
Laws, Samuel T., 
Laws. W. H., 
Lenhart, D. A., 
Lisenby. J.. 
Linch, David, 
Matnev, D., 
Maxwell, D. E., 



McCarthy. D., 
McCumber, John. 
Miller, Berhard. 
Nicheson, J.. 
Nokes. Aaron. 
Pressler. E.. 
Reeves. N. T., 
Rice, Charles T., 
Rice, Henry, 
Shortness, C, 
Shryock. J. P., 
Sennett. A. R., 
Slock. G.. 
Smith, B., 
Smith, C. M.. 
Smith. A.. 
Smith. Barnett. 
Sparger. Samuel. 
Stevenson. E. J.. 
Stutes, William F. M., 
Stutes. A. J.. 
Stack, R., 
Thomas, J. L., 
Virgil. John. 
Walker. Henry. 
Weston. Samuel, 
Wilcoxen, James C, 
Wright, S. B.. 
Wright. W. O.. 
Wells. William. 
Austin. William J.. 
Austin. John E.. 
Freeman. Martin, 
Gibbons. Mark, 
Taylor. Henry, 
Weston, Edwin. 



Company I. 



Captains— Phillip Medley. S. H. Brown. W. S. 
Johnson. 

First-Lieutenants— N. P. Montgomery, Timothy 
Dewey. 

Second-Lieutenant— Zeb Branson. 

First-Sergeant— A. S. Vansyckle. 

Sergeants— Isaac H. Ray. James Howard, J. B. 
Patterson. David S. R. Jackson. 

Corporals— Cornelius McWhirt. Clifford T. Lam- 
bert. William H. Zolman, L. P. Zolman. John ilut- 
ler, William Pierce, Arthur F. Bust, W. H. Coons. 

Musicians— W. A. Gustin, D. Smith. 

Teamster — Levi Hedger. 



Privates — 
Allison. John, 
Bevard. G.. 
Brown. George, 
Berg. Henry. 
Beklsmymer. Charles, 
Branson, Zeb.. 
Bishop, Columbus H., 
Clanin, Thomas J., 
Clanin. John, 
Clanin, Thomas, 
Cooper, John V., 
Crawford, James, 
Coons, Henry, 
Dervey, Timothy, 
France, Isaac, 
France. William R.. 
France. Michael, 
France, Robert, 
Goldsmith. James, 
Gray, William, 
Graven. John B., 
Howard. George O., 
Hummel, G. F., 
Holt. William, 
Hillyer, John C, 
Krous. James, 
Kelly. Z. T., 
Littleton, George D., 
Littleton, John M., 



Murry, Thomas, 
McQueen, Asa, 
Nevin, Simon, 
Nolan, Thomas, 
Nolan. Henry, 
Paul. D.. 

Parkinson. Thomas K.. 
Parkinson. J.. 
Patterson. Hamilton H., 
Patterson, William, 
Patterson, Andrew, 
Patterson. T. S.. 
Snider. William H., 
Snider. Or-\-i!le. 
Smith. Robert W., 
Snry. Ellas. 
Sheppard. George. 
Underwood. Jacob, 
Valentine, M.. 
Warfield, A., 
Wren. J. O.. 
Peterson. William S., 
Fanchon, M. T.. 
Higgins. Hiram S., 
Johnson. Gary C, 
Coleman. William L., 
Grigsby. Ellis. 
McKoggan. James. 
Clanin. J. S.. 
Ames. Americus, 



744 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Littleton, F., 
Lease, Daniel, 
McMullen, Andrew, 
Miller, George, 
Monroe, Enoch, 
Monroe, Allen, 
Murry, Peter P., 



Bishop, Nimrod C, 
Coons, Samuel, 
Long, William, 
Miller. John S., 
VanBrunt. J. W., 
Weston, Joseph. 



Company K. 

Captains— J. C. King, A. B. Smith. 

First-Lieutenant — Aaron Amesley. 

First-Sergeant— P. Barry. 

Sergeants— D. Wilcox, J. Stickler. C. W. Fel- 
lows. Timothy Coakley. 

Corporals— H. Stickler. J. B. Prentiss. J. E. Mc- 
Grath. George H. Woodcock, W. Jacobs, J. Gibson, 
J. Briley, Jacob Debert. 

Musicians— C. E. Payne, D. L. Wheeler. 



Privates — 
Aubaugh, Jesse, 
Bricker, D. U.. 
Bailie. Rutus M., 
Burge, C. 
Burge, William, 
Benson, M., 
Baughmaji, H., 
Boulby, J. P., 
Buckley, A., 
Banks, William S., 
Custon, E.. 
Cooper. William. 
Carroll. William H.. 
Caldwell, J. B., 
Crippin, W. E., 
Cathus, G. W.. 
Castello. W. A., 
Coleman. J., 
Detord. Thomas, 
Dunham, J., 
Dorrance, W. M., 
Evans. A., 
Evans, M., 
Gasarow, A., 
Grim, G. D., 
Holt, S. R.. 
Harkhouse. G. W., 
Harman, J. P.. 
Hews. A.. 
Hughes, J. E., 
Haptonstall, J. H., 
Harper, J. W., 
Hallan. W. H., 
Hall. B., 
Hughes, M., 
Huber, W. C 



Heldebeidel. G., 
Harder. C. 
Jackson. G., 
Jacox. M.. 
Kellogg. H., 
Ketchum. J., 
Ketchum. L. T., 
Lockwood, G., 
Messinger, S., 
McMillen, T. C, 
Miller. N. D.. 
Minnick. G. W., 
Newman, J. P., 
Provard, J., 
Paul. G. W., 
Pierce, J. H., 
Reynolds, J., 
Ringer. J.. 
Rose. H. G.. 
Scanlon, B.. 
Silvernail, J., 
Schaefler, W., 
Tallmadge, Theodore T., 
Varner, G. W., 
Vamer. J. M., 
Veron, J. B., 
Wander, A., 
Weekel, J., 
Zimmerman. G. W., 
Anderson, J., 
Hugh, T., 
Smith, J. K.. 
Wright. G. W., 
Lingenfelter, J., 
Lewis, W. D.. 
Peterson. Isaac B., 
Phillip, S. T. 



ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. 



Snyder, J. L.. 
Nelson, M. H., 
Ralph. C. M., 



Runyan, L., 
Runyan. J. W. 



Company H. 



Captain— O. H. Clark. 
Second-Lieutenant— G. A. Woodruff. 
Corporals— Stephen Hamblin, John Frith, P. D. 
Sutton. 



Privates- 
Chapman. A. P.. 
Devoe. Richmond. 
Everett. D.. 
PYith. C. W., 
Holmes, John, 
Kelley, H. H., 



Mills, E. E., 
Sammonds, Adam, 
Sammonds. Nicholas. 
Sutton. Smith. 
Straney. John, 
Horton, P. I.. 
Schundy, Julius, 



ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 

Company I. 

Sergeants— John Patterson, J. M. Killough. 
Corporals— S. F. Hallett, J. D. Dryden, S. B. 
Morrison. J. M. Wood. 



Privates — 
Armstrong, J., 
Bradford, John, 
Bargerhoot, W. R., 
Baker. John W., 
Biddle, F. G., 
Catlin, S. P., 
Cross, H. E., 
Cozee, R., 
Eastin, Jasper, 
Hall, A. D., 



Hushoar, John, 
Killough, William, 
Matthews, Eli, 
Matthews, Martin, 
Matthews. William. 
Morrison. J., 
Poland. J.. 
Price. Joseph, 
Rodgers, J. W., 
White. J. R. 



ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND IN- 
FANTRY 

This regiment was organized at Camp Fry, 
Chicago by Col. Thomas J. Pickett and was 
mustered in for 100 days from June 1, 1864. 
The regiment received orders to move June 6 
for Columbus, Ky., where it arrived on the 8th, 
and reported to Brigadier-Gen. Henry Price. On 
the 15th of Jtme moved to Paducah, Ky., and 
reported to Col. S. G. Hicks. The One-Hundred- 
and-Thirty-Second remained on duty at Pa- 
ducah until expiration of service, when it 
moved to Chicago and was mustered out Octo- 
ber 17, 1864. 

Lieutenant-Colonel— William H. Haskell. 
Principal Musicians— A. F. Small. J. J. Hossel- 
kuss. 

Company B. 

Second-Lieutenant— A. H. Heminover. 
Sergeants— J. M. Onion. Harry Post. 
Corporals— R. Lane, William Dancev, Joshua 
Belt. 



Privates — 
Brick. B. S.. 
Beers, Samuel, 
Berry, J. H.. 
Barnes. Eli E., 
Bronson, C. C 
Bromley, John, 
Boynton. E.. 
Bodkins. I. B., 
Chapman, J. W., 
Denston, J. H., 
Dunbar, F. C. 
Dickenson. Mahlon. 
Engles. James. 
Evans. Edward, 
Foster. H. L., 
"Jameson, James, 
Kingery, M. M., 



Leichlitch, H., 
McCausland. William, 
Mills, David, 
Miller, S.. 
Newberry, W., 
O'Conner, N., 
Onion. J. N., 
Parr. John. 
Plotts. Alexander. 
Payne. L. M., 
Reynolds. W. H., 
Southerland. W.. 
Southerland. Silas, 
Shields, A. A.. 
Shields. W. T.. 
Wallace. J. P., 
Rogers, James. 



Company D. 

Captain— Frank E. Chase. 

First-Lieutenant — H. A. Anderson. 

Second-Lieutenant— William C. Babcock. 

Sergeants— William A. Ralston, C. C. Menden- 
hall. W. M. Bryant. C. Dempsey. 

Corporals— F. in. Bays. M. A. Ringland, Ora 
Chapin. C. Weckmire. J. V. Morris. J. H. Chris- 
man. T. H. Barnes. G. M. L. Lucas. 

Musician— A. L. Gridley. 



Privates — 
Bordner. A.. 
Brown. George, 
Blum. John. 
Bishop. D. A., 
Childers, Abram, 
Crusen, J. W., 
Conner, T. K., 



Hall. V. E.. 
Heaton. M., 
Jay. W. S.. 
Kimball. F. L., 
Little, N.. 
Laws. Spencer, 
Lantz. W. W.. 
Morris, W. W., 




^>^A 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



745 



Cruisen, James, 
Cordner, T. J., 
Crouse, C. H., 
Colby. George, 
Dickev. Lisle, 
Danley. H. B., 
Dunn. David. 
Darby. H. H.. 
Day. Howard, 
Dunham, Patrick, 
Filer, Joshua, 
Fetters, O. P., 
Greenville, E., 
Green. Veley, 
Gapen, J. Z., 
Gotorth, W. P., 
Harper, Cartney, 
Harper. Caleb, 



McLain, John, 
Merrill, G. A., 
Newton. J. A., 
Pippet, J. E., 
Phelps. E. F., 
Ralston, J. C, 
Schnebly, H. L., 
Scrivner, L,., 
Smith. O. A., 
Smith, G. S., 
Sain. W. H., 
Simpkins, James. 
Van Dyke, H. W., 
Van Dyke, C. C, 
Vance. George, 
Wells. S. R., 
Weaver, A., 
Wheeler, W. E. 



Company E. 

Captain— Samuel Nutt. 

First-Lieutenant — George A. Turner. 

Second-Lieutenant — J. F. Smith. 

Sergeants— W. P. Tanquary. O. D. Sebree. G. B. 
Vittum, George W. King. Daniel Savill. J. P. Fox. 

Corporals— G. M. Sebree. J. Martin, E. M. Belt, 
J. C. Maloney, Frank Donley, George W. Craig, 
J. M. Putnam. 

Wagoner— J. Willis. 

Corporal— C. K. Offield. 



Privates — 
Anthony, Seth, 
Arendale. J. T., 
Bonner. Frank, 
Barber, J., 
Barker. C. T., 
Barker, George, 
Berkenshaw. George, 
Bragg, J. F., 
Binnix, William, 
Baylor, S., 
Boyles. Joseph, 
Burgett, T. F,, 
Brees. A, T., 
Brown. Booker, 
Curtis. Orlando, 
Courtney, T. J., 
Ellis, J. H., 
Evans, H. R., 
Fanning. L., 
Fiake, George, 
Grimm, H. B., 
Hughes. W. T., 
Hughes, W. P., 
Hand, J. D., 
Johnston. C. S., 
Jones, James. 
Jourdan, G. E., 
Lockwood. H. C, 
Langlev, A., 
McClellen, H. T., 



McCreary, W^. H., 
Maloney, William, 
Mallory, Samuel, 
McVay. E. J., 
Norcutt, C, 
Onstatt, T. J., 
Oldhem. E.. 
Plattenburg, W., 
Putnam, B. T., 
Rowley, G. W'., 
Rowley. Thomas, 
Rainey, J. E., 
Rankin, J. H., 
Roberts. Lerov. 
Rockhold. E. "G., 
Shinn. W. B., 
Snvder, P. S., 
Snvder. P. G., 
Snyder. R. G., 
Shallenberger, Benjamin, 
Tanquary, A. M., 
Tvler, George, 
Wolgamot, W. E., 
Wieser. R. B.. 
Wycknff, J. H., 
Wvsong. J. M., 
Wilcox, O. D., 
Wilson, W. H., 
Wilson, T.. 
Putnam, Alfred, 
Van Buren, Everett, 



ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY 
Company D. 
Corporals— T. R. Johnson, G. H. Currier. 



Privates — 
Beaver. D. M., 
Cook. W. C, 
Cox. W. M.. 
Dressel, Peter, 
Fengel. C. P., 
Freer. F. A., 
Hagaman, A., 
Hines, J. R., 
Jones, O. D., 
Kent, C. W., 



Lippev. D. E., 
Merrill, A. H., 
Moss. W. B., 
Nelson, J. P., 
Ross, F. W.. 
Sanford, A., 
Smith. W. L., 
Shultz. D. H., 
Stanton. F. W., 
Walton. J. J., 
Griffith, H. L, 



Privates— 
Heaton, George, 
Mayall, D. S., 
Phillips, Joseph, 



Steel, J., 
Vaughn, S.. 
Ackersnn, J., 
Crabtree, B. F. 



ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 



Second-Lieutenant—^ 
Sergeant— S. N. Rose, 

Privates- 
Harbour. Robert, 
Cutler, L. W., 
Davis. W. H., 
Hobbs, L., 
Morris, Michael, 



Company C. 

H. Rose. 



Parkins, W. H., 
Rose. B., 
Stevens, Charles, 
Taylor, Benjamin, 
'» illis. J. H.. 
Winchel, E. J. 



Company E. 

Hartson, J. 



Bishop, I. E., 
Bishop, James, 

ONE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY 

Was organized at Camp Butler February 21, 
1865, for the term of one year. February 22 
proceeded to Nashville, Tenn. March 1 moved 
to Tullahoma. June 18 five companies were 
ordered to Declierd. one company was sta- 
tioned at McMinnville, and the other four com- 
panies were engaged in guarding the Nashville 
& Chattanooga Railroad from Lombardy to An- 
derson Station. Arrived at Springfield Septem- 
ber 9, 1865, where it received its final dis- 
charge. 

Company B. 

Major — A. A. Hemenover. 

(.'aptain — Walter Newton. 

First-Lieutenant— S. C. V arner. 

Second-Lieutenant — N. Dorrance. 
Sergeants— D. L. Sergeant. John Barber, M. H. 
Thorn. G. W. King. J. M. Bell. F. Donly. 

Corporals— J. R. Garritson. H. S. Cain. H. Med- 
ley. William McCord. M. Spinney. B. Wheeler. 

Musician— J. M. Wysong. 

\V^agoner— J. M. Wilson. 



Company I. 

Sergeant— L. H. McCain. 
Corporals— S. Miller, J. Swink. 



Privates — 
Abbott, William, 
Andrews. G. B., 
Burnett, D. W., 
Brant. James, 
Brant, G. C, 
Barker, George, 
Binnix, W. H., 
Bowers, F.. 
Bricker, J. D., 
Corzalt. F., 
Drake, J. L., 
Drake, J, M., 
Ellis, H., 
Grissons, J. H., 
Gooding, S., 
Golding, A. F., 
Hastv, W. H., 
Hinkle. S. R., 
Hittibidal, George, 
Hand. J. D., 
Hezless, William, 
Jacob, G. W., 
Jackson. William, 
Kennedy, A., 
Lockwood. H. C, 
Louder, M. D., 



Mabin. E.. 
McCIure. S. S.. 
McCord. I.. 
Miller. I. N., 
Newton, B., 
Oldham. E., 
Plattenburg, W., 
Rhoads, William, 
Rollins, E. S., 
Rector, W. H., 
Reynolds, D. C, 
Randall, D., 
Rockhold, L. C, 
Race. G. H., 
Rockenfield. Asa, 
Shinn, W. B., 
Smith, J. H., 
Strong. J. S.. 
Shaw. John. 
Shrader. J., 
Shrader. J. C, 
Shaw. S. R., 
Webster. A.. 
Waddele. H. S., 
. Thompson, C, 
Thompson, John, 



746 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIRST INFANTRY. 

This regiment was organized at Quincy, 111., 
and made up from various parts of the State, 
recruited under the call of December 19, 1864. 
The regiment was ordered to Springfield, 111., 
where, February 25, 1865, the field and staff 
ofiicers were mustered in and the regiment 
was ordered to Nashville, Tenn., thence to Dal- 
ton. Ga., where they remained, drilling and 
doing guard and picket duty. April 23, Col. 
Woodall was ordered to proceed, under flag of 
truce, to Macon, Ga., to carry terms of surren- 
der to the rebel general, Warford. May 2 the 
regiment was ordered to Kingston, Ga., arriv- 
ing on the 12th, after a toilsome march. Here 
on May 13, 14 and 15, 1865, the regiment re- 
ceived the surrender of Gen. Warford, with 
10,400 prisoners. The One-Hundred-and-Fifty- 
first was mustered out at Columbus, Ga., Janu- 
ary 24, 1866, and moved to Springfield, 111., 
where it received final discharge Februarj' 8, 
1866. 

Company E. 

Captain— Philip Slaughter. 

First-Lieutenant— William J, Harroll. 

Second-Lieutenant — John Newland. 

Sergeants— J. W. Negley, William Bryant, J. M. 
Brown, 

Corporals— W. A. Wheeler, A. Coleman. Stephen 
Hayden. Daniel Spanney. 

Musicians— J. M. Long, A. Bacus. 

Wagoner— S. P. Darst. 



Privates- 
Anderson, T., 
Barrows. R. H., 
Burge. F. M.. 
Boyer. L. D., 
Baxter, John. 
Churchill. J. M„ 
Calfee. J,. 
Cook. Jarrod. 
Cook. W.. 
Churchill, W. M., 
Cain, D. M.. 
Curtis, O., 
Dodds, Robert, 
Ellis. J. W.. 
Flake, G. W., 
Guilliams, J. W., 
Hudson, J., 
Hoffman, M., 



Johnson. W. T,, 
Kent. Wesley, 
Milligan, H.. 
Mills. W. H., 
Matzke, J,. 
Preston, Ed,, 
Purkle. George. 
Ramsev, William, 
Reed. G. W.. 
Reed. James, 
Stephens. W. H., 
Snyder, R. D., 
Teach. W. W,, 
Triplet, T,, 
Turner. John. 
Waddle, D„ 
Wright. J.. 
Znck, J. N. 



Company C. 



Sergeants— M, V. Boyd, J. H. Thompson, 



Privates — 
Castello, J. H,, 
Chockey, Benjamin, 
Estes, A. P., 



Hagan. R. B., 
Riggs. John, 
Ross. N. 



Company D. 

Captain — Isaac David. 

First-Lieutenants— J. M. Tarnell. Carithers ZoU, 
Second-Lieutenant— J, M, Langston, . 
Sergeants— .A, H. Lewis. S, R. Musgrove. B. S. 
Brick. H. B. Hill, R, C. Vail. 

Corporals— W. S. Reesor, B. M. KIngery, I. N. 



Elliott, J. J. Coursey, C. Dennis. T. R. Branson, 
T. H. Barnes, Robert Fellon, John Nelson. 

Musicians— H. A. Yarnell, J. C. Dobbins. 

\Vagoner— John Jones. 



Privates — 
.\rindale. J., 
Angel, Jacob, 
.\dams, A., 
Allison, D, W., 
Allison, J. R,, 
Anderson, S., 
Adams, G., 
Babcock, C., 
Berry, W., 
Bateson, L., 
Barnes, I., 
Bateson, A., 
Biass, J., 
Carney, John, 
Culvery, Thomas, 
Clark, John, 
Crouch, John, 
Cunningham. S., 
Collier, William, 
lilliott, Joseph, 
Finley. J,. 
Fleming, J., 
Fleming, S., 
Fleming. Alexander, 
Gassaway, A., 
Gould. J, C. 
Grigsby, C. E.-, 
Gibbins. A., 
Gilchrist. V., 
Green, George, 
Hoffman, W. M„ 
Hughes, I. M., 
Hanna. F., 
Hall, Noah, 
Hunt, D. H., 
Hughes, L. W., 
Harper, C. H,, 
Howell, John, 



Hemenover, D, C, 
Howell, N,, 
Ingram. James, 
Kelso, John. 
Lindsey. Amos, 
McLouth, S., 
Mathews, W. B., 
McMullen. J, L., 
Moranville, P., 
Neil, T. H.. 
Norman, Samuel L.., 
Parkinson. J,, 
Powell, J,, 
Pierce, John, 
Phillips. S. R.. 
Prichard. J. E., 
Pippit, J, E,, 
Rilev. John. 
Salkeld, S, H., 
Stracker, J,. 
Skelly, J. J., 
Shields, M., 
Steel. J,, 
Stafford, G, H,. 
Thompson. J. S., 
Thompson, I.. 
Todd. J, N,. 
Talcot. Vice, 
Wilson. H.. 
Wilkins. J. "^•.. 
Wilkins. William, 
White, J. C, 
White. S. J., 
Winchel. H.. 
Williams. W., 
Wvant. A.. 
Warfleld. 7... 
Corcoran. Robert. 



Company K. 

Sergeants— S. J. Winston. A. B. Wagoner, J, M. 
Reno, C, C. Merrill. 

Corporals— R. F. Tate, J, Lehleiter. 
Wagoner— John Thorp, 



Privates — 
Black. Abraham, 
Bell. C. H.. 
Bell. Thomas, 
Cook, James. 
Corbridge. W. li., 
Foster, J. B., 
Green. J. H., 
Harvey. J. W., 
Harvert, J,, 
Hall, C. C 
Jordan, T. F., 
Johnson, W., 



Ijovell, David, 
McQueen. N., 
Melvin, J. J.. 
Mitchell, C. A.. 
Nichols, G. F.. 
Phillips. William. 
Spangler. L, O., 
Severns. I.. 
Si pes. A. W.. 
Shoup. S. J., 
Vngle. Jacob. 
Woods, Augustus, 
White. A. H. 



ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 

Company H. 
Corporal— D. Adams. 



Privates — 
Adams, John, 
Bailev, Homer, 
Collins, T., 
Cooper. J. J., 
Doolittle, B. W., 



Ellis, J., 
Joslin. I. B., 
Kissack. T., 
Kinney. N.. 
Lindsay. D. 
Shinn, J. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIFTH 
REGIMENT. 

Company G. 
Sergeant — Charles Wilson. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



747 



Privates— Mitchell, W. F 

Barron, D., More, Lewis, 

Dulev, W. H., Maxwell. S.. 

Hoffner, A.. Felkel, G. W., 

Jennings, G. G., Stone, Samuel. 
Lane, M., 

SECOND CAVALRY. 



Company C. 



Corporal— W. F. Bailey. 
Saddler— J. Allison. 



Privates — 
Beeman, W., 
Crail. James M., 
Paull, Jeremiah. 
Smith, R. "W.. 
Warner. W. H., 
Westerfield, B., 



Bennett, Ira, 
Bennett, Ira, 
Randolph, A. J., 
Wright. W. T., 
Winchel. A.. 
Simmerel. Allen. 



Company M. 

Corporal — William Stevens. 

Crawford, J. A., Stiill, H. R. 

Willison, J. S., 

THIRD CAVALRY 

Was organized at Camp Butler August, 1S61. 
September 25 moved to St. Louis, Mo. October 
to Jefferson City, thence to Warsaw, arriving 
October 11, and the 22d marched to Springfield, 
Mo. February 13 it fought the first engage- 
ment and won the first victory of Curtis' cam- 
paign. February 14, 1862, occupied Spring- 
field, Mo.; 15th came up with Price's retreating 
army, capturing some prisoners; 18th, partici- 
pated in a charge, routing the enemy, at Sugar 
Creek, Ark.; 20th marched to Cross Hollows; 
March 5 fell back tot Pea Ridge; was engaged 
on the 7th and lost ten killed and forty wound- 
ed; 19th moved to Keetsville; April 10 arrived 
at Forsyth; 29th moved to West Plains; May 1 
started for Batesville ; 14th moved to Little Red 
River; June 4 fell back to Fairview; on the 7th 
Capt. Sparks with sixty-six men was surround- 
ed by 200 of the enemy; he cut his way out, 
losing four wounded and four prisoners; June 
11 to Jacksonport; July 5 to Helena, and moved 
to Memphis in the spring of 1863. They took 
part in the battles of Port Gibson, Champion 
Hills, Black River Bridge and siege of Vicks- 
burg; also Vermillionville, Opelousas and Car- 
rion Crow Bayou; participated in battles of 
Tupelo, Okalona and Guntown. August 21 it 
took part in repulsing Gen. Forrest's attack on 
Memphis. Took part in the battles of Law- 
renceburg, Spring Hill, Campbellsville and 
Franklin. In May moved to St. Louis, thence 
to St. Paul, Minn.; July 4 started on an Indian 
expedition. Returned to Springfield, 111., Octo- 
ber 13, 1865, and was mustered out of service. 



THIRD CAVALRY. 
Lieutenant-Colonel— A. B. Kirkbride. 
Company H. 

Captains— Ed. Rutledge, T. G. McClelland. 

First-Lieutenant— G. H. Horton. 

Second-Lieutenants— W. A. Kirkpatrick, R. G. 
Zimmerman. 

Sergeant— J. C. McClelland. 

Corporals— J. M. Onion. B. Thompson, Noah 
Rawley, W. Lamprell, J, M. Dobson. 

Bugler— C. Galliher. 

Farrier— Randall Black. 

Blacksmith— J. V. Dobson. 

Wagoner— G. Thornburg. 

Privates — 
Bias. Joseph. 
Barnes, W. P.. 
Barnes. Robert. 
Breeden. B. G.. 
Detrick. W. N., 
Hughes, N. P., 
Henderson, H. H., 
Kingery. W. H., 



Lamprell. Thomas, 
McNeil, Joseph, 
McBride, Alexander, 
Roberts, Garrett, 
Turner, J. S., 
Atkinson, P., 
Bias, J,, 
Stockwell, J, 



Company I, 
Captain — Adams, J. J. 

Quartermaster-Sergeant— J. C. Phillips. 
Commissary-Sergeant— J. McNeil. 
Sergeants — T. T. Barron. A. E. Bryan. 
Corporals— E. Harbert, B. A. Swisher. 



Privates — 
Barnes. James. 
Gorsage, G. R., 
Kindred, George, 
Mahan, M., 
Perkins, H., 
Robert, J. "n^, 
Shields, J, W., 



Settles. G., 
Towns, L.. 
Beaman. J.. 
Bohle. Andrew, 
Leonard, Levi, 
Sloate, A. W., 
Bradford. J., 
Mathews, M., 



SEVENTH CAVALRY. 

Colonel— William Pitt Kellogg. 
Malor— H. C. Nelson. 

Adjutants— S. Stockdale, A. W. Head, W. P. Gal- 
lentine, C. W. Gallentine. 

Company Iv. 

Captain— J. P. Herring. 

First-Lieutenant— J. W. Maxwell. 

Second-Lieutenant— A. B. Hulit. 

First-Sergeant— P. Slaughter. 

Quartermaster-Sergeant- P. M. Binnix. 

Sergeants— G. B. Baylor, L. G. Hamlin, A, Gar- 
abrant. 

Corporals— J. Carlton, J. Seery, J. M. Pallison, 
J. Shriner. B. Kimble, T>. B. Spencer, J. Coyken- 
dall. E. Weed. 

Bugler— T. J. Ellis. 

Farrier— J. Anton. 

Saddler— P. Small. 



Privates — 
Anderson, Eric, 
Arrindale, T., 
Ball, Henry. 
Bell, W. P.. 
Berkshire. J. H., 
Clinton, B., 
rockrill. M.. 
Doford. T.. 
Drake. J. M., 
Fitoh. G. L.. 
Fillingham. J. F., 
Floyd. J. W., 
Freemale. George, 
Fuller. P.. 
Greenslit. E., 
Hall. J. D.. 
Handlev. W. H., 
Hamil, D. A., 



Wellington. H., 
Webster, J. H., 
Rankin. E. M., 
Roberts. William, 
Robinson, H., 
Robinson. J.. 
Rooks, E., 
Rosin. Levi, 
Riegel, Jacob, 
Sanders. H. C, 
Shackelford, J. B., 
Spencer, J., 
Ste\-enson, E., 
Stevenson, T., 
Stickler, J., 
Switzer. J.. 
Traphagen. P. S., 
Varner, W. P., 
AVilcox, Alexander W., 



748 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Harper, J., 
Head. J. G., 
Hesch. Peter, 
Hill. G. H.. 
Hornig. Thomas, 
Hornstein. J. G., 
Hopgood. T. J., 
Jayne. Henry, 
Johnston. J. P., 
Knot. J. N.. 
Malony. J. B., 
Messier, N. R., 
Metcalf, Thomas, 
McMiUen. W., 
Moran. G. W., 
Neff, J. B., 
Reitch, Alexander, 



Wyckoff. W. P., 
AVilson. J., 
Ball. Dayid. 
Baglev. H. C, 
Clutts. B. F. J., 
Corwin. E. H.. 
Fogg. D. W., 
Hale. J. J.. 
Karper. Thomas, 
Lamaster, H. C, 
Porter, H. G., 
Pitman, R. B., 
Roberts. A., 
Shriner, G. W., 
Titus. G. W., 
Wolfe. G. S. 



Privates— 
Blodgett, George, 
Howard. A.. 
Ringland. M., 
Shaw. Noah, 



Turner. J.. 
Vandershot. A. L., 
Williams. J.. 
Williams, James, 
Williams, Z. 



Company L. 



Privates— 
Albaugh. S. D., 
Case. J. H.. 
Davis, F., 
Huffman, William, 
Harris, W. R., 
Post, G. R.. 
Powelson. S. P., 
Rogers. D. G.. 
Waters. E.. 

Atkinson. Alexander P., 
Barnes. A. L., 
Daley, George, 



Horn, Conrad, 
i^indsay. J. J., 
McMiens, D., 
Patton. J., 
Blates. G., 
Bates. G. W., 
Burns, A. L., 
Ford. Levi. 
Drury. W. E,, 
Jefferson. J., 
Hoop, William, 
Harkness, E., 
Downing. P. 



ELEVENTH CAVALRY. 

This regiment was recruited, in the fall and 
winter of 1S61 and reported at Camp Mather, 
Peoria. The regiment left for the field Febru- 
ary 22, 1862, and participated in the battle of 
Shiloh. After the evacuation of Corinth the 
regiment was assigned by detachments to 
service between that place and Memphis; was 
engaged at Lexington December 18, 1862, when 
forty-six of their number, with the Colonel, tell 
into the hands of the enemy. The regiment re- 
mained in West Tennessee till September, 1863, 
doing good work among the guerrillas. After 
this they operated in the country between the 
Big Black and Pearl Rivers, and on the Yazoo, 
rendering that country untenable for the John- 
nies. The regiment veteranized in December, 
1864. They participated in Sherman's grand 
march through Mississippi. During the sum- 
mer of 1864 they were in many skirmishes and 
raids. November and December were with 
Gen. Osborne in the raid against the Missis- 
sippi Central Railroad; reached Vicksburg on 
December 5; moved to Memphis in January, 
1865; joined in Grierson's raid; was engaged 
at Egypt Station; after this raided in Arkansas 
and Louisiana, and did guard duty on the Mem- 
phis & Charleston Railroad. It was mustered 
out at Memphis, Tenn., September 30, and ar- 
rived at Peoria October 12, 1865. 

Company A. 

Major- D. J. Waggoner. 
Sergeant— Jacob Miller. 



Company B. 



Captain— S. C. Burbridge. 

First-Lieutenant— F. C. Worden. 

Second-Lieutenant— C. L. Bancroft. 

Sergeants— G. W. Hunter. P. Saine. A. W. Dunn, 
W. B. Schall, A. E. Montgomery. 

Corporals— J. S. Dunmire. M. V. B. Goshen, 
DeW. C. Hunt, L. P. Richards, J. Gregg. 

Bugler— J. Woodruff. 

Farrier— J. B. Shmn. 

Blacksmith— E. O. Clapp. 

Wagoner— G. H. Pancake. 



Privates — 
Brown. A. V. 
Brown, E.. 
Brown. M. L., 
Burbridge. D.. 
Butler. William, 
Beard. Thomas. 
Bishop. George, 
Carman. J., 
k.rawl. W.. 
Cunningham. J. H., 
Cullison. N. C. 
Capps. J. H., 
Calvert. D. M., 
Dixon. J.. 
French. E.. 
Gravson. J.. 
Hall. W. N., 
Hirst. D. J.. 
Hilligoss. W. H., 
Hilligoss. E. G.. 
Jackson. J.. 
Keel. P. E.. 
Kelly. Robert. 
Letter. George. 
Lambert. O. P., 
McLane. Alexander, 
McKinney. J., 
Meeks. J. H.. 
McCny. Hugh. 
McKeigham. William, 
Munhall. T. T.. 
Oliver. J.. 
Proctor. J.. 
Pettit. H. R.. 
Pardun. J. R., 
Phillips. J.. 
Randall. J.. 
Sanford. M.. 
Stokoe. J., 
Thatcher. J., 
Tanner, H., 
Tunks. Benjamin. 
Venable. C 
Westby. William. 
Westby. J. C, 
Welch, E., 



Bostwick. W. E., 
Baker. M.. 
Brvan. Q. V.. 
Bostwick. G. H.. 
Bird. S.. 
Cole. J. S.. 
Collings. H. W.. 
Cunningham. T. H., 
Crouse. D. W.. 
Dalton. A.. 
Erford. G. D., 
Frank. M. K.. 
Ficklin, William, 
Glass. W. L.. 
Hunter. W. T., 
Harper. K,. 
Hoffman. P. P.. 
Jordan. J. C. 
Kenyon. Benjamin, 
Kerr. L.. 
Letter. S.. 
Lance. J. W.. 
Lee. J.. 

McClure. H. S.. 
Miller. Amos, 
Miller. A., 
Morse. M., 
Morse. H. D.. 
Montgomery. J. S., 
McCann. A.. 
Morton. J. M,. 
Phillips. E.. 
Pavne. J. N.. 
Powell. W.. 
Pancake. D. C, 
Starr. J.. 
Thomas. A. O., 
Taylor. Alexander, 
Taggett. J. W., 
Winn. J,. 
Westby. W. H.. 
W^ilson, William, 
Williams, J., 
Wooden. J. L.. 
Clayberg. P.. 
Harnish. W. A.. 
Kent. E. Y. 



Company G. 

Captain— J. R. Coykendall. 
First-Lieutenant— L. B. Willard. 
Sergeants— C. G. Matheny. William Chambers. 
Corporals— J. Gustin, William E. Haines, T. 
Shores. 



Privates- 
Brown. G.. 
Bennett. H.. 
Brown. W. H., 
Brewer. G. W.. 
Baughman. S.. 
•Beadles. W. W., 
Connor. T.. 
Carter. J. P.. 
France. W. T., 
Gregory. J.. 
Gray. W. O.. 
Harlow. J., 



Clark. J. T.. 
Hughes. T.. 
Kelly. J.. 
Maxwell. D.. 
Johnson. M., 
Krenzan. A.. 
Noakes. G. V.. 
Nelson. Thomas. 
Pixley. T.. 
Pearson. B. A., 
Rupe. M. B.. 
Stearns. A. W.. 
Strosnider. J. K., 




JOHN J. DENNEY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



749 



Hardy, S. R. O., 
Hannon, M., 
Jones, G. \V.. 
Johnson. A. S., 
Locke, E. M., 
Pixley. W. H., 
Pells. P. M., 
Robinson, J. W., 
Spenny. G., 
Todd, J. W., 
Baughman, P. S., 
Barber, J. B., 



Venters, A., 
WiLson, G. B., 
A\'orkman, J., 
Brant, D. S.. 
DeCamp, J. T., 
Tourdot, L.. 
Dowdy, H. C, 
Lucas, P. M., 
Lindsay, J. H., 
McKeighan. J. 
Wilson, T. B.. 



TWELFTH CAVALRY. 
Captain— J. B. Kimberly, Company A. 

Company D. 
Corporals— J. B. Wynn, A. K. Morris. 



Privates— 
McClean, C. W. 
Mohler, A. J., 
Morris, A. K., 
McCoy, M., 
Stanley, O. B., 
Currier, S. G.. 



Davis, A., 
Reed. F. M., 
Murrv, John. 
Stillman, J. R.. 
Haines. T. W.. 
\\'ansen, AMlliam. 



FIFTEENTH C.AVALRV. 
Company G. 
Sergeant— A. J. Mills. 



Privates — 
Crossman. J., 
Crossman, D., 
Fowler, H. M., 
Howard, W. H., 
Howard, C. F., 
Hearsfield. William, 
Hammond, G. W., 
Harmon, E., 



Jacobs, A., 
Jayne, G. D.. 
Jayne, W. M., 
Mills, T. J., 
Mulerts, C. H.. 
McGrath, C, 
Nelson, D. H., 
Sizer, J., 
Senn, C. G. 



ARTILLERY. 



Merchant, F. M., 
Ashworth, C. W., 
Craig, A. C. 
Myers, J. W., 



Beverly, Cassias, 
Smith, F. M., 
German, Simeon, 
German, W. J. 



SoLDiER.s' Mo.NTMENTS. — In Commemoration of 
the soldier dead four monuments liave been 
erected on Fulton County soil. 

At Fairview, in the village park, there is a 
marble shaft about fifteen feet high on a base 
ofl Joliet limestone. On the pedestal support- 
ing the shaft are inscribed the names of all 
soldiers of the Civil War enlisting from that 
community who died in the service or prior to 
1868, the date of the erection of the monu- 
ment. The cost of the monument was $1,000, 
contributed by popular subscription. 

At Lewistown there is in course of erection 
a monument, begun in 1894, consisting of two 
cylindrical columns of sandstone twenty-two 
feet in height, standing about ten feet apart. 
It is intended to connect the columns by an 
arch to be surmounted by a bust of Lincoln. 
The sandstone columns were originally a part 
of the Fulton County courthouse, erected near 
ly halt a century ago, in which Abraham Lin- 



coln made one of his most noteworthy 
speeches in the memorable campaign of 1S5S. 
The work of construction has been conducted 
by the Thomas Leyton Post, G. A. R. 

At Canton, in Greenwood Cemetery, there is 
a granite monument about twenty feet in 
height, erected at a cost of $2,000 by Mrs. Car- 
rie Babcock and dedicated in April, 1889, to the 
soldiers and sailors of the Union. 

At Farmington, in the City Cemetery, there 
is a soldiers' monument of light gray New Eng- 
land granite, about thirty feet high, surmount- 
ed by the figure of a volunteer soldier standing 
at rest. This monument was erected by popu- 
lar subscription at a cost of $2,000 and dedi- 
cated May 30, 1892, "By the Citizens of Farm- 
ington to Her Departed Heroes." 

Mk.xic.vn Wab. — To the Mexican War Fulton 
County contributed Company K, of the Fourth 
Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which 
was under the command of the famous Colonel 
Edward D. Baker, afterward killed at Ball's 
Bluff during the Civil War. The late Lewis W. 
Ross, afterwards Congressman for many years 
from the Fulton County district, was captain 
of this company, while his brother, Leonard F. 
Ross, afterward a Brigadier General in the War 
of the Rebellion, was a First Lieutenant. Other 
illustrious names were on the muster roll. Be- 
low is given the company's roster: 

FOURTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER 
INFANTRY. 

Company K. 

Captain— Lewis W. Ross. 

First-Lieutenants- George W. Stipp. Leonard F. 
Ross. 

Second-Lieutenants— John B. McDowell, Robert 
Johnson, Joseph L. Sharpe. 

Sergeants— Marvin Scudder, Stephen B. Webb. 
Robert Carter, Samuel D. Reynolds, Milton C. 
Dewey, James B. Anderson. 

Corporals — Thomas W. Head, Tracy Stroud, 
James W. Anderson. Edward Brannon, Simeon 
Cannon, James Dunsmore. 



Privates — 
Ackerson. Garrett. 
Andrews, Hannon, 
Bennington, George, 
Bervard, John 
Beadles, William, 
Bristow, Isaac M., 
Clark, David, 
Crittenden, Uriah, 
Crawford, James, 
Collins, David, 
Carter. Simeon, 
Coon, Ross, 
Cannon, John. 
Carter, John S. S., 
Dalley, Charles, 
Dobson, Joseph, 
Dobbins. John F., 
Deiter, John, 
Deiter. Joel, 



King, Horace E., 
Kimball, Myron, 
Lyons, Eli, 
Land, John, 
Mason. William C, 
McNeil, Malcolm, 
McKee. Patrick, 
Monroe, Thomas, 
Morton, Richard W. 
Mayall. Joseph, 
Milslagle, Elias. 
Moover, William, 
Myers. Jonas H., 
Murphy, William, 
Pattnn. Hugli. 
Painter. William, 
Pigg, John, 
Powell, .\ndrew M., 
Reid, John H., 
Rigdon, Stephen, 



750 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Ellis, John, 
Ellis. Jacob, 
Engle, William H., 
Foot, Zach., 
Freeborn, Philip T.. 
Fltzpatrick. Michael, 
Gregory, Jesse, 
Hoover, Richard. 
Hannum, Joshua B., 
Kelly, Ephraiiru 



Ross, Pike C, 
Shields, David, 
Steele, John, 
Smith. James H., 
Smith. David, 
Stevenson, Thomas, 
Turner. Oren. 
Taylor, Julius, 
Wilson. Samuel, 
Yaw, Alonzo. 



Spanish-American War. — Company M. Fifth 
Regiment, Illinois National Guard, was organ- 
ized at Canton in 18S2, with G. K. Barrere Cap- 
tain, that gentleman now being a resident of 
Los Angeles, Cal. It did good service in East 
St. Louis, Chicago and other cities which, dur- 
ing the following decade, were so unfortunate 
as to require assistance in the quelling of 
riots. On April 25, 1S9S. this regiment was 
called to Camp Tanner at Springfield, and there 
on May 5th it was mustered into the service of 
the United States for the Spanish-American 
War. The roster of this company was as fol- 
lows: 

Commissioned Officers — Captain, Bernard H. 
Taylor; First Lieutenant, Frank D. Tanquary; 
Second Lieutenant, Andrew M. Motsinger; 
First Sergeant, Herbert C. Martinis; Sergeants, 
Frank L. Emby, Frank S. Myers, John A. Fill- 
ingham, Roscoe A, Hall; Quartermaster,- 
Charles H. Elliott. 

Non-Commissioned Officers — Corporals: 
George D. Porter, Tyler B. Shaw, Ernest C. 
Ronk, Thomas T. Smith. Preston A. Gibson, 
Henry R. Heald, Fred Preston, Charles Daniel- 
son, William G. Thornborrow, Henry Sparger, 
William Gregg, John Rafferty. Musician — 
Walter Phillips. Artificer — Douglas Rogers. 
Wagoner — John Duffield. 

Privates — Bernard Anderson, Lawrence E. 
Barrett, William H. Betts, Thomas A. Brown, 
Norris C. Boyer, George M. Budd, George Bar- 
ron. Marion Barratt, Jacob Busgard. George 
Budden, William Burtis, David Bohanan, Nor- 
man P. Briley, Edgar Bredwell, Lewis A. Cad- 
wallader, Jacob Claar, George Carpenter, Wil- 
liam Carpenter, John W. Creek, Clifford E. 
Grimm, Fred D. Grewell, David J. Purrey, Lew- 
is C. Garrison, Andrew Graham, Edgar E. Har- 
vey, Ernest A. Hays, Thurman Harshman, Gil- 
bert I. Hufford, Orvllle Huff. Frank J. Hays, 
William W. Hummell, LaForrest L. Harris, 
George Haywood, Merrill J. Heald, Thomas R. 
Harrison. Arthur E. Isham, Orrie J. Kelly, Win- 
field S. Kennedy, Stanley Lisenby, Jay A. Lo- 
gan, M. Stanley Littleton, Josiah R. Lingen- 
felter, Arthur W. Murphy, Ernest L. Martinis, 



Charles W. Moore, Charles R. Murphy, James 
Mitchell, James F. Maloon, Charles G. McClel- 
lan, Peter E. Myers, Harry McGi-aw. James C. 
Minett, Oscar S. Moore, William R. Norman, 
Frank Pope, John Pittman, Allie C. Post (died 
of pneumonia May 31, 1898), Charles C. Pal- 
mer, Wesley Priest, Charles Peterson, William 
E. Rollo, Henry Roberts, George S. Sandford. 
Adolphus J. Slater, William H. Shaw, John 
Steele, W. F. Steel, Hiram A. Smith, Thrush 
Smith. Clarence E. Snively, Jr.; Richard G. 
Shields, John S. Swanson, Clyde D. Smith, 
Benjamin A. Tozer, George H. Todd, Frank 
Wright, Leonard Williams, Harry S. Weaver, 
Wallace Wright, Jesse A. Walker, Frank 
Walker, William Wallace, Harvey Wilbert. 

The Fifth Regiment, of which Company M 
was a part, under the command of Colonel 
James S. Culver, was the first regiment in the 
State to be equipped and leave Camp Tanner 
on its way toward the field of war, and was 
the first volunteer regiment in the country to 
reach Chickamauga Park, Ga. After many pro- 
voking delays they were ready to embark from 
Newport News for Cuba, when the Third Ken- 
tucky Regiment was substituted, and they were 
afterward ordered to Porto Rico under General 
Fred Grant, but were recalled at the last mo- 
ment. They had been much disappointed at 
not seeing Cuban sei-vice, and this last blow 
placed many of the soldiers on the sick list, 
several in Company M being sent to the hos- 
pital. The command was discharged from the 
United States service at Lexington, Ky., in 
August, 1898, and upon reaching Fulton County 
at once reorganized as a company of the Illi- 
nois National Guard, retaining its old letter— 
M. Three of its numbers had died during the 
year — Allie C. Post, of pneumonia, and Hiram 
T. Smith and James Mitchell, of typhoid fever. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



FAIRS— COAL FIELDS— TELEGRAPH. 



FIRST AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION HELD IN FULTON 
COUNTY IN 1852 — LATER FAIRS AND WHERE THEY 
WERE HELD COUNTY FAIR LOCATED AT CANTON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



751 



IN 1866 — DISASTROUS EFFECT OF THE CHICAGO 
FIRE — CANTON EXHIBITIONS ABANDONED IN 1893 — 

AVON DISTBICT FAIR COUNTY FAIR REVIVED AT 

LEWISTOWN IN 1905 POULTRY SHOWS — WE A LTH 

OF FULTON COUNTY COAL FIELDS — HISTORY OF 
THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND VARIETIES OF COAL 

PRODUCED STATISTICS OF THE COAL PRODUCT OF 

1906 — FULTON COUNTY STANDS SEVENTH IN THE 

LIST OF COUNTIES OF THE STATE TELEGRAPHS 

AND TELEPHONES. 

The first agricultural exhibition commonly 
known as a fair, was held in Canton in the fall 
of 1852, on the Hcnnan farm in the vicinity of 
where the Burlington Railroad pump house is 
now located. It was not confined to exhibition 
of agricultural products and live stock, but a 
horse race on a straight track was one of the 
features. This e.xbibition was almost ex- 
clusively a Canton enterprise, but at the con- 
clusion of the fair the Fulton County Agricul- 
tural Society was organized. The next fair was 
held in 1853, it is said, at Bernadotte, and the 
years following at Cuba, Lewistown and Ver- 
mont, finally coming back to Canton in 1856. 
The meeting of that year was held in what is 
now Wright's addition near the present site of 
the Toledo, Peoria & Western station. The fair 
was aftei-ward held at Lewistown, and probably 
at other points in the county with indifferent 
success until 1866, when it was permanently 
located at Canton. A joint stock company was 
formed and the twenty-five acres (the old fair 
ground), now known as Fisher & Marshall's ad- 
dition to the city of Canton, were purchased. 
Citizens of Canton and adjacent territory con- 
tributed several thousand dollars toward the 
equipment of the grounds, which were leased 
to the Fulton County Agricultural Society for 
a term of ninety-nine years. From 1866 to 
1871 the Canton Fair had a State-wide reputa- 
tion. They were the largest fairs held in the 
State, even larger than the State Fair. Special 
trains were run on all the railroads, bringing 
the people to and from the fair each day. Spe- 
cial trains hauling exhibits were run from as 
far south as St. Louis and as far north as Chi- 
cago. Colonel A. C. Babcock was at the zenith 
of his political glory at this time and he was a 
moving spirit in promoting the fair. At this 
time Canton was headquarters for fine and fast 
horses and racing was a prominent feature of 
the fairs. In 1871 it unfortunately happened 



that the Chicago fire took place just as the fair 
was well under way. The crowds at Canton 
attending the fair mounted the special trains 
and were taken to Chicago and the interest, 
locally as well as elsewhere, was diverted from 
the Fulton County Fair to the great conflagra- 
tion going on in the city by the lake. Thou- 
sands of dollars were lost, as no interest in the 
fair could be maintained, and the attendance 
was very small. It was just about this time 
that new life had been injected into the State 
Fair, and the interest in county fairs was on 
the wane. From 1871 to the time when the 
last fair was held, more than twenty years 
later, the interest in the fairs gradually de- 
creased. An occasional season would prove 
very profitable, but one disastrous season after 
another finally led to the ultimate abandon- 
ment of the fair in 1893, and the final closing 
up of the business of the society and the sale 
of the grounds by the holding company. 

Avon Fair. — In 1871 the Avon District Agri- 
cultural Society was organized and purchased 
grounds at Avon for the purpose of holding 
stock sales. A fair was held the next year 
(1872) and the stock sale feature was aban- 
doned a year or two afterward and the meet- 
ing became simply an agricultural fair and rac- 
ing meet. The name of the organization was 
afterward changed to the Avon District Agri- 
cultural Board, and fairs were held each suc- 
cessive year until the year 1906, when it was 
abandoned, temporarily at least, owing to lack 
of patronage. 

New Fui.ton County Fair. — In 1905 a stock 
company was formed by the citizens of Lewis- 
town for the purpose of holding a county fair 
and race meeting, with permanent location at 
Lewistown. The first meeting was held in 1905. 
This association has held three very success- 
ful fairs and meets, the one for 1907 being a 
record breaker in attendance. The fair asso- 
ciation at Lewistown is the only association in 
existence holding what is commonly called a 
county fair in Fulton County at the present 
time, though there has been held for several 
years past at Hawthorne Grove, in Farmers 
Township, a stock and agricultural exhibit, 
with many of the features of a county fair, with 
the racing feature omitted. 

The Poultry Show. — The poultry breeders of 
Fulton County are formed into an organization 
and have for the past eight years held an- 



75^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY, 



nuilly at Canton a poultry show. The exhibits 
are of course confined to poultry only. 

Coal Fields. — Aside from its agricultural re- 
sources the chief wealth of Fulton County is 
embraced in its vast beds of bituminous coal 
which underlie nearly all the entire surface of 
the county. A. H. Worthen, who compiled the 
valuable volumes known as the State Geolog- 
ical Survey, estimates that the coal beds in some 
of the townships equal 9,00n,000 tons to the 
square mile. Elsewhere in its proper place will 
be found the data relating to the various strata 
,of coal, Mr, Worthen visited Fulton County in 
person and remained here several months en- 
gaged in the compilation of geological informa- 
tion pertaining to the county. Aside from the 
bituminous coal, cannel coal has been found in 
considerable quantities in Union Township near 
Avon. 

Mr. Worthen says that in 1859 he found ten 
retorts in use near Avon for the distillation of 
oil from the cannel coal mined there, produc- 
ing from 300 to 500 gallons of oil per day. The 
coal seam was only fourteen to twenty inches 
thick, and the cost of mining was about $2 
per ton, and the yield in oil was about thirty 
gallons to the ton. The discovery of oil in 
Pennsylvania put an end to the distillation of 
oil in Fulton County and likewise to the mining 
of cannel coal. Outcroppings of cannel coal 
are found in Young Hickory Township. 

Illinois belongs to what is known as the Cen- 
tral Coal Fields, sometimes called the Eastern 
Interior Coal Fields, included within Illinois, In- 
diana and Western Kentucky, and covering an 
area of about 47,000 square miles. The coal 
fields of Illinois were the most important in 
this group, and of the counties in Illinois Ful- 
ton stands at the present time the seventh in 
amount of production, and it is only within the 
last few years that effort of any magnitude has 
been made to develop the coal fields of this 
county. Prior to 1885 the mines were worked 
in a very crude manner. The mine foremen or 
managers were not as well educated as they 
are today, nor as well posted in the manage- 
ment of coal property. Since 1885 the coal 
mining business has developed to the point 
where the producing of coal is almost an exact 
science. The State has enacted laws for the 
protection of the miners from their own lack 
of knowledge and from the lack of care on the 
part of the mine owners and their fellow work- 



men, and at the same time for the protection 
of mining property as well. There are about 
3,000 men engaged in operation of the mines 
of the county at the present time, while four 
classes of mines are being operated — the strip, 
drift, slope and shaft — the two latter plans be- 
ing the chief ones used in the county. In fact, 
all mines of any magnitude but one — the Big 
Creek (a slope mine), at St. David — are shaft 
mines. 

The total output of bituminous coal in Fulton 
County for the year 1906 reached nearly 2.000,- 
000 tons, the exact figures not being available 
for the fiscal year at this time. The quality of 
the Fulton County coal is not of the highest 
grade, but it is especially suitable for steam 
purposes. 

Coal was first discovered in Illinois by La 
Salle's party in 1679. In his "Early Pioneers 
and Events" Harvey Lee Ross says: '"There 
is one other thing that will appear very re- 
markable. When the first settlers came to Ful- 
ton County there was no one that appeared to 
have the remotest idea that there was such a 
thing as bituminous coal all about them in the 
earth, or that it had any use. The people who 
lived there were the Indians, and they never 
used it, and the people would as soon have 
thought of looking for gold or silver as looking 
for coal. It was about two years after the first 
settlement was made that coal was discovered. 
The first coal found in the county was discov- 
ered by old Mr. Gardiner, to whom I have re- 
ferred as having settled about ten miles south 
of Lewistown at Gardiner's Prairie in 1823. He 
was out one day to look for stone to build a 
fireplace in his log house, which he had just 
erected, and in digging for stone he found the 
coal bank, which was situated in the foot of the 
bluffs east of what is known as Isabel Church. 
Mr. Gardiner took a load of the coal to Lewis- 
town and the people were delighted to learn 
that stone coal had been found in the county. 
The next coal bank that was discovered was 
on Big Creek, about where the narrow-guage 
railroad crosses it. three miles south of Lewis- 
town. But the Gardiner bank supplied all the 
people south of Spoon River and Havana with 
all the coal they wanted free of charge. All 
they had to do was to go and dig and then haul 
it home. I remember when I lived in Havana 
going with Mr. Eastman Call to the Gardiner 
bank to dig coal. Mr. Call had just opened a 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



753 



blacksmith shop at Havana, which was before 
he opened a shop at Lewistown. It tooli but a 
short time to fill our wagon with coal. So I 
could have to tell that I dug coal out of the 
first coal bank that was ever opened in Fulton 
County." 

While Mr. Ross is doubtless correct about 
the first use made of the vast deposits of coal 
underlying most of the surface of Fulton Coun- 
ty, his statement that coal was first discovered 
on the occasion mentioned is not borne out by 
the facts. The original notes of Major Long's 
survey of the Military Tract, made in 1S15, in- 
dicated that there was a bountiful supply of 
stone coal in Fulton County; and Nicholas Bid- 
die Van Zant's book on the Military Tract lands 
heretofore referred to, when it reaches a de- 
scription of the lands in Township 7 North and 
1 East of the fourth Principal Meridian — which 
is now Lee Township — says that "that part of 
Spoon River that j)asses through Sections 11, 
12, 13 and 14 contains great quantities of stone 
coal on its banks." Hence, it was known, even 
before the settlement of the county, that there 
were great quantities of stone coal in and 
around the vicinity of Babylon. 

The earliest mines operated in Fulton County 
for the production of coal for the general mar- 
ket were at Canton and St. David. This was 
shortly after the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad was built in 1862. In 1867 a huge lump 
of coal from the David Williams mine at St. 
David was on exhibition at the Paris E.xposi- 
tion. Mines are now operated at a number of 
places along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, beginning north of Farmington and 
extending south as tar as St. David. Mines are 
also operated at Astoria. At one time Bryant 
was a mining town of considerable importance, 
but work there has been abandoned. Along the 
Fulton County Railroad mines are operated at 
several points, principally in .Joshua, Deerfleld 
and Ellisville Townships. Along the Toledo. 
Peoria & Western Railroad, aside from the 
mines at Canton and Cuba, coal is mined and 
shipped from Breeds and Marietta. 

TELECR.\rH AND TELEPHONE. — Immediately aft- 
er the building of railroads into Fulton County 
came the telegraph lines. Prior to that time 
telegraphic communication directly from Fulton 
County with the outside world was unknown. 
Upon the general introduction of the telephone 
for commercial purposes, Canton was one of 



the first towns in Central Illinois to maintain 
a toll station, and shortly thereafter a full tele- 
phone system was established, but its capacity 
was limited to a few commercial 'phones. The 
telephone business, until about fifteen years 
ago, was confined to the American Telephone 
and Telegraph Company. About that time in- 
dependent lines began to be instituted and the 
telephone business rapidly developed until now 
every village in the county, no matter how un- 
important, is in telephonic communication with 
the outside world, and the majority of the farm 
residences are connected by telephone. The 
development along the line of telephonic com- 
munication, within the last ten or fifteen years, 
has been marvelous. (For a more detailed his- 
tory of coal measures, see Chapter II. of this 
work.) 



CHAPTER XX\T. 



SOCIAL AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZA- 
TIONS. 



NUMEROUS FB.\TEBXAL ORDER.S I.\ FULTOX COUNTY 
— LIST OF PRINCIPAL ORGANIZATIONS ODD FEL- 
LOWS THE FIRST FR.\TERNAL OBfiANIZATNOI .\T 
CA.VTO.V — .MASONIC AND OTHER ORDERS — MODERN 
WOODMEN AND K.MGHTS OF PYTHIAS — CHARTER 
MEMBERS AND PRESENT OFFICERS — SOCIAL ORDERS 
OF FARMINGTON AND LEWISTOWN — GRAND ARMY 
FOSTS AND women's RELIEF CORPS LIST OF DE- 
CEASED AND SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE FORMER 
— BENEVOLENT ASSOCI.'^TIONS — ALTRUISTIC CLUB 
AND PRO.IECTED GRAHAM HOSPITAL — TRADES- 
UNION ORGANIZATIONS. 

It would be utterly impossible to give the his- 
tory of the formation and organization of the 
numerous societies established for benevolent 
and fraternal purposes in Fulton County. Every 
village and hamlet and many of the country 
cross-roads settlements have established orders 
within the past one or two decades. There is 
literally no end to the number, as this is the 
age of secret orders. It is the purpose here to 
simply mention those that have had their origin 
early in the history of the county, or were the 



754 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



first and among the first of the particular order 
mentioned to be organized in the county. There- 
fore some very interesting historical matter 
pertaining to the various lodges of the county 
must necessarily be omitted. A considerable 
volume of interesting historical and statistical 
data could be compiled upon the subject of 
Fulton County fraternal orders. A very meager 
and limited statement covering some of the or- 
ders in Canton, Lewistown and Farmington, 
where the early fraternal orders of the county 
were established, will have to suflSce for the 
purpose of this work. 

C.vxTo.N Fr.\terx.\l ORGANiziiLTioxs. — The In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows organized 
their first lodge In Canton on May 1, 1S46, and 
Olive Branch Lodge, No. 15, as it was then 
called, is still in existence. Its present officers 
are as follows: I. J. Fuller, Noble Grand; Gil- 
bert Hall, Vice Grand; Jacob C. Brinkerhoff, 
Financial Secretary; Charles Schnurr, Record- 
ing Secretary; W. J. Snyder, Treasurer. The 
encampment of the order in Canton is known 
as Star Encampment, No. 17. The lodge num- 
bers 425 members. 

The Masonic Order dates its existence in 
Canton from about 1S47, when the Morning 
Star Lodge, No. 30, was organized. Charles W. 
Rockhold was Master of this lodge during the 
years 1848, 1850, 1853 and 1861-62, and accom- 
plished much in the establishment of the fra- 
ternity in this community. He died in Peoria 
September 4, 1900, and was buried at his home 
in Canton. The old Morning Star Lodge was 
disbanded and the present organization, No. 
934, was instituted October 5, 1875, by Grand 
Master Monroe C. Crawford, with the following 
as its charter members: C. N. Henkle, W. A. 
Childs, A. B. Leaman, J. W. Bays, H. M. Kline, 
J. S. Sigmon, W. H. Craig, W. H. Davis, S. 
Whitehead, J. Whitehead, J. C. Piper, W. H. 
Smith, O. D. Evans, J. O. Thorn, W. M. Swish- 
er, W. Preston, D. J. Wagoner, J. W. Peck, J. C. 
Kendall, W. D. Johnson, C. Killsa, J. P. Shry- 
ock, M. Fast, A. Downing, Al Downing, J. R. 
Whitemore, L. Schradzki, J. Ballen, P. W. 
Slaughter, S. P. Slocum, E. H. Curtis, G. W. 
Fast, J. J. Curtis, L. K. Young, W. Vandeven- 
der, C. D. Hoblitt, M. Augustine, H. C. Bolton, 
J. Chaffee, W. O. Dean, S. Y. Thornton, J. 
Warders, M. B. Messier, J. S. Messier, D. Wil- 
liams, W. T. Davis, W. B. Johnson, I. W. Ross, 
D. Abbott, B. F. Ruble, A. Bell, N. E. Rumstead, 



H. Hurst, W. H. Hipsley and twenty others. 
The lodge now numbers 240 members, with the 
following officers: James A. Coleman, W. M. ; 
George W. Negley, S. W.; J. H. Moran, J. W., 
and S. E. Kilts, Secretary. 

Canton Chapter, No. 68, R. A. M., was insti- 
tuted by Gil W. Barnard, Grand Secretary, Oc- 
tober 7, 1864, and the gentleman named still 
holds that office. The first Excellent High 
Priest of the Chapter was Sylvester Stevens 
and the first Secretary Edmund H. Curtis. The 
present High Priest is H. L. Reiplinger, of Dun- 
fermline, and C. E. Savill is Secretary. 

Canton Council. No. 23, R. S. M., was organ 
ized October 4, 18G6, with C. N. Henkle as T. I 
M., and L. B. Messier as Recorder. It now num 
hers 110 members, and its officers are: C. E 
Savill, T. I. M.; George W. Brant, I. D. M.; J 
H. Moran, P. C. W., and H. B. Heald, Recorder 

Evening Star Chapter, No. 46. was organized 
October 2, 1878, with Mrs. Louisa McCall as its 
Worthy Matron and John M. Bell, Worthy Pa- 
tron. The present Matron is Mrs. Emma 
Grimm and the Worthy ^Patron George B. 
Roller. 

Bohemond Lodge, No. 54, Knights of Pythias, 
was instituted at Canton, November 11, 1874, 
Calanthea Lodge, No. 47, Peoria, having 
charge. There were eleven charter members, 
three are at the present time living, viz.: M. B. 
Messier, D. W. Lewis and E. D. Savill. The 
first officers were: D. W. Walker, Past Com- 
mander; D. B. McConnell, Chancellor Com- 
mander; Martin Augustine, Vice Chancellor; 
W. D. Johnson, Prelate; L. M. Sanford, Master 
at Arms; M. B. Messier, Keeper of Records and 
Seal; M. B. Messier, Master of Exchequer; A. 
B. Smith, Master of Finance; Edward B. Savill, 
Inner Guard; Louis Schradzki, Outer Guard. At 
the present time Bohemond Lodge has a mem- 
bership of 3S0, has twenty-five Past Chancellors 
and one Past Grand Chancellor, James Graves 
Whiting, while F. R. Reamy is at the present 
time Deputy Grand Chancellor for the District 
of Fulton. The present Chancellor Commander, 
B. M. Chiperfield, is a member of the Illinois 
Legislature and a leading lawyer. The offi- 
cers of Bohemond Lodge for the present term 
are as follows: Past Chancellor, B. M. Chiper- 
field; Chancellor Commander, B. M. Chiper- 
field (serving second term); Vice Chancellor, 
Walter Sebree; Prelate, Charles Timmerman; 
Master of Arms, Clinton Baily; Master of 




'^/^Tp^UU.U-^^rvx^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



755 



Work, George E. Hicks; Master of Exchequer, 
H. E. Harter; Master of Finance, Charles P. 
Gaylord; Keeper of Records and Seal, F. C. 
Powell; Inner Guard, A. C. Larson; Outer 
Guard, Henry Call; Representative to the 
Grand Lodge, R. A. Savill; Dr. E. A. 
Peck, Physician; A. T. Betzer, John Dooley 
and H. H. Clingenpeel, Managers. In July, 
1888, E. A. Eggleston was elected Clerk 
and served in that capacity until 1906, when 
John F. Sheahan was chosen and still serves. 
The present ofiBcers are: U. G. Hunnicutt, V. 
C. ; Joseph Dooley, W. A. ; J. F. Sheahan, Clerk ; 
W. F. Gilroy, Banker; Henry Call, Escort; J. 

D. Allaman, Watchman; J. J. Mitchell, Sentry; 
George Keeling, John Dooley and C. A. Thomas, 
Managers. The camp is flourishing and grow- 
ing. 

The Pythian Sisters have formed quite a 
strong lodge within the past few years and in 
a way form an auxiliary of the Knights of Py- 
thias. 

Canton Camp, No. 295, Modern Woodmen of 
America, was organized February 7, 1887, by 
Deputy J. A. Westfall, of Galesburg, 111., with 
the following charter members: A. J. Slater, 
Everett Carter, A. T. Betzer, H. H. Clingen- 
peel, E. E. Griffis, John H. Snyder, George H. 
Miller, J. D. Knapp, Dr. F. M. Harrison, John 
Dooley, Ed J. Joiner, J. O. McComb, W. T. 
Mathews, Sr.; W. H. Boyer, J. B. Allen, Jr.; 
J. R. Points, Dr. Edgar Peck, H. V. Leaman and 

E. A. Eggleston. All of the above are living 
with the exception of J. O. McComb. The first 
officers of the camp were: A. J. Slater, V. C; 
J. O. McComb, W. A.; J. B. Allen, Jr., Clerk; 
Ed J. Joiner, Banker; C. H. Boyer, Escort; H. 
V. Leaman, Watchman; J. D. Knapp, Sentry; 

The Gr.\.xu Army of the Republic has had 
several posts in Canton named after "Fighting 
Joe" Hooker. The original organization, known 
as Post No. 113, was organized September 21, 
1866, with the following charter members: 
Charles Wills, G. W. Wright, A. B. Smith, 
Henry Augustine, B. F. Lermond, P. W. Slaugh- 
ter, James C. Dunlap, John Montgomery and 
S. B. Corey. All of those named are deceased 
except Henry Augustine, who lives at Normal, 
McLean County, and S. B. Corey, a resident of 
Elmwood, Peoria County. Several old volun- 
teers of Canton, who were members of the post, 
assert that it died of "too much politics." On 
October 24, 1S79, the post was reorganized as 



Joe Hooker Post, No. 69, whose first com- 
mander was John Bryan. It was incorporated 
in December. ISSS, but the post subsequently 
dropped its incorporation and elected trustees. 
At the present time it has a membership of 
about 150, with the following officers: Com- 
mander, Charles P. Fingel; Senior Vice Com- 
mander, A. F. Small; Junior Vice Commander, 
William M. Sebree; Adjutant, D. L. Ambrose; 
Quartermaster, C. T. Coleman; Chaplain, C. W. 
Sanders; Surgeon, J. W. Ellsworth; Officer of 
the Day, W. F. Montgomery; Officer of the 
Guard, A. D. Troxell. 

The Woman's Relief Corps, No. 9, connected 
with the Joe Hooker Post, was organized Octo- 
ber 24, 1885, and its acting President is Mrs. 
Fred C. Reihm. 

The Sons of Veterans, Camp No. 8, Joe Hook- 
er Post, was organized May 7, 1907. 

The local organization of the Improved Or- 
der of Red Men is known as Minnetonka Tribe, 
No. 86, and was organized June 11, 1888. The 
present officers of the tribe are: Sachem, Theo- 
dore D. Morgan : Senior Sagamore, John Mel- 
gren; Junior Sagamore, Eugene Whiting; 
Prophet, W. J. Cox; Keeper of Records, Charles 
Hull; Keeper of Wampum, F. S. Myers. 

The Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, No. 
626, of Canton, was organized November 14, 
1901, with thirty-nine charter members and the 
following officers: Exalted Ruler, R. A. Savill; 
Esteemed Leading Knight, Jesse Heylin; Es- 
teemed Loyal Knight, J. H. Fitzgerald; Es- 
teemed Lecturing Knight, John M. Fox; Secre- 
tary, C. W. Snyder; Treasurer, L. C. Webster; 
Esquire, W. H. Middlekauf ; Tyler, F. C. Powell; 
Chaplain, B. H. Taylor; Inner Guard, Dan 
Macknet; Organist, Be van Lawson. The pres- 
ent membership is 200, and the officers are as 
follows: Exalted Ruler, Frederick A. Perkins; 
Esteemed Leading Knight, Floyd F. Putman; 
Esteemed Loyal Knight, T. W. Sissons; Sec- 
retary, C. W. Snyder; Treasurer, C. E. Hicks; 
Esquire, W. S. Geigley; Tyler, C. E. Savill; 
Chaplain, John Gallagher; Inner Guard, W. F. 
Plattenburg. 

Black Eagle Aerie, No. 580, Fratei-nal Order 
of Eagles, was organized December 27, 1903, 
with E. P. Thompson as President. The pres- 
ent membership is 300, with the following offi- 
cers: G. H. Todd, President; Joseph Waugh, 
Secretary; S. M. Calkins, Treasurer. 

Besides the above societies of a secret, fra- 



/ 



56 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ternal and protective nature, Canton has the 
following organizations: American Patriots, 
Court of Honor, No. 73; Degree of Honor; Fra- 
ternal Tribune, No. 40; Fraternal Reserve Life 
Association; Independent Order of Mutual 
Aid; Knights of the Globe, No. 156; Rebekah 
Degree, I. O. O. F.; Royal Neighbors; Stars of 
Equity, and Yeomen of America, besides vari- 
ous industrial unions. 

Ethiopia Lodge, No. 29 (colored), K. of P., 
was organized in 1903 and has a membership 
of about twenty-five. 

Farmington Societies. — The Masons, Odd 
Fellows. Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen 
of America and United Mine Workers of 
America, all have strong organizations in Farm- 
ington. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows' Lodge 
was organized as early as November, 1S4S, and 
now has 115 members, with officers as follows: 
Noble Grand, Ray Pancake; Vice Grand, O. J. 
Kelly: Recording Secretary, A. T. Short; Finan- 
cial Secretary, Edward L. Parks; Treasurer, C. 
M. Berdine; Grand Representative, A. D. Scud- 
der. 

Masonic Lodge, No. 192, has some lOQ mem- 
bers, and is both an old and a flourishing or- 
ganization. The Masons and Odd Fellows oc- 
cupy separate buildings, in which each have a 
half interest. 

Silver Bow Lodge, No. 598, K. of P., was or- 
ganized October 17, 1900, and has nearly ISO 
members, ofiicered as follows: Chancellor 
Commander. Frank Hayslip; Vice Chancellor, 
Urshell Johnson: Keeper of Records and Seal, 
Walter L. Merchant: Master of Finance, David 
McKinley; Prelate, .loseph Fennell; Master at 
Arms, William Fennell; Master of Work, Hor- 
ace Harrop; Inner Guard, George Myer; Outer 
Guard, Evan Perry. 

Rathbone Sisters, Temple No. 119, an auxil- 
iary of the K. of P., was organized October 21, 
1903, and now numbers about 100 members. 

Farmington Camp, No. 1985, Modem Wood- 
men of America, was organized May 17, 1893, 
with officers as follows: Consul, Michael Mac- 
morrow; Clerk, Dr. A. H. Fash; Banker, Frank 
E. Crane. The present membership is 115, with 
the following officers: Consul. Dr. A. H. Fash; 
Clerk, Neil Berdine; Banker. Thomas Masmor- 
row; W. A., Albert Scudder. 

The Royal Neighbors Lodge, an auxiliary of 



the Modern Woodmen of America, was organ- 
ized January 19, 1907. 

George Hunter Post, No. 145, G. A. R., occu- 
pies a large hall, which is also sub-rented to 
several other fraternities. The post was 
founded July 3, 18S2, and numbers about twen- 
ty-five. George Hunter Woman's Relief Corps 
No. 21)2, auxiliary to the post, was organized 
December 23, 1S94, and has some 100 members. 

The Yeomen of America effected an organi- 
zation in Farmington on July 10, 1907, and have 
some forty members, with James P. Lightfoot 
President; Robert Adams, P. V. P.; Mrs. Orpha 
A. Lightfoot, Vice President; H. T. McCall, 
Chaplain; Dr. A. H. Fash, Secretary and Treas- 
urer, and Charles Rogers, Chancellor. 

The Farmington Union of the United Mine 
Workers of America numbers fully 500. It was 
organized March 25, 1898, and its present offi- 
cers are: Hiram Idle, President; Robert Tag- 
gart, Recording Secretary; Samuel Pascall, 
Financial Secretary; Edward Hicks, Treasurer. 

The Federation of Labor effected a local or- 
ganization known as No. 8311 April 24, 1900. 

Lewistowx Soci.^l Orders. — When Ossian M. 
Ross laid out the town of Lewistown in 1822 
he donated several lots for courthouse, jail 
and church. Upon this tract was erected a 
building for the meeting of the Masons, who 
organized Lodge No. 104. This pioneer organi- 
zation evidently went out of existence, as the 
present lodge was chartered October 6, 1851, 
with Eli H. Bearce as Worthy Master, Hugh 
Lamaster, Senior Warden, and James J. Hale, 
Junior Warden. The lodge first occupied its 
present site when it rented rooms in the build- 
ing erected by Colonel Lewis W. Ross, in 1868, 
on the southwest corner of the square. At that 
time and for some years afterward it was one 
of the largest lodges in the State. The present 
membership is eighty-five and its offiicers are: 
Grier Hanson. Worthy Master; Robert D. 
Quigley, Senior Warden; Frank D. Potts, Junior 
Warden; Edward Fackler, Treasurer; Conrad 
W. Belts, Secretary, and Thomas Chiperfield, 
Chaplain. Mr. Belts has held the office of Sec- 
retary continuously for eighteen years. The 
Past Masters now living are: P. J. Standard, 
A. J. Belts and J. D. Breckenridge. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows' 
Lodge, No. 51. in Lewistown, was organized in 
March, 1849. with General L. F. Ross Noble 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUXTY. 



757 



Grand, and its present officers are: L. W. 
Potts, Noble Grand; P. E. Hofflund, Vice Grand; 
J. W. Duvall, Secretary, and D. R. Houghton, 
Treasurer. It lias sixty members. 

Gb.vm) Army Post. — Thomas Layton Post, No. 
121, Department of Illinois, G. A. R., was or- 
ganized in Lewistown January 20, 1SS2, with 
the following charter members, of whom those 
marked with a * are deceased: *Thomas 
Deems, *A. R. McDonald, *G. A. Buffum, George 
Heap, John McCumber, L. W. Potts, *L. S. Ras- 
mussen, H. A. Yarnell, W. C. Staton, H. C. Has- 
son, *W. W. Hull. *I. C. Barclay and Alexan- 
der Maranville. The first Commander was L. 
S. Rasmussen, after which came in succession 
the following, of whom those marked with a * 
are deceased: _ *Captain Thomas A. Boyd, 
George W. Reese, *William M. Dobson, A. J. 
Strifes, *George H. Metzel, L. W. Potts, *W. T. 
Scott, Rev. A. K. TuUis, *General Lewis F. 
Ross, M. K. Dobson, *John W. Dodds, *S. H. 
Burtis. O. M. McCumber, Edward F. Evans and 
Dr. W. S. Strode. Of the 162 names now on 
the roster of the post only about fifteen are left 
in good standing, the following (September, 
1907) being alive: Eli Maranville, John Lath- 
burg, Harrison Smith, John A. Gray, John Liv- 
ingston, Dr. D. D. Talbott, T. F. Gibbons, H. B. 
Hill, Benjamin Prichard, George Bandle, E. H. 
Dudley, E. W. Belts, T. L. Frazier, J. M. Stew- 
art, J. G. Ackerson, William Fitzgerald, Wil- 
liam Pollard, George W. Jones, T. G. Goodman, 
G. W. Reese, James Mosslander, D. C. Pan- 
cake, Lemuel Purdy, J. F. Allison, Charles Dun- 
can, Richard Burge, J. C. Gould, O. M. McCum- 
ber, C. H. Harper, D. K. Holton. A. Behymer, 
W. H. Hitchcock, Charles Demott, Eugene 
Groat, Warren Davis, Amos Backus, M. V. B. 
Ryan, William Lackey, James K. Yocum, I. M. 
Barnes, E. F. Evans, George M. Hackett, George 
Huber, M. K. Dobson, John C. Gould, Allen 
Noah, L. B. Phillips, A. K. TuUis, W. C. Burgett, 
W. H. Dunblazier, John Virgil, W. S. Strode, 
William Jones, J. N. Grafton. S. R. Wells, H. 
W. Peters, W. B. Wincbell. William Heikes, G. 
W. Brush, J. W. Breckenridge, William Hunter, 
Henry Walker, Frank Garthwait, M. B. Nott, J. 
S. Williams, S. H. Gustine, W. T. Whaley, S. 
R. Quigley, A. F. Krebaum, Henry C. Barnes, 
Thomas Cheney, A. A. Gallant, W. B. Golden, 
William E. Hewlett. 

The present officers of the post are: Past 
Commander, Dr. W. S. Strode; Senior Vice 



Commander, Aaron Behymer; Junior Vice Com- 
mander, Eugene Groat; Surgeon, A. A. Gallant; 
Chaplain, O. M. McCumber; Officer of the Day, 
M. K. Dobson; Outer Guard, Charles Demott; 
Quartermaster, William Jones; Adjutant, A. J. 
Stutes; S. M., William Newberry. 

Kennett Lodge, No. 146, K. of P., of Lewis- 
town, was organized January 14, 1SS6, by the 
election of the following officers: George K. 
Linton, Past Chancellor; J. M. Wallace, Chan- 
cellor Commander; P. C. Ross, Vice Chancellor; 
Edward C. Miles, Prelate, and D. W. C. Uftord, 
Keeper of Records and Seal. It was instituted 
by Canton Lodge, No. 54, with twenty-one mem- 
bers, and now numbers over 160. Its present 
officers are: C. C. Prickett, Chancellor Com- 
mander; J. C. Fleming, Vice Chancellor; H. O. 
Burtis, Prelate, and G. M. Blakeslee, Keeper of 
Records and Seal, and Grand Representative. 

The Modern Woodmen of American, organ- 
ized in the summer of 1S86, and have now a 
lodge of 160 members, officered as follows: F. 
L. Lambert, Consul; G. W. Weldy, Adjutant; 
P. E. Hofflund, Banker, and J. W. Duvall, Clerk. 

The Court of Honor, which was organized in 
1S97, has a membership of ninety and officers 
as follows: M. T. Robison, Chancellor; Miss 
Ida Crabtree. Vice Chancellor; L. C. Breeden, 
Past Chancellor, and J. W. Duvall, Recorder 
and Treasurer. 

BE.\f:voLE.\T Associations. — The Altruistic 
Club of Canton was founded in 1898 as an art 
organization, then became an Archery Club, and 
in 1903 was established on its present charita- 
ble basis, its special object being to eliminate 
the sufferings of the sick who are unable to ob- 
tain necessary medical and surgical aid. Ap- 
plications for assistance must be presented by 
the attending physicians. The club furnishes 
nurses and surgical rooms, pays for medicines 
and provides for all necessary relief except 
medical and surgical attendance, which is do- 
nated by the profession. The club is doing a 
good work and has been of especial service dur- 
ing the progress of typhoid and other epidem- 
ics. Its officers are: President, Mrs. L. E. 
Grimm; Vice President. Mrs. C. M. Black; Cor- 
responding Secretary, Mrs. H. W. Knauss; Re- 
cording Secretary, Mrs. W. J. Hentze; Treas- 
urer, Miss Nellie Donn. 

The Graham Hospital. — Notwithstanding 
the density and magnitude of its population, 
Fulton County is unable to boast a public hos- 



758 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



pital. A Hospital Association has been exist- 
ing in Canton for some years and for a time a 
public hospital was maintained in leased prem- 
ises. The venture was not a success. Recently, 
however, the Misses Alice and Caroline Gra- 
ham, daughters of the late Hon. John G. Gra- 
ham, have undertaken to erect a hospital build- 
ing to cost $25,000, which is to be located on 
West Walnut Street in the city of Canton. The 
contract has been let and work is to begin at 
once. The control and management of the in- 
stitution, which will be known as Graham Hos- 
pital, is left to a Board of Trustees, to be ap- 
pointed, one each from the Masonic, Odd Fel- 
lows and Knights of Pythias organizations, and 
one each from the Methodist. Christian, Bap- 
tist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, 
and one of the Misses Graham. 

The late Joseph L. Murphy bequeathed the 
sum of $40,000 for the establishment and main- 
tenance of a hospital in Canton to be under the 
management of the Canton Physicians' Club. 
This will, however, is being contested, and it 
wil be likely many years before a determina- 
tion is reached. 

Trades-U.vions. — The first organization in the 
line of trades-unionism in Fulton Ctfunty was 
the establishment of a Knights of Labor Asso- 
ciation in Canton at the time that body was in 
its zenith. Following this, however, nothing 
was done in the way of organizing trades- 
unions in the county until in 1S93, when a Fed- 
eration of Labor and various locals were estab- 
lished in Canton, and locals in the other towns 
and villages in the county. The oldest and 
strongest organization of labor is that of the 
United Mine Workers of America. All the 
mines in the county are operated by men be- 
longing to this organization. Locals of various 
other trades are well organized, but the num- 
bers are necessarily limited, owing to the fact 
that there are not many engaged in any special 
line of trade in any single locality in the county. 
Strikes have been few, the most important be- 
ing the cigarmakers' strike in Canton in 1895. 
Formerly there were many differences be- 
tween the coal mine operators and miners, but 
there have been none of consequence for more 
than ten years. 

The Eighth Sub-District of the United Mine 
Workers of America comprises seventeen coun- 
ties in Central Illinois, with a membership of 
5,000 (2,500 in Fulton County) and with head- 



quarters in Canton. It was organized in 1898 
by Samuel Pascoe, of Farmington, member of 
the State Executive Board, and the first Presi- 
dent of the sub-district. Succeeding Mr. Pascoe 
as President were: A. Alexander Snedden, who 
served three months in 1899, resigned and was 
followed by the former Vice President, T. H. 
Picten, the latter being an incumbent for three 
years; F. M. Guthrie, 1902-05, and William 
Spenny, of Farmington, from the latter year to 
date. The Secretary and Treasurer of the sub- 
district, who has been in office for nine years, 
is Sidney J. Young. The location of the unions 
in Fulton County, with their members, is given 
by Secretary Young as follows: Astoria, No. 
329; Breeds, No. 517; Bryant, No. 373; Brere- 
ton. No. 1193; Cuba, No. 368; Canton, No. 892; 
Dunfermline, No. 106; Ellisville, No. 1053; 
Farmington, Nos. 946 and 1213; Fairview, No. 
275; Norris, No. 792, and St. David, No. 860. 



CHAPTER XX\TI. 



CRIMINAL RECORD. 



LIST OF XOT.VBLE CRIMES PEEPETEATED IN FULTON 

COUNTY PERSONS WHO H.4.VE BEEN PHOSECUTED 

FOR MURDER IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY. 

The first murder in Fulton County, according 
to Harvey Lee Ross, who is recognized as au- 
thority, was committed by Reuben and Roswell 
Fenner. The victim was the wife of Reuben 
Fenner. The Fenners were among the first set- 
tlers of Fulton County and participated in the 
affairs of the county quite largely, and their 
names are frequently found upon the early rec- 
ords of the county's legislative and judicial 
minutes. Mr. Ross says that Mrs. Fenner was 
so cruelly treated by her husband and his 
brother, that she died from the injuries; that 
when the people of the county learned of her 
death and assembled for the funeral, they found 
that the body had been placed in a rough box 
for a coffin and made ready for burial. Her 
body was removed by the people there gathered 
and their suspicions of the cause of the death 




>^//^',J>^^ OU ^^^iX^Ay-^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



759 



of Mrs. Fenner were verified, as ttiey found 
ttie body badly bruised as a result of harsh 
treatment. The Fenaers were arrested and con- 
fined in Lewistown's first jail. After remain- 
ing in jail for about two months awaiting the 
convening of court, they escaped. It was sup- 
posed that friends of the Fenners had come up 
from Calhoun County, where the Fenners had 
formerly resided, and with a crowbar had pried 
out one of the logs of the jail walls. The Fen- 
ners were never afterward heard from. 

The criminal record of Fulton County would 
be a long one, even if it were confined solely to 
felonies — too long for any detailed recital in a 
work of this character. Therefore, the details 
here given will be confined to a summary of 
only the Indictments for capital offenses as 
they appear of record on the criminal calendar: 

James Ogden. — Indicted in 1S40 for the mur- 
der, in Union Township, of George Morris by 
kicking him. The accused was found guilty and 
sentenced to the penitentiary for one year. 

Nehemiah Northup. — Indicted in 1848 for the 
murder of Norman Beamas by shooting with a 
gun at Liverpool. Northup gave bond, which 
he forfeited, and was never apprehended again. 

Jackson Louderback, Daniel Louderback and 
John Curless. — Indicted March 6, 1S49, for the 
murder of Abraham Littlejohn, of Woodland 
Township, by cutting with a knife. Jackson 
Louderback fled and was never apprehended. 
Daniel Louderback was tried and acquitted and 
the case against John Curless was nolle prose- 
guied. 

Nancy Wilcoxen. — Indicted March 17, 1852, 
for murder by killing William Weston with a 
knife. Found guilty of manslaughter and sen- 
tenced to six years in penitentiary. She was 
the first woman indicted for murder in Fulton 
County. 

William Tait. — Indicted for murder in No- 
vember, 1S57, for killing Hamilton Brown at 
Astoria. It was supposed that Brown died from 
the result of the impact of a stone supposed to 
have been thrown by Tait. Tait was tried and 
acquitted. 

Simon R. O. Hardy and John O. Hardy. — In- 
dicted April 27, 1859, for the murder of Daniel 
Richardson in Liverpool Township by stabbing 
with a knife. Trial by jury and verdict of ac- 
quittal. 

Isaac Harris. — Indicted for murder October, 



1S60, for killing one Vaughn at Vermont by 
striking him with a club. Found guilty of man- 
slaughter and sentenced to State's prison for 
fifteen years. 

Jackson Bolen. — Indicted February 26, 1863, 
for killing James Mahary, of Vermont, by stab- 
bing with knife. Tried by jury and acquitted. 

Thomas Wright. — Indicted 1862 for killing 
one Helm. Case nolle prosequied. 

George W. Potts. — Indicted February 28, 
1863, for killing Zachariah Shaw with a knife. 
Potts was never apprehended. 

Ira Cobb. — Indicted for murder September 29, 
1S64, for killing one Baker, of Woodland Town- 
ship, by shooting him with a pistol. Tried on 
change of venue in Peoria County and sen- 
tenced to ten years in State's prison. New trial 
granted. Later pleaded guilty of manslaughter 
and sent to the State's prison for one year. 

Catherine Lewis (alias Catherine Todd) and 
Robert Todd.— Indicted April 20, 1S65, for mur- 
der by poisoning: tried by jury, which returned 
verdict of not guilty. 

William A. .Tones. — Indicted for murder April 
21, 1866, for killing Wesley Pitman at Bryant 
by hitting him on the head with a rock. Found 
guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to State's 
prison for two years. 

John Yarnell.— Indicted April 23, 1SG7, for 
killing James P. Goodwin, City Marshal of Lew- 
istown, by shooting. Change of venue taken to 
McDonough County; prisoner was sentenced to 
penitentiary for fourteen years. 

Oscar Craig. — Indicted August 25, 1S70, for 
murder for killing Thomas Brown at Otto by 
shooting. Change of venue to Tazewell County. 
Verdict of acquittal. 

Lemuel Purdy, Pitts L. Purdy and Samuel 
Nicholson. — Indicted April 29, 1871, for murder 
of a Scandinavian at Lewistown in a free-for- 
all fight. Nicholson was found not guilty by the 
Fulton County Grand Jury. Pitts L. Purdy took 
a change of venue to Schuyler County and was 
acquitted. Lemuel Purdy was tried in Macon 
County on change of venue and was found 
guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five 
years in State's prison. 

Jonathan B. Berry. — Indicted August, 1876, 
for murder of John J. Lalicker, in Pleasant 
.Township, by shooting with a pistol. Found 
guilty and sentenced to ten years in the peni- 
tentiary. 



76o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Joseph Mayhall. — Indicted 1876 for the mur- 
der of John Willis by killing him with a knife. 
Tried and acquitted. 

Jacob Mabes. — Indicted September 1, 1877, 
for murder for killing Byron Daily in Orion 
Township by striking him on the head with a 
rock. Tried and acquitted. 

Stephen Joy. — Indicted for murder of Dr. S. 
O. Hall at Bernadotte by cutting Hall's throat 
with a knife. Found guilty of manslaughter 
and sentenced to fourteen years in State's 
prison. 

Hannah E. Rauch. — Indicted tor murder of 
Cooney Rauch, her husband, by poison in Au- 
gust, 1879. Found not guilty. The accused re- 
sided east of Ipava. 

William Chapman, Florence G. Chapman and 
Charles B. Tompkins. — Indicted for murder 
May 5, 1879. Indictment quashed August 28, 
1879. 

Philip T. Smith. — Indicted for murder Au- 
gust, 1880, charged with murder of Sanford 
Bush at Utica in fight, May 5, 1881. Jury found 
accused not guilty. 

Amos Belles. — Indicted for murder of Robert 
C. Kelly, March IS, 1882, by shooting, at Dun- 
can City. Found guilty and also found insane 
and sentenced to insane asylum. 

Elmer Lamb and May E. Lawson. — Indicted 
August 21, 1884, for murder of James Lawson, 
northeast of Fairview, by shooting. James Law- 
son was husband of May E. Lawson. Were 
found guilty and Lamb sentenced to nineteen 
years and May E. Lawson to twenty-one years 
in penitentiary. 

John Shaw. — Indicted tor murder of some un 
known person in Banner Township in 1885. 
Nolle proseqnied by State's Attorney. 

George Weldy.— Indicted August 3. 1887, for 
murder of John Logan. City Marshal of Lewis- 
town, by shooting with i-evolver while drunk. 
Entered plea of guilty and sentenced for lite. 
Afterward pardoned by Governor. 

John T. Farris. — Indicted for murder of 
Stephen McGehee, August 2, 1888, by shooting 
with revolver; occurred southeast of Canton. 
McGehee married divorced wife of Farris and 
was shot at his own home. Change of venue to 
Peoria County. Accused found guilty and sen- 
tenced to twenty-five years in penitentiary. 

Omar S. Markland.— Indicted March 19, 1889, 
for murder of Thomas Calhoun at Smithfleld. 
Markland stood in doorway and shot Calhoun 



with shotgun as he drove by. Jury found him 
not guilty. 

Andrew Warfield and Charles Warfield. — In- 
dicted August 5, 1892, for murder of Charles 
Boswell by stabbing with knife in a drunken 
row at Maples Mills. Andrew Warfield was 
found guilty and sentenced to prison for life; 
Charles Warfield was found not guilty. 

James Trayer and Hugh Foutch. — Indicted 
for murder, November 28, 1892. April 2, 1895, 
the jury returned a verdict of guilty of man- 
slaughter. Trayer was sentenced to fifteen 
years and Foutch to two years in the peniten- 
tiary. 

Chadrack Lovell and John McMahon. — In- 
dicted August 30, 1893, for killing Thomas 
O'Brien on November 22, 1892, in Isabel Town- 
ship in a fight by hitting with a club. March 20, 
1894, case was stricken from the docket, with 
leave to reinstate. 

J. K. P. White and Mary White. — Indicted for 
murder December 14, 1892. (Record does not 
disclose result.) 

William Woodward (colored). — Indicted for 
killing another colored man at St. David by 
shooting with revolver in a fight, December 17, 
1896. Found guilty and sentenced to thirty-five 
years in penitentiary. 

Albert Bowman. — Indicted for killing Oscar 
Cox in Waterford by striking with a club In 
drunken row. October 16, 1897, found guilty of 
manslaughter and sentenced to one year in pen- 
itentiary. 

App. Forgay, alias Aph. Forgay. — Indicted for 
murder of Ben Wilson by shooting with revolver 
on the streets of Dunfermline in a drunken 
row on May 4, 1897. January 24, 1898, entered 
plea of guilty and was sentenced for natural 
life in penitentiary. 

George Callender. — Indicted for murder of EI- 
wood Moore, January 2, 1898, by shooting with 
gun during a quarrel east of Lewistown. June 
4. 1898, found guilty of manslaughter and sen- 
tenced to fifteen years in penitentiary. 

Earl Simms. — Indicted for murder October 10, 
1899. Found guilty by jury; also found to be 
insane and sentenced to asylum. 

John C. Hellyer.— Indicted for murder of Cora 
Peters along railroad between Lewistown and 
Ipava by striking with rock or club. She was 
found under bridge. Hellyer and deceased had 
been on a drunk in Lewistown. Found guilty 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



76, 



February 6, 1900, and sentenced to twenty-five 
years in penitentiary. Reversed by Supreme 
Court and case tioUe prosequied. 

Emery Pertle. — Indicted September, 1905, lor 
murder of David Gauf by shooting at the home 
of Maggie Ricks, southeast of Canton, in a 
light. Court instructed jury to find defendant 
not guilty. 

Edward L. Moore, alias "Doc" Moore. — In- 
dicted for muidering Edward Lamb at St. Da- 
vid, October 20, 1902, by shooting. Moore shot 
at another man in saloon and killed Lamb in 
the street. Found not guilty. 

Madella Winget. — Indicted in 1905 for murder 
of her husband by feeding him poisoned pie. 
Found not guilty by jury. 

Henry Kruzan. — Indicted .lanuary, 1906, for 
murder of John Hinds by shooting with shot- 
gun. Affair occurred on Hinds' farm northeast 
of Ipava during a quarrel. Accused found not 
guilty. 

Martha Baxter. — Indicted January, 1905, for 
murder of husband by shooting with revolver. 
Jury returned verdict of not guilty. 

Robert Emery, Leo Schunk and Earl Butler. — 
Indicted January 12, 1906, for murder of infant 
babe of one Pearl Weaver in Canton on the 
26th day of September, 1905, by smothering in 
a box. Found not guilty by jury. 

Joseph Maglino and Joseph Malaski. — Indict- 
ed January 12. 1906. for shooting one John 
Rosso witii a shotgun in a drunken row at 
Norris, 111., on November 26, 1905. Accused 
never apprehended. 

Franiv Bartosik. — Indicted January 12, 1906. 
for shooting one Peter Migda with a shotgun in 
a drunken row at Farmington, 111., on Decem- 
ber 14, 1905. Never apprehended. 



CHAPTER XXMH. 



ELECTION RETURNS. 



ABSTRACT OF ELECTIO.V RETURNS FOR FULTOX 
COrXTV BY YEARS FROM 1836 TO 1906 — LIST OF 
XATIOXAL. STATE AND LOCAL CANDIDATES FOR 
SEVENTY YE.\RS. 

Following will be found a tabular state- 
ment of the vote cast in Fult-on County for Na- 
9a 



tional. State and county officers at the various 
elections held from 1836 to 1906, thus covering 
a period of seventy years. The political rela- 
tions of the more prominent candidates are 
indicated by the insertion of the abbreviated 
titles of parties to which they belonged, "D" 
standing for Democrat, "W" for Whig, "R" for 
Republican, "Ab" for Abolitionist, "Am" for 
American, "Pro" for Prohibition, etc.: 

ELECTION AUGUST 1, 1836. 

Member of Congress — Vote. 

William L. May, D 544 

John T. Stuart, W 345 

May's plurality, 199. 

State Senator — 

Samuel Hackelton, D 604 

John P. Boice, W 206 

Hackelton's plurality, 398. 

Representatives — 

Jonas Rawalt, W 4C2 

Asel F. Ball, W 340 

William Elliott, Jr., D 307 

Joseph Sharp, D 239 

William Shinn 18 

Jonah Marchant 198 

Sheriff- 
Hugh Lamaster, W 629 

Alexander R. Shaffer, D 86 

Lamaster's plurality, 543. 

Coroner — 

Daniel Wells 268 

Samuel Porter 188 

Wells's plurality. SO. 

County Commissioners — 

William Johnson 425 

.Tared Lyon, D 341 

Pleasant Odell, D 306 

Charles Newcomb, Ab 355 

Erasmus D. Rice, W 206 

Amaziah Howard, D 232 

Lewis Bideman, W 303 

SPECIAL ELECTION. OCTOBER 10, 1836. 



County Surveyor — 
Stephen H. Pitkins. D. 



297 



762 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Samuel G. Wright 62 

John L. Dyer 40 

Pitklns's plurality, 235. 

ELECTION AUGUST 7, 1837. 

County Treasurer — 

Erasmus D. Rice, W 447 

Nathan Beadles, D 225 

Hirah Saunders, D 98 

Rice's plurality, 222. 

County Clerk — 

Stephen Dewey, W 720 

Joseph L. Sharp, D 122 

Dewey's plurality, 598. 



William Johnson, D 264 

Seth Hilton, W 348 

Isaac Linley, D 324 

Jonah Marchant, Ab 136 

Josiah Moore, D 288 

John W. Shinn, D 247 

Johnston's plurality, 321. 

Wentworth's plurality, 225. 

Barker's plurality, 225. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 25, 1839. 



State Senator — 

David Markley, D 

John Johnston, W 

Markley's plurality. 134. 



707 
573 



ELECTION AUGUST 6, 1838. 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 2, 1840. 



Governor — 

Cyrus Edwards, W 774 

Thomas Carlin, D 808 

Carlin's plurality, 34. 

Member of Congress — 

.Tohn T. Stuart, W 708 

Stephen A. Douglas, D 80S 

Douglas's plurality, 40. 

Representatives — 

Newton Walker, W 757 

Jonas Rawalt, W 625 

David Markley, D 603 

Joseph Brown, D 330 

Henry B. Evans, D 359 

Stephen Rigdon, W 226 

Thomas J. Little, D 101 

Sheriff- 
Hugh Lamaster. W ■ 941 

Benjamin Foster, D 623 

Lamaster's plurality, 318. 

Coroner — 

Emsley Wiley, D 699 

John Thorp, W 350 

Wiley's plurality, 349. 

County Commissioners — 

John Johnston, W 669 

Hiram Wentworth. W 573 

John Barker, D 573 

Charles Newcomb, Ab 319 



President — 

William Henry Harrison, W 1,253 

Martin VanBuren, D 1,347 

VanBuren's plurality, 94. 

ELECTION AUGUST 2. 1841. 

Member of Congress — 

.lames H. Ralston, D 1,110 

John T. Stuart, W 1,009 

Ralston's plurality, 101. 

County Commissioner — 

.John W. Shinn. D 897 

John F. Randolph. W 1.075 

Randolph's plurality, 178. 

County Treasurer — 

William Elliott. Sr., D 958 

Franklin Foster, W 1,007 

Foster's plurality. 49. 

School Commissioner — 

Erasmus D. Rice. W 1.027 

Rice's majority. 1,027. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1844. 

President — 

.lames K. Polk, D 1,537 

Henrj' Clay, W 1.434 

.Tames G. Birney, Ab 108 

Polk's plurality. 103. 




QAn^x^^^yiir Q C^a^^o^Jf 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



762a 



ELECTION APRIL 19, 1S4T. 

Four Delegates to Constitutional Convention — 

Isaac Linley 1,306 

Lyman Moon 993 

H. M. Wead 1,170 

T. B. Gordon 992 

David Marldey 1,011 

George Krider 1,105 

Henry S. Hyatt 791 

J. V. D. Gaddis SG3 

William Wheeler 46 

John M. Wright 36 

Daniel Dobbins 34 

William Ellsworth 35 

George W. Little 35 

Joint Delegate with Peoria County — 

Richard Freeborn 1,091 

Onslow Peters 671 

Freeborn's plurality, 420. 

ELECTION AUGUST, 1847. 

County Commissioners — • 

D. S. Johnson 1,611 

.John Riley 1,037 

Luther Birge 32 

Johnson's plurality, 574. 

County Clerk- 
James Johnson 1,019 

W. J. Taylor 527 

F. J. Porter 1,198 

Porter's plurality. 179. 

Recorder — 

Robert Paull, D 1,213 

Erasmus D. Rice, W 1,501 

Rice's plurality, 288. 

County Treasurer and Assessor — 

James Manley, D 928 

William McComb, W 1,788 

McComb's plurality, 860. 

School Commissioner — 

M. Eichelberger, D 1,028 

H. M. Wead, D 857 

Eichelberger's plurality, 171 . 

County Surveyor — 

Isaiah Stillman, D 1,39G 

Thomas Cheyney, W 730 

Harrison Rigdon, W 257 



Elias Prosser, W 99 

Stillman's plurality, 666. 

ELECTION AUGUST 7, 1848. 

Governor — 

A. C. French, D 1,622 

C. V. Dyer, W ISI 

French's plurality, 1,441. 

Member of Congress — 

William A. Richardson, D 1,624 

Eli Wilson, W 181 

Richardson's plurality, 1,443. 

State Senator — 

David Markley, D 1,266 

Edson Harkness, W 1,166 

Erasmus Miner, Free-Soil 130 

Markley's plurality, 100. 

Representatives — 

James S. Christy, D 1,177 

Edward Sayre, D 1,190 

William Kellogg, W 1.53S 

William Phelps, W 1.026 

H. S. Thomas, Free-Soil 197 

Luther Birge, Free-Soil 153 

Sheriff- 
Joseph Dyckes. D 2,111 

M. S. Hoblet, W 164 

Amos Leach, Free-Soil 17 

Dyckes's plurality, 1,947. 

County Commissioners — 

William Johnson, D 1,409 

B. M. Veatch, W 885 

Abraham Hale, Free-Soil 169 

Johnson's plurality, 524. 

Coroner — 

Henry Snively. D 1.393 

J. B. Hall, W 833 

Snively's plurality, 560. 

Circuit Clerk- 
Joel Solomon. D 843 

William McComb, W 1,319 

McComb's plurality, 117. 

State's Attorney — 

William Elliott, Jr., D 836 

Robert S. Blackwell, W 1,202 



762b 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ELECTION' NOVEMBER 0, 1849. 

County .Judge — 

Henry Walker, D 1.320 

Erasmus D. Rice, \V 1,331 

Rice's plurality, 11. 

Associate .Justices — 

Parley C. Stearns, D 1.302 

Jesse Benson, D 1,363 

Thomas Hamer. W 1,281 

Anson Smith, W 1,150 

Stearns's plurality, 152. 

Benson's plurality, 213. 

County Clerk — 

L,eonard F. Ross. D 2,34S 

Fitch J. Porter, W 12 

Ross's majority, 2.336. 

County Treasurer — 

Robert Paull, D 2.12S 

Paull's majority, 2,128. 

County Surveyor — 

Stephen H. Pitkin. D 1.496 

David F. Emry, W 1,129 

Pitkin's plurality, 367. 

School Commissioner — 

William N. Cline, D 2.066 

Cline's majority, 2.066. 

EI.ECTfON' NOVEMBER. IS.oO. 

Member of Congress — 

W. A. Richardson, D 1.333 

O. H. Browning, W 1.1S7 

Richardson's plurality, 146. 

State Senator — 

Peter Sweat. D 1,363 

E. N. Powell. W 1,122 

Sweat's plurality. 241. 

Representatives — 

Thomas .J. Little, D 1,549 

Isaac Linley, D 1,246 

Thomas JJamer. W 1.173 

Sheriff— 

D. .J. Waggoner, D 1,438 

George W. Stipp, W 1.064 

Waggoner's majority, 374. 



Coroner — 
Henry Snively 



1.245 



ELECTION MAY 10, 1851. 



County Surveyor — • 

Franklin Foster, D 410 

Alexander T. Robertson, W 288 

David F. Emry, W 432 

Emry's plurality, 22. 

ELECTION XOVE.MBER 4, IS.Jl. 

County Treasurer — 

Robert Paull, D 1.314 

Paull's majority, 1,309. 

County Surveyor — 

Hiram .J. Graham, D 916 

Terah Jones, D 188 

John G. Voorhees, W 4 

Graham's plurality, 728. 

School Commissioner — 

.John W. Shinn, D 1,143 

Shinn's majority. 1,142. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 2, 1S52. 

Governor — 

Joel A. Matteson, D 2,205 

Edwin B. Webb. W 1,840 

D. A. Knowlton, Ind 274 

Matteson's plurality, 365. 

State's Attorney — 

E. G. Johnson. W 2,100 

George W. Stipp. D 1 ,893 

Johnson's majority, 207. 

Member of Congress — 

Lewis W. Ross. D 2,106 

James Knox. W 2.013 

L. W. Curtin, Ab 340 

Ross's plurality, 93. 

Representatives — 

William K. Johnson, D 2,044 

Levi H. Bradbury, D 2,171 

A. T. Robertson, W 1,831 

Anson Smith. W 1.794 

Levinus Sperry. W 247 

Luther Birge, Ab 243 



HISTORY- OF FULTON COUNTY. 



/ 



62c 



Sheriff— 

Joseph Dyckes, D 2,223 

Jonas Rawalt. W 1,712 

John Shriner, Ab 219 

Dyckes's plurality, 511. 

Coroner — 

Harrison P. Fellows, D 2,214 

Harrison, Rigdon. W 1,820 

L. Ames. Ab 250 

Fellows's plurality, 394. 

Circuit Clerk — 

Edward Sayre, D 2,171 

William McComb. W 1,888 

John M. Wright, Ab 254 

Sayre's plurality, 283. 

ELECTION .VOVEMBER 8, 1853. 

County Judge — 

Henry L. Bryant. D 1,525 

E. Stapleford, D 42 

Bryant's majority, 1,483. 

County Clerk — 

.John H. Piersol, D 1.414 

Robert Carter, W 703 

Piersol's majority. 711. 

County Treasurer — 

George Humphrey, D 1,312 

James Updegraff, W 859 

Humphrey's majority. 453. 



Levi H. Bradbury. Anti-M 15G 

Jesse Cox. Anti-M 176 

William Aten. Ab 26 

Sheriff- 
David J. Waggoner, D 2,060 

Hugh Lamaster, W 1,519 

Thomas J. Walters 112 

Waggoner's plurality, 541. 



Coroner — 

Samuel Sivley. D 

Samuel Duvall. W 

H. O. Fellows. Anti-M 

Sivley's plurality, 1,596. 



1,755 
159 



County Surveyor — 
Terah Jones, D 



1,538 



County Treasurer — 

George Humphrey. D 1,666 

James H. Smith. W 1,095 

Humjihrey's majority, 571. 

County Surveyor — 

Terah Jones, D 1,749 

David F. Emry, W 807 

D. C. Turner, Know Nothing 102 

Jones's plurality. 942. 

School Commissioner — 

William H. Haskell, D 1.543 

Sands N. Breed. W 1,239 

Haskell's majority, 304. 

On Subscription of $100,000 to Peoria & Han- 
nibal Railroad — 

For 1,897 

Against 951 

Majority for, 946. 



County Commissioner — 

Deward Sayre. D 1.603 

Sayre's majority, 1,603. 



ELECTION' NOVEMBER 



1854. 



Member of Congress — 

William McMurty, D 1,814 

James Knox, W 1,809 

McMurty's majority, 5. 

Representatives — 

William N. Cline, D 1.754 

Isaac Linley, D 1,580 

Amos C. Babcock, W 1,724 

Robert Carter 1.722 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1856. 

President — 

James Buchanan. D 2,724 

.Tohn C. Fremont. R 2,021 

Millard Fillmore, Am 898 

Buchanan's plurality, 703. 

Governor — 

William A. Richardson, D 2,816 

William H. Bissell. R 2,387 

Buckner S. Morris. Am 396 

Richardson's plurality. 429. 



Member of Congress — 
I. M. Craig 



2,880 



762(1 



/ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUXTY. 



James H. Stuart 2,435 

Craig's majority, 445. 

State Senator — 

William C. Goudy, D 2,848 

William H. Franklin. R 2.541 

Goudy's majority, 307. 

Representatives — 

Joseph Dyckes, D 2,821 

James H. Stipp, D 2,822 

William P. Kellogg, R 2,403 

Thomas Hamer, W 2,398 

Jesse Cox, W 377 

William D. Nelson, Ab 163 

Circuit Clerk — 

Dewaid Sayre, D 2,827 

Robert Carter, R 2,403 

T. W. Williams. Ab 352 

Sayre's plurality, 424. 

Sheriff- 
William M. Standard, D 2.829 

Benjamin C. Johnson, R 2,368 

William T. VanDerveer 361 

Standards plurality, 461. 

Coroner — 

James J. Crail, D 2,803 

15. W. Messier. R 369 

James Robb, Ab 2,885 

Rohb's plurality, 82. 

County Surveyor — 

William J. Edie, D 2,784 

Abraham Hoxie, R 2,390 

James A. Russell, Ab 385 

Edie's plurality, 394. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 3, 1857. 

County Judge — 

Henry L. Bryant, D 9G4 

Bryant's majority, 964. 

County Clerk — 

.lohn H. Piersol. D 954 

Piersol's majority, 954. 

County Treasurer — • 

Jacob Derry, D 938 

Derry's majority, 938. 



Surveyor — 

Harrison Rigdon. D 94G 

Rigdon's majority, 946. 

School Commissioner — 

William H. Haskell, D 943 

Haskell's majority, 943. 

ELECTION .XOVEMBER 2, 1858. 

Member of Congress — 

James W. Davidson, D 3,224 

William Kellogg, R 2,980 

Davidson's majority. 244. 

Representatives — ■ 

S. P. Cummings. D 3.238 

John H. Graham 3,241 

W. A. Dickerman. R 2.979 

William Craig, R 2,963 

Cummings's plurality, 259. 

Graham's plurality, 262. 

Sheriff- 
David B. Waggoner, D 3.392 

John Bless, R 2,839 

Waggoner's majority, 553. 

Coroner — 

Zalmon A. Green, D 3.1S4 

James W. Brooks. R 2.974 

Green's majority, 210. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 8, 1859. 

County Treasurer — 

Jacob Derry, D 1.853 

V. M. Grewell, R 1,444 

Derry's majority, 409. 

County Surveyor — • 

David Shreeves, D 1,831 

D. F. Emry, R •. 1.464 

Shreeves's majority, 367. 

School Commissioner — 

S. Y. Thornton. D 1,712 

William H. Haskell, R 1,395 

Thornton's majority. 317. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 6, 1860. 



President — 
Abraham Lincoln. R. 



3,629 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7626 



S. A. Douglas, D 

J. C. Bi-eckenridge. D 

John Bell, Union 

Douglas's plurality, 297. 



3,926 
11 
48 



County Surveyor — 
David Shreeves, D... 



Governor — 

.Tames Allen, D 3,929 

Richard Yates, R 3,655 

Allen's majority, 274. 

Member of Congress — 

Robert G. Ingersoll, D 3,941 

William Kellogg, R 3,634 

Ingersoll's majority, 307. 

Senator — 

William Berry, D 3,921 

Richard Haney, R 3,673 

Berry's majority, 248. 

Representatives — 

S. P. Cummings, D 3,941 

John G. Graham, D 2,928 

John H. Kelly, R 3,668 

William Phelps, R 3,651 

Circuit Clerk- 
Alexander Hull, D 3,909 

William McComb, R 3,677 

Hull's majority, 232. 

Sheriff— 

Asaph Perry 3,885 

G. A. Marsh 3,661 

Perry's majority, 224. 

Coroner — ■ 

Isaac Cunningham, D 3.920 

.Tames W. Brooks, R 3,664 

Cunningham's majority, 256. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 5, 18G1. 

County Clerk — 
Joseph Dyckes, D 2,498 

County Treasurer — 
William C. Worley 2,521 

County Judge — 
John M. Lewis, D 2,495 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1862. 

Member of Congress — 
Lewis W. Ross, D 



2,.541 



3,134 



Representatives — 

John G. Graham, D 4,515 

Simeon P. Shope, D 3,145 

Thomas A. Boyd, R i,s08 

State Senator — 

Albert C. Mason, D 3.157 

George I. Bergen, R 1,791 

Mason's majority, 1,366. 

Sheriff— 

J. F. Wilcoxen, D 3,155 

T. N. Hassen, R 1,759 

Tracey Stroud, R 1.794 

Wilcoxen's plurality, 1,361. 

Coroner — 

H. McCaughey, D 3,150 

T. N. Hassen, R.- 1,789 

McCaughey's majority, 1,361. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 3, 1863. 

County Treasurer — 

William C. Worley, D 2,738 

Jackson Carter, R 2,364 

Worley's majority, 374. 

County Surveyor — 

David Shreeves, D 2,766 

David Emry, R 2,365 

Shreeves's majority, 401. 

School Commissioner — 

William T. Davidson, D 2.6S4 

DeWitt C. Bryant, R 2,370 

Davidson's majority, 314. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 8, 1864. 

President — 

George B. McClellan, D 3,694 

Abraham Lincoln. R 2,991 

McClellan's majority, 703. 



School Commissioner — 
S. Y. Thornton, D 



Governor — 
2,540 James C. Robinson, D. 



3,698 



y62i 



HISTORY OF FULTON COL'XTY. 



Ricliard .1. Oglesby. R 3,002 

Hobinson's majority, 69G. 

Member of Congress — 

Lewis W. Ross, D 3,698 

Hugh Fullerton, R 3,000 

Ross's majority, C98. 

Representatives — 

L. W. James, D 3,686 

Timotlty M. Morse. D 3,691 

Granville Barrere, R 2,995 

Thomas Hamer, R 2,999 

State's Attorney — 

Thomas E. Morgan, D 3.695 

Parley C. Stearns. R 2.991 

Morgan's majority. 704. 

Circuit Clerk — 

Alexander Hill. D 3,G91 

Daniel D. Walker, R 2,998 

Hill's majority, 693. 

Sheriff- 
Robert .Johnson. D 3,684 

William W. Hull, R •. 3,002 

Johnson's majority. 682. < 

Coroner — 

F. M. Snively, D 3.687 

Ambros Hasty. R 3,001 

Snively's majority. 686. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 7. 1865. 

County Judge — 

John M. Lewis, D 2,933 

Thomas A. Boyd. R 2,919 

Lewis's majority. 14. 

County Clerk- 
Joseph Dyckes, D 2.941 

Franklin B. Laraonde, R 2,914 

Dyekes's majority. 27. 

County Treasurer — 

Charles Howard. D 2.912 

Samuel B. Spears. R 2.910 

Howard's majority. 2. 

Superintendent of Schools — 

Samuel S. Tipton. D 2.926 

Sidney R. Quigley. R 2.909 

Tijiton's majority. 17. 



County Surveyor — 

David Shreeves. D 2.963 

M. V. D. Voorhees, R 2.S83 

Shreeves's majority. SO. 

ELECTIO.V NOVEMBER G, 1866. 

Member of Congress — 

Lewis W. Ross, D r,.621 

Charles E. Lippencrtt. R 3,716 

Lippencott's majority. 95. 

State Senator — 

George A. Charles, D 3.616 

Thomas A. Boyd, R 3,734 

Boyd's majority, 118. 

Representatives — 

L. W. James, D 3,624 

T. M. Morse. D 3.624 

Caleb B. Cox. R 3,714 

George W. Fox. R 3,714 

Sheriff- 
David J. Waggoner. D 3.642 

William W. Hull. R 3.640 

Waggoner's majority, 2. 

Coroner — 

David J. Austin. D 3.622 

John Scrivner. R 3.712 

Scrivner's majority, 90. 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 



1867. 



County Treasurer — 

Charles Howard. D 3.547 

Caleb J. Dilworth, R 3,047 

Howard's majority, 500. 

Surveyor — 

David Shreeves, D 3,569 

L. C. Maynard. R 3.026 

Shreeves's majority, 543. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 3, 1868. 

President — 

U. S. Grant. R 3,559 

Horatio Seymour. D 4.118 

Seymour's majority, 559. 

Governor — 

John R. Eden, D 4,123 

John M. Palmer. R 3,530 

Eden's majority, 593. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



j62g 



Member of Congress — 

Thompson W. McNeely. D 4,115 

Leonard F. Ross. R 3.53S 

McXeely's majority. 517. 

Representatives — 

Timothy M. Morse, D 4,116 

John \V. Ross, D 4,129 ' 

Calelj R. Cox. R 3,510 

Thomas Vanducar, R 3.502 



Circuit Clerk — 
Henry W. Baughman. D.... 
Charles T. Coleman. R 

Baughman's majority, 597. 



4.122 
3,525 



Sheriff- 
Silas Babbitt, D 4,115 

Thomas Scott Brown, R 3,53S 

Babbitt's majority, 577. 



ELECTION NOVEMBER S. 1S7(I. 

Member of Congress — 

Thompson W. McNeely, D 2,810 

Benjamin F. Westlake, R 2,385 

McXeely's majority, 424. 

State Senator — 

A. M. Craig, D 2,832 

Benjamin F. Gatton, D 2,8G3 

Thomas A. Boyd, R 2,436 

Henry ,J. Vaughn, R 2,351 

Representatives — 

Timothy M. Morse, D 2,798 

John W. Ross. D 2,834 

S. P. Cummings. D 2,819 

David T. Todd, R ! 2,391 

De"W'itt C. Bryant, R 2,352 

James K. Magie, R 2,383 



Coroner — Sheriff — 

Joseph Barker. D 4,120 Robert Prichard, D 2,803 

Thomas Jenkins, R 3,489 Thomas P. Duncan, R 2,419 

Barker's majority. C31. Prichard's majority. 384. 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 2. 1869. 

County Judge — 

John H. Piersol, D 3,41<i 

Parley C. Stearns, R 2.554 

Piersol's majority, 862. 



Coroner — 

Daniel Walters. D 2,803 

John W. Moss, R 2,419 

Walters's majorit.v, 384. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 7. 1S71. 



County Clerk — 

James H. Stipp, D 3,104 

Sands N. Breed, R 2,675 

Stiijp's majority, 429. 



County Treasurer — 

E. Baily. D 2,236 

E. D. Slater. R 1,588 

Rally's majority, G48. 



County Treasurer — 

Evan Baily. D 

William McComb, R. . . 

Baily's majority, 584. 



2,753 



County Surveyor — 

F. P. Paull. D 2,105 

E. Maynard, R 1,618 

Paull's majority, 487. 



Superintendent of Schools — 

Horatio J. Benton. D 

Samuel D. Sawyer, R 

Benton's majority, 689. 



Coroner — 

3,397 .7. Herriford. D 2,188 

2,708 I. L. B. Witchell. R 1,638 

Herriford's majority, 550. 



County Surveyor — 

Francis P. Paull, D 3,384 

Lewis C. Maynard, R 2,727 

Paull's majority, 657. 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 



1872. 



President— 
r. S. Grant, 



R 3,502 



762h 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUXTY. 



Horace Greeley, Liberal 3,704 

Charles O'Conor, D 52 

Greeley's plurality, 202. 

Governor — 

Richard J. Oglesby, R 3,511 

Gustavus Koerner, Lib 3,828 

Sidney Breese, D -IG 

Koerner's plurality, 317. 

Member of Congress — 

Granville Barrere, R 3,481 

N. E. Worthington, Lib 3,840 

Worthington's majority, 359. 

State Senator — 

.Tames DeWitt, R 3,457 

S. P. Cummings, Lib 3,848 

Cummings's majority, 391. 

Representatives — 

John A. Gray, R 10,2261'- 

Stephen Y. Thornton, Lib 5,852yo 

James M. Darnell, Lib 5,631 

Christopher Wilson, D 386 

State's Attorney — 

Charles J. Main, R : 3,474 

Daniel Abbott. D 3,874 

Abbott's majority, 400. 

Circuit Clerk- 
Phil J. Plattenburg, R 3,633 

H, M. Baughman. D 3,874 

Baughman's majority, 241. 

Sheriff- 
Charles C. Riley, R 3,526 

Robert Prichard. D 3,827 

Prichard's majority, 301. 

Coroner — 

Jay C. Tompkins, R 3,535 

Hiram Hunt, D 3,834 

Hunt's majority, 299. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1873. 

County Judge — 
John H. Peirsol. Tnd 4,131 

County Clerk- 
Isaiah C. Worley, Peo 2,358 



John Prickett, Farmers' 1,884 

Worley's majority, 474. 

County Treasurer — 

David F. Emry, Peo 2,100 

Job Walker. Farmers' 2,135 

Walker's majority, 35. 

School Superintendent — 

V. M. Grewell, People's 2,169 

Ed. Maynard, Farmers' 2,001 

Grewell's majority, 168. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 3, 1874. 

Member of Congress — 

Richard H. Whiting. R 1,815 

Leonard F. Ross, Ind 3,598 

Ross's majority, 1.783. 

State Senator — 

A. B. Kirkbride, R 2,313 

Robert Brown. D 3.344 

Brown's majority, 1.031. 

Representatives — 

Joseph B. Negley, Ind 2,460 

James DeWitt, R 5,854 

Samuel P. Cummings, D 3,821 

S. Y. Thornton, D 4,536y2 

Sheriff- 
William W. Hull, R 2.504 

David J. W^aggoner, D 3,116 

Waggoner's majority, 612. 

County Surveyor — 

Edward Maynard, Ind 799 

Jonas R. Rawalt, R 2,274 

Charles Kilsa, D 2.610 

Kilsa's plurality, 336. 

Coroner — 

Richard M. Morton. Ind 798 

David Armstrong, R 2,291 

Hiram Hunt, D 2,584 

Hunt's plurality, 293. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER. 1875.. 

County Treasurer — 

Job Walker, D 1,781 

David F. Emry. R ■ 1.260 

Walker's majority, 521. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7621 



County Surveyor — 

Charles Killsa, D 1,719 

Isaac David, R 1,293 

Killsa's majority, 426. 

ELECTION APRIL 4. ISTG. 

County .Judge — 

Henry L. Bryant, D 1,521 

David Armstrong, R 1,560 

Armstrong's majority, 39. 



ELECTION NOVEMBER 



1S76. 



President — 

Samuel J. Tilden, D 4,669 

Rutherford B. Hayes, R 4,187 

Peter Cooper, Greenback 89 

Tilden's plurality, 482. 

Governor — 

Lewis Stuart, D 4,760 

Shelby M. CuUom, R 4,187 

Stuart's majority, 573. 

Congress — 

George A. Wilson, D 4,537 

Thomas A. Boyd, R 4,278 

William W. Matthews, Greenback 127 

Wilson's plurality, 259. 

Representatives — 

William T. McCreary, D 7,057 

Charles F. Robinson, D 7,026 Vo 

Henry S. Merrill, R 5,715 

John A. Leeper, R 6,925 

State's Attorney — 

Daniel Abbott, D 4,730 

Joseph L. Murphy, R 4,176 

Abbott's majority, 554. 

Circuit Clerk — 

Theophilus L. Frazier, D 4.647 

John D. Beahm. R 4,220 

Frazier's majority, 427. 

Sheriff- 
David J. Waggoner, D 4,671 

William R. Hasson, R 4,160 

Waggoner's majority, 511. 

Coroner — 
Hiram Hunt, D 4,695 



David Armstrong, R 4,201 

Hunt's majority, 494. 

•ELECTION NOVEMBER C, 1877. 

County Judge — 

Samuel P. Curamings. D 2,968 

Henry L. Bryant, Ind 2,814 

Cummings's majority, 154. 

County Clerk — 
Isaiah C. Worley, D 5,237 

County Treasurer — 
Philemon Markley, D 4,731 

Superintendent of Schools — 

Horatio J. Benton, D 3,019 

Mrs. Anna J. Howard, Ind 2,643 

Benton's majority, 373. 

ELECTION 1878. 

State Treasurer — 

Edward L. Cronkrite, D 3,462 

John C. Smith, R 3,087 

Erastus M. Bates, Greenback S04 

Cronkrite's plurality, 375. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction — 

Samuel W. Etter, D 3,472 

James P. Slade, R 3,077 

F. M. Hall, Greenback 807 

Etter's plurality, 395. 

Clerk Supreme Court — 

Ethan A. Snively, D 3,479 

Mervin B. Converse, R 3,070 

Thomas S. Knowles, Greenback 799 

Snively's plurality, 407. 

Clerk Appellate Court — 

George W. Jones, D 3,492 

M. M. Duncan, R 3,048 

C. E. Schoff, Greenback S07 

Member of Congress — 

George A. Wilson, D 3,425 

Thomas A. Boyd, R 3,173 

Alexander H. McKeighan. Greenback.... 762 

Wilson's plurality, 252. 

State Senator — 
Meredith Walker, D 3,509 



/f>2i 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Jones' plurality, 444. 
Thomas P. Duncan, R. . . . 
Duncan's majority, 2(il. 



3,710 



Representatives — 

Charles F. Robison, D 5,25d 

William T. McCreery, D 5,119% 

Isaac Black. R 2,855y2 

Hosea Davis, R 8,7011/2 

Sherilf— 

George W. Standard, D 2,997 

Oliver P. Randolph, R 3,556 

M. il. .Johnson, Greenback 745 

Scattering 2 

Oliver P. Randolph's plurality, 559. 

Coioner — 

Stephen B. Bennett, D 3,550 

William B. Bolton, R 2,991 

W. D. Nelson. Greenback 792 

Bennett's iilurality, 559. 

Amendment Sec. ;il. Art. 4. State's Constitu- 
tion — 

7,009 



For . . . . 
Against 



63 



Issue of $75,000 New County Bonds — 

For 6,S04 

Against 278 

.Majority for. 5,526. 

ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1S79. 

County Treasurer — 

Philemon Markley, D 3,058 

Riley Bristol, R 2,536 

Matthew H. Mitchell. Greenback 324 

Markley's iilurality. 522. 

Surveyor — 

William T. R. Fennessy, D 3,062 

Marion Ingle, R 2,668 

Fennessy's majority, 394. 

ELECTION 1880. 



Governoi- — 

Lyman Trumbull, D 4,698 

Shelby M. Cullom. R 4,127 

A. .1. Streeter, Greenback 559 

Trumbull's plurality, 571. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

Lewis B. Parsons, D 4,697 

John M. Hamilton, R 4,166 

Andrew B. Adair, Greenback 562 

Parsons' plurality, 531. 

Secretary of State — 

.lohn H. Oberly, D 4,713 

Henry D. Dement, R 4,171 

J. M. Thompson, Greenback 554 

Oberly's plurality, 542. 

Auditor of Public Accounts — 

Lewis C. Starkel, D 4,710 

Charles P. Swigert, R 4,176 

W. T. Ingram. Greenback 554 

Starkel's plurality, 534. 

State Treasurer — 

Thomas Butterworth. D 4.712 

Edward Rutz, R 4,173 

G. \V. Evans. Greenback 555 

Butterworth's plurality. 539. 

Attorney General — 

Lawrence Harmon, D 4,704 

.lames McCartney, R 4,169 

H. G. Whitlock. Greenback 554 

Harmon's plurality, 535. 

Member of Congress — 

John S. Lee, D 4,741 

John H. Lewis, R 4,134 

William H. Reynolds, Greenback 561 

Lee's plurality, 607. 

Member State Board of Equalization — 

Charles F. Robison, D 4,682 

William Mellor, R 4,169 

M. H. Mitchell. Greenback 598 



President and Vice President— Representatives- 
Hancock and English, D 4,718 Inmon Blackably, D 7,146 

Garfield and Arthitr, R 4,168 William C. Reno, D 7,109 

Weaver and Chambers, Greenback 553 Joseph L. McCune, R 12,400 

Democratic plurality, 550. Noah Havermale, Greenback 1,7971^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7h2k 



State's Attorney — 

Patrick W. Gallagher, D 4,670 

Winfield Scott Edwards, R 4,343 

Gallagher's majority, 327. 

Clerk of Circuit Court — 

Theophilus L. Frazier, D 4,6SS 

Charles T. Coleman, R 4,226 

C. A. Emry 501 

Frazier's plurality, 462. 

Sheriff- 
David J. Waggoner, D 4,605 

Oliver P. Randolph. R 4,126 

M. M. Johnson 560 

Waggoner's plurality, 479. 

Coroner — 

Stephen B. Bennett, D 4,69S 

Samuel L. Brick, R 4,164 

A. B. Clough 550 

Bennett's plurality, 534. 

Amendment to Sec. 8, Art. 10, State Consti- 
tution — 

I- or 8,606 

Against 217 

Majority for, S,3S9. 

ELECTION 1882. 

State Treasurer — 

Alfred Orendorff, D 4,258 

John C. Smith, R 3,985 

Daniel McLaughlin 302 

John J. Irwin 52 

Orendorff's plurality, 263. 

State Superintendent Public Instruction — 

Henry Raab, D 4,264 

Charles T. Stratton, R 4,012 

Prank H. Hall 262 

Elizabeth B. Brown 53 

Raab's plurality, 252. 

Member of Congress — 

Nicholas E. Worthlngton, D 4,46] 

John H. Lewis, R 3,795 

Matthew H. Mitchell 265 

Worthington's plurality, 666. 

Representatives — 

Inmon Blackaby, D 7,224 

F. A. Willoughby, D 5,706% 



W. H. Emerson, R 6.23714 

A. S. Curtis, R 5.629 

A. H. McKeighan 898% 

County Judge — 

Daniel Abbott, D 4,042 

Thomas A. Boyd, R 4.327 

D. Y. Miller '. . 246 

Boyd's plurality, 275. 

County Clerk — 

Frank P. PauU, D 4,023 

W. R. McLaren, R 4,141 

John H. Emry 238 

McLaren's plurality, 118. 

County Treasurer — 

Jeremiah P. Wolf, D 4,188 

V. M. Grewell, R. . . .■ 4,076 

Joseph B. Negley 257 

Wolf's plurality, 102. 

Sheriff- 
David J. Waggoner, D 3.352 

J. M. Stewart, R 4,936 

Joseph Vail 138 

Stewart's plurality, 584. 

County Superintendent of Schools — 

Alice Welch. D 3,442 

E. R. Boyer, R 4.395 

John F. McLain 214 

Boyer's plurality. 953. 

Coroner — 

Stephen B. Bennett, D 4.256 

W. H. Smith, R 3,995 

Dr. W. D. Nelson 261 

Bennett's plurality, 261. 

On $531,712.12 Appropriation tor State 
House — 

For 2,255 

Against 2.387 

On Act Ceding Illinois and Michigan Canal 
to United States — 

For 3,319 

Against 1,440 

ELECTION 1SS4. 

President and Vice President — 
Blaine and Logan, R 4.508 



/ 



62l 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Cleveland and Hendricks, D 4,899 

Prohibition candidates ISS 

Scattering 159 

Democratic plurality, 391. 

Governor — 

Richard J. Oglesby, R 4,554 

Carter H. Harrison, D 4,887 

James B. Hobbs 179 

Jesse Harper 161 

Harrison's plurality, 333. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

John C. Smith, R 4,544 

Henry Seiter, D 4,910 

James L. Ferryman 167 

A. C. Vanderwater 166 

Lemuel Straton 2 

Seller's plurality, 366. 

Secretary of State — 

Henry D. Dement, R 4,538 

Michael J. Daugherty, D 4,910 

Charles W. Enos 170 

H. E. Baldwin 165 

Daugherty s plurality. 372. 

Auditor Public Accounts — 

Charles P. Swigert, R 4,542 

■Walter E. Carlin, D 4.900 

Alexander B. Irwin 171 

E. F. Reeves 165 

A. Tompkins 2 

Carlin's plurality, 358. 

State Treasurer — 

Jacob Gross, R 4,535 

Alfred OrendorfC, D 4,911 

Uriah Copp, Jr 170 

B. W. Goodhue 165 

Peter Howe 2 

Orendorff's plurality, 376. 

Attorney General — 

George Hunt, R 4,536 

Robert L. McKinley, D 4,90S 

Hale Johnson 168 

J. X. Gwin 165 

Joel Buckley 2 

McKinley's plurality, 372. 

Member of Congress — 

Julius S. Starr, R 4,580 

N. E. Worthington, D 5,066 



Royal Hammond 8 

Worthington's plurality, 486. 

State Board of Equalization — 

William Mellor. R 4,559 

R. A. Perkins, D 4,987 

G. W. Jones 1 

William Miller 2 

Perkins' plurality, 428. 

State Senator — 

A. \V. Berggren, R 4,548 

C. F. Robison, D 4,826 

M. H. Mitchell 159 

Robison's plurality, 278. 

Representatives — 

W. J. Orendorff, R 7,066i^ 

O. P. Cooley, R 6,509 

S. P. Marshall, D 9,24Si^ 

F. A. Willoughby, D 5,551V4 

W. W. Matthews 406 

Clerk of the Supreme Court — 

Thomas D. McGrath, R 4,568 

E. A. Snively. D 4,937 

Charles Campbell 2 

Snively's plurality, 369. 

Clerk of the Appellate Court — 

L. W. Shepard, R 4,570 

G. \V. Jones, D 4,915 

Robert Linsey 2 

Jones' plurality, 345. 

State's Attorney — 

J. W. Kreiger, R 4,712 

W. M. VanDeventer, D 4,894 

VanDeventer's majority, 182. 

Clerk of Circuit Court — 

Albert Bonnel, R 4,742 

M. D. Cummings. D 4,816 

J . H. Emery 103 

Cummings' plurality, 74. 

Coroner — 

J. A. Rea. R 4,621 

Isaac L. Beatty, D 4.893 

W. D. Nelson 122 

Beatty's plurality, 272. 

County Surveyor — 
A. L. Roberts, D 4,540 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



/ 



62 m 



Charles Kellsa, R 5,049 

John McClain 130 

Kellsa's phirality, 509. 

ELECTION 1SS6. 

State Treasurer — 

John R. Tanner, R 4,254 

Henry J. Ricker, D 4,393 

Henry W. Austin 236 

John Budlong 192 

Ricker's plurality, 139. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction — 

Richard Edwards, R 4,255 

F. T. Oldt, D 4,400 

U. Z. Gilmer 235 

D. L. Brancher 186 

Oldt's plurality, 145. 

Member of Congress — 

Philip S. Post, R 4,223 

N. E. Worthington, D ! 4,589 

David McCulloch 224 

Worthington's plurality. 366. 

Representatives — 

O. P. Cooley, R 5,892i/2 

Thomas Hamer, R 5,9881/2 

S. P. Marshall. D 11,745 

P. M. Grant. Pro 1,421 

S. H. Armstrong 1,6551/2 

County Judge — 

Thomas A. Boyd, R 4,433 

A. M. Harnett, D 4,286 

J. B. Royal, Pro 151 

F. M. Waid 166 

Boyd's plurality. 147. 

County Clerk — 

William R. McLaren. R 4,314 

P. H. Snively, D 4,389 

F. Vandeventer. Pro 175 

J. B. Negley 168 

Snively's plurality, 75. 

County Treasurer — 

James M. Stewart, R 4,452 

J. E. Piersol, D 4,251 

G. W. Irons 177 

F. Garner 174 

Stewart's plurality, 201. 



Sheriff— 

A. B. Smith, R 4,404 

Robert H. Dickey, D 4,303 

J. W. James 1S5 

Thomas Stansbury 161 

Smith's plurality, 101. 

County Superintendent of Schools — 

T. R. Wilcoxen, R 4,282 

M. P. Rice, D 4,400 

Lizzie L. Evernden, Pro 171 

S. V. Stair 178 

Rice's plurality, 124. 

ELECTION 1888. 

President — 

Harrison. R 4,948 

Cleveland, D 4,965 

Fisk, Labor 281 

Streetor, Pro 120 

Cleveland's plurality, 17.- 

Governor — 

Fifer. R 4,945 

Palmer, D 5,020 

Harts, Labor 248 

Jones, Pro 84 

Palmer's plurality, 75. 

Member of Congress — 

P. S. Post, R 4,986 

N. E. Worthington, D 5,018 

Sedgwick, Labor 269 

Worthington's plurality, 32. 

Senator — 

Thomas Hamer, R .5,008 

Inmon Blackaby, D 4,973 

Snedecker, Labor 270 

Hauler's plurality, 30. 

Circuit Clerk — 

W. M. Fike, R 5,032 

S. S. Clayberg, D 4,972 

Merritt, Labor 254 

Pike's plurality. 60. 

State's Attorney — 

O. G. Boyer, R 4,914 

Kinsey Thomas. D 5,178 

Thomas' majority, 254. 



/ 



62n 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Coroner — 

G. W. Newberry, R 4,975 

D. M. Waggoner, D 5,007 

Brown, Pro 272 

Waggoner's plurality, 32. 

Siirveyoi- — 

A. L. Roberts, R 4,941 

Charles Kelsa, D 5,03.5 

Zollman, Pro 267 

Kelsa's plurality, 94. 

County Judge — 

W. S. Edwards, R 5,029 

D. Abbott, D 4,974 

Irwin, Pro 236 

Edwards' plurality, 55. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

Lyman B. Ray, R 4,941 

Andrew .7. Bell, D 4,984 

Joseph L. Whitelock, Pro 275 

John M. Foley, People's 105 

Bell's plurality, 43. 

Secretary of State — 

Isaac N. Pearson, R 4,975 

.Newell D. Hicks, D 4,944 

J. Ross Hanna. Pro 276 

L. W. Robertson, People's 104 

Pearson's plurality, 31. 

Auditor — 

Charles W. Pavey, R 4,943 

Andrew Welch, D 4,972 

Uriah Copp, Jr., Pro 27S 

George W. Collins, People's 107 

Welch's plurality, 29. 

State Treasurer — 

Charles Becker. R 4,946 

Francis Hoffman, Jr., D 4,971 

John W. Hart, Pro 276 

Nathan Barnett, People's 107 

Hoffman's plurality, 25. 

Attorney General — 

George Hunt, R 4,949 

Jacob R. Creighton, D 4,969 

F. E. Andrews. Pro 274 

John M. Dill. People's 105 

Creighton's plurality, 20. 

Member State Board of Equalization — 
Cyrus Bocock, R 4.947 



\V. P. Caverly, D 4,977 

A. T. McCormick, Pro 279 

William Lessing. People's 63 

Caverly's plurality, 30. 

Representatives — 

Orrin P. Cooley, R 7,384% 

George W. Prince, R 7,387 14 

James W. Hunter, D 9.824 

Xelson W. Burneson, D 5,448 

John S. Barrack, Pro 819 

ELECTIO.N 1,S90. 

State Treasurer — 

Amberg, R 4,592 

Wilson. D 4,881 

Link, Pro 185 

Wilson's plurality, 249. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction- - 

Edwards, R 4,638 

Raab, D 4,808 

Johann, Pro 170 

Raab's plurality. 171). 

Trustees University of Illinois — 

Neely, R 4.619 

Mansfield, R 4.617 

Bennett, R 4,612 

.Morgan. D 4,823 

Bryan, D 4,824 

Graham, D 4,828 

Gibson, Pro 180 

Edwards, Pro 180 

West, Pro 182 

Morgan's plurality, 209; Bryan's plurality, 
207: Graham's plurality. 216. 

Member of Congress — 

P. S. Post. R 4.416 

Y. W. Wilson, D 5,008 

Carr, Pro 122 

Wilson's plurality, 592. 

Representatives — 

George W. Prince, R 5,932 

O. J. Boyer, R 7.609 

S. E. Carlin, D 9,817 

J. AV. Hunter, U 4,704 

Greig, Pro 500 

Clerk Supreme Court — 
Finn. R 4,594 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7620 



McFadden, D 22 

Snively, Pro 4,875 

Snively's plurality, 281. 

Clerk Appellate Court — 

Murphy, R 4,684 

Jones, D 4,788 

Van Fleet, Pro 22 

.Jones' plurality, 104. 



Barnett, People 315 

Altgeld"s plurality, 164. 

Member of Congress — 

J. W. Hunter, D 5,291 

P. S. Post, R 4,925 

Metcalf, Pro 273 

Walliker, People 349 

Hunter's plurality, 366. 



County Judge — 

W. S. Ed-wards, R 4,652 

A. M. Barnett, D 4,793 

Irwin, Pro 148 

Barnett's plurality, 141. 

County Clerk — 

Thomas Price, R 4,538 

Joseph Harniison, D 4,922 

Wilson, Pro 141 

Harmison's plurality, 384. 



Representatives — 

S. E. Carlin, D 1 

J. L. Hastings, R , 

t\ M. Murdock, R 

Greig, Pro 

Smith, People 

State's Attorney — 

P. W. Gallagher, D 

Thomas R. Hamer. R 

Gallagher's majority, 382. 



5.026 
7.374 
7,3.521/2 
898 Va 
1,593 



5,368 
4,986 



Sheriff- 
William Warner, R 4,562 

L. M. Donnelly, D 4,893 

Smith, Pro 148 

Donnelly's plurality, 331. 



Circuit Clerk — 

J. D. Breckenridge, D 5,282 

W. M. li'ike, R 5,043 

A. P. Booth, Pro 253 

Breckenridge's plurality. 239. 



County Treasurer — 

G. K. Barrere, R 4,563 

Robert Zimmerman, D 4,815 

Hamer, Pro 176 

Zimmerman's plurality, 252. 



Coroner — 

I. L. Beatty, D 5,294 

E. M. Sutton, R 4,975 

Johnston, Pro 281 

Beatty's plurality, 319. 



County Superintendent of Schools — 

M. M. Cook, R 4,506 

M. P. Rice, D 4,942 

Williams, Pro 142 

Rice's plurality, 436. 

ELECTION 1892. 

President — 

Cleveland, D 5,253 

Harrison, R 4,948 

Bidwell, Pro 292 

Weaver, People 379 

Cleveland's plurality. 305. 

Governor — 

Altgeld, D 5,209 

Filer, R 5,045 

Link, Pro 277 

9b 



Surveyor — 

Charles Kellsa. D 5,2G5 

G. W. Chandler. R 4,991 

Emery, Pro 281 

Kellsa's plurality, 274. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

Gill, D 5,250 

Ray, R 1,949 

Dixon, Pro 354 

I^mont, People 284 

Gill's plurality, 301. 

Secretary of State — 

Hinrichsen. D 5,238 

Pearson, R 4,954 

Blood, Pro 361 

Killam, People 285 

Hinrichsen's plurality, 284. 



/ 



62p 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Auditor — 

Gore, D 5,236 

Pavey, R 4,953 

Hill, Pro 360 

Noe, People 2S5 

Gore's plurality, 283. 

Attorney General — 

Maloney, D 5,236 

Prince, R 4,950 

Wright, Pro 287 

Cox, People 362 

Maloney's plurality, 286. 

Treasurer — 

Ramsay, D 5,238 

Hertz, R 4,950 

Marshall 287 

McElroy, Pro 360 

Ramsay's plurality, 288. 

Congressmen-at-Large— 

Black, D 5,250 

Hunter, D 5,248 

Willits, R 4,943 

Yates, R 4,947 

Andrews, Pro 283 

Felter, Pro 279 

Harper, People 365 

McDonough, People 359 

Member State Board of Equalization — 

Ross, D 5,239 

Bocock, R 4,941 

McClelland, Pro 269 

Matthews, People 363 

Ross" plurality, 298. 

State Senator — 

L. D. Byers, D 5,231 

Thomas Hamer, R 4,951 

.1. G. Hoopes, Pro 282 

Nelson, People 364 

Byers' plurality, 280. 

ELECTION 1894. 

State Treasurer — 

Henry Wulte, R 5,425 

Bernard J. Claggett, D 4,342 

Howell J. Puterbaugh, Pro 192 

.lohn R. Randolph, People 495 

Orrin L. Mann, Ind. R 16 

WulfE's plurality, 1,083. 



Superintendent of Public Instruction — 

Samuel M. Inglis, R 5,424 

Henry Raab, D 4,341 

.Xicholas T. Edwards, Pro 184 

Lavina E. Roberts, People 493 

C. H. Divilbiss i 

Inglis' plurality, 1,083. 

Trustees University of Illinois — 

Lucy L. Flower, R 6,354 

.\lexander McLean, R 6,338 

Samuel A. BuUard, R 6,338 

Taylor C. Clendenen, D 4,604 

Calvin L. Pleasants, D 4,596 

Julia Holmes Smith, D 4,616 

Rena Michaels Atchison, Pro 380 

Amelia E. Sanford, Pro 374 

Charles H. Merritt, Pro 357 

.lohn C. Tanquary, People 507 

Thomas B. Rinehart, People 507 

Horace M. Gilbert, People 506 

Ebenezer Wakeley, People's Silver 12 

R. A. Wheeler 7 

Flower's plurality, 1,750; McLean's plurality. 
1,742; Bullard's plurality, 1,722. 

Member of Congress — 

Joseph V. Graff, R 5,464 

George O. Barnes, D 4,305 

David MiCCulloch, Pro 186 

William L. Heberling, People 474 

William G. Eggleston, Ind 35 

Graff's plurality, 1,139. 

Representatives — 

John W. Johnson, R 8,212^4 

Jonathan Merriam, R 8,056% 

Lute C. Breeden, D 6,6131/2 

William A. Moore, D 6,363 

George W. Warner, Pro 547V4 

Edward C. Sloan, People 1,583% 

County Judge — 

S. H. Armstrong, R 5,285 

A. M. Barnett, D 4,529 

John H. Gilroy, Pro 168 

Oscar J. Boyer, People 484 

Armstrong's plurality, 756. 

County Clerk — 

W. H. noyer, R 5,316 

Joseph Harmison, D 4,540 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



762q 



Ferdinand Griffith, Pro 149 

riarvey Savill, People 434 

Boyer's plurality, 776. 

County Treasurer — 

J. W. Dodds, R 5,306 

L. M. Donnelly, D 4,505 

N. H. Kane, Pro 166 

Benjamin E. Negley, Peojile 466 

Dodds' plurality, SOI. 

Sheriff— 

J. M. Laws, R 5,362 

J. P. Wolf, D 4,582 

John Emory, Pro 150 

J. Snowden Boyer, People 374 

Laws' plurality, 7S0. 

County Superintendent — 

M. M. Cook, R 5,435 

H. L. Robert, D 4,366 

Edward S. Babcock, Pro 151 

Mrs. Annie W. Thomas, People 471 

Cook's plurality, 1,069. 

ELECTION 1896. 

President — 

McKinley. R 6,185 

Bryan, D 5,924 

Bryan, People's IS 

Palmer, Ind. D 32 

Levering, Pro 88 

Bentley, N 6 

Matchett, S. L 3 

Bryan, M. R 15 

McKinley's plurality, 243. 

Governor — 

Tanner, R 6,183 

Altgeld, D 5,850 

Altgeld, People's 17 

Forman, Ind. D 47 

Gere, Pro 129 

Higgs, N 8 

Baustain, S. L 3 

Tanner's plurality, 316. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

Northcott, R 6,181 

Crawford, D 5,906 

Crawford, People's IS 

Babcock, I. G. D 31 

Kepley, Pro 98 



Kirkpatrick, N 

Davis, S. L 

Lloyd, M. R 

Northcott's plurality, 257. 



3 
14 



Secretary of State — 

Rose, R 6,1S0 

Downing, D 5,910 

Downing, People's IS 

Wiley, I. G. D 31 

Wilson, Pro 97 

Spencer, N 7 

Pepin, S. L 3 

Quelmalz, M. R 14 

Rose's plurality. 252. 

Auditor — 

McCullough, R 6,177 

Maxwell, D 5,909 

Ma.xwell, People's IS 

Brink, I. G. D 31 

Bassett, Pro 97 

Hoopes, N 9 

Helntz, S. L 3 

Dunbar, M. R 14 

McCullough's plurality, 250. 

Treasurer — 

Hertz, R 6,160 

Pace, D. . , 5,919 

Pace, People's 19 

Ridgley, Ind. D 35 

Hayes, Pro 98 

Scott, N s 

Hintze, S. L 3 

Hertz's plurality, 222. 

Attorney General — 

Akin, R 6,174 

Trude, D 5,910 

Trude, P IS 

Samuels, I. G. D 30 

Patton, Pro 98 

Gordon, N 8 

Ehman, S. L 3 

Burdlck, M. R 13 

Akin's plurality, 256. 

Clerk of Supreme Court — 

Cadwallader, R 6,174 

Snively. D <... 5,947 

Snively, P 18 

Cadwallader's majority, 209. 



/^ 



l\- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Cleik of Appellate Court — 

Hippard, R 6.190 

Jones, D 5,93t; 

Jones, P H 

Hippard's majority, 240. 

Member of Congress — 

.Joseph V. Graff, R 6,199 

N. E. w'orthlngton. D .5,790 

Holly, P 153 

Sheen. Pro 89 

Graff's plurality, 409. 

State Board of Equalization — 

W. O. Cadwallader, R 6,167 

M. Cooper, D .5,749 

Winn, Pro 94 

Calwallader's i)lurality. 41 s. 

State Senator — 

W. S. Edwards, R 6,214 

W. E. Moore. D 5,919 

Moore, P 18 

Edwards' plurality. 277. 

Representatives — 

J. Merriam, R 8,994 

J . W. Johnson. R 9.492 

L. C. Breeden, D 8,890% 

S. B. Beer, D 8,975% 

L. 0. Breeden, P 26% 

S. B. Beer, P 29% 

Circuit Clerk — 

R. E. Griffith. R 6,121 

J. D. Breekenridge, D 5,990 

Breekenridge, P 18 

Wolfe, Pro 97 

Griffith's plurality, 113. 

State's Attorney — 

B. M. Chiperfield, R 6,132 

Kinsey Thomas, D 5,994 

Thomas. P 18 

Hall, Pro 88 

Chi|)erfield's plurality, 120. 

Surveyor — 

R. H. Bond, R 6.179 

Thomas Rookin. D 5.93S 

Rookin, P 18 

Bond's majority, 223. 

Coroner — 

R. W. Bovee, R 6,202 

\V. D. Nelson, Jr., D 5,903 



.Velson. P IS 

Hall. Pro 90 

Bovee's jjlurality. 281. 

ELECTION 1898. 

State Treasurer — 

Floyd K. Whittemore. R 5,2!J5 

Millard F. Dunlap, D 5.000 

John W. Hess, P ISO 

William H. Boles, Pro ]06 

Fritz Lichtsin, S. L 13 

Whittemore's plurality, 2S5. 

Superintendent Public Instruction — 

Alfred Bayless, R 5,293 

Perry O. Stiver, D 4,967 

Charles N. Haskins, P 176 

L. T. Reagan. Pro 102 

.lohn Pejim 13 

Bayless' plurality, 326. 

Trustees of the University of Illinois — 

A. F. Nightingale. R 5,31G 

F. L. Hatch, R 5,316 

Alice A. Abbott. R 5,307 

J. E. Seller, D 4,975 

N. B. Morrison, D 4,967 

Julia H. Smith. D 4,983 

A. C. Vantine, P 178 

Mamie Braucher, P 177 

M. E. Walker, P 175 

Mary E. Metzger, Pro 137 

Mary I. Barnes. Pro 133 

C. C. Griffith. Pro 131 

Belle Sole 13 

Anna Dietzgen 14 

G. Renner 14 

Member of Congress — 

J. V. Graff. R 5.406 

C. X. Barnes. D 4.904 

Stephen Martin, Pro 173 

Graff's plurality, 502. 

Representatives — 

John W. Johnson. R 8,115% 

V. J. Albertsen. R 7,722% 

Jesse Black, Jr., D 7,393% 

S. B. Beer, D 7,783% 

Harry C. Holmes, Pro 278% 

(bounty Judge — 
G. L. Miller, R 5.113 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Meredith Walker, D. . . . 

C. C. McLaren, P 

Walker's plurality, 99. 



5,212 
197 



Count.v Clerk — 

H. J. Efnor, R 5,34!^ 

O. J. Moorehouse. D 4,981 

W. C. Gullett, P 173 

Efnor's plurality. 364. 

Sheriff— 

L. C. Fouts. R 5,155 

L. M. Donnelly, D 5,142 

J. A. Jameson. P 276 

Fonts' plurality. 13. 

Uounty Treasurer — 

H. F. Townsend, R 5,172 

T. C. Whitenack, D 5,135 

T. B. Clark, P 19.5 

Townsend's plurality. 37. 

County Superintendent — 

M. M. Cook, R 5,373 

J. R. Rowland. D 4,951 

Mrs. C. McCall Black, P 211 

Cook's plurality, 422. 

ELECTION 1900. 

President — 

McKinley, R 6,130 

Bryan, D 5,762 

Woolley, Pro 143 

Barker, Peo 30 

Maloney, S. L 10 

Debs, S. D 127 

Ellis, U. R. D. L 10 

McKinley's plurality, 368. 

Governor — 

Yates, R 6,109 

Alschuler, D 5,812 

Barnes, Pro 123 

Van Tine, Peo 26 

Hoffman, S. L 9 

Perry, S. D 94 

Cordingly, U. C 7 

Spencer, U. R. D. L 9 

Yates' plurality, 297. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

Northcott. R 6,110 

Perry, D 5,788 



Harris, Pi-o 

Ferris, Peo 

Cox, S. L 

Pierson. S. D 

Thomas, U. C 

Quellmalz, U. R. D. L 

Northcott's plurality, 322. 

Secretary of State — 

Rose, R g 

O'Donnell, D [ 5^ 

Radford, Pro 

Gayer, S. L 

Kerwin, S. D 

Whitehead, U. C 

Mann, U. R. D. L 

Rose's plurality, 333. 

Auditor — 

McCullough, R 6_ 

Parsons, D 5; 

Stone, Pro 

Saylor, Peo 

Martis, S. L 

Wright, S. D 

Struble, U. C 

Kane, U. R. D. L 

McCullough's plurality. 331. 



133 

27 

9 

104 



111 
778 
136 
9 
105 



108 

778 

133 

27 

10 

107 

7 

9 



State Treasurer — 

Williamson, R 6,102 

Dunlap, D 5,7S9 

Tunison, Pro 132 

Cosad, Peo 27 

Allen, S. L 9 

Wienen, S. D 105 

Caverly, U. C 7 

Burnhaus. U. R. D. L 9 

Williamson's plurality, 313. 

Attorney General — 

Hamlin. R 6,107 

Todd. D 5,780 

Regan, Pro 133 

Kilburn, Peo 27 

Boul, S. L 9 

Soelke. S. D 106 

Stephens. U. C 7 

Story, U. R. D. L 9 

Hamlin's plurality. 327. 



Trustees University of Illinois- 
McLean. R 



6,195 



762t 



/ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Bullard, R 6,192 

Alexander, R 6,192 

Bliss, D 5,865 

Schwartz, D 5;864 

Smith, D 5,876 

Stewart, Pro 190 

Harford, Pro 190 

Bittenger, Pro 185 

Brooks, Peo 28 

Scott, Peo 28 

Johnson, Peo 28 

Vasconcellas, S. L 9 

Sauer, S. L 9 

Helgren, S. L 9 

Stedman, S. D 108 

Edwards, S. D 107 

Hlavacek, S. D 108 

Larson, U. C 1 

Struble, U. C 7 

Caverly, U. C 7 

Vehlen, U. R. D. L 13 

MacAfterty, U. R. D. L 13 

Lovett, U. R. D. L 13 

Member of Congress — 

.1. V, Graff, R 6,063 

Jesse Black, D 5,864 

Werener, Pro •■ ■ ■ ■ 121 

Shafer, Peo 24 

Edwards, S. D 97 

Graff's iilurality, 199. 

State Board of Equalization — 

W. O. Cadwallader, R 6,087 

George B. Foster, D 5,809 

Parr, Pro 130 

Sanford, Peo 27 

Ordway, S. D 108 

Cadwallader's plurality, 278. 

State Senator — 

U. J. Albertsen, R ' 6,107 

\V. E. Moore, D 5,785 

Dudnian, Pro 131 

VV. C. Gullett, Peo 26 

Crandall. S. D 108 

Albertsen's plurality, 322. 

Representatives — 

J. W. Johnson, R 9,201 

J. N. Onion, R 9.088 

Len Vandeventer, D 8,698% 

John Hughes, D 8.776 



Alsup. Pro 381 

Keil. Pro ggy^ 

Moore. S. D 276 

Circuit Clerk — 

J. C. Severns, R 6,077 

J . D. Breckenridge, D 5,847 

McClelland, Pro 128 

Lewis Huff i 

Severns' i)lurality. 230. 

State Attorney — 

B. H. Taylor, R 6,0S.J 

M. T. Robison, D 5,861 

Diehl, Pro 126 

Taylor's plurality, 224. 

County Surveyor — 

R. H. Bond, R 6.109 

George W. Hulvey. D 5,821 

Shields, Pro 132 

Bond's plurality, 288. 

Coroner — 

A. C. Gluts. R 6,130 

D. E. Toler, D 5,795 

Breeden, Pro 132 

Gluts plurality, 335. 

ELECTION 1902. 

State Treasurer — 

Fred A. Busse, R 5,095 

George Duddleston. D 4,557 

Charles H. Tuesburg. Pro 177 

A. W. Nelson, Soc 131 

Busse's plurality. 538. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction — 

Alfred Bayliss. R 5,073 

Anson L. Bliss, D 4.492 

Charles A. Blanchard. Pro 169 

J. B. Smiley, Soc 131 

Bayliss' plurality, 581. 

Clerk Supreme Court — 

Christopher Mamer, R 4,961 

John L. Pickering. D 4,587 

Robert H. Harding, Pro 172 

David Roberts, Soc , 131 

Mamer's plurality, 374. 

Trustees University of Illinois — 
Mrs. Laura B. Evans. R 5,052 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



/ 



6211 



William B. McKinley, R 5,064 

L. H. Kerrick, R 5,054 

James E. Wiiite, D 4,505 

Julia Holmes Smith, D 4,480 

John Huston, D. 4,476 

Marie C. Brehm, Pro 219 

Joseph O. Cunningham, Pro 188 

Narcissa D. Akers, Pro 188 

Gertrude B. Hunt, Soc 129 

J. W. Saunders, Soc 125 

Lydia Swanson, Soc 127 

Clerk Appellate Court — 

William C. Hippard, R 5,035 

John H. Baker, D 4,521 

George W. Woolsey, Pro 176 

Hippard's plurality, 514. 

Member of Congress — 

George W. Prince. R 5,056 

Jonas W. Olson, D 4,474 

J. Hoffman Batten, Pro 167 

Homer Whalen, Soc 166 

Prince's plurality, 582. 

State Senator — 

Leon A. Townsend, R 4,992 

John P. Anderson, D 4,482 

Albert D. Metcalf , Pro 160 

J. C. Tate, Soc 120 

Townsend's plurality, 510. 

Representatives — 

Wilfred Arnold. R 5,524 

Burnett M. Chiperfleld, R 6,480 

John Hughes, D 11,265 V2 

Charles A. Heckel. Pro 346 

F. W. Moore, Soc 309% 

Jasper N. Onion. Ind. R 5,764 

County Judge — 

W. Scott Edwards. R 5,067 

John D. OHern, D 4,645 

Edwards' majority, 422. 

County Clerk — 

J. E. Schafer. R 4,891 

Oscar J. Horton, D 4,848 

Schafer's majority, 43. 

Sheriff- 
Albert E. Blain, R 4,726 

J. H. DeWolf, D 5,127 

DeWolf's majority, 401. 



County Treasurer — 

M. H. Cone, R 4 §§3 

Thomas J. Shepley, D 4,880 

Cone's majority, 3. 

County Superintendent of Schools — 

M. M. Cook, R 5 174 

John R. Rowland, D 4^521 

Cook's majority, 653. 

ELECTION 1904. 

President — 

Roosevelt, R 6,373 

Parker, D.- 3 791 

Swallow, Pro 494; 

Debs, S. D 449 

Corrigan, S. L 30 

Watson. Peo 7g 

Holcomb, C 11 

Roosevelt's iilurality. 2,582. 

Governor — 

Deneen, R 6,293 

Stringer, D 3,8SS 

Patton. Pro 493 

Collins, S. D 413 

Veal, S. D 26 

Hogan, P 67 

Specht, C 10 

Deneen's plurality, 2,405. 

Lieutenant Governor — 

Sherman, R 6,257 

Ferns, D 3,823 

Gallup, Pro 486 

Brower, S. D 424 

Koechlin, S. L 26 

Hess, Peo 65 

Kerney. C 10 

Sherman's plurality, 2,434. 

Secretary of State — 

Rose, R 6,271 

Dooling, D 3,894 

Woolsey, Pro 486 

Boswell, S. D 423 

Lewis, S. L 26 

Huff, Peo 66 

Coy, C 11 

Rose's plurality, 2,327. 



Auditor — 
McCullough, 



6,288 



762\- 



HISTORY OF FULTOX COUNTY. 



Spangler, D 3,868 

Joy, Pro 487 

Eisemann, Pro 425 



Johnson, S. L 

Greer, Peo 

Cheney, C 

McCullough's plurality, 2,420. 



26 
67 

11 



Treasurer — 

Small, R 6,267 

Thomas, D 3,891 

Hauna, Pro 493 

Tebbetts, S. . 424 

Renner, S. L 26 

Feuton, Peo 67 

O'Reilly. C 11 

Small's plurality. 2,:i7(;. 



Hugh Greig, Pro 

Harvey Saville, Soc 

Prince's jilurality, 2,284. 

State Board of Equalization- 

•John S. Crittenden, R 

Peter A. Waller, D 

John McClelland, Pro 

S. F. Baker, Soc 

Crittenden's plurality. 2.303. 



506 
413 



6.238 

3,935 

498 

419 



Representatives — 

Wilfred Arnold. R 9.022 

William H. Emerson, R 9,068 

Michael J. Daugherty. D Il,474y2 

Joseph Foster, Pro 1,869% 

John C. Sjodin, Soc 1,136 



Attorney General — 

Stead. R 6,288 

Watson, D 3,874 

Chafin. Pro 489 



Black. S. D 

Jochum. S. L 

Brooks, Peo 

Proctor, C 

Stead's plurality. 2.414. 



422 
26 
66 
12 



Trustees University of Illinois — 

Mary E. Busey. R 6,293 

Charles Davison. R 6,298 

William L. Abbott. R 6,292 

Fred B. Merrills, D 3,870 

Theo. C. Loehr, D 3,867 

Hannah C. Solomon. D 3,872 

Lucie B. Ty ng, Pro 557 

Edgar S. Nethercutt, Pro 547 

Marie C. Brehm, Pro 556 

Gertrude B. Hunt. Soc 430 

May Wood Simons. Soc 430 

W. S. Dalton, Soc 429 



Maria MoUberg. S. L 

Olive M. Johnson. S. L. . 

Walter Goss, S. L 

Wesley G. Gullett. Peo. . 

John Tate, Peo 

Laura Power. Peo 

Dan L. Latimer, C 

Fred F. Beth, C 

Henry G. Zimmerman, C. 



26 
26 
28 
68 
66 
66 
11 
11 
11 



Member of Congress — 

George W. Prince. R 6,235 

Meredith Walker. D 3,951 



Circuit Clerk — 

James M. Laws. R 5.953 

Jesse W. Strong, D 4,263 

Clifford Sullivan. Soc 389 

C. J. Howard, Pro 484 

Laws' plurality, 1,690. 

State's Attorney — 

W. S. Jewell. R 5,893 

Marvin T. Robinson, D 4,376 

Bert D. Sullivan, Soc 368 

M. W. Vose, Pro 490 

Jewell's plurality, 1,517. 

Coroner — 

Willis T. Zeigler, R 6.202 

Charles D. Snively, D 4,021 

Allen P. Gillett, Soc 416 

W. T. Branson. Pro 475 

Zeigler's plurality, 2,181. 

County Surveyor — 

Richard H. Bond, R 6,144 

C. E. Dickson, D 4,070 

Ralph W. Poe, Soc 421 

John W. McClelland, Pro 485 

Bond's plurality. 2,074. 

ELECTION 1906. 

State Treasurer — 

.Tames F. Smulski. R 3,831 

Nicholas L. Piotrowski, D 3,423 

William P. Allin. Pro 1.356 

Wilson E. McDurmut, Soc 437 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



762 w 



/ 



John M. Francis, Soc.-Labor. 
Smulski's plurality, 408. 



47 



Superintendent of Public Instruction — 

Francis G, Blair. R 4,373 

Caroline Grote. D 3,751 

Augustin L. Whitcomb, Pro 500 

May Wood Simmons, Soc 381 

Phillip Veal, Soc.-Labor 43 

Blair's plurality, G22. 



Trustees University of Illinois — 

Carrie T. Alexander. R 4 

Frederick L. Hatch, R 4 

Alexander McLean, R 4 

Anna E. Nieholes. D 3 

Fred B. Merrills, D 3 

.Tohn S. Cuneo, D 3 

Eva Munson Smith, Pro 

Eva Marshall Shontz. Pro 

Finis Idleman, Pro 

Gertrude Brestau Hunt, Soc 

Corrinne S. Brown, Soc 

A. M. Simons, Soc 

Tobias M. Davis, Soc.-Labor 

Walter Goss, Soc.-Labor 

Frank Ahlberg, Soc.-Labor 

Lewis L. Lehman, R 4 

J. D. Miller, D 3 



36G 
329 
,347 
755 
743 
,602 
555 
550 
542 
380 
376 
374 
41 
39 
42 
,406 
811 



Member of Congress — 

George W. Prince. R 4,418 

Hiram N. Wheeler, D 3,855 

R. V. Meigs, Pro 444 

Sam .Jessup. Soc 376 

Prince's plurality, 663. 

State Senator — 

Charles F. Hurburgh, R 4,081 

Thomas J. Shepley, D 3,969 

Willis W. Vose, Pro 546 

J. C. SJodin, Soc 360 

Hurburgh's plurality, 112. 

Representatives — 

Burnett M. Chiperfield, R 5,959 

Edward .J. King, R 5,278 

Michael J, Daugherty. D 9,783 

Albert D. Metcalf. Pro 5,611io 

E. Cliff Sullivan, Soc 1,023 

County .Judge — 

U. G. Butcher, R 3,363 

John D. Breckenridge, D 3,724 

William P. Miles. Pro 275 



Harvey Savill, Soc 289 

W. Scott Edwards, Ind 2,484 

Breckenridge's plurality. 361. 

County Clerk — 

M. H. Cone, R 3,670 

Oscar Horton. D 4,723 

A. Oliver Rice, Pro 466 

James Howarth, Soc 314 

Horton's plurality, 1.053. 

Sheriff- 
George Morrow, R 3,964 

William H. Basel, D 4,543 

John McClelland, Pro 405 

William Ronk, Soc 363 

Basel's plurality, 579. 

County Treasurer — 

H. D. Young, R 4.004 

George Wilson, D 4,336 

William T. Branson. Pro 432 

George VanNortwick, Soc 360 

Wilson's plurality, 332. 

County Superintendent — 

M. M. Cook, R 4.674 

John M. Wilkins, D . . .• 3,840 

Lawrence G. Yeoman, Soc 380 

Cook's plurality. 834. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



SOME NOTABLE EVENTS IN FULTON COUNTY HI.S- 
TORY — C'0U.\TV-SE.\T CO.NTESTS — BUR.NIXO OF THE 

COUNTY COUHT HOUSE A SEN.SATIONAL TRIAL 

FOR ARSON — A REMINISCENCE OF CIVIL WAR 
HEBIOI) — THREATENED RESISTANCE TO .\N ANTICI- 
PATED DRAFT — STATEMENT OF THE PROVOST MAR- 
SHAL — LAND RECORDS — SMALLPOX AND CHOLER.\ 
VISITATIONS — SOME LOCAL STORMS — FIRST WHITE 
CHILDREN BORN IN THE COl'NTY. 

County-Seat Contests. — Since the establish- 
ment Of the seat of county government at Lew- 



762 X 



/ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



istowii in 1823 several attempts have been 
made to change the location to Canton and to 
Cuba. Prior to the Constitution of 1870 applica- 
tion tor a change of location of the seat of 
county government had to be made directly to 
the Legislature. The first attempt to remove 
the county-seat from Lewistown was In 1838, 
when an effort was made to induce the Legis- 
lature to move the county-seat to Centerville, 
as Cuba was then called. A petition asking for 
the removal and a counter petition against re- 
moval were submitted to the Legislature. The 
Legislature refused to take any action in the 
matter. Joel Solomon and Lorenzo Bivins led 
the flght for removal and Newton Walker and 
Hugh LeMasters looked after the interests o( 
Lewistown. In 1844 another attempt was made 
to induce the Legislature to remove the county- 
seat, but it again failed. Afterward an attempt 
was made to divide the county east and west 
between townships five and six north. This 
also failed. In the Constitution of 1848 was 
inscribed a clause providing that counties 
could not be divided where either portion would 
be less than four hundred square miles in area, 
and this prevented any division of P^ilton 
County. For more than thirty years the ques- 
tion never again reach'ed the battle line, but 
in 1878 an attempt was made to remove the 
county-seat to Canton. 

Under the Constitution of 1870 it required 
a three-fifths vote, as Canton was a trifle far- 
ther from the geographical center of the county 
than Lewistown. The election following was 
one of the fiercest battles of ballots conceiva- 
ble. The election was held a week after the 
regular November election of that year. 
Charges and counter charges of corruption 
were made by each side, but nothing was done 
to investigate alleged corruption. There were 
cast 4,785 ballots for and 4,349 ballots against 
the removal. Ten years later, 1888, an at- 
tempt was made to remove the county-seat to 
Cuba. The citizens of Cuba made an heroic 
fight, but it was a forlorn hope from its very 
inception. Therefore, for more than eighty 
years Lewistown has remained the shire- 
town of Fulton County. 

Burning of the Court House. — On the night 
of December 13, 1894,* or rather in the early 



•The date here given correctfl error on piiEe 764, which 
erroneously refers to the burning of the Fulton Court 
House as ha\nng occurred in 18!i,5 instead of J894, 



moniing of the 14th, the Fulton County Court 
House, erected in lS3ti under the supervision 
of Major Newton Walker, was discovered on 
fire. Circuit Court was pending at the time and 
had adjourned on the evening of the 13th at 
the usual hour for the day. The building was 
luactically destroyed. Fortunately but few 
valuable books and papers were in the build- 
ing at the time, the books of record and files 
of the County Clerk and Circuit Clerk and ex- 
officio Recorder being in a separate building 
used by those officials. 

Some of the circumstances attending the 
fire suggested that it was the work of incendi- 
aries, but nothing developed in the matter tor 
several months and the incident was appar- 
ently forgotten. However, during the summer 
following a detective agency in Chicago was 
employed by some citizens of Canton and vi- 
cinity to make an investigation. An operator 
was sent into the county with the result that 
Frank (alias Chase) Henry, O. Baughman and 
Ellis Brown were induced to pay a visit to 
Chicago, and while there confessions were ob- 
tained from each of them reciting the alleged 
details of the burning of the court house. This 
was to the effect that while Brown held a lad- 
der leading to the attic of the court house Hen- 
ry climbed up and started the fire in the attic, 
and that Henry and Brown received as com- 
pensation for the work a sum of money al- 
leged to have been collected by general sub- 
scription and paid over to them by Baughman. 
These three were indicted for arson. At the 
trial of the case against Henry, Baughman and 
Brown .Judge Jefferson Orr presided. The al- 
leged confessions were not admitted in evi- 
dence by the Judge on the ground that they 
were obtained under duress and through fear. 
The prosecution had no other evidence on 
which to base a conviction. The jury were 
instructed by the court to acquit the defend- 
ants. Following this trial C. E. Snively, of 
Canton; Joseph E. Parley (the latter proprie- 
tor of the detective agency) and Ed Clark, one 
of the operators, both of Chicago, and Ben 
Buckley, a Galesburg detective, were indicted 
for imprisonment to compel confessions. The 
allegation was that Mr. Snively and Mr. Buck- 
ley had conspired with Farley to get Baugh- 
man, Brown and Henry to Chicago and that 
while there Farley obtained the confessions by 
the usual "sweat-box" methods. Farley and 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



/ 



627 



Clark were tried on this charge in McDonough 
County on change of venue. Clarli was ac- 
quitted and Farley was found guilty and fined 
$1,000 by the jury. The verdict, however, was 
set aside by Judge Charles J. Scofield, who 
presided, on the ground that there was no 
proof to sustain the verdict, and the case was 
never reheard and the cases against the other 
defendants were dismissed. 

This is the story as appears from the rec- 
ords, devoid of all comment. Those who are 
interested in learning the contention of either 
side to the controversy can readily obtain the 
facts from the newspaper files of the county. 
The matter was a very bitter and sanguinary 
battle, lasting several months, and it would 
serve no useful purpose here to attempt to an- 
alyze the situation as presented at the time. 
That must be left to some future historian, 
who can present the matter without being sub- 
.iected to the accusation of biased judgment. 

Reminisce.nce.s of Civil W.\r Period. — During 
the Civil War (1860-64) a small company ot 
cavalrymen was detailed by the War Depart- 
ment for service in Fulton County. The detail 
was made at the request of Capt. William 
Phelps, who was at the time Acting Provost 
Marshal. Considerable opposition to the man- 
ner in which the war was being conducted, if 
not to the war itself, was being manifested in 
many portions of the county. Resistance to 
the "draff and encouragement to deserters 
were the chief indictments against the anti- 
war following in the county. The causes that 
led up to the detailing of the cavalry company, 
composed of Germans, and hence colloquially 
spoken of as the "Dutch cavalry," is best set 
forth by the Acting Provost Marshal himself 
in a communication to the county press at the 
time In response to criticism of his conduct as 
an officer. This communication is as follows: 

"In view of the troubles existing at this time 
in the southern portion of Fulton County and to 
allay any unnecessary apprehension therefrom, 
and also for the purpose of correcting evils and 
misunderstandings naturally growing out of 
vague rumors and unfounded reports, many of 
which are afloat in the community in relation 
to the late military proceedings enacted in 
south Fulton. I deem it due to the public that 
a fair and candid statement of the matter 
should be made, in order that all may under- 



stand the basis upon w^iich troops were called 
into the county, their action since their arrival 
and when their mission will have been ful- 
filled. 

"It is a fact well known to the public that 
there has been, for several weeks past, a de- 
termined armed resistance, accompanied with 
violent threats, against the execution of the 
enrolled law in some of the townships in this 
county. The first noticeable demonstration of 
this spirit was manifested in Pleasant Town- 
ship and was of so violent a character as to 
compel Luke Elliott, the clerk duly appointed 
by William McComb, the enrolling officer of 
this county, to abandon the work. After some 
delay and much parleying the enrollment was 
completed without further serious opposition by 
another appointee. This spirit of resistance 
was caught up by the citizens of Isabel Town- 
ship and culminated in a more formidable and 
determined resistance than had been exhibited 
in Pleasant, and finally terminated in intimi- 
dating one and taking the enrolling books of 
another of the officers by armed force and with 
threats that no man should enroll the town- 
ship except at the peril of his life. 

"In addition to this there was manifested a 
bitter hostility to the arrest and return of de- 
serters from the army — so much so that desert- 
ers to the number of fifteen to twenty-five, en- 
couraged by this spirit, had for some time past 
been encamped in the open field and at other 
jilaces of rendezvous, with the avowed purpose 
of resisting any attempt which might be made 
by the authorities to arrest them. Not only 
this, a large number of the citizens of Isabel 
were in the habit of drilling and performing 
other military duty, with no other avowed pur- 
Ijose than to prepare to resist the enrollment. 
This being the condition of things, it was mani- 
fest to the Provost Marshal that he and his 
little force were not able to enforce the law and 
bring the offenders to justice. 

"The Provost Marshal of the district, being 
informed of the condition of affairs in the 
county, visited it, and by his direction a small 
force of cavalry (sixty-one in number), with 
one six-pounder, was ordered Into the county 
for the purpose, and no other, of enforcing the 
enrollment of Isabel Township and for the ar- 
rest of deserters and other individuals against 
whom legal process had been issued. This 
force arrived and encamped at Duncan's Mills, 



/ 



627. 



HISTORY OF FULTOX COUNTY. 



five miles south of Lewistown, on the 13th inst. 
Al5out 12 o'clock that same night, this force 
being divided into three squads of ten men 
each — leaving the remainder to guard the gun 
and take charge of prisoners, should any be 
arrested— started with their respective officers 
for three different points in the same neigh- 
borhood, viz: Charles Brown's, John Lane's 
and .John Graham's. The first visit made by 
either of the squads was at Charles Brown's. 
The officer, taking two men wit^ him, went to 
the house and, after knocking at the door and 
making his business known, entered the house 
and arrested John and Benjamin F. Brown, who 
were in bed, no opposition of any kind being 
made. These two prisoners were put in 
charge of two soldiers and sent to camp, while 
the officer with the remainder of his men 
joined those who were at John Lane's. Here 
eight of the company were detailed to sur- 
round the house and barn of Mr. Lane. The 
officer then knocked at the door, made his busi- 
ness known and demanded admittance, which 
being refused, five minutes were given in which 
to comply, at the expiration of which no com- 
pliance being made, the door was forced in and 
three soldiers entered the house. There were 
nine men in the house, all armed. -Two double- 
barreled shotguns, one rifle, three revolvers, 
one double-barreled pistol, all loaded, and, one 
bowie knife were also found In the house. 
I'pon a demand to deliver up their weapons, 
and surrender all complied except Aaron 
Bechelhimer and John Alexander, including 
James Lane, who first drew a revolver and aft- 
erwards surrendered. Bechelhimer and Alex- 
ander were in a back room and as the soldiers 
api)roached Bechelhimer. offering resistance, 
was caught by a soldier and thrown out of a 
window, when he was instantly arrested by 
another soldier. Alexander, in the meantime, 
who had been ordered several times to surren- 
der, attempted to draw a revolver and was 
standing with one hand upon the collar of his 
coat and the other in the act of drawing his 
weajjon, when he was shot in the left breast by 
a soldier and the revolver taken from him. Of 
the number in the house Piatt and James Lane 
were arrested, the latter of whom escaped; also 
Aaron Bechelhimer and Marshall Athey, two 
deserters, and John Lane, who was afterwards 
released by the Provost Marshal. 

The third squad, composed of ten men. had 



gone to John Graham's on a like errand (to ar- 
rest deserters), and also to arrest Graham, 
against whom charges had been preferred be- 
fore the proper tribunal. Here, as at the other 
places, the officer in command kno.cked at the 
door and made known his business. Graham 
replied that no deserters were in the house, 
and that he was alone. Search was made at 
his barn for deserters, but without success. De- 
mand was again made for entrance in his house 
and refused, when the door was forced open. 
No men were found in the lower story. Edward 
Trumbull, who was one of the squad, opened a 
door leading to a narrow stairway and with a 
candle in his hand attempted to go upstairs, 
when he was fired upon by John Graham, the 
ball inflicting a slight wound in Trumbull's 
breast, and passing down, lodged in his thigh, 
causing a severe flesh wound. At the same 
time a shot was fired from the porch which 
barely missed Van Meter. Graham still refus- 
ing to surrender, a guard was placed around his 
house and a messenger sent to the Captain of 
the company at Duncan's to bring up the artil- 
lery. At this, and when Graham discovered 
what he was contending against ( for. as he 
said, up to this time he supposed it to be 
Phelps and his posse), he finally surrendered, 
and, with Joseph Brown, was taken prisoner. 

"These are the facts, as related by the offi- 
cers of the several squads, upon which I rely 
with the utmost confidence. The prisoners, 
nine in number, were brought by the cavalry to 
Lewistown, where they remained until the aft- 
ernoon train, when seven (two being released 
by the Marshal) were sent to the Provost Mar- 
shal of the district, to be by him delivered over 
to the United States District Marshal of this 
State, to be tried by the civil authorities ui)on 
the charges preferred against them. 

"From present indications it is hoped and be- 
lieved that the law will be enforced, the enroll- 
ment made and deserters arrested without any 
resistance, and when this fact is clearly dem- 
onstrated the military force now in the county 
will be withdrawn, and not until then. 

"I have been thus particular in collecting and 
detailing the tacts connected with this transac- 
tion, which have been gathered from eye-wit- 
nesses, and other facts, some of which have 
come under my own observation and that of 
numerous other citizens of the county, for the 
purpose of guarding the people against false 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



762:1a 



reports, and that they may understand the true 
condition of affairs in Fulton County. The ex- 
citement which followed the arrest by the mili- 
tary and the demonstration of six or seven hun- 
dred armed citizens exhibited in the environs of 
Lewistown within eight hours thereafter, needs 
no comment from me, but of itself is sufficient 
apology for an armed force being quartered in 
our midst. William Phelps, 

"Provost Marsh Fulton County. 
"Lewistown, August 17, 1863." 

L.\M> Rixoiiiis. — The first land records of Ful- 
ton County real-estate were kept at Edwards- 
ville, the capital of Madison County, of which 
Pulton County was then a part. Afterward in- 
struments were filed in Pike County. A tran- 
script of these records from Madison and Pike 
Counties is contained in Volumes A, B and C 
of the land records of the county, and were 
transcribed from the records of Madison and 
Pike Counties in 1845 by Fitch I. Porter. As 
shown in these three volumes, 2,155 instru- 
ments were recorded. Transfer No. 1, in Vol- 
ume A, shows a conveyance of Fulton County 
property and purports to convey thirty-four and 
one-fourth sections of land, or 6,080 acres, but 
the instrument filed shows only three quarter- 
sections of Fulton County lands were conveyed, 
and these are as follows: Northeast quarter of 
Section 30, in Range 6 North of 2 East and 
southeast of Section 33, in Range 7 North of 4 
East, and northeast quarter of Section 9. in 
Range 4 North of 2 East. This conveyance 
was from Aaron T. Crane, of Washington, D. 
C, to Edmond Dana. John Quincy Adams, as 
Secretary of State, certified to the official posi- 
tion of the officer taking the acknowledgment. 

The first volume of records after the organi- 
zation of Fulton County is known as Volume 
No. 1, and the first transfer of lands recorded 
therein is No. 2,156, and was from Ashbel Por- 
ter, of the State of New York, to Sherlock Wil- 
lard. It conveyed the southeast quarter of Sec- 
tion S. in Range 10 North of 7 East, which is 
now Elmwood Township, Peoria County. This 
instrument was dated Februao' 4. 1S22, and was 
filed by the grantee December IS, 1S24, and was 
delivered to Stephen Dewey. The second and 
third entries likewise show transfer of Peoria 
Count}' lands. The fourth, or instrument No. 
2,159, was the first instrument transferring Ful- 
ton County lands filed after the organization of 
the county. This instrument conveyed the 



northwest quarter of Section 2, in Range 7 
North of 2 East, in Fulton County, and lands 
also in Peoria and McDonough Counties. The 
next instrument filed was a conveyance of 120 
acres in Buckheart Township, a part of the 
southwest quarter of Section 5, in Range 6 
North and 4 East, from Ossiam M. Ross to John 
Eveland. and the next conveyance bearing the 
same date was from David Gallatine, conveying 
140 acres of the same quarter-section to Eve- 
land. The twenty-first instrument, filed after 
the organization of Fulton County, was under 
date of March 24, 1825, and was the town plat 
of the town of Waterford, one of the "paper 
towns" of the county. J. N. Ross was the Sur- 
veyor who made the plat. The total number of 
instruments filed for record up to this date 
number near 170,000. 

PL.\Gt'ES. — The people of Fulton County have 
been singularly free from scourges. Smallpox 
has frequently visited various parts of the 
county in more or less malignant form, but has 
been suppressed as quickly as it was practical 
to do so. The most virulent visitation of small- 
pox to the county was in ISSl at Cuba, where 
two or three persons died and many persons 
were dreadfully ill from the disease. The most 
calamitous scourge which ever visited the 
county was the cholera in 1849. This disease 
first broke out in New Orleans in 1S4S and 
gradually worked its way up the river to St. 
Louis, and on up to Fulton County by way of 
the Illinois River. It first broke out in Liver- 
pool in July, 1849. The first victim was Robert 
Summers, who is said to have visited on an 
Illinois River steamboat a man suffering from 
cholera. In two days he was taken with the 
cholera and died. It is asserted that in making 
a coffin to inter the body the carpenter made it 
too short and thus the burial was delayed two 
days and the remains left exposed during that 
time. Mrs. Summers, the wife, took the dis- 
ease and died, as did three of Summers' chil- 
dren, wiping out the entire family. Immediate- 
ly after the death of the Summers children the 
Summers residence was burned to the ground 
in the hope of staying the ravages of the dis- 
ease. The contagion lasted but about one week 
and was limited to a sparsely settled district of 
Liverpool Township, yet within that time there 
were thirteen deaths. Several persons had the 
disease, but recovered. Two years later the 
disease again appeared in the county, but this 



762bb 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



time further south. On this occasion the dis- 
ease was contracted at Sharp's Landing, on the 
Illinois River, south of Astoria. The disease 
raged In Vermont and Astoria Townships, and 
reached as far north as Farmers Township. 
There were probably one hundred cases all 
told. Esquire J. Langston, of Vermont, was the 
first to die. This was in June. 1S51, but it was 
not known that he had died of cholera. The 
coffin containing the remains was opened at 
the church where the funeral was held, and 
thus the disease got a good start. In all prob- 
ably forty or fifty persons died of the disease 
before it ran its course or was suppressed. The 
act of heroism by some, cowardice in others 
and the pall of sadness and gloom prevalent in 
scourge-stricken communities were present in 
all the awful sadness of such times. 

Loc.\L Storms. — Fulton County has been vis- 
ited since its settlement by two tornadoes, one 
In 1835 and one in 1876. The first is known 
as the Canton storm, and occurred the night of 
the 18th of June, 1835. This storm seems to 
have first struck the earth about midway be- 
tween Fairview and Canton, passing southeast. 
The village of Canton was in the pathway of 
the storm and of all the buildings in the village 
of Canton at that time but two remained unin- 
jured. The storm practically demolished the 
entire town. There were about five hundred 
residents in Canton at the time. The founder 
of the town, Isaac Swan, was killed, being 
crushed beneath the fallen timbers of his own 
home; also his infant son was killed. There 
were other persons killed, three or four in the 
village of Canton and one or two in the country. 

In 1876 a cyclojie, iirobably one hundred 



yards in width, passed northeasterly through 
Vermont Township. It blew down several 
houses and killed one man in the village of Ver- 
mont. These two tornadoes were local and 
seem to have gathered and spent their force 
wholly within the limits of the county. There 
have been many violent wind storms which de- 
stroyed much property and growing crops, nota- 
bly one of June 10, 1902. But these were all 
"straight" wind storms, blowing at a terrific 
gale. 

The climatic conditions, which were general 
in their nature, are treated generally in this 
work under proper topical headings, and have 
no place here, but it is well to note that the 
deep snow of 1830-31, beginning December 29, 
1830, and continuing until February 2, 1831, was 
one of the hardships to be endured by the early 
pioneers of the county. The snow averaged 
above three feet in depth for nearly two 
months. As this was only a few years after the 
first settlement of the county, conditions to en- 
dure such a siege were not favorable and in- 
tense suffering resulted. The temperature that 
prevailed was very low, reaching as low as 23 
degres below zero on February 7th of that year. 

First White Children Borx ox Fultox 
County Soil. — The first child born to white 
parents on Fulton County soil was Abner C. 
Barnes, who died in Bushnell, 111., about fifteen 
years ago. He was the son of D. \V. Barnes, 
one of the earliest settlers of the county. The 
first white female child born in the county was 
Lucinda C. Ross, daughter of Ossiam M. Ross. 
She afterward married William Kellogg, who 
for years was Congressman from the Fulton 
district. 



BIOaii^^^LPHICAL 



[The following items of personal and family liistory 
having been arranged in encyclopedic (or alphabetical) 
order as to names of the individual subjects, no special 
index to this part of the worlt will be found necessary.] 

ABBOTT, Daniel. — One of two elementals 
make the successful lawyer — great talent or 
great industry. Emerging from the former con- 
dition are the minority, who lend brilliancy and 
color and emphasis to a profession resting upon 
the dry roclcs of fact, while to the latter and 
predominating class is given the task of up- 
holding the solid pillars of jurisprudence, and 
of maintaining, when guided by the ideals 
which animated the framers of the old Roman 
Cincia law, those inviolable tenets which secure 
the greatest justice and the greatest liberty to 
the society of mankind. No other occupation, 
save agriculture and banking, strikes so deeply 
into the roots of the commonwealth. But neith- 
er of these presents the latitude for moral di- 
gression, for intricate and questionable inter- 
pretation, vouchsafed the learned disciple of le- 
gal science. It is for this reason that the man 
of principle, of steady application and unswerv- 
able purpose, leads in the matter of really su- 
perior compensation, and like considerations 
prevail in estimating the value of the career 
of Daniel Abbott, identified with professional 
affairs in Canton since March, 186G. Mr. Ab- 
bott is one of the legal bulwarks of the town 
and county, his age, important services, fine 
personal appearance and well stored mind con- 
tributing to a whole of great practical impor- 
tance to the community. 

Mr. Abbott, who is the present City Magis- 
trate of Canton, represents a pioneer family of 
Fulton County, established here in 1S37 by his 
father. .John W. Abbott. The latter was born 
in Pittsburg. Pa., December 12, 1S12, a 
son of Richard Abbott, of English ancestry, 
and also born in the Quaker State. Late in life 
the grandfather moved to Scott County, Indi- 
ana, whence his son, John Wesley, came to 
Fulton County, married the same year Chris- 
tina Babbitt, daughter of Daniel Babbitt, of 
Indiana, and settled in Farmington, where Dan- 
iel Abbott was born May 21, 183S. Not long af- 
terward John Wesley returned to Indiana, and 
upon again locating in Fulton County, in 1847. 
settled on a farm in Farmington Township, and 
in 1865 moved to a farm in Joshua Township, 
where his death occurred in 1S77. His wife, 
who was born in ISIS, survived him until 1901. 

On the paternal farm in Farmington Town- 
ship Daniel Abbott gained that abounding 



health and clear mentality that accompany hard 
muscles, good digestion and sound sleep. At 
the same time he developed tendencies and am- 
bitions which would mitigate against the best 
results in farming. This inclination to a more 
strenuous life was strengthened during his stu- 
dent days in the public schools at Farmington 
and at Lombard University, Galesburg, 111., 
which he attended two years. Beginning with 
1859 he read law for two and a half years, and 
in January, ISCG, was admitted to practice at 
the bar of Illinois. Locating in Canton the fol- 
lowing March he began the professional career 
which has added strength and standing to the 
town, and has set an example of hope and en- 
couragement to those struggling toward the 
same worthy ends. In 18G9 he formed a part- 
nership with C. L. Henkle in real estate, loans, 
etc., which continued until 1SS5, and later with 
his father-in-law, Andrew J. Shepley, and to 
this business he has given the same faithful and 
conscientious attention which has characterized 
his discharge of professional obligations. 

Since old enough to form political opinions 
Mr. Abbott has helped to maintain the princi- 
ples of the Democratic party. It was on this 
ticket that he was elected State's Attorney in 
1872, re-elected to the same office in 1S7G, and 
was Mayor of Canton during two terms, 1S75 
and 1S7G. He also has represented the Fourth 
Ward in the City Council, and at one time was 
Supervisor of Canton Township. Many other 
offices of local importance have profited by his 
good judgment and understanding of municipal 
needs. In April, 1904, he succeeded to his pres- 
ent office of City Magistrate. 

As a lawyer Mr. Abbott has a thorough 
knowledge of the technicalities of law and their 
application, as undertaken by the general rather 
than special practitioner. Clear and logical in 
presenting a case to a jury, he is keen in locat- 
ing the weak points in the armor of his antago- 
nist, and sixty-seven years have not robbed him 
of a commanding presence, eloquence of word 
and gesture, and fine grasp of the amenities and 
obligations of his position. His efforts have 
brought wealth and high social standing in 
their train, and he includes among his friends 
representative men in many walks of life 
throughout the county. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the Masons and Independent Order 
of Elks. 

On November 12, 1863, Mr. Abbott married 
Amelia W. Weller, who was born in Ogle Coun- 
ty, 111., a daughter of Daniel and Mary Weller. 



764 



HISTORY OF FULTOX COUNTY. 



Mrs. Abbott, who died in March, 18S1, left four 
children: Charles D., Frances M., John C. and 
Grace. On February 15, 1SS3, Mr. Abbott mar- 
ried Alice A. Shepley, daughter of Andrew J. 
Shepley, the latter a son of one of the very early 
pioneers of the county and the business part- 
ner of Mr. Abbott. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are 
the parents of the following children: Frances 
M., wife of J. S. Conlilin; J. C, Grace, Lyle S. 
and Leslie V. 

ABERNATHY, Judge Addison D.— That agri- 
culture can be made one of the most agreeable 
and satisfying occupations of human life, that 
industry and good judgment and perseverance 
transform one's dreams into realities, and that 
honesty and fair-mindedness are among the 
most useful of human assets, are facts empha- 
sized in the life of Addison Abernathy, whose 
career has been identified with Fulton County 
for the past seventy-three years, and who, as 
farmer and local Judge, has exerted an in- 
fluence second to none of the upbuilders of 
Farmers Township. 

At a very early stage in American history 
the Abernathy family was established in Vir- 
ginia, where were born James, John and Polly 
Abernathy, the father and grandparents of 
Addison, and whence the family removed to 
Ross County, Ohio, while James still was a 
small boy. After reaching maturity, the latter 
married Hannah Throckmorton, and continued 
his occupation as a farmer in Ross County, 
where Addison, the third oldest, and one of the 
four survivors of his parents' nine children, 
was born August 25, 1829. The other surviv- 
ing children are three sisters — Ann Maria, 
Nancy Emeline and Susan. The family later 
lived tor a time in Montgomery County, Ind., 
but in 1S34 made the memorable trip to Fulton 
County, coming overland with wagons and 
four-horse teams, that they might easily cross 
the Bernadotte hill, of which they had heard 
much, but the size of which had been greatly 
exaggerated. Settling on Section 33, Farmer 
Township, they found a small area fenced in, 
a small log cabin built, and a little patch of 
hemp sown. Flax soon succeeded the hemp, 
and from this the mother made the clothes for 
her family, and later wheat, corn and oats 
yielded their share of profit. From this small 
and insignificant beginning there developed a 
large country Interest, for James Abernathy 
was ambitious and resourceful, fitting his abili- 
ties in the needs of a new community with grati- 
fying results. In time he owned and operated 
800 acres of land, and was largely engaged in 
raising and feeding cattle and hogs, for which, 
in earlier times, he had also the wide ranges 
of government land not yet appropriated by 
settlers, or which was owned, but not used, by 
Eastern capitalists. The absolute necessities 
brought from the soil were followed by the re- 
finements and luxuries of farming, and when 
Addison was still a small lad, frequent trips 
were made to Sangamon County for peaches 



and apples, the seeds of which were planted 
and the shoots subsequently transplanted to de- 
velope an orchard. In setting out these embryo 
trees, the elder Abernathy though them much 
too far apart, but he lived to see their branches 
intermingled over the orchard pathways. The 
three sons were each given a tree to plant, and 
the one selected by Addison survived longest 
the extremes of weather, and, like its owner, 
remained a witness to the startling changes 
which followed in the footsteps of the depart- 
ing Indians. 

James Abernathy, the father, was a generous, 
whole-souled man, cautious in his business deal- 
ings, and a thorough optimist. He never was 
heard to complain about the weather, taking 
storm and sunshine for granted, and bowing to 
the inevitable decree of nature. He was born 
October 6, 1798, and died January 20, 1882; his 
wife, born August 17, 1797, died June 8, 1873. 
Of their children. John and William died on 
the old farm in early life, the latter in 1854; 
Elizabeth became the wife of G. W. Powell, 
both now deceased; Ann M. is the wife of D. 
W. Wilson, of Table Grove; Mary E. is the 
widow of William M. Hodges, of New Salem 
Township, McDonough County; Nancy E. is 
on the old home place; Matilda became the wife 
of William Beckwith, and died in Eldorado 
Township, McDonough County; and Susan is 
the wife of D. B. Gregory, of Bardolph, 111. 
James Abernathy was a stanch supjjorter of the 
Democratic party, and held many offices of im- 
liortance in the township. In religion he was 
identified with the Christian Church, and un- 
less sickness prevented, was always to be found 
in his pew on the Sabbath day. 

Addison Abernathy has lived on his present 
farm ever since the family moved to Fulton 
County. He now has 365 acres of land — a com- 
paratively small farm for him, as he has pro- 
vided homes for all his children, as they at- 
tained maturity, out of his original farm. He 
has seen the district rise from primitive condi- 
tions to wonderful prosperity; has seen homes 
established and their owners pass beyond the 
ken of those who knew them; has witnessed the 
departure of the old-time implements and the 
installment of those which obliterate the grind- 
ing drudgery of an earlier day. True to the 
traditions of his family, he is a Democrat 
Ijolitically, and besides holding several town- 
ship offices of importance, has served many 
years as Justice of the Peace. During that time 
he maintained the dignity and true merit of 
law, dispensing decisions impartially and wisely, 
and meeting with surprisingly little criticism. 
But one decision rendered by him was ever 
reversed by a higher court. 

On November 14, 1904, Mr. Abernathy was 
called upon to sustain an irreparable loss 
through the death of his wife, whom he married 
August 9. 1851. and who formerly was Kitty 
Ann Harris, born August 27, 1831, the daughter 
of Isaac and Jane (Swearingen) Harris, the 
former of whom was the first settler in Ver- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



76s 



mont, Fulton County, and built the first three 
houses in the village. The Swearingen's were 
of Revolutionary stock, and for years pursued 
their various occupations in the vicinity of 
Wheeling, W. Va. There the paternal grand- 
parents at one time were on horseback, when 
attacked by Indians, and the grandmother was 
mortally wounded, while the grandfather rode 
as rapidly as possible towards the fort, thus 
saving his life. When picked up by men sent 
to search for her, the grandmother's scalp had 
been removed, but she still was conscious and 
able to utter a few words. 

Mrs. Abernathy is recalled as a high-minded, 
Christian woman, a veritable boon in sickness, 
and the soul of hospitality when the country 
afforded few social advantages. Of her five 
sons and one daughter, James J. is a farmer of 
Jefferson County, Neb.; John Benton, at the age 
of seventeen, left home thirty-four years ago 
ostensibly to make a mark in the world. In 
fact, he stated on leaving he would not return 
until he accomplished his purpose. He was 
an unusually bright boy, an excellent scholar 
and musician, and his father hopes sometime 
to see his familiar face, which to him would be 
recognizable, no matter what lines may have 
been imprinted by the passing years. William 
Harris Abernathy is living on the old home- 
stead, and through his marriage with Hattie 
Rbss. has three children, Harriet Ross, James 
C. and Dorothy. Ezra Nelson Abernathy lives 
on Section 33, Farmers Township, and through 
his marriage to Sadie Sailes, has sons and 
daughters, namely: Frederick (who died in 
childhood), James L., Arthur R., Bessie May. 
Ezra L., Martha Emeline, Harris S., Anna 
Sailes, John A., Theodore R., and William S. 
Hanna Jane Abernathy died at the age of 
eighteen, and George, the youngest of the 
family, living in Bloomington, 111., married 
Delia Sylvester and has a son, Addison Wayne. 
During his long and active life Mr. Abernathy 
has lived close to high ideals, and his citizen- 
ship has imparted strength and substantiality to 
all undertakings in which his ability and worth 
have been enlisted. Having abundant means at 
his disposal, he has distributed them with great 
wisdom and generosity, and has supported in a 
practical manner schools, churches, mills and 
other upbuilding enterprises. He has splendidly 
stood the tests which the frontier imposed upon 
those who invaded its remoteness and the new 
century finds him in accord with its aims, pur- 
poses and inexhaustible opportunities. 

ADAMS, Charles B. — Since his admission to 
the bar of Illinois in 1900, Charles B. Adams 
has lent dignity and stability to professional 
affairs in Canton, and thus has maintained and 
even added to a reputation tor ability and re- 
sourcefulness established during his residence 
in the State of Missouri. Mr. Adams is a na- 
tive of Illinois, born in Jasper County, April 
29, 1S57, a son of T. R. B. and Mary E. Adams, 



who were natives of New York and Indiana re- 
spectively. 

Like many other men who seek a broader 
field of activity than that presented on the 
farm, Mr. Adams inaugurated his independent 
career as a country school teacher, for two years 
having chai-ge of schools in Barton County, Mo., 
to which State he removed as a boy and where 
the greater part of his education was acquired. 
Faithfulness in his work and economy in his 
expenditures enabled him to carry forward the 
long cherished project of studying law. and he 
entered the office of Tucker & Buler, at Lamar, 
Barton County, and was admitted to the bar of 
Missouri May 3, 1883. After continuing prac- 
tice in Lamar for fifteen years, or until coming 
to Canton in October, 1899. during the following 
June he entered upon a general practice in his 
present location, which has been materially 
extended with the lapse of time. 

December 25, 18S2, Mr. Adams was united in 
marriage to Anna Stevenson, who was born 
near Glasgow, Scotland, and educated in the 
public schools of Fulton County. Of the chil- 
dren of Mr. and Mrs. Adams three are living: 
Salome M., Harold G. and Bernice C. Political- 
ly Mr. Adams subscribes to the principles of 
the Democratic party. He is a broad-minded 
and progressive practitioner, a careful observer 
of the courtesies and amenities of his profes- 
sion and at all times seeking its most intelli- 
gent and praiseworthy compensations. 

ADDIS, J. S., who was successfully engaged in 
the marble and monument business in Canton, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Banner Town- . 
ship, this county, October 11, 1848. He is a 
son of Aaron D. and Jane E. (Suidan) Addis, 
natives of New Jersey. Aaron D. Addis and 
his wife came with a moving wagon to Illinois 
in 1837. They first located at Pairview, whence 
they moved to Buckheart Township and after- 
ward to Banner Township. The father died Jan- 
uary 23, 1873, and the mother February G, 1S91. 

J. S. Addis received his early education in 
the district schools in the neighborhood of his 
home, and has spent the greater portion of his 
life in Fulton County. He engaged in farming 
until he disposed of most of his interests sev- 
eral years ago, though he still owns some farm 
land and city property. He established himself 
in the monument business in Canton in 189.5, 
and conducted that profitable enterprise until 
1905. when he sold it and is now living retired 
in one of the handsomest homes in Canton. 

On February 27, 1873, Mr. Addis was mar- 
ried to Emma C. Weller, who was born in New 
Jersey. June 13, 1852. Five children are the 
offspring of this union, namely: Luella May, 
Lottie, Jeane, Blanche M. and Marie. In re- 
ligion Mr. Addis professes the faith of the 
Methodist Church. Politically he is a Demo- 
crat. He has served as Town Collector and as 
School Trustee, and for six years was President 
of the Board of Education of Canton. He is a 



766 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



member of the I. O. O. F., the Star Encamp- 
ment, the Daughters of Rebekah, the Court of 
Honor and the Bankers' Life Association. 

ADDIS, Simon P. — Of the men who have wielded 
the implements of destruction as well as of con- 
struction; who have achieved worthy ends as 
promoters of the fundamental occupation of ag- 
riculture, and who have lent dignity and integ- 
rity to political offices of local importance, none 
are more firmly established in the history of 
the region of their occupation than Simon P. 
Addis. Mr. Addis has worked out his own des- 
tiny with little aid from others, and is the own- 
er of a farm of 127 acres in Section 5, Banner 
Township, besides two other farms in the same 
township. He has a large and well furnished 
house, barns and outbuildings which serve the 
purpose of housing stock and produce, and 
fences which insure him against invasions from 
outlying districts. He is a thorough and prac- 
tical husbandman, an authority upon scientific 
farming and a successful breeder of high-grade 
stock. 

Born on a farm in Buckheart Township, Ful- 
ton County, February 18, 1843, Mr. Addis is a 
son of Aaron and Jane (Suydam) Addis, who 
were the parents also of nine other children. 
His youth was uneventfully passed in farming 
and attending the public schools, and like many 
of the men of solid worth in the country, his 
first actual broadening experience was as a 
soldier in the Civil War. In August, 18G2, he 
enlisted in Company E, One liundred and 
Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under com- 
mand of Colonel Dickerman, and was mustered 
into the service at Peoria, 111. Attached to the 
Fifteenth Army Corps, under General John A. 
Logan, the regiment became part of the Army 
of the Tennessee, and participated in all of the 
battles of that department. However, young 
Addis was detailed for provost duty, and was 
therefore absent from his regiment much of the 
time. At the present time he retains all of his 
orders received from his superiors, and which 
add greatly to his extensive fund of informa- 
tion bearing upon the rebellion. Discharged 
at Chicago. July 5, 1865, he was mustered out 
at Louisville, Ky., after participating in the 
Grand Review in Washington. 

The marriage of Mr. Addis and Georgiana 
Sheaff occurred In Fulton County, in August, 
1865, Mrs. Addis being a native of Westmore- 
land County, Pa., and daughter of George and 
Margaret Sheaff. To Mr. and Mrs. Addis have 
been born nine children, the survivors of whom 
are as follows: Delia, wife of Leroy C. Bal- 
lard; Webster, Grace, Russell and Grover. As 
a stanch and uncompromising Democrat, Mr. 
Addis has been active in the councils of his 
party for many years, and among other offices 
has held that of School Director fourteen years, 
Highway Commissioner fifteen years and Super- 
visor and Assessor and Collector several years. 
During its existence he was Master of Banner 
Grange No. 1643, P. of H., representing the 



grange in the State organization. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. Mr. Addis is appreciated for 
his many stable and reliable traits of character, 
for his unceasing devotion to the best interests 
of the community, and for the example offered 
of ability, perseverance and ultimate success. 

ALBRIGHT, J. B., M. D.— Osteopathy, which 
rests upon the theory that most diseases are 
traceable to deformation of some part of the 
skeleton, long since has passed the experimental 
stage, and become a widely recognized and sane 
factor in the lessening of human suffering. A 
capable and enthusiastic promoter of this 
method of cure is found in Dr. J. B. Albright, 
whose comparatively brief professional career 
has resulted in truly remarkable results. The 
Doctor has been a resident of Cuba since 1903, 
and during three years has built up a remunera- 
tive and encouraging practice. His office is un- 
excelled in equipment, containing the most 
practical apparatus thus far discovered, as well 
as the latest books and periodicals bearing upon 
the subject which is enlistmg his best energy 
and thought. His patients include members of 
the best families in the town and county, and 
even remote parts of the State. Dr. Albright 
spent his earlier life in Adair County, Mo., 
where he was born March 26, 1875, a son of 
John N. and Nancy M. (Brown) Albright, 
natives of Germany and Ohio, respectively. 

John N. Albright came to America in early 
life, bringing with him a common school educa- 
tion and a knowledge of the miller's trade. He 
lived first in Indiana, and later in Adair 
County, Mo., where, in 1861, he enlisted for 
three years in the Second Missouri Cavalry, 
and during the Civil War participated in many 
of the important battles. Honorably discharged 
at the end of three years and three months, he 
returned to his former home in Adair County, 
and in 1866 married Nancy M. Brown, whose 
mother, Abi.gail A. (Custer) Brown, was a 
niece of General Custer, of Indian war fame. 
Mr. Albright erected a large flouring mill in 
Adair County, which he operated successfully 
for many years, and he also derived a substan- 
tial income from stock-raising, in which he en- 
gaged on the splendid farm which he still owns, 
and upon which he is passing his declining 
years in comparative retirement. He has been 
one of the leading citizens of his county for 
more than a quarter of a century, has con- 
tributed largely to Its material and moral 
growth, and besides fostering agriculture, mill- 
ing and general business, has twice been elected 
County Judge. Wealth, honor and many friends 
have grown out of his allegiance to duty as he 
has seen it, more substantial rewards than 
which seem impossible of attainment. Four 
daughters and two sons have been born into his 
family, have received the best advantages he 
was able to give them, and now are filling use- 
ful positions in the world. Abigail is the wife 
of H. F. Amich, of Adair County, Mo.; Charles 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



767 



F. is a railroad engineer in Missouri; Mary F. 
is tlie wife of J. E. Novinger, of Missouri; 
Emma is tlie wife of L. A. Mooretiouse, of the 
vicinity of Statil, Mo.; J. B.; and Ola, wife of 
J. H. Mathews, a farmer of near Connellsville, 
Mo. 

One of the earliest occupations of Dr. Al- 
bright was working in his father's mill in Adair 
County. However, no responsibility was allowed 
to interfere with his acquiring a practical 
education, and in 1894 he graduated with honors 
from the high school at Carrollton, thereafter 
taking a years' course in the State Normal 
School at Kirksville. In the latter part of 1896 
he entered the American School of Osteopathy, 
at Kirksville, Mo., and after graduating in 
1900, located at Havana, 111., where he practiced 
his profession for three years, and from where 
he removed to Cuba in 1903. May 14, 1903, he 
was united in marriage to Mabel Mowery, 
daughter of Jacob Mowery, one of the honored 
pioneers of Fulton County, and of this union 
there is one son, Jacob M. For three years the 
Doctor was a member of Company H, Missouri 
National Guard. Fraternally he is a Mason and 
Odd Fellow, and in politics is a Republican. 
He is an agreeable and painstaking gentleman, 
and a student whose tendency is towards the 
best possible acquirement in his chosen calling. 

ALLERTON, Samuel Waters.— (See page 15.) 

ALPAUGH, Jay. — The entire life of Jay Al- 
paugh has been spent on the farm in Fairview 
Township, Fulton County, where he was born 
February 15, 1880, and to the management of 
which he succeeded, in 1903, upon the retire- 
ment from active life of his father, Sylvester 
Alpaugh, extended mention of whom may be 
found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Alpaugh 
was educated in the public schools of Fairview 
Township, and at present operates the home 
farm of 120 acres, with forty-seven acres ad- 
joining on the south. He is engaged in general 
farming and stock-raising, and derives a sub- 
stantial income from land, the entire improve- 
ment of which is due to the efforts of his father 
and himself. 

Mr. Alpaugh is a quiet, unostentatious man, 
devoted to his farm and home, and having few 
interests outside of his immediate environment. 
December 21, 1904, he was united in marriage to 
Blanche Turner, a native of Fairview Township, 
where she was born May 12, ISSl. 

AMMERMAN, James Voorhees, a prominent 
live-stock dealer and farmer of Union Township, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Somerset 
County, N. J., April 20, 1854. His parents were 
also natives of the same State — his father, 
Andrew Ammerman, being born July 19, 1827, 
and his mother, Martha Voorhees, January 12, 
1829. The father located in Fulton County in 
1858, and commenced his life-long occupation of 
farming. Having resided in the county for 



nearly half a century, he is now one of the old- 
est of the pioneers in that section. 

The childhood of the subject of this sketch 
was spent at home with his parents, and there 
he received his education chiefly in the district 
schools. He attended the Canton public schools 
for some years, but enjoyed few advantages in 
that line after he was fourteen years of age. 
He has been a great reader, however, and in 
that way got most of his education. Farming 
became the serious business of his life, as it 
had been that of his father before him; but in 
addition to the general operation of this indus- 
try, he has for many years been engaged in 
stock feeding, including both cattle and hogs. 
His favorite breeds are Shorthorn cattle and 
Poland-China hogs. 

James V. Ammerman was married, in Lee 
Township, Fulton County, February 19, 1880,. 
to Cora Wilson, born in Monroe County, Mich., 
October S, 1859, and they have one daughter, 
Nellie D.. who was born November 29, 1884. 
In his political views, Mr. Ammerman is a Re- 
publican, but has never taken an active interest 
in mere politics. The only public office he ever 
held was that of School Director, in which he 
was actively occupied for nearly thirty years. 

ANDERSON, Andrew M., proprietor of the 
blacksmith and repairing establishment and 
agricultural implement depot at Ipava, III., is 
one of the energetic and successful business 
men of this section of Fulton County. He has 
earned his present standing by hard, unceasing 
and intelligent labor, but at the same time is 
fully alive to the unusual opportunities which 
America presents to those of foreign birth, and 
his gratitude is warmly appreciated by his 
many friends and the patrons of his growing 
business. Mr. Anderson is still a young man, 
having been born at Aamot Modum, Norway, 
on the 25th of March, 1873. He received his 
schooling in his native land, and there entered 
upon the blacksmith's trade. 

In 1890 Mr. Anderson emigrated to America, 
being drawn to the great Northwest, which was 
already thickly populated by his countrymen, 
who there found Implanted their own native in- 
dustries — agriculture and lumbering. The 
youth of seventeen, endowed with ambition, 
common sense and rugged health, first settled 
at Belgrade, Minn. In order "to get his bear- 
ings" and determine upon his future course, he 
visited his brother Carl and a married sister, 
Stina, wife of Jacob Thomas, after which he 
was employed on a farm for a year. He then 
entered the great Red River Valley on the 
western border of Minnesota, to engage in 
his trade of blacksmithing, where he was 
soon after given the foremanship of a large 
repairing shop. He was thus employed for 
about five years, going into the pineries of Wis- 
consin and Minnesota during the winter 
months. For a time thereafter Mr. Anderson 
traveled through the country further south. 



768 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



searching for a favorable location. He finally 
decided in favor of Mason County, 111., and re- 
mained there for about two years. 

In 1S99 Mr. Anderson located for business 
at Ipava. renting a blacksmith shop and add- 
ing to the work of the trade that of general 
repairing. In 1903 his venture had so pros- 
pered that he bought property of Noah Hall, 
whose business he later purchased, and now 
carries a complete line of agricultural imple- 
ments, also dealing in surreys and buggies, 
hardware and wire fence (Page's — a specialty), 
and paints and oils. His business, in its many 
branches, increased to such proportions that for 
its accommodation he bought the building for- 
merly occupied by Oliver Wood & Son, and at 
present has one of the most complete establish- 
ments for supplying the farmer with anything 
in the line of vehicles or implements, or tor re- 
pairing them, to be found in Fulton County. 

On .June 2. 1S9(J, Mr. Anderson was united 
in marriage to Rhodah Robinson, a native of 
Walker Grove, Mason County. 111., and one 
child, Edwin, was born to them on September 
21, 1897. Mrs. Anderson is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and her husband 
of the Lutheran. Fraternally Mr. Anderson is 
a K. P., a Mason and a M. W. A. He is pop- 
ular, proprietor of a growing business, the own- 
er of a comfortable home, and enjoys the repu- 
tation of a good husband, father and citizen — 
certainly a position in life of which anyone 
(especially a young man of foreign birth who 
has been a resident of America -but sixteen 
years) might feel justly proud. In politics Mr. 
Anderson is a Republican, but, before every- 
thing else, an American. 

APPERSON, Francis Marion, member of the 
firm of Apperson & .Johnson, proprietors of a 
first class livery in Canton. Fulton County, 111., 
was born in Springfield, JIc, on the 18th of 
November, 18."i7. His father and grandfather 
also bore his name, his mother before marriage 
being known as Nancy Mayfleld. Mr. Apperson's 
grandfather was a native of Ireland, but emi- 
grated to Missouri at an early day, and his 
father was born in that State. The family 
moved from Missouri to Banner Township, 
Fulton County, when the subject of this sketch 
was but three years of age, and there the boy 
was reared and received what education he 
enjoys. For some years he was a resident of 
Utica, but came to Canton from Banner Town- 
ship in the year 1888. Since that year Mr. 
Apperson has been an industrious and respected 
member of this community, having followed 
various occupations, among them that of a 
policeman for five years. In March, 1S97, he 
established a livery business alone, and after 
conducting it for ten years received James 
Johnson into partnership. 

On January 6, 1S86, Mr. Apperson married 
Miss Clara Romine, the ceremony taking place 
at Lewistown, his wife's former home. They 
have one child, Eva Bell, born August 18, 1887, 



and now a student at the Canton High School. 
Both Mrs. Apperson and her daughter are mem- 
bers of the Baptist Church. 

ARINGDALE, Francis. — For almost half a cen- 
tury Francis Aringdale has been helping to 
make history in Fulton County, and so well has 
he directed his energies that in 1897, at the age 
of fifty-seven, he was able to retire from active 
life on a comfortable competence. He has led 
a simple, active and methodical life, and his 
busy hands have manipulated the constructive 
implements of the agriculturist, and the de- 
structive weapons of the soldier. Illinois first 
knew him in 1849, when, as a boy of nine years, 
he came to Fulton County with his people from 
Licking County, Ohio, where he was born 
November 4, 1840. and where also was born 
his father, John Aringdale. His mother, Mahala 
(Hooper) Aringdale, was a native of 'Virginia. 
The family in 1849 located on 100 acres of land 
near Canton, 111., but the father later sold his 
farm and moved to Missouri where he experi- 
enced indifferent success for two years. Re- 
turning to Canton, he lived there a short time, 
when he bought a farm in Warren County, 111., 
and later still owned a farm in Ellisville Town- 
shij), his present home. 

'While living on his father's farm. May 24, 
1866, Francis Aringdale married Lucy Wilson, 
who was born in New Jersey, March 24, 1844. 
Of this union there are four children: M. 
Sherman. Josephine, Frank and John W. In 
1890 he purchased his present farm of 208 acres 
on Section 6, Ellisville Township, where he 
engaged extensively in general farming and 
stock-raising, and where he has added greatly 
to the improvements made by former owners. 
The modern, well furnished home and capacious 
barns are due to his success and forethought, 
and the place generally bears the inii)ress of 
the large and liberal personality of the owner. 
When induced to shift the burden of responsi- 
bility onto younger shoulders, Mr. Aringdale 
was fortunate in having capable and ambitious 
sons, who had readily responded to his training 
and shared his progressive and wide-awake 
tendencies. 

Mr. Aringdale is a Rejiublican in politics, and 
in religion a Methodist Episcopalian. In 
August, 1862, he left the farm to enlist in 
Company B, Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, and after serving during the rest of 
the campaign was discharged at Louisville, Ky., 
in September. 186.5. His recollections of the 
war are among the most interesting of his life, 
and from his intelligent and accurate narration, 
we of a more peaceful time may glean a large 
fund of information. He is a companionable 
and well posted man, observing the world from 
wide range, and retaining his faith in the good- 
ness of mankind, and in the existence of oppor- 
tunity for all who earnestly seek it. 

ARMSTRONG, G. M. — An example of that 
that thrift and well applied energy which en- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



769 



ables a man to retire from active life at a com- 
paratively early age is found in the career of 
G. M. Armstrong, a resident of Fulton County 
since 1S4G and who, previous to renouncing 
business cares in 1S9G, was identified with car- 
riage making and cigar manufacturing. Mr. 
Armstrong's extreme youth was spent in Rock- 
bridge County. Va., where he was born in 
1840. While still a young man he went through 
the experience of removal from his southern 
home to the less settled region of Coles County. 
111., where his parents, William and Mary W. 
(Mackey) Armstrong, also born in Virginia, 
purchased land and engaged in farming. The 
father was not permitted to long profit by his 
change of surroundings, for death claimed him 
in a short time, and his family was left to 
depend largely upon the resources of its mem- 
bers. 

G. M. Armstrong was six years old when he 
came with his mother from Coles to Fulton 
County, and located in Canton. He attended 
the public schools and in 18G2, at the age of 
twenty-two, became a soldier in the One Hun- 
dred and Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in 
time being advanced to the rank of Sergeant. 
He participated in many of the important bat- 
tles of the war, and at the termination of hos- 
tilities received his honorable discharge, return- 
ing to his former home in Canton. Soon after 
he began to learn the trade of carriage making 
with the firm of Marion & Keltz, thereafter fol- 
lowing the same until 1.SG9, in which year he 
engaged in the cigar manufacturing business in 
partnership with W, O. Dean. The firm pros- 
pered in its affairs, and in 1S7S built the cigar 
factory now owned by Sabel & Rafferty. As 
trade increased the capacity of this factory 
proved inadequate, and in 1891 a larger factory 
was built on the corner of Elm Street and First 
Avenue, having three stories and ample facili- 
ties for producing high-grade smokers' products. 

The marriage of Mr. Armstrong and Lucy S. 
Bass occurred in Fulton County in 1S7S, and 
in 1888 the husband built the commodious and 
comfortable home on West Chestnut Street in 
which they since have lived. He has ever been 
active politically, although he has led a com- 
paratively quiet and home-centered life. Mr. 
Armstrong was elected Alderman of his ward 
and served for two terms, being also Mayor of 
the city of Canton for one term. He was a 
member of the School Board twelve years and 
a member of the Library Board for eight years. 
He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and fraternally is connected with tlie 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. After fifty- 
nine years in the same community he finds him- 
self firmly entrenched in the good will and re- 
gard of his fellowmen — a man of unquestioned 
personal honor and fine consideration for all 
with whom he is thrown in contact. 

ARNETT, Cleanthus J., who is commonly re- 
garded as one of the leading farmers of his 
vicinity, is located on Section 24, Lewistown 



Township, Fulton County, 111. The family with 
which he is connected is numbered among the 
pioneers who laid the foundations for the 
county's present prosperity. Mr. Amett was 
born in Lewistown, 111., February 14, 18.57, a 
son of James H. and Elizabeth (Yurnel) Arnett, 
the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter 
born in Lewistown, 111. Ten children were the 
offspring of their union, nine of whom are yet 
alive. The names of the entire family are as 
follows: Willie D.. who is a resident of Britt, 
Iowa; Cleanthus J., to whom this record per- 
tains; Rufus J., who is engaged in farming in 
Lewistown Townshij); Cyrus R., a resident of 
Lewistown, 111.; Ida M., wife of Henry P. 
Bordner, of Lewistown; Murray N., a resident 
of Britt, Iowa; Mary, who is the wife of Green- 
bury Eveland, and resides in Nebraska City, 
Neb.; Alva, who is a railway employe; Dollie, 
who is with her parents; and Lizzie L., who 
died in infancy. The parents of Mr. Arnett 
settled in Fulton County at an early stage in 
its history. The place where the the present 
owner of this fine farm makes his home was 
then a dense mass of heavy timber growth, 
which it fell to the lot of the sturdy and per- 
severing father to clear and make fit for human 
habitation. Nearly all of Fulton County was 
then a wild, barren waste. Amid such sur- 
roundings, Cleanthus J. Arnett was ushered 
into being, and his early boyhood was passed. 

The subject of this sketch received his mental 
training in the primitive schools of that period, 
and' made himself useful in working the home 
farm, and on this place, he has spent his subse- 
quent life. He is the owner of eighty acres of 
choice land, comfortably and attractively im- 
proved, and kept under thorough culture. He 
is an enterprising and progressive farmer and 
the best of results attend his labors. Mr. Arnett 
is a member of a company which owns a re- 
markably fine lot of Belgian hares, which they 
have imported for speculative purposes. 

On March 26, 1883, Mr. Arnett was united in 
marriage with Mary Harrison, a native of Ful- 
ton County, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Barton L. Harrison. Her father died in 1904, 
but her mother, who was a native of Kentucky, 
still resides in Liverpool Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Arnett became the parents of six children, 
four of whom are living, two having died in 
infancy. Those surviving are: Edna E., Dean 
S., Ben H., born May 4, 1891, and Barton H., 
born February 19, 1897. 

In politics Mr. Arnett upholds the principles 
of the Republican party, and fraternally he is 
affiliated with the M. W. A., and religiously 
adheres to the faith of the Nazarene Church. 
He is highly esteemed throughout the com- 
munity. 

ARNETT, RUFUS J., a prominent member of 
one of the leading pioneer families of Fulton 
County, 111., who is successfully engaged in 
farming in Section 25, Lewistown Township, 
was born in that township November 22, ISGl, 



770 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the son of James H. and Elizabeth Arnett, na- 
tives of Fulton County. James H. Arnett and 
his wife were the parents of the following chil- 
dren: W. D., C. J., R. J., C. R., Ida M., M. E., 
M. W., Alva, Dollie and Lizzie. The father of 
this family was a man of sterling character and 
exercised a strong influence in the society of his 
day. He was one of the group of sturdy and 
persevering pioneers, who confronted the hard- 
ships and privations of the wilderness in Ful- 
ton County, and by almost herculean effort, be- 
yond the realization of those of this generation, 
paved the way for the civilization and pros- 
perity which their posterity beholds. The an- 
nals of the pioneer element of the Arnett fam- 
ily are elsewhere spread upon the pages of this 
volume. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
paternal farm and received his rudimentary 
training in the district schools of his neigh- 
borhood. In the intervals of his early school- 
ing he made himself useful to his father in 
farming operations, and recalls with interest 
his experience when all the wheat was harvest- 
ed with the cradle. His father was among the 
first to introduce the old McCormick reaper. 
Rufus J. Arnett well remembers the hard work 
required to clear and burn the thick brush in 
order to make the land ready for the plow. 
He now has a fine farm of 120 acres, in a high 
state of cultivation, and with substantial, com- 
fortable and attractive Improvements. He de- 
votes considerable attention to raising grain 
and stock and is a thorough, painstaking and 
successful farmer. 

On November 25, 1S86, Mr. Arnett was united 
in marriage with Temperance Bordner, a daugh- 
ter of Moses Bordner, an honored pioneer set- 
tler, a sketch of whose interesting career ap- 
pears elsewhere in this volume. Four children 
resulted from this union, namely: Sylvia L., 
Esther E. and Madeline, who are with their 
parents, and Helen D. The mother of this fam- 
ily is a daughter of Moses Bordner's first wife. 

In politics Mr. Arnett is a supporter of the 
Prohibition party, and implicitly believes in 
the suppression of the liquor traffic. Frater- 
nally he is affiliated with M. W. A. He is a 
member of the Nazarene Church and is earnest- 
ly interested in church work and in the cause 
of education. He has been Superintendent of 
the Sunday school of his church and has served 
as President of the Liverpool Township Sun- 
day School Association for the past two years. 

ARUNDALE, John C;, a well known and en- 
terprising farmer on Section 1, Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County, 111., was born in 
Cuba, 111., December 5, 1S76, a son of Thomp- 
son and Henrietta (Wright) Arundale, natives 
of Fulton County. The grandparents on the pa- 
ternal side were of English birth. On coming 
to the United States they proceeded to Illinois 
and settled in Fulton County, where they spent 
the remainder of their lives. Thompson Arun- 
dale, the father of John C, was twice married. 



By his first wife, whose maiden name was Hen- 
rietta Wright, of Cuba, Fulton County, he had 
a daughter, Teresa, who became the wife of 
Rev. H. H. McFall, pastor of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of Biggsville, 111., and one 
son. John C, to whom this biographical sketch 
relates. Their mother departed this life when 
the latter was but four months old. Thomp- 
son Arundale married as his second wife Emma 
M. Brown, a native of Cuba, 111., and a daughter 
of Francis R. and Nancy (Laws) Brown, na- 
tives respectively of Kentucky and Virginia. 
This union resulted in one child, who died in 
infancy. Thompson Arundale died on March 
11, 1880, and his widow was united in mar- 
riage with Eugene Churchill, who is engaged 
in farming in Buckheart Township, Fulton 
County. 

After John C. Arundale was left an orphan 
he made his home with his step-grandfather, 
Francis R. Brown, until he reached the age of 
sixteen years, and later with his stepfather, 
Eugene Churchill. He was reared on a farm, 
receiving his early mental training in the dis- 
trict schools and the public schools of Bryant, 
111., subsequently becoming a pupil in the Gem 
City Business College at Quincy, 111., from which 
he was graduated with the class of 189S. From 
this institution he received a certificate attest- 
ing his qualifications as a teacher. On return- 
ing home, however, he found himself disinclined 
to enter upon the work of teaching, and took 
charge of the farm on which he was reared. 
His farming operations have met with success, 
and he is regarded as a thorough, careful and 
pro,gressive farmer. He raises stock of all kinds 
and of superior grades. 

On January 1, 1901, Mr. Arundale was united 
in marriage with Bertha E. Barnett. a native 
of Fulton County and a daughter of Oliver Bar- 
nett, a well known and highly respected citizen, 
who carries on farming in Buckheart Township, 
Fulton County. Two children have resulted 
from this union, namely: Clarence L.. born 
December 10, 1902, and Bernice, born Septem- 
ber 24, 1904. 

In politics Mr. Arundale is a supporter of 
the Republican party. He has been the efficient 
incumbent in the office of School Director for 
some time, and takes a good citizen's interest 
in public affairs. Fraternally he is affiliated 
with the I. O. O. F. of Canton, Fulton County. 
He and his estimable wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

ASH, Lon M. — The public outing place, pic- 
turesquely named Owl's Nest Park, is owned 
and managed by Lon M. Ash, one of the well 
known and highly honored men of Canton, 111. 
This park was purchased by Mr. Ash two years 
ago from the Divilbiss estate, and consists of 
sixty-eight acres of wooded land, admirably 
suited to the various purposes of rest and rec- 
reation for which it is intended. The owner, 
who has a keen appreciation of fine natural ef- 
fects and inviting vistas, adheres steadily to a 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



771 



policy of improvement, with tlie result that the 
park conforms to every demand for neatness 
and beauty consistent with the character of its 
soil, flora and trees. The leafing of its beautiful 
trees in the spring and the songs of the early 
and courageous birds give promise of opportuni- 
ties for communion with nature and healthful 
enjoyment which continues unabated until the 
winds of fall whistle through the skeleton 
branches and the ground is covered with its 
protecting carpet of leaves. 

Mr. Ash gained his first impressions of life 
on a farm in Joshua Township, Fulton County, 
where he was born in 1SG2, a son of S. W. and 
M. J. (Gardner) Ash, the former a native of 
Virginia and the latter of Fullon County. The 
senior Mr. Ash was an early arrival in Fulton 
County, and his competence was acquired in 
general farming and stock-raising. His son 
received a common school education and upon 
leaving the home wnich had sheltered him 
through the vicissitudes of youth engaged in 
farming on his own responsibility for ten years 
in Joshua Township. He moved into Canton 
about seven years ago, purchased his present 
delightful home, and also bought and remodeled 
the store on the corner of Chestnut and North 
Main streets. In 1901 he was united in mar- 
riage to Dolly Churchill, daughter of Leonard 
H. Churchill, and two children have been born 
of this union: Lon C. and Russell. Mr. Ash is 
social in temperament and is identified with 
the Masonic fraternity. 

ATCHISON, Ellas Benton.— Mr. Atchison is a 
son of a pioneer of the 'thirties, and as he was 
himself born in Union Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, he can claim a residence in it of more than 
half a century. He received his education in 
its district schools, was raised on the family 
estate, on v/hich his father located in 1861, and 
has ever remained faithful to his native locali- 
ty. It is such "stayers" as Elias B. Atchison 
who have assured Fulton County its substantial 
growth, and made it a section of almost Ideal 
country homes. 

The subject of this sketch was born on Febru- 
ary 25, 1S54, the son of Jacob B. and Hannah 
(Fickett) Atchison, both being natives of the 
Empire State. The father, who was a farmer 
and a carpenter, was born October 27, 1823, and 
the mother May 11, 1835. When he was twelve 
years of age Jacob B. Atchison came to Fulton 
County with his parents, who settled in Union 
Township, and there he remained until his 
death, on October 1, 1900. Elias B. Atchison 
has resided all his life in Union Township, 
either engaged in general farming or the rais- 
ing of live stock. He is a Republican, a mem- 
ber of the United Brethren Church and a moral, 
well-to-do and valued citizen. He was married 
in Warren County, March 7, 1S75, to Sarah 
Percy, of New Jersey, who was born January 
29, 1854.' They have one child. Bertha E. 



ATHEY, George W. — Among the well known 
farmers of Lewistown Township, Fulton County, 
111., whose industry, energy and good manage- 
ment have placed them in comfortable circum- 
stances and gained for them a reputable stand- 
ing among their townsmen, is George W. Athey, 
who is successfully pursuing his vocation in 
Section 26, of that township. He was born in 
Isabel Township, Fulton County, May 28, 1865, 
the son of Richard and Nancy (Wichell) Athey, 
natives of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Athey 
became the parents of seven children, as 
follows: Henry, a resident of Denver, Colo.; 
Almira, deceased; Etta, who is the widow of 
John Yocum; John, deceased; George W., to 
whom this record pertains; Eliza, who married 
James Houston; and Charles. The father and 
mother of this family are living on a farm in 
Lewistown Township. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a 
farm and has followed farming all his life. 
He received his early mental instruction in 
the district schools of his neighborhood, and as 
soon as he reached mature years, began work 
for himself. He is the owner of eighty acres of 
land, which constitute one of the most produc- 
tive farms in the township, of equal extent. 
He moved to this place in 1901, and his labors 
have been attended with gratifying success. 
He devotes his attention to general farming. 

On November 23, 1892, Mr. Athey was united 
in marriage with Miss Bertha M. Hommon, 
born April 12, 1873, a daughter of George and 
Catherine (Bradley) Hommon, natives of 
Pennsylvania. Her father died October 15, 

1894, her mother having passed away March 
21, 1889. They were the parents of the follow- 
ing children, besides Bertha M.: David and 
Samuel, deceased; Maryetta and Maggnetta, 
twins, deceased; Edward, who was a member of 
the Twenty-third Regiment United State In- 
fantry, and served in the Philippines; and 
Charles, who makes his home with his sister, 
Mrs. Athey. Edward returned home from the 
Philippines in April, 1902, and left again the 
following June, since which time he has not 
been heard from. 

Three children resulted from the union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Athey, namely: Fern A., born 
September 18, 1893; Ralph A., born October 5, 

1895, and died March 1, 1900; and Ruth M., 
born April 10, 1907. 

In politics Mr. Athey is a supporter of the 
principles of the Republican party, and has 
rendered creditable public service in the oflices 
of Town Clerk and Ta.x Collector. Fraternally 
he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, 
Court of Honor, and Mutual Protective League. 
Mrs. Athey belongs to the Court of Honor, 
Mutual Protective League and the Pythian 
Sisters, of Lewistown, Fulton County. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Athey are members of the Presby- 
terian Church, and are highly esteemed 
throughout the community. 



//- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ATKINSON, Thomas F.— The monotony which 
often ensues from the continuous following of 
a certain line of work has never been a fea- 
ture of the career of Thomas F. Atkinson. Gift- 
ed with mechanical Ingenuity beyond the aver- 
age, this well known contractor of Cuba has, 
at different times, followed the occupation of 
a miner, wagon-maker, carpenter and builder, 
brick mason and plasterer. In the capacity 
either of contractor or tender he has been con- 
nected with the erection of a large number of 
the brick and frame buildings in his adopted 
town, also having charge of the plastering of 
most of those erected by him. After being em- 
ployed for three years in a tobacco factory he 
came to Cuba in 1SC9, and continuously during 
every winter since then — a period of thirty- 
eight years — has worked in the coal mines near 
the town. He learned the wagon-maker's trade 
about thirty years ago, and thereafter followed 
the carpenter business until taliing up the trade 
of brick mason and plasterer. There doubtless 
are few men who have worked in the coal mines 
for such a number of years, or who have done 
so much in trade lines in a given length of 
time and in the same community. 

Mr. Atkinson spent the first years of his life 
in Sheridan, Lucas County, Iowa, where he was 
born in 1S.5S. His parents were Lewis and An- 
gelina (MacNew) Atkinson, natives of Indiana 
and Missouri respectively. He was educated 
in the common schools and his wage-earning 
career began at the age of twelve years, when 
he began work in the coal mines, near Cuba. 
His father, who previously had worked at 
Farmington, also found employment in the 
mines. In 1879 Mr. Atkinson married Alice 
Winship. who was born near Colchester. 111., 
and to whom have been born six children: 
William, aged twenty-seven years: Clara A., 
aged twenty-four, wife of Cyrus Bishop: James 
Lewis, aged eighteen; Ethel Judith, aged six- 
teen : Georgia H., died aged seven years, and 
Vanessie, aged nine years. Mr. Atkinson is 
somewhat of a politician, and is sufficiently lib- 
eral in his tendencies to vote for the man on 
his merits, rather than for his party. For 
the past five years he has been one of the town 
fathers, ably assisting the Board by his enlight- 
ened ideas of municii)al affairs. He is fraternal- 
ly prominent, being a member of the Knights 
of Pythias. As aids to his business he is a mem- 
ber of the Brick Masons' and Plasterers' Union. 
Mr. Atkinson has always adhered to the prin- 
ciple that work worth doing at all was worth 
doing well, and in consequence he has a repu- 
tation as a careful, skillful and reliable work- 
man. He is esteemed also for his integrity 
and moral worth, and for his consideration and 
fairness as an employer of labor. 

AT'WOOD, Myron C, a well-known resident 
of Lewistown, Fulton County. 111., and Suiierin- 
tendent of the Fulton County Narrow Gauge 
Railway, was born in Kane County, 111., Au- 
gust 24, 1SG:3, a son of Comfort B. and Cynthia 



(Bennett) Atwood. whose union resulted in two 
children: Julia and the subject of this sketch. 
Julia now resides with her parents at Montgom- 
ery, 111. Comfort B. Atwood was a farmer by 
occupation, and thus the boyhood days of Myron 
C. were spent upon the farm. Here he assisted 
his father in the work and availed himself of 
the advantages of the district schools. In the 
year 1S81 he secured employment in the office 
of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railway 
Company at Aurora, where he learned telegra- 
phy, and worked as operator in that office until 
1883. He was then sent to Earlville, 111., where 
he held the position of operator and station 
agent until 1887, when he was promoted to be 
commercial agent of the company at Aurora. 
After serving in this capacity for six years he 
was appointed Superintendent of the Fulton 
County Narrow Gauge Railway, and became a 
resident of Lewistown. 

During the twenty-four years which Mr. At- 
wood has devoted to railroading he has, by close 
application to his work, become a very efficient 
railroad man. His experience often furnished 
a severe test of his temper, as he early came 
in contact with all sorts of men and women, 
and it requires a great deal of patience and self- 
restraint to get on smoothly with idiosyncracies 
of the traveling public. That the subject of 
this sketch possesses the traits of character 
essential to the proper discharge of such duties 
is manifest from the positions of responsibility 
which he has creditably filled in this long pe- 
riod of railroad service. Since Mr. Atwood 
assumed charge of the line under his supervi- 
sion the roadbed and bridges have been placed 
in fine condition. He thoroughly understands 
the railroad business, having made it a life 
study, and has left nothing undone to put the 
tracks and rolling stock in prime order. This 
the company and its patrons fully appreciate, 
and the utmost confidence is felt in his ability 
and fidelity. 

On June 1, 188G, Mr. Atwood was married to 
Mabel Wiley, of Earlville, 111., a daughter of 
Samuel C. Wiley, a native of Maine. Three 
children have resulted from this union, namely: 
Paul W., born February 24, 1887, who is a stu- 
dent in the University of Illinois: Harold, born 
August 12, 18S9, and Ruth, born March 11, 1S9S. 

In deportment Mr. Atwood is unassuming, 
affable and courteous. In his general views 
he is broad and liberal, and is always ready to 
help in promoting any measure intended for the 
])ublic welfare. In his integrity and high moral 
character his fellow citizens repose implicit 
confidence. Politically the subject of this sketch 
is a Democrat and fraternally is affiliated with 
the A. F. & A. M. He and his wife attend di- 
vine worship in the Universalist Church of 
Lewistown. 

BABBITT, James I., whose residence in Union 
Township, Fulton County, 111., covers a period 
of more than three-score and ten years, and who 
is the sole surviving native citizen among those 





^- 





HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



773 



who lived in the township at the time of his 
birth, was born there May 20, 1836. Stephen 
Babbitt, his father, was a native of Pennsylva- 
nia, born in Washington County, that State, 
February 16, 1806, and his mother, Malinda 
(Harrod) Babbitt, was born April 29, 1811, in 
Bourbon County, Ky. Stephen Babbitt followed 
farming during his whole life. He was one of 
the earliest pioneer settlers of Fulton County, 
where he located in 1S30, and purchased the 
land on which his son, James I., still makes 
his heme. He died November 5, 1SG4, his wife 
dying August 13, 1889. They were the parents 
of the following named children: Elizabeth, 
Job, Nancy, William, James I., Israel, Sarah, 
Malinda, Isaac H., Hugh and Stephen (twins), 
Jeptha and Hulda (twins), and Sanford M. 

James I. Babbitt received a common school 
education such as farmers' sons usually ob- 
tained in the primitive subscription schools of 
that period, meanwhile hel-iJing his father on 
the farm until he reached the stage of manhood. 
Since then he has devoted his entire life to 
agricultural pursuits. During the War for the 
Union he rendered creditable service in Com- 
pany G, Fiftieth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry (the "Blind Half Regiment"), in 
which he enlisted September 24, 1861, and 
served until February 16, 1S63, when he was 
mustered out. His marriage took place at Mon- 
mouth, Warren County, 111., October 27, 1859, 
with Harriet Adeline Liavis, a daughter of Noah 
and Nancy Davis, natives of Virginia and Ken- 
tucky. Mrs. Babbitt was born in Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County, on January 3, 1839. Six 
children were the offspring of this union, viz: 
G. Marion, J. Grant, William Sherman, Guy H., 
Morton J. and Nannie Myrtle. A sketch of the 
life of William Sherman Babbitt may be found 
elsewhere in these pages. The five boys, who 
were the oldest members of this family, were 
all born on Sunday. 

In politics the Republican party has always 
received the steadfast support of Mr. Babbitt, 
and he has been active and influential in the 
local councils of that organization. He served 
as Road Commissioner of the township twelve 
years, and for fourteen years acted in the ca- 
pacity of School Director. His religious con- 
nection is with the Christian Church. Frater- 
nally he is prominently identified with the Grand 
Army of the Republic. His life is coincident 
with the growth of Fulton County almost from 
its beginning, and his recollection includes a 
thousand details in the wonderful transforma- 
tion attending this progress from crude condi- 
tions to the prosperity and refinement of the 
present day. He is conscious of having done 
his full share in promoting the welfare of his 
township and county, and the many who know 
him freely attest his upright character, dili- 
gence and well doing and serviceable public 
spirit. 

BABBITT, Jonathan J. (deceased).— The subject 
of this sketch was a veteran of the Civil War, a 
well known farmer and stock-raiser and a citizen 



honored for the conscientious discharge of his 
duties in whatever walk of life he pursued. 
His death, therefore, on the 21st of December, 
1905, was sincerely and generally mourned. 
Jonathan J. Babbitt was born in Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County, November 21, 1837, the 
son of James Babbitt, born in Washington 
County, Pa., in 1S13, and Mary (Randall) Bab- 
bitt, a native of New York, born in 1820. The 
father was an extensive land owner, and a pio- 
neer and prosperous farmer of the township. 
The subject of this sketch spent his earlier 
years on the home farm, assisting in its man- 
agement during his later life and obtaining a 
fair education in the district schools. He was 
engaged in agricultural work until the last year 
of the Civil War, when, under President Lin- 
coln's last call for troops in that contest, he en- 
listed on March 21, 1865, in Company H, 
Twenty-third Regiment, Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, and was discharged July 24th following. 
The voting period of Mr. Babbitt's life was al- 
most contemporary with the birth of the Re- 
publican party, of which he was ever a firm 
and intelligent member, his society associations 
being naturally with the Grand Army of the 
Republic. 

Jonathan J. Babbitt was married in Knox 
County, 111., to Rebecca Martz, a native of Vir- 
ginia, born in that State on the 4th of Septem- 
ber, 1843. Eight children were born of their 
union, namely: Minnie D., Lula, Flora, who 
died September 25, 1887; Emma, Lydia, Fanny, 
James and John. The surviving widow, who is 
now numbered among the honored mothers of 
the county, was a little over twenty years of 
a.sre at the time of her marriage, December 30, 
1863. Her husband's death occurred within a 
few days of their forty-second anniversary. The 
deceased was a member of the Christian Church 
and truly a Christian in the highest sense of 
the word. 

BABBITT, Stephen J., a prominent citizen of 
Fultnn County, veteran of the Civil War and 
one of the large land owners and raisers of live 
stock in that county, is a native of Union 
Township, in which he was born August 17, 
1844, and where he has always resided. He Is 
the son of Stephen and Malinda (Harrod) Bab- 
bitt, his father having been a farmer of Wash- 
ington County, Pa., born January 3, 1806, and 
his mother a native of Burton County, Ky., 
born April 29, 1811. Stephen Babbitt migrated 
to Illinois in 1830, locating at once in Union 
Township, Fulton County, where he bought a 
farm and where he lived for many years as 
one of the fathers of that section of the county. 

The district schools of Union Township and 
the family farm of that township supplied 
Stephen J. Babbitt with his education and the 
practical training for his after life of agricul- 
tural pursuits and successes. He was one of 
the strong and plucky youths which the farms 
of the West sent forth to the battlefields of the 
Civil War, and who proved the main reliance 
of Grant and Sherman and Thomas in the fierce 



774 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



campaigns of the Southwest. On account of 
his youth he did not enlist until January 5, 
1864, when he joined Company I, Seventy-sec- 
ond Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
known popularly as the First Board of Trade 
Regiment. He was afterward transferred to 
Company G, Thirty-third Regiment, and was 
honorably discharged on the 24th of Novem- 
ber, 1805. During his services of nearly two 
years the young man participated in the en- 
gagements at Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin 
and Nashville — all in Tennessee — and the siege 
and capture of Spanish Fort and Mobile, besides 
numerous skirmishes and nerve-wearing 
marches. As a member of the Grand Army of 
the Republic Mr. Babbitt takes a soldier's pride 
in recounting the achievements of his regiments 
and the brave officers and men with whom he 
was associated, a member of which body he 
himself was enrolled. Politically he has always 
stood unflinchingly by the Republican guns. 
For many years Mr. Babbitt has been a recog- 
nized leader in local politics. He has served as 
School Director for twelve years and was As- 
sessor three years and has recently been elected 
a member of the County Board. Whatever of- 
fice he has filled he has discharged its duties 
faithfully, fairly, fearlessly and ably. 

On the 27th of October, 1870, Mr. Babbitt was 
married to Leona A. Thomas, at Galesburg. His 
wife was born in Union Township, Fulton 
County, October 27, 1851. The three children 
born of their union are Lewis H., Neva L. and 
Edith L. 

BABBITT, Wilford, the proprietor of the 
Sunnyside Farm and a farmer and citizen of 
substantial standing, still in the prime of a 
useful life, is a native of Union Township, 
Fulton County, where his position of honor has 
been earned by years of labor and intelligently 
directed industry. The subject of this sketch 
was born February 22, 1856, the son of James 
and Mary (Randall) Babbitt, the father born in 
Washington County, Pa., in the year 1815, and 
the mother, in the State of New York, in 1820. 
The elder Babbitt, who was a farmer, came to 
Union Township at an early day, and became 
one of the land owners of that section of the 
county. 

Wilford Babbitt, who spent his childhood with 
his parents on the family homestead in Union 
Township, where he has always resided, was 
educated in its district schools, and mastered 
his lifelong vocation by years of unremitting 
labor and experience. The enviable result is 
seen in his success as a general farmer and 
stock-raiser, Sunnyside Farm being considered 
one of the model estates of the county. As 
his own affairs were so fortunately and intelli- 
gently managed, his fellow citizens have, at 
various times, called upon him to give atten- 
tion to public affairs, with the result that five 
years' service have been given as Road Commis- 
sioner and seven years as School Director, in 
a satisfactory manner. 



Mr. Babbitt was married, in Union Township, 
on November 14, 1880, to Hattie Heston, who 
was born in Warren County, 111., in April, 
ISfiO, and their marriage has resulted in three 
children: Viola, Nina B., and Mildred Irene. 
Mr. Babbitt is a Republican in politics, and a 
member of the Christian Church. 

BABBITT, William Sherman, a well-known 
and prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of 
Union Township, Fulton County, 111., was born 
in that township, August 28, 1S64, a son of 
James I. and Harriet Adeline (Davis) Babbitt, 
both natives of Union Township, where the 
father was born May 20. 1836, and the mother 
January 3, 1839. A sketch of the life of the for- 
mer appears on another page of this work. He 
is still living on the homestead purchased by 
his father, Stephen Babbitt, in 1830, and is the 
oldest citizen, still surviving, who was born in 
that township. Six children resulted from the 
union of James I. and Harriet A. (Davis) Bab- 
bitt, to-wit: G. Marion, J. Grant, William Sher- 
man, Guy H.. Morton J. and Nannie Mj;rtle. 

William Sherman Babbitt received a good 
common school education in the district schools 
of Union Township, and spent his youthful 
years at home with his parents. On reaching 
maturity he engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing on Sections and 7, Union 'Township, where 
he has since continued with successful results. 
His farm consists of 110 acres, and, in addi- 
tion to general farming operations, he feeds 
and ships a considerable amount of stock. He 
is an intelligent, systematic and progressive 
farmer, and has made an excellent record as 
a worthy representative of the best agricultural 
element of Fulton Count}'. 

On September IC, 1891, at Galesburg, Knox 
County, 111.. Mr. Babbitt was united in mar- 
riage with Lavina Belle Babbitt. Mrs. Babbitt 
was born in Knox County May 27. 1SG5, a daugh- 
ter of Isaac and Nancy (Cox) Babbitt, natives 
respectively of Pennsylvania and Illinois. 

In politics Mr. Babbitt is an unswerving sup- 
porter of the principles of the Republican party. 
Religiously he is a member of the Christian 
Church and takes a good citizen's interest in 
public affairs, and creditably fulfills his obliga- 
tions as a member of the community. 

BABCOCK, Amos C— (See page 30.) 

BADER, Benjamin F., of the firm of Bader & 
Company, successful grain dealers of Vermont, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Preble County. 
Ohio. November 20, 1S38. He is a son of Jere- 
miah and Sarah (Thompson) Bader, natives of 
Germany and the State of Pennsylvania re- 
spectively. Jeremiah came alone to the United 
States when he was about eighteen years old. 
taking passage thus hurriedly in order to avoid 
the required sen'ice in the German army. He 
located in Pennsylvania, where he was shortly 
afterward married, and subsequently moved to 
Ohio. In 1846 he journeyed to Schuyler County, 



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JAMES FOUTCH 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



775 



111., and located near the village of Bader, 
named in honor of his son, William, who was 
largely instrumental in locating the line of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- 
pany near that place. Jeremiah Bader entered 240 
acres of Government land in the vicinity of the 
town, on which he was engaged in farming un- 
til 1S55, when he moved to Astoria, 111., and 
there died in October, 1856, at the age of fifty- 
seven years. He was born in 1799 and came to 
this country in 1.S17. His widow passed away 
on the old home farm, September 1, 1S86. 
Twelve children were the result of their union, 
as follows: Pierson, who died in infancy: 
Elizabeth, deceased, who married Philip 
Murry, also deceased; Mary, who died 
In Astoria, 111., and was the wife of 
Lemuel J. Hopkins, who died in Brown- 
ing, 111.: William, a resident of Oklahoma City, 
Okla. : Sarah, widow of Elias Gibbs and a resi- 
dent of Fresno, Cal.; Rosanna, widow of John J. 
Bleaker, of Pasadena, Cal., who resides with her 
son, Dr. J. J. Bleeker; Margaret, who first mar- 
ried Courtland Doane, deceased, by whom she 
had one child, Laura, who became the wife of 
Eli Dixon, a banker, of Littleton, 111.; John L., 
of Le Roy, Kan.; Benjamin F., Addie L., whose 
first husband was Martin Cook, deceased, and 
who is now the wife of George W. Hughes, of 
Astoria, 111., and Henry O., who spent many 
years on the old home farm, but sold his inter- 
est and is now operating a grain elevator in 
Littleton. Schuyler County. 

Benjamin F. Bader was about nine years old 
when his father brought him to Schuyler Coun- 
ty, 111., and was reared on the paternal farm, 
receiving his early education in the district 
schools of the vicinity. He remained at home 
until he was eighteen years old and then spent 
a year in Ohio. On returning home he went to 
work on the farm of his brother, William, by 
whom he was employed by the month for some 
years, after which he farmed jointly with the 
latter until he was about twenty-six years old. 
He then purchased and operated a threshing 
outfit, and has since worn out two or three such 
equipments. In 1900 Mr. Bader established him- 
self in the grain trade in Vermont, and bought 
the Sutherland elevator. The firm of Barter & 
Company has elevators at Rushville, Littleton, 
Astoria, and Vermont. 111., and they also deal 
in hard and soft coal at Vermont and Astoria. 
They operate two steam hay-balers and turn out 
two carloads of hay per day through their four 
elevators. Each has a capacity of 15,000 bush- 
els of grain per day, and the firm handles about 
400,000 bushels per year. Mr. Bader's sons are 
associated with him in this enterprise, and con- 
stitute the "company." 

On December 15, 1S64, Mr. Bader was united 
in maTriage with Azuba Ann Parr, a daughter 
of Cooper and Ada (Linn) Parr. Her father 
originally journeyed from Pennsylvania to Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, whence he moved to Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., clearing a fine farm in Astoria Town- 



ship, of which he was one of the pioneer set- 
tlers. Her parents are both deceased. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bader became the parents of 
eight children, three of whom died In infancy 
and one. Lora Ada, died at the age of four years. 
Those sui-viving are as follows: Vira B., wife 
of W. S. Long, of Rushville, 111., connected with 
the firm of Bader & Company: Fred G., who 
manages the Astoria elevator: William P., who 
conducts the Vermont elevator, and Ernest G., 
of Vermont, 111., who operates the hay depart- 
ment of Bader & Company, attending to the 
buying in bulk. 

In politics Mr. Bader is independent, voting 
for the men and measures which he thinks 
most conducive to the interests of all the people. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. 
He ranks as one of the most enterprisin.g and 
substantial merchants, and one of the best rep- 
resentative citizens of Fulton County. His 
worthy and estimable wife is a member of the 
Christian Church. 

BAILEY, John (deceased). — Canton counts 
among her role of departed benefactors none 
who left behind more numerous and substantial 
evidences of association with its affairs than 
John Bailey. As a builder, politician, musician, 
fraternalist and public-spirited citizen he came 
and went among the people of his town from 
the time of his arrival in 1844 until the close 
of his life. November 10, 1903, and there re- 
mains in his wake an impression of practical 
usefulness, of genuine dependable character, due 
in part to his English ancestry, but more di- 
rectly traceable to his untiring zeal and ready 
recognition of opportunity. 

The first nine years of Mr. Bailey's life were 
spent in Leicestershire. England, where he was 
born August 17, 1821. His father, William Bai- 
ley, then brought the family to America in a 
sailing vessel, locating in Orange County, N. J., 
where he plied his trade of carpenter and joiner 
for the balance of his active life. His death 
occurred at an advanced age. Young John lost 
his mother at an early age, and he was set to 
work in his father's shop, where he became 
an expert in the use of carpenter's tools. When 
not working at his trade he attended the pub- 
lic schools of New York and New Jersey, and 
when he arrived in Canton in 1844 he was 
equipped with the essentials of success in his 
chosen occupation. Prom an humble beginning 
he advanced until he became the town's chief 
builder and contractor, and. with the exception 
of three buildings on the west side of the 
square, the solid stretch of structures was erect- 
ed by him. 

On December 29, 1844, Mr. Bailey was united 
in marriage to Elizabeth Wells King, who was 
born in Cleveland, Ohio, a dauhgter of William 
and Mary (Brown) King, the former of whom 
was born in Massachusetts. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Bailey were born six children, three of whom 
are deceased, namely: William, who died at the 



776 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



age of eight years; Eliza Ann, wife of A. D. 
Troxell, and Clarissa L. Those living are: 
Mary, wife of Lewis Thompson, of Canton, who 
has two children, Fred B. and Clara E. ; Lizzie 
J., wife of Thomas T. Lyons, of Alameda. Cal., 
who hns two children, Theron and Marie, and 
.John G. Bailey, who married Emma Weinold, 
lives in Canton and has a daughter, Emma. 

Mr. Bailey was a natural and enthusiastic 
musician, and in his younger days did much 
to promote an appreciation of good music in 
Canton. He was one of the organizers of the 
Canton Silver Cornet Band, the original of the 
present P. and O. Fifth Regiment Band, and 
it was as a trombone player in the latter organ- 
ization that he cheered the hearts of the charg- 
ing soldiers in the Civil War. He also had a. 
sweet and sympathetic singing voice, and was 
wont to contribute to the success of many local 
entertainments in this capacity. After the war 
he engaged in the grocery business in Canton 
for about three years, but, failing to realize 
anticipated satisfaction, returned to his former 
occupation of contracting and building. In all 
parts of the city and surrounding country are 
buildings due to his skill and ingenuity, more 
especially the better class of public and private 
structures, and many of them, after the changes 
of more than half a century, are still in a per- 
fect state of preservation. Mr. Bailey was In 
the contracting business for twenty-three years, 
and retired from active life at about sixty years 
of age. He lived in the same house for forty 
years, and among its surroundings of comfort 
and good cheer his last days were aiient. 

Eminently social in his tendencies, Mr. Bai- 
ley was a member of many organizations, and 
was among the oldest of the Canton lodge of 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From his 
earliest youth he was a zealous supporter of 
Republican principles, and did much to further 
the local interests of his party. At one time 
he was President of the City Board of Health, 
was an Alderman several terms and Chief of 
the Canton Fire Department two years. He 
was a man of liberal and practical ideas, a pro- 
moter of education, good government, religion 
and high living, and a devout and helpful mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. To know him was 
to have one's confidence in human nature 
strengthened, and one's faith in the homely, 
straightforward virtues which tend to public 
confidence fortified. ^ 

BAILY, Evan B. — An Instance of the call of 
the country rising above the din of the city 
and the more rapid compensations of one of 
the learned professions is found in the return 
to nature of Dr. Evan B. Bally, owner of a 240- 
acre tract on Section 13, Bernadotte Township, 
Dr, Baily comes of farming stock, and his first 
years were spent among agricultural surround- 
ings in Eldorado Township, McDonough County. 
111., where he was born March 9, 1SG5. On the 
paternal side he is of German ancestry, a son 
of Thomas and grandson of Evan Baily, the 



latter of whom came from Ohio to Vermont 
Township, Fulton County, at a very early day, 
where his son Thomas was born, reared and 
finally married Nancy Battenburg. After his 
marriage Thomas Baily removed to McDonough 
County, 111., where his wife died in 1S92, and 
whence he removed to Table Grove, Fulton 
County, his present home. 

The educational advantages of Dr. Baily con- 
sisted of the district schools and the high school 
at Macomb, and after graduating from the lat- 
ter he returned to the home farm, where he re- 
mained until attaining his majority. In 1SS9 
he entered the office of R. W. Baily. a dental 
practitioner of Macomb, and the following year 
took a course at the Chicago College of Dental 
Surgery, graduating therefrom in the class of 
1890. In the meantime the elder Dr. Baily had 
opened an office in Omaha, Xeb., and with him 
Dr. Evan B. ]jracticed during his vacation, in 
the fall locating in Vermont, 111., where he 
practiced dentistry for five years. He next lo- 
cated in Fairfield, Wayne County, 111., where he 
maintained and added to his former success, 
but in 1903, selling out his business, removed 
with his family to Chicago. Two years later 
(1905) he came to his present farm, and now 
is engaged in stock-raising, having on hand a 
large number of cattle, horses, hogs and sheej). 

September 17. 1891, Mr. Baily married Lizzie 
A. Branson, who was born at Ipava, Fulton 
County, November 22, 1S6S, a daughter of Wil- 
liam T. Branson, one of the honored pioneers 
of Fulton County, of whom mention may be 
found elsewhere in this work. Dr. and Mrs. 
Baily have two children, of whom Anna Mau- 
rine was born in Vermont Township, .luly 25, 
1892, and Evan B. in Fairfield, Wayne County, 
September 2, 1900. Dr. Baily is a Republican 
in polities, and fraternally is connected with 
the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen 
of America and the Royal Neighbors. With his 
wife he is a member of the Methodist Ei)iscopal 
Church, of Ipava. The Doctor has made a 
success of both dentistry and farming, and in 
either occupation would be sure of an excellent 
livelihood. He is a man of broad outlook, pro- 
gressive mind and large capacity for pains- 
taking industry. 

BAKER, Joseph, one of the oldest, worthiest 
and most highly honored residents of Fulton 
County, 111., and for forty-five years located on 
Sect'on 33, B\ickheart Townshi]i, this county, 
was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, September 
15, 1813. He is a son of .lacob Baker, a native 
of Germany, who, together with a sister, came 
to the United States in boyhood, after the death 
of his parents, in company with a friend named 
Schmidt. 

Joseph Baker went with his father to Clark 
County, Ind., in 1821, and there the father died. 
They had nine ch'ldren, of whom Joseph is the 
sole survivor. Of the others Katie married 
Alexander Montgomery and left a family, most 
of whom are dead. Mary was the wife of Caleb 




MRS. JAMES FOUTCH 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



m 



Phillips, who moved to Kansas, where both 
spent the remainder of their lives. Susan was 
drowned in the Ohio River. Hannah was the 
wife of George DeWitt, and died in Washington 
County, Ind. Henry, the eldest of the sons, 
died in Clark County, Ind.. leaving two daugh- 
ters and three sons. Frederick died in Mis- 
souri, leaving a son and a daughter named 
Annie. Charles died in Hamilton County, Ohio, 
leaving three or four children, John died near 
the Winnebago Swamp, in Illinois. 

Joseph Baker arrived in Fulton County Oc- 
tober 12, 1S35. His first work consisted in mak- 
ing shingles — sawing the logs and splitting 
them In the old-fashioned way — and for this 
work he received thirteen dollars per month. 
When he arrived in Fulton County his supply of 
cash was two dollars and fifty cents. He located 
in Canton and there followed the carpenter's 
trade until 1S42. About 1835 the village had 
been swept away oy a storm, devastating the 
entire vicinity and creating a demand for car- 
penters, and during the year 1837 he built twen- 
ty-six houses in Canton. 

In 1843 Mr. Baker abandoned carpentry, 
leased a tract of land near Canton and began 
clearing it. his lease extending five years. There 
he toiled until 1848. At that period he bought 
and operated the first horse-power threshing 
machine that had been operated in Fulton Coun- 
ty, and for eight years he followed this occu- 
pation. In 1857 he purchased eighty acres of 
heavily timbered land, which he cleared and 
cultivated, and about 1859 he bought another 
tract of eighty acres of wild land, about three 
acres of which had been cleared. On this he 
again began to cut the large and small oaks and 
grub the stumps from the ground. As he now 
looks over the scene he often wonders how the 
pioneer settlers endured the tasks before them. 
Not a stump can now be found where then hard- 
ly a bare spot could be seen. That such a trans- 
formation could be accomplished during the 
span of a human lifetime seems to him almost 
incredible. Wild turkeys could then be shot 
from the woodpile near the door, and deer could 
be killed from the doorstep of the log cabin. 
But few of the Indians lingered after the Black 
Hawk War, and they soon abandoned this part 
of the country. 

Mr. Baker has not only been a witness of the 
prodigious changes which have taken place in 
the county since 1835. but has been an active 
factor in producing them. He has not only 
cleared much of the land in the township of its 
native timber, but is the builder of many of 
the best houses in the city of Canton, as well 
as the structures on his farms. He has always 
taken a prominent part in all public enter- 
prises, and church and school have ever found 
in him a strong friend and advocate. 

In October, 1861, Mr. Baker was united in 
marriage with Nancy Bauman, a daughter of 
Eli Bauman, who located in Fulton County in 
1842, subsequently sold his interests there "and 
moved to Iowa, where he died at the age of 
11 



ninety-seven years. In 1861 Mr. and Mrs. Ba- 
ker moved to their home on Section 33, Buck- 
heart Township, which has since been his resi- 
dence. Mrs. Baker passed to her final rest in 
1872. 

Politically Mr. Baker was originally a Whig 
and cast his first presidential vote for General 
Harrison. He has been a stanch adherent of 
the Republican party since its organization. 
He has filled various township offices with abil- 
ity and fidelity, and did the work in making 
the second assessment in Buckheart Township 
for six dollars. For seventy years he has lived 
among the people of tnat township and no man 
is more honored by the whole community than 
"Uncle Joe Baker," as he is familiarlv "known 
to all. 

BALLARD, Thomas W., a well known and 
enterprising farmer on Section 26. Buckheart 
Township. Fulton County, was born where he 
now lives, March 1, 1858. a son of Linville and 
Lavina (Bauman) Ballard, natives of Ken- 
tucky, where the former was born, near Win- 
chester, Clark County, in January, 1819. He 
married Lavina Bauman, a daughter of Peter 
Bauman, in 1853. The paternal grandparents 
were John and Nancy (Bybee) Ballard, natives 
of Virginia. 

Linville Ballard located in Liverpool. 111., De- 
cember 11, 1852, where he conducted what was 
called a tavern, and there, also, was married 
to Lavina Bauman. In 1853, he made his first 
purchase of land — a sixty-acre tract — in Section 
26, Buckheart Townshi]). The old home was one 
of the primitive log cabins, and the land was 
partially improved. To the original purchase 
Mr. Ballard added from time to time, until, at 
the time of his death, after disposing of some 
of his landed possessions, he was still the owner 
of 400 acres in Buckhart Township. He was a 
wide-awake and thrifty farmer, and was al- 
ways ready for a trade. He was an extensive 
breeder of hogs and cattle, and often had, at 
one time, 400 head of hogs on the farm, and 
from fifty to sixty head of cattle. He was a 
shrewd and successful stock-dealer in this line, 
being among the best in his day and locality. 
He was always ready \o defend his friends, even 
to the extent of using force, and was trusted 
and respected by all. In politics he was a 
strong Democrat, but never aspired to public 
office. To Linville Ballard and his wife were 
born seven children, as follows: Amdra, wife of 
George W. Elliott, of Canton. 111.; Mary, de- 
ceased wife of Lewis D. Ashton, of California; 
Thomas W.; Josie, deceased wife of Willard 
Fisher, of Canton, 111.; Leroy C, a farmer in 
Banner Township, Fulton County; Florence, a 
resident of Canton, 111., who married Elmer 
Weller, deceased; and Harry, who died in 
infancy. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
paternal farm, and received his mental train- 
ing in the district schools in his vicinity. He 
remained under the parental roof until he 



778 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



reached the age of twenty-one years, when he 
rented a portion of the homestead property tor 
one year. He then rented the old Bauman 
farm, near Lewistown, and in 1881, purchased 
the farm which has since been his home. He 
has a fine residence, and is one of the leading 
farmers of his locality. 

In 1879, Mr. Ballard was united in marriage 
with Nettie T. Goodrich, a daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. George Goodrich. She was born in New 
Hampshire, and accompanied her parents to 
Fulton County. One child resulted from this 
union, who died in infancy, the mother also 
passing away. On March 31, 1898, Mr. Ballard 
was wedded to Eva Cox, a native of Canton, 
111., and a daughter of William and Mary 
(Batty) Cox, of English birth. William Cox 
came to the United States with his father, 
Thomas Cox, at the age of twelve years, pro- 
ceeding direct to Canton. Mary Batty, on 
arriving in this country, located in New Jersey, 
where in course of time, her marriage took 
place, after which she accompanied her hus- 
band to Fulton County. William Cox was born 
in 1831, and arrived in Canton in 1843. Mr. 
Cox being now deceased, his widow, at the age 
of sixty-three years, makes her home in Canton; 
They became the parents of fifteen children, 
six of whom died in infancy. Those surviving 
are: Mark C, of North Dakota; William, of 
Canton, 111.; Eva (Mrs. Ballard); Thomas B., 
of North Dakota; George, of Monmouth, 111.; 
Clara, of Canton, 111.; Charles, of North Dakota; 
Mary A. and Joshua. In politics Mr. Ballard is 
a Democrat, and Mrs. Ballard is a memtser of 
the Christian Church. 

BARBER, Edward Stuart (deceased), who was 
for many years successfully engaged in the 
livery, hotel and stock business, in Canton, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Warren County, 
eighteen miles from Newton, N. J., June 24, 
1831, and received his early education partly 
in the place of his birth and partly in the 
town of his adoption. Samuel Barber, his 
father, was one of seven brothers who came to 
America from England, settling in Warren 
County, N. J., where he lived until his death. 

The subject of this sketch came to Canton, 
111., in 1849, with a family named Rose. A 
year or two later he went to Peoria, 111., where 
he lived about six years. Returning to Canton, 
he took charge of a livery stable on White 
Court. A few years afterward (in 1860 or 
1861), he formed a partnership with the late 
Morrell Higbie and, under the firm name of 
Barber & Higbie, conducted a hotel and operated 
a livery barn in Canton, dealing also in stock 
on an extensive scale. The public house under 
the management of this firm was the old 
Mississippi Hotel, occupying the site of the 
present Churchill House, and the livery barn 
is the same which was under Mr. Barber's 
management up to the time of his death, the 
firm having been dissolved in 1881. Through 
his industry, sobriety, sagacity and diligent 



application to business, Mr. Barber acquired a 
handsome competence. He was the owner of 
considerable real estate in Canton, and possessed 
a large amount of farming property. 

On October 3, 1871, Mr. Barber was united in 
marriage with Margaret Craig, a daughter of 
the late Madison Craig, who survives her 
husband. Of two brothers who survived Ed- 
ward S. Barber, George, who was a resident of 
Madison, Wis., died recently, and Eli, of 
Newton, is still living. 

In politics Mr. Barber was a Democrat, and 
served as Alderman two terms. His decease 
occurred May 12, 1899. He was one of the 
most energetic and thoroughly reliable of men, 
and a public-spirited, popular and useful 
citizen. 

BARLOW. John William.— One of the largest 
landowners in Fulton County and among the 
most prosperous raisers of blooded live stock, 
John W. Barlow is an imposing figure in the 
agricultural life of this section of the State. 
His parents, Samuel and Margaret (Kenton) 
Barlow, were both natives of Nicholas County, 
Ky., where he also was born on July 2. 1845. 
While prospecting for a good agricultural coun- 
try in which to locate, the father came to Fulton 
County, in 18.5.5. and, after remaining here a 
short time, went to the adjoining county of 
Warren, but soon afterwards returned to Ful- 
ton County, where he bought a farm which he 
improved and cultivated for the balance of his 
life. 

John W. Barlow was ten years of age when 
his father located permanently in Fulton Coun- 
ty, and he has been a continuous resident of 
Union Township since 1871, for a period of 
over thirty-five years. He has added to his 
holdings with persistency and judgment until 
he is now the proprietor of 1.640 acres of fine 
stock land, devoting his attention to the breed- 
ing of Shorthorn and Angus cattle and to 
Poland-China hogs. Mr. Barlow is a man of 
unusual executive power, or he never would 
have been al)le to manage his large live-stock 
interests and, at the same time, accomplish 
much valuable work in connection with the 
township system of education. For twelve 
years he has served as School Director, and 
his duties have been performed with ability 
and dispatch. In his political affiliations he is 
a Democrat. 

Mr. Barlow was marired, in Union Township, 
May 10, 1871, to Dora Quincy Hovell, a native 
of Union Township, born May 1, 1850, and 
they have had two children: Turner and Jennie. 
Mr. Barlow is a faithful member of the 
Christian Church. 

HARNETT, Oliver.— Among the farmers of 
recognized moral and material worth whose la- 
bors have largely helped to develop the interests 
of Buckheart Township, Fulton County, 111., is 
Oliver Barnett, who was bom in Huntingdon 
County, Pa., on the summit of Broad Top 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



779 



Mountain, December 29, 1844. He is a son of 
Joseph and Hannah (Cook) Barnett, his mother 
being a descendant of the Coolcs tliat came to 
America with William Penn in 1G92. The Cook 
homestead, containing 500 acres, is now known 
as Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, the site of the 
Centennial Exposition of 1S76. The Cooks were 
of the old Quaker stock. Great-grandfather An- 
thony Cook being a descendant of Anthony Cook 
of the Penn colony and a soldier of the Revolu- 
tionary War. The old homestead in Fairmount 
Park was deeded to him and the family located 
on Broad Top Mountain about the close of the 
eighteenth century. 

On the paternal side Great-grandfather Philip 
Barnett when a boy was abducted on the banks 
of the River Rhine, taken aboard a vessel and 
sold for his passage. A little girl who was with 
him was sold to the same man. On becoming 
of age these two were married, and a few years 
later made their home on Broad Top Mountain. 
Philip Barnett died in 1S44 at the remarkable 
age of 101 years, and his wife passed away in 
1S43, having also reached the century mark. 
Their remains lie side by side on the summit 
of the mountain. Philip Barnett also served 
in the Revolutionary War, as did his son Philip, 
grandfather of Oliver, and the brothers, John, 
Jonathan, Joseph, David and Jacob. All were 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
having joined it on the organization of that de- 
nomination in America, and with this sect all 
the successive generations of the family have 
been identified. In politics they have been 
Democrats down to the present generation, and 
from the time of William Penn they have been 
prominent men in their several localities. 

Joseph Barnett, with this family, settled in 
Fulton County in 1SG6, locating in Section 30, 
Buckheart Township, where Oliver received his 
first schooling. In 1868 the latter went to Kan- 
sas, returning in the spring of 1869. In the 
spring of 1870 Joseph Barnett moved to Osage 
County, Kan., and in 1S80 he retired from the 
farm and located in Topeka, that State, where 
his wife and one son (William) died, the for- 
mer in 1885 and the latter in 1884. Both are 
buried in the cemetery at Topeka. In 1888 
Joseph Barnett was again married, wedding 
Mrs. Mary E. Bush, of Denver, Colo., and mov- 
ing to Santa Barbara County, Cal., where the 
father died in 1900, at the age of eighty years. 
His widow, who has passed eighty years, is now 
a resident of Denver. 

Oliver Barnett is one of a family of four chil- 
dren, the others being William, deceased: Me- 
linda, a resident of Springfield, Mo., and Clara, 
wife of William Dugan, who represents the New 
York Life Insurance Company in that city. 
Since his return from Kansas in 1887 Mr. Bar- 
nett has made his home on the old home farm 
in Buckheart Township. He has been identified 
with the best interests of the township since 
1866. He has given his children a thorough 
mental training and fitted them for useful and 
honorable lives. He is a thorough, systematic 



and successful farmer, and is truly typical of 
the most worthy and substantial agricultural 
element in Fulton County. 

On April 16, 1874, Mr. Barnett was united in 
marriage with Mary E. Ashton, eldest daughter 
of Edward and Rebecca (Connor) Ashton, pio- 
neer settlers of Fulton County, to which they 
moved from Ohio in 1840. The Connor family 
were originally from Delaware, and were rela- 
tives of the well-known Peterson family, of Phil- 
adelphia. Seven children resulted from this 
union, two of whom aied in infancy. The oth- 
ers are: Clara M., who is under the paternal 
roof: Edwin L., an electrician in Lynn, Mass.; 
Bertha E., wife of J. C. Arundale, a farmer of 
Lewistown Township, Fulton County; Corel, an 
electrician, and Clyde, the youngest, who died 
August 6, 1904. The mother of this family died 
in Topeka, Kan., October 12, 1887, and her re- 
mains repose in the cemetery at Bryant in Ful- 
ton County. On April 17, 1894, Mr. Barnett 
married again, wedding Mary S. Dunlap, of 
Buda, 111. 

In politics Mr. Barnett is a Democrat and has 
creditably filled several township oflices. Fra- 
ternally he is affiliate! with the A. F. & A. M., 
of Lewistown, and the M. W. A., of Bryant, hav- 
ing been Clerk of the Camp for fifteen years. 
The family are all members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, Mr. Barnett having taken a 
deep interest in its work since he was twenty 
years of age. 

BARTHOLOMEW, Samuel. — Milling, engineer- 
ing, carriage and wagon manufacturing, and 
the profession of arms, have constituted the 
experience and usefulness of Samuel Bartholo- 
mew, for almost half a century an integral 
part of the community of Table Grove, and since 
October, 1883, the owner and occupant of his 
present farm adjoining that place. Mr. Bar- 
tholomew was born December 3, 1838, in Colum- 
bus, Adams County, 111., where his parents, 
Samuel and Susan (Hibbitts) Bartholomew, and 
his grandparents, Samuel Bartholomew, Sr., and 
wife, had settled in 1831. The grandfather 
Bartholomew was born in Covington, Ky., 
whence at an early age, he removed to the 
wilds of Indiana, where he married a Scotch 
lady, and engaged in milling and farming for 
several years. He also built and operated a 
mill in Columbus for a number of years, then 
sold out and built a mill four miles east of 
Quincy, on South Mill Creek, where his death 
occurred in 1856. 

The second Samuel, father of the subject of 
this sketch, was identified with his father's 
milling business at Columbus and was also 
connected with the mill on Mill Creek, which 
he subsequently sold to a Mr. Phelps. He 
sustained a severe loss through the death of 
his wife in 1846, when five sons were left to 
his care, a daughter having died in infancy. 
Of these sons, Samuel, his namesake, is the 
fourth in order of birth. Henry Clay, the first 
born, is a resident of Litchfield, 111.; James 



78o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



was a soldier in the Civil War; Arthur is de- 
ceased; and John is a locomotive engineer on 
the Wabash Railroad — also servea during the 
Rebellion. In 1848 Mr. Bartholomew married 
Mary Fetheringill, and of this union there 
were two daughters: Katie, wife of John Baker, 
and Helen, wife of George Baker, all of Adams 
County, 111. In 1850 Mr. Bartholomew, with 
his brothers, John and Levi, and his brother-in- 
law, Tom Fetheringill, started across the plains 
with an ox-team, and on the way Mr. Bartholo- 
mew and his brother-in-law sickened and died. 
The sons, John and Levi, returned to Adams 
County in IS.'il. and the following year the 
four boys returned to Indiana and made their 
home with their maternal grandfather, Hibbitts, 
locating again in Adams County in 1854. 

The present Samuel Bartholomew learned 
the milling business under his uncle, the latter 
serving as miller and the former working his 
way up to engineer. Upon the death of the 
uncle in 1S5S, the lad, then twenty years old, 
came to Fulton County and began building and 
contracting in Table Grove, being thus em- 
ployed up to the breaking out of the Civil War. 
In 1S61 he enlisted in the Second Illinois Light 
Artillery, and during his two years of ser- 
vice participated in many battles, among them 
Forts Henry and Donelson. His military 
career was shortened by one month owing to 
illness resulting from exposure during the 
trail after Morgan in Kentucky, being honor- 
ably discharged at Columbus, Ky., and per- 
mitted to return home. After several months 
spent in recuperating, he started a carriage 
and wagon manufactory in Table Grove, which 
he operated continuously for twenty years. 
Disposing of his business in 1883, he engaged as 
engineer in a flouring mill in Girard, Kans., 
for a few months, but in October, 1883, returned 
to Table Grove and bought twenty-six acres ot 
land to which he since has added 160 acres, 
making in all a tract of 186 acres. His property 
has many fine improvements, and nets its owner 
a comfortable income from general farming 
and stock-raising. 

In 1862 Mr. Bartholomew was united in mar 
riage to Mary Fordyce, of which union there 
have been born six children: Laura, who died 
at the age of fourteen; Alvah, an emplo;,e of 
the Government; Omar, a resident of Kamps- 
ville, Calhoun County, 111.; Katie, who died at 
the age of twenty-two; Henry and Helen, twins, 
the latter the wife of Thomas Points, of Fulton 
County; and Ada, wife of Thomas Cowart, a 
brick manufacturer, of Table Grove. In polit- 
ical affiliations Mr. Bartholomew is a Repub- 
lican, but he never has aspired to office oi any 
kind. With his wife he is a faithful member 
of the Universalist Church, and donated the 
six lots comprising the church property upon 
which the present church edifice was erected 
in 1868. Whatever his occupation, or where- 
ever his residence, Mr. Bartholomew has com- 
manded the respect and good will of his asso- 
ciates, and it is his legacy of integrity, com- 



bined with useful labor and sound judgment 
that has been a valuable contribution to the 
upbuilding of Fulton County. 

BARTLETT, H. M., who is successfully en- 
gaged in the grain business in Fulton County, 
III., was born in Knox County, 111., in 1863, a 
son of William and Mary (Yocum) Bartlett, 
natives of Indiana. William Bartlett moved 
from Indiana to Knox County, 111.-, where he 
was afterwards engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. In early youth the subject of this sketch 
received his mental training in the schools of 
Knox County. He was reared on the farm, and 
when he grew to maturity, applied himself to 
farming on his own account. In this occupa- 
tion, together with raising stock, he continued 
until lyoo,. when he went to Smithfield, 111., 
where he was engaged for three years in the 
grain and stock business. In 1S93 he formed 
a partnership with Mr. Waughtel, and bought 
the business and elevator of Beam & Hilton, 
which they have since conducted, buying all 
kinds of grain, and buying and selling hogs 
and cattle. The elevator is situated on the 
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad, and has a 
capacity of 5,000 bushels. Mr. Bartlett was a 
successful and energetic farmer, and he is a 
diligent and prosperous merchant. 

In 1SS7, Mr. Bartlett was united in marriage 
with Ida J. Henderson, who was born in Fulton 
County. Seven children have resulted from this 
union, as follows: Eunice Roy, Nora, Daisy, 
Julia, Bryan, Cassady, and an infant unnamed. 
Fraternally Mr. Bartlett is identified with the 
Modern Woodmen of America. 

BARTON, John S., M. D., who is engaged in 
the successful practice of his profession in 
Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was born in Jacobs 
Port, or East Plainfield, Coshocton County, 
Ohio, on JIarch IT, 1848, a son of Samuel B. 
and Rebecca (Smith) Barton, natives of New 
York and Ohio, respectively. He is one of a 
family of six children, four of whom are still 
living. " Samuel B. Barton, the father, was a 
cabinet maker and a farmer by occupation. 

In early manhood the subject of this sketch 
received his instruction in the public schools, 
and on reaching mature years taught school 
for a while. In 1872 he began practicing medi- 
cine at Vera, Fayette County, 111., having 
studied with Dr. P. P. Coumitt, of Crawford 
County. He practiced also for a time at St. 
David, Fulton County. In 1878 he graduated 
in medicine and surgery from the Eclectic 
Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio. In 
1892 he located in Cuba, where he has since 
been successfully engaged in practice. 

On October 30. 1872, Dr. Barton was united 
in marriage with Maria A. Buckmaster, who 
was born in Fayette County, 111., and their 
union resulted in nine children, of whom five 
are living, namely: Samuel B., of Jacksonville, 
111.; Crete; John, of Jack.sonville; Made and 
William. Politically Dr. Barton is a supporter 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



7^ 



of the principles of the Republican party, and 
fraternally is affiliated with the M. W. of A. 
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

BATH, J. H., who is favorably known in 
business connection as the proprietor of a well 
equipped and profitable cigar factory in Cuba, 
Fulton County, 111., and is noted throughout 
the county as an instrumental musician of ex- 
ceptional skill, was born in South Wales, in 
18.58, a son of Jacob and Catherine (Phillips) 
Bath, also natives of that country. Jacob 
Bath, who was a coal miner by occupation, 
came to the United States in 1869 and settled 
in Canton, 111., where he went to work in the 
mines, continuing in this employment until his 
death, which occurred in 1894. His widow 
is still living. 

J. H. Bath accompanied his parents to Fulton 
County, and in boyhood worked three years in 
the mines at Canton, and still later in the Cuba 
mines. Subsequently, he spent four years on a 
farm. In 1893 he engaged in the cigar business 
at Washington, Iowa, and later, at Columbus 
Junction, in the same State, where he spent 
three years conducting a wholesale and retail 
cigar manufactory. In 1899 he returned to 
Cuba, 111., where he established himself in the 
same line. He operates a wholesale and retail 
concern, and manufactures some brands of 
excellent quality. In 1904 he built a neat resi- 
dence in the northern portion of the town. Mr. 
Bath is also the owner of other property in 
Cuba, and is interested in real-estate trans- 
actions, havin.g laid out two sub-divisions of 
town land, called "Bath's First and Second 
Additions." While in Iowa he devoted con- 
siderable attention to instrumental music, and 
was a member of the Washington Military 
Band, and the Columbus Junction Band. In 
1893, he joined the noted "Fifth Regiment 
Band," of Canton, and has been the organizer 
of whatever bands have been known in the town 
of Cuba. 

In 187S Mr. Bath was married, in Cuba, ITi., 
to Rachael Westmann, a native of that town, 
and a daughter of Perry and Margaret West- 
mann, who moved from Ohio to Fulton County, 
where her father engaged in farming. Two 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bath: 
Ethel (Mrs. Buck) and Ruth. 

Mr. Bath has served two years as a member 
of the Town Board of Cuba, and fraternally is 
affiliated with the A. F. & A. M., belonging to 
the K. T. Encampment. He is also a member 
of the I. O. O. F.; K. of P.; and T. P. A. He 
is looked upon as one of the enterprising, pro- 
gressive and popular men of his locality. 

BATTIN, George W.— The life of George W. 
Battin is an illustration of the possible control 
over early limitations and of the wise utiliza- 
tion of ordinary opportunities. His career has 
been identified witli Fulton County for half a 
century, lacking only twenty years in McDon- 



ough. The substantial fortune which enables 
him to live in comfortable retirement in Table 
Grove was acquired through blacksmithing and 
farming, and his broadening experiences have 
included meritorious service in the Civil War. 
Born in Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, De- 
cember 11, 1835. Mr. Battin is fifth in order of 
birth of the eleven children of Thomas and 
Mary (Steel) Battin, natives of Ohio and born 
in Tuscarawas and Harrison Counties respect- 
ively. In very moderate circumstances the 
mother of this large family reared her children 
to noble ways of living, little dreaming, when 
rocking the cradle of her little ones, that five 
of them would go forth to battle for the defense 
of their country. Nathan, her oldest son, died 
in California; John, a resident of Westchester, 
Ohio, served during the Civil War in the Fifty- 
first Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was a pris- 
oner in the hands of the rebel forces for eleven 
months; Samuel and George were twins and the 
former enlisted in the Ninety-eighth Ohio and • 
died at Nashville. Tenn., during his term of 
service: Basle, a resident of Woodbury County, 
Iowa, served in the Thirty-second Wisconsin 
Volunteer Infantry; Martin, who lives in Mar- 
tinsville. Ohio, was a teamster in an Ohio regi- 
ment during the war; Thomas died in child- 
hood: Nancy, the widow of Adam Quillin, lives 
in Carrollton, Mo.; Harriet, wife of Andrew 
Hogue, lives in Westchester, Ohio; Mary died in 
infancy, and Rachel died at the age of about 
ten years. 

About eight years old when his father died, 
George W. Battin thereafter was thrown among 
strangers, and for six years lived with Jefferson 
Quillin, who allowed him thirty-two days of 
schooling a year. At the age of eighteen he 
was adrift again and dependent upon whatever 
he could find to do, and when he arrived at 
nineteen years he had an opportunity to learn 
the blacksmith trade. Even then the prospects 
were not glowing, for he received but two dol- 
lars a month and board, and had to clothe him- 
self during the first year, his allowance being 
raised one dollar per month for the second year. 
At the expiration of the second year he rented 
and took charge of an old blacksmith shop in 
Freeport, Ohio, and succeeded so well that on 
September 2.5, 1856, he was united in marriage 
to Sarah Ann Chicken, who was born in Free- 
port. June 10, 1837, a daughter of Daniel D. 
Chicken, who came to Fulton County in 1857 
and eventually died in Ipava. The fall of his 
marriage Mr. Battin sold his Freeport shop and 
came to Ipava, 111., where he found the man un- 
der whom he had served his apprenticeship, 
with whom he at once established a partnership 
which continued until his enlistment in the 
army, in which he served three years. After 
the war he built a shop on the corner of the 
square now occupiea by Craither Brothers' 
store, and in 1877 rented a farm in Eldorado 
Township, upon which he lived five years. For 
the following twenty-five years he lived on a 
farm in New Salem Township, McDonough 



782 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



County, and on January 1, 1905, moved to Table 
Grove, where he has a comfortable home and 
beautiful surroundings. 

The home of Mr. Battin in Ipava was made 
desolate by the death of his wife, February 27, 
1861. There were three children of this union, 
of whom Ella is the deceased wife of Vernon 
Cadwallader, of California, and two died in in- 
fancy. Grief stricken at the loss which he was 
called upon to sustain, Mr. Battin sought for- 
getfulness in travel, and was present at the 
first Territorial election held in Colorado in 
1861. The following year he returned to Ipava, 
and August 7, 1862, enlisted at Vermont in 
Company B, Eighty-fourth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, for three years. He remained with 
his regiment until it reached the Kennesaw 
Mountains, when, owing to sickness, he was 
sent to the hospital at Chattanooga, and finally 
allowed to go home on a thirty-day furlough. 
At the end of that time he reported for duty at 
Nashville, was examined and transferred to the 
Veteran Relief Corps. After the last battle at 
Nashville he was sent to guard the prison at 
Indianapolis, and remained there until the close 
of the war. At the second election of Lincoln 
in 1864 the soldiers unfit for duty were allowed 
to return home to vote, being obliged to go to 
the Howard schoolhouse on Otter Creek to cast 
their ballot. Trouble was expected, as threats 
had been made that no soldier would be allowed 
to vote at that poll. However, a party was 
gotten up, including Dr. Ball, armed to the 
teeth, and upon arriving at the schoolhouse 
they found about twenty-five people assembled, 
carrying shotguns and looking fierce determina- 
tion. Mr. Battin, in his full soldier uniform 
and with his ticket in his hand, walked fear- 
lessly up to the judges and in a clear voice 
said: "Here is one for Old Abe." In the mean- 
time the purpose of the opposition must have 
oozed away, for as he walked back to the car- 
riage not a word was said. 

September 6, 1866. Mr. Battin married Nancy 
P. Willis, daughter of George Willis, a Fulton 
County pioneer of 1850. Five children were 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Battin: William, born 
July 17, 1867. and now a farmer near Bardolph, 
McDonough County, 111.; Sally, born in Table 
Grove, now the wife of Henry A. Griffin, a hard- 
ware merchant of Table Grove; Lydia, wife of 
Alfred Chadderdon, a farmer of New Salem 
Township, McDonougn County; Anna Daisy, 
wife of Grant Dougherty, of New Salem Town- 
ship, and Axie, the deceased wife of Arthur 
Chadderdon, also deceased. September 11, 1905, 
Mr. Battin lost his second wife, who, like him- 
self, had been a faithful member of the XJniver- 
salist Church since 1868, at the time of its or- 
ganization. Mr. Battin has been very active in 
this church, and for years has been a member 
of its Board of Trustees. He has been identi- 
fied with the Masonic fraternity since 1864, and 
Is a charter member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic at Table Grove. Since its organiza- 
tion in 1856 he has been a stanch supporter of 



the Republican party. Too much cannot be said 
of the honest and noble intentions with which 
Mr. Battin has invested all of his life interests, 
or of the faithfulness with which he has dis- 
charged all obligations imposed ujion him. The 
consciousness that he has treated all men fairly 
and won their lasting regard is one of the chief 
compensations of his serene and comfortable 
retirement. 

BAYLOR, George T., a well known banker of 
Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was born in Phillips- 
burg, N. J., March 3, 1S3S, a son of Michael and 
Anna (Leida) Baylor, both natives of New 
Jersey. Michael Baylor settled in Canton in 
1846, where he carried on farming. In 
boyhood the subject of this sketch re- 
ceived his training in the common schools 
in Canton. When he reached mature years 
he began farming south of Canton. On August 
25, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Seventh 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, and served 
until December 5. 1862, when he was wounded 
at Coffeeville, Miss., being shot in the hip and 
thigh. This wound affected the sciatic nerve, 
and, as a consequence, he is lame. Three 
months later he was brought home, and on 
March 26. 1863, received an honorable dis- 
charge. After his recovery in 1866, he engaged 
in the mercantile business at Canton. This 
he followed there and in St. David, 111., for 
nine years, when on March 24, 1874, his brother 
having failed in business at Cuba, he took the 
business off his hands and later conducted a 
store in connection with a Mr. Riley, in which 
he has continued successfully ever since. On 
July, 1902, Mr. Baylor was elected President of 
the Cuba State Bank, which previous to this 
had been a private institution. He bought his 
present residence in Cuba of Judge Gray, and 
owns besides 500 acres of land in the edge of 
town. 

On October 9, 1873, Mr. Baylor was united in 
marriage with Mary J. Shryock, who was born 
in Fulton County. One child. Curtis E., has been 
born of this union. In politics Mr. Baylor is 
a supporter of the Republican party. In St. 
David he served as Township Collector, but 
declined nominations for other local offices 
which were tendered to him. Religiously Mr. 
Baylor is a member of the Methodist Protestant 
Church, and is also a member of the G. A. R. 
He is a man of substantial business qualities 
and exceptional character, and is one of the 
most successful and prominent citizens of his 
locality. 

BEADLES, Nathan, a successful dealer in dry 
goods, gents' furnishings, boots and shoes, etc., 
in Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., was born in 
Bernadotte Township. Fulton County. June 21. 
1865, a son of William L. and Hannah E. 
(Barnes) Beadles, natives respectively of Ken- 
tucky and Virginia. They were the parents of 
nine children, of whom those beside the sub- 
ject of this sketch were: Mary, who became 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



783 



the wife of William Six and settled in Kirks- 
ville, Mo., where she died; John L., who died in 
Lewistown, 111., leaving a family of thirteen 
children; Oscar L., who died in Butler County, 
Kan.; James M., who died in Kirksville, Mo.; 
Nancy P., deceased wife of Adam Kessler, of 
Nevada, Mo.; William E., who also died in Ne- 
vada, Mo. ; Eva L., who died at the age of seven 
years, and Susan, wife of James Bruner, of 
Durango, Colo. 

William L. Beadles came to Fulton County 
when but a lad in 1828. Shortly afterward he 
learned the carpenter's trade and on reaching 
manhood became a contractor and builder. 
Many buildings now standing are evidences of 
his handiwork. He also carried on farming, 
and in this way did his share in reclaiming 
the wilderness and developing the county. He 
made his home in Fulton County until 1874, 
and then moved with his family to Butler Coun- 
ty, Kan., where, as in Illinois, he was a leader 
in improvements, being the first to introduce 
fine horses and cattle. There, as in Illinois, the 
sterling traits of his character won for him the 
cordial esteem of all with whom he came in 
contact. He departed this life in 1898. 

Nathan Beadles spent his early life on the 
home farm, attending the public schools in the 
winter season. In 1878 he took a trip to Colo- 
rado and followed cattle herding for two sum- 
mers. He also visited the Flint Hills and went 
into New Mexico. In 1885 he returned to his 
native county, where he entered school, com- 
pleting his course in 1889, after which he again 
visited the West. On returning the same year 
he bought a farm in Waterford Township. 
From time to time he added to this purchase 
until he became the owner of 640 acres of land. 
In 1899 he came to Lewistown and engaged in 
the transfer business. This business he sold in 
1901 and purchased a half interest in his pres- 
ent establishment from John Voorhees, in 1904 
buying the interest of his partner and becoming 
proprietor of the entire stock. His trade is ex- 
tensive and the honorable and courteous man- 
ner in which he conducts the business has 
gained the good will and confidence of his 
patrons. 

On September 19, 1889, Mr. Beadles was 
united in marriage with Mary N. Brooks, daugh- 
ter of William and Margaret (Russell) Brooks, 
honored pioneers of Pulton County, where the 
birth of Mrs. Beadles took place, March 14, 
1868. The following named children have re- 
sulted from this imion: Jefferson R., born Sep- 
tember 6, 1890; Nathan, who died in infancy; 
Ralph B., Avery M., Eva B., Amelia, who died 
December 17, 1906; Mary and Francis. 

In politics Mr. Beadles belongs to the Dem- 
ocratic party and in 1906 labored hard to se- 
cure local option in his county. He is not blind 
to the good deeds accomplished by other party 
officials, and believes our President Theodore 
Roosevelt, is one of the greatest men our Na- 
tion has ever produced. Fraternally he is affil- 
iated with the A. F. & A. M. and the K. of P. 



He and his wife are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

BEAM, J. C, Sr. — Canton, 111., has its share 
of men who have stepped aside from the path 
of labor to let pass the younger generation with 
their clear-cut hopes and unrealized ambitions, 
and to whom life still is a vast and unexplored 
country. This turning aside may mean much 
or little to him whose business tasks are 
finished; but if he has come from a small 
beginning, and if he has some friends and an 
optimistic outlook, there always will be those 
who would exchange with him success, as repre- 
ented by a mere aggregation of wealth. To the 
former class belongs J. C. Beam, whose career 
as a contractor in Fulton County spanned the 
period between 1857 and 1898, and who has 
been a resident of Canton since 1865. 

On both sides of his family Mr. Beam is 
descended from early settlers of Pennsylvania, 
in which State he was born on a farm in Frank- 
lin County on February 3, 1836. His parents, 
Abraham and Margaretta (Bowmaster) Beam, 
were natives of the Quaker State, the latter 
born in Franklin County, and by occupation 
were farmers, leading quiet and industrious 
lives. Abraham Beam came to Fulton County, 
111., in 1855, landing at Fairview. that county, 
where his death occurred during the same year. 
He had been preceded to Fairview by his son, 
J. C, who, in 1857, began his contracting busi- 
ness, at the age of twenty-one years. The 
young man had no material resources, but he 
had a good constitution, a fair education, and 
a firm determination to succeed. At the close 
of the Civil War he found a more satisfying 
field of operation in Canton, 111., profiting large- 
ly by that spirit of reconstruction which in- 
vaded the whole country, so long paralyzed by 
the destructive forces of war. A thorough 
understanding of his business drew a large and 
dependable trade, and for thirty-three years he 
has been connected with the best in his line 
in the city. 

In early life Mr. Beam espoused the cause of 
Democracy and with few exceptions has sup- 
ported this party with his vote. Fraternally 
he has been connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows for fifty years, having 
joined Lodge 78, of Ellisville, 111., in 1857, but 
for thirty years past has been a member of 
Olive Branch Lodge, No. 15. In 1861 Mr. 
Beam married Mary E. Bricker, born in Frank- 
lin County, Pa., the daughter of a neighbor of 
the Beam family. Mr. and Mrs. Beam are the 
parents of four children, of whom William F. 
is manager of the Fullerton Lumber Company, 
Sioux City, Iowa; Laura I., who is the wife of 
W. S. Huls, of Albuquerque, N. M.; George W., 
a member of the firm of the Beam-Dean Com- 
pany, cigar manufacturers, of Canton; and 
Jerome C, who is with the Southern Railroad 
Company at Atlanta, Ga. From 1891 to 1897, 
Mr. Beam was a member of the Canton City 
Council; has also been a Director in the Canton 



/ 



84 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Home Loan Association for twenty years, and 
for the past six years President of tlie Associa- 
tion. Integrity and fair-dealing have been 
pillars in his business life, and these same 
qualities have drawn to him the enduring 
esteem of a community in which he has lived 
forty-one years. 

BEAM, Joseph, a prosperous cattle dealer and 
a well known and much respected citizen of 
Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was born in the 
State of Ohio in 1853, a son of Samuel and 
Margaret (Thompson) Beam, also natives of 
that State. Martin Beam was a physician, who 
moved from Ohio to Illinois in 1861, and was 
engaged in the practice of his profession in 
Fulton County until his death. 

In boyhood Joseph Beam received his mental 
training in the public schools, and on reaching 
mature years, started out in life for himself. 
He has been engaged in the stock business in 
Cuba and its vicinity for twenty years, and for 
twelve years has been in partnership with a 
Mr. Hilton, buying, selling and feeding all 
kinds of cattle, and breeding Norman horses. 
They have a farm of 100 acres just south of the 
town of Cuba, where they feed cattle. In 1887, 
Mr. Beam engaged in the grain business in 
Cuba, and built an elevator in 1897. He was 
the first person to introduce the "dump" eleva- 
tor in that section. He has been very success- 
ful In all his undertakings. 

In 1878, Mr. Beam was united in marriage 
with Naomi Watkins, who was born in the 
State of Illinois, and their union resulted in 
three children, namely: Roll, Bertha and 
Myrtle. Roll was for some time engaged in the 
hardware line, and in 1903, started in the gen- 
eral mercantile business in Cuba. He is now 
serving as City Clerk. Mr. Beam is a public- 
spirited citizen and has served as Alderman in 
Cuba. Fraternally he is affiliated with the 
I. O. O. F. and K. of P. 

BEARCE, Homer. — The subject of this sketch 
was the son of Eli and Sarah (Austin) Bearce, 
who came to Fulton County, 111., at a very early 
day, the father being engaged both as a farmer 
and a miner. The parents were both natives 
of Pennsylvania, in which State Eli Bearce 
was born February 14, 1797, .and his wife, 
July 17, 1795. Homer Bearce was a native of 
Lee Township. As one of his friends states, 
"he was not a man who moved frequently:" 
consequently it may be said that he virtually 
spent his life in that township, engaged in 
farming and the raising of stock. He was 
born September 19, 1830, and at his death 
left a fine farm of 200 acres. The deceased 
was a Republican, a Mason and a Universalist; 
but although highly respected for his moral 
worth and the liberality of his views, was 
unobtrusive and disinclined to intrude himself 
into public notice. 

Mr. Bearce was united in marriage at Lewis- 
town, 111., on the 4th of July, 1852, to Margaret 



Livingston, a native of Licking County, Ohio, 
who was born December 29, 1829. They became 
the parents of eight children: Jessie, Nancy, 
Lucinda, Eli, Sarah, David, William and Isaac. 

BEARCE, Reuben M., vvho is one of the most 
jirominent among tlie enterprising and success- 
ful farmers of Lewistown Township, Fulton 
County, 111., where he is located in Section 2, 
was born in that township December 18, 1854. 
He is a son of Orson and Jane (McNeil) Bearce, 
natives of Fulton County. Orson Bearce is one 
of the worthy pioneers of Fulton County and 
still lives on his farm in Section 10, Lewistown 
Township. A sketch of his life will be found 
elsewhere in this volume. 

Reuben M. Bearce has always followed farm- 
ing, rie was born on the old home place and 
was instructed intellectually in the district 
schools, remaining under the paternal roof un- 
til 1SS2. In that year he bought forty-eight 
acres of land in Section 2, and now owns 286 
acres in Putman ana Lewistown Townships. 
Mr. Bearce has one of the finest homesteads in 
Fulton County and is recognized as one of its 
leading farmers and stock-raisers. He devotes 
considerable attention to the stock-raising fea- 
ture in his agricultural operations, and his 
horses, cattle and hogs are all of superior 
grades. Beginning as a boy he has done his 
full share toward reclaiming the wild lands of 
his section, and has later participated in all 
those enterjirises conceived and carried out for 
the promotion of the social, industrial, moral 
and educational interests of the county in 
which he has spent his entire life. He and his 
wife are liberal in their donations to all good 
works. 

On September 7, 1SS2, Mr. Bearce was united 
in marriage with Luella M. Blackaby, a daugh- 
ter of John Blackaby. of Lewistown, Fulton 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Bearce are the parents 
of three children, namely: Bert, born Novem- 
ber 27, 1884: Edison, September 4, 1880. and 
Adrian, October 6, 1898. The birth of the mother 
of this family took place March 11, 1808, in Ful- 
ton County. In politics Mr. Bearce is a be- 
liever in the principles and policies of the Re- 
publican party, and takes an earnest and intel- 
ligent interest in public affairs. Fraternally he 
is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. He is a man 
of irreproachable character, and maintains an 
excellent standing in the community, enjoying 
the respect and esteem of a wide circle of ac- 
quaintances. 

BEATY, Alonzo G. (deceased).— Alonzo G. 
Beaty was a resident of Lee Townshi)), Fulton 
County, from infancy, and when he died at the 
comparatively early age of forty-eight years, 
the community lost one of the most charitalile 
and honored of its citizens. He had not ac- 
cumulated a large estate, but left what was 
more desirable — a name beyond reproach and 
to be remembered, as an inspiration, by his 
surviving children and widow. The deceased. 




R. S. GORHAM 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



785 



however, had provided for his loved ones a 
comfortalile home and a fine farm of eighty 
acres, consisting of as fertile land (thoroughly 
improved) as could he found in the county. 

Mr. Beaty was a native of Ohio, born Septem- 
ber 22, 1848. a son of Robert Beaty, a native 
of Virginia, and Fanny (Alford) Beaty, a native 
of Connecticut. In 1849 his parents settled in 
Lee Township, where they remained until the 
date of their death. Here Alonzo was educated 
in the district schools, and reared under pa- 
rental care on the family homestead. He derived 
his education both from books and the prac- 
tical discipline of the farm, so that he was well 
fitted to take a useful part in the community 
in which he had resided for the greater part 
of his life. In such local offices as School 
Director and Road Commissioner, his practical 
value as a man of affairs was heartily recog- 
nized, while in works of charity and religion, it 
was as well understood that no appeal, if 
worthy of consideration, would ever be made 
to him in vain. His denominational affilia- 
tions were with the Baptist Church. 

On April 2.5, 1878, Mr. Beaty was married, 
in the city of Lewistown, to Susan E. Hendee, 
who was born in that place, January 20, 1851. 
They became the parents of three sons: Earl 
H., born August 5, 1881; Chester A., born May 
15, 1883; and Joseph W., born May 28, 1887. 
Mr. Beaty died December 31, 1896. The widow, 
who is a .highly esteemed woman, lives in 
comfortable circumstances on the home farm, 
and enjoys the society of a large circle of 
friends. 

BEATTY, Isaac L., M. D., a prominent physi- 
cian of Fairview, Fulton County, 111., whose 
skill in the healing art has won for him a hign 
standing with the medical fraternity of the 
county and an enviable reputation among its 
people in general, was born in Fulton County, 
May 22, 185G, a son of Isaac and Esther (Con- 
nor) Beatty, natives of the State of Ohio. Isaac 
Beatty settled with his family in the southern 
portion of Fulton County about the year 1850 
and purchased a farm. There he pursued his 
wonted occujjation of farming and reared nine 
children, of whom eight are still living, namely: 
A. J., Robert L., Peter, Hiram, Daniel C, Mrs. 
Sarah J. Stevens, Mrs. Sybilla Salisbury and 
Isaac L. 

The subject of this sketch grew up on his 
father's farm and in early youth was a pupil 
In the schools at Eureka. Abingdon and Car- 
thage. 111., and afterward pursued a course at 
the University of Michigan, where his literary 
training was completed. His professional edu- 
cation was obtained in the Michigan University 
and the E. M. I. Medical Institute at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, from which he was graduated in April, 
18S1, with the degree of M. D. For seven years 
before completing his medical course he was 
engaged in teaching. After graduation he be- 
gan the practice of his profession, opening an 
office in Fairview, 111., which he has maintained 



ever since, meanwhile acquiring a large and 
lucrative patronage. 

On October 1, 1SS5. Dr. Beatty was united 
in marriage with Mary L. Christopher, who 
was born in Fulton County. 111. Mrs. Beatty 
is a daughter of Daniel G. and Charlotte Chris- 
topher, natives of Virginia. Dr. Beatty and his 
wife are the parents of one son, Dwight Curtis. 
In politics Dr. Beatty is a Democrat and served 
as Supervisor of Kerton Township, Fulton 
County, for four years, assuming the duties of 
that position when he was twenty-one years 
old. He was also Supervisor of Fairview Town- 
ship five or six years, and officiated five years 
as President of the Town Board of Fairview, 
and held the office of Coroner of Fulton County 
eight years. Dr. Beatty is the oldest physician 
in length of practice in Fairview and is consid- 
ered a very able man in his profession. He 
enjoys the respect and confidence of all classes 
of people, both in the town and in the country 
surrounding, where he has numerous calls for 
his services. Fraternally Dr. Beatty is identi- 
fied with the A. F. & A. M.. the I. O. O. F. and 
the M. W. A. 

BEDWELL, Benjamin P.— Both McDonough 
and Pulton County have profited by the busi- 
ness relations of Benjamin P. Bedwell. who, 
while an honored resident of Table Grove since 
March, 1905, with the assistance of his son, 
operated a 200-acre farm in New Salem Town- 
ship, McDonough County. Mr. Bedwell, to 
whose credit also is a meritorious military 
service and many important political services, 
was born in Ohio, across the river from Wheel- 
ing W. Va., January 16, 1844, a son of James 
and Sarah (Musgrove) Bedwell, the former a 
native of Virginia, and the latter of Ohio. In 
1848. when the son. Benjamin, was four years 
old, the family moved overland from Ohio to 
Fulton County, 111., in a "prairie schooner," 
settling in Pleasant Township, where the 
mother died in 1850. She had reared four 
children, of whom Hamilton is a retired farmer 
of Aztel, Marshall County, Kans.; Ellas, who 
operates a farm in New Salem Township, Mc- 
Donough County; Elizabeth, the deceased wife 
of Amos Bennett, of the State of Washington; 
and Jessie, a resident of Lewistown, Fulton 
County. For his second wife Mr. Bedwell 
married Mary Rodgers, of which union there 
were two children: John, a farmer of Iowa, 
and Laura, deceased. Mr. Bedwell was active 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a man 
of strong character and strict integrity. 

When the Civil War began to devastate the 
land, Benjamin Bedwell was seventeen years 
old, and in order to enlist he went to Quincy, 
111., where he failed to become a member of 
the Eighty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
as that regiment already was filled. Returning 
to his home, March 24, 1864, he enlisted in 
Company H, Twenty-ei.ghth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, for three years, and joined his regi- 
ment at Natchez, Miss. Thereafter he partici- 



786 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



pated in many long marches and battles of the 
regiment, and at New Orleans, in March, 1865, 
was placed on board a vessel to proceed, by 
way of the Gulf, to Fort Monroe. This journey 
was not accomplished, however, as a heavy 
storm came up which tossed the vessel around 
like a shuttle-cock, and necessitated the throw- 
ing over board of sixty army mules. The vessel 
finally returned to New Orleans, and the regi- 
ment was sent to the Fort by railroad, proceed- 
ing thence to Fort Blakely, where it took part 
in the eight days' siege, going thence to Mobile, 
which had, in the meantime, been evacuated, 
and where the regiment remained until July 1, 
It went then to Brazil Island, Texas, marched 
along the Rio Grande to Brownsville, where 
the regiment was mustered out on March 1.5, 
1866, and finally discharged at Springfield two 
months later. 

Returning to his home Mr. Bedwell resumed 
farming, and on March 12. 1868, married Belle 
Cattron, daughter of James Cattron, mention 
of whom may be found elsewhere in this book. 
Eleven children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Bedwell: James M., born January 29, 1869, 
a farmer in Pleasant Township; William J., 
born June 24, 1871, a harness dealer in Table 
Grove; Frank C, born January 31, 1874, a 
farmer in McDouough County; Kva G., born 
September 2, 1878, wife of William Fleming, of 
McDonough County; Sarah A., born December 
9, 18S0, died January 6, 1881; Martha Belle, 
born December 2, 1881, died November 1, 1884; 
Emma C, born March 3, 1884, died October 30, 
1886; Flora A., born August 26, 1886, wife of 
Lawrence Leckbee, of McDonough County; 
Charles B., born March 29, 1889; Harry R., 
born June 17, 1891; and Orrin H., born January 
24, 1895, died December 5, 1905. 

In 1892 Mr. Bedwell moved to McDonough 
County and followed farming there until lo- 
cating in Table Grove, Fulton County, in 1905. 
In McDonough County he held a number of 
local offices, and was a vigorous supporter of 
the Democratic party. He is a member of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, and frater- 
nally is connected with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. He still operates his 200 acres 
in McDonough County, devoting his attention 
chiefly to stock-raising and feeding, and in 
this is aided by his son, Frank, an up-to-date 
and promising young agriculturist. 

BEEBE, Martin. — Through persistent aspira- 
tion and unceasing labor Martin Beebe has won 
his way to the most stable and satisfying com- 
pensation of country life. In the shadow of his 
seventy-eighth year he finds himself the fortu- 
nate possessor of what is known as the Duck 
Island farm of 1,590 acres, lying in Sections 33, 
34 and 35, Banner Township, and one of the 
largest individual properties in Fulton County. 
From the life of this honored pioneer reaches 
out many tendrils of help and encouragement. 
Born among the most modest of surroundings 



on a farm in Chemung County, N. Y., April 6, 
1819, he is the son of Hezekiah and Sarah 
(Boyer) Beebe, who, in 1837, moved in a wagon 
from New York to La Grange County, Ind., and 
in the wilderness wrought a, fair measure of 
success. 

In 1839 Mr. Beebe, then twenty years old, 
came to Fulton County and for two years 
worked in the harvest field and at general farm 
labor by the month. He then learned the coop- 
er's trade, which he followed fifteen years, and 
in the meantime, in 1849, he invested his earn- 
ings in a small farm near Utica, Banner Town- 
ship. From small beginnings he arose to finan- 
cial success, and in 1860 purchased of John N. 
Willard, of St. Louis, the Duck Island farm 
already mentioned. Nine hundred acres of this 
jjroperty is under a high state of cultivation, 
producing from forty to fifty bushels of wheat 
and from seventy to one hundred bushels of 
corn per acre. Mr. Beebe has specialized for 
many years in corn and hogs, but has also 
raised high-grade cattle and horses in large 
numbers. The home on Section 33 bears elo- 
quent testimony to the taste and refinement of 
its owner and those practical traits of charac- 
ter and thrift which avoid the superfluous and 
ornate. 

In 1847 occurred the first marriage of Mr. 
Beebe. his bride being Diana Sayles, who, at 
the time of her death in January, 1862. left five 
children: Henry Clay, Clara A., Marcus T., 
Josephine and Orrin. The second marriage, 
solemnized November 24, 1870, with Emma 
Elam, resulted in the following named children: 
John, Amos, Hector, Frederick, Carroll, Shel- 
don and Mary Belle. Mr. Beebe was a Whig 
before the formation of the Republican party, 
and for a time was identified with the Green- 
back party. He never has been active political- 
ly or socially, but has led a quiet, unostenta- 
tious life, content to wander over his vast es- 
tate and supervise its many and extensive in- 
terests. He has done much to elevate the local 
standard of agriculture and to strengthen the 
popular regard for thoroughness, thrift and 
integrity. 

BEER, H. Foster, a well-known and successful 
farmer of Youn.g Hickory Township, Fulton 
County. III., whose progenitors were among the 
earliest settlers of Fulton County, was born 
in that township in 1871, a son of G. W. and 
Eliza (Weaver) Beer, also natives of Fulton 
County. Thomas Beer, father of G. W., was a 
Pennsylvanian by birth. Moving with his fam- 
ily by wa.gon to Joshua Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, in 1835. he there purchased a tract of land 
which he cleared and improved and on which 
he carried on farming successfully during the 
remainder of his active life. G. W. Beer, who 
followed the same occupation, remained at home 
until he reached years of maturity, when he 
purchased of Isaac Weaver a farm in Young 
Hickory and Deerfield Townships. This he 
Improved, cultivating it until 1894, when he 




MRS. R. S. GORHAM 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



787 



established his residence in the town of Fair- 
view, Fulton County. He and his worthy wife 
became the parents of six children, namely: 
Hattie, Ida, Flora, Ella, H. Foster and Lola. 

H. F. Beer was also reared to farm life. He 
received his mental training in the public 
schools of his vicinity and stayed on the pater- 
nal farm until 1S94. He then spent about two 
years in the town of Pairview and in 1S97 re- 
turned to the homestead property, where he 
has since carried on general farming, devoting 
considerable attention to the raising of stock. 
The farm consists of 160 acres of land and is 
situated in Section 35, Young Hickory and 
Deerfleld Townships. 

On July 15, 1896, Mr. Beer was united in mar- 
riage at North Henderson, III., with Bertha Pat- 
ton, who was born in .Joshua Township, where, 
in girlhood, she enjoyed the advantages of a 
public schooling. She is a daughter of Joseph 
and Phoebe (Rodormer) Fatten, natives of Ful- 
ton County. Mr. and Mrs. Beer have become 
the-parents of three children, namely: Harris, 
born March 6, 189S; Winifred, born March 7, 
1900, and Beatrice, born November 24, 1902. 

On political issues the subject of this sketch 
acts in co-operation with the Prohibition party. 
As a farmer he is energetic, careful and thor- 
ough, and as a citizen he takes an intelligent 
and active interest in all that pertains to the 
welfare of the community, of which he is re- 
garded as a useful member. 

BEESON, David, President of the Canton 
National Bank, at Canton, 111., was born in 
Highland County, Ohio, October 12, 1838, a son 
of Edward S. and Juliana (Ridgeway) Beeson, 
natives of Virginia. His grandfather, Jesse 
Beeson, was born in Uniontown, Pa., in 1768, 
and died in 1842. His great-grandfather, Henry 
Beeson, was born in Martinsburg, W. Va., and 
died in 1817. His father, Edward S. Beeson, 
who was born in 1795, and died in 1852, fol- 
lowed the milling business in Virginia until 
1830, when he moved to Indiana, continuing in 
the same business there for Ave years. He 
then went to Ohio, where he was engaged in 
general merchandising, and served as Sheriff 
of Highland County. In 1850 he came to Canton 
and went into the milling business, after which 
he moved to Farmington, 111., where his death 
took place. Edward S. Beeson's wife was born 
in Frederick County, Va., August 31, 1802, and 
died in Canton, 111., August 2, 1863. 

Soon after his father's death, the subject of 
this sketch became a clerk for Sulley & Tracey, 
produce merchants, and was afterwards con- 
nected with H. C. Adams in merchandising for 
two years, the establishment then being closed 
out. Mr. Beeson then engaged with Hulit & 
Atwater, with whom he remained nine years. 
Subsequently he was employed as a clerk for 
a Mr. Mills in the dry goods line, and also for 
a Mr. Huisely. He was then engaged in the 
private bank of C. T. Heald, and when the 
First National Bank of Canton was organized. 



he went into the new institution as book- 
keeper, being engaged in that capacity for six- 
teen years. During that period he also acted 
as Assistant Cashier and Teller, and was one 
of the Directors. In ISSl, Mr. Beeson em- 
barked in the clothing business under the 
firm name of -Dave & Dick," he being the 
senior member, and Richard Divilbiss, the 
junior member. At the end of three years, he 
withdrew from the firm on account of his 
health. Shortly afterwards, in company with 
others, he established a private banking institu- 
tion known as C. T. Heald & Co., which, in 
1887, was organized as the Canton National 
Bank, of which Mr. Beeson was elected Presi- 
dent. The subject of this sketch is noted- for 
his sound judgment and keen business sagacity, 
and is regarded as a safe and conservative 
financier. Mr. Beeson was never married. 

BEHYMER, Francis M., who is successfully 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising 
in Section 12, Bernadotte Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Pleasant Township, 
Fulton County, January 1, 1850, a son of Arar 
and Rildah (Rutledge) Behymer, natives of 
Ohio. Arar Behymer journeyed from Ohio to 
Illinois, and located in Fulton County, when 
the country was a wilderness. There was no 
dwelling in Havana except a solitary log cabin 
and Ipava had but a single human habitation. 
No bridges spanned the rivers, and now and 
then the traveler was compelled to climb a tree 
in order to escape from the wolves. Arar 
Behymer was employed in cutting timber and 
clearing land, ratting on the Illinois River, and 
did anything to make money. He bought the 
first piece of land in Isabel Township, Fulton 
County, and afterwards purchased a tract of 
eighty acres in Kerton Township, where he 
spent the remainder of his life. At the time 
of his death, in 1895, he was making his home 
with his son Francis, the only member of the 
family now living. His wife passed away in 
1852. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
paternal farm, and received his early mental 
training in the district school held in the rude 
log schoolhouse, with the old slab-bench and 
a board attached to the wall for a desk. Mr. 
Behymer made his home on the old farm until 
November. 1904, when he bought 160 acres of 
land in Section 12, Bernadotte Township, known 
as the "Old Moorehouse farm," which was well 
improved. He did his part towards clearing 
and beautifying the homestead, where may be 
found a good grade of horses, cattle and hogs. 

On May 10. 1866, Mr. Behymer was united in 
marriage with Mary Ruble, a native of Croton, 
Lee County, Iowa, where she was born March 
10, 1851, a daughter of Theodore and Catherine 
(Collins) Ruble, natives of Memphis, Tenn. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ruble had ten children, all of 
whom grew to maturity, and eight of whom 
are still living. Those besides Mrs. Behymer 
were: John, who died in California; Jane, v?ho 



/ 



88 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



became the wife of Frank vVhetstone, of Lee 
County, Iowa; Margaret, a resident of Table 
Grove" 111., widow of James McNeil, who was 
killed by a railroad train; Miranda, married 
and living in Kirkville, Iowa; Thomas, of 
Bonaparte, Iowa; Albert, of Bentonsport, Iowa; 
Doshie, wife of John Davis, of Croton, Iowa; 
Louisa, widow of Frank Smith, who resides 
near Croton, Iowa; and Alice, deceased. The 
father of this family died in 1903 and was 
buried in the vicinity of Croton, Iowa. 

Mr. and Mrs. Behymer have had seven chil- 
dren, namely: William, born August 20, 1867, 
died in February, 1892; Calvin, born February 
22, 1869, deceased September 14, 1871; Lennie, 
born in Kerton Township, June 9, 1882, wife of 
Harvey Wright, a resident of Canton, 111.; 
Lewis, born December 22, 188.o. who is with 
his parents; Bella, born September 24, 1889, 
wife of Roy Huff, of Canton, 111.; Carrie, wife 
of Willard Gustin, of the same place; and 
Eddie, born February 24, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. 
Behymer have reared their children carefully, 
giving them a thorough mental training and 
fitting each for a useful life. The parents are 
members of the Christian Church. In politics 
Mr. Behymer is a supporter of the Democratic 
party. 

BELL, William A.— Since its establishment 
in Fulton County in 1864, the occupations of 
blacksmithing and farming have received de- 
cided impetus through the labor and good judg- 
ment of the members of the Bell family. John 
R. Bell, the elder bearing the name, was born 
in Kentucky in 1832, and in early life journeyed 
to Greencastle, Ind., where he learned and 
pursued the blacksmithing trade. He married 
Emma Gordon, born in Indiana in 1836, and 
his son, William A., now a prominent farmer 
of Ellisville Township, Fulton County, was born 
in Greencastle, September 2, 1862. Two years 
after this event, the parents removed to Farm- 
ington, Fulton County, where the father plied 
the blacksmith trade in both town and county 
until moving to his present farm of eighty 
acres near Farmington, in 1890. 

Until his twenty-first year William A. Bell 
lived on the home place near Farmington, then 
rented the farm for a year, and later moved 
to Union Township, where he conducted a 
rented farm for a time. He then bought 160 
acres of land in Knox County, 111., but dispos- 
ing of the same at the end of three years, 
moved temporarily to Kansas. Not realizing 
his expectations in the latter State, he returned 
the same year to Knox County, and purchased 
eighty-five acres of land, to which he later added 
125 acres. A few years later he sold this prop- 
erty and bought 12.5 acres in Section 31, Ellis- 
ville Township, where he has since been engaged 
in general farming and stock-raising with in- 
creasing success. To the improvements al- 
ready on the land he has added greatly from 
year to year, has built and rebuilt, and sur- 



rounded himself with those conveniences which 
brighten the lives and mitigate the hard labor 
of these who would succeed in the science of 
agriculture. 

December 2, 1895, Mr. Bell married Etta 
Humphrey, who was born in Knox County. 111., 
March 11, 1869, and who is the devoted mother 
of five children: Lillian, Emory, Guy. Ora and 
Mamie. While not an office-seeker, Mr. Bell is 
a stanch upholder of the Republican party, and 
the earnest friend of education, good roads 
and social and other privileges. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Knights of Pythias, and in 
religious faith is identified with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. His character and work 
receive the approbation of the intelligent and 
thoughtful portion of the community, and he is 
deemed a young man of enterprise, ability and 
integrity. 

BELLES, James M. (deceased), for many years 
a leading business man and generous and char- 
itable gentleman of Lewistown, 111., was a na- 
tive of Hancock County, Ind., born November 
24, 1831. He was a son of Joseph and Cather- 
ine Belles, natives of Ohio, who settled on Sec- 
tion 25, Pleasant Township, and devoted their 
lives to farming and the rearin.g of their fam- 
ily. A brief record of the varied careers of 
their children follows; 

Peter Belles enlisted for service in the Civil 
War, went into camp at Springfield. 111., and 
there died. 

Walter J. Belles, born in Hancock County, 
Ind.. January 25, 1832, came with his parents 
to Fulton County in his early manhood, was 
for many years a successful teacher, and had 
an especially wide reputation as an orthogra- 
pher, it being even claimed that he was able 
to spell any word in the English language. At 
the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the 
famous One Hundred and Third Illinois Infan- 
try, and upon his return was for many years 
a merchant of Duncan, a town of Fulton Coun- 
ty, south of Lewistown. His death occurred 
April 21, 1901, and in his earthly departure the 
community lost a kind, practically helpful and 
generous Christian. 

Elizabeth became the wife of Arthur Smith, 
both of whom are deceased. William Belles is 
a resident of Joplin, Mo., and Amos, of Jack- 
sonville, III. Joseph Belles married Millicent 
Gibson, and by his death June 24, 1880, she was 
left a widow without children. 

The early life of James M. Belles was spent 
upon the farm and in obtaining an elementary 
education in the public schools. On JanuaiT 30. 
1859, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth 
Coakley, of Ipava, a native of Indiana, whose 
parents were among the pioneers of Fulton 
County. After their marriage Mr. Belles be- 
gan farming in Pleasant Townshii), and was 
thus engaged until 1880. For five years he re- 
sided in Ipava, moving to Kansas in 1SS5, where 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



789 



he remained until 1889. He then returned to 
Ipava, and in the fall of 1892, in partnership 
with his brother Walter, engaged in the ice 
business, continuing in that line until the death 
of the latter in 1901. This heavy blow was 
also the occasion, and perhaps the cause, for his 
retirement from active life, his death occurring 
August 14. 1903. The deceased was long an 
active member of the Methodist Church, and a 
moral, enterprising, public-spirited citizen. In 
politics he was stanchly Republican, and in his 
private and domestic life kind, generotis and 
supremely thoughtful. 

Mr. and Mrs. .James M. Belles were the par- 
ents of the following children: Jeremiah, born 
November 28, 1859, and now living at Kalis- 
pell, Mont.; three who died in infancy; Chalice, 
now Mrs. Jasper Robertson, of Ipava, born 
March 31, ISGo; Margaret Perline, born Septem- 
ber 2G, 1870, married Frank M. Hayes, and 
died February 9, 1895, the mother of Glenn and 
Merton, the latter now deceased: Hattie, born 
November 21, 1872, wife of George Cadwallader, 
living at Kalispell, Mont., and the mother of 
two children — Gordon and Floyd: Perry, born 
May 27, 1877, a resident of Monmouth. 111.; and 
Nellie, born August 12, 1882, who is living with 
the devoted mother in the old homestead at 
Lewistown. Mrs. James Belles was born Jan- 
uary IG, 1841, and is a striking type of the 
pioneer women of Fulton County. 

BELTS, Claude, former Principal of the High 
School in Lewistown. Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Cuba, N. Y., in 1S74, a son of J. M. and 
L. S. Belts, natives of New York. His father, 
who conducted a furniture factory at Ligonier, 
Ind.. died January 1, 1895. The subject of this 
sketch, after graduating from the High School, 
became a student in UePauw University, Indi- 
ana, in 1893, and pursued a course in the Uni- 
versity of Indiana from 1S95 to 1S9S. From 
1898 to 1900, inclusive, he was Principal of the 
Butler (Ind.) High School, and 1901 to 1904 
at Churubusco, Ind. In 1904 he took a post- 
graduate course in the University of Michigan, 
and in 1905 became Principal of the Lewistown 
High School, which position he occupied for 
one year. In religion Mr. Belts adheres to the 
faith of the Methodist Church. Fraternally he 
is atniiated with the A. F. & A. M. and the 
Knights of Pythias. 

BELUE, J. F., a successful furniture dealer 
of Fairview, Fulton County, 111., who com- 
bines that line of trade with the business of 
undertaker, was born in Fairview in 1848. In 
early youth he attended the public schools of 
the neighborhood, in which he received a good 
training in the elementary branches of study. 
When he reached the age of fifteen years, he 
secured employment in the furniture store of 
Joseph Cook, in Fairview, for whom he con- 
tinued to work for about sixteen years. In 
1889 he entered into partnership with Mr. 
Cook, and this relation lasted until August, 



1894. At that period he purchased the interest 
of his partner, and since then has conducted 
the concern on his own responsibility. His 
furniture department is thoroughly stocked 
with all varieties of household goods, and his 
undertaking equipment is complete in extent 
and superior in quality. Mr. Belue is a licensed 
embalmer, and is otherwise admirably fitted 
for the care of the remains of the dead, and 
for the performance of the undertaker's func- 
tions in funeral ceremonies. In 1892, the firm 
of Cook & Belue, built the store now occupied 
by the latter, which is twenty-eight by ninety- 
four feet in dimensions. The size of the ware- 
house connected with it is twenty-seven by 
fifty-six feet. 

In 1886, Mr. Belue was united in marriage 
with Lulu Wilson, who was born in Fulton 
County, and in girlhood erijoyed the advantages 
of its public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Belue have 
become the parents of two children, namely: 
Mary Ethel and Theresa. Mr. Belue has served 
as a member of the Board of Township Trus- 
tees. In fraternal circles he is identified with 
the I. O. O. F. and the M. W. A. He officiated 
as Noble Grand of the I. O. O. F. during the 
lieriod when that order experienced the most 
remarkable ))rogress that has marked its his- 
tory in that section of the country. Mr. Belue 
is a straightforward and reliable business man, 
and is regarded as a well disi)osed and service- 
able member of the community. 

BENSON, Robert L.— Of the follower of any 
of the important trades no better recommenda- 
tion is required than the credit of long employ- 
ment under a reliable management. For 
eighteen years Robert L. Benson has been Chief 
Engineer of the Canton Water Works, and is 
regarded as having as practical a knowledge of 
complicated machinery as any engineer in the 
town. The works are a credit to the commu- 
nity, and the absolute cleanliness maintained, 
in addition to the shining condition of every- 
thing polishable around the ponderous and 
noisy engines, bespeaks the pride, method and 
vigilant eye of the Chief Engineer. 

Mr. Benson, who is of southern ancestry and 
the son of William C. Benson, of Virginia, was 
born in Knox County, 111., August 7, 1847, his 
family belonging to the pioneer group of Knox 
County. In his father's harvest fields the youth 
gained strength of muscle and great lung ca- 
pacity, while acquiring a fair education in the 
public schools. In 1SG7 he married Ada Coun- 
terman, a native of Pekin, 111., and his family 
has been increased to four, the younger mem- 
bers being Lloyd and Anna B. Mr. Benson, 
while still quite young, decided that farming 
wasn't exactly to his liking, so he came to Can- 
ton in 1874, learned the trade of engineer and 
in 1888 stepped into his present responsible po- 
sition. Mr. Benson is a modest and unassum- 
ing man. kind and affectionate in his family, 
and considerate of his subordinates connected 
with the Water Works System. 



790 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



BERKEY, James W., whose whole life has 
been spent in Fulton County, 111., where, begin- 
ning as a hired farm hand, he has progressed, 
through his innate qualities of industry, per- 
severance, economy and integrity, to the own- 
ership of a highly productive farm and the po- 
sition of a substantial, influential and useful 
member of the community, was born in Deer- 
fleld Township. Fulton County, October 1, 18G0. 
He is now a highly respected and prosperous 
resident of Fairview Township, in that county. 
Mr. Berkey is a son of Josiah and Catherine 
(Dailey) Berkey, natives of Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania respectively, the father being born in the 
former State November 23, 1834. Josiah Berkey 
moved from Ohio to Illinois at an early period, 
locating in Deerfield Township, where he pur- 
chased a small farm. This he cleared and im- 
proved, and on it was engaged In general farm- 
ing until the time of his death, which occurred 
on September 13, 18G4. He was a man of dili- 
gent habits and scrupulous honesty, and was 
favorably regarded by all who knew him. He 
and his worthy wife were the parents of four 
children, namely: Charles F., James W., Eliza 
A. and Catherine A. 

James W. Berkey, the subject of this sketch, 
was reared to farm life in boyhood and during 
the winter season attended the district schools 
of the neighborhood. On approaching his ma- 
turity he hired out as a farm hand and was 
thus employed for some time. He then com- 
menced farming on his own responsibility, hav- 
ing bought from Joseph Keithley eighty acres 
of land in Section 23, Fairview Township, Ful- 
ton County. To his first purchase he added, 
five years later, sixty acres adjoining, which 
constituted a part of the Zook estate. On this 
land he has since conducted general farming 
with successful results. He is also the owner 
of 120 acres in the State of Minnesota. 

On October 20. 1887, Mr. Berkey was united 
in marriage in Fairview Township with Mat- 
tie Foutz, who was born in that township July 
11, 1S63. She is a daughter of William H. H. 
and Barbara A. (Dorns) Foutz, natives of Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Berkey became the 
parents of two children, namely: Archie and 
William. The political opinions of Mr. Berkey 
are in accordance with the policies of the Re- 
publican party, and in religious faith he is an 
adherent of the Methodist Church. He is well 
known throughout his section of Fulton County 
and within his wide circle of acquaintance en- 
joys the reputation of an intelligent, upright, 
public-spirited and well disposed citizen. 

BINGHAM, George Edward.— The Chief Execu- 
tive of Table Grove is one of the most influen- 
tial young Republican politicians and most 
promising prospective lawyers in Fulton Coun- 
ty. His place in the busines world is as a mem- 
ber of the firm of Seward & Bingham, house, 
sign and carriage painters, a trade which he 
learned in 1894 and in which he since has ad- 
vanced to control of a large enterprise. Mr. 



Bingham has accomplished his present measure 
of success through practical and business-like 
methods. One of the lessons of his short career 
is, that what a man desires he usually becomes. 
Since earliest youth his purpose has been far 
from the humble surroundings among which 
he was born on a farm in Salem Township, 
McDonough County, 111., July 22, 1874, and near 
where he received the rudiments of an educa- 
tion which self-application, under especially try- 
ing circumstances, has since extended into lib- 
eral and professional fields. His parents, Jo- 
seph and Eliza A. (Costlo) Bingham, are na- 
tives respectively of Connecticut and Eldorado 
Township, McDonough County, 111., and since 
1883 have made their home in Table Grove. At 
the age of twenty years George Edward learned 
the trade of house and sign painting, and while 
following the same utilized his evenings and 
other leisure in perfecting his education and 
otherwise fitting himself for the position he ex- 
pected to fill in life. For the past two years, in 
spite of strenuous duties and many-sided re- 
sponsibilities, he has devoted himself to the 
study of law, and on May 22, 1907, graduated 
from the law department of the University 
of Indianaiwlis, immediately thereafter being 
admitted to practice in State and Federal 
Courts, on May 29, following. 

A predilection for political life manifested 
itself soon after Mr. Bingham's arrival in Table 
Grove, and his service to the Republican party 
was recognized in 1896 by his election to the 
oflice of Township Clerk by a good majority in 
a Democratic stron,ghold. He next was nom- 
inated for and elected Town Treasurer, succeed- 
ing himself in the same office at the next elec- 
tion. In 1903 he was elected Mayor of Table 
Grove, and in 190.5 was re-elected without op- 
position. His administration has met with the 
approval of the community irrespective of party 
preference, and under no control have the re- 
sources and advantages of the community been 
more rapidly and substantially advanced. Es- 
pecially are the municipal finances in a flour- 
ishing condition, due largely to the knowledge 
of law which enables Mr. Bingham to personal- 
ly draw up the ordinances and otherwise save 
the expense usually incurred for legal services. 
One of the chief advantages resulting from his 
wide-awake policy consists in the electric light- 
ing plant, which is now on a paying basis and 
has reduced the cost of street lighting to a 
minimum. 

Between the beginning and the ending of one 
brief year Mr. Bingham experienced the great- 
est happiness and the greatest sorrow of his 
life. United in marriage January 29, 1903, to 
Frana Van Fossen, an educated and refined 
lady with many strong and beautiful traits of 
character, he was called upon to mourn her 
death in November of the same year. Mr. Bing- 
ham adds a sociable nature to his many other 
qualifications for political and general leader- 
ship, and is identified with the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. 




J^>€>A^Zy 19^/et^Cde^l. Z^Wv^ 



%<re/ii 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



791 



BLACK, Theodore, an enterprising and suc- 
cessful farmer in Section 4, Liverpool Town- 
ship, Fulton County, III., was born in that town- 
ship November 23, 1S57. He is a son of Isaac 
and Elizabeth (Bj-ers) Black, natives respect- 
ively of Ross County, Ohio, and Bedford Coun- 
ty, Va. The father was born January 30, 1813, 
and the mother October 14, 1819, their marriage 
occurring at Washington, Fayette County, Ohio, 
In October, 1839. Isaac Black, Sr., the grand- 
father, was a native of Berks County, Pa., and 
on reaching mature years went to Virginia, 
where he was wedded to Grace Woodford, whose 
birthplace was Philadelphia. About the year 
1811 they moved to Ross County, Ohio. 

Isaac Black, Jr.. located in Fulton County in 
1S42 and settled just west of Cuba, where he 
made his home until 1857. He had purchased a 
farm of 140 acres in Section 4, Liverpool Town- 
ship, where he died September 17, 1892, at the 
age of seventy-nine years, seven months and 
seventeen days. His wife passed away Febru- 
ary 14, 1SS9. From their union twelve children 
resulted besides Theodore, as follows; Henry, 
deceased, born July 27, 1840; Marion, a farmer 
near Smithfleld, 111., born November 30, 1841; 
William, a farmer in Buckheart Township, Ful- 
ton County, born February 3. 1844; James, a 
resident of Canton, 111., born November 27, 
1845; Hannah, born February 21, 1849, wife of 
John Courtney, of Bates County. Mo.; Martha 
A., born April 30, 1851, wife of John Everman, 
a resident of Bates County, Mo.; Mary L., born 
September 10, 1853, who married William Ford 
and moved to Indiana, where both died; Sarah 
E., born September 3, 1855, deceased wife of 
Joseph Willcoxen, a farmer in Liverpool Town- 
ship; Celesta A., deceased, born December 23, 
1859; Travis, who died in infancy, and Edith 
M., born July 31, 1865, wife of William McCann, 
a farmer in Liverpool Township. 

Theodore Black was reared on the paternal 
farm, received his mental training in the dis- 
trict schools of his neighborhood, and is still 
engaged in farming on the spot where he grew 
to maturity. The property consists of 140 acres, 
under a high state of cultivation, and as he is a 
careful, systematic and diligent farmer, his la- 
bors are attended by the best results. 

On June 15, 1882, Mr. Black was united in 
marriage with Harriett Pollitt, a daughter of 
James T. and Arilda (Beckstead) Pollitt, who 
was born December 17, 1S60. (A sketch of her 
parents' life will be found on another page of 
this history.) Two children resulted from this 
union, namely; Sylvia, born December 24, 1883, 
wife of George R. Willcoxen (a sketch of whose 
life appears in this work), and Bruce, born 
September 4, 1887, who is with his parents. 

In politics Mr. Black is a supporter of the 
Democratic party and has discharged the duties 
of several offices of trust creditably to himself 
and acceptably to his constituents. Fraternally 
he is affiliated with Bryant Camp, No. 436, M. 
W. A. He is an upright man in all the relations 
of life, and maintains an excellent standing, in- 



dividually and as a citizen. He and his worthy 
wife are held in high esteem throughout the 
community. 

BLACKABY, Robert, who is a successful and 
substantial farm in Section 2, Lewistown Town- 
ship, Fulton County, 111., was born on the spot 
where he now makes his home, October 17, 1868. 
He is a son of Robert and Caroline (Saunders) 
Blackaby, the former a native of Virginia. 
When a boy Robert Blackaby, Sr., went from 
that State to Ohio and in 1840 Journeyed to Il- 
linois, locating in Fulton County. There he 
was joined in wedlock with Caroline Saunders, 
a daughter of Ira Saunders. The first work of 
Robert Blackaby after locating in his new 
home was to drive a wholesale clothing wagon, 
at which he continued for eight years. At the 
end of that period he applied himself to farm- 
ing, having bought a tract of wild land in Sec- 
tion 2, Lewistown Township. To the arduous 
task of clearing this tract of its native growth 
of timber he devoted his time and strength in 
toilsome exertion until he developed it into one 
of the finest farms in the township. 

Robert Blackaby, Sr., and his wife became 
the parents of a family of children, six of whom 
are now living, namely; Rose, who is the wife 
of Charles Miner, of Indianapolis, Ind.; Clara, 
who married Edward Davis and is living in 
Iowa; Mary C. who became the wife of David 
Sheets, who is engaged in farming in Lewis- 
town Township; John, who married Zelma 
Davis and is a resident of Blackwell, Okla.; 
Henry, who was united in matrimony with Mag- 
gie Reed, of Iowa, and is also living in Okla- 
homa, and Robert, who carries on farming on 
the old homestead. The mother of this family 
departed this life in 1872. The father survived 
her until September 7, 1898, when he, too, 
passed away. 

Robert Blackaby imbibed his education from 
the district schools in the vicinity of the pa- 
ternal home, applied himself to farming on his 
own account in early manhood, and is now the 
owner of 175 acres of fine land, under a high 
state of cultivation. In addition to general 
farming he devotes careful attention to stock- 
raising, keeping Norman and brood horses and 
breeding Black cattle. All his horses, cattle 
and hogs are of the best grades, and his thor- 
ough and methodical manner of operation has 
assured him a marked degree of success. 

On January 14, 1891. Mr. Blackaby was united 
in marriage with Althea Wheelbarger, a daugh- 
ter of George W. Wheelbarger, of Virginia. Mr. 
and Mrs. Blackaby are the parents of three 
children, namely: Murriel, born June 27, 1893; 
Lloyd, May 2, 1895. and Hazel, May 27, 1897. 
In politics Mr. Blackaby is a supporter of the 
Democratic party. Fraternally he is affiliated 
with the M. W. A. He is a progressive and pub- 
lic-spirited citizen, takes an earnest interest in 
all that pertains to the welfare of the township 
and county, and is regarded as one of the most 
useful members of the community. 



792 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



BLACKSTONE, (Dr.) George R.— The finding 
of a groove in life in which one's heart and 
mind are emphatically enlisted assures success 
to nine out of ten of the toilers of earth. The 
farm is the largest and most beneficent camp- 
in.i? ground for the survey of life's possibilities, 
for here the farmer of the future is too busy to 
dream other than with his eyes wide open and 
his senses alert, and while health is being en- 
gendered by muscular action, regular hours and 
wholesome diet. It was among these fortunate 
if not congenial surroundings that Dr. George 
R. Blackstone determined upon his humanita- 
rian career. 

The Doctor is a native son of Illinois and 
was born in New Salem Township, McDonough 
County, December 14, 1S74. His father. Stephen 
Blackstone, was one of the leading and most 
successful farmers of McDonough County, in 
which he settled at an early day. At the age 
of si.xteen Dr. Blackstone left the home farm 
and entered Hedding College, Abingdon, 111., 
where he took the four years' course. He then 
became a student in the medical department of 
the Northwestern University. Chicago. 111., 
graduating at the end of four years in the class 
of 1900. During the vacation of his third year 
at the university he served as interne in the 
West Side Dispensary of that city, and in the 
fall of 1900 located in Table Grove, 111., where 
he succeeded to the practice, office equipment 
and residence of Dr. C. L. Perdue, one of the 
old-time and prominent practitioners of the 
county. 

During his occupancy of the office the younger 
man has added greatly to its eqtiipment and has 
Installed his constantly increasing and well se- 
lected medical library, one of the best in the 
State. Six years have brought about a constant 
rise in his fortunes, and he has won the confi- 
dence of the community by his skill as a diag- 
nostician and his successful treatment of com- 
plicated and ai)]jarently hopeless disorders. He 
is a student who recc,gnizes no end to the road 
of science and who forges ahead patiently and 
conscientiously. He is a member of the County 
and State Medical Societies and the American 
Medical Association and a subscriber to many 
of the best professiosal periodicals in this coun- 
try and Europe. 

On ,Iune 12, 1900. Dr. Blae^vStone was united 
in marriage to Olive B. Smith, a native of Ab- 
ingdon, 111., and daughter of J. B. Smith, a 
prominent pioneer of that town. Mrs. Black- 
stone is a graduate of the musical department 
of Hedding College and a most accomplished 
musician. She is the mother of a son, Howard 
S., born October 1, 1901. 

SLAIN, Albert E. — The qualities of adapt- 
ability, persistence, common sense and good 
judgment have prevailed in the energetic life 
of Albert E. Blain, winning for him an envi- 
able rank among the business, political and 
social elements of the city of Canton. Mr. 
Blain is a product of the agricultural regions 



of Fulton County, his birth having occurred on 
one of its well tilled farms in that county. 
December 22, 1863. His family is an early 
one in the county, having been established here 
during the youth of his father, James K. Blain, 
who was born in New Jersey, and by occupa- 
tion was a farmer and machinist. His mother's 
maiden name was Elizabeth Ayersman. The 
elder Blain was a soldier of the Union during 
the Civil War, and previous to settling on his 
present farm in Deerfleld Township, plied his 
trade of machinist in Canton for forty years. 

Mr. Blain's parents moved to Canton when 
the son was three years of age. In his youth 
Albert E. learned the machinist trade of his 
father, and also was instructed in the various 
duties which go to make up the life of a pro- 
gressive farmer. His educational opportunities 
were obtained, first in the Canton public? schools, 
and later in the Canton High School, and after 
graduating from the latter, he returned to the 
farm for a brief period. For eighteen years 
he worked in the Parlin & Orendorff shops, 
but in 1898 resigning this position, was ap- 
pointed Chief of Police of the city of Canton. 
In 1904 he engaged in the hotel and restaurant 
business in which he has been since success- 
fully occupied. He has also been prominently 
connected with Republican imlitics for many 
years, and possesses in large measure the tact, 
far-sightedness and aggressiveness which have 
won for him prominence in local party under- 
takings. His record as Chief of Police of 
Canton stands clearly defined as the effort of an 
honest, resourceful and public-spirited official 
in the effort to rid the city of undesirable 
characters and establish respect for law and 
order. The four years of his service in this 
capacity resulted in many changes of a per- 
manent nature in governmental affairs, and 
materially toned up the moral and general 
reputation of the city. 

In 1902 he received substantial support as 
a candidate on the primary ballot for Sheriff 
of Fulton County, and was the choice of the 
party for that office in the election of 1906. 
The social connections of .Mr. Blain have been 
one of the typical phases of his career. He 
appreciates the comi)anionship of genial people, 
and the benefit of ennobling surroundings, and is 
a popular member of the Benevolent Protec- 
tive Order of Elks. Knights of Pythias, Red 
Men, and Eagles. On July 1, 1890, he married 
Miss Effie Jump, a native daughter of Macon 
County. 111., and of this union there is one 
son. James G. Mr. Blain has hosts of friends 
in Fulton County, in which class are many 
political opponents when not agitated by the 
doubts and fears which visit the hearts of 
office-seekers. As host at present in a well 
kept, orderly, up-to-date and tactfully managed 
hostelry and restaurant, he is meeting with the 
success which justly rewards an enterprising 
business career and consideration for the inter- 
ests of his patrons. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



793 



BLAKSLEE, George W., who is recognized as 
one of the most prominent and substantial 
farmers in Fulton County, 111., where he has 
spent more than three-score years, was born 
in the State of Ohio, on May 16, 1840, a son 
of William and Harriet (Carpenter) Blakslee, 
natives of Connecticut and Vermont, respec- 
tively. William Blakslee was a farmer by 
occupation, a man of irreproachable character, 
untiring perseverance and sound judgment, 
and reaped the merited reward of these quali- 
ties in all his undertakings. He left New 
England at an early period and went to Ohio. 
After spending some years in that State, he 
traveled to Illinois in 184.5, making the jour- 
ney by wagon, and settling in the vicinity of 
Middle Grove, Fulton County. In 1864 he pur- 
chased 2')" acres of land in Section 5, Fairview 
Township. Fulton County. On this property 
he located, making some necessary improve- 
ments, and was there successfully engaged in 
agricultural pursuits during the remainder of 
his active career. William Blakslee departed 
this life in 1880. 

The boyhood of George W. Blakslee was passed 
on the paternal farm, and in early youth he 
attended the district schools of his neighbor- 
hood, and made himself useful in connection 
with his father's farming operations. On reach- 
ing his maturity, he continued in the occupa- 
tion of tilling the soil in the same locality, 
and is now living on the identical ground which 
his father bought in 1864. To the original 
tract of 257 acres he has added 100 acres, and 
has made many im])rovements on the property. 
He has carried on general farming on an ex- 
tensive scale, and devoted considerable atten- 
tion to the raising of stock, shipping two or 
three carloads of cattle and hogs each year. 
He is a careful and systematic farmer, avail- 
ing himself of the best methods and appliances, 
and his labors are productive of satisfactory 
results. During the Civil War Mr. Blakslee 
served in defence of the Union, enlisting August 
1-3, 1862, in Company D, One hundred and third 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was 
honorably discharged June 22, 1865. 

On February 22, 1866, the subject of this 
sketch was united in marriage, in Fairview 
Township, to Amanda Williamson, who was 
born in that township June 18. 1843, and there 
in girlhood, received her mental training in 
the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Blakslee are 
the parents of seven children, namely: James, 
Lewis, Nellie, Myrtle, William. Charles, and 
Hattie. Mr. Blakslee is a Republican in politics 
and a highly respectable member of the 
community. 

BLISS, R., one of the oldest and most success- 
ful merchants of Avon, Fulton County, 111., 
where he has been engaged in business for more 
than half a century, is a native of the State 
of Vermont, where he was born in 1827. His 
immediate ancestors were also of Eastern 
nativity, both his parents having been born 
12 



in New England. Mr. Bliss was reared on a 
farm, and in early youth enjoyed the advantages 
of the public schools in the neighborhood of 
his home. He became a resident of Fulton 
County in 1855, buying a farm of 140 acres in 
Union Township, where he was engaged in 
farming for three years. In 1858 he abandoned 
agricultural pursuits and established his home 
in the village of Avon, opening a store in which 
he handled all kinds of merchandise. Since 
ISSl he has made a specialty of the clothing 
trade. In 1878, he built the store building 
which he now occupies, a two-story structure, 
seventy-two by forty-four feet in dimensions. 
He is one of the most prominent merchants in 
F^ulton County. 

In 1851, Mr. Bliss was joined in matrimony 
with Maria Stoddard, who was born in Vermont. 
Mr. and Mrs. Bliss became the parents of the 
following named children: William, Charles, 
Edgar, Minnie (Mrs. Watson), Ella (Mrs. E. 
J. Finnessey), and Elizabeth. 

BLOOMFIELD, R. Lot. — Prominent among the 
native sons of half century residence of 
Woodland Township is R, Lot Bloomfield, who 
was born in Section 22, February 15, 1857, and 
who, since 1882, has owned and occupied a 
tract of 160 acres in Section 21. In 1836, twenty 
years before the birth of Mr. Bloomfield, his 
father, John Bloomfield. and the latter's first 
wife. Mary ( Farwell ) Bloomfield, came from 
Butler County, Ohio, by way of the river to 
Schuyler County, HI., and alter six months' 
residence at Sharp's Landing, moved to Fulton 
County, and took up land in the southwest 
corner of Section 22, Woodland Township. Here 
Mr. Bloomfield succeeded eventually to the own- 
ership of 280 acres of land, and here his death 
occurred in 1876. He was immediately connected 
with the early advancement of the State and 
county, and was one of the Commissioners who 
laid out and named the townships therein. A 
prominent Democrat and ardent supporter of 
Jeffersonian principles, he still was averse to 
office holding, contenting himself with aiding 
the cause of men who were qualified morally 
and intellectually to mould political affairs of 
the community. 

Besides his oldest daughter, Emeline. who 
was born in Ohio, and accompanied her parents 
to Illinois, Mr. Bloomfield was the parent of 
six other children by his first marriage, five 
of whom attained maturity. Emeline became 
the wife of Jesse Mead, and died in L,os Angeles, 
Cal.; Ira J., a prominent attorney in California, 
attained the rank of Brigadier General during 
the Civil War; Henry F. married Nancy Shield, 
and died in Nashville, Tenn., as a soldier in 
the Eighty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry; 
Levia, married and lives in Colorado; and Mary 
is the widow of B. S. Hughes, and lives in 
Mason County, 111. Mrs. Bloomfield died October 
29, 1852, and Mr. Bloomfield afterwards mar- 
ried Mrs. Margaret Littlejohn, widow of John 
Littlejohn, of which union there were three 



794 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



sons: Abram W., who married Susan Kennedy; 
R. Job; and Peter C, who married Etta Myers, 
and is a farmer in McDonough County, 111. 
The second Mrs. Bloomfield died in March, 
1885. 

R. Lot Bloomfield spent his youth much as 
do other farmer lads, and received about the 
same amount of schooling as did his associates 
in Woodland Township. Upon the death of his 
father he assumed the management of the 
home farm, and the following year, February 
15, 1877. he married Rose Ann Ely, a native of 
Woodland Township, and daughter of Martin 
Ely, one of the early pioneers of Fulton County, 
who is still living. The young people settled 
on Section 15, Woodland Township, purchased 
from Jacob Horn, and here Mr. Bloomfield made 
many fine improvements, setting out fruit and 
shade trees, and engaging in general farming 
until removing to his present farm in Section 
21 in 1882. The property at the time was in 
a run-down condition, and its improvements 
were crude, the only residence being of logs, 
and other things in proportion. There were 
acres of heavy timber, which since has been 
cleared, and in 1883 the owner erected a modern 
two-story frame house, the following year put- 
ting up a large barn. Graded stock, grain and 
general produce yield him a comfortable in- 
come, and his surroundings are sucli as con- 
tribute to his most sensible and practical needs. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield are the parents of 
the following named children: Gertrude, born 
February 23, 1878, wife of F. A. Cooper, a 
merchant of Astoria; Arthur, born October 6, 
1879, married Rhoda Robinson, daughter of 
Martin L. Robinson, a farmer of Morgan Coun- 
ty, 111.; Orlena, born September 22, 1881, wife 
of James W. Stephens, a farmer of Woodland 
Township; Mildred, born February 14, 1884, 
wife of Frank R. Shaw, a farmer on the old 
home place; Lenora, born March 1, 1886; Otis, 
born February 16, 1896. The children all have 
been given common school education, and all 
have been trained to independence and useful- 
ness. Mr. Bloomfield is highly respected in the 
community, and is one of the township's sub- 
stantial and reliable native sons. 

BOLANDER, Stephen (deceased), for many 
years a worthy farmer in Section 25, Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County, 111., who was also an 
evangelist of the Baptist faith, was born in 
Clermont Count, Ohio, February 4, 1820, the 
son of Henry and Catherine (Shinkle) Bo- 
lander, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania 
and Ohio. At an early period Henry Bolander 
moved from Pennsylvania to Clermont County, 
Ohio, where he was engaged in blacksmithing 
and farming. There he wedded Catherine Shin- 
kle and their union resulted in twelve children. 

In youth the subject of this sketch received 
his mental training in the district schools in 
the vicinity of his father's farm. On reaching 
mature years he applied himself to farming on 
his own account. At an early period he became 



imbued with a deep religious spirit and identi- 
fied himself with evangelistic work in the Bap- 
tist Church. While still a young man he de- 
voted himself to preaching in connection with 
that denomination and followed the work of the 
ministry during the remainder of his life, 
preaching the gospel as he understood it with 
every opportunity. 

On April 24, 1845, Mr. Bolander was united 
in marriage with Lydia Buflin, a daughter of 
Hiram Buffin and wife. This union resulted in 
five children, namely: Harry E., born Febru- 
ary 12, 1846, a farmer in Pleasant Township, 
Fulton County; Walter E., born December 2, 
1847 (deceased); Sarah, born April 24, 1850, 
wife of Americus Judd. of Sangamon County, 
111.; Caroline E., born July 16, 1852 (deceased 
wife of Marilius Johnson, a farmer of Water- 
ford Township, Fulton County, and Lydia, born 
November 16, 1854, wife of John W. Downs, a 
sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this vol- 
ume. The mother of this family died Novem- 
ber 23, 1854. In April, 1855, Mr. Bolander was 
married to Mary E. Coleman, and their union 
resulted in six children, all born in Section 25, 
Lewistown Township, namely: Jeremiah, who 
died in 1857; Martha A., born May 18, 1858; 
Mary E., born January 28, 1861, deceased wife 
of John Boo, a farmer of Waterford Township, 
Fulton County, a record of whose life may be 
found in another part of this work; Barbara, 
born January 11, 1864, wife of Ellis Mitchell, a 
farmer of Lewistown Township; Elva L., born 
April 11, 1870, deceased wife of Frank Richard- 
son, a resident of Fulton County, and Emeline, 
born September 11, 1873, wife of Russell 
Payne, a farmer in Bernadotte Township. The 
mother of this family died in 1893 and the fa- 
ther passed away December 18, 1895. He was 
an earnest and diligent Christian worker and 
great good attended his labors in the cause of 
his Master. 

BOO, John P., a thriving and worthy farmer 
on Section 1, Waterford Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was born in the city of Lewistown, 111., 
March 26, 1862, a son of Joseph and Jlinerva 
(Cozad) Boo, the former a native of Germany 
and the latter of Fulton County. Joseph Boo 
was the only one of his family who emigrated 
to the United States. On coming to this coun- 
try he landed in New Orleans, whence, after re- 
maining about a year, he proceeded to Illinois 
and settled in Fulton County. His father had 
strenuously objected to his leaving the father- 
land, but Joseph was determined to better his 
condition and when his father's death removed 
the last obstacle to his trying his fortunes in 
America, he crossed the sea. On arriving in 
Fulton County he went to work by the month 
for L. W. Ross, one of the early settlers. After- 
ward he rented a piece of land from that gentle- 
man and was married to Minerva Cozad. Sub- 
sequently he purchased from Charles McCum- 
ber forty acres just north of Lewistown. where 
he lived for two years. This he then sold and 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



795 



went into the employ of J. C. Wilcoxen. He 
then bought eighty acres of land on Section 1, 
Waterford Township, and shortly afterwards an- 
other eighty-acre tract, and on this land car- 
ried on farming successfully until he moved to 
Lewistown. When he arrived in New Orleans 
he had but $1.00 in his pocket, his mother hav- 
ing paid his passage to the United States. This 
he repaid to her out of his earnings in this 
country. After his first removal to Lewistown 
he bought 120 acres of land in Lewistown Town- 
ship where he carried on farming until 1895. 
In that year he made his final move to Lewis- 
town, where he died February 11, 1903. His 
wife passed away in 1868 and was buried in 
Oali Hill Cemetery. His last purchase of land 
was the farm on which John P. Boo now lives. 
In religion Joseph Boo was a devout Catholic 
and one of the leading members of that church 
in Lewistown. He was the father of two chil- 
dren — John P. and Ida, who makes her home in 
Lewistown. 

The subject of this sketch received his mental 
training in the public schools. When he was 
ten years old he moved with his father on the 
latter's farm and has always followed farming, 
also at the present time carries on general stock- 
raising. His farm of 120 acres is under a high 
state of cultivation and he has a good grade of 
all kinds of stock. 

On October 7, 1884, Mr. Boo was united in 
marriage with Mary E. Bolander. a daughter of 
Stephen Bolander, who was numbered among 
the worthy pioneers of Fulton County. Four 
children resulted from this union, namely: Jo- 
seph S., born July 20, 1885; Mary M., born Sep- 
tember 5, 1887; John O., born November 5, 1889, 
and Gerald D., born April 30, 1891. The esti- 
mable mother of this family died January 11, 
1900, while on a visit to Rocky Ford, Colo., 
where she had gone for the recuperation of her 
health. Her remains were brought home and 
laid to rest in the Oak Hill family cemetery. 
In politics Mr. Boo is a Democrat, is a man of 
high character, who 'discharges faithfully the 
duties of citizenship and is respected through- 
out the community. Fraternally he is affiliated 
with the Court of Honor. 

BORDNER, George, who is one of the ener- 
getic and successful farmers of Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County, 111., where he oper- 
ates a fine farm in Section 36, was born in Sec- 
tion 35, of the same township, July 9, 1859. He 
is a member of one of the time-honored fami- 
lies of Fulton County, being a son of Moses and 
Maria (Bearce) Bordner, of whom the former 
was very prominent among the pioneer settlers. 
A review of his meritorious career may be 
found in another part of this volume. 

The subject of this sketch received his edu- 
cation in the district schools of his neighbor- 
hood and assisted in the management of the 
homestead farm until he applied himself to 
farming on his own responsibility. He is the 



owner of 100 acres of excellent land, which is 
under a high state of cultivation. During the 
past two years Mr. Bordner has turned his at- 
tention to the breeding of Hereford cattle, 
Percheron horses and Poland China hogs, keep- 
ing a superior grade of all kinds of stock. He 
is a painstaking and closely attentive farmer, 
and the results abundantly justify his efforts. 
He has spent his entire life in Fulton County 
and many are the notable changes that have 
come under his observation since his boyhood 
was ushered in amid what are now his familiar 
surroundings. 

On December 31, 1885, Mr. Bordner was united 
in marriage with Minnie Belle Hummel, a 
daughter of John and Rebecca (Arnett) Hum- 
mel, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respect- 
ively. Her father is deceased but her mother still 
resides in Liverpool Township. The children 
resulting from the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bord- 
ner are: Cora M., born September 28, 1886; 
Mecia M., born October 5, ISSS; Scott, born May 
22, 1892: Nellie D., born November 21. 1895; 
Kate, born April G, 1898, and Louise, born Jan- 
uary 7, 1904. Mr. Bordner has rendered good 
service to his township as School Director and 
takes an earnest interest in all movements 
which tend toward the advancement of the pub- 
lic welfare. Fraternally he is affiliated with 
the I. O. 0. F. 

BORDNER, Henry S., a well-known and pros- 
perous hardware dealer, located on the south 
side of the Square in Lewistown, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Lewistown Township, Novem- 
ber 26, 1876. He is a son of Moses Bordner, 
deceased, a review of whose life appears else- 
where in this work. For a long period the Bord- 
ner family has been one of the most prominent 
in Fulton County. 

Henry S. Bordner spent his early life upon 
the farm and attended the district school of his 
neighborhood, supplementing these advantages 
with a commercial course in the Gem City Busi- 
ness Coljege, at Quincy, 111. In early manhood 
he was thrown from a buggy in which he was 
riding and broke his leg, necessitating ampu- 
tation and incapacitating him for further labor 
on the farm. In September, 1904, he purchased 
the hardware stock of C. R. Sims, and by close 
application to business is building up a large 
and profitable trade. He is a man of strict in- 
tegrity and as a citizen is progressive and pub- 
lic spirited, taking an active interest in all 
measures tending to promote the welfare of the 
community. On political issues Mr. Bordner is 
arrayed on the side of the Democratic party. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Knights 
of Pythias. 

On June 20, 1905. Mr. Bordner married Miss 
F. L. Burgett, a native of Fulton County and 
a daughter of Charles L. Burgett, now a resi- 
dent of Canton. 111. May 25, 1906, a daughter 
was born to Mr. and Mrs. Bordner, whom they 
have named Margaret Estelle. 



/ 



96 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



BORDNER, Homer.— Among the farmers who 
have passed their lives in Fulton County, 111., 
and have reached the middle period of ordinary 
human endurance and whose persevering and 
diligent labors have placed them in comfortable 
circumstances, is the well known resident on 
Section 23, Lewistown Township, whose career 
furnishes the details of this personal narrative. 
Mr. Bordner was born in Lewistown Township, 
December 7, 1855, and has always made his 
home amid his present surroundings. He is a 
son of Jonathan and Lucinda (Bearce) Bord- 
ner, natives of Fulton County. The former died 
September 19, 1873, at the age of fift.v-seven 
years and the latter passed away in June, 1897. 
A sketch of the life of Moses Bordner, and also 
a review of the lives of others of the name in 
Fulton County, may be found in this volume. 

Jonathan and Lucinda (Bearce) Bordner 
were the parents of ten children, all of whom 
are still living, namely: Alford, who is en- 
gaged in' farming in Taylor County, Iowa; 
Christina, wife of Martin Weirauch, a resident 
of South Bend, Kans.; Sarah, who is the wife 
of J. E. Fitz-Henry, who carries on farming in 
Lewistown Township; John F.. who lives in 
Kansas; Homer, to whom this record pertains; 
Emma, who married John Weirauch, a farmer 
in Lewistown Township; Mary L.. who became 
the wife of Robert Miller, and is living in Min- 
nesota; Hattie, who makes her home in Lewis- 
town, and Evaline, who is the wife of Martin A. 
Breckenridge, a farmer in Lewistown Township. 
The subject of this sketch has witnessed 
many changes in Fulton County and the Bord- 
ner family have done their full share in promot- 
ing its development. Mr. Bordner is the owner 
of an excellent farm of 100 acres of very pro- 
ductive land, which he keeps in a high state of 
cultivation. He has a very attractive home, 
with spacious and substantial barns and con- 
venient outbuildings. Much of his attention is 
devoted to stock-raising and he breeds the best 
grades of horses, cattle and hogs. He is consid- 
ered one of the most thorough and enterprising 
farmers in his township. 

On September 13, 1883, Mr. Bordner was 
united in marriage with Mary E. Blackaby, who 
was born in Fulton County, February 12, 1865, 
a daughter of John and Sarah J. (Brown) 
Blackaby. Her mother died January 9, 1896, 
while her father is still a resident of Lewis- 
town. Mr. and Mrs. Bordner became the par- 
ents of six children, namely: Laura, who was 
born October 3, 1884; Alma A., born February 
20, 1889; John H., who was born November 10, 
1891, and died January 1, 1892; Dayton, born 
January 17, 1895; Homer A., born July 6, 1897; 
Arria L., born March 24, 1890, and Mary M., 
born January 5, 1903. The mother of this fam- 
ily is gifted with a very rare faculty of retentive 
memory, and is frequently called upon for de- 
tails in connection with past events and for 
facts concerning occurrences of remote years. 
Fraternally Mr. Bordner is affiliated with the 
M. W. A. and Mrs. Bordner is a member of the 



Royal Neighbors. Both are consistent members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

BORDNER, Marvin H., a well-known and en- 
terprising young farmer who pursues his voca- 
tion in Section 26, Lewistown Township, Fulton 
County, 111., and whose diligent, painstaking 
and constant devotion to his work bids fair to 
make him exceptionally successful, was born 
September 23, 1875. He is located on a part of 
the old paternal homestead which was his birth- 
place. He is a son of Moses and Margaret El- 
vira (Ewers) Bordner. (A sketch of the life of 
Marvin H. Bordner's father, a leading citizen 
of the days of Fulton County, forms an inter- 
esting chapter of this volume.) 

The subject of this sketch received his men- 
tal training in the district schools of his neigh- 
borhood and since early manhood has been en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits on his own re- 
sponsibility. He is a member of a time-honored 
family of Fulton County and one which has 
been conspicuously identified with all the im- 
portant enterprises and toilsome exertions 
which have developed that region into its pres- 
ent abounding prosperity. He is the owner of 
IGO acres of the best land to be found in Lewis- 
town Township, which is under a high state of 
cultivation, and his operations are productive 
of encouraging results. 

On May 0, 1896, Mr. Bordner was united in 
marriage with Iva B. Chapman, who was born 
in Fulton County, 111., December 20, 1876, a 
daughter of William H. and Clarinda (Connor) 
Chapman, natives of Ohio and Illinois. This 
union has resulted in one child, Moses, born 
November 17, 1896. In politics Mr. Bordner is 
a supporter of the policies of the Democratic 
party. For some years he has been a member 
of the School Board, in connection with which 
he has rendered most creditable service. Fra- 
ternally he is affiliated with the K. of P. and 
M. W. A. He takes an earnest and intelligent 
interest in public affairs, and is regarded as one 
of the most serviceable members of the com- 
munity. 

BORDNER, Moses (deceased), late President 
of the Farmers' State Bank of Lewistown, Ful- 
ton County, 111., was born in Dauphin County, 
Pa.. July 22, 1822, a son of Peter and Christina 
(Larsh) Bordner, natives of Bucks County, Pa. 
Peter Bordner was born July 4, 1784, and in 
1846 came to Fulton County, where he died at 
the age of ninety-nine years. His wife was born 
in 1792 and lived to be 105 years old. 

Leaving Pennsylvania in 1846, the Bordner 
family went to Licking County, Ohio, whence, 
after a brief sojourn there, they proceeded. In 
the fall of that year, overland to Fulton County, 
111., and located in Lewistown Township. Here 
they purchased a tract of densely timbered land 
comprising 200 acres. This Moses Bordner at 
once applied himself to clearing, and on it made 
his home until 1902. At that period he left the 
attractive scenes which his intelligence, perse- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



797 



verance and energy had created and established 
his residence in Lewistown. From time to time 
he had made additions to his original purchase 
until he had become the owner of more than 
SOO acres of land. Mr. Bordner's prolonged ex- 
ertions in developing lands from their primitive 
wilderness into a state of cultivation would 
form the basis of a most interesting narrative. 
Many happy years were passed in his early 
home, but his experience was not unmixed with 
trials, for the difficulties and hardships of the 
pioneer settler were many and severe, although 
he sturdily overcame them all. 

In 1847 Mr. Bordner was married to Maria 
Bearce, a member of one of the pioneer fami- 
lies of Fulton County. She died in 1S64, leav- 
ing five children, namely: Lewis, of Sheridan 
County, Mo.; Charles, of Stonewall County, 
Tex. ; Mary, the wife of John Harrison, a farm- 
er of Fulton County, III. ; George, a farmer in 
Lewistown Township, Fulton County, and Tem- 
perance, wife of Jacob Arnett, a farmer in the 
same township. 

In ISGG Mr. Bordner was united in marriage 
with Margaret Elvira Ewers, who bore him 
nine children, one of whom died in infancy. 
Another, Clifford, died in 1S9.5. The mother 
still survives, with the following named chil- 
dren: Madeline, wife of Perry Shields, a farm- 
er; Louisa, who married A. J. Willcoxen, a 
farmer in Liverpool Townshi]), Fulton County; 
Elizabeth, wife of John W. Boyd, of Lewistown, 
111.; Charlotte, who married W. H. Quigley, a 
farmer; Marvin H., a farmer in Lewistown 
Township, who married Iva Chapman; Henry 
S., a sketch of whom appears in this worlv, and 
Jennie, who was married September 19, 1905, 
to Erie C. Gillam, a grocer of Lewistown, 111. 
The mother of this family is a daughter of Jon- 
athan and Sarah A. (DucliworthI Ewers. Her 
father was a native of Virginia and her mother 
of Ohio. 

On political issues Mr. Bordner was arrayed 
on the side of the Democratic party, although 
he steadfastly refused to become a candidate 
for office. In his dealings with his fellowmen 
he was always fair and honorable, and he 
wronged no one intentionally. Socially he won 
and retained the cordial esteem of all. As a 
financier he was clear-headed, conservative and 
sagacious, and his counsel in matters of busi- 
ness was often sought. 

The subject of the foregoing memoir passed 
from this life March 27, 1905, and his death 
was widely and sincerely lamented. 

BOWEN, John H. — In John H. Bowen is found 
a sample of that material which has brought 
Fulton County into the limelight as a prosper- 
ous agricultural center. Endowed with average 
ability and backed by shrewd business judg- 
ment and determination, this young farmer has 
worked his way to the ownership of a farm of 
160 acres on Section 36. Farmer Township, 
which he purchased in March, 1904, and which 
he is devoting to general farming and stock- 



raising. Although his occupancy is of compar- 
atively recent date, there are indications of his 
progressive methods on every hand and of a 
struggle to attain to the best thus far achieved 
in agricultural science. Mr. Bowen has a spe- 
cial leaning toward high-grade stock, and is 
proud of his noble Norman horses and blooded 
cattle. 

The third generation of his family to till the 
soil of Fulton County. Mr. Bowen was born in 
Johnson County, Iowa, December 10, 1869, a 
son of Evan and Eliza (Fit) Bowen and grand- 
son of David Bowen. David Bowen emigrated 
from the picturesque, shut-in country of Wales, 
settling in Licking County, Ohio, where his son 
Evan was born and from where he eventually 
journeyed overland to Fulton County, making 
his home for a year on the old Peter Borden 
farm. He then purchased a farm south of 
where Orenson Pearce lives, and lived thereon 
until his death in 1S55. In 1S59 Evan Bowen 
moved from Illinois to Johnson County, Iowa, 
where he married and where, in 1861, he en- 
listed for the Civil War in an Illinois regiment. 
He served during the greater part of the war, 
participating in its greatest battles and finally 
being honorably discharged after meritorious 
work as a private. Coming to the old home- 
stead of his father in Fulton County after the 
war, he assumed the responsibilities of its man- 
agement as the oldest son in the family, remain- 
ing until 1867, when the second oldest son at- 
tained his majority. He then returned to John- 
son County, Iowa, and engaged in farming until 
selling his property in 1876, when he returned 
to Fulton County and bought the old Bowen 
homestead, which still is occupied by his wife. 
Mr. Bowen died on this farm May 31, 1903, leav- 
ing behind him a host of friends and a reputa- 
tion second to none for integrity and general 
worth. He was one of nature's noblemen, a 
lover of right for right's sake, a loyal friend 
and an exem])lary husband and father. All who 
passed his way were better for having known 
him. Genial, fond of a joke at his own or an- 
other's expense, the friend and admirer of a 
good horse, and, above all, a believer in the 
sanctity of the home and the co-operation of all 
its members, he left little to be desired as men 
are rated in these times of selfishness and un- 
certainty. Of his two children David is a dent- 
ist in Sargent, Neb., and John H. is a farmer 
of Farmer Township, Fulton County. 

At the age of twenty-three years John H. 
Bowen married, on February 1, 1893, Laura E. 
Smith, a native of Lewistown Township, a 
daughter of Snowden Smith and granddaughter 
of William W. Smith, mention of whom may be 
found in another part of this work. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bowen have a daughter. Zula. born in 
Lewistown Township. March 10, 1894. For nine 
years after his marriage Mr. Bowen operated 
the Jacob Prickett farm north of Lewistown, 
and in 1901 managed a farm in Bucldieart 
Township, returning to Lewistown in 1903. The 
following year he bought his present home, 



798 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ujion which he hopes to realize his wholesome 
and meritorious ambitions. Mr. Bowen has the 
respect and good will of all who know him, and 
the impression is current that he will become 
one of the foremost and most substantial agri- 
culturists of the community. 

BOWLES, James H., Jr., who maintains a high 
standing among the substantial farmers of As- 
toria Township, Fulton County, 111., where he 
Is the owner of a fine farm in Section 15 and 
who, although having exceeded the Psalmist's 
limit of three-score and ten years, is still in the 
undiminished enjoyment of sound physical and 
mental faculties, was born in Hancock, Wash- 
ington County, Md., July 19, 1835, a son of 
James H. and Martha (Swope) Bowles, natives 
of Maryland. His mother's parents came to the 
United States from Germany at an early period. 
His father had been previously married to a 
Miss Johnson, who bore him one child. The 
elder Bowles had two brothers, one of whom, 
William, was a soldier in the War of 1S12., Af- 
ter the conclusion of that conflict he made his 
way westward to the frontier, where he spent 
the rest of his life among the Indians, acting 
as an interpreter. The other brother also jour- 
neyed to the then Far West and settled in Ken- 
tucky. James H. Bowles, Sr., remained in 
Maryland and carried on farming in Washing- 
ton County in that State until his death. His 
union with Martha Swope resulted in eight chil- 
dren, of whom only James H., Jr., and three of 
his sisters survive. The names of the children 
were as follows: Ellen, widow of Brook Taney, 
a nephew of former Chief Justice Taney, of 
Maryland; Mary, wife of Joseph Thrasher, of 
Kansas City, Mo.; Susan, whose home is in Cal- 
ifornia; Samuel, who died in Hancock, Md., 
leaving three sons; James H., William, who 
died without issue, and two others. 

James H. Bowles was reared on a farm in 
his native State, where in youth he enjoyed 
the advantages of the district schools. When 
about twenty years of age he took leave of the 
scenes of his childhood and proceeded by direct 
journey to Vermont, Fulton County, 111., 
whence, after sojourning a short time, he made 
a trip westward. On his return he located near 
the village of Vermont, rented land and applied 
himself to farming. The first piece of land pur- 
chased by him was situated northwest of Ver- 
mont Township, in Eldorado Township, Mc- 
Donough County, 111., where he succeeded in de- 
veloping a fine farm. There he followed his 
wonted occupation until 1893, when he sold the 
property and bought ISO acres in Section 15, 
Astoria Township, Pulton Count}'. On his pres- 
ent farm he made many fine improvements and 
established a record as one of the most thor- 
ough, systematic and successful farmers in that 
locality. 

On May 2, 1867, Mr. Bowles was united in 
marriage with Amanda Elgin, a native of Illi- 
nois, whose birthplace was in Astoria. Pour 
sons were the offspring of this union, as fol- 



lows; Charles H. and William A., lawyers, and 
members of the firm of Bowles & Bowles with 
offices in the Ashland Block, Chicago; Samuel, 
who supervises the management of the old home 
farm, and James Earl, who is also engaged in 
the practice of law. The mother of this famil;-' 
died November 23, 1903. She was a most faith- 
ful and devoted helpmate of her husband and 
was most tender, considerate and solicitous in 
the care of her children, all of whom she was 
graciously permitted to see grow up to useful 
and reputable manhood. For many years she 
was a consistent and earnest member of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, to which her 
husband also belongs. Her life was hallowed 
by good deeds, and she is held in cherished and 
lasting remembrance. 

Mr. Bowles still retains a lively and discrimi- 
nating interest in public affairs, and the welfare 
of the community is with him an object of es- 
pecial desire. Politically he is a supporter of 
the Democratic party. The cause of church 
and school advancement has always found in 
him an unfailing friend, as also have all insti- 
tutions of charity. 

BOYD, Hobart S., a well-known attorney-at-law 
and formerly City Attorney of Lewistown, Ful- 
ton County, 111., was born and reared in Lewis- 
town, his birth having occurred October 17, 
1876. He is a son of the late Hon. Thomas A. 
Boyd, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere 
in this volume. Mr. Boyd was a pupil in the 
Lewistown High School, from which he was 
graduated with the class of 1893. In that year 
he began the study of law in the office of Judge 
Edwards, continuing thus until the fall of 1895, 
when he became a student in the Illinois State 
University at Champaign, graduating with the 
class of 1900. In November of that year he es- 
tablished himself in the practice of his profes- 
sion in his native place and where he has spent 
his life. 

In politics Mr. Boyd is a Republican. In 
1903 he was elected on the Citizens' ticket City 
Attorney of Lewistown, and on the expiration 
of his term in 1905 was elected a Justice of the 
Peace. He is also Master in Chancery of the 
Circuit Court of Fulton County, having been 
appointed in May, 1905, for two years by Judge 
Gray. 

The subject of this sketch acquitted himself 
with notable credit in the office of City Attor- 
ney, and has demonstrated his capacity as a 
faithful and competent magistrate and official 
in chancery proceedings. The beginning of his 
professional life gives promise of a successful 
and useful career. Mr. Boyd is a member of 
the Kenneth Lodge, No. 146, K. of P., of which 
he is a Past Chancellor. 

BOYD, Hon. Thomas A. (deceased), formerly 
one of the leading lawyers of Fulton County, 
111., a sound jurist and a civic character of high 
repute beyond his State, was born in Adams 
County, Pa., June 25, 1S30. His boyhood was 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



799 



spent in mingled work and study and he grad- 
uated from Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pa., 
in 184S. He then studied law at Chambersburg, 
Pa., and was admitted to the bar at Bedford, 
Pa., where he was engaged in the practice of 
his profession. In 1856 he came west and lo- 
cated in Galesburg, 111., whence in 1858 he came 
to Lewistown and became a member of the law 
firm of Goudy, Judd & Boyd. Mr. Goudy af- 
terward retired and the firm became Judd, Boyd 
& James. 

On May 13, 1861, Mr. Boyd enlisted in the 
Seventeenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, in which he became First Lieutenant and 
was promoted to be Captain, May 20, 1861, as 
such being mustered into service May 25, 1861. 
On account of ill health he resigned his com- 
mission April 24, 1862. The life of Thomas 
Boyd fills a large and conspicuous space in the 
history of Pulton County. For many years he 
was one of the foremost men on the forum, at 
the bar, on the bench, and as State and National 
Representative. By strict integrity and a keen 
sense of professional honor he won and retained 
the confidence of the people, and his intellectual 
force commanded attention in addressing court 
or jury. His imposing presence and earnest 
utterances always inspired respect. 

On September 17. 1862, Mr. Boyd was united 
in marriage with Laura James, a native of 
Washington. D. C. This union resulted in eight 
children, two of whom died in infancy. Those 
surviving are as follows: John W., who is in 
the clothing and dry goods business in Lewis- 
town; Thomas A., of Beaver City, Neb.; Mary 
C, wife of E. C. Miles, of Lewistown; Lawrence 
J., Assistant Postmaster of Lewistown; Mar- 
garet L. and Hobart S. 

In politics Mr. Boyd was a strong and lead- 
ing Republican. He was elected to the Illinois 
State Senate in 1866 and re-elected in 1868 and 
again re-elected in 1870, serving until 1872, dur- 
ing three sessions of the General Assembly. 
He was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention In 1876, and the November following 
was elected a Representative in Congress from 
the Ninth Congressional District, and re-elected 
in 1878. As a member of the Forty-fifth and 
Forty-sixth Congresses he gave evidence of his 
broad and forceful mentality which made him 
a recognized leader. In 1882 he was elected 
County Judge of Fulton County and re-elected 
in 1886. In the discharge of all the important 
trusts committed to him by the people. Judge 
Boyd manifested the same eminent ability and 
unswerving integrity and his name is indelibly 
impressed on the development of his section 
of the State. 

BOYER, Jonas (deceased), formerly a promi- 
nent and substantial citizen of Ipava, Fulton 
County, 111., who died December 28, 1901, was 
born in York, Pa., November 24, 1823, the son 
of Daniel Boyer, who was of Quaker ancestry. 
Henry Boyer, the first of the family who came 
to America, was a Hollander, who became a 



member of the colony of William Penu, and 
settled in Philadelphia about the time of the 
founding of that city. 

Jonas Boyer enjoyed more than ordinary edu- 
cational advantages for those days, as his fa- 
ther sent him to school at Harrisburg. In 
youth and early manhood he assisted his father 
in the work of the farm, and subsequently en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits in his own be- 
half. During the Civil War his property was 
taken and destroyed by a detachment of General 
Lee's army and soon afterward, in the fall of 
1864, the family removed to Lewistown, 111., 
then the terminal of the railroad. For about a 
year they lived in the vicinity of Summum, 
Fulton County, and subsequently moved to a 
point just south of Ipava, in the same county, 
where Mr. Boyer purchasea a homestead, on 
which he lived until 1885. He then moved to 
Ipava, where he resided until his death. He 
was a zealous and devout Christian. Sober, in- 
dustrious and upright, loving the right ana de- 
testing the wrong, he lived a most useful and 
beneficent life and was respected and honored 
by all. The companion of his joys and sorrows 
still survives to reap the results of his toil and 
their conscientious care in rearing a family of 
children, who have developed into worthy and 
dutiful men and women. 

On November 16, 1848, Mr. Boyer was united 
in marriage with Susan Roth, and their union 
resulted in the following children, namely: 
Samuel A. and I. R., of Kansas City, Mo.; Wil- 
liam H., of Lewistown, 111., a sketch of whose 
life appears in this work; Charles J., of Chica- 
go; Rebecca (Mrs. Manhartz), who died April 
20, 1905; Mrs. B. E. Fisk, of Kansas City, Mo., 
and Katherine, who is with her mother. Be- 
sides these the first and second children, Sam- 
uel Fitz and Emanuel R., are both deceased, the 
latter having gained a national reputation as a 
teacher. At the time of his death he was the 
assistant of Superintendent Andrews, of the 
Hyde Park (111.) High School. While a stu- 
dent at Harvard University he devoted his espe- 
cial attention to biology, on which he prepared 
a brochure and manual, the latter being now in 
use in the Chicago schools. 

BOYER, Oscar J. — The career of Oscar J. 
Boyer is strongly entrenched in the history of 
the jurisprudence of Fulton County. The city 
of Canton, which witnessed the beginning of his 
professional career in the fall of 1882, offered 
a promising field ''Cor the young man of twenty- 
one, and the citizens who have watched his up- 
rising have never had cause to regret the faith 
they placed in his energy, enthusiasm and abil- 
ity. He has grovm into its opportunities, has 
fashioned his resources to its needs, and has 
reflected dignity, sincerity and genuine worth 
upon a profession for which he Is singularly 
and even admirably equipped. 

Mr. Boyer Is a native of Pulton County and 
was born on a farm in Cass Township, near 
Smlthfield, July 4, 1861. He entertains a jus- 



8oo 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tifiable pride of ancestry, more especially of his 
paternal great-grandfather. William Beyer, who 
was Ijorn in turbulent France, grew to manhood 
among the events which led to the great Rev- 
olution, and when that historic event was at 
its height escaped by strategy to the United 
States. Here he found an asylum scarcely less 
peaceful than the home that he had abandoned, 
for the country was in the throes of its strug- 
gle for Independence, the Colonists ranged on 
the side of a grim and relentless disavowal of 
English rule. Espousing the cause of the down- 
trodden Colonists, he carried a musket during 
the latter engagements of the Revolution, and 
eventually settled on a farm near Wilmington, 
Del., where his son, John, the next in line of 
succession, was born. The latter betook the 
family name and energy to the wilds of the 
vicinity of Zanesville, Ohio, where he married 
Emma Shaw, of Newark, that State, and thence 
removed to Fulton County about 1S42, his death 
occurring there in 1860. There were five chil- 
dren in his family: Caleb, father of Oscar J.; 
John, deceased; Robert, who settled in Warren 
County, 111.; Rachel, who became the wife of 
Henry Byers, of Lewistown Township, and 
Sarah, wife of James Frederick, of Lee Town- 
ship. 

Caleb Boyer was born on a farm near Zanes- 
ville, Ohio, September 3, 1824, and during his 
active life was both a farmer and preacher in 
the United Brethren Church. He was a man of 
great piety and largeness of heart, and was 
greatly beloved in the various localities in 
which he lived. He married Sarah Baughman, 
of Ashland, Ohio, daughter of Jacob and Bar- 
bara (Good) Baughman, natives of Newmarket, 
Va., and early settlers of the Buckeye State. 
The Baughmans settled in Illinois about 1840, 
purchasing a farm on Totten's Prairie. Cass 
Township, Fulton County. Mr. Boyer came at 
an early day to Fulton County and for years 
was a useful member of the community of Cass 
Township. He had four children: Oscar J., 
John W., Norris C. and Zenia Morey. 

Oscar J. Boyer lived on the home farm until 
his sixteenth year, and in the meantime ac- 
quired a practical common school education and 
a thorough knowledge of agriculture. He did 
not fit into the latter groove, however, and de- 
veloped tastes and inclination which had their 
setting in a more developed community. After 
a course at the Gem City Business College in 
Quincy, 111., he began to read law with Barrere 
& Grant and at the same time engaged in school 
teaching several terms. Notwithstanding his 
extreme youth he passed a creditable examina- 
tion at the age of twenty-one and was admitted 
to practice at the bar of the Supreme Court in 
November, ISSl. Upon locating in Canton he 
practiced alone until ISSS, when he became 
junior member of the firm of Gallagher & Boyer. 
Unusual ability, great natural resource and firm 
belief in the best tenets of his profession soon 
made him a factor to be reckoned with, and in 



the course of his professional life many of the 
most important cases in this part of the State 
have received his support. 

In political affiliation Mr. Boyer is a Repub- 
lican and it has been his destiny to play an im- 
portant role in the local deliberations of his 
party. He was a member of the Board of Su- 
pervisors from Canton Township from 1884 un- 
til 18SS, and of Buckheart Township from 1892 
until 1894, serving as Chairman of the Board 
during the latter year. He was a member of 
the Lower House of the Thirty-seventh General 
Assembly of Illinois, and while thus represent- 
ing the people acquitted himself with power and 
dignity. He is an enthusiastic fraternalist and 
is identified with the Masons, Knights of 
Pythias, Modem Woodmen of America and 
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. 
At one time in his career he was greatly 
interested in the breeding of fine horses, mak- 
ing a specialty of Hambletonians and Mambrino 
Patchens. He is a pronounced admirer of the 
noble animal, is invariably kind and thought- 
ful of his welfare, and perhaps is as excellent 
a judge of his fine points as any man within 
the borders of the county. 

On August 24, 1883, Mr. Boyer was united in 
marriage to Minerva A. Snider, who was born 
in Buckheart Township, Fulton County, Janu- 
ary 7, ISGG, a daughter of John H. and Jemima 
(Bowman) Snider. Mr. and Mrs. Boyer are 
the parents of a daughter, Bessie B. Mr. Boyer 
is esteemed for his many excellent qualities of 
heart and mind, for his thorough knowled.ge of 
the theory and practice of law. and for a public 
spiritedness which has ever prompted a sane 
and practical interest in those measures which 
tend to greater happiness, stability and good 
government. , 

BOYER, William H., a prominent citizen of 
Lewistown, Pulton County, 111., who is success- 
fully engaged in the real-estate and loan busi- 
ness, was born in York, Pa., February 7, 18.')9, a 
son of Jonas and Susan (Roth) Boyer. of whom 
biographical mention is made elsewhere in this 
work. William H. Boyer came with his parents 
to Ipava, Fulton County, 111., in 1864, ana was 
reared on a farm, receiving his education in the 
public schools of Ipava and Astoria, and in the 
Illinois State University. After completing his 
studies he began teaching and continued suc- 
cessfully in this line for five years. He spent 
two years (1885-1886) in the West and on re- 
turning to his home engaged in farming and 
stock-raising. He moved to Lewistown in 1894. 
where he has since resided. Mr. Boyer is one 
of the most progressive and public-spirited men 
of Fulton County. In the promotion of meas- 
ures for the general welfare he may be always 
foimd among the leaders. For many years he 
has been a director of the Lewistown Improve- 
ment Association. Hie undertakings during the 
long period of his residence in Fulton County 
have been attended by uniform success, and he 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



80 1 



is now one of the most extensive landowners 
within its limits. Besides other property, he 
has more than 1,000 acres ot land. 

On November 12, 1895. Mr. Boyer was united 
in marriage with Gay Waliefleld, a daughter o£ 
Dr. L. L. and Dorothy (Gest) Wakefield, both 
o( whom are deceased. A memoir ot Dr. Wake- 
field may be found in another part of this vol- 
ume. Grouped, in the delightful home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Boyer as the offspring of their union 
are four winsome children, namely: Ruth Lil- 
lian. Miriam W., W. Wakefield and Gaylord W. 
Mrs. Boyer is possessed of many accomplish- 
ments and is an artist of no mean ability, as is 
attested by the many pictures from her hand 
which adorn the walls of the family residence. 

In politics Mr. Boyer is an ardent and influ- 
ential Republican. In 1890 he served as census 
enumerator and in 1894 was nominated by the 
Republican convention as its candidate for 
County Clerk. After a spirited campaign he de- 
feated his opponent by the largest majority re- 
ceived by any candidate on the ticket. His ad- 
ministration of the affairs of this office was 
able, faithful and highly efficient. In fraternal 
circles Mr. Boyer is identified with the A. P. 
and A. M., being a member ot the K. T. Com- 
mandery. He is also affiliated with the K. of 
P., M. W. A., B. P. O. E. and C. of H. 

BOYLE, Richard P., well and favorably known 
to the traveling public as proprietor of the New 
Churchill House in Canton, 111., and one of the 
most popular hotel keepers in this section of 
the State, was born in Vandalia, Fayette Coun- 
ty, 111., March 10, 18G5, a son of Thomas and 
Kathryn (Daly) Boyle, natives of Ireland. 
Thomas Boyle, whose occupation was that of a 
railroad man, located in Vandalia. and for 
twenty years was yardmaster. He and his wife 
were the parents of six children, of whom five 
are living. In early youth Richard P. Boyle 
attended the public schools of Fayette County, 
receiving a good practical education. His first 
work, after fitting himself for the active duties 
of life, was in the railway service as an em- 
ploye of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. 
Some time after severing this connection he 
determined to try his fortunes in the West, and 
in 1889 went to Nebraska, where he spent the 
following twelve years. In 1900 he made a 
change of location, going to the Indian Terri- 
tory and engaging in the hotel business at Ok- 
mulgee, the capital of the Creels Nation. Re- 
turning to Illinois four years later, he estab- 
lished his home in the city of Canton, continu- 
ing in the hotel business, in 1904 assuming the 
proprietorship of the Churchill House, situated 
at Nos. 14-22 South Main Street. For this po- 
sition Mr. Boyle is admirably well fitted, being 
a man of keen judgment, thorough business 
qualifications, genial temperament and cordial 
manners. He possesses the happy faculty, so 
essential in his sphere of effort, of mingling 
freely and sociably with all classes without det- 
riment to that personal dignity that commands 



respect from his guests. Under his manage- 
ment the Churchill House has enjoyed a period 
of signal prosperity, and its patrons are unani- 
mous in recognizing the fact that the present 
proprietor is the right man in the right place. 
The entertainment furnished by this well con' 
ducted hostelry is widely conceded to be equal 
to the best obtainable in any similar hotel in 
the State. An efficient aid to Mr. Boyle in this 
enterprise is his amiable wife, formerly Helen 
Gallagher, of Lewistown, 111., to whom he was 
wedded at St. Louis. Mo., October C, 1895, 

In fraternal circles Mr. Boyle is identified 
with the Eagles, Knights of Columbus and B. P. 
O. E., Lodge No. C2G. Politically he is a sup- 
porter of the Republican party, and although 
not active in partisan contests, he takes an In- 
telligent interest in public affairs and bears the 
reputation of being a useful member of the 
community, 

BOYNTON, Vincent Clarence.— The career of 
Vincent Clarence Boynton is an expression of 
practical and diversified activity, and in its 
range has invaded the realms of education, ag- 
riculture, politics and society, all of which have 
profited by the breadth and conscientious which 
are distinctive features of his work and charac- 
ter. Mr. Boynton started upon his independent 
life with the advantages of good birth and care- 
ful home training. Born in Fiatt, Fulton Coun- 
ty, Illinois, September 30, 1850, he is a son of 
Egbert G. and Barbara Ann (Baughman) Boyn- 
ton, the former of whom was born in Troy, N. 
Y., July 29, 1851, and the latter near Ashland, 
Ohio. May 24, 1833. 

Egbert G. Boynton was a son of E. L. and 
Elizabeth (Fancher) Boynton, and in 1S3C, 
wlien scarcely five years old, accompanied his 
Ijarents all the way from Troy to Copperas 
Creek Landing by water. E. L. Boynton set- 
tled on- Section 3G, .Joshua Township, Fulton 
County, and lived there for upwards of forty 
years. He was a man of strong personality, 
well adapted to the hardships of pioneering, 
and held may important local offices. His son, 
Egbert G., developed with the frontier, and 
through his early industry helped to solve its 
hard and uncompromising problems of living. 
The Indians had not yet deserted the hunting 
ground of their dusky sires, and the smoke of 
their wigwam was a familiar feature of the 
landscape. Big and little game made the pos- 
sibility of starvation extremely remote, no mat- 
ter what the limitations or misfortunes of the 
settler. General produce, however, was slow in 
developing, .owing to the timbered condition of 
the land. Young Egbert assisted with clearing 
the farm and helped to convert the prairies into 
fields of what and corn. Naturally he sought 
a wife from among those who were inured to 
the hardships of pioneer life. 

Barbara Ann Baughman came to Fulton 
County in a wagon from Ashland. Ohio, in 1836, 
her parents, John and Anna Barbara (Fast) 
Baughman, settling first on Totten Prairie, Cass 



802 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Township. Thence they removed to Flatt, 
where Mrs. Boynton grew to womanhood, per- 
forming her share of the spinning and weaving 
which were among the duties of the women of 
that time. Lil<e her husband, worli rather than 
education was the l;eynote of her youth, yet 
she developed that hard, practical common 
sense, without which the pioneer men and wom- 
en made little headway in the wilderness. Mr. 
Boynton was a lifelong Republican, but always 
was averse to office holding. With his wife he 
was a devout member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. In 1880 he removed to a farm in 
Lee Township, where his long and useful life 
closed November 7, 1894. 

The education of Vincent Clarence Boynton 
was acquired in the district schools, at the Cuba 
High School, which he attended three years, 
and Hedding College, Abingdon, this State, 
which he attended two terms. His youth was a 
busy one, and when not in the school room he 
assisted with the duties around the home farm. 
During the eighteen years of his life as an edu- 
cator he was Principal of the Ellisville schools 
for five years, and he became one of the best 
known and most successful teachers in the 
county. Until the spring of ISSO Mr. Boynton 
lived on Section 3G, Joshua Township, and then 
moved to Lee Township, the following spring 
locating on land previously purchased in the 
same township. Since 1895 he has given his 
entire attention to farming, and now owns 140 
acres of land, all under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. 

At Cuba, 111., December 25, 1878, Mr. Boynton 
was united in marriage to Sarah Nancy Cruisen, 
who was born in Bushnell, January 19, 1858, a 
daughter of Abram and Sarah (Wheeler) Crui- 
sen. Mrs. Boynton removed to Cuba with her 
parents when a child, was educated in the 
schools of that town, and not only learned the 
milliner's trade but engaged in educational 
work for several terms. She is a devoted mem- 
ber of the Christian Church and represents one 
of the very early families recruited from the 
State of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Boynton are the 
parents of a son, Lloyd Boynton, born October 
6, 1879. Mr. Boynton has been active in Repub- 
lican politics for many years, and has held the 
office of School Director for eighteen years. He 
was Commissioner of Highways from 1881 to 
1888. Tax Collector during 1896. and Census 
Enumerator in 1900. At Ellisville in 1882 he 
joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
since that time has held every office in the lodge 
and represented the same as a Delegate to the 
Grand Lodge two years. Mr. Boynton is a man 
of deep and practical scholarship, wide sympa- 
thies and large capacity for usefulness. His 
general worth is impressed upon the history 
of this county in no uncertain manner, and few 
of its native sons have worked more persist- 
ently and faithfully upon the foundations of 
its material and intellectual growth. 



BRANSON, William T. — The successful man- 
agement of 880 acres of land in a community 
where competition is rife and high standards 
prevail presupposes the possession of a thor- 
ough knowledge of agricultural science, as well 
as of shrewd business ability. When these 
requisites are met in the head of a farming in- 
terest, and to them is added the progressive and 
inquiring tendencies of the younger and physic- 
ally sturdier members of his family, a harmony 
should result as gratifying generally as it is 
financially. Such a combination of interests is 
found on the farm of William R. Branson, who, 
with the exception of a ten years' absence, has 
spent his entire life on the farm he now occu- 
plies in Section 7, Pleasant Township, Fulton 
County. 

Calvin Branson, father of William T., pur- 
chased the farm now owned by his son in 1848. 
The lad had average advantages while assist- 
ing to till the soil, and he was reared to habits 
of thrift and industry. His life has been sur- 
rounded by good influences and he himself, in 
turn, has helped to create a moral and helpful 
environment. Much of his success is due to 
the co-operation of a wife of noble impulses 
and high character. At the early age of twenty, 
October 13, 1864, he was married to Rachel E. 
Knock, who was born in a farm in Farmers' 
Township, three miles northwest of Ipava, this 
county, December 24, 1842, a daughter of Dan- 
iel and Phoebe (Easley) Knock, natives of Har- 
rison County, Ohio. 'The parents were both of 
the Quaker faith, and were Fulton County pio- 
neers of 1833, settling in Farmer Township, 
where the father died at the age of seventj'- 
four. The mother spent her last years with 
her son-in-law, W. T. Branson, and died at his 
home at the age of eighty-eight years. Of their 
large family of children eight are still living: 
John F. Knock died at the age of thirty years; 
William A. lives in Rocky Ford, Colo.; Sarah A. 
died in infancy; Mary J. is the deceased wife 
of Joseph Price, of Arkansas: Daniel E. is mar- 
ried and lives in Peoria, this State: Wallace R. 
is a retired farmer of Beloit, Kans. ; Elizabeth 
became the wife of John Russell, and both are 
deceased: Ruth E. is the wife of William E. 
Branson: Robert Bruce married Evelyn Hussy 
and lives on a farm near Havana, Kans.; Jas- 
per N. married and is deceased; Edith E. is the 
widow of Dilworth Russell, of Wynoka, Okla. ; 
J. Fernandis is in business in Beardstown, 111., 
and Josephine H. is the wife of John A. Hoops, 
of Ipava. 

Mr. Branson continued to live on the old place 
from 1864 to 1869, and that year established 
an agricultural implement business in Lexing- 
ton, McLean County, this State, continuing to 
manage the same for ten years, or until return- 
ing to Fulton County in 1879. Ever since he 
has occupied the old homestead, which has re- 
sponded with increasing bountifulness to his 
untiring efforts, its broad expanse producing 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



803 



the most excellent of general produce and the 
finest breed of stock. Six hundred acres of the 
farm is In one body, and the 280 additional 
acres are in Bernadotte Township. For twenty 
years Mr. Branson was one of the largest breed- 
ers of Percheron horses in the county, and in 
1884 alone he imported twelve of these hercu- 
lean helpers of man. One shipment from his 
farm to Montana consisted of thirty-two head, 
all perfect specimens and of fine pedigree. No 
one is better informed as to the good points of 
a horse, nor is anyone more kindly disposed to- 
ward the dumb creation in general than is this 
large-hearted and successful landsman. His 
sons reflect his sagacity and appreciation of 
farming as a business, and happily are so con- 
stituted as to take from their time-honored oc- 
cupation much of the drudgery that used to 
characterize it. They are alert to every improve- 
ment which science devises for the guidance 
and help of farmers, and are destined to main- 
tain for many years the family reputation for 
thoroughness of labor and strength and integ- 
rity of character. Mr. and Mrs. Branson are 
the parents of six children, of whom Lulu J. 
died at the age of eight years; Mary C. is de- 
ceased; Lizzie A. is the wife of Dr. E. B. Bai- 
ley, a farmer of Bernadotte Township; Lewis 
C, born September 10, 1874, married Alice Wal- 
ters, and has two children, Mary and Mabel, all 
living on the old Nathan Lindsay homestead; 
Leonard D.. born .Tune IG, 187S, married Liz- 
zie Brillhart, who was born in this county Jan- 
uary 6, 1S7.5, and has two children — Lena B., 
born September 14, 1899, and Clio, bom Novem- 
ber 16, 1901; and W. Walter, born June 11, 
1883, married Hattie Mendenhall and engaged 
in general farming in Pleasant Township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Branson are popular in both 
the country and in the town of Ipava, from 
which they live four miles distant. Both are 
active workers in the Free Methodist Church, 
to which they are also generous contributors, 
Mr. Branson having joined the same in very 
early life, induced thereto by his mother, who 
was devoutly religious. Formerly a Republican 
in politics, he has of late years been identified 
■with the Prohibition party. 

BRECKENRIDGE, John D.. a prominent law- 
yer and present County Judge of Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was born in Waterford Township, Ful- 
ton County, April 12, 1859, the son of John W. 
and Adaline (Preyir) Breckenridge, acquired 
his education in the common schools of his 
native township, meanwhile working on a farm 
with his father in Waterford Township until he 
reached fifteen years of age, when he divided 
his time between farm work and learning the 
carpenter's trade with an uncle. Continuing 
thus employed until twenty-one years of age, 
he then engaged in the mercantile business in 
a small way, keeping a small country store at 
Sepo, 111. (1880-81), and being similarly em- 
ployed at Bybee (1882-84), during these re- 
spective periods serving as Postmaster at both 



places. In 1SS4 he accepted a position as clerk 
in a retail grocery store at Lewistown, where 
he remained four years, when he became trav- 
eling salesman for the wholesale grocery firm 
of Jobst, Bethard & Co., Peoria, 111., continuing 
in this employment from 1888 to December 1, 
1892, when he entered upon his duties as Cir- 
cuit Clerk of Fulton County, to which he was 
chosen at the election of that year. 

While occupying the position of Circuit 
Clerk, without any previous academic or col- 
legiate training, Mr. Breckenridge turned his 
attention to the study of law, studying at home 
and taking a three years' course with the 
Sprague Correspondence School of Law of De- 
troit, Mich., and being admitted to the bar of 
the Illinois State Courts on June 14, 1895, and 
to the Federal Court at Peoria in April, 1897. 
On retiring from the office of Circuit Clerk on 
December 1, 1896, he began the practice of law, 
also engaging in the real-estate and insurance 
business, which he continued until December 
1, 1906. At the latter date he entered upon the 
duties of County Judge of Fulton County, to 
which he had been elected in November pre- 
vious, and which he still retains. Mr. Brecken- 
ridge's parents being in moderate circum- 
stances, and being unable to give him any 
educational advantages beyond those afforded 
by the public schools, it is but just to him to 
say that his legal education was acquired by 
his own unaided efforts, by the burning of the 
midnight oil much of the time during his three 
years of study prior to admission to the bar, 
and his success has been demonstrated by the 
position which he now holds by the suffrage of 
his fellow citizens. 

Mr. Breckenridge was married March 20, 
1879, at Lewistown, 111., to Ella A. Bradley, 
and they have had the following named chil- 
dren born to them: John L., Robert Ross, 
Mary, George William, Frances, Grace, Eliza- 
beth, Paul, Mildred and Jessie. He is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and besides the official posi- 
tions already mentioned, has held the office of 
Police Magistrate for the city of Lewistown 
since May 1, 1897, his present term expiring 
May 1, 1909. His fraternal relations are with 
Lewistown Lodge, No. 104, A. F. & A. M.; Ha- 
vana Chapter, R. A. M., and Damascus Com- 
mandery, No. 42, K. T., of the same place; and 
the K. of P. of Lewistown. In his religious 
belief he is identified with the Disciples of 
Christ. 

BREDWELL, Yelventon, a venerable and 
greatly respected citizen of Canton. Fulton 
County. 111., whose last business experience in 
active life was that of a prosperous grocer of 
that place, was born in Clermont County, Ohio, 
November 26, 1819. His father, Joseph Bred- 
w-ell, was a native of that State, and his mother, 
Elizabeth (Thomas) Bredwell, was born in New 
Jersey. John Bredwell and his wife came to 
Illinois in 1836. locating first on a farm near 
Utiea, Fulton County. The father died in 1845 



8o4 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



and the mother in 1S3S. Until 1844, when he 
came to Canton, Mr. Bredwell was employed in 
a distillery. Afterward for a number of years 
he had charge of the engine and boilers in 
Slausson's distillery and flouring mill, and later 
was employed in the same capacity in Piper's 
woolen mill before and after the Civil War. 
Still later he was in the employ of Hall & Dor- 
rence, and when that firm dissolved partnership 
he continued with George C. Hall until the lat- 
ter went out of business. Mr. Bredwell then 
worked in Piper's woolen mill, next in Brearly's 
flouring mill and last with Powell & Atwater. 
He finally established himself in the grocery 
business, in which he continued several years 
under the firm name of Y. Bredwell & Son, and 
in 1891 retired from active life. 

On the 4th of July, 1843, Mr. Bredwell was 
united in marriage with Temperance Daniels, 
who was born and schooled in Ohio. His sec- 
ond marriage, to Anna Ross, March 4, 1845, re- 
sulted in one child, Yelventon, and by his third 
wife. Martha W. Wormsley, to whom he was 
married March 12, 1848, he had four children: 
Delmar, Charles, Oscar and Edgar. In politics 
Mr. Bredwell is a Democrat, while in the de- 
cline of a long life he enjoys the serene con- 
sciousness of knowing that he has wronged no 
man, and has fulfilled all the requirements of 
duty faithfully and steadfastly. 

BRINKERHOFF, S. J.— With the exception of 
a year spent in Kansas City, Mo., and six 
months in Salt Lake City, S. J. Brinkerhoff 
has lived in Avon since 1876. His earlier life 
was spent in Bergen County, N. J., where he 
was born on a farm in 1845, and near where 
he received the rudiments of his education in 
a little country schoolhouse. A leaning to- 
ward mechanics resulted in an apprenticeship 
to a carpenter, and thereafter he followed this 
useful trade until coming to Illinois. He 
worked at his trade after arriving in Avon, and 
for fourteen years was associated with Mr. Sny- 
der in the general building and contracting 
business, and during his life as a builder put 
up many of the most important buildings in the 
town and surrounding county. 

December 1, 1890, Mr. Brinkerhoff established 
a furniture business in Avon, and a year and 
a half later bought out and combined with his 
own the only other concern of the kind in town, 
which he conducted for some fifteen years. 

The business activity of the family has by 
no means been confined to the head of the 
house, for Mrs. Brinkerhoff for several years 
has been connected with the millinery business, 
and has the reputation of furnishing the la- 
dies of the town with artistic and well-made 
headgear. Mrs. Brinkerhoff formerly was Sa- 
rah M. Yeomans, of Bergen County, N. J., 
where she was born October 19, 1867. She is 
the devoted mother of four daughters, of whom 
Rena is now Mrs. Sullivan; Bertha is the wife 
of Mr. Sunberg; Jennie is in business with her 



mother; and Lela is partial manager of the 
home. 

Mr. Brinkerhoff has served on the Town 
School Board. With his family he is a member 
and regular attendant at the Congregational 
Church, is well informed on questions of the 
day, takes a lively interest in the well-being of 
the community, and in all respects an honor- 
able and creditable representative of the men to 
whose enterprise and ability and character is 
due the present prosperity of the community. 

BROCK, Alonzo F. — That mankind accom- 
plishes most in congenial occupations and 
among congenial surroundings is confirmed 
anew by the farmers of Fulton County. Greater 
prosperity, as indicated by large properties, 
high-grade schools, churches and social organi- 
zations, it would be difficult to find in any agri- 
cultural community. A uniform standard of 
excellence and a concerted effort to maintain 
this standard largely is responsible for this de- 
sirable condition. Bernadotte Township claims 
her share of prosperity promoters, and of these 
none is better known than Alonzo F. Brock, 
owner of 480 acres of land in Bernadotte and 
Pleasant Townships, and of 160 acres in the 
State of Nebraska. 

Born in Belmont County, Ohio, January 13, 
1851, Mr. Brock is a son of George W. Brock, 
mention of whom may be found elsewhere in 
this work. Alonzo was still very young when 
he arrived in Illinois, and for a time he attend- 
ed the public schools while making his home 
with his sister, Mrs. Cadwallader. He then began 
to work out on the farms of neighoors, and for 
fourteen years helped to till the fertile acres of 
others already successful. He accumulated ex- 
perience, wisdom and money and February 20, 
1879, was united in marriage to Melinda Da- 
vid, who was born in Ipava, February 28, 1858, 
a daughter of Daniel and Winifred (Baker) 
David, the former a native of Ohio. Mr. and 
Mrs. Brock at once settled on eighty acres of 
land previously purchased by the husband and 
in 1881 sold this farm and bought 120 acres on 
Section 31. Bernadotte Township. To this they 
later added 120 acres more, and now they own 
230 acres on Section 30 and 210 acres on Sec- 
tion 31, the same township. In Pleasant Town- 
ship a purchase has been made of forty acres 
on Section 7 and twenty acres are owned on 
Section 12, Vermont Township. Mr. Brock is 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising 
and that he has a thorough knowledge of his 
business is apparent from the steady increase 
of his landed possessions. A large amount of 
his property is under tillage and grain, corn and 
general produce contribute to a diversified and 
profitable industry. A gradual advancement in 
general improvements is noted on every hand, 
each year having added something to the facili- 
ties for better work along all farming lines. 

In the spring of 1906 Mr. and Mrs. Brock hav- 
ing turned the management of their land over 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



805 



to their sons, removed from the old homestead 
to a place just south of Ipava, on Section 7, 
Pleasant Township. Here, after twent.y-seven 
years of wedded life and a half-century or more 
of association with Fulton County, they may be 
regarded as one of the couples who have 
achieved an enviable success. Of their eight 
children Daniel D. was born January 10, 1882; 
William W., September 12, 1883; Lauren, Janu- 
ary 3, 188.5; Laura Mabel, November 24, 1888; 
Lela D., June 6, 1893; Miner W., February 27, 
1895, and Glenn A., July 14, 1901. One child 
died in infancy. The Brock family are among 
the liberal minded and highly moral element of 
the community. Dr. Brocli is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and his wife sub- 
scribes to the faith of the Society of Friends. 
They have reared their children to honorable 
and useful man and womanhood. Mr. Broclv 
never has sought official recognition, but his 
vote invariably indorses the principles of the 
Republican party. 

BROCK, Benjamin F., who is one of the most 
extensive and prosperous farmers in Fulton 
County, is not of that type who has had fortune 
and property thrust uiion him by inheritance 
and. perhaps, increased it by careful manage- 
ment. His large competency, his valuable prop- 
erties in Farmer and Bernadotte Townships and 
his high and substantial standing as a citizen, 
have been acquired by individual force of char- 
acter, by industry, perseverance and intelligent 
effort, founded upon the strictest honor. Start- 
ing as a simple renter of land about forty years 
ago, he is now the owner and active operator 
of 680 acres of as fine land on the whole as can 
he found in Pulton County. Notwithstanding 
this noteworthy success, Mr. Brock has the mod- 
esty and the fairness, prompted by gratitude 
and affection, to attribute much of his good 
fortune to the inspiring love and unselfish as- 
sistance of his deceased wife. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the 
Buckeye State, born in Belmont County Sep- 
tember 4, 1S4C, a son of George Washington and 
Eliza (Haynes) Brock, The father was of 
English and the mother of German descent. 
The father of Benjamin F. Brock, with his fam- 
ily, migrated from Belmont County, Ohio, to 
Fulton County in 1853, remaining there until 
the fall of 1858. His wife died in 1S54 and 
four years later he removed with his family 
to Franklin County, Kan., married asaln in Illi- 
nois about 1856 and died in Kansas in 1859. 
The step-mother remained in Kansas, and was 
married a second time. 

Benjamin F. Brock has had three brothers 
and three sisters, four of whom, including him- 
self, are yet living: Jessie is a resident of 
Bushnell, 111.; Alonzo A. is a farmer of Berna- 
dotte Township; Mary Jane, the widow of 
Thomas Cadwallader, is living in Chandler, 
Okla. After the death of his father Benjamin 
F. remained in Kansas until 1863, when he re- 
turned to Ipava, Fulton County, and went to 



work by the month. On November 30, 1865, he 
was married to Susan C. Cadwallader, a daugh- 
ter of Isaac A. and Sarah (Ackerson) Cadwal- 
lader. His wife was a native of Vermont Town- 
ship, and after their marriage the husband 
rented a farm in that township for the special 
cultivation of grain. This land he cultivated 
successfully until 1877, when he purchased the 
Scitchfield farm of 150 acres in Farmer Town- 
ship. At that time the property was in rather 
poor condition, but in 1878 he located upon it 
and commenced the careful cultivation of the 
land and the introduction of. general improve- 
ments. This was the beginning of his inde- 
pendence and prosperity as a farmer and a cit- 
izen, for to that original 150 acres he has added 
other tracts of land and applied his industry, 
common sense and scientific knowledge of agri- 
culture to the tilling of the soil and the erection 
of suitable buildings for the care of crops, stock 
and utensils until at the present time his 680 
acres in Farmer and Bernadotte Townships rep- 
resent well dove'.opjd, valuable properties. 

This large tract has all been cleared with the 
exception of about thirty acres of timlier land. 
Until the death of his wife. April 17, 1900, Mr. 
Brock made the original farm, which he thor- 
oughly improved, the family homestead. 

Mrs. Benjamin F. Brock was at the time of 
her death a member of the Presbyterian Church 
and in every relation of life a Christian lady. 
For eighteen years prior to her death she was a 
great sufferer, but bore her affliction with a 
patience and fortitude which came of a faith 
in the hereafter. She w-as a most lovable char- 
acter, a good and faithful wife and mother, 
kind, even to the point of being indulgent, but 
never unjust or weak. She was an inspiration 
and a guidance alike to her children and her 
husband. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Brock were born three chil- 
dren, namely: Benjamin Franklin, Jr., born 
December 29, 1S6C, married Annie Martin De- 
cember 27, ISSS, and is the father of four chil- 
dren, Benjamin, Clinton. Mary and Threll; 
Meredith C, who was born April 23, 1870 and 
who married Essie Shield, of Canton, has no 
children, and Parmelia May, born June 9, 1875, 
married Walter P. Fink, a resident of Canton, 
111.. Decmber 26, 1895, and is the mother of 
three children, Madeline, Lyle B. and Dorothy 
May. 

The elder son. Benjamin F.. Jr., is a farmer 
of Bernadotte Townshij), and -Meredith C. is 
on the home farm, where in conjunction with 
his father he is extensively engaged in feed- 
ing stock both summer and winter. 

A resume of the life of Benjamin F. Brock 
indicates that, with the exception of a few years 
spent in Kansas during his boyhood and youth, 
he has been a resident of Fulton County since 
1853, and that since 1865, the year of his mar- 
riage, his home has been in Farmer and Ver- 
mont Townships. For forty-one years he has 
taken an active part in the development of that 
portion of the county, and there is no event in 



8o6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



his life during that long period which has not 
increased the esteem and honor which attach 
to useful and honorable actions. In politics he 
has been a consistent Republican. He is a Ma- 
son in high standing, being at present Master 
of the Ipava Lodge. Mr. Brock is also popular 
as well as successful, and has been called upon 
to fill various township offices of trust and re- 
sponsibility. 

BROCK, Jesse F.— By dint of natural ability 
and perseverance Jesse F. Brock has won an 
enviable place among the agriculturists and 
stock-raisers of Fulton County. This enthusias- 
tic young landsman is a great admirer of the 
Central West, and although he has traveled to 
other well favored sections of the country, 
maintains unshaken loyalty to the prairies 
where he was born in Vermont Township, Ful- 
ton County, December 29. 1S6G. The son of B. 
F. Brock, for years a well-known resident of 
this part of the State, he was educated in the 
district schools, and in his youth shared the 
usual diversions and tasks of the well born 
country lad. In order to overcome a serious 
throat trouble which threatened him in 1886, 
at the age of twenty, Mr. Brock went to Col- 
orado and for two years reveled in the splendid 
climate and amid the interesting scenery of the 
Golden State. Returning home during the win- 
ter of 1888 in perfect health and splendid spir- 
its, he helped his father about the place until 
his marriage. December 27, 1888, to Annie E. 
Martin, and thereafter started housekeeping on 
his present farm in Farmer Township, which 
he rented for six years. In 1895 he moved to 
the Donaldson farm of 340 acres near the vil- 
lage of Bernadotte, and in 1904 invested his 
earnings in 160 acres of the old Harmon Mar- 
tin farm, which had been patented to the latter 
by the Government in pioneer times. This 
farm furnishes evidences of long and careful 
cultivation, and is one of the most desirable 
tracts of land in the township. The present 
owner is especially interested in high-grade 
stock and his equipment includes Polled Angus 
cattle — which he prefers to Herefords or Short- 
horns — Chester White and Poland China hogs 
and Percheron horses. He has demonstrated 
the desirability of blue grass for feeding pur- 
poses and has evolved several practical and 
progressive theories regarding agriculture in 
general. 

In accordance with the attitude of his fam- 
ily ever since the organization of the party, Mr. 
Brock is a Republican in political principles, 
and while never seeking office has been elected 
a member of the School Board of District No. 
130. better known as the Martin district. It 
is largely owing to his untiring efforts in the 
cause that the best of educators and appliances 
are provided the youth of the community. Mr. 
and Mrs. Brock are the parents of four chil- 
dren: Benjamin M., born May 13, 1890; Charles 
C. born April 14. 1897; Mary S., born Decem- 
ber 14, 1898, and John Threll. born April 14. 



1902. Mr. Brock is appreciated for his many 
manly and noble traits of character, for his ex- 
cellent achievements as a farmer, and for his 
genial and hearty participation in all interests 
which have for their purpose the well-being of 
the community. 

BROKAW, John V. — Of these supreme agen- 
cies which mould the tendencies and beckon 
most persistently to the mind of youth, none 
exceed in potency the example of those who al- 
ready have fought their battles and reached 
merited success. And who shall say that the 
great lesson in the life of a good and capable 
man, next to the intelligent application of the 
forces within him for the benefit of mankind 
in general, is not the encouragement dissemi- 
nated by his rise from obscurity to prominence. 
These reflections are brought forcibly to mind 
in the career of John V. Brokaw, whose devo- 
tion to the science of farming for a quarter of 
a century won him a competence and a business 
reputation resulting in his connection, as a 
stockholder, with the two banks whose judi- 
cious and successful management have gone so 
far to sustain the monetary reputation of the 
city of Canton. 

On both sides of his family Mr. Brokaw is 
descended from men prominent in the early 
days of the Republic, and of decided pioneerin.? 
tendencies. The paternal branch of the Bro- 
kaw family had its representatives among those 
French Huguenots who were fortunate enough 
to escape from intolerant France and seek an 
asylum on this side of the Atlantic, presumably 
in New Jersey, and the maternal branch of Ten 
Eycke had its good name sustained and its 
honor advanced by the admirable service of 
Colonel Ten Eycke as an officer in the Conti- 
nental Army during the Revolutionary War. 
The sword cane carried by this able soldier, 
dated 1773, is one of the prized possessions of 
his great-nephew, John V. Brokaw. Charles S. 
Brokaw. the father of John V., was born in Som- 
erset County. N. J., as was also his wife, Jane 
L. Ten Eycke. The parents married in Som- 
erset County and in 1846 came west to Fairview, 
Fulton County, 111., near which city they pur- 
chased land and settled on the farm now owned 
by their son. Here they prospered as general 
farmers and stock-raisers, and about 1890 re- 
tired to the town of Fairview, where the father 
died in 1898 and the mother in 1895. Seven 
children were born to them, of whom four sons 
are still living. 

The fifth oldest in his father's family, John 
V. Brokaw. was born on the old homestead in 
Joshua Township, Fulton County, December IS, 
1857, and received his preliminary education 
at what was known as the Brokaw district 
school. He afterward attended Hedding Col- 
lege at Abingdon, 111., and later Knox Col- 
lege, Galesburg, being a student at the latter 
institution during the Presidency of Dr. New- 
ton Bateman. one of the foremost educators 
of the Central West, and one of whose tasks 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



807 



was the editorship of the Historical Encyclo- 
pedia part of this work. At the age of twenty- 
one years Mr. Brokaw began his Independent 
career as a school teacher in Fulton County, 
and he well recalls this early experience in an 
old-fashioned frame structure in Deerfield 
Township, with the benches along the sides of 
the room and the sun, or rain, or snow — accord- 
ing to the mood of the elements — coming in 
through the roof. He remained a year in the 
old schoolhouse and in the spring engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising, which he 
continued uninterruptedly for twenty-five years, 
making a specialty of PoUed-Durham cattle. 
He was regarded as one of the most progressive 
and studious of farmers, a man whose intelli- 
gence and insight brought into his way the 
most enlightening and superior compensations 
of his calling, and who established a precedent 
worthy of all emulation, of dignified, paying, 
and refined country existence. In May, 1905, 
he retired from active life, locating in Canton, 
and since has occupied the old Dr. Howard 
homestead. 

At the Churchill Hotel, Canton, March 4, 
18S0, Mr. Brokaw married Elizabeth E, Lawson. 
who was born in Joshua Township, December 
10, 185S, a daughter of James and Jane (Mor- 
row) Lawson, natives of Pennsylvania and 
Sharpsburg, Md., respectively. Mrs. Brokaw is 
of Scotch-Irish descent, and her parents were 
early settlers of Joshua Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, subsequently locating in Deerfield Township, 
where both are living at the present time. Mr. 
Brokaw is a Democrat in political affiliation, 
but his political activity begins and ends with 
the casting of his vote. He is prominent fra- 
ternally and identified with the Masonic Order, 
Eastern Star and Benevolent Protective Order 
of Elks. With his wife he is a member of the Re- 
formed Church at Pairview, the first church of 
that denomination built west of the Alleghany 
Mountains. 

A few months previous to locating in Canton 
Mr. Brokaw celebrated his twenty-fifth wedding 
anniversary, and at that time received numer- 
ous evidences of the good will and esteem which 
have grown out of the efforts of himself and 
wife to ennoble the home life and business 
standing of Joshua Township. Both are so- 
cially inclined, and the gathering together of 
friends has ever constituted an important ex- 
pression of their naturally hospitable and kind- 
ly hearts. Mr. Brokaw is a relative and is one 
of the heirs of the late Abraham Brokaw, of 
Bloomington, 111., who left an estate estimated 
at a valuation of about $2,000,000. He has hosts 
of friends throughout the county and his busi- 
ness standing is exceeded by that of no other 
agriculturist in his township. Public-spirited 
and progressive, he joins in any enterprise cal- 
culated to advance the prosperity or happiness 
of the men, women and children who come with- 
in the range of his environment. 

BROKAW, Simon S., a worthy representative 
of the pioneer farmers of Fulton County, 111., 



who is still spared to lend the kindly influence 
of his presence to the locality, which he has 
done his full share to develop from a wilderness 
into its present flourishing condition, was born 
in Somerset County, N. J., on April 2, 1836. He 
is a son of Isaac I. and Aletta (Skank) Bro- 
kaw, natives of New Jersey. His father was a 
Major in the State Militia, and at one time 
(1S39) had charge of all the troops in the State 
of New Jersey. Isaac I. Brokaw traveled with 
his family by wagon from that State to Illi- 
nois in 1839, and settled in Joshua Township, 
south of the village of Fairview. There he 
bought a tract of 200 acres of land, on which 
he built a log cabin, cleared and broke up the 
virgin soil and made such improvements as 
were necessary to enable him to obtain a live- 
lihood. On this place he successfully followed 
farming and stock-raising during the remainder 
of his life, his death occurring June 14, 1878, 
his wife having eight years previously passed 
away. 

Simon S. Brokaw was about four years old 
when he accompanied his parents on the long 
and arduous journey from the East to their new 
home. He was reared on the paternal farm and 
in boyhood received such mental instruction in 
the primitive school of his vicinity as circum- 
stances permitted. At the age of twenty-four 
years Mr. Brokaw began farming for himself on 
what was known as the Kline farm, situated in 
the same neighborhood, on which he remained 
three years. Afterward for two years he culti- 
vated a farm of 320 acres belonging to Garrette 
Voorhees. He then bought from Morris Stand- 
ard a farm of 177 acres lying in Sections 16, IS 
and 21, Joshua Township, on which he still 
lives. All the improvements on this property 
were made by him and he was successfully en- 
gaged in farming there until the burden of ad- 
vancing years made it advisable for him to 
abandon hard labor. Besides his property in 
Joshua Township he is also interested in other 
farm lands at various points. On the home 
farm he cares for about 300 full-bloded Brahma 
chickens, having raised this breed of fowls for 
twenty-five years. Since that time his son. John 
B., has taken his father's place in the general 
operation of the farm. 

On June 25. 1858, Mr. Brokaw was united 
in marriage with Louisa Beam, who was born 
in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Brokaw became 
the parents of the following children, namely: 
Mary (Mrs. Arions Voorhees). John P., May, 
Maggie (Mrs. A. H. Wamsleigh), of Chicago; 
Minnie (Mrs. George B. Wykoff). whose home 
is in Valparaiso. Ind.. and Blanche (Mrs. Mont- 
gomery Axford),of Chicago. Isaac, the old- 
est son. was killed by sun stroke at the age of 
twenty-one years. 

Mr. Brokaw is a man of the highest charac- 
ter, and his long, virtuous and useful career has 
made him many friends throughout his sec- 
tion of Fulton County, by whom he is regarded 
with feelings of sincere respect and good will. 
In politics he is a Democrat and has held all 
the township oflices. He has been an Odd Fel- 



8o8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



low since 1S57 and in 1S62, at Fairview. he was 
made a Mason, being a member of Fairview 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and Canton Chapter, 
R. A. M. 

BROWN, Alexander, a retired citizen of Farm- 
ington, Fulton County, 111., whose first expe- 
rience in that town dates back nearly fifty 
years, and who has passed the greater portion 
of his active life as a commercial traveler, was 
born in the State of New York in 1833. His 
mother's maiden name was Sarah McDougal. 
both parents being natives of New York State. 
There, in boyhood, the subject of this sketch 
received his mental training in the public 
schools, and in early manhood made his way 
westward to Illinois, where, in 1S57, he located 
in Farmington, Fulton County, and was em- 
ployed as a foreman on the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy Railroad under Contractor Wheel- 
er. He supervised the work of putting in the 
"big fill" southwest of Farmington, where the 
Iowa Central Railway runs under the Burling- 
ton line. After completing his labors in that 
vicinity, he went to Pekin. 111., and was engaged 
as foreman for Ross & Dawson, contractors on 
what was at that time known as the Illinois 
River Railroad. On finishing his task there 
he went to FJlmwood, Knox County, 111., and 
opened a merchant tailor shop, in which he 
continued until 1.S59, when he returned to 
Farmington, taking charge of the tailoring de- 
partment of Yates & Stetson. After remain- 
ing in this connection until 1863, he located in 
Kirkwood, 111., where he engaged in the mer- 
chant tailoring trade under the firm style of 
Brown & White. Selling out his interests in 
this concern four years later, he went to Al- 
toona. 111., where he spent two years. In 1869 
he settled in Chicago, and there made his home 
for twenty-nine years, engaged as a traveling 
salesman for the paint manufacturing firm of 
George W. Pitkin & Company, and serving in 
the same capacity with H. W. Johns, a Chi- 
cago dealer in the same line, and for the Kel- 
logg Oil, Paint and Varnish Company, of Buf- 
falo, N. Y. He has retired from active pur- 
suits, and is spending his declining years in 
leisurely retirement at his own comfortable 
residence on Vernon Street, Farmington. The 
career of Mr. Brown has demonstrated his pos- 
session of superior business qualifications, and 
these, in con.junction with a diligent applica- 
tion to the work in hand, have made him suc- 
cessful in his various undertakings, and en- 
abled him to amass a competency. 

In 189.5 Mr. Brown was united in marriage 
with .lane Harvey, who was born in Illinois. 
and they have one son. In political matters, 
Mr. Brown has ceased to feel an active in- 
terest, although he keeps in touch with pass- 
ing events, and is well informed in regard to 
public affairs. His religious belief is in har- 
mony with the doctrines of the Presbyterian 
Church, and his fraternal connection is with 
the A. F. & A. M. Wherever he has lived, and 



in all the business connections of his prolonged 
career, he has been regarded with high respect. 

BROWN, Charles J., one of the most intelli- 
gent, progressive and successful farmers of Isa- 
bel Township, Fulton County, 111., and a scion 
o£ one of the oldest and most highly esteemed 
families in the county, was born on the farm 
where he now lives January 19, 1865, a son of 
Stephen G. and Elizabeth (Shields) Brown, the 
former born in Hamilton County, Ohio, near 
Cincinnati, February 5, 1838, and the latter in 
Woodland Township, Fulton County, 111., May 
6. 1844. The paternal grandparents. Charles D. 
and Jane (Van Gordon) Brown, were born in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and the State of New Jersey, 
respectively. They settled in Fulton County 
about the year 1838, locating on Section 20, 
Isabel Township, and there Charles D. Brown 
spent the remainder of his life, engaged in 
farming. 

Stephen G. Brown was brought to Fulton 
County when he was one year old and grew to 
manhood on his father's farm, receiving his 
early education in the district schools. He ap- 
])lied hmiself to farming until the outbreak of 
the Civil War, when in January, 1862, he en- 
listed in Company G, Eleventh Regiment Illi- 
nois Volunteer Cavalry, Colonel Robert G. In- 
gersoll's regiment, wiih which he fought for 
three years. He participated in the battles of 
Shiloh, Vicksburg and Antietam, and was pres- 
ent at the surrender of General Lee at Appo- 
mattox Court House. After serving two years 
he returned home on a furlough, during which 
his marriage occurred. After that event he re- 
joined his command and at the end of four 
years' service was honorably discharged. In 
1865 he returned to the old home and settled 
on the farm which still belongs to the family, 
being the property now owned and occupied by 
Charles J. Brown, whose mother makes her 
home with him. In January, 1872, Stephen G. 
Brown, with his family, made an overland trip 
to Saunders County. Neb., remaining there two 
years, engaged in farming. It was an unfortu- 
nate venture, as the grasshoppers destroyed the 
crops, and the family returned to the old home 
in 1874. There Stephen G. Brown remained un- 
til his death. July 15, 19(14. He was a man of 
considerable reserve, but candid, sincere and 
thoroughly reliable. In the advancement of all 
public measures for the welfare of his town- 
ship and county he did his full share. 

On April 10, 1864, Stephen G. Brown was 
married to Elizabeth Shields and their union 
resulted in ten children, as follows: Charles 
J.; Joseph M.. born April 28, 1866, a resident of 
Lewistown: Eva, born March 11, 1868, wife of 
August Seill, i)roprietor of a meat market at 
Havana; Edith, wife of John W. Wright, of 
Nevada; Laura, born September 16, 1874, wife 
of Albert Moslander. a farmer in Kerton Town- 
ship, Fulton County; Stephen G., a farmer of 
Isabel Township, born January 19, 1876, who 
married Minnie Bainter and has two children — 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



809 



Stanley and Elizabeth; Florence, born October 
27, 1879, who lives in Lewlstown, 111., and 
Bertie O. and Myrtle, twins, born March 2S, 
1880, of whom the former, who is a farmer in 
Bernadotte Township, Fulton County, married 
Carrie Farrie. The mother of this family has 
been for many years a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. In politics the father 
was a radical Republican and cast nis first pres- 
idential vote for Abraham Lincoln. Fraternally 
he was a valued member of the G. A. R. and 
his patriotic service in the ranks of his coun- 
try's defenders is a most precious heritage for 
nis posterity. 

The subject of this sketch was reared to 
farm life and received his early mental train- 
ing in the district schools, after which he pur- 
sued a course in the Gem City Business Col- 
lege at Quincy, 111., graduating from that insti- 
tution with the class of 1.S89. In 1891 he went 
to Omaha, Neb., and was bookkeeper for the 
King Implement Company of that city and Lin- 
coln until 1893, when he returned to the old 
home and applied himself to farming. He has 
since had charge of the homestead farm of 224 
acres, which has long been the home of the 
family. He is engaged in general farming and 
stock-raising and is a systematic, enterprising 
and successful farmer. 

On April 19, 190.5, Mr. Brown was united in 
marriage with Alzina Bainter. a daughter of 
Harvey and Atlantis Bainter, honored pioneers 
of Isabel Township, Fulton County. 

In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican and 
fraternally is a member of the W. W. Berry 
Camp, Sons of Veterans. 

BROWN, Curtis D. (deceased).— To a contem- 
plative and analytical mind, it is an interesting, 
pleasant and instructive task to trace through 
its various stages the career of a man who, by 
energy, persistence, self-reliance and steadfast 
adherence to what he believes to be right, has 
risen from an humble station to the highest po- 
sition in the community of which he is a mem- 
ber. Such a career was that of the much re- 
spected resident of Farmington, Fulton County, 
whose name appears at the head of this personal 
record, 

Curtis D. Brown was a native of New York, 
where he was born in 1834, a son of Alexander 
and Sarah ( McDougal ) Brown, both natives of 
the same State. Alexander Brown was a sol- 
dier in the War of 1812, in which he served 
as a volunteer from Washington County, N. Y. 
In the ranks with him was Mrs. Brown's grand- 
father, Jacob Miller, both of whom survived 
that conflict. Mr. Brown's father was at one 
time employed as a "driver" of one of the cars, 
or stages, on the first railroad built in the 
United States, which connected the cities of Al- 
bany and Schenectady, N. Y. On this line, 
which now constitutes a part of the New York 
Central and Hudson River Railroad System, 
13 



was brought into use the first locomotive engine 
ever joined to cars in this country. 

The subject of this sketch received his early 
training in the public schools of New York 
State, and a few years afterward made his way 
westward, locating in Canton, Fulton County, 
111., in 185G. There he secured • employment 
with Sanford & Barrows, marble and granite 
dealers, with whom he continued until 18G8, as 
their traveling representative. Mr. Brown then 
entered the employ of the firm operating the 
Piper Woolen Mills, with which he remained 
until 1871. In that year he went to Altoona, 
111., where he was successfully engaged in farm- 
ing for about two years. Returning to Fulton 
County, he applied himself to farming in Farm- 
ington Township, three miles southwest of the 
town of Farmington, on a farm then called the 
"Loomis Place," and since known as the Mrs. 
C. D. Brown farm, located in Section 10, Farm- 
ington Township, and containing 124. 67 acres 
of land. There Mr. Brown remained until 1871, 
when he purchased what is known as the "Bris- 
tol House" in Farmington, built by a Mr. Pal- 
mer about the year 1864. It was then consid- 
ered one of the most finely finished houses in 
Farmington, being forty by forty feet in dimen- 
sions, finished in oak, and containing eight 
rooms, with twelve-foot ceilings. The house is 
built of brick, with a large veranda half en- 
circling it, eighty feet in extent. It is located 
on Fort Street, the main thoroughfare of the 
town. 

In 1871 Mr. Brown was united in marriage 
with Orena Loomis, who was born in New York 
and received her early mental training in the 
public schools of Illinois. This union resulted 
in the birth of a son, Charles M. Mr. Bi'own 
served several years as Alderman in Farming- 
ton, and held the office of Assessor of Farming- 
ton Township six years, by election, having 
acted as Deputy Assessor one year. He was 
the first Mayor of Farmington, and was re- 
elected, holding the position four years. In 
fraternal circles he was identified with tlie I. O. 
O. F. and his wife is a member of the Rebekahs. 
Mr. Brown's career was terminated by his death 
August 20, 1900. 

BROWN, Jacob (deceased), formerly an exten- 
sive farmer of Isabel Township, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Ohio, February 24, 1826, a son 
of George and Nancy Brown, the former a na- 
tive of Ireland and the latter of Germany. In 
184.5 .Jacob Brown came by water from Ohio to 
Fulton County, 111., and on his arrival began 
working on a farm at four dollars per month. 
By his industry and faithful attention to his 
task he made himself so serviceable to his em- 
ployer that his wages were gradually increased 
to $15 per month. During this period he had 
saved his earnings until he had accumulated 
$250. This amount he applied as a first pay- 
ment on eighty acres of land, the contract price 



8io 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tor which was $750. In the course of time he 
made other purchases of land until he was the 
owner of 1,000 acres in Isabel Township, all 
acquired through hard work, thrift and 
economy. 

On August 23, 1S53, Mr. Brown was united in 
marriage with Priscilla Cornell, a native of 
Meigs County, Ohio. Ten children resulted 
from this union, namely: Mary, wife of 
George Dobson, a farmer in Kerton Township, 
Fulton County; Nancy, wife of Samuel Howe, a 
farmer in Isabel Township; George N., of Den- 
ver, Colo.; William R., of Spokane, Wash.; 
Robert E., of Loveland, Colo.; Harvey R., a 
farmer in Isabel Township; Calvin J., who op- 
erates the homestead farm in Isabel Township; 
Milton, who died at the age of thirteen years, 
and Frederick, a farmer in Isabel Township. 
The father of this worthy family died July 4, 
1894. The mother, a dutiful and exemplary 
woman, still survives. 

BROWN, Millard F., one of the oldest and 
most prominent citizens of Breeds. Fulton 
County, 111., as well as one of the most suc- 
cessful merchants in that town, was born in 
Tazewell County, that State, February 21, 1S4S. 
He is a son of Samuel and Mary (Allen) Brown, 
natives of the State of New York, the father 
moving thence to Tazewell County, 111., at an 
early period, and there engaging in farming. 
In 1861 he settled In Orion Township, Fulton 
County, where he continued in the same oc- 
cupation during the remainder of his life. 

Millard F. Brown was reared on his father's 
farm, and in boyhood received the usual men- 
tal instruction in the district schools of Taze- 
well County. On reaching years of maturity 
he carried on farming until 1875, when he 
moved to the town of Breeds, and in the fol- 
lowing years embarked in mercantile pursuits. 
He established himself in his present location 
in 1882, and his business transactions have 
been attended by unvarying success. In addi- 
tion to his mercantile interests, he is the owner 
of two fine farms in Fulton County, one being 
situated in Orion Township and the other in 
Buckheart Township. 

On January 1, 1879, Mr. Brown was united in 
marriage with Lavina Reed, who was bom in 
England and is a daughter of Robert and Car- 
oline (Jones) Reed, natives of that country. 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown became the parents of 
three children: Flora A., Charles and Shelby. 
In politics Mr. Brown is a prominent Repub- 
lican and has always been an influential fac- 
tor in the local councils of his party. He 
served creditably as Constable, Notary Public 
and Justice of the Peace for a number of years. 
He was appointed Postmaster of Breeds by 
President Benjamin Harrison, and with the ex- 
ception of two terms has been the efficient and 
popular incumbent of that olfice ever since. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Brown is identified with 
the A. F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F. and the G. 
A. R. In personal business and oflScial rela- 



tions he has always been recognized as the 
soul of integrity, and is held in high esteem 
by his fellow-townsmen and all who enjoy his 
acquaintance. 

BROWN, Thomas A., a well known and pros- 
perous grain dealer of Lewistown, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Isabel Township, Ful- 
ton County, June 19, 1854, a son of Jacob 
Brown, a sketch of whose life will be found 
elsewhere in this volume. His early life was 
spent on the farm and in attending the common 
schools of the district in which he lived. After 
he reached mature years he remained at home, 
actively engaged in farming and stock-raising. 
While occupied with the management of his 
father's extensive land interests he bought and 
sliipped more than $100,000 worth of stock. 

Mr. Brown followed farming and stock-rais- 
ing until 1895, when he left the farm, moved to 
Lewistown and bought a half interest in a gro- 
cery store in connection with C. C. Campbell, 
which partnership lasted two years. For two 
years afterwards he was engaged in buying and 
shipping grain, and then returned to the gro- 
cery trade in company with J. S. Stack. In 
this he continued two years, in 1901 selling his 
interest to T. H. Barnes. He then erected a 
grain elevator with a capacity of 20,000 bushels, 
which he has operated very successfully. Like 
many others, he has encountered reverses, but 
by diligent application, perseverance and rigid 
integrity, has overcome all obstacles and enjoys 
the implicit confidence of all. 

On September 5. 1880, Mr. Brown was united 
in marriage with Jlary Waltz, who came with 
her parents from Germany. This union re- 
sulted in four children, namely: Alice. l>orn 
December 6, 1881, who became the wife of Ezra 
O. Smith, a resident of Galesburg, 111.: Minnie, 
born May 5, 1883, who is engaged in teaching; 
Cora and Carlton. The mother of this family 
died March 10, 1895. On September 30, 1896, 
Mr. Brown was married to Miss Weirauch, a 
native of Lewistown, 111., and a daughter of 
Martin Weirauch, who is of German origin. 
In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican and has 
filled various offices of trust with credit to him- 
self and to the satisfaction of his constituents. 
He is regarded as a man of excellent business 
ability and fine traits of character. 

BRYAN, George W.— The historic Old Domin- 
ion has contributed many native sons to the 
upbuilding of Fulton County, and their names 
appear among those who have maintained its 
best agricultural and business standards, as 
well as its best ideals of character and citizen- 
ship. In this connection mention is due George 
W. Bryan, the owner of 130 acres of valuable 
land in Sections 19 and 30. Harris Township. 
Mr. Bryan spent his earliest years on a farm 
in Augusta County, Va., where he was born 
July 12, 1836. the youngest child of Ahaz 
and Priscilla (Lutz) Bryan, natives of Virginia, 
and farmers by occupation. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



8ii 



Deprived by death of the authority and train- 
ing of his father at the age of two years, 
George W. Bryan was reared by his widowed 
mother, who continued to live in Virginia until 
1856, when she came to her present home in 
Harris Township, Fulton County. Mr. Bryan 
had scant educational opportunities in his 
youth, but this omission has been corrected 
during the leisure of his more successful years, 
and today he is a well-informed and intelligent 
observer of current events, and a farmer who 
utilizes the greatest advances of his calling. 
He came to Fulton County in 1S54, and for a 
couple of years worked on a farm near Indus- 
try, removing thence to Harris Township, 
where he operated a rented farm for six years. 
He then located in McDonough County, and five 
years later returned to Harris Township, where 
he purchased his present farm, upon which 
was erected his present home in 1SS7, and his 
present barn in 1890. He is one of the sub- 
stantial and thrifty agriculturists of his town- 
ship, and his property is well improved and 
vahiable. 

The marriage of Mr. Bryan and Mary C. Wet- 
zel, of Virginia, occurred in Harris Township, 
Feljruary 1, 1862, Mrs. Bryan having been bom 
August 15, 1842. Of this union there are nine 
children: William, James, Myrtle, George W., 
Iva, Newton, Andrew, Leonard and Lina. Mr. 
Bryan has evinced a commendable interest in 
Republican politics since early manhood, and 
for several years served as School Director or 
Trustee of Harris Township. He is a consist- 
ent member of the United Brethren Church, 
and contributes liberally to its charities and 
general support. The perseverance and good 
judgment of years have brought him fair finan- 
cial reward, and, what is better still, the con- 
fidence and esteem of the best class of Ful- 
ton County agriculturists. 

BRYANT, William M.— Foremost among the 
qualities which have made the life of William 
M. Bryant of practical use to his fellow men 
are courage and faithfulness, evidenced in 
many ways, but noticeable particularly in his 
long military service during and after the Civil 
War. In the town of Bernadotte, of which he 
is now a retired citizen, indebtedness is felt for 
his excellent management of the postofBce de- 
partment from 1903 until the establishment of 
the rural delivery, September 14, 1905. 

Mr. Bryant is of New England ancestry, and 
was born in Lodi, Seneca County, N. Y., in Au- 
gust, 1838, a son of Aaron H. and Rebecca 
(Stout) Bryant, also natives of that State. 
When William M. was fourteen years old, in 
1852, he accompanied the family to Fairview, 
111., and the following year moved to Ellis- 
ville, in 1855 locating in Canton, where the 
parents built the home which was to shelter 
them for the rest of their lives. Of their seven 
children six are living. The scant resources of 
the parents threw upon their chilaren early re- 
sponsibility, and William M., with the rest, re- 



ceived scant school opportunities. He was studi- 
ously Inclined, however, and a keen observer, 
with the result that his entire life has been an 
effort at self-improvement. A natural me- 
chanic, he abandoned mere manual labor to 
learn the brickmason's and carpenter's trades, 
at which he became expert, as well as skilled in 
all branches of mechanical effort. 

With the breaking out of the Civil War Mr. 
Bryant left his work bench to enlist in Com- 
pany F, Sixty-seventh Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, for three months, and at the expiration 
of his term returned to his home for a short 
time. Veteranizing in Company D, One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-second Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, he participated in the battles transpir- 
ing during the period of his enlistment, and 
upon being aonorably discnarged, again visited 
his family in Canton. In January, 1865, he en- 
listed in Company B, One Hundred and Fifty- 
first Volunteer Infantry for a year, and upon 
the organization of the regiment at Quincy, 111., 
was ordered to Camp Butler, Springfield, then 
on to Nashville, Tenn., thence marching 
through rain and snow to Murfreesboro, Tenn. 
After Sherman's March to the Sea the regiment 
went to Resaca and Kingston, then to Colum- 
bus, Ga., where it was engaged in garrison duty 
during the winter of 1865-6. Upon the muster- 
ing out of the regiment at Columbus, Ga., and 
their return to Springfield, 111., Mr. Bryant re- 
mained behind owing to illness, but finally, in 
March, 1866, was given a sick furlough and re- 
turned to his home in Canton. 

After six months of rest in Canton Mr. Bry- 
ant purchased a fine team of horses and engaged 
in carrying passengers between Canton and the 
surrounding towns previous to the advent of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. He 
then rented a farm near Fairview, 111., and in 
1873 rented a tract of land in Eldorado Town- 
ship, McDonough County, which continued to 
be his home until locating in Ipava in 1893. In 
1902 he took up his residence in Bernadotte, 
Fulton County, and the following year was ap- 
pointed Postmaster of the town, his first oflS- 
cial position. Mr. Br.vant cast his first presi- 
dential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and ever 
since has been a stanch, if not active, advo- 
cate of Republicanism. He was one of the 
charter members of the local G. A. R. Post at 
Vermont, 111., and later was transferred to the 
post at Ipava. He has taken a keen interest in 
Grand Army affairs and is a familiar figure at 
the annual reunions. 

In 1865 while home on a furlough, Mr. Bry- 
ant married Mary A. Roach, a native of Daven- 
port, Iowa, and of this union were born nine 
children, eight of whom are living: Addie, 
wife of Amos Scowdon, a farmer of Industry 
Township, McDonough County, 111.; Charles, 
engaged in the real-estate and loan business in 
Leon, Kans.; William, also of Leon, and en- 
gaged in the livery and feed business; Rebecca, 
wife of James Mendenhall, a farmer of Pleasant 
Township, Fulton County; Victoria, widow of 



8l2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Warner Crone, of Ipava, 111.; Jennie, wife of 
Henry Linsley, a farmer of Lewistown Town- 
ship; Elsie, of Canton, 111.; James, an electri- 
cian of Ipava, and Frances. living with her sis- 
ter, Mrs. Scowdon. Mrs. Bryant died in Ipava, 
September 2, 1899. She was a noble Christian 
woman and a dau.ghter of Rev. John Roach. 
John Bryant, the fifth oldest of the children, 
died at the age of fifteen years. 

BUCHER, Cyrus, Sr.— Among the most promi- 
nent of the leading citizens of Fulton County, 
111., and one who is generally recognized as one 
of the worthiest and most successful, is the 
well-known head of the Bucher family, which 
is numerously represented in the south part 
of the county. The home of Cyrus Bucher, Sr., 
is located in Section 19, Woodland Township, 
and during his twenty-five years' residence 
there, besides building up a reputation as the 
I)ossessor of all the distinguishing qualities of 
the highest type of manhood, he has, through 
diligent and judicious exercise of his personal 
abilities, accumulated a plentitude of the 
world's treasures and become one of the largest 
owners of land and commercial interests in 
his section of the State. Mr. Bucher was born 
in Lebanon County. Pa., July 28, 1845, a son of 
Ezra and Elizabeth (Reist)" Bucher, both na- 
tives of the same State and county as their son, 
Cyrus. His grandfather, John Bucher, and his 
.great-grandfather. Benedict Bucher, were of 
Swiss nativity. The latter's father. Dr. Ben 
Bucher, born in Switzerland in 1717, came to 
America about the year 1740 and settled in 
what is now Lancaster County, Pa. Ezra 
Bucher, the father, was bom May 2. 1S18, and 
died August 5, 18S3. He was married to Eliza- 
beth Reist in the county where both were born. 
She died July 6, 1871. They were the parents 
of five children, one of whom died in infancy. 
Those who grew to maturity were: John, who 
reared a family and lives on the old home farm 
in Pennsylvania; Christian, who occupies the 
farm in Lebanon County, Pa., where the sub- 
ject of this sketch formerly resided; Cyrus; 
and Lydia. who died in that county. The Buch- 
er ancestors were severally devoted to agri- 
culture and the professions, among them being 
clergymen, physicians and teachers, and all of 
them notable for their studious habits. Even 
those who were engaged in tilling the soil man- 
ifested a marked literary tendency. 

Cyrus Bucher, Sr., passed his childhood on 
the parental farm, and in early youth attended 
the district schools. Being of an aspiring na- 
ture, he utilized every opportunity to acq-iire 
knowledge during the school terms, and helped 
his father at farming in the summer seasons. 
When he reached the a.ge of seventeen years, 
he applied himself to teaching, and for six con- 
secutive winters taught school in the vicinity 
of his home. In 1878, having entertained for 
some time a strong desire to see the West, he 
made a trip through Kansas, and on his re- 
turn stopped for a short time in Fulton County, 



111., and was much impressed with the nat- 
ural productiveness of the farming land there, 
having had to resort to burnt lime for enrich- 
ing the soil at home in order to cultivate it 
successfully. For the next four years his mind 
continued to be occupied with the attractions 
of Illinois as an agricultural region, and in 1882, 
he persuaded his wife to abandon the scenes 
of her childhood and accompany him to Fulton 
County, where they rented a house in the vi- 
cinity of Astoria. At the outset Mr. Bucher 
worked by the day, but in the fall of 18S2 he 
bought a farm of 1.50 acres, which at that time 
was in a deteriorated condition. They settled 
down to hard work, and in the spring of 1883 
commenced building a small dwelling on Sec- 
tion 19, and otherwise improving the property, 
subsequently erecting his present convenient 
and comfortable residence. His career since 
then has been a continuous and almost phe- 
nomenal success. To his first purchase of land 
he has added at intervals, until he now owns 
over 1,000 acres. Mr. Bucher is not actively 
engaged in operating his fanns, but exercises 
a general supervision over them. They are 
severally occupied and worked by his sons and 
sons-in-law, and all are in a high state of im- 
provement and cultivation. The following lines 
were written by Mr. Bucher in the winter of 
1904-05 in connection with a photograph taken 
of the family residence and surrounding 
grounds: 

"Oi'R Home, January 15. 1904. as the hoar- 
frost decorated it; as the artist hastened to get 
it before the sun changed it — the place from 
whence our life's best efforts were directed; 
where God's blessings were asked tor and re- 
ceived: — From its windows we watched our 
children leave and return, day by day, from 
school and church; saw their plays and amuse- 
ments; saw love's leave-taking, and welcome 
home with their happy, noisy broods. At the 
door the welcome hand given to friend and 
stranger. Public reign protected us in life and 
liberty, and brings our daily mail. The horse 
at the stile takes us on our journey; the wire 
talks for us; the wind pumps our water; the 
field gives our bread; the orchard its fruit and 
the cattle their increase. The home-coming of 
children rejoice our hearts; daily God-given 
help upholds us. and the sun of time gradually 
changes scenes present to landscapes more sub- 
lime. Our home; God-given. In our decline 
how loath to leave, and how anxious to return! 
Blessed foretaste!" 

Hundreds of men have periodically found em- 
ployment on the farms of Mr. Bucher, espe- 
cially in connection with his extensive fruit 
orchards, in which all ordinary varieties ot 
fruit are grown. In 1906, fruit was gathered 
from 7,500 peach trees, 2,500 apple trees and 
500 pear trees. The yield of peaches was 10,- 
000 bushels, and that from a young apple or- 
chard 1.000 bushels. 

In addition to his landed possessions. Mr. 
Bucher is prominently identified with impor- 




v 



AC, 



~^l->^.^.^?-r^ 








UA. 



'7^^/ 



i^?^ U^ 



'KJ 



3f<«'. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



813 



tant financial and commercial enterprises in 
his locality. He holds stock in the People's 
State Bank of Astoria, and is the largest stock- 
holder in the electric light plant, of the same 
place. These connections give ample assur- 
ance that besides being a thorough, enterpris- 
ing and progressive farmer, Mr. Bucher is 
sound, discreet and sagacious in business af- 
fairs. Although fortune has crowned his ef- 
forts to a bountiful degree, success has not in- 
flated him with undue self-consciousness, nor 
perverted the kindness of his innate disposi- 
tion. He is ever ready to help those who are 
willing to help themselves, and no deserving 
person in need is ever turned away from his 
presence empty-handed. Eminently unselfish 
by nature, his paramount object in life has been 
the welfare of his fellowman. In all branches 
of church and educational work he has always 
taken an earnest and active interest. 

Mr. Bucher has been twice married. His 
first wife was Barbara Dohner, who bore him 
■two children, of whom but one, Mary, is still 
living. She is the wife of Martin Wickert, who 
is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Sum- 
mum, Fulton County. Her mother, who was a 
devout member of the German Baptist Brethren 
Church, died in ISTO. From the union of Mr. 
Bucher with his second wife. Leah Gibble, also 
of noble Swiss descent, thirteen children were 
born, of whom two died in infancy. Those who 
grew to maturity are as follows: Samuel G. 
Bucher, manager of the telephone exchange in 
Astoria; Lydia, wife of Isaac H. Bucher, who 
lives on one of the farms; Ida, wife of Samuel 
J. C. Singer, who also occupies one of the 
farms; Sarah, wife of Jesse J. Bubb, a resident 
of the same vicinity; Leah, deceased wife of 
George H. Stambaugh; Annie, wife of Joseph 
Blickenstaff, who lives near Cerro Gordo, 111.; 
Fannie, second wife of George Stambaugh; and 
Cyrus, also a farmer; Harvey, Lizzie and Ezra, 
who are with their parents. Mr. Bucher is the fa- 
ther of eleven living children, and has thirty-one 
grandchildren, thus being a faithful disciple of 
the Roosevelt anti-race suicide doctrine. Be- 
sides the ten surviving children of the second 
marriage and one of the first, is an adopted 
son, Edward W. Keefer, whom Mr. and Mrs. 
Bucher reared as one of their family, educated 
and started in life. Mr. Keefer, who is a prom- 
inent citizen and lawyer of Lewistown, III., was 
thus adopted when a child of three years. Both 
Mr. Bucher and Mr. Keefer take much pride 
and comfort in the friendship that has been 
constantly maintained between them. A por- 
trayal of Mr. Keefer's life appears elsewhere 
In this volume. 

In 186S Mr. Bucher united with the German 
Baptist Brethren Church in his native place, 
and in 1SS.3 was elected to the ministry in that 
denomination. In 1904 he was ordained an El- 
der of the congregation of the Woodland 
Church in his locality, and he is commonly 
known as "Elder" Bucher. Nearly all the mem- 
bers of the family are members of this church. 



The signal success of Mr. Bucher's agricul- 
tural and business career is only equaled by 
his usefulness as a member of the community, 
in which he is held in high esteem by all 
classes of people. Finally, Mr. Bucher attrib- 
utes his success and usefulness to society— 
not to his untiring efforts alone — but to a faith- 
ful, industrious helpmeet, and a family of in- 
dustrious and obedient children. 

BUCKLEY, James B.— Steady application to 
the development of an idea has brought about 
the success of James B. Buckley, manager and 
proprietor of a plumbing, steam and gas fitting 
establishment in Canton. Mr. Buckley is of 
Irish ancestry and, from forefathers who tilled 
the soil under discouraging conditions, inherits 
an obliging nature and keen sense of humor, 
which lubricates his working wheels and brings 
him in touch with the pleasures, as well as 
profits, of existence. From his parents, Thomas 
and Rose (Coffee) Buckley, he derives that en- 
ergy and courage which enables men and wom- 
en to uproot themselves from settled conditions 
and stake their all upon the turn of the wheel 
of fortune in strange lands. The parents came 
from Ireland and settled in Covington, Ky., 
where James S. was born. May 14, 1869, and 
where he received his preliminary education in 
the public schools. 

At the a.ge of nine, in 1878, Mr. Buckley ac- 
companied his parents to Peoria, 111., where he 
completed his education in the high school, and 
thereafter applied himself to learning the 
plumbing trade with the firm of Kmsey & Mah- 
ler. Having become a master workman, he 
found continuous employment and in time came 
to Canton, where he established his present 
business in 189.i. In the meantime he has un- 
dertaken some of the most important contracts 
for plumbing and steam and gas fitting in the 
town, and his expert workmanship, fair esti- 
mates, promptness and general reliability in- 
sure a continuance of his present gratifying 
patronage. Mr. Buckley has made a special 
study of sanitation and never fails to estimate 
its importance as an adjunct to his calling. 

The wife of Mr. Buckley formerly was Nellie 
Flannagan, a native of Gilman, 111., and the 
mother of seven children; Peter, Paul, Berna- 
dotte, Enos, Mathew and Robert. Mr. Buckley 
is liberal in his political tendencies and casts 
his vote to the character and ability of the can- 
didate. Socially he is connected with the Order 
of the Eagles, the Red Men. Foresters and 
Knights of Columbus. With his family he is a 
member of the Roman Catholic Church. 

BUMP, Barnett J., a well-known and enter- 
prising farmer and stock-raiser who success- 
fully pursues his vocation in Section 3, Liver- 
pool Township. Fulton County, 111., was born 
in Greene County, N. Y., January 28, 1852, the 
son of Cornelius F. and Maria (Foot) Bump, 
the former also a native of Greene County, 
where he was born September 29, 1829. The 



8i4 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



mother died when her son Barnett was but four 
days old. The Bump family was of English 
ancestry. 

Cornelius F. Bump settled in Illinois in 1S48, 
locating in Fulton County, of which he was al- 
ways a farmer and a most respected citizen. In 
politics he is a supporter of the Democratic 
party. Mr. Bump's second wife was Mary L. 
Powell, by whom he had two children, who 
are living, namely: Heman C, a farmer near 
Canton, III., and Zylpha, who resides on the 
homestead farm, in the vicinity of that city. 
The mother of these children died in 1860. The 
third wife of Cornelius F. Bump was Elizabeth 
Powell, a sister of the second wife, and this 
union resulted in five children, as follows: 
Rosa E., wife of Douglas Saunders, a farmer 
living near Canton, 111.; M. Lilly, wife of Martin 
Saunders, who is engaged in farming in Put- 
man Townshi]), Fulton County; Cornelius, who 
is on the old home farm; Zylpha, who Is also 
on the old home farm; and Milton Oliver, a 
farmer in Putman Township, Fulton County, 
111. The mother of this family now makes her 
home at the old homestead with Cornelius and 
Zylpha. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
parental farm and received his education in 
the district school of his neighborhood. He re- 
mained at home until about 1S76, and then cul- 
tivated a rented farm for two years. The farm 
on which he now lives was purchased by him 
in 18S9, and he occupied it the same year. He 
now owns 160 acres, on which he conducts gen- 
eral farming and stock-raising, making a spe- 
cialty of Poland China hogs. His farming op- 
erations have always been very successful, and 
he is regarded as one of the most thorough 
and substantial representatives of the agricul- 
tural element in the county. 

On February 28, 1883, Mr. Bump was united 
in marriage with Sarah Byers, a daughter of 
Henry and Rachel Ann (Boyer) Byers, natives 
of Ohio. The former was born in Ross County 
and the latter in Licking County. When quite 
young she accompanied her parents to Fulton 
County, 111., where her marriage took place. 
The time of her parents' arrival was about 
1840. Mr. and Mrs. Byers had six children, 
as follows: John J. and Nancy .1., deceased; 
Sarah; Henrietta, wife of Arthur Stell, a farm- 
er near Civer, 111.; William I., who is on the 
old home farm in Putman Township, Fulton 
County; and Martha, wife of Douglas Saun- 
ders, a farmer of the same township. The 
mother of this family died April 6, 1898, and the 
father passed away February 22, 1899. He was 
bom January 8, 1827, settled in Fulton County 
in 1848, married Rachel Boyer in 1853, and was 
one of the well-to-do founders of the county. 
Mrs. Bump's paternal grandfather was James 
D. Byers, a native of Ohio, whose parents were 
from Ireland. On her mother's side her grand- 
parents were John and Nancy (Shaw) Boyer, 



the latter being related to the Shaws, who are 
represented in this volume. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bump have had five children, 
namely; Cornelius H., boi-n October 3. 1883, 
died at the age of four months; Jessie C, born 
June 10, 1886, who is with her parents; Isaac 
B., born January 1, 1890, who is also under the 
parental roof; Clarence E., born March 3, 1893; 
and Bertha M., born May 9, 1897. 

In politics Mr. Bump is a supporter of the 
Democratic party, and has creditably served 
his township as School Director. He takes a 
lively interest in public aftairs, and is a warm 
advocate of claims of the school system on pop- 
ular favor. He has borne an active part in 
promoting the progress and welfare of Fulton 
County, and is highly respected for his worthy 
qualities of head and heart. 

BURGARD, Joseph A., of Vermont, 111., is a 
young man of energy and resource, a product 
of Fulton County, where he was born on a 
farm in Astoria Township, February 19, 1865. 
Of his parents, Jacob and Jane (Clotfilter) Bur- 
gard, mention is made elsewhere in this work. 
Mr. Burgard's youth was full of hardship and 
responsibility, for his father, having died when 
he was eight years old, he was thenceforward 
thrown among strangers and forced to shift 
for himself. While boys of his age were at- 
tending school he was working hard on the 
farms of Fulton County, and at the age of 
eighteen years he temporarily abandoned fann- 
ing and was apprenticed to a blacksmith by 
the name of Lees, of Leesburg. For seven 
years he followed the blacksmithing trade, and 
in the meantime saved money by denying him- 
self many of the comforts of life. Up to his 
twenty-fifth year he had received practically 
little education. He then entered Eureka Col- 
lege, and worked his way through three years 
of college work. In 1899 he came to Vermont 
and engaged in the carpenter business, and in 
the fall ran a threshing machine. He also 
bought a saw-mill, but sold the same after 
having operated it successfully for a number 
of years. 

November 6, 1900, Mr. Burgard was married 
to Anna E. Wood, a native of Ipava, and a 
daughter of Oliver Wood, an early settler of 
Fulton County. Mr. and Mrs. Burgard have 
two children: Sarah E., born February 17, 
1901, and Joseph Russell, born March 12, 1907. 
Mr. Burgard is prominent socially and is a 
member of the Masonic Order and Modern 
Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Re- 
publican and in his religious associations is a 
member of the Christian Church. Mr. Burgard 
is esteemed for his enterprise and public-spir- 
itedness. and a large measure of success is 
predicted for him. 

BURGETT, Charles L., a well known resident 
of Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., who repre- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



815 



sents the Parlin & Orendorff Plow Works of 
Canton, 111., was born in Bernadotte Township, 
Fulton County, July 3, 185S, a son of Daniel A. 
Burgett, a sketch of whose life is contained in 
this volume. 

In boyhood the subject of this sketch at- 
tended the district schools in the vicinity of his 
home and afterwards graduated from the Lew- 
istown High School. Subsequently for a num- 
ber of years he assisted his father in the lat- 
ter's mill. Since leaving school, In fact, his 
attention has been mainly aevoted to milling. 
After his father sold his interest in the mill in 
1896 Mr. Burgett continued his connection with 
it until it was destroyed by fire. 

Mr. Burgett was united in marriage with 
Cordia Simms, a native of Fulton County, and 
this union has resulted in two children, namely: 
Frankie L., born August 17, 1885, and Blanche 
E., born in 1891. Both are with their parents. 

BURGETT, Daniel A., President of the Lewis- 
town National Bank, was born in Sharon, Vt., 
May 19, 1817, being a son of John and Esther 
(Boynton) Burgett, also natives of the Green 
Mountain State. Daniel A. Burgett was the 
fifth in succession of birth in a family of seven 
children. Of these William died in Texas; Hi- 
ram was a resident of Keithsburg, 111., where 
he died in 1904; Caroline became the wife of 
Pliny Smith, and remained in her native State, 
where both died; Louise was the wife of Thom- 
as Willmarth, and died and was buried in Hart- 
land, Vt. ; Elvira was the wife of Lyman Mosh- 
er, and died in Hyde Park, Vt., while Mr. Mosh- 
er came to Kno.x County, 111., where he, too, 
passed away; and Lavina became the wife of 
Josiah Washburn, both dying in Enfield, N. H. 

In early life Daniel A. Burgett learned the 
wagon maker's trade, which he followed for a 
time when a young man. After the death of his 
father he left his native State for the West and 
in 1854 came to Ellisville, Fulton County, 111., 
where he remained a year, and then purchased 
a mill in Bernadotte, 111. This he operated 
until 1860, then made a trip to Pike's Peak and, 
after a year there, returned to Bernadotte, 
where he remained nine years. Removing to 
Lewistown, he and his brother Hiram bought a 
mill. Two or three times he sold his mill in- 
terest, but on each occasion he was persuaded 
to rebuy it, as it was quite profitable. In 
1896 he sold out finally and was elected Presi- 
dent of the Lewistown National Bank. In this, 
as in other connections, he has had a success- 
ful experience, and enjoys the confidence not 
only of the citizens of Lewistown but of the 
people of Pulton County. 

On October 8, 1840, Mr. Burgett was married 
to Adeline Myron, who was born in Randolph, 
Mass., April 5, 1822, a daughter of Thomas and 
Abigail (Cole) Myron. Her father was a na- 
tive of Belfast, Ireland, and her mother of Mid- 
dleboro, Mass. They were the parents of two 
children, Adeline and Thomas Myron, of Wal- 
tham, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Burgett have had 



ten children, namely: Ellen, who died in in- 
fancy; William C, born July, 1843, who is a 
farmer in Isabel Township, Fulton County; 
Thomas, who was drowned in Thompson's Lake 
in ISfiS; Francis, who died in infancy; John M., 
born in 1850, who is an attorney residing in 
Chicago; Abbie M., born in 1852, who married 
Oliver Rice, a farmer in Lewistown Township; 
Florence A., born in 1855, who is the wife of 
George Hipp, a resident of Wellington, Kan.; 
Charles L., a sketch of whom will be found 
elsewhere in this work; Elmer E., who died in 
infancy; and Francis C, born in 1865, wlio is 
the wife of T. C. Robinson. In politics Mr. 
Burgett has been a lifelong Republican, and 
has filled several offices of public trust, among 
them being those of Alderman and Mayor of 
Lewistown. 

BURRAGE, (Mrs.) Mary S.— Of the women of 

Avon, this county, whose fate it was to par- 
ticipate in the hardships and deprivation in- 
cident to early settlement of Illinois, mention 
is due Mrs. Mary S. Burrage, who, for a num- 
ber of years, has made her home with her 
daughter, Mrs. Louise R. Lockwood. Mrs. Bur- 
rage was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, May 7, 1834, 
and is a daughter of Lewis S. and Martha 
(Saunders) Picard, the former of whom was 
bom in Ohio in 1788, and the latter in the 
same State, December 25, ISIS. Mr. Picard was 
a merchant tailor by occupation, but his death 
occurred when his daughter was so young that 
she has no recollection of either his personality 
or appearance. 

Mrs. Burrage was reared under the watchful 
eye of a practical mother, and was trained in 
the household tasks essentially the province of 
women. Her education in the public schools 
was made an Important item in her discipline, 
but her mother unfortunately died ere she ar- 
rived at womanhood, and she thus was left an 
orphan of limited means. On June 28, 1855, 
she was married to Dwight C. Burrage, and 
of the union there were three children, of whom 
Louise, wife of Lewis R. Lockwood, and Wil- 
liam E. survive, Minnie B. having died No- 
vember 23, 1900. Mrs. Burrage is a devout 
Christian woman, and for many years has 
been a member of the Unlversalist Church. 
She retains the qualities of mind and heart 
which made her charming as a girl, and which 
in mature life have drawn to her the lasting 
esteem of many friends. 

BYBEE, John Henderson (deceased), was born 
on a farm near Canton, III., on December 7, 
1847, and died in that city May 5, 1904. His 
family had been settled In Fulton County for 
more than seventy years, Its founder in this 
section of the State being his grandfather, 
Thomas T. Byhee. The latter was a native of 
Clark County, Ky., born In September, 1798, and 
came to Fulton County the winter of the "deep 
snow" of 1830-31. He was twice married, the 
children by his first union being David (born 



8i6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



in 1819) and James (in 1821). The grand- 
father first bought a quarter-section of land 
and, b.v means of farming, stocli-raising and 
speculating in lands, finally amassed a property 
which at his death, April S, 1872, was valued at 
$3,000,000. 

David Bybee, the father of John H.. was first 
married to a Miss Spencer, and after her 
death, to Margery Ann Ballard, who became the 
mother of the subject of this sketch. The son 
assisted his father on the farm and continued 
in agricultural pursuits after the latter's 
death, and at his death in 1904 left a consid- 
ei-able property himself. He married Miss 
Emma V. Bennett in ISSO and their son, Thom- 
as J., is now engaged in the photograph busi- 
ness. The comfortable family home is situated 
on South Main Street, Canton. 

BYERLY, E. J.— Among the younger rep- 
resentatives of the farming element in Union 
Township, Fulton County, 111., few have made 
more progress in material prosperity since 
reaching years of maturity than the gentleman 
whose name furnishes the caption of this per- 
sonal record, and during such a comparatively 
brief period few have rendered themselves so 
useful in connection with the public affairs of 
his township. Mr. Byerly was born in Vir- 
ginia on January 6, 1874, a son of Jacob and 
Belle ( Thoma ) Byerly, also natives of Vir- 
ginia, where the father was engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits, and where they spent their 
lives. 

At the age of seven years Mr. Byerly went to 
live with his uncle in Iowa, and there received 
his education in the district schools. He lo- 
cated in Fulton County, 111., in 1892, inirchasing 
a farm, on which he made the neces.sary im- 
provements' and where he has since carried on 
general farming with uniformly good results. 
His marriage took place in Union Township, 
Fulton County, on March 3, 1897, when he was 
wedded to Orpha D. Richardson, who was born 
in that township, September 11, 1876. Two chil- 
dren have resulted from this union: Alvah and 
Claudis. 

On political issues Mr. Byerly is identified 
with the Republican party, and is now acting 
in the capacity of School Director of District 
No. 210, Union Township. He is a diligent, 
thorough and progressive farmer, an exemplary 
husband and father and his civic obligations are 
invariably discharged as becomes an intelligent 
and public-spirited member of the community. 

CAMPBELL, John W., a prominent resident of 
Fulton County, 111., and substantial farmer on 
Section 16, Liverpool Township, was born in 
that county January 20, 1842, a son of John and 
Jemima (Swearingen) Campbell, natives of 
Adams County, Ohio, who came to Fulton 
County in 1S41, locating in Waterford Town- 
ship. They subsequently moved to East St. 
Louis, where John Campbell died in 1843. The 



widow then returned to Fulton County and 
afterwards made her home in Putman Town- 
ship. She and her husband were the parents 
of three children, namely: John W.; Mary J., 
wife of Peter Presler, both deceased, leaving 
four children — Elbridge, Mary Olive, Joseijhine 
and Martina; and Elizabeth, deceased wife of 
Ellas Warfield, of Canton, 111., by whom she had 
the following children: Frank (deceased), 
Martin, Zachariah, Stewart, Charles, Andrew, 
Annie and Emma. 

The mother of John W. Campbell married a 
second time, wedding Peter Conner, and of 
their union were born the following named chil- 
dren: Minerva, Lewis, Martin and Jemima, all 
deceased; Angelina, wife of Thomas Goodman, 
a resident of Lewistown, 111.; Oliver, a farmer 
in Putman Township, and Clarinda, deceased 
wife of William H. Chapman, of Lewistown. 
The mother of this family died in 1899, her 
husband having passed away in 1884. 

The subject of this sketch received his early 
training in the district schools of his neighbor- 
hood and remained at home until he was about 
sixteen years of age, when he went forth to 
begin the battle of life for himself. He first 
went to work for Jones Morgan at $10 per 
month. Since then he has made his own way 
in the world, and by hard work and frugal 
habits has acquired a competency. His first 
purchase of land, amounting to eighty acres, 
was made in 1892 on Section 1.3, Liverpool 
Township. This he sold in 189.5 and bought 
eighty acres on Sections 9 and 1.5 of the same 
township. Mr. Campbell has endured the hard- 
ships of life in a co\nitry in process of develop- 
ment and his comfortable home is the reward 
of many years of toil and i)rivation. He has 
witnessed wonderful changes in his long-ex- 
tended residence in Fulton County, and has al- 
ways been closely identified with its best in- 
terests. 

On July 10, 1860, Mr. Campbell was united in 
marriage with Sarah Jenkins, born in P''ulton 
County, 111., July 1, 1840, a daugnter of Rev. 
Thomas and Elmira ( Stull ) Jenkins. Her 
father was born in Maury County, Tenn.. Janu- 
ary 4, 18o7, and died in Waterford Township, 
Fulton County, May 28, 1876. In 1830 he re- 
moved from Tennessee to Southern Illinois and 
was married in 1831. In 1832 he volunteered 
for service in the Black Hawk War, and in 
1834 settled in Fulton County, locating in 
Waterford Township, where he died. In poli- 
tics he was an earnest and outspoken Re])ub- 
lican and filled various offices of trust with 
ability and fidelity. For thirty-five years prior 
to 1866 he was a preacher of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. In that year he was or- 
dained a minister of the United Brethren de- 
nomination, within the folds of which he 
died. 

The union of John W. Campbell and Sarah 
Jenkins resulted in seven children, as follows: 
Leonard, a farmer in Putman Township. Ful- 




LEWIS PAUL HARVEY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



817 



ton County, who married Annie Lyons; David, 
a merchant at Maples Mills, Fulton County, 
born November 16, 1S62, who married Lulu 
Ballard; Dolly M., born February 4, 1867, wife 
of Zebadiah Clark, of Liverpool Township; 
Annie C, wife of Lawson Bishop, a farmer in 
Lewistown Township; Flora D., born Septem- 
ber 8, 1873. wife of Jacob Pritchard, a farmer 
in Canton Township; Mary Z.. born November 
13, 1875. deceased August 5. 1878, and one child 
who died in infancy. The mother of this fam- 
ily died in Liverpool Township. August 5. 1878. 
From early life she had been a zealous member 
of the United Brethren Church. 

On March 21, 1880, Mr. Campbell was wedded 
to Mary Clark, born in Liverpool Township, 
April 11, 1840, a daughter of Zebadiah Clark, 
who arrived in Fulton County from Miami 
County, Ohio, in 1S31, locating -in Liverpool 
Township. His wife come from Morgan Coun- 
ty, Ind., in 1832, and they were married in 
1839. Both died on the old pioneer farm, the 
father in 1889 and the mother in 1895. Their 
remains repose in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. 
Mrs. Campbell was born, educated, grew to 
womanhood and was married in Liverpool 
Township, where for nine terms she was a 
teacher in the district scnools. 

In politics Mr. Campbell is an ardent sup- 
porter of the Republican party and religiously 
has been for many years a consistent member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is one 
of the public-spirited, useful and highly re- 
spected citizens of the county. 

CARR, Edward Randolph. — The stable occupa- 
tion of farming has enlisted the early as well 
as later interest of Edward Randolph Carr, 
whose entire life has been si)ent in Fulton 
County, where he was born April 2S, 1855. On 
the paternal side he is of Pennsylvania Dutch 
ancestry, and his forefathers settled in the 
Quaker State at a very early period of its his- 
tory. His father, ,James Carr, was born in 
Washington County, Pa., October 17, 1808, and 
married Mary Naomi Reavis. The father was 
a native of Pennsylvania and the mother was 
bora near Beardstown, 111., her people coming 
from South Carolina. The Carr family has 
been identified with agriculture for genera- 
tions, and early was established in Fulton 
County by James Carr, who came to Ohio as 
an infant and to Illinois in 1829, settling first 
in Menard County. He came to Fulton County 
about 1851, and arose from comparatively lit- 
tle to a position of influence and prosperity. 

Educated principally in the public schools 
of Avon. Fulton County, Edward R. Carr be- 
came a landowner in his own right in 1881, and 
since has developed one of the valuable and 
productive properties in Lee Township, For 
many years he has been active in the local 
councils of the Republican party, and from 1SS4 
to 1905 helped to maintain a high standard 
of education as a member of the School Board. 
On April 6, 1SS6, he was elected Collector of 



Lee Township. In religion he is identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

On November 20. 1879, Mr. Carr was united 
in marriage to Mabel C. Chatterton, who was 
born in Lee Township, this county, April 16, 
1S59, and six children comprise their family, 
viz.: Charles C, born November 25, 1880; 
Lawrence F., November 23, 18S1; Lee A., April 
6, 1886; Mabel N., July 6, 1889; Nina N., Feb- 
ruary 23, 1891; and Anna C, September 6, 1894. 
Mr. Carr is held in high esteem by his fellow 
agriculturists, and through the application of 
industry and good judgment has amassed a 
competence. 

CARTER, James I., an energetic and progres- 
sive farmer of Fulton County, 111., was born in 
the State of Tennessee in 1872, a son of Enoch 
H. and Polly ( Sally ) Carter, natives of the 
State of Virginia. At the close of the Civil 
War Enoch H. Carter, who served in the army 
during that conflict, moved to Tennessee, where 
he established his home, and remained during 
the rest of his life. He was engaged in farm- 
ing and also operated a saw mill, and in these 
occupations obtained a comfortable livelihood. 
He was a man of very industrious and thrifty 
habits. To him and his faithful helpmeet were 
born fourteen children, twelve of whom are 
still living. 

The subject of this sketch attended the public 
schools of his native State in boyhood and on 
reaching the age of twenty-one years deter- 
mined to try his fortunes in Illinois. He located 
in Fulton County in 1893, making his home at 
Bryant, and from that time has been engaged 
in farming. In 1900 he moved to the W. H. 
McCreary farm, which he has since cultivated, 
devoting much of his attention to raising cattle 
and hogs. 

In January. 1898. Mr. Carter was united in 
marriage with Susan B. Trites, who was born 
in Fulton County a short distance west of Can- 
ton, and they are the parents of three chil- 
dren: Mildred Louise. Ethel Sadie anu James 
Harold. 

In fraternal circles Mr. Carter is identified 
with the M. W. A. and the C. of H. He has met 
with deserved success in his farming operations 
and is considered one of the most promising 
re])resentatives of the younger element of agri- 
culturists in Fulton County. 

CARTER, Orlie E., a rising young druggist 
of Ipava, 111., was born in that place May 5, 
1880, the son of W. J. Carter, whose biography 
appears elsewhere in this publication. He 
passed with credit through the public schools, 
graduating in 1887, and during the last two 
years of his course was engaged as a clerk 
in the drug store of C. S. Randolph, devoting 
his early mornings and his evenings to busi- 
ness and his days to study. When he thus 
finished his course in 1897 he was offered a per- 
manent situation by Mr. Randolph, which he 
accepted and which he has held continuously 



8i8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ever since, although his duties have steadily 
grown in importance and responsibility. 

Since entering the employ of Mr. Randolph, 
Mr. Carter has pursued a thorough correspond- 
ence course in pharmacy, which, with his long 
and practical work and his courteous manner, 
has brought him the reputation of being one 
of the most popular and reliable dniggists in 
Ipava. He is considered to have mastered his 
business and profession, and has the full con- 
fidence of both his employer and the public. 

On August 3, 1902, Mr. Carter was united in 
marriage with Grace E. Glore, a daughter of C. 
C. Glore, and herself a native of Ipava. Two 
children have been born to them: Reitta, born 
June 20, 1903, and died June 12, 1905; Lucille, 
born May 10, 190.5. Mr. Carter is identified 
with the" Knights of Pythias and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. He is a Republican in 
politics, and there is every evidence that he 
has a promising future before him, as his past 
has been honorable and especially progressive. 

CARTER, Rutherford G.— Of the notable pio- 
neer residents of Fulton County, 111., still sur- 
viving, or among those who have passed be- 
yond the bounds of temporal existence, the 
lives of few have been so bounteously length- 
ened by a gracious Providence as to afford 
them a retrospective view of nearly four-score 
years of their own participation in the devel- 
opment of the county. Such is, however, a dis- 
tinguishing feature in the experience of the 
venerable gentleman whose name introduces 
this biographical record, whose life in the vi- 
cinity of the spot where he still makes his 
home spans a period of almost four-fifths of 
a century. 

Rutherford G. Carter was born in Monroe 
County, Ky., October 11, 1827, and accompanied 
his parents to Fulton County, 111., in 1829. He 
is a son of William B. and Julia (Chapman) 
Carter, of whom the father was a native of 
Virginia and the latter of Kentucky, where her 
birth took place in Adair County. They were 
married in the latter State, and thence jour- 
neyed overland to Schuyler County, 111., where 
they spent the first two years after their ar- 
rival. In 1834 they settled in Section 26, As- 
toria Township, Fulton County, where Wil- 
liam B. Carter entered 120 acres of heavily 
timbered Government land. This he sold in 
1835. and bought sixty acres in Section 14, 
northeast of the village of Astoria. All of 
that now highly productive farm region was 
then covered with dense timber, and abounded 
in game, such as wild hogs, turkeys and deer. 
At the time of William B. Carter's death, in 
1882, at the age of eighty-four years, the por- 
tion of the county where he lived had been well 
Improved. His wife died in 1839. Both were 
strong in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In politics the father was originally 
a Whig, and allied himself with the Republic- 
an party on its organization. To him and his 
wife were born five sons and two daughters. 



of whom the latter died in infancy. The for- 
mer were named as follows: Pascal C, who 
died in Lawrence, Kan., at the age of eighty- 
four years; William B., whose death occurred 
June 16, 1906, at the same age; Simeon L.. 
eighty-two years old, who resides at Friend- 
ville. Neb.; Rutherford G.; and John L., a rail- 
road employe in Kansas, living at Lawrence. 

Rutherford G. Carter, or "Reb," as he is com- 
monly known, was two years old when his 
life in Fulton County began. He was reared 
on his father's farm, and in youth enjoyed the 
advantages of the primitive schools of that 
early day. Being strongly inclined to habits 
of study, however, he mainly educated himself. 
He remained on the farm until he was twenty 
years of age, working by the month, and about 
the year 1847 commenced farming on his own 
responsibility. The first purchase of land made 
by him was 100 acres in Section 14, Astoria 
Township, of which he became the owner in 
1855. This farm has ever since been his horn©. 
He has always been noted for his good judg- 
ment in regard to stock, and for many years 
was successfully engaged in raising and ship- 
ping cattle. The road from Lewistown to Rush- 
ville was blazed out in the early days of his 
experience in Fulton County, and the prodi- 
gious changes wrought in succeeding years are 
marvels which he is wont to look back upon 
in his reminiscent moods with absorbing inter- 
est. His eldest brother was one of those who 
offered their services to the Government dur- 
ing the Indian War of 1831-32. In 1846 Mr. Car- 
ter joined an independent company of troops 
under Captain Dunlap, of Rushville, 111., for 
service in the Mexican War. The Government 
accepted the company, which was mustered in 
in October of that year. It performed military 
duty on the Rio Grande and at Monte Vista, 
and for three days was under fire at the bat- 
tle of Monterey. The company served two 
years, during eight months of which it was on 
the bodyguard of General Taylor. Mr. Carter 
was mustered out in November, 1848, and re- 
turned to his home in Fulton County, where 
he remained until 1852. In that year, on March 
29, together with four others, he rigged up an 
ox-team and started for California. He crossed 
the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, and the 
Missouri River, to Omaha, at Council Bluffs. 
On the journey north of Salt Lake City the 
Indians were numerous in every direction. 
After 120 days of travel his party reached Plu- 
mus County, Ca!., and Mr. Carter then went to 
what was called "Poor Man's Creek," where he 
obtained work by the day, digging gold. After 
spending two months in the mines, he took 
charge of a pack train of forty mules, and, 
making his headquarters at Marysville, Cal., 
operated in different directions. In that region 
he remained until 1S54, when he returned by 
way of the Isthmus of Panama to New York. 
From observations made on the isthmus. Mr. 
Carter comprehends the difficulties now en- 
countered by the Government in building the 




l^Cfj;^^^l^^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



819 



Panama Canal, and fully realizes the impor- 
tance of that great enterprise. 

On November 22, 1855, Mr. Carter was mar 
ried to Sarah A. Hudnall, who was bom in 
Adair County, Ky., and accompanied her par- 
ents to Pulton County in 1S4S. Mr. Carter had 
built a small cabin on the farm which he had 
purchased in Section 14. Astoria Township, and 
in this they made their home. Six children 
blessed their union, as follows: Gertrude V., 
who became the wife of John Plunier; James 
S., who is engaged in farming in Astoria Town- 
ship; Elizabeth, who married Ellis Bloomfleld, 
and resides in Lebanon, Ore.; Frank, who op- 
erates the home farm; Henry H., who carries 
on farming in Section 2, Astoria Township; and 
Ella, wife of Henry Farr, whose home is also 
In that township. T'he mother of this family 
died May 7, 1899. She was a most worthy wo- 
man and a consistent and earnest member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In politics Mr. Carter is a Democrat. He has 
always been a public-spirited citizen, and has 
been active in advancing the interests of 
church and school, helping to build the church 
and school edifices in his locality. He has lived 
a long and busy life, and his declining years 
are attended by the warm regard and cordial 
wishes of a large circle of friends. 

CARTER, Thomas E., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming on Section 4, Buckheart 
Township, Fulton County, 111., was born in Ar- 
cadia, Sullivan County, Tenn., January 31, 
1877, a son of Enoch H. and Mary (Lilly) Car- 
ter, natives of Virginia, the former born in 
Scott County of that State and the latter in 
Washington County. They were the parents of 
twelve children (ten of whom located in Illi- 
nois), the entire list being as follows: Maggie, 
wife of D. D. Renfrow, proprietor of a grocery 
and meat market in Cuba, 111.; Hattie, de- 
ceased wife of William Hoard; James I., a 
farmer in Canton Township, Fulton County; 
Richard G., a farmer, located just east of Cuba, 
111.; Thomas E.; Angeline, wife of Nimrod Jen- 
kins, a farmer in Buckheart Township; Lewis, 
of Oregon, 111.; Catherine, wife of Marshall 
Drake, who is on the farm with Thomas E.; 
Abram Garfield, a farmer near Danville, 111.; 
Rebecca, wife of James Campbell, of Indian 
Springs, Sullivan County, Tenn., and George, 
who died in Tennessee March 17, 1891. The 
mother of this family died about the year 1885. 
The father married as his second wife Jo- 
sephine Fitch, who bore him two children — 
Ellen and one other, who are at the old home 
in Tennessee, where he is still living, aged 
seventy years. On the outbreak of the Civil 
War he was a resident of Virginia, but al- 
though loyal to the Union, was forced into the 
Confederate army. Three times he escaped and 
finally contrived to reach Bowling Green, Ky., 
traveling all night in a stream of water in order 
to evade the bloodhounds which were pursuing 
him. On his arrival in Bowling Green, in 1861, 
he enlisted in Company C, Fourteenth Regi- 



ment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, and took 
part in all the engagements of that regiment 
until 1865. At the expiration of his period of 
enlistment he was honorably discharged and, 
as well he may, takes a just pride in his four 
years of service in the cause of his country. 

The subject of this sketch was reared to farm 
life, meanwhile receiving his early mental 
training in the common schools of his native 
State. At the age of seventeen years he heeded 
the advice of Horace Greeley, "Go West, young 
man," and bade adieu to the hills of Tennes- 
see, arriving in Br.vant, Fulton County, 111., in 
1893. He devoted some years to farming, car- 
l)entering and mining, working by the month, 
and in 1898 went to Iowa. Minnesota ana Da- 
kota, where he spent about a year. Returning 
to Fulton County in 1899, he was employed in 
the mines at St. David. In the spring of 1905 
he bought a half interest in the stock farm and 
implements of Joseph Moran and is now operat- 
ing 280 acres of land and raises and feeds many 
cattle. In politics Mr. Carter is a Republican 
and takes a lively interest in public affairs. 
He is accounted as one of the most enterprising 
and progressive among the younger farmers of 
his township. 

CARTER, William J.— Fulton County has 
profited by the stable citizenship and faithful 
industry of the Carter family since the begin- 
ning of the 'forties. Practically all bearing the 
name have been interested in agriculture, but 
their services have been extended also to poli- 
tics, education, religion and society. William 
J. Carter, a resident of Ipava and for many 
years known as an ex'tensive stock-dealer, rep- 
resents the third generation of his family in 
the county. He was boin at Astoria, 111., Feb- 
ruary 16, 1853, a son of William Bell and Mel- 
vina (Kiems) Carter and grandson of William 
Carter, all natives of Ohio. Astoria continued 
the family home for many years, and there 
the grandfather, William Carter, died at an 
advanced age, leaving a large family to succeed 
to his small competence and maintain his rep- 
utation for honesty and kindliness. 

William Carter, Jr., father of William J., was 
in his teens when he came to Astoria, having 
been born June 13, 1822. In early life he 
learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed 
several years, but subsequently bought property 
north of Astoria, where he engaged in farming 
until 1879. He then sold his farm and moved 
to Wayne County, Iowa, but in 1880, disposing 
of his Iowa property, purchased a farm in Pleas- 
ant Township, Fulton County, where his wife 
died in 1882. She was born August 23, 1825. 
There were ten children in the family, four of 
whom are living. Of these the oldest is Lucy 
Ann, wife of Benton Sharp, of Astoria, with 
whom her father spent the latter years of his 
life, dying June 16, 1906, at the age of eighty- 
four years and three days. He had led a life 
of great activity and held numerous offices with- 
in the gift of his fellow Democrats. 

To a thorough agricultural training William 



820 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



J. Carter, subject of this sketch, added a com- 
mon school education and the advantage of 
strength and co-operation which comes ot an 
early marriage as aids to business success. His 
marriage occurred September 23, 1875, to Ida 
Isabelle Lovell, who was born in Astoria Town- 
ship, Fulton County, July 15, 1858, a daughter 
of Henry and Delana (Robinson) Lovell, pio- 
neers of Fulton County. Until 1S79 the young 
people lived on the old homestead in Astoria 
Township, moving thence to Iowa, where they 
remained a year. Their next home was on a 
farm near Bushnell. and on March 1, 1880, Mr. 
Carter came to Ipava, in 1S81 taking charge 
of his father's farm in Pleasant Township. 
From 1883 until 1885 he operated a restaurant 
in Ipava, and thereafter engaged in the livery 
business for a couple of years. He tlien turned 
his attention to stock-buying and since has fol- 
lowed that occupation, being one of the most ex- 
tensive dealers in this part ot the county. 

The Carter home was saddened February 23. 
1898, by the death of the devoted wife and moth- 
er, a woman of gentle character and great 
patience, and who reared her children to the 
noblest in man and womanhood. She was a 
devout member of the Presbyterian Church and 
had a large circle of friends both in and out of 
the church. Of her children the oldest (Delana 
M. ) was born August 6, 1876, married Benja- 
min J. Stephens May 7, 1899, is a resident of 
Canton, 111., and has three children: Paul, born 
September 26. 1901: William Carter, born Au- 
gust 7, 1904, and Howard Gregory, born June 
15, 1906. The other children of William J. Car- 
ter and wife were: Lillian B., born March 19, 
1878, formerly a teacher and now in charge of 
the home: Orlie E., born May 5, 1880, married 
Grace E. Glore, August 3, 1902, and is engaged 
in the drug business in Ipava; Elmer F., born 
April 10, 1882, a graduate of the Ipava High 
School and now a resident of Portland, Ore.; 
Grover B.. born November 27, 1887, is a grad- 
uate of the Ipava High School ; Martha L., born 
January 15, 1S90, also a graduate of the High 
School; Jennie M., born January IS, 1892: Wil- 
liam H. F., born October 9. 1893; H. Devere, 
born November 12, 1896, and one son and one 
daughter who died in infancy. Miss Lillian 
Carter, a young woman of broad culture and 
noble tendencies, chose education as her life 
work, and proved her special gifts in that di- 
rection by several years of practical experience 
in the schools of Ipava. Upon the death of her 
mother she renounced her cherished purpose 
and since has devoted herself to the care of her 
loved ones at home. She is an exceptionally 
bright scholar, and upon her graduation from 
the Ipava High School in 1894 won the gold 
medal for her masterly essay on the subject, 
"Success in Life the Result of Labor." 

CARVER, H. C, formerly a prosperous farmer 
in Orion Township, Fulton County, 111., and now 
living in comfortalile retirement in Canton, 111., 
was born in Buckheart Township, 111., February 
12, 1845, a son of Gideon and Catherine (Bau- 



nian) Carver, natives of Kentucky and Ohio 
respectively. Gideon Carver settled in Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County, in 1S34 and 
bought a farm of 240 acres. From this he 
cleared the timber and on it he and his worthy 
wife established the family home. There the 
parents spent the remainder of their lives. This 
farm is now in possession of their children. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
homestead and received his early training in 
the district schools of Buckheart Township. 
There he remained, engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits for a number of years. He always raised 
a considerable amount of stock and bred Nor- 
man horses. In 1884 he bought a farm of 215 
acres in Section 26, Orion Township, where he 
carried on farming until 1895. He then bought 
three and half acres in Canton, on which he 
built a fine home, where he now resides. His 
son Elmer is now operating the home place in 
Orion Township. 

On November 7, 1867, Mr. Carver was joined 
in the bonds of matrimony with C. I. Laws, who 
was born in Fulton County. Their union was 
the source of three children: Ida M. (Mrs. Se- 
bree), Willard Henry and Elmer G. 

In political affairs Mr. Carver gives his sup- 
port to the Republican party and has served the 
jiublic as Road Commissioner and School Di- 
rector. Religiously he is a member of the 
Christian Church. Mr. Carver spent many years 
in faithful and unremitting exertion and now, 
while still in full uodily vigor, is enjoying in 
honored leisure the reward of his extended toil. 

CARVER, Jasper P., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming on Section 28, Buckheart 
Township, Fulton County, was born in that 
township, July 24. 1857, a son of Gideon and 
Catherine ( Bauman ) Carver, of whom the for- 
mer was born in Madison County, near Lex- 
ington, Ky., while the latter was a native of 
Ohio. Pleasant M. Carver, the grandfather, 
who was a Kentuckian, moved from that State 
to Fulton County, 111., about the year 1822 and 
located in Buckheart Township, near its north- 
east border, where he was engaged in farming 
during the remainder of his life, and where he 
died about 1885, his wife having passed away 
in 1865. Gideon Carver was a blacksmith by 
occupation and was among the first who fol- 
lowed that trade in Canton, where he worked 
at blacksmithing for several years. He was 
born in 1816 and was united in marriage w-ith 
Catherine Bauman, in Buckheart Township, 
Fulton County, September 26, 1839, and about 
the same time bought eighty acres ot heavily 
timbered land on Section 28 ot that township. 
His first home there was a one-room lo.g cabin 
made of logs cut on the land and hewed, with 
pegs driven in the walls for the support of 
beds. The cabin had a rude stick chimney, un- 
der which the old Dutch oven was placed on the 
coals to do the cooking. The furniture was 
hand-made. Many were the pleasures enjoyed 
and hardships endured w'hile clearing the farm. 
It was the birthplace of all the children of Gid- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



821 



eon Carver and his wife, as follows: John, 
born August 19. 1S41, who died in infancy; 
James, born April 11, 1843. who also died at the 
age of eighteen months; Henry C. born Febru- 
ary 12. 1845, now a retired farmer, living in 
Canton, 111.; Elizabeth, born June 13. 184S, de- 
ceased in 1880; Sarah J., born March 2. 1850, 
wife of Samuel J. Murphy, of Canton, 111., and 
Margery E., born November 9, 1853, who is the 
wife of Frederick L. Fisher, a farmer of Can- 
ton Township. 

In politics Gideon Carver was a Republican 
and was an ardent advocate of the principles of 
his party. He was very public-spirited and took 
an active part in the affairs of the township 
and county. He was a hard worker and a man 
of strict integrity, his word being as good as 
his bond. His domestic feelings were strong 
and he loved his home with an intense attach- 
ment. He was ever ready to aid the deserving 
poor, to visit the sick and try to alleviate their 
distress and to do his utmost in making life 
pleasant for his friends and neighbors. He had 
added, at intervals, to his original purchase of 
land and at the time of his retirement was the 
owner of 240 acres on Section 28, Buckheart 
Township. In 1893 he made his home in Can- 
ton, and there spent the remainder of his days 
in comfort. Starting in life with no adventi- 
tious aids, with nothing to depend on but his 
innate probity and steadfast resolution, he 
made his career a success, gave his children a 
thorough education and passed to his final 
rest, followed by the unfeigned regrets of the 
entire community. He died April 17, 1896, 
aged seventy-nine years. His worthy widow is 
still living in Canton, where she is a valued 
member of the church to which her lamented 
husband belonged. 

The subject of this sketch, born on the old 
home farm, was reared to an agricultural life, 
receiving his early mental instruction in the 
district schools of his neighborhood. Amid 
these surroundings, with the exception of two 
years spent in Canton, he has made his home 
throughout his life. He has taken an active 
part in the development of his township and 
has faithfully discharged his duties as a citi- 
zen. He keeps on the farm a good grade of 
horses, cattle and hogs and the place is under 
a high state of cultivation. 

On October 5, 1893, Mr. Carver was united 
in marriage with Grace T. Dearmond. a daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Cynthia E. (Johnson) Dear- 
mond. Their union resulted in four children, 
namely: Clarence D., born November 23, 1894; 
Verna. born April 25, 1889; Vada, born June 
10, 1901, and Jessie, born February 7, 1905. In 
politics Mr. Carver is an unwavering Repub- 
lican, and has steadfastly upheld the principles 
of Abraham Lincoln. He has held the office 
of School Director for nine consecutive years 
and devotes careful attention to the main- 
tenance of the schol system in accordance with 
a high standard of efficiency. Fraternally he 
is affiliated with the K. of P. of St. David. 



Mr. Carver has inherited in a marked degree 
the genial and hospitable traits of his lamented 
father, and his cheery social disposition makes 
his home most pleasant and attractive to a 
large circle of friends. 

CASH, Elijah. — Since assuming the manage- 
ment of a farm of 320 acres on Sections 12 and 
14, Vermont Township, in 1901, Elijah Cash 
has secured excellent financial results and has 
evidenced a broad knowledge of agricultural 
science. Many years of practical experience 
contribute to his agricultural equipment, and 
his entire life has been spent in the free and 
independent atmosphere of the country. Born 
in Pike county, Ohio, January 18, 1852, he was 
reared on the farm of his parents, Charles and 
Charlotte (James) Cash, both of whom came 
to Pike County as children with their parents, 
the former from Virginia and the latter from 
North Carolina. When Elijah was five years 
old, in 1857, he was taken by his parents to 
Clay County, 111., a journey which still lingers 
in his memory, where the mother died in 1S76, 
and the father in 1879. Charles Cash was a 
hard worker and good manager, in politics a 
Republican and in religion a member of the 
Christian Church. Of the twelve children in his 
family three are living: Elizabeth, widow of 
John \V. Creek, the latter having been a sol- 
dier in the Ninety-eighth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, and Samuel and Henry Cash, residents 
of Clay County, 111., also soldiers for three 
years during the Civil War in the same regi- 
ment as Mr. Creek. 

Until his eighteenth ' year the services of 
Elijah Cash were given to the home farm, but 
he then began to work for outsiders by the 
month and in 1882 came to McDonough County, 
where he was in the employ of H. S. Leighty 
for seven years. In 1S94 he purchased the in- 
terest of a Mr. Jliles in the Gilliland farm, 
south of Vermont, Fulton County, and in 1901 
took charge of the farm he is now managing on 
the co-operative plan. He is an extensive feed- 
er and shipper of live stock, averaging from 
150 to 250 hogs and 100 head of cattle a year. 
He makes a specialty of the Jersey hog and of 
Shorthorn cattle besides raising general 
produce. 

July 15, 1875. Mr. Cash married Sarah A. 
Jewison, daughter of Thomas and Mary A. 
(Robinson) Jewison, natives of Yorkshire, Eng- 
land. Mr. and Mrs. Jewison were married in 
Yorkshire, England, April 1, 1852, and the fol- 
lowing day set sail for America, coming direct 
to Albion, Edwards County, 111. They removed 
to Clay County in 1854. and there followed 
farming on a large scale until the death of Mr. 
Jewison, in November, 1872. Mrs. Jewison re- 
sides at present in Rinard, Wayne County, 111. 
Mr. and Mrs. Cash are the parents of the follow- 
ing named children: Elmer Arvin, born in Sep- 
tember, 1876, a farmer of Eldorado Township, 
McDonough County, who married Sophia 
Emigg; Hattie May, born July 29, 1878, wife of 



822 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Charles Mercer, of Vermont Township, Fulton 
County; Walter Thomas, born March 20, 1881, 
married Norine Frazer, of Scotland Township; 
Charles F., born July 12, 1882; George Frank- 
lin, born September 5, 1885, married Hila Lind- 
sey, and lives in Scotland Township, McDon- 
ough County. Mr. Cash is a Democrat in poli- 
tics, and fraternally is connected with the Ma- 
sons and Modern Woodmen of America. He is 
an industrious and level-headed landsman, hon- 
orable in all of his dealings, and particularly 
adapted to tenant farming. 

CASPER, Wilbur. — Among the worthy farmers 
of Cass Township, Fulton County, 111., whose 
industry, perseverance and frugality have 
brought them into comfortable circumstances, 
is Wilbur Casper, a son of .John C. and Laura 
(Hoag) Casper, natives of Illinois, the mother's 
birthplace being in the vicinity of Monmouth, 
Warren County. John C. Casper was a 
blacksmith by trade, and followed that occupa- 
tion in Smitheld, Fulton County, for a number 
of years. In boyhood the subject of this sketch 
studied the customary lessons of the district 
schools of his neighborhood, and since attain- 
ing his majority has been continuously engaged 
in farming. He is the owner of 243 acres of 
excellent land, which he keeps under thorough 
culture. His farming operations are careful, 
diligent and systematic, and have been reward- 
ed by favorable results. All the improvements 
on his property have been made by himself. 

The marriage of Mr. Casper occurred in 187G, 
when he was wedded to Mary Alice White, who 
was born in Cass Township. Fulton County, a 
daughter of Thomas and Esther (Norris) White. 
Her father was a native of Illinois, and her 
mother's birthplace was Pennsylvania. They set- 
tled in Fulton County at an early period, where 
the father carried on farming. Mr. and Mrs. 
Casper became the parents of four children, 
namely: Lola E., Olive, Cordie and Dawson. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Casper is identified with 
the M. W. A. Religiously he adheres to the 
faith of the Methodist Protestant Church. He 
takes an earnest and unselfish interest in public 
affairs, and fulfills the obligations of a good 
citizen. 

CATTRON, H. A.— Representing the fourth 
generation of his family to till the soil of Hick- 
ory Township, Fulton County, H. A. Cattron 
was born on a farm in Joshua Township. Ful- 
ton County, 111., September 21. 1874, a son of 
Israel V. Cattron, grandson of Hezekiah Catt- 
ron and great-grandson of Valentine Cattron, 
who established the family in Fulton County 
in April, 18.S7. Valentine Cattron was boni 
in Virginia, moved at an early day with his 
people to Sullivan County, East Tennessee, and 
in 1820 arrived in Washington County, Ind., 
whence he emigrated to Illinois. Of later mem- 
bers of the family records may be found else- 
where in this work. 

H. A. Cattron passed his youth on his father's 
farm in Joshua Township, meanwhile receiving 



his preliminary education in the country schools 
of his township. In 1898 he married Ida Zim- 
merman, who was born in Deerfield Township, 
Fulton County, June 9. 1877, and forthwith 
started housekeeping on the farm of Mrs. Swin- 
gle in Young Hickory Township, where he is 
now engaged in general farming and stock-rais- 
ing, cultivating IGO acres of land. He is an 
energetic and capable young agriculturist, 
abreast of the times and constantly seeking 
light upon his chosen calling. He is active in 
politics and has served the township five years 
as a member of the Board of Education. 

CATTRON, Israel V.— Of the three sons of 
that fine old pioneer, Hezekiah Cattron, Israel 
v., the youngest, is one of the most prominent 
and prosperous agriculturists of Young Hickory 
Township, where have dwelt those bearing his 
name ever since 1837. Mr. Cattron is main- 
taining the family reputation for thoroughness 
of labor and uniformity of success on his farm 
on Section 35, where he is engaged in stock- 
raising on a large scale and annually produces 
many head of Shorthorn cattle and Poland 
China hogs. He owns in all 400 acres, cultivat- 
ing all but 160 acres which are managed by a 
tenant. In improvements he has kept pace with 
the changes that have been evolved by agri- 
cultural science during the past quarter of a 
century. He has a comfortable and well fur- 
nished home, well constructed barns and out- 
buildings, modern fences and plenty of shade 
trees, shrubbery, flowers and other aids to re- 
fined and progressive rural existence. 

Mr. Cattron was born in the township which 
now is his home September 15, 1846, a son of 
Hezekiah and Rachel (Alcott) Cattron and 
grandson of Valentine and Frances (Bohannon) 
Cattron. the latter natives of Virginia and 
North Carolina respectively. Until his twenty- 
fifth year Mr. Cattron lived on his father's farm 
in Young Hickory Township, when he began 
operating a farm on his own account in Joshua 
Township, which he continued fifteen years. In 
1884 he moved to his present farm in Young 
Hickory Township, where he first bought 160 
acres, adding thereto until he owned 400 acres. 
Mr. Cattron's marriage to .Tennie Butler, of 
Pennsylvania, occurred February 20. 1S74. and 
of this union there have been four children: 
Henry, Mary, Adella and Edna. Mrs. Cattron 
died in 1890 and on April 15, 1S97. Mr. Cattron 
married, as his second wife, Elizabeth Shep- 
herd, of Lewistown, III., and is now living in 
retirement in the village of Fairview. Mr. 
Cattron is independent in politics, casting his 
vote for the man he thinks best qualified to pro- 
mote the public welfare. He is a high-minded, 
agreeable gentleman, using his wealth to the 
best possible advantage and contributing, in 
character and attainment, to the stability and 
prosperity of the community. 

CATTRON, James B. — To the man whose life 
began on the prairies of the Central West, 
eighty-seven years ago, has been vouchsafed a 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



823 



wealth and diversity of experience beside which 
that of those active in the beginning of the 
twentieth century pales into insignificance. If 
the men of the frontier suffered, they also lived, 
and their existence was turned to far higher 
purpose than the mere getting and parading of 
wealth and its luxuries. In those days a code 
of honor prevailed which made it possible for 
a man to borrow money without putting up gilt- 
edged collateral, and instances were rare in 
which the debt was not repaid as agreed upon. 
These, and other advantages of a non-commer- 
cial era, are recalled by James B. Cattron, whose 
earthly pilgrimage has led by eighty-seven 
mile posts, and who yet retains his faculties 
and ready access to the great storehouse of his 
brain. 

Mr. Cattron, who is the father of Mrs. Ben- 
jamin F. Bedwell, of Table Grove, was born in 
Washington County, Ind., January 17, 1819, 
a son of Valentine and Frances (Bohannon) 
Cattron, natives of Virginia and Tennessee, re- 
spectively. Subsequently the family lived in 
Fountain County, Ind., where the mother died, 
and later the rest of the family moved to La- 
porte County, where the father died at an ad- 
vanced age. James B. Cattron came on horse- 
back to Fulton County in 1841, and instead of 
proceeding to Oregon, as he had originally in- 
tended, settled near Fairview, where, a few 
weeks later, in December, 1841, he was united 
in marriage to Nancy Smith. The following 
year he removed to Bernadotte Township and 
isuilt a rude saw-mill on Spoon River, in the 
meantime occupying a small log house fourteen 
feet square, without windows, a comfort being 
used at night in place of a door. The church 
at that time was five miles distant, and worship- 
ers attended regularly, as that was the sole 
diversion of the settlers. They were driven 
to church in carts drawn by sturdy oxen. The 
operation of his farm and saw-mill kept Mr. 
Cattron busy from morn until night, but he en- 
joyed his work, and was on especially good 
terms with his neighbors. Referring to the 
confidence between man and man at that time, 
he recalls having borrowed $400 from Colonel 
Bronson, without a vestige of security, a fact 
which would be almost impossible at the pres- 
ent time. In 1850 Mr. Cattron purchased 160 
acres of land on what was known as the Ipava 
Prairie, and to this he added until he owned 
580 acres in Pleasant Township. He next 
bought 1,280 acres of land in Texas, but after 
he had lived in his Southern home ten years, 
was obliged to return North owing to the fail- 
ing health of his wife. Giving 800 acres of 
his Texas land to his son, he resumed farming 
in Fulton County, and in all has been thus as- 
sociated with Fulton County sixty-five years, 
with the exception of the ten years spent in 
Texas. 

The first wife of Mr. Cattron was born March 
14, 1818, died at the old home in Pleasant Town- 
ship May 11, 1881. On September 22, 1882, he 
was united in marriage with Elizabeth Smith, 



who died in 1901. Of the first marriage there 
were nine children, of whom Frances, Savannah 
and Wesley died in infancy, and Belle, wife of 
Benjamin F. Beawell ; Mary, wife of Thomas O. 
Bohannon, of Bernadotte Township; and Ra- 
chel, wife of R. K. Bohannon, are living. Mr. 
Cattron has been a devout member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church since early boy- 
hood, and for forty years was a class-leader 
in the local church. In politics he is a Re- 
publican, and one of his ruling passions is a 
deep and unalterable admiration of Abraham 
Lincoln. His life has been a broad and useful 
one, and his serene old age is crowned with the 
love and respect of all who know him. 

CATTRON, John M., for many years one of 
the most extensive and prosperous farmers and 
stock-raisers in Fulton County, 111., and now a 
resident of Fairview, that county, was born in 
Fulton County, April 4, 1844. His father, Heze- 
kiah Cattron, also a farmer and stock-dealer and 
one of the most prominent among the pioneer 
settlers of the county, was a native of Virginia, 
his mother, Rachael (Alcott) Cattron, having 
been born in Ohio. Hezekiah Cattron made an 
experimental journey to Western Illinois about 
the year 1832, sojourning for a brief period in 
Fulton County. He traveled the entire distance 
on horseback, his object being to secure govern- 
ment land for his future home. In 1837 he 
moved his effects by wagon to Bernadotte Town- 
ship, Fulton County, and after staying a short 
time there went to Young Hickory Town- 
ship, where, together with his father, he en- 
tered a tract of land. His father, however, re- 
turned to their former home. A portion of the 
land (160 acres) was entered in his own name 
and an equal amount in the name of his sister. 
On this he settled, making all the improve- 
ments, and there lived until his death, which 
occurred on January 29. 1903. His first dwell- 
ing was a log cabin. Ultimately he became the 
owner of 1,300 acres of land in Fulton County 
and ranked as one of the most prosperous and 
wealthy farmers in that region. He was equal- 
ly prominent as a citizen, filling the office of 
Supervisor and Collector and discharging the 
duties of Justice of the Peace for twenty years. 
His character was above reproach and he com- 
manded the respect and enjoyed the confidence 
of all classes. To Hezekiah and Rachael (Al- 
cott 1 Cattron were born four children, namely: 
Mary Eliza, Josiah A.. J. M. and I. N. 

In boyhood John M. Cattron first attended 
the country schools in the vicinity of his home, 
and after pursuing a course of one year and 
three months' study at Abingdon. 111., applied 
himself to teaching, continuing in this employ- 
ment eleven years. In 1867 he went to Kansas, 
where he was engaged in teaching for eighteen 
months. In the meantime, having bought a 
quarter-section of land, he returned to Fulton 
County and taught there for a year. Then go- 
ing back to Kansas, he taught there two years, 
when he again came to Fulton County, and af- 



824 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ter pursuing his calling as a teaclier until 1879, 
he began farming in Hickory Township, mov- 
ing subsequently to his father's farm of 170 
acres in Section G, ,Joshua Township, on which 
he assisted in making nearly all the improve- 
ments. Besides general farming he was en- 
gaged, in conjunction with his father and two 
brothers, in stock-breeding on an extensive 
scale, raising and feeding annually from thirty 
to fifty head of mules, 500 sheep, 200 head of 
cattle and from 400 to 500 head of hogs. In ad- 
dition to this they bought a great deal of stock 
for marketing, the proceeds of the business go- 
ing to the benefit of the father until his death 
in 1903. In 1904 the subject of this sketch re- 
tired from active business pursuits and estab- 
lished his residence in Fairview, retaining 
about 251 acres of land. Mr. Cattron has a 
vivid recollection of his first visit to Kansas, 
when during the daytime the grasshoppers were 
so numeroiis in the air as to hide the sun, in- 
ducing the bel'ef that they were clouds. The 
next morning they were on the ground, but in 
such numbers that it was impossible to put the 
tip of his finger to the surface without touch- 
ing a grasshopper. 

Mr. Cattron has been twice married. On 
April 15, 1879, at Fairview, 111., he was united 
in matrimony with Alice Abbadusky, a native 
of Fulton County, w-ho died in ISSS. The off- 
spring of this union was one son, Hezekiah, 
who lives at home. The second marriage of 
Mr. Cattron took place at Galesburg. 111., Feb- 
ruary 24. 1S92, when he was wedded to Mary 
.1. Magee. who was born in Henderson County, 
111., and their union has resulted in one daugh- 
ter. Hazel B. 

Mr. Cattron is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church and politically is a Re])ub- 
lican. He has lived an upright and useful life 
and has borne no inconsiderable part in the 
development of Fulton County. His success is 
well merited and he is richly entitled to the 
exemption from care which attends his later 
years. 

CHADDOCK, (Mrs.) Louisa Amanda (Farwell), 
daughter of John Farwell (whose biography 
appears on another page of this volume), was 
born in Woodland Township, Fulton County, 
111., April 17, 1855, and was educated in the 
public schools. On December 18. 1872, she was 
united in marriage to .lames Chaddock. a, na- 
tive of Vermont, 111., who was born April IG, 
1S48. Mr. Chaddock rejiresents one of the fine 
pioneer families of Fulton County and is a son 
of .Tames Chaddock, who was born in Ohio in 
1799. The elder Chaddock came to Vermont 
while there was little ti) attract the young man 
of purpose and ambition, before public thor- 
oughfares existed and while still the wigwam 
was a familiar feature of the landscape. The 
timbered regions of the far stretching prairies 
constituted a hunter's paradise, and no fear of 
starvation confronted the man who could han- 
dle a gun and prepare a frontier feast. At first 



his habitation was of rude logs, as rudely fash- 
ioned together, and on many occasions his barn- 
yard was visited by slender deer in quest of 
food. He later built a frame structure, sur- 
rounded himself and family with ever increas- 
ing advantages, and finally became owner of 
240 acres of land. Into all his transactions he 
carried the integrity and consideration of those 
of the Quaker faith, in which he was born and 
which remained his creed forever after. He 
was a Republican in politics. He was thrice 
married, his first wife being Lida Mercer, born 
in Ohio in 1801, and of the union there were 
four children: Jolin, deceased; Robert and 
Sarah, twins, living in Kansas: Martha, de- 
ceased wife of Joseph Barrett, also deceased, 
and Rebecca, deceased wife of E, Mathews, of 
Vermont Township. The second Mrs. Chaddock 
formerly was Dora Bean, born in Ohio in 1815, 
and of the union there were seven children: 
James, Jr., Joseph, a resident of Kansas; 
Rachel, wife of Louis Howell, and who died in 
Ipava in 1875; Mary, who died in Bvanston; 
Henry, a resident of Canada, and George and 
Lida, who died in infancy. The third marriage 
of Mr. Chaddock was with Ellen Wilkinson, of 
Vermont, 111., born in 1818. There were no 
children of this union. 

.lames Chaddock, Jr., husband of Louise 
Amanda Farwell, is one of the prominent re- 
tired farmers of Astoria. He is a man of lib- 
eral ideas and large usefulness of life, having 
set a high standard of political service as Jus- 
tice of the Peace and Road Commissioner of 
Vermont Township, and otherwise contributed 
to the maintenance of staple and practical con- 
ditions. Like his father, he is a Republican, 
and though not a professed Quaker, he shares 
the high moral standards and benevolent ten- 
dencies of the older man. 

CHAMBERS, W. J. — An evidence of thrift and 
economy exists in the cozy and comfortable 
home owned by W. J. Chambers, in the town 
of Avon, in the midst of four acres of fertile 
land which has within its borders sufficient 
.gardening and general interests to beguile the 
comparative leisure of this erstw-hile exten- 
sive general farmer and stock-raiser. Mr. 
Chambers adds to the long list of men who 
have come to Illinois from Pennsylvania, in 
which State he was born on a farm in Union 
County, October 19, 1847. His parents, Robert 
and Mathilda (Smith) Chambers, also w-ere 
natives of Pennsylvania, and followed the oc- 
cupation of farming for their entire active 
lives. Thoroughly trained in the science of 
farming, and having a practical common school 
education, Mr. Chambers came to Fulton 
County, 111., in 1868. and in 1871 returned to 
Pennsylvania, where he married Elizabeth A. 
Boganreif. The following two years were spent 
in Kansas, and in 1873 he again engaged in 
farming in Union Townshii), Fulton County, on 
rented land. Thrifty and saving, he was able 
to purchase eighty acres of land in Union 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



825 



Township in 1887, and still later added forty 
acres more, all on Section 8. Here he made 
many fine additions to the improvements of a 
former owner, and continued to occupy the prop- 
erty until his removal to Avon in 1902. He 
still owns his farm, however, and derives a 
comfortable income from its rental. While a 
resident of Union Township Mr. Chaniljers filled 
many offices of trust and responsibility, among 
them that of Highway Commissioner and mem- 
ber of the School Board. For many years he 
has been a consistent member of the Congrega- 
tional Church, and has contributed to this, and 
other local enterprises, with unstinted gener- 
osity. His only son, Geier Chambers, is en- 
gaged in railroading. Mr. Chambers is held in 
high esteem by all who are privileged to know 
him, and his identification with the county has 
added to its stability of both character and ma- 
terial possessions. 

CHAPIN, George H., for many years a promi- 
nent and prosperous farmer of Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County, 111., but now living in 
retirement, was born in the State of Michigan, 
just before its admission into the Union. Decem- 
ber 13, 1S36. He is a son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Hardy) Chapin, natives of Vermont and 
Pennsylvania, respectively. In 183S John Cha- 
pin moved with his family to this county and 
settled in Lewistown Township, where the 
father was engaged in farming. He died in 
1841, the mother surviving him until 1882. They 
were the parents of eight children, of whom 
George H. is the only sui-vivor. 

George H. Chapin was educated in the dis- 
trict schools of Fulton County, where he has 
always made his liome. On reaching mature 
years he applied himself to farming, in which 
occupation he has been successful. He has 
been an energetic, diligent and careful farmer, 
and in all the hardships, privations and difficul- 
ties incident to the life of the early settlers 
manifested that patience, resolution and per- 
severance that enabled him to contribute his 
full share toward the development of Fulton 
County, of which, for fifty years, he has been 
a representative citizen. 

On February 28, 1860, Mr. Chapin was united 
in marriage with Rachel Fleming, who has born 
in Morgan County, Ohio, December 4, 1836. 
There her parents died and she, together with 
her brother John and two sisters. Caroline and 
Elizabeth, moved to Fulton County about the 
year 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin had three chil- 
dren: One who died in infancy; John F., a 
farmer in Liverpool Township, this county, and 
Mary, wife of Sherman McLouth, with whom 
Mr. Chapin is spending his declining years in 
comfortable retirement. Mrs. Chapin, who was 
a most worthy and estimable woman, died Jan- 
uary 27, 1879. She was a devout Christian and 
a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. On political issues Mr. Chapin has 
always been a supporter of the Republican par- 
14 



ty but has never entertained any ambition for 
public office. 

CHAPIN, L. R., M. D.— Of the men devoted to 
the science of healing in Canton, Fulton Coun- 
ty, none bring to bear upon their calling larger 
gifts of scholarship and resource than Dr. L. R. 
Chapin. Far from selecting his life work in 
the untried enthusiasm of extreme youth, the 
choice of this genial practitioner was that of a 
mature mind, trained to thoughtfulness by 
years of practical experience as an educator 
and to full realization of the possibility and re- 
sponsibility which confronted him. 

Dr. Chapin is a native of La Salle County, 
111., and was born May 11, 1863. His parents, 
Oscar and Alice V. (Dibble) Chapin, were born 
in Washington County, N. Y., and the former 
came to Illinois in 1846 at the age of seven- 
teen, locating on the farm in La Salle County, 
where the balance of his active life was spent. 
His death occurred in Canton February S, 1905, 
his wife having pre-deceased him in Ottawa, 
111., in 1896. Dr. Chapin was educated primari- 
ly in the common schools of La Salle County 
and the Normal and Scientific schools of Morris 
and Geneseo, 111., thereafter graduating from 
the Northwestern Normal and Scientific School 
of Geneseo in 1886. For the following seven 
years he engaged in educational work as Prin- 
cipal or Superintendent of Public Schools in 
different parts of the State. Thereafter he took 
up the study of medicine at the Northwestern 
University Medical School of Chicago, from 
which he was duly graduated in the class of 
1897. The same year he began a general and 
surgical practice in Canton, and in the mean- 
time has served three years as County Physi- 
cian. His skill in diagnosis and his successful 
treatment of complicated and long standing 
cases have created a gratifying demand for his 
services and laid the foundation of what prom- 
ises to be a career of exceptional breadth and 
usefulness. 

In political affiliation the Doctor is a Repub- 
lican. Fraternally he is associated with the 
Masons and Modern Woodmen of America. In 
August, ISSS, he married Nora B. Blackiston, 
who was born in Geneseo, 111., daughter of Wil- 
liam Prestley and Cecelia C. Blackiston. also 
natives of Geneseo. To Dr. and Mrs. Chapin 
have been born three children: Cecelia C, 
Alice P. and Cora Odella. To a thorough pro- 
fessional equipment Dr. Chapin adds a kindly 
and sympathetic manner, a genuine liking for 
his calling and a ready adaptation to its mul- 
titudinous and exacting demands. 

CHAPMAN, William H.— At present a retired 
citizen of Lewistown. William H. Chapman has 
been one of the industrious men of Fulton Coun- 
ty, linking his name with all that is admirable 
in farming and wise and progressive in individ- 
ual life. Mr. Chapman is a native of the vi- 
cinity of Nevin, Highland County, Ohio, where 



826 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



he was born October 20, 1856. His father, Isaac 
Chapman, also was born in Highland County, 
and his grandfather, Caleb Chapman, was a na- 
tive of Virginia. Isaac Chapman spent his 
youth in Highland County, and there married 
Frances Strode, daughter of an Ohio 
pioneer. His death occurred about 1858, 
while yet young in years, and he left but one 
son — the subject of this sketch — two daughters 
having died in infancy. His widow, Mrs. Fran- 
ces Chapman, married John W. Lyons, in 18G9, 
and with him and her son, William H., moved 
to Fulton County, 111., locating on land in Put- 
man Township. In 1890 the Lyons retired from 
the farm, locating in Cuba, Fulton County, 
which still is their home. Mr. and Mrs. Lyons 
are the parents of the following children: 
Luther, deceased; Samuel, killed during a storm; 
Lewis, a barber of Kewanee, 111.; Frank, City 
Marshal of Cuba, 111.; Cyrus, a carpenter and 
builder of Cuba; Ava, wife of L. R. Campbell, 
a farmer of Putman Township; and Oliver, a 
barber of Cuba. 

William H. Chapman was thirteen years old 
when he came to Fulton County, and from the 
age of fourteen until twenty-one he found em- 
ployment on farms in that county. He then 
rented a farm in Putman Township, and on 
June 20, 1878, was united in marriage to Clar- 
inda H. Conner, daughter of Peter Conner, a na- 
tive of Ohio, and a pioneer of both Indiana and 
Illinois, arriving in the latter State in 1S37. 
Mr. Conner settled in Putman Township, where 
both he and his wife passed away. In 1884 
Mr. Chapman bought the old Chapman home- 
stead in Putman Township, and here was born 
his daughter Iva, now the wife of Marvin H. 
Bordner, of whom mention is made elsewhere 
in this work. In 1900 this farm was sold and 
the old Conner homestead purchased, the family 
remaining thereon until disposing of the same 
in 1905. Mr. Chapman then moved into Lewis- 
town, where he owns a pleasant and comfort- 
able home, and is surrounded by many of his 
old-time friends and acquaintances. Mr. Chap- 
man has been a stanch supporter of local Repub- 
lican politics and for fifteen years served as a 
member of the Board of Education. 

CHATTERTON, Oliver B.— Although the well 
directed labor of Oliver B. Chatterton belongs 
to the past rather than present of Lee Town- 
ship, this county, innumerable evidences 
abound of his sojourn within its boundaries, and 
particularly of his diligence in developing the 
farm now owned and occupied by his son, 
Franklin O. Chatterton, on Section 1 of the 
township named. All of the buildings on this 
farm were erected by Mr. Chatterton and it 
was improved from the rough prairie, being de- 
voted so profitably to grain and general pi-od- 
uce that he was able to add to his land own- 
ership several farms, and at one time possessed 
470 acres. When prosperity became a settled 
condition with him he invested heavily in grain 
and hogs, awaiting a favorable market for their 
disposition. He had a keen and practical busi- 



ness mind and probably understood as well how 
to get the most out of his land and general op- 
portunities as any resident of the township, 
although after forty years of age he lived in 
practical retirement. 

Mr. Chatterton was a native of New York 
State and was bom November IS, 1822. While 
yet in his teens he came to Fulton County with 
his parents, Cornelius and Lucy (Ball) Chatter- 
ton, both of whom were bom in New York State 
and were farmers by occupation, and embarked 
at an early age upon his wage-earning career. 
Oliver B. Chatterton was married in 1858 to 
Miss Lucy Sackett, a native of New York, who 
was living in Union Township at the time of 
her marriage, and by this union there was one 
daughter, Mabel, now Mrs. E. R. Carr. The 
first wife died in 1863, and at Faii-view, Novem- 
ber 28, 1865, he was united in man-iage to Car- 
oline Schleich, a native of Germany and daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Mary (Webber) Schleich, who 
emigrated to America in the summer of 1849. 
The Schleich family settled first in Connecticut 
and at the expiration of six years came to Ful- 
ton County and purchased land in Fairview 
Township, where the father died at an ad- 
vanced age. He was an earnest, hard working 
man, a stanch Republican and promoter of ed- 
ucation and kindred civilizing agencies. By this 
second union there was one son, Franklin O., 
who married Anna Effland, of Deerfield. Ful- 
ton County, 111., and became the father of four 
children, Ruth, Ray, Ralph and Rose. Mrs. 
Chatterton had immediate connections who 
were prominent in the early history of Illinois, 
and one of her brothers. Casper Schleich, 
stumped the country during the campaign of 
Abraham Lincoln, and was afterward killed 
. while se:-ving his country in the Civil War. 

Mr. Chatterton himself was a quiet, unosten- 
tatious man, devoting himself chiefly to his im- 
mediate home Interests, although he was prom- 
inent politically, and for many years was a 
member of the Central Republican Committee. 
He also served as Supervisor of Lee Township. 
Realizing the loss entailed by his early disad- 
vantages, he gave his children every opportu- 
nity in his power and instilled into their minds 
an appreciation of the dignity of labor and the 
worth of honest, upright characters. He died 
October 19, 1885. The deceased was a member 
of the Universalist Church of Avon, and de- 
voted to the temperance cause. 

Mrs. Chatterton still occupies the old home- 
stead, one-half of the farm being willed by the 
father to his son, Franklin O., with whom Mrs. 
Chatterton lives, and the other half to the 
daughter, Mrs. Carr. The son mentioned has 
added to his possessions until he now owns 500 
acres of land in Lee Township and promises 
to develop the same substantial traits pos- 
sessed by his honored father. 

CHIPERFIELD, Burnett M.— By an unwrit- 
ten custom the lawyer has ever been accorded 
first place in securing the greatest'liberty and 
the greatest justice to the society of mankind. 





/^^ 



■^CXf 



i 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



827 



The idea prevailing when the Roman Cincia 
law was framed, that he was the best informed 
as to the rights of man and the limitations of 
government — both of them prescribed by law 
— exists today to an appreciable extent. No 
man in our form of civilization is given such 
privilege to guide the affairs of State, to either 
glory or dishonor, as is vouchsafed by thinking 
minds to the lawyer. The fact that, financially 
speaking, there are no compensations in law 
commensurate with the labor given, lends a 
prophecy of splendid and disinterested achieve- 
ment to men sufficiently gifted to become suc- 
cessful lawyers, and sufficiently honest to main- 
tain the ethics of the profession. One fa- 
miliar with the jurisprudence of Illinois, and 
more especially with the last decade of its his- 
tory, will unhesitatingly place within this 
sphere of largest usefulness the name of B. M. 
Chiperfleld, general practitioner of Canton, 111., 
member of the Legislature, ex-City and ex- 
State's Attorney, prominent fraternalist, and 
supporter of those enlightening agencies which 
make for the permanent well-being of the com- 
munity. 

The example of devout and high-minded par- 
ents was shed upon the youth of Mr. Chiper- 
fleld, and he was reared in an atmosphere cal- 
culated to focus in sincerity his myriad longings 
and craving outlet and expression. Born at 
Dover, Bureau County, 111., June 17, 1870, he 
was destined for the experiences and friend- 
ships of a migratory youth, as his father was a 
Methodist Episcopal clergyman, debarred by 
the rules of the church from more than three 
years' residence in a given community. The 
son was educated in the public schools of Sand- 
wich, Sterling, Marseilles, Seneca, Rock Falls, 
Kankakee, Chillicothe and Chicago, and in 
Hamlin University, a Methodist Episcopal 
school of Minnesota. His subsequent career 
bears testimony to the fact, that what a man 
wills he generally becomes. Long before he 
had completed his studies his mental prospec- 
tive included an invasion of those splendid op- 
portunities for which the law so admirably 
equips its purposeful and determined votaries, 
and he began the study of elementary law, 
acquiring at the same time a knowledge of 
finance through a brief connection with the 
Commercial National Bank of Chicago. His 
school days over, he sought relief from close 
confinement In a surveying trip through the 
Northwest, and afterward became the faculty 
of a school at Green Prairie, Minn., still later 
becoming Assistant Principal of a school at 
Cuba, 111., for a year. 

Economizing time was an early, as it is a 
later, trait of Mr. Chiperfield, and it resulted 
in his exclusion of unnecessary training from 
his youll'. of hij a'lniiir.ion to the bar of Illi- 
nois at the age of twenty-one, and the establish- 
ment of his professional career in Canton. His 
resourcefulness and initiative were fortunately 
centered in the hopeful, hospitable Central 
West, plastic in its environment, still young 



and eager to hear or tell something worth 
while. He ever since has been engaged in the 
general practice of law, being now a member 
of the firm of Chiperfield & Chiperfleld, com- 
posed of himself and Judge C. E. Chiperfleld. 
During the period of its existence the firm has 
been connected, on one side or another, with 
the majority of complications calling for ad- 
justment in this part of the State, many of 
them requiring profound and expert legal ex- 
perience. One of these was the case of the 
Bar Car Manufacturing Company and its men, 
the latter of whom demanded a nine instead of 
a ten-hour day. The differences were settled 
by the Board of Arbitration, Chiperfleld & 
Chiperfleld appearing for the men, and Attor- 
neys Reeves & Bays, of Streator, appearing tor 
the company. The men won the flght, and also 
were paid for the extra hour they had agreed 
to work pending settlement of the case. Mr. 
Chiperfield was the attorney for the Sanitary 
District of Chicago in the case of Congressman 
Graff and Judge Curran, for $55,000 damages 
on account of alleged overflow by the drainage 
canal of 1,700 acres of farm and timber land, 
which case was on trial for eleven weeks, the 
jury eventually awarding damages to the ex- 
tent of $750. 

Mr. Chiperfield has never left any doubt as 
to his political preferences. He is emphatically 
and uncompromisingly Republican, and as law 
and politics ever were akin, he has gravitated 
irresistibly toward this unparalleled combina- 
tion of opportunities. His first public office 
was that of City Attorney, to which he was 
elected in 1894, and which he held two years. 
More than average zeal and effectiveness char- 
acterized the discharge of the duties of this 
office. Even his great capacity for work was 
severely taxed at times, but throughout the af- 
fairs of the commonwealth were given prefer- 
ence over all personal duties, and an assistant 
was employed at his own expense. One of the 
results of his administration was a complete 
revision of the city ordinances — a laborious 
and tedious task — and a thorough systematizing 
of the city legal department. He was the in- 
stigator of the system of suspending fines for 
good behavior, and of suspending sentence with 
the understanding that the favored one seek, 
in other fields, an opportunity to begin lite 
anew. In disposing of 500 criminal cases the 
city won out in all but two or three, and there 
was over $150,000; worth of litigation in which 
the town was involved. 

At the expiration of his term as City Attor- 
ney Mr. Chiperfleld was elected the first Re- 
publican State's Attorney of Fulton County. 
His brilliant endowments and unusual resources 
never have oeen more telling than when en- 
listed on the side of law and order. Stripped 
of the quality of fear, indomitable, relentless, 
a veritable Nemesis of judgment, showing no 
quarter and permitting no perversion of the 
law, it became a common occurrence for peti- 
tioners at the bar to plead guilty and thus 



828 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



save the State the cost of the trial, which, be- 
fore a less austere prosecutor, would have ex- 
liausted every device of evasion Ivnown to 
criminal tactics. It is known that many causes 
never penetrated the doors of the grand jury 
room, or reached as far as the Circuit Court. 
He maintained a sleepless vigilance upon the 
trail of the wrongdoer, creating an atmosphere 
distinctly prejudicial to his plans of gain. 

Mr. Chiperfleld's star of success has been a 
constantly ascending one, every fiber of his be- 
ing responding to his developing faculties, am- 
bitions and opportunities. He had become one 
of the brightest legal lights in the legal firma- 
ment of Illinois, and as a trial lawyer had a 
reputation ofttimes not acquired by the de- 
serving in a score of years. His election to 
the Forty-third General Assembly came as a 
fitting tribute to what he already had accom- 
plished, and afforded scope for legislative re- 
forms of which he long had dreamed. Had 
there been any doubt of his putjlic spiritedness, 
his desire to labor disinterestedly tor the good 
of the people, or any suspicion of undue per- 
sonal ambition, it was dispelled by tlie fulfill- 
ment of the pledges made previous to his elec- 
tion, representing both Knox and Fulton 
Counties. Under his own signature Mr. Chiper- 
field speaks of the five reasons why he went to 
the Legislature: 

"To favor such legislation as is desired by 
the United Mine Workers of this State. 

"To advocate the passage of a bill prohibit- 
ing any employer from requiring his men to 
sign a contract permitting him to retain 10 per 
cent, of their wages without interest. 

"To require manufacturers to furnish sani- 
tary shops for employes, and to take all neces- 
sary and proper precautions to prevent the 
escape of wood, emery and other dust and dirt 
into such places of employment, to the detri- 
ment of the health of those there employed. 

"To advocate the passage of a bill to deduct 
from the assessed value of farm lands and other 
real estate, where mortgaged, the value of the 
mortgage, and to compel the liolder of the mort- 
gage to pay the tax on his mortgage, and the 
owner of the farm or other real estate to pay 
the tax only on the remaining values." 

By even the wisest and most hopeful sup- 
I)orters of Mr. Chiperfield, as well as his polit- 
ical enemies, it was declared that so varied and 
large a task was inipossiljle of accomplishment. 
The force, determination and influence of this 
young attorney was not yet fully appreciated. 
His convict bill passed the House by a unani- 
mous vote, and was so much desired and so far- 
reaching in its results that notice thereof was 
taken in all parts of the country. The United 
Mine Workers were able to tender him their 
hearty congratulations for the introduction and 
passage of the bill regulating the firing of shots 
in the mines — thus minimizing the danger from 
explosions; for increasing the death limit from 
$5,000 to $10,000, and making amendments to 
the mining laws. He also caused the passage 



of a bill in both House and Senate, making it 
unlawful for employers to compel men to re- 
main in their employ by withholding part of 
their wages; and he advocated and voted for 
more sanitary shops and better inspection, for 
the child labor law and free employment bureau. 
With Representative Lurton, of Morgan County, 
he presented a bill for the purpose of deducting 
from real estate for assessment, the amount of 
the mortgage thereon, which bill was defeated. 
Chairman Burgett, of the Committee on Reve- 
nues, admitting that it was right, but that such 
deduction would seriously affect the revenues 
of the State and were impracticable at that 
time. During the session Mr. Chiperfield was 
Chairman of the Committee on Penal and Re- 
formatory Institutions, a member of the Com- 
mittee on Corporations, on Fish and Game, on 
Judiciary and Judicial Apportionments, Mili- 
tary Affairs, Mines and Jlining, Railroads, 
Rules, and also was a member of the Republican 
Steering Committee. In addition he advocated 
other measures for the improvement of the 
condition of the toiler, and voted against the 
increase of salaries of members of the Legis- 
lature and State officers. 

The rare gift of eloquence, a splendid voice, 
a personal magnetism, the faculty of making 
people see through his eyes, and share his aims 
and enthusiasms, make Mr. Chiperfield one of 
the most effective public speakers in Fulton 
County and the State of Illinois. In his recent 
canvass for the Attorney-Generaiship of the 
State he presented his claims in vigorous fash- 
ion in more than seventy counties, winning the 
support of a generous following, and there is 
scarcely a county in the State, or a State in 
the Middle West, in which he has not spoken. 
Many of his addresses are notable in the annals 
of the locality where they occurred, as was that 
upon the anniversary of the birth of Abraham 
Lincoln, in Quincy, 111., a few years ago. Many 
members of the audience were battle-scarred 
veterans, and the orator charmed their ear, 
heart and mind, leaving them with renewed ap- 
preciation of the lofty grandeur of the man 
who had worked his way from the lowest to 
the highest American citizenship. He again 
was heard to great advantage in an opening 
address before the Illinois Press Association. 
A careful student of the facts and philosophies 
of existence, a close observer of the social and 
economic conditions, the repository of much 
of the general knowledge which has come down 
through the ages, he is at home before any 
audience, and invariably contributes to its in- 
terest and enlightenment. 

For years Mr. Chiperfield has been a mem- 
ber of the Board of Trustees of the Western 
Illinois State Normal School at Macomb. He 
is an appreciator of the moral and social ad- 
vantages to be derived from fraternal organiza- 
tions, and is a member of the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America, Eagles and Benevo- 
lent Protective Order of Elks. During the me- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



829 



morial services of the latter organization at 
the National Hotel, Peoria, he delivered an ad- 
dress which won him high encomiums from the 
general public, and from the brotherhood whose 
ennobling principles he had subscribed to tor 
so long a time. He was a possible candidate 
for Head Consul of the Order of Woodmen in 
1903, and the Cook County Woodmen, review- 
ing his career with intelligent interest, paid 
high tribute to his qualities of mind and heart. 
In 1895 Mr. Chiperfield established a home 
of his own, marrying Clara L. Ross, of Can- 
ton, and to this union a son and a daughter 
have been born. In the feverish arena of polit- 
ical preferment, with its accompaniments of 
antagonism, Jealousy, hate and bitterness; in 
the effort, professionally, to maintain order 
and method in a strenuous and overwrought 
age, it may be said of Mr. Chiperfield that he 
has kept faith with the people and with him- 
self, and has shown a singleness of purpose and 
clarity of ideals beyond the average thus richly 
endowed. His tendency is toward a simplicity 
of legal interpretation, and toward the estab- 
lishment of those conditions which deepen the 
channels of human brotherhood. His gifts for 
usefulness are stable and many-sided, and 
should carry their possessor tar. 

CHURCHILL, Eugene, a prominent, substan- 
tial and worthy farmer in Section 33, Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County, 111., was born 
October 14, 1S40, in Cattaraugus Caunty, N. Y., 
forty miles from Buffalo in that State. He is 
a son of Silas and Esther (Palmer) Churchill, 
natives of Vermont and New York respectively. 
The family is of Puritan stock. An uncle of 
Silas Churchill was, together was his father, a 
prisoner in the hands of the British during the 
Revolutionary War. Silas Churchill and his 
wife were the parents of the following named 
children: Dorliska, born December 14, 1S19, 
who married Charles Shei^wood (deceased) and 
died, leaving two children: Arvilla, born June 
14, 1S22, who was the wife of John Hull; Emil- 
ius, bom June 14, 1824, who was an Indian 
trader and was murdered for his money, his 
body being thrown into the Wisconsin River; 
Pimbrook, born April 22, 1826, now a resident 
of Webster, Mass.; Homer, born June 29, 1828, 
who served three years in a New York regi- 
ment during the Civil War; Elroy, now of 
Rochester, N. Y., born September 24, 1830, was 
a member of the First New York Dragoons in 
the Civil War, was wounded six times and still 
carries three rebel bullets in his body; Delos 
and DeForest, twins, bora October 14, 1832, the 
former of Michigan and the latter of New York; 
Cecelia, born May 16, 1835, a widow, of Buf- 
falo, N. Y., who first married a Mr. Braden and 
afterward a Mr. Cox; Octavia Goldthwaite, 
deceased, born August 3, 1837, formerly of 
Jamestown, N. Y., whose daughter, Nellie, is a 
teacher in a medical college near Webster, 
Mass., and Eugene. 

Silas Churchill, the father, was a self-made 



man, an inveterate reader and strong and facile 
writer. He was a resident of Buffalo. N. Y., 
when but three frame houses were to be seen 
in that city. He lived there at the outbreak 
of the War of 1812, but having his ankle bone 
removed could not enter the military service. 
He was for some time editor of the Angelica. 
In politics he was an old-line Whig and an ac- 
tive worker in the "Tippecanoe-and-Tyler-too" 
campaign. He died in Yorkshire, N. Y., about 
1886. riis widow married again but died about 
1844. 

Eugene Churchill received his education in 
the public schools of his native State and then 
worked with his brother, who was a house car- 
penter by trade, for two years. On February 
11, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, Ninth Regi- 
ment, New York Volunteer Cavalry, which was 
in Sheridan's command. His first engagement 
was in the battle of the Wilderness, where the 
Ninth was under fire for eight days. After the 
first fight, being sick and a raw recruit, he was 
taken to the hospital in Washington. He re- 
joined his regiment at Winchester and after 
participating in all its subsequent engagements, 
was mustered out at Alexandria, Va., and be- 
ing discharged at Buffalo, N. Y., returaed home. 
In 1866 he went from New York to Independ- 
ence, la., and about 1868 located in Fulton 
County, 111., first purchasing 170 acres and mov- 
ing to his present farm in 1869. 

On Thanksgiving day, 1888, Mr. Churchill 
was joined in marriage to Emily Arendale (nee 
Brown), widow of Thomas Arendale and a 
daughter of Francis R. and Nancy (Laws) 
Brown, the mother a native of Culpeper, Va., 
and the father of Kentucky. Mr and Mrs. 
Brown were married in 1844 and had the fol- 
lowing named children: Martin W., of Winfield, 
Kan., born November 28, 1S45; Rhoda A., born 
January 14, 1847, wife of L. D. Boyer. a farmer 
in Banner Township, Fulton County; George 
W., born June 21, 1849, a retired farmer, living 
in Canton, 111., and John (deceased), a twin of 
George W., born June 29, 1849. 

Martha E. Brown, the wife of Eugene Church- 
ill, was born July 7, 1855. Their union resulted 
in two children: Dorliska E.. born November 
10, 1889, and Theresa Marie, born January 1, 
1895. Mrs. Churchill, who in maidenhood was 
Emma Brown, was married April 16, 1878, at 
Cuba, 111., to Thomas A. Arendale. By this 
union was born October 14, 1879. one child. 
Myrtle, who died May 7, 1880. Mr. Arendale 
had been married before and left two children 
by his previous marriage: Theresa M. and 
John C. Theresa married Rev. H. H. McFall, 
resides at Biggsville, 111., and has two sons, 
and John C. lives on the old Brown homestead 
farm, having married Bertha E. Barnett and has 
two children, a son and a daughter. John C. 
Arundale, Mrs. Churchill's step-son, a sketch 
of whose life appears elsewhere in this work, 
made his home with the Churchill family af- 
ter the death of his mother until his marriage. 
Mrs. Churchill's father was born July 7, 1821, 



830 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



and died August 25, 1892. The mother, Nancy 
L. Brown, was born October 28, 1822, and died 
June 17, 1890. 

Mr. Churchill's farm consists of 170 acres, 
and by constant, systematic and intelligent care 
he has made it one of the most beautiful homes 
in the county. For many years he has been a 
breeder of Hereford cattle and roadster horses, 
as well as of fine Poland-China hogs. Numbers 
of fine animals have been turned from his stock 
and in numerous instances he has taken first- 
class prizes where fifty exhibitors were compet- 
ing. He is a public-spirited citizen and takes 
an active interest in the affairs of the town- 
ship and county. In him church and school 
have ever found a ready advocate and helper, 
and his time and means are freely given to the 
maintenance of the public welfare. 

In politics Mr. Churchill is an unswerving 
Republican and adheres with steadfast con- 
stancy to the principles enunciated by Abraham 
Lincoln. Fraternally he is affiliated with the 
G. A. R. and the Mutual Aid. His wife, daugh- 
ters and himself are all members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. 

CLARK, John. — Although the memory of the 
roar of cannon, of the glitter of bayonets and 
the pestilential surroundings of Southern pris- 
ons has been drowned somewhat in the later 
peace of agricultural pursuits, the three years' 
service of John Clark in the Civil War remains 
the paramount and most absorbing experience 
in the life of this honored soldier and farmer of 
Bernadotte Township. Mr. Clark is of early 
American ancestry, and his birth occurred in 
Belmont County, Ohio, May 29, 1S37. His par- 
ents, George W. and Rachel (Knock) Clark, 
were natives of Maryland, and were born March 
19, 1812, and October 24, 1812, respectively. The 
marriage of this couple occurred November 20, 
1834, and taey soon after settled in Belmont 
County, Ohio, coming to Fulton County, this 
State, in 1840. Mr. Clark bought a farm two 
miles southwest of Bernadotte, and in 1842 pur- 
chased another tract of land in Vermont Town- 
ship, from which he eventually retired to As- 
toria, where his death occurred at an advanced 
age. His wife died October 1, 1844. Of their 
children. Minerva was born November 9, 1835, 
and died August 31, 1850; John Clark, born as 
above stated; Ann E., born in 1839, and became 
the wife of David Sterling, of Pittsburg, Kans.; 
Thomas Willis and Wesley (twins), born May 
6, 1841; Sarah E., born September 20, 1843, died 
October 1, 1844. For his second wife George W. 
Clark married Elizabeth Traner, and of their 
union there were the following children: Sa- 
rah E., born July 11, 1845, the wife of Joshua 
Bucey, of Astoria; Rachel, born March 20, 1847, 
wife of Jacob Deering, of Astoria; Zachariah 
T., born December 1, 1848; William, born 
August 19, 1850, and died September 1, 1850; 
Abraham, born November 13, 1851, deceased; 



Henry is a farmer of Pleasant Township; and 
James, who is a farmer of Missouri. 

John Clark was three years old when he came 
to Fulton County with his parents. The nearest 
neighbor of the family was half a mile distant, 
and the next nearest lived three miles away. 
The early subscription schools afforded oppor- 
tunity to acquire the rudiments of education, 
and he remained at home until his marriage to 
Louise A. Trone, October 7, 1858. Mrs. Clark 
was born in York County, Pa., March 10, 
1839, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth 
(Dupez) Trone, Fulton County pioneers of 1853, 
the former of whom died in Woodland Town- 
ship in 1857, and the latter in 1889. The chil- 
dren of John Clark and his wife are as fol- 
lows: Mary E., born July 13, 1S59, wife of W. 
H. West, of Iowa; Sarah E. and Minerva J. 
(twins), born September lo, ISGl, died the day 
of their birth; Joseph W., born December 19, 
1865, a resident of Frederick, 111.; Louise A., 
born December 28, 1867, wife of Robert Quil- 
len, of Indiana; Elressa May, born May 29, 
1870, wife of Frank Rodgers, general merchant 
of Table Grove, 111.; Rebecca C, born Novem- 
ber 9, 1872, living at home; John H., born Au- 
gust 31, 1876; Simeon R., born November 22, 
1879; Sylvester R., born May 23, 1882. 

After his marriage Mr. Clark settled on eighty 
acres of land in Woodland Township, where his 
home was a log cabin, and his opportunity the 
hitherto uncultivated soil. Timber and Isrush 
had held undisputed sway over this land for 
unknown j'ears, and in clearing it his task ex- 
tended from sunrise to sunset. However, when 
the Civil War broke out he had succeeded in 
bringing a sort of rude order into his surround- 
ings, and a large part of his land was under 
cultivation. August 9, 1862, he enlisted at 
Quincy, 111., in (company b\ Eighty-fourth Illi- 
nois Volunteer Infantry, and from there was 
sent to Louisville, Ky., where the regiment as- 
sisted to drive the Confederate General Bragg 
to Wildcat, N. C. The regiment next partici- 
pated in the tiattles of Stone River and Chicka- 
mauga, and on September 20, 1863, Mr. Clark 
was captured by the rebels, sent to Richmond, 
Va., and thrown into Libby Prison, afterward 
being taken to Danville, where his prison menu 
included mule meat, being otherwise subjected 
to inhuman treatment. On April 14, 1864. he was 
transferred to Andersonville Prison, and thus he 
made the rounds of the most noted rebel pris- 
ons of the Civil War period. The inhimian 
treatment of the Union prisoners was further 
illustrated when, at the time of an expected 
bombardment of the city of Charleston by the 
Union forces, Mr. Clark and a number of his 
comrades were taken to tnat city and placed 
wiuiin the range of the Union guns for the pur- 
pose of warding off the attack. The scheme 
proved a failure, however, for when the bom- 
bardment began it was welcomed by the cheers 
of the Union prisoners, and the guns were 





l^lAyh-1 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



831 



turned upon the city, which was shelled to a 
finish. Afterward tlie prisoners were lined up 
and associated with yellow fever victims, that 
they might become inoculated and die, hut this 
effort to get them out of the way also failed. 
A doctor finally was sent in to parole the sick, 
and for every ten sick one well man was pa- 
roled. Mr. Clark bought his release for five 
dollars, and then returned to Charleston, and 
took boat for neutral waters. He finally reached 
home January 1, 1865, and after a rest of thirty 
days rejoined his regiment at Nashville, at the 
end of its service. The Eighty-fourth was a 
gallant body of men, and its ranks contained 
many heroes. Of its original 1,000 members, 
but 333 returned to their homes. 

After the war Mr. Clark continued to live in 
Woodland Township until 1869, in which year 
he made a trip to Kansas, with the expectation 
of possible settlement there. In 1870 he set- 
tled in Bernadotte Township, purchasing 160 
acres of land, eighty of which he subsequently 
disposed of. At the present time he has a com- 
fortable home and a well equipped farm, the res- 
idence and buildings being of his own construc- 
tion. The hard work of the farm has of ne- 
cessity been left to others, as ever since the war 
the returned soldier has carried around with 
him a resultant weakness, a perpetual reminder 
of the grim and terrible tragedy of the war pe- 
riod. With his wife he has been an active mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many 
years, and in politics is a stanch Republican. 
Mr. Clark is one of the most prominent mem- 
bers of the local Grand Army of the Republic, 
and it is useless to add that his are among the 
most interesting of the reminiscences of war- 
time which enliven the annual campfires. He is 
a man of sterling general worth, and his life 
has been tuned to industry, self-sacrifice and 
loyalty to his country and its interests. 

CLAUSON, Rutsor Y.— Upon the farm upon 
which he now lives in Joshua Township Rutsor 
Y. Clauson was born August 19, 1875, and here 
he has spent his entire life. The property bears 
many evidences of the industry and good man- 
agement of his father, Isaac A. Clauson, who, 
as a young man, journeyed from New Jersey in 
the early days and underwent the trials and 
discomforts of Illinois pioneering. While yet 
his competence was a matter of speculation 
solely he married Caroline Young, a native of 
Joshua Township, and with the aid of his young 
wife struggled to a position of financial and 
general importance in the community. 

Trained to agriculture from early youth, Rut- 
sor Y. Clauson attended the public schools and 
in time assumed the management of the farm 
of his father, to which he has added as oppor- 
tunity offered and now has 280 acres in Deer- 
field and Joshua Townships. He is engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising, and is an 
intelligent and progressive exponent of the best 
thus far achieved in his time honored calling. 
In politics he is a Democrat and in religion 



allied with the Dutch Reformed Church. Mr. 
Clauson renounced bachelorhood November 28, 
1900, marrying Jennie Patton, a native daugh- 
ter of Fairview Township, and born July 11, 
1880. In character and purpose Mr. Clauson 
sustains the reputation achieved by his father. 

CLAYBERG, S. S. — For a period of thirty- 
three years the health and sanitation of Avon 
have been safeguarded by the zeal and skill of 
Dr. S. S. Clayberg, who was born and reared 
and has spent his entire life within the bound- 
aries of Fulton County. Dr. Clayberg's youth 
was spent in Cuba, where his birth occurred 
January 5, 1838, the year after the ar- 
rival of his parents, George and Elizabeth 
(Baughman) Clayberg. The father was born on 
a farm in Pennsylvania and when he had ar- 
rived at a self-supporting age determined to cast 
his fortune with Ohio, which then had a widely 
scattered population. Energetic and economical, 
he saved more at farming than he spent, and 
in time married Elizabeth Baughman. who was 
born in the Buckeye State. Still possessed of 
the spirit of unrest, he gathered together his 
household belongings in the summer of 1837, 
and with a wagon and team drove across coun- 
try to Cuba, Fulton County, near which town 
he purchased land and engaged in farming and 
stock-raising on an increasingly large scale. 
This farm he developed from raw prairie into 
a fine and paying property, and it still is a val- 
ued possession of the family. Six children 
played around his fireside and added incentive 
and aim to his labor, and of these all but one 
is living. 

Notwithstanding the limited resources of his 
father. Dr. Clayberg secured excellent educa- 
tional advantages, studying in the public 
schools of Cuba, at the Michigan State Univer- 
sity, Ann Arbor, which he attended two years, 
and the Rush Medical College, Chicago, from 
which institution he graduated with the degree 
of M. D. Engaging in practice with Dr. Hull, 
of Cuba, in 1873, he came to Avon and stepped 
into the practice of Dr. Saunders, and about 
five years ago established a partnership with 
E. E. Davis. The Doctor is a member of the 
Military Tract Medical Association and is a fre- 
quent contributor to well known medical works 
throughout the country. 

On May 20, 1864, Dr. Clayberg was united In 
marriage to Sarah Belle Bowen, a native of 
Fairview, who died in 1870, leaving three chil- 
dren, of whom Sue Blanche is the life of F. W. 
Thompklns; William Harry is employed in one 
of the banks of Avon, and Louisiana is deceased. 
On June 22, 1875, Dr. Clayberg married N. Abi- 
gail Mings, of Fulton County, and the mother of 
a son, Jiles M. Dr. Clayberg is an ardent fra- 
ternalist and is connected with the Masons and 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows (Avon 
Lodge). The Doctor was made a Mason In 1865 
and is a member of Harmony Lodge (Avon), 
No. 350, A. F. & A. M.; Canton Chapter, No. 
68, R. A. M., and Galesburg Commandery, 



83^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



No. 68. Professionally he is esteemed by his 
fellow practitioners of whatever school, and the 
passing years have found him ever ready to 
add to his store of knowledge and in touch with 
the best thus far known of the science of 
healing. 

COBLEIGH, Francis Albion. — Belonging to that 
class of workers whose practical education, 
quick perceptions and great capacity for pains- 
taking industry have advanced them to posi- 
tions of business prominence formerly occupied 
by men many years their seniors, Francis Al- 
bion Cobleigh, while representing the vigorous 
and resourceful present of the Central West, 
gives promise of participating in its more en- 
lightened future, more especially of Canton, 
this county, where he is engaged In a well es- 
tablished real-estate, loan and insurance busi- 
ness. 

Mr, Cobleigh was born April 19, 1867, in Pekin. 
Tazewell County, 111., and comes of a family of 
cherished traditions and commendable pride in 
the character and ambitions of those bearing 
its name. At least four generations have pur- 
sued their avocations in the State of New 
Hampshire. There lived the paternal great- 
grandfather, who came presumably from Eng- 
land, and there was born in Chesterfield, Che- 
shire County, Erastus Cobleigh, the next in line 
of descent, who married Hannah Day, also of 
Chesterfield. Royal Erastus Cobleigh, the pa- 
ternal grandfather, was born in Chesterfield and 
married Mercy Gay, of Concord, Vt., and their 
son. Cordis R., the father of Francis Albion, 
was born in Lisbon, Grafton County, N. H. 
The mother of Mr. Cobleigh was formerly Mary 
V. Smith, daughter of William H. and Elizabeth 
Smith, the former a native of .lefferson County, 
Va., and the latter of Estell County, Ky. Mrs. 
Cobleigh's grandfather, Henry Smith, emigrated 
from Prussia, Germany, to Virginia, and there 
married Mar.v Frye, a native of the Old Do- 
minion. 

Primarily Mr. Cobleigh was educated in the 
public schools of Pekin and Peoria, 111., and 
eventually entered Knox College, at Galesburg, 
that State. His parents moved to Peoria in 
1880 and to Canton in 1889. He inaugurated 
his independent career as a clerk in a dry .goods 
house, and later was bookkeeper for a railroad 
construction company. He then followed farm- 
ing for one year and still later became the pro- 
prietor of a cigar manufactory. In 1893 he es- 
tablished a real estate, loan and insurance busi- 
ness, and since has engineered some of the most 
important real-estate transactions in this sec- 
tion. He is shrewd and far-sighted, has a thor- 
ough knowledge of city and town land values 
and is well posted as to the resources and ad- 
vantages at the disposal of people contemplat- 
ing settlement or change of location in Canton 
and vicinity. 

On .Tanuary 9, 1896, Mr. Cobleigh married 
Elizabeth Irene Plattenburg, a native of Can- 
ton and formerly a student in the public schools. 



Mr. Cobleigh is a stanch Republican, but thus 
far has taken no active interest in the local un- 
dertakings of his party. In religion he is a 
Universalist. A sincere appreciator of friends 
and the higher diversions of society, he is de- 
servedly popular in various local organizations, 
among them the Olive Branch Lodge, No. 15, 
I. O. O. F.; Lodge No. 54. K. of P.; Lodge No. 
62.!, B. P. O. E.; Order of the Eastern Star and 
I. O. R. M. He is a Mason of long standing and 
identified with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Shrine 
and Consistory. The business and social suc- 
cess of Mr. Cobleigh has been materially aided 
by that spirit of kindliness which makes the 
whole world kin, which appreciates merit in 
others, and which recognizes the value of tact 
and consideration in dealing with all the prob- 
lems of life. 

CODY, Patrick, a successful wholesale and re- 
tail liquor merchant of Canton, 111., was born 
in Cass County, 111., in 1857. a son of Walter 
Cody, a native of Ireland. The latter was a 
farmer by occupation, who came to the United 
States about the middle of the last century, com- 
ing to Illinois and settling in Cass County, 
and there he followed farming until the time 
of his death. In early youth Patrick Cody re- 
ceived his education in the common schools of 
Cass County, and after finishing his studies was 
employed for some time as a bartender in that 
locality. In 1893 he came to Fulton County, 
locating in Canton and working in a saloon 
between two and three years. Then he bought 
out the concern of ,1. Taylor, and has since con- 
ducted a wholesale and retail liquor business. 
For a while he acted in the capacity of Treas- 
urer of the Bartenders' Association of Canton. 
In his line of business he commands a remu- 
nerative trade. In fraternal circles Mr. Cody 
is identified with the Order of Eagles. 

COLEMAN, Amasa Landon (deceased), whose 
life was cons|)icuously indentified with the agri- 
cultural development of Fulton County, III., dur- 
ing the early history of that region, and who 
was among the most prominent of the pioneer 
toilers who left the impress of their strong 
character upon the growth of the new settle- 
ment, was born in Hackettstown, N, J., Octo- 
ber 2, 1821, a son of John and Elizabeth (Pool) 
Coleman. The former was a native of New 
.lersey and the latter born in France, coming 
with her parents to America durin.g the French 
Revolution. .John Coleman, who traveled over- 
land from New Jersey to Illinois in 1S19. con- 
veying in eight wagons his household furnish- 
ings, a stock of merchandise and a large fam- 
ily, to Canton, Fulton County, was second to 
none of the jjrimitive settlers in the influence 
which he wielded during the formative pro- 
cesses which laid the foundation for a pros- 
perity then hidden from mortal ken. His stur- . 
dy and self-reliant character was manifest in 
the bringing with him in his venturesome, te- 
dious and difficult journey to a far-away semi- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY 



833 



wilderness, twelve of his family of fourteen chil- 
dren, the other two remaining amid the scenes 
of comfort and refinement surrounding their 
Eastern home. A portrayal of the life of this 
indomitable representative of the pioneer ele- 
ment in Western Illinois appears in an ad- 
joining section of this volume. 

In early youth Amasa L. Coleman, who was 
two years old when his parents brought him to 
the West, attended the subscription school in 
the vicinity of his home in Fulton County and 
afterward completed his education in the Can- 
ton College. He was an apt student and keen 
observer, and possessed superior qualifications. 
His first experience in work after finishing his 
scholastic training was as manager of his fa- 
ther's estate in behalf of his mother. This es- 
tate was very large, including many hundred 
acres of land near Canton. At one time the 
Coleman family owned large tracts of land ad- 
joining the town of Canton, John Coleman, the 
head of the family, having purchased at an 
early period seven quarter-sections in one body. 
After the estate was distributed among the heirs 
Amasa L. Coleman devoted his attention to ag- 
ricultural pursuits for the remainder of his 
life. He was a man of stalwart form, fine physi- 
cal proportions and rugged physique. Possessed 
of sterling traits of character, his career was, 
in an eminent degree, useful to those about him, 
and serviceable to the interests of the commu- 
nity. Although slow to form friendships, hav- 
ing once formed them he was true and stead- 
fast in friendly attachment. His was a busy 
life, but he occasionally found time for recrea- 
tion, and made several visits to the Eastern 
States. He was kind to the needy and contrib- 
uted freely to charitable institutions. His re- 
ligious inclinations favored the Presbyterian 
Church, but he was a liberal supporter of all 
denominations. Politically he was a Democrat, 
entertaining, however, no desire for public of- 
fice. As a man and as a citizen he enjoyed the 
respect and confidence of all classes of people, 
and his death, which occurred February 6, 1S90, 
was deeply lamented. He left a valuable estate 
for his children. 

The marriage of Amasa I^. Coleman took place 
in what is now Banner Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, on February 3, 1S50, when he was wedded 
to Mary Fidler, a daughter of George and Mary 
(Storms) Fidler, who was born on a farm in 
the vicinity of Sandusky, Ohio. Her father 
was a native of Maryland and her mother of 
Virginia, where the family were slaveholders. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fidler were married in Virginia, 
whence they moved to Ohio, and thence to Ful- 
ton County, 111., where they settled about the 
year 1S26, 

Three children resulted from the union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Coleman, namely: George F., who 
resides with his sister, Mrs. Roberts, in Can- 
ton, 111.: Elizabeth, widow of A. L. Roberts, of 
that place, and Josephine, wife of John Pensin- 
ger, also of Canton. The mother of this family 
died July 18, 1878. She was a woman of strong 



common sense and sound business judgment, 
and distinguished by noble traits of character. 
In graces of mind, purity of heart and devo- 
tion to duty, she was a typical representation of 
that most admirable boay of pioneer wives who 
so loyally sustained their resolute and daunt- 
less husbands amid the privations and perils 
of the early Western settlements. 

COLEMAN, Charles T.— Thirty-nine years of 
association with the insurance business in Can- 
ton has established for Charles T. Coleman a 
reputation for ability, resource and unflagging 
industry. He is one of the captains of success 
who have piloted their own craft to harbor. In 
his many varieties of experience he has served 
his country as a soldier and the rising genera- 
tion as an educator, and out of all his struggles 
has evolved the belief that hard work rarely ■ 
injures anyone and honesty always pays. 

Mr. Coleman was born November 4, 1840, in 
Victory, Cayuga County, N. Y., a son of Charles 
and Delana (Cosgrove) Coleman, natives of 
Vermont. Charles Coleman, Sr., who was born 
June 5, 1810, moved while very young with his 
parents to Pennsylvania and at the age of nine 
years went to live in the State of New York. 
In 1870 he joined his son and namesake in Can- 
ton and died there February 15, 1899. at the 
age of almost eighty-nine years. His wife, who 
was born October 2.5, 1815. died in Canton March 
8, 1901. Charles T. Coleman was educated in 
the public schools and at the Red Creek Acad- 
emy, in New York, thereafter engaging in edu- 
cational work for three years, and in June, ISfil, 
graduating from Eastman's Commercial College, 
in itochester, N. Y. His life passed without par- 
ticular incident until the breaking out of the 
Civil War, when, on August 10, 1801, at the age 
of twenty-one he enlisted in Company B, Sev- 
enty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, under 
the first call for troops after the first battle of 
Bull Run. He participated in nearly all of the 
important engagements u|i to June 14. 1863, 
when at Port Hudson, La., he lost his right arm 
and in consequence received his honorable d's- 
chargp from the service September 2d, fol- 
lowing. 

Coming to Canton in April, 1865, Mr. Charles 
T. Coleman during the following year became 
i'lentifipd with the insurance business with C. T. 
Hnald. remaining 'n that capacity for fourteen 
years, in 1880 purchasing the busines outright 
from the former owner. In the meantime he 
has taken a keen intei-esf in many phases of 
community life, is socially prominent and is 
,n stanch supporter of the nrinciples of the Re- 
publican party, Closely identified with Grand 
Army affairs, he has been Quartermaster of 
Post No. 69 for several years. Commander of 
the same two terms and has also served as its 
Chaplain and Senior Vice-Commander of the 
Department of Illinois. The marriage ceremonv 
of Mr. Coleman and Adeline Murphy was sol- 
emnized January 22, j.865, and of this union 
there were two children: Lyman M. and Min- 



834 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



nie L. Mrs. Coleman, whose death a host of 
friends was called upon to mourn March G, 19i.j, 
was a daughter of John Murphy, who came to 
this country from Ireland with his parents 
when nine years old. Her mother was formerly 
Rebecca Clay, On March 12, 1907. the subject of 
this sketch was united in marriage as his sec- 
ond wife with Mrs, Ida M. Blakemore, of Can- 
ton, III. 

Mr. Coleman is one of the best known insur- 
ance men in this part of the State and few have 
a more comprehensive knowledge of the busi- 
ness. Through tact, fair representation and 
business integrity he has won the confidence 
of the community, a valuable asset indeed, and 
one which assures a continuation of his pres- 
ent prosjierity. 

COLEMAN, James E., M. D.— The most en- 
lightened tenets of medical and surgical science 
find expression in the career of Dr. James E. 
Coleman, a general practitioner of Canton, this 
county, since the summer of 1884, a leading 
and progressive factor in many of the foremost 
medical associations in the country and a potent 
influence in securing to the children of Canton 
the best possible educational opportunities. Dr. 
Coleman's professional ambitions unfolded on 
the farm near Canton, where he was born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1863. He is of English-French and 
Geriiian descent, a son of Ezra P. Coleman, who 
was born at Hackettstown, Warren County, N. 
J., in 1818, and grandson of John Coleman, 
born on Schooley's Mountain, also in New Jer- 
sey. John Coleman married a daughter of 
France. Sarah (Beard) Coleman, mother of 
James E., was born in Virginia and was of Ger- 
man parentage. 

The success of Dr. Coleman cannot be attrib- 
uted to exceptional educational or professional 
advantages. He attended the district school in 
the country and graduated from the high school 
in Canton, thereafter entering Rush Medical 
College, Chicago, from which he was duly grad- 
uated in February, 1884. In 1887 he was united 
in marriage to Nettie Porter, a native of Can- 
ton and a graduate of the high school. Of this 
union there is a son, Everett P. Coleman. Dr. 
Coleman is a member of the Fulton County 
Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical So- 
ciety, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and 
the American Medical Society, and he has long 
been connected with the Military Tract Medical 
Society, of which he has served as President. 
His interest in education is second only to his 
interest in the art of healing. For several years 
he has been a member of the Board of Educa- 
tion and was for a time President of that body, 
and his insistence upon discarding old-time 
methods has been largely responsible for Its 
present high standard of instruction. 

Dr. Coleman is social in his tendencies, and 
out of his busy life finds time for the relaxa- 
tions and diversions which rest the mind and 
invigorate the body. He is fraternally connect- 
ed with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Masons, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen 



of America and the Independent Order of Elks. 
Professionally he belongs to the emanci- 
pated class whose mind is open to light, 
and who sanction the beliefs of the past 
only so far as they are in harmony with the 
greater progress and enlightenment of the pres- 
ent. He takes time to investigate the new order 
of things, and has the breadth of mind to judge 
wisely yet conservatively. One might say that 
a great capacity for painstaking constitutes one 
of his chief mental assets, as well as a genuine 
liking for the enormous amount of work en- 
tailed by his supreme allegiance to a fascinating 
and inexhaustible science, 

COLEMAN, John (deceased), whose acuteness, 
foresight, tact and tenacity of purpose made 
him one of the most successful among the pio- 
neer merchants, millers, tavern-keepers and 
farmers of Fulton County, 111,, was a native 
of New Jersey, where he was born in 1772. In 
early youth John Coleman attended the public 
schools convenient to his home, and, on reach- 
ing manhood, applied himself to merchandis- 
ing, in which pursuit he was successful. After 
conducting a store for some years in his na- 
tive State, and rearing a large family there, he 
became possessed of a strong desire to try his 
fortune in what was then known as the "Far 
West." Therefore, in the fall of 1819, he made 
his way westward, traveling overland to Illi- 
nois, at that period the frontier. The journey 
was accomplished with five wagons, in which 
were conveyed groceries, dry goods, etc., pur- 
chased in New York City, Besides his assort- 
ment of merchandise, he brought a considerable 
equipment of household furnishings, and a fam- 
ily consisting of his wife and twelve children, 
two children being left in New Jersey. He 
settled in the town of Canton, Fulton County, 
first occupying a log house which stood on the 
site of the present N. B. Childs Block, on Wood 
Street. There he displayed and sold his goods, 
not arranging them on shelves for sale over a 
counter, but picking them out as needed from 
bales and other receptacles stowed under the 
beds of the dwelling. With the exception of a 
few neighbors, his customers were Indians, of 
whom it was not an infrequent occurrence to 
have as many as 200 on certain occasions wait- 
ing to be served. Before settling in Canton, 
Mr. Coleman had bought seven quarter-sections 
of land in one body, and on a portion of this he 
put up a building, about the year 1829, for 
which he obtained a tavern license. The place 
was named the "Travelers' Rest," and no house 
in the Military Tract was better known to men 
traveling in that region. On his farm he kept 
a grocery and had some other merchandise for 
sale until the memorable storm of 1835 demol- 
ished the storeroom, and a large number of 
cloaks and Mackinaw blankets in his stock were 
scattered broadcast over the prairie. One of 
Mr. Coleman's various enterprises was a "band 
mill," established by him just north of Fair- 
view (Fulton County) bridge, which was noted 
in that locality for making haste — and meal — 





^^^~^c^f\^ (Jf ^p ViA.^u^ 




^^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



835 



slowly. It was said that its running was so 
slow that the clogs were in the habit of chew- 
ing the bands "in two" while the mill was 
grinding a grist. Mr. Coleman was essentially 
a trading man, and possessed a rare faculty 
for profitable bargaining. As a result of his 
sagacity and sound judgment he acquired what 
in those times was considered a fortune, and 
left a considerable estate to his children, each 
member of his numerous family being the re- 
cipient of a substantial inheritance. 

Mr. Coleman was united in marriage in early 
manhood with Elizabeth Pool, who was a native 
of France. The offspring of their union was, as 
before stated, fourteen children. The father 
of this family was possessed not only of a 
strong mind, but, in physical capacity, was a 
man of extraordinary power. He died in May, 
1835, at the age of sixty-three years, leaving 
to his posterity a record as one of the most 
remarkable characters among the pioneer set- 
tlers of Fulton County. 

COLEMAN, N. J., who has been industriously 
engaged in farming in Canton Township. Ful- 
ton County, 111., since lie reached the age of 
maturity, and is well and favorably known to 
all its residents, was born in that township in 
1863, a son of William and Esther J. (Law- 
rence) Coleman, natives, respectively, of Fulton 
County and the State of New Jersey. He was 
reared to agricultural pursuits, spending his 
youth on his father's farm, and attending the 
district schools of the vicinity in boyhood. 
When twenty-one years old he began farming 
on his own responsibility in Section 10, Canton 
Township, where he then had sixty acres of 
land, and where he subsequently bought twenty 
acres more. On this place he has made all the 
present improvements. Besides carrying on a 
general line of farming, he devotes consider- 
able attention to the raising of stock. 

In 1884 Mr. Coleman was united in marriage 
with Rosetta Tyler, born in Peoria County, 111., 
and a daughter of James Tyler, a farmer of 
Fulton County, and a native of the State of 
Maryland. Two children resulted from this 
union, namely: Earl and Lena. Fraternally 
Mr. Coleman is identified with the M. W. A. 
and the I. O. O. F. He is a thorough and care- 
ful farmer, and a man of upright character. 
Mr. Coleman is a brother of S. L. Coleman, a 
sketch of whom appears on another page of this 
work. 

COLEMAN, S. L., an energetic, prosperous and 
progressive farmer of Canton Township, Ful- 
ton County, 111., and a member of one of the 
favorably known pioneer families of that re- 
gion, was born in that township in 1858, a son 
of William and Esther J. (Lawrence) Coleman, 
the former a native of Fulton County, and the 
latter of the State of New Jersey. William 
Coleman's father was a New Yorker by birth. 
The grandfather Coleman left his native State 
for the West at a very early period, and com- 
ing to Illinois settled in the township where 



his son and grandson have followed him in 
agricultural pursuits. He maae the journey to 
his destination partly by water, and the re- 
mainder of the way by wagon. After locating 
in Fulton County he broke up a tract of prairie 
land with oxen and making on it the necessary 
improvements, there applied himself to the cul- 
tivation of the soil. He possessed the sturdy 
qualities characteristic of the pioneer settler, 
and bore his full share in developing that part 
of the country from its primitive state to a 
productive and populous center of activity, and 
thus his industrious and persevering career was 
finally terminated by death. His son, William 
Coleman, was born in Canton Township in 
1827, and there he followed farming throughout 
his active life. His first purchase of land con- 
sisted of 160 acres lying three miles north of 
Canton, 111., which he improved in a thorough 
manner. He was engaged in farming and stock- 
raising on this property until 1896. when he re- 
tired from his labors. He is still the owner of 
520 acres in Canton Township. His life has 
always been marked by the same sterling quali- 
ties manifest in his father's course, and he is 
greatly respected by all who know him. By 
his union with Esther J. Lawrence he became 
the father of seven children. 

S. L. Coleman, the immediate subject of this 
sketch, was reared on the paternal farm, and in 
early youth enjoyed the advantages of the pub- 
lic schools in the vicinity of his home. His 
whole life has been devoted to farming, and in 
this pursuit he has met with deserved success. 
He has inherited the industry, tenacity of pur- 
pose and frugality of his worthy progenitors, 
which are apparent in the successful results 
attending his farming operations. In 1894 
he bought eighty acres of land of Thomas Page, 
and eighty acres more belonging to Frank Al- 
ward. On this 160-acre tract he makes his 
home, and is busied in tilling the soil. Mu.ch of 
his time is devoted to raising cattle, sheep and 
hogs. He is a farmer of up-to-date methods, 
and is very thorough in his work. In 1887 Mr. 
Coleman was united in marriage with Nellie 
Herbert, who was born in Fulton County. They 
are the parents of one son, Guy. 

COLLIER, Frank T., proprietor of a clothing 
and gents' furnishing store at Ipava and a lead- 
ing citizen, was born in that village July 7, 1867, 
a son of William T. Collier, whose sketch will 
be found elsewhere in this work. Frank spent 
his early life on a farm and in attending the 
public schools. In 1882 he accompanied his 
father to Arkansas, assisting him, as in Fulton 
County, in his agricultural operations, and in 
1889, when the elder Collier established a cloth- 
ing store at Stuttgart, Ark., Frank was placed in 
active charge of it. Until 1890 he successfully 
conducted the business, when it was sold and 
the young man resumed farming. 

Mr. Collier continued in his old-time avoca- 
tion until 1894, and on December 26th of that 
year was united in marriage with Ethel C. 
Chaney, a daughter of Col. R. C. Chaney, a Con- 



836 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



federate Colonel and for many years a promi- 
nent citizen and member of tlie Louisiana State 
Legislature and a State Senator, Sheriff and 
County Judge in Arkansas. Mrs. Collier died 
August 15, 1895, and in 1899 the husband re- 
turned to Ipava. At first he embarked in the 
hay-baling and pressing business, continuing 
thus engaged until 1902, when, in partnership 
with his uncle, he established a clothing and 
gents' furnishing store. Shortly afterward Mr. 
Collier purchased his uncle's interest and has 
since conducted the business alone and devel- 
oped it to a most suostantial and prosperous 
state. 

On April 2, 1905, Frank T. Collier was mar- 
ried to Nellie LeHow, of Vermont Township, 
111., and a daughter of the late John LeHow. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the K. of P. and 
M. W. A., is a member of the City Council of 
Ipava and a leading Democrat in that locality. 
His courtesy, geniality and ability to "furnish 
the goods" have made him one of the most 
prominent business men of his section, and his 
enterprise and public spirit stamp him as a pro- 
gressive citizen with a bright and a broad fu- 
ture before him. 

COLLIER, William T. (deceased).— While 
many worthy civilian efforts have character- 
ized the usefulness of 'William T. Collier, it is, 
perhaps, as a soldier of the Union that those 
nearest and dearest to him like best to remem- 
ber him. Certain it is that the traits of cour- 
age and faithfulness with which Mr. Collier was 
so richly endowed, found no more certain av- 
enue of expression than in the great Rebellion, 
where freedom for slaves and unity of govern- 
ment were purchased at the frightful sacrifice 
of 050.000 lives. As were the great majority 
who came to the rescue of their country in its 
dire necessity, Mr. Collier was following the 
dull routine of the farm, and his life up to that 
time had known little deviation from the strict 
fulfillment of home duty, interspersed by irregu- 
lar attendance at the district schools. His fam- 
ily had pioneered Fulton County many years 
previous, and it was in his boyhood that his 
father settled in Bernadotte Township, follow- 
ing the removal of the family from Uniontown, 
Favette County, Pa., where the lad was born 
in 'lS44. 

Under the first call for troojjs after the bat- 
tle of Bull Run in July. 1861, Mr. Collier enlist- 
ed in Company F, Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, and was mustered into service Octo- 
ber 31. 18G1. The company was originally a 
part of the Douglas Brigade, recruited princi- 
pally from the young farmer population of Ful- 
ton, McDonough, Grundy, La Salle, De Kalb, 
Kane and Winnebago Counties. The company 
participated in thirty-one battles, including Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth. Antietam, the second 
Bull Run. "^'orktown. Fredericksburg and Mur- 
freesboro, and was 128 days under continuous 
fire. It traveled 11,965 miles, o( which 3,240 
miles were actually marched on foot. At the 
expiration of his three years' enlistment Mr. 



Collier returned to Ipava, and when the call 
for troops was issued December 19, 1864, for 
100,000 men he enlisted in Company D, One 
Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, organized at Quincy, 111., and was mus- 
tered into service February 23, 1865. The regi- 
ment proceeded at once to Nashville, Tenn., 
thence to Dalton, Ga., and was stationed at 
Kingston, that State, when General 'Warfield 
surrendered 12,000 Confederate soldiers to 
Colonel French B. Woodall, of the One Hun- 
dred and Fifty-first. The regiment, after garri- 
son and guerilla duty, was ordered to Colum- 
bus, Ga., where it was mustered out January 
24, 1860, and at Springfield, 111., was paid in 
full and discharged from duty February 8, 1860. 
Throughout the four years of his service Mr. 
Collier gave to his country the best that was 
in him, patiently enduring the long march, in- 
adequate quarters and insufficient food, and 
tendering innumerable kindly services to less 
fortunate comrades-at-arms. 

During August, 1800, Mr. Collier was united 
in marriage to Caroline Ball, a native of Ohio, 
and soon after settled on a farm which he oc- 
cupied until 1869. Prom then until 1S71 he 
lived in Kansas, but not realizing his expecta- 
tions in that State, returned to Ipava, and in 
1876 located in Lewistown, 111., where he held 
the office of City Marshal until, resigning the 
position, he returned to Ipava in 1878. He then 
opened a meat market and in connection with 
its management served as Deputy Sheriff of 
Fulton County under Major D. J. Waggoner un- 
til 1882. He then returned to the West, locat- 
ing in Arkansas, where he engaged extensively 
in general farming and stock-raising until his 
health failed in 1900. In order to regain his 
health Mr. Collier went to Hot Springs. Ark., 
but finding no relief visited his son in Scott 
County, 111., where his death occurred Septem- 
ber 15, 1900. Mr, Collier is survived by his 
wife, who lives with her son, Frank T.. in li)ava. 
and who, notwithstanding many mile-ijosts of 
existence, enjoys excellent health and retains 
undiminished interest in the affairs of the 
younger generation. Besides Frank T.. her old- 
est born, there is Daniel B., of Gillett, Ark.; 
Edwin D., a carpenter and builder of Winches- 
ter, 111.: William D.. a farmer of Arkansas: 
Harry H., a locomotive fireman on the Cotton 
Belt Railroad, and F"'red E., a merchant of Gil- 
lett. Ark. 

COLTER, Hugh R., the first County Clerk of 
Fulton County, came to Lewistown about the 
time of the organization of the county in 1823, 
also serving by appointment as Clerk of the 
first Circuit Court. Mr. Colter has the reputa- 
tion of being the second lawyer in Fulton 
County, his admission to the bar taking place 
in 1825, while, according to "The Bench and 
Bar of Illinois," E. T. Warren, an attorney 
from Maine, located at Lewistown in 1824. re- 
maining there about four years. After retiring 
from office Mr. Colter engaged in teaching for a 
time, but later removed to Grant County, Wis., 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



837 



where he served as County Judge and where 
he died in 1876. 

COMSTOCK, Frank I., a well-known attorney- 
at-law of Lewistown. Fulton County, 111., who 
is also successfully engaged in the real-estate 
business, was born in Vans Valley, Ohio, De- 
cember 16, 1871. He is a son of Leander and 
Catherine (Sigler) Comstock, the former a na- 
tive of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. Leander 
Comstock. who was a farmer by occupation, lo- 
cated at Lewistown in 1892 and lived a retired 
life, dying in 1S99. 

Frank I. Comstock spent his boyhood on his 
father's farm and enjoyed the advantages of 
the district schools. At the age of seventeen 
years he entered the Central Normal College of 
Ohio, from which he graduated with the class 
of 1891. On coming to Illinois in 1S92 he was 
engaged in teaching for five years, and during 
this period also applied himself to the study 
of law, being admitted to the bar in 1898. Of 
twenty-three applicants when he passed the ex- 
amination but three were admitted, a fact which 
attests to the thoroughness of his preparation. 
In the year last mentioned he established him- 
self in the practice of law in Lewistown, and 
since then has acquired a lucrative practice. 
In addition to this he deals in real estate and 
makes mortgage loans. He bears an excellent 
reputation as an able lawyer, an upright man 
and a useful citizen. 

On December 24, 1898, Mr. Comstock was 
united in marriage with Rachael Manley, a 
daughter of Jacob Manley, who was in his life- 
time one of the leading citizens of McDonough 
County. Politically Mr. Comstock gives his 
support to the Republican party. 

CONE, Merritt H., County Treasurer of Fulton 
County. 111., and one of the most successful 
stockman in this section of the State, comes 
of a pioneer family which is very prominent in 
connection with the historj' of Farmington. He 
was born in Farmington Township himself, on 
the 29th of August, 1861, the son of Henry 
and Mar-y (Eggleston) Cone. In 1833 Henry 
Cone came to Fulton County with his father, 
Joseph, the grandfather of the County Treas- 
urer. The Eastern home of the family had 
been in Harwinton, Conn., not far from Farm- 
ington, that State, and when its members lo- 
cated in the new, unformed and partially un- 
named Western country, and learned that an- 
other township was to be organized which em- 
braced their homestead, they induced the Gov- 
ernment authorities to call it Farmington, in 
honor of the village near the birthplace of Jo- 
seph Cone. Naturally, both father and son took 
great pride in the progress of the town of 
Farmington, to which they donated $2,000 for 
the construction of the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad to that place, as well as a 
beautiful little park, which is a feature of 
the locality. 

.Joseph Cone, the grandfather, was one of the 



most uncompromising Abolitionists in Illinois. 
He was a vigorous supporter of all public en- 
terprises, a firm believer in Congregationalism, 
and in all his opinions and actions a positive, 
honest man. He was instrumental in organiz- 
ing the Congregational Church at Farmington, 
and both religious and educational movements 
always found in him a warm and helpful friend. 
As an individual he was charitable, and ever 
ready to assist those in trouble who were hon- 
estly exerting themselves to the best of their 
abilities. Henry Cone, the father, inherited 
and absorbed from Joseph his anti-slavery pro- 
clivities, and joined the Republican party" upon 
its organization in 18.56. He actively partici- 
pated in local politics, and soon became a lead- 
er in his township. Not only did he loyally 
support the party until his death, but to the 
extent of his strength and means firmly up- 
held all movements which seemed for the good 
of the community in which he had been strong- 
ly influential for so many years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cone were the parents 
of six children, viz.: Sophia, widow of William 
Field, residing in Los Angeles, Cal. ; Jennie, 
wife of Silas Hays, of the same city: Nellie, 
living at Grinnell, la.; Luther, who is on the 
old farm near Farmington; Margaret Alsbury, 
a resident of Chicago; and Merritt H., the 
youngest of the family 

Merritt H. Cone received that training which 
has produced so many stalwart men — the com- 
bined discipline of the farm and the common 
school. After graduating from the public 
schools at Farmington, in 1878, he entered Lake 
Forest University, and advanced to the Sopho- 
more year with the class of 1883. But feeling 
that his career lay in the activities of prac- 
tical life, he left college and devoted himself, 
with characteristic energy and ability, to agri- 
cultural pursuits, gradually concentrating all 
his efforts into the raising and selling of live- 
stock. For twenty years he engaged in these 
lines and finally became recognized as an au- 
thority and a marked example of the profitable 
nature of the business, when properly managed. 
In later years he was a member of the widely 
known firm of Steenburg & Cone, stock dealers, 
feeders and shippers. He had reached this 
position in the business field, when called to 
his important public duties in connection with 
the County Treasurership, which required even 
a higher order of ability, based, however, upon 
the same qualities of coolness, sound judgment 
and ceaseless vigilance which had brought him 
success in his private affairs. 

Although a stalwart Republican and a de- 
scendant of old Whig stock, with political in- 
clinations implanted in his very blood, Mr. Cone 
did not become active in politics until 1899. 
In that year he became a Central Committee- 
man from Farmington Township. In 1900 he 
was elected Supervisor by a good majority, and 
by his careful and energetic administration of 
that office both satisfied his constituents and 
broadened his experience and abilities, so that 



838 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



he was admirably adapted to assume higher 
public sei-vice. Although the Fulton County 
Board of Superisors was Democratic, his good 
judgment, business prudence, practical meth- 
ods and unprejudiced care in guarding the pub- 
lic interests promptly won him the hearty rec- 
ognition of his co-workers, irrespective of party. 
In this capacity he proved not only that he 
possessed abilities of high administrative or- 
der which were capable of indefinite expan- 
sion, but that they were accompanied by abso- 
lute trustworthiness — an ideal combination for 
the character of the public servant. This com- 
bination is more than ever necessary when 
the public official is to be entrusted with the 
keeping of the people's funds. In Mr. Cone's 
case the logical outcome was his nomination 
to the County Treasurership by the Republican 
party, and his decisive election to the position. 
The supporters he had gained on the strength 
of his record as Supervisor, added to the nu- 
merous friends he had made in the course of 
his business travels throughout the county, 
made his majority noteworthy in the annals of 
sectional politics: and he was paid the greatest 
compliment possible by receiving in his own 
township the largest majority ever given to 
any candidate for political office. Since his tri- 
umphant election in 1902 Mr. Cone has cen- 
tered all his energies and abilities in the con- 
duct of the office to which he was so decisively 
called, and in a broader field is repeating his 
previous record of an unpartisan, business-like 
record of public administration. As he is still 
in the youth of middle age, there are doubtless 
even broader opportunities awaiting him. Al- 
though he has met with marked success in both 
his private and public relations, he is genial 
and unassuming in his manner, but prompt and 
direct in his dealings, and these elements of 
popularity and business-like conduct constitute 
the prime qualities of his strength. 

Merritt H. Cone was united in marriage with 
Mary Jack, a daughter of Matthew Jack, one of 
the honored pioneers of Farmington Township. 
They are the parents of four children — Harry, 
Mara, Roy and Reta. Mrs. Cone is a member 
of the Presbyterian Church. 

COOK, Charles A., a successful building con- 
tractor of Fairview, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in that town in October, 1861. His father, 
Charles L. Cook, and his mother, Ann (Rich- 
ardson) Cook, first made their home in Fair- 
view in 18-51. The former came to this country 
from Germany early in life, and the latter was 
a native of the State of New Jersey. Charles 
L. Cook conducted a cabinet maker s and wagon 
maker's shoj) for some time after his arrival, 
and subsequently devoted his attention to con- 
tracting and carpenter work. rie was an 
honest, well disposed and industrious man, and 
did full justice to his patrons. His decease 
occurred in 1904. 

After finishing his schooling in Fairview 
Charles A. Cook learned the trade of a car- 



penter and has always continued in that oc- 
cupation in the place of his birth. He does a 
general contracting business and attends to all 
kinds of building. In this line he has been 
quite successful, and his services are in con- 
stant demand. He has contructed some of the 
best stores and residences in Fairview and its 
vicinity. His work bears the evidence of ex- 
ceptional skill, care and a diligent application 
to details, which have given him an excellent 
reputation and a profitable patronage. Besides 
his duties as a contractor Mr. Cook keeps a 
stock of builders' hardware, and also sells and 
installs hot air furnaces. In 1899 he erected 
the attractive and commodious residence which 
has since been his home. 

Mr. Cook was married in Canton, 111., in 1S82, 
to Elizabeth Hand, who was born in the vicinity 
of Canton. This union resulted in one child, 
Minnie J., who is with her parents. Fraternally 
Mr. Cook is identified with the A. F. & A. M. 
He is a frank, straightforward man, and en- 
joys the confidence and respect of his neigh- 
bors and of all who have dealings with him. 

COOK, Milton M. — A man of high intellectual 
attainments and of practical ability, Milton M. 
Cook, the present Superintendent of Schools of 
Fulton County and President of the Lewistown 
City Improvement Association, is a native of 
Fairview, Fulton County, born on the 9th of 
November, 1855, the son of Joseph and Mary 
Ann (Robinson) Cook. The subject of this 
sketch was educated in the public school of 
his native place and at Hedding College, Ab- 
ingdon, 111., and before being elected to the 
head of the county school system was a suc- 
cessful teacher, for fifteen years of that pe- 
riod serving as Principal of the Fairview 
school. His popularity as a Republican and as 
a man. and the value placed upon his services 
as an educator, are demonstrated by his prom- 
inent official record. 

Mr. Cook has been nominated five times for 
the office of County Superintendent of Schools 
— once on the first ballot with two opponents, 
and four times by acclamation — and four times 
has been elected by handsome majorities, and 
now, as an incumbent of the position in his 
fourth term, is acknowledged to be one of the 
leading educators of the State. He is also a 
Director of the Illinois State Teachers' Asso- 
ciation, a member of the Executive Committee 
of the Illinois Association of County Superin- 
tendents, and of the Central Illinois Teachers' 
Association, and Vice-President of the Military 
Tract Educational Association. Mr. Cook is 
a leader not only in the field of his profession, 
but his familiarity with the conditions and 
needs of Lewistown, with his natural initiative 
force, has brought him into prominence as an 
enterprising and pushing man of affairs, and 
as President of the City Improvement Asso- 
ciation he has been one of the strongest fac- 
tors in this section of the county identified with 
the general advancement of the public inter- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



839 



ests. His influence is also pronounced in con- 
nection witti tlie secret and benevolent orders, 
as he has been a presiding officer in the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Wood- 
men of America, Knights of Pythias and Court 
of Honor. 

On December 1, 1884, Mr. Cook was united 
in marriage to Miss Flora Spence, the cere- 
mony being performed at the home of the 
bride's parents at Lewistown. Mrs. Cook is a 
lady of rare intelligence and grace of character, 
and their marital happiness has been clouded 
only by the death of their children. 

COONS, J. H. — One of the most profitable 
mines in Fulton County is that operated by 
a company of which James C. Tate is President 
and principal owner, J. C. Slodin is Secretary 
and Treasurer, both of Galesburg, 111., and 
J. H. Coons, manager. The company has a four 
and a half-foot vein on an eighty-acre tract 
of leased land along the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, employ from ten to twenty 
men and mine about 100 tons of coal per day. 

J. H. Coons, who has held his present posi- 
tion for the past four years, is a practical coal 
miner of thirty years' experience. He was 
born in Fulton County, 111., in 1859, a son of 
Jonathan and Mary (Howard) Coons, natives 
of Ohio, and the latter a gold miner for many 
years of his life, subsequently turning his at- 
tention to farming. The elder Coons came to 
Fulton County in the beginning of the 'fifties 
and about 1856 made his way to the Pacific 
slope, where he became extensively interested 
In gold mining. Two years later he returned 
to his family in Fulton County, but in 1859 
again crossed the continent, this time to re- 
main on the Pacific coast fourteen years. He 
was fairly successful, and lived to an advanced 
age. His son, J. H., began to work at coal min- 
ing when seventeen years old, and now is one 
of the best informed coal miners m the State. 
He is a man of family, having married, in 1884, 
Eliza Bell Toomer, a native of Ohio, and daugh- 
ter of Richard Toomer, a farmer of both Ohio 
and Fulton County. To Mr. and Mrs. Coons 
have been born five children: Mrs. May Mor- 
ley, Lester, Mrs. Bessie Bailey, Gladys, living 
at home; and Virgil Doyle (the baby). 

COOPER, Andrew J., a retired farmer who 
was also engaged in the livery and feed busi- 
ness in Liverpool. 111., and a prominent citizen 
of Fulton County, was born in Cuba, that 
county, June 23, 1845, a son of Spencer and 
Mary (Swanigen) Cooper, natives of Kentucky 
and Ohio, respectively. Spencer Cooper moved, 
at an early period, from his home in Maysville, 
Ky., to Ohio, where he was married. About 
the year 1832 he removed to Illinois and settled 
in Cuba, Fulton County. He bought land in 
that vicinity and carried on farming there until 
1852. In that year he sold his farm and moved 
into the village of Liverpool, where he spent 



the remainder of his days, dying about the 
year 1880. His wife died in 1851 and was bur- 
ied in Cuba Cemetery. They were the parents 
of the following named children, besides An- 
drew J.: Jemima, widow of Jonathan Pol- 
litt, a resident of Canton, III.; Drusilla. widow 
of Jacob Huffman, a resident of Hannibal, Mo.; 
Eliza, widow of Levi Hill, who was a soldier 
in the Fifty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, and was killed in the Battle of Vicks- 
burg; George, who died at the age of thirty- 
five years; Elizabeth, deceased wife of John 
Peak; and Mary, wife of Hezekiah Schimfalch, 
of Canton, Fulton County. 

The subject of this sketch was reared to farm 
life, and received his early mental training in 
the district schools in the vicinity of his father's 
farm. In his youth he went to work for a 
farmer at $7 per month and continued thus 
until the outbreak of the Civil War. In the 
fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company I, Fifty- 
first Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, later 
was assigned to the Fifty-fifth Regiment and 
sent to Blue Springs, Tenn. He served in the 
Fifty-fifth Regiment until 1865 and was then 
transported from Texas to Springfield, 111., and 
there mustered out. He then returned to Ful- 
ton County and applied himself to farming. 
In 1867 he rented a farm in Section 13, Liver- 
pool Township, Fulton County, where he car- 
ried on farming for sixteen years. In 18S4 he 
sold out his stock, went to Harper County, 
Kans., and there bought eighty acres of land, 
on which he remained until 1888. in that year 
he returned to Fulton County and purchased 
the old WiUard Dickerman property, in the 
village of Liverpool, overlooking the Illinois 
River, and making an attractive home. Colonel 
Willard Dickerman was one of the pioneer set- 
tlers of Fulton County and commanding officer 
of the famous One Hundred and Third Illinois 
Regiment. 

On May 2, 1867, Mr. Cooper was united in 
marriage with Nancy A. Sleeth, a daughter of 
George ajid Jane Sleeth. This union resulted 
in three children, namely: Levi, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1869, who is at home; Nellie, born 
August 14, 1872, who is the wife of Henry Fos- 
ter, of Liverpool. 111., and has three children — 
Roscoe, Milburn and Andrew; and Earl, born 
October 8, 1879, who resides in Bloomington, 
111., and is a barber by trade. Mr. Cooper has 
been a resident of Fulton County for sixty 
years, and is one of the most favorably known 
men within its borders. He has always been 
closely identified with its best interests, and 
has been a leader in all enterprises tending to 
promote the public welfare. Fraternally Mr. 
Cooper is affiliated with Morning Star Lodge, 
No. 734, A. F. & A. M., of Canton. 

COOPER, Thomas, who is successfully engaged 
in the livery business in Canton, III., under the 
firm style of Cooper & McMahon, was born in 
England March 7, 1849, a son of Thomas and 



840 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Emma (Oglesby) Cooper, natives of that coun- 
try. The father died in England and his widow 
subsequently became the wife of George Jacli- 
son, coming to the United States shortly after 
that event, Thomas Cooper, who was in his 
sixth year when the family crossed the Atlan- 
tic, received his education in the public schools 
of Canton, 111., where they had established their 
home not long after arriving in America, and 
where the mother departed this life. Mr. Coop- 
er was engaged in various occupations until 
September, 18S0, when he entered into his pres- 
ent partnership. The firm with which he is 
identified is one of the best known and most 
prosperous in Fulton County, and their place 
is well equipped for this line of business. 

In July, 1884, Mr. Cooper was united in mar- 
riage with Maggie A. Turner, who was born 
in Fulton County, 111., and one child, Horace 
T., has been born to them. Mr. Cooper is a 
man of good practical judgment and has an 
excellent record in his sphere of effort. Fra- 
ternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. 

COYNER, C. E., who is successfully engaged 
in the grain and lumber trade at Middle Grove, 
Fulton County, 111., is a worthy representative 
of the younger business element of Fulton 
County. To a very considerable extent, it is 
this element in any community, especially out- 
side of the large cities, which infuses spirit 
and zest into the activities of the place. It is 
this element whose entrance upon the arena of 
active lite dates not farther back than the final 
quarter of the last centennial period, which 
monopolizes most of the vigor, zeal and push- 
ing energy which keejjs the nerves of the com- 
mercial world ramifying through all the lesser 
towns of the country, strung to the full tension 
of strenuous endeavor. A pronounced type of 
the class of tireless workers thus described, as 
applied to Fulton County, is the subject of this 
sketch. 

C. E. Coyner is a native of Astoria. 111., where 
he was born in 1872. His father, John B. 
Coyner, is of English nativity, while his mother, 
Ellen (Hettrich) Coyner, first saw the light 
in Astoria. John B. Coyner located in New 
Philadelphia, Fulton County, at an early period, 
and for several years was engaged in the oc- 
cujjation of a carpenter. He subsequently en- 
tered into the lumber trade at Astoria, III., in 
which he has since continued. He is a man of 
good business qualifications, devoting close at- 
tention to his affairs, and has met with merited 
success. 

The subject of this personal record obtained 
his early mental instruction in the public 
schools in the vicinity of his home, and some 
time after finishing his studies at Farmington. 
111., embarked in the grain and lumber trade 
at Havana, 111., where he remained for eight 
years, his labors being attended by successful 
results. In 1893 he sold out his interests in 
Havana and engaged in the same line of busi- 
ness in Middle Grove. His brother was al- 



ready in that business there, having entered 
it in 1899. He built a grain elevator, con- 
structed lumber sheds and an office, and 
equipped his plant with a gasoline engine. Mr. 
Coyner deals in all kinds of grain and all va- 
rieties of lumber and builders' supplies. He is 
an exceptionally enterprising young man and 
thoroughly competent in business transactions. 
The honesty of his dealings is fully recognized 
by his fellow townsmen, and, although his ad- 
vent in Middle Grove is of recent date, the pat- 
ronage which he has enjoyed presages a suc- 
cessful future. 

In March, 1892, Mr. Coyner was united in 
marriage with Mary Brock, who was born in 
Aledo, Mercer County, 111., and their union has 
been blessed with one daughter, Olga. Mr. 
Coyner is regarded on all sides as one of the 
rising business men of his section of the 
county. 

CRISSEY, Clarence S., a well-known resident 
of the village of Avon. Fulton County, 111., who, 
in connection with his father, is extensively 
and successfully engaged in the lumber trade in 
that locality, was born in Avon on December 
30, 1867. He is a son of Oliver and Margaret 
( McGowan) Crissey, natives of Connecticut, who 
were the parents of four children, as follows: 
Herbert G.; Clarence S.; Edith C; and Harold 
R. (A sketch of the life of Oliver Crissey may 
be found in this volume.) In boyhood, Clarence 
S. Crissey attended the public schools in the 
vicinity of his home, and on reaching years 
of maturity entered into partnership with his 
father in their present enterprise, under the 
firm name of Oliver Crissey & Son. These gen- 
tlemen built the sheds, warehouse and office 
occupied for their business uses, and have long 
enjoyed a large and profitable patronage. They 
deal in all varieties of building material, includ- 
ing lime, cement, sash, doors and blinds, and 
also handle salt. 

On January 20, 1898, Clarence S. Crissey was 
united in marriage with Minnie Predmore, who 
was born in Warren County. 111., and is a daugh- 
ter of R. B. and Addie (Crandall) Predmore. 
natives of Illinois. In politics Mr. Crissey is 
a supporter of the Republican party, and in 
religion is affiliated with the Universalist 
Church. He is a man of excellent character 
and diligent habits, and is regarded as one 
of the most active, reliable and worthy mer- 
chants in the community which has always 
been his home. 

CRISSEY, N. 0., proprietor of the large and 
flourishing creamery in Avon, Fulton County, 
111., was born near Greenbush, Warren County, 
111., December 30, 1859, a son of Henry and 
Mary A. (Osborne) Crissey, natives of Con- 
necticut and Maine, respectively. When Henry 
Crissey left his New England home for 
the West he made his way to Illinois, where, 
in 184.'), he located in Greenbush, Warren 
County. There he was engaged in farming for 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



841 



some years, after which he took up his resi- 
dence in Union Township, Fulton County, and 
there continued in the same pursuit up to the 
time of his death, which occurred November 
30, 1S94. His wife now resides at Avon, 111. 
They were the parents of two children; N. 
O. Crissey, the subject of this sketch, and his 
sister Alice. The father, Henry Crissey, was 
a man of untiring Industry and blameless life. 
In political matters his views coincided with the 
principles of the Republican party and his 
religious convictions were in accordance with 
the creed of the Universalist Church. 

N. O. Crissey received his early training in 
the public school in his native town, and, on 
reaching his maturity, devoted his attention to 
teaching. Before establishing himself in busi- 
ness he taught school in Fulton County for 
about eight years, and in this work gave en- 
tire satisfaction. Mr. Crissey started in the 
creamery line on a farm in Union Township 
in 18S6, and eight years later built a creamery 
in Avon. Since then his patronage has been 
constantly increasing and he has now the 
largest business of its kind in his section of 
the country. He manufactures butter and ships 
cream, purchasing and gathering up the latter 
as far east as tairview, in Fulton County. He 
operates a brancn skimming plant at EUisville, 
111., and thence takes the cream to Avon. His 
place is supplied with steam power and 
equipped with improved machinery for this 
kind of work, and its capacity is equal to the 
handling of 10,000 pounds per day. In 1902 Mr. 
Crissey built a spacious and commodious resi- 
dence in Avon, connected with which is a dairy. 

On June 17, 1S90, Mr. Crissey was married to 
Anna L. Yeomans, who was born in Fulton 
County. March 20, 1SC7, and there. In girlhood, 
enjoyed the advantages of the public school, 
still later taking a course at Lombard Uni- 
versity, Galesburg. Three children have blessed 
their union, as follows: Sumner Ellis, born 
March 4. 1S93; Catherine, born December 5, 
1S97, and Anna Louise, born June 13, 1900. In 
politics Mr. Crissey is a supporter of the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party, and fraternally 
is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. He is a man 
of superior intelligence and excellent traits of 
character and is regarded as one of the most 
enterprising and reliable members of the 
community. 

CRISSEY, Oliver, for more than half a cen- 
tury an honored resident of the village of Avon, 
Fulton County, 111., and during that period 
closely identified with the business interests of 
that place, was born in New Canaan, Conn., Au- 
gust 31, 1834, a son of Abram and Ellis (Betts) 
Crissey, who were also natives of Connecticut, 
the latter having been born in Norwalk, that 
State. Abram Crissey left the East in 1847, 
and journeyed westward to Illinois, where he 
located on a farm west of the town of Green- 
brush. He traveled by water to Chicago, and 
15 



thence to Warren County by wagon. In Con- 
necticut his occupation was that of a boot and 
shoe manufacturer, and before his removal to 
the West he was engaged in the same line of 
business in New York. On locating in Warren 
County, 111., he purchased 100 acres of im- 
proved farming land, and during the remainder 
of his active career devoted himself to agricul- 
tural pursuits in the vicinity of Greenbush. To 
him and his worthy helpmate were born nine 
children, eight of them named as follows: 
Henry, who died in infancy; Abigail E.; Har- 
riet; Henry; Catherine; Egbert; Oliver; and 
Giles. Abram Crissey was a man of superior 
judgment and much force of character. He 
was a Republican in politics, and in religion 
a Universalist. He departed this life on April 
2, 1889, his wife having passed away in 1867. 
Oliver Crissey received his early education in 
the public schools of Connecticut. He was thir- 
teen years of age when he accompanied his 
parents from the home of his childhood to 
Warren County, 111., and a year later left the 
parental roof and went to work for himself. 
When he was seventeen years old he attended 
school at Galesburg, 111., and later learned the 
trade of a harness maker at Greenbush. This 
he followed two or three years, and then (in 
1856) located in Avon. In May of the following 
year he began to deal in grain, having entered 
into partnership with W. T. Vandevere and H. 
V. D. Voorhees, which continued for three 
years. The firm commenced business on the 
east side of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, and then moved to Mr. Crissey's pres- 
ent business location. Mr. Voorhees was asso- 
ciated with Mr. Crissey as a partner until 1865. 
In that year the former sold out his interest 
in the finn to Giles Crissey, who in turn sold 
out to Oliver Crissey and in 1873 moved to Col- 
orado. Mr. Crissey his since' been engaged in 
the lumber business with his sons. He is now 
the head of the lumber firm of Oliver Crissey & 
Sons, which enjoys an extensive patronage. He 
was identified with the grain trade for about 
twenty years, and in 1S63 built the first elevator 
on the "Burlington" line, between Quincy and 
Galesburg. About that time he helped to or- 
ganize and incorporate the village of Avon, and 
since then he has been prominent in all pub- 
lic movements pertaining to the welfare of 
that place. 

On March 6, 1861, Oliver Crissey was united 
in marriage with Margaret McGowan, who was 
bom in Dundee, Scotland, and is a daughter 
of Lechlar and Christine McGowan, natives of 
that country. Mr. and Mrs. Crissey are the 
parents of the following family, namely: Her- 
bert G., Clarence S., Edith C, and Harold R. 
A sketch of Clarence S. Crissey appears in 
these pages, and may properly be read in this 
connection. Herbert G. Crissey was a member 
of the Nebraska Legislature at the time of the 
big fight between Rosewater, editor of the 
"Omaha Bee," and Thompson, of Lincoln, for 



842 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the United States Senatorship. Mr. Crissey 
was a member tor one term, and now lives at 
Palisade, Neb. 

In politics Oliver Crissey is a Republican. He 
rendered efficient public service as Town Col- 
lector in 1860 and 1861, and held the office of 
Supervisor from Union Township for one term 
during the memorable contest over the location 
of the court house. Fraternally Mr. Crissey is 
affiliated with the A. F. & A. M., of which 
order he has been a member since 1865, hav- 
ing officiated as Master of his lodge for a 
number of years. He is a man of the highest 
standing, and is greatly respected by all who 
know him. 

CROSTHWAIT, Eli Cartwright, for seventy-five 
years a resident of Fulton County, 111., and dur- 
ing the last twenty-eight years one of the most 
prominent and highly esteemed farmers of Liv- 
erpool Township, was born on the farm owned 
by the famous Peter Cartwright, in Sangamon 
County, 111., June 13, 1830. He is a son of Har- 
vey and Mary (Axley) Crosthwait, natives of 
Virginia, the former born in Loudoun County, 
Va., February 18, 1795, and the latter in Har- 
rison County (now West Virginia), in 1794. 
The paternal grandfather was John Crosthwait, 
a native of Virginia, and the great-grandfather, 
Abraham Crosthwait, was born in Orange 
County, that State, August 27, 1766. His son 
John, on November G, 1789, married Elizabeth 
John, born May 20, 1773, a daughter of Benja- 
min and Lydia John, natives of Loudoun 
County, Va. John Crosthwait and wife settled 
in Fulton County about the year 1835, where 
both died about 1840, and were buried near Can- 
ton. To them were born nine children: Mary, 
who became the wife of Robert Axley and spent 
her life in Virginia, where she died: Isaac, who 
moved to Kentucky about the year 1800, and 
there died; Harvey, the father of Eli; Hannah 
(Mrs. Davis), who lived and died in New Or- 
leans; Samuel, who settled in Christian County, 
111., near Taylorville, and was frozen to death 
during a heavy snow storm; Ann, who married 
a Mr. Harper and moved to Texas, where both 
died; William, who died near Vicksburg, Miss.; 
Joseph, who came with Eli's father to Fulton 
County in 1829, and settled in Buckheart Town- 
ship, selling out his land about 1856 and mov- 
ing to Atlantic. Iowa, where he died, leaving a 
family; and Newton, who moved to Columbia, 
lenn., where he died. 

Harvey Crosthwait came to Illinois in 1829, 
leaving his family at the house of Peter Cart- 
wright until he, with his brother Joseph, could 
locate a claim in Buckheart Township, near 
Civer, on the west line of the township. In the 
fall of 1830 he moved his family to their new 
home, just before the winter of the "big snow," 
which is still vividly remembered by the pio- 
neers of that region. The snow continued fall- 
ing three or four days until it reached a depth 
of three feet on a level. Remaining on Buck- 
heart Township until 1832 Harvey Crosthwait 
then moved to Joshua Township, where he es- 



tablished a permanent home. There his wife 
died August 3, 1850, her funeral being preached 
by the Rev. Peter Cartwright. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Crosthwait were the 
parents of the following named children: Eliza- 
beth, who died aged fourteen years; Charlotte, 
now deceased, who was the wife of George 
Putman, also deceased; Thompson R., who mar- 
ried Eustace Emeline Putman. and moved to 
Iowa, where he died; Enoch G., who married 
Margaret Craig and died in Iowa; John R., who 
married Nancy Craig, both dying in Iowa; 
Mary A., married W. W. Smith, of Lewistown, 
111., is now deceased; Harvey W., deceased hus- 
band of Julia A. Brown, who still resides in the 
western part of Iowa; James A., who died in 
infancy: Eli C; Robert N., married Sarah Mil- 
ler, both deceased; and Cynthia M., deceased, 
wno was the wife of Emanuel Kingery, of Ohio. 
Six months after the death of his first wife 
Harvey Crosthwait married Mrs. Maria Shinn, 
who was a Virginian by birth, born in 1802 and 
died in Clinton, 111., in 1895. There were no 
children by this second marriage. 

The subject of this sketch was brought to 
Fulton County when he was but six months old 
and was reared upon his father's farm. He re- 
ceived his early training in a primitive log 
school house, with the customary fireplace in 
the end of the cabin. He remained on the pa- 
ternal farm until he was twenty-one years of 
age, and for twenty-nine years has lived on 
Section 15, Liverpool Township, where he has 
a comfortable and attractive home, acquired by 
long and unremitting toil. 

On April 10, 1851, Mr. Crosthwait was united 
in marriage wita Hannah R. Bales, who was 
born in Vermilion County, Ind., April 9, 1832, 
and came to Fulton County with her parents at 
an early period. Five children were the result 
of this union, namely; Cynthia Eudora, born in 
Fulton County April 28, 1852, wife of Lewis 
E. Bordwine, of Dillon, Mont.; John H., born 
in the same county August 20, 1853, who was 
married August 31, 1890, to Ella Reiner, and is 
a farmer in Liverpool Township; Marion Eli, 
born in Franklin County, Ark., May 9, 1860, 
who married Mary E. Denney and lived on the 
old farm home; Mary F., born in F'ulton County 
August 3, 1868, and died November 4, 1871; 
and Florence Minnie, born in 1875 and died in 
1878. The mother of this family died Febru- 
ary 1, 1899, at Lewistown, 111., where the family 
had located during the previous year. Mr. 
Crosthwait then returned to the old farm, where 
he is now living in retirement with his son, 
Marion Eli. 

In ])olitics Mr. Crosthwait has been an un- 
wavering Republican since the organization of 
iiiat party, and has filled various local offices 
with ability and fidelity. His first presidential 
vote was cast for John C. Fremont and he has 
voted for every Republican candidate for Presi- 
dent since. For fifty years he has been a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
more than seventy-five years of his residence in 
Fulton County have been rife with marvelous 




MARGARtT A. HERRING 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



843 



changes and made memorable by a prodigious 
development. In all this great transformation 
Eli C. Crosthwait has borne a conspicuous and 
creditable part, and it is the crowning glory of 
his declining years that he has proved faithful 
to his duty in every sphere in which his lot has 
been cast. 

CULTON, Benjamin A., a prominent and pros- 
perous farmer of Fulton County, 111., was born 
in the city of Canton in 1S47, a son of John J. 
and Rose (Appleby) Cijton, the former being 
a native of Indiana, and the latter of Pennsyl- 
vania. The paternal grandparents were Alex- 
ander and Phoebe Ward Culton, of whom the 
former was born in Kentucky. John J. Culton 
was a farmer by occupation. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
paternal farm and in early youth obtained the 
customary mental training in the common 
schools of Mason and Stark Counties in Illinois. 
He early applied himself to farming in his own 
behalf and has continued in this occupation ever 
since with the best of results. 

Mr. Culton was united in marriage with Alice 
Schenck, who was born in the State of New 
Jersey and received her early intellectual train- 
ing in the public schools of Fulton County. Mr. 
and Mrs. Culton are the parents of three chil- 
dren, namely: William, Samuel and Chauncey. 
In his religious association Mr. Culton is a con- 
sistent member of the Methodist Church. He 
is a man of excellent traits of character and en- 
joys the respect of the entire community. 

CULVER, John T., a member of a family which 
was prominently identified with the develop- 
ment of Fulton County, 111., in its earlier stages, 
having settled there in the first half of the last 
century, was born in Union Township, in that 
county, on August 24, 1S67, a son of Joshua and 
Emily (Fisher) Culver, of whom the former 
was a native of New York State, where his birth 
occurred September 11. 1S24, and the latter was 
born in Fulton County on September 16, 1833. 
During his active life Joshua Culver was suc- 
cessfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 
1842 he accompanied his father, John Culver, 
from Ohio to Illinois and located in Ellisville 
Township, Fulton County, making the journey 
by boat to Shawneetown, 111., and traveling 
thence to Copperas Creek on foot, and finally 
locating in Ellisville Township, Fulton County. 
John and Joshua Culver purchased a quarter- 
section of land in the vicinity of Ellisville, 
where they made their home until the death of 
the former in 1S72. Joshua Culver bought a 
farm of 160 acres in Section 7, Ellisville Town- 
ship, which he cultivated until 1889, when he 
established his residence in the village of Lon- 
don Mills. Fulton County. He carried on gen- 
eral farming and raised considerable stock. 
During the Civil War he served in defense of 
the Union, being a member of the Thirty-second 
Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with 
which he participated in Sherman's March to 



the Sea. In politics Joshua Culver has always 
acted with the Republican party. Before his re- 
tirement from active life he rendered efiicient 
service to the township in the oflSce of School 
Director. 

John T. Culver is the sole offspring of the 
union of his father with Emily Fisher. In early 
youth he received his mental training in the dis- 
trict schools of his neighborhood and was a pu- 
pil for one term in the Avon High School. He 
remained at home until his father's removal to 
London Mills, and then commenced farming on 
his own responsibility. He owns an improved 
farm of 11'7V2 acres in Section 8, Ellisville 
Township, purchased from Henry Mitchell. On 
the homestead property he and his father broke 
up all the land and made all the improvements, 
beginning with the original log cabin and pole 
stable. In 1899 Mr. Culver built a barn, forty 
by forty-eight feet in dimensions, which was 
blown down in a windstorm in 1902. He built 
a new one the same year, measuring thirty-two 
by forty feet. 

On October 30. 1889. the subject of this sketch 
was united in marriage in Ellisville Township 
with May Cook, who was born in Fulton Coun- 
ty on December 25, 1868, and there in girlhood 
enjoyed the advantages of the public schools. 
Mrs. Culver is a daughter of Frank and Eliz- 
abeth (Reed) Cook, and her father, a farmer by 
occupation, settled in that vicinity in 1866. Mr. 
and Mrs. Culver have become the parents of 
two children, namely: Ernest and Ralph. In 
political matters Mr. Culver is a supporter of 
the Republican party. For four years he served 
as Township Assessor with credit to himself 
and to the satisfaction of his constituents. In 
fraternal circles he is identified with the I. O. 
O. F. He is looked upon as an intelligent, pro- 
gressive and public-spirited member of the com- 
munity. 

CULVER, Solon.— The claim of Solon Culver 
upon the good will and consideration of his 
fellow townsmen of Ipava is based upon many 
years of effective work as an agriculturist, upon 
a meritorious record as a soldier during the 
Civil War and upon his activity In promoting 
education and kindred accompaniments of ad- 
vanced civilization. Mr. Culver retired from 
active life in 1904, at the age of sixty-three 
years, a fact which speaks well for his indus- 
try and business sagacity. He has been a res- 
ident of Illinois since his third year, coming 
to Canton in 1844 with his parents, L. C. and 
Susan (Pierce) Culver, from Hillsdale County, 
Mich., where he was born May 24, 1S41. The 
family in 1854 settled on a farm in Bernadotte 
Township, where the father died December 20, 
1883, the mother passing away August 30, 1890. 
Three are living besides the subject of this 
sketch: Ella, wife of Robert Hanson, of Keo- 
kuk. Iowa, and Albert, who are both younger 
than Solon. 

Until the breaking out of the Civil War the 
life of Solon Culver was passed uneventfully 



844 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



on the home farm in Bernadotte Township. On 
October 8. 18G1, he enlisted in Company G. Fif- 
tieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Captain Selah 
W King for three years. The Fiftieth put up 
a gallant fight in all of the principal battles 
between its mustering in and enlistment and 
its mounting on January 1, 1864, and Mr Cul- 
ver followed its changing fortunes until his 
discharge at Rome, Ga.. October 7, l^^^- ^^ ^^^^^ 
mustered out at Louisville. Ky.. .July IS. lb.b&, 
the following day reached Springfield, 111., and 
was paid in full for its services in behalf of the 
Union cause. Mr. Culver bore bravely the many 
long marches and the many privations incident 
to warfare, and since his return home has been 
an honored and active member of the Grand 
Armv of the Republic. . 

In 18G5 Mr. Culver married Clara Quigley, 
who died in 1867. leaving a son, Edward, who 
is now living with his father. On December 
30 18G8 he married as his second wife Mary 
PGriflRth who is the mother of two children: 
Emma Fav, who is the wife of Van Smith, and 
Grace, who was born May 6, 1872, and is the 
wife of Dr. Charles Adkinson, of Havana, 111. 
To both of his daughters Mr. Culver has given 
excellent educational advantages, and Mrs. Ad- 
kinson is a graduate of the Keokuk (Iowa) 
Dental College and the St. Louis Dental School. 
Her husband is also a dentist. Mrs. Adkinson 
is State Secretary of the Woman's Relief Corps 
of Illinois, and an accepted authority on dental 
surgery Mrs. Solon Culver was a daughter of 
Thomas H. and Emma .1. (Quigley) Griffith. 
Her father was born in Pennsylvania and her 
mother in New York, and they located at Ber- 
nadotte in Fulton County, 111., about 1837. and 
there engaged in farming. Mr. Griffith died 
April 30, 1854 and on April 15, 18G0, his widow 
married J Paul, who now resides with his wife 
in Ipava. There were three children by the 
first marriage, two of whom are now living, viz: 
Mrs Culver and Melvin Griffith, of Denver, Colo. 
There were four children by the second mar- 
riage viz.: Charles, who resides near Lewis- 
town; Sidney, now residing in Bernadotte 
Township: Clara, who married James Stephens 
and resides at McPherson, Kan., and Lewis, of 
Peoria, 111. ^ . 

Since the war Mr. Culver has improved a farm 
of 120 acres in Bernadotte Township and con- 
tinued to make that locality his home until com- 
ing to Ipava in 1904. For a year he lived at 
Eldorado Springs, in the hope of benefiting his 
wife, who was out of health, and upon his re- 
turn purchased a comfortable home in Ipava, 
where he is in close touch with his farm and at 
the same time can enjoy the companionship of 
manv of his friends who formerly were farm- 
ers but who also own city homes. Mr. Culver 
is a stanch Republican and has served many 
terms on the Board of Education. His wife is 
a member of the Presbyterian Church. Both are 
highly esteemed in the town and county and are 
among its most substantial and progressive 
element. 



CUNNINGHAM, Edward F., who is successfully 
engaged in the poultry trade in Canton, Ful- 
ton County, 111., was born in the State of Penn- 
sylvania in 18G3, a son of Nelson and Eliza- 
beth (Buchanan) Cunningham, natives of Penn- 
sylvania. Nelson Cunningham located with his 
family in Knox County, 111., when his son, Ed- 
ward, was one year old, and there the father 
carried on farming for about thirty years, and 
the son, as he grew older, attended the com- 
mon schools. In 1894 the family moved to Can- 
ton and father and son went into the poultry 
business, in which they have made a decisive 
success. Mr. Cunningham's operations are con- 
ducted in his three-story building, which is 70 
by 55 feet in dimensions. He employs sixteen 
men, has five wagons in the country collecting 
Iioultry. of which he handles three tons per day. 
The concern makes local consignments and 
ships by carload to the East, also supplying 
the retail trade in Canton. 

In 1888 Mr. Cunningham was joined in wed- 
lock with Fanny Knable, who was born in 
Yates City, 111., and their union has resulted in 
liiree children: Florence, Edith and Joe, Fra- 
ternally Mr. Cunningham is connected with the 
M. W. A. He is one of the energetic business 
men of Canton, and his close application to the 
details of the work has made his enterprise no- 
tably successful. 

CUNINGHAM, Samuel A. (deceased).— The 
life of Samuel A. Cuningham embraced a wide 
range of exi)eriences, and cava 'e 1 a I'.eriod of 
fifty-three years in the city of Canton. He was 
one of those whose labor lent dignity and sta- 
bility to unsettled and undeveloped conditions, 
and whose faith in the future was readily com- 
municated to his associates among the early set- 
tlers. Mr. Cuningham was born in Franklin 
County, Pa., in 1821, and was reared to the 
stern duty of helping to make a small farm 
provide for a large family. His educational 
chances were confined to a few months each 
winter in the district school, but his powers of 
observation were well developed and he learned 
more from men and things than from books. 

At the age of nineteen years, in 1840, Mr. Cun- 
ingham broke the bonds which held him to 
the familiar surroundings of his youth, and 
coming to Illinois found a promising field of 
effort in Canton. He served an apprenticeship 
to a blacksmith and wagon maker, which oc- 
cupations, combined with farming, employed his 
energies up to the time of his death in 1893. 
In 1850 he established a home of his own, 
marrying Elizabeth Boyd, who was born and 
reared in Washington County, Md., and educated 
in Clear Spring, a town in the same county. Of 
this union there were three children: Charles 
C, T. J. and Mrs. C. F. Nagel. Mr. Cuning- 
ham was a Republican in politics, but his peace 
of mind was never invaded by official aspira- 
tions. He was a hard worker, a shrewd and 
well informed business man, and was identified 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



845 



with many phases of city and country life. His 
judgment was of value because tempered by ex- 
perience and held in leach by a natural tendency 
toward conservatism. To know him was to re- 
ceive the inspiration of an honest and upright 
man, and the encouragement of one who has 
surmounted many obstacles. 

CURLESS, John W. — The growth of intelli- 
gence and sound optimism has advanced agri- 
culture to a combination of art and science, the 
profound possibilities of which can be but im- 
perfectly mastered by any one man during his 
comparatively brief span of years. Man whose 
faith is pinned to the soil, and whose delight and 
reward it is to use its stored fertility for the most 
enlightened needs of civilization, has brought it 
to a stage of usefulness unequaled in any other 
walk of life. To such must come the greatest ma- 
terial satisfactions also, as witnessed in all 
prosperous farming communities, of which Ful- 
ton County is one of the best examples. Since 
the earliest history of this part of the State 
certain families have been connected with its 
continuous advancement, lending color and en- 
thusiasm and splendid purpose to its unfold- 
ing prosperity. Of these none are better or 
more favorably known than that of which John 
W. Curless represents the present working gen- 
eration. Mr. Curless was born in Section 35, 
Woodland Township, Fulton County, Septem- 
ber 22, 1S6.5, and is a son of Moses L. and 
Armentha (McDaniel) Curless. the former of 
whom was born in Coshocton County, Ohio. 

Moses L. Curless was one of those who helped 
to push the frontier toward the Pacific, and he 
came to Fulton County while still there were 
evidences of Indian occupation, taking up un- 
broken land in Young Hickory Township. La- 
ter, with hope buoyed up by modest success, 
he came to Woodland Township and to a small 
farm added surrounding land until he owned 
260 acres. In the midst of his striving he gave 
heed to the need of his country, and, enlisting 
at the outbreak of the Civil War in Company 
G, Eighty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he 
was promoted for bravery to the rank of lieu- 
tenant. The long marches and exposure, how- 
ever, finally undermined his health, and in the 
latter part of 1862 he was discharged for dis- 
ability and returned to his home in Woodland 
Township. Increasingly successful as an agri- 
culturist, he was equally useful as a general 
citizen, setting an encouraging example of pub- 
lic spiritedness and clean, upright living. Al- 
though not an office seeker or holder, he gave 
stanch support to local Republican politics, and 
encouraged education, charities and social ad- 
vantages. No one ever was turned from his 
home empty-handed, and the number of jieople 
whom he lifted above discouragement and want 
probably never will be known. It was whil^ 
upon an errand of mercy to a sick friend that 
he met his tragic death. March 7, 1SS5. A shot 
flred through the window lodged in his back 
and, passing through his lungs, caused his un- 



timely death at the end of three days. No man 
who has come and gone upon the highway of 
the township and mingled in its affairs for a 
term of years has been more profoundly missed 
than was this honorable, high-minded and gen- 
erous early settler. Of his ten children seven 
grew to maturity and six are living: Frank, 
a farmer in Woodland Township; Edward, who, 
with his mother, occupies the old homestead 
where all of the children were born and where 
the father originally settled : Thaddeus L., a 
farmer of Woodland Township; William, also 
a resident of this township; Gertrude, wife 
of William Dutton, of this township, and 
John W. 

Until his twenty-second year John W. Cur- 
less remained with his parents, in the mean- 
time availing himself of such educational and 
general advantages as the township offered. 
Early in life he evinced industry and business 
sagacity and acquired the habit of doing well 
whatever tasks confronted him. From the first 
he believed in his work and hoped much from 
it, and, expecting success, drew it within the 
radius of his environment. He married Decem- 
ber 1, 1886, when barely of age, Hattie Parwell, 
also a native of Woodland Township and daugh- 
ter of John Farwell, one of the foremost pio- 
neers of Fulton County. 

In the fall of 1SS7 Mr. Curless settled in Sec- 
tion 26, Woodland Township, upon 160 acres of 
land, and he now owns .550 acres in the home 
place, besides 460 acres in Schuyler County and 
590 acres in Woodland, making in all 1,600 acres 
of land. He is the largest feeder and shipper 
of high-grade stock in the southern part of Ful- 
ton County, and at the present time has on 
hand 100 head of heavy cattle, averaging 1,600 
pounds each, besides 200 head of average weight 
cattle and from 400 to 500 head of hogs. He 
has excellent facilities for handling his enor- 
mous stock and produce interests, and in his 
management supports the most improved meth- 
ods known to sc'entiflc agriculturists of the 
Ijresent time. Aside from any intrinsic value, 
his home surroundings evidence a more than 
ordinarily exacting nature, tastes which are 
content only with the best that a country life 
has to offer, and large requirements in the way 
of mind improvement and diversion. To bear 
UDOn his work Mr. Curies brings not only a 
thorough knowledge of what already has been 
discovered and tested, but an earnest desire to 
improve upon the kind and extent of his own 
operations. He is a student as well as teacher 
in ever-widening avenues, and as such is a 
source of encouragement and help to those of 
his co-workers who are less extensively in- 
terested. 

Mr. Curless is a Republican in politics, but 
want of inclination and the pressure of his 
large business interests have kept him without 
the circle of office holders. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Bluff City Camp. No. 5594, 
M. W. of A. Mr. and Mrs. Curless are the par- 
ents of seven children: Rosa, Granville R., Bon- 



846 



H HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



nie B., John F., James B., Jennie and Benja- 
min R. Mr. Curless is a genial, approachable 
.gentleman, wearing modestly his intelligentl.v 
won success and contributing wisely of his 
means to charitable and public-spirited causes. 

DAILY, Garrett R., a well-known resident of 
Canton, Fulton County, 111., who is Secretary 
of the Homestead Loan Association, was born 
in Sonierville, N. J., on July 14, 1S54, the son 
of James and Julia (Carney) Daily, natives of 
County Meath, Ireland. James Daily came to 
America in 1S4S, locating in Somerville, N. J. 
In 1S56 he removed to the West, settling in 
Canton, 111., and continued farming in that vi- 
cinity until his retirement from active business 
life. He died March 11, 1905. at the age of 
eighty-six years. The mother is still living in 
Canton. 

In boyhood Mr. Daily attended the Canton 
schools, having come to that place with his par- 
ents in ISGG. On August 2S, 1880, he was mar- 
ried to Sarah Stewart, who was born in St. 
Joseph, Mo., where she received her early edu- 
cation. Three children — Julia, Alice and 
Charles G. — are the offspring of this union. 

In politics Mr. Daily is a Republican. He 
has served as Deputy Internal Revenue Collect- 
or for the Eighth District of Illinois, but with 
that exception has never held office. Fraternally 
he is affiliated with the B. P. O. E., M. W. A. 
and K. of P. Mr. Daily is the efficient Secre- 
tary of the Homestead Loan Association and is 
engaged generally in the real-estate, loan and 
insurance business. 

DAILEY, James Marvin.— James M. Dailey is 
among the best known residents of Lee Town- 
ship, Fulton County, where he was born July 
7, 1852, a son of Michael Dailey, a farmer of the 
Keystone State, and Jane (Ketchum) Dailey. 
The father came to Fulton County at an early 
day and settled near Babylon, where he re- 
mained for some time before finally locating in 
Deerfield Township. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in 
the district schools of his native township and 
was trained on the family homestead to the oc- 
cupation of farming. After following that call- 
ing until 1892 he engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness at Babylon, but, selling his establishment 
in 1897, returned to the old-time avocation. 
Two years later he began to carry the mail 
from Bllisville to Bushnell, McDonough County, 
but In 1905 retired from active work and is 
now residing In the latter place. He is the 
owner of a pretty place of ten acres at Bush- 
nell, and retains the proprietorship of his 
eighty-acre farm in Lee Township. In politics 
Mr. Dailey is a Democrat, and has served the 
public as School Director for a period of three 
years. On March 7, 1878. James M. Dailey was 
married, in Lee Township, to Mina Markley, of 
Deerfield Township, who was born March 20, 
1861. Mr. Dailey is not a member of any 



church, but is a moral and useful member of 
his home community. 

DAILY, Peter, a well known building contract- 
or and capitalist of Canton, Fulton County, 111., 
who rose from a humble origin to affluence and 
influential position, and whose name has been 
conspicuously associated with the development 
of the material interests of Fulton County, was 
born in County Meath. Ireland, June 6, 1830, a 
son of Garrett and Frances (Flood) Daly, na- 
tives of that country. Garrett Daily, who was 
a small farmer in the Emerald Isle, emigrated 
with his family to the United in 1850, and after 
arriving in New York City located in Somerset 
County, N. J., where he died three years later. 
In 1850 the mother and ner children came to 
Fulton County, 111., and Peter, who had worked 
on a farm while living in New Jersey, continued 
for a short time in the same occupation in his 
new home. At a later period he learned the 
trade of a bricklayer and plasterer, and subse- 
quently commenced building houses on his own 
responsibility. Soon he undertook more impor- 
tant contracts, and in course of time erected 
several stores and public buildings. Among the 
more pretentious structures which are the re- 
sult of his skill and enterprise is the Canton 
Opera House, the first of its kind in the city. 
He built an elegant residence for his own occu- 
pancy, surrounded by spacious and ornate 
grounds, and put up a number of dwellings 
which he rented out. 

In 1854 Mr. Daily was married in New Jer- 
sey to Ann McGinnis, who died in 1868, leaving 
two children — Garrett and Joseph. In 1872 he 
took as his second wife Johanna McMahon, who 
was born in Fulton County. Five children re- 
sulted from this union, as follows: Elizabeth, 
Agnes, Fred, Annie and Lillian. 

DANNER, John. — When William Penn, an 
English Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, 
received the grant comprising that State from 
the crown in 1681, he brought with him across 
the seas to inhabit his tract numerous seekers 
after religious freedom, conferring upon them 
certain sections of land, many of which are still 
retained by descendants of the original owners 
A fellow voyager of the distinguished colonist 
was the great-great-great-grandfather of John 
Danner. the latter one of the early pioneers of 
Woodland Township and at present a retired 
resident of Summum. Fulton County. The im- 
migrating Danner was presented with land on 
the west side of the Susquehanna River, in 
York County, and to this day the soil is tilled 
by inheritors of his name and fortunes. Within 
sound of the rushing Susquehanna John Dan- 
ner was born April 9, 1839. a son of Jesse and 
grandson of Michael Danner. .Tesse Danner 
married Sarah Lieb, also of York County, and 
in 1850 outfitted for the long overland journey 
to Fulton County, 111., arriving in which he set- 
tled two miles east of Astoria, Woodland Town- 





Jiy^nAJL^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



847 



ship. His first home was a rude log cabin, and 
his first experiences were of the never-to-be-for- 
gotten and never-to-be-repeated pioneer kind. 
Into the wilderness he brought the religious zeal 
of his forefathers and he and John Fitz estab- 
lished the first Dunkard Church in Woodland 
Township. Mr. Danner's first 160 acres of land 
soon proved inadequate, and he kept adding to 
his possessions until he owned 640 acres. He 
was a stanch Democrat, but, while possessing 
great business and executive ability, never 
would accept official honors. He was a gen- 
erally useful man, however, and besides stimu- 
lating an interest in agriculture and good gov- 
ernment, gave generously of his means to pri- 
vate and public causes, being ever ready to 
help those in need, providing they were not in 
a position to help themselves. The death of 
this fine old Dunkard occurred November 22, 
1892, and he is survived by a large gathering of 
descendants. He was twice married and his 
first wife died in 1846, leaving besides John, 
her oldest son, four other children: Martha, 
wife of Peter Burgard, of the State of Wash- 
ington; Jacob, who died at the age of twenty- 
one; Barbara, who died at the home of her pa- 
ternal grandfather, and Henry, a farmer of 
Woodland Township. In 1848 Mr. Danner mar- 
ried Elizabeth Huff, also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and of the union there were four chil- 
dren: Elizabeth, wife of Jonas Baker, of Sum- 
mum; Jesse A., a farmer of Woodland Town- 
ship; Sarah, wife of George Hoke, of Schuyler 
County, this State, and Samuel, a resident of 
Rushville, 111. At the age of eighty-four Mrs. 
Danner is a bright and interesting woman, 
keenly in sympathy with the younger life 
around her and full of reminiscences of the 
early history of Illinois. She now resides east 
of Summum with her son, Jesse H. 

John Danner was about eleven years old when 
the family came to Woodland Township, and 
he here continued the education begun in the 
early subscription schools of Pennsylvania. He 
remained on the home place until his twenty- 
first year, when he turned his attention to rail- 
making as more profitable and agreeable than 
general farming. Rail making in those days 
was a formidable business, for the rude and un- 
polished implement served many purposes un- 
thought of at the present time. Mr. Danner 
split many thousands of rails, and to this day 
recalls the pleasure he experienced as his ax 
swung through the air and he felt his blood flow 
and muscles harden with the splendid exercise. 
His hours were non-union and extended from 
sunrise to sunset, yet he never thought of com- 
plaining, for work was in the air and around 
it centered the purpose of the pioneer. 

On August 4. 1859, John Danner married Ma- 
thilda Trone, also born in York County, Penn- 
sylvania, a daughter of Joseph Trone, who came 
to Fulton County in 1855. The young people 
settled on eighty acres of land in Woodland 
Township, cleared several acres, then sold and 
rented 160 acres until 1880. Mr. Danner then 



purchased 240 acres in Woodland Township, 
made many fine improvements thereon and con- 
tinued to make that his home until 1891. He 
then sold his farm and bought 160 acres of the 
present site of Summum and vicinity, and 
eventually platted the town, which then was 
called Oberland. The years have witnessed the 
disposal of all of his farm save that part upon 
which has been erected his present beautiful 
residence. 

To Mr. Danner and his wife have been born 
eight children, two of whom (Elizabeth and 
William) are deceased, those living being: 
Jesse, a farmer and merchant near Summum; 
Joseph, a farmer at Herndon, Iowa; George, 
in charge of a general mercantile store at Min- 
burn, Iowa; Charles, a farmer of Pleasant Town- 
ship; Minnie, wife of Edward Spangler, of Sum- 
mum, and Nellie, living at home. In his polit- 
ical affiliations Mr. Danner is a Democrat, but 
like his father before him he always has avoid- 
ed office holding. Although not a member of 
any religious sect, he contributes to the sup- 
port of local churches and charities, and even 
in retirement exerts an influence upon many 
phases of the town's growth. A man of strict 
and uncompromising honor, he has always en- 
joyed the confidence, as he has the affection and 
good will, of all who are privileged to know 
him. 

DAVID, Captain Isaac. — A gallant soldier of 
the Union during the Civil War, an Illinois pio- 
neer of 1833, and Postmaster from July 1, 1889, 
to October 1, 1893, Captain Isaac David is a 
native of Freeport, Harrison County, Ohio, 
where he was born January 24, 1822. Captain 
David is a man of good education, largely self- 
acquired, and is well posted upon current 
events. While comparatively young he was 
united in marriage. May 18, 1843, to Mary A. 
Green, a native of the vicinity of Freeport, and 
bom November 7, 1819. Of this union there 
have been born three children : Ruth ; John W., 
who died in Bowmansdale, Pa., April 7, 1888, 
and Hattle, who was married to C. M. Hennick, 
September 1, 1880. Mrs. David died December 
29, 1895. 

February 18, 1865, Captain David was mus- 
tered into the United States service at Quincy, 
111., and was mustered out of the service at 
Columbus, Ga., February 1, 1866. He was a 
member of Company D, Fifteenth Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry, and also served in the One 
Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment Illinois 
Infantry, a 100-day regiment. 

DAVID, Henry (deceased). — Out of the dim 
past of Fulton County rises the noble, Quaker- 
lit features of Henry David, a man who could 
turn his hand to many tasks, whose nature and 
inclinations accorded well with the needs of the 
frontier, and who left in his wake a reputation 
for gentleness, usefulness and patient endur- 
ance second to none of those who invaded the 
wilds of Illinois in 1832. The earliest setting 



848 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of this well directed lite was a farm in Dela- 
ware, where Mr. David was born September 25, 
1791. He was a son of Daniel and grandson of 
Daniel David, the latter of whom came from 
mountainous Wales with his brother and set- 
tled in Delaware during the early part of the 
eighteen century. 

At the age of fifteen, after the death of his 
father, Henry David left home and followed 
the carpenter's trade in Harrison County, Ohio, 
and there. December IS, 1S14, was united in 
marriage to Ruth Easley. Subsequently he 
learned and followed for several years the tail- 
or's trade, but because the work often extended 
far into the night he gave that up and followed 
any honorable occupation which presented it- 
self. On many occasions he crossed the moun- 
tains to Baltimore as a drover, and for several 
terms taught in the early subscription schools, 
notwithstanding the fact that he was almost 
entirely self-educated. About 1829 he engaged 
in the mercantile business as then understood, 
conveying his goods by wagon throughout the 
country and spending the night with the set- 
tlers or camping under the stars. It was a 
happy-go-lucky existence, and in 1832 he jour- 
neyed with his products to Illinois, and in Ful- 
ton County found much to encourage ])erma- 
nent settlement. Hitlier he brought his family 
in 18.33, taking boat at Wheeling, W. Va., and 
landing at the mouth of the Illinois River the 
first of May. Sleeping in an old deserted cabin 
on the river bank the first night, he then moved 
into a log house prepared for his coming by 
one Daniel Knock, a brother-in-law. who also 
had arrived in 1S32. During the fall of '33 Mr. 
David settled on land in Farmers Township 
and in 1S34 returned to Ohio, as the land was 
not then in the market and could not be re- 
garded as a permanent possession. The fol- 
lowing year this difficulty was obviated by the 
land being thrown open to settlers and he re- 
turned and located on the farm now owned by 
A. F. Brock, in Bernadotte Township. This 
farm had never felt the upheaval of a plow nor 
had aught save primeval growths come out of 
its soil. The first owner not only cleared it of 
timber and undergrowth, tilled and planted, but 
conducted a general store for a number of years 
and also ran a mill at Browning. After sell- 
ing the mill he devoted himself exclusively to 
farming, and here his death occurred March 3, 
1852, fifty-four years ago, at the age of sixty- 
one years. His wife, who survived him until 
April 3, 1S75, was the devoted mother of eleven 
children: Daniel David, born August 11. 1816, 
died September 1. ISIG; ,Tohn. born September 
10. 1817, died at the old home in Bernadotte 
Township in 1850: William, born December G. 
1819. died in Ipava May 2C, 1900: Isaac, born 
January 24, 1822. Captain of Company D, One 
Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry and long a resident of Ipava, died in the 
spring of 190G: Rachel, born March 4. 1824, 
widow of .Tames MoCune. of Ipava: Daniel, born 
April 20. 1826. died December IS. 1S79, leaving 



a widow, residing in Ipava; Easlev, born June 
23, 1828, died April 3, 1873. near Ipava: Edith 
A., born May 30, 1831, died August 28, 1SG6; 
Henry F., born July 26, 1833, died March 3, 
1858; Reese R., born April 25, 1830, died Feb- 
ruary 6, 1849, and Mary, born December 30, 
1839, now living with her sister in Ipava. 

Mr. David was a promoter of schools and all 
upbuilding interests, but he lived at too early 
a time for local politics to figure conspicuously 
amon^ the duties of the settlers. His quiet, 
unostentatious nature carried him along pre- 
scribed paths, and it was his habit to accept 
rather than argue upon the issues which inter- 
ested the world. His wife also was a Quaker, 
and both lived honest, clean and kindly lives, 
helping always and hindering never the prog- 
ress of their fellowmen. 

DAVID, Lewis. — That men of broad and 
varied experience are best fitted for the pro- 
fession of farming is doubted by no one famil- 
iar with the intellectual and general demands 
placed upon present day exponents of scientific 
agriculture. Especially is a knowledge of gen- 
eral business an important item in the equip- 
ment of those who conduct the basic industry 
of the world, and it is this advantage which 
contributes most materially to the success of 
Lewis David, whose home and diversified in- 
terests are to be found on a farm of 298 acres 
on Section 13. Vermont Township. 

On both sides of his family Mr. David repre- 
sents the pioneering element of Fulton County, 
for hither came his parents. Easley and Annie 
(Barber) David, with their parents during 
childhood, locating in an undeveloped country 
around which their hope built a promising fu- 
ture. Outgrowing their childhood, the young 
people who had shared the same diversions and 
attended the same school were married and 
started housekeeping with few material advan- 
tages, and in time seven children gathered 
around their hearthstone, the partakers of an 
increasing bounty and of an influence which 
diverted their various abilities into wise and 
useful channels. Charles David, the oldest son, 
now occupies the old homestead; Josephine is 
the wife of Samuel K. La Rue, mentioned on 
another page of this work: Leona is a well- 
known educator of Canton, this State; Elizabeth 
is the deceased wife of W. W. McDermott, of 
Kansas: Ruth also is a teacher in the public 
schools of Canton, and James is a civil engineer 
in the employ of the Anaconda Mining Com 
panv, of Alaska. The father of this family was 
a Whig in early life and later a Republican, 
and in religion he was a Methodist Episcojialian. 
His death occurred April 3, 1873, and that of 
his w'fe in March, 1895. 

Lewis David remained on the home farm un- 
til entering the Wesleyan University at Bloom- 
ington, 111., after graduating from which he 
settled in Ipava. this county, and engaged in 
the real estate, loan and collection business. 
In 1887 he disposed of his business and became 
manager and stockholder of the Emerson & 





^ 




\ *^ 


.T:^??5 





^ ef J^, K^iWt^, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



849 



Skinner Coal Company, of Dunfermline, re- 
maining in that position until the company 
sold out to the White Breast Fuel Company in 
1S90. He then became interested in the flour- 
ing mills at Astoria, and in 1S92 sold his stoclc 
in the mills and became Cashier of the Vermont 
State Bank at Vermont, Fulton County. When 
that bank was firmly established he spent the 
winter in Tivoli, 111., in the mercantile business, 
and in 1893 returned to Ipava, where, in De- 
cember, 1894, he was appointed Deputy County 
Clerk, an office which he held until 1898. In 
1901 his wife's father presented her with their 
present farm on Section 13, Vermont Township, 
and in the meantime Mr. David has added to 
the improvements of the former owner, convert- 
ing his property into one of the valuable and 
productive farms of the township. He is en- 
gaged in general farming and stock-raising, and 
in the latter on a much larger scale than the 
former. 

On December 20, 1885, Mr. David was united 
in marriage to Mrs. Katie L. (Emerson) Merrill, 
daughter of Hon. William H. Emerson, of As- 
toria, and they have three children: Emerson 
E., born .January 27, 1895; Anna E., September 
9, 1897, and Wilson B., May 22, 1901. Mr. David 
professes Republican attachment, and always 
has felt a keen interest in the local undertak- 
ings of his party. He is one of the prominent 
and substantial men of this section, exerting a 
wide influence in general affairs and contribut- 
ing to the welfare of the community a noble 
character and large capacity for usefulness. 

DAVIDSON, William Taylor, was born in 

Petersburg, Menard County, 111., February 8. 
1837, and came with his parents to Lewistown 
the following year (1838). His father, Isham Gil- 
lam Davidson, was a native of South Carolina, 
born in 1802, and was brought to Illinois by his 
parents in 1807. He came of strenuous, dare- 
devil Revolutionary stock in South Carolina. 
William's mother was Sarah Ann Springer, who 
was born in Kentucky June 2, 1810, and wa,-; 
also brought by her parents to Illinois in 1811, 
both families desiring to get away from negro 
slavery. The homes of the Davidsons and 
Springers were in Madison County, some fifteen 
miles east of St. Louis. During the second war 
with England both families lived in forts much 
of the time until 1815, the men cultivating their 
farms with their rifles near at hand midst many 
a scene of horrid Indiana massacre. These two 
were married in Madison County in 1820 and 
lived there on a farm until 1835, when they 
moved to the village of Petersburg, 111., where 
Mr. Davidson established a flouring mill and 
dry goods store. The mill was burned and the 
panic of 1837 swept all his other pro))erty away. 
Then he secured a contract to carry the mail 
from Springfield to Lewistown on the old Con- 
cord coaches with two to four horses each. This 
brought Mr. Davidson and family to Lewistown 
as the terminus of the mail route. 

The lad William entered the log-house "pay 
school" at the age of four. He could only go to 



school fitfully two or three months in a year, 
missing some of the years entirely, and "grad- 
uated" at the age of twelve, just as he had got- 
ten to fractions and the first complicated pages 
of Kirkham's Grammar. But he could read 
fairly well, could spell "pony" and all such 
words, and write in a scandalously awkward 
fashion. At the age of twelve he had to go to 
work to keep the "wolf of want" from the log 
cabin door. Prom the age of twelve to seven- 
teen he drove his father's team, hauling pro- 
duce to the Illinois River, either to Havana or 
Liverpool, with merchandise tor his return 
trips; or hauling building stone and sand to 
town from adjacent quarries or banks, or haul- 
ing coal from nearby mines and wood from the 
great forests. Little lads of his age in these 
days can hardly comprehend the bitter cold, 
the frightful storms, the hardships and dangers 
this slight boy encountered in these five years. 

A withered arm and frail physique led him 
at the age of seventeen (April 3, 1853) to be- 
come an apprentice to the printer's trade in 
Hugh Lamaster's "Fulton Republican" office in 
Lewistown. The Democratic "Fulton Ledger" 
moved from Lewistown to Canton in the fall 
of 1S53. The next week Hugh Lamaster with 
joy suspended "The Republican" (a Whig or- 
.gan), as it had never paid expenses. For the 
following twenty months William was finishing 
his trade in Peoria and later in Macomb. In 
July, 1855, his older brother, James M. David- 
son, commenced in Lewistown the publication 
of "The Fulton Democrat." William was called 
from more promising fields to assist in estab- 
lishing "The Democrat." He set in type the 
first editorial (the "Salutatory") for "The Dem- 
ocrat." a ponderous article of three and a half 
columns. In July. 1855. he became half owner 
of "The Democrat" and helped to fill its col- 
umns week after week with strenuous editorials 
for its idol. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, in the 
famous Douglas-Lincoln campaign of that year. 
At the close of that election, Novemlier 12, 1858, 
James M. Davidson retired from "The Demo- 
crat" and William T. Davidson then became its 
sole owner and editor, as he is at this writing, 
December, 1906. 

January 24, 1860. Mr. Davidson was united 
in marriage with Miss Lucinda M. Miner, of 
Columbus, Ohio. To them were born seven chil- 
dren: Harold Lee, Mabel (deceased). Bertha 
B., Frances M., Lulu M.. Nellie (deceased) and 
Maude G. Mrs. Davidson died December 25, 
1893. Mr. Davidson was again married April 
3, 1895, to Miss Margaret Oilman George, who 
died November 22, 1897, leaving her little son, 
William Oilman. 

For almost fifty years, in health or sickness, 
at home or in distant places, Mr. Davidson has 
contributed editorials or correspondence tor 
every issue of the paper, and excepting a few 
months spent in Peoria and other cities in 1856- 
57. and fourteen months spent in Texas in 1894- 
95. he has been wholly occupied in publishing 
and editing "The Democrat." 

Mr. Davidson never sought office, small or 



8qo 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



great; has always had employment more con- 
genial and honorable, he felt, than any office 
within his reach. But he held the office of 
County Superintendent of Schools in 1863-65 
and also was Alderman of Lewistown for one 
year — the longest and most uncomfortable year 
of his life. 

The "Fulton Democrat" was an intensely 
Democratic paper from its birth until 1882. To 
that time it had never "bolted' the ticket — good 
or bad — had never areamed of lowering the 
Democratic flag. About the latter date local 
political conditions inside the Democratic party 
became so offensive that "The Democrat" could 
no longer honorably support some of its nom- 
inees. In 1884 the situation became so bad, in 
the judgment of Editor Davidson, that he re- 
fused to support any part of the Democratic 
ticket, but took the paper over into the Pro- 
hibition party — his one terrible life blunder. 
This mistake in due time was rectified by mak- 
ing "The Democrat" an "Independent Demo- 
cratic paper," free to support or reject nom- 
inees or platforms of the party, and that has 
been its frank attitude to date. 

Very significant and appropriate has been 
the motto at the editorial head of "The Demo- 
crat" from its birth: "I'll take the responsi- 
bility. — Jackson." It has been as free and un- 
hampered as a northwest blizzard. It has never 
counted the cost in dollars or in personal com- 
fort when there were public wrongs to fight or 
scamps of any party abroad to be exposed. No 
man in so humble an environment ever led a 
more reckless and strenuous long life to its 
sunset with a whole hide and never a libel suit 
in the half-century, although not judgment 
proof for a day. Mr. Davidson has made deeply- 
regretted mistakes enough in his long and 
stormy editorial career, just as every mortal 
does. It has been his lot all these years logical- 
ly to have many bitter enemies among the 
classes "The Democrat" has antagonized as pub- 
lic enemies. Meantime his bitterest foes have 
confessed, at last, that "The Democrat" ever 
has been animated by the dominant wish to make 
the old world and all the people a little better 
and more comfortable. In this quest the editor 
has not been deeply concerned about the rights 
of stalwart men, but he has ever gone into the 
last red ditch of radicalism in defense of wom- 
en, children and dumb animals. Perhaps he 
would prefer as his epitaph this truth: "In 
fifty years of Fulton County Journalism He 
Was Ever the Defender of Women and Chil- 
dren." 

His vigorous editorial style and his interest 
in questions which make for humanity are il- 
lustrated in the following article from the 
editorial page of "The Fulton County Demo- 
crat," published January 6. 1904, following the 
Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago of December 
30, 1903: 

"In Chariots of Fire. — There is another 
side to the Chicago horror which the great pa- 
pers have missed. Is it well to dwell upon 



life's horrors and sorrows? Is it well to miss 
the silver lining of every cloud that darkens 
earth? 

"Let us calmly and reverently consider what 
happened at the Iroquois Theater December 30. 

"That finest theater in America on that after- 
noon was filled with 2,000 of the happiest peo- 
ple — mostly ladies and children — in all the city. 
How clean and beautiful that marble temple! 
How sweet and artistic, and surprising the 
play! How delicious the music! How per- 
fectly beautiful the audience in holiday attire 
and radiant with holiday happiness! The great 
and splendid marble temple was aglow with 
joy and vocal with the softly spoken saluta- 
tions of the holy holidays. In an interlude, 
amidst the soft buzz of 2,000 voices, a tiny rib- 
bon of flame darts up amidst the stage settings. 
There is a sudden cry of fear. In a moment 
2,000 big and little people are wild to escape 
from a hell of fire that sweeps the great stage. 
Billows of flame. Death's red banners, sweep 
the balconies, and little children sit there — 
dead! Beneath the balconies and at every exit 
are piles of dead! In the nearby alley are 
piles of dead! In five minutes — maybe in two 
minutes from that tiny ribbon of flame — 588 
women and children are dead! Passersby on 
the street did not know there had been an acci- 
dent in that splendid theater — and 588 people 
dead in its marble aisles or cushioned seats! 

"How quickly it was over. One breath of 
that flame, and children were dead! One mo- 
ment of suffocation, and others were dead! 
Those who were crushed or mangled in the 
whirlpool of death — it was all over in a few 
moments! 

"If God is love— if the Bible is truth — if our 
holy religion is not a fraud — those 588 dead 
children and their mothers or guardians had a 
moment — as good as an age — for prayer. Like 
old Elijah, they went in chariots of fire to the 
imperial palaces of their King. For each it 
was a moment of untold agony, and then — 
Heaven! In the self-same hour they had gazed 
with wonder and joy on an earthly temple of 
beauty and art, and then upon the undreamed- 
of glories of Jerusalem the Golden beyond the 
stars. 

"If God is love, if His Bible and our holy re- 
ligion is truth, this is truth. We do not be- 
little the horror of December 30th. But here is 
the silver lining to that blackest cloud of hor- 
ror and sorrow that ever came so near our 
homes. Is it not well to see the other side? 
Is it well to break our hearts for those inno- 
cents that in chariots of fire and midst the 
crash of heavenly choirs have gone home to be 
with the Lord Jesus forever? In this faith 
sings the immortal Shelley — 

" 'Onward their flight they are winging. 

On to the haven of rest. 
Comfort to weary hearts bringing. 

Peace from the land so blest.' 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



851 



"We do not know why such Innocents must 
thus die in flames, in shipwreck, of croup, or 
consumption, or other diseases in which they 
die scores of deaths and live to die again. It 
is an awful mystery. We shall know after 
while. But in His time and way God will make 
it right with His beloved. 

" 'Not now, but in the coming years, 

It may be in the better land. 
We'll read the meaning of our tears. 

And there, sometime, we'll understand. 

" 'God knows the way; He holds the key, 

He guides us with unerring hand; 
Sometime with tearless eyes we'll see; 

Yes, there, up there, we'll understand. 
" 'Then trust in God through all thy days; 

Fear not, for He doth hold thy hand; 
Though dark thy way, still sing and praise; 

Sometime, sometime, we'll understand.' " 

DAVIS, Eli G., M. D., who is successfully en- 
gaged in the practice of medicine in Lewistown, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in West Columbia, 
Mason County, W. Va.. February 15, 1853, and 
is a son of Eugene B. and Susan B. Davis, na- 
tives of the State of Ohio. The family left West 
Virginia in 1865 and moved to Bushnell, McDon- 
ough County, III. 

The boyhood of Dr. Davis was spent in assist- 
ing his father in the cultivation of the home 
farm, and he received his preliminary education 
in the common schools of his neighborhood. In 
1S73 he entered Abingdon (111.) College, where 
he pursued a two years' course of study; then 
studied medicine with Dr. J. R. Kelly, and in 
ISSO became a student in the Kentucky School 
of Medicine at Louisville. For five years he 
applied himself diligently and faithfully to his 
professional studies and after his graduation, 
in August, 1S81, located at Bryant, 111., where 
he remained until 1897, during which period he 
acquired an extensive practice. In the year last 
mentioned he moved to Lewistown, where he 
has been equally successful. He still continues 
to be a close student and keeps in constant 
touch with the latest developments in medical 
science. A large and lucrative patronage has 
rewarded his conscientious devotion to his pro- 
fession, and he enjoys to a largo degree the 
confidence and esteem of his numerous patients 
and the general public. 

On April 11, 1878, Dr. Davis was united in 
marriage with Lou M. Bailey, a native of Vir- 
ginia, and their union resulted in two children, 
namely: Grant E., who is in the United States 
Mail Service, and James B., a druggist of La 
Harpe, 111. In 1899 the mother of these sons 
succumbed to death, and on July 5, 1900, Dr. 
Davis was married to Mary E. Haines, of Lewis- 
town. Politically the Doctor is identified with 
the Republican party, and fraternally is affil- 
iated with the A. F. & A. M., M. W. A., of which 
he is Medical Examiner, and other orders of a 
secret and benevolent nature. 



DAVIS, Ernest E., M. D.— The kind of en- 
ergy, resource and large-mindedness required 
of the young man who would succeed in any of 
the learned professions in these days of strenu- 
ous effort and severe competition, seem to be 
an integral part 'of the equipment of Dr. Er- 
nest E. Davis, a medical and surgical practi- 
tioner of Avon for the past five years, and the 
recipient of a patronage as financially remu- 
nerative as it is intellectually satisfying and 
encouraging. Dr. Davis is an enthusiastic and 
careful thinker, and notwithstanding his well- 
known caution and respect for tradition, is not 
afraid of untrod paths or independent, indi- 
vidual effort. He inherits his predilection for 
medicine from nis father, Dr. Hosea Davis, a 
native of Massachusetts, where he was born 
June 21, 1817, and where he Uvea for a num- 
ber of years. After graduating at Dartmouth 
College, N. H., he went to Maryland, where 
he was engaged in teaching about two years. 
Then, after taking a course of lectures in Chi- 
cago, he began the practice of medicine in In- 
diana, later returning to Chicago, where he 
took a course in Rush Medical College, from 
which he graduated in 1853. He then located 
at Littleton, Schuyler County, 111., which con- 
tinued to be his home for the remainder of his 
life, and where he died in 1888, aged seventy-one 
years. Dr. Davis married Sarah A. Stevens, 
who also was a native of Massachusetts, born 
September 21, 1833. 

On June 21, 1906, Dr. Davis was married to 
Miss Frances Ross, who was born in Avon, 111., 
the daughter of Joseph and Emma (Woods) 
Ross, both natives of FuUon County. Her 
father, Joseph Ross, was a son of the late 
General Leonard F. Ross, who was a prominent 
factor in the Civil War, and a son of Ossian M. 
Ross, a prominent pioneer of Fulton County. 
General Leonard F. Ross was a Republican in 
politics and during the latter years of his life 
extensively engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing. The mother of Mrs. Davis died when the 
latter was about fifteen years of age and her fa- 
there is now living in retirement at Denver, 
Colo. 

The early life of Dr. Ernest E. Davis was 
spent in Littleton. 111., where he was born 
October 29, 1875. He was educated in the public 
schools of that place, in Rushville High 
School and the Northern Indiana Normal 
School, receiving his professional training at 
the Northwestern University Medical School, 
Chicago, from which he graduated in the class 
of 1900. After an initial practice in Chicago 
for six months he settled in Avon, 111., which 
has responded generously and with fitting dis- 
cernment to his professional skill and good fel- 
lowship. Dr. Davis has claims to many inter- 
ests outside of his life work, is a stanch sup- 
porter of local Republican politics, a popular 
member of the Knights of Pythias, and an 
active worker in the Universalist Church. He 
has the elements of pronounced success, and 
should reap the most splendid compensations of 
his fascinating and ever widening profession. 



852 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



DAVIS, Oliver P., one of the most enterprising 
and worthy representatives of the agricultural 
element in Fulton County, who is engaged in 
the pursuit of his vocation in Section 24, Lewis- 
town Township, was born in that township De- 
cember 25, 1S65. He is a sor^ of Alfred W. and 
Jeannette (Clary) Davis, natives of Kentucky. 
Alfred W. Davis settled in Fulton County about 
the year 1S47, and here united his fortunes with 
Jeannette Clary, on December 25, 1S50. From 
their union resulted three daughters and six 
sons, as follows: William H., born September 
22, 1851, who was married to Mary Rowland 
November 17, 1881, and made his home in Wal- 
nut, la., in 1887; Mary V., born November 12, 
1853, who was wedded January 4, 1872, to John 
Blackaby and is a resident of Blackwell, Okla. ; 
Eliza J., who was born September 12, 1855, and 
on December IS, 1879, became the wife of An- 
drew Jones; Emma G., born November 8, 1858, 
who was wedded to Isaac Middleton and died 
March 12, 1898; Edgar J., born February G, 
18G1. who married Clara Blackaby February 12, 
1885, and moved to Marathon, la., the same 
year; George C, born July 23, 18G3, a farmer in 
Buckheart Township, Fulton County, who was 
wedded to Lizzie Berry November 4, 18SG; Oli- 
ver P., of whom this record treats; John T., a 
resident of Chicago, born April C, 1SC8, and Jas- 
per W., born March 31, 1870, who was wedded 
June 17, 1895, to Saverne Moorelock, a resident 
of Aurora, 111. 

The father of this family departed his life 
May 7. 1875, and his widow survived him until 
February 17, IS'97. Alfred W. Davis was a son 
Solomon and Eliza (Hendrickson) Davis, 
natives of Kentucky, of whom the former was 
born June 28, 1802, married March 7, 182G, and 
died February 13, 1871. His wife was born 
March 15, 1804, and passed away May 23. 1875. 
Her parents, Richard and Margaret (Worth) 
C'ary. were united in marriage May 14, 1819. 
The former was born May 29, 1781. and died 
January 3, 1872. The latter was born April 17, 
1794, and died October 2, 1855. Their children 
were as follows: John C, who was born April 
15, 1811, and died in 1855; Betsy, who was born 
May 22, 1813, and died March 2, 1888; Joshua, 
who was born October 11, 1818, and died in 
1887; Nancy, who was born May 4, 1822, and 
died March 19, 1852; Nelson P., who was born 
April 5, 1824, and died March 8, 1900; Emily 
A., born May 18, 182fi, who is Ihe widow of John 
Hanna, of Lewistown Township; Ruth M., who 
was born October 18, 1828. snd died January 
22, 1894, and Margaret, born August 1, 1834. 
who is the wife of Orville France, a resident of 
Iowa. 

Oliver P. Davis was educated in the district 
schools of Lewistown Township and his occupa- 
tion since early manhood has been that of a 
farmer in the section where he was born. He 
Is the owner of eighty acres of tine land, under 
a high state of cultivation, and in addition to 
general farming devotes careful attention to 
the raising of superior breeds of stock, grad- 



ing up. He has a number of fine Percheron 
horses and keeps two full-blooded Durham cows. 
He is an energetic and painstaking farmer and 
his operations are attended with success. 

On November 10, 1892, Mr. Davis was united 
in marriage with Sarah A. Wetzel, a daughter 
of George H. and Cynthia (Clark) Wetzel, na- 
tives of Illinois and Ohio respectively. Mrs. 
Wetzel was, however, reared in Fulton County. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wetzel became the parents of 
four children, namely; Elmer G.. who was bom 
February 26, 1868, and was married to Emily 
Sutliff, April 27, 1898; Toler B., who was born 
January 1, 1870, and is a resident of Lewistown 
Township; Sarah A. (Mrs. Davis), and Per- 
melia C. born April 11, 1873, who lives at Lew- 
istown, Fulton County. 

The grandfather of Mrs. Davis, Christopher 
Wetzel, was born July 13, 1793, and died Octo- 
ber 4, 1894. He was a native of Virginia and 
settled in Fulton County about the year 1840. 
On February 17, 1835, he wedded Sarah Cook, 
who was born in Virginia and died January 
29. 1889. From their union resulted nine chil- 
dren, one of whom died in infancy. The others 
were as follows; Eliza, who was born Novem- 
ber 30, 1835, and became the wife of T. B. Clark, 
of Lewistown, 111.; Priscilla E., of Astoria, 111., 
who was born April 27, 1838; George H., who 
was born November 24. 1840, and died October 
22, 1902; John B., born July 23. 1843, who died 
May 30, 1902; David T., a resident of Astoria, 
111., who was born in July, 1845; Margaret A., 
wife of Isaac Dial, of Astoria, 111.; Henry L.. a 
resident of Lewistown, 111., born June 10. 1855, 
and Sarah C, of Monmouth, 111., born June 1, 
1858, who is the wife of J. B. C. Lutz. 

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver P. Davis are the parents 
of four children, namely: Herschel L., born 
January 20, 1894; Frances, September 8, 1895; 
Karl A., June 1, 1897, and Margaret E., Octo- 
ber 30, 1900. In politics Mr. Davis Is a sup- 
porter of the Democratic party. Fraternally he 
is affiliated with the M. W. A. and the K. of P. 
He is regarded as one of the most upright and 
trustworthy citizens of his township and he and 
his worthy wife are held in high esteem by a 
wide circle of acquaintances. 

DEAKIN, George, a well known and thrifty 
farmer, who successfully pursues his vocation 
in Putman Township, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in the State of Ohio in 1851, a son of 
Justice and Margaret (Slater) Deakin, both na- 
tives of Ohio. Justice Deakin came to Fulton 
County in 1855 and was employed on the farm 
of A. C. Moore. At a subsequent period he 
purchased eighty acres of land in Cass Town- 
ship, where he carried on farming during the 
remainder of his life. 

The subject of this sketch is one of a family 
of six children, four of whom are living. In 
boyhood he attended the district school in the 
vicinity of his home in Fulton County and 
made himself useful about the farm. In 1884 
he bought a farm in Section 18, Putman Town- 




MR. AND MRS. ISAAC HOWARD 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



853 



ship, Fulton County, on which he has made 
all the improvements. In 1904 he built a spa- 
cious barn, 36 by 40 feet in dimensions. He is 
the owner of 152 acres of land, on which he is 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising. 

In 183G Mr. Deakin was united in marriage 
with Emma Murphy, a daughter of Milton and 
Clementine Murphy, and they became the par- 
ents of two children, Ernest and Ethel. Fra- 
ternally Mr. Deakin is atfiliated with the K. of 
P. and the M. W. A diligent and painstaking 
farmer and worthy citizen, well merited suc- 
cess has attended his labors. 

DENNEY, John J., an enterprising, prosper- 
ous and influential farmer in Sections 6 and 
26, Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in that township May 28, 1861, a son of 
Solomon T. and Mary C. (.Jennings) Denney. 
The former was a native of Ohio and the latter 
was born in Fulton County, 111. The father 
died in October, 1SS4, and the mother is still 
a resident of Liverpool Township. Solomon T. 
Denney settled in Fulton County in 1854 and 
was married in 1856. He and his wife had five 
children besides John J., as follows: Robert, a 
resident of Canton, 111.; William, a farmer in 
Farmington Township; Joseph, who is on the 
old home farm; Rebecca, wife of William Bos- 
well, of Dunfermline, Fulton County: Elizabeth, 
wife of Marion Crosthwaite, a farmer in Liver- 
pool Township. The subject of this sketch was 
reared on a farm in the township where he was 
born and which has always been his home. 
There he received his educational training in 
the district schools. Mr. Denney is the owner 
of 120 acres of the finest land in Fulton County, 
which is under a high state of cultivation and 
upon which he has a fine grade of horses, cat- 
tle and hogs. He is a careful, methodical and 
progressive farmer and his labors have been re- 
warded by the best results. 

On July 13, 1887, Mr. Denney was united in 
marriage with Jennie McCracken, a daughter 
of William and Fannie (Boardner) McCracken. 
Mr. and Mrs. Denney have had four children, 
namely: Ira Scott, born June 14, 1888; Robert 
J., born June 10, 1889; Esta, born November 
10, 1891, and Florence, who died in infancy. 

In politics Mr. Denney is an earnest supporter 
of the Democratic party and an active and in- 
fluential leader in its local coimcils. He has 
filled various township and county offices with 
marked ability and fidelity, and he has served 
with credit as Supervisor of Liverpool Town- 
ship for the term expiring in the spring of 
1907. In all movements tending to promote 
the welfare and prosperity of his township and 
county he takes a lively and effective interest. 
In him the church and school find a vigorous 
champion, having been a School Trustee for six- 
teen years. 

Fraternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & 
A. M., the M. W. A. of Canton, 111., and the Or- 
der of Eagles. In every relation of life he is 
faithful to the obligations of duty and is re- 



garded as one of the most exemplary and use- 
ful members of the community. 

DEWEY, Edwin Page.— At the age of ninety, 
men who have retained their faculties and prof- 
ited by their experiences look across life and 
not into it, and they see mostly the fair shore of 
their childhood from which they have constant- 
ly receded, rather than the bridge which con- 
nects it and of which they have been one of the 
builders. But it is in proportion as they have 
builded wisely and been in accord with the 
changing tide of affairs that their satisfaction 
is great or otherwise, and it thus became a 
pleasure to know and talk to one who had lived 
so long and gathered so much of interest as 
has Edwin Page Dewey. Mr. Dewey was one 
of the retired colony of Canton, and his life had 
gone parallel with the development of Fulton 
County ever since his arrival here with his par- 
ents in 1832. He then was fifteen years old, 
having been born Fcbrunry 4, 1817, in Hanovef, 
X. H. His father, Oliver Dewey, married in 
early life Jemima Wright, and wlien he arrived 
in this county had little besides his determina- 
tion and hope to accompany his first years of 
hardship and deprivation. 

Mr. Dewey had but limited educational 
chances, but to some extent he made up for this 
by the application of later years. He never was 
disturbed by great ambitions, but sought the 
quiet paths of the lover of nature and the tiller 
of the soil, content to await the arrival of his 
harvests and the sale of his products in the 
town of Canton. At the age of twenty-five, Sep- 
tember 1, 1842, he married Anna Maria Shinn, 
and to him were born six children: Roswell 
W.. Sarah P., Charles Arthur and Eliza Maria, 
still living, and Stephen and Henrietta, the for- 
mer of whom died at the age of seven months 
and the latter of eleven years. Three years 
after his marriage in 1845 Mr. Dewey purchased 
and moved upon an eighty-acre farm in Section 
11, Canton Townshi]), upon which he lived and 
prospered until his retirement to Canton in 
1856. He had been retired from active life for 
more than forty years, and the years had dealt 
gently with him, giving him the companion- 
ship of many friends and the solace which 
comes of dealing fairly with one's fellowmen, 
when he was called away by death August 23, 
1898. 

DIKEMAN, Ambrose, who, although still 
classed with the younger element of the com- 
munity in which he lives, is one of the most 
prominent characters in the agricultural, mer- 
cantile and political circles of his section of Ful- 
ton County, is a resident of Farmington, where 
he established himself in business in 1894. He 
was born in Fairview Township. Fulton County, 
on May 11, 1871. a son of Stephen C. and Susan 
(Lindsey) Dikeman. natives of New York and 
Massachusetts respectively. Stephen E. Dike- 
man, who followed farming throughout his ac- 



854 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tive life, settled in Fulton County in 1844, lo- 
cating in Fairview Township, where he pur- 
chased forty acres of land. This tract he im- 
proved, living at first in a log house and after- 
ward building a comfortable dwelling. He was 
always successful in farming and ultimately 
became the owner of 600 acres of land in that 
locality. In 1880 he withdrew from his long- 
continued labors and made his home in Farm- 
ington, remaining in comfortable retirement 
there until his death, which occurred in 1898. 
He and his wife were the parents of seven chil- 
dren, of whom the following are still living: 
Cyrus M., Flora (Mrs. Green), George and 
Lindsey. 

Ambrose Dikeman attended the public schools 
of Fairview Township during his boyhood and 
subsequently pursued a commercial course in 
the Canton Business College. His youth was 
passed on his father's farm, where he remained 
until he was about twenty-three years of age. 
He then engaged in the hardware and stove 
business in Farmington, opening a store in the 
Crane Building, on the south side of Fort Street. 
This concern he has conducted successfully ever 
since, his brother Lindsey assisting him in the 
capacity of clerk. Together with his brother 
he has extensive farming interests, owning an 
entire section of land in Fulton and Knox Coun- 
ties, which is now rented. 

In 1902 Mr. Dikeman was united in marriage 
at Farmington with Mary McCoy, who was born 
in Knox County. 111., and is a daughter of Den- 
nis and Jane (Threw) McCoy, natives of Ire- 
land. One child, Clifford, has resulted from 
this union. 

In politics Mr. Dikeman is a Republican and 
wields a strong influence in the local councils 
of his party, having been prominent in connec- 
tion with various public trusts. He has served 
as Alderman, was Supervisor two years and for 
an equal period filled the office of Mayor of 
Farmington. Fraternally he is identified with 
the A. F. & A. M., M. W. A. and Eastern Star. 
His capacity and enterprise are recognized by 
all and his progressiveness and public spirit 
have made hira an important factor in the mer- 
cantile and municipal activities of Farmington. 

Lindsey Dikeman, the brother and business 
assistant of Ambrose, was born in Fairview 
Township. .luly 4, 1876. Since the Dikeman 
hardware enterprise was established his dili- 
,gent and faithful efforts have contributed large- 
ly to its success. He is a man of strict upright- 
ness and good business ability. In 1900 he was 
wedded to EtIie Miller, who was born in Can- 
ton. Fulton County, and they are the parents 
of two children — Flo and Leta. 

DIKEMAN, Henry M., one of the oldest citi- 
zens of Fulton County, 111., both in longevity 
and length of residence, and formerly one of 
that county's most energetic and successful 
farmers, who is now passing his declining years 
in the retirement of private life, was born in 



Oswego County, N. Y., February 19, 1828. He is 
a son of Gilson and Parmel (Tuttle) Dikeman, 
also natives of the Empire State. The father 
settled in Fulton County in 1844, making the 
journey by wagon and consuming a month and 
two days in reaching his destination. He lo- 
cated in Fairview Township, where he pur- 
chased a tract of eighty acres of farming land 
which he broke up and improved, his dwelling 
being a log cabin built by himself. He hauled 
his grain to Peoria, Copperas Creek and differ- 
ent points, where he also marketed his stock 
and other products of the farm. There he spent 
the remainder of a busy life, successfully en- 
gaged in his wonted occupation. He and his 
wife were the parents of ten children, of whom 
but one, Henry M., survives. 

In boyhood Henry M. Dikeman attended the 
public schools of New York and Illinois while 
obtaining his education, walking daily two 
miles to a log schoolhouse in Fairview Town- 
ship. Until he was twenty-one years old he 
assisted his father on the home place, at which 
period he commenced farming for himself with- 
out a dollar of capital. He was very successful 
in his labors and in 18G6 bought the homestead 
property, on which he made some improve- 
ments. He also purchased 100 acres of land 
adjoining it. and at one time was the owner of 
500 acres of land. He followed general farm- 
ing and raised cattle and hogs, shipping his 
product to Chicago and Peoria. He still has 200 
acres which he rents, having bought a lot in 
Farmington in 1894 and built a house, which 
has since been his home. His property also in- 
cludes several other pieces of town property. 

On the 28th of November, 1855, in Lewistown, 
Fulton County, 111.. Mr. Dikeman was united 
in marriage with Jeannette Harding, a daugh- 
ter of John and Caroline (Armstrong) Hard- 
ing, who was born in New York State. Her 
family moved from the East to Fulton County 
about the year 1852. Three children blessed 
this union, namely: Dexter, William and Clara 
(Mrs. Hart). In religious belief the family 
are Methodists. 

Politically Mr. Dikeman is a Republican, has 
served his township as Road Commissioner and 
held the office of School Director for eleven 
years. In his long-extended career in Fulton 
County Mr. Dikeman has discharged his duties 
as an individual and as a citizen with unvary- 
ing fidelity. He has been identified with all 
movements tending to promote the best inter- 
ests of his locality, and has made an irreproach- 
able record as a man of strict probity and pure 
motives. By his old neighbors and his fellow 
townsmen in Farmington he is regarded with 
the utmost respect and esteem. 

DITMARS, Eugene, who has been successfully 
engaged in farming in Fairview Township, Ful- 
ton County, 111., for nearly thirty years, was 
born in Somerset County, N. J.. November 20, 
1S56. He is a son of James S. and Maria L. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



855 



(Van Gleet) Ditmars, both of whom were na- 
tives of New Jersey. James S. Ditmars was 
also engaged in agricultural pursuits, but fol- 
lowed this occupation during his entire life in 
the State where he was born. He was a man 
of diligent and frugal habits and blameless 
character, and his labors were rewarded by a 
good measure of success. To him and his 
worthy spouse were born four children, as fol- 
lows: Eugene, of this review; Garadina, Mary 
Jane and James. 

In early youth Eugene attended the district 
schools in the neighborhood of the parental 
home, in which he received the mental "discip- 
line for which his intervals of leisure afforded 
opportunity. Until he reached the age of man- 
hood he remained on the homestead with his 
parents, helping his father in carrying on the 
work of the farm of 160 acres. When he was 
about twenty-one years old he determined to 
start out on his own responsibility and, journey- 
ing to Illinois, located in Fulton County. Since 
1877 he has been engaged in farming in Fair- 
view Township, that county, and has been re- 
warded by the results which inevitably follow 
Industry, energy and careful management. In 
addition to general farming he devotes much 
of his attention to the raising of stock, breed- 
ing Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs. 

On January 29, 1877, at Farmington, Fulton 
County, Mr. Ditmars was joined in matrimony 
with Emma Grimes, a daughter of Thomas and 
Mary Grimes. Mrs. Ditmars is a native of Fair- 
view Township, where she was born May 1, 
1859, and where in girlhood she enjoyed the 
advantages of the public schools. From this 
union have resulted six children, as follows: 
Charles, Roy, Harry, Lena, Mayme and Eugenia. 
In the matter of politics Mr. Ditmars is in 
hearty accord with the principles of the Repub- 
lican party. As to religious doctrines he is an 
adherent to the faith of Universalism. He takes 
a good citizen's interest in all measures affect- 
ing the welfare of his township and county and 
bears an excellent reputation wherever known. 

DIVILBISS, C. H. — The grotesque appearing 
farmer with whom the comic artist has made 
us familiar has gone out of style in Illinois, if, 
indeed, he ever existed, and in his place has 
come a man who appears well, thinks well, is 
informed on current events and has that sin- 
cere desire to elevate himself to the top notch 
of his calling which cannot fail to secure him 
some measure of success. He is robust and in- 
telligent and commands respect and attention 
wherever he goes. To this class belongs C. H. 
Divilbiss, a representative of the second gener- 
ation of his family in Fulton County and the 
owner of 120 acres of valuable land in Sections 
23 and 24, Joshua Township. Mr. Divilbiss pur- 
chased his present farm in 1892 and since has 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising 
and also made a special study of horticulture, 
raising small fruits extensively and finding a 
ready market for the same in Canton. He oper- 



ated his farm along practical and paying lines, 
leaving no stone unturned to increase his earn- 
ings and savings and minimize his expenditures. 
He has a substantial home, well constructed 
barns and outbuildings, and surrounds himself 
and family with many evidences of his fore- 
thought and taste. 

J. A. Divilbiss, father of C. H., came to Ful- 
ton County at a time when settlement within 
its borders called for courage and patience, and 
when its future at best was a matter of specula- 
tion and faith. He was a Pennsylvania by birth 
and settled on a farm in Canton Township, 
where he succeeded in general farming for 
many years, and whence he eventually removed 
to his present home in Kansas City, Mo. Soon 
after coming here he married Maria Gardner, 
who was born in New York State and who came 
to Fulton County with her parents at the age of 
two years. Six children were born of this union, 
of whom C. H., the fourth, was born in 1856. 
He was educated in the public schools and in 
1878 married Emma Havermale, a native of Ful- 
ton County. The year following, during the 
spring of 1878, he rented a farm in Canton 
Township, and continued to live thereon until 
moving to his present home in 1892. Mr. and 
Mrs. Divilbiss are the parents of three daugh- 
ters: Maud, wife of L. F. Randolph; Pearl, now 
Mrs. J. F. Randolph, and Hazel. Mr. Divilbiss 
takes a moderate interest in politics, and has 
served as Collector and Highway Commission- 
er of Joshua Township. Fraternally he is iden- 
tified with the Knights of Pythias and the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. He is an energetic 
and painstaking man, fulfilling his obligations 
with conscientious exactness, and in his work 
exemplifying the belief that what is worth do- 
ing at all is worth doing well. 

DONNELLY, Levi McVeigh.— In the passing 
away of Levi McVeigh Donnelly, January 11, 
1905, Lewistown and Fulton County sustained 
a commercial and social loss of more than av- 
erage import. Mr. Donnelly left behind him 
not only a legacy of material wealth, but of 
useful lessons, and he who would may read 
that early limitations develop, rather than 
break, the strong and resourceful. Born Au- 
gust 27, 1841, in Licking County, Ohio, Mr. 
Donnelly was a son of .James and Evelyn (Jen- 
kins) Donnelly, the latter a daughter of Levi 
and Mary Jenkins, of Ohio. 

Left motherless at the age of three weeks, 
Mr. Donnelly found a home with his uncle, John 
McVeigh, with whom, at the age of thirteen, 
he came to Fulton County, settling on a farm 
where now is the station of Civer, six miles 
west of Canton. In the meantime his father, 
having remarried, removed to Kansas, where he 
died at an advanced age. Mr. Donnelly re- 
mained with his uncle and aunt for the rest 
of their lives, their deaths occurring February 
10, 1862, and August 4, 18G4, respectively. In 
1856 the family had moved to Lee Township, 
and in 1858 bought a farm three miles from 



856 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Marietta, where Mr. Donnelly grew to maturity, 
and finally succeeded to the entire management 
of the farm, thus supporting by his labor the 
relatives who had befriended him in his youth. 
In Lee Township Mr. Donnelly married Ann 
Maria Morey, daughter of Zenas .1. and Ann 
Morey, natives of New York and Ohio, respect- 
ively. At the present time Mrs. Morey lives 
with Mrs. Donnelly, her daughter, and is eighty- 
four years old. 

From 18G8 until 1883 Mr. Donnelly lived 
in Marietta, and for a few years conducted a 
general merchandise store. He became active 
in Democratic politics, served eleven years as 
Town Constable, and. beginning with 1870, was 
for a number of years Justice of the Peace. 
In 1883 he removed to the R. F. Leanian estate, 
in Lewistown, and established the general store 
which, since his death, has been conducted by 
his daughters, Mrs. Crabtree and Mrs. Carper, 
under the firm name of L. M. Donnelly & Com- 
pany. The estate still owns the farm of IGO 
acres one and a half miles west of Cuba, Lee 
Township, upon which Mr. Donnelly spent so 
many years of his life. 

For twenty years Mr. Donnelly was a delegate 
to every Democratic Convention held in Fulton 
County. In 1890 he was elected Sheriff of the 
county, serving one term. His political career 
was a clean and upright one, and was destitute 
of the personal aggrandizement which mars 
so many lives devoted to public service. Fra- 
ternally he was connected with the Good Faith 
Lodge, No. 752, I. O. O. F., of Cuba, 111., and 
the Knights of Pythias. In religion he was ? 
member of the Christian Church. To himself 
and wife were born six daughters and one son, 
of whom one daughter died in infancy. Of the 
daughters now living, Ida Allathea is the wife 
of Mack Crabtree, of Lewistown; Tillie B. is 
the wife of J. M. .lackson, of Canton; Carrie 
May is the wife of Leroy Beers, of Ipava; Nora 
Maria is the wife of William Babcock, of Lewis- 
town; and Nellie Luella is the wife of Frank 
Carper, of Lewistown. During his active life 
Mr. Donnelly drew to him many warm and de- 
voted friends, and the confidence of the com- 
munities in which he lived and worthily la- 
bored. He had a genial and optimistic nature, 
and as far as general qualities were concemed, 
was well adapted to the occupation to which 
he devoted so many years of his life. 

DORRANCE, George C. (deceased), formerly a 
well-known and prosperous busines man of Can- 
ton, Fulton County, 111., was born in Waterloo, 
N. Y., September 30, 181G. He was a son of 
John H. and Deborah (Sloan) Dorrance. na- 
tives of New York, where the former was born 
in the town of Lyons. 

George C. Dorrance was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of his native State and after reach- 
ing mature years engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits. In the fall of 1S46 he journeyed to Illi- 
nois and located in Canton, where he entered 
the milling business in partnership with a Mr. 



Hall. After being associated with the latter 
one year he purchased his interest and conduct- 
ed the concern alone for fourteen years with 
successful results. He was then engaged in 
the grocery business with equal success for 
about six years. This he relinquished at the 
end of that period and applied himself to farm- 
ing to some extent until the time of his death, 
which occurred May 30, 1895. 

On December 7, 1848, Mr. Dorrance was unit- 
ed in marriage with Mary J. Colton, who was 
born in Indiana. Two children resulted from 
their union, namely; Matie L. and Charles C. 
The foi-mer was married to Clinton B. Smith, 
of Canton. July 5, 1898, and they have one child, 
Erminia Virginia. Charles C. wedded Nellie 
Zwisler. of Cant'on, in January. 1895. 

In political action Mr. Dorrance was identi- 
fied with the Republican party. He was one of 
the oldest Odd Fellows In the county, joining 
the Canton lodge in 1847. At the first public re- 
cei)tion given at Mr. Vaughn's only nine mem- 
bers of the fraternity were in attendance. By 
the early business element of Canton Mr. Dor- 
rance was recognized as an intelligent, upright 
and enteri)rising merchant. In private life he' 
was exemplary and as a citizen was always 
faithful to the obligations of public duty. 

DORSEY, Lewis (deceased), the father of Mrs. 
Theodore Robinson ( see sketch of "Robinson, 
Theodore"), was born in Maryland, June IS, 
1799, and when a young man moved from his 
native State to Virginia, where, in 1837, he was 
united in marriage to Abrilla Lindsey. Miss 
Lindsey was born in Maryland in 1S13 and at 
the age of seventeen moved with her parents 
to Virginia, where all but one of their children 
were born. In 1851 Mr. Dorsey came overland 
to Fulton County, 111., settling for a year in 
Farmers Township, and at the end of that time 
purchased a wild, unbroken tract of land in 
Bernadotte Township. Erecting a house from 
timber that had been brought from a nearby 
mill, he had the distinction of occupying the 
first house built by a white man in that part 
of the county. He was a successful farmer and 
stock-raiser and continued to occupy his origi- 
nal farm until his death in 1881. at the age of 
eighty-one years. His wife remained on the 
farm until 1884, when she moved to the home 
of her daughter. Mrs. Theodore Robinson, where 
her death occurred June 10, 1S9G. She was the 
devoted mother of the following children: Re- 
becca A., widow of John F. Zink. a soldier dur- 
ing the Civil War in Company F, One Hundred 
and Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry; Cath- 
erine, widow of James Miner, and a resident 
of Lewistown; Nicholas, also a soldier in the 
Civil War. and at present a farmer of York 
County. Neb.; Sarah B.. widow of David Miller, 
of Canton, 111.; Abrilla. wife of Joseph Mayall, 
of Canton, 111.; Lemuel, of Pekin. 111.; Lewis, 
deceased, and Mary Elizabeth, wife of Theodore 
Robinson. 

Mr. Dorsey was a large-hearted and public- 




m^. ^^J-MmcI^. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



857 



spirited man, and while not a member of any 
church, contributed generously to churches, 
schools and general township interests. In poli- 
tics he was a Democrat. 

DOSS, Wilbur C, D. V. S., who is engaged in 
the practice of veterinary surgery on South 
Main Street, Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., 
was born in Greene County, 111., November 20, 
1866. He is a son of Dr. C. H. Doss, of Pitts- 
field, 111., who was born in Hopkinsville, Ky. 
His lather married Margaret A. Thruher, a na- 
tive of Illinois, and to them were born ten chil- 
dren, namely: Dr. Judson Doss, of Milton, 111.; 
C. M.. a dentist: Dr. E. P. (deceased): Wilber 
C; C. H., a dentist of Ipava, 111.; Pearl, wife 
of O. A. Foreman, who is in the postal service 
at St. Louis, Mo.; Daisy, wife of Henry Grimes, 
a dentist: Neva, wife of Dr. L. A. Colby, of East 
St. Louis, 111., and Louisa, wife of David Gar- 
ber, a cigar manufacturer of Springfield, this 
State. The father of this family is still a prom- 
inent physician in Pittsfield. 11!.. and the moth- 
er died about the year 1S95. 

Wilber C. Doss attended the public schools 
of Pittsfield, 111., and pursued a course of study 
in the .lacksonville Business College, graduat- 
ing with the class of 18SS. He then entered the 
Ontario Veterinary College, at Toronto, Canada, 
where, after a course of three years, he gradu- 
ated in 1894. He began the practice of his pro- 
fession at Olney. 111., where he remained one 
year. In 1895 he established hihiself in prac- 
tice at Lewistown and has since given his un- 
divided attention to the treatment of all kinds 
of animal diseases. In this specialty he has 
been quite successful, and his ability and skill 
are generally recognized in the vicinity of his 
home. In 1899 Governor Tanner appointed him 
Assistant State Veterinary Surgeon, a position 
which he still holds. By painstaking and dili- 
gent attention to his work Dr. Doss has built 
up a large practice and his services are in con- 
stant demand throughout this section of the 
State. 

On September 12, 1889. Dr. Doss was mar- 
ried to Minnie J. Stone. Their union has re- 
sulted in three children, namely: Judson E.. 
Mary K. and Mildred A. Dr. and Mrs. Doss are 
members of the Christian Church. Politically 
the Doctor is a Republican, and fraternally is 
afBliated with the M. W. A. and the C. of H. 

DOWD, C. M., a rising young lawyer and now 
serving as City Attorney of Lewistown, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Liverpool Township, 
Fulton County, October 19, 1S67. He is a son 
of Charles L. and Mary A. (Pollitt) Dowd, the 
former a native of New York State and the lat- 
ter of Illinois. The father came to Fulton Coun- 
ty in 1856 and died when Chauncey was three 
years old. his union with Mary Pollitt resulting 
in two children, one of whom did not survive 
infancy. The widow became the wife of W. H. 
Brinegar, by whom she had four children, name- 
ly: Mary J., wife of Charles Berry, a farmer 
IC 



in Fulton County; Cora B., who died in 1891; 
Peter H., of Peoria, III., and George E., of Can- 
ton, in the same State. Mr. Dowd's mother 
died in 1892. 

At the age of eight years C. M. Dowd, having 
no home, was compelled to do farm work by 
the month for his board, and followed that oc- 
cupation until 1904, after which for four sea- 
sons he engaged in tile ditching. Being de- 
prived of early school advantages, he began to 
read and study works of useful knowledge at 
night, and many times, when worn out by his 
day's toil, was found burning the midnight oil 
over his books. He continued his nightly stud- 
ies. doin.g farm work by the day or month, and 
during the threshing season working w'ith the 
machines. In the winter season he might be 
found di.gging coal in the mines. He built a 
cabin in which he lived alone, and, deciding to 
study law, bought a copy of Blackstone and a 
few other works. For years he studied at night 
and worked in the daytime, and then his cabin, 
with its contents, was destroyed by fire. Noth- 
in,g daunted by this severe blow, he secured a 
boarding place and kept right on reading law, 
and in 1900 his strenuous endeavors were 
crowned with success by his admission to the 
bar. During his years of intense and patient 
study he could obtain but few text books, but 
those which he secured, including Blackstone, 
were read and re-read until they were graven 
on his memory. For a part of this period he 
was with Judge Winter and in the oflSce of At- 
torney Jewell, and in 1904 opened an office for 
the practice of his profession, in which a bright 
future is manifestly in store for him. 

In politics Mr. Dowd is a Republican, and 
takes a lively interest in such affairs. In 1905 
he was nominated on the People's ticket for 
the office of City Attorney of Lewistown, and 
after one of the most stubbornly-contested cam- 
paigns ever known in Fulton County was elect- 
ed by a large majority over one of the strong- 
est men on the Citizen's ticket. His administra- 
tion of the duties of this office is faithful, effi- 
cient and satisfactory to all. In fraternal cir- 
cles Mr. Dowd is identified with the I. O. O. P. 
and -M. P. L. 

DOWNS, John W. — Among the substantial 
farmers of Fulton County, 111., who have made 
an especially creditable record in husbandry 
and in citizenship, is the gentleman whose name 
stands at the head of this biographical record 
and whose attractive residence and productive 
farm are located in Section 18, Liverpool Town- 
ship. Mr. Downs was born in Fleming County, 
Ky., November 20, 1851. and his parents, Edwin 
C. and Nancy E. ( Clary ) Downs, were also na- 
tives of that State. His mother was a daugh- 
ter of Garrard and Jane (Walker) Clary, of 
Maryland, who moved to Fleming County. Ky., 
and there Edwin C. Downs died about the year 
ISoo. He and his wife were the parents of two 
children, John W., and a daughter, Mary J., 
who was born in 1854 and died in 1860. The 



858 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



mother died December 30, 1895. John Downs, 
the paternal grandfather, was born July 22, 
1777, and was the son of Henry and Sarah 
Downs, his death occurring December 14, 1838. 
He married Molly Seybolt, who was the daugh- 
ter of Jasper and Nancy Seybolt, and was born 
September 29, 1782, and died September 23, 
1850. There were ten children in their family, 
all of whom are deceased. 

John W. Downs remained on the farm and 
attended the district schools until 1869, when 
he located in Fulton County and made his home 
with his uncle, George W. Clary, until 1873. In 
that year he began farming on rented land and 
continued thus until 1882, when he purchased 
120 acres in Vermont Township, Fulton County, 
where he engaged in agricultural occupations 
until 18SS. In that year he sold this farm and 
bought 200 acres on Section IS. Liverpool Town- 
ship, where he has since lived. He is a method- 
ical, progressive and successful farmer and a 
citizen in whom every worthy public enterprise 
has always found reaay and earnest support. 

On November 12, 1873, Mr. Downs was united 
in marriage with Martha A. Boardwine, a na- 
tive of Fulton County, where she was born No- 
vember 2, 1S53, and a daughter of Nathaniel 
and Elizabeth (Simms) Boardwine, natives of 
Virginia. Two children were the result of this 
union, namely: Mary E., born in Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County, June 25, 1875, who 
married George G. Knapp, a resident of Chica- 
go, and William A., born in Lewistown Town- 
ship, March 30, 1876. The mother of these chil- 
dren died February 5, 1896. The second wife 
of Mr. Downs was Mrs. Lydia A. Johnson, a 
daughter of Stephen and Lydia (Buffin) Bolan- 
der. Mr. Bolander was born m Clermont Coun- 
ty, Ohio, February 4, 1820. and was the fifth 
child of his parents. He was a Baptist preach- 
er and for many years labored in that field, be- 
ing one of the early settlers of Lewistown Town- 
ship. His father, Henry Bolander, was a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, whence he moved to Cler- 
mont County, Ohio, at an early period. By her 
first husband, Homer Johnson, Mrs. Downs had 
four children, as follows: Elizabeth, born July 
1. 1876. deceased October 15. 1895; James H., 
born September 26, 1877, deceased August 18, 
1879; Bertha A., born November 28, 1881, wife 
of N. D. Miller, a sketch of whose life appears 
in this work, and Homer B., born July 3, 1886, 
who married Artha Fleming. February 25, 1905. 

In politics Mr. Downs is a Democrat, but is 
not a politician, and has never been an aspirant 
for public oifice, preferring the quiet and whole- 
some routine of an agricultural career. He has, 
however, taken an earnest interest in local. 
State and National affairs, has kept thoroughly 
informed as to current events, and has faithful- 
ly discharged all the duties pertaining to an en- 
lightened citizenship. For many years he has 
been a member of the Presbyterian Church, his 
worthy wife being connected with the Baptist 
denomination. 



DOWNS, William Adrian, a worthy and suc- 
cessful farmer in Section 18, Liverpool Town- 
ship, Fulton County, 111., was born in Lewis- 
town Township, this County, March 30, 1876. 
He is a son of John W. and Martha A. (Board- 
wine) Downs. A review of the life of the father 
may be found on another page of this volume. 

John W. Downs was reared on the pater- 
nal farm and received his education in the 
district schools and the public schools of Lewis- 
town, 111., remaining with his parents until the 
time of his marriage. He afterward purchased 
the old home farm of 136 acres in Section 18, 
Liverpool Township. Fulton County, owned un- 
til 1900 by Nathaniel Boardwine. There he has 
since been engaged in general farming and 
stock-raising with good results. He keeps a 
superior grade of horses, cattle and hogs, and 
has begun breeding the "black" cattle, believ- 
ing that stock best for feeding and shipping. 
He also raises Norman horses and Poland- 
China hogs. 

On January 23. 1901, Mr. Downs was united 
in marriage with Samantha McComber. who 
was born in Liverpool Township. Fulton Coun- 
ty, July 3, 1873. and is a daughter of Charles 
and Mary E. (Weaver) McComber. Her father 
was a native of New York State, where he was 
born in 1813, while her mother was born 
in Virginia in 1834. The latter's father. 
Alfred Weaver, settled in Fulton County at an 
early period. Mr. McComber died in 1900, his 
wife having passed away in 1891. They had 
five children, namely: Arzina, wife of George 
E. Snell, a resident of Canton, 111.; Phoeba. 
wife of Charles Woods, of Lewistown. 111.; 
Thomas, a farmer in Liverpool Township; 
Florence, wife of Sylvester Horn, who is en- 
ga.ged in farming near Canton, 111., and Saman- 
tha (Mrs. Downs). Mr. and Mrs. Downs are 
the parents of two children: Mary, born Octo- 
ber 31, 1900, and John Charles, July 6. 1905. 
In politics Mr. Downs is a supporter of the Re- 
publican party. He is a member of the Mutual 
Protective League. He is an intelligent, enter- 
prising and progressive farmer and a useful 
citizen. 

DOYLE, John F.— Of the citizens of Irish 
parentage who have found Canton. Fulton Coun- 
ty, a pleasant as well as profitable place in 
which to live, mention is due John F. Doyle, 
who was born at Altona. Knox County, this 
State, in 1859, and whose father. Edward Doyle, 
was an early settler of Illinois. The- elder Doyle 
was born in Ireland and there learned the mil- 
ler's trade, which he followed for many years 
in Knox County and which he subsequently 
taught his son. John F. The latter, however, 
failed to find the occupation a congenial one. 
and when in a position to shape his own ambi- 
tions engaged for a time in the horse breeding 
business. 

Mr. Doyle came to Canton in 1890 and for the 
first two years ran a billiard hall, at the expira- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



859 



tion of that time engaging in a wliolesale and 
retail liquor business witli a Mr. Anderson. 
Two years later he succeeded to the interest of 
his partner and since has enlarged his opera- 
tions and has become the distributing agent 
for the Valentine Blatz Brewing Company, of 
Milwaukee, shipping the company's goods to 
all parts of the surrounding territory in carload 
lots. He is an energetic and progressive busi- 
ness man and thoroughly dependable in all his 
transactions. In ISSO he married Mary Ann 
Rogers, a native of Peoria County, 111., and of 
the union there are five children: Winnie, 
Emma, Mayme, Dean and Hazel. Mr. Doyle is 
a Democrat in politics, and fraternally is con- 
nected with the Eagles. 

DRAKE, Alonzo M. — In Alonzo M. Drake Can- 
ton had a citizen who contributed to its upbuild- 
ing a conservative and reliable jewelry busi- 
ness, which he conducted about fourteen years 
and which netted him a sufficient income for his 
modest and practical tastes. Although twelve 
years have passed since he joined the great 
majority, February 2. 1S93, his methodical and 
upright life is recalled as a useful lesson by 
the many friends and associates who survive 
him and who, like himself, recognize the value 
of principle as a valuable financial asset. 

Mr. Drake was a native son of Canton, this 
county, and was born July 24. 1851. He came 
of New England ancestry and his father, Joseph 
Drake, was born in Sussex County, N. J., while 
his mother, Sarah J. (Vittum) Drake, was a 
native of New Hampshire. Mr. Drake was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Prairie City and 
Canton and learned the jewelry business with 
S. P. Tobie, of Prairie City, and J. M, Pox. of 
Canton. On November 24, 1875, he was united 
In marriage to Ive M. Allen, a native of West 
Canaan, Madison County. Ohio, and daughter 
of John B. and Sarah (Dunlap) Allen, also na- 
tives of the Buckeye State. Mr. Allen was one 
of the prominent business men of Canton and 
for thirty years was connected with the lum- 
ber industry. 

Miss Edith Allen Drake, only child of Mr. 
and Mrs. Drake, was born in Canton April 21, 
1882, and is a graduate of the Canton High 
School, class of 1S9S, and of Smith College, 
Northampton, Mass., class of 1903. Miss Drake 
sustains the family dignity and pride as a suc- 
cessful educator, and at present is a teacher in 
the Canton High School. She is a young woman 
of scholarly tastes and wide information and 
as a teacher appeals to her pupils by her win- 
ning personality, no less than by her practical 
and advanced methods of instruction, 

DRAKE, Stephen A., a prominent citizen of 
Canton, Fulton County, Iil., and President of 
the Canton Coal Company, was born in Canton 
May 18, 1864, a son of George W. and Mary E. 
(Amsley) Drake, the former born In New Jer- 
sey in 1840 and the latter a native of Pennsyl- 



vania. George W. Drake came to Illinois with 
his father at an early date and was engaged 
in the grocery business with the latter, who 
died in 1867. 

In his youth the subject of this sketch at- 
tended school in Canton, and since reaching 
years of maturity he has been identified with 
the coal industry. The Canton Coal Company, 
of which he is President, was organized in 
1888, with William Parlin, W. H. Parlin and 
S. A. Drake as its first Board of Directors. 
This board continued in office until 1894, since 
which period the mine has been operated by 
S. A. Drake and W. D. Myers. Mr. Drake is also 
a Director in the Homestead and Loan Associa- 
tion of Canton. 

On May 17, 1880, Mr. Drake married Aureline 
Snyder, who was born and schooled in Canton. 
One child, Madeline, resulted from this union. 
Mrs. Drake is a daughter of David W. Snyder, 
of Canton. Politically Mr. Drake is a Democrat 
and fraternally is affiliated with the A. F. and 
A. M., belonging to the K. T. Commandery and 
the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the 
K. of P., of the B. P. O. E. and the Order of 
Eagles. 

DUNN, John T. — One of the oldest farmers In 
Fulton County, 111., of whom this volume fur- 
nishes a record, is the most venerable and cor- 
dially esteemed gentleman whose name appears 
at the head of this narrative, and who is now 
living in honest retirement in Farmington. It 
can be also truthfully said of him that, during 
his active career, he was a typical representa- 
tive of the best and highest class in the agri- 
cultural element of the population of Illinois. 
Intelligent, practical, systematic, diligent, per- 
severing and provident in his farming opera- 
tions, he was absolutely just in his dealings 
with all who had transactions with him, and 
his career as a farrher reflected credit upon 
that vocation. 

John T. Dunn is a Virginian by birth, hav- 
ing been born in the Old Dominion in 1816. 
His father, David Dunn, and his grandfather, 
William Dunn, were also natives of Virginia, 
while his mother, Rebecca (Merchant) Dunn, 
was born in Pennsylvania. The grandfather, 
William Dunn, who was descended from an 
English family, was a very pious and devout 
man, and a leading member of the Quaker de- 
nomination, called the Society of Friends. Da- 
vid Dunn journeyed from Virginia to Illinois 
in 1837, locating in Fulton County, where he 
purchased 160 acres of land in Section 18, 
Farmington Township, which he cleared, and 
on which he made the necessary improvements. 
Subsequently he bought a home in Canton, Ful- 
ton County, where he spent the remainder of 
his life. He was partially crippled, and this in- 
firmity prevented him from doing any farm 
work, although he was otherwise in the enjoy- 
ment of sound health. 



86o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



The subject of this sketch received his early 
education in the district schools of Virginia, 
and in 1S37 went from that State to Ohio, where 
he remained until 1S42. In that year he lo- 
cated in Fulton County, took charge of his fa- 
ther's farm, and continued thus until the lat- 
ter's death. Mr. Dunn then bought the inter- 
ests of the other heirs, and owned and operated 
the farm until 1870. when he sold it and went 
to live with his daughter. Mrs. E. N. Ross, 
where he has since made his home. While en- 
gaged in farming he made a specialty of rais- 
ing thoroughbred Poland-China hogs, in which 
he had great success. He also bred Shorthorn 
cattle, of which he shipped many carloads to 
market. He was considered a very successful 
farmer. On his last birthday, Mr. Dunn was 
ninety years old, and in view of this advanced 
age, he is still a very vigorous man. 

In 1838 Mr. Dunn was united in marriage 
with Elizabeth Bevins, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania, and received her early education in 
the district schools of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. 
Dunn had nine children born to them, namely: 
William. David, Sarah, James. Amanda. Henry, 
Charles and Christianthia. All of the sons are 
engaged in business, each being successful in 
his particular line. All of them are industrious, 
upright and honorable men. and useful citizens, 
and, like their father in the days of his activity, 
ever ready to push along on the highway of ad- 
vancement. 

Mr. Dunn has served faithfully and credit- 
ably in the oflfices of Road Commissioner and 
School Director. In religious belief ne adheres 
to the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
He has been a witness of the development of 
Fulton County almost from the beginning, and 
has done his full share to promote it. Calmly 
resting now in the evening of life, he is thrice 
fortunate in being able to look back upon an 
honorable and useful career, and, conscious of 
the affectionate regard of relatives and friends, 
to gaze forward in serene expectation to the 
reward of the future. 

DUTTON, Daniel. — The career of an honor- 
able, dutiful and upright man, a gallant soldier, 
a thorough and diligent farmer and an intelli- 
gent, patriotic and useful citizen, is illustrated 
in the enviable record of Henry Dutton, whose 
home has long been Section 35. Woodland Town- 
ship. Fulton County, III., and whose birth oc- 
curred in Brown County, Ohio, on November 3, 
1837. Mr. Dutton is a son of Moses and Rebec- 
ca (Curless) Dutton. natives of Ohio. Moses 
Dutton moved from that State to Illinois about 
the year 1845 and settled in Woodland Town- 
ship, locating near the pi-esent home of Daniel 
Dutton in Section 35, and there carried on farm- 
ing until the time of his death in 1874. His 
wife survived him two years, passing away in 
187G. Moses and Rebecca (Curless) Dutton 
were the parents of ten children, as follows: 
Elmira, deceased wife of Clark Mote, who lives 



in Knox County, Mo. ; Asa, who is engaged In 
farming in Woodland Township; Daniel; Jane, 
wife of John Thompson, a farmer of Woodland 
Township; John and Albert, who also carry on 
farming there; Henry and William, who died 
in Knox County, Mo.; Mary, who is the wife 
of James Radcliff. a Woodland Township farm- 
er, and Randolph, deceased. 

Moses Dutton, the father, was a very public- 
spirited man, and was always ready to aid in 
promoting any movements calculated to ad- 
vance the best interests of the community in 
which he lived. He was an earnest advocate of 
the cause of education, and took great pride in 
the schools of the township and county. In 
politics he was a Republican and exercised a 
strong influence in the local councils of his 
party. Personally he enjoyed the sincere re- 
spect and hearty good will of all who came in 
contact with him in the ordinary walks of life. 
He and his worthy wife were active members 
of the United Brethren Church. 

Daniel Dutton was a lad of about eight years 
of age when he accompanied his parents from 
Brown County, Ohio, to Fulton County. He has 
a vivid recollection of the journey and of the 
party who made it. He well remembers the five 
wagons which were in use on that occasion, 
conveying three families, viz: those of William 
Curless, Bridge Kennedy and Moses Dutton. 
Daniel was reared on his father's farm and 
utilized the advantages of the district schools 
in early youth. He remained at home until 
August, 1SG2, when he enlisted for three years, 
or during the Civil War, in Company H, Eighty- 
fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
sharing the fortunes of that regiment in all its 
arduous marches, sharp skirmishes and hard- 
fought engagements. He took part in the bat- 
tles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Stone River, 
Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain and 
Peach Tree Creek. During his entire term of 
service he was always ready for roll call. He 
followed Sherman in the March to the Sea and 
participated in the Grand Review at Washing- 
ton, D. C, at the close of the war. being mus- 
tered out in that city and sent to Springfield, 
111., where he was honorably discharged. Re- 
turning home he again turned his attention to 
the cultivation of the soil, in which occupation 
he has continued successfully ever since. His 
first location when he commenced farming was 
on the Illinois River bottoms, where he had a 
tract of IGO acres. This he sold about the year 
1881 and purchased ISO acres in Section 35, 
Woodland Township, where from that time he 
has made his home. He has been one of the 
busiest among the agriculturists of the town- 
ship for more than forty years and has grown 
old with Fulton County. He has not only been 
a close and keen observer of the great changes 
which have taken place in the county, but has 
been a leading spirit in the wondrous develop- 
ment of its resources. His time and means 
have always been freely devoted to enterprises 





^'-^>^^ ^^%^^jC^ 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



86 1 



in behalf of the public welfare, and churches, 
schools and charitable institutions have found 
in him a generous supporter, while many a 
worth.v person has received opportune assist- 
ance at his hands in the hour of need. 

Mr. Button was united in marriage with Mrs. 
Mary Markey ( nee Reed ) , a daughter of John 
Reed, one of the earliest settlers of Fulton 
County. He and his family are all deceased. 
Mrs. Button died February 27. 1902. She was 
suddenly taken sick and. as her husband was 
also confined to his bed, he knew nothing of her 
death until a week thereafter. The deceased 
was a woman of exceptionally amiable traits of 
character, a faithful helpmate and a tender and 
considerate mother, manifesting the utmost so- 
licitude for the happiness and comfort of her 
family. Five children blessed her union with 
Mr. Button, namely: Ettie, wife of Stewart 
Rose, a farmer in Woodland Township; Baniel 
S., who is engaged in farming on the home 
place; Rebecca: William, who carries on farm- 
ing, and Randolph, deceased. 

In politics Mr. Button is a prominent and 
unswerving Republican. Religiously he has be- 
longed for twenty years to the United Brethren 
Church (of which his departed wife was also 
a devoted member), and officiates as one of its 
trustees. Fraternally he is identified with the 
Grand Army of the Republic. In all relations 
of life Mr. Button has been actuated by a high 
sense of duty, and his long extended career has 
been beyond reproach. 

DUVALL, Edward W.— When Edward W. Bu- 
vall started upon his wage earning career in 
Lewistown in 1882, his available assets consist- 
ed of a team of horses and a five-dollar bill. He 
had, however, many far more dependable re- 
sources, and among them were grit and deter- 
mination, and a capacity for untiring industry. 
. These have elevated him to a place among the 
men of wealth of the town and surrounding 
country, to prominence as a farmer, real-estate 
broker, ice merchant and politician, and to pub- 
lic-spirited participation in all that tends to 
the permanent upbuilding of the community. 

Mr. Duvall was born April 17, 1860, in Ful- 
ton County, 111., to which had come his pater- 
nal grandfather, John Buvall, and his father, 
Samuel Buvall, in 1839. John Duvall was born 
in Maryland, and there married Margaret 
Beatty. by whom he had five children, all of 
whom are deceased. For a time he lived in 
Chester County, where his son Samuel was born 
in 1816, and in 1830 he located in the wilds of 
Ohio, where he followed farming until coming 
to Lewistown in 1839. The last years of his 
life were spent at the home of his son Samuel 
and wife, Louise (Campbell) Buvall. Samuel 
Buvall was reared on farms in his native State, 
and about 1850 purchased a saw-mill in Lewis- 
town, with which his name was connected for 
fourteen years. He later turned his attention to 
farming until 1880, when he retired from active 
life, and died at the home of his son, Edward 



W., in April, 190:3. By his first wife, formerly 
Martha Mann, he had three children, and by 
his second marriage, to Louise Campbell, he 
had six children, of whom Edward W. is the 
third oldest. 

Edward W. Duvall has learned more from 
observation and experience than he has from 
books, although he was an earnest student in 
the country schools, and graduated from the 
high school at Lewistown. In 1882. when 
twenty-one years old, he began to contract for 
the grading of the Fulton County Narrow-Gauge 
Railroad, with his own team of horses, and in 
this way was fairly successful until his return 
to farming on the old homestead. In 1885 he 
again located in Lewistown and engaged in 
the ice business for about five years, after which 
he took up the real-estate business, purchasing 
a tract of 147 acres half a mile south of the 
court house. In 1892 he resumed the ice busi- 
ness, and in 1894 was appointed Postmaster of 
Lewistown. under Grover Cleveland, holding 
the same until 1894. In the meantime, in con- 
nection with his other responsibilities, he had 
become proprietor of the Wagoner Hotel, which 
he operated from 1900 until 1904. In 1896 he 
platted what is known as the Duvall Addition 
to Lewistown. a departure which has proved 
a great success, sixty of the eighty lots having 
already been disposed of, and the land almost 
doubled in value. 

In politics Mr. Duvall is a Democrat, and in 
addition to serving as Postmaster of the town, 
he has been a member of the Board of Aldermen 
several terms. He is fraternally well known 
and is identified with the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Court of Honor. Becember 25, 
1885, Mr. Buvall was united in marriage to 
Janet B. Bonaldson, daughter of James and 
Jessie (Ahaw) Bonaldson, who were born in 
Edinburgh, Scotland, and came to the United 
tetates in 1850, first settling in New York City. 
In 1873 the Bonaldsons came to Lewistown, 111., 
where Mr. Bonaldson engaged in farming, and 
also followed his trade of cleaner and dyer. 
Mr. and Mrs. Buvall had three children, of 
whom Jessie is a graduate of the high school, 
and a teacher by occupation, and Ethel and 
Frank are both at home. Since the death of 
his wife. March 7, 1904, Mr. Duvall has cared 
for his children most tenderly, taking the place 
of both mother and father. He is a firm believer 
in education, and tew children in the town can 
boast of better or more practical life equipment. 
Mr. Buvall stands high in the public esteem, 
and belief in his integrity and good judgment 
have been variously manifest. For the past 
eight years he has been Chairman of the Build- 
ing and Loan Association, and it is through his 
recommendation that loans are advanced by 
the association. 

DUVALL, William J., editor and manager of 
the "Lewistown Evening Record." was born in 
Lewistown, III., September 23, 1875, a son of 
John and Catherine (O'Bonnell) Buvall, 



862 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the former a native of Lewistown, 
111., and the latter o£ the city of 
New York. Her family was of Irish ori- 
gin. George Duvall. grandfather of William 
J., was among the pioneer settlers of Fulton 
County. He was a carpenter by trade and 
helped to build the Lewistown Episcopal 
Church, and many of the first buildings of the 
town. His widow is still living, and resides in 
Canton, III., at the age of seventy-flve years. 

The subject of this sljetch was the only child 
of his parents. He learned the printer's trade 
in the oifice of the old "Lewistown Union," and 
still pursues that occupation. He was reared 
in Lewistown, where he received his mental 
training. During his school days he worlied at 
printing at odd intervals. He was connected 
with the "Lewistown News" when it was started, 
and afterward with the "Lewistown Weekly 
Record." He subsequently purchased the 
"Record," which was consolidated with the 
"News." The plant was also merged with the 
W. G. Newton job office, and in 1903 Mr. Duvall 
bought Mr. Newton's interest in the concern and 
started the "Daily Evening Record." He has 
built up a fine circulation. The "Record" is 
strongly Republican in politics, and is a newsy, 
entertaining and reliable sheet. Mr. Duvall has 
a competent office staff, and a complete equip- 
ment in every department. His enterprise sup- 
plies a long-felt want, and is the outgrowth of 
the contest over the county seat. 

On October 10, 1900, Mr. Duvall was united 
in marriage with Christine Coursen, who was 
born in Lewistown, April 1, 1877, a daughter of 
John and Catherine (Burley) Coursen. Her 
father was a cabinet maker by trade. During 
the Civil War ne was a soldier in the Eighth 
Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, and 
located in Duncan City. Fulton County, just 
after the war. He died March 4, 1905. 

In politics Mr. Duvall is one of the most 
influential Republicans of Fulton County, and, 
as a man and a citizen, is deservedly popular 
and held in high esteem. Fraternally he is 
affiliated with the M. W. A. 

EASLEY, Daniel L. — The wonderful prosperi- 
ty which, on the whole, has attended the United 
States for the past forty years, and its high 
standing before the nations of the world, is 
mainly due to the fact that this comparatively 
long period of peace has enabled agriculture 
and all other branches of industry to develop 
the natural wealth of the country. Following 
the terrible conflict of the Civil War the Nation 
has been united, each section contributing to 
the prosperity of every other section. The 
younger generations therefore recognize a large 
debt to the old soldiers who stood in the breach, 
preserved the Union and, through the horrors 
of war, made the supremacy of the United 
States possible in the fields of agriculture, man- 
ufactures and commerce. Of this class is the 



unassuming but honored citizen and retired 
farmer, Daniel L. Easley, of Ipava, 111. 

Mr. Easley was born in Harrison County, 
Ohio, September 27, 1831, son of John and Nan- 
cy (Kinsey) Easley, his father being a native 
of Halifax County, Va., and his mother of his 
own native county in the Buckeye State. The 
grandfather, Daniel Easley, was a member of 
one of the substantial families of the Old Do- 
minion, and on leaving Virginia to migrate 
with his family to Ohio sold his farm to the 
father of Robert E. Lee. At that time John 
Easley, the father of Daniel L., was a boy of 
twelve years, the family which then settled in 
Harrison County, Ohio, being among the first ~ 
to locate in that section of the State. There 
Daniel Easley died, and John, who had been 
reared to agricultural pursuits, came to Fulton 
County in May, 1832. From the date of his com- 
ing really begins the history of Ipava and the 
founding, especially, of its industries. 

When John Easley located in Fulton County 
he entered IGO acres of land where the village 
of Ipava now stands, laying out the site east 
of the present location of the Woolen Mills. He 
donated to the village the ground for the pub- 
lic school, the two parks and for the Presby- 
terian Church — the last especially a beautiful 
building. He and his cousin. William David, 
built a mill for the manufacture of flax-seed 
oil, which was afterward converted into card- 
ing mill and finally developed into the Ipava 
Woolen Mills. John Easley was also instru- 
mental in founding the first flour mill at Ipava, 
and more, perhaps, than any other one man 
may be said to have firmly established the place 
on a permanent business basis. This locality 
remained his home from 1S32 until his death, 
January 25, 1873. The deceased was a Quaker — 
kind, generous and helpful — and by whomso- 
ever known was warmly honored. His good 
wife survived him until March 22, 1S7S, and of ^ 
their eleven children the following seven yet 
survive: Rhoda. widow of Reese Cadwallader, 
of Cherokee County, Kans. : Sarah, wife of F. 
C. Robinson; Daniel L. ; Phoebe Fitz-Henry, a 
widow residing near Lewistown; Elizabeth, of 
Belleview, Neb.; Louisa, wife of James D. Gra- 
ham, living at Grand Island, Neb., and John R., 
a resident of Armond. Fla. — the last named be- 
ing a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, serv- 
ing for three years in Company H, Twenty- 
eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 

Daniel L. Easley spent his earlj- life upon a 
farm and in obtaining an education at the com- 
mon schools. At the outbreak of the Civil War 
he enlisted in Company B, Eighty-fourth Regi- 
ment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving from 
August, 1862. until the conclusion of hostilities. 
He was with Thomas and Sherman and, with 
his regiment, participated in all the weary 
marches and all of the fierce engagements (ex- 
cept Stone River) of the Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee campaigns and the March to the Sea. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



863 



At the expiration of his term of service he was 
honorably discharged at Springfield, 111., and 
returned to Ipava, resuming his labors upon 
the farm in June, 1865. In August, 1873, he 
removed to Kansas, but in 1886 relocated in 
Ipava, which has since been his home. 

On March 15, 1855, Daniel L. Easley was 
united in marriage to Mary J. Thompson, also 
a native of Harrison County, Ohio, who came 
to Ipava with her parents in 1850. Providence 
vouchsafed to this good couple the celebration 
of their golden wedding, upon which occasion 
they were the recipients of many gifts, accom- 
panied by what was of far greater value — warm 
expressions of good will and affection from 
neighbors, friends and relatives, a few of 
whom had also been spared to honor 
them for the full half century. Mr. and Mrs. 
Easley are both members of the Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Easley's fraternity is confined to 
the G. A. R., of which he is an esteemed mem- 
ber. He is a stalwart Republican, but has 
never been active in politics. More than all else 
he may be described as a good man and a faith- 
ful, useful citizen — and of such is composed the 
very best element in any community. 

Barrak Thompson, a native of Harrison Coun- 
ty, Ohio, and Elizabeth Mendenhall, his wife, 
also a native of that State, left the county 
named when Mrs. Easley, their daughter, was 
three years old and, moving to Morgan County, 
located on a farm there. On April 1, 1850, the 
family came to Fulton County, 111., and located 
at Vermont, in the fall settling on a farm four 
miles from that place. They later moved to 
Bernadotte Township, where the father died 
November 24, 1873, at the age of sixty-five years, 
two months and twenty-five days, the mother 
passing away December 1, 1852, aged thirty- 
eight years, four months and two days. Mrs. 
Easley was one of a family of eleven children, 
five of her brothers being all who are living. 
Her father was a Republican and a member of 
the Presbyterian Church, but was of old Quaker 
stock and belief. Her brother Isaac was Deputy 
Sheriff of Fulton County for twenty years and 
School Director for twelve years. 

EDWARDS, B. M., who is among the most 
prominent and popular citizens of Fulton 
County, 111., where he is now conducting a 
flourishing mercantile establishment, was born 
in Scioto County, Ohio, on March 8, 1865. His 
parents, Allan and Catherine (McCann) Ed- 
wards, were also natives of Ohio, the latter born 
in Adams County, that State. Allan Edwards 
and his wife became residents of Fulton County 
in 1865. In 1870 they moved to Cass County, 
Mo., and in 1875 returned to Fulton County and 
sojourned for a time in EUisville. The father 
soon afterward located in Deerfleld Township, 
whence, in 1882, he moved to EUisville Town- 
ship, having purchased 111 acres of farming 
land in the latter locality. This he Improved 
and carried on farming there until the time of 



his death, August 12, 1904. The mother died 
July 3, 1897. 

B. M. Edwards, in boyhood, made diligent 
use of the opportunities afforded by the pub- 
lic schools of his vicinity, and obtained a good 
mental training in the elementary branches. 
He was reared to a farmer's life and in early 
manhood applied himself to farming, continu- 
ing in that occupation until 1886. In that year 
he undertook threshing, together with carpen- 
ter work, and followed this joint pursuit for 
ten years. He then became a clerk in the 
store of his brother, S. S.Edwards, and after re- 
maining in that connection tour months, bought 
the latter out. His brother had previously pur- 
chased the business from E. L. Parks. Mr. Ed- 
wards conducts a general store, including ladies' 
and gents' furnishings, and also carries a $2,000 
line of shoes, besides groceries, crockery and 
provisions, the value of his entire stock being 
estimated at ?5,000. The building in which his 
store is located is a two-story structure, 22x70 
feet in dimensions, erected by the order of Odd 
Fellows in 1892. It contains an opera house 
auditorium, with a seating capacity for 200 
people. Mr. Edwards enjoys a large and con- 
stantly increasing patronage. 

On June 30, 1877, Mr. Edwards was united In 
marriage with Alice Van Winkle, who was bom 
in Iowa. This union resulted in three children, 
namely: Manfred C, bom in 1880; Ella Belle, 
born in 1882, who is the wife of J. F. Beerie; 
and Allan V., born in 1895. 

For twelve years Mr. Edwards served as 
Mayor and member of the Town Board, and six 
years on the School Board. In religious belief 
he is an adherent of the Christian Church. He 
enjoys the respect and confidence of all who 
know him, and in Intelligence, uprightness of 
character and public spirit, he Is looked upon 
as one of the representative men of his section 
of the county. 

EDWARDS, Winfield Scott, County Judge of 
Fulton County, 111. 

EGGERT, John L., who is the leading saloon 
keeper in Canton, Fulton County, 111., is pro- 
prietor of two establishments, one on East Elm 
Street and the other on White Court. He Is a 
native of Quincy, 111., where he was born No- 
vember 7, 1866, the son of Frank H. and Molly 
Eggert. He was educated in the public schools 
of his native city, and, coming to Canton In 
1890, established himself in his present line of 
business. Mr. Eggert opened his place on East 
Elm Street in 1901 and that on White Court 
in 1905, both establishments being well fur- 
nished and liberally patronized. He is a Re- 
publican, a member of the Black Eagles 
(Aerie No. 580), and is sociable and popular. 
At Canton, on February 1, 1898, Mr. Eggert was 
united in marriage with Miss Ophelia Proctor, 
who is a native of Stark County, 111., and by 
this union has become the father of three chil- 



764 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



dren, viz.: Ophelia P., John L., Jr.. and 
Josephine L. 

EHRESMAN, G. Frederick.— Energy and 

patience have been leading factors in the suc- 
cess of Frederick Ehresnian. since 1902 the oc- 
cupant of a farm of 2S0 acres in Section 13. 
Deerfield Township. Mr. Ehresnian represents 
a family established in Fulton County during 
the last year of the Civil War by his parents, 
Jacob and Eva (Martin) Ehresman, natives of 
Germany, and born in 1827 and 1S30 respective- 
ly. The father took up land in Deerfield Town- 
ship, cleared and improved the same and lived 
there until his death, which occurred in 1902. 
G. F. Ehresman was born on the Deerfield 
Township farm January 10. 1SG7, and attained 
maturity in an atmosphere of industry and 
thrift. His education has been that of the pub- 
lic schools, aided by subsequent observation and 
study, and October 21, 1S91, he married Delia 
Basel, born in Deerfield Township April 19, 
1872. Of this union there are two daughters, 
Avise and Omie. In 1902 Mr. Ehresman left 
the home place and located on the farm he now 
operates, where he is keeping up and adding to 
the improvements and conducting general farm- 
ing and stock-raising. He subscribes to the 
principles of the Jeffersonian Democracy, and 
has served as Road Commissioner for the past 
six years. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Ehresman 
inherits the strong and stable traits of his Ger- 
man ancestors, and pursues a busy and useful 
life. 

EMANS, J. A. — It has been the privilege of 
J. A. Emans to realize many of his worthy am- 
bitions, and through the exercise of good judg- 
ment and business sagacity wrest from his op- 
portunities financial and general success. A 
native of the Buckeye State, born in January, 
1849, he is a son of William Henry Emans, 
who, at an early day, settled there on Govern- 
ment land in Ohio, married Thelitha Meeker, of 
that State, and developed a fine farm. In 1852 
he moved from Ohio to Peoria County, III., pur- 
chased eighty acres of land and to it later added 
110 acres. He was engaged in general farming 
and stock-raising for many years, accumulating 
quite a competence, and upon the death of his 
wife in 18SC, went to live with liis son, J. A., 
for the balance of his life. 

Varying the routine of the paternal farm 
by attendance at the district schools, J. A. 
Emans grew to rugged manhood, cherishing 
wholesome ambitions and sane, practical ideals. 
At the age of twenty-four his father gave him 
eighty acres of land, which he tilled until 1S82, 
in that year removing to Eden, Peoria County. 
111., where he erected the first elevator and 
shipped the first car of grain from that point. 
Successful beyond his expectations, he came to 
Fulton County in 1SS4, erected an elevator at 
Farmington for Cramer & Trivoli, which he 



operated for six years. In the meantime, in 
October, 1886, he opened what is known as the 
Maplewood Coal Mine, at Farmington, worked 
the same about six months, then sold out and 
bought 130 acres of land in Farmington Town- 
ship and opened what was known as the Emans 
Mine. This venture terminated unsuccessfully 
with a washout, and in ISSS another mine was 
sunk and until 1900 operated with the help of 
about fifty men. During that year the incor- 
poration of a company was effected, in which 
Mr. Emans owned a controlling interest until 
about a year ago. He then bought seventy ad- 
ditional acres of land and since then has given 
attention on his farm to stock-raising, making 
a specialty of cattle, Poland-China hogs and 
blooded road horses. He has a modern and 
well furnished home, ample accommodations 
for his stock, and excellent general improve- 
ments. He regards farming as a science, to be 
studied and improved indefinitely, and takes 
great interest in his chosen occupation. 

in Peoria, 111., in 1873 Mr. Emans was united 
in marriage to Theresa Borst, who was born 
in New York and died in Illinois in 1888, leav- 
ing two children: R. R. Emans. of Farming- 
ton, and Charles H.. the partner of his father 
in the stock-raising business. In 1S91 Mr. 
Emans married Belle Grinnell. a native of 
I'tica. N. Y., and daughter of A. S. Grinnell, 
who came to Avon. 111., in 1866, was Superin- 
tendent of Schools of Lewistown for six years, 
held the same position in Avon seven years, in 
Bushnell for two years and in Farmington three 
years. The mother of Mrs. Emans. whose maid- 
en name was Julia Smith, was a native of New 
York. A son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Emans. named Clarence. Mr. Emans is a Re- 
publican in politics, and fraternally is connect- 
ed with the Masons, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Modern AVoodmen of America. 
Mr. Emans is a broad-minded and progressive 
man. well posted on current events, and enter- 
taining sensible opinions on questions of public 
interest. 

EMERSON, E. Paul, M. D.— The fearless, 
questioning attitude of the twentieth century 
nowhere is more strikingly apparent than 
among the exjionents of medical science. The 
tendency of the latter-day scientific physician 
to avoid, beyond all things, hasty jumping at 
conclusions or too ready deiiendence upon form- 
ulfe. is rapidly destroying ancient delusions, 
thereby placing the health of the nation in the 
hands of reasoners and independent thinkers. 
The heights to which a man endowed with 
reason and courage may climb are practically 
limitless, and such men deserve, and in this a.ge 
of the world usually receive, the hearty co-opera- 
tion and support of the intelligence and worth 
of communities. To this class of rational think- 
ers belongs Dr. E. Paul Emerson, whose oppor- 
tunities along professional lines have been ex- 
ceptional and whose use of the same has made 




c^cp/eCU., <X 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



865 



him an important factor in connection with pro- 
fessional circles in Astoria and Fulton County 
since 1899. 

Dr. Emerson was born in Astoria .January 25, 
1873, a son of Hon. William H.. Emerson, men- 
tion of whom may be found In an adjoining 
section of this work. After graduating from the 
high school of Astoria Dr. Emerson took a 
course at Brown's Business College, and then 
entered the Barnes Medical College at St. Louis, 
Mo., from which he was graduated in 1898. The 
same year he opened an office in Meredosia, 111., 
remaining there until coming to Astoria in 1899. 
In 1900 he took a course in the School of Clin- 
ical Medicine in New York, and after receiving 
his diploma studied at the Post-Graduate Med- 
ical School, Chicago, at the Mothers and Babies' 
Hospital, thereafter remaining at the latter in- 
stitution for two weeks as an interne, which 
constitutes the term. He also spent six months 
as an interne with the Post-Graduate Hospital. 
In 190.J he returned to Astoria, where he con- 
tinues to study and to profit by every known re- 
source at the disposal of the student practi- 
tioner. He has a well equipped library, labora- 
tory and office. 

December .5, 1898', Dr. Emerson was united 
in marriage to Jennie A. Shelby, daughter of 
William and Lucinda (Hill) Shelby, natives of 
Edwards County, 111., their present home. Mrs. 
Emerson was born in Edwards County, 111., be- 
ing the fifth in a family of seven children. 
Rose, the oldest of the Shelby children, is the 
wife of Frederick Luther, of Edwards County; 
Lizzie is the widow of Isaac Steele, and lives in 
St. Louis; Edwin makes his home in Denver, 
Colo; Elmer W. lives in the State of Washing- 
ton, and Grace is the wife of Elmer Bunting, 
of Edwards County, 111. Dr. and Mrs. Emerson 
are the parents of a daughter, Colla L., born 
June 25, 1901. Politically Dr. Emerson is a 
Republican without political aspirations. He 
is a man of genial and confidence inspiring 
personality, a philosopher in his attitude to- 
ward the world and a rationalist in his sane and 
practical purpose. 

EMERSON, Hon. William H.— In his evolution 
from cabin boy on an Ohio River pilot boat to 
the presidency of the People's Bank of Astoria 
and member of the Illinois Legislature, Hon. 
William H. Emerson sui)plies an inspiring ex- 
ample of the compelling power of high ideals 
and the worth of homely, sterling virtues. The 
eldest of the five sons and one daughter of Jo- 
seph Crane and Mary A. (CoUard) Emerson. 
Mr. Emerson was born among the humblest of 
surroundings in New Richmond, Clermont Coun- 
ty, Ohio, and on both sides of his family is de- 
scended from the pioneers of American civiliza- 
tion. While New York, as New Amsterdam, 
was still under Dutch rule members of the Col- 
lard family pursued their avocations within 
its quaint boundaries, and in Water Street, New 
York, was born Isaac Brainard Collard, an un- 
cle of Mr. Emerson and son of a ship black- 
smith. From his father Isaac Brainard learned 
the blacksmith trade, and when Robert Fulton. 



of steamboat fame, returned from Paris to 
America in ISOG and built and launched the 
Clermont, which made a successful trip on the 
Hudson from New York to Albany on August 
11, 1807, it was the strong right arm of Isaac 
Collard that fashioned the bunk bottoms of this 
pioneer steam craft. The life of the waterways 
appealed no less strongly to the successors of 
that progenitor of the Emerson family who 
landed on bleak New England shores in 1637, 
and who subsequently lived m and near Boston. 
In this richly interesting part of New England 
was born John Emerson, grandfather of William 
H., in 1773, and here also was born Joseph 
Crane Emerson, father of the latter, in 1808. 

Joseph Crane Emerson invaded the wilder- 
ness of Ohio while that region still was a Terri- 
tory, settling on Government land near the city 
of Cincinnati. As settlers began to arrive and 
the region yielded of its stored fertility, the 
market of New Orleans beckoned invitin.gly, and 
he engaged in freighting down the Ohio River 
between Cincinnati and the Southern jjort with 
a Hat-bottomed boat. He became an expert pilot 
and developed that absorbing interest in his 
occupation which characterizes all true toilers 
of the deep. At an advanced age his death oc- 
curred at Point Coupee, La., and his wife died in 
Cincinnati. Of his children Emma (deceased) 
was the wife of Vinton A. Mathews, of Madi- 
son, Ind., and Samuel W., Joseph C. and John 
are business men of Cincinnati. 

The youth of William H. Emerson was almost 
destitute of educational advantages and the in- 
fluences of his environment prevailing, he be- 
gan at an early age to follow the rive as cabin 
boy and later as a cook. At the age of sixteen 
he went to Cincinnati, where in 1852 he joined 
the Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Captain 
Lemis. and with them proceeded to Mexico, and 
from there to California. He remained four 
years in the latter State, much of the time en- 
gaged in gold mining, and in 1S5G returned to 
New Richmond, Ohio, where. August 27, 1856, 
he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Paul 
Wilson. Mrs. Emerson, who was born in New 
Richmond, December 14, 1834, five miles from 
the Ijirthplace of General Grant, is a daughter 
of Andrew D. and Amelia D. (Downing) Wil- 
son, natives of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, 
respectively, and in religious faith members of 
the Society of Friends, 

In 1864 Mr. Emerson left Ohio and located at 
Ashton, Lee County, 111., and in 1S70 came to 
Astoria and established the coal-mining firm of 
Emerson & Skinner. His industry, application 
and thorough knowledge of a great State's re- 
sources produced gratifying results, and in 1889 
he opened up the mines at Dunfermline. Fulton 
County, which since have proved exceedingly 
productive. In connection with mining Mr. 
Emerson has conducted a general merchandise 
store, and has had moneyed interests in many 
of the upbuilding enterprises of both town and 
country. In 1899 he was elected President of 
the People's State Bank, which has become one 
of the leadin.g and influential monetary insti- 
tutions of Fulton County. From time to time 



866 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Mr. Emerson has given substantial support to 
politics, and among other offices was elected to 
the General Assembly in 1SS3 and again in 
1906. A profound student of men and events, 
he has warmly supported the wisest measures 
before the House, and evinces practical in- 
sight into the needs of the district which he 
represents. 

Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Emer- 
son, William W. was born November 15, 185S; 
Katie E. was born May 12, 1861, and on Decem- 
ber 20, 18S5. married Lewis David, of Ipava: 
Taylor W. was born June 5, 1SG4; Collard 
Downing was born at Ashton, III., October 16, 
1867, died July 8. 1870; CoUa E., born March 
18, 1871, is the wife of H. B. Kosta, a druggist 
in Astoria; E. Paul was born January 2."), 1873, 
and is a physician in Astoria, and Lizzie was 
born March 7, 1877. For many years Mr. Emer- 
son has been an active Mason, and is a member 
of the Star Chapter, Master Masons and Com- 
mandery. Th» industry, purpose and ideals of 
Mr. Emerson have tended to the most substan- 
tial in commercial, industrial and business life, 
as well as to the most elevating in ethical, edu- 
cational and civic growth. He belongs to the 
constructive class of men, and to the non-vision- 
ary conservatives who hold fast to old truths 
■ until the excellence of new truths has been 
demonstrated. 

ESHELMAN, J. W.— That congenial work 
means successful work finds emphatic expres- 
sion In J. W. Eshelman, than whom no more 
prosperous dairyman contributes to the health 
and well-being of the people of Canton. When 
Mr. Eshelman purchased his present farm of 
200 acres on Sections 2 and 3, Cass Township, 
about fifteen years ago. its prestige existed sole- 
ly in the mind of the owner, who, in turn, had 
little to back his expectations save a large 
and continuous hope. Indefatigable industry, 
economy and common sense enabled him to ac- 
complish in good order all that he had planned, 
and today he feels a just pride in his surround- 
ings, in their neatness and order, in the com- 
fortable and well furnished house, the large 
barns with extensive stables, and the many fa- 
cilities for caring for a dairy of twenty-five 
cows. His equipment includes many extremely 
modern and practical inventions, among them 
a gasoline engine. One is impressed with the 
system maintained and the attention to details 
which distinguishes the model from the shift- 
less farmer. For the past ten years this farm 
has been devoted exclusively to dairying, and 
among his customers in Canton are many who 
have been his patrons from the start. 

Mr. Eshelman's father. John Eshelman, came 
to Farmington Township about sixty years ago 
and engaged in farming and stock-raising for 
the rest of his life. He was born in Franklin 
County, Pa., and married Margaret Minnich, 
of the same State and county. There were 
seven children in the family, all of whom re- 
ceived such educations as the country school 



afforded. J. W., one of the oldest of the chil- 
dren, remained at home in Farmington Town- 
ship until his marriage in 1879 to Susan C. 
Schafer. of Deerfield Township, and thereupon 
located on his present farm in Cass Township. 
Mr. and Mrs. Eshelman have five children: 
Boyd. Artie, Mrs. Stevenson, Irvin and Ivy. Mr. 
Eshelman takes no particular interest in poll- 
tics, although he favors the Republican party. 
Since early manhood he has been a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and con- 
tributes generously toward the maintenance of 
the local organization. His courtesy, reliabil- 
ity and his excellent milk products have won 
for him an enviable patronage among the peo- 
ple of Canton, and his neighborliness and pub- 
lic spirit make him a popular acquisition to his 
township. 

ESSEX, Clarence Ray- — Since his establish- 
ment in London Mills, in the fall of 1905, Dr. 
Clarence Ray Essex has won the confidence and 
support of a large following, and has demon- 
strated the possession of exhaustive profession- 
al knowledge and firm, reliable traits of charac- 
ter. He comes of a family of which much might 
reasonably be expected, and his early environ- 
ment was such as to develop the best traits of 
his nature. Born in Galesburg, Knox County, 
III., November 20, 1881, he is a son of Rev. 
Hiram and Sadie (Waters) Essex, natives of 
Galesburg, born April 2, 1856, and January 12, 
1848, respectively. Rev. Hiram Essex settled in 
Pulton County, 111., in 1902, and after fifteen 
years of preaching in the United Brethren 
Church, moved to Knox County, where he con- 
tinued his clerical calling for many years. About 
three years ago he returned to Fulton County, 
rented land in Young Hickory Township, and 
is devoting his declining years to general farm- 
ing and stock-raising. 

To study medicine was an early determina- 
tion in the life of Dr. Essex, and he entered the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons at St. 
Louis, graduating therefrom in the class of 
1905. Settling in London Mills, he met with en- 
couragement from the start, and now has a 
practice which nets him a comfortable income 
and gives promise of a constantly enlarging 
sphere of usefulness. He is a Republican in pol- 
itics, and fraternally is connected with the 
Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. In religion he is a member of the 
United Brethren Church. His marriage to Ella 
Ogle, who was born in Baylis, III., March 4, 
1880, occurred in Baylis, May 17, 1905. The 
Doctor has a pleasing and confidence inspiring 
personality, and besides professional skill and 
enthusiasm has a keen sense of the ethics and 
huiViane possibilities of his calling. 

EWAN, Robert T., M. D.— Representing the 
young and enthusiastic professional element re- 
cruited from the pioneer farming class of Ful- 
ton County, Robert T. Ewan in two years has 
built up a medical and surgical practice in 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



867 



Smithfield as gratifying personally as It is 
promising financially. Born on a farm near 
Lewistown, this county, January 24, 1877, he 
was reared to manhood among average circum- 
stances, and after completing his education in 
the country and high school of Cuba, entered 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the 
University of Illinois at Chicago, from which 
he was graduated in the class of 1904. Locat- 
ing in Smithfield, he soon won friends by his 
genial and kindly manner, his advocacy of the 
best tenets of his profession and his desire to 
be of use and credit to the community which 
tendered him its appreciation and support. In 
19U.5 Dr. Ewan took post-graduate work in Chi- 
cago, and has in every way shown his deter- 
mination to keep abreast with the most modern 
methods of medical and surgical practice. 

EWAN, William I., an enterprising and pros- 
perous farmer, who is engaged in the pursuit 
of his vocation in Section 25, Cass Township, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Port Republic, 
Va., on March 12, 1S49. He is a son of Robert 
and Carrie (Lewis) Ewan, natives also of the 
Old Dominion. Robert Ewan located in Lewis- 
town Township, Fulton County, in 1859. In pol- 
itics he was a Democrat and served as Assessor 
of Lewistown Township for several terms. 

In boyhood William I. Ewan received his edu- 
cation in the district schools of Fulton County 
and spent his youth in assisting his father on 
the home farm. In early manhood he applied 
himself to farming on his own account, and in 
1SS2 bought of William Wilson 100 acres of 
land. He subsequently purchased more, all in 
Section 25, Cass Township, and now owns 240 
acres, on which he carries on farming success- 
fully. Nearly all the improvements on this 
farm have been made by him. He has built 
three new barns — one thirty-six by forty feet 
in dimensions, and other forty by fifty feet and 
another forty by forty-four feet. 

On March 12, 1873, Mr. Ewan was united in 
marriage with Rena Murchison, who was born 
in South Carolina and is a daughter of Rev. 
Collin and Elizabeth (Andrews) Murchison. 
Six children were the offspring of this union, 
namely: Collin M., Robert T., a physician; 
Clayton, who is engaged in the study of law, 
and Leroy, engaged in farming, and Carrie and 
Ruth, who are with their parents. In politics 
Mr. Ewan advocates the principles of the Dem- 
ocratic party, and has creditably served two 
terms as Township Supervisor, his last term 
expiring in the spring of 1905. He is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Protestant Church. 

EYERLY, Benjamin F., a well-known and 
prosperous dry goods merchant of Canton, Ful- 
ton County. 111., was born in Washington Coun- 
ty, Md., on April 26, 1842. He is a son of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Garlinger) Eyerly, natives of the 
State of Pennsylvania, the father spending most 
of his life in Maryland, where he died in 1859, 
his widow passing away in 1862. 



Benjamin F. Eyerly received his education 
in the common schools, and his residence in 
Canton began in 1804. The business concern of 
which he is the head was first established in 
1S6S under the firm name of Thornton, Eyerly & 
Company, 1. S. Piper being the silent partner. 
The store was located on the south side of the 
square and the partnership continued until 
1871. From that period until 1882 the firm 
was Thornton & Eyerly, B. F. Eyerly then con- 
ducting the business until 1900, when the style 
was changed to B. F. Eyerly & Son. The con- 
cern was moved to its present location in 1885. 
In addition to his mercantile responsibilities 
Mr. Eyerly has been President of the Canton 
Bank since 1893. 

On October G, 1875, Mr. Eyerly was married 
to Sarepta Jones, who was born in Canton, 
where in girlhood she received her early edu- 
cation. One child resulted from this union. Van 

B. Eyerly, who is in partnership with his 
father. Mrs. Eyerly is a daughter of David C. 
Jones, a native of New York State, and her 
mother was a daughter of Rev. Robert Stew- 
art, of Canton. Politically Mr. Eyerly is a mem- 
ber of the Democratic party. 

EYERLY, William H., who for nearly thirty 
years has been engaged in the cigar manufac- 
turing trade, is the senior member of the firm 
of W. H. Eyerly & Brothers, his partners being 

C. Frank and George M. The factory has come 
into special prominence in this section of the 
country within the past decade as the originator 
of the brands E. (Tall Sycamore) and E. B. 
(five and ten-cent cigars), which have become 
among the most popular of any similar grades 
on the market. 

Mr. Eyerly was born in Hagerstown, Md., on 
the 18th of September, 1855, his parents being 
Josiah E. and Mary Virginia (Michaels) Eyer- 
ly. In the following year the family located in 
Canton, 111., where the father was long engaged 
as a plasterer, but for many years past has 
been connected with the cigar factory of which 
his sons are proprietors. W. H. Eyerly was 
educated in the public and high schools of Can- 
ton and became a principal in his present line 
of industry in 1879, when he established a 
cigar factory in partnership with Charles Fer- 
guson, under the firm style of Eyerly & Fergu- 
son. He next formed a connection with Ar- 
thur Dewey as Dewey & Eyerly, and a few years 
afterward N. C. Smith was received into the 
business. In 1897 was formed the present co- 
partnership of W. H. Eyerly & Brothers, one of 
the most prosperous firms engaged in the man- 
ufacture of cigars in Central Illinois. When 
Mr. Eyerly first entered the field In 1879 his 
factory was in the Smith Block, on the east 
side of the square, his location being succes- 
sively moved to the northwest and the north- 
east corners before he erected the large brick 
building now occupied on South Main Street. 
The Eyerly Brothers' Block, erected in 1893, is 
one of the most substantial business structures 
in Canton. 



868 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



In May, 1892, Mr. Eyerly was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Mary Elizabetli Cooney and 
tliey liave one cliild — Editn M. 

FARR, John. — Among the worthy pioneer resi- 
dents of Astoria Township, Fulton County, 111., 
who, by reason of long careers of industry, care- 
ful management, patient endurance and upright 
dealing, have richly earned the respite from 
toil which they are now enjoying in circum- 
stances of ease and comfort. John Farr is one 
of the best known and most respected. Now 
that the period of his life in Fulton County ap- 
proaches three-score and ten years, he is fortu- 
nate indeed in being able to look back over the 
past with the happy consciousness that he has 
faithfully discharged his duties in public and 
private relations, and has done his full share 
in building up the most important interests 
and promoting the highest welfare of the lo- 
cality with which he has been so long identi- 
fied. Mr. Farr was born near his present farm 
in Section 10, Astoria Township, July 23, 1841. 
He is a son of Cooper and Ada (Farr) Farr, na- 
tives of Ohio. The detail of his family antecedents 
may be found in a record of the life of William 
Farr, which appears elsewhere in this volume. 
Mr. Farr was reared on his father's farm and 
attended the district schools of the township in 
early youth and remained on the paternal prem- 
ises until he drew near the age of maturity. 
With the exception of nine years during which 
he was a resident of the village of Astoria and 
one yenr spent in Vermont. Fulton County, he 
has always clung to that spot in the immediate 
neighborhood of his birthplace, where he first 
established his family altar. The ground on 
which his comfortable and pleasing residence 
is located was cleared by his own hands from 
its virgin growth of brush. The farm of 120 
acres, now rented out, is otherwise conveniently 
and attractively improved and kept under a 
high state of cultivation. Mr. Farr has always 
taken much pride in maintaining a good stock 
of horses on the place. He has never been fully 
contended to live elsewhere, and now that he 
is entering upon the decline of life he feels more 
than ever that the home farm is his natural 
abode, although he has finally withdrawn from 
the active labors pertaining to its operation. 

On October 2. 1SG2, Mr. Farr was united in 
marriage with his first wife. Peninah Caine, 
who was born in Ohio. She came with her par- 
ents to Illinois about the year 1840, locating 
near Table Grove, Fulton County. The young 
couple began housekeeping in the present fam- 
ily home, adjoining the farm where Mr. Farr 
was born and passed his youthful years. They 
became the parents of four children, namely: 
Arthur, who died in infancy; Bertha, who is 
the wife of Albert Tate; Cooper, a resident of 
Kewanee, 111., and who married Anna Bucey, 
and Earl D., who married Lena Radford and 
also lives in Kewanee. Bertha's husband, Al- 
bert Tate, was born in Macomb. 111., a son of 
Richard Tate, now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Tate 



now reside in Los Angeles, Cal., where the for- 
mer is an editor and manager of a job printing 
office. Earl D. Farr, whose home is in Kewa- 
nee, holds a position of responsibility in the 
Kewanee Tube Works, which furnishes employ- 
ment to 5,000 men. The mother of this inter- 
esting family died April 9, 1S93. She was an 
earnest and faithful member of the Christian 
Church. A devoted wife, she was most affec- 
tionate and consideiate in the care and guid- 
ance of her children, all of whom were provided 
with a good common school education and fitted 
for any position which they might be called 
upon to fill. They were taught by her to mold 
their lives in such a way as to honor their par- 
ents and become useful members of society. Mr. 
Farr's second wife was formerly Miss Katie 
Endres, an estimable woman, whom he married 
June 6, 1S95. She was born in Schuyler County, 
111., where her parents settled on coming to the 
United States from Germany. Her father is 
now a resident of Astoria. 111., her mother being 
deceased. 

In i)olitics Mr. Farr has always acted with 
the Democratic party. He has taken an active 
interest in local affairs and has filled various 
township offices with credit to himself and to 
the satisfaction of his constituents. He is lib- 
eral in donations to all charitable enterprises 
and public institutions, and is a constant pro- 
moter of church and school work. He has 
amassed a snug competence for his declining 
years and, exempt from the cares and vexations 
of strenuous endeavor, is quietly enjoying the 
comforts and pleasures which follow a well- 
siient life. 

FARR, William. — For one of its oldest fami- 
lies and most interesting- agricultural land- 
marks, Astoria Township is indebted to the 
coura.ge and far-sightedness of Cooper Farr, who 
came 'o Fulton County from his native State of 
Ohio in 1837, bringing with him his wife, for- 
merly Ada Lynn, also of the Buckeye State, and 
his three oldest daughters, Eliza .1., Elizabeth 
and Susan. Entering 160 acres of land in Section 
3. Mr. Farr erected a dwelling of rough logs — 
the only style of home then occupied by the 
early settlers — and proceeded to divest his hold- 
ings of the heavy timber which almost entirely 
covered it. A stout heart and cheerful disposi- 
tion transformed hardships into shining step- 
l)ing-stones to better things, and his hope and 
optimism, unfailingly shed upon those around 
him, made of the small, cramped dwelling a 
place in which to grow up temperamentally as 
well as materially. 'I'he children who survive 
the pioneer days recall with unmingled joy the 
atmosphere of ha])piness in which they grew 
to maturity, sharing with generous spirit the 
good drawn from the prairies, attending the 
round log schoolhouse where knowledge was 
dispensed during the winter season, and wel- 
coming with open arms and assurance of lov- 
ing care the appearance of each tiny stranger 
in the family. Near the present commodious 




SUSAN ELI OT HUGHES 



ll 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY 



869 



home occupied by William Farr, present owner 
of his father's original home, stands this same 
log house in wliich were born seven of the 
brothers and sisters. Although his death oc- 
curred in 1SS5, more than twenty years ago, 
Cooper Farr realized many of his pioneer an- 
ticipations, and witnessed the conversion of the 
wilderness into an abiding place for happy, 
prosperous and progressive people. Bight years 
after his own death his wife and helpmate 
joined the invisible choir, having during her 
life won the love of all by her fine and noble 
personality. Of the children, Eliza Jane, wlio 
was born in Ohio, has been twice married, first 
to .Joseph Lindsay and second to John A. Web- 
ster, and now is a widow living in Vermont, 
111.; Elizabeth married John W. Hopkins and 
both are deceased: Susan is the deceased wife 
of John Spry, of Iowa; llalinda died in infancy; 
Mary E. became the w?fe of Jesse Xelson and 
lives in Vermont, 111.; William owns and occu- 
pies the old |)lace; John is engaged in farming 
near the old home: Samuel died at about forty- 
eight years of age; Amanda is the deceased wife 
of William Guthrie, of Vermont, III.; Azuba is 
the wife of Benjamin F. Bader, and Edith died 
in infancy. 

William Farr was born on the paternal home- 
stead in Astoria Township, August 11, 1839. two 
years after his parents' arrival from Ohio. He 
worked hard from morn until sunset, and made 
the best of his limited educational chances. At 
the age of twenty-one he uprooted himself from 
the old surroundings, rented a farm in McDon- 
ough County for a couple of years, and in 1870 
returned to the old place, which he rented about 
seven years. He then purchased the farm out- 
right, moved the historic old dwelling back to 
make room for one of modern construction, and 
in 18G;3 married Mary Co.\, daughter of Jesse 
Cox. deceased. Of this union there have been 
born four children: Amanda, wife of Nelson 
Freeman, a prominent farmer of Vermont Town- 
ship; Jesse, a farmer in Astoria Township, who 
married Mary P. Eddie; Henry, a farmer in 
Astoria Township, who married Ella Carter, a 
daughter of R. G. Carter, and Edward, a farmer 
of Astoria Township, who married Jessie Bryan. 

To his original farm of IGO acres Mr. Farr 
has added until he owns 280 acres of fine, highly 
cultivated land. He is engaged principally in 
stock-raising, but in harvest time a large part 
of his land is covered with yellow grdin. Of 
late years he has shifted the responsibility of 
management onto the shoulders of his stalwart 
and capable sons and takes life easy, as should 
a man who has employed his powers according 
to his best wisdom and judgment. A Democrat 
in politics, he never has sought official honors, 
but has satisfactorily discharged various local 
offices, among them that of School Director and 
Road Commissioner. In his sixty-seventh year 
he finds himself the possessor of moderate 
wealth, of a fine family, the devotion of a noble 
wife and the confidence and affection of a large 
circle of friends. 



From the iarm Mr. Farr's lather removed to 
Vermont in 1870, where he lived retired for a 
few years, when he returned to live with his 
son Samuel, with whom he made his home until 
his death. 

Cooper Farr, besides the 160 acres of land he 
had on which William Farr lives, also owned 
220 acres, both tracts in Astoria Township. He 
had bought town property in Vermont, but on 
returning to the country to live he divided his 
property with his children. Eliza Jane took 
the town property in Vermont. John Farr lives 
on 120 of the original 220 acres and Samuel 
lives on the 100 acres. 

FARWELL, John.— That Fulton County ranks 

high among the agricultural regions of the Cen- 
tra! West is largely due to the exertions of such 
strong and forceful personalities as John Far- 
well, a pioneer of 1837, who, in the isolation and 
loneliness of his little cabin, drew the horoscope 
of his surroundings and planned and built and 
labored unceasingly to make his dream come 
true. Mr. Farwell had more than the average 
of discernment and more than average deter- 
mination. Few of the pioneers have amassed 
so much from small beginnings as did this 
shrewd and conscientious farmer and real estate 
dealer, who paid taxes on 2,000 acres of land 
and whose available assets were rated at from 
$200,000 to $22.5,000. The legitimate accumula- 
tion of almost a quarter of a million dollars 
argues the possession of worth-while business 
qualities, and no other conclusion can be drawn 
regarding this prince of agrarian promoters 
than that he embodied the best of brain and 
heart produced by the experiences of the 
frontier. 

The Farwell family has stood for thrift, ener- 
gy, integrity and liberality almost from the 
dawn of American history. It has been repre- 
sented in the commercial, industrial, politica! 
and military life of the land, and its members 
have buckled on their accountrements in prac- 
tically all of its wars. A certain Samuel Far- 
well came from England and settled in Marble- 
head. Mass.. and reared a family of several 
daughters and three sons — Absalom. Richard 
and John — the last of whom settled in Packers- 
field. N. H.. in 1772. He owned a corner lot in 
the south part of the town. Packer.sfield in 
1814 received the name of Nelson and in 1870 
was christened Harrisville. John Farwell mar- 
ried Sarah Pickett, who died March 3. 1807. in 
her sixty-sixth year, his decease occurring No- 
vember 21, 1820, in his eighty-first year. They 
had seven children. 

On the old homestead in New Hampshire, 
which now boasts a mansion costing $150,000, 
John Farwell was born June 13, 1S07, the son 
of Samuel and Eunice (Stoddard) Farwell, the 
former born September 27, 1769, and the latter 
born August 22. 1773. the daughter of Richard 
and Rachel (Hill) Stoddard, of Packersfield, 
N. H. Samuel Stoddard died March 12, 1839, 
and his wife September 7, 1854. Of his imme- 



870 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



diate family the subject of this sketch seems 
to have been most resouiceful, although he had 
a brother who was prominent in ecclesiastical 
and civil affairs, who served in the New Hamp- 
shire Legislature during 1S61-62, and who was 
a Sunday school teacher for a quarter of a cen- 
tury. In 1828, at the age of twenty-one years, 
Mr. Farwell fared forth to Massachusetts, and 
in 1830, hearing the call of the wilds, journeyed 
to Coshocton County, Ohio, seven years later 
coming by way of the canal and Illinois River 
to Sharp's Landing, Schuyler County. The fol- 
lowing autumn he located in Bernadotte Town- 
ship, but not liking his location moved two 
years later to Woodland Township, where he 
entered 160 acres of land in Section 25. In a 
clearing he erected a cabin twelve by fourteen 
feet and bravely faced the hardships which were 
the inevitable accompaniment of his mission. 
He was all alone and he lived thus for two 
years. Around him were wild deer and other 
game, but for the most part that deep, all per- 
vading silence of the prairie, to which we of a 
later day are absolute strangers. He proved a 
powerful master of circumstances, forcing the 
latent fertility of the soil into channels of in- 
finite use to man, and marketing his products 
with the skill and forethought of the born mer- 
chant. Animated by that primal instinct of 
man for a home and children, he married, in 
1S41, Calista Ann Curless, who was born De- 
cember 25, 1S15, and who died June 24, 1848. 
He then married Mrs. Susan Severus, who died 
soon after, and October 24. 1849. he took to wife 
Julia Blandin, a native of Ohio, born Novem- 
ber 24, 1831. Of this last union were born the 
following named children: Louise, wife of 
James Chaddick; Alice, a resident of Woodland 
Township and widow of ueorge Welker; Gran- 
ville, a farmer in Oklahoma, and Hattie. wife of 
John Curies. 

As time developed his ambitions Mr. Farwell 
kept adding to his land holdings, and he also 
Invested on a large scale and sold to mar'ked 
advantage both country and town properties. 
It is estimated that he gave each of his chil- 
dren at least $20,000, in adition to large tracts 
of land. He gave much to humanitarian proj- 
ects, and helped many less fortunate than him- 
self to a right understanding and use of their 
powers and opportunities. He was a disciple of 
peace, and at a time when local conditions and 
laws were unstable, invariably encouraged the 
settlement of difficulties out of court. In poli- 
tics he was a Republican, but he had no official 
aspirations, and though he held at different 
periods most of the township offices, he did so 
under protest. Mr. Farwell was a direct prod- 
uct of the place in which his destiny was de- 
veloped. He had the courage, independence, 
integrity, charity and general helpfulness which 
the wilderness demanded of those who linked 
their fate with it. and of no man can it be more 
truly said than of him that he knew how to rec- 
ognize and use the opportunities afforded by his 
environment. 



FARWELL, William A. — The extremes of pov- 
erty and affiuence have met and harmonized 
their respective uses in the career of William 
A. Farwell, the result being an intelligent, 
broad-minded, shrewd and forceful husband- 
man, the owner of 1,340 acres of land, a gen- 
erous contributor to worthy causes, and a force- 
ful supporter of the character, purpose and pros- 
perity of Fulton County. In his youth Mr. Far- 
well had the good fortune to watch his father, 
John Farwell, grow rich through legitimate 
means, and in his maturity he has largely prof- 
ited by the industry of the older man, whose 
mission it was to stand upon the threshold of 
history in this part of the State, and accom- 
pany its growing fortunes until his death in 
September, 1900. His wife, and mother of the 
subject of this sketch, passed away when the 
latter was three weeks old. 

During all his life William A. Farwell has 
known the early hours and ceaseless toil of the 
successful farmer, and only recently has he 
laid aside the cares of management and profited 
by the boon of leisure. Born on the farm upon 
which his father settled in 1837, and which his 
son still owns, his early advantages were in no 
way exceptional, or even different from those 
of the other farmer lads of his neighborhood. 
It is his privilege to recall intimate asso- 
ciation with the hardening experiences of the 
frontier, with long walks over almost impassa- 
ble roads to a primitive institution of learning: 
to labor in the harvest field, beginning with the 
rising and ending with the setting of the sun; 
and to endure responsibilities which bore heav- 
ily upon both his physical strength and his good 
nature. The settling of the paternal estate 
fortunately was satisfactory to all concerned, 
not a dissenting voice being heard nor a criti- 
cism ventured. With this encouraging nucleus 
Mr. Farwell set to work to invest and im- 
prove, and so wise and far-sighted have been his 
operations that, today, he is one of the largest 
tax-payers in the southern portion of Fultou 
County, owning 1.000 acres of land in Woodland 
Township, adjoining Schuyler County, and 340 
acres in Hickory, Schuyler County. At the 
present time he has eight tenants on his land, 
the greater part of which is under cultivation. 

On August 21, 1885, Mr. Farwell was united 
in marriage to Annie E. Engle. who was born 
near Astoria, Fulton County, October 21, ISSG, 
a daughter of Andrew and Susan (Mitchell) 
Engle, the former of whom is now deceased, 
while the mother still resides in Canton. Mr. 
and Mrs. Farwell are the parents of eight 
children: Maggie Colista, born April 13, 1886, 
the wife of Dow Workman, a farmer in Wood- 
land Township; John W., born November 7, 
1887, died December 14, 1887; Susan J., born 
November 8, 1888, wife of Hugh Curless, of 
Woodland Township; Minnie Josephine, born 
March 30, 1890; William Darius, born June 12, 
1892: Flossie J., born January 1, 1896; Oliver 
A., born March 9, 1898: John H., born March 
7, 1900; and Robert R., born December 16, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



VJ 



1902. Mr. Farwell subscribes to the principles 
of the Republican party, and for many years 
has been a member of the local Board of Edu- 
cation. He is not a member of any church, 
but takes a wholesome interest in religious and 
other institutions, and is one of the most gen- 
erous men when called upon to further any 
worthy cause. His clean and upright life com- 
mands respect and good will, and, as the legiti- 
mate owner and custodian of a large estate, he 
inspires admiration for his sagacious and 
thrifty management and control. 

FASH, A. H. — Among the various branches of 
professional knowledge on which civilized hu- 
manity is more or less dependent for the main- 
tenance of healthful conditions and for exemp- 
tion from physical distress is the science of den- 
tal surgery. Careless habits of living and indul- 
gence in articles of food and drink which are 
detrimental to organs of the body and in those 
which are injurious to the teeth, have become 
so general that in all communities good dent- 
ists are indispensable factors. But, as in medi- 
cine and surgery, the science of dentistry is con- 
stantly developing new phases of usefulness, 
and in order to insure success, the dentist of 
today must keep fully abreast of the latest 
achievements in his profession. He must add 
skill to thorough research and combine close 
application to his task with the ability gained 
through experience. Such a practitioner of this 
art is the subject of the present writing. Dr. 
A. H. Fash. 

Dr. Fash is a native of Illinois, born in July, 
18.52, at Peoria, III., where in boyhood he re- 
ceived his first mental training in the public 
schools. Both his parents, James L. Fash and 
Levantia (Arnold) Fash, were natives of the 
State of New York. The former located in 
Peoria. 111., in 18.30, where he engaged in the 
butchering business and where he owned and 
operated one of the first concerns of that kind 
in the city. After retiring from the butchering 
business he held the office of Meat Inspector 
there for three years, being the first official of 
that character in Peoria. Sometime after his 
service in this capacity came to an end, he re- 
tired from city business and assumed the care 
of a farm which he had purchased in the vicin- 
ity of Peoria. 

Dr. Fash pursued a course of study in dentist- 
ry in his native city of Peoria and has been en- 
gaged in the practice of his profession in Farm- 
ington, Fulton County, 111., since 1880. He first 
opened an office in the Spencer Cone Building 
and, after that was destroyed by fire in 1887, 
transferred his quarters to the building owned 
by C. C. Butler. In 1896 he moved thence to 
Samuel Jack's building, in which he has main- 
tained his office ever since. Dr. Fash has been 
successful during the twenty-five years of his 
practice in Farmington. and has gained the con- 
fidence and respect of an extensive patronage. 

In November, 1883, Dr. Fash was united in 
marriage with Katherine Foltz, who was born 



in Farmington, 111., where in her early youth 
she utilized the opportunities for mental instruc- 
tion afforded by the public schools, from which 
she graduated. This union has resulted in the 
birth of one child, James H. In religious con- 
nection the Doctor is an earnest member and 
worker in the Congregational Church, in which 
he has for twelve years served the Farmington 
Congregational Sunday school as Superin- 
intendent. Mrs. Fash is also a constant and 
zealous church worker, having belonged to the 
choir of the Congregational Church for nearly 
twenty-two years, in which she has acted as 
organist. 

Politically the subject of this sketch upholds 
the principles of the Republican party, and in 
fraternal circles is identified with the I. O. 0. F. 
and the M. W. A. Camp of Farmington. In the 
latter order he was the First Clerk and Second 
Venerable Counsel. He is also affiliated witn 
the American Home Circle. 

FENGEL, Henry C— Of those resourceful 
German-Americans who have fashioned their 
careers within the boundaries of Deerfleld Town- 
ship, Fulton County, few are better known 
than Henry C. Fengel, who, in 1855, crossed the 
seas with his parents, John L. and Mary (Wal- 
ters) Fengel, from Germany, where he was born 
September 14, 1845. At the age of ten years 
the lad found many avenues for the employment 
of his ingenuity and strength, for his father 
took up a timbered tract of eighty acres, which 
must needs be cleared ere the seed could be 
planted or harvests gathered. In a clearing a 
'og house was erected, in which the family lived 
ten years, and then succeeded to more preten- 
tious quarters, in the building of which the 
son took a prominent part. 

With many duties confronting him Mr. Fengel 
found the acquiring of an education difficult 
and uncertain, and at best attended school but 
a few months during the winter season. He 
always has occupied the home place in Section 
12, and he also owns eighty acres in Section 
14. Until his retirement from active life in 
1901, he followed general farming and stock- 
raising, and after he became owner of the home- 
stead added many improvements to those 
planned and executed by his father. He has 
a comfortable residence, well constructed barns 
and outbuildings, vegetable and flower gardens, 
orchard, and many of the comforts and luxuries 
known to the man whose agricultural energies 
have reached to the enlightenment of the twen- 
tieth century. 

In Joshua Township, Fulton County, February 
25, 1869, Mr. Fengel married Elizabeth Ebers- 
man, who was born in Germany, September 3, 
1848, and who is the devoted mother of four 
children: Mary B., Emma, Newton H. and 
Elvina. In politics Mr. Fengel is a Democrat, 
and in religion a Lutheran. He has been prom- 
inent in township affairs for many years, and 
has served as School Director and Road Com- 
missioner. He has kept pace with the time in 



8/2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



which he has lived, and is one of his township's 
popular and enlightened agriculturists. 

FIKE, William M., who is successfully en- 
gaged in the abstract, real-estate, loan and in- 
surance business in Lewistown, Fulton County. 
111., was born in Woodland Township, Fulton 
County. March 20, 1853. He is a son of John 
M. and Eliza .Jane (Onion) Fike, who were mar- 
ried October 27. 1850. .John M. Fike, who was 
a native of Indiana, was born April 27, 1827, 
and died December 23, 1862. Eliza Jane Onion, 
a daughter of Joel and Eleanor Onion, was born 
December 4, 1830. and died January 20, 1901. 
John M. Fike and his wife were the parents of 
five children, namely: Martha E.. born August 
4, 1851, deceased August 30. 1852; William M.. 
born March 20, 1853; Mary Elizabeth, born July 
27, 1855; John Jay, born May 14, 1857, and Jas- 
per Newton, born August 31, 1860, deceased 
April 18, ISCC. 

The great-grandfather of William M. Fike was 
of German nativity and spelled his name Feik. 
His son, who came to the United States and lo- 
cated in Pennsylvania, spelled it Fyke, and the 
style adopted by John M. was Fike. which or- 
thography has since been used by the family. 
When a young man John M. Fike came to Ful- 
ton County, where he met the lady who after- 
ward became his wife. During the Civil War he 
served in the Third Regiment, Illinois Volunteer 
Cavalry, and while in the field contracted dis- 
eases which finally terminated his life. About 
the year 1850 he bought a farm in Section 10, 
Woodland Township, this county, which has 
since been the home of the family and where 
John Jay and his sister, Mary E.. still reside. 

His father having died when William was but 
a boy. the resjionsibility of managing the farm 
and caring for the rest of the family devolved 
upon him. He worked the farm in summer 
and attended the district school during the win- 
ter. After finishing his schooling he entered 
Hedding College at Abingdon. III., still teach- 
ing winter terms in the district until 1879. At 
that period he attended school at the Gem City 
Business College at Quincy. 111., after which he 
taught till the year 1883, at which time he was 
appointed Dei)uty Circuit Clerk under W. R. Mc- 
Laren, holding the oflflce until December, 188G. 
He was the regular nominee for Circuit Clerk 
in the Republican conventioa and was elected 
in November. 1888. He served until December. 
1892,' and on the organization of the Farmers' 
State Bank accepted the position of Cashier, 
which he held one year. In 1893 he resigned 
and engaged in his present business of mortgage 
loans and insurance, in which he has been very 
successful. 

On October 17. 1889, Mr. Fike was married to 
Zadie Snively. a daughter of Perrin and Eveline 
(Wri,ght) Snively, of Cuba. 111. This union re- 
sulted in three children, namely: Louise, born 
May 24. 1894: George Lawrence. July 12. 1898. 
and Eveline Irene, October 20, 1902. 

Mr. Fike has been a resident of Fulton County 



for half a century, and in his official and busi- 
ness relations has always proved competent and 
faithful. In the line of i)rivate effort he is 
known as an enterjuising and reliable man. who 
jjossesses good qualifications and unquestioned 
integrity. Fraternally Mr. Fike is a member 
of M. W. A. Camp, Xo. 228. and of the Court of 
Honor. Mrs. Fike is a leading member of the 
Christian Church, Lewistown. 

FILLINGHAM, John F.— From a life of con- 
tinuous and substantial civilian effort the war 
record of John F. Fillingham rises as a supreme 
and overshadowing experience. This fact is the 
more remarkable, as the flag he defended was 
of an adopted country, to which he came in 1854 
from Norfolk, England, where he was born De- 
cember 10. 1842. Mr. Fillingham is the young- 
est of the nine children of his parents, John and 
Mary (Fuller) Fillingham, who arrived with all 
but their oldest son in Canton, 111.. November 
4. 1854, taking up land in Banner Township, 
where the father died at the age of seventy- 
seven years and the mother at the age of sev- 
enty-five. 

Twelve years of age when he arrived in Ban- 
ner Township, the youth of Jlr. Fillingham ex- 
lierienced much of the hardship in that thinly 
settled community, his hours of work extending 
from unsrise to sunset. He secured but a lim- 
ited education and was but eighteen years old 
when the opportunity to serve his adopted coun- 
try presented itself in the culmination of strife 
between the North and the South. Enlisting in 
Company K. Seventh Illinois Cavalry. August 
24. 1861. his company marched first to Sjiring- 
field and thence to Cairo and Bird's Point. Mo., 
where four of their men were shot by guerillas 
while on patrol duty. As a ijart of General 
Pope's army they besieged New Madrid and, dur- 
ing a dark and stormy night, forced the evacua- 
tion of the city and took possession of the am- 
munition and stores. At the battle of Island 
No. 10 this company took many prisoners, and, 
transferred to Pittsburg Landing as a reinforce- 
ment, they participated in several battles around 
Torinth and in the siege of that city. At Farm- 
ington occurred the death of Major Anplington. 
and after an encounter at Tuscumbia Creek and 
Boonville. Miss., the com])any went into camp 
at Rienzi. They next guarded the railroad at 
Courtland and Russellville. At the latter point 
Mr. Fillingham being taken ill, later spent some 
time in the hospitals at New Madrid. Corinth 
and Benton Barracks, St. Louis. In April, 1863, 
he reioined his regiment, which was then at 
La Grange, Tenn.. and later during the 
same year participated in the fa- 
mous Grierson's raid through Mississippi to 
Baton Rouge. La. They also guarded the rail- 
road at Moscow for a time, the following Christ- 
mas at Somerville cutting their way through a 
surrounding file of the enemy with the loss of 
a few killed and captured. Returning to La 
Grange, they remained there until February 1, 
18C4, when they undertook, but subsequently 




J-.&, rVu^^^tJua 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



873 



abandoned, the Ill-advised William L. Smifh 
raid. After a veteran furlough Mr. Fillingham 
participated with his regiment in skirmishes at 
Pulaski. Shoal Creek and the battles of Colum- 
bia. Franklin and Nashville. At Gravelly 
Springs, Ala., they turned their horses over to 
General Wilson's command. The company then 
went to Eastport, Miss., and later to Tupelo, 
Miss., and was finally remounted at Decatur, 
Ala., and stationed at Huntsville from July to 
November, 1SC5, and finally discharged at Nash- 
ville on November 4, 1SG5. Although enlisting 
as a private Mr. Fillingham was mustered out 
as an Orderly Sergeant. He had many grim 
and forbidding experiences; his clothes were 
many times pierced with bullets, and on his 
birthday he held in his hands from morning un- 
til night a carbine that was hot enough to burn 
from rapid firing. He was a brave and fearless 
soldier and, from sources of which he is not 
aware, it is known that he performed many 
deeds of generosity and self-sacrifice upon the 
battlefields of the South. 

After the war Mr. Fillingham purchased a 
farm which since has increased in value and 
productiveness through his wisely directed and 
unfailing industry. A mechanic of more than 
ordinary ability, his knowledge in this direc- 
tion has been a source of interest and profit, es- 
pecially in the line of machinery. He has va- 
rious country properties besides his home place 
in Canton Township and his residence in the 
city of Canton, to which he moved with his fam- 
ily on March 1, 1899. Mr. Fillingham has 
marked executive ability and has held many 
offices of trust and responsibility in both town 
and country. He was elected Supervisor of 
Banner Township for 18SS-89. was Supervisor 
of Canton Township eight years, Road Com- 
missioner of Orion and Banner Townships, Al- 
derman in the city of Canton and Assessor of 
Canton Township during 1905-7-8. These posi- 
tions have been filled with business ability and 
a broad knowledge of the general needs of the 
community. He is a Republican politically, and 
fraternally is connected with the Benevolent 
Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Re- 
public. 

The marriage of Mr. Fillingham to Sybil E. 
Packard, a native of Ohio and daughter of Lee 
and Emeline Packard, occurred February 1, 
1866. soon after Mr. Fillingham's return from 
the war. Of this union there have been born 
six children: Byron L.. John A., Mary E., Sybil 
Grace (deceased). William L. (deceased), and 
an infant who died unnamed. Mr. Fillingham 
is one of the strong and reliable men of the 
community, and his services in the interests of 
agriculture, mechanics, politics and war cannot 
be overestimated. He has a fine and interest- 
ing personality and is most thoroughly appre- 
ciated and respected by those who have known 
him longest and best. In the words of his ap- 
preciative and devoted wife, "he is and has al- 
ways been one of the best, the kindest and most 
17 



loving of husbands in the State of Illinois," and 
in fitting response he declares that "a more 
faithful and loving wife no man ever had." 

FINGEL, C. P.— In all save the accident of 
birth. C. P. Fingel is an American citizen, for 
he was but four years old when brought to this 
country by his parents, John and Mary (Lang) 
Fingel. from Germany, where he was born in 
1844. His father was an artisan in Frankfort, 
Germany, for many years, and upon locating 
in Pittsburg, Pa., pursued his chosen calling 
there for the remainder of his active life. 

Arriving in Deerfield Township in 1S6C, C. P. 
Fingel bought eighty acres of land, and in 1867 
was united in marriage to Sarah Burson, a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, whom he had known in 
his boyhood. In 1872 he bought of George 
Burson eighty acres of land, and also farmed 
an additional eighty acres belonging to his wife, 
the entire tract being located in Sections 11 and 
12, Joshua Township. He was one of the men 
who maintained a high standard of agricultural 
practice, and he placed on the market many 
head of Shorthorn cattle, Poland-China hogs and 
Norman horses. He had shrewd business abil- 
ity, and about twelve years ago was in a posi- 
tion to retire on a competence to Canton, where 
he owns a beautiful home, and is surrounded by 
refinements and comforts impossible when he 
started upon his independent career. In his 
family are the following-named children: Mary, 
wife of William Moore; Margaret, and Carl. 
One of Mr. Fingel's most absorbing activities 
has been in connection with the Presbyterian 
Church, in which he has held office for many 
years. He is deeply interested in the Sunday 
School, and contributes generously to it and 
other departments of church work. Fraternally 
he is associated with the Benevolent Protective 
Order of Elks. Besides creditable service as 
Supervisor and School Director in his township, 
Mr. Fingel is honored as a veteran of the Civil 
War, having served for one years in the Fifty- 
fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He is one of 
the community's broad-minded and intelligent 
citizens and the graduate of an occupation 
which which he has dignified with ability, re- 
source and success. 

FINK. Charles L., an enterprising and success- 
ful miller of Cuba. Fulton County. 111., was 
born in Sedgwick County, Kans., on October 13, 
1877, a son of Eli and Harriet (Murphy) Fink, 
natives of Virginia and Illinois, respectively. 
Eli Fink was a farmer by occupation and 
Charles L. was reared in Kansas, where the 
father died when the son was about three years 
old and the mother when he was fibout seven. 
After this the early years of his life were spent 
in different families, working for his board and 
clothes. In 1893 when about sixteen years of 
age. he came to Illinois and located in Cuba, 
Fulton County, where he received his educa- 
tion in the public schools and the high school, 
graduating from the latter after a course of four 



874 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



years, after which he taught school for one year 
and then entered the Illinois State Normal Uni- 
versity at Normal, 111. After pursuing a three 
years' course in this institution, in June, 1900, 
he took charge of the mill in which he had 
been interested in partnership with John Hut- 
sizer. This was originally a tannery, which 
had been built in 1S98, and which they remod- 
eled into a mill. After operating this concern 
two years Mr. Fink assumed charge alone and 
has since conducted a general milling business, 
grinding all kinds of grain but not manufactur- 
ing flour. He also keeps a hay and feed-store 
and cider mill, making vinegar, and has recent- 
ly begun the manufacture of concrete building 
blocks. He remodeled the steam plant in 1904, 
installing a new 25-horse power engine, and in 
the spring of 1905 introduced additional im- 
provements, substituting, for the old stone burr, 
attrition machinery. 

Mr. Fink is unmarried, is a business man of 
superior qualifications and abounding energy, 
and supervises a large variety of details with 
close scrutiny and diligent application. His 
ability and enterprise have already been re- 
warded with success. 

On political matters Mr. Fink supports the 
principles of the Prohibition party, and reli- 
giously is a member of the Christian Church. 
His fraternal associations are with the A. F. 
& A. M., being elected Master of Cuba Lodge in 
1906 and re-elected the following year. In the 
spring of 1907 he was elected by the Citizens' 
party to the office of Mayor of the city of 
Cuba, 111. 

FISHER, Colin R. — With the coming of Jacob 
Fisher to Fulton County in 1855 an element of 
strength and purpose was added to the upbuild- 
ing forces of a promising and prosperous com- 
munity. That the ideals of work and citizen- 
ship cherished by this frontiersman have been 
transmitted to those succeeding him in the race 
is not questioned by those familiar with the his- 
tory of the family for the past half a century. 
Jacob was a natural mechanic, with a genius 
for manipulating carpenter's tools, and he came 
from Westmoreland County, Pa., with his tool 
chest, family and few worldly possessions, land- 
ing at Copperas Creek Landing after a voyage 
on the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. 
Upon the land which he bought in Young Hick- 
ory Township his son, Frank M. Fisher, grew to 
maturity and his grandson, Colin R. Fisher, 
was born December 29, 1S75. 

Frank M. Fisher was born in Westmoreland 
County, Pa., November 19, 1850. and was five 
years old when the family came to Illinois. 
Accustomed to the use of tools from boyhood, 
he eventually settled in the town of Middle 
Grove, where he plied his trade for a couple of 
years and then engaged in merchandising un- 
til failing health compelled his retirement from 
that occupation in 1890. He next operated a 
butcher shop, and in time retired on a compe- 
tence. Mr. Fisher was a man of character and 



experience, and was prominent in the political 
and general affairs /Of his adopted town. A 
Democrat, he served as Postmaster under the 
administration of Grover Cleveland from 1884 
until his resignation in 1890, and also served as 
School Trustee and Township Collector. For 
many years he was very active In the 
work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
took a keen delight in the Sunday-school 
work and derived social satisfaction 
from membership in the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. February 11. 1875, he was united 
in marriage with Lydia Louise Swigart, a na- 
tive of Fairview Township, and daughter of 
John and Mary (Tipton) Swigart, early set- 
tlers and large landowners of Young Hickory 
Township. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher are the parents 
of the following named children: Colin R., 
Charles W., Myrtle L., Neal R., Roscoe F. and 
Lela Maude. 

As the oldest son of his parents, Colin R. 
Fisher remained on the home place until his 
twentieth year, when he started out on his own 
responsibility, laboring as a farm hand in dif- 
ferent parts of Fulton County. In 1900 he rent- 
ed the farm of Mr. Matthews, and after four 
years of success, moved to the farm of his grand- 
father Swigart, which is one of the finest and 
most valuable properties in Young Hickory 
Township. He cultivates at present 160 acres, 
all of which is improved, and turns his atten- 
tion principally to Polled-Angus cattle, Poland- 
China hogs and blooded horses. He has a de- 
lightful country home, equipped with practical- 
ly all of the comforts and conveniences known 
to the up-to-date and successful agriculturist. 
The marriage of Mr. Fisher and Henrietta Jane 
Blakeslee, of Fulton County, occurred in Peoria, 
111., November 30, 1898. Of this union there are 
three children: Clifford T., Forrest B. and Ralph. 
Mr. Fisher subscribes to the principles of the 
Democratic party and fraternally is connected 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
He is an enterprising and capable man, thor- 
oughly posted on current events and in close 
sympathy with everything which tends to the 
development and growth of his native township. 

FITZSIMMONS, Andrew (deceased), formerly 
a well known and much respected farmer of 
Avon, Fulton County, 111., was born in County 
Down. Ireland, in 1822, a son of .John and Mary 
(Murray) Fitzsimmons, both of whom spent 
their entire lives in Ireland, where the father 
was a farmer by occupation. The childhood of 
Andrew Fitzsimmons was passed on the home 
farm, and in early youth he received his edu- 
cation in the schools of the neighborhood. He 
remained with his parents until he was eight- 
een years of age, when in company with one of 
his brothers in 1840 he emigrated to the United 
States. Proceeding to Illinois he settled in Ful- 
ton County, where, through industry, economy 
and integrity, he became the owner of a very 
desirable farm in the vicinity of the town of 
Avon. There he cultivated the soil for many 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



875 



years, respected by his neighbors and by all who 
knew him for his honest dealings and blame- 
less life. He died in Avon village, December 
3, 1S80, leaving an estate including eighty acres 
of land. His mortal remains were laid in St. 
Augusta Catholic Cemetery. 

The marriage of Mr. Fitzsimmons took place 
in Augusta, 111., January 26, 1863, when he was 
wedded to Margaret Logan, who was born in 
County Mayo, Ireland, August S, 1S46, a daugh- 
ter of James and Bridget Logan. The union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzsimmons resulted in four 
children, namely: Mary, William, John and 
Margaret, all of whom are deceased with the 
exception of John, who is a resident of Avon. 
Politically Mr. Fitzsimmons is identified with 
the Democratic party, and served In the capac- 
ity of School Director. In religious faith he 
was a devout Catholic, as is his worthy widow, 
who is still a highly respected resident of Avon. 

FLAKE, Frank, a retired farmer of Avon. 111., 
who was successfully engaged in farming in 
Union Township, Fulton County, 111., from the 
time of reaching his majority until his retire- 
ment from active pursuits, was born in the lo- 
cality which is still his home, December 6, 1S56. 
He is a son of William and Nancy (Nelson) 
Flake, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, re- 
spectively. William Flake, who always followed 
farming, came from Ohio to Illinois in 1S47, set- 
tling in Fulton County, where he has since re- 
sided. Frank Flake was reared on the pater- 
nal farm and received his education in the dis- 
trict schools of the vicinity. In early man- 
hood he began farming on his own responsibil- 
ity, and was thus engaged for a number of 
years. He is still the owner of the farm for- 
merly operated by him, consisting of 100 acres 
In Union Township, the improvements on which 
are the result of his work. 

On April 14, 18S6. Mr. Flake was married, 
at Avon, 111., to Ella Ahearn, a native of Fulton 
County, where she was born April 24, 1867, the 
daughter of Daniel and Nancy Ahearn, resi- 
dents of the same county. Her father is Irish 
by nativity, and the birth of her mother oc- 
curred in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Flake 
have one child — Lorena. In politics Mr. Flake 
is identified with the Democratic party, and has 
served the public as School Director. His re- 
ligious connection is with the Christian Church. 

FLAKKE, Harriet Jane.— The influx of pioneers 
Into Fulton County in 1835 exceeded in num- 
ber all who had previously cast their fortunes 
with the then unpromising locality. Among 
the arrivals of that year was John Flake, who 
was born in Indiana. April 8, 1811, and who 
availed himself of the cheapness of the land to 
take up eighty acres that stretched in wild, un- 
broken line across the prairies. He was pos- 
sessed of grit and determination and prospered 
as the years passed by, in time owning a 100- 
acre tract. While still young and compara- 
tively poor he married Elizabeth Jenkins, who 



was born in Ireland and who survived for many 
years his death, which occurred October 21, 1889. 
Harriet Jane Flake was born on her father's 
farm in Fulton County, January 25, 1857, and 
was educated in the country school near her 
home. Her life has been a quiet, domestic one, 
devoted to the tasks around the house, and in 
later years to the grave responsibility of assist- 
ing in the management of the farm. Her friends 
are many in the township and her kindness of 
heart and loyalty to all interests whatsoever 
are everywhere acknowledged. Miss Flake has 
never married. 

FOLEY, George L., a well known resident of 
Canton, Fulton County, 111., who has followed 
coal mining since he was a boy of fifteen years 
and for several years was manager of an ex- 
tensive coal mining enterprise in the vicinity 
of Canton, was born in Peoria, 111., in 1876, a 
son of W. E. and Kate L. Foley. Mr. Foley is 
the younger of a family of two children, name- 
ly: William F. and George L. Foley. 

In early youth the subject of this sketch en- 
joyed the advantages afforded by the public 
schools of Peoria, and after finishing his studies 
secured employment in a coal mine. In this 
occupation he continued for several years. To- 
gether with his brother, W. F., and his father, 
he located at Canton in 1902 and sunk a mine on 
the Shepley farm. The brothers purchased five 
acres of land and leased 600 acres of coal area. 
They built a shaft and equipped it with the 
Shaw hoisting machinery, furnishing the mine 
and plant with electric lighting appliances and 
installing electric motors in their blacksmith 
shop. In connection with their work are used 
Shaker sieves and the Christie box-car loader. 
The output of the mine is 350 tons dally and the 
force employed numbers 100 men. The equip- 
ment of the plant is sufficient to hoist 1,000 tons 
of coal per day. All of the product of this mine 
is shipped to the Northwest via the Toledo, Peo- 
ria & Western Railroad, on the tracks of which 
it is located. December 16, 1905, the Messrs. 
Foley sold their Canton mine to H. W. Lynch 
& Company, of Peoria, and are now operating a 
mine at Mapleton. Peoria County. 

Mr. Foley was joined in matrimony in 1898 
with Maggie Wright, who was born in England, 
a daughter of William Wright. Three children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Foley, namely: 
Katie, Paul and Margaret. Fraternally Mr. 
Foley is affiliated with the Order of Eagles. He 
is considered one of the most energetic, capable 
and promising young men in Fulton County in 
his sphere of operation. 

FOOTE, Charles F. — Ordinarily heredity has 
no rights which the biographers of successful 
Americans, especially those of the West, feel 
bound to respect. However, it counts for much 
in shaping the course of some men, and em- 
phatically must be noted when the tendency 
born in a man is fostered by an ever-present in- 
fluence along the same lines, crowding other 



8/6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



avenues of thought, and compelling minute 
attention to the demands of one's surroundings. 
Supplementing environment and training, hered- 
ity has counted in the case of Charles F. Foote, 
owner and manager of the Ipava Woolen Mills, 
with which he has been connected since 1S80. 
Mr. Foote has been grounded in the woolen 
manufacturing business ever since he was 
eight years old, and there are few men in the 
country similarly employed who have a more 
comprehensive grasp of this important indus- 
try. In Winchester, Middlesex County, Mass., 
where he was born November 12, 1850, his 
father, .John Foote, was engaged in the same 
avocation, which he industriously and profitably 
followed during his entire life. 

John Foote was born in 1827 in Leeds, the 
largest city in Yorkshire, and the fifth largest 
city in England. Leeds is the chief seat of the 
great Englisn woolen industry, and with it the 
Foote family has been connected for several 
generations. John Foote, true to the tradi- 
tion of his forefathers, learned the business 
from the bottom round of the ladder, and to 
know that he is the equal of any workman in 
tue world. He was fifteen years old when he 
came to America in 1845, locating in Massachu- 
setts, the heart of the woolen industry on this 
side of the water. He worked at his trade in 
various parts of New England, and in Cherry 
Valley, Mass., married Martha Childs, who 
was born in Portland, Maine, and died in Rush- 
ville, HI., in 1903. Their children (all of whom 
are still living) are: Charles F., the subject of 
this sketch; Alfred, proprietor of the Fey 
House, Rushville; Ada, a resident of the British 
Possessions; Walter, in charge of the yarn mill 
at Rushville, and H. G.. employed in the John 
Foote & Son's woolen mill. When the Civil 
War broke out the oldest son, Charles F., was 
eleven years old. The latter had begun to work 
in the woolen mills at Newport, N. H., at the 
age of eight years, and still was struggling with 
the rudiments of the business when, in 18G4, 
father and son enlisted in Company K, Eight- 
eenth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and 
served until the close of the war. From New- 
port, after the war, the elder Foote moved with 
his family to Otsego, Mich., and from there to 
Rock Island, 111., where he was chief carder and 
spinner in the mills of that town. In 1870 he 
located in Rushville, 111., and organized the 
company of J. Foote & Sons, which established 
the Rushville hosiery mills, soon after con- 
verted into a yarn mill, and which, under the 
firm name of J. Foote & Son, has been in con- 
tinuous operation for thirty-five years. 

Charles F. Foote severed his connection with 
the Rushville mills in 1S80, and in partnership 
with William Moorehouse bought a half-interest 
in the Ipava Woolen Mills, which .lad been es- 
tablished about 1840. Upon the death of Mr. 
Moorehouse, in 1892, Mr. Foote succeeded to the 
entire ownership of the bill, and since has man- 
aged it with increasing financial satisfaction. 
When he first became interested in the mill it 



was doing a business of about $40,000 a year, 
but it since has increased to $G5,000 a year and 
has a weekly pay roll of $175. For the past 
four years no outside trade has been solicited, 
either jobbing or retail, a mail order business 
being resorted to entirely. During the past 
year looms, jacks and cards have been added 
for manufacturing the finest woolen fabrics, 
and it now is one of the best equijjped woolen 
mills in the country. With his many years of 
experience, his excellent business foresight, and 
his managerial ability, it is needless to add that 
Mr. Foote accomplishes the best possible re- 
sults with his manufacturing plant. He has 
his own electric light plant, operated by ar 
Cowles engine, and he also supplies the pump- 
ing power for the city water works. It is his 
habit to employ good workmen and pay them 
good wages, a common sense view which saves 
him many thousands of dollars yearly. 

At Knoxville, 111., Mr. Foote was united iu 
marriage to Sadie L. Saddler, a native of Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Foote have two chil- 
dren, of whom Ina is the wife of Clare Mar- 
shall, a prominent farmer of Fulton Countv, 
and John is in business with his father. Mr. 
Foote is socially inclined, and a prominent 
member of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, 
Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. He is a Republican 
in politics, and in religion a Methodist. He also 
is identified with the Grand Army of the Re- 
public. Mr. Foote is a man of leading charac- 
teristics, public spirited, popular, honorable in 
all his dealings and through his upbuilding of 
one of the town's most worthy industries, a 
commercial factor of widespread influence. 

FORD, George (deceased), formerly a well- 
known farmer of Buckheart Township. Ful- 
ton County. 111., was born in the State of Penn- 
sylvania, a son of William Ford and wife. Wil- 
liam Ford died leaving a widow and nine chil- 
dren, who located at an early period iu Fulton 
County, where they made their home in Putman 
Township. Subsequently the mother went West, 
where she died. Of this family. George Ford 
was the eldest. His arrival in Fulton County 
took place about 1834. In youth he received his 
early training in the primitive district schools, 
and on reaching mature years, left the home 
farm and applied himself to farming on his 
own account, continuing in this occupation dur- 
ing the remainder of his life. He died in 1877, 
aged sixty years. Mr. Ford was devoted to his 
home, an industrious and upright citizen, and 
highly respected by all who knew him. 

Mr. Ford was united in marriage with Eliza- 
beth Shaw, a daughter of Alexander Shaw, and 
they had ten children: William, deceased; Har- 
riet, deceased wife of James Fleming, of Lewis- 
town, 111.; Sarah and Zachariah. deceased; 
Jerry, of Marbletown, Fulton County, 111.; 
Nancy, wife of John Murphy, a sketch of whose 
life appears in this volume; Charles, of Etna 
Green, Ind.; John and Emma, deceased; and 




BALTHAZER JACOBS 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



877 



Jackson C, a farmer in Buckheart Township. 
The mother of this family arrived in Fulton 
County in 1836, her husband having located 
there two years previously. The former, a 
most estimable woman, died in 1904. 

FORD, Jackson C, who is successfully engaged 
in farming in Buckheart Township, Fulton 
County, 111., and is equally successful in the 
proprietorship of a livery and feed barn at St. 
David, Fulton County, was born in Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County. November 13, 1858, 
a son of George and Elizabeth (Shaw) Ford, 
natives of Pennsylvania. A sketch of his fa- 
ther's life appears in another section of this 
work. The subject of this sketch was reared 
on the paternal farm and received his early 
mental instruction in the public schools of Bry- 
ant, Fulton County. In 1861 the family moved 
to Buckheart Township in that county and set- 
tled on a farm of 160 acres in Section 29, where 
Mr. Ford has since lived and where he has al- 
ways been engaged in farming. Besides general 
farming he has devoted his attention to breed- 
ing a superior grade of horses, cattle and hogs. 
In May, 1905, Mr. Ford erected two buildings 
in St. David, one for store purposes and the 
other for a livery and feed barn, to which he 
bestows considerable attention. It is a first- 
class place in every particular, and especial 
attention is given to feeding and caring for 
horses. Mr. Ford keeps an excellent collection 
of turnouts, single and double, and succeeds in 
affording satisfaction to his patrons. 

On January 12, 1883, Mr. Ford was united in 
matrimony with Louisa F. Berry, a daughter of 
John and Louisa (Byers) Berry, pioneer set- 
tlers of Fulton County. Her father is now a 
resident of Lewistown, 111., ner mother having 
departed this life. Mr. and Mrs. Ford have 
six children, namely: Jesse, who is in charge 
of the home farm; and Ross, Mary V.. Arlo 
Jackson. Dottie D. and Ralph Roosevelt, who 
are with their parents. In politics Mr. Ford is 
an unwavering Republican, and has always done 
his utmost to promote the success of that party. 
Since early manhood he has been identified with 
the best interests of Fulton County, and is one 
of the most worthy, substantial and useful mem- 
bers of the community. 

FOSTER, Samuel J., one of the oldest and 
most honored among the pioneer citizens of 
McDonough County. III., but now living in re- 
tirement at Table Grove. Fulton County, was 
born at Foster's Point, McDonough County, De- 
cember 30, 1832, and enjoys the distinction of 
being the first white child born in the township. 
He is a son of Arthur J. and Sarah (Kelso) 
Foster, both of whom were natives of the State 
of South Carolina. At an early period the Fos- 
ter and Kelso families journeyed from the South 
to Indiana, where the parents of Samuel J. Fos- 
ter were joined in matrimonial bonds about the 
year 1830. In 1831 Arthur J. Foster and his 
wife left Indiana and located in Macon County, 



111., shortly afterward establishing their home 
in McDonough County. The former, who was 
a farmer by occupation, was born in 1800. He 
was a man of unflagging industry, provident 
methods and strict probity of character, and his 
exemplary and useful life came to an early close 
in 1843. Although always busy and diligent in 
and out of season, he nevertheless found time 
to take an active interest in the cause of church 
and school and gave freely of his means to pro- 
mote their interests. He donated the one acre 
of ground which has always been the site of 
the Foster's Point Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, of which he was a devoted member. 
Public spirited to a marked degree, he set out 
a fine sugar grove and did many things tend- 
ing to avance the general welfare of the place. 
His charities were unostentatious, but liberally 
bestowed. In all his beneficent deeds he had 
the hearty co-operation of his worthy helpmate, 
and both were held in the highest" esteem by 
all who knew them. Their hospitable home 
was the abiding place of the preacher and be- 
fore the church was built it was the meeting 
point of the synod of the denomination to which 
they belonged. Their nearest neighbor was 
then about six miles distant. Politically Mr. 
Foster was a Whig and when a young man was 
an ardent admirer of Abraham Lincoln, to 
whose speeches he often listened. 

Sarah (Kelso) Foster survived her husband 
many years, passing away a half century later 
at the advanced age of ninety-three years. The 
remains of these honored pioneers lie together 
in the old family graveyard on the homestead 
farm, the hallowed scene of the strenuous en- 
deavors of their brief but happy wedded life. 
To Arthur J. and Sarah (Kelso) Foster were 
born seven children, as follows: Henry W.; 
William D.. who lives at Table Grove, 111.,'; 
John N.. who resides at Foster's Point, Eldo- 
rado Township, McDonough County; Samuel 
J.; Sarah, deceased, who was the wife of .James 
H. Lowe, of Rocky Ford. Colo.; Abner D., whose 
home is in Nebraska, and Johanna C, widow 
of J. S. Gettis. who is a resident of Chicago. 

Samuel J. Foster was reared to agricultural 
pursuits and in early youth thoroughly utilized 
the opportunities for mental training afforded 
by the public schools in his vicinity. His en- 
tire life has been spent in McDonough County, 
all of its active period being devoted to farm- 
ing operations. His labors have been uniformly 
successful and his business transactions have 
involved the handling of many thousands of 
dollars. The farm on which he was born is 
among his present possessions. He is the owner 
of 227 acres of land and has amassed a hand- 
some competency as a dependence for his de- 
clining years. 

In 1854 Mr. Foster was united in marriage 
with Mary McMahon. who was born in Dubois 
County. Ind., in 1833. Her father and mother 
died in that county, the former in 1836 and the 
latter in 1850. When about seventeen years of 
age she came to Illinois and made her home 



878 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



with one of her aunts. The union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Foster resulted in nine children, as fol- 
lows: Sarah V., widow of William Vail and a 
resident of Table Grove, 111.; A. D., of Macomb, 
111.; James M., deceased; John L., who is en- 
gaged in farming in Industry Township, Mc- 
Donough County; Henry L., who lives on the 
old farm in Eldorado Township; Eva, who is 
with her parents; Nellie C, wife of William 
Barkley, a farmer in Scotland Township, Mc- 
Donough County; Luella. wife of Edward Ans- 
bury, of Macomb, 111., and Samuel R., who is on 
the old homestead in Eldorado Township. Their 
father rendered each of the children, on grow- 
ing to maturity, the assistance necessary to 
start in life, and those surviving having been 
provided by him with thorough mental instruc- 
tion, are living comfortable and useful lives, 
and are respected members of the communities 
to which they severally belong. All of them 
are consistent members of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian Church. With this church their father 
and mother have been closely and prominently 
identified for many years, the former having 
joined it in 1843 when twelve years of age. For 
half a century he has officiated as one of its 
elders and as Superintendent of the Sunday 
school. He has always been ready with his 
means in affording help to the poor, and every 
good cause has felt the impulse of his kindly 
and benevolent heart. 

Since attaining his maturity the subject of 
this sketch has witnessed many marvelous 
changes in McDonough County, and with all the 
wonderful transformation which that region has 
undergone, he has borne his full share in the 
labor attending the process of development. He 
has been one of the most eminently useful of 
the faithful workers who laid the foundations 
of the material, moral and educational pros- 
perity of his section of the State. His career 
has been unsullied by venality and unmarred 
by selfishness, and the ripening years that crown 
his head are attended by the consciousness of 
steadfast fidelity to the obligations of duty and 
by the assurance that he enjoys the profound 
esteem and regard of the entire community. 

FOSTER, William Arthur Holmes.— The largest 
and best equipped livery establishments in Table 
Grove is owned and operated by William Arthur 
Holmes Foster, a native son of McDonough 
County, 111., and scion of a family represented 
in that county as early as 1826. Mr. Foster was 
born in Eldorado Township. McDonough 
County. February 21, 1857. a son of W. D. and 
Elizabeth (McClintock) Foster, natives of In- 
diana and Ohio, respectively, and grandson of 
John Arthur Foster, of Kentucky, and of Wil- 
liam McClintock, a native of Ireland. W. D. 
Foster came to McDonough County in 1S26 with 
his parents, the family taking up land from the 
Government, where they spent the rest of their 
lives. The son eventually became the pos- 
sessor of an adjoining property in McDonough 



County and remained thereon until his retire- 
ment to Table Grove in 1892. 

William Arthur Foster lived at home until 
his marriage to Mattie Bailey, who was born 
in Eldorado Township, and thereafter estab- 
lished a home of his own on a farm adjoining 
that of his father. October 22, 1879. Ten years 
later he engaged in the hardware business in 
Table Grove with J. M. Keach, and three years 
later purchased the interest of his partner and 
conducted the business alone for three years. 
He then sold a half interest in the business to 
his brother-in-law, J. D. Bailey, with whom 
he continued the business until September, 1900, 
when they sold out to Griffith Brothers. Mr. 
Foster then engaged in the livery, feed and 
fuel business, and also has been engaged to some 
extent in the purchase and sale of blooded 
horses. In November, 1903, he established him- 
self in his newly built and modern barn, which 
is equipped with facilities for conducting an 
up-to-date and increasing business, and there 
has been largely patronized by the best ele- 
ment in the town and surrounding country. 

Mr. and Mrs. Foster have five children: Lil- 
lian, wife of Ellas Holston, of Pennsylvania; 
Lawrence B., Aubrey T., Anna and Neva P. 

FOSTER, William D.— The retirement of Wil- 
liam D. Foster from active life, July 12, 1892, 
was justified by the accomplishment of success 
in its broadest sense, by many years of devo- 
tion to the science of farming, by faithfulness 
to private and public duties and conscientious 
regard for the perpetuation of his name and 
labor in the bringing up of his children. Mr. 
Foster occupies a pleasant, lawn-surrounded 
home in Table Grove, this county, furnished 
in accordance with refined taste and practical 
ideas of comfort. His life has been a steadfast 
and busy one, and the end of his working days 
finds him prosperous financially and rich in the 
esteem of a large circle of friends. 

Born November 5. 1826, in Davis County, Ind., 
Mr. Foster is a son of Arthur J. and Sarah (Kel- 
so) Davis and grandson of Henry Foster and 
Henry Kelso, all of whom were born in the 
State of South Carolina. All of his people on 
both sides of the family have been members of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in which 
he also has held membership since early boy- 
hood. Reared on a farm and educated in the 
subscription schools of both South Carolina and 
Illinois, he was five years old when his parents 
moved to the latter State in 1831, settling on 
land in Eldorado Township. McDonough County, 
where the father died when William D. still 
was in his teens. The latter, with his brother, 
continued to live on the home place with their 
mother, William being next to the oldest of five 
sons and two daughters. 

The marriage of William Foster and Eliz- 
abeth A. McClintock occurred May 29. IS.'il, 
Mrs. Foster having been born in Ohio, and a 
daughter of William and Nancy (Decker) Fos- 




ANDREW J. JACOBUS 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



879 



ter, the former born in Virginia and the latter 
the first white child born in Guernsey County, 
Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Foster bought 
sixty acres of the home place, erected a resi- 
dence and barn thereon, and eventually bought 
enough more to make a farm of 110 acres. He 
developed a fine and valuable property and had 
one of the most comfortable and hos- 
pitable homes in the township. Here 
were born his children, the order of 
whose births is as follows: Mrs. Flor- 
ence Battenburg; Mrs. Frances Smith, of 
Missouri; William A., engaged in the livery 
business in Table Grove; L. C, a farmer of El- 
dorado Township, McDonough County; Harry, 
a farmer of the same township, and Mrs. May 
Wetzel, occupying the home place. Mr. Foster 
is a Republican in politics, but never has taken 
an active part in local governmental affairs. 
He is a genial and sympathetic man, and the 
grind of labor has not hardened his nature or 
rendered him less the friend of youth and hap- 
piness. 

FOUTCH, Francis M., one of the oldest and 
most prominent of the pioneer farmers of Ful- 
ton County, 111., is a native of Sangamon 
County, 111., where he was born June 27, 1833. 
He is a son of John and Rhoda Foutch, who set- 
tled in Fulton County in 1835, locating in Isabel 
Township. Details pertaining to the anteced- 
ents and history of the Foutch family may be 
found in a record of the life of James Foutch, 
which appears elsewhere in this volume. The 
subject of this sketch was brought to Fulton 
County by his parents when he was two years 
of age, and grew up on the paternal farm, at- 
tending school in the old log schoolhouse in 
early youth. Mr. Foutch well remembers the 
desolate, barren condition of "South Fulton" 
at that period and the abundance of wild game 
that was to be seen in all directions. Deer, es- 
pecially, were plentiful, and venison was a 
common article of food. As a substitute for 
bread the early settlers were accustomed to grate 
tneir corn and prepare hominy. The first grist 
mill in this locality was built by George Dun- 
can on Spoon River, and the settlement was 
named Duncantown. In 1856 Mr. Foutch lo- 
cated in Section 27, Isabel Township, where 
he carried on farming until 1883, when 
he moved to Woodland Township, buying forty 
acres in Section 12. In 1903 he purchased 
eighty acres in Section 15 of the same township, 
where he has since made his home. On this 
farm is a vein of the finest quality of coal 
four feet thick, which is mined by his son. No 
reliable estimate can be made of its extent, 
but the supply is thought to be unlimited. 

In the reminiscences of his school days Mr. 
Foutch recalls the log schoolhouse, with its 
split log benches and writing desk of similar 
material fastened to the wall ; the chimney made 
of sticks plastered over with mud, and the 
teacher hired at one dollar per quarter for 
each scholar, with the privilege of "boarding 



round" with the pupils. The principal school 
books of those days were the "Webster's "Ele- 
mentary Speller" and the English Reader, a 
"sum" placed on the blackboard by the teacher 
sometimes supplying the place of an arithmetic. 
Later these gave place to a new edition of 
Webster's Speller, Ray's Arithmetic and more 
advanced text-books. 

The factory which furnished the cloth for the 
clothing of those days was "the mother." The 
wool was sheared from the sheep, carded into 
rolls, spun into yarn and woven into cloth, and 
manufactured into winter clothing in the home. 
For summer wear flax furnished the principal 
material, after the growing and breaking of the 
flax, most of the work being done by the women. 
For shoes the head of tne house bought the 
leather and then hired a shoemaker in the fall 
to come to the home and make the shoes, and 
when these were worn out the wearer went 
barefoot the rest of the year. 

Power for breaking the soil by the primitive 
farmer was obtained almost entirely by the use 
of oxen, one yoke being sufficient for the break- 
ing up of old ground, but when new ground 
was to be broken, from three to five yoke be- 
ing necessary. The plow was made of wood, 
except the share, the latter being a metal plate 
about six inches wide by eight inches long. 
When the ground was broken the top of a small 
tree of brush was used as a substitute for a 
harrow to cover the grain when planting wheat 
or oats. When corn was planted the ground was 
marked off with a single shovel plow, the corn 
being dropped by some one following the plow 
and covered by others using the hoe. After the 
sprout had appeared above the surface, it was 
often necessary for the farmers' boys to watch 
the field during the day to keep the crows and 
blackbirds from destroying the crop. The corn 
was cultivated with the shovel plow and the 
hoe, and wheat and oats were cut with the 
cradle and thrashed with flails or trampled out 
by horses on a smooth earthen floor, the sepa- 
ration of the grain and chaff being done, after 
the removal of the straw, by pouring the 
threshed out mixture from some elevation, al- 
lowing the ligther portions to be carried away 
by the wind. In case of the absence of the wind 
before the days of the fanning mill, this was 
often accomplished by getting up an artificial 
flow of air by fanning with a sheet. When corn 
was maturing in the ear it was often found 
necessary to protect the growing crop from 
destruction by squirrels and other wild animals. 
In handling sheaves of grain and hay the place 
of the steel pitchforks of the present day was 
supplied by wooden forks, either home-made or 
a forked stick cut from a small tree In the 
woods. Mr. Foutch recalls the fact that the 
first produce sold by his father consisted of 
some shelled corn, which, after being hauled to 
town, commanded a price of fifteen cents per 
bushel. The price of eggs about that time was 
mree cents per dozen, and trapped quails sold at 
twelve and one-half cents per dozen. 



88o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



In 1856 Mr. Foutch was united in marriage 
with Elizabeth Ledmon and commenced house- 
keeping on Section 27, Isabel Township. Five 
children resulted from this union, three of 
whom are deceased. Those surviving are: 
Franl<, a coal mine operator in Section 15, 
Woodland Township; and Annie, who resides in 
Sumnium, 111., and is the widow of Charles 
Hart. The mother of this family died in 1876. 
On June 27, 1888, Mr. Foutch was married 
to Hortency Martin, who was born in 1853, a 
daughter of Vangooris Martin, of Kerton Town- 
snip. Her father was a native of Ohio, and 
her grandfather, of Pennsylvania. She had 
been previously married, her husband dying in 
1877. Her first marriage resulted in one daugh- 
ter, Daisy, born in Kerton Township, and now 
the wife of Lafayette Salisbury. Mr. and Mrs. 
Foutch are the parents of six children, namely: 
Jessie, Martin, Judson, Bessie, Hirundo and 
Lecta. 

For seventy-one years Mr. Foutch has been a 
resident of Fulton County, and during all his 
mature years has ranked as one of its useful 
and respected citizens. He has done his full 
share in clearing and cultivating its soil, and 
has witnessed the extraordinary strides of prog- 
ress from the days of dim lighting by means of 
the old tallow-dip to the advent of railroads, 
telephones, electric lamps and rural free deliv- 
eries. He has been among the foremost in pro- 
moting religious and educational interests, and 
has taken an active and prominent part in all 
that pertains to the welfare and progress of 
the county. In politics he is a Republican, his 
father having been an old line Whig. While a 
resident of Isabel Township Mr. Foutch filled 
several offices successively, with ability and 
fidelity.' Of late years he has made it a rule 
to support the most worthy and suitable candi- 
dates for county offices, irrespective of partisan 
affiliations. He enjoys the unqualified respect 
and cordial regard of all classes of people. 

FOUTCH, James, one of the oldest and most 
highly respected citizens of Isabel Township, 
Fulton County. 111., was born in Sangamon 
County, 111., September 3, 1828, being of Ger- 
man ancestry and a son of John and Rhoda 
(Ray) Foutch, natives of Kentucky. John 
Foutch removed from Kentucky to Illinois 
about the year 1820, before the completion of 
the survey of government land in the State, and 
he and his family were among the earliest set- 
tlers of Sangamon County. About the year 
1834 the family located in Fulton County. James 
being then a lad of six years. But one little 
log cabin then stood in the part of the township 
where his parents settled, and his father bought 
the tax title to this farm from Elijah Terrell, 
which was the beginning of the settlement. His 
parents had three other children, namely: Fran- 
cis M., born in Woodland Township; Charlotte, 
deceased wife of Ezeriah Thomas, a farmer of 
Fulton County, and Henry, who died in infancy. 
The mother of this family died about the year 



1840, and John Foutch afterward married Lu- 
cretia Ferris, by whom he had nine children, 
namely: John, who is engaged in farming in 
Isabel Township, Fulton County; Thomas, who 
occupies the farm where John Foutch located 
when he first settled in Fulton County in 1834 
and which has always remained in the Foutch 
name; David and William (deceased); Louisa; 
widow of Newton Stivers, who makes her home 
with Thomas Foutch: Edward, who lives on a 
portion of the old homestead; Anna Larsh, who 
is a resident of Havana, 111.; Charles, who car- 
ries on farming in Isabel Township, Fulton 
County, and Lincoln, deceased. John Foutch 
died about 1891, and his second wife passed 
away in about 1895. Both were members of 
the Christian Church. The father was a man 
of strong domestic attachments and his chief 
I)leasure and comfort were found in the home 
circle. His first wife was a devoted member 
of the Baptist Church. 

James Foutch has been a lesident of Isabel 
Township for more than seventy-one years. He 
was present at the meeting and well remembers 
the occasion when the name "Isabel," suggested 
by Stephen Dewey, was adopted for the town- 
ship. The boat landing was then called "Point 
Isabel." Mr. Foutch received his early mental 
training in the district school, held in a rude 
log cabin, goose quills being used for pens. The 
"big boys" among the pupils were wont to cut 
the huge logs at noon to keep fire in the primi- 
tive fireplace. Mr. Foutch remained at home 
until 1858. After his marriage he built a small 
house on the homestead farm, where his house- 
keeping began, and in 1801 built his present 
home on Section 2(1, Isabel Township, this be- 
ing the first commodious frame dwelling in 
the township. 

Mr. Foutch bought his first forty acres of 
land from his father and has added to this un- 
til he now owns 240 acres in Sections 23 and 26, 
Isabel Township. This land, wild and barren 
when inirchased by him, has been developed into 
one of the best improved farms in the entire 
township. He has taken a deep interest in the 
progress of the locality with which his whole 
life has been identified, and has borne an active 
part in the attainment of the great results 
which have been accomplished in that region. 

In August, 1858, Mr. Foutch was united in 
marriage with Nancy S. Leadman, a native of 
Terre Haute, Ind., where she was born June 
17, 1842. a daughter of Jefferson and Catherine 
(Stevens) Leadman. of that place. The mother 
died in Indiana and in 1845 the father, with 
his five children, came to Fulton County. Three 
of his children are still living: Mrs. Foutch; 
Anna (Mrs. Stevens), of the Indian Territory, 
and Joseph, of Havana, 111. Mr. and Mrs. 
Foutch became the parents of seven children, 
namely: Samuel, of Peoria, 111., born July 29, 
1858: Carrie, born November 16, 1860, who is 
the wife of Charles Thomas, of Lewistown. 111.; 
James, who was born May 9, 1863, and died Feb- 
ruary, 1864; Joseph, a farmer in Isabel Town- 




JAMES JACOBUS 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



88i 



ship, born November 23, 1S65; Addie E., born 
February 26, 186S, who is the wife of Alonzo 
Bainter, a farmer in Isabel Township; Hugh, 
born July 10, 1870. also a farmer in that town- 
ship, and Minnie, born January 6. 1873, who is 
the wife of Harry Culley, of Jacksonville, HI. 

In politics Mr. Foutch has been an unwaver- 
ing Republican since his first presidential vote 
for John C. Fremont in 1S5G. He has filled va- 
rious local offices, served as Township Assessor 
and for twelve years represented his township 
on the Board of Supervisors. Aside from these 
he positively declined to accept political pre- 
ferment, 

Mrs. Foutch is a member of the Christian 
Church. Mr. Foutch has always contributed 
liberally toward the promotion of church work 
and for the advancement of the cause of edu- 
cation. He has lived an industrious, upright 
and useful life, and now, as the shadows of de- 
clining years begin to gather about him, his 
pathway is lighted by the serene consciousness 
that he has faithfully discharged the obligations 
of duty to the utmost of his ability. 

FOX, John M. — In both the yesterday and 
today of Canton the Jewelry establishment now 
operated by John M. Fox has proved a substan- 
tial force among the rising institutions of the 
town. No branch of merchandising is slower 
In its growth or more conservative in its meth- 
ods than the jewelry business. Non-fluctuat- 
ing values largely are responsible for the con- 
dition and, latterly, the same are intensified 
by exactions of the association to which most 
reliable jewelers belong. It follows, therefore, 
that men engaging in the calling are of calm 
and non-speculative mind, reliable as to morals, 
definite in their purpose and not easily led from 
accustomed grooves. No exception to this con- 
clusion was found in the life of Jeremiah M. 
Fox, who came to Canton in 1851 and estab- 
lished the business which has weathered the 
storms and changes of more than half a century. 

Jeremiah M. Fox, father of John M., was born 
in Bucks County, Pa... and his wife, formerly 
Sarah J. Johnson, was born in New Jersey. In 
1849, the year that witnessed the departure to 
the Pacific coast of thousands of fortune seek- 
ers, was the time chosen by Mr. Fox to bring 
his family overland to Fairview, Fulton County, 
111., where he built the first mill that woke the 
echoes of that section, and mterested himself 
in otherwise contributing to the upbuilding of 
its enterprises. At one time he engaged quite 
extensively in the cattle business and was the 
first railroad agent in the village of Norris. His 
jewelry business in Canton was started on a 
small scale and when repair work constituted 
the principal source of revenue. He was hon- 
est and faithful and content to await the slow 
rewards of the years. 

John M. Fox was born in Canton, 111., August 
14, 1864. and was educated in the public schools 
of his native town and at Illinois College, Jack- 
sonville. He early became his father's assist- 



ant in the store, and when he succeeded to the 
management of the business was well equipped 
by a thorough and practical training. The ca- 
reer of Mr. Fox has been characterized by in- 
dustry and economy, and by well directed in- 
terest in affairs which contribute to the up- 
building of the town. He is socially prominent 
and popular and is identified with the Benevo- 
lent Protective Order of Elks, Knights of 
Pythias, Masons and the Eagles. In Carthage, 
Mo., he was united in marriage June 20, 1890, 
with Jennie Kline, a native daughter of Pe- 
oria, 111. 

FREDERICK, R. Kelly.— Mr. Frederick is a 
son of the late James Ward Frederick, an early 
pioneer of Lee Township, and one of the most 
extensive and prosperous stock raisers of Ful- 
ton County. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth, 
but came to Fulton County with his parents 
when a boy of ten years, and resided in Lee 
Township from that time until his death, No- 
vember 30. 1900, at the age of seventy years. 
His wife, the mother of the suliject of this 
sketch, is still living on the family homestead. 
She is a native of Lewistown Township, where 
her marria,ge occurred, her maiden name being 
Sarah E. Boyer. 

R, Kelly Frederick, who is the third in a 
family of ten children, was born in Lee Town- 
ship. Fulton County, March 28, 1863, where he 
received a good education in the district schools 
and the Virgil High School. He is the proprie- 
tor of a farm of 280 acres, on which he raises 
both general crops and live stock — a combina- 
tion which has made him one of the successful 
agriculturists of his section. In politics he is 
a Republican and has served on the School Di- 
rectorate of the township for a number of years. 
In religious worlv he is identified with the Meth- 
odist Church. 

On the 29th of January, 1S91, Mr. Frederick 
was married in Union Township, Fulton County, 
to Josephine Kutchler, a native of that town- 
shi]). where she was born March 29, 1872. Two 
children have resulted from their union, Greely 
and Audrey. 

FULTON, Thomas K. — It has been the mission 
of Thomas K. Fulton to be identified in his for- 
times with Fulton County since the end of the 
Civil War, and through his energy and good 
judgment to promote community interests in 
that period generally recognized as difficult and 
reconstructive. At the time of his arrival here 
he was twenty-two years old. the possessor of 
a good constitution, a practical common school 
education and an enviable record as a brave and 
patriotic soldier. Born in Washington County, 
Pa.. May 8. 1843. he is the fifth in order of birth 
of nine children of John and Hannah (McMil- 
lan) Fulton, farmers by occupation and na- 
tives also of the Quaker State. His paternal 
grandfather. Joseph Fulton, came from Ireland 
to Pennsylvania in his youth, and his maternal 
great-grandfather. Dr. John McMillan, came 



882 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



from Scotland and established Jefferson Col- 
lege, at Canonsburg, Pa., the first college west 
of the Alleghany Mountains. His maternal 
grandfather, Samuel McMillan, was born in 
Pennsylvania and married Isabella Harper, a 
native of that State. 

At the age of eighteen, September 24, 1S61, 
Mr. Fulton enlisted in Company A, Eighty- 
fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under 
Colonel J. B. Howell, and until the spring of 
1SG3 was attached to the Tenth Army Corps, 
taking part in the "Peninsular Campaign" from 
Williamsburg to Fair Oaks. The regiment then 
was attached to the Eighteenth Army Corps 
and sent to take part in the siege of Forts Wag- 
ner. Sumter and Gregg, and the siege of Peters- 
burg in 18G4. In all he participated in twenty- 
eight battles, and though in the thick of the 
fight on many occasions, escaped injury, impris- 
onment or protracted illness. He was discharged 
from the service at Pittsburg, in his native 
State, and returned to civilian life a sadder, 
wiser and broadly experienced man. 

In the Prairie State, directly after the war, 
Mr. Fulton began to work by the month, and 
October IS, 1865, was united in marriage to 
Cyrena A. Swan, daughter of William and Jane 
(Allison) Swan, natives of Pennsylvania and 
Ohio, respectively. Of this union there have 
been born two children: Frank R. and Myrtle 
B. The former married Heiress Baker and 
at the present time lives on the home farm. 
Mr. Fulton eventually acquired his present 
splendid property in Orion Township, consist- 
ing of 220 acres, upon which he is extensively 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising. 
He is a well educated and well posted man, well 
abreast of the times in all that pertains to ag- 
riculture and its most practical development, 
and taking a keen interest in education, poli- 
tics, religion and home-making. 

GADDIS, John W., a well known and success- 
ful banker of Fairview, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Jacksonville, 111., on December 5, 1859, 
the youngest son of Dr. John V. D. and Julia 
(Wilson) Gaddis, natives of New York and New 
Jersey, respectively. Dr. Gaddis, the father of 
the subject of this sketch, settled in Fulton 
County about 1838 and there engaged in the 
practice of his profession, in which he became 
quite prominent. In 1855 he removed to Jack- 
sonville, where he continued in practice, and 
was also interested in mercantile lines. His 
wife, Mrs. Julia (Wilson) Gaddis, was a daugh- 
ter of the Rev. A. D. Wilson, who was the 
founder of the German Reformed Church of 
Fairview. 

John W. Gaddis grew to manhood in his na- 
tive city of Jacksonville and received his pri- 
maiT education in the public schools of that 
place and for a time was a student in Illinois 
College. Later he took an academic course at 
Freehold, N. J., and a business course in the 
Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. 
Y. Coming to Fairview, Fulton County, in 1881, 



he for a time was engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness as a member of the firm of Gaddis & Wil- 
son, and after conducting the business alone 
from 1883, entered into partnership with Harry 
C. Hill, organizing the firm of Gaddis & Hill, 
dealers in groceries, hardware and notions. In 
1885, in conjunction with Messrs. T. H. Travers, 
L. W. Davis and P. B. Voorhees, Mr. Gaddis as- 
sisted in organizing the Fairview Banking Com- 
pany, a private banking concern, which began 
business on July 1st of that year, and of which 
Mr. Gaddis has been Cashier continuously to 
the present time. A sketch of this bank will 
be found in the chapter on "Financial Institu- 
tions." 

On March 19, 1889, Mr. Gaddis was united in 
marriage with Sarah Ledeboer, a native of Hol- 
land, Mich., daughter of Dr. L. Ledeboer, of 
that place, and of their union there have been 
two children, John and Lillian R. Politically 
Mr. Gaddis is identified with the Democratic 
party and fraternally is a member of Fairview 
Lodge, No. 350, A. F. & A. M., in which he 
has held the office of Worshipful Master. He 
and his wife are members of the Presbyterian 
Reformed Church of Fairview. His ability as 
a business man and financier has been demon- 
strated by his experience in connection with 
the same institution for more than twenty 
years. 

GALLAGHER, Patrick W.— Of the men whose 
ability, industry and forethought have added 
to the character, wealth and good government 
of Canton, this county, none are better known 
than Patrick W. Gallagher. Mr. Gallagher is 
a lawyer, not only by education and long prac- 
tice, but by temperament and preference. He 
has been in active practice for twenty -nine 
years, and seventeen of these years have been 
spent in Canton. Political tendencies and ex- 
ecutive ability have added to his possibilities 
of professional compensation and have broad- 
ened his efforts into the channels of Justice of 
the Peace, Police Magistrate. State's Attorney 
and Judge of the City Court. 

Mr. Gallagher's family has been represented 
in Canton since 1854, coming here from Liver- 
pool, England, where Patrick W. was born July 
1, 1852. His parents, William and Mary (Raf- 
ferty) Gallagher, were born in Ireland, the for- 
mer in County Mayo and the latter in County 
Roscommon. Besides the parents and Patrick, 
a sister, Maggie, comprised the party of immi- 
gration, and after the location in Canton three 
other children were born: Delia, Ella and Katie. 
The mother died in 1891. Patrick received his 
preliminary education in the public schools of 
Canton and at the age of seventeen entered the 
establishment of the "Fulton Ledger." where 
he mastered the trade of printing, and remained 
for three years. Finding printing an insuffi- 
cient outlet for his ambition, he read law in the 
office of J. L. Murphy, of Canton, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar of Illinois in 1875, 
when twenty-three years of age. Alert 




0-^^y(}^^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



883 



and resourceful, he already began to at- 
tract the attention of the older and mature 
minds, and was regarded as promising material 
for important civic responsibilities. His polit- 
ical bent sided with the Democratic party, and 
ere he had become established in a law office he 
was elected Justice of the Peace and Police Mag- 
istrate. 

Changing his base of operations to Cuba, this 
county, in 1876, Mr. Gallagher engaged in a gen- 
eral practice of law and in 18S0 was elected 
State's Attorney for the first time. December 
7, 1879, he was united in marriage to Judith C. 
Mowery, who was born in Cuba and who grad- 
uated at the high school of her native town. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher have been born four 
children: William M., Mary M.. Z. Rae and 
Donald J. Upon his return to Canton in 1888 
Mr. Gallagher went into legal partnership with 
Oscar J. Boyer under the firm name of Gallagher 
& Boyer, an association amicably and profitably 
continued until 1892. In that year he was again 
elected State's Attorney and in 1901 was elected 
Judge by a large majority and Is the present 
incumbent, having been re-elected in 1905. He 
has been prominently identified with many 
phases of city life, and is an enthusiastic pro- 
moter of fraternal organizations, being a mem- 
ber of the A. F. & A. M., Morning Star Lodge, 
No. 134: Canton Chapter, No. 68, R. A. M.; Can- 
ton Council, No. 23, R. & S. M. : Damascus Com- 
mandery. No. 42, of Havana, 111., and Evening 
Star Chapter, No. 46, O. E. S; the Benevolent 
Protective Order of Elks, Knights of Pythias, 
Modern Woodmen of America and the Court 
of Honor. 

Mr. Gallagher is primarily a counselor, hav- 
ing a keen mind, strong practical sense and 
ready insight into the most intricate legal com- 
plications. He is courteous and faithful to cli- 
ents, retains a wholesome belief in the predom- 
inating goodness of human nature, and places 
dependence upon those professional and gen- 
eral principles which secure the greatest jus- 
tice and the greatest happiness to the society 
of mankind. 

GARDINER, Joseph Beriah (deceased).— Of the 

merchants who have helped to sustain the busi- 
ness integrity of Canton, Fulton County, for the 
last quarter of a century mention is due Joseph 
Beriah Gardiner, who established a hardware 
business here in 1883 and in 1905 became Presi- 
dent of the stock company which assumed con- 
trol of a responsibility grown too heavy for the 
failing health of the founder. This hardware 
business is one of the oldest as well as largest 
in the city, and it reflects the untiring zeal of 
the man who. from a small beginning, advanced 
its fortunes to the prominence of a necessary 
commercial adjunct. 

The sterling integrity and steady purpose of 
Mr. Gardiner were an inheritance from worthy 
Puritan sires and model matrons, and on both 
sides of his family he was descended from men 
who arrived on American shores not long after 



the tattered, weather beaten sails of the "May- 
flower" loomed on the seaward horizon off the 
Massachusetts coast. The first arrival from 
England was the great-great-grandfather, Nich- 
olas Gardiner, who settled on Exeter Flats, R. I., 
where the great-grandfather was born and also 
the grandfather, Beriah Gardiner, whose natal 
day was November 16, 1771. Beriah Gardiner 
was a seafaring man who rose to command of 
his own craft, and he died on Exeter Flats, 
February 12, 1853. He was twice married and 
reared a large family of children, among whom 
was Joseph H. Gardiner, the father of Joseph 
Beriah. 

Joseph H. Gardiner was born February 22, 
1811, and was reared and educated in Rhode 
Island, where also he learned the carpenter's 
trade. Uprooting himself from the surround- 
ings so long connected with the family fortunes 
in Rhode Island, he journeyed with his useful 
trade to Yates County. Central New York, where 
in 1831 he was united in marriage to Margaret 
Rawalt, whose lamented death occurred July 
15, 1884. The year of the marriage of the young 
people they undertook the tedious journey frOm 
Yates County to Canton, traveling with a wagon 
and team for a period of five weeks and several 
days, and soon after settling on the farm in 
Joshua Township which Mr. Gardiner was to 
own and occui)y until the close of his long and 
useful life. He soon abandoned the tools of 
the shoemaker and for them substituted the im- 
plements of the farmer, and through persever- 
ance and excellent business capacity became one 
of the best known, most substantial and wealth- 
iest farmers of his township. By no means a 
man of one idea, he diversifiCfl his energies into 
many useful channels, becoming the owner of a 
blacksmith shop, a cultivator factory, a saw and 
grist mill and part owner of a mercantile con- 
cern. Ere he had reached this gratifying stage 
of success he endured all of the hardships and 
deprivations which fall to the lot of the pioneer, 
and until the last of his life he delighted to 
recall incidents of the early days and compare 
them with the advantages at the disposal of 
those of the present. The river at that time 
was not dependable and often was so low that 
boats found it unnavigable. In this emergency 
it was necessary for this early farmer to take 
his grain to the market in Chicago with an ox 
team in order to keep his family supplied with 
the necessities of life. He was shrewd and far- 
sighted, and was known at times to make a 
clean hundred dollars a trip by purchasing gro- 
ceries, clothing and general provisions in Chi- 
cago and selling them to the settlers who lived 
in Joshua Township. At other times, when the 
river was navigable, he shipped his produce to 
St. Louis and brought back supplies for a year. 
He was energetic and resourceful, the kind of 
pioneer needed in all new and promising com- 
munities, and he arose to every emergency of 
his environment, entering heart and soul into 
local government affairs, and besides flllin.g 
many local offices of importance represented 



884 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



his township in the Board of Supervisors two 
terms. At the time of his death he was the 
oldest settler in Joshua Township and one of 
the oldest in Fulton County, and no man who 
had invaded this county in the days of its trials 
and loneliness won more sincere respect for 
his largeness of heart, character and attain- 
ment. He saw far beyond the rim 
of his extending and fertile acres, 
beyond the profits of his shop and 
mill and store, and in his later years sur- 
rounded himself with the elegancies and refine- 
ments of existence, spending generously of his 
substance in the interesting cities of the coun- 
try, which he delighted to visit and explore and 
to which he returned for rest and recreation 
again and again. 

Joseph Beriah Gardiner was born on his fa- 
ther's farm in Joshua Township, March 10, 1844, 
and was educated in the public schools of Ful- 
ton County. Many years of his life were spent 
in the pursuit of farming, in which he was 
thoroughly drilled in his youth, and his future 
took on new interest February 13, 1872, when 
occurred his marriage with AUie Duncan, 
daughter of an early i-ettlev of Fulton County. 
Of the children of this union the first born, 
a son. died in infancy, and Maud is now living 
in Canton. Mr. Gardiner was a Gold Democrat 
in politics, and fraternally a member of long 
standing of the Knights of Pythias. Well did 
he sustain the family reputation for noble and 
useful citizenship, and in response to his indus- 
try and ability friends arose to cheer him on 
his way and honor and esteem were his portion 
from his business and general associates. He 
died February 6. 1906, his wife having preceded 
him January G, 1900. 

GASKILL, William H., who is among the most 
substantial and prosperous farmers in Fulton 
County, 111., where he has lived in Canton Town- 
ship since 1875, was born in Ohio County, Ind.. 
on April 1, 1850, a son of Francis L. and Mar- 
garet (Avey) Gaskill, natives of New Hamp- 
shire and Ohio County, Ind.. respectively. Fran- 
cis L. Gaskill, who was also a farmer by occu- 
pation, went from Xe v Hampshire to Indiana 
and after living in thai State for several years 
moved to Illinois, and settled in Fulton County 
in 1875. Having bought eighty acres of land 
on the site of the present town of Brearton. he 
located there and carried on farming during 
the remainder of his active life. This prop- 
erty Mrs. Gaskill and her son Benjamin sold 
to the Brearton Coal Company in 1901. Francis 
L. and Margaret (Avey) Gaskill were the par- 
ents of three children, namely: Eliza, wife of 
Thomas Mills, residing in Canton Township; 
Benjamin, who resides in Canton Township, and 
William H., the subject of this sketch. The fa- 
ther of this family was a thorough farmer and 
a useful member of the community. In politics 
he was a Democrat and in religion a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died 
on October 20. 1882. but his v.'ife still survives 



at the age of eighty-one years, residing with 
her son Benjamin. 

William H. Gaskill in early youth received 
his education in public schools convenient to 
his home in Indiana. He was reared to farm 
life and accompanied his parents to Fulton 
County, 111., in 1875. Since tuat time he has 
been engaged in farming there. He moved on 
his present property in Section 1, Canton Town- 
ship, three years after his arrival in the county 
and has added to the improvements thereon. 
Formerly it belonged to his father-in-law. To- 
gether Mr. Gaskill and his wife are the owners 
of 547 acres of land in Sections 1 and 12, in 
Canton Township, and Sections 6 and 7, in 
Orion Township. The greater portion of this 
land is rented out. Mr. Gaskill devotes some 
attention to the raising of stock. 

The marriage of the subject of this sketch 
took place October 23, 1879. On that date he 
was wedded to Mary Motsinger, who was born 
in Fulton County and is a daughter of Henry 
and Sarah (Wolf) Motsinger, the father a native 
of Washington County, Ind., and the mother of 
Fulton County, 111. Mr. and Mrs. Motsinger 
were the parents of two children: Mrs. Gaskill 
and John, who died at the age of nineteen years. 

Although not active in politics. Mr. Gaskill is 
a supporter of the Democratic party. His re- 
ligious views are in accordance with the doc- 
trine of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. 
and Mrs. Gaskill are the parents of a daughter, 
Lena F.. who was born August 27, 1887. 

Mrs. Gaskill's father. Henry Motsinger, was 
the son of Michael and Barbara (Gilstrop) Mot- 
singer, the former born in North Carolina and 
the latter in South Carolina. Early in the 
'forties this couple came to Fulton County, 111., 
from Washington County, Ind.. and settled in 
Orion Townshij). Seven years later they moved 
to Canton Township and lived there until their 
deaths. Henry Motsinger, the father of Mrs. 
Gaskill, was born in Washington County, Ind., 
October 29. 1826. and accompanied his parents 
to Fulton County, the home of the bride's par- 
ents. Thomas and Joanna (Colman) Wolf, in 
Orion Townshi]). November 11. 1858. Mr. Henry 
Motsinger married Sarah Wolf. 

Mr. Motsinger was a devoted member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was 
Steward and Trustee. He died November 19, 
1894. The wife died February 16, 1895. 

GEARHEART, William A.— In William A. Gear- 
heart, Orion Township has a practical and zeal- 
ous farmer, and one who, for at least half a 
century, has promoted the best interests of the 
community. Born in Fulton County Mr. Gear- 
heart was educated in the public schools and 
has always been identified with that locality, 
receiving a thorough agricultural training from 
his father, John Gearheart. who was a native of 
Pennsylvania. In 1876 Mr. Gearheart married 
Lillian Ross, daughter of Isaac W. Ross, the 
latter a prominent merchant of Canton, and 
granddaughter of Gilbert Thorne, who moved 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



885 



from Marion County, W. Va., to Illinois, in 1827. 
Isaac Ross settled in Orion Township, where 
he died several years ago, his wife surviving 
him and making her present home in the city 
of Canton. Mr. and Mrs. Gearheart have two 
children: Edith and Jessie. Mr. Gearheart is 
engaged in farming, devoting his attention to 
raising produce and stock-growing. He repre- 
sents one of the fine and early families of the 
county and is himself highly respected by all 
who know him. 

GEESEMAN, George W.— Among the most 
favorably known and comfortably circumstanced 
of the retired farmers of Fulton County, 111., is 
the worthy gentleman whose name prefaces this 
biographical narrative. He is one of the fortu- 
nate few representing the agricultural element 
of the county whose diligent exertions and sys- 
tematic husbandry, through years of persever- 
ing toil, have enabled him. while still within 
the limit of life's meridian, to enjoy the re- 
wards of unremitting industry imder conditions 
of sound health, contentment and freedom from 
care. To all the gratification attending such 
conditions the subject of this sketch is richly 
entitled by the meritorious strivings of his ac- 
tive career. 

George W. Geeseman is a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, where has was born at Mercersburg, 
Franklin County, on November 11, 1846. His 
parents, William and Susan (Hill) Geeseman, 
were also of Pennsylvania origin. William 
Geeseman was a shoemaker by trade, which in 
his day was a very essential and remunerative 
vocation. He remained in his native State for 
several years after his son. George W., had 
moved west to Illinois, and ultimately joined 
the latter in Fulton County, making his home 
with his son until 1S7S, when he passed from 
this life. He was an honest and industrious 
man and an object of general respect. George 
W. Geeseman received his early education in 
the public schools of Pennsylvania and located 
in Fulton County, 111., in the year 1S71. About 
three years later he returned to his native State, 
and after his marriage there in 1874 returned 
to Illinois, where for a few years he rented 
farming land in the vicinity of his former place 
of work. By persevering effort and thrifty 
methods he acquired the means necessary to 
buy a farm in Fairview Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, just north of Fairview village. This farm, 
containing 160 acres of land, he purchased in 
1886, at which period he moved there, put up 
the requisite buildings and otherwise improved 
the place. On it he was successfully engaged 
in farming until 1902, when he purchased a 
house and one acre of ground in the eastern 
portion of Farmington, where he has since 
maintained the family residence. His mother, 
some time after the decease of her husband, re- 
turned to Pennsylvania, where she made her 
home with Mr. Geeseman's sister Rebecca until 
her death, on the 14th of March, 1896, at the age 
of eighty-nine years. She was a woman of most 



excellent traits of character and lived a very 
useful life. She was a granddaughter of John 
Hill, who was a native of England and came to 
the United States when a boy and lived to the 
extreme old age of 13u years. This remarkable 
instance of longevity is well authenticated and 
there can be no question of the accuracy of ine 
statement. 

On the 5th of February, 1874, Mr. Geeseman 
was united in marriage with Kate Yeakle, who 
was born in Pennsylvania, where in girlhood 
she enjoyed the advantages of the public schools 
in the vicinity of her parents' home. The union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Geeseman resulted in eight 
children, as follows: Elsie. Orpha, William 
C, John B., Earl, Harry, Adelle and Susie, all 
of whom are living. The eldest daughter, Elsie, 
resides in Fairview, 111., and is the wife of 
James Garretson. She is the mother of two 
children: Ruth and May. Orpha is at home 
with her parents. William C. carries on the 
home farm of 160 acres in Fulton County owned 
by his father. He married Leona Smith, of 
Farmington, 111., who belongs to a family of old 
settlers in Fulton County. John B. makes his 
home under the parental roof. Earl lives in 
Peoria, 111., where he is employed in the Inter- 
State Bank. Harry, who is single, is a mem- 
ber of the home circle. Adelle is engaged in 
teaching, and Susie, the youngest, is a pupil 
in the Farmington High School. The mother 
of this interesting family is a woman of fine 
characteristics, who has endeared herself to 
many appreciative friends. 

In politics Mr. Geeseman is not inclined to 
take an active part, although lie usually votes 
on the side of the Democratic party. His re- 
ligious belief is in accordance with the doctrines 
of the Bible. He is a man of irreproachable 
and upright life, and is ranked among the most 
useful citizens of Farmington. 

GEESEMAN, 'William C.— The Geeseman farm 
in Fairview Township is one of those land- 
marks whose improvements indicate almost 
every stage of progress in agriculture during 
the past half century. It is 160 acres in extent, 
and in addition to fulfilling its mission as a 
money maker has succeeded to an atmosphere 
as homelike and hospitable as any property de- 
veloped by pioneer grit and determination. Of 
George W. Geeseman, the establisher of the 
family in the wilderness of Fulton County, de- 
tailed mention is made elsewhere in this work. 
The son. William C. Geeseman, who three years 
ago assumed control and management of the 
farm, was born in Canton Township, Fulton 
County, May 2.5, 1S78, and has lived on this 
farm twenty odd years. 

William C. had average country opportunities 
and in the district school was considered an 
apt and enquiring student. At the age of twen- 
ty-four he left home and engaged in farming 
near Middle Grove for a year, returning then 
to the home place, which he since has managed. 
He is a young man of progressive ideas and 



886 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



thorough knowledge of the science of farming. 
February 18, 1903, he was united in marriage 
to Leona Smith, who was born in Fairview 
Township, .lanuary 27, 1883. Of this union 
there is a son, George P. 

GILLAM, Earl C, proprietor of the American 
Grocery Store, North Main Street, Lewistown, 
III., was born in that place December 11, 1879, 
the son of George W. and Alice E. (Fassett) 
Gillam, the father being a native of Rushville, 
111., and the mother's family emigrating from 
New York State. George W. Gillam, who was 
a telegraph operator throughout his active life, 
died in Lewistown about 1S93 and was buried 
at Rushville. His widow, who still makes her 
home in Lewistown. is the mother of Walter 
B., a commercial salesman of Lewistown (now 
deceased ) : Erie C. : Clyde, who died in in- 
fancy, and Julienne, who lives at home. 

Earl C. Gillam received his education in the 
schools of his native place and commenced his 
business career as a grocery clerk. In 1901 he 
was elected City Clerk, holding that position 
for two years, or until the spring of 1903. In 
the latter year he was employed as a clerk in 
the grocery of W. L. Strode, continuing thus 
after the business passed into the hands of T. 
W. Moss. On December 1. 1904, Mr. Gillam 
purchased the store himself, since which time 
he has successfully conducted the business 
alone, constantly adding to its stock and in- 
creasing its patronage. By his diligent atten- 
tion to the requirements of the public, his care- 
ful and intelligent buying, his courteous treat- 
ment of customers and his prompt and honest 
dealings, he has established a trade which is 
not surpassed, either in quantity or quality, by 
any similar patronage in Lewistown. 

Mr. Gillam was united in marriage September 
19, 1905, to Jennie Bordner, daughter of Moses 
Bordner, whose biography will be found else- 
where in this publication. Fraternally he is a 
Knight of Pythias, being a member of Lodge 
No. 146. Lewistown, and politically is identi- 
fied with the Republican party. He is young, 
businesslike, enterprising and promising, eager 
not only legitimately to advance his own inter- 
ests, but anxious to promote public movements 
which are meritorious and feasible. 

GILMER, Joseph R., who has been in the in- 
surance business at Canton, Fulton Countj', 111., 
for the past twelve years, is a native of that 
city, where he was born December 23, 1857, his 
parents being J. C. and Sarah (Lenox) Gilmer. 
In his earlier years he was a cigar maker, and 
followed various pursuits before establishing 
himself in the fire insurance business. His busi- 
ness has reached large proportions, and is 
largely In the agricultural communities sur- 
rounding Canton. 

Mr. Gilmer is well known among the fra- 
ternities, having filled all the chairs in Odd 
Fellowship, and being also identified with the 
Elks, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of 



America and Black Eagles. For twenty-five 
years he has been a faithful member of the 
Methodist church, and is esteemed in every way 
as a substantial and honorable citizen. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

Married at Canton October 22, 1890, to Miss 
Alice Coykendall, Mr. Gilmer had the unspeak- 
able misfortune to lose his wife by death on the 
IGth of January, 1906. Left to comfort him 
in his aflJiCLion are two bright children — Eva 
B. and Doney M. 

GILSON, Sanford. — Beginning his independent 
life under difficulties and having in his youth 
scant opportunity for acquiring an education, 
Sanford Gilson has yet prospered in his affairs, 
and, after years of devotion to the soil of Ful- 
ton County, is living in retirement in a pleas- 
ant home in Summum. Mr. Gilson was born 
in Pleasant Township, this county, March 2, 
1841, a son of John and Melissa (Bronson) 
Gilson, natives of New York and Ohio, respect- 
ively. The elder Gilson came to Fulton County 
about 1834 and some years later moved from 
the vicinity of Otto, Isabel Township, to a 
farm in Pleasant Township, where his death 
occurred in 1853. There were seven children 
in his family, four of whom are living, Sanford 
being the second in order of birth. 

As a boy Sanford Gilson worked from sun- 
rise to sunset on his father's farm and little 
arose to disturb the monotony of his existence 
until the breaking out of the Civil War. In 
1862 he enlisted in Company I. Eighty-fifth Reg- 
iment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three 
years, took part in the battles of Perryville and 
Stone River and while on the long march 
through Kentucky was taken ill through expos- 
ure and sent to the hospital at Bowling Green, 
that State. During the battle of Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., he was again placed on the sick list and 
confined to the hospital at Xashville. Here, af- 
ter partial recovery, he was honorably dis- 
charged from the service, and after returning 
to his home was unable to do any work all that 
summer. In 1864 he found employment at 
farming by the month and soon after took 
charge of the old homestead, where, September 
2. 1SG4. he was united in marriage to Julia A. 
Myers, who was born in Indiana in 1847 and 
came to Fulton County with her parents in 
1849. Mr. and Mrs. Gilson are the parents of 
five children: Melburn. born May 31. 1866, liv- 
ing on the home place: Charles, a farmer of 
Bernadotte TownshiiK Lilly, widow of James 
Vaughn, who died in 1900, mother of Jessie and 
Goldie Vaughn and present wife of George Rob- 
erts, of Pleasant Township; William, on the 
home place, and Ora. 

In 1879 Mr. Gilson bought 159 acres of land 
in Section 23. Pleasant Township, which he 
cultivated tintil retiring from active life to his 
present home in Summum. during February, 
1906. As his children have attained maturity 
he has given them comfortable homes, and all 
have started out in life under circumstances to 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



887 



which his own life was a stranger. In politics 
Mr. Gilson is a Republican, but he has confined 
his activity to the casting of his vote. He is a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic 
and of the Christian Church. 

GLASER, Adam. — A record of the agricultural 
upbuilders of Fulton County would be incom- 
plete without due mention of Adam Glaser, 
who, though no longer the active head of his 
fine farm of 240 acres, is one of the youngest 
and most energetic men of sixty years in Union 
Township. As aids in his intelligent pursuit 
of success Mr. Glaser has had the substantial 
traits of Teutonic forefathers, who followed 
the science of farming in their native land and 
were first represented on this side of the Atlan- 
tic by Adam Glaser, Sr., the father of the Ful- 
ton County pioneer. The elder Glaser was 
reared to farming in Germany, and there mar- 
ried Catherine Glee, with whom he sailed to 
America at an early day and settled in the State 
of Pennsylvania. His death occurred at an ad- 
vanced age, as did also that of his wife. 

Born on a farm in Pennsylvania October 10, 
1838, Adam Glaser, Jr., remained in his native 
State until 1864, during which year he came to 
Fulton County, 111., and there worked six 
months for John Harper, near Farmington. 
Then returning to his native State he remained 
until 1870. when he again came to Fulton Coun- 
ty and purchased the farm which he has since 
enlarged to its present proportions. He was ac- 
companied by his wife, whom he married in 
Pennsylvania August 3, 1860, and who in girl- 
hood was known as Susan Myers, a native of 
Pennsylvania, and born November 20. 1837. 
Five children were born of this union, of whom 
three have grown to useful manhood and wom- 
anhood under the guidance of their thrifty par- 
ents, namely: John Calvin, Addison Emmert 
and Mary Etta. At the present time the sons, 
John and Addison, are operating the farm, and 
by the infusion of fresh ideas and youthful am- 
bition, are adding such improvements and inno- 
vations as have come to the notice of agricul- 
turists since the retirement of their father. 
Mr. Glaser is a Republican in politics, but he 
has never found time or had inclination for 
office holding. So methodical and well ordered 
have been his agricultural labors that he has 
been saved the nervous strain and worry which 
besets those less happily constituted. He has 
always admired and practiced honesty and fair 
dealing, and upon these fundamentals of citi- 
zenship rests his enviable and worthwhile 
reputation. 

GLASER, Addison E., one of the substantial 
farmersof Union Township, Fulton County, is 
the son of the pioneer Adam Glaser, whose biog- 
raphy appears elsewhere in this work. The lat- 
ter is now living in retirement, comfortable in 
worldly affairs and honored for his uprightness 
and strength of character. 

The subject of this sketch was born In Penn- 



sylvania, May 15, 18.59, was reared on the fam- 
ily homestead in Union Township, where he has 
resided since early boyhood, and through all his 
years of maturity has been a successful farmer 
and stock-raiser. It is such progressive and 
substantial records as his that explain the fine 
standing of Fulton County as a wealthy agri- 
cultural district — certainly among the most 
prosperous in the State of Illinois. 

Addison E. Glaser was married in Young 
Hickory Township, February 18, 1891, to Llllie 
J. Locke, a native of Young Hickory Township, 
born August 2, 1878. Mr. Glaser is a Repub- 
lican in politics, but having never sought ofiBce 
is not known as a politician. He is, however, 
widely recognized as one of the most intelligent 
and useful members of the community witu 
which he has so long been identified. 

GOODWIN, Perry B., M. D.— Good birth and 
breeding, augmented by the best general and 
professional training acquirable in this country, 
contribute to the present success and future 
promise of Dr. Perry B. Goodwin, a medical and 
surgical practitioner of Summum, Fulton Coun- 
ty, since June, 1905. Dr. Goodwin is a young 
man of twenty-eight, who brings with him to 
the Central West an earnest and clearly defined 
purpose, and who develops around him that at- 
mosphere of intellectual and moral refinement 
peculiar to the more settled communities of 
New England. Connecticut, where he was born 
in Bristol. Hartford County, November 20, 1878, 
has been the ancestral home of the family since 
a period soon after the arrival of the "May- 
flower," and there occurred the births of Major 
Leonard P. and Mary (Cadwell) Goodwin, par- 
ents of Dr. Perry B. 

Major Leonard P. Goodwin has spent the 
greater part of his life in Bristol, where he es- 
tablished one of the pioneer hotels, and success- 
fully conducted the same according to the 
changing standards of many years. When the 
Civil War broke out he entered the service as 
a private in Company B. of a Connecticut cav- 
alry regiment, was made Captain of the com- 
pany and finally advanced to Major, the rank 
which still clings to him as a civilian. He is 
now living in retirement, after filling many im- 
portant positions in the community and attain- 
ing to prominence in Democratic politics. He 
is one of the best known hotel men in the State, 
and one of the most public-spirited citizens of 
Bristol. His wife, who died in 1879. was the 
mother of six children, of whom Clara is the 
wife of E. A. Rogers, of Plymouth, Conn.: Cora, 
a resident of Los Angeles, Cal., and widow of 
Dr. L. Labonti; Florence, wife of Howard E. 
North, stenographer and bookkeeper for the 
Electric Light Company at Redlands. Cal.: Ber- 
tha, wife of Mr. Lyons, of New Britain, Conn., 
and Bayton H., foreman of the Bottling Works 
at Bristol, Conn. 

Left motherless when less than a year old, 
Dr. Perry B. Goodwin was taken by a Mrs. 
Schriver to Terryville, Conn., where he was 



888 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



educated in the public scliools and where, at 
the age of seventeen, after graduating from 
the high school, he worked for a year in a lock 
factory. He then took a preparatory course in 
the Bristol High School for the Yale Medical 
College, and at the same time was assistant 
to Dr. H. D. Brennan, a leading surgeon of Bris- 
tol. After passing the required examination 
he entered upon the four years' course at the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons at Balti- 
more, Md.. graduating therefrom in the class 
of 1904. During this time he had taken a course 
in the Maternity Hospital in Baltimore and had 
spent the vacation of his third and fourth years 
in the Northampton (Mass.) Insane Hospital. 
In March. 1905, he went to Portland, Me., from 
Cromwell, Conn., and there took the State exam- 
ination which permits him to practice in the fol- 
lowing States without further investigation of 
his merits: Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Ver- 
mont, Georgia, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wiscon- 
sin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada and 
Kansas. During his brief sojourn in Summum 
Dr. Goodwin has acquired a practice as grati- 
fying personally as it is financially. He has an 
excellent medical library and a valuable collec- 
tion of medical and surgical appliances. 

October 3, 1905, Dr. Goodwin was united in 
marriage to Mabelle London, a native of Bristol, 
Conn., and a young woman of culture and high 
social standing. The Doctor is fraternally iden- 
tified with the Modern Woodmen of America, 
in politics is a Republican and in religion a 
Congregationalist. He is genial and approach- 
able in manner, skillful in diagnosis and treat- 
ment and has completely won the confidence of 
the most conservative members of the com- 
munity. 

GORHAM, Richard Sullivan.— An intelligent 
and purjjosetul participation in the happenings 
which make up the history of Fulton County be- 
tween the time of his arrival in 1836 and the 
present, Richard Sullivan Gorham claims place 
also among the county's agricultural promoters 
and the well known and financially strong citi- 
zens of Avon. Born in Allegany County, N. Y., 
November 2, 1833, Mr. Gorham. on the paternal 
side, is descended from an old New England 
family, early identified with the Vermont, where 
Freeman Gorham, the father of Richard, was 
born December 12, 1800. Freeman Gorham 
stepped out of his agricultural environment 
long enough to qualify as a medical practitioner, 
and thereafter practiced medicine for the bal- 
ance of his active life. While still his pros- 
perity was a matter of expectation rather than 
reality, he was united in marriage to Parua 
Sullivan, a native of New York, and who was 
born August 21, 1812. In 1836, when their son 
Richard was three years old, Dr. Gorham came 
with his family by way of the smaller streams 
to the Ohio, then down that stream to Cin- 
cinnati, where they took passage on board a 
boat to St. Louis, and from there ascending the 
Illinois to Peoria, settled on land near Ellis- 



ville, Fulton County. After remaining here 
tnree years they removed to Ellisville, the 
Doctor meanwhile continuing his practice. That 
he was a man of courage and determination ad- 
mits of no doubt, for he knew well the nature 
of the country to which he journeyed, and the 
hard and exacting duties of the men who under- 
take the science of healing in the pioneer days 
of the State. He amassed a competence in re- 
turn for his labor, and left to those who survive 
him fragrant memories of usefulness and love 
of humanity. 

As soon as he was old enough to make his 
labor of value Richard Sullivan Gorham began 
worK on the paternal farm and during the leis- 
ure of the winter season attended the Ellisville 
District School. In 1852 Richard S., in com- 
pany with a large i)arty of emigrants, went 
overland to California, leaving Ellisville on May 
2d of that year in wagons — known in that day 
as "prairie schooners" — each wagon drawn by 
six or eight yoke of oxen or cows. When cows 
were used for this purpose they also fur- 
nished the milK and butter for persons belong- 
ing to the train. The party reached Marysville, 
Cal., in the latter part of September, and dur- 
ing his stay in California Mr. Gorham devoted 
most of his time to working on a ranch, or in 
the mines or quartz mills in Y'uba, Sutter, Butte, 
Plumas and other nearby counties. He returned 
to Illinois in September, 1866, after an absence 
01 fourteen years. Witn the exception of this 
episode Mr. Gorham's ambition has never 
strayed to other means of livelihood, and he 
has given to farming that concentration and 
loughtfulness which must necessarily bring 
him financial and general success. At the pres- 
ent time he owns a farm of IGO acres in Union 
Townshi]), anu a home where he and his wife re- 
side in the town of Avon. On .lune 4, 1S68, he 
was married, in Coldwater, Mich., to Harriet M. 
Sweet, who was oorn in Pennsylvania April 26, 
1842. Of this union there are six children, 
namely: Viola, who is keeping house for her 
brothers, Walter and Ernest, on the home farm; 
George, who married Cora Gill, and died August 
24, 1905; Walter, on the home farm; Charles, 
who married Viola Park, and resides in Ke- 
wanee. 111., and has one son, Oliver; Mark, who 
died at the age of ten years; and Ernest, with 
nis brother Walter, on the home farm. Mrs. 
Gorham was the daughter of George S. and 
.\ancy .Jane wiopkins) Sweet, the former a 
native of Saratoga County, N. Y., and the latter 
of Tompkins County, N. Y. Mr. Sweet was 
first a carpenter and joiner in the East, but later 
pursued the occupation of farmer. In 1859 he 
sold his farm of 150 acres in Erie County, Pa., 
and moved to Coldwater, Branch County, Mich., 
in 1860, and there was engaged in the grocery 
business for six years and in dry goods two 
years. His wiie died there, and he afterward 
lived with the subject of this sketch until the 
time of his death, in 1898. He was a Republican 
in politics, a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church and associated with the Masonic 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



889 



and Odd Fellows fraternities. Mrs. Gorham 
was the oldest of six children, of whom four 
are now living. 

GOUDY, William C— (See page 204). 

GRADY, Orlistus R., a well known and pros- 
perous poultry dealer of Cuba, Fulton County, 
111., was born near Pleasant Plains, Sangamon 
County, 111., on April 14, 1S67, and received his 
early education in the public schools of the 
town which is now his home. He is a son 
of Robert M. and Olive (Jackson) Grady, na- 
tives of Menard County, 111., and Dearborn 
County, Ind. The father followed farm- 
ing in Sangamon County until 1880, 
when he moved . with his family to 
Cuba, Fulton County. In 1881 he engaged in 
the ]ioultry business, dressing the first poultry 
handled in that village. He also entered into 
the dairy business there, in which he continued 
three years. He is now living with his wife in 
retirement in Cuba. 

In 1890 O. R. Grady engaged in the poultry 
trade, which he carried on alone until 1895, 
when he entered into partnership with Samuel 
S. Huffman. The firm lasted until 1902 and 
built the present storehouse in 1898, the main 
building being forty by forty feet and the "L"' 
twelve by twenty feet in dimensions. Since 
1902 the firm has been known as 0. R. Grady 
& Company, Mr. Grady's brother, Henry H. 
Grady, being associated with him. The concern 
uses tnree wagons on the road collecting poul- 
try the year round and handles about 1,500 
pounds per day. 

On December 22, 1892, Mr. Grady was mar- 
ried to Gertrude A. Murphy, a native of Cuba. 
111., who died September 1, 1905. In politics 
Mr. Grady is a Republican, serving as Township 
Collector in 189o and 1S94 and as Constable in 
189G and 1897. Fraternally he is a member of 
the I. O. 0. F. and the M. W. of A. Mr; Grady 
is one of the persevering, energetic and diligent 
class that always accomplish good results, being 
a man of keen business judgment and trust- 
worthy character. 

GRAHAM, John Gleason (deceased). — When the 
proposed hospital to the memory of John G. 
Graham shall have been erected in Canton by 
his daughters, the city of his adoption will have 
a characteristic reminder of a man who contrib- 
uted largely to the purpose and achievement 
of its history and who, responding to the best 
opportunities of his environment, became wide- 
ly known as a civil engineer, merchant, agricul- 
turist and legislator. The death of this hon- 
ored pioneer January 24, 1869, at the age of 
fifty-one years, was an event still recalled by 
many of the older inhabitants and still mourned 
by those whose lives he brightened as father. 
friend, counselor or benefactor. Many helpful 
lessons evolve from this life of human useful- 
ness, and not the least sifting through the haze 
of years is that good name and positive, creative 
18 



occupation are among the most valuable of 
man's contributions to posterity. 

The earliest setting of the life of Mr. Gra- 
ham was a farm near the village of Northum- 
berland, Saratoga County, N. Y., where he was 
born November 17, 1817. and where his father, 
John Graham, settled after removing from the 
picturesque hills of Vermonr. The elder Gra- 
ham married Polly Gleason in Saratoga County 
and upon his death his son and namesake, then 
a lad of tender years, went to live with his pa- 
ternal grandparents. The boy's slumbering 
power awoke to high ideas of life and work 
and to a keen appreciation of education, which 
he acquired in the public schools and a New 
York Academy. It was his privilege to convey 
to others the knowledge thus gained, and as 
an educator he developed that mastery and per- 
sonal influence which proved among the most 
useful assets of his later life. While teaching 
and studying he devoted his leisure to civil en- 
gineering. It was as a civil engineer that he 
came to Illinois during the early 'forties to aid 
in the construction of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railway, and it was the money re- 
ceived for his services that enabled him to lay 
in a stock of general supplies for the general 
store that he established in Canton. He rap- 
idly grew in favor as a merchant and his po- 
sition enabled him to keep in touch with the 
opportunities for investment by which he was 
surrounded, more especially in town and coun- 
try property. A large part of his fortune was 
made from investments in land, and he engaged 
also in agriculture to some extent. 

Previous to the war Mr. Graham maintained 
a strong Democratic attitude, but the appeal 
for the restriction of slavery fell upon heeding 
ears and he thereafter voted the Republican 
ticket. He was the kind of man to observe and 
represent the needs of the community of which 
he was an integral part, and he was elected 
a Representative in the State Legislature for 
three terras (1858-18G4) and also served as a 
Delegate from Fulton County in the State Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1SC2. His i-etirement 
from business life preceded the taking up of 
arms in the Civil AVar, although he served as 
a member during the greater part of that pe- 
riod and was an interested and intelligent ob- 
server of the events leading up to and following 
this great National struggle. The companions 
of his later years were the family he had cher- 
ished, the friends he had won and kept, and the 
books that he loved, and he found enjoyment 
in the retrospection which contained naught of 
the selfishness and sordidness which accom- 
lianies the success of many men of wealth. 
While economical and thrifty and a l)eliever in 
wise and cautious expenditure, he yet was gen- 
erous when occasion demanded and a liberal 
contributor to worthy local causes. He became 
one of the largest stockholders and chief advis- 
ers of the Canton National Bank, a fact which 
lent strength and efficiency to the affairs of that 
institution. 



890 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



While unusually prominent In the undertak- 
ings of his adopted town, it was in his home 
that Mr. Graham evidenced those traits which 
are the hallmarks of noble and good citizen- 
ship. His ideals tended to intellectual freedom 
and progress, to individuality, personal initia- 
tive, affection, consideration and thoroughness. 
To his wife, formerly Lydia Wills, he was a de- 
voted husband. Mrs. Graham came on the pa- 
ternal side from old Scotch stock, and on the 
maternal side from Scotch-Irish forefathers. In 
her character she was lovable and sympathetic 
and commanded the respect and esteem of all 
with whom she was ever associated. As a 
mother she was tender, patient and forgiving, 
and the repository of the ambitions, plans and 
griefs of her children. Of these, Charles failed 
to survive the vicissitudes of childhood; Ella 
also died in childhood; Caroline is a resident 
of Washington, D. C; John W. died in 1S91, 
and Alice L. lives with her sister in Washing- 
ton. Mrs. Graham died March 31, 1S86. It was 
the mission of herself and husband to create a 
home atmosphere of culture and refinement. 
Wealth and its beneficent use, friendship and 
its advantages, health, happiness, usefulness — 
all were considered and turned to practical ac- 
count by a family whose surviving members 
are reminders of an important period of Central 
Western activity. 

GRAY ( Judge ) John A., a very prominent and 
successful lawyer of Canton, Fulton County, III., 
was born in Morgan County, Ohio. April 18, 
1842, and received his early training in the com- 
mon schools of Cuba, Fulton County. He is a 
son of Joseph K. and Margaret (Grimes) Gray, 
natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. 
The paternal grandparents, Ogden and Nancy 
( Lappin ) Gray, were natives, respectively, of 
New York and Ohio. On the maternal side the 
grandparents, William and Mary (Lawson) 
Grimes, were of Irish birth. The father, Joseph 
K. Gray, who was a blacksmith by trade, moved 
with his family from Morgan County. Ohio, to 
Canton, 111., in the summer of 1849, and after 
living there somewhat over a year, located in 
Cuba, 111., where the family was reared. There 
the son, John A., attended the public schools 
until able to earn something by labor, after 
which he was occupied in farming and other 
work in summer and attended the local school 
in winter. In the winters of 1859 and 1860 he 
was engaged in teaching school. 

In April, 1861, Mr. Gray enlisted as a private 
in Company H, Seventeenth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front. He 
was wounded near Fort Holt, Ky., in September, 
1861, and was afterward transferred to the 
Eleventh Regiment Illinois Cavalry, then in 
camp in Peoria. With this regiment he served 
until December 20, 1864, when he was mustered 
out at the end of the period for which the regi- 
ment had first enlisted, 'the first nineteen 
months of his service were spent as a private. 
Sergeant and Regimental Sergant Major, and 



in October, 1862, he was promoted to be Second 
Lieutenant of Company M of his regiment. He 
was subsequently promoted to be First Lieu- 
tenant, and as such served on the staffs of Gen- 
erals Hatch, Mizener and Osborn of the Cavalry 
Division of the Army of the Tennessee. On 
July 'j, 1864, Lieutenant Gray was made Cap- 
tain, vice Captain MofEtt, who was killed in 
battle, and from that time until his discharge 
from the service, commanded his company. 

Returning home early in 186.5 Mr. Gray con- 
ducted a store in Cuba, 111., for one year, and 
then moved to Dent County, Mo., where he was 
engaged in farming for about the same length 
of time. After a trip to Western Kansas and 
the Indian Territory, he returned to Illinois in 
the fall of 1S67 and entered the law office of 
Ingersoll & Puterbaugh, of Peoria. After being 
admitted to the bar he began the practice of law 
in Cuba, 111., in 1869. In March, 1S71, he re- 
moved to Lewistown, 111., and became a member 
of the firm of Shope & Gray, which relation 
continued until Mr. Shope was elected to the 
circuit bench in 1879. After continuing busi- 
ness alone for a few years Mr. Gray became 
associated with H. M. Waggoner, under the 
firm name of Gray & Waggoner, this partner- 
ship lasting until 1S9:3. In January, 1896, he 
removed to Chicago, where ne spent one year, 
when he returned to Fulton County and has 
since made Canton his home. 

On July 26, 1S63, Mr. Gray was united in 
marriage with Blanche Berry, a native of Ful- 
ton County, 111., where she acquired her mental 
culture in the local schools. Two children were 
born of this union, namely: Lucian. of Lewis- 
town, 111., and Blanche (Mrs. J. L.S. 'Hunt), of 
the City of Mexico. Three grandchildren are 
numbered wit.i the family. In politics Mr. 
Gray is a Republican; was twice a member of 
the Board of Supervisors of Fulton County, of 
which body he served one year as Chairman; 
was a member of the Twenty-eighth General 
Assembly (1872-74), and in June. 1897, was 
elected Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of 
Illinois, and was re-elected without opposition 
for a second term in June. 1903. 

In fraternal circles Judge Gray is identified 
with the G. A. R., and is also affiliated with the 
B. P. O. E. and the A.'F. & A. M.. in the latter 
body a Royal Arch Mason. The lives of few 
of the citizens of Fulton County have been more 
clean-cut, well-rounded and uniformly developed 
than that of Judge Gray. It has been honorable 
and commendable in every stage. His military 
career was a signal credit to his country and 
the State, and the significant fact that he was 
last elected to his present eminent position 
without opposition attests the estimate placed 
upon him by his fellow citizens as a lawyer 
and as a man. 

GRAY, Lucien. — Born in Dent County, Mo., 
January 5, 1867. Mr. Gray is a son of Judge 
John A. Gray, who is mentioned at length in 
another part of this work. He received his 




MR. AND MRS. JACOB H. MAXWELL 




MR. AND MRS. T. P. LITTLE 




892 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Fulton County, was born at Urbana, 111., April 
19, 1836, the son of William and Sarah (Owen) 
Green, both natives of Ohio. The father, Wil- 
liam Green, was a musician and instructor in 
music, and also the patentee of certain mechan- 
ical inventions, including the first turning lathe 
ever put to practical use. Mr. Green comes of 
military stock, his ancestors for several genera- 
tions having been identified with the military 
struggles of their respective periods — his father, 
William Green, being a soldier of the Mexican 
War; his grandfather Green, of the War of 1812, 
and his maternal grandfather Owen and pater- 
nal great-grandfather Green both being soldiers 
of the Revolution. The last-named member of 
the family was a near relative of General Na- 
thaniel Green of that historical period. 

The subject of this sketch obtained his early 
education in the district schools of Illinois, and 
after leaving school was employed in farm work 
until the beginning of the Civil War, when on 
August 17, 1862, while a resident of McDon- 
ough County, he enlisted in Company D, One 
Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, in which he served three 
years, being mustered out August 16. 1865. 
The commander of this company was Captain 
Abraham Newland, still living, a well known 
citizen of McDonough County. The One Hun- 
dred and Twenty-fourth Regiment took part un- 
der General Grant in the Vicksburg campaign, 
for forty-six days being engaged in the siege 
of that rebel stronghold. During this historic 
struggle Mr. Green received a wound, in conse- 
quence of which he was disabled for a time, and 
from whicu he has never fully recovered. After 
retiring from the army he remained for some 
lime in the vicinity of Tennessee, McDonough 
County, but in 1S87 removed to Farmington, 
Fulton County, where he continues to give his 
attention to garden work, his disability pre- 
venting aim from embarking in more active em- 
ployment. 

Mr. Green was united in marriage in 1887 
to Mary Hurley, who was a native of Indiana, 
but received her education in the district 
schools of Illinois, where she has lived since 
1843. In that year her parents located in the 
city of Springfield, where they resided in the 
vicinity of the Lincoln home. During this 
l)eriod she was acquainted with the family of 
Stephen T. Logan and tlie Governor's family. 
In girlhood she was accustomed to go to the 
Lincoln home every day for the family supply 
of milk, and enjoyed the opportunity of be- 
ing personally acquainted with the traits of 
character of one afterward connected with the 
most famous struggles in the history of na- 
tions, and whose name has become illustrious 
throughout the civilized world. Subsequent 
events strengthened the impressions made on 
her mind by these dairy visits, of which she 
has ever since retained a vivid recollection, 
and she delights in recounting many interest- 
ing incidents connected with the lite of the 
great President, as he then appeared to her in 



the home circle. Mrs. Green left Springfield 
in 1855, then moving to Peoria, where she re- 
mained until 1860. She then made her home 
for a time seventeen miles south of Farming- 
ton, but since leaving Peoria has lived most 
of the time in Farmington. She is the mother 
of six children, namely: Maria, Theodore, 
William, Albert Edwin, George and Evelina 
M. As may be naturally inferred from his mil- 
itary record Mr. Green's political views are in 
harmony with the principles of the Republican 
jjarty. In religious belief he is a Methodist, 
and is also a member of the (Jrand Army of the 
Republic. 

GREER, Thomas L., a successful merchant of 
Canton. P'ulton County, 111., was born in Indus- 
try. 111., March 4. 1872, a son of Alfred W. and 
Anna 1 Kemper) Greer, natives of Kentucky and 
Illinois, respectively. In boyhood the subject of 
this sketch received his rudimentary instruction 
in the public schools, and while still in his 
teens began working as a clerk in Industry. 
At the age of eighteen years he moved to Ma- 
comb. 111., where he inirsued a course of study 
in the Normal School. After this he again ap- 
plied himself to clerking in a dry goods store. 
When he was twenty-two years old he com- 
menced selling dry goods on the road, and con- 
tinued in this occupation up to the time when 
he located in Canton in 1902. Since then, in 
partnership with J. L. Scripps. of Rushville, 
111., he has built up a good patronage in the 
dry goods line. He is a good business man and 
pays strict attention to his trade. 

On September 30. 1895. Mr. Greer was joined 
in wedlock with Umatilla Pennington, who was 
born in Industry, 111., and received her mental 
training in the schools of Macomb. Two chil- 
dren have blessed this union: Helen Loraine 
and Robert Allen. Fraternally Mr. Greer is 
affiliated with the Masons, Knights of Pythias 
and Elks. 

GREWELL, John Madison, now a resident of 
Ipava. 111., is a pioneer agriculturist of Pleas- 
ant Townshi]). Fulton County, and is well 
known historically for his connection with the 
introduction of steam threshing into Fulton 
County. He is a native of Harrison County, 
Ohio, born November 12, 1834, a son of John 
and Jane (Hill) Grewell. His father was a 
native of Maryland and his mother of Monon- 
gahela County, Pa. Thomas Grewell, the 
grandfather of John M., came to Fulton County 
with his son John, where he died at the vener- 
able age of ninety-eight years. An instance of 
his remarkable vitality is shown by a tramp of 
three miles which he took some two days be- 
fore his death. In 1846 the father, with his 
family, located in Fulton County, residing the 
first year in Bernadotte Township. In 1847 
he rented a farm in Pleasant Township for a 
term of five years, later buying eighty acres 
of wild prairie land in Vermont Township. 
Upon the latter he erected a log house and 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



893 



eventually transformed the property into a 
beautiful homestead. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Grewell were the parents 
of four children: Nancy, who married Jack 
Brown and left a large family; Christopher, 
who served the Union in the Civil 
War as a member of an Iowa regiment and is 
now a resident of Texas; John Madison, and 
Isaac, whose last known residence was in 
Colorado. The mother of this family died 
January 14, 1S68. The father was for many 
years a Justice of the Peace in Ipava, and was 
an active and honored member of the Presby- 
terian Church. He was a Democrat, but never 
actively participated in mere partisan politics. 

The early life of John M. Grewell was spent 
upon his father's farm in Pleasant Township 
and in attendance at the district school. When 
about sixteen years of age, being a sturdy, self- 
reliant youth, he formed a partnership with 
William Mathews in the operation of a travel- 
ing threshing outfit. They finally bought a 
thi-eshing machine, the power for which 
was furnished by ten horses. For forty-seven 
years he conducted this line of industry, and 
when steam was introduced operated the first 
miprovea machine in Fulton County. With the 
growth of the agricultural interests of the 
county his own business developed, so that, 
with the profits from the old farm in Pleasant 
Township, which he inlierited at the death of 
his father, he accumulated a competence, and, 
in 18S1, moved from the family homestead into 
the village of Ipava that he might give his chil- 
dren a good education. 

On February 2S, 18.58, John M. Grewell was 
married to Elizabeth Cooney, daughter of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Clemens) Cooney, who came to 
Fulton County about 1854. His wife was born 
in Huntingdon County, Pa., January 19, 1842, 
and the two began their married life upon the 
farm in Pleasant Township, where six of their 
seven children were born, namely: Annie V., 
who was born May 26, 1861, married James 
Farr, a farmer of McDonough County, 111.; 
George C, born October 10, 1862, died Decem- 
ber 11th, following; Sherman H., born June 
18, 1864, is a traveling salesman, with his resi- 
dence in Galesburg, 111.; Mary B., born Feb- 
ruary 11, 1867, is Mrs. Demp. Hibbs, her hus- 
band being connected with the Santa Fe Rail- 
road at Marxville, Kans.; Bertha E., born Jan- 
uary 20, 1872, is married to Clark Miner, a 
farmer of Eldorado Township, McDonough 
County, 111.; Cordelia, born August 10, 1874, 
is living at home; and Elma, born September 
21, 1884, died October 30, 1885. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. John M. Grewell have 
been residents of Fulton County since they 
were twelve years of age, and have formed an 
important personal element in its growth and 
prosperity. They have lived to see the devel- 
opment of a new country, and have not only 
been promoters of its progress, but have reared 
a large family of children to useful, pros- 
perous and happy men and women. 



GRIFFITH, John Taylor, editor of "The Can- 
ton Daily Herald," was born on a bleak Novem- 
ber day on the banks of Eagle Creek, in Scott 
County, Ky.. the son of Dr. and Mrs. F. J. C. 
Griffith, his ancestors on both sides being early 
settlers of that part of Kentucky. Mr. Griffith 
lived there until ten years of age, when his par- 
ents moved to Illinois, locating in Crawford 
County. When about fifteen years old the sub- 
ject of this sketch went to Robinson and there 
entered the public schools and completed the 
high school course. It was during this time 
that young Griffith first acquired a linowledge 
of the printing business. After worliing there 
about two years as a compositor in a printing 
office conducted by Richard and Percy Talbot — 
at the time two of the best-known editors in 
the southern part of the State — young Griffith 
went West and spent some time as a printer in 
Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and other West- 
ern States and Territories, and later bloomed 
out as a reporter on "The Wichita Daily Bea- 
con." Becoming tired of the West and possess- 
ing a desire for a more extensive education 
than the high school afforded him, he returned 
home and in a short time thereafter entered 
the University of Kentucky, where lie spent the 
greater part of two years taking a special 
course. Then he went up into the mountains of 
Eastern Kentucky and became associated in 
the newspaper business with Judge H. Clay 
Lilly, for more than a quarter of a century one 
of the most distinguished Circuit Judges in 
Kentucky, and for forty years one of the Re- 
publican leaders in the mountain districts of 
his State. After a partnership lasting more 
than three years Mr. Griffith retired from the 
firm for the purpose of completing the course 
already begun at the university. Shortly there- 
after judge Lilly answered the final summons 
and passed away from the cares of earth, and 
with his going Mr. Griffith has always felt that 
one of the best men he ever knew ceased to be 
here, but lives eternally elsewhere. Later Mr. 
Griffith went to Frankfort and did work as cor- 
respondent of the "Louisville Evening Post" and 
the "Lexington Morning Herald." After being 
there engaged little more than a year, Mr. Grif- 
fith went to Georgetown in his native county 
of Scott, and brought into existence the first 
Republican paper ever published in that coun- 
ty. This enterpise was in the interest of Gov- 
ernor W. O. Bradley, Kentucky's first Repub- 
lican Governor, then being groomed for a fav- 
orite son endorsement for the Presidency. When 
through with this enterprise Mr. Griffith came 
to Illinois and became the editor of "The Rob- 
inson Republican," with which he remained for 
about two years. His next newsiiaper connec- 
tion was with "The Stalwart" at Watseka, 111., 
with which he did heroic work until 1903, when 
he became connected with "The Daily Herald" 
at Morris, 111., his merit as a newspaper writer 
having attracted the attention of the publisher 
of that paper. After remaining in that field 
about three years he came to Canton in April, 



894 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1906, having become possessed of an ambition 
to inrlividually direct the destiny of a news- 
paper enterprise. As a result of that ambition 
"The Canton Daily Herald" was brought into 
existence and of which he is the editor-in-chief. 
It can be seen that Mr. Griffith is a newspaper 
worker of extensive experience. He is familiar 
with all parts of the business, which includes 
a mastery of the mechanical end. He is a writ- 
er of fine ability, being quick of apprehension 
and rapid in execution. 

From the start "The Canton Daily Herald" 
has met with favor. Its growth has been satis- 
factory to the publishers, and under Mr. Grif- 
fith's able editorial management it is gaining 
a position in the field it occupies that is attract- 
ing attention. More and more, as the days come 
and go, evidence is being presented that its suc- 
cess is assured. Mr. Griffith is married and re- 
sides at 346 North Avenue B, in the city of Can- 
ton. His wife was Miss Braddie L. Covington, 
a native of Scott County, Ky.. and they have 
one child, Mary Margaret, a little girl now near- 
ing her fourth year. She is her mother's little 
treasure and her father's delight. 

Since the foregoing sketch was put in type 
Mr. Griffith has disposed of his interest in the 
"Canton Herald" and has accepted a position in 
connection with the "Canton Daily Register." 

GRIGGS, James. — There are few older settlers 
in Fulton County than James Griggs, who ar- 
rived here in 1S29, and in his more than four- 
score years, has built up a reputation for integ- 
rity and general worth as rare as it has been 
upbuilding to Orion Township. He is the own- 
er of a finely improved farm of 160 acres on 
Section 1, in Orion Township, and is credited 
with being one of those men who maintain, into 
the eventide of their lives, those genial and 
kindly thoughts which make them a blessing 
and inspiration to those around them. He has 
kept pace always with the advance in agricul- 
tural science, and his improvements indicate a 
painstaking and cautious judgment. 

In Cayuga County, N. Y., where he was born, 
,Iune 10, 1819, Mr. Griggs' parents, George and 
Sarah (Harker) Griggs, owned a small farm, 
the resources of which were inadequate for the 
support of their family. George Griggs had 
served in the War of 1812 and was destined for 
further military service in the Black Hawk 
War, which occurred the year after his arrival 
in Fulton County, in 1S29. Both he and his wife 
were of the kind which have caused the wilder- 
ness to disappear and who have developed by 
the faithfulness and self-sacrifice of their lives 
the ideal conditions which make the Central 
West a safe and prosperous dwelling place. 
James Griggs was ten years old when the fam- 
ily settled In Fulton County, and his educa- 
tional chances were meager and uncertain, but 
his o])portunity tor hard work unlimited. When 
old enough to handle a gun he found abundance 
of wild game to test his aim, and strategy and 



caution were necessary to ward off the ap- 
proach of stealthy Indians. It was not a com- 
fortable or hopeful place to live in, and a crude- 
ness prevailed in house and field hardly con- 
ceivable to the more modern mind of today. 
The family circle continued to widen until 
there were eight children, and of these Harvey 
married Elizabeth Long; Pruella became the 
wife of William Thurston; Mary remained un- 
married; Franklin D. married Deborah Lar- 
gent; Asenath was the wife of George Champ; 
Susan became the wife of William Brown, and 
Jeremiah married Eunice Yaw. 

James Griggs married Mary Ann Brown for 
his first wife, her death occurring about a year 
later. In 1856 he married Dulcena E. McMains, 
of which union there were five children, and of 
these George W. married Belle Gruniger; Ed- 
win E. married Maud Frank; Mary Ann become 
the wife of Frank Jacobs, and' Susan remained 
unmarried, for years being engaged in the pro- 
fession of teaching. It was the privilege and 
pleasure of .Mr. and Mrs. Griggs to give their 
children far better educational advantages than 
they themselves enjoyed, and in no way has 
Mr. Griggs evidenced his breadth of mind and 
progressiveness more distinctly than in his gen- 
eral support of the schools of his township. His 
ability and good judgment received constant 
recognition in this direction for twenty-five 
years, during all of which time he was a mem- 
ber of the School Board. His first presidential 
vote was cast for Martin Van Buren, and ever 
since he has supported the doctrines of the De- 
mocracy. In religion he Is a Baptist. He sur- 
vives, like an oak In the forest, the majority of 
those who started in life when he did, and his 
memory is a panorama of those small and large 
events which make uji the history of the white 
man's labors in Fulton County. 

GROOM, John B., one of the most energetic, 
persevering and thorough going among the 
younger element of agriculturists in Fulton 
County, 111., is the subject of the sketch, a well 
known and prosperous resident of Fairview 
Township. Mr. Groom was born in Warren 
County, 111., August 29, 1882, a son of William 
and Jeannette (Milligan) Groom, natives of Il- 
linois and Indiana, respectively. The birthplace 
of the former was Fairview Township, Fulton 
County, and the date of birth August 14, 1854. 
The latter was born in Dearborn County, Ind., 
March 9, 1855. William Groom was a farmer 
l)y occupation, industrious, diligent and thrifty, 
and his labors were attended by well merited 
success. He spent his earlier life in Henderson 
and Warren Counties. 111., and after carrying 
on farming there for a number of years moved 
to Fulton County, where he located in Fairview 
Township in 1885. At that period he inherited 
a farm of 245 acres, which he cultivated with 
satisfactory results during the remainder of his 
active career. He departed this life February 
1. 1902. William Groom and his estimable 
spouse became the parents of nine children, of 




'l^^>yi^z^a^ ^y^i'a^i^a.^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



895 



•whom John B. is the fourth. The others are: 
C. E. Groom, J. A. Groom, S. C. Groom, J. G. 
Groom, C. G. Groom, M. L. Groom, F. W. V. 
Groom and T. R. Groom. 

In boyhood the subject of this sketch received 
a good mental training in the district schools 
of his neighborhood, and passed his youth under 
the paternal roof, assisting his father in the 
operation of the farm. After reaching years 
of maturity he engaged in agricultural pursuits 
on his own responsibility and has since contin- 
ued in this occupation. He has lived In Fair- 
view Township for more than twenty years and 
as boy and man has been regarded by his neigh- 
bors as worthy of respect and confidence. He 
is conducting the same farm which his father 
Inherited during his infancy, and his brother, 
James G., is associated with him in the work. 
They carry on general farming and devote con- 
siderable attention to the breeding of Poland- 
China hogs. In connection with the farm they 
also operate all kinds of threshing machinery. 

On November 2, 1904, Mr. Groom was united 
in marriage in Canton, Fulton County, with 
Lottie Roberts, a native of Kansas, where she 
was born March 7, 1874, and in girlhood ob- 
tained her mental training in the public schools. 
In political matters Mr. Groom Is a supporter 
of the principles of the Democratic party, and 
his religious connection is with the Methodist 
Church. He takes an intelligent interest in 
public affairs and current events, and seems 
assured of a prosperous and useful future. 

GUSTINE, William C— With the exception of 
eight years, three of which were spent in the 
Union service during the Civil War, the activi- 
ties of William C. Gustine and those of the Ber- 
nadotte Flouring Mill went hand in hand from 
the fall of 1856 until the retirement of the mas- 
ter miller in 1902. A business association of 
forty years argues stability tor both man and 
mill, but particularly does it reflect the faith- 
fulness and ability of the human side of the 
partnership. In the same degree that Mr. Gus- 
tine was an important commercial factor in 
Bernadotte, was he also an intelligent observer 
of the changes which took place in Fulton Coun- 
ty after his arrival there in 1838. At that time 
he was two years old, having been born in Fay- 
ette County, Ohio, August 5, 1836, the oldest of 
the ten children of Amos and Elizabeth (Chil- 
ders) Gustine, pioneers of both Ohio and 
Illinois. 

Amos Gustine had a thorough knowledge of 
one of the most necessary callings in the early 
days — carpentering — which he followed to the 
material benefit of himself and the community. 
Settling in the fall of 1838 in the neighborhood 
of Canton, he removed the following year to a 
place called Tuscumbia, on Spoon River, where 
he established a large building business and 
constructed barns and residences without num- 
ber throughout that entire section. Later he 
changed his headquarters to Bernadotte, where 
he still pursued his occupation as a builder up 



to the date of his death, which occurred In 1885. 
Mr. Gustine had the far-seeing judgment of the 
pioneer, took a keen Interest in public affairs 
and was especially active in politics. At first 
a Whig, he adopted the principles of the Repub- 
lican party at the time of its organization in 
18.56, and while not an office seeker, aided the 
local cause in no small degree. His wife sur- 
vived him until 1903. Of the children younger 
than William C, James A. served three years 
in Company G, Fiftieth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry; Walter A. three years in Company J, 
One Hundred and Third Illinois Infantry, and 
now lives at Table Grove, Fulton County; Mary 
Jane is the wife of Samuel Norman, a soldier 
during the Civil War in the One Hundred and 
Fifty-first Illinois Infantry; Hannah is the de- 
ceased wife of Samuel Norman and left two 
children; Emily is deceased; Sarah A. is the 
wife of James Curry, of Fremont, Neb.; John 
is a resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Marlon D. 
Is deceased, and Susan lives with her brother, 
William C. 

The school experience of William C. Gustine 
was limited to a few months each year at the 
subscription schools, and as soon as his strength 
and size permitted he became a wage-earner in 
a minor capacity in a sawmill. His entire busi- 
ness life, therefore, was devoted to milling. He 
was twenty years old when he went into the 
mill at Bernadotte, and at that time both mill 
and miller were in an embryo stage, destined 
for many rounds of progress ere their largest 
usefulness had been attained. The mill was 
built about eighty years ago, and still retained 
the old burr system, well adapted to leisurely 
times and non-critical palates. It is a patriarch 
among mills, however, being one of the first 
erected in the county, and its sing-song hum of 
industry has rarely been suspended since its 
advent first swelled the local pride and fur- 
nished evidence of manufacturing progress. 

With the breaking out of the Civil War the 
responsibility in the mill became of secondary 
importance to Mr. Gustine. and October 1, 1861, 
he enlisted in Company G, Fiftieth Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry for three years. Mustered into 
service at Camp Wood, Quincy, 111., tiie Fiftieth 
was sent to Hannibal, Mo., then to St. Joseph, 
the same State, and later taking part in the 
battles of Forts Henry and Donelson. At the 
expiration of fifteen months of hard service Mr. 
Gustine was a total wreck from rheumatism 
contracted during the wet season, and after 
spending six weeks in a hospital in St. Louis 
was sent to his home on a furlough. Upon 
partially regaining his health, March 9, 1865, 
he rejoined his regiment at Louisville, Ky., 
thereafter accompanying it to Washington and 
to Springfield, 111., where his honorable dis- • 
charge took place July 15, 1865. His service 
was marked by zeal, courage and faithfulness, 
and his recollection of the stirring times of the 
rebellion were among the most treasured of his 
life. 

In August, 1865, Mr. Gustine returned to his 



896 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



old position in the Bernadotte Mill, and from 
then until his retirement he was either assist- 
ant or head miller, with the exception of three 
years spent in a mill in Galesburg and two years 
at another place. In the meantime modern ma- 
chinery supplanted the older processes of mill- 
ing, season succeeded season, and of all the land- 
marks in the community none were more famil- 
iar than the mill and the flour-covered miller. 
Mr. Gustine's retirement from business robbed 
a stable industry of one of its most experienced 
and cautious advisers, and tho value and extent 
of his service cannot be overestimated, consid- 
ered either from the standpoint of the enter- 
prise with which he was connected or as regards 
general milling interests in this part of the 
State. 

May 23, 1860, Mr. Gustine married Mary Ann 
Vice, who died in 1899 after filling a large place 
in the hearts of her family and friends. Mrs. 
Gustine was a woman of intelligence and rare 
good sense, as well as a devout and active mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of her 
four living children, .lames E. is the oldest 
son; Alta May is the wife of William B. Compo, 
of .Jetmore, Kans.; Lewis A. is a resident of 
Kewanee, 111., and Maud L. is the wife of Frank- 
lin Robertson, of Bernadotte, 111. Although 
never active politically Mr. Gustine supported 
the Republican party with his vote and aided 
in the election of his office-seeking friends. So- 
cially a Mason, he was esteemed for his quiet 
dignity of manner, his kindness of heart and 
for his many ways of contributing to the well- 
being of the community. 

HAGAMAN, Charles E., who is one of the luost 
stirring, wide-awake and promising young 
farmers in Fairview Township, Fulton County, 
111., is a native of that township, where he 
was born November IS, 1882, a son of John B. 
and Anna (Swartz) Hagaman, who were Penn- 
svlvanians by birth, and members of very 
prominent families in that State. After their 
removal to Illinois they were equally jiromi- 
'nent in both social and religious circles. .lohn 
B. Hagaman was a farmer by occupation, in 
which pursuit his industry, frugality and pains- 
taking diligence gained for him deserved suc- 
cess. He located in Fulton County at an early 
period, and purchased 107 acres of land in Fair- 
view Township, which his son, Charles E., now 
cultivates. He was a man of high character, 
conspicuously identified with all local enter- 
prises for the promotion of the public welfare, 
and influential in local political affairs. 

Charles E. Hagaman made diligent use, in 
early vouth, of the opportunities for mental 
training afforded by the district schools In the 
neighborhood of his home, and assisted his fa- 
ther in the work of the farm. Before attain- 
ing his majority he was engaged in farming 
on his own responsibility and since he reached 
the age of nineteen years has cultivated 29:? 
acres of land, besides initting some improve- 
ments on the homestead property. His atten- 



tion is devoted chiefly to general farming. He 
has thus far met with invariable success and 
bids fair to become one of the most prominent 
farmers of Fulton County. 

On February 18, 1893, Mr. Hagaman was 
united in marriage, in Fairview Township, 
with Ada Schleich, a native of that township, 
where she was born August 25, 1881, and en- 
joyed the benefits of the public schools. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hagaman have become the parents of 
one child, named Leonard. 

In politics the subject of this sketch is in 
hearty accord with the principles of the Re- 
publican party, and religiously he adopts the 
creed of the Lutheran Church. He has a wide 
acquaintance throughout Fulton County and is 
very popular with all who know him. 

HAINES, Theodore H.— The busine.^s of stock- 
raising, under the favorable conditions offered 
in Bernadotte Township, Fulton County, has an 
enthusiastic and altogether successful follower 
in the person of Theodore H. Haines, owner of 
a fine farm of 112 acres on Section 32. Not only 
does Mr. Haines maintain the reputation for 
business-like effort won by his pioneer father, 
.Tames Haines, but he has augmented this by a 
demonstration of what may be accomplished 
when one is young, strong, clear of brain and 
studiously inclined in the beginning of the twen- 
tieth century. 

Mr. Haines has spent his entire life in Fulton 
County, where he was born May 1.5, 1871, his 
parents, James and Rachel (Smith) Haines, 
having settled in Isabel Township, that county, 
upon their arrival from Ohio. The elder Haines 
followed farming and stock-raising until his re- 
tirement from active life in Duncantown, Isa- 
bel Township, where he still makes his home 
and where his wife died in 1905. 1^ has been 
his good fortune to see his six children well set- 
tled in life and himself financially independent. 
In former years he was active in the councils 
of the Democratic party and represented the 
broad-minded and intelligent country gentleman 
of his time. Rose, his oldest daughter, is the 
wife of George Dilworth, of Isabel Township; 
Prudey is the wife of Levi Allen, of Waterford 
Township; Lydia is the wife of Sherman Wil- 
son, of Waterford Township; Lticy is the wife 
of Logan Cruzan, of Bernadotte Township, and 
Mary is the wife of Dr. E. G. Davis, of Lewis- 
town. 

Being the only son in his father's family, 
Theodore H. was early called upon to share the 
responsibility of the farm management, and at 
the age of fifteen could accomplish as much as 
men much older and stronger. At the age of 
eighteen he began working by the month, but 
immediately after his marriage, in March, 1897, 
settled on a farm which he bought about the 
same time. Mrs. Haines, whose maiden name 
was Kate Lally. was a native of Bernadotte 
Township and daughter of Thomas Lally, of 
whom mention is made on another page of this 
work. Under his judicious management the 






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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



897 



farm which Mr. Haines bought in 1897 has de- 
veloped into one of the finest stocli farms in 
Berdanotte Township. He has well defined 
ideas regarding stock-raising, and never devi- 
ates from his policy of raising only high-grade 
stock. He has demonstrated that it is cheaper 
in the end to feed blooded stock than the in- 
ferior kind, and he believes that one's reputa- 
tion and purse suffer from a violation of this 
rule. As a result he has the finest of Poland- 
China hogs, having purchased his first hog of 
O. J. Roberts, of Bryant, and he also has Dur- 
ham cattle and Percheron horses. In the spring 
of 1905 he disposed of sixty-five head of shoats, 
nine months old and averaging 2G7 pounds. For 
these he received the highest market price of 
five and a half cents per pound. He entertains 
justifiable pride in his Percheron horses, of 
which there are seven at present, averaging 
1,21s pounds. He considers Durham cattle the 
finest in the land, and his numerous samples 
would seem to justify the assertion. No man 
in the county can make a better showing as far 
as grade in stock is concerned, and it is not 
surprising that this young farmer finds himself 
with a constantb increasing bank account, as 
well as with a reputation second to none in his 
neighborhood. He makes a scientific study of 
everything pertaining to the work of the farm- 
er, but adopts innovations only when their prac- 
ticability has been fully demonstrated. 

While public spirited and ready to participate 
in anything for the advancement of the com- 
munity, Mr. Haines has refrained from active 
effort as an aspirant for political honors, con- 
tenting himself with casting his vor.e as a Re- 
publican. He is heart and soul a farmer, an 
appreciator of the farmer's independence and 
freedom from restraint and a believer in his 
mission as the foremost factor in the world's 
progress. Mr. and Mrs. Haines have two chil- 
dren: Mary, born December 25, 1897, and Mil- 
dred, born January 29, 1901. 

HALL, J. G., who is successfully engaged in 
the livery business In Cuba, Fulton County, 
111., was born in that place in 1877, and there 
received his early mental training in the public 
schools. He is a son of J. M. and Jane (Lane) 
Hall, natives of Ohio and Illinois, respectively. 
J. M. Hall settled in Cuba in 1853. and for 
some time followed teaming. In 1864 he en- 
gaged in the livery business in the quarters 
now occupied by the subject of .this sketch, 
who has conducted it since his father's death. 
Previous to 1864 the father followed the same 
occupation in another place. He was among 
the first men to pursue this line of business in 
Illinois, and remained in it continuously up 
to the time of his death in 1902. Mr. Hall is 
also interested in farming just north of Cuba. 
He keeps a good equipment of horses and vehi- 
cles, pays close attention to business, and en- 
joys a good patronage. Mr. Hall is unmarried 
and fraternally he is affiliated with the K. 
of P. 



HALLAR, William H. — No man within the city 
of Canton has contributed more to the making 
of his surroundings than William H. Hallar. 
Turn where you will large buildings and small, 
beautiful residences and modest homes, banks 
and industrial concerns, places of worship and 
educational institutions, structures for the 
housing of public utilities — these, and more 
which contribute to the architectural ensem- 
ble of a flourishing town, have fallen into his 
hands when the skeleton was ready for the 
brick mason, and remained under his watchful 
supervision until the last brick had been ce- 
mented in place. No greater tribute could be 
paid to his skill, business sagacity and 
reliability. 

Inheriting his mechanical ingenuity. Mr. 
Hallar's youth offered every opportunity for 
the development of his inclination. His father, 
George W. Hallar, was a brick mason, brick 
manufacturer and contractor, who. after his 
arrival in Canton in 1848, was engaged in the 
manufacture of brick and in building until his 
death in 1873. Among the undertakings he 
built the First Congregational Church and the 
residence of W. H. Parlin, and he thoroughly 
drilled his four sons, William H., G. F., John 
L. and J. R., in the kind of work to which his 
own life was devoted. William H., who was 
born in Mercersburg, Pa., January 17, 1843, 
lost his mother in 1857, when he was thirteen 
years old. He was five years old when he ar- 
rived in Canton with his parents, and he soon 
after began to attend the public schools, con- 
tinuing thus until beginning to learn the brick 
mason's trade with his father. He was eight- 
een years old when the Civil War plunged the 
country into uncertainty and grief, and, on 
August 11th of the following year, enlisted in 
Company K. One Hundred and Third Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until 
the termination of hostilities. He saw much 
of the grim and terrible side of warfare, and 
was taken prisoner at Hickory Hill. S. C, and 
released just below Lake City, Fla., April 29, 
1865. Returning to Canton after the war Mr. 
Hallar worked at bricklaying for his father 
and George Coleman, who were partners, and 
from 1870 until 1873 was in the employ of 
Mr. Coleman, with whom he then organized a 
partnership. Soon after they began the con- 
struction of buildings on the west side of the 
square and after that on the north side, and 
also built the Parlin and Orendorff works, a 
number of residences, and did considerable 
work for W. H. Parlin. In 1881 Mr. Hallar 
entered into partnership with Mr. Lockwood, 
the latter taking the place of junior member 
of the firm, and built up the east side of the 
square, and all but three buildings on the south 
side; the Hewitt schoolhouse. and many other 
structures, including seven buildings in the 
city of Cuba, a like number in Farmington 
and the high school building in Rushville, 
111. On the retirement of Mr. Lockwood the 
firm was changed to W. H. Hallar & Brother, 



898 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



this association being continued until 1901, 
when William H. Hallar went into business 
alone. During the partnership of the Hallar 
Brothers they erected many prominent build- 
ings, including the First National Bank Build- 
ing, the Steve Drake Building, the new Meth- 
odist lipiscopal Church, the McCall and Kel- 
logg schoolhouses (in tact, Mr. Hallar has 
been connected with the erection of every school- 
house in Canton, besides many in the country 
districts), the plow works and foundry, new 
engine house, the Canton National Bank, the 
Pabst and Michaels building, the Dean cigar 
factory, and addition to the Presbyterian 
Church; also rebuilt the Opera House after a 
fire and the gas works. In 1901 Mr. Hallar 
built the Reservoir, the splendid homes of W. 
G. and William J. Orendorff, the Canton House 
and the Odd Fellows' Hall; and, in 1903 erected 
the Canton High School (said to be the finest 
of its kind in the State), the water tower and 
the first city building. Indeed, he may be said 
practically to have built the business portion 
of the city of Canton. 

On March 4, 1866, Mr. Hallar was united in 
marriage to Elizabeth Stookey, who was born 
in Bedford, Pa.. November 4, 1846, and three 
sons and three daughters were born of this 
union, namely: William C, Edward R. and 
Ernest L. — each of whom is a master brick- 
layer; Mary Katherine, Margarette and Eliza- 
beth Maude. The mother died on April 2, 
1903. 

Aside from the formality of casting his vote 
Mr. Hallar pays little attention to politics. 
He is personally popular and posseses social 
qualities of a high order, and is identified with 
the A. F. & A. M., Morning Star Lodge, No. 
734, and Canton Chapter, No. 6S, R. A. M.; the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen of America, 
the Bankers' Life Association and the G. A. 
R. He is a prominent figure at the reunions 
of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Hal- 
lar is a well-informed and broad-minded man, 
lending to his business a progressive spirit, 
and to the community an extent of practical 
usefulness which It is difficult to correctly 
estimate. 

HAMER, Edward, a well-known retired mer- 
chant of Vermont, Fulton County, HI., was born 
In Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pa., 
Septemljer 30, 1816, being a son of Abram and 
Mary (Hinkson) Hamer. Edward, the subject 
of this sketch, was reared in his native county, 
in his boyhood enjoying but meager advantages 
in mental training. He attended the subscrip- 
tion schools in the vicinity of his home until 
the vear 1S32. when he became a pupil in an 
academy in Wilmington, Del., remaining there 
one year. In 1837 he applied himself to teach- 
ing. " In the spring of 1838, in company with 
his friend, Frank Taylor (afterward the noted 
Dr. Tavlor, traveler and instructor), he left the 
old home and went to Boston by sea. The young 



men wished to enter college and thought to 
hear of one in that city suited to their needs, 
but after several days spent in this quest they 
decided to go to Amherst. On their way thither 
they met the enterprising Principal of an acad- 
emy in Plymouth, N. H., who induced them to 
enter the Plymouth school. After nine months 
of study Edward returned to Pennsylvania and 
again engaged in teaching, this time in Ches- 
ter, Pa. In the spring of 1841, in conjunction 
with his cousin, Patterson Hamer, he embarked 
in the mercantile business in Hamnrton, Pa., 
under the firm name of E. & P. Hamer, which 
partnership continued for thirteen > ears. In 
1854 after closing out the business in Hamor- 
ton Edward came West and settled in Vermont, 
Fulton County. 111., and Patterson Hamer and 
family coming the following year, the partner- 
ship was continued. 

Edward went to Philadelphia in the spring 
of 185.5 and bought a stock of goods, which he 
shipped to Browning, on the Illinois River, 
thence by wagon transporting them to Vermont. 
From its inception the enterprise was a notable 
success. Subsequently he was prominently 
identified with the business interests of Ver- 
mont for many years, and figured as one of its 
leading citizens. In 1882 the firm of E. & P. 
Hamer sold their mercantile establishment and 
retired from active business life. 

In ISfiO Mr. Hamer married Miss Andrew 
Anna Morris, of Chester County, Pa. She and 
their two daughters are still living. Mr. Hamer 
is an earnest advocate of temperance principles 
and supports the Prohibition ticket at the polls. 
In youth and early manhood he was in close 
and constant relations with the Quaker element 
in Pennsylvania, and although he never joined 
the sect, he became deeply imbued with their 
doctrines, and the teachings then impressed 
upon his mind have been the dominating inspi- 
ration of his subsequent career. His mind is 
reasonably clear and vigorous for a man of his 
advanced years, and he is erect in his carriage 
and alert in all his movements. His dullness 
of hearing is his greatest trouble, as he has nev- 
er suffered a week from illness in his long life. 
His great pleasure is in reading, thus keeping 
in touch with the activities of the world through 
books and newspapers. Over and around his 
venerable head are gently hovering the cease- 
less benedictions of the people of the region in 
whose development he has born so conspicuous 
a part. 

HAMER, Thomas.— (See page 216). 

HAMMAN, George, who is among the most 
prosperous, substantial and extensive farmers 
in Young Hickory Township, Fulton County, is 
a native of Alsace, Gennany (then France), 
where he was born on January 23, 1845, a son of 
George and Caroline (Statt) Hamman, both of 
whom were also natives of that province. By 
occupation George Hamman, the father, was a 




HOWARD MARTIN 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



899 



farmer and also followed the trade of a cooper. 
He spent his whole life in his native country, 
dying there in 1.S95. 

The subject of this sketch received his men- 
tal training in the public schools of Alsace, and 
at the age of twenty-two years (in 1867) came 
to the United States, first locating in Green- 
bush, Warren County, 111., where he remained 
between nine and ten years. In 1876 he moved 
thence to Young Hickory Township, Fulton 
County, where he purchased of Joseph Camp- 
bell a farm consisting of 110 acres. In 1880 he 
bought 100 acres belonging to the Hoagland 
estate, situated on Section 15, in the same 
township. His next purchase was 100 acres 
on Section 16, and eighty acres of the Quinn 
estate, on Section 9, all lying in the same town- 
ship. Mr. Hamman is also the owner of 122 . 
acres on Sections 22 and 27. on Coal Creek, in 
Young Hickory Township, and fifteen acres on 
Spoon River. On these several tracts he has 
made all the improvements, some of them in 
1894 and others of a later period. In 1900 he 
built his present residence on Section 1.5. Mr. 
Hamman carries on general farming and is also 
engaged in the raising of stock to a considera- 
ble extent. All his undertakings have been at- 
tended by deserved success, and he is ranked 
as one of the foremost farmers of the county. 
This prominence in agricultural pursuits is 
wholly due to the energy, perseverance, wise 
management and honorable dealing which have 
been the distinguishing features of his life. 
Aside from his record as a farmer, he has main- 
tained an excellent standing as a citizen, and is 
considered one of the most worthy and useful 
members of the community. 

In February, 1877, Mr. Hamman was joined 
in wedlock at Galesburg, 111., with Catherine 
Kepler, who was born in Fulton County, and is 
a daughter of Mathias Kepler and wife. Seven 
children have resulted from this union, name- 
ly: Lucy, Caroline, John A., Laura. George R., 
Cora and Nellie. Mr. Hamman's religious con- 
nection is with the Lutheran Church. 

HAMMITT, George W.— When a citizen of any 
community has lived to the age of three-score 
and ten years, maintaining through all vicissi- 
tudes an unblemished character, faithfully 
meeting the obligations incident to his lot and 
discharging with manly fidelity the duties in- 
cumbent upon him in all the relations of life, 
it is a pleasing task to place the story of his 
career in an enduring form. The possession of 
such a record by the family which he has toiled 
to rear, and its transmittal to their posterity, 
is not only a boon to them, but the narrative of 
his worthy deeds, preserved in the permanent 
characters of a book, serves as a wholesome in- 
centive to all others who may chance to peruse 
the pages containing it. The foregoing lines 
apply with obvious pertinence to the much re- 
spected subject of this sketch, George W. 
Hammitt. 

Mr. Hammitt was born in Brownsville, Ohio, 



in February, 1S36, a son of James W. and Nancy 
(Turner) Hammitt, of whom the foriner was a 
native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. 
James W. Hammitt, a man of strong character 
and strict integrity, was a blacksmith by trade 
and followed that occupation for several years 
in Brownsville, Ohio. In 1842 he sold his inter- 
ests there and moved to Illinois, locating two 
and a half miles southeast of Cuba, Fulton 
County. Two years later he leased the farm 
of John Rector, situated a little southwest of 
Cuba in the same county. There he remained, 
successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits for 
four years. In 1848 he purchased what was 
known as the "Sol Sherwood farm" in Cass 
Township, which he sold the followini< year and 
established a blacksmith shop in Cuba, 111., 
where he pursued his earlier occupation for 
two years. He then moved to a place situated 
two and a half miles southeast of Canton, where 
he remained until 1854. In that year he bought 
a farm in La Salle County, 111., whi,-h he culti- 
vated until 1868, when he disposed of the prop- 
erty and went to Ottawa, Kans., and there de- 
])arted this life in 1872. 

G. W. Hammitt received his early mental 
training in the district schools and assisted his 
father on the latter's farm in La Salle County 
until 1862. In that year he enlisted in Com- 
pany H, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under the command 
of Captain Ludington. In the engagement at 
Hartsville, Tenn., he was taken prisoner and 
after being kept five days under guard by the 
Confederate troops, was paroled and exchanged 
in April, 1863. He went on with his regiment, 
took part in the battles at Buzzard's Roost, 
Tenn., and Rome, Ga., and followed Sherman in 
his March to the Sea. He was wounded by 
grapeshot in the hand and arm at the battle of 
Missionary Ridge and has two fingers that are 
almost useless. He went on foot from Louis- 
ville to Washington, D. C, where he was mus- 
tered out of service, having participated in the 
Grand Review. He received his honorable dis- 
charge in Chicago and returned home in 1865. 
In 1866 he moved with his family to Ottawa, 
Kans., where he remained until 1874. when he 
returned to Canton, Fulton County. In 1875 
he was engaged as shopman for a mining com- 
pany and served in the capacity of overseer of 
the shop and work for twelve years. In 1884 he 
located in Farmington. Fulton County, where 
he has since resided most of the time. Mr. Ham- 
mitt is the owner of a house and some lots in 
Smithfield, Fulton County, 111., but has spent 
but little time in that place. 

On December, 1860, the subject of this sketch 
was united in marriage with Harriet Fonts, who 
was born in Fulton County, 111., where in girl- 
hood she received her mental training in the 
district schools. Mrs. Hammitt comes from a 
family of early settlers in Fulton County, where 
her father, Dugan Fonts, located in 1833 and 
entered a tract of land in Buckheart Township 
by patent from the Government in 1834. She 



900 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



is in possession of two bedspreads (called 
counterpanes) that are counted of value on 
account of their age and peculiar design. One 
was hand-worked by Mary Hutchinson and the 
other by Elizabeth Hutchinson, aunts of Mrs. 
Hanimitt, in 1S35. Mr. Hammitt has a'tin lan- 
tern that was used in 1S30 by one Henry Smith. 
These relics are much prized in the family on 
account of their age. history and original own- 
ership, which are well authenticated. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hammitt are the parents of seven chil- 
dren, as follows: Lucy M., Henry F., Charles 
L., G. Kirk, Hattie, Harry and Anna. 

In political relations Mr. Hammitt is an ar- 
dent upholder of the principles of the Repub- 
lican party, and served in the capacity of Con- 
stable in Buckheart Township for six years. 
Fraternally he is a prominent member of the 
G. A. R., George Hunter Post, No. 145, and 
his estimable and devoted wife is a revered 
member of the W. R. C. Both are held in the 
warmest regard by their neighbors and friends, 
and are profoundly respected by a wide circle 
of acquaintances. 

HAMMOND, Robert. — Prior to purchasing his 
present valuable farm in Pleasant Township in 
1S79, Robert Hammond ran the gamut of hard- 
ship and discouragement, and we know of no 
one who is entitled to more credit for lifting 
himself above the limitations of a responsible 
and cheerless youth. Born in Ireland, March 
17, 1854, Mr. Hammond is a son of Robert and 
Margaret (Nelson) Hammond, the former of 
whom was first a farmer and later a grocery- 
man in his native land. Robert Hammond, Sr., 
brought his family to America during the sum- 
mer of 1854, and in New York City followed the 
grocery business until the breaking out of the 
Civil War. A natural patriot and enamored of 
the profession of arms, he enlisted in a New 
York regiment under the first call for three 
months' volunteers. Returning to his home at 
the expiration of this brief service, he per- 
formed the sad office of burying his wife, and 
on a soldier's limited stipend was confronted 
with the care of his five motherless children. 
These children are all living, Mathew, the old- 
est son, being a resident of Jersey City, N. J.: 
John, a business man of Paterson, N. J.; Robert 
a farmer of Pleasant Township: Sarah is the 
widow of Mr. Andrews and lives in Keokuk, 
Iowa, and George W. is a resident of Newark, 
N. J. That the calamity which befell the fam- 
ily in 1861 was not insurmountable is proved by 
the success which has come to all of the chil- 
dren. The two oldest sons started out as news- 
boys in New York City, and now are prosperous 
citizens of their respective cities. Robert, 
George and his sister were placed in a juvenile 
home in New York City, where they enjoyed 
educational and other advantages. These things 
accomplished, the elder Hammond was free to 
pursue soldiering as his favorite occupation, 
and he soon enlisted in a New York regiment 
for three years' service, during that time par- 



ticipating in some of the most important battles 
of the Rebellion. At the close of the war he 
still heard the bugle call and missed the rout- 
ine and order of the camp. In consequence he 
enlisted in the regular United States army and 
died as a soldier at Huntsville, Ala., in 1874, 
after serving the military interests of his 
adopted country for thirteen years. 

Robert and George Hammond remained in 
the juvenile home in New York for nine months 
and then both were bound out, Robert to Jacob 
Smith, of Isabella Township, Fulton County, 
111., and Gorge to the latter's son, John Smith. 
In 1879 George Hammond returned East to his 
brother Mathew, then living in Newark, N. J., 
and Robert, during the same year, after eight 
years of hard work, was turned loose upon the 
world to make his living as best he could with- 
out a cent in his name. He accepted the only 
alternative, that of a farm hand by the month, 
and eventually turned his hand to many kinds 
of tasks ere he had gained a financial foothold. 
In 1S78 he married Mary E. Hall, daughter of 
Thomas Hall, of Ipava, and in 1879 moved to 
his present farm, which then was in a dilapi- 
dated and run-down condition. His capacity for 
industry and business has wrought great 
changes upon this property, and today it 
stands as a model of what may be accomplished 
by a man who is bound to win out in the call- 
ing he is best fitted to pursue. He makes a 
specialty of high-gi-ade stock, having about fifty 
head of cattle and a large number of horses and 
hogs. His shipments of stock net him a com- 
fortable annual income, and he is successful as 
a grain and general produce raiser. In the 
death of his fit-st wife, January 21, 1895, Mr. 
Hammond sustained an overwhelming loss, for 
his helpmate was a noble woman, and was hon- 
ored and loved by all who knew her. There 
were eight children of their union: Sadie, wife 
of William Jones, of Isabel Township; Eva, 
wife of Otis Porter, of Pleasant Township: 
John, a farmer in Isabel Township, who mar- 
ried Maggie Vaughn; Frank, a farmer of Pleas- 
ant Township, who married Kate Kelley; Lee, 
Loren, Mary E. and Nora, who died in infancy. 
December 22, 1897, Mr. Hammond married 
Hannah A. Brown, daughter of Samuel Brown, 
of the vicinity of Lewistown, and of the union 
there are three children: Gladys, Julia and 
Charles. 

Ever since casting his first presidential vote, 
Mr. Hammond has been independent in politics 
and has voted always for principle rather than 
party. He has served as Collector of his town- 
ship and for years was a member of the School 
Board. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. 
Remembering the trials of his early life, he is 
kindly disposed and generous towards those 
less fortunate than himself and there are many 
in the county who are indebted to him for a 
substantial lift in times of emergency. He Is 
honorable and high-minded, an excellent farmer 
and public-spirited citizen. 





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TELITHA MARTIN 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



901 



HANLON, William, the present efficient and 
popular Mayor of Canton, Fulton County, 111., 
was born in County Clare, Ireland, February 
22, 1848, and received his early educational 
training in the Peoria ( 111. ) ward schools. He 
Is a son of Thomas and Ellen (Murphy) Han- 
Ion, natives, respectively, of Counties Limerick 
and Clare, Ireland. John and Mary (Lee) 
Murphy, the maternal grandparents, were born 
in County Clare, as were also the great-grand- 
parents on the maternal side, John and Ellen 
(Lee) Murphy. On the paternal side Patrick 
and Mary (Higgins) Hanlon, the grandparents, 
were born in County Limerick, Ireland, as were 
also the great-grandparents, Valentine Hanlon 
and his wife. 

Mr. Hanlon's parents and their families 
came to the United States on a sailing vessel 
in 1849. They traveled by wagon from Chi- 
cago to Peoria, 111., where they lived until 
1860, when they moved to a farm in Orion 
Township, Fulton County. In 1866 the sub- 
ject of this sketch went to Montgomery County, 
Kans., and thence to Europe in 1871. Returning 
to this country he arrived in Chicago in Oc- 
tober, 1871, where he spent the three succeeding 
years, we then went to Peoria County, 111., 
where he engaged in farming, and in 1890 
movea to Canton. He has been the Canton 
agent of the Pabst Brewing Company since 
1892. 

On February 20, 1876, Mr, Hanlon was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth A. McDonald, who was born 
in Peoria County, 111., where in girlhood she 
received her educational training in the dis- 
trict schools. This union resulted in four 
children, namely: Gertrude F., who died aged 
one year and ten months; William T., Ellen 
A., and Mary E. In religion Mr. Hanlon is an 
adherent of the Catholic faith, and in politics 
an active and influential Democrat. From 
1898 to 1900 he served as Alderman of the 
First Ward of Canton, was Tax Collector five 
years. Road Commissioner for one year (but 
f esigned ) , and was School Director eight 
years. In 1904 he was elected Mayor of Can- 
ton for a term of two years, and in 1906 was 
again elected to the same office. Under his 
administration a new city building has been 
erected and a paid fire department has been 
installed; three-fourths of a mile of brick pave- 
ment has been constructed; the water works 
have been improved; fifteen acres have been 
purchased as an addition to the cemetery; 
and several new streets have been opened; in 
fact, Mr. Hanlon's administration has been 
characterized by much progression. Mr. Han- 
lon is also a director of the Canton Hospital 
Boara. In fraternal circles he is identified 
with the Catholic Order of Foresters, Eagles, 
Traveling Men's Asociation, the B. P. O, E. 
and the I. O. R. M. 

HANSON, Grier, D. D. S., a most courteous 
and skilful member of his profession, who is 



engaged in a growing practice at Lewistown, 
111., was born in McDonough County, III., 
June 24, 1870. His great-grandparents on the 
paternal side were Southern people, the great- 
grandfather, Samuel Hanson, being born on the 
eastern shore of Maryland in 1748, and dying 
in 1832, while his great-grandmother, Rebecca 
Waterman, was a native of Loudoun County, 
Va. His maternal ancestors, as far removed 
as his great-grandfather, were Pennsylvanians, 
his name being George Frybock; the grand- 
father, John Frybock, was born in the Key- 
stone State in 1790 and reached the advanced age 
of eighty-six years. His wife, born in Virginia 
in 1796, died at the age of seventy-two. James 
Hanson, the paternal grandfather, was a native 
of Mason County, Ky., born in 1799, and died 
in 1883, wh'ile his wife, Elizabeth Mackey. of 
Center County, Pa., died in 1861, aged "fifty- 
eight years. Luke and John Hanson, of the 
early generations of the Kentucky branch, 
remained in that State, Samuel removing to 
Ohio in 1800. 

Amaziah and Eliza (Frybock) Hanson, the 
parents of the Dr. Hanson, are among the 
prominent old pioneer families of McDonough 
County, 111., both being natives of the Buck- 
eye State, the former born in Ross County in 
182.5, and the latter in Pickaway County, in 
1838. Of their children, Emerson is a claim 
agent for the Burlington & Missouri system 
in Nebraska; Dr. Ralph Hanson is a resident 
of Spokane, Wash.; Ivan, Edward and Anna 
live at home, and Myra is the wife of George 
Rigg, of Hamilton, 111. 

Dr. Grier Hanson is a graduate of the Chi- 
cago College of Dental Surgery, a member of 
the class of 1897, and for three years was en- 
gaged in practice in that city. In 1900 he 
located in Lewistown, buying the practice of 
Dr. Bradley, which he has since maintained 
and greatly extended. He is a member of the 
Lewistown Lodge, No. 104, A. F. & A. M., 
of which he is Master; of Havana Chapter, 
Lodge No. 86, R. A. M.; Kenneth Lodge, No. 
146, K. of P., of which he is Past Chancellor; 
Bardolph Lodge, I. O. O. F.; the B. P. O. E., 
of Macomb; the Illinois Dental Society, and 
the Odontographic Society of Chicago. He is a 
Republican in politics. 

HARMISON, John, M. D. (deceased), who was 

one of the most prominent and successful physi- 
cians of Cuba, Pulton County, 111., was born in 
Cuba, 111., October 20, 1851, a son of Sarah and 
John Harmison. In boyhood the subject of this 
sketch attended the public schools in his vicini- 
ty, and in early manhood entered the Missouri 
Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was 
graduated March 5, 1878. He established him- 
self in the practice of medicine in Cuba, 111., 
and acquired an extensive and lucrative patron- 
age. In addition to his professional work he 
carried on a successful drug business in a store 
building erected by himself. He was always 



902 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



prominently identified with all movements in- 
tended to promote the welfare and prosperity 
of his town. 

On August 11. 18S0, Dr. Harmison was united 
in marriage with Effie Whitnah, who was born 
in Canton, 111., where in girlhood she received 
her early mental training in the public schools. 
Mrs. Harmison is a daughter of A. J. Whitnah, 
a worthy citizen of Canton. Politically Mr. 
Harmison was a Democrat. For several years 
he was a member of the Cuba School Board and 
always took a deep interest in educational mat- 
ters. Fraternally he was a member of the Cuba 
Lodge, No. 534, A. F. & A. M.; Canton Chapter, 
No. 68, Royal Arch Masons, and Damascus Com- 
mandery, No. 42 (Havana, 111.), Knights Tem- 
plar. Dr. Harmison died September 30, 1892, 
leaving behind him a spotless reputation, whose 
life was illuminated by good deeds. 

HARRELL, William J. (deceased).— The value 
of a useful trade, of making one's energy count 
toward one thing, of forging steadily ahead 
regardless of obstacles and discouragements, 
found emphatic expression in the life of Wil- 
liam J. Harrell, for twenty-seven years fore- 
man of the blacksmithing department of the 
Canton Plow Works. Mr. Harrell squared his 
account with the world in manly and honest 
fashion, and when his life ended, April 14, 
1900, it was felt that the community owed 
him much for the lesson in faithfulness and 
thoroughness taught by his success. Mr. Har- 
rell was born on a farm in Fulton County, 
111., September 24, 1842, a son of Josiah and 
Melissa (Patterson) Harrell, the former a na- 
tive of Kentucky. The peaceful pastoral life 
of Mr. Harrell found a rude awakening in the 
Civil War, in which he enlisted under an early 
call for troops in 1861, serving for three years 
in the Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
and afterward enlisting as a veteran in the 
One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry for one year. Returning to his home 
February 18, 1866, he engaged in the black- 
smithing business, later becoming foreman of 
the blacksmithing department of the Plow 
Works. 

In November, 1866, Mr. Harrell married 
Belle B. Bailie, who was born in Terre Haute, 
Ind., her father being a native of Virginia and 
her mother of Kentucky. Mrs. Harrell was 
educated in the public schools of Indiana and 
a private school in Canton, and is a woman of 
culture and refinement. She is especially prom- 
inent in fraternal circles, and for eight years 
has been Grand Receiver of the Grand Lodge 
of the Degree of Honor. She also is a mem- 
ber of the Rathbone Sisters, Fraternal Trib- 
unes, Rebekahs and Ladies of the Circle, G. 
A. R. She is large-hearted and generous, a 
patron of clubs and philanthropic organiza- 
tions, and numbers among her friends many of 
the most worthy people of the town. Mr. Har- 
rell was prominent in Republican politics, 
and, although never desiring otlice himself. 



often worked for his friends who were offi- 
cially inclined. He was a kind and consider- 
ate husband, warmly seconded his wife's social 
efforts, and invariably attributed a large share 
of his success to her economy, co-operation and 
sympathy. 

HARRISON, Francis M., who is among the 
oldest and most highly reputable citizens of 
Fulton County, 111., and whose fine farm is lo- 
cated in Section IS, Liverpool Township, was 
born in Lewis County, Ky.. August 9, 1828, a 
son of James and Sarah ( Lee ) Harrison, na- 
tives of Virginia. .lames Harrison was a son 
of Thomas and Barton iLee) Harrison, also na- 
tives of that State. The grandfather Harrison 
was born near Fairfax Court House, in the 
James Valley. Both the grandparents spent 
their whole lives in the Old Dominion. James 
Harrison, the father of Francis M., journeyed 
from Virginia to Illinois in 1855 and located 
in Fulton County, where he made his home un- 
til his death in 1861. He and his wife were the 
parents of six children, two of whom died in 
infancy. Francis M. was the first-born. The 
others were as follows: Ruth, deceased, who 
became the wife of Joseph S. Toncary, also de- 
ceased, and left a family in Fulton County; 
Louisa, deceased, who was the wife of Jasper 
Walker, a resident of Lewistown, 111.; Mary Y.. 
deceased, who was the wife of Joshua Cleary, 
and on the death of her husband returned home 
and remained with her father until the date of 
her death. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a 
farm in his native State and received his men- 
tal instruction in the primitive subscription 
schools of that period, his father paying a cer- 
tain sum for three or six months' tuition. In 
1848 he located in Fulton County, 111., and went 
to work at farming by the month. In 1853 
or 1854 he jjurchased eighty acres of land in 
Section IS, Liverpool Township, where he made 
his permanent home. The place was heavily 
timbered and he found it necessary to clear a 
spot sufficiently larg? for a dwelling. He cut 
the timber, hewed the logs and built a house, 
in which he installed his bride of the preceding 
year. The tract was densely covered with large 
oak and shellbark hickory growth, and after 
establishing himself in his new home he com- 
menced the work of cutting the trees and dig- 
ging up the stumps. To this labor he diligent- 
ly devoted his time nnd strength until the land 
was ready for tilling. He now has a finely cul- 
tivated and improved farm, created by his toil 
from a state of nature. His farming opera- 
tions have been careful, systematic, thorough 
and successful, and the stock raised by him is 
of the superior grades. 

On March 4, 1852, Mr. Harrison was united 
in marriage with Elizabeth M. Walker, who 
was born in Lewis County. Ky., a daughter of 
Hugh M. Walker, a native of that county. Her 
parents are deceased. Three children resulted 
from this union, namely: John W., who is en- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



903 



gaged in farming near Cuba, Fulton County; 
Dora, who became the wife of Buchanan Kelso, 
a resident of Rocl<y Ford, Colo., and Sidney S., 
wife of Noah Willcoxen, who carries on farming 
in Liverpool Township. In politics Mr. Harri- 
son is a supporter of the Democratic party. He 
has ably and faithfully discharged the duties 
of various township offices, and has taken an 
active and prominent part in developing Fulton 
County to its present productiveness and pros- 
perity. 

HARRISON, Dr. Frank M., a widely known 
and highly successful physician residing near 
Bryant, Fulton County, 111., who is also the 
owner and operator of an extensive farm in Sec- 
tion 32, Buckheart Township, this county, was 
born near Newark, Ohio, February 9, 1856. He 
is a son of Spencer and Georgiana (Hall) Har- 
rison, natives of the same locality. The Hall 
family was originally from Virginia. At an 
early day the Harrison family moved to Fulton 
County, 111., locating in Cuba, where Dr. Harri- 
son's mother died about the year 1866. She 
and her husband were the parents of four chil- 
dren: One who died in infancy; Dr. Henry M., 
a very prominent physician of Quincy, 111., 
where he is a specialist in eye, ear and throat 
diseases, on which he lectures in the Medical 
College at Keokuk, Iowa, and also has charge of 
the hospitals at Quincy; Dr. Frank M. and Dr. 
•lohn R., of Glasford, 111. Spencer Harrison's 
second wife was .lohanna Mosher, born in 1841. 
In 1901 he moved to the vicinity of Laporte, 
Tex., where he 0])erates a fruit farm. His chil- 
dren by the second union are William, Ernest, 
Bert, Winnie, Grace and Margaret. 

Dr. Harrison received his primary education 
in the schools of Cuba, 111., and was afterward 
engaged in teaching for seven terms. He stud- 
ied medicine under Dr. .lames K. Welch, for 
many years a prominent physician in that vi- 
cinity, and in 1875-76 pursued a course of study 
in the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College, from 
which he was graduated with the class of 1878. 
On August 5th of that year he located near 
Bryant, 111., and has since been one of the lead- 
ing physicians in that part of Fulton County. 
He has kept well abreast of modern develop- 
ments in medicine and surgery, and having a 
complete library and all the current professional 
publications, has continued his medical re- 
searches with constancy and assiduity. When 
he began practice in this township he started 
as a stranger in a new field, and has grown in 
reputation and patronage until he now com- 
mands the entire confidence of the people for 
miles around. 

In connection with the practice of medicine 
Dr. Harrison owns and operates a farm of 360 
acres, which is one of the best improved iu 
Buckheart Township and includes a very at- 
tractive residence and barns of corresponding 
quality. On his property is a fine herd of Polled- 
Angus cattle, and he makes a specialty of Mor- 
gan roadsters. When he started in professional 



life his mother presented him with a horse and 
his grandfather lent him forty dollars to help 
him along. Now his practice extends through- 
out Fulton County. 

On December 2, 1880, Dr. Harrison was united 
in marriage with Florence Ashton, who was 
born on the farm now owned by him. She is 
a daughter of Edward Ashton, deceased, a na- 
tive of Ohio and one of the worthy pioneers of 
Fulton County. Her mother died in 1897 and 
her father passed away in 1902, being the 
founders of one of the leading families of the 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Ashton were the parents 
of six children, as follows: .lohn W., of La Mar, 
Mo.; Lewis D., of Alhambra, near Los Angeles, 
Cal.; Francis M., who lives near Farmington, 
III.; Mary E„ deceased wife of Oliver Barnett; 
Sarah, wife of Everett Carter, a farmer of Put- 
man Township, Fulton County, and Ida, wife 
of .loseph H. Moran, who also lives at Alham- 
bra, Cal. 

Dr. and Mrs. Harrison are the parents of two 
sons and three daughters, as follows: Sarah 
Estella, born August 13, 1881, wife of John 
Graybeal, a farmer in Lewistown Township, 
Fulton County: Lela Blanche, born May 19, 
1885, who is with her parents; Bruce Ashton, 
born December 21, 1886, a graduate of the Can- 
ton (111.) High School, class of 1905; Georgia 
Mabel, born May 18, 1892. and Otis, born Au- 
gust 9, 1895. The childien have had a thorough 
education and Miss Lela is an accomplished 
artist, many excellent drawings from her hand 
adorning the home. Sarah Estella was educated 
in the Knox Conservatory of Music. Bruce has 
taken a course of medicine this year (1907) at 
the Iowa Medical College, Keokuk. In politics 
the Doctor is a supporter of the Republican 
party, and fraternally is affiliated with the A. F. 
& A. M. of Canton, and other lodges. 

HARRISON, James B., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming in Lewistown Township. Ful- 
ton County, 111., was born in Liverpool Town- 
ship, that county, March 29, 1869. He is a son 
of Barton L. and Charlotte (Willcoxen) Har- 
rison, the former a native of Lewis County, 
Ky. Mrs. Barton L. Harrison is a daughter 
of Marshall N. Willcoxen and a granddaughter 
of Captain Eli.iah Willcoxen, a sketch of whose 
life appears elsewhere in this volume. The 
subject of this record was reared on the home 
farm and in youth received his mental train- 
ing in the district schools of his neighbor- 
hood. He remained under the paternal roof 
until he reached the age of twenty-four years, 
assisting in all the details of the work and 
never missing an evening's feeding of the 
stock. 

On January 15, 1904, Mr. Harrison moved 
to his present farm, and is now engaged in 
cultivating 166 acres of very productive land. 
Besides cultivating grain he devotes consid- 
erable attention to stock-raising, breeding su- 
perior grades of various kinds of stock. He is 
a diligent, careful and enterprising farmer. 



904 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



and the best of results reward his labors. 

On January 1, 1893, Mr. Harrison was united 
in marriage with Jessie E. Kelso, a daughter 
of John W. and Amy (Bodwin) Kelso. Her 
mother died when Mrs. Harrison was seventeen 
months old. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison have three 
children, namely: Francis, born October 11, 
1894; James W., born July 18, 189.5; and Nellie 
M., born May 29, 1898. In politics Mr. Har- 
rison advocates the principles and supports 
the candidates of the Prohibition party. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Mutual Pro- 
tective League. He and his worthy wife are 
consistent and active members of the Church 
of the Nazarenes. Both as a farmer and as a 
citizen Mr. Harrison maintains an excellent 
standing, and enjoys the respect of all who 
know him. 

HARROD, Allen Hamilton, whose standing as 
a citizen of Fulton County, 111., is very high 
and who has been intimately identified with the 
material growth and industrial development of 
the county for more than half a century, was 
born in Scott County, Ind.. on January 4, 1831. 
His father, William Harrod, was a Kentuckian 
by nativity, having been born in that State 
May 22, 1779, the first white child born in Louis- 
ville, and his mother, Elizabeth (New) Harrod, 
was born December G, 1786, in North Carolina. 
William Harrod, who was a lifelong farmer, 
settled in Scott County, Ind., about the year 
1825, and was known as one of the most indus- 
trious, energetic and persevering among the pio- 
neers of that period. He became the owner of 
a tract of 300 acres of land in Union Township, 
Fulton County, on which he made the usual im- 
provements and then carried on general farm- 
ing during the remainder of his active life. Wil- 
liam Harrod died in 1835 and his wife passed 
away July 1, 1S75. They were the parents of 
ten children, of whom Allen H. Harrod is the 
youngest. 

In early youth Allen H. Harrod received a 
common school education in the district schools 
of Scott County, Ind., and on reaching years 
of maturity came to Illinois and commenced 
farming for himself. During the Civil War he 
rendered valiant service in the cause of the 
Union as a private in Company I, Seventy-sec- 
ond Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry 
("Board of Trade Regiment") in which he en- 
listed August 14, 1862. He took part in the 
campaigns of this regiment and was mustered 
out of service in 1863. 

Mr. riarrod has been twice married, both 
ceremonies taking place in Knox County, 111., 
the first on April 3, 1850, when he was united 
to Hiley Cox, who was born December 7, 1S30, 
in Canton. III., a daughter of James and Eleanor 
Cox, natives of Indiana. Mrs. Harrod died Au- 
gust 28, 1875. On March 16. 1876, Mr. Harrod 
was united in matrimony with Eliza J. Babbitt, 
also a native of Fulton County, where she was 
born March 28, 1847. The present Mrs. Har- 
rod is a daughter of James and Marv A. Bab- 
bitt. 



Politically Mr. Harrod strongly favors the 
principles of the Prohibitionists and exerts all 
his influence in behalf of the enactment of laws 
prohibitory of the liquor traffic. For forty years 
he served as Justice of the Peace and for twelve 
years acted in the capacity of Notary Public. 
In religious convictions he adheres to the faith 
of the Christian Church. Fraternally he is 
prominently identified with the Grand Army of 
the Republic. He is one of the most highly re- 
spected citizens of Fulton County. His ac- 
quaintance is wide, and among the host of peo- 
ple who appreciate his excellent qualities of 
head and heart are large numbers who regard 
him with the most cordial friendship and en- 
tertain a warm solicitude for his welfare. 

HARROD, Jeptha Revel, a well known and 
progressive iarmer residing on what is known 
as 'the Meadow Brook Farm" in Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County, III., was born in Scott 
County, Ind., September 28, 1845, a son of 
Samuel B. and Eliza Ann (Gaddy) Harrod, 
natives of that State and county, where the 
former was born September 20, 1818, and the 
latter November 20, 1822. Samuel B. Harrod 
was a farmer by occupation and followed that 
pursuit in the county wher he was born dur- 
ing his whole life. His death occurred on his 
farm there, November 2, 1902. 

Jeptha Revel Harrod received the elementary 
instruction of his boyhood in the district schools 
of Scott County, Ind., and completed his edu- 
cation in the Quaker Academy, at Washington, 
in that State. He made his home in the vi- 
cinity of his birthplace until he was about 
twenty-six years of age. when (in 1871) he 
moved to Fulton County, 111., and purchased 
the farm on which he has since remained. He 
is the owner of 200 acres of land, and in ad- 
dition to general farming devotes considerable 
attention to the raising of stock. Mr. Harrod 
is a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted 
February 1, 1865, in Company F^, One Hun- 
dred and Forty-flfth Regiment Indiana Vol- 
unteer Infantry, with which he served until 
January 22, 1866, when he was mustered out. 

The marriage of Mr. Harrod took place at 
Knoxville, 111., on December 19, 1871, being 
wedded to Sara Jane Cox, who was born in 
Union Township, Fulton County. November 30, 
1845. She and her husband are the parents of 
one son, Samuel Glenn Harrod. 

In political matters Mr. Harrod is arrayed 
on the side of the Republican party, and for 
five years he served as School Director. His 
religious connection is with the Christian 
Church, and fraternally he is identified with 
the Grand Army of the Republic. On his farm 
of 200 acres he devotes his attention to general 
farming and stock-raising, and has won a rep- 
utation for enterprise and stability of character. 

HARROD, Penuel, M. D. — No one who has 
lived and labored in Avon, this county, since 
the early 'seventies has more emphatically suc- 
ceeded to the good will and confidence of his 




A-^rg- ^^/:>r 




« G, 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



905 



fellowmen than Dr. Pemiel Harrod. Not only 
have skill and ability contributed to the useful- 
ness of this popular physician, but an inherit- 
ance of old New England traits has lent 
strength and conservatism beyond the average 
to his character and influence. His people were 
among the early settlers of Scott County. Ind., 
where he was born January 21. 1S44. a son of 
Samuel B. and Eliza N. ( Gaddy ) Harrod. She 
was the mother of six boys, five of whom are 
now living. After her death the father mar- 
ried Malinda Ward, by whom he had three sons 
and one daughter. Of these one boy and one 
girl are now living. 

In the public schools, the great highway of 
human equality, the Doctor studied while as- 
sisting his father on the farm, and he graduated 
from the high school at Salem, Ind., equiiiping 
for his professional life at the Cincinnati 
(Ohio) Medical College, from which he was 
duly graduated in ISCG. From the fall of ISGG 
until he came to Illinois in 1S09 he practiced 
medicine in his native State of Indiana, and 
In the latter year located at St. Augustine, 111., 
where he lived until coming to Avon in 1S73. 
For many years he practiced both medicine and 
dentistry and still adheres to the former, hav- 
ing among the long established families a de- 
pendable and extensive patronage. In addition 
to his professional resources Dr. Harrod has 
operated a dru,g store in Avon since 1S76, and 
in connection therewith carries a line of wall 
paper, oils, books and stationery and jewelry. 
The building in which this store is being con- 
ducted at present was erected by the Doctor in 
1S95, and is a two-story structure, twenty-two 
by sixty-two feet, the upper story of which is 
rented out. 

Dr. Harrod's faith in the future of the town 
has been evidenced in innumerable ways, for 
he has invested heavily in real estate and has 
built, besides his home and store, the block oc- 
cupied by Mr. Lockwood, which is about the 
size of his store building, and he is also the 
owner of the Sunbui-g Building. His many sid- 
ed experiences have included service in the 
United States Army as a member of the Home 
Guards, Ninth Indiana Militia. He is a member 
of the Masons and Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. 

On December :'l. ISGfi, in Scott County, Ind., 
Dr. Harrod was united in marriage to Anna 
Weldon, a native of Kentucky, whose death oc- 
curred January 30. 1900. To Dr. and Mrs. Har- 
rod were born two children, of whom Weldon is 
deceased and R. Wilbur, a graduate of the Belle- 
vue Medical College, of New York City, is now 
a surgeon in St. Francis Hospital, New York 
City. Dr. Harrod is a member of the Chris- 
tion Church of St. Augustine, 111. He is a man 
of broad sympathies, pleasing personality, a 
larger faith in the goodness and happiness of 
the world than the average member of the pro- 
fession, and of old-time courtesy and considera- 
tion. His professional and business ability has 
19 



contributed materially to the establishment and 
maintenance of high civic ideals. 

HART, Edward. — Few remain amid earthly 
scenes of the early hardy gro\»p of venture- 
some men and women who were present at the 
beginning of organized society in the States of 
the Middle West. Those who confronted the 
hardships and privations of the pioneer period 
in Illinois, and whose lives have been bounteous- 
ly lengthened out into the third generation suc- 
ceeding their birth, are conspicuous through 
their fast diminishing numbers. Fulton County 
counts perhaps a score of these venerable citi- 
zens, the sole survivors of a body of sturdy toil- 
ers whose patience, courage, endurance and in- 
tegrity laid the foundations for the prosperity 
now prevailing. They are justly regarded with 
affectionate veneration in the communities 
where their lots are cast. Of this number one 
of the worthiest, although far from being the 
oldest, is the subject of this sketch, Edward 
Hart, a retired farmer, who has made his home 
in Farmington since 1S94. 

Mr. Hart is a native of the State of Connecti- 
cut, where he was born on February 29, 1828, 
a son of Henry and Ann (Street) Hart, also 
natives of that State. Henry Hart was a resi- 
dent of the town of Goshen, Conn., where he 
was engaged in the manufacture of clocks, an 
industry for which the Nutmeg State was fa- 
mous in early times. He made the then long 
journey to Illinois in 1S35 and located in Ful- 
ton County in the vicinity of Farmington, where 
he purchased a tax title to 320 acres of land, 
situated in Section 20, Township S North, Range 
3 East. Having partially cleared this tract, he 
put u]) the necessary buildings thereon and a|)- 
plied himself to the work of tilling the soil. 
He settled on this half-section before the Illi- 
nois State Road was surveyed, and continued to 
conduct farming operations there until the time 
of his death. 

The subject of this sketch assisted his father 
on the farm until he reached the age of fifteen 
years, utilizing the advantages afforded by the 
log schoolhouse of the district, in which he ob- 
tained what mental training was possible for a 
farmer's boy at that day in the country schools. 
At the age already mentioned he began 
learning the trade of a carpenter, which he 
successfully followed for a number of 
years. At the time of the "gold fever" in 
1S49 he went to California and there engaged in 
gold-mining, operating a placer mine of his own 
for about six months, and returning to Farm- 
ington in the spring of 18.51. He was a witness 
of the construction of the first two miles of rail- 
road built on the Isthmus of Panama. Soon 
after his return home he bought a farm in Fair- 
view Township, Fulton County, of which he 
still remains the owner. To the cultivation of 
this farm he devoted his attention until 1894, 
when he retired from active labors, purchasing 
a residence and other property in Farmington, 



go6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



where he has since lived. More than seventy 
years have elapsed since Mr. Hart was brought 
to Fulton County by his parents, and he has 
spent nearly all of this long period within its 
limits. From ft44 to 1847 he was engaged In 
carrying the United States mail on horseback 
from Farmington to Fairview. 

On May 6. 1S57, Mr. Hart was united in mar- 
riage with Lucy Robbins, who was born in Con- 
necticut. Her father, Henry Robbins, was one 
of the early settlers of Peoria County, where 
Mrs. Hart in girlhood received her mental train- 
ing in the district schools. Her residence in 
that section of the State has extended ovpr 
nearly three-score and ten years, mainly passed 
in Fulton County. The union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Hart resulted in the birlh of four children, two 
daughters and two sons. 

In politics the subjecl of this sketch is a sup- 
porter of the Republican party. In the ripe- 
ness of his years ne enjoys the cordial esteem 
of all who know him and the consciousness of 
havin,g spent an industrious and upright life. 

HART, J. Marion. — Three townships of Fulton 
County have profited by the work and influ- 
ence of John Hart, Fairview Township, in which 
he settled as a young man upon coming from 
New .Jersey at an early day, and where he mar- 
ried Hannah Hall; Deerfleld Township, where 
he lived six years, and Canton Townshii), where 
he now owns and conducts a farm near the 
city of that name. Of the children of this early 
settler one of the best known is .1. Marion Hart, 
who was born on the Fairview Township farm 
May 6, 1875, and who is one of the estimable 
and prosperous agriculturists of his native lo- 
cality. 

Like his father, Mr. Hart has led a some- 
what migratory existence, in his twentietJr year 
locating in Farmington Township, on the Wil- 
son farm, and two years later moving to the 
Eschelman farm, in Canton Township. Two 
years later he moved to his present home on 
the farm of his father-in-law, H. M. Dikeman, in 
Fairview Township. Mr. Hart is engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising and is mak- 
ing a success of his chosen calling. His mar- 
riage to Clara M. Dikeman occurred December 
25, 1895, Miss Dikeman having been born in 
F'armington Township. February 1, lS7.j. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hart are the parents of two children — 
Clarence M. and Nina M. Mr. Hart takes a 
commendable interest in local politics and for 
several years has promoted the cause of edu- 
cation as a member of the School Board. 

HARTMAN, William McCoy.— Mr. Hartman 
rei)resents the class of comparative newcomers 
from the German agriculturists of the Eastern 
States who long for the broader tracts of the 
Middle West. He comes of the Pennsylvania 
stock than whom none are more industrious, re- 
liable or desirable as residents of a rich and de- 
veloping country. 

William M. Hartman is a native of Franklin 



County, Pa., born August 27, 1869. Conrad 
Hartman, his father, is a German by birth and 
has never left that county since his emigration 
to it, having been continuously engaged there 
as a patient tiller of the soil. The mother, for- 
merly Mary Long, is a native of Fulton Coun- 
ty. Pa. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in 
the district schools of his native county, and 
did his full share of work upon the family farm 
until he was prepared to see what he could ac- 
complish for himself. In 189^!, being then about 
twenty-four years of age, he came to Fulton 
County. 111., and worked for eleven months on 
the farm of A. E. Hatch, near Avon. At the 
end of this time he was united in marriage at 
Prairie City. 111., on February 1, 1894, with 
Etta Glaser, a native of Union Township, Ful- 
ton County, born August 20, 1872, and rented 
a farm, on which he lived for seven years. He 
then bought a farm of 120 acres in Union Town- 
ship, in the vicinity of Avon, on which he has 
since carried on general farming and which he 
has brought to a high state of cultivation. Mr. 
Hartman is a Democrat in politics and a mem- 
ber of the German Reformed Church. 

HARVEY, Lewis Paul (deceased), whose cul- 
tured and estimable wife, formerly of Chicago, 
was for many years one of the most highly es- 
teemed residents of Canton, 111., came of an old 
and substantial New England family, his 
immediate ancestors having high standing 
in Connecticut. Mr. Harvey was a na- 
tive of that State, born in Stamford, 
April 20, 1853, a son of Paul and Lucy 
(Strickland) Harvey, both parents also being 
natives of Connecticut. There his father was 
engaged in the hardware business, but at an 
early day removed with his family to St. Louis, 
Mo., where he continued in the same line and 
where, with his wife, he jiasKed his last years. 
Paul Harvey was an Episcopalian in religious 
belief, and in politics a Democrat, both in his 
conduct and his character well upholding the 
substantial and honorable family name. 

Lewis P. Harvey was of a family of three 
children, consisting of two sons and a daugh- 
ter. His education was obtained in the public 
schools of St. Louis, but his bent was so mani- 
festly toward a business career that it was not 
thought advisable to give him a collegiate train- 
ing. At the age of twenty he was connected 
with a firm extensively engaged in the coal 
business, and, after being rapidly advanced in 
liosition, in a short time became the head of a 
like enterprise himself, which he successfully 
conducted until 1880. He was then employed 
for a year and a half as a traveling agent for 
the Joliet Steel Company, and in 1883 became 
identified with the hide and leather business, 
in which he became an expert and an authorit.v 
of national repute, although up to that year 
he had been entirely unacquainted with the 
field. His first connection in this line was 
with the firm of Smith & Gaenslens, Chicago, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



907 



and his keen mind, tireless industry and powers 
of initiative soon made him a leading factor 
in the expansion of their trade. Mr. Harvey 
was sent to New York as their strongest rep- 
resentative, and, while pushing the business 
there, was offered a position of even greater 
responsibility by the widely-known firm of 
Fayerweather & Ladew. Representing one of 
the largest and wealthiest hide and leather 
houses in the country (the firm were proprie- 
tors of three extensive tanneries), the scene 
of his business labors and successes was again 
transferred to Chicago, and, with that city as 
his headquarters, he rapidly developed the al- 
ready large Western trade of this Eastern con- 
cern. For seven years his personal advance- 
ment was both remarkable and substantial, and 
his judgment, not only as to domestic hides 
and leather, but in the lines of seal skins and 
fine furs, was referred to b,y men who were 
veterans in the business. Mr. Harvey opened 
his Chicago office in 1885, and, although solic- 
ited by many other firms to assume their 
business, retained his connection with Fayer- 
weather & Ladew, and when ill health, caused 
by overwork, compelled him to relinquish his 
responsibilities, he had been advanced not only 
to a munificent salary, but had reached the 
highwater mark of reputation in the field which 
he had so rapidly mastered. 

At Peru, 111., on the 6th of February, 1883, 
Mr. Harvey was married to Lucile Elaine Tay- 
lor, who was born in Francistown, N. H., May 
25, 1859, a daughter of Rev. Lathrop and Lu- 
cinda ( Brickett ) Taylor, both natives of the 
Old Bay State. Mrs. Harvey was a descendant 
of the distinguished author, Leonard Wood, 
and her ancestors stepped upon American 
shores from the historic "Mayflower." Her 
father was a prominent Congregational minis- 
ter, at one time Moderator of the Ministerial 
Association, who for more than half a century 
preached the Word both East and West, and in 
all the length of that period failed but twice 
to appear in his Sunday pulpit. That certainly 
is a record for faithfulness difficult to parallel. 
Rev. Lathrop Taylor spent his earlier years 
among the rugged and picturesque people in the 
Cape Cod region. North Chelsea and Buck- 
land, Mass., these being scenes of his youth 
and early manhood. He worked on the family 
farm, learned and followed the clockmaker's 
trade, taught school and finally worked his way 
through a theological seminary. He first 
preached at Taunton, Mass.. and successively 
occupied pulpits at Springfield, Vt.; Francis- 
town, N. H.; Bloomington, 111.; Madison, Wis.; 
Farmington, 111. (twelve years), and Peru and 
Wheaton, 111. His death occurred at the last 
named city. January 25, 1897, at the age of 
eighty-two years, and his wife (Mrs. Harvey's 
mother) passed away at Canton, January 15, 
1902, aged eighty-three. Mr. Taylor had been 
twice married, his first wife (Hannah Maria 
Hall) bearing him six children, and his sec- 
ond wife two daughters. W. L. Taylor, of 



Canton, and so well known through Canada 
and the Northwest as a traveling representa- 
tive of the Parlin & Orendorff Company, is a 
child by the first marriage, while Mrs. Harvey 
is the older daughter by the second union. 

Two sons were born of the marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Lewis P. Harvey, the elder of whom, 
Hugh Taylor Harvey, is now connected with the 
Scudder Syrup Company, of Chicago. Inheriting 
decided musical talents from his mother, when 
quite young he sang in the choir of St. Paul's 
Episcopal Church, Kenwood (Chicago), and aft- 
erward acquired considerable reputation as a 
vocalist, being a member of the Apollo Club 
and other musical organizations. He attended 
Brown's Business College, Galesburg, and at the 
St. Louis World's Fair won the prize for the 
greatest proficiency in penmanship, open to the 
5,000 pupils attending the Brown chain of col- 
leges in various parts of the country. Lewis 
Paul, the second son, is a student of the Can- 
ton High School and also possesses notable 
musical tastes, being a member of the High 
School Orchestra and the Star Band of Canton. 

During the last years of Mr. Harvey's bril- 
liant business life the beautiful family home 
at Kenwood was the center of much refined so- 
ciability, of which music was the main at- 
traction. To Mrs. Harvey's charms as a woman 
and a hostess was added her brilliancy as a 
pianist, and the Kenwood home was certainly 
a refining influence in that part of the city. 
After Mr. Harvey's death, February 4, 1S94, 
his wife became a familiar figure at Steinway 
Hall, Chicago, and a valued addition to the 
McHenry School of Music, acting as accompa- 
nist for many notable soloists. For several 
years she was also organist of the Michigan 
. Avenue Congregational Church, and since then, 
both in Chicago and Canton, has been a most 
successful teacher of music, besides being a 
ready composer of decided talent. From April, 
1900, up to 1907, Mrs. Harvey's residence was 
at Canton, 111., where her talents, her warm 
heart, her sociability, her benevolence and her 
maternal devotion won her a large circle of 
admirers and life-long friends. On November 
16th, of the latter year, she was united in mar- 
riage with James F. Leland, Secretary of the 
Munsell Publishing Company, of Chicago, which 
city is now their home. 

Before Mr. Harvey's life was brought to such 
an untimely end he had not only achieved a 
reputation in business, but had become very 
popular socially. He was a member of the 
Hyde Park Club, the Illinois Club and the 
Union League Club, all of Chicago; and was 
identified with such fraternities as the Royal 
Arcanum and the Royal League, holding at one 
time the position of Grand Registrar of the 
former order for the State of Illinois. His 
popularity was so pronounced that in 1886 
he was put forward by the Republicans as a 
candidate for the presidency of the Board of 
Cook County Commissioners, but proved to be 
too open-hearted and open-handed to make a 



9o8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



successful politician. He was a man of 
most admirable traits of head and heart; was 
implicitly trusted by business associates and 
personal friends; was kind and generous in his 
family and abroad, and. although he made no 
pretentions, accomplished much good in an un- 
ostentatious way. 

HATCH, Arthur E., one of the most extensive 
farmers and stock-raisers in Union Township. 
Fulton County, 111., and a very prominent and 
influential citizen of his locality, was born In 
the township where his farm is situated, in 
December, 1861. Mr. Hatch is a son of Jerome 
B. and Mary (Wood) Hatch, respectively na- 
tives of Ohio and New York. The birthplace of 
the father was Gilford, Medina County, in the 
former State, where he first saw the light 
March 9. 1S27, and the mother's birth occurred 
In Madison County in New York, June 21, 1826. 

Jerome B. Hatch was one of fourteen chil- 
dren born to his parents, and lost his mother 
at the age of thirteen years. Her death dis- 
rupted the family circle and young Jerome was 
soon obliged to exert himself to earn a living. 
When ei,ghteen years old he journeyed over- 
land from Michigan to Avon, Fulton County, ar- 
riving utterly without financial resources. He 
went to work as a farm hand and in course of 
time bought farming land, following this occu- 
pation in Union Township until 1892. when he 
retired to Avon, having acquired a handsome 
competency. His wife, Mary (Woods) Hatch, 
was a daughter of Asa and Mary Woods, being 
the fourth in succession of eight children. Her 
father's family came by wagon to Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., in 1836, and settled on a farm called the 
"Mings place," a little north of Avon. There 
Mary Woods spent her school days and grew 
up to womanhood. On November 7. 1852, she 
became the wife of Jerome B. Hatch, the cere- 
mony that united the couple ushering in a 
union which lasted fifty-three years. Their first 
housekeeping was on what was known as the 
Chatterton place, and after a number of re- 
movals they eventually settled down on the 
farm lying southeast of the village, where thir- 
ty-one years of their lives were spent. In 1892 
they established their home in Avon, where 
both passed away, the father dying April 9, 
1905, and the mother October 22d of the same 
year. They were the parents of six children, 
three of whom died in infancy. Those suiwiv- 
ing are: Warren W., George A. and Arthur E. 
The mother of this family had seven brothers 
and sisters. In politics Jerome B. Hatch was 
an unswerving Republican. The religious con- 
nection of both husband and wife was with the 
Universalist Church. 

In early youth Arthur E. Hatch received his 
education in the Avon schools, and on reach- 
ing mature age began farming in partnership 
with his father. Thus he continued for about 
twelve years, but since that period has con- 
ducted farming operations alone. He has the 
320-acre homestead, located on Sections 29 



and 30, Union Township, where he was born and 
where he has lived for forty-three years. The 
improvements on this farm were made by 
his father and himself. In addition to 
general farming he is a prominent and 
successful feeder. In order to be more 
convenient to school he bought an eight- 
een-acre home adjoining the village of 
Avon, on which he has made his home since 
1904. 

Mr. Hatch was married October 15, 1885, at 
the home of the bride's parents in Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County, to Cornelia Adaline Yeo- 
man, daughter of Samuel and Catherine Maria 
( Hopper) Yeoman, and four children have been 
born to them, namely: Oral, Walter, Hazel and 
Arthur. Mrs. Hatch was born in Paterson. N. 
J., April 10, 1865, and at two years of age came 
to Illinois with her parents, who located in 
Union Township, which has been her home ever 
since. She is the youngest of a family of eight 
children, and has two brothers — J. B. and G. H. 
Yeoman, and two sisters. Mrs .S. J. Brinkerhoff 
and Mrs. A. Snyder — still living. Mr. Samuel 
Yeoman, the father, was born in New Jersey 
August 22, 1822, came to Illinois in 1867 and 
died at Avon, November 9, 1896, while his wife 
was born in Bergen County, N. J., December 1. 
1828. and died at Avon. September 15. 1895. 

In politics Mr. Hatch is identified with the 
RepulDlican party and has held the oflBce of 
Township Supervisor four years, having been 
first elected in 1904. 

HATCH, George A.— A splendidly improved 
farm of 200 acres on Section 30, Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County, bears witness to the early 
morning and late-at-night energy of George A. 
Hatch, an extensive breeder of high-grade cat- 
tle and Percheron horses, and raiser of the 
general produce which has made the name and 
fame of the Central West. Mr. Hatch is a 
native of Warren County. 111., and was born 
January 19, 1S57, a son of Jerome B. and Mary 
(Woods) Hatch, a resume of whose lives may 
be found elsewhere in this work. 

Mr. Hatch was reared among the most fa- 
vorable of agricultural surroundings, and his 
tendencies have never been side-tracked into 
less peaceful and satisfjing occupations. His 
education was that of the district schools of 
Fulton County, to which he moved with his 
parents at the age of four years, and his life 
took on character and purpose at the age of 
twenty-one, when he embarked in an independ- 
ent farming enterprise on one hundred acres of 
land. Industry and good management have re- 
sulted in a continual increase of his fortune, 
and his original farm has been enlarged to 230 
acres, and he also owns a farm of 150 acres 
in the central part of Union Township. His 
fai-m equipment conforms to the highest known 
standards, and applies particularly to stock- 
raising, of which the owner is an earnest pi-o- 
niotei-. Some of the finest cattle and most val- 
uable Percheron horses raised in the State 




%^ 



■^ #JI 





i/£ <f it7f/,a'^ SS.-.~ A-:-' 



H{^{d>JI. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



909 



have come from his farms, and he has exhibited 
extensively at county fairs. He has a stately 
and comfortable rural home, and within is that 
invariable good fellowship and hospitality 
which distinguish the well-bred, intelligent and 
thoroughly progressive agriculturist. 

A stanch supporter of local Republican pol- 
itics, Mr. Hatch has filled many ofllces within 
the gift of his fellow townsmen, and at the 
present time is serving his fourth year as Chair- 
man of the Republican Township Committee. 
His home is presided over by his wife, for- 
merly Helena Van Winkle, a native of New 
Jersey, and a daughter of John J. Van Winkle, 
an early settler of Fulton County. Six chil- 
dren have been born into his family: Arthur 
O., who resides in St. Clair County, Mo.; Mary, 
now Mrs. O. E. Walker, who also resides in 
Missouri; John A.; Nora B., wife of Melvin 
Whisler, who lives in Warren County, 111.; 
Robert J.; Nealy and Ruth. In religion Mr. 
Hatch is a Universalist. He is a man of solid 
and reliable traits of character, generous and 
consistent in his contributions to worthy 
causes, and a vigorous promoter of education, 
morality and temperance. 

HATCH, John A.— The third generation of the 
Hatch family to maintain the agricultural and 
stock-raising prestige of Fulton County, and 
to contribute also to the large wealth, promise 
and social prominence of Warren County, is 
represented by John A. Hatch, son of George 
A. and Lena (Van Winkle) Hatch, and grand- 
son of Jerome Bonaparte Hatch, establisher 
of the family in Fulton County. With his back- 
ing of family traditions, superior education, nat- 
ural refinement and high ideals, this young 
man stands for the most desirable and help- 
ful element which could invade any agricultural 
region at the beginning of the twentieth cen- 
tury. Until recently Mr. Hatch continued to 
live in Union Township, where he was born 
March 31, 1883, and where he received a 
thorough training in all things pertaining to 
the successful management of a farm. Like 
the other members of his family, he is inclined 
to specialization, and turns with enthusiasm to 
stock as the most desirable and paying of coun- 
try resources. In Warren County, to which 
he removed a short time ago, Mr. Hatch car- 
ries on farming on 400 acres of land rented 
from A. P. Tompkins, of Avon, equipped with 
special reference to the breeding, feeding and 
shipping of stock, and where, from the stand- 
point of comfort and convenience, he has a 
home unexcelled in that vicinity. 

Notwithstanding his youth — at present being 
but twenty-four years old — Mr. Hatch has sur- 
rounded himself with all of the elements sup- 
posed to encourage and furnish incentive to 
the ambitiously inclined, and among these the 
most important is a sympathetic and charming 
wife, who is mentally and temperamentally in 
accord with his desire to secure the greatest 
ix>ssible good and happiness from existence in 



the country. Florence Alma Taylor was born 
in Fulton County, April 16, 1880, and her mar- 
riage to Mr. Hatch occurred December 16, 1903. 
Of this union there is a daughter, Mabel Vera 
Hatch. Mr. Hatch is a Republican in politics, 
but is not a member of any church. He has 
a genial and likeable personality, understands 
the social attribute of putting people in a 
good humor and on friendly terms with them- 
selves, and in all of his dealings has thus far 
evinced the strictest regard for the ethics of 
finance. 

HAVERiyiALE, Daniel G.— When, on Monday, 
March 26, 1888. the Lutheran Cemetery, four 
miles west of Canton, Fulton County, received 
the mortal remains of the beloved and vener- 
able Mrs. Peter Havermale, the final chapter 
was peaceably closed in the life of one of 
the pioneer mothers of Joshua Township. 
Three days later her companion of nearly 
sixty-six years was laid by her side; so that 
death even was not long unkind to them. At 
the time of his decease Peter Havermale was 
eighty-eight years of age, and his wife had 
passed away at the age of ninety; thus full 
of years and honor did this venerable couple 
pass to the Beyond. They had given to the 
world eight children (of whom Daniel G. was 
the fourth ) , three of the number having de- 
voted their lives to the ministry, and all were 
honorable and useful members of their com- 
munities. They had lived to see not only 
their children prosperous and respected, but 
to witness the wilderness to which they came 
in middle age blossom into cultivated fields, 
into villages and cities. Thus their later years 
were made happy and spiced with the trans- 
formations of their surroundings. 

Peter Havermale was born in Washington 
County. Md., October 30, 1799. and his wife 
(formerly Maria Gardenour), January 1, 1798, 
she being a native of the same county. On 
June 16, 1822, occurred their marriage in 
Maryland, in which State were born five of their 
children: Noah. Samuel G., John, Daniel G. 
and George W. In 1832 the family removed to 
Montgomery County, Ohio, and there were 
born the sixth and seventh sons, Marion F. 
and Joseph S., and the only daughter. Louisa. 
In 1844 the parents, with their children, came 
to Fulton County, and in the following year 
located on the old homestead, four miles west 
of Canton, where the remainder of their lives 
were spent, except a period of four years, 
during which they resided in Canton. The 
members of the family, who have so well 
served the Methodist Church in their minis- 
terial capacities, are Samuel G., George W. 
and Marion F. 

Daniel G. Havermale. as an earnest and wise 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Canton, has perhaps done more than any 
other one man to bring the local organization 
to its present substantial standing, as evi- 
denced by a house of worship, which is a beau- 



9IO 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tiful and stately religious memorial. For years 
he tias been one of its most active trustees, 
has long served as President of the board, and 
freely given of his time, his counsel, his 
strength and his means to further the cause to 
which the family name is so strongly cemented. 

Mr. Havermale was born August 8, 1829, in 
Washington County, Md., as were his father 
and grandfather. When a boy of sixteen he 
came to Canton and assisted Judge Hippell 
in the postoffice and his general store, and well 
remembers how a terrific attack of homesick- 
ness impelled him to steal a ride on the stage 
to the family farm. When he was seventeen 
his father "gave him his time," however, and 
thereafter he was his own master, and in his 
early years he engaged in the carpenter and 
cabinet-making business. For the first two 
years he earned something like forty dollars in 
a year, with board, but gradually developed a 
contracting business of his own. On February 
8, 1852, he married Sara Jane Kline, and soon 
after built a residence on the west side. In 
1854 he moved to Cuba, where, until 1859, he 
operated the Central Hotel, returning then to 
the old homestead in Joshua Township to as- 
sist his father in running the farm. He was 
thus engaged until 1881, during which period 
he also made himself useful in the public serv- 
ice as Road Commissioner, Tax Collector, etc. 
In the year named he removed to Canton, which 
has since been his home, one of his first ven- 
tures being the erection of the Havermale Flats 
on South Avenue A. which, despite the dark 
prognostications of his business associates, have 
proved to him a source of continuous profit. 
He occupies a beautiful home on West Elm 
Street, and, besides the real estate mentioned, 
has other property which places him with the 
most substantial citizens of Canton. 

Mr. Havermale has been twice married, his 
second wife, to whom he was united November 
25, 1892, being Mrs. Freytag, whose maiden 
name was Enola Adams, who had been the 
mother of two children by her first marriage. 
One child has been born of this marriage, Daniel 
Goodlet, September 7, 1896. Rev. Lewis F. 
Freytag, the son by Mrs. Havermale's first mar- 
riage, is a graduate of the Upper Iowa Uni- 
versity, and a Methodist minister at Randalia, 
Northeastern Iowa; the daughter, Lucille, is 
taking courses in music and elocution at the 
same institution. Mrs. Havermale herself is a 
woman of thorough education and culture, and 
is a leading member of the Canton Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

HAVERMALE, Joseph S., a respected pioneer 
of Canton, Fulton County, 111., and a well 
known bricklayer and contractor of that city, 
is the seventh son of Peter and Maria (Garde- 
nour) Havermale, born in Johnsville, Mont- 
gomery County, Ohio, on October 25. 1838. His 
parents were both natives of Washington 
County, Md., and there five of their children 
were born, the remaining three being natives 



of Montgomery County, Ohio, whither the fam- 
ily removed in 1832. In 1844 they came to 
Fulton County. 111., and in 1845 located on the 
old homestead, four miles west of Canton, 
where, with the exception of four years passed 
in the city, they spent the remainder of their 
long and honorable lives. They were laid side 
by side in the same grave, wife and husband 
dying within three days of each other, on 
March 26th and March 29th, respectively, of 
the year 1888, after having traveled life's jour- ■ 
ney together for nearly sixty-six years. 

On March 1, 1856, then eighteen years of age, 
Joseph S. Havermale located in Canton, and, 
with his brother John, began work at his trade 
as a bricklayer. He thus continued until the 
spring of 1862, after which he worked on a 
farm for six years, resumed his trade for a 
year at Fairbury, Livingston County, 111., and 
in the fall of 1869 returned to Canton. In 1871 
he migrated to Olathe, Johnson County, Kan., 
and engaged in agricultural pursuits until 
August, 1875, and since then has been a resident 
of Canton. 

Like all the other members of his family 
Mr. Havermale has been a steadfast Methodist 
since the years of his early manhood, having 
been a member of the church since 1858. He 
has served as Trustee, been Superintendent of 
the Sunday School and faithfully performed 
the duties of other offices. His fraternal record 
embraces twenty years' membership (1878-98) 
with the United Workmen; but his political 
experience was short and decisive. A Repub- 
lican in national politics he was induced to run 
as a candidate for Alderman from the Third 
Ward on the Anti-License ticket, and was 
elected in 1878. He served for one year, and, 
as he earnestly and pathetically expresses it, 
'I got enough cussin' in that short time to 
last me a lifetime." 

On November 24, 1861, Mr. Havermale was 
united in marriage to Miss Maggie Eyerly, who 
was a native of Clearspring, Washington 
County, Md. Her parents came to Fulton 
County in 1857. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Joseph S. Havermale has resulted in two chil- 
dren: Alma, now Mrs. William Blakeslee, of 
Canton, and Frederick Lewis, married, and en- 
gaged with a large house of Quincy, 111., which 
deals in heating apparatus and electric supplies. 

HAVERMALE, Rev. Marion F. (deceased). — 
The name of Rev. Marion F. Havermale is in- 
separably associated with the work of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church in Illinois during, and 
for several years following, the Civil War. 
His experiences ran the gamut of exposure, pri- 
vation, hardship and incessant demand upon 
time and energy which fell to the lot of the 
early clergy, and which called for a degree of 
endurance, faithfulness and self-sacrifice rarely 
found in the churchmen of the present, and 
which the time neither demands, expects or 
encourages. Mr. Havermale, who, for many 
years after retiring from active church work. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



911 



lived on the fine old homestead purchased by 
his pioneer father in Joshua Township, was of 
German descent, but born in Montgomery 
County, Ohio, August '■'. 1834. About a century 
and a half ago a sturdy forefather sailed away 
from the German shores and established the 
family near Hagerstown, Md., at which time 
the land deeds and marriage certificates were 
signed Houvermahl, later changed to Hawver- 
male, and still later to Havermale. 

It was on this old farm near Hagerstown that 
Peter Havermale, the father of Marion F., 
was born in July, 1796, and January 1, 1798, 
in the same neighborhood, was born Maria 
Gardenhour, whom he subsequently married. 
Mr. Havermale learned the weaver's trade in 
his youth, but for the greater part depended 
upon agriculture for a livelihood. He came of 
a sturdy race and he had sturdy ambitions, 
chief among these being the desire to grow up 
with a new country and become an integral 
part of its enlightenment and prosperity. 
Journeying to the wilds of Montgomery County, 
Ohio, in 1833, he remained there about eleven 
years, and then, desiring to go farther West, 
started for Illinois in the spring of 1844. The 
following winter, while living in Farmington, 
Fulton County, Mr. Havermale bought 150 acres 
of land on Section 24, Joshua Township, upon 
which he located the next spring, and for a 
year occupied a rude log cabin constructed in 
a timber clearing. An opportunity for better 
housing pi'esented itself the following year, 
owing to the disestablishment of a Sweden- 
borgian colony a mile north of his farm, which 
had known a fitful year of existence. The col- 
ony had erected a number of small buildings, 
and manufactured considerable brick with 
which to build a house of worship. By the 
purchase of this brick Mr. Havermale was en- 
abled to erect a substantial brick house for 
himself and family in 1846, and the following 
year witnessed the building of a barn, both 
of which structures are in possession of the 
family at the present time, and in an excellent 
state of preservation. Mr. Havermale pros- 
pered as a farmer and stock-raiser, and his 
fine character and great good sense won him 
influence and many friends. In early life he 
was devoutly attached to the Lutheran Church 
and was a member of its Council; but in later 
life he turned for religious consolation to the 
Methodist Episcopal denomination. He was a 
Republican in politics, and, though opposed 
to holding office, was prevailed upon to serve 
the community in many minor capacities. The 
circumstances surrounding his demise, March 
27, 1888, were typical of his harmonious and 
happy home life, for the wife who had helped 
him in the hour of trial and uncertainty 
was spared to him tmtil nearly the end 
of his journey, her death preceding his 
but three days, on March 24th. Both 
were buried in the same grave. They 
were the parents of the following chil- 
dren: Xoah, whose death in the Chatsworth 



wreck, in 1887, was the first recorded in the 
family for forty-eight years; Samuel G., who 
was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church; John J., who became a 
farmer of Joshua Township; Daniel G., who, 
after leaving his farm, is living in retirement 
in Canton; George W., who was for years a 
Methodist Episcopal preacher in De Soto.Kans.; 
Marion F.; Louisa F., wife of John F. Ran- 
dolph, of Canton Township; and Joseph S., who 
became a brick mason. 

In a home atmosphere which impelled three 
of the sons of the family to qualify for min- 
isterial work in the Methodist " Episcopal 
Church, Marion F. Havermale developed earn- 
estness and fervor of mind, and a sincere de- 
sire to be of practical usefulness to his fellow- 
men. His preliminary education was acquired 
in the public schools, and he was ordained to 
the ministry in 1860, thereafter preaching un- 
der the auspices of either the Rock River or 
Central Illinois Conferences. During the Civil 
War he was appointed Chaplain of the One 
Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry by Governor Yates, but as the regiment 
had already started with Sherman on his fa- 
mous March to the Sea, and he would be unable 
to reach it in time, he resigned at the end of 
three months. He also was drafted in the 
army about the same time as occurred his ap- 
pointment, but for family and other reasons 
Ijreferred to furnish a substitute, which cost 
him about seven hundred dollars. Some time 
during the '80s Mr. Havermale gained per- 
mission from the Conference to return to the 
old homestead in Joshua Township, that his 
aged parents might have the benefit of his 
care and protection. After the death of his 
parents he came into possession of the home- 
stead, and up to the time of his own death 
directly or indirectly managed it, deriving from 
its fertile soil an income sufficient for the 
gratification of his simple but cultivated tastes. 
He was much beloved for the good that he 
accomplished, for the example set of a noble 
Christian manhood ever struggling toward a 
higher ideal, and for the lesson in patience 
and unselfishness emitting from his life. 

At Cuba, 111.. December 30, 1855, Mr. Haver- 
male married Mary C. Gluts, also of German 
descent, and member of an old Pennsylvania 
family. Mrs. Havermale was born November 
2, 1837, and is the fifth oldest of the nine chil- 
dren of Joseph and Evanna (Eckenrode) Gluts, 
early settlers of Fulton County. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Havermale were born the following chil- 
dren: Clara A., born December 26, 1856; 
Percy W., born April 25. 1859; Charles M., born 
September 10, 1864; Mattie D., born September 
24, 1868, and who is a graduated trained nurse; 
and Jessie M., born May 27, 1873, and Clara 
A., who died December 30, 1862. Mr. Haver- 
male died June 12, 1901. 

HAYSLIP, Frank N., of Farmington, Fulton 
County, 111., contains quite a representation of 



91- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the younger business element, among whom 
are some whose antecedents give ample evi- 
dence that a substantial and prosperous career 
awaits them in the future. One ot the most 
enterprising and capable of these, and one to 
whom success in life seems fully assured by 
reason of his exceptional progress while still 
in early manhood, is the gentleman whose name 
stands at the head of this sketch. 

Frank N. Hayslip was born in Fulton County, 
111., in 187.5, a son of I. X. and Charlotte ( But- 
ler) Hayslip. the latter having been born in 
Peoria County, 111., and the former a native of 
Ohio. The father of the subject of this sketch 
has been a resident of Farmington for a long 
period, having located in that town about the 
year 1870. During three years of this time 
he conducted a barber shop, one of the first 
established in Farmington. Although past 
middle life he is fully as capable of good work 
as when in his prime, and is still active in pro- 
moting all public measures intended to ad- 
vance the best interests of the community. He 
is a man of upright character and enjoys the 
respect of all who know him. His son, Frank 
N., received his early mental training in the 
public schools of Farmington, and since his 
studies has been engaged in various mercantile 
connections there. He is now acting in the 
capacity of manager in the store of G. L. Wil- 
son, who carries a complete line of clothing 
and furnishing goods. For two years he was 
in the employ of C. A. Smith, proprietor of a 
jewelry store. He also worked two years for 
Juter & Moore, of Peoria, 111., and three years 
for Harned, Bergner & Von Maur, of the same 
city. The Wilson store, of which he is at 
present manager, occupies a building erected 
about the year 1870 and is owned by J. C. 
Robb. In it the firm of Rose & Vandersloot 
formerly conducted a grocery store. 

Mr. Hayslip is unmarried. In fraternal cir- 
cles he is identified with the K. of P. He is 
thoroughly efficient in his present business con- 
nection, possesses good executive ability and a 
faculty of close application to the details of 
his work, and is characterized by that cour- 
tesy of deportment which always induces pat- 
ronage and wins friends. 

HEALD, Charles T.— To none of its pioneer 
families is the city of Canton more indebted 
for its financial strength and integrity than to 
that established in the then small community, 
more than half a century ago, by Charles Thad- 
deus Heald. Like so many of the founders 
and builders of civilization in the Middle West, 
this former banker and present abstract and 
title broker sprang from the soil of New Eng- 
land, and carved his way to prominence and 
usefulness by unaided industry and a noble as- 
piration to rise above the humble surroundings 
of his early life. Born in Chester, Windsor 
County, Vt., .lanuary 21. 18o4, he is a son of 
Prescott and Mary H. (Whipple) Heald. who 
also were bom, reared and spent their entire 



lives in the Green Mountain State. The pa- 
ternal great-grandfather, Daniel Heald, was 
born in historic Concord, Mass., and married 
Abigail Wheeler, who was bom and grew to 
womanhood among the same inspiring moral 
and intellectual surroundings. Daniel Heald 
at one time lived in Lincoln, Middlesex County, 
Mass., where his son, Amos Heald, grandfather 
of Charles T., was born, and whence he re- 
moved to Windsor County, Vt., as a young man 
in search of broader outlook. Amos Heald mar- 
ried Lydia Edwards, of Temple, Hillsboro Coun- 
ty, N. H. The maternal family of Whipple 
also represented the best New England stock, 
and in the very early history of the country 
was among the stable elements of GraSton, 
Worcester County, Mass., where James Whip- 
ple, the maternal great-grandfather, was born 
and spent his young manhood. His son, Oliver 
Whipple, the maternal grandfather, was born 
in Ipswich, Essex County, Mass., and in time 
established the family name in Vermont, where 
he married Lydia LeIand. of Springfield, that 
State. 

Charles Thaddeus Heald was educated in 
the Chester Academy and the Kimball Union 
Academy, of Meriden, X. H. On February 14, 
1855, he was united in marriage to Amelia M. 
Aikem, a native of Windham, Vt.. and a student 
also at Chester Academy. Mr. and Mrs. Heald 
became the parents of six children; Charles 
Prescott Heald, Mrs. Addle H. Wyeth, Mrs. 
Alice M. White, Edward A. Hfeald, Nellie A. 
Heald, and Mrs. Marion Gross. Arriving in 
Canton in 1858, Mr. Heald became interested 
in merchandising and banking, and for forty- 
five years was uninterruptedly identified with 
the latter occupation. He has sought no hon- 
ors outside of what seemed to him his legiti- 
mate field of activity, and as a Republican has 
contented himself with casting a fair and im- 
partial vote. In former years he was an ac- 
tive associate of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and he still is, and for many years 
has been, one of the stanch supporters and 
workers in the Congregational Church. He is 
of that rugged mental and moral material 
which has scattered throughout the country 
from the North Atlantic coast, and everywhere 
has laid abiding foundations of character and 
worth. 

HECKARD, M. J.— The fimi of Heckard & 
Sons, brick manufacturers, represents the de- 
velopment of a business established by M. J. 
Heckard in Canton, Fulton County, in 1892, and 
now operated by .John M. and .1. W. Heckard. 
sons of the founder. The name is one of the 
very early pioneers of the county, to the up- 
building of which three generations have con- 
tributed their quota of stable and honorable 
citizenship. John Heckard, father of M. J., 
came to Richland County, Ohio, from Maryland, 
presumably in the beginning of the 'thirties, 
and to Fulton County in October, 1832, bring- 
ing with him his wife, formerly Catherine (Ke- 




McCALL COAT OF ARMS 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



913 



nan) Heckard, Who was born in Hagerstown, 
Washington County, Md. John Heckard was a 
natural mechanic, a trend which led him to fol- 
low carpentering to some extent, but eventu- 
ally to depend upon blacksmithing, which he 
followed in Joshua Township in connection with 
farming. He died on his farm at an advanced 
age in August, 1839. 

M. J. Heckard, born on the Joshua Township 
farm December 1, 1838, found few opportuni- 
ties awaiting him in the thinly settled com- 
munity. Owing to the limitations of the coun- 
try schools his education was largely self- 
acquired, but. as often happened under such 
circumstances, his very hardships and tests 
of endurance were stepping stones to self- 
control and self-independence. Outgrowing his 
taste for farming, he removed to Champaign 
County and engaged in the manufacture of 
tiles, and later added brick ovens to his tile 
equipment, combining the two with satisfactory 
results from 187S until 1S91. Realizing the ad- 
vantages of a larger community and closer 
proximity to shipping facilities, he came to 
Canton in 1892, and the same year established 
the plant which since has grown to be one of 
the largest in the county. Though the young 
er energy and greater advantages of his sons, 
his work is guaranteed continuance and en- 
largement, for both are practical brick man- 
ufacturers, having learned the business from 
the bottom of the ladder, and under the capa- 
ble guidance of one of the best authorities on 
brickmaking in the Central West. 

The marriage of Mr. Heckard and Ellen 
Barry occurred November 23, 1862, Mrs. Heck- 
ard being a native of Belfast, Ireland, and 
an early settler of Fulton County. Of this 
union there are three children living and two 
are deceased. George died at the age of twen- 
ty-four and Isabella died at the age of twenty- 
one. Those living are: Anna A., the wife of 
Garrett Daily, who resides in Chicago: John 
W., who married Beulah Grim, and James 
W., who married Lillie Hummell. Mr. 
Heckard is a Democrat in politics, but has 
never been active in the local deliberations of 
his party. Fraternally he is connected with 
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and 
in religion is a Roman Catholic, being a mem- 
ber of the St. Mary's Catholic Church of Can- 
ton. His life has been an active and useful 
one, and his business success is a tribute to the 
qualities of perseverance, honesty and good 
judgment. 

HECTORNE, A, P., an energetic and prosper- 
ous farmer of Union Township, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Avon, 111., May 21, 1850, a son 
of Nicholas and Mary Ann (Mauvais) Hectorne. 
natives of France. Nicholas Hectorne came 
with his wife to the United States about the 
year 1845, and settled in Illinois in 1849. By 
trade he was a shoemaker, but on locating in 
Fulton County he bought a farm, which he im- 
proved, and followed farming on, it as long as 



he lived. On this farm the subject of the pres- 
ent sketch was reared, receiving his education 
in the district schools of Union Township, At 
the age of twenty-eight years he engaged in 
farming on his own responsibility and although 
he learned the carpenters' trade and worked at 
it more or less for fifteen years, his main oc- 
cui)ation has been farming. 

In 1877, at Avon, 111., Mr. Hectorne was 
united in marriage with Blanche Gill, a native 
of that place and a daughter of James and 
Mary (Able) Gill, the father born in Kentucky 
and the mother in Illinois. James Gill was a 
blacksmith by trade and he and his wife first 
made their home in Fulton County about the 
year 1S50. Mr. and Mrs. Hectorne have had one 
child, Bdmond P.. who is with his parents. In 
politics Mr. Hectorne is a supporter of the 
principles of the Democratic party, and has 
served as Township Collector for one year and 
held the office of Assessor three terms. His 
religious connection is with the Catholic 
Church. 

HELLE, Fred, Jr.— Under the practical tute- 
lage of his pioneer father of the same name, 
Fred Helle, Jr., grew to maturity on the farm 
in McDonough County, where he was born No- 
vember S, 1862, and where he lived until 1869, 
when his family removed to Fulton County. 
Educated in the public schools, and having a 
natural predilection for farming, the young 
man then began an independent career as a 
renter of the Peter Yarter farm, a year later 
purchasing 179 acres on Section IS, Cass Town- 
ship. This farm formerly was owned by L. 
W. Ross. 

In 1903 Mr. Helle added to his original farm 
187 acres in the same section, and at present 
is devoting his attention principally to stock- 
raising, in which he is successful, and of 
which he has a thorough understanding. In 
Mason County, 111., on April 2. 1891, Mr. Helle 
married Euphemia Miller, who was born in 
Lewistown, 111.. January 15, 1868. Of this 
union there are five children: Maro, Cordia, 
Ross (deceased), Violet and George W. 

HELLER, Franklin, a well-known retired fann- 
er, now living in Cuba, Fulton C^ounty, III., was 
born in Putman Township, Fulton County, on 
September 13, 1848. He is a son of Daniel 
and Mary (Black) Heller, the former a native 
of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. The 
paternal grandfather was John Heller, a Penn- 
sylvanian. Daniel Heller, the father, came 
with his parents to Fulton County in 1835, and 
first located in Farniington Townshij). Sub- 
sequently he moved to Putman Township, and 
there purchased 160 acres of land sit- 
uated a mile southeast of Cuba, which 
he improved in a most thorough manner. 
There for a number of years his father 
operated a tannery, served as Supervisor of 
the townshij) and held other local offices. 

Franklin Heller was educated in the public 



914 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



schools of Cuba, 111. He was one of a tamily 
of seven children, four of whom are still liv- 
ing and in earlv manhood he assumed the con- 
duct of the home farm. He now owns 24U 
acres which he himself farmed until 1901, 
when' he built a fine residence in Cuba, which 
he occupied in 1902. His farms are now 
rented. 

On February 6, 1S70, Mr. Heller was united 
in marriage with Sarah Hasty, who was born 
in Putman Township, Fulton County, and died 
on January 6, 1902. The offspring of this union 
were four children, namely: Orphie (Mrs. 
Churchill). LucyV. (Mrs. Watson), M. Blanche 
(Mrs Brown) and Curtis F. Politically Mi. 
Heller is a Republican and held the office of 
Road Commissioner for one term. Religiously 
he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is one of the most prominent citi- 
zens in this portion of the county. 

HEMENOVER tHon.) William Hart (de- 
ceased! former Justice of the City Court, Can- 
ton 111 was born in Byron, Sussex County, 
N J July 4. 1822. The family is of German 
descent the first American ancestor, Anthony 
Hemenover, having come from Moravia before 
the American Revolution. His son, George H., 
married Phoebe Angeline Allen, a descendant 
of General Ethan Allen, of Ticonderoga tame 
and of this union the subject ot this sketch 
was born. The original family name was 
"Hem-in-over" C'of the upper house"), but was 
changed by the subject of this sketch while en- 
gaged in journalistic work in Warren County, 
N J At twelve years of age he was known as 
the •Bov Politician"; from twelve to twenty 
was engaged in learning the printer's trade in 
the office of the "Sussex County Herald, m 
which he served as foreman and editor toi 
three years. He then became proprietor at the 
■Warren County Journal" at Belvidere, N. J., 
for three vears, and also served as Mayor ot 
that city tWo terms and was State Printer one 
term The father was a farmer and also en- 
gaged for a time in mercantile pursuits The 
grandfather was a native of Germany and after 
coming to America bought a farm in North- 
western Xew Jersey, on which William Hart 
Hemenover was born. The newly amved im- 
migrant looked from one mountain to another 
over the valley, with a lake at each end, and 
finally bought the valley tract, consisting of 
about 1,000 acres, paying the Indians therefor 
seven army coats, five gallons of apple whisky 
(hard cider) and a quantity of ammunition. 
This land was afterward divided between the 
children of the pioneer. 

When the subject of this sketch was six 
vears old his father moved to the county seat 
of Sussex County, and there engaged in busi- 
ness but soon closed out his business, removing 
to Civde, Wayne County, N. Y. This was soon 
after the famous Morgan episode, in which the 
Masonic fraternity was charged with murdering 



one William Morgan, who had mysteriously 
disappeared after revealing the alleged secrets 
of Free Masonry. Mr. Hemenover retained a 
vivid recollection of the popular excitement 
wnich followed this incident. Here the father 
engaged in the hotel business, taking charge of 
what was known as the "Dixon Stage House," 
its name being changed to "Hemenover Cor- 
ner," and here remained five years. He then 
returned to New Jersey, settling at Newton, 
the county seat of Sussex County, and there 
resumed the mercantile business. At this time 
(which was about the year 1S44) the son, Wil- 
liam H., became an apprentice under U. G. 
Fitch in the office of the "Newton (Sussex 
(^ounty) Herald," a paper still in existence. 
The father died in Belvidere, the county-seat 
of Warren County, N. J., after which the son 
went to Hoboken, where he took charge of the 
■Hudson County Democrat." The mother is 
still living at Belvidere. While employed as 
editor of the Hoboken paper Mr. Hemenover 
came n'est and was employed as a reporter of 
the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 for a New 
York paper, after which he located on the south 
line of Warren County, 111., five miles west of 
Prairie City, where the Mound Church is 
located. Here he bought eighty acres of land, 
but remained only two years. This land he 
improved and afterward sold at an increase ot 
$100 per acre. It can not now be bought for 
$200 an acre. After leaving Warren County 
Mr Hemenover bought 180 acres of land in 
Fulton County, four and a half miles northeast 
of Canton, known as the -old Barnes farm." 
This land he improved and sold at a good 
figure when he removed to Canton and became 
a clerk in the drug store of Dr. Arthur Bell, 
remaining there about three years. Saving 
his means he then bought town property and a 
farm in Warren County of eighty-eight acres, 
paving for it $18 per acre. After improving 
this land he, two years later, sold it at $ib 
an acre with a crop of seventy-five acres of 
corn on the same land for $9 per acre. He 
then bought eight acres in the southwest cor- 
ner ot Canton Township, where he sunk a coal 
shaft but suffered an attack of typhoid fever, 
which lasted three months. Returning to Can- 
ton he bought the corner on which the Canton 
Hotel stands. This property was burned down, 
and although inadequately insured, was 
promptly rebuilt about 1900. He had also tor 
a time conducted the old Pacific Hotel, now 
the New Churchill House at Canton. His hotel 
business was turned over to his son Edwm- 

For a number of years previous to isyb Mr. 
Hemenover served as a Justice of the Peace, 
Init during the year 1896 was elected Justice 
of the Citv Court, a position which he retained 
several vears, and to which he was re-elected, 
but on account ot impaired health and deaf- 
ness, felt it necessary to resign, much to the 
regret of his constituents. His official record 
was characterized by fairness and impartiality, 
and no appeal was ever taken from any of his 





5?^^s^!S 


i 


3 


^^1 


h 


;- 


■' ,.■'>■■'.' 







JOHN McClelland 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



915 



decisions. His official career also included one 
year as Mayor of the city of Canton, and as 
foreman of the first flre department organized 
at Newton, N. J. 

Mr. Hemenover's political recollections cov- 
ever the last campaign of Andrew Jackson for 
the presidency, and he ever remained a Jack- 
sonian Democrat. His political policy was 
based on the motto, "the greatest good tor the 
greatest number," and in casting his vote he 
sought to secure the best inierests of all the 
people. A cherished souvenir of historic times, 
which he preserved with great care in his later 
years, was a solid mahogany stand which had 
been used in paying the colonial troops during 
the Revolutionary War, and which he bought 
while keeping a hotel at Green Village, X. J., 
at an auction sale of goods oelonging to a Dr. 
Everett. 

Judge Hemenover was a Baptist in religious 
belief, as were his , parents, while his wife is 
a Methodist. He was married at Newton, 
K. J., August 24, 184.5, to Julia Denman Bar- 
ton, who was born at Stockholm, N. J., March 
6, 1826, a daughter of Andrew D. Barton and 
wife, who were of Irish descent. The former 
died at the age of ninety-one years, and the lat- 
ter aged ninety-six, being able in her later 
years to thread a needle without glasses. The 
father in early life was a blacksmith, but 
later became a farmer and fruit dealer, and 
in religious faith was an ar4ent Methodist. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hemenover were the parents of 
seven children, of whom all except one are 
living, namely: Susan Eveline, who became 
the wife of a Mr. Gosnel (deceased), by whom 
she had three children: Angeline, married 
Jacob Whitmore and has three children; Cath- 
erine, the wife of Dr. Louis Boyles, has three 
children; Isabelle, now a widow, having been 
married twice, first to Frank Chilles and sec- 
ond to John Winegar, both now deceased, and 
became the mother of two children by the first 
marriage and one by the second; Miriam, mar- 
ried William Welsh, Secretary of the T. P. A., 
and is Government Inspector at Peoria; Ed- 
win R. V. W., married xilvaline Girdes, has 
one child and is at present proprietor of the 
Canton Hotel; one child, who died at the age of 
six years, was a prodigy in mathematics and 
a pet of the entire community. Mr. Hemenover 
became a member of the Masonic fraternity in 
1842, and for the remainder of his life retained 
the satin hand-painted apron which he wore 
that year; had also been an Odd Fellow. Among 
the souvenirs preserved by him was a photo 
of members of the New Jersey State Editorial 
Association, which was the first of its kind or- 
ganized in America, and of which he was a 
member, and another of leading journalists of 
the East, in which he was a prominent figure. 
A man of genial temperament and the pos- 
sessor of an interesting fund of reminiscences 
he had a large circle of friends, and was a 
generous supporter of measures tending to the 
■ public good and the welfare of the community 
in which he lived. 



HENDERSON, Isaac G.— The activity of Isaac 
G. Henderson has sjianned many years of cen- 
tral Western history, and has embraced suc- 
cess in blacksmithing, agriculture and politics. 
Arriving at Bernadotte, 111., as a rugged lad of 
fifteen, he first of all was useful in building 
the log cabin which was to shelter the family 
from the heat of summer and the cold of 
winter, and a year later removed to Section 
2, Cass Township, Fulton County, where his 
father. Mason T. Henderson, entered 320 acres 
of land. The elder Henderson was born in 
Virginia, moved at an early date to Fayette 
County, Ohio, and there married Catherine 
Larkin, a native of that State. In Fayette 
County Isaac G. was born December 19, 1S28, 
and there the family remained until their re- 
moval by wagon to Illinois in 1843. The Cass 
Township farm proved a profitable investment, 
for son and father soon taxed its resources 
and fertility, with the result that an addi- 
tional 120 acres gave them in all 400 acres, 
upon which to pursue general farming and 
stock-raising. Mason T. Henderson achieved 
prominence as a farmer and politician, and in 
the latter capacity served his township as 
Justice of the Peace and Highway Commis- 
sioner. His death occurred in 1884. 

At the age of twenty-one years Isaac G. 
Henderson left home and learned the black- 
smith trade, which he followed until 1855, in 
which year he married Elizabeth Fast, a native 
of Licking County, Ohio, bom June 9, 1827. 
The young people began housekeeping on 
eighty acres purchased by Mr. Henderson in 
Cass Township, and in 1857 he added 120 acres 
more, upon which the.v carried on general 
farming and stock-raising until the retirement 
of Mr. Henderson in 1886. Since then the fam- 
ily home has been in Cuba, Fulton County. 
The children in the family are: Nelson, Ar- 
thur, Mary, Alice (wife of Mr. Deakin), Fred 
and James. 

Like his father before him Mr. Henderson 
has ranged his political preferences on the 
side of the Democratic party, and has served 
as Supervisor. Road Commissioner. School Di- 
rector, Constable and Justice of the peace. Per- 
sonally Mr. Henderson is popular and agreea- 
ble, and at the age of seventy-eight retains 
his mental and physical vigor, and his interest 
in the larger undertakings of the infant 
century. 

HENDERSON, Wesley N.— The family of 
which Wesley N. Henderson is an industrious 
and successful representative was established 
in Cass Township, Fulton County, by his fa- 
ther, Nathaniel Henderson, in 1843. The latter 
was born in Virginia, and in early life removed 
to the wilds of Ohio, where he married Cather- 
ine Larkins, a native of the Buckeye State. 
He journeyed from Ohio to Fulton County in 
a wagon, bringing little with him save the ab- 
solute necessities of life, and depending solely 
upon the fertility of the soil and his own in- 
defatigable energy. To his original property 



9i6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



he added from time to time until he owned 300 
acres of land, which, at the time of his death, 
was practically all under cultivation. 

Wesley N. Henderson was born May 1, 1849, 
on the farm upon which his father settled upon 
coming to the State, and since has made this 
his home. He received a practical common 
school education and a thorough training in 
agriculture and farm management. In Mon- 
mouth, this State, May 19, 1890, he married 
Ida Casper, who was born in Warren County, 
111., January 18, 1853, and to their union have 
been born five children: Lanson, Thomas J.. 
Minnie B., Marvin E. and May. Mr. Hender- 
son now owns 240 acres of the old homestead, 
having bought out the other heirs, and he is 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising. 
His land reaches into three sections — 2, 10 and 
11 — and is well adapted to the produce gen- 
erally associated with the Central West. Mr. 
Henderson has been an active Democrat for 
many years and now is serving as 
Justice of- the Peace, having formerly 
held the office of Deputy County Sheriff 
and Constable. He is an attendant at the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Altogether 
he is a wide-awake and progressive agri- 
culturist, a public-spirited and enlightened 
citizen, and a promoter of education, good gov- 
ernment and kindred civilizing agencies. In 
character he is upright and reliable, and en- 
joys the confidence and good will of all who 
know him. 

HENKLE, R. F.— One of the oldest real-estate, 
loan and insurance enterprises in Canton is that 
established in 1869 by C. N. Henkle. The 
founder, a poor boy, was the best possible can- 
didate for a successful real-estate business 
He worked harder than would the son of 
wealthy parents, and he was less easy to dis- 
courage. His field of operation was an ad- 
pantageous one, both from the town and coun- 
try standpoint, and he pursued clean methods 
and made his word and judgment respected. 
The result was a brokerage business which, 
while financially paying, placed the com- 
munity in a favorable light to those living in 
adjacent towns and country. The business of 
Mr. Henkle passed from his management to 
that of his brother, R. F. Henkle, in October, 
1897, and since has prospered through the 
energy and excellent business capacity of the 
younger man. 

R. F. Henkle is a native of Appanoose County, 
Iowa, where he was born September 2.5, 18.56. 
His father, E. W. Henkle, was born in Vir- 
ginia in 1809, and his mother, formerly Eliza- 
beth Smith, was a native of Ohio, born in 
1813. The former died in 1886, and the latter 
in 1884. The subject of this sketch had the 
educational advantages of the public schools 
of Canton, and. after an absence from the 
city for some years, returned to assume the re- 
sponsibility of his brother's affairs in 1897. 
In 1879 he was united in marriage to Melvina 



Freed, a native of Iowa, and of this union there 
are seven children: Gertrude, Pearl, Eliza- 
betn, Mabel, Esther, Frankie and Newton. Mr. 
Henkle is a Democrat in politics, and. in 1903, 
was elected Supervisor of Canton, He is fra- 
ternally connected with the Masons, Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent 
Protective Order of Elks. 

HENRY, John B., one of the firm of Ehren- 
hart & Henry, dealers in fresh and salt meats, 
on South Main Street, Lewistown, III., was 
born in Lewistown, Fulton County, September 
10, 1881, a son of John B. and Clara (Walker) 
Henry. The father was one of the leading at- 
torneys of Fulton County. He was of Irish 
extraction and inherited that genial humor and 
sparkling wit for which the sons of Erin are 
noted. He was quite entertaining in company 
and made many friends. He soon won a prom- 
inent place in the profession. He died in 1887 
and his worthy widow still makes her home 
in Lewistown. 

John B. Henry, Jr., received his mental 
training in the Lewistown High School, gradu- 
ating wiin the class of 1897. He then pursued 
a course of study in the Gem City Business 
College, Quincy, 111., where he graduated in 
1900. On his return home he bought a half 
interest in the meat market above mentioned. 
This partnership has proved very successful 
and the patronage of the concern has steadily 
increased. The firm conducts one of the best 
equipped markets to be found not only in 
Lewistown, but in this section of the State. 
They use machines such as are in vogue in 
the best places of the kind in the larger cities. 
They slaughter their own stock, make their 
own sausage, and operate a cold storage de- 
partment, having a capacity of twenty*five 
animals. 

The subject of this sketch is a thoroughly 
capable business man and his methods of deal- 
ing have gained for him the confidence of his 
patrons. Politically Mr. Henry is a Democrat 
and fraternally is a member of the K. of P. 

HERBERT, George R., Mayor of the city of 
Cuba, Fulton County, 111., who has been prom- 
inently identified with the business and public 
interests of that community for a number of 
years, was born in the county on February 28, 
1859. He is a son of Albert and Barbara 
(Baughman) Herbert, natives of Ohio, his fa- 
ther being numbered among the pioneers of 
Fulton County, where he settled in 1836. In 
1849 he went to California, spending two years 
there, and on his return bought 160 acres of 
land in Section 27, Cass Township, where he 
was successfully engaged in farming during 
the remainder of his life. He was a man of 
much force of character and strict probity, and 
took a good citizen's interest in public affairs, 
serving as Township Collector and .\ssessor. 
He died March 24. 1882, and his wife is living 
in Fulton County. 



I 




MRS. JOHN McClelland 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



917 



George R. Herbert was reared on the pa- 
ternal farm in Cass Township, and in his youth- 
ful days utilized the advantages of the district 
schools in the vicinity of his home. In early 
manhood he devoted himself to farming, and 
successfully continued in that occupation until 
18S6. In that year he retired from agricultural 
pursuits and established his residence in Cuba, 
where he has since taken a conspicuous part 
in the commercial and official activities of the 
city. In 1S92 he assumed the management of 
the Andrews Brothers & Company lumber in- 
terests in Cuba, which that firm sold to the Al- 
exander Lumber Company in 1904. The con- 
cern, under Mr. Herbert's management, which 
has done business in Cuba for about twenty 
years, is one of the most complete lumber 
yards and building supply depots in Fulton 
County. Mr. Herbert is also extensively inter- 
ested in town property, owning large business 
blocks which he rents and supervises. 

On March 4, 18S1, Mr. Herbert was united in 
marriage with Cora Murphy, who was born in 
Fulton County and is a daughter of Albert 
Murphy, a highly respected citizen of Cuba. 
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert have one son, Albert, 
who is a student in Brown College, Galesburg. 

In politics Mr. Herbert is an earnest Demo- 
crat, and a very prominent and influential fac- 
tor in the local councils of his party. He has 
held the ofiice of City Treasurer and has served 
five terms as President of the Board of Edu- 
cation. For three terms he has efficiently and 
faithfully discharged the duties of Mayor of 
Cuba, and is now sei-ving in that capacity. Dur- 
ing his administration, in 1900, a fine electric 
ligl system was installed by the city, which 
opeiates it and maintains sixty-five arc and 
1,200 incandescent lights. Mr. Herbert is a man 
of superior executive ability and high character, 
and commands the respect and esteem of the 
entire community. 

HERBERT, Theodore, who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming in Cass Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in that township on Au- 
gust 15, 1S53. He is a son of James M. and 
Sarah (Orwig) Herbert, natives of Ohio, where 
the father was born in Ashland County in 1S26. 
The paternal grandparents were John and 
Becky (Long) Herbert, the former a native of 
New York State and the latter of Delaware, and 
they were married in Ohio. On the maternal 
side the grandparents, John and Jane Orwig, 
were born in Ohio. James M. Herbert came 
with his parents to Cass Township about the 
year 1835, when Fulton County was new and 
very sparsely settled. After he reached ma- 
turnity he purchased land in Section 24, Cass 
Tow'nship, and at the time of his death, Decem- 
ber 11. 1902. owned 160 acres there. The widow 
is living with Mrs. J. S. Swanson at Gray 
Ridge, Mo. 

Theodore Herbert is the second of a family 
of eight children, six of whom are still living. 
In boyhood he attended the district schools of 



Cass Township, and on reaching maturity ap- 
plied himself to fanning. He now owns 270 
acres in Cass Township, forty acres being lo- 
cated where he now lives in Section 24. This 
he bought in 1894. He has made all the im- 
provements, having built a fine house in 1892, 
and, with his sons, works all the land him- 
self. 

On March 13, 1881, Mr. Herbert was united 
in marriage with Nancy A, Vanhouten, who 
was born in Cass Township, and is a daugh- 
ter of James Vanhouten, one of the early set- 
tlers of the township, the father dying in 1S95 
and the mother in 1893. The children result- 
ing from this union are: James Edward, who 
is now attending college at Adrian, Mich., 
studying for the ministry; Carrie May (Mrs. 
James H. Smith), who resides adjoining the 
home place; Clyde and Ray, 

Religiously Mr. Herbert is affiliated with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. In general 
l)olitics he is a Democrat, but votes for the men 
and measures he thinks to the best interests of 
all the people. He is one of the most careful 
and systematic farmers in Fulton County, 
and through his energy and method the best 
results are produced. 

HERRING, Horatio N., who is among the most 
energetic and thriving farmers in Putman 
Township, Fulton County, 111., was born in that 
townshi|i on January 13, 1849, a son of Major 
Joseph R. and Margaret (Moran) Herring, na- 
tives of Maryland. (See sketch of Joseph R. 
Herring immediately following.) The subject 
of this sketch was reared on the paternal farm 
and received his early training in the district 
schools in the vicinity. On reaching the age of 
twenty-one years he applied himself to farm- 
ing on the homestead for himself, and this con- 
tinued successfully for a long period. In 1897 
he purchased the John I. Oviatt farm, and now 
has 400 acres of land, all of which he operates, 
besides 436 acres of the home farm. On this 
property he has made all the improvements, the 
last of which was a barn 48 by 50 feet in dimen- 
sions, built in 1894. He devotes considerable 
attention to stock-raising, of which he raises a 
large amount. 

In August, 1S7S, Mr. Herring was united in 
marriage with Sarah Weaver, a native of Ful- 
ton County, and daughter of Alfred Weaver, a 
native of Virginia. Five children have resulted 
from this union, namely; Josie, Horace, Bartin, 
Sybil and Alfred. In politics Mr. Hen-ing is a 
supporter of the principles of the Republican 
party, and fraternally is affiliated with the 
Knights of Pythias and the Mutual Aid Society. 
He is one of the prosperous and substantial 
farmers of the township, which has so long 
been his home, and is respected by all who 
know him. 

HERRING (Maj.) Joseph R., for many years 
an energetic and successful farmer in Put- 
man Township, Fulton County, 111., but now 



9i8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



living in leisurely enjoyment ot the fruits ot 
his toil, was born in Baltimore, Md., August 
18, 1820. His father. Thomas Herring, was a 
native of Baltimore, while his mother, Hannah 
(BurnetL) Herring, was born in Richmond, 
Va. His grandfather, also named Thomas Her- 
ring, was a native of Scotland, who, on account 
of his hostility to monarchical despotism as it 
then existed, left his native country with his 
wife and daughter, settling east of Baltimore 
on Herring's Run, which received its name 
from him. Thomas Herring (II), father of the 
subject of this sketch, with five others, was 
captured on a vessel from Baltimore and 
pressed into the British naval service, but re- 
fused to acknowledge allegiance to the King 
of England. He spent his life upon the sea, 
serving for two years under command of Com- 
modore Stephen Decatur, but finally died while 
rounding Cape Horn. His wife, Hannah ( Bur- 
nett) Herring, and mother of Joseph R., was 
born in 1800 and died in 183.x Mr. Joseph R. 
Herring has in his possession a miniature por- 
trait of his father painted on ivory, which was 
placed on a carved piece of mahogany attached 
to the breast of an eagle, and presented to 
his father by Commodore Decatur in recogni- 
tion of meritorious service in the American 
navy. 

Previous to coming to Illinois in 184.T the 
subject of this sketch was employed for five 
years in the mill of the Baltimore Water Com- 
pany. From the period of his arrival in Ful- 
ton County until the time of his retirement 
from active life, with the exception of an in- 
terval of military service, he was engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. In 1S61 he enlisted in 
the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cav- 
alry, was elected Lieutenant of his company, 
and then went to Camp Butler. In 1862 he was 
promoted to a captaincy and in 1864 to the 
rank of Major. 

On March 8, 1846, Jlr. Herring was united in 
n'arriage with Margaret Ann Moran, who was 
porn in Baltimore, Md.. and he and his wife 
became the parents of four children, namely: 
Hannah, wife of Frederick Stockbarger, re- 
siding in Moulton, Iowa; Horatio Nelson, who 
married Sarah Weaver and is now residing on 
the old homestead; Josephine H., widow of J. 
W. Resor, and Librarian of the Canton Public 
Library; and Margarette, the wife of Charles 
H. Barnard, residing in Canton Township. Mrs. 
Herring died February 12. 1887. 

In politics Mr. Herring has followed the for- 
tunes of the Whig and Republican parties. His 
religious faith is that of the Baptist Church. 
Fraternally he is a member of the G. A. R., 
Joseph Hooker Post, No. 64. As a farmer Mr. 
Herring was careful and methodical, and the 
best results attended his work. As a man he 
has always been upright and dutiful, and as a 
citizen has taken an earnest interest in the 
public welfare. The respect and esteem of all 
his fellow citizens are the solace of his de- 
clining years. 



HEYLIN, Jesse, was born December 15, 1865, 
in what is known as the Barker Grove settle- 
ment in Farmers Township, Fulton County, 
three miles north of Table Grove. He worked 
on farms and attended school in the neighbor- 
hood until he was eighteen years old, when he 
began teaching school. He followed the avoca- 
tion of teacher, newspaper reporter and pub- 
lisher until 1893, when he entered the law de- 
partment of the University of Michigan, being 
admitted to the bar and becoming a practicing 
attorney in 1895. In 1897 he was elected a 
member of the Board of Supervisors from Can- 
ton and declined renomination. He was City 
Attorney of Canton from 1900 to 1904. In 
June, 1907, he was appointed Master in Chan- 
cery of the Circuit Court of Fulton County, 
which position he still holds. 

Speaking of his work as a member of the 
Board of Supervisors the "Fulton Democrat." 
published at Lewistown, in its issue of Septem- 
ber 28, 1898, says: 

"Mr. Heylin has made himself famous in a 
day and rendered to Fulton County the great- 
est service ever performed by a Supervisor in 
its annals of seventy-five long years. The 
county has been bankrupt by boodle pauper 
bills, criminal expenses, county supplies, 
bridges over cowpaths. etc. The Suiiervisors 
have taxed the people to the limit allowed by 
law and put the county in debt over $30,000 
for current expenses, without one dollar ex- 
pended on public buildings, macadam roads or 
other permanent or creditable improvements. 
At the late July session tne County Board 
seemed for the first time to realize the terrible 
condition to which the county had been brought. 
The one wail of these gentlemen about the 
streets of Lewistown during that session was: 
'What shall we do to be saved?' 

"In a helpless and hopeless way the Board 
appointed a committee to make a full investi- 
gation of this subject and report to the Sep- 
temljer session their findings and recommenda- 
tions, with the hope that some escape might 
be found from utter bankruptcy and ruin. 
Chairman Marshall appointed as such commit- 
tee Messrs. Jesse Heylin. of Canton : James 
Neville, of Joshua, and A. G. Morse, of Farming- 
ton. With the approval and consent of his col- 
leagues Mr. Heylin proceeded upon an ex- 
haustive investigation of the evils from which 
the county is suffering and inquiry into possible 
means of lawful escape from them. He sent 
letters of inquiry to all the County Clerks and 
Chairmen of County Boards in the 102 coun- 
ties of Illinois, and to many prominent officers 
outside of the State. The result was that he 
received full and valuable replies from hun- 
dreds of these able men. The inquiries ju'e- 
sented to them called out a mass of information 
and suggestions that enabled Mr. Heylin to 
make at the September session of our County 
Board a full and exhaustive report upon all 
these vital questions, the whole epitomizing in 
the standing rules, as formulated by Mr. Hey- 




MR. AND MRS. ROBERT McCLELLAND 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



919 



lin, adopted almost verbatim and published 
officialy in the "Fulton Democrat" of last week, 
which in February next becomes the law in 
Fulton County on these questions, and which, 
if adhered to. will end forever the wretched 
method of county expenditures that has bank- 
rupted the treasury and brought disgrace and 
despair to our people. 

"This report and these Heylin standing rules 
bear the closest scrutiny. Apparently they 
cover the whole scope o fthe vital questions in- 
volved. Fault-finders and critics find them- 
selves answered and confounded by a second 
careful reading of the rules. But more import- 
ant than all else, the Heylin standing rules are 
law. 

"The report and rules are a masterpiece. The 
credit is exclusively due to Supervisor .lesse 
Heylin. Radical and uncompromising a Repub- 
lican as he is, the "Fulton Democrat" cheerfully 
accords him this high praise that eminently is 
his due." 

Mr. Heylin was one of the founders and 
promoiers of the Canton Chautauqua Associa- 
tion, and has ever been an active participant in 
every forward movement for the benefit of tne 
community in which he resides. 

HEZLEP, James, a well known and much re- 
spected farmer and stock raiser, living on Sec- 
tion 30, Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Waterford Township, that 
county, July 28, 18i')2, a son of .lames and Eunice 
C. (SykesI Hezlep, natives of Pennsylvania. 
The parents settled in Fulton County about 
the year 1830. locating in Waterford Township, 
where the mother died, October 10, 1873, and 
was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. James Hez- 
lep, Sr., afterward moved to Independence. 
Montgomery County, Kan., where he died De- 
cember 24, 1S86. He and his wife were the 
parents of the following children, namely: 
Samuel and Jennie, who died in infancy; Wil- 
liam Porter, who died November 20, 1867; Lu- 
cretia, who married J. W. Smith, and died 
October 2, 1902, leaving four sons and two 
daughters; Jennie, wife of E. P. Truitt, a resi- 
dent and editor in California; James; and 
Mary B., who married Alexander McEwen and 
died in California January 1.5, 1901. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on 
the home farm, and received his mental train- 
ing in the district schools in the vicinity of 
his home and in the public schools of Havana, 
111. In the spring of 1876 Mr. Hezlep went to 
Montgomery County, Kan., where he was en- 
gaged in farming for about thirteen years. In 
1889 he returned to Fulton County and farmed 
for a while on rented land. In 1903 he moved 
to the George W. Bordner farm, which he now 
operates on shares. He is a careful, systematic 
and enterprising farmer and his labors are at- 
tended by satisfactory results. His stock, of 
which he has a considerable amount, is all of 
good grades. Mr. Hezlep is a man of strict in- 



tegrity and upright life, and maintains an ex- 
cellent standing as a citizen. 

On October 6, 187.5, Mr. Hezlep was united in 
marriage with Mary Belle Patterson, a daugh- 
ter of Robert and Isabel (Moore) Patterson, of 
Ohio, who settled in Liverpool Township some 
years previously. There Mrs. Patterson died 
February 21, 1873, and her husband passed 
away October 6, 1877. They were the parents 
of three children, namely: Mary Belle; Martha 
Ellen, who married L. W. Potts and died Feb- 
ruary 12, 1871; and Lydia Jane, who became 
the wife of Homer L. Knott and died June 15. 
1892, leaving three children — Frank, Fannie 
and Don. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hezlep have had nine children, 
as follows: William M., born March 2, 1876; 
Almira B., born August 25, 1877; James Roy, 
born August 11, 1879, who was a soldier in the 
Nineteenth Regiment United States Infantry 
and served three years in the Philippines; Fred 
Porter, a farmer in Waterford Township, born 
March 6, 1881, who married Celesta Knott; 
Minnie A., born March 11, 1883, wife of Ray- 
mond Payne, a resident of Cedardale, Okla.; 
Frank Grover. born April 15, 1886; Chester T., 
who was born March 24. 1888, and died July 
27, 1904; Alva Edward, born December 13, 
1890; and Dollie Lucretia, born January 21, 
1897. In politics Mr. Hezlep is a supporter of 
the Democratic party, and has filled the office 
of Road Commissioner with credit to himself 
and acceptability to his constituents. He takes 
a deep interest in church work, and is a stead- 
fast advocate of the cause of the schools. The 
best interests of his township and county have 
always found i 1 him an earnest advocate. Mr. 
and ivirs. Hezlep are consistent members of the 
Chri'^tian Church. 

RICKEY, T. 0.— As an educator T. O. Hickey 
stands high in public esteem in Fulton 
County, of which he has been a resident since 
1892. Mr. Hickey was born in Ohio, July 
15, 1870, a son of R. F. and Evalyn (Mc- 
Clure) Hickey, natives of the Buckeye State, 
and grandson of Mr. and Mrs. William Hickey, 
who were born in Virginia. His maternal 
grandfather, Andrew McClure, was born in 
Maryland. 

The educational advantages of Mr. Hickey 
were afforded by the common schools and the 
Ohio State Normal, and he eventually taught 
school two years in his native State. For four 
years he was engaged in the same occupation 
in Peoria County, and while there served as a 
member of the Board of Trustees of the town 
of Glasford. Since coming to Fulton County 
he has taught about eight years, and in the 
meantime has been prominent in local politics, 
serving as Supervisor of Banner Township 
during 1903-04, and as Justice of the Peace 
for several years. In 1893 Mr. Hickey married 
Anna Davis, a native daughter of Illinois, and 



920 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



former pupil of her husband. Fraternally Mr. 
Davis is connected with the Order of Eagles. 

HIGGINS, Daniel M.— The career of Daniel M. 
Higgins is an expression of well directed and 
intelligent industry, of devotion to the best in- 
terests of the community, and promotion of the 
best tenets of agriculture. His financial stand- 
ing is indicated by the possession of about 1,120 
acres of land in Illinois and Kansas, all of 
which has come to him through the exercise 
of thrift, good management and business sa- 
gacity. Mr. Higgins, whose home place con- 
sists of 240 acres in Section 25, Deei-field Town- 
ship, is a native of Cass Township, Fulton 
County, where he was born October 25, 1852. 
He is the fourth in order of birth of seven 
sons and two daughters of Hiram and Eliza- 
beth (Baughman) Higgins, the former of whom 
was born in Ohio in 1S20, and the latter in 
Cass Township, this county, in 1828. Hiram 
Higgins came in a wagon from Ohio to Cass 
Township about 1844, where he was man-ied 
in Febniary of the same year, and soon after 
set up housekeeping in a log cabin on Section 
32. He later bought land in this section and 
Section 29, in time owning a farm of 400 acres, 
the greater part of which was under cultiva- 
tion. After his death, October 27. 1883. his 
widow remained on the homestead a couple of 
years, and then spent the balance of her life 
with her daughter, Mrs. Ellen Landis. Mr. 
Higgins was a public-s|iirited and enterprising 
pioneer, and eventually filled various offices of 
trust and responsibility. 

Average opportunities accompanied Daniel 
M. Higgins to the threshold of his independent 
career. He early was taught to make his en- 
ergies of value around the home farm, and was 
largely concerned with its management at the 
time of his marriage, in 1883. to Sarah E. Hel- 
ler, a native of Deerfield Township, and born 
September 17, 1S5S. Mrs. Higgins is a daugh- 
ter of John .1. and Lydia (Zimmerman) Heller, 
natives of Ohio and Deerfield Township, re- 
spectively. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins are the par- 
ents of the following children; Hayward C, 
Charles Meredith, Boyd V., Gladys May and 
Audrey M. For the two years following his 
marriage .Mr. Higgins lived on the home place. 
and then went to Missouri, where he experi- 
enced indifferent agricultural success for three 
years. Returning to Illinois with renewed ap- 
preciation of its advantages of soil and climate, 
he lived on the farm of his father' for about 
four years, then purchased part of the place, 
whicli he sold two years later. He then be- 
came owner of his present home place of 240 
acres, formerly the property of N. S. Johnson, 
in Section 25, and later bought eighty acres 
in Section 3.5, also 164 acres skirting the river, 
which latter property he disposed of in 1905. 
He also owns 800 acres of land in Kansas, and 
on all of his property is engaged in general 
farming and stock-raising, making a specialty 
of the latter occupation, however. While many 



improvements existed on his farms at the time 
of purchase, he has built and rebuilt exten- 
sively, and has kept pace with the advance in 
agriculture through the various mediums at the 
disposal of intelligent students of land cul- 
ture. 

A Democrat in political affiliation. Mr. Hig- 
gins has avoided the thorny and uncertain 
ways of the office-seeker, contenting himself 
with the casting of an intelligent and well- 
thought-out vote. At the same time he is not 
unmindful of his duty in promoting clean and 
fair local government, and he has acceptably 
served as Tax Collector and Supei-visor of Deer- 
field Township. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Modern Woodmen of America. A man 
of sterling general worth, he is re- 
spected by all with whom he is as- 
sociated, and presents, in the variety and 
extent of his success, an example worthy of 
emulation by the youth of the rising genera- 
tion. 

HILL, C. M. — On a plantation in Franklin 
County, .41a., C. M. Hill was born March 1, 
1831. His destiny as an upbuilder of Fulton 
County, 111., was early foreshadowed, for his 
parents, William and Sarah I Cotton) Hill, were 
even then contemplating removal from the 
sw-eltering Alabama summers to the more brac- 
ing and promising climate of a Northern State. 
Preparation for their departure was long drawn 
out, but the family set out with wagon and 
oxen in the spring of 1834. camping by the way- 
side at night, and for three months were at 
the mercy of the changeable elements. Arriv- 
ing in Fulton County. 111., they located on 
Section 27. Farmington Township, where the 
elder Hill reared his cabin of logs, cleared his 
land, and was gaining the competence which 
he sought when over taken by death in 184G. 
He suffered the trials and discouragements 
which were the lot of the pioneer, and, hav- 
ing no nearer market, hauled his grain and 
general produce to Copperas Creek, Liverpool 
and Peoria. To himself and wife were born 
seven children, all of whom were scattered to 
homes and occupations of their own when the 
mother died in 1875. 

C. M. Hill gained a rudimentary education 
in a house built of logs, fourteen feet square. 
When his mother died in 1875 he moved to 
his present farm on Section 27, Farmington 
Township, where he built a frame house in 
1876, and where he owns 160 acres of land. 
Practically all of the improvements are of hi? 
making, and the property is one of the most 
valuable in the township. Attention to b\isi- 
ness and good .iudgment enabled Mr. Hill to 
retire from active farm life in 1898. but he 
still makes his home on the old homestead 
with tenants having charge of the farm. Mr. 
Hill is a Republican in politics, and although 
averse to office-holding, has sei-ved several 
vears as a member of the Board of Education. 
From early manhood he was a member of the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



921 



Reformed Church at Norris until it was dis- 
banded, since then never having united with 
any other denomination. 

At Parmington, 111., in 1S56, M,r. Hill was 
united in marriage to Mary A. Hulick, a na- 
tive of Farmington Township, and a daughter 
of Isaac and Ruth A. (Mills) Hulick, natives 
of Kentucky, and early settlers of Illinois. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been born twelve chil- 
dren — six boys and six girls — all of whom are 
living, namely: Francis M.. Edward L., Alva 
W., Charles R., Robert W. and Clinton C. 
(boys), and Louisa A., Clara E., Almira E., 
Mary E., Sarah E. and Dessie A. (girls). The 
mother was called away by death on June 10, 
1898. All the children were present at her 
obsequies. 

HILTON, Cyrus. — One of the most earnest 
promoters of the stock and grain trade in Cuba 
and vicinity is Cyrus Hilton, who, aside from 
any prestige he may have received from con- 
nection with a fine old pioneer family of the 
county, has mapped out his own fortunes with 
a certainty of intent and purpose which could 
have no other result than substantial success. 
Mr. Hilton was born in Putman Township, Ful- 
ton County, in 1S53, a son of David and Sarah 
(Bishop) Hilton, natives of Ohio. David Hil- 
ton had in him the making of a pioneer, and 
his opportunity came m the later 'thirties, 
when he sold his farm in the Buckeye State 
and came overland with wagons to Fulton 
County, and settled on eighty acres of land 
in Section 24, Putman Township. He lived to 
an advanced age, and to some extent realized 
his expectations in coming to a crude and un- 
developed community. 

Cyrus Hilton was reared on a farm, and in 
1S74, at the age of twenty-one, married Sarah 
Foxweather, a native of Fulton County. He 
continued to engage in general farming and 
stock-raising until 1889, when he purchased the 
Maxwell place of six and one-half acres and 
one hundred acres known as the "Winter Bot- 
tom farm," and ever since has been enga.ged 
in the stock and grain business, making a 
specialty of draft horses of Norman pedigree 
and high-grade cattle. Since purchasing this 
farm Mr. Hilton has operated it in connection 
with a partner under the fiiTn name of Bean 
& Hilton. Many fine improvements mark the 
management of the present owners, and the 
place is considered one of the best equipped 
in the county, having a delightful country resi- 
dence, substantial bams and ample facilities 
for feeding and handling large numbers of 
stock. Mr. Hilton is one of the best informed 
and most progressive residents of his township, 
a man of genial and approachable manner, and 
keen interest in the affairs which engage the 
attention and affect the welfare of the com- 
munity. For some time he has been a member 
of the Town Board, and also of the Board of 
Supervisors. He is fraternally connected with 
20 



the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows. 

HINDE, John R.. M. D., who is successfully 
engaged in the practice of medicine in Lewis- 
town, Fulton County, 111., was born in that place 
August 26, 187.5. He is a son of Robert M. 
Hinde, who is a resident of the same town, 
and is retired from active life. 

Dr. Hinde received his early instruction in 
the public schools of Lewistown, and subse- 
quently graduated from the high school. He 
then took up a three years' course at Notre 
Dame University, South Bend, Ind., complet- 
ing his studies in 1.S9.3. In 1S97 he entered 
Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he 
was graduated with the class of 1902. After 
four years of close application to his books he 
received his diploma, returned to Lewistown, 
and opened an office in the Beadles Block. He 
has already acquired a good practice, and en- 
joys the confidence of his patients and the gen- 
eral public. On political issues Dr. Hinde is 
ranked on the side of the Democratic iiarty. 
Religiously he is an adherent of the Catholic 
faith. 

HINKLE, Samuel R., lately a much respected 
and retired farmer residing in Canton, Fulton 
County. 111., but now deceased, was born in 
Washington County, Md., December 2, 1837, a 
son of Samuel and Anna (Rickard) Hinkle, na- 
tives of Franklin County. Pa., where the fa- 
ther was born in 180.5 and the mother in 1803. 
On coming to Illinois they located in .Joshua 
Township. Fulton County, where the father fol- 
lowed farming. He died in January, 1877, and 
his wife passed away in 1879. 

The sub.1ect of this sketch came to Fulton 
County with his parents, having attended the 
district schools in his boyhood. He was reared 
on the farm, and on reaching maturity carried 
on farming until his retirement from active 
life. He built his recent home in Canton in 
1903. 

On February 21, 1860, Mr. Hinkle was mar- 
ried to Miss Minerva F. Randolph, who was 
born in Canton Township, Fulton County, in 
1837. and in girlhood received her mental train- 
ing in the district schools in her neighborhood, 
and at Galesburg, 111. After a singularly har- 
monious married life of forty-seven years, Mrs. 
Hinkle was left alone by the death of her hus- 
band from heart trouble on March 20, 1907, 
after an attack of la grippe. They had no chil- 
dren, but the children of other families were 
often made welcome and happy visitors in their 
hospitable home. Few men in Canton were 
more widely known than Mr. Hinkle. and his 
passing away was deeply deplored by a large 
circle of friends. He was a Republican in po- 
litical faith, and held a number of positions of 
trust and responsibility, including those of 
School Trustee for several years. Assistant Su- 
pervisor of Canton Township two terms and 



922 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Road Commissioner for twenty years. Mr. Hin- 
kle was not a member of any church, but was 
an earnest believer in the doctrines of the Swe- 
denborgian, or New Church, of which he was 
a liberal supporter and faithful attendant upon 
its services whenever held. 

HOLLISTER, Lester.— The junior member of 
the firm of Ray & Hollister represents the kind 
of business material to which the older resi- 
dents of Avon look for a maintenance of sta- 
ble, progressive conditions. His largest useful- 
ness lies in the future, as he now is but twenty- 
seven years old, having been born on a farm in 
Fulton" County March 17, 1879. He represents 
the third generation of his family in Fulton 
County, his grandparents having arrived here 
while still it was a wilderness, and with little 
to start with, succeeded to a large and fertile 
property. His father, Lawrence H. Hollister, 
was bom in Fulton County September 22, 1S58, 
and his mother, Mary (Anderson) Hollister, was 
born in the same county October 8, 1857. For 
many years Lawrence H. Hollister has owned 
and occupied a farm in Union Township, 160 
acres in extent, and well equipped with facili- 
ties for extensive general farming and stock- 
raising. 

As Lester Hollister grew to maturity he de- 
veloped commercial rather than agricultural 
tendencies, and, like his present business part- 
ner, began his active city life as clerk in a gro- 
cery store. He acquired a practical common 
school education in the town of Avon, and 
started his present grocery and meat business 
February 3, 1906. Because of his energy and 
enthusiasm and sound business tactics he is 
bound to realize his ambitions, and to see many 
years of activity in his wholesome, necessary 
and profitable calling. Mr. Hollister is social 
in his tendencies, is prominent among the 
Knights of Pythias and in the Universalist 
Church. Politically he subscribes to the prin- 
ciples and issues of the Republican party. He 
was one of the first to volunteer from Fulton 
County in the Spanish-American War, and cred- 
itably served through the greater part of the 
struggle as a member of Company D, Sixth Illi- 
nois Volunteer Infantry. He is popular and 
well liked and has hosts of friends throughout 
the town and county. 

HOLT, Thomas A.— Of the younger genera- 
tion of farmers whose efforts promise to lend 
vigor and prestige to the future of Bernadotte 
Township, special mention is due Thomas A. 
wolt, son of William Holt, the latter one of the 
large landowners and most successful agri- 
culturists in Fulton County. Mr. Holt was 
born in the village of Bernadotte, Fulton 
County, October 1, 1870, and his entire life has 
been spent within the boundaries of this town- 
ship. He received a thorough manual train- 
ing under his father, and has always recog- 
nized farming as one of the best, most inde- 
pendent and most useful occupations of man- 
kind. 



The material assets of Mr. Holt are repre- 
sented by the farm of forty acres on Section 
18, purchased in 1896. Ten years of occupancy 
have individualized the place, and converted 
it into an indicator of the personal traits and 
characteristics of the owner. To some extent 
general farming is carried on, and various 
kinds of high grade stock graze in the pas- 
tures. The home is a roomy, comfortable one, 
and the barns and outbuildings are modern 
and in good repair. Mr. Holt's settlement upon 
his farm occurred at the time of his marriage, 
January 27, 1896, to Emma C. Hannon, who was 
born in Astoria, 111., Augst 4, 1S70. There are 
four children in the family, namely: Paul, 
born in 1897; Wayne, born in 1899; Helen, 
born in 1901; and Arthur, born in 1903. Mr. 
Holt is a Republican politically, and fraternally 
a Knight of Pythias. With his wife he is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church. He has 
energy, resource and keen intelligence, which 
qualities insure him business success. 

HOLT, William. — For more than thirty-five 
years the name of William Holt has been 
identified with Fulton County, and during that 
time his zeal has found an outlet in the occu- 
pations of peace and war, and his experiences 
have ranged from sickness and health, from 
poverty to prosperity. He is one of the very 
early families of Bernadotte Village, where he 
was born October 11, 1839, and to which came 
his father, Willard Holt, in 1831. Willard 
Holt and his wife, Minerva (Nichols) Holt, 
were born among the rugged hills of Ver- 
mont, and it would seem that something of the 
granite of their surroundings entered into 
the framing of their thoughts and aspirations. 
At any rate, their journey westward was ac- 
complished only after the most severe sacri- 
fices in order to purchase clothing, food and 
other equipment, and on the way they met 
with many obstacles and disadvantages inci- 
dent to travel at that early day. To encourage 
him upon his arrival in the wilds, as Illinois 
then was known, Mr. Holt had the assurance 
of a comfortable livelihood from his trade 
of brick mason and plasterer, and this he fol- 
lowed in Bernadotte for the balance of his 
active life. 

William Holt has grown up with Fulton 
County. The prairies of the Central West were 
as ignorant of their possibilities for useful- 
ness as was the barefooted boy whose meager 
education was acquired at the first subscrip- 
tion school in his neighborhood. Eventually 
he began work on a farm and was thus em- 
ployed when the Civil War presented a claim 
upon his energy and patriotism. Enlisting in 
August, 1862, in Company I, One Hundred and 
Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he went 
into camp at Peoria, and from there was or- 
dered to the front, where, at Mission Ridge, 
the One hundred and Third distinguished it- 
self by charging up the ridge and capturing 
the rebel batteries. Later the regiment ad- 
vanced to Atlanta, Ga., in all taking part in 




W. M. MCDOWELL 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



923 



thirty engagements, and Mr. Holt remained 
an active factor in the ranlvs until at Raleigh, 
N. C, he was overcome by sunstroke and 
passed for dead. He had no hospital record, 
but through nerve and determination and by 
the aid of his commanding officer, Colonel 
Wright, he rallied sufficiently to be able to 
follow the regular routine of the camp, being 
finally discharged at Chicago, June 21, 1S65. 

After returning he was unable for some 
time to engage in active work, but having 
finally recovered he rented a farm in Berna- 
dotte Township, purchased a team of horses 
and turned his attention to farming. On Oc- 
tober 31, 1866, he was united in marriage to 
Mary Z. Brice, who was born in Miami County, 
Ohio, August 7, 1834, a daughter of William 
and Margaret (Martin) Brice, who were early 
settlers of Ohio, and died in that State. Mr. 
and Mrs. Holt became the parents of the fol- 
lowing named children: Rachel J., born De 
cember 15, 1867, the wife of George David Mc- 
Dowell, of Kansas; Thomas, born October 1, 
1870, a farmer in Bernadotte Township, who 
married Emma Hannon; and Frank, born 
November 24, 1S7S, who married Gertrude Mc- 
Coy, and lives on a farm in McDonough County. 
In 18b(j Mr. Holt purchased eighty acres of 
land on Section 18, Bernadotte Township, un- 
der heavy timber, all of which he has cleared 
and improved. Owing to affection of the eyes 
and heart, probably resulting from exposure 
during the Civil War, he has been unable to 
do any hard work during the past few years, 
and has handed over to younger strength a 
large part of the farm responsibility. Never- 
theless, he has been an influence for good, 
leading a wholesome and simple life, honest 
in all of his undertakings, and public spiritedly 
interested in all that pertains to the welfare 
of the community. In spite of illness and 
discouragement, he retains his hold upon the 
bright side of life, and his heart and sym- 
pathies go out to the interests and enthusiasms 
of the younger generation around him. Mr. 
Holt has voted the Republican ticket ever 
since the organization of that party, but he 
has never held office or been active in local pol- 
itics. His wife is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

HOOPES, Henry Clay. — Of the men who have 
actively participated in the agricultural trans- 
formation of Vermont Township, this county, 
during the past quarter of a century, none are 
better or more favorably known that Henry 
Clay Hoopes, owner of a valuable farm on 
Section 16, and native of a farm a few miles 
distant from the village of Vermont, where he 
was bora September 3, 1855. (For a more de- 
tailed account of the family, see sketch of 
John A. Hoopes on another page of this work.) 

The early influences of Henry Clay Hoopes 
tended to an appreciation of agriculture as 
a means of livelihood, and as a boy he was 
trained to every demand of this important oc- 



cupation. He had average educational oppor- 
tunities, confined principally to the winter 
terms of school, and remained under the pater- 
nal roof until after his marriage, November 
28, 1879, to Jane Mulkins, who was born in 
Howard County, Ind., May 7, 1860, a daughter 
of John and Phoebe (Le Masters) Mulkins. Mr. 
Mulkins died at the beginning of the Civil 
War. during the period between his enlist- 
ment and mustering in, and his wife subse- 
quently married James Patterson, with whom 
she came to Illinois in 1868, her death occur- 
ring in 1877. 

In 1880 Mr. Hoopes purchased eighty acres 
of land on Section 16, Vermont Township, 
thirty acres of which were under cultivation, 
and the balance he cleared of timber and un- 
dergrowth, in time adding thirty acres to the 
original investment. That he has been one of 
the busy men of the community is apparent 
from the many changes which he has wrought 
upon his farm, and the excellent equipment 
which lightens labor and contributes to eco- 
nomic results. Twenty-two years upon the 
same property have witnessed a realization of 
his most practical ambitions, and have placed 
him among the scientific and progressive lands- 
men of the township. The telephone and rural 
delivery are but two of the advantages which 
his energy has helped to introduce, and the 
splendid rural thoroughfares and well-kept 
fences speak volumes for the public-spirited- 
ness of himself and his fellow agriculturists. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hoopes have had eight chil- 
dren: Homer M., born December 20, 1880. who 
died April 26, 1904; Elmer, who died at the 
age of eighteen months. May 25, 1885; Harry, 
born November 20, 1885; Fannie A., born Sep- 
tember 7, 1880, who was married Easter Sun- 
day, 1906, to Ira J. Brown, a farmer of Vermont 
Township; Johnnie, born August 20, 1890; 
Ethel J., born April 17, 1894; Lorena Bell, born 
October 26, 1896; and Donna H., who died at 
the age of eighteen months. Politically Mr. 
Hoopes is extremely liberal, although he leans 
to the side of Republicanism. Fraternally he 
is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. Mr. and Mrs. Hoopes, as well as 
Harry and Fannie, are members of the Chris- 
tian Church, and are active in its social and 
benevolent work. The children have been given 
the best educations the neighborhood affords, 
and all are studious and purposeful young 
people. Mr. Hoopes himself is ap- 
preciated for his sterling traits of 
character, for his genial manner and 
his substantial contribution to the well-being 
of the township in which his entire life has 
been passed. 

HOOPES, John A. — Few men have contributed 
more practical encouragement to grain and 
general produce raisers in Fulton County than 
John A. Hoopes, whose milling and elevator 
business has been one of the chief commercial 
factors of Ipava and vicinity since 1888. With 



924 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



a variety of experience to back him in his 
project, Mr. Hoopes purchased forty acres of 
land adjoining Ipava in 18S7, at $100 per acre, 
and the extent of the improvements since in- 
stituted may be surmised when it is l^nown 
that recently he refused $250 an acre for the 
same. In fact, the present equipment would 
be sufficient for the conduct of a four hundred 
instead of a forty-acre farm. In 1888 he began 
the purchase of grain and general Central 
Western products, and since has erected a mill 
with a capacity of 300 bushels every fifteen 
hours, and which manufactures all kinds of 
grain foods except flour. The elevator has a 
capacity of 10,000 bushels. A large amount of 
mill feed and patent stock foods is kept on 
hand, and the extensive trade maintains the 
old while constantly adding new customers. 

The financial success of Mr. Hoopes is aug- 
mented by a moral influence second to none 
In the community. He carries with him into 
business and social life a splendid ethical per- 
spective, and a capacity for acknowledging the 
good and weeding out the undesirable in gen- 
eral existence. His origin and training have 
fostered this discrimination. Horn on a farm 
in Vermont Township, Fulton County, Decem- 
ber 20, 1849, he is a son of Ellis and Grace 
(Foulke) Hoopes, the former boni at Chester, 
Pa., in 1804, and the lattter near Brandywine, 
same State, in 1810. The paternal branch of 
his family traces its origin to the great house 
of Lancaster, and claims both Scotch and Eng- 
lish ancestry. The maternal family knew gen- 
erations of existence in picturesque Wales. 
Both the Hoopes and Foulke families were es- 
tablished in the State of Ohio during pioneer 
days, where the parents were married, and 
whence they came to Vermont Township, Ful- 
ton County, in 1842. It was their fate to en- 
dure the struggles and deprivations which con- 
fronted the settler in his frontier home, and 
the father tilled his land and helped to subdue 
the wilderness until the death of his wife in 
1879. He then went to live with his son Henry, 
where his death occurred in 1886, at the age 
of eighty-four years. Reared in the faith of 
the Society of Friends, he maintained the sim- 
ple tenets of that faith during his entire life, 
rearing his children in an uncompromising at- 
titude towards truth and morality. He was 
quiet and unostentatious, avoiding all publicity, 
and craving no official or other recognition. It 
was his good fortune to live and 
to see his twelve children grow 
to maturity, and his five sons and 
seven daughters settled in homes of their 
own. Ten of his children are living. The 
oldest daughter, Margaret, the widow of Abner 
Wileman, died in 1895, her husband having 
been killed at the battle of Stone 
River during the Civil War, while 
serving as regimental color-bearer in 
Company B, Eighty-fourth Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry; Elizabeth, the widow of 
Anson Haskins, of Erie, Kan., Is now deceased; 



Susan and her husband, Lewis Kelly, are both 
deceased; Sarah, widow of Rufus Rhodes, lives 
in Red Lands, Cal. ; William, a farmer of Ver- 
mont Township, served in Company B, Eighty- 
fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three 
years: Ann, a resident of Vermont, 111., mar- 
ried for her first husband Amos Miller, a sol- 
dier of the Eighty-fourth Illinois Infantry, who 
died in the hospital at Quincy, III., and, for 
her second husband, Thomas Nelson, a soldier 
of Company G, Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, also 
now deceased; Silas F., a resident of Santa 
Cruz, Cal.. served during the war in the reg- 
imental band of the Third Illinois Cavalry; El- 
lis is a resident of Vermont, this State; Ruth 
is the wife of Stephen Frazier, of Viola, Rich- 
land County, Wis.; .John A.; Mary, wife of 
Woodson Brown, of Barnhill, Wayne County, 
111.; and Henry C. a farmer of Vermont Town- 
ship. 

That life held something besides a placid 
country existence became apparent to John A. 
Hoopes when the Civil War broke over the 
land, and he saw his brothers depart upon 
their mission of uncertain issue. He was four- 
teen years old when he enlisted. January 26, 
1864. in Company G. Fiftieth Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry, for three years, or until the end 
of hostilities. Joining the regiment in Lynn- 
ville, Tenn., in March, following, he was with 
Sherman during the famous march to the sea, 
and eventually took part in the grand review 
in Washington, D. C. The Fiftieth was mus- 
tered out of service July 13, 1865, and a sad- 
der, wiser and more resourceful lad returned 
to his duties on the paternal farm in Ver- 
mont Township. In the fall of 1867 the unrest 
created by his comparatively brief military ex- 
perience found vent as a member of the Reg- 
ular Army, which he joined in Wisconsin, Sep- 
tember 25th, having arrived in Wisconsin the 
year previous. As a member of Light Bat- 
tery B. Fourth United States Artillery, he was 
stationed at Leavenworth, Kan., and soon be- 
gan a three years' sei-vice on the frontier of 
Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and New Mexico. 
After his discharge at Fort Riley, Kan., Sep- 
tember 25, 1870, he returned to Vermont Town- 
ship, and again took up farming as a means 
of livelihood. 

October 12, 1871, Mr. Hoopes was united in 
marriage to Josephine M. Knock, who was born 
in Farmer Township, Fulton County, in April, 
1853, a daughter of Daniel E. and Phoebe (Eas- 
ley) Knock, natives of Delaware and Ohio, re- 
spectively. In 1876 Mr. Hoopes bought a 163- 
acre farm in Bernadotte Township and lived 
thereon until, disposing of the same, he re- 
moved to Ipava in 1883. For a year he was 
interested in the hardware business in Ipava, 
and for two years followed carpentering and 
building, at the end of that time purchasing 
the farm which he since has owned and occu- 
pied adjoining the town. Mr. and Mrs. Hoopes 
are the parents of the following named chil- 
dren: Bessie L., who died in infancy; F. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



925 



Raymond, who is in tlie restaurant business in 
Ipava; Josephine A., wife of A. V. MacDougal, 
of Atlanta, Neb.; Grace, wife of Clyde Morley, 
of Libertyville, Iowa; Luther L., who married 
Lizzie Busey and lives in Kewanee, 111.; Paul 
E., a bookkeeper and stenographer at San Ber- 
nardino, Cal.; Frances E., wife of Fred Brown, 
of Farmer Township. Fulton County; Clinton 
B., a student; and Edith H.. living at home. 

Mr. Hoopes has watched the development 
of Pulton County for more than half a century, 
and during that time has been an integral fac- 
tor in its material and general growth. He is 
especially active in the cause of temperance 
and has worked with might and main for the 
destruction of the liquor traffic. He is a mem- 
ber of the State League, and an honorary mem- 
ber of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union. He also is a member of the National 
Anti-Cigarette League, which has for its ob- 
ject the abolition of the use of tobacco in any 
form by minors, Mr. Hoopes is active in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and contributes 
generously to this, as to other interests and 
charities. He is a large-hearted, well-balanced 
and very popular man, intensely interested in 
all that pertains to the lasting welfare of the 
community. 

HORN, Jacob. — Identified with Fulton County 
for fifty-two years and known chiefly as a sol- 
dier whose subsequent efforts have been handi- 
capped by physical disability due to war's in- 
satiable demands, .Jacob Horn has succeeded in 
spite of difficulties that to some would seem 
insurmountable, and is the owner of eighty- 
three acres of finely improved land in Wood- 
land Township. Born in Knox County, Ohio, 
September 27, I80G, Mr. Horn is a son of Martin 
L. and Julia (Oiler) Horn, natives of Washing- 
ton County, Pa., and of German ancestry. Mar- 
tin Horn brought his family to Fulton County 
in 1S.54. settling in the west half of Woodland 
Township, where his death occurred in 1S86. 
His first wife died in 1863 and he subsequently 
married Maria Kelly, who died in 1S70. Later 
still he married Martha Severn, who now lives 
in Browning. Schuyler County. 111. Of the first 
union eight children were born, six of whom are 
still living, the subject of this sketch being the 
oldest. The others were: John, a retired farm- 
er of Saunders County, Neb.; Isaac, a retired 
farmer living in Astoria; one daughter, who 
is the wife of Mr. Miers, of Fandon, McDonough 
County; Ellen, wife of Solomon Miers. of As- 
toria; Rebecca, wife of Jacob Baumgartner, a 
carpenter and builder of Sumnium; Sarah Ann, 
deceased wife of Martin Ely, of Woodland Town- 
ship, and Molly, deceased wife of Jackson Hor- 
ton, of Woodland Township. Mr. Horn was an 
uncompromising Democrat, but conceded to oth- 
ers the freedom of opinion which he demanded 
for himself. 

Jacob Horn was eighteen years old when he 
came to Fulton County and he lived with his 
father until his marriage, August 27, I80S, to 



Nancy Bateson, who was born in Perry County, 
Ohio, and came to Fulton County with her par- 
ents in 1856. The Bateson family settled in 
Lewistown, where they remained for some 
years, but finally located on the farm now 
owned by Mr. Horn in Section 15, Woodland 
Township. After his marriage Mr. Horn lo- 
cated on land along the Vermont Road, west of 
Astoria, and in 1S61 built a house for his fam- 
ily on his father's farm in Woodland Township. 
In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, 
Eighty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for 
three years, and shortly after was overtaken by 
nervous prostration, in consequence of which 
he was transferred to the Invalid Corps at 
Louisville, Ky. Later he was sent to Indian- 
apolis, Ind., on garrison duty, and there helped 
to guard 10,000 Rebel prisoners. In addition 
to his own frail health he was destined to un- 
dergo a serious strain on account of the news 
of his wife's death. August 9, 1863. Only the 
week before he had received a letter from her 
stating that she and the children were well and 
encouraging him in his life as a soldier. On 
receipt of the sad intelligence of his wife's death 
he was at once given a furlough and returned 
home to provide a home for his children, soon 
thereafter rejoining his regiment, from which 
he was honorably discharged at the end of the 
three years' service. The children of this mar- 
riage were: Lewis E., a farmer of Woodland 
Township; Nancy E., who died at the age of 
twelve years; William Lincoln, of Pasadena, 
Cal., and Lorena, who died in infancy in 1868. 

For three years after the war Mr. Horn was 
unable to perform manual labor. In 1868 he 
contracted a second marriage, this time with 
Margaret Shelby, a native of Virginia, who 
came to Fulton County with her parents in 
1857, and of this union there were three chil- 
dren: Sadie, wife of Walter Merrill, living on 
the old homestead; Abbie, wife of Mace D. Keep- 
er, a farmer of Woodland Township, and Daniel, 
an invalid, living with his father. 

About 1881 Mr. Horn bought his present farm 
of eighty-three acres on Section 15, Woodland 
Township, and since has made important im- 
I)rovenients, transforming it into a valuable and 
Ijroductive property. Notwithstanding his en- 
feebled condition he assisted in making the 
10,000 rails required for fencing the 
farm and has set out many of the 
trees, which have converted it into 
one of the best fruit-raising properties in 
the townshi]). He is surrounded with the com- 
forts and conveniences due to a courageous and 
tried soldier, and many evidences abound of 
his taste and enterprise during the fifty odd 
years of his connection with the history of Ful- 
ton County. 

Ever since he heard Abraham Lincoln make 
a speech in favor of freedom in 1854, Mr. Horn 
has been identified in his political convictions 
with the Republican party. He also holds pro- 
nounced prohibition views, resulting largely 
from what he saw in the army of the bad ef- 



926 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



feet of liquor. He has been a member of the 
Christian Church ever since he was seventeen 
years old, while his wife is connected with the 
United Brethren denomination. Mr. Horn has 
filled various public trusts but of late years 
has been practically retired from business ex- 
cept the superintendence of his farming in- 
terests. 

HOVELL, Jacob John.— For the past eleven 
years the meat market of Jacob John Hovell 
has been one of the chief sources of food sup- 
ply in the town of Avon. Many causes contrib- 
ute to the success of this popular merchant, not 
the least of which is a thorough knowledge of 
his business and a determination to keep his 
particular branch thereof up to the highest 
known standard. His shop is made attractive 
through the strict observance of cleanliness and 
order, the courtesy of clerks, moderation of 
prices and good quality of products. 

Mr. Hovell has known no other home than 
Fulton County, where he was born May 14, 
1843. The name of his father. Thomas Hovell. 
is enrolled among the very early settlers of this 
section, he having arrived here in the summer 
of 1838. Thomas Hovell was born in England 
February 14, 1809, and sailed to America in 
1836, locating first in Ohio, whence he removed 
a year later to Iowa, and thence to Fulton Coun- 
ty. Purchasing land in the vicinity of EUis- 
ville, he engaged in general farming and with 
comparatively little to start on acquired the 
ownership of about 1,400 acres of land. His 
success necessarily indicated stable character 
and business qualities, and he had a moral na- 
ture in keeping with his sagacity and thrift. 
He married in early life Prudence Reynolds, 
who was a native of Indiana, born May 25, 1S20, 
and to whose practical co-operation he attribut- 
ed much of his good fortune. 

In his youth Jacob J. Hovell acquired a 
knowledge of both farming saw-milling, of 
which he made practical use until establishing 
his present business in Avon in 1895. He re- 
ceived a common school education and has al- 
ways been public spirited and in favor of ex- 
cellent schools and general advantages for the 
youth of the county. In Prairie City. 111.. Sep- 
tember 8, 1875, he married Mary E. Bradbury, 
a native also of Fulton County, born October 
29, 1849. Seven children have been added to 
his family: Leon L., Flora L., May. Frank T., 
Prudence, Alice and Oren. Mr. Hovell espoused 
the cause of Democracy in early life and has 
filled tne local offices of Road Commissioner and 
Tax Collector. Fraternally he is a Mason and 
Odd Fellow. His long residence within its 
boundaries and his association with at least 
three lines of business have given him a wide 
acquaintance throughout the county, and mate- 
rially contribute to the maintenance of his 
present large and lucrative meat business. 

HOWARD, Isaac— In the fall of 1331 a crude 
and heavily laden wagon drawn by oxen ended 



its long overland journey in the search for a de- 
sirable location, and upon its occupants alight- 
ing near what now is Smithfield, Fulton County, 
still another family was added to the human 
toilers who were to add vigor and purpose to 
the early history of Illinois. The owner of the 
ox-team was Samuel Howard, who was born in 
Virginia in 1800, and the wife who accompanied 
him and who later shared his hardships and 
discouragements with fortitude and patience, 
formerly was Anna Alderman, a native of New 
York State, born there in 1802. But for a short 
time only the travelers occupied their log habi- 
tation, moving then to the vicinity of Berna- 
dotte, near Table Grove, where they built an- 
other cabin and began the cultivation of 190 
acres of land obtained from the Government. 
Samuel Howard was not destined to a prolonged 
Illinois career, for long before his dreams of 
wealth came true his death occurred prema- 
turely in 1838, sixty-nine years ago. 

The year after the arrival of his parents in 
Illinois, in the pioneer home in Table Grove 
Township, on March 20, 1832, Isaac Howard 
was born, and at the age of six years was left 
fatherless. Early responsibility awaited his 
growing strength and he became a farm hand 
in different parts of the county, through his 
energy and economy saving a considerable sum 
of money, as wealth was counted at that time 
and. place. In 1852 he was able to arrange for 
the purchase of 320 acres of land in Section 
20, Cass Township, and February 21, 1856, 
brought a wife to preside over his domain, who 
since has contributed much to his success and 
advancement. In girlhood Mrs. Howard was 
Hannah Baughman, a native of Cass Township, 
and born January 26, 1837. She became the 
mother of four children, one of whom died in 
infancy. Those still living are: John W., of 
Smithfield : Charles G., at Canton, and Luella, 
wiie of Alfred Voorhees. Mr. Howard made all 
of the improvements on his place, substituted 
his early residence for one of modern construc- 
tion and convenience and built barns which pro- 
vided facilities for stock-raising and storage. In 
1900 he retired from active life, and since has 
sold all of his land but the sixty acres upon 
which ne is passing the evening of his life. He 
has gained moderate wealth and honor while 
pursuing his industrious and well directed ca- 
reer, and has not only set an example of prac- 
tical, intelligent farming, but has served his 
township in satisfactory manner as Supervisor, 
Assessor and Collector. Mr. Howard is a man 
of scrupulous honor and all his life long has 
observed fairness and consideration toward his 
fellowmen. 

HOWARD, J. W., a well known and prosperous 
merchant of Smithfield, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Cass Township, Fulton County in 1861, 
a son of Isaac and Hannah (Baughman) How- 
ard, natives of Pulton County. Isaac Howard 
was bom in 1S32. His home was on Section 29, 
Cass Township, where he always followed farm- 




Sr^ s^irs^ umih-T-ji ss^-o-jry 




GiJ^/l/l 



''^^.^/CrlU^e/^.u^. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. ] 



927 



ing with success. He served as Township Su- 
pervisor for several terms. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on his 
father's farm and in early youth received his 
primary education in the public school in Smith- 
field. For some years he was engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits, continuing in that Une until 
1887. In that year he bought a stock of hard- 
ware in Smithfleld and has since conducted a 
general hardware concern, including paints, 
oils, fencing, etc., also having a tinshop con- 
nected with the store. The business was origi- 
nally started by C. K. Parvin, who was suc- 
ceeded by R. H. James, who, in turn, disposed 
of it to IVIr. Howard. Mr. Howard is also a 
member of the firm of Howard Brothers, of 
Canton, 111., and is the owner of a harness shop 
in Cuba, 111., where he has built a store. His 
business enterprises have all proved successful, 
and he is recognized as a sound and energetic 
business man. 

In 1891 Mr. Howard was united in marriage 
with Clara Zeigler, a native of Fulton County. 
Mr. and Mrs. Howard have been blessed with 
four children, namely: Ray, Anna, Edith and 
Ruth. Fraternally Mr. Howard is aflBliated with 
the M. W. A. 

HOWETER, Benjamin, who is among the 
most successful farmers in Cass Township, Ful- 
ton County, 111., was born in Berks County, Pa., 
on February 12, 1847. He is a son of Benjamin 
and Anna (Ligby) Howeter, natives of the 
Keystone State. Benjamin Howeter, Sr., set- 
tled with his family in Fulton County in 1866, 
locating on a farm in Section 27, Cass Town- 
ship. There he carried on farming successfully 
for many years, and at the time of his death, 
in 1S99, was the owner of 460 acres of very pro- 
ductive and well improved land. He was a 
farmer of great energy, perseverance and thrift 
and a citizen of the best repute. 

Benjamin Howeter was brought up on the 
paternal farm, and in boyhood fully utilized the 
advantages of the district schools in the vicinity 
of his Pennsylvania home. Since early manhood 
he has been constantly engaged in farming and 
has devoted considerable attention to the rais- 
ing of stock. He is the owner of 157 acres of 
land in Section 27, Cass Township, and 120 
acres in Section 22. All the improvements on 
his property have been made by him, his com- 
fortable and attractive residence being erected 
in 1904. 

On April 15, 1869, Mr. Howeter was joined 
in the bonds of matrimony with Mary E. Slock, 
who was born in Pennsylvania and is a daugh- 
ter of Conrad and Anna (Reichert) Slock, na- 
tives of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Howeter 
are the parents of five children, as follows: 
Charles, Amelia (Mrs. Joachim), Cora E. (Mrs. 
Huffman), Jesse A. and Loren A., at home. In 
political contests Mr. Howeter votes the Re- 
publican ticket. He has made, in the long years 
of his unremitting labor in Cass Township, a 
most creditable record as a farmer and citizen. 



In his church membership he has been a Luth- 
eran from boyhood and his wife is also iden- 
tified with that denomination, while most of 
the children are adherents to the United Breth- 
ren Church. 

HUBBLE, William Thomas. — A comparatively 
receut recruit to the farming contingent of 
Union Township, Fulton County, is William 
Thomas Hubble, who, in 1899, transferred his 
allegiance from his native State of Virginia, 
where he was born in Smith County, Novem- 
ber 27, 1S66. His parents, Thomas and Eliza- 
beth (Houston) Hubble, were born in Ohio, 
and the former accompanied his parents to 
Virginia when a child, remaining in the Old 
Dominion for the balance of his life. He was 
a farmer by occupation and possessed consid- 
erable business ability. 

The youth of William Thomas Hubble was 
spen: on his father's farm and he was educated 
in the common schools. February 18, 1894, 
in Prairie City, McDonough County, he was 
united in marriage to Etta May Zuck, who was 
born in McDonough County, 111., April 6, 1871, 
and of which union there is a son, Charles E. 
When Mr. Hubble first arrived in Fulton 
County he worked as a farm hand, having com- 
paratively small means to depend on, but some 
three years ago purchased his present farm of 
160 acres in Union Township. During his brief 
occupancy many changes have been made upon 
the property, and the presence of an orderly, 
practical and intelligent manager is everywhere 
apparent. Mr. Hubble is engaging in general 
farming and stock-raising, with a decided pref- 
erence for the latter department of agricul- 
ture. He is a Republican in politics, and is at 
present serving his township as School Di- 
rector. In religion he is identified with the 
Universalist Church. 

HUDDLESON, Thomas, a well known farmer 
of Lee Township, Fulton County, was born in 
Franklin County, Ohio, January 16, 1848, the 
son of Mahlon Huddleson, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Rebecca (Couch) Huddleson, born 
in New Jersey. The son Thomas spent his life 
with his parents until 1858, when at ten years 
of age, his father having died, he came to Illi- 
nois with an uncle who settled in Lee Town- 
ship, Fulton County, which has since been the 
home of the subject of this sketch and where, 
since reaching years of maturity, he has been 
engaged in farming and stock-raising. In this 
time his career has been one of marked suc- 
cess, and he is now the owner of 240 acres of 
the most valuable land in Lee Township. 

Mr. Huddleson has been twice married, first 
in Lee Township, on May 13, 1877, to Eliza- 
beth Jumps, of McLean County, 111., who was 
born July 15, 1850. His second wife's maiden 
name was Ella Maskin, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania July 3, 1847, and to whom he was 
married November 10, 1892. Mr. Huddleson is 
the father of seven children, namely: Bert P., 



928 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Lulu M., Effie, Nettie, Wilbur, Gertrude and 
Lester. In his religious faith Mr. Huddleson 
is a member ot the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He takes an active interest in educa- 
tional matters in his home township, and for 
several years has served as School Director. 
In his political relations Mr. Huddleson acts in 
co-operation with the Democratic party. 

HUDSON, (Prof.) Joseph Samuel.— The Can- 
ton Sanitarium, established in May, 1902, by 
Prof. Joseph S. Hudson, has so far realized the 
expectations of its founder and gained its hold 
upon the public confidence as to suggest its fu- 
ture recognition among the leading establish- 
ments tor healing in Fulton County. Its facili- 
ties for the care of the sick are modern and 
complete, its rooms sunny and well ventilated 
and the most scientific and experienced care is 
promised those who entrust themselves to its 
benefits. Prof. Hudson is a healer of long 
standing, and since the beginning of his prac- 
tice has shown a tendency to think for himself 
and draw away from many of the dogmas which 
have held medical science in leach for centu- 
ries. He has ability, independence and origi- 
nality. Born in Marietta. Washington County, 
Ohio, March 18, 1849, he comes of a family long 
established in the Buckeye State, of which also 
both of his parents were natives. Educated in 
the public schools, he in time went to Emporia. 
Lyon County, Kan., where he graduated in Prof. 
Hanlin's Institute of Healing. He also took a 
diploma from the Wittmer Institute of Healing, 
which has a national reputation. He traveled 
for some time, stopping certain days in other 
towns in Kansas, finally locating permanently 
In Canton. 

In 1881 Prof. Hudson married Mary S. Mauls- 
by. a native of Canton, 111., and daughter of 
William and Matilda (Turner) Maulsby. Pre- 
vious to her marriage Mrs. Hudson was an edu- 
cator. Her grandfather on the maternal side 
was Sterling Turner, who came to F'ulton Coun- 
ty in 18o0, and there settled and raised a fam- 
ily of thirteen children, Mrs. Hudson's mother 
being the oldest. Her father came to Fulton 
County with his parents in 1830. Her uncle 
and mother's brother, William P. Turner, who 
came to Fulton County the same year with her 
father, was one of the prominent and influential 
citizens of the county, especially in church and 
Sunday-school work, being accustomed to at- 
tend County. State and National Conventions, 
and having established the first Sunday school 
in Fulton County. He was interested^ in the 
movement for the establishment ot an indus- 
trial college, but died before the plan was 
realized. 

Mrs. Hudson's parents were married in 1837, 
and she was one of a family of two children, 
her only sister being Mrs. Margaret Orr, wife 
of Alexander Orr, now a resident of Canton. 
Mrs, Hudson received her education in the 
neigborhood of Bethel Chapel and later in the 
High School of Canton, where she fitted herself 



for teaching, in which she engaged in 1860, 
finally retiring in 1896. Her active work in this 
line covered a period of twenty years, during 
which she was employed at different times in 
Fulton, Stark, Knox and Logan Counties. 111., 
and in Dundy County, Neb. Prof, and Mrs. 
Hudson are members of the Methodist Church. 
Prof. Hudson is a Republican in politics, but 
is not an office seeker, devoting his energies al- 
most exclusively to the management ot his sani- 
tarium. He is a genial and approachable gen- 
tleman, sympathetic in his nature and disposed 
to look ujion the humanitarian as well as sci- 
entific side of his profession. 

HUFFORD, Levi. — None of the pioneer farm- 
ers of Fulton County has made a 
more enviable record than the gentle- 
man whose name begins this biograph- 
ical record, and who stands prominent 
and conspicuous among the steadily diminishing 
group of early settlers, whose labors laid the 
foundation of the prosperity of that region. 
Mr. Hufford was born in Scott County, Ind., 
.January 12, 1831, and is a son of George and 
Mary (Vest) Hufford, of whom the latter was 
born near Frankfort, Ky., and was a relative 
of the late Senator George G. Vest, of Missouri. 
George Hufford and his wife were married in 
Kentucky and some time afterward moved to 
Scott County, Ind., where the husband died in 
1832. In the following year his widow moved 
to Fulton County, 111,, where she died about 
the year 1860. She and her husband were the 
parents of the following children besides Levi: 
Eliza, who married Andrew Fonts and had one 
child, Martin, all being deceased; Mary, de- 
ceased, who was the wife of Abner Ford, also 
deceased, leaving a family; James, who served 
four years in the Fifty-fifth Regiment. Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, participated in many hard- 
fought battles, returned home and was killed 
by the cars in Polk County, Mo.; Wesley, de- 
ceased, who married Nancy Bull, also deceased, 
and Francis M., a member of the F'ifty-flfth Reg- 
iment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, who was 
captured at Shiloh, taken to Memphis, Tenn., 
died in the hospital there and was buried in the 
National Cemetery. 

After her husband's death the mother of these 
children lived solely tor her family. She kept 
them together until they reached mature years 
and had the ))leasure of seeing them all comfort- 
ably situated before she departed this life. She 
was a woman of noble qualities, conscientious, 
considerate, diligent in well doing and was a 
devout member of the United Brethren Church. 

Levi Hufford was about two years old when 
his mother brought him to Fulton County. He 
was reared on a farm anil wao mentally trained 
in the primitive district schools of that period. 
He made his home with his brother-in-law, An- 
drew Fonts, until he was eighteen years old and 
then went to work at the carpenter's trade. Af- 
ter learning this he began contracting and 
building, and under his supervision were con- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



929 



structed many of the best houses in that part 
of the county, which still stand as monuments 
to his skill. Mr. Hufford purchased his first 
forty acres of land in Buckheart Township, Ful- 
ton County. It was covered with timber and 
the price was $700. He cleared and grubbed 
this tract and out of it made a farm which he 
sold, going then to Doniphan County, Kan.. 
where he bought a tract of 160 acres. He never 
saw this land, but disposed of it at a profit of 
$1,000. He then purchased eighty acres of im- 
proved land in Buckheart Township, which he 
also sold, buying the ICO acres in Section 5, 
Liverpool Township, on which he now lives and 
which constitutes one of the finest farming 
properties in that portion of Fulton County. 
All of his undertakings have resulted success- 
fully and he has accumulated a handsome com- 
petency. Mr. Hufford was one of the organizers 
of the Canton National Bank, in which he holds 
considerable stock, which commands a large 
premium, having doubled in value. The total 
assets of the bank are ?1. 000, 000 and it is one 
of the most stable financial institutions in that 
city. Mr. Hufford has been one of the busiest 
men in Fulton County. He devotes a good deal 
of attention to stock-raising, and the cattle and 
hogs on his farm are of superior grades. 

In December. 1S5C. Mr. Hufford was united 
in marriage with Marinda J. .lohnson. a daugh- 
ter of the venerable Dr. Isaac Johnson, one of 
the pioneers of Fulton County. This union re- 
sulted in the following (hildren: Eugene, who 
resides on the home place; Sophronia, wife of 
Elmer Post, a farmer of Putman Township, Ful- 
ton County; Chloe, wife of Charles H. 
Conklin; Rosetta. wife of Henry Moran. a farm- 
er in Buckheart Totvnship, and Mabel, wife of 
Prof. Charles L. Wallace, of Canton, Fulton 
County. The mother of this family died in 
April, 1892. In politics Mr. Hufford is a strong 
Republican. He cast his first Presidential vote 
for John C. Fremont and has steadfastly sup- 
ported the Republican party throughout his 
life. Mr. Hufford is held in high esteem by a 
wide circle of acquaintances. 

HUGHES, Edward Burns, M. D.— The profes- 
sional experience of Dr. Edward Burns Hughes 
has been acquired in the local schools in sev- 
eral towns in Illinois, including those near Cu- 
ba, where he was born July 25, 1S40; Berna- 
dotte, Ipava, Sniithfield and Canton, 
the last named city having been his 
home since October, 1899. The Doc- 
tor represents one of the early families 
of Illinois, long identified with agriculture, his 
parents being George Washington and Margaret 
Ann ( Boylan ) Hughes, the former born in 
Rome, Ga.. and the latter in, Ohio. George W. 
Hughes enlisted from Lewistown, 111., in Cap- 
tain Sains' Light Horse Cavalry during the 
Black Hawk War, and participated in the bat- 
tle which resulted in Stillman"s defeat near 
Rock River. George W. Hughes died near Lew- 



istown, 111., in March, 1849, when the son, Ed- 
ward B.. was less than nine years of age. 

His mother having married again in 1855, 
the subject of this sketch was thrown entirely 
upon his ojvn resources. After receiving his 
primary education in the local public schools 
he also took a course in Hedding College at 
Abingdon, 111., and in 1S5S began teaching, 
which he continued for twenty-five years, in the 
meantime studying medicine, and for ten years 
of this period (1873-83) practiced medicine in 
conjunction with his calling as a teacher, hav- 
ing previously taken a course in the Medical 
College at Keokuk, Iowa. He was esteemed 
for his thoroughness in instruction and his ex- 
cellence in discipline, and his schools invaria- 
bly maintained a high standard of practical 
scholarship and deportment. During this quar- 
ter of a century he was something more than 
an educator, his energi';^ reaching out into ac- 
tive interest in politics, during which he received 
the support of the Democratic party in many 
offices of trust and responsibility. In Berna- 
dotte Township he was Town Clerk and Road 
Commissioners, and was also Clerk in both 
Cass and Pleasant Townships. 

The marriage of Dr. Hughes to Angenette 
Tuthill occurred in Bernadotte, 111., August 25, 
1809, and of this union there is a son. Claude 
David. Mrs. Hughes was a native of Rochester, 
N. Y.. and was educated in the public schools 
of Bushnell, 111. Mrs. Hughes died July 10, 
1890, after a lingering illness of neurasthenia 
ascites, or general dropsy. He has not since re- 
married. He has one son who is unmarried. Dr. 
Hughes is an honored member of different 
branches of the Masonic fraternity (A. F. & A. 
M.. R. A. M. and R. & S. M. ) , Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of 
Amei'ica. He possesses in generous measure the 
qualities which make the personally popular as 
well as financially successful physician, and his 
reputation is firmly established as an earnest, 
cautious and painstaking healer of men. 

HUGHES, Emmett J., the popular and effi- 
cient City Clerk of Lewistown, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Columbus, Ohio, January 12, 
1878, a son of T. F. and Susan (Ronston) 
Hughes, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania 
and Ohio, who came to Lewistown in 1879. 
His father died in 1898, but his mother and 
her three children survive. Of these, Wilbur, 
a druggist, resides in Keokuk, Iowa, and Ar- 
thur is employed as clerk in a furniture store 
in Lewistown. 

In boyhood Emmett J. Hughes attended the 
public schools, and. at intervals, applied him- 
self to various kinds of work. For three years 
before he left school he followed painting a 
part of the time, and for five years thereafter 
was employed as janitor of the high school. 
He is a young man of ability, of good mental 
attainments and of strict integrity. His suc- 
cess in life is attributable solely to his own 



930 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



energy and perseverance. Politically Mr. 
Hughes is a Democrat. He was elected Town- 
ship Clerk by a large majority, although ordi- 
narily the township is heavily Republican. In 
1903 he was nominated by the People's party 
for City Clerk of Lewistown, and was elected 
by a decisive margin. Again, in 1905, he was 
elected City Clerk on the same ticket by the 
largest majority received by any candidate. 
His conduct of this office has been highly effi- 
cient and has met with signal approbation. 
Fraternally Mr. Hughes is affiliated with the 
K. of P. 

HUGHES, George W.— The active career of 
George W. Hughes is a part of the yesterday 
of Fulton County, but his substantial agricul- 
tural and political efforts are constantly brought 
to mind by his familiar presence in Astoria, to 
which he retired in May, 1882, and where he 
owns a comfortable home amid pleasant sur- 
roundings. Of French maternal ancestry, Mr. 
Hughes was born in Wooster, Wayne County, 
Ohio, January 12, 1822, and is the second old- 
est of the five sons of Colonel Taylor and Mary 
(De Moss) Hughes, natives of Maryland. 

Colonel Taylor Hughes was born near Balti- 
more, Mr., and served as a soldier during the 
War of 1812, being present at and participating 
in the battle of Baltimore. During this 
critical struggle his wife, anxiously waiting in 
her home near the city of Baltimore, listened 
in fear to the booming of musketry and can- 
non. After the War of 1812 he came to Ohio 
and settled near Wooster in that State. In the 
fall of 1840 — the year of General William Henry 
Harrison's election to the Presidency — he 
brought his family to Fulton County, 111., set- 
tling in Woodland Township, where all his sons 
remained until the establishment of homes of 
their own. While residing in Ohio he sei-ved 
as Colonel of the State Militia, and served as 
officer of a Light Horse Company. With the 
exception of a short time spent in Kansas, 
Colonel Hughes continued to make his home in 
Woodland Township. Fulton County, until his 
death in 1874, at the age of eighty-four years, 
his wife surviving him six years and dying at 
the age of eighty-six years. Of their descend- 
ants John D., the oldest son, horn in Maryland, 
died in Summum, Fulton County; William T., 
born in Ohio, died in Woodland Township and 
is buried near Summum; Joshua Hughes, born 
in Ohio, died in Summum, and Neil, the young- 
est, found his last resting place in the same 
peaceful town. Colonel Hughes was prominent 
as a farmer and politician in Maryland, Ohio 
and Illinois, in the former State supporting the 
Whig cause and in the two latter States endors- 
ing the principles of Republicanism. He was 
quiet and unassuming in manner, but the pos- 
sessor of much force of character and determi- 
nation. In religion he was a Baptist, while his 
wife attended the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
In the acquirement of an education George 
W. Hughes was confronted with many serious 



obstacles, chief among which was the necessity 
for assisting with the family maintenance. He 
was consumed with a hunger for knowledge 
while still very young, and at odd times de- 
voured every book that came within reach of 
the humble household. At night, when the 
weary members had gone to their rest, he tar- 
ried in the glow of the fireplace, studying arith- 
metic, grammar and geography and reading the 
records of the men whose deeds have enlivened 
the march of the ages. He readily recalls read- 
ing in the last rays of the daylight, when his 
arms were swollen and sore from swinging the 
cradle for eighteen consecutive days. After his 
marriage, in 1843. to Susan Elliott, he rented a 
farm in Woodland Township and then bought 
a small tract of land, adding thereto until he 
owned 280 acres in one body. Possessed of 
shrewd business ability, his investments always 
have resulted in gain, and his energy has con- 
verted a comparatively unimproved tract into 
one of more than average fertility. For the 
greater part Mr. Hughes has either sold or di- 
vided his property among his children, but still 
retains an income sufficient for all reasonable 
needs, and in addition assists many less fortu- 
nate than himself. 

The first wife of Mr. Hughes died October 9, 
1881, leaving nine of her eleven children, two 
having died in infancy. Of those who attained 
maturity, Hannah Maria is the wife of Ellis 
Shields, of the vicinity of Summum; Myron A. 
married Miranda Salesbury and died in Ne- 
braska; Ariel Josephine is the wife of John J. 
Shields, of Canton; Emma I deceased) was the 
wife of George Saulsbury, of Woodland Town- 
ship; Helen A. is the wife of Preston Prather, 
a farmer of Astoria Township: Julius is men- 
tioned elsewhere in this work, and Taylor is 
deceased. October 18, 1883, Mr. Hughes was 
united in marriage to Mrs. Addie L. Cook (nee 
Bader) as his second wife, who, by her former 
marriage, had four children: Alva B.. of Coun- 
cil Bluffs, Iowa: Park H.. of Ogden, Utah, Gen- 
eral Agent of the Oregon Short Line Railroad; 
Raymond, proprietor of the Ogden Steam Dye 
Works, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Essie, wife 
of Orlando Ewall, a grocer in Coun- 
cil Bluffs. Mr. Hughes is a Repub- 
lican In politics and has held sev- 
eral local offices of importance, being a Jus- 
tice of the Peace during the administration of 
Governors Matteson and Bissell. He is noted 
for his liberality and public spiritedness and 
for his generous support of education and other 
enlightening agencies. In his religious views 
he is a Free Thinker. 

HUGHES, (Rev.) John.— In Rev. John Hughes 
is found one of the most wholesome and human 
of philosophers and most courageous ethical 
teachers that Pulton County ever has known. 
The fragrance of his faith, the encouragement 
to be found in his business success, the extent 
of his insight and services as a legislator, the 
strength and dynamic power of his public ut- 





EMMA MIDDLEKAUFF 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



931 



terances and his maintenance of the truth in 
which he believes and for which he ever has 
been ready to malve war when attacked, unite 
in the making of a career of more than average 
purpose and usefulness. Table Grove, the pres- 
ent home of Mr. Hughes, has been the return- 
ing place of his life ever since his family was 
established in Fulton County in the autumn of 
1S34. He then was three months old and had 
accompanied his parents, George and Esther 
(Mayo) Hughes, in a wagon from what then 
was Geddis, but now is Syracuse, Onondaga 
County, N. Y., where he was born June 1, 1824. 
The father also was born in Geddis and the 
mother was a native of Bridgeport, N. Y., the 
former being of \velsh ancestry and of the fifth 
generation of his family in America. 

George Hughes, the father, was a farmer in 
New York State, and upon his arrival in Ful- 
ton County took up land in Farmers Town- 
ship, where liis wife died December 20, 1S91, 
at age of seventy-nine, his own death occurring 
July 31, 1881. Mr. Hughes was a man of char- 
acter and personality, and wielded a strong in- 
fluence over those around him. He was a 
preacher and follower of the gospel of industry 
and had pronounced opinions upon religion, pol- 
itics and the general conduct of life. He was 
a stanch Republican and deeply grounded in 
the Universalist faith, to the propagation of 
which he contributed for many years. He con- 
quered rather than was conquered by the hard- 
ships of tlie frontier, and when prosperity 
smiled upon the prairies he readily adapted 
himself to its demands and prerogatives. No 
man of his time and place succeeded to a greater 
measure of respect from his fellowmen. Of his 
two sons Freeman died in infancy. 

At a very early period in his life John Hughes 
evinced a predilection for study, and whatever 
leisure could be found when his home tasks 
were done was turned to the acquisition of 
knowledge. He had the power of concentration, 
and therefore the gift of memory, qualities 
which have converted his brain into a store- 
house of profound and useful knowledge. It 
was his good fortune to graduate from the 
Farmington High School to Lombard College, 
at Galesburg, 111., and it was during the latter 
part of his collegiate life that he entered upon 
study for the Universalist ministry. In 1854, 
at the age of twenty, he preached in Avon his 
first sermon, and thereafter he maintained his 
research along theological lines until entering 
upon his active ministerial career in Macomb, 
111., in ISGO. From ISGl until 1867 he preached 
wherever duty called, often riding long dis- 
tances through the country and undergoing the 
trying experiences and hardships of the early 
pioneer preacher. In the meantime he had de- 
veloped debating power, which for many years 
he vigorously applied to the spread of the Uni- 
versalist doctrine, then but imperfectly under- 
stood. Unquestionably he was the best defender 
the church ever had in this part of the Central 
West, and he unhesitatingly accepted every 



challenge, regardless of the creed, denomina- 
tion or standing of his opponents in debate. In 
1860 he had a debate with Joshua Dunham, at 
Pennington's Point, lasting four days, and in 
1868 built the church at Table Grove after a 
debate with Elder J. C. Reynolds, deceased. 
Since its organization he lias been connected 
with the Table Grove Church about eighteen 
years. In 1S72 he held a debate with a Meth- 
odist Episcopal clergyman. Rev. J. H. Hughey, 
D. D., which resulted in the building of a Uni- 
versalist Church in Bloomfleld. Iowa, of which 
he had charge eleven years, and at Lafayette, 
Starke County, he held a debate with Clark 
Braden and thereafter built the church at that 
place. After a debate at Elmer, Mo., with Elder 
W. P. Throgmorton he erected a church at At- 
lanta, near Elmer, making the fourth church 
erected by him as results of his argumentative 
powers. He was two years pastor of the church 
at Muskegon, Mich., and for the same length of 
time was located at Litchfield, 111. During all 
of these years he has conducted church cam- 
paigns in various parts of the Western States, 
and through his instrumentality several con- 
gregations have been organized and placed on 
a working basis. 

During the Civil War Mr. Hughes was a 
stanch Republican, but when the money ques- 
tion became an issue he espoused the cause of 
Democracy. He was a member of the State 
Legislature from the Forty-third District in 
1900 and again in 1902, and besides supporting 
the Local Option bill, introduced a measure giv- 
ing the wife equal rights with the husband in 
the guardianship of children. At the present 
time Illinois is the twelfth State to adopt this 
just measure. In addition he introduced a bill 
giving tax-paying women the right of franchise 
for all save constitutional offices. The political 
services of Mr. Hughes have been marked by 
the same public spiritedness and zeal which 
characterize his other activities, and emphasize 
his nearness to the common needs of the people 
and his hearty sympathy with their Ideals and 
aspirations. 

The marriage of Mr. Hughes and Jemima Bai- 
ley occurred September 13, 1855, and of the 
union there were four children: An infant who 
died unnamed; George, a lawyer by profession 
and a farmer residing near Yates City, 111.; 
Charles E., occupying the old homestead, and 
Lizzie, wife of W. D. Perry, a farmer of Farm- 
ers Township. Mrs. Hughes died January 23, 
1879. Her children received excellent educa- 
tions, and George and Lizzie are graduates of 
Lombard College, Galesburg. 111., of which Mr. 
Hughes has been a Trustee for forty years. 

On February 10, 1880, Mr. Hughes was united 
in marriage to Catherine Matteson, who was 
born in Bellevue. Mich., January 2, 1854, a 
daughter of John and Annie (Miller) Matteson, 
who came from Germany to America when a 
child. Mr. Matteson departed this life in No- 
vember, 1903, and he is survived by his wife, 
who still makes her home in Bellevue. They 



932 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



were the parents of six children, of whom Julia 
is the wife of Griffin Cummins, and re- 
sides in Assyria, Mich.; Eli J. is a resi- 
dent of Adrian, Minn.; Charles is a 
resident of Sioux Rapids, Iowa; Ida is the 
wife of George Kent, of Assyria, Mich., and 
Harry G. lives in Bellevue, Mich. Mrs. Hughes 
was educated in the public schools of Bellevue 
and subsequently engaged in teaching in her 
native town and Grand Rapids, same State. She 
was ordained a minister in the Universalist 
Church in 1895, and since has had charge of a 
church in Sharpsburg and Swan Creek, preach- 
ing in each once a month. For two years she 
was President of the Illinois Equal Suffrage 
Association, in which she has been active for 
many years. She is a woman of more than or- 
dinary mental endowment and strength of 
character, and enjoys a proud position among 
the women of the land who seek the greatest 
privileges and the broadest influence for their 
sex. Fraternally she is associated with the 
Rebekahs. Mr. Hughes is a member of the Ma- 
sons and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
His life has swept by with settings of increased 
prosperity and enlarging opportunities for use- 
fulness, and his name is enrolled among tnose 
who have deejjened and broadened the channels 
of human brotherhood. 

HUGHES, Julius E., a prominent and success- 
ful farmer in Section 17, Lewistown Township, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Woodland 
Townshi]), Fulton County, February 13, 1S58, 
a son of George W. and Susan ( Elliott ) Hughes, 
natives of Ohio. His father was born January 
12, 1822, and is still living in Astoria, 111., 
healthful and active, at the age of eighty-five 
years. The worthy mother was born April 19, 
1S24, and died September 9, 1881. They re- 
moved to Fulton County from Holmes County, 
Ohio, in 1840. The paternal grandfather was 
Taylor Hughes, who was born August 24, 1792, 
and married Mary De Moss, who was born Au- 
gust 21, 1798, of French descent. They settled 
with their family in Fulton County in 1840. 
Both are buried in Woodland Township. They 
were the parents of ten children, six of whom 
are living, the father of Julius F. being the 
eldest of the survivors. The other children 
were: Joshua, deceased: Amanda, widow of 
John G. Smith, a resident of Sunimum, 111.; 
Millie, who is also living there, the widow of 
Thomas Shores: Ruth, the widow of Thomas 
Hagan, and living in Astoria: Mary, wife of 
James M. Onion, a resident of Summum; John 
D., deceased, who left a family: William, de- 
ceased; Ariel, deceased, who became the wife of 
Julius Elliott, deceased, and Cornelius P., de- 
ceased. 

George W. Hughes and his wife were the par- 
ents of the following children, namely: Hannah 
M., wife of Ellis Shields, of Pleasant Town- 
ship, Fulton County; Myron H., deceased: Ariel 
J., wife of John J. Shields, of Canton, 111. ; 
Emma, deceased, wife of George Salisbury, a 



farmer of Woodland Township; Abel W., de- 
ceased, husband of Addle Wagoner, who left 
one child — Beatrice; Augusta, wife of Preston 
Prather, a farmer in Astoria Township; Julius 
E., Franklin T., deceased; Susan Ada, wife of 
Lee Hughes, a resident of Jacksonville, III.; 
George W. and Louis, who died in infancy. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a 
farm and received his early mental instruction 
in the district schools in the vicinity of his 
home, assisting meanwhile in the farm work. 
He remained under the parental roof until his 
marriage in 1881. In 1902 Mr. Hughes bought 
the farm of 200 acres in Lewistown Township, 
on which he has since resided. In the spring 
of 1903 he moved to this farm, which is one of 
the best in the township. He devotes his at- 
tention to general farming and raising stock. 
On his premises may be found grades of stock 
of all kinds, and he is ranked as one of the 
most systematic, progressive and substantial 
farmers of Fulton County. 

On January 9, 1881, Mr. Hughes was united 
in marriage to Addle J. Wagoner, a daughter 
of George and Maria Wagoner, natives of Penn- 
sylvania. This union resulted in one child, 
Alletha, born December 11. 1882, who married 
Lucius L. Shields, a farmer of Pleasant Town- 
ship, Fulton County. The mother died April 
13, 1885. On November 25, 1S8G, Mr. Hughes 
was wedded to Lora Atkinson, and their union 
was the source of five children, as follows: 
Percy, born October 8, 1887, who died the same 
day; Irma, who was born October 28, 1888, and 
is a teacher in Fulton County; James G., born 
April 24, 1891; Constance, born August 30, 1895, 
and Nell, born December 1, 1900. On that date 
the mother of this family passed away. On 
April 1, 1905, Mr. Hughes was joined in wedlock 
with Elizabeth Manley, who was born in Harris 
Township, Fulton County, the daughter of Jacob 
and Rachel (Fonts) Manley. Both the Manley 
and Fonts families were among the honored 
pioneer settlers of the county. Mrs. Hughes in 
girlhood attended the district schools in the vi- 
cinity of her home and afterward became a 
pupil in the Bushnell Normal School and the 
Macomli Normal School and Business Col- 
lege, receiving a thorough mental cul- 
ture. She is well known as an estimable and 
cultured lady, and for fourteen years previous 
to her marriage was engaged in teaching, for 
two years in Iowa and twelve years in McDon- 
ough and Fulton Counties. Her mother is still 
living in Lewistown. her father having passed 
away in 1898. They were the parents of five 
children, namely: Allen, a farmer in McDon- 
ou.gh County. Ill,: Flora, wife of Charles Con- 
verse, of Seattle, Wash.; James a farmer in the 
vicinity of Bushnell, 111.; Elizabeth, and Rachel, 
who married Frank Comstock, a sketch of 
whose lite appears elsewhere in this volume. 

In politics Mr. Hughes is a Republican, and 
fraternally is affiliated with the K. of P. Lodge, 
of Lewistown. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



933 



HUMMEL, Asa W.— When Thomas Hummel 
journeyed from Ohio to Fulton County, 111., in 
a prairie outfit during the early years of the 
white man's occupation, he found conditions 
which spelled suffering, hardship and indefat- 
igable labor. Taking up land on Section 14, 
Young Hickory Township, he cleared the same, 
put in his seed, and surrounded himself and 
family with such rude and questionable com- 
forts as the country afforded. With the spur 
of poverty behind him he forged to the front 
with no uncertain stride, and what was to be- 
come a family landmark grew to represent the 
enterprise and possibility of the first settlers. 
On this farm Marcus Hummel, son of the iiio- 
neer, was born and reared, and here in turn 
Asa W. Hummel, the son of Marcus, was born 
August 4, 1875. Marcus Hummel followed farm- 
ing during his entire active life, reared a large 
family of children and contributed in many 
ways to the stable upbuilding of his township. 

Asa W. Hummel shared the educational, social 
and general advantages of his neighborhood, 
and remained under the parental roof until at- 
taining his majority. January 5, 1877, he mar- 
ried, at London Mills, Myrtle Swigert, who was 
born in Missouri, January 5, 1877. Soon after 
Mr. Hummel settled on what formerly was the 
Sam Abbott farm, which had been purchased 
by his father, and which he still owns and 
manages. It consists of 11.5 acres, on which 
the owner follows general farming and stock- 
raising. Practically all of the improvements 
have been made by Mr. Hummel, as the place 
was devastated by fire several years ago. In 
the comfortable modern home four children 
have been born: Nettie M., Burton W., Bertha 
B. and Cecil R. Mr. Hummel is active in local 
politics, and has been a member of the Board 
of Education for six years. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, In the conduct of his farm Mr. Hummel 
gives evidence of progression and enterprise, 
qualities apparent also in his promotion of edu- 
cation, good government and social purity. 

HUMMEL, Clyde V.— Of the young and prom- 
ising exponents of agriculture and stock-rais- 
ing Young Hickory Township may well place 
reliance upon such enterprising native sons as 
Clyde V. Hummel, who was born on the farm 
he now occupies September 11, 1879, and who 
operates 147 acres of his father's old home- 
stead. Mr. Hummel also owns eighty acres of 
land in his own right, and devotes both prop- 
erties to general farming and stock-raising, 
making a specialty of the standard bred Wilkes 
horses and Poland-China hogs. 

Mr. Hummel gained a practical education in 
the common schools of his township, and was 
thoroughly drilled in farming by his pioneer 
father. January 25, 1902, he was united in 
marriage to Cora Conlan, who was born in 
Knox County, 111., June 7, 1861, and is the 
mother of one son, Lowell H. Mr. Hummel is a 
supporter of the Republican party, a member of 



the Knights of Pythias and an active worker 
and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
He is a young man of character and purpose, 
and is thoroughly in sympathy with his noble 
and satisfying occupation. 

HUNTER, George A., proprietor of a liquor 
store in Canton. 111., was Ijorn in Farmington, 
Fulton County, 111., in 1871, a son of James and 
Amanda (Fink) Hunter, natives of Illinois and 
Ohio, respectively. At an early period James 
Hunter entered into the restaurant business in 
Farmington, and conducted an attractive place 
of entertainment until the time of his death. He 
was a well known citizen and a man of consid- 
erable influence in political affairs, being the 
incumbent of several local offices at different 
times. On his decease G. A. Hunter, who re- 
ceived his education in the Farmington 
schools, and assisted his father in the work of 
the restaurant, succeeded the latter in the man- 
agement, continuing thus about three years. He 
then sold the place and after being employed 
for a while in Canton, opened a liquor store In 
Farmington, which he kept for eight years. 
Disposing of this property, he went to Astoria, 
111., and thence to Beardstown, 111., where he 
was similarly engaged until 1904. At that time 
he bought out the Weiseman concern on West 
Elm Street, in Canton, which he has since con- 
ducted. 

Mr. Hunter was married in 1895 to Maude 
Keith, who was born in Rock Island, 111., and 
their union has been the source of four chil- 
dren, namely: Amelia, Gladys, Edna and Keith. 
Mr. Hunter is a man of popular traits and has 
many friends in Canton, as well as in the other 
localities where he has lived from time to time. 
He is fraternally affiliated with the Order of 
Eagles. 

INGERSOLL, Charles E., a retired farmer and 
lumberman of Canton, Fulton County, 111., is a 
native of that city, born in the year 1849, the 
son of Henry F. and Eveline ( Dewey ) Inger- 
soll, his maternal grandfather, Stephen Dewey, 
having served for many years as County Clerk 
of Fulton County, while his father was one 
of the early and prominent merchants of Can- 
ton. His uncle, J. W. Ingersoll, came to Illi- 
nois from his native city of Ithaca, N. Y., in 
the year 1837, and until the fall of 1839 was in 
the employ of the State, engaged in the pre- 
liminary survey of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road. H. F. Ingersoll had in the meantime set- 
tled in Canton, the former abandoning his 
profession as a civil engineer to form a part- 
nership with his brother in the mercantile 
business, under the firm name of H. F. & J. 
W. Ingersoll. They first purchased a stock of 
goods of D. W. Vittum, opening a store on the 
southeast corner of the square, and Mr. Vit- 
tum became a third owner in the business in 
the spring of 1840, afterward buying out the 
entire concern. Ingersoll Brothers then con- 
ducted another store on the northeast corner 



934 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of the square until 1843, had an establishment 
on the east side for the succeeding three years 
and in 1846 removed to the site ot the present 
Ingersoll Block, which was erected by J. W. 
Ingersoll in the summer of 1868. 

In the late '50s and early '60s the Ingersoll 
brothers also engaged extensively in the pack- 
ing of pork and shipped large quantities of 
grain from Copperas Creek and Liverpool to 
St. Louis. In 1S64, having severed their varied 
and successful business relations, H. F. Inger- 
soll bought the Vittum farm and retired to ag- 
ricultural pursuits, while John Ingersoll con- 
tinued to conduct various mercantile and real- 
estate enterprises. There were five children in 
the family, of whom, besides Charles E., two 
are living, viz.: A daughter in Fulton County 
and a son, who is a Philadelphia physician. 

Charles E. Ingersoll was partially educated 
in the public and high schools of Canton, and 
afterward was a student at Cornell University. 
Business and agricultural pursuits, however, 
were more to his liking than literary matters, 
and for fourteen years he was superintendent 
of the old family farm near Canton, and an- 
other near Oilman, Iroquois County. For six 
years he also engaged In the lumber business 
in Canton, but retired in 1897, and now devotes 
his time to the care ot his farming lands in 
Fulton County and to various investments of a 
similar nature which he has made in Wisconsin. 

In December, 1888, Mr. Ingersoll married 
Miss Alice Parlin. daughter of William Parlin, 
and they have had two sons and one daugh- 
ter: William Parlin, Charles Dewey and Wini- 
fred A. The family home is a commodious and 
beautiful residence on East Chestnut street. 
Mr. Ingersoll is a Republican and a Knight of 
Pythias, but is a man of domestic and quiet 
tastes and has no desire to go abroad into 
politics and fraternal life. 

INGERSOLL, Henry F. (deceased), one of the 

most extensive and prosperous merchants who 
figured conspicuously in the business activities 
of Canton, Fulton County, 111., at an early pe- 
riod, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., October 
31, 1S15. He was one of the pioneer settlers of 
this region, having journeyed to Canton from 
Ithaca, N. Y., in 1839. Together with his broth- 
er. John W. Ingersoll, he purchased the stock 
of goods of D. W. Vittum. In the spring of 
1840 Mr. Vittum bought a one-third interest in 
the concern and was identified with its affairs 
under the style of Ingersoll & Vittum, until 
the fall of 1841. At that period he purchased 
the interests of the Ingersoll brothers. The In- 
gersolls immediately began business again un- 
der the old firm nama of H. F. & J. W. Inger- 
soll. During the early years of their enterprise 
they packed pork and shipped an immense 
amount of grain from Copperas Creek and Liv- 
erpool, III., to St. Louis. About 18S0 Henry 
F. Ingersoll retired from active business, but 
never lost interest in the affairs of the city he 



had done so much to develop, his death occur- 
ring September 12, 1890. 

On April 2, 1846, Mr. Ingersoll was united in 
marriage with Eveline Dewey, a native of Lew- 
istown. 111., and a daughter of Stephen Dewey, 
of that place, who was elected County Clerk 
of Fulton County in 1837 and served in that 
capacity for a number of years. In politics Mr. 
Ingersoll was a Republican. Religiously he was 
associated with the Congregational Church. In 
his day he was one of the most important fac- 
tors in the growth of Canton and his life left an 
Indelible impress upon the progress of the city. 

IRWIN, Isaac. — The fact that Isaac Irwin was 
able to retire from active life in 1895, at the age 
of fifty-two, argues well for his industry, busi- 
ness ability and wise disposal of opportunity. 
His fortunes have joined those of Fulton Coun- 
ty for one year less than half a century, and his 
occupation has been that pursued by his fore- 
fathers in Pennsylvania for more than a cen- 
tury — the tilling of the soil and the raising of 
the products necessary for the well-being and 
maintenance of mankind. His parents, Isaac 
and Catherine (Markell) Irwin, owned a farm 
in Pennsylvania and it was there that Isaac 
Irwin. Jr., was born September 30. 1843. 

Mr. Irwin had a meager and unsatisfactory 
early education, but the very limitations under 
which he labored stimulated a love for self-im- 
lirovement which has continued uninterruptedly 
up to the present time. It was necessary tor 
him to make himself useful at a very early a,ge, 
for the small farm was called upon to supply 
the needs of nine children, eight of whom are 
still living. Isaac was thirteen when he arrived 
in Fulton County in 1856, and in time, by econ- 
omy and unremitting application, he was able 
to invest in land of his own, adding to it until 
he was the possessor of 160 acres in Putman 
Township. Of this he now owns 128 acres, from 
the rental of which he derives a comfortable 
income. He married. May 2, 1868, Catherine 
Dougherty, a native of McDonough County, this 
State, and daughter of Robert Dougherty, a 
large land owner and early settler. Mr. and 
Mrs. Irwin are the parents of nine children, 
those living being: Mrs. Christina Donovan; 
Mrs. Emma Pittman; Mrs. Lulu Decker; Clar- 
ence, living in Cuba; Harley and Earl. Mr. 
Irwin has never identified himself with any 
particular political party, casting his vote ac- 
cording to the merits of the candidates. He is 
highly esteemed in the community and has 
many friends. 

IRWIN, John, a suljstantial and prosperous 
farmer and well-known banker of Cuba, Fulton 
County, III., was born in Center County, Pa.. 
April 20. 1848. and there in boyhood received 
his mental training. He is a son of Isaac and 
Catherine (Markland) Irwin, natives of Penn- 
sylvania, the former being born in York County, 
that State. Isaac Irwin located in Cuba at an 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



935 



early period, bought land and carried on agri- 
cultural pursuits. 

John Irwin was ten years old when he was 
brought to Fulton County; was reared on his 
father's farm, and has always followed agri- 
culture. At present he owns his farm of 327 
acres, two and a halt miles southeast of Cuba, 
where stock-raising has long occupied much of 
his attention, as well as the care of city prop- 
erty in Cuba, where he resides. In 1S93, to- 
gether with others, he entered into the bank- 
ing business, and on August 11, 1902, they or- 
ganized the Farmers' State Bank in Cuba. Of 
this institution Mr. Irwin is President; M. M. 
Waughtel, Vice President; P. H. Snively, Cash- 
ier, and M. C. Scott, Assistant Cashier. The Di- 
rectors are as follows: John Irwin, Joseph 
Beam, John Prickett. H. H. Rogers. J. C. Shy- 
rock, M. M. Waughtel and P. H. Snively. 

On March 1. 18G8, Mr. Irwin was united in 
marriage with Eliza J. Waddell, who is a native 
of Ohio. In politics Mr. Irwin is a supporter of 
the Democratic party, and has held the office of 
Police Magistrate of Cuba for eight years. Fra- 
ternally he is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., M. 
W. of A. and Royal Americans. He is a man of 
energy, and is regarded as one of the most use- 
ful members of the community. 

JACOBS, Balthazer (deceased).— To the lover 
of nature no occupation known to man fur- 
nishes more interesting possibilities than the 
nursery business. Recent developments along 
this line liave been as wonderful as they were 
formerly unexpected and unbelievable. Yet 
even to the man who labors faithfully to main- 
tain standards already established and who 
has no time to explore in luring 
paths of promise, there always is 
that satisfaction in accomplishment possi- 
ble only when one works in collaboration 
with the elements of creation. Canton has had 
its share of earnest, painstaking nurserymen, 
men who delighted in their labor and contrib- 
uted liberally to the well-being of the commu- 
nity. Few, however, have had a longer or more 
prosperous career than Balthsizer Jacobs, the 
possessor of a competence and now retired from 
active life, but formerly the best-known nur- 
seryman in Fulton County. 

Mr. Jacobs first became interested in his 
chosen occupation in his native Rhine Province, 
Germany, where he was born November 25, 
1827. Besides himself, his parents, Peter and 
Mary (Rechner) Jacobs, had six other children: 
George, Joseph, Jacob, Antoine, Elizabeth and 
Mary. The family lived on a farm, from which 
Balthazer departed at the age of fourteen to 
learn the wagon-making trade, with which use- 
ful accomplishment well in hand he emigrated 
to the United States in 18.50, some time after 
the death of his father and fourteen years pre- 
vious to the death of his mother. He worked 
at his trade in New York City, Buffalo and other 
New York towns, and finally turned his atten- 
tion to the carpentering business in Buffalo and 



Niagara Falls, a trade which he subsequently 
followed for a year in Polo, Ogle County, Ili. 
He then purchased eighty acres of land, which 
he cultivated until 1865, and from then until 
1869 was variously employed in different parts 
of the State. Selecting Canton as a favorable 
site for the establishment of a nursery busi- 
ness, he began on a small scale with a quarter 
of an acre in the heart of the city, setting the 
same to a high grade of potatoes, for which he 
found a ready market. His business grew apace 
until he owned eleven lots on Elm Street and 
one and a half lots on White Street, equipped 
with two dwellings and three large green- 
houses. His gardening business included prac- 
tically all of the vegetables in popular demand 
and he derived a large income from his beau- 
tiful and seasonable flowers, as well as the 
products of his berry culture. His vegetables, 
flowers and fruits reached the remote corners 
of the county, and his name became associated 
with all that was best in garden provisioning 
and floriculture. 

The marriage of Mr. Jacobs and Anna Marv 
Walters occurred in May. 1877. Mrs. Jacobs 
was born in Germany and is n daughter of Con- 
rad Walters, also born in Germany. There are 
five sons in the family, viz.: George, Carl, 
Lewis, John and Frank. Mr. Jacobs is a mem- 
ber of the Roman Catholic Church and his wife 
is a devout member of the German Evangelical 
Lutheran Church. Both are among the highly 
esteemed and substantial German-Americans of 
this town, representing in their quiet, indus- 
trious and orderly lives that element from 
across the sea which has ever been a credit to 
the industries, government and social life of 
this country. Mr. Jacobs died November 29, 
1S9S. in his seventy-first year. 

JACOBUS, Andrew J. — An arduous and haz- 
ardous task confronted those venturesome and 
hardy men who forsook the security and com- 
forts of their Eastern States in early days, 
and penetrated the wilds of the untrodden West 
to establish there for themselves new homes. 
None but themselves and their children can 
realize, in the faintest degree, the difficulties 
with which they have contended, the perils to 
which they were exposed, and the privations 
which they endured. Fortunately they were 
animated by an indomitable spirit and sus- 
tained by inflexible resolution, and patiently, 
perseveringly and steadfastly accomplished 
their mission, leaving to their posterity the 
fruits of their enterprise an advanced civiliza- 
tion. To the memories of the devoted and self- 
sacrificing wives of the pioneer settlers of Illi- 
nois adequate tribute can never be rendered, 
but the remembrance of their virtues has 
served as a high incentive in molding the lives 
of their children, some of whom still survive 
amid scenes of their childhood. Among these 
venerable men is the subject of this personal 
record, Andrew J. Jacobus, a retired farmer 
now living in Farmington, Fulton County, 111. 



,936 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Mr. Jacobus was born June 19, 1829. at St. 
Omer, Decatur County, Ind., the son of James 
and Eliza (Broderick) Jacobus, natives of the 
State of New Yorli. Simon Jacobus, his grand- 
father, who was a native of Vermont, was a 
soldier in the War of 1S12, serving in a New 
Yorl< regiment, and being wounded in that con- 
flict. James Jacobus removed at an early 
period from New York to Indiana, whence in 
1846 he came to Illinois, where he purchased a 
farm in the southwest quarter of Section 17, 
Farmington Township, Fulton County. There 
he remained successfully engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits until his death in 1899. depart- 
ing this life at the age of ninety-five years, six 
months and five days, having always enjoyed 
good health until shortly before his decease. 
His son. Andrew J., received his early mental 
training in the district schools of Indiana, and 
accompanied his parents to Illinois when about 
seventeen years of age. After his marriage he 
applied himself to the cultivation of his farm, 
situated in the northwest quarter of Section 17, 
Farmington Township, until 1884. In that year 
he moved to Farmington, purchasing a house 
and lot near the schoolhouse on Fort Street, 
This he sold in 1893 and built a residence on 
Main Street south of Fort Street, which he 
sold to William Greenhouse in May, 1902, and 
bought of Mrs. Converse a house on the same 
street, north of Fort Street. He Is now living 
in retirement, his family being composed of his 
wife and grandchild, Charles Taber. For the 
past few years he has not enjoyed the best of 
health. 

On February 25, 18C9, Mr. Jacobus was united 
in marriage with Anna Tabor, a daughter of 
William Tabor. Mrs. Jacobus, a most estima- 
ule woman, is a native of Indiana, and there, 
in youth, received her education in the district 
schools. 

In politics the subject of this sketch has acted 
with the Republican party, has served as a 
member of the School Board, and was acting in 
that capacity when the "Shadd Hills" school- 
house was built. This was erected in District 
No. 7, in 1859, and continues in use for school 
purposes at the present time. Mr. Jacobus 
has lived a long, upright, industrious and use- 
ful life, and in the ripeness of his years is an 
object of sincere respect and cordial esteem 
on the part of his neighbors and many friends. 

JENKINS, David M.— For the past eleven 
years David' M. Jenkins has been a member of 
the retired colony of Cuba. Fulton County, 
where he owns a pleasant home and devotes 
himself to its oversight and improvement. He 
still is active and possessed of sound faculties, 
although seventy-five years have unrolled their 
length since his birth. April 15, 1832. His mem- 
ories are culled from experiences as an agri- 
culturist, miner and soldier, and particularly 
are rich in incidents relating to the very early 
history of the State of Illinois. 

With his parents, T. S. and Mary (Shelton) 



Jenkins, natives of Tennessee and Kentucky, re- 
spectively, David M. Jenkins, when two years 
of age, settled in the southern part 
of Fulton County in 1834, his fa- 
ther taking up 160 acres of Government land 
near Waterford, near Spoon River. This prop- 
erty was cleared and developed and the owner 
acquired a competence in produce and stock, 
at the same time taking an active part in poli- 
tics and other phases of community growth. 
The senior Mr. Jenkins was a Justice of the 
Peace for twenty-one years, and during that 
time settled practically all of the disputes which 
arose in the township. He also served as Col- 
lector and Supervisor. He made the Spoon 
River farm his home until the death of his wife 
in 1844, where his death also occurred in 1875. 
He was the parent of seven children, of whom 
only two are living. 

From 1S52 until 1854 David M. Jenkins lived 
in California, and in the mining camps of that 
region sought to wrest a quickly gained for- 
tune. Returning with but partially realized 
expectations, he located on forty acres of land 
near Waterford, which in 1881 he sold and re- 
moved to leo acres of land in Deerfield Town- 
ship, which he still owns and upon which he 
lived until retiring to his ))resent residence in 
Cuba in 1895. At the beginning of the Civil 
War he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred 
and Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and 
through the ever changing experiences of the 
Rebellion, carried his knapsack and bravely per- 
formed his part as a private, being wounded in 
the battles of Missionary Ridge and Resaca. 

In 1859 Mr. Jenkins married Mary Peterson, 
a native of New Jersey, and of this union there 
are seven children: Mary, wife of George Tomp- 
kins, of Kansas; Elmer, deceased; Asahel, 
George, Anna, wife of Mr. Boyer, of California; 
Fred, on the home farm, and Hobart. who is 
an attorney-at-law. Mr. Jenkins is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His asso- 
ciation with the county has tended to its bet- 
terment, and to its support of honest, patriotic 
and high-minded citizenship. 

JENKINS, Lemuel C, an enterprising and en- 
ergetic young farmer, who is making rapid 
progress in acquiring a prominent position in 
the agricultural ranks of Lewistown Township, 
Fulton County, 111., is successfully pursuing 
his vocation in Section 23 of that township. 
He was born in the State of Virginia, December 
25, 1876, a son of Abraham and Dundean 
(Crow) Jenkins, natives of the Old Dominion, 
where their social position was among the first 
families. Abram Jenkins was a farmer by oc- 
cupation, and his life was spent in his native 
State in the pursuit of agriculture. He de- 
parted this life October 15, 1900. He and his 
wife were the parents of the following chil- 
dren: Granville B., who is engaged in farm- 
ing in the vicinity of Oak Park, Va.; Nimrod 
A., who follows a like occupation near Cuba, 
Fulton County, 111.; Walker J., who is asso- 




/ // ' 



(hu^At^t^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



937 



elated with his brother Lemuel in operating the 
Campbell farm; Wilton J. and Bertha V., who 
are at home; Mary, deceased; and one that died 
in infancy. 

In youthful days the subject of this sketch 
attended the common schools of his native 
State, where he spent his subsequent years un- 
til 1902. On February 28th of that year he 
left Virginia, and located in Fulton County, 
111., whither his brother, Nimrod, had pre- 
ceded him about two years. On his arrival 
Mr. Jenkins went to work by the month on 
Mr. Fred Pickett's farm, where he spent one 
summer. In 1903 he was likewise employed 
by Mrs. Samuel Campbell, and, in 1904, took 
charge of that lady's farm, containing 160 
acres. There, in conjunction with his brother, 
as before mentioned, he is engaged in general 
farming, and also devotes considerable atten- 
tion to the raising of good grades of horses, cat- 
tle and hogs. He gives preference to the Nor- 
man breed of horses. His hogs are the best 
grade of Poland-Chinas, and his cattle, of the 
Polled-Angus variety. 

After he had become fully established in his 
new surroundings Mr. Jenkins sent for his 
worthy mother and the rest of the family, 
and they joined him in the spring of 1904, thus 
reuniting the members of the household. In 
polities the subject of this sketch is a sup- 
porter of the Democratic party, and fraternally 
is affiliated with the K. of P. His good quali- 
ties have won him many friends, and he has 
the good wishes of all who knew him. The 
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

'JENKINS, W. T. — Emerging from the back- 
ground of the early history of Fulton County is 
the strong and courageous personality of Thom- 
as S. Jenkins, who was born in Tennessee, and 
who, hearing the call of the prairies of the Cen- 
tral West, brought his family with team and 
wagon to Illinois in the early part of 1830. He 
was a minister of the gospel for many years of 
his life and for some years was a Justice of the 
Peace, but his material wealth was gathered 
from the soil of the township upon which he 
was one of the first arrivals, and to the cultiva- 
tion of which he spent the balance of his life. 
He was an important jjolitical factor before, 
during and after the organization of the county 
and was regarded as a man of broad views, 
sound judgment and invariable moral rectitude. 
James K. Jenkins, representing the second 
generation of his family in Fulton County, was 
born on his father's farm and educated in the 
early schools of his time. He married Minerva 
Ham, of Lewistown Township, and reared a 
family of two sons and two daughters, of whom 
W. T., now filling the position of engineer for 
the Essex & Fritz Coal Mining Company, was 
bom in Waterford Township, this county, Sep- 
tember S, 1S65. The young man was reared on 
the home farm and attended the public schools 
during the winter season and, developing de- 
21 



cidedly mechanical tendencies, ran a threshing 
machine and studied engineering for several 
seasons. November 27, 1892, he received a 
mining engineer's certificate, and ever since 
has followed that calling, meeting with the suc- 
cess due his energy and ability. He became 
identified with the Essex & Fritz Coal Mining 
Company about eighteen months ago. July 25, 
1894, he was united in marriage to Osie M. 
Childers, a native of Fulton County, and of this 
union there are six children: Bertha O., Ida 
M., James K., Alice, Thomas S. and Cecil. Mr. 
Jenkins is, fraternally identified with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an in- 
dustrious and painstaking man and enjoys the 
good will and respect of all who know him. 

JEWELL, 'William S., the able and efficient 
State's Attorney of Fulton County, 111., was born 
in Logan County, 111.. May 12. 1SG7, the son of 
John F. and Julia I Smith) Jewell, natives of 
Illinois, They were the parents of the follow- 
ing children, namely: William S., Ida, wife of 
Harry B. Stoge, of Lewistown, 111,; Josephine, 
wife of Harry Mathews, of Canton, 111., and 
Elizabeth, Clara and Minnie, who dwell under 
the parental roof. John F. Jewell was a mem- 
ber of the Thirty-secontl Regiment, Illinois 'Vol- 
unteer Infantry, during the Civil War, and took 
part in Sherman's March to the Sea. In the 
battle of Atlanta he was struck in the left shoul- 
der by a ball, which glanced downward. On 
account of the location of the ball the surgeon 
declined to undertake its extraction, and for 
twenty long years he carried it in his body, 
causing him at times great suffering. The ball 
gradually worked its way to his side and made 
its exit under the arm. He followed farming 
until he came to Lewistown in 1893. when the 
effects of this wound, resulting in a general im- 
pairment of his health, compelled him to retire 
from active life. Enos Jewell, the father of 
John F., was one of the pioneers of Fulton 
County and a prominent figure in the early his- 
tory of Lewistown. 

The early years of William S. Jewell were 
spent upon the farm. He attended the district 
schools in the neighborhood of his home and 
made the most of his educational advantages. 
In 1892 he entered the office of Judge Edwards 
and began the study of law, continuing thus 
for two years. He then spent one year in the 
office of John A. Gray, now Circuit Judge In 
the judicial district of which Fulton County 
forms a part, and afterward reviewed his stud- 
ies for three years. In 1899 he was admitted 
to the bar and by diligent application to his 
profession, combined with superior talent, at- 
tained an excellent standing as a lawyer and 
now ranks among the leading members of the 
Fulton County bar. 

In politics Mr. Jewell is a stanch Republican 
and takes an active interest in the success of 
his party. In 1899 he was elected City Attor- 
ney of Lewistown and was re-elected in 1901. 
In 1900 he sought the nomination for State's 



938 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Attorney, but was defeated by Bernard H. Tay- 
lor, who, on being elected, appointed the sub- 
ject of this sketch First Assistant State's Attor- 
ney. In 1904 Mr. Jewell received the nomina- 
tion and was elected State's Attorney by a ma- 
jority of 1,577. In the administration of the 
affairs of this office he has reflected honor upon 
himself and his constituents. In fraternal cir- 
cles Mr. Jewell is identified with the K. of P., 
M. W. A. and is a member of Lewistown Lodge, 
A. F. & A. M. 

JOHNSON, Charles E.— To no one man does 
Canton owe more for a practical demonstra- 
tion of substantial and effective building than 
to Charles E. Johnson. Skill, energy, resource 
and continual advancement are levers in the 
constructive machinery of this master builder. 
He has the natural pride of the true artisan, 
especially of one who uses his worth to create, 
and who must needs, in the future be sur- 
rounded by his work, and hear on all sides the 
estimate placed by the community. Mr. John- 
son established his contracting business in 
Canton in 1895, and with characteristic energy 
has lost no time in useless idleness, but by the 
sheer force of his determination to succeed, 
and his firm belief in his ability to accom- 
plish anything within reason, has brought work 
his way, and made it of lasting good to the 
community. Of the buildings due to his skill 
may be mentioned the residences of H. H. 
Orendorff, H. B. Heald and George Chapman; 
the Page, Mathews, Duval and Eyerley apart- 
ment buildings; and the high school building, 
completed in 1903, fourteen months after the 
start. At the time of this> writing Mr. John- 
son is building a hotel for Henry Roberts on 
South First Street. 

Mr. Johnson has si)ent practically his entire 
life in Canton, where he was born in 1864, a 
son of Seymour and Eliza (Lair) Johnson, 
natives of New Jersey and Ohio, respectively. 
His father came to this county with his par- 
ents when a child, locating on a farm three 
miles north of Canton. Charles E. was edu- 
cated in the public schools, and in early life 
evidenced the mechanical ingenuity which 
finally found vent in the carpenter's trade, and 
in later lite in that of building and contract- 
ing. Mr. Johnson married Lottie Zwisler in 
1886, and he has a son and a daughter, Rodney 
and Blanche. He is a Democrat in politics, 
and fraternally is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias 
and the Order of Eagles; is also a member of 
the Carpenters' Union. To his superior trade 
qualifications Mr. Johnson adds the advantages 
of keen intelligence, broad, general Information 
and a personality pleasing, adaptive and con- 
fidence inspiring. He has many friends and a 
promising future. 

JOHNSON, George W.— Starting upon his in- 
dependent career at the age of twenty-one years 
and with few advantages save an irregularly 



acquired education, George W. Johnson has 
worked his way to the ownership of a farm of 
11114 acres on Section 24, Ellisville Township. 
Mr. Johnson was born in the village of Ellis- 
ville, Fulton County, September 15, 1866, the 
son of Wesley and Mary (Lock) Johnson, who 
were natives of Ohio, and who some time after 
their marriage in 1849 came to Ellisville, where 
the father followed his trade of blacksmithing 
for twenty years. He then purchased a small 
farm in the vicinity of the town, which he 
operated for several years. Then he returned 
to his trade, which he followed until his death 
in 1886. 

In 1887 George W. Johnson went to Kansas, 
where he proved up a land claim in Hamilton 
County, that State. Returning to Illinois in 
1888 he worked out by the month until 1891, 
when he began farming on rented land, which 
he continued until 1901. He then bought a 
farm of 135 acres on Section 21 in Young Hick- 
ory Township, Fulton County, which he sold in 
1904 and bought a farm in Charles Mix County, 
S. D., where he engaged in farming one year. 
Then returning to Illinois he bought the farm 
in Ellisville Townshi]), where he now resides, 
and on which he carries on general farming 
and stock-raising, and is mailing many fine im- 
provements. 

Mr. Johnson's marriage to Emma Bernhardt, 
who was born in Lee Township, July 14, 1863, 
occurred May 27, 1891, and of their union there 
is a son, Ellis. Mr. Johnson espoused the cause 
of Republicanism in his early voting days, and 
since has served his party in numerous capaci- 
ties, among them as Justice of the Peace for 
many years. He is a stanch supporter of the 
Christian Church. A man of intelligence and 
forethought, he commands the esteem and good 
will of all who know him, and is recognized 
as one of the township's most potent and up- 
building influences. 

JOHNSON, Jesse P., a banker of superior abil- 
ity, high character and excellent repute in finan- 
cial circles, whose name is familiar to the peo- 
ple of Fulton County. 111., and the adjacent 
country, as President of the Bank of Avon, of 
which he is the founder, was born in Warren 
County, this State, in December, 1861. He is a 
son of James C. and Emily R. (Pittman) John- 
son, also natives of that county. The father 
was for many years a merchant at Greenbush, 
111., where he was a prominent and prosperous 
member of the community. He is still living 
but has withdrawn from mercantile endeavors 
and is passing the leisure period of a busy ca- 
reer in comfortable retirement at Avon, an ob- 
ject of sincere respect and cordial regard to 
all who enjoy his acquaintance. His worthy 
wife died in March. 1907. To them were born 
four children, as follows: Jesse P., Samantha, 
W. B. and Charles W, 

In boyhood Jesse P. Johnson attended the 
public schools of Warren County. 111., and later 
completed his education in the Quincy Normal 




CHARLES W. MUMMEY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



939 



School. Until he entered upon a banking ca- 
reer the greater portion of his mature life was 
occupied with agricultural pursuits. He had 
about 700 acres of land in Warren County, on 
which he carried on general farming, devoting 
a considerable share of his attention to feed- 
ing cattle. In 1900 he organized the banking 
institution of which he is now the head, build- 
ing the two-story structure, nineteen by seventy 
feet in dimensions, in which the operations of 
the bank are conducted. The chief official of 
the institution besides Jesse P. Johnson is Franlv 
G. Johnson, its Cashier. The bank transacts 
a general banking business and has a member- 
ship in the State Bankers' Association. The 
farmers of the region surrounding Avon and the 
business people of the town repose a large de- 
gree of confidence in the Bank of Avon, and its 
patronage is constantly increasing. It is the 
owner of 190 acres of land lying within the lim- 
its of the village corporation and 310 acres in 
Warren County, 111. 

On December 28, 1881, Mr. Johnson was united 
in marriage with Ida N. Irving, who was born 
in the State of New Jersey. Four children re- 
sulted from this union, namely: Harry, who 
died in 1901: Franklin G.. Jesse P.. who is at- 
tending school, and Sylvester S. 

In politics Mr. Johnson supports the jjolicies 
of the Republican party. Fraternally he is affil- 
iated with the K. of P. and the A. F. & A. M. 
He is very successful in his business undertak- 
ings and his executive qualities are of an ex- 
ceptional character. As a financier the sagacity 
and sound judgment manifested by him are 
recognized by all. In private life his course 
is exemplary, and as a citizen he is one of the 
most useful members of the community. 

JOHNSON, John W.— Two occupations, farm- 
ing and preaching, have entered into the career 
and contributed to the usefulness of 
John W. Johnson, who is a Fulton Coun- 
ty pioneer of 1857 and the owner, by 
virtue of his unaided endeavor, of a farm of 
260 acres in Sections 3 and 4, Banner Town- 
ship. The first twenty years of his life Mr. 
Johnson spent in Marshall County, W. Va., 
where he was born November 24, 1837, the son 
of Abraham and Martha (Crawford) Johnson, 
Southerners by birth and farmers by occupation. 

Educated in the early subscription schools 
of the South, Mr. Johnson supplemented his 
youthful training by the research of later years, 
and even when working by the month after his 
arrival in Fulton County, in the spring of 1857, 
spent his leisure in storing up information 
which should broaden his opportunities in time 
to come. Economy and industry resulted in his 
final ownership of his present farm, which is 
well improved and devoted to breeding stock 
and raising general produce. He farmed unin- 
terruptedly until ISSO, in the meantime devoting 
much of his spare time to the spread of reli- 
gious doctrine, and in 1880 was ordained a min- 



ister of the Gospel in the Methodist Protestant 
Church. 

A stanch Republican, and now, as formerly, 
active in the councils of his party, Mr. Johnson 
has represented his county in the Illinois Legis- 
lature four consecutive terms (1894-1902), and 
also has served as Supervisor and School Di- 
rector. His marriage with Elizabeth Johnson, 
a daughter of Robert Johnson, of Washington 
County, Pa., occurred February 13, 1860, and of 
this union there have been three children, two 
of whom are living: Patience, the wife of E. 
P. Pool, of Canton, and Edgar A., also of Ban- 
ner Township. Mr. Johnson is a man of firm 
character and pronounced ideas, and his lite is 
a lesson of patience, thoroughness and good- 
ness. Serenity of disposition and optimism of 
view have drawn to him the affection of many 
and the honest regard of all who know him. 

JOHNSON, Stephen, foreman of the Alex- 
ander Lumber Company in Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Canton Township, 
Fulton County, in 1861, a son of Emsley and 
Eleanor (Brook) Johnson, of whom the former 
was born in Canton Township, and the latter in 
the State of Ohio. Mr. Johnson received his 
education in the district schools, and in the 
Dixon and Bushnell Normal schools. In 1890 
he went into the lumber business, with which 
he has been connected ever since. 

In 1892 Mr. Johnson was married to Emma 
Pouts, who was born and schooled in Canton, 
111. Politically he is a supporter of the Demo- 
cratic party, and fraternally has been identi- 
fied with the K. of P. for twenty years. 

JONES, Thomas, the well known, eflicient and 
popular Superintendent of Streets in the city 
of Canton, 111., was born in Caseyville, St. Clair 
County, 111., December 8, 1859, a son of Lewis L. 
and Elizabeth (Morgan) Jones, natives of 
Wales, who emigrated to the United States 
about the year 1860. Six years later Lewis L. 
Jones came to Canton, 111., and for eight years 
acted in the capacity of Steward of the Fulton 
County Poor Farm, afterwards carrying on 
farming in Orion Township. He departed this 
life in 1902, his wife passing away in 1903. 
Thomas Jones received his education in the 
common schools of Fulton County, and was 
reared on his father's farm. He was appointed 
Superintendent of Streets by Mayor Hanlon, 
and has made an excellent record in discharg- 
ing the duties of that office. 

In 1SS3 Mr. Jones' was united in marriage 
with Catherine Maguire, a daughter of John 
Maguire, who came to this country February 
11, 1846. Mr. Maguire was born at Manor Ham- 
ilton, County Leitrim, Ireland, June 24, 1826, 
his grandfather having been engaged in the 
practice of medicine there. Some time after 
landing in New York City, Mr. Maguire went to 
Newburgh. N. Y., on the Hudson River, where 
he remained five years on a farm. He was 



940 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



married in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., January 1, 1850, 
and after the event went west to Wisconsin, 
locating In the town of Whitewater, where he 
remained eleven years. In 1863 he moved to 
Canton, 111., and followed farming and city 
work until prevented by old age from active 
exertion. He makes his home with Mr. and 
Mrs. Jones. He is the father of eight living 
children, at Jollows: Ann, Bedelia, Thomas, a 
resident of Elmwood, 111.; John and Dennis, 
who live in Nebraska; Mary, whose residence 
is in Elmwood, 111., and Mrs. William Snygart 
and Mrs. Andrew Stewart, both of whom are 
living in Knox County, 111., at Rapatee. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jones have one daughter, namely: 
Catherine Willison. Both husband and wife 
are held in high esteem for their many good 
qualities, and their friends are numerous. Mr. 
Jones is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F. 

JUDD, S. Corning.— (See page 310). 

JONES, William D., a well known and pros- 
perous merchant of Canton, Pulton County, 111., 
is a native of Wales, where he was born in 
1848, his parents being Lewis L. and Elizabeth 
(Morgan) Jones, also natives of that country. 
When he was an infant of one year Mr. Jones 
■was brought by his father to the United States. 
The passage across the Atlantic was made in a 
sailing vessel and after a voyage of seventeen 
weeks the family landed at New Orleans. 
Thence proceeding north by way of the Missis- 
sippi River, they continued their journey up the 
Missouri to Council Bluffs during the mem- 
orable cholera epidemic of that period. Then 
crossing the plains in a wagon drawn by an ox- 
team, they finally reached Salt Lake City, re- 
maining there eighteen years. Returning East 
in 1S67, they came to Illinois, locating in the 
vicinity of O'Fallon, St. Clair County. There 
the father followed the occupation of a mine 
operator until he moved to Fulton County, 
where he was likewise engaged at Rawalt for 
a number of years. William D. Jones received 
his education in the common schools of Utah 
and accompanied his parents in their different 
removals, applying himself to farming on 
reaching Fulton County, on a place which his 
father had bought in Orion Township. Thus he 
continued until 1893. when he established his 
home in the city of Canton, and there spent 
three years in the ice and soda-water trade. 
In the spring of 1891 he bought out the De- 
Wolfe concern in Canton and has since that 
time conducted this business on North Main 
Street. The farm in Orion Township, consist- 
ing of 160 acres, is still his property, and has 
been thoroughly improved. 

In 1875 Mr. Jones was united in marriage 
with Libbie Abbott, who was born in Fulton 
County, 111., and four children have resulted 
from this union, namely: Frederick and Al- 
bert, deceased; Anna and Blanche. Mr. Jones 
has built up a large and profitable patronage. 
He is a man of excellent character and good 



business qualifications, and his standing in the 
community as a merchant and as a citizen is of 

the best. 

KEEPER, Edward W., a well-known and suc- 
cessful lawyer of Lewistown, Pulton County, 
111., was born in Dauphin County, Pa., May 2, 
1868, and is a son of John Keefer, a native 
of Pennsylvania. He has several brothers and 
sisters, namely: Stephen, who lives in Lan- 
caster. Pa.; Mrs. Elizabeth Emerich. who is a 
resident of Hummelstown, that State; John, of 
Massillon, Ohio; Mary (Mrs. Walters), of Har- 
risburg. Pa.; William, of Elkhorn, Colo.; and 
Katherine, of York, Pa. The father of this 
family died when Edward W. was but three 
years old. and the latter then went to live with 
an elder brother. 

Edward W. Keefer spent his boyhood on the 
farm, and pursued the elementary branches 
of study in the district schools, remaining in 
Pennsylvania until 1882. He then came to As- 
toria, Fulton County, where he was employed 
at farm work. From his wages lie saved a 
sufficient amount to attend a normal school 
for two terms and prepare himself for teach- 
ing, being thus employed for two terms. Dur- 
ing these years he read law, and after relin- 
quishing the teacher's work, he continued his 
studies in the office of Kinsey Thomas. In 
1892 he entered the Wesleyan University, at 
Bloomington, 111., and was admitted to the bar 
in 1893. After completing his studies he spent 
two years in Oklahoma and California, open- 
ing a law office in California. In 1896 he re- 
turned to Astoria and practiced law there one 
year. Coming to Lewistown, he entered into 
a law partnership with W. C. Worley, and in 
1901 was appointed Master in Chancery. He 
has gained a good standing in his profession, 
and is Secretary of the Fulton County Bar 
Association. 

On June 25. 1903, Mr. Keefer was united in 
marriage with Etta May Robertson, daughter 
of James Robertson, of Astoria, and their union 
has resulted in a son, Jerome, born June 9, 
1904. In politics Mr. Keefer is a stanch Re- 
publican and takes an active interest in the 
success of his party. Fraternally he is afl^liated 
with the K. of P. 

KEELER, Thomas M., of Fulton County, who 
has been long and closely identified with its 
development and prosperity, and is now one of 
the most extensive and substantial farmers and 
stock-raisers in Liverpool Township, as well 
as one' of the most highly honored members 
of the community, was bom in Lewistown 
Township, this county, July 2, 1838. He is a 
son of Benjamin P. and Mary A. (Ackerson) 
Keeler, natives, respectively, of Franklin Coun- 
ty, Ind., and Licking County, Ohio. When 
about eighteen years old Benjamin P. Keeler 
became dissatisfied with the conditions and 
prospects in his native county and was sent 
thence to Illinois, stopping in Fulton County, 




MRS. CHARLES W. MUMMEY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



.941 



where he was employed on monthly wages by 
Garrett Ackerson. This connection led to his 
elopement with that gentleman's daughter, 
Mary, and they were married in April, 1S34. 
Garrett Ackerson and his wife, Mary A., were 
married in the city of New York, and soon 
afterward journeyed to Licking County, Ohio, 
whence, after remaining there a short time, 
they proceeded by team to Illinois. Mr. Acker- 
son settled on Section 11, Lewistown Town- 
ship, Fulton County, where he was engaged 
in farming until his death. 

The union of Benjamin F. Keeler and Mary 
A. Ackerson resulted in the following chil- 
dren, namely: Maria, born December 16, 1S3.5: 
Thomas M.: Elizabeth V., deceased, who was 
boi-n June 27, 1S41, and married Tiffin R. Knott, 
a farmer in Section 20, Liverixtol Township: 
Sarah A., born May 28, 1843: and Garrett, who 
died in infancy. Sarah A. first married John 
G. Ackerson, by whom she had two children, 
Laura B., who is living in Vermont, wife of 
Charles Craft, and John G., who died in in- 
fancy. Her husband died and she afterward 
wedded Robert Miller, a resident of Vermont, 
Fulton County. Maria married Isaac Berry. 
She died February 21, 1896. and her husband 
passed away in April, 1903. They had one 
daughter, who is the wife of William F. Cha- 
pin, a resident of Lewistown, Fulton County. 

Mrs. Benjamin F. Keeler, after the death of 
her husband, married John Kendall, by whom 
she had two daughters: Martha, deceased, wife 
of James Black, who served during the Civil 
War in the Seventeenth Regiment, Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry, and Mary M., who married P. 
N. Whitney, of Chanute County, Kan., and had 
four children. Martha also had four children, 
who are with their father in Bucks County. Pa. 
Her second husband having died. Mrs. Keeler, 
the mother of James Keeler, married a third 
time, wedding John Heller, a prominent citi- 
zen of Cuba, Fulton County. She died De- 
cember 13, 1S90, and he passed away in 1892. 

After Benjamin F. Keeler's elopement and 
marriage the bridegroom and bride returned 
to her father's home on horseback, where the 
latter was introduced as Mrs. Keeler and the 
newly wedded couple were forgiven. Besides 
his pardon, he gave them a good dinner and 
forty acres of land. After they began house- 
keeping he added 200 acres more to this pres- 
ent, making 240 acres in all. Eighty acres of 
this was still Government land, and was deeded 
direct to Benjamin F. Keeler by the Govern- 
ment, being the only such transfer then made 
in that township. Mr. Keeler was a very en- 
ergetic and determined man: when he resolved 
on a certain course, nothing daunted him, noth- 
ing checked him, and his strong, rugged na- 
ture made him prominent and conspicuous in 
the unsettled conditions that prevailed at that 
early period. 

Thomas M. Keeler was reared to farm life, 
and received his early mental training in the 
district schools. At the age of seventeen years 



he started out in life for himself and went to 
work at six dollars per month, but soon prov- 
ing that his services were worth twenty dol- 
lars per month, he received that amount as 
long as he continued working in that way. 
He afterward bought an old, dilapidated saw- 
mill, which he remodeled and operated, and in 
the course of ten years cleared the equivalent 
of $10,000 in teams and land. He purchased the 
mill with the accumulation of his monthly 
wages, borrowed a yoke of oxen with which 
to make his first year's run. and then bought 
the cattle and the old log wagon. His first 
forty-acre purchase was heavy timber land, 
which he cleared and sawed the logs. Having 
run out of timber he bought eighty acres, with 
which he did likewise, and this land is now 
in corn and grass. From the timber he paid 
all expenses and the cost of the land, in just 
one year. He next purchased eighty acres 
more, heavily timbered, cut the timber, sawed 
the logs into lumber, and paid for the second 
eighty acres. Then buying a ninety-acre tract, 
he went through the same process, and in two 
years had cleared and paid for that also. In 
this way he secured land costing $3,000. Be- 
ginning with forty acres, Mr. Keeler has ac- 
quired tract by tract until he is now the 
owner of 512% acres of land, in Sections 20, 
21 and 28, Liverpool Township, solely through 
his own incessant toil and thrifty management. 
His residence is one of the best in the town- 
ship — commodious and well finished — and he 
has two spacious and substantial bams, with 
the requisite conveniences for weighing and 
handling all kinds of stock. He makes a spe- 
cialty of Durham cattle and Norman horses. 
In all his undertakings he has been remark- 
ably successful, and has been generally recog- 
nized as one of the leading men of Fulton 
County. He is President of the Keeler & Clark 
Telephone Company, and has been closely iden- 
tified with all important improvements in his 
vicinity for many years. 

On March IS, 1866, Mr. Keeler was united 
in marriage with Minerva Clark, born Novem- 
ber 2, 184.5, a daughter of Zebadiah and Mil- 
lie (Alsbury) Clark, natives of Ohio. Mrs. 
Keeler's parents settled in Fulton County at 
a very early period. Isaac Clark, her grand- 
father, operated a saw-mill there in the pio- 
neer days, and from him Mr. Keeler gained 
much useful information in this line. Mahala 
Clark, the twin sister of Mrs. Keeler's mother, 
was the first child born in Liverpool Town- 
ship, the first lady to be married, the first to 
become a church member, and the first child 
of her family to die, passing away February 28, 
1906. She was the wife of James A. Shelby, 
a farmer in Liverpool Township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Keeler became the 
parents of five children, as follows: Mary A., 
born January 13, 1867, wife of Leonard S. Ben-y, 
a farmer in Section 21, Liverpool Township: 
Millie, born July 17, 1868, deceased Seotember 
S, 1870; Tiffin R., born February 13, 1870, who 



942 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



is on a portion of the paternal farm and in 
charge of his father's saw-mill; Frankie Ross, 
born December 27, 1873, who dwells under the 
parental roof; and Thomas Zebadiah, born 
March 11, 1S77. He married Carrie Brown, a 
daughter of James Brown, and is the father 
of two children — Dewey B., born July 8, 1898, 
and Jessie B., February 5, 1900. 

In politics Mr. Keeler is a Democrat. He 
has filled with signal credit several of the 
township offlces, among them that of Justice 
of the Peace, which he has held for six years 
under appointment made by Governors Yates 
and Deneen. He is also the Government 
Correspondent for Fulton County. For 
fifteen years he served as School Director, 
and was" always instrumental in securing the 
most efficient teachers possible, realizing the 
great need and value of educational advan- 
tages. The interests of the school system have 
ever found in him a vigorous advocate. For 
sixty-seven years Mr. Keeler has made his 
home in Lewistown and Liverpool Townships. 
In 1890 a railroad station was established near 
his farm and he opened a store there, and in 
June, 1894, was appointed Postmaster under 
the Cleveland administration. Mr. Keeler has 
seen Fulton County develop from a wilderness 
into a garden, and has sturdily, steadfastly 
and faithfully borne his part in bringing about 
the marvelous transformation. 

Fraternally Mr. Keeler is affiliated with the 
I. O. O. F. of Lewistown. His worthy and es- 
timable wife is a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Both are among 
the most highly respected and cordially es- 
teemed members of the community. 

KEELING, Atharian, now an octogenerian, 
and one of the oldest residents of Fulton 
County, 111., where he has lived for forty-five 
years, has been among the most successful mer- 
chants and farmers of the county, and by long 
continued and strenuous effort, has accumulated 
a competency. Age has touched him lightly, 
and for a man bearing the weight of more than 
four-score years, he is remarkably vigorous 
in mind and body. He is now living in com- 
fortable and contented retirement on West 
Street in Farmington, happy in the faithful 
companionship of the wife of his early man- 
hood, and attended by the respect and cordial 
good wishes of many friends. 

Mr. Keeling was born in the State of Ken- 
tucky on May 12, 1823, a, son of Lewis and 
Lydia (Howey) Keeling, natives of Virginia. 
Lewis Keeling was a brick manufacturer, con- 
tractor and builder, and pursued these occupa- 
tions in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Ky., 
being also extensively engaged in real-estate 
transactions. He settled in Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., in 1826, where he still continued 
in the brick-making line, with much success. 
He was a very energetic man, ot substantial 
qualities, and led an upright life, being greatly 
respected. His son, Atharian, located in Can- 



ton. Fulton County, in 1841, and conducted a 
general store there under the firm name of 
Mafel & Keeling, for several years. He also 
devoted some attention to contracting in brick 
work until 1872. In that year he moved to 
Farmington, Fulton County, and established a 
brick manufacturing plant and yard on the 
corner of Fort and Main Streets. In 1850 he 
purchased a farm in Section 2, Farmington 
Township, the operation of which he still su- 
pervises. He and his worthy wife are very 
comfortably situated in their cozy home, and 
both are remarkably well preserved, consider- 
ing their advanced years. 

In 1848 occurred the marriage ot Mr. Keeling 
with Mary Jane Wilson, a daughter of Samuel 
Wilson, who was a farmer by occupation and 
one of the earliest settlers in Fulton County, 
his farm being situated six miles west of 
Farmington. His residence in the county cov- 
ers a period of more than seventy years, and 
the entire region was almost a wilderness on 
his arrival. Mr. and Mrs. Keeling became the 
parents of five children, as follows; Oscar H.; 
Mary Helen; Alice A. (Mrs. W. C. Pogie); 
Clara Inez (Mrs. L. B. Baylor); and Jessie L. 
Mr. Reeling's religious belief is in accord- 
ance with the creed of the Baptist Church. In 
fraternal circles he is still identified with the 
I. O. O. F.. and in duration of membership is 
next to the oldest in the Olive Branch Lodge 
now living, having been initiated the week 
following its organization. It is a fact which 
Mr. Keeling recalls with much interest, that, 
while still a resident of Elizabethtown, Ky., he 
was acquainted with Abraham Lincoln. 

KEIME, Solomon W.— The agricultural labor 
of Solomon W. Keime has spanned fifty-eight 
years of Fulton County history, and has re- 
sulted in the ownership of valuable tracts of 
land in Cass, Bernadotte and Putman Town- 
ships. Born in Stark County. Ohio, March 18, 
1833, Mr. Keime is a son of Daniel and Kath- 
erlne (Kennel) Keime, natives of Pennsylva- 
nia, and born in 1805 and 1810, respectively. 
Upon the family's removal to Illinois in 1850 
the elder Keime bought a home in Putman 
Township, and thereafter followed the trade ot 
a carpenter for the balance of his active life. 

The meagerness of his father's financial re- . 
sources resulted in the early departure from 
the home of all his children, and Solomon W. 
assumed the responsibility of self-support at 
the age of twenty. Arriving in Putman Town- 
ship in 1848, he soon after rented a farm and 
subsequently bought the 160 acres of land in 
Cass Township, on Section 31, which since has 
been his home, continuously adding to its 
equipment and general improvements and con- 
verting it into an ideal country place. In the 
meantime also he purchased a 104-acre tract 
in Bernadotte Township, which has since 
passed into the possession of his son. 

In the fall of 1862 Mr. Keime enlisted in 
Company E, One Hundred and Third Regiment, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



943 



Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served through- 
out the war. He was wounded at the battle 
of Missionary Ridge and was confined in the 
hospital for five months, when he rejoined his 
old regiment and was with Sherman on his fa- 
mous March to the Sea. In the fall of 1865 
Mr. Keime was mustered out in Louisville, 
Ky., went thence to Chicago and, after receiv- 
ing his pay, came at once to Fulton County and 
resumed the work of the farm. 

In Cass Township, March 11, 1859, Mr. Keime 
married Lavina Mason, who was born in Ohio 
February 20, 1S45, and who became an early 
settler in Fulton County. Mr. and Mrs. Keime 
are the parents of the following children: Mrs. 
Martha Martindale; Charles; Ulysses G.; Sam- 
uel; James; Sarah; Elvia; and Edward R. 
Coming to this county alone at an early age 
when most boys are protected by family in- 
fluences and aided by the assurance of sympa- 
thy and support, Mr. Keime has wrought well 
with the material at hand, and has established 
a reputation as a capable, successful and high- 
minded agriculturist. 

KELLOGG, William, former Congressman from 
the Fulton County District, was born in Ashta- 
bula County, Ohio, July 8, 1814, came to Can- 
ton, 111., about 1838, and there engaged in the 
practice of law, for several years being asso- 
ciated with A. L. Davidson; in 1S49 was elected 
to the Sixteenth General Assembly; in 1850 be- 
came Justice of the Circuit Court for the Ful- 
ton Circuit, serving for nearly three years; in 
1856 was elected Representative in Congress, 
by two successive re-elections serving three 
terms (1857-63). In 1866 he was appointed 
Chief Justice of Nebraska Territory, but later 
returned to Illinois, locating in Peoria, where 
he was elected State's Attorney for Peoria 
County, serving from 1872 to 18S0. Originally 
a Whig, he became a Republican, but in 1872 
was a member of the convention at Cincinnati 
which nominated Horace Greeley as the Liberal 
candidate for the Presidency. During the latter 
years of his life he served as Collector of Inter- 
nal Revenue for the Peoria District, his death 
occurring in that city. 

KELLY, Stephen A., is one of the leading pio- 
neer citizens of Fulton County, the Kelly home- 
stead farm having been purchased by his fa- 
ther, John B. Kelly, in 1840. On this farm Mr. 
Kelly was born November 26, 1856, and here 
he has lived continuously, with the exception 
of a brief residence in Dakota, as a wheat 
raiser, begun in 1883. The extent of the old 
homestead is about 300 acres, and it is doubtful 
if the advancement in agi'icultural science has 
been elsewhere more faithfully observed or 
more intelligently applied. 

Mr. Kelly had the numerous character-build- 
ing advantages which arise from being reared 
In a large family. There were fourteen chil- 
dren in the household of his father, all born 
of the latter's marriage to Rachel Proctor, of 



McLean County, 111., which took place Feb- 
ruary 19, 1842. The first wife of the elder Kelly 
(formerly Elizabeth Smith) died in 1841, a year 
after her marriage. 

John B. Kelly, the father, was born in Cat- 
taraugus County, N. Y., February 6, 1820, and 
upon coming to Fulton County in 1840 located 
on the farm now owned by his son, where his 
death occurred August 10, 1890. His pioneer 
labors were rewarded with financial success, 
and he became a leader in Republican politics, 
a promoter of many of the enterprises which 
tended to the permanent betterment of the com- 
munity. He was one of the original Republic- 
ans of the State, cast his Presidential vote for 
Fremont, and, at some time during his life, held 
practically all of the offices within the gift of 
his fellow townsmen. Not only was he very 
active in raising troops for the Civil War. but 
encouraged two of his sons to enter the serv- 
ice. He was a man of high principle and great 
general usefulness. As a respite from his stren- 
uous life he became one of the excursionists 
from Peoria to Niagara Falls, which resulted 
in the terrible Chatsworth disaster, August 10, 
1887, and because of severe injuries sustained 
at that time, was obliged to relinquish many of 
his former responsibilities. 

In the emergency which arose from his fa- 
ther's impaired health, Stephen A. Kelly 
stepped into the breach and assumed the man- 
agement of the large property. He had re- 
ceived a practical training in the public schools, 
and was thoroughly grounded in agriculture, 
and its attendant business transactions. His 
tastes, inclinations and abilities tend to pro- 
duce the best results of his calling. He found 
his work congenial and satisfying, and there- 
fore has been successful. The homestead farm 
is now owned by William Kelly, who resides in 
Pekin, III., and it is managed by John F. 
Kelly. In 1895 Stephen A. Kelly left the home 
place and went to the old Roy farm of 160 acres 
in Orion Township, Section 23, which he had 
purchased, and remained there four years. He 
then came to Breeds and entered mercantile 
circles, establishing a general store, which he 
is still conducting. He now owns 200 acres 
altogether in Orion Township. 

Mr. Kelly inherits many of the qualities of 
his father, and one of these is a capacity for 
painstaking and efficient public service. Not- 
withstanding that he lives in a Democratic 
stronghold, he is a stanch Republican, and his 
popularity is best attested by the fact that he 
was elected to the Board of Supervisors by a 
large majority. He is now a Justice of the 
Peace. Fraternally he is connected with the 
M. W. of A. He is an affable, courteous gen- 
tleman, kindly disposed towards all, and un- 
tiring in his zeal for the well-being of the com- 
munity. 

KELSO, Charles P., a well-known citizen of 
Lewistown, Fulton (Jjounty, 111., and Manager 
of the W. M. Simpson Lumber Company, in 



944 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



which he is a stockholder, was bom in Lewis- 
town, June 27, 1864, a son of David and Sarah 
(Hendrickson) Kelso, the former a native of 
Licking County, Ohio, and the latter of Peoria 
County, III. David Kelso was one of a family 
of seven brothers, who came to Fulton County 
at an early period. Two of these only are now 
living, John and James, who are in Colorado. 
David Kelso, who was by trade a cooper, came 
to Fulton County in 1S62, and is remembered 
as one of the most worthy and highly respected 
citizens of Lewistown. He was a consistent 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as 
also is his widow. They became the parents 
of six children: One who died in infancy; 
Charles P.; Eliza, wife of D. M. Tanner, a con- 
tractor and builder of Lewistown; Mary, wife 
of Frank Mills, a carpenter in Lewistown; Roy, 
foreman of the J. C. Simpson Lumber Com- 
pany, at Galesburg, 111., and Claude G., of Lew- 
istown. 

Charles P. Kelso received the mental train- 
ing of his boyhood in the country schools near 
Lewistown, and. at the age of eighteen years, 
started in life for himself. He went to Es- 
canaba, Mich., and was there employed for 
five years as assistant to the agent of the 
American Express Company. Severing this 
connection, he secured a position as fireman 
on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, which 
he held four years, and was then promoted to 
be engineer. Not wishing to continue railroad- 
ing, he returned to Lewistown, and for a time 
followed the carpenter's trade. He assumed his 
present position in 1895. In 1902 he bought 
stock in the W. M. Simpson Lumber Company, 
and when the company was incorporated, dur- 
ing the same year, he was chosen Manager of 
the Lewistown branch. The company has nine 
yards, one being located at each of the follow- 
ing places: Lewistown, Galesburg, Mt. Pulaski, 
Arlington, Elmwood, Colchester, Flora, Carmi 
and Eldorado, all in Illinois. Under Mr. Kelso's 
management, the business of the concern has 
considerably increased, having doubled its for- 
mer trade. 

On January 6, 1894, Mr. Kelso was united in 
marriage with Mae Stutes, who was born in 
Fulton County, a daughter of Andrew J. Stutes. 
She never knew a mother's care, as Mrs. Stutes 
died when Mae was but an infant. Four chil- 
dren resulted from this union, namely: Celia 
F., born October 4, 1894; Meredith W.. who 
died in infancy; C. Lyle, born August 25, 1898; 
and Ruth Louise, born November 29, 1903. In 
politics Mr. Kelso follows the fortunes of the 
Democratic party, and fraternally is affiliated 
with the Modern Woodmen of America and the 
Court of Honor. Mr. and Mrs. Kelso are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

KEPLER, Henry.— The descendants of the 
German agriculturists make fine citizens, be- 
cause they have been taught that progress 
comes only with hard and persistent work, di- 
rected by common sense and a due regard for 



the rights of others. Advancement based on 
nimble wits alone is not in their philosophy, 
and the result is that, in agricultural commu- 
nities, whose steady growth is founded on sheer 
strength of brawn and mind, the German ele- 
ment is invaluable. Henry Kepler well repre- 
sents the racial characteristics of his people. 
His father, Matthias, was born in Germany, 
while his mother, of German descent, was a 
native of Pennsylvania. Matthias Kepler lo- 
cated in Pennsylvania when he first immigrated 
to the United States, and in Indiana Henry 
was born on the 25th of October, 1851. Four 
years later the father came with his family to 
Fulton County, bought a farm in Ellisville 
Township and was engaged in its improvement 
and cultivation until his death. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in 
the district schools of Ellisville Township, and, 
no less, upon the home farm, having been a 
resident of this locality since 1860. His life 
work has been that of farming, and that he is 
considered a most honorable representative of 
his community is shown by the fact of his 
continuance in the office of School Director for 
a period of twenty years. In his political re- 
lations Mr. Kepler has always been a Repub- 
lican and is a member of the United Brethren 
Church. On the 8th of April, 1876, in Ellis- 
ville, Fulton County, Mr. Kepler was united 
in marriage with Lucy D. Potter, who was born 
October 14, 1856, in New Jersey. They have 
one child, Arthur Leroy. 

KETCHAM, (Mrs.) Mary (nee Addis), a most 
worthy and estimable resident of Orion Town- 
ship, Fulton County, 111., was born in Fulton 
County, February 5, 1845, the daughter of 
Aaron D. and Jane (Suydam) Addis, natives of 
New Jersey. Her paternal and maternal grand- 
fathers, James Addis and Joseph Suydam, re- 
spectively, were natives of that State, as was 
also her maternal grandmother. Mrs. Ketcham 
was reared on her father's farm in Pulton 
County, and in girlhood enjoyed the advan- 
tages of the district schools in the vicinity of 
her home. Near Monterey, in 1867, she was 
united in marriage with Josiah Ketcham, an 
industrious and thrifty young farmer of that 
locality. Mr. Ketcham was a man of excellent 
traits of character, and enjoyed the respect 
and confidence of those who came in contact 
with him in the daily walks of life. He pros- 
pered in his farming operations, and at the 
time of his death, which occurred October 1, 
1891, was the owner of a finely improved and 
highly productive property. He and his wife 
became the parents of five children, namely: 
Jennie (Mrs. Jackson); R. A. Ketcham; Eva 
fMrs. McMillan); Sherman and Herschel. Mrs. 
Ketcham is an earnest and devoted member 
of the Methodist Church. She is possessed 
of most attractive qualities of mind and heart, 
and is cordially esteemed by all who have the 
pleasure of her acquaintance. 




JASPER N. ONION 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



945 



KETTENRING, Adam. — Wherever he has 
elected to cast his fortunes on this side of the 
water, the transplanted German of the solid 
middle class has proved a factor of worth and 
importance. He has the ability to plan and 
the perseverance to execute, and having prac- 
tical and non-visionary needs, lives easily with- 
in the competence fashioned by his brain and 
hands. To such a class belongs Adam Ket- 
tenring, a resident of Deerfield Township since 
his arrival from the Fatherland in 18S4, and 
the owner of 240 acres of improved land on 
Sections 9 and 16. 

Bom July 31, 1851, Mr. Kettenring was edu- 
cated in the common schools of Germany, and 
received that practical home training which 
falls to all children of Teutonic birth. For 
many generations his people have been farm- 
ers, and his parents. Valentine and Katherine 
(Schafer) Kettenring, were no exception to 
this rule, Mr. Kettenring assisted his father 
with the work around the home place, and in 
time was called upon for the prescribed three 
years of military duty. November 20, 1879, he 
married Elizabeth Zumstein, who was born 
in Germany, October 22, 185.5, and of the 
union there have been bom six children: Ida, 
Hugo, Mary, Anna, Flora and Linda. His 
family accompanied Mr. Kettenring to America 
in 1884, and he first purchased eighty acres 
in Deei-fleld Township, adding 160 acres thir- 
teen years later. He has built and rebuilt, 
plowed and sown, reaped, stored and sold with 
excellent results, and today is one of the sub- 
stantia! and progressive men of his prosperous 
community. In addition he has taken a com- 
mendable interest in politics and other phases 
of local growth, and as a stanch Republican 
has served as School Director for several years. 
A man of deep religious convictions, he lives 
up to the teachings of the German Lutheran 
Church, in which he ha& been an elder for 
many years, and to the support of which he is 
a generous contributor. 

KINGERY, Christian B.— The value of effi- 
ciency and faithfulness, as applied to those who 
serve the interests of reliable concerns, is em- 
phasized in the life of Christian B. Kingery, 
for the past eight years a polisher in the Parlin 
& Orndorff shops at Canton, 111. Mr. Kingery 
has been a resident of Fulton County since 
1868, coming here at the age of eight years 
from Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, where 
he was born March 1, 1860. His father, Noah 
Kingery, was bom in Washington County, Md., 
and his mother, Sarah (Booker) Kingery, was 
a native of Ohio. Noah Kingery was a farmer 
by occupation, and after arriving in Fulton 
County in 1868 located in .Joshua Township 
and engaged in general farming and stock-rais- 
ing. Eventually he retired from active life in 
Canton and died there April 21, 1904, at the 
age of seventy-six. 

Christian Kingery spent his early life on the 
farm in Joshua Township, and during the win- 



ter season attended the district schools. His 
nature craved the greater activity of the cities, 
and in November, 1893, he came to Canton, and 
for a time engaged in teaming, later entering 
the Parlin & Orendorff shops in a minor ca- 
pacity. January 27, 1884, he married Ella Otto, 
daughter of John and Mercy (Ellis) Otto, who 
came to Fulton County during the early 'fifties, 
and the former of whom lives in Potter County, 
S. D.. while the latter lives with her daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Kingery. Mr. and Mrs. Kingery are 
the parents of four children: Noah, Walter, 
Grover and Dollie May. Mr. Kingery is a 
Democrat in politics, and fraternally is con- 
nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and the American Yeomen. He is a skilled 
workman, a progressive citizen and a genial, 
companionable gentleman. 

KINGSLAND, Royal M.— .'\. comparatively re- 
cent addition to the real-estate brokers and 
insurance writers of Canton, Royal M. Kings- 
land established his interests here in July, 1902, 
bringing with him a commendable ambition to 
succeed, and the force of character and ability 
to withstand temporary discouragement and 
competition with older and more experienced 
brokers. Mr. Kingsland belongs to one of the 
well known families of the State, being a son 
of George B. Kingsland, for many years a 
prominent contractor and builder of Peoria, 111. 
The elder Kingsland was born in Vermont in 
1S44, and as a young man came to the then 
small town of Peoria, which continued to be his 
home during the greater part of the time until 
his death in 1883. He married Helen M. Hicks, 
of Canton, who was born in 1857, a daughter 
of Asa Hicks, a pioneer of Illinois, and for 
many years the owner of a grist and flour-mill 
at Canton. 

Mr. Kingsland was educated in that great 
field of human equality, the common school, 
and afterward engaged in educational work for 
about four years. He then established his pres- 
ent business. October 15, 1893, he married 
Mayme Lane, a native daughter of Canton. He 
is an earnest and high-minded Republican, and 
with his broad outlook upon life and intense 
public-spiritedness. should prove an important 
factor in maintaining the local integrity of his 
party. He is well known fraternally, and his 
standing in the community is materially aug- 
mented by association with the Olive Branch, 
No. 15, I. O. O. F., the Encampment and the 
Rebekahs, Mr. Kingsland has many qualities 
which should commend him to the favorable 
attention of the business and social world. He 
is honest, industrious, painstaking and enthu- 
siastic. He seeks the best, and intends to find 
it, and therein lies the secret of overcoming 
obstacles and making light of discouragements. 

KLINE, John G., who has been successfully 
engaged in farming in Section 3, Joshua Town- 
ship. Fulton County, 111., for about thirty years, 



946 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



was born in the State of New Jersey, on July, 
5, 1848, a son of Miller and Elizabeth (Aller) 
Kline, also natives of that State. Miller Kline 
removed with his family from the East to Illi- 
nois in 1851, settling In Fulton County, where 
he located in Section 3, Joshua Township. The 
tract of 160 acres, which he bought of Elias 
Beavers, contained no dwelling e.xcept a log 
cabin. The father cleared the land, made all 
necessary improvements, and there carried on 
farming for many years. 

The subject of this sketch was one of three 
children, two of whom were girls. He was 
reared on the paternal farm, and in boyhood 
studied the usual rudimentary lessons in the 
district schools of his vicinity. About the year 
1875 he took charge of the farm, and has op- 
erated it ever since. In addition to general 
farming, he raises a good deal of high-grade 
stock and breeds fine roadsters and heavy draft 
horses. His farming operations have been at- 
tended by successful results and he is looked 
upon as one of the most thorough farmers in 
his township. 

Mr. Kline has been twice married. His first 
wife was Louisa Wyckoff, who was a native 
of Illinois. This union resulted in three chil- 
dren: Lida (Mrs. Mays), Carrie (Mrs. McMul- 
len), and Cornie. In 1889 Mr. Kline was united 
in marriage with Sadie E. Kline, of Young 
Hickory Township, and they became the par- 
ents of four children, namely: Hattie, Leon- 
ard, Raymond and Ardis. The mother of this 
family died August 28, 1905. 

In ills political relations Mr. Kline is identi- 
fied with the Democratic party. He is a man 
of sound character and is respected by a wide 
circle of acquaintances. 

KNOTT, Noah Theodore, who has spent his 
whole life of forty-eight years in Fulton County, 
111., many of these being very laborious and 
productive years, was born in Deerfield Town- 
ship, in that county, in 1858, a son of Job and 
Sabilla (Runk) Knott, the former a native 
of Fulton County, and the latter of Pennsyl- 
vania. The occupation of Job Knott was that 
of a farmer, and in this his industry, perse- 
verance and economy were rewarded by mer- 
ited success. The grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, also Job Knott, journeyed from 
Virginia to Illinois in the early '30s, traveling 
by wagon, and settled in Fulton County. He 
first bargained for land where the city of Can- 
ton is now situated at three dollars per acre, 
but as there was found to be some defect in the 
title, he finally purchased on Sections 3 and 
10 in Deerfield Township. He applied himself 
diligently to the task of clearing and improv- 
ing this purchase, and was there engaged in 
tilling the soil during the remainder of his ac- 
tive lite. His son Job continued to live where 
his father had located, cultivating ninety acres 
of his own, but subsequently bought out the 
interests of a brother and sister in the paternal 
estate, and ultimately became the owner of 



635 acres. On this he devoted his attention to 
the raising of fine, thoroughbred stock, besides 
buying and selling stock throughout the coun- 
try. He maintained his residence in Section 
10 and made many improvements in his dif- 
ferent farms. To him and his worthy wife 
were born nine children. Of this family the 
seven surviving are scattered over the various 
States of the Union. 

Noah Theodore Knott received his early 
mental training in the district schools in the 
neighborhood of his birthplace, and remained 
under the parental roof until the time of his 
marriage. In 1892 he commenced farming for 
himself on his father's land, east of the home 
place, and in 1900 moved to an eighty-acre 
farm which his father had bequeathed to him. 
This he has improved and built up, and on it 
he has since carried on general farming with 
satisfactory results. He also bestows a good 
deal of attention to stock-raising, making a 
specialty of Shorthorn cattle, and buys and 
sells large quantities of stock. 

In 1892 Mr. Knott was united in marriage 
on the farm where he lives to Nora Ginther, 
a native of Fulton County, where she was 
born, and where, in early youth, she obtained 
her education in the public schools. Mr. and 
Mrs. Knott are the parents of two children: 
Eva and Iva J. 

In political affairs the subject of this sketch 
gives his support to the Republican party. He 
has rendered good service to the township in 
the capacity of school director, and bears an ex- 
cellent reputation as a man and as a citizen. 

KNOTT, Robert A. — Few families have been 
longer identified with the history of Fulton 
County than that represented in Ellisville for 
the past five years by Robert A. Knott. In 1828 
there would seem to have been little to attract 
the youth from the settled East to an Indian 
country, which still was a happy hunting 
ground, the home of the deer and other big 
game, of widely separated traders, and whose 
thoroughfares of travel were the trails worn 
hard by the tread of dusky feet. Yet hither 
came John Knott in 1828, and, with few of this 
world's goods to keep him company, took up 
a tract of land in the vicinity of Table Grove. 
Here his son Job, the father of Robert A. 
Knott, was born and reared, and from this old 
landmark removed to Deerfield Township, 
which continued his home until his death at 
the beginning of the twentieth century. Both 
men had the grit and determination which 
constituted the chief assets of the successful 
pioneer, and their names were associated with 
large usefulness and practical, useful endeavor. 
Job B. Knott married Savilla Runk, also a 
native of Fulton County, and to whose econ- 
omy and thrift he owed much of his success. 

Robert A. Knott was bom on the Deerfield 
Township farm August 8. 1874, and while per- 
forming his share toward keeping up the home 
property, managed to secure an excellent edu- 




MRS. JASPER N. ONION 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



947 



cation in the public schools and at the Bush- 
nell Normal School. Beginning at the age of 
twenty-one years, he taught school forty 
months, and then farmed for two years on the 
tract of eighty acres, on Section 9, Deerfield 
Township, which he still owns, but which now 
is occupied by a tenant. In 1902 Mr. Knott 
bought out the implement business of William 
Basel, and three years later sold out to James 
N.Blakeslee, since that time devoting his energy 
to the supervision of his various town and coun- 
try holdings. ' About five years ago he pur- 
chased a home in EUisville, of which town he 
is one of the popular and progressive young 
capitalists. 

The marriage of Mr. Knott and Lulu D. Nor- 
ris occurred in EUisville December 25, 1S95. 
Mrs. Knott being a native of Lee Township, 
born December S, 1877. There are two bright 
children in the family — Eunice J. and Chester 
R. Mr. Knott evidences a commendable in- 
terest in Republican politics, and has served 
as Constable of EUisville for two years. Fra- 
ternally he is a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. 

KREIDER, Christian ( deceased).— Christian 
Kreider was descended from that stock of 
Pennsylvania Germans whose habits of in- 
dustry and morality have done so much 
to found new communities on an enduring 
basis. His parents were John and Marga- 
ret (Gilbert) Kreider, who were both born 
in Lebanon, Pa., in which vicinity his fa- 
ther was engaged in farming for many years 
before coming to Illinois. The subject of this 
sketch was educated in the common schools of 
Lebanon, where he was born May 5, 1822. He 
was reared on the family farm and accom- 
panied his parents to Lee Township, Fulton 
County, 111., when they established their home 
there in 1846. In the succeeding years the 
father greatly improved the property and at his 
death it passed into the possession of his son 
Christian, who has faithfully assisted in its 
improvement. 

Christian Kreider continued in his career 
of well earned prosperity and, like a worthy 
citizen, as he became safe and comfortable in 
his fund of worldly possessions, was willing to 
devote a portion of his time to public affairs of 
his home township. He served as School Di- 
rector for some years, and was Postmaster at 
various times. At the time of his death, De- 
cember 27, 1899, he had become the owner of 
a homestead of 151 acres, and his position as a 
moral and religious character was as secure 
as that of a man of affairs and worldly sub- 
stance. He was a Methodist in religious faith 
and a Democrat in politics. 

On December IS, 1867, Mr. Kreider was mar- 
ried, in Macomb, 111., to Lavina Milligan, a na- 
tive of Scott County, Ohio. His second mar- 
riage was to Mary Cowperthwait, who was born 
at Canton, 111., May 5, 1843, and who still sur- 
vives him. There were eleven children in the 



family of the deceased, viz.: George M., Lucy, 
Sarah E., William P., Martha J., Howard C, 
Lena L., Musetta M., Samuel J., Henry L. and 
Ralph C. 

KRISCHKE, Joseph, ex-Mayor of Canton, Ful- 
ton County, 111., furnishes a forcible example 
of the hearty assimilation of foreign-born citi- 
zens into the body politic of American com- 
munities. The cities and States of the Union 
readily, even instinctively, recognized the meri- 
torious and adaptable personality which may 
be utilized to the advantage of the general 
public. Although an Austrian by birth Mr. 
Krischke possesses the true American stamina 
and adaptability, and his fellows therefore 
called upon him for many years to represent 
tnem in the affairs of a developing and vigor- 
ous community. 

Born in Silesia, Austria, about 150 miles 
from Vienna, in the year 1828, Joseph Krischke 
is the son of Ignatz and Mary Regina Krischke, 
his father dying in 1833 and his mother in 
1852. His parents were in humble circum- 
stances and he early learned the butcher's 
trade, at which he commenced to work regu- 
larly when he was fourteen years of age. 
With a scant education, but with a good trade 
at his fingers' ends, the young man sailed from 
Hamburg for America on the loth of Septem- 
ber, 1854, landing at Xew York twenty-three 
days thereafter. Within the following two 
weeks he struck Chicago, went by rail to La 
Salle, thence to Fort Madison, Iowa, and 
finally, partly by water and partly by stage, 
interspersed by considerable foot work, he 
reached Liverpool, Fulton County. One of his 
friends had previously found employment there 
in a packing house, but when they arrived upon 
the ground they found the establishment closed, 
and passed on to Canton, where they secured 
work. Mr. Krischke thus continued for about 
ten months, but, as there was only one butcher 
then in Canton, decided that there was an 
opening for him In the line of his regular trade. 
Eventually he bought out the firm of Moyer 
& Ayers, butchers, and established a good busi- 
ness, in which he was engaged from October 
15, 1858, to October 15, 1895. 

Mr. Krischke has been a stanch Democrat 
since 1860, when he rallied enthusiastically to 
the support of Stephen A. Douglas. For years 
he took a deep interest and a leading part in 
ward politics, and was elected to represent the 
Third Ward in the City Council. Altogether 
he served as Alderman for nine terms, in 1877, 
1884 and 1886, and from 1890 to 1895, during 
this long period of municipal service being as- 
-signed to all the important committees and 
conducting himself with energy and practical 
ability. In 1888 he was elected Mayor of 
Canton by a good majority, and in that ca- 
pacity materially added to his former reputa- 
tion for executive talents and honorable deal- 
ings. He has also served as a member of the 
Board of Review. Of late years Mr. Krischke 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



949 



natives of New York. The union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Kutchler resulted in three children, name- 
ly: Effie P., John E. and Josephine E. John 
Kutchler, the only son. as before stated, is in 
partnership with his father in stock-raising, 
feeding and shipping, as junior member of the 
widely known firm of James Kutchler & Son, 
whose headquarters are in Avon, Fulton County. 
The political opinions of Mr. Kutchler are in 
accordance with the platforms of the Democrat- 
ic party, although he has never mingled in poli- 
tics with any view of official preferment. He 
takes an intelligent interest in public affairs 
and current events, and dutifully discharges 
the duties pertaining to citizenship. His reli- 
gious connection is with the Methodist Church. 
In fraternal circles he is identified with the 
A. F. & A. M. Agriculturally and commercially 
he is one of the prominent men of Western 111- 
nois and is known and respected over a wide 
range of country. 

LALICKER, George. — One cannot follow the 
long career of George Lalicker without renew- 
ing appreciation of those homely, sterling 
qualities which, when allied with practical busi- 
ness sense, lift men from obscurity to influence 
and from poverty to wealth. Mr. Lalicker was 
born on a farm in Hamilton County, Ohio, April 
7, 1S21, the son of John Lalicker, a European 
by birth, and an arrival in America previous 
to the War of 1812. The elder Lalicker carried 
a musket in the second conflict with England, 
and a constant reminder of his service was the 
permanent deafness resulting from the 
shot and roar «of the cannon. He 
was an early arrival in Hamilton 
County, Ohio, where he married and did 
fairly well at farming. In 1823 he made a trip 
down the river to New Orleans, and while there 
was taken sick, and it is presumed was buried 
either in or near the Southern city. His wife 
died four years later, in 1827. 

George Lalicker is the sole survivor of his 
parents' six children. Left an orphan at the age 
of six, when ten years old he came to Fulton 
County with his sister and her husband, soon 
after beginning to shift for himself as a wage- 
earner. When twelve years old he went to 
Quincy, 111., with Mr. Towusley, and there was 
set to grinding paint by placing the article on 
a marble slab and grinding it with a piece of 
rock. This experience nearly proved his undo- 
ing, for he contracted paint poison and was laid 
up for some time in consequence. He thereafter 
went to work on a farm and in 1844 his sister 
sent for him to return to Ipava, near where he 
worked on a farm by the month. In the mean- 
time, January 13, 1842, he had married Rebecca 
Parvin. who was born in Ohio April 7, 1823, a 
daughter of Hosea and Elizabeth (France) Par- 
vin, who moved to Indiana in 1825 and to Ful- 
ton County in 1832. The Parvin family reached 
this county Monday evening and the following 
Wednesday the mother died. The father sub- 
sequently went to Texas, where his death oc- 



curred in 1885. Mr. Parvin had contracted a 
second marriage, and had reared a large fam- 
ily of children, few of whom survive at the 
present time. 

Few of the experiences which fell to the lot 
of the early settlers of the Central West were 
omitted from the early married life of Mr. and 
Mrs. Lalicker. They went to housekeeping in a 
little log house made of hewn wood, the floor be- 
ing of puncheon, made by splitting a log 
through the center. Looking back over these 
times both husband and wife wonder how they 
endured the trials and deprivations that came 
their way. As was the case with all the mar- 
ried settlers, the wife contributed more than 
did the husband to the well-being of the family, 
making both ends meet when a meeting seemed 
practically impossible. Mrs. Lalicker's work 
was never done, and its extent would be incom- 
prehensible to the housekeeper of today. Not 
only did she cook, wash, keep the house and 
nine children clean, but she spun the wool, col- 
ored it and wove the material for the clothing 
of herself, husband and all of the children. Of 
these children, Highley Ann is the wife of Ham- 
ilton Bidwell, of Axtell, Marshall County, Kan.; 
John J. is deceased, Mary E. is deceased, Sarah 
J. is the wife of Andrew Harwick, of Ipava; 
William H. is a farmer in Pleasant Township, 
this county: Amanda is the wife of Josiah 
Creek, of Oklahoma: Susan A. is the wife of 
William Shago. of Dunlap, Morris County, Kan., 
and Eva M. is the wife of Joseph Morgan, liv- 
ing on the old homestead in Pleasant Township. 

To the original forty acres upon which he 
settled in the poverty-clouded days of the early 
'forties. Mr. Lalicker has added until he now 
owns 200 acres all in one body and under a high 
state of cultivation. Every building, every 
fence, every improvement of any kind whatso- 
ever, is due to the untiring zeal of this worthy 
couple. And notwithstanding all that they have 
had to contend with their home has always been 
an open one and the wayfarer, be he friend or 
stranger, has always found a warm welcome. 
They have given liberally of their means to the 
furtherance of schools and charities, churches 
and worthy interests in general, and have pro- 
vided their children with a practical common 
school education, training them at home for 
noble and useful man and womanhood. After 
seventy-five years in and around Ipava, sixty- 
four of which have been spent as man and wife, 
they find a wonderful compensation for their 
trials and sufferings in the good will and es- 
teem of their fellowmen, and in a degree of 
prosperity which never seemed possible to the 
dwellers of the rude log cabin. In 1890 they re- 
tired to their present home in Ipava, where 
comfort, peace and plenty brighten the latter 
end of their pilgrimage. 

LALICKER, William.— Not only is William 
Lalicker the architect of a substantial fortune, 
acquired through agricultural enterprise, but in 
its acquisition he has maintained the reputation 



950 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



for Industry and reliability established in Ful- 
ton County by his pioneer father, George Lal- 
icker, who journeyed Illinoisward from Cler- 
mont County, Ohio, in 1S31, settling after years 
of uncertain struggle on Section 3, Pleasant 
Township. William, like the rest of his father's 
nine children, received such education as could 
be secured during the winter term of school, 
and such lessons in economy and thrift as the 
meager resources of the family made necessary. 
Born on the Pleasant Township farm May 29, 
1S.53, he was twenty-two years old at the time 
of his marriage, September 3, 1S75, to Mary 
Lampton, who was born in Lewistown Septem- 
ber 3, 1854, a daughter of William and Lydia 
(Morgan) Lampton, natives of Ohio and early 
settlers of Fulton County. Mr. and Mrs. Lamp- 
ton were married in this county in 1830, and 
the former died here in 1883, at the age of 
eighty-six, while the latter died at a compara- 
tively early age in ISGO. They were the parents 
of eleven children, of whom the following at- 
tained maturity: Lucia, widow of J. E. Ellis, 
now a resident of Des Moines, Iowa; Manda, 
wife of Thomas Parkinson, of Riverside, Cal., 
and mother of seven children; Minerva, wife of 
Thomas Painter, of Galva. Henry County, 111.; 
Frank, a farmer in Fulton County; William, 
formerly a resident of Canton. Mo.; Jennie, de- 
ceased wife of William Rowe, of Des Moines, 
Iowa; Lydia, deceased wife of John Locust, of 
Chicago; Miron, deceased husband of Lillie 
(Dew) Lampton, who is the mother of three 
children, and Julia, one of the early teachers 
of Fulton County. 

After his marriage Mr. Lalicker settled on 
the old homestead in Pleasant Township and in 
1879 removed to the Ross farm in the same 
township, in 1881 returning to the old farm of 
his parents. In 188G he became a land owner 
for the first time, purchasing forty acres ad- 
joining the old place, but this he sold during 
the year and bought 120 acres on Section 4, 
Pleasant Township, formerly owned by the elev- 
en Montgomery sons, who were among the very 
earliest settlers of Fulton County. That the 
Montgomerys still retain an interest in the 
homestead is evident when a grandson of the 
pioneer settler visits the place each year and 
notes the great changes which have taken place 
upon its broad acres. In place of the old log 
cabin is a fine modern rural home, roomy and 
comfortable, bespeaking the refined taste and 
numerous requirements of the present occu- 
pants. The general improvements are in ac- 
cord with established standards of the pres- 
ent, for although Mr. Lalicker is fifty-three 
years of age, he is progressive in the extreme 
and welcomes any innovation which promises 
better results. 

In political affiliation a Democrat, Mr. Lal- 
icker has avoided office holding as a rule, al- 
though he has served as a member of the Board 
of Education for many years. In religion he 
is a member of the Christian Church, and con- 
tributes generously to its support. Mr. and 



Mrs. Lalicker are the parents of seven children: 
Pearl M., born February 28, 1877, the wife of 
Blake Johnson, a farmer of Pleasant Township; 
Chauncey. born November 14, 1878, married 
Annie Forsyth and has two children — Sheldon 
and Maurice; Cora Belle, born September 16, 
18S0, died August 24, 1SS9; Corda. born Oc- 
tober 4, 1882; Freddie, born September 6, 1883, 
married Lena Ready and has one daughter — 
Cora; Sophrona, born April 27, 1885, died Sep- 
tember 2, 1SS5; Dollie. born February 22, ISSS, 
wife of Henry Clanin; Sherman, born Febru- 
ary 12, 1890; George, born December 27, 1891, 
and Lawrence and Florence (twins), born April 
12, 1893, and died June 17 and September 14, 
1893. respectively. All of the children surviv- 
ing have been given advantages of which their 
parents never dreamed, and all are healthy, 
happy and prosperous. The family occupies one 
of the delightful and productive farms of the 
county and are justly esteemed for the kindly 
and reliable traits of its members. In 1906 
Mrs. Lalicker and her oldest daughter, Mrs. 
Blake Johnson, made a trip to California for 
the purpose of visiting her sister. Mrs. Thomas 
Parkinson, whom she had not seen for twenty 
years. During their tour of six weeks they vis- 
ited many Western cities, including Denver, 
Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, the Island of Santa 
Catalina and other noted places. 

LALLY, Thomas (deceased). — The family of 
which Thomas Lally was the American head 
has taken a prominent part in the change 
wrought in Fulton County since 1849. Mr. 
Lally and his wife, Mary (Hannaher) Lally, 
were born in Belfast. County Mayo, Ireland, 
and came to the United States in a sailing ves- 
sel in 1848. Locating in St. Louis, Mo., Mr. Lally 
worked in a rope factory for eight dollars a 
month, then proceeded by boat up the river to 
Liverpool Township, Fulton County, where he 
went to work in the harvest field of Jonathan 
Bordner. after tendering the latter his last twen- 
ty-five cents for his breakfast. Six weeks later 
he appeared upon the scene in Lewistown, the 
first Irishman to honor that community with 
his labor, and became assistant engineer at a 
salary of nineteen dollars per month. A little 
later he was advanced to the position of first 
engineer, receiving thirty dollars per month, a 
salary considered princely in those days, al- 
though he was obliged to board himself. 

In 1852 Mr. Lally went to work for 'Squire 
Boyte, with whom he got along in the best pos- 
sible manner, and added considerably to his 
little hoard of money. This he finally invested 
in two teams of horses, with which he conduct- 
ed a freighting business between Lewistown, Liv- 
erpool and Peoria. Freighting in those days 
was a paying business, and in iS65 he was in a 
position to purchase 260 acres of land on Sec- 
tion 21, Bernadotte Township, all timber with 
the exception of about seventy-five acres. With 
the aid of his sons Mr. Lally proceeded to clear 
his land, and in time lie added to it another 120 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



951 



acres, making in all 3S0 acres. Not a vestige 
of fence adorned the property at the time of 
purchase, but in time seven miles of hedge pro- 
tected the interests of the owner, five miles of 
which since has been replaced by wire fencing. 
Mr. Lally and his wife traveled close together 
on their earthly pilgrimage, and in death they 
were divided by only two months, the wife dying 
in January, 1S92, and the husband following 
her in March of the same year. They lived to 
see all the timber cleared away, fine barns and 
general buildings erected and modern machin- 
ery supplant the old-time implements of the 
pioneer. Mr. Lally was public spirited and 
energetic, a stanch Democrat and a devout mem- 
ber of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The old Lally homestead on Section 21 is now 
being operated by Edward and John Lally, sons 
of the pioneer, the former of whom was born 
in Lewistown July 8, 1856, and the latter in 
18G4. The farm is owned by John Lally, one of 
the progressive agriculturists of the township, 
who makes a specialty of Jersey hogs and high- 
grade cattle and horses. Mr. Lally married 
Maria Sweeney, of Vermont Township, this 
county, and daughter of an Illinois pioneer. 
Mr. Lally is a Democrat in politics, and has 
held several local offices of importance, includ- 
ing that of School Director and Highway Com- 
missioner. 

LANCE, J. Willard, the Cashier of the Ful- 
ton County Bank at Table Grove, 111., has had 
fifteen years' experience with the uncompro- 
mising and occuracy-compelling methods of 
monetary science as revealed behind the 
counters of Illinois institutions. As are all 
successful and reliable cashiers, he is methodi- 
cal in his habits and practical in his ambi- 
tions. Steadiness of life aim has been im- 
parted to him by progenitors who braved the 
hardships and dangers of pioneer life in the 
State, and he himself is a product of the 
prairies, having been born on a farm in New 
Salem Township, McDonough County, 111., 
February 4, 1870. His father. William E. 
Lance, was born in Cook County, 111., and his 
mother, Melissa (Morley) Lance, was born to 
very early settlers of Fulton County. 

On his fathers farm Mr. Lance developed 
a strong constitution and when a lessening of 
home duties permitted attended the public 
schools. To this preliminary education he 
added a course in business at the Western 
Illinois Normal School of Bushnell. 111., dur- 
ing 1890 and 1891, carrying off the highest 
honors in his class, and thereafter returned 
to the farm and the larger responsibility of its 
management. In September, 1891, he became 
Bookkeeper and. Assistant Cashier in the 
Bank of Good Hope at Good Hope, 111., a posi- 
tion which he creditably filled for nine years, 
or until offered the position of Cashier in the 
Swan Creek (111.) Bank. Upon the organiza- 
tion of the Fulton County Bank, at Table 
Grove, November 1, 1905, Mr. Lance was ten- 



dered his present position, the other officers 
of the institution being A. A. Cornell, of 
Galesburg, President, and Loren Morley, of 
Table Grove, Vice President. Mr. Lance is a 
heavy stockholder in the bank and his wide 
acquaintance with the farmers and business 
men of the State renders him a valuable ad- 
junct to its success. 

The marriage of Mr. Lance and Agnes Mark- 
ham, of Randolph, 111., occurred November 24, 
1892. Mrs. Lance is a daughter of Daniel 
Markham. a prominent and influential farmer 
of McDonough County. Mr. and Mrs. Lance 
have two children — Roscoe and Jlarie. Mrs. 
Lance is an active member of the Presbyterian 
Church. Socially Mr. Lance is connected with 
the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood- 
men of America. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and while a resident of Good Hope, 111., 
filled many places of local importance. He is 
a promoter of stable and conservative inter- 
ests, and as a citizen and banker maintains 
standards in keeping with the best welfare of 
the community. 

LANDERS, James Robert, M. D.— Good birth, 
good breeding, fine mental endowment and a 
capacity for Infinite painstaking, contribute to 
the present large usefulness and future bright 
prospects of Dr. James Robert Landers, a 
medical and surgical practitioner of Ipava, 111. 
Dr. Landers comes honestly by his predilection 
for medicine, as he was practically reared in 
the office of his father. Dr. James H. Landers, 
one of the leading practitioners of Shepherds- 
ville, Bullitt County, Ky.. where the son and 
namesake was born August 4, 1861, the younger 
of two sons, the elder. Dr. Franklin L. Landers, 
dying August 10. ISS.S. On the maternal side 
Dr. Landers claims distinguished connections, 
his mother, America F. Crist, being a grand- 
daughter of General Henry Crist, around whose 
name centers many of the notable undertak- 
ings of Kentucky pioneer life. General Crist 
settled early in the Bourbon State, laid out the 
town of Shepherdsville. and was the first to 
manufacture salt at old Salt Lick, in that 
State. He represented his district in the Leg- 
islature and in Congress, and attained to in- 
dustrial, political and general prominence. 
Dr. James H. Landers died April 4, 1867. and 
in 1868 his widow married Dr. H. F. Crenshaw, 
for forty years engaged in the practice of medi- 
cine in Mount Washington, Ky. Dr. Cren- 
shaw died June 7, 1905, his wife having pre- 
deceased him June 22, 189.3. They were the 
parents of three children: Dr. J. M. Crenshaw, 
of Redlands, Cal.; Dr. O. M. Crenshaw, of Tay- 
lorsville. Ky.. and F. W. Crenshaw, who died 
in young manhood. 

The preliminary education of Dr. James 
Robert Landers was acquired in the public 
schools of Shepherdsville, Ky., and after school 
hours he invariably assisted his father in the 
latter's office. His professional and general 
training went hand in hand, and while still 



952 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



very young he was grounded in materia medica 
and understood how to prescribe for common 
human ailments. He also became expert in ex- 
tracting teeth, and his prescribing and tooth- 
pulling skill found encouraging support among 
the colored population. At the age of twenty- 
one he entered the Hospital College Medical 
Department in the North Central University 
of Kentucky, and after graduating, June 16, 
1885, engaged in practice with his stepfather. 
Dr. H. F. Crenshaw, for a few years. June 20, 
1890, he was united in marriage to Julia Merri- 
fleld, of Bloomfleld, Ky., and great-granddaugh- 
ter of Colonel Merrifleld, representing one of 
the fine old families of the Southern State. 

The year of his marriage Dr. Landers located 
in Fairland, 111., and on November 21st of the 
following year his home was desolated by the 
death of his wife. On June 14, 1893, he mar- 
ried Lulu M. Patterson, of Madisonville, Ky., a 
daughter of C. H. Patterson, commercial agent 
in Kentucky and Tennessee for the Page Woven 
Wire Fence Company, of Adrian, Mich., in 
which he is a heavy stockholder. Upon leaving 
Fairland Dr. Landers practiced for six years in 
Moultrie County, 111., and November 22, 1904, lo- 
cated in Bernadotte, Fulton County, where he 
has established a large and lucrative practice. 
Dr. and Mrs. Landers are the parents of one son, 
Robert, born July 7, 1894. The Doctor is 
socially connected with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. He represents a kind of 
medical practice which is a long way removed 
from the standards of even a decade ago. His 
progressive mind mercilessly rejects dogmas 
whose only claim is their antiquity, and which 
have no place in the sunlight of modern inves- 
tigation. Practicability and simplicity are the 
watchwords of his professional efforts. He is 
one of the most careful and expert diagnosti- 
cians in Fulton County, and one of its most 
inquiring students. In the search for clearer 
vision and larger capacity for usefulness he 
has taken post-graduate courses in several of 
the principal cities of Illinois and Kentucky, 
has made a special study of chemistry, and of 
the various occult sciences which throw light 
upon mental suggestion as an aid to healing. 
Against spurious or impure drugs he has in- 
sured himself by securing his supplies from re- 
liable headquarters, and as a rule compounds 
his own prescriptions, thus minimizing the pos- 
sibility of mistakes. He is a frequent con- 
tributor to the leading professional periodicals 
of the country, especially along therapeutic 
lines, his ideas upon the operation and ad- 
ministration of remedies for disease, hygiene, 
dietetics or the application of diet, atmospheric 
and other non-medicinal influences to the 
preservation or recovery of health being the 
result of profound thought and extended prac- 
tical experience. In manner Dr. Landers is 
genial and optimistic, traits which contribute 
materially to his business as well as social 
success. 



LANE, George W. — Nearly three-score and 
ten years have elapsed since the venerable gen- 
tleman whose name furnishes the caption of 
this personal narrative made his first appear- 
ance in Fulton County, 111., and he has been 
a witness of and participator in the develop- 
ment of that region since its primitive stages. 
His agricultural experience on Sections 1.5 and 
22, Canton Township, Fulton County, where he 
now lives in comfortable retirement, covers a 
period of thirty-seven years, and during that 
extended period he has done his full share to 
promote the progress and conserve the wel- 
fare of the locality where he is restfully pass- 
ing the evening of his life. Mr. Lane is a son 
of John A. and Christina (Toner) Lane, na- 
tives of that State, who came to Illinois in 
18.37. locating in Fulton County. They traveled 
the entire distance by team, the journey con- 
suming six weeks. John A. Lane first estab- 
lished his home in the vicinity of Fairview, 
111., where he was engaged in farming for twen- 
ty years. At the end of that time he moved to 
a place near Canton. 111., and there continued 
his customary occupation until his death, 
which occurred in 1854, the mother dying in 
1876. The first dwelling of the family in Ful- 
ton County was a log cabin and the purchase 
price of the first tract of land was $11 per acre. 
The father's lite was devoted to arduous toil, 
and its record, in private and public, was free 
from reproach. 

George W. Lane was born in Somerset Coun- 
ty. N. J., July 1, 1822. He attended the public 
schools convenient to his home in early youth, 
and at the age of fifteen years accompanied 
his parents on their journey westward. He 
was reared to farm work and remained on the 
family homestead until a short time after his 
father's decease. In middle life he became con- 
nected with an Eastern supply company, and for 
eighteen years traveled over the country, en- 
gaged in selling machinery, in which he was 
successful. He bought the farm where he now 
lives, consisting of 135 acres, situated on Sec- 
tions 15 and 22, Canton Township, of John G. 
Graham, in 1859. Some of the improvements 
now standing there were built by him. On this 
property he carried on general farming and 
stock-raising until 1900, when he rented the 
premises and abandoned active business pur- 
suits. 

In 1848 Mr. Lane was united in marriage 
with Elizabeth Garrett, of Fairview, and in 1903 
married as his second wife Sophie Stout, who 
was born in New Jersey. Mr. Lane is spending 
his declining years in exemption from care, and 
is conscious of the warm regard and hearty re- 
spect of all who know him. 

LA RUE, George C. — The youth obliged to 
make his own way in agriculture, without 
means or influence, should take heart from 
the experience of George C. La Rue, one of the 
foremost farmers and stock-raisers of Ver- 




A/t>nsa/{ Pt.b^f„^a Ci 



^"■^ jj jT C lii/A^ 



CyZrrr.^^, (6),.^,U.,jf. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



953 



mont Township, Fultou County. Mr. Le Rue 
comes of a family numerously represented in 
Fulton County, and invariably are its members 
men of high character and well-directed use- 
fulness. He is one of the five children of 
Samuel and Elizabeth ( Kenney ) La Rue, the 
former born in France and the latter in Penn- 
sylvania. Samuel La Rue, a blacksmith by 
trade, was an early settler in Pennsylvania, 
where he conducted a shop and later in life 
engaged in farming. His death occurred dur- 
ing the latter "fifties, his wife subsequently 
marrying E. H. Smith, with whom and the 
rest of the family she came to Fulton County 
in 186!<. Settling in Woodland Township, 
near Lewistown, Mrs. Smith reared a second 
family and died near Table Grove, 111., aged 
about tifty-six years. She was a woman of 
superior intelligence and ability as a discipli- 
narian and during her entire active lite a de- 
vout member of the Dunkard Church. Of her 
ftrst family M. K. La Hue, a resident of Huron, 
S. D., formerly lived in Astoria and in Schuy- 
ler County, this State; Abe K. is a farmer in 
Logan County, 111.; Samuel K. is a farmer 
of Vermont Township, and Amos is a mer- 
chant in Astoria. 

The success of George C. La Rue has been 
achieved on the basis of a common school 
education, a careful home training, which 
stimulated a desire to be of use in the world, 
and the quality of perseverance which assures 
the accomplishment of anv task undertaken. 
Until his twenty-third year he worked by the 
month on farms in different parts of Fulton 
County, and on February .'>, 1879, was united 
in marriage with Emily F. Robinson, daughter 
of T. C. Robinson, a prominent farmer of Ver- 
mont Township. With his wife Mr. La Rue 
settled on the farm which represented his first 
land purchase, and upon which he had paid 
but $2,.'jU(> of the purchase price of $4,500. 
That his energies have been turned to good 
account and that he possesses more than aver- 
age business and general ability may be 
Judged from the fact that, starting with prac- 
tically nothing, he now owns 403 acres of 
valuable land, 236 of which is in Vermont 
Township and 167 in Pleasant Township. He 
has devoted his attention to general farming 
and stock-raising, and a reasonable share of 
his profits have been invested in improve- 
ments, including substantial buildings and 
labor-saving machinery. An understanding of 
scientific agriculture has secured the best re- 
sults from his land, and its disposal is ar- 
ranged with a view to the greatest economy of 
expenditure, as well as the largest rewaras 
from such side lines as poultry and gardening. 

While cherishing no political aspirations, 
Mr. La Rue has stanchly supported the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. He has been 
especially active in promoting the cause of 
education as a member of the School Board 
for several years, and his zeal has resulted In 
the establishment of high standards and the 
employment of the best teachers obtainable. 
22 



While not a member of any church, he gives 
liberally to religious organizations, and is a 
generous contributor to charities and social 
demands. He began to work at farming in the 
county when he was twelve years old and his 
fiftieth year finds him one of the wealthy, 
successful and influential agriculturists of 
Vermont Township. 

LA RUE, Samuel K. — The personal influence 
and financial stability of Samuel K. La Rue are 
the result of patient application to farming. 
Ijrudent investment and the habit of living al- 
ways within his income. At the outset of his 
independent career he found little to encour- 
age him in the dreary round of duties on the 
farm of his i)arents in York Coun- 
ty, Pa., where his birth occurred on 
,lanuary 21, 18.54, and near which he 
secured the rudiments of an education in the 
subscription schools. In the veins of Mr. La 
Hue is the blood of French and German ances- 
tors. His father, Samuel La Rue, married 
Elizabeth Keeny, whose parents were of Ger- 
man birth. The elder La Rue was a black- 
smith by trade, but turned his attention to 
farming, in which he was moderately suc- 
cessful. His death, which occurred after the 
birth of his youngest son, Amos, revealed in 
his will the desire that his sons should learn 
some useful trade, a desire which was des- 
tined to failure, as all took to farming except 
Amos, who now is a merchant in Astoria. 

Samuel K. La Rue was fifteen years old 
when the family moved from Pennsylvania to 
Illinois. At the age of eighteen he began to 
work on a farm by the month and in 1875 
engaged in the outchering and stock business 
with his two brothers for a couple of years. 
In 187y he began to cultivate the farm of Sam- 
uel Clements on shares, continuing thus until 
his marriage, December 2, 1880, to ,Josephine 
David, daughter of Easley David, a pioneer of 
Fulton County, and long a resident of Pleas- 
ant Township. Mr. and Mrs. La Rue began 
housekeeping on a farm of sixty-eight acres 
which Mr. La Rue purchased the year previous, 
and upon which he still owed a thousand dol- 
lars. At the time of disposing of this farm, in 
1895, it had been increased to 137 acres, and 
Mr. La Rue then purchased 160 acres for 
$13,000. He has a comfortable home and val- 
uable farm, and his methods of conducting it 
have entitled him to rank among the pro- 
gressive and enlightened agriculturists and 
stock-raisers of his township. 

Mr. La Rue has done much to encourage 
education, good roads and clean government. 
Under the wise direction of himself and wife 
ten children have been reared from infancy, 
and several are occupying homes of their own. 
In the order of their birth the children are as 
follows: Grace, wife of Raymond Russell, a 
farmer of Grant County, Neb.; James, a farmer 
in Vermont Township, Fulton County: Alice, 
a successful teacher in Fulton County; Neily, 



954 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



on the home place; Frank, his father's able 
assistant on the home farm; Perry. Irvin. 
Mary, Martha and Robert George. The mod- 
eration of his life, the practical quality of his 
efforts and the good will and honesty which 
have characterized all of his dealings with his 
fellowmen have won for Mr. La Hue a warm 
place among the foremost promoters of agri- 
culture in Vermont Township. 

LASSWELL, David A.— The Lasswell family 
is one of the oldest in Deerfield Township, and 
its changing fortunes, described at length else- 
where in this work, have gone parallel with the 
transformation begun here during the first 
quarter of the nineteenth century. At that 
remote period. In 1824, Henry Lasswell, the 
father of David, was born in a rude log cabin 
on the unclaimed and unfilled prairie of the 
township, and when grown to manhood mar- 
ried Sarah H. Rush, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania in 1830. David A. first saw the light 
in the same locality December 20. 1850. and to 
the educational and general advantages of this 
part of the county owes his rise from modest 
circumstances to a fair measure of social and 
agricultural prosperity. 

Mr. Lasswell secured his education under the 
usual disadvantages which confront the youth 
who has to work hard during the busy farm- 
ing season, and whose leisure, at best, is suffi- 
ciently rare to be appreciated and turned to 
the best possible account. At the age of twenty- 
four he left home and invested his earnings in 
a farm of 120 acres on Section 28. Deerfield 
Township, and in the towaiship which had 
profited by the energy and good judgment of 
both his grandfather and father, began the 
carving of his own independent fortune. Prac- 
tically all of the improvements are due to 
his initiative and ability to get along, and his 
farm embodies the advanced and practical 
utilities of the progressive and up-to-date agri- 
culturist who believes in elevating his mental 
as well as financial surroundings. The first 
marriage of Mr. Lasswell occurred March 12. 
188.5. to Mary Schrodt. who was born in Deer- 
field Township. May 2. 18.52, and his second 
marriage occurred July 1, 1905, to Mae L. 
Morgan, who was born in .Joshua Township. 
August 13, 1861. There are three children in 
the family: John. Florence and Carrie. 

A Republican in politics. Mr. Lasswell has 
dignified with good judgment and honest service 
various local offices, among them that of Con- 
stable and member of the School Board, Al- 
though not a member of any church he is a 
man of clearly defined moral views, and may 
be depended on to contribute his share toward 
the furtherance of charitable or other local 
interests. 

LASWELL. Samuel, a veteran farmer of 
Cass Township, Fulton County, 111., was born 
in that township, October 11, 1832. and re- 
ceived his early training in the district schools 



in the vicinity of his home. He is a son of 
John and Phoebe (Morris) Laswell. natives of 
Virginia. John Laswell came to Cass Town- 
ship in 1830 and located on what is now known 
as the Tate Farm, where he carried on farm- 
ing. 

The subject of this sketch was the fourteenth 
of a family of fifteen children, of whom he is 
now the sole survivor. About the year 1855 
he bought a tract of 180 acres of land in sec- 
tion 4. Cass Township, which he cleared and 
improved, and on which he has since lived. 
On coming to this place he built a sawmill, 
known as "Laswell's Mill." which has been in 
operation ever since this region was first set- 
tled. 

On October 17, 1853, Mr. Laswell was united 
in matrimony with Sarah Lippy. a native of 
Pennsylvania, and four children were born to 
their union, namely: Mary (Mrs. Huffman), 
deceased; Melissa (Mrs. Bowlin); John, who 
lives in Cass Township, and Phoebe (Mrs. 
Evelyn). Politically Mr. Laswell is a sup- 
porter of the Democratic party and religiously 
is connected with the Christian Church. To 
the endurance, patient industry, perseverance 
and sturdy integrity of Samuel Laswell and 
his contemporaries is mainly due the present 
abounding prosperity of Fulton County. 

LATOURETTE. Arthur.— A companion of 
the wilderness of Fulton County and a sharer 
in the prosperity unfolded by the zeal and 
understanding of its tireless workers. Peter 
Latourette spent his days in the pursuit of 
agriculture and at the time of his death in 
188(i owned an excellent farm of 100 acres in 
Fairview Township. He was born in New 
Jersey in 1826 and his wife, formerly Julia 
Redormer. was born in the same State in 
1836. Of the children of their union Arthur, 
now representing the family as a farmer of 
Young Hickory Township, was born on the 
Fairview Township farm August 25, 1875. 

Educated in the public schools and enjoy- 
ing the average advantages of the well-bred 
country youth. Arthur Latourette has fol- 
lowed uninterruptedly the occupation of his 
father and has succeeded in spite of many hin- 
drances and discouragements. Leaving the pa- 
ternal roof at the age of sixteen years, he 
worked as a farm hand in various parts of 
Fulton County, and in 1901 bought 160 acres 
of land in Section 23. Young Hickory Town- 
shi)>. where he since has been engaged in gen- 
eral farming and stock-raising. At Galesburg, 
111.. March 23. 1897. he was married to Amanda 
White, thus becoming allied with one of the 
pioneer families of Y'oung Hickory Township, 
where his wife was born August 13. 1876. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Latourette have been born two 
children. Lois and Mae. Mr. Latourette is a 
Democrat in politics, but thus far has not 
invaded the field of office-seeking. He is fra- 
ternally connected with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows and is a consistent member 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



955 



of the Christian Church. Highly respected by 
all who know him, his labor in the past has 
brought many satisfying compensations and 
his future holds much of hope and promise. 

LAWS, James M., Circuit Clerk of Fulton 
County, III., and prominent both as a business 
man and a public official, was born in Putman 
Township February 14. 1S51, a son of James 
H. and Louisa ( Hasson ) Laws. His father was 
a native of Virginia and his mother of Ken- 
tucky, migrating to Fulton County at a very 
early day, where the former died December 24, 
1854. There were five children in the family, 
.lames M. being the third in order of birth. 
The other members were: lone, wife of H. C. 
Carver, of Canton, 111.; S. T. Laws, also of that 
place; W. H. Laws, of Los Angeles, Cal., and 
Emma O., at the old homestead in Buckheart 
Township. Mrs. Laws married William Fuits 
and to them were born five children, namely; 
C. F., of Buckheart: L. C, of Lewistown; But- 
ler, an auctioneer of Canton; Maggie, deceased; 
and Rosa, wife of Charles Andrews. William 
Fuits, the father, died in 1S75. The mother is 
still living on the old homestead farm in Buck- 
heart Township. 

The parents of James M. Laws settled in 
Fulton County about the year 1835; so that he 
may be accounted as of the real pioneer stock. 
He was reared upon the farm and received 
most of his education in the common schools, 
the progress of his life to early manhood be- 
ing that of the average youth of an agricul- 
tural district. He assisted in the management 
of the farm until 1870, when he went to 
Kansas, but came back in 1872 and settled in 
Cuba, 111., where he pursued the grain, stock 
and coal business until 1894. Mr. Laws was 
married October 14, 1875, to Mary Harrison, a 
daughter of John and Sarah (Coykendall) 
Harrison, her parents being natives of New 
England. In 1894 he was nominated by the 
Republican convention for the office of Sheriff, 
and in a close contest, with the Democracy as 
the party in power, was elected by a majority 
of 780 votes. In the discharge of the duties 
of his office he was so successful that in 1904 
his party placed their approval of his career 
as Sheriff upon record by selecting him for 
the position of Circuit Clerk, for which he 
received a majority of 1.690. His courteous, 
prompt and methodical dispatch of the busi- 
ness which comes before him has gained for 
him new friends and admirers, who will stand 
by his former supporters in making his present 
position secure, and his prospects for further 
advancement are bright, Mr. Laws has al- 
ways evinced an active interest in public af- 
fairs, irrespective of politics. Fraternally he 
is identified with the Masonic Order (Cuba 
Lodge, No. 534; Canton Chapter, No. 68, and 
Damascus Commandery, of Havana, No. 42). 

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Laws have been 
the parents of five children, one of whom, 
Bruce, died in infancy. The surviving mem- 



bers are: Harry H., a farmer, whose interests 
are located near Cuba; Grace C, Lute C, and 
Mary, and they all have been thoroughly edu- 
cated and equipped for the practical duties of 
life. 

LAWSON, Jerome, who has been for several 
years successfully engaged in farming in 
Joshua Township, Fulton County. 111., was 
born in Franklin County, Pa., on February 5, 
1855. He is a son of James and Jane ( Mor- 
row ) Lawson, natives of Pennsylvania. James 
Lawson, the elder, moved from Pennsylvania 
to Fulton County in 1S5S, and bought a farm 
in Deerfleld Township, where he carried on 
farming for many years and is now living on 
the old place practically retired. 

Jerome Lawson was reared on his father's 
farm and received his early education in the 
public schools of Fulton County. He was en- 
gaged in farming in that vicinity until 1893, 
when he bought from John Polhemus a farm 
of 200 acres, on which he built and rebuilt 
various buildings until he made a fine home. 
On this property he carried on farming until 
1901. when he rented the place. He has eighty 
head of cattle and also owns lots in Fairview, 
Fulton County. He is a director in the Home 
Fire Insurance Company. He is now building 
a house in Fairview as a permanent home 
which he expects to occupy shortly. 

On February 'In, 1880, Mr. Lawson was 
united in marriage with Emma Polhemus, 
who was born in Joshua Township, Fulton 
County, February 23, 1860. 

In politics Mr. Lawson is a Democrat. In 
1900 he was elected Supervisor of Joshua 
Township, and has filled that office for six 
years. He affiliates with the Reformed Church. 
Mr. Lawson is a man of enterprising habits 
and full of energy and maintains an excellent 
standing as a citizen. 

LAWYER, Charles E., principal of the High 
School at Canton. Fulton County, 111., was born 
near Industry, McDonough County, 111., July 
4, 1872, a son of Thomas and Catherine (Comer) 
Lawyer. After passing through the common 
schools of his native county he pursued 
courses at the Western Illinois Normal School, 
Bushnell, and Lincoln University, and then 
entered Knox College, from which he gradu- 
ated in 1898. Mr. Lawyer taught at Industry 
one year and at Macomb four years, when, in 
the spring of 1905, he was called to Canton 
to assume his present position, which has 
greatly increased his reputation as an efficient 
and progressive educator. 

On December 27, 1899, Mr. Lawyer was united 
in marriage to Miss Myrtle Butcher, who is 
also a native of Industry, McDonough County. 
Their two children are Kenneth and Dorothy. 
Although he is a Mason and a Red Man, and 
a member of the Court of Honor and Knights 
of Pythias, Mr. Lawyer has never held office in 
any of the fraternities. In his religious belief 



956 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



he is a Presbyterian, and, although brought up 
under the teachings of Democracy, has reasoned 
himself into the position of an Independent. 
In general intercourse Mr. Lawyer is affable 
and pleasing, and, while he carries into the 
schoolroom the same courteous bearing, he is 
a good disciplinarian, clear and firm in the 
enunciation of his methods and an interesting, 
effective and up-to-date instructor. 

LEISTER, Theodore E.— Mr. Leister is one 
of the industrious and reliable farmers of Lee 
Township, classed with the rising generation 
of agriculturists, who are acknowledged to be 
as broad and scientific in their methods and 
as fruitful in valuable results to the com- 
munity as the workers in any other branch of 
modern industry. In the field of agriculture it 
has often happened that the fathers and grand- 
fathers have secured the broad and fertile 
tracts of land which the sons and grandsons 
have brought to their full capacity of pro- 
ductiveness. The rough, preliminary labors of 
the pioneers are as necessary as the developing 
work of the after generations; all combine for 
the general advancement of the wonderful ag- 
ricultural interests of the West. 

Theodore E. Leister is of Southern birth, a 
native of Carroll County, Md.. born August 
2^, 1869. riis father, William Leister, was also 
born in that county on the 3d day of May, 
1844, while his mother, whose maiden name 
was Margaret Hinman, was born in Ger- 
many, February 14, 1838. William Leister 
first came to Fulton County in 1870, residing 
near Canton for a short time; then lived at 
Zion for three years; returned to Canton, 
where he remained for eight years, and finally 
moved to Lee Township, where he still re- 
sides, having retired from the farm, working 
in his shop, engaged in blacksmithing and 
general repair work. 

As the family came to the county when The- 
odore was an Infant, for all practical purposes 
it has been his home during his lifetime. He 
was educated in the common schools of Canton 
and the district schools of the county, was 
reared on the farm and two years after his 
mother's death, which occurred November 8, 
1900, he bought his father's farm of eighty 
acres. Mr. Leister is now the owner of 160 
acres of good farm land and is a breeder of 
Polled Durham cattle, Poland-China hogs and 
Shire horses. He has taken a useful part in 
township affairs, having served as School Di- 
rector for a number of years. He is a Prohi- 
bitionist in his political relations, a member of 
the Methodist Church South and is highly re- 
spected for his good character and unassum- 
ing worth. On February 18, 1896, Theodore 
E. Leister was married to Ella Silver, the cere- 
mony taking place in her native township of 
Lee. where she was born. May 3, 1866. They 
have one child. Hazel. 

LEWIS, David W., ex-Mayor of Canton, 111., 
is one of the best-known citizens of Fulton 



County, having been six years at the head of 
the municipal affairs of Canton and a promi- 
nent anti-license Alderman of the city. He Is 
a veteran of the Civil War, and since coming 
to Canton, nearly forty years ago, has been 
engaged in painting and paperhanging. 

David W. Lewis is a native of Franklin 
County, Pa., where he was born .June 29, 1845, 
the son of Samuel and Susannah (Lynch) 
Lewis. His father, a native of Philadelphia 
and an iron-master by occupation, never came 
West, but lived and died as a resident of the 
Keystone State. As a youth David saw two 
and a half years of sobering service in the 
Civil War, serving in the ranks as a member 
of Company E, One Hundred and Twelfth 
Regiment. Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. 
After the war he worked in the car shops at 
Altoona, Pa., and in May, 1868, located at Can- 
ton. Thus since early manhood Mr. Lewis has 
been a resident of Canton, 111., and it is his 
highest commendation that during the later 
years of his life its citizens should honor him 
with the best offices in their gift. He repre- 
sented the First Ward in the Common Council 
for three terms, being elected on the Anti- 
License ticket, and his course met with such 
favor during that period that the Republicans 
elevated him to the chair of the Mayoralty. 
He served in the higher position from 1898 to 
1904, and it is quite likely that he has by no 
means reached the limit of his political prefer- 
ment. Mr. Lewis is widely connected with the 
fraternal orders, having an active membership 
in the G. A. R., I. O. O. F., K. of P. and A. O. 
U. W. In religious faith he is a Methodist. 

David W. Lewis has been twice married, 
first on December 23, 1869. to Belle Bowman, 
who died .January 10. 1895, and by her he is 
the father of Arthur M., who is now a resident 
of Chicago, connected with the Railway Mail 
Service. Mr. Lewis' marriage to his present 
wife (Aldora Sexton) occurred June 8, 1899. 

LEWIS, 0. J. — Many of the young men who 
owe their early training to the productive farms 
in the vicinity of Canton, have outlived their 
home environment and developed business 
qualities better suited to the activity of the 
city than the quiet of the country. That it is 
commendable to seek that which is most con- 
genial, and therefore better done, is a truism 
lying at the foundation of all worth-while suc- 
cess. The grocery business established in 
Canton in 1902 by G. M. Sedgwick and O. J. 
Lewis under the firm name of Sedgwick & 
Lewis, is an instance of the kind of far-sighted- 
ness here referred to. Mr. Lewis was born at 
Bryant, Buckheart Township, Fulton County, 
in 1872, and was educated in the public schools, 
learning more, however, from observation than 
from books. 

The firm of Sedgwick & Lewis was dissolved 
in 1903, since which time Mr. Lewis has owned 
the business and conducted it alone. The loca- 
tion has remained the same, on the east side of 
the square, but its methods are constantly 




^■'j iy£ Ci Si7//,tfts 4S, Bro l/y 



U^. yj.//ca>,i ^ ^ 




' ^-/■^?^de^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



957 



changing, in conformity with the more ad- 
vanced standards and greater expectations of 
the people. Mr. Lewis insists upon absolute 
neatness and cleanliness in his store, and upon 
systematic arrangement of the products for 
sale. He is obliging and courteous, moderate in 
his prices, and fair in his representations. In 
1894 he established a home of his own, marry- 
ing Mary Jenkins, who was born in Astoria 
in 1873. Fraternally Mr. Lewis is connected 
with the Eagles and Red Men. 

LIBBY, John, an industrious and wideawake 
farmer of Buckheart Township, Fulton County, 
111., and a worthy representative of the younger 
element of the agricultural class, is a native 
of that township, where he was born in 1877, a 
son of Cyrus and Sarah (Boswell) Libby, the 
former a native of New Jersey and the latter 
of Ohio. John Libby is one of the pioneer set- 
tlers of Fulton County, having moved from his 
Eastern home to Illinois in 1832. He located 
in Buckheart Township in that year, purchasing 
a tract of land, which he cleared and improved. 
On this place he followed farming for many 
years. Advancing age ultimately compelled 
him to relinquish the labors of the farm, but 
he is still living on the si)ot which he trans- 
formed from a desolate condition into a scene 
of productiveness and comfort, and is an ob- 
ject of great respect to many friends, who ap- 
preciate his excellent traits of character. He 
became the father of seven children, but the 
mother of this family has passed away. 

John Libby was reared on his father's farm 
and in boyhood enjoyed the advantages of the 
public schools of the vicinity. In early man- 
hood he was engaged for some time in farm- 
ing on his own account, but later followed rail- 
roading a few years. In 1904 he returned to 
farming, and since then has pursued that occu- 
pation on the home place of eighty acres, so 
long cultivated by his father, who lives with 
him. Besides general farming he devotes con- 
siderable attention to stock-raising. In 1904 Mr. 
Libby was joined in matrimony with Mabel 
Henderson, who was born and schooled in Ful- 
ton County. 

LILLIE, Azro E.-^Mr. Lillie is an insurance 
man of broad experience, whose initial train- 
ing was with the Continental Insurance Com- 
pany, with which he was associated from 1889 
until 1894, when he became connected with the 
German Insurance Company, for some years 
acting as Special Agent and Adjuster, with 
headquarters at Freeport, III. On April 1. 1907, 
he accepted a position in connection witn the 
Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company of 
New York, which he still retains. Mr. Lillie 
has been a resident of Avon since 1857, coming 
here with his parents. Samuel A. and Augusta 
M. (Fay) Lillie, from Vermont, where he was 
born in Bethel. Windsor County, that State, 
July 22, 1851. His father was also born among 
the rugged hills of Vermont, September 24, 



1818, and his mother, claiming the same place 
of nativity, was oorn October 31, 1828. The 
elder Lillie was a farmer by occupation, and 
after coming to Fulton County continued to 
occupy a farm near the town of Avon until his 
death in 1900. 

While still young in years Azro E. Lillie as- 
pired fo a more diversified life than that af- 
forded the agriculturist, and his education and 
training were directeu to that end. From the 
country schools he went to the academy at 
Prairie City, 111., and later entered Knox Col- 
lege, at Galesburg, 111., which he attended two 
years. He was a youth of industrious tenden- 
cies and considerable method, traits which have 
been of invaluable service to him in later years. 
Work in the open fields of his father's farm 
built up a strong constitution, and gave him 
that appreciation of the fundamentals of life, 
which cling persistently to the country reared 
lad. The insurance business has netted him a 
comfortable income, and he owns a fine home in 
Avon, and a 160-acre farm near the town, upon 
which the earlier years of his life were passed. 

At Prairie City, 111., June 13, 1882. Mr. Lillie 
was united in marriage to Mary J. Meyers, who 
was born in Fulton County, November 8. 1861. 
and who is the mother of one son, Lewis Fay, 
born July 14, 1889. Mr. Lillie has been identi- 
fied with the Republican party and is a mem- 
ber of the Golden Gate Lodge, No. 248, A. F. 
& A. M. In religion he is a Congregationallst. 
As conducted by Mr. Lillie the insurance busi- 
ness is an honorable, necessary and thoroughly 
praiseworthy accompaniment of civilized ex- 
istence. Its original and best tenets are upheld, 
and public confidence, that most necessary ad- 
junct of stable business, is persistently 
maintained. 

LINGENFELTER, Aaron.— Since its estab- 
lishment in Fulton County in 1848, the Lingen- 
felter family has unfailingly sustained the 
most intelligent and practical interests of the 
community and has manipulated with equal 
courage and ability the implements of the land- 
tiller and the weapons of the soldier. Its men 
have demonstrated the worth of industry and 
integrity, and its women have kept their 
houses in order and taught their children to be 
fair, honest and considerate in their dealings 
with their fellowmen. It was in such an at- 
mosphere of encouragement that Aaron Lingen- 
felter was reared by his parents, Jacob and 
Sarah (Claar) Lingentelter, natives of Penn- 
sylvania, in which State he was born (Blair 
County) November 8, 1841. 

Mr. Lingentelter was about seven years old 
when his parents located on Section 18. Buck- 
heart Township, and his youth knew no experi- 
ence out of the ordinary until the breaking out 
of the Civil War. He was twenty years old. 
lacking four months, when he enlisted in Com- 
pany A, Fifty-filth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, under Captain Presson and Colonel 
Stewart, the regiment eventually becoming a 



958 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



part of the Seventh Division, Army of the Ten- 
nessee, and in November a part of the Fif- 
teenth Army Corps. The regiment participated 
in thirty-two battles and was under fire one 
hundred and twenty-tive days. At the battle 
of Shiloh, April 6, lSt)2, 278 men dropped out 
of the ranks as killed, wounded or missing. 
In April. 1864, Mr. Lingenfelter veteranized 
tor three years after a furlough of thirty days, 
and up to that time he had fortunately es- 
caped injury or illness, responding to every 
roll-call. At Kenesaw Mountain, June 27th, 
he received two flesh wounds, which, how- 
ever, did not incapacitate him for service, and 
July 22 his left fore finger was shot off, the 
gallant Captain J. M. Augustine losing his life 
in the same encounter. He accompanied Sher- 
man on his March to the Sea and at States- 
boro, Ga., was captured with four others by 
the Confederates, finally making his escape to 
the Union lines ere he had been conveyed to 
Andersonville. Of this piece of good fortune 
he retained a memento in the shape of a hand- 
kerchief with twenty-two bullet holes in it, 
made by the uncertain aim of a guard who 
sought to stay him in his flight and later pro- 
duced from his hip pocket. After the capture 
of Savannah the regiment marched through 
the Carolinas, and on March 21, 1865, Mr. 
Lingenfelter was shot through the shoulder 
and disabled for life. After remaining in dif- 
ferent hospitals until July 22, 1865, he was 
honorably discharged, his enlistment calling 
for only eighteen days more of service. He 
came back to the old life in Fulton County 
with his right arm shorter by tour inches than 
his left one and his system undermined by the 
exposure and vicissitudes of the soldier life. 
In recognition of his services and suffering the 
Government has awarded him a pension of $36 
per month. 

Notwithstanding his crippled condition Mr. 
Lingenfelter has woven compactly and well the 
strands of his life, has acquired a competence 
through the successful tillage of eighty acres 
of land and has surrounded those dependent 
upon him with educational and general ad- 
vantages. His marriage to Charity Hedge oc- 
curred March 17, 1870, and three children have 
been born of their union: Elizabeth C, Er- 
nest and Minerva (Nernie) M. Nernie (Miner- 
va) is the wife of William Pollitt and they 
have one daughter, Forrest; Elizabeth is the 
wife of Lee Pollitt and they have two boys, 
William and Jacob, and three girls, Nernie, 
Leona and Mattie; and Ernest Lingenfelter 
has four children — two boys, Floyd and Bruce, 
and two girls, Burneada and Hazel. Mr. Lin- 
genfelter s civilian life has been one of quiet 
and uninterrupted devotion to his nome and 
surroundings, and out of his labor and experi- 
ence has come the regard of all who know him 
and a reputation unexcelled as a soldier and 
man. 

LINGENFELTER, Matthias, a resident of Pul- 
ton County, 111., for half a century and for many 



years one of its most substantial and prosper- 
ous farmers, was born in Pennsylvania Febru- 
ary 21, 1833. His father, Jacob Lingenfelter, 
was bom in Baltimore, Md., and his paternal 
grandparents, George and Sarah (Claar) Lin- 
genfelter, were natives of Holland and Penn- 
sylvania, respectively. Jacob Lingenfelter came 
with his family from Maryland to Illinois in 
1848, settling in Buckheart Township, Fulton 
County. Matthias" Lingenfelter grew up on the 
home farm, remaining with his father until he 
was eighteen years of age, and receiving his 
education in the district schools of the neigh- 
borhood. In early manhood he learned the 
trade of a blacksmith and followed that occu- 
pation in the same locality for thirty years, 
then devoting his attention exclusively to farm- 
ing. On July 12, 1855, Mr. Lingenfelter was 
joined in matrimonial bonds with Rebecca 
Evans, who was born in Licking County, Ohio, 
and their union has been the source of ten 
children, as follows: Joseph E., John P., Jacob 
A., Anna A., Ida E.. Sarah S., Matthias, Jr.; 
Barbara E., Richard E. and Luella. 

In religion Mr. Lingenfelter is an adherent of 
the Dunkard faith. Politically he is an earnest 
Republican and has always stood high in the 
confidence of his party associates. He has 
served as School Director for eighteen years 
and has held the office of Trustee, in both of 
which capacities he discharged his duties most 
efliciently. No man in Buckheart Township oc- 
cupies a warmer place in the estimation of his 
neighbors and fellow townsmen than Matthias 
Lingenfelter, and in this cordial regard his 
faithful wife enjoys her full share. 

LINTON, George K., a highly respected retired 
banker of Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Johnstown, Pa., June 11, 1859, a son of 
Colonel John P. and Anna (King) Linton, also 
natives of that place, where the mother still 
lives. The father, who was a prominent and 
successful attorney in Johnstown for many 
years, died August 11, 1892. The grandfather 
King came to Fulton County in 1866, and or- 
ganized the First National Bank of Lewistown. 
During his residence in Lewistown he was 
identified with all the leading industries of the 
place. He financed and started the woolen 
mills, and was one of the most public-spirited 
men in the city. He disposed of his Lewistown 
interests in 1884 and returned to Pennsylvania, 
where he died December 8, 1903, at the age 
of ninety-five years. Colonel John P. Linton's 
family consisted of eleven children, three of 
whom died in infancy. Of the others besides 
George R., Phoebe lives in Johnstown, Pa.; 
Reuben M. is deceased; Robert R. is a mer- 
chant, and Ivan R. live at Johnstown; Selah 
L. is a civil engineer; Anna is the wife of 
John E. McLane, of Pittsburg, Pa.; and Kate 
is at home. 

George K. Linton received a good education, 
enabling him to fill successfully the positions 
of responsibility which he has helu in his early 
and later home. After finishing his studies he 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



959 



came to Lewistown in 1877 and accepted a po- 
sition as bookkeeper in the First National Bank, 
and subsequently served as assistant with 
Turner, Phelps & Company. In 1894 he or- 
ganized the Lewistown National Bank, but aft- 
erward disposed of his interests in that insti- 
tution. He is now the largest stockholder in 
the Havana ( 111. ) National Bank. He has been 
identified with the banking and mercantile 
interests of this section since the time of his 
coming to Illinois. 

On August 14, 1884, Mr. Linton was mar- 
ried to Lizzie Fahnestock and their union has 
resulted in two children: Margie and Ruth 
(twins), born September 1, 188.5. Both of them 
are graduates of the Lewistown High School. 

Politically Mr. Linton is a Democrat and has 
filled several township and city offices to the 
satisfaction of the people. Fraternally he is 
affiliated with the K. of P. and the M. W. A., 
in connection with the latter being chairman 
of the Grand Lodge of the State. Mrs. Linton 
was for many years a member of the Presby- 
terian Church, and also a member of the choir. 

LITTLEJOHN, David S. — Among the most 
worthy and substantial of the sturdy pioneer 
farmers of Bernadotte Township, Fulton 
County, III., is David S. Littlejohn, who has 
lived in that township since 1839. He was 
born in Clarke County, Ohio, January 25, 
1836, a son of Abram and Sarah ( Shafer ) Lit- 
tlejohn. The former was a native of Scotland, 
whence he came to the United States, first 
settling in Virginia, whence he removed to 
Clarke County, where David was born. The 
Shafers were of German ancestry. Sarah 
Shafer was early left an orphan and was reared 
among strangers, her marriage to Abram Lit- 
tlejohn taking place in Virginia. From 
Clarke County, Ohio, the family came to Illi- 
nois, on October 27, 1839, arriving in Berna- 
dotte Township, i< ulton County, where they 
located on Section 13. There Abram Little- 
john rented a farm with two small cabins, and 
afterward bought 120 acres of land in the 
southwest quarter of that section, where he 
passed the remainder of his life, dying in 
February, 1S53. His son, David, still owns 
the original 120 acres purchased by the former 
in 1839. Abram Littlejohn was a typical pio- 
neer. His energy was inexhaustible, was 
strong in his likes and dislikes, but was a 
thorough believer in fair play. If friendly, he 
was a stanch friend in time of need. His 
worthy widow died in 1893, at the ripe old age 
of ninety-two years, having been familiar with 
all the wonderful changes that had taken place 
in Ohio and Illinois since her removal from 
her girlhood home in Virginia. She and her 
husband were the parents of five sons and five 
daughters, as follows: Elizabeth, who was the 
wife of Dan Stewart, both now being de- 
ceased; John; Margaret J., deceased, wife of 
Isaac Harris, also deceased; Phoebe A., who 
lives on the old homestead, and Is the widow 



of John Landis; Catherine, who died in in- 
fancy; Magdalene, wife of Thomas Scoville 
and living in the Indian Territory; William' 
who, when about six years old, was killed be^ 
ing thrown from a horse; David S.; Abram a 
gardener of Lake County, 111., residing near 
Cnicago, and Perry, who died in infancy. 
John, before mentioned, a prominent farmer 
of Bernadotte Township, married Margaret 
Barkley, and died, leaving a family. His wife 
IS also deceased. 

With the exception of about three years 
spent in the West, Bernadotte Township has 
been the home of David S. Littlejohn for sixty- 
seven years. He was reared on the home farm 
and, when he needed a little extra spending 
money, went out and caught a 'coon or killed a 
deer. Many a time he has worked for twenty- 
five cents a day. His first possession was an 
old-fashioned rifle and the next article which 
he owned was a shotgun, paid for in venison 
hams at twenty-five cents per pound, the total 
price being eighteen dollars. He was a crack 
shot, always attending the shooting matches, 
and -young Dave" never found anyone who 
could beat him at a target. In the early days 
when the family wanted meat for dinner he 
would go out and shoot a wild turkey. He 
has killed ten turkeys in one forenoon, and on 
one day killed three deer before noon. Wild 
game was abundant and the sport was full of 
excitement. 

Mr. Littlejohn received his early education 
in the subscription schools. People who had 
children were in the habit of subscribing a 
certain sum for the tuition of each scholar. 
Then the teacher was engaged and received the 
amount raised in the district for three or 
four months' teaching, which usually amounted 
to five or six dollars. At the age of twenty- 
four years Mr. Littlejohn left the parental roof 
and in company with John A. Hulvey rented a 
farm in McDonough County, 111., for two years. 
In 1863 he removed to Omaha, Neb., then a 
village containing about one thousand inhab- 
itants, and was there employed by a Mr. Pol- 
lock to drive a team, hauling Government 
freight. In 1865 he returned to Fulton County, 
getting safely back to his old friend Hulvey's 
place at 12 o'clock on an October night. In 
August, 1865, Mr. Littlejohn purchased seven- 
ty-two acres of land in Section 24, Bernadotte 
Township, thinking then that would be a suffi- 
ciency, but he found himself unsatisfied with 
this and bought more, until he became the 
owner of 832 acres, besides three lots in Ever- 
green Park, Cook County, 111., and one lot in 
Lake County, III., just north of Chicago. 

On February 13, 1868, Mr. Littlejohn was 
united in marriage with Mary E. Goudy, who 
was born in Ohio and came to Fulton County 
with her parents in 1865. She is a daughter 
of William and Elizabeth (Van Tilburg) 
Goudy, long residents of Bernadotte Town- 
ship, her father dying January 8, 1906. Two 
children resulted from this union: William 



960 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



B., born August 13, 1870, who lives on the old 
homestead, and Frank C, born February 6, 
1S7;J. The former married Catherine McAdams 
and has one child, Lucien A., and the latter 
wedded Inez Smith, who was born in Fulton 
County, and is a daughter of Arilous Smith. 
Two children were the offspring of their union, 
namely: Fay Carliete and Charles Glenn. 

Mr. Llttlejohn during his residence in Ful- 
ton County has always been one of the leading 
men of that locality. He has been active in 
church and school worlv and cheerfully pays a 
large school tax, although he has no children 
to educate. Farming has been his life work 
and in that pursuit he has been one of the most 
successful men who have worthily represented 
the agricultural element of Fulton County. Be- 
sides his other interests he is the owner of 
stock in the Lewistowu Sanitary Resort. 

In politics Mr. Littlejohn is a Democrat, but 
while taking a lively interest in current polit- 
ical issues, has always positively declined to 
become a candidate tor office. Of late years he 
has felt that the interests of the State and 
country are of more importance than mere 
party success and has paid more attention to 
the character and qualities of those who so- 
licit the popular suffrages than to their parti- 
san claims. For a number of years he served 
as School Director, but refused to act longer 
in that capacity. 

The Llttlejohn family has done its full share 
in reclaiming Fulton County from the condi- 
tion of a wilderness and developing the region 
to its present productiveness and prosperity. 
David S. Littlejohn started in life with only a 
good constitution and a resolute determination 
to get to the front, and his successful career 
furnishes a strong incentive to the aspiring 
element of the rising generation to follow his 
example. 

LLOYD, Robert, a highly respected resident 
of Canton, Fulton County, 111., who carried on 
general farming in .loshua Township, Fulton 
County, with successful results for many years, 
but m later life devoted himself exclusively to 
stock-raising, was born in Ontario, Canada, 
February 23, 1839, a son of William and 
Sarah Secomsa (Holmes) Lloyd, natives of 
tJngland, the former born in London and the 
latter in Sheffield. William Lloyd, who was a 
farmer by occupation, came with his parents 
from England to Canada when he was sixteen 
years old and Sarah Holmes accompanied her 
parents across the Atlantic at the age of four 
years. Both families settled in Canada. There 
William Lloyd and Sarah Holmes were mar- 
ried in the course of time and their union was 
blessed with twelve children. 

Robert Lloyd received his early mental train- 
ing in the public schools of Ontario and re- 
mained on the paternal farm until he was 
about eighteen years of age. He then left 
Canada for the United States and In 1857 
made his way to Henry County, 111., where he 



was employed as a farm hand for a few years. 
In 18tj.5 he moved to Fulton County and set- 
tled upon a farm of eighty acres in Joshua 
Township belonging to his wife. That was the 
family home until 1894, when Mr. Lloyd pur- 
chased of Frank Randolph eighty acres ad- 
joining, where he lived until his removal to 
the town of Canton. Mr.. Lloyd formerly raised 
a great many Xorman horses, Durham cattle 
and Poland-China hogs, but toward the latter 
period of his active labors confined himself to 
breeding Duroc hogs. 

On October 8, 1861, the subject of this sketch 
was uniteu in marriage with Hannah M. Bur- 
son, who was born in Walnut Grove, McDon- 
ough County, 111., where, in girlhood, she en- 
joyed the advantages of the puolic schools. 
Mrs. Lloyd is a daughter of Samuel and Mary 
( Henry ) Burson, natives of Pennsylvania, who 
settled in Illinois at an early day and were 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. Two children 
resulted from the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Lloyd, namely: William B. and Robert C. 
The former is engaged in the oommission 
business in Wichita, Kan., and the latter is 
Superintendent of Soil Survey in the Univer- 
sity of Illinois for the State. 

In politics Mr. Lloyd is a supporter of the 
Republican party. He has rendered faithful 
and efficient public service in several capacities, 
having heid the offices of Road Commissioner. 
School Treasurer, Collector, Assessor, etc. His 
religious connection is with the Congregational 
Church. Mr. Lloyd purchased his present 
neat and comfortable residence in Canton in 
the spring of 1906. He has lived a very active 
and industrious life and has always been re- 
garded as an upright, public-spirited and use- 
ful member of society. 

LOCKWOOD, George Arthur, a worthy repre- 
sentative of the younger class of the farming 
element of Fulton County, 111., who is suc- 
cessfully engaged in his chosen pursuit in the 
vicinity of the paternal homestead, was born in 
Union Township, F'ulton County, October 17, 
1880. Although his experience in farming on 
his own responsibility is of comparatively 
brief duration, enough has already been devel- 
oped touching his characteristics as a farmer 
and his methods of operation to warrant the 
assurance that he is destined to rank at no 
distant day with the substantial and prosper- 
ous tillers of the soil who have given Fulton 
County its prestige among the agricultural dis- 
tricts of the State. He is a son of Lewis R. 
and Louisa (Burrage) Lockwood, natives of 
Illinois, and his father carried on farming 
with uniform success in Union Township, Ful- 
ton County, for twenty-five years. A sketch of 
the lives of his parents appears in another 
place in this volume. 

The primary education of George Arthur 
Lockwood was obtained in the district schools 
convenient to his birthplace and his rudi- 
mentary studies were supplemented by attend- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



961 



ance at the Avon High School. His early 
youth was passed under the parental roof and 
until he reached the age of nineteen years he 
made himself serviceable in assisting his 
father in the routine of the home place. At 
that period he commenced farming for him- 
self and his labors have been attended by 
well-merited returns. In addition to general 
farming he devotes a considerable portion of 
his time to dealing in horses and cattle, which 
he has made a profitable feature of his business 
life. The farm upon which he lives consists of 
120 acres, located in Section 29, Union Town- 
ship. 

On March 29. 1899, Mr. Lockwood was united 
in marriage with Maude Kreider, the cere- 
mony taking place in Lee Townshij). Fulton 
County. Mrs. Lockwood is a native of Fulton 
County, where she was born December 21. 
1877, a daughter of Christian and Mary (Cow- 
perthwaite ) Kreider. whose former home was 
in Canton. This union has resulted in three 
children, namely: Raymond, born December 
IB, 1899; Lewis, born December 2y, 1902, and 
Harold, born May 22, 1907. 

In the matter of politics Mr. Lockwood 
takes his stand on the side of the Republican 
party. He enjoys the good will and respect of 
his neighbors and in the early stages of his 
agricultural career are plainly manifest those 
qualities of resolute puri)ose and diligent per- 
severance which, with the honorable character 
conceded to him by all, cannot fail to make 
him ultimately one of the foremost farmers of 
his locality. 

LOCKWOOD, George W., a contractor of Can- 
ton, Fulton County, 111., was born at Mercers- 
burg, Pa., in the year 1840. his parents being 
Alexander and Harriet (Holler) Lockwood. 
When he was quite young the family started for 
Western Illinois, first taking stage to Pitts- 
burg, thence down the Ohio, and up the Miss- 
issippi and Illinois Rivers by boat; after a jour- 
ney of several days finally landing at Copperas 
Creek, There were four in the family at the 
time, and they are all still living, besides 
George W., a sister and a brother in Chicago 
and one sister in Canton. 

George W. Lockwood learned the trade of a 
bricklayer, and curing the years of his activity 
in Canton has not only followed that line, but 
has done considerable stone masonry and plas- 
tering. About the only serious break in his 
industrious life was that occasioned by the 
War of the Rebellion, which occupied three 
years of his career, and, although that was a 
strenuous period, like other old boys who wore 
the blue, he has never regretted this offering 
which he made to the cause of his country. A 
member of Company K, One Hundred and Third 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he par- 
ticipated in all its engagements in the South- 
west, was with Sherman in his March to the 
Sea, as well as in the subsequent Carolina cam- 
paigns and marches, and finished his military 



service with that grandest of war pageantries, 
the Grand Review at Washington, receiving his 
honorable discharge and final muster out at 
Louisville, Ky. 

On December 30, 1868, Mr. Lockwood mar- 
ried Miss Mary Elem, whose parents were of 
an old Tennessee family, the ceremony being 
performed at Canton. Their three children are: 
William Plattenburg, a bricklayer; Frank Al- 
exander, a paper hanger, and Bell Elem, now 
Mrs. O. G. Haynes. Mr. Lockwood is a Re- 
publican and a member of the G. A. R. After 
the war he became a member of the I. O. O. F. 
and IS also identified with the Modern Wood- 
men of America. 

LOCKWOOD, Lewis R.— A gentlemen's cloth- 
ing and general furnishing establishment was 
started in Avon, this county, in 1901, by Lewis 
K. Lockwood, and since has iiassed to the com- 
bined management of the founder and his 
cousin. These enterprising outfitters have the 
right kind of commercial spirit and have built 
u)) a paying trade on fair representation and 
thorough knowledge of public demand. They 
carry several grades of goods, moderately 
priced, and in sufficient variety to encourage 
local patronage on the part of men both of 
modest and exclusive tastes. In consequence 
they have won the confidence and support of 
the community and are reckoned among Its 
substantial business pillars. 

Lewis K. Lockwood is a native of Illinois 
and was born on a farm in Warren County in 
18.5.=). Ten years before his birth his parents, 
James and Sarah .1. (Dunbar) Lockwood, na- 
tives of New York State ( the former born in 
1819). came overland in a wagon from New 
York to Avon, and after two years in the then 
small hamlet bought a farm of eighty acres 
three-quarters of a mile west, in Warren 
County. This farm, at the time entirely unim- 
proved, took on scope and fertility under the 
industry of the thrifty New Yorker and for 
half a century he lived among its resources, 
accumulating the competence which enabled 
him to retire to Avon, where his death oc- 
curred August 27, 1899. The wife, who shared 
his lesser and greater fortunes with unchang- 
ing gentleness and sympathy, still lives in 
Avon, but two of her three children have 
passed beyond the ken of her hopeful and en- 
couraging smile. 

Upon leaving his fathers farm in Warren 
County Mr. Lockwood purchased 120 acres of 
land in Union Township, where he made fine 
improvements and surrounded himself with 
the comforts and refinements suggested by an 
intelligent and tar-seeing mind. About six 
years ago he moved to Avon and left his farm 
in the hands of his second oldest son, George, 
and two years later embarked upon his pres- 
ent business venture. The wife of Mr. Lock- 
wood formerly was Louise Burrage, daughter 
of an Illinois pioneer, and her marriage oc- 
curred in Warren County In 1876. The oldest 



962 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of the three children, William, is a business 
man of Avon and the youngest child, Alice, is 
the wife of Mr. Keffer, of Warren County. 

Mr. Lockwood is a member of the Universal- 
ist Church. Politically he is a Republican, 
often casting his voce for the man best quali- 
fied to serve the interests of the community. By 
sheer pluck, industry, enterprise, ability and 
integrity, the country lad of average endow- 
ments and little material assistance has risen 
to represent the wealth, social position and in- 
fluence of a progressive community, has 
drawn around him friends who admire his 
character and depend upon his judgment, and 
has reared an interesting family, the members 
of which are filling honorable positions in 
life. 

LOCKWOOD, William Alfred.— Numerous ad- 
vantages result from the increasing tendency 
of men learned in the science of law to embark 
in occupations outside their immediate sphere 
of activity. This is the natural result of a 
profession which equips its devotees for suc- 
cess in more lines of business than any other 
wage-earning medium, causing it to be justly 
regarded as a means, rather than an end, and 
as an adjunct, rather than an entirety. The 
result is necessarily an elevation of commer- 
cial standards, an avoidance of complications, 
a means of adjustment out of courts, and a 
general simplifying of conditions through a 
knowledge of underlying principles and penal- 
ties. An Illustration of this modern phase of 
law Is found in William Alfred Lockwood, 
whom circumstances, rather than personal se- 
lection, shifted from a promising legal prac- 
tice in Chicago to a successful merchandising 
venture in Avon. 

Mr. Lockwood is the third in succession from 
the founder of his family in Illinois. He was 
born in Avon, September 25, 1879, and is one 
of the town's youngest business men. His 
father, Louis Riley Lockwood, was born in 
Warren County, 111., November 17, 1855, and 
his mother, Louise (Burrage) Lockwood, in 
the same county. May 13, 1856. His paternal 
grandparents were James and Sarah J. ( Dun- 
bar) Lockwood, natives o( New York State. 
Mr. Lockwood enjoyed educational advantages 
in keeping with his father's wealth and posi- 
tion. After graduating from the Avon High 
School he entered Drake University at Des 
Moines, Iowa, and later the Ann Arbor 
(Michigan) Law School, and the Kent Law 
School, of Chicago, graduating from the latter 
in 1901. Mr. Lockwood began the practice of 
his profession in Chicago and while thus em- 
ployed was recalled home by the death of his 
two brothers, a calamity which fell heavily 
upon the hearts of his parents. It was owing 
to the solicitations of the latter that he con- 
sented to remain in Avon, and as the town was 
too small and its irregularities too infrequent 
to support an attorney, he turned his atten- 
tion to merchandising, for which he is par- 



ticularly well adapted. He carries in his es- 
tablishment a complete assortment of dry 
goods, notions and small supplies, and the 
qualities of obligingness, tact, consideration 
and good judgment are conspicuous in his man- 
agement. 

iMr. Lockwood was united in marriage at 
Avon, 111., June 7, 19(t6, with Fannie Bstella 
Churchill, a native of that place, born July 26, 
1881. and they have entered upon their married 
life with the prospect of a happy future and 
with the best wishes of a large circle of 
friends. Mr. Lockwood is keenly appreciative 
of the duties and obligations, as well as advan- 
tages of wealth, and his public-spirltedness 
finds expression in many avenues of civic ad- 
vancement. He adheres stanchly to the prin- 
ciples and issues of the Republican party, and 
is one of the most prominent among the 
younger politicians of the county. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Knights of Pythias 
and Masons and in his religious views is a 
Universalist. Genial in manner, cultured in 
mind, large of heart and optimistic in nature, 
Mr. Lockwood is a fair representative of the 
vigorous younger element upon which is based 
the accomplishments and more civic progress 
of the next half century. 

LONG, Mrs. Dora Spurgeon.— Among other 
claims upon the consideration of her fellow 
townsmen Mrs. Dora Spurgeon Long presents 
that of being one of the financially strong and 
the socially popular element of Avon, where 
the greater part of her life has been spent, and 
where she is known as one of the most intelli- 
gent, well informed and tactful of the younger 
married women. Born in Warren County. 111., 
December 14, 1873, Mrs. Long in girlhood was 
Dora Spurgeon, daughter of Israel and Eliza- 
beth ( Marshall ) Spurgeon, the former born in 
Kentucky in 1829 and the latter in Virginia in 
1832. 

Israel Spurgeon was reared on a Kentucky 
farm and in response to the call of the prairies, 
came to Warren County, III., at an early day, 
bringing with him few visible assets, but a 
wealth of character, determination and natural 
ability. In order to make both ends meet in 
the beginning of his sojourn in the State, he 
engaged in teaming for a few months and 
subsequently invested his small earnings in a 
body of land, which he improved and stocked 
and made comfortable and profitable. The hum- 
ble teamster was destined to realize many of 
his well-formed ambitions, for at the time of 
his death he owned nearly 5,000 acres of land 
m Warren County, and had attained a far- 
reaching influence in general township affairs. 
He was a man of forceful and strong character, 
the possessor of more than average business 
ability and he stood for all that was worthy 
and practical in agricultural life and develop- 
ments. 

After graduating from the high school in 
Avon Dora Spurgeon completed a four years' 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



963 



course in German and music at St. Mary's, 
Notre Dame, Ind. She continued to live with 
her parents when not in school until her mar- 
riage December 1, isyi, to Edward Long, and 
since then she has been a familiar figure in 
the social and religious life of the town, being 
a welcome guest at many local functions and a 
tireless worker in the Universalist Church. 
Mrs. Long has inherited 590 acres of the 
parental farm in Warren County. 

LONG, Henry, the capable and efficient super- 
intendent of the Norris Coal Mining Company's 
mine at Norris, Fulton County, 111., is a na- 
tive of England, where he was born in 1860. 
In 1S6S he came to the United with his parents, 
who settled in Iowa, where he spent his boy- 
hood and received his mental training in the 
public schools, and later engaged in coal min- 
ing. About 1899 he came to Norris, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., where he opened the mine for the Norris 
Coal Mining Company, of which he has been in 
charge ever since. The company built the 
present plant, which is equipped with up-to- 
date machinery. It furnishes employment to 
175 men, and its output is about 150,000 tons 
per year, which is all shipped to other points. 
The vein of coal is four feet six inches thick 
and the company has 1,300 acres of land leased 
with mining rights. It also owns ninety-five 
houses and a store in Norris. 

Mr. Long was joined in wedlock with Ar- 
zilla Applegate, who was born in Iowa, and 
their union resulted in eight children, namely: 
Edward W., Elma, Mabel, Ezra, Henry Walter, 
Hazel, Ellen and Dale. Under Mr. Long's 
capable management the work of the Norris 
Coal Mining Company is progressing with good 
results. 

LOVE, Francis M.. Postmaster of Lewistown, 
111., has given efficient service in his present 
position since 1898, has had several years' ex- 
perience in the Government employ at Wash- 
ington and is an influential Republican leader 
in county politics. He was born in Sangamon 
County, 111., March li!, 1865, and when quite 
young was left an orphan. He passed his early 
life upon a farm and in attending the district 
schools of Fulton County, locating at Lewis- 
town as a grocery clerk m 1887. Later he was 
employed on the "Lewistown Lance," a weekly 
paper, published by Jesse Heylin. 

In 1890 Mr. Love began his official career by 
becoming a clerk in the Census Bureau at 
Washington, holding that position for about 
two years, resigning to accept a position in the 
Lewistown postoffice under R. E. Griffith. This 
clerkship he retained from September, 1891, 
until 1894, serving during the following two 
years as Assessor of Lewistown Township and 
City Treasurer of Lewistown. During the 
year 1897 and the early part of 1898 he worked 
on the "Lewistown Republican." On April 1, 
1898, President McKinley appointed him to his 
present position, to which he was reappointed 



in 1902 by President Roosevelt, and again for 
his third term in 1906. 

In September, 1899, Postmaster Love was 
united in marriage with Miss Kate Weirauch, 
whose father was a former prominent business 
man of Lewistown, and her mother (a daugh- 
ter of ,lonathan Bordnerl a member of one of 
the honored pioneer families of Fulton County. 
Mrs. Love served as Assistant Postmaster for 
eight years, retiring from the postoffice in 
1906. bhe takes an interest in society and 
club life. Mr. and Mrs. Love have one child, 
an infant daughter. 

h'oT a number of years past Mr. Love has 
been a member of the Republican County Cen- 
tral Committee, and is also a member of the 
Republican Congressional Committee. He 
still retains a connection with journalism, be- 
ing the local correspondent for the "Chicago 
Tribune,' 'New York World" and the "St. 
Louis Globe-Democrat," and is fraternally af- 
filiated with the K. of P. and M. W. A. 

LOWE, William H., a prosperous and highly 
respected farmer of Fulton County, 111., and an 
honored veteran of the Civil War, was born in 
the county which has been the scene of his life- 
long labors August 7, 1S42. He is a son of 
John and Isabelle (Riley) Lowe, the former a 
native of Ireland and a grandson of John and 
Nancy (Todd) Lowe, both of whom were na- 
tives of Ireland, as was the father, John Lowe. 
William H. Lowe received a good practical edu- 
cation in the common schools of Fulton County 
and was reared on the home farm. Soon after 
the beginning of the Civil War he enUsted in 
Company H, Fifty-fifth Regiment Illinois "Volun- 
teer Infantry, in which he served three years 
and three months at the front. He was a faith- 
ful and gallant soldier and, besides other en- 
gagements and skirmishes, took part in the bat- 
tles of Shiloh and Mission Ridge and the Siege 
of "Vicksburg. During his last year's service he 
was Sergeant of his company and was honor- 
ably discharged at Chattanooga, Tenn., October 
30, 1864. After being mustered out he re- 
turned to his home in Fulton County and ap- 
plied himself to farming, in which he has con- 
tinued ever since with profitable results. 

In 1867 Mr. Lowe was united in marriage with 
Ann Eliza Breed, who was bom in Connecticut, 
a daughter of Jonas and Sarah (Wright) Breed, 
and where in girlhood she received a good edu- 
cation. Five children resulted from this union, 
namely: Mary I., Charles R., John H., Anna B. 
and J. Bernice. Politically Mr. Lowe has al- 
ways been an earnest Republican, and his party 
has manifested its confidence in him, and its 
respect for his record in war and peace by 
electing him successively Highway Commis- 
sioner and Supervisor of his township. He is a 
member of the Hooker Post, Grand Army ot the 
Republic. 

LUKER, Charles. — The advent of Charles 
Luker in Canton dates from the introduction 



964 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of gas to the town in 1873. Mr. Luker came 
here as a practical plumber and gas-fitter with 
A. E. Swift & Brothers, of Chicago, who. with 
John H. «nyder, erected the gas plant and 
superintended the starting of this great public 
utility. Leaving the employ of the plant at the 
expiration of three years, Mr. Luker engaged 
in a private plumbing and gas-fltting business, 
which, for twenty-seven years, has been closely 
connected with the lighting and sanitation of 
the town. Not only has he given of his best 
effort to his business, but has trained to mas- 
ter workmanship in the same line his three 
sons, Charles, John Henry and William Hor- 
ace, who, in 1887, became members of the firm, 
and are his invaluable assistants. These young 
men eventually will succeed to the entire man- 
agement of the business, and thus the city is 
assured of the continuance of one of its most 
necessary ana practical enterprises. 

Mr. Luker has the perseverance and deter- 
mination of his countrymen in England, where 
he was born in 1840, and where he was reared 
in the large family of his parents, Charles and 
Maria (Smith) Luker. In 1863 he married 
Maria Preston, also a native of England, and in 
1868 came to America, his chief source of de- 
pendence then being a thorough knowledge 
of the plumbing and gas-fitting business. From 
Pittsburg, Pa., he went to Chicago in March. 
1869, and there conducted a plumbing and gas- 
fitting business until coming to Canton in 
1876. While in Chicago he became a member 
of the Masonic fraternity, and ever since has 
been identified with this ancient organiza- 
tion. Besides his sons, Mr. Luker has two 
daughters, Anna Elizabeth and Ada Maria. 
Mr. Luker is one of the self-made, well made 
men of the community, and enjoys an enviable 
reputation for skill, reliability and public- 
spiritedness. 

LUMAN, Jesse.— One of the earliest land- 
marks still standing in Fairview Township is 
the log house erected in 1838 by Jesse Luman, 
founder of the family of that name in Fulton 
County, ni.. and the owner, at the time of his 
death in 1856, at the age of forty-eight years, 
of a large and promising property. In its suc- 
cessful weathering of the storms and changes 
of sixty-eight years this crude survivor of man's 
courage and fortitude may be taken as an indi- 
cation of the continuously helpful association 
of the family with Fulton County. The hardy 
pioneer and his wife, Mary (Shreeves) Luman, 
were natives of Franklin County, Ohio, and 
Bedford County, Pa., respectively, and they 
brought with them to the wilderness their foui- 
year-old son, William S. Luman, who was born 
in Franklin County, Ohio, January 1, 1834. 

William S. Luman was destined to take an 
important part in the second generation up- 
building of Fulton County, and especially of 
Fairview Township, where he succeeded to the 
farm of 160 acres taken up by his father from 
the Government, and for which the latter paid 
one dollar and a quarter an acre. The son im- 



printed upon this property his strong sense of 
method and order, adding to it until he owned 
300 acres at the time of his death, on May 19, 
1898. His memory was stored with interesting 
information concerning the early days of the 
State, and he lived to win a large competence 
and the esteem and good will of all who knew 
him. Through his marriage, April 1, 1858, to 
Mary A., daughter of Miles and Mary ( Fisher j 
Cook, he became allied with a family celebrated 
in the annals of early American colonization, 
the immigrating ancestor of which came to this 
country with William Penn, settling in the city 
of Philadelphia. From him sprang men famous 
as scholars, soldiers and statesmen, men pos- 
sessing character, purpose and strong initia- 
tive. Mrs. Luman was born August 14, 1837. 
in Todd Township, Huntingdon County, Pa., and 
during her life in Fairview Township was be- 
loved for her qualities of sincerity, gentleness 
and sympathy. She became the mother of seven 
children: Jesse F., Alice, Amos W., John, Eli- 
jah O.. Ernest and Charles A. She died Decem- 
ber 6, 1893. 

Like many another farmer lad with cravings 
beyond the borders of the paternal acres, Jesse 
F. Luman, born January 28, 1859, inaugurated 
his independent career as a school teacher, fol- 
lowing that occupation uninterruptedly for elev- 
en years in different parts of Fulton County. 
He had authority and practical knowledge, and 
became the friend as well as instructor of those 
intrusted to his care. His own opportunities 
had been those of the public schools, Hedding 
College and the Bushnell Normal, his gradua- 
tion from the latter institution occurring in 
1884. In 1892 Mr. Luman bought the furniture 
and undertaking business of H. G. Arms, con- 
ducting the same for some time in partnership 
with his brother. In 1894 he erected a store 
twenty-nine by sixty-six feet, ground dimen- 
sions, of brick and with basement, which, with 
his stock and good will he disposed of to Mr. 
Henry in 1902. He then established the cloth- 
ing, gentlemen's furnishings, boot and shoe 
enterprise, which he sold to R. B. Henton, of 
Minnesota, in 1907. To the faculty of accumu- 
lating Mr. Luman adds a capacity for success- 
ful investment, and he owns a tract of 320 acres 
in North Dakota and 400 acres in Southern Min- 
nesota, near St. Paul. 

The marriage of Mr. Luman and Mary Cath- 
erine Olson occurred in Peoria, this State, De- 
cember 29, 1S85, and of the union there are two 
daughters. Vera L. and Jesse A., both of whom 
are engaged in educational work in Fulton 
County. Mr. Luman is a Democrat in politics, 
and in religion is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Masons. An earnest and high-minded 
gentleman. Mr. Luman contributes to the char- 
acter and worth of his adopted town, and in his 
business methods sets an example of courtesy, 
consideration and integrity. 

LYBARGER, Lewis A.— When Lewis A. Lybar- 

ger came to his present home in Vermont Town- 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



965 



ship, Fulton County, in 18S1 he found a heavy 
growth of timber, including many of the giant 
oaks which still cast a grateful shade during 
the noonday heat, but the majority of which 
have been hewn and turned to more practical 
uses. In their place is a beautiful farm with 
fine fences, far-reaching meadows, vegetable and 
flower gardens and an orchard having many 
varieties of fruit, which are the special pride 
of the owner. Although almost seventy years 
of age, Mr. Lybarger still is an enthusiastic 
farmer, rejoicing in the progress of the younger 
generation around him and finding peace and 
comfort upon the land which is his by virtue of 
untiring industry and shrewd financial ability. 
He has cleared seventy of his first eighty acres 
and now owns 110 acres, devoted to stock-rais- 
ing and general produce. His home bespeaks 
an appreciation of the refinements of life, and 
the surrounding grounds are a rest and delight 
to the eye. 

Born on a farm in Licking County, Ohio, 
June 24, 1835, Mr. Lybarger is a son of Joseph 
Lybarger. who was born in Bedford County. 
Pa., in 1S06, and as a youth went to Ohio, where 
he met and married Johannah Ewing. The 
young people and their children came to what 
then was Fulton Center, Fulton County. 111., in 
18.56, and the following year moved to Harris 
Township, where the father continued farming 
until his death, September 24, 1878. His wife, 
who was born in Ohio in 1827. died in August, 
1886. Their second son, Lilburn, is now a farm- 
er of Montana. During the Civil War he served 
two years in the Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry and was wounded at the battle of Shi- 
loh in the left hip and arm, the ball still being 
imbedded in his flesh. Milton, the third son, 
served in the same company and regiment as 
his brother, but for three instead of two years. 
George and Joseph died in infancy: James is a 
farmer in Lee Township, Fulton County; John 
R. lives near Roseville, Warren County, 111.: 
Elizabeth is the widow of Isaac Mercer and 
lives with her brother, Lewis A.; Mary is the 
wife of Charles Wheeler, a farmer of Harris 
Township: Hester is the wife of Channing 
Baugh. of York County, Neb., and Sarah J. is 
deceased. 

The youth of Lewis Lybarger was similar to 
that of other youths of his neighborhood, in- 
cluding its share of hard work, sometimes un- 
willingly performed: its attendance at the dis- 
trict school with the accompanying adventures, 
creditable and otherwise, and its social .diver- 
sions at the church and in the homes of his 
friends. February 19, 1863, he was united in 
marriage to Nancy M. Stewart, a native of As- 
toria Township and a daughter of Allen and 
Nancy (Parrish) Stewart. The Stewarts came 
from Knox County, Ohio, to Fulton County in 
1855. Mr. and Mrs. Lybarger settled on a farm 
in Harris Township. Fulton County, but soon 
after removed to Mound Township. McDonough 
County, where the wife died in 1879. Of their 
union there were the following children: Re- 



becca E., who was born December 24, 1863, and 
died at the age of nine months; Albert C, born 
June 22, 1865, now a farmer in Vermont Town- 
ship: Mary, born March 3, 1868, the wife of 
Richard Atherton, of Vermont Township; Cora 
M., born April 13, 1871, wife of Sherman Mc- 
Laren, of Vermont Township: William, born 
July 8, 1873, married Emma King and at pres- 
ent is Marshal of Table Grove; Charles H., born 
December 15, 1S75, married Bertha Bogue and 
lives on the old homestead: Sarah P., born Sep- 
tember 24, 1878, is the wife of Charles Brown, 
of Vermont Township. May 6, 1886, five years 
after settling on his present farm, Mr. Lybar- 
ger married Sarah C. Stoops, daughter of An- 
drew and Margaret (Lipscomb) Stoops, and of 
this union there have been born five children: 
Alice P., born August 1, 1888; Carl C, born Au- 
gust 9. 1881, died April 29, 1893; Lewis R., born 
August 10, 1893; Hester J., born February 3, 
1896, and Lilly H., born August 1. 1898. 

For many years of his life Mr. Lybarger was 
an active Republican, and for eight successive 
years was a member of the Board of Supervis- 
ors for Vermont Township. He has also served 
on the Board of Education, and it was largely 
through his efforts that the present school dis- 
trict was established and schoolhouse built. He 
is a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church and fraternally is connected with 
the Patrons of Husbandry. No man in the 
township is held in higher esteem than Mr. Ly- 
barger, nor has any contributed more substan- 
tially to its agricultural and general upbuilding. 

LYBARGER, Milton C, who owns a farm of 
300 acres in Lee Township, where he is engaged 
in farming and stock-raising, has been a resi- 
dent of that locality for over half a century, 
having come to Fulton County with his parents 
at the age of fourteen years. He was born in 
Knox County, Ohio, June 28, 1842, a son of 
Joseph Lybarger, a Pennsylvania farmer, and 
Johanna (Ewing) Lybarger, a native of Ohio. 
The father, who came to Fulton County in 1853, 
first settled near Gorham Tavern, but in 1858 
removed to Marietta, where he died October 1, 
1S7S. 

Milton C. was educated in the district schools 
of Fulton County and had experienced the 
training of the average farmer's son when the 
Civil War began. In October. 1861. he enlisted 
in Company F, Fifty-fifth Regiment. Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably dis- 
charged from the service in November, 1864, 
having thus devoted three years of his youth 
and early manhood in defense of his country — 
a fine basis for patriotic and valuable citizen- 
ship. Mr. Lybarger passed his majority while 
in the military service, voted the Republican 
ticket during the Civil War and has supported 
it firmly ever since. Needless to add, he is a 
member of the G. A. R. Post and takes an ac- 
tive interest in its campfires and other gath- 
erings. 

On July 28, 1872, Milton C. Lybarger was 



966 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



united in marriage with Sarah E. Burchett, the 
ceremony occurring at the home of the bride in 
Macomb. Mrs. Lybarger is a native of McDon- 
ough County, where she was born September 
23, 1854. To this union have been born Ger- 
trude, Rufus E. and Orrie E. The family are 
identified with the Methodist Church. 

LYNCH, W. E. — During the twelve years of 
its existence the dry goods establishment owneu 
and conducted by W. E. Lynch has developed 
from comparatively small to large proportions, 
and from a trade dependent upon the casual 
passersby to the continued and substantial pat- 
ronage of many of the foremost families in 
Canton and vicinity. At the beginning of the 
enterprise it was located at the northeast cor- 
ner of the Square, but at the end of a year a 
change was made to No. 26, on the west side of 
the Square, a still later advance being the pres- 
ent store at 42, the same block, which was first 
occupied in February, 1904. From 1S93 until 
1902 Mr. Lynch was in partnership with his 
father, P. I. Lynch, but since that time has con- 
ducted the business alone. 

The elder Lynch, his wife, formerly A. Elliot, 
and his son, W. E., all w-ere born in West Vir- 
ginia, the latter in Harrison County, that State, 
in 1869. The young man was reared on a farm 
and had better educational opportunities than 
fall to the lot of the average country lad, at- 
tending the public schools and the University 
of West Virginia. His youth was circumscribed 
and uneventful imtll 1S91, when he went to 
Colorado to act as a clerk for his brother, the 
journey affording him that unalloyed pleasure 
and interest which visits the heart when one is 
young, strong and fearless. In 1892 he was 
united in marriage to Pearl Bennett, a native 
of Oregon, Mo., and whose education was ac- 
quired in the public schools of her native town 
and at Valparaiso, Ind. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch 
are the parents of three children: Mildred, 
Waitman and Audra. Mr. Lynch came from 
Colorado to Canton, and as heretofore men- 
tioned, started upon his increasingly succesBful 
mercantile career. He is a Republican in poli- 
tics and in religion a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. In large degree Mr. Lynch 
possesses the qualities necessary for successful 
merchandising, not the least of which is a thor- 
ough knowledge of human nature, ability to 
keep abreast of the times and its exactions, 
consideration for employes and tact and cour- 
tesy in dealing with the general public. 

MADDEN, (Rev.) Thomas E., the esteemed 
pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lewis- 
town, Fulton County, 111., was born in County 
Galway, Ireland, December 24, 1863. and is a 
son of John and Bridget Madden. The father 
came to the United States with his family in 
1S70, landing at Boston, and went at once to 
Waltham, Mass., where he and his wife still 
reside. 

Thomas E. Madden spent his boyhood in Wal- 



tham, attending the common schools, and after- 
ward entered the high school, from which he 
was graduated with the class of 1883. During 
the next two years he attended Boston College, 
an institution under Jesuit auspices, and subse- 
quently pursued a final course of study in Holy 
Cross College, at Worcester, Mass.. whence he 
was graduated with honor in September, 1S86. 
Having completed the requisite collegiate 
courses he entered St. Bonaventure's Theologi- 
cal Seminary in order to prepare himself for 
the priesthood. From this institution he grad- 
uated in 1889 and June 29th of that year was 
ordained a priest in Atchison. Kan., by the Rt. 
Rev. Louis M. Fink, O. S. B. He then began 
the labors of his ministry in connection with 
churches in Topeka. Fulton and Paola, Kan., 
which occupied his time until 1S93. In October, 
1893, he came to Peoria and was appointed as- 
sistant pastor at Monmouth, II!., where he re- 
mained until August, 1S9S. At that period he 
became a resident of Lewistown and pastor of 
St. Mary's Catholic Church. 

Both in a spiritual and material sense the 
work of Father Madden has been very success- 
ful. Since he commenced his ministrations in 
Lewistown he has refitted the church edifice 
and rearranged its exterior, making it the most 
attractive home of worship in the city. He is 
a genial and warm-hearted man. and commands 
the confidence and respect not only of his own 
parishioners but enjoys the cordial esteem of a 
large circle of Protestant friends. He extends 
hearty hospitality to all who visit his church 
or home, and greets all guests with a pleasant 
word and cheery smile. He invariably exerts 
his great influence on the side of right, and 
lends liberal aid to all movements tending to 
promote the public welfare. All who listen to 
his pulpit utterances are impressed by his 
strong intellectual resources and the energy 
which characterizes his work. The life of 
Father Madden has been a beneficent one. and 
its results are abundantly manifest wherever 
he has labored. 

In 1905 Father Madden built St. Thomas' 
church at Table Grove, 111., at a cost of $3,100, 
the congregation having heretofore worshiped 
in private houses and finally in the Opera 
House. In 1906 he rebuilt St. Anne's Church at 
Bushnell, this edifice being a beautiful brick 
structure of Roman architecture and an orna- 
ment to the town. In connection with his work 
it is appropriate to add a brief historical record 
of St. Mary's church, over which he has pre- 
sided with such good results for nearly a 
decade. The first resident pastor at Lewistown 
was appointed in September, 1880 — Rev. Ber- 
nard W. Corley. He was followed in July, 1881, 
by Rev. Michael C. O'Brien, who is now pastor 
at Alexis, 111. The next pastor was Rev. T. J. 
O'Callahan. in 1882, who was followed in Feb- 
ruary, 1884, by Rev. L. Thiebes (deceased). In 
December, 1885, Rev. W. B. Jansen took charge 
and in December. 1887. was succeeded by Rev. 
J. G. Libert, now the pastor at Canton. In Feb- 




MR. AND MRS. ANDERSON PIGG 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



967 



ruary. 1S92, he was followed by Rev. T. J. Finn 
(deceased), and in May, 1S92, Rev. M. J. Flynn 
(deceased) took charge and remained until 
August, 1898. when Father Madden assumed the 
pastorate. The present edifice was built about 
1864 and was attended by the pastors of Canton, 
111., until ISSn. 

MANION, Martin, who carries on farming 
with good results in Cass Township, Fulton 
County, 111., is a native of Ireland, where he 
was born in 18.39, a son of Thomas and Mary 
Manion, of Irish nativity. Thomas Manion 
was a farmer by occupation. The subject of 
this sketch attended the public schools of his 
native country, and helped about; the home 
farm until he was twenty-three years of age. 
In 1862 he came to the United States and 
located at Scranton, Pa., where he was em- 
ployed in coal-mining until 1866. He nexi fol- 
lowed the same occupation at Bryant, 111., until 
ISSO, when he bought a farm of eighty acres in 
Cass Township, Fulton County, III., at a later 
period purchasing of P. Murphy eighty acres 
more. He has made all the improvements on 
his 160 acres, on which he carries on farming 
with satisfactory results. 

In 1870 Mr. Manion was united in wedlock 
with Elizabeth Frost, who was born in Ohio, 
and eight children have been the offspring of 
this union, namely: .James Thomas, Minnie 
(Mrs. Evans). Fanny (Mrs. McAdams), Wil- 
liam, Maude (Mrs. Huff), Mary (Mrs. Church- 
ill ) , George and Charles. 

MAPLE, Daniel Webster (deceased), formerly 
Postmaster of Canton, 111., as well as Mayor of 
the city, and for many years one of the most 
prominent citizens of Fulton County, was born 
in Canton February 24, 1837. His father, 
Thompson Maple, who was a native of Ken- 
tucky and a merchant by occupation, came with 
the mother from that State to Illinois, settling 
in Canton during the pioneer period, and Daniel 
W. was their first-born son. The early educa- 
tion of the latter was received in the public 
schools of Canton, Jubilee College and Knox 
Academy, and before attaining his majority was 
taken into partnership in the general store of 
his father. For a time in the early 'sixties he 
was his father's associate in the commission 
business in Chicago, in which his brother, Ed- 
gar, was also interested. He then devoted his 
attention to farming, becoming the owner of a 
place known as the "William Winnegar farm," 
a short distance west of Canton. This he sold 
after the death of his first wife in 1886, pur- 
chasing the property on the northwest corner 
of Main and Spruce Streets, in Canton, where 
he resided, being engaged in the dry-goods 
trade in Galva, 111., for a short time. In the 
course of his business career, besides the con- 
nections above mentioned, he successively filled 
the positions of secretary of the David W'illiams 
Coal Company, Cashier of the C. D. Hollitt 



Bank and Bookkeeper for the Andrews Broth- 
ers' concern. 

The first marriage of Mr. Maple took place in 
1856, Sarah E. Hall then becoming his wife. 
Four children were born of this union, namely: 
William, Harry, Frank and Fred. Their mother 
passed away in 1885. In 1900 Mr. Maple took as 
his second wife Mrs. Jennie (Hulit) Colville, a 
daughter of the late Andrew B. Hulit, who still 
survives her husband. Mr. Maple retired from 
active pursuits in 1904 and died October 22, 
1905. 

In religion Mr. Maple was an adherent of the 
faith of the Baptist Church and politically was 
an earnest Democrat and wielded a potent influ- 
ence in the local councils of his party. During 
the second administration of President Cleve- 
land he held the office of Postmaster of Canton: 
also served several terms as Alderman from the 
Second Ward, and was elected Mayor of Can- 
ton four times, his last term expiring in 1892. 
He was a steadfast promoter of the interests of 
the public schools and of all measures for the 
welfare of the community, and was especially a 
warm supporter of the Canton Fire Department. 
His death was deeply lamented and his memory 
is warmly cherished, not only by the bereaved 
family and his former associates in official re- 
sponsibility, but by all who were familiar with 
his traits of character as a man and a citizen, 

MAPLEWOOD COAL COMPANY, The, of 

Peoria, 111., although having its headquarters 
in that city, is a corporation whose extensive 
operations in the vicinity of Farmington, Pul- 
ton County, 111., are indicative of the huge 
proportions which the coal-mining industry has 
attained of late years in that section of the 
State. Aside from the magnitude of these in- 
terests in Fulton County, which impresses the 
beholder with sensations of wonder, the pro- 
digious strides made within a comparatively re- 
cent period in improving and perfecting the 
methods of mine-working through ingenious 
contrivances of modern invention, which en- 
hance the facilities of production and multiply 
the i)recautionary appliances for safeguarding 
the lives of subterranean toilers, are strikingly 
manifest in the region above mentioned. In 
no enterprise, however, is such an advance- 
ment more conspicuously manifest than in that 
of the company which forms the subject of this 
description. 

"Mine No. 1" of the Maplewood Coal Com- 
pany was opened just west of Farmington in 
1900. In the fall of that year it was thoroughly 
equipped, the necessar.v buildings were com- 
pleted and operations were commenced. The 
plant was destroyed by fire in 1903, but was 
speedily rebuilt. The steam hoisting machinery 
is of the latest type, and an electric lighting 
plant furnishes illumination for the entire 
mine. There is a fine arrangement of shaker 
screens, which size the coal almost to a precise 
degree, separating it into lump, egg, nut, pea 



968 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



and slack, and a loader, operated by steam 
power, is in use for loading box cars. On one 
occasion the mine tnrned out 1,643 tons of 
coal in eight hours. The output at ijresent is 
an average of 1,400 tons per day, which re- 
quires the services of about 500 men under 
ground. In location the mine is convenient to 
the Iowa Central and Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroads, and all the coal is shipped 
to the Northwest. A switch engine belonging 
to the company is constantly in use for switch- 
ing cars. Vein No. .t, now being worlvcd, has 
a thickness of four feet and is 125 feet below 
the surface of the ground. Mine No. 2, located 
a little southwest of Farmington. was sunk in 
the summer of 1905. It has an absolutely fire- 
proof shaft, constructed wholly of steel, with 
the most perfect modern machinery for mov- 
ing cars, run by an Its by 36 first-motion engine. 
The mine is lighted by electricity. When in full 
operation it is expected that the quantity of 
coal hoisted will amount to 2,000 tons per day, 
necessitating the labor of 800 men in this 
mine. The company has built fifty-eight 
houses for miners in Farmington, besides a 
residence for the superintendent, and has sev- 
enty other buildings and miners' boarding 
houses, of approved construction, each pro- 
vided with steam heat and containing aljout 
fifteen rooms. In this mine. Vein No. 5, four 
feet in thickness, is being worked, out of which 
the coal is hoisted from a depth of 150 feet. 
The mine has a boiler plate, self-supporting 
smokestack, resting on an IS by 24 feet solid 
concrete base, twenty feet deep. 

The worli in these mines is carried on under 
the direction of Superintendent J. F. McElwee, 
a gentleman of fine traits of character and su- 
perior order of executive ability, who has oc- 
cupied his present position since the Maple- 
wood Coal Company began operations in this 
vicinity. Mr. McElwee is a native of Warsaw, 
111. When quite young he was brought by his 
parents to Peoria, and his first business exjieri- 
ence was in connection with the distilling trade. 
In 1895 he entered upon a mining career, and 
has since then continued in this occupation. 
He maintains his residence in Peoria, going 
and coming daily between that city and 
Farmington. 

MARINER, Floyd E,— One of the old and 

l)roniiuent families of Fulton County has a 
worthy and popular representative in Floyd 
E. Mariner, the owner of a tract of 280 acres 
of land in Section 29, Orion Township, and the 
breeder, on an extensive scale, of Belgian 
horses, blooded cattle and Poland-China hogs. 
Mr. Mariner was born on a farm in Section 
19, Canton Township, February 24, 1S61, which 
Is still in possession of the family. The old 
place is rich in memories of Eliphalet and 
Julia C. (Lord) Mariner, who settled upon it 
in the summer of 1836, and who, with few as- 
sets save health and hope, forged their way 
through the hardships and limitations of the 



frontier. In addition they reared a family of 
seven children, of whom Floyd E. is the sixth 
in order of birth. 

Floyd E. Mariner was reared to an apprecia- 
tion of agriculture as a livelihood, and has 
never departed from the teachings of his youth. 
Encouraged to industry and economy of time, 
he attended the public ;schools during the 
winter season, and at the age of twenty-four, 
on March 25, 18S5, was united in marriage to 
Emma Sargent, daughter of Davis anu Sarah 
Sargent, early settlers of Fulton County, and 
old residents of Canton. Mr. Mariner is a 
young man of intelligeiice and experience, and 
these, combined with an earnest desire to lead 
a broad and useful life, tend to a continuation 
and enlargement of his present success. 

MARKLEY, Jacob A., one of the popular citi- 
zens of Lee Township. Fulton County, in which 
his grandparents originally settled in 1837 and 
to which his father came as a youth of eighteen 
years, has spent most of his life in that town- 
ship and is known as one of its successful farm- 
ers. One of his main characteristics is cheer- 
fulness, which may partially account for his 
success, as it certainly does for his popularity. 
Mr. Markley is a native of ■ Deerfleld Township, 
where he was born June 1, 18G4, the son of 
Joseph Markley, a native of Ashland County, 
Ohio, born in 1819, and Mary (Rose) Markley, 
born in New Jersey in 1S30. The father was a 
farmer and miller who came to Fulton County 
with his parents in 1837, and after reaching 
manhood followed the same occupations here 
until his death. 

• ^Ir. Markley has thus been virtually a life- 
long resident of Lee Township, being educated 
in its district schools and reared on his father's 
farm. He has meanwhile established his own 
good name within its limits, whether consid- 
ered as fanner or citizen. In politics he is a 
Democrat, and has served as School Director 
for a period of fifteen years. Fraternally he is 
identified with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. 

On March 24, 1887, Mr. Markley was married 
at Macomb. 111., to Hettie A. Marvel, who is a 
native of Piatt County, 111., where she was born 
March 30, 1807. Mr. and Mrs. Markley are the 
parents of two children — Roy and Boyd. 

MARKLEY, Joseph W., one of the younger 
class of farmers of Lee Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, who is advancing to iirosperity and substan- 
tial citizenship on his individual merits and 
independent work, is giving his sole attention 
to farming, and is already owner of a valuable 
homestead of ninety acres, which he is improv- 
ing with judicious industry. Mr. Markley was 
born at Babylon, Fulton County, on March 4, 
1871, and was educated in the district schools 
and upon the family farm, both trainings being 
of value to the rising young farmer. On Octo- 
ber 21, 1903, he was married at the paternal 
home of his bride in Macomb, 111., to Pearl 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



969 



Rock, of Lee Township, who was born on the 
17th of April, 18S0. Mr. Markley is a Democrat 
in politics but has never interested himself in 
partisan attairs. 

MARQUIS, D. J., the efficient manager of the 
Cuba BricK and Coal Com))any in Fulton 
County, 111., was born in McDonough County, 
111., in 1873, a son of Solomon and Martha 
(Wright) Marquis, natives of Illinois. Solo- 
mon Marquis was a farmer and his son, D. J., 
was reared on the home farm, in boyhood re- 
ceiving his mental training in the public schools 
of Rushville, 111., and in early manhood en- 
gaging in coal mining. In 1902 he became the 
manager of the Sunny Side Mine, continuing 
in this capacity until the proprietors reor- 
ganized as the Cuba Brick and Coal Company, 
of which he was made manager. The company 
built a plant with a capacity of about 16,000 
brick per day, where they are engaged in the 
manufacture of building brick, employing ten 
men. Mr. Marquis is also interested in coal 
mining. 

In 1896, Mr. Marquis was united in marriage 
with Cora Crone, who was born in Schuyler 
County, 111. The children resulting from this 
union are Kenneth and Geneva. Fraternally 
Mr. Marquis is identified with the K. of P. 
In the management of the two companies above 
mentioned he has manifested good executive 
capacity and fully demonstrated his energy 
and fidelity. 

MARSHALL, Carl, a resident of Ipava, 111., is 
President of the State Bank, one of the most 
substantial and reliable financial institutions of 
Fulton County, and the proprietor of 1,080 acres 
of finely imi)roved farming lands, all in one 
body and located in Bernadotte Township. It 
is difficult to conceive of a more solid combi- 
nation for the attainment of financial security 
than a bank founded uijon the prosperity and 
landed values of such a rich agricultural county 
as Fulton. Mr. Marshall is one of the largest 
stockholders in the bank and his status as a 
farmei and a citizen is typical of the material 
upon which it rests and which has made the 
institution of which he is the head illustrative 
of the best type of the country bank in a farm- 
ing community — something founded upon a 
rock, which the peculations and the panics of 
the metropolis cannot affect. 

Mr. Marshall is a native of Fulton County, 
being born in Vermont Township September 22, 
1850, a son of James S. Marshall, a biography 
of v/hom will be found elsewhere in this work. 
He attended the district schools of the neigh- 
borhood and was reared to health and independ- 
ence upon the old home farm. There he re- 
mained until he was twenty-four years of age, 
when he was united in marriage with Jeannette 
Matthews, the special date of this event being 
February 5, 1874. ' Mrs. Carl Marshall is a 
daughter of William and Mary (Hannum) Mat- 
thews, who from Ohio first migrated to Indiana 
23 



and then to Pleasant Township, Fulton County, 
where Jeannette was born June 19, 1852. The 
parents both died in Ipava. 

After Mr. Marshall's marriage the young cou- 
ple settled on Section 30, Bernadotte Township, 
where upon 100 acres of land he began his ca- 
reer as a farmer, a landed proprietor and a 
fin^incier. To his farming he soon added stock- 
raising, being remarkably successful in his 
feeding operations. From time to time he add- 
ed other adjoining tracts of land until he final- 
ly owned, as stated, l.OSO acres in one magnifi- 
cent body, and attained the distinction of being 
the most extensive feeder of live stock in Ful- 
ton County, the number ranging from 200 to 
400 per year. Of his two children Clare is now 
in charge of the principal farm of 880 acres. 
His daughter. Irma Edith, is the wife of J. R. 
Wood, a furniture dealer and undertaker of 
Ipava. 

The farm mentioned is one of the most val- 
uable in Fulton County. The residence is of 
the most approved and modern construction. 
It is built of brick with fourteen-inch hollow 
walls, is heated by steam (lead pipes), and is 
not only supplied with all the conveniences de- 
sired by the city housekeeper but is architect- 
urally attractive, and is not only comfortable 
but beautiful. Besides the residence there are 
nine substantial barns and outbuildings upon 
the farm, making the entire agricultural plant 
as complete as any in the county. This re- 
mained the home of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall un- 
til 1903, when they removed to their fine resi- 
dence on Main Street, Ipava, as Mr. Marshall's 
large interests in the State Bank made his pres- 
ence in the village necessary. Although the 
liank was not established until September, 1902, 
its business has so increased that it now de- 
mands virtually all his time and ability. As 
stated, his son Clare is in active charge of his 
agricultural and stock interests, the two being 
associated in full partnershij). 

As is the case with most of the leading citi- 
zens in a rich and settled farming community, 
the progressive career of Carl Marshall com- 
menced with his marriage in 1874. The thirty- 
two years which have since passed have but 
furnished accumulative evidence of his stalwart 
character, his unfailing integrity and his prac- 
tical ability. Although popular throughout the 
county, he has never sought office, albeit he 
wo'ild undoubtedly have secured the solid sup- 
port of his Democratic co-voters and many Re- 
publican friends. He is a Mason of high rank — 
a Shriner and Knight Templar. 

MARSHALL, Clare V. — A representative ot 
that broad-minded, cultured and over progress- 
ive element which is to mold the future agri- 
cultural policy of Fulton County is found In 
Clare V. Marshall, the present manager of tho 
large estate of his father, Carl Marshall, ex- 
tended mention of whom may be found else- 
where in this work. Mr. Marshall was born on 
the farm he now occupies March 30, 1876, and 



970 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



acquired his education in ttie district schools 
and the high school of Ipava, from which he 
graduated in 1893. 

The farm which is profiting by the ability 
and experience of Mr. Marshall is 1,080 acres 
in extent, and one of the largest, best equipped 
and valuable in Fulton County. It is devoted 
to the classes of stock and products which flour- 
.ish best in the Central West, and each depart- 
'ment is conducted according to the best scien- 
tific knowledge obtainable. Since it was placed 
on a paying basis no expense has been spared 
in its improvement, the argument being that 
the best, in the end, follows the line of least, 
resistance. The residence, a large brick struct- 
ure, is modern in design and furnishing, and 
the barns, also of brick, afford facilities for the 
housing of large numbers of stock. It would 
be difficult to find any advantage of country 
existence which has not been introduced on 
this model farm, or any luxury of equipment 
invented for the lifting of the drudgery of agri- 
cultural life. There are on the farm from 200 
to 400 head of cattle and from 500 to 600 head 
of hogs. 

The wife of Mr. Marshall, whose maiden 
name was Ina Foote, is a native of Rushville, 
111., and daughter of Charles Foote, a promi- 
nent early settler represented on another page 
of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Marshal! have had 
eight children: Gladys S.. living with her par- 
ents; Edith and Nelda, who died of diphtheria 
in March, 1904; Stewart, on the home place; 
Don, who died in infancy; Glenn. Dean and 
Sarah. Mr. Marshall enjoys an enviable popu- 
larity in Bernadotte Township, not only be- 
cause he is a representative farmer but because 
of his genial and pleasing traits of character. 
Ten years as manager of his extensive property 
has demonstrated the possession of business- 
like and honorable methods, and a progressive- 
ness which must tend to the continued well- 
being of the community. He is a Democrat in 
politics and socially is connected with the 
Knights Templar Commandery of Havana, and 
the Knights of Pythias of Ipava. At present 
he is serving as School Director. 



in 1874. Mr. Marshall then returned to Ver- 
mont Township, and being the youngest of the 
sons, continued work upon the home farm of 
160 acres, of which he finally assumed entire 
management. After his father's death he re- 
mained with his mother upon the homestead 
until 1893, when they removed to Ipava. The 
mother died September 23, 1905. 

On May 30. 1895, George M. Marshall was 
united in marriage with Gorilla, daughter of 
Charles and Mary C. (Burrows) Stafford. Mrs. 
Marshall's father was among the honored pio- 
neers of Vermont Township, while her mother 
was a native of Providence, R. I., and the mem- 
ber of a family highly esteemed in that com- 
munity for more than half a century. In 1896 
Mr. Marshall erected a beautiful residence in 
Ipava, at the corner of Mechanic and Orchard 
Streets, where, with his wife and mother, he 
now resides among the really substantial citi- 
zens of Fulton County. 

Besides owning the old Cadwallader farm of 
160 acres, which was entered as early as 1832, 
and other lands in Fulton County, he is, as al- 
ready stated, extensively interested in lands in 
York County, Neb., which he operates in part- 
nership with resident farmers on the co-opera- 
tive plan. Upon tne Nebraska farm are fed 
from 20n to 300 head of cattle and an average 
of about 500 head of hogs, the enterprise from 
the first having proven profitable and very 
satisfactory to all concerned. Mr. Marshall has 
been so absorbed, first in the care of the old 
Vermont Township homestead, and later in the 
development of his Nebraska live stock enter- 
prise, with the establishment and improvement 
of his handsome family residence in Ipava, that 
he has had no leisure, had he the inclination, 
to devote any attention to politics. Theoretical- 
ly he is a Democrat, but in local matters his 
vote is determined by the personal fitness of 
the candidate for office. He is connected with 
the Masonic fraternity, is liberal in his views 
and in his contributions to worthy objects, and 
his addition to the citizenship of the village has 
proven a decided increase of strength to the 
cause of public progress. 



MARSHALL, George 'W., a resident of Ipava, 
111., has extensive agricultural interests, being 
the owner of 400 acres in Fulton County, 111., 
and 800 acres in York County, Neb., all of 
which is being successfully managed on the co- 
operative plan. He is a younger brother of 
Carl Marshall, the prominent banker and farm- 
er of Ipava. and a son of the well known James 
S. Marshall, who is deceased and whose biog- 
raphy appears in another part of this volume. 
The subject of this sketch was born November 
26, 1852, in Vermont Township, Fulton County, 
and spent his early life on the old homestead 
in the monotonous but useful method of get- 
ting an education from the district school and 
learning the value of work on his father's farm. 
He also took a course at the .Tacksonville Busi- 
ness College, graduating from that institution 



MARSHALL, James Stewart. — E v i d e n c e s 
abound on ever.v hand that the infiuence of a 
.good and capable man is not limited to the days 
of his brief sojourn among accustomed sur- 
roundings, but rather is reflected in the lives 
of those with whom he becomes associated, and 
through them filters to the oncoming generation 
which shall contribute to the community's 
growth. This truism was forcibly emphasized 
in the career of James Stewart Marshall, 
through whose death, January 26, 1884, Fulton 
County lost a pioneer who had contributed gen- 
erously of his brain and heart and muscle to 
its upbuilding, and who, because of wise and 
sagacious disposal of opportunity, had accumu- 
lated, in addition to the wealth of public con- 
fidence, a large and valuable country estate. 
The life of Mr. Marshall began August 6, 1815 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



971 



in Jefferson County, Ohio, and he was a son of 
William and Margaret (Laycock) Marshall, na- 
tives of Ireland. 

The parents of Mr. Marshall began their mar- 
ried life under circumstances which would have 
discouraged the young people of the present. 
Both came from Ireland to Pennsylvania with 
their parents as children, had grown up in the 
same neighborhood, shared the same joys and 
sorrows and acquired about the same amount 
of education by irregular attendance at the pub- 
lic schools. Their personal belongings at the 
time of their wedding consisted principally of 
the clothes on their back, and on horseback 
they came to Jeilerson County, Ohio, from Penn- 
sylvania, took up their abode among the most 
primitive and lonely surroundings, and spent 
their days in developing a wild prairie farm. 
Of their children, Joseph married Sarah Carr 
and both are deceased; Thomas married Susan 
Argo and died in Ohio; Moore married Sarah 
Bogue; John died near Ipava, this county; Wil- 
liam died in infancy; Sarah became the wife of 
William Marshall and settled near Vermont, 
111.; Jane became the wife of William Argle, 
of the vicinity of Vermont; Dinah was the wife 
of Robert Humphrey and settled near Marietta, 
111. ; Maria was the wife of Moses Van Sickle 
and lived near Astoria; Elizabeth is the wife of 
Stephen Merrill, of Astoria Township; Priscilla 
is the wife of Robert McClelland, of near As- 
toria, and Margaret died near Vermont, 111., iu 
1S35, at the age of nineteen. 

James Stewart Marshall, developing an early 
inclination to work out his own destiny in a 
new locality, came on horseback, as had his 
father before him, to the place of his selection. 
The journey from Jefferson County, Ohio, to 
Vermont, 111., was a long one, and his assets 
consisted of a large and unconquerable hope 
and the brain and physical strength required 
for its realization. For two years he worked 
as a millwright in Vermont, and in 1837 bought 
IGO acres of land in Vermont Township and 
erected a cabin thereon, December 14, 1S35. 
Soon after he was united in marriage to Edith 
A. Bogue, daughter of Job Bogue, also one of 
the early pioneers of Fulton County, and with 
his wife began the labor of clearing his land 
that seed might be planted in the springtime. 
He expected to succeed, and expectation, per- 
sistently pursued and backed by industry and 
common sense, almost invariably brings its re- 
ward. As his operations became more diversi- 
fied and his prospects more promising he added 
to his land and used discretion and good judg- 
ment in the selection of his products. The 
years witnessed the addition of such machinery 
and general improvements as were sanctioned 
by his conservative, cautious mind, and he left 
no loopholes for the careless disbursement of 
a fortune which he had earned after the fash- 
ion of the best of the pioneers. He was wise 
enough to realize the advantage of pleasant as 
well as profitable surroundings, and gardens, 
a well kept orchard and beautiful trees added 



to the general impression of comfort and re- 
finement. 

Mr. Marshall kept his property intact until a 
short time before his death, and his disposi- 
tion of the same was as carefully and painstak- 
ingly planned as were all the acts of his life. 
While not a member of any church, he contrib- 
uted generously to church and general organi- 
zations in the township, and could always be 
counted on to promote, with money and influ- 
ence, such projects as were calculated to be of 
lasting benefit to the community. Politically 
he subscribed to the principles of the Demo- 
cratic party, but he was a home-loving, quiet, 
unostentatious man, and the honors of office 
never appealed to his desire. Mrs. Marshall 
departed this life September 23, 1905. She was 
the mother of fifteen children and nobly bore 
her part as helpmate in all the trials and dis- 
couragements which visited the days of their 
adversity, retaining her gentle and loving min- 
istrations to children and friends when pros- 
perity permitted a greater enjoyment of life. 
Of the children, Moore died in Ipava January 
.^, 1903; Sarah is the wife of Washington Hen- 
derson, a prominent retired farmer of Macomb, 
111.; Job P. married Miss Branson and lives in 
Vermont, this State; Phoebe J. is the wife of 
Lewis Howell, of Vermont Township; Carl Mar- 
shall is represented elsewhere in this work, and 
Olive is the wife of John P. Fleming, known 
as "Cap" Fleming. Eight of the children died 
in infancy. Around him Mr. Marshall created 
an atmosphere in which it was a pleasure to 
live, in which people were reminded of their 
highest ideals, and of those possibilities of men- 
tal and material well-being which come of 
proper use of the gifts with which human kind 
are endowed. 

MARSHALL, Samuel P.— Of so fine and com- 
manding a personality as Samuel P. Marshall 
one speaks most who speaks least. His career, 
outlined against the history of Fulton County 
for more than half a century, requires for its 
posterity setting no platitudes or embellish- 
ments, having worked itself out simply and 
harmoniously and in accordance with the in- 
vincible truths which have filtered through the 
ages for the enlightenment of mankind. Born 
in Jefferson County, Ohio, January 11, 1831, 
Mr. Marshall came at the age of eighteen 
months with his parents to Fulton County in 
1.S32, and after a short stay in Vermont Town- 
ship moved to the farm which remained his 
home until his removal with his family to the 
village of Ipava in 18G8. This farm, half a mile 
east of Ipava, is eloquent of his pride and in- 
dividuality, and still is owned by the family, a 
reminder of a strong man's rise from humble 
beginnings. A common school education sup- 
plemented the agricultural training of Mr. Mar- 
shall, and it is needless to say that this was 
acquired under difficulties and added to during 
the entire course of his life. His marriage to 
Mary A. Latta in Grandview, Iowa, occurred in 



9/2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1855, and of the union there were four chil- 
dren: Belle Nichols, wife of C. S. Barrows; 
Nevada, deceased at the age of three years; 
Sherman L.. and Mary A., wife of R. O. Stoops. 

No better expression of the general thought 
in regard to Mr. Marshall is available than that 
embodied in the article of his friend, W. T. 
Davidson, in the "Fulton Democrat," January 
15, 1891, and it is with a sense of absolute fair- 
ness and Justice that a part of the article is 
here quoted: "In politics Mr. Marshall was a 
stalwart Democrat, and was an honorable and 
useful man in his party. For many years he 
was Supervisor of his township, and it is not 
too much to say that he was one of the ablest 
and most valuable Supervisors the county has 
ever had. He was a member of the State Legis- 
lature two terms, during 1885-87, and, although 
handicapped as a member of the minority party, 
suggested several valuable measures and was 
instinctively and effectively the advocate of 
every reform act proposed in that body. He 
was not identified with affairs of statesman- 
ship, and made no effort at public speaking, 
yet he exhibited rare good sense relating to 
the needs of the people in the matter of State 
and national legislation. In business matters 
he was peculiarly the manager of his own af- 
fairs. He had no confidences in this line, and 
there is no man in our knowledge of whose 
wealth so little is known. He was by nature 
a peacemaker. No man living or dead in Ful- 
ton County ever settled so many neighborhood 
differences or adjusted so many incipient law 
suits as did Mr. Marshall. His sympathy led 
him to interfere numberless times in the prose- 
cution of misdemeanors. We remember to his 
infinite credit more than one young man who 
has become an honored and useful member of 
society because Mr. Marshall shielded him from 
rigorous and heartless enforcemeni of law for 
some thoughtless escapade. 

"But Mr. Marshall shone brightest in his 
home life. He was wonderfully devoted to his 
wife and children. They were his best loved 
theme. His beautiful home testifies to this de- 
votion. Nothing that money could provide was 
too good for them. Well may that wife and 
those children feel that their loss is irrepara- 
ble, for there are but few husbands and fathers 
as loyal and devoted as he was. He was a val- 
uable citizen of his town and county, and for 
long years will be sorely missed in the coun- 
cils of our leading men. 

"Mr. Marshall had lived longer in Pleasant 
Townshi]) than any other citizen. His loyalty 
to his childhood home was remarkable. He 
died at his home in Ipava at noon of .January 
9, 1891. aged sixty years lacking two days, and 
was interred in the Ipava cemetery with the 
solemn services of Free Masonry." 

MARSHALL, Sherman Latta.— The Cashier of 
the Ipava (III.) State Bank is by inheritance 
and training well equipi)ed for his responsible 
position. He comes of a family given to val- 



uable and practical accomplishment, and he is 
the son of a pioneer who set an example of no- 
ble and useful living — a man whose life work 
ran parallel with the history of Pleasant Town- 
ship for a longer period than did that of any 
other of its settlers and who contributed gen- 
erously of brain, heart and intellect toward the 
sustaining of its interests and the increasing 
of its wealth. It was in an orderly and har- 
monious household in Ipava, this county, that 
the life of Mr. Marshall began. November 13, 
1863, and he subsequently attended the public 
schools of his native town, graduating from the 
high school in 1880. From then until his grad- 
uation in the class of 1885 he attended the Uni- 
versity of Illinois, and the following year he 
graduated from Brown's Business College, Jack- 
sonville, 111. 

The business career of Mr. Marshall followed 
close upon his leaving the schoolroom, for in 
the fall of 188t5 he became bookkeeper of the 
Ayers Bank, of Jacksonville. During 1889-90 
he was Cashier of the Coronado Beach Hotel 
Company, at Coronado Beach, Cal., and from 
1897 until 1902 was manager of the Marshall 
estate, assuming his present position with the 
Ipava State Bank during the latter year. Mr. 
Marshall is a departure from the long accepted 
type of banker, having a degree of adaptability 
and public spirit rarely associated with his 
prototype of several years ago. He relieves 
the arid and unchangeable routine of his labor 
with participation in politics and society, in 
both of which he wields a sane and progressive 
inHuence. An uncompromising Democrat, he 
served as Supervisor of Pleasant Township dur- 
ing 1893-1904, as Chairman of the County Board 
from 1897 until 1904, as State Alternate to the 
National Democratic Convention at Kansas City 
in 1900. and as State Delegate to the Fifteenth 
Congressional District Convention at St. Louis 
in 1904. He is fraternally connected with the 
Blue Lodge. Royal Arch, Commandery, Mystic 
Shrine and Eastern Star. A. F. & A. M., and 
with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks 
and the Knights of Pythias. 

MARTIN, Harmon. — Among the retired farm- 
ers of Ipava are men who. while appreciating 
the enormous strides in progress during the 
Ijast half century and the many advantages 
which lighten the burdens and increase the 
well-being of those of the present generation, 
yet look longingly upon many of the accompani- 
ments of the frontier, and especially to that 
peace of mind which competition and the craze 
of wealth for wealth's sake have relentlessly 
and unalterably routed. Harmon Martin, when 
sitting before his bright fire in the winter time, 
likes to dwell in retrospection upon conditions 
as he found them during the 'forties, when but 
two houses adorned the site of Ipava, one occu- 
pied by John Easley and the other by Henry 
David, and when the former owned the greater 
part of the land upon which since have sprung 
into existence the beautiful homes and flourish- 





O <SL. 



<*7 e i^-?' <■{ 



X 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



973 



ing industries of the town. Ttiere was a little 
church near by, and on Sunday morning ap- 
proaching it for miles around were the settlers 
in rough wagons hauled by peaceful oxen, a 
restful contrast to the nerve-destroying locomo- 
tion of the twentieth century automobile. Then 
products were pure and honey was made by 
bees, and man struggled for a home and the 
simple comforts and simple luxuries of life. It 
was to such a region that Mr. Martin came with 
his parents in 1841 from Belmont County, Ohio, 
where he was born May 6, 1839, a son of Hugh 
S. and Martha S. (Smith) Martin, who settled 
in Bernadotte Township, where the father died 
in ISGS and the mother in 1S72. 

Hugh S. Martin turned to good account the 
undeveloped land which he found in Berna- 
dotte Township. He was industrious and had 
excellent judgment, qualities as essential to 
success on the frontier as at the present time. 
Turning his attention pricipally to sheep-rais- 
ing, he succeeded so well that, with his 160 orig- 
inal acres as a nucleus, he in time became the 
owner of 1,000 acres of land. For his first land 
he paid fifty cents an acre, and for the remain- 
der one dollar and fifty cents. At the present 
time some of this land is worth $120 an acre. 
At one time Mr. Martin had 3,000 head of sheep 
roaming over his lands, and in addition he 
raised large quantities of grain and other food 
for his stock in (he winter. He was methodi- 
cal and exacting in the management of his prop- 
erty, and it was these traits that advanced his 
fortunes and placed him among the sheep kings 
in the middle of the last century. 

Young Harmon Martin found plenty of work 
around his father's farm, and from sunrise to 
sunset he tended sheep on the prairies — a de- 
cidedly monotonous if not physically difficult 
task. Eventually he brought a young wife to 
the old place, his marriage to Mary McCamant, 
of Ohio, taking place in January, 1864. Sam- 
uel McCamant, the father of Mrs. Martin, 
came to Fulton County in 1854. settling in 
Ipava, where he followed the carpenter trade 
until shortly before his death, February 11, 
1890. He was born in Virginia and lived for 
many years in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have 
two daughters, of whom Vada C. is the wife of 
Charles Stines and lives on the old place with 
her parents, and Annie E. is the wife of Jesse 
F. Brock, a farmer of Bernadotte Township. 
Not long after his marriage Mr. Martin's father 
gave him a farm, to which he moved and which 
he cultivated continuously for thirty-six years, 
in 1903 moving to Ipava, where he since has 
lived retired. Mr. Martin is not identified with 
any church, but contributes liberally of his 
means to the support of the Presbyterian 
Church, of which his wife has been a member 
since her fifteenth year. He is of the old school 
of courteous and honorable men, one who would 
scorn to do an ungenerous or inconsiderate act 
and whose loyalty to friends and their inter- 
ests has never been questioned. 



MARTIN, (Mrs.) Telitha, a well known and 
highly esteemed resident of Canton, 111., and 
widow of the late Howard Martin, was born in 
Lewistown, 111., on October 28, 1823, a daugh- 
ter of Elijah and Elizabeth (Duff) Putman, 
natives, respectively, of North Carolina and 
Kentucky. Her marriage to Howard Martin 
occurred on June 18, 1846. Mr. Martin was 
born in Orange County, N. Y., October 14, 1814, 
and came to Illinois in 1836, locating on a 
farm in Buckheart Township, Fulton County, 
where he engaged in farming until 1877, when 
he moved to Canton, where he died Julv 25, 
1880. His death was the result of an accident! 
his horse becoming frightened and backing off 
the bridge near the gas works. In politics Mr. 
Martin was originally a 'Whig and later a Re- 
publican, and served as Assessor of his town- 
ship for several years. 

After her marriage Mrs. Martin's parents 
moved to Davis County, Iowa, where they 
died. Her union with Mr. Martin resulted in 
three children, namely: John, who died in 
infancy; Mary, who died October 11, 1894, and 
Charles, who died August 23, 1899. 

MARVEL, W. S., who is successfully engaged 
in the livery business in Canton, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Joshua Township. F'ulton 
County, December 15, 1854, a son of Shannon 
and Mary Ann (Creath) Marvel. The subject 
of this sketch was brought up on his father's 
farm in Joshua Township, and in boyhood at- 
tended the district schools in the vicinity of 
his home. He first started in the livery busi- 
ness at London Mills, 111., about 1885, and was 
subsequently engaged in the same line at Fair- 
view, 111., for two years. In 1901 he located 
at Canton, where he has since conducted a 
livery establishment with much success. He 
is a diligent and painstaking man, has a good 
stock of horses and a presentable vehicle equip- 
ment and his patronage is steadily increasing. 

MASTERS, Thomas D., junior member of the 
law firm of H. W. Masters & Son, Lewistown, 
111., was born in Petersburg, 111., September 20, 
1877. In 1881, as a child, he came with his 
parents to Lewistown, 111., receiving his pre- 
liminary mental training in its public schools. 
He entered Notre Dame College in 1893, spend- 
ing two years in the literary department, finally 
completing the course in the University of Chi- 
cago in 1897. During the latter year he en- 
tered the law department of the Michigan State 
University, but finished his legal studies in 
the Chicago College of Law in 1899. Mr. Mas- 
ters was admitted to the bar December 5, 
1900, ana has since been engaged in the prac- 
tice of his profession in Lewistown in associa- 
tion with his father, H. W. Masters. 

Thomas D. Masters was married June 6, 
1900, to Gertrude Mettler, of Toledo, Ohio, a 
daughter of Stanford Mettler, her father being 



974 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



a furniture dealer of that city. Mr. and Mrs. 
Masters have one child — Thomas D., born Oc- 
tober 21. 1903. In politics Mr. Masters is a 
Democrat, and his substantial abilities are cal- 
culated to bring him to the foreground of his 
professional field. 

MATEER, Charles A., M. D.— In adding the 
name of Charles A. Mateer to its citizenship in 
1897, London Mills was to profit by the services 
of a man who possessed both the ambition and 
ability to make himself a factor of large pro- 
fessional usefulness. Dr. Mateer is of Pennsyl- 
vania Scotch-Irish ancestry, and in the Quaker 
State were born his parents, James and Esther 
A. (Glendening) Mateer. the former April 3, 
1S29, and the latter September 5, 1836. The 
family for generations had been farmers, and 
James Mateer came to Fulton County in 1865. 
a few years later settling on the farm in Young 
Hickory Township, where his son, Charles A., 
was born September 5, 1867. With the excep- 
tion of the period between 1851 and 1853 spent 
in California the elder Mateer conducted gen- 
eral farming and stock-raising in Young Hiclc- 
ory Township from the time of his arrival until 
his death, November 27, 1905. 

Charles A. Mateer received his education In 
the common schools of Northern Illinois, the 
Normal School at Dixon and the Kentucky 
State University at Lexington, Ky. Profession- 
ally he was equipped at the Hahnemann Medi- 
cal College in Chicago, from which he gradu- 
ated in 1896, and later practiced medicine and 
surgery in Hammond and Burnettsville, Ind., 
coming from the latter place to London Mills 
in 1897. In the meantime a gratifying patron- 
age has grown up around him, and a large fol- 
lowing has responded to his practical demon- 
strations of skill and resource. A rare quality 
among professional men, he has also shrewd 
financial sagacity, and is one of the promoters 
and a stockholder in the local Telephone Com- 
pany. Dr. Mateer is a member of various medi- 
cal societies, and fraternally is connected with 
the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and the Masons. At Farmington, 
111., April 2, 1890, he was united in marriage 
to Eliza Jacobus, a native of that place, born 
February 10. 1869, and to them have been boru 
three children: James E., Mary E. and Charles 
H, Dr. Mateer has a tactful and sympathetic 
manner, and a personality which inspires con- 
fidence in his good will and ability. 

MATHEWS, H. T. — When H. T. Mathews was 
fourteen years old opportunity knocked at his 
door in the guise of a minor position with the 
Parlin & Orendorff Plow Works, at Canton. Of 
course he had gone out to seek a chance of live- 
lihood, for his people were poor and the neces- 
sity arose for the conversion of his young 
strength into the wherewithal of existence. Suf- 
ficient that he was industrious and faithful, and 
that he recognized the advantage of association 
with a concern which offered many avenues of 



advancement to the ambitious and deserving. 

Nine years later, in 1881, he was appointed fore- 
man of the works, a position which he since 
has maintained with the same conscientious and 
painstaking methods that secured his promo- 
tion. He thus has been in the employ of the 
same concern for thirty-four years, and it Is 
felt that his rise is a tribute to those funda- 
mental qualities of mind and heart which rare- 
ly fail in securing the advancement of the 
possessor. 

A native of Washington County, Md., Mr. 
Mathews was born in 1858 and is of Scotch- 
English ancestry. His father. C. J. Mathews, 
was born in Virginia in 1832 and died in 1897, 
and his mother was born in Cornwall. Eng- 
land, in 1839, her death occurring in 1887. 
Before her marriage she was Sophia 
Body. The family came to Illinois dur- 
ing the Civil War and, after a year spent in De- 
catur, located in Canton, where the father 
worked as a shoemaker for many years, but 
during the last years of his life was in the em- 
ploy of his son in the Parlin & Orendorff Plow 
Works. H. T., who was about five years old 
when he arrived in Canton, attended the pub- 
lic schools for a short time only, but this early 
deficienc.v seems not to have interfered with his 
subsequent and continuous effort to acquire a 
practical education. In fact at the present time 
Mr. Mathews is rated as one of the well in- 
formed citizens of the community, taking an 
intelligent interest in politics and identifying 
himself closely with the local undertakings of 
the Republican party. That he is an important 
factor in its deliberations has been attested on 
many occasions, but he is particularly appre- 
ciated in his own, or the Fifth Ward, of which 
he has been an Alderman since 1895. For the 
i)ast six years he has been a member of the 
Republican Township Committee. 

In 1881, the year that he became foreman of 
the Plow Works, Mr. Mathews married Mar- 
garet Dennis, who died in 1896. His present 
wife formerly was Josephine Jewell, sister of 
State's Attorney Jewell, of Lewistown, 111. Mr. 
Mathews has a social side which relishes a good 
story or timely joke, and he takes great pleas- 
ure in exchanging courtesies with his friends. 
For several years he has held membership in 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. He is popular 
'with his subordinates in the works, a man of 
great kindliness and consideration, of true dig- 
nity and unquestioned Integrity. 

MAU'VAIS, Henry C. — Among the native sons 
of Avon who are not only maintaining the pio- 
neer records of their fathers, hut are establish- 
ing precedents for their successors, mention is 
due Henry Mauvais, who, with his brother, Jo- 
seph, is conducting a hardware and implement 
business in his native place. Mr. Mauvais was 
born near the site of his present business May 
7, 1880, a son of Henry and Catherine (Hecker- 
in) Mauvais, the former bom In Fraace and the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



975 



latter in Missouri. Henry Mauvais early felt 
the limitations surrounding the peasantry in 
sunny France and emigrated to the United 
States, where, in Avon, he followed his trade as 
a cabinet-maker for many years. 

During his youth Henry Mauvais studied in 
the public schools of Avon, making a creditable 
record as a scholar and as a follower of vari- 
ous occupations, among them that of farm hand 
for about three years. Leaving the farm, he 
became the assistant of his father in his build- 
ing operations, ultimately embarking in the im- 
plement and hardware business, with which he 
has since been connected. He carries a com- 
plete line of farm implements and hardware and 
is able to supply on demand those expensive 
adjuncts for farming operations not owned by 
the average general farmer. He has a third 
interest in his father's estate, amounting to 
about $10,000, and owns a pleasant home sur- 
rounded by lawn and shade trees. 

In St. Augustine, 111., April 15, 1903, Mr. Mau- 
vais was united in marriage to Pauline Clem- 
ents, a native of Kansas, and born April 19, 
187S. To Mr. and Mrs. Mauvais has been bom 
a son, Henry C. In political affiliation Mr. Mau- 
vais is a Democrat, but as yet has limited his 
party service to a conscientious casting of his 
vote. He is a member of the Roman Catholic 
Church and in his daily life reflects the teach- 
ings of that history-old denomination. Mr. Mau- 
vais is a genial and obliging gentleman and has 
many friends in the town which has witnessed 
practically all of the struggles and successes of 
his life. 

MAUVAIS, Joseph N.— With the coming of 
Henry Mauvais, a carpenter, to Avon in the 
early history of that town there was estab- 
lished a family which since has reflected credit 
upon local business, social and religious condi- 
tions, and which now is represented by the pio- 
neer's two sturdy and dependable sons, Joseph 
N. and Henry Mauvais, owners and managers of 
a flourishing implement business. Mr. Mauvais 
was bom in Avon January 13, 1878, a son of 
Henry and Catherine (Heckerin) Mauvais, na- 
tives of France and Missouri, respectively. 

To some extent Joseph N. Mauvais acquired 
his father's trade and worked with the older 
man in his long established carpenter shop. His 
education was of the public schools of Avon and 
his general opportunities were similar to those 
of his brother. Henry. Mr. Mauvais is an ex- 
ceptionally intelligent and well informed young 
man, thoroughly devoted to his business and 
absorbed in music, for which he has marked 
ability. He owns property to the amount of 
$5,000, and his social standing is unexcelled, he 
being popular and the recipient of many fine 
friendships. Politically he follows the family 
bent towards Democracy and the well known 
disinclination towards office-holding. He is a 
consistent Catholic and a member of several 
local social organizations. 

MAXWELL, Jacob H.— While one usually 
associates the profession of farming with men 



whose tastes and inclinations are in the main 
intensely practical, one occasionally meets an 
exception and is forced to the conclusion that 
some other occupation has sustained a severe 
loss in the making of a landsman. This is true 
of Jacob H. Maxwell, the possessor of unusual 
mechanical and artistic ability, yet who is an 
excellent farmer, and in the country finds that 
peace and absence of turmoil so dear to the 
studiously and artistically inclined. When Mr. 
Maxwell came to Fulton County in 1853 and 
settled on his present farm of 169 acres he was 
master of two useful trades, blacksmithing and 
plastering. The former he had learned previous 
to his twelfth year in Chester County, Pa., 
where he was born February 17, 1817, and 
where his father, a blacksmith by trade, died 
in 1829. At this crisis in the family fortunes 
young Jacob H. went to Philadelphia and there 
learned the plasterer's trade, at the same time 
becoming an expert in the construction 
of cement walks and well-curbs. During his 
four years' apprenticeship he rceived little more 
than three meals a day for his services, yet 
the time given never has been regretted, as 
he laid the foundation of more than average 
skill in ornamental stucco work, which he sub- 
sequently carried on as a contractor in Boston, 
Washington, New York and many other East- 
ern cities. In fact he worked on many of the 
finest buildings in these towns, accomplishing 
really wonderful results in stucco ornamenta- 
tion. Mr. Maxwell also learned all there was 
to know of concrete pavements, a process dis- 
covered by Coglid Beaton, whose name was first 
attached to the work. 

When Mr. Maxwell arrived in Fulton County 
in 1853 it was with the intention of retiring 
from trade work and applying himself exclus- 
ively to farming. His land was very wild and 
a stranger to all improvements. "The prairie 
grass reached to a man's head, and deer and a 
variety of large game abounded. His record 
as a marksman is based upon the shooting of 
fifteen deer and many dozens of wild turkeys. 
His skill as a stucco worker, however, was soon 
discovered, and in the absence of many experts 
in the line at that time he gradually was drawn 
into the building vortex, and furnished some 
of the finest ornamental work for the churches 
and public buildings of Fulton County. He 
also has constructed many concrete walks In 
different parts of the county, and many of those 
laid thirty years ago are today in a perfect state 
of preservation. His farm has been developed 
to the growing of produce which flourishes in 
this part of the Central West, but he has de- 
pended upon some specialties, and has made an 
exhaustive study of bee culture. In this line 
he has developed a unique method, which con- 
sists of building a small house, around the in- 
side walls of which are ranged boxes or bee 
hives, which have doors opening from both the 
inside and outside of the house. He has dem- 
onstrated that bees housed in this way produce 
fifty per cent, more honey than in the old way. 
Mr. Maxwell is artistic to his finger tips, and 
many evidences of this appear on his own prop- 



976 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



erty. His grounds are beautifully laid out, and 
have all of the floral and other aids which de- 
light the heart and soul of lovers of the beau- 
tiful. He makes baskets from flowers and 
alum, and jimson weeds, and is an expert at 
fruit-grafting, producing some fine specimens of 
Illinois fruits. 

For forty years Mr. Maxwell has been a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity, and during that 
time has been active in local social undertak- 
ings. He is in sympathy with the Republican 
cause, but always has refused to accept official 
recognition. Mr. Maxwell has been married 
seven times. His first wife, whose maiden 
name was Joan Campbell, died in Ohio, and his 
second wife, Mrs. Lucinda (Bunday) Maxwell, 
also born in Ohio, became the mother of four 
children: Sarah J., the deceased wife of Al- 
bert Wyant, of Ipava, 111.; Alexander, a brick- 
mason, residing in Ipava; Hattie, wife of Abra- 
ham Heckerd, of Ipava. and Esther, wife of 
Richard Smith, and the present Postmistress of 
Esthe, Okla. The second wife of Mr. Maxwell 
died about ten days after his arrival in Fulton 
County, and he later married Lydia Brown, 
after whose death he married Mrs. Conn, of 
Ipava. The fifth Mrs. Maxwell was formerly 
Mrs. Rebecca Hager, and the sixth, who died 
April 25, 1901, was the widow of Dr. Meredith, 
of Ipava. The present Mrs. Maxwell was in 
girlhood Mary Little, and later the wife of Mr. 
Cannon. She was born in Licking County, 
Ohio, a daughter of T. P. Little, who was a 
pioneer of Fulton County. Mrs. Maxwell's girl- 
hood was attended by many hardships, and she 
well remembers milking from twelve to fifteen 
cows every night and morning when she was 
sixteen years old. Notwithstanding his many 
years and many experiences Mr. Maxwell re- 
tains his youthful spirits, and takes a keen in- 
terest in the general happenings around him. 
With his cheerful philosophy, his simple habits 
and good constitution he should be able to still 
further discredit the Psalmist's allotment of 
years. 

MAXWELL, Samuel. — As history is counted 
in the Central West seventy years includes the 
extremes of frontier and twentieth century ex- 
istence. Naught save the fertility of the soil 
and the abundant water and timber supply 
beckoned the courageous from their settled 
homes in the East during the 'thirties, and that 
one came at all augured the possession of virile 
and purposeful traits of character. Such a 
man was James Maxwell, who with his wife, 
Polly (Corbett) Maxwell, natives of Virginia 
and Ohio, respectively, came to Astoria Town- 
ship in 1836, and soon after settled where their 
son now lives in Section 13. A more wild and 
unsettled region it were difficult to find, and in- 
stead of roads the wayfarer was obliged to fol- 
low the trails of Indians and wild animals. 
Mr. Maxwell helped to erect the first log cabin 
in Astoria, and his first home on the farm was 
of round logs, this primitive dwelling later 



giving place to a hewn log cabin. Although 
deprived of educational advantages in his own 
youth, he worked zealously for the establishing 
of schools in the wilds, and though a member 
of no church, contributed generously of his 
means to the support of religious organizations. 
Quiet and unassuming, beneath his calm was a 
wealth of principle and determination, both of 
which he exercised in the small as well as 
large emergencies of life, thereby winning a 
reputation above the average for integrity and 
consideration. Of his five children two are 
living, and of these Elizabeth is the wife of 
Noah Rawley, a retired resident of Astoria. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell died during the 
early 'seventies. In earlier times he was a 
Whig, but he became a stanch supporter of 
Abraham Lincoln and the cause he represented. 

Following upon a youth uneventfully passed 
on his father's farm, Samuel Maxwell, at the 
age of twenty-two, enlisted February 22, 1S6.'), 
in Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illi- 
nois Volunteer Infantry, for one year. During 
his brief service he did garrison duty at Camp 
Butler and also was sent into Tennessee and to 
the Duck River in 186.5. He did not participate 
in any of the great battles of the campaign and 
fortunately avoided illness, imprisonment and 
many of the more trying experiences of warfare. 
Honorably discharged from the service at Mur- 
freesboro, in September, 1865, he received his 
final pay at Camp Butler, returning almost im- 
mediately to the home farm, where he took up 
the duties as his father's assistant. A longing 
to grow up with the country the other side of 
the Mississippi led him on an overland trip to 
Nebraska, where he engaged in farming for a 
couple of years in Nemaha County. Later he 
made another trip to that county, but the death 
of his father and the division of the 160 acres 
comprising the home farm necessitated his re- 
maining among the surroundings of his child- 
hood, and he since has not wandered beyond 
the boundaries of his native State. 

The Maxwell farm is finely improved and a 
lieautiful place in which to live. The home is 
modern and comfortably furnished, the barns 
are substantial and erected with due allowance 
for increase of business and an appreciation 
of flowers, shade and fruit trees and general 
aesthetic surroundings are marked and well car- 
ried out. The farm has been the home of a 
variety of high grade stock, and it is to this 
department of agriculture that Mr. Maxwell is 
most earnestly and painstakingly devoted. 

Since February 22, 1874, Mr. Maxwell's home 
has been presided over by a genial ana sympa- 
thetic little woman, who formerly was Sarah 
Bricker, a native of Pennsylvania, and who 
came in early life to Fulton County with her 
father, Amos Bricker, also born in the Quaker 
State. To Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell have been 
born ten children, nine of whom are living: 
Belle, wife of George Hammell, of Lincoln, 
Neb.; Minnie, living at home; James, who 
married Eva Foster; Charles, who married 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



977 



Edith Wright, and Frank, Bert, Ella, Elsie and 
Hubert, living at home. While no office- 
seeker. Mr. Maxwell is a stanch supporter of 
Republican politics, and has held many im- 
portant positions in the community. Like his 
father, he is the friend and promoter of schools 
and churches, and for years has been an active 
worker in the United Brethren congregation. 
All his mature life he has been an intelligent 
observer of the local trend of affairs and takes 
pleasure in contrasting the present with the 
days of his childhood on the thinly settled 
prairies. His land is valued at -SI 7.^ an acre, 
but the associations of the old jjlace are 
stronger than its money value, and under no 
consideration would the owner part with its 
pastures and fields and sunlit meadows. 

MAXWELL, Thomas H.— Born in New Athens 
Township. Harrison County. Ohio. November 4, 
1S47, Thomas H. Maxwell is a son of Samuel 
A. and Elizabeth (Hager) Maxwell, the former 
of whom died in 1849, when his son was two 
years old. In IS.'JS, when the lad was five years 
old, he came with his mother and stepfather 
to Illinois, making the journey by pike to 
Wheeling, W. Va., thence by boat to Havana, 
Mason County. Soon afterward the family set- 
tled near Marietta, Fulton County, where the 
mother died in 18.56, leaving two children, of 
whom Jane is the wife of Loren Morley, of 
Farmers Township. 

After the death of his mother Thomas H. 
Maxwell lived with his maternal uncle. John 
riager. near Ipava, until he was twenty-six 
years old. He then married Lavina Boozel, 
daughter of J. W. Boozel. a Fulton County pio- 
neer, and went to housekeejjing on a farm which 
he rented from Nathan Perry for four years. 
Successful beyond his expectations, he next 
rented a farm of Mr. Bolanger, near Ipava, for 
two years, and February 1, 1884, he bought a 
seventy-four-acre tract in Section 21, Farmers 
Township. The land had been cultivated to 
some extent and contained a small frame house 
and barn and a few minor improvements. To 
these he has added with patience and persist- 
ence and now has a home which would appeal 
to the best business and home-lovmg instincts 
of the most exacting agriculturist. His com- 
fortable and capacious house has been sur- 
rounded with shade trees, shrubs and flowers, 
and he has an orchard of two acres, containing 
pear, peach, plum and apple trees and four va- 
rieties of grapes. In addition to general prod- 
uce he raises a variety of stock, including 
graded Poland China hogs and shorthorn cattle. 
Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell are the parents of 
seven children, three of whom are living: 
Perry, born April 14, 1878. married Nellie 
Harkarader, and now is transfer agent for the 
Santa Fe Railroad Company at Los Angeles, 
Cal.; Jennie, born June 9, 1882, is the wife of 
O. H. Sewara. of Table Grove, and Charles, 
born September 4, 1887. Mr. Maxwell has been 
an intelligent and earnest observer of the 



changes which have come to the southern part 
of Fulton County during the last nalt century 
and has added his quota of encouragement and 
support to education and kindred civilizing 
agencies. At all times social in his inclina- 
tions, he has been a member of the Knights of 
Pythias of Table Grove for many years, and has 
taken a keen interest in the spread of religion, 
though not affiliated with any particular de- 
nommation. He alone is responsible for the 
prosperity which he now enjoys and which 
should lend encouragement and support to oth- 
ers whose prospects in life seem as cheerless as 
once did his own. 

MAYNARD, Louis C. — No family whose asso- 
ciation with Fulton County spans the distance 
between the early 'thirties and the present has 
more surely arisen to the opportunities created 
by the development of the section than that 
established in the wilderness of Buckheart 
Township by Jeffrey A. Maynard in 1830. 
While the advance guard of civilization now is 
composed of all sorts and conditions of men, it 
was different in the days when "Old Hickory" 
was President. Then the lazy and shiftless and 
weak-souled remained at home and the new 
communities were composed of strong and 
resolute characters: to know a man who came 
West at that time was to know that he was of 
earnest and positive character. Such was Mr. 
Maynard, who was born in the neart of the 
Puritan country of Massachusetts in 1809, and 
who eventually married Rebecca Fonts, with 
whom, at the age of twenty-nine, he traversed 
west by canal, stage and boat to Fulton County 
in 1830. In a clearing he erected his rude 
cabin of logs, startling the big game which 
for several years was to furnish sustenance for 
the settlers, and deei)ening that grim forebod- 
ing ui the hearts of the Indians whose fleet 
feet still pressed the trails of their dusky 
sires. 

In this cabin Louis C. Maynard, for many 
years one of the foremost citizens of Canton, 
this county, was born October 14, 1833. Two 
years more rolled by with their burden of 
deprivation and hardship, and then the great 
storm of 1S35. recalled as one of the most de- 
vastating in the history of the State, demol- 
ished the cabin. It was rebuilt, of course, and 
eventually was replaced by a more pretentious 
home and the land surrounding it became pro- 
ductive and valuable and was the center of a 
thriving family community. Living always 
within the margin of his means and counting 
wealth by what he was able to save, Mr. May- 
nard m 1860 assisted his son. Louis C, to es- 
tablish a shoe store in Canton, but for the 
greater i)art he himself remained on the farm, 
where he died four vears later, in 1864. 

In Louis C. Maynard the strength and con- 
servatism of his father was tempered by that 
breeziness and resourcefulness which come to 
people who spend their youth in new localities 
and themselves help to shape its future condi- 



978 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tions. He was educated in the early subscrip- 
tion and the public schools of Canton and spent 
his life on the farm until embarking in the shoe 
business with his father in 1S60. At that time 
he was twenty-seven years old. Mr. Maynard 
married. October 18, 1864, Harriet E. Cole, who 
was born in Charleston, Ind., and in 1869 or 
1870 he retired from the shoe business and en- 
gaged in real-estate brolierage, which was fol- 
lowed uninterru])tedly until his death, Septem- 
ber 16, 1881. He was a man of sound business 
ethics, and by reason of his faith in the future 
of the county and his thorough knowledge of its 
land values and general resources, materially 
aided in the settlement here of people and in- 
dustries. Aside from the example of his well- 
ordained and useful life, Mr. Maynard left a 
rich legacy of intellect and purpose to his chil- 
dren, all of whom profited by superior educa- 
tional opportunities and by the chances thus 
enfolded to reach beyond the average in human 
attainment. Margaret, a teacher in the high 
school of Canton, is a graduate of Cornell Uni- 
versity, New York. Louis C, a legal practi- 
tioner in Dallas, Tex., is a graduate of Knox 
College, Galesburg, 111., and the law department 
of Harvard University. Isabella, a gifted musi- 
cian, is a graduate from the musical depart- 
ment of Knox College Conservatory. 

McBROOM, Edward, who is among the promi- 
nent and favorably known representative farm- 
ers of Pulton County, 111., and a member of a 
family long identified with the development of 
that section of the country, was born in Can- 
ton Township, Fulton County, on July 11, 1861. 
With the exception of five years, during which 
he was a resident of Canton, 111., the paternal 
farm has been his home since that date. Mr. 
McBroom is a son of Jeremiah and Mary 
(Dancer) McBroom, the former born in Canton 
Township, January 5, 1837, and the latter in 
Ohio, December 13, 1835. The grandfather, 
Hewitt M. McBroom, who was a native of 
Pennsylvania, was born November 14, 1802, and 
died in 1877, while his wife, Bridget McBroom, 
was born June 1, 1802, and died in 1892. The 
former, who was a farmer by occupation, came 
West in 1834 and settled on the land which is 
still the family homestead. He diligently ap 
plied himself to the task of clearing and breali- 
ing the virgin ground, made the necessary im- 
provements thereon and carried on farming 
during the remainder of his life. In 1848 and 
1850 he built the house and barn now standing 
on the place. He was the father of seven chil- 
dren, namely: Elizabeth, Mary A., Hewitt, Jr.; 
Jeremiah, Harriet, Olive and Alfred — Harriet 
and Alfred still surviving. Jeremiah McBroom, 
father of the subject of this sketch, grew up 
and continued in the work of cultivating the 
soil where his sire had begun, the property then 
consisting of 185 acres of land. He devoted his 
entire active life to agricultural pursuits. He 
and his worthy wife became the parents of five 
children, namely: Caroline L., Edward, Flora 



B., Lillian May and Albert J. Edward and Lil- 
lian May (McBroom) Taylor are the only sur- 
viving children of this family. 

In boyhood Edward McBroom made the best 
use of the advantages afforded by the public 
schools in his vicinity and since 1885 has been 
engaged in farming on the home place except 
for a period of five years, as above mentioned. 
During his residence in Canton he purchased 
the City Mills, which he conducted for two 
years. 

Mr. McBroom has been thrice married. On 
October 14, 1886, he was united in marriage 
with Carrie A. Turner, who was a native of 
Illinois, and born in McDonough County. This 
union resulted in five children, as follows: Lee, 
born April 14, 1888; Mary, born August 13, 
1889; Harley A., born October 13, 1892, died in 
1895; Mildred, born October 21, 1894, and Wil- 
liam J., born September 16, 1896. The mother 
of this family passed away October 1, 1899. 
The second marriage of Mr. McBroom occurred 
February 27, 1901, when he was united to Mrs. 
Zananara A. (Nelson) Barnes, who passed away 
February 15, 1903. On June 7, 1905, he took as 
his third wife Elva Freeman, who was born in 
North Carolina. 

The political opinions of the subject of this 
sketch are in harmony with the policies of the 
Republican party. 

For three years he held the office of Road 
Commissioner of Canton Township, and served 
two years as Alderman of the city of Canton. 
In fraternal circles Mr. McBroom is affiliated 
with the A. F. and A. M. and the K. of P. He 
is a man of excellent traits of character and is 
highly esteemed by all who enjoy his acquaint- 
ance. 

McCALL, James Harvey.— The passing of more 
than a quarter of a century since the death of 
James Harvey McCall, in Mountain City, Nev., 
August 30, 1873, has not sufficed to lessen in the 
minds of those who survive him their apprecia- 
tion of a man whose name was synonymous 
with integrity, justice, honor and business ca- 
pacity, and who, though a resident of Canton 
for little more than a decade, had permanently 
identified himself with the best material, in- 
tellectual and moral advancement of the city. 
Of Scotch parentage and early American an- 
cestry, Mr. McCall was born in 1809 in Balti- 
more, Md., and in 1814 removed with his fa 
ther's family to York County, Pa., in 1825, 
locating in Lancaster County, the same State. 
Until the spring of 1835 he was engaged in 
farming and in milling in Pennsylvania, but 
during that year came with his oldest sister to 
Peoria, HI., and for six months rented and 
operated a grist and saw mill on Kickapoo 
Creek. He then returned to Peoria and worked 
at the carpenter's trade for a year, afterward 
combining that with farming until in 1839, 
when, with John Monroe as a partner, he built 
and loaded a flatboat with produce, which they 
floated down the river to New Orleans. Re- 





/.L 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



979 



turning. Mr. McCall became interested in feed- 
ing cattle and hogs and strangely enough, fed 
his stock in the first pens in Peoria from slop 
from the first distillery in Peoria, which was 
erected by Captain A. S. Cole. 

On June 10, 184.5, Mr. McCall married Louisa 
Raymond and in April of the following year 
received injuries which incapacitated him for 
labor for several months. Beginning in the 
spring of 1847, he operated a saw mill with a 
partner tor a couple of years, then added a 
grist mill, whicli, soon after being completed, 
was destroyed by fire. Rebuilding his mill in 
the spring of 18.52, he became a member of the 
firm of Moss, Bradley & Company, afterward 
McCall & Frazier, and thus operated the mill 
until the fall of 1862. In the meantime he had 
purchased a distillery in Canton, which he 
then took possession of, and in time he became 
one of the founders of the First National Bank, 
of which he was President for the remainder of 
his life. During the fall of 1872 Mr. McCall 
went to California on business and on his re- 
turn trip met men whose interesting accounts 
of mining on the coast inspired him to investi- 
gate the prospects for himself. Putting his 
desire into execution, on June 16, 1873, he left 
for the West, where he spent some time in 
different localities, and, notwithstanding the 
effort it required to write in crude mining com- 
munities, kept his family fully informed of his 
journeyings, prospects and health. In his last 
letter to his loved ones at home he spoke of 
being in excellent health and no apprehension 
was felt or doubt expressed of his safe and 
speedy return home, but a telegram announc- 
ing the coming of the remains of Mr. McCall in 
the company of A. B. Chapman, was the first 
intimation received by anyone in Canton that 
all was not well with this honored citizen. The 
report spread consternation not only in his 
family, but among his many friends and lousi- 
ness associates, for during his comparatively 
brief occupancy of his Canton home he had 
come to be regarded as one of nature's truest, 
noblest men and had won for himself more 
than average confidence and good will. 

Mr. McCall was buried with the impressive 
ceremonial of the Masonic fraternity, in the 
councils of which he had been prominent for 
many years. An address was delivered by Rev. 
H. B. Smith, of Peoria, an old-time friend of 
Mr. McCall. During the funeral services the 
banks in the city were closed and business was 
practically suspended. Thus passed from the 
ken of those who loved him a man upon whose 
shoulders fell the mantle of splendid qualities 
of mind and heart, one endowed with the traits 
of generosity and hospitality, whose bearing 
gave evidence of calmness of soul and well- 
balanced temperament, and who walked stead- 
fastly and courageously among his fellowmen. 

McCALL, Mrs. Louisa.— The unique distinction 
of being the first lady bank director in the 
United States belongs to the late Mrs. Louisa 
McCall, who held this position in the First 



National Bank of Canton from 1877 and was 
Vice-President of the same institution from 
1899 until her death on January 11, 1907. Of 
English-Irish ancestry, Mrs. McCall was born 
in London, England, October 26, 1824, on both 
sides of her family coming of forefathers who 
have encouraged the refinement and genius of 
their women and the nobility and strength of 
their men. 

Charles Richard Basden Raymond, father of 
Mrs. McCall, was born in London, England, 
August 22, 1800, and by occupation was a tea 
tester with the East India Tea Company for 
many years. He married Margaret Priscilla 
Widenham, who was born at Widenham Cas- 
tle, County Cork, Ireland, in December, 1798. 
The Widenham ancestors were first chronicled 
m British history in 1651, when one Lieutenant 
Widenham went with Cromwell into Ireland 
and received what still is known as the Widen- 
ham castle and estate. Mrs. Raymond's 
brother, James, was an officer under Welling- 
ton at the battle of Waterloo. The Ravmond 
family also is of ancient and creditable lineage, 
but unfortunately no record has been kept of 
the lives of its members. 

In December. 1834, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond 
and their family set sail for America from the 
London docks and after ten weeiis upon the 
deep landed in New Orleans, La. Thence 
they came up the Mississippi and Illinois 
Rivers to Peoria, which was then but 
little more than a trading post on the 
outskirts oi civilization. Both Mr. Ray- 
mond and his wife were cultured and scholarly 
and brought to this country a fine library, 
music and a violin in addition to their living 
essentials. They were people of ready adapta- 
bility and resource and in the absence of 
schools for that purpose taught their older chil- 
dren literature, music, mathematics and his- 
tory, and to the education of their daughters 
added needlework of every description and 
housekeeping. Mr. Raymond was a genial, so- 
ciable, tactful and considerate gentleman, and 
the farm upon which he settled in Peoria 
County became the Mecca tor the brightest 
minds that then contributed to the growth of 
Central Illinois. An Episcopalian in religious 
faith and association, he naturally attracted 
the bishops and high churchmen to his home, 
and in their company passed many pleasant 
and profitable hours. 

Mrs. McCall was about ten years old when 
her parents settled on the Peoria County 
farm and to her childish mind the change 
from the multitudinous interests in the English 
metropolis to the crude surroundings of the 
frontier was as strange as it was incompre- 
hensible. As a child she evidenced scholarly 
tastes, and threw herself with enthusiasm into 
the studies and pursuits superintended by her 
parents. Even then she was laying the founda- 
tion for the large responsibilities which were 
to crowd her mature life and especially devel- 
oped those qualities inseparably associated 



98o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



with the arid occupation of linking. She was 
systematic, orderly, thorough and even execu- 
tive at an age when most children find greatest 
solace in the companionship of their dolls, and 
in addition to these solid traits she was a 
musician of merit, possessing an excellent 
voice. This pioneer family placed no premium 
ui)on idleness, and to develop one's mind and 
talents was not only a pleasure but a duty. 
Mrs. McCall therefore was the soul of industry 
and also was obedient to her parents, respect- 
ful to authority and reverential. 

In Peoria County, 111., June 10, 184."i, oc- 
curred the marriage of Louisa Raymond and 
James Harvey McCall, the latter born in Balti- 
more, Md., and whose Scotch ancestor estab- 
lished a ferry near Baltimore, still known as 
McCall's Ferry. To Mr. and Mrs. McCall were 
born four daughters: Margaret Louisa, now 
Mrs. Entwistle, of Canton, born May 7, 1846; 
Grace Caroline (Mrs. McCall Black, of Canton), 
born March 1. 1849; Josephine Elizabeth (Mrs. 
William Babcock, of New York), born Septem- 
ber 22, 1,S.t1, and Agnes ( Jlrs. Charles Levings, 
of Chicago), born November 20, 1855. Until 
the autumn of 1862 Mr. and Mrs. McCall lived 
in Peoria, 111., then removing to Canton, where 
Mr. McCall died August 30, 1873. Four years 
later, as heretofore stated, Mrs. McCall was 
made a director in the First National Bank of 
Canton, and in January, 1899, became Vice- 
President of the same. Possessed of ample 
wealth, inherited from her husband, and of 
high business capabilities, she employed her 
means most generously in the interests of 
charity and the promotion of religious progress. 
She was instrumental in organizing the La- 
dies' Aid Society of Canton, of which she was 
President for twenty-five years; was liberal in 
church work and in aid of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, and contributed to the 
Canton Fire Department and (he beautifying of 
the McCall school building, which was named 
in her honor. She was one of the organizers 
of the Eastern Star Chapter of Canton, of 
which she was the first Worthy Matron. Her 
death occurred, as already stated, on January 
11, 1907, as the result of impaired health, be- 
ginning with an attack of pneumonia in May, 
1905, and the honors paid to her memory on the 
occasion of her funeral attested the estimation 
in which she was held by a large circle of 
devoted and admiring friends. 

McCANCE, Henry Wheeler.— Mr. McCance now 
occupies a nice farm of eighty acres near 
Smithfield, Fulton County, having entirely re- 
tired from the occupation of stock-feeding, in 
which he was formerly extensively engaged. He 
is a veteran of the Civil War, a Republican of 
local prominence and has been honored with 
many local offices, 

Henry W. McCance is a native of Belmont 
County, Ohio, where he was born on the 24th 
of September, 1849. His father, James Mc- 
Cance, was born in the Buckeye State Septem- 



ber 26, 1824, and his mother, Mary (Wheeler) 
McCance, February 7, 1827. The former, who 
was a farmer, came to Fulton County in 1857 
and first settled near Marietta, continuing to re- 
side in the county until his death, July 27, 
1902. The subject of this sketch has always 
resided in Fulton County with the exception 
of a short term of service in the Civil War. The 
boy was not yet sixteen years of age when, on 
February 8, 1S65, he enlisted in Company G, 
One Hundred and Forty-eighth Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry, receiving his discharge Septem- 
ber 5th following. 

On October 17, 1875, Mr. McCance was mar- 
ried at Marietta to Emma McBeath, who was 
born in Harris Township, Fulton County, on 
the 14th of October, 1852, and they have be- 
come the parents of five children, viz.: Flor- 
ence, Alta, Renda, Mary and Pearl. During his 
many years of residence in his present locality 
the fellow citizens and friends of Mr. McCance 
have repeatedly testified to their confidence in 
his moral character and ability by calling him 
to fill such township offices as Road Commis- 
sioner, Justice of the Peace and School Direct- 
or, and in all of them he has met the full ex- 
pectations of his constituents. As stated, he is 
a Republican and is firm in his party allegi- 
ance. In religion he adheres to the Methodist 
faith. • 

On June 20, 1895, Mr. McCance was united in 
marriage with Marietta Boynton, of Prairie 
City, where the ceremonies occurred, and 
where the bride was born, April 12, 1873. Their 
union has resulted in three children — Russell 
D., Esther M. and Ralph E. 

McCAUGHEY, John W. — The energy and busi- 
ness ability of John W. McCaughey have built 
up a grocery business in Bernadotte, Fulton 
County, which compares favorably with the 
best concerns of the kind in larger and more 
thickly settled communities. The owner has a 
thorough knowledge of his occupation, suffi- 
cient courage to weather inevitable depressions 
in trade and sufficient wisdom to realize that 
only by maintaining a high standard can he 
hope for uniform and continued success. Mr. 
McCaughey is a native of Jefferson County, 
Ohio, where he was born February 4, 1848, one 
of the four children of Harrison and Elizabeth 
(Hoyle) McCaughey, the former born in Jef- 
ferson County, Ohio, in June, 1814, and the lat- 
ter born in Lancastershire, England, November 
3, 1823. Mrs. McCaughey came to America 
with her father, John Hoyle, the rest of the 
family coming in 1S2S, and settling near Steu- 
benville. Ohio, where her marriage to Mr. Mc- 
Caughey occurred June 3, 1842. 

Uncle Harry and Aunt Betsy, as Mr. and 
Mrs. Harrison McCaughey were familiarly 
called, were a veritable blessing to the com- 
munities in which they lived. Large-hearted 
hospitable, generous to a fault, the friends of 
laughter and good fellowship, the ready sympa- 
thizers with the under dog in the life struggle. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



981. 



they drew around them the love and good will 
of young and old, and the respect of all who 
knew them. In 1849 they left Ohio and came 
to Bernadotte, 111., then a small hamlet, and 
soon after located in Marietta, where Mr. Mc- 
Caughey established a mercantile business. 
Disposing of his store, he purchased a farm 
three miles west of Bernadotte, but later moved 
into the town, where he conducted a cooperage 
business until 1S60. From then until 1869 he 
ran a general store in Bernadotte, and upon 
disposing of the same, operated a hotel in Ver- 
mont, until failing health necessitated his re- 
turn to Bernadotte, where his lamented death 
occurred July 30, 1884. Mr. McCaughey was 
vitally interested in church and educational 
matters, and as Supervisor, Township Treasurer 
and Postmaster rendered honorable and effi- 
cient public service. There are many who re- 
call his acts of kindness, his unfailing good 
humor, his tact and consideration. He was a 
good man and dealt fairly with his fellowmen. 
Aunt Betsy, who survived her husband until 
1899, was an ideal wife and mother, a devoted 
church worker and unfailing friend. She knew 
how to make those around her comfortable and 
could drown her own desires in the needs of 
those dependent upon her interest and sympa- 
thy. Of her children the youngest died at the 
age of three years: Mary is the widow of Earl 
D. Tuthill, the latter one of the leading mer- 
chants of Bernadotte for many years, and 
whose business now is conducted by his wife 
and son, Harry; James is a business man of 
Smithfleld, Fulton County, and William died at 
the age of twenty-three. 

John W. McCaughey gained his first wage- 
earning experience on a farm, and in connec- 
tion therewith attended the district schools and 
the high school at Vermont. For some time he 
clerked in his father's store, and in 1869 started 
a mercantile business of his own, conducting 
the same until 1S71. He thereafter both 
farmed and ran a store, and in 1886 was ap- 
pointed Postmaster of Bernadotte, a position 
which he held uninterruptedly until 1900, a 
period of fourteen years. In connection with 
the management of the postoflBce he laid in a 
stock of provisions, and since 1900 has devoted 
his entire time to the grocery business. His 
devotion to Democratic politics has resulted in 
his election to many local offices, and at the 
present time he is serving as Township Clerk. 

The marriage of Mr. McCaughey and Mary 
M. Kimball occurred May 2, 1877, and of the 
union there are four children — Louis L., present 
Township Collector; Charles, deceased; Leon- 
ard and Lorena. Mr. McCaughey has supplied 
an element of strength and substantiality to 
this county for the past fifty years and has 
been one of the most interested as well as 
active observers of its developing prosperity. • 

McClelland, John. — within a half mile of 
where he now lives adjoining the village of As- 
toria, John McClelland was born on his father's 



old homestead, March 25, 1840. No native son 
of the township, whose pleasure and mission it 
has been to follow the footsteps of his sire, has 
better maintained the personal honor and pub- 
lic-spirited characteristics of the best class of 
pioneers, or more forcefully and persistently 
projected the usefulness of his family into a 
later and more progressive period than has this 
popular farmer of Section 24. In his youth 
Mr. JlcClelland had average advantages and 
opportunities. His preliminary education was 
of the practical kind to be had in the district 
schools, and with this foundation he has per- 
sistently pursued the by-ways of knowledge 
through the medium of books and periodicals. 
To him farming is both congenial and profita- 
ble, and within it are compensations for the 
finer qualities of mind and heart. His appre- 
ciation of land tillage waned temporarily dur- 
ing his fifteenth year, when he sought release 
from the ceaseless round of duties on his fa- 
ther's farm in a general store in Astoria, where 
he served as clerk two years. At the age of 
seventeen he was back again in the country, 
and at the age of eighteen assumed entire 
control of the property upon which his father 
had settled in the early '30s. In 1865 he 
was united in marriage to Ann Hopkins, who 
was born in Ohio in 1838, a daughter of G. D. 
Hopkins, and of this union there are four chil- 
dren: Lauraa N., wife of Andrew Mummert, a 
farmer of Astoria Township; Esther H., wife of 
J. S. Carter, of Astoria: Albert J., a resident of 
Cuba, 111., and Edna, wife of A. P. Bubb, of 
Peoria. One child died in infancy. 

Two years after his marriage, in 1867, Mr. 
McClelland purchased eighty acres of land on 
Section 23, Astoria Township, which was in a 
raw and run-down state, and the sole equipment 
of which was a dilapidated frame dwelling. 
His industry created a transformation of this 
property and in time he added another eighty 
acres adjoining the village on the south, and 
now has one of the most beautiful and highly 
cultivated tracts of land in the township. His 
home is well built and comfortable, his barns 
large and convenient and his implements, 
fences and general improvements give indica- 
tion of a progressive, practical and inquiring 
mind. For the past twenty years he has been 
raising Poland China hogs, and he also raises 
high-grade cattle and Percheron horses. Mr. 
McClelland was the first man in the township 
to sell agricultural implements. 

On February 17, 1872, the first wife of Mr. 
McClelland died and on April 8, 1874, he mar- 
ried Pauline M. Bartholow, daughter of Jas- 
per and Olive (Savems) Bartholow, Illinois 
settlers of 1858. Mrs. McClelland was born in 
Knox County, Ohio, and is the mother of three 
children: Emory C, who died January 28, 
1898; Robert C, born February 14, 1878, mar- 
ried Veda Conner, December 14, 1899, has two 
children — Mildred J. and Martha G. — and lives 
on the old home place in Astoria Township, and 
Myron Jasper, born September 11, 1884, living 



982 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



at home. In political afBllation Mr. McClel- 
land is a Prohibitionist, but in the absence of 
candidates representing his own party does not 
confine himself to either Republicans or Demo- 
crats. For the past forty-five years he has been 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and towards this, as well as towards many pop- 
ular causes, he has observed unfailing and wise 
generosity. He is one of the very liberal-minded 
and progressive men of the community, and as 
a citizen and agriculturist has evidenced quali- 
ties worthy of admiration and emulation. 

McClelland, Robert.— Fulton County, in 
1S28, presented as great possibilities of hard- 
ship as it did of prosperity to the wayfarer 
who strayed within its borders, erected his 
cabin and prepared to take from the soil the 
sustaining means of life. A sane and splendid 
hope must have lit up the horizon of one so ven- 
turesome, for no short cut to fortune lured him 
hither, nor was he beckoned by other rewards 
than those developed by the slow process of 
the seasons. Before agriculture there is no oc- 
cupation, and the end of Indian occupation 
found unfilled lands and primeval forests. It 
was to such a region that Robert McClelland 
came in 1828, and it was from a far different 
community that his silent and regretted de- 
parture at the age of seventy-six was taken in 
1876. His life and work are held in misty re- 
membrance by even those of his kin who are 
carrying forward his labor, but of those of the 
same age, who shared his hardships and la- 
bored with him in the latter '20s, all are gone. 

Mr. McClelland was born in County Antrim, 
Ireland, during the first year of the nineteenth 
century and owing to the death of his father 
he was thrown upon his own resources at the 
age of twelve. After an apprenticeship to a 
weaver from his twelfth to his fourteenth year 
he then invested his scant savings in a ticket to 
America, setting sail from an Irish port, and 
arriving in New York after many weeks upon 
the deep. For a short time he tarried in Ohio, 
but soon pushed on to Bond County, 111., finally 
arriving in Fulton County in 1828. The smoke 
of the wigwam was a familiar sight, and big 
and little game insured a living to both pale 
and copper-faced dwellers of the wilderness. 
Renting a farm in 1830, Mr. McClelland the 
following year arranged, without any capital, 
for the purchase of 160 acres of land on what 
now is Section 24, Astoria Township, a tract 
covered with white oak and traversed by a 
friendly little stream. In the clearing he erect- 
ed his hewed-log cabin, and soon after sent for 
his sister in Ireland to come and share his for- 
tunes. Diligently he cleared his land, put in 
the seed and gathered the harvests, and at the 
end of five years, on June 30, 1836, took unto 
himself a wife, Priscilla, daughter of James 
Stuart Marshall, who came from Ohio to Ful- 
ton County in 1855. Mrs. McClelland proved a 
noble helpmeet and unflinching sharer of the 
trials and discouragements of her husband, and 



together they laid the foundation of the pros- 
perity which they of the present profit by and 
enjoy. Both were devoutly religious, and, until 
its dissolution, were constant attendants of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Afterwards they 
were equally helpful members of the Baptist 
Church. 

Mr. McClelland took quite a prominent part 
in the early politics of the county and was a 
member of one of the first Boards of Super- 
visors of his township. His judgment was of 
a kind which caused him to be often consulted 
upon matters of local importance, and he al- 
ways took great interest in schools, charities, 
roads and the poor of the community. It was 
easier for him to disburse than to make money, 
more especially as he had an innate and un- 
changeable faith in human nature. He looked 
always for the good in people and never per- 
mitted himself to speak ill of any one. His faith 
sometimes was imposed upon, but never les- 
sened, and notwithstanding the fact that he 
gave away and lost much, he left a property 
out of all proportion to his most sanguine ex- 
pectations upon coming to America. Seven 
children were born Into his family: Mary 
Jane, the deceased wife of W. O. Hopkins, of 
Chicago; John; Margaret, the second wife of 
W. O. Hopkins, of Chicago; Nancy and Willie, 
twins, who died in infancy; Sarah E., the de- 
ceased wife of H. C. Mooney, of Astoria; Ed- 
ward, occupying the old homestead in Astoria 
Township, and Nancy Olive, widow of S. A. 
Hunter, of Astoria. All of the children attend- 
ed the public schools, and as each left the home 
roof to enter upon larger responsibilities, he 
took with him a generous share of his father's 
hard-earned fortune. The character and work 
of Robert McClelland won an enduring place 
among those from distant lands, whose courage 
and far-sightedness made them sharers in the 
early civilization of Fulton County. 

McCRACKEN, Ira A., a prosperous and influen- 
tial farmer of Section 6. Liverpool Township, 
Fulton County, 111., and one of the leading 
citizens in his community, was born in that 
township September 17, 1854. He iS a son of 
William and Fannie (Bordner) McCracken. 
Mrs. William McCracken was a daughter of 
Peter Bordner, a review of whose career ap- 
pears on another page of this volume. William 
McCracken was born in Licking County, Ohio, 
November 28, 1829, a son of John and Margaret 
(Simcox) McCracken. John McCracken was a 
native of Athens, Ohio, and was of Irish de- 
scent, Margaret McCracken, his wife, being of 
French derivation. She was born in Pittsburg, 
Pa., and both died in Licking County, Ohio. In 
that county William McCracken was married 
to Fannie Bordner April 14, 1851. Her birth 
occurred April 15, 1831, and in 1851 she and 
her husband journeyed overland to Fulton 
County and settled just east of Lewistown. 

The first farm which William McCracken 
owned was in Section 7, Liverpool Township, 




K) /) e^J^-sJL^ J^oi^n^ffo'^yl 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



98: 



being known as the Post and Conklin farms, 
and there the family made their home until 
1859. In that year he i)urchased 160 acres of 
land in Section 7. in the eastern part of Liver- 
pool Township, where he spent the remainder 
of his days. At intervals he added to his origi- 
nal purchase, until at the time of his death he 
was the owner of 400 acres of land, all under 
culture, and improved with good dwellings and 
substantial barns. His wife passed to her final 
rest March 4, 1892, he surviving her until 
February 7, 1902. She was a woman of noble 
qualities and a true Christian mother, and both 
were respected and honored for their many 
virtues and kindly charities. While William 
McCracken was not a member of any church, 
he gave freely of his means toward the sup- 
port of religious work, and when his mission 
here was fulfilled he expressed himself as 
ready to meet the devoted companion of his 
life, who had gone before. Just before he de- 
parted this life he called Ira to his side and 
taking him by the hand, said: "Ira, good- 
bye. I hate to leave you, but I am ready to go 
to meet mother. You will soon follow." And 
thus he passed away. 

The children of William McCracken and his 
wife were as follows: M. Arista, corn May 30, 
1853, a farmer, occupying a portion of the old 
home farm, who married Mary Morton, by 
whom he had two children — Allie and May; 
Samuel, born February 19, 1856, a farmer, 
owning and cultivating 160 acres near the old 
homestead, who married Hattie Raker, by 
whom he has five children — Maude, Bryan. Hat- 
tie, Don and Bessie; .lennie, born February 7, 
1864, wife of John J. Denney, by whom she has 
three children living; and Ira A., of whom 
this record treats, who is single, and is operat- 
ing a iJbrtion of the nomestead farm. (A 
sketch of Mr. McCracken's brother-in-law, John 
J. Denney, appears elsewhere in this volume.) 

Ira A. McCracken has 360 acres of 
land, mainly in pasture, and devotes 
his attention principally to raising and 
feeding stock. He has one of the 
best improved farms in the township and 
his labors are attended with abundant suc- 
cess. He is regarded as one of the leading 
farmers and most substantial citizens of his 
township. In politics he is a Democrat, but has 
never sought public position. 

McCREARY, Nicholas (deceased), whose resi- 
dence in Canton, Fulton County, 111., began in 
1827, and extended over a period of four-score 
years, and whose life, had he survived six 
months longer, would have rounded out a cen- 
tury of existence, was born in Baltimore, Md., 
April 9, 1806. His father and mother were also 
natives of that city and there, in boyhood, their 
son Nicholas received his scholastic instruc- 
tion in the public schools. On attaining his ma- 
jority he left the East and, making his way to 
Illinois, located in Canton, Fulton County. His 
early occupation was that of a wire weaver. 



but hei subsequently bought land and was suc- 
cessfully engaged in farming in the vicinity of 
Canton during the remainder of his active ca- 
reer. At an early day he purchased the 
George Jewell farm, where he lived until his 
withdrawal from active pursuits. He then 
bought property in Canton and there main- 
tained his residence until his death in 1905. 
Besides his home there he was the owner of 
other property interests. 

Mr. McCreary was twice married, in early 
manhood being united in matrimony with Fran- 
ces Hughes, in Maryland. This union resulted 
in four children, all born in Fulton County, and 
all of whom are living, namely: James, whose 
home is at Smithfield, Fulton County; John, 
who lives in Missouri; William, who is a resi- 
dent of Canton, 111., and Parmelia, who is the 
wife of John Myers, of that city. John and 
William are veterans of the Civil War and 
members of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
The mother of this family died in Canton. The 
second wife of Mr. McCreary was Martha Ash- 
ford, a daughter of Moran and Ann (Hayden) 
Ashford, of Baltimore, Md., and the offspring of 
this marriage was nine children, five of whom 
still survive. 

In religion Nicholas McCreary was a consist- 
ent member of the Methodist Church. Politi- 
cally he was a Republican from the time of the 
organization of that party, a man of picturesque 
character and worthy qaulities. After passing 
the meridian of life he served as a sort of a 
landmark to the younger generation, a constant 
reminder of the successive stages of develop- 
ment in the region with which he was so long 
and so honorably identified. His record, span- 
ning nearly a century, was without reproach, 
and in his declining years he was the object of 
profound veneration and sincere good will 
among all classes. 

McCULLOUGH, George.— For the past five 
years Farmington Township has profited by the 
energy and good judgment of George McCul- 
lough, who owns and operates a farm of 120 
acres on Section 13. During his occupancy 
Mr. McCullough has added to the improve- 
ments of the former owner and bought thirty 
acres of land adjoining the original farm on 
the west. He is engaged in general farming 
and stock-raising, and conducts his affairs along 
practical and modern lines. 

Born in Eden Township, Peoria County, 111., 
in 1874, Mr. McCullough is an adopted son (by 
blood relationship a neiihew) of Harvey and 
Mary E. McCullough, both natives of Ohio, the 
former of whom came to Peoria County with 
his parents in 1848. The elder McCullough by 
occupation was a farmer and about eighteen 
years ago came to Farmington Township, where 
he purchased of James Christy ninety acres of 
land on Section 13, and lived in Farmington 
for a number of years before his death, which 
occurred in 1901. His son had the advantages 
of the public schools and grew to stable and 



984 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



reliable manhood. Mr. McCullougn is unmar- 
ried. He is not interested in politics otherwise 
than as a voter, his preference being for the 
policies of the Republican i)arty. In religious 
belief he is a Presbyterian. 

McCUMBER, Clyde I., D. D. S., who has en- 
tered upon a successful dental career in Lewis- 
town, Fulton County, III., was born in Lewis- 
town, June 21, 1SS2, a son of John and Eliza- 
beth ( Prickett ) McCumber, residents of Lewis- 
town. The subject of this sketch spent his 
boyhood on a farm, meanwhile receiving his 
mental training in the district schools in his 
neighborhood and the Lewistown public 
schools. On completing his studies there he 
decided to adopt the profession of dentistry, 
and in lyOl entered the Dental Department of 
the Northwestern University, Chicago, where 
for three years he applied himself diligently to 
the course there prescribed. Graduating with 
the class of 1904. he returned home and became 
associated in dental practice with Dr. J. R. 
Maguire. In the fall of that year he pur- 
chased the interest of Dr. Maguire and since 
then has practiced his profession alone with 
success. 

On September 10, 1904, Dr. McCumber was 
united in marriage with Mary Edna Lee, who 
was born August 21, 1883, and is a daughter of 
Frank and Elizabeth (Bearce) Lee, of Lewis- 
town. Mrs. McCumber has receivea a thorough 
literary and musical education and is gifted 
with many graces of mind and character. Both 
her own family and that of her husband have 
long been identified with the best element in 
Fulton County. In politics Mr. McCumber is a 
Kepublican and fraternally is -affiliated with 
the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife are 
meml)ers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

McCUNE, James (deceased), former merchant 
of Fulton County, 111., and later Associate Jus- 
tice County Court in Missouri, was born in the 
State of Pennsylvania in 1804 and at a very 
early day came to Illinois, settling in Lewis- 
town, Fulton County, where for a time he 
taught school, but later removing to Ipava, that 
county, where he engaged in the mercantile 
business. He had married Eliza Long and by 
this marriage had one son, Joseph L. (See 
sketch in this volume.) He continued to en- 
gage in mercantile pursuits until 1S69, when he 
sold out and removed to the State of Missouri, 
where he was elected an Associate Justice of 
the County Court. His wife having died after 
his removal to Missouri, he returned to Illi- 
nois in 1871, and was there married to Rachel 
David. Mr. McCune's death occurred in May, 
1873, while still in office in Missouri. His sec- 
ond wife still survives in sound mental and 
physical health, enjoying life in the locality 
which, with the exception of her residence in 
Missouri, has been her home for more than 
seventy years. 

Mr. McCune's death was commemorated by 



his associates on the County Board by the 
adoption of the following resolutions, adopted 
in honor of his memory: 

"Whereas, We learn with deej) regret and pro- 
• found sorrow of the sudden death of our Asso- 
ciate Justice, James McCune; 

"Resolved, (1) That by the death of Judge 
McCune the county has lost a good citizen and 
a faithful and efficient public servant, society 
and the church an ornament worthy of our imi- 
tation, and his neighbors and family an earnest 
friend and an affectionate husband and father. 

"Resolved, (2) That these resolutions be 
spread upon the records of this county and a 
copy thereof delivered to the family of the de- 
ceased. 

"Resolved, (3) That as a future mark of 
respect to his memory the court do now ad- 
journ until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. 

'By order of County Court. 
■ "Witness my hand and seal of office. May 5, 
1873. William H. Robehts, Clerk." 

McCUNE, James H., a highly educated and 
able young business man of Ipava. this county, 
was born in that town, January 14, 187.5, being 
the son of the late lamented .loseph Long Mc- 
Cune, a ])ublic character and a leader in re- 
ligious as well as practical walks of life. (See 
biography of Joseph L. McCune.) 

The early years of James H. McCune were 
spent in obtaining a thorough elementary edu- 
cation from the public schools of Ipava and in 
acquiring a foretaste of his mature career in 
business. Graduating from the village high 
school in 1892, he completed his education by 
pursuing advanced courses in the Lake Forest 
University and the University of Chicago. He 
left his college days behind him in 1900 and 
returned to Ipava to assume a iiortBon of his 
father's large interests, which had been cast 
u])on him by the death of the latter in 1S93. 
For a number of years prior to his death his 
father had been conducting a lumber and grain 
business, the management of which was now 
undertaken by the younger man. Since that 
time Mr. McCune has carried this enterprise 
to a very successful conclusion. Two large ele- 
vators, with a capacity of 30,000 bushels, are 
eni|)loyed in the grain department of the busi- 
ness, and he has made many valuable improve- 
ments in the handling of the lumber. A great 
improvement made under his management is 
that of keeping all thp lumber under shelter, 
both its appearance and keeping qualities being 
thus improved. His entire conduct of the great 
responsibilities thrown upon him have demon- 
strated that he is possessed of fine business and 
executive qualifications, and the straightfor- 
ward nature of his dealings has strengthened 
the confidence which his abilities have im- 
planted. 

On May 14, 1903, James H. McCune was 
united in marriage with Eleanor Chambers, a 
daughter of John L. Chambers, of Jackson- 
ville, 111. She is a native of that city, where 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY, 



98: 



she was educated, and is a lady of broad cul- 
ture. They have one child, John Chambers 
McCune. Both Mr. and Mrs. McCune are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church, of which the 
former is an elder and a trustee. 

Mr. McCune is active in educational as well 
as in church matters. In politics he is a con- 
servative Republican, but is public-spirited and 
enter))rising in the advocacy of enterprises 
which he believes are for the general good of 
the community. In official capacities he has 
served as a member of the City Council and 
Village Treasurer. In a word, there is no man 
of his years in this section of the county in 
whom the public of his locality and his imme- 
diate associates have a more abiding confidence 
than in the personality of James H. McCune. 

McCUNE, Joseph Long, for many years the 
leading business man of Ipava, this county, and 
a public character as well, identified promi- 
nently with religious and charitable movements 
and with the legislation of the State, was of 
such remarkable activity of body and mind 
that his physical frame was worn out before 
its time and he fell a victim to the great white 
plague in his sixtieth year. He was born in 
Muskingum County. Ohio, April 9, 1834, his 
parents moving to Illinois in 1837 and settling 
near Lewistown, Fulton County. There he ob- 
tained his early education and after clerking 
in the store of Beadles & Evans of that place, 
pursued his higher studies at Muskingum Col- 
lege. In 18.56 he settled in the village of 
Ipava, and from that year he was a large figure 
in its growth, its public enterprises and all 
movements calculated to advance its best In- 
terests. 

The deceased was interested in many lines of 
business and finances. He was senior member 
of both the banking firm and the general store, 
which he founded, and with which his name is 
inseparably associated; also proprietor of a 
lumljer yard, grain business and implement 
house, and was interested in a nursery, vine- 
yard and other enterprises. In the midst of 
these various activities he so impressed his 
personality upon public and political affairs 
that in 1888 he was elected to the Legislature 
by the Republican party, of which he had been 
a lifelong member. He was also an enthusias- 
tic and eminently useful member of the Pres- 
byterian Church, and It is largely due to his 
efforts that the present handsome edifice of 
that denomination in Ipava was erected. 

In the spring of 1893 Mr. McCune was forced 
to surrender, in the midst of all his useful 
works, to that scourge of mankind — consump- 
tion. He made a last effort to recover his 
health, however, through the pure mountain 
air of Colorado, starting for the West in July 
of that year. The relief of the brave sufferer 
was but short-lived, for he expired at Colorado 
Springs December 20, 1893. He was survived 
by his wife, Martha Elizabeth (nee Quillin), to 
whom he was married August 28, 1860, and by 
24 



three children. His widow, his daughter Ade- 
laide and James H., one of his sons, reside 
in Ipava. the last named evidently being des- 
tined to succeed his father as a broad and fine 
figure in the home community. H. L.. the sec- 
ond son, has been a leading lawyer of Kansas 
City. Mo., and is nov;- Judge of the Circuit 
Court. 

McDowell, WUliam Montgomery, M. D. (de- 
ceased), for many years a physician and sur- 
geon of high repute and extensive practice in 
Canton, Fulton County, 111., and also prominent 
in civic affairs, was born in Mercersburg, Pa., 
June 20, 1820. He was a son of Dr. John and 
Margaret (Montgomery) McDowell, natives of 
Pennsylvania, who spent their lives in that 
State, where the father was one of the noted 
men in the medical fraternity. The family was 
of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and it is a noteworthy 
fact as showing inherited tendencies that four 
successive generations embraced members of 
the medical profession. Dr. William M. Mc- 
Dowell was the eldest in a family of five chil- 
dyren, of whom Anna Mary is also deceased. 
Dr. Andrew McDowell is a practicing physician 
of Galesburg, 111.; Caroline married Rev. James 
Cochran, who in November, 1859, commenced 
his ministry as a pastor of the Canton Presby- 
terian Church, and Virginia is a resident of 
Kansas Citji, Mo., her husband being Dr. Bell, 
a pioneer druggist of Canton. 

Mr. McDowell acquired his literary educa- 
tion at Mercersburg, Pa., and afterward pur- 
sued a professional course in New York under 
the celebrated Dr. Mott. Graduating in sur- 
gery _at the New York Medical University, he 
practiced for a short time in his native town 
and then established himself in Ohio. About 
the year 1S47 he ojjened an office in Canton, 
where he continued his professional labors and 
secured an extensive patronage in the town and 
surrounding country. Thereby he acquired 
considerable means, which he judiciously in- 
vested in real estate, and at his death, March 
27, 1877, he left a handsome fortune, embracing 
town property, farms in Fulton County and 
lands in Iowa and Missouri. On November 25, 
1849, Dr. McDowell was united in marriage 
with Melvina Tyler, who was born in New 
York State November 25, 1829. Mrs. McDowell 
is a daughter of Wells and Helen Maria (Nich- 
ols) Tyler, both natives of New York, and her 
father was a contracting shiiibuilder, who, at 
an early period, settled in Fulton County. 

Dr. McDowell was not connected with any 
religious denomination, but attended the serv- 
ices of the Presbyterian Church. Politically he 
was first a Whig, then a Republican. For two 
terms he served as Mayor of Canton and ac- 
quitted himself in connection with his official 
duties with ability and fidelity. In his fraternal 
relations Dr. McDowell was identified with the 
I. O. O. F. and the A. F. and A. M., being a 
prominent member of Morning Star Lodge in 
the latter order, which conducted the cere- 



986 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



monies of his burial. Mrs. McDowell is passing 
her declining years in the midst of every com- 
fort that abundant means and thoughtful minds 
can provide, and is an object of unfeigned re- 
spect and heartfelt regard to the numerous 
friends, v^ho appreciate her worthy qualities. 

McFARLAND, George Alexander.— The general 
hardware and plumbing business o° George A. 
McFarland at Avon, this county, has existed 
under its present management since January 
6, 1904, having been purchased at that time 
from McElvaine & Son, who established it in 
1900. The present owner, however, is by no 
means a recent recruit to commercial circles, 
for he formerly was associated in the imple- 
ment enterprise of his father. George E. Mc- 
Farland, who, after an active and well-directed 
career, is now living in retirement. 

George E. McFarland, the father, was born 
on the farm of his parents in Fulton County, 
July 25, 1S52, and in the harvest field and 
country school laid the foundation of that 
shrewd common sense and practicability which 
accomplished his subsequent success. The 
merchandising instinct prevailing over the ag- 
ricultural, he established an implement busi- 
ness on a small scale in Avon, which in time 
assumed large proportions, and became an im- 
portant factor in promoting scientific agricul- 
ture in the county. He was the means of in- 
troducing much of the modern labor-saving ma- 
chinery now used in the surrounding country, 
and because of the very nature of his business 
and his upright, reliable methods, he became 
widely and favorably known over a large area. 
He was accommodating and considerate, and, 
in perspective, his career is regarded as among 
the most useful and creditable which have con- 
tributed to the upbuilding of this community. 
Mr. McFarland married Emily Hectorne, who 
was born in Fulton County, December 31, 1853. 

Born in Avon, June 19, 1882, George Alex- 
ander McFarland grew to manhood under the 
directing care of wise and loving parents, and 
although many cares crowded around him, he 
secured a practical education in the public 
schools, completing his training in the Avon 
High School. In addition to his other business 
qualifications he is an experienced tinner and 
is as familiar with all departments of the im- 
plement, hardware and plumbing business as 
any man in the county. He enjoys a monopoly 
in his particular line and has no local com- 
petitors in business. He carried a large stock 
of general hardware, stoves, furnaces and 
plumbing apparatus, and employs four tinners 
in his shop the year round. 

Successful beyond the average in business, 
Mr. McFarland is equally favored socially and 
is one of the best liked and most popular bache- 
lors in this section. He is a prominent mem- 
ber of the Knights of Pythias and a consistent, 
but by no means ambitious. Democrat. He is 
a keen appreciator of the amenities and ethics 
of business, as well as of tact, agreeableness. 



consideration and good humor in social and 
general life. At the early age of twenty-five he 
is firmly established in a useful and honorable 
occupation, and bids fair to become one of the 
community's most substantial and influential 
citizens. 

McGINNIS, Winfield S.— Since March, 1879, 
live-stock and real-estate interests in Canton, 
this county, have had a wide-awake promoter in 
Winfield S. McGlnnis, representative of one of 
the early families of Illinois, and for many 
years intimately connected with the develop- 
ment of the stock business in Sangamon Coun- 
ty. Mr. McGlnnis was born at Loami, in the 
latter county, November 12, 1860, and is a son 
of David E. and Ruth A. (Greenwood) McGln- 
nis, natives of Illinois, and born, respectively, 
August 14, 1828, and February 27, 1832. David 
E. McGlnnis became one of the largest live- 
stock dealers in Sangamon County, and for 
years conducted a live-stock and real-estate 
business in Loami, where his death occurred 
February 4, 1890. In 1882 Mr. McGinnis' ship- 
ments of cattle to Buffalo and otner Eastern 
points had reached especially large propor- 
tions, he being then in partnership with his 
son, Winfield S., who had already become prom- 
inent in the live-stock line. The elder McGln- 
nis was a man of shrewd business ability, and 
exerted a strong influence in many other direc- 
tions in Sangamon County. He is survived by 
his wife. 

Winfield S. McGlnnis profited by the public 
schools of Loami and in October. 1871, began 
his wage-earning career at the age of eleven by 
entering his father's otflGe, where he learned 
the business from the bottom up. In 1879, then 
only nineteen, he shipped two carloads of 
hogs from Loami — the largest shipment made 
up to that time from the county. The next 
year he embarked in business for himself, and 
in 1884 formed a partnership with his father 
for the purpose of dealing in cattle at Wa- 
keeney, Kans. Two years later he entered the 
real estate business at that point with John A. 
Nelson, State's Attorney of Trego County, their 
operations eventually covering four counties, 
and resulting in advancing the price of ranch 
land from five to twenty-five dollars per acre. 
The effect was to create one of the biggest land 
booms ever l;nown in that section of the State. 
As Mr. McGinnis was the active agent in these 
transactions, he was brought into decided prom- 
inence, and his reputation as a successful pro- 
moter was established. He became the first 
Secretary of the Trego County Fair, and took 
the lead in the Issuing and disposing of the 
bonds for the erection of the new court house. 

Mr. McGinnis has not only earned a high 
reputation in the live-stock and real-estate 
business in Fulton County, but is widely known 
as the most influential promoter of its electric 
railway system. He is also recognized as one 
of the most enterprising emigrant agents in the 
West, and has done fine work for both the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



987 



Union Pacific and Southern Pacific roads. He 
had charge of a special tour over the Southern 
Pacific to Wharton, Tex., in November, 1902, 
and took the first tourist car out of Canton, 
Fulton County, August 25, 190.5, its destina- 
tion being the Lewis & Clark Exposition, Port- 
land, Ore. Mr. McGinnis' popularity as an ex- 
ecutive and business man has also brought him 
into prominence as a political leader, and he 
is at the present time one of the most influen- 
tial members of the Republican County Cen- 
tral Committee of Kulton County. His strength 
is shown in the fact that he was the first Re- 
publican ever elected Assessor in that county, 
which was in 1896. 

Winfleld S. McGinnis was first married March 
11, 1S80, to Lottie Jacobs, who died November 
7, 1900, his present wife before marriage being 
Vadia R. Legg, their union occurring .June 25, 
1903. Mrs. McGinnis was born and reared in 
the vicinity of Lewistown, this county. The 
children of the family are all by the first mar- 
riage, as follows: Lessie S., born December 
24, 1880; Guy C, April 25, 1882; Glen O., 
August 29, 1884; Lora M., March 10, 1886; 
Lloyd S., July 27, 1891; Fern, April 13, 1893; 
Leila W., February 21, 1897, and Lottie J. M., 
October 26, 1900. At a comparatively early age 
Mr. McGinnis has amassed a competence and 
has earned a high ijosition in the business and 
public world by sheer strength of character, 
courteously and legitimately applied to the dif- 
ficulties and problems which he has encoun- 
tered. He owns a pleasant home in a desirable 
part of Canton, and mixes freely with its social 
as well as business life, being an affable gentle- 
man and a strong man. 

McKENZIE, D. R., an enterprising young 
agriculturist of Lee Townshi]), is the son of 
Richard and Mary (Paul) McKenzie, both na- 
tives of Illinois. He was born in Davis County, 
Iowa, February 20, 1875, his father having re- 
moved thither in 1870. In 1893, however, 
Richard McKenzie returned to Canton Town- 
shi]), Fulton County, and settled on a farm. 

As he was eighteen years of age when 
the family again located in Illinois, his educa- 
tion and training were virtually confined to his 
native State. His life work has been agricul- 
tural, whether as an assistant to his father or 
on his own responsibility, his independent ca- 
reer being entirely along the line of general 
farming. Mr. McKenzie is at present carrying 
on farming on rented land in Lee Township. 

D. R. McKenzie was married in Lee 
Township. F'ebruary 17, 1899, to Lizzie Lybar- 
ger, a native of that township, born September 
28, 1879, and they have had one child — Charles 
D. Mr. McKenzie is a Republican in politics, 
and, taken all in all, is one of the progressive 
citizens of the locality, whose career promises 
continuous advancement. 

Mckinley, Calvin.— The late Calvin McKin- 
ley, so long a prominent stock-raiser and worthy 



citizen of Central Illinois, and during the later 
years of his life a resident of Woodland Town- 
ship, this county, was an early pioneer of this 
section of the State, as was his father, the well 
known John McKinley (see biography else- 
where). The family homestead was in the 
township named, and he remained there until 
after he had reared quite a large family, when 
finding his rather small farm inadequate tor 
their support, he removed to Mason County, 
111., but after six years returned to the old 
place in Woodland Township. Mr. McKinley 
had the patience, aptitude and good judgment 
to advance his fortunes, notwithstanding his 
domestic responsibilities and his small oppor- 
tunities. As a boy he worked by the day at 
whatever honest labor he could obtain, and, 
being a natural mechanic, he was called upon 
to repair wagons and buggies and rebuild houses 
and barns in the early days of the county. 
Th;s special talent, combined with his skill as a 
husbandman, had brought him comparative 
comfort at the time of his death in April, 
1882. The deceased was a Democrat, a faithful 
member of the United Brethren Church, a good 
citizen and an honorable gentleman, but like 
other representatives of the family, had no 
ambition to push himself into publicity. 

Nine cnildren were born to the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Calvin McKinley, as follows: 
John, who is a resident of Mason County, 111.; 
Nancy E., deceased; Henry, who occupies a 
portion of the old homestead; Charles, a resi- 
dent of Philadelphia, Pa.; Joseph (of whom see 
sketch); Rebecca, now the wife of Sylvester 
Markley, this county; Cordia, wife of Henry 
Bennett, of Philadelphia; Mahala (Mrs. Upton 
Prather), who is a resident of Astoria, this 
county, and Fred, who lives in Woodland Town- 
ship. The honored mother of this family now 
resides with her daughter, Mrs. Upton Prather. 

McKINLEY, John. — At a very early period in 
its history John McKinley came to Bond Coun- 
ty, III., from his native State of Ohio, and 
while Woodland Township, Fulton County, still 
bore traces of recent Indian occupation, located 
on the farm now owned and operated by his 
grandson, Joseph McKinley. Thus he became 
the founder of the McKinley family in Central 
Illinois, and various of its members have stead- 
ily contributed to the prosperity and good name 
of that section by their industrious, well-or- 
dered and creditable careers. With the excep- 
tion of five years spent in Mason County, this 
State, Mr. McKinley continued to live in Wood- 
land Township until his death in 1886. When 
he arrived in what is now Astoria he passed 
the first night under a spreading elm tree, 
which probably still does duty in the park, and 
soon afterward took up 230 acres of land, which 
he cleared and improved into a beautiful and 
valuable property. 

In the paternal family were five children, of 
whom but one survives— Julia, wife of Samuel 
Byers, of Astoria. A sister, M:elvina, married 



q88 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



a Mr. Litchfield; Mary J. was the wife of a 
Mr. Fosett and reared quite a family; Alec died 
on a farm near Astoria; Calvin, in 1847, mar- 
ried Mahala Kerran, daughter of Benjamin 
Kerran, an early settler of Illinois. 

John McKinley was a quiet unobtrusive man 
and a very devout member of the United 
Brethren Church. It was largely through his 
zeal and labor that the church of that denom- 
ination in his neighborhood was built and sus- 
tained. He was the friend of education and 
for many years was a member of the School 
Board. Altogether his life was a credit to the 
township and an inspiration to the coming 
generations of young men. 

McKINLEY, Joseph.— Representing the third 
generation from .John McKinley, who came 
from Ohio, and at an early day settled in Bond 
County, 111., and afterward in Fulton County, 
the present .Joseph McKinley was born on the 
farm he now owns and occupies on Section 34, 
Woodland Township, April 15, 1863. He is a 
son of Calvin McKinley, whose biography, as 
well as a sketch of the grandfather's life, ap- 
pears on another page of this work. 

Joseph McKinley remained at home until his 
marriage, April 17, 1893, to Magethe Prather, a 
native daughter of Woodland Townshi]), and 
after the death of his father he purchased the 
old homestead of 130 acres, which he pro- 
ceeded to generally improve. His present 
beautiful surroundings are largely of his own 
making, for he has planted and fostered an 
abundance of shade and fruit trees, shrubs and 
flowers, and has installed facilities for general 
farming and stock-raising operations on a large 
scale. He is especially interested in high- 
grade stock, including horses, cattle and hogs, 
and conducts his farm upon scientific and mod- 
ern principles, maintaining neatness, order and 
a general atmosphere of thrift. 

Mr. and Mrs. McKinley are the parents of 
two children, of whom Aubrey was born April 
10, 1899, and Clarence W. June 14, 1903. Mr. 
McKinley finds time to cultivate the social 
quality and is identified with the Modern 
Woodmen of America of Astoria. In politics 
he is a Democrat, but aside from the formality 
of casting his vote upon well-considered public 
questions, is not active in political matters. He 
is one of the open-minded and well-posted men 
of his township, an advocate of progress and 
enlightenment and a stanch supporter of hon- 
est business and clean social life. 

McLAREN, Frank Nelson, M. D.— A conscien- 
tious and painstaking exponent of medical and 
surgical science is found in Prank Nelson Mc- 
Laren, who since his arrival in Table Grove in 
October, 1904, has gained a professional foot- 
hold exceeding his most sanguine expectations. 
In invading the realms of an inexhaustible sci- 
ence Dr. McLaren has swung from the moor- 
ings of his youth, for his earliest business as- 
sociations were those of the repair shop, wagon 



manufactory and implement enterprise of his 
father, John N. McLaren, in Ipava, where the 
son was born, March 29, 1878. His mother's 
maiden name was Jennie Deary, and both of his 
parents are still residents of Ipava. 

Dr. McLaren early evidenced the studious 
habits which lend splendid promise to his fu- 
ture. Graduating from the high school at 
Ipava in 1896, he entered the Eureka Prepara- 
tory School and, finishing the course in the 
spring of 1900. in the fall of the same year en- 
tered the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, from which he graduated from the 
four years' course April 20, 1904. Upon arriv- 
ing in Table Grove the following autumn he 
fitted up a suite of rooms in a central part of 
the village, having a laboratory, electric appli- 
ances, a complete stock of drugs and all neces- 
sary devices for a general medical and surgical 
practice. Eternal vigilance and incessant re- 
search are the watchwords of his career, and 
the letting of light upon the problems which 
have puzzled the ages seems to him the largest 
compensation in the art of healing. Dr. Mc- 
Laren is a member of both the State and Na- 
tional Eclectic Societies. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the Masons at Ipava and the 
Knights of Pythias of Table Grove. Also he is 
a member of the national Greek letter frater- 
nity "Tau Alpha Epsilon." In political aflRliation 
he is a Republican. To his professional equip- 
ment the Doctor adds a delightful manner and 
many ingratiating qualities, and his friends, 
once won, are retained indefinitely. 

McLAREN, John N.— For thirty-three years 
John N. McLaren has applied himself steadily 
to the blacksmith trade in Ipava, this county, 
and for twenty-six years he has combined 
blacksmithing with the operation of a carriage, 
buggy and wagon establishment. He is a na- 
tive son of Fulton County, and was born on 
his father's farm in Woodland Township. May 
17, 184.=), a son of William and Rachel (Fiske) 
McLaren. 

William McLaren was born in Scotland and, 
after the death of his father, when the lad was 
eight years old, emigrated to the United States 
with his mother, her three sons and two daugh- 
ters eventually settling in the vicinity of Sum- 
mum, this county, where William McLaren died, 
July 12. 1890, his wife surviving him until 
February 14, 1891. Of the children in his fam- 
ily Nancy is the wife of Alonzo Palmer, of 
Canton, this State; Christopher C. is a brick- 
maker of Summum; W. R. is a physician and 
surgeon of Knoxville, 111.; Nancy C. is the 
widow of Dr. M. T. Schenk, of Summum; Ben- 
jamin F. died in 1855; Israel is a contractor and 
builder of Siloam Springs. Ark.; Francis M. is 
a harness-maker in Ipava, and Belle is the wife 
of Abe Markley. of Summum. William Mc- 
Laren and his wife were devout members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and the former 
leaned toward Republican politics. 

At the age of seventeen, when his strong 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



989 



constitution had been reinforced by such edu- 
cation as was afforded in the public schools, 
John N. McLaren became an apprentice to an 
Astoria blacksmith, and was thus employed at 
his trade until his enlistment, in .January, 
1865, in Company C, One Hundred and Fifty- 
first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for one year. 
After a service as uneventful as it was brief, he 
was honorably discharged from the service in 
February, 1!S66, and thereupon returned to his 
forge in Astoria, where he remained until 
1868. He then opened a blacksmith and repair 
shop in Sunimum, and October 13, 1870, was 
united in marriage to Jennie Deary, a native 
of Astoria, and daughter of Washington and 
Julia Deary, who were born in Kentucky, and 
came to Fulton County in the early days. Mr. 
Deary gave up his life to the Union cause in 
the Civil War and his wife died at the home 
of her daughter, Mrs. McLaren, in 1901. 

In 1873 Mr. McLaren sold his shop in Sum- 
mum and bought a shop in Ipava, his patronage 
here proving of such an encouraging nature 
that in 18Y9 he added to his stock a large line 
of vehicles. He had been reasonably success- 
ful and has won a reputation for expert work- 
manship and reliable business methods. With 
his wife he is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican and fraternally a Mason. He also is 
connected with the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. To Mr. and Mrs. McLaren have been born 
the following children: Gertrude, who died In 
infancy; Daisy, wife of Charles E. Dunblazier, 
of Kellerton, Iowa; FranK N., a medical prac- 
titioner of Table Grove, Fulton County; Mary 
Viola, living at home; Charles, an educator in 
the schools of Havana, 111.; twins who died in 
infancy, and John R., born September 22, 1S!I2. 

McLOUTH, Sherman, who is engaged in farm- 
ing on an extensive scale in Section 3.5, Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County, 111., was born 
in Liverpool Township, Fulton County, May 4, 
1865. He is a son of Socrates and Rebecca 
(Horton) McLouth, the former born near Pal- 
myra, N. Y. He went from New York to Cali- 
fornia at the time of the gold fever and on his 
return in 1855, located in Fulton County, 111., 
where his marriage to Miss Horton took place. 
His journey to California in 1849 was made 
with a yoke of oxen, and at that time he had 
been married to a Miss Harrison, who accom- 
panied nim on the trip. She died, leaving a 
son, Charles, who located in Liverpool Town- 
ship, Fulton County, where he lived a number 
of years. 

Socrates McLouth taught school in winter 
and farmed in the summer season until Febru- 
ary. 1864, when he enlisted in the One Hun- 
dred and Third Regiment, Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, in which he served one year, and then 
returned to the farm in Liverpool Township. 
On this farm he carried on agricultural pur- 
suits until his death in May, 1888, his widow 
passing away in June, 1904. They were the 



parents of three sons and five daughters, as 
follows: Eva, wife of John W. Grigsby, of 
Seward, Neb.; Frederick, who is on the old 
home farm in Liverpool Township; Amanda. 
wife of William Pickerell, of Seward, Neb.; 
Sherman; Nettie, wife of Crayton Kelso, of 
Rocky Ford, Colo.; Marvin, who died in Ne- 
braska; Ada, wife of Robert Harrison, a farmer 
of Liverpool Township, and Leora, wife of 
James Bordner, a farmer residing near Lewis- 
town. 

Sherman McLouth was reared on the home 
farm and received his education in the com- 
mon schools, remaining under the parental 
roof until he was twenty-two years of age. At 
that period he rented eighty acres of land, 
which he cultivated for two years, and in 1889 
made his first purchase of land, consisting of 
eighty acres in Liverpool Township. Selling 
this in 1890, he bought the old home farm, 
which he sold to his brother Fred in 1891. and 
again rented a farm. In 1894 he purchased 
eighty acres in the "bottom lands" of Liverpool 
Township, and in 1899 became the owner of 
195 acres in Section 35, Buckheart Town- 
ship. After raising four crops on the last 
place he sold it in 19U3 and in May of that year 
bought' 170 acres in Section 35,- Buckheart 
Township, making a very superior farm of 
250 acres in one body. 

When Mr. McLouth left the old homestead at 
the age of twenty-two years his father gave 
his a team of horses. With this gift he started 
in life, and these old faithful dumb friends 
are still on his farm, one aged twenty 
years and the other twenty-one. From that 
team he has raised twenty-three colts and the 
old animals are now his best friends, doing 
their full share of the farm work. No price 
would separate them from their owner. Mr. 
McLouth's 250 acres are under a high state of 
cultivation and he has a good grade of stock 
of all kinds. 

On October 17, 1889, Mr. McLouth was united 
in marriage with Mary Chapin, a daughter of 
George and Rachael (Fleming) Chapin. This 
union resulted in six children, as follows: 
Mabel, who was born September 25, 1890; Naf- 
ton, November 1. 1892; Ula, May 4, 1894; 
Rachael. born in June, 1897; one who died in 
infancy, and Estie, boi'u .May 6, 1902. The 
mother of this family was born August 19, 
1871, in Liverpool Township. A sketch of her 
father, George H. Chapin, appears elsewhere 
in this volume. 

In politics Mr. McLouth is a Republican and 
has filled several local offices with ability and 
fidelity. By energy, enterprise, intelligent 
methods and diligent application to the task 
before him, he has achieved notable success, 
and is one of the most substantial farmers and 
prominent citizens of his locality. 

McMillan, Granville M.— No man in Banner 
Township is more substantially and honorably 
identified with the agricultural and commercial 



990 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



growth of his part of the State than Granville 
M. McMillan. Opportunity in the environment 
of this thrifty farmer has never Deen allowed 
to knock twice at the door, but has been turned 
to the best possible account from both a per- 
sonal and community standpoint. From small 
beginnings and without the encouragement of 
money or influence, he has come to be the 
owner of more than 800 acres of land, which, 
in its tillage and general improvement com- 
prises one of the garden spots of a populous 
and prosperotis region. 

Mr. McMillan was born February 9, 1856, in 
Trumbull County, Ohio, a son of John and 
Catherine McMillan, natives of Pennsylvania, 
and early settlers of Ohio. The youth spent his 
time after the usual manner of farmers' sons, 
sharing the educational, religious and social 
advantages of his neighborhood and forging to 
the front in his understanding and knowledge 
of agriculture. He came to Fulton County in 
1879, at the age of twenty-three, and, desiring 
to extend his business knowledge, took a course 
the following winter at the Commercial College 
in Keokuk, Iowa. For some months he worked 
as a farm hand, then rented land and soon after 
his marriage, August 8, 1882, arranged for the 
purchase of his first tract of land. That he has 
been an exceptional manager and shrewd invest- 
or is patent to all who i^now of the struggles 
of his youth and the industry of his ma- 
turity. 

The wife of Mr. McMillan formerly was Mary 
Pickering, daughter of Maynard Pickering and 
Jemima (Rockhold) Pickering, the former 
born in Wirt County, W. Va. Mr. Pickering 
came to Fulton County in 1852. His wife was 
a daughter of Starling Turner and widow of 
E. M. Rockhold. Mr. Turner was a prominent 
man in the early history of the State and 
achieved more than passing fame as a scholar 
and scientist. He was particularly interested 
In astronomical research, and possessed a val- 
uable collection of instruments and books. 
Imbued with a spirit of humanity, he was gen- 
erosity personified, and among other contribu- 
tions to the community erected a church oppo- 
site his home, still known as Turner's Church. 
Mr. and Mrs. McMillan are the parents of nine 
children — four sons and five daughters: John 
M., born August 29, 1883; Charles H., born 
June 2, 1886; Minnie, born December 15, 1889; 
Mary Maude, born October 18, 1891; Mabel W., 
born September 27, 1893; Frederick G., born 
July 2, 1895; Amy C, born December 13, 1897; 
Lucy Alma, born July 31, 1899, and Chester 
Fayette, born October 25, 1902. Mr. McMillan 
IS a Republican in politics, and has filled the 
ofiices of Township Clerk and Treasurer of the 
School Board. 

MEEHAN, P. W., was born in Morris, 
Grundy County, 111., on March 11, 1854, and is 
a son of Dennis and Mary (O'Conner) Meehan, 
natives of Ireland. In boyhood he received his 
education in the district schools and after he 



reached maturity engaged in coal mining. For 
seventeen years he operated a mine at Breeds, 
HI., under the style of the Orion Coal Com- 
pany, mining about 300 tons per day, and em- 
ploying from seventy-five to ninety men. In 
1901 he came to Cuba, 111., and organized the 
East Cuba Coal Mining Company, of which he 
is president and manager, the mine having a 
capacity of 1,000 tons per day, and furnishing 
employment to from 200 to 250 men. For a 
time Mr. Meehan was engaged in mercantile 
pursuits, but has practically retired from active 
business life. 

Mr. Meehan's wife was formerly known as 
Kathleen Warren, who was born in England, 
the daughter of Samuel Warren, also a native 
of that country, and five children resulted from 
this union. Of these two are deceased, those 
living being: Charles H., Marguerite and Mary. 

In politics Mr. Meehan is a Democrat. He is 
a man of superior executive ability and under 
his direction the business of his mining com- 
pany is prospering. 

MENDENHALL, Charles E., of the firm of 
L. B. Mendenhall & Son, furniture dealers and 
undertakers, of Vermont, Fulton County, 111., 
was born in Havana, this State, July 13, 1864. 
He is a son of Lewis B. and Frances J. Men- 
denhall. The father is a native of Morgan 
County, Ohio, and a narrative of his useful life 
may be found on another page of this volume. 
Charles E. Mendenhall received his education 
in the public schools of Ipava and Havana, 
111., and at Kansas City, Mo., and then began 
learning the cabinet-maker's trade. The first 
piece of furniture which he made was a walnut 
chair, which is still preserved in the family. 
He followed cabinet-making and carpenter 
work and has made many choice articles of 
furniture, his early home being fitted out with 
articles made by his own hands. In the art 
of cabinet-making he has few superiors, being 
a natural genius in this line. This has been 
his constant occupation except during three 
years when he was engaged in farming. He 
was employed for a while in one of the prin- 
cipal cabinet factories in Peoria, and his skill 
was manifestly so superior that he was tendered 
the foremanship of the concern. He returned 
home, however, and opened a cabinet shop in 
Vermont. During his school days in Ipava he 
read medicine with Dr. Everenden and then 
spent eighteen months in Kansas and Colo- 
rado. He has traveled considerably and never 
had any difficulty in retaining a position, nor 
was he ever discharged by any employer. 

Mr. Mendenhall's two years of medical and 
anatomical study enabled him to be of valuable 
service in times of emergency, and he always 
held himself in readiness to respond to any 
call of sickness for a year before he embarked 
in the furniture and undertaking business. 
After the furniture store was in operation he 
attended the Western School of Embalming and 
was examined by the State Board of Health, 





Ci^t-^i...-o\^ ^ 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



991 



which gave him a certificate and license as an 
embalmer. He also received a diploma from 
the Western School of Embalmers in Chicago. 
He has always kept thoroughly posted in all 
the details of his profession and each year re- 
ceives a supplementary certificate from the 
State Board of Health. In addition to his regu- 
lar occupation Mr. Mendenhall is an inventor 
of several useful articles. The last one was a 
rack for linoleum, which rolls seven rolls of 
that article. It is built on rollers and can be 
easily moved to suit convenience in showing 
the goods. In all his work Mr. Mendenhall 
shows a peculiar fitness for his chosen profes- 
sion of an undertaker and embalmer. He has 
a highly artistic manner of trimming and 
dressing a casket and his medical and ana- 
tomical study enables him to use exceptional 
skill in arranging the mortal remains. Under 
the present management the furniture business 
of the Mendenhall establishment has been 
trebled. 

On October 16, 1889, Mr. Mendenhall was 
united in marriage with Maggie Sexton, who 
is a daughter of James and Mary (Broyer) 
Sexton. Three children have resulted from 
this union, namely: Vera, born August 21, 
1893; Clifford, April 18, 1897, and Harvey, Janu- 
ary 13, 1900. 

In politics Mr. Mendenhall is a supporter of 
the Republican party. Fraternally he is affili- 
ated with the I. O. O F. and the A. F. and A. 
M. Professionally he is a member of the Illi- 
nois State Undertakers' Association. He and 
his wife are members of the Christian Church, 
in which he has for many years officiated as 
Deacon. Mr. Mendenhall takes a deep interest 
in public affairs and is always prompt and ac- 
tive in promoting any measure intended for the 
benefit of the community of which he has been 
so enterprising and useful a member. 

MENDENHALL, Lewis B., of the undertaking 
and furniture firm of L. B. Mendenhall & Son, 
of Vermont, Fulton County, 111., was born in 
Morgan County, Ohio, December 21, 1832. He 
is a son of Aaron and Debler (Brown) Menden- 
hall, both of whom were born and reared in 
Chester County, Pa. His grandparents were 
English. About the year 1828 his parents set- 
tled in Ohio, where they spent the remainder 
of their lives. The father died in 1864 and 
the mother in 1841. They were the parents of 
ten children, five of whom are still living, 
Lewis B. being the youngest of the family. 
Elizabeth married Barrett Thompson, of Pleas- 
ant Township, Fulton County. Both are de- 
ceased. Isaac died at Chester Mills, Ohio, leav- 
ing three children — one daughter in Vermont; 
James, of Ipava, 111., and Lemuel, of Berna- 
dotte, same State. Edith, deceased, was the 
wife of Ellis Thompson, also deceased. Joseph 
lives on the old home farm in Ohio. Lydia 
married Josiah Wood. Both died in Ipava, 111., 
where their son, Oliver, is in the furniture 
business. Rachael, widow of Edward Moore, 



lives in Lewistown, 111., and Thurza, wife of 
John Wood, is a resident of Milan, Mo. Naomi 
was wedded to Madison Conn and both died in 
Ipava, 111., while Israel is engaged in farming 
near Milan, Mo. 

Lewis B. Mendenhall was reared on a farm 
and received his education in the district 
schools of his native county. He remained at 
home until he was fifteen years old and was 
then bound out to learn the tailor's trade. At 
that time he was quite small for his age and 
his father thinking he would never be able to 
handle the plow and do general farm work, 
determined to fit him for something more 
suitable to his strength. The period of his ap- 
prenticeship was three years, and for his serv- 
ices he received his board and clothing. At 
the end of the term, in 1851, he located in Ver- 
mont, 111., and worked at his trade with a Mr. 
Debler. In the fall of that year he returned 
to Ohio and was employed in tailoring until 
1853. From that time until 1857 he lived in 
Zanesville, in that State, and then went into 
business at Ipava, where he remained until 
1862. In that year he moved to Havana, 111., 
and engaged in the boot and shoe business, 
continuing there until the fall of 1867. He then 
sold out and went into the patent drive well 
business in Mason County, 111., which he fol- 
lowed until 1871. This he also sold out at that 
time and removed to Neosha Falls, Kas., 
where he was engaged in farming. In 1873 he 
was employed in the car shops of the Kansas 
Pacific Railroad, and in 1876 returned to Illi- 
nois and went to work at the carpenter trade 
in Havana. In 1878 he moved to Ipava, where 
he remained until 1881. In that year, together 
with Oliver Wood, he bought a steam threshing 
outfit, which he combined with a saw mill out- 
fit in 1885, operating both until 1901, and from 
1901 to 1904 he took a long-needed rest. 

In April, 1904, Mr. Mendenhall purchased 
the undertaking stock of Dick Kirkbride, and 
shortly afterward bought Cox Bros.' stock of 
hardware and furniture. Disposing of the 
hardware, he combined the furniture and 
undertaking stocks under the firm name 
of L. B. Mendenhall & Son. A record of 
the life of the son, Charles E., appears on an- 
other page of this volume. They have an ex- 
tensive line of goods in each department and 
have acquired a large and lucrative patronage. 

On September 23. 1853, Mr. Mendenhall was 
united in marriage with Frances J. Hitchcock, 
at Zanesville, Ohio. Six children resulted from 
this union (four of whom are living), as fol- 
lows: Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Ida 
May, wife of Charles Hamm, of Vermont, 111.; 
Oscar, who died in infancy; Mary, wife of 
Merritt Williams, a farmer living near Har- 
vard, Neb., and Nellie, wife of Alexander Sex- 
ton, of the town of Vermont. The mother of 
this family passed to her reward July 15, 1902. 
She was graciously permitted to live until she 
saw her children grown to manhood and wom- 
anhood and, as a result of her conscientious 



992 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



training and assiduous care, become useful 
members of society. 8he was a lifelong mem- 
ber of the Cfiristian Church. 

In politics Mr. Mendenhall is a Republican 
and has filled the office of Police Magistrate 
with ability and fidelity. Fraternally he has 
been affiliated with the I. O. O. F. for forty-one 
years. As a citizen he is highly regarded and 
has always earnestly supported all worthy pub- 
lic enterprises. In him the church and school 
have always found a steadfast and generous _ 
advocate, and he has ever been closely identi-' 
fled with all that pertains to the best interests 
of the community. 

MERCER, Rhoades P.— With the exception of 
a barn erected by an earlier occupant, all of 
the improvements on the 223^4 acres belonging 
to Rhoades P. Mercer, on Sections 9, 10, 15, 16 
and 21, Vermont Township, Fulton County, are 
due to the exertions of this popular farmer, and 
mark the progress which has characterized his 
labor since, at the age of twenty-two years, he 
rented a small part of the property in 1874. 
Mr. Mercer was born near the town of Ver- 
mont, Fulton County, January 4, 18.52. a son 
of Isaac and Lydia A. (Frymen) Mercer, na- 
tives of Chester County, Pa., and Ohio, respect- 
ively. 

Isaac Mercer went early from Pennsylvania 
to Ohio, where he married, and whence he re- 
moved to Fulton County, 111., during the latter 
'forties. A butcher by trade, he secured em- 
ployment in the packing houses of Logsdon & 
Staberford at Fulton and in. 1856 invested his 
earnings in a brush farm on Section 21, Ver- 
mont Township, where he built a log cabin and 
proceeded to clear and improve his land. In 
the thinly settled community his home became 
a center of hospitality and his wife was a min- 
istering angel in times of sickness and distress. 
This couple arose bravely above the hardships 
and deprivations which came their way, and at 
the time of his death in 1900, at the age of 
eighty-six, Mr. Mercer owned 240 acres of 
land, all under cultivation. With his wife, who 
died in 1897, he was a devout member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and during the 
years of his prosperity contributed generously 
to the churches and schools of his neighbor- 
hood, at the same time performing many kindly 
services and aiding many a youth struggling to 
get a business foothold. In his family were the 
following named children; William ,1., owner 
of part of the old homestead in Vermont Town- 
ship; Ann M. and Mary J., both deceased in 
infancy; Hannah E., wife of Martin K. Dobin- 
son, of Lewistown, 111.; Rachel A., wife of Gus 
Howdel, of Eldorado Township, McDonough 
County, 111.; Lucretia, wife of George Welch, 
of Vermont Township; Rhoades P.; Edward, 
owning part of the old homestead; Jonathan L., 
deceased at the age of two years; Levi, de- 
ceased in infancy, and Emily E., wife of Frank 
Pauch, of Toledo, Ohio. 

In his father's home Rhoades P. Mercer re- 



ceived lessons in thrift and economy which 
later built up the structure of his success. He 
enjoyed average schooling oportunities and his 
responsible life began with his marriage, 
August 25, 1874, to Alice Knock, and his set- 
tlement upon a part of the farm he now owns 
and occupies on Section 10. For a number of 
years he rented this farm and finally bought a 
part, adding thereto from time to time until 
his property assumed its present proportions. 
His labor has spanned an important agricul- 
tural era and he well remembers the time when 
he drove a yoke of oxen to the old-fashioned 
plow and harrow, and when the scythe and 
cradle did much now accomplished by the 
reaper and binder. Where formerly there was 
a covering of brush and scrub oaks now 
gleams the golden grain under the summer sun, 
and peaceful kine graze where roamed the wild 
deer and turkey. Such advantages as his in- 
dustry has brought within reach of his family 
probably never was thought of by the boy who 
started out in life empty-handed, and who had 
the inestimable boon of poverty to spur him to 
noble action. In addition to general farming 
and stock-raising, for a number of years Mr. 
Mercer has operated the neighborhood thresh- 
ing machine. 

In keeping with his acknowledged public- 
spiritedness, Mr. Mercer takes a commendable 
interest in politics and therein is liberal, al- 
though he professed preference for the Demo- 
cratic party, which he has served in 
various local capacities. Fraternally he 
is identified with the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows and the Pa- 
trons of Husbandry. He is not a member of 
any church, but his wife is a stanch believer in 
the tenets of the Society of Friends. Mrs. Mer- 
cer is a woman of fine and gentle character and 
all her life long has wielded an influence for 
purity in morals, usefulness in connection with 
local charities and kindliness and consideration 
in the home. Of her three children Amy is the 
widow of William Stuart and the mother of 
three children — Perry, Daisy and Lillie; Clar- 
ence is a farmer on Section 15, Vermont Town- 
ship, and Carl S. is at home. Mr. Mercer rep- 
resents the most substantial of the agricultur- 
ists of his township, and by all who know him 
is regarded as one of those whose influence has 
tended to moral and material advancement. 

MERRILL, Giles E., a well known and success- 
ful iioultry dealer of Avon, Fulton County, 111., 
was born in Greenbush, Warren County. 111., De- 
cember 13, 1S62, a son of Frederick and Lu- 
cretia (Paine) Merrill, natives of Massachu- 
setts and Ohio, respectively. Charles Paine, 
the maternal grandfather, was born in Ohio and 
was a son of General Paine, who fought in the 
War of the Revolution. When the city of 
Painesville, Ohio, was organized that name was 
bestowed upon it in honor of one of the ances- 
tors of Mr. Merrill's mother. Frederick Mer- 
rill settled in Illinois at an early period, travel- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



993 



ing from his former home to Chicago by water, 
and making the journey from Chicago to Green- 
bush by stream. There he embarked in general 
merchandising, also buying pork and grain, 
which he hauled to Liverpool, 111., whence the 
consignments were shipped to their various des- 
tinations. He was a successful merchant and 
occumulated considerable means, also held sev- 
eral local offices in succession, including that 
of Supervisor, and for fourteen years served as 
Postmaster of Avon. His industrious and use- 
ful career came to an end in 1892. Eleven chil- 
dren were the offspring of his union with Lu- 
cretia Paine, seven of whom are still living. 
A sketch of the Life of one of them, Arthur Mer- 
rill, also appears in this volume. 

In early youth the subject of this personal 
record attended the public schools of Avon, 
where he obtained a good mental training in 
the elementary branches. When he first began 
life on his responsibility he went into the gen- 
eral merchandise business in jjartnership with 
a brother at Avon under the firm name of Mer- 
rill & Merrill. This concern the Merrill Broth- 
ers conducted for a number of years in a two- 
story building 44 by 80 feet in dimensions, built 
by themselves. They relinquished the enter- 
prise in 1895. About 1889 they began to de- 
vote a portion of their attention to the poultry 
trade, and Giles E. Merrill has continued to 
carry on this branch of the work. He buys and 
dresses fowls and shiijs his purchases in car- 
lots to the East. He deals also largely in eggs. 
He has a branch concern at Colchester, 111., and 
from both places the shipments average a car- 
load per week. The business has constantly in- 
creased from the outset, and now requires the 
services of twenty-five men. Five teams are 
continually kept in use in the country sur- 
rounding Avon for the purpose of collecting 
poultry for his trade. Mr. Merrill is also inter- 
ested in a store at Greenbush,- Warren County, 
and is engaged in the ice business in Avon, sup- 
plying the town from three large ice houses 
which he constructed. 

In 1885 the subject of this sketch was united 
in marriage with Cassie M. Snyder, who was 
born in New Jersey, and three children have re- 
sulted from this union, namely. Lucretia, Ber- 
tha and Andrew. In religious belief Mr. Mer- 
rill is a Congregationalist. A man of keen judg- 
ment and correct principles and thoroughly im- 
bued with the energy and perseverance which 
assures success, he has made an excellent busi- 
ness record. 

MERRILL, William H.— Among the pioneer 
residents of Fulton County, 111., the record of 
none gives evidence of a more upright, honor- 
able and useful life than that of William H. 
Merrill, who still owns and occupies the farm 
in Woodland Township where he was born, Oc- 
tober 11, 1841. His father, Stephen Merrill, 
was one of the most vigorous, energetic and 
influential characters who figured in the early 
annals of that region. His mother, a most 



worthy helpmate for such a man, was Eliza- 
beth (Marshall) Merrill, whose family history 
is portrayed in a sketch of the life of Stewart 
Marshall, which appears elsewhere in these 
pages. Stephen Merrill was born in the State 
of Maine in 1798. He remained in his native 
place until about the year 1834, when he made 
his way to Illinois and settled in the wilder- 
ness where now stretches out the fertile and 
productive acreage of the subject of this 
sketch. He took this land on a squatter's 
claim, just as the Indians had left it, and a 
patent was afterwards issued to him by the 
Government. On a portion of the tract stood 
a small cabin. He subsequently erected a snug 
hewed-log dwelling, 18 by 24 feet in dimen- 
sions, in which all his children were born. He 
and his wife were the parents of one son and 
seven daughters, who grew to maturity, five of 
whom are living. The members of this family 
were: Hannah, who married Lester Husted, 
of Greencastle. Mo., a retired farmer, who 
moved from Illinois to that State in 1866; Jane, 
deceased, who was the wife of Henry Smith, of 
Montana, and left one child, who still survives; 
Isabel, wife of John Moore, of Butte, Mont.; 
William H.; Margaret, who died at the age of 
nineteen years; Angeline, who is the widow of 
Henry Shelly, and resides in Woodland Town- 
ship, Fulton County; Elizabeth, wife of W. B. 
McLaren, who lives in Galien, Mich., and Lydia, 
who resides in the vicinity of Plymouth, 111., 
the wife of O. O. Weaver. Another child died in 
infancy. The father of this family was a 
very enterprismg and progressive man. In 
early life he was a sailor and spent fifteen years 
in that occupation. On settling in Fulton 
County he devoted himself to agricultural pur- 
suits, developing a highly cultivated farm and 
establishing an attractive and hospitable home. 
In the wonderful transformation which took 
place in the general conditions of the county 
during the fifty-four years of his residence in 
it he bore an active, conspicuous and creditable 
part. Public-sijirited in a marked degree, he 
was chosen to fill several positions of official 
trust, in which he amply justified the popular 
confidence reposed in his ability and fidelity. 
In ijolitics he was originally a Whig, but on 
the formation of the Republican party allied 
himself with that organization and remained 
steadfast in his adherence to its principles to 
the end of his life. He held the office of Jus- 
tice of the Peace and was the first Assessor 
elected in Woodland Township. For many years 
he was a devout member of the United Brethren 
Church. In 1835 he was married to Elizabeth 
Marshall, a woman of noble qualities, who 
faithfully and devotedly shared the arduous 
labors of their pioneer experience. Stephen 
Merrill died in 1890, at the age of ninety-two, 
his wife passing away in 1894, at eighty-six 
years of age. 

William H. Merrill, as before stated, was 
born on the paternal farm in 1841 and spent 
his boyhood and early youth in assisting in the 



994 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



farming operations, meanwhile attending the 
district school. On this spot he has spent his 
entire lite, worthily upholding the traditions 
of an honored parentage, and becoming one of 
the most prominent, substantial and highly re- 
spected members of the community in which his 
busy and useful career has been passed. He is 
recognized as one of the leading citizens of 
Fulton County and has always been closely 
identified with its material, moral and intel- 
lectual development. In all public enterprises 
and institutions he has taken an active and in- 
telligeni interest. His farm is one of the most 
thoroughly cultivated and finely improved in 
the county, and his home is commodious and 
attractive. On the farm he maintains a good 
grade of all Ivinds of stock. 

On October 11, 1864. Mr. Merrill was united 
in marriage with Mary E. McClung, who was 
born in Augusta County, Va., May 22, 1842, a 
daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Hafner) 
McClung, natives of Virginia. Her parents set- 
tled in Fulton County in 1854, locating in 
Woodland Township, but both are now de- 
ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill have had six 
children, namely: Walter, who is engaged in 
farming in Woodland Township; Maggie, wife 
of A. F. Karnes, of Fridley, Mont.; Oliver, in 
charge of the old homestead; Ira, who died in 
infancy; Mittie, wife of James T. Chapman, a 
locomotive engineer, and Eva, wife of I. C. 
Johnson, a farmer of Woodland Township. 
Oliver married Maggie Lowe, and Walter is the 
husband of Sadie Horn. 

Although never an aspirant tor public ofBce, 
Mr. Merrill has always been an unswerving 
supporter of the Republican party. His first 
ballot was cast for Abraham Lincoln, and he 
has voted for every Republican President of the 
United States since that time. For more than 
forty years Mr. Merrill and his wife have been 
consistent members of the United Brethren 
Church, and have always been earnest and 
diligent in evangelical work. Both are re- 
garded with the utmost respect by their old- 
time neighbors and associates, and both enjoy 
the confidence and warm regard of a numerous 
acquaintance. 

MESSLER, M. B.— A familiar figure on the 
streets of Canton ever since his arrival here in 
1851, M. B. Messier has been variously identi- 
fied with the business interests of the town, but 
principally has been known as a plaster con- 
tractor, a watchmaker and repairer and holder 
of important local offices. Mr. Messier was 
born amid humble surroundings on a farm in 
Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1832, and was one 
of eleven children to depend upon the slender 
resources of his parents. Reuben and Mary 
(McFarland) Messier, natives of Maryland. The 
father was born in 1806 and the mother in 1807, 
and they moved to Ohio when it was a wilder- 
ness and bravely undertook the hardships and 
sacrifices of pioneer life. Removing from Ohio 
to Canton Township in 1S52, they settled on a 



farm and engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising, the father passing from life in 1868 and 
the mother in 1873. 

M. B. Messier preceded his parents to Canton 
by one year, bringing with him, besides a 
strong constitution and a willingness to work, 
a thorough knowledge of the plasterer's trade. 
The comparatively new country to which he 
came offered abundant employment for his 
trade, and he followed it from 1853 until 1873, 
latterly employing as many as seventeen hands. 
He became one of the best known and most 
skilled workmen in the vicinity, and was about 
the only man in the county who could do orna- 
mental plaster work. The Parian and Babcock 
homes were among those which profited by his 
skill, but there are monuments to his labor scat- 
tered throughout the town and county. In the 
meantime, in 1860, he started a watch stand on 
the square, and for twenty-seven years this 
stand weathered financial depression and pros- 
perity and all the varied changes which swept 
over the community during that time. The 
owner was reliable and skillful, moderate in his 
charges and the soul of honor, and he was sadly 
missed from accustomed haunts when he gave 
\ip the little stand and performed his tasks at 
his home. 

Mr. Messier cast his first presidential vote 
for a Republican candidate and ever since has 
been a stanch supporter of that party. In ear- 
lier days he filled many offices within the gift 
of the people, and in 1901 was elected Justice 
of the Peace and re-elected in 1905. His first 
wife, who formerly was Mary E. Spencer, died 
in 1890. His present wife, Mrs. Eliza Jane 
(Angler) Messier, is a native of Mercersburg, 
Pa. The only child and daughter in the family 
now is Mrs. Whitehouse, of Santiago, Cal. Mr. 
Messier has derived social and general advan- 
tages from connection with the Masons, being 
a charter member of the Bohemond Lodge, No. 
54, organized in 1866. Too much emphasis 
cannot be laid on the sterling worth which has 
contributed to his own and the city's good, or to 
the faithfulness and devotion to duty which has 
characterized his every undertaking. 

MIDDLEKAUFF, Joseph A. (deceased), former- 
ly a well known, industrious and reliable citi- 
zen of Canton, Pulton County, 111., where he 
spent the latter years of a comparatively brief 
life, respected and trusted by his neighbors and 
acquaintances, was born in Hagerstown, Md., 
July 11, 1854, a son of Simon P. and Johanna 
(Neunenmaker) Middlekauff, who were also na- 
tives of Maryland. Simon P. Middlekauff was a 
farmer by occupation. Joseph A. Middlekauff 
was reared on his father's farm, and in boy- 
hood attended the public schools in the vicinity 
of his home, assisting his father in farming un- 
til he reached years of maturity. Afterward he 
continued at farm work throughout the period 
of his life in the East. After coming to Illi- 
nois he located in Canton, where he became a 
blacksmith, and as such secured employment in 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



995 



the extensive establishment of Parlin & Oren- 
dorff, where he remained tor eleven years, the 
connection being severed only by his death, 
which occurred June 4, 1890. He was the ob- 
ject of hearty good will on the part of all his 
associates in work and of those of his fellow 
townsmen who knew his worthy qualities as a 
man and as a citizen. 

The marriage of Mr. Middlekauff took place 
at Foreston, 111., on February 10. 1881, when he 
was wedded to Emma Mitchell, a daughter of 
George W. and Phoebe (Wilson) Mitchell. Her 
father was a native of Hagerstown, Md., and 
her mother was born at Catonsville, in that 
State. George W. Mitchell and his wife settled 
in Illinois in the early '30s, locating in Ogle 
County, 111., where the former was engaged in 
the mercantile business. Both are deceased. 
They were the parents of eight children, of 
whom three are living. Nine children resulted 
from the union of Mr. and Mrs. Middlekauff, of 
whom four are living. In politics Mr. Middle- 
kauff was a supporter of the Democratic party 
and fraternally was identified with the Mutual 
Aid and the I. O. R. M. 

Mrs. Middlekauff is still residing in Canton, 
where her excellent traits of character have 
endeared her to all with whom she comes in 
contact in the daily walks of life. 

MILLARD, George A., who is engaged in farm- 
ing on his birthplace, on the homestead where 
his father followed the same occupation, and in 
the township where his grandfather also was a 
tiller of the soil, was born In Cass Township, 
Fulton County, 111., in 1864, a son of George and 
Margaret (Smith) Millard. The father was a 
native of Fulton County and the mother of the 
State of Ohio. Grandfather Levi Millard, who 
was born in Rhode Island, came to Fulton 
County at an early day and followed agricul- 
tural pursuits. 

Geor,ge Millard bought the 160-acre farm 
where his son, George A., now lives, for $500. 
All the improvements on the place werei made 
by him. 

The subject of this sketch is one of a family 
of nine children, five of whom are living. In 
boyhood he was a pupil in the district schools of 
Cass Township, and spent his early youth in as- 
sisting his father on the home farm. He has 
always lived on this farm, although he owns 300 
acres more on Sections 35 and 36 of the same 
township, most of which he farms personally. 
He also raises considerable stock. 

In 1887 Mr. Millard was joined in wedlock 
with Ella Long, who was bom and schooled in 
Cass Township. Three children were the off- 
spring of this union, namely: Minnie, Lottie 
and Jessie. 

MILLER, F. R., M. D.. who is successfully en- 
gaged in the practice of his profession in Can- 
ton, Fulton County, 111., was born in Beards- 
town, 111., in 1872. His father. Edward P. Mil- 
ler, was a native of Kentucky, born in 1819, and 



his mother, Catherine M. (Wright) Miller, was 
a native of Rushville, Schuyler County, 111. Ed- 
ward P. Miller first settled in Jacksonville, 111., 
whence he later moved to Beardstown. 

Dr. Miller graduated from Northwestern Uni- 
versity, Chicago, in 1900, and immediately be- 
gan the practice of medicine in Canton. He is 
considered a competent and reliable physician 
and his patronage is constantly increasing. Po- 
litically Dr. Miller is a Republican and frater- 
nally is identified with the A. F. and A. M. and 
the B. P. O. E. 

MILLER, George W. — The men who came to 
Fulton County in 1836 were of necessity pa- 
tient plodders, content to await the rewards of 
a slowly developing civilization. There were 
no short cuts to fortune such as fired the zeal 
of the argonauts of '49, but there existed sane 
and practical opportunities for the man to 
whom labor was a beneficent and necessary 
feature of his existence. To such a class be- 
longed Marcus Miller, father of George Miller, 
the latter one of the best known farmers of 
Bemadotte Township, and a native of Fulton 
County, where he was boni in Cass Township, 
October 14, 1839. 

Marcus Miller was born in New York and 
his equipment for Illinois pioneering included a 
mastery of the cooper trade and a practical 
knowledge of farming. Soon after his arrival 
here in the fall of 1836 he settled on land in 
Cass Township, and married Susannah Waftel, 
a native of Ohio. His early sojourn here had 
all the accompaniments of the early days, in- 
cluding hunting, intensely cold winters, ab- 
sorbing occupation and few comforts. In addi- 
tion to tilling his land, from which he first re- 
moved the timber, he followed his trade of 
cooper, principally when the work of the day 
was completed, and when sufficient barrels 
were finished to warrant so long a journey he 
loaded them onto a wagon or sledge, according 
to the season, and marketed them in Canton. 
He accumulated a fair competence, but the ar- 
rival of nine children in his family left little to 
hoard and necessitated the strictest economy. 
Besides George W., the oldest of his children, 
there were: Henry, a farmer of Farmer Town- 
ship: Oliver, living in Bernadotte Township; 
Cal, deceased; Mary A., wife of John Hamil- 
ton, of Bernadotte Township; Sarah, wife of 
Joseph Hupman, of Putman Township. 

When George W. Miller was a small lad one 
of his first tasks of importance was assisting- 
his father in barrel-making. He was entrusted 
with making the staves, and when old enough 
used to drive the supply of barrels to Canton. 
He used to work in the fields from early morn 
until sunset, and in the evening work at barrel- 
making. Few farmer boys of the present time 
lead so strenuous a life as did this embryo 
farmer and cooper of early days. The days and 
years succeeded themselves uneventfully until 
the breaking out of the Civil War, when a new 
duty and perspective appeared to the youth of 



996 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the land. In 1862 he enlisted in Company J, 
One Hundred and Third Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, and served until mustered out at Louis- 
ville, Ky.. at the close of the war. He carried his 
musket and vigorous soldiership into many of 
the principal battles of the Rebellion, and when 
his original regiment went out of service was 
transferred to the Fortieth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry. His recollections of the war are many 
and interesting. He was at Raleigh, Smith 
County, Miss., when General Lee surrendered 
to General Grant, and on the following morn- 
ing, April 14, 1865, he saw the flag run down to 
half-mast upon the announcement of the assas- 
sination of President Lincoln. This calamity 
produced a profound impression among the sol- 
diery, and is, recalled by Mr. Miller as one of 
the saddest experiences of his life. 

Returning to the old home in Cass Township. 
Mr. Miller sought to drown out the horrors of 
war in the peace of a pastoral existence. He 
soon after married Rachel Baldock, a native of 
Kentucky, and a daughter of .John R. Baldock, a 
very early settler of Fulton County. Mr. and 
Mrs. Miller have had the following children: 
John, a carpenter by trade; Martha, wife of 
James Dare, a farmer of Bernadotte Township; 
Hansel, a farmer of Cass Township, who mar- 
ried Minnie Wilson; Titchie, also a farmer, who 
married Ola Anderson; Susie, deceased; Alta, 
living at home, and Lina, also on the old home- 
stead. 

The greatest trials in the life of Mr. Miller 
came with his settling on forty-two acres of 
land in Bernadotte Township in 1875. This re- 
gion was particularly wild, and his land was 
covered with a heavy growth of walnut timber, 
which he first felled and then extracted the 
stumps. His first home was a small log cabin, 
but this was succeeded by a frame structure 
when prosperity began to come his way, and 
this, in turn, gave way in 1900 to the present 
large and modern home of the family. That a 
lover of nature has planned and executed the 
surroundings is apparent to all who tarry with- 
in its gates. A garden furnishing tempting 
products supplies a table in bounteous variety, 
and one may rest from the summer sun under 
fruit, shade or ornamental trees. Flowers 
abound also and those numerous little incident- 
als which speak of long and intimate associa- 
tion with a given locality. Mr. Miller is a Re- 
publican in politics and a public-spirited, highly 
respected citizen. 

MILLER, Nathan D.— Among the farmers of 
Fulton County, 111., the, results of whose opera- 
tions render a good account of their hus- 
bandry, is the subject of this sketch, who car- 
ries on farming on Section 25, Lewistown Town- 
ship. Mr. Miller was born at Roane Mountain, 
East Tennessee. November 27, 1877, a son of 
Jacob Miller and wife, of whom the farmer was 
a native of Tennessee and the latter of North 
Carolina. Both are now residents of St, David, 
Fulton County, where the father is engaged in 



merchandising. They were married in 1865 and 
became the parents of three children besides 
Nathan D., one sister, who is the wife of J. 
Boone, of St. David; Etta and Frank, who are 
at home. 

Nathan D. Miller was reared on a farm and 
received his early mental training in the com- 
mon schools. Being naturally inclined to me- 
chanical work, and having manifested some 
skill in that direction in his youth, he applied 
himself to learning the carpenter's trade and 
followed that occupation for some time, alter- 
nating between farming and carpentering. 
Since reaching mature years he has combined 
the two lines of work during the greater por- 
tion of his life. In 1901 he made a purchase of 
forty-flve acres of land on Section 25, Lewis- 
town Townshi]), where he is engaged in general 
farming, and also devotes considerable atten- 
tion to the raising of good grades of stock. He 
is a careful and thorough farmer and his labors 
have been attended with good results. 

On January 1, 1901, Mr. Miller was united in 
marriage with Bertha A. Johnson, a daughter 
of Homer and Lydia A. (Bolender) Johnson, of 
whom the former is now deceased. The mother 
is now the wife of John Downs, who is engaged 
in farming in Liverpool Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Miller have been blessed with two chil- 
dren, namely; Jessie T., who was born Novem- 
ber 29. 190], and Don D., born January 19, 1903. 

In politics Mr. Miller is a believer in the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. He takes a 
good citizen's interest in public affairs, and 
whatever measures are proposed tending to pro- 
mote the general welfare meet with his earnest 
support. Religiously he adheres to the faith of 
the Baptist Church. 

MILLER, Oliver E.— The most satisfying 
compensations of rural experience have re- 
warded the good judgment and untiring indus- 
try of Oliver E. Miller, the owner of 308 acres 
acres of improved land in Sections 7 and IS, 
Cass Township, Fulton County, and a man who 
has wielded an influence for progress and noble 
citizenshi]) in this part of the State for half a 
century lacking two years. Mr. Miller was 
born on a farm in Knox County, Ohio, March 
31, 1834, a son of Hiram and Susanna (Ouder- 
kirk) Miller. Illinois pioneers of 1835. 

Hiram Miller was born in 1801 on a sterile 
farm in Vermont and in childhood moved with 
his parents to New York, where he was united 
in marriage to Susanna Ouderkirk, both being 
then residents of Oswego County, N. Y. In 
1833 Hiram Miller and family removed to Knox 
County, Ohio, where the son, Oliver, was born. 
In 1835 they came to Knox County, 111., which 
remained the family home for twenty years. 
The elder Miller then moved to Cass Township, 
Fulton County, a little later taking uj) his 
residence in Davis County, Iowa, and later still 
making his home in Oregon and Washington 
Territory for about four years. He then re- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



997 



turned to Iowa, where his death occurred in 
1871. 

When the family moved to Cass Township in 
1858 Oliver E. Miller began farming on his 
own account, having on Ajiril 7th of the same 
year married Mary A. \^arnold, a native of 
Cass Township, born .January 1, 1840. Of this 
union there have been born five daughters and 
four sons. The daughters are: Mrs. Sarah E. 
Heller, Mrs. Ezilda Woody. Mrs. Cinderella 
Ellis, Mrs. I^ydia Darst, Mrs. Permelia Little, 
and the sons: Levi L., Benjamin F., John A. 
and Grover C. After twenty-five years on a 
rented farm Mr. Miller in 1882 bought 100 acres 
of land in Section 8, Cass Township, whicu still 
is his home, and he also owns forty acres in 
Section 7 and 160 acres in Section 18. Practi- 
cally all of the improvements are due to his 
energy and initiative, and general farming and 
stock-raising have been carried on 
under the most favorable circumstances. 
While acquiring a comfortable compe- 
tence, Mr. Miller has led a by no 
means self-centered life, but has taken a 
keen interest in education, politics, local gov- 
ernment and the social life of the community. 
For several years he was a member of the 
School Board, and as Road Master has material- 
ly aided in promoting the present superior 
highway system in Cass Township. He repre- 
sents the reliable and substantial element of 
the community, and in the autumn of his life 
is cheered by the good will and affection of 
many friends and the consciousness of having 
performed, to the best of his ability, his obliga- 
tions as farmer, husband, father and citizen. 

MILLER, S. S. (deceased), for many years one 
of the most industrious, upright and highly re- 
spected farmers of Canton Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Franklin County, Pa., 
in 1833, a son of Jacob and Catherine (Swigert) 
Miller, his father having been a native of Ger- 
many and his mother of Pennsylvania. In the 
latter State the subject of this memoir re- 
ceived the benefits of a good common school ed- 
ucation during his early youth, and at a later 
period learned the trade of a carpenter. 

A short time after reaching his majority Mr. 
Miller left his Eastern home to better his for- 
tunes in the West, and proceeding to Illinois, 
settled in Fulton County. After his arrival 
there in 1856 he at first applied himself to his 
trade, which he followed for several years. He 
then determined to enter upon agricultural pur- 
suits, and in 1863 bought from William D. John- 
son a farm of 148 acres situated on Section 6, 
Canton Township, to which he subsequently 
added seventy-one acres, bought of John Otto, 
on the opposite side of the road from his origi- 
nal purchase. On this place Mr. Miller carried 
on farming throughout the remainder of his 
life, and it is still the family homestead, occu- 
pied by his worthy widow and two of her sons, 
who continue the work so long conducted by 
the lamented husband and father. All the pres- 



ent improvements on the property were made 
since Mr. Miller came into possession of it, and 
some new buildings have been put up by the 
family since his death, which occurred March 
25, 1892. He was a very diligent, careful and 
thorough farmer and success attended his la- 
bors. In all the relations of life he was faith- 
ful to the dictates of duty. 

Mr. Miller was married In 1858 to Mary C. 
Negley, a native of Franklin County, Pa., where 
she was born in 1840. Her father, Jacob Neg- 
ley. was a physician, who settled in Fulton 
County in 1844, living, however, but a short 
time after he established his home there. The 
children resulting from the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Miller were as follows: P. D., who lives 
in Peoria, 111.; Wissie A. (Mrs. Rice) ; George B. 
who is engaged in farming; Allan A. and Clar- 
ence E.. who are on the home farm; Cardie M. 
(Mrs. Routhledge); Sarah C. (Mrs. Wolfe), and 
Fred S., whose home is in Canton. The esti- 
mable mother of this interesting and capable 
family, a lady of most amiable character, 
strong common sense and sound judgment, still 
retains her vigor of mind and body and is the 
object of sincere respect and cordial regard 
among a wide circle of friends. 

MILLER, William M.— For the past fifteen 
years the firm of Buckley & Pursley. of Peoria, 
has been re])resented in Table Grove by Wil- 
liam M. Miller, than whom there is no more 
efficient and careful grain and seed buyer in 
Fulton County. Mr. Miller keeps a careful eye 
upon this important State industry and by pay- 
ing the best prices and insisting uiion the best 
liroducts encoura.ges high standards among the 
surrounding farmers. The local elevator has a 
capacity of 13,000 bushels and the products 
most in demand are grains of all kinds, clover, 
timothy and other seeds grown in the Central 
West. Aside from his business standing Mr. 
Miller is an interesting personality and fur- 
nishes to the youth of the rising generation 
practical hints on how to succeed in life. In 
his youth he had few advantages which were 
not self-ac luired. but he is of good birth and 
his molding influence has encouraged sobriety 
and inuustry. Born in Monroe County, Ind., 
December 18, 1846, he is a son of Isaac and 
Martha J. (Berry) Miller, the latter a daugh- 
ter of Colonel William Berry, at different 
periods a prominent citizen of both Indiana and 
Illinois. The Miller and Berry families came 
to Illinois in 1852, settling in Adams County, 
whence they removed in 1855 to the vicinity of 
Blandinsville, McDonough County. As a Demo- 
crat, in 1860, Colonel Berry was elected to the 
State Senate for the McDonough district, serv- 
ing in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third 
General Assemblies (1860-64), and later re- 
moving to Macomb, where he died at an ad- 
vanced age. Of his nine children four are liv- 
ing: Robert, of Bedford, Iowa; Emma, wife of 
Albert Peckinpaugh, of Chicago; John A. and 
Green T. 



998 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Isaac Miller arose from small beginnings to 
the class of reliable and substantial farmers. 
Three generations of the family have been 
grain dealers. At the age of eight years he 
was left to assist in caring for his mother and 
two younger children, and he early put his 
shoulder to the wheel and rose to the emer- 
gency. His youthful strength was enlisted in 
the etiort to supply common necessities, and 
his book learning was almost entirely a matter 
of his mature years. The possessor of limited 
means at the time of his marriage, he advanced 
to the front with the aid of an economical wife, 
thirteen children eventually becoming members 
of their family. Of these William M. is the old- 
est; Addison H. is a farmer in Missouri; Rob- 
ert W. died in infancy; Mary M. is the wife of 
Henry Linvllle, of Missouri; Jameson M. also 
is a farmer in Missouri; Alvln B. is a farmer 
in Oklahoma; Lewis C. owns the old home 
place in Nodaway County, Mo.; John Milton 
died in infancy; Effie A. is the wife of E. T. 
Nesbit, of Colorado; Jennie D. is deceased; 
Samuel and Thomas were twins, of whom the 
former is a railroad man in the northern part 
of the State and the latter deceased, and Mar- 
tha J. is the wife of John Powell, of Canada. 

As the oldest son in the family, William M. 
Miller shouldered responsibility at an early age 
and had little chance for self-improvement. He 
remained at home until his twenty-second year, 
when he married Ellen Mustain, born near 
Blandinsville, McDonough County, a daughter 
of Nathan and Hannah ( Wilson ) Mustain, of 
whom the former came to McDonough County 
in 1832. Mr. Mustain died in 1876 and his wife 
ten years later. They Ijad ten children, of 
whom Mrs. Miller is the oldest. Mr. Miller 
followed farming until 1890, when he removed 
to Table Grove and assumed his present posi- 
tion with the Peoria grain merchants. He has 
always been the true friend of education, and 
while in McDonough County engaged in educa- 
tional work for some time, having fitted him- 
self for the task during the briet leisure per- 
mitted on the farm. He was an excellent pen- 
man, a branch of instruction of far greater im- 
portance then than now, and he taught for a 
time also in Nodaway County, Mo., where his 
family lived for a few years. He also filled 
various township offices while engaged in farm- 
ing, and was a member of the School Board 
for fifteen years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Miller are members of the 
Christian Church at Table Grove, and Mr. 
Miller has been an elder in the same for twelve 
years. In the family are five children: Luna, 
who is the wife of H. E. Kinney, cashier of a 
bank in Table Grove, and the mother of two 
children — Eugene R. and Leon B., the latter 
deceased; Bessie, a music instructor; Edward 
N., superintendent of the accident department 
of the Aetna Life Assurance Company, of 
Peoria, and Grotus B., Assistant Cashier and 
Bookkeeper of the Farmers' Bank at Table 
Grove. Mr. Miller has given his children 
every possible advantage and all are filling 



honorable and worthy places in the business 
world. All are graduates from the Table Grove 
High School with the exception of Luna, who 
graduated from the high school at Garner, 
Iowa. Mr. Miller is among the enlightened and 
progressive men of the community, a generous 
contributor to worthy causes and the recipient 
of the good will and esteem of all who know 
him. 

MINER, Edward A., a well known and well- 
to-do brick manufacturer of Lewistown, Ful- 
ton County, III., was born in Bennington, Vt., 
October 15, 1842, a son of Charles H. and Lou- 
isa (Steele) Miner, natives of New York and 
Massachusetts, respectively. The union of 
Charles H. Miner and Louisa Steele resulted in 
six children, namely; Horace C, of Lewistown; 
Edward A.; Phoebe, who died in infancy; Nan- 
cy, widow of John Bestler, of Naperville, 111., 
and Susan and Eugene, who died in in- 
fancy. Charles H. Miner moved with his fam- 
ily from the East to Aurora, 111., in 1855. There 
he followed his trade of brickmaker until 1863. 
In that year he moved to Lewistown, 111., where 
he died in 1885. His wife passed away in Lew- 
istown and rests by the side of her husband in 
Oak Hill Cemetery, near the city. 

Edward A. Miner received a fair common 
school education and since reaching years of 
maturity has spent his life in the manufacture 
of brick. The Miner family has always been 
engaged in brickmaking. The brothers worked 
together until 1895, when Edward purchased 
his brother's interest and now conducts the con- 
cern. His plant is equipped with all the latest 
improvements in machinery for turning out 
first-class brick. The yard is located near the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway depot, in 
East Lewistown, and has a capacity of 10,000 
brick per day. 

In 1861 Mr. Miner was married to Mary Ma- 
honey, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Ma- 
honey, natives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Ma- 
honey were the parents of three children, as 
follows: Thomas, deceased; Ellen, widow of 
Matthew Ward, of Waukegan, 111., and Mrs. 
Miner. Of the children born to Mrs. Miner 
Jesse died in infancy; H. T. died at the age of 
thirty-six years, and Margaret became the wife 
of Charles Massey, and resides at Waukegan, 
111. 

For many years Mrs. Miner has grieved over 
the disappearance of a favorite uncle, Val 
O'Brien, a miller by trade, who came to the 
United States from Ireland, but has ever since 
been lost to his relatives. 

Religiously Mr. Miner and his wife are de- 
vout members of the Catholic Church. He is 
a liberal contributor to all church or municipal 
enterprises of a worthy character, and is highly 
respected by all who know him, as is also his 
estimable spouse. 

MINGS, James Franklin.— Three generations 
of the Mings fanjily have contributed to the 
agricultural development of Fulton County. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.. 



999 



The first, represented by Joseph Mings, the sec- 
ond by James Franklin Mings and the third by 
Willis Gilmore Mings. Joseph Mings arrived 
with the vanguard ot civilization in 1835. hav- 
ing driven overland from Kentucky, where he 
was born July !». 1809. With him was his wife, 
Harriet (Davis) Mings, who was a native ot 
Maryland, and born December 4, 1808. Whether 
by the exercise of sagacious judgment or af- 
fected by that tide which leads men on to 
fortune, this young man chose the hard and 
exacting life of the pioneer at a time when 
there was little to strike the fancy ot young 
people who had been reared among the smiling 
farms of the Southern States. The eye that 
looked upon the unpicturesque landscape needed 
the keener vision of a seer to discern the 
gathering multitude, with the bewildering hum 
of industries and trade that soon was to change 
alike its character and future. Building himself 
a rough log hut, he cast his fortunes with the 
rising community, and for years was spared to 
share in its growth and unfolding prosperity. 

James Franklin Mings was born in St. Au- 
gustine, Knox County, 111., August 16, 1837, 
two years after the arrival of his parents in 
the wilderness. A good constitution, an active, 
well-balanced mind and an upright character 
seem to have been his endowment. His par- 
ents gave their son such advantages of educa- 
tion as their isolated and unsettled condition 
permitted. As soon as his strength would per- 
mit he shared in the labor of subduing the 
woods and soil, and he was called upon to 
shoulder responsibility while still of tender 
years. The home farm profited oy his work 
until his marriage. December 6. 1860, in Mon- 
mouth, 111., to Sarah Elizabeth Nance, who was 
born in Tennessee, July 16, 1842, a daughter 
of John W. and Nancy (Simmons) Nance. Mr. 
Nance was oorn in North Carolina, May 1.5, 
1814, and his wife was born in the same State, 
February 20, 1815. He came to Fulton County 
in 1845, soon after purchased a farm in Warren 
County and engaged in general farming and 
stock-raising for several years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Mings were the parents of seven children: 
Laura, deceased (wife of Harry Townsend); 
Willis G., Charles, Russell, Allen, Louise and 
Christme. 

P^om the time of his marriage until his la- 
mented death, November 28, 1898, Mr. Mings 
continued to engage in farming in Union Town- 
ship, at first owning a small property, but 
eventually leaving to his heirs an estate of 
300 acres. He was a firm adherent of the Re- 
publican party and for many years promoted 
the cause of education as a member of the 
School Board. In religion he was associated 
with the Universalist Church. He sleeps in the 
cemetery at Avon, anu all who will may know 
of a life well spent, charged with good fellow- 
ship and generous impulses; industrious, kindly 
disposed, the soul of honor and the friend of 
many. 



MINGS, Willis Gilmore.— The name of Willis 
Gilmore Mings is a familiar one in Avon and 
Fulton County, .and interest attaches to the 
subject of this sketch not only because he is 
the son of James Franklin Mings, of whom 
extended mention is made elsewhere in this 
work, but because he is a comparatively young 
man of excellent character, giving promise of 
large future usefulness. Mr. Mings was born 
in Warren County, 111., July 28, 1863, and was 
educated in the public schools of that county 
and at Avon, his people moving to a farm near 
the latter place in the fall of 1882. Reared to 
farming, and adapted by nature to the many 
exactions of that occupation, he in time be- 
came an independent land-owner, and at pres- 
ent owns a property comprising fifty-three and 
a half acres in Union Township, where he has 
conducted general farming and stock-raising 
for many years. 

In Avon, December 31, 1885, Mr. Mings mar- 
ried Florence Minnie Rose, born in Fulton 
County, July 7, 1867, the daughter of a Fulton 
County pioneer. To Mr. and Mrs. Mings have 
been born four children: Claire Harold, Vera 
Florence, Estelle Maude and Bernadine Rose. 
Mr. Mings has filled many offices of trust and 
responsibility in Union Township, as well as 
in the city of Avon, which became his perma- 
nent home in 1904. He was Township School 
Trustee for nine years, also served as Treasurer 
of the Avon Fair Association, of the Avon Im- 
provement Association and the Greenbush 
Telephone Company. He is a stanch Repub- 
lican and a public-spirited and progressive citi- 
zen. With his wife and family Mr. Mings is 
identified with the Universalist Church. 

MITCHELL, Charles E., a resident of Fair- 
view Township. Fulton County, 111., during his 
entire life, and for many years well and favor- 
ably known in connection with the lumber and 
grain trade there, was born in Fairview, Ful- 
ton County, on April 24, 1860. His parents, 
Peter and Rachael (Wykoff) Mitchell, were 
natives of the State of New Jersey. Peter 
Mitchell settled in Illinois during the 'forties, 
locating in Fulton County. He was a cabinet- 
maker by trade and followed that occupation 
until the time of his death, which occurred on 
December 30, 1894. His widow still survives. 
They were the parents of twelve children, name- 
ly: Phoebe, Albert, Andrew, Altred, George, 
Charles, Emma. Mary, Minnie, Willie, Martha 
and John. 

The subject of this sketch attended the public 
schools in his vicinity when a boy and worked 
at farming until he was about twenty-one years 
old. At that period he took charge of the 
grain elevator and business of T. H. Traverse 
& Co., and since 1890 has acted in the capacity 
of manager of the concern of Buckley, Persley 
& Co., in the same line. In partnership with J. 
W. Davis he afterwards engaged in the lumber 
business in Fairview and in 1894 their inter- 



JOOO 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ests were imrchased by James C. Simpson, who 
erected the present buildings of the concern, 
and Mr. Mitchell has since had the manage- 
ment of the business also. Besides lumber, the 
concern deals in all varieties of building sup- 
plies. The elevator of Buckley, Persley & Co., 
of which Mr. Mitchell is manager, and which 
is located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad, was erected in 1900. It has a ca- 
pacity of 18,000 bushels, and Mr. Mitchell has 
charge of the receiving, loading and shipping 
of all kinds of grain in this connection. 

On July IB. 18S4, Mr. Mitchell was joined in 
the bonds of matrimony with Mary C. Rabe- 
naw, who was born in Fulton County, and is a 
daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth Rabenaw, na- 
tives of Germany and America. P^ive children 
have resulted from this union, namely: Viola 
and Gladys, both deceased; Lillian, born June 
23, 1891; Charles, born August IB, 1893, and 
Inez, born March 14, 1899. 

In politics Mr. Mitchell is a supporter of the 
Republican party and fraternally is affiliated 
with the I. O. O. F. and the M. W. A. He is 
possessed of good business qualifications and 
his energy and diligent application to the du- 
ties devolving upon him have won merited 
success. 

MITCHELL, Mathew H., a retired merchant 
of Ellisville, Fulton County, 111., and for many 
years a prominent and successful farmer in 
Deerfleld Township, that county, was born in 
Hillsboro, Montgomery County, IlL, on March 
17, 1830, a son of Mathew and Mary (Free- 
man ) Mitchell, the former a native of Penn- 
sylvania and the latter of South Carolina. The 
father, whose occujiation was that of a farmer, 
settled in Illinois at an early period. In 1835 
he located in Fulton County, purchasing eighty 
acres of land in Section 25, Deerfield Town- 
ship. At a later date he bought eighty acres 
more. These tracts he broke up and im- 
proved, and there followed his customary pur- 
suit until 1853, when his laborious and useful 
career came to an end. He was an intelligent 
man, of forceful and upright character and a 
public-spirited member of the community. A 
petition was prepared and circulated by him 
for the establishment of a postoffice at Fiat, 
Fulton County, and he became the first Post- 
master there, serving in that capacity for a 
number of years. To him and his worthy wife 
were born one child, M, H. Mitchell. The 
mother passed away in 1859. 

The subject of this sketch received his early 
education in the public schools of Fulton 
County and was reared to farming. In 1865 
he went to Washington County, Iowa, where 
he bought a farm of 160 acres, on which he 
lived two years. At the end of that time he 
sold the property and returned to Deerfleld 
Township, buying 160 acres in Section 3, 
known as the Blount farm. This he sold in 
1890 to J. E. Schafer and moved to Ellisville, 
, where he was engaged for three years in the 



lumber trade. In the spring of 1893 he dis- 
posed of his lumber interests and embarked in 
the hardware business, dealing in general 
hardware, also handling ranges, paints, oils, 
etc. For a time he was associated with a part- 
ner, but afterwards bought out the interest of 
the latter and conducted the concern alone 
until March, 1905, when he withdrew from ac- 
tive pursuits. 

On March 12, 1852, Mr. Mitchell was united 
in marriage with Calphurnia Wheeler, a 
daughter of Marvin and Polly Ann ( Hossel- 
ton ) vVheeler, who was born in the State of 
.\ew York. Eleven children resulted from this 
union, seven of whom are living. Those who 
survive are as follows: Riley, George, Eva 
Jane (Mrs. Young), Ellen (Mrs. Weaver), May 
(Mrs. Bflland) and Pearl (Mrs. Frederick)". 
H. L. Mitchell became the proprietor of the 
hardware store formerly kept by his father. 
P"or a few years he was engaged in farming in 
Union Township, Fulton County. In 1892 he 
married Wilda Babbitt, of that township, a 
daughter of Isaac I'reeman and Alsie (Phelps) 
Babbitt. Her father was a native of Ohio, 
where he was born March IT, 1810. He was 
among the pioneer settlers of Union Town- 
ship, H. L. Mitchell and his wife are the par- 
ents of two children — Ross and Claude. 

In politics the subject of this sketch is a 
Democrat anu has been active and influential 
in the local affairs of his party, having filled 
nearly every pu)jlic office within the gift of the 
citizens of Deerfiela Township. His religious 
connection is with the Christian Church. Mr. 
Mitchell is a man of sterling qualities and dur- 
ing his long career as farmer and merchant 
has wrought with most commendable zeal, en- 
ergy and constancy for the best interests of 
the people at large. 

MONTGOMERY, A. K.— Old age is honorable 
and worthy of veneration when viewed as the 
climax of a virtuous and well spent lite. To 
have lived to the verge of four score and ten 
years — a (leriod almost a decade beyond the 
limit set by the Psalmist in the pages of Holy 
Writ — Is primarily the result of a careful ob- 
servance of the laws of nature, and to have 
reached that advanced stage in the earthly 
journey with all the receding years unmarred 
by reproach, is indeed a consummation de- 
voutly to Ije wished. Crowned with honor and 
upheld by a sustaining faith is he who can 
look back over so long a career in the serene 
consciousness that he has faithfully discharged 
his duties to his 'God, his country and his fel- 
lowmen. Among the few to whom such a 
retrospect is possible may be counted the ven- 
erable and greatly esteemed subject of this 
biographical review, A. K. Montgomery. 

Mr. Montgomery is a native of the State of 
Pennsylvania, where he was born on April 8, 
1818, and where in early youth he received his 
mental training in the public schools. Both 
his parents, Simpson Walker and Nancy (Cald- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



lOOI 



well ) Montgomery, were also natives of Penn- 
sylvania. The paternal grandfather was John 
Montgomery, a record of whose birthplace has 
not been i)reserved. It is known, however, that 
he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. 
while his son, Simpson Walker Montgomery, 
served in the War of 1S12. The latter was a 
musical instructor by occupation and he also 
taught school in the Keystone State. Subse- 
quently he was engaged for a few years in 
farming, and still later, m Fayette County, Pa., 
conducted a flouring mill for a considerable 
period. 

The subject of this sketch moved from Penn- 
sylvania to Illinois, locating at Farmington, 
r'ulton County, on August 13, 1846. Shortly 
after his arrival he went into the saddle and 
harness trade, in which he continued until 
1S.54. At that period he sold out and pur- 
chased the general store of A. D. & H. Reed, 
which he conducted for two years. This he 
then sold to George Stetson and bought the 
hardware store of Reed & Abbott, where he 
remained until 1868. He then sold out to 
Taylor & Stetson, retiring to his farm, the 
operation of which he supervised. In 1874 he 
purchased the old academy building property, 
using the brick and other material from that 
structure, when demolished, to build the resi- 
dence which he now occupies. The old acad- 
emy was erected in 1848. Its builder was 
James Hill, who was the founder of the school, 
in which he was an instructor for a number of 
years. The Farmington High School was after- 
wards conducted in the building until it was 
purchased by Mr. Montgomery. 

On May 12, 1844, Mr. Montgomery was united 
in marria.ge with Angeline Reisinger. who was 
born at Carlisle, Pa., where she received her 
early training in the public schools. One child, 
Florence, resulted from this union, who became 
the wife of W. L. Taylor, of Canton, 111., and 
who died in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Mont- 
gomery died July 31, 1906, aged eighty-two 
years, lacking thirteen days. She was one of 
the worthiest wives and, in her later years, was 
able to do painting or sketch work without the 
use of glasses and manifesting an exceptional 
taste in colors. As an artist in this line few 
at her a.ge compared with her in merit. 

In politics Mr. Montgomery is a supporter of 
the Democratic ))arty. He was a member of 
the School Board when the Farmington High 
School was built (since burned), the cost of 
its construction being $39,000. His school 
taxes alone in that year amounted to $440. He 
was elected Mayor of Farmington in 1867. 
In fraternal circles he is identified with the 
I. O. O. F. and religiously adheres to the faith 
of the Congregational Church. Mr. Montgom- 
ery and his wife previous to her death were 
said to have been the oldest married couple in 
Farmington, and perhaps in Fulton County. 
Mr. Montgomery has been one of the principal 
factors in the development of the community 
of which he is an honored member. He is now 
25 



living with his grandson, Captain B. H. Taylor, 
in the city of Canton. 

MOORHOUSE, Omar J.— The career of Omar 
.1. Moorhouse reflects practical and useful 
ideals and its range of activities has included 
the promotion of agriculture, education, reli- 
gion, politics, banking and insurance. A na- 
tive son of Fulton County, Mr. Moorhouse was 
born on a farm in Liverpool Township, Janu- 
ary 15, 1853, a son of Eli and Susan (Shaw) 
Moorhouse. natives of England and Ohio, re- 
spectively. The elder Moorhouse came at an 
early day from England to Ohio, where he 
married, developed a fine farming property and 
died in 1896, at an advanced age. His wife, 
who had passed away in 1892, was the mother 
of ten children, three of whom are living. Of 
these Marvin is a farmer in Kingman County, 
Kans., and Ollie is the wife of E. E. Veatch. of 
Kentucky. 

Throughout his youth Omar Moorhouse was 
animated by an earnest desire to secure a good 
education, and this he did. often at the ex- 
pense of much needed rest, after long hours in 
the harvest field. He attended the common 
schools of Cuba and Lewistown. and thereafter 
ajiplied himself to school teaching in the win- 
ter time and farm work during the summer sea- 
son. After five years of this combination of 
effort he devoted himself exclusively to farm- 
ing on a tract of 160 acres, in Section 12, Ber- 
nadotte Township. This land placed him 
among the land owners of the county, as well 
as among its most intelligent farmers, for he 
had left no stone unturned to become an en- 
lightened exponent of scientific agriculture. 

On June 11, 1874, Mr. Moorhouse married 
Carrie E., daughter of Samuel and Jane 
(Smith) Munson, the former an honored pio- 
neer of Fulton County. Mrs. Moorhouse was 
born October 12, 1856, and is the mother of 
seven children: Lulu, wife of M. R. Van 
Houten. a resident of Kansas; Clarence, of 
Canton, 111.; Dr. Charles V., a practicing physi- 
cian of Marietta, this State; Leroy E.. a farm- 
er in Cass Township; Blanche E., living with 
her parents; Frank D. and Hansel O. 

As he was one of its most successful edu- 
cators, so has Mr. Moorhouse been one of the 
most successful farmers of Fulton County. His 
property in Bernadotte Township grew to ex- 
press his regard for method and order, and 
became one of the most comfortable and pleas- 
ant, as well as most profitable, farming enter- 
prises in the neighborhood. He continued to 
be the leading and most progressive landsman 
in that section until 1902, when he sold his 
farm and bought 165 acres of land on Section 
2, Bernadotte Township, and 172 acres on Sec- 
tion 35, Cass Township, making 337 acres, prac- 
tically all in one body. In 1903 he moved from 
Bernadotte to his farm in Cass Township, 
pending the erection of his present beautiful 
and modern country residence on Section 2, 
Bernadotte Township. The county does not 



I002 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



afford a finer rural home than this, which has 
ten rooms, a furnace, gas, complete water 
equipment ana those general advantages which 
bring the comforts of the city dweller within 
range of the rural resident. The barns and 
outbuildings afford ample facilities for an ex- 
tensive stock and general produce business. 

A capacity for accumulation, which, after 
all, is an expression of thrift and economy, is 
one of the leading and most desirable traits of 
Mr. Moorhouse. It has made him one of the 
largest stockholders in the Farmers' State 
Bank and a stable factor in the County Fire 
Insurance Company, of which he has been 
President for several years. A Democrat in 
politics, his principal and most meritorious 
party service has been as Supervisor of Berna- 
dotte Township, to which he was first elected 
in 1891, and which he has held uninterruptedly 
ever since. No one in the township has a larger 
or more comprehensive knowledge of its needs 
and possibilities than has Mr. Moorhouse, nor 
has any one presented and promoted those 
needs more practically or intelligently. So 
satisfactory has been his tenure of office that 
he has several times been tendered the chair- 
manship of the committee, but owing to the 
pressure of other business, he has been obliged 
to forego the honor. He has the fullest confi- 
dence of all members of the board and his 
judgment is consulted ana advice followed upon 
all important matters which arise for adjust- 
ment. 

Ever since young manhood Mr. Moorhouse 
has been a member of the Baptist Church, and 
with his family is an active worker in the local 
church. He is particularly interested in the 
Sunday-school, of which he is Superintendent, 
and he is very popular with the children, over 
whom he has great influence. One would 
search far for a man guided more implicitly 
and continuously by his good genius, who has 
the well-being of the community more at 
heart, or who is more unfailingly to be depend- 
ed on from the standpoint of good judgment, 
morality and public-spiritedness. 

MORAN, H. C, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Buckheart Township, Fulton 
County, 111,, on the 29th day of September, 
1869, a son of R. L. and Sybil (Cummings) 
Moran, of whom the former was born in Balti- 
more, Md., and the latter in Massachusetts. 
R. L. Moran came to Illinois from Maryland in 
1835 and located seven miles southwest of Can- 
ton, where he was engaged in farming until 
1884, when he removed to Canton, where he 
died on June 13, 1903. 

H. C. Moran attended the country school 
in Buckheart Township until 1884, when he 
entered the High School in Canton, from which 
he graduated in May, 1889. In 1895 he was 
married to Ida A. Weaver, of Bryant, 111. Mrs. 
Moran died on the 17th day of June, . 1907, 
leaving one child, Murlea Mae, of the age of 
eight years. 



In politics Mr. Moran is a Republican. He 
has thrice been elected to the office of Justice 
of the Peace of Canton Township and from 1901 
to 1905 held the office of Clerk of the City 
Court of Canton. For the last two years Mr. 
Moran has been pursuing the study of law at 
the University of Illinois, from which insti- 
tution he expects to graduate in 1908. Frater- 
nally he is affiliated with the A. F. and A. M., 
Court of Honor and Knights of the Globe. 

MORAN, M. R. — In no department of human 
activity have there been greater strides during 
the past few years than in photography. The 
man who succeeded a decade ago would find 
himself hopelessly in arrears should he, with 
no additional equipment, attempt to cope with 
the conditions of the present. Photographic 
portraiture is an art which admits of infinite 
conception, and requires varied knowledge and 
great capacity for painstaking in its develop- 
ment. The men who maintain its highest artis- 
tic methods necessarily have a thorough knowl- 
edge of human nature and are artistic and 
scholarly in their inclinations. To this class 
belongs M. R. Moran, to whom Canton has long 
looked for the best possible results in his call- 
ing, and who has a patronage by no means lim- 
ited to either town or county. 

Born in Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., Feb- 
ruary 22. 1861, Mr. Moran is a son of William 
H. and Susan Ann (Evans) Moran, the former 
a native of Baltimore. Md., where he was born 
in 1813, and the latter a native of New York, 
born in 1833, a daughter of Samuel Evans, of 
England. The elder Moran in early life moved 
from Baltimore to Mississippi, where he learned 
the trade of blacksmithing. He was a son of 
Richard L. Moran, of French extraction, and an 
early settler of Maryland. William H. followed 
his trade for many years in Lewistown. and in 
1862 came to Canton, where he still worked at 
blacksmithing, and whence he removed to the 
farm in Buckheart Township, where his death 
occurred in 1878. His wife and three children 
survived him and the former subsequently mar- 
ried Robert Sebree, now deceased. Of the broth- 
er and sister of M. R., William H., Jr.. is a 
farmer of Buckheart Township and Mary L. 
married Milo G. Rader. The children were edu- 
cated in the public schools and M. R. early evi- 
denced artistic inclinations. He learned the 
business of photography with C. W. Mangrum, 
of Canton, and was in partnership with Mr. 
Mangrum for a couple of years. In 1886 he 
established a business of his own. which he 
conducted uninterruptedly until selling out in 
1892. For the following two years he was ab- 
sent from Canton, but in 1894 returned and 
opened another studio on South Main Street. 
His studio is light, airy and artistic, and in its 
equipment permits the most satisfactory re- 
sults possible with present-day knowledge of 
photography. 

The marriage of Mr. Moran and Susan B. 
Trites occurred in Canton in 1885. Mrs. Moran 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1003 



Is a daughter of George J. and Louise Trites, 
who came from Philadelphia to Fulton County 
in 1848. The Moran home is one of the delight- 
ful ones of the town and its hospitality and 
good cheer are unstintingly dispensed. Mr. 
Moran has identified his political fortunes with 
the Republican party ever since he was old 
enough to judge of political principles. As a 
fraternalist he is an enthusiastic and long- 
standing member of Jefferson Lodge, No. 7, I. 
O. O. F. He is popular and widely known and 
to his other business qualifications adds those 
of courtesy, tact, obligingness and strict integ- 
rity. 

MORAN, Richard L., one of the honored pio- 
neers of Fulton County, was born on Section 
19, Buckheart Township, August 9, 1857. His 
birth took place in one of the primitive log 
cabins that marked the pioneer period. He is 
a son of Richard L. and Sybil (Cummings) Mo- 
ran, the latter of Scotch ancestry. The father 
was a native of Baltimore, Md., and moved 
West with his parents. Richard L. and Ann 
Moran, who were natives of the same State. 
The family settled in Fulton County in 1835. 
Grandfather Moran located in Putman Town- 
ship, and there spent the remainder of his life. 
One of his descendants. Nelson Herring, now 
owns the old homestead. Grandfather Moran's 
first wife died in her native State and his sec- 
ond wife was buried in the old Major Nelson 
Cemetery, where also rest the remains of her 
husband. 

Richard L. Moran, the father, was born in 
1816. When eighteen years old he accompanied 
his father to Fulton County, and in 1841 was 
married to Sybil Cummings. In 1842 he lo- 
cated in Buckheart Township and built his 
cabin of logs cut from the heavy timber land 
near where it stood. There his first six chil- 
dren were born. He and his wife were the par- 
ents of nine children, as follows: Oliver, who 
died of measles at LaGrange, Tenn., while serv- 
ing in the One Hundred and Third Regiment Il- 
linois Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War; 
Edmund P.. a farmer in Buckheart Township; 
Albert, who was killed by lightning about the 
year 1865; Emma, J., wife of Harland Attebery, 
a farmer of Harrison, Ark.; Annie, wife of Wil- 
liam Plummer. a carpenter of Bryant. 111.; 
Richard L. ; Joseph H., a farmer in Buckheart 
Township; Ella, wife of David C. Nelson, a 
farmer in VanBuren County, Iowa, and Harry 
C, a Justice of the Peace in Canton, Fulton 
County. 

In politics the father of this family was an 
ardent supporter of the Republican party, to 
the success of which he devoted his utmost 
effort. The school system also found in him 
a steadfast champion. To his children he gave 
a thorough common school training, fitting 
them all for the practical duties of lite. In the 
home circle he was a kind and indulgent par-j, 
ent, granting all proper privileges and impos-)! 
Ing no arbitrary restraints. He made the homeBj 



a spot around which their youthful affections 
closely clung. The children settled, as each 
married, near the scenes of their childhood. 

In 1859 Mr. Moran erected a commodious and 
convenient ten-room stone residence, which his 
son, Richard L., now occupies. The property 
has been in the family name since 1836. In 
1884 the venerable father left the old home- 
stead and lived in retirement in Canton, 111., 
until his death, June 17, 1903, at the age of 
eighty-eight years. He was a leading, influen- 
tial and profoundly respected member of the 
community, which sorely missed his familiar 
presence when he was summoned to that 
"bourne whence no traveler returns." His 
worthy and estimable widow still survives, re- 
siding in Canton, at the age of seventy-eight 
years. 

The subject of this sketch, born on the home 
farm, has never been absent from it for the 
length of one month during the forty-eight 
years of his life. In its vicinity he received 
his early mental training in the district 
schools and as he reached mature years ap- 
plied himself to farming on his own account, 
remaining under the parental roof until his 
marriage. He first rented a part of the home 
farm and six years after the retirement of his 
father to Canton moved to the family residence, 
where he has made his home since 1900. The 
Moran farm consists of 247 % acres of land, 
200 acres of which have been cleared of the 
heavy timber and underbrush which originally 
covered it. and are now under a high state of 
cultivation. Mr. Moran keeps a good grade of 
all kinds of stock and is a careful, systematic, 
progressive and successful farmer. For seven- 
ty years the name of Moran has been identi- 
fied with the best interests of Fulton County 
and the subject of this sketch has had his full 
share of experience in the pleasures and hard- 
ships of pioneer life. 

On November 17, 1880, Mr. Moran was united 
in marriage with Phoebe E. Newton, who was 
born in Putman Township, Fulton County, No- 
vember 17. 1859, a daughter of Isaac and Re- 
becca (Cluts) Newton, natives of Pennsylvania. 
Her father is deceased, while her mother is 
still a resident of Putman Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Moran became the parents of four chil- 
dren, namely; Jesse D., born February 3, 1886; 
Dean Newton, born June 9. 1891 ; Roscoe Cum- 
mings, born January 29, 1898, and Neola May, 
who died in infancy. The surviving children 
are with their parents. 

In politics Mr. Moran is a firm Republican 
and is now serving as School Trustee. He has 
also filled the offices of School Director and 
Road Commissioner to the satisfaction of his 
constituents and takes a lively interest in 
church and school work. Fraternally he is af- 
fllated with Bryant (111.) Camp, No. 4436, M. 
W. A., with which Jesse D. is also identified. 
Mrs. Moran is a member of Lodge No. 689, Roy- 
, al Neighbors, in which she officiates as Re- 
Icorder. 



1004 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



MORAN, Richard Lyon, whose successful life 
as a farmer in Fulton County, 111., has covered 
a period of more than three-score years, was 
bom in Maryland, a son of Richard L. and 
Ann (Hayden) Moran, who were also natives of 
the State of Maryland. Richard L. Moran, the 
father, was a farmer by occupation and fol- 
lowed that pursuit in the East during his whole 
life. In boyhood Richard Lyon Moran attend- 
ed the public school convenient to his home and 
assisted in his father's farming operations until 
he reached years of maturity. Shortly after at- 
taining his majority he determined to try his 
fortune in a new field, and in the fall of 1844 
came to. Illinois, where he settled in Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County. The tract 
which he selected for his permanent home was 
situated in the dense forest, and no human hab- 
itations were so located as to favor him with 
near neighbors to relieve the solitude of his 
surroundings. Mr. Moran built a log cabin and 
a small barn and applied himself diligently to 
the task of clearing that portion of the land 
necessary for immediate use and breaking up 
the soil for cultivation. In the course of time, 
after getting a fair start in farming, he made 
other improvements and gradually brought the 
greater part of his original purchase into a 
productive condition. His farm now consists of 
22.5 acres, on which he has long been engaged 
In general farming with profitable results. 

In 1843 Mr. Moran was united in marriage 
at Cuba, Fulton County, with Sybil Cummings, 
a daughter of Israel W. and Susannah iCarr) 
Cummings, her father being a native of Dun- 
stable, Mass., and her mother of Greenoch, 
Scotland. Nine children were the issue of this 
union, eight of whom are still living, as fol- 
lows: Oliver C, born March 26, 1845; Edmund 
P., born December 5, 1S47: Albert, born in 1850; 
Emily J., born July 14, 1853; Ann, born June 
9, 1855; Richard L., born in 1864; Ella and 
Harry. 

In politics Mr. Moran is a supporter of the 
Republican party. As a farmer he has had a 
long, industrious and successful career, and as 
a citizen he has always enjoyed the respect and 
esteem of all with whom he has been brought 
in contact. 

MORAN, William H., a prominent and enter- 
prising farmer in Section 20, Buckheart Town- 
ship, Fulton County, 111., was born in Lewis- 
town. 111., December 23, 1855. a son of William 
H. and Susan (Evans) Moran, of whom the 
former was a native of Baltimore, Md.. and the 
latter of the State of New York. William H. 
Moran, Sr.. accomi)aniert his father, Richard 
Moran, to Fulton County in 1835. He was a 
blacksmith and after working some time at his 
trade, kept a general store until the fall of 
1864. In that year he moved to Canton. 111., 
where he continued in mercantile pursuits. 
Subsequently he applied himself again to his 
trade, which he again relinquished to engage 
in the auction business. In 1870 he moved to 



Bryant, 111., and resumed blacksmithing. In 
1873 he purchased a farm just north of Bry- 
ant, where he lived until 1877, when he bought 
the farm now occupied by his son, William H. 
He died in 1877, leaving the following named 
offspring: William H.; Marcus, a photographer 
of Canton, 111., and Mary L., wife of Benjamin 
Wilson, of Canton. The nrst born of this fam- 
ily died in infancy. The mother of this family 
still survives at the age of seventy-five years, 
and makes her home with her daughter-in- 
law, Mrs. vVilson. 

The subject of this sketch received his early 
mental training in the common schools and 
was reared to farm life. In 1875 Mr. iMoran 
bought the farm of fift.v-five acres which has 
since been his home. He has a good grade of 
Morgan roadsters and other superior stock, 
among which are the Durham and Shorthorn 
cattle, maintaining a high appreciation of the 
latter breed. He has been for years the local 
representative of the Phoenix Nursery, of Nor- 
mal, 111., and has sold more fruit and orna- 
mental trees, shrubbery and all nursery prod- 
ucts which tend to beautify the home than any 
other man in Fulton County. He handles also 
the Canton (Ohio) incandescent lamp, which 
has proved of great value, producing a light of 
100-candle power. 

On October 25, 1876, Mr. Moran was united 
in marriage with Rosetta, Hufford, who was 
born near Canton. 111., March 6. 1862. A 
sketch of the life of her father, Levi Hufford, 
ai)pears on another page of this book. This 
union resulted in four children, namely: Susan 
B., who died at the age of five years; Levi G., 
born February 16, 1889; Hazel L., who died in 
infancy, and Ruby J., born March 4, 1899. In 
politics Mr. Moran was formerly a Greenbacker, 
and now advocates the principles of the Peo- 
ple's party. He has filled the office of School 
Director and has been active in support of the 
schools of his township. He and his wife are 
devoted members of the Presbyterian Church. 
Mr. Moran has always been identified with the 
best interests of Fulton County and is regarded 
as one of the most useful citizens of the com- 
munity. 

MORGAN, Peter W.— After a long life of 
industry and usefulness the worthy citizen of 
Farmington, Fulton County, 111., whose name 
constitutes the caption of this sketch, is now 
spending his declining years in comfortable and 
contented retirement. Mr. Morgan was born 
in Jefferson County, N. Y., on August 30, 1830, 
a son of William M. and Hannah (Wheeler) 
Morgan, who were also natives of the State of 
New York. His grandfather. William Morgan, 
who was of Welsh nativity, came to the United 
States near the close of the eighteenth cen- 
tury and settled in New York State, where he 
lived until his son, William M., moved to 
Illinois. The grandfather, together with his 
brother. General George Morgan, rendered 
faithful service in the War of 1812, making his 




u\rJi v\ t::rti;L>(^X^Ajo 0^ , v5sjai,<3rr 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1005 



home in Illinois after that contest was ended. 
The former lived with his son, William M., in 
Fulton County, just west of the town of Farm- 
ington, spending the remainder of his days on 
the farm which his son had there purchased. 

The father of the subject of this sketch was 
a shipbuilder by occupation and worked at 
ship carpentering on Lake Ontario. His ar- 
rival in Fulton County occurred in the year 
1S36, when most of that region was forest and 
uncultivated prairie. He bought a tract of 
land in Vermont Township, which he cleared 
and improved, and upon which he lived, suc- 
cessfully engaged in the cultivation of the soil, 
until the end of his life, in 1871. He was a man 
of untiring industry and strict probity and a 
most zealous and e'nergetic worker in fhe 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Peter W. Morgan obtained what mental 
training was possible in those early days and, 
under the circumstances in which his lot was 
cast, by attending the district schools at inter- 
vals of respite from his work of assisting his 
father on the farm. While still young he 
learned the trade of a carpenter, and continued 
to live in the vicinity of his father's place, en- 
gaged in carpentering and building. In 1866 
he bought lot 2 in Section 2, Farmington 
Township, containing eight acres of land, on 
which he built a good-sized and substantial 
house of brick, constructed in accordance with 
his own designs. All the finishing work of the 
residence was done by himself. There he and 
his wife have made their home for forty years, 
with the exception of a short time spent in 
Nebraska, and there they expect to remain to 
the end of their lives, as it is a spot where 
they have enjoyed great comfort and content- 
ment. Mr. Morgan was at one time engaged 
in the plow works in Farmington, being em- 
Ijloyed in the capacity of a grinder and pol- 
isher during the winter months. It is his 
opinion that some of the younger people now 
living in Farmington are unaware that such a 
shop was ever operated in the town. 

On May 2, 1852, Mr. Morgan was united in 
marriage with Martha Crowell, who was born 
in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and in early youth 
received the customary mental instruction in 
the district schools of Illinois. Six children 
have been born of this union, namely: Olney 
K., Olive A., Orpha M., Florence, Carrie and 
Ernest, all of whom are married and living 
away from the parental home. Mrs. Morgan is 
a woman of much amiability and strength of 
character. She is a devoted Christian and is 
very energetic in the work of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of which she and her hus- 
band are long-time members. In politics Mr. 
Morgan is a supporter of the principles of the 
Republican party. In 1906 he served in the 
capacity of Tax Collector. He anu his worthy 
wife are ranked among the most estimable 
and useful members of the community. 

MORGAN, William 0., whose experience in 
agricultural pursuits in Fulton County covers 



many years, was born in Putman Township, 
that county, March 7, 1839, a son of Jonas and 
Delilah (Berg) Morgan, of whom the former 
was a native of Virginia and the latter of 
Ohio. Jonas Morgan settled in Fulton County 
in 1835, locating in Putman Township, where 
he purchased eighty acres of land in Section 28, 
and there spent the remainder of his days en- 
gaged in farming. He was among those who 
took part in laying out Putman Township and 
rendered faithful i)ublic service in township 
offices at that early period. He departed this 
life January 15, 1893, and his wife passed away 
on April 8, 1895. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on his 
father's farm and in boyhood attended the 
common schools of the neighborhood. His 
whole life has been spent in farming. In 1862 
he bought eighty acres of land in Section 27, 
Putman Township, on which he made all the 
improvements, and has since devoted his atten- 
tion there to farming and stock-raising. He 
is a careful and thorough farmer and his labors 
are rewafded by success. 

On January 23, 1862, Mr. Morgan was united 
in marriage with Tabitha Warriner, a native of 
Cuba, III., and a daughter of Judge J. T. and 
Sarah (Hay) Warriner. natives of Virginia. 
Four children were the offsjiring of this union, 
namely: Harvey, Alfred, Noah and Grace. Po- 
litically Mr. Morgan ranges himself on the side 
of the Democratic party. He takes a good citi- 
zen's interest in public affairs and has per- 
formed creditable and faithful service in the 
offices of Road Commissioner and School Trus- 
tee several terms. 

MORRIS, Jacob (deceased), formerly a worthy 
and highly esteemed citizen of Joshua Town- 
ship, Fulton County, III., whose entire life was 
devoted to agricultural pursuits, was born in 
Fulton County, a son of A. C. and Mary (Pen- 
nington) Morris, natives of Pennsylvania. A. 
C. Morris was an early settler in Fulton County, 
locating in Joshua Townshij), where he followed 
his occupation of farming. The son, Jacob, who 
was one of a family of seven children, grew up 
on his father's farm and in early youth attended 
the district schools in the vicinity of his home. 
His mature life was wholly devoted to farming. 
In 1896 he purchased 160 acres of land, on 
which he pursued his customary vocation for 
about one year, passing to his final rest in 1897. 
He was a very industrious, careful and diligent 
farmer, an affectionate and devoted husband 
and a tender and considerate father. 

The marriage of Mr. Morris occurred in 1889, 
when he wedded Phcebe A. Bowman, who was 
born in Fulton County, a daughter of John W. 
and Anna (Scott) Bowman, the former a native 
of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. They were 
the parents of three children. The father of 
Mrs. Morris, who was a blacksmith by trade, 
settled in Joshua Township in 1848. For a time 
he followed blacksmithing and afterwards car- 
ried on farming during the remainder of his 
life. Mr. and Mrs. Morris became the parents 



ioo6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of two children: Maston J. and Frederick, both 
of whom are with their mother. Mrs. Morris 
now has 220 acres of land, which she has man- 
aged since her husband's death, assuming direc- 
tion of all details of the farming operations. 
Her home is one of the most comfortable and 
attractive in that section of the county. 

MORRISON, B. A., proprietor and operator of 
a bottling concern in Farmington, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was born in Pontiac, 111., in 1SS2, a son 
of John O. and Mary (McCashland) Morrison, 
who were natives of Illinois, and became the 
parents of three children. At Pontiac John O. 
Morrison followed the occupation of a me- 
chanic. 

In boyhood the subject of this sketch attended 
the public schools in the vicinity of his home 
and his first employment was with his uncle in 
the bottling works at Canton, 111., where he con- 
tinued three years. At the end of that period 
his uncle sold out to a Mr. Calkins, and Mr. 
Morrison remained in the employ of that gen- 
tleman for about three months. In February, 
1904, he located in Farmington, 111., starting a 
bottling plant there in partnership with his 
imcle, but of which he is now the sole pro- 
prietor. He manufactures and bottles all kinds 
of soda water and other soft drinks, including 
ginger ale, etc. His plant is equipped with ma- 
chinery for making and putting up these goods, 
and its capacity is about 100 cases per day. Mr. 
Morrison conducts his business in a two-story 
building, eighteen by fifty feet, built by Mr. 
Short for this purpose. The concern supplies 
a trade extending all over that part of the coun- 
try and ships to more distant points. Two 
wagons are required for this purpose during a 
portion of the year, and one is in use all of 
the time. The enterprise is a complete success 
and its projector is reaping the reward of en- 
ergy, judgment and close attention to business. 

In 1905 Mr. Morrison was united in marriage 
with Maude Johnson, who was born in Fulton 
County, and is an adopted daughter of Ezra 
Johnson, a well known resident of Canton, in 
that county. In fraternal circles Mr. Morrison 
Is affiliated with the K. of P. and the Rathbone 
Sisters. He is favorably known wherever his 
products are in demand, and his friends are 
many. 

MORRISON, James A.— Since its establish- 
ment in 1S90 the music store of James A. Mor- 
rison has supplied a many-sided need in Ipava, 
this county, and has realized the reasonable 
expectations of its owner, whose family, with 
brief absences, has been identified with the 
community since 18.53. Born December 2.5, 
1844, Mr. Morrison is the older of the two sons 
of Samuel and Margaret (Ross) Morrison, na- 
tives also of Mifflin County. Pa., and by occu- 
pation farmers and merchants. 

In Mifflin County Pa., Samuel Morrison con- 
ducted a general store, which he closed out in 
1853, and for which he substituted farming in 



the vicinity of Ipava, 111. Continued trouble 
with his eyes necessitating the abandonment of 
country life, he moved to Princeton, Bureau 
County, this State, where he taught music un- 
til 1857, in which year his eyes became so 
troublesome that he went to Philadelphia for 
treatment, leaving his family with relatives 
and friends in Mifflin County, their former 
home. Receiving practical benefits from his 
expenditure of time and money, he returned to 
Ipava in 1860 with improved eyesight, and 
thereafter lived on a farm in the vicinity of 
the town for several years. He then located in 
Ipava anu started a music business, which he 
conducted uninterruptedly and successfully un- 
til his death in 1878. He was of a ciuiet, retir- 
ing nature, highly sensitive and artistic, and 
his intluence was for the betterment of people 
and conditions. He was a Republican in poli- 
tics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. His wife survived him until 1892 and 
the same year witnessed the untimely death of 
her younger son. John H. Morrison, a gifted 
lawyer of Kansas. 

John H. Morrison was born in Mifflin County, 
Pa., in 1850 and was educated in the public 
schools of Ipava. Qualifying for the law, he 
removed to Oswego, Kans., where soon after he 
was elected State's Attorney and finally repre- 
sented his district in the State Legislature. He 
was one of the most talented as well as most 
prominent young lawyers of Oswego, and his 
death caused profound sorrow in the com- 
munity whose interests he so well sustained. 
He left a wife, formerly Louise Caruthers. and 
a son and daughter. Ralph and Maude. 

The early inclination of James A. Morrison 
was toward the profession of agriculture, in 
the practice of which, as a farm hand, he 
earned his first money. He was thus employed 
when the seething discontent between the 
North and South culminated in the Civil War, 
and September 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company 
F, Eighty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
his regiment being composed of 96(i men. 
Transported in stock cars to Louisville, Ky., 
the regiment at once started after General 
Bragg, on the way encountering a fight at 
Perryville, and thereafter continuing the long 
march from Louisville to Nashville, Tenn., 
which consumed the greater part of two 
months. Arriving at Nashville, Mr. Morrison 
fell ill with malarial fever caused by exposure, 
and was sent to Hospital No. 16, at Nashville, 
remaining there until March, 1863. After an 
examination of all inmates of the hospital it 
was ordered that all unable to serve within six 
months be sent to their respective States, and 
Mr. Morrison was sent to Chicago, where, after 
a few months, he was again examined and 
owing to continued disability, was transferred 
to the Second Battalion, Veteran Reserve 
Corps, from which he was discharged July 5, 
1865, by general order No. 116. 

After the war Mr. Morrison continued to 
farm in Fulton County until 1883, when he re- 




ANDREW ROBB 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1007 



turned to Ipava and engaged as a clerk in a 
grocery store. He was connected with mercan- 
tile affairs until 1890, and then started the 
business witn which he has since been identi- 
fied. He carries a stock o( pianos, organs, 
stringed instruments and music and in addi- 
tion maintains a sewing machine, carpet and 
rug department. A liberal income is derived 
also from a repair department, special facili- 
ties having been provided for the repair of 
musical instruments and machines, and for the 
renovating and cleaning of carpets and rugs. 
The trade extends for several miles into the 
surrounding country and, through excellence of 
management and adaptiveness to various tastes, 
a considerable trade has been localized which 
else had drifted to larger cities of the State. 

On March 28, 1873, Mr. Morrison was united 
in marriage to Sarah Musgrove, who died in 
1882, leaving two children — J. C, a resident of 
Kock Island, 111., and Mary, a stenographer in 
the office of the Occidental Insurance Company, 
at Springfield, this State. Two of the children 
died in infancy — Luella and Samuel. In 1893 
Mr. Morrison married Mrs. Mary A. Kost, 
widow of William Kost. Of this union there 
were two children, of whom Marvin died in 
September. 1894, and Quinn was born in July, 
1898. Politically Mr. Morrison is a Repub- 
lican, and he has held many local offices, in- 
cluding that of Police Magistrate four years 
and Collector and Assessor several terms. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen of America and the Knights of Py- 
thias, also the Grand Army of the Republic. 
Since early manhood he has been a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for the 
past fifteen years has been choir master of the 
same. He is a high-minded and public-spirited 
gentleman, an excellent business man and a 
faithful friend. His various experiences have 
left him a wiser and more useful citizen, the 
possessor of treasured memories, of which the 
most inspiring was viewing the homely, exalted 
face of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emanci- 
pator, as the victim of unfounded fury lay in 
his last sleep at Chicago. 

MORSE, James E., for twenty years a pros- 
perous farmer in Union Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Jerusalem, N. Y., on 
May 8, 1834, a son of John and Bmeline 
(Briggs) Morse, both natives of New York 
State, where the former was born in 1807 and 
the latter in 1805. John Morse, also a farmer 
by occupation, settled in Illinois in 18.52, locat- 
ing in Fulton County, where he bought a farm 
consisting of 160 acres in Union Township, 
where he followed his customary vocation dur- 
ing the remainder of his life, dying April 28, 
1877. To them were born four children, as 
follows: James, Mary, Martha and Leonard. 
The father of this family was a man of notable 
energy and thrifty habits, and his sterling traits 
of character were recognized by all. In political 
action he was a Democrat and in religious be- 
lief a Presbyterian. 



The early education of James E. Morse was 
received in the schools of Goshen, Ind., which 
was the first home of his parents in the West, 
and he spent his youth in making himself use- 
ful on the paternal farm, and until well ad- 
vanced in middle life he carried on farming in 
Illinois. In 1880 he moved to Kansas and after 
farming in that State two years changed his 
residence to Iowa, where he remained until 
1886, when he settled down permanently in the 
locality where he still follows his lifelong pur- 
suit. His farm is situated in Union Township 
and consists of 180 acres. 

In Union Township, Fulton County, on Octo- 
ber 25, 1857, Mr. Morse was joined in wedlock 
with Mary Kutchler, a daughter of John and 
Sophia (Vanati) Kutchler, who was born in 
Greenspond, N. J., on May 30, 1839. Mr. and 
Mrs. Morse became the parents of four chil- 
dren, namely: Emma, John, Edward and Jean- 
nette. In politics Mr. Morse is a follower of 
the Democratic party and fraternally is identi- 
fied with the A. F. and A. M. He is a careful, 
systematic and painstaking farmer and his la- 
bors have been attended with deserved suc- 
cess. As a man he enjoys the respect of all 
with whom his dealings bring him in contact, 
and as a citizen his record is that of a useful 
member of the community. 

MOSHER, Joseph J., who was formerly en- 
gaged in farming in the vicinity of Cuba, Ful- 
ton County, 111., but now a prosperous real- 
estate dealer in the city of Cuba, was born 
there June 6, 1836, a son of Joseph and Cath- 
erine (Ackerson) Mosher, natives of Maine and 
Ohio, respectively. Joseph Mosher went from 
Maine to Ohio at an early period. There he 
married and in 1829 settled In Putman Town- 
ship, Fulton County, where he entered a quar- 
ter section of land in Section 18 of that town- 
ship, and where he lived and later carried on 
farming and stock-raising. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on his 
father's farm, in boyhood receiving his train- 
ing in the public schools of the vicinity. As he 
grew up he applied himself successfully to 
farming, continuing this occupation until a 
few years ago, when he abandoned it and de- 
voted his attention to real estate, selling lots 
and lands. In 1877 he bought eighty acres of 
military bounty land within the city limits of 
Cuba, on which he made improvements. The 
property was first owned in 1818 by Daniel 
Morgan, but Mr. Mosher purchased it from the 
Harmison estate. He is also the owner of 150 
acres in Section 6, Putman Township; sixty 
acres in Section 14; fifty acres in Section 22, 
and has 800 acres in South Dakota, making his 
real-estate holdings over 1,000 acres, besides 
considerable property in Cuba. He now rents 
all of his farming property and whatever busi- 
ness he does is in the line of home lots and 
western lands. 

On January 28, 1857, Mr. Mosher was united 
in marriage with Harriet R. Hill, who was 
born in the State of New York. Six children 



ioo8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



resulted from this union, namely: Charles; 
Jerome, who died aged thirty-five years; Fred; 
Helen; Catherine (Mrs. S. C. Duffie), who with 
her family resides with her father, and Mary 
(Mrs. Leroy Millard), residing in Cuba. 

Politically Mr. Mosher is an Independent, 
voting for the men and measures he thinks to 
the best interest of all the people, and in his 
religious relations is a member of the Christian 
Churcn. 

MOWERY, M. T., who as farmer and mer- 
chant has been favorably known to the people 
of Cuba, Pulton County, 111., for many years, 
was born in that town in 18.55, a son of Jacob 
and Mary (Henderson) Mowery, the former a 
native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. 
Jacob Mowery was among the pioneers of Pul- 
ton County, having located in the town of Cuba 
about the year 1830. At first he followed the 
occupation of a blacksmith and was afterwards 
engaged in farming. The subject of this 
sketch spent his boyhood on the parental farm 
and obtained his education in the district 
schools of the neighborhood. In early manhood 
he applied himself to individual farming and 
continued in that pursuit until 1897, when he 
purchased the Bolton grocery concern in Cuba, 
which he conducted for three years. He after- 
wards devoted his attention to farming for a 
like period, when he again left the farm and 
bought out the Mosher Brothers' Hardware 
Store In Cuba. This he conducted until 1905, 
when he disposed of the business to Putman 
Brothers. He owns a farm of 143 acres, which 
is partly situated within the town limits, and 
on which is a coal mine operated by Applegate 
& Lewis. He is also interested in farm prop- 
erty in Cass Township. 

In 1885 Mr. Mowery was joined in wedlock 
with Emma Siever, who was bom in Lewis- 
town, Pulton County, and two children have 
been the offspring of their union, namely: 
Mabel (Mrs. Allbright) and Charles Jacob. Mr. 
Mowery has represented his ward in the Cuba 
City Council and fraternally is affiliated with 
the I. O. O. F. 

MUMMERT, Andrew. — During 1905 the re- 
tired colony of Astoria was augmented by the 
arrival of Andrew Mummert, whose activities 
have been centered in Pulton County since the 
close of the Civil War, and whose career is ex- 
pressive of the possibilities of country life 
when directed by a well-trained mind, an earn- 
est purpose and a keen appreciation of its bene- 
fits and prerogatives. Mr. Mummert repre- 
sents a widely known family in this part of the 
State, and one which, since an early period in 
American history, has been identified with 
York County, Pa., where he was born A|)ril 18, 
1857. He is one of the thirteen children of 
Jonas and Elizabeth ( Stremmel ) Mummert, 
both natives of the county just mentioned and 
farmers by occupation. 

Jonas Mummert passed the early years of his 



life on the farm in York County purchased by 
his father upon his arrival from Holland, and 
which still is owned by members of the family. 
He was born in 1818 and in 1839 married and 
settled on a farm of his own in the same 
county. Many-sided and ambitious, he eventu- 
ally embarkea also in the grist and lumber mill 
business, in time shipping a car of grain to 
Baltimore twice a week. Contracting the 
Western fever, he disposed of his farm and mills 
after the war and upon his arrival with his 
family in Woodland Township in 1865, pur- 
chased 300 acres of land, half of which was 
under heavy timber growth. Clearing the tim- 
ber, he erected the substantial brick house 
which still indicates the enterprise and pros- 
perity of the proprietor, and to which have 
been added modern barns, fences and other 
general improvements. To some extent he fol- 
lowed general farming, but he was specially 
interested in stock, and felt a commendable 
pride in his Clyde and other draft horses. He 
realized the best thus far known in agricultural 
surroundings and at the time of his death, in 
1874, left an estate rich in association, fertility 
and possibility. John, his oldest son, lives in 
Astoria; George is a farmer in Woodland 
Township; Conrad is a resident of Iowa; 
Amanda died in York County at the age of 
five years; Cornelius lives on the home farm; 
Jonas lives in Iowa; Polly became the wife of 
Jesse Amick and lives in Missouri; Moses is a 
farmer in Iowa; Lizzie became the wife of 
Michael Lehman, of Astoria; Andrew lives in 
Astoria; Barbara is the wife of Rev. E. Eshel- 
man, of Avon, 111.; Lucy died in York County 
at the age of three years; Savilla is the wife of 
H. Dupple, of Decatur, 111., and an infant died 
unnamed. The death of little Lucy was par- 
ticularly affecting, and the occasion one of the 
saddest in the family history. Lucy was a ray 
of human sunshine and was exceedingly bright 
and advanced for her age. The day before her 
death her mother was holding her in her 
arms, when she called out to her father, who 
was entering the house, and asked him to take 
her, remarking, "It may be the last time, as I 
am going to die tomorrow." No seriousness 
was attached to her remark until the morning 
of the following day at 11 o'clock, when the 
child life went out in reality, leaving those who 
loved her in almost uncontrollable grief. 

Andrew Mummert was nine years old when 
he came to Fulton County and he remained 
with his parents until his seventeenth year, 
when he started out on his own responsibility 
as a farm hand. Three years later he felt 
sufficiently prosperous to embark in matrimony, 
and July 18, 1S7S, married Sarah Hann, who 
was born in Astoria Township, March 4, 1857, 
and who died March 20, 1901. There was one 
child of this union, Dolly, who is the wife of 
Guy Mooney, of Chicago. The second marriage 
of Mr. Mummert occurred February 12, 1902, 
to Laura McClelland, born in Astoria Town- 
ship September 9, 1865. After his first mar- 




SUSAN ROBB 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



loog 



riage Mr. Mummert worked in the coal mines 
for three years, then invested in 100 acres of 
land in Astoria Township, formerly owned by 
Henry Schusler. Five years later he bought 
eighty acres, and after another five-year period 
another eighty acres, finally disposing of forty 
acres and purchasing an additional sixty acres. 
He now owns 2ti0 acres in Sections 26 and ',i^, 
Astoria Township. Within the past few years 
he has not been actively engaged in farming, 
and at i)resent has a man on his property. 

A Democrat in politics, Mr. Mummert has 
rendered signal service to his township as a 
member of the Board of Highway Commis- 
sioners, and during his term of office the roads 
have been much improved and a number of 
bridges erected. He also served as Supervisor 
two years and in the spring of 1906 was elected 
a Justice of the Peace. Mr. Mummert repre- 
sents the substantial and reliable element of 
the town and county, and his life affords an 
example of moderation, thrift and public-spir- 
itedness. 

MUMMERT, John.— Horticultural science, 
than which no broader or more fascinating pur- 
suit is open to the student landsman, has an in- 
telligent and resourceful exponent in John 
Mummert, whose activities long since have 
passed the experimental stage and developed 
into one of the most successful enterprises of 
the kind in Fulton County. Born in York Coun- 
ty, Pa., March 18, 1S4S, Mr. Mummert is a son 
of Jonas and Elizabeth (Stremmel) Mummert, 
natives of the same State and county, and Ful- 
ton County pioneers of 1S6.5. 

Mr. Mummert remained under the paternal 
roof in Pennsylvania until his twenty-first year, 
when he was united in marriage to Rebecca 
Krout, a native also of York County, born July 
15, 1843. He continued to farm in the Quaker 
State until 1869, when, hearin,g favorable re- 
ports from his family, which had preceded him 
in 1865, he came to Woodland Township, Pulton 
County, 111., July 12, and for four years followed 
the bricklayer's and mason's trade. He then 
turned his attention to farming until 1877, and 
for the following two years worked on the rail- 
road as a section hand. His next occupation 
was coal mining, in which he was engaged un- 
til 18S2, when he sold his farm and bought ten 
acres of land in the outskirts of Astoria, upon 
which he since has engaged in fruit-raising on 
an extensive scale. He has made a practical 
study of his chosen occupation and has accom- 
plished results which have gained him a repu- 
tation, for originality, insight and resource. It 
is doubtful if any home in the county has more 
beautiful or artistic surroundings, as the owner 
has a keen eye for natural effects and thorough- 
ly understands the scenic value of plants, 
shrubs, trees and vines. The sojourner within 
his gates is refreshed by the spirit of harmony 
in arran.gement and coloring, the attention to 
minute details and the variety of useful and 
beautiful growths possible of encouragement in 
the Central West. 



In political affiliation Mr. Mummert is true to 
the traditions of his family and votes the Demo- 
cratic ticket. In addition to official honors ten- 
dered him in the past, he now is serving on the 
board of city fathers of Astoria. He has various 
gifts which do not find expression in his imme- 
diate environment, one of which is auctioneer- 
ing, which he conducts with vigor, tact and 
great persuasiveness. One child has been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Mummert — Dora, wife of Lin- 
coln Wilson, of Woodland Township, 

MUMMEY, Charles W. — The impression seems 
well founded that among the sturdy upbuilders 
of the region west of the Alleghanies such ac- 
cessories as ancestors or family traditions 
count for little as a community asset. There is 
something about the prairies that makes a man 
want to rely upon himself, to develop his latent 
forces and relegate to a respectful distance the 
deeds of his forefathers, which might over- 
shadow or interfere with the workings of his 
own individual destiny. Nevertheless, no class 
of men are more appreciative of creditable 
forefathers, or more ready to do honor to the 
qualities which brought them to the front in 
the times in which the\^ lived. An instance at 
hand is Charles W. Mummey, a man of wide 
experience and pronounced usefulness; an in- 
telligent, wide-awake factor in the commercial 
life of Farmington, and one of the most suc- 
cessful hardware merchants in Fulton County. 

The traits of- four nationalities have filtered 
into the makeup of Mr. Mumme.v — English, 
Welsh, French and German — and he claims 
kinship with men prominent as civilians and 
warriors in early colonial times. His paternal 
great-grandfather, Christopher Mummey, a 
native of Maryland, served during the Revolu- 
tionary War under "Mad Anthony" Wayne, so 
named because the Indians could never find 
him sleeping. He rounded out eighty years of 
existence, as did also his son, John Mummey, 
the grandfather of Charles W. John Mummey 
moved at a very early day to Morgan County, 
Ohio, took up land, which he improved, and 
where he passed the rest of his life. Two of 
his brothers, Joshua and Samuel, served under 
General William Henry Harrison in the War 
of 1812. Mr. Mummey married a Miss Ham- 
mond, who was born in Virginia, and whose 
mother, Ursula (Barnett) Hammond, was of 
French nativity. Mr. Barnett, father of Ur- 
sula, came to America with the Marquis de 
Montcalm and fought with him against General 
Wolfe at the fall of Quebec. At her father's 
house Ursula met both the French Marquis de 
La Fayette and Gen. George 'Washington. The 
Hammonds were of English descent and re- 
mote bearers of the name lived in the shadow 
of the British throne. 

David and Sarah W. ( Smith ) Mummey, par- 
ents of Charles W., were born in Virginia, the 
former in 1819 and the latter in 1824. David 
was a very early settler of Morgan County, 
Ohio, where he was a pioneer merchant. For 
years he did an extensive business in McCon- 



lOIO 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



nellsville, handling large quantities of produce, 
which he shipped down the river in ilatboats. 
He was prominent as a member of the Whig 
party and at one time was a candidate for the 
Legislature. Eventually he removed to Kansas, 
his death occurring in his home at Milton, 
Sumner County, that State, in 18S7. His first 
wife died in 1847, leaving three sons, of whom 
Charles W. is the only survivor. Mr. Mummey 
married as his second wife Martha Strong, of 
Morgan County, Ohio, who died in Kansas in 
188e. Of this union there were twelve chil- 
dren, five of whom are living. Mr. Mummey 
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and fraternally was connected with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

When old enough to make his labor of use 
Charles Mummey began to work in his father's 
store in Ohio, and in time was sent down the 
river with Hatboats loaded with produce. For 
many years he followed the river, and in 1864 
became a pilot on a boat engaged in carrying 
supplies of all kinds for the Government be- 
tween Pittsburg and Cincinnati. He also trans- 
ported mules and soldiers by the thousand to 
the Union armies in the South. Eventually he 
became captain of the steamboat Emma Gra- 
ham, and upon resuming land occupations en- 
gagea in the manufacture of petroleum products, 
in which he subsequently failed. He then dealt 
in pork with fair success and finally entered the 
employ of a wholesale grocery concern, for 
which he traveled from coast to coast for thirty- 
three years. He also traveled tor Bell, Conard & 
Company, of Chicago, for fourteen years, and 
for Charles J. Off, of Peoria, this State, for 
four years. About 1885 he settled in Farming- 
ton, where he since has been very successful 
in the hardware and agricultural business. 

Mr. Mummey adheres to the principles of the 
Republican party, and besides holding other 
offices, has been Justice of the Peace for the 
past two years. He is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church and fraternally is con- 
nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. January 18, 1862, he was united in mar- 
riage to Sarah A. Brown, who was born May 10, 
1841, within a mile of McConnellsville, where 
Mr. Mummey himself was born, January 19, 
1840. Mrs. Mummey was a daughter of Simkin 
H. Brown, a native of Harrison County, Ohio, 
and granddaughter of George Brown, who came 
from Ireland. Simkin Brown married Jane 
Graham, also of Harrison County. He was a 
prominent Democrat in Ohio and died in Mor- 
gan County in 1888, his wife surviving him for 
ten years. To Mr. and Mrs. Mummey have been 
born the following named children: Mary V., 
wife of Paul R. Murray, of New Philadelphia, 
Ohio; Anna, wife of James Robb. of Farming- 
ton; William H., a resident of Minonk, 111.; 
Charles B., who died in September, 1904, at the 
age of thirty; Frank, who married Leona Al- 
len, and lived in Southwest Virgmia; Albert 
v., a resident of La Junta, Colo.; Alice L., a 
resident of Farmington, 111.; Edith, who died 



at the age of eight years; Harry, a resident of 
Farmington. and two children, who died in in- 
fancy. Mr. Mummey is one of the substantial 
and well balanced men of the commimity, an 
earnest promoter of all that tends to the en- 
lightenment and happiness of the community 
and a believer in the doctrines of fairness and 
integrity who never fails to follow his own 
teachings. 

HUNGER, Edwin, favorably known as Man- 
ager of the Alexander Lumber Company, of 
Canton, 111., was boi'n in Albany, N. Y., August 
11, 1849, a son of Henry P. and Agnes (McFar- 
land ) Munger, of whom the former was born in 
Columbia County, N. Y., and the latter in Scot- 
land. 

In youth the subject of this sketch received 
his mental training in the public schools of 
Detroit. Mich., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He 
started in the lumber business about the year 
1872, with H. F. Getchel & Sons, of Des Moines, 
Iowa, with whom he remained seven years, be- 
ing subsequently connected for a like period 
with the Clinton Lumber Company. His next 
ten years were spent with the S. K. Martin 
Lumber Company, of Chicago. This connection 
terminated in 1898, and since that period he 
has been associated with the Alexander Lum- 
ber Company at Chicago and other points. In 
February, 1902, he located as the representative 
of this company in Canton. 

On July o, 1871, Mr. Munger was united in 
marriage with Mary Murray, who was bom in 
Fairfield, Iowa, and received her early educa- 
tion in Polk County, that State. The children 
resulting from this union who still survive 
are: Herman, Frederick, Clarence, Caswell, 
Bessy and Nellie. 

In politics Mr. Munger is a supporter of the 
Republican party, and his religious connection 
is with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fra- 
ternally he is identified with the A. F. & A. 
M.. K. of P. and I. O. R. M. Mr. Munger has, 
during his comparatively brief residence in 
Canton, acquired an excellent reputation 
throughout the community as a capable and re- 
liable business man, and a useful and worthy 
citizen. 

MURPHY, Albert T., formerly a prominent 
and successful merchant of Cuba, Fulton Coun- 
ty. 111., but now living in retirement in that 
town, was born in Lincoln County, Ohio, on 
July 13, 1S38. He is a son of Solomon and 
Martha (McKinney) Murphy, natives of Ohio. 
The father settled in Fulton County in 1853, 
locating in Cass Township, where he success- 
fully followed farming during the remainder of 
bis life, rie died in June, 1876, and his wife 
passed away in 1854. 

Albert T. Murphy was reared on the farm 
and received his education in the common 
schools of Ohio. From early manhood until 
1876 he was engaged in farming. In that year 
be abandoned farm work, moved to Cuba and 




JAMES C. ROBB 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ion 



entered into the grain and cattle business. In 
18S2 he engaged in the hardware trade, deal- 
ing in agricultural implements, vehicles, etc., 
but still continued tor several years in the 
grain and cattle line. He disposed of the lat- 
ter interest in 1S90 and sold his hardware store 
in 1902. Since that period he has lived in re- 
tirement. 

On January 26, 1S61, Mr. Murphy was joined 
in wedlock with Hannah Baughfman. who was 
born in Fulton County and is a daughter of 
Henry and Maria (Baughfman) Baughfman, na- 
tives of Virginia. Seven children were the off- 
spring of this union, as follows: Cora (Mrs. 
Herfert); Maggie (Mrs. Hill); Etta (Mrs. 
Smith); Anna (Mrs. Moss); Gertrude; Henry 
and Charles R. 

In politics Mr. Murphy was a supporter of 
the Democratic party. He has served for two 
terms as Collector of Putman Township, Fulton 
County. Fraternally he is identified with the 
A. F. & A. M. He is a man of high charac- 
ter and has always lived an honorable life. All 
who enjoy his acquaintance recognize his 
worthy traits, and regard him with respect and 
esteem. 

MURPHY, George, a well known and popular 
hotel-keeper of Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Cuba, 111., on October 20, 1S65, and re- 
ceived his early mental training in the public 
schools of his native town. He is a son of 
Milton and Clementine (Murphy) Murphy, na- 
tives of Ohio. At the age of twenty-three years 
the subject of this sketch engaged in the man- 
ufacture of building brick in Cuba, 111., and 
continued in this occupation for sixteen years. 
He then sold his plant and was engaged for 
three years in the ice business. At the end 
of this period, in February, 1905, he bought 
the hotel known for twenty-seven years as 
the "Cuba House," and which formerly be- 
longed to his brother, "Si" Murphy. To this 
hotel, which is now called the "New Cuba 
House," Mr. Murphy has built an addition 
containing eight rooms upstairs, and under- 
neath a barber shop, wash-room and a dining 
room, eighteen by sixty feet in extent. 

On September 1, 1SS9, Mr. Murphy was 
united in marriage with Mary Serena Bishop, 
who was born in Putman Township, Fulton 
County. Three children — Ralph, Hazel and Os- 
car — resulted from this union. Fraternally 
Mr. Murphy is identified with the I. O. O. F. 
and the M. W. A. He possesses, in a notable 
degree, the qualities so essential to a suc- 
cessful public host — keen judgment, affability, 
courtesy and geniality of temperament. 

MURPHY, John P., one of the leading plumb- 
ers of Canton, Fulton County, 111., is a native 
of Ireland, born in Queens County, July 25, 
1S66, the son of James M. and Kate (Phelan) 
Murphy. Mr. Murphy received a common school 
education in his native land, where he also 
thoroughly learned his trade, and in 1889 emi- 



grated to the United States. He first settled in 
Quincy, 111., where he attended the Gem City 
Business College, and thus prepared himself to 
become an independent member of any com- 
munity in which he might settle. Several years 
afterward he located in Canton, forming a part- 
nership in the plumbing business with J. B. 
Buckley, under the firm name of Buckley & 
Murphy. Since the severance of that connec- 
tion he has conducted an independent business 
and his reliable work and courteous ways have 
developed it to goodly proportions. 

On June 26. 1898, Mr. Murphy married Miss 
Minnie Webster, daughter of Chauncey Web- 
ster, a well known retired merchant of Canton. 
They have had two children — Lawrence W., 
seven years of age, and Robert B.. now an in- 
fant of eight months. Mr. Murphy is independ- 
ent in politics, but as a Catholic conforms to 
the religion of his forefathers. His wife is a 
Baptist. In his fraternal associations he is 
identified with the Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. All in all, he 
is a shrewd, reliable, progressive and honorable 
man, a most creditable representative of the 
skilled workman and business man, and a strik- 
ing example of the success of the Irish-Ameri- 
can. His handsome and tastefully furnished 
residence on North First Avenue indicates a 
generous thoughtfulness for those dependent 
upon him, which is a typical trait of the best 
citizenship of his adopted country. 

MURPHY, Joseph L. (deceased), former lawyer 
of Canton, 111,, and an extensive landowner, 
was born in Lycoming County, Pa., July 12, 
1833, the son of Richard and Elizabeth (Fitz- 
patrick) Murphy, both natives of Queens Coun- 
ty, Ireland. The father was a cousin of Sir 
Edward Fitzpatrick, and the family traced 
their ancestry to the "Black Knights." The 
grandparents were James and Bridget (Wheel- 
er) Murphy, the former a large and powerful 
man physically and a business man of Queens 
County. Ireland, as well as a wealthy land- 
owner. 

The father of the subject of this sketch, who 
was a farmer, went to Belfast, in the north of 
Ireland, to marry the lady to whom he was en- 
gaged. Everything was ready for the wedding, 
but after he arrived his fiancee, who was the 
oldest of the family, refused to carry out the 
marriage contract because he was a farmer. A 
younger daughter then spoke up and said she 
would take her sister's place. The offer was 
promptly accepted, the marriage contract was 
signed, the wedding ceremony performed and 
the couple lived a happy life. The grandfather 
Fitzpatrick was an excise officer under the 
British government in the days of George III., 
and Mr. Murphy retains the parchment com- 
mission of his ancestor. 

Richard and Elizabeth (Fitzpatrick) Murphy 
came to Illinois in 1839. At that time they were 
the parents of six children, of whom three sons 
were deceased, while three daughters — Mary, 



IOI2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Ellen and Anna — accompanied their parents to 
their adopted country. Of these Ellen died in 
youth in Joshua Township; Mary died in Quincy, 
ill., about fifteen years ago, having inherited 
a large fortune from an uncle, with whom she 
had lived, and leaving the same at her death to 
her brother and two sisters, and Anna E. be- 
came the wife of James Hopkins, now de- 
ceased, and is now living in Quincy. After 
arrival at St. Louis the family proceeded up the 
Illinois, landing at Copperas Creek, Fulton 
County. Here Mr. Murphy built a camp-fire 
and, leaving his family, walked in company 
with a Mr. Doolittle to Canton. Being favor- 
ably impressed by the town, he returned to 
Copperas Creek and brought his family to Can- 
ton, which became their home for a time. Later 
they removed to St. Augustine, near the north- 
west corner of the county, where Mr. Murphy 
was engaged in teaching school for a year, but 
returning in the fall of 1840, bought a farm 
seven miles northwest of Canton, to which he 
made additions until he became the owner of 
205 acres, and there he died on Christmas Day, 
1.S50, and was buried at St. Augustine. Mr. 
Murphy (the father) was a Latin and Greek 
scholar, a Catholic in religious belief and a 
Democrat in political affiliation. Two children 
were born to him and his wife after their ar- 
rival in the United States— Joseph L., the sub- 
ject of this sketch, and Louisa, a daughter, who 
is still living in the city of Quincy. The mother 
died in 1S70 at the home of the son, Joseph L. 
In youth Joseph L. Murphy received his edu- 
cational training in the district schools of 
Joshua Township, and under charge of his fa- 
ther and other teachers. Full of boyish en- 
ergy, on one occasion he joined two of his 
schoolmates on Christmas Day in barring out a 
teacher who was not popular with his pupils 
and had refused to give them a Christmas holi- 
day. He also attended the "Dayton School," in 
Quincy, where he had as fellow students the 
sons of ex-Governor John Wood, of that city. 
Later he spent some time at the Magee College, 
in Missouri, but on leaving school began the 
study of medicine with a Dr. Fitzgerald, who 
had "been ordained a priest in Ireland, but hav- 
ing retired from the priesthood, had adopted 
the medical profession. Dr. Fitzgerald was a 
man of learning and a cultivated linguist, hav- 
ing command of eight languages. The practice 
of surgery not proving attractive to Mr. Mur- 
phy, he entered upon the study of law with 
Warren & Wheat, a prominent law firm of the 
city of Quincy. In the meantime he was offered 
a position by a wealthy aunt in the East, who 
desired his aid in looking after her business 
affairs, but after a trial of three months, not 
being pleased with his employment, returned to 
Illinois, resumed his studies and was admitted 
to the bar in 1SG.3. In 1865 he began practice 
in the city of Canton, which he continued alone 
for twenty years, when he formed a partner- 
ship with Gilbert L. Miller, who had formerly 
studied in his office, and at the time was prac- 



ticing in Springfield, 111. After four years this 
connection was dissolved by Mr. Murphy's re- 
tirement from practice on account of ill health 
and because of the large private interests out- 
side of his profession which demanded his at- 
tention. He then turned his attention seriously 
to real estate, his first investment in this line 
(years before) being a little brick house in 
Swan's Addition to the city of Canton. This 
was followed by the purchase of 1,600 acres of 
script lands in Iowa at eighty cents per acre, 
the titles being based on soldiers' warrants. 
At the time of his death he was still owner of 
640 acres of these lands, which had appreciated 
in value until they were worth sixty dollars per 
acre, besides city property in Rock Rapids, la. 
He was also the owner of 1,450 acres in Minne- 
sota, 250 acres in Fulton County, 111., and con- 
siderable property in the cities of Canton and 
Quincy, 111. One of his most profitable real- 
estate enterprises in Canton was what was 
known as J. L. Murphy's Addition to the city. 
During the later years of his life he disposed 
of a considerable part of his original real-estate 
holdings, both in farm lands and city property. 

In politics Mr. Murphy was a leading Repub- 
lican, and was honored with a seat in the Na- 
tional Convention which met at Baltimore in 
1864 and nominated Abraham Lincoln for his 
second Presidential term. Locally he served as 
a Justice of the Peace for several terms in the 
late 'sixties, was Mayor of Canton in 1871-2, 
and was Alderman from the Fourth Ward in 
1880. Reared as a Catholic, according to the 
faith of his parents, he was yet a liberal sup- 
porter of all Christian denominations. In 1880 
Mr. Murphy was initiated as a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, becoming identified with 
Canton Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; Chapter R. A. 
M., and Knighis Templar Commandery. He was 
also a member of the I. O. O. F. 

Mr. Murphy, who remained unmarried, trav- 
eled quite extensively in the later years of his 
life, and was brought in contact with many 
distinguished men. His death occurred at his 
home in Canton, 111., on the 2Sth of January, 
1907. Tall and fine-looking physically, the 
character of the deceased was In keeping with 
his outward appearance, so suggestive both of 
energy and balance; for he was a man of gen- 
erous impulse and public spirit, deeply inter- 
ested in the advancement of the community, 
and his activity in its best progress was always 
guided by sound sense and broad judgment. 

MURPHY, J. W., a well known farmer in 
Section -24, Cass Township, Fulton County, 111., 
was born in that township in 1857, a son of 
Abraham and Sarah (Henderson) Murphy, na- 
tives of Fulton County. The grandfather, 
William Murphy, was one of the early settlers 
of Fulton County and carried on farming in 
Cass Township, Section 24, until he died. In 
bovhood the subject of this sketch received his 
mental training in the district school in his 




MRS. JAMES C. ROBB 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1013 



neighborhood and in early manhood applied 
himself to farming and stock-raising, which 
he has since followed. In 1894 he purchased 
215 acres of land in Section 24, Cass Township, 
and has built and remodeled until his residence 
premises present an attractive appearance. 

In ISSl Mr. Murphy was united in marriage 
with Ann Deakin, who was born in Fulton 
County, and six children have resulted from 
this union, namely: L. B., C. D., Alta May, 
Ray, Marie and Ruth. Mr. Murphy has served 
the township as School Director and frater- 
nally is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. 

MURPHY, Milton, a retired farmer, whose life 
in Fulton County, 111., covers a period of near- 
ly three-score and ten years, and whose im- 
mediate ancestors were among the earliest of 
the pioneer settlers of that region, was born 
in Cass Township, Fulton County, January 13, 
1838, a son of William and Margaret (Art- 
man ) Murphy, of whom the former was born in 
Pennsylvania and the latter in Kentucky. Wil- 
liam Murphy, whose occupation was that of a 
farmer, came to Fulton County with his par- 
ents when quite young. The family remained 
a short time in the East and settled in Ful- 
ton County in 1S31, the journey westward be- 
ing made by wagon, together with other im- 
migrants. The Murphy family settled on a 
tract of land in Section 13, Cass Township, a 
mile and a half from Cuba, 111., their nearest 
neighbor being Abraham Baughman, a well 
known pioneer, whose home was four miles dis- 
tant. There Mr. Murphy pre-empted eighty 
acres of land, going to the Government Land 
Office at Quincy, 111., in order to secure the title. 
At a late period he acquired forty acres more 
by purchase. On the homestead claim William 
Murphy built a log cabin and lived in it until he 
was able to put up a more comfortable dwelling. 
All other necessary improvements were made 
by him, and here he carried on farming up to 
the time of his death. Shortly after settling 
there he was drafted to serve in the Black 
Hawk War. He and his wife were the parents 
of four sons and one daughter, of whom l)ut one 
(the subject of this sketch) now survives. 

In boyhood Milton Murphy attended school 
in a log house, without a brick, nail or window- 
sash in its construction, light being afforded by 
glass fixed in the crevice of a split log. He 
remained with his parents until he entered 
his twentieth year, and then rented a farm, 
which he cultivated for five years. At the end 
of that period he bought 120 acres in Section 
11, Cass Township, on which he made most of 
the improvements, afterward purchasing forty 
acres more. There for fourteen years he car- 
ried on farming during the summer and dug 
coal in winter time. He and his wife were in- 
volved in the Chatsworth disaster. In 1892 he 
bought a lot in Cuba, 111., on which he built a 
residence, which he has since occupied as his 
home. 



The marriage of Mr. Murphy took place in 
Cass Township on March 19, 1857, to Clemen- 
tine Murphy, who was born in Licking County, 
Ohio, a daughter of Solomon and Martha (Mc- 
Kinney) .Murphy. Her parents moved from 
Ohio to Fulton County in 1853 and settled in 
Cass Township, where her father bought and 
operated a farm. Milton Murphy and his wife 
were blessed with nine children, eight of whom 
are living, namely: George B., of Cuba, 111.; 
William S.: Eddie Ross, of Bushnell, III.; Albert 
E., of Cuba, 111.; Cyrus A., who lives in Canton, 
111.; Phoebe A. (Mrs. Mosher); Martha M. (Mrs. 
Brown), of Cuba, 111.; and Emma E. (Mrs. Dea- 
kin). In politics Mr. Murphy is a Democrat. 
For sixteen years he held the office of Justice 
of the Peace of Cass Township, and has served 
as a member of the Cuba Town Board. He is 
a man of high character and commands the 
respect and confidence of all classes. 

MYERS, John Henry. — John Henry Myers and 
the farm upon which he lives in Union Town- 
ship have developed together, and the evolving 
of the former from a crude, irres])onsible lad 
into an intelligent and wide-awake exponent 
of twentieth century agriculture, is not more 
pronounced than is the transformation which 
has come over this landmark among farms in 
Fulton County. Mr. Myers was a small boy 
when he came with the other members of his 
family from Franklin County, Pa., where he 
was born February 26, 1845, and where also 
were born his parents, John F. and Mary 
(Miller) Myers, the former in 1798 and the 
latter in 1800. The elder Myers had the stam- 
ina and perseverance necessary for successful 
pioneering, and although not among the very 
early arrivals, he took up the burden of land 
cultivation under the unfavorable conditions 
of f\illy half a century ago. converting his 
opportunity into the splendid property now 
owned and oiierated by his son, John Henry. 

To the original property of his sire John 
Henry Myers has added from time to time, 
and now owns 280 acres of fine, fertile land in 
Union Township. He has one of the best 
homes and most profitable farms in the county. 
Surrounding him are evidences of a refined 
and progressive mind, and an apiireciation of 
those life accessories which, while equal to 
those to be found in the cities, are happily des- 
titute of the accompaniments of feverish hurry 
and competition. Mr. Myers in youth had the 
advantages of the country schools, whicn train- 
ing in later life has been augmented by con- 
stant reading of books and magazines. He is 
one of the well posted men of his neighbor- 
hood and nas well defined views upon all sub- 
jects which engage the popular attention. 
Around him has gathered an interesting family 
of seven children: Mary S., Delia E., Clay, 
Gertrude M.. Frank P., Roy and Lena P. Be- 
fore her marriage Mrs. Myers was Mary M 
Schneider, and her birth occurred in Union 



IOI4 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



County, Pa., July 19, 1848. The marriage cere- 
mony was performed in Ellisville, Fulton 
County, February 14, 1867. 

In political affiliation Mr. Myers is a Re- 
publican, and while ignoring most political op- 
portunities, he has served several years as a 
member of the School Board. In religion he 
is identified with the German Baptist Church, 
with which his family has been connected for 
many years. He is one of the most successful 
and enterprising general farmers that his 
township has produced, and is held in high es- 
teem by appreciators of material, moral and in- 
tellectual worth. 

MYERS, William D., an enterprising and pro- 
gressive citizen of Canton, 111., who owns and 
operates a coal mine just west of St. David 
doing business under the name of the Buck- 
heart Mine, was born in the city where he now 
lives, in 1S71. He is a son of Johnson J. and 
Mary E. (Amsley) Myers, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania, the birthplace of both parents being Mer- 
cersburg. Johnson Myers came to Canton, 111., 
at the close of the Civil War, in which he 
served as a private in the One Hundred and 
Tenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
throughout the conflict. By trade he was a 
tailor, and was engaged in that occupation in 
Canton until the time of his death in 1878. In 
early youth William D. Myers received his edu- 
cation in the Canton public schools, and his 
first work was with the Central Union Tele- 
phone Company of Canton, by which he was 
employed for six years. In 1902 he became su- 
perintendent of a coal mine near the city, act- 
ing in behalf of the Canton Coal Company, and 
in 1904 he bought this property, and operated 
the mine until abandoned in December, 1905. 
On November 16, 1906, he purchased from 
Whitebreast Fuel Company their mine, known 
as Mine D, located one mile west of St. David, 
on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. 
He employs from fifty to sixty men and mines 
about 200 tons of coal per day, work being done 
at present on vein No. 5, which has a thickness 
of four feet and eight inches. 

Mr. Myers is a man of good business qualifica- 
tions and diligent application to the details of 
his work. He is full of energy and persever- 
ance, and his labors are attended by profitable 
results. He has many friends and is frater- 
nally affiliated with the B. P. O. E., K. of P., 
M. W. A. and C. of H. 

NAGEL, George (deceased). — Of those sons of 
Germany who contributed to the early upbuild- 
ing of Canton, and who eventually retired to 
watch from secluded homes the labors of those 
who succeeded them in the race, mention is due 
George Nagel, who, in 1859, established a gro- 
cery and bakery which he conducted for many 
years. Mr. Nagel, who died February 27, 1903, 
was born in Germany June 17, 1834, and came 
to America at the age of twenty. For a time 
he lived in the city of New York, later tak- 



ing u)) his residence in St. Louis, and still 
later spending some time in both Springfield 
and Lincoln, 111. In the latter town he mar- 
ried Mary A. Morrow, who died in 1864, leav- 
ing three children: George, living in Iowa; 
Charles, who is engaged in the hotel business 
at Oxnard, Cal.; and Mary, living in Los An- 
geles, Cal. At Brooklyn, N. Y., in January, 
1S65, Mr. Nagel married Kathrina Friedly, 
also a native of Germany, Mr. Nagel having 
gone to Germany for his bride, and of this 
union the following children survive: Chris- 
tina; Mrs. Alexander Strong, and Mrs. Henry 
Hunter, of Canton; and Mrs. Louis Hohn, wife 
of a physician of Guthrie, Okla. 

Thrice during his life did Mr. Nagel return 
to his native land, and while there renewed 
the friendships of his boyhood days, and came 
back with keener appreciation of the opportu- 
nities afforded him on this side of the water. 
He was an honest and fair-minded man, an 
excellent baker and obliging grocer, and in his 
immediate family was the recipient of a wealth 
of affection, sympathy and confidence. The de- 
ceased was a Republican, but never desired 
public office. He had been a Mason in his 
younger years, but for the last thirty years of 
his life had paid little attention to anything 
not pertaining to his family and business. He 
was a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
Church, of which his wife is also a member. 

NAPPIN, Ira. — A striking illustration of what 
perseverance, constancy, sobriety, industry and 
self-reliance will accomplish, when combined 
with a high sense of moral responsibility, is 
found in the career of the worthy citizen of 
Farmington, Fulton County, 111., whose name 
stands at the head of this sketch, and who has 
steadfastly adhered to his occupation of wagon- 
making in one place for more than thirty years. 
In this quality of constancy, fixedness of pur- 
pose, the undeviating pursuit of a plan of ac- 
tion, is contained the secret of success in mul- 
titudes of cases, and to this, in conjunction 
with the other sterling traits already men- 
tioned, is attributable the creditable and suc- 
cessful career of Ira Nappin. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of 
Canada, born in Sterling, Ontario, on Decem- 
ber 22, 1838, the son of David and C.vnthia 
(Guernsey) Nappin, his father having been 
born in Canada, and his mother in the State of 
Vermont. During the greater portion of his 
life David Nappin was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, and in this occupation was remark- 
ably successful. He was a man of notable en- 
ergy, strong character and upright dealing. He 
died in 1841 on his farm, to which he had de- 
voted many years of careful toil. His wife, for- 
merly Cynthia Guernsey, was a member of one 
of the families which settled in Canada about 
the close of the Revolutionary War. She was 
a woman of superior qualities, a devoted and 
faithful helpmeet and a kind and considerate 
mother. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1015 



The early education of Ira Nappin was ob- 
tained in the district schools of Canada, and 
after his marriage he started a wagon-shop, 
which he conducted tor a short time, when he 
sold out and was engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness for about two years. Then selling his gro- 
cery he engaged in business in the wagon-shop 
with which his brother David was connected, 
and in which he has continued for more than 
thirty years. It is located on Fort Street, one 
block west of Main Street, in Farmington, In 
a building originally erected for the manufac- 
ture of plows. Mr. Nappin has a very complete 
equipment, including all utensils requisite in a 
shop of this Kind, and has enjoyed a profitable 
patronage from the beginning of his operations. 

On September 27, 1S66, Mr. Nappin was 
united in marriage with Emily Harris, who 
was born in Farmington, 111., and there in girl- 
hood received her mental training in the pub- 
lic schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Nappin have been 
bom seven children: Catherine, Harry, Amelia, 
Willard, Edna, George and Adelaide. The 
mother of this family was born in the house 
now occupied by them, which was built by her 
father, John S. Harris, about the year 1850. It 
is a spacious and commodious residence of the 
old colonial type, which the builders aimed to 
imitate, and with some changes would be a 
very attractive and comfortable home. About 
the time of its erection Mr. Harris built five 
similar dwellings of which this is the largest, 
containing ten or twelve rooms. Mr. Harris 
and his wife, Prudence (Griffin) Harris, were 
married at Chestertown, Md., and, after living 
for a time in Montgomery County, Ohio, moved 
in a covered wagon to Farmington, III., in 1837. 
The former was a miller by trade, and on arriv- 
ing at Farmington his first work was to build 
a flouring mill, v/hich was long known as "the 
old mill". He was accounted a wealthy man for 
those days. His death occurred November 24, 
1864. Nathaniel Harris, the grandfather of 
Prudence (Griffin) Harris (but who was no 
relation to .John S. Harris), was Dorn at Pow- 
hatan Court House, Va., August 26, 1759. He 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, fought 
in the battle of Guilford, N. C, and died at Ver- 
sailles, Woodford County, Ky., August 12, 1849, 
at the age of eighty-nine years and seventeen 
days. 

In politics, Mr. Nappin, although at present 
not actively interested, is a supporter of the 
polices of the Democratic party, and keeps him- 
self well informed concerning public affairs. 
He was a member of the Town Board when the 
Farmington Water-works were built. His religi- 
ous conectlon is with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is regarded as one of the most 
substantial, reliable and useful citizens of 
Farmington. 

NEBERGALL, J. H., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming one mile north of Cuba, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in that vicinity 
in 1851, a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Hess) 
Nebergall, the former a native of Ohio, and 



the latter of Pennsylvania. Philip Nebergall 
settled in Fulton County in 1844, locating in 
Cass Township, where he bought 120 acres of 
land of John Orwig, on which he successfully 
carried on farming, working also at his trade of 
cooper. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
home farm and has always been engaged in 
farming. About 1893 he purchased of John 
A. Gray 114 acres of land a mile north of Cuba, 
Fulton County, where he has since followed 
general farming, devoting considerable atten- 
tion, also, to stock-raising. Under a portion of 
his farm there runs a thick vein of valuable 
coal. His sons are engaged in the butchering 
business in Decatur, 111., where they have con- 
ducted two markets since 1900. 

In 1873 Mr. Nebergall was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Kirby, who was born in the 
State of Ohio, and of this union have been 
born three children, namely: Don E., Minnie 
M. and Harry L. Mr. Nebergall is a pains- 
taking and thorough-going farmer, and his 
labors are attended by deserved success. 

NEGLY, J. H.— The establishers of the Negly 
family in America and their immediate suc- 
cessors were intimately connected with the 
early history of Pennsylvania, contributing to 
its commercial growth as agriculturists, mil- 
lers and merchants and to its religious devel- 
opment as clergymen and reformers. From 
peaceful households some went forth as sol- 
diers of the Revolution, stacking their muskets 
upon many a battlefield, and returning after 
weary years to find their homes devastated and 
their loved ones scattered. The progenitors of 
J. H. Negly, a farmer of Fairview Township, 
were his parents, Jacob and Mary (Bower- 
master) Negly, both of German descent, and 
the former a blacksmith as well as farmer. 
This couple had the following children: John, 
Mary, Jacob, Elizabeth, Elijah, Daniel, Bar- 
bara B. and Joseph B. Of these Jacob, the 
father of J. H. Negly, married Rose Angle, also 
of German descent, and during his active life 
was a farmer and preacher in the German Bap- 
tist Church. Jacob Negly came to Illinois in 
1844 and bought 160 acres of land in Fairview 
Township, thereafter tilling the same and 
preaching in the township for several years. 
He lived to an advanced age and was one 
of the most highly honored of the community's 
early preachers and agriculturists. He lived 
in Kansas from 1869 until 1875. 

J. H. Negly was born on his father's farm 
in Fairview 'Township, in May, 1862, and was 
educated in the schools of his neighborhood. 
Reared to farming he remained on the paternal 
property until his marriage in 1887 to May 
Lattimer, a native of Kansas, and in 1896 
went to Iowa, where he remained and farmed 
for two years. Returning to Fairview Town- 
ship he bought 160 acres of land formerly be- 
longing to his brother and cousin, in Section 
8, and this remains his home at the present 



ioi6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



time, and the scene of his practical and most 
successful efforts. Mr. Negly is a public-spirited 
and enterprising townsman, the recipient of 
the good will and esteem of a community in 
which practically his entire life has been spent. 

NEVILLE, James W., whose record as a farm- 
er and citizen in Joshua Township, Fulton 
County, 111., is of ths highest order, and who 
is a member of one of the pioneer families in 
that region, was born in Joshua Township, on 
September 4. 1S56. He is a son of Michael and 
Mary (Emory) Neville, his father bavins been 
a native of County Limerick, Ireland, and his 
mother of the State of Ohio. Michael Neville 
came to the United States in 1S33, locating 
near Baltimore, Md., and two ycara later he 
settled in Joshua Township, this county. About 
the year lS4o. he bought 160 acres of land in 
Section 22 of that township. This he improved, 
and in 1S^>S purchased of Henry Emory 103 
acres, on which his son, James W., now makes 
his home. On the later tract the father was 
engaged in farming until the time of his death, 
■which occurred on May 31, 1890. To him and 
his faithful spouse were born eight children, 
five of whom are still living: Sarah, wife of P. 
H. Barry, who resides in Joliet, 111.; Rosella, wife 
tf A. Rohrer, cf Canto-, 111; Ella (single), 
who lives in Canton, this county; James W.; 
and Albert J., v/ho married Mary Randolph 
and also resides in Canton. The mother is now 
living in Canton. Michael Neville was of in- 
tense energy and strict probity. In politics, he 
was a Democrat and in religion, a Catholic. 

Jamco W. Neville received his education in 
the public schools of Joshua Township, and at 
the age of twenty-three years began farming 
on the home place. In 1904 he acquired title 
to the property from the other heirs of his 
father's estate, and is also the owner of 160 
acres in Section 22, and 108 acres in Section 
15, the same township, which formerly belonged 
to the Abbott estate. All of these farms are 
under his own management. About the year 
1882 he commenced raising Shorthorn regis- 
tered cattle, of which he had fifty or more head 
in liHi4, and during that year disposed of most 
of them in a sale which was the largest ever 
held in the county. Mr. Neville has ouilt barns, 
and made some other improvements on his 
property, and has added to his herd of Scotch 
cattle from the best breeds of Europe and 
America, expecting to supply the very best of 
registered stock. 

On Thanksgiving, 1901, James W. Neville 
was united in marriage with Ella Baughman, 
who was born in Fulton County, and is a 
daugnter of Henry and Matilda (Cameron) 
Baughman. 

On political issues, Mr. Neville, votes for 
the men and measures he thinks most condu- 
cive to the best interests of the public at large. 
In 1884 he was elected Supervisor of Joshua 
Township, and again held this office at a later 
period. He was a member of the Board of 



Supervisors at the time of the erection of the 
present court house in Lewistown. Religiously 
he is an adherent of the Catholic faith. All the 
undertakings of Mr. Neville have been attended 
by success, and in material acjuisition.s, force 
of character and civic uselulness, he ranks as 
one of the most prominent among the suT^slan- 
tial and influential factors in the activities of 
Fulton County. 

NEVILLE, John W.— Of the men who have 

lent dignity of character, excellence of labor 
and largeness of general co-operation to affairs 
in Fulton County for a considerable period, few 
are more widely known or generally respected 
in their neighborhood than John W. Neville, 
owner of eighty acres of land in Joshua Town- 
ship. It has been the privilege of this still ac- 
tive farmer to live close to the heart of nature, 
to partake generously of her rewards and to re- 
spond with enthusiasm and clear judgment to 
her opportunities for advancement. He comes 
of sturdy and honorable lineage and one which 
has farthered the universal gospel of industry. 

Born in Baltimore County, Md., May 8, 1830, 
Mr. Neville is a son of Patrick and Johanna 
(McMahan) Neville, both of whom were born in 
County Limerick, Ireland. Patrick Neville emi- 
grated from his tax-ridden country to Canada 
during the early 'thirties and a year later re- 
moved south to Baltimore County, Md., where 
he rented a plantation, with negroes, and con- 
ducted a dairying enterprise until 1835. Not 
realizing his expectations, and imbibing the 
spirit of the West, he embarked in a prairie 
schooner overland to Fulton County, 111., where 
he purchased a half section of land in Joshua 
Township, upon which he made his home and 
prospered until his death, November 29, 1844. 
His wife survived him ten years. He was a 
Democrat in politics and a member of the Cath- 
olic Church. There were six sons and four 
daughters in the family, only two of whom sur- 
vive — John W. and Dennis. 

The first school attended by John W. Neville 
was known as the Moore's Chapel School, in the 
timber, and he next went to the Randolph 
School, leaving the latter at the age of sixteen 
to devote his time exclusively to work on his 
father's farm. Five years later he turned his 
attention to engineering and the distilling busi- 
ness, eventually purchasing 180 acres of land 
in Joshua Township, now owned by S. W. Ash. 
During the last year of the Civil War he sold 
this farm and bought the 110 acres which re- 
mained his home until 1878, in that year buying 
his present farm of eighty acres. All of his 
farms have profited by his wise application and 
untiring industry, and his present home reflects 
the qualities which have brought him success 
and standing among his fellow men. His home 
has ever been a happy and hospitable one, and 
even the unknown wayfarer finds a welcome 
and refreshment beneath his roof. His improve- 
ments cover a wide range of years and are of 
a thoroughly practical and dependable nature. 




^ S.^J. 



'7/97j<:rn 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1017 



Since casting his first vote Mr. Neville has 
stanchly supported the Democratic party, and 
has held practically all the local offices, includ- 
ing those of School Director and Road Commis- 
sioner. His service invariably has given satis- 
faction, and has added to the confidence and 
esteem in which he is held. April 17, 1852, Mr. 
Neville was united in marriage to Catherine 
McMahan, a native of Georgetown, D. C, and a 
daughter of Thomas and Mary (O'Herrin) Mc- 
Mahan, who were born in County Limerick, Ire- 
land. The McMahan family came from Ireland 
in the early 'thirties, settling in Maryland and 
eventually coming west to Fulton County, 111., 
with the Neville family. They purchased land 
in Joshua Township, engaged in general farm- 
ing for a few years, then for a time lived in the 
city of Canton, finally making their home with 
Mr. Neville, where the mother died in 186S, and 
the father in 1S76. Mr. McMahan was a Demo- 
crat in politics, and a member of the Catholic 
Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Neville have been 
born ten children, of whom Charles T. married 
Theresa Mahar for his first wife and Grace 
Shroder for his second wife; Mary J. and 
Elizabeth are both single and live with their 
father; Dr. Dennis Neville married Elizabeth 
Metcalf and lives at Upland, Neb.; John W. 
married Elizabeth Swan and lives in South Da- 
kota; James H. lives in Spokane, Wash.; Dr. 
Frank M. is a resident of Nebraska City. Neb.; 
Joseph lives in Lincoln. Neb.; Sylvester W. mar- 
ried Viola Klutz and lives in El Paso, 111., and 
George F. makes his home with his father. 

NEWSAM, Thomas. — The mining of bitumi- 
nous coal is one of the most important indus- 
tries in the Slate of Illinois. It is not only 
a source of great wealth, but at the same time 
serves as a medium of employment for many 
thousands ot men and a means of livelihoDd lor 
multitudes of dependent families. In this le- 
spect Fulton County is one of the busiest and 
most productive portions of the State. The 
cultivation of its fertile farms and the opera- 
tion of its almost exhaustless mines go hanJ 
in hand to make it one of the prime contribu- 
tors to the bouiiiilul prosperity of a great re- 
gion. To supervise all the details of the work- 
ing of one of the mines for which Fulton 
County is noted requires a man of notable 
energy, sound judgment and tactful discretion, 
and such a man is the subject of this sketch. 
Thomas Newsam, who has the management of 
a well known mine in the vicinity of Farm- 
ington, Fulton County, 111., in which capacity 
he has acted since 1893. 

Mr. Newsam is a native of Illinois, having 
been born at Orchard Mines, Peoria County, 
December 20, 1874. His father, Richard New- 
sam, and his mother, Frances (Nelson) New- 
sam, are of English nativity. On coming to 
the United States Richard Newsam proceeded 
directly to Illinois, where he engaged in coal 
mining in Peoria County. This occupation he 
26 



has pursued successfully for many years. He 
is a keen-minded and energetic man, thor- 
oughly competent in his line of business. His 
son, Thomas, received his early mental train- 
ing in the public schools of Peoria County, and 
in his youth gained considerable experience in 
connection with mining matters, which has 
proved of great value to him in later years. 
In 1903 his father and elder brother pur- 
chased coal-mining property near Farmington, 
which they have since operated, the subject 
of this sketch serving as superintendent of the 
work. 

The mine under Mr. Newsam's supervision is 
thoroughly equipped with steam hoisting ma- 
chinery for getting out the coal, and under- 
ground, mules and electricity are in use. The 
Messrs. Newsam built or rebuilt all the build- 
ings connected with the plant. The mine has 
a hoisting capacity of 5o0 tons per day, which 
is its average output, and furnishes employment 
to about 100 men. Vein No. 5, which is being 
worked at present, has a thickness of four feet, 
and the coal is hoisted from a depth of 112 
feet. The Messrs. Newsam are the owners of 
the coal rights. Thomas Newsam has followed 
the occupation of coal mining from early 
youth, and before taking his present position 
served as manager of the "Star Mine" for three 
years. 

In 1896 Mr. Newsam was united in marriage 
with Adaline Robinson and they have become 
the parents of three children, namely; Edith, 
Earl and Grace. Fraternally Mr. Newsam is 
identified with the I. O. O. F., K. of P. and the 
A. F. & A. M., in the latter order being a mem- 
ber of the Blue Lodge. He is regarded as one 
of the most competent and promising young 
men in the community in which he lives. 

NICHOLS, Fred R.— An intergral part of the 
human force which keeps in operation the plant 
of the Pari in & Orendorff Plow Company of 
Canton is Fred R. Nichols, who served as mill- 
wright from the sjiring of 1901 to the spring of 
190.5. He is at the present time in the contract- 
Ijusiness — and is now putting up a four-stor.v 
brick ofBce building and a two compartment 
flat building besides smaller jobs. Mr. .\ichoIs 
is a natural mechanic, and since early youth 
has been absorbed and fascinated by the intri- 
cacies of machinery. He comes honestly by his 
inclination, as his father, George W. Nichols, 
was also a mill-wright, and followed that occu- 
pation for the greater part of his active life. 
George W. Nichols, of whom a more extended 
mention may be found elsewhere in this work, 
was born in Pompey, Oneida County. N. Y., in 
1822, and dieU in June, 1904. He married 
Hannah Coleman, born in Pompey, and with her 
removed to tne wilds of Iowa, changing his 
place of residence to Canton, 111., in the summer 
of 1896, Mrs. Nichols died in 1894. Mr. Nichols 
has to his credit the planning and construction 
of the largest saw-mill in the world — that of W. 



ioi8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



J. Young, at Clonton, Iowa — also built mills 
on Georgian Bay, Canada, several in Michigan 
and all up and down the Mississippi River. 

Fred D. Nichols was born in Clinton, Iowa, 
in 1863, and was educated in the public schools 
of his native city. In Clinton, September 23, 
1885, he married Mary H., daughter of Isaac 
Newton Manville, of Clinton, Iowa, and of the 
union there have been born five children, one 
of whom died in infancy. Those living are Eva 
M., Harry M., Helen ,1., and Mary Elizabeth. 
Mr. Nichols is a stanch Republican, and in 1904 
was elected Alderman of the First Ward, and 
is now serving his second term. While a resi- 
dent of Iowa he was for five years a member 
of the National Guard (State Militia), and 
received therefrom his honorable discharge. 
Fraternally he is a member of the Court of 
Honor and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. 
He has led a quiet and uneventful life, and 
has devoted himself to his calling with a 
singleness of purpose and conscientious regard 
for the best interests of his employers that 
could not fail to bring him success. He is popu- 
lar with his fellow employes at the works, has 
the gift of making the best of things, and of 
seeing enough of good and interest in his 
friends and surroundings to make life broad 
and worth while. 

NIELSEN, John P., who is successfully prac- 
ticing his profession of dentistry in Vermont, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Denmark, 
March 28, 1870, the son of Niels and Carrie 
(Petersen) Jensen, also natives of Denmark. 
In 1884 the family emigrated to the United 
States, and settled in McLeod County, Minn., 
where they still reside, engaged in farming 
on 160 acres of land. 

In early youth the subject of this sketch at- 
tended the public school in his native country 
for eight years, the law requiring every child, 
from the age of six years to that of fourteen, 
to go to school all the year, there being no 
summer vacation. 

After coming to this country, Mr. Nielsen 
continued his quest after knowledge, and de- 
voted much time to the acquiring of the Eng- 
lish language, in order to fit himself for what- 
ever position he might be called upon to fill. 
He went to work, and utilized his nights in 
study, applying himself assiduously to his 
books. In the meantime he traveled consider- 
ably through the Western and Middle States. 
In 1898, he entered the dental department of 
the Northwestern University at Chicago, and 
for three years studied and operated in that 
institution. He graduated with the class of 
1901, receiving the highest honors, and never 
having failed in an examination. For nearly 
two years after his graduation he practiced 
his profession in Chicago. In 1902, he estab- 
lished himself in practice in Vermont, 111., with 
all new apparatus required for modern dental 
operations. By diligent attention to his work. 
Dr. Nielsen has acquired a profitable patron- 



age, and by keeping himself fully abreast of 
all current developments and improved 
methods In his art, has maintained an excel- 
lent professional standing, and inspired confi- 
dence in his skill throughout the community. 
Meanwhile his amiable disposition and genial 
deportment have attracted to him many stanch 
friends. 

On September 26, 1898, Dr. Nielsen was 
united in marriage with Martha Christiansen, 
a native of Germany. Two children have 
been born of this union, narriely: Ernee, born 
November 3, 1899, and Alice, born November 5, 
1901. 

In politics. Dr. Nielsen is a supporter of the 
best man in his judgment for office and no party 
man. Fraternally he is affiliated with the I. O. 
O. F. Religiously he and his wife are mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church. He is profes- 
sionally connected with the Illinois State Den- 
tal Society, the McDonough and Fulton County 
Dental Societies, and the First District Den- 
tal Society 

NORTON, William.— In William Norton, Ful- 
ton County has an able conservator of her agri- 
cultural interests, as well as faithful promoter 
of those important adjuncts to community life, 
good schools and good roads. Mr. Norton was 
born in South Bend, Ind., August 24, 1844, and 
came to Illinois in 1864, spending the first ten 
years in the city of Canton. He then moved 
to his present farm in Farmington Township, 
where he owns 257 acres of land in Section 17. 
This property he purchased in 1877. and since 
has been one of the most successful and ex- 
tensive breeders of Shorthorn cattle and Po- 
land-China hogs in the township. He has 
built and rebuilt, fenced, ditched, and improved 
generally, and has a delightful home and profit- 
able property. 

.lanuary 16, 1873, Mr. Norton married Miss 
Adelaide Myers, who was bom in Farmington 
Township, June 12, 1850, and of their union 
there are seven children: Archibald C, George 
H., Ralph W., Roy C William P. (deceased), 
Joseph C, and May T. Ever since arriving at 
the responsible age Mr. Norton has been an 
apostle of industry, and has practiced economy, 
temperance and thrift. He is well posted on 
current events, and one of the public-spirited, 
far-seeing and dependable men of the 
community. 

O'BRIEN H. E. — Although a resident of Can- 
ton only since March 1, 1905, H. E. O'Brien 
has demonstrated within the year that he is 
a young man of force and ability, and promis- 
ing acquisition to the business life of the town. 
As a member of the firm controlling the Canton 
Monumental Works, his ambition has a worthy 
incentive, as the works must necessarily in- 
crease with the growth of the town, providing 
the present high standard of workmanship is 
maintained. 

Mr. O'Brien is a product of the country life 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1019 



of Fulton County, his youth having been spent 
on a farm in Liverpool Township, where he 
was born August 15, 186S. He is of Irish-Ger- 
man decent, his parents, James and Caroline 
(Snyder) O'Brien, having been born in the 
State of New York and Tennessee, respective- 
ly. Mr. O'Brien was educated primarily in the 
public schools of Bryant and Lewistown, Ful- 
ton County. He married Ella F. Wason, 
daughter of a pioneer of Buckheart Township, 
Fulton County, who was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Cuba. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien are 
the parents of two children: Lela R. and Opal 
G. Mr. O'Brien is a Republican in politics, and 
fraternally is connected with the Modern Wood- 
men of America. He is a young man of pleas- 
ing personality, and at once impresses one with 
his earnestness and sincerity. 

O'DONNELL, Dennis, who has been a resi- 
dent of Union Township. Fulton County, 111., 
since IS.'iT. and since reaching years of maturi- 
ty has carried on farming in that township 
with uniform success, was bom in Peoria Coun- 
ty, 111., on December 24. 1854, a son of Patrick 
and Bridget (Kanaley) O'Donnell, both of whom 
were born in County Kerry, Ireland, the former 
in IS18 and the latter in 1S20. The occupation 
of Patrick O'Donnell was that of a farmer. He 
came to the United States in 1850, landing in 
New York City, and thence proceeded to Illi- 
nois, where he settled in Peoria County. Leav- 
ing there in 1837 he purchased a farm in Union 
Townshi]!. Fulton County, and remained there 
until his death, which occurred on January 
20, 1893. He was a Democrat in politics, and in 
religious faith a Catholic. He and his wife 
were the parents of six children — five boys and 
one girl — all of whom are still living. 

Dennis O'Donnell attended the district 
schools of Fulton County in boyhood and 
staid with his parents until their age rendered 
them incapable of conducting the farm, when 
the property was divided. Dennis receiving 
the home place on which he has since resided. 
His farm is situated in Section S, and consists 
of 190 acres. 

On February 9, 1893, Mr. O'Donnell was 
united in marriage, at Avon. 111., with Mary 
Ellen Kearney, who was born in Tazewell 
County. 111.. April 2. 1854, a daughter of Edward 
and Catherine (Morris) Kearney, natives of 
Ireland. One child has resulted from this un- 
ion, namely: Garnet Catherine. Mr. O'Don- 
nell and his family are devout members of the 
Catholic Church, and politically Mr. O'Donnell 
is a Democrat. He is a careful, industrious 
and systematic farmer, and an honorable, 
straightforward man, who faithfully discharges 
his duties as a citizen. 

O'DONNELL, M. J.— As a follower of the old- 
est occupation known to the human race, M. 
J. O'Donnell has achieved that success which 
comes to a man who finds his work congenial, 
and who invests it with determination, enthu- 
siasm and natural ability. The builder has 



ever before him the chance of making himself 
an enormously useful factor in a community, 
and a realization of this possibility has come 
to Mr. O'Donnell in Avon, of which he has been 
a resident for about fourteen years. 

The setting of the j-outh of Mr. O'Donnell 
was a farm near St. Augustine 111., where he 
was born April 3, 1860. The resource of the 
Irishman descended to him through his father, 
Patrick O'Donnell, who was born in Erin, as 
was also the mother of the subject of this 
sketch, Bridget (Kanaly) O'Donnell. In his 
native land the elder O'Donnell had little to 
stimulate his ambition, but he arose to his op- 
portunities on this side of the water, to which 
he migrated in 1851, settling in Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County, in 1855. Purchasing an 
eighty-acre farm near St. Augustine, he so wise- 
ly managed his affairs that, in time, he owned 
about 400 acres of fertile, valuable land, all 
under cultivation, and equipped with good 
buildings and general rmiirovements. His 
death occurred during the early 'nineties and 
that of his wife in January, 1906. 

.4fter completing his education in the public 
schools of Union Township, M. J. O'Donnell 
learned the carpenter's trade of James Bram- 
ble, of Peoria, and thus launched among the 
necessary people of the world. He took the ad- 
vice of Horace Greeley and tried his fortunes 
in the State of California. After five years 
of trade experience on the western coast, he 
located in Avon, and since has been engaged 
in a general building and contracting business, 
besides building, improving and selling several 
places within the town limits. He has built 
himself a shop, where he works when not su- 
perintending construction work, and taken 
all in all, he is one of the busiest and most 
enterprising captains of industry within the 
borders of the town. In Galesburg, 111., in 1899, 
he was united in marriage to Carrie (Schnei- 
der) Rawalt, a native of Illinois. Mr. O'Don- 
nell is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, 
is popular and hi.ghly esteemed, and one of the 
largest employers of labor among the builders 
of the community. 

O'DONNELL, Robert. — The gentleman named 
above is a leading stock-raiser and dealer of 
Union Township, where he was born on Christ- 
mas Day of 1859. He was raised on the home 
farm, his father being one of the pioneers of 
the county. Robert O'Donnell was educated in 
the district schools and St. Augustine High 
School arid developed into an intelligent, re- 
liable and practically successful young man. 
He continued to reside in Union Township and 
has gradually centered all his attention upon 
the breeaing of Poland-China hogs, in which 
specialty there is no more pronounced expert 
in the county that Mr. O'Donnell. 

On the 27th of December, 1887, Mr. O'Donnell 
was united in marriage to Margaret Fogarty, 
of Knox County, III., who was born May 8, 
1860, and they have had three children: Fran- 



I020 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



cis P., James P. and Robert. In his religious 
faith Mr. O'Donnell is a stanch Catholic, and 
never fails to vote the Democratic ticket, al- 
though he has never entered politics to any 
great extent. His term as a public official rests 
to date, with his commendable service of three 
years as School Director. 

OLDS, John N.— Both in private life and in 
public affairs John N. Olds proved himself emi- 
nently capable, energetic and trustworthy, and 
during the long period of his association with 
Fulton County, won a permanent place as a 
practical and determined promoter of the best 
business interests of the city of Canton. Mr. 
Olds is of Scotch-English extraction, and was 
born on a farm in Saratoga County, N. Y., 
March 8, 1835. His father, Otis Olds, was of 
the New England type, and spent the first years 
of his life in Connecticut. His mother was his 
father's second wife, and her name was Lu- 
cinda, daughter of John Smith. Otis Olds and 
his wife both died in the State of New York, 
leaving four children, three of them younger 
than John N. 

After completing his education in the public 
schools of New York John N. Olds came to Can- 
ton, 111., and became a clerk in the general 
store of his uncle, Amos Smith. At the expira- 
tion of eight years he had so thoroughly mas- 
tered the business and made himself so neces- 
sary to its advancement that he was taken in 
as a partner, the firm name being changed to 
Smith <fe Olds. The stock in this store was 
chiefly hardware, and at the end of six years 
Mr. Olds sold his interest to his partner, there- 
after engaging in the grocery business until the 
destruction of his store by fire in 1868. Nothing 
daunted, he rebuilt upon the site of his former 
business a two-story brick structure, and from 
that date until his death conducted an increas- 
ing and remunerative trade with the town and 
surrounding country. 

The marriage of Mr. Olds and Emma L. Birch 
occurred in 1S66, Mrs. Olds being a native of 
Ohio, where the earlier years of her life were 
spent. She became the mother of one son, 
Frank Birch Olds, who now is deceased. Mr. 
Olds was identified with the Olive Branch 
liOdge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and 
the Ancient Order of United Wori^men. He 
was a progressive and well informed business 
man and won the respect and good will of a 
large circle of friends and patrons. 

ONION (Hon.) Jasper N. — In his varied ca- 
pacities as agriculturist, educator. Justice of 
the Peace and legislator, Hon. Jasper N. Onion 
has won a permanent place among developing 
agencies of Fulton County. The family name 
is one of the oldest in this part of the State, 
and since its establishment here in 1835, has 
established a reputation tor industry, perse- 
verance and enterprise. Joel Onion, father of 
Jasper N., was born in Kentucky, April 22, 1804, 
and as a boy moved with his parents to Indiana, 
where he married Elinore Shields. The latter 



was born in 1808 and with her parents shared 
the early hardships of the Hoosier State. She 
was of English ancestry and her immigrating 
ancestor on the paternal side settled on a farm 
in the vicinity of Louisville, Ky. Something 
of the iron and sturdy persistence of her fore- 
fathers was shared by this courageous pioneer 
woman, for to her far-sightedness and economy 
her husband owed much of his success. They 
came by boat to Fulton County during the 
summer of 1835. passing the first cruel winter 
in Woodland Township, and in the following 
spring removing to Kerton Township, where 
Mr. Onion succeeded to the distinction of civic 
father of Westpoint, which he laid out and 
the municipal fortunes of which he vigorously 
promoted. Although Westpoint is no longer rec- 
ognized on the map, at one time was quite a 
center of activity, answering the description 
of a trading post and meeting place for the 
settlers. The chills and fever finally shook 
loose the Onion family and in the emergency 
they moved in 1838 to Section 9, Woodland 
Township, where they remaineu forty-four 
years, or until 1882. then locating in Sununum. 
Mr. Onion there built himself a home, where 
his wife died in 1885, and where his own 
death occurred nine years later in 1894. He 
was the parent of ten children: William, who 
died in infancy; Elizabeth J., deceased in 1901, 
the wife of John M. Fike, a soldier from 1861 
until 1863 in Company H, Third Illinois Cav- 
alry, and who died soon after his return from 
the field; James M., a resident of Astoria, and 
soldier during the Civil War in Company B, 
One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois In- 
fantry; Preston, deceased; Martha and Ellen, 
deceased in infancy; Cordelia, a resident of 
Summum; Jasper N.; John J., also living in 
Summum; and Taylor, on the home farm. Mr. 
Onion was one of the most intelligent and well 
educated of the early settlers in P"'ulton County, 
and the settlers used to depend upon him to 
make out their legal papers and attend to 
affairs requiring special general knowledge. 
Although a stanch Republican he was elected 
to the Board of Supervisors in a Democratic 
stronghold, and was one of the first Collectors 
in Woodland Township, taxes at that time be- 
ing required to be paid in gold. He also acted 
for years as a pension agent after the war, 
and in that capacity secured pensions for many 
disabled soldiers of the county. Force of char- 
acter and a large fund of common sense made 
him a leader in local affairs, and his name is 
written large upon the annals of the com- 
munity which he both promoted and adorned. 
Hon. Jasper N. Onion was born on his fa- 
ther's farm in Woodland Township, June 4, 
1846, and in early life gave evidence of that 
sincere desire for knowledge which since has 
characterized his life. As the tasks of the 
daytime permitted little leisure in which to at- 
tend school, he studied diligently by night, even 
though physically exhausted, and prized a book 
which opened vistas of information as he would 




-^an^Jy CJ6 n-^ 4^. nJ/^^y/^ 



^-i^^y Q-^^yrrt-'^:^^^ cm- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



I02I 



a dear and valued friend. The first years of 
the Civil War found him an earnest supporter 
of the Union cause and, in April. 1864. he en- 
listed in Company B, One Hundred and Thirty- 
second Illinois Volunteer Infantry for 100 days' 
service. At the expiration of this term he vet- 
eranized in Company K. One Hundred and 
Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry for one 
year, and was discharged from service at 
Springfield, 111., September 18, 1865. Return- 
ing to Woodland Township he combined farm- 
ing and attending school, and when qualified 
engaged in educational work in the winter 
time, working on the farm in the summer. For 
seventeen terms he was an increasingly suc- 
cessful instructor, and was popular in Wood- 
land, Kerton and Pleasant Townships, where 
he boarded around among the families of his 
pupils, and established many friendships which 
have stood the test of subsequent years. 

September 27, 1870, Mr. Onion married Eliza 
J. Shelly, a native of Virginia, and daughter 
of Daniel and Catherine (Heffiner) Shelley, who 
came to Fulton County in the fall of 18.57. Soon 
after their marriage the young people started 
housekeeping on land north of Sunimum. where 
their three children were born and reared, and 
where the mother died .June 1.5, 1899. Of the 
children Edna O. and Elmer were twins. The 
former, now deceased, was the wife of Charles 
Scrogum. and the mother of Nellie. Hobart and 
Susan Scrogum, and the latter, a farmer of 
Pleasant Township, married Mamie Cooper 
and has four children, Wayne, Dean, Eugene 
and Albert. March 20, 1906, Mr. Onion mar- 
ried Mrs. Elva Bogue Farr, widow of Samuel 
Farr and daughter of Joel Bogue. After the 
death of his first wife Mr. Onion divided his 
property among his children and Marcn 20, 
1906, moved into the beautiful home he had 
erected in Summum on North Broadway. 

Ever since old enough to vote Mr. Onion has 
supported the Republican cause, and has taken 
an active interest in the local councils of his 
party. Twice he has served as Justice of the 
Peace for the usual term, and his decisions 
have been rarely reversed by the higher court. 
In 1900 he represented what now is the Forty- 
third District in the Legislature, having re- 
ceived a gratifying majority in a Democratic 
community. Personally he is a stanch advo- 
cate of prohibition, but never has allied his 
forces with that party. His attitude toward 
temperance extends to all phases of his life, 
and moderation and caution have been conspic- 
uous qualities since early youth. He always 
has kept in the middle of the road, avoiding 
extremes, and riding no hobbies. Honesty and 
industry have been his guiding stars, and have 
brought him the rewards of confidence, wealth, 
influence and happiness. Mr. Onion has never 
sued or been sued, but he has had occasion to 
find out that, by those who knew him best, his 
word was as good as his bond. 

OREN, Dr. Samuel Allen, who is now success- 
fully engaged in the practice of medicine and 



surgery in Lewistown, 111. was born in Phila- 
delphia, Pa., November 16, 1854, the son of Dr. 
Jesse Oren and Mary A. P. (Pray) Oren. Both 
parents were of leading Pennsylvania stock, 
their ancestors being among the early pio- 
neers of that State. Dr. Jesse Oren was born 
September 22, 1824, the son of John Oren, Jr., 
who was born November IS, 1792, the son 6f 
Joseph Oren, who was born in 1754, the son of 
John Oren, Sr. John Oren, Sr., and his son 
Joseph were extensive land-owners, and lived 
near Newberrytown, York County, Pa., about 
twelve miles southeast of Harrisburg. Here 
they experienced many troubles during the 
Revolutionary War. their house being leveled 
to the ground in mid-winter, and ten children, 
with their mother, turned out to find shelter 
I rom snow and ice among those who had es- 
caped the ravages of the raiding war party. 
About this time the maternal great-grandfather, 
Jacob Keller, escaped capture and threatened 
death by jumping into the Susquehanna River, 
at the junction of Sweet Arrow Creek and the 
river; into which trap he had been chased by 
the Tories. The river and creek were both high 
and filled with floating ice, and the falls (or 
rapids) being only a half-mile below, Mr. Keller 
took his chances, and succeeded before reaching 
the falls in mounting a large cake of ice, going 
over the falls safely and landing on a small 
island about three miles below, where he re- 
mained nearly three days, waiting the closing 
of the river so that he could reach the land. 
The island has been ever since, and is to this 
day, known as "Keller Island," in commemora- 
tion of Mr. Keller's remarkable experience. The 
island was uninhabited at the time, and a fast 
of nearly three days in the winter time, with 
the temperature below the freezing point, and 
after such a passage down the river, must in- 
dicate a strong vitality and a fast grip on life. 
On the maternal side the Prays figure in the 
early history of the State, one of them being 
elected Governor of Pensylvania. after a con- 
test which brought on what is known as the 
"Buckshot War," and is part of the written 
history of the State. It will be noticed that 
both sides of the family from which the subject 
of this sketch hails, can easily be traced back 
to the other side of the Revolutionary War. 
making our subject about as near American 
"blue blood" as can be found. 

Dr. Jesse Oren, father of Dr. Samuel A., was 
a regular physician of the old school, attended 
medical lectures at Jefferson and Penn Medical 
Colleges at Philadelphia. After graduating and 
receiving the degree of M. D. from the latter 
institution, he went to Europe and there served 
on the Russian Medical Staff, during the Crim- 
ean War, being promoted to the rank of 
Major, with an increase of salary, for special 
proficiency while in the line of duty. Return- 
ing to Philadelphia after the war, he engaged 
in the practice of medicine there for a short 
time, when he turned his face to the West, 
moving to Iowa City, Iowa, in September, 
1856, later laid out the town of North Liberty 



I022 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



in that State, and succeeded in liaving a mail 
route established from Iowa, City to Cedar Rap- 
Ids, via North Liberty. In the spring of 1S58 
he moved to Laporte City, Iowa, where he en- 
gaged in the practice of medicine and surgery 
with Dr. Jesse Wasson. of that place, but in 
1862 moved onto a farm which he liad purchased 
near Laporte City, and there continued the 
practice of his profession while superintending 
his farm for the remainder of his active life. 

The subject of the sketch. Dr. S. A. Oren, 
as before stated, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., 
coming west with his parents while a small 
boy, and there grew up amid the environments 
of a frontier country, enduring the hardships 
of pioneer life along with his parents. Of his 
early training, it may be said that he was 
brought up on the farm at work, studying from 
5 to 6 o'clock in the morning, or until break- 
fast. This was true when at home in the win- 
ter time, as at other seasons. At the age of 
three years he was unable to read manuscript : 
the drill was never abated and, jjerhaps, pushed 
to the extreme; at least he well remembers 
when he was sent up stairs to study and told 
to "call for dinner wlien so much of a Latin 
verb could be conjugated, and not before," and, 
"don't you forget it." "Depend on no one, but 
draw upon yourself," was the ever ready advice 
of his father. "To be thrown overboard is the 
best stimulation to develop a healthy growth in 
the individual. None drown who are worth 
saving." Such were the environments among 
which he was raised. At the age of fifteen 
years he was sent to the Iowa State University 
at Iowa City, where lie attended college irregu- 
larly from 1869 until 1878, alternating between 
teaching school and working on the farm until 
money enough could he earned to pay his ex- 
penses in college and then off to college 
again. He also attended the Upper Iowa Uni- 
versity for a time. Dr. Oren is a graduate of 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
Keokuk, Iowa, also a graduate of the Homoeo- 
pathic Medical Department of the State Uni- 
versity of Iowa, being the first graduate in that 
department. In this institution he also gradu- 
ated in the Law Department, and was admitted 
to the bar of the Iowa Supreme Court, and of 
the United States District and Circuit Courts. 
But why this course in law? The answer is, 
to improve his judgment in business affairs. 
The Doctor believes that we never get enough 
knowledge, and it is best to get all you can. 

On December 2.5, 1878, he was married to Miss 
Kate E. Welton, daughter of the late Prof. H. S. 
Welton, of Iowa City, formerly professor of an- 
cient and modern languages in the State Uni- 
versity of Iowa. Of this union have been born 
five children, all living: Samuel Leo, Arthur 
Allen, Lilla Eva, Daisy May and Merlin Jesse. 
All of these children now live in Lewistown. 
the oldest. Dr. Samuel L. Oren, who is a gradu- 
ate of the Medical Department of Barnes Uni- 
versity of St. Louis. Mo., being associated with 
his father in the practice of medicine. The 



second son owns and carries on the " O. K. 
barber shop" in Lewistown. These two sons 
are married: the remainder of the family at 
this writing are living with their i)arents 
at home. For his wife Dr. Oren has only 
praises: she has been to him a veritable help- 
mate all through his business life. The Doctor 
opened his first office in Laporte City, Iowa, 
moved from there to Mount Auburn, Iowa, in 
1880, where he practiced medicine until 1891, 
and, with the help of his wife, ran a drug store 
for eight years. In the fall of 1891 he sold 
out and moved to Iowa City and practiced 
medicine there and attended clinics in the Med- 
ical Department of the State University until 
1904. putting in most of the time in special 
attention to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and 
throat. From there he went to Chicago and 
took a special post-graduate course in the Chi- 
cago Policlinic and after practicing there for 
a time moved to Lanark, Carroll County, 111., 
and thence to Lewistown. his present home. 
Dr. Oren has been a resident of Illinois only 
about twelve years, but he says that is long 
enough to become acclimated. In practice he 
is a "Regular." believing that the practice of 
medicine is too broad a field to countenance a 
"pathy" of any kind. He is a strong advocate 
of a higher standard of medical education, and 
has ever been one of those advocating the high- 
est possible standard. He is a member of the 
American Medical Association, the Illinois 
State Medical Society, the Military Tract Medi- 
cal Association, and Fulton County Medical 
Society, 

He was Surgeon on the B. C. R. & N. Ry., 
in Iowa for eight years, and during that time 
was a member of the International Association 
of Railway Surgeons. Dr. S. A. Oren and son. 
Dr. S. L.. are among the leading physicians 
in the old county seat city of Lewistown, hav- 
ing their office on South Main Street, in a new 
brick building erected by the Doctor especial- 
ly for an office, and enjoys a very large gen- 
eral practice in the city and surrounding coun- 
try. In addition, they do special eye-ear-nose 
and throat work, and are "oculists," although 
they do not "limit their practice" to that line 
at all. Aside from the practice of medicine. 
Dr. S. A. Oren has been somewhat of a specu- 
lator, owning at one time a large interest in a 
Horse Importing Company: also a large herd 
of Shorthorn cattle. 

At present he is owner of a 600-acre stock 
and grain farm in Black Hawk County, Iowa, 
well improved, and some 320 acres in Nebraska 
and Colorado, together with property in 
Lanark and Lewistown, 111., and other proper- 
ty. Politically he is a Republican. He and his 
wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and work with that society: but in 
church matters, as well as in medicine, the Doc- 
tor's views are broad and liberal, even to higher 
criticism, believing that every action of a man 
constitutes a link in the chain necessary to 
accomplish the end sought; in other words, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1023 



he takes no stock in merely professing, and 
a great deal of stock in doing things in religion 
as well as otherwise. Fraternally he is a mem- 
ber of the A. F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., M. W. A., 
and several other fraternal orders; is Medical 
Examiner for quite a number of old-line and 
fraternal insurance companies, and belongs to 
that class of physicians who believe in keeping 
abreast with the times. His office is equipped 
with an X-Ray outfit and numerous instruments 
and appliances for the diagnosing and treat- 
ment of diseases. The spirit of investigation 
has marked his professional career. He dis- 
penses with arbitrary methods, and uses the 
remedies that stand the test of current 
experience. 

ORENDORFF, John (deceased), a pioneer set- 
tler of Fulton County, 111., was born in Wilkes 
County, Ga., April 23, 1796, and spent much of 
his early life in various Southern States. In 
1818, at the age of about twenty-two, he came 
to Illinois, and two years later (November 14, 
1820), in Washington County, 111., married 
Margaret Sayle, who was a native of Wilkes 
County, Js(. C, and a relative of General George 
Washington. On April 16, 1825, he became a 
resident of Orion Township, Fulton County, 
settling on a farm which continued to be his 
home for forty-nine years. He served as a 
Justice of the Peace for many years, and while 
holding this office performed the first marriage 
solemnized in Fulton County. He also erected 
the firet frame dwelling in Orion Township. 
At a camp-meeting conducted by the celebrated 
Peter Cartwright, near Canton, in 1832, Mr. 
Orendorff and his wife were converted and 
joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, of 
which they remained consistent and devoted 
members for the rest of their lives, their house 
being the hospitable home of itinerants for 
many years. As a citizen, he was a man of 
strong character, industrious, honest, sociable 
and philanthropic, ever ready to aid any good 
cause or any deserving but needy individual, ac- 
cording to his ability and the necessities of 
the case. He and his wife had five sons and 
two daughters, all except one son, who died 
young, living to maturity. The elder daughter, 
Caroline, married William Parlin, of the firm 
of Parlin & Orendorff, agricultural implement 
manufacturers, at Canton, 111., and the younger, 
Sarah, married John Riley. Of the surviving 
sons, William J. is a member of the firm of 
Parlin & Orendorff; John W. died April 21, 
1883; Henry H. is a dealer in hardware and 
agricultural implements at Canton, 111.; and 
Washington S. died October 11, 1899. Mr. Oren- 
dorff, Sr., died January 28, 1876, his wife having 
preceded him, July 16, 1867. 

ORENDORFF, Ulysses Grant, whose reputation 
is synonymous with the fame of Canton, 111., 
as a center of prodigious industrial activities, 
and whose personality is associated far and 
wide with one of the most extensive manufac- 



turing enterprises in the world, was born in 
that city April 16, 1865, a son of William J. and 
Mary (Rohrer) Orendorff. (See sketch of Wil- 
liam J. Orendorff in the following section of this 
volume.) His paternal and maternal grand- 
parents were John and Margaret (Sayle) Oren- 
dorff, and Henry and Mary (Doner) Rohrer, 
respectively. William J. Orendorff was one 
of the founders of the present colossal Parlin 
and Orendorff agricultural implement establish- 
ment, with which the subject of this writing 
is conspicieously identified, the former having 
joined his business fortunes with those of Mr. 
Parlin in what was then a concern of compara- 
tively limited extent in 1852. 

Ulysses G. Orendorff obtained his prelimi- 
nary mental instruction in the schools of his 
native place, and completed his education in 
the seminary at Easthampton, Mass., Evanston, 
111., and Jacksonville, 111., shortly before obtain- 
ing his majority. As a young man he devel- 
oped practical talent of an exceptional order, 
and manifested a special aptitude for a mercan- 
tile career. In 1886. he became connected with 
the office department of the Parlin & Orendorff 
Company, and through energy, diligence and 
close application to the task before him, rose 
to the position of Assistant Secretary of the 
company three years later. In 1891, he was 
made Secretary, and in addition to the duties 
thus devolved upon him, was invested with the 
responsibility of Treasurer in 1896. His father, 
who had for a considerable period taken a less 
active part in the company's affairs, had by 
degrees intrusted his personal interests in con- 
nection with the business to the subject of this 
sketch, and since the death of the former in 
1897, the latter has ably and worthily fulfilled 
the family traditions, and performed his part 
in carrying out the general policies which have 
gradually led to such stupendous results. The 
Parlin & Orendorff concern ranks as the largest 
establishment devoted to the manufacture of 
agricultural implements in the United States, 
and its product is distributed not only over 
all the States and Territories of the Union, 
but finds a large market in foreign lands. Its 
plant in Canton extends over many acres of 
.ground, and its employes are numbered by 
thousands. 

Mr. Orendorff was elected President of the 
Illinois Manufacturers' Association in 1906. 
and while his eminent business abilities have 
made him widely known in his own State, they 
have also, in recent years, given him a high 
reputation in commercial circles throughout 
the country. He has officiated as Treasurer 
of the National Association of Agricultural Im- 
plement and Vehicle Manufacturers, a body 
representing $170,000,000 of capital invested; 
85,000 employes; and 4,000,000 tons of freight 
received and shipped annually. He is a mem- 
ber of the executive committee of the Mutual 
Life Policy Holders' Association of New York 
City, and bears other important relations with 
various organizations and corporations. 



I024 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



On August 11, 189G, Mr. Orendorff was united 
in marriage with Daisy R. Baugtiman, who 
was born and educated in Canton, 111., and is 
a daughter of Abraham and Mary (Capps) 
Baughman, natives of that place. Mr. and Mrs. 
Orendorff are the parents of one daughter, 
Helen B. 

In politics Mr. Orendorff is a Republican. 
Socially he is a member of the Chicago 
Athletic Club and the Hamilton Midday and 
South Shore Clubs, of the same city. He has 
always been an earnest advocate and patron 
of every measure intended for the promotion 
of the best interests of Canton, and a liberal 
contributor to its educational and charitable 
institutions. 

ORENDORFF, William J. (deceased), who 
was, for many years, prominently identified 
with the industrial interests of Canton, Ful- 
ton County, 111., in connection with the Mam- 
month Plow Works which have made the name 
of that city a familiar word throughout the 
agricultural-implement using area of the United 
States, was born in Orion Township, Pulton 
County, January 14, 1S29, a son of John and 
Margaret (Sayle) Orendorff, the former a 
native of Wilkes County, Ga., and the latter 
in Wilkes County, N. C. John Orendorff and 
his wife moved to Illinois in 1S2.5, and settled 
in Orion Township, Fulton County. There the 
mother of William J. departed this life on the 
homestead farm July 19, 1867. his father sur- 
viving her until January 28, 1876, when he, 
too, passed away. 

In early youth, the subject of this sketch 
enjoyed such advantages as were afforded by 
the district schools of Orion Township and the 
public school of Canton. In 1852, he became 
connected with the Parlin Plow Manufactory, 
and in 1857 was admitted to partnership in 
that enterprise. A description of the inception 
and the development of this colossal establish- 
ment, to the upbuilding and prosperity of which 
Mr. Orendorff devoted so many years of his time 
and energy, is contained in a memoir of the 
life of William Parlin, which forms an interest- 
ing chapter of this volume. The memories of 
these two men, as alert. Keen-minded, sagacious 
and untiring co-workers in a stupendous under- 
taking are indissolubly linked in the com- 
mercial annals of Canton and Fulton County. 
Prom the beginning of his connection with the 
concern, Mr. Orendorff supplemented the en- 
deavors of his worthy associate in a most able 
and efficient manner, and much of the marvel- 
ous growth of this enterprise is attributable 
to his diligent and faithful co-operation. 

On September 28, 1856, Mr. Orendorff was 
united in marriage with Mary Rohrer, daughter 
of Henry Rohrer, a native of Lancaster County, 
Pa., and formerly a prominent and highly-re- 
spected citizen of Canton. Mr. and Mrs. Oren- 
dorff became the parents of four children, as 
follows: Arthur L., William H.. Ulysses G. and 



John W., all of whom are reputable and use- 
ful members of society in their respective 
spheres of activity. In politics Mr. Orendorff 
was an adherent of the Republican party, 
and was influential in its local councils. He 
represented his district in the Thirty-fourth 
General Assembly of Illinois (1884-86). He 
was a man of strong character, sound judg- 
ment, thorough practical information and un- 
swerving integrity. In public affairs he took 
earnest and unselfish interest, and whatever 
movements were likely to promote the gener- 
al welfare received his unhesitating and hearty 
support. He was a useful member of the com- 
munity and was greatly respected by a wide 
circle of acquaintance. The death of Mr. Oren- 
dorff occured October IS, 1897. 

OVERMAN, Nathan (deceased).— The useful 
lalior of Nathan Overman is clearly inscribed 
upon an early page of Pulton County history, 
and though thirty years have elapsed since the 
close of his life, in 1877, there are many old 
settlers who recall his earnest aims and peace- 
ful, quiet existence. His was a kindly and 
generous heart, one tuned to a love of flowers 
and children and the animate things of nature, 
and he thus found constant delight in his ever- 
widening occupation, that of florist and 
nurseryman. He came at an advantageous 
time, when men were subduing the wilderness, 
and emerging from the first stern hardships, 
were seeking to infuse a certain beauty into 
their surroundings, to regard trees as shade 
and fruit jiroducers, as well as necessities for 
fuel and buildings, and flowers as an incentive 
to something above the thought of sordid gain. 
Into this niche this early nurseryman came with 
his slips and seedlings, and for many years 
his business at the Mound was liberally pat- 
ronized by the town and country folk from 
near and far. 

Mr. Overman was born in Indiana in 1818 
and came of poor but industrious parents, who 
could give him few of the opportunities which 
youth craves. He gained a fair education, 
principally through the application of later 
years, and from general farming branched out 
into the nursery business as more profitable 
and congenial. 

His first wife (formerly Fannie Hudnell) 
died in 1867, leaving four children, and his 
second wife, Mrs. Augusta H. (McDonough) 
Hinman, a native of Tazewell County, Illinois, 
(her parents being from Conecticut) survives 
him and has two children, Lorraine and Al- 
bert. Mr. Overman confined himself strictly to 
his home and business and was never known 
in politics save when casting his vote. He was 
honorable and straightforward in all his deal- 
ings and, in addition to a successful business, 
left the heritage of a good name and worthy 
example. He died March 17, 1877. Mrs. Over- 
man now resides at her elegant home. No. 425 
East Elm Street, Canton, 111. 



M^- 



: I 
1 i 


VSM 

/ 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1025 



PALMER, Jasper, who is successfully engaged 
in farming in Fulton County, 111., was born 
in that county Xovember 20, 1861, a son of 
Henry and Amanda (Talmadge) Palmer, na- 
tives of Saratoga, X. Y. The subject of this 
sketch was reared on a farm and in early youth 
obtained his mental training in the district 
schools in the neighborhood of his home. In 
August, 1891, Mr. Palmer was united in mar- 
riage with Lena Swan, who was born in Illi- 
nois, and there received her early mental train- 
ing. One child, Henry, has resulted from this 
union. He has served one term as School Trus- 
tee and School Director. 

PARLIN, William (deceased), one of the most 
conspicuous among the promoters of the indus- 
trial interests of Canton, FvUton County, 111., 
and the founder of a manufacturing establish- 
ment there which has tended more than all 
others to give that city its wide reputation as 
a mechanical center, was born in Acton, Mid- 
dlesex County, Mass., .lanuary 21, 1817. He was 
of English derivation, his ancestors having 
come from England at an early period and set- 
tled in Massachusetts Colony. Among their de- 
scendants was Samuel, grandfather of Wil- 
liam, who, with his son, Warren, was a gallant 
soldier in the War of the Revolution. They 
were connected by family ties with the famous 
General Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. 

William Parlin was a son of Warren and 
Lydia (Davis) Parlin, the latter a daughter of 
Jonathan Davis, who also participated in the 
Revolutionary War. His cousin. Captain Davis, 
was among the slain in the battle of Concord, 
being the first of the patriot officers to fall in 
the struggle with the mother country. Mr. 
Parlin received his early education in the com- 
mon schools of Middlesex County and, having 
finished his studies, learned the blacksmith's 
trade, at which he worked for awhile in his 
native State. Having determined on a change 
of conditions, he started westward and after a 
somewhat tedious Journey, arrived in Canton, 
111., July 4. 1840. There he started a small 
blacksmith sho]), which he afterward developed 
from an insignificant beginning into a colossal 
enterprise, known throughout the United 
States. 

In 1847 Mr. Parlin began the manufacture of 
plows, starting at the corner of F'ourth and 
Elm Streets.' in Canton, where a portion of the 
mammoth plow works now stands. Modern fa- 
cilities had not yet become available and his 
operations were confined wholly to hand work. 
In 18.57 the first engine in use by him, a six- 
horse-power machine, was a substitute for the 
natural horse power. The capacity of the plant 
was enlarged as time went on, new buildings 
were erected and new inventions were utilized 
in the different processes, until this erstwhile 
unpretentious concern broadened out into one 
of the most extensive and complete manufac- 
tories of its kind in this country, the ramifi- 
■ cations of its trade being pushed to the remot- 
est markets of the continent, and the magnitude 



of Its operations involving the employment of 
great numbers of men. The establishment now 
covers six entire blocks and turns out plows 
of various styles suited to the conditions in all 
agricultural regions. In aadition to these it 
produces cultivators, sulky plows, road scrapers, 
stalk cutters and many other kinds of agricul- 
tural implements, all made by special machin- 
ery. In 1857 William J. Orendorit, a sketch of 
whose life is contained in this volume, became 
a partner of the founder of the enterprise. 

On January 7, 184.5, William Parlin was 
united in marriage with Caroline Orendorff, a 
daughter of John Orendorff, of Orion Town- 
ship, Fulton County. Four children resulted 
from their union, namely: Artemas F., who 
died at the age of eighteen years; William H.; 
Clara B., and Alice C, who became the wife of 
Charles E. Ingersoll. 

In politics Mr. Parlin was a firm supporter of 
the Republican party. On the incorporation of 
Canton he was one of the first members of the 
City Council, and served several terms in that 
capacity. He also held the office of School 
Director, and ably and faithfully discharged 
the duties of Mayor of the city. He was an 
earnest advocate of temperance principles, and 
while not a member of any church, was recog- 
nized by all as a man of strict probity and an 
exemplary citizen. To all religious denomina- 
tions he was a liberal contributor, and to the 
cause of education a steadfast friend. All 
measures for the welfare of the community 
found in him an earnest advocate. The great 
industrial enterprise which he founded and 
which his indomitable energy and perseverance 
carried through its initial period, stands as a 
monument of his ability and sagacity. Mr. 
Parlin departed this life June 20, 1891. 

PARR, Samuel, a highly respected resident of 
Fairview Township, Fulton County, 111., where 
for twenty-three years he has had a successful 
exijerience in farming and coal mining, and is 
one of the most prosperous and substantial 
citizens of the township, is a native of England, 
having been born in Bingham, Nottinghamshire, 
on November 2, 1839. He is a son of Samuel 
and Mary ( Hart ) Parr, both of whom were of 
English nativity. In England the occupation 
of the former was that of a farm bailiff. Sam- 
uel Parr. Sr., and Mary (Hart) Parr were the 
parents of eight children. 

The subject of this sketch received his early 
mental training in the grammar schools of his 
native country. He came to America in 1856 
and after spending one year in Canada, in 1857, 
he crossed over into the United States and lo- 
cated in Adams County, III., where he remained 
twenty-two years. In 1879 he made a visit to 
Ellisville, Fulton County, for the purpose of 
prospecting for coal. Four years afterwards 
(in 1883) he purchased 273 acres of land in 
Section 38, Fairview Township, Fulton County. 
Of this he cleared and improved about 200 
acres, on which he carried on farming. His 
principal object in making this purchase was, 



I026 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



however, lo get possession of coal lands. In 
this he was successful, and is now the owner 
of what he considers the best vein of coal in 
Fulton County. On January 8, 1900, he opened 
his mine on the Fulton County Narrow Gauge 
Railroad, operating a drift mine, with a vein 
of four feet eight inches of coal. This he 
subsequently leased to Essex, Fitz & Co., who 
now carry on mining there. During the Civil 
War Mr. Parr rendered faithful service to his 
adopted country in defense of the Union. He 
was a member of Company B, Sixteenth Regi- 
ment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and partici- 
pated in all of its campaigns for three years. 

In 1868 Mr. Parr was joined in matrimony, 
in Schuyler County, 111., with Theresa (Bram- 
ble ) Pilgrim, who was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, in 1847, a daughter of Major Bramble, of 
that State. Her father was one of the early 
settlers of Schuyler County, 111. Mr. and Mrs. 
Parr became the parents of six children, of 
whom four are living. The political opinions 
of Mr. Parr are in accordance with the princi- 
ples of the Republican party. In fraternal 
circles he is identified with the Union Veteran 
Volunteers of Galesburg. 

PARRY, Jesse. — More and more is It demon- 
strated that a cultivated mind and fine in- 
stincts reach their highest development oft- 
times among agricultural surroundings, diffus- 
ing around them that refinement and peace 
which are the hall-marks of the born gentle- 
man toiler. To such a class belongs Jesse 
Parry, one of the large land-owners of Wood- 
land Township, and a native of Fulton County, 
born in Astoria Township, January 13, 18.51. 
The oldest son of William Parry, mentioned at 
length in another part of this work, the youth 
was reared among average surroundings, re- 
ceiving a thorough agricultural training, and 
eventually assuming much of the responsibility 
of the farm management. An earnest seeker 
after knowledge, he supplemented his common 
school education by such reading and research 
as was possible during his leisure, and re- 
mained at home until his marriage with Sarah 
M. Lewis, also representing one of the pioneer 
families of Fulton County. Mrs. Parry was 
born in Kentucky March 1, 18.50, being one of 
seven children of Wilson and Mahala Lewis, 
the youngest of whom now is past the half- 
century mark, and all of whom are living. 
James Lewis is a merchant in St. Mary, Han- 
cock County, 111.; Daniel is a farmer near Col- 
mar, 111.; William lives in Boston, Barton 
County, Mo.; Nancy is the life of Perry Clup- 
per, of Jewell, Kan.; Malinda is the wife of 
Harvey Swisher, of Hancock County, 111.; 
Sarah is the wife of Jesse Parry, and John Lew- 
is lives in Burlington, Kan. 

Directly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. 
Parry settled on what now is the George Schu- 
man farm, which William Parry had cleared 
and made one of the beautiful homes of As- 
toria Township. About 1881 he rented 155 



acres in Section 30, Woodland Township, and 
in 1884 purchased the farm to which he since 
has added until he owns 248 acres in one body. 
As a life accomplishment this property should 
afford infinite satisfaction to the owner, who 
started out in lite with few visible assets and 
whose industry and good judgment alone are 
responsible for his success. On every hand are 
evidences of high-mindedness and painstaking 
qualities, of regard for the taste and personal 
requirements of the various occupants, and for 
those things which tend to the satisfaction of 
life independent of financial gain. In the fam- 
ily are the following named children: Mary C, 
born December 30, 1872, the wife of William 
Cassell, and the mother of two children — Delia 
and Jesse — and who died January 29, 1893; 
John H., born February 2, 1875, married Fan- 
nie Gruber, daughter of Jacob Gruber, and is a 
farmer in Astoria Township; William O., born 
October 26, 1877, married Stella Elgin, and is 
operating a farm in Woodland Township, and 
Stephen E., born October 4, 1885, married Cora, 
daughter of John C. Damer. 

A stanch supporter of the Republican party, 
Mr. Parry has never aspired to office, but has 
rendered valuable service to the township as a 
member of the Board of Education. He also 
has promoted practical and scientific methods 
of agriculture and by his successful example 
has encouraged the breeding of Percheron 
horses. Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs, 
never for an instant relaxing his high stand- 
ards or his pride in the steady and lasting de- 
velopment of his neighborhood. His life is de- 
voted to honesty and fairness, to the accumu- 
lation of a competence which calls for no sacri- 
fice of principle and to a citizenship which shall 
leave the world the better for his having been 
a part of it. 

PARRY, William.— With his noble head 
touched by the snows of eighty-five winters and 
his strong face and capable hands bronzed by 
the sun which has beat upon almost as many 
harvesting seasons, William Parry is today the 
personification of a life well lived, of energies 
well directed, of a mind tuned to the harmony 
of his surroundings and of a heart which has 
lost nothing of its warmth and sympathy in its 
journey from the log cabin to the affluence of 
the twentieth century. This vigorous person- 
ality, outlined against the background of events 
in Fulton County since 1837, command the con- 
fidence and respect of as large a following as 
any who have helped to redeem the wilderness 
in this part of the State. He has built up 
character as well as fortune and has supported 
the substantial and fundamental processes of 
civilization. 

Born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, June 16, 
1822, Mr. Parry in 1836 accompanied his par- 
ents, Caleb and Rebecca (Engle) Parry, to 
Sangamon County, 111., in 1836, and the follow- 
ing year to Fulton County, where the father 
died at the age of eighty-three and the mother 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1027 



at the age of ninety-three, lacking eighteen days. 
Caleb Perry was born among the picturesque 
mountains of Wales, and as a boy came to Amer- 
ica with his parents, locating i)resumably in Vir- 
ginia, where he married and farmed for sev- 
eral years. After coming to F^ulton County 
and taking up land in Astoria Township, lie be- 
came an important adjunct to the neighborhood, 
and his industry, thrift and integrity gave him 
lasting i)lace among the good and purposeful 
men of the community. His wife, at the re- 
markable age of ninety, could thread her 
needle without the aid of glasses, and her con- 
stitution remained strong and her faculties 
alert until almost the end of her life journey. 
Her longevity was a tribute to moderation and 
an all-around development of powers, for she 
was idle only when she slept, and in the early 
days spun the yarn and knit the stockings for 
her children, also wove the cloth and made 
their garments for the entire household. It 
was her mission to rock the cradle of twelve 
little ones, two of whom died in infancy, ten 
attaining maturity. Of the latter Mary married 
William Crawford, moved to Knox County. 111., 
and with her husband died at an advanced age; 
Hannah became the life of George Sayers, and 
both now are deceased; Rheuam married Sher- 
man Wycoff. who, since her death, has lived 
near Redfield, Iowa; rtebecca is the deceased 
wife of Charlie Turner, and Nancy spent her 
last years in the home of her brother Enoch, 
who, with William, are the sole living repre- 
sentatives of this large family. 

William Parry, though only fourteen years 
old when he arrived in Fulton County, already 
was an independent toiler, having in his native 
State of Ohio worl^ed by the day for eighteen 
and three-fourths cents. He was well develojjed. 
had strong muscles and could plow, reap and 
chop as much wood in a given time as a full- 
grown man. In Astoria Township he attended 
the district schools for a few terms and after 
his evening tasks were completed, studied in 
front of the fireplace, which, with candles, con- 
stituted the only means of heat and illumina- 
tion with which he was familiar until pur- 
chasing his first iron heater during Lincoln's 
second administration. August 10, 1840, he mar- 
ried Miranda Walker, a native of Maryland, and 
daughter of .lesse Walker, the latter a pioneer 
of Ohio and Illinois, arriving in the latter State 
about 183S. Mr. and Mrs. Parry settled on the 
farm now owned by Mr. Parry's brother Enoch, 
living in a log cabin for a number of years. He 
then bought the farm now owned by George 
Schuman. a son-in-law, and in all has im- 
proved several hundred acres of land, at the 
present time owning the 320 acres upon which 
he located in 1864. He has a beautiful home, 
reflecting his thoroughgoing character and re- 
gard for detail and method, and also evidencing 
his love of nature and the joy he has experi- 
enced in collaborating with it. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Parry were born the follow- 
ing named children: Isaac. Caleb and Rheuam, 



who died young; Catherine, deceased, wife of 
William jJupree; Jesse; John, a resident of 
Normal, 111.; William, who died in 1906; 
Stephen, residing in Astoria, and Belle, wife 
of George Schuman, on the old homestead in 
Astoria Township. August 10, 1892, Mr. and 
Mrs. Parry celebrated their golden wedding, the 
guests at that time numbering 300, and all 
participating in the noonday dinner provided by 
a generous host. They came mostly from As- 
toria, but other towns and townships were rep- 
resented, and the gifts took the form of a gold- 
headed cane for Mr. Parry, upon which was in- 
scribed "1842" and ■'1892," and the wife who 
had shared his hardships and prosperity was 
given a silver cup and saucer with gold lining 
and a plush spring rocker. In the opinion of 
the oldest inhabitants who participated in this 
festive occasion, it was the most enjoyable they 
ever had known. Mrs. Parry survived her 
golden wedding nine years, her death occurring 
March 2fi, 1901. She was an exceptionally 
noble and agreeable woman and lived to see 
herself surrounded by nine children, nineteen 
grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. 
That the years have dealt kindly with Mr. 
Parry was proved during his sixtieth year, 
when he cradled forty acres of heavy wheat, 
accomplishing on an average seven and a half 
a,cres a day. In the early days he was a stanch 
Whig, but later espoused the principles of the 
immortal Lincoln, of whom he is an intense 
admirer. During the Civil War, while not ^, 
soldier in the field, he did much to aid the 
wives and children left behind in the county, 
and no night was too dark or storm too severe 
to interfere with his self-imposed errands of 
mercy. This spirit of self-sacrifice and desire 
to be of actual use in the world has kept his 
heart young and his hopes high; has drawn to 
him innumerable friendships and boundless 
gratitude. To hear him talk of the early days 
is like reading from an old romance. He has 
always looked on labor as the salvation of the 
race and has welcomed physical weariness as 
part of the great developing process of human 
kind. He recalls that in June, 1836, he helped 
clear the timber from the ground where now 
stands the Cooper Brothers' store in Astoria. 
At that time the tract was the finest black- 
berry patch Mr. Parry ever had seen. The 
ground was black with the delicious wild ber- 
ries. Although the Indians long since had de- 
parted, they still came back to the old haunts, 
for there still were hundreds of deer and thou- 
sands of wolves to make the night mournful. 
The returned redman was a peaceful being, 
with the light of other days in his eyes and a 
dead hope in his heart. And thus is inscribed 
upon the history of Fulton County the life and 
labor of a good and capable man, one with a 
broad catholicity of view, of great generosity 
and wisdom of heart, and one who is greatly 
beloved for what he has become, as well as for 
what he has accomplished. 



I028 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



PARVIN, C. K., a prominent and influential 
citizen and prosperous merchant of Smitlifield, 
Fulton County, 111., who is serving his third 
term as Postmaster ot that town, was born in 
Union County, Ind., in 1S52, a son ot S. R. and 
Anna (Tice) Parvin, natives of New Jersey. 
In early youth the subject of this sketch re- 
ceived his mental training in the public schools 
of Bardolph, 111., where his father moved with 
the family in 18.57. There the latter followed 
his trade ot shoemaking for a number of years. 
The son lived in McDonough County, 111., until 
1868, when he moved to Knox County, 111., re- 
maining there until 1873. when he located in 
Smithfleld. Before establishing himself there 
he had been connected with the grain trade. 
In Smithfleld Mr. Parvin was engaged in teach- 
ing school until 18S0. In that year he built a 
store, which he conducted for tour years. At 
the end of that period he embarked in the 
general mercantile line, and in 1900 his store 
was destroyed by fire. His present place of busi- 
ness was erected by him in 1901. He has branch 
stores at St. David, Fulton County, and Sciota, 
McDonough County, and owns an elevator in 
Smithfleld, where he deals in all kinds ot 
grain. 

In 1876 Mr. Parvin was united in marriage 
with Emma Vincent, who was born in McDon- 
ough County, 111., and they have five children, 
namely: Harry, Pearl. Ralph, Lela and Earl. 
In politics Mr. Parvin is a prominent Repub- 
lican, and is influential in the local councils 
of his party. He was appointed Postmaster 
of Smithfleld by President Harrison, in 1897, 
was reappointed under the McKinley adminis- 
tration, and has been the incumbent of that 
office ever since. In fraternal circles Mr. Par- 
vin is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. and the 
M. W. A. and is also a Yeoman. He is a man 
upright character and in commercial circles 
is ranked as a merchant of exceptional ability 
and sagacity. 

PAUL, Jeremiah. — In Jeremiah Paul is found 

a retired citizen of Ipava whose industrious 
and well directed efforts entitle him to a place 
among the upbuilders of Fulton County. Born 
in Adams County. Ohio, March 18, 1829, he is 
a son of Jeremiah and Hannah (Elrodj Paul, 
natives of Maine and Pennsylvania, respective- 
ly. The elder Paul was born near the Kenne- 
bec Rivor, Maine, September 13, 1802, and by 
trade was a pike-builder and contractor. He 
constructed many well known highways 
throughout Ohio, the most notable being the 
pike from Marysville, Ohio, to Limaburg, Ky. 
He was an early settler of Ohio and his death 
occurred in that State May 19, 18-51. The first 
Mrs. Paul died in Millersburg. Ohio, December 
23, 1830, and for a second wife Mr. Paul mar- 
ried Mary J. Hamer. Ot the first union there 
were three children, one of whom died in in- 
fancy, while the oldest son died in Bowling 
Green, Ky.. during the Civil War as a soldier 
in the 103d Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 



The two surviving children of the second union 
are: Lewis Paul, of Linn, Kans., and Annie, 
wife ot Thomas Hurd, of Newport. Ky. 

The opportunities enjoyed by the farmer boy 
of the present were missing from the youth of 
Jeremiah Paul. Yet his energy and ambition 
overcame the limitations that surrounded him, 
and at the age of nineteen he had qualified as 
a country school teacher. In order to do this 
he allowed himself little leisure and after worlv 
ing in the fields from sunrise to sunset, he 
would remain far into the night poring over 
books by the flames of the winter fire or the 
light of the moon. On March 6, 1845, he left 
his home and came to Fulton County with his 
uncles, Michael Elrod and Eben Paul, reaching 
here March 18th the same month. The uncles 
tooli up land in Waterford Township and young 
Paul began working on a farm in the summer 
time, in the winter turning his attention to 
school teaching. About this time he had many 
interesting experiences, and on many occa- 
sions made trips down the river with a raft to 
the southern marliets. He remembers hauling 
hogs to market in the early days and receiving 
a dollar and twenty-five cents per hundred for 
them. 

On January 1. 1851, Mr. Paul was united in 
marriage to Ann E. Scoville, and of the union 
there were two children, both of whom died in 
infancy. Mrs. Paul died March 1. 1859, and 
Mr. Paul subsequently married Mrs. Emma 
Griffith (nee Quigley). daughter of Robert 
Quigley, a pioneer ot Fulton County. Through 
her marriage with Thomas H. Griffith Mrs. Paul 
had three children, of whom Mary P. became 
the wife of Solon Culver; Melvin R. is a resi- 
dent of Oklahoma City, Okla., and Eliza died 
in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Paul are the parents 
of the following children: Charles H., born in 
Waterford Township, this county, March 1, 
1860; Sidney R., born January 3, 186u. a farm- 
er in Bernadotte Township, who married Lula 
Hopkins, and Eva C, born Septemuer 21, 1867, 
the life of James M. Stephens, of McPherson 
County, Kans., and the mother of two children 
— Marion j. and Carrie. 

In 1846 Mr. Paul enlisted in the local regi- 
ment organized to help drive the Mormons out 
of Nauvoo, 111., but when they reached that 
town they found the trouble over and the mat- 
ter adjusted. At the breaking out of the Civil 
War he enlisted in the Second Illinois Cavalry, 
Company C, for three years, and after a year 
and eight months with his regiment was dis- 
charged, March 23, 1863, for disability. During 
the service he took part in many long marches 
and some important l^attles. and was captured 
at Holly Springs, Miss., but soon after paroled. 
The exposure and deprivations of war told 
heavily upon him. however, and the years have 
failed to remove all traces of his severe experi- 
ence. 

In 1884, on account of his wife's health. Mr. 
Paul removed to Arkansas, purchased a farm 
and settled down to general agriculture. The 




v'"'*' 



MRS, MARY ROSS 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1029 



change proved anything but satisfactory, how- 
ever, for continued chills and fever necessi- 
tated frequent return trips to Illinois, and in 
1836 they made permanent location here. Pur- 
chasing 125 acres in Bernadotte Township, the 
family lived thereon until coming to Ipava in 
1901. In lyUo the farm was disposed of, leav- 
ing Mr. and Mrs. Paul a comfortable income to 
satisfy the demands of their declining years. 

Formerly an old-line Whig, Mr. Paul allied 
his interests with the Republican party at the 
time of its organization, and ever since has 
taken a keen, if unofficial, interest in its un- 
dertakings. When a boy of thirteen he allied 
his religious fortunes with the church of the 
Newlights, but In later years became a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church. He is an hon- 
orable and public-spirited man and deserving 
of all the peace and happiness that life can 
bestow. 

PAVEY, Henry. — The excellent business stand- 
ing of Henry Pavey rests upon many years of 
activity, but principally is it the outgrowth of 
the successful hardware business with which 
he was connected in Ipava from 1869 until 
1894. He is further known as a natural me- 
chanic, as an experienced miller and foundry- 
man, as a public-spirited promoter of stable 
and practical conditions and as a typical rep- 
resentative of the best class of Englishmen who 
wander to foreign shores. 

Between the Central West as he found it in 
1849 and the town of Tiverton, Devonshire. 
England, where he was born, February 15, 
1823, Mr. Pavey found a great contrast. Tiver- 
ton had its municipal birth in the dawn of 
English history, and when the fierce, barbaric 
Celts held undisputed sway. It was founded by 
the Romans fifty years before the Christian 
era, and five years later was conspicuous as a 
base of military supplies during the invasion 
of Julius Caesar. The Tiverton of today is a 
quaint and interesting town of 11,000 inhab- 
itants and its architectural variance suggests 
the passing of its many generations of citi- 
zens. Within its boundaries is the famous 
Blundell College, founded by the scholar and 
philosopher, Thomas Blundell, during the six- 
teenth century, and its neighborhood is inex- 
tricably bound up in the verity and romance 
which have enlivened the slow moving ages. 
Not far away is Exmoor, where occurred the 
contest between Jan Kidd and Robbins Snell, 
in the great romance of "Lorna Doone," by 
Blackmore. The great names in English his- 
tory, which for a time have been connected with 
Tiverton, are very many. It was the privilege 
of Mr. Pavey to listen to such great statesmen 
as Palmerston and Gladstone, the former the 
latter's greatest rival, and by many considered 
his equal in oratorical force. Palmerston s 
official title was Viscount John Henry Tem.ple. 
Mr. Pavey also heard Richard Cobden, the 
English statesman and political economist, 
especially noted as an advocate of free trade 



and peace; and John Bright, the distinguished 
Liberal statesman, orator and writer. 

Mr. Pavey's father was William Pavey and 
his mother was Mary (Davys) Pavey, daughter 
of John Davys, whose ancestor came from 
Wales to Tiverton in 1580 and settled upon land 
to which the family had an indetermi- 
nate lease. Mr. and Mrs. Pavey were the 
parents of eight children, of whom two sons 
and two daughters are deceased. Of those liv- 
ing Joseph is an architect and builder of Chi- 
cago; Ann is the widow of Captain John Evan- 
den, inventor of the jacket can, and Emma is 
the widow of Mr. Ames and lives at Woolton 
Courletay, Dunster-Tauten, England. 

Reared to farming as the most dependable 
of occupations, Henry Pavey in early youth de- 
veloped mechanical ability which had no place 
in the oiteration of a farm. He soon made use 
of his greater gifts and, as he was thorough and 
painstaking, he never was obliged to accept the 
low wages of the average mechanic. When well 
established as a mechanic ambition began to 
Knock at his door and he responded by emigrat- 
ing to the United States during the summer of 
1S49, at that time being about twenty-five years 
old. He had already decided to purchase land 
in the vicinity of Waukegan, 111., but after work- 
ing on a farm there for a few months he de- 
cided that he liked mechanics better, and 
therefore entered the employ of the Waukegan 
Iron Foundry. His worth received ready 
recognition, and he was soon made foreman of 
the foundry and remained in that capacity un- 
til the company failed in 1856. He then leased 
the foundry and operated it on his own re- 
sponsibility for several years, or until etaibark- 
ing in the sash and door manufactory with 
Senator Kirk, of Lake County, 111., in 1864. In 
this also he was successful and in 1867 sold 
out and removed to Chicago, where he en- 
.gaged in the hardware business for a couple of 
years. In 1869 he came to Ipava, this county, 
established a hardware enterprise on a small 
scale and paid the Chicago, Burlington * 
Quincy Railroad for the Hrst two carloads of 
freight ever received at Ipava. As the towji 
grew in size and importance he enlarged his 
business, and in the spring of 1894 sold his 
stock of hardware, but retained the right -".o 
install his hot-water heating system in the 
town and surrounding country. After putting 
in sixteen plants he sold his heaters in 1898 
and since has lived retired from active business. 

The first marriage of Mr. Pavey occurred in 
1852 to Sarah A. Landsay, who died in 1854. 
The following year he was united in marriage 
to Mary Tratt, of Waukegan, III. (his partner'^ 
sister), who died November 19, 1898. Of this 
union there were two children: Sarah Ana, 
wife of Conrad Haney, who has four children — 
Lewis, Milton, Ruth and Alice; and Mary 
Alice, wife of L. P. Gougler, for the past thirty 
years station agent at Ipava for the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and who has 
five children— Judson, Philip, Robert, Zella and 



I030 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Mildred. Mr. Pavey has voted the Republican 
ticket ever since he became an American citi- 
zen, and he was one of the organizers of the 
party in Wauliegan, this State. He has always 
been averse to office-holding, but has aided in 
many ways the local standing of his party. He 
attends preferably the Baptist Church, but 
since living in Ipava has been active in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He is respected 
for his many amiable and excellent traits of 
character, and for the example of sterling man- 
hood which he has contributed to the annals of 
his adopted town of Ipava. 

PEARSON, Edward, a well-known merchant, 
member of the firm of Dainty & Pearson, in 
St. David, Fulton County, 111,, was born in 
Buckheart Township, Fulton County, August 
27, 1872. a son of Thomas and Catherine (Oak- 
ley) Pearson, natives of England. Catherine 
Oakley's first husband was Jabez Dainty, with 
whom she came to the United States, first lo- 
cating in Maryland. Thence they journeyed by 
river to St. Louis, and then up the Illinois to 
Peoria. From there they went to Henry Coun- 
ty, from Henry to Tazewell, and from Tazewell 
to Fulton County, where they effected a perma- 
nent settlement in Buckheart Township. Their 
union resulted in four children (three of whom 
are still living), namely: George, born Janu- 
ary 1, 185.5, in Henry County, 111.; William, de- 
ceased; Frank, of East Peoria, 111., and Jabez, 
a farmer in Buckheart Township. The father 
of this family died about 1862. Mrs. Catherine 
Dainty married Thomas Pearson in 1863 and 
this union was the source of five children, as 
follows; Daniel, who is a farmer in Buck- 
heart Township; Mary, wife of John Ely, of 
Chillicothe, 111.; John, of East Peoria, 111., and 
Sarah, wife of Andrew Haag, residing near 
Chatsworth, 111. Thomas Pearson died in East 
Peoria, 111., .lanuary 23, 1893, but his widow, 
still living, is a resident of that place. 

The sub.iect of this sketch was reared to farm 
life and received his educational training in the 
common schools and m Brown's Business Col- 
lege, Peoria, graduating from that institution 
with the class of 1896. He then located in St. 
David, and he and George Dainty enterea into 
a business partnership. They began in a small 
way, but Mr. Pearson having ample experience, 
they have developed a large trade. The firm 
does a general mercantile business, the concern 
being divided into three departments. The dry 
goods and grocery department is thirty by sev- 
enty feet in dimensions; the meat market twen- 
ty-four by forty feet, and upper room twenty by 
forty feet. Mr. Pearson has charge of the 
business and attends to the buying. The firm 
has built up a trade second to none in this 
section and transacts a business of from $4.5,000 
to $50,000 a year. By fair dealing and strict 
attention to their affairs they have won the 
confidence of the people to an unusual degree. 
The ijostotfice is located in the store building 
and George Dainty is postmaster. 

On June 23, 1897, Mr. Pearson was united In 



marriage with Mary Evans and three children 
have resulted from their union; Cyril, Wayne 
and Deneen. In politics Mr. Pearson is a Re- 
publican, is a member of the St. David City 
Council and fraternally is affiliated with the 
K. of P. and the M. W. A. of Bryant, 111. He 
is one of the most prominent, enterprising and 
popular members of the community. 

PERKINS, Frederic Allen, of Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Canton, September 23, 
1880, a son of Ransom A. and Martha A. 
(Steele) Perkins, the former a native of Chico- 
pee, Mass., and the latter of Bridgewater, N. 
Y. The paternal grandparents, Allen M. and 
Julia R. Perkins, were natives of Connecticut, 
where the former was born in Plainfleld, and 
the latter in Glastonbury. On the maternal side 
the genealogical line of Mr. Perkins is traceable 
to his great-grandfather, Roger Wolcott Steele, 
grandson of Roger Wolcott, who was a Gov- 
ernor of Connecticut during the colonial 
period. The grandparents of Mr. Steele, Al- 
bert and Alice (Love) Steele, were natives of 
Bridgewater, N. Y. 

Frederic Allen Perkins received his primary 
education in the common schools of Canton and 
supplemented his preliminary studies by a 
course in the University of Illinois, receiving 
the degree of LL. B. in 1901 and being admitted 
to practice by the Supreme Court the same 
year. 

In politics Mr. Perkins is a supporter of the 
Democratic party and fraternally is affiliated 
with the B. P. O. E. and A. F. and A. M. He 
was elected City Attorney of Canton in 1904 
and was re-elected in 1906; also served as Mas- 
ter in Chancery of the City Court of Canton for 
several years. 

PERKINS, G. W.— Of the contracting build- 
ers who have contributed much to the past of 
Canton, and who, because of their superior 
equipment and progressive ideas, may be 
counted on to share in the development of the 
future of the town, mention is due G. W. Per- 
kins, who has been a resident of Illinois since 
1874, and a citizen of Canton since 1893. Mr. 
Perkins was Ijorn in Cortland County, N. Y., in 
October, 1851, a son of Olney and Lorenda 
(Wheeler) Perkins, natives of Berlin and 
Solon, N. Y., respectively. 

Mr. Perkins comes honestly by his mechan- 
ical ingenuity, for his father was a mechanic, 
and it was from him that the son learned the 
trade of carpenter and builder. The older man 
eventually pursued his calling in Wisconsin, 
his death occurring in Marion, Kans., in 1886, 
His son, G. W., started out on his own responsi- 
bility in 1874, locating in Marshall County, 111., 
whence he went to Marion County, Kans., re- 
maining there five years, when lie moved to 
Kansas City, where he resided four years. Upon 
arriving in Canton in 1893 he worked for Mr. 
Hoag for two years and In the spring of 1895 
engaged In business tor himself, from the first 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



103 1 



receiving encouraging patronage from both the 
town and county. For fourteen months he was 
foreman of construction at the plow works and 
was general superintendent of worlv on the U. 
G. Orendorff residence in Canton. Mr. Perliins 
has the kind of enthusiasm for his work that 
not only enables him to master it thoroughly, 
but impels him to seek its broadest and most 
interesting manifestations. He has a keen eye 
for the artistic and practical, and that his labor 
will stand the test and approbation of years 
admits of no doubt. 

The home of Mr. Perlvins is presided over by 
his wife, who formerly was Mary C. Gapen, a 
native of Marshall County, 111. Mr. Perkins is 
a member of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and 
Joiners, the laeal Union Insurance and the 
Masons. He is popular with his employes, 
courteous and considerate towards those who 
wish to profit by his skill and on friendly and 
helpful terms with his fellow contractors. 

PERKINS, Ransom Allen, for many years one 
of the most prominent citizens of Canton, Ful- 
ton County, 111., both in mercantile and public 
relations, but now living in honored retire- 
ment, was born in Chicopee, Mass., October 4, 
1838. He is a son of Allen M. and Julia A. 
(Robertson) Perkins, natives of Connecticut, 
where both were born in Glastonbury. 

In early youth R. A. Perliins received his 
education in the |)ublic schools of Utica, N. Y. 
From 1861 to 186.5 he served in Company D, 
Fifth Regiment, New York Veteran Volunteer 
Cavalry, from which he was mustered out as 
Captain. In 1873 he left Utica, N. Y., and lo- 
cated in Canton, 111., where he engaged in mer- 
chandise business, in which he continued for a 
long period with unvarying success. 

On January 17, 1866, Mr. Perkins was joined 
in wedlock with Martha A. Steele, who was 
born and schooled in Bridgewater, N. Y., and 
they became the parents of two children: Al- 
bert S. and Frederick A. 

In political relations Mr. Perkins has always 
been an earnest and influential Democrat. In 
1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland 
Postmaster of Canton. He was elected Mayor 
of the city in 1882 and was re-elected the fol- 
lowing year. He was instrumental in establish- 
ing the present system of water works and in 
making what is now known as Jones Park one of 
the most attractive features of the city. Mr. 
Perkins retired from active business in 1898. 
Fraternally he is a member of Joseph Hooker 
Post, G. A. R.; Bohemond Lodge, K. of P., and 
Anchor Lodge, A. O. U. W. He is a man of 
high principle and strong character and has 
been a potent factor in the development of 
Canton. 

PERRINE, J. A., an enterprising and thorough- 
going farmer of Canton Township, Fulton 
County, 111., where he is well known and has 
many friends, was born in that township April 
14, 1861. His parents, James and Barbara 



(Martin) Perrine, were natives, respectively, of 
New Jersey and Maryland, and the birthplace 
of his grandfather, Daniel Perrine, was in the 
former State. James Perrine accompanied his 
parents at an early day to Ohio, whence, in 
1842, they moved to Illinois, locating in Pul- 
ton County, where the grandfather Martin 
was engaged in farming throughout his life. 
In 1858 James Martin bought of his father 
eighty acres of land in Section 17, Canton 
Township, and at a later period purchased 
more, until he became the owner of 200 acres 
in one tract. This he improved and culti- 
vated, making his home there until his death 
in 1879. He was a diligent, careful and thrifty 
farmer, an honest man, and enjoyed the re- 
spect and good will of all who came in contact 
with him. 

The subject of this sketch attended the 
Mound School, in his vicinity, when a boy, and 
there received a good mental training in the 
elementary branches. He was reared to farm 
life and continued to live on the home place, 
where he carried on farming until 1893. In 
that year he bought the farm where he now 
lives, consisting of eighty acres in Section 7, 
Canton Township. This he improved, build- 
ing a house in 1893, and a new barn in 1901. 
He is engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising with good results. 

In 1882 Mr. Perrine was united in marriage 
with Eva M. McBlain, who was born in Ful- 
ton County, and there in girlhood enjoyed the 
advantages of the public schools. Five chil- 
dren have resulted from this union, namely: 
Nellie, James, Carrie, Marie and Charles. Since 
Mr. Perrine reached the age of twenty-four 
years he has served with marked credit and 
fidelity as School Director of his township. 
In fraternal circles he is identified with the 
M. W. A. He has worthily maintained the 
record before made by two generations of his 
family in Canton Township, and wherever 
known is highly esteemed. 

PHILLIPS, David A. — The possession of a 
splendidly equipped farm of 200 acres on Sec- 
tion 1, Orion Township, by no means repre- 
sents the claims of David A. Phillips upon the 
consideration and appreciation of his fellow 
townsmen. He is a genial man, who spreads 
hope and sunshine around him, and is always 
willing to lighten the load of some one less for- 
tunate than himself. Having only kindly 
thoughts for others, he has brought his own 
way the good will and friendship of practically 
every one that he has ever known, and is un- 
questionably one of the most popular men in 
the community. A diversity of occupations had 
thrown him in contact with all classes of peo- 
ple in the township, and beginning with his ar- 
rival here in 1874, and the establishment of his 
wagon-making shop, he for years attracted work 
as much by his kindly personal qualities as by 
his expert skill as a tradesman. Besides wagon- 
making he had acquired a thorough knowledge 



I032 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of the tanner's, carpenter's and painter's trades 
and has therefore had at his command many 
ways of making himself a useful member of 
society. For several years he has been wean- 
ing himself away from work, for he now has 
arrived at the age of eighty-six and is deserv- 
ing of the leisure as well as the pro,-;perity 
which rewards his well directed energy. 

Mr. Phillips is a native of New York, where 
he was born October 18, 1820. On both sides of 
his family he is descended from men iict've in 
the stirring times around 1776, and his paternal 
grandfather. Luke Phillips, served in the Conti- 
nental army seven years and seven months. 
His parents were Nehemian and Phcebe ( Hop- 
kins) Phillips, natives of Rhode Island, the lat- 
ter a daughter of Stephen Hopkins, and grand- 
daughter of Benoni Hopkins. John Brown, an 
uncle of Mrs. Phillips, was one of the zealous 
patriots who assisted in throwing the tea over- 
board in Boston harbor, and thus precipitated 
hostilities between the mother country and the 
colonists. There were nine children born to 
Nehemiah Phillips and his wife, several of 
whom are deceased, and some of whom are 
residents of Wayne County. Mich., to which the 
family removed at an early day. 

While a resident of Port Wayne, Ind., David 
A. Phillips married Rebecca I. Knox, to whose 
economy, cheerfulness and sympathy he at- 
tributes a large share of his success. To them 
were born seven children: Albina, who mar- 
ried William Milam, of Lincoln. Neb.; Annetta. 
who became the wife of John Brown, of Lane 
County, Ore.; Orlando, who married Emma Tin- 
dall, and settled in Farmington. 111.; Ira Mel- 
viu, who married Belle Loman. of Peoria 
County, 111. ; Edgar A., who married Ida Opie. 
and settled on the old homestead; Seward Lin- 
coln, who married Cora Gamble, and located in 
Peoria County, and Mary E., who remains un- 
married. Mr. Phillips has ever been a stanch 
Republican. He is not connected with any re- 
ligious organization, but his life is one of up- 
rightness and morality, guided by unchange- 
ably high principles. His association with the 
township has been for its betteiToent. and the 
lesson in industry and patient application 
which emanated for years from his little shop 
and still is a pronounced feature of his ad- 
vanced age, has been far-reaching in its effect. 

PHILLIPS, Truxton N., a successful and pros- 
I)erous carriage-maker of Farmington, Fulton 
County, 111., where he has spent most of his 
time since early childhood, was born in the 
State of New York on June 5. 1849. a son of 
Henry and Susan (Irons) Phillips, the former 
a native of New York State and the latter of 
Rhode Island. Henry Phillips came from New 
York to Illinois in 1856 and settled in Fulton 
County, where he secured employment with 
Milton Hoffman, in Farmington. as a wagon 
and carriage-maker, remaining as foreman in 
the Hoffman shop until 1877. He was a thor- 
ough master of his trade and an excellent 



workman. His son, Truxton, received his 
early mental training in the public schools of 
Fulton County and worked in the shop with 
his father until the latter went to Trinidad, 
Colo., and later to Doniphan, Neb., where he 
afterwards died. 

After the removal of his father from Farm- 
ington the subject of this sketch spent three 
years in Iowa, returning in 1882 and resuming 
work at his trade. Mr. Phillips possesses the 
requisite knowledge and skill to construct a 
carriage in its entirety, his experience having 
been acquired at a period when it was impos- 
sible to ship carriages to the factory for the 
purpose of repairs. Very few men of his age 
have the ability to do this owing to the fact 
that in such factories carriage-building is now 
done by piece work, and the same man is not 
engaged on all parts of a carriage. Mr. Phillips 
owns a comfortable residence on North Main 
Street, in Farmington. He remembers well 
some of the destructive fires which have oc- 
curred in that town during the last thirty-five 
years. One of these consumed the two-story 
plow factory owned by Fawcit, Cay wood & Co., 
having a capacity of forty plows per day, fur- 
nishing employment to 12.0 men, and covering 
a half block of ground. In this factory Mr. 
Phillips was employed as a wood-worker and 
finisher. It was burned down June 23, 1870, 
and shortly afterwards was rebuilt as a brick 
structure, 100 by 160 feet in dimensions, and 
operated until about 1880, when it was demol- 
ished. Mr. Phillips planned and built the first 
hay-loader manufactured at these works. He 
also constructed the woodwork for the first 
plow turned out by this firm, which was placed 
on exhibition at the fair at Canton. 111., in 
1871, and was awarded a premium. Another 
memorable fire in Farmington was that which 
destroyed the old school building. December 9. 
1519(1. This was three stories in height and 
valued at $25,000. 

On January 31, 1872, Mr. Phillips was united 
in marriage with Alice M. Merchant, who was 
born in Fulton County, 111., and there in girl- 
hood enjoyed the advantages afforded by the 
public schools. A son, Walter L., was the off- 
spring of this union. 

In the political contests of his town and 
county Mr. Phillips is not inclined to take an 
active part, but ordinarily supports the candi- 
dates whom he deems best fitted for the offices 
sou,ght. He does not neglect, however, to in- 
form himself in regard to public affairs and to 
keep posted concerning current events. He is 
a man of upright character and honorable deal- 
ings and is respected by all. 

PHILLIPS, William. — Since his arrival in 
Fulton County in 1.S89 William Phillips has 
been identified with the production of coal in 
the Canton mines and as evidence that his in- 
dustry has been well applied has amassed a 
comfortable competence. Mr. Phillips is one 
of the representative Englishmen of the town. 





'a.x.<M^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1033 



having the sturdy inclinations and more than 
the average adaptability of those of his coun- 
trymen who seek citizenship under the Stars 
and Stripes. He takes a keen interest in poli- 
ties and while in no sense an ofl5ce-seeker, was 
elected Alderman of the Third Ward in the 
spring of 1903. His social inclinations find an 
outlet as a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and his business is advanced by 
identification with the Miners' Union. 

Mr. Phillips conies from one of the interest- 
ing places in England, having been born in 
18.59 in the forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, 
West Midland, England. The forest of Dean, 
largely composed of crown land, is situated be- 
tween the Lower Wye and the Severn Rivers, 
southeast of the famous cathedral town of 
Gloucester, and is renowned for its deposits of 
coal and iron and its oak and beech trees. 
Through long experience In the mines of 
Gloucester Mr. Philli])s came to America as a 
practical coal miner, a man whose opinions and 
judgment could be of immediate use to the 
community. In his native land he established 
a home of his own in 1884, marrying Jane 
Harris, a native also of Gloucester, and of 
which union there are four children: Annie, 
John W., Emily and Ruth. Mr. Phillips is es- 
teemed for his kindly nature, public spirit, up- 
right character and thrift and for the business 
sagacity employed in the development of one 
of the important natural resources of the com- 
munity. 

PIGG, Lewis P. — The capacity for finding 
enjoyment in what one has to do, of being able 
to invest one's labor with interest and en- 
thusiasm, are essentials of success which have 
been incorporated in the career of Lewis P. 
Pigg, owner of a valuable stock farm of 288 
acres on Section 9, Berncdotte Township. Al- 
though Mr. Pigg's possession of this property 
dates only from 1899, it already reflects the 
ideas and individuality of its manager, as 
against the blind following of methods of opera- 
tion practiced by his predecessor. The admirer 
of high-grade stock must needs feel in his ele- 
ment on this fine farm, for here is much to 
stimulate his interest and increase his infor- 
mation. Shropshire sheep, Percheron horses. 
Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs attain 
perfection under the best possible conditions of 
housing and feeding, and general farming is 
conducted with the most modern of agricultural 
devices, 

Mr. Pigg was born September 18, 1852, on 
Section 5, Bernadotte Township, a son of An- 
derson and Mary ( Sanders ) Pigg, the former 
born in Tennessee in 1806 and the latter in 
Baltimore, Md., August 6, 1805. James Pigg, 
the iiaternal grandfather, moved to Casey 
County, Ky., and there died about 1865, having, 
in the meantime, entirely lost his eyesight. No- 
vember 23, 1830, Anderson Pigg, accompanied 
by Messrs. Randall and Beadles, removed to 
Fulton County, 111., settling in Bernadotte 
27 



Township. Formerly Mr. Pigg had engaged in 
farming entirely, but here he engaged in various 
occupations while becoming accustomed to his 
strange and unsettled surroundings He 
eventually bought the farm on Section 5. where 
Lewis P. was born and whore his death occurred 
in 1893. He was a quiet, una.=;sumins man an 
old-line Jackson Democrat and attended the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He was the par- 
ent of four children, of whom James S., born in 
July, 1843, died May 30, 1S64; Lvdia, widow of 
James KirkpatricR, of McDonough County, 111 
and Permelia J. (deceased) was the w'ife of 
Wallace Knock, of Bunch, Kans. 

Lewis P. Pigg has spent his entire life on a 
farm. In youth he attended the public schools, 
but it is safe to assume that he has learned 
more from observation and experience than 
from books. He remained under the parental 
roof until his thirtieth year, and as an inde- 
pendent farmer was sufficiently successful to 
justify the establishment of a home of his own, 
which he did after his marriage, in February, 
1883, to Laura Whiting. Of this union there 
were three children: William, born in 1885; 
Inez, born September 21, 1887, and died the 
same year, and Frances, born April 17, 1889. 
Mrs. Pigg died at the birth of the last named 
child. On February 1, 1895, Mr. Pigg was united 
in marriage to Cora E. Freiley, born in Berna- 
dotte Township, April 28, 1868. Of this union 
there are five children: Irma, born October 27, 
1896: Wayne, born March 19, 1897; Freiley, 
born August 27, 1899; Dwight, born June 20, 
1900, and Harold, born in P'ebruary, 1905. Mr. 
Pigg is an uncomiiromising Democrat, but in- 
clination never has led him into the vortex of 
political activity. He has led a busy, temperate 
life, one in which an effort always has been 
made to see the bright side of things, to culti- 
vate the best thoughts and wisely utilize his 
opportunities. 

PIPER, Abner (deceased). For many years 
the name of Abner Piper was connected with a 
flourishing boot and shot business in the city 
of Canton. The town has known no more 
stable and reliable merchant. He was one of 
the colony of retired men, a few of whom are 
living on borrowed time, but as he stood upon 
the thresnold of ninety years, there was little to 
indicate the physical and general disabilities 
which are supposed to accompany such generous 
extension of human existence. Mr. Piper was 
born in Phillipston, Worcester County, Mass., 
Ajiril 1. 1817, a son of Artemus and Mary 
I Hammond ) Piper, grandson of Abel Piper, 
great-grandson of Noah Piper and great-great- 
grandson of the establisher of the Piper family 
on American soil. 

In Scotland, where the Piper family was 
known for generations, was laid the foundation 
of the rugged health and sterling characteris- 
tics ever associated with those bearing the 
name. Abel Piper was an inn-keeper by occu- 
pation, and after he returned from the Revolu- 



I034 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tlonary War his tavern was a popular meeting 
place for those who had carried the musket in 
the momentous struggle for independence. He 
was something more than a soldier, gaining, by 
his courage and l^nowledge of military tactics, 
the rank of Lieutenant of Minutemen. The sur- 
roundings of this old-time inn still are fresh in 
the mind of the grandson of the colonial Lieu- 
tenant, who, as a child, often visited the well 
conducted hostelry. 

Of an entirely different occupation was Arte- 
mus Piper, who in early life became a sailor, 
and later was a teacher of navigation. He was 
born at Gerry — later changed to Phillipston — 
Mass., in 1783 and during the War of 1812 was 
in command of a revenue cutter, from the deck 
of which he witnessed the fight between the 
"Boxer" and "Enterprise. Mr. Piper married 
Mary Hammond, daughter of Paul and Anna 
(Davis) Hammond, who was a native of Fal- 
mouth, Mass. 

Mr. Hammond also commanded a craft during 
the War oi 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Piper were the 
parents of six children, the order of their birth 
being as follows: Julia Ann, Artemus D., Am- 
brose H., Phoebe Rose, Abner and Betsy Cath- 
erine. 

Abner Piper was reared on a farm, the envir- 
onment of which he outgrew, in time turning 
his attention to the trade of shoemaking. While 
learning nis trade he continued to work a part 
of the time in the harvest fields, but from his 
nineteenth year devoted his energies entirely to 
the shoe business. In Templeton, Mass., he be- 
came a cutter in one of the large shoe estab- 
lishments, and in 1838 came went to Galena, 
111., to visit a brother-in-law. While in Galena he 
was interested in merchandising for a short 
time, but soon after came to Canton, later 
moving to Ohio, and from there returned to 
his native State, where he was employed in a 
shoe manufactory until locating in Canton with 
his family in 1865. Still he did not entirely 
sever his connection with the manufactory in 
the East, but as foreman returned each year to 
superintend its affairs, eventually, however, giv- 
ing up his Canton home, as the strain of fre- 
quent travel proved too great. From 1870 until 
1876 he lived in the Bay State, and then located 
permanently in Canton, where he established 
the boot and shoe store so long and favorably 
connected with his name. He became a steady 
and conservative element in business, evidenc- 
ing those personal qualities which laid the 
foundation of the substantial commonwealths of 
the New England States. 

The marriage of Mr. Piper to Betsy M., daugh- 
ter of Paul and Catherine ( Mason ) Hammond, 
occurred in Sidney, Me., in 1847. The Ham- 
mond family has been long established in 
America, connected originally with Concord, 
Mass. There are three children in the family 
of Mr. and Mrs. Piper, of whom Warren H. 
married Sarah C. Smalley and has five children 
— Abner C, Harry R., Betsy M., Bertie and 
Mary. Warren H. married, as his second wife. 



Ellen S. Stevens. The two youngest sons, Car- 
los A. and Vernon A., are prominent business 
men of Canton. The latter is a prominent fra- 
ternalist and for years has been connected with 
the Olive Branch Lodge, No. 15, I. O. O. F. 
Mr. Piper's aeath occurred at Canton, 111., Feb- 
ruary 5, 1894. His life was crowned with finan- 
cial success, but what is more to be desired, he 
set an example of upright, noble and moderate 
living which won for him the respect and good 
will of the entire community. Few of our ven- 
erable men exceeded him in grace of character, 
kindliness of disposition, usefulness and com- 
panionable disposition. 

PIPPITT, Robert. — One of the progressive 
farmers of Fulton County of the younger gen- 
eration, Robert Pippitt is the son of a very 
early pioneer, John Pippitt. His father, who 
was born January 8, 1823, came to Fulton 
County in 1840, settling in Union Township 
during that year and later purchased the land 
which, by years of persevering industry, he 
transformed into tne family homestead. The 
elder Pippitt was a native of Ohio, while his 
wife (formerly Elizabeth Talant) was born in 
Tennessee, September 18, 1832. 

Robert Pippitt, the subject of this sketch, was 
born on the old home farm in Union Township, 
August 16, 1866, and has been a resident of that 
locality all his life. He assisted his father In 
the performance of the labors usually falling to 
the lot of a farmer's son, meanwhile attending 
the district schools, and from them receiving 
such education as he could, until at the age of 
twenty-four years he was qualified to found a 
home of his own. 

On February 16, 1890, Mr. Pippitt was mar- 
ried, in Union Township, to Christiana Richard- 
son, who was born in that township just 
twenty years before. Of this union seven chil- 
dren have been born, namely: Ralph, Anna 
E., Elizabeth, Farley, Mary. Clara and Alice. 
Although Mr. Pippitt is a Democrat, he has 
confined his politics to faithfully voting his 
ticket, the care of his family and the proper 
conduct of his farming operations consuming 
all his time, energies and abilities. 

PITTMAN, David W., a well-known farmer 
and grain-dealer of Lewistown, Fulton County, 
111., and one of the prominent and successful 
business men of his community, was born at 
Independence, Putman Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, May 6, 1861, a son of John and Caroline 
(Aycrs) Pittman, natives of Harrisonville, Bed- 
ford County, Pa. The paternal grandfather, 
Richard Pittman, was also born in that State. 
The great-grandfather on the same side was a 
native of Scotland, and the great-grandmother 
was of German descent. John Pittman, the 
father, was born in 1821, while his father, 
Richard Pittman. was born in 1791 and died 
in 1874. Richard Pittman had a family of three 
daughters and one son. The daughters died 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



I03S 



between the ages of sixty-eight and eighty-two 
years. 

John Pittman settled in Fulton County in 
1857, locating in Putman Township, where he 
bought a farm of 240 acres, which he owned at 
the time of his death, eighty acres of it being 
the home place. For many years he was a 
teacher in his native State. His wife, Caroline, 
passed away December 2.5, 1S64. Their union 
was the source of seven children, namely: 
Richard E.; George S., deceased; Mary, de- 
ceased wife of James W. Mason, a resident of 
Canton, Fulton County; Elizabeth, wife of Her- 
bert Sipes, a farmer in Waterford Township; 
Jacob, of Cuba, 111.; David W. and William F., 
deceased. 

John Pittman married as his second wife 
Elizabeth Keims, this union resulting in three 
children: Charles L., a farmer in Putman 
Township; Frank O., a farmer and hardware 
merchant in Cuba, 111., and Jennie E., wife of 
Jasper DeWitt, a farmer in Joshua Township, 
Fulton County. The decease of Mr. John Pitt- 
man, the father of this family, occurred August 
30, 190.5. Beginning in Fulton County with 
limited means, he had, by industry, frugality 
and perseverance, accumulated a handsome 
competency. In politics he was a Democrat and 
filled with credit nearly every office in his 
township, his fellow townsmen insisting on im- 
posing public trusts upon him as long as he 
would accept them. For many years he dis- 
charged the duties of Supervisor. He was pub- 
lic-spirited, always identified with the best in- 
terests of the county. Church and school alike 
ever found in him a strong advocate. He was 
a man of absolute integrity, his word being 
considered as good as his bond. 

David W. Pittman, the immediate subject of 
this sketch, was reared on the paternal farm, 
where he made his home until he was twenty- 
four years old. He meanwhile received his 
mental training in the district schools and has 
passed his entire life in Fulton County. In 
1885 he engaged in the grain business at Civer 
Station, remaining there one year; then spent 
one year at Bryant, Fulton County, and in 1888 
located in Lewistown. 111., where he devotes 
most of his attention to buying and shipping 
grain. In addition to this he owns and man- 
ages a farm of 250 acres in Sections 10 and 15, 
Waterford Township. His business and farm- 
ing operations have proved successful, and he 
is ranked as one of tlie substantial men in Ful- 
ton County. 

On September 8, 1886, Mr. Pittman was united 
in marriage with Mattie J. Anderson, a native 
of Illinois, and a daughter of William and 
Sarah (Martin) Anderson. Six children have 
been the offspring of this union, namely; 
Mary E., Hazel M.. David E., Ross F., Verna 
L. and John W., all of whom have received a 
thorough mental training in the schools of 
Lewistown. 

In politics Mr. Pittman is a Democrat and 
has held office as a member of the Board of 



Review of Fulton County and served as a mem- 
ber of the Lewistown City Council. Frater- 
nally he is affiliated with the K. of P., M. W. A. 
and Court of Honor. 

PLATTENBURG, William D., a prominent 
bank official of Canton, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in that city April 21, 1862, and is a son 
of William D. and Margaret J. (Ward) Platten- 
burg, of whom the former was born in Wells- 
burg, W. Va., and the latter in Circleville, Ohio. 
His father came to Illinois in 1854, and was 
engaged in the lumber business under the firm 
name of Plattenburg & Son for about twenty 
years, and subsequently conducted a boot and 
shoe store for thirteen years. He died June 14, 
1899. 

In his youth William D. Plattenburg attended 
school in Canton. In 1882 he went into the 
First .\ational Bank of that city as clerk, and 
became Cashier of the institution in 1892. He 
is also Treasurer of the Canton Union School 
District, and is reputed to be a man of excel- 
lent business capacity. 

On January 22, 1897, Mr. Plattenburg was 
married to Adele Shepley, who was born in 
Fairview, 111., and received her early education 
in Canton. One child, Virginia, is the off- 
spring of this union. In politics Mr. Platten- 
burg is a supporter of the Republican party and 
fraternally is affiliated with the A. F. and A. M. 
and the K. of P. 

PLUMER, Thomas R., M. D.— What higher 
relation can a man bear to the community In 
which he lives than does that member of it 
who, with knowledge gained through long and 
diligent research and with skill perfected by 
years of ripe experience, devotes himself to the 
task of staying the ravages of disease, mitigat- 
ing the pangs of suffering and restoring the 
stricken to health? And then, when the faith- 
ful physician supplements high professional 
qualifications with noble personal traits of 
character, he rises into an exalted sphere of 
activity, and his life is a boon to his fellow- 
men. Such a life has been that of the subject 
of this record. Dr. Thomas R. Plumer, one of 
the prominent and respected residents of Farm- 
ington, Fulton County, 111., for the past seven- 
teen years. 

Born on April 3. 1830, in Westmoreland 
County, Pa., he is a son of William and Sarah 
(Robertson) Plumer, natives of the Keystone 
State. William Plumer was a sturdy and 
thrifty tiller of the soil, upright in his deal- 
ings, respected by his neighbors and prosper- 
ous in his vocation. He was the father of a 
family consisting of twelve children, nine of 
whom were boys. Four of the offspring of his 
union with Sarah Robertson, a most estimable 
and devoted mother, are still living. 

The subject of this sketch spent his boy- 
hood and youth, as most farmers' sons are wont 
to do, turning his hand to whatever task was 
required of him by way of assistance In his 



1036 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



father's farming operations. His early mental 
training was obtained in the public schools in 
the vicinity of his home in Pennsylvania, and 
he studiously utilized every opportunity to im- 
prove his mind up to the time of beginning his 
preparation for a professional career. He then 
commenced the study of medicine with Dr. A. 
G. Marsh, of New Richmond, Ohio, and after 
completing his studies with Dr. Marsh entered 
into practice in that State in ISbt. In 1859 he 
moved to Illinois and established himself in 
practice at Smithville, Peoria County, where he 
remained until 1S6S. In that year he went 
back to Ohio, where he remained for one sum- 
mer, but returning in the fall to Illinois, began 
practice in Trivoli, Peoria County, remaining 
there until 1889. At that period he bought out 
the business of Dr. Albert D. Gove, M. D., of 
Farmington, and has there been engaged in 
practice ever since. In recent years he has 
taken into partnership with him his son Wil- 
liam and Dr. Frank C. Robb. With the excep- 
tion of the summer spent in Ohio in 1868 he has 
practiced medicine in the vicinity of Farming- 
ton since the time when ne first located at 
Smithville. 

He is still attending to his professional du- 
ties, but IS contemplating a withdrawal from 
active duty in this line in the early future. At 
present he is the oldest practicing physician in 
this section of the State. 

On May 3, 1860, Dr. Plumer was united in 
marriage with Temperance L. Swickard, who 
was born in Jefferson, Ohio. She departed this 
life in 1874. In 1882 the Doctor entered into 
matrimony for the second time, wedding Hen- 
rietta Porter, of Pennsylvania. His first wife 
bore him five children, namely: Jacoo S., de- 
ceased; Alexander, who is engaged in the prac- 
tice of veterinary surgery; William, who is as- 
sociated with his father in practice; John A., 
also a physician, and Mary S., deceased. Po- 
litically Dr. Plumer has been for many years 
identified with the Republican party and in 
fraternal affiliation is a member of the 1. O. 
O. F. He has always been held in high esteem 
in Fulton and Peoria Counties as a skillful and 
faithful physician and a public-spirited and 
useful citizen. 

FOE, George Oliver (deceased), formerly a 
well known and much respected citizen of Can- 
ton, Fulton County, 111., was born in that place 
January 28, 1855. a son of George R. Poe and 
wife, natives of Maryland. James R. Poe was 
a farmer by occupation and followed that pur- 
suit in Maryland and Illinois throughout his 
active life. In boyhood George R. Poe attended 
the public schools of Canton and spent his 
youth in working on a farm. At the age of 
twenty-one years he learned the trade of cigar- 
maker and was connected with that business 
until his death. For a considerable period he 
acted in the capacity of foreman of the W. O. 
Dean Cigar Factory, in Canton. In this posi- 
tion he proved his efficiency and the fidelity 



with which he served his employer's interests 
was generally recognized. He died April 9, 
1897. 

In January, 1883, Mr. Poe was united in mar- 
riage at Canton, 111., with Alice Middlekauff, a 
daughter of Simon P. and Joanna (Xuenemaker) 
Middlekauff. In Maryland Simon P. Middle- 
kauff was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but 
when he moved to Illinois in 1877 he withdrew 
from active work and located in Canton, where 
he lived in retirement. One child resulted from 
the union of George O. Poe and his wife, name- 
ly: Ralph W., who is a tinner by trade. 

In politics Mr. Poe was a supporter of the 
Republican party, and as a citizen maintained 
an excellent standing. In private and domes- 
tic life he was dutiful and exemplary and en- 
joyed the confidence and respect of many 
friends. Mrs. Poe still survives, and is very 
highly regarded by a wide circle of acquaint- 
ances on account of her estimable traits of 
character. 

POISOT, Albert A. — Prominent among the 
progressive farmers and stock-raisers of Ful- 
ton County, Albert A. Poisot has raised himself 
to enviable distinction by specializing along the 
latter department of agriculture, and now is 
without a rival as the largest stock-buyer and 
feeder in his section of the State. Mr. Poisot 
is a wide-awake and invaluable citizen of Avon, 
near where his entire life has been spent, and 
where he was born on a farm October IC, 1866. 
His father, Francis Poisot, was born in France 
June 10, 1838, and as a young man came to the 
United States to profit by its larger opportuni- 
ties, eventuallj' becoming a part of the best 
country element of Fulton County. W^ith few 
worldly assets at the outset of his career, he 
made steady advance in the new country, final- 
ly establishing a home of his own by marry- 
ing Martha Jane Hovell, who was born in Ful- 
ton County November 14, 1840. 

Albert A. Poisot inherited French thrift and 
resourcefulness from the paternal side of his 
family, and as a youth profited by the public 
schools and those opportunities and diversions 
which fall to the lot of the well-born and well- 
bred country lad. A natural trader, and with 
a keen appreciation of good stock, he applied 
himself to scientific research in connection 
therewith and today is a recognized authority 
in this important field. While rising to his 
present position of assured financial and gen- 
eral importance, he has acquired 1,000 acres of 
valuable land and owns besides a home within 
the town of Avon. 

Mr. Poisot has never sought political honors, 
notwithstanding that he is a stanch supporter 
of the Democratic party. His religious prefer- 
ences are with the Universalist Church, to the 
charities and general support of which he is a 
generous contributor. For tne past twelve 
years he has maintained a home of his own, 
having married December 25, 1895, in Union 
Township. Fulton County, Nevie Babbitt, a na- 




W . S . S EAVEY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1037 



tive of Warren County, 111., born Marcli 17, 
1S75. Of this union there are two children — 
Ruth and Phyllis. 

POISOT, Francis.— Underlying and directing 
the more than average agricultural success of 
Francis Poisot is that far-sighted and reasona- 
ble thrift which characterizes the peasantry of 
France, and which, notwithstanding the glitter 
and color and seeming extravagance and mag- 
nificence of those in high places of Paris and 
the provinces, yet obtains as a steadying cur- 
rent, and by its very existence making possi- 
ble that fascination of national life which 
charms and attracts the less volatile people of 
the world. Transferred to the crude and unde- 
veloped regions of the United States, this same 
capacity for saving, for making little go far, 
for philosophically accepting whatever of hard- 
ship and discouragement accompanies one's 
struggles toward fortune, have made of the 
transplanted Frenchman one of the most de- 
sirable and commendable of citizens. 

Mr. Poisot was born in France June 10, 1S3S, 
a son of John and Mary (Simney) Poisot, also 
born in France. When Francis was five years 
old, in 1843, he came with his parents to 
America, and the same year located in Fulton 
County, where the father purchased a farm of 
140 acres. The following year a return trip 
to France was planned, but upon arriving in 
Pennsylvania on the way to New York, the 
father was taken ill and died and was buried 
in a lonely grave, far from friends or kindred. 
The rest of the family eventually crossed the 
ocean to their native land, and Francis in 
IS.54 returned with his mother to Fulton Coun- 
ty, locating upon the farm purchased by his 
father ten years before. With this property 
as a nucleus he built up a substantial farming 
enterprise, made many practical improvements, 
always keeping his earnings ahead of his ex- 
penditures. That he now owns a thousand acres 
in Fulton County argues well for his business 
sagacity and resource. For years he has made 
a, specialty of high grade stock, but of neces- 
sity his standards can be maintained only by 
farmers of large and abundant means. He has 
outstripped in laud accumulation practically all 
of his contemporaries in the county, and is one 
of its largest individual tax-payers. 

A rarely beautiful devotion to his aged 
mother, until her death in 1S64, indicated to all 
who knew him the character and loyalty of 
Mr. Poisot. The following year, November 21, 
1865, in Knox County, 111., Alexis Poisot, broth- 
er of Francis, was united in marriage to 
Martha Jane Hovell, who was born in Fulton 
County, HI., November 11, 1.S40, and who is the 
devoted mother of three children, Albert being 
the sole survivor of the children by the first 
marriage. In political preference Mr. Poisot 
is a Democrat, but he has no official aspira- 
tions. In religion he is a member of the Cath- 



olic Church. At the age of fifty-eight Mr. Poisot 
is one of the young, energetic men of the com- 
munity, who, nevertheless, is inclined to rest 
upon his honors, and permit his son, Albert, to 
assume the responsibility of managing the large 
estate. The wealth and resource of the county 
have unfolded to no more deserving recognizer 
of opportunity, or to any who have contributed 
more substantially to its permanent well-being. 

POISOT, Mrs. Martha Jane (Hovell).— One of 

the oldest and most substantial families con- 
nected with Union Township is that of which 
Mrs. Martha Jane (Hovell) Poisot is a worthy 
representative. As Martha Jane Hovell this 
estimable woman passed her girlhood on the 
farm of her father, Thomas Hovell, where her 
birth occurred November 14, 1840, and where 
she was trained in those housewifely arts which 
have since contributed to her success as wife, 
mother and home-maker. Her education was 
that of the district schools, which she attended 
during the winter season and which, with her 
home work, her church associations, and the 
diversions afforded in the neighborhood, con- 
tributed to a youth of interest and usefulness. 

Too much cannot be said of the energy and 
resource of Thomas Hovell, who was born in 
England February 14, 1811, and who came while 
still young in years to America, bringing with 
him as assets his health, his ambition and his 
determination to succeed. He was united in 
marriage with Prudence Reynolds, who was 
born in Indiana May 25, 1820, and with whom 
he settled on a farm in Fulton County. HI., 
then a thinly populated region. He was not the 
kind of man to plod along in a narrow rut, and 
with the same amount of produce year after 
year, so in time he added to his possessions 
until he owned 1,400 acres of land. His suc- 
cess indicated large business as well as general 
ability, and his home became one of the best 
equipped and most paying in the county, and 
to participate actively in many of its forward 
movements. He was a stanch supporter of edu- 
cation and religion and was an active member 
of the Universalist Church. Mrs. Hovell died 
May 5, 1894, and Mr. Hovell lived until Novem- 
ber 6, 1897. 

The marriage of Mrs. Jane Hovell and Fran- 
cis Poisot occurred in Knox County, III., No- 
vember 21, 1SG5, and of the union there are 
two children, Netta and Louise. Mrs. Poisot 
has gathered around her a large circle of 
friends and she is much beloved for her many 
fine and womanly traits of character. 

POLHEMUS, Garrett V. (deceased), whose 
farming experience in Fulton County, III., com- 
menced in the pioneer days, and whose resi- 
dence in that county extended over a period of 
sixty-four years, was born in Somerset County. 
N. J., October 28, 1821, a son of Daniel G. and 
Maria (Voorhees) Polhemus, natives of New 



I038 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Jersey, where the father was born, November 
21, 1795. His marriage to Maria Voorhees took 
place January 21, 1S21. Daniel G. Polhemus 
was a farmer by occupation and a son of Gar- 
rett and Jane (Hageman) Polhemus. In youth 
he received a common school education in 
New Jersey, and after being engaged in farm- 
ing in that State for several years, made a 
journey to Illinois in 1837. Two years later he 
brought his family from the East to Fulton 
County, where he ultimately became the owner 
of 517 acres of land in Fairview Township. 
There he carried on general farming during the 
remainder of his life, raising also considerable 
stock. In politics he was a Republican and in 
his religious associations a member of the Re- 
formed Church. To him and his wife were 
born four boys and six girls. 

Garrett V. Polhemus attended the public 
schools of New Jersey in boyhood and at the 
age of sixteen years accompanied his father to 
Fulton County. In early manhood he com- 
menced farming for himself and continued thus 
during his active life. His labors were at- 
tended with uniform success, and he was at 
one time the owner of 258 acres of land on 
Section 28, Fairview Township, some of which 
was afterward included within the limits of 
the town of Fairview. His farming career in 
Fulton County was in progress before the ad- 
vent of railroads, and he often hauled wheat 
to Chicago, selling it at fifty cents per bushel. 
He devoted a considerable portion of his time 
to raising and feeding stock. 

On December 7, 1848, Mr. Polhemus was 
married at Fairview, 111., to Jane V. Brokaw, a 
native of New Jersey, and a daughter of 
William and Helena (Ditmers) Brokaw. This 
union resulted in a family of five boys and 
three girls, of whom six are still living, namely: 
Henry, who resides at Aurora, 111.; Helen (Mrs. 
Demott), whose home is in Crookston, Minn.: 
John, of Norman, Okla.; Emily (Mrs. Cox), of 
Canton, 111.; William, who occupies the home- 
stead property; and Abraham I., whose resi- 
dence is in Peoria. William, who was born in 
1857, remained on the homestead farm, which 
he now rents and has charge of. 

Mr. Polhemus remained on his home farm in 
Fairview Township for forty-four years, in 1894 
removing to Fairview Village, where he erect- 
ed a residence inside the corporation limits 
similar to that which he had occupied on the 
farm, and here he continued to reside until his 
death on February 15, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. 
Polhemus celebrated their "silver wedding" on 
the home farm in December, 1873, and their 
"golden wedding" twenty-five years later (1898) 
in their home at Fairview, the event being 
commemorated by the presence of a large 
number of friends, including two — Mr. Garrett 
Voorhees and Mrs. Matilda Wyckoff — who had 
witnessed the marriage ceremony fifty years 



previous. On Mrs. Polhemus' side of the fam- 
ily were celebrated three golden weddings and 
on Mr. Polhemus' side two similar events. Mr. 
Polhemus' religious connection was with the 
Reformed Church, and politically, he was a 
supporter of the Republican party. He held the 
office of Supervisor three years, and for fifteen 
consecutive, and three later years, served as 
School Director. His memory is warmly 
cherished by his family and the many friends 
who knew his excellent traits of character, and 
his record will long be held in honor as that of 
one of the most upright and useful among the 
early settlers of Fulton County. 

POLHEMUS, William B., who is a son of Gar- 
rett V. and Jane V. (Brokaw) Polhemus. was 
born in Fairview Township in 1857, where he 
has since lived on the homestead farms, of 
which he still retains the management. He 
comes of sturdy pioneer stock, liis grandpar- 
ents, Daniel G. and Maria (Voorhees) Polhe- 
mus, were natives of New Jersey, the grand- 
father having been born November 21, 1795, 
and his marriage with Maria Voorhees was sol- 
emnized January 21, 1821. He was a farmer by 
occupation and received a common school edu- 
cation in New Jersey, coming to Illinois in 
1837. Two years thereafter he brought his 
family from New Jersey to Fulton County, and 
later became tne owner of more than 500 acres 
of land in Fairview Township, where he con- 
tinued his farming operations until his death. 
The family consisted of four boys and six girls. 
He was a member of the Reformed Church. 

Garrett V. Polhemus, the father of William 
B., was educated in the public schools of New 
Jersey, and at the age of sixteen years came 
with his parents to Fulton County. He fol- 
lowed in the same life vocation as his father, 
was uniformly successful and continued as an 
agriculturist to the time of his death. At one 
time he owned 258 acres of land, a portion of 
which is embraced in the present limits of the 
village of Fairview. In his earlier farming ex- 
periences he, like all others of the locality, la- 
bored under the disadvantage of a lack of 
transportation, and often hauled wheat to Chi- 
cago, where he received only fifty cents per 
bushel. He was a veteran of the Civil War. 

G. V. Polhemus was married December 7, 
1848, at Fairview, 111., to Jane V. Brokaw. a na- 
tive of New Jersey and a daughter of William 
and Helena (Dithrens) Brokaw. This union 
resulted in a family of five boys and three 
girls, of wliom six are still living, namely: 
Henry, who resides at Aurora. 111.; Helen (Mrs. 
Demott), whose home is in Crookston, Minn.; 
John, of Norman, Okla.; Emily (Mrs. Cox), 
of Fail-view, 111.; William, the subject of 
this sketch, who occupies the homestead 
property; and Abraham I., whose residence 
is in Peoria. William, who was born in 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1039 



1857, always remained on the homestead farms, 
which he now rents and has charge of. The 
father of this family passed away February 
15, 1903. His religious connection was with 
the Reformed Church. Politically he was a 
supporter of the Republican party. He held the 
office of Supervisor three years and for fifteen 
years served as School Director. His memory 
is warmly cherished by his family, and by the 
many friends who knew his excellent traits of 
character and his record will long be held in 
honor as that of one of the most upriguu and 
useful among the early settlers of Fulton 
County. 

POLLITT, James T. — One of the oldest and 
most respected residents of Fulton County, ill., 
who has spent nearly three score and ten years 
within its borders, and is still an honored 
occupant of the farm in Section 1, Liverpool 
Township, to wliich he was brought by his 
father in the pioneer days which tried men's 
souls, was born in Lewis County, Ky., June 
19, 1835. He is a son of James and Mary 
(Thomas) Pollitt, the former a native of Somer- 
set County, Md., where he was born July 20, 
1798, and the latter, of Fauquier County, Va., 
where she was born March 16, 1802. The 
Pollitt family is of Scotch-Irish origin. Jona- 
than Pollitt, the grandfather, moved at an early 
period from Maryland to Lewis County, Ky., 
where he and his wife died. In the fall of 
1835, James Pollitt journeyed with his family 
to Fulton County, III., and settled near the City 
of Lewistown. In 1837 he bought the farm 
where his son, James T., now lives, in Section 
1, Liverpool Township, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his days, dying February 14, 1875, 
at the age of seventy-six years, his wife sur- 
viving him until May 20, 1880. They were both 
held in high esteem by their neighbors and 
acquaintances, and, although James Pollitt was 
a blunt, outspoken man, he was so thoroughly 
upright and equitable that he commanded the 
respect of young and old alike. He and his wife 
were the parents of the following children: 
Alexander H., who died at the age of sixty- 
three years; Alvin A., a farmer in East Liver- 
pool Township; George and Jonathan, deceased; 
Mary, deceased wife of John Farris, also de- 
ceased; Francis M., who died in 1874; James 
T.; Sarah A., deceased, who was the wife of 
Wesley Brinegar, a resiaent of Canton, 111.; 
Susan, who died in childbirth, the Infant son 
also dying; and Nancy A., wife of Martin 
Hughes, residing near Bridge Station, Fulton 
County. 

James T. Pollitt was an Infant when his par- 
ents settled in Fulton County. He was reared 
on the farm where he now lives, and received 
his education in the subscription schools of the 
primitive settlement. His whole life has been 
devoted to farming in Liverpool Township, and 
in this pursuit his industrious habits, systemat- 
ic methods and careful management have been 
productive of satisfactory results. On his farm 



of 165 acres his family have grown to manhood 
and womanhood, married, and moved to homes 
of their own. Mr. Pollitt still supervises the 
farming operations, and raises the best bred 
stock, including Norman horses. Shorthorn 
cattle, Poland-China hogs and a good grade of 
mules. 

On June 25, 1874, Mr. Pollitt was united in 
marriage with Arilla Beckstead, a daughter 
of George Beckstead, a native of Canada, who 
was for some years connected with a packing 
house in Canton, 111., and afterward moved to 
a farm in Liverpool Township, where he died 
Mr, and Mrs. Pollitt have had six children, as 
follows: Harriet C, wife of Theodore Black, a 
farmer in Liverpool Township; one who died in 
infancy; James A., who married Martha Ken- 
dall, and died in 1896, leaving two sons— James 
T. and Jesse B.; Ambrose D., who married 
Martha A., widow of his brother, James A., by 
whom he had five children — Arilla A., Polly K., 
Dorothy D., Goldie and Hobart R.; Mary F., wife 
of James D. Raker, a farmer in Liverpool Town- 
ship, who has had four children — Ambrose D., 
Hattie and Georgia (twins), and James Robert; 
Georgia (who died in infancy), and Benjamin 
E., who looks after the home farm. He is a 
member of Maples Mills Camp, No. 2027 M 
W. A. 

In politics, Mr. Pollitt has been a Republican, 
since the organization of that party. Originally 
he was a Whig, and cast his first presidential 
vote for Millard Fillmore. Since that period 
he has voted for the Republican candidates, 
State and national. He has always taken a deep 
interest in local affairs, wormly supporting 
church and school work, and has served as 
School Director. He has been identified with 
the development of Fulton County for sixty- 
eight years and has been prominent in the 
advocacy of all measures inaugurated for the 
general welfare. In the wonderful transforma- 
tion which has completely changed the face of 
nature in the region to which he was brought 
as an infant, he has borne a manly and faith- 
ful part, and is now reaping the reward of many 
toilsome seasons, conscious of duty done, and 
enjoying the good will of all who know him. 
His worthy and estimable wife is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

POLLITT, Oliver P. — A very enterprising and 
prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, living in 
Section 14, Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 
III., who is regarded as one of the promitient 
representatives of the agricultural element in 
Fulton County, was born in Liverpool Township 
December 7, 1848. He is a son of Alvin and 
Emily (Estes) Pollitt, both of whom are living 
in the township named, where the former is 
engaged in farming. They became the parents 
of nine children, as follows: Oliver P.; Laura, 
wife of Abner Garrens, a farmer in Liverpool 
Township; John A., a farmer in the same town- 
ship; James T., who lives in Pekin, III., a sketch 
of whose life is contained in this work; Alex- 



1 040 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ander, also farming in Liverpool Township; 
William, of Brereton, Fulton County; Charles, 
a farmer in Banner Township; Delia J., wife 
of Oscar McGraw, of Canton, 111.; and one who 
died in infancy. 

Oliver P. Pollitt was reared to farm life, and 
received his education in the district schools of 
his neighborhood. He has always made Liver- 
pool Township his home except for two years 
spent in Decatur County, Iowa. For several 
years, he worked at farming by the month. 
After his marriage he located in the south- 
west part of the township, where he made his 
home until 1883. in that year moving to his 
present home farm of eighty acres. He now 
owns o20 acres in Section 14, and eighty acres 
in Sections Ti and 23, a total of 400 acres. On 
the home farm he keeps the best grades of 
horses, cattle and hogs, and, in general farming 
his intelligent, systematic and progressive 
operations are productive of the most satisfac- 
tory results. He is ranKed among the notably 
successful and substantial farmers of Fulton 
County. 

On April 9, 1.S76, Mr. Pollitt was united in 
marriage with Mary C. McElwee, wno was born 
near Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, March 7, 
1843. She is a daughter of George and Hannah 
( Bowman 1 McBlwee, natives of that State, 
where her father was born in Adams County, 
and her mother, in Brown County. The family 
settled in Fulton County in 1865, locating near 
the famous Depler Well, in Lewistown. In 
1866 they sold that farm, and purchased a place 
in Putman Township, where Mrs. McElwee died 
March 9, 1S83. After her death, her husband 
made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Pollitt, 
and died April 6, 1892. They were the parents 
of the following children: Mary C; Elizabeth, 
who died at the age of twenty-six years; Lydia, 
who died when fifteen years old; George, who 
died at the age of thirty-seven years; Francis 
M., of Macon. Neb., who married Mrs. Nellie 
Randall; Minerva M., wife of Albert Roberts, 
of Canton, 111.; Amanda, wife of Jacob Ander- 
son, of Pacific Junction, Iowa; Battle, deceased 
wife of John Lewis, who lives with their six 
children, in Oklahoma; and Benoamin F., a 
physician of Wilcox, Neb. 

Mr. and Mrs. Pollitt are the parents of four 
children, namely: George A., born October 10, 
1876, a farmer in Banner Township, Fulton 
County; Madge M., born October 14, 1880; 
James G., born December 28, 1884, who lives 
with his parents, and Herbert, who died in 
Infancy. George A. married Eva M. Beck- 
stead, and has had three children; Clifford B., 
Mary M., and one who died in infancy. Madge 
M. was married to Sherman Stoclvman March 
7, 1900, and has three children — Orval C, born 
March 17, 1901; Oral C, July 18, 1902, and 
Hazel, April 24, 1906. For seventeen years, Mrs. 
Pollitt was a successful teacher in the schools 
of Ohio and Fulton County, and is a lady of 
culture and rare strength of character. 

In politics, Mr. Pollitt is an earnest and in- 



fluential Republican. He has held the oflice of 
Tax Collector for two years, and that of 
Assessor for a like period, giving perfect satis- 
faction to his constituents in both positions. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & A. 
M., being a member of Morning Star Lodge, No. 
734, of Canton. Mr. Pollitt is a man of the 
highest character, and enjoys the sincere respect 
of a wide circle of acquaintances. 

POOL, Edgar P., a well known builder and 
contractor of Canton, Fulton County, 111., was 
born on a farm about three and a half miles 
east of that city December 1, 1853. His par- 
ents, Andrew and Julia (Everett) Pool, were 
both Kentuckians, and came from their native 
State to the locality named in 1850. Here Ed- 
gar P. was reared, was educated in the district 
school of his locality, and early mastered the 
trade of carpentry, which, with the years, has 
developed into a contracting business of some 
proportions. Mr. Pool spent the years from 
1882 to 1886 in Kansas and NebrasKa, but with 
that exception has continuously resided in or 
near Canton. In politics he has always voted 
tor Republicanism, and his religious connec- 
tions have been with the Presbyterian Church. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Modern 
Woodmen of America, in which he has held 
the position of Banker. 

On November 15, 1887, Mr. Pool was mar- 
ried to Miss Emma Johnson, who was born on 
the old Kelly property near St. David, where 
the marriage ceremony occurred. Her parents 
were John W. and Elizabeth (Johnson) John- 
son, her father being one of the most promi- 
nent Republicans of Central Illinois. Mr. John- 
son served four terms in the State Legislature, 
from 1894 to 1900 and 1902 to 1904. Mr. and 
Mrs. Pool have no children of their own. but 
when she was six years of age Morna was 
welcomed into their family as if she had been 
of their flesh and blood. Morna Johnson Pool, 
as she is known, is a bright girl employed in 
the Canton telephone office. 

POOL, Lawrence J. — A well known and pros- 
perous stock-raiser, whose farm is situated in 
Fairview Township, Fulton County, 111., is a 
native of Union Township, in the same county, 
where he was born January 4, 1862, a son of 
Thomas and Charlotte Pool, whose birthplace 
was also in Union Township, and whose lives 
are portrayed on another page of this work. 
The occupation of Thomas Pool was that of a 
farmer, in which his industry, thrift and per- 
severing toil brought him deserved success, and 
he and his estimable helpmate were blessed with 
six children. 

In his boyhood, Lawrence J. Pool en.1oyed 
the advantages of the district schools in the 
vicinity of his home, meanwhile helping his 
father to carry on the work of the farm. He 
remained with his parents until he reached 
maturity, and since attaining his majority, has 
been most of the time engaged in farming and 




MR. AND MRS. GEORGE W. SHINKEL 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1041 



stock-raising. F'or three years, however, from 
1894 to 1S97, he conducted a livery business in 
Fairview, Kulton County. Since 1900, he has 
devoted his attention exclusively to the raising 
of stock and his operations have been attended 
with abundant success. 

On October 16, 1889, Mr. Pool was united in 
marriage with Anna Van Lew, the ceremony 
occuring in Lnion Township, Fulton County. 
Mrs. Pool was born in Joshna Township, that 
county, .January 13. 1862, and there received 
her mental training in the public schools. She 
is a daughter of William and Elizabeth Van 
Lew, natives of New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Pool 
are the parents of a daughter, whose name is 
Nellie, and who is a bright and interesting girl. 

On political issues, Mr. Pool is arrayed on the 
side of the Republican party. He has served 
his Township in the offices of Road Com- 
missioner and School Director, giving entire 
satisfaction to his constituents. His religious 
convictions are in acordance with the creed of 
the Congregational Church. The fraternal con- 
nection of Mr. Pool is with the I. O. O. F., in 
which he is a prominent and active member. 
He is an intelligent observer of current events, 
and has a wide acquaintance throughout his 
section of Fulton County, and wherever known, 
is regarded as a progressive, upright and use- 
ful citizen. 

POOL, Thomas, now living in comfortable re- 
tirement near Avon, Fulton County. 111., where 
he is surrounded by hosts of friends who solicit- 
ously regard his welfare, was formerly one of 
the best known farmers in that county, in which 
he has spent nearly three-score years of his busy 
and useful career. Mr. Pool was born in La- 
porte County, Ind., March 31, 1833, a son of John 
and Elizabeth ( P^ulton ) Pool, natives of Vir- 
ginia and New York, respectively. His father 
was born March 9, 1806, and his mother, August 
29, 1810. Both were persons of excellent family 
connections, and both were held in high esteem 
by the people of the various localities where 
they successively resided. The entire life of 
John Pool was devoted to farming. At an early 
period he made his home in the State of Indi- 
ana, whence he moved with his family to 
Illinois, settling in Fulton County, October 2, 
1843. He bought a farm of eighty acres in 
Buckheart Township, on which he made the 
necessary improvements, and successfully 
carried on farming for nine years. In 1852 he 
established his home in Farmington Township 
and continued farming there until 18.56, moving 
then to Union Township, where he died May 7. 
1885. His wife passed away in 1889. To them 
were born five children, namely: Rebecca A., 
Thomas, Joseph, Sarah, and John. 

Thomas Pool, of this family and subject of 
this sketch, was reared to farm life, and in 
boyhood attended the district schools of his 
birthplace in Indiana, and later those of Fulton 
County. He accompanied his parents in their 
various changes of location, and in 1856 com- 



menced farming for himself on the place where 
he spent the remainder of his active life His 
labors were uniformly successful, and in 1905 
he withdrew from agricultural pursuits with 
sufficient means to comfort his declining years 
Mr. Pool rendered good service to his country 
during the Civil War. He enlisted in Company 
, Seventy-second Regiment Illinois Volunteer 
Intantry (the "Board of Trade Regiment"), on 
August 14, 1862, and tooK part in all its cam- 
paigns until he was mustered out, August 14, 
1865. 

The nuptial ceremonies of Mr. Pool and 
Charlotte Leeper took place in Fairview Town- 
ship, Fulton County, January 15, 1857. Mrs 
Pool was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 24^ 
1836, and is a daughter of Thomas and Eliza 
(Lake) Leeper, natives of New Jersey. Six 
children have been the offspring of this union, 
namely: Cary S., Lawrence J., Effie, Jannette,' 
Alma and John H. In the matter of politics, 
Mr. Pool has been a lifelong and steadfast sup- 
porter of the Republican party. For four years 
(from 1886 to 1890) he served with efficiency 
and fidelity as Supervisor of Union Township, 
Fulton County. In religious belief, he is an 
adherent of the Methodist Church, and his sole 
fraternal connection is with the G. A. R., of 
which he is a prominent member. 

Mr. Pool is one of Fulton County's most 
highly reputable citizens, and has been closely 
identified with its material, moral and educa- 
tional development. His long extended record 
has been free from reproach, and he commands 
the utmost confidence and respect throughout 
a wide circle of acquaintance. His genial dis- 
position and invariable affability of manner 
have always attracted to him warm friends, 
and those whose hearty good wishes he enjoys 
are numbered only by the many who know the 
honorable spirit and kindly emotions that have 
dominated his whole life. 

POPER, John W.— Ex-Alderman Poper is well 
known as an honest, influential citizen of 
Canton, as well as a master cabinet-maker, 
which also was his father's occupation. He was 
born at Chambersburg, Pa., on March 7, 1868, 
the son of Jacob M. and Jane (Barnes) Poper. 
His parents never came West, and his mother 
died at Chambersburg, Pa., February 25, 1875; 
while the father is still a resident of that State, 
engaged in his joint trade of carpentry and 
cabinet-making. 

John W. Poper was educated in the district 
and city schools of his native place and at an 
early age took up the branch of cabinet-making, 
so that he was already considered an expert 
when he came west to Farmington, Fulton 
County, on February 22, 1886. Believing Canton 
a better field for his trade, he removed to that 
place during the following year, and has since 
continued a resident of this city. He was at 
once recognized as an industrious and skillful 
workman, and it was not long before his value 
as a man of public affairs was suspected. Since 



1 042 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the Republicans have returned him to the City 
Council and he has creditably served tor two 
terms in that body, these surmises have been 
fully verified. In fraternal circles Mr. Poper 
is known as a member of the Order of Elks 
and Knights of Pythias. 

The subject of this sketch was married at 
Farmington. 111., March 30, 1893, to Anna M. 
Kelly, of that place, a daughter of Robert and 
Harriet ( Marshall ) Kelly. 

PORTER, Elmer. — It is to such energetic and 
progressive young farmers as Elmer Porter 
that the great advance in agriculture and stock- 
raising during the past few years is due, and 
it is to such as he that Fulton County looks for 
a continuation of her present unparalleled pros- 
perity. Though young in years, having been 
born in Pleasant Township. Fulton County, 
February 27. 1S62. Mr. Porter's active life has 
spanned an important farming era. for he well 
remembers the old-fashioned single-shovel plow 
and other crudities which contributed to the 
drudgery of land-tilling two-score years ago. 
He owns a 120-acre farm on Section 23, Pleasant 
Township, but this he rents to a tenant, he 
himself having charge of the farm of T. C. 
Robinson, on Section 14, Pleasant Township. 
This farm formerly was the property of Arthur 
Smith, and Mr. Porter has been connected with 
it as co-operative manager since the spring of 
1888. It has brought him substantial financial 
reward and a wealth of varied experience. 
Upon it are represented all of the departments 
of farming known in the Central West. During 
the eighteen years of his occupancy uniformly 
excellent crops have rewarded the labor of the 
agriculturist, and large shipments of high-grade 
stock have been the rule. No improvement or 
equipment essential to scientific farming is 
omitted from this property, and conditions 
are especially favorable for the breeding of 
graded Norman and Percheron horses, Poland- 
China hogs and Aberdeen Angus cattle. To 
his congenial tasks Mr. Porter brings a well 
trained and studious mina, one wholly in 
sympathy with agriculture as a means of liveli- 
hood, and keenly concerned for the comfort and 
well-being of the dumb creatures entrusted to 
his care. 

Mr. Porter is a son of Samuel and Mary M. 
(Gilson) Porter, the latter a daughter of John 
Gilson. one of the early pioneers of Fulton 
County. (For further particulars of the Porter 
family see sketch of Samuel Porter in this 
volume. ) Mr. Porter attended the public 
schools of Pleasant Township, and remained on 
the home place until attaining his majority. 
In 1887 he married Cora A. Knowles, daughter 
of Noah Knowles, a pioneer of Fulton County, 
and now a resident of Ipava. Mrs. Porter was 
born in Pleasant Township January 26. 1S69, 
her mother being Irene (Cooper) Knowles, 
whose parents came to Fulton County at an 
early day. To Mr. and Mrs. Porter have been 
born the following named children: Nellie 



Wayne, born October 31, 1889; Ruth Anna, born 
June 22, 1893; Ruby Gay, born May 22, 1896; 
Faith, born July 22, 1901: and Paul Elmer, born 
December 29, 1904. Before his marriage Mr. 
Porter rented of his father for four years the 
old homestead of 160 acres, and one year after 
marriage moved onto the farm which he since 
has occupied and managed. He is a Democrat 
in politics, but aside from the formality of 
casting his vote, is not identified with the under- 
takings of his party. Mr. Porter has a person- 
ality which inspires confidence and wins him 
many friends. He is instinctively honest and 
high-minded, cordial in manner and sympathetic 
in nature, and is firmly intrenched in the best 
life and effort of the community. 

POST, Earl, a rising young farmer in Section 
32, Buckheart Township, Fulton County, 111., 
was born on his father's farm in the same 
township, April 22, 1882, and is a son of Stephen 
and Leah (Reger) Post, whose biographical 
record appears in another section. Earl Post 
was reared on the parental farm and received 
his early education in the district schools of 
his neighborhood. On reaching maturity he 
made farming his permanent occupation, and 
his labors have already been attended with 
satisfactory results. He is ranked among the 
enterprising and progressive farmers of Buck- 
heart Township, and on his farm may be found 
a good exhibit of all kinds of stock, of a superior 
grade. 

On April 10, 1901, Mr. Post was united in 
marriage with Lena F. Wileoxen, a daughter 
of Marshall N. Wileoxen. and a native of Fulton 
County. Two children have resulted from this 
union — Violet M., born June 19, 1902; and 
Russell E., February 25, 1905. In politics, Mr. 
Post is a supporter of the Democratic party. 

POST, Stephen, for many years one of the 
most prominent, worthy and successful farmers 
in Buckheart Township. Fulton County, 111., 
who is now living in retirement, is of German 
ancestry and well remembers the pewter plates 
which his grandmother brought from her native 
land. The family name was originally spelt 
"Pfost." Mr. Post was born in Lewis County, 
Va., (now Upshur County, W. Va.) February 
26, 1830. He is a son of Daniel and Mary 
( Hefner ) Post, natives of Virginia. The grand- 
father, Abram Pfost, had two brothers, Martin 
and Isaac. Abram settled near Buchanan, on 
Buchanan River, Va., and there built a mill 
that was widely known; Martin located in the 
vicinity of Jess's Run, Va., and Isaac became a 
resident of Missouri. 

Daniel Post and his wife were the parents of 
twelve children, as follows: Abram. who resided 
at the old home, and died in June, 1906; Jacob 
and Isaac, both deceased — the latter having been 
a soldier in the Confederate army, who passed 
through the Civil War and was killed by the 
falling of a tree; Stephen; Nicholas, who lived 
in Upshur County, W. Va., and died in May, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1043 



1906; George W., of Barbour County, W. Va.; 
Jemima, deceased wife of Joel Casto, also de- 
Qeased and formerly a prominent Virginian; 
Annia Q., widow of George L. Queen; Mary 
Jane, wife of Albinas R. Marple. of Upshur 
County, W. Va.; Cenna, widow, of Jacob Lance, 
who was killed in his own home during the 
Civil War; Elizabeth, widow of James Freil, of 
Upshur Coumy. W. Va.; and Sarah, deceased 
wife of Dow Lewis, of the same county. The 
parents of this family died in their native 
place in Virginia. Three of the sons were 
conscripted and forced to serve in the Confeder- 
ate army. 

Stephen Post was reared on a farm, and 
obtained his early mental instruction in the 
common schools of the county where he was 
born. After his school days were over, he con- 
tinued his studies, and became familiar with 
those ijractical branches of knowledge which 
enabled him to conduct his own affairs intelli- 
gently and successfully. 

In 1864 Mr. Post was forced Into the Confeder- 
ate army and assigned to detached duty. Dur- 
ing this service he was taken prisoner b.v the 
Union troops, taken to Wheeling, Va., thence 
to Camp Chase, Ohio, and finally, to Rock 
Island, 111., where he was released on parole, 
August ij. ISe.'). He had a comrade who was 
released at the same time, and this comrade had 
a sister living in F'ulton County, 111., whither 
Mr. Post proceeded in company with his friend. 
There he was invited to make his home with 
Isaac Black until he could make arrangements 
to take care of his family which was left in 
Virginia, and there he bought a farm of 265 
acres, which he sold, and purchased 160 acres 
in Section 6, Buckheart Township, Fulton 
County. In 1866 his family moved to their new 
home, which has since then been Mr. Post's 
place of residence. No improvements had been 
made on this purchase, and he began at once 
to put the property in shape, and continued 
building and improving until his farm became 
one of the finest in the township. To the origi- 
nal tract he added from time to time until his 
landed possessions comprised 480 acres, which 
he has divided between his children. 

On August 5, 1851, Mr. Post was united in 
marriage in Virginia, with Leah Reger, a 
daughter of Major G. Reger, who served in the 
War of 1812. There being some family objec- 
tions to this marriage, the bridegroom and 
bride eloped to Marietta, Ohio, where the 
wedding ceremony was performed. They 
started to return home the next day and went 
to work, Mrs. Post being able to spin, weave 
and work up flax and wool. Bight children 
were tne result of this union (five of whom 
were born in Virginia), as follows: Loretta J., 
wife of Joshua Williams, a blacksmith, of St. 
David, 111.; Elmon E., who married Sophronia, 
a daughter of Levi Hufford, a farmer of Putman 
Township, Fulton County; Emozeta, wife of 
John Long, of Bryant, 111.; Albert S., a farmer 
in Liverpool Township, Fulton County; Daniel 



A., a farmer in Buckheart Township, who 
married Nervia E. Horton; Oscar L.. also a 
farmer of that township, who married Laura 
Kelly, a daughter of Samuel Kelly; and Earl, 
a farmer in the same township, who married 
Lena Wilcoxen, and whose life is portrayed on 
another page of this volume. 

As his sons and daughters have grown up 
their father has provided handsomely for each, 
and all are now highly-reputable members of 
their respective communities. In Mr. Post's 
career have been manifest those qualities of 
diligence, perseverance, thrift and constancy 
that characterize the sturdy German stock 
from which he is derived. In addition to this, 
he has lived an exceptionally upright and un- 
selfish life, and no man in Fulton County has 
more and truer friends than Stephen Post. 
For forty years, Mr. and Mrs. Post have been 
devoted members of the Christian Church, and 
one of the former's favorite scriptural quota- 
tions is the Saviour's prayer in the Garden of 
Gethsemane. In him and his estimable wife, 
through all their lives, tne cause of the church 
and the school has found willing helpers and 
generous friends, and to no appeal of the 
worthy poor has either ever turned a deaf ear. 

POTTER, Frank C, of the younger generation 
of farmers, is a native of Fulton County and 
so much impressed with its agricultural and 
residence advantages that, like thousands of 
others, he has never been able to see that he 
could better himself by making a change of 
location. His father, who came here in 1859, 
came to the same conclusion, and, as Frank C. 
has two boys of his own, it is likely that another 
generation of Potters will add their labors and 
worth to the upbuilding of the community of 
which the family has been a substantial element 
for nearly half a century. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Ellis- 
ville Township, Fulton County, on the 21st of 
Janiiary, 1866, which was the birthday of his 
father, Alfred Price Potter, born on the same 
day of the month in 1827. The latter was a 
native of New Jersey, as was his wife (formerly 
Elizabeth R. Crate), l)orn August 8, 1826. As 
the father was not satisfied with ihe scope of 
Eastern farming, he came to Fulton County in 
1859, purchased a farm and began its cultivation 
and development into a comfortable homestead. 

Frank Potter remained with his parents on 
the farm where he was born until he reached 
manhood, when he entered upon an independent 
career, but always in his chosen occupation of 
farming. There is every promise that he will 
in due time become one of the most prosperous 
and influential citizens of his locality. He has 
already served as a public official, having been 
School Director for three years. Mr. Potter is 
a Republican and a member of the Prairie City 
Presbyterian Church. 

POWELL, John R.— Although variously identi- 
fied with affairs in Fulton County since his 



I044 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



arrival here in 1839, it is probably as a moral 
and religious teacher that John R. Powell will 
be longest and most gratefully remembered. In 
harmony with this keynote in his life is his 
service as a soldier in the Civil War, he still 
retains an active interest in the reunions of the 
fast thinning ranks of the veterans in that 
historic conflict. Of Scotch-Irish ancestry, Mr. 
Powell was born March o, 1833, in Adams 
County, Ohio, and in 183.5, was brought by his 
parents, Thomas and Margaret (Engle) Powell 
to Menard County, 111., two years later removing 
to Fulton County, and settling on a farm North 
of Astoria, in Astoria Township. Thomas 
Powell is recalled but indistinctly by his son, for 
he died in 1840, a year after his arrival in the 
township, and when the lad was barely ten 
years old. The mother subsequently married a 
man named Aultizer, and died in Mason County, 
111. There are but four survivors of the seven 
sons and three daughters in this family, and 
all seem to have inherited a sense of responsi- 
bility for the spiritual welfare of mankind. 
The oldest son, Curtis, was a minister in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church forty years; Rev. 
Dr. William Powell, now residing near Baders. 
111., was a preacher in the same denomination 
twenty-five years, and .John R. Powell has been 
a leader in church affairs since long before the 
Civil War. Martha A., one of the daughters in 
the family, married Jacob Oglett and lives in 
Salem, Ore.: David is a retired merchant of 
Mason City, 111.; Jefferson S. is connected with 
the Fair Grounds at Salem, Ore.; and Thomas 
is deceased. 

John R. Powell spent his youth in the midst of 
hardship and jjrivation, and among a i)eople 
who had to create their own opportunities. At 
that time Astoria was Known as the McNeil 
settlement, and consisted of a few log houses 
and fewer industries. The most prominent man 
in the section was Billie Tate, who lived on the 
farm now occupied by Benton Sharp, and whose 
house, with the exception of a few cabins, was 
the only human habitation between Astoria and 
Lewistown. The nearest schoolhouse was three 
miles distant, and on his way to it Mr. Powell 
often encountered from fifteen to twenty deer. 
His education was acquired under great dis- 
advantages, for the school was a subscription 
one, and he would have to stop attendance every 
little while to work for his further tuition. 
To pay for his first spelling-book he gathered 
hazel nuts, carried them on his back to Ver- 
mont and sold them. The schoolhouse was a 
rude affair, and in winter was made cheerful by 
the blazing logs in the hugh fireplace. There 
was no floor, and, of course, no glass in the 
apertures for admitting light. In order to 
familiarize himself with the rudiments of arith- 
metic, grammar and history, the boy would sit 
up after the family had retired, throw chips in 
the old fireplace, and by its light wrestle with 
the intricacies of Ray's Arithmetic and Kirk- 
ham's Grammar. He also was a serious student 
of the Bible, and while still his years were few, 



united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 
which he subsequently was a minister for 
several years. 

In connection with farming Mr. Powell 
learned the plasterer's trade, and was thus 
employed at the breaking out of the Civil War. 
In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, Eighty-fifth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three years, and 
as part of the Army of the Cumberland partici- 
pated in many of the earlier battles of his 
regiment. During the charge at Kenesaw 
Mountain, June 2!), 1863, he was wounded at 
nine in the morning, and left on the battle-field 
for dead. At three in the afternoon he regained 
consciousness, and, when attempting to rise, 
he again was fired at by the enemy. Finally 
he was taken to the hospital at Nashville, later 
on granted a furlough, and subsequently re- 
joined his regiment at Chattanooga, Tenn. At 
Wellington he was given command of the dis- 
tribution of supplies, and had charge of the 
camp, and at Alexander, Va., he had charge of 
hospital ward, and the distribution of provi- 
sions. When peace was declared he returned 
to his home in Woodland Township, and after 
regaining his health, again followed the plaster- 
er's trade. 

The first marriage of Mr. Powell occurred 
February 4, 1854, to Julia A. Litchfield, a native 
of Ohio, and of the union there were five chil- 
dren: James Curtis and Ransom B., who died in 
infancy; Lorenzo D., a resident of Long Lane, 
Mo.; John W., a builder and contractor of 
Chicopee, Kan.: and Aretta, wife of H. C. 
Walton, of Antioch, Ark. Mrs. Powell died 
September 9. 1870, and February 4, 1871, Mr. 
Powell was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza 
J. Adkinson. a native of Fulton County, and 
daughter of Samuel Tarry. Mr. Tarry was 
born in Ohio and became an early settler of 
Kentucky, where he married Miriam Turner, 
and whence he came to Illinois in the pioneer 
period. By her former marriage Mrs. Powell 
had four sons, one of whom is living — Johnson 
Adkinson, of Pittsburg, Mo. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Powell have been born eight children: William, 
a farmer in Woodland Township: Samuel, a 
resident of Oakville, Iowa; Thomas, who lives 
in the vicinity of Mason City, 111.; Nellie, wife 
of John Waggoner, a farmer of Woodland Town- 
ship: Ida, wife of Frank Waddell, of Oakville, 
Iowa; Robert Lincoln; and Benjamin, of Oak- 
ville, Iowa. 

Without any preparation for the ministry 
other than self-acquired, Mr. Powell was grant- 
ed an exhorter's license in the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and through his strong and force- 
ful preaching many have been brought within 
the fold of that denomination. About twenty- 
five years ago Mr. Powell, being so situated 
that he could not reach the Methodist Church, 
joined the United Brethren Church, in which 
also he was given a license to preach. He has 
done very effective work in the local church in 
East Woodland Township for many years, and 
his simple and beautiful style of expression. 




^^^-^-<-<j e/^<^^?-z-^>^^^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1045 



backed by his masterful personality, has been 
increasingly, convincing and attractive. He has 
improved every opportunity to uplift his fellow- 
men, and even during the Civil War, when 
wounded, labored zealously to extend the com- 
forts of religion to those around him. Mr. 
Powell has been prominent in fraternal circles 
since early manhood, and still maintains his 
association with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. Politically he is a Rei)ublican. As a 
reward for a well-directed career Mr. Powell's 
later life is accompanied by those satisfying 
compensations — peace of mind and the love and 
confidence of his fellowmen. He has worked 
out a high and clearly defined purpose, which, 
after all, is the finest evidence of success. 

PRATT, John. — To the time of his retirement 
to London Mills about eleven years ago, John 
Pratt was one of the most industrious and 
successful agriculturists of Young Hickory 
Township, this county. He had good judgment, 
common sense, and the commercial capacity 
well developed. From his rise from small be- 
ginnings one may glean many helpful lessons. 
Born on a farm near Richmond, Va., in 1830, 
he was ten years old when his parents, John 
and Mary E. (Faulkner) Pratt, moved from the 
Old Dominion to Ohio, and he was about twenty- 
one when the family fortunes were shifted to 
Young Hickory Township, in the beginning of 
the '.50s. He helped to clear and improve the 
original eighty acres taken up by his father, 
lent his strength to the erection of the modern 
frame house which supplanted the one of log 
construction, and otherwise contributed to the 
growth of Section 11, from which all of the 
seven children gained their start in life. 

In addition to faithfully performing his home 
duties, John Pratt worked out on other farms in 
the township, and in this way secured hay and 
feed for the stock of his father ere the land was 
improved to produce. Later he made an inde- 
pendent start on sixty acres of land, for which 
he paid ten dollars an acre, and which he 
subsequently sold for fifteen dollars an acre. 
He next bought eighty acres on •Section 1, and 
twenty acres on Section 10, Young Hickory 
Township, continuing his purchases from time 
to time until he owned .'iOO acres. His land 
yielded abundantly of general produce, and he 
raised Shorthorn and Durham cattle, usually 
having about a hundred head, and the same 
number of hogs (Poland-China) and sheep. 
Since retiring from active life he has rented 
his farm, deriving a comfortable income 
therefrom. 

The marriage of Mr. Pratt and Mary E. 
Street occurred in Young Hickory Township in 
1855, Mrs. Pratt being a native of Ohio, and 
daughter of William Street, a prominent farmer 
of the Buckeye State. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are 
the parents of five daughters and one son, as 
follows: Eliza Jane, deceased, former wife of 
John Burnett, of Fairview Township, this 
county; Sarah C; Minnie F., the wife of Harvey 



Foster, of McDonough County, 111.; Frances B., 
wife of William Luman, of Kansas; Mary 
Emma, living at home; and Wm. E., who 
married Ella 'Wadkins, of Knox County, III. 

Mr. Pratt has led a quiet, industrious life, 
and has ever avoided public honors of a political 
nature. However, he has served acceptably as 
a member of the School Board and Pathmaster 
of the Township, and invariably has evidenced 
intelligent and helpful interest in the progres- 
sive and upbuilding agencies of the community. 

PREDMORE, G. Mahlon, M. D. C— That most 
useful of all 'luadrupeds, the horse, has a 
humane and skillful overseer of its welfare in 
Dr. Mahlon Predmore, a resident of the town 
of Avon, Fulton Countiy, 111., since his gradua- 
tion from the Chicago Veterinary College in 
the class of 190,). Dr. Predmore is a native of 
Illinois, born near Youngstown, Warren County, 
August 28, 1876. His parents, Raymond B. and 
Addle ( Crandall I Predmore, also were Illi- 
noisans, the former born in New Jersey in 
1846, and the latter in Knox County, in 1847. 
The father, Raymond B. Predmore, was a 
farmer by occupation, and a representative of 
a family established in the State at an early 
day. 

Dr. Predmore, when about five years of age, 
came with his parents to Avon, 111., where he 
entered the public schools, and was graduated 
from the high school in the class of 1S95. He 
then attended the school of Architectural En- 
gineering at the University of Illinois for two 
years, but being obliged to create his own oppor- 
tunities for advancement, engaged in teaching 
for several terms. With the proceeds obtained 
in this line of labor he then attended the Chi- 
cago Veterinary College, where he established 
a reputation as a conscientious and ambitious 
student, winning a gold medal for the highest 
average in all branches, and a special prize for 
advance work in dentistry. Few young men 
are better equipped for this chosen calling than 
is this agreeable and popular veterinary sur- 
geon. He has a bright and inquiring mind, a 
disposition to make himself of practical use in 
the world, and a keen appreciation of the possi- 
bilities as yet undiscovered in his calling. 

A Democrat in politics. Dr. Predmore has 
no political aspirations, nor does he seek any 
honors not immediately connected with his lite 
work. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Knights of Pythias, and in religious belief is a 
Universalist. 

PRICHARD, Robert, whom it is no invidious 
comparison to designate as one of the foremost 
farmers of Fulton County, III., and no empty 
tribute to pronounce one of its leading citizens, 
was born in Licking County, Ohio, March 11, 
1831. He is a son of Jordan and Artemicia 
(Shaw) Prichard, of whom the former was a 
native of Washington, Pa., and the latter, of 
Ohio. The family is of German descent. The 
father went from Pennsylvania to Ohio at an 



1046 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



early period, and there occurred his marriage. 
Husband and wife journeyed to Fulton County 
in 1836, making the trip overland and settling 
in Section 16, Liverpool Township. There 
Jordan Prichard made his home until 1S49. 
when he, his wife, and a son and daughter died 
of cholera. From 1S36 until the time of his 
death he was one of the leading men of his 
locality. Possessing a thorough mental train- 
ing, he was for years a prominent teacher. He 
also officiated as Justice of the Peace, and 
creditably filled various offices in Liverpool 
Township. The children of the family were as 
follows: Mary J., deceased wife of John Adkins; 
Robert; Alexander, who died of cholera in 
July, 1849; James, a retired citizen of Lewis- 
town, 111.; Elizabeth, wife of John White, of 
Prairie City, MeDonough County, 111.; Benja- 
min, who served four years in the Fifty-fifth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during 
the Civil War; Eliza, who died at the age of 
four years; Nancy, who died in infancy; Sarah, 
deceased wife of Nathaniel White; Ellen, wife 
of F. M. Connelly, Macomb, 111.; and Rebecca, 
who died of cholera, in July. 1849. 

When the Prichard family settled in Fulton 
County, wild game was abundant, but the mem- 
bers of it had little time to hunt, grubbing the 
stumps and clearing the fields fully occupying 
their attention. They were among the most 
active people in the county, and took a leading 
part in its development. The horrors of the 
dire epidemic of 1849 are the saddest remem- 
brances of all their long years of experience in 
Illinois. Since 1836 Robert Prichard has moved 
but three times, and has lived during the entire 
period in Liverpool and Lewistown Townships. 
From early manhood, he has always followed 
farming and in 1878 erected his present resi- 
dence in Section 15, Lewistown Township. 

Although occupied for years with the duties 
of public office, Mr. Prichard has always main- 
tained control of the farming interests. He 
has been a breeder of Percheron and fine road 
horses, as was his father before him, and keeps 
a superior grade of other stock on his farm of 
ninety-six acres adjoining the city of Lewis- 
town. His lifework has been eminently success- 
ful. In manner and deportment he is plain, 
unassuming and outspoken, and his frankness 
attracts hearty friendship. To the needy he 
always turns a willing and kindly ear, and all 
worthy public enterprises have found in him a 
ready and earnest supporter. It is a saying 
with him, that "he got born fifty years too 
soon," as modern machinery has made the 
farmer's life easy, and his mind often reverts 
to the old wooden mold-board plow, and the 
stumps through which he has guided it, or 
swung the cradle. None could cut more grain 
than he, and now, when he sees the self-binders 
and riding plows and hears the young men 
complaining of farm work, it appeals to his 
sense of the ridiculous. 

On November 18, 1854, Mr. Prichard was 
united in marriage at Erie, Whiteside County, 



111., with Rebecca Shelby, a daughter of Noah 
and Maria (Nevitt) Shelby. This union re- 
sulted in five children, as follows: Dr. George 
W., one of the leading physicians of his section 
of Kansas, who was waylaid and killed on a 
beautiful, moonlight night. May 1, 1891, at 
Coldwater, Kan.; Alice S., wife of Frank Kast, 
a resident of Beardstown, 111.; Peter, a hard- 
ware merchant of Alexander, Minn.; Olive, wife 
of James Ashbaugh, of Lewistown, 111., bridge 
foreman of the Fulton County narrow-gauge 
road; and Robert N., proprietor of the hotel at 
St. Paul, Neb. 

In politics Mr. Prichard has always been a 
very active and influential Democrat. In 1852 
he cast his first presidential vote for Franklin 
Pierce, and ever after took a prominent part in 
political affairs. He has creditably filled all the 
township offices, having served as Deputy 
Sheriff under David Waggoner, and as Jailor 
and Deputy under O. P. Randolph, the first 
Republican Sheriff in the county. In the fall 
of 1870 Mr. Prichard was elected Sheriff of 
Fulton County, and was re-elected in 1872. For 
eight years and four months he was connected 
in different capacities with the duties of the 
Sheriff's office. After serving two terms as 
Township Supervisor he retired from active 
politics. Fraternally he has been affiliated 
with the A. F. & A. M., for thirty years, and to 
the churches he has always contributed liberally 
of his means. No man has taken a deeper 
interest in the welfare of Fulton County than 
Robert Prichard. and to no other man within 
its borders do its people render more unfeigned 
respect. 

PRICKETT, John. — Among the leading citi- 
zens of Lewistown. Fulton County, III., who for 
a long period of years took an active and in- 
fluential part in the activities of that com- 
munity, is the worthy gentleman of whom this 
personal record treats. Mr. Prickett was born 
in Noble County, Ind., September 7, 1838, and 
is a son of Isaiah and Eliza (Lothridge) 
Prickett, natives of Ohio. Two of their children 
died in infancy. The others are as follows: 
Harrison, Captain of Company A, Fifty-fifth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during 
the Civil War, who was killed soon afterwards 
by being thrown from a sleigh; Nicholas A., 
who died in March, 1899, and is buried in the 
cemetery near Lewistown; Susan C, wife of 
O. M. McCumber; and Eliza J., wife of John 
McCumber. The family settled in Fulton 
County in 1852, and the father bought a farm, 
on which he spent the remainder of his life in 
agricultural pursuits. He was a plain, unas- 
suming man, of upright character and correct 
habits, and enjoyed the respect of all who knew 
him. 

There is a family tradition that early in the 
colonial days three brothers by the name of 
Prickett emigrated from England to the South- 
ern States, and that the one who located in 
Virginia planted the branch with which John 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1047 



Prickett is identified. The great-grandfather 
was killed by the Indians before he had reached 
the prime of life, and about 1826 the grand- 
father visited Vermilion County with the in- 
tention of entering land and locating, but was 
taken sick and died at the home of a friend. 
Isaiah Prickett. thus left fatherless at the age 
of ten years, began life's labors at that tender 
age as a farm hand at .$6.2.5 a month, his home 
being then in Ohio. In 1836 he settled in Noble 
County. Ind., which remained the family home 
until 1852, when, on account of the unhealth- 
fulness of the climate and impelled by the pre- 
vailing spirit of Western adventure, he started 
with teams for Lewistown, Fulton County, III. 
John Prickett was then a sturdy youth of 
fourteen. 

The winter of 1852-.53 was spent on the O. P. 
Davis place. In the spring of 1853 the family 
moved to a farm belonging to .Jacob Prickett, 
a brother of Isaiah Prickett, where they lived 
until l.So4. when the tract of land which later 
became the old Prickett homestead was bought. 
The original eighty acres (now owned by Mrs. 
C. M. McCumber) is in Section 15, Lewistown 
Township, and at the time of its purchase by 
Isaiah presented, for improvements, a clearing 
of about eight acres and a hewn log house. At 
the time of his death in 1901, the farm had 
ben increased to 130 acres, improved by 
thorough cultivation and modern frame build- 
ings, and he also owned eighty acres in Section 
10. At one time he controlled a very large 
body of swamp lands, comprising 1,800 acres 
near Thompson's Lake, in Waterford and Liver- 
pool Townships. The wife of Isaiah Prickett 
died in 1892. and the remains of both father 
and mother are now resting in the Sugar Grove 
Cemetery, where repose so many of the early 
settlers of Lewistown Township. 

It will rightly be inferred from a perusal of 
the above narrative, that John Prickett is a 
pioneer of two States, and has passed through 
experiences which few men are privileged to 
recount. The story which he tells is therefore 
ful of interest and worthy of careful reading: 

"I will say that my early life was spent on 
the farm and that I bore my part in the work 
of clearing the old Xoble County farm in Indi- 
ana, and later helped to clear and improve the 
old Prickett homestead in Lewistown Township. 
AVhen we first located in Indiana the Indians 
had not left and I remember visiting an Indian 
camp with father, 'Various wild ani- 
mais roamed through the country then, 
deer being plentiful and bears being 
frequently seen. Father was quite a 
hunter and kept the table well sup- 
plied with wild meat, even after we came to 
Illinois. 'Why, I myself have killed wild turkeys 
right within what are now the corporate limits 
of Lewistown. The journey from Indiana to 
our new nonie in Ilinois was made with horse 
teams and consumed about two weeks. The 
route lay through a wilderness of timber and 
swamps, with here and there a town and a sec- 



tion that had been opened up to settlement, and 
we camped out and slept in and under the 
wagons at night. 

"I was about fourteen years old when we 
came to Fulton County and part or most of my 
boyhood was spent in Indiana. I received my 
early schooling in the log schoolhouses of 
Noble County. Some of the first temples of 
learning in which I pursued my studies were 
heated by fireplaces for which the larger boys 
had to cut the wood, and having the light 
admitted through greased paper which covered 
the openings cut in the logs. They were 
supplied with home-made furniture, such as 
slab benches with wooden pins for legs, and 
writing desks made of boards laid on 
wooden pins projecting from the walls. I be- 
gan life's labors on a farm in the wilderness, 
with no educational advantages save those that 
the times afforded, but after we came to Fulton 
County I attended the Lewistown Seminary 
four years and I have a fairly good education. 

"During the first years of our residence In 
Fulton County all kinds of wild game were 
plentiful and the streams were full of fishes. I 
have grown to maturity in Fulton County and 
was early taught habits of industry and econ- 
omy. I helped to chop, burn and clear the 
timber from the old home place and became an 
adept with the axe. I remained with my par- 
ents long after I was of age and was one of 
the last of the boys to leave the family fireside. 
The idea finally grew upon me of establishing 
a home of my own." 

Mr. Prickett was twenty-eight years of age 
when he left the old parental home, having 
been married during the early part of the year. 
He now set out to establish a household of his 
own, with very little money, but with strong 
muscles, a fair education and a determination 
to conquer all adverse circumstances and ob- 
stacles. After his marriage he settled on a 
farm of 100 acres, which had previously been 
bought of an uncle, located in .Bernadotte 
Township, and after living there for about a 
year and a half, bought the old home place, 
some time after purchasing the old Burrington 
farm of 170 acres, then belonging to his father- 
in-law. This was in the early 'seventies. Mr. 
Prickett's indomitable will, his capacity for 
labor and his fine managerial ability were all 
lirought into full demand during the following 
quarter of a century, as there was an indebted- 
ness of over $7,000 upon his property which, 
with interest, he was obliged to meet, as well 
as maintain an increasing household, and main- 
tain his farm and his homestead according to 
modern standards. But he taught school in the 
winter months (was thus engaged altogether 
for seventeen terms), farmed during the re- 
mainder of the year, and attended to outside 
matters early in the morning and late at night. 
But he rolled up his sleeves, kept a clear head, 
and had the satisfaction of bringing his land 
to scientific productiveness, erecting a large 
modern brick residence and planting around it 



1048 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



choice ornamental and fruit trees, and after 
spending some $7,000 in improvements, of sell- 
ing his fine property for $25,000. In 1889 he 
retired from the farming and stock-raising 
operations, bought the Judge Shope property in 
Lewistown, and went to the village to live, but 
afterward purchased other real estate for resi- 
dence and investment purposes. 

In 1894 Mr. Prickett became actively con- 
nected with the Farmers' State Bank of Lewis- 
town and was three years President of that in- 
stitution, being still a stockholder. In 1903 he 
assisted in the organization of the Farmers' 
State Bank of Cuba, in which he is a stock- 
holder and a director. Besides successfully 
managing his financial Interests Mr. Prickett 
is engaged in the handling of his real estate 
and in the care of various estates, his judg- 
ment in such matters being highly valued. But 
whatever success has come to him, he is al- 
ways free in the acknowledgment of deep grati- 
tude for the faithful assistance and unfailing 
support of his good wife, like himself, a pio- 
neer, who performed her great part in laying 
the foundation of the present prosperity of the 
township and county. 

On February 15. 1866, Mr. Prickett was united 
in marriage with Mrs. Margaret Lenhart Apple, 
a daughter of John and Eliza Lenhart, of 
Perry County, Ohio. Her parents lived near 
Zanesville, Ohio, but moved to Fulton County 
with their family in 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Prick- 
ett are the parents of seven children, namely: 
Delia Eliza, who is the wife of "William C. 
Fitzhenry, and lives on the old home 
farm; Mary, who is a member of 
the family household; John Henry, who 
resides in the vicinity of Hastings, Neb.; Fred- 
erick W., who is engaged in farming in Lewis- 
town Township, Fulton County; Henry, who is 
a farmer in Hall County, Neb.; Harriet, who is 
the wife of Rev. Charles Fitzhenry, of Lewis- 
town, 111., and Charles C, who is connected 
with Hasson's drug store. All these chil- 
dren have enjoyed the advaijtages of an ex- 
cellent education, the three youngest having 
attended college and graduated therefrom. 

In politics Mr. Prickett is a supporter of the 
Republican party, and still takes the interest 
of a good citizen in ])ublic affairs. He has 
served with ability and fidelity on the Board of 
Supervisors for four years. He has witnessed 
the marvelous changes which have transformed 
Fulton County from a scanty settlement to a 
center of productiveness and prosperity, and has 
done his part in promoting this development, 
being one of the most highly esteemed citizens 
of the community. The family are active mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

PROCTOR, J. "W. — Strictly speaking there is 
no new country, and pioneers and pioneer life 
no longer exist. An absorbing and fascinat- 
ing condition has passed into history, and its 
lessons and inspiration live principally in the 
retrospection of those who endured the hard- 
ships and contributed by various services and 



diversified gifts to the upbuilding of the pres- 
ent. Fulton County has as noble a roll call of 
early settlers as any part of the Central West, 
and among those inseparably associated with 
the Fulton County records, none are more de- 
serving of perpetuation in its annals than J. 
W. Proctor. 

Mr. Proctor was born in Sangamon County, 
111., and, while still an infant was taken by 
his parents to Lewistown, of which he remained 
a citizen for forty-eight years. He received the 
training of the common schools, and his home 
life was such as to develop the finest traits of 
character. He was a typical pioneer, and his 
forceful personalit.v fitted well into its exact- 
ing grooves. "Variously connected with the in- 
terests of Lewistown during his extreme youth, 
in maturity he established the first bank of the 
town, now the First National Bank, and pre- 
sided at its head for many years. Removing 
to Canton in 1875 he there found a field for his 
business abilities, for some years operating 
the Williams Coal Mine under lease, and was 
also interested for some time in mercantile 
business, retiring about 1881 or 1882. He was 
one of the organizers and for many years 
President of the Fulton County Old Settlers' 
Society. The home of his own making dated 
from 1854, when he was united in marriage 
to Mary Antoinette Talbott. Two children have 
been born of this unioxi; Francis L. and Hat- 
tie T. For many years Mr. Proctor has lived 
retired, a quiet and unostentatious citizen of 
a city which owes much to his largeness of 
mind, heart and purpose. 

PUTMAN, Floyd F. — One of the most recent 
recruits to the professional equipment of Can- 
ton is Floyd Putman, representative of one of 
the early and prominent families of Fulton 
County, and a young man who, at the age of 
twenty-flve, stands upon the threshold of a 
promising and worth-while legal career. Mr. 
Putman is a native son of Illinois, born in 
Civer, Fulton County, October 8, 1880. He was 
educated in the Canton public schools, and 
after graduating from the high school entered 
the Law Department of the University of Michi- 
gan, completing the course in the spring of 
1904. The following October he was admitted 
to the bar of Illinois, and in Canton, where 
he had been known for years and had hosts 
of friends, began the uphill work of competing 
with the older, more conservative and more 
experienced professional element. Mr. Putman 
has force of character, strong ambitions and a 
keen sense of the ethics and amenities of legal 
practice. He is prominent socially and is iden- 
tified with the Benevolent Protective Order of 
Elks. 

QUICK, Roscoe H.— What formerly was the 
Daniel Vittum farm in Deerfield Township has 
been owned and managed by Roscoe H. Quick 
since the fall of 1900. At the time of its pur- 
chase no improvements existed on the place. 




^^^AJlA^ ^^^--w^^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1049 



but four years have witnessed a marked 
change, the owner having erected a modern 
home in 1903 and the following year a base- 
ment barn, thirty-six by forty feet ground di- 
mensions. Prior to this time he had erected a 
granary and seed-house, a scale and imi)lement 
house and hog and poultry houses. In addition 
he has thoroughly drained the farm, built fences 
and purchased agricultural implements, and 
now has one of the most homelike and profit- 
able properties in the townshi|>. Mr. Quick de- 
voted a iiart of his 160 acres to general i)roduce, 
but makes a s])ecialty of pure-bred stock, i)rin- 
cipally Duroc Jersey hogs, having about 200 in 
the herd. He is practical and progressive in his 
tendencies and makes a scientific study of the 
occupation in which he is engaged. 

Mr. Quick is one of the younger farmers of 
the township and is a native of Fulton County, 
born in .Joshua Township. August 27, 1877. He 
comes of Eastern stock, his i)arents, Andrew 
Jackson and Elizabeth (Gardiner) Quick, hav- 
ing been born and reared in New York State. 
Of the elder Quick mention is made elsewhere in 
this work. Mr. Quick was educateJ in the 
country schools and on March 20, 1901, in 
Knox County, 111., was married to Nelle A. Wil- 
son, a teacher of stenography in the Champaign 
Business College, who was born in Tiskilwa. 
Bureau County, 111., March 23. 1S76. Of this 
union are two daughters: Hazel L., bom De- 
cember :!, 1902, and Margaret, born October 2, 
1906. Mr. Quick remained with his parents 
until locating on his present farm and in the 
meantime has taken a prominent part in pro- 
moting local agricr.lture, his position being in- 
dicated by his |)residency of the Farmers' 
County Institute, in which he formerly served 
as Secretary. He is one of the best informed 
and most studious farmers of the community, 
bringing to bear upon his work intelligence, 
insight and genuine appreciation. 

QUIGLE, Emery. — In his agricultural opera- 
tions -Mr. Quigle has adopted the modern 
method so prevalent in the arts of science and 
industry of specializing; so that, although he 
farms quite extensively, he devotes most of his 
attention to the breeding of English Shires and 
road horses. In this branch of the live-stocii 
business he is widely and favorably known, 
his dealings being largely with the wealthier 
classes. 

Emery Quigle is a native Illinoisan, born in 
McDonough County, on the 16th of April, 1856. 
His parents were Lewis Quigle, a Pennsyl- 
vania farmer, and Anna (Heimanover) 
Quigle, who was born in New Jersey. The fa- 
ther settled in Lee Township at an early day. 
and remained there until his death, Mr. Quigle 
was educated in the district schools and in- 
ured to his life work on the home farm. He 
was industrious and careful, at the same time 
energetic and enterprising, with the result 
that he increased his original holdings until he 
28 



is now the owner of 400 acres of land, devoted 
both to farming and horse-breeding. 

In Lee Township, on the ,5th of February, 
1879, Emery Quigle was united in marriag^ 
with Elizabeth Krider, a native of the town- 
ship named, born December 18, 1860. They 
have had four children. Lewis C, Herbert C, 
Earl J. and Edith. His family and the care 
and improvement of his fine property have 
naturally monopolized much of Mr. Quigle's 
time, but not entirely to the exclusion of public 
affairs. Educational matters have always in- 
terested him, and for some years he has served 
as School Director of the Township. He is a 
Republican, member of the I. O. O. F., and 
identified with the religious and charitable 
work of the Methodist Church. 

QUIGLE, Herbert C, is the son of Emery 
Quigle. an early settler of the county and a 
lirominent breeder of live stock. Although still 
a young man he is making a pronounced suc- 
cess of his specialty, the raising of English 
Shires and road horses, Mr. Quigle was born in 
Lee Township, on the 6th of November, 1882, 
and was educated in the district schools and 
trained to a useful life on the old family home- 
stead. At an early age he became a thorough 
farmer and an expert in the raising and deal- 
ing in live stock, and although he is not yet 
twenty-four years of age, can give valuable 
•pointers" on the breeding of horses to many 
men who have been engaged in the business a 
much longer time. 

On the 6th of November, 190.5, Mr. Quigle 
was united in marriage with Minnie Emroy, 
of Prairie City, III., the ceremony occurring 
at Macomb, the home of her parents. Mrs. 
Quigle was born on the 8th of May, 1884. Her 
husband is a good Republican, but too busy 
making a home and a reinitation to be a poli- 
tiQian. They were both members of the Metho- 
dist Church. 

QUIGLEY, William H.— One of the best farms 
on Section 2.5, Lewistown Township, Fulton 
County, 111., is owned and carefully and suc- 
cessfully cultivated by the well known farmer 
whose name stands at the beginning of this 
personal record. William H. Quigley was born 
in Liverpool Township, Fulton County, August 
20, 1872, the son of Sidney and Amanda (Ar- 
nett) Quigley, of whom the former was a na- 
tive of New York and the latter of Kentucky. 
Both are still living, the father being engaged 
in farming in Liverpool Township. 

The subject of this sketch in early youth re- 
ceived his educational training in the district 
schools, his first schooling, however, being un- 
der the tuition of his father, while busied about 
the farm in the tasks customary for farmers' 
sons. He thus assisted in farming operations 
until 1893, when he began tilling the soil on 
his own account, since that period making 



I050 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



farming his sole occupation and Lewlstown 
Township his home. He is now operating the 
old Bordner farm, where his wife was Ijorn, and 
which was her father's homestead, consisting 
of 19.5 acres, the spot where he located on first 
settling in Fulton County. From it Mrs. Quig- 
ley's father cleared away the heavy timber in 
the pioneer period and now its fertile and pro- 
ductive area attests the faithful work of his 
hands. Mr. Quigley is an energetic and entei'- 
prising farmer and in addition to general farm- 
ing raises a good grade of horses, hogs and cat- 
tle. His labors are being attended by success- 
ful results. 

On September 10, 1S93, Mr. Quigley was 
united in marriage with Charlotte D. Bordner, 
who was born March 2, 1S74, a daughter of 
Moses and Elvira ( Ewers ) Bordner. A sketch 
of the life of her much respected father may be 
found on another page of this volume. Mr. and 
Mrs. Quigley have had six children, one of 
whom ( Bennie K. ) died in infancy. Those sur- 
viving are: Arthur B., born May 9, 1894; Ben- 
jamin R., born November 20, 1896; Hobart R., 
born January, 1897; Ivan and Lillian (twins), 
born December 28, 1899. and Jennie I., born 
August 19. 1902. 

In politics Mr. Quigley indorses the principles 
of the Republican party and takes a good citi- 
zen's interest in public affairs. Fraternally he 
is affiliated with the K. of P. and M. W. A." He 
is a man of excellent character and is re- 
spected by all who enjoy his acquaintance. 

QUILLIN, James W., the banker, of Ipava, has 

for thirty years been at the head of one of the 
most tlourishing financial institutions of a pri- 
vate character in Fulton County. It is the am- 
bition of many men to be manipulating the af- 
fairs of some great metropolitan bank, but it 
they fully realized what a splendid field there 
is for sound business and financial ability in 
the smaller agricultural communities, there 
would not be so much unsoundness in the bank- 
ing circles of the large cities. While James W. 
Quillin might have succeeded as fully in Chi- 
cago as he has in Ipava, he had the good sense 
to avoid the overcrowded city and establish a 
house in a quieter community, which is a great 
credit to his judgment and ability and to the 
village where he is so highly honored. 

Mr. Quillin was born in 'Wellsburg, W. Va., 
September 6, 1850, son of Ezekiel Quillin. The 
family had removed from Clarkesburg, Va., in 
1S54, but as they left Wellsburg in 1858 and 
then made Ipava, 111., their home, he even ac- 
quired most of his schooling in this State. He 
finished his education in that village, working 
upon the farm until 1865, when he entered the 
store of his brother-in-law, J. L. McCune, hold- 
ing a simple clerkship. He was thus employed 
until 1871, after which he was connected with 
a lumber yard for a year. In 1873 he purchased 
a half interest in the general merchandise 
store known as J. L. McCune & Company, the 
partnership continuing for twenty years, or 



until the death of the senior member of the 
firm in 1893. After Mr. McCune's death the 
heirs of the estate managed the business until 
1902. The company carried a large and well- 
selected stock of general merchandise, valued 
at from $15,000 to $20,000. After the death of 
Mr. McCune Mr. Quillin had entire charge of 
the banking interests, the company having pur- 
chased the private banking house of Henry P. 
Ayers in 1876, and about 1900 withdrew entirely 
from the store. 

On November 11, 1885, Mr. Quillin was united 
in marriage with Clara Hann, she being a 
daughter of George L. and Jane (Cooksie) 
Hann. natives of Ohio. They have become the 
parents of four children, as follows: Howard 
H., born October 17, 1887; Mary, April 25, 1890; 
Robert, April 27, 1894, and George W., Septem- 
ber 2, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Quillin are members 
of the Presbyterian Church. 

Mr. Quillin himself is actively identified with 
the Masonic fraternity and has been unswerv- 
ingly attached to Republicanism. For eight con- 
secutive years he creditably served as President 
of the Town Board. Since early manhood he 
has been foremost in the public enterprises 
which have proved advantageous to his home 
locality, and is generally one of the most influ- 
ential men in this section of the county. 

RANDOLPH, Charles S., Postmaster of Ipava, 
111. — There are many respectable, easy-going 
people wno are content to believe in all matters 
just as their fathers, grandfathers and great- 
grandfathers did before them. There are others 
who have formed individual beliefs in some 
unaccountable way and will never change them, 
no matter how forceful the arguments may be 
which may arise in opposition to them. Cus- 
tom, material advancement, sensitiveness to 
criticism, weakness, sheer cowardice — all con- 
spire to keep the majority within the limits of 
conservative beliefs, especially in matters of re- 
ligion. What will people think? How will my 
expressed belief ait'ect my business, my pros- 
pects in life? are questions which are answered 
with more or less independence and bravery by 
everyone. Mrs. Grundy may be a myth, but she 
is a very real one to most of us. Occasionally 
a character of such independence and force 
comes upon the scene that, despite his refusal 
to enroll himself with the great majority of 
conservative thinkers and speakers, he forges 
ahead in his material career while maintaining 
his mdependence of belief in the field of 
thought. Of this type is Charles S. Randolph, 
the honest, capable Postmaster, and the out- 
spoken, true-hearted citizen of Ipava. 

In religion Mr. Randolph cames out squarely 
and says that he is an agnostic; that is, that his 
mind is open to conviction with the presenta- 
tion of reasonable proofs — and that is his atti- 
tude in all fields of thought in which his amia- 
ble and talented wife fully agrees with him. 
While vigorously holding to this mental atti- 
tude, he firmly believes in an active, useful. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1051 



liberal life, and thinks that, in order to be truly 
good, men and women should be busy from 
twelve to sixteen hours daily, either at their 
own business or in helping their neighbors; and 
personally he carries out this latter belief to 
the letter. He claims earnestly that the life 
Itself should be worthy of imitation; that be- 
liefs and professions will take care of them- 
selves; finally, that the history or biography of 
men and women cannot be truly written until 
they are dead. 

Briefly the outward facts in the life of Charles 
S. Randolph are that he is the son of Mr. and 
Mrs. O. P. Randolph and was born in Fayette 
County, Pa.. June 14, 18.34. In 1864 he came 
with his parents to Fulton County, 111., where, 
with the exception of three years spent in Da- 
kota, Washington and other parts of the far 
West, he has since resided. He was reared on 
a farm, stuaied hard while a boy, in his youth 
and as a young man; read law, but never 
practiced, and on December 20, 1891, married 
Leone Bell Robinson. They have had no chil- 
dren. Mr. Randolph has always been a firm be- 
liever in the principles of the Republican party, 
and was appointed Postmaster of Ipava in 
1897. The general verdict is that the village 
never had an official who performed his duties 
more faithfully or successfully. (Incidentally, 
It may be ai)proi)riately stated in this connec- 
tion that Mr. Randolph has just received word 
from Washington, D. C, of his reappointment as 
Postmaster for another four years' term. This 
he regards as a great honor, coming, as it does, 
through President Roosevelt, whom he regards 
as one of the greatest characters ever born. ) 
While this is his present calling the business of 
his life has been, and is at this time, that of a 
pharmacist, which has covered a period of 
twenty-six years and earned him a high repu- 
tation. At the present time he is serving as 
President of the P^ulton County Druggists' As- 
sociation, President of the Postmasters' League 
of Fulton County and Treasurer of the Post- 
masters' State League. Fraternally he has a 
wide connection, being a member of the Ma- 
sonic Order, an Elk, Knight of Pythias, Modern 
Woodmen of America and is affiliated with the 
Court of Honor, Royal Neighbors and the East- 
ern Star. 

Mr. Randolph has in his possession a sword 
which has done service in three wars, but he 
hopes that it will in the future be only an 
ornament in the librar.v — that war will only be 
resorted to as the last extremity to save the na- 
tion from monarchy or dissolution — that all 
other difficulties may be settled diplomatically. 
He is proud that history records the fact that 
the first Attorney General of our grand old 
country was a Randolph. 

RANDOLPH, Mrs. Charles S. (nee Leone Belle 
Robinson), Assistant Postmaster, Ipava. 111., 
was born near Ipava, 111.. December 4, 1864, the 
youngest daughter of Hon. Thomas Chockley 
and Sarah Ann Robinson, and was married to 



Charles S. Randolph December 20, 1891. Mrs 
Randolph, to whom her husband attributes 
much credit as his helpmate, possesses a real 
business mind, blended with a strong individ- 
uality and a desire to see right and justice al- 
ways prevail, was reared on a farm (as was her 
husband), and there received her education 
amid rural surroundings. She has a remark- 
able memory, is a strenuous student of nature 
and a lover of history, geography, art and 
travel. After her marriage to Mr. Randolph 
she spent much of her leisure time with her 
husband in his pharmacy. Her desire to be 
doing something and to know more of the hid- 
den mysteries of the vegetable and mineral 
kingdoms led her to spend some of her leisure 
hours with the United States Dispensatory and 
the United States Pharmacopoeia, which re- 
sulted in her passing the examination for as- 
sistant pharmacist. She is now Assistant Post- 
master and in that position renders her hus- 
niand efficient aid in the discharge of his offi- 
cial duties, and is also a full partner in his 
business as a pharmacist. Mrs. Randolph is a 
working member in the local lodges of the 
Eastern Star, Royal Neighbors and Court of 
Honor, but loves her home more than all. To 
do right from a personal sense and knowledge 
of right, without fear or promise of reward, is 
her religion; to be real and true in love, to be 
honest in purpose, to be cheerful in life, and 
to have a model home, is her ambition. Mrs. 
Randolph is proud of the fact that the begin- 
ning of the Robinson family in America came 
with the arrival of the "Mayflower" at Plymouth 
Rock in 1620. 

RANDOLPH, John Fitz (deceased).— Among 
the many worthy farmers of Fulton County, 
111., whose agricultural and personal careers 
have reflected lasting credit upon the com- 
munities in which their lives were spent, is John 
F. Randolph, for nearly half a century a prom- 
inent and much respected citizen of Joshua 
Township, in that county. Mr. Randolph was 
born in Indiana May 26, 1S33, his parents being 
John and Anna (Rawalt) Randolph, natives of 
New York and Pennsylvania, respectively, the 
father born in Yates County, N. Y., in December, 
1776, and dying in 1S47. The mother died Feb- 
ruary 13, 1S7S. Jeptha Randolph, the grand- 
father, took part in the War of the Revolution. 
John Randolph was a school teacher in New 
Yorlv State and his purpose in going West was 
to l)uy land on which to give his sons a start 
as farmers. The Randolph family, after their 
removal to the West, first lived in Indiana, but 
settled in Fulton County, 111., in the early 
'forties, locating in Joshua Township, where 
John Randolph built a saw mill on Putt Creek. 
He also owned a farm in that locality, on which 
he spent the remainder of his life. He and his 
wife were the parents of eleven children, six 
of whom are still living. The father was a 
Whig in politics and in religion a Swedenbor- 
gian. 



I052 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



John F. Randolph was a young lad when he 
was brought to Joshua Township. In order of 
birth he was the sixth of the family and has 
three sisters, namely: Jane (Mrs. D. Y. Mil- 
ler), Minerva (Mrs. S. R. Hinkle) 
and Ann Eliza (Mrs. Lewis E. Trites), 
a sketch of whose husband's life may 
be found elsewhere in this volume. 
In early youth Mr. Randolph attended the 
Joshua Township public schools, in which his 
future wife was also a pupil. At a later period 
he continued his studies at Lombard Univer- 
sity, Galesburg, 111. When about twenty-two 
years of age he bought 16U acres of land in 
Canton Township, on which he carried on gen- 
eral farming until about three years previous 
to his death. Through energy and thrifty man- 
agement he became one of the most extensive 
land-holders and property-owners in Fulton 
County, and left a large estate to his heirs. 
His farms in that county comprised about 600 
acres. In addition to these he was the owner, 
at one time, of 1,760 acres of land in Kansas, a 
portion of which is still a part of the estate, 
and had 160 acres in Nebraska, still a part of 
his estate. He erected several buildings in the 
town of Canton, among which are the Randolph 
Block, the building occupied by Leaman's laun- 
dry, the Pacific House and the Randolph resi- 
dence on Chestnut Street. He also owned an 
interest in the Joplin lead mines. 

On February 14, 1856, Mr. Randolph was 
married in Fulton County to Louisa Haver- 
male, who was born in Montgomery County, 
Ohio, twelve miles from Dayton, on March 3, 
1836. Mrs. Randolph is a daughter of Peter and 
Mariah Havermale, natives of Maryland. For 
a record of the Havermale family reference may 
be made to a sketch of the life of Rev. M. F. 
Havermale, which appears elsewhere in this 
volume. The following children resulted from 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph, namely: 
Flora, who is the wife of Alba Page, and lives 
in the State of Washington; Thurston, who 
married May McDonald, and is the father of 
one child — Jessie; Viola, who is the wife of 
George Miller, of Fulton County, and has two 
children — Bertha and Harry; Orpha, who died 
when a year and a half old: Arty (now residing 
in Kansas), who married for his tirst wife Al- 
berta Reichert, and by whom he had one daugh- 
ter — Ruth; his second marriage was with Marie 
Powers, and they have two children — John F. 
and Carl; and John F., who married Pearl 
Divilbiss, and lives on the old homestead farm 
in Fulton County. John F. and wife have one 
son — Keith. 

Politically Mr. Randolph was a Greenbacker 
and Populist. He was also identified with the 
Grange. For some years he served as School 
Director of Joshua Township. His religious 
connection was with the Swedenborgian denom- 
ination. He was one of the most forceful, keen- 
sighted, progressive and successful of the many 
notable men who have left their impress on the 
material development of Fulton (3ounty. On 
June 6. 190.5, his busy and useful career came 



to an end, leaving, aside from his bereaved 
family, many former associates, who sorely 
miss him from the scene of his long-continued 
activities. Mrs. Randolph, for nearly fifty years 
the faithful companion of his life, still sur- 
vives, surrounded by every comfort that abun- 
dant means can provide, tenderly cared for by 
her affectionate family and conscious of the 
warm regard of many friends. 

RANDOLPH, Mrs. Isabel, widow of the late 
Oliver Perry Randolph, of Ipava, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was born in Fayette County, Pa., June 
14. 1832, the daughter of John and Xancy Bal- 
singer, who were natives of Germany and emi- 
grated with their parents to the United States, 
settling in Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Isa- 
bel, received her education in her native county 
arid in 1850, at the age of eighteen, was united 
in marriage with Oliver Perry Randolph, a na- 
tive of the same county, whose sketch appears 
in this connection. Mr. and Mrs. Randolph 
continued to reside in Pennsylvania until 1S64, 
when they removed to Illinois, settling near 
Astoria, Fulton County, which continued to be 
their home until 1882, when they moved to 
Ipava. where they lived for the remainder of 
Mr. Randolph's life. Mrs. Randolph now re- 
sides in Peoria with her daughter. They be- 
came the parents of twelve children, eight boys 
and four girls, of whom six were born in Penn- 
sylvania and four in Illinois. Of these chil- 
dren three sons and the four daughters are 
still living. (See sketch of Oliver Perry Ran- 
dolph in following section. ) 

In her youth Mrs. Randolph united with the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which she 
has ever since been a devoted member. In her 
every-day life everything in the way of mere 
society has been disregarded or turned aside 
to meet the demands of the family and the 
home, and devoting her attention to her hus- 
band and her children she has found her high- 
est enjoyment, winning the memory of a de- 
voted wife and mother in the fullest meaning 
of the word. Such characteristics entitled the 
American woman, in the estimation of her de- 
scendants and beneficiaries, to rank as the true 
queen — a higher rank even than that of the 
mere wearer of a golden crown or the royal 
purple. "Home, Sweet Home," was Mrs. Ran- 
dolph's favorite lullaby, and her children be- 
lieve that no one could sing it more sweetly 
than she. To live an honest, unpretentious life; 
to add to the happiness of humanity; to love 
the home and its surroundings, and to use her 
hands and brain to decorate and beautify that 
home; to honor her husband and care for her 
children, and to leave the world the better by 
example — these are the highest attributes and 
aspiration of the true woman — and such has 
been the ambition illustrated in the amiable 
life of the subject of this sketch. 

RANDOLPH, Jeptha F., who is among the 
most enterprising and progressive of the 
younger agricultural element of Joshua Town- 



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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1053 



ship, Fulton County, 111., was born in that town- 
ship June 7, 1877. He is a son of Louis and 
Elizabeth (Andrews) Randolph, natives, re- 
spectively, of Ohio and Illinois. Louis Ran- 
dolph is one of the early settlers of Joshua 
Township, where he has been successfully en- 
gaged in farming since his arrival in Fulton 
County. In 1S84 he purchased of Newton Ellis 
the farm where his son Jeptha now lives. 

Jeptha F. Randolph was reared to farm life, 
and in early youth received his education in 
the schools of Canton, Fulton County, supple- 
menting the instruction there obtained by a 
subsequent course of study in Brown's Business 
College at Galesburg, 111. He then applied him- 
self to farming in his own behalf and since 
1901 has been the owner of 120 acres of his 
father's original purchase. There, in addition 
to general farming, he devotes considerable at- 
tention to stock and makes a specialty of rais- 
ing fine Norman horses. He is possessed of 
notable energy and pursues intelligent methods 
of operation, and his success attests the dili- 
gence and thoroughness of his work. 

On December 16, 1903, Mr. Randolph was 
united in marriage with Lucille M. Sloss, who 
was born in Farmington, 111., and is a daugh- 
ter of Daniel W. and Lucy ( Maynard ) Sloss, 
the former a farmer in that vicinity. 

In politics Mr. Randolph is a supporter of the 
Democratic party, but votes for men and meas- 
ures promising the greatest good to the greatest 
number. He has served the ))ublic efficiently in 
the office of Township Clerk and is a member 
of the Baptist Church. 

RANDOLPH, Lewis F,, Sr.— No man in Fulton 
County has a more creditable and commendable 
record as an individual and as a citizen, and 
none represents a worthier parentage than 
Lewis F. Randolph, formerly one of the most 
extensive and successful farmers in Joshua 
Township, Fulton County, and now living in 
comfortable retirement amid the scenes where 
he has passed three score and ten years of his 
lite. Mr. Randolph was born in Utica, Clark 
County, Ind., July 4, 183.5, a son of John F, 
and Nancy (Rawalt) Randolph, of whom the 
former was born in Yates County, N. Y., and 
the latter in Pennsylvania, but reared in New 
York. John F. Randolph went from New York 
to Indiana at a very early period and in 1835 
removed to Fulton County, 111., locating in the 
Military Tract on the identical spot in Joshua 
Township where the subject of this sketch now 
lives. For some time he dwelt in a log house, 
but fifteen acres of the tract on which his hum- 
ble home stood being then broken up. He after- 
wards entered the half of Section 18, in Canton 
Township, besides seventy acres on Section 7, 
adding more from time to time, until his pos- 
sessions aggregated more than 1,200 acres in 
Joshua and Canton Townships. Over 700 acres 
of this tract are still in the hands of the Ran- 
dolph family. About the year 1840 Mr. Ran- 
dolph built a house, which was the place of his 



residence during the remainder of his life In 
1837 he built the first schoolhouse in Joshua 
Township, and in 1854 this was replaced by a 
brick building, which has since given place to 
the -Randolph School," erected in 1900, and 
which now marks the site of the original school- 
house of that name. Mr. Randolph was one of 
the early teachers in Indiana, was also a sur- 
veyor there and made globes, maps and charts, 
and in 1841-42, after coming to Fulton County, 
there held the office of County Commissioner. 
In early life he served as a soldier of the War 
of 1812. To him and his faithful wife were 
born ten children, of whom six are still living, 
namely: Maria Jane, wife of D. Y. Miller, of 
Canton, who has seven children — three sons and 
four daughters — of whom one son is a Judge in 
Iowa and another (Gilbert) a lawyer in Can- 
ton; Lewis F., the subject of this sketch; Mi- 
nerva, wife of Samuel Hinkle, of Canton; Eliza, 
wife of Lewis Trites (deceased), whose biog- 
raphy appears elsewhere in this work; Wash- 
ington F., who married TWary Ann Moore, has 
three children and resides on the old Moore 
home place in Fulton County; Franklin mar- 
ried Anna Meek, who has two children and re- 
sides in Canton. Of these three children — 
Lewis F. Minerva and Eliza — were all born on 
July 4th and Washington F. and Franklin are 
twins. Another brother, Daniel, was born on 
Christmas Day, 1828, and died on Christmas 
Day, 1848. The father of this family was a 
man of high character, great force of will and 
exhaustless energy, and commanded sincere re- 
spect wherever known. In politics he was an 
old-time Whig, and in religion a Swedenbor- 
gian, being a member of the first church of that 
denomination established in Fulton County. He 
died April 20, 1845, and his wife February 13, 
187S. 

Lewis F. Randolph was brought by his par- 
ents to Joshua Township in the tall of 1835 — 
the year of his birth — and was reared to farm 
life on the homestead, this locality having been 
his home during his whole life. In boyhood he 
received his training in the subscription 
schools of that locality, and after reaching ma- 
turity followed farming with unvarying suc- 
cess until his retirement from active business 
pursuits. His landed holdings increased until 
he became the owner of 600 acres, of which he 
still retains 250 acres, having divided the re- 
mainder among his children. Besides carry- 
ing on general farming he devoted considerable 
attention to the raising of stock, and in 1873 
imported the first Norman horse brought into 
Fulton County. He usually raised from 200 to 
300 hogs yearly. During the Civil War Mr. 
Randolph rendered gallant service in defense 
of the Union, serving in Company F, Sixty- 
seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 

On January 28, 1864, Mr. Randolph was 
united in marriage with Elizabeth Andrews, 
who was born in Fulton County, a daughter of 
H, V. and Sarah (Shane) Andrews, natives, re- 
spectively, of Ohio and Virginia. Three chil- 



I054 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



dren blessed this union, namely: Mary (Mrs. 
A. J. Neville), who resides on the old An- 
drews homestead in Canton Township; Jeptha 
F who married Lucille Sloss, and they have 
one child— Jeptha Jr.— and reside on a farm 
in Joshua Township, adjoining the subject of 
this sketch, and Lewis F., Jr., who married 
Maud Divilbiss, and resides adjoining his 
father, and has one son — Charles Lewis. H. V. 
Andrews, the father of Mrs. Lewis F. Randolph, 
was brought to Fulton County, 111., by his 
parents when he was five years of age, both 
parents dying there a few months later. They 
had previously settled at Fort Clark (now 
Peoria) when that region was a wilderness, and 
Indians and game were abundant. In 1820 
they moved to what is now Fulton County, 
then a part of Pike County, embracing all the 
territory northwest of the Illinois River. They 
settled in what is now Canton Township, and 
the family owned and operated the farm now 
belonging to Sylvester Lane, on which Mrs. 
Randolph was born. Mr. H. V. Andrews died 
there in 1903, his wife having preceded him m 
1895. Mr. Andrews was an Anti-Slavery Re- 
publican (or Abolitionist) and a deacon in the 
Baptist Church for fifty years. There were nine 
children in this family, of whom six are living, 
namely Harvev, who resides in Peoria; Eliza- 
beth (Mrs. Lewis F. Randolph); George B., of 
Canton; Abner B., also of Canton; Sarah, wife 
of Louis Kruse, of Chicago, and Corwin H., 
who married Rossa Whitmore, of Canton. 

In politics Mr. Randolph is independent, sup- 
porting men and measures which he believes 
to be for the best interests of all the people. 
For about forty vears he served his township as 
School Director and also held the office of 
School Trustee for some time. Religiously he 
is an adherent of the New (Swedenborgian) 
Church Mrs. Randolph is a member of the 
Baptist Church. Fraternally Mr. Randolph is 
a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
His life has been one of great usefulness and 
has been closelv interwoven with the develop- 
ment of Fulton County. Wherever his ac- 
quaintance extends he is cordially esteemed and 
regarded with unfeigned respect. 

RANDOLPH, Oliver Perry, at one time Sheriff 
of Fulton County, and the first Republican 
elected to office therein, was the father of the 
present Postmaster of Ipava. His was a strong 
character— strong in its likes and dislikes; kind 
of heart and generous, often to his own disad- 
vantage; above all, helpful to the unfortunate; 
plain of manner, outspoken and brave, both 
physically and morally. It Is not difficult to 
understand from what source Postmaster Ran- 
dolph drew for many of his distinctive traits of 
character, when the rugged personality of O. 
P. Randolph is considered. In discussing his an- 
cestry Mr. Randolph was accustomed to trace 
it to John Rolfe and Pocahontas, the Indian 
heroine who saved the life of Captain John 
Smith, the head of the party who founded 



Jamestown, Va. He would speak of his line- 
age with vigor and pride, and there is evidence 
in the Jamestown record that his claim was 
well founded. According to these records, 
"Thomas Rolfe, the son of John Rolfe and Po- 
cahontas, married Jane Foyers, and they had 
a daughter, Jane Rolfe. Jane Rolfe married 
Colonel Robert Boiling, and they had a daugh- 
ter, also called Jane. Jane Boiling married 
Ryland Randolph, son of Richard Randolph, of 
Curies Henrico." It was this Richard Ran- 
dolph from whom O. P. Randolph claimed to be 
a lineal descendant. Thus descended from 
strenuous old Virginia stock, Oliver Perry Ran- 
dolph was, like his ancestors, strongly imbued 
with a lofty patriotism. He was not a member 
of any church, but united very early in life 
with the Masonic fraternity, and it is said of 
him that he could work with a vigor equaled by 
but few men of his day. 

Born in Fayette County, Pa., February 26, 
1830, Oliver P. Randolph married Isahelle Bal- 
singer, also a native of that county. Seven 
children were born to them there and four in 
Astoria, Fulton County, 111., the parents moving 
to Ipava in 1880. Of these eleven children 
seven are still living, viz.: Charles S., the 
Postmaster of Ipava; Franklin P., a resident of 
St. Louis, Mo.; Annie, wife of James G. DeLent, 
of Peoria, 111.; Elizabeth, now Mrs. V. I. Ball, 
living at Concord, 111.; Margaret; D. W., also a 
resident of Peoria, and Mollie D., living with 
her mother in that city. The deceased children 
were: John B., who came to Astoria with his 
parents in 1864, moved to Elmwood, 111., in 
18S4, and died at the latter place December 22, 
1904; William T., who died in Ipava, and O. P., 
Jr.. who passed away in Lewistown. 

On coming to Fulton County in 1864 the fa- 
ther purchased land and engaged in farming 
on an extensive scale, also buying and ship- 
ping stock in large quantities. He continued 
thus employed until 1878, when the Republicans 
of Fulton County put him forward as their can- 
didate for Sheriff and elected him — as already 
stated, he being the first member of the Re- 
publican party elected to office in Fulton 
County. He filled the position for two years, 
his sons, John B. and Charles S., acting as his 
deputies, and the office has never been con- 
ducted with more general satisfaction to law- 
abiding citizens and with greater dissatisfac- 
tion to evil-doers, than during that period. 
Upon the expiration of his term of office Mr. 
Randolph moved to Ipava and engaged in the 
feed and livery business, in which he continued 
until his death, which occurred at his home in 
Ipava at 12:30 p. m., July 24, 1900, aged sev- 
enty years, four months and twenty-seven days. 

The deceased was not only charitable and 
generous to individuals, but freely gave of both 
his time and money to the support of public en- 
terprises which he considered feasible and wor- 
thy, so that his death was deeply felt as a per- 
sonal bereavement and a loss to the community 
at large. His noble wife, who shared his pleas- 




SARAH SMITH BUILDING, CANTON 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1055 



ures and hardships, his reverses and successes, 
and was at his side through them all, is now 
an honored resident of Peoria, 111., being seven- 
ty-five years of age and a lifelong member of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

RAWALT, Milton.— Morally, socially and 
financially, Milton Rawalt belongs to the best 
element in Orion Township. Fulton County, in 
which he has spent the greater portion of his 
life, and where he was born September 20, 
1S43, in a hewed log house about a hundred feet 
from his latest home in that locality. This farm 
has been in the possession of his family ever 
since 1830. 

The early days of Orion Township knew no 
more active and many-sided personality than 
Jonas Rawalt, father of Milton, nor had it a 
settler whose character and abilities were more 
in accord with its needs and possibilities. Of 
rugged Revolutionary stock, he was a grand- 
son of a Commissary General in the Continental 
army and son of John Rawalt. a native of Penn- 
sylvania. Jonas was born and spent the first 
few years of his life on a farm in Northumber- 
land County, Pa., and then moved with his 
parents to Onondaga County, N. Y., but later 
returned to his native State. He subsequently 
moved to Clark County, Ind.. of which he was 
an early settler, and where he learned the dis- 
tillery business, which he subsequently com- 
bined with farming. In Indiana, March 23. 
1825, he married Deida Robins, a native of 
South Carolina, and in 1S29 again yielded to an 
unconquerable desire to share in the develop- 
ment of an unsettled region, and with his wife 
and two children, John and Enoch, journeyed 
with a wagon and a three-horse team to Fulton 
County by way of Bloomington, 111. The first 
year was spent on the farm of David Fonts, 
south of Canton, and during that time he en- 
tered land now owned by his son, consisting of 
160 acres. His rising prosperity was best indi- 
cated by his dwelling places, and in shorter 
time than it would take the average, his rude 
frame dwelling was replaced by a hewed log 
building on the southwest corner of his farm, 
and this in turn was abandoned for the sub- 
stantial home which still stands on the old 
homestead, and where his demise occurred De- 
cember 22, 1882. The passing of twenty-three 
years has not served to efface the invaluable 
political and general services of this stalwart 
pioneer. Great force of character, marked ex- 
ecutive ability, practical common sense and dis- 
interested publlc-spiritedness opened to him 
doors of opportunity denied the equally worthy 
but less discerning and capable individual. He 
was the first County School Commissioner, and 
after the organization of the township repre- 
sented it on the first Board of Supervisors, of 
which he was the first Chairman, and on which 
he remained for ten years. He was also the 
first member of the Legislature from Fulton 
County (1838-40), and in this, as in other offi- 
cial capacities, proved his worth as a large- 



minded and well-posted representative of the 
people. About 1856 he graduated from the 
Whig into the Republican party, and when the 
seething discontent between the North and 
South culminated in the Civil War, with his 
three sons, John, Enoch and Benjamin, he en- 
listed as a soldier, and ere his service was com- 
pleted won the rank of First Major of the 
Seventh Regiment Illinois Cavalry. John be- 
came a member of Company I, One Hundred 
and Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, and died in 
the service; Enoch was a member of the Eighth 
Illinois Cavalry, and Benjamin served as Adju- 
tant in the Eighth Minnesota Infantry. In re- 
ligion Mr. Rawalt was a consistent Swedenbor- 
gian, and served as trustee and treasurer of 
the local church for many years. His wife, who 
shared his pioneer struggles and later pros- 
perity with true womanliness, died October 27, 
1878, after a wedded life of fifty-three years. 
She was the mother of the following named 
children: John, who died In Memphis, Tenn., 
as a soldier of the Union; Enoch, who died in 
October, 1885; Henry and Seth, who died in 
infancy; Jane, who became the wife of Charles 
H. Ganson, of Urbana, Ohio; Mary, who be- 
came the wife of William M. Ganson, of 
Havana. 111.; Benjamin, who removed to Colo- 
rado; Elizabeth, who became the wife of Ed- 
ward Whiteford, of Manito, 111.; Milton, who 
now resides in Galesburg, 111., and Jonas R., 
who went to Colorado and entered land near 
the city of Denver. 

Milton Rawalt had the advantages of the aver- 
age youth of his time and place. From the 
country school near his home he entered the 
Urbana (Ohio) University and subsequently 
took a course at Bryant & Stratton's Business 
College, Chicago, from which he graduated 
March 23, 1865, on the anniversary of the mar- 
riage of his parents. His practical business 
training began as a clerk in a Canton bank, 
and he later was connected with the Mechanics' 
National Bank of Chicago, 111. Had ill health 
not cut short his business career and rendered 
imperative less confining occupation, agricul- 
ture would doubtless have lost a practical and 
intelligent promoter. As it was, he returned to 
the old homestead and worked it in connection 
with his father, but in 1868 changed his base 
of operations to a farm of 120 acres seven miles 
east of Gilman, of which two months later he 
sold forty acres for the same price that he had 
paid tor the entire farm. In 1883 he disposed 
of the remaining eighty acres, which he had 
highly improved, and bought the old home- 
stead in Orion Township, where he had been 
born and reared, and with every inch of which 
he was familiar. He still owns the entire 160 
acres, which is supplied with comfortable and 
commodious buildings and every facility for 
conducting agriculture to the best advantage. 

September 24, 1868, occurred the marriage of 
Mr. Rawalt and Alice A. Bartels, daughter of 
Henry A. and Catherine (Rowe) Bartels, na- 
tives of Germany and Pennsylvania, respective- 



io=;6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ly. Mr. and Mrs. Rawalt are the parents of 
the following children: Chauncey Otis, who was 
educated at Knox College, Galesburg, 111.; 
Anna M., who died June 5. 1S83. at the age of 
ten years; Lena Maud, wife of H. A. Walton; 
Lillie K.. wife of A. C. ReniCK; Harry B., and 
Mllo R. In 1891 the family moved to Gales- 
burg, 111., in order that the children might en- 
joy the privilege of attending Knox College, but 
in the near future contemplates returning to 
their tormer home in Fulton County. 

Mr. Rawalt is firmly Republican and has 
served the townsnip in various capacities, in- 
cluding that of School Trustee and Director. 
Like his father before him, he is a member of 
the Swedenborglan Church, as are also his wife 
and eldest son, and he contributes of his per- 
sonal interest and financial help to the main- 
tenance of the organization. An intelligent and 
enterprising citizen, possessing high ideals and 
the courage of his convictions, no native son 
of Orion Township nas built up a more stable 
or enviable reputation than has the subject of 
this sketch. 

RAY, Andrew W. — Because of the business 
ability' and popularity of the men directing its 
affairs the grocery and meat enterprise of Ray 
& HoUister promises to become one of the sub- 
stantial and necessary adjuncts to the commer- 
cial life of Avon. Established February 3, 
1906, the concern already has a liberal patron- 
age in both town and county, a few months 
only having demonstrated that this particular 
supply depot is a pleasant and satisfying place 
In wliich to trade. The firm started out upon 
the practical footing of good goods at moderate 
prices, and it is their intention to maintain a 
policy of honesty and consideration towards all 
with whom they have to deal. 

Andrew W. Ray, senior member of the firm, 
is one of the youngest and best known business 
men of the town. Born on a farm in Warren 
County, 111., June 20, 1883, he comes of one of 
the very early families of Warren County, 
where was born his father, C. Clinton Ray, 
October 24, 1860, and his mother, Amanda ( Sim- 
mons) Ray, February 13, 1858. C. Clinton Ray 
was a general farmer in early lite, but later 
engaged in the stock business and for years 
bred, raised, fed and purchased high-grade 
stock of all kinds. Removing with his family 
to Fulton County in 1888, he was engaged for a 
couple of years in the meat business in Avon, 
but afterward resumed his stock enterprise, in 
which he is extensively engaged at the present 
time. 

Educated in the public schools of Avon, An- 
drew W. Ray also took a course at the Gem 
City Business College, Quincy, 111., and began 
his wage-earning career as a clerk in a grocery 
store. So naturally did he take to this branch 
of effort and so well did he utilize the oppor- 
tunity of his year's clerkship that he deter- 
mined upon his present business, which now 
carries a stock valued at $3,000. Mr. Ray is a 



Democrat in politics, and in religion a Univer- 
salist. He is a generous, whole-souled young 
man, always ready to do a favor, and by his 
tact and courtesy wins the friendship of many 
and the good will of the entire community. 

RAY, David Scott, M. D.— For the past eleven 
years the name of David Scott Ray has been 
increasingly identified with the best tenets of 
medical and surgical science in the town and 
vicinity of Cuba. By many of the longest es- 
tablished and most conservative families his 
skill, resource and obliging temperament have 
come to be regarded as indispensable, and 
there exist many who are indebted to him for 
their restoration to health, happiness and use- 
fulness. Dr. Ray has the zeal wliich recognizes 
no limitations to his calling, and the great un- 
rest which projects him into ever-widening 
channels of research. His most prized attri- 
butes in part are inherited from colonial sires, 
who braved the cruel deprivations of early New 
England, and whose successors, when duty 
called, followed the martial fortunes of Wash- 
ington in the Revolutionary period. To these 
Eastern pioneers his parents, David S. and Ar- 
minda (Zoleman) Ray, both traced their de- 
scent, although the former was born in North 
Carolina and the latter in Ohio. The mother 
was a daughter of Peter and Lucinda Zoleman. 
also natives of the Buckeye State. 

The elder Ray was married in Missouri, and 
it is presumed, came to Fulton County about 
1848. He later lived in Mason County, 111., 
where his son, David Scott, was born in 1860. 
The youth of the lad was a migratory one, as 
his father traveled for a monument manufac- 
turing firm, and was obliged to visit many 
parts of the country. He was educated first at 
Lewistown. later at Vermont and still later at 
Bushnell and Marietta. His first self-support- 
ing ambition lay in the direction of telegraphy, 
which he mastered in a comparatively short 
time, and the following year was stationed at 
Marietta, where he discharged his duties for 
the railroad company with promptness and effi- 
ciency for ten years. But the station-master 
was a dreamer, who heard a larger voice above 
the tick of his instrument, and in time he aban- 
doned the narrow confines of the station and 
entered the Medical College from which he 
was graduated in 1892. Starting at the bottom 
round of the professional ladder, at Bryant, 
111., he remained there three years, and then 
came to Cuba, which has responded to his bid 
for co-operation with commendable promptness 
and mutual benefit. At first he practiced in 
partnership with Dr. Walch, but since the sev- 
erance of this connection he has practiced 
alone. 

The family of Dr. Ray consists of his wife, 
who formerly was Susan J, Jackson, and three 
children: Arthur J.. Blake E. and Clayton E. 
Dr. Ray is a member of the County, State and 
National Medical Associations and attends 
many of the conventions of the same. His 




JAMES SMITH 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1057 



identification has had much to do with molding 
the political undertakings of his adopted town, 
which he has served as Mayor and Alder- 
man for several terms. He also sei-ved as Su- 
pervisor for two terms while living at Bryant. 
A prominent and popular fraternalist, he is 
connected with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, Masons and Knights of Pythias. En- 
ergy, adaptability, gentleness and sympathy 
have blazed the way for a gratifying realiza- 
tion of professional ambitions, and by the same 
token it may be said of Dr. Ray that much is 
promised to a man who has, in addition, the 
maturity, practical experience and broad out- 
look upon life of forty-five years. 

RAY, George W. — Among the prosperous and 
suljstantial farmers of Fulton County, 111., 
whose successful careers reflect credit upon the 
community in which they live, is the worthy 
citizen of Section U. Liverpool Township, to 
whom this personal record pertains. Mr. Ray 
was born in Ashe County. X. C, on July 24, 
1843. He is a son of William and Annie ( Faw ) 
Ray, natives of that State. The maternal 
grandparents were from Germany and the 
Rays are of Irish origin. Three brothers of 
that family were its first representatives in 
this country, and among these was Jesse Ray, 
who emigrated from Ireland at an early period 
and settled in North Carolina. He was the 
father of James Ray, who was the grand- 
father of George W. William and Annie (Faw) 
Ray became the parents of eight children (of 
whom two died in infancy) as follows: James 
J., who died in North Carolina in 1867; Henry 
H., who lives in West Virginia; Elizabeth, 
widow of James Scott, who resides on the old 
home farm in Ashe County, N. C; George W.; 
John A., a resident of Chehalis County, Wash.; 
Lee Roy, a rancher residing near Los 
Angeles, Cal.; Mary, deceased wife of Kin Ed- 
wards, of Ashe County, N. C, and Thomas F., 
who is on the homestead farm in that county. 
The mother of this family died in 1872 and 
the father s second wife was Catherine Ray. 
She and her husband passed away in the 
county where they made their home. 

George W. Ray was reared on the farm and 
obtained his education in the subscription 
schools of that day. In his native county, when 
the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in Com- 
pany B, Sixth Regiment North Carolina Cav- 
alry, in which he served from May, 1862. until 
March, 1S6.5. He was with the command of 
General Bragg in Kentucky, where he did gar- 
rison duty. Four of the Ray brothers were 
soldiers in the Civil War. Henry Ray was 
present at the surrender of General Lee, serv- 
ing under General Wade Hampton. On that 
occasion General Grant restored to Henry Ray 
his horse, and the latter returned to his North 
Carolina home. 

After he was honorably discharged from the 
Confederate service in 1865 George W. Ray lo- 
cated in Fulton County, 111., and went to work 



by the month on the farm of Jerry F Will- 
coxen, in Liverpool Township. In 1867 Mr Rav 
purchased eighty-four acres of brush and heavy 
Umber land, clearing it and erecting a com- 
fortable and attractive residence, with sub- 
stantial barns and good outbuildings His 
tarmmg operations have been successful and 

0''/'"^^^-"'*' ^'''''- "'■'^^'^ °f shorthorn cattle and 
Poland-China hogs. 

On June 24, 1866, Mr. Ray was united in 
marriage with Annie A., a widowed daughter of 
Captain Elijah WMllcoxen, whose first husband 
was Appleton Vail. Her father was one of the 
most conspicuous, highly honored and widely 
known of the pioneer settlers of Fulton County 
and a sketch of his meritorious career is con- 
tained in this volume. Mrs. Ray departed this 
lite June 6, l!^i)4. and her death was a very se- 
vere blow to her husband. She was one of 
the noblest of women, kindly, charitaole and 
good to all, irrespective of class or condition 
and was beloved by all with whom she came in 
contact. A devoted member of the old regular 
Baptist Church, its work and worship were 
her delight. A consecrated Christian in the 
highest and fullest sense, her virtues made the 
influence of her life a blessing to all and 
caused her death to be a source of deep lamenta- 
tion throughout the community. On February 
6, 11)0.5, G. W. Ray married Amelia Esther Wil- 
coxen, widow of John Byers, and daughter of 
M. W. and Harriet Willcoxen, natives of Ful- 
ton County. 

Mr. Ray has always been a man of strong 
domestic tendencies and a dutiful, considerate 
and tender husband and father. He has taken 
a good citizens interest in public affairs and 
in politics is a Democrat, but has steadfastly 
declined to accept ofhce. He enjoys the re- 
spect and esteem of all who know him. 

RAY, Samuel S.— The butcher business of 
Samuel S. Ray has weathered the changes in 
Canton for the past thirty-five years and now 
is profiting by the confidence so graduallv and 
substantially built by its careful and progres- 
sive owner. His shop has long been one of the 
city's chief sources of supply, and the viands 
handed over its counters invariably have ex- 
pressed honest dealing and fair intent. Many 
of its customers have grown old as it patrons, 
and have paid into its coffers a large percent- 
age of their earnings. The policy of the es- 
tablishment never has wavered from high busi- 
ness standards, a desire to please and invariable 
courtesy. 

Mr. Ray was born in Canton July 7, 1860, a 
son of Arthur and Mary A. (Smith) Ray, na- 
tives of Ireland and Fulton County, 111., re- 
spectively. He was educated in the public 
schools, and December 18, 1883, was united in 
marriage to Lillie A. Munson, a native of Kan- 
kakee. 111., and who was educated in her native 
town and in Pekin, 111. Earlier in life he 
learned the trade of horseshoeing, which he fol- 
lowed about twelve years, when he turned his 



io5^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



attention to his present business. Mr. Ray en- 
joys wide social prominence, and is a member of 
the Masons. Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and Knights of Pythias. He is personally well 
liked and popular, and contributes not a little to 
the business and general stability of the com- 
munity. 

REA, J. S. — t^or the past thirty years the 
grocery, queensware and hardware store of J. 
S. Rea has kept pace with the growth of Avon, 
winning the confidence and support of the com- 
munity and netting its owner a substantial 
yearly income. Established in 1869 by B. Rose, 
the store was operated by him until purchased 
by the present owner, March 10, 1876, since 
which time many changes have been noted and 
great expansion of trade has resulted. The 
present structure — a two-story brick — was 
erected in 1885, and is twenty-six by eighty-five 
feet ground dimensions. The store occupies the 
entire lower floor, while the upper floor is 
rented to the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, of which organization Mr. Rea is a mem- 
ber of long standing. He also is a prominent 
politician, and though in no sense an office- 
seeker, has served for one year as Collector of 
Union Township. 

Mr. Rea inherits his mercantile proclivities 
from his father, Franklin Rea, who was born 
in Lancaster County, Pa., and in early life 
learned the carpenter's trade. He was a pio- 
neer of Morgan County, Ohio, and after settling 
there substituted merchandising for carpenter 
work and followed the same for several years. 
His wife, Mary ( Lemmon ) Rea, also was born 
in Lancaster County, and became the mother of 
a large family of children, all of whom re- 
ceived a practical common school education in 
Morgan County. The sons were trained in the 
principles of merchandising in their father's 
store, and J. S. was thus employed until strik- 
ing out for himself in Avon in 1876. at that time 
being thirty years old, having been born in 
Morgan County, Ohio, November 21, 1846. 

The marriage of Mr. Rea and Laura J. Curry 
occurred in McDonough County, III., in 1872, 
Mrs. Rea being a daughter of Jacob Doran and 
Rachel Curry, natives of Eastern Ohio. Three 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rea, 
namely: Frank D., Nellie O. and Rachel Mary. 
The son of this family, a well educated and 
enterprising young man, has been his father's 
business associate for several years, and his 
partner for the past two years. A continuance 
of the stable and well conducted enterprise is 
thus practically assured when the older part- 
ner shall lay aside the cares of business and 
resign himself to a well merited leisure. 

RECORD, Charles F., a prominent old-time 
farmer, now living in retirement in Farmington, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in the State of 
New Hampshire in 1842, a son of Nahum and 
Martha (Fernel) Record, natives of that State, 
the father, Nahum Record, being the proprie- 



tor of a shoe manufacturing concern. Moving 
to Illinois in 1854, he engaged in the same busi- 
ness in Farmington in partnership with Edward 
Bean, employing a number of men, and in 
which he continued up to the time of his death. 

The subject of this sketch received his boy- 
hood's mental training in the public schools of 
New England, and accompanied his parents to 
Fulton County, 111., when he was twelve years 
old. A short time afterwards he returned to 
Massachusetts, where he secured employment 
in a boot and shoe factory. At the age of four- 
teen years he went on board of a vessel as a 
cabin boy, making the passage between Kenne- 
bunk. Me., and Haverhill, Mass., and was thus 
employed for one year. In 1861 he attempted 
to enlist in the First Regiment, Maine Cavalry, 
but failed to pass on account of his age. In the 
same year he made a like attempt to join the 
Boston Battery in Boston, Mass., but was re- 
jected for the same reason. Coming to Illinois 
in 1S62, he again offered to enlist in a Chicago 
Board of Trade battery, but failed for the third 
time because of the insufficient age. Still per- 
sisting in his effort to enter the army, he was 
finally mustered into Company G, One Hundred 
and Third Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
which he joined in Fulton County, and in which 
he took part in the siege of Vicksburg, the en- 
gagements at Coldwater and Holly Springs, 
Miss., and in the battle of Lookout Mountain, 
where he was wounded and sent to the hospital 
in Memphis, Tenn., after his recovery rejoining 
his regiment. On August 25, 1865, he was mus- 
tered out of service at Springfield, 111., and, re- 
turning to Fulton County, engaged in farming. 
This occupation he followed continuously until 
his retirement from active labor. Besides other 
property he is the owner of a ten-acre piece of 
fruit-bearing land just north of Farmington. 

In 1868 Mr. Record was united in marriage 
with Ruth Wellman, who was born in Indiana, 
and received her early mental training in the 
public schools of Illinois. The union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Record resulted in four children, namely: 
Frank, James Perry, Anna and Charles F. 

RECTOR, Louis T., an enterprising and pro- 
gressive farmer of Cass Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in that township on No- 
vember 1, 1874, a son of Wilson and Lemyra 
(Beadles) Rector, natives of Ohio. Wilson 
Rector settled in Fulton County at an early 
period, locating in Cass Township, where he has 
been successfully engaged in farming for many 
years. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
home farm and received his early training in 
the district schools of his neighborhood. Since 
early manhood he has carried on farming in 
his own behalf. In 1896 he moved to Section 
1. Cass Township, and began operations on land 
purchased by his father two years previously. 
He manages a farm of 240 acres and, besides 
general farming, bestows much attention to the 
raising of stock. He is a wide-awake and dili- 




PERRY SMITH AND FAMILY 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1059 



gent farmer and his labors are rewarded by 
good results. 

On September 19, 1894, Mr. Rector was united 
in marriage with Myrtle Vanhouten, who was 
born in Cass Township, Fulton County, a daugh- 
ter of George and Esmarelda (Totten) Van- 
houten, natives of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Rec- 
tor have become the parents of three children, 
namely: Mabel, Dane and Helen. In politics 
Mr. Rector is a supporter of the Democratic 
party. He takes an intelligent interest in pub- 
lic affairs and is always ready to do his part 
in the promotion of the general welfare. 

REED, Herbert E. — Among the men whose 
mastery of a useful trade has advanced them to 
important business responsibilities in Canton, 
there are many who take a keen interest in 
civic affairs, and through the possession of ex- 
ecutive and general ability are identified in 
practical fashion with the political, educational 
and fraternal welfare of the community. Of 
these none is better known than Herbert E. 
Reed, who came to Canton as an experienced 
blacksmith in 1896, and who ever since has been 
foreman of the blacksmithing department of 
Parlin & Orendorff. 

Mr. Reed developed his trade inclinations in 
Roseville, Warren County, 111., where he was 
born in 1S59. His parents, James G. and So- 
phia (Mahood) Reed, were born in Pennsylva- 
nia, the former in 1831 and the latter in 1835. 
Mr. Reed brings to his chosen work a well de- 
veloped intelligence, tor his educational 
chances included the public schools and Abing- 
don College, in both of which he made a record 
as a painstaking and sagacious student. In 
1889 he married Mattie C, daughter of Levi 
C. and Kate Roadhouse, of Galesburg, 111. The 
children of this union are Delos L.. Kate L., 
James G., Warren T. and Helen S. In 1903 Mr. 
Reed was elected Alderman for the First Ward, 
which honor was followed in April, 1905, by his 
election to the Board of Supervisors of Canton 
Township. He is prominent in social circles 
and is a member of the Masonic order. Knights 
of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, in the last of which he is Past Grand. Mr. 
Reed dignifies his trade by giving it his best 
effort, and by keeping in the advance guard of 
workers in the same line. His tact and con- 
sideration, no less than his strength of charac- 
ter and authority, render him popular with his 
employes, and he has the faculty of securing 
from them conscientious and painstaking co- 
operation. 

REIHM, Albert.— Of the native sons of Young 
Hickory Township who are carrying forward 
the work begun by their sires in the early days 
of the Central West, mention is due Albert 
Reihm, who was born September 9. 1876, and 
whose father. Philip Reihm, mentioned at 
length elsewhere in this work, arose from a 
small beginning to agricultural, political and 
social prominence. 



nf .1^ f V?™ ^'""^ '■^'^''^'^ f° an appreciation 
of country life, and in his maturity is bending 
every effort to realize its most practical and 
satisfactory compensations. Not only does he 
operate the home farm of 118 acres, which he 
rents from his father since the latter's retire- 
ment in 1898. but a farm of his own comprising 
eighty acres. With a preference for stock- 
raising, he also raises general produce, and his 
surroundings are in accord with the best cul- 
tivation and housing of the same. A fine gar- 
den, orchard, shade trees and ornamental 
plants contribute to the homelikeness and com- 
fort of his family, the house-head of which is 
his wife, formeriy Effie Borley, whom he mar- 
ried in Young Hickory Township, January 25, 
1899, and who was born in Butler County 
Kan., May IS, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Reihm are 
the parents of two children— Raymond and Ev- 
erett. 

Mr. Reihm has been prominent in Republican 
politics for several years, and has served a 
term as Road Commissioner and several years 
as School Director. He is a member of the 
Christian Church. His outside relations are 
eminently agreeable and helpful, and he is the 
sharer in many friendships and the general 
good will of the community. 

REIHM, Philip, for many years a successful 
farmer in Hickory Township. Fulton County, 
111., now living in comfortable and honored re- 
tirement in the town of Fairview, Fulton Coun- 
ty, was born in Mersbaugh, Germany, on May 
17, 1834, a son of Daniel and Louisa (Cooper) 
Reihm, natives of Germany, where the father 
followed farming. Daniel Reihm and his wife 
were parents of six children, namely: Daniel, 
Philip, Balthazer, Mary, Abiline and Margaret. 

Philip Reihm came to the United States in 
1851 and spent the first five years in Oneida 
County, N. Y. In 1858 he settled in Fulton 
County, 111., where he has ever since main- 
tained his residence. Soon after his arrival 
there he commenced farming on 118 acres of 
land on Section 28, Hickory Township, which 
he had purchased, and of which forty acres 
were improved. The remainder was grubbed 
and imi)roved by him, and he devoted his at- 
tention to general farming and stock-raising. 
This farm he continued to cultivate until 1898, 
when he abandoned active pursuits and retired 
to private life in Fairview. Mr. Reihm for- 
merly owned another farm of ninety-two acres, 
which he sold in 1905. He rents the home 
place to his son Albert and occupies the Fair- 
view residence, which he bought in 1898. In 
1862 he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred 
and Third Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, and served his country faithfully for 
three years. He took part in the battles of 
Missionary Ridge and Black River, participated 
-n the Siege of Vicksburg and marched to 
Chattanooga. 

In 1865, in Deerfleld Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, Mr. Reihm was united in marriage with 



io6o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Catherine Fingel, who was born in Germany. 
Mrs. Reihm is a daughter of Leonard and Mag- 
dalena (Walter) Fingel, who settled in Fulton 
County in 1855. locating in Deerfield Town- 
ship, where the father owned eighty acres of 
land, and carried on farming during the re- 
mainder of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Reihm be- 
came the parents of eight children, namely: 
Henry. Kate ( Mrs. Alpaugh ) . Charles, Frank 
and Fred (twins), Philip, Albert and Sylves- 
ter. The religious connection of Mr. Reihm is 
with the Lutheran Church. In politics he is a 
Republican and has rendered efficient public 
service as School Trustee. Fraternally he is 
identified with the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. In all the relations of life he has faith- 
fully fulfilled every obligation, and his record 
as a man and as a citizen is without blemish. 

REPASS, William M., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming on Section 8, Liverpool 
Township, Fulton County, 111., was born in 
Wythe County, Va., July 26, 1856, a son of 
Rev. John C. and Annie (Crager) Repass, and 
a grandson of Rufus Repass, who lived in Penn- 
sylvania at an early period. Rev. John C. Re- 
pass was born August 17, 1828, and his wife, 
Annie Crager, who was born in the State of 
Virginia, May 5. 1822. still survives, and her 
residence is at Rural Retreat, Wythe Coun- 
ty, Va. 

Ten children were born to Rev. and Mrs. 
John C. Repass, namely: James W., born 
April 29, 1849, whose home is in Wythe County, 
Va.; Daniel D., born August 16, 1850, and 
now engaged in farming in Smyth County, Va.; 
George R., born May 14, 1852, and also carries 
on farming in the same county; Luther K., 
who was born August 3, 1853, and is engaged 
In the same occupation in Wythe County, Va.; 
Rhoda J., born December 18, 1854, and became 
the wife of Thomas Groseclose, a farmer in the 
last named county; William M., to whom this 
record pertains, born July 26. 1856; Albion, 
born May 1, 1858. who lives in Roanoke County, 
Va., and has been for twenty years a conductor 
on the Norfolk & Western Railroad; Emory S., 
born September 30, 1860, who carries on farm- 
ing at Rural Retreat, Wythe County, Va.; Sarah, 
born February 11, 1862, wife of a Mr. Trout, 
who is connected with the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company at Augusta, Ga., and John C, 
Jr., born December 17, 1863, a resident of 
Smithville, Ga., also employed by the same 
company. The father of this family died June 
14, 1903, at the age of seventy-four years, nine 
months and twenty-seven days. He was a 
widely known minister of the Lutheran Church 
and one of the strong pillars of that denomina- 
tion for more than fifty years. His lite was re- 
plete with good works. 

The subject of this biographical sketch was 
born and reared on the old home farm in Wythe 
County, Va., and received his mental training in 
the district schools of his neighborhood. When 
he was about nineteen years old he went to 



Ashe County, N. C, and there followed the oc- 
cupation of a blacksmith for four years. In 
January. 1881, he made a trip to Pueblo, Colo., 
where he was employed in the round house of a 
railroad. From that place he went, in the tall 
of 1884, to the vicinity of Wichita, Kans., where 
he worked on a farm until December, 1885. At 
that period he located in Fulton County. 111., 
and went to work at farming by the month. 
Since establishing his residence in Fulton 
County Mr. Repass has been one of its most 
energetic and progressive citizens. His farm, 
on Section 8. Liverpool Township, consists of 
138' J acres of land under a high state of culti- 
vation. He is engaged in general farming and 
raises good grades of stock of all kinds. Al- 
though a thorough, diligent and jiainstaking 
farmer, he flnds time to keep himself fully in- 
formed in regard to current events, and takes 
an earnest interest in puolic affairs. 

On October 7, 1891, Mr. Repass was united in 
marriage with Mary I. Willcoxen, a daughter of 
Marshall N. Willcoxen, and a granddaughter of 
Captain Elijah Willcoxen. a sketch of whose 
life appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and 
Mrs. Repass became the parents of four chil- 
dren, as follows: Annie May, born May 21, 
1893; William M., born September 5, 1894; Doro- 
thy Estelle, born April 28, 1896, and Marion 
Merle, born December 29, 1897. 

In politics Mr. Repass is an active and influ- 
ential supporter of the Democratic party, al- 
though conservative in his political action. He 
has ably and faithfully filled local offices of 
trust in connection with the school system and 
has proved worthy of the confidence thus re- 
posed in him oy the people of his township. He 
is now serving with marked acceptability as 
School Trustee and has always been a vigorous 
advocate of the interests of the schools. He is 
a man of upright character and enjoys the re- 
spect and esteem of a wide circle of acquaint- 
ance. His worthy and estimable wife is a con- 
sistent memoer of the Christian Church. 

REYNOLDS, J. F., a prominent merchant of 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Iowa in 1865, 
a son of James C. and Eliza J. (Carr) Reynolds, 
the former a native of Virginia and the latter 
of Indiana. James C. Reynolds went to Iowa 
at the age of sixteen years, where he worked on 
a farm, but in 1883 moved to Fulton County, 
111., where he has continued in the same occupa- 
tion. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
paternal farm and received his early mental 
training in the public school in Iowa. He was 
one of a family of seven children, all of whom 
were boys, and all now living. He began his 
business life as clerk in a general store in 
Smitjifield, 111., and after working one year in 
that capacity, in conjunction with his brother 
bought out the concern, which he conducted for 
about four years. Selling out at the end of 
that time, he spent two years in farming, and 
then went into the general mercantile business 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1061 



in Ellisville, III., in which he remained two 
years. Subsequently he bought out Norris & 
Weaver's store in that place, which he kept for 
five years. He then consolidated the concern 
with his brother's store, and, in 1897, added a 
line of agricultural implements. He now con- 
ducts the implement business alone, dealing in 
all kinds of farm machinery, buggies, wagons 
and manufacturer's hardware. In 1S93 he 
erected a store building twenty-four by seventy 
feet, and has also a warehouse thirty-six by 
sixty feet. 

In 1SS4 Mr. Reynolds was united in marriage 
with Kate Watson, who was born in Smithfleld. 
One child. Maude (Mrs. Balmer), has resulted 
from this union. Mr. Reynolds is a member 
of the I. O. O. F. 

RHODES, Walter Hancock, former banker of 
Lewistown, III., now of Omaha, Neb., was born 
in Havana, Mason County, 111., .luly 4, 1871, the 
son of John W. and Cyrene (Hancock) Rhodes, 
and received his education in the public 
schools of his native place and Iowa College, 
Grinnell, Iowa, graduating from the former in 
1889 and from the latter in 1893, from which 
he received the Ph. B. degree. Mr. Rhodes' 
father was a soldier of the Civil War, enlisting 
as a private and being advanced before his final 
discharge to the rank of Captain, senring in all 
during the whole of the war period or more 
than tour years. 

After graduating from his alma mater Mr. 
Rhodes returned to his home at Havana, but 
soon engaged in the banking business at Lewis- 
town, being emi)loyed as Assistant Cashier of 
the Lewistown National Bank from February 
22, 1894, until August following, when he be- 
came Cashier of the same institution, a posi- 
tion which he held until May 1, 1907. In the 
meantime he assisted in organizing other bank- 
ing institutions in Fulton County, including the 
Ipava State Bank at Ipava, and the State Bank 
of Cuba, serving as Vice-President and Director 
of the former until his retirement from the 
banking business in Lewistown and as Director 
of the latter. On May 1, 1907. he retired from 
the Lewistown National Bank to accept a posi- 
tion in connection with the National Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company at Omaha, Neb. His 
standing as a business man is indicated by his 
continuous connection with the banking busi- 
ness in Fulton County for a period of more than 
thirteen years. 

On .lune 5, 1895, Mr. Rhodes was united in 
marriage at Freeport, ni., the bride's paternal 
home, with Flora Belle Wolfe and they have 
two children: Mildred Bernice, aged nine 
years, and Charles Wolfe, aged six years. Mr. 
Rhodes is a Republican in his political views 
and the social and fraternal organizations with 
which he is connected include the Y. M. C. A., 
the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, the 
Omaha Field Club and the Illinois Bankers' As- 
sociation. 



RICE, George F. — A keen sense of responsi- 
bility and thoroughness in the discharge of the 
man.v-sided duties which have lined his long 
avenue of life have given George F. Rice a per- 
manent place among the men of endurance, 
courage and large usefulness in Fulton County. 
Mr. Rice swells the long list of Fulton County 
residents who owe their nativity to the State of 
Pennsylvania, where he was born in Perry 
County, that State, October 25, 1851. He was 
reared to farming, and as a young man of ener- 
gy and ambition came to Fulton County in 1S72, 
locating in Orion Township, where he since 
has devoted his time to the cultivation of his 
land and the raising of tine stock. He is the 
owner of 160 acres of land, and for several 
years he has been engaged in selling agricul- 
tural implements and shipping grain and hogs, 
his shipping point being Breed's Station. 

Through his marriage to Alice Kelly, of Ful- 
ton County, Mr. Rice has become the parent 
of two sons: Earl Edmund and William El- 
mer. Mrs. Rice is a daughter of J. B. and 
Rachel Kelly, one of the earliest and most prom- 
inent families of the county and Orion Town- 
ship. Formerly Mr. Rice was prominent in 
the local Grange, and did much to further the 
interests of the farming population. He is 
well informed and wide-awake, and his frienas 
in the township and county are many. 

RICHARDSON, Martha A. (M. D.), who is suc- 
cessfully engaged in the practice of medicine in 
Canton, Fulton County, III., was born in Cory- 
don. Wayne County, Iowa, on November 1, 1871, 
being a daughter of Milton and Lucinda (Wy- 
nier 1 Richardson, natives of Iowa. 

In girlhood Dr. Richardson attended the dis- 
trict schools of her birthplace ana later be- 
came a pupil in Corydon High School. She 
then entered the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons at Keokuk. Iowa, from which she was 
graduated with the class of 1896. The prepara- 
tion of Dr. Richardson for her chosen profes- 
sion was very thorough, and the successful re- 
sults of her practice in Canton attest her diag- 
nostic ability, as well as her skill in therapeu- 
tics. She commands, in an unusual degree, the 
confidence and esteem of all with whom she 
comes into professional and social contact and 
her patronage has steadily increased since she 
located in Canton. 

Dr. Richardson is a member of tne American 
Medical Association, the Fulton County Med- 
ical Society and the Military Tract Medical 
Society. 

RILE'y, Henry, a well known and thriving 
farmer in Section 12, Lewistown Township, 
Fulton County, III., was born January 20, 1858, 
in Buckheart Township, this county, where the 
town of Bryant now stands. He is a son of 
William and Mary (Blair) Riley, of whom the 
father was born near Maysville, Ky., and the 
mother at Portsmouth, Va. William Riley set- 



I062 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



tied in Fulton County in 1834, locating in 
Buckheart Township, and was engaged in 
farming in the county until his death in 1873. 
His widow passed away in 1886. Since the 
period of his arrival in Fulton County, thirty- 
eight years before his demise, William Riley 
had been identified with its progress and had 
done his utmost to promote its best interests. 
A memoir of his life appears in another section 
of this volume. 

Henry Riley was reared on the farm where 
he now lives, his father having moved there in 
1858, when Henry was but two months old. As 
he grew up he received his education in the 
district schools of the vicinity and the public 
school at Lewlstown, and since early manhood 
has carried on farming on the old homestead 
with invariable success. He is a general farm- 
er and in addition devotes considerable atten- 
tion to raising stock of superior grades. 

On October 14, 1880, Mr. Riley was united in 
marriage with Sarah M. Wertman, a native of 
Fulton County, and a daughter of John and 
Sarah ( Emmons ) Wertman, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania and Ohio, respectively. Four children 
have resulted from their union, namely: John 
W., born July 29, 1881, and Glenn E., October 
28, 1883, who are at home; Bertha E., February 
18, 1886, and Sarah M., November 2, 1888. Mr. 
Riley has afforded these children excellent edu- 
cational advantages, which they have improved 
to the utmost, and Mrs. Riley is a member of 
a family long prominent in Fulton County. 

In politics Mr. Riley is a supporter of the 
Republican party and takes a useful and un- 
selfish interest in public affairs. Fraternally he 
is affiliated with the M. W. A. and the K. of P. 
He is a man of upright character, is recognized 
as strictly honorable in all the relations of life 
and maintains a high standing in the com- 
munity as an exemplary citizen. 

RILEY, William A., formerly a prominent and 
prosperous farmer, located three miles north of 
Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., but now living 
in retirement in the city of Lewistown, was 
born on a farm near the site of the present 
town of Bryant, Fulton County, October 21, 
184.5. He is a son of William and Mary (Blair) 
Riley, natives, respectively, of the vicinity of 
Maysville, Ky., and the city of Portsmouth, Va. 

Mr. Riley's great-grandtather, William Riley, 
was of Scotch-Irish descent, and lived in Penn- 
sylvania. The grandfather, also William Riley, 
was born in that State and moved to Kentucky, 
where he was married to Mary Mcllvain. In 
1829 he died at his home iu Lewis County, Ky., 
and in 1833 his widow and her ten children trav- 
eled by wagon to Rushville, 111., moving the 
next year to the farm near Bryant now occu- 
pied by her grandson, Everett Carter. 

Mrs. Riley and her five sons and five daugh- 
ters lived on that farm together and after the 
marriage of all the children except two (Walter 
and Charles), who died there, she made her 
home with her son John on the same farm until 
her death. But one of this family of ten chil- 



dren now survives — Mary A. (Mrs. Little), of 
Vermont, Fulton County. The others were as 
follows: Louisa (Mrs. Lindley ) , James, Mar- 
garet (Mrs. Hasson), Walter, William. John, 
Charles, Eveline (Mrs. Laws) and Harriet J. 
(Mrs. Carter). 

William Riley, father of William A., was 
born April .5. 1811, at Cabin Creek, near Mays- 
ville, Ky., settled in Buckheart Township, Ful- 
ton County, in 1844, and was engaged in farm- 
ing there and in Lewistown Townshii) until his 
death, February 7, 1873. His widow survived 
hint until October 6, 1886, when she, too, passed 
away. The father was closely identified with 
the development of Fulton County and was a 
man of much prominence, being held in high 
esteem. He was wedded to Mary Blair April 
24, 1843, and six children resulted from their 
union, namely: William, Mary E. (Mrs. Laws), 
John H.. Eveline, Henry and Indiana. The 
career of the father of this family is suitably 
portrayed on another page of this work. 

William A. Riley was educated in the district 
schools of his neighborhood and in 18.58 moved 
with his parents to the farm on Section 12, 
Lewistown Township, now occupied by his 
brother Henry. There he remained until 1880, 
having charge of the home place after his 
father's aeath. In that year he purchased the 
farm three miles north of Lewistown now oc- 
cupied by John Taylor, where he lived until 
1904, moving then to Lewistown. His farming 
operations have been invariably successful, and 
he is now living at leisure in the enjoyment of 
a competency. He is a man of upright charac- 
ter and a public-spirited citizen. 

On October 10, 1876. Mr. Riley was united in 
marriage with Mattie Pritchard, a native of 
Liverpool, Fulton County, 111., and a daughter 
of George and Amanda ( Rice ) Pritchard, na- 
tives, respectively, of New Hampshire and Ver- 
mont. Mrs. Riley's birth occurred in Liver- 
pool, Fulton County, 111., her father being 
born near Ipswich, N. H.. and her mother 
at Thetford, Vt. They were married 
in Lewistown, 111. The father came west 
and settled at Farmington, Fulton County, 
about 1840, engaging in mercantile pursuits all 
his life. He died in 1874 and his wife in 1860. 
George Pritchard was a Republican and a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church, Into his fam- 
ily were born six children — three sons and 
three daughters — of whom two sons are de- 
ceased. Three children have resulted from this 
union, namely: Lena, a teacher at Lewistown; 
George, of Los Angeles, Cal., and Ella. Polit- 
ically Mr. Riley Is a supporter of the Repub- 
lican party. The descendants of Mary (Mcll- 
vain ) Riley, the pioneer settler of the family in 
Fulton County, have become quite numerous, 
and since 1897 it has been their custom to hold 
annual reunions in the form of picnics in the 
grove on Henry Riley's farm, in Section 12, 
Lewistown Township. About one hundred rela- 
tives are usually iu attendance on these inter- 
esting occasions. (See sketch of William Riley, 
Sr.. at end of this chapter.) 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1063 



KO6B, James C. — Among the few typical rep- 
resentatives of ttie agricultural element of 
Kulton County, 111., whose industry, energy and 
careful management in farming operations 
have enabled them to relinquish active latjors 
while still in the prime of life and to enjoy 
in leisurely retirement the fruits of former toil, 
is the worthy gentleman to whom this per- 
sonal record pertains. The competency which 
he now happily possesses assures him a future 
blessed with comfort. 

Mr. Robb is a native of Illinois, where he 
was born on a farm two and a half miles south 
and one-half mile east of Farmington, Fulton 
County, on December 20, 1852. He is a son of 
Andrew and Susan I Swigert 1 Robb, the former 
born in Ohio and the latter in Pennsylvania. 
His grandfather. James Robb, was a native of 
the State of Vermont. He had the rare dis- 
tinction in those days of having served his 
country with credit in two wars. A soldier in 
the War of 1812, in which he enlisted from 
Ohio, and bore an honorable discharge; he also 
fought in the Civil War, having joined the 
Union army in 1863, and served until the end 
of the conflict. In 1847 Andrew Robb left 
Ohio, where' he had been engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits, and settled in Fairvlew. F^ulton 
County, 111. In 1849 he moved to Farmington 
Township, where he purchased 120 acres on 
Section 24, and on this farm erected the first 
buildings. During the Civil War he was drafted 
for the service, but furnished a substitute on 
account of the paternal care required by his 
family of youug children. He departed this 
life at his home in Farmington on September 
3, 1884. He was a man of industrious habits 
and upright character, and was respected by 
all. He was a Republican in politics aud at 
different times held all the local offices, includ- 
ing that of Justice of the Peace. 

James C. Robb receivea his early instruction 
in the district schools of Farmington Town- 
shij) and assisted his father on the farm until 
he reached years of maturity. After his father's 
death he moved with his mother to Farming- 
ton, though still conducting farming ojiera- 
tions on the old homestead. Later, however, he 
rented the farm and has since lived in retire- 
ment in Farmington. He now owns an aggre- 
gate of 265 acres there. He is also the owner 
of a fine residence on Main Street in Farming- 
ton, where he maintains his residence. 

On December 9, 1890, Mr. Robb was united 
In marriage with Anna F. Mummey, who was 
born on April 4, 1868, in McConnelsville, Ohio, 
and received her early mental training in the 
district school and high school of Farming- 
ton, 111. Mrs. Robb is the daughter of Charles 
W. Mununey, who settlea with his family in 
Fulton County in 1872, and whose sketch ap- 
pears on another page of this volume. The 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Robb has resulted in four 
children, namely: Mary Luerma, who died at 
tne age of three months; Francis C, Zelda 
Marie and Agnes Vanessa. Mrs. Robb is a most 



estimable lady of culture and refinement— the 
ideal wife and mother. Their home is a Mecca 
for friends, who always meet a most cordial 
and hearty welcome and receive generous en- 
tertainment. 

In politics Mr. Robb is a supporter of the 
principles of the Republican party and in re- 
ligion adheres to the faith of the Congregational 
Church. He is a prominent citizen of Farming- 
ton, where he and his estimable wife are held 
in high esteem and are ranked among the most 
useful members of the community. 

ROBERTSON, James H.— Agriculture and 
merchandising are so closely allied that a 
knowledge of either is an invaluable asset in 
the promotion of the other. The man who has 
been well trained in farming has a comprehen- 
sion of values and utilities not acquired in any 
other way, and when he leaves the farm and 
embarks in the store business he broadens 
and enlarges his former activities. It is to the 
latter occupation that James H. Robertson now 
devotes his daily life, and his efforts have re- 
dounded to the commercial stability of Smith- 
field since the beginning of 1900. Mr. Robert- 
son represents one of the pioneer families of 
the State, his father, James M. Robertson, hav- 
ing come from Ohio at an early day, while his 
grandfather, John Cannon, took up government 
land in Bernadotte Township, Fulton County, 
where the grandson was born, March 27, 1871. 
The elder Robertson eventually spent twenty- 
five years in different parts of the country, 
principally in Iowa and Dakota, but returned 
to Illinois in 1903, and from that time made his 
home with his son in Smithfield until his death 
October 10. 1906. 

James H. Robertson profited by the public 
schools of the town and county and continued 
to farm, until establishing his present business 
in 1900. His resources were severely tested by a 
fire which demolished his store and stock Au- 
gust 17, 1901, but he rebuilt in short order and 
now conducts business in a large brick struct- 
ure on Main Street. He carries a large stock of 
general merchandise and enjoys an extensive 
and lucrative patronage. 

In connection with his store Mr. Robertson 
has taken an active interest in local politics 
and is one of the stanch supporters of the Dem- 
ocratic party. During the process of rebuilding 
he held the office of Village Marshal, and at 
other times has been Town Constable, Street 
Overseer and Alderman. June 22, 1902, he was 
united in marriage to Lena McCaughey. a na- 
tive of Vermont Township, Fulton County, born 
December S, 1876. On March 17, 1907, to this 
union was born one daughter. Fern. The fam- 
ilv are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and subscribe generously to its active 
and material support. Fraternally Mr. Robert- 
son is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He has the gifts of mildness, courte- 
sy and consideration, which, combined with 
practical commercial ideas and strict integrity, 



1064 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



render liim one of the most promising and use- 
ful of the county's younger generation of 
toilers. 

Mr. Robertson's mother died when he was 
only two months old and he lived with his 
grandfather, John Cannon, from that time. 

ROBERTSON, Jasper, proprietor of Randolph 
Hotel. Ipava. 111., was born in Pleasant Town- 
ship, Fulton County, 111., April 16, 1863, a son 
of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Robertson^ both natives 
of Ohio. Coming to Illinois by water, when the 
boat finally landed at Havana, 111., the father's 
means had been entirely exhausted, all that re- 
mained of a marketable value being his hand- 
made rifle. This he was obliged to pawn in 
order to pay the freight on his goods. Taking 
his scant household belongings to the new 
house which had been erected in Pleasant 
Township. Fulton County, he set to work to 
earn a living and redeem that most important 
staff of life in those days — his rifle. Being a 
stonemason by trade, he soon found work and 
nearly the first money he earned was spent for 
the purpose indicated, and the trusty rifle, 
which played such a leading part in the first 
days of the settlement of the Robertson family 
in these parts, is now in possession of Jasper 
Robertson. Jesse Robertson, the father, finally 
moved into Ipava, and there followed his avo- 
cation as a mason until his death. The de- 
ceased was a Democrat, but his politics ended 
when he had cast his vote. His wife survived 
him until March 19, 18S3. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Robertson were born these children: John, 
now deceased: Sarah, who was the wife of 
Wesley Worley, of Elmwood, 111., but now de- 
ceased: Charles, a resident of Pekin, 111.: Alex- 
ander, of Ipava, and Lorenzo, also living in that 
place, and Jasper, the youngest of the family. 
Jasper Robertson's early life was spent in 
acquiring a fair education and in the monoto- 
nous pursuit of a livelihood. On June 20. 1S85, 
he was united in marriage with Charlise Belles, 
who was also a native of Pleasant Township. 
They are the parents of five children, name- 
ly: Lizzie, born February 3. 1SS7, and holding 
a teacher's certificate, but at present living at 
home: Mabel, born May 11, 18S9, a graduate of 
the high school (class of 190.5), also living at 
home: Lloyd, born February 21, 1891, and died 
Jime 7, 1891; Dean, born March 12, 1896, and 
died July 20, 1896. and Clyde, born July 28, 
1900. Mrs. Robertson and her daughter Mabel 
are members of the Presbyterian church. 

Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Robei-tson 
have made Ipava their home. Mr. Robertson is 
a carpenter by trade, and for a number of years 
was Street Superintendent and City Sexton. In 
the performance of his official duties, as well as 
in his private workmanship, he gave general 
satisfaction, gaining and retaining the confi- 
dence of all with whom he had dealings. On 
June 26, 1905, Mr. and Mrs. Robertson assumed 
charge of the Randolph Hotel and by their 
courtesy and good management have brought it 



to rank with the best hostelries in this part of 
the State. 

ROBINSON, Charles B.— The knowledge that 
he has contributed materially to the agricul- 
tural, social and moral wealth of the com- 
munity in which his entire life has been spent, 
is one of the satisfying compensations growing 
out of the industrious and well directed career 
of Charles B. Robinson. Mr. Robinson's world- 
ly assets are represented by the farm of 400 
acres adjoining Ipava. in Vermont Township, 
where he was born December 24, 1859, and by 
the splendidly appointed home in which he now 
lives retired within the limits of the town. A 
son of Thomas C. and Sarah Ann Robinson, 
mention of whom may be found in the sketch 
of T. C. Robinson, Mr. Robinson had the aver- 
age early opportunities of the country bred 
youth of his time and place, and he readily ab- 
sorbed the knowledge of farming imparted by 
his father's ripe experience. 

At the time of his marriage, November 24, 
1881, Mr. Robinson succeeded to the manage- 
ment of the home place, which then consisted 
of 165 acres. His energy and resourcefulness 
created a need of more extensive holdings, and 
he added to his real estate from time to time 
until his present 400-acre farm has been the re- 
sult. He engaged in general farming to some 
extent, but made a specialty of high-grade cat- 
tle, which furnished the largest agricultural 
revenue. He developed into what was com- 
monly regarded as a remarkably successful and 
prosperous farmer, and one who thoroughly un- 
derstood the economic and scientific features of 
the trade. His stock business grew to a yearly 
shipment of from seventy-five to one hundred 
and twenty-five head a year, and his barns, out- 
buildings and general facilities conformed to 
his progressive and practical ideals. This farm 
remained the dwelling place and pride of Mr. 
Robinson until 1904, when he moved to his 
present home, which is one of the finest rural 
residences in Fulton County. He still occupies 
himself with the management of his farm, but 
his arrangements permit greater leisure than 
he has heretofore enjoyed. 

The wife of Mr. Robinson, whose maiden 
name was Maggie T. Shaver, was born April 1, 
1860, in Fulton County, to which her father, 
George Shaver, came at an early day. Mr. 
Shaver died in 1883, and his wife in 1873, leav- 
ing five children. The nine children of Mr. and 
Mrs. Shaver were as follows: Mary C, wife of 
Lewis D. Zoll, of Niles, Okla.: Henrietta, de- 
ceased in infancy: Winfleld, deceased; Melvin, 
deceased: Parmelia, wife of George Coleman, of 
Bunker Hill, Ind.: Annie, the deceased wife of 
George Anson, of Iowa; John, living in Lexing- 
ton, 111., and Samuel H., on the old place in 
Fulton County. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. 
Robinson have been born four children: Jo- 
seph, born November 14, 18S3; Bessie, born 
December 1, 1890; Fred, born August 11, 1895, 
and Irma, born November 28, 1903. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1065 



Mr. Robinson has taken a commendable inter- 
est in local Republican politics, and has cred- 
itably filled a number of local offices. Espe- 
cially is he interested in the cause of educa- 
tion, and in the furtherance of those general 
agencies which produce the highest citizenship, 
and therefore the most enlightened civilization. 

ROBINSON, Harry E.— In noting the qualities 
which have raised Harry E. Robinson from 
the drudgery of a mortgaged farm to his pres- 
ent standing as one of the foremost citizens of 
Table Grove, one is forced to renewed appre- 
ciation of courage, moral strength, honesty in 
public and private life, and unselfish devo- 
tion to business, political and general obliga- 
tions. The present position of Mr. Robinson 
may be defined as a furniture merchant, as an 
efficient funeral director and embalmer of Ful- 
ton County, and as a zealous and fearless mem- 
ber of the Board of Aldermen. 

The farm in Bethel Township, McDonough 
County, where Mr. Robinson was born May 2, 
1868, became the home of the family in 1863, 
in which year his parents, Samuel E. and 
Hannah (Anderson! Robinson, and his grand- 
parents, John C. and Rebecca (Elliott) Rob- 
inson, came in a wagon overland from Union- 
town, Pa. The birth of John C. Robinson oc- 
curred in a sailing vessel on the trackless waste 
of the Atlantic in 18(J5. while his parents were 
on their way from Ireland to America. He 
was reared on the farm near Uniontown and 
there married, his wife being a native of the 
Quaker State. Mr. Robinson died February 
18, 1882, and his wife died in July, 1S8G. Of 
their nine sons and three daughters only one 
son and one daughter are now living, namely: 
Benjamin E., a soldier during the Civil War, 
and noAV a retired farmer of Pennsylvania; and 
Jennie, wife of Art B. Frisby, of Galesburg, 
Illinois. 

Samuel E. Robinson was born October 10, 
1732, on the farm of his parents near Union- 
town, Pa., and died on the Bethel Township 
farm September 10, 1884. He is survived by 
his W/te, who is now married to Thomas Bailey, 
of Table Grove. Mr. Robinson and his parents 
are buried half a mile from the farm upon which 
they settled in 1863. He was a man of strong char- 
acter and broad sympathies, a devout member 
of the Baptist Church, and a firm believer in 
the party of which Abraham Lincoln was the 
noblest exponent. His admiration of the great 
Emancipator amounted almost to reverence, 
and he never wearied of relating incidents 
which marked the progress of the rail-splitter 
to the presidential chair. He was diligent and 
a hard worker, but nevertheless, he left a 
mortgage on his farm which seriously em- 
barrassed his heii^. Of his five children John 
died in infancy; Delia C. died at the age of 
three years; Harry E. is the subject of this 
review; Orta died at the age of three years; 
and William R. is a farmer in Pleasant Town- 
ship. 

29 



After finishmg his training at the district 
school near his home, Harry E. Robinson took 
a course at the Macomb Normal and at the 
Busmess College in the same town. He first 
achieved independence as a clerk in a general 
store and at the end of eighteen months, dur- 
ing June, 1890, came to Table Grove and es- 
tablished a furniture business with a capital 
of .?3.50. From this small beginning he devel- 
oped a large trade, but in 1899 sold his busi- 
ness and returned to Bethel Township, where 
he operated the old homestead until dispos- 
ing of the same in 1900. To this old farm he 
had given much of the best effort of his life, 
and it was he who lifted the mortgage when 
his school days were over, and turned the 
property unincumbered over to his mother. 
While in the township he achieved political 
prominence and served as a member of the 
Republican County Central Committee when the 
township was carried for McKinley, the first 
time that it had gone Republican in its entire 
history. From the farm Mr. Robinson went 
to Columbus, Ohio, and was identified with a 
business house there until August, 1901, when 
he returned to Table Grove and the following 
October bought the furniture and undertaking 
business which he has since conducted. In 
1892 he had taken a course and received a di- 
ploma from the undertaking school of Pro- 
fessor Sullivan, in Peoria, and in 1902 took 
a post-graduate course in the Barnes Under- 
taking School in Chicago, also passing the 
State examination and receiving a certificate 
entitling him to practice anywhere in Illinois. 
He carries a large stock of furniture and a 
full equipment of funeral supplies. 

March IS, 1891, Mr. Robinson was united in 
marriage to Myrtle Bailey, daughter of Thomas 
Bailey, a pioneer of McDonough County, and 
a present resident of Table Grove. Mr. and 
Mrs. Robinson have four children: H. Edison, 
born January 10, 1892; S. Miles, born July 
14, 1S93; Xancy L., born October 23, 1896; and 
Martha, born March 29, 1904. The family are 
members of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, in which Mr. Robinson is an elder, 
and he was largely instrumental in securing 
the funds for the erection of the present church 
building, which now is entirely out of debt. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights 
of Pythias and the Court of Honor. Mr. Rob- 
inson has .been prominent in local politics for 
many years, has served as Town Clerk, and 
now is serving his fourth year as a member of 
the City Council. He has worked strenuously 
and fearlessly for a clean and fair city govern- 
ment, and is known to possess high and progres- 
sive civic ideas. His home life is ideal, and 
his hospitality is extended to the large circle 
of friends who find sympathy and good cheer 
in one of the most beautiful and artistic resi- 
dences in Table Grove. 

ROBINSON, Henry Oscar.— The name and 
deeds of the Robinson family have been clearly 



io66 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



outlined against the bacliground of events in 
Fulton County for ttie past sixty-five years. In 
the person of Charles Branson Robinson was 
introduced into what was then a thinly settled 
community an element of moral strength, physi- 
cal endurance and mental vigor. A representa- 
tive of the Society of Friends, this early settler 
reflected a purity of motive and clearness of 
forethought as rare as it is helpful and inspir- 
ing. He was born in Chester County, Pa., May 
30, 1815, and died in Pulton County, 111., in 
July, 1903, at the age of eighty-eight years. Mr. 
Robinson came to the Central West as a bache- 
lor, at the time having few material resources 
upon which to found the prosperity which he 
subsequently enjoyed. Taking up land in Ver- 
mont Township during the latter 'forties, he 
married Elizabeth Scott, a native of the vicin- 
ity of Wheeling, W. Va. and who came West in 
1846 to make her home with her sister, Mrs. 
Mary A. Green. The young people started 
housekeeping under conditions which would 
have dismayed the youth of today, but they 
had stout hearts, an abundance of energy and 
Industry and no temptations, the satisfying of 
which would exceed their means. Both were 
devout Quakers, a faith which remained with 
them and brightened their entire lives, and 
which still is subscribed to by the wife, who 
is now seventy-eight years old. During his 
sixty years in Fulton County Mr. Robinson ex- 
erted a potent influence in farm, church and 
educational circles, and was so ardent a lover 
of peace and harmony that he often went out 
of his way to adjust complications arising be- 
tween his friends and neighbors. A strong 
Republican, he yet never held an office, nor did 
he, in defiance of the teachings of his church, 
ever invade a court room as a witness or prose- 
cutor. He never sued, nor was he ever sued 
by anyone. He walked sternly and relentlessly 
along the religious paths of his forefathers, in 
all ways conforming to their community and 
individual ideals. Of his six children Thomas 
resides in the vicinity of Ipava; Theodore is a 
farmer near Table Grove, Fulton County; Henry 
Oscar owns a farm in Pleasant Township; Wil- 
liam F., with his mother, occupies the old 
homestead in Vermont Township; Olive J. is 
the wife of Charles Dallas, who died May 25, 
1906, and Edward R. met his death by light- 
ning at the age of seventeen years. 

Henry Oscar Robinson was born on his 
father's farm in Vermont Township, December 
10, 1856, and was educated in the district 
schools and the high school at Ipava, which he 
attended two years. His youth knew much of 
the dreary drudgery of farming, but his tasks 
were softened by the refining and developing 
influences of his home, and the gentle care and 
sympathy of his parents. He was twenty-seven 
years old when he departed irom the home roof 
to seek the benefits and rewards of an independ- 
ent life, and at the same time to assume the re- 
sponsibility of home-making through his mar- 
riage, September 12, 1883, to Mary A. Miller, 



who was born in Vermont Township, February 
6, 1862, a daughter of Abner and Ethlinda Mil- 
ler. Abner Miller was born in Harrison County, 
Ohio, in 1835, and in 1852 settled in Vermont 
Township, where his death occurred in 1895. 
His wife lives on the homestead with her 
youngest son, Elwood. Of the other children in 
her family .Jonathan L. lives on a farm near 
Holdridge, Neb. ; Fannie is now Mrs. Koons, of 
Thayer, Neb.; Josephine died in 1899; Emma 
is the wife of Charles Ellison, of Vermont 
Township; Lois died in 1891, at the age of 
twenty-one years; Jesse G. is a farmer in Iowa, 
and Howard owns a farm adjoining the old 
homestead in Vermont Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Robinson are the parents of five children: 
Leonard M., born June 26, 1884, died August 
20, 1896; Lawrence S., born June 16, 1888; 
Henry Parry, born October 12, 1894; Laura E., 
born August 1, 1897, and Mary L., born Decem- 
ber 31, 1901. 

In 1886 Mr. Robinson purchase! a 120- 
acre tract situated on Section 8. Pleasant 
Township, and moved thereon during 
March of the same year. To this property he 
since has added eighty acres, and now owns 
200 acres m one body. In connection with gen- 
eral farming he is extensively engaged in stock- 
raising, making a specialty of Poland-China 
hogs, of which he has many registered, and of 
Durham cattle. He is a great appreciator of 
fine stock and derives constant pleasure, as 
well as profit from their breeding and care, 
tlis improvements are practical and well ad- 
vised and an atmosphere of comfort and pros- 
perity pervades the farm. Adhering to the 
faith of his father, one would not expect of Mr. 
Robinson ostentation or display, and in this the 
observer is not disappointed. 

A rare interest in the general welfare of the 
community has characterized the entire active 
life of Mr. Robinson. A Republican in politics, 
for the past six years he has been a member of 
the Board ■ of Education of Ipava, his farm be- 
ing in that district, and he has held other offices 
within the gift of his fellow townsmen. He 
is fraternally connected with the Modern 
Woodmen of America, while his wife is an offi- 
cer in the Royal Neighbors of Ipava Lodge, No. 
624. Mrs. Robinson is a woman of high intel- 
lectual attainments, and for five years pre- 
vious to her marriage was engaged in educa- 
tional work in Fulton County. Mr. Robinson 
has maintained the pioneer reputation of his 
father and has added thereto, in his own life, 
the qualifications which enable a man to reach 
the height of influence and usefulness in his 
chosen occupation during the strenuous period 
comprising the last of the ninetefenth and the 
beginning of the twentieth centuries. 

ROBINSON, Theodore. — Of the men who have 
long lent dignity and progressiveness to the 
business of agriculture in Farmers Township, 
none are held in higher esteem than Theodore 
Robinson, whose entire life has been spent in 



> 

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2 
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O 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1067 



Fulton County, and who was born in Vermont 
Township, July 16, 1854. Of his father, Charles 
B. Robinson, a slvetch may be found on another 
page of this work. Mr. Robinson was reared 
on the paternal farm, and made that his home 
until his twenty-eighth year. He was educated 
in the public schools of his native township 
and had the average advantages and training 
provided by well-to-do parents. 

January 4, 18S3, Mr. Robinson married 
Mary Elizabeth Dorsey, who was born 
in Bemadotte Township, June 13, 1856, 
a daughter of Lewis Dorsey, one of 
the honored pioneers of Fulton County. 
Mrs. Robinson's birthplace was midway between 
the villages of Bernadotte and Ipava, where she 
was educated in the Martin school and spent 
the first twenty-seven years of her life until 
her marriage in 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson 
began housekeeping on a small scale on what 
is known as the Hedge farm, east of Ipava, 
and six miles southeast of their present home. 
After renting this place for six years, Mr. 
Robinson, in 1889, bought their present home 
on Section 33, in Farmers Township, one mile 
from Table Grove, and here they have lived for 
the past eighteen years. Mrs, Robinson has 
spent more than fifty years of her life in the 
three townships named and during that time has 
never been outside of Fulton County, moving 
to their present place December 5, 1889. Mr. 
Robinson at once began to build and to remodel 
his farm, erected sheds for his machinery and 
temporary quarters for his stock, in time adding 
to his land until he owned 146 acres, 130 of 
which are under a high state of cultivation. He 
has devoted his attention chiefly to stock-raising 
and buying, and each year ships large numbers 
of hogs and cattle to market. His implements 
and general improvements have been selected 
with rare discretion, and suggest the man who 
is willing to profit by the experience of others, 
rather than one who recklessly bows down to 
the novelty of invention. 

Although liberal in his political tendencies, 
Mr. Robinson inclines to the Republican party, 
and usually supports it with his vote. He has 
held many township offices, and has been 
identified with many phases of township devel- 
opment. Mr. Robinson is a member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America, while Mrs. Rob- 
inson is a welcome member of the Oakwood 
Camp, No. 320, Royal Neighbors, and is promi- 
nent in both the social and religious life of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. 
Robinson take great delight in their two chil- 
dren, both of whom are in a fair way to realize 
the expectations of those near to them. Dessie 
Alverda, born September 2, 1885, in Pleasant 
Township, east of Ipava, is a graduate of Class 
1903 of the Table Grove High School, and also 
is an accomplished musician. The son, Amber- 
loy, born September 2, 1890, in Farmers Town- 
ship, has attended the high school at Table 
Grove, and is a young fellow of great promise. 
The married life of Mr. Robinson has been a 



particularly happy one, and the rare friendship 
begun between himself and wife in their youth 
has but strengthened with the trials and suc- 
cesses of the years. 

ROBINSON, Thomas. — Since his appointment 
as rural delivery mail-carrier, November 17, 
1903, Thomas Robinson has not missed a day 
in the performance of his task as distributor 
of the mail along the route No. 2. This faith- 
fulness to duty is one of the strong and leading 
traits of this popular representative of an old 
pioneer family. Mr. Robinson was born 
in Vermont Township, Pulton County, 
October 10, 1849, and lived upon the 
old home farm until his twenty-first year. 
He was educated in the district schools, and 
September 27, 1871, married Rebecca J. Grewell, 
a native of Bernadotte Township, and daughter 
of Isaac Grewell, mentioned elsewhere in this 
work. 

With his young wife Mr. Robinson established 
a home east of Ipava, in Pleasant Township, 
and in 1879 moved to Saunders County, Neb., 
where he remained until the following Decem- 
ber. Returning to Ipava, he made that place his 
home until 1883, when he settled in Saline 
County, Neb., where he engaged in general 
farming until March, 1887, when he entered 
160 acres of land in Arapahoe County, Colo. 
During the latter part of 1889 he located on 
the old farm east of Ipava, but in 1901, owing 
to ill health being obliged to abandon farming, 
settled in the town of Ipava. From then until 
his appointment to the rural mail delivery 
service he lived in retirement. Mr. and Mrs. 
Robinson are the parents of five children: 
Elizabeth J., wife of W. O. Littleton, a farmer 
of Bernadotte Township, and has four children 
— Lolla, Zella, Idres and Vain; Florence Edna, 
wife of George W. Bohannan, of Ipava, who 
has five children — Cecil, Pauline, Clinton, Rich- 
ard and Dortha; Oliver, a farmer of Ellens- 
burg, Wash., who was married March 17, 1906; 
Eleanor L., at home; and Olive J., a graduate 
of the Ipava High School, and a school teacher 
for the past two years. 

For more than sixty years the name of Rob- 
inson has been a prominent one in Fulton 
County, and during that time its members have 
invariably iiromoted education and good govern- 
ment, and have been closely identified with the 
best interests of the community. Mr. Robinson, 
as a Republican, has held a number of offices, 
including that of School Director. He sub- 
scribes to the creed of the Presbyterian Church, 
although he and his wife were reared in the 
Quaker faith. His wife and daughters, Eleanor 
and Olive, are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

ROBINSON, Thomas Chalkley.— Self-acquired 
wealth; liberal ideas, ambitions expressed in 
promoting agriculture, education, religion and 
simplicity of living, as well as unquestioned 
public and private integrity, constitute the fun- 



io68 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



damentals upon which rest the enviable stand- 
ing of Thomas Challiley Robinson, a pioneer 
of 1841, and at present a retired citizen of 
Ipava. As have his family for generations, Mr. 
Robinson subscribes to the tenets of the Society 
of Friends, founded in 1669 by George Fox. the 
much persecuted Puritan shoemaker of Notting- 
ham, England, and it is the introduction into 
the wilderness, sixty-five years ago, of the law- 
abiding, warless and peaceful beliefs of the 
reformer, that lends interest and substantiality 
to the sojourn here of the Robinson family. 

Born on a farm in Chester County, Pa., 
November 13, 1819, Mr. Robinson is the only 
survivor of the seven children of Thomas and 
Annie ( Branson ) Robinson, natives also of 
Chester County. In 1825, when he was but six 
years old, Thomas Chalkley's parents removed 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio, locating on a farm 
near Mount Pleasant, which remained the home 
of Thomas C. until 1841. In the spring of 
that year he came to Illinois and located in 
Woodland Township, Fulton County, during the 
following winter settling on the northeast 
quarter of Section 1, Vermont Township. This 
region at that time was still wild and unbroken, 
but abounded in timber, game and an abun- 
dance of water. Mr. Robinson put up the archi- 
tectural idea of the wilderness — a rough log 
house — and this constituted his bachelor quart- 
ers until his marriage, on November 7, 1850. 
His bride, Sarah Ann Easley, was a daughter 
of John and Nancy (Kinsey) Easley, natives 
of Virginia and Ohio, resiiectively. Mr. Easley 
was an early settler of Ohio, and his daughter, 
Sarah Ann, was born in Harrison County, that 
State, August 10, 1829. The Easleys moved to 
Illinois in 1832, and Mr. Easley became the 
civic father of what now is Ipava, but which 
then was known as Pleasantville. He platted 
the embryo town, contributed generously to- 
wards its early needs, and gave the three lots . 
comprising the school property, the ground for 
the old cemetery, the land upon which stands 
the Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal 
Churches and the two parks. In 1843 he erected 
what now is the famous Ipava Woolen Mills, 
but which in its original state was a linseed 
oil factory. Eventually the factory was con- 
verted into the first carding mill in the county, 
having as motive power a treadmill worked by 
two oxen, the fuel being a big ox-whip. This 
progressive pioneer died in 1873, leaving behind 
him innumerable evidences of his stable busi- 
ness ability, and broad public spirit. 

The pure air, abundant game, freedom from 
restraint and infinite i)ossibility of the prairies 
were among the cheering compensations which 
made the cabin life of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson 
a happy and contented one. They were children 
of nature, in sympathy with its moods and 
contented with its rewards. The sun and rain, 
heat and cold, all contributed to a whole which 
they had expected and in which they gladly 
shared. Unstinted hospitality prevailed among 
the cabin dwellers, of whom at first there were 



few. The Robinson land was covered with wild 
grass and timber, which yielded reluctantly to 
the ingenuity of man. Out which eventually 
developed into one of the most valuable farming 
properties in Fulton County. Five children 
came to gladden the home of this worthy 
couple: Louisa, wife of Joseph Fleming, a re- 
tired farmer of Vermont Township; Emily, 
wife of George La Rue, a farmer of Vermont 
Township; Charles B., a leading farmer of 
Fulton County, who married Maggie Shaver; 
Leona, wife of C. S. Randolph, druggist and 
Postmaster of Ipava; and Florence who died 
at the age of five years. 

Since his location in the county, Mr. Robinson 
has exerted a controlling influence upon many 
phases of its growth. Few happenmgs of mo- 
ment but have profited directly or indirectly 
by his judgment or pecuniary assistance. The 
church and school have reaped the benefit of his 
munificence, as well of his untiring personal 
labor in their behalf. The building of the rail- 
road, with its civilizing tendency, was made 
liossible largely through his financial contri- 
butions. Various township offices have been 
invested with dignity and non-partisan large- 
ness through his occupancy, although since its 
organization he has been a stanch supporter 
of Republicanism. His position in the com- 
munity is that of a man who has lived accord- 
ing to the best that he knew, whose abilities 
have been trained upon the things that are 
worth while, and whose general character is 
such as to win him those most splendid and 
satisfying of rewards — the consciousness of 
well-doing and the esteem of his fellowmen. 

ROBINSON, William T.— An impressive illus- 
tration of what may be accomplished within 
a score of years by industry, sobriety and per- 
sistent endeavor is furnished in the career of 
the gentleman to whom this record pertains 
since he established his home in Farmington, 
Fulton County, 111., not long after coming to 
this country. Without aid from adventitious 
sources and relying solely upon his own in- 
herent energy, perseverance and sound judg- 
ment, he has built up a business that is highly 
creditable to himself and the community of 
which he is a worthy member. 

The subject of this sketch, William T. Rob- 
inson, is a native of the Emerald Isle, where 
he was born in 1855, a son of David and 
Matilda (Cunningham) Robinson, both of 
whom were also natives of Ireland. The early 
mental training of Mr. Robinson was obtained 
in the public schools of his native land. After 
coming to Illinois, in 1885, he embarked in the 
livery business in Farmington, Fulton County, 
having purchased the interests formerly held 
by Robb & Saunders. In this line he remained 
for five years, but sold out in 1890 and bought 
part of a stock of furniture, with which he 
started in that branch of trade. He also 
ojiened an undertaking establishment, which 
he has conducted in connection with his furni- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1069 



ture store since that period with success. 
In 1881 Mr. Robinson was united in marriage 
with Emma Mason, who was born in Farming- 
ton, 111., where she enjoyed the advantages 
of the public schools in early youth. Their 
union has resulted in two children: Minnie 
and James. 

ROBISON. Marvin T., a well known and suc- 
cessful attorney-at-law of Lewistown, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in San Francisco, Cal., 
April 11, 1869, a son of Charles F. and Mary L. 
(Hovell) Robison, the latter being the daughter 
of Thomas Hovell, a native of England, who 
came to the United States and located in the 
vicinity of Avon, 111., where Mary L. Hovell 
was reared and became Charles F. Robison's 
wife. Mr. C. F. Robison served during the 
Civil War in Company D, First Regiment Illi- 
nois Volunteer Cavalry, and was honorably dis- 
charged at the end of his term of service. He 
then went to San Francisco, where the subject 
of this sketch was born. He returned to Illinois 
in 1871 and located at Ellisville, 111., where he 
is now engaged in the practice of law. His 
union with Mary L. Hovell resulted in three 
children, namely: Alniira, wife of Joseph C. 
Heylman, of Canton, 111.; Olive, who became 
the wife of Owen Jones, a farmer in Knox 
County, 111.; and Irene Zoe, a teacher in the 
Ellisville (111.) schools. 

Marvin T. Robison attended the public 
schools of Ellisville in his boyhood, and later 
pursued a commercial course in the Gem City 
Business College at Quincy; after which he 
taught school in the public schools of Fulton 
County, 111. During his school days he studied 
law in his father's office. Subsequently he 
entered the law department of the University 
of Michigan, and after taking full course In 
that institution was graduated in 189.5. On be- 
ing admitted to the bar he commenced practice 
at Ellisville. but in the spring of 1896 removed 
to London Mills, 111., where he remained until 

1901. In February of that year he came to 
Lewistown and formed a partnership with 
Kinsey Thomas, under the firm name of Thomas 
& Robison. The firm was dissolved in December, 

1902, since when he has conducted a successful 
practice alone. As teacher and lawyer, the life 
of Mr. Robison has been a busy one. In the 
preparation of his cases he is very careful and 
painstaking and his thoroughness inspires con- 
fidence in his clients in these trials, and in all 
who look to him for legal counsel. In deport- 
ment he is modest and unassuming, but the 
reputation gained by his solia qualities as a 
lawyer secures for him his full share of practice 
in Pulton, Knox and adjoining counties. 

On December 24, 1894, Mr. Robison was 
united in marriage with Minnie D. White, a 
daughter of Nathan White, who was among the 
honored pioneers of Fulton County. Six chil- 
dren have resulted from this union, five of whom 
are living, namely: Thelma L., born May 3, 
1896; Zelpha M., born October 16, 1898; Gwelda 



E., born April 4,1900; Melba Z., born September 
3, 1901; Kenneth G., born February 12, 1903; 
and Euelna M., born August 30, 1906, died De- 
cember 30, 1906. 

In politics Mr. Robison is a Democrat and 
earnestly advocates the principles of his party. 
He takes an active part in political campaigns, 
and is a forceful and impressive speaker on the 
issues of the day. In 1904 he was nominated 
for the office of State's Attorney, but, although 
running far ahead of the National ticket in the 
county, was defeated. He served one year as 
Supervisor for Young Hickory Township, and 
gave entire satisfaction to his constituents. In 
all public measures, he takes a lively and use- 
ful interest. In fraternal circles Mr. Robinson 
is identified with the K. of P., M. W. A. and 
C. of H. 

ROCK, John M.— More than fifty years have 
passed at this writing since the worthy farmer, 
whose name introduces these lines, arrived, a 
mere child, in the United States. He passed his 
sixth birthday on the ocean and on June 7, 
185.5, became a resident of this county, accom- 
panying his parents to Illinois and settling 
down in the new home prepared for him in 
Fulton County. Within that period, since 
reaching manliood, he has made such diligent 
use of his opportunities that, by means of in- 
dustry, economy, and wise management he has 
been enabled to retire from active labors, hav- 
ing accumulated a sufficiency of this world's 
goods to make the remainder of his life com- 
fortable and pleasant and to provide a suitable 
inheritance for his children. That all of this 
has been accomplished while he is still in the 
))rime of life is abundant evidence of the energy, 
perseverance and thrift that have marlved his 
course. 

Mr. Rock was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, 
Germany, May 8, 1849, and is a son of Simon 
and Elizabeth (Schnur) Rock, natives also of 
that country. He came with his parents to 
Fairview Township, Fulton County, June 20, 
1855. Some time afterward his father, together 
with two of his friends, named Walter and 
Fingel, bought a farm consisting of 240 acres 
of Harmon Andrews, in Deerfield Township, this 
county. This land they divided, each taking 
eighty acres. Simon Rock was very successful 
in his farming operations and ultimately be- 
came the owner of 370 acres in Deerfield Town- 
ship. In politics he was a Democrat, and cast 
his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas. He and 
his wife were the parents of nine children, five 
of whom are still living. The father died July 
11, 1889, aged eighty-two years, and the mother 
January 21, 1890, at the age of seventy-nine. 
Both were members of the Lutheran Church. 

John M. Rock was reared on his father's 
farm, and in early manhood commenced an 
independent career. He prospered in all his 
undertakings, and in 1892 moved to Joshua 
Township, Fulton County, having bought of 
Edward G. Standard a farm of 246 acres there, 
on which he has since made his home. He built 



1070 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



barns and a convenient and attractive house 
on the place, and carried on general farming 
and stock-raising until his retirement from ac- 
tive pursuits. He devoted considerable atten- 
tion to Shorthorn cattle and raised Poland- 
China hogs somewhat extensively. Since his 
withdrawal from the labors of the farm, his 
sons have had charge of It. 

On August 11, 1874, Mr. Rock was joined in 
matrimony with Mary C. Wagner, who was born 
in Pennsylvania. This union resulted in the 
birth of three children, namely: Simon J.. 
Nora E. (Mrs. Wm. F. Steck), and Joseph L. 

In politics, Mr. Rock has always supported 
the principles of the Democratic party. He 
served as Constable of Deerfield Township for 
seven years, and held the office of Township 
Collector two years. For nine years he acted 
in the capacity of School Director there, and 
has filled a like position in Joshua Township 
fifteen years. The duties of all these public 
trusts lie has discharged with credit to him- 
self, and to the satisfaction of all concerned. 
Mr. Rock is widely known in Fulton County. 
He is looked upon as a man of very substantial 
traits of character, and is considered one of 
the leading citizens of his locality. He is a 
faithful member of the Lutheran Church, and 
has held the office of Deacon for many years 
and Superintendent of the Sunday School eight 
years. His wife is also a member of the same 
denomination, as are his children. 

RODDIS, Charles. — The office of Elder in the 
German Baptist Brethren Church, conferred 
upon Charles Roddis December 7, 1904, is the 
highest gift in the church of that denomination. 
The honor is held by but three men in Fulton 
County. That Mr. Roddis is deserving of the 
responsibility is believed by all familiar with 
his honorable and well directed life. Briefly 
outlined, his religious career began at the age. 
of fifteen, when he joined the Church of Eng- 
land. Upon coming to America he united with 
the Presbyterian Church, and December 2, 1894, 
became a member of the religious body with 
which he since has been connected. In 189.5 he 
assumed charge of the Sunday School, and 
In 1897 was called to the ministry, since which 
time he has devoted practically all of his time to 
church matters. The first call is known as a 
degree, and March 10, 1900, he received his 
second degree, to be followed by the office he 
now holds. The Woodland Church, over which 
he presides, is a large and harmonious organiza- 
tion, and the best of good fellowship obtains 
among its members. During the five years of 
his pastorate he has enlarged the opportunities 
and good work of the church, and placed it on 
a firm financial tooting. He receives no stated 
salary, and for this very reason the extent and 
kind of his efforts to make lighter the burdens 
of mankind are the more to be commended. 

The layman occupations of Mr. Roddis have 
been many. He was born in Warwick, England, 
March 19, 1854, a son of Samuel and Louise 



( Browmich ) Roddis, both born in England, the 
former. May 13, 1832, and the latter, August 
26, 1824. The parents were married in 1S53, 
and in 1883 the father and his daughter, Fannie, 
came to America, locating in Ipava, this county, 
the mother and her two daughters joining him 
the following May. In America the father 
followed the occupation of tiling, and com- 
pleted several large contracts in Fulton County 
and surrounding territory. Among these was 
the tiling of a course extending from Havana, 
ill., to Scotland Township, McDonough County, 
in which he had the assistance of his son, 
Charles. Through this occupation he accumu- 
lated a fair competence, and after the death 
of his wife, August 4. 1897, he lived in Ipava 
until 1898, when he sold his home and for 
three years lived with his son, William, in 
1902 fixing his residence with Charles Roddis, 
where his death occurred December 12, 1905. 
In England members of the Church of England, 
they attended the Presbyterian Church in this 
country. 

Charles Roddis began to earn his own living 
at the age of eleven years, and from eleven 
to sixteen he was employed in a brick yard in 
England. He next worKed in the iron and 
glass works at West Browmich, where he met 
with an accident, and for three months was 
confined in a hospital at Stratford-on-Avon. 
In 1871 he went to Liverpool, and soon after 
to Nottingham, in the latter town working in 
the iron foundry until 1874. He then enlisted 
in the Royal Marines, which he left the follow- 
ing year, and began to labor for a concern in 
Uxbridge. In May, 1876, he sailed for America, 
and upon joining his family in Ipava, engaged 
as a miner until 1884. During that year he 
and his brother, Robert, opened up what since 
has been the property of the Ipava Coal Com- 
pany, on Section 17. Pleasant Township, and 
which they operated together until 1884. Mr. 
Roddis then went to St. Louis and Lewistown, 
returning to Ipava and mining in 1888. The 
following year he purchased forty acres of land 
which he operated for coal between 1900 and 
1902, since which time he has followed farming 
on a small scale in connection with his church 
work. 

January 3, 1882, Mr. Roddis married Eliza- 
beth Cole, who was born in Missouri, a daugh- 
ter of Nicholas and Annie Margeretta Cole, a 
native of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Roddis have 
adopted two children, of whom Bessie is the 
wife of Levi Weber, of Pleasant Township, and 
Roy D., also is at home. Mrs. Roddis who 
fully shares her husband's ambition to be a 
moral uplift in the community, and who so 
lightened his labors by her sympathy and active 
co-operation, was laid to worldly rest February 
14, 1906. 

RODDIS, William.— At the age of thirty-three 
years William Roddis finds himself the posses- 
.sor of a valuable farm of 223 acres on Section 
28, Bernadotte Township, Fulton County, 111., 







,^ 





^ 






J3^" 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1071 



equipped with modern buildings and machinery, 
and stoclied with Percheron and Norman horses 
and high-grade cattle and hogs. When this 
young farmer started upon his independent 
career he could not have purchased a foot ot 
this farm, and its ownership means several 
years of struggling against odds, and patient 
hoarding of savings for which he gave the best 
there was in him. He has had the benefit of 
a many-sided experience, and his farm is con- 
ducted along the most approved and practical 
lines. 

Mr. Roddis was born on a farm in Pleasant 
Township. Fulton County, August Id, 1873, a 
son of Robert and Josephine Roddis, natives 
of England and Illinois respectively. In an- 
other part of this work may be found details 
of the family history. At the age of fifteen 
years William Roddis ceased to look to the 
home farm for support, and with a common 
school ettucation to aid him, found employment 
as a clerk in the grocery store of George H. 
Weaver. For six years he continued to hand 
goods over the counter of this establishment, 
and in 1894 invested his earnings in a coal- 
mine east of Ipava, which he operated very 
successfully for three years. Disposing of his 
mining interests in 1897, he purchased the 
grocery and queensware store of Mr. McCaslin 
in Ipava, and for six years was the leading 
merchant of the town, catering to a trade which 
extended far beyond the borders of the village. 
No one sold more or better goods than he, or 
at more reasonable prices. In 1903 he disposed 
of his store at a liberal profit and again en- 
gaged in the coal business, continuing in this 
line until he sold out in 1906, when he pur- 
chased the farm upon which he now lives. 

The marriage of Mr. Roddis and Nettie Long 
occurred January 21, 1894, and of this union 
there have been three children: Harry, born 
in 1896; Gail, born in 1893; and a third born 
in January, 1903. Mrs. Roddis is a native of 
Illinois, and her parents were numbered among 
the pioneers of the State. To her economy and 
sympathy her husband owes a large measure 
of his success. Mr. Roddis has social as well 
as business qualifications, and is a popular 
member of the Masonic Order, Knights of 
Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America. He 
is physically and morally a fine type of Ameri- 
can manhood, and his experience and ability 
should place him among the foremost and most 
wealthy agriculturists of the county. 

ROGERS, Dr. H. H., who is engaged in the 
practice of his profession in Cuba, Fulton 
County, 111., was oorn in Indiana in 1870, a 
son of John H. and Sarah (Maus) Rogers, also 
natives of that State. The father, John H. 
Rogers, was a successful merchant in Indiana 
for many years. The subject ot this sketch re- 
ceived his early training in the public schools, 
and afterward entered the Louisville (Ky.) 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he 
spent two years in the study of medicine. He 
subsequently pursued a course in the Keokuk 



(la.) College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
from which he was graduated in 1898. After 
graduating he first located at Eureka, 111., 
where he remained a short time, but on Janu- 
ary 1, 1899, established himself in Cuba, Ful- 
ton County, where he has since practiced with 
unvarying success. He is a member of the 
Fulton County Medical Society and the Military 
Tract Medical Society. The building in which 
his present offices are located was erecteu by 
him in 1904. 

In 1898 Dr. Rogers was unitea in marriage 
with Jennie M. Thomas, who was born in 
Cuba, 111., and two children have resulted from 
this union, namely; J. C. Thomas and Harvey 
Marion. Mrs. Rogers is a graduate of the Keo- 
kuk College of Physicians and Surgeons of the 
class of 1898, and is also engaged in practice 
in Cuba with gratifying results. Dr. Rogers 
is creditably discharging the duties of a mem- 
ber of the School Board, of which he is Clerk, 
and also holds the offices of both City and 
Township Physician. Fraternally he is affili- 
ated with the A. F. & A. M., belonging to the 
Cuba local lodge; Mohammed Temple, Peoria; 
Damascus Lodge, K. T., of Havana, 111.; and 
Canton Council, No. 23. He is also identified 
with Canton Lodge, No. 626, B. P. O. E. 

The Doctor was formerly a Director of the 
Farmers' State Bank of Cuba. His practice 
is large and constantly increasing, and he en- 
joys the confidence and respect ot the 
community. 

ROHLINE, Emil. — The blacksmith and im- 
plement shop of Emil Rohline is one of the 
busiest and most successfully managed trade 
establishments in the town of Smithfield, this 
county. Its forge and anvil have been in al- 
most constant operation on week days since 
1897, and the trade which rewards the owner's 
enterprise and skill is continuous and apprecia- 
tive, being recruited from both the town and 
surrounding country. Mr. Rohline has the most 
modern and practical appliances of his trade, 
and his work is invariably well done and 
satisfactory. 

The son of Charles J. Rohline, who was born 
in Sweden in 1832, Emil Rohline inherits his 
mechanical ability from his father, who learned 
the blacksmith business in Sweden, and con- 
tinued to practice the same after his emigration 
to America in 1884, and his settlement in his 
present home in Bloomington, this State. From 
early youth the son learned to make himself 
useful around the shop, and at the age of 
twenty drew the salary of an experienced 
blacksmith. In 1893 he removed to Cuba, III., 
and started a shop of his own, in l!s96 opening 
a business in Seville, which he operated until 
coming to Smithfield in 1896. He now has a 
large shop and implement store, the latter fifty 
by seventv feet in ground dimensions. 

" In Bloomington, 111., May 19, 1890, Mr. Roh- 
line married Albertina Erickson, who was born 
in Sweden May 24, 1870, and who is the mother 



1072 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of three children: Florence, Warner and Fred- 
erick. Mr. Rohliue is a Democrat in politics, 
and fraternally, is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen of America. In religion he is a mem- 
ber of the Swedish Lutheran Church. He is a 
genial and painstaking man, and among his 
many i)atrons has warm and dependable friends. 

ROHRER, Christian (deceased), formerly one 
of the most substantial farmers and respected 
citizens of F'ulton County, 111., was born in 
Lancaster County, Pa., April S, 1S3S. a son of 
Henry and Mary (Doner) Rohrer, natives of 
Pennsylvania, where the father carried on 
farming for a number of years. Henry Rohrer 
journeyed with his family from Pennsylvania 
to Illinois in 1830, settling first near Quiney, 
whence he subsequenny moved to Fulton 
County, locating on a farm three miles north 
of Canton, where he followed his wonted pur- 
suit during the remainder of his life. He died 
in 1876 and his wife passed away on the same 
farm. 

Christian Rohrer was eight years of age 
when he accompanied his parents from the East 
to Fulton County. In boyhood he attended 
school in an old log cabin in the vicinity of 
his father's place, and afterward continued 
his studies in the public school in Canton. His 
youth was spent in the routine duties of farm 
life on the paternal acres and he continued to 
work for his father until he attained his ma- 
jority. After his marriage he bought land of 
the latter, which he cultivated for several years. 
He ultimately became the owner of 320 acres 
in Fulton County and 640 acres in McLean 
County. In the course of time ill health com- 
pelled him to relinquish the labors of farm- 
ing, and he rented his lands and withdrew 
from active pursuits. His death occurred Sep- 
tember 28, 1899. He was a man of excellent 
character and strict integrity, and during the 
healthy period of his life was an energetic 
and thorough farmer. In religious faith he 
was a Methodist, and i)olitically he was a sup- 
porter of the principles of the Republican party. 

In Lancaster, Pa., on December 20, 1860, Mr. 
Rohrer was united in marriage with Eliza- 
beth Herr, who was born in that town Febru- 
ary 13, 1837. a daughter of Benjamin Herr and 
wife. Five children were the offspring of their 
union, four of whom are still living, namely: 
Henry, Adeline, Christian and Cyrus. Mrs. 
Rohrer's grandparents were of German nativity. 
The first member of the family who emigrated 
to America was Hans Herr. who crossed the 
Atlantic in 1710, bringing five sons to the 
American colonies. The Herr ancestry is of 
ancient origin, as is shown by a coat of arms 
found on the "Armorial General" of Reistrap. 
The family was "free," or, in other words, of 
noble antecedents, and was possessed of vast 
estates in Swabia. One of the ancestors of 
Benjamin G. Herr was known as Hugo, the 
Herr, or Lord, of Bilried. In the year 1.593 
John, Lord of Bilried, obtained a testimonial 



from the Emperor Ferdinand, provmg the Herr 
armorial bearings, which are a shield sur- 
mounted by a helmet and two horns of plenty. 
In 1534 Dr. Michael Herr, of Hagemann, Alsace, 
was an author of considerable repute, having 
published a work entitled "Die Neue Welt," 
containing a narrative of the discovery of 
America. Mrs. Rohrer is still in the enjoy- 
ment of her wonted vigor of body and mind and 
is surrounded by all the comforts which tend 
to promote contentment in her declining years. 
She is a woman of amiable traits of character 
and an object of warm regard to all who know 
her. 

ROHRER, John H.— In John H. Rohrer is 
found a striking example of the kind of mate- 
rial which had brought Canton Township into 
the limelight as a scientific agricultural center. 
At the comparatively early age of fifty-four 
years, this honored man has amassed a sufficient 
competence to retire from active life in Canton, 
where he purchased a ])art of the Coleman 
estate, and since has surrounded himself with 
those comforts and advantages which contrib- 
ute to the satisfaction of a refined mind. Be- 
ginning his independent career with few mate- 
rial assets, and no more than the average coun- 
try advantages, it will be seen that he has ac- 
complished his tasks in much shorter time than 
the average, which fact is the more praise- 
worthy in that he has done his work well, and 
has established a precedent which younger 
agriculturists would do well to follow. 

Born in Washington County, Md., July 11, 
1848, Mr. Rohrer is a son of Abraham and 
Mary (Geltmacherl Rohrer, natives of the same 
State and county. Abraham Rohrer was a 
farmer in his youth and early manhood, but for 
the past twenty years has operated a grist mill 
in Maryland. He has four sons and two daugh- 
ters, of whom John H. is the third oldest. The 
Maryland home was one m which lessons of 
industry and honesty were taught daily, and 
where self-sacrifice and independence were en- 
couraged. In 1868, when John H. was twenty 
years old. he came to Canton Township and 
worked on a farm for two years. He then 
combined farming and threshing for a few 
years, and in 1879 moved to a farm near Bush- 
nell, McDonough County, where he lived three 
years. Returning to Farmington Township, he 
lived there until 1S78. when he located on the 
farm in Canton Township which he still owns, 
and where for years he was known as one of 
the most extensive general farmers and stock- 
raisers in the township. He made a specialty 
of draft horses for about eighteen years, and 
also raised large numbers of Shorthorn cattle 
and Poland-China hogs. His farm is well 
equipped with substantial buildings and agricul- 
tural implements, and the years of patient till- 
age have converted its fertile acres into more 
than ordinary value and productiveness. At 
the iiresent time the farm is managed by 
Samuel Rohrer, oldest son of the owner, who 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1073 



received a careful training under his father 
and is a most estimable and capable young man. 
The marriage of Mr. Rohrer and Alice Eshel- 
man occurred in February, 1S79, Mrs. Rohrer 
being a native of Fulton County, and a daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Catherine Eshelman. Be- 
sides Samuel, on the home farm, Mr. and Mrs. 
Rohrer have three children, of whom John W. 
is in Kansas, and George and Fannie are at 
home. In political affiliation Mr. Rohrer is a 
Republican. He is in all respects a sincere 
minded and highly respected man, of excellent 
habits and kindly disposition, and, while not 
directly connected with any religious organiza- 
tion, or ambitious of political preferment, is a 
stanch supporter of churches, education and all 
that tends to the substantial betterment of the 
community, 

ROLLER, George B., a well known and pros- 
perous brick manufacturer of Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Washington County, 
Pa., February 21, IS-io. a son of Matthew and 
Susan ( Bronson ) Roller, of whom the former 
was born in Germany in 1S24 and the latter in 
Ohio in 1829. Matthew Roller was a black- 
smith by trade. He came to this country about 
the year 184.5 and located in Pennsylvania. In 
18.57 he settled in Canton and followed farm- 
ing four miles east of town between four and 
five years. He then moved into town, where 
he died in 1884. His wife's people were from 
Ohio, but she was reared in Pennsylvania, 
where she died August 1, 1SS4. 

In youth George B. Roller attended school in 
his native town. In 1873 he was employed in 
the Parvin & Orendorff works, where he con- 
tinued until he established himself in the brick 
business in the spring of 1889. He first started 
in a plant opposite to his present location, to 
which he moved in 1900. At the outset he made 
sand-molded brick exclusively for about a year, 
but has since made sidewalk and paving brick 
only. He is a capable business man and has 
built up a flourishing trade. On March 25, 
1877, Mr. Roller was married to .Juliet Palmer, 
who was born in Canton in 1856 and educated 
in the Canton High School. Four children 
have been the offspring of this union, namely: 
Henry P., born January 27, 1878; Ethel M., 
born October 29, 1879; Charles L., born De- 
cember 3, 1890; and Donald T., born Novem- 
ber i5, 1897. 

Mrs. Roller's parents were born in the vi- 
cinity of Saratoga Springs, N. Y. They were 
Henry and Amanda (Talmadge) Palmer. Mrs. 
Roller graduated from the Canton High School 
in 1875 and then taught for two years. The 
eldest of her children, Henry P. Roller, was 
bookkeeper for ten years in the Canton Na- 
tional Bank. His connection with the bank 
began on his graduation from the high school, 
and ended with his death in July, 1903. On 
November 14, 1899, he married Edna May Max- 
well, a daughter of N. W. Maxwell, of Canton 
Township. Fraternally Mr. Roller is affiliated 
with the A. P. & A. M., belonging to the Blue 



Lodge and to the Encampment with all its 
branches in Canton. He is also a member of 
the I. O. O. F. 

ROSE, Frank, a well known musician of Ful- 
ton County, proprietor of the Cyclone Store 
and a member of the firm of Mosley & Rose, 
real-estate, loan and insurance agents, located 
at Ipava, 111., was born in Mound Township 
McDonough County, 111., on the 25th of No- 
vember, 1866, a son of James A. Rose, a promi- 
nent farmer of Vermont Township, Fulton 
County. (For details regarding family his- 
tory see sketch of James A. Rose, elsewhere in 
this work.) 

The early years of Frank Rose were passed 
on the family homestead, assisting in the farm 
work and attending the neighboring schools. 
At the age of seventeen he entered the 'Western 
Normal School at Bushnell, 111., and after com- 
pleting the course returned to the farm. There 
he remained until 1887, when, still desirous of 
a more complete mental training, he became a 
student at the Northern Indiana Normal School 
at 'Valparaiso. He pursued a thorough business 
course in that institution, and upon his gradu- 
ation in 1888 returned home to engage in the 
piano and organ business, locating at 'Washing- 
ton, Iowa. He then removed to 'Winfleld, that 
State, and while engaged in the musical line 
at that place was married to Ella F. Skipton. 

Frank Rose was married on the 11th of Feb- 
ruary, 1S90, to Ella F. Skipton, a native of 
Henry County, Iowa, and a daughter of J. H. 
and 'Vianna Skipton. They were the parents 
of two daughters, Ella F. (Mrs. Rose) and 
Clara, wife of David Hess, a farmer residing 
near Winfield. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rose are 
the parents of six children: Hazel, born in 
■Washington, Iowa; Ralph E., in Vermont Town- 
ship. Fulton County; James H., in Clarion, 
Iowa; Frank, in the village of Vermont, Iowa; 
Julian D., in the village of Vermont, 111.; and 
Lucille, a native of Ipava. 

After engaging in the music business at Win- 
field, Iowa, Mr. Rose removed to Toledo, in the 
same State, and after a short experiment there, 
settled, in 1891, at Washington, Iowa. In the 
same year he returned to Fulton County, locat- 
ing at Canton as salesman tor H. H. Oren- 
dorff & Company. He became connected with 
James A. Mowers, of Ipava, in 1892, and in the 
following year was employed as a traveling 
salesman by the Ipava Cigar Company. On ac- 
count of the panic of that year the factory 
was obliged to close and Mr. Rose was then 
connected with the Singer Sewing Machine 
Company until January, 1895. During the fol- 
lowing four years he was again engaged in the 
music business, to which he is so admirably 
adapted, at Clarion, Iowa. He remained at 
that location until 1899, when, on account of ill 
health, he was forced to sell his establishment 
and return to Vermont, III. While there he 
composed and taught music and wrote for 
magazines and newspapers along the line of 
his specialty, his work in all these fields giving 



I074 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



him a high reputation as a slvilled and learned 
professional. 

In Marcn, 1904, Mr. Rose located in Ipava, 
offering to the public a special line of mer- 
chandise which has proved attractive and profit- 
able. In November, 1905, he formed a part- 
nership with L. Mosley, under the name of 
Mosley & Rose, for transactions in real estate, 
loans and insurance. Mr. Rose's wide musical 
attainments, his thorough business training and 
his broad personal acquaintance, are a guar- 
antee that both of these enterprises will fulfill 
the substantial promises of the present. 

ROSE, James A. — For the entire sixty-eight 
years of his life James A. Rose has been identi- 
fied with Fulton and the surrounding coun- 
ties, preferably the former, where he was born 
in Astoria Township, August 26, 1838, and 
where, since 1S71, he has owned an extensive 
land-holding in Vermont Township. A son of 
William and Anna (Linn) Rose, his family was 
among the early contingent of Ohio. The Roses 
are of Scotch-English ancestry and the Linns of 
German extraction. William Rose, the father, 
was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, March 22, 
1816, and his mother in Clermont County, that 
State, October 24, 1816. The wedding of the 
parents occurred December 31, 183.5, when the 
father was barely nineteen years old, and their 
housekeeping was inaugurated under circum- 
stances that would have dismayed the less 
venturesome youths of the present time. 

William Rose was a man of great energy and 
industry, which qualities lifted him from pov- 
erty to affluence. When he brought his wife 
from Ohio to Fulton County in October, 1836, 
his visible assets consisted of six hundred 
dollars and a yoiie of cattle, all of which he 
had earned after buying his freedom, for which 
he paid his father $300 in 1834. He afterward 
bought a horse and put him in the lead of his 
ox-team. His first stop was near Ipava, 
where he occupied the Eli Branson farm for 
a few months, in the fall of 1837 settling in 
Astoria Township, where he bought a tax title 
to the property he occupied for thirty-two years. 
He at first erected a home of rough logs, in 
the architecture of the wilderness, and in time 
this was succeeded by a pretentious rural resi- 
dence, equipped- with all the conveniences and 
comforts known to the agricultural class at 
that time. At the time of his death, March 1.5. 
1889, he owned nine hundred and fifty-two acres 
of land in Illinois, and Wayne County, Iowa. 
He began his independent existence as a boat- 
man on the Ohio River, and ended it as one of 
the largest tax payers in Fulton County. In 
politics he was a .lacksonian Democrat, but his 
retiring dis])osition and avoidance of all osten- 
tation and display ran counter to any serious 
political ambitions. He was a deeply religious 
man, and with his wife was a devoted member 
of the United Brethren Church. With his own 
means, in 1870, he erected a church on his 
farm, known as Rose's Chapel, and he contrib- 



uted generously to the subsequent support of 
local cnurch affairs. He was equally energetic 
in school promotion, and gave of his means to 
secure good teachers and school-room equip- 
ment. 

One of the most interesting reminders of the 
old days of the county is the wife of :\Ir. Rose, 
who, in October, 1906, attained to ninety years. 
This genial and intelligent woman is a lesson 
in moderation and' industry, and her chief de- 
light is to tell of the times that tried the souls 
of men, and either made or broke them with 
its hardships and discouragements. She is the 
mother of five sons and five daughters: John 
v., of Bushnell; James; Reuben, deceased in 
infancy; Elizabeth J., wife of Andy Bryan; 
Susan, deceased, former wife of K. Lindsay; 
Ann Eliza, wife of Frank Mumey; Edith, de- 
ceased wife of John S. Snook; Esteline, de- 
ceased; William R., of Astoria Township, and 
Uriah T. 

James A. Rose remained under the paternal 
roof until his twenty-first year, having received 
his education in the early subscription schools, 
for the maintenance of which each farmer paid 
according to the children in his family. On 
October 29, 1862, he married Mathilda Harris, 
who was oorn in Virginia, a daughter of James 
and Phoebe ( Applegate ) Harris, Fulton County 
pioneers of 1856. The young couple rented land 
in McDonough County until 1863, when he 
bought for his father 160 acres of land for 
which he paid $4,000, and on which he moved — 
renting it of the elder Rose and paying tor the 
same in gold, according to the requirement at 
that time. In order to secure this gold Mr. 
Rose journeyed to Chicago, where he exchanged 
his paper money tor gold at the rate of two 
dollars and fifty cents in paper for one dollar 
in gold. In 1868 he rented this farm and 
bougnt 160 acres in Wayne County. Iowa, and 
in 1871 he came to Fulton County where, in 
February, he bought the old Lindsay farm of 
256 acres in Sections 15 and 16, Vermont Town- 
ship. This farm had a history, and was inter- 
esting because of the fact that upon it Mr. 
Lindsay erected the first distillery, and manu- 
factured the first whiskey made in thd State of 
Illinois. 

Mr. Rose found his newly acquired property 
in a dilapidated and unsatisfactory condition, 
yet, notwithstanding his obstacles, he raised 
five thousand bushels of corn the first year. At 
the present time he owns 320 acres, upon which 
he has introduced the wisest and most modern 
of improvements, having much valuable ma- 
chinery and a residence and general buildings 
of substantial construction. His fences and in- 
cidental appurtenances are kept in good repair, 
and he has one of the best managed and scien- 
tifically conducted farms in Vermont Township. 

Mrs. Rose was born in New Cumberland, Han- 
cock County, Va., September 6. 1842, and died in 
Vermont Township October 13, 1904. She was 
a woman of rare and noble traits of character, 
the friend of the sick and unfortunate, and in 



I 



s 
PI 

> 

z 

D 

> 

r 
< 




HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1075 



her family the personification of gentleness and 
sympathy. The night before her final summons 
she sat reading her Bible when taken ill, and 
the next morning at six she breathed her last. 
Especially was she devoted to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and through her personal 
eftorts sufficient money was raised to erect what 
now is known as the Spring Grove 
Methodist Episcopal Church, on the 
Rose farm. Mr. and Mrs. Rose were 
the parents of five children: Eliza- 
beth A., wife of Seldon Bradley, and mother of 
five children — Blanche (who died at the age of 
seven months). Dean, Maud (who died aged 
fourteen months), Leroy and Portney; William 
Franklin, mentioned elsewhere in this work; 
Ora Belle, wife of Albert Lybarger, living on 
the old homestead, and the mother of two sons 
— LaVerne and Lloyd; Maggie, wife of Fred 
Welsh, a farmer of Vermont Township, who has 
a son. Wade; and Iva Myrtle, wife of Orfa 
Wayne, a farmer near the old Rose homestead, 
and the mother of one son, Wayne, and one 
deceased, ,Iesse Glenn, who died at the age of 
four months. Seldon Bradley, the husband of 
Elizabeth A., operates a part of the home farm. 
Mr. Rose is a stanch Democrat, but though 
often solicited to do so, he never has been will- 
ing to accept official honors. He has been a 
Methodist for many years, and his money has 
been generously given to the Spring Grove 
Church. In addition to his reputation as a 
general farmer and stock-raiser, he has ren- 
dered signal service to the community during 
the threshing season, and for the jjast forty-six 
years has oi)erated a threshing machine in 
Fulton, Schuyler and McDonough Counties. 
Beginning with the old horse-power machine, 
he has kept pace with the improvements in 
machinery, and finally owned an expensive 
steam thresher. Mr. Rose embodies the quali- 
ties most desired and needed in the solid men 
of the community, and his name and labor are 
associated with its best and most substantial 
upbuilding. 

ROSE, W. H.— The family of which W. H. 
Rose is the sole survivor has been substantially 
identified with the State of Illinois ever since its 
establishment this side of Lake Michigan In 
1836. That year witnessed the arrival, in the 
then small and muddy hamlet of Chicago, of 
Roswell Rose, who was born in Oneida County, 
N. Y., February 2, 1801, a son of Phineas Rose, 
who carried a musket in the Revolutionary 
War. Roswell Rose came to Chicago well pre- 
pared to share the uncertain fortunes of the 
infant community basking under the frowning 
walls of Fort Dearborn. He had been educated 
by his mother, a woman of strong character and 
scholarly attainments, and he had learned to 
know men through his work as an educator 
for a number of years. As an aid to self-sup- 
port he had learned the carpenter's trade, and, 
iDefore coming West, had risen to considerable 
prominence as a builder and contractor in 



Buffalo, X. Y. He remained but a year in 
Chicago, being tempted by the inducements 
offered in the country to land purcnasers, more 
especially in a section twenty miles northwest 
of Chicago. For six years he lived on and im- 
proved his farm, and then moved to Waukegan, 
which was then donning a spirit of municipal 
importance, and offering a prolific field to men 
apt with the use of tools. He erected the first 
mill in Waukegan, as well as private and 
public structures, and in 18.50 came to Pulton 
and Warren Counties, and purchased a half- 
interest in a mill on Swan Creek, formerly 
owned and improved by .lohn and Riverus 
Woods. In the fall of the same year he 
brought his family from Waukegan and located 
on what is known as the Saunders farm, on the 
northeast quarter of Section 13, Greenbush 
Township, which had a log house and a few 
minor improvements, the house having been 
built in 1838 by Loren Woods. Three years 
after his arrival the log house was replaced 
by a somewhat pretentious frame building, on 
the south side of the creek and near the mill, 
which continued to be his home for the remain- 
der of his life. His mill became one of the in- 
teresting enterprises in the community, and, 
operated for the first time with his partner, 
Riverus Woods, in 1851, it did a large business 
with the surrounding country, farmers bring- 
ing their products from a distance of twenty- 
five to thirty miles. The capacity of the mill 
often was sorely taxed, and many times its 
patrons were obliged to stay in the neighbor- 
hood and wait their turn for several days. 
Swan Creek in the early days supplied suffici- 
ent power for the operation of the mill, but 
with the influx of settlers its fiow was dimin- 
ished, and steam was resorted to. The transi- 
tion was no less picturesque if more expedi- 
tious methods, but in the minds of the older 
generation at least, the drowsy hum of the busy 
old mill remains a quaint and interesting recol- 
lection. Its history was scarred with an ele- 
ment 01 tragedy, however, for on September 5, 
1867, Mr. Rose was caught in a part of its 
machinery and instantly killed, and thus the 
old management passed away, for the other 
partner, Riverus Woods, had responded to the 
call of the inevitable the year before. The wife of 
Mr. Rose formerly was Elizabeth Ingraham, of 
Oneida County, N. Y., and she became the 
mother of six children. She died November 
29, 1870. a few years after the death of her 
husband, R. Rose. Harriet died near Santa 
Ana, Cal., September 21, 1898, at the age of 
seventy-one, having married a Mr. Nichols; 
Havilah R. Rose died in Avon August 11, 1900, 
at the age of seventy years; Silas N. died at 
Memphis, Mo., September 22, 1898, at the age of 
sixty-six years; Cyrus, twin of Silas N., died in 
Lake County, 111., at the age of eight years; 
Birney died in Avon February 2, 1877. at the 
age of thirty-one years; and W. H., the only 
survivor, is a resident of Avon, 111. 
W. H. Rose was born on a farm in Lake 



1076 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



County, 111., in September, 183S, and was edu- 
cated In the Lake County and Avon public 
schools. He was twelve years old when his 
father moved to Avon to engage in milling, 
and he continued with his father in the mill 
until the latter's death, and then operated the 
mill on nis own responsibility until disposing 
of it about 1869. He then bought a farm 
near Avon, of ISO acres, and now owns three 
farms in Warren County. About five years ago 
he traded some of his country land for his 
present home in Avon, and at present employs 
his leisure in looking alter his country and 
town interests. 

A predilection for public affairs has drawn 
Mr. Rose into many coTinty enterprises of a 
political, business and social nature. A stanch 
Republican, he has served as Supervisor, mem- 
ber of the Village Board, and member of the 
School Board which constructed the public 
school builaing. He was one of the organizers 
and chief i)romoters of the Fair Association, 
about thirty years ago, and served as its Presi- 
dent. His life experiences have included a 
military service of six months during the Civil 
War as a Lieutenant in Company C, One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-eighth Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry. For the past forty-five 
years he has been a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, and in religion is a Universalist. 

The marriage of Mr. Rose and Harriet A. 
Stevens, of New York, occurred in Waukegan, 
Lake County, 111., in 1860, Mrs. Rose lieing a 
daughter of Almon Stevens, a native of New 
York, and a farmer of Luke County. Three 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rose: 
Mrs. FranKie Leigh. Mrs. Florence Mings, and 
Mrs. Ne'lie Cline — the first two of Avon, and 
the last named of Abingdon, 111. Mr. Rose is 
a man of character and purpose, and of un- 
questioned integrity. His life has been a busy 
and well directed one, and from both a char- 
acter and material standpoint, may be accounted 
a successful one. 

ROSS, Ossian M.— John Eveland, the first 
actual settler within the present limits of Ful- 
ton County, had scarcely got snugly settled in 
his new home on the banks of Spoon River ere 
Ossian M. Ross and family came in to be his 
neighbors, and to wield a greater influence in 
molding and forming the history ot the county, 
perhaps, than any other family that ever re- 
sided in it. Ossian M. Ross was born in New 
York State August 16, 1790, and was united 
in marriage with Miss Mary Winans in Water- 
loo, N. Y., .July 7, 1811. Mrs. Ross was born 
April 1, 1793, in Morris County, N. J. Mr. 
Ross was a soldier in the War of 1812 and came 
to this section to secure the land given him 
by the Government for services rendered as a 
soldier. In 1820 Mr. Ross, with his family, 
came to Alton, 111., and in the spring of the 
following year (1821) with his family and a 
few men employed by him to make improve- 
ments, sailed up the Illinois River to Otter 



Creek in a keel-boat. It was his intention to 
locate upon the southeast quarter of Section 29, 
Isabel Township. He, with three companions, 
had come up from Alton the year previous 
(1820), explored this country and selected this 
place because there was a good mill-seat there. 
It was his intention to erect a water-mill on 
this stream at that point; but after traveling 
up Otter Creek for some distance in their 
cumbersome keel-boat, they came to a large 
tree fallen across the stream, which made a 
barrier that could not easily be passed over or 
around. These sturdy pioneers, however, were 
not easily turned from their course. They made 
preparations to saw the log into pieces and re- 
move it. This scheme was frustrated, however, 
and the whole course of Mr. Ross' plans 
changed. A heavy rain fell during the night 
and in the morning the log they intended saw- 
ing was six to eight inches under water, and 
therefore out of reach of workmen. He ran his 
boat stern foremost back down Otter Creek to 
the Illinois, and up that stream to Spoon River. 
He entered this stream and started up its swift 
swollen waters for Mr. Eveland's, intending to 
go on to where he owned three quarter-sections 
of land. They experienced the greatest diffi- 
culty in ascending this turbulent stream, made 
so b.v recent heavy rains. It consumed several 
days of constant hard labor to reach Eveland's. 
At places men were put upon the l)ank and 
with ropes dragged the boat along. This was 
slow motive power and known as cordelling. 
Then they would get hold of overhanging limbs 
of trees and pull the boat along in that way. 
They finally reached Eveland's, in whose cabin 
the party was welcomed. There they remained 
until his teams and stock arrived. These were 
brought across the country. Mr. Ross, with his 
teams, then started for his own land, where 
Lewistown now is. Men were sent ahead to 
cut down trees and clear a road. On arriving 
at the end of the journey Mr. Ross jubilantly 
exclaimed to his family, "We are now on our 
own land!" His daughter, Mrs. Steel, of Can- 
ton, who was then a little girl, quickly spoke up, 
"Why, pa, have we come all this distance just 
for this? ' Nothing but a vast wilderness was 
spread out before them and the little girl ex- 
pected to hnd something wonderfully fine, else 
they would not have endured all the hardships 
that had oefallen them on their long journey. 
There have been many hearts made sad by the 
disappointment received on their arrival into 
this country during its first settlement, when, 
after traveling for weeks through an almost 
unbroken country, the husband and father 
would stop his jaded team under the boughs 
of a large tree many miles from the nearest 
white inhabitant and say, "Our journey's -end 
is reached. This is our home. Alight. ' Surely, 
as it did to little Miss Rose, it must have seemed 
to the wife and little ones that they had come 
a long way to make their home in the wilder- 
ness among the wild beasts. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1077 



In twenty-four hours after arrival Mr. Ross 
had a shelter made for his family. It consisted 
of poles set in the ground, tent fashion, and 
other poles laid across these and covered with 
bark. Harvey L. Ross, his son, says he dis- 
tinctly remembers helping carry bark to cover 
this shanty. Mr. Ross immediately set about 
building a log cabin, which was located where 
Major Newton Walker's residence now stands. 
He was so well pleased with the location of his 
land that he determined to lay off a town, 
which he did, and secured for it the county seat 
for the County of Fulton when it was organized. 

Among those who came with Mr. Ross were 
Mr. Nimon and wife. He was a blacksmith 
and lived here a long time. Mr. Ross also 
brought with him a shoemaker by the name 
of Swetling. He and Nimon died many years 
ago and were buried in the eastern part of 
Lewistown near where the old Presbyterian 
Church stood, which was the first burying 
ground in the county. 

Mr. Ross died in 1S37 at Havana, 111., which 
had been his home for a number of years, and 
where he had conducted a hotel and been the 
proi)rietor and manager of a ferry across the 
Illinois River. 

ROSS FAMILY, The.— The following more de- 
tailed history of the Ross family, of which 
Ossian M. Ross was the head in Illinois, is 
taken from a "Pioneer History of Fulton Coun- 
ty" (1SS4), compiled and edited by Harvey Lee 
Ross, a son of Ossian M. Ross: 

"In closing my pioneer history of Fulton 
County I thought that it would be proper and 
right for me to give a short biographical sketch 
of my own life and also of some of my ances- 
tors, as some of my children and grandchildren 
and great-grandchildren might have the curi- 
osity to know something about their geneal- 
ogy and where their ancestors came from, and 
I will therefore give such genealogy as far as 
I have been able to trace it back to the Ross 
and the Lee families. 

"My great-grandfather, Zebulon Ross, came 
from Scotland to America and settlea in 
Dutchess County, N. Y., in the year 1728, and 
died in the same county at the age of ninety 
years. He had a son, Joseph Ross, who was 
married to Abigail Lee, a daughter of Thomas 
Lee. Thomas Lee was a soldier in the Revo- 
lutionary War and it was after him that the 
Lee part of my name was given me, which is 
Harvey Lee Ross. My grandmother, Abigail 
(Lee) Ross, came to Illinois in 1824 and died 
at my father's house in Havana, 111., in 1834. 
I have often heard her tell of her father, 
Thomas Lee, being a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionary War. Thomas Lee's ancestors came 
from England to America about the middle of 
the seventeenth century. There were two 
branches of the Lee family, one of which 
branches settled in the State of New York 
and the other in the State of Virginia. Both 
branches came from the same original stock. 



Their ancestors had held positions of honor and 
trust in the old country, and some of those 
who settled in New York and Virginia occu- 
pied prominent places in the colonial history 
of America, in the State Legislatures and in 
the councils of the Nation. Joshua Lee, 
brother of Thomas Lee, was for many years a 
member of the New York State Senate. One of 
the Virginia branch, Richard Henry Lee, drew 
up and submitted to Congress the resolution 
of June 7, 1776, declaring that the United 
Colonies of America are and ought to be free 
and independent States; that they absolved 
themselves from all allegiance to the British 
Crown, and that all political connection be- 
tween them ana Great Britain is and ought to 
be totally absolved, which resolution was 
adopted by the Continental Congress and sign- 
ers of the Declaration of Independence. 

"Thomas Lee, the father of Abigail Lee, was 
born in Fishkill, N. Y., November 15, 1739, and 
died at Penn Yan, N. Y., January 22, 1814. 
His wife, Mattie Sherman, was born in 1743 
and died October 14, 1833. Thomas Lee and 
Mattie Sherman were married in 17G0 and had 
ten children. Their oldest daughter, Abigail 
Lee, was born in 1760 and married Joseph 
Ross. Joseph Ross and Abigail Lee had born 
to them tue following children: Joseph, Os- 
sian M., Matthias, Thomas L., John N., Eliza, 
Maria and Sallie. 

"Ossian M. Ross was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., August 16, 1790, and dieu at 
Havana, 111., in 1837. His wife, Mary Winans, 
was born in New Jersey April 1, 1793, and 
died at Peoria, 111., in 1875. Ossian M. Ross 
and Mary Winans were married in Seneca 
County, N. Y., July 7, 1811. There were born 
to them the following children: Lewis W., 
Harriet M., Harvey Lee. Leonard F., Lucinda 
C. and Pike C. Ross. 

"The services of Thomas Lee in assisting in 
the establishment of American independence 
during the War of the Revolution were as fol- 
lows: He was Second Lieutenant of Captain 
Jack Rosekrance's company. Colonel Jack 
Holmes, Fourth Regiment New York Conti- 
nental Line, 2Sth of June, 1775; promoted First 
Lieutenant August 3, 1775. He was Captain 
of the Eighth Company, Fifth Regiment New 
York Continental Line, commanded by Colonel 
Louis Dubois, November 21, 1776; resigned 
May 9, 1778. He was also Captain in Colonel 
Zephaniah Piatt's Regiment of New York Asso- 
ciated Exempts, October 19, 1779. He was also 
Captain in Colonel Louis Dubois' Regiment of 
New York Militia July 1. 1780. (References, 
pages 140, 231, 257, 285 and 529 of Vol. I. 'New 
York in the Revolution,' or Vol. XV of the pub- 
lished 'Documents Relating to the Colonial 
History of the State of New York,' published 
by Reed, Parsons & Co., Albany, N. Y., 1887; 
aiso page 261 of 'Heitman's Register of Offi- 
cers of the Continental Army,' published by 
H. B. Heitman, at Washington, D. C). Cap- 
tain Thomas Lee's services in the Continental 



1078 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



army were equivalent to service in the regular 
army of today. 

"In regard to my own life, I, Harvey Lee 
Ross, will say that I was born in Seneca 
County, N. Y., October 10, 1817, and came with 
my parents to what is now known as Fulton 
County, 111., in 1821. We came down the Ohio 
River and up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers 
in a keel-boat. The country at that time was 
a vast wilderness, inhabited only by Indians 
and abounding with wild animals. It was sev- 
eral years after we came to Illinois before the 
country became sufficiently settled to estab- 
lish schools, and I had little opportunity in the 
years of my youth to obtain an education. 
What education I did get was obtained at the 
little log schoolhouses, though, in 1836, when 
1 was nineteen years of age, my father sent 
me to Illinois College, at Jacksonville, 111. I 
had attended college scarcely a year when my 
father died. He had been engaged in extensive 
business enterprises, and in consequence of his 
death I was obliged to leave school and come 
home and take charge of my mother's busi- 
ness, which put an end to my college life. 
When I entered Illinois College I took in with 
me as college chum William H, Herndon, who 
for many years was the law partner of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, and who was the author of the 
book entitled 'Life of Abraham Lincoln,' by 
W. H. Herndon. I have had something to say 
of this book in my sketcn of the early life of 
Lincoln. 

"My father, Ossian, was engaged for many 
years in farming and in the mercantile busi- 
ness and in trading with the Indians, and the 
early part of my life was spent on the farm, 
in the store and in trading with the Indians. 
I would often take long trips into the country, 
far away from any white neighbors, in com- 
pany with Indian traders, whom my father 
kept employed, and I then learned to speak 
the Indian language quite well. I, at a very 
early age, learned the use of fire-arms, and 
was very often out hunting and trapping, as 
the country in those times abounded in wild 
game. Great droves of deer and large flocks 
of wild turkey could be found everywhere. I 
have shot wild turkeys when but seven years 
of age, and have killed deer when twelve years 
old. I can remember catching eight wolves in 
steel traps set around the carcass of one dead 
horse when I was but twelve years of age. In 
1832, when I was fifteen years of age, I car- 
ried the mail on horseback, once a week, from 
Springfield to Monmouth, 111., the distance be- 
ing about 135 miles. I frequently had to swim 
my horse over streams of water three or four 
times a day, there being no bridges, with the 
mailbag strapped across my shouluers to keep 
the mail from getting wet. I will mention one 
of my adventures. I was traveling from Mon- 
mouth to Knoxville, the distance being twenty 
miles, and not a house was there between the 
two villages. A dark and rainy night came on, 
when I was ten miles from Knoxville, and 



when I had reached the place where the city 
of Galesburg now stands the grass was very 
high in the road, and all of a sudden I heard 
a hungry pack of wolves set up a tremendous 
howling right behind my horse, and from the 
noise they made I supposed that the whole 
country was alive with wolves, so I applied the 
whip to my horse, and was not long in getting 
to Knoxville, and I probably made as good 
time on horseback as the railroad trains are 
making at the present time. In the year 1833, 
when I was sixteen years of age, I took a 
trip from Havana, in Mason County, 111., to 
what was called the 'Lead Mine Country' in 
the northwestern part of Illinois, a distance of 
about 225 miles. TJie greater part of the road 
ran through an unbroken wilderness. In many 
places the white settlers were from fifteen to 
twenty-five miles apart. There were many 
deep and dangerous streams of water to cross, 
and it was certainly a long and dangerous trip 
for a boy to take alone and on horseback. I 
found many Indians on the road and sometimes 
stayed with them over night, and always found 
them kind and friendly. The cause of my 
taking the trip at that time was this: My 
uncle, Joseph Ross, had some three years before 
gone to the lead mines, taking with him his 
only child, my cousin Ossian, a boy about five 
years of age. My uncle was taken sick and 
died, leaving this boy with strangers, and no 
one to look after him; so I went there and 
brought him home with me. He, at the time of 
this trip, was only eight years of age. I was 
some twenty days in making the trip, and we 
got home all in good shape. 

"One of the first business enterprises I en- 
gaged in after I became of age was to pur- 
chase an interest in a steamboat, called the 
'Navigator,' which ran from St. Louis, Mo., 
to LaSalle on the Illinois River. I held the 
position on her of steamboat clerk. After 
running on her a year I sold out my interest 
and then took a wife. I was married on the 
1st day of January, 1840, to Jane R. Kirkpat- 
rick at Canton, 111. Upon our marriage we 
went to Havana, 111., and there kept the Havana 
Hotel and also the ferry across the Illinois 
River, and we engaged in farming and stock- 
raising. I was later appointed Postmaster at 
Havana, 111., by President Martin Van Buren. 
In 1844 I removed to and settled on a farm of 
forty acres adjoining the town of Vermont, in 
Fulton County, 111., and as I had never learned 
a trade, nor studied for any profession, I had 
to rely on my hands and head for a living in 
the world. I settled down on my little farm 
and went to work and planted out a fine or- 
chard, which, in after years, yielded me from 
eight to ten thousand bushels of fruit a year. 
I added to my little farm from time to time, un- 
til I had a farm of 400 acres, all well improved. I 
also engaged in buying lands and improving 
them and selling them to such emigrants as 
came to the county and wished to purchase 
improved farms. I continued in that business 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1079 



until I had become the purchaser and had dis- 
posed of six farms in Fulton County and four- 
teen farms in McDonough County, 111.; and 
those farms are, at the present time, among the 
very best in those two counties. 1 have good 
reason to believe that I have had a greater 
number of acres of land broken up and put 
in cultivation than any other man that has 
ever lived in McDonough County. I only men- 
tion these facts to show that 1 have not been 
an idler or drone in the great hive of human 
progress, but have taken some part in helping 
to develop the great resources of the country. 
"My principal occupation through life has 
been that of a farmer, although 1 engaged in 
the mercantile business in connection with 
my farming operations for about ten years. I 
have never been an office seeker and have had 
but little desire to hold office, although I have 
held a few small offices. I have held the office 
of Town Councilman, Town Treasurer, Super- 
visor, Justice of the Peace and Postmaster. I 
was twice elected Treasurer and Director of a 
railroad. 1 have usually voted the Democratic 
ticket, but when I came to California, in 1881, 
I attended the Democratic State Convention 
and found that a large majority of the dele- 
gates to the convention were saloon keepers 
and wholesale liquor dealers, and that the 
prominent questions which came before the 
convention were the repeal of the Sunday law, 
which was then the law of the State of Cali- 
fornia, and the enactment of laws in the in- 
terest of liquor dealers; so I left the Demo- 
cratic party and joined the Prohibition party, 
and, at the State Prohibition Convention in 
1884 1 was selected as a delegate to the Na- 
tional Prohibition Convention that was held in 
the city of Pittsburg in 1884, at which con- 
vention the Hon. John P. St. John was nomi- 
nated for President. At that convention twenty- 
eight States and three Territories were rep- 
resented by 465 delegates. It was at this con- 
vention that I first had the opportunity and 
pleasure of seeing and hearing that grand and 
noble lady, Miss Frances E. Willard. She 
placed in nomination for President John P. 
St. John, and on that occasion she made one 
of the most eloquent and powerful speeches that 
was heard during the convention. I felt a lit- 
tle honored in being chosen with her on the 
committee that drafted the platform and reso- 
lutions, which were unanimously adopted by 
the convention. I have been a member of some 
temperance organization for over half a cen- 
tury. I nave never indulged in the use of 
liquor or tobacco in any form and, during the 
more than eighty years of my life, I do not 
think that I ever had to exceed more than 
five days of sickness, and I attribute my good 
health and length of years very materially 
to abstaining from the use of liquor and to- 
bacco. My wife and I lived together lacking 
but three days of fifty-eight years. There were 
born to us six children, four sons and two 
daughters. Our first child, Ossian, died when 



eighteen months old. All my other children 
are married and have families. They are Har- 
riet S. Hall, Frank W. Ross, Mary F. Childs, 
George C. Ross and Joseph L. Ross. I have 
twelve grandchildren and four great-grandchil- 
dren. I have been a member of the Presby- 
terian Church for sixty years. I was con- 
verted under the preaching of the Rev. Dr. 
David Nelson, at a Presbyterian camp-meeting 
held near the town of Canton, 111., in 1838. I 
first joined the Presbyterian Church at Can- 
ton, 111., in 1838. I have been a member of 
the Presbyterian Church at Vermont, 111., and 
also of the Presbyterian Church at Macomb, 111. 
1 held the office of Presiding Elder in each of 
those churches, and have represented each of 
them in the Presbytery. I am at the present 
time a member of the First Presbyterian 
Church at Oakland, Cal., which has a member- 
ship of over 1,300." 

Harvey Lee Ross spent the last twenty-five 
years of his life at Oakland, Cal., where he died 
in 1907, aged nearly ninety years. Sketches of 
other members of the Ross family follow in or- 
der of birth. 

ROSS, Lewis W., the oldest son of Ossian M. 
and Mary (Winans) Ross, was born in Seneca 
Falls, N. Y., December 8, 1812, and came with 
his parents to Illinois in 1820. The family set- 
tled in Fulton County In 1821, on land for which 
the father, Ossian M., had obtained a patent 
from the Government for his services as a sol- 
dier in the War of 1812, and which afterward 
became the site of a part of the city of Lewis- 
town, named in honor of the son, Lewis W. The 
latter received his education in the pioneer 
schools of Fulton County and after the Black 
Hawk War of 1832 joined a battalion of rangers 
under the command of Major Bogart, organized 
for the purpose of protecting the frontier from 
Indian depredations, and with which he assisted 
in patroling the country between the Illinois 
and Mississippi Rivers, making their headquar- 
ters at Galena. He later took a three years' 
course in Illinois College, then in its infancy, 
and in 1S35 began the study of law with Josiah 
Lamhorn. a noted lawyer of his day, being ad- 
mitted to the bar about 1S37, first locating at 
Havana, 111., which had been his father's home, 
and where he remained until 1839, when he re- 
moved to Lewistown, which continued to be his 
home up to the date of his death. October 29. 
1S95. In 1S46 he enlisted as a soldier in the 
Mexican War, serving as Captain of Company 
K. Fourth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, Colonel 
E. D. Baker "commanding. Before his enlist- 
ment he had been twice elected to the Legisla- 
ture from Fulton County (1840-42 and 1844-46), 
in 1848 was chosen Presidential Elector on the 
Democratic ticket, in 1860 was an unsuccessful 
candidate for Lieutenant Governor on the same 
ticket and in 1862 was elected to Congress from 
the Fulton District, serving by successive re- 
elections three terms f 1863-69). Other political 
and official positions held by him included those 



io8o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of delegate to the Democratic National Conven- 
tion of 1860, held at Charleston, S. C, and that 
of 1880 at Cincinnati, at which General Win- 
field Scott Hancock was nominated for Presi- 
dent, and as delegate to the State Constitution- 
al Conventions of 1S62 and 1869-70. 

Colonel Ross, as he was widely known, was 
married June 13, 1839, to Miss Prances M. 
Simms, a native of Virginia, born July 18, 1821, 
and they lived to celebrate their golden wed- 
ding June 13, 1889. Of their four children John 
W. was Commissioner of the District of Co- 
lumbia for several years and also served as 
Postmaster of Washington City, but is now de- 
ceased; Jennie is the wife of G. K. Barrere, 
now of Los Angeles, Cal., and Lewis C. and 
Pike C. residents of Lewistown, the former 
having charge as executor of his father's es- 
tate and the latter engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness. Mrs. Ross survived her husband several 
years, dying on the anniversary of his death, 
October 29, 1902. 

ROSS, Gen." Leonard Fulton, the third son of 
Ossian M. Ross, was born at Lewistown, 111., 
July IS, 1S23, two years after the arrival of the 
family in Fulton County, was educated in the 
common schools, also spending one year in Illi- 
nois College, Jacksonville, after which he 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 
1844. In November, 1845, he married Catherine 
M. Simms, and during the same year opened a 
law office in Vermont, Fulton County. In June, 
1846, he enlisted as a private in Company K, 
Fourth Regiment (Col. E. D. Baker's) Illinois 
Volunteers for the Mexican War. and was soon 
promoted to First Lieutenant, and after having 
joined the army under command of Gen. Win- 
field Scott, took part in a number of historic 
battles, including the capture of Vera Cruz, the 
battle of Cerro Gordo and events leading to the 
capture of the City of Mexico, and also per- 
formed important service as bearer of dis- 
patches for Gen, Taylor. After his return from 
Mexico he was promptly elected Probate Judge, 
two years later chosen County Clerk, serving 
four years, when in 1852 he engaged in mer- 
chandising and still later in farming and stock- 
raising. Promptly after the beginning of the 
war in April, 1861. he organized a company, 
which finally became a part of the Seventeenth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteers, one of the first 
mustered in for three years' service, on the or- 
ganization of the regiment being chosen Colo- 
nel, and seeing service in the States of Mis- 
souri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Early in 1862 
he was appointed by President Lincoln Briga- 
dier General, serving until after the fall of 
Vicksburg, when believing the war nearly end- 
ed, he tendered his resignation in order that he 
might give his attention to his private affairs. 
In January, 1865, he married as his second wife 
Mary E. Warren, and during the following year 
removed to his farm near Avon, Fulton County, 
where he devoted his attention to farming and 
fine stock-breeding. During this period he was 



prominent in agricultural and stock-breeding 
circles, serving first as Secretary and later as 
President of the Fulton County Agricultural So- 
ciety, and for nine years was President of the 
Red Polled Cattle Club of America. In 1882, 
selling his farm in Fulton County, he removed 
to Iowa City, where he engaged in stock-breed- 
ing and dairying, in the meantime visiting Eng- 
land for the purpose of examining the high- 
grade herds of cattle in that country. After a 
residence of twelve years in Iowa, in 1894, he 
returned to Lewistown, 111., and joined his 
brother, Lewis W., in the organization of the 
Lewistown National Bank, of which he was 
Vice-President and Manager for two years. 
Originally a Democrat and a member of the 
Democratic National Conventions of 1852 and 
1856, with the advent of the Civil War he be- 
came a Republican, served as Collector of In- 
ternal Revenue in his district from 1867 to 
1869; was an unsuccessful candidate for Con- 
gress in a Democratic district in 1868 and again 
in 1874 and a member of the Republican Na- 
tional Convention of 1872. Of earnest, patriotic 
impulse, he served his country faithfully and 
unselfishly in every official position he was 
called upon to fill. General Ross spent the later 
years of his life in comparative retirement, and 
during the year 1898 visited Cuba and old Mex- 
ico, in the latter recalling the memories of his- 
toric events in which he had participated a 
half-century previous. His death occurred on 
January 17, 1901. 

ROWLAND, John Riley, educator and Suiterin- 
tendent of Public Schools in Fulton County, 111., 
is a native of the county and has there spent 
all his life, except about eight years spent as 
a student and teacher, mainly in Ohio. He was 
born in Pleasant Township, three miles east 
of Ipava, July 5, 1860, the son of James and 
Susannah (Parkinson) Rowland. The father 
and his two brothers, William and Riley Row- 
land, were the first settlers of that township, 
coming there from Kentucky in 1828 and locat- 
ing on Section 3, where James Rowland con- 
tinued to reside until his death, with the ex- 
ception of two or three years in the early 'fifties 
occupied in an overland trip to California and 
back during the great rush to that region in 
search of gold. 

John R.. with a sister and two brothers, 
was left an orphan so young that he scarcely 
remembers his parents. The boy found a home 
with various relatives and neighbors, working 
on the farm in the summer and attending dis- 
trict schools for a few months each winter, till 
the spring of 1878, when he entered the pre- 
paratory school of the National Normal Uni- 
versity at Lebanon, Ohio, then one of the oldest 
and best institutions of the kind in the United 
States. After completing a business and a 
teachers' course, he pursued other courses, re- 
ceiving the degree of B. S. in 1880. Later, as 
his circumstances permitted, he did consider- 
able post-graduate college work, principally in 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1081 



the same institution, devoting several summers 
especially to such study. In September, 1880, 
Mr. Rowland began teaching school at Fair- 
mount, near Dayton, Ohio, where he was en- 
gaged for five successive terms. After spend- 
ing another year in his Alma Mater studying 
law, and then taking a tour through various 
Western States, he returned to Illinois in 18S6, 
and since that date has been constantly and 
closely identified with the educational inter- 
ests of Fulton County. Briefly outlined, the 
honorable record of his more than twenty 
years' continuous service m the county's public 
schools is summarized as follows: He taught 
one year (1886-87) in the country near his 
birthplace, and then, in September, 1887, be- 
came principal of schools at Ipava, retaining 
this position two years, and was re-employed 
for a third term, which in 1889 he resigned to 
take charge of the Central Normal College at 
Lewistown. Here he remained till 1891, when 
the school passed from its chartering company's 
control into private hands. Next he assumed 
the principalship at Table Grove, where he 
graded the schools, put in a course of study, 
and organized the high school, remaining three 
years, from 1891 to 1894. As Superintendent 
of Schools at Cuba for the following two years 
(1894-96) he had an enlarged field of labor, re- 
classifying the pupils and revising the curricu- 
lum. In 1896 he accepted the Superintendency 
of the Avon schools, which position he still 
holds. 

The high school at Avon is classed among 
the very best in the State for a town of its size, 
having a full four-years' course, the merit of 
which is attested by the fact that it secures 
the admission of the school's graduates, with- 
out examination, to any college, as well as to 
the Universities of Illinois and Chicago. The 
high school enrollment reaches about seventy- 
five annually, including a large number of 
pupils from outside districts who pay a tuition 
fee of $2. .50 per month. Three regular teachers 
are employed in this department and five in the 
lower grades, the instruction in vocal music, 
drawing, and manual training being under the 
direction of specialists. 

Mr. Rowland's standing as an educator was 
recognized by his nomination, in 1898, on the 
Democratic ticket, for the office of County 
Superintendent of Schools; but, although re- 
ceiving his party's full vote, he failed of elec- 
tion, the Democrats being In the minority. 
Though not thereafter a candidate nor desirous 
of the place, he was unanimously renominated 
in 1902, but again defeated. A Democrat of 
the Jefferson-Douglas-Bryan faith, he has never 
aspired to any political honors, although 
always active in matters of public policy, and 
frequently called upon to act as a Delegate in 
county and State Conventions of his party. 
He is an earnest and consistent advocate of 
temperance and other civic and social virtues. 
His activity, however, in politics and like affairs 

30 



is tactful and considerate, and has never been 
regarded as ■offensive partisanship." 

He is a member of the National Educational 
Association, the Illinois State Teachers' Associa- 
tion, the Central Illinois Teachers' Association, 
and various other professional organizations, 
participates regularly in their deliberations, and 
in most of them has been honored with impor- 
tant official positions. He also does much news- 
paper and editorial work, contributing frequent 
articles to educational and literary periodicals, 
and has often been an instructor and lecturer 
in teachers' institutes in Fulton and other coun- 
ties. In 1896, he founded "The Fulton County 
School .lournal," which he edited and published 
successfully for three years, and until its plant 
was destroyed by fire. At present he is Secre- 
tary of the Avon Summer Lyceum Society, a 
local Chautauqua assembly. 

Mr. Rowland was married September 22, 
1886, at the residence of the bride's parents In 
Bernadotte Township, near Ipava, 111., to Miss 
Laurie Esther Smitli, born September 7, 1863, 
a daughter of 'William and Ellen (Hopkins) 
Smith, and they have had seven children — two 
boys and five girls — namely: Roland March, 
Leland Young, Beryl (deceased), Sibyl, Doris, 
Carol, and Aldis, — the oldest being sixteen 
years of age and the youngest one year old. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rowland were formerly members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but are not 
now identified with any religious organization. 

ROY, Theresa. — Interesting information con- 
cerning the early days of Fulton County is by 
no means monopolized by the sterner sex, who 
first plowed up the prairies and built the rude 
habitations which temporarily offered shelter 
from storm and sun. The producers of comfort 
and good cheer, when the day's work was done 
and weariness visited the human frame, per- 
formed as great and imperative a duty as did 
they of more muscular frame. But as most of 
those who came in maturity to this region in 
1837 have passed beyond the power of trans- 
mitting their knowledge of conditions as they 
found them, it is left to those who then were 
children, to talk around winter fires of that 
frontier life and work and experience which 
nevermore can be known of men. 

To that class which has grown to maturity 
with the county Ijelongs Theresa Roy, whose 
gentle and industrious life bears testimony 
to the patience and fortitude of the women of 
the early davs. Miss Roy was born on a farm 
in Fulton County, August 10, 1837, a daughter 
of George and Jane (O'Hara) Roy, who were 
born in County Antrim, Ireland, the former 
in 1796, and the latter in 1797. The parents 
crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel during 
the summer of 1822. and after spending fifteen 
years in Ohio, in 1837 came to Illinois where 
he lived but three years, his death occurring 
in 1840. Besides Theresa, who is the second 
youngest of the family, there were nine other 



io82 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



children; Mary, John, James, Jane, George, 
"William, Dorothy, Margaret and Martha. The 
father left to his family an estate of 360 acres 
of land. 

Miss Roy assisted her mother with the house- 
work as a child, and when grown to maturity 
assumed a larger share of the household respon- 
sibility. She attended the early subscription 
schools, and has always been a devout member 
of the Catholic Church, even as a little child 
braving inclement weather and long distances 
to attend mass. She is much beloved and has 
many loyal friends, and her life has been a 
benediction to many who were in want or 
trouble. She inherits forty acres of her father's 
valuable estate. 

RUCKER, William T., Cashier Farmers' State 
Bank, Lewistown, Fulton County, 111., is a man 
of broad experience, being a telegrapher, well 
versed in the railroad business, a practical 
bookkeeper and remarkably strong as a general 
financier and executive. The place and the man 
are, in short, admirably adapted to each other. 
From infancy William T. Rucker has been a 
resident of Illinois, although born in McMinn 
County, Tenn., on the 4th of March, 18.51. He 
is a son of Wiliam and Nancy (Witt) Rucker, 
and when two years of age (In 18531 was 
brought by his parents to Macon County, 111., 
there his father died in 1888 and his mother 
in 1861. Nine children were born to William 
and Nancy Rucker, Mr. Rucker being the 
youngest of the family. The other members 
were as follows: James, residing in Macon 
County, 111.; N. W., a grain dealer doing busi- 
ness in the same county; John, of Dade County, 
Mo.; Sarah E., wife of George C. Davis, of 
Decatur, 111.: Mary, deceased, formerly Mrs. Ed. 
Horton, of Decatur, 111.; Malidad D., deceased, 
who became the wife of George W. Lichten- 
berger and left a family; and Maggie, who 
died at the age of thirty-five. 

Until he had reached mature manhood Wil- 
liam T. Rucker was gathering a large fund of 
physical and mental strength in an agricultural 
community. He worked upon the farm, at- 
tended the common schools of the neighbor- 
hood, and at the age of twenty-seven was fully 
equipped for any labors which might come to 
him. Leaving home, he first studied and mas- 
tered telegraphy at Assumption School, after 
which he accepted a position with the P. D. & 
E. R. R. at Hervey City. He remained at that 
post for aDout two years, losing no opportunity 
in the meantime to acquaint himself with the 
general duties of a station agent. The result 
was that at the end of that period he was 
oppointed agent at Nameoka, near St. Louis, 
thus securing a connection with the Wabash 
system. Then followed his promotion to the 
position of operator and assistant agent at 
Astoria, with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. 
After being thus employed for about a year he 
was a bookkeeper for the Emmeson & Skinner 
Coat Company, Astoria and Dunfermline, this 



county, serving at the latter place also as 
agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad. In 1891 he was appointed Deputy 
County Treasurer, and in 1894 became con- 
nected with the Farmers' State Bank as Assist- 
ant Cashier, being advanced to the Cashiership 
of the institution in 189.5. In the fullest sense 
of the word he has filled that responsible posi- 
tion for the past eleven years, bringing to the 
performance of its duties courtesy, promptness 
and broad financial judgment. He is also offici- 
ally identifled with the educational affairs of 
the community, having for three years been an 
efficient member of the School Board. 

In 1878 Mr. Rucker was united in marriage 
with Sarah E. Chance, and they have become 
the parents of the following children: Ira, 
living at home; Orlie, who married Rhuby 
Moore, and resides at Decatur, 111.; Earnest, 
Ray and Nina, all at home. Ira is in charge of 
his farm of eighty acres adjoining the city of 
Lewistown. Both Mr. Rucker and his wife are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
His fraternal relations identify him with the 
Masons, M. W. A. and Court of Honor. 

RUSSELL, D. Harvey.— Three generations of 
the Harvey family have tilled the soil of Ful- 
ton County and the properties favored by their 
occupancy invariably have borne the stamp of 
thoroughness, method and success. The insti- 
gator of the family immigration from Ohio to 
this part of the State was Joseph Russell, a na- 
tive of the East, who in early life settled in the 
wilds of the Buckeye State, and where his son, 
.John Russell, the father of D. Harvey, was born 
in 1835. John Russell, now a farmer of Deer- 
field Township, Fulton County, was two years 
old when the family made the long trip by 
wagon from Ohio to Fulton County, and he 
grew to maturity on the farm of 160 acres upon 
which his father settled near Ipava. To his in- 
heritance he made additions and at the time of 
his death, in 1S91, owned 282 acres in one tract. 
He married Elizabeth Knock, born in Fulton 
County in 1839. 

D. Harvey Russell was born on the Ipava 
farm February 6, 1868, and at the age of twenty, 
after receiving the average advantages of his 
time and place, embarked in an independent 
farming venture on rented land near Ipava. 
Frugal and j)ractical, he in 1898 invested his 
earnings in 217% acres of land on Section 28, 
in Deerfield Township, formerly owned by D. 
W. Vittum, and in less than ten years has ef- 
fected many important changes upon his prop- 
erty. During the past year he has erected a 
barn thirty by forty feet ground dimensions, 
has rebuilt his residence and made other im- 
provements. His land is well drained and rich 
in quality, affording abundant crops of the 
produce generally associated with the Central 
West. He is also successful in raising high 
grade stock, preferring Poland China hogs and 
Shorthorn cattle. Since February 16, 1892, his 
home has been presided over by his wife, who 




-^^^Ahjmi/f^Oui (iH- 



^ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1083 



formerly was Delilah Chipman, a native of 
McDonough County, and born April 4, 1874. 

Mr. and Mrs. Russell are the parents of three 
children: Allan. Gale and Iva. Mr. Russell 
takes only a voting interest in politics, nor does 
he seek without the borders of his farm for so- 
cial diversion. He is a home-loving, quiet man, 
absorbed in his work and loyal to the few 
whom he honors with his friendship. 

SANDBERG, Andrew.— The firm of Sandberg 
& Whalen, contracting builders, of Canton, 111., 
was established in February, 1903, and though 
one of the more recent concerns of its kind, al- 
ready has to its credit a long list of important 
constructions. Among these may be mentioned 
the residences of Anna Monroe. John Xeastrum, 
Mrs. Mary Harder, David Thomas, C. W. Vars. 
Mrs. A. C. Smith. Mrs. Mary Fuller, G. T. Otts 
and Thomas Greer. 

Andrew Sandlierg, senior member of the firm, 
and a man of much practical mechanical experi- 
ence, is a native of Sweden, where he was born 
April 30, 18.51. He was reared on. a farm and 
received a common school education, and in 
1S75 married Mathilda Anderson, also born in 
Sweden, with whom and two of his children he 
came to the United States in 1S80. Locating in 
Canton, he worked five years in the coal mines 
of Mr. Heald, and then turned his attention to 
the art of building as an employe of C. H. Stan- 
ley, contractor. He was thus engaged for 
twelve years, and for the following five years 
worked for Edward Rice, after which he con- 
ducted a business of his own for one year, or 
until establishing his present partnership with 
Homer Whalen in 1903. 

Mr. Sandberg has a i)leasant home of his own 
in Canton, built by himself, and modern in de- 
sign and furnishings. There are four children 
in the family: Gus, Helda, Anna and Albert, 
of whom Anna is deceased. The death of this 
little daughter cast a gloom over an otherwise 
harmonious and hajijiy household, for Mr. Sand- 
berg shares the spirit of domesticity always as- 
sociated with his countrymen, and seeks to 
place every jjossible advantage at the disposal 
of his children. He is a member of the Swedish 
order. Mulade Youman, and of the Brotherhood 
of Carpenters and Joiners. Concentration and 
industry have been important factors in his rise 
from humble and discouraging early conditions, 
and he thus is an example to those of the young 
men of the community who labor under similar 
limitations. 

SAUNDERS, Henry C, one of the oldest and 
most substantial farmers of Fulton County, 
111., whose residence there has covered a period 
of nearly three-score years, and who has been 
closely and prominently identified with the 
marvelous development of that portion of West- 
ern Illinois, was born in Putman Township, 
Fulton County, on September 6, 1837, and with 
the exception of about thirteen years spent in' 
Iroquois County, 111., his life has been spent 



in his native township. Mr. Saunders is a son 
of Christopher and Aurelia (Putney) Saunders, 
both natives of the State of Xew York, where 
the former was born in 1799, and the latter in 
1803. 

Christopher Saunders, also a farmer by occu- 
pation, left Xew York in 183.5 with his family, 
and proceeded westward to the Ohio River. 
On this he went by raft to Louisville, Ky., his 
ing there wagon breaking down during the 
journey. Arriving at Louisville, he sold his 
effects, and worked his way to Cairo, 111., and 
thence to Havana, Fulton County, going directly 
to a tract of 160 acres in Putman Township, 
which he had previously secured in a trade.- 
To the task of clearing this land he applied 
himself at once, and after breaking it up and 
making the necessary improvements, he carried 
on farming there during the remainder of his 
life, rearing a family of ten children. He was 
a man of sturdy qualities, and bore an excellent 
re|)utation among the pioneer farmers who had 
confronted the same ordeal of hardship, priva- 
tion and arduous toil. Christopher Saunders 
departed this life on December 8, 1863, and his' 
worthy and faithful spouce passed away Feb- 
ruary 17, 1875. In politics, Mr. Saunders was' 
a Republican, and in religion a Presbyterian. 
The subject of this sketch remained at home 
with his parents until he was about twenty^ 
four years old, obtaining the mental training 
of his youth in the district school of the vicinity 
and helping his father in the work of the 
farm. In August. 1861, he enlisted as a private 
in the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer 
Cavalry, with which he served three years. 
After returning from the war, he remained at 
home until 1871. and then went to Iroquois 
County, 111., where he purchased a farm, which 
he cultivated until the winter of 1884. At that 
period he bought of James McCutcheon a farm 
of 160 acres in Canton Township, known as 
the Joseph Martin place." On this, which is 
his present home, and a very productive piece 
of property. Mr. Saunders has made all the 
improvements, including the erection of a spa- 
cious and comfortable residence. He is also the 
owner of another farm consisting of 203 acres, 
situated in Canton and Joshua Townships, 
which he purchased in 1902, from Lewis Trites. 
Henry C. Saunders has been twice married. 
On October 3, 1868, he was joined in wedlock 
with Fannie McGreary. a daughter of Nicholas 
and Martha ( Moran ) McGreary, who was born 
and educated in Fulton County. Three children 
were the offspring of this union, namely: 
George, who resides in Canton, 111.; Clara (Mrs. 
Eshelman; and Firman, who is engaged in 
farming. The mother died February 27, 1874. 
On January 8, 1878, Mr, Saunders was united 
in matrimony with Mary Porter, also a native 
of Fulton County and daughter of Isaac and 
Lovena (Barkus) Porter, natives respectively 
of Maryland and Ohio. In girlhood Mrs. 
Saunders received her education in the public 
schools and was later a student at Redding 



1084 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



College, Abingdon, 111. In 1839 iier parents 
came from Ohio to Illinois, and settled in Ful- 
ton County, where Mr. Porter carried on farm- 
ing in Putman Township. Mr. and Mrs. Porter 
reared a family of nine children, and Mr. Porter 
became the owner of considerable land. The 
last marriage of Mr. Saunders resulted in five 
children, namely: Julia (Mrs. Hill), born 
October 13, 1878; Clay, who was born June 4, 
1S85, and dwells under the parental roof; 
David, a farmer, who was born January 13, 
1887; and Letty, born December 14, 1888, and 
Mina, Dorn August 10, 1S91, who are with their 
parents. 

In political affairs, the subject of this sketch 
is a supporter of the Republican party. In 
fraternal circles, he is identified with the G. A. 
R. Mr. Saunders is widely known throughout 
Fulton County, and wherever his acquaintance 
extends, is regarded as an upright and worthy 
man, and one of the foremost representatives 
of the agricultural element in his section of the 
State. He commands the esteem and confidence 
of all who come in contact with him in the 
daily walks of life. 

SAUNDERS, Mark W., who has been for many 
years a successful farmer in Putman Township, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in that township 
on May 8, 1846, a son of Christopher and Aurella 
(Putney) Saunders, natives of the State of New 
York. Christopher Saunders settled in Fulton 
County about 1835, locating in Section 13, Put- 
man Township, where he bought 160 acres of 
land from his brother and engaged in farming 
during the remainder of his life. He died in 
December, 1862, the mother surviving until 
1872. 

Mark W. Saunders was reared on his father's 
farm, and in boyhood attended the district 
schools in the vicinity of his home. In 1869 
he took charge of the farming operations, which 
he has ever since continued, and all the present 
improvements on the place have been made by 
him. In 1887 he built a fine house and spacious 
and substantial barn. He is also the owner of 
106 acres of land in Section 14, Putman Town- 
ship, his entire landed possessions now covering 
266 acres. Mr. Saunders was a soldier in the 
Civil War, having enlisted In Company K, 
Seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, 
February 27, 1864, and served until November 
20, 1865, When he was honorably discharged, 
having participated in the battles of Columbia, 
Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. 

On New Year's Eve, 1868, Mr. Saunders was 
united in matrimony with Sarah McCrary, who 
was born in Putman Township, this county. 
June 14, 1849, and is a daughter of Nicholas 
McCrary, who is engaged in farming there. 
Mr. and Mrs. Saunders became the parents of 
the following children, namely: Josephine (Mrs. 
E. A. Blaclvaby); Ella (Mrs. Wm. McCumber); 
Jesse, who married Josephine Bayliss; Kate 
(Mrs. Ralph Ford); Alvin; Fosket (married 
Orpha Jewett) ; Datus E., and Beulah. The 



last four children are at home. In politics, Mr. 
Saunders espouses the cause of the Republican 
party, and fraternally is affiliated with the Joe 
Hooker Post, G. A. R.. of Canton. He is a 
useful citizen of his township, and is respected 
wherever known. 

SAUNDERS, Dr. Reamer (deceased).— The late 
Dr. Saunders, of Avon, was one of the most 
successful physicians of Fulton County. He 
stood high in his profession, and as his train- 
ing up to early manhood was along agricultural 
lines, he was closely in touch with the people 
around him. As the deceased was both popular 
and a good business man, he met with deserved 
financial, as well as professional success. At 
his death he left a fine estate of 1,540 acres, 
which is now in possession of his family. 

Reamer Saunders was born in Meigs County, 
Ohio, on the 8th of May, 1821. His father, a 
farmer of York State, Abraham Saunders by 
name, was born February 7, 1791, and his 
mother (formerly Sarah Kimes), a native of 
Ohio, on the ISth of December, 1800. In 1834 
Abraham Saunders migrated from Ohio to this 
county, and settled near Canton, where he re- 
mained with the family for six years. He then 
removed to Hancock County, where he spent 
the remainder of his life. 

Dr. Saunders laid the foundation of his edu- 
cation in the district schools of Ohio and Illi- 
nois, and later attended Knox College at Gales- 
burg, 111., but was engaged in farming until he 
was twenty-two years of age. He then put in 
action a plan which had been gradually form- 
ing in his mind, and commenced the prepara- 
tion for his professional career. In 1843 he read 
medicine with Dr. Christie, of Farmington, and 
subsequently attended the University of Mis- 
souri, at St. Louis, from which he obtained his 
degree. 

The Doctor remained a resident of this coun- 
ty until he completed his medical course, when 
he opened an office for practice at Greenbush, 
Warren County, this State. It was while there 
that he had a short Civil War experience. In 
August, 1861, he enlisted for military service, 
in the line of his profession, but after five 
months was discharged on account of ill health. 
In 1872 the Doctor located in Avon, where 
he established a fine general practice, which 
he retained and increasea up to the time of his 
death, November 13, 1897. The deceased was 
a firm Republican, and at the time of his 
decease was a believer in Presbyterianism, al- 
though not a member of the church. 

Dr. Saunders was married in Warren County, 
111., November 19, 1846, to Mary Anna Kirk- 
patrick, a native of Springfield, 111., born 
August 19, 1831. They were the parents of 
three children: Clara E., born February 7, 
1854, being the only living child; Juliet, born 
December 19, 1847, died January 17, 1849; and 
Sarah M., born June 26, 1850, died April 9,1879. 
She was the wife of Robert Foster Johnston, 
of Warren County, this State, and was married 




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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1085 



February 2, 1870. Mr. Johnston himself died 
December 15, 1885. They were the parents of 
two children, namely: Frank E., who was born 
March 14, 1872, and died October 20, 1891; and 
Leon Earl, born February 26, 1875, died May 
12th of the same year. 

SAVILL, Robert A., is one of the large busi- 
ness men of Canton, who have made the city 
one of the most progressive communities of 
Central Illinois. A stranger coming to the city 
notices at once the substantial condition of its 
streets and sidewalks — an unfailing evidence of 
prosperity and good management — and for this 
municipal virtue Mr. Savill is largely responsi- 
ble, as he is an extensive contractor in these 
lines. He is also a large coal dealer, and if any 
carnivals or other attractions are to be under- 
taken in a way to draw trade to Canton, the 
public instinctively turns to "Bob" Savill as the 
proper party to do the boosting. He is one of 
the most substantial, large-headed, large-heart- 
ed and honorable citizens of the place, is a stal- 
wart Republican, has been a candidate for May- 
or and had he been really ambitious for polit- 
ical honors, would have been chosen to that of- 
fice and other higher positions in that field. 

Several members of the Savill family have 
been prominently identified with the industrial 
and business development of Fulton County. 
As early as 1854 J. & J. M. Savill, uncles of 
Robert A., established a foundry and machine 
shop at the north end of South Second Street 
and conducted the plant until 1S59, when they 
dissolved partnership and for years afterward 
continued separate establishments alone. In 
the late 'fifties and the early 'sixties Edwin Sa- 
vill, a cousin, operated a saw mill and a grist 
mill at Copperas Creek, near Canton. The fam- 
ilies were all natives of either Yorkshire or 
Lancashire, England, and emigrated to Fulton 
County in 1S44, first locating at the only avail- 
able landing place. Copperas Creek. 

Robert A. Savill is a son of Abram and Anna 
(Tibet) Savill, his father being a Yorkshireman 
and his mother a native of Lancashire. His 
parents came to Fulton County with quite a col- 
ony of Savills in 1844 and the father estab- 
lished himself as a blacksmith and a farmer a 
few miles from Canton. Here Robert A. was 
born, August 22, 1850, and in the following year 
the family removed to Cincinnati, where Mr. 
Savill engaged in the mustard business, but 
afterward returned to Canton, and finally died 
in Stark County. 111., in 1894. 

Robert A. Savill established his present busi- 
ness in 1872 as a young man of twenty-two, and 
for years has been one of the most extensive 
coal dealers and sand contractors in the in- 
terior of the State. His strength as a citizen is 
based not only on his successful and honorable 
record as a business man, but on his personal 
popularity, the latter having been enhanced by 
his prominent connection with the fraternities. 
He joined the Knights of Pythias in 1896 and 
has served as Chancellor, Commander, Deputy 



Grand Chancellor and Representative to the 
Grand Lodge: has been twice Exalted Ruler of 
the Elks and is a Mason in good standing. 

On June 12, 1873, Mr. Savill was married to 
Miss Martha Coffee, a native of Alabama, and 
their daughter, Ruth D., is now Mrs. Thomas H. 
Ledden, of Chicago. 

SCHAFER, Henry, who has successfully car- 
ried on farming in Deerfield Township, Fulton 
County, 111., for thirty-three years, is a native 
of Germany, where he was born in 1837, a son 
of Theobold and Catherine (Neutsinger) Schafer, 
who were also of German nativity, and always 
lived in that country. The occupation of Theo- 
bold Schafer was that of a farmer, and he and 
his wife were industrious, frugal and thrifty 
people. 

The subject of this sketch attended the public 
schools of his native country for the customary 
legal period and on attaining the required age, 
served two years in the army, purchasing a 
substitute for the rest of his term. After being 
employed in various kinds of work in the father- 
land until he was well advanced in mature 
years, he determined to seek a broader and 
more profitable field of labor in America. He 
accordingly crossed the Atlantic and landed in 
New York in 1870. Thence he went to Can- 
ada, where he remained from May until No- 
vember of that year. He then came to the 
United States, proceeded to Illinois, locating in 
Fulton County, where he lived with his brother 
in Deerfield Township, and where he worked 
until 1874. In that year he bought from John 
Foltz a farm of eighty acres on Section 9, Deer- 
field Township, for $2,800. on which he built a 
house and barn and made all other necessary 
improvements. This has ever since been his 
home. He has added to the original purchase 
two forty-acre tracts of pasture land, and has 
been successfully engaged in general farming,, 
devoting a portion of his time to the raising 
of stock. 

In 1877 Mr. Schafer was united in marriage in 
Deerfield Township with Anna M. Schrode, who 
was born in that township, a daughter of Wen- 
del Schrodt and wife. Her father was a native 
of Germany, coming to the United States when 
a young man. Seven children resulted from 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Schafer, namely: 
Henry Jacob, Anna Mary (Mrs. Cameron), Cath- 
erine (Mrs. Howie), John Lewis, Albert Newton, 
Orphie and Flora. 

On political issues the subject of this sketch 
is a supporter of the Republican party, and has 
rendered efficient and creditable service to his 
township in the capacity of School Director. 
In religious faith he is an adherent of the Lu- 
theran Church. He is a man of sterling traits 
of character, upright habits and intelligent and 
honorable methods of dealing, and the present 
prosperous condition of his affairs is solely at- 
tributable to his energy, perseverance, frugal- 
ity, honesty and sound judgment. 



io86 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



SCHAFER, John E., County Clerk of Fulton 
County, 111., is one of the substantial citizens of 
the younger generation, who has proven by his 
personal record and individual worth the ster- 
ling value of the German element to the ma- 
terial and civic progress of American communi- 
ties. Having first shown his ability as an indus- 
trious, useful member of the community, with 
the desire and the determination to manage his 
own affairs with common sense and foresight, 
he was called first to the conduct of township 
affairs, and managed them with such credit to 
himself and with such satisfaction to the public 
that he was elected to his present position in 
the service of the county. 

Mr. Schafer is a native of Deerfield Township, 
Fulton County, where he was born September 
21, 1S62, the son of Jacob and Lavina (Ehres- 
man) Schafer. His father, who was born in 
Rhinepfalz, Germany, emigrated to America at 
the age of nineteen, first locating at a point in 
Oneida County, N. Y., where he worked for four 
years at a salary of $100 per annum. He then 
returned to his native land, but not for long, 
since his experience in the United States had 
already convinced him that it was not only a 
land of promise, but one in which the promise 
was realized by substantial good — the only place 
for the poor young man, and with the good old 
German ideas of domestic life, with its substan- 
tial happiness and comforts. About 1S54, there- 
fore, Jacob Schafer returned to the United 
States, finally settling in Deerfield Township, 
where he went to work by the month. Before 
long he had saved enough money to buy eighty 
acres of land, rough and uncultivated, upon 
which he erected a log cabin, as the basis of a 
homestead. Within two years the property had 
been so well improved that he decided to bring 
a wife into his home, which he did in the mar- 
riage of Miss Ehresman mentioned above. This 
happy event occurred May 10, 1S56. Mrs. 
Schafer was also of German ancestry, the 
daughter of Daniel Ehresman, a pioneer of Ful- 
ton County. To Jacob Schafer and wife were 
born four children: Mary E., wife of Ransom 
Tomkins, a farmer in Joshua Township: Susan 
C, wife of John W. Erhesman ,of Cass Town- 
ship; Martha M., who married Frederick Marr, 
the couple now residing on the old homestead 
in Deerfield Township, and John E., subject of 
this sketch. 

In 1864, when John E. was but two years of 
age, the first wife died and Jacob Schafer sub- 
sequently married Mrs. Sarah E. Laswell. The 
father continued to reside in Deerfield Town- 
ship until his death on March 14, 1S9S. The de- 
ceased was born March 26, 1830, and although 
a native of Germany, had passed his life in the 
United States since he reached the years of 
manhood. He was an American in everything 
but birth, and during the forty-four years of his 
residence in Fulton County was among its most 



prosperous and progressive farmers. He im- 
proved and increased his original tract of farm- 
ing land until he was the owner of 200 acres, 
constituting a finely improved homestead. His 
sterling worth as a citizen earned him many 
proffers of public advancement, but he was con- 
tent to abide by his record as a private indi- 
vidual and although an earnest supporter of 
Republicanism, had declined to be a candidate 
for political office. 

John E. Schafer was raised on the home farm 
and early learned what it meant to worlv and 
economize, as well as intelligently to plan. He 
assisted his father, attended the district school 
and finally became a pupil in the Normal Col- 
lege at Bushnell, 111. After leaving school, in- 
stead of teaching, however, he instinctively 
turned to the soil as the more promising field 
of labor, and his success in the operation of a 
rented farm in Canton Township for a period 
of four years proved the wisdom of his choice. 
Although independent in his agricultural opera- 
tions almost from the first, Mr. Schafer felt the 
need of a domestic partner and accordingly, on 
the 4th of November, 1888, was united in mar- 
riage with Ida M. White, a native of Deerfield 
Township, born October 8, 1867, a daughter of 
Nathaniel and Sarah (Pritchard) White. (See 
biography of Robert Pritchard elsewhere in 
this work.) Mr. and Mrs. Schafer became the 
parents of two children: Flossie D., born Janu- 
ary 14, 1890, and Lavina M., born December IS, 
1903, and died February 4, 1905. 

Until he was elected to the county clerkship 
four years ago Mr. Schafer resided in Deerfield 
Township, with the exception of the period 
when he was farming on rented land in Canton 
Township. After renting for about four years 
he purchased 160 acres near the old home and 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising. 
The feeding, buying and shipping of stock have 
always formed a large share of his business, 
and he often has as many as 200 head of stock 
upon his land. The success which has attended 
his transactions is attested by the fact that to 
his original purchase of 160 acres of land he 
has added at different periods until he is now 
the proprietor of 552 acres of farming and graz- 
ing property. 

Besides ably managing his large private in- 
terests Mr. Schafer has devoted himself ear- 
nestly and effectively to the public duties which 
have been entrusted to him. He has been an 
ardent and infiuential Republican, his political 
record commencing in 1896 by his election to 
the Board of Supervisors as a representative of 
his township. After serving in that office for 
two years in 1899 he was chosen Town Clerk 
in face of the fact that the township was nor- 
mally Democratic. His service was so satisfac- 
tory in that position that in 1902 the Repub- 
lican Convention nominated him tor County 
Clerk and his constituents elected him by a 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1087 



good majority. In the higher public post he has 
also acquitted himself with that efficiency, 
courtesy and ability which proves that he has 
a proper sense of the responsibilities of a pub- 
lic trust. 

While Mr. Schafer has never been a church 
member, all religious and moral movements 
tending to improve the community have in him 
a practical and warm supporter. Mrs. Schafer 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Fraternally Mr. Schafer is a member of the 
K. of P., M. W. A., A. F. and A. M., Court of 
Honor and M. P. L. His wife is also a member 
of the Court of Honor. 

SCHENK, Chester. — Because of the extent 
and (|uality of his usefulness, his commercial 
soundness and acumen, his public spirit, in- 
tegrity, and nearness to the fundamental re- 
quirements of citizenship, Chester Schenk af- 
fords an encouraging example of success gained 
through the proper use of everyday abili- 
ties and opportunities. Of Mr. Schenk it may 
be said that his life-work is a response both to 
his early teaching and to the needs of his 
environment. He has laboriously climbed every 
round in the mercantile ladder, and storekeep- 
ing was the first real interest to rivet his youth- 
ful attention. Born in Summum, Fulton Coun- 
ty, November 28, 1S62, he is a son of John and 
Mary Robinson (Branson) Schenk, the 
latter a daughter of Charles Bran- 
son, who was one of the prominent pioneers 
of Fulton County. John Schenk was 
born in Virginia September 22, 1819, and died 
March 29, 1898. His wife was born in Ohio 
November 18, 1824, and died March 30, 1896. 
In the cemetery at Ipava sleep, under shady 
trees, this honored couple, who, united in the 
early trials and deprivations of their lives, were 
permitted to so long journey together, and to 
so closely follow each other to the bourne 
whence no traveler returns. 

John Schenk secured a fair education in 
Virginia, and as a young man journeyed to the 
wilds of Illinois where he engaged in school 
teaching and established a home of his own. 
Coming to what then was Oberlin, but now is 
Summum, in Woodland Township, he erected 
the second house in the infant community, and 
tor some time engaged in educational work on 
the old subscription plan, his leisure being 
devoted to the study and teaching of music. 
As his ambition underwent transmutation, he 
converted his schoolhouse into a general store, 
placing therein the first stock of goods brought 
to the now prosperous village of Summum. In 
time he erected the store building now occu- 
pied by Jesse Banner & Son, and for many 
years it was the chief center of activity, as 
well as the favorite meeting place of both local 
and distant purchasers. He had the mercantile 
instinct well developed, was the possessor of 
those invaluable assets of tact and courtesy, and 
knew how to drive a shrewd and profitable 
bargain. He was especially fortunate In his 
land investments, and became one of the best 



known and largest property owners in the 
Winchester Valley. In proportion as his finan- 
cial fortunes took on substantiality did his 
public services increase and his benefactions 
multiply. He was generously personified, and 
many who now are successful, owe their start 
in life to his encouragement and practical as- 
sistance. A stanch and uncompromising Demo- 
crat, he retained the vehemence and pride in 
his political principles which characterize to 
this day the native sons of Virginia, yet he was 
singularly averse to serving his township in 
any official capacity. His earliest as well as 
his last religious opinions were centered in the 
Mennonite Church, which also was one of his 
largest charities. Of his four children. Dr. 
Myron Phelps Schenk, deceased, was for many 
years a successful medical practitioner of his 
native town; Fannie is the deceased wife of Dr. 
Clark, of the vicinity of Joplin, Mo.; and Carrie 
is the wife of William Russell, of Friend, Neb. 
The education of Chester Schenk was obtained 
in the public schools of Summum and Rushville 
and after graduating from the high school In 
the latter, he took a course in the Gem City 
Business College, at Quincy, 111., completing 
the same in 1880. From a mercantile stand- 
point, his father's store was first interesting as 
a repository for things satisfying to the palate, 
but this stage gave place to one filled with such 
hard realities as sweeping, window-washing, 
and fire-making, the latter operation testing his 
enterprise and good nature during the early 
hours of very cold mornings. He did up 
bundles and handed goods over the counter 
when he was almost too small to see his cus- 
tomer, but his experiences were developing, and 
the atmosphere of change stimulating; so that 
he contracted a genuine liking for catering to 
the purchasing public. His school days over he 
practically assumed the management of the 
store, and In 1893 had accumulated sufficient 
capital to become owner of all he surveyed. 
This comprised about $7,000 worth, but difficul- 
ties arose after he had added to nis own the 
stock of R. H. Zimmerman, an old-time mer- 
chant of Summum, and led to the erec- 
tion of his present brick store, which 
is one of the most substantial and most 
prepossessing in Southern Fulton County, 
He carries a fine, clean and varied stock of 
goods, charges reasonable prices, and gives 
ample returns. The subterfuge of misrepre- 
sentation Is relentlessly tabooed from his estab- 
lishment, and in consequence he is thoroughly 
trusted and relied upon by the larger part of 
the town and surrounding country. That 
honesty and fair dealing are the best policy is 
demonstrated anew In the career of Mr. Schenk, 
for he receives high credit in Bradstreet, and 
exerts a strong Influence upon many phases of 
municipal growth. 

While not a member of any church, Mr. 
Schenk Is a generous contributor to religious 
societies, and supports with his contributions 
a variety of charities. Fraternally he Is a 



io88 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



member of the Modern Woodmen of America. 
On May 1, 1890, Mr. Schenk was united in mar- 
riage to Luzella Sweney, who was born in 
Peoria, 111., May 6, 1863, a daughter of John B. 
and Florence V. (Bowen) Sweney, natives of 
Gettysburg, Pa., and Illinois pioneers of 18.55. 
Mr. Sweney was for many years a carpenter in 
Peoria, and died there in 1894, his wife surviv- 
ing him until 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Schenk are 
the parents of three children: Anita Louise, 
born July 12, 1892; Gladys Helen, born Decem- 
ber 5, 1893; and Allen Melvin, born September 
4, 1899, died December 18, 1905. The death of 
Allen Melvin was the saddest catastrophe that 
has darkened the married life of Mr. and Mrs. 
Schenk. They had been erecting the beautiful 
home now occupied by the family, and every- 
thing had been placed therein which could 
contribute to tne happiness and comfort of the 
children. The little room of the stricken boy 
was all ready for him, and contained his toys 
and the playthings which he loved. Just be- 
fore the removal from the old to the new home 
he was taken with diphtheria, and in spite of 
all that loving parents and expert medical aid 
could devise for his recovery, he passed beyond 
the border, leaving a vacant chair as reminder 
of his bright ana promising presence. It is in 
his immediate home circles that Mr. Schenk 
finds fullest measure of appreciation, for he is 
instinctively considerate of others, regarding 
his honorably acquired wealth as a means of 
furnishing fliose near and dear to him the great- 
est aids to comfort, peace and happiness. As a 
merchant he invests his occupation with its 
requirements of good judgment, good heart, 
and unquestioned integrity, which far-sighted 
qualities insure him a permanent place among 
the substantial upbuilders of his native 
community. 

SCHISLER, Henry.— During his long resi- 
dence within the borders of Fulton Coun- 
ty, Henry Schisler has worked out an 
admirable destmy, and from small beginnings 
has drawn around him for the comfort and 
happiness of his later years such substantial 
compensations as wealth, the affectionate devo- 
tion of his well established children, the credit 
for having contributed largely to the general 
development of the community, and the confi- 
dence and good will of his business and social 
associates. 

As his name indicates, Mr. Schisler is of Ger- 
man ancestry, and his family was established 
in this country by his grandfather, who crossed 
the ocean after the Revolutionary War and 
settled in York County, Pa. Here Henry 
Schisler was born May 20, 1835, and here also 
was born his father, John Schisler, and his 
mother, Lydia (Schinbarger) Schisler. The 
Schisler farm in York County was in the neigh- 
borhood of Loganville, and one of the most 
vivid early memories of Henry Schisler is of 
the two opposing armies crossing the river at 
that point and robbing the town of provisions. 
The oldest son of the family was taken a pris- 



oner at that time, and forced to lead the Con- 
federate Army to its desired destination. Be- 
sides Henry, there were four other children of 
the first marriage of the father: Catherine, 
deceased wife of Samuel Hollinger, also dead; 
John, who owns what was left of the old home 
in York County, but lives in Manchester; Eliza, 
deceased, former wife of J. Hartman, who set- 
tled in Michigan prior to the Civil War; and 
George, a farmer of Eldorado Township, Mc- 
Donough County. John Schisler married for 
his second wife a Miss Miers, who bore him 
five children, one of whom died in infancy, and 
two of whom are living: Jacob, of Hartford 
City, Ind., and Samuel, of Denver, Colo. 

As a means of self-support Henry Schisler 
learned the cigar making trade, and by the time 
he was eighteen years old had saved quite a 
few dollars. Lured hither by reports of larger 
opportunities, he started west in 1854, and after 
a short stop in Ohio, came on to Fulton County, 
where he soon found employment in a brick- 
yard. He later learned the brick-mason's trade, 
and for five years followed brick laying and 
building in different parts of the county. Octo- 
ber 14, 1858, he was united in marriage to 
Magdalene Wise, a native of York County, Pa., 
and daughter of Peter and Sarah ( Kare ) Wise. 
After the death of her parents, Mrs. Schisler 
came to Fulton County with her sister, Mrs. 
John Bricker, settling in Summum in 1855. 
Mr. and Mrs. Schisler are the parents of nine 
children: Sarah E., wife of Joseph Strennell, 
of Astoria, this county; Samuel, a farmer of 
Astoria Township, who married Lydia Eppert; 
Amanda, wife of Emanuel Fitz, of Redcloud, 
Neb.; Charles, deceased husband of Ellen 
(Davis) Schisler; Lydia, wife of Granville 
Sayers, of Astoria; Mary, wife of John Row- 
land; Edward, a farmer in Astoria Township, 
who married Josephine Blanchfield; Rose Ellen, 
wife of David Sullivan, a farmer in New Salem 
Township, McDonough County, 111.; and an in- 
fant, deceased. 

After his marriage Mr. Schisler was variously 
employed until 1866, when he bought eighty 
acres of land in Section 26, Astoria Township, 
upon which had been erected a small log house, 
and a few inferior outbuildings. The land was 
covered with a heavy growth of timber and 
hazel bushes, also hundreds of labor-defying 
stumps, and much effort was necessary before 
even a small patch could be cultivated. From 
time to time this land has been added to, and 
now the farm consists of 387 acres, which, 
however, gives but partial impression of the 
real work accomplished by Mr. Schisler. At 
one time he owned 800 acres of land, but as his 
children have grown up he has given to each 
a farm, with the result that he is surrounded 
by those near and dear to him, and within a 
small compass is a large community of family 
Interests. 

Mr. Schisler has large and liberal ideas re- 
garding general affairs, and while politically a 
Democrat, is not hide-bound in his belief or 
exactions. Particularly has he encouraged and 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1089 



insisted upon the best possible educational op- 
portunities for his own and the children of the 
other settlers, and he has given generously to 
enterprises which appealed to his humanity 
and reason. He has demonstrated what a man 
can accomplish by pursuing practical and 
straightforward methods, and by exercising al- 
ways in his associations with his fellowmen 
the qualities of integrity, consideration and 
kindness. 

SCHISLER, John. — Fulton County is indebted 
for some of its best citizenship to the descend- 
ants of the early Dutch settlers who have 
brought order and resource and splendid devel- 
opment to the State of Pennsylvania. From 
this Eastern community of settled conditions 
and ideals have journeyed many whose names 
stand for sterling worth in this community, 
and among them none are more typical than 
John Schisler, an arrival of I8.J0. Mr. Schisler 
owns a beautiful residence in Astoria, where 
he has lived in retirement since 1893, and he 
also is the possessor of a tract of 260 acres in 
Woodland Township, which, in its splendid 
cultivation, represents the labor of practically 
his entire active life. 

Mr. Schisler spent the first twenty years of 
his life in York County, Pa., where he was born 
December 4, 1833. His father. Louis Schisler, 
and his mother, Anna (Hullinger) Schisler, 
were born in the Quaker State, and accom- 
panied their son to Pennsylvania In 1853. The 
elder Schisler was a hard-working, industrious 
man, and in Pennsylvania accumulated a small 
property, which, however, he disposed of upon 
locating in Astoria. He was a high minded 
and public spirited, and his straightforward 
manner and invarialile sincerity won him the 
confidence and esteem of all with whom he was 
associated. He was a very devout man, and one 
of his largest activities was the German Baptist 
Church, of which he was a member from early 
youth until the end of his life. Into his family 
came ten children, eight of whom survive him. 

After the death of Louis Schisler, in the fall 
of 1853, his son, John, assumed control of his 
business, and remained at home with his mother 
until his marriage, in 1856, at the age of 
twenty-three, to Mathilda Fitz, who was born 
in Pennsylvania. June 1, 1837, and in 185U 
moved with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John 
Fitz, to Fulton County. Shortly after the cere- 
mony the young people located on eighty acres 
of land in Woodlana Township, and engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising until the 
death of Mrs. Schisler June 12, 1891. Mr. 
Schisler bought his present residence in Astoria 
in 1888. To his original farm he added until 
he owned 260 acres in one tract, well improved, 
and equipped with substantial residences and 
outbuildings. During the war he gained quite 
a start in an agricultural way, disposing of his 
wheat for $2.25 a bushel, and other products in 
proportion. The grain he hauled to Sharp's 
Landing, on the Illinois River, and thence it 



was taken in barges down to St. Louis. This 
farm has supplied the market with many head 
of flne cattle, high grade horses and Poland 
China hogs. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Schisler were born eight 
children: Jacob, who died in Woodland Town- 
ship; John, who is living retired in Astoria; 
Benjamin, who is a high school educator in 
California; Lewis, who resides in California; 
Henry, who is occupant and manager of the 
farm in Woodland Township; Ellen, who was 
her father's housekeeper in Astoria, but is now 
residing in California; Mary, who was engaged 
in educational work in Fulton County, but is 
now her father's housekeeper; and one who 
died in infancy. Mr. Schisler is a member of 
the German Baptist Church, and for many 
years has been active in promoting its religious, 
social and financial interests. In politics he is 
a Republican. The upright and public-spirited 
life of Mr. Schisler has attracted to him the 
confidence and esteem of the community, as 
well as the warm friendship of many who, like 
himself, have developed with the forces within 
rather than without. 

SCHLEICH, John B.— Among the well-known 
farmers of Fairview Township, Fulton County, 
111., whose careers have been especially re- 
markable for enterprise, perseverance and 
tenacity of purpose, and who have advanced 
themselves from humble beginnings to condi- 
tions of substantial prosperity, is the worthy 
gentleman whose name stands at the head 
of this personal record. John B. Schleich was 
born in the State of Connecticut, December 19, 
1853, a son of Jacob and Mary (Weber) 
Schleich, natives of Germany. Jacob Schleich 
followed farming in the fatherland and contin- 
ued in that occupation after emigrating at an 
early period to the United States. He first set- 
tled in the State of Connecticut and after re- 
maining there for some time, brought his fam- 
ily to Illinois and established his home in 
Fairview Township. Fulton County, where he 
still carried on farming. He and his good wife 
were the parents of five children, of whom two 
died in infancy. 

The subject of this sketch grew up on the 
home farm and in boyhood received his mental 
training in the district schools of the neigh- 
borhood, meanwhile assisting his father on the 
farm in the summer season and at odd inter- 
vals while acquiring his schooling. Remaining 
under the paternal roof until he reached his 
majority, he applied himself to farming on his 
own account in 1874, first on a place belonging 
to Daniel Bryherd, in the vicinity of Farming- 
ton, Fulton County, and afterwards on the 
Dan Zook property. In the latter location he 
remained until he was employed as a mail car- 
rier, traveling the route from Yates City to 
Rochester, which service he continued to per- 
form for six months. He then worked on the 
home farm one year for his brother Peter, going 
thence to Deerfield Township, where he and his 



1090 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



brother Charles rented the John Rose farm of 
240 acres, on which they carried on farming in 
l)artnership two years. At that time John B. 
married and brought his wife to the farm men- 
tioned, which became the Vandercar farm, on 
which he lived nine years. In 1893 Mr. 
Schleich purchased 2o0 acres of land partly im- 
proved from Isaac Deswelge, on which, in 1900, 
he built a barn thirty-two by fifty-two feet in 
dimensions, and another of the same size in 
1902. He is engaged in general farming and 
devotes a good portion of his time to the rais- 
ing of shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. 
His labors have been attended by satisfactory 
results and he is regarded as one of the most 
substantial and prosperous farmers of his 
township. While energetic and progressive, he 
is, nevertheless, careful and systematic in his 
methods of operation, and his farm is one of 
the most productive and profitable in the 
county. 

Mr. Schleich was united in matrimony Sep- 
tember 24, 1885, with Sarah Frances Deswelge, 
the ceremony occurring on his present prem- 
ises, where his wife was born, February 17, 
18.5S. Three children have blessed their union, 
namely: Raymond L., born January 2, 1888; 
Mildred F.. born September 28, 1893, and Hazel 
M., born June 1, 189G. 

On political issues the subject of this sketch 
is arrayed on the side of the Republican party. 
For nine years he rendered efficient and faith- 
ful service to his township on the Board of 
School Directors, and served as clerk of that 
body for nine years. He is a man of unblem- 
ished integrity and a useful citizen. 

SCHNEIDER, John C— That congenial work 
bears within it large possibilities of success is 
emphasized in the career of John C. Schneider, 
a farmer and stock-raiser of Ellisville Town- 
ship, and a native of Union Township, Fulton 
County, where he was born May 5, 1850. Joseph 
and Catherine ( Hemiiig I Schneider, parents of 
John C, were born in Milton, Pa., in 1816 and 
1822, respectively, and coming overland to Ful- 
ton County in 1851, settled on a forty-acre tract 
in the vicinity of Ellisville. As their land 
yielded of its abundance more land became nec- 
essary and the father added 140 acres, upon 
which he enlarged his general farming and 
stock-raising industry. He became widely 
known as a practical and scientific farmer and 
as a man whose word was as good as his bond. 

In 1878 John C. Schneider started out on his 
own responsibility in Union Township, where 
he bought eighty acres of land and made it his 
home until 1892. He then sold this property 
and bought a similar amount on Section 6, El- 
lisville Township, upon which he since has 
made many improvements, including a new 
house and barn, fencing, tiling and tree plant- 
ing. In Ellisville, February 20, 1878, Mr. 
Schneider married Florence Brown, who was 
born in Chester County, Pa„ July 13, 1852. He 
is a Republican in politics and a member of 



the German Lutheran Church. Wide-awake and 
enterprising, his farm and himself are im- 
portant adjuncts to the present and future pros- 
perity of the township. 

SCHOLES, George W., who is among the most 
enterprising and prosperous farmers in Fulton 
County, 111., and is ranked as one of the most 
prominent and influential citizens of Liverpool 
Township, was born in the town of Liverpool, 
this county, February 14, 1857. He is a son 
of Benjamin and Lucinda J. (Deaver) Scholes, 
the former a native of England and the latter 
of the State of Maryland, of German descent. 
The father was born in 1820 and came to the 
United States about 1840. The future wife and 
mother became a resident of Illinois when quite 
young, accompanying her father to Kaskaskia. 
After the death of the latter she made her home 
in Fulton County with her sister, Mrs. Colonel 
W. A. Dickerman. and there Benjamin Scl^oles 
met her, their marriage occurring in the 
county. Soon after landing in the country 
from Yorkshire, England, Benjamin Scholes 
volunteered his service in the Seminole War. 
After that war was terminated he located in 
St. Louis and was engaged in steamboating on 
the Mississippi River until about the year 1849, 
when he journeyed to Fulton County and set- 
tled in the town of Liverpool. There he was a 
merchant for many years and in 1873 moved to 
his farm on Section 2, Liverpool Township, hav- 
ing bought 240 acres there in 1869. In 1873 he 
began to clear the heavily timbered portion and 
improve it, and at the time of his death he had 
one of the most highly cultivated farms in the 
township. He was a very enterprising, pro- 
gressive man, and took a deep interest in public 
matters. While engaged in business at Liver- 
pool he was recognized as one of the leading 
merchants of the county. He died in March, 
1877, having been identified with the develop- 
ment of Fulton County for thirty-seven years. 
His widow survived him until 1890. Eleven 
children resulted from their union, three of 
whom died in infancy. The others are as fol- 
lows: Eva D., wife of James A. Toncary, a 
sketch of whose life may be found in this 
work; George W.; Franklin T., a street car 
motorman in Galesburg, III.; Willard B., a 
farmer in Liverpool Township; Lucy, a teacher 
in Canton, 111.; Minnie G., who died in 1892, at 
the age of thirty-two years; Bertha, deceased, 
and Dr. Paul S., of Canton, Fulton County. 

George W. Scholes was educated in the public 
schools of Liverpool and Bryant, III., and was 
reared on the home farm. He has followed 
farming all his life, and has been one of the 
most successful agriculturists in this section, 
being now the owner of 320 acres of land on 
Sections 2 and 11, Liverpool Township. He 
has one of the most attractive homes in Fulton 
County, and his farm is among the best im- 
proved, best arranged and best cultivated in 
that section of the State. 

On November 16, 1881, Mr. Scholes was 





/*'*«#//v«VA*r*.Tf C'i 



HISTORY OF FULTOX COUNTY. 



1091 



united in marriage with Mary E. Snider, a 
daughter of John H. and Jemima Snider, of 
whom the former is deceased and the latter a 
resident of Canton, P'ulton County. Mr. and 
Mrs. Scholes have had two children, namely: 
Clyde A., born July L'.j. 1S82, who married 
Myrtle ,M. Maus, a daughter of James P. Maus, 
a farmer in Buckheart Township. Fulton Coun- 
ty, and -Maude A., norn March 8. 1884, who died 
August 24. lyOO. The daughter was the pride 
of the home, an accomplished scholar and en- 
dowed with rare musical talent. In the bloom 
and abounding promise of her youth this most 
amiable and highly gifted girl was snatched 
away by untimely death. She was a pupil in the 
Canton High School and was drow-ned while 
bathing during vacation. 

In politics Mr. Scholes is a supporter of the 
Republican party and in connection with public 
affairs is an intluential and useful member of 
the coninuinity. Fraternally he is affiliated 
with Maples Mills Camp, No. .JoSO, M, W. A. 
He and his worthy and estimable wife are mem- 
bers of the Maples Mills Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

SCHOLES, Paul S., M. D., a well known and 
successful physician and surgeon of Canton, 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Liverpool. 
Fulton County, HI., on November 21, 1870, a 
son of Benjamin and Lucinda (Deaver) 
Scholes, the former a native of Yorkshire, 
England, and the latter of the State of Mary- 
land. Benjamin Scholes was born in England 
in 1820, came to the United States in 18.39 and 
soon afterwards volunteered as a soldier in the 
Seminole War. Subsequently he went to St. 
Louis and was engaged in steamboat ing on the 
Mississipjii and Illinois Rivers for several years, 
after which he located in Liverpool. 111., where 
he continued steamboating, also conducting a 
general store for a number of years. In 187o 
he moved ui)on his farm, where he died, March 
ti, 1877. 

In boyhood Paul Scholes attended the district 
schools of Liverpool. 111., and afterwards be- 
came a pupil in the Canton High School. Still 
later he i)ursued a course of study at Knox Col- 
lege, Galesburg, 111., from which he was grad- 
uated with the class of 189."i. He then entered 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chi- 
cago, graduating therefrom in I8II8, when he 
began the practice of medicine in Canton. 

On October 15, ia02. Dr. Scholes was united 
in marriage with Bertha Chapman, who was 
horn in Knox County, 111., and received her 
mental training in the public schools there and 
at Oberlin College, Ohio. 

Politically the subject of this sketch is a sup- 
porter of the principles of the Republican party. 
He is a member of the Canton Physicians' Club, 
the Fulton County Medical Society, the Illinois 
State Medical Society and the American Med- 
ical Association. Dr. Scholes is a thoroughly 
competent physician and has succeeded in 
building up a good practice. He enjoys the 
confidence and respect of those to whom he 



renders professional service and has an excel- 
lent standing in the community. 

SCHRODT, John Henry.— Of the younger gen- 
eration of agriculturists of Lee Township, men- 
tion is due John Henry Schrodt, who is carry- 
ing on farming on 2G0 acres of rented land in 
that township. Mr. Schrodt was born on a 
farm in Deerfield Township. Fulton County, 
April 12, 1876. coming of Teutonic ancestry, his 
family having been established during the 'thir- 
ties in the State of Maryland, where his father, 
Martin Schrodt, was born March 10, 1830, and 
whence the latter moved to Deerfield Township 
with his parents in ISud. In his business career 
Mr. Schrodt has known no other occupation 
than that of farming, to which he brings in- 
dustry and a correct appreciation of the im- 
portance of his calling. His education was ob- 
tained in the district schools, but he is an 
earnest student of modern, up-to-date methods 
in agricultural lines, giving promise of future 
success. His marriage occurred in Bushnell. 
111.. November 9, 1899. to Bessie Rock, a na- 
tive of Fulton County, born May 23, 1883, and 
tw-o children have been born to them. Archie 
and Kenneth. In politics Mr. Schrodt main- 
tains the family traditions, espousing the cause 
of the Democrat !<• party. He has served as 
a member of the School Board, and is a young 
man of energy and resourcefulness, with a 
promising future before him. 

SCHRODT, John Martin,— German enterprise, 
thought and iihilosophy are reflected in the 
careers of all the men of the Schrodt family, 
who have contributed to the upbuilding of Ful- 
ton County. Already four generations have 
added their quota of effort, and from the labor 
of each have arisen new and higher standards 
of life, labor and responsibility. The love of 
home, conservatism and strict economy which 
is drilled into the humblest of the sons of the 
fatherland, seems never to desert them in their 
wanderings to foreign shores, nor does it fail 
in its reflection in their sons and sons' sons. 
This truism is emphasized in John Martin 
Schrodt, owner of 160 acres of land in the town- 
ship where he now resides, and a native son of 
Deerfield Township, where he was born July 2S, 
1852. Mr. Schrodt is a son of John W. and 
Mary H. (Mahr) Schrodt, and grandson of John 
and Margaret Schrodt, all natives of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, Germany. 

John W. Schrodt was born February 3, 1820, 
on a farm in Hesse-Darmstadt, and when eleven 
years of age, in 1831, accompanied his parents 
to America. Locating first in Baltimore. Md., 
a year later the family moved to Westminster, 
in the same State, and some time later to Ha- 
gerstown. still later making their home in 
Chambersburg, Pa., for two years. They then 
moved to Ohio, and still later to Deerfield 
Township, Fulton County, purchasing land on 
Section 10, where the father died December 12, 
1868, and the mother March 11, 1870. John W., 
at the age of fifteen, left home and learned the 



1092 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



shoemaker's trade in Hagerstown, Md., and on 
February 7, 1S47, married Mary C. Matir, daugh- 
ter of Philip L. and Anna M. (Schnurr) Mahr, 
both of whom died in Ohio during the early 
'fifties. After his marriage Mr. Schrodt gave up 
shoemaking and established himself on a 
rented farm, in 1S50 coming to Deerfield Town- 
ship, where he bought land on Section 7. This 
land was covered with timber, but he cleared 
and improved it, and in time owned 200 acres. 
He was a stanch Democrat and though but lit- 
tle in the public eye, served as Road Commis- 
sioner and School Director for several terms. 
He was a devout member of the Lutheran 
Church and until overtaken with a severe 
lameness attended regularly the sei-vices of his 
church. Of the children of Mr, and Mrs. 
Schrodt .John died at the age of one year; Wen- 
die died March 11, 18S4, at the age of nine- 
teen years; Henry married Martha Stick and 
settled in Deerfield Township; Philip married 
Clara Gardner, who died in 1SS4; Jennie mar- 
ried William Knott, who died in 1884; John W. 
married Delia Melton, and lived in Lee Town- 
ship; Margaret became the wife of Harry 
Schafer, of Deerfield Township; Mary became 
the wife of David Laswell, of Deerfield Town- 
ship; the others are George, Lewis and Cath- 
erine. 

Educated in the public schools of Deerfield 
Township, John Martin Schrodt took naturally 
to farming and has always regarded it as one 
of the most satisfying occupations of mankind. 
Under the able direction of his father he 
learned the essentials of agriculture, and his 
progressive mind has responded and kept pace 
with the advance in later methods of operation. 
His farm is under a high state of cultivation 
and is devoted to general farming and stock- 
raising, preference being given to the latter. 
He is a Democrat in politics and in religion a 
German Lutheran. Mr. Schrodt has been a 
member of the School Board for nine years and 
during that time has shown commendable zeal 
in securing good teachers and general educa- 
tional advantages. The marriage of Mr. 
Schrodt and Delia Melton occurred in Macomb, 
ni., September 15, 1888, Miss Melton being a 
native of Knox County, 111., born November 27, 
1849. Mr. and Mrs. Schrodt have one daughter, 
Mary Anna. 

SCHRYOCK, J. C, who has been for a long 
period successfully engaged in the hardware 
trade in Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was born 
in Buckheart Township, Fulton County, in 1844, 
a son of Milton and Rebecca (Coron) Schryock, 
natives of Kentucky. Milton Schryock was 
among the pioneer settlers of Fulton County. 
He came from Kentucky to Illinois at an early 
period, settling in Fulton County in f833, where 
he followed the occupation of a blacksmith. 
Subsequently he devoted his attention to farm- 
ing in Buckheart Township. In this he was 
successful, and continued the pursuit of agri- 
culture during the remainder of his life. 



The subject of this sketch was reared on his 
father's farm and received his mental instruc- 
tion in boyhood in the district schools of his 
neighborhood. After reaching maturity he ap- 
plied himself to farming on his own account, 
and continued thus for a number of years. In 
1883 he entered into the hardware business in 
Cuba, Fulton County, and has since followed 
that line of trade with successful results. He 
handles farm implements of all kinds, builders' 
hardware, wagons, buggies, etc., with a tinshop 
in connection. He is a thoroughly competent 
business man, and pays close attention to his 
trade. 

In 1873 Mr. SchryocK was joined in matri- 
mony with Emily J. HacKett, who was born in 
Fulton County, and four children resulted from 
this union, namely: Charles, Gussie (Mrs. 
Smith), Lloyd and Hazel. In fraternal circles 
Mr. Schryock is identified with the A. F. & A. M. 

SCOTT, Aaron Ernest, well known throughout 
Fulton County, 111., as the editor, publisher and 
owner of the Astoria Search Light, and one of 
the ablest and most enterprising newspaper 
men in his section of the State, was born on a 
farm in Wayne County, 111., August 8, 1868. 
He is a son of Aaron E. and Eliza (Hunt) 
Scott, natives of Edwards County, III., the 
birthplace of the father being the town of Al- 
bion, that county. The paternal grandparents 
were William and Jane (Ewing) Scott, the for- 
mer born June 17, 1797, in Onondaga County, 
N. Y., and the latter in Virginia, February 16, 
1800. The grandfather on the maternal side, 
Thomas Hunt, was born in the last named 
State in 1798, and the birth of the grandmother, 
Mary (Edmonson) Hunt, occurred in Cumber- 
land County, Ky., in 1806. The education of 
Mr. Scott was obtained in the common schools 
and in the high school at Fairfield, III., to 
which place he moved with his widowed moth- 
er when he was about eighteen years of age. 
He also took a short commercial course at Hay- 
ward College, in Fairfield. The death of his 
father had thrown him upon his own resources 
before the completion of his education, and he 
secured employment in a printing office, work- 
ing steadily therein for a number of years. 
Thus he acquired much of that knowledge 
which has since served him to such good pur- 
pose. In September, 1891, he took up his resi- 
dence in Lewistown, Fulton County, where he 
purchased the Lewistown Lance, which he suc- 
cessfully conducted for the following three 
years. Selling his interest there in 1894, he 
moved to Astoria, 111., and founded the As- 
toria Search Light, which he now edits and 
publishes, and of which he is the sole proprie- 
tor. Starting at the bottom of the ladder with- 
out financial resources and favored by no ad- 
ventitious aids, he has by dint of resolute pur- 
pose, diligent application and inherent merit, 
forged to the front, and his paper now ranks 
among the best in Central Illinois. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1093 



On June 1. 1892, Mr. Scott was united in 
marriage with Jessie M. Cain, who was born in 
Bath, 111., and received a high school education. 
Mr. and Mrs. Scott maintain an excellent social 
standing and are much esteemed by a large 
circle of acquaintances. 

Politically Mr. Scott is a steadfast Repub- 
lican, but nevertheless the Search Light, while 
firmly upholding and strenuously advocating 
the principles and ])olicies of that party, deals 
fairly with all phases of public opinion. While 
a resident of Fairfield Mr. Scott actea in the 
capacity of Assistant Postmaster for two years. 
In fraternal circles he takes an active and 
prominent part. He is identified with the A. 
F. and A. M.. being a Royal Arch Mason and a 
Knight Templar. He is also affiliated with the 
M. W. A. and with the orders of the Court of 
Honor and Eastern Star. In religious belief he 
is an adherent of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. 
Scott is one of the leading citizens of his lo- 
cality and exercises a strong and wholesome in- 
fluence in behalf of the best interests of the 
community in which he lives and the welfare 
of Fulton County. 

SCOTT, George L., a well known and prosper- 
ous grain and stocli dealer of Cuba. Fulton 
County. 111., was born in Port Republic, Rock- 
ingham County, Va.. on November 16, 1846, and 
there, in youthful years, received his education 
in the puljlic schools. He is a son of Amos and 
Margaret (Hanna) Scott, natives of Virginia, 
where they both died. 

George L. Scott was reared on his father's 
farm in Virginia and in the Civil War served 
as a soldier in the Confederate army. In 1883 
he located on a farm south of the town of 
Cuba, this county, where he was engaged in 
farming until 1891. In that year he moved 
into the village and started a flour mill, which 
he operated until it was destroyed by fire in 
1896. In the year following he went into the 
grain and stock business in Cuba, in which he 
has since continued. The elevator which he 
conducts has been in operation about twenty 
years, and he is also the owner of a farm of 
166 acres in Putman Township and another of 
140 acres in Cass Township, Fulton County, 
both of which are rented out. He is a very 
competent business man, and his enterprises 
have met with merited success. 

On October 20, 1880, Mr. Scott was joined in 
wedlock with Edmonia Ewan, who was born in 
Port Republic, Rockingham County, Va., and 
four children have resulted from this union, 
namely: Marshall, Carrie, Reuben and Mattie. 
Mrs. Scott was a daughter of Robert and Carrie 
(Lewis) Ewan, who came to Fulton County in 
1858 and located two miles west of Lewistown. 
Both are now deceased. 

Politically Mr. Scott is a believer in the prin- 
ciples of the Prohibition party and his religious 
connection is with the Methodist Protestant 
Church. He is a man of high character and his 
influence is always exercised in behalf of the 
right cause. 



SCOTT, Samuel Ewing, one of the best known 
pioneers of Canton, Fulton County, 111., has now 
held the office of Commissioner of Highways 
for twenty-one years, and has been in the public 
service in some capacity for the past forty 
years. He was for a long" time Deputy Sheriff, 
and whatever office he has held has "reflected 
his honesty and efficiency. Mr. Scott was born 
in Jefferson, Madison County, Ohio, on the 27th 
of May, 1836, his parents being James and 
Rachel (Pippot) Scott. His father was born in 
Ireland, while his mother was of French an- 
cestry. In October, 1839, when he was in his 
fourth year, his parents migrated from Madi- 
son County, Ohio, and settled on a farm just 
east of Canton, not far from where he; has re- 
sided for some thirty-five years. In this local- 
ity Samuel E. was reared, educated in the dis- 
trict schools and found employment first on his 
father's farm and afterward in the working and 
management of his own property. The young 
man became a voter shortly after the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party and has never 
voted any other ticket. Being of a sociable, as 
well as mechanical, disposition, he soon became 
quite popular among his fellow townsmen, with 
the result, as noted, that they have kept him 
pretty continuously in oflice since he was com- 
paratively a young man. As he put it, his chief 
occupation is still "building bridges and con- 
structin.g roads." 

On the 17th of December, 1857, Mr. Scott was 
united in marriage with Miss Matilda Richey, 
daughter of Samuel and Mary (Kessel) Richey, 
natives of Pennsylvania. There were twelve 
children in the Richey family, of whom five 
sons and three daughters are still living. The 
father died in 1895. at the age of eighty, but the 
mother is living with Mrs. Scott, her daughter, 
a well preserved lady of eighty-eight years. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Scott have been born 
the following: John Hartley Scott, Charles Ed- 
ward, George Thompson, Daisy Emma, Luella 
Myrtle and Maggie Rachel. 

SCRIPPS, John Locke. — ihe mercantile career 
of John Locke Scripps has redounded to the 
creuit of Canton and to that of the pioneer 
family of which he is a worthy representative. 
Mr. Scripps was born in Chicago, 111.. October 
17, 1866, and was educated in the public schools 
of Canton, embarking upon his business life 
at a comparatively early age. The forefathers 
of Mr. Scripps pursued their respective avoca- 
tions in England, where was born his paternal 
great-grandfather, William Scripps, in the 
quaint old cathedral town of Ely. Cambridge- 
shire. William Scripps married Grace Locke, 
and in time removed to London, where their 
son, Rev. John Scripps, grandfather of John 
Locke, was bom. Rev. John Scripps married 
Agnes Corrie, of Kirkcudbright, Scotland, with 
whom he came to America at an early day, 
finally locating in Rushville, 111., where Wil- 
liam H. Scripps, father of John Locke, was 



I094 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



born, and where he married Mary R. Little, a 
native of Rushville. Miss Little was a daugh- 
ter of George and Jane (Lloyd) Little, the for- 
mer a native of Columbia, Pa. Further men- 
tion of the family connections are to be found 
elsewhere in this work. 

John Locke Scripps established a home of 
his own January 26, 1903, marrying Frances A. 
Arnold, who was born in Greencastle, Ind., and 
educated at De Pauw University. Mr. and Mrs. 
Scripps are the parents of a daughter, Mary 
Elizabeth. Mr. Scripps supports the principles 
of the Republican party, but has never aspired 
to political honors. He is fraternally connected 
with the Masons, being a member of the 
Knights Templar and Medina Shrine. He is 
highly esteemed for his excellent business and 
social qualities, and for an interest in public 
affairs which prompts co-operation in many of 
the efforts of municipal improvement. 

SEATON, George Washington.— Among other 
claims to consideration, George Washington Sea- 
ton is known to Cantonians as the first cigar 
inspector of the town. He came to Fulton 
County as a young lad from Crawford County, 
Ind., where he was born May 9, 1833, and ever 
since has made Fulton County his home. Mr. 
Seat on is of German ancestry, his paternal 
grandfather, John Seaton. having come from 
Germany to America about the middle of the 
last century, settling presumably in the State 
of Tennessee, where James Seaton, the father 
of George Washington, was born and where he 
married Winifred Roberts, a native of Ken- 
tucky. 

Educated in the public schools of Fulton 
County, G. W. Seaton at first engaged in farm- 
ing with his father, but eventually drifted into 
business in Canton, as before stated, serving as 
the city's first cigar inspector. He is a natural 
politician, a stanch Republican and has served 
five terms as Alderman of the First Ward. His 
first wife dying in 1879. Mr. Seaton married, 
September C, 1890, M. V. Downing. Mr. Seaton's 
first wife, Louise (Culton) Seaton, was a na- 
tive of Fulton County, and became the mother 
of six children: William P., Anna. Charles A., 
Kate, Frederick and George W. Fraternally 
Mr. Seaton is identified with the Morning Star 
Lodge, No. 734, A. F. & A. M. He is one of 
the community's most honored and useful 
citizens. 

SEAVEY, William S. (deceased), for many 
years a well known and successful photograph- 
er of Canton. Fulton County, 111., was born 
in Sandwich, N. H., on January 22, 1823, a son 
of John M. and Sophie (Bean) Seavey, natives 
of North Carolina and New Hampshire, re- 
spectively. John M. Seavey died when his son 
William was five years old. At the age of ten 
years the subject of this sketch was taken to 
New York and subsequently spent five years in 
Canada. After visiting various places at dif- 
ferent periods, in 1851 he located in Canton. 



111. During the Civil War he enlisted in the 
Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry 
under the command of Colonel William Pitt 
Kellogg, and served dflring the entire war. His 
health having become impaired. General Grant 
made him Official Photographer of the army. 
Mr. Seavey voted for General Grant for Presi- 
dent, this being the only Republican vote he 
ever cast. He had over $500 worth of valuable 
war photos destroyed in his gallery by fire. He 
was the first photographer in Canton, and at the 
time of his decease was the oldest operator in 
that line in the city. He was very successful 
in his business, and during his long residence 
in Canton made hosts of friends, who enter- 
tained for him a profound esteem. 

On July 1, 1851, Mr. Seavey was united in 
marriage with Harriet E. Culton, who was born 
in Lexington, Ky., September 24, 1830, and was 
brought to Canton, 111., in 1836, at six years of 
age. Her father, Robert C. Culton, was a native 
of North Carolina, and her mother, Ann (Fer- 
guson) Culton, was born in Lexington. In poli- 
tics Mr. Seavey was a supporter of the Demo- 
cratic party and fraternally was affiliated with 
the G. A. R. and I. O. O. F. His decease oc- 
curred July 1, 1896. He was a man of irre- 
proachable character and a highly respected 
citizen. 

SEBREE, H. W. — The name of H. W. Sebree 
is jirincipally connected in Canton with a wagon 
manufacturing enterprise, of which he was 
owner and manager for thirty-three years. He 
was successful and progressive in his business, 
constantly added to it and placed it in harmony 
with the times, and in addition invested his 
earnings in much local realty, including both 
business houses and dwellings. Today he is 
one of the community's wealthy and substan- 
tial citizens. 

Mr. Sebree was born in Indiana October 17, 
1822, son of .lames and Elizabeth (Trotter) Se- 
bree. both of whom were born in the Old Do- 
minion. Mr. Sebree was educated in the pub- 
lic schools, and his youth was uneventfully 
passed on a farm, the opportunities of which 
failed to fit into the larger ambitions of his ma- 
ture manhood. Consequently he embarked in 
wagon making, and to this he gave his best ef- 
forts with satisfactory success. He now Is liv- 
ing in retirement. 

May 27, 1852, in Fulton County, Mr. Sebree 
married Margaret Simpson, and of this union 
there have been five children: Clara, John S., 
Anne (deceased), Emma and Stella T. Polit- 
ically Mr. Sebree espoused the cause of the Re- 
Ijulilican party upon its organization, but never 
has been inclined to seek or accept official hon- 
ors. He was a stanch Abolitionist during the 
Civil War. but did not enlist as a soldier. He 
is a man of high honor and excellent standing 
in the community, and his entire life has been 
illumined by kindly deeds, gentle judgment of 
his fellowmen and practical service for man- 
kind. 




^ ^aZ^i. 



■.'<VJ&-T5 £.3rc .\'~.- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1095 



SEBREE, Melvin Milton.— The Sebree family 
has been identified with the growth of Fulton 
County since 1841, so that the appellation 
•pioneer" may be applied to it in the fullest 
sense of the word. It was in that year, when 
Illinois was a frontier State of the far West, 
that Charles Wesley Sebree, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, came from Indiana and 
bought a farm in Fulton County. He improved 
the place, raised a family thereon and became 
a highly respected citizen of Canton and of 
Union Township. The father was a native of 
Indiana, born December 11, ISl!), and his wife, 
Louisa (nee KellingI, was also born in that 
State, November 22, 1831. It was not until 
after their removal to Illinois, where they were 
married, that Melvin M. Sebree came upon the 
scene, his birthplace being Canton and his 
birthday February 27, IS.otj. 

Our subject was educated in the district 
schools of Fulton County, has never abandoned 
his original occupation of farming and is now 
the ijroprietor of a choice homestead, on which 
are successfully conducted general agricultural 
operations, with the raising of superior live 
stock. Mr. Sebree is a Kepublican, but has 
never sought political ))referment. 

On the 9th of December, 1S7!I, Melvin M. 
Sebree was united in marriage with Margaret 

B. Pierce, the ceremonies taking jilace at Bush- 
nell. 111. His wife is a New Jersey lady, born 
March 1.5, 18.37, and they have one child, John 

C. Sebree. 

SECRIST, Clarence P., a worthy representa- 
tive of the younger element of wide-awake and 
progressive agriculturists of Fulton County, 111., 
is successf\illy engaged in farming in Fairview 
Township, that county, where he is looked upon 
as possessing the qualities assuring a prosperous 
career. Mr. Secrist is a native of the State of 
Pennsylvania, where his birth took place in 
Franklin County in 1S75. He is a son of Abra- 
ham and Susan E. (Zimmerman) Secrist, both 
of whom were Pennsylvanians by nativity. 
Abraham Secrist was a well known and sub- 
stantial farmer and a man of high standing and 
excellent reputation in his locality. 

In early youth Charles P. Secrist obtained a 
good mental training in the public schools in 
his native State, and remained under the 
l)aternal root until some time after he reached 
his majority. When he was twenty-three years 
old (in 1S9.S) he located in Fairview Township, 
Fulton County, where he was employed in 
farm worli until 1903. In that year he com- 
menced farming on his own responsibility on 
eighty acres of land owned by a Mr. Wilson. 
A year later (1904) he began the cultivation of 
160 acres known as the James Dykeman farm, 
situated on Section IS, Fairview Township. On 
this place he has since kept up the improve- 
ments, conducting general farming and stock- 
raising, and making a specialty of Polled- 
Angus cattle. 

In 1902 the subject of this sketch was united 
in marriage in Pennsylvania with Mary Zim- 



merman, a native of that State. Mr. Secrist is 
an energetic and persevering farmer and his 
labors have been productive of good results. 

SHAFER, Charles. — One of the well known 
agriculturists in Union Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., :s Charles Shafer, whose farm is con- 
veniently located on Rural Route No. 3, not far 
from the town of Avon, which is his postoffice 
and market town. He was born in this town- 
ship February 28, 18G9, the son of George and 
Elizabeth (Locke) Shafer, the father born in 
Ohio in 1S41 and the mother in the same State 
in 1S43. Following in the footsteps of his pred- 
ecessors. George Shafer chose farming as his 
life work, carrying on this occupation first in 
his native State, but during his young man- 
hood, in ISCu, he came to Illinois and purchased 
a farm in Union Township, Fulton County. 
Here, in addition to raising the various kinds 
of grain common to the farms of the Middle 
West, he raised stock extensively, making a suc- 
cess of both branches of business. 

The early career of Charles Shafer was not 
unlike that of other youths of his neighborhood, 
and after gleaning such education as the schools 
of his home district afforded, he turned his at- 
tention to assisting his father on the home 
farm. When the time came for him to strike 
out on his own account he chose the peaceful 
life of the farmer, and has since had no rea- 
son to regret the choice that he then made. Be- 
sides carrying on general farming, he owns a 
threshing equipment which he uses during the 
threshing season among the farmers of his vi- 
cinity, this alone proving a source of large 
profit. 

In Salisbury. Sangamon County, 111., Charles 
Shafer formed domestic ties with Mary L. 
Fields, the marriage ceremony being performed 
March 22, 1906. Like her husband, Mrs. Sha- 
fer is a native of Illinois, her birth occurring 
in Union Township, Fulton County, March 27, 
1871. The farm on which Mr. and Mrs. Shafer 
make their home comprises 123 acres of excel- 
lent land, which was given to Mrs. Shafer by 
her father. In their religious belief Mr. and 
Mrs. Shafer are Methodists and attend the 
church of that denomination at Avon. Polit- 
ically Mr. Shafer is a believer in Re))ublican 
principles, and his vote and influence are al- 
ways given In behalf of that party. 

SHAUGHNESSY, David Joseph.— The black- 
smith who has wandered so long through song 
and story, the man of hard muscles, strong 
physique, genial manner, ready wit and innu- 
merable companionable qualities, seems to have 
a living counterpart in David Joseph Shaugh- 
nessy, owner ami proprietor of the only black- 
smithing establishment in the town of Avon. 
Increasing prosperity and popularity have hov- 
ered around this shop ever since the owner sent 
out the first merry clang of the anvil in 1877, 
and no one has come permanently to rival his 
honors as one of the best general blacksmiths 
and wagon-makers in Fulton County. 



1096 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Though born in Canada, October 10, 1S55, Mr. 
Shaughnessy is of Irish parentage, both his fa- 
ther, John, and his mother, Bridget (McMahon) 
Shaughnessy, having been born in County 
Mayo, Ireland, the former in 1S31 and the lat- 
ter in 1837. John Shaughnessy learned the 
trade of gardener and florist in his youth, and 
soon after migrating to Canada in 1S52 married 
and established himself as a gardener and flor- 
ist, which occupation filled his entire active 
life. David Joseph remained at home until his 
fifteenth year, in the meantime acquiring a fair 
common school education and a general knowl- 
edge of gardening. His tendencies were me- 
chanical, however, and he therefore served an 
apprenticeship to a blacksmith during 1871-72, 
and in 1S75 removed to Michigan, two years 
later arriving in Avon, 111. 

December 25, 1S78, Mr. Shaughnessy was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Dillon, who was born in Avon 
August 5, 1862. In his adopted country he has 
espoused the cause of the Democratic party. 
Fraternally he is a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious belief a 
Roman Catholic. Mr. Shaughnessy has acquired 
a competence through his labor, and, what is 
better still, has won the lasting regard of hosts 
of friends and the confidence of the entire 
community. His patrons come from many miles 
in the country, and for many of them he has 
been doing work for more than a score of years. 
His life is a lesson of industry, frugality, hon- 
esty and good humor. 

SHAW, Henry, a prosperous, enterprising and 
prominent farmer, who has pursued his voca- 
tion for many years on an extensive scale in 
Section 1, Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 
111., was born just south of Bryant, 111.. Feb- 
ruary 11, 1848, a son of Robert and Catherine 
(Bordner) Shaw, the latter being the eldest 
daughter of Peter Bordner. Robert Shaw, who 
was born January 12, 1812, was among the 
first settlers of Fulton County, arriving from 
Ohio and settling in Liverpool Township. He 
died February 28, 1888, and his wife died in 
1893. They were the parents of thirteen chil- 
dren, namely: Alexander, a farmer in Liver- 
pool Township; Elizabeth, who died at the age 
of four years; Sarah, who was the wife of 
Abraham Weaver, a resident of Slabtown, 111., 
and died in 1878; Peter, who died at the age 
of twenty-three years; Emeline, wife of James 
Walker, of Bryant, 111.; Mary A., wife of a 
Mr. Schoenover, a farmer, near Cuba, 111.; 
Isaac, of Downing, Mo.; Henry; Jasper, of 
Sullivan, 111.; Rebecca, wife of John Barker, 
of Downing, Mo.; John, of the same place; 
Amanda, wife of Fred Rowe, also of Downing, 
Mo.; and James, of Nebraska. 

About the year 1868 Robert Shaw sold a 333- 
acre farm in Fulton County and moved to 
Downing County, Mo., where he bought land. 
At the time of his death, in 1888, he owned 
930 acres in that county, which was under 



good cultivation, besides 320 acres in Liverpool 
Township. 

The subject of this biographical record was 
reared to farm life. He received his mental 
training in the district schools, sitting as a 
pupil on the old slab benches. As soon as he 
was old enough he devoted his attention to 
farming, which has been the occupation of his 
entire lite. His first purchase of land was 240 
acres in Section 6, Liverpool Township, and 
he is now the owner of 440 acres. Every im- 
provement on this land has been made by him. 
In the fifty-eight years of his residence in Ful- 
ton County he has never been absent from it 
but once, and during the whole period of his 
mature life he has been actively identified with 
the development and best interests of the 
county. Mr. Shaw devotes considerable atten- 
tion to the breeding of Percheron horses, of 
which he now has about forty head on the 
farm. He also raises Shorthorn cattle and 
Poland-China hogs. He is an intelligent, sys- 
tematic and enterprising farmer, and the re- 
sults attained justify his methods, and attest 
the success of his operations. 

On February 4, 1871, Mr. Shaw was united 
in marriage with Sarah Pollitt, a daughter of 
Alexander and Elizabeth (Easters) Pollitc, who 
was born September 28, 1852. This union has 
resulted in six children, as follows: One who 
died in infancy; Minnie, born March 9, 1874, 
wife of John Beebe. a farmer in Banner Town- 
ship, Fulton County; Rufus, born September 
8, 1881, married Eva Raker and now a farmer 
in Liverpool Township; Ora, born December 
26, 1883, who died at the age of three years; 
Blanche, born November 26, 1887, who at- 
tends to the domestic affairs of the household, 
the mother having died in 1895; and Bernice, 
born October 14, 1895. 

In politics Mr. Shaw is an adherent of the 
Democratic party and has served the township 
as School Director. He is a vigorous advo- 
cate of the interests of the school system, as 
well as an earnest and influential supporter of 
all institutions and enterprises that promote 
the public welfare. 

SHAW, Hiram R., one of the oldest and most 
popular hotel clerks in the State of Illinois, 
now discharging the duties pertaining to such 
a position in the New Churchill House, at Can- 
ton, was born in Franklin, Venango County, Pa., 
on February 13, 1845, a son of Robert and 
Martha Shaw, natives of Pennsylvania. Both 
of his parents were members of prominent 
families in the localities where they were re- 
spectively reared, Judge McCalmont, a jurist 
of high repute, being a relative of his father, 
who was also a nephew of the gallant soldier. 
Colonel William Shaw. On the maternal side, 
he is allied by kinship with the Blairs and 
Montgomerys, noted in early times. Robert 
Shaw, who was a farmer by occupation, and a 
man of excellent character and blameless life. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1097 



died in 1S52, his wife passing away in 18S1. 
They were the parents of three boys, of whom 
one is living. In the days of his boyhood Hi- 
ram R. Shaw attended the common scliools, hav- 
ing been brought to Illinois in 1853, and as 
he grew older, commenced working on a farm, 
continuing in this employment several years. 
Since then he has had an extended experience 
in hotel work in various localities. His first 
position as clerk in a hotel was in Canton, where 
he secured employment in 1867. For a time he 
held a similar position in Bloomington, 111., and 
subsequently in Beardstown. Finally, he again 
settled in Canton, becoming connected with the 
Churchill House, where he has since remained. 
He is the owner of about thirty acres of fine 
land just outside the corporate limits of Can- 
ton, on Rural Free Delivery Houte No. 5, where 
his family residence is located. 

On October 26, 1882, Mr. Shaw was united in 
marriage at Canton with Frances L. Wilson, 
who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Samuel 
T. Wilson, a native of Ohio. One child, Ray- 
mond R.. is the issue of this union, whose birth 
occurred October 24, 1888. 

In political action Mr. Shaw has always fol- 
lowed the fortunes of the Democratic party, 
and although not mingling in the activities of 
party campaigns, takes a keen and discrimi- 
nating interest in civic policies. His religious 
connection is with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, of which he has long been a consistent 
member. He has a comfortable and convenient 
rural home, where the friends of the family are 
always assured of a hearty welcome. Mr. Shaw 
is a veteran in the task of suitably receiving 
and accommodating the traveling public. He 
has come in contact with many distinguished 
men during his hotel experience, and has a 
wide and pleasant acquaintance extending 
through all sections of the country. 

SHAW, William H., the popular and efficient 
Postmaster of Canton, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Dublin, Ireland, January 23, 1848, and 
received his early school training in London, 
Ontario, Canada. He is a son of Benjamin 
and Anna (Lester) Shaw, natives of Thurles, 
County Tipperary, Ireland. Thurles was also 
the birthplace of his paternal grandmother, 
Margaret (Langley) Shaw, her husband, 
Thomas Shaw, having been born in County Kil- 
kenny. The great-grandparents on the father's 
side were also Irish. Ireland likewise was the 
native country of all the maternal ancestors, 
as far as known. Joshua and Hannah (Sloan) 
Lester, the grandparents, were born, respect- 
ively, in Ardrestown, Thurles, and Kilmarck- 
thomas, County Waterford, while his great- 
grandparents, Richard and Eliza (Prior) Les- 
ter, were natives, respectively, of Ardrestown, 
Thurles and Oressogue. 

The subject of this sketch came to Canton 
from London, Canada, August 11, 1873, and 
from that date until May 31, 1877, was super- 
intendent of Humphrey, Bell & Co.'s packing 
31 



house. From January 1, 1877, to March 1, 
1881, he was associated with Samuel Burrell 
in the management of the Churchill House. At 
the latter date Mr. Shaw purchased Mr. Bur- 
rell's interest and was its proprietor until May 
7, 1904. In 1878 Mr. Shaw built and operated 
the first telephone line in Canton, connecting 
Parlin & Orendorff's office and the office of the 
Chicago, Burlington & (^uincy and the Toledo, 
Peoria & Western Railroads with the Churchill 
House. At that time the telephone was owned 
by the Gold Stock Company. In 1881 Mr. 
Shaw built the Canton Telephone Exchange 
and the toll-line to Lewistown, Bushnell, Elra- 
wood and Breeds, connecting with the Peoria 
toll line. The Canton Exchange and toll lines 
were controlled by the Central Union Tele- 
phone Company. 

Commencing in 1883 Mr. Shaw was Chief of 
the Canton Fire Department for twelve years. 
After the fire which consumed the Ellsworth 
Block in Canton the City Fire Department was 
in a very bad condition, but with the co-opera- 
tion of citizens and the Fire Company Mr. 
Shaw brought it into a condition of efficiency 
second to none in the State. 

On June 6, 1877, Mr. Shaw was united in 
marriage with Emma A. Burrell, who was born 
in Wolcott, N. Y.. and received her youthful 
mental training in Canton. Four children re- 
sulted from this union, namely: Tyler B., 
William H., Jr., Charles L. and Benjamin B. 

Politically Mr. Shaw is a Republican. In 
1882 and 1883 he was elected Alderman of the 
Third Ward of Canton, and in 1885 was elected 
Assistant Supervisor, serving a full term. He 
has been appointed four times Postmaster of 
Canton, serving his first term by appointment 
of President Harrison, and being reappointed 
successively by President McKinley and by 
President Roosevelt, and is now serving his 
fourth term by a second reappointment by 
President Roosevelt. 

In fraternal circles Mr. Shaw is identified 
with the A. O. U. & W. W., K. of P. and B. P. 
O. E. For the past twenty-five years probably 
no man has figured more conspicuously in all * 
that ijertains to the development and prosperity 
of Canton than William H. Shaw. 

SHAWGO, Lester, a retired farmer, now living 
in the village of Summum, Fulton County, III., 
and one of the oldest and most highly respected 
residents of that vicinity, is a native of the 
State of New York, where he was born June 7, 
1832. His father was Rev. George Shawgo, 
but of his mother's maiden name or antece- 
dents he has no knowledge, nor has he any 
recollection of her, she having passed away 
when he was about two years old, leaving him 
without the maternal care so essential and im- 
portant to one of that tender age. His father's 
second wife was Julia Evans, and eight chil- 
dren were the offspring of that union, of whom 
seven are still living. Both parents of this 



1098 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



family are deceased. They removed successively 
from New York State to Pennsylvania, later to 
Ohio, and in 1854 to Illinois, being twenty-one 
days in making the last named journey. On 
arriving at their destination the father bought 
land in the vicinity of Summum, where he 
carried on farming operations during the re- 
mainder of his life. The region where he set- 
tled was then mainly in an uncultivated con- 
dition, and many indications of its primitive 
wildness were to be seen in all directions. He 
was a minister of the Baptist Church and in 
connection with his farming preached for thir- 
ty-five years. 

Lester Shawgo spent his early manhood in 
the manner common to farmers' sons in a new 
country. He remained at home and applied 
himself industriously to the task of getting 
the best results from the freshly tilled land, 
cradling wheat and plowing corn with a double- 
shovel plow. The settlement was thinly peo- 
pled, and but two dwellings then stood on the 
site of the now prosperous village of Summum, 
which then bore the name of Schencktown. 
Mr. Shawgo has done his full share in push- 
ing forward the many improvements that 
have marked the development of his locality 
since 18.52. For thirty years of this period he 
followed threshing as a means of livelihood, 
during twenty-six years of the time using the 
old horse-power thresher and afterwards run- 
ning a steam threshing machine. In 1901 he 
retired from active pursuits and purchased the 
pleasant and comfortable residence which he 
now occupies in Summum. 

Mr. Shawgo has been thrice married. His 
first wife was Marinda Beatty, by whom he had 
six children, of whom all but two are de- 
ceased. Those surviving are: William, who 
is engaged in farming in the neighborhood of 
Dunlap, Kans., and Lewis, who follows the 
same occupation in Pleasant Township, Fulton 
County. The remains of their mother rest in 
the Hart Cemetery, near Ipava, 111., east of 
which place the family were living at the time 
of her death. The second wife of Mr. Shawgo 
was Elizabeth Smith, and one child resulted from 
their union, namely: Mary Eva, deceased, 
wife of Louis Vaughn, a farmer residing in 
Pleasant Township. Mrs. Elizabeth Shawgo 
died July 6, 1870. Mr. Shawgo's last marriage, 
January 7, 1873, was with Emeline Crick, their 
offspring being five children, two of whom are 
deceased. The survivors of this union are: 
Annie, who married Harvey Lehman, a farmer 
in Vermont Township, Fulton County; Peter 
Ellsworth, who is engaged in farming in Pleas- 
ant Township, and Cora May, who is with her 
parents. 

In politics Mr. Shawgo has always followed 
the fortunes of the Democratic party. His re- 
ligious connection is with the Christian Church, 
to which he has belonged for more than twenty- 
five years. Mrs. Shawgo is a devoted member 
of the German Baptist Brethren Church. Both 



husband and wife are greatly esteemed by a 
wide circle of friends. 

SHELBY, Joseph A., one of the oldest and 
worthiest of the many prominent farmers on 
Section 11, Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Waterford Township, this 
county, December 28, 1843, and is a son of 
Noah and Maria (Nevitt) Shelby, natives of 
Ohio, where they were married. In 1836 they 
settled in Fulton County, locating in Waterford 
Township, where they spent the remainder of 
their lives. The mother died in 1844 and the 
father in 1851. They were devout and earnest 
Christians, and were constant in their Master's 
service. They were the parents of the follow- 
ing children: James, Adam, Mary, Susan and 
William, all deceased; Rebecca, wife of Robert 
Prichard, a farmer in Lewistown Township, 
Fulton County; Nancy, wife of Elijah Will- 
coxen, of Liverpool Township. Fulton County; 
Asa, who enlisted in a Minnesota regiment 
during the Civil War, and died in the service, 
and John, a resident of Brownsville, Minn., at 
the outbreak of the Civil War (as at present), 
who enlisted in a Minnesota regiment. Mr. 
Shelby married for his second wife Mrs. Ellen 
Kidd, by whom he had one child. George, now 
deceased. 

Joseph A. Shelby was but eight years old 
when he was bereft of the tender care of a fond 
mother. After the death of his father he went 
to the home of his brother, who was then liv- 
ing in Brownsville, Minn., and there remained 
until 1859. His sister, Mrs. Prichard, together 
with her husoand, visited this brother and Jo- 
seph returned with them to Fulton County and 
became a member of their household, where he 
remained until April. 1865. At that period he 
began working by the month, and by dint of 
industry and perseverance, forged his way to 
success. After a while he bought a forty-acre 
tract of land, which he cleared and developed 
into a gooa farm. This he sold and purchased 
a farm of 180 acres on Section 16, Liverpool 
Township, where he lived until his removal to 
Maples Mills, dividing this farm with his chil- 
dren. Remaining there until February 28, 
1905, he then moved to his present farm on 
Section 11, Liverpool Township, where he owns 
eighty acres. Since early manhood he has been 
identified with the best interests of Fulton 
County and has always enjoyed the sincere re- 
spect and warm esteem of his fellow citizens. 

On April 13. 1S65. Mr. Shelby was united in 
marriage with Mahala Clark, a daughter of 
Zebadiah and Millie (Allsburg) Clark, natives 
of Ohio. This union resulted in five children, 
namely; Marion F., a farmer in Liverpool 
Township, born March 2, 1866, who married 
Gertrude Preston; Robert W., also a farmer, of 
the same township, born June 15, 1870, who 
married Ida Stevens; Mary, born October 22, 
1875, wife of Edward Arnett, who lives three 
miles east of Canton; Maude, born October 1, 







f-,t'& >*;<'/.o-Tj i Jrrr f/y 



^Z^^Cy^ ^ 5". 



'2, oa.^>^^?^_ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1099 



1878, who died March 28, 1880, and Sophronia, 
born January 10, 1881, who is the wife of Perry 
Arnett. The last named reside in Liverpool 
Township and have two children — Chester and 
Ralph. Of the thirteen grandchildren which 
have been born ten are living. 

By the help of his devoted wife, whom he 
married while he was still working by the 
month, all the subsequent success of ,Ioseph A. 
Shelby was made possible. Their labors were 
always in unison, and they were ever in hearty 
and fond accord. Many happy years were 
Ijassed in their home, but their pleasures were 
not unmingled with pain. Hardships and pri- 
vations often confronted them, and many were 
the trials and difficulties which they were com- 
pelled to undergo incident to the surroundings 
and conditions of that early period. While liv- 
ing on the farm on Section 16, the health of 
Mrs. Shelby began to fail. No improvement 
was manifest after the removal to Maples Mills, 
and eight days after they occuijied their new 
home on Section 11, Liverpool Township, she 
succumbed to death. She had seen the orchards 
and gardens planted by the early settlers wither 
and die under the blighting frosts and in like 
manner she fell a victim to the ravages of dis- 
ease. She was a noble woman and a devoted 
wife, and the memory of her gentle words and 
kindly deeds will be enshrined ia the stricken 
heart of her bereaved husband until he shall 
rejoin her in the realms beyond. He still 
clings to the home where the ties of long-con- 
tinud affection were severed, and endeavors, as 
best he may, to bear with equanimity the bur- 
dens of life, its chief pleasure having vanished. 
For many years he has been a faithful member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which 
he united at the age of eleven years. 

SHEPLEY, A. Clifton.— No histoi-y of Fulton 
County would be complete without the name of 
A. C. Shepley, a resident of Canton, 111., where 
he is engaged in the insurance and loan busi- 
ness. The earliest member of the family of 
whom we have any authentic knowledge was 
the paternal grandfather. Wilder Shepley, who 
descended from a long line of Scotch ancestors, 
through whom the family name was established 
in Massachusetts. Among the children com- 
prising his family was Oliver Shepley. who was 
born in Groton, Mass., in 1786. Reared and edu- 
cated in the midst of the pioneer conditions 
that existed there at that time, he grew to 
stalwart manhood, and in 1832, when about 
thirty-six years of age, ventured out into what 
was then considered the Far West, coming to 
Fulton County, 111. So well pleased was he 
with the outlook that he purchased a farm on 
Section 32, on which he continued to follow 
farming throughout his active years, although 
this did not absorb his entire thought or abil- 
ity. On the other hand, he took a prominent 
part in the political life of his community, and 
for two terms represented his constituents in 
the State Legislature. During his younger 



years he had qualified himself to follow the 
medical profession, having acquired his educa- 
tion along this line in Paris, France, and for 
several years practiced his profession in Flor- 
ida, but after locating in Illinois he did not 
resume this line of work, finding sufficient oc- 
cupation in the care of his farm and in filling 
the offices of trust and responsibility imposed 
upon him by his fellow citizens. 
During the early days he was Gov- 
ernment Indian Agent for the west- 
ern part of the State. In the meantime he ac- 
cumulated large holdings of real estate, and at 
one time supported a deer park of about twelve 
acres, not infrequently having as many as 
thirty-two deer in his park. As will be seen 
from the foregoing Mr. Shepley was a promi- 
nent figure in the business and political life 
of his community, and it goes without saying, 
that his friends and acquaintances were numer- 
ous. His home was more like a hotel than a 
private residence, saving one difference; every- 
thing was free and entirely at the disposal of 
those he loved to entertain. 

Mr. Shepley classed among his personal friends 
many men of world-wide fame, among them 
George Peabody, of London, England, for whom 
he acted as financial agent, a man of strong 
convictions and firm in what he was convinced 
was right. During his service in the Legisla- 
ture he crossed swords, so to speak, with Abra- 
ham Lincoln, who. while serving in the same 
session, was his ojjponent in politics, and the 
two had many an argument. Though Mr. Shep- 
ley was a firm believer in the Bible and its 
teachings, he never united with any church. 
This holding out on his part was looked upon 
as little short of heresy by a Baptist minister 
who undertook to change his views by means 
of an early interview. When the minister 
called he was invited to take a social glass, 
which in those days was considered custom- 
ary. During this visit he noticed a keg of 
whisky in the cabin and in a short time he re- 
turned with a bottle of honey, which he wished 
trade for an equal measure of the whisky. 
At an earlier period, during the War of 1812, 
Mr. Shepley was with ,Iackson at the battle 
of New Orleans, where he served as surgeon 
with rank of Major, and he also participated in 
the Seminole War. 

Oliver Shepley was first married to Atlanta 
Phelps, by whom he had one son, Washington 
Shepley. Some time after the death of his 
first wife, in 1832, he was united in marriage 
with Mrs. Lydia Lawrence, who was born in 
Hollis, Mass.! March 28, 1803, and who, by her 
first marriage, had one child, Amos Lawrence 
by name. Three children were born of her 
marriage with Mr. Shepley, as follows: An- 
drew ,1.. the father of the subject of this 
sketch; Thomas ,1., who married Mary Van 
Arsdale, of Fairview, 111., and who died July 
28. 1878, leaving two children, Oliver and 
Grace; and Lydia M., who became the wife of 
Eli Paul and died in 1874. 



IIOO 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Andrew J. Shepley was born in Groton, Mass., 
where he was reared until his parents moved 
to the frontier of Illinois in 1837. He formed 
domestic ties by his marriage with Jane W. 
Van Arsdale, a native of the latter State, her 
birth occurring at Fairview, Fulton County. 
Among the children born to Andrew J. and Jane 
W. (Van Arsdale) Shepley was A. Clifton Shep- 
ley, whose birth occurred in Deerfield Township, 
Fulton County, 111., June 2, 1877. After attend- 
ing the common schools in the vicinity of his 
home he entered the high school at Canton, and 
still later attended a commercial college. The 
close of his school life was simultaneous with 
the beginning of his business career, and he 
is now engaged in the insurance and loan busi- 
ness in Canton, 111., where he is known and re- 
spected for his upright methods as a business 
man. His marriage in 1897 united him with 
Stella M. Hetrick, of Red Oak, Iowa, who was 
born in Canton, 111., and there received her edu- 
cation. 

SHEPLEY, Andrew J.— The real-estate and 
loan business established by Andrew J. Shep- 
ley in 1884. and of which his son. A. Clifton 
Shepley, is now a partner, has gone hand in 
hand with the development of Canton for more 
than two decades, and undoubtedly has con- 
tributed largely toward the advantageous dis- 
posal of property and the honorable and satis- 
factory placing of loans, as any concern of the 
kind in Fulton County. Mr. Shepley is one of 
Canton's foremost and most substantial citi- 
zens, and while his name necessarily is asso- 
ciated with one of the early and influential 
families of the county, his success is self-made, 
and in its scope and usefulness directs atten- 
tion to qualities of perseverance, business in- 
tegrity and ability and high regard for the wel- 
fare of the community. He was born in Groton, 
Middlesex County, Mass., January 19, 1833, a 
son of Oliver and Lydia (Lawrence) Shepley, 
and grandson of Wilder and Lucinda Shepley. 

Oliver Shepley, than whom no more forceful 
personality invaded the pioneer days of Fulton 
County, was born in Groton, Mass., in 1786, 
and without any special advantages or induce- 
ments developed into a man who believed- in 
doing things. With him to plan was to act. 
Set down in any locality, he was bound to at- 
tract its opportunities and invest them with 
the iron and vigor of his mind and will. He 
was a Cromwellian sort of man, hating a lie 
and recognizing no compromise with truth. 
These qualities were filtered through a long 
line of Scotch ancestry and lost none of their 
force in his parents, who came from Scotland 
and settled in Middlesex County. 

Mr. Shepley chose the profession of medicine 
as an outlet for his early ambition, qualifying 
therefor in Paris, France. Returning to his 
native land, he settled in Florida, and while 
actively engaging in the practice of medicine, 
took part also in many undertakings which en- 
livened and molded the history of that time. 



In the War of 1812 he was with Jackson at the 
battle of New Orleans, and gained the rank of 
Sergeant, and he also participated in the Semi- 
nole War of 1818-19. Outgrowing nis environ- 
ment in the South and craving that stimulus 
which comes of extremes of climate, he came 
to Illinois in 1832 and after a year in Wil- 
mington, bought land on Section 32, just west 
of Canton. The destiny and duty of the pioneer 
accorded well with his stern and unyielding, 
but yet likable nature, and he further was aided 
by greater means than were the greater portion 
of the arrivals in these wilds. As land was 
cheap and agriculture the greatest inducement 
offered the settlers, he abandoned his profes- 
sion and set about improving his land, investing 
heavily in additional property until he owned 
vast tracts throughout this section. His per- 
sonality and home became potent factors in the 
community. He had the Scotchman's idea of 
hospitality, and never was it more lavishly or 
unstintingly dispen.sed. As the years wore 
away and he added to his social and business 
friends many prominent politicians of the State, 
his house took on the aspect of an inn, with the 
difference that entertainment was free, and 
good will abundant and unchanging. At one 
time Mr. Shepley maintained and took great 
pride in a twelve-acre deer park, which proved 
a great curiosity, and attracted people from far 
and near. The deer in the park varied in num- 
ber, but often there were at least thirty-two of 
these beautiful and graceful animals. 

While the community as a whole welcomed 
Mr. Shepley, he was not regarded as a desir- 
able or orthodox religious acquisition. While 
a firm believer in the Bible and observing its 
most important tenets in his daily life, he 
steadfastly refused to identify himself with any 
church or denomination. Evidently his views 
on the subject had preceded him, for the year of 
his arrival the Baptist minister of the neigh- 
borhood gave vent to bitter denunciation of 

what he was pleased to call the Yankee, 

and deeiily regretted his presence in their 
midst. However, the minister was not above 
the weakness of curiosity, and in time called 
at the Shepley home that he might study his 
particular aversion at close range and gauge 
the length of the Yankee horns. As was custo- 
mary, he was invited to take a "nip," and in so 
doing his attention was called to a keg of 
whisky in the cabin. A few days later a slight 
change of heart was indicated by his appear- 
ance with a bottle of honey to exchange for a 
bottle of whisky, in the cheering company of 
which his resentment is supposed to have un- 
dergone still further modification. 

Mr. Shepley was first and always a Demo- 
crat, and he espoused the cause with the same 
vehemence and rugged sincerity that he ap- 
plied to all of his interests. Twice was he 
elected to the Legislature, and on one occasion 
served with Abraham Lincoln, with whom he 
more than once crossed political swords. His 
co-workers included many of the most promi- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



IIOI 



nent Democrats in the State, and scarcely any 
undertaking of his party but met with his 
hearty co-operation and support. For years he 
was Indian Agent at Quincy, 111., and he also 
was agent for George Peabody, of London, Eng- 
land, of international tame. 

Mr. Shepley's first wife was formerly Atlanta 
Phelps, and of the union there was a son, 
Washington. In 1832 he married Mrs. Lydia 
Lawrence, who was born in Hollis, Mass., 
March 28, 1803. Mr. and Mrs. Shepley were the 
parents of three children: Andrew J., Thomas 
J. and Lydia. Thomas .1. married Mary Van 
Arsdale, of Fairview, 111., who died .luly 28, 
1878, leaving two children — Oliver and Grace. 
Lydia M. Shepley married Eli Paul, who died 
in 1874. By a former marriage Mrs. Shepley 
. had a son, Amos Lawrence. The lite of Oliver 
Shepley passed with settings of increased pros- 
perity, and he died in 1863, leaving the richer 
heritage of an honorable name and an inspir- 
ing example of rich and noble manhood. 

Andrew .1. Shepley was a small child when 
his father came to Illinois, and his educational 
facilities were necessarily more limited than 
those which the older man had enjoyed in the 
conservative and more settled East. He gained 
strength of body in the harvest field and a 
clear mind from association with the elements 
of peace which comprise the every-day life of 
country dwellers. In 1864 he married Jane W. 
Van Arsdale, who was born in Fairview, 111., in 
1841, the second daughter of Peter B. and 
Christina Van Arsdale, Illinois pioneers of the 
early 'thirties. The family of Mr. and Mrs. 
Shepley include three children: Mrs. Alice A. 
Abbott, Mrs. Adele Plattenburg and Andrew 
Clifton. Soon after his marriage Mr. Shepley 
succeeded to the management of the old home- 
stead, and remained thereon until locating in 
Canton in 1884, He is a Democrat in politics 
and although he has passed seventy-two mile- 
posts of existence, he retains the vigor and un- 
impaired faculties of one many years his 
junior. He is respected for his many admirable 
traits of character, for his geniality and ap- 
proachableness, and for the tendency to 
progress and advancement, which has charac- 
terized his active life. 

A. Clifton Shepley, only son of Andrew J. 
Shepley, was born on a farm in Deerfield Town- 
ship, Fulton County, 111., June 26, 1877, and 
was educated in the Canton public schools and 
Commercial College. Mr. Shepley found an 
opportunity waiting for him in his father's loan 
and insurance business, and that he now is a 
partner in the concern augurs the possession of 
worth-while and reliable business qualities. Mr. 
Shepley is a Democrat in politics, but as yet 
has rendered no special aid to the local under- 
takings of his party. In 1897 he was united in 
marriage to Stella M. Hetrick, a native of Red 
Oak, Iowa, and formerly a student in the public 
schools of Canton. 

SHIELDS, Perry 0., who is successfully pur- 
suing the vocation of a farmer and stock- 



raiser in Fulton County, 111., is located on Sec- 
tion 35, Lewistown Township, where he culti- 
vates 110 acres of exceptionally productive 
land. He is a son of Andrew J. and Jane (Will- 
coxen) Shields, natives of Fulton County. An- 
drew J. Shields is engaged in farming in Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County. His wife died 
in 1870. Two children— May, deceased, and 
Perry O. — resulted from their union. The for- 
mer was the life of Street Harden, of Los An- 
geles, Cal. The father of Perry O. Shields sub- 
sequently wedded Nettie Ford, a native of Ken- 
tucky, and by this union had two children, 
namely: Delia, wife of William Snider, living 
in Buckheart Township, and Ina, wife of 
Charles Snider, of Dunfermline. 

The subject of this sketcn was brought up to 
farm life. He received his mental training in 
the district schools of his neighborhood and has 
lived in the same vicinity ever since. Including 
the 110 acres on Section 35 which he owns, he 
operated in 1905 310 acres of land. Besides 
general farming he keeps a superior grade of 
stock — horses, cattle and hogs — preferring the 
black and Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China 
hogs. He is classed among the most thorough 
and successful farmers in F'ulton County. Mr. 
Shields has witnessed and taken part in many 
changes in that region since his boyhood years. 

On I-'ebruary 13, 1885, Mr. Shields was 
united in marriage with Madeline Bordner, 
born March 6, 1868, a daughter of Moses and 
Elvira (Ewers) Bordner. Her father was an 
honored pioneer settler of Fulton County, a 
memoir of whose life constitutes an interesting 
chapter of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Shields 
became the parents of five children, namely: 
Bessie, who was born September 15, 1887, and 
died August 23, 1899; Ira. born February 28, 
1889, and died December 2, 1890; Frank H., 
born October 12. 1892; Henry D., born April 
29, 1895, and Edith L.. born December 10. 1899. 

In politics Mr. Shields is an adherent of the 
Democratic party, but is liberal in his political 
views. He has creditably filled the office of 
Road Commissioner of his townsnip. F'rater- 
nally he is affiliated with the K. of P. As a 
farmer and as a man and citizen he is ranked 
among the representative characters in the 
community of which he is a member. 

SHIELDS, William, who in duration of resi- 
dence is one of the oldest farmers of Fulton 
County, as well as one of the most successful 
and substantial, is located on Section 10, Liv- 
erpool Township. He was born near Canton, 
this county, November 26, 1836, and is a son 
of Andrew J. and Margaret (Red) Shields. 
Robert Shields, the father of Andrew, was a 
native of Tennessee, migrating from that State 
to Indiana and thence to Fulton County, 111., 
where he settled near Canton. There he was 
successfully engaged in farming for many years 
and finally became a resident of Canton itself, 
where he died. His first wife, Naomi Little, 
who accompanied him from Indiana, died at a 
very early period on the farm on which he 



II02 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



originally settled. His second wife was Mrs. 
Brown, who moved with him into Canton, 
where she also died. 

Andrew J. Shields was a native of Indiana 
and located in Fulton County at an early 
period. He and his wife were the parents of 
seven children, as follows: Martha, widow first 
of Wesley Pittman and then of Alfred Weaver; 
William; Mary Ellen, deceased, wife of Humph- 
rey Murphy, of Iowa; Robert, a resident of 
Cozad, Dawson County, Neb.; Andrew J., who 
is engaged in farming in Buckheart Township, 
Fulton County; Naomi, widow of Henry Fisher, 
of Urbana, 111., and Margaret, widow of Boone 
Willcoxen, who resides in Lewistown, Fulton 
County. The mother of this family died Octo- 
ber 10, 189B, the father having passed away 
just after the cholera epidemic of 1849. 

William Shields was but a lad when the death 
of his father occurred, and has but a faint re- 
membrance of him. The former has been a 
resident of Fulton County for sixty-eight years, 
with the exception of three years spent in Mc- 
Donough County, 111., and has always been 
engaged in farming. He is the owner of 200 
acres of highly cultivated land and his farming 
operations have always been attended by the 
best results. He has borne the reputation of 
being one of the most thorough farmers in his 
township. 

On May 14, 1861, Mr. Shields was united in 
marriage with Nancy Willcoxen, a daughter of 
Elijah C. Willcoxen, son of Captain Elijah 
Willcoxen, a memoir of whose life is contained 
in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Shields became 
the parents of the following children: Pru- 
dence L., born September 5, 1862, who was 
the wife of George Coleman, and died Septem- 
ber 6, 1887; Andrew L., who was born August 
22, 1863, and died March 14, 1864; Elijah C, a 
farmer in Liverpool Township, who married 
Minnie Black, and has two children — Earl and 
John; Annie, born July 6, 1866, who married 
Wiley Ray, and is the mother of Ethel, Wiley 
A., George, Clifford, Hazel M., Sylvia, Jessie E. 
Clugston and an infant; George L., who is a 
member of the parental household, and Charles 
G., born October 24, 1880, a farmer In Liver- 
pool Township, who married Mary Preston, and 
has two children — Herman and Ross. 

In politics Mr. Shields is a supporter of the 
Democratic party. He takes an earnest inter- 
est in public affairs. Although he never aspired 
to office, he has creditably discharged the du- 
ties of School Director and has been a steadfast 
advocate of the interests of the public school 
system. He has done his full share in promot- 
ing the material prosperity of his township and 
county, is a man of most upright character and 
correct life, never having used tobacco or liquor 
in any shape, and in the community where he 
has lived so long, is greatly respected and re- 
garded as one of its most useful and exemplary 
members. 

SHIERY, Henry, Cashier of the State Bank 
of Cuba, in Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was 



born in Pennsylvania and there received his 
mental training in the public schools. He is 
a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Cordel) Shiery, 
also natives of Pennsylvania. The subject of 
this sketch located in Canton, 111., in 1868, 
and worked there as a tinner until the fall of 
the same year, when he settled in Cuba, and, 
in connection with a Mr. King, as partner, 
bought the tinshop and hardware business of 
Robert Berch. This they conducted for sev- 
enteen years, after which Mr. Shiery operated 
the concern alone for five years, retiring from 
a in 1889 to enter the banking business. The 
banking house was operated under the firm 
name of W. W. McCoy & Co. for two and a 
half years, after which the style was changed 
to McCoy & Shiery, and still later to H. Shiery 
& Co., so remaining until July, 1902. At that 
period it was organized as the State Bank of 
Cuba, with U. T. Baylor, President; George E. 
Snyder, Vice-President; Henry Shiery, Cashier; 
and F. H. Cole, Assistant Cashier. The Di- 
rectors are Messrs. Baylor, Snyder, Rhodes, 
Waughtel and Shiery. The bank is incorpor- 
ated under the laws of Illinois, does a general 
banking business and is a member of the State 
Bankers' Associatioil. It has a capital stock 
of $25,000, with $5,000 surplus, and owns the 
building in which its business is transacted. 
In 1854 Mr, Shiery was united in matrimony 
with Catherine Hess, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania, and four children have been born of 
this union, namely; Alice and John Henry, 
deceased; Cora A. (Mrs. Cole); and Bertha. 
Mr. Shiery has held the office of Township 
Supervisor and in fraternal circles has been 
identified with the A. F. & A. M. for thirty- 
four years. He is considered a sound and 
conservative financier and enjoys the confi- 
dence of the business and farming element of 
the community. 

SHINKEL, George Washington.— Shrewd busi- 
ness ability, special adaptiveness to his 
calling, appreciation of its many ad- 
vantages and belief in his own 
power to succeed placed George Wash- 
ington Shinkel among the foremost and 
most substantial promoters of agriculture in 
Fulton County. From the prairies his unaided 
industry brought forth ample means, permit- 
ting his retirement to Avon in 1893 and his con- 
signing to younger hands the tasks that made 
up the sum of his existence for twenty-four 
years. He has a modern and well furnished 
home on a pleasant street just outside of the 
corporation, and is regarded as one of the finan- 
cially strong and morally high retired farmers. 

Mr. Shinkel comes of old Pennsylvania 
Dutch stock, and he was born on a farm not 
far from the City of Brotherly Love, March 8, 
1845. His parents, John and Mary (Smith) 
Shinkel, were also natives of the same State, 
the former born March 17, 1798, and the latter 
December 6, 1800. They were farmers by occu- 
pation and spent their entire lives in the 
Quaker State. Their children were reared to 




ft (^ \J^^^^o^vvhAn>iL 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 103 



be honest and industrious and received better 
educations than usually fell to the lot of the 
average farm-born boys and girls. 

George Washington graduated from the 
country scnool near his home and also attended 
the Union Seminary in New Berlin, Pa. Am- 
bitious of more promising surroundings than 
were to be found in his native State, he came 
to Illinois at the age of twenty-four, reaching 
Fulton County April 19, 1869. Soon after he 
made arrangements to assume the management 
of the farm upon which so many of the later 
years of his life were spent, and on January 6, 
1876, was united in marriage to Mary E. 
Walker, who was a native of Fulton Coun- 
ty, where her birth occurred January 

I, 1855. Four children were born to 
them, namely: Etta, who died May 3, 1906; 
Mina, Anna and Nellie. Mrs. Shinkel is a 
daughter of J. G. and Minerva (Brown) Walker, 
the former a native of Kentucky and the latter 
of Fulton County, 111. They were the parents 
of nine children, as follows: Mary E., William 
W., Sidney, John C, Frances M., Arvilla Ann, 
George M., James H. and Eddie, who died in 
infancy. The parents lived on a farm in Lew- 
istowu Township, and in 1869 removed to 
Union Township, where he continued farming 
until ISU.'l, when he rented his farm and moved 
to Avon, where he is still living. The wife and 
mother passed away March 5, 1S94. Mr. 
Walker has since sold his farm. 

Local Republican politics has found a stanch 
supporter in Mr. Shinkel for many years, and 
for nine years he has served as Township As- 
sessor and ten years as a member of the School 
Board, t'raternally he is a member of the In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Re- 
bekahs. He is known throughout the county as 
a dependable and upright man, one who re- 
gards his word as he would his bond, and who 
has ever maintained the highest methods of 
farming, and the noblest ideals of home and 
community life. 

SHIPP, Dudley M. — One of the most impres- 
sive instances of the power of innate energy, 
self-reliance, indomitable resolution and inces- 
sant perseverance in molding an unaided career 
is manifest in the life of Dudley M. Shipp, who 
is one of the most influential and extensive 
farmers in Fulton County, 111., as well as one 
of Its most prominent and useful citizens. Mr. 
Shipp was born in Taylor County, Ky., October 

II, 1832, a son of Walker and Rebecca (Mar- 
dls) Shipp and a grandson of John Shipp, who 
was originally from Virginia. The father, who 
was by occupation a farmer, was born in Vir- 
ginia. Thence the family moved to Taylor 
County, Ky., settling afterwards in Hart Coun- 
ty. Grandfather John Shipp was one of the 
earliest settlers of Taylor County, much of the 
wild game still remaining there on his ad- 
vent. He built a wolf den and among his first 
catches was a huge black bear. When hunting 
he often came across panthers and but for his 



skill as a marksman would have been in great 
danger. 

In 1855 Dudley M. Shipp left the old home in 
a wagon and journeyed to Menard County, 111., 
remaining there until 1859. In September of 
that year he went to Havana, hauling his pos- 
sessions in a wagon, and was employed on a 
farm in Isabel Township, Fulton County, at |20 
per month, without board. Thus he 
worked for about a year for James Harpham. 
Having become the owner of some stock at the 
end of four years, he bought 164 acres of wild 
land on Section 24, Isabel Township, and built 
a two-room hewn-log cabin, sixteen by twenty- 
tour feet in dimensions, which still stands as a 
reminder of the early days of his experience in 
Isabel Township. In January, 1865, he moved 
into his new home and there lived until 1873, 
when he bought his present farm on Section 27, 
Isabel Township. In the fall of 1864 his par- 
ents located in Fulton County, where his 
father died in 1866. They had eight children 
besides Dudley, namely: John, who died at 
the age of sixteen years; Francis M., who died 
at the age of twenty-one years; James M., who 
was a Union soldier in the same regiment with 
John, and died in the hospital after the battle 
of Shiloh, in 1862; Sally A., widow of John 
Seay, a resident of Havana, 111.; Malinda, who 
died at the age of eighteen years; Ellen, wife 
of Joseph Jackson, of Miami, I. T., and Har- 
riet, dyeceased, wife of Thomas Seay, also de- 
ceased, who left two children — James and Bert. 
After the death of her husband the mother made 
her home with Joseph Jackson, her son-in-law, 
in Indian Territory, and there died in 1893. 

When Dudley M. Shipp arrived in Isabel 
Township he had two dollars and fifty cents in 
his pocket and was five hundred dollars in debt. 
After working by the month for one year he 
put in a crop of corn the following season and 
sold the product for $135. He then resumed 
his monthly work and the third year hired two 
men and put in seventy-five acres of corn. The 
Civil War breaking out, his men enlisted and 
left him alone. As he could obtain no other 
help, he began to plow his corn and did all his 
work, toiling from early until late, and plow- 
ing the balance of fifty acres in the time re- 
quired by two men to plow seventy-five acres, 
accomplishing this work with only one horse. 
His first start in the stock business was the 
purchase of three small steer calves, for which 
he paid $12, realizing from them $40 each on 
eighteen months' feed. He now has a superior 
grade of all kinds of stock. Through this sort 
of energy, thrift and perseverance he became 
one of the most successful farmers in Fulton 
County. To his first purchase of 164 acres, for 
which he paid $700, he added at intervals until 
he is now the owner of 827 acres of land, of 
which 686 are in Isabel Township and 112 in 
Lewistown and Bernadotte Townships. He has 
always been one of the hardest of workers and 
to his untiring industry, together with economy, 
frugality and fair dealing, is attributable his 



II04 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



great success. Born in a slave State, lie was 
always opposed to the institution and left Ken- 
tucky on account of it. 

Dudley M. Shipp was first married December 
15, 1851, wedding Mary A. Seay, a daughter of 
John Seay. Mrs. Shipp was the daughter of 
John Seay and Phoebe Ann (Little John) Seay, 
natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Her father 
was a farmer. The mother came to Fulton 
County when she was fourteen years of age and 
the father when he was twenty, and there they 
met and were married. The result of this 
union was eleven children, all of whom are 
living. The mother is also now living in Berna- 
dotte Township, where Mrs. Shipp and all the 
children were born in a log house, which is 
still standing. Her father bought 143 1-3 acres 
of timber and cleared the land, while her 
mother spun flax and sheared the sheep, and 
thereby provided clothing for the entire family. 
The mother is a devoted member of the Free 
Methodist Church. The father was a most ex- 
emplary man and chiefly affiliated with the 
Dunkard denomination. He was an exception- 
ally kind and loving father and nusband and 
when he was suddenly called away his loss was 
not only deeply felt by his immediate family, 
but by friends and neighbors throughout that 
part of the county. Three children resulted 
from this union, namely: Charles J., who died 
in infancy; John H., of Oklahoma, and George, 
who also died in infancy. The mother of this 
family died March 22, 1X82. On October 21, 
1882, Mr. Shipp was united in marriage with 
Sadie E. Landis, and their union has been the 
source of four children, as follows: Dudley L., 
who died May 8, 1906, at the age of twenty-one 
years; Bruce, Flossie and Earl. 

In politics Mr. Shipp has been a firm and 
active supporter of the Republican party from 
an early period, having cast his first presiden- 
tial vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was an ar- 
dent admirer of that great man and his cup of 
joy was filled when he read the Proclamation 
of Emancipation. Mr. Shipp has served in 
various local offices with signal credit to him- 
self, having acted as School Trustee for twenty- 
five years. He has taken a deep interest in the 
school system, realizing its prime importance 
the more on account of the meagerness of his 
own educational advantages in youth. He has 
cheerfully and liberally aided in all move- 
ments to promote the cause of education and 
pays taxes for its support in six school dis- 
tricts in Fulton County. In his religious faith 
Mr. Shipp is a Baptist, his wife being a member 
of the Free Methodist Church. Taken all in all, 
Mr. Shipp's career is one of the most remark- 
able instances in the annals of Fulton County 
of the rise to prominence and affluence of a 
man without extraneous aid and solely through 
his own intrinsic worth. 

SHOPE, Simeon P., ex-Justice of the Supreme 
Court of Illinois, and a former citizen of Lew- 
istown, Fulton County, was born at Akron, 



Ohio, December 3, 1836, a son of Simeon P. 
and Lucinda (Richmond) Shope, the former a 
native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Louis- 
iana. S. P. Shope, Sr., went to Mississippi 
while a young man, and there married, after 
which he removed to Akron, Ohio, later resid- 
ing successively at different places in Michi- 
gan, Illinois and Missouri, finally locating at 
Metamora, Woodford County, 111., and dying at 
El Paso, in that county, in 1867. S. P. Shope, 
Jr., was educated in the public schools and at 
Eureka College, after which he read law with 
Judge Norman H. Purple and Elihu N. Powell 
at Peoria, and was admitted to the bar in 1858, 
beginning practice at Metamora, but later re- 
moving to Lewistown. After serving one term 
as Representative in the General Assembly, to 
which he was elected in 1862, in 1877 he was 
elected Justice of the Circuit Court for the 
Sixth Judicial Circuit to fill the unexpired term 
of Judge Joseph Sibley, deceased, and two years 
later being re-elected for a full term. At the 
close of the latter term in 1885 he was elected 
to the Supreme Bench, serving a full term of 
nine years, imtil 1894, when he retired and has 
since been practicing his profession in Chicago. 
Judge Shope was married in 1857 to Sarah M. 
Jones, a daughter of Wesley and Eliza Jones, 
of Lewistown, and who died January 4, 1882, 
leaving two living children. In his political re- 
lations Judge Shope has been a Democrat, and 
besides seiwing in State and local conventions 
of his party, was a member of the Democratic 
National Convention of 1884 at Cincinnati, which 
nominated Grover Cleveland for his first term 
as President, and also tnat which endorsed the 
nomination of Greeley in 1872. He is 'a member 
of several fraternal orders, including the Ma- 
sons, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, 
Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen. 

SHORT, Amos T., one of the most prominent, 
enterprising and prosperous citizens of Farm- 
ington, Fulton County, 111., who is successfully 
engaged in the real-estate business in that city, 
was born in Farmington Township. Fulton 
County, March 23, 1861, a son of Scott and 
Anna (Thompson) Short, natives of Ireland. 
On coming to the United States Scott Short, 
who was a farmer by occupation, first located 
in Pennsylvania, moving thence to Illinois in 
1848, and sojourning for a time in Farmington, 
Fulton County. He then bought a farm in 
Salem Township, Knox County, 111., which he 
afterwards sold and went to Trivoli, 111., whence 
he returned to Farmington. Subsequently he 
moved to Nebraska, purchasing a farm there. 
He and his wife became the parents of seven 
children, six of whom are living. 

In boyhood Amos T. Short attended the dis- 
trict schools of Farmington Township and 
completed his education in the Central North- 
ern College and the State Normal School of In- 
diana. He then engaged in teaching school, 
which he continued for ten years in Peoria, 
Fulton and Schuyler Counties; also taught elo- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 105 



cut ion in Farmington. In 1886, while still en- 
gaged in teaching, he invested in the livery 
business in Farmington in partnership with W. 
S. Short, in which he is still interested. Retir- 
ing from teaching in 1894, he turned his atten- 
tion to the real-estate business, which he is 
still prosecuting, his transactions covering farm 
properties in Knox, Peoria and Fulton Coun- 
ties, in Illinois, and extending throughout Texas 
and the Southwest, the Dakotas, Minnesota and 
Canada. From .lune, lyotj, to November, 1906, 
he was in partnership in the latter enterprise 
with G. P. Burrell. Mr. Short is a member of 
the Business Men's Association of Farmington. 
The Pike Block in that city was built by him. 

In religious belief Mr. Short is a Congrega- 
tionalist. Politically is a Republican, and is 
popular in his party, exercising considerable 
influence in its local councils. In the spring 
of 1905 he was elected City Clerk of Farming- 
ton. In fraternal circles he is identified with 
the 1. O. O. F"., in which he has served as Sec- 
retary of Memento Lodge for fifteen years. Mr. 
Short is a man of exceptional mental capacity 
and of extensive information and is accounted 
one of the most energetic and progressive among 
the leading citizens of Farmington. 

SHREVES, William T.— One of the first pale 
faces to invade that domain of the Indian, 
since christened Young Hickory Township, was 
Asa Shreves, a cabin dweller who took up Gov- 
ernment land and converted the same into a 
valuable and paying pro])erty, and who es- 
tablished a precedent of life and labor since 
maintained by a large following. Of those 
bearing the name fifty-three sleep in the shad- 
owy churchyard at London Mills, which town 
arose upon land homesteaded in the early 
days by Madison Shreves, brother of Asa, and 
uncle of William T. Shreves, the latter a har- 
ness merchant of London Mills for the past 
thirteen years. 

Samuel Shreves, father of William T., and 
son of Asa Shreves, was born on the Young 
Hickory Township farm and married Mal- 
vina Roberts, a native of Kentucky. Mr. 
Shreves succeeded to the old place upon the 
death of his father, and upon it his son, Wil- 
liam T., was born in 1864. The father finally 
sold the property and allied his fortunes with 
the young State of Kansas, where he still lives, 
and where all of his seven children were 
reared. Of these William T. remained in Kan- 
sas until his eighteenth year, when he re- 
turned to London Mills, having, in the mean- 
time, learned the harness maker's trade, which 
he followed in London Mills, Prairie City and 
Altoona, finally permanently locating in the 
latter city during the early '90s. Beginning 
with a small shop he now has a large business, 
makes and repairs harness and saddles, and 
carries a full line of buggies, wagons, whips, 
robes and other horse-faring necessities. From 
the first he has placed his dependence upon 
good goods and fair representation, with the 



result that he has many permanent patrons 
among the best people of the town and country 
•Mr. Shreves is a wide-awake and progressive 
man, and has been prominently identified with 
the political and social life of the town of his 
adoption. A stanch Democrat, in compliance 
with his own inclinations and family tradi- 
tion, he has held various local offices." includ- 
ing that of Township and Village Clerk, which 
latter position he still holds. He stands high 
in Masonic circles, and for three terms served 
as Worshipful Master of Lodge No 848 of 
London Mills. He also is identified with 'the 
Knights of Pythias, and has passed through 
all of the chairs of Lodge No. 224. In June 
1897, Mr. Shreves was united in marriage to 
Viola Sherman, of Kansas, and daughter of 
William D. Sherman, a farmer of Young Hick- 
ory Township. A daughter, Ruth, has been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Shreves. Mr. Shreves is 
one of the substantial business men and pro- 
moters of London Mills, and has won an en- 
viable reputation for integrity, good judgment 
and public-splritedness. 

SHRYOCK, William M., senior member of the 
firm of Shryock & O'Brien, proprietors of the 
large and rtourishing monumental works at 
Canton, Fulton County. 111., represents a family 
which for more than seventy-four years has 
been identified with the industrial and business 
progress of this section of the State. His 
grandfather, Milton Shryock, migrated from 
his native State of Kentucky to Illinois in 
1833, and located in Canton as its first black- 
smith. During the same year, from the Blue 
Grass State, came the Carver family, of whom 
the daughter Rebecca is the member in whom 
this sketch is mostly concerned. She was a 
comely girl of eighteen, born near Lexington, 
Ky., February 6. 1815, and in the year following 
her arrival in Canton (1S34) married the stal- 
wart young blacksmith. From the town, in 
1836, the thrifty couple moved to the farm now 
forming a part of the village of St. David. 
There Mr. Shryock opened a general store, 
prospered in business, successfully speculated 
in lands, and at his death in June, 1891, owned 
one of the finest farms in the coal region, and 
other valuable property. He was universally 
respected, both for his able and honorable busi- 
ness qualifications and his strong and Christian 
traits as a man. Three generations of the 
Shryock family have been engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits in St. David, the present firm of 
Dainty & Pierson continuing the business of 
the old Shryock store, which has been in opera- 
tion for more than seventy years. Mrs. Milton 
Shryock is still living, at the advanced age of 
ninety-two years, a remarkable illustration of 
physical and mental preservation. 

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Milton Shryock, four of whom are deceased, 
those living being: Mrs. S. C. Wasson, of Can- 
ton; John C. Shryock and Mrs. George T. Bay- 



iio6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



lor, of Cuba, and Henry Shryock, of St. David. 
James P. Shryock, the father of William M., 
died March 17, 1S92, less than a year after the 
decease of Milton Shryock, to whom he was 
closely attached, and it is believed that the de- 
mise of the elder had much to do with the final 
decline of the latter. 

James Pleasant Shryock was born in Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County, 111., on the 
ISth of August, 183S, and at the time of his 
death was fifty-three years, six months and 
twenty-seven days old. On January 2, 1862, he 
married Miss Sarah W. Weller, and in the fol- 
lowing August enlisted in Company E, One 
Hundred and Third Regiment, Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry, for service in the Civil War. 
After one year's campaigning he was discharged 
on account of sickness. In January, 1863, he 
united with the Methodist Protestant Church at 
old Bbenezer Chapel, under the ministry of 
Rev. George L. Taylor. After his return from 
the army he devoted himself for many years to 
the pursuit of farming, and subsequently 
opened a store at St. David. Closing this out, 
he removed to Cuba in 1SS8, where he bought 
an interest in the Cuba and Leaman Clay 
Works. After disposing of this interest he be- 
came a partner in the formation of the Cuba 
Cigar Company and continued as its traveling 
representative until failing health, about a year 
before his decease, compelled him to withdraw 
from active work. His funeral, which took 
place at Cuba, was under the avispices of the 
Masonic fraternity, as he was for many years 
an active member of the Morning Star Lodge, 
No. 734, and of Canton Chapter. R. A. M. His re- 
mains were taken to Canton for burial, and 
the citizens of both places, in every possible 
way, expressed their deep sorrow over his death 
and their high appreciation of his fine, substan- 
tial and Christian traits of character. The de- 
ceased was for many years a very earnest sup- 
porter of the Methodist Protestant Church, and 
was never absent from a business meeting so 
long as his health would permit. While a resident 
of Cuba he was a member of the Town Board, 
gave much attention to public improvements, 
and showed in his public service, as in all other 
activities, an unfailing faithfulness and broad 
common sense. The children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. James P. Shryock were: Ida May. who 
married William Shurtleff, connected with 
Riley & Bailor, general merchants of Cuba; 
William M., of Canton; Freydessa, unmarried; 
and Mary, who died in infancy. 

William M. Shryock was born near St. Da- 
vid, Buckheart Township. Fulton County, on 
the 16th of May. 1866. After acquiring an edu- 
cation in the common branches he assisted his fa- 
ther on the farm and in the store, and for twelve 
years was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 
1902 he conducted a hardware and implement 
business at Cuba, whiche he conducted until he 
located in Canton, in July, 1904. He then found- 
ed the business mentioned, which has been 
steadily developed until it is one of the leading 
industries of the city. 



On February 6, 1886, Mr. Shryock was united 
in marriage with Miss Minnie C. O'Brien, 
daughter of James and Caroline (Snider) 
O'Brien, who came to Buckheart Township as 
early as 1860. Mrs. Shryock's father was born 
in New York, while her mother is a native of 
Tennessee. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Shryock are as follows: Carrie Glenn, Sarah 
H., Harry James, Lyle W., Cecil B., Gerald S., 
Helen and an infant (unnamed). In national 
politics Mr. Shryock is a Republican, but an 
independent in local matters. At one time he 
served as Town Clerk of Buckheart Township, 
although, as a rule, he has been too busy to 
"dabble" in politics. He is identified with the 
Modern Woodmen of America, Canton Lodge 
No. 295, and was a charter member of Bryant 
Camp, No. 4430. For about sixteen years he 
has attended the Christian Church, and is a man 
of unquestioned personal honor as well as of 
business ability. 

SHULL, John Newton. — The township of Lew- 
istown. Fulton County, ill., has no more thor- 
oughgoing, systematic and diligent farmer 
within its borders than the subject of this 
sketch. Mr. Shull, whose farm is located on 
Section 12 of that township, is a native of Vir- 
ginia, where he was born in Milnesville, Au- 
gusta County, August 30, 1864. The birth of 
his parents, John and Catherine (Goode) Shull, 
both of whom are deceased, occurred in the 
same locality. John Shull departed this life on 
September 22. 1904, at the age of seventy-four 
years, his wife having passed i way in 1896. Mr. 
ShuU's grandfather, John Shull, was of German 
descent and was a man of prominence in Vir- 
ginia. Grandfather Goode's family was of Ger- 
man origin. John and Catherine ( Goode ) Shull 
were the parents of twelve children, two of 
whom died in infancy. The others are as fol- 
lows: Henry, who is at the old homestead; 
Frances, who is the widow of Frank F. Stouta- 
myer, and lives in Virginia; Daniel P., whose 
home is also in Virginia; Mattie, who is the 
wife of Jacob Plecker, and resides near the old 
homestead in that State; William, who still 
remains in the Old Dominion; Jennie, who 
married Edward Davis, and is at home; John 
Newton, the subject of this sketch; Howard, 
who lives in Virginia; Samuel and Minor, who 
are at the old home. 

After receiving his early mental training in 
the common schools of his native State, John 
N. Shull first located in Fulton County in 1S85. 
In the fall of 1888 he went back to the scenes 
of his boyhood, where his experience in farm 
life had begun. Six months afterwards he re- 
turned to Illinois and worked at farming by 
the month for several years. In 1896 he took 
charge of the Wertman farm, remaining there 
until 1900, when he undertook the operation of 
the old John S. Lee farm, on Section 14, Lewis- 
town Township, where he has been very suc- 
cessful. He cultivates 160 acres and, besides 
his general farming, is a breeder of fine hogs. 
His stock always brings the highest price and 




.HiATise^^ /^6/isfaiq Cff. 



^'•f.6l|£^.S lif//,i^j ^_Bn rrr' 



yf oC£^ Ur^ d 



o/ 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 107 



the towuship figure for it holds good in the 
Chicago market. Mr. Shull is now engaged in 
raising full-blooded Percneron and Norman 
horses and Polled Angus cattle, and all of his 
stock is of the best grades. 

On December 2, 1896. Mr. Shull was united in 
marriage with Minnie Hess, a native of Fulton 
Counl.v, and a daughter of Daniel and Eliza- 
beth ( Gustine ) Hess, of whom the former is 
deceased and the latter resides in Lewistown, 
Fulton Count.v. Three children have resulted 
from this union, namely: Gladys, born June 
16, 191IU; Carter, born August 2o. 1904. and 
Clare, born December /, 19(16. In politics Mr. 
Shull is liberal in his views. He is pultlic- 
spirited and takes a good citizen's interest in 
the affairs of the township and county, but has 
persistently declined to accept office. In voting 
he always ai)plies the test of character. He is 
recognized as one of the best farmers in the 
township and has received many awards at 
different fairs on the quality of his stock e.v 
hibits. 

SIMMONS, Charles.— The hoisting engineer of 
the Canton Union Coal Company is a young 
man of energy and ability whose present re- 
sponsible position has been gained after unre- 
mitting application to the business of mining. 
Of Thomas Simmons, a member of the firm with 
which his son is connected, mention is made 
elsewhere in this work. He is one of the best 
known coal miners in this section of the State, 
and enjoys an enviable reputation for probity 
and sagacity. 

The entire life of Charles Simmons was spent 
in Canton, where he was born in 1875. He was 
educated in the public schools and entered upon 
his independent life as an apprentice to a cigar 
manufacturer, which he successfully followed 
until 1S97, when he became interested in coal 
mining, advancing rapidly through various 
stages to the position of hoisting engineer, 
which he assumed in April, 1904. The com- 
pany is one of the largest in Western Illinois, 
and Mr. Simmons has proved an important fac- 
tor in promoting its success. 

At Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1896, Mr. Sim- 
mons was united in marriage with Lona Mur- 
ray, and of the union there is one daughter, 
Verna. Mr. Simmons is in no sense a politician, 
nor is he interested in affairs outside of his 
immediate field of usefulness. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Knights of Pythias. 

SIMMONS, Mrs. Charlotte L. J.— It is doubtful 
if any member of the leisure class of Avon can 
lay claim to such contrast of existence, or to 
such tangible or mental reminders of interest- 
ing personages and associations, as Mrs. Char- 
lotte L. J. Simmons. The chief life scenes of 
this well known woman have been F^lorence, 
Italy, the most fascinating and interesting art 
and literary center of the southern peninsula, 
and Fulton County, destined to ceaselessly 
move toward its supreme prosperity ever since 



her arrival here in 1841. Mrs. Simmons was 
Ijorn in Florence, December 10, 1827, and in 
her youth attended the -schools of the beautiful 
city of Dante and Savonarola, of Michael An- 
gelo and Fra Angelica. Her parents were Eloi 
Dennis and Amanda Theresa (Gallet) Mail- 
Hard, natives of Morfontaine, France, and 
Ijorn March 9, 1797, and September 26, 1804, 
respectively. 

Eloi Dennis Mailliard was a man of educa- 
tion and diiiloiiiacy. and for years was the per- 
sonal and trusted attenaant of Joseph Bona- 
l)arte. eldest brother of the Emperor of 
France, his brother (Louis Mailliard) being 
the life secretary of Joseph Bonaparte and the 
executor of his will at his death. Like the ill- 
fated Exile of St. Helena, Joseph was born at 
Corte, Corsica, his natal day being January V, 
1768. His death occurred in Florence, Italy, 
July 28, 1S44. Joseph arose through his own 
ability and tlie iiitlueuce of his brother to high 
places, becoming a member of the Council of 
Five Hundred in 1798, Council of State in 1799, 
King of Xaples in 1806 and King of Spain in 
1808. He lived in the United States from 1815 
until 18o2, under the name of the Comte de 
Survilliers, and returned to Florence, with its 
heroic recollections of the best ana most 
glorious in the life of Italy, where his death 
occurred as heretofore stated, in 1844. It was 
as the every-day companion of this man that 
Mr. Mailliard spent many years of his life, and, 
in connection with him and his own private in- 
terests, he visited the United States in 1816, 
1824, 18:j8 and 1841, his journey here in 1838 
resulting in his purchase of the farm near 
Avon, Fulton County, upon which he settled 
with his family in 1841. Nor was .Joseph Bona- 
parte the only person of note with whom Mr. 
Mailliard was identified. He knew well Char- 
lotte, daughter of Joseph and Julia Clairy 
Bonaparte. Caroline in 1800 married Prince 
-Murat. the great cavalry commander, and after 
the overthrow and execution of the latter for 
complicity in Austrian affairs, in 1815, was 
known as the Countess Lipona. 

Charlotte Bonaparte, who became godmother 
of Mrs. Simmons, was born in Paris, France, 
October 20. 1781, and August IS, 1803, married 
Louis, King of Holland, who was the father of 
.Napoleon III., and brother of the famous Em- 
peror Napoleon I., and it was through her gen- 
erosity and appreciation of the faithful services 
to her brother Joseph that Mrs. Simmons in- 
herits from her father many takens of price- 
less value. To her father was given by Joseph 
Bonaparte an "Ecce Homo" of Raphael, 400 
years old, and a miniature of Josepn and Char- 
lotte Bonaparte, and to Mrs. Sim- 
mons Princess Charlotte presented person- 
ally a set of rubies and opals, a cross and 
earrings, which were once in possession of 
Queen Caroline, and which had fallen to Char- 
lotte upon the division of the Queen's property. 
These and many other relics Mrs. Simmons 
prizes as reminders of her dynastic early sur- 



iio8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Foundings, and her personal recollections of a 
family than which none has played a greater 
part in shaping the destiny of the world. 

Mrs. Simmons' present home consists of thirty 
acres within the limits of Avon. All of her lite 
since 1841 has been spent in this comunity. 
Her Florentine education was supplemented by 
instruction from a private tutor in this county, 
and her early impetus toward mental growth 
has been zealously followed up with continuous 
reading and research during the intervening 
years. In Avon, May 18, 1847, she was united 
in marriage to George Simmons, who died 
January 6, 1892, and of the union there are two 
children, George, Jr., and Emlia. The family are 
members of the Roman Catholic Church. Not- 
withstanding her seventy-seven years, Mrs. 
Simmons' memory is unclouded, and her other 
faculties unimpaired. Sixty-five years upon 
the prairies of the Central West have made of 
her a loyal American citizen, yet she treasures 
her earlier memories of the quaint, romantic 
city upon the banks of the sluggish Arno, and 
her unpurchasable relics which speak of friend- 
ships among people whose names are written 
large upon the pages of European history. 

SIMMONS, Thomas. — The value in business of 
concentrating one's forces upon a given line of 
activity, of correctly gauging its importance 
among the needs of the world, and keeping 
pace with the ever-changing conditions sur- 
rounding it, is confirmed anew in the success 
of Thomas Simmons, manager of the Canton 
Union Coal Company. Mr. Simmons has been 
studying the coal question ever since the begin- 
ning of his wage-earning career, thirty-one 
years ago. He then was twenty-four years old, 
having been born in 18.52, on a farm in St. 
Louis County, Mo. His ancestors on both sides 
of the family pursued their respective callings 
in England, in which country were born his 
parents, Joseph and Mary A. (Pearson) Sim- 
mons. The family came to America in 1842, 
locating soon after in St. Louis County. 

Mr. Simmons was educated in the public 
schools and in 1874 began to work in the coal 
mines of Illinois, continuing thus until .1886. 
He was frugal and industrious, besides his own 
ambition, having the incentive of providing for 
his own home, establishd in 1873 through his 
marriage to Delia, daughter of J. 'W. Grover, of 
Canton, 111. Of this union there are two chil- 
dren — Charles and Joseph. In 1884 Mr. Sim- 
mons took charge of the coal business of A. 
■W. Heald. and in 1895 organized the Canton 
Union Coal Company, of which he since has 
been manager. Mr. Simmons supports the Re- 
publican party with his ballot, but he has never 
entertained official aspirations. His fraternal 
connections are with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He 
is truly a self-made man, climbing from the 
bottom round of the ladder without other aids 
than a kindly and courteous nature and large 
capacity for painstaking industry. He is pub- 



lic-spirited and progressive, and always has ad- 
vocated those worthy undertakings which were 
calculated to advance the community in which 
he lives. 

SIMPSON. John F., who has been successfully 
engaged in farming in Farmington Township, 
Fulton County, 111., since 1860, was born in 
that township on June 9, 1842, a son of John 
and Margaret (Cordner) Simpson, natives of Ire- 
land. John Simpson followed the occupation 
of a weaver in the old country. He came to 
the United States in 1824 and lived for a time 
in Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade. 
In 18o4 he made his way to Illinois, and after 
spending ten months in Canton, located on 
Section 12, Farmington Township, purchasing 
160 acres of land of Charles Sargent, fifteen 
acres of which had been broken up. His 
journey from Philadelphia westward was made 
by canal to Pittsburg, thence to Copperas 
Creek, 111., by river, and to Canton, 111., by 
ox team wagon. At first he lived in a log 
cabin on his new purchase, but subsequently 
built a convenient frame dwelling, which he 
occupied until his death, in 1854. To him and 
his wife were born seven children, as follows: 
Ann J., Margaret H., Sarah M., William, S. 
James, Mary E., and John F. 

John F. Simpson has spent his life on the 
homestead property. In boyhood he attended 
the district schools in the vicinity, and com- 
pleted his education in a select school. He took 
charge of the paternal acres in 1860, and from 
that time carried on general farming and stock- 
raising there, with invariable siiccess. Of late 
years he has raised some fruit and berries. 
The farm consists of 205 acres. 

Mr. Simpson has been twice married. In 
1871 he was united in marriage at Farmington, 
111., with Martha Dickie, who was born in 
Pennsylvania. Six children resulted from this 
union, namely: William N., Walter D., I. 
Warren, Mary E., Margaret and Burt N. The 
mother of this family died in June, 1880. On 
February 18, 1885, Mr. Simpson wedded, as 
his second wife, Sarah E. Patterson, who was 
born in Greenfield, Ohio, and accompanied her 
parents to Illinois when she was quite young. 
The offspring of this marriage was one child, 
Alice K., born December 12, 1887. 

In politics, Mr. Simpson is a Republican, and 
his religious connection is with the Presbyterian 
Church. Two older brothers of Mr. Simpson, 
William and S. J., served in the Union Army 
during the Civil War, the latter dying at Pitts- 
burg Landing a few days after the battle there. 
William is still living near Fort Scott, Kan. 

SINGLETON, J. E. — As one of the native born 
sons of Avon, 111., Mr. Singleton has lived to 
see many wonderful changes in the develop- 
ment of his home city, both in numbers and in 
importance as a business center. His father, 
Joseph R. Singleton, who was a native of Ohio, 
came hither and located as early as 1855, his 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 109 



chief stock in trade at that time consisting of 
his knowledge of the plasterer's trade. He found 
competent workmen in his line in considera- 
ble demand, so he was never at a loss for work. 
To the plasterer's trade he later added stone 
and brick masonry, and throughout his life fol- 
lowed work along these varied lines. He passed 
away in Avon in 1904. His marriage united him 
with Alvira Houts, who was born in Indiana, 
though, while she was still a young child, her 
parents removed to Illinois and settled in Avon, 
and here it was that her marriage with Mr. 
Singleton was celebrated. During the Civil War 
Mr. Singleton responded to his country's call 
for able-bodied men, and after his term of serv- 
ice was over he returned to his home in Avon 
and once more resumed the peaceful pursuits 
of civil life. At one time he served as Town- 
ship Collector. 

J. E. Singleton was born in Avon in .January, 
1859, and after receiving his education in the 
schools of his native town, for a few years 
found employment with neighboring farmers. 
Deciding that his tastes did not lie in that di- 
rection he determined to learn the mason's 
trade, in which he was trained by his father, 
who was an expert in that calling. From the 
time of completing his apprenticeship until re- 
cently, or for about twenty-six years, he has 
followed his trade continuously, having in the 
meantime also been engaged in contracting and 
building. He has executed contracts in Quincy, 
Galesburg, Bushnell and for one winter he fol- 
lowed his trade in Riverside, Cal. Much of the 
building that has been done in Avon has been 
executed by Mr. Singleton, who is an adept in 
his line, as is evidenced in the substantial char- 
acter of the structures which he has erected. 
In 1902 he erected the residence now occupied 
by the family, the grounds covering six acres, 
and formerly known as the Peterson place. Be- 
sides the home place Mr. Singleton also owns 
eighty acres, which he purchased from Charles 
Murphy, and which lie one mile east of Avon. 
He has also made investments in business prop- 
erty, having recently purchased a new brick 
business block, 24 by 62 feet. 

In Avon, in 1901, Mr. Singleton was married 
to Sophia Hovell, who through her parents, 

Thomas and (Reynolds) Hovell, was the 

descendant of a long line of English ancestors. 
Mr. Singleton takes a commendable interest in 
the welfare of his home town, and for about ten 
years he has been a member of the Town 
Board. Fraternally he belongs to the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights 
of Pythias, while in his religious preferences 
he belongs to the Universalist Church. 

SLACK, Alexander (deceased), one of the oldest 
residents of Fulton County, 111., where he spent 
about forty years in farming operations, was 
born in Lancaster, England, April 21, 1822, a 
son of John and Anna (Garside) Slack, who 
were also natives of that country, and there 



passed their lives. The occupation of the 
father was that of a mechanic. 

In boyhood Alexander Slack attended the 
public schools for a short time in Lancashire, 
and at a very early age went to work in a 
factory, in which he was employed until he 
came to the United States in 1846. At first 
he located in Rhode Island, remaining there 
until 1849, when he made his way to Illinois 
and settled in Fulton County. 'The journey 
was accomplished by canal to Buffalo; thence 
to Chicago by lake, and from Lasalle to Cop- 
peras Creek, 111., by river. For a few months he 
sojourned in Buckheart Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, and in the fall of 1849, established his home 
in Section :i2, Farmington Township, where 
he had purchased forty acres of land. His 
brother. Nathaniel, broke up and fenced the 
land and Mr. Slack bought a log cabin of Dr. 
Xewton, another early settler, which he moved 
to the tract, making other necessary improve- 
ments thereon. He afterwards bought an addi- 
tional forty acres to the south of the first. 
There he was engaged in general farming and 
stock-raising until 1885, when he withdrew 
from active pursuits. He marketed his grain 
at Copperas Creek, and hauled his hogs to Lan- 
caster. On retiring from work he left the care 
of the farm to one of his sons, who is also the 
owner of 200 acres in that vicinity. 

In 1844, Mr. Slack was joined in matrimonial 
bonds with Hester Cross, the marriage occur- 
ring in his native country, which was also that 
of his wife. Two children were the offspring 
of this union, namely: William and Henry, 
who are on the homestead property. The 
mother died May 5, 1895, and Mr. Slack on 
March 20, 1907. In politics, Mr. Slack supported 
the policies of the Democratic party. For a 
number of years he served his township as 
School Director. 

SLAUTER, Perry M. — Among those whose 
residence in Farmington, Fulton County, 111., 
dates from a very recent period, but who have 
in a short time become prominently identified 
with the business interests of the town, is the 
gentleman whose name forms the caption of 
this article. By exceptional capacity in his vo- 
cation, sound methods of dealing and innate 
force of character, he has already drawn to his 
store, within less than two years from the time 
of beginning operations, a fair share of public 
patronage, and made it as attractive a resort 
as any of the long-established jewelry concerns 
in Farmington. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the 
State of Missouri, where he was born in the 
village of Novelty, in 1871, a son of William 
Wesley and Mary M. (Cratzer) Slauter, the 
former born in Indiana in 1830 and the latter 
a native of Ohio. William Wesley Slauter was 
a farmer by occupation and was engaged in 
tilling the soil in Indiana for a number of 



mo 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



years. He served five years in Company K, 
Twenty-third Regiment Indiana Volunteer In- 
fantry, in which he ranked as Lieutenant. He 
was captured by the Confederate troops and 
confined in Libby Prison for six months. He 
was a man of diligent habits and excellent 
character and commanded the respect and con- 
fidence of all with whom he came in contact. 

Perry M. Slauter received his early mental 
training in the public schools of Indianapolis. 
Ind.. and after finishing his studies secured his 
first employment in a jewelry store. With that 
business he has been connected since he 
reached the age of fourteen years, and has at- 
tained a degree of expert skill second to that 
possessed by few who are engaged in it. He 
has mastered in full the construction of 
watches and clocks, and is experienced in every 
detail of the watchmaker's art. On one occa- 
sion Mr. Slauter engraved a gold pen, which 
was presented to President Roosevelt by the 
colored people of Indianapolis. In that city he 
acted in the capacity of manager for J. C. Lipe, 
a diamond merchant and importer, and later 
was head mechanic for Ayers & Sons, jewelry 
manufacturers, of Keokuk, Iowa. Mr. Slauter 
located in Farmington in 1904 and established 
himself in the jewelry business, conducting 
also a repairing shop, and has built up a fine 
trade. 

In 1S9d Mr. Slauter was united in marriage 
with Zula Z. Stafford, who was born in Indian- 
apolis, Ind., where in early youth she attended 
school. This union has resulted in two chil- 
dren — Henry and William. Mrs. Slauter is a 
daughter of Mr. Stafford, who is the foreman 
of E. C. Atkins' saw manufacturing concern. 
She was at one time the buyer for Gumvinsky 
& Co.'s millinery establishment in Indianapolis. 
She is an expert milliner and conducts a first- 
class millinery store in Farmington. Both she 
and her husband have been remarkably suc- 
cessful in their respective lines during their 
short residence there, and this result is at- 
tributable, as before stated, to a high degree of 
competence in their respective lines and the 
possession of sterling traits of character. Mr. 
Slauter's religious belief is in accordance with 
the creed of the Methodist Church and frater- 
nallv he is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. and the 
K. of P. 

« SLOSS. William, a retired farmer of 
Canton Township, Fulton County, 111., who is 
now exempt from the cares of active exertion, 
having through years of industry, economy 
and careful management, acquired a compe- 
tency, was born in the township where he now 
resides, on October 23, 1847, a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Butler) Sloss, natives of North 
Carolina and Virginia, respectively. John 
Sloss left his southern home in 1833, and jour- 
neyed to Illinois, settling in Fulton County. 
He located in Section 3, Canton Township, 
where he bought from the Government a tract 
of 148 acres of land. Having improved his 



purchase, he applied himself to the cultivation 
of the soil, and followed that occupation during 
the remainder of his lite, dying November 26, 
18.50. His wife passed away August 8, 1871. 
They were the parents of six children, namely: 
Tamzen E., Daniel W., Sarah V., John, William 
and Joseph. 

William Sloss was reared on his father's 
farm, and in early youth attended the district 
schools of Canton Township. On reaching years 
of maturity he devoted his attention to farming 
in the same vicinity, which he continued thus 
with constant success, improving his farming 
property in comfortable style, building a house, 
barn, etc., on the premises. Besides his farm 
of 179 acres in Section 3, Canton Township, he 
is the owner of 160 acres of land in Section 35, 
Farmington Township. In 1902, he built an 
attractive residence a short distance north of 
Canton, which he has since occupied as his 
home. 

On December 8, 1886, Mr. Sloss was united in 
marriage with Mary McCutchen. who was born 
in Fulton County, and one child, Anness, has 
been the offspring of this union. Politically, 
the subject of this sketch is a supporter of the 
Republican party, and although not active in 
partisan contests, takes an intelligent inter- 
est in public affairs. He has been one of the 
most successful farmers of the county, and his 
personal character and standing are of a high 
order. 

SMITH, (Colonel) Augustus B, (deceased). — A 
gallant soldier during the Civil War, for many 
years identified with a successful hardware 
business in the city of Canton, one of the most 
efficient Sheriffs that Fulton County has ever 
known, and for many years a popular member 
of the retired colony of the town. Colonel 
Augustus B. Smith was one of the most inter- 
esting and attractive personalities that have 
lent worth and distinction to this part of the 
State, and that have drawn from its opportuni- 
ties and environment the essentials of a broad 
and public-spirited life. 

Colonel Smith was of New England lineage, 
born" in Greenfield, Saratoga County N. Y., June 
2, 1833. He was reared on the farm of his 
father, John Smith, who was born in Connecti- 
cut, but who came to Greenfield as a young man, 
and there passed the balance of his life. He 
married Cynthia Hewitt, representative of an 
old New York family. At the age of eighteen 
Augustus B. started out to seek the experiences 
and rewards of an independent life, journeying 
to Illinois, where (in Vermont) he clerked a 
couple of years in the general store of Judge 
Tunnicliff. For some time hislife was threatened 
by a severe attack of cholera, but upon re- 
covering he took up the burden of self-support 
with renewed zest in his native Saratoga Coun- 
ty, clerking for two years for his brother, J. G. 
Smith. For the following few months 
he clerked for another brother, Amos, 
in Canton, Fulton County, and next 




A. S. WHITE 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



nil 



lived at Copperas Creek Landing, where 
he engaged in the commission busi- 
ness with fair success, and where all of his 
earthly possessions were destroyed by fire. Re- 
turning to Canton, he established a hardware 
business with his brother Amos, and was thus 
employed at the breaking out of the Civil 
War. 

The Civil War service of Colonel Smith was 
not the whim of a youth seeking novelty and 
adventure, but the settled conviction of a man 
of twenty-nine, whose sympathies were aroused 
in a cause thoroughly and intelligently under- 
stood. Enlisting in August, 1862, in Company 
K, One Hundred and Third Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, he was mustered in as First Lieuten- 
ant, in July, listi;;, was advanced to the rank of 
Captain, and during the Atlanta campaign was 
promoted to the position of Inspector General 
of the First Division of the Fifteenth Army 
Corps. Up to this time he was in continuous 
command of his regiment, and participated in 
practically all of the important battles which 
distinguished that i)eriod. He was to the fore 
in the siege and capture of Atlanta, and thence 
accompanied General Sherman on his March 
to the Sea, through the Carolinas to Rich- 
mond, and on to Washington, where he took 
part in the Grand Review. His honorable dis- 
charge occurred in Louisville. Ky.. in lS6.j. 
The martial career of Colonel Smith was dis- 
tinguished by courage, initiative, and profound 
knowledge of military tactics. He was a 
stent and relentless disciplinarian, and as In- 
spector General maintained the highest and 
most rigid tenets of that office. Nevertheless, 
a kindly heart and inexhaustible sympathy 
might be detected under the demeanor of the 
soldier, and instances are numerous of con- 
siderations shown and kindnesses proffered. But 
he was first of all the soldier, the man who, 
knowing how to control himself, could command 
and control others. 

Returning to Canton, the experiences of camp 
and field faded gradually as Colonel Smith 
again took up the burdens and responsibili- 
ties of civilian life, and he continuea to conduct 
his hardware business until elected Sheriff of 
Fulton County, in 188B, on the Republican 
ticket. His record as Sheriff, during which he 
made his home in Lewistown, is recalled as an 
able and eminently satisfactory one. Varied 
experience had made him a judge of men, and 
the habit of discipline and command, acquired 
in the war, facilitated a control of the unruly 
and lawless element with which he had to con- 
tend as Sheriff. Under his administration 
crime was materially lessened in the county, 
and it lost ground as a comfortable or hospit- 
able abode of evil doers. He was otherwise 
honored by the Republican party of the State, 
serving, with the rank of Colonel, on the staffs 
of at least two of the Governors of Illinois — 
that of Governor, Oglesby in 1885, and of Gov- 
ernor Fifer in 1889. 

Colonel Smith was thrice married, the cere- 



mony uniting him with his last wife, formerly 
Addie Payne, taking place in 1882. He was 
the father of four children; Gussie E. by his 
first marriage, ana Charles, Albert and Jerry, 
by his second marriage. Colonel Smith bore 
out in his personal appearance the strength of 
character and varied ability which contributed 
to and regulated his usefulness. He was an 
earnest, masterful man; a loyal friend and for- 
giving foe; a man who profited by nis experi- 
ences, and drew therefrom sane and practical 
ideas of life and work. He died May 22, 1904. 

SMITH, Charles M., who has been a life-long 
resident of Banner Township, Fulton County, 
where he was born February 26, 1868, and 
where at the present time he occupies a farm 
of eighty acres on Section 7, is one of the 
progressive and well posted agriculturists of his 
neighborhood, a student of men and affairs, and 
a great reader of periodicals which reflect the 
great improvements of the age along the lines 
of his chosen occupation. 

Though inheriting many of the admirable 
qualities of his pioneer father, William H. 
Smith, a sketch of whom may be found else- 
where in this work, Charles M. has worked 
out his own success along independent grooves, 
and has done his own thinking, iilanning and 
managing. He had the advantage of such 
farming and business training as his father 
was able to give him, and which included a 
thorough knowledge of milling, in which the 
older man engaged for several years. His ed- 
ucation was acquired in the public schools. 
September 19, 1889, he was united in marriage 
with Clara, daughter of Thomas Fonts, the lat- 
ter one of the pioneers of Fulton County, and 
of the union there is one son, Elmer. Mr. Smith 
follows in the footsteps of his forbears politic- 
ally, and supports with his vote the Democratic 
party. He is a home-loving, quiet citizen, and 
his friends and immediate associates admire 
his sincerity and kindly feeling, and those 
whom he meets in the paths of commerce rely 
upon his Integrity and good judgment. 

SMITH, Cyrus (deceased), who — if any one 
ever deserved the appellation of a self-made 
man — was fully entitled to that characteriza- 
tion, and who was long a very conspicuous 
figure in the industrial and mercantile annals 
of Canton, Fulton County, 111., was born in the 
vicinity of Saratoga. X. Y.. November .5, 1823, 
a son of John and Cynthia (Hewitt) Smith, 
both natives of the State of Connecticut. John 
Smith followed farming throughout his active 
life. He and his wife were the parents of 
fourteen children, all of whom grew to maturity. 
One of them, Edwin Smith, Is now living at 
Greenfield Center, Saratoga County, N. Y., 
where he is engaged in farming. 

Cyrus Smith attended the subscription 
schools of Greenfield Center in boyhood, and on 
account of the expense incident to the mainte- 
nance of so large a family, found it necessary to 



III2 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



assist his parents by worl?ing diligently during 
his youth. He was "his mothers boy." He 
carried strawberries six miles for her in order 
to exchange them for groceries, and chopped 
wood on the mountains, hauling it home with 
oxen tor domestic use. While still young he 
had the misfortune to break both of his arms, 
and this affliction added to the many difficulties 
with which he was obliged to contend. At the 
outbreak of the California gold-fever he went 
to that territory in quest of the precious metal, 
and after prospecting without success, returned 
to the East. In 1848, he located in Canton, 111., 
with but twent.v-five cents in his possession, 
and was employed in the hardware trade by 
his brother, Amos, who had settled in Canton 
some years previously. The store was in a 
building now owned by the widow of Cyrus 
and occupied by Scripps and Greer. In 1858 the 
two brothers, Cyrus and Augustus B., were 
prosperously engaged in the grain, warehouse 
and hotel business at Copperas Creek Landing, 
where they suffered a loss of about $40,000 by 
fire. After the destruction of their property, 
Mr. Smith had $500 left, and bought, of Joel 
Wright the lot on which Mrs. Smith now lives. 
Her mother took Joseph Maxwell's 
children to care for them, and through that 
incident, Mr. Smith became acquainted with the 
lady who afterwards became his wife. For one 
year, he was engaged in the hardware business 
in connection with his brother and John Olds. 
He then leased a grocery store on the north 
side of the square, in Canton, where he re- 
mained three years, making satisfactory profits. 
After that he was without occupation until his 
brother Amos died, in 1870, when he bought 
the latter s business interests. He also pur- 
chased a half-interest in the store building be- 
longing to Mrs. Jennie Fisher, a daughter of 
his brother Amos. Sixteen years afterwards 
he purchased the other half-interest in this 
building, and continued in business there until 
the time of his death. At that time he was 
the owner of 300 acres of land in the vicinity 
of Canton, on February 8, 1878, having bought 
the "Stockdale" farm, which, however, was 
never cultivated by him. He passed away 
October 1, 1903. 

At Hudson, III., on November 7, 1877, Mr. 
Smith was united in marriage with Sarah Orr, 
a daughter of Andrew and Nancy (bales) Orr, 
who was born on a farm near Springfield, 111., 
December 27, 1840. Her mother died when she 
was quite young, and she was reared by Mrs. 
Rebecca Ewing, of West Virginia. Mrs. Smith 
is a first cousin of former Governor Orr, of 
South Carolina. Mrs. Smith, who is surrounded 
by all the comforts of life, is still vigorous and 
vivacious, and is distinguished by her many 
graces of mind and heart. She is a very esti- 
mable woman, and is held in cordial regard by 
numerous friends. 

Cyrus Smith was a Republican in politics, and 
although never an aspirant for official position, 
always took an intelligent and lively interest 



in public affairs and current events. He was 
a man of acute mental powers, keen perception, 
sound judgment and indomitable energy. He 
will long be remembered as one of the most 
diligent, reliable and successful merchants who 
has ever been identified with the business ac- 
tivities of Fulton County. 

SMITH, Francis M., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming in Section 11, Lewistown 
Township, Fulton County, was born in that 
township November 11, 1861, a son of William 
Walker Smith, a sketch of whose life may be 
found elsewhere in this volume. The birth of 
Mr. Smith took place on the paternal farm, and 
there he was reared, receiving his mental train- 
ing in the district schools of his neighborhood 
and the high school of Lewistown, Fulton 
County. 

On reaching early manhood the subject of 
this sketch applied himself to farming on his 
own responsiljility. Although still a compara- 
tively young man, he has witnessed many 
changes in the methods of farming operations 
since he became able to make himself useful 
on the parental homestead, and often recalls 
the period when he plowed corn with the old- 
fashioned double-shovel plow. He is the owner 
of about ninety-eight acres of excellent land, 
well improved and under a high state of culti- 
vation. Much of his attention is devoted to 
stock-raising, and he breeds the best grades of 
horses, cattle and hogs. He is an enterprising 
and thorough farmer and his diligent and ener- 
getic efforts have produced satisfactory results. 

On December 31, 1SS4, Mr. Smith was united 
in marriage with Carrie Buffum, who was born 
in Fulton County, 111., a daughter of George 
and Maria (Minter) Buffum. Her father died 
in December, 1SS4. Her mother still survives 
and is a resident of Lewistown. Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith are the parents of two sons, namely: 
Lucien L., who was born November 1, 1SS7, 
and Willard F., born in February, 1891. To 
them Mr. Smith has afforded the best of edu- 
cational advantages, of which they have made 
appreciative use, and bid fair to become serv- 
iceable and reputable members of the com- 
munity. 

In politics Mr. Smith is a firm supporter of 
the Republican party and has creditably filled 
various local offices of trust. His first presi- 
dential vote was cast for Blaine and Logan. He 
has always manifested an earnest interest in 
public affairs and has taken a prominent part 
in the furtherance of all measures devised to 
promote the general welfare. In him the cause 
of education finds a warm advocate and liberal 
patron. Mr. Smith and his estimable wife are 
consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

SMITH, Francis Marion, who for years has 
been a local Republican of considerable influ- 
ence and usefully concerned in school matters, 
was born May 17, 1859, a son of John F. and 




JOHN WINCHEL 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1113 



Sarah J. (Williams) Smith, both natives ot 
Adams County, Ohio. The father was a farmer, 
came to Fulton at an early day and became 
very successful and wealthy. Francis lived 
with his parents upon the farm and did much 
to assist his father to a position of comfort and 
independence. While becoming proficient in 
the science and practice of agriculture, he ac- 
quired a far broader education than most young 
men who designed to follow that industry. 
After laying a solid elementary foundation in 
the district schools he pursued courses both at 
the Western Normal School, at Bushnell, 111., 
and at Hedding's College, Abingdon. Thus for- 
tified Mr. Smith confidently entered into the 
independent life of the wise husbandman, being 
successful both as farmer and man. He is now 
the proprietor of 130 acres of finely improved 
land, comprising his valuable homestead, and 
has also a substantial standing as a man of 
affairs. For years he has served as School Di- 
rector with great personal credit and to the 
public satisfaction. In politics he is stanchly 
Republican. 

On the 12th of September, 1893, Mr. Smith 
was united in marriage with Mary A. Leister, 
of Canton, 111., the ceremony occurring in Lee 
Township. His wife was born November 18, 
1871, and of their union there have been born 
five children: Vera A., Alice V., Dora F., Es- 
ther V. and Ray A. Mr. Smith is a leading 
member in his locality of the Methodist Church 
South. 

SMITH, Francis V. — Through the business 
ability, oljligingness and courtesy of its owner, 
the grocery store of Francis V. Smith in a com- 
paratively short time has become an important 
source of supply to the people of Ijiava and vi- 
cinity. Mr. Smith derived much of his knowl- 
edge of food products on the farm of his father 
in Bernadotte Township, Fulton County, where 
he was born February 28, 1868, and where he 
lived until attaining his majority. 

Mr. Smith first entered upon an independent 
business career on a cattle ranch in Iowa, 
where he remained nine months, and during 
that time saved the greater part of his earn- 
ings. Returning to Ipava in 1893, he was united 
in marriage to Emma Faye Culver, a native of 
Missouri, and daughter of Solon Culver, men- 
tion of whom may be found elsewhere in this 
work. For two years after his marriage Mr. 
Smith operated the home farm in Bernadotte 
Township, and in 1895 moved into Ipava, 
whence he made a trip to Eldorado Springs, 
Mo., in the fall of 1S97. Having secured a posi- 
tion as clerk in a general store, he again set- 
,tled in Ipava in 1899, and until 1903 served as 
clerk in the general store of William Roddis. 
He then bought a stock of groceries and es- 
tablished a business of his own, in the mean- 
time working up a trade which has far exceed- 
ed his expectations. 

Mr. Smith entertains a commendable interest 
32 



in public affairs, is a firm believer in good 
schools and general civilizing agencies, and 
supports by his vote the Republican party. He 
is prominent socially and a member of the 
Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen 
of America. With his wife he is identified with 
the Presbyterian Church. 

SMITH, James. — It has been the privilege of 
the subject of this sketch to live beyond man's 
allotted four-score years and, in the evening 
of his ninety-one years, realizes the development 
of the fine farming property which has been 
his home for seventy-five years, in the accom- 
plishments ot which he has been an active factor 
as well as in the events which have contributed 
to the history of Fulton County. Mr. Smith 
was reared in the midst of humble surroundings 
in Hart County. Ky., where he was born August 
12. 1816. His parents, Daniel and Rachel 
(Garrison) Smith, were natives of Alabama, 
who settled in Hart County about i809. About 
1819 Daniel Smith moved with his family from 
Kentucky to Hamilton County, in Southern 
Illinois, where .lames Smith grew to manhood, 
a tireless worker on the home farm, the numer- 
ous tasks of which limited the possibilities of 
his attendance at the district school, and inter- 
ferred even with his efforts at self-education. 

It was during the summer of 1840 that Mr. 
Smith accompanied his brother-in-law, James 
Trotter, from Wayne County, 111., to Fulton 
County, the journey being made on horseback, 
and under trying circumstances. They were 
obliged to travel at night, owing to the green- 
head flies which tormented the horses and they 
made a final settlement on Otter Creek, Pleas- 
ant Township, where their cabin was one of 
the three or four then standing between the 
creek and the village. The cabin completed 
the family were brought to it, the wagon drawn 
by cattle, an ox one year old and a two-year old 
heifer being put on the lead and the harness 
wrapped with greased rags to drive the flies 
away. Those were wild and poverty stricken 
days, although the Indians had taken their de- 
parture, leaving at least one less element of 
danger. Deer and game of smaller sort were 
abundant, and to hunt was a necessity as well 
as past time. The i)rairies stretched unbroken 
into the distance, intercepted by growths of 
timber which contributed fuel and building 
material. 

To his new home Mr. Smith brought his wife, 
formerly Ellen Harwick, of Tennessee, and the 
younger children, of whom Perry was the baby. 
There were seven children in all, of this first 
marriage of Mr. Smith, three of whom died in 
infancy. Of the survivors, Myron died August 
20, 1905; Daniel lives in Bloomfleld, Iowa; and 
James is a resident ot Santiago, Cal. The first 
home of the family in the county had little 
to recommend it to the rural resident ot the 
present. It was built of round logs, with pun- 
cheon floors and upstanding stools. The bed 



III4 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



was made by boring holes in the side logs, and 
Inserting heavy wooden pins upon which the 
framework of the bed was stretched. It was 
said to be comfortable, and the cabin was well 
daubed to protect the occupants from winter 
winds. The farm comprised eighty acres, and 
with Ave yoke of oxen Mr. Smith broke most 
of the land between Ipava and Duncantown. 
He became an expert Nimrod, and so plentiful 
was game that he was almost invariably ac- 
companied on his daily tasks by his reliable 
flint-lock gun. This style of gun, now a 
curiosity, was the salvation of the pioneer. 
Flint was sold the same as caps of the present, 
and one flint lasted a long time if one chipped 
the flint with a knife, occasionally. As Mr. 
Smith engaged in splitting rails, his gun always 
was beside him, and he would look up now and 
then to see a deer or wild turkey, which fell 
before his unerring aim. It was not unusual 
for him to split 200 rails a day, and he always 
returned home with some kind of trophy of the 
chase to hang to the rafters of the rude log 
cabin. During corn planting time Mrs. Smith 
would take little Perry out into the field, place 
him in a corner of the fence, and drop corn into 
the rows laid out Dy her husband, and event- 
ually covered by him with the hoe. Wheat was 
cut with a cradle — a laborious task, but light- 
ened by the settlers through an Interchange of 
work. 

In 18.50 a cloud fell upon the little home 
through the death of Mrs. Smith. Her hus- 
band subsequently married Harriet Kelly, of 
whose children, Annie died at the age of fifteen 
years; Rachel, who is the wife of Melton Carter, 
resided in Summum; .lohn is on the old home- 
stead, having married Sarah Wise; and 
Adrian was left motherless at three years of 
age, through the death of Mrs. Smith in 1868. 
In 1872 Mr. Smith married Julia A. Babcock, 
widow of Henry A. Babcock, one of the pioneers 
of Fulton County. During all these years Mr. 
Smith had been one of the most kindly disposed 
and helpful of farmers, aiding with his gener- 
osity many less fortunate than himself, and 
proving a benefactor, when trouble or some 
calamity visited the community. 

Xight or day, his services were at the dis- 
posal of those in distress, and only those who 
participated in the upward struggle of the 
county know of the frequency of these oppor- 
tunities. During the Peters flood in Otter 
Creek, the houses of the Peters family was 
washed away, and Mr. Smith swam out, rescued 
the entire family, and placing them in a tree, 
swam back to land to arrange for their removal 
to a place of greater safety. This he accom- 
plished by lashing logs together and placing a 
wagon-box on this improvised craft, succeeded 
in bringing the imperiled family to land. Dur- 
ing the dreadful small-pox epidemic he was 
tireless in well-doing, his days and nights be- 
ing devoted to digging graves, and otherwise 
assisting in quelling the dread calamity. Out 
of his experience have come peace, happiness 



and prosperity, the good will of all who have 
known him, and the appreciation of the com- 
munity at large. In politics he has been a 
non-active Democrat. 

SMITH, Jerry B., a proficient and prosperous 
druggist of Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was born 
in Canton, this county, on April 3, 1873. He is 
a son of Augustus B. and Tennessee (Hague) 
Smith, of whom the father was a native of New 
York State, and the mother of Cleveland, Tenn. 
The father was prominent among the early set- 
tlers of Fulton County, being a pioneer hard- 
ware merchant of Canton. He was influential 
in politics, and held the office of Assessor, and 
other positions of township trust. He also 
served a term as Sheriff of Fulton County. 

J. B. Smith was the youngest of four children, 
all of whom are living. He received his early 
education in the public schools of Canton, and 
at the age of fifteen years became connected 
with the drug business, the theory and practice 
of which he thoroughly mastered. In 1892 he 
succeeded to the firm of A. B. Smith & Company, 
druggists, in Cuba, and in 1904 bought out the 
drug store of D. W. C. Harrison, consolidating 
the two concerns. He is a licensed druggist and 
conducts a thoroughly equipped establishment. 

On March 11, 1896, Mr. Smith was united 
in marriage with Maggie Smith, who was born 
in Fulton County, and is a daughter of Lorenzo 
and Almede Smith. Mrs. Smith's father died in 
1886: the widow married Theodore Martin and 
resides at Astoria, 111. One child. Frank L., has 
resulted from this union. In politics, Mr. 
Smith is a supporter of the Republican party, 
and in fraternal circles is identified with the 
A. F. & A. M., M. W. of A., K. of P. and Court 
of Honor. He is a man of strict integrity, 
and takes a good citizen's interest in the wel- 
fare of the community. Professionally, his 
skill and efficiency are recognized by all, and 
his diligent attention to the affairs of his store 
is constantly increasing its patronage. 

SMITH, Martin E., who has been successfully 
engaged in teaching in Fulton County, 111., for 
the past twenty years, and is now proprietor 
of the City Hotel, No. 40.5 South Main Street, 
Lewistown, 111., was born in Otto, Fulton 
County, 111., June 2, 1864. He is a son of 
William and Maria (Tefft) Smith, natives, 
respectively, of Madrid, Mo., and Delavan, 111. 

William Smith's father died when the former 
was but a child. William Smith served during 
the Civil War as a member of Company G, 
Eleventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, 
and had two half brothers in the Confederate 
army. A sister is now living at Havana, 111., 
the widow of William Kelly. William Smith 
and his wife had eight children, namely: 
Frederick R., a farmer in Pleasant Township, 
Fulton County; Burton C, a farmer in Isabel 
Township, in the same county; Willard, a 
carpenter who lives near Summum, 111.; Darrel, 
a farmer in Otto, Isabel Township; Minnie, 




MRS. ELIZA A. WINCHEL 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1115 



wife of John Lynch, of Pleasant Township; 
Alniyra. wife of Sherman Smith, who lives in 
Southern California; William, Jr. (deceased); 
and Martin E. 

The early life of the subject of this sketch 
was spent on a farm. He attended the district 
schools, and by dint of hard study obtained a 
good mental training. Afterwards, he began 
teaching in the same district, and was quite 
successful. In 1887 and '88, he attended the 
Northern Illinois Normal School, and then took 
a correspondence course in Trainer's School of 
Natural Sciences, Decatur, 111., receiving his 
diploma and a first-grade certificate. Later on 
Mr. Smith took a similar course in the Inter- 
State School of Chicago, affiliated with the 
Northwestern University, and received a diplo- 
ma therefrom. For twenty years he has been 
one of the most popular and successful teachers 
of Fulton County, and for six consecutive years 
he taught in the same district, thus clearly 
demonstrating his ability and popularity as an 
instructor. In September, 19()ii, he assumed the 
position of principal of the Bryant schools and 
has taught there for the past three years. 

On February 14. 190.5, Mr. and Mrs. Smith 
took charge of the City Hotel in Lewistown. 
Mrs. Smith has the management of the culinary 
deijartment. and under her direction the house 
is rapidly becoming popular with the traveling 
public. Both host and hostess are genial and 
affable iieoi)le. and the patrons who once par- 
take of their entertainment are wont to become 
guests again. 

Mr. Smith s wife was formerly Miss Melissa 
J. Cullins, a native of Fulton Coiinty, 111., and 
a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Severns) 
Cullins. natives of Ohio. They were united in 
marriage October 4, 1888, at Goodland. Kans., 
and two children have blessed this union: 
Maude M. and Earl J. Mrs. Smith is an active 
member of the Christian Church. Mr. Smith 
is fraternally identified with the Modern Wood- 
men of America. 

SMITH, Sidney J. — Among its most intelli- 
gent and practical farmers Ellisville Town- 
ship numbers Sidney J. Smith, whose family 
has lent its good name and honest intent to 
Fulton County since 1858, and who is the owner 
of a farm of 160 acres on Section 6. Mr. Smith 
was born in Ellisville Township June 27, 1863. 
five years after the arrival in that locality here 
of his parents, Andrew J. and Elizabeth (Mc- 
Kay) Smith, the former born in New York in 
1834 and the latter in Ohio in 1837. Andrew J. 
Smith was a farmer in early life and later a 
carpenter, a trade which he followed in Ellis- 
ville for several years, and later in Avon, where 
his death occurred in 1895. During the Civil 
War he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thir- 
teenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served 
to the close of hostilities. 

At the age of fifteen Sidney J. Smith began 
to shift tor himself, and in 1893 had acquired 
suflicient capital to purchase 120 acres of land 



belonging to the Potts estate on Section 6, 
Ellis Township. He at present carries on 
farming on 160 acres. He has kept up the old 
and made many new improvements on the 
property, and is extensively engaged in general 
farming and stock-raising, making a specialty 
of high-grade stock and grain. In Knox Coun- 
ty, 111., during March, 1S91. Mr. Smith married 
Florence M. Potts, who was born in Ellisville 
Township, December 14, 1862, and is the devoted 
mother of three children — Kay, Dean and Noel. 
In politics Mr. Smith is independent and aside 
from casting his vote is inactive. Fraternally 
he is a Knight of Pythias. Long residence with- 
in the township has brought him financial and 
general compensation, chief among which are 
the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen. 

SMITH, Dr. Thomas Theron, well known den- 
tist of Canton. 111., was born in Lewistown 
Township. Fulton County, on the 28th of June, 
1871. His parents were Aaron and Almira 
(Austin) Smith, his father having been born in 
Ohio December 16, 1833, and his mother on the 
old Austin homestead, five miles northwest of 
Lewistown, where she was reared, and which 
was her mother's home during most of her 
long married life. The Austins were originally 
from Virginia and came of an old and substan- 
tial family. Mrs. Aaron Smith passed away 
from the old homestead October 24. 1883, her 
husband having preceded her on June IS. 1882. 
Their marriage occurred August 25, 1853. Of 
their family are still living their three sons 
and three of their four daughters. 

Aaron Smith, the father, was an industrious, 
unassuming farmer, and although always a Re- 
publican, quite unambitious for office. He was, 
however, very earnest in his advocacy of good 
township roads, served as Commissioner for 
some time and made a fine local record in this 
line of public work. He was also a soldier of 
the Civil War, having enlisted in Company H, 
One Hundred and Third Regiment, Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry, serving afterward in Company 
K, Twenty-fourth Regiment, V. R. C, his hon- 
orable service covering the period from August 
11, 1862, to July 18, 1865, when he was mus- 
tered out at Washington, after participating in 
the historic review of th© Union army after the 
close of the war. 

Dr. Thomas T. Smith spent two years in the 
Lewistown High School before coming to Can- 
ton in 1889. In that year he entered the office 
of Dr. Charles A. Wedge, and obtained five 
years of valuable experience before entering 
upon his professional studies at the Chicago 
College of Dental Surgery. Having completed 
the regular three years' course at that institu- 
tion, he returned to Canton for the practice 
which has since come to him with encouraging 
regularity and increasing volume. The Doctor 
is identified with the Illinois State and the 
First District Dental Societies and stands high 
with the profession. His fraternal relations are 
as a member of the Sons of Veterans, Knights 



iii6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of Pythias and Red Men. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. 

On October 30, 1902, Dr. Smith married Miss 
Azuba Hagaman, an adopted daughter of Benja- 
min Hagaman, a pioneer of Norris, Pulton 
County. She lived there with her foster par- 
ents until the death of Mr. Hagaman in 1900, 
when, with her mother, she removed to Fair- 
view, where she was married. 

SMITH, William, was a sterling and an hon- 
ored pioneer farmer of Bernadotte Township, 
who died at his home in Ipava, 111., on the 
10th of June, 1900. He was born in Cumber- 
land County, Pa., March 6, 1827, his parents 
being also natives of the Keystone State. When 
he was quite young they removed to Ohio, 
where the family remained until 1837. In that 
year he located in Illinois, although he was 
then but ten years of age, making his home in 
Effingham County until 1839. The boy then 
started on foot for his home in Coshocton 
County, Ohio, arriving safely, but naturally 
weary, at his destination. He remained in 
Ohio until 18.52, or until he was twenty-five 
years of age, and then made the .return trip to 
Illinois, again on foot. 

Upon this occasion Mr. Smith stopped in 
Vermont Township, Fulton County, where he 
engaged himself to work by the month, being 
thus employed on a farm for the succeeding two 
years. In 1854 he returned to his old Ohio 
home, remaining there until 1858, when he 
again located in Fulton County as a farm 
laborer. On October 21, 1860, William Smith 
was joined in wedlock with Ellen Hopkins, 
daughter of Dr. G. V. Hopkins, at that time a 
resident of Woodland Township, Fulton County. 
As is usually tne case this event was the com- 
mencement of a more independent and pros- 
perous career; for soon after his marriage he 
rented a farm, which he operated with success 
until 1863, when he was enabled to purchase 
200 acres in Section 34, Bernadotte Township. 
Of this tract he sold forty acres, and then in- 
dustriously and skillfully improved a farm of 
163 acres, making it a comfortable family home- 
stead until 1898, when, most of his cliildren 
having matured into men and women, he re- 
tired from active life and moved to Ipava. 
There, as stated, he died in 1900. 

Although not connected with any church, 
the deceased was a man of the strictest integ- 
rity and an uncompromising sense of honor; 
and he was not only virtuous, from the stand- 
point of personal honor, but he possessed the 
positive qualities of helpfulness and practical 
encouragement, both to the private needy and 
to church and educational movements which 
appealed to him as for the public good. In all 
things his habits were founded on temperance, 
although strongly opposed to the use of tobacco 
in any form. Such a character could not but 
be respected, honored and loved, albeit its true 
value could only be known by those who held 
the closest relations to it — the wife, sons and 
daughters. 



To Mr. and Mrs. William Smith were born 
the following children; Margaret, born July 
17, 1861, who became the wife of Wil- 
liam Rowland; Mary Ann, born Sep- 
tember 2, 1862, who died in infancy; Laura 
E., September 7, 1863, who married Professor 
John R. Rowland, one of the leading educators 
of this part of the State; Phoebe, October 30, 
1865, who was the wife of Henry Rowland, a 
farmer of Bernadotte Township, and died 
February 15, 1904; Francis V., February 28, 
186S; William and Henry (twins), September 
21, 1870 (William died February 4, 1873); John 
D., September 30, 1872; Garrett B., July 10, 
1876; and Nellie H., February 28, 1884. 

SMITH, William H.— The name of William H. 
Smith is inseparably associated with the his- 
tory of Illinois for at least fifty years follow- 
ing his arrival in the State* in 1837. He came 
of the South, bringing with him to an unde- 
veloped and practically unknown country a 
wealth of resource and unspoiled ambition, tem- 
pered with rare judgment and business sa- 
gacity. In. his veins flowed the blood of agri- 
culturists, tradesmen and patriots, and that 
dignity upheld his actions commonly associated 
with people accustomed in youth to the settled 
conditions of the Old Dominion, where he was 
born in Smithfield, Jefferson County, February 
4, 1819. His father, Henry Smith, was born in 
Brandenburg, Prussia, Germany, July 4, 1777, 
and in boyhood learned the shoemaker's trade, 
which he followed diligently as a journeyman 
after his arrival in Baltimore, Md., July 4, 1799. 
It was while traveling from house to house and 
making shoes for whole families at a time, that 
he met his future wife, Mary Fry, who was 
born June 5, 1783, in Jefferson County, Va., and 
who died February 14, 1829, leaving six daugh- 
ters and three sons: John F., Catherine, 
Phoebe, Frances, Mary Eliza, Harriet, William 
H., Elizabeth and Braxton D. Mr. Smith sub- 
sequently married a second wife, by whom he 
had two children — Mary and Mathilda S. Mr. 
Smith participated in the War of 1812 and, at 
the age of eighty-eight years and five months, 
died December 4, 1864, in the house which he 
built at the time of his marriage, and where 
also died both his first and his second wife. 

William H. Smith secured his education un- 
der difficulties of two kinds, the first because 
of scarcity of teachers in Virginia and the sec- 
ond because of his own predilection for youth- 
ful diversion as against the grind of the school- 
room. He therefore was classed among the ob- 
servers rather than the students of mankind, 
and from practical experience gained a wealth 
of the best kind of education. At the age of 
fourteen he sought to learn the tailor's trade 
of his brother-in-law. but having lost an eye, 
the occupation proved too trying and confining. 
He next learned the milling business under an- 
other brother-in-law, with the understanding 
that he was to receive $2.50 per month and 
board. The young man was encouraged by his 
father and brother-in-law to try foraging in the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1117 



West, and, being without the means of pro- 
ceeding thither, the brother-in-law gave him a 
hog, which, when fattened, brought him the 
sum of $12.18. He also sold an old smooth- 
bore rifle given him by his father for about $12, 
and in all managed to accumulate about $30, 
with which he set out to seek his fortune in 
the Central West, May 1, 1S37. It it said of 
Mr. Smith that he accomplished the journey to 
Peoria practically on foot, trudging courage- 
ously through a portion of his native State, 
Maryland and Pennsylvania, and stopping at 
country taverns and farm houses. By assisting 
to carry wood on board a steamer he secured 
passage from Wheeling to Peoria by boat, and 
during this water journey had many interesting 
experiences. Peoria was a small town when 
he reached there, and he soon found employ- 
ment in a brick manufactory, where he blis- 
tered his hands making brick of mortar in the 
old-fashioned way. He later arose to a paying 
position in the manufactory, in time accepting 
a position in a mill at Utica, Fulton County, of 
which he eventually became manager and 
finally sole proprietor, and in connection with 
which he fitted up and operated an old dis- 
tillery. Through later association with dishon- 
est partners he lost out at the milling business, 
and then, upon the urgent request of the older 
people of the community, assumed charge of a 
school where were pupils older and larger than 
himself. He next engaged in the mercantile 
business in Utica, but his ardor was dampened 
and his possibilities diminished by thieves 
breaking in and relieving him of $300, gotten 
together at great sacrifice, to purchase addi- 
tional stock. Thereupon Mr. Smith, much dis- 
couraged, repaired to a farm of 120 acres, 
which he had secured from Warner Kurd, at 
that time separated from his wife. Here also 
was trouble for the erstwhile brick manufac- 
turer, miller and merchant, for the deed to the 
property lacked the signature of the owner's 
wife, and Mr. Smith was obliged to buy it 
again upon the death of Mr. Hurd. In this 
emergency he was obliged to borrow several 
hundred dollars and to pay interest at 12 per 
cent. 

Beginning his farm life in a small log cabin, 
and with few buildings or implements, Mr. 
Smith struggled as only a brave and strong 
man can struggle under trying and discouraging 
circumstances. As his fortunes looked up and 
he came out from under the burden of debt he 
invested in stock and unimproved property, 
disposing of the latter at an invariable ad- 
vance. Before the advent of the railroads he 
kept up a brisk trade with river boats, supply- 
ing them with beef, vegetables and general 
edibles. In 1856 he built a steam saw mill, 
where the timber of the region was converted 
into lumber, and thus he became an agent to- 
wards opening up the resources of the town- 
ship. In 1868 he bought what was known as 
the Fidler farm and later twelve sections of 
land in Seward and Butler Counties, Neb. In 



November, 1881, he paid $14,300 for the tract 
of land still owned by his family, and in the 
spring of 1885 added to his possessions 212 
acres in the south part of the McKinlev lands, 
paying for the latter $8,000. He also became 
owner of 379 acres in Mason County, 111.; 
eighty acres in Walnut Grove, a farm of 175 
acres in Peoria County, and other country and 
town property in various portions of Illinois. 
These large holdings were innocent of mort- 
gages or other incumbrances, and represented 
the labor and spirit of a man who knew how 
to mold circumstances rather than be molded 
by them, and who had arisen splendidly to the 
emergency created by his early misfortunes. 

The first wife of Mr. Smith was Lavina By- 
bee, a daughter of T. T. Bybee, to whom he 
was married May 24, 1839. After a wedded life 
of four months and ten days the young wife 
passed away, leaving her husband, then but 
twenty years old. On November 19, 1840, he 
married as his second wife Elizabeth C, a 
daughter of Elijah Wilcoxen, and cousin of his 
first wife. The second Mrs. Smith died April 
4, 1863. at the age of thirty-eight years, seven 
months and five days, the mother of five sons 
and seven daughters, four of whom died in 
early life. May 6, 1866, Mr. Smith was united 
in marriage with Abbie Mason, who is the 
mother of two sons and two daughters. Mr. 
Smith is a Republican, but never has been ac- 
tive in the councils of his party. Too much 
cannot be said in commendation of the forti- 
tude and energy which have characterized his 
life, and the results achieved by his vigorous 
methods. 

SMITH, William Walker, one of the most 
honored of the pioneer farmers of Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., who is living in comfortable retirement 
in Section 14, Lewistown Township, was born 
in Lewis County, Ky.. November 10, 1816, and 
is a son of John and Amelia (Walker) Smith, 
who were natives of Kentucky. In 1834, the 
family journeyed from Lewis County in that 
State to Fulton County, 111., ana settled in 
Lewistown Township in the fall of that year. 
There William W. Smith has ever since made 
his home. ,Iohn Smith and his wife were the 
parents of seven children, namely: Mary; 
Nancy, who wedded Franklin Putman (both 
now deceased), having accompanied her parents 
to Fulton County in 1834; America, who mar- 
ried William Bissell, both deceased; Minerva, 
who married John Conner, deceased; Sidney, 
who was the wife of John Beadles, deceased; 
Francis M., deceased; Holyoke; and Jeffers, who 
wedded Joshua Ward, both deceased. The 
mother of this family passed away in 1873. 
When she and her husband settled in Fulton 
County land which now brings $100 and $125 
per acre was sold at $1.50 and $2.00. and wild 
game and ague abounded everywhere. 

William W. Smith has lived In Fulton County 
seventy-two years, and during his active life 
was one of its leading men. He first located on 



iii8 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



a tract of eighty acres thickly tiinberea, which 
he sold in 1857, and bought another eighty- 
acre tract for which he paid fifty-seven dollars 
per acre. His first dwelling was a hewn-log 
house, a story and a half high, eighteen by 
twenty feet in dimensions, and rooted with 
hewn shingles. Inside. Mr. Smith lined the 
cabin with lime and mortar. The weather 
boarding he shaved with a drawing knife, and 
then put it on and i)ainted it. Then he laid the 
floors, and built the chimney outside, in the 
Kentucky style, rie dug the wells, and quarried 
the rock and walled them. He has been one of 
the hardest workers of the pioneer band, and 
smiles at this advanced period in the country's 
history, when he contrasts the dearth of com- 
forts and the struggle for existence, which 
marked the experience of the early settler, with 
the facilities of the telephone and free delivery. 
In those times Mr. Smith hauled saw-logs to 
Ellisville, 111., for milling, and when the supply 
of salt was exhausted he started for St. Louis 
to renew it, but obtained a sufficiency at Alton 
to meet the needs of the neighborhood, paying 
$4 per bushel. Mr. Smith's father-in-law, on 
several occasions, hauled wheat to Chicago, 
and exchanged it for groceries. In 1841, was 
produced the heaviest crop of wheal ever raised 
in Fulton County, and the harvesting of Mr. 
Smith's wheat and oats required forty-two days 
with the hand sickle. After being tramped out 
with horses, the grain was hauled to Liverpool, 
111., and sold at forty cents per bushel; the 
wheat brought eighty-five cents. 

On February IS, 1844, Mr. Smith was united 
in marriage with Mary Ann Crossthwaite, and 
their union resulted in seven children, as 
follows: Snowden, who is engaged in farming in 
Fulton County; Viola, deceased, who became the 
wife of Isaiah Hummel, also deceased; Mary 
A., who is the wife of John W. Ashton, a resi- 
dent of Lamar, Mo.; Lucy M., deceased, who 
became the wife of Edward Moore, also de- 
ceased; Emma, who is the wife of George W. 
Thomas, and resides in Rushville, Ind.; Francis 
M., who carries on farming just east of c.ne place 
of his brother, Snowden. and is the husband of 
Carrie Buftum; and Clarence G., who wedded 
Eva Smith and is a resident of Urbana, 111. 
Two years after his first wife's death, in 1885, 
Mr. Smith took for his second wife, Eliza J. 
Kelso, a native of Kansas. 

In politics, Mr. Smith was a Whig until the 
election of William H. Harrison as President 
in 1840. Since the organization of the Repub- 
lican party he has since steadily voted that 
ticket. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and his wife is connected with 
the Presbyterian denomination. Mr. Smith is 
regarded with profound respect and warm 
esteem by hosts of friends, whose cordial good 
wishes attend his declining years. 

SNIVELY, Charles D., M. D.— Eight years of 
effort to maintatn the health of a large part of 
the population of Summum has drawn the 



career of Dr. Charles D. Snively within the fold 
of a large and emphatic need, giving him an 
increasing outlet for a wealth of professional 
and general usefulness. Dr. Snively was born 
January 20, 1875, in Cuba, Fulton County, of 
which town his father, Frank M. Snively. was 
for years one of the foremost citizens and 
merchants. His mother, Elizabeth ( Laswell ) 
Snively, was also born in Cuba, a daughter of 
parents who came early from Ohio, and settled 
west of the old town of Centerville (since 
christened Cuba ) , which then boasted but few 
of the pale-face brotherhood. The property 
deed of Mr. Laswell was signed by President 
Buchanan. 

Frank M. Snively was born in Richland 
County, Ohio, and as a young, unmarried man 
came to Cuba during the latter '30s, engaging 
in the harness business with his father, Henry 
Snively, to whom he was indebted for a knowl- 
edge of the trade. Noting the need of a general 
store, in 1865 Mr. Snively established a business 
which, from a small beginning, he developed 
into one of the most substantial interests this 
town has known. The store that had its rise 
in the re-construction period following the Civil 
War. kept pace always with the increasing 
needs of the community, and still is a familiar 
feature of the commercial side, being at pres- 
ent operated by George and Frank Snively, 
sons of the founder. 

While on a business trip to Peoria, this State, 
in July. 1901, Mr. Snively was thrown from a 
street car, sustaining the injuries which re- 
sulted in his death in less than an hour. This 
lamented occurrence removed a prosperous and 
influential citizen, a man who accumulated a 
competence through straightforward methods, 
and who strove always for the best educational, 
political, commercial and social welfare of the 
town of his adoption. Mr. Snively was promi- 
nent in the councils of the Democratic party, 
but his inclination lay far from the feverish 
uncertainty of office seeking. Nevertheless, he 
served a quarter of a century on the Cuba 
Board of Education, and during that time 
labored unceasingly for the best possible local 
opportunities. He is survived by his wife, who 
owns the largest share in the mercantile busi- 
ness, and who, during their many years of 
association, shared his high ideals and practical 
ambitions. They were the parents of the fol- 
lowing children: Flora A., wife of G. N. Grigs- 
by, of Peoria; George E.. a merchant of Cuba; 
James C. a physician and merchant of Fruit- 
dale, Ala; Elsie M., living at home; Lewis W., 
managing editor of the Mt. Pleasant (Iowa) 
Republican: Frank R., a business partner with 
his brother, George E., in Cuba; Jessie, formerly 
a teacher in the Eureka (111.) College; Leah 
M., who died a month after her marriage to 
William Campbell, while visiting the St. Louis 
Exposition; and Ruth, attending the Eureka 
College. 

As a lad, Charles D. Snively made himself 
useful around his father's general store, and in 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1119 



1892 graduated from the Cuba Higa School. 
During the following two years he was in the 
store, and in the meantime began reading 
medicine with his brother. James C. and Drs. 
Welch and Ra.v, of Cuba, and in the fall of 
1894 entered the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, at Keokuk. Iowa, from which he was 
graduated in the class of i899. While in college 
he took private lessons of Dr. F. B. Dorsey. an 
authority on diseases of women and children, 
and he located first at Fiatt. Fulton County, 
where he remained about a year. In 1898 he 
fixed his residence at Summum, this county, 
and in 1900 took a course in the New York 
Post-Graduate School and Hospital. The Doctor 
has a well equipped office, and appliances tor 
the most delicate and exacting demands of his 
profession. He has been deservedly successful, 
and is a necessary adjunct to many of the 
finest households in this i)art of the county. 

On March i>. 190L', Dr. Snively was united in 
marriage to Hattie Rice, a native of Astoria, 
and daughter of George W. and Alice (Toler) 
Rice, natives of Pennsylvania and Astoria, re- 
spectively. The Doctor is a member of the 
Fulton County Medical Society and the Illinois 
State Medical Society. Fraternally, he is con- 
nected with the Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. Personally, he 
is a young man of rare discretion, tact and 
helpfulness, an earnest and painstaking expon- 
ent of the best tenets of medical science, and an 
indefatigable seeker after those things which 
produce health and therefore happiness to the 
human race. 

SNIVELY, Clarence Eugene, editor and pub- 
lisher of the Daily and Weekly Canton Heyister, 
Canton, III., was born at Ellisville, Fulton 
County, July 4. 1854, the son of Naaman and 
Almeda (Dunning) Snively. After receiving 
the benefit of a common school education, in 
1867, at the age of thirteen years, he began 
to learn the printer's trade in the office of the 
Rushville (111.) Times, completing his appren- 
ticeship in the office of the Pekin Register. In 
1873 he went to Carlinville, 111., where he be- 
came connected with the Carlinville Democrat, 
in which he was owner of a half-interest for the 
space of one year. In October, 1877, he removed 
to Canton, Fulton County, in June of the 
following year becoming proprietor of the 
Canton Weekly Register, to which twelve years 
later (1890) he added a daily edition, and has 
conducted both papers continuously to the 
present time. His newspaper interests have 
proved financially successful, and the daily and 
weekly editions of the Canton Register now 
rank among the most prosperous papers In the 
Military Tract district, being published from 
a building especially erected for that purpose 
in 1900. 

For more than a quarter of a century Mr. 
Snively has been a prominent leader in local 
and State politics, for twenty-six years serving 
as Secretary of the Republican Central and 



Executive Committees of Fulton County, and 
early in 188.=) being appointed by President 
Arthur, Postmaster of the city of Canton, re- 
taining this position for a period of nineteen 
months and until the appointment of his succes- 
sor by President Cleveland. In 1889 he received 
from Governor Fifer an appointment on the 
Board of Canal Commissioners, which he re- 
tained for four years and until after the acces- 
sion of Governor Altgeld. In 1897 he was re- 
appointed to the same position by Governor 
Tanner, which he has continued to occupy 
by successive re-appointments, under the ad- 
ministrations of Governors Yates and Deneen, 
up to the present time, also serving since 1897 
as President of the Board. Few, if any. members 
of the Canal Commission have ever had a longer 
term of service or more extended experience in 
this connection than has the subject of this 
sketch. 

Other positions of a political character oc- 
cupied by Mr. Snively include those of Alter- 
nate to the Republican National Convention of 
1884; and Delegate and Secretary of the State 
delegation to both the Republican National 
Conventions of 1888 and 1896. He has also 
been a member of the Republican State Central 
Committee since 1900, and Chairman of the 
Press Committee of the same body since 
1904. He was one of the founders of 
the Illinois Republican Editorial Association, 
serving two terms as Secretary and an equal 
number of terms as President, and, at the pres- 
ent time, is a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of that organization, which he has oc- 
cupied since retiring from the Presidency. 

Mr. Snively was married at PeKin, HI., on 
April 6, 1873, to Miss Cecelia Ray Young, and 
they have the following named children: 
Clarence Eugene, Jr., Elizabeth, Ray, Jane, 
Earl, Ethan Allen, Dorthy, Donald, Marion and 
Nellie. His political sentiments are indicated 
by the official positions he has occupied, and 
during the more than twenty-five years of his 
public life he has been one of the influential 
factors in connection with the history of Fulton 
County and Western Illinois. 

SNIVELY, George E., a well-known and suc- 
cessful general merchant of Cuba, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was born in that village July 18, 1862, 
a son of Francis M. and Elizabeth (Laswell) 
Snively, natives respectively of Ohio and Illi- 
nois. Francis M. Snively entered into the 
mercantile business in Cuba, 111., in 1865, and 
was thus engaged until his death, in 1900. He 
dealt in boots and shoes, wall paper, dry goods 
and general groceries. He served one term as 
Coroner. He was also for years a member of 
the Village Board, and of the School Board for 
twenty-five years. 

The subject of this sketch is one of a family 
of ten children. In boyhood, he received his 
mental training in the public schools of his na- 
tive town, and afterwards pursued a course of 
study in the Jacksonville Business College. 



II20 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



He then entered into business with his father, 
and thus continued until the latter's death, 
when he assumed entire charge of the concern. 
He owns a farm of eighty acres on Section 25, 
Cass Township, and also writes some flre insur- 
ance. 

On May 29, 1885, Mr. Snively was united 
in matrimony with Eliza Efnor, who was born 
in Cuba, 111., and there attended public school. 
This union resulted in six children, namely: 
Lois, Edna, Orrin, Mary, Jean and Esta. As 
between political parties, Mr. Snively casts his 
lot with the Democratic party. Fraternally 
he is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. and the 
M. W. A. In business affairs he is competent 
and honorable, personally is respected, and, 
as a citizen, is regarded as a useful member of 
the community. 

SNIVELY, Perrin H., Cashier of the Farmers' 
State Bank of Cuba, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in that town on October 17, 1841, and there 
in boyhood, received his education in the public 
schools. He is a son of Henry and Sarah 
(Stevenson) Snively, natives of Pennsylvania. 
The father located in Cuba in 1839, and in the 
'40s entered into general merchandising, con- 
tinuing thus until his death in 1860. In early 
life the son learned the harness business, in 
which he was engaged for seven years, subse- 
quently becoming a salesman in a general store, 
which he conducted successfully for twenty-two 
years. On August 11, 1892, the Farmers' State 
Bank was organized, of which he became 
Cashier and has since acted in that capacity. 
He is also interested in farming property in 
Fulton County, and now owns 330 acres in 
Putman and Cass Townships, also city property 
in Cuba. 

On September 2, 1863, Mr. Snively was united 
in marriage with Mary E. Wright, who was born 
in Fulton County and is a daughter of William 
and Amelia ( Hull ) Wright, natives of Mary- 
land and Virginia, respectively. Two children 
have resulted from this union, namely: George 
L., who lives m St. Louis, Mo.; and Zadie (Mrs. 
W. M. Fike), who resides in Lewistown, 111. 

Politically, Mr. Snively is a supporter of the 
Democratic party. From 1886 to 1890 he served 
as County Clerk with credit to himself and to 
the satisfaction of his constituents. Religiously 
he is connected with the Christian Church, and 
fraternally is identified with the A. F. & A. M. 
He possesses superior business ability, is a 
man of absolute rectitude of character and is 
regarded as a useful and influential citizen. 

SNYDER, Andrew. — For over thirty-two years 
the subject of this sketch has made his home 
in Avon, Fulton County, III., and during this 
time has added materially to the upbuilding and 
progress of this part of his adopted State. Of 
Eastern birth and parentage, he was born in 
Paterson, N. J., January 24, 1844, a son of An- 
drew and Helen (Van Houten) Snyder, both 
natives of New Jersey. By trade the father 



was a contractor, a calling which he continued 
to follow throughout his active years. 

Andrew Snyder, Jr., passed his boyhood and 
youth in the place of his birth; in fact, until 
grown to manhood, he had had little or no ac- 
quaintance with the world outside of Paterson. 
He was educated in that city, and as soon as 
his school days were over apprenticed himself 
to his father to learn the carpenter's trade. No 
doubt he inherited a predilection for the call- 
ing, and when to this is added the thorough in- 
struction and training which his father was 
qualified to impart, it goes without saying that 
he learned his trade rapidly and was soon pre- 
pared to begin work independently. As a thor- 
ough master of his calling he had no difficulty 
in finding all the work he could do, the most 
of his contracts being executed in Paterson and 
New York City. Though he was meeting with 
excellent success as a contractor and builder 
in the East, the fact that his wife's parents 
were planning to settle in the Middle West in- 
duced him to consider a similar change of loca- 
tion and, in 1875, both families transferred their 
homes to Fulton County, III. Coming at once 
to Avon. Mr. Snyder here continued the con- 
tracting and building business, and during the 
nearly thirty years in which he followed the 
calling, erected many of the substantial build- 
ings within a radius of twenty miles of Avon, 
both residences and business blocks. It was 
about the year 1903 that he gave up following 
his trade and for a time clerked in the mer- 
cantile establishment of Merrill & Merrill. With 
the confidence bom of experience he soon felt 
qualified to enter mercantile life in his own 
behalf, and in March, 1905, he bought out the 
dry-goods department from his former employ- 
ers, the business since that date being conduct- 
ed under the name of Snyder & Co. Besides a 
full line of dry-goods and ladies' furnishings, 
his stock includes boots and shoes, oilcloth and 
all similar household furnishings. 

While still a resident of Paterson, N. J., in 
1865. Mr. Snyder was united in marriage with 
Selena C. Yeomans, who, like himself, was a 
native of New Jersey. The only child born 
of their union was Catherine M., now Mrs. 
Merrill. Mr. Snyder takes a lively interest in 
the well-being of his home town, and. as a mem- 
ber of its town board, does all in his power to 
forward measures that will redound to the 
public good. Fraternally he is- an Odd Fellow, 
being a charter member of the lodge in which 
he holds membership. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sny- 
der are members of the Congregational Church 
of Avon. 

SNYDER, C. W. — Strict attention to business 
and undaunted faith in ability to succeed have 
been foremost factors in the rise of C. W. 
Snyder, general manager of the business of 
Armstrong & Company, cigar manufacturers of 
Canton. Mr. Snyder is a native of Canton, and 
was born in 1860. His original business equip- 
ment was a good name, a fair endowment of 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



II2I 



intellect and a practical common school educa- 
tion. His father, D. W. Snyder, who was born 
in 1S36, was a native of London, Mercer County, 
Pa., and his mother, who was born in 1840, was 
a native of Ohio, and died in Canton in January, 
1905. The elder Snyder was a cabinet-maker 
by trade, and after years of employment in the 
carpenter and building business, turned his at- 
tention to an undertaking business in Canton, 
which he conducted for years in partnership 
with his brother George. He was thrifty and 
resourceful, and accumulated a comfortable 
competence. 

C. M. Snyder became identified with the 
Armstrong Manufacturing Company in 1891, 
and ten years later, in July, 1901, became gen- 
eral manager of the business. He is interested 
in Democratic politics, and fraternally is prom- 
inent, being a member of the Masons, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd F'ellows, Benevolent Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, Eagles and Modern Wood- 
men of America. Mr. Snyder has been twice 
married. His first wife, whom he married in 
1890, died in 1895. The present Mrs. Snyder, 
whom he married June 23, 1901, was Lou 
Spencer, daughter of George Spencer, of Canton. 
There are two children in the family — Pauline 
A. and Carroll R. In the character and work 
of Mr. Snyder, the family name received addi- 
tional local prestige, and more than ever is 
Identified with stable and reliable civic growth. 

SPENCER, William J., a well known resident 
of Canton, Fulton (^ounty, 111., and Vice Presi- 
dent and General Manager of the Monmouth 
Coal Company, was born in DuPage County, 
111., on March 6, 1859, and there received his 
early mental training. He is a son of William 
H. and Mary (Lawler) Spencer, natives of 
Ireland, where the father was born January 
25, 1828, and the mother in 1820. William H. 
Spencer was engaged in railroad work for the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, and 
had previously done similar work for the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Company in 
Iowa and Missouri. He died at St. David, 
Fulton County, in 1893, his wife having passed 
away there in 1885. 

The subject of this sketch came to Canton 
in 18S3, and has always been identified with the 
coal industry. The Monmouth Coal Company 
was organized in 1901, with J. R. Hanna, of 
Monmouth, as President; W. J. Spencer, of 
Canton, as Vice President and General Man- 
ager; W. D. Brereton, of Monmouth, Secretary 
and Treasurer; and Charles P. Jacobson, of 
Brereton, Superintendent. 

On May 10, 1893, Mr. Spencer was married to 
Minnie Delia Wasson, who was born in Septem- 
ber, 1864, and died Januery 11, 1894. No chil- 
dren were born of this union. In politics, Mr. 
Spencer is a Republican, and fraternally is 
affiliated with the A. F. & A. M. 

SPRAGUE, Leigh T., a well known, eflBcient 
and popular teacher of Orion Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born near Glasford, Peoria 



County, III., on October 29, 1871, a son of Lycur- 
gus S. and Laura (Lightbody) Sprague, natives 
of Illinois. In youth, the subject of this sketch 
received his mental training in the schools of 
Bushnell and Canton, 111., and accompanied his 
parents to Orion Township, Fulton County, 
where his father bought forty acres of land in 
Section 35. and there engaged in farming. 
Since 1S91, Mr. Sprague has pursued the occupa- 
tion of a school teacher, and is now the princi- 
pal of Breed's School. Wherever he has taught, 
he has been regarded as thoroughly competent, 
and has enjoyed the confidence and respect of 
pupils and parents, alike. 

On March 20. 1894, Mr. Sprague was united 
in marriage with Bertha Houston, who was 
born in Fulton County, and is a daughter of 
John and Maggie (Crothers) Houston, natives 
of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Sprague are the par- 
ents of four children: Shelby and Elva, Ethelyn 
and Lillie. In politics, Mr. Sprague is connected 
with the Republican party. He has held the 
office of Town Clerk one term, and. in the 
spring of 1905, was elected Supervisor of Orion 
Township, in which capacity he is now serving 
with efficiency and fidelity. Fraternally he is 
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America 
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
Star Encampment. 

SPULER, Lewis J.— Of the well-to-do miners 
whose activity is centered around Farmington 
none is better or more favorably known than 
Lewis J. Spuler, at present operating the mine 
known as Black Hawk No. 1. Mr. Spuler is of 
German paternal ancestry, and was born on a 
farm in Rock Island County, 111., August 29, 
18C2. His father, Peter Spuler, was a native of 
Battenburg, Germany, and his mother, Magda- 
lena (White) Spuler, was a native of Michigan. 
The elder Spuler learned the cooper's trade in 
his native land, and after emigrating to Amer- 
ica followed the same in Buffalo, N. Y.. and in 
Rock Island, 111., making the latter town his 
home until his death. He and his wife were 
the parents of three children. 

At an early age Lewis J. Spuler began work- 
ing in the mines of Rock Island County, and 
later learned the carpenter's trade, which he 
followed successfully for eight years. In 1889 
he returned to his former occupation of mining 
near Norris, Fulton County, and in 1891 came 
to Farmington where he has since been very 
successful in connection with the Black Hawk 
No. 1. His marriage to Mary Growcutt oc- 
curred in Angus, Iowa, in 1886, and of their 
imion there are six children: John. Irena, Roy, 
Lewis, O., and AUegra. Mr. Spuler is a Demo- 
crat in politics and fraternally is connected with 
the Knights of Pythias and the P. R. L. A. In 
1905 he was elected Supervisor of Farmington 
Township, and has served as Alderman of the 
town of Farmington four years. He is a capa- 
ble and public-spirited citizen, genial In man- 
ner and honorable in action, and his association 
with Farmington is to his own and tne town's 
advantage. 



1 122 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



SPURGEON, Elmer. — Besides being the owner 
of tlie most beautiful residence in Avon, Ful- 
ton County, Mr. Spurgeon owns a section of 
land in Warren County, 111., which in point of 
fertility would be hard to excel. Born in War- 
ren County May 17, 1S76, he is a son of Israel 
and Elizabeth ( Marshall ) Spurgeon, the father 
born in Kentucky in 1.SI29 and the mother in 
Ohio two years later. Throughout his life the 
father adhered to the calling to which he was 
trained in his childhood, carrying on farming 
first in his native State, and later in Illinois. 
Upon coming to the State in an early day he 
located first in Avon, but shortly afterward he 
removed to Warren County and purchased a 
farm, and from that time on followed farming 
throughout his working days. 

To Elmer Spurgeon, more than to the average 
youth of his acquaintance, fell the privilege 
of gaining an education outside of that pro- 
vided by the schools of his home town. Sup- 
plementary to his grammar school training he 
attended the high school at Avon, later was a 
student at Notre Dame, and the finishing touches 
to his education were received at Knox College, 
Galesburg, 111. When his college days were over 
he returned to the home farm and gave his 
father his services in the care and manage- 
ment of the farm, and after his father's 
death he continued its management until his 
removal to Avon, whither his mother had in the 
meantime removed. 

Mr. Spurgeon was united in marriage with 
Maggie A. Ault, who was born in Fulton County 
September 5, ISSO. In fraternal and club cir- 
cles in Avon Mr. Spurgeon is a well known fig- 
ure, being a member of the Masons, Order of 
Eastern Star, Knights of Pythias, the B. B. O. 
E., and also a member of the Business Men's 
Club of Avon. He finds his church home in the 
Universalist Church and with his wife attends 
the services of that denomination in Avon. Po- 
litically he is a Democrat. 

STAGGS, James William, who as a farmer 
and citizen of l^nion Township, Fulton County, 
111., maintains a record second to none, was 
born in that county March 26, 1856, his birth- 
place being in Union Township. His father, 
.Tames T. Staggs, was a native of Ross County, 
Ohio, where he was born August 26, 1830, and 
his mother, Sara Ann (Kutchler) Staggs, was 
born June 20, 1833, in the State of New Jersey. 
James T. Staggs was a farmer by occupation. 
His arrival in Fulton County occurred in 1S49 
and his first purchase of land of eighty acres, 
on Section 28, Union Township, was the farm 
on which the birth of his son, James W., took 
place. There the father was successfully en- 
gaged in his customary pursuit of farming un- 
til his death on May 18, 1902, the decease of his 
wife taking place December 20, 1887. They 
were the parents of five children, as follows: 
.1. H., J. W.. G. M., Mary E. and Mina S. 

In boyhood James W. Staggs attended the 
district schools convenient to his home and 
afterwards was a pupil in the high school at 



Avon, Fulton County. His early youth was 
spent on the paternal premises, where he has 
remained all his life, except during a period of 
three years' residence in Abingdon, 111., where 
he located in 1893, but returned to his farm in 
1896. His farming methods are systematic and 
progressive, and he is known throughout the 
county and beyond its limits as a successful 
breeder of Durham cattle. 

The wife of Mr. Staggs, formerly Miss Ida E. 
Little, with whom he was united in marriage 
at Avon, 111.. September 7. 1882, was born in 
Mercer County, 111., February 9, 1860, a daugh- 
ter of William F. and Elizabeth (Shoemaker) 
Little, natives of Illinois and Virginia. This 
union resulted in six children, as follows: Mina 
E., William F., Edna B., James G. B., Jessie 
L. and Cordelia. 

On political questions Mr. Staggs adheres to 
the principles of the Republican party. Re- 
ligiously his connection is with the Methodist 
denomination. He is the owner of 400 acres of 
land and is recognized as one of the most promi- 
nent and prosperous farmers in his locality. As 
a citizen he maintains an honorable standing 
and his character commands respect wherever 
he is known. 

STAMBAUGH, George H., one of the most en- 
terprising, progressive and successful of the 
younger element of farmers and stock-raisers in 
Fulton County, 111., whose farming operations 
are carried on in Section 34, Pleasant Town- 
ship, is a native of Fulton County, where he 
was born in Woodland Township, January 23, 
1877. He is a son of Michael and Sarah (Bear) 
Stambaugh, details of whose lives, together with 
further particulars in regard to the family his- 
tory, may be found in a biographical record of 
the former, which appears elsewhere in these 
pages. 

George H. Stambaugh was reared on the home 
farm and his education was obtained in the 
township district schools, his youthful efforts 
being meanwhile devoted towards assisting his 
father in cultivating the lands and attending 
to the routine work of the place. In 1897, after 
his marriage, Mr. Stambaugh rented 160 acres 
of land in Woodland Township, which he occu- 
pied for one year, after which he rented an- 
other farm consisting of 240 acres, situated in 
the vicinity of Leesburg, where he was quite 
successful. He next rented the farm which he 
now conducts, and in 1904 the 320 acres on Section 
34, Pleasant Township, became his property. 
He now devotes his attention largely to the 
breeding of full-blooded Shorthorn cattle, of 
which he has a fine herd on his farm, maintain- 
ing also a good grade of draft horses. Mr. 
Stambaugh possesses in a notable degree all the 
qualities which enable a man to take the lead 
in whatever he undertakes — intelligence, reso- 
lue purpose, untiring energy and diligent appli- 
cation to the details of the worK he has in 
hand. His efforts have been rewarded by very 
favorable results, and although one of the 
youngest representatives of his vocation in the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



11^3 



township, he has attained a prominent standing 
among the most successful farmers in his lo- 
cality. 

Mr. Stambaugh has been twice married. On 
February .S. 1899, he was united in matrimony 
with Leah Bucher, who was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, a daughter of Cyrus Bucher, one of the 
wealthiest and most widely and favorably 
known citizens of Fulton County, an extended 
narrative of whose career appears in another 
portion of this volume. Two children followed 
this union, namely: Clara May, l)orn Decem- 
ber 3, 1899, and Beulah Belle, born October 1, 
1903. The mother of these children, a most 
amiable and estimable woman, died October 
12th of the last named year. Mr. Stambaugh 
wedded for nis second wife Fannie Bucher, 
another daughter of Cyrus Bucher, and in 
every respect worthy to take the place of her 
lamentea sister in Mr. Stambaugh's household, 
being the possessor of many graces and excep- 
tionally fine traits of character. Mrs. Stam- 
l)augh was born in Fulton County, ,January 1, 
1S84. She and her husband are the parents of a 
son. ,Jay B., born ,lune Iti, 190,"), and a daughter, 
Verna Marie, born November IT, 19t)ti. 

In politics Mr. Stambaugh is a supporter of 
the Democratic party. Religiously he and his 
wife are earnest and active members of the 
German Baptist Brethren Church, a denomina- 
tion commonly known as the Dunkards. .Mr. 
and Mrs. Stambaugh are held in the highest 
esteem by all who know them, and the circle 
of their acquaintance is wide. 

STANDARD, Hezekiah W., who is counted 
among the substantial, progressive and repre- 
sentative farmers of Fulton County, 111,, was 
formerly a resident of Joshua Township, that 
county, where he was born January 13, 1S54, 
but is now living retired in Canton, 111. His 
liarents, Thomas and Rachael (Peterson) Stand- 
ard, well known pioneers of that region, were 
natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively. 
Thomas Standard, whose occupation was that 
of a farmer, settled in Fulton County, in the 
year 1828, locating in the vicinity of Lewis- 
town, where he remained until the following 
year, when he moved to Joshua Township. 
There, after farming for two or three years on 
what was called the Kaiser place, he bought 
eighty acres of a Mr. Day in 1832, On this he 
made all the improvements and carried on 
farming during the remainder of his life, at one 
time being the owner of between three and four 
hundred acres. He was twice married, first to 
Rachael Peterson, who bore him six children, 
his second wife bearing him the same number. 
Thomas Standard departed this life In 1877. 
He was a man of sturdy character and irre- 
proachable habits. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat and in religious belief a Methodist. 

Hezekiah W. Standard received his early 
mental training in the country schools of the 
neighborhood where he was born. At the time 



of his mother's death in 1S90 he took posses- 
sion of the paternal farm, which he has since 
owned. It consists of 2o3 acres of land, sit- 
uated on Sections 23 and 24, Joshua Township. 
In 1S93 Mr. Standard built a large barn, and in 
1895 erected a spacious and convenient resi- 
dence, and all its surroundings are of modern 
construction and conducive to comfort. In 
1906 Mr. Standard erected a new and beautiful 
brick residence in Canton at 269 North Main 
Street, where he and his wife now reside. 

On August 31, 1S74, Mr, Standard was 
united in marriage with Sarah Kingery, who 
was born in Ohio, a daughter of Noah and 
Sarah (Boureher) Kingery, natives, respective- 
ly, of Maryland and Ohio, and Mr. and Mrs. 
Standard are the parents of the following chil- 
dren: Arthur, born January 3, 1875. now a 
resident of Fairview, Fulton County; Minta 
(Mrs. Gathers), born November 4, 1876, and 
now a resident of Peoria, III. ; Marion, born De- 
cember 28, 187S, now employed in a mill in 
Chicago; Henry, who dwells under the paternal 
roof; Harvey, born December 4, 1888; Hezzie, 
born March 13, 1SS6, also with his parents; 
Perry, born March 5, 1SS9, now on the home 
farm; and Clara Belle, born July 22, 1898. 

In politics the subject of this sketch is a 
supporter of the Democratic party and frater- 
nally is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M., K. 
of P. and M. \V. A. Individually, socially and 
in his civic relations he has always maintained 
an excellent standing and commands the re- 
spect and confidence of a wide circle of ac- 
quaintances. 

STANLEY. Charles H. — For two years lacking 
half a century Charles H. Stanley has been a 
resident of Canton, this county, and during the 
greater part of that time has been identified 
with the building interests of the town. To his 
skill and al)ility are due many of the imposing 
and substantial structures now occupied as 
residences or used for business, and evidences 
are abundant of his having contributed very 
largely to the generally pleasing architectural 
aspect of the town. In addition to thoroughly 
understanding his business Mr. Stanley had the 
faculty of commanding excellent service from 
others, and as a large employer of labor won a 
reputation for great consideration and tactful- 
ness. He at all times has been the broad- 
minded and thoroughly earnest citizen. 

Mr. Stanley comes of not only excellent but 
cultured parentage, his father, Robert F. Stan- 
ley, also a native of England, having been a 
minister in the Church of England. His mother 
formerly was Caroline Hester, daughter of John 
Hester. Charles H. was born in Buckingham- 
shire, England, February 10, 1834, and when 
three years old was brought to America by his 
parents, settling for a brief time in New York 
City, but afterward moving to Rochester, the 
same State. Here the father died in 1848. when 
his son was fourteen years old, leaving besides 



I 124 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



the latter three other children to the care of 
his wife. After Charles had completed his edu- 
cation in the public schools of Rochester he 
served an apprenticeship as carpenter to his 
uncle, Charles H. Stanley, with whom he re- 
mained three years, and thereafter went to 
Cleveland, Ohio, to work at his trade for an- 
other uncle. Discerning brighter business pros- 
pects in the Central West, he visited first 
Havana, 111., in 1856, but the following year 
came to Canton, which since has been his home. 
His energy and ability soon found recognition 
on a small scale, but as his worlv became his 
advertisement, it was not long before his pros- 
pects of success were practically assured. 

While a resident of Havana, 111., Mr. Stanley 
was united in marriage to Nancy Meeker, who 
died in 1861, leaving a son, Charles C, who is 
now an Alderman of Canton. The second wife 
was formerly Dorenda Bybee, daughter of James 
Bybee, an early settler of Fulton County. Of 
this second union there is a daughter, Luella J., 
wife of Jacob Abbott, a prominent attorney of 
Canton. Mrs. Dorenda Stanley died in 1901. 
December 25, 1905, Mr. Stanley married Mrs. 
M. E. Richardson, widow of Captain Richard- 
son, of Milwaukee, Wis. Since his first voting 
days Mr. Stanley has been a stanch Democrat, 
and though unsolicited, he has been honored 
with several elective offices, among them that of 
Alderman of the Fourth and Fifth Wards. For 
years he has been prominent in fraternal cir- 
cles, and is a member of the Morning Star 
Lodge, No. 734, A. F. and A. M.; Canton Chap- 
ter, R. A. M., and the Knights of Pythias. He 
Is a man of strong and upright character, has 
lent solidity and worth to the city of his adop- 
tion and is now living retired in comfort and 
honor. 

STANNARD, James. — A continuous resident 
of Union Township since his birth at Avon, on 
the 20th of February, 1858, James Stannard is 
one of the substantial farmers who have given 
Fulton County such a high standing among the 
agricultural districts of the State. He is a son 
of English parents, Sullivan and Caroline (Car- 
ley) Stannard, but as he lived with an uncle 
from the age of seven years until he reached 
manhood, he knows little or nothing relative 
to his ancestors. 

Mr. Stannard was educated in the district 
schools of Union Township while assisting his 
uncle on his farm and finally establishing him- 
self as an independent husbandman. As a 
School Director for three years he has evinced 
an intelligent interest in the public school sys- 
tem of the township, and been practical in his 
suggestions and work. He is a Democrat in 
politics, a Catholic in religion and is identified 
fraternally with the Loyal Americans and the 
American Guild. 

Mr. Stannard was married at Avon on the 
20th of October, 1SS6, to Molly Fahey, a native 
of that place, born February 17, 1863, and one 



child has been the result of their union — Ella, 
born September 21, 1887. 

STELL, W. D., whose farming operations In 
Putman Township, Fulton County, 111., are 
among the most extensive and successful car- 
ried on in that portion of the county, and who 
is a member of a family long and favorably 
known there, was born in Putman Township in 
1868, a son of John and Rebecca (Ray) Stell, 
the father a native of Germany and the mother 
of Ireland. 

John Stell came to the United States in 1838 
and proceeded to Illinois, where he settled in 
the locality which has since been the home of 
his son. He carried on farming and was also a 
carpenter by occupation. In both of these pur- 
suits his labors were productive of successful 
results. After his first purchase of land he 
continued to buy additional tracts until he be- 
came the owner of between six and seven hun- 
dred acres. His industrious and useful life 
came to an end in 1898 and the faithful com- 
panion of his long and arduous exertions 
passed away in 1904. 

In early youth the subject of this sketch pur- 
sued the elementary studies customary in the 
country schools, and assisted in his father's 
farming operations until the time of the latter's 
decease. Shortly after he began farming for 
himself on the home place and has since made 
a number of substantial and attractive im- 
provements on the property, having built a fine 
barn and erected a spacious and commodious 
residence. His farm consists of 230 acres of 
land. Besides general farming his time is oc- 
cupied to a large extent in the raising of Aber- 
deen and Polled Angus cattle. 

The marriage of Mr. Stell took place in 
1898, when he was joined in wedlock with Til- 
lie Winsor, who was born in Buckheart Town- 
shii), Fulton County. Two children have re- 
sulted from this union, namely: Mary and Re- 
becca. 

STEPHENS, James W.— Superior educational 
and general advantages are shaping the career 
of James W. Stephens into promising channels 
and yielding him a comfortable income as a 
farmer on Section 23, Woodland Township. 
Born not far from where hei now resides. May 
8, 1868, Mr. Stephens is a son of William 
Stephens, a pioneer of Fulton County, mention 
of whom may be f(»hnd elsewhere in this work. 
In 1873 the family moved to near Bushnell. in 
which town the youth attended the public 
schools and later the Western Normal. After 
working on the home farm for a few months 
Mr. Stephens followed up his educational train- 
ing with a trip through the West, visiting Ore- 
gon, Washington and other States, and return- 
ing to his former home in 1898. He was united 
in marriage to Lena Bloomfield, daughter of 
R. L. Bloomfield, one of the early and honored 
pioneers of Fulton County. Mr. Stephens now 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1125 



is managing 320 acres of land and is engaged 
in general farming and stock-raising. He gives 
little attention to matters outside of what he 
considers his legitimate business, but never- 
theless is public-spirited and inclined to pro- 
mote the stable, elevating interests of the 
township. In his family are two children — Myrl, 
born April 22, 1900, and Helen, born May 26, 
1903. 

STEPHENS. William.— Xo more pronounced 
study in contrast is available among the up- 
builders of Fulton County than that presented 
in the career of William Stephens. Mr. Stephens' 
twentieth century status is represented by the 
ownership of 840 acres of land, upon a part of 
which he worked as a lad at twenty-five cents 
a day in payment of an outstanding debt of 
seventy-five dollars. Between his labor-enslav- 
ing and poverty-clouded days and those of the 
prosperous present have occurred many varied 
and developing experiences, the very existence 
of which stamps him as a man of courage, 
initiative and purpose. Excellent antecedents 
and character moulding surroundings were 
among the first advantages of Mr. Stephens, 
the meagerness of his environment forcing 
him to the persistent exercise of his abilities. 
The farm where he was born in Campbell Coun- 
ty, Ky., in 1S28, was eloquent of the courage 
and endeavor of his grandfather, the Rev. .John 
Stephens, who, from his native State of "Vir- 
ginia, removed to Booneville, Ky., when a boy, 
then to Campbell County, locating on a farm 
six miles from Alexandria, then among the out- 
posts of western civilization. In his capacity 
as a preacher and farmer, he helped subdue 
the wilderness and direct the moral destinies 
of men. being one of the eloquent and self- 
sacrificing leaders who promulgated the doc- 
trine of the Baptist Church along the frontier. 
So numerous were the Indians at the time of 
his arrival that the settlers around Booneville 
built a stockade in whicli to gather for protec- 
tion at times of outbreak. When the men went 
afield to plant their crops or to the forest to 
hew timber, they invariably carried their guns 
with them. James Stephens, the son of the 
Rev. John, and father of William Stephens, 
was born in Campbell County, Ky.. July 8, 1801, 
and on September 13, 1827, married Margaret 
Peck, who was born in that county August 15, 
1811, daughter of Peter Peck, a soldier in the 
War of 1812, was in the battle of the Thames, 
in Canada, when Tecumseh, the famous Indian 
Chief was kille* by Dick .Johnson only a few 
steps from Mr. Peck at the time. Margaret 
Peck was a granddaughter of a German who 
came to America at an early day. With his 
wife and four children, among whom was the 
son William, then ten years old, James 
Stephens came to Illinois in 1836, in a wagon 
drawn by a yoke of oxen preceded by a lead- 
ing horse. He was poor, and all that he had 
in the world accompanied him to the wilder- 
ness of Fulton County. Selecting a lOO-acre 



tract in Woodland Township, he was obliged to 
pay three dollars an acre for it, his resources 
necessitating an outstanding indebtedness of 
seventy-five dollars. The owner of the land 
suggested, in this emergency, that William, 
the son, after sufficient land had been cleared 
to plant some corn, should assist him with the 
clearing of his own place, receiving for his 
services twenty-five cents a day. This proposi- 
sition was taken ui) by the lad who. swinging 
an ax from early morn until late at night. little 
dreamed that he would some day be the owner 
of the ground under his feet. At that time 
game abounded in great variety, and hunting 
constituted one of the chief diversions and 
necessities of the settlers. When news by let- 
ter came from the country of their birth in the 
old Bourbon State, the postage thereon was 
twenty-five cents. These people of the wilds, 
parents and children, treasured their memories 
of Kentucky, and when, two years ago, William 
Stephens returned to Campbell County, he 
found springs which had delighted them dried 
up, and naught remained of the old homestead 
save parts of the foundation. 

The family lived three years in the nide log- 
cabin which had been erected while they were 
camping in the open air. sleeping at night in 
the wagon, and its accompaniment was a log 
stable in which to house the horse and oxen 
during the winter. Later they built a hewed 
log house, which still is a feature of the home- 
stead, a weather-beaten, richly associated struc- 
ture, between the walls of which existed such 
hope and courage as lifted its occupants above 
the dire discouragements of life. During the 
first year five acres were planted to corn, and 
a few years later grain was raised in large 
quantities and hauled in wagons to Sharp's 
Landing on the Illinois, to be loaded on some 
craft headed for St. I^ouis. Corn brought 
twenty-five cents a bushel for several years. 
The family owned one of the three wagons 
in Woodland Township, and there were but 
three school-houses within its borders. Mr. 
Evans, the first teacher of William Stephens, is 
buried on the Stephens farm, and his erstwhile 
pupil now cuts away the waving corn above 
his resting place. The father bought more land 
as prosperity rewarded his efforts, and at the 
time of his death, on March 27, 1876, he owned 
300 acres. He was a man of sterling general 
worth and unquestioned integrity, and agricul- 
turally and otherwise established a high 
standard. In politics he was a Democrat, and 
in religion a Baptist. To him and his wife 
were bom eight children younger than William: 
Mary, a native of Kentucky, who became the 
wife of O. W. Vandei-ville, now deceased; John 
H., a farmer of McDonough County III.; Peter, 
a farmer who died in Kansas; Enoch, who 
died in Woodland Township, Pulton County; 
Joseph, residing in Kansas; Eleanor, wife of 
John B. Prick, of Washington; Andrew, who 
died in infancy; Francis Marion, a resident of 
Washington; Angelina, wife of W^illiam Sails- 



1 126 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



bury, of Woodland Township, and George W., 
who died in Oregon. 

As he attained his majority ambition and ad- 
venture linoclved loudly at the door of William 
Stephens, and at the age of twenty-three, on 
April 3. 1853. he set out with a family from 
Ipava for the Territory of Oregon, crossing 
the plains with ox-teams in seven months and 
seven days. During his stay in Oregon, in 1854. 
he was engaged in farming a few months in the 
Willamette Valley; and with a party of about 
twenty miners, assisted in organizing the coun- 
ty of Coos and the town of Randolph on the 
Pacific coast. During the latter part of the 
same year he went south to California, where 
he was engaged in mining for several years, 
but in the fall of 1858 returned by way of the 
Isthmus of Panama and New York City to his 
former home in Woodland Township, Fulton 
County. Mr. Stephens' life-story reads much 
lilve a page of fiction as it relates his varied 
experiences as he crossed the plains, and later 
traveled from coast to coast. Still unsettled 
after his return to Fulton County, in the spring 
of the following year he went to Kansas, where 
he bought 440 acres of land, upon which he 
staid for a short time only, and which he final- 
ly sold in 1867. In 1860 he went to Colorado, 
again returning to Woodland Township in the 
following year and remaining there until 1872. 
He then bought 160 acres near the old home, 
upon which he carried on farming until 1873, 
when he moved to McDonough County and 
there purchased a farm of similar proportions. 
This continued to be his home until 1890, when 
he sold his land there and, returning to Astoria 
Township, there purchased his father's old 
homestead of 300 acres in Woodland Township 
and added thereto until he now owns 840 acres. 
Of this large property, much is under cultiva- 
tion, constituting one of the most valuable and 
productive holdings in Fulton County. The mar- 
riage of Mr. Stephens to Mrs. Mary (Welker) 
Markley occured Febrpary 21, 1864. Mrs. 
Stephens in girlhood was Mary Welker. and she 
came to Fulton County with her parents, David 
and Margaret (Darling) Welker, when thirteen 
years old. To Mr. and Mrs. Stephens have 
been born six children, of whom Margaret 
married S. Coo'per, a merchant of Astoria; Etta 
became the wife of J. R. Pritchett. an attorney 
of Buda. 111.; James is a farmer of Woodland 
Township; Helena is the wife of W. Black, a 
merchant of Henry, 111.; Olney lives in Rush- 
ville, 111.; and Joseph operates a farm in Wood- 
land Township. Politically Mr. Stephens is 
a Democrat, and local party undertakings have 
profited by his judgment and executive ability. 
He has been a member of the County Central 
Committee of his party and has served several 
terms as Supervisor of Mound and Woodland 
Townships. He is one of the best informed 
and most widely read, and one of the most in- 
tellectual and studious of the promoters of agri- 
cultural science in Fulton County, and for 
many years his opinion upon important phases 



of farm development has stood as final among 
those who sought larger views and riper coun- 
sel than they themselves possessed. He is 
recognized as a man of ability and integrity, 
is respected by all who know him, and much 
beloved by such as enjoy his intimate 
acquaintance. 

STEVENS, 'Willis E., a prominent and favor- 
ably known resident of the village of Avon, 
Fulton County, 111., who, in addition to the 
conduct of farming operations in the vicinity 
of that place, devotes considerable attention 
to the management of his newspaper, the Avon 
Sentinel, was born in Lake County, 111., on 
June 13, 1863. He is a son of Almon and Al- 
mira (Thomas) Stevens, natives of the State 
of New York. The father, whose occupation 
was that of a farmer, first established his home 
in Lake County in 1842. After remaining there 
about twenty-one years he moved to Fulton 
County, locating in Avon, where he officiated 
as Police Magistrate, being the first citizen of 
Avon to act in such capacity. He was a man 
of unusual intelligence and much force of 
character, and was held in high esteem by his 
townsmen. Politically, he was a Republican 
and in religion, a Congregationalist. He de- 
parted this life in 1895, his wife passing 
away in 1898. They were the parents of 
five children, as follows; Harriette, wife of 
W. H. Rose, who resides in Avon, 111.; Charles 
died in 1905 at Keytesville, Mo.; Alice, wife 
of C. B. Edmonson, of Abingdon 111.; Frances, 
twin sister of Alice, who married A. H. John- 
son, of Lincoln, Neb.; and Willis E. 

The gentleman to whom this personal 
record pertains obtained the mental instruc- 
tion of his early days in the Avon school, 
and at a very early age, was employed by 
Herman J. Herbertz in connection with the 
Avon Sentinel, which was founded by Mr. 
Herbertz in the spring of 1879. Since 1881, 
M. Stevens has been the proprietor of this 
paper, and has conducted its publication. 
In conjunction with its issue, he does job- 
printing of all kinds The Sentinel has a 
weekly circulation of 900 copies, and the plant 
is equipped with a power press and gasoline 
engine. Mr. Stevens owns a farm of thirty- 
six acres in Section 18, Union Township, on 
which is obtained clay for a tile and brick 
manufacturing concern located there. He is 
also the owner of a forty-acre farm, situated 
in Section 28, of the same township. 

On May 26, 1887. Mr. Stevens was united 
in marriage with Edith Belding, a daughter 
of Robert and Mary A. (Richer) Belding, 
who was born and schooled in Union Town- 
ship, Fulton County. Four children were 
the result of this union, namely: Mabel. A., 
born November 7, 1888; Wayne E., born 
July 24, 1892; Robert A., born November 17, 
1894, and Charles Arthur, born January 27, 
1907. 

In political action Mr. Stevens supports the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



112: 



policies of the Republican party. He formerly 
served with credit as Township Collector and 
held the office of Village Clerk from 1898 to 
1906. Religiously he is a Congregationalist. 
His fraternal affiliation is with the M. W. of 
A. and the K. of P. Among his neighbors in 
Avon and throughout his section of Fulton 
County Mr. Stevens is much esteemed and 
bears the reputation of being a man of su- 
perior information, sound judgment, strict in- 
tegrity and commendable public spirit. 

STEVENSON. Dudley 0. — Various farms in 
Fulton County have been improved by the oc- 
cupancy of Dudley O. Stevenson, at present 
operating the Marion Lawson place in Deer- 
fleld Township. In a little less than ten years 
since 1898 Mr. Stevenson has increased the 
value of this fine property, has extensively en- 
gaged in general farming and stocl^-raising and 
estaljlished a standard of agricultural proced- 
ure creditable to any enlightened community. 

Born in Putman Township, Fulton County, 
November 23, 1868, Mr. Stevenson is the son 
of John and Lavina (O'Brien) Stevenson, the 
former of whom came to Putman Township 
before its organization, bought 160 acres of 
timber land and married a native daughter of 
the wilderness. He cleared and improved his 
160 acres on Section 19, reared a large fam- 
ily of children and died the possessor of a val- 
uable estate and the good will and esteem of 
all who knew him. His son, Dudley O., reared 
to participate in the needs and activities 
around him, grew to rugged manhood and at 
the age of twenty-four engaged in independent 
farming on the S. A. Kelley property, in Buck- 
heart Township. Two years later he spent a 
year operating a saw mill and threshing ma- 
chine, then moved to an eighty-acre farm in 
Putman Township, upon which he remained 
until assuming the management of the farm he 
now occupies, in 1898. In Fairview Township 
in 1891 Mr. Stevenson married Dessie Tennis, 
of Fairview. who died tiie following year. In 
189.T he was united in marriage to Effie M. 
Tennis, sister of his former wife, and of this 
union there have been born six children: 
Clarence, Ralph, Edith, Ethel, Ruth and Clyde. 
Mr. Stevenson is a scientific farmer and ex- 
cellent business man and has made a success 
of tenant farming. He is adaptive and oblig- 
ing and has the faculty of getting along with 
all with whom he is associated. 

STEWART, James M., one of the most promi- 
nent and influential citizens of Lewistown, 
Pulton County, 111., who is now living in leis- 
urely retirement from the sphere of public ac- 
tivity, was born in Alexandria, Licking Coun- 
ty, Ohio, September 15, 1844. He is a son of 
Richard and Philena (Twining) Stewart, the 
former a native of Virginia and the latter 
having been bom in Newark, Ohio. The Stew- 
arts are of Scotch descent, while the Twin- 
ing ancestry runs far back in America. Be- 



sides James M., Richard Stewart and his wife 
had four other children, two of whom died in 
infancy. The others are: Austin W. Stew- 
art, a resident of Taylorville, 111., and Annie 
E., wife of W. H. Failing, of Cambridge, Neb. 
When the father left his Virginia home he 
went to Ohio, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing, and thence he moved to Fulton County, 
111., bought land and followed in the same oc- 
cupation until his death in 1879. He was 
buried at Cul)a, 111., but his widow is still liv- 
ing at the age of eighty-five years. 

James M. Stewart received his early educa- 
tion in the district schools of his neighbor- 
hood and helped his father on the farm until 
August. 1S62, when he enlisted in Company E. 
One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, being the youngest of the 
106 members of the company. The regiment 
figured very conspicuously in the battle of 
Chickamauga, and after the close of the war 
the State of Ohio erected a monument to indi- 
cate the regiment's ))osition on Sunday, Sep- 
tember 20, 1863. This position was on the ex- 
treme right of General Thomas' lines on Snod- 
grass Hill, Horseshoe Ridge. The brigade to 
which the regiment was attached was com- 
posed of the Seventy-eighth Illinois Regiment 
and the Ninety-eighth, One Hundred and Thir- 
teenth and One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio 
Regiments, together with Battery M, Illinois 
Light Artillery. The brigade charged the ridge 
at 2 o'clock )). m., driving the divisions of 
Hindman and Johnson, of Stonewall Jaclvson's 
corjjs, from their position, and from that time 
until 6 o'clock p. m. the One Hundred and 
Twenty-first Ohio Regiment withstood the com- 
bined assaults of the two Confederate divi- 
sions. The last year of Mr. Stewart's service 
was spent in the headquarters office of the In- 
spector General of the Second Division, Four- 
teenth Army Corps. Of the 106 members of 
Company E "Morgan" was one of the nineteen 
who survived to be mustered out at Washing- 
ton, D. C, after the Grand Review. The loss 
of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio 
Regiment in the battle of Chickamauga was 
sixty-seven per cent, of its number. Company 
E lost its captain, a gallant leader of men. 

After the war was over Mr. Stewart went to 
Daviess County, Ind., and in the fall of 1866 
he came to Fulton County, 111., and located in 
the vicinity of Cuba. On October 23, 1887, Mr. 
Stewart was united in marriage to Frances 
Stenbech, of Adams County, 111., who died 
October 23, 1900, and was buried at Cuba, 111. 
On November 6, 1901, Mr. Stewart married 
Mrs. Sarah J. Hill, of Danville, Ind., who is a 
daughter of Joseph McVey, and comes of a 
prominent Kentucky family, being also a sis- 
ter-in-law of Chief Justice John Hackley, of 
Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In politics Mr. Stewart is a strong Repub- 
lican and formerly was zealous and active in 
party work. In 1882 he was the Republican 



1 128 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



nominee for Sheriff of Fulton County, and de- 
feated his opponent. David Waggoner, by a 
large majority. He discharged the duties of 
the shrievalty in such an able and faithful 
manner that on the expiration of his term of 
four years his party nominated him for County 
Treasurer and elected him to that office. In 
this position, also, he acquitted himself with 
signal ability and to the satisfaction of all. On 
completing his term he retired from active 
pursuits after a busy and honorable career, 
during which he bravely served his county 
and proved himself a worthy and useful citizen 
of Fulton County. Fraternally Mr. Stewart is 
identified with the G. A. R., K. of P. and M. 
W. of A. 

STOOPS, Benton C. — The purpose and enter- 
prise which led William Stoops to avail him- 
self of the pioneer opportunities of Fulton 
County, are reflected in large measure by his 
son and successor, Benton C. Stoops, an indus- 
trious and dependable general farmer and 
stocli-raiser on Section 10, in Vermont Town- 
ship. Bom in a rude log cabin on the farm 
lie now owns and occupies, April 12, 1859, Mr. 
Stoops has spent his life after the manner of 
men who regard industry as a boon, and their 
special occupation the one for which, by in- 
clination and training, they are best qualified 
to creditably fill. 

The meager chance of the early country 
school created in Mr. Stoops a craving for 
knowledge, which his industry has since been 
able to gratify. While still continuing his ar- 
duous duties around the home place, he com- 
pleted a general business course by studying 
in the evening, and thus laid the foundation 
for that commercial knowledge witliout which 
the farmer of today may not hope for the 
largest agricultural compensations. He prac- 
tically has been in charge of the homestead 
since 1877, and November 24, 1882, he was 
united in marriage to Anna Russell, daughter 
of Joseph and Rebecca (Robinson) Russell, 
pioneers and large landowners of Fulton 
County. In the meantime the log cabin has 
been supplanted by a pretentious modern 
dwelling, barns and other structures have been 
built and rebuilt, shade and fruit trees have 
been set out and a country enterprise devel- 
oped which, doubtless, is far removed from the 
most ambitious dreams of the original estab- 
lisher of the family in the wilderness. For the 
past four years Mr. Stoops has devoted his 
energies largely to stock-raising, at the present 
time having twenty-two head of registered 
stock. He has been successful with Shorthorn 
cattle, Poland China hogs and high-grade 
horses, netting a comfortable annual income 
from the disposal of the same. 

By no means self-centered in his ambition, 
Mr. Stoops has taken a keen interest in com- 
munity affairs for many years, and for a quarter 
of a century has been identified with the Pa- 
trons of Husbandry, an important factor in en- 



couraging the best tenets of country life. The 
meetings of this organization have been held 
in the Union Center schoolhouse, and Mr. 
Stoops on many occasions has been Master of 
the home lodge. He also is President of the 
South Fulton Grange, Picnic and Fair Asso- 
ciation, the latter holding yearly reunions in 
September on the grounds of the association 
in Farmers Township. These picnics are above 
the general run of similar entertainments, and 
not only have a fine stock show in connection, 
but provide an excellent literary and musical 
entertainment. The best speakers are secured 
for the occasions, and the whole countryside 
turns out to malve the outings enjoyable, as 
well as instructive and helpful. For many 
years Mr. Stoops has been a member of the 
Board of Education. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stoops are the parents of two 
children: Dwight, born April 28, 1884, and 
Harry C, born January 10, 1889. The sons 
have been given every advantage within the 
power of their parents, and both are young 
men of character and principle. Mr. Stoops 
represents the rugged, sterling and practical 
citizenship of the Central West, and, like his 
father before him, sets an example of good 
judgment and integrity which they of the ris- 
ing generation might follow with profit. 

STOOPS, Perry H. — The professional life of 
Dr. Perry H. Stoops is an expression of zeal, 
scholarship and large human usefulness. Since 
1891 he has been a resident of Ipava, this 
county, and during that time his name has be- 
come a household one, and his services are in 
demand throughout a large part of the sur- 
rounding country. Dr. Stoops was born July 
5, 1863, in Vermont Township, Fulton County, 
this State, of which his father, William 
Stoops, was an honored pioneer. (See his biog- 
raphy in another section of this work.) 

Dr. Stoops was reared on the paternal farm 
and received his preliminary training in the 
district schools. Later he attended the West- 
ern Illinois Normal, at Bushnell, this State, 
and eventually taught school a couple of years 
in Fulton and McDonough Counties. In the 
meantime he had developed an interest in 
medicine, devoting his leisure to its mastery, 
and in 1886 graduated with honors from the 
Rush Medical School, of Chicago. For the fol- 
lowing year he practiced in the northern part 
of the State, and in 1888 opened an office in 
Union, Iowa, remaining there until 1891, when 
he located in Ipava. 

On February 26, 1887, the Doctor was united 
in marriage to Belle Boothby, a native of War- 
ren, Joe Daviess County, 111., and of the union 
there are four children: Edna M., William 
W., Richard B. and Edwin B. In politics Dr. 
Stoops is a Democrat, in religion a Presby- 
terian and fraternally is connected with the 
Ipava Lodge, No. 213, A. F. and A. M., and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. 

Dr. Stoops is a charter member of the Ful- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1T29 



ton County Medical Society and a member o£ 
the Illinois State Medical Society and the 
American Medical Association. He is an in- 
fluential factor in professional circles in the 
county and is esteemed for his learning and its 
successful application. His office is equipped 
with the best of surgical appliances, and his 
experience and ability, with his pleasing per- 
sonality and progressiveness, assure him the 
most satisfying compensations of his calling. 

STOOPS. William.— From 1836 until the end 
of his life, February 14, 1905, at the age of 
ninety years, one month and three days, Wil- 
liam Stoops was an interested spectator of the 
unrolling of Fulton County history. For the 
greater part of that time he was an active 
force in the development of Vermont Town- 
ship, and was especially promotive of excellent 
results in agriculture and education. Ushered 
into his school life among the crudest of sur- 
roundings in Hamilton County, Ohio, where he 
was born January 11, 181.5, he himself was 
permitted few schooling opportunities, but his 
mature years awoke to the value of mental 
training, and he was ever zealous in its be- 
half. For twenty years he was a member of 
the Board of Education of his township, and 
during that time always paid the largest sal- 
aries and secured the Ijest possible teachers. 
He gave liberally also of his means for the 
cause of education, and he always encouraged 
his children to avail themselves of every ave- 
nue that led to knowledge. 

As a farmer Mr. Stoops progressed with the 
times, and set always a high standard. He 
came of a family of industrious people, and his 
father, Michael Stoops, had the dogged perse- 
verance of the Pennsylvania Dutch, of whom 
he was one, and in which State he was born. 
Migrating in early youth to Ohio, he married 
Ellen Van Sickle and in 1836 came to Fulton 
County, where he encountered the trials and 
deprivations which awaited the arrival of the 
'30s. Between that time and his death in 
1876, he improved a fine farm, accumulated a 
reasonable competence and won the respect and 
good will of those whose courage had also led 
them into the wilds. His son William first 
homestead a farm in Pleasant Township, but 
finally moved to Vermont Township, where he 
lived until 188.5. He then retired from active 
life to Ipava, where, among comfortable sur- 
roundings, he passed the balance of his life. 

Mr. Stoops was thrice married. His first 
wife formerly was Hannah Lindsey, who be- 
came the mother of eight children, but one of 
whom is living — Mrs. William M. Guthrie, of 
Vermont. Mrs. Stoops died January 30, 1852, 
and Mr. Stoops subsequently married Keziah 
Clark, who died December 28, 1860. Of this 
union there were five children, two of whom 
are living: Mrs. William Holmes, of Auburn. 
Neb., and B. C. Stoops, of Vermont Township. 
The third Mrs, Stoops was Mrs. Margaret 
(Hannah) Wentworth, daughter of William 
3S 



Hannah, and of this union there were four 
children, two of whom are living: Dr. P. H. 
Stoops and Professor R. O. Stoops, of Jackson- 
ville, 111. Jlrs. Margaret Stoops died in June, 
1892. Mr. Stoops was a member of the Pres- 
byterian Church Curing his entire reasoning 
life and contributed generously towards its 
support. He was a man whose word was bet- 
ter than his bond, whom every one admired 
and respected, and who lived up to and firmly 
appreciated the worth of homely, sterling vir- 
tues. 

STRODE. Robert,— Of the younger generation 
of agriculturists who continue to dwell amid 
the surroundings of their boyhood and with 
their newer energy and broader outlook aug- 
menting the lal)or of their sires upon land- 
mark homestead, mention is due Robert 
Strode, who was born where he now lives on 
Section 23, Farmer Township, Fulton County, 
June 30, 1876. Mr. Strode is a son of James 
Patterson and Hannah (Clemens) Strode, and 
grandson of James Strode, all of whom were 
born in Ohio, and settled at an early day in 
Fulton County. 

James Patterson Strode was educated in the 
early subscription schools of Ohio and Illinois 
and after his marriage entered 160 acres of 
Government land in Farmers Township. He 
was an active and ambitious man, and in 1857 
went to Kansas to look over the country, and 
while there served in the border war. Return- 
ing to Fulton County, he continued farming 
until the lireaking out of the Civil War, when 
he enlisted in the Fiftieth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, being elected Second Lieutenant of 
his company, in which he served for three 
years. When peace was restored he resumed 
his quiet pastoral lite in Fulton County, but 
in 1883 went to Nebraska, where, in Custer 
County, he homesteaded 320 acres of land. 
From 1886 until 1889 he lived in Table Grove, 
Fulton County, when he again settled on the 
old homestead, where his death occurred in 
1901. He was a successful farmer and left to 
his heirs the Custer County farm in Nebraska 
and 223 acres in Farmers Township, Fulton 
County. He is survived by his wife, who still 
lives on the old place. Mr. Strode was a 
prominent and influential man, a stanch Re- 
publican and the holder of a number of im- 
portant local offices. He was public-spirited 
and generous, and many branches of local en- 
deavor were aided by his financial or other 
support. 

Robert Strode was educated in the public 
schools of the country and of Table Grove, and 
at the age of twenty-one succeeded to the en- 
tire management of the home farm. He finds 
his occupation both congenial and profitable 
and success has enabled him to buy the inter- 
ests of his brother, Edmund Clemens Strode, 
in the home farm. The brother referred to is 
one of the leading legal practitioners of Lin- 
coln, Neb. Mr. Strode devotes his attention to 



II30 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



general farming and stock-raising, and has sur- 
rounded himself with many of the comforts 
and conveniences which render agreeable the 
once hard and thankless tasks of the farmer. 
He also owns an interest in the farm in Ne- 
braska. He is a young man of progressive 
ideas and pronounced general ability, a loyal 
Republican and a popular member of the 
Masonic Order and Knights of Pythias. 

STRODE, Dr. William S., a prominent physi- 
cian of Lewistown, in active and growing prac- 
tice, an enthusiastic and learned naturalist of 
wide reputation, and a stirring and successful 
citizen, is a native of the county which is 
proud to claim him. He was born in Farmers 
Township, Fulton County, December 8, 1847, 
the son of Thomas and Catherine (Smith) 
Strode, his mother being the daughter of Jesse 
Smith. Dr. Strode's father was a Pennsyl- 
vanian, who migrated first to Ohio and then 
to Illinois, settling in Farmers Township about 
the year 1834. Both he and his wife spent the 
remainder of their lives there, Mrs. Catherine 
Strode dying about 1854, when William was 
seven years of age. Of the Doctor's three 
brothers and one sister Albert was killed in 
Arkansas about 1899; Curtis J. is a farmer of 
Harris Township; .lesse J. is engaged in agri- 
culture in Farmers Township, and Addle is liv- 
ing in Peoria, 111. 

Dr. Strode's boyhood was that of the average 
lad reared on a farm and depending upon the 
district schools for the foundation of his edu- 
cation. For recreation he hunted and fished, 
as did most of his comrades, but unlike the 
average youth in an agricultural community, 
keen thoughts and thorough reading accom- 
panied the observations made during these 
rambles, ostensibly for pleasure alone. Mov- 
ing and living creatures especially appealed to 
him, and through his eyes and books he 
eagerly studied the habits and beauties of birds 
and insects. As years passed he became more 
deeply versed in these phases of nature study, 
making methodical and scientific collections, 
until finally he possessed probably the finest 
museum of a private nature, confined to birds, 
bugs, butterflies, shells, minerals and plants, in 
the State of Illinois. More wonderful still, it 
is said that you may take him a ten-mile drive 
anywhere within the limits of the common- 
wealth, and he will describe and classify the 
habits of any living thing (within these fam- 
ilies) which may chance to come across his 
path. Along his specialties he has contributed 
many articles to scientific journals, both 
American and European. When it is remem- 
bered that this prominence as a naturalist has 
been earned only as a side issue from the 
chief purpose of his life, it is evident that the 
Doctor is a man of remarkable versatility as 
well as ability. 

After graduating from the district school 
Dr. Strode completed a course in the Gem City 
Business College at Quincy, 111., in which he 



was also a teacher for a number of years, his 
pedagogical experience extending even to the 
schools of Fulton County. Prior to this period, 
however, he had seen military service, enlist- 
ing, as he did, during the Civil War, when only 
sixteen years of age. For a year he followed 
the fortunes of Company G, Fiftieth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged at the 
close of the war. During the Spanish-Ameri- 
can War, after he had attained a high stand- 
ing as a physician, he raised a company of 120 
men and repaired to Peoria, 111., to again enter 
the military service, and was elected a Surgeon 
of the regiment, but as the quota was already 
filled, his command faued to be mustered in 
and returned home, greatly to the disappoint 
ment of all concerned. 

Dr. Strode's medical education was obtained 
at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and he has 
been in active and successful practice since his 
graduation from that institution in 1884. His 
location at Lewistown dates from 1891. At 
present he is not only a leading private prac- 
titioner, but Secretary of the Board of Pen- 
sion Examiners, President of the Board of Edu- 
cation and member of the City Board of Health, 
having iield the first position for the past six- 
teen years. Fraternally he is affiliated with the 
Court of Honor and the G. A. R. Dr. Strode 
married Amelia Steel, a daughter of Dr. John 
Steel, and ^f this marriage four children have 
been born: Winifred, a resident of Silver City, 
S. D.; John W., of the same place; Muriel, 
living in Chicago, and Walter L., of Lewis- 
town. The mother of this family died in 1888, 
and in 1890 the Doctor married as his second 
wife Julia Brown, of Lewistown, by whom he 
has one daughter, Catherine, now twelve years 
old. 

STRONG. Ozias G., M. D. — The best of human 
usefulness would seem to have been realized 
in the life of Dr. Ozias G. Strong, than whom 
there never was a more venerated member liv- 
ing of the vanguard of professional men of 
Canton and Fulton County. Dr. Strong stood 
as the old-time practitioner, so loved by the 
families of Fulton County, who ever had the 
courage of his convictions and who retained 
his hold upon old faiths and dogmas only so 
far as they appealed to his reason and judg- 
ment. In the fashioning of a broad and lib- 
eral citizenship his energies were beyond his 
immediate sphere of action, and included par- 
ticipation in politics, society and general local 
undertakings. 

In outwitting the old biblical injunction as 
to length of years Dr. Strong followed closely 
in the footsteps of both his father, Ozias 
Strong, Sr., and his grandfather, Horatio 
Strong. The former in early life was a farm- 
er, later a lawyer, and still later, for forty 
years, a magistrate of Wilkesville, Vinton 
County, Ohio. The latter, who was born in 
Massachusetts, on the paternal side was of 
English-Irish and on the maternal side of 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1131 



Scotch descent, and spent the greater part of 
his life on a farm, dying there at the age of 
eighty-five years. The mother of Dr. Strong 
formerly was Annis Gregory, of Connecticut. 

Born on the paternal farm in Meigs County, 
Ohio. August 12, 1818, Dr. Strong was early 
schooled in agriculture and in the subscription 
institution near his home. Aspiring to a 
broader life than was the lot of the average 
farmer's son. he entered Athens (Ohio) Acad- 
emy, and soon after began the study of medi- 
cine with Dr. J. H. Smith, of Meigs County, 
that State. After taking a course of lectures 
at Starling College, Columbus, Ohio, he began 
the practice of his profession in Meigs County, 
at the expiration of three years moving to St. 
Louis, where also he practiced for several 
months. His next place of residence was Han- 
nibal, Mo., where the Doctor turned from pro- 
fessional to mercantile pursuits, engaging in 
business with Messrs. Smith and Dick, under 
the firm name of Smith, Dick & Company. At 
the same time he became interested in Demo- 
cratic politics and served as Marshal and Col- 
lector of City Revenues, to which he was 
elected in 18.53. His business departure proved 
a keen disappointment, owing to various un- 
pleasant complications, and after three years 
he moved to La Grange and engaged in the 
tobacco business. Here also his excellent ex- 
ecutive and general qualities drew him into 
pronlinence, and he served his party as Re- 
corder and Police Magistrate. In the mean- 
time the Doctor's i)rofessional views under- 
went a radical change, simplifying themselves 
into homeopathy, for the better understanding 
of which he entered the St. Louis Homoeopathic 
College, from which he was duly graduated in 
the spring of \H:>S. 

During the fall of his graduation Dr. Strong 
located in Canton, and entered with zeal and 
renewed enthusiasm into medical practice, 
soon winning a following which ofttimes re- 
quired the application of years. His skill in 
diagnosis and treatment, his success with 
many complicated and siipixisedly incurable dis- 
eases and, above all else, his faith in the best 
tenets of his new creed of healing, created a 
demand for his services which netted him an 
annual income of many thousands of dollars. 
Necessarily his labors were not confined to the 
city limits, but rather extended throughout 
the county and included many of the foremost 
families, who for years depended upon his un- 
questioned proficiency. 

For his first wife Dr. Strong married Beth- 
ena E. favey, of Hannibal, Mo., who died in 
this city, leaving five children: Jared D., 
George W., Charles H., Jesse W. and Lizzie L. 
Of these, George W. became manager of a 
large book concern in Buffalo, N. Y.; Charles 
H, is a graduate of the Chicago Homoeopathic 
College, and became a practitioner of 
Providence, R. I. ; Jesse W, became pro- 
prietor and eritor of the Canton Repub- 
lican, on September 18, 1890, and Lizzie be- 



came the wife of C, H. Atwater, of Quincy, 111. 
The widow of the deceased bore the girlhood 
name of Maggie Linabery, and is a native of 
Morris County, N. J., but who was educated in 
the West, to which she removed in early life 
with her parents. Dr. Strong was a member 
of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and 
for many years was an honored member of 
the Masonic fraternity. As in his old age his 
years of greatest activity were characterized 
by moderation and breadth of mind, by great 
intellectual force and a capacity for absorbing 
and utilizing the best in books, people and life 
in general. Upon no practitioner of the early 
days rested in greater measure the esteem and 
affection of his professional and social asso- 
ciates, and his demise Mary 2, 1893, 'was 
greatly deplored by not only the city of Can- 
ton and Fulton County, but by many others, 
who were his friends and admirers in this 
part of the State. 

STUMP. D. M., one of the oldest and most 
highly esteemed citizens of Fulton County, 111., 
with the development of which he has been 
intimately identified during a period of nearly 
tnree-score years, was born in Perry County, 
Pa., on February 29, 1828. He is a resident of 
Avon, Fulton County, where for more than a 
generation he has conducted a fire insurance 
agency with gratifying success. 

Mr. Stump is a son of William A. and 
Catherine (Mumper) Stump, natives of Lan- 
caster County, Pa. William A. Stump was a 
blacksmith by occupation and followed his 
trade in Pennsylvania until the time of his 
death in 1860. He served in the War of 1812 
and was a man of tireless industry and blame- 
less character. To him and his worthy spouse 
were born twelve children, of whom the sub- 
ject of this sketch and two sisters, Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Sheriff, of Ceresco, Mich., and Mrs. Bar- 
bara Hand, of Everest, Kans., are the only 
survivors, 

D. M. Stump's mother died when he was 
about eight years old and about a year later 
his father married again. The neighbors 
made the youth believe that the devil was en- 
tering the home, so, as his stepmother came in 
at the front door, he went out at the back 
door and never became acquainted with her, 
and never lived within fifty miles of his for- 
mer home thereafter. For two years he made 
his home with a brother-in-law in Cumber- 
land County, Pa., and then went to work in a 
woolen mill for a Mr. Galaspa, where he 
helped pick, card, spin, weave, full, shear and 
press wool into cloth, worth from eight to ten 
dollars per yard. The mill was a large one and 
run by an eighteen-foot overshot water wheel. 
While watching the fulling of the cloth at the 
mill Mr. Galaspa's daughter would come down 
to stay with him and teach him to read and 
write, which was about the extent of his edu- 
cation, as he never attended a public school. 

On leaving the mill he went to work at 



II32 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



blacksmithing and wagon-making, which trade 
he followed at Lowden, Pa., until 1847, the last 
year of the Mexican War. He then went to 
Chambersburg, Pa., and enlisted in the reg- 
ular army and still retains the original poster 
calling for volunteers, a copy of which follows: 

"A few able-bodied men, wanted for the 
best arm of service. Those who calculate 
on enlisting for the war may rest assured that 
every attention will be paid to making them 
comfortable and contented with their situa- 
tion. In addition to the liberal allowances 
made by the Government to the soldier, he will 
be entitled to a warrant for 160 ACRES OF 
LAND, to be located by himself on any of the 
public lands in the United Statets, besides a 
bounty of TWELVE DOLLARS. 

Chas. T. C.\mpbell, Lieut. U. S. A. 

"On Recruiting Service, Chambersburg, Feb- 
ruary 26, 1847." 

His company consisted of four commissioned 
officers and 132 non-commissioned officers and 
privates. They traveled afoot from Chambers- 
burg to Pittsburg, a distance of 150 miles, and 
then took a boat for New Orleans, La. There 
they were joined by others who made up the 
regiment and went aboard ship again and sailed 
to the mouth of the Rio Grande, where they 
spent the month of May in a camp of instruc- 
tion some miles south of Matamoras. About 
the first of June they embarked for Vera Cruz, 
but owing to a "calm at sea" the bark which 
he was in could not go on, and they were picked 
up by an English man-of-war and taken to 
Tampico, where they boarded a steamship for 
the rest of the journey. Arriving at Vera Cruz 
too late to join General Scott, they advanced 
to Pueblo under General Pierce, and there 
joined the main army. On the 13th of Au- 
gust they started for the city of Mexico 
Entrenchments and fortifications extended for 
miles around three sides of the city and they 
had to take a wide detour to the south and 
west. When they reached San Augustine on 
the ISth, their regiment, with Scott's body- 
guard of cavalry under Captain Phil. Kearney, 
had a brislv skirmish with a body of the en- 
emy, and this opened the way for the battles 
of Contreras and Cherubusco, which occurred 
on the 19th and 20th, and in which their army 
obtained great victories, but at serious loss of 
killed and wounded. After the battles of Mo- 
lino del Rey and Chepultepec, on the Sth and 
12th of September, they entered the City of 
Mexico on the morning of the 14th and the 
"Stars and Stripes" were soon floating from the 
flagpole of the National Palace. The "Halls" 
of the Montezumas" were ours. 

In January, 1848, the regiment was sent to 
Taluca and from there to Larma, where they 
remained until May 28th when peace was de- 
clared and they took up the march home. They 
marched back to Vera Cruz, where they em- 
barked on a sailing vessel for New Orleans, 
and, after landing there, took a steamship, the 
"Crescent City," for New York, landing at Fort 



Hamilton, on Long Island. On September 16, 
1848, they were discharged from the United 
States Army, then consisting of one commis- 
sioned officer and twenty-seven non-commis- 
sioned officers and privates. Nine others had 
been discharged and sent home during the war, 
making thirty-six out of the 132 who started 
to arrive home. The others were either killed 
or died during the war. 

After his discharge Mr. Stump returned to 
Lowden, Pa., and there again took up the occu- 
pation of a blacksmith, which trade he fol- 
lowed until 1850, when he st£.rted westward, 
traveling by boat from Pittsburg, Pa., to Cop- 
peras Creek, III., which required twelve days. 
With others who came at that time he was 
taken to Canton by Matthew Mitchell, now a 
resident of Ellisville, their conveyance being a 
spring-wagon, then called a "democrat." It be- 
ing Sunday, they met persons going to church 
riding in lumber wagons with boards for seats, 
which seemed very strange to ladies reared in 
the East. One of the ladies in the party re- 
marked that, if obliged to go to church in that 
kind of a conveyance, she feared she would 
not go. Later they were much surprised to 
meet a load of people in a wagon drawn by 
oxen, and to their questions as to whether this 
was a common sight, Mr. Mitchell replied that 
it was. Some of the young men of those days 
took ladies behind them on horseback to 
church and parties. Mr. Stump remained in 
Canton, working for William Parlin at his trade 
of blacksmith, and later for Mr. Colton, and 
while there the late James H. Stipp was his 
roommate. While working for Mr. Colton he 
met E. D. Mailliard, who urged him to come 
to Woodstock (now Avon), stating there was 
no blacksmith there, and, on July 7, he started 
for that place, carrying his knapsack with him. 
The dry wit of Mr. Mailliard is not forgotten. 
Once while watching Mr. Stump putty some 
holes in a hub he asked the reason, and Mr. 
Stump replied that it was as good as wood. 
He then remarked, "Build me one wagon all of 
putty." He arrived in Woodstock on the Sth of 
July, 1850, and rented the blacksmith shop 
then owned by Lawson Woods, and near where 
the dwelling of Mrs. William Chatterton, on 
Woods Street, now stands. In 1851 he pur- 
chased the land and built a shop on the west 
part of the lot now owned by Miss Mary Dust- 
man. He moved into the house which he now 
owns after his marriage in 1854, and, with a 
few brief intervals, has lived there ever since. 
The maple tree now standing in front of his 
house he brought from Overman's nursery, near 
Canton, in 1851, carrying it on horseback. It 
now measures nearly fourteen feet in circum- 
ference. 

In 1853 he solicited subscriptions to the 
Northern Cross Railroad, now forming a part 
of the Burlington System. Nehemiah Bush- 
nell was then President of the road, and Ben- 
jamin Prentiss, afterwards General Prentiss, 
was a Director. In six weeks' time he sold 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



i^33 



stock to the amount of $72,000. Later he en- 
tered the agricultural business and sold ma- 
chinery for C. H. and L. J. McCormick. of Chi- 
cago, and Gaar, Scott & Co., of Richmond, Ind. 
While engaged in this business he began to 
write insurance, but, in 1S89, having relin- 
quished the agricultural business, began to de- 
vote his entire attention to the insurance busi- 
ness, and now has one of the most extensive 
agencies in this part of the State, Stump's In- 
surance Agency being a household word for 
miles throughout the surrounding country and 
towns. 

On April 23, 1854, Mr. Stump was married to 
Caroline T. Wright, daughter of D. N. Wright, 
who came to Woodville from Huron County, 
Ohio, in 1S44. At that time there were only 
eight families where now our beautiful and 
prosperous Avon is located. She has been con- 
fined to her home the greater |)ortion of the 
time for the past thirty years, but has borne 
her ills cheerfully and patiently, and enjoys 
the many blessings left to her. During all 
these years her husband has been very solicit- 
ous for her comfort, leaving nothing undone 
that would in any way contribute to her hap- 
piness. Saturday, April 23, 1904, marked the 
fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and 
Mrs. Stump. Xo elaborate plans were made 
for celebrating their golden anniversary, but 
relatives and friends called at their residence 
on Woods Street during the afternoon and even- 
ing to join in commemorating the happy oc- 
casion. A few minutes before eight the com- 
pany present ceased conversing and Oliver 
Crissey, in his happy style, addressed the bride 
and groom in a few well-chosen words. He re- 
ferred to Mr. Stump as a man of strong and 
positive convictions, who had always taken an 
active part in politics and all questions of pub- 
lic interest, and it was only natural that such 
a person should sometimes be held up in the 
light of criticism : but, said Mr. Crissey. dur- 
ing the forty-eight years of his residence in 
Avon, he had never heard the home life of 
Mr. Stump spoken of except in the highest 
terms of commendation, and Mrs. Stump had, 
so far as her strength would permit, faithfully 
discharged the duties of wife and mother. By 
way of reminiscence, Mr. Crissey said that the 
wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Stump was without 
doubt the most romantic that had occurred in 
Fulton County to that time. Soon after locat- 
ing in Avon, in the early days, Mr. Stump fell 
in love with Miss Caroline Wright, then a 
handsome girl of fourteen years. Her parents 
did not look with favor upon the courtship, 
which continued for four years, and bitterly 
opposed the marriage. This opposition resulted 
in establishing the first rural mail delivery in 
this place. W. H. Rose, then a young lad, 
served in the capacity of carrier and performed 
his duties faithfully and well. The mail he 
carried consisted of love messages between the 
young couple. With aid from other friends the 
wedding arrangements were finally made and 



successfully carried out. The ceremony was 
performed at the home of Stephen Tompkins, 
on the corner of Main and Woods Streets, by 
E. G. Roe, who at that time held the office of 
Justice of the Peace. Mr. and Mrs. Wright be- 
came reconciled after a few weeks, and re- 
ceived the young couple to their home with 
open arms. Mr. Crissey then delegated Mr. 
Rose, who had carried their love messages 
fifty years ago and more, to deliver to them the 
gifts that had been so generously and lovingly 
contributed by their friends, and he accepted 
the honor with becoming modesty, remarking 
that it seemed as if he were still destined to 
be a "go-between," but felt glad to serve in that 
capacity. There were nine persons at this 
happy gathering who were present at the one 
fifty years previous, namely: Mrs. Stephen 
Tompkins, R. W. Townsend and wife, Mrs. Oli- 
ver Crissey, Mrs. Catherine Woods, ,James Mc- 
Gowan, W. H. Rose, Gilbert Tompkins and Al- 
bert Tompkins. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Stump were born three chil- 
dren, one of whom, Lawrence, died in 1884. 
The other two are Mrs. James Shawcross, of 
Glenville, Neb., and Lee H. Stump, of Avon. In 
politics Mr. Stump is a supporter of the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party, always taking 
an active interest in village, township, county. 
State and National elections. In 1856 he held 
the office of Supervisor of Union Township. 
He was one of the original promoters of the 
Avon Fair and has always worked for its suc- 
cess. Fraternally he is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. 

SULLIVAN, W. J., who is successfully en-' 
gaged in the milling business in Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Taylor County, Ky., 
August 1, 1856, and there received his early 
mental training in the district schools in the 
vicinity of his home. He is a son of William 
and Louisa (Wade) Sullivan, natives of Ken- 
tucky, where the father was born in Taylor 
County and the mother in Madison County. 

The subject of this sketch came to Canton 
January 1, 1899, and has since been engaged 
in milling with successful results. Previously 
he carried on farming in Blandinsville Town- 
ship, McDonough County, 111. He is a good 
business man and gives strict attention to the 
operation of his mill. On December 13, 1883, 
Mr. Sullivan was united in marriage with Ad- 
die Able, who was born in Marion County, Ky. 
Five children have blessed their union, name- 
ly: Bernice, Bessie, Josie, Ray and Lee. Fra- 
ternally Mr. Sullivan is affiliated with the 
Eagles and the Tribunes. 

SUYDAM, William Edgar, who is successfully 
engaged in stock-raising on an extensive scale 
in Fairview Township, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in that township, August 31, 1874, a son 
of John and Anna (Leigh) Suydam, both of 
whom are natives of Fairview Township. John 
Suydam was engaged in farming there during 



"34 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



his entire active life. He was brought to that 
vicinity by his parents in 1851. They settled 
near tlie town of Fairview, where John Suydam 
subsequently purchased 113 acres of land. This 
he cultivated witli good results until the time 
of his retirement from active labors, in 1902. 
Since that period he has made his home in 
Fairview. 

William Edgar Suydam spent his childhood 
in the manner customary with farmer's children 
and in early youth enjoyed the advantages of 
the district schools in the vicinity of his home, 
assisting his father in the worli of the farm 
during the summer season, and at intervals 
attending school. Since reaching years of ma- 
turity, he has carried on general farming and 
stock-raising on his own responsibility. At the 
outset he started for himself near Farmington, 
Fulton County, but finding that he required 
more land in order to conduct stock-raising 
operations in accordance with his plans, he 
moved to his father's place and there rented 
320 acres in addition, which is the property of 
James Ten Eyck. Mr. Suydam feeds a great 
deal of stock, shipping from five to six car- 
loads of cattle, and the same quantity of stock, 
every year. 

On March 17, 1897, the subject of this sketch 
was united in marriage, at Peoria, 111., with 
Elizabeth McMann, a native of Fairview Town- 
ship, wiiere she was born January 1, 1874. 
Three children have resulted from this union, 
as follows: J. Wynne, W. Lloyd, and Amber M. 

In politics Mr. Suydam is a stanch supporter 
of the Republican party. F^or three years he 
discharged the duties of the office of School 
Director of the Township with credit to himself 
and to the satisfaction of the public. His reli- 
gious connection is with the Christian Church. 
He is an intelligent, energetic and persevering 
man, straightforward and reliable in business 
transactions and a worthy representative- of 
the younger element of the agricultural class in 
Fulton County. Among his neighbors, he is 
regarded as one of the most useful members of 
the community. 

S'WEARINGEN, Carl V. (deceased).— The 
ranks of the younger generation of business 
men of Canton sustained a severe loss in the 
death of Carl V. Swearingen, February 2, 1902. 
This young man had a future of great promise 
and had received a training second to none in 
the store of his father, Ezra F. Swearingen, one 
of the pioneers of Fulton County, of whose his- 
tory more may be found elsewhere in this 
work. His mother's maiden name was Mary 
J. Salisbury. 

Mr. Swearingen was educated in the public 
schools of Canton and, while very young, 
learned to do up bundles and wait on customers 
in his father's .gi-ocery store. He finally be- 
came independent and married Bertha A. Ross, 
to whom was born one daughter, Catherine. 
Mr. Swearingen was a Republican in politics 
and a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He was genial in manner, obliging 



and tactful, and embellished his brief career 
with many loyal friendships. 

SWEARINGEN, Ezra F.— The grocery busi- 
ness has one essential advantage — it is an 
absolute necessity. Nevertheless, too many peo- 
ple trade upon this supposition, and, in conse- 
quence, are a long way removed from the 
hustling resourceful man known as the twen- 
tieth century grocer. As in all lines of busi- 
ness, a financial creed is necessary in order 
not to fall behind in the procession. We know 
of no one better qualified to advise on the 
sutjject than Ezra F. Swearingen, who has 
been a grocer in Canton for the past twenty- 
six years, and who at times has had the man- 
agement and control of as many as ten stores. 
His experience should be worth much to the 
young man who thinks he fits into a similar 
groove. 

As is usually the case, Mr. Swearingen at 
first belonged to the corner grocery type, but 
he refused to get in a rut, and consequently a 
way was opened for him to move from the 
same corner. He had the chance for expansion 
open to all others in the same position, and he 
used it. for expansion is the result of well 
directed labor. Two years after embarking 
in the business he became the partner of O. T. 
Salisbury, this connection continuing for ten 
years, or until 1893. Since then he has con- 
ducted his Canton branch alone. 

Mr. Swearingen was twenty-four years old 
when he entered upon his career as a grocer, 
and he marked out his business chart as clear- 
ly as his capital, knowledge, field and scope 
would permit. He moved slowly in the be- 
ginning until he had learned the motion of 
fortune's wheel, and never ventured ahead un- 
til he had an objective point in view. He has 
compelled attention by his unique schemes for 
getting customers, and his departure from 
thread-bare traditions. His goods always have 
been arranged in orderly and attractive 
manner, and with a view to harmonious color 
effects. Cleanliness of shelves and floors is al- 
ways insisted upon, and his clerks are compelled 
to carry out the general scheme of neatness 
in their personal attire. He directs much at- 
tention to supplying the best goods obtainable 
for the money, and has a reputation for re- 
liability that in itself is a trade winner. He 
never advertises anything that he hasn't 
on hand, and he never resorts to the expedient 
of premiums or free contributions. He wins 
out on merit, good nature, courtesy and pa- 
tience with women, who are his chief customers, 
and belief in himself and his ability to succeed. 

Mr. Swearingen was born in Dewitt County, 
111., November 7, 18.57, a son of E. W. and 
Mary J. (Sommers) Swearingen, natives of 
Lewis County, Ky., and Piatt County, 111., re- 
spectively. His father died in 1880, the year 
before the son left the home farm and came 
to Canton, and his mother died in 1893. The 
strictest economy prevailed in the home in 
Dewitt County, and the children comprising 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1135 



the family circle were obliged early to face 
the problem of self-support. Ezra F. attended 
the public schools, and on the farm learned 
much of produce and exchange which fitted in 
well with his later occupation of food mer- 
chant. He is an agreeable and obliging man, 
and his standing in the community rests upon 
the sure foundation of confidence and respect. 

SWEET, Charles R.— Through the energy and 
resource of many of its citizens and the fa- 
vorable soil conditions in its vicinity, the manu- 
facture of brick has come to be regarded as an 
important industry in Canton. The efforts of 
the first manufacturer necessarily have been 
vastly improved upon, and of those responsible 
for a higher precedent none are deserving of 
more credit than Charles R. Sweet. Mr. 
Sweet came from Wisconsin to Canton in 1882 
and his first place of business was in what was 
known as the old Whitley brick yard, started 
by a man named Craig. Ten years later he re- 
moved to his present yards, where he has a 
greatly increased capacity. His equipment is 
modern and permits of a high grade of brick 
employed principally for building purposes. 

Mr. Sweet was born on Caldwell's Prairie, 
Racine County, Wis., September 18, 1856, a son 
of Robert T. Sweet, who was born on a farm 
in New York State, June 3, 1833, and who died 
on a farm in Racine County, in February, 1904. 
On the maternal side Mr. Sweet comes of one 
of the earliest of the pioneer families of the 
Badger State. His mother formerly was Cath- 
erine O. Caldwell, born at Caldwell, Wis., in 
1837, a year after the organization of Wiscon- 
sin Territory. The country at that time was 
wild and the settlers few, and the hardships of 
the long, bitterly cold winters exceeded in se- 
verity those endured by the settlers who lo- 
cated in Illinois. Yet how much more deso- 
late was the region upon the arrival of the 
Grandparents Caldwell while yet Wisconsin 
was a part of Michigan Territory. The grand- 
father, Joseph Caldwell, was bom January 7, 
1792, and the grandmother, who was bom in 
1796, is said to have been the first white wom- 
an in Wisconsin. The town of Caldwell and 
the prairie surrounding it, now a splendid agri- 
cultural section, form a permanent link be- 
tween the old and the new order of things, and 
in name are a tribute to the courage and en- 
durance of those rare pathfinders whose forms 
have grown misty and immovable in American 
history. 

Mr. Sweet was reared on the Caldwell Pra- 
irie farm and to its compulsory duties attrib- 
utes the strong constitution and abounding vi- 
tality of his mature years. His education was 
largely self-acquired, prompted by the unsatis- 
factory character of that afforded by the coun- 
try school near his home. Gradually he out- 
grew the environment which had accomplished 
so much for him physically, and at twenty-six 
years began to mingle with the business life of 
Canton. While still a resident of Wisconsin, 



in 1880, he married Izillia White, and one son, 
Carl, has been bom of their union. Mr. Sweet 
pays little attention to things outside his imme- 
diate sphere of action, and especially finds lit- 
tle satisfaction in political undertakings. How- 
ever, he is a fraternalist of long standing and 
a member of the Masons and Knights of Py- 
thias. His business tenets are of the highest, 
and twenty-four years' association with the 
same community have placed him among its 
important creative factors. 

SWENEY, John Juvenal.— At the age of sixty- 
two John Juvenal Sweney is practically re- 
tired from active life, but while turning over 
to younger hands the responsibilities which 
crowded former years, he still occupies the 
farm of 160 acres in Lee Township, upon which 
the greater part of his life has been spent. Mr. 
Sweney is of Irish-Dutch ancestry, and was 
born in Northumberland County, Pa., February 
10, 184.5, a son of Major K. and Elizabeth (Ten 
Brook) Sweney, also natives of the Quaker 
State. 

Major Sweney was born in Pennsylvania 
August 18. 1817, and was the oldest of the chil- 
dren of Montgomery and Mary M. (Kehr) 
Sweney. the former born in Ireland in 1787, 
and the latter in Northumberland County, Pa., 
in 1795. The family immigrated to Fulton 
County during the summer of 183S, and here 
Montgomery Sweney died in Lee Township in 
1868, his wife surviving him until 1882. Major 
K. Sweney accompanied his parents to Illinois, 
where until 1839 he was a member of the edi- 
torial staff of the first newspaper printed in 
Fulton County. Having then abandoned this 
occupation, he settled on a farm where he re- 
mained until returning to his native State. 
During the summer of 1846, he again located 
in Illinois, taking up land on Section 23, Lee 
Township, and to this he added until he be- 
came the proprietor of a large farm in an ex- 
cellent state of cultivation. His neighbors in 
Lee County were few at first, and he endured 
the hardships and privations of frontier life. 
To obtain his mail he was obliged to go to 
Canton, and had to pay twenty-five cents post- 
age on a letter. Mr. Sweney reared and fur- 
nished a good education to eight children. He 
was a Democrat in politics, and served his 
township as School Director, Assessor and 
Supervisor. He was an Elder for many years, 
in the Presbyterian Church, and fraternally, 
was an Odd Fellow. His death occurred in 
1898. 

John Juvenal Sweney was about a year old 
when his parents brought him to Fulton Coun- 
ty, and he was educated in its public schools, 
and developed a strong constitution on his 
father's farm. His life has been a busy one, 
and confined to his farm and home, requiring 
few outside diversions or interests. On Novem- 
ber 20, 1872, he married in Lewistown, 111., 
Susan W. Lewis, who was born in Virginia, 
March 17, 1850, and is the devoted mother of 



II36 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



seven children: William C, Flora, Maude, 
Nellie (now Mrs. C. J. Homer, of Prairie 
City, 111.); Fred L., Fannie and Donald K. 
Mr. Sweney is a Democrat in politics. For 
many years he has stanchly supported the 
cause of education as a member of the School 
Board, and his children have been given a 
chance to acquire practical training under the 
best possible country conditions. 

SWIGERT. Clifford M.— Born October 17, 
1881, upon the farm in Section 4, Fairview 
Township, of which he now is manager, Clifford 
M. Swigert is a sou of William and Anna 
(McGuire) Swigert, the former a native of 
Young Hickory Township, Fulton County, and 
the latter of the State of Wisconsin. The elder 
Swigert was an early settler of Fulton County, 
and in 1879 located on the farm which since 
has been in the possession of the family, and 
which, under his painstaking cultivation, de- 
veloped from a raw prairie into one of the 
valuable properties of the county. 

Clifford M. Swigert received a common school 
education, and from early youth was taught to 
make himself useful about the home place. 
He succeeded to the entire management of the 
farm in 1904 and since then has added many 
improvements, including greater facilities for 
the care of Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China 
hogs. His yearly income is increased also by 
grain and general produce. Evidences abound 
on every hand of his progressiveness and thrift. 
and his appreciation of trees, flowers, orchards, 
and gardens, and other essentials to the well 
being and happiness of twentieth century 
agriculturists. Mr. Swigert renounced the 
bachelor state February 22, 1903, marrying 
Cora S. L. Knight, a native of Pontiac, 111., 
born August 9, 1880. Mr. Swigert is inde- 
pendent in politics, and fraternally is connected 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
He is well educated, well informed, and public 
spirited, and in a neighborhood in which his 
entire life has been passed is held in high 
esteem. 

SWITZER, Jesse T.— As the son of one of Ful- 
ton County's oldest pioneers and stanch up- 
builders, Jesse T. Switzer, up to the time of 
his death, maintained the excellent reputation 
established by his father, Jesse Switzer, who 
was born in Fulton County and as early as 
1833 settled with his parents at what was 
known as Black Jack, Canton Township, where 
he improved a farm which, to one less courage- 
ous, would have seemed an impossibility. It 
was on the home farm in Canton Township that 
Jesse T. Switzer first saw the light of day, his 
birth occurring December 28. 1858. The nearest 
school to his parents' home was at Farmington, 
and there he conned his lessons through the 
grammar grades, after which he took a course 
in the high school at Canton. As he was the 
youngest child in his parents' family every 
advantage in their power to bestow was at his 



command, and he wisely availed himself of the 
opportunities which came to him, a fact which 
was borne out in his superior education and in 
his advanced views on agriculture. 

Applying the knowledge and experience which 
he had gained in his younger years upon start- 
ing out for himself Mr. Switzer took up farm- 
ing scientifically, and by the exercise of care 
and sound judgment in his undertakings devel- 
oped one of the finest farms in Canton Town- 
ship. While he carried on farming as generally 
understood, he gave his attention more particu- 
larly to stock-raising, and was more than or- 
dinarily successful in this line. His brother, 
Charles W.. was associated with him in his 
farming enterprises up to the time of his death. 

Mr. Switzer's marriage united him with Miss 
Lena Miller, the ceremony being performed De- 
cember 22, 1885. Throughout her life Mrs. Swit- 
zer has made her home in Fulton County, her 
birth occurring in Farmington, which was also 
the scene of her childhood training and educa- 
tion. Her father, D. C. Miller, was a well es- 
tablished farmer in the vicinity of Farmington. 
Throughout his life Mr. Switzer took a deep 
Interest in matters which tended to upbuild 
his home community, this being especially no- 
ticeable in educational affairs, and as a mem- 
ber of the School Board of his district, he ren- 
dered valuable service. His political affiliations 
allied him with the Republican party, whose 
principles he believed, if carried out, would 
bring the greatest good to the largest number. 

TANNER, Abram S., who, together with 
Eugene Tanner, is successfully engaged in the 
grocery business in Canton, Fulton County, 
111., was born in Canton on July 2, 1858, and 
there when a youth attended the high school. 
His father and mother, John R. and Mary C. 
(Sosee) Tanner, were natives, respectively, of 
West Virginia and Maryland. 

John R. Tanner came to Illinois about the 
year 1855 and located in Canton. He was a 
blacksmith, and conducted a wagon shop for 
several years. He then established himself in 
the grocery line, in which he continued three 
years. The concern was then operated under 
the name of Eugene Tanner until January 17, 
1905, when the firm style became E. Tanner & 
Company. John R. Tanner died in August, 
1876. The subject of this sketch is a capable 
business man and his firm enjoys a profitable 
trade. 

On October 20, 1898, he was married to Eliza- 
beth Smith, who was born and educated in 
Canton, III. Politically Mr. Tanner is a sup- 
porter of the Republican party, and fraternally 
he is identified with the Knights of Pythias. 

TANNER, David M., a well known and pros- 
perous contractor and builder, of Lewistown, 
Fulton County, 111., was bom in Madison Coun- 
ty, Va., March 9, 1863, a son of Henry P. and 
Lacey (Enfield) Tanner. The Tanner family 
is of German origin, and the grandfather and 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 137 



grandmother are now living in ttie fatherland, 
the former at the age of ninety-two years and 
the latter eighty-six years old. To Henry P. 
Tanner and his wife were born ten children, as 
follows: James C, a resident of Iowa; Ma- 
relius M., a contractor and builder at Orange, 
Va. ; Montcalm H., a farmer in Madison Coun- 
ty, Va.; David M.; Irene E., deceased wife of 
Thomas Randall, a farmer in Culpeper County, 
Va., whose children are Eva and Raymond; 
Emily M., deceased wife of William Birkers, a 
carpenter in Madison County, Va., whose chil- 
dren are Eiler and Henry; Joseph H., a farmer 
in Madison County, Va.; Luther A. and Merri- 
wether T., the former a farmer and the latter 
a carpenter in the last mentioned county, and 
Olie W., also a carpenter in that county. Of 
tlie ten children the two sisters are the only 
ones in the family who are deceased. All were 
reared on the old home farm and received their 
mental training in the public schools of their 
native State. 

The subject of this sketch remained at 
home until 1SS4. when he went to Grand Island, 
Neb., and secured employment in the Union 
Pacific Railroad car shops. In August, 1S85, he 
located in Lewistown, 111., and went to work 
with his brother, M. M., at the carpenter trade. 
The same fall he began working at the cabinet- 
maker's trade, which he followed four years. 
For the next four years he was foreman over 
the force of T. M. Mercer, an extensive con- 
tractor and builder, who had charge of the Au- 
ditorium at Galesburg, and the Kellogg School 
at Canton. In 1896 he engaged in contracting 
and building, which occupation he has since 
pursued. He has erected many of the finest 
buildings throughout Northwestern Illinois, and 
has made a decided success in this line. He 
has had charge of the construction of some of 
the most important structures in Peoria and 
his reputation is such that he has been called 
to take the contracts for fine buildings in other 
States. He is the owner of an attractive resi- 
dence, with four and a half acres of beautiful 
grounds, on North Main Street, Lewistown. 

On February 23, 1S97, Mr. Tanner was united 
in marriage with Eliza Kelso, born in Fulton 
County, 111., March 19, 1866, a daughter of 
David and Sarah (Hendricksen) Kelso. Her 
father is deceased and her nuuher resides in 
Lewistown. Mr. and Mrs. Tanner are the par- 
ents of four children, namely: Winifred E., 
born Septen;ber 10, 1887; Raymond H., born 
September 1, 1S91; Ethel, born September 6, 
1893, and Clarence, September 21. 1895. In pol- 
itics Mr. Tanner is a Democrat, although in lo- 
cal affairs he usually follows his judgment as 
to individual merits without strict regard to 
partisan considerations. Fraternally he is affil- 
iated with the M. W. A. and the Court of Hon- 
or. Religiously he and his wife are members 
of the Presbyterian Church. He is a man of 
high character and a representative of the best 
element of Fulton County's prominent citizens. 



TATUM, John G., a worthy and highly re- 
spected pioneer farmer in Section 7 Buck- 
heart Township, Fulton County, 111., was born 
where he now lives, December 13, 1837, a son 
of Matthew and Lydia (Dollar) Tatum, of whom 
the former was born in Rowan County, N C 
February 18, 1789, and the latter, in Laurens 
County, S. C, July 4, 1805. They were married 
in 1830. From South Carolina, the bride's 
family moved to Indiana, and from the latter 
State, in 1827, to Illinois, settling in Fulton 
County. They first located on the farm now 
owned by Thomas J. Shepley, near Canton. In 
1828, Matthew Tatum made a trip to Galena, 
111., returning in 1829. In 1830 he bought a 
land patent from Charles Bullard, who had 
received it from the Government, covering 160 
acres. Here he built a small cabin, which was 
the second built in that region, and marks the 
settlement of the Tatum family in Fulton 
County. Matthew Tatum was a leading man 
there in early days. The pioneers had erected 
a fort on the land now owned by George Wil- 
coxen, and at the time of the Westerfield 
defeat when the settlers hurried to the fort 
for refuge. Ordeals of that nature, however, 
were soon a matter of the past. The Indians 
shortly disappeared, and life in the hamlet be- 
came safe. Rattlesnakes were a dangerous 
pest, and the settlers banded together and 
made a raid on the reptiles one day, killing 
375. After this event, the venomous creatures 
grew scarce, and ceased to be an object of 
constant dread. In the winter of 1831-32, the 
snow fell to a depth of four feet on the level, 
and for two months travel was almost stopped. 
When the snow began to melt the low land was 
inundated in two days. The snow began falling 
in December, 1831, and covered the ground to 
the depth mentioned until February, 1832, when 
it disappeared within three days, causing 
destructive floods over the whole region. 

Matthew Tatum and his wife were parents of 
seven children, of whom two girls and one 
boy died in infancy. Those who grew to matu- 
rity were as follows: George W. ; John G.; Amy 
and Sarah J. John G. and Mrs. Amy Gluts 
live on the old home farm. Sarah J., widow 
of James A. Shields, left two children — 
Mrs. Belle Mcintosh, and Ada, wife of Marion 
Flood, of Los Angeles, Cal. Of the Tatum 
family, the first, George W., married Mary 
Pitcher, in December, 1852, died November 4, 
1864, and his widow married Peter Reffner, 
living near Newton, Kans. Amy, the second 
child, was born March 29, 1840. She married 
William H. Gluts (originally spelled "Clutz") 
January 22, 1857. He died August 4, 1893, leaving 
eleven children, as follows: George W. ; Clinton 
J.; Elijah G., a veterinary surgeon at Canton, 
111.; John M.; Nellie, wife of D. A. Ward, of 
Woodford County, 111.; James W. and Jasper 
H. of Canton, 111.; Eva, wife of Dr. Carl G. 
Turner, of Canton, 111.; Joseph D., veterinary 
surgeon of Selma, Ala.; Charles F. ; Beda, wife 



1 138 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of S. L. Jameson, of Buckheart Township; and 
Grover C. George W., Charles F., Beda and 
Grover C. reside in Buclvheart Township. Clin- 
ton J., Nellie and John are deceased. 

Matthew Talum died September 19, 1868, and 
his widow passed away November 2, 1872. The 
father was a very hard-working and energetic 
man. In disposition and manner he was some- 
what reserved, he was conservative in his 
nature, and careful and deliberate in all his 
actions, and in business transactions, cautious, 
almost to a fault. There was nothing radical 
in his composition, and he believed in the old- 
fashioned ways. He did his full share in clear- 
ing up and developing the new territory, which 
he chose for his home, and paving the way 
for the generation that was to follow. In poli- 
tics, he was a Democrat and took an earnest 
interest in public matters. He and his worthy 
wife were consistent members of the old Bap- 
tist Church of the township. 

John G. Tatum, the subject of this sketch, 
first saw the day in the little cabin that still 
stands on the homestead, and was reared on 
the farm. He received his early mental train- 
ing in the primitive district schools, and was 
afterwards engaged in teaching a few years; 
was also School Director, for twenty-seven 
consecutive years. He well remembers the 
period of the old wooden mold-board, and the 
time when the scouring plow succeeded the 
wooden plow. And now Mr. Tatum has laid 
aside farm work, and turned over the plow 
to the generation succeeding him, not to walk 
in the furrow as he did, behind the old wooden 
mold-board, but to ride, thanks to the genius 
of modern invention. The old home farm now 
contains seventy-five acres. On it grow many 
varieties of fruit. All the stock is of superior 
quality, consisting of Percherons and roadsters, 
and high-grade Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Tatum 
was among the first to raise Norman horses in 
the township, and finding that they excelled, 
afterwards kept up that breed. 

In politics, Mr. Tatum is a Democrat. At 
an early period he served as School Director, 
and has always taken an active interest in the 
schools. Although the township is strongly 
Republican, he was elected a member of the 
Board of Supervisors in 1885, and served in 
that capacity one year. He was also elected 
Clerk on the Democratic ticket. In the ripen- 
ing years of a toilsome life, Mr. Tatum is en- 
joying in comfortable leisure the rest which 
he has so richly merited. Among the pleasur- 
able diversions of his retirement is the study 
of mineralogy, and he has an interesting 
variety of native specimens to occupy his atten- 
tion. For more than fifty years, he has been 
worthily identified with the interests of Buck- 
heart Township and Fulton County, and, with 
the exception of one season, has spent his 
whole life on the old home farm. 

TAYLOR, A. J, — Ready adaptation to oppor- 
tunity, a capacity for gauging the possible in- 



crease in values and the well developed specu- 
lative instinct which places the natural broker 
in a class by himself, are factors which have 
directed the business energy of A. J. Taylor, 
in early life a farmer, but latterly identified 
with real-estate transactions in Canton. Fulton 
County has profited by the resourcefulness of 
the Taylors ever since the arrival here in 1832 
of Robert Taylor, grandfather of A. J. This 
adventurous sire entered 160 acres of land from 
the Government, the deed bearing the signa- 
ture of the President of the United States. The 
land as yet never had profited by a white man's 
occupation, and his task was to break it, pre- 
pare it for the seed and gather the harvest 
which was to constitute the foundation of his 
fortune. Eventually he retired to Canton, 
where his death occurred at an advanced a^e. 
His son, Samuel W., father of A. J., was reared 
on the Buckheart Township farm and married 
Harriet Whitney, a native of Fulton County. 
Upon his removal to Iowa he engaged in the 
drug business for a couple of years with Dr. W. 
D. Nelson, Sr., of Troy, in that State, and also 
became the owner of a farm, which he traded 
for property south of Cuba, Fulton County. 
This, in turn, was traded tor a farm north of 
Canton, which he occupied for many years. 
The latter property is under a high state of 
cultivation, having been improved by both fa- 
ther and son, and is very valuable and pro- 
ductive. 

A. J. Taylor was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 
1862, but came with his father to Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., where he was educated in the public 
schools, and trained in agriculture on the two 
homesteads. February 4, 1886, he married Lil- 
lian M. McBroom, daughter of Jerry McBroom, 
and of their union there are four children: 
Clifford v., Viola J., Agnes A. and Ralph R. 
Two years before his marriage Mr. Taylor pur- 
chased the farm of his uncle, Edward Taylor, 
consisting of 160 acres, in Canton Township, 
adjoining which his wife owns 125 acres. This 
also is an excellent property, apportioned to 
diversified farming and well equipped with 
modern buildings and practical agricultural im- 
plements. 

In 1892 Mr. Taylor came to Canton and ac- 
quired the John Woodward business through 
mortgage, later purchasing a block, in which 
he established his real-estate office. This 
building was sold some months later and he 
purchased the Brunswick Block, which he dis- 
posed of in 1900 to become the agent for the 
Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company, of St. 
Louis. At the expiration of three or four years 
he gave up the brewing agency and bought the 
Johnson Building, later disposing of the same 
to another brewing company, and in June, 1903, 
bought the business of George B. Henry, which 
he conducted until August, 1906, when he sold 
it. A notable contribution to the improvement 
of the city and the encouragement of home- 
making resulted through the purchase of what 
is known as the Whitney Addition to Canton, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUXTY. 



1 139 



consisting of forty acres, which Mr. Taylor dis- 
posed of in town lots. He also bought forty 
acres of A. C. Moore, which he still owns. Be- 
sides the land of which he is the proprietor, he 
cultivates 765 acres, upon which he raises 
grain for the feeding of blooded stock, of which 
he raises a considerable number. During the 
last year he raised 245 hogs, and breeds two 
carloads of cattle annually, besides some high- 
grade draft horses. In 1895 he made a bid for 
furnishing the city with electric lights and is 
to be" credited with having brought about this 
improvement. He has otherwise evinced com- 
mendable public spirit and zeal and in all his 
transaclions has been guided by probity, sa- 
gacity and good judgment. He is one of the 
prominent fraternalists of the county, being 
identified with the Masons, Eagles and Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. 

TAYLOR. Bernard Hall, an able and prominent 
attorney-at-law of Canton, Fulton County, 111., 
was bom in Farmington. 111.. February 17. 1871. 
He is a son of William Lathrop and Florence 
(Montgomery) Taylor, natives, respectively, of 
Taunton. Mass.. and of Farmington, 111., and a 
grandson, on the paternal side, of Lathrop and 
Hannah (Hall) Taylor, natives of Massachu- 
setts, the former born in Buckland, and the 
latter at Chelsea, in that State. The maternal 
grandparents. Alexander Kenney Montgomery 
and Angeline (Reisinger) Montgomery, were 
natives of Pennsylvania, of whom the former 
was born in Lawrence County, that State, and 
the latter, in Carlisle. The great-grandparents 
on both sides were Barnabas and Hannah 
(Billington) Taylor, born, respectively, at Ash- 
field and Middleborough, Mass.. and Simpson 
Walker Montgomery and Nancy (Caldwell) 
Montgomery, who were born in Beaver County, 
Pa. After receiving his preliminary education 
in the public schools at Canton. 111., at the age 
of sixteen years, the subject of this sketch 
entered the Riverview Military Academy, at 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., from which he graduated 
in 1890. He was then employed for one year 
as drill-master, when he entered the law depart- 
ment of the Columbia University, at Washing- 
ton, D. C, graduating therefrom with the de- 
gree of LL. B. in 1893, in 1894 receiving the 
degree of LL.M.. and in 1896 was admitted to 
the practice of law in his native State. Prompt- 
ly after the declaration which led to the 
Spanish-American War, Mr. Taylor enlisted 
with his regiment, and was mustered in as 
Captain of Company M, Fifth Regiment, U. 
S. Volunteers, at Springfield, on May 7, 1898, 
under the command of Col. J. S. Culver, and, 
a week later, proceeded to Camp Thomas. 
Chickamauga Park, Ga., where they were sta- 
tioned nearly three months awaiting orders 
to advance to the front. On August 3d the 
regiment left Chickamauga for Newport News, 
Va.. expecting there to embark without delay 
for Cuba. After embarking on board the trans- 
port Obdam, the order to proceed was rescinded 



and the regiment, after remaining on board 
thirty-six hours, was disembarked and ordered 
back to camp — this being the second time a 
similar order had been countermanded. In 
consequence of the acceptance of terms of 
peace by Spain, a few days later, the regiment 
was ordered to Lexington, Ky., where it re- 
mained in camp for thirty days, when it 
was ordered to Springfield, after being fur- 
loughed for thirty days, was mustered out on 
October 16th. The regiment consisted of 1,213 
men and forty-seven officers, and those who 
died during its period of enlistment were Allie 
C. Post, of Canton, who died at Camp Thomas; 
Hiram Smith, in hospital at Old Point Comfort; 
and James Mitchell, in hospital at Lexington, 
Ky. After returning from the war. Captain 
Taylor was apix>inted Judge Advocate of the 
Second Brigade, Illinois National Guard, with 
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, which position 
he finally resigned in order to devote his time 
to the practice of his profession. The order 
granting his discharge contains the following 
commendation from his commanding officer, 
which is herewith copied by permission: 

"As company commander he was one of the 
best in the regiment and the peer of any 
\n the service; faithful, loyal, honest and 
willing, he made the welfare of his men his 
care and. as a result, he possesses their con- 
fidence and esteem, as well as that of the 
commanding officer of the regiment. He has 
all the qualifications and ability to command 
a battalion, regiment, or brigade. 

(Signed 'J. S. Culver 
"Colonel Commanding Regiment." 

On his return from his war service, and just 
before the disbanding of his company, Cap- 
tain Taylor was presented by its members with 
a handsome sword, as a token of their esteem 
as a fellow-soldier and their appreciation as 
an officer. 

On November 19, 1902, Mr. Taylor was mar- 
ried to Allida Ten Eyck. who was born in 
Holland. Mich., a daughter of James and Rachel 
( Ledeboer) Ten Eyck. and educated at Jack- 
sonville, 111. Two children, James Alexander 
and Francis Montgomery, have been bom of 
this union. Politically Col. Taylor is an ac- 
tive Republican. He held the office of States 
Attorney of Fulton County from 1900 to 1904. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & 
A. M., K. of P. and B. P. O. E. 

TAYLOR. Clyde D., a prominent citizen and 
well known furniture dealer and undertaker 
in Cuba. Pulton County. 111., was born in that 
village May 2, 1867. He is a son of Alouzo and 
Eliza J. (Moss) Taylor, natives respectively of 
Ohio and Fulton County, 111. Alonzo Taylor 
was a farmer by occupation. 

Clyde D. Taylor attended the public schools 
of Cuba in boyhood, and helped his father on 
the farm until he was sixteen years old. At 
that period he began working in a furniture 
concern which in 1872 was established by his 



1 140 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



maternal grandfather, John W. Moss. Mr. 
Moss first started with a chair factory and 
afterward developed the enterprise into a fur- 
niture establishment. Mr. Taylor was manager 
of the Moss Furniture Company for twelve 
years, and then became proprietor of the con- 
cern, which he has since conducted, building 
the present two-story brick building, twenty- 
five by ninety-one feet in dimensions, in which 
the business has been transacted since 1900. 
He has one of the most completely stocked 
furniture stores and thoroughly equipped under- 
taking establishments in this section of the 
State, and also deals in carpets and glass. He 
is a man of exceptional business ability in his 
line and, as a merchant, has succeeded by many 
years of fair and honorable dealing in gaining 
the confidence and respect of his patrons to 
a notable degree. 

On September 29, 1896, Mr. Taylor was 
united in marriage with Tressie Heller, who 
was born in Cuba, 111., and this union has 
resulted in one child, Hester. On political 
issues, Mr. Taylor is arrayed on the side of 
the Democratic party. He has served credit- 
ably as Township Clerk, City Clerk and 
Township Collector, and for a number of years 
has been a member of the City Council. In 
fraternal circles he is identified with the I. 
O. O. F., K. of P., M. W., Rebekahs and Court 
of Honor. 

TAYLOR. John T., a well known citizen and 
prominent and prosperous farmer in Section 2, 
Lewistown Township, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in Putman Township, January 28, 1854, 
and in his childhood became the adopted 
son of J. M. Taylor, his mother being Mary A. 
(Ford) Taylor. The subject of this sketch re- 
ceived his early mental training in the district 
schools of Fulton County, and has spent his 
whole life in that county, with the exception 
of eleven months passed in other parts of Il- 
linois, and in Indiana. When about nine years 
old, he was thrown upon his own resources, 
at an early age began working on a farm by 
the month, and as he became old enough to 
earn reasonable wages, carefully saved his 
earnings. 

In 1883, Mr. Taylor purchased forty acres 
of land in Lewistown Township, to which he 
shortly afterward added another forty-acre 
tract. He continued purchasing at intervals 
until he had accumulated 185 acres, of which 
he sold 105 acres. At one time he was the 
owner of 345 acres and then disposed of all but 
the eighty acres which he first purchased. In 
September, 1903, Mr. Taylor bought 109 acres 
and in 1904, nineteen acres more, making 128 
acres, in Section 2, Lewistown Township. He 
now owns 208 acres of land, as the result of 
hard work and good management. He is one 
among many examples of self-made men in 
Pulton County. Besides general farming, he 
is engaged in raising horses, hogs, cattle and 
sheep. 



On September 17, 1876, Mr. Taylor was united 
in marriage with Mary M. Shaw, who was born 
in Lewistown, Fulton County, September 23, 
1859, a daughter of Ellas and Sophia (Jones) 
Shaw, of whom the former is deceased. The 
mother still survives, and resides on the old 
home-place. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw were the 
parents of four children, besides Mrs. Taylor, 
namely: Nettie, deceased wife of Michael Har- 
ris; Saloma, who died in infancy; Frank, who 
died at the age of ten years; and Flora, wife 
of W. O. Butler, who is engaged in farming 
in Lewistown Township. 

The union of John T. Taylor and Mary M. 
Shaw resulted in ten children, as follows: 
Freddie E., who was born November 23, 187S, 
and died June IS, ISSO; Charley L., who was 
born January 16, 18S1, and died April 11, 1884; 
Minnie B., born January 22, 1883; Nellie T., 
born February 13, 1S85; Ruth S., born May 4, 
1888; Don L., born January 11, 1891; John L., 
born May 5, 1893; Telsa K., born October 31, 
1896; Mary M., born December 12, 1900; and 
Lina D., born July 19, 1903. 

In politics Mr. Taylor is a pronounced Re- 
publican. He firmly believes in the principles 
of that party, and steadfastly supports its 
policies and its candidates. He rode seven 
miles in order to cast his first ballot, and 
his first presidential vote was in behalf of 
Rutherford B. Hayes. Mr. Taylor has filled 
several township offices, with ability and fidel- 
ity. He takes an earnest interest in the cause 
of education, is a strong supporter of all meas- 
ures for the public welfare, and is regarded 
as one of the most useful members of the 
community. 

TAYLOR, S. W. — By those who were privi- 
leged to know him, and who were called upon 
to mourn his untimely death in 1876, S. W. Tay- 
lor is recalled as one of the very early school 
teachers of the city of Canton, this county, 
who maintained discipline and dispensed knowl- 
edge in a crude structure, worked hard and 
received small remuneration, and who later 
bent his energies to the development of a fine 
property in Canton Township. Mr. Taylor was 
born in Indiana in 1825, and in his youth had 
few advantages, and no material wealth save 
what he himself created. 

Robert Taylor, father of S. W., was born in 
far-off Nova Scotia, and as a young man located 
in Pennsylvania, where he married Mary Mc- 
Cleary. The young people were ambitious of 
carving their fortunes out of a new country, 
so came to Indiana, where S. W. remained un- 
til receiving his majority. After relin- 
quishing school teaching in (Canton, the young 
man lived in both Troy and Ottumwa, Iowa, 
where he conducted a general merchandising 
business, and from which latter town he re- 
turned to Canton Township, and purchased 
the farm upon which the balance of his life 
was spent. His farm was equipped with the 
best agricultural improvements known in his 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 141 



time, and he was a careful manager, possessing 
considerable business ability as well as a 
knowledge of diversified farming. 

The wife of Mr. Ta.vlor. who survives him, 
formerly was Harriet X. Whitnah, daughter of 
Andrew and Jane (Hendershot) Whitnah. Mr. 
Whitnah came to Fulton County at an early 
day, settling on property in the southern part 
of Buckheart Township, where he achieved con- 
siderable success as a farmer and stock-raiser. 
The old Whitnah homestead is now occupied 
by Mrs. Taylor, who, notwithstanding the many 
trials and activities of her life, retains much 
of her youthful si)irits and health. She is the 
devoted mother of a large family of children, 
who, in order of birth, are named as follows: 
Charles E., Jennie M., Andrew J., Calvin A. 
(deceased), Anna M., P. Alice and Evelyne. 
Two of the children are deceased, Carrie 
having died in infancy. Jennie M. is now the 
wife of H. C. McKee. of Creston, Iowa; F. Alice 
married A. R. Whitnah, of Carthage, 111.; Anna 
M. is living at home, and Evelyne, the widow 
of A. W. Davison, formerly of Denver, Colo., 
was at the time of this writing visiting her 
mother in Canton. The deceased and vener- 
ated father of this family was a quiet, unassum- 
ing man, devoted to his family and home inter- 
ests, and, although he was a Republican voter, 
had no desire for politics or genera! township 
affairs. Honest and high-minded, he was strict- 
ly conscientious in the performance of all 
tasks which confronted him. 

TEACH, Mrs. Martha A., widow of William J. 
Teach, and now engaged in managing part of 
the home farm formerly occupied by her hus- 
band near Avon. Fulton County, 111., was born 
near Clear Spring, Md.. May 2.5, 1S35, the 
daughter of Henry and Sarah (Brewer) Mas- 
ters of that place. At the age of eighteen 
years she came with a married sister to Illinois, 
making the journey in a covered wagon, as 
was the common mode of conveyance of emi- 
grants to the West in those days, finally lo- 
cating in Fulton County, where she has since 
spent her life. On February 28, 18.57, she was 
united in marriage at Farmington, Fulton Coun- 
ty, with William J. Teach, whose fortunes in 
life she shared until his death in 1889, since 
then having lived alone on part of the home 
farm. Mr. and Mrs. Teach were blessed with 
ten children, namely: Clara A., Henry M., 
Ernest M., Sophronia E., Cora M., William A., 
Delmar D., Ethel M., Guy L. and Charles E., 
all of whom are engaged in farming except the 
youngest (Charles E.) who is a graduate of the 
State University at Lincoln, Neb., and is now 
Principal of the High School at Fairbury in 
that State. Politically Mrs. Teach believes 
in the principles of the Democratic party. Her 
residence is on Rural Mail Route No. 1, near 
the village of Avon. 

TEN EYCK, Bernard L., who is successfully 
engaged in farming in Section 33, Fairview 



Township, Fulton County, 111., on a place which 
was successively the property of his grand- 
father and his father, was born in Fairview, 
this county. May 15, 1874. He is a son of 
James and Rachel B. (Ledeboer) Ten Eyck, 
of whom the former was born in Fairview, and 
the latter in Holland, Mich. Grandfather Peter 
Ten Eyck, who was a native of New Jersey, set- 
tled in Fulton County about the year 1837. At 
first he was engaged in merchandising, and later 
followed farming. In early life James Ten 
Eyck, by profession a lawyer, practiced law 
in Michigan, but after locating in Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., applied himself to agricultural pursuits. 
He and his wife were the parents of two 
children, B. L. and Allida. 

In boyhood Bernard L. Ten Eyck attended 
the schools of Faii-view, 111., and subsequently 
pursued a course of study at Hope College, 
Holland. Mich. After completing his educa- 
tion he commenced farming, in which occupa- 
tion he has since continued with uniformly 
good results. The farm consists of 370 acres, 
a part of which is situated in Section 33, Fair- 
view Township, the rest lying in Joshua Town- 
ship. In addition to general farming, Mr. Ten 
Eyck devotes considerable attention to stock- 
raising and feeding, especially in the line of 
hogs. 

On May 27, 1894, Mr. Ten Eyck was united 
in maiTiage, at Peoria, III., with Mary L. Davis, 
who was born in Fairview, 111., and is a 
daughter of L. W. and Susan (Beam) Davis. 
Two children have resulted from this union, 
namely: Esther Rebecca, born March 22, 1897; 
and Marguerite Davis, born June 7, 1898. In 
politics Mr. Ten Eyck gives his support to the 
Democratic party, and is looked upon as one 
of the most intelligent, enterprising and pro- 
gressive men in his locality. 

TEN EYCK, James. — Among the old residents 
of Pulton County, 111., and especially among 
those who are natives of the county, few are 
better known or more highly esteemed than 
James Ten Eyck, attorney-at-law and real-es- 
tate and insurance agent, of the village of 
Fairview. Although a man of intense American 
spirit and of direct lineal descent from patriots 
who rendered signal service to their country 
as officers in the Continental Army during the 
memorable conflict of the American Revolution, 
some of the admirable traits which mark his 
character, and have made him one of the most 
prominent and useful citizens of his locality, 
are doubtless traceable to the proverbially 
sturdy, vigorous and thrifty Dutch ancestry 
from which he is descended. 

Mr. Ten Eyck was born in Fairview, Fulton 
County 111., October 6, 1844, a son of Peter and 
Rebecca (Cox) Ten Eyck, natives of New Jer- 
sey, the father born at North Branch, in that 
State, August 28, 1808, and the mother, at 
Neshanic, Somerset County, September 15, 1811. 
The grandfather, James Ten Eyck, was a cap- 
tain in the Revolutionary War, while Jacob 



1 142 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Ten Eyck, the great-grandfather, came to 
America from Holland (The Netherlands) at 
an early date in the Colonial period, settling 
on Manhattan Island (now the city of New 
York), whence he moved to New .Jersey, lo- 
cating at North Branch. He held the rank of 
Colonel under General Washington. 

Peter Ten Eyck, the father, was a merchant 
in New York City until the year 1S32. He 
then removed to Illinois, traveling by way of 
the Hudson River to Albany, N. Y., thence by 
canal to Buffalo, N. Y., thence by lake to 
Detroit, Mich., and thence by stage to Chicago. 
Prom Chicago, he made his way on foot to 
Peoria, 111., going by boat from Peoria to St. 
Louis, Mo., and from that point to Quincy, 111., 
finally arriving at Macomb, McDonough County, 
where he remained until 183.5. During that 
year he located in Fairview, which village he 
made his home until 1846. In the fall of 1840 
he rode on horseback from Springfield, 111., 
to New Brunswick, N. J., in twenty-one days. 
In the spring of 1836 he traveled from Somer- 
ville. N. J., by wagon and team to Fairview. 
From 1846 until the time of his death on 
July 6, 1886, Peter Ten Eyck was a farmer and 
stock-raiser. His marriage to Rebecca Cox 
occurred in 1843. She came from New Jersey 
to Illinois with her father, Jacob E. Cox, and 
family, in the spring of 1842, settling in Pair- 
view. Mr. Cox was the owner of a farm of 
160 acres south of the village, and kept a 
hotel in Fairview for many years. He died 
in 1866, his widow surviving him a few years, 
each dying at the age of eighty-four years. 
Rebecca (Cox) Ten Eyck passed away May 
19, 1905, when ninety-four years old. 

James Ten Eyck lived on the home farm, 
five miles north of Fairview, until he was 
eighteen years old, meanwhile attending the 
district schools. He received his classical, edu- 
cation in Hope College, at Holland, Mich., from 
which he graduated in 1871, with the degree 
of A. B., the degree of A. M. being conferred 
upon him by his Alma Mater in 1874. He 
graduated from the Law Department of the 
University of Michigan in 1873, with the degree 
of LL. B. Mr. Ten Eyck practiced law in all 
courts in the State of Michigan until the fall 
of 1880, since that time his residence having 
been in Fairview. where he has been engaged 
in practice, also devoting considerable atten- 
tion to real-estate and insurance business. Dur- 
ing the greater part of the time he has also 
conducted farming operations. He and his 
wife spent the year 1900 in Galesburg, 111. 

Mr. Ten Eyck was united in marriage on 
July 2, 1873, at Holland. Mich., with Rachel 
B. Ledeboer, a daughter of Bernardus and Al- 
lida (Goetselins) Ledeboer. Mrs. Ten Eyck 
was born in New York City, February 11, 1849. 
Her father, who was a physician, was born 
near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. A son 
and daughter resulted from this union. The 
former, Bernard L. Ten Eyck, bom in Fair- 
view, 111., May 15, 1874, married a daughter of 



L. W. Davis, of Fairview, and is the father of 
two girls. Allida, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Ten Eyck, Ijorn at Holland, Mich., November 
3, 1879, is the wife of Bernard H. Taylor, of 
Canton, 111., and they are the parents of two 
boys. In politics Mr. Ten Eyck is a Democrat. 
He served three terms as City Attorney of 
Holland, Mich., and has held the office of 
President of the Village Board of Fairview 
five years, having also been a member of the 
School Board eight years and Assessor four 
years. He has many friends and is greatly re- 
spected by all who know him. 

TENLY, James M. — One of the most promi- 
nent and prosperous among the citizens of 
Farmington, Fulton County, 111., is the subject 
of this sketch, who is also one of the oldest resi- 
dents of the town, having been brought here 
by his parents when he was about two years 
of age. He has lived in Parmington continu- 
ously since his early childhood, and during a 
residence of approximately sixty years has been 
succesfully engaged in various mercantile en- 
terprises, and closely and conspicuously identi- 
fied with the material, social and moral wel- 
fare of the community. 

Mr. Tenly is a native of Pennsylvania, where 
lie was born in 1847, the son of William and 
Matilda (Ellison) Tenly, who were natives of 
Virginia. William Tenly was a bridge-builder 
by occupation, and acted in the capacity of su- 
perintendent of construction for the Baltimore 
& Ohio Railroad Company, on the Cumberland 
Valley Division of that road. He built the 
bridge for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- 
pany at "Sir John's Run," and Dam No. 6, on 
the same line. Locating in Farmington in 1849, 
he was there engaged as a wood-worker and fin- 
isher. The first work done by him in this line 
was in connection with what is known as the 
Reed Block, on the north side of Fort Street, 
in Farmington, and he also worked on another 
building on Main Street. At a subsequent pe- 
riod he engaged in the real-estate and loan busi- 
ness, in which he spent most of his later years, 
and met with much succes. He was a very capa- 
ble, energetic and well disposed man, and was 
respected by all who knew him. 

In early boyhood James M. Tenly received his 
mental training in the public schools of Farm- 
ington. and at the age of fifteen years began 
to learn the trade of a tin, copper and sheet- 
iron worker under John Tyler, in the hardware 
establishment of A. K. Montgomery & Co., a 
sketch of the head of which concern appears 
elsewhere in this volume. In 1872 he bought 
out the Widener grocery store, in what was 
known as the Spence-Cohn Building. This he 
sold two years later and purchased of Henry 
Page a furniture and undertaking stock, to- 
gether with the building which contained it. 
In 1880 he sold a half interest in this business 
to A. G. Morse, and in 1895 disposed of the re- 
maining half interest to Mr. Morse, who still 
retains it. Mr. Tenly is still the owner of the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



"43 



home which his father occupied, and which 
had been the property of the latter from 1S64. 
He has built a fine house in Fort Street, of his 
own design, which is said to be the most ele- 
gant and elaborately furnished residence in the 
town of Farmington. It contains thirteen 
rooms, is steam-heated and is completely mod- 
ern as many of the more pretentious houses of 
the large cities. Mr. Tenly has withdrawn from 
active pursuits and is now living in leisurely 
and comfortable retirement. 

In 1858 the subject of this sketch was united 
in marriage with Sarah A. Bond, who was born 
in Illinois and in girlhood utilized her oppor- 
tunities as a pupil in the public schools. One 
child resulted from this union. Edith F., who 
is now practicing medicine in Chicago. In reli- 
gious belief Mr. Tenly is in harmony with the 
doctrines of the Baptist Church. In fraternal 
circles he is identified with the A. F. & A. M., 
being a thirty-second degree Mason and a mem- 
ber of Peoria Commandery, No. 3, and of the 
Peoria Consistory. He is a very prominent and 
influential factor of the community in which 
he lives. 

THOMAS, James C, attorney-at-law in Cuba, 
Fulton County. 111., and editor and proprietor 
of the Journal, in that place, was born in 
Jackson County, Ohio, on January 2. 1852, and 
Is a son of James and Caroline (Creighton)' 
Thomas, natives of Ohio. .James Thomas was 
a farmer by occupation. James C. the son, 
received his elementary education in the pub- 
lic schools and completed his intellectual train- 
ling at Hedding College, Abingdon, 111. He 
studied law and in 1877 was admitted to the 
bar by the Supreme Court of Illinois. For some 
time he practiced law in Bushnell. and in 1822 
moved to London Mills. 111., where he started 
a pa])er which he conducted a year and a half. 
He then located in Cuba, where, in August, 
1884, he founded the Journal, a weekly paper 
which he has since conducted. The Journal 
has a circulation throughout the surrounding 
country of 800 copies. The office operates a 
job-printing department equipped with a power 
press. Mr. Thomas still maintains his law 
practice, and attends to a considerable amount 
of probate business, but has transferred the 
management of the printing establishment to 
J. \V. Nelson. In 1896 he built the brick block, 
twenty-four by fifty-six feet in dimensions, 
where the Journal is published and there he 
has his office. 

On December 30. 1875, at Monmouth, III., 
Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with Annie 
W. Waggstaff, a native of Ireland, who received 
her education at Hedding College, Abingdon, 
111. Three children resulted from this union, 
namely: Maud (Mrs. M. T. Rogers), who, with 
her husband, is practicing medicine; Myrtle 
(Mrs. G. A. Millard) ; and Josie (Mrs. J. K. 
Orendorft). Mrs. Thomas is principal of the 
Cuba High School, having been an educator 
in Fulton County for twenty-one years. In 



politics, Mr. Thomas is a Democrat. He has 
served as City Attorney of Cuba, Justice of 
the Peace and member of the Town Board. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & 
A. M., Cuba Lodge, Canton Chapter, Damascus 
Commandery, of Havana, and with his wife is 
a member of the Eastern Star; is also identi- 
fied with the I. O. O. F., M. W. A., and Court 
of Honor. He is recognized as an able lawyer 
and a capable journalist, and is among the 
prominent citizens of Fulton County. 

THOMPSON, Francis M., than whom few 
among the representative farmers of Fulton 
County, 111., have accomplished such substan- 
tial progress as has marked the comparatively 
short period of his mature career which he ac- 
tively devoted to agricultural labors, is living 
in leisurely retirement on the large and finely 
improved farm which he acquired by thrift, 
diligence and sound management before reach- 
ing the stage of what is ordinarily designated 
as middle life. Although barely twenty-five 
years have elapsed since the attainment of his 
majority, he is recognized as one of the most 
extensive land owners of his section of the 
county, and is enjoying a merited rest from 
his earlier toil, having amassed a handsome 
competency. 

Mr. Thompson was born in Woodland Town- 
ship. Fulton County. 111.. January 24, 1861. He 
is a son of John and Keziah (Herel) Thompson, 
natives of Coshocton County, Ohio. His 
parents moved from that State to Illinois short- 
ly after their marriage, settling in Pulton Coun- 
ty. They made the journey by wagon, crossing 
the river at Beardstown. On arriving at his 
destination, John Thompson had but one dollar 
left, out of which he found it necessary to 
buy salt to render his venison relishable. Deer 
were so abundant as to make venison the cus- 
tomary meat-food of the early settlers, but salt 
was then so rare an article in that region 
as to constitute a luxury, and the price of it 
was very high. The young couple located in 
Woodland Township about the year 1840. and 
the first neighbor they met was John Farwell. 
Mr. Thompson bought a tract of eighty acres 
in Section 25, on which he built a log cabin, 
and then proceeded to clear the land. To the 
original purchase, he subsequently added forty 
acres. After clearing and improving both 
tracts, he had a fine farm of 120 acres, on 
which he spent the remainder of his life. His 
death occurred on April 4. 1892, at the advanced 
age of eighty-nine years, his widow dying 
December 13. 1906, at the advanced age of 
eighty-five j'ears. 

John and Keziah (Herel) Thompson were 
the parents of nine children, namely: Annie 
J., deceased; John J., who is engaged in farm- 
ing in Woodland Township, and was a soldier 
in the Civil War; Samuel, a resident of Ma- 
comb, III., who served three years in the Eighty- 
fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry; C. 
H., who was a soldier in the One Hundred 



1 144 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Thirty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteers; 
James M., whose home is in Mound City, Mo.; 
Mary E., wife of J. T. Smith, who lives in 
Oklahoma; George W., a resident of Astoria, 
111.; and Nancy, who resides in Pittsburg, Kans., 
the wife of William Smith. The father of this 
family was a man of somewhat quiet deport- 
ment, sociably inclined but never obtrusive, 
and never disposed to meddle in the affairs 
of his neighbors. His word was as good as 
his bond. He was never sued at law, and in 
his long life sued but one man. He was a 
good trader, and never had a blind horse or 
mule. All who enjoyed his acquaintance enter- 
tained for him a feeling of unqualified respect. 
In politics, he was a Democrat. Together with 
his wife, he belonged to the Christian Church. 

Francis M. Thompson was reared on the 
farm in Woodland Township, and there in boy- 
hood enjoyed the advantages of the district 
schools. He remained on the homestead until 
1903, but during his residence there became 
the owner of 440 acres of land, all in one body, 
located in Kerton Township, which is his place 
of residence. In recent years, he has not been 
actively engaged in farming operations. His 
life has kept pace with the development of 
the county, and he has been closely identified 
with is best interests since early manhood. 
He is one of its most successful farmers, and 
his prosperity is solely attributable to the 
sound judgment which he has always mani- 
fested and the thorough and systematic 
methods which have characterized his manage- 
ment. 

On March 7. 1SS7, Mr. Thompson was united 
in marriage with Carrie M. Smith, who was 
born in Kansas, a daughter of Cyrus and Sa- 
mantha (Walker) Smith. Her parents are de- 
ceased. Seven children have resulted from the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, as follows: 
Grace, wife of Jesse Lynch, a farmer in Kerton 
Township; Tessie and Chester, who are at 
home; Harry, who died in infancy, and Hardy 
E.. Mabel and Russell. In politics Mr. Thomp- 
son is a supporter of the Democratic party and 
fraternally is affiliated with the A. F. and A. M., 
belonging to the Astoria (111.) lodge. He is a 
man of excellent traits of character, and is 
held in high esteem by a wide circle of ac- 
quaintances. 

THORNTON, Stephen Yerkes, editor and pub- 
lisher of the "Fulton County Ledger," and one 
of the best known men in his section of the 
State, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., December 
13, 1831, the son of Theodore and Mary (Yer- 
kes) Thornton, both natives of Pennsylvania. 
In early youth Mr. Thornton attended the dis- 
trict schools, the instruction received there be- 
ing supplemented by a subsequent pupilage of 
a year's duration in a private school conducted 
by his cousin. Rev. Stephen Yerkes, father of 
John W. Yerkes, late Commissioner of Internal 
Revenue under the administration of President 
Roosevelt. Mr. Thornton's residence in Canton 



began in 1854, and since 1856 he has been sole 
proprietor of the "Fulton County Ledger." Aft- 
er learning the printer's trade in the office of 
the "Doylestown (Pa.) Democrat," Mr. Thorn- 
ton spent a short time, in 1854, in Washing- 
ton, D. C, in connection with the "Congres- 
sional Globe," in June of that year coming to 
Canton, 111., which has been his home continu- 
ously to the present time. In 1856 he acquired 
an interest in the "Fulton County Ledger," of 
which he became sole proprietor a few months 
later, and with which he has been associated as 
editor for a period of fifty years. Other busi- 
ness interests with which he has been identi- 
fied include the Canton National Bank, of 
which he became one of the original stockhold- 
ers on its organization in 1886, and of which 
he has been a Director and Vice-President ever 
since. 

In 1859 Mr. Thornton was elected School 
Commissioner for Fulton County, being re- 
elected in 1861, sei-ving two terms; served four 
terms as a member of the City Council and 
from 1869 to 1876 was a member of the Canton 
City School Board, serving in all twelve years, 
of which five years were spent as Secretary of 
the Board. His most prominent official posi- 
tion has been that of Representative in the 
State Legislature, to which he was elected in 
1872 and re-elected in 1874. This being soon 
after the adoption of the State Constitution of 
1870, much important legislation was the out- 
come of the sessions of the General Assembly 
of that period. In November, 1876, he was the 
nominee on the Democratic ticket for Secre- 
tary of State, but with the rest of the ticket 
failed of election. His political attitude has 
been uniformly on the side of the Democratic 
party, which he represented as a member of its 
State Central Committee for two terms. 

On February 14, 1S58, Mr. Thornton was mar- 
ried in the city of Canton to Miss Adelaide 
Baudouine, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and of their five 
children three are living, namely: Mrs. C. A. 
Whiting, of Elgin, 111.; Mrs. C. I. Bolich, of Can- 
ton, and William E. Thornton, who is asso- 
ciated with his father in newspaper work. 

Mr. Thornton has been identified with the 
Baptist Church for more than fifty years, serv- 
ing for a number of years as member of its 
Board of Trustees, and fraternally has been a 
member of Morning Star Lodge, No. 734, A. F. 
& A. M., for over forty years. His labors 
have been devoted almost solely during the 
later years to newspaper work, in which he has 
won prominence and success. 

TOBAN, Marietta Rogers, the much esteemed 
and worthy widow of Mr. Frank Toban, former- 
ly a prosperous and respected farmer and Post- 
master of Grandview, S. D., is a native of 
Fulton County, where she was born January 
31, 1854. She is a daughter of Rolla G. and 
Amanda (Carver) Rogers, of whom the former 
was born in Ohio, and the latter in Kentucky. 
Her paternal grandparents, Edward and Eliza- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1145 



beth (Wood) Rogers, were natives of West Vir- 
ginia and Ohio, respectively, and her grand- 
father and grandmother on the maternal side. 
Pleasant and Catherine (Shryock) Carver, were 
born in Kentucky. 

Marietta Rogers grew to womanhood on her 
father's farm, and in youth enjoyed the advan- 
tages of the district schools in the vicinity of 
her home, where she received a good common- 
school education. On April 28, 1880, she was 
united in marriage with Frank Toban, who was 
born in Baltimore, Md., October 24, 1851, and 
who was successfully engaged in cultivating 
his farm of 320 acres in the locality above 
mentioned for many years. Mr. Toban died 
February 8, 1893, in Armour, S. D. Mrs. Toban 
has one son, Fred, of Orion Township, Fulton 
County, with whom the mother makes her 
home. Mrs. Toban is an earnest and consistent 
member of the Methodist Church, and socially 
is affiliated with the "Tribunes." She has 
many friends, who entertain for her feelings 
of most cordial regard. 

TOMPKINS, Albert B., long and favorably 
known to the people of Fulton County, 111., as 
a merchant and banker, is a resident of Avon, 
in that county, where he was born February 
20, 1842, a son of Stephen and Ethelinda 
(Woods) Tompkins, both of whom were natives 
of the State of New York, the father having 
been born in Madison County. In 1833, Stephen 
Tompkins traveled from New York to Gales- 
burg, 111., making the journey partly by boat, 
and the remainder on foot. He built the fourth 
frame house constructed in Galesburg and 
opened a shop there, in which he followed his 
trade of shoemaking and tanning, for one year. 
In 1838 he located in Avon, Fulton County, 
and engaged in the merchandise trade, buying 
grain, packing pork, and hauling his product to 
Liverpool, 111., for shipment. This business he 
conducted for many years with unvarying suc- 
cess, and by energy, perseverance and wise man- 
agement, amassed a handsome competence. He 
was a Rei)ublican in politics, and served as 
the first Postmaster of Avon, and was also 
Township Supervisor. To Stephen Tompkins 
and wife were born eight children, four of 
whom are yet living, namely: Albert B., 
Stephen L., Frank W., and Mrs. Fannie E. 
Stevens (nee Tompkins). The busy and useful 
career of Stephen Tompkins was terminated 
by death December 28, 1898, his wife still sur- 
viving. At the time of his decease, Stephen 
Tompkins was the owner of 1000 acres of 
land in the vicinity of Avon. 

In early youth, the subject of this sketch 
received his mental training in the public 
schools in the neighborhood of his birthplace, 
and was variously occupied until 1865, when 
he entered into partnership with his father, 
the firm conducting one of the largest mer- 
cantile concerns in Fulton County. The son 
continued in the same line of business until 
34 



1904. Mr. Tompkins is President of the A. B. 
Tompkins & Company Bank, the other officers 
being F. W. Tompkins, Vice-President, and 
W. H. Clayburg, Cashier. The bank is a pri- 
vate institution, and was started in 1884, un- 
der the style of Stephen Tompkins & Son. It 
has a capital of $25,000, does a general bank- 
ing and exchange business, and its owners are 
members of the State Bankers' Association. 

On November 10, 1868, Albert B. Tompkins was 
united in marriage with Florence Bliss, who 
was born in the State of New York, a daughter 
of David J. and Lavisa (Reynolds) Bliss, natives 
of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins have 
two daughters, namely: Ethel M., Mrs. William 
H. Clayburg; and Nellie C, who is the wife 
of Giles M. Clayburg. 

In politics the subject of this sketch is a 
supporter of the policies of the Republican 
party, and has rendered efficient service as 
a member of the Board of Village Trustees. 
In religion he adopts the creed of the Univer- 
salist Church, and fraternally has been a mem- 
ber of the A. F. & A. M. since 1864. It is al- 
most superfluous to dwell on the business quali- 
fications of one who has had so long a career 
as a prominent and successful merchant. Suf- 
fice it to say that these qualities are recognized 
as being of a high order, and that his sound 
judgment and conservative experience as a 
financier have won for him general confidence 
and given him a high standing in the banking 
circles of his section of the State. 

TOMPKINS, George A.— The career of George 
A. Tompkins adds another to the many illus- 
trations which Fulton County has furnished 
of the results attainable by intelligence, tact 
and perseverance when applied to the building 
up of an extensive business under the favoring 
conditions which have, for many years, at- 
tended all her enterprises. As the Secretary 
and Treasurer of the Avon Milling & Manufac- 
turing Company for the past thirteen years, 
Mr. Tompkins has influenced to large extent 
the development of a stable industry, and one 
which would have yielded pronounced suc- 
cess to those only who had the sagacity to 
perceive, and the boldness to push to the best 
results, so large an opportunity. Two years 
after his identification with the company, 
which was organized with a capital stock of 
$15,000, January 10, 1891. with John Woods, 
H. T. Townsend and Garret Van Winkle, chief 
officials, Mr. Tompkins purchased the interest 
of Mr. Van Winkle, and since has held his 
present position with the company. The works 
are among the most complete of their kind 
in the Central West. All grades of tile, from 
three to eight-inch are manufactured, also fire 
clay products, and the output averages 100 cars 
for shipment and fifty cars for local trade per 
year. The brick and tile factory are operated 
the year round. The company have their own 
water and electric plants, and from them sup- 



1 146 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ply lighting for public buildings and private 
residences in Avon, and water for the fire pro- 
tection of the city. They own and operate 
one mile of electric railroad, used to haul clay 
from the clay-pit to the works, and they own 
the thirteen town lots upon which the plant 
is located. The manufactory has been a great 
boon to Avon and vicinity, as it is a large 
employer of labor, a large tax-payer and an in- 
fluential factor in many municipal relations. 
It has brought to Avon a cause for local pride 
in the ceramic, as well as agricultural, possi- 
bilities of its soil, and in the high character 
and business ability of the men directing its 
affairs. 

Mr. Tompkins was born in Avon, 111., during 
the first year of the Civil War, a son of Gilbert 
and Mary E. (Davis) Tompkins, the former 
a native of New York and the latter bom in 
Illinois. He is one of the three survivors in 
a family of five children, and was educated in 
the public schools of his native town. Gilbert 
Tompkins was a merchant by occupation, who 
came to Illinois in 1S56, and for a time was 
associated in the grocery business with his 
brother Stephen. He later turned his attention 
to the nursery business, and it was from this 
interesting work and study that he finally re- 
tired from the cares of active life. His chil- 
dren absorbed in their youth the business 
spirit, and in their lives have echoed his 
steadfastness to duty and uncompromising 
honesty. 

Mr. Tompkins is prominent socially as well 
as commercially in Avon, and is a popular mem- 
ber of the Harmony Lodge, No. 253, A. F. & 
A. M., of Avon. In 1892 he was united in mar- 
riage to Fannie V. Townsend, daughter of R. 
W. and Rachel (Terry) Townsend, natives of 
New York and Illinois, respectively, and the 
farmer an early settler and merchant of Fulton 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins are the 
parents of a daughter, Winifred G. Mr. Tomp- 
kins is a man of broad mind and sympathies, 
keenly interested in the happenings which are 
making world history, and a promoter of those 
educational and general agencies which are 
bringing about the greater happiness and inde- 
pendence of mankind. 

TONCRAY, James A., a successful farmer and 
stock-raiser, living on Section 3, Liverpool 
Township, Fulton County, 111., was born in Lew- 
istown Township, in that county, October 1, 
18.53. He is a son of .Joseph S. and Ruth S. 
(Harrison) Toncray, natives of Lewis County, 
Ky., where they were married. 

Mrs. Toncray was a daughter of James Har- 
rison. Joseph Toncray was a son of Joseph 
and Mary (Smith) Toncray. The family of Jo- 
seph Toncray. the grandtatlier, were residents 
of Kentucky. The great-great-grandfather was a 
native of France and the great-great-grand 
mother was of Scotch-Irish descent. John A. 
Toncray was conscripted during the French- 



Canadian War. The family first settled in New 
York, whence they scattered to different points. 
At one time they were the owners of large 
landed estates in Dutchess County in that State. 
Grandfather Toncray's son, Joseph, first jour- 
neyed from Kentucky to Fulton County in 1848, 
but returned to that State, where his marriage 
occurred the same year. In 1852 he again 
made the trip from Marysville, Ky., to Fulton 
County, ni., with his family and located in 
Lewistown Township, where he arrived on De- 
cember 15th of that year. In 1866 he bought the 
old Toncray farm in Buckheart Township, 
where he was engaged in the pursuit of his vo- 
cation until 1894. In that year he moved to 
Bryant, 111., and there died March 12, 1905. He 
was born October 16, 1826. His widow is still 
living in Bryant. 

They were parents of seven children, as fol- 
lows: James A.; Francis E.. a farmer near 
Mt. Vernon, Jefferson County, 111. ; Emma Inez, 
deceased; Sadie T. (Mrs. Hall), of Canton, 111.; 
Wilbur S., a farmer near St. David, 111., who 
married Delia Carry; Maurice M., a resident of 
Plioenix, Ariz., and Mary, who is at home in 
Bryant, 111. The birth of the mother of this 
family occurred November 23, 1834. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
paternal farm and his mental training was ob- 
tained in the district schools of the neighbor- 
hood. At the age of twenty-one years he began 
working at farming by the month. After his 
marriage he lived for a year on the old Scholes 
farm in Liverpool Township, and in 1879 moved 
to his farm on Section 3, in the same township, 
which has since been the family home. The 
property consists of eighty acres, and is in a 
high state of cultivation. Its owner devotes 
considerable attention to raising a good grade 
of all kinds of stock. 

On March 27, 1879, Mr. Toncray was united 
in marriage with Eva D. Scholes, a daughter of 
Benjamin and Lucinda J. (Beaver) Scholes. Her 
father was born at Morley. near Leeds, Eng- 
land, November 2, 1821, and her mother was a 
native of Maryland, where her birth took place 
December 30, 1831. Mr. Scholes, on coming to 
the United States, proceeded to Illinois, where 
he located at Liverpool, and there the marriage 
occurred May 13, 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Toncray 
have had seven children, two of whom died in 
infancy. Those surviving are: Wilton E., 
born July 21. 1S84. a carpenter by trade; Har- 
ley S., born October 23, 1885; Anthony R., bom 
November 13, 1887; Russell B., born January 
27, 1889; Ruth S., born October 21, 1897. 

In politics Mr. Toncray is a supporter of the 
Democratic party, of which he is an active 
and influential member. For fourteen years he 
served ably and faithfully as Township Clerk, 
and has held the office of Road Commissioner. 
His worthy and estimable wife is a member of 
the Church of the Nazarenes. The Toncray 
family is one of the oldest and most honored 
in Fulton County and its present representa- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 147 



tive is regarded as one of the most upright, 
public-spirited and useful members of his com- 
munity. 

TRITES, John Ham, a prosperous and sub- 
stantial farmer on Section 19. Buckheart Town- 
ship, and a pioneer resident of Fulton County, 
111., was born in Darby, Delaware County, Pa., 
May 22, 1S44, and is a son of George G. and 
Louisa (Davis) Trites, also natives of Penn- 
sylvania. The Trites family originated in Ger- 
many, where the name was spelled "Trytze." 
Four brothers came to America with the old 
German-Swedish colony, who settled at Phila- 
delphia previous to the coming of William 
Penn. The Bishop of Sweden, father of Eman- 
uel Swedenborg, was the Bishop of that col- 
ony. Both of the parents of .John H. Trites 
were pioneer settlers of Delaware County, Pa., 
where a generation of the Trites name was 
born and passed away. 

George G. Trites, with his family of ten chil- 
dren, settled in Fulton County in 1844. The 
father cast his vote for James K. Polk for 
President of the United States, and started the 
same day for Illinois. He took passage on 
what was then known as a "section boat" and 
went to St. Louis, thence to Peoria, 111., and 
thence to Farmington, 111., where he bought 160 
acres of land, which is still the property of two 
of his daughters. There he and his wife spent 
the remainder of their years, being lifelong 
members of the Swedenborgian Church, in 
which they took absorbing interest. George G. 
Trites was a strong advocate of the public 
school system, and was a School Director for a 
number of years. He lived to reach the age 
of eighty-seven years. He was a man of strict 
probity and unimpeachable veracity. Any 
statement made by him was conceded to be re- 
liable, and his word was as good as his bond. 

Mr. and Mrs. George G. Trites were the par- 
ents of the following children: Serena; George 
Davis, of Brighton, Iowa; William, a resident 
of Leavenworth, Kans., who served in the Civil 
War as a member of Company H. Seventeenth 
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry; Lydia 
Esther, who is now living on the old home 
farm near Canton. 111.; Mary E., who also re- 
sides there; Margaret, wife of Jacob Wise, of 
Beardstown, 111.; Lewis E., who raised a com- 
pany of soldiers during the Civil War, served in 
the same command as his brother William, and 
was assigned to duty in guarding the Confed- 
erate prisoners at Camp Douglas, Chicago; 
Louise, wife of Charles Lilley, of Wardner, 
Idaho; John H., and Susan B., wife of Marcus 
Moran, a photographer of Canton, Fulton 
County. Serena, the eldest of the family, is de- 
ceased, as is also her husband, Theodore Bar- 
nard. They left a family of five children, as 
follows; George, who died in February, 1904; 
William, who was Professor of Sciences in the 
Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa; Charles 
H. and James, who are on the old home farm 
near Canton, 111., and Mary, wife of Charles 
Slocum, a motorman of St. Louis, Mo. 



John H. Trites has made his home in Fulton 
County since 1844. He was reared to farm life 
and received his early education in the district 
schools in the vicinity of his home and in Cole's 
Business College at Peoria, 111. He has been a 
constant reader and has always kept well in- 
formed concerning current events. He has 
made farming his life occupation, and until his 
marriage, in 1874, remained on the home place. 
After that event he applied himself to farming 
on the old homestead until 1885, when he pur- 
chased his farm on Section 19, Buckheart 
Township. In 1886 he moved to this place, 
which was partially improved, and consisted of 
134 acres of land. On his farm may now be 
seen a high grade of Norman horses, the first 
ever imported into that locality. 

Mr. Trites has not only been a witness of the 
marvelous changes of the last sixty-one years 
in Fulton County, but has borne an important 
part in bringing them to pass. He has helped 
to reclaim the swamps and dense timber lands 
and transform the broad area into fertile and 
productive farms. He has been instrumental in 
changing frog ponds into homes for prosperous 
and contented farmers. He has undergone the 
ordeal of clearing and tilling the land and en- 
dured the numerous hardships that confronted 
the early settlers. He has steadfastly support- 
ed all measures for the upbuilding of his town- 
ship and county, and the churches and schools 
have always found in him an earnest champion. 
He has made his home a delightful and at- 
tractive spot and taught his children to love it, 
as representing all the comforts and diversions 
of life. 

On September 2, 1874, Mr. Trites was united 
in marriage with Sarah Baughman, who was 
born in Fulton County, and is a daughter of 
Gideon and Lavina (Artman) Baughman, who 
journeyed from Ohio to Fulton County, 111., 
where they settled in 1833, near the village of 
Cuba. Gideon Baughman died February 13, 
1904, his wife having passed away when Mrs. 
Trites was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Trites be- 
came the parents of the following children: 
George G., who died in infancy; Lewis D., who 
is engaged in mining; Susan B., wife of James 
I. Carter, a farmer in Buckheart Township; 
John H., Jr., who dwells under the parental 
roof; Winifred L., who is pursuing a commer- 
cial course in the Peoria Business College, and 
Sylvanus T.. who is with his parents. Mr. 
Trites is not bound by party ties, but upholds 
men and measures strictly on their merits. Re- 
ligiously he is a member of the Swedenborgian 
Church, while Mrs. Trites is a Congregation- 
alist. 

TRITES, Lewis E., Sr. (deceased), whose life 
in Fulton County, 111., began as a l3oy of seven 
years, and was long continued with large ma- 
terial profit to himself, as well as marked bene- 
fit to the interests of the community in which 
he lived, was born in the vicinity of Philadel- 
phia, Pa., May 14, 1838. His father and mother, 
George G. and Louisa (Davis) Trites, were 



1 148 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



also natives of Pennsylvania, where the former 
followed the occupation of a farmer and mar- 
ket gardener. They moved to Illinois in 1S45, 
sojourning for a few days in Farmington, Ful- 
ton County, and then locating on a farm in 
Canton Township, and there passed the re- 
mainder of their lives. They were the parents 
of ten children. (See sketch of George G. 
Trites.) 

In boyhood Lewis E. Trites attended the dis- 
trict schools in the neighborhood of his father's 
farm and after he grew to manhood always fol- 
lowed farming. He bought a farm of ninety- 
three acres in Canton Township, and at a later 
period purchased another of 110 acres. Ulti- 
mately he became the owner of 160 acres more, 
aggregating 363 acres in that township. After 
pursuing his wonted occupation until 1896 he 
withdrew from active labors and retired to Can- 
ton, where he passed away on April S, 1903. 

In 1862 Mr. Trites enlisted in Company I, 
Sixty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, in which he was Second Sergeant. He 
served, however, but five months, having been 
assigned to the duty of guarding prisoners most 
of the time, and returned home with his regi- 
ment. 

On January 11, 1865, Mr. Trites was united in 
marriage with Ann Eliza Randolph, who was 
born in Fulton County, a daughter of John F. 
and Nancy (Rawalt) Randolph, the former born 
in Yates County, N. Y., in December, 1796, and 
the latter in Pennsylvania, June 18, 1803. Mr. and 
Mrs. Randolph were the parents of eleven chil- 
dren, eight of whom grew to maturity, and six 
of whom are still living. Three of this family, 
of whom Mrs. Trites was the ninth in order of 
birth, were born on the Fourth of July: Mrs. 
Ann Eliza (Randolph) Trites; her brother, 
Lewis F. Randolph, and her sister, Mrs. Miner- 
va (Randolph) Hinkle, exactly two years elaps- 
ing between their respective dates of birth. 
(See sketch elsewhere in this volume of John 
F. Randolph.) 

In his native State John F. Randolph was a 
teacher by occupation. He and his wife jour- 
neyed to the West, the father's object being to 
secure land for his boys. They first settled in 
Indiana, whence a few years later they moved 
to Illinois, locating in Joshua Township, Fulton 
County, in 1835. The father died in 1845, when 
his daughter, Ann Eliza, was but five years old, 
and the mother passed away February 13, 1878. 
Jeptha Randolph, Mrs. Trite's grandfather, was 
a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Sketches 
of the lives of John F. and Lewis F., her broth- 
ers, appear on another page of this volume. 
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Trites resulted in 
three children, namely: Halcyon, Carl and Mi- 
nerva. The two first named are deceased, the 
second, Carl, having been married to Millie 
McCreary. Minerva Hinkle Trites, who alone 
survives, has been employed as a teacher in the 
graded schools. 

The life of Mr. Trites was exemplary in 
every respect, and he was a useful and greatly 



respected member of the community. He was 
a broad-minded, intelligent citizen, an enthusi- 
astic reader, always keeping abreast with the 
times and taking an optimistic, hopeful view 
of life. Possessed of a genial, cheerful disposi- 
tion, he always had a kindly word and deed for 
his neighbors. His aged parents found his will- 
ing hands and reliable judgment at their serv- 
ice at all times. In politics he was allied with 
the Republican party, but never aspired to pub- 
lic office. In religion he was an adherent of the 
Swedenborgian faith. Mrs. Trites is residing in 
Canton, in comfortable circumstances, and is 
bearing the burden of her successive bereave- 
ments with fortitude and resignation, consoled 
and sustained by the sincere respect, warm 
sympathy and cordial regard of many friends. 

TURNER, Charles Henry (deceased), the begin- 
ning of whose agricultural experience in Ful- 
ton County, 111., was coincident with the early 
stages of the county's growth, and who was for 
an extended lifetime one of the most prosper- 
ous and prominent farmers within its limits, 
was born in Corinth, Saratoga County, N. Y., 
October 3, 1833. He was a son of Samuel and 
Sallie (Brooking) Turner, who spent the great- 
er portion of their lives in that State, where the 
father was successfully engaged in farming. 
They settled in Fulton County, 111., in the year 
1835. Samuel Turner died June 17, 1867, and 
his wife passed away February 25, 1870, each 
having attained the age of seventy-one years. 
To them were born seven children, as follows: 
Mary J., Thomas, Sarah, Charles H., William, 
James E. and George A. 

Charles H. Turner was reared on his father's 
farm and in boyhood obtained his schooling in 
an old log schoolhouse in the vicinity of the 
paternal home. As soon as he reached years of 
maturity he applied himself to farming on his 
own responsibility, and continued in that pur- 
suit throughout the remainder of his life. Dur- 
ing his early manhood he spent some time in 
California. He was a very energetic and thor- 
ough farmer and a man of unblemished char- 
acter, commanding the respect and enjoying the 
confidence of all with whom his transactions 
brought him into contact in the course of his 
long and useful career. His landed holdings in 
Fulton County comprised 340 acres, all under a 
high state of cultivation. In 1901 he withdrew 
from farming operations and spent the remain- 
der of his life in retirement at Canton, Pulton 
County, where his death occurred January 29, 
1906. 

Mr. Turner was twice married. On Pebru- 
ai-y 20. 1867, he was united in matrimony with 
Delena A. Gorham, who was born October 14, 
1835, and died September 26, 1901. The off- 
spring of this union was three children, two of 
whom are living, namely: Herbert L. and 
George S., both of whom are engaged in farm- 
ing in Fulton County. On August 10, 1903, Mr. 
Turner wedded for his second wife Mrs. Susan 
A. (McGehee) Shirck, a native of Pennsylva- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 149 



nia. The Shircks settled in Illinois during the 
'fifties, locating in Peoria County, where Mr. 
Shirck, who was a mechanic, owned and op- 
erated a hub factory. 

In his political relations Mr. Turner was 
identified with the Democratic party. Frater- 
nally his affiliation was with the Mutual Aid 
and the I. O. O. F. 

Mrs. Turner, who is still residing in Canton, 
is a woman of high character. 

TURNER, George S., a well known and pros- 
perous farmer of Putman Township, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in that township July 
1, 18G9, and there received his early mental 
training in the country schools. He is a son 
of Charles H. and Delena (Gorman) Turner, 
natives, respectively, of New York and Ohio. 
His grandfather, Samuel Turner, was a New 
Yorker and his grandfather, Nathan Gorman, 
was born in Rutledge County, Vt. Charles H. 
Turner came with his parents to Putman Town- 
ship in 1S35 and located half a mile west of 
Civer, Fulton County, where he was engaged in 
farming until 1S69. In that year he moved to 
his present place, which he purchased in 1882. 
The farm consists of 340 acres on Section 23, 
Putman Township. In 1900 Charles H. Turner 
retired from active life and moved to the city 
of Canton. 

The subject of this sketch, in company with 
his brother, Herbert L., now operates the home 
farm, and they have made nearly all the prin- 
cipal improvements on the place. Herbert L. 
Turner was born in 1868 and the two brothers 
are the only children of the family still living, 
another brother, Clayton H. Turner, having died 
in April, 188.'',. 

On May 1, 1900, Mr. Turner was united in 
marriage with Grace Gulick, who was born in 
Fulton County, and three children — Irma, Aria 
B. and Lyle, the latter born March IS, 1907 — 
have blessed this union. 

Fraternally Mr. Turner is affiliated with the 
Mystic Workers. He is a very enterprising and 
progressive farmer and a citizen of good re- 
pute. 

TUTHILL, Earl D.— It was the fate of Earl 
D. Tuthill to rear such a structure of business 
and character success, that now, although 
twenty years have joined the past since his 
lamented death October 4, 1886, the memory 
of him burns brightly in the hearts and minds 
of the friends who loved him, and of such sur- 
vivors of the business contingent as were as- 
sociated with him during his thirty years of 
merchandising in the town of Bemadotte, this 
county. As in life, mention of this early mer- 
chant brings to mind a loyal, courteous and 
high thinking man, one who took his way in all 
gentleness through the world, leaving people 
and conditions better than when he first found 
them. 

Born in Genesee County, N. Y., September 
11, 1837, Mr. Tuthill was a son of Leonard and 



Emeline (Logan) Tuthill, also natives of that 
State, and early settlers in Bernadotte, Fulton 
County. With the exception of a few months 
spent in Ipava and Vermont, the son was a 
resident of Bernadotte during his whole West- 
ern life. His first independent occupation was 
carpentering, at which he became an expert, and 
this he followed in connection with farming for 
a number of years. He was frugal and thrifty, 
and September 17, 1861, established a home of 
his own, marrying Mary McCoughey, who was 
born in Ohio, March 20, 1843, and came to Ful- 
ton County in early life with her father, John 
W. McCoughey, mention of whom may be found 
elsewhere in this work. The year after his 
marriage Mr. Tuthill embarked upon his mer- 
chandising career as a clerk in the general 
store of Harrison McCoughey, and in 1866 
started in business for himself, continuing to 
operate a general store until the close of his 
active life. He had many of the most desirable 
qualities of the successful merchant, and not 
the least of them was a rare fund of good 
humor, a natural courtesy of demeanor, and 
an intense desire to please. People went out 
of their way to speak to him on the street, and 
his approach always created an atmosphere of 
cordiality and kindliness. He adhered always 
to fair representation, and sought to promote 
in his patrons an appreciation of high grade 
commodities, as against those of cheap and un- 
reliable kind. At all times he kept his finger 
on the pulse of popular demand, and as far 
as possible catered to all classes and condi- 
tions of men. 

The married life of Mr. Tuthill was a par- 
ticularly harmonious one, and it was perhaps 
in the circle of his immediate family that his 
considerate and lovable traits were most in 
evidence. He was kindness itself to those de- 
pendent upon his support, and the soul of loyal- 
ty to the friends who brightened his pathway 
with their appreciation and regard. Shrewd 
business ability and a capacity for saving and 
wise investment left his wife and son, Harry, 
in good circumstances, but more than aught 
else do they treasure the legacy of a good 
name and noble purpose, which grew out of 
the life and efforts of one of Bernadotte's most 
esteemed and useful citizens. 

TUTHILL, Harry L. — Of the younger genera- 
tion of business men of Bernadotte, prominence 
is desei-vedly accorded Harry L. Tuthill, the 
greater part of whose active life has been de- 
voted to a practical study of merchandising, 
and who owns and conducts one of the most 
up-to-date and progressive general stores in 
this part of Fulton County. Mr. Tuthill comes 
of the second generation of his family to re- 
flect credit upon the State, as his father. Earl 
Tuthill, was for years one of its representative 
men. 

Both physically and educationally, Mr. Tuthill 
is well prepared for an energetic business life. 
He attended first the school of his native town 



ii;o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



of Bernadotte, where he was born May 13, 1ST3, 
and he later graduated from the high school 
of Lewistown, and took a course at the Western 
Normal College at Bushnell, 111. He then re- 
turned to Bernadotte and started in business 
with his uncle, J. P. McCoughey, having a 
stock of boots and shoes valued at $100, and 
later adding patent medicines and incidentals. 
This partnership was dissolved at the expira- 
tion of two years, and Mr. Tuthill then pur- 
chased the building in which he now conducts 
his business, and where he has branched out 
into general lines, including groceries, dry 
goods, boots and shoes, drugs, and hats and 
caps. His stock now is valued at about $2,000. 
On December 4, 1894, Mr. Tuthill was united 
in marriage to a daughter of John L. Thomp- 
son, a resident of Friend, Neb., and a child, 
B. V. Tuthill, was born to them December 20, 
1896. Mr. Tuthill is an enthusiastic Democrat, 
and has done much to strenghten the local 
standing of his party. For the past six years 
he has been Township Clerk, and has given 
the greatest satisfaction in that capacity. He 
is active in church circles, and fraternally is 
connected with the Masons and Modem Wood- 
men of America, having filled various offices 
in the latter lodge. He possesses the traits 
of courtesy, consideration and integrity, and 
maintains^ in his many-sided intercourse with 
the public, the highest tenets of commercial 
life. 

UNDERWOOD, Richard Baxter.— It was given 
to Richard Baxter Underwood to begin his 
career in Canton, in 1851, as driver of an ox- 
team for Captain A. C. Babcock, at fifteen dol- 
lars a month, and at the time of his death, 
March 25, 189S, to cease his activity as Presi- 
dent of the First National Bank of his adopted 
town. It is doubtful if so wide a divergence 
in his fortunes appeared upon the speculative 
horizon of the lad of nineteen, who, having 
been born in Augusta, Me., May 14, 1832, was 
thus humbly, but honestly, adjusting himself 
to a life of frontier privation and promise.. He 
had much to aid him in fundamental requisites 
of good citizenship, for he was of excellent 
birth, the son of .loseph Underwood, a native 
of England, and by occupation jewelsmith and 
Congregational minister. His education was 
acquired in the public schools of St. John- 
bury, Caledonia County, Vt., and at a boy's 
school well known in New England. 

The resources of Mr. Underwood were well- 
nigh exhausted after his journey by canal and 
river to Fulton County, but he was frugal and 
industrious, and saved money while following 
the toiling oxen. Next he became a clerk for 
the mercantile firm of Amos C. and William 
Babcock, and later still was clerk for Lamport 
& Company, and Walter & Baughman. In 1857 
he became a member of the firm of Seat on, 
Trites & Uderwood, and upon disposing of his 
interest in the business in 1862, went to Fort 
Dodge, Iowa, and there engaged in the clothing 



business. Returning to Canton he became man- 
ager tor the clothing business of Mr. Resor, 
after which he engaged in the clothing business 
on his own account under the firm name of 
Babcock & Underwood, on the south side of the 
square. Upon becoming sole proprietor of this 
enterprise, he erected the store building at 
present occupied by O. T. Salisburg, and in 
1891 sold his business to the Russell Brothers, 
the present proprietors. For a number of years 
Mr, Underwood lived in retirement, and in 1889 
was elected President of the First National 
Bank of Canton, in which he had been a 
director since 1882. He became a money leaner 
on a large scale, taking as security improved 
and unimcumbered farm lands. 

In political affiliation Mr. Underwood was a 
Republican, but he cherished no aspirations 
towards political honors. He was a member 
of the Congregational Church, and contributed 
generously towards its support. His married 
life date from August, 1857, and the wife who 
survives him formerly was Catherine Kinsey, 
a native of Salem, Ohio, and daughter of Joseph 
Kinsey, a native of Virginia. Joseph Kinsey, 
and his wife Margaret (Hippie) Kinsey, the 
latter born in Pennsylvania, conducted the 
Philips House, in Dayton, Ohio, for several 
years, and upon removing to Fulton County 
settled in Banner Township, when Mrs. Under- 
wood was eight years old. They later spent 
some time in Ohio, but returned to Fulton Coun- 
ty and lived retired. They were the parents 
of four daughters and three sons; Henry, a re- 
tired farmer of Indianapolis, Ind.; Mrs. William 
Babcock, of Canton; Susan, wife of Charles 
Maple, of Chicago; Arabella M., wife of William 
McCreary; Mrs. Underwood, wife of the de- 
ceased; and William, who was killed during 
the Civil War. Mr. Underwood is survived by 
three brothers: Joseph C, of Menasha, Wis.; 
Thomas S., of Lancaster, New Hampshire; 
and J. Roger, of Kelly Lake, Wis. Throughout 
his life Mr. Underwood maintained a high repu- 
tation for honesty, public spirit and ability, 
and his sojourn in Canton resulted in a 
strengthening of its commercial and social life, 
in an uplift of the ethics and amenities of com- 
munity affairs, and a fine lesson in faith and 
perseverance for those who now labor in the 
lesser occupations of life. 

UTSINGER, John W.— A creditable utilization 
of opportunity is found in the agricultural suc- 
cess of John W. Utsinger, who makes his home 
and conducts general farming and stock-raising 
on a tract of 417 acres in Deerfleld Township, 
of which he is a native, and where his entire 
life has been spent. Mr. Utsinger was born 
December 26, 1851, of German parentage, the 
son of Daniel and Margaret (Schrodt) Utsinger, 
natives of Germany — his parents born August 
8, 1812, and November 25, 1828, respectively. 
In spite of the conservatism of his training 
and surroundings, the elder Utsinger developed 
ambitions which required the settings of the new 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ii^i 



world, and hither he came in a sailing vessel in 
the beginning of the '30s, reaching Farmington 
Township, Fulton County, during 1839, and 
a year later removing to Deerfield Township, 
with which the family name has been con- 
nected ever since. Purchasing with his slen- 
der means forty acres of land, he added thereto 
as prosperity came his way and at the time of 
his death, July 5, 1900, owned 397 acres of rich 
land. His wife died April 15, 1S95. 

Educated in the country schools and trained 
in farming under his father's watchful eye, 
John W. Utsinger developed sturdy traits of 
character, and at the age of tweuty-one years 
started out for himself as a tenant on 212 acres 
of land, in Deerfield Township. Three years 
later he bought eighty acres of this farm, later 
adding to it until he owns at present 417 acres. 
His pro])erty is adapted to general farming and 
stock-raising, and his buildings, residence, and 
general improvements, indicate a progressive 
and practical mind. His i)roperty stretches into 
Sections 15, 21 and 22, and a specialty is made 
of Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs, 
of which the owner raises many head annually. 

April 14, 1881, Mr. Utsinger married iVlary 
A. Ault, a native of Deerfield Township, born 
August 21, 1862. Of the union there are ten 
children: Henry T., Charles W., Francis, Jessie, 
Anna, Lee, Earl, Pearl, Carl and Rilla. A Re- 
publican in politics, Mr. Utsinger has wielded 
an influence for good government, good roads 
and good schools, and has sei-ved in the official 
capacities of Collector, Supervisor, Assessor, 
Constable and School Director. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. Since early youth he has been a 
member of the Lutheran Church. Mr, Utsinger 
has brought success out of the chances which 
have come his way, and has set an example 
of thrift and good management, uprightness 
and public spiritedness. 

VAIL, Joseph Calloway, an enterprising, suc- 
cessful and popular farmer and nurseryman 
in Section 9, Liverpool Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was bom in Bernadotte Township, that 
county. October 6, 1851. He is the only child 
of Joseph A. and Anna A. (Willcoxen) Vail, 
the latter, a daughter of Captain Elijah Will- 
coxen, a memoir of whom appears on another 
page of this work. She was born December 
10, 1825, and died .Tune 6, 1894. Joseph A. 
Vail was born June 6, 1826, near Middletown, 
Ohio. His father, Hugh M. Vail, born May 29, 

1804, wedded Rebecca Compton, born May 7, 

1805. Both were natives of Ohio. Their mar- 
riage occurred May 8, 1823, and they settled 
in Fulton County about the year 1840. They 
were parents of three children, namely: Eliza- 
beth, who became the wife of Ira F. Ellrod, 
and died in Bernadotte Township December 
23, 1890; Joseph A.; and Randall C, born 
December 19, 1834. 

Joseph A. Vail was a carriage-maker by trade, 
and followed that occupation on what Is now 
the old Ellrod farm, in Bernadotte Township. 



Work made by his hand is yet In use. He 
died in Bernadotte Township May 19, 1852. 
Randall C. enlisted in the Union Army during 
the Civil War. His health was broken down 
by the exposures and hardships endured in the 
service, and he fell a victim to disease therein 
contracted, dying about the year 1867. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
farm and has been a farmer all his life. Since 
1851, his home has been in Fulton County, ex- 
cept during eighteen months spent in Te.xas, 
in 1873-74. He received his mental training 
in the district schools of the county, and in 
the Lewistown High School, from which he re- 
ceived a certificate of qualification as a teacher, 
and afterwards taught school in Fulton Coimty. 
In October, 1S79, he moved to his present farm 
of 53% acres, on which he carries on general 
farming and stock-raising. He has two acres 
of nursery growths, and for ten years has sold 
fruit-trees of all descriptions. In farming and 
stock-raising, his operations have been success- 
ful, and his laboi-s and transactions in con- 
nection with the nursury feature have made 
him widely and favorably known in Fulton 
County, 

On December 2S, 1871, Mr. Vail was united 
in marriage with Louranna Riner. born October 
23, 1853, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah 
(Paddock) Riner, of Preble County, Ohio. The 
former was born in Ohio November 16, 1828, 
and died October 29, 1895. The latter was 
born April 5, 1830, and died December 3, 1868. 
Joseph Riner moved from Ohio to the vicinity 
of Elmwood, 111., in 1854, and was a prominent 
citizen there. He was the owner of 560 acres 
of land and was considered one of the wealthy 
men of Peoria County. 

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Riner were niarried 
in October, 1852, and had the following named 
children: Louranna; John W., who was born 
April 4, 1855, and is now a resident of Abing- 
don, III., where he served for years as Chief 
of Police: James B.. born November 4. 1856; 
Margaret, born October 24, 1858, wife of J. H. 
Crosthwaite, a farmer of Liverpool Township; 
Lillian I., born May 5, 1860, who married A. 
O. Blair, on the police force in Springfield, III. ; 
Minnie, born July 29, 1862. who is the wife of 
David E. Griswold. a resident of Normal, 111.; 
and Francis, who died in infancy. 

The grandparents of Mrs. Vail, Peter and 
Margaret (Kelly) Riner. were originally from 
Virginia. The former went to Ohio when a boy. 
In 1856. they settled near Elmwood, 111., where 
both died — the grandfather. May 14, 1877, and 
the grandmother, January 1, 1873. They were 
the parents of the following named children; 
Joseph C, Jacob. John W., Washington, Melissa, 
Malinda, Rebecca, Lorinda, Margaret E., Peter 
J., Phoebe A., and Matthew D. Mrs. Vail's 
great-grandfather. Henry Paddock, was bom 
January 24, 1775, and his wife, Miriam (Payne) 
Paddock, was born March 22, 1778. They 
lived in Kentucky, whence they moved to Ohio, 
April 6, 1806, and settled near Campbelltown, 
Preble County, on the old Paddock farm, which 



II52 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



is still in the family name. Henry Paddock 
died in June, 1854, and his wife in 1864. They 
are buried at Arlington, Ind. Their son 
Ebenezer Paddock, born August 1, 1801, mar- 
ried Louranna Swayne, born October 13, 1807. 
He died August 20, 1887, and she passed away 
December 20, 1838. Their children were Daniel, 
Jacob. Rachel, Sarah, Elizabeth, James, Phcfibe 
and Reuben. 

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Vail are the parents 
of five children, namely: Nettie E., born in 
Denison, Tex., February 2, 1874; Leonard R., 
born May 17, 1876, who is with his parents: 
Annie F., born February 10, ISSO, who married 
Wayne Clark, October 15, 1901, and resides 
near Canton, 111.; Joseph R., born October 31. 
1888, who dwells under the paternal roof; and 
Willard C, born July 7, 1892. Nettie E., the 
first-bom, became the wife of Gilbert P. Dicker- 
man, December 30, 1895. They have three 
children; Annie L., born September 24, 1897: 
and Gilbert Vail, born October 15, 1898, and 
Freda E., born April 23, 1906. 

In politics Mr. Vail is an active and influ- 
encial Democrat, and has filled several town- 
ship offices. For eighteen years he sei-ved as 
School Treasurer, and has held the offices of 
Collector and Assessor. 

In business connection, he has been a 
Director in the Lewistown Mutual Fire Insur- 
ance Company for more than twenty years, 
and is now serving his third term as its 
President. In all movements pertaining to 
the promotion of the public welfare and the 
development of the industrial, educational and 
moral interests of F\ilton County, he has taken 
a leading part and is credited as one of the 
most useful members of his community. 

VANDEVANDER. Franklin G., one of the old- 
timers of Canton, Fulton County, IlL, is a Penn- 
sylvanian by birth and came with his parents 
from his native county of Huntingdon to Can- 
ton, 111., in March, 1856. He was then nine 
years of age, and after receiving his education 
in local schools began bookkeeping in his 
youth. He has ever since followed that occu- 
pation and as bookkeeper and expert account- 
ant is well known. Mr. Vandevander is a man 
of strict honor and high character and is uni- 
versally respected. 

VANDEVENTER, Lemuel R.— A farm in 
Orion Township which may well serve as an 
example of good management and practical re- 
sults in farming, is that owned and operated 
by Lemuel R. Vandeventer, on Section 11 of 
that township. Mr. Vandeventer is an agricul- 
turist who does not allow his residence in the 
country to interfere with his keeping up with 
the times or informing himself on the subjects 
which engage the attention of dwellers In the 
busier marts of trade. His property evidences 
due appreciation of the inventions which do 
away with much of the old time drudgery of 
farming, and his buildings in particular are 
modern, well constructed and adequate for all 
dwelling and general needs. 



Mr. Vandeventer was born in Fulton County, 
111., December 16, 1860, a son of John F. and 
Sarah C. Vandeventer, early settlers and pres- 
ent residents of Illinois, and who had, besides, 
four other children. Of these Lizzie became 
the wife of James Rowe and lives in Orion 
Township; Wilton M. is a lawyer of Chicago; 
Frank married Sarah Shoemaker and lives in 
Glasford, Peoria County, and Algernon F. mar- 
ried Clara Davis and lives in Arkansas. Lem- 
uel R. received as practical an education as 
the county afforded and readily adapted his 
youthful energies to the occupation of farming. 
September 10, 1885, he married Cassie A. 
Kelly, daughter of John B. and Rachel (Proc- 
tor) Kelly, the former being one of the very 
early settlers of Fulton County. 

Mr. and Mrs. Vandeventer are the parents of 
two children: Ray C. and Glenn L. Mr. Van- 
deventer is a prominent member of the 
Knights of Labor, a zealous promoter of the 
interests of the working man. He is an able 
and painstaking agriculturist and highly es- 
teemed by all who know him. 

VAN LIEW, Cornelius W.— The farm of Corne- 
lius W. Van Liew, on Section 30, Fairview Town- 
ship, is an instructive study in agriculture and 
stock-raising as conducted under the most en- 
lightened and favorable circumstances known 
at the present time. Mr. Van Liew can hardly 
be called the architect of his own fortunes, as 
his farm was given him by his father. John 
Van Liew, in 1884, yet this advantage has en- 
abled him to progress the faster, and turn his 
attention to the higher phases of country life 
impossible, when burdened with debt 
and anxiety. His property comprises 
160 acres, which is part of the old 
homestead, and all of its improvements 
have been made by himself and his father. 
He is an extensive raiser and feeder 
of stock, and averages from 200 to 300 head 
of hogs and cattle a year. In connection with 
his own farm he rents and operates 200 adjoin- 
ing acres, devoting it to stock, grain and gen- 
eral produce. Notwithstanding the commercial 
ability of the owner, and his capacity to utilize 
every part of his property in the best possi- 
ble way, the general impression of the place 
is pleasing and homelike, and abounds in 
evidences of fine consideration and thought- 
fulness for those who dwell within its borders. 

The marriage of Mr. Van Liew and Louisa H. 
Robbins occured in Fairview Township, this 
county, February 6, 1884, Mrs. Van Liew being 
a native of New Jersey. Mr. Van Liew is a 
social as well as business factor in the com- 
munity, and a popular member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modem 
Woodmen of America. He has a well estab- 
lished reputation for honesty and fair dealing, 
and enjoys in fullest measure the respect and 
confidence of his fellow agriculturists. 

VAN LIEW, Daniel H., a thorough, diligent 
and systematic farmer, who has successfully 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



"53 



pursued his occupation for a score of years in 
Section 5, Joshua Township. Fulton County, 
III., was born in the town of Fairview, 111., 
January 4, 18.57, a son of John and Mary 
(Polhemus) Van Liew, of whom the former 
was a native of New Jersey, and the latter of 
Illinois. John Van Liew left his New Jersey 
home for Illinois in 1854, and settled in Fulton 
County, locating in the vicinity of Fairview. 
There he bought eighty acres of land and de- 
voted his attention to farming. He pursued 
his occupation successfully for many years, and 
ultimately became the owner of 350 acres, 
having doubled his original purchase by indus- 
try, energy and thrifty management. His 
death occured December 12. 1899. He was a 
man of excellent character and upright lite, 
and was respected by all who knew him. In 
politics he was a Democrat, and took an ac- 
tive interest in the affairs of the township, 
filling various ijositions of public trust, among 
them that of Supervisor, Road Commissioner, 
etc. 

Daniel H. Van Liew grew up on the farm 
managed by his father, and attended the Fair- 
view public schools in his boyhood. In 1886 he 
began farming on the land which he now culti- 
vates. He is the owner of 118 acres situated in 
Section 5, Joshua Township, on which he has 
made nearly all the improvements. Besides 
carrying on a general line of farming, he is a 
stock-breeder, and also raises a good many 
hogs. 

On December 15, 1880, Mr. Van Liew was 
joined in wedlock with Louisa Hagaman, a 
native of Illinois, born in Mason County. Mr. 
and Mrs. Van Liew are the parents of two sons, 
namely: John G. and Merrill. In politics he 
is a supporter of the Democratic party. He is 
a careful and methodical farmer, an honorable 
man, and a useful citizen. 

VANSYCKEL, W. D.— Two generations of toil- 
ers have pinned their faith and lent their prac- 
tical energy to the faming property now owned 
and managed by W. D. Vansyckel. Samuel 
Vansyckel, the earlier owner, whose declining 
years are being spent in retirement in Canton, 
came here when the settlers were widely sepa- 
rated, and little had been accomplished to sug- 
gest the unexampled ])rosperity of the present. 
He was a young and unmarried man when am- 
bition directed his steps westward, and after 
becoming settled here he married Mary Eshel- 
man, daughter of a Fulton County pioneer. 

W. D. Vansyckel was born on the Fulton 
County farm in 1866, the year after his father 
made settlement thereon, and he since has 
known no other home. He was reared to hard 
work and to an intelligent appreciation of the 
many advantages of country life. As a lad he 
attended the public schools during the winter 
and accumulated muscle and breezy ambitions 
in the harvest field during the summer. Prac- 
tically all of the improvements on the place 
have been placed there by father and son, and 



the latter became sole owner in 1901, purchas- 
ing the land outright from the older man. Dis- 
satisfaction with what already has been accom- 
plished is one of the most promising traits of 
this young agriculturist, and undoubtedly the 
locality will be still further indebted to him for 
wise lessons of thrift, economy and public 
spirit. In 1901 he brought to the old place a 
young and helpful wife, whose maiden name 
was Susie Rohrer, a native daughter of Fulton 
County. The character and work of Mr. Van- 
syckel commends itself to the progress and en- 
lightenment of the community, and he has 
many friends to wish him well and sympathize 
with his worthy and practical aspirations. 

VOORHEES, James Francis, the well known 
proprietor of a thoroughly equipped and busy 
livery business in London Mills, 111., was born 
in Fairview, Fulton County, February 15, 1856. 
His father and mother, I. A. H. and Mary S. 
(Letson) Voorhees, were natives of the State of 
New Jersey. They moved from the East to 
Fulton County, 111., in 1850, locating in Fair- 
view, where the father engaged in the mer- 
cantile trade. At a subsequent period he went 
to Farmington, where he established himself 
in the same line of business. In 1870 he again 
made his home in Fairview, and remained 
there until the time of his death, which oc- 
curred in 1887. He was a prominent citizen 
and maintained a high standing as an individ- 
ual and in his civic relations. In his political 
relations for a number of years he filled the 
offices of Township Collector and Town Clerk. 

In boyhood the subject of this sketch ob- 
tained his mental instruction in the public 
schools of Fairview, 111., and as soon as he 
reached mature years, applied himself to farm- 
ing. He was afterwards engaged in threshing 
for several years, and then resumed farming, 
which he continued for some time. In 1900 he 
located at London Mills, where he purchased 
the livery concern of Jesse Combs, which that 
gentleman had conducted for twenty years. 
Mr. Voorhees has twelve head of horses in use, 
does considerable draying and keeps a hearse 
available for funeral purposes. The equipment 
of his stables is equal to every requirement in 
his line of business. He devotes close atten- 
tion to the details of the work, enjoys the con- 
fidence of his customers and has a remunera- 
tive patronage. 

Mr. Voorhees was married in 1888 to Eliza- 
beth Wykoff, who was born and schooled in 
Fulton County. Three children were born of 
this union, namely: Mary Frances, Sarah Lou- 
ise and Anna. 

Fraternally Mr. Voorhees is affiliated with 
the M. W. A. and the I. O. O. F. For honora- 
ble dealings, diligent application to business and 
a manifest disposition to do justice to all he 
has made an excellent record in London Mills. 

VOORHEES, P. B., one of the leading citizens 
of Fairview, Fulton County, 111., whose stock 



II54 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



and grain transactions have made him well and 
favorably known throughout the county, was 
born in Fairview in 1S55, a son of Abraham and 
Alice (Vanarsdale) Voorhees, natives of New 
Jersey. Abraham Voorhees accompanied his 
parents from the Bast to Illinois when he was 
about twelve years old. The family settled in 
the vicinity of Fairview, and as soon as Abra- 
ham Voorhees reached mature years he spent 
some time in farming. Subsequently he en- 
gaged in the mercantile business, being one of 
the earliest merchants in that locality, and oc- 
cupying the premises now used for a store by 
Mr. Hill. There he continued until the time 
of his death, which occurred in 1SS4, his death 
having been preceded by that of his wife. He 
was prominent in local affairs and held the of- 
fices of Village and Township Collector. Abra- 
ham and Alice (Vanarsdale) Voorhees were the 
parents of six children. 

P. B. Voorhees attended the Fairview 
schools in boyhood, and in early life began 
buying and selling stock and grain in connec- 
tion with Messrs. Davis and Traverse, at the 
time when the narrow gauge railroad was in 
process of construction. These gentlemen co- 
operated for about ten years, and since then 
Mr. Voorhees has been engaged in the stock 
business alone. He buys and ships cattle and 
deals largely in hogs. In the fall of 190.5 he 
completed a large and commodious residence 
in Fairview, which is now his home. 

In 1876 Mr. Voorhees was married in Fair- 
view Township to Susan Swigert, who was 
bom in Fulton County. Her father and mother, 
William and .Jane Swigert, were natives of 
New Jersey and settled in Fulton County at an 
early period, William Swigert being engaged 
in farming. Mr. Voorhees has been an eflB- 
cient member of the Town Board of Fairview, 
and also served as Collector for one term. He 
has been successful in all his undertakings and 
is one of the reliable, substantial and prosper- 
ous members of his community. 

VOORHEES, W. T. V. D., widely and favorably 
known in the financial circles of Western Il- 
linois as the head of Voorhees & Company's 
Bank, at London Mills, Fulton County, and a 
member of one of the most prominent and 
highly respected among the pioneer families 
of that region, was born in Avon, Fulton 
County, on January 27, 1869. He is a son of 
H. V. D. and Phoebe Kline (Wyckoff) Voor- 
hees, of whom the latter was a native of New 
Jersey. The birthplace of the paternal grand- 
father, John G. Voorhees, was in the State of 
New Jersey. Grandfather Voorhees, with his 
family, journeyed from the East to Illinois at an 
early period, and settled in Pulton County in 
1S37, making his home in Fairview. By occu- 
pation he was a farmer. He was State Sur- 
veyor, and made the survey of that entire re- 
gion of the State. H. V. D. Voorhees lived 
in Fairview imtil 1856, when he located in 
Avon, and engaged in the lumber trade, con- 



tinuing thus about twenty years. He was the 
owner of 600 acres of land in Young Hickory 
Township. To him and his wife were born five 
children, as follows: Eleanor and John G., Jr., 
both deceased; Matthew H.; W. T. V. D., of 
this review and Ralph, also deceased. The 
father of this family was a man of excellent 
chai-acter and high standing, and enjoyed the 
respect and confidence of a large acquaintance. 

In early youth W. T. V. D. Voorhees utilized 
the advantages for intellectual training af- 
forded by the public schools of Avon, and was 
afterward employed as clerk in a bank at Lon- 
don Mills, for two years. He then went to 
Ellisville, 111., where he started in the banking 
business on his own responsibility. After re- 
maining there for a like period, he spent 
several years as Cashier of a bank at Fair- 
view. In 1901 he established the Voorhees 
& Company Bank, at London Mills, in con- 
nection with Lawrence W. Davis, afterward 
admitting James L. Hardin as a member of 
the company. The concern is a private enter- 
prise, and does a general banking business. 
The building used for this purpose was erected 
and equipped by the company in 1901. Be- 
sides his banking duties, Mr. Voorhees super- 
vises his farm of 262 acres in Section 16, 
Hickory Township, the improvements on which 
have been made partially by him. 

On June 30. 1S97, Mr. Voorhees was united 
in marriage with Caroline Davis, who was 
born in Fairview, 111., and is a daughter of 
Lawrence W. Davis, his partner in business. 
Her mother, Susan (Beam) Davis, is a native 
of Pennsylvania. 

In politics Mr. Voorhees is a supporter of 
the Republican party, and his religious affilia- 
tions are with the Methodist Church. Mrs. 
Voorhees is a member of the Reformed Church. 
Mr. Voorhees is regarded as a man of superior 
business capacity and sound judgment, and 
in his keen perception and conservative finan- 
cial methods, a high degree of confidence is 
reposed by the patrons of his bank and the 
public generally. 

WAGGONER, David J., a former Sheriff of 
Fulton County, 111., was born in Pennsylvania 
August 22, 1822, son of Andrew and Lucinda 
Waggoner, remained on a farm until he was 
fifteen years old, when he began learning chair- 
making and house-painting; in 1846 settled in 
Lewistown, and in 1850 was elected Sheriff of 
Fulton County, serving two years, and later was 
elected to the same office for four different 
terms, viz., 1854-56, 1858-60, 1866-68, and 1874- 
78, making in all a service of twelve years. A 
War Democrat, in 1862 he organized Company 
A. Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Cavalry (Col. 
R. G. Ingersoll), largely at his own expense, 
and which had during a considerable part of 
the war a sort of independent existence, for a 
part of Its term of enlistment seeing service in 
the East. Of this regiment Mr. Waggoner was 
commissioned as Major, and at the close of the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1155 



war returning to Lewistown. at the following 
election in 1S66 was chosen Sheriff for his third 
term Mr. Waggoner was married in Greene 
Countv Pa. in 1S45, to Rebecca Darrak. who 
was born September 21. 1822. and bore her hus- 
band six children. Mr. Waggoner was a mem- 
ber of the Masonic and Odd Fellows' frater- 
nities. 

WAKEFIELD, Lucius L., M. D. (deceased), 
who was formerly a well known and success- 
ful medical practitioner in Summum. Fulton 
Countv, 111., was born in Kingsville. Ashtabula 
CountV Ohio, Septmber .5. 1S35, a son of Dr. 
Nathan Wakefield, who was of English ances- 
arv and settled in Connecticut at an early 
period. The subject of this sketch underwent 
his scholastic training in the noted Kingsville 
Academy, where his classmates and associates 
were such men as Lyman .1. Gage, Julius C. 
Burrows, Albion W. Tourgee and Horace Boies. 
On graduating from the academy he began the 
studv of medicine with Dr. Andrew Merian, of 
Madison. Ohio, but on account of ill health was 
compelled to suspend his ttudies. He went to 
sea as a sailor and sailed for three years, be- 
coming the mate of a vessel. In 1858 he caiiie 
to Illinois and settld at Bath, Mason County, 
where he taught school several years, in the 
meantime continuing his medical studies with 
Dr FuUerton. In 1861 he entered Rush Med- 
ical College at Chicago, from which he was 
graduated in 1863. He then located at Sum- 
mum, Fulton County, where he was success- 
fully engaged in the practice of his profession 
for forty years. ., , 

On October If.. ISCI, Dr. Wakefield was united 
in marriage with Dorothy Lest, at Havana 111., 
and thev became the parents of three children, 
namely:" Adelaide (Mrs. S. A. Bower), of Kan- 
sas Citv, Mo.; Gay. wife of W. H. Boyer. ot 
Lewistown, 111., and Ruth, wife of George G. 
Denslow, of Summum, 111. Mrs. Wakefield died 
April 21 1903, at the home of her daughter, 
Mrs S. A. Boyer, in Kansas City, She was 
born in New Jersey November 6, 1833. and at a 
later period moved with her parents to Jack- 
sonville 111., where her girlhood was spent. 
Her remains were brought to Ipava and laid 
beside those of her husband. She was a wom- 
an ot the finest traits ot character, a faithful 
wife and a fond mother. 

Sociallv Dr Wakefield was very popular and 
his professional standing was high, his patirats 
reposing in him the utmost confidence. Ihe 
date of Dr Wakefield's death has not been re- 
ported by his family to the writer of this 
sketch. 

WALKER, Daniel W.-In the death of Daniel 
W W-ilker in 190(i. Canton lost a citizen who 
had contributed largely to its wealth of char- 
acter and purpose, and who, because of a 
trained mind and pronounced mercantile ten- 
dencies, became a necessary factor m the es- 



tablishment of various of its enterprises. He 
was one of the forecasters of the present 
prosperity of the town, and as far as lay in 
his power lent his hands and brain in aid of 
a realization of his faith. 

Mr. Walker was a son of Vermont, and a 
grandson of one of the pioneers of that State. 
He himself was born among the picturesque 
hills of Windham County, in 1835, and inherited 
that dependence upon self and combativeness 
always developed in people who live in the 
shut-in places of the world. His parents. Bliss 
and Lorraine (Newell) Walker, also were born 
in Windham County, of which his paternal 
grandfather, Edward Walker, was one of the 
first settlers. The grandfather was a farmer 
by occupation, and he had the spirit of colo- 
nial days, the stimulation of its example, and 
the pride of inheriting the blood in which it 
first blazed. He naturally espoused the cause 
of the down-trodden colonists, enlisted in the 
Revolutionary War. and stacked his musket 
upon many battlefields which made the history 
of that memorable conflict. 

Daniel W. Walker was educated iirimarily in 
the public schools of Vermont, supplemented 
by advanced training which equipped him for 
exacting educational work. He journeyed from 
Vermont to Mississippi in 1852. but soon after 
returned, and for a couple of years taught in 
the academy at Rochester, Mass. Something 
spoke in his receptive ear of the force and 
jiossibility of the Central West, and he came 
here in 1857. locating in Canton, where he 
first was identified with the dry goods busi- 
ness. He next conducted a grocery enterprise 
for a number of years, and later, up to the time 
of his death was interested in the express busi- 
ness. He was a painstaking, methodical man, 
indicating in manner and work his careful New- 
England training, and dealing with all men as 
he would have them deal with him. 

A year after his arrival in Fulton County, 
in 1858, Mr. Walker was united in marriage 
with Martha E. Walter, who was bom in Ohio, 
and educated in Canton and Eastern Institu- 
tions. Mrs. Walker was a daughter of Dr. 
James R. Walter, an early medical practitioner 
of the Buckeye State, who arrived in Canton iti 
1S36, just after the great storm. His death 
occurred in 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Walker were 
the parents of five children, of whom the fol- 
lowing are living: Sarah L., Mrs. Martha E. 
Dewey, Helen F. and Frederick D. The mantle 
of ability and usefulness has fallen upon the 
children of the pioneer, and several are closely 
identified with interests of importance in the 
town which their father did so much to up- 
build. Helen F. Walker, a graduate, and now a 
member of the faculty of the high school, is 
a woman of broad culture and special educa- 
tional aptitude. After completing the course 
at the high school in 1886, she studied in the 
East for a year, and afterward took courses 
at the W'isconsin University, University of 



II56 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the Chicago Uni- 
versity. Sarah L. is a musician of thorougli 
training, being a graduate of the Boston Con- 
servatory of Music and educated chiefly in 
the East. She has continued her studies in 
tlie West and has been a pupil of Harold Bauer, 
of Chicago, having also taught considerably 
in Canton and been a potent means in raising 
the musical standard of the community. Freder- 
ick D. Walker is also musically inclined and 
is leader of the P. and O. Band of Canton. 

WALKER, Joshua G. — The retirement of 
Joshua G. Walker to Avon, in 1S94, was justi- 
fied by many years of activity as a farmer of 
Union Township, this county, where he still 
owns a valuable and highly improved property 
upon which the greater part of his life has 
been spent. He was four years old when he 
came to Fulton County with his parents from 
Kentucky, where his birth occurred in Lewis 
County October 6, 1831, and in which State 
was also born his father, Hugh Walker, in 
1800. His paternal grandfather, James Walker, 
was a native of New England, and was of 
Scotch ancestry. Hugh Walker married Nancy 
Given, born in his native State in 1810. and 
to them were born eight children, of whom 
Joshua G. was the oldest. 

The Walker family arrived in Pulton County 
in 1835, finding here a scattered population, 
and a few indications of the prosperity which 
now prevails. They were doomed to dis- 
couragement and loss the first year of their 
settlement in Canton, for the great cyclone 
swept the town, demolishing their home and 
those of the majority of the settlers, although 
no member of the family ■ suffered bodily in- 
jury. One of Joshua G's most vivid memories 
of this time are the close quarters of a 
dry goods box in which he was deposited for 
safe keeping by his mother. Thus deprived of all 
their material assets, the elder Walker located 
on a farm near Lewistown, where, in 1850, he 
and his wife died within eis^ht days of each 
other, leaving Joshua G. the head and main- 
stay of the orphaned children. The lad. then 
nineteen years of age. continued to work the 
farm for a couple of years, but the effort to 
keep the family proved unavailing, and the 
children were scattered to different homes in 
the neighborhood, some of them finding occu- 
pation with strangers. 

For the following three years Mr. Walker 
worked on a farm for ten dollars a month, and 
March 28, 1854, was united in marriage to 
Minerva Brown, who was born in Fulton Coun- 
ty June 18, 1831. Of this union there are 
the following children: Mary E., William W.. 
Ona. John C. Francis M., Anna A., George M.. 
James H. and Eddie B.. who died in infancy. 
Mrs. Walker died March 5, 1904. 

Prom the time of his marriage until his re- 
tirement to Canton Mr. Walker lived on and 
owned a 160-acre farm on Section 26, Union 
Township, which he developed Into a valuable 



and productive property. He was an agricul- 
turist who adhered to old methods only so far 
as they were practical and conformed to 
modern standards, and he readily accepted 
the innovations which help to raise farming 
above physical drudgery which formerly char- 
acterized it. He dispensed frequent and gen- 
uine hospitality, and his family was one of the 
most popular and highly esteemed in the neigh- 
borhood. 

Since a comparatively young man Mr. 
Walker has been an active worker in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and for many 
years the church of that denomination at Avon 
has profited by his substantial support. He 
is a Republican in politics, and while a mem- 
ber of the Board of Supervisors of Union 
Township did much to better the conditions 
which came under his jurisdiction. Added to 
his well known business ability and moral rec- 
titude. Mr. Walker has always been esteemed 
for his optimistic and cheerful philosophy, tor 
a disposition which sees the bright side of 
even the darkest situations, and a gentle sense 
of humor which smooths and lightens the rough 
places of life. 

WALKER, Ross Francis, who is quite success- 
fully engaged in newspaper work in Canton, 
Fulton County, 111., having previously been else- 
where connected with other enterprises of a 
like character, is at present occupying the po- 
sition of Secretary and Treasurer of the Canton 
Herald Company, the office of which is located 
on the corner of Main and Pine Streets. Mr. 
Walker was born at Twin Grove, Wis., on Jan- 
uary 7, 1877, a son of Edward L. and Leah M. 
Walker. The boyhood of the subject' of this 
sketch was spent on the home place, his early 
education being obtained in the public schools 
and later in a grammar school and the Art In- 
stitute in Chicago. After completing his 
studies he was employed in the office of "The 
Interior," a widely known religious weekly of 
the latter city, from 1896 to 1900, and was as- 
sociated with Horace M. Ford, special newspa- 
per representative, from 1900 to 1902. For the 
five years next succeeding he acted in the ca- 
pacity of business manager of the "Peoria 
Journal," and on severing his connection with 
that paper came to Canton, September 15, 
1907, where he assumed his present duties. He 
Is a young man of solid intellectual attain- 
ments and thorough business qualifications, and 
during the brief period of his residence in 
Canton has become very favorably known in 
newspaper circles and among the leading peo- 
ple of the city. 

On November 26, 1902, Mr. Walker was 
united in marriage in Chicago with Nettie N. 
Foster, an amiable and accomplished young 
lady, and two children have resulted from their 
union, namely: Ross Foster and Horace Ed- 
ward. The family residence is at No. 324 
South Second Avenue, Canton. Socially Mr. 
Walker is a member of the Creve-Couer Club 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1157 



of Peoria. In his political relations he is a 
supporter of the principles of the Democratic 
party, and his religious faith is in accordance 
with the creed of the Congregational Church. 
Mr. and Mrs. Walker have won many friends 
in Canton and are held in cordial esteem by all 
who have the pleasure of their acquaintance. 

WALLICK, Charles L.— As a farmer and 
School Director Charles L. Wallick is contrib- 
uting to the character and development of 
Lee Township, of which he has been a resi- 
dent for many years, and in which his family 
settled not long after the Civil War. Mr. Wal- 
lick was bom in Knox County, III., November 
5. 1S66, a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Melvin) 
Wallick, natives of Ohio, the former born in 
1829 and the latter in 1^42. The father came 
at an early day to Illinois, and prospered as 
farmer and stock-raiser in both Knox and Ful- 
ton Counties, his death occurring in Lee Town- 
shi]) at an advanced age. 

Giving his attention to farming on rented 
land, the subject of this sketch raises the prod- 
uce customary in this section of the State, 
and a variety of high-grade stock, which nets 
him a comfortable income. His married life 
dates from December 2.5. 1890, his wife whose 
maiden name was Martha Wiesner, being born 
in Deerfield Township, Fulton County, Septem- 
ber 25, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Wallick are the 
parents of four children, namely: Wilson, Mary 
F., William and Elizabeth. Politically Mr. Wal- 
lick adheres to the princijiles of the Democratic 
party, and has been a member of the School 
Board for the past five years. He is not a 
member of any church, but renders a gener- 
ous support to charitable and educational en- 
terprises. He is highly regarded as a farmer 
and man. and counts among his friends many 
of the foremost people in the township. 

WALTER, Peter E. — Among the worthy farm- 
ers of Fulton County, 111., whose enterprising 
and thorough methods are rewarded by a satis- 
factory experience, is Peter E. Walter, who 
was born in that county on May 7. 1859. He 
is a son of George H. and Mary Walter, natives 
of Germany. The father, Walter, was among 
the earliest residents of Fulton County, hav- 
ing settled there in the '30s, locating in Deer- 
field Township, where he carried on farming 
for a number of years. 

Peter E. Walter was one of a family of 
seven children, five boys and two girls; was 
reared to manhood on the home farm, and in 
early youth received the customary mental 
discipline obtainable in the district schools 
of the vicinity. In ISSl he went to Iowa, where 
he was engaged in farming until 1900. in that 
year returning to Fulton County and buying 
what is known as the Whittaker farm, con- 
taining 160 cares and situated in Section 2, 
Joshua Township. On this property he built 
a good barn, and improved the residence and 
other buildings. He is successfully engaged 



in farming, and, in addition, devotes consider- 
able attention to stock breeding, raising some 
very fine Durham cattle. 

The marriage of Mr. Walter took place on 
December 6, 1899, when he was wedded to Nel- 
lie Cornelius, who was born in Iowa, and 
is a daughter of Hiram and Rosella (Alter) 
Cornelius, natives of Ohio. The political views 
of Mr. Walter are in accordance with the prin- 
ciples of the Democratic party. He takes an 
earnest interest in current events, and in the 
public enterprises of the township and county, 
and is faithful to his duties as a citizen. In 
fraternal circles, he is identified with the I. 
O. O. F. and the M. W. of A. 

WALTERS, Daniel.— The third white child to 
owe its nativity to Bernadotte Township was 
born in a small log house five miles west of 
Lewistown, October 14, 1827. His name is Dan- 
iel Walters, and the years have dealt so kindly 
with him and he has lived so simple and nor- 
mal a life that health, happiness and prosperity 
are among his abiding blessings, and his mem- 
ory is as a storehouse hung with innumerable 
pictures of a time that tried the fiber of men, 
and either made or unmade them with its 
rigors and hardships. The first white child 
born in the township was Lucinda Ross, and 
the second Major Abner Barnes. Mr. Walters 
is one of the four living of the ten children of 
William and Elizabeth (Royer) Walters, na- 
tives of Jefferson County, Tenn. 

Among the mountains of Tennessee .William 
Walters developed the physical strength and 
mental courage essential to successful pioneer- 
ing. Through his veins flowed the blood of 
Irish-German ancestors, and on the maternal 
side his people were vigorous patriots during 
the Revolutionary War. His mother not only 
had carried on the work of the farm during 
her husband's absence, but she had carried sup- 
plies to the soldiers of the Continental army, 
often wading through ice-clogged streams up to 
her waist upon her mission of mercy. William 
Walters and wife moved from Tennessee to 
Illinois about 1820, first locating in Sangamon 
County, but a year later removed to Fulton 
County, where they took up a tract of land 
five miles west of Lewistown, consisting of 160 
acres, which he received in trade for a pony. 
The situation was not an appealing one, but 
William Walters was a man of remarkable 
physical prowess, and all through, his life was 
wont to astonish observers by his feats of dar- 
ing. It is recorded of him that he could take 
a two-bushel sack of wheat in his teeth and 
throw it ten feet, and he at one time shot a 
deer across Spoon Creek, waded the ice-bound 
stream and swam back again, carrying the deer 
by the ear with his teeth. He was an unerring 
shot, and there was plenty for him to shoot in 
those days. He knew much of military tac- 
tics, as he had seiT^ed in the War of 1812, and 
subsequently was a soldier In the Black Hawk 
War. There were but twelve voters in what 



/ 



II58 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



is now Fulton County at the time of his ar- 
rival, but there were plenty of Pottawatomie 
Indians, the majority of whom were peaceably 
inclined. There were bad Indians to be dis- 
ciplined also, and Mr. Walters used always to 
carry his gun when he went to feed his stock. 
When it became known that he had been in the 
Black Hawk War the Indians of his neighborhood 
offered a hundred buckskins for his scalp, and it 
is believed that a number of seekei-s after this 
prize met death at the hands of the able cracks- 
man. Always on the lookout for danger from In- 
dians or wild beasts, he became remarkably clear 
of vision and quick of motion. About 1834 Mr. 
Walters sold his Bernadotte farm for $400 and 
a horse, and moved to Farmers Township, 
where the old soldier and pioneer passed his 
last days, his life milestones piling up until he 
had reached ninety-nine years, his death occur- 
ring in 1877. His wife preceded him in 1852. 

The first playmates of Daniel Walter were 
the little Pottawatomie Indians, and their favor- 
ite meeting place was on the banks of Spoon 
River. Until his sixth years he never played 
with a white child other than his own broth- 
ers and sisters. Naturally he learned consid- 
erable of the Indian language, and before they 
finally were ordered to leave the county he 
had many conflicts with them. He well re- 
members "Old Rock," as that chief was known 
among the whites, and he well remembers an 
incident which nearly proved serious to several 
people growing out of the tendency to beg, 
which the Indians cultivated strenuously. An 
old squaw came to the house to beg meat, and 
not receiving it, became troublesome and even 
threatening in her attitude. In the squabble 
that ensued she was forced to take her depart- 
ure with but one eye in her head, and then only 
after an uncle of Mr. Walters had drawn a 
butcher knife across his own throat in token 
of what would happen to her should she further 
annoy the household. Finally the Indians were 
given notice to leave the country within three 
days, and in celebration of their departure 
went to Lewistown and became intoxicated. On 
their return some of the settlers met them at 
Duncan's Mill, where a lively encounter took 
place, the uncle of Mr. Walters being woimded 
in the fray. 

In his youth Mr. Walters had little oppor- 
tunity for acquiring an education, but life was 
an education in those days, and without much 
book learning men became shrewd in reading 
character, alert in avoiding the perils by which 
tney were surrounded and remarkably quick in 
carrying through a business transaction. Com- 
mon sense was bred of the times and he in- 
herited his share from his father, and culti- 
vated his inheritance to large proportions. By 
the age of twenty he saw his way clear to sup- 
port another than himself and April 5, 1850, 
married Sarah Dobbins, a daughter of James 
and Elizabeth (Rutledge) Dobbins, natives of 
Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. Mrs. 
Walters was a school teacher in Fulton County 



for several years before her marriage and she 
made an excellent wife and mother, at the time 
of her death in 1876 leaving nine children: 
Charles R., an influential farmer and stock- 
raiser of Kansas, and a member of the Kansas 
Legislature in the early days; Jane A., widow 
of Franklin Pierce, of Macomb, 111.; Ellen, wife 
of Charles Rinehai-t, of Kansas City, Mo.; Cor- 
nelia, wife of George Mayhew, of Farmers 
Township; Louise, wife of Wellington RoUin, 
of Table Grove; Emily, wife of John Smith, of 
Vermont, 111.; Ida, wife of Lewis Brown, of 
Fulton County; and Edward, of Monmouth, 111. 
In 1877 Mr. Walters married Mary Garrison, 
from Cornwall, England. All of the nine chil- 
dren born to this family are living, and there 
are twenty-one of the twenty-three grandchil- 
dren living, and six great-grandchildren. 

In 1894 Mr. Walters left his farm and pur- 
chased the home which he still occupies in 
Table Grove. Like his father before him, he is 
a Democrat, and although often solicited to 
become a candidate for office, he has yielded 
but once, when elected Coroner of Fulton 
County. He is a conscientious voter, and the 
man receiving his vote must possess both prin- 
ciple and ability. Mr. Walters has spent seven- 
ty-eight years in Pulton County, and much of 
this time has been devoted to promoting the 
agricultural and general welfare of the com- 
munity. He has always been in tune with his 
surroundings, and even in the days of hardship 
was always glad that he had been born in the 
wilderness far from the greed and pollution of 
the thickly settled cities. He is fair-minded 
and honorable, gentle in his judgment of others 
and the recipient of long and lasting friend- 
ships. A genial and truthful witness of 
things that soon will live only in the pages of 
history and romance, he is one of the few sur- 
vivors of the original grand old vanguard of 
civilization in the Central West. 

WATSON, Charles 0., M. D.— Aside from any 
consideration which might arise from his as- 
sociation with one of the fine old pioneer fami- 
lies of Fulton County, Dr. Charles O. Watson 
has erected around him a solid wall of profes- 
sional and general confidence, and as a practic- 
ing physician and surgeon of Smithfleld. in 
less than ten years has built up a patronage 
ofttimes not acquired in a score of years. 
August S. Watson, father of Charles O., was 
born in Indiana in 1825, and as a young un- 
married man, settled on Government land in 
Cass Township, Fulton County, 111., where he 
married Jane Cameron, a native of Fulton 
County. The elder Watson had the grit and 
determination of the successful pioneer, and 
at the time of his death, October 12, 1901, 
owned, through development and addition, one 
of the finest properties in his township. Three 
hundred and twenty acres in extent, this farm 
still is owned by his three sons, and remains 
a monument to the energy and resource of 
one of the honored upbuilders of the State. Mr. 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1159 



Watson was active in politics for many years, 
and served as Township Supervisor for several 
years. 

Dr. Watson was reared on his father's farm 
and educated in the public schools. Ambitious 
for a broader outlook than that afforded as 
a tiller of the soil, he entered the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk. Iowa, 
and shortly after his graduation in 1897, be- 
gan his professional career in Smithfield. He 
owns city as well as country property, and is 
one of the most promising as well as most sub- 
stantial young business and professional men 
of the community. March 20, 1902, the Doctor 
was united in marriage to Nita Smith, who 
was born in Harris Township, Fulton County, 
March 10, 1S73. and who is the mother of two 
children, Doris and Kester. To his profound 
knowledge of medicine and surgery Dr. Wat- 
son adds an interesting and confidence-inspir- 
ing personality, and a keen desire to observe 
the best tenets of his humane and useful 
calling. 

WAUGH, Joseph, the popular and efficient 
City Clerk of Canton, 111., was born in that city, 
February 25, 1.S74, a son of William and Mary 
Waugh, the former a native of Pennsylvania, 
and the latter of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. William 
Waugh was a harness-maker by occupation, 
who came from Pennsylvania to Illinois in 
1849, and located in Peoria. Thence he re- 
moved to Canton in 1853. He was engaged 
in the harness business until about 1894, when 
he retired from active life. 

The subject of this sketch received his early 
education in the public schools of Canton, and 
afterwards pursued a business course in Quin- 
cy. 111., subsequently becoming connected with 
an insurance and law office until elected City 
Clerk. 

In politics Mr. Waugh is a Republican. He 
has held the office of City Clerk of Canton 
since the first Tuesday in May, 1900, and has 
discharged its duties ably and faithfully. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Order of 
Eagles, Knights of Pythias and Elks. 

WEAVER, D. P. (M. D.).— The town of Avon 
has profited by the professional services of 
Dr. D. P. Weaver ever since the establishment 
of his branch office here in 1S90, and his name 
has been added to its citizenship since his per- 
manent location in the place during 1900. He 
is one of the wide-awake and progressive med- 
ical practitioners of this part of the county, and 
numbers among his patrons many of the oldest 
and best families. 

The early life of Dr. Weaver was spent on 
a farm in Greene County, Pa., where he was 
born in February, 1849, and which also was 
the native place of his parents, Isaac and Eliza 
(Cornwell) Weaver. He had the average ad- 
vantages of the country youth of his time, but 
aspired to a broader life than that offered to 
the agriculturist not thoroughly in sympathy 



with his work. From the country school he 
went to Green Academy, at Carmichael, Pa., 
and his professional training was received at 
the Cincinnati Eclectic College, from which he 
was graduated in 1886, and at the American 
Medical College, St. Louis, which he attended 
a year. His advantages were largely of his 
own making, for his parents were in moderate 
circumstances, and after coming to Illinois, 
in 1870, he combined school teaching and farm- 
ing for several years, thus earning the money 
to pay for his collegiate course. Immediately 
after his graduation he settled in Prairie City, 
111., and at the end of four years (in 1890), 
established the branch before mentioned in the 
town of Avon. 

The marriage of Dr. Weaver and Elizabeth 
J. Lucas occurred in McDonough County, 111., 
in 1873, Mrs. Weaver being a daughter of 
Joseph Lucas, an early settler in the southern 
part of McDonough County. To Dr. and Mrs. 
Weaver have been born three children, of 
whom Florence J. is the wife of Mr. Curtis, 
of McDonough County, and Beulah E. and 
Lloyd W. are at home. Dr. Weaver has a 
pleasing and confidence-inspiring personality, 
and his professional and general equipment 
has led him far toward a realization of a 
broad and exceptionally useful life. 

WEBSTER, C. A. — From the rude log cabin 
in which he was born in Buckheart Township, 
this county. December 20, 1862, through various 
stages of educational and general progress to 
his present position as head of a flourishing 
drug business in Canton, is the life history 
of C. A. Webster up to the present time. Mr. 
Webster comes of New England and Southern 
stock, his father, Chauncey Webster, having 
been born in Connecticut, and his mother, 
Mary (Johnson) Webster, being a native of 
North Carolina. The family fortunes were 
shifted from the East to Fulton County, and 
among the crude and uninviting surroundings 
of the frontier arose to agricultural and general 
importance. 

At an early period of his life C. A. Webster 
craved the boon of education and experience, 
his ambition tending to the opportunities of the 
cities rather than the fields, and to the more 
diversified occupations of thickly settled com- 
munities. Completing his education in the pub- 
lic schools, he graduated from the Chica>.;o 
College of Pharmacy in 1S84, thereafter adding 
to his knowledge of the drug business as an 
employe of P. C. Ross, afterward the firm of 
Ross & Rubel. On June 27, 1891, he estab- 
lished his present business in Canton, and 
since has enlarged his custom by efficiency, 
courtesy and strict attention to the working 
side of existence. 

Mr. Webster established a home of his own 
August 16, 1894, marrying Ella P. Morehead, 
to whose sympathy and economical co-opera- 
tion he owes much of his present success. Mr. 
Webster is a Republican in politics, and in re- 



ii6o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



ligion a member of the Baptist Church. His 
genial manner and unfailing tact make him a 
leading social factor in the town, and he is 
identified with the Masons, Knights of Pythias 
and Modern Woodmen of America. 

WEBSTER, Chauncey, one of the most prom- 
inent of the pioneer merchants of Canton, Pul- 
ton County, 111., who is now retired from active 
life, was born in Wethersfield, Conn., May 26, 
1828. He is a son of Cyrus and Cynthia 
(Churchill) Webster, also natives of 
Connecticut. 

In boyhood, Mr. Webster attended the dis- 
trict schools of Connecticut and worked on the 
farm until he was twenty years of age, when 
he commenced teaching school in the home 
district at ten dollars a month. In 1850, when 
he was twenty-two years old, he left Connecti- 
cut and journeyed to Wisconsin, where he re- 
mained a short time visiting friends. Re- 
turning from Wisconsin he went thence to La 
Salle, m., by stage coach; by boat to Liver- 
pool, 111., where he landed October 3, 1850, and 
then proceeded to Canton, coming to town on 
a load of lumber. He was occupied during 
the winter of 1853 in teaching the district 
school. 

In 1857 Mr. Webster purchased a farm in 
Buckheart Township, Fulton County, which 
he sold in 1864, moving then to Canton. His 
first occupation after his arrival there was as 
a salesman and clerk for A. B. & N. Hulit in 
the grocery trade, with whom he remained un- 
til 1868. Shortly afterward he engaged in busi- 
ness for himself, purchasing the stock of gro- 
ceries, hardware, etc., of C. Haynes & Com- 
pany in 1869. In 1879 he entered the employ 
of E. F. Swearingen & Company, but resigned 
his position with this firm in 1888, and en- 
gaged with O. T. Salisbury in the grocery line, 
retiring from business in 1894. 

Mr. Webster has been twice married. In 
the winter of 1853, he was united with Mary 
Johnson, and their union resulted in three 
children, all of whom are living, "namely: Cyrus 
A., a druggist in Canton: Frank E., who lives 
In Michigan: and Minnie (now Mrs. J. P. 
Murphy), of Canton. The mother of this fami- 
ly died in 1872. On December 4, 1874, Mr. 
Webster was joined in wedlock with Louise 
Savill, a native of England, who as an infant 
of one year came to the United States with 
her parents in 1844. The issue of this marriage 
was three children, as follows: Leonard C, 
of the Canton National Bank: Charles J., of 
Colorado: and Richard C, who is attending 
a pharmaceutical college in Chicago. 

In politics Mr. Webster is a Republican. 
For twelve years he served as Clerk of Buck- 
heart Township, and as Township Treasurer 
for five years. In 1869 he was elected Alder- 
man from the Fourth Ward of Canton. Re- 
ligiously the subject of this sketch is asso- 
ciated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
While now but a reflective onlooker, during 



his residence of more than half a century 
in Canton, Mr. Webster has done his share in 
all stages of the city's development, and upon 
no one of her citizens is bestowed more pro- 
found respect and cordial regard than upon 
Chauncey Webster. 

WENNSTROM, Peter.— The entire absence of 
competition alone cannot be construed as rea- 
son for the success of Peter Wennstrom, who 
operated the only men's tailoring establishment 
in the village of Avon. Mr. Wennstrom is a 
skillful, painstaking workman, a genial, oblig- 
ing gentleman, and his trade has been a mat- 
ter of slow growth and merited recognition 
of his worth and reliability. His busy hands 
have been accustomed to measurements and 
shears ever since he was old enough to be 
trusted with them, for in Sweden, where he 
was born May 18, 1862, his father, Erick Wenn- 
strom, was engaged in the same useful occu- 
pation. The elder Wennstrom was born in 
Sweden in 1840, and his wife, Christine (Olson) 
Wennstrom, was born December 23. 1837. In- 
stead of following the ambitious feet of their 
children to this side of the ocean, the parents 
remained in the old country, where the father 
plied his trade, a respected and industrious 
member of a small community. 

Peter Wennstrom received a practical com- 
mon school education, and in youth was never 
idle, his hours out of school being invariably 
spent in his father's shop. September 28, 1SS4, 
he married Catherine Olson, who was born in 
Sweden, November 19, 1863. Of this union 
there are four children: Frank J., .Gust S., 
Ernest H. and Esther A. Mr. Wennstrom came 
to America in 1889, and for eight years con- 
ducted a tailoring establishment in Chicago. 
He then located in Avon, and now has a large 
patronage in both town and surrounding coun- 
try. He is a broad-minded and enlightened 
Swedish-American, taking kindly to the cus- 
toms and people among whom his lot is cast, 
and winning among them many friends and 
well wishers. As yet he has formed no definite 
political opinions, but leans towards the prin- 
ciples and issues of the Republican party. 
Fraternally he is a member of the order of 
Masons and Knights of Pythias. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Wennstrom are devout members of the 
Universalist Church. 

WETSEL, Daniel W. — For the past twenty 
years Daniel W. Wetsel has represented a bridge 
and road implement firm as commercial sales- 
man, and during that time has visited many 
States and encountered many interesting and 
developing experiences. Notwithstanding his 
migratory experience, Mr. Wetsel has a secure 
place among the residents and interests of 
Harris Township, of which he has been a 
dweller for many years, and of which his fam- 
ily is an old and honored one. Born in Au- 
gusta County, Va., March 10, 1844, Mr. Wetsel 
is a son of George Wetsel, a native of Pennsyl- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1161 



vania, and an early settler of Augusta Coun- 
ty, Va. 

George Wetsel was a farmer by occupation 
and succeeded as such in both Virginia and 
Illinois. In the Old Dominion he married Sarah 
Nebergall, and with his family came overland 
in a wagon to Illinois in 1S45, locating near As- 
toria, where he lived six months. He next 
spent eighteen months in Vermont Township, 
then lived six years near Table Grove, finally 
purchasing a farm of 240 acres in Harris Town- 
ship, where he conducted general farming and 
stock-raising until the end of his life in 1888. 
He was honored for his energy and good judg- 
ment, and for his practical interest in all that 
pertained to the well-being of the community. 

Until his seventeenth year Daniel W. Wetsel 
remained under the family roof and then re- 
sponded to the call of his country as a soldier 
in Company F, Fifty-fifth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry. Enlisting October 5, 1861, 
he participated in the marches, battles and 
general martial experiences of the Civil War, 
and October 31, 1864, was honorably discharged 
at Chattanooga, Tenn. For the following year 
he lived on the old place in Harris Township, 
then lived eight years in McDonough County, 
returning then to the home place, which since 
has been his headquarters. His management 
of the family estate has resulted in many sub- 
stantial imjirovements, and the development of 
a property in every way a credit to its original 
as well as present owner. In the meantime he 
he represented the bridge and implement com- 
pany for the past twenty years, returning home 
whenever opportunity offered and himself aid- 
in.g with the affairs of the farm during the 
busiest seasons. 

In Harris Township, February 7, 1867, Mr. 
Wetsel married Matilda Lutz. who was born in 
Augusta County, Va., December 20, 1848, and 
who is the mother of five children, all of whom 
are dead except a daughter, Louie, now the 
wife of David Jeffries. Mr. Wetsel is a stanch 
supporter of Republican principles and has 
sei-ved the township as Road Commissioner. 
In religion he is a member of the United Breth- 
ren Church. A wide circle of acquaintances 
and many warm friends attest the business 
and general worth of Mr. Wetsel, his generos- 
ity, kindness and loyalty to all interests what- 
soever. 

WHALEN, Homer.— The trade of building, of 
housing the people and enterprises which make 
up a community, not only is one of the oldest 
known to man, but its ranks include a far 
greater number than those of any other kind 
of skilled labor. There is no place in the 
civilized world where the builder is not an 
absolute necessity, and as the possibilities of 
the calling include few cross lot cuts to wealth 
and influence, its followers almost invariably 
are men of moderate and temperate habits, 
calm judgment, and patient industry. Possess- 
ing genuine ability in his line of work, the 
35 



journeyman advances to the highest compensa- 
tions of his calling, in which event the remun- 
eration often places him on a financial basis 
at par with the majority of professional men. 
To this capable and resourceful class be- 
longs Homer Whalen, formerly member of the 
firm of Sandburg & Whalen. carpenters and 
builders of Canton, but now engaged in busi- 
ness alone, having bought out his partner's 
interest in December, 1906. 

Mr. Whalen was born in Schuyler County, 111., 
July 9, 1S70, and when seven years old came 
to Canton with his parents. The moderate 
circumstances of the family necessitated his 
early assumption of wage earning responsi- 
bility, and at the age of fifteen he left the 
school room to serve a four years' apprentice- 
ship at the carpenter's trade for J. C. Beam. 
He thereafter continued to work for Mr. Beam 
as a journeyman for eleven years, and when 
his employer went out of business became 
identified with C. H. Stanley, and, still later, 
with Moran & Stanley. Upon the dissolution 
of the partnership of Moran & Stanley he re- 
mained with the former member of that firm 
three years, and in February, 1903, formed a 
partnership with Andrew Sandburg, under the 
firm name of Sandburg & Whalen. Among the 
buildings in the county due to the skill and 
energy of Mr. Whalen and his associates may 
be mentioned the 'residences in Canton of N. 
A. Erwin, Mrs. Carrie McCall Black, Robert 
Auld, James Sterret, and T. L. Greer; three 
buildings for Mrs. Mary Rawlston, building for 
Russell Brothers, and town and country resi- 
dences for Dr. L. A. Robertson and Alexander 
Monroe. In the country also he has built 
homes for Charles Whitmore, George Scholes 
and others. 

The family of Mr. Whalen consists of his 
wife, who formerly was Cora M. Tullis, a 
native of Fairview, Fulton County, and three 
children: Theresa B., Harry Allen and Edward. 
In political affiliation Mr. Whalen is a Socialist. 
He is a member of the United Brotherhood 
of Carpenters and Joiners, and socially is con- 
nected with the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles 
and the Fraternal Tribunes. He is a master 
of business singularly adapted to his incyna-' 
tions and abilities, and the fact that his work 
is congenial adds not a little to his possibili- 
ties of continued advancement. As an em- 
ployer of labor he is considerate and apprecia- 
tive, and has the faculty of securing from his 
men the best work of which they are capable. 

WHITE, A. S. — Prominent among the men 
who have to their credit almost half a century 
of successful farming in Fulton County is A. S. 
White, since 1901, a retired resident of London 
Mills, and the owner, by virtue of good manage- 
ment and perseverance, of 178 acres of land in 
Young Hickory Township. Mr. White was a 
year old when he came to Illinois with his par- 
ents, Samuel and Lucinda (Wright) White, 
from Columbus, Ohio, where he was born in 



Il62 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1840. Samuel White, the father, was a black- 
smith by trade, an occupation that he followed 
several years in his native State of Ohio, and 
which he continued in connection with farming 
after settling on eighty acres of land in Pair- 
view Township, in the fall of 1S42. At a later 
date he sold his farm and bought eighty acres 
in Young Hicl<ory Township, where were reared 
his eight children, and where he died at an 
advanced age. His earlier years in the county 
were full of struggle and hardship, for he came 
with all his worldly possessions in a single 
wagon, after which he cut and sawed logs for 
his rude cabin, and in later years hauled his 
products to Copperas Creek Landing and Peoria. 
He grew with the locality, however, and became 
one of its reliable, influential and prosperous 
landowners. 

A. S. White continued to make his home with 
his parents until 1861, when he was married to 
Jane Darling, a native of Fairview Township, 
and a daughter of Morrison Darling, a native of 
Ohio and early settler of Fulton County. Mrs. 
White, who died in 1897, was the mother of the 
following named children: William Henry, on 
his father's farm; Samuel M., also on the home 
farm; Jerry Foster, living at London Mills; 
Joseph D., on the home place; and Alice, the 
wife of J. W. Mateer. With his young wife Mr. 
White farmed near Bushnell for six years, then 
returned to Young Hickory Township, where, 
in 1866, he purchased eighty acres of land, later 
adding forty-four acres, and still later fifty-tour 
more. This land was in disconnected tracts, 
and the White family occupied the fifty-four 
acre tract. While engaged in general farming 
and stock-raising, Mr. White also operated a 
threshing-machine for forty years, and. during 
that time, probably prepared for the market 
more grain than any one man in Fulton County. 
Since relinquishing the active management of 
his farms, he has rented the same to his sons, 
and is now occupying the home of his wife, 
whom he married in London Mills in 1901, and 
who, in girlhood, was Jane Greenwell, and by 
a previous marriage the wife of Joseph Tuttle, 
by whom she has a son, John, and a daughter, 
Mattie. 

Ever since he was old enough to distinguish 
between the two great political parties Mr. 
White has voted the Democratic ticket, has been 
Constable of Young Hickory Township for al- 
most two score years, and for many years served 
as Road Commissioner and School Director. His 
influence and labor have tended to the best 
possible local conditions, and in his rise from 
comparative poverty, he emphasized the possi- 
bilities surrounding the most lowly, and dem- 
onstrated the worth of industry, economy and 
perseverance. 

WHITE, Joseph D. — As the manager of the 
farm of 179 acres upon which he was born in 
Young Hickory Township, August 4, 1881, 
Joseph D. White represents the sturdy, promis- 
ing element of a community with which his 



family has been associated for many years of 
its upbuilding. Mr. White, in the equalizing 
influences of the public schools and in earlier 
life, learned to invest the occupation of farming 
with intelligence and keen interest. Since as- 
suming the management of the paternal acres 
his method and understanding have materially 
advanced, and he is ever seeking new and more 
practical ways to success. 

The marriage of Mr. White and Jennie A. 
Berry occurred in Ellisville, 111., February 14, 
1901. Mrs. White is a native of Young Hickory 
Township, born August 4. 1871. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. White — Gladys 
and Harold. Mr. White subscribes to the prin- 
ciples of the Democratic party, and as a mem- 
ber of the Board of Education for the past two 
years, has exercised a vigorous oversight of 
local educational opportunities. The family 
are members of the Christian Church. 

WHITEHEAD, John (deceased), one of the 
most prominent of the early settlers of Fulton 
County, 111., who for about eighteen years after 
1863, was engaged in agricultural pursuits in 
Section 14, Liverpool Township, was born in 
Saddleworth, England, June 4, 1809, and came 
to the United States in 1845. He was a son 
of John and Betty Whitehead, natives of Eng- 
land. When Mr. Whitehead came to this coun- 
try with his family he landed in New Orleans, 
the voyage across the ocean having consumed 
seven weeks, and thence they traveled by steam- 
boat to Copperas Creek, Fulton County, 111., 
arriving there April 26, 1845. 

John Whitehead was a skilled manufacturer 
of silk, cotton and woolen goods in his native 
land, but shortly after establishing himself in 
his new home, engaged in the sawmill and grist- 
mill business. He also operated a steamboat, 
named Liverpool, between Lasalle and Beards- 
town. He finally purchased 120 acres of wild 
land which he brought under a fine state of 
cultivation, the tract being sold to him for the 
timber that covered it. 

Mr. Whitehead's first wife was Xancy Saville, 
a native of Oldham, England, and a relative of 
Robert Saville, whose biography is published 
elsewhere in this work. This union resulted 
in ten children who were born in England, and 
three after the family settled in Fulton County. 
Their names are as follows: Annis (Mrs. Frank 
Vrell), of Canton, 111., who died in the spring 
of 1906; Sarah A. (Mrs. John Coup), who lived 
in Kansas, where her husband died in 1877; 
Henry, who died in Liverpool, 111.; Joseph Sa- 
ville. who died in England, in 1837; Ralph, who 
died in Canton; Charles, who died in Liverpool, 
and Edwin, who died in Colorado Springs, Col., 
in 1894, 1884 and 1892, respectively; Bramley, 
of Colorado Springs; Jethro and Martha, who 
died in England, in 1845; Martha (Mrs. M. 
Huffman), of Peoria, 111.; and Elizabeth and 
Ellen (Mrs. John Whitehead), of Liverpool 
Township. The father of this family departed 
this life in 1881, the mother having passed 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 163 



away in 1857. Mr. Whitehead's second wife 
was formerly Winifred Wood, a native of York- 
shire. England, whom he wedded In 1S58. She 
survived her husband until 1883. Mrs. John 
Whitehead occupies the old homestead. 

John Whitehead was a man of superior in- 
telligence, great practical information and 
exceptional strength of character. He possessed 
remarkable energy and tenacity of purpose, and 
whatever he undertook he carried out. His in- 
tegrity was beyond question, and his word was 
absolutely reliable. He contributed his full 
share toward laying the foundations of the ma- 
terial prosperity of Fulton County. His was a 
stirring and busy life, and during his venture- 
some and arduous career the sterling qualities 
recognized in him commanded the respect of all 
within the circle of his acquaintance. 

WHITEHEAD, John J., one of the oldest and 
most extensive and successful farmers in Ful- 
ton County, 111., of which he is also one of the 
most prominent and highly-respected citizens, 
is a resident of Section 14, Liverpool Township, 
this county. He was born in Delph, Lanca- 
shire, England, March 6, 1845, a son of 
William and Esther Whitehead, also natives 
of that country. He died about 1853. She died 
about 1846. They were the i)arents of four 
children. The mother died in England when 
John J. was but six months old. One of the 
children, Esther, died in infancy. William 
Whitehead, with two sons and one daughter, 
came to America in 1849, landing in Xew Or- 
leans. Thence they journeyed by river to the 
place of their destination in Liveri)ool, 111., 
where Mr. Whitehead was employed as a book- 
keeper and where he resided until his death, 
about 1S53, 

The children who accompanied him to the 
United States were: Stanley, of Liveri)ool. 111.; 
Ann, who died in 1865 and was buried in Canton, 
111.; and John J., who, soon after arriving in this 
country, was bound out to Rob Battersbee. 
Through the aid of ,Iohn Cross, he ran away, 
and went to Warren ('ounty. 111., and their 
bound himself out to the Rev. Jerdon Dodge. 
With that gentleman he worked seven years, 
for a horse and his clothing. He was subse- 
quently employed by the month until the out- 
break of the Civil War. He then enlisted in 
the First Battalion, Yates Sharpshooters, and 
was transferred to the Forty-third United 
States Regiment, and afterwards to the First 
Regiment United States Infantry, in which he 
served during the war. He was wounded at the 
battle of Corinth, and was honorably discharged 
in 1865. He then returned to Liverpool, 
Til., and worked by the month on a farm for 
three years. This farm he afterward bought 
and now owns. His first purchase was an 
eighty-acre tract in Section 13, Liverpool Town- 
ship. To this he subsequently added 120 acres 
in Section 14. 110 acres in Section 23, and forty 
acres in Section 23, 160 acres in Section 12, 
and four blocks on Liverpool Island. 



The life of Mr. Whitehead has been a re- 
markably successful one, and he is now the 
owner of 510 acres of most desirable land. Be- 
ginning his career as a boy bound out to an- 
other, he laid aside his work in the most 
vigorous years of his youth to serve his adopted 
country in her hour of extreme necessity, mak- 
ing a gallant record as a soldier, and returned 
from the great conflict of arms to renew his 
efforts in the field of industry. The farm is 
now operated by his sons, under their father's 
direction, while he enjoys the much needed rest 
which he so richly deserves. 

On August 22, 1870, Mr. Whitehead was united 
in marriage with Ellen Whitehead, a daugh- 
ter of John and Nancy (Savill) Whitehead, of 
Lancashire, England, who came to the United 
States in the spring of 1845, and settled at what 
is known as the "Four Corners," northwest of 
Canton. |A sketch of John Whitehead's life 
may be seen elsewhere in this volume. 1 

John J. Whitehead and his wife became the 
parents of eleven children, as follows: William, 
a farmer in Liverpool Township, born August 
16, 1871; Truman, born January 31. 1874, who 
lives on Liverpool Island, Fulton County; 
Xancy W., born October 31, 1875, wife of 
Hector Beebe. of Pekin, 111., a railroad time- 
keeper; Adelia P., born July 20. 1879, wife of 
Robert Raker, a farmer in Liverpool Township; 
Viola A., born May 25, 1882, wife of John G. 
Whitehead, of Liverpool, 111.; George B., born 
October 7, 1884, who dwells in the parental 
home; Minnie L., born November 23, 1886; 
Roscoe S., born November 9, 1888; Otis R., born 
October 26, 1890; John Logan, born April 30; 
and Orval L., born May 5, 1892. The five last 
named are also part of the household group. 
All of them have enjoyed good school advan- 
tages, and attest the considerate training and 
assiduous care of their parents. All were born 
where the father and mother now live, and 
those who have gone from the parental roof 
are located in the near vicinity. In politics 
Mr. Whitehead is a sound Republican. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with Joe Hooker Camp 
69. G. A. R., and both he and his wife are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

4 

WHITMORE, Jacob Russell, connected with 
the Parlin & Orendorff plow works for more 
than forty years, and, in length of service, the 
veteran of that great plant, was born in Fulton 
County, about three miles northeast of Canton, 
his present residence. His parents were Jere- 
miah and Hannah (Mock) Whitmore, natives of 
Pennsylvania, and were married in Bedford 
County in 1837, where both families had been 
settled for generations, engaged chiefly in the 
tilling of its soil. Jeremiah Whitmore brought 
his family to this vicinity, coming to Beards- 
town by boat, then by team to Copperas Creek, 
the only good landing place in Fulton County, 
and settling near Canton. Their son, Jacob R., 
was born in September, 1844, and lost his moth- 
er when he was a lad of nine year. His father 



1 164 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



was a carpenter by trade and the boy received 
an early training in that handicraft, being al- 
ready well established with Parlin & Orendorff 
when his parental instructor died in 1S72. 

Jacob R. Whitmore entered the service of 
the Parlin & Orendorff establishment in De- 
cember, 1864, and, with the exception of three 
years (1888-91) has been identified with that 
industry ever since. That period was spent in 
following his old trade of carpentry, and during 
a portion of the time he was engaged in build- 
ing the comfortable residence in which he now 
lives on Martin Avenue. There is nothing in 
the way of wood working connected with the 
P. & O. works with which he is not familiar, 
his present occupation being pattern-making, in 
which he stands in the first class of experts. 

On January 1, 1865, Mr. Whitmore was 
united in marriage to Miss Angie E. Hemeno- 
ver, by whom he has had three children: Har- 
ry Jere, Julia Alice and Edwin. In politics Mr. 
Whitmore is a Democrat and is well known as 
a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He has filled all 
the chairs in the latter fraternity, being a mem- 
ber of Olive Branch Lodge, No. 15, of Canton, 
and in Masonry is identified with Morning Star 
Lodge, No. 734, and Canton Chapter, No. 68. 
Mr. Whitmore was a soldier in the Civil War, 
enlisting in 1862 as a member of Company F, 
Sixty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry. 

WIESNER, Edward F.— To such vigorous and 
resourceful men as Edward F. Wiesner Orion 
Township is indebted for its place among the 
garden spots of Illinois. Forty-five years of 
age and a native son of Peoria County, 111., 
where he was born November 3, 1861, this ear- 
nest and high-minded agriculturist is a sincere 
appreciator of the dignity and worth of his 
calling, and of its enormous importance as a 
fundamental feature of community existence. 
His farm consists of 160 acres on Section 2, 
upon which there are located a commodious 
dwelling, large and well - arranged barns and 
outbuildings, well kept fences and many care- 
fully selected labor-saving devices. 

Mr. Wiesner is the only child of John C. and 
Mary (Metzer) Wiesner, natives of Germany, 
the former of whom served nine years and six 
months in the Prussian army. The elder Wies- 
ner now is a wealthy and prominent farmer of 
Box Butte County, Neb., to which he moved 
from Peoria County, 111., of which he was a 
resident half a century ago. Edward F. ac- 
quired a practical education in the public 
schools and under his father was instructed in 
all the details of farming and stock-raising. 
January 30, 1883, he married Nellie V., daugh- 
ter of John and Mary Scovil, early settlers of 
Peoria County, and natives of New York and 
Ohio, respectively. Claude Leroy, the only son 
of Mr. and Mrs. Wiesner, was bom September 
2, 1886. Mr. Wiesner's success and prominence 
have been earned by diligence and integrity, 
and these and other excellent qualities insure 
him a bright and promising future. 



WILLCOXEN, (Captain) Elijah (deceased), 
one of the most prominent pioneers of Fulton 
County, was born in 1789 in Ashe County, N. 
C, where he was reared. There he married 
Charlotte Callaway, a daughter of Colonel 
Elijah Callaway, one of the leading statesmen 
of that part of the country, and otherwise con- 
nected with some of the best families of the 
South. 

The father of Captain Willcoxen was a 
nephew of Daniel Boone. In 1815 the Captain 
moved from North Carolina to Estill County, 
Ky. He had been a soldier in the War of 1812. 
He remained in Kentucky until about the year 
1830, and then moved to Liverpool Township, 
Fulton County, 111., where he bought a farm in 
Section 5, which is now occupied by Jerry F. 
Willcoxen, who is next to the youngest of his 
sons. Captain Willcoxen purchased additional 
land in that vicinity, and finally accumulated 
more than 1,000 acres in one body, of which 
he gave each of his sons 160 acres. He died 
July 3, 1860, at the age of seventy-one years, 
and his wife passed away in 1875, when 
eighty-four years old. 

Captain Willcoxen and his wife were the par- 
ents of fourteen children, of whom twelve 
survived the period of infancy. These and their 
children, about seventy in all, were present at 
his funeral. His offspring were as follows: 
Terilda, deceased, who was the wife of Moses 
Johnson, and left a family; Jesse B., deceased; 
Nancy M., deceased, who became the wife of 
William Hummell, also deceased, and left a 
family consisting of Mrs. Whitenack and Jesse 
B.. of Putman Township. Fulton County; Elijah 
C, deceased, who married Prudence Putman, 
also deceased; Mary C, deceased, who became 
the wife of Isaac Cope, also deceased; Andrew 
J., deceased husband of Mary J. Grigsby, who 
is living in Los Angeles, Cal., at the ripe age 
of ninety years; Mary E., Annie A. and Mar- 
shall N.. all deceased; James C, who resides in 
South Dakota: Charlotte, who died at the age 
of twelve years; a son who died in Kentucky 
at the age of two years; Jerry F., who occupies 
the original homestead farm in Section 5, Liver- 
pool Township; and America, deceased, who 
wedded Joseph Jacobs, also deceased, and left 
a family of children. 

Of those above mentioned, Jesse B. was twice 
married. He first wedded Priscilla Stuffelbeam, 
and his second wife was Margaret Smith, who 
still survives, and is a resident of Joshua 
Township, Fulton County. She is in receipt 
of a pension as the widow of a soldier in the 
Black Hawk War. Mary E. became the wife of 
William Smith, deceased, of Banner Township, 
Fulton County, one of the leading men of that 
community. They left a large family. Annie 
A., first married Appleton Vail, deceased, of 
Bernadotte Township, Fulton County, by whom 
she had one son, Joseph, who is engaged in 
farming in Liverpool Township. She subse- 
quently wedded George W. Ray, who carries 
on farming in the same township. Marshall 
N. married Harriet Lasswell, deceased, and left 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



I IDS 



a family of ten children. James C. was twice 
married. His first wife was Clara Putman, 
deceased. He subsequently wedded Alice Hair, 
of Lewistown, 111., and is now a resident of 
Black Hawk, S. D. 

Elijah Willcoxen was a hero of two wars. 
Having rendered his country meritorious ser- 
vice in his youth, in the second conflict with 
Great Britain, he was still ready to answer her 
call after becoming a citizen of Illinois, and 
served two years in the Black Hawk War. 
During the first year, he held the rank of 
First Lieutenant, and in the last year he was 
Captain, with headquarters at Peoria. He ac- 
companied Abraham Lincoln on the expedition 
into the Rock River region. Some of the 
relics then secured by him, among them a 
sword and pistol, are still in possession of the 
family. Besides the fighting tribes, scattered 
Indians were then numerous in that region. 

Captain Willcoxen was, in all respects, a 
typical American citizen of the transition pe- 
riod of the Middle West. He was distinguished 
by those sturdy traits of character and rugged 
virtues that fitted the pioneers for the arduous 
and hazardous task confronting them. Brave, 
resolute, tenacious, persevering, he was 
equipped by nature with those po- 
tent qualities of head and heart that 
enabled the first settlers to wrest the 
untrodden wilds from their primitive condi- 
tion, and lay them as a trophy in the lap of civ- 
ilization. He was endowed with such traits 
that he was always found leading, never follow- 
ing. In all public enterprises, he was among 
the foremost, and gave freely of his time and 
money to every worthy cause. He was one of 
those rare and dominant characters, whose 
strong individuality permeates succeeding gen- 
erations. In politics Captain Willcoxen was a 
Democrat of the old school. In religious faith 
he accepted the creed of the early Baptist 
Church. 

WILCOXEN. George R., a well known and 
successful farmer and stock-raiser, on Section 
4, Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 111., was 
born in that township November 2, 1877, a son 
of Marshall N. and Harriet (Lasswell) Wilcox- 
en, natives of Fulton County. His grandparents. 
Captain Elijah and Charlotte (Callaway) Wil- 
coxen, were natives of North Carolina. Captain 
Elijah Wilcoxen, who was a soldier in the War 
of 1812, was one of the most conspicuous among 
the pioneers of Fulton County, where he settled 
in 1830. After establishing his home there, he 
also served his country in the Black Hawk War. 
He and his wife were the parents of fourteen 
children, two of whom died in infancy. Those 
who survived until their father's demise, to- 
gether with their children — in all seventy de- 
scendants — were present at his funeral obse- 
quies in July, 1860, making the occasion a mem- 
orable one. An elaborate memoir of Captain 
Wilcoxen may appear elsewhere in this volume. 
Marshall N. Wilcoxen was born in Estill 



County, Ky., September 5, 1827, and came with 
his parents to Fulton County, 111., in 1830. On 
May 4, 18.t4, he was united in matrimony with 
Harriet Lasswell, a native of Fulton County, 
and a daughter of Andrew and Barbara 
(Baughman) Lasswell, of whom the latter was 
born in Trumbull County, Ohio. The union of 
Marshall N. Wilcoxen and Harriet Lasswell 
resulted in the following children: Calvin L., 
who was born August 11, 1855, and died March 
6, 1905; Esther A., widow of John Byers, born 
February 8, 1857; Jerry C, born February 17, 
1859, now a resident of Los Angeles, Cal.; 
Marshall N. and Harriet (twins), born May 3, 
1861. of whom the latter died in infancy, and 
the former is engaged in farming in Liverpool 
Township; Charlotte A., born September 12, 
1863, who married Harvey Goodman, and is a 
resident of Asheville, N. C; Nellie F., born 
October 12, 1866, widow of Edward Kline, who 
resides in Canton, 111.; P^rancis B.. born October 
12, 1868, who died in infancy; Margaret, born 
October 16, 1870, who is the wife of Seth Far- 
well, a resident of Callaway, Neb.; Mary I., 
born September 7, 1873, who married William 
Repass, a farmer in Liverpool Township; one 
who died in infancy, June 20, 1876; George R., 
born November 2, 1877; and Jesse E., born 
July 12, 1880. Marshall N. Wilcoxen (now 
deceased) was a leading citizen of Fulton 
County, where after coming to that locality in 
1830, he spent the remainder of his life. He 
cleared the old home farm, which his son, 
George R., now owns and operates, and which 
has been in the family name for more than 
fifty years. He died January 5, 1901, and his 
widow passed away January 17, 1903. He was 
a member of the Baptist Church, and she, of 
the Christian Church. 

George H. Wilcoxen, the subject of this 
sketch, was born and reared on the paternal 
farm and received his mental training in the 
district schools of the neighborhood. For many 
years prior to the death of his parents, he had 
charge of this farm. He is the owner of 160 
acres of fertile land under a high state of culti- 
vation, and containing improvements which 
compare favorably with those of the best farms 
in the township. He is a thorough, systematic 
and progressive farmer, and his operations are 
attended by the best results. He devotes con- 
siderable attention to stock-raising, and his 
horses, cattle and hogs are of superior grades. 
On December 25, 1903, Mr. Wilcoxen was 
united in marriage with Sylvia Black, a daugh- 
ter of Theodore and Harriet (Pollitt) Black, 
who was born December 25, 1883. Her father 
is engaged in farming in Liverpool Township. 
This union has resulted in two children: Har- 
riet, born May 12, 1905, and Laurence T., born 
March 5, 1907. In politics Mr. Wilcoxen is a 
supporter of the doctrines of the Democratic 
party, and takes a good citizen's interest in 
public affairs. He is a man of irreproachable 
character and is highly esteemed throughout 
the community. 



ii66 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



WILLCOXEN, James H., a prominent, influen- 
tial and progressive farmer of Fulton County, 
111., was born on the farm where he now lives, 
on Section 8, Liverpool Township, January 16, 
1858. He is a son of Jesse B. and Margaret 
(Smith) Willcoxen, pioneer settlers of Fulton 
County. The former was a son of Captain 
Elijah Willcoxen, the founder of the family in 
that county. Jesse B. Willcoxen first married 
Priscilla Stuffelbeam, a native of Kentucky and 
a daughter of William Stuffelbeam, who set- 
tled in Fulton County at an early period. Ten 
children were born to this union, of whom the 
first died in infancy. The others were: Fran- 
cis M., who died when six years old; Terilda, 
wife of Frank Conley; Elijah C, a farmer in 
Liverpool Township: William C, also a farmer 
there: Charlotte, widow of B. L. Harrison: 
Jesse E., deceased; Harvey H., of Lewistown, 
111., and Joseph J., who is on the old home 
farm. The mother died in 1852. By the fa- 
ther's second wife, Margaret Smith, he had six 
children, namely: Sarah E., wife of Joseph N. 
Walker: James H.; Jacob S.; Noah L., of Liv- 
erpool Township; Martha E.. wife of Peter 
Havermale, and Ida. who Is with her mother in 
Joshua Township, Fulton County. Jesse B. 
Willcoxen died in 1871. He was an upright and 
dutiful man in all the relations of life, and did 
his full share of pioneer work. He departed 
this life honored and lamented by all who knew 
him. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
home farm and received his mental training in 
the district schools of the neighborhood. He 
has devoted his entire life to agricultural pur- 
suits. He carries on general farming and stock- 
raising. In this occupation he has been very 
successful, and is looked upon as one of the 
best representatives of the farming element of 
Fulton County. He and his brother. Jacob S., 
own jointly 203 acres, constituting the old 
homestead farm. The latter was also bora on 
this place, his birth having occurred in 1860. 
He was united in marriage November 18, 1S85, 
with Maude E. Hummell, a daughter of John 
and Rebecca (Arnett) Hummell, of whom the 
former is deceased. Two children resulted 
from this union, namely: Toland, who was 
born in 1SS6, and Chester W.. whose birth took 
place In August, 1890. 

The old Willcoxen homestead is the birth- 
place of fifteen of the Willcoxen children, who 
grew to manhood and womanhood and married 
there, and settled in new homes in the vicinity 
of the spot where their childhod's days were 
spent. The land was patented from the Gov- 
ernment in 1830, being part of a congressional 
grant. When the Willcoxen family first lo- 
cated in Fulton County Jesse B. Willcoxen 
served with his father, Captain Elijah Willcox- 
en, in the Black Hawk War in 1831-32. His 
widow, who is still living in Joshua Township, 
Fulton County, receives a pension from the 
Government for the services rendered by her 
husband in that conflict. The younger Will- 



coxens are proud to dwell on the noble record 
made by their gallant pioneer ancestors. 

On March 8, 1S83, Mr. Willcoxen was united 
in marriage with Delta M. Clarke, a daughter 
of William R. Clarke, a resident of Lewistown, 
111., and also a pioneer settler of Fulton County. 
This union resulted in four children, of whom 
the first died in infancy. The others are: 
Chalmers and Clarence, both of whom dwell 
under the paternal roof, and William M. In 
politics Mr. Wileoxen is a supporter of the 
Democratic party, and takes a good citizen's 
interest in local affairs. Fraternally he is affil- 
iated with the K. of P. of Lewistown. He is a 
man of superior intelligence and upright char- 
acter and is highly respected by a wide circle 
of acquaintances. 

WILLCOXEN, James M. — Among the leading 
farmers of Liverpool Township, Fulton County, 
111., one of the most prominent is the well 
known citizen whose name furnishes the cap- 
tion of this biographical record. He was born 
in Liverpool Township, March 26, 1848, a son 
of Elijah C. and Prudence (Putman) Willcoxen. 
Elijah C. Wileoxen was a son of Captain Elijah 
Willcoxen, a very prominent citizen of Fulton 
County in his day, whose career is portrayed 
in another portion of this volume. Prudence 
Putman was a daughter of Redding Putman, 
who was a soldier in the Black Hawk War, and 
is long since deceased. Elijah C. Willcoxen 
was the father of a family of fourteen chil- 
dren, four of whom died in infancy. The oth- 
ers are as follows; Redding, who lives in La- 
mar, Mo.; Elvira, deceased wife of Amos Fall, 
also deceased, leaving two children — Post and 
Ray: Nancy, wife of William Shields, a farmer 
of Liverpool Township, a sketch of whose life 
is contained in this work; Elijah, who died at 
the age of eighteen years; Jane, deceased wife 
of Andrew Shields, who is engaged in farming 
in Buckheart Township; James M.; Prudence, 
married, and a resident of the State of Wash- 
ington; Calloway, who died at the age of 
eighteen years; Douglas, a farmer in Liver- 
pool Township, and Rebecca, deceased wife of 
Alfred Ray. The father of this family departed 
this life in 1872, and the mother passed away 
in 1883. Both were prominent and highly re- 
spected members of the community, Elijah C. 
Willcoxen being one of the sturdy and resolute 
pioneers of the '30s, to whose rugged quali- 
ties, energy and perseverance the wonderful 
development of Pulton County may be attrib- 
uted. He and his wife were members of the 
Baptist Church, and were zealous and active in 
church work. In politics he was a Democrat 
and filled various township offices. 

The subject of this sketch was reared upon 
a farm in Section 8, Liverpool Township, near 
the place where he was born. He underwent 
his mental training in the district schools and 
remained under the parental roof until he 
reached the age of twenty-two yeai-s, when he 
moved to his present farm on Section 9, Liver- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 167 



pool Township. Besides this property, consist- 
ing of 100 acres, he is the owner of another 
farm of equal extent on Section 9, and on the 
200 acres is successfully engaged in general 
farming, raising also a good grade of stock of 
all kinds. 

On April 12. 1S70, Mr. Willcoxen was united 
in marriage with Belle Ford, a daughter of 
John and Ruth (Kinnlin) Ford, natives of Ken- 
tucky, and pioneer settlers of Fulton County. 
Besides Mrs. Willcoxen Mr. and Mrs. Ford were 
the parents of three other children, namely: 
Utta, wife of Andrew Shields, a farmer in 
Buckheart Township, Fulton County; Nancy, 
wife of John Berry, a resident of Arkansas, 
and Sarah, who is the widow of David Strout, 
and resides in Kewanee, 111. The parents of 
this family were members of the Christian 
Church. The father departed this life June 
10, 1894, and the mother passed away in Janu- 
ary, 1901. 

Mr. and Mrs. Willcoxen are the parents of 
four children, namely: Dora, horn February 5, 
1871, wife of Joseph Millett, a farmer in Buck- 
heart Township; John, born July 17, 1875, who 
is engaged in farming in Liverpool Township, 
and who married Josephine Elliott; Melvin, a 
farmer in the same township, born Januai-y 19. 
1879, and is the husband of Emma Millett, and 
Roba, bom October 29, 1881. 

In i)olitics Mr. Wilcoxen is a supporter of 
the Democratic party, and he and his worthy 
wife are members of the Christian Church. Mr. 
Willcoxen is a man of excellent qualities of 
head and heart and no member of the com- 
munity is more highly esteemed or exercises a 
more wholesome influence in behalf of the pub- 
lic welfare. ' 

WILLCOXEN, Jeremiah F.— In bold, legible 
characters Jeremiah F. Willcoxen has written 
his name upon the history of Fulton County, 
and however much ill fortune may have swept 
away mere financial results of his achievement, 
has dramatized his character through his pro- 
cesses of labor, and shown himself master of 
the opportunities of his life. Mr. Willcoxen's 
parents. Captain Elijah and Charlotte (Calla- 
way) Willcoxen, came to Fulton County in 
1830, being among the first to permanently lo- 
cate in Liverpool Township. Here Jeremiah 
F. was born February 17, 1833, and in a rude 
log cabin graduated from his still ruder cradle 
to the floor, and from the floor to the doorstep, 
thence to an increasing participation in the 
wilderness interests by which he was surround- 
ed. Idleness or failure to develope one's work- 
ing powers had no place on the frontier, and 
finally the lad was sent to school during the 
leisure of the winter season, the first school 
in the township being held in a log cabin two 
miles north of his home, which served also as 
a meeting house for the Baptist congregation. 
Subsequently other schools were started for the 
youth of the neighborhood, and as Jeremiah 
was an apt and inquiring pupil, he in time was 



sent to the high school in Cuba, held in a brick 
building. All of the schools were of the sub- 
scription order, the parents paying so much per 
term for each child sent, and the teacher board- 
ing around in the families of different patrons. 

After the death of his father Mr. Willcoxen 
succeeded to the quarter-section of land com- 
prising the old homestead, and by dint of in- 
dustry and good judgment kept adding to his 
inheritance, until he at one time owned 2,700 
acres. In 1867 he was united in marriage to 
Lorenda Ryner. a native of Peoria County, 111., 
and daughter of Peter and Margaret Ryner. 
Of this union there were three children: Frank 
B.. who lives with his father; Mary Adell, who 
lives at home; and Charles L., who married 
Dale Quigley, has a son, Kenneth Don, and lives 
on part of the old homestead. Mrs. Willcoxen 
died March 19, 1884, and in January, 1890, Mr. 
Willcoxen married Mary C. daughter of Rev. 
Solomon Hendrickson, the latter an early cir- 
cuit preacher who was killed on his way to 
church in West Virginia, by guerillas during 
the Civil War. 

F'or many years Mr. Willcoxen was known as 
one of the most extensive stock-raisers in his 
township, and he derived a liberal income from 
sheep, cattle, horses and hogs. His land in- 
vestments were invariably fortunate ones, and 
he was the means of inducing many people to 
settle here who otherwise would have selected 
some other site. He cherished an earnest faith 
in the future of the county, and his work 
tended always to a demonstration of his faith. 
He set an example of scientific and practical 
farming which would have been a credit to any 
community in the world, and always has stood 
for the progression that comes of the untiring 
research and intelligent application of knowl- 
edge. The faculty of accumulation was strong- 
ly developed, and he naturally drifted into the 
banking business, as a large stock-holder and 
Vice President of the firm of Turner. Phelps & 
Company. When this institution failed in 1894 
much of the land and collateral of Mr. Will- 
coxen was swept away, his total loss being 
about $90,000. Few farmers have so much to 
lose, and few take their financial losses as 
philosophically and wisely as did Mr. Willcox- 
en. His sons now own the original old home- 
stead, and have taken from his shoulders much 
of the responsibility of his affairs. 

Since casting his first presidential vote Mr. 
Willcoxen has allied his political sympathies 
with the Democratic party. He was Sheriff of 
Fulton County from 1862 until 186.5, and since 
then has held practically all of the various 
offices within his township. In religion he is 
identified with the Christian Church of Bryant, 
Fulton County. No man who has labored for 
the good of this county js held in higher esteem 
than is Mr. Willcoxen. His whole career has 
been lit by a splendid devotion to principle, 
an absolute fearlessness in pursuing the course 
he has marked out for himself. In consequence, 
his name and reputation stand for what he has 



ii68 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



gained rather than for what he has lost, for 
greatest of all the rewards of labor, is that 
great intangible asset, a noble and upright 
character. 

WILLCOXEN, William C, a farmer of long 
residence and marked prominence in Fulton 
County, 111., is located in Section 17, Liverpool 
Township. He was born in that section, Nov- 
ember 6, 1841, a son of Jesse B. and Priscilla 
(Stuffelbeam) Willcoxen, and a grandson of 
Captain Elijah Willcoxen, who was the found- 
er of the family in Fulton County, a sketch of 
whose life may be found in another section of 
this work. On coming to Fulton County about 
1831, he located on Section 17, in Liverpool 
Township, and the tract of land which he then 
entered up has continued in the possession of 
his descendants ever since that period. 

Jesse B. Willcoxen first wedded Priscilla 
Stuffelbeam. a native of Kentucky, and a 
daughter of William Stuffelbeam, who settled 
in Fulton County at an early period. From 
this union resulted in nine children, of whom 
the first-born died in infancy. The others were 
as follows: Francis M., who died at the age 
of six years; Zerilda. who married Frank Con- 
ley, a resident of Macomb, 111., and died Octo- 
ber 12, 1863, leaving three children; Elijah C, 
who is engaged in farming in Liverpool Town- 
ship; William C; Charlotte T., widow of B. L. 
Harrison, also a resident of Liverpool Town- 
ship; Jesse B., deceased, who was the husband 
of Margaret Shields, whose home is in Lewis- 
town, 111.; Henry H., who also lives in that 
town; and Joseph J., who lives on the old home 
farm. The mother of this family departed this 
life June 27, 18.54, and the father subsequently 
married Margaret Smith, by whom he had six 
children. The offspring of the second union 
was as follows: Sarah E.. wife of Jasper N. 
Walker, of Lewistown, 111.; James H. and 
Jacob S., who are jointly operating the home- 
stead farm; Noah L., who carries on farming 
in Liverpool Township; Martha O., wife of 
Peter Havermill, of Canton, 111.; and Ida B., 
who makes her home with her mother, in 
Joshua Township, Fulton County. Jesse B. 
Willcoxen died October 17, 1872, and was buried 
in the Salem churchyard. He was a plain, un- 
assuming man, of upright character, and en- 
joyed the respect of all who knew him. To- 
gether with his father, who settled in Fulton 
County in the early '30s, he helped to re- 
claim the lands from the wilderness, and also 
participated with his father in the Black Hawk 
War. He was a useful citizen, and took an 
earnest interest in public affairs. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
farm, and received his early mental training in 
the district schools of his neighborhood. Since 
then his life has been devoted to agricultural 
pursuits. In this occupation he has met with 
merited success. He now owns and operates a 
farm of eighty acres in a thorough and system- 
atic manner, and raises a good grade of all 
kinds of stock. 



On February 16, 1871, Mr. Willcoxen was 
united in marriage with Martha J. Sprague, a 
daughter of Lauren P. Sprague, who is a resi- 
dent of Banner Township, Fulton County, and 
one of the honored pioneers of the county, his 
advent to this region having occurred at an 
early period in its history. The union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Willcoxen resulted in two children, 
namely: Lora V., who died at the age of nine 
years; and Willard R., who was Ijorn August 
23, 1883. The latter married Bertha Jordan, 
and is engaged in farming in Section 17, Liver- 
pool Township, his father having given him 
forty acres of land on which to begin life for 
himself. 

In politics William C. Willcoxen is a sup- 
porter of the Democratic party, and is influ- 
ential in its local councils, having filled the 
office of School Trustee for more than twenty 
years. He takes a lively interest in public 
affairs, and is regarded as one of the most 
public-spirited and useful members of the 
community. 

WILLIS, George E., a well known contracting 
carpenter and builder of Canton, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., was bom in Bushnell, 111., March 11, 
1871. a son of John C. and Catherine (Wilt) 
Willis, of whom the former was born in Free- 
port, Ohio, in 1835, and the latter In the State 
of Tennessee in 1833. John C. Willis came to 
Illinois in 1850 and located at Ipava, Fulton 
County, moving to Canton in 1888, where he 
died in 1904. 

George E. Willis came In 1888 with Ms par- 
ents to Canton, having received his early men- 
tal training in the district schools of Ipava. In 
1893 he began the contracting business in part- 
nership with his father, which was continued 
four years, but which he has since followed 
alone. 

On September 20, 1891, Mr. Willis was mar- 
ried to Salina Mahr, who was born and 
schooled in Deerfield Township. Fulton County. 
One child, William, has resulted from this 
union. Mr. Willis was elected Alderman of the 
First Ward of Canton in the spring of 1905. 
Fraternally he Is a member of the K. of P. 
Lodge, No. 54. 

WILLIS, Isaac Newton. — A brief biography of 
Isaac Newton Willis exists in the expression 
"He was his brother's keeper." This is true not 
only from an ethical and benevolent, but from 
material standpoint. No man who has helped 
to make history in Table Grove and vicinity 
has contributed more to the development of his 
surroundings than did this gifted exponent of 
the best in building and architecture, as well 
as in American manhood. His monuments 
cover a large area, housing a multitude of peo- 
ple and a variety of interests. Yet above their 
significance and permanence rises the assur- 
ance of a life unrolled in the company of high 
ideals, and tuned always to the harmony of the 
brotherhood of man. 

Mr. Willis was born on a farm near Free- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 169 



port, Harrison County. Ohio, June 7, 1848, and 
died in Table Grove March 9, 1904. In 1850, 
at the age of two years, he came with his par- 
ents to Illinois, and before attaining his 
majority learned the carpenter's trade, which 
he followed at Havana and other inland towns. 
He later accompanied the bridge gang from 
Bushnell north along the Rockford, Rock Is- 
land & St. Louis division of the Burlington 
Railroad, and also worked on the construction 
of the M. K. & T. Railroad through Southwest 
Kansas and the Indian Territory. Probably 
the turning point in his life occurred when he 
went to Chicago in February. 1872, after the 
great fire, where, imbued with the spirit of 
resurrection and renewal which animated the 
stricken city, his own perspective took on depth 
and broadness, and the labor of the past seemed 
strangely inadequate. While busily employed 
on the new buildings everywhere springing into 
existence above the charred ground, he attended 
night school, and under one of the most ca- 
pable of the city's builders mastered the intri- 
cacies of architecture. Naturally gifted artistic- 
ally, and possessing a true eye for form and 
color, he thus found his largest usefulness, his 
most congenial and therefore most successful 
occupation. 

Returning to Table Grove. Mr. Willis entered 
upon a long career as an architect, builder and 
contractor, and during 1882-3 conducted his 
affairs in partnershij) with two different men. 
His responsibilities assumed particularly large 
proportions in 1893, however, when he formed a 
partnership with his brother, C. P. Willis, and 
his brother-in-law, Lewis Boyne, under the firm 
name of I. X. Willis & Comi)any. No firm of 
the kind is more widely known in this section 
of the State, nor has any produced more prac- 
tical and satisfying designs for buildings than 
those which emanated from the fertile brain of 
the senior partner. He was fortunate in hav- 
ing splendid mechanics as his aids, and to- 
gether they labored untiringly in the erection 
of buildings which are models of latter-day 
construction and convenience. Every city and 
village for miles around has examples of the 
co-operation of the members of this firm, and 
Table Grove itself stands pre-eminent as a 
village of beautiful and artistic homes. 

In the faculty of accumulation Mr. Willis 
exceeded the majority of men endowned with 
keen artistic perceptions. He both knew how 
to make and keep money, and how to invest 
it to the best advantage. His wealth was a 
source of infinite delight to him. enabling him, 
as it did, to accomplish a world of good for 
others. He abhorred stinginess and parsimony, 
and he was equally intolerant of the injudicious 
use of money. Of actual aid he gave more 
than will ever be known, or can be estimated in 
the aggregate. No citizen more readily re- 
sponded to projects for individual or public 
relief, or entertainment more whole souled sym- 
pathy with education, charity, or general ad- 
vancement. Personally he was the soul of 



honor, and his word was recognized as equal 
to his contract. In fact, in many instances he 
erected buildings without contracts to bind 
him in any way. His ideas were sane and com- 
fortable on general subjects, and he was strenu- 
ously opposed to corporal punishment, either 
in the home or school. He felt the interest 
which all loyal men feel in the government of 
their locality, and as a Republican filled many 
local offices of trust and responsibility. Soci- 
ally he was connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of 
Pythias. 

On October 13, 1878, Mr. Willis established 
a home of his own, riiarrying Mariam Bogue, 
who was born in Vermont Township, Fulton 
County, this State, November 1. 1S56, a daugh- 
ter of Stephen Bogue, one of the honored 
pioneers of Fulton County. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Willis were born seven children, of whom Rena 
died in infancy; Leura, born May 12, 1888, died 
August 26, 1904; Maud, born March 5, 1884, 
is the wife of H. M. Snyder, a farmer of Mc- 
Donough County; Olive, born January 10, 
1886; Frank B.. Ijorn August 4, 1888; Floyd 
Newton, born June 26, 1894; and Ruth, born 
January 9, 1897. With his usual far-sighted- 
ness and appreciation of its benefits, Mr. Willis 
gave his children the best education within his 
power, and was particularly solicitious con- 
cerning the molding influences of their lives. 
At no time or place did he appear to better 
advantage than whe'n surrounded by his im- 
mediate family, nor to any did he show so 
unceasingly the wealth of love and kindliness 
in his nature. The funeral of Mr. Willis pre- 
sented one of the most remarkable manifesta- 
tions of grief ever beheld in the town of his 
adoption. Those present reiiresented all walks 
of life, from the man who carried the hod to 
him whose wealth paid for the completed 
structure. They surged into the village from 
every direction, and joined in a common grief 
for the loss of a truly noble and manly man. 

WILLIS, J. B.— The firm of J. B. Willis & 
Son fills a large demand in the house-moving 
line in Canton and vicinity. The business was 
established here in 1898 by the senior member 
after conducting a similar enterprise in Smith- 
field for five years, and in 1902 the son was 
taken into partnership, thus infusing new en- 
ergy and life into a well equipped and well 
organized enterprise. 

Mr. Willis is a native of Ohio and was born 
on a farm in 1851. His father. George Willis, 
was a mechanic by nature, but a farmer by 
preference, and his mother formerly was 
Sarah Pickering. He received a common school 
education and was early trained to habits of 
thrift and economy. Since adopting his pres- 
ent line of work he has undertaken many im- 
portant contracts and has the reputation of 
thoroughly understanding a business of practi- 
cal import in all growing communities. Octo- 
ber 9, 1873, Mr. Willis was united in marriage 



I I/O 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



to Mary J., daughter o£ James D. Able, who 
was born in Henderson County, 111., in 1851. 
Mr. and Mrs. Willis are the parents of three 
children: Elsie, born in 1874; Laura, bom in 
1877, and Jesse T., born in 1879. Ot these El- 
sie married Jacob A. Dallas, ot Smithfleld; 
Laura became the wife of William F. Steel, of 
Farmington. 111., and Jesse married Mary Daley, 
of Orion Township, Fulton County. 

Mr. Willis is a hard worker and generous 
provider for his family. His upright life has 
made its appeal to the community in which he 
lives and he is patronized whenever reliable 
and satisfactory results are required. 

WILLISON, Howard, one of the oldest, worthi- 
est and most widely respected of the prominent 
farmers of a past generation, now living in 
honored retirement in Lewistown Township. 
Fulton County, was born in Allegheny County, 
Md., October 15, 1824, a son of Amond and 
Mary (Wilson) Willison, natives of that county. 
About the year 1832 Amond Willison left Mary- 
land and went to Perry County, Ohio, where he 
was engaged in farming until his death, depart- 
ing this life in January, 1835, when about thir- 
ty-seven years old. He and his wife were the 
parents of six children, namely; Howard, Wil- 
liam H., who settled in Fulton County about 
the vear 1852, but later located in Macomb, 
McDonough County, 111., where he died in 1885; 
Eliza C deceased, who became the wife of 
William Laird, also deceased; Jasper, de- 
ceased; Assias. born in Pennsylvania, who ac- 
companied William H. to Fulton County, and 
located in Creston, Iowa, in 1881; and Wesley, 
who was born in Ohio and died in Lewistown, 
Pulton County. The mother ot this family 
passed away in 1873. She was a worthy, con- 
scientious and dutiful woman and a devout 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a 
farm and received his mental training in the 
district schools of Perry County, Ohio, in 1855 
removing to Lewistown, 111., where he re- 
mained until the spring of 1868. He then 
rented a farm just east of Lewistown and in 
1871 purchased another near Bryant, Fulton 
Countv, which he operated until" 1901, then 
bought his present farm of eighty acres on 
Section 11, Lewistown Township. He has been 
prominently identified with the growth of Ful- 
ton County for a long period, and has taken an 
active part in the development of its varied in- 
t prGsts 

On December 22, 1848, Mr. Willison was 
united in marriage, in Perry County. Ohio, with 
Rachael Laird, who was born in Pennsylvania, 
May 20, 1828, and was a daughter of William 
Laird and wife, natives of that State. Her fa- 
ther was of Welsh extraction, while her moth- 
er's ancestors were Irish. Mr. and Mrs. Willi- 
son were the parents of the following chil- 
dren; Marshall, who was born In Ohio, De- 
cember 3, 1849, and now conducts the home 



farm; Susan A., wife of Mr. Arvilla, who is en- 
gaged in farming near Canton, 111. 

In public affairs the father of this family has 
always manifested an earnest interest. He is 
a Republican in politics, and cast his first 
presidential vote for Rutherford B. Hayes. He 
has rendered good and faithful service to the 
people in the offices of City Marshal and Street 
Commissioner. A man of high character, he 
is regarded with profound respect throughout 
the community. 

Marshall Willison was wedded January 22, 
1880, to Amanda Laws, who was born August 
23, 1853, and their union resulted in one child, 
Nettie B., born March 1, 1881, and who attends 
to household affairs. Her mother died in Jan- 
uary, 1893. Susan A. Willison (Mrs. Clark), be- 
fore mentioned, is the mother of three chil- 
dren, namely: Flora, Sherman and Mabel. 
The Willison family is looked upon as one of 
the most prominent, worthy and estimable in 
Pulton County. 

WILSON, Amos I. — The kind of success which 
places a man in comfortable circumstances, per- 
mits him to enjoy the sane and temperate com- 
pensations of life, and, at his zenith, leaves him 
a clear conscience and many friends, has been 
achieved by Amos 1. Wilson, a large landowner 
and well known farmer and stock-raiser of Fair- 
view Township, Fulton County. Mr. Wilson has 
spent all but eight .vears of his life in Fulton 
County, whither in 1853, with his parents, P. P. 
and Catherine (Rightmyre) Wilson, from Mon- 
roe County. Mich., where he was born February 
14, 1844. Both his parents were born in New 
Jersey, and came overland to Michigan at an 
early day, the father finding in Monroe County 
ample opportunity for the application of his 
trade of wagon-maker. In Fulton County, to 
which he later came with team and wagon, he 
plied his trade in Fairview Township, where 
he subsequently purchased eighty acres of land, 
and tilled the same until retiring from active 
life. His last years were spent in Kansas, to 
which State he removed and where his death 
occurred in 1897. 

Amos I. Wilson interspersed work on the 
Fairview Township farm with attendance in 
the public schools, and when old enough to 
assume res))onsibility, rented a farm near his 
home for three years. At the end of that time 
he invested in fifty-three acres of land in the 
same township, in Section 30, later purchasing 
the 140 acres now occupied and operated by his 
son. Mr. Wilson gave his attention chiefly to 
general farming, but raised many high grade 
cattle, horses and hogs. Latterly he was parti- 
ally retired from active life, and on his original 
farm of fifty-three acres is surrounded with 
much that tends to a happy and contented life. 
He never has been active in politics or general 
township affairs, preferring the quiet of his 
home, and the companionship of those whom he 
calls friends. At Beloit, Wis., August 8, 1866, 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1171 



he married Carrie Davis, a native of Rockford, 
111., and daughter of an early pioneer of that 
part of the State. Mrs. Wilson was born 
September 4, 1844, and is the devoted mother 
of two children, Margaret and James. 

WILSON, Daniel W. — Various wanderings and 
occupations have contributed to the life ex- 
perience of Daniel W. Wilson, and out of them 
he has evolved financial and general satisfac- 
tion beyond the average. For the past ten 
years he has lived in retirement in Table Grove, 
this county, where he has many friends and the 
most agreeable of surroundings. .Mr. Wilson is 
of English ancestry, and was born .June 9. 1.S29, 
on a farm in Parke County. Ind. His father, 
Caleb Wilson, was born in Virginia, and his 
mother, Mary (.Mote) Wilson, was a native of 
(Jeorgia. His maternal grandparents were 
Jeremiah and Rebecca (Richards) Mote, and the 
former was a son of Jonathan Mote, a native of 
the vicinity of London, England. 

In Parke County, Ind.. Daniel W. Wilson re- 
ceived a common school education, and while 
still in his teens learned the blacksmith's trade. 
Skill and ambition soon led him into safe 
financial avenues, and he married Ann .Maria 
Abernathy, a native of Montgomery County. 
Ind.. and daughter of James and Hannah 
(Throckmorton) Abernathy, born in Virginia 
and Ross County, Ohio, respectively, and who 
came to Fulton County in 18^4. The grand- 
parents, John and Mary (Brouse) Abernathy, 
were natives of Virginia. 

Daniel Wilson and his wife came to Table 
Grove, Fulton County, in IS.iO, the municipal 
feature of the town at that time being com- 
posed of two residences and a schoolhouse. For 
four years he operated a blacksmith shop, and 
then moved to a farm previously purchased 
near New Philadelphia. McDonough County. 
Fifteen years later he disposed of this farm and 
bought 260 acres two miles east of Table Grove, 
which remained his home until moving to the 
town of Camp Point. 1889. Mr. Wilson here 
entered the ministry of the Christian Church, 
with which he had long been connected as lay- 
man, and in 1893 he took charge of a church 
in Knoxville, where, two years later, he was 
stricken with paralysis. Retiring from active 
life to Vermont, he two years afterward located 
in his present home in Table Grove, with whose 
earliest history he had been connected, and 
whose destiny he had followed with ever in- 
creasing interest. 

Since casting his first presidential vote Mr. 
Wilson has identified his political fortunes with 
the Republican party. He is fraternally con- 
nected with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. The following children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson: Cecilia Dora, wife of 
W. "J. Hiett. of Sydney, Neb.; Melvin Tell, of 
Mount Pleasant, Iowa: Byron Bennett: Cassius 
Clay, of Buckley, Wash.; Ulysses Grant, of 
Hartford, Conn.; Ida, wife of Grant Gay, of 
Galena, Kan.; Lillian, wife of Arthur Gay, of 



Camp Point; and Carrie, wife of James Lowe, 
a minister in the Christian Church, at Gales- 
burg, this State. .Mr. Wilson has led an earnest 
and upright life, and one large in its usefulness 
and industry. As a blacksmith he was con- 
scientious and painstaking, and as an agricul- 
turist and preacher he has invested his labor 
with profound studentship and ethical 
soundness. 

WILSON, George, a very prominent citizen 
formerly of Ellisville. now of Lewistown, Fulton 
County, 111., and a worthy descendant of one of 
the most highly respected of the pioneer fami- 
lies of the county, was born in Fairview, 111., 
April 27, 1864, a son of John E. and Maria 
(Rodonner) Wilson, natives of New Jersey. A, 
D. Wilson, the paternal grandfather, was a 
native of that State, and there spent a consider- 
able portion of his life. He made the journey 
from .\ew Jersey to Illinois in the '30s, and 
was one of the earliest ministers of the gospel, 
if not the earliest, in Fulton County. His son, 
John E. Wilson, was a farmer by occupation, 
and followed his wonted pursuit in Fairview 
Township. He was an energetic and enter- 
I)rising man, and joined the throng, who. in 
1849. made their way to California in quest of 
gold. After his return, he was engaged in farm- 
ing for many years in Fairview Township, and 
ais labors were attended by success. 

Politically he was a Democrat, and in reli- 
gion a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. 
He and his wife were the parents of six chil- 
dren, as follows: Aliram, George, Daniel, Julia. 
John C. and Ruth A. Wilson. The father of this 
family died January 16, 1901. the mother pass- 
ing away in January, 1870. 

In boyhood, George Wilson availed himself of 
the oi)portunities for mental improvement af- 
forded by the Fairview schools, and was reared 
to the life of a farmer. He carried on farming 
with uniformly good results until 1896. when he 
bought out the interests of W. T. V. D. 
Voohrees, in the Bank of Ellisville, a private 
banking enterprise, organized by W. H. Hogsett, 
in 1890, and represented in the State Bankers' 
Association. For the next ten years (July 1, 
1896, to July 1, 1906) Mr. Wilson conducted 
the Bank of Ellisville, at the latter date selling 
out his banking interest to Mr. B. W. Butler, of 
Grinnell, Iowa. A month or two later he re- 
ceived the nomination on the Democratic ticket 
for County Treasurer of Fulton County, success- 
fully made the campaign, and was elected in 
November following, when he moved to Lewis- 
town (the county-seat) and took charge of his 
office on the first Monday in December, 1906. 
Since then, in connection with others, he organ- 
ized the First State Bank of Canton, 111,, and 
has been selected for the position of Cashier of 
this institution. 

Mr. Wilson has been twice married. His first 
marriage was with Nina Parks, of Fairview, 
III., in 1889, who died in 1894. leaving three 
children, namely: Glenn, born in 1890; Ruth 



1 172 



HISTORY OF FULTON. COUNTY. 



Jeannette, born in 1892; and Lillian, born in 
1894. In 1897, Mr. Wilson married as his second 
wife Mary E. Taylor, of New York. Two chil- 
dren have resulted from this union: Mildred 
and George, Jr., born, respectively, in January, 
1900, and April, 1904. 

Mr. Wilson is still the owner of a fine farm 
in Section 32, Fairview Township, the active 
operation of which he abandoned on embarking 
in his present enterprise. 

In politics the subject of this sketch is an 
active and influential member of the Democratic 
party. He served one term as Supervisor for 
Ellisville Township, and has acted in the capaci- 
ty of Treasurer of the village school, and of the 
township, for a number of years. Fraternally 
Mr. Wilson is identified with the M. W., and the 
A. F. & A. M. In banking circles he is account- 
ed sound, conservative and reliable, and in all 
the relations of life, he has maintained a high 
record. 

WILSON, George. — Half a century has slipped 
into history since the death of Lambert Wilson 
on his farm in Farmers Township, August 28, 
1855. That this honored pioneer left sons be- 
hind him to perpetuate his name and con- 
tinue his work has been a distinct gain to the 
community to which he came as a stranger in 
1851. Lambert Wilson and wife were the par- 
ents of three children: George, Jacob and 
Eliza. George Wilson, the immediate subject 
of this sketch, was born in Virginia in 1833, and 
in 1846 accompanied his parents to Ohio, the 
journey being accomplished with great difficul- 
ty, and with but small provision for the comfort 
of the travelers. Camping out by night, and 
resuming their journey at daylight, the mother 
and daughter rode the only horse belonging to 
the imrty, the father and George, the latter then 
thirteen years old, walking the entire distance. 
Settling in Ross County, Ohio, the expectations 
of the family were only partially realized, and 
in 1851, they set out with their household goods 
for Fulton County, 111., the father, Lambert 
Wilson, taking up the farm now owned by his 
son in Farmers Township. The son, Jacob, died 
while the family lived in Ohio, and the daugh- 
ter, Eliza, later in Iowa. 

George Wilson irregularly attended the public 
schools in both Ohio and Illinois, but. for the 
greater part, his education was the result of his 
own effort, being accomplished when the hard 
tasks of the day were ended. He married Mary 
Wilson, who came of an entirely different 
family, and of their union there were three 
children: Alice, James S., and George, Jr. Of 
these, the daughter, Alice, is the wife of Lewis 
Pickle, of McDonough County; George Wilson. 
Sr., the father of this family, died June 21, 1889, 
and his wife. Mary Wilson. May 12, 1898. In 
political afiiliation Mr. Wilson was a Repub- 
lican. Mrs. Wilson was a devout member of 
the Church of United Brethren. The son, James 
S., is a resident of Table Grove, Fulton County. 



WILSON, James S. — As an agriculturist, of- 
fice-holder and promoter of education and good 
government, James S. Wilson is deservedly 
ranked among the prominent and progressive 
native sons of Farmers Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty, where he was born December 6, 1851, a son 
of George Wilson, a Fulton County settler of 
1851, of whom mention is made elsewhere in 
this work. 

Mr. Wilson received average educational and 
other training in his youth and until his twen- 
ty-seventh year devoted himself assiduously to 
assistance in the family support. He then es- 
tablished a home of his own, marrying Effie 
Thompson, daughter of Charles L. Thompson, 
and thereafter bought a part of the old farm 
on Sections 7 and IS. To this he since has add- 
ed and now owns 160 acres on Sections 7, 18 
and 6. Engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising, he is a disciple of progress and each 
year has witnessed some addition to his equip- 
ment, or some change to more expeditious 
methods. Of the five children bom to himself 
and wife two died in infancy, those living be- 
ing Hazel, Lena and Horner. In political affil- 
iation Mr. Wilson is a Republican, and his ef- 
forts in behalf of his party invariably have 
given entire satisfaction. He is a hard-work- 
ing and earnest man, devoted to his family and 
friends and observing always honesty and con- 
sideration in dealing with his fellowmen. 

WINCHEL, John. — None of the pioneer tillers 
of the soil of Fulton County. 111., has made 
a more enviable record, or gained, from seventy 
years of residence, a higher reputation that 
John Winchel, who was born on February 5, 
1836. in Isabel Township, where he still lives. 
He is a son of Solomon and Mary (Schick) 
Winchel, natives, respectively, of Connecticut 
and North Carolina. At a very early period 
the father emigrated from New England to the 
latter State, and there wedded the lady of his 
choice. By reason of service in the War of 1812, 
Solomon Winchel received a land warrant from 
the Government, and entered a claim of 160 
acres of land in the southwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 16, Isabel Township. Fulton County, where 
he was engaged in farming until his death in 
1862. 

Solomon Winchel and his wife were the par- 
ents of six sons and six daughters, of whom 
three, one son and two daughters, are still liv- 
ing, namely: John; Nancy (Mrs. Athey), a 
resident of Lewistown Township, Fulton Coun- 
ty: and Mary, who lives in Davis County. Iowa, 
and is the widow of Marion McKee, who died of 
Bright's disease. The mother of this family 
passed away in 1862. 

In youth the subject of this sketch received 
his educational training in the district schools. 
He remembers well the deer and wild game 
that abounded throughout the region. He re- 
calls the fact that the pioneers not only as- 
sisted each other in emergencies, but were ready 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTS. 



11/3 



to turn out and lend a hand on all occasions of 
sports and merry recreations. One's amusement 
was often the entertainment of all, and all free- 
ly joined when once the fun began. Selfishness 
was not displayed as commonly as now. The 
dangers, hardships and privations seemed to 
link the settlers in a natural fraternity. When 
often indulging^ in retrospection, the old times 
rise up before him, and he longs to gather the 
family again around the old fireplace in the 
primitive log cabin. 

In 1873. Mr. Winchel bought eighty acres in 
Section 17. Isabel Township, where he has since 
made his home. He has not only witnessed, 
but taken an active part in the great changes 
that have occurred in Fulton County since 1835. 
He looks in vain for the many who have passed 
away, and finds but few left to tell the story of 
the old wooden plow, with seven or eight yoke 
of oxen, as it turned up the wild prairie land. 

On JIarch 17. 18.59, Mr. Winchel was united 
in marriage with Eliza A. Dunn, a daughter of 
William and Malinda (Horwick) Dunn, natives 
of Tennessee, who emigrated thence to Indiana, 
later removing to F''uIton County. 111., where 
they spent the remainder of their days. After 
the death of Mr. Dunn, his widow made her 
home with Mr. Winchel until her death. 

In politics Mr. Winchel has always been a 
stanch supporter of the Republican party, hav- 
ing cast his first presidential vote for Abraham 
Lincoln. He has always taken an active inter- 
est in all measures intended to promote the 
welfare of the township and county, and has 
been recognized by all as one of the most use- 
ful and public-spirited citizens of the communi- 
ty. He has held the office of School Director, in 
which he rendered faithful and efficient service. 

WISE, Daniel. — That patience, good judgment 
and untiring industry are essential accompani- 
ments of successful farming is confirmed anew 
in the career of Daniel Wise. who. after many 
years of striving and self-denial, has recently 
become the owner of one of the most valuable 
farming properties in Vermont Township. Ful- 
ton County. As his name indicates. Mr. Wise — 
or as his name formerly was spelled, Weiss — 
is of Teutonic origin, the son of ,John and 
Margaret (Hanlin) Wise, natives of Bavaria. 
Southern Germany. Both the paternal and 
maternal families came to America in 1840, 
directly after the completion of the military 
service of John Wise, settling in Maryland, 
where the young people were married, and 
whence Mr. Wise and his wife came to Fulton 
County in 1845. They bovrght forty acres of 
land in Woodland Township, where their eleven 
children were born, and where the mother died 
in 1806. and the father in 1901. Barbara, the 
oldest daughter, is the wife of Henry Hetzel, of 
Table Grove; Margaret, who is the widow of 
John Parr, lives in Astoria; Elizabeth is the 
wife of Joseph Swartz, of Decatur, 111.; Lydia 
is the wife of Charles Krembling, of Decatur, 



111.; Henry is a resident of Summum, this State; 
Amelia is the wife of Casper W. Atherton, a 
farmer of Vermont Township; Mary (now de- 
ceased), was the wife of John Atherton, of 
Ipava; Samuel is a farmer of Vermont Town- 
ship; Rebecca is the wife of Grant Ward, a 
carpenter and builder of Woodland Township; 
Daniel; and Sarah, wife of John Smith, a 
farmer of Pleasant Township. 

At the age of eighteen years Daniel Wise left 
the home whose resources were inadequate for 
the support of so large a family, and worked 
as a farm hand for twenty dollars a month. 
At the end of a year he rented a farm on shares, 
and through good management and hard work 
made money for himself and the owner of the 
farm. August 15, 1886. he married Eva J. 
Brown, and during the following fall removed 
to Kansas, but returning two years later rented 
a farm in Pleasant Township. In 1891 he locat- 
ed in Eldorado Township. McDonough County, 
where, on January 14, 1897, Mrs. Wise died, 
leaving five children. Of these, Maggie was 
born in Allen County, Kan., June 20, 1887; 
Griff was born in Fulton County, March 11, 
1889. and died February 28, 1898; Mabel was 
born in Fulton County. March 2, 1891; Guy was 
born in Eldorado Township. McDonough Coun- 
ty, in February, 1893; and Edith in the same 
township Marcii 24, 1895, and died in Woodland 
Township February 15, 1897. March 17. 1898, 
Mr. Wise married Mrs. Dora E. Horner, daugh- 
ter of James M. Onion, an honored pioneer of 
Fulton County, and mother of Lucile Horner, 
born November 6. 1894. Mrs. Wise's first hus- 
band was William Horner. Mr. and Mrs. Wise 
have a daughter. Ada M., born in Eldorado 
Township, April 9, 1904. 

From his monthly wages and his renting 
operations. Mr. Wise managed to save $8,000. 
and this amount he was able to pay on his 
present farm, purchased after coming to Fulton 
County in 1905. He owns eighty acres on Sec- 
tion 12, Vermont Township, for which he paid 
$125 an acre, and which is one of the most 
valuable farms in the county. He is engaged 
in general farming and stock-raising, having on 
hand a variety of high-grade stock, for the care 
of which he has ample facilities, and his general 
improvements are modern and practical. Mr. 
Wise is a public-spirited and progressive 
farmer, living always within his income, and 
providing liberally for the inevitable rainy day. 
He is a member of the Reformed Church, while 
his wife is identified with the Christian Church, 
and fraternally he is associated with the Modern 
Woodmen of America. While disclaiming polit- 
ical aspirations, he is a stanch supporter of 
the Democratic party, and in other localities 
has held the office of School Trustee. 

WOLFE, Edward C, furniture dealer and un- 
dertaker, being a prominent business man of 
Lewistown, 111., in these specialties, is a native 
of McDonough County, 111., where he was bom 



1 174 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



May 19, 1S77, the son of E. T. and Parmelia 
(Clark) Wolfe, his father being born in Indi- 
ana and his mother in Illinois. Although he 
spent his early life upon the home farm and 
received a limited education in the district 
school of his neighborhood, his youthful aspira- 
tions all inclined toward a business career. At 
the age of seventeen he entered the Indian- 
apolis Business University, in which he spent 
a number of most profitable years. Later he 
obtained a practical training in his present 
lines, which partake of both business and pro- 
fessional features, and in April, 1900, located in 
Lewistown and purchased the nucleus of his 
present complete establishment. Subsequently 
he finished a full course in the United States 
School of Embalming and passed a creditable 
e.xamination before the State Board. 

Having thus acquired a thorough business 
education and experience, with an additional 
mastery of the art of embalming, Mr. Wolfe 
was abundantly qualified to give complete sat- 
isfaction in the different branches of his call- 
ing. There is, in fact, no one in Lewistown 
engaged in special lines of business who has 
more completely secured the confidence of the 
people than Mr. Wolfe. He also takes a lively 
and effective interest in public enterprises, 
which have for their object the general ad- 
vancement of the community. 

On the 11th of October, 1905, Mr. Wolfe was 
united in marriage with Eleanor Binnie, of 
Macomb, III., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John 
Binnie, her father being a banker and an hon- 
ored pioneer and prominent citizen of McDon- 
ough County. Mrs. Wolfe is a lady of culture 
and strong character, especially prominent in 
church and social activities. In fraternal cir- 
cles Mr. Wolfe is connected v/ith the A. F. and 
A. M., M. W. A. and K. of P., and in politics is 
a Democrat. 

WOLFE, J. P., a prosperous and substantial 
grain dealer of Xorris, Fulton County, 111., and 
for many years a farmer in Orion Township, 
was born in that township on December 3, 
1S41, and there attended the district schools in 
boyhood. He is a son of Thomas F. and Joanna 
(Coleman) Wolfe, the former a native of Vir- 
ginia, and the latter of New Jersey. Thomas 
F. Wolfe came to Orion Township in 1826, and 
bought 160 acres of timber land. This he cleared 
and carried on farming there for many years. 
He and his wife were the first couple married in 
Orion Township, and their eldest daughter was 
the first white child born in the township. 
They had fourteen children. Thomas F. Wolfe 
was a sturdy pioneer, intelligent, upright and 
persevering, and maintained a high reputation. 
His wife was a kindly, patient and diligent 
heli)mate, and her character was marked by 
the finest womanly qualities. For a number of 
years Thomas F. Wolfe officiated as a Justice 
of the Peace. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on a 
farm and followed farming until 1S99. In that 



year he took charge for the Neola Elevator 
Company, of Chicago, of their elevator at 
Norris, the capacity of which is 1.5,000 bushels. 
He buys and sells all kinds of grain. He also 
owns a fine farm of eighty acres in Section 5, 
Canton Township, Fulton County, which is 
conducted by his sons. 

On September 25, 1870, Mr. Wolfe was united 
in matrimony with Emma Wise, who was born 
in Canton Township, Fulton County. Eight 
children resulted from this union, namely: 
Luella, deceased; George W.; Bertha (Mrs. 
William Owen); Willie Harry died in in- 
fancy; Alta, wife of R. C. Webster; Jeremiah 
and Warren. 

In politics Mr. Wolfe is a Democrat, and is 
prominent and influential in local campaigns. 
He served as School Director for thirty-five 
years. He held the office of Supervisor of 
Orion Township for twelve years, and that of 
Canton Township for eight years, twenty 
years in all. From 1882 to 1886 he held 
the ofl5ce of County Treasurer of Fulton 
County. In all these positions he maintained 
a high reputation for ability, integrity and 
fidelity to his trust. His religious belief is 
that of the Methodist Church. In fraternal 
circles he is identified with the Modern Wood- 
men and the Mutual Aid. Personally he is one 
of the most popular men in Fulton County. 

WOOD, Joseph R., the junior member of the 
firm of Wood & Son, furniture dealers and 
funeral directors, of Ipava, was born in the 
city which now is his home, March 30, 1868, a 
son of Oliver and Sarah (Farquhar) Wood, a 
resume of whose lives is to be found in an- 
other section of this work. Joseph R. was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Ipava, and after 
graduating from the high school spent a year 
in Colorado, returning therefrom and going to 
work in his father's saw mill. At the age of 
eighteen he entered the Springfield Business 
College, from which he graduated in 1SS8, and 
with this excellent equipment returned to 
Ipava and became the partner of his father in 
the furniture and undertaking business. 

The firm of Wood & Son have one of the 
best equipped enterprises of its kind in Fulton 
County, and carry a large line of funeral ne- 
cessities, as well as various grades of furni- 
ture, wall paper, window shades, linoleum, car- 
pets and rugs. In 1905 the capacity of the con- 
cern was increased by the erection of a fine 
business block on Main Street, the roominess 
of which permits a tempting display of goods 
and a subsequent enlargement of stock, should 
trade require it. The patrons of the establish- 
ment meet with every courtesy recognized in 
the business world, and the utmost skill is as- 
sured in the profession of caring for the de- 
parted members of the community. For the 
management of this department Joseph R. 
M'ood is particularly adapted, having experi- 
ence, sympathy, tact and discretion. He at- 
tended the National School of Embalming at 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



"75 



Quincy, 111., and has taken several post-gradu- 
ate courses to further perfect himself in his 
calling. 

Mr. Wood established a home of his own 
November 20, 1892, marrying Irma Edith Mar- 
shall, a native of Bernadotte Township, and 
daughter of Carl Marshall, one of the well 
known farmers of Fulton County. Mrs. Wood 
is a woman of many accomplishments and per- 
sonal graces and a graduate of the Woman's 
Musical Institute of Jacksonville, 111. She is 
the mother of one child, Olive Marshall, born 
October 6, 1905. Mr. Wood is socially con- 
nected with the Knights of Pythias and polit- 
ically is a Republican, having held the office of 
Town Clerk. He is one of the wide-awake and 
enterprising men of the community, and en- 
joys the respect and confidence of his business 
associates. 

WOOD, S. P. — In the less extensive and popu- 
lous towns and villages of a State, the Post- 
master is very likely to be brought into contact 
with a greater number of the inhabitants and 
at more frequent intervals than any other mem- 
ber of the community. Few are the individual 
residents of either sex who do not become fa- 
miliar with his presence and deportment and 
cognizant of his habits and characteristics, and 
there are likewise few, on the other hand, even 
to the older children, whom he has not learned 
to know. With such an intimate relationshi]) 
existing between the man conducting the post- 
office and the townspeople depending on it for- 
tunate and thrice happy is the incumbent of 
that office when all the men, women and youth 
of the place have for him only words of com- 
mendation. Such is the favored position of 
S. P. Wood, the efficient and popular Postmas- 
ter of Farmington, Fulton County, who is the 
possessor of those qualities of candor, sincer- 
ity, faithfulness and affability which give the 
best class of public officials a high standing in 
the estimation of those whose interests are in- 
trusted to their care. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of Elm- 
wood, 111., where he was born in 1S61, a son 
of W. M. and Hester (Prosser) Wood, the for- 
mer a native of New York State and the latter 
of Ohio. Mr. Wood's father established his 
home in Illinois in 1853 and his mother brought 
to the State by her parents when she was but 
two years old. The early mental training of 
their son, S. P., was obtained in the public 
schools of Elmwood, where he grew to man- 
hood, learning the trade of a printer during his 
youth. From the time when he arrived at 
years of maturity he has been identified with 
the newspaper business, in which he has ac- 
quired an enviable reputation in his section of 
the State. For two and a half years before 
taking up his residence in Farmington he con- 
ducted the "Elmwood Gazette," in connection 
with which he made a successful record. In 
1883 he located in Farmington and bought out 
the "Farmington Bugle." which had been for two 



years the property of and under the manage- 
ment of James J. Wilson. Of this paper a 
sprightly, entertaining and reliable sheet, 
which has a circulation of 900 copies, Mr. Wood 
is still the owner, publisher and editor. To- 
gether with the publication of the "Bugle" he 
operates a plant thoroughly equipped with ap- 
pliances for all kinds of job printing, in which 
line he enjoys a good patronage. 

In 1887 the subject of this sketch was united 
in marriage with Lora Lobaugh, who was born 
in Elmwood, 111., and there received her youth- 
ful mental culture. Mr. and Mrs. Wood are 
the parents of four children, as follows: Har- 
lan, who is sixteen years old; Edgar, fifteen 
years; Arthur, thirteen years, and Donald, 
eleven years. In jiolitics Mr. Wood is identi- 
fied with the Republican party, in the local 
councils and campaigns of which he has long 
been an influential factor. He has held the 
office of Town Clerk for two terms, discharging 
the duties of each position to the entire satis- 
faction of his constituents. In 1898 he was 
appointed Postmaster of Farmington by Presi- 
dent McKinley. and his continuous conduct of 
that office up to the present time has met with 
the approval of the community. Fraternally 
Mr. Wood is affiliated with the I, O. O. F. 

WOODCOCK, Wallace, a i)rominent and suc- 
cessful farmer on Section 26, Buckheart Town- 
ship, I'^ulton County, 111., was born near Belvoir 
Castle, Town of Strathorn, Leicestershire, 
England, August 25, 1852, a son of Thomas 
and Elizabeth (Oglesby) Woodcock, natives 
of the same place, the former born January 
4, 1822. and the latter in 1829. The paternal 
grand]jarents were Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Hornbuckle) Woodcock, who were also born 
in Leicestershire. Thomas Woodcock, the 
father of Wallace, married Elizabeth Oglesby, 
in their native country and in 1854, with their 
son, then two years old. they came to Fulton 
County, III., locating in Canton, where they 
remained until 1860, when Mr. Woodcock inir- 
chased a farm in Section 3, Buckheart Town- 
shi]), Fulton County, upon which he settled. 
In 1865, he bought another farm in Section 26, 
in the same township, where he established his' 
permanent home. His first purchase consisted 
of eighty acres. To this he added from time to 
time, until he had acquired 400 acres. On this 
place he caried on farming until tlie time of his 
death. March 11, 1887. His wife survived him 
nearly two years, dying February 2, 1889. They 
were the parents of eight children, as follows: 
Wallace; Thomas A., a farmer in Buckheart 
Township, born December 31, 1861; Edward, 
born October 3, 1863; Emma, deceased wife of 
Harvey Crosthwaite; Isaac, born March 11, 
1867; Sarah Ann, born April 15, 1869, died 
September 25, 1887; Richard, born August 28, 
1871; and Charles, born October 8, 1875. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on the 
parental farm, in the meantime, receiving his 



11/6 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



early mental training in the district schools. 
After his marriage, Mr. Woodcock lived on the 
old home farm until 1904, when he moved to his 
present place on Section 26, Buckheart Town- 
ship. In addition to general farming, he is a 
breeder of Shropshire sheep and standard-grade 
horses and cattle. Mr. Woodcock became a resi- 
dent of the township when Fulton County was 
but thinly peopled, the land being then in a wild 
condition with few improvements, and the 
glowing future was hidden behind many years 
of hardship, privation and toilsome struggling. 
Since he has been identified with the growth 
and development of the country, and is now 
— solely through his own industry, energy, per- 
severance and integrity — one of its prominent 
and prosperous citizens. 

On May 19, 1892, Mr. Woodcock was united in 
marriage with Tillie Sinate, and their union 
resulted in two children: Elizabeth, born May 
21, 1893, and who is with her father; and Ray- 
mond, who died in infancy. Their mother died 
December 12, 1894. On December 31, 1S9G, Mr. 
Woodcock was joined in wedlock with Mrs. 
Anna McKee, a daughter of James and Nancy 
Childs, natives of England, who came to the 
ITnited States in 1885. By her first marriage, 
Mrs. Woodcock had two children, Milton and 
Christopher McKee. Her union with Mr. Wood- 
cock resulted in four children, two of whom 
died in infancy. Those surviving are: Wallace 
O.. born August 2, 1897; and Adelaide, born 
May 2, 1904. 

WOODS, Charles Allen, a rising young farmer 
of Avon, Union Township, Fulton County, 111., 
in the early stages of whose farming operations 
is clearly manifest the promise of a prosperous 
development, was born in the vicinity of Avon, 
Fulton County, October 28, 1875, a son of George 
and Sarah Woods, natives respectively, of New 
York and England, a portrayal of whose lives 
appears elsewhere in these pages, and may be 
profitably referred to in connection with this 
personal record. George Woods being a farmer 
and stock-raiser by occupation, his son, Charles, 
was naturally reared on the home place, where 
he remained during the period of his minority. 
He was the youngest of a family of five chil- 
dren, as follows: Mary, Flora, Lara, Jennie, and 
Charles A. 

In boyhood, Charles Allen Woods attended 
the district schools in the vicinity of his father's 
farm, and afterwards studied for a time in the 
high school in Avon, meanwhile assisting in 
the routine of farm work. On attaining his 
majority, he applied himself to his chosen pur- 
suit, and is now the owner of 205 acres of highly 
productive land. In addition to general farming 
he devotes much time to the raising of stock, 
and his efforts thus far have been rewarded 
with satisfactory results. 

On December 31, 1896, Mr. Woods was united 
in marriage with Addie Thompson, who was 
born at Fort Madison, Iowa, February 16, 1874. 



Their marriage took place at Galesburg, Knox 
County, 111. Two children have hallowed the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Woods, namely: Fern 
Lenore, born October 14, 1900; and Gleaphyra 
Leila, born March 3, 1902. 

In his poltical relations Mr. Woods supports 
the measures of the Republican party. His re- 
ligious views are in accordance with the creed 
of the Universalist denomination, and in frater- 
nal circles is identified with the A. F. & A. M. 
He is an intelligent, upright, and useful member 
of the community, an energetic and progressive 
farmer, and within the range of his acquaint- 
ance, are many whose cordial friendship he 
enjoys. 

WOODS, Franklin R., who is among the most 
energetic and substantial representatives of the 
farming element in Fulton County, 111., and 
whose productive acres are situated in Section 
36, Lewistown Township, was born in the city 
of Lewistown, 111., June 19, 1853, the son of 
John M. and Susanna (Myers) Woods, of Lick- 
ing County, Ohio, natives of Boston, Mass., and 
Lewistown, 111., respectively. Grandfather 
Woods, whose home was in the Eastern States, 
was lost at sea. John M. Woods was born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1819, and at the age of fourteen years 
he came to Illinois, locating at Lewistown, on 
November 17, 1833. He was a carptenter by 
trade, and followed that occupation during his 
entire life. Many of the best appearing and 
most substantia] buildings, scattered here and 
there throughout Fulton County, attest his skill 
and care as a builder. John M. Woods was 
joined in matrimony with Susanna Myers, in 
Lewistown, 111., October 7, 1847, and nine chil- 
dren were born of this union: William, who is 
engaged in farming in Banner Township, Ful- 
ton County; John, who died in infancy; Mary, 
also deceased; Franklin R., the subject of this 
slcetch; James E., a resident of Summerville, 
Ore.; Walter D., who carries on farming in 
Section 36, Lewistown Township; Sidney E., 
who died at the age of seven years; Charles C, 
a resident of Longmont, Colo.; and Ralph E., 
who follows farming in Lewistown Township. 
Mary was the wife of J. H. Dew, and bore him 
three children, namely: Ida. wife of F. A. 
Mowder, of Mason County, 111.; James, who is 
a resident of Los Angeles, Cal.; and John, who 
lives in Mason County, 111. John R. Woods was 
a man of genial temperament and amiable dis- 
position. He had a pleasant and cheery word 
for every one, and wherever he went he carried 
sunshine. Although he suffered much, especi- 
ally towards the end of his life, being afflicted 
with that dread disease, cancer, he endured his 
pain with Christian fortitude and resignation. 
His last words were: "The conflict is ended, I 
will soon be at rest." For thirty-three years, 
he was a devout and consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and died as he had 
lived, strong in the faith, passing away October 
20, 1903. His most worthy and estimable wife 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1177 



still survives, having reached the age of eighty- 
one years April 17. 1907. She makes her home 
with her children, and like her departed spouse. 
Is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Franklin R. Woods, the subject of this sketch, 
in early life attended the district schools of his 
native county and the city schools, and for some 
time worked with his father at the carpenter's 
trade. For one year he was also employed as a 
teacher. Since then his attention has been 
devoted to farming. In Lewistown Township 
he purchased a farm which he sold five vears 
afterwards, and bought the interest of the "heirs 
in the Brown farm, on which he now lives. He 
is the owner of 128 acres of excellent land, 
sixty of which are located in Lewistown Town- 
ship, and sixty-eight in Liverpool Township. 
He carries on general farming and raises a 
superior grade of stock. He is a thorough-going 
and diligent farmer, and his farm is a model 
of careful arrangement and intelligent method 

On October 6. 1880. Mr. Woods was united in 
marriage, in Lewistown, to Christina Brown 
born August 7, 1860, a daughter of William W. 
and Angeline Brown, both natives of Licking 
County, Ohio, and early settlers of Fulton Coun- 
ty. Mrs. Woods is now the mistress of the house 
which was her birthplace, her parents being 
deceased. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Woods has 
resulted in five children, namely: Temperance 
M., born June 24, 18S3, who is the wife of John 
Cause, and her husband carries on farming in 
Liverpool Township; Jessie R., born April 17, 
188.^; Susanna A., born May 10, 1888; Debba I., 
born July 31, 1891; and Olie H., born February 
27, 1901. 

In politics Mr. Woods is a supporter of the 
principles of the Republican party, but is liberal 
.in his political views, and in local affairs, ordi- 
narily votes for the best men. For thirteen 
years he has been a member of the Board of 
School Directors and takes a deep interest in 
the cause of education. He is also a strong 
advocate of temperance principles. Mr. Woods 
and his worthy helpmeet are zealous and active 
members of the Christian Church, in which he 
is Superintendent of the Sunday School. Both 
are highly esteemed throughout the community. 

WOODS, George (deceased). — Many causes 
contribute to the almost invariable interest 
surrounding the first actual settler in any 
community. As the years lend distance and 
romance to his arrival, the honor becomes a 
coveted one, more especially if the settlement 
has utilized its most enlightening opportunities, 
and become the abode of peaceful and prosper- 
ous humanity. All who knew him eventually 
must join the vanishing cavalcade, and unless 
a knowledge of him is transmitted through his- 
tory, the haze of uncertainty must gather about 
his name. So unmerited a fate can never befall 
that zealous pioneer, Asa Woods, who, in the 
early part of his life, occupied a well worn farm 
in Madison County, N. Y., and there married 
36 



Mary Wilford, a native of New Haven Conn 
Eight children were born of this union five 
sons and three daughters, of whom three sons 
—John. Ira and George — are enrolled among the 
most substantial and helpful element that Ful- 
ton County has known. 

A strong pioneering inclination led Asa 
Woods to dispose of his New York farm and 
equip himself for the long journey overland to 
Illinois. Starting out with two wagons and 
teams, and such necessities as were required of 
food and clithing tor several weeks on the road 
he set out with his family in the summer of 
l!s.56. stopping at night at wayside homes and 
cooking their meals over crude, kitchen fires 
Days lengthened into weeks; experience fol- 
lowed experience; and the worn wayfarers at 
last arrived in what is now Union Township 
Pulton County, in August. 1836. Asa Woods' 
twin brother, Ira, had come with his family to 
Fulton County a year earlier (183.5), and they 
were living in a comfortable log house which 
was shared with Asa's family until a new frame 
house was built. Asa purchased 160 acres of 
Government land a half mile distant from where 
the village of Avon was subsequently laid out 
on another Woods tract. In honor of these 
first arrivals the original hamlet was called 
Woodville. but was later changed to Woodstock, 
and still later an unappreciative and unsenti- 
mental Postoflice Department supplied the 
name of Avon. Mr. Woods survived the hard- 
ships of pioneer life for twenty-one vears, his 
lamented death occurring about 1855, a half 
century ago. His personal characteristics have 
faded somewhat in the minds of his children, 
but he is recalled as a man of strong character 
and steady purpose, characteristics which ac- 
comi)anied the majority of the early settlers 
from comfortable homes in the East to a region 
of which they knew little or nothing. 

George Woods, the fourth son of the pioneer, 
was born in Madison County, N. Y., June 5, 
1831, and was five years old when the family 
came to Fulton County. He attended the early 
subscription schools, and at an early age learned 
the carpenter's trade, which he followed in Avon 
for fifteen years. He then disposed of a farm 
which he had bought as an investment, and 
after several years spent in farming and in the 
carpenter business in Kansas, he returned to 
Avon and again plied his trade there. Seven 
years later he located on a farm which he previ- 
ously had purchased in Union Township, con- 
sisting of eighty-five acres, upon which he made 
improvements, and which continued to be his 
home until his retirement to Avon in 1898. In 
1855 he married Sarah Parkins, a native of 
England, and of this union were born five chil- 
dren: Flora, Mary, Laura, Jennie and Charles 
A., of whom the first three are deceased. Mr. 
Woods was first a Whig and then a Republican, 
and while never an active politician, he served 
nine years as Commissioner of Union Township. 
Mr. Woods' death occurred at his home in Avon, 
March 13, 1907, and funeral services were held 



iijS 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



in the Uuiversalist Church of that place on 
March 15, Rev. F. D. Adams officiating. Dur- 
ing the more than seventy years spent in Fulton 
County he had witnessed a wonderful develop- 
ment, and an evening with him in his quiet, 
and comfortable home, resulted in the acquiring 
of a rare fund of information, concerning the 
lives of the courageous company who succeeded 
him in settlement, and grew to maturity in the 
environment of hard work and few diversions. 
The conscientiousness of well-doing, of using 
fairly his fellowmen, was one of the rewards 
which kept him company in the leisure of his 
evening days, and of the cherished remem- 
brances of his descendants. 

WOODS, Ira M. — The career of Ira M. Woods 
has conformed to the changes which have 
taken place in Illinois ever since his arrival in 
Union Township, Fulton County, in August, 
1835. He then was seven months old, having 
been born in Madison County, N. Y., February 
2S, 1835. In the wilds of Illinois his school and 
general advantages were necessarily of the 
crudest kind, yet his surroundings and influ- 
ences were such as to bring to the surface 
whatever of assertiveness and independence 
lay dormant in his nature. With the other 
members of his family he was the first to es- 
tablish a residence in Union Township, and as 
one of its early pioneers, as a soldier during 
the Civil War and a holder of important town- 
ship offices, he is entitled to permanent re- 
membrance in the history of the county. 

At the age of twenty-four years Mr. Woods 
purchased a farm of eighty acres in Warren 
County, later added forty acres to his original 
property, upon which he lived about fifteen 
years. He made many fine improvements and 
sold his land at a reasonable profit. He then 
bought eighty acres in Union Township, Fulton 
County, and in 1883 came to Avon, where he 
engaged in the meat market business for three 
years. He has a pleasant town home, pur- 
chased of James Gill, and in his retirement 
from active business has surrounded himself 
with many of the refinements and even lux- 
uries of life. 

The military record of Mr. Woods covered 
three years, during that time being a member 
of Company C and Company B, First Missouri 
Engineers. He participated in many of the im- 
portant battles of the campaign, and since his 
retirement from camp and field, has been a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
His marriage occurred in Prairie City, 111., the 
year after the close of the war, to Hannah A. 
Davey, daughter of Sylvester Davey, a native 
of Pennsylvania, and by trade a cabinet-maker. 
Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Woods: Fannie C, wife of A. Holmes; Al- 
lena, wife of H. Rose; Alfa, deceased; Walter, 
Grace, Ray and Emma. Mr. Woods is a Re- 
publican of long standing, and in earlier years 
filled many offices, among them that of mem- 
ber of the Town Board. He is a representative 



of that sturdy element which has drawn its 
material and intellectual sustenance from the 
fertile prairies, and with them has attained 
maturity through splendid co-operation of 
awakening forces. 

WOODS, J. A. — Of the men who own large 
country properties and superintend their man- 
agement from comfortable town homes many 
are comparatively young in years, if old in ac- 
complishment. To this class belongs J. A. 
Woods, who has a farm of 200 acres, 120 of 
which are in Greenbush Township, Warren 
County, and eighty acres in Union Township, 
Fulton County. A few months ago Mr. Woods 
abandoned rural life and bought of M. J. 
O'Donnell the home which he now occupies in 
Avon. 

Mr. Woods represents a family established in 
Warren County, 111., in 1835, by his father, Wil- 
ford Woods, who was born in Sullivan, Madison 
County, N. Y. In early life he came to Illinois 
where, in Greenbush Township, Warren County, 
he married Rhoda Butler, and with liis wife 
located on the farm in Warren County which 
he now owns and occupies, and which at one 
time consisted of 600 acres. Much of this has 
been disposed of in earlier years, but the elder 
Woods is a prosperous farmer, and one of the 
most honored and successful of the hardy early 
arrivals in the State. 

Born on the Warren County farm in March, 
1864, .1. A. Woods spent an uneventful youth, 
enjoying the usual educational and farming ad- 
vantages that fall to the lot of the boys of his 
time and place. At Monmouth. 111., in 1885, he 
was united in marriage to Dora Simmons, a 
native of Warren County, and daughter of Mar- 
tin Simmons, an early settler in Warren County. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Woods have been born four 
children: Martin, Seldon, Lena and Nealy. Mr. 
Woods' activities and interests have not in- 
cluded politics, nor has he been identified with 
any church or fraternal organization. He leads 
a quiet, unobtrusive life, and the good that he 
accomplishes for those less fortunate than him- 
self is known only to himself and the recipients 
of his bounty. He is an honorable and high- 
minded man, and is held in high esteem by all 
who are privileged to know him. 

WOODS, John (deceased), was born in Sulli- 
van. Madison County, N. Y.. March 11, 1824, a 
son of Asa and Mary Wilford Woods, and one 
of a family of eight children — five sons and 
three daughters. Asa Woods, his wife and chil- 
dren, came to Illinois by wagon in 1836, arriv- 
ing after a six weeks' journey near the present 
village of Avon, in North Fulton. John Woods 
received his schooling in the pioneer school- 
houses of those days, but in manhood and old 
age more than compensated for any inade- 
quacies in his early educational advantages by 
an intelligent and earnest perusal of the best 
reading matter that came to his hand. When 
fourteen years old he entered upon an appren- 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 179 



ticeship to the blacksmith's trade, which he 
followed for some time, but later engaged in 
the business of a farmer and stock-raiser, in 
which he was very successful. 

August 6, 1848, .John Woods was married to 
Lucy A. Chatterton, a native of Virgil. Cort- 
land County, N. Y. Her people arrived in Illi- 
nois in 1832. To Mr. and Mrs. Woods were 
born the following named children: Addie, now 
residing in Avon, Fulton County, 111.; Lewis 
Seldon. who died May 13, ISSl; Mary L., the 
wife of .1. H. Ross, who died June 1, 1894; and 
Frank C, who resides at Avon, 111. For nearly 
forty years Mr. Woods resided on his farm In 
Greenbush Township, Warren County, but in 
1889 removed to Avon, where he made his home 
until the time of his death, August 4. 1894. Mrs. 
Woods died March 29, 1898. In common with 
the rest of his family, Mr. Woods was a Univer- 
salist in religious faith, and the lot on which 
the Universalist Church in Avon is built was 
his gift to the cause he esteemed so much. In 
politics he was a Republican. 

WOODS, Walter D., who is successfully en- 
gaged in farming in Section 36. Lewistown 
Township. Fulton County, 111., was born in the 
city of Lewistown, Fulton County, November 2, 
18r)8. He is a son of .John M. and Susanna 
(Myers) Woods, the former a native of Boston, 
Mass., and the latter, of Lewistown, Fulton 
County. .lohn M. Woods was born February 
14. 1819. At the age of fourteen years he made 
his way westward, and located in Lewistown 
iNovember 17, 1833. He was a carpenter by 
occupation, and erected many of the best build- 
ings in different parts of Fulton County, which 
are still standing as monuments of his skill 
at his trade. He wedded Susanna Myers, in 
Lewistown. October 7, 1847. Their children 
were as follows: William; John, who died in 
infancy; Mary, deceased; Franklin R.; James 
E.; Walter D.; Sidney E., who died at the age 
of seven years; Charles C. and Ralph E. The 
father of this family was a very cheerful and 
amiable man, and had hosts of friends. Even 
during the sufferings of his final sickness, which 
was caused by cancer, he maintained a sweet 
and lovable disposition, and endured the pain 
that racked his body with the tranquil resigna- 
tion of a devoted follower of Christ. He was a 
zealous and beloved member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He died, as he had lived, 
with unfaltering faith in his Saviour, passing 
away October 20, 1903, at the age of seventy- 
nine years. The life companion of his joys 
and sorrows is still living, and shares the home 
of her son, Franklin R. She is a devoted mem- 
ber of the same church to which her departed 
husband 'belonged. 

Walter D. Woods received his early education 
in the district schools and was reared on a 
farm. At the age of fourteen years, he began to 
make his own way in the world, and for. some 
years worked by the month at farming. He 
then rented land, which he farmed until he 



acquired property of his own. This occurred 
in July, 1902, when he purchased 128 acres, 
sixty of which lie in Lewistown Township and 
sixty-eight in Liverpool Township. On this 
place, besides carrying on general farming, he 
raises horses, cattle and hogs, of high grades. 
He is a careful, systematic and enterprising 
farmer, and meets with merited success. Ful- 
ton County has always been his home, and he 
has been a witness of great changes in its con- 
dition since his childhood. 

On July 2. 1882, Mr. Woods was united in 
marriage with Lucy Harper, a daughter of 
Wesley and Harriet (Hill) Harper, the former 
a resident of Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Woods be- 
came the parents of eleven children, of whom 
ten are still living, as follows: Charles E., who 
is engaged in farming in Liverpool Township; 
and, John W., Porter H., Bessie I., Harley F., 
Creston, aiyron, Hattie I., Gerald A., and Clyde 
M., who are members of the family household. 
Walter C, the third child, died in infancy. The 
mother of this family was born January 14, 
1862. The dates of birth of her ten surviving 
children, as above mentioned, are: Charles, 
June 9. 1883; John, April 14, 1885; Porter, 
November 3, 1887; Bessie, February 13, 1890; 
Harley, February 19, 1892; Creston, February 
12, 1894; Myron, June 26, 1896; Hattie, Septem- 
ber 12, 1899; Gerald, February 27, 1902; and 
Clyde, June 27, 1904. 

In politics Mr. Woods is a strong Prohibition- 
ist, advocating the total suppression of the 
traffic in intoxicating liquors. He and his 
worthy wife have been, for years, members of 
the Christian Church, and are zealous and 
active in promoting the spread of the Gospel 
and the conversion of sinners. To this cause 
both contribute liberally of their time and 
means. Mr. Woods has been a teacher in the 
Sunday School, and has served as its Superin- 
tendent, and is constant, in season and out of 
season, in his Master's work. As a citizen, he 
takes an active part in all enterprises under- 
taken for the welfare of the community. 

WRIGHT, John M. (deceased), one of the 
earliest pioneer residents of Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Hanover, N. H., Janu- 
ary 21. 1816. He was a son of Royal and 
Diantha Wright, natives of that place. In 
youth Mr. Wright received his education in 
the district schools of his neighborhood in New 
Hampshire, and in 183.5, journeyed to Illinois. 
In that year he settled at Canton and engaged 
in farming, in which he continued successfully 
for many years, or until his death. He was a 
man of the utmost purity of character and en- 
joyed the implicit confidence and unfeigned 
respect of all with whom he came in contact in 
business and social relations. 

On June 7, 1837, Mr. Wright was united in 
marriage with Catherine Hart, who was born 
in Goshen. Conn., on April 15, 1815. The nine 
children resulting from this union were as 
follows: Royal; Chester and James, deceased; 



ii8o 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



Julia; Charles; Asher; John; Frank and 
Frederick. 

In politics Mr. Wright was a Republican. 
Religiously he was a Congregationalist and one 
of the earliest members of that denomination 
in Fulton County. He was a Deacon in the 
Canton Congregational Church, and his father 
was known as "Deacon Royal Wright, of Han- 
over, New Hampshire." The subject of this 
review departed this life on the 27th of Decem- 
ber. 1S5S, universally respected and deeply 
mourned. 

WRIGHT, Nathaniel Stephen, for many years 
one of the most prominent, successful and high- 
ly esteemed merchants of Canton, Fulton Coun- 
ty, 111., of which he is one of the oldest citizens, 
was born in that city, December 13, 1835, and 
received his early education in its private 
schools. He is a son of Joel and Emily (Phelps) 
Wright, of whom the former was born in Han- 
over, N. H., October 10. 1892, and the latter in 
Palmyra, N. Y.. October 5, 1798. The paternal 
grandparents were Nathaniel and Mary (Page) 
Wright, the former having been born in Han- 
over, N. H., in March, 1747; and the great- 
grandparents were Nathaniel and Irena 
(Sprague) Wright, the former born in Coven- 
try, Conn., January 27, 1711. On the maternal 
side, the grandparents were Stephen and Lois 
(Day) Phelps, the former a native of West- 
field. Mass., where he was born m 1768, and 
the latter born in Palmyra. N. Y., In 1777. Luke 
and Ann (Freeman) Phelps, the maternal 
great-grandparents, were natives of Westfield, 
Mass., where the former was born in 1730. John 
Wright, of Knight's Bridge, London. England, 
the first of the Wright family of whom there is 
any record, lived in the seventeenth century. 
Samuel Wright was the first of the family to 
come to America, settling in Massachusetts in 
1630. The Phelps family Is traceable to the 
year 1.520. George and William Phelps came to 
America from England in 1630, landing at Hull, 
Mass., on May 30th, of that year. 

Joel Wright, father of Nathaniel S., jour- 
neyed from Hanover, N. H., to Illinois in ISIS, 
while the region was still a territory. He rode 
a bay horse, crossing the Ohio River at Cincin- 
nati, and recrossing at Shawneetown, 111. For 
several years he lived at Vandalia and Edwards- 
ville, this State, working during the winters In 
the land office. He was elected Sheriff of Mont- 
gomery County, 111., in 1821. In 1825 he went 
to the lead mines about Galena, 111., where he 
remained until 1828, and then located at Can- 
ton. In IS'SO he was elected to the Illinois 
State Senate, the Senatorial district then com- 
prising all the territory north of the Illinois 
River. He was appointed Postmaster In 1832, 
and again in 1849, and was a very prominent 
man of that period. 

In 1830, Joel Wright opened a general store 
in Canton. His first stock of merchandise was 
shipped on the steamboat "Fairy," which struck 



a snag near the mouth of the Missouri River 
and sank, carrying her cargo to the bottom, but 
the goods were recovered in a much damaged 
condition. During the Black Hawk War, in 
1S32, his store and house were stockaded for 
protection against the Indians. In 1837, al- 
though not of the dominant party, he was ap- 
pointed one of the three (afterwards increased 
to five) Commissioners of Internal Improve- 
ment, discharging the duties of this office with 
signal ability and unselfish devotion to the 
interests of the State. 

N. S. Wright conducted a general store from 
1855 to 1868 with much success. He was after- 
wards equally successful in dealing in real 
estate until 1880, when he resumed merchandis- 
ing. In this he continued until 1903, when he 
retired from active effort. He is largely identi- 
fied with the public enterprises of Canton, be- 
ing especially prominent as the originator and 
promoter of the Water Works. 

On May 27, 1S74, Mr. Wright was united in 
marriage with Laura Kelley. who was born in 
Lewistown, 111., and received her mental culture 
in the schools of that place and m Galesburg 
and Rockford. Five children resulted from this 
union, namely: Alice, William Kelley, Charles 
Henry, Arthur Stephenson and John Stephen. 

In politics Mr. Wright is a Republican. Re- 
ligiously he is a member of the Congregational 
Church. He is a man of the most upright char- 
acter and an exceptionally pure life. In his 
long, busy and useful career he has borne him- 
self so worthily, that the gracious benediction 
"well done, thou good and faithful servant!" 
will be his constant solace until the end. 

WYCKOFF, John Theodore, one of the leading 
citizens of Fairview, Fulton County, 111., and 
formerly a successful farmer in the vicinity of 
that town, was born in Joshua Township, Ful- 
ton County, March 5, 1863, a son of Joseph and 
Elizabeth B. Wyckoff, natives of New Jersey. 
Joseph Wyckoff followed farming for a num- 
ber of years, but devoted the latter portion of 
his life to milling. He accompanied his par- 
ents to Fulton County about the year 1850, and 
was married in Joshua Township in 1856. Hav- 
ing bought, in company with his father. 128 
acres of land, he improved it, carried on farm- 
ing there for three or four years, and then 
moved to another place west of the original 
purchase, where he remained for the same 
length of time. Ultimately the family owned 
about 500 acres. In 1866 Joseph Wyckoff traded 
his farm for a mill in Fairview, which he re- 
built and operated ten years. He was then oc- 
cupied for five years in carrying the mail to 
Norris, 111., and also kept a store. Resuming 
farming, he continued in that pursuit until he 
en.gaged in the implement trade, with which he 
was identified during the remainder of his life, 
dying In 188S. 

John T. Wyckoff attended the Fairview 
schools in boyhood, and passed his youth on the 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1181 



paternal farm. On reaching manhood he ap- 
plied himself to farming for a while, and sub- 
sequently spent three years in the hotel business 
in Fairview. He then undertook farming again 
on the "Cox place," just south of that town, but 
later bought eighty acres of land of Nelson 
Brown in Section 4, Joshua Township, one 
mile south of Fairview. There he was engaged 
in general farming and stock-raising for some 
years, when he established his residence in his 
present location. 

In October, 1903, Mr. Wyckoff was united in 
marriage at Fairview with Harriet Emily 
Fields, who was born in New .Jersey, a daugh- 
ter of Richard and Nancy (Oiler) Fields, na- 
tives of that State. Her parents came to Ful- 
ton County, where her father was engaged in 
farming. 

Mr. Wyckoff is now serving his second term 
as a member of the Town Board of Fairview. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & 
A. M., I. O. O. F. and M. W. A. His religious 
connection is with the Reformed Church. He 
is a man of absolute integrity and commend- 
able public spirit and maintains a high stand- 
ing in the community. 

YEOMAN, Peter, the well known and popular 
proprietor of a flourishing livery concern in 
Avon, Fiiltou County, 111., is a native of the 
State of New .Jersey, where he was born in 
1851. The birthplace of his parents, Isaac and 
Sarah (Bush) Yeoman, was also New Jersey. 
His parents moved to Illinois in 1870, and 
settled in Fulton County, where the father, who 
was a farmer by occupation, followed his wonted 
vocation. 

Peter Yeoman received the mental training of 
his boyhood in the public schools of Avon, and 
was reared to a farmer's life. For several 
years after reaching maturity, he was engaged 
in farming, and afterwards in dealing in horses. 
He is an expert in the latter line, and his 
operations were attended by profitable results. 
In 1892 Mr. Yeoman entered the hotel business 
in Avon, and successfully conducted the Yeo- 
man's Hotel until 1894. In 1S97, he bought 
out the R. Bottman livery establishment, which 
he has since conducted. The barn and livery 
accommodations of this concern have been fa- 
miliar to the ])eople of Avon since 1855. Mr. 
Yeoman has in use about twelve horses, and 
attends to all sorts of livery requirements. Be- 
sides this occupation, he has forty acres of 
land lying just east of the town of Avon, on 
which he carries on farming. 

In 1877, the subject of this sketch was united 
in marriage with Ida Curtis, who was born in 
Fulton County, and there, in girlhood, enjoyed 
the advantages of the public schools. Mr. and 
Mrs. Yeoman became the parents of two chil- 
dren, namely: Walter and Mahala. Mr. Yeo- 
man is credited with good business capacity, 
and devotes himself to the details of his latest 
enterprise with energy and close application. 



YOUNG, Charles. — An instance of a man start- 
ing out in life with few visible assets, and 
through wise disposal of his opportunities 
transforming his condition into one of more 
than ordinary prosperity and influence, is found 
in the rise of Charles Young, a resident of EUis- 
ville Township since 1855, and at present the 
owner of 630 acres of finely improved country 
property and a valuable home in the town of 
EUisville, in which he lives retired. Mr. Young 
is one of the six children of John and Anna 
(Kenton) Young, natives of Pennsylvania, in 
which State he was born in Allegheny County 
in April, 1828. 

In his youth Mr. Young experienced much 
of hardship and little in the way of advan- 
tages as they are enjoyed by the country lad 
of the present day. During the long Pennsyl- 
vania winters he interspersed work around the 
farm with attendance at the district school, and 
thus acquired the taste for knowledge which 
has led him to devote much of his mature leis- 
ure to reading. When he came west in 1855 
he had twenty-seven years to his credit, a stout 
constitution and abundant faith in his ability 
to succeed. While working for various farm- 
ers in Fulton County he broadened his agri- 
cultural and general information, laid by what 
he could conveniently spare of his earnings, and 
at Prairie City, 111., in 1859, was united in mar- 
riage to Mary Jane Speer, also a native of 
the Quaker State. During the first year of the 
Civil War Mr. Young became a landowner, pur- 
chasing 100 acres on Section IS, EUisville Town- 
ship, which he devoted to general farming and 
stock-raising, and to which he added as his land 
yielded ample returns for his labor. His home, 
his general improvements, his methods and 
everything pertaining to his life industry were 
made to conform to the best known standards, 
and his high-grade cattle. Poland-China hogs 
and blooded horses for many years sustained a 
reputation all through Fulton County. In less 
than thirty years the nucleus of 100 acres had 
been increased to G30, and during the latter 
'90s the fortunate owner laid aside his im- 
plements of labor, having divided his farm 
among his three sons, erected a home for each 
and given each a start in life which, in the 
poverty of his own cheerless youth, would have 
seemed princely and beyond compare. His old- 
est son, Thomas F., has abandoned farming for 
mercantile iiursuits, now being a successful 
lumberman of Abingdon, 111. Those occupying 
the home place are John A., George K. and C. C. 

In religion Mr. Young has been active in the 
United Brethren Church for many years. His 
career emphasizes the worth of perseverance, 
good judgment, wise investment and economy, 
of careful development of children in ways of 
obedience, gratitude and painstaking methods, 
and of cheerfulness in labor, combined with 
looking on the bright side of things, and ex- 
pecting the best that the time and occupation 
affords. 



Il82 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



YOUNG, H. D., who officiates with marked ac- 
ceptability as Postmaster of the town of Fiatt, 
Fulton County, 111., of which place he has been 
a prominent and highly respected citizen for 
many years, was born in Pennsylvania in 1856, 
a son of Lewis and Rachael (Pennington) 
Young, natives of that State. Lewis Young was 
a farmer by occupation, and successfully car- 
ried on farming throughout his life. The sub- 
ject of this sketch was reared on the home place 
and in boyhood utilized the advantages afforded 
by the district schools in his neighborhood. In 
1879 he began teaching school in Fulton County, 
but during the same year located in Fiatt, 
where he engaged in contracting and building, 
and also followed the wood-working trade. This 
he continued until 1900, when he embarked In 
the agricultural implement line, in which he 
has been quite successful, building up a good 
trade. He is a business man of sound judg- 
ment and close application. 

In 1884 Mr. Young was united in marriage 
with Mary Morris, who was born in Fulton 
County, and of this union there have been two 
children — Mabel and Lala. Their mother, a 
most worthy and estimable woman, departed 
this life February 28, 1902. 

In politics Mr. Young has always adhered 
to the Republican party, and has had an in- 
fluential voice in its local councils. He has 
served the public efficiently in various capaci- 
ties, having held the office of Town Clerk for 
five terms, served one term as Justice of the 
Peace, and discharged the duties of Clerk of 
the School Board four years. For a period of 
eighteen years he acted as Notary Public. He 
was appointed Postmaster of Fiatt by Presi- 
dent McKinley, and has since then been the in- 
cumbent of that office, giving complete satis- 
faction. In fraternal circles Mr. Young is 
affiliated with the A. F. & A. M., Loyal Ameri- 
cans and the M. W. A., in which he has officiated 
as Clerk for four years. 

YOUNG, Thomas L. — A capacity for painstak- 
ing industry has transformed Thomas L. Young 
from an impecunious farm hand into the fortu- 
nate owner of a farm of 280 acres in Section 4, 
Banner Township. Those permitted to visit 
this hospitable home may profit largely there- 
by, as the owner is a man of excellent judg- 
ment and broad knowledge of the principles of 
agriculture. His home suggests peace and pros- 
perity, his barns and outbuildings are ample 
for the storage of products and the housing of 
stock, and gardens, an orchard, well-built fences 
and minor accessories bespeak the man who 
expects much from life, and is willing to give 
the best in himself toward .its acquisition. 

Mr. Young was born .January 17, 1833. and 
is the third oldest of the six children of John 
and Mary ( Lomason ) Young, formerly of 
Warren County, N. J. His boyhood was a busy 
one, and permitted little leisure for either 
pleasure or education. Arriving in Fulton 
County in 1858, he spent a year working by the 



month as a fkarm hand, after which he rented 
a farm in Mason County, 111., until possessed 
of sufficient means to purchase his present 
farm. On January 17, 1867, he was united in 
marriage to Ellen Weaver, daughter of Jacob 
and Mary A. Weaver, Fulton County pioneers of 
1839. To Mr. and Mrs. Young have been bom 
the following children: Lenora, John, Mary, 
Judson, Abbie, Thomas and Jesse. Mr. Young 
is a Democrat in politics, and' in religion a 
Metnodist. He is a quiet, unassuming man, de- 
voted to his family, his friends and the prop- 
erty which has so generously responded to his 
industry. 

ZEIGLER, Willis Terry, M. D., a prominent 
and successful physician of Canton, Fulton 
County, 111., was born in Cass Township, this 
county, October 30, 1867, and there in boyhood 
received his early education in the district 
schools. He is a son of Jacob and Sarah A. 
(Hinderleiter) Zeigler, natives, respectively, of 
Ohio and Illinois, and his parents are still 
living in the old home place in Cass Township. 

Dr. Zeigler graduated in medicine from the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, 
Iowa, March 6, 1896, and began the practice of 
his profession on March 20th, of the same year. 
Since then his patronage has constantly in- 
creased, as has also the confidence of his 
patients and the general public in his ability 
and skill. Dr. Zeigler is a member of the 
American Medical Association, the Illinois 
State Medical Society and the Fulton County 
Medical Society. 

On June 27, 1900, Dr. Zeigler was united In 
marriage with Ray Cecelia Snively, who was 
born in Bloomington, 111., and pursued a course 
of study in the Canton (111.) High School. 
From this union one child, Robert Terry 
Zeigler, has resulted. On political issues. Dr. 
Zeigler is in full accord with the Republican 
party, and in November, 1904. was elected 
Coroner of Fulton County. In fraternal circles, 
the Doctor is identified with the A. F. & A. M. 
(Morning Star Lodge and Chapter of Canton), 
the B. P. O. E. and Fraternal Tribunes. 

ZILCH, Adam. — During the interval between 
his arrival in Deerfield Townsaip in 1856 and 
his retirement from active life in 1902, Adam 
Zilch rose from the position of a farm hand of 
seventeen, with a strong German accent, few 
clothes and no knowledge whatever of his 
adopted country, to the ownership of 500 acres 
of farm land, and town property in Canton val- 
ued at $15,000. He came of sterling farmer 
stock in the Fatherland, where he was born 
December 1, 1838, and where his parents, Philip 
and Catherine (Reiffert) Zilch, owned a small 
tract of land. Educated in the public schools, his 
youth was filled with many and hard tasks, 
and the necessity of industry was impressed 
upon his mind with unfailing insistence. 

With his small earnings tied up in a hand- 
kerchief Mr. Zilch stepped from the gang-plank 



HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY. 



1 183 



of a sailing vessel in New York in tiie sum- 
mer ot 1S56. and at once came to Deerfleld 
Township, where he secured worli on a farm. 
Still following his principle of industry and 
saving, in 1S59 he was able to become a land- 
owner, purchasing 120 acres in Section 17. 
Practical results soon made necessary the fur- 
ther acquisition of land, and he now owns 500 
acres in Deerfleld Township, besides a beauti- 
ful home valued at $15,000, in which he has 
lived retired with his family in Canton since 
1902. His farm is one of the most valuable 
in the county, and its rental supplies a com- 
fortable income for the enterprising owner. 

In Deerfleld Township, December 20, 1862, 
Mr. Zilch was united in marriage with Anna M. 
Myers, a native of Maryland, where she was 
born November 13, 1S34. Mr. Zilch has served 
his township as Road Commissioner. His life 
has been an open and useful one, winning the 
regard and approval of his fellowmen, and em- 
phasizing the importance of industry, thrift 
and integrity. 

ZITTEL, Henry A.— In Henry A. Zittel, Deer- 
field Township has a young farmer who con- 
forms his labor to high standards, and who is 
advancing to prosperity on the homely quali- 
ties of industry, good judgment and persever- 
ance. Born on the farm which still is his home, 
May 10, 1864, he is the son of a prominent Ful- 
ton County pioneer, and all of his active life 
has been spent in the pursuit of agriculture. 
Educated in the i)ublic schools, and broadened 
by the various experiences which befall the 
youth of energy and ambition, his independent 
career began at the time of his marriage, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1893, to Minnie Shackelford, a native 
of Joshua Township, Fulton County, born May 
28, 1866. 

With his young wife Mr. Zittel settled on 
eighty acres of his father's farm, upon which 
he has made many of the improvements, includ- 
ing the erection of a residence, barns, outbuild- 
ings and fences, and which property he recently 
purchased. Notwithstanding his many home 
duties, he is active in general township affairs, 
is a stanch Democrat and prominent in the 
lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America. 
The family are members of the Christian 
Church, in the social circles of which the. 
daughter, Ada B., is both popular and promi- 
nent. Mr. Zittel is an earnest, painstaking 
gentleman, and his integrity and general worth 
are appreciated by a wide circle of friends. 

ZITTEL, John. — With his material assets 
wrapped in a small bundle, and his knowledge 
of English confined to the few phrases he had 
picked up from his fellow voyagers on board 
ship, John Zittel came to America at the age 
of twenty-two years to follow the carpenter 
trade in the city of Cincinnati. Notwithstand- 
ing his limited resources he had a large fund 
of practical common sense, and a fair education, 



derived in the common schools ot Germany, 
where he was born in 1826. A few months 
after arriving in Cincinnati during the summer 
of 1S4S, he came to Ellisville, Fulton County, 
and there followed his trade for five years. He 
then turned his attention to agriculture, which 
had been the occupation of his forefathers for 
generations, buying forty acres of land in Fair- 
view Township, which he grubbed and im- 
proved for general farming. This continued his 
home for eight years, when he purchased the 
eighty acres in Section 1, Deerfield Township, 
which formerly belonged to the J. Young estate, 
and there he now lives. Later on he purchased 
100 acres of Mr. Dickson for $.5,000. At the 
present time he owns SOO acres of land in Ful- 
ton County, all of which is managed by his sons, 
as for several years he has lived in retirement. 
While still his financial fortunes were a 
matter of uncertain speculation, in 1855, Mr. 
Zittel established a home of his own by marry- 
ing Elizabeth Erb, who was born in Germany, 
and who is now the mother of four children: 
John, William, Henry, and Mary (Mrs. Taylor). 
Mr. Zittel's career furnishes encouragement and 
inspiration to the youth of the present who 
labor under limitations, and who must needs 
seek their independence in a strange land and 
among strange people. He has gained his wealth 
by the exercise of practical, every-day qualities, 
and by remembering always that a penny saved 
is a penny earned. The capacity for saving he 
has handed down to his children, and all are 
thrifty, industrious and capable members of a 
younger generation. 

ZUMSTEIN, Ernest.— Unlike the average of 
his countrymen who seek the larger opportuni- 
ties of the United States, Ernest Zumstein 
brought with him from Germany a small com- 
petence with which to establish his independent 
career. Born in Germany February 12, 1872, 
he was reared on the farm of his parents, Adam 
and Margaret (Schaefer) Zumstein, and in the 
public schools of the Fatherland received a 
practical education. Ambitious and resource- 
ful, he left the family associations of centuries 
and crossing the Atlantic in 1895, came direct 
to Deerfleld Township, where he purchased 220 
acres of land in Section 12. This property, for- 
merly owned by A. J. Shepley, was to some ex- 
tent improved, but the present owner has added 
much by erecting a house, barn, granary and 
fences, besides supplying the most modern of 
agricultural machinery. He raises grain, hay 
and other products for home consumption, be- 
sides high-grade cattle, hogs and horses. 

The marriage of Mr. Zumstein to his present 
wife, Llna L. Zumstein, occurred in New York 
City February 24, 1901. Mrs. Zumstein is a 
native of Germany, born January 7, 1870, and 
they have two sons — Henry and Elmer. Mr. 
Zumstein adheres to Republican principles, and 
fraternally is identified with the Modern Wood- 
men of America. In religion he is a Lutheran. 



addendum: 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



RILEY, William.— Between the time of his 
arrival in 1834 and his lamented death, Feljru- 
ary 7. 1873, William Riley was prominently 
identified with the history of Fulton County, 
adding to his already established reputation as 
a builder and contractor that of agriculturist 
and stock-raiser in Buckheart and Lewistown 
Townships. Of Scotch-Irish ancestry, Mr. Riley 
was born April 5, 1811, in the old Riley home- 
stead on Cabin Creek, Lewis County, Ky., fif- 
teen miles from Maysville. His father, William 
Riley, was born in Pennsylvania and died in 
Lewis County, Ky., in 1829, and his mother, 
Mary (McAlvain) Riley, died in Bryant, 111. 

Both the dwelling in which William Riley 
lived and the house in which he attended school 
were made of logs, and the benefits of the latter 
were obtained by Mr. Riley only after perform- 
ing his share of labor on a small and not over- 
productive farm. Possessing marked mechan- 
ical ability, he shifted his energies from the 
farm to tlie carpenter's trade while still quite 
young and during the 'thirties came to St. 
Louis, Mo., with his brother, where he worked 
on the court house for three years. He also 
worked at building and contracting at Grand 
Gulf, Port Gibson, Vicksburg and Natchez, Miss., 
and other Southern towns, having to his credit 



many fine public buildings, stores and resi- 
dences. In St. Louis, April 24, 1843, Mr. Riley 
was united in marriage to Mary Blair, who was 
born in Portsmouth, Va.. a daughter of William 
A. and Mary (Bellamy) Blair, natives of Scot- 
land and Ireland, respectively. Mr. Blair was 
married in Virginia and came to Illinois when 
Peoria was a trading post, settling near Ke- 
wanee, Henry County, where the remainder of 
his life was spent. He was the parent of eleven 
children, of whom but two sui-vive. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Riley were born six children: Mary Eliza, 
wife of Samuel Laws, of Kirkwood, 111., and 
mother of two sons; William A., whose sketch 
appears elsewhere in this work; Evelyn and 
John Henry, both of whom died in infancy; In- 
diana, who died in August, 1903; and Joseph 
Henry, a farmer in Lewistown Township. 

A Republican in politics, Mr. Riley never took 
an 'active interest in local political affairs as 
far as office-holding was concerned. Although 
his character as a whole has been modified by 
distance and deprived of the distinction of those 
nearer our ken, he is recalled by many now liv- 
ing as a man of splendid integrity, of great kind- 
ness and purity of heart, of devotion to his fam- 
ily and friends and loyalty and faithfulness to 
tlie duties and responsibilities of his life. 



RAILWAY HISTORY. 



Iowa Central Railway.— The Peoria & Farm- 
ington Railroad, extending from Peoria to 
Keithsburg, 111., on the Mississippi River, was 
completed in 1883 and immediately taken over 
by the Central Iowa (now the Iowa Central) 
Railway Company, by which, under various 
changes, it has since been operated. The Illi- 
nois portion of the line— between Keithsburg 
and Peoria— covers a distance of ninety-one 
miles of which about fifteen miles are within 



the area of Fulton County, extending along the 
northern border of the county. The stations 
along the line within Fulton County territory 
are London Mills, on the northern border of 
Young Hickory Township; Rapatee and Middle 
Grove, in Fairview Township, and Farmington, 
in the northeastern comer of Farmington Town- 
ship. The line enters Peoria County a mile and 
a half east of the city of Farmin^ ton. 



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81)73 



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